what's a thanos?

Steve laughed lightly. “Maybe for you,” he said, a bittersweet smile on his face. Steve had begged him to rethink Registration, and look how that turned out. Things were better now, but those memories were still there. The things they’d said to each other, facing each other in the street and seeing enemies instead of partners. It was a hard truth to swallow, that some disagreements were too fundamental to overlook. 

“No?” he asked, stowing the list back into its hiding place. “What are you into then? Besides the obvious,” he said, gesturing to her suit. “Did you make that yourself?” he asked, genuinely interested. If there was someone out there as smart as Tony… the world was in for something, that was for sure. “It’s not just pop culture,” he said, thinking back to his list again. “I’ve been catching up on seventy years of history and science – even math is different now, apparently,” he said, laughing again. 

He nodded once, an air of solemnity to the conversation now. “I know,” he said softly. He remembered growing up with nothing, the Depression still hitting them hard until the war efforts revitalized the economy. He wondered what that meant, that until soldiers started dying and his mother could pick up extra shifts at the hospital, what it said about the country he loved so dearly. It was a country steeped in violence, catching up on history had reaffirmed that. “But that’s the dream, right? That you can start with nothing and find… something,” he said quietly. He wasn’t sure the American Dream had been as well-preserved as himself. Everything seemed much darker these days, less straightforward.

She was brave, he knew that from how she fought. But to give him personal details like this, while keeping her identity secret, that was a risk, too. Maybe it meant she trusted him. “Little dirt never hurt anyone,” he quipped, smirking a little. He glanced up at the night sky now, stars shining bright despite their circumstances. “Wouldn’t mind hearing some of those myself,” he said, smiling at her. He laughed again, a little like a scoff. “Not much of a legend these days,” he admitted. His reputation had certainly been in better standings before. “By a truck?” he repeated, concern pretty evident in his voice. “That sounds… painful. But you’ve come a long way since then,” he noted. He smiled at her words, the purity of them, the conviction. Was that what he sounded like, back in 1943? Erskine would’ve liked her, he could tell immediately. “In that case, I think Ironheart is gonna do great things in this world,” he said softly, awash in admiration. She had the makings of a legend in her. Something that wasn’t trained or taught, something she was born with. A good heart. 

He smiled, bittersweet once more, and looked away, eyes falling to the ground. “Maybe I can,” he whispered. “But problem is – things don’t always go my way.” He laughed lightly, breathlessly. “Strange to think of something Tony doesn’t know.” 

“Mostly for me,” Riri agreed. Though she hadn’t known him as long as Steve had, she’d learned how Tony operated. She knew what made him tick better than most people might, and she knew one of the things that made him tick was her. He was fiercely protective of her, and it was both flattering and terrifying. Knowing someone you loved would die to keep you safe in an instant lost its novelty when you’d seen someone actually do it. Her stepfather’s death hung over her like a cloud, and if Tony’s ever joined it... she wasn’t sure she could go on.

She shrugged at the question, brow furrowing beneath her mask as she considered. “I’m an engineer,” she told him. “An inventor. That’s pretty much the only thing I’m into. It’s kind of a... consuming field, I guess.” Back when she’d lived in Chicago, she’d woken up with the sun and stayed in her mother’s garage for days at a time tinkering with tools and different things. She often forgot to eat, to sleep, to do anything other than create. Natalie had helped with that for a while, dragging Riri away from her workspace to focus on other things, but after her death, Riri returned to old habits with a vengeance. “I could probably suggest some scientific magazines to read up on,” she offered hesitantly, though she wasn’t sure how much help she’d be. Without knowing Steve’s level of experience with science, odds were she’d suggest something entirely over his head.

Riri’s family hadn’t been the poorest on their block, but they hadn’t been the wealthiest, either. They’d been, like so many Americans, somewhere in between poverty and middle class. They had enough money to buy food, but not enough money not to worry about how soon they ate it all. When she was young, her mother and stepfather tried to hide their financial woes, but Riri had been far too smart to miss it. That was the problem with a great intellect, she guessed. You couldn’t hide from even the harshest truths. “That’s the dream for some people,” she agreed with a slight shake of her head. “For others, it’s... It just isn’t achievable.” Despite the problems that came with her intelligence, Riri knew it provided her with an advantage. She could get into schools like MIT on scholarship, she could make something of herself. Other kids in her neighborhood weren’t so lucky. They were doomed from the start by a shoddy, underfunded public school system, could never quite reach their full potentials as long as no one believed in them. The American Dream was, unfortunately, a lot easier for people who were already well-off.

“That’s really not true,” she laughed, sparing him the dirty details about the diseases lurking in certain types of dirt. Looking up at the sky, she sighed. “It isn’t the same sky,” she told him quietly. “It looks the same, but it’s not. There are minuscule atmospherical differences, and some of the stars are just... just a little off. I don’t know any facts about this sky because it isn’t ours.” It was frustrating to admit. Riri hated not knowing things, hated not having the answers. “You’re always gonna be a legend,” she said, looking back to him with a shrug. It was the kind of thing you couldn’t escape, the same way she’d never quite get out from under the weight of Tony’s legacy. In her case, she wouldn’t trade it. She wasn’t sure if the same could be said for him. “Oh, I didn’t feel it. It wrecked my suit, but I was totally fine. That’s how I knew the suit worked.” It had been terrifying in the moment, but exhilarating, too. Like tangible proof that she was right, evidence that she was on to something. “Thank you,” she said quietly, throat suddenly feeling tight. “It really means a lot. To hear you say that.” She’d always been lucky enough to have people who believed to her, but she never much minded adding to that list. 

Carol knew a little something about being a legacy hero given her own experiences. Ironheart was not Iron Man - the name by definition required a little altering - but their suits were majorly similar, Tony had taken the young girl under his wing, and they worked together like bread and butter. When Mar-Vell died, leaving a space that Carol doubted would ever be filled, she had strove to be his double, to fit into the gap that he had left entirely. She had stretched herself out, had manipulated the things she believed in, the things that her gut instinct told her to do, because she was constrained by what he would have done, what he would think of her actions. It took more than a few years for her to break out of that, to realise that she had been relying on her own opinion even when no one else agreed with it since the day and hour she could look up to the stars. After that revelation, she became a monumentally better hero, and she hoped she was improving every day.

