章節 41: The Iron Legacy
It took me an hour to help clean up the mess the Sinister Six caused. When I was done I decided to head to the Baxter building, Liz and the others must be worried sick. And I need to explain myself and give Reed a piece of my mind while I'm at it!
"Spider, you're receiving a call from your father, shall I put it through?" Sexy suddenly said.
"Oh...right," I landed on a rooftop and sighed, " put him through," I can already guess what he was going to do.
"Peter?! Oh thanks God! Are you okay? Did you get hurt?!" his voice was panicky as he asked each question one after another.
"I'm fine dad," I sighed, "this isn't my first tussle with those clowns and I doubt it will be last."
"Oh thank God, I was so worried," wait for it, "what were you thinking?! Do you have a death wish?!" There it is.
I sighed, "I had to do something."
"I thought you have given up on this crazy idea of being the Spider?! You finally were getting better Peter?! Why?! Why did you do this?!"
"Because people were getting hurt," I growled out, "you would rather I do nothing?!"
"Yes! At least then I won't have to worry about my son coming home in a body bag!"
"Yeah well then maybe that's the difference you and me! I don't run away from trouble, I run into it. And as long as I can make a difference I will."
"Peter you cannot do this. I will not allow you!"
"You can't do shit to stop me," I growled back, "I am Spider-man, and I swear if you even think of doing something I will never forgive you. I'll talk about this at home Richard," I spat cutting the call.
I sighed, "I fucking hate family drama." I leaned on the roof railing and looked out. The people around me, the world, it felt a little safer now, maybe it was me, maybe, but either way, everything felt better. It's like they all knew as one that I was back.
I continued on my way to the Baxter building, and just then I got another message.
Bring!
"A message from one Mary Jane Watson sir," my female AI replied, "she says that you owe her 50 bucks."
I chuckled, "tell her to put it on my tab." I swing over to the building quickly and landed on the veranda. I walked in and spotted Liz with Johnny on the couch with Sue on the loveseat and Reed on the couch, all of them staring at the news on TV.
"Peter!" Liz noticed me first as he jumped away from Johnny and ran to me. She had a bright smile on her face as she looked at me, "I knew you couldn't quit!"
I sighed as I took off my mask that turned into it's tab form when on standby, "yeah yeah, I already owe MJ 50 bucks."
"I glad you're alright," she said giving me a light hug before breaking it off, "now, WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING TAKING ON SIX OF THEM AT ONCE?!"
"And that's my cue to pull her away," Johnny said as he grabbed Liz by the arm.
"NO! He needs to understand he acted like a fuckign lunatic! He could have called the Avengers! Anyone! But nooo, he had to do this on his freaking own!"
"Yes sweetie," Johnny said as he pulled her to his room. He turned back to me and gave me a smirk, "glad to have you back man. The real you I mean."
"Glad to be back," I turned to Sue, who had now put her book away and put all her focus on me. I smiled, "think I was stupid too?"
"You could have called me or Johnny to help Peter," she replied moving over to make room for me in the loveseat.
I sat down next to her, her warmth drawing me closer like a moth to a flame. I could smell her scent, it made me sign in relaxation. "I know, but...it's something I need to do on my own."
"You could have died," Sue snapped.
I looked at her and smiled, "you know that can't happen right? I'm basically unkillable-"
"-I don't care about your healing powers Peter! If they cut off your freaking head there's no coming back from that!" Sue yelled out, her teeth bared as she glared at me in hate.
I sighed, "I'm sorry."
"Not good enough."
"Fine. I'll do the foundation's laundry for a week."
"We have a freaking laundry machine!"
"So? Someone still has to put them into the machine and take it out!"
Sue rolled her eyes, "a month."
I smirked, "deal," I put my arm on the couch's backrest, over Sue's shoulders, and leaned back, "not a bad day I think."
"Twitter's been blowing up."
"What do they say?"
"They are glad you're back," she smiled at me, "genuinely glad. They felt afraid, but now that the Spider is back, people feel safe again. One look at you and people are suddenly brave again. Who knew a spider could amass such bravery?"
I looked at her and grinned, "me. Why do you think I had it spray painted on my jacket?"
"I'm sure it has nothing to do with the spider that bite you," Sue rolled her eyes at me. We chuckled, Reed, finally making some sort of noise since I entered.
I turned to him, "is it gone?"
Reed nodded, "yes, I made sure to dismantle it and wipe its system from the servers. It won't ever be used again."
