Avengers research and training facility

May 10, 2014

As I got ready for the big party that Tony had spent all this time preparing, I knew for a fact something was wrong.

Nothing had happened. The Avengers hadn't been called in for another crisis and crime in the city had been at a low. Not gone, but still low enough that the one patrol I did had led to me stopping one mugging. I'd dropped down as Astrodactyl long enough for the screaming mugger to give up. Apparently, unlike the comic books, guys with guns give up quickly when a known Avenger drops in front of them.

I shouldn't have been out and about, but all I ended up doing otherwise was hanging out with the others, and some part of me wanted… I mean, I wanted to fight, you know? There's something so enjoyable about being an Omnitrix alien, being in a normal human form and suddenly feeling so much power. I'm not even sure Bruce understood the feeling of freedom I felt when I got the chance to suddenly become super-strong, or super-smart, or just made of bandages even.

Still, the point was that this 'vacation' had actually become a real vacation. None of us had to worry about any fighting to do, so it was up to us to decide how to spend our time. We came up with a few things to do. After all, while we were on vacation, there were a whole lot of things we could do to pass the time.

I put on a Hawkeye shirt as I thought back on everything that had happened the past bunch of days. Starting with meeting an old friend.

May 3, 2014

"You absolute bastard!" a pair of massive arms wrapped around my waist as I was lifted up into a hug, spun around by a big laughing black man. "You're a superhero!"

"Kinda?" I gasped out. "Sammy. Air."

"Oh, sorry kid," he dropped me gently on the ground, giving me a look up and down. "Damn, what have you been eating? You've gotten buff."

I was surprised to realize he was right. I mean, being around the massive physical badasses that were Steve, Creel, and Thor meant I always had someone better to compare myself too, but looking between myself and Sammy, I'd actually gained more muscle in my arms than he had. I felt a lot of joy in that, knowing that working out with goddamn super soldiers was having a real effect.

"Thanks, man," I said while trying not to burst with pride. "So I guess you already know the big secret?"

"I think most of the world does," he said, looking me up and down still, looking almost dumbfounded. "Kid, you were a superhero all this time. Do you know how crazy that is to hear?"

"As crazy as hearing a woman actually wanted to marry you?" I teased.

He scowled and playfully swiped at my head. I let the swat land on the back of my head with a grin. "Don't joke. Superhero or not, I'll still knock your block off."

"Nah, I'm a badass now," I snarked. Laughing a bit, I gestured behind me. "Come on, Sammy. I'll show you to my room," I led him through the halls. "How's everyone been, anyway?"

"Well," he seemed a bit awkward for some reason. "Union Allied kind of… laid us off."

"What," I said flatly.

"Yeah," he sighed. "They fired a whole bunch of us. Honestly, you got out right on time."

"Man… Sammy is there anything-"

"No," he cut me off. "Don't worry, we all found a way back on our feet, even sued them for some extra cash. And I don't mind not working for those jackasses anymore," he gave me a look. "Granted, not all of us landed as well as you did. These are some fancy digs."

"Hey, help fight HYDRA and you get all sorts of options," I said freely. "Honestly, I spend most of my time here training and getting ready for the next bad guy to try to kill me."

"That's fair," Sammy patted my back. "But I'm okay now. Working with Damage Control, actually."

"Damage Control," I mused. The BRIDGE branch (Formerly a SHIELD one) was dedicated to working on the clean up of superhuman conflict. After all, it kept any dangerous objects out of bad guy hands. Well, that and it made sure anything valuable stayed with BRIDGE. "How's that been?"

"Mostly the same work, honestly," Sammy said with a shrug. "I spent a week in Washington thanks to you though."

"What did I do?" I asked, honestly confused.

He chuckled. "They were still cleaning up pieces from that little scrap you and your friends had in the Triskelion! Did you really drop a mountain on top of the place?"