Ironheart was much younger than Ms. Marvel had been, and already she seemed to be settling into the role more easily. Perhaps it was because a genius mind was more pliable, easier to adapt to certain impossible situations, but Carol believed it was something intrinsic within Ironheart instead. She took the essential components of Tony’s beliefs - futurism, progress, protecting, defending, Avenging - and added her own spin to them, acted off her own initiative.

“He cried?” Carol repeated, letting out a burst of laughter as one of the demons took a swing for her. She dodged it easily, hyper cosmic awareness coming in handy yet again, and returned with an uppercut of her own that sent the creature flying back into the wall behind them. Carol winced at the property damage, feeling moderately guilty, but that disappeared quickly when the next demon stepped up to the plate. “Some would argue it just made it more interesting,” Carol said with a roll of her eyes, “but he could have put people in danger. He did put unlisted people in danger. Perhaps that was his intention.” Forcing people to sign, though, never ended well. Carol knew enough from personal experience, had seen this happen before.

Few heroes understood the weight of legacy to the extent that Riri did. Tony wasn’t just her mentor, he was everything she strove to be. When she was a kid, dreaming of her future, she’d told her elementary school teacher with all the seriousness a child could muster that she was going to be Tony Stark one day. At the time, she hadn’t quite known what it meant, had only known Tony vaguely through news clips and science magazines, but she’d been determined all the same. It had taken on something of a new meaning over the years, and her determination had deepened. Tony became a superhero, streaking across the night sky in a red and gold suit, and Riri wanted that. She wanted it more after the shooting, wanted to protect people like her stepfather and Natalie who shouldn’t have died but did anyways. 

Carol, she knew, understood it better than most. Riri hadn’t known Mar-Vell, but she knew his reputation. She knew what he represented. Specifically, she knew what he represented to Carol, knew it intimately, because Tony represented the same thing to her. He was something to strive for, a goal that could be reached through hard work and determination. From where Riri stood, Carol had reached her goal. Captain Marvel was an incredible hero, boasting bravery and power and strength, the very definition of heroism. She figured if Mar-Vell could see Carol now, he’d be beyond proud.

“Or pickpockets,” Kate said, waggling her fingers and grinning mischievously at Riri. She even punctuated it with a little wink, playful and over the top. Maybe she was showing off, just a little, but she couldn’t help it. Riri was a bonafide genius, one of the fastest-rising heroes Kate had ever seen – it was like there was nothing she couldn’t do. She took to engineering and superheroism like a fish to water. No, like a bird to the sky. Because Kate knew, whether she was in the suit or not, that girl was gonna touch the clouds one day, fly up among the stars. 

So, if Kate had a chance to brag a little, maybe impress her? She was taking it, all day long. “Hmm, let’s see,” she said, tapping her chin, pretending to think. “Clint’s apartment. That one cupboard he tried to hide the coffee in. Oh, and once, the door leading to this, like, maintenance entrance in Avengers Tower. I was trying to steal Starky’s espresso machine,” she said, laughing a little at the memory. “Plus, sometimes there’s like… little places you aren’t supposed to be able to get to, but they have the best view, ya know?” Places like this, though you wouldn’t have guessed it at first glance. There was nothing around but old desks and dust, but there was still a magic in the air, something tingling and electric. “Ages,” Kate whispered, feeling like she should be reverent. But she ran her fingers along the top of dust-covered desks anyway. “Probably back before anyone even knew what an ‘Ironman’ was,” she joked softly. She glanced back at Riri, and shook her head. “Me neither. It’s too… boring. You know exactly what you’re going to do every day, and the most you have to look forward to is a lame Christmas party where someone makes a fool of themselves,” she said, her laugh cutting through the dust and mixing with the sunlight. 

They were both leaning over her phone, but Kate’s eyes were entirely focused on the real Riri. Her hair smelled sweet, and she wanted to reach out and run her fingers through it, at least until she could place the smell. It was so hard to see anything but the silhouette of her cheek, the curve of her jawline, the slope of her nose, but Kate didn’t need a light to recognize how beautiful it was. Her heart skipped a beat when Riri whispered those words, her brain momentarily going fuzzy. She wasn’t aware of slipping her phone into her pocket, or turning her body to face Riri’s. She didn’t know how her forehead came to be resting against the other girl’s, breathing in the smell of her hair while one hand moved to cradle the side of Riri’s face. She felt like a blind man, reading the warmth and shape of her face. “You know what I wanna do right now?” she asked in a breathy whisper. Instead of answering, she just leaned forward, closed the distance between their lips, and kissed her. 

“Or pickpockets,” Riri agreed with a laugh. It was strange, something so ordinary even being a threat in New York these days, but it was true. Pickpockets, muggers, petty thieves, they were all still out there even when the aliens and demons outshone them. Still, it was impossible not to grin at Kate’s telling of it, at the bright grin and the playful wink. Kate Bishop was a hard person not to be happy around, Riri had learned. It was beyond refreshing.

She laughed again as Kate recounted some of her best practice spots. “His espresso machine? God, that must’ve driven him crazy.” There was an undeniable sort of fondness in her tone, the kind that came without thought. It was the same tone Kate used when Clint’s name came up, Riri had noticed. She nodded as the other girl continued, thinking of all the restricted areas she’d been in that boasted breathtaking views. “I think all the best things are against the rules,” she admitted quietly. Sometimes, the best things in your life came from ‘liberating’ some material from an MIT robotics lab or reverse engineering designs you’d only seen in action on news clips. If Riri hadn’t broken the rules, if she hadn’t built Ironheart on her own, she wouldn’t have the life she had now. She wouldn’t be in here with Kate, looking at the way the sun caught the dust in the air and marveling at the odd beauty that came with abandonment. “I don’t know,” she admitted, partially because it was difficult for her to imagine a world where people didn’t know who Iron Man was and partially because it was sort of sad to think of a place like this alone for that many years. “I can picture people sitting at their desks and watching him shoot by out that window. Drinking coffee and going about their day like there’s no superhero battle going on outside. Like New Yorkers always do, y’know?” New York was resilient like that, able to pretend even the craziest stuff was ordinary. It was almost sad, in a way. You missed a lot of beauty when you became accustomed to the fantastical. Laughing at Kate’s description of office work, Riri nodded in agreement. “You’re just doing the same things day after day. You sit in the same desk, you look at the same paperwork... I don’t want that to ever be me.” 