"Good," I glared, "I don't know what you were thinking..."
"Peter...what happened?" Susan asked, her hand over mine, "what happened to you...when you went through that portal?"
I smiled, "something freaking awesome," both Reed and Sue were startled at my smile, I guess that's to be expected, I didn't smile much before. "In fact, I have pictures!"
I took out my phone, the one I carried with me all throughout my journey, to Earth 982, to Mephisto's realm and eventually back home.
"Sexy, display these on the TV," I called out, my AI doing just there, mirroring my phone screen onto the big screen TV.
"This, is Franklin Richards," I pulled up a photo of my and Franky, it was right after our journey in the negative zone, he looked exhausted, but happy, with one arm over my shoulders and a grin one his face.
"Franklin?" Sue blinked.
"Richards?" Reed blinked.
I grinned, "the future son of Sue and Reed Richards," I swiped the photo displaying the Fantastic Five in all their glory, "in the world where I went too, everything was older. And instead of four of you, there was five. Johnny, Ben, Reed,Franklin and Johnny's wife Lyja."
"That green woman is Johnny's wife?!" Sue gasped.
"Yep," I nodded.
"Wait...where am I?" Reed asked, "I don't see myself in the picture."
"You're right there," I pointed at the grey robot, "you lost your body in the future, but your mind was still intact. So you transfered it into a robot body….kind of badass is you ask me."
"This is amazing…." Sue replied as I spent an hour talking to them about what I saw. I avoided topics like being Strange's apprentice and fighting the devil, but the adventures I had with Franklin and the rest were an open book.
It was around ten in the night when I drove back home. I got Doc to bring the car back from the Avengers tower on autopilot, I sort of forgot I left it there. I changed into my normal clothes and walked inside, I was kind of expecting to see Peter, MJ and May, but instead I got my other family, Ben, May and Richard, all looking very worried.
I walked in, closing the door behind me, "hey, sorry I'm late. There was a mix up at the lab."
"Peter, oh thank God," Richard rushed to me, smothering me with a hug, "are you alright?"
"I told you, I'm fine," I sighed hugging him back, "nothing happened."
Ben smiled, "we told him that, but he kept insisting something was wrong. Did you do something funny Peter?"
I chuckled, "no, nothing too bad," I smiled at Richard who looked away, a little angry but doing his best to control it, "actually….I have something to say to you guys."
"What is it dear?" May asked, worried.
"Thank you," I smiled, "I know it's been...difficult having to deal with me after Felicia and Doom. But...thanks, for not giving up."
Ben got up, he ruffled my hair with a grin, "never."
"Peter...you seem...happier," May said cautiously.
I chuckled, "yeah, I finally pulled my head out of my ass."
"Language," Richard scolded. I grumbled, 'so that's where future Peter Parker gets it from.'
"What happened Peter?" Ben asked curiously, "you seem...different."
I grinned, "just got some time to my to gain some perspective," suddenly my stomach began to groan, "ah...also an appetite it seems."
Ben laughed, "alright then, let's get you something to chow down on. And while we do that, you can tell us what exactly happened."
I groaned, great, I have to lie again. But dinner that night was nice. I never realised how much I missed having these people in my life. My 'future family' were nice to spend time with, but this...these were the people I knew.
Two days later:
"You know, you never did tell us what happened to you," MJ spoke as she sipped her cup of coffee.
She, Liz and I all sat in my favorite coffee shop. School had just closed for christmas and we had a lot to catch up on.
Since that day things have been...different. It took a few days for me to get back into the flow of things. People to meet and all that. The Avengers were worried, but they were just glad I'm okay, especially Tony, kept rubbing the fact that he was right.
Reed on the other hand was still racked with guilt. I felt bad for the guy, but he deserves it, I made sure to tell him never to do something that reckless again and he agreed. Thank God.
People actually had a theory that the 'real' Spider-man was dead and the guy who stopped the Sinister Six was actually Captain America in disguise. The 'proof' for this was the prices of Iron Man's suits.
Needless to say that theory always cracked me up.
"There isn't really much to say MJ," I told her sipping my own coffee, "I was transported into another world where I was much older, around 50 I think, and I had to survive there for three months. I got help from the Fantastic Five, who are pretty dope by the way, and a magician."
Liz snorted, "magic, right."
I looked at her and raised an eyebrow. I extended a finger and slowly a small red line came out, grabbing her cup and pulling it out of her reach. MJ and Liz's eyes widened comically.