"A small one," I admitted. We got to my apartment, the door sliding open as we walked up to it. Sammy hesitated in surprise when that happened but he followed me in when I continued. I walked in and picked up a piece of paper sitting next to a large bottle. "Here you go," I said, passing Sammy the paper. "You, my friend, have an official invitation to Tony Stark's Avengers party on the tenth."

"Huh," he took the piece of paper. "Gold letters. Damn, that is fancy."

"It's fake," I told him. "I mean, Tony kind of hates the idea of wasting gold on anything that doesn't involve the word 'alloy' or 'bulletproof'."

"Tony, huh?" Sammy folded the invitation.

"Yep," I took the bottle off my counter and passed it to him. "And this is for Lauren."

"Oooooh yes!" he took a hold of the bottle. "Wait, you don't drink. How'd you know this was good scotch?"

"I cheated with a google search," I admitted freely.

"...Gotta say, this is a bit much, kid. I mean, the swanky digs, the expensive alcohol, becoming a superhero. All of this is a lot at once," he gave me a weird look. "I mean, have youalwayshad superpowers, since I met you?"

"For about a week before that," I said. "Before that, I got dropped into New York kinda empty-handed. Honestly, I was homeless before the Battle of the Triskelion."

"That explains a lot," Sammy mumbled.

"...Explains what?"

"Well, you never really invited anyone over to your place," Sammy said with a shrug, moving to sit at my counter. "I always thought you had a boyfriend you were ashamed to show us."

"If I was gay, I don't think I'd really care who knew," I said with a raised eyebrow. "In a better world, I wouldn't have to care at all. You want some water, coffee, or something?"

"I'll take the coffee if you've got it. And I wouldn't care either," Sammy watched me go to the small machine in my kitchen with a mug and pour out the coffee for him. "But hey, this is good. You've moved up in the world, kid."

"Yeah, mostly by punching my way up it," I put the coffee on the counter with creamer and sugar. "So, you and Lauren coming to the party?"

"Hell yeah, she's going to love this!" Sammy grinned as he put creamer into his coffee. "Lauren always wanted to go to a big party like this. Do uh, do I need a suit?"

May 10, 2014

I looked down at my Hawkeye shirt with a little chuckle. Tony may like his suits but he wasn't really big on people wearing them if they didn't feel comfortable in them.

Granted, I hadn't just been inviting old friends to big ass parties. There had been some work things as well.

BRIDGE, on my advice, had moved some satellites over Antarctica and hired a group of people to start exploring, with a lot of people thinking I was crazy.

Maria, of course, knew I wasn't, and the fact that a lot of the dinosaurs we found had clearly not come from the actual prehistoric era for science reasons, she figured it was worth a look. Savage Land, baby.

We made more tech, but it was slow going. Catom armor, as it turned out, had its limits. It could only do so much before it began to fall apart. It was advanced, sure, but the catoms could only follow so many complex orders before they started to glitch up. It was something we were working on. And while solid construction lacked catom versatility it was usually more durable as well. Not massively, but enough for it to make a difference in prolonged combat. So we were looking for ways to take that to the next level.

I, on the other hand, had another team working on a different step forward in technology.

May 5, 2014

The hanger doors opened before us with extremely loud clanking noises. Fitz, Shuri, and I all winced at the immense screeching noise that eventually came out as the hanger doors continued to open.

"Sorry!" Tony shouted. "This place hasn't been used for a while!"

The four of us had flown out on a quinjet together to somewhere outside New York City, though still in viewing distance of the city. We could see it down the river from the facility we'd been taken too.

"You couldn't afford any WD-40?!" I shouted back over the loud noise.

"I never needed this place before!" Tony yelled back.

"My ears are going to pop!" Shuri said, covering her ears.

Shuri was interesting to meet. When I heard that T'Challa had a sister, I pictured Shuri from the comics, a self-assured woman with a certain dignity around her, Black Panther in the future, and a user of magic. Instead, she was a skinny teen with a bit of brattiness to her.