Steve chuckled, shaking his head. “Maybe if I beg,” he said, but even then it was doubtful. Maybe if he mentioned to Pepper… which felt a little too much like running to teacher, honestly. He’d long since accepted it as a lost cause. He nodded, reaching into a concealed pocket inside his gauntlet – for some reason, he felt compelled to keep the little notebook close by. “A list of all the things I’ve missed in the past few decades,” he quipped, holding it out to her. “Mostly formed of suggestions from the people around me, who can’t believe I haven’t seen, read, or heard of, say… the Beatles,” he said, reading from the list. 

A solider was only as good as the men (or women) around him. Steve had learned that, even if his first big ‘success’ was a rogue solo mission. But he wouldn’t have accomplished even that without a lot of help. He had been one of the first ‘superheroes’ in the world, but he was glad that had changed so much, that the world had found room for someone like Ironheart. He had a good feeling about her, even if he was hesitant to admit it.

He lowered the shield when the demons were just specks in the distance, and placed onto his back, securing it there. “Money’s not everything,” he said, smiling gently at her. He was glad his mask let that through, unlike her own. “Despite what Tony might say,” he joked, even though the billionaire probably knew that better than anyone. “No?” he prompted, more than a little curious. But she had kept her mask on, which told him that maybe her identity was a tad more secret than his own. “You don’t have to tell me,” he added quickly. “I’m just glad you showed up tonight.” Her voice was definitely young, there was no hiding youthful exuberance. “You mean from an old guy like me?” he asked, grinning a little. “I mean it, though. You know what you’re doing in that thing. Not many people could handle it,” he said, taking more time to check out the suit a little closer. “Not what I meant,” he said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “Just… this life can be tough, that’s all.” She probably already knew that, if she was as smart as she seemed. “If I had my way, he’d always be on my team,” he agreed softly. The world hadn’t worked out that way, but the sentiment was still true. 

“He has been known to give in to begging,” she confirmed, though it wasn’t particularly hard to make him give in to something when she was the one asking. Tony seemed a lot more willing to cave when Riri crossed her arms over her chest, or tilted her head to the side, or looked generally hopeful. She knew how to play him because with her, he didn’t make it hard. With Steve, she had a feeling it might be a little more complicated. Leaning forward as Steve produced the notebook, Riri inspected it curiously. “That’s smart,” she observed. “A good way to catch up, I think. I’d offer to give you some things to add, but I might not be the best person to ask. I’m not really, like, in to pop culture.” Most of what she knew about television, movies, or music came from Natalie or Tony. She’d spent most of her life in her own head, tinkering in her garage and shutting out the world. It seemed sort of selfish when faced with someone who hadn’t been given a choice in the matter.

With the demons taken care of, Riri relaxed a little, allowing more of her attention to focus on the conversation. “I don’t know about that. I mean, money’s not everything when you have it,” she replied with a shrug. “When you don’t... It sorta feels like everything then.” She remembered hearing her mother and stepfather muttering to one another, wondering if they’d be able to afford her therapist or her schooling or the things she tinkered with in the garage. That was part of what drove Riri’s dream to invent. If she could come up with something truly brilliant, something really groundbreaking, she could give it all back to them. She could get them the money they deserved. Her stepfather would never have that now, but she could still give it to her mother.

@heartcfiron

When Jessica saw a metal shaped person flying through the sky, her immediately thought was Stark. In that, she was sure she was speaking for all of New York. Sure, logically she knew that there were three other possibilities — War Machine, Iron Spider and Iron Heart — but Stark was the most flamboyant. He was also the most commonly spotted, although Jessica wasn’t sure whether that was fact or people being presumptuous like she was. Ultimately, it didn’t matter too much, she decided, casting her gaze away from the iron suit. They were all good guys, none of them were threats to Spider-Woman, and currently, she was watching for trouble and snacking on a bag of chips.

Quickly, her peace was interrupted, and that only confirmed that it was Stark in Jessica’s mind. Turning around, she threw a Dorito into her mouth easily and eyed the suit for a moment. It was an exact replica of Tony’s original suit, but she knew Stark well enough to know that he’d never move backwards, plus the stature was all wrong. Without the spider legs/arms and War Machine’s dark colouring, that left one possibly left as to who was standing in front her. “Hey Iron Heart,” she greeted. “Thought you were Stark and I was definitely going to finish all of these chips, but since it’s you, you can have if you want,” Jessica offered.

In New York, seeing someone hanging out on a rooftop in bright spandex wasn’t exactly uncommon. It was something Riri saw pretty much every night. Lately, she’d been making herself approach them, a voice in her head that sounded vaguely like her stepfather reminding her that she needed to engage with the people in her circle, needed to expand her friends as much as she possibly could. Tonight, that was what she’d had in mind when flying towards a speck of red on a nearby roof. As she got closer, she realized she recognized the costume and, by extension, the person wearing it. She liked Spider-Woman, had worked with her often enough to know that she was probably one of the coolest heroes ever. 

She grinned under her mask, landing on the roof and approaching Spider-Woman with a brief wave. “Hey, Spider-Woman,” she replied easily, raising a brow at the chips. “You wouldn’t have shared with Tony? I feel special!” There was no shortage of amusement in her voice as she spoke. “Don’t worry, though. I think I’ll pass on the chips tonight, so you can have as many as you want! What are you up to? See anything cool out tonight?” Spending the night hanging out with Spider-Woman sounded like fun, and hopefully the other vigilante would agree.

@heartcfiron

Carol loved Tony, she really did, but she had absolutely no hesitation in admitting that Ironheart was her favourite super genius that flew around in a highly sophisticated hunk of metal. (Rhodey, it went without saying, was her favourite pilot with that very specific type of suit. She had to be fair to all of the Iron Squad!) For one thing, Ironheart was pretty much the only Avenger besides maybe Bruce who hadn’t told Carol she was insanely reckless even once, and that was something that she always appreciated. Self reflection had a time and a place, but as far as Carol was concerned, her recklessness was at least half of the reason she was such a great time. Why change what hadn’t killed her yet?

Diplomacy had never particularly been one of Carol’s skills, despite the numerous attempts she had carried out across the universe. Punching things, having a simple mission, was much preferable. She supposed it was the same for everyone. The demons continued to flourish, undeterred by the changes that had occurred in the city since Doom’s reveal of the list, and today Captain Marvel and Ironheart were protecting a group of very stoned teenagers from being demon fodder. Just another day in the life!