I smiled as I ended the spell, "it's called the whips of Vastha, pretty cool huh? It was the last spell he taught me, it took me forever to get it down."
"You can do magic?!" MJ shirked in silent awe.
I shrugged, "oh please, don't sound too surprised. I'm awesome like that."
Liz blinked, "what else did you see there? You're like fifty there right? Did you like have a wife and kids? Were you married?"
That question gave me pause. MJ and Liz leaned in to hear the answer, and I knew I couldn't tell them the truth. MJ had just started dating Mark, and form what I heard it was going great. But if I tell her, 'oh hey MJ, remember that girl version of me that visited us? Well I lied, she's actually our daughter from another world where we both got together and had a kid!'. Obviously, that can't happen.
I shook my head, "no. I was alone. That version of me had quite being Spider-man and instead became a forensic scientist. Pretty cool dude, if I do say so myself. But he does have this stupid looking goatee," I ended with a grumble.
"What about us?" Liz asked, "did you see a version of us?"
I schook my head, "no, sorry. That me figured it would be best if I didn't learn too much about the world, that way it won't hurt like a mother fucker when I leave them all behind," I lied.
MJ hume, "damn. I would love to know what I end up as."
"Why? Wondering if you and Mark end up together?" Liz asked lilly to which MJ blushed a shade similar to her hair.
We chatted for some more time, just three friends. We talked about MJ's new play and how she got the lead in it. We talked about Liz and Johnny's date to Florida where Johnny had to save her from an alligator. All in all, it was a good day.
And then, just as I was going to pay for our coffee the TV in the coffee shop caught my attention displaying the latest news of a bombing in California. An act of terrorism, the Mandarin claimed responsible. And Tony had officially just challenged him to a fist fight.
I sighed, Iron Man 3 ladies and gentlemen.
"Is he going to be okay?" MJ asked me in a whisper as we left the coffee shop.
"He will be," I took out my tablet, "Sexy, call up Pepper and tell her the Spider is coming to give his assistance."
"Shouldn't we tell Mr. Stark first sir?" Sexy asked.
"No, he's too stubborn for it," I sighed.
"Are you going?" Liz asked as we walked up to my car.
"Yeah," I opened the door and got in, "he had my back with my suit and he gave me this bitching AI-"
"-Damn straight," I was teaching Sexy how to gain some attitude, so far it's been a success.
"I owe him," I smiled at the girls, "don't wait up," I drove out, leaving them behind.
"Damn it," I heard MJ grumble, "that was my ride."
I drove the car into a secluded alley before kicking in flight mode and lifting off vertically into the air. I engaged stealth mode, making me invisible to radar, and took off full throttle towards Malibu. I punched in Tony's home address, he did just give it out on national TV.
"How long till we reach?" I asked allowed.
"4 hours sir," replied Doc, my onboard AI for the car.
"Alright then, Sexy, call Sue and then home, I need to explain my absence as best as I can," I sighed, guess it's time to lie again.
Four hours later:
We were coming up on Malibu air space. I had actually taken some time to sleep and now yawned fresh and awake. I quickly changed into my Spiderman costume, I had taken time to repair it and it was now good as new. Though I figured it would be time to upgrade soon….provided I manage to get enough capital to do that.
"We're currently flying directly over Mr. Stark's recidence," Sexy called out, I looked down and sure enough there it was. And we weren't the only ones here as it was surrounded by news helicopters, a few of which I knew must belong to the Mandarin.
"Great," I looked around, so far the copper looked normal enough, maybe they were bidding their time, hm… "Sexy, do you think you can hack into the onboard systems of these choppers?"
"Of course, who do you think I am?" Sexy replied.
"Good. I'll go down, you and Doc stay up here and be on patrol. The Mandarin has control over several helicopters disguised as news choppers. They should come at the house from the sea, if you spot anyone of them with a system that has freaking rocket launchers in it take over and crash them into the sea. Got it?"
"Understood Spider, good luck," Sexy replied.
"Thanks," I opened the door and leaped out, "I'll need it." I dropped down twenty feet onto the roof before landed in a roll. Immediately twenty or so rocket launchers popped out of the ground, pointed at me.
"Hault! Identify yourself," I heard JARVIS call out.
"It's me, Spider-man, tell Tony I came to help," I ignored the rockets, obviously if they were any harm to me my spidey senses would have warned me. I walked over to the edge of the roof and jumped down.
I walked right up to the door and pulled it open, "honey! I'm home!" I found Tony, with his mark 42 armour placed off to the side, Pepper and another woman around their age with brown hair and black skin looking very worried.