"Oh, quit complaining!" Tony grumbled as the hanger doors finally opened completely. He stepped through the doors, followed by us.

"What is all of this?" Fitz asked, looking around at all the crates and boxes covering the space around us.

"It's a Stark Industries warehouse, someplace my dad used to use to store his crap," Tony spun around in a circle. "As of right now? It's the new Avengers Research and Training Facility."

"Nice," I said with a grin.

"I thought so," Tony pointed at one part of the facility. "I figured that would be good for a shooting range. This floor space here will be good for building vehicles and mechs. What do you think, Princess?"

Shuri shrugged. "It is okay. A bit primitive."

"Everything is primitive compared to Wakanda," Fitz noted.

Shuri giggled at that. "Well yes, but I'll forgive you for that."

"Children, please," I said gently. "We'll all get a chance to make new stuff."

"Who are you, by the way?" Shuri asked curiously. "Are you a scientist?"

Before I could answer, Tony called out to me. "Mahmoud, over here!"

"Sometimes," I said in answer to Shuri as I lifted the watch and started flipping through the menu. "But today I'm here to do the heavy lifting."

With a push of the watch, my skin went from brown to red.

"FOUR ARMS!"

Shuri squeaked in surprise as Fitz stepped back. "Bloody hell!"

Standing at my full fourteen feet, I flexed all four arms and walked up to join Tony.

"That's Dial?!" Shuri shouted at Fitz in surprise.

"W-Well, yeah," Fitz said, watching as I lifted up a massive crate and moved it out of the way with little effort. "But I haven't seen him as Four Arms while I was this close before."

"Right there," Tony said. "Okay, now I got some junk that I brought over. This place needs power, lots of it, and we're going to make the best that money can cheat it's way to," he gestured to the center of the room. "Clear this out, and let's get started."

"D-Don't we need more people?" Fitz asked.

"They're on their way," Tony said, watching as I lifted four more six thousand pound crates, one for each hand, and moved them out of the way. "But until then, we have a one-man construction crew."

Tony turned and produced a tablet. "Now, Fitz and Shuri. Dial and I want your help with something very specific."

"Mostly me. I really want one. It's mostly coincidence that we need one," I said over the sound of crates slapping onto the ground. Seriously, I wanted a spaceship. Han Solo ain't got shit on me.

Taking the tablet, Shuri stared at the screen for a brief moment before passing it to Fitz. "A spaceship?"

"It's big," Fitz noted. "Not as big as a lot of modern planes, but big. And some of these features… we'll have to build them from scratch."

"No, we won't," Shuri said confidently. "Well, some of them, but I've actually done some work on a lot of it before, especially the shields."

"See, this is why I have you," Tony said fondly. "This is our first project."

"And then we do Fitz's thing?"I asked, walking up to tower over the three of them. Seriously, Fitz barely reached my waist. "Because Fitz's thing sounded fucking awesome."

"What is Fitz's thing?" Shuri asked curiously.

Fitz, by way of answer, took the tablet and switched to the file in question, showing it to her. She stared at it for a long moment.

"...All three of you are fans of eighties cartoons, aren't you?" Shuri said with a grin. When we all shuffled awkwardly, she laughed. "This is going to be great!"

"I hope so," Fitz said shyly. "I need some good news. Coulson's meeting with Hank Pym apparently didn't go very well."

May 4, 2014

Coulson knocked the door on the house in front of him and stepped back next to May. They waited for a long moment before the door opened.

An older man, with long gray hair, glasses, and deep wrinkles glared at them.

"Mr. Pym?" Coulson asked. "I'm Agent Phil Coulson with-"

The door slammed shut with enough force to shake the house.

"...BRIDGE."

"It used to be called SHIELD!" Hank Pym yelled back through the door. "Now get the hell off my property!"

"...it's been a tough week," Coulson said with a sigh, turning and leaving as May gave him a worried look.