“So,” Carol said as she flung a photonic blast towards one of the creatures, multitasking being one of her many skills, “what did you think of the party? I heard the bassist was pretty pitchy at the beginning of the night, and something about an ice statue? It almost makes me regret only showing up in time for the big reveal.” Carol had not been fashionably late. She had been late only because Cheese had sunk his claws into her leg, and she had been pulling them out for almost twenty minutes. Did anyone need to know that? No!

Through her work as Ironheart, Riri had met a lot of superheroes. She was obviously closest to Tony -- that went without saying! -- but she’d made friends with others along the way, too. Captain Marvel was one of her favorites. The sheer determination the woman carried was beyond impressive, and the fact that she was willing to do whatever it took to solve issues that needed solving made her worthy of Riri’s respect. She was also one of the heroes who seemed to return that respect, who didn’t write Riri off because of her age or the fact that she was far from the first superhero to fly around in an iron suit fighting bad guys. A lot of people saw her as a less experienced Iron Man, and while that might be a fair assumption for those who didn’t know her, Riri didn’t think it was true. She’d worked hard to get to where she was, and Captain Marvel was one of the heroes who seemed to understand that.

Working alongside her was always fun, an adventure no matter what the task at hand. Tonight, the task wasn’t exactly one Riri would rush home to tell her friends about. The teenagers in question certainly needed saving and would have been pretty much doomed without the combined efforts of Ironheart and Captain Marvel, but they’d also sort of brought the attack on themselves by trying to put a joint out on a demon’s tale. Heroism could be thankless work sometimes!

At the beginning, Iron Man had been a method of survival, a way to get out of that cave so Tony could get home and put his company to rights. For years before he was kidnapped in Afghanistan he hadn’t particularly cared whether he lived or died. He partied as hard as he did because he was trying to escape. He played a role that he had never entirely felt comfortable in because that meant that no one looked at him, really looked at him, unless they wanted his money or his time or his influence. When he got back to L.A. Iron Man had morphed into something else entirely. It was something of an obsession for those first few months, refining the technology, pushing himself to be the best that he could be, but that first flight cemented everything for him. It took his breath away to be above the world in this tin can that he had created, this force of nature, and to use it to protect other people, to defend them, was the only thing that he could envision himself doing.

From that point onwards Iron Man wasn’t a hobby, or a cocoon, or a safety blanket entirely for his own use. He was a symbol. He was something that people looked up to, a hero that they could rely on, even when the man under the mask was getting drunk several times a day just to make it through. Riri had seen that symbol, but she hadn’t been content to simply live in a world where Iron Man could defend the people around her. She wanted to be a part of that. She saw the Iron Man suit as more than something to admire, she saw it as a puzzle to be taken apart and put back together again, put back together into something better. “Trust me,” Tony said, though he couldn’t ignore how big his heart got in his chest at Riri’s words, how much she meant them, “I’m worth a lot more since I walked into that dorm room.” Riri was more than just a mirror, but reflecting back things in himself that were actually worth loving? That helped a lot more than he could truly put into words.

That meant that he had to put it in another way. Dragging her into his problems definitely didn’t meet that definition, but from that determined look on her face, Tony knew there was no argument. “You’ve really been thrown into the deep end with this whole superhero thing, huh?” Tony asked with a grin. “I mean, when I started out I was just punching my godfather in the face. You’re taking on whole undead armies and having the city lifted into another dimension. Good luck, is all I’m saying.” Riri, though, was more than capable of handling whatever the future threw at her, of that Tony was positive.

Creating Ironheart hadn’t really been something Riri did on purpose. She’d set out to recreate Tony’s armor mostly to prove to herself that she could, to provide herself with a challenge she couldn’t get anywhere else. She didn’t know when it changed, couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment she’d realized she could do more than challenge herself, the point where she’d realized that she could do something to prevent senseless violence like the shooting that had taken her stepfather and Natalie away from her, or the one that had stolen her father’s life before she was even born. Somehow, Ironheart went from being a project to a lifestyle, went from being a hobby to something she couldn’t quite give up.

Tony, she knew, had a big hand in that. Seeing what he did with his suit, witnessing the way he used his technology and his brilliance to save the world over and over and over again had acted as an inspiration beyond compare. She knew that idolizing a person was a dangerous thing, knew that Tony had his demons and struggled with them valiantly, knew that sometimes he lost those struggles, but god, he was easy to look up to. He was worth her admiration, even if he didn’t believe it himself. “So am I,” she told him quietly, a small smile lighting up her face. If she was a hero now, it was because Tony had helped her become one. She’d been so different before she knew him, still traumatized and terrified following what happened to Natalie and her stepfather, and he’d turned her into something better. He’d helped her grow passed that, helped her learn to be comfortable in her own skin even when she didn’t have a screwdriver in her hand. She owed him for that, and it wasn’t a debt she could ever repay.

It wasn’t hard to see that Riri was drawn to her – her eyes lit up when Kate walked into the room, and that alone made Kate’s heart flutter in her chest. Everything about Riri, her mind and her laugh, her hair and her skin, the way she looked when she was focused on a project, eyes intense and fingers moving so delicately – it was like staring at a masterpiece. A Van Gogh or a Picasso, something abstract and hard to define with one singular word, but if she absolutely had to choose? Kate would’ve said amazing. 

“In this city?” she snickered, sticking her tongue between her teeth while she worked on the lock. “Not. A. Chance,” she declared, pulling the chains off. She gave Riri a mock curtsy, and beamed. “Well, I have a lot more opportunities to practice than you might think,” she said, following the other girl inside. It was dark, but little beams of light shot through the shadows, illuminating the dust she and Riri kicked up with every step. This place was long abandoned, with sun-faded wood floors and concrete walls that were sweating in the summer heat. “Looks like it used to be an office or something,” she said, nodding to the sagging, old desks arranged loosely in rows. There was even an old water cooler, though the jug was missing, and a spot on the wall slightly less faded than the rest, where maybe a poster had hung. Kate ran a hand along one of the desks, drawing a swirling pattern in the dust gathered there. “Depends on what you’re looking for,” she said, glancing all around. “Like – if you try, you can sort of imagine what it was like once upon a time. When there was life here, ya know? I bet that water cooler saw some serious gossip.” 