"Spider?" Tony blinked, "great, did everyone just decide to pop in and visit?"
"I'm sorry, didn't Pepper tell you?" I turned to the red hed, "hi by the way, I'm Spider-man."
Pepper nodded, "he called, said he wanted to help."
"Only you can threaten a terrorist, give him your home address and then act like nothing happened Tony," I snorted as I turned to the woman, curious, "and you are?"
"Maya, Maya Hansen Williams," she replied.
"And what are you doing here?" I asked.
"Yes, I think we would all like to know that," Tony asked, "first you arrive out of nowhere after thirteen years, and then you warn me to leave without giving me any reason as to why."
Maya looked at us before sighing, "I-I think my boss is working for the Mandarin."
"I'm sorry, but I thought you were a botanist," Pepper asked surprised.
Maya snorted, "figures. Did you really have to under sell me so much Tony?"
Tony snorted, "she's a biological DNA coder. She was working on...Extremis, right?"
Maya snorted, "at least you remember that...look, he's coming for you, and we need to get got, understand?"
"Actually, this might be the safest place for us all right now," I said.
"No, nowhere is safe," Maya argued, "he's coming for us, all of us."
"JARVIS," I called out, "activate the house party protocol."
"I'm sorry sir, but I'm not allowed to do that without authorisation from Mr. Stark," the AI replied.
"Wait, how did you even know about that protocol?" Tony asked.
"I'll explain later Tony, for now, could you please just activate the damn protocol? It would be hell of a lot better than just having one suit out."
"Well...I guess," Tony blinked, "why didn't I think of this before?"
"Maybe because you're going on less than three hours of sleep sir for the past week?" JARVIS suggested.
"What?!" Pepper cried out, "Tony-"
"-Not now," Tony sighed, "JARVIS, activate the House Party protocol and put them all on stand by around the house."
"Ah, guys, should you be worried about that?" Maya pointed at the TV screen where the image of a rocket heading straight for the house was displayed on the NEWS.
"No, we really don't," I tapped my helmet, "Sexy, you got this?"
"Bypassing the rocket's internal targeting system and...reroutign complete," Sexy replied as the rocke suddenly veered off course, heading straight into the sky.
"You named your AI Sexy?" Tony asked surprised.
"Yup. Why? Jealous?" I chuckled.
"No, not at all. It's just the most advanced AI on the planet, sure, go ahead and objectify it," Tony shrugged.
"Excuse me sir," JARVIS coughed.
"Oh, sorry about that," Tony replied.
"What about the helicopters?" I asked into my compns.
"They're being taken care off as we speak," Sexy replied. We all turned to the windows that looked out into the ocean and the terrorist coppers disguised as news choppers were spinning out of control.
"Nice job," I whistled, "do me a favour hon and crash them into the sea," I turned to Tony, "thik JARVIS can swoop them up with your suits?"
"You heard the man," Tony replied into his coms. And just like that I prevented the entire plot of Iron Man 3. Thank you How It Should Have Ended!
"Now, who the hell is your boss" I turned to Maya, she was different from the movies...yes, she was black instead of white, sue me. Did I do this? No, she was born way before I arrived...but there were differences between this universe and MCEU, whatever they are.
"Aldrich Killian," Maya replied getting looks from both Pepper and Tony.
Tony smirked turning to Pepper, "I told you-"
"-Not one word," Pepper shot him down.
"I think you should start explaining," I told her motioning to the couch where they all sat down while I stood off in the background.
"I-I...I began working for Killian because he gave me the funds needed to continue the Extremis virus project," Maya began, "he used it to use his disability and started marketing it as a cure of sorts."
"A cure? A cure for what?" Tony asked.
"Sexy, get me everything you can about this project from JARVIS," I whispered into my comns.
"At once Sider," she replied as a list of detail upon the project came on my screen.
"Everything," Maya replied, "it could cure anything that faulted a human's gene...I based it off off a mutant I met a while ago, altering the X gene to form a virus-"
"-that could replicate cells at an extreme rate causing a near perfect human specimen," Tony finished, "yeah, I remember that. But what does that have to do with the Mandarin?"
"Because Aldrich can't sell the extremis unless there's a war to fight...a war with the Mandarin."
"Fucking hell," I groaned, "alright then, so you're working for AIM?"
Maya looked over at me, "yes, I am."
"So why should we believe a word you say?" I asked, obviously pushing for the narrative I was secretly aiming for. They don't know she was secretly working for Aldrich, I did.
