#largerthanlife

@beguilcd

               "No, stop. Faith. You're thinging the thing wrong," Tony's a disembodied voice if you're not right in front of the screen streaming his feed. He's in the suit, camera almost disorientingly fixated directly on his face but tilted at a weird angle thanks to a blast from some sort of enemy in whatever fight he happens to be in today. Somehow, managing to balance that fight with training Fury's newest recruit, "Turn them over and look for the seam next to the blue seal, there should be a silver snap. Press that, it should open. Those aren't gauntlets, don't put them on your wrists - holy!" he dodges something or other, the background noise sounds like a collapsing building but there shouldn't be any buildings at all where he is, "Think of them more like boxing gloves. No! Brass knuckles. They snap around your hands, should fit comfortably."

"Right," if it looks like Faith's not listening, it's because she's not. Tony talks a lot, a whole fucking lot, and she finds it's better to try and do than to wait for his instructions because God knows he beats around the bush. She could grow old and die waiting on him. Only, it's probably a good idea to start listening because when Tony flat out tells her not to try and snap the targets around her wrists, that's exactly what she's trying to do.

               She pauses, comically in mid-snap, then snarls something under her breath and starts to fix the damn things to her hands, "I look stupid, or something?"

---- Tony knows better than to answer that. Faith could bust open his suit with her bare hands if she wanted to and he's not going to shake her up and leave her alone with all his equipment to rip his life's work to scrap. Not that he thinks she would, he just sort of thinks she would.

If he didn't need his eyes right now, he'd be rolling them. Instead, he mumbles something to his suit's computer that Faith doesn't catch then throws back to her, "Got em on? Good Slayer. Now, they can take a punch or a blast. Those eye drones are equipped with some pretty bad-assed lasers, if I do say so myself. They're gonna wanna shoot you once the system's activated so don't activate it until you're in the enclose-"

                 ZAAAAAAAAP!!!!

     Faith, who was entirely listening, slowly straightens back up from a crouch and looks down at one of the targets she's wearing like boxing gloves. It's smoking, chipped from the laser's direct hit. She’s clearly impressed. Looks back up at the eye drone, hovering in front of her while the light in it's mechanical laser eye slowly fades, "Whoa..."

         Tony winces, but it's barely there. Sort of like a nervous tik but he dramatically shakes it off and sighs, "Like I was saying, don't power it up until you're in the enclosure in the middle of the room. Sensitive equipment, billions of dollars. Yadda-yadda. Trying to avoid tragedy, here."

                 "Yeah, yeah," she's on the move, passing one of the stakes in Tony's field generator to get into the center. The drones follow, hovering behind her like terrifying metal balloons while she finds her footing and whips out a fighting stance that doesn't look like it'd be particularly good for actually fighting, "Shield up!" and, on command, the stakes light up blue beams between them, a milky field to keep the lasers from hitting anything important. Faith squeezes her hands into fists and both the drones flash her way, shoot thick, white laser fire. She blocks one with the target on her fist and dodges the other with a somersault.

          "Good. Good. You're doing good." Tony's not actually looking. He can pretty much figure out she's not dead, thanks to the grunting, and he sounds distracted, "Don't wait for them to fire, try and dodge where you think they'll be. Should be easy, they're after your hands, so. Do you want an espresso creme? I think I want an espresso creme. I mean, war going on so obviously later." and, when the door opens, Tony's screen turns towards it, "Oh, it's just you," it's flippant, like he didn't know Banner was set to show up today, "About that meeting thing we were gonna do? You know, about the plasma..." Tony glances at Faith, suddenly remember she's alive and gently clearing his voice, "The, uh, thing we were gonna discuss? I kinda got involved in a land war in Asia, so rain check? Hey, are you craving espresso creme or is it just me?"

“Something big has taken over at #FPZoo ... Wicked BIG Bugs, that is.  ⠀⠀⠀ This summer, roles will be reversed as you venture through this new seasonal exhibit and find yourself looking up into the eyes of larger-than-life animatronic insects and arachnids! Meet the newest residents of the Zoo through Labor Day 🕷 🐜 🐛 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Learn more: zoonewengland.org/wickedbigbugs”