She took a step forward, and when she looked back over her shoulder, she smiled. “Don’t move,” she said to Riri, pulling out her phone to snap a picture. The other girl was standing directly in a beam of light, the summer sun playing in her warm, dark curls while the shadows cut across her face in a striking pattern. Kate took the picture then held out her phone for Riri to see. “You look gorgeous,” she breathed, her face inches from Riri’s as they both leaned over her phone. 

Kate was someone that, as far as Riri was concerned, was impossible not to like. She lit up every room she entered, was bright and happy and excited even when the world gave her little reason to be. She was relaxed in the sort of way that had never really come naturally to Riri, the way that seemed impossible to achieve, and Kate made it look easy. She made a lot of things look easy. And, best of all, she looked at Riri like she was the one who was incredible, like she was the one who drew your eyes in when she knew she was anything but.

“Yeah, I can’t imagine they do much good against, like, Thor or the Hulk.” She grinned brightly as the chains came off. Maybe locks like this were New York’s desperate attempt to cling to normalcy, its stubborn refusal to admit that the world wasn’t the sort of place where locks and chains did anyone any good anymore. “What kind of stuff do you practice on?” There was an undeniable curiosity to her voice, one that was always present but a bit more persistent when the question was one she really wanted to know. She glanced around the building, finding she wanted to know more about it, too. It felt a lot more mysterious in the dark than it would have had the lights been functional. With the lights on, it would have been mundane and boring, but with them off? It was a mystery. “I wonder how long it’s been like this.” There were a million different things that could have driven it to abandonment, from the everyday possibilities of the owners’ lack of ability to pay the rent or a decision to move to another location to the more fantastical, New York style answers of alien invasions or demon attacks. “I bet it was miserable,” she mused, running a finger across a dusty desk. “Office work seems so... I just don’t think I could ever do it.” She needed simulation that couldn’t exist in a setting like this one, needed to feel tools under her hands.

Emma had been deeply conflicted over whether to attend Doom’s little soiree or not. On one hand, she had never been in the business of missing out on any kind of party, especially if the guests were sure to prove interesting. On the other, it was her birthday, something that would any other year be a massive event to be celebrated. This year, however, she was turning thirty, and so she was eager to sweep that under the rug, and book herself in for another round of botox the next week for good measure.

“Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile,” she commented as she stood at the bar, watching the other partygoers over the rim of her glass. The relaxation of the curfew had encouraged the city even more than usual to let their hair down, and right now, Emma was watching some truly despicable dancing occurring in front of her. Emma turned around to the person standing next to her, raising an eyebrow as she did. “Let me guess,” she said. “You’re either here for the free booze, or the free entertainment, correct?”

Truthfully, Riri wasn’t usually the party type. She’d much rather be at home in her lab than out at a party, preferred numbers and equations to people and conversations, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t curious. The timing of the party seemed strange, and in order to understand the motive behind it -- if there was any outside the obvious need to set people’s minds at ease -- Riri needed to be in attendance. That didn’t mean she thoroughly enjoyed the experience. So far, much of the party had been spent hovering on the outskirts of the crowd, tightly clutching a drink that she wasn’t actually drinking just so she could have something in her hand.

Hearing someone speak next to her, Riri turned towards the voice and offered the woman a smile. “I guess so,” she agreed mildly, humming as she let her eyes dance over the crowd. They seemed to be having fun, at least. That was worth something. Glancing back to the stranger, she shrugged. “Would you believe me if I said I was here for science?”

Being a hero was never something that Tony had actively strove towards, at least not when he first put on that iron suit. At the time, he had been determined only to get out of that cave alive, to give Yinsen a chance to see his family one more time, and to make up for the atrocities that had been committed in his name, under his nose. It had spiralled since then, of course. Tony had never been satisfied in his life, and it made sense then that he would continue to refine his design long after he returned to the United States. With all of that in mind, being Iron Man was something that was inevitable, something that was as much a part of him as the machines in his workshop, or his proclivity towards making insanely grand mistakes. Being a hero, though, wasn’t standing up in front of the press and feeling the satisfaction of calling Christine Everhart out, stunning her for the first time in history. Being a hero wasn’t signing autographs, or waving out to an adoring crowd. Being a hero was like this – putting people that he cared about in danger. His past coming up to bite him in the ass. The world in the balance, and someone deciding to take advantage of that for their own selfish, twisted purposes.

Tony wasn’t sure that he had ever been as angry in his life as he was in that moment. Tiberius coming after him was one thing, but going into the lake house, into his workshop, into Avengers’ weapon caches, into his business, with the explicit intentions to make the lives of those who cared about Tony and who he adored in return difficult was something that he couldn’t accept. “I’m the lucky one,” Tony said, reaching out with a small smile, squeezing Riri’s shoulder gently. “Being a futurist is what keeps me going, you know? Believing that tomorrow will be better than today. I guess when I met you, I didn’t need to just believe in it anymore. I could see it in front of me.” There were others who looked at younger generations and saw nothing but faults, but Tony had never been one of them. The Iron Man legacy meant something now, purely because there was someone worthwhile waiting to pick it up. “Well if it’s just the one fire, you can focus entirely on that. Very responsible fire making, all things considered.”

‘Genius’ was a term that Tony had applied to himself since he was a child. It was pretty much a given considering who his father was, and his mother was more than capable of handling herself at the same time. Lately, he had been questioning that, but Riri’s faith in him never seemed to waver. “Exactly,” he said with a grin, mock bravado out in full force. “You’re right. We’re already in the shit. I can’t even smell Tiberius Stone over it.” Tony had never claimed to be adept at metaphors. “I want Pepper’s autograph too,” Tony admitted, voice lowered as if it was a secret. “Maybe when we kick this bleached blond asshole back to the western coast - wherever the western coast is now - we’ll be able to persuade her we’re worth the time.”

Considering the life she’d lead, it made sense that Riri had idolized heroes the way she had. She’d grown up knowing her father only through secondhand stories, grown familiar with the sad expression in her mother’s eyes when he came up, noticed the resentment and anger she felt regarding his death even as a young child. Her father had died unnecessarily, violently, and long before he ever had the chance to meet his daughter. Her stepfather had stepped up, had been good to her in ways that had been neither expected nor required of him, but eventually he’d died too, killed in the same manner as her father. After losing so many people to violence, after watching people she loved die senselessly at the wrong end of bullets not even meant for them, it was no surprise that Riri wanted to use her intelligence to prevent such things from happening.