"What? Why do you think I'm here? Risking my neck out like this?!" Maya screamed.
"Because you failed to perfect Extremis," I replied smoothly, "I had time to review the Mandarin's bombings. And from what' I'm seeing based upon the data JARVIS has on hand about your little project, it sucks. JARVIS, display please."
I snapped my fingers as a hologram came up detailing Maya's work. I pointed at a genetic sequence, "there. This would cause the subject to overheat upon their own cellular generation. Causing a total cellular collapse meaning they would burn into nothing, in plants. If Aldrich is using them on humans like you suggested, the result would be far more explosive. Tony, they never did find any bomb casing did they?"
Tony blinked for a second before nodding, "they weren't bombs...they were people," he looked at Maya, horror on his face, "what did you do?"
Maya froze, she she looked at me, "h-how did you know?"
I shrugged, "I'm a pretty good detective."
"I'll say," Peper replied looking stunned, "do you want a job?"
"He has one," Tony turned to Maya, "did you know?"
"I-I-"
"-Did you know?!"
Maya looked down in shame, "yes. I did."
Tony got up and walked away, he looked torn, defeated even. He turned around and glared, "why? Why would you do this?! The Maya I knew-"
"-You don't know shit about me Stark!" Maya roared getting on her feet, "you haven't for twelve years! I did what I had to do because you left me no fucking choice!"
"No, no, yo do not get to put this on me! I didn't make you work for Aldrich! And I certainly didn't help you -"
"-Mom?"
We all turned around as a young twelve year old black girl walked in through the front door looking around.
"Riri, what are you doing here?" Maya jumped out of her seat, running to her side.
"JARVIS, how did she get in here?" Tony asked.
"I'm sorry sir, but somehow my systems did not detect the presence of the young girl," JARVIS replied.
"Mom, what's going on?" the girl looked at us, her eyes going wide as she spotted me, "is that Spider-man?! Oh my god! This is so cool!"
I blinked, "Sexy, do a facial recognition search on her."
"Right away Spider," Sexy replied.
"Riri, what are you doing here? I told you to wait in the car," Maya grabbed the girl's hand looking worried.
"Yeah, but I wanted to see Iron Man," she looked over, "and Spiderman! Oh my God this is so cool! I'm totally nerding out right now!"
"Spider, her name is Riri Natasha Williams, her mother is Maya Hazen Williams. She's homeschooled, no records of her other than a birth certificate.'
I blinked, "ah...any chance that birth certificate was issued nine months after Maya Hansen met Tony Stark?"
"Searching…..no sir, she was born six months after that," Sexy replied.
I groaned, "was she premature?"
"Searching...yes, it appears so."
I turned to Tony, "dude, you're a father." And judging from Tony's look of horror and Pepper's matching gaping look, they figured that out.
I turned ot the little black girl, Riri Williams. Wasn't she a superhero in my world? Yeah...in the comic books, she was a 15 year old MIT student that figured out Tony's suit design and made one of her own. But here, in this world, it looks like Riri was Tony's...daughter...oh fuck me.
"How did you get in here?" Maya asked pulling Riri out.
"I just hacked into the system to let me in," Riri shrugged showing a tablet on hand with JARVIS's main frame displayed on it.
"Come, we're leaving."
"But mom! That's Tony Stark! The Iron man! And Spider-man is right there."
"Maya stop right there," Tony called out, the Maya froze, fear oozed out of her, I could smell it, "is-is she...is she..."
"Tony...please," Maya looked afraid, "not now."
"Damn it Maya!" Tony cried out rushing at them, "is she my daughter?!"
"Say what?!" Riri's mouth dropped, "Iron man's my dad?!"
"Is this why you agreed to work for Aldrich?" I asked taking a shot in the dark.
Maya looked at me and sighed, "yes...when Riri was born," she looked to Riri, "they said she wouldn't make it past the week."
"You used Extremis on her didn't you?" I asked, everything clicking into place. In the original timeline Maya Hansen worked for AIM because Tony broke her heart and she needed to prove herself by perfecting Extremis.
But in this world, the preceness of Riri Williams threw that all into the gutter. Maya used Extremis on her own daughter...meaning Riri was on a clock.
"That's why you need me," Tony realised looking at the girl who shared his blood, "because...because she's dying."
"I'm sorry hold the phone," Riri pulled her hand out of her mother's grip, "what the hell is going on here?! Mom! I thought you said we were visiting an old friend?!"
"W-we are," Maya looked away, "and he's going to help you."
"Help me? Help me with...with my fever? Mom I told it, it's just a cold, it'll go away in a few days!" Riri cried out.
"I don't think it's a cold little dude," I walked up behind her and noted the sweat stains on her brow and neck, "I think it's a lot worse."
Riri blinked, "like what?"
"Like a virus your mother injected into your blood to save your life," Tony replied, "JARVIS, get the systems ready," he turned to Maya, "do you have her records?"
"It's all here in these files," she gave Tony a flash drive, "so you'll do it?"
"Yes," tony took the drive before pausing, "why didn't….why didn't you tell me?"
Maya looked at him straight in the eyes, "would you have cared even if I did?"
"Yes!" Tony snapped, "for God's sake! She's my kid!"
"No! You do not get to say that, not after you just left me all those years ago!" Maya snapped back.
"That was a one night stand and you knew that getting into it!" Tony replied, "don't try to pretend that's the same thing as not telling me I had a kid!"
I looked at Riri, the girl looked like she was getting increasingly more and more frightened by the second. I sighed, "enough!" I shouted making everyone flinch, "Tony, Maya, deal with your shit later," I patted Riri's shoulder, "for now, focus on saving your daughter's life. Is that understood?"
Tony looked at Riri, for the first time making eye contact with the girl who would be his child. He nodded, "right...yeah, sorry. Come on kid," he waved her over as he walked away to the stairs, all of us following him.
We entered the lab just as the last of Tony's many many suits exited the lab setting up a perimeter around his hour, both in air and on land. From the monitors I could see the Mandarin's men being pulled out of the ocean by the suit's and delivered to the SHIELD agents outside Tony's gates that had come for his 'protection'.
"JARVIS, scan and compile," Tony inserted the drive into her terminal.
"At once sir," JARVIS replied.
Tony sighed and looked over, silence falling over us. Pepper and I took a back seat, obviously feeling like intruders in this obviously private family esque moment. We waited, but for the longest moment no one said anything, each simply observing each other, Riri at her supposed father, Tony at his daughter and Maya at her child.
I cleared my throat, "so it seems awkward silence is a father-daughter thing huh?"
"You shut up," Tony pointed a finger at me.
"Mom...is he really my dad?" Riri asked her mother, finally breaking her silence.
Maya sighed, "yes Riri...he is."
"That….is so cool!" Riri cried out, "hey, did you really like remove your own heart and use that reactor thing instead? Hey, what do you think about wormholes? My mom don't think they're possible, but she's more of a biology pearson. Also, why does your home security suck so much? Also, do you think I can have my own suit?!"
Tony smiled, he looked at Maya, "you don't believe in wormholes?"
Maya sighed, rolling her eyes, "here we go."
Pepper smiled, though slowly it became worried. I could feel her sadness, she was worried she was being replaced….I knew how that felt. I reached out and held her hand, surprising her, "he still loves you Ms. Potts, don't forget that."
She looked back at Tony and Riri, father and daughter, both currently accusing Maya of being short sighted and stupid. Pepper sighed, "maybe...but….I don't know," she removed her hand from my grapes, "thanks..."
I sighed, "he still loves you, never forget that."
"Sir," JARVIS called out, "there seems to be something happening outside."
We all turned to see the monitor show the SHIELD container parked outside where all the terrorists were being processed. Only to have one of them throw off all his capturs before breathing out fire from his mouth, burning people before him.
"Woah!" Riri gasped before turning to her mother, "can I do that?"
"No...not yet," Maya replied. The man turned his attention towards the house, lapping over the gate before rushing towards the front door.
"I'll handle it," I replied as I rushed out the lab, "JARVIS, bring me some back up will you?"
"At once sir," the AI replied.
I rushed up and out the main door just as the Extremis infected soldier came to the glass door. I threw out both my hands and charge the repulsor in the palm of my hands.
CRASH!
He charged in thru the glass door shattering it.
PEW!
I fired out twin repulsor blast, blasting him out into the lawn. I jumped out, following behind him just as a few of Tony's suits came flying down to help.
"Fire everything and keep him down!" I cried out launching a unibeam at the man, preventing him from getting up again.
"At once sir," JARVIS acknowledged as the suits fires their own repulsor and weaponry. One was even equipped with a machine gun that fired missiles. Needless to say Tony would need to redo his law.
BOOM!
There was a sudden explosion forming a decent sized crater where the man once stood. The smoke slowly rose up and in the crater were now nothing remained.