It was also no wonder that she’d chosen Iron Man to look up to most intently. As a child, she’d always admired Tony Stark. His intellect was unparalleled, his determination famed, and his ability to create was unlike anything else the world had ever really seen. She’d never really considered the enemies he might have made outside of his suit until now, never really stopped to think that being Tony Stark could be just as dangerous as being Iron Man. Good men were prone to angering bad ones, she knew, and Tony was one of the best men she’d ever known. She smiled as he squeezed her shoulder, shaking her head slightly. “I’ve got a lot to live up to,” she told him, because she did. If she was going to be the next Tony Stark -- something she’d dreamed of long before she’d met him -- she was going to have to work at it, going to have to give it her all. The Iron Man mantle was one she was more than willing to carry, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t heavy. “Right? I’m basically a fire-master. Queen of all things fire, that’s me!”

Honestly, Crystal was relieved to once again have her own private space. She had adjusted to living under scrutiny in Attilan, had grown accustomed to rarely having a moment alone whilst in public, but she had always been safe whilst in her bedroom or hidden away, training. In the warehouses, it hadn’t been like that. Her space had been designated by a curtain, a luxury that few other people had been afforded, but it had never been sufficient to feel truly alone. At times, now that she had her own apartment, it was lonely. Crystal was used to hearing the quiet murmur of chatter, used to listening for the inhumans’ footsteps during the night, but it was far safer and far more luxurious. “That sounds great, Riri,” she agreed with a smile. “Do you have any specific things to try in mind?” Riri’s brain was always woking, she most likely had some specific ideas already, and Crystal would be happy to try them all out. “Yes, I agree,” she said, taking another small handful of candy. She had always been fond of sweets, but these ones in particular were enjoyable. “Thank you,” she replied with a smile. “We should do that tomorrow morning if you spend the night. I’ll buy you brunch,” Crystal negotiated, using another fancy Earth term proudly. She had memorized the majority of them throughout the years, but she couldn’t help but notice when they were correct. “If it’s not your drama, we’ll need to create you your own,” she decided. Riri deserved all the attention her friends could provide and while drama wasn’t ideal, it was much better than coping with someone else’s. “I can help you find his ex if you’d like,” she offered. “Once he’s imprisoned, that should no longer be a problem, yes?” Crystal was excellent at tracking people, and it didn’t sound like they truly had it ‘under control.’ “Thank you, Riri,” she said with a smile. “I’m glad I finally have my own place, too. It was time, I think.”

Having only recently moved from her mother’s house to her own apartment in New York, Riri knew firsthand that even the smallest apartments could seem massive when you were alone in them. She figured it was an even bigger change going from a warehouse to an apartment, and she wouldn’t be surprised if Crystal found herself lonesome with the change. She was going to do everything in her power to help her friend combat that lonesomeness, starting with movie night. “We can start by working our way through movies we haven’t seen and snacks we haven’t tried,” Riri mused, thinking on the idea. “Maybe move on to experiences, too? Like --- Like I’ve never been on a roller coaster. Have you been on a roller coaster?” Typically, she was more concerned with the mechanics of a roller coaster, would be constantly tempted to take it apart and making calculations regarding speed and velocity throughout the ride, but she figured Crystal had never ridden one and it seemed like something that, objectively speaking, could be fun. “No problem! It could be fun, you know?” Riri was of the thinking that most things could be enjoyable if you tried to make them so. “I’d love to spend the night! And we can definitely do brunch.” Brunch was something she’d never quite tried before moving to New York, but now that she was familiar with it, she found she enjoyed it. Going out somewhere to eat was always far easier for Riri than eating at home; she tended to make food and forget about it when left to her own devices. “I don’t think I’ve ever created my own drama,” she admitted with a laugh. Normal people had a lot of drama throughout high school, she knew, but she’d been so young in high school, so dedicated to her studies that she’d had no time for anything else. Considering Crystal’s offer, she shrugged. “We’ve been looking for him, but if you wanna keep an eye out...” An extra set of eyes could never hurt, could it? “I think so, too. And I think you’re gonna do awesome stuff with it. I bet the decorations will be sweet!”

If there was one thing Kate understood, it was people. From an early age, she had stood in the corner and watched during her father’s parties. Watched all the people there as they charmed each other, as they flattered and undercut and gossiped, all the while smiling. Their smiles never faltered, no matter how dirty the politics of small talk became. She didn’t ever want to be that kind of person, but the skills had come in handy. She could lead her team better because she could read each individual person, and find a way to connect to them. And connecting with Riri? That was easy. She was beautiful and funny and so so intelligent, and Kate could sense a part of her desperate to branch out, but nervous, too. Finding a balance, a way to push her out of her comfort zones without being pushy, that came naturally. Kate just followed her instincts. 

“Then we are going inside,” she declared, beaming brightly. She laughed as they dashed across the street, her heart pounding in her chest, a happy congo-like rhythm as they approached the building. The front door was locked, a heavy chain and padlock on it, and Kate grinned. “Oh, this is too easy,” she said, shaking her head. She reached into her hair, and pulled out a bobby pin. “Clint showed me how to do this ages ago! You know most locks you can like, totally decimate with just a screwdriver? Give me two minutes,” she said, setting to work on the lock. She concentrated, and then – click. “After you,” she said, pulling the chains off and tossing them aside. 

Some people were difficult to read. They said one thing and thought another, smiled and acted friendly towards people they hated. Riri had always struggled to understand that. She understood numbers perfectly, could read a textbook and recite every word back to you without thinking, but people? People were so much harder to get a grasp on. That was part of why she liked Kate so much. Unlike a lot of people, Kate wasn’t covered in layers of false intentions. She was straightforward. She said how she felt, let her thoughts reflect plainly across her face. Riri understood Kate as intricately as she might understand an equation written across a chalkboard, could read her as easily as she read words from a page, and it was so painfully refreshing. It reminded her of Natalie, in a lot of ways. A lot of things about Kate reminded Riri of her best friend, and that was part of why she was drawn to her.

Just because her suit was not gigantic and garish–like some of Tony’s more ostentatious creations–was no reason for anyone not to be impressed. Her suit was quite nice and functional, and she clearly knew how to use it. And, most importantly, she used it for good, which was more than enough of a reason to be impressed. “Yes, really. It’s not easy for anyone to fight for what’s right, regardless of what weapons or abilities they have. And you are using the ones at your disposal excellently, so I can’t imagine how anyone would not be impressed to see you fight. I mean, come on, I’m a guy running around with a old piece of cloth on his back. I’m about as far from looking impressive as you can get!” The Cloak made a point to smack Stephen’s ear with its collar at the insult, but he waved it off.