"Kind going on overkill there JARVIS," I said, blinking at the sight before me.
"He was a walking bomb capable of blowing upto 3,000 degrees celsius, I hardly think he fits the definition of overkill."
"Okay, sassy AI," I snorted, walking back inside to the lab.
Riri was now on a table with wires and monitors attached to her person. Tony stood over her working on a few holographic readings while Maya was by her child's side, holding her hand so tight it looked like it hurt. And Pepper stood afar, still looking conflicted on even being here in the first place.
I looked down at Riri, "how you doing kid? Need a juice box?"
"Funny," Riri rolled her eyes, "what's next? Going to call me shorty and lecture me on the good old days?"
"Wasn't I like your idol or something?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Don't worry, you still are," Riri grinned.
"She's sassy," Maya chuckled, "she gets that from his side of the family," Maya motioned at Tony.
"Oh sure, blame everything on the dad, that's what I did anyway," Tony snorted as he moved to a machine near the edge of the lab to make something, Pepper approaching him and whispering something into his ear. Using my advanced hearing I was dropped.
"Are you okay?" Pepper asked.
"I should be asking you the same," Tony replied holding onto her hand.
Pepper snorted, "I've been your baby sitter long before your girlfriend. Happy and I actually had a bet going on whether or not you had a kid you didn't know about."
"Did you win?"
"Yes I did," Pepper's smile dropped almost immediately, "I...is she telling the truth? Is Riri really yours?"
Tony motioned to the holograms around him bringing up a DNA sequence, "I had JARVIS do a complete scan on her blood work, she's mine..."
"Tony, it's not your fault."
"How isn't it?" he snapped, "I had a kid, who I didn't know about and I just left her..."
"You didn't know."
"Well I should have."
I sighed and looked away, relaxing my senses, it was a private moment, it would be rude to interfere.
"You okay Spider?" Riri asked.
I smiled down at the kid, "you're the one who's a walking time bomb kid," Maya sent me a glare which I ignored.
Riri shrugged, "I'll be fine."
"How do you know that?" I asked.
Riri looked at Tony's back, "well...my mom's been with me everyday of my life, helping me and...well, now she has Iron man helping her. Why wouldn't I be fine?"
I chuckled, "keep that optimism Riri it's rare in this world….Maya, I think Tony could use some help with the DNA sequencer," I motioned to Stark as he kicked the machine over and over again, "you should probably help out."
"Right" Maya nodded before kissing her daughter on the cheek, "I'll be right back baby girl."
"I know mom, shesh. You really have to stop treating me as a kid, I'm going to be thirteen you know," Riri huffed.
"I know," she ruffled Riri's hair playfully before getting up and going to help Tony. It took them a few moment before finally getting down to work, Pepper doing what she could to help.
"So," I turned to Riri, "Tony Stark is your father huh?"
"Seems so," Riri replied giving a far off look, staring at Tony.
"How are you handling it?" I asked.
"Ah, decently, I think," she cleared her throat, "I'll be fine….you know, I always wondered who my dad was. My mom used to say he was a horrible man...I...don't know why she said that. I mean, he's Iron man! He's a freaking superhero!"
I chuckled, "that he is. But...he's also just a man," I sat down next to her. I could be helping out Tony and Maya, but Riri needed me a lot more than they did. She needed someone to talk to, I could smell the confusion roll off her body.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, before he became a hero, he was just Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist," I chuckled, "he was...flawed. And kind of a dick really, still is," Riri giggled at that, "but deep down he's a decent enough guy...most people are. But you see that's not how you judge a person. You judge them based on their actions, not who they are on the inside. And Tony has worked hard, ever since that day he was captured to redeem himself as Iron man, and now...I guess, he's going to try and be a dad too."
"Do you think he's a nice guy?" Riri asked.
"He saved my life," I told her, "he's the reason I'm still alive. Heck, he's the reason New York is still alive. I know...I know you probably don't like the fact that he wasn't there for you-"
"-I don't blame him for that," Riri shrugged, "he didn't even know I existed, how can I blame him for that?"
"Then who do you blame?" I asked her.
She was silent, she looked over at Maya and her supposed father argue about something on the screen, working together easily, like they had been doing that for all their lives. Riri sighed, "I...I don't know."
"Well...so tell me, did you seriously hack into JARVIS using a tablet?" I asked searching through her bag and pulling out a foot long tablet that definitely wasn't store bought, "did you jail break this thing?"
"Yeah," Riri gave off a proud smile, "I like to tinker with stuff a lot, my mom used to say I got it from my…from my dad," she blinked, "damn, I should have known."
I chuckled, "yeah well," I turned the tab on and saw it was running several programs in it, one actively trying to hack into my own suit's functions. "Really dude?" I asked pointing at the screen.
Riri giggled, "sorry, I have that thing set to automatically try and access every machine it comes to contact with."
"Well that doesn't make it less of a dick move," I snorted as I disabled her program, "also, don't tell Tony, he'll probably break down into manly tears or lecture you about ripping off his stuff."
"Did he give you one?" Riri asked looking at the arc reactor in my suit, "for stealing his design?"
"Well first off, I didn't steal it, I reinvented it," I told her, "It took me a few months, but I worked hard and managed to rebuild parts of his suit," I showed her the repulsors on the palm of my hands, "I worked hard and presto. Also I did kind of help him save the world from an alien army, so he let me off with a warning."
"Cool!" Riri grinned, "hey, do you think I can build my own suit?"
I groaned, "hm, probably, I mean, you are his kid, it's kind of your birthright. But," I held her finger, pushing away her excitement, "you have to understand one thing. The title of Iron man was earned, not given. Meaning, even if you build a suit, you have to earn the right to use it. Do you understand?"
Riri nodded, "totally….do you think you could help me?"
"No way Riri," I smirked at her disappointment, "like I said. You have to earn you suit. If you can prove that you are smart enough to build it on your own, only then will people not question your skills. Got that?"
Riri nodded, "right! Got it!"
"Good," I gave her thumbs up and just then Tony and her mother walked over to us with a vial of yellow liquid in hand. I walked over to them, "is that it?"
Tony nodded, "it'll stabilize the Extremis virus in her blood and make it more compact. She'll have above normal regenerative abilities, but she won't explode or anything."
"How long will this take?" Pepper asked.
"A few hours at most to stabilize," Maya replied before going to her daughter's side, "hey baby, we did it. We found a cure."
"Are you going to put me to sleep?" Riri asked.
Maya nodded, "yeah, and when you wake up this nightmare will finally be over, I promise." Riri smiled and nodded, hugging her mother's midriff tightly, the woman kissing her head as she did.
"Alright kid, lay down," Tony walked up, putting the vial into a machine that had a tube flowing into Riri's arm, "don't worry, it'll be over in a sec. JARVIS, put her under and then feed her the EXT cure will you?"
"Yes sir," the AI replied as he did just that.
Immediately Riri began to look sleep, I noticed clear liquid being pumped into her arm from one of the tubes attached to her.
"H-hey Tony," Riri called out.
"Yeah kid?" Tony asked, hesistateing as he still didn't know what to properly call his would be daughter.
"I don't want to call you dad," Riri replied closing her eyes, "it's kind of lame. Can I just call you Tony?"
Tony chuckled, "you can call me whatever you want kid."
"Cool" Riri smiled as she fell asleep, the EXT cure entering her bloodstream. We turned to see her vitals displayed via hologram, they were stable and slowly her core temperature was coming down.
"Now then, what about AIM?" I asked.
"Where are they operating out of?" Tony asked Maya.
"Malibu California," Maya replied, "I'll text you the details."
"Right then," Tony snapped his fingers, the Mark 42 armour separated before flying to Tony and suiting him up.
"Why are you suiting up?" Pepper asked.
"These people tried to kill us, and blew up Happy. Why do you think?" Tony asked as he walked to the exit.
"What about Riri?" Pepper asked.
"The procedure will take care of itself," Maya spoke up, "all we have to do is wait."
"And I don't like to wait," Tony replied, "so I'm going after Aldrich and the Mandarin."
"You mean we are going after the Mandarin and Aldrich," I replied walking behind him.
"Think you can keep up?" Tony asked.
"I have a ride," I said as just then my car came flying through the underground garage way Tony had used for his car.
"A flying time machine, nice," Tony nodded.
"Are we taking the suits?" I asked getting into my car as Tony took off, flying out and into the open air, my car right behind him.
"Should we?" he asked, "if AIM or the Mandarin attacks again they will be needed."
"Can we at least take twenty of them?" I asked, "I mean, you did build like 40 suits right?"
"Alright, JARVIS, have marks 20 to 35 follow behind us and have the rest here," Tony instructured.
"At once sir," JARVIS replied as soon we gained an entourage of fifteen flying suits.
I whistled, "this is so freaking badass."
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