Stephen smiled at hearing that she did indeed design the suit herself, and hearing that she had things on her suit that Tony did not even have on his really made him grin. “Now that is interesting! Does he know about that? Because if not, I would love to see his face when you tell him!” He liked Tony, but he could not resist taking jabs at the billionaire, and thinking of his reaction to hearing someone else had more bells and whistles on their suit was terribly amusing. She was quite clearly a scientist, that much was certain, judging how she phrased her question about his powers. “My ‘powers’ are simply the ability to draw energy from other dimensions and harness it into 'spells.’ I wasn’t born with them, and the only outside force which helped developed them were books.” He smirked at bit, then clarified, “I didn’t have a run in with a radioactive magician, if that’s what you’re wondering. I was taught how to use the mystic arts by a very wise teacher called the Ancient One. So basically my powers came from a really, really special graduate study curriculum. See, there’s some truth to that old phrase 'knowledge is power’!”

Though she’d never been the sort of person who needed compliments in order to continue doing what she was doing and doing it well, it never hurt to hear them regardless. The fact that a hero like Strange thought she was impressive made Riri feel a sort of vindication, and she grinned under her mask. “Thank you! It means a lot to hear you say that. Sometimes I feel like I’m just kind of scrambling, you know?” it was easy to feel like you had no idea what you were doing when you were surrounded by people with more experience who knew exactly what they were doing. Tony moved as though he and his suit were fused together somehow, as if he was born in it. Riri still struggled from time to time, still faltered. As Dr. Strange continued, she couldn’t help but laugh. “I still think you look impressive! The cloak is very dignified. Do you mind if I ask how it works?” There had to be some sort of motor in it, didn’t there? Maybe an AI similar to FRIDAY or JARVIS giving it sentience. Cloaks definitely didn’t just move on their own. No matter what weird things she’d come across, Riri still believed in science above all.

She laughed at Stephen’s expression, nodding her head in response to the question. “He knows, yeah,” she confirmed. “He’s not always happy about it, but he knows!” Of course, he had things on his suit that weren’t included in hers, too. Though they often shared ideas, Riri and Tony thought fairly differently from one another, and it showed in their designs. No matter how similar they may be, no two engineers produced work identical to one another’s. “Other dimensions?” The interest was clear in her tone and, inside her helmet, her brow was furrowed in thought. “Can you travel between them, or is it limited to drawing energy? Do you have any kind of control over the multiverse?” The idea of gaining his powers entirely through books and teachings was intriguing. In a lot of ways, that was how Riri became a hero, too. “Can anyone learn to use those abilities, or is it limited? Is there a set amount of multiversal energy available to draw from, or is it infinite?” The questions were all rapid-fire now, one after another in quick succession. Riri had always been like that, often asking questions too quickly for anyone to answer them.

“I’ve been trying to figure out how to delete it for a few months,” Steve admitted. He was trying desperately to catch up on technology, but while he’d learned how to retrieve files from SHIELD or the Tower (where FRIDAY did all the work for him), he still needed a lot of help with anything more complicated than a cell phone. A regular cell phone, why did everyone want their stuff to be smart? “I know what you mean,” he said, laughing as he punched another demon into her blasts. “I’ll put it on the list.” 

It felt a little like talking to Dum-E, when she gestured like that, but he couldn’t complain about the range of motion too much. Not when she zipped around like a bird of prey, and took out demons with more than a casual passing grace. Did Tony teach her that, or had she figured it out on her own? 

The demons numbers were wearing thin, and several were starting to retreat. Steve let them go, holding his ground with his shield out. Finally, he turned towards Riri. “Nah,” he shrugged. “My mom – we couldn’t afford it.” His mom had gotten sick not too long after he joined, and she never did get better. “I did get there when I was with the army. Course, they were European woods.” He checked her out, but the suit was barely dinged, even after the swarm of demons that had attacked. “You’re good,” he said, nodding to her. “Wouldn’t have guessed you were that new. How old are you?” he asked, thinking please say over eighteen. He nodded again. “That’s – he’s a good partner to have.” He knew that from experience. 

“I’m sure Tony’d delete it for you if you asked!” He wouldn’t, but Riri could pretend she’d heard about the account for the first time and offer to do it herself without compromising her secret identity that way. “A list? You have a list? What kind of list?” Riri was curious by nature, it was what made her a scientist. She couldn’t let things go with offhanded mentions, couldn’t let things remain vague. Tony was the same way, she knew, which would at least meant that Steve was probably used to it.

They made a pretty good team, Riri figured. She wasn’t entirely accustomed to team-ups yet, usually fought alongside people she was really familiar with, like Tony. It was simpler when you know what moves the other person was going to make long before they made them, when you knew their equipment as well as you knew your own. Still, fighting alongside Steve hadn’t felt complicated the way it sometimes did when strangers jumped in to battle beside her. 

ZATANNA sat upright with her legs crossed and eyes closed as she levitated over the yoga mat at the center of Zatara’s Magic Shop. She was trying to refocus herself with meditation - a trick her father taught her long ago. It was well past curfew and she really should have been home, but that was the last place she wanted to be. 

She simply focused on the sound of her own breathing and tried to tune out the world. It was no easy task. Her mind was buzzing with worry for her friends and fellow citizens. This shop, her shop, wasn’t really her shop. It was a cheap imitation. She had sensed this the very first day the pocket world took hold, but pushed the feeling aside. That is until those feelings were confirmed: everything in this world was a knockoff of the real world. Ever since then Zee was determined to break free. This wasn’t her first stint in another dimension and she was certain she would find a way out if she could simply refocus herself.

The sound of the front door opening jolted Zatanna from her meditative stated. Her concentration broke as did her levitation. She fell to the ground with a soft thump and looked in the direction of the door. “We’re closed, hon,” she called out. And locked. She knew she had locked the door before getting down to business. She stood up and dusted herself off, trying to get a better look at the person. Realizing they were out past curfew and may be in need of a place to hide out she asked, “What are you doing out so late? Are you alright?”

Going out after curfew was an objectively terrible idea. Riri knew that, had had it proven to her over and over and over again. She wasn’t sure why she kept going out night after night regardless of the fact. As a scientist, she ought to know better, but Riri had never been someone whose thoughts were colored only by logic. Her heart played heavily into her decisions, lead her to build a suit of armor and fight crime and go out after curfew even though she knew it was a bad idea.

It wasn’t a surprise when it bit her in the ass, really. It always did, and she’d long since stopped feeling any semblance of shock at expected outcomes. There were cops coming at her from one direction, demons from the other, and Riri sort of... panicked a little. She dove into the nearest building for cover.

She’d expected to find it empty. This time of night, after curfew, it was a pretty fair bet to assume that any building that wasn’t a house or apartment ought to be unoccupied, but tonight in this building, it wasn’t the case. She spun as someone spoke behind her, raising her gauntlet hastily and lowering it when the person in question didn’t seem to be an immediate threat. “Uh, I was... Taking a walk?” Glancing down at her armor, she sighed. “A very, uh, safe walk. Or, uh, cosplaying! Yeah! I’m cosplaying Iron Man.” That was a thing people did, right?

Now that Crystal had a place of her own, she had no shame in showing it off. She had been essentially homeless for a long time, and while it had been difficult to cope with, the promise of rebuilding was what got her through. That hadn’t changed, but Attilan’s construction, considering how complex it had been, would take a long time. The apartment building was beautiful and more than Crystal ever imagined them owning, but she hadn’t lived there long enough to definitively call it home. “We can try plenty of new things,” Crystal decided. Riri wouldn’t mind, she seemed excited by the prospect of expanding her horizons, as the saying went. “Candy and movies do go together,” she agreed, trying one of the candies curiously. It wasn’t a brand that she had tasted in the past — the majority of the candy Crystal had had, Johnny bought for her years ago — but she decided that she liked the sugary taste immediately. “I’ll show you,” Crystal said with a grin. The walk to her bedroom was roughly six steps maximum, but the space inside was clean, sparse, but much more than Crystal had had in a long time. “I was thinking about bringing some of the intact stuff from my room Attilan here,” she told Riri. “And then I can take some Photo Booth pictures and all that… add some personal touches,” she said, shrugging a shoulder. “Thank you,” Crystal added sincerely. She liked to believe that herself and the inhumans deserved more than a warehouse, but not every human had been welcoming. “Is it bad drama? Do you need help?” Crystal asked, more concerned about Riri than Tony. “I’m doing well, I can’t complain at all. Look at all this!”

Independence had always been a big deal for Riri. Unfortunately, a lack of funds had prevented her from having her own apartment away from her mother in Chicago, though she wasn’t sure she would have been living on her own so soon after her stepfather’s death anyways. She would have felt bad, leaving her mom alone after that. Still, the garage had functioned as Riri’s own space, and it had been monumentally important to her. Everyone deserved a place of their own, and the fact that Crystal had finally gotten one was exciting. The inhuman princess deserved so much more than living in a cramped warehouse! The apartment was small, but as long as Crystal was happy with it, Riri was thrilled for her. “We’ll start a club! A whole club dedicated to trying new things.” It was something that had become important to Riri since Natalie’s death. Falling into a slump after a tragedy was far too easy, and though some time had passed since her best friend’s death, Riri was determined not to let herself do that. “Candy goes with everything, I think,” she decided, looking over the candy station she’d set up with a satisfied nod. She and Crystal were incredible at movie night, she decided. They could be pros! Following Crystal to her bedroom, Riri smiled brightly. “I can help you move anything over that you need,” she offered. “We can go over and collect whatever you think would look good here!” She nodded as Crystal continued, thinking of her own apartment. The most ‘personal touch’ it had was her scattered half-finished inventions, but that was how Riri operated. If apartments were meant to be reflective of the people living in them, hers certainly held up. “You’re welcome,” she replied with a smile. At the question, she shrugged. “It’s not even my drama,” she sighed. “That’s the bad part! I’m getting dragged into Tony’s weird college breakup debacle! I think his ex is a supervillain or something, I don’t know. We’re handling it!” Team Iron-People totally had the situation under control, didn’t they? “This is all amazing,” she said with a smile, looking around. “Seriously, it’s super great! I’m glad you’ve got a place of your own, Crystal.”

Honestly, Cindy wasn’t sure if dating was a ‘me thing’ either. She hadn’t been out of the bunker long, she was struggling to find her place in the world, her family had disappeared, she was furious, and counselling wasn’t helping a whole lot, but dating would be fun! Hopefully, she wasn’t entirely sure. At least if she was going on dates, getting to know new people, Cindy would be exposed further to the world. Besides, Tommy made it look so easy, and if he could excel at it, Cindy sure could (most likely). “Why are you stammer? Tinder sounds like fun. Is it because you’re a master at it and lying?” Yeah, that had to be it! Or Riri was just as awkward as Cindy could be. “I think so,” she replied, shrugging a shoulder. So far, Cindy’s only hobbies included frantically searching for her family, moonlighting as Silk, and doing a decent job for the Daily Bugle by photographing herself. None of it was exactly impressive. “Why isn’t it a ‘you thing?’” Cindy asked, looking over at Riri. “You’re young, you’re beautiful and you got like… years ahead of you to settle down. Or are you just super into commitment?” Cindy was asking a lot of questions here, oops.

Dating had always been something that interested Natalie far more than Riri. Her best friend had always talked adamantly about her crushes, going through them quickly and rarely maintaining interest for long. She’d rant and rave about the boy of the week as Riri hummed and nodded and worked on whatever was in front of her, but Riri had never really understood it. Boys weren’t something that interested Riri in the slightest, but for Natalie’s sake, she’d always been willing to pretend. “Uh, I’m definitely not a master at it,” she laughed, shaking her head. “I’m the opposite of a master. I’m a novice. A beginner. A total rookie!” There was no real word to describe just how little experience Riri had with dating apps. The few people she had dated had been brief relationships, and usually they’d met through some shared interest like a STEM-based club or conference. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just not super into... people? I’d rather be in my lab than on a date, you know?” Cindy, though, deserved dates and apps and everything that came along with it, and if she wanted Riri’s help to get it all, she wasn’t about to say no. “But if you want to download Tinder together, I’ll do it for you! We can double date. We probably should double date, I mean, meeting people you met on a dating app alone doesn’t seem safe, does it?”