May 15th, 2014
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
Walking down the halls with Ruby, I raised my hands to rest behind my head, continuing to stride forward. “How’ve you been Ruby?”
“Are you trying to make small talk right now?” Ruby asked with a frown. “What did you want to talk about?”
“Exactly that. How’ve you been? How is life, what’s going on with you?” I said casually.
Ruby looked up at me like she was trying to find out what I was hiding. I didn’t have anything to hide, so I looked back at her. After a moment she shrugged. “I’m all right. Training mostly. And reading the books you gave me. I’m glad Shuri is here though.”
“That makes sense. I guess you don’t have a lot of people your age around here…” I mumbled.
She scowled. “Like I’d have anything in common with other kids. I mean, Shuri is Wakandan, she comes from a warrior culture. What am I gonna talk to other kids about?”
“Music, tv, cute boys/girls/non-gendered aliens?” I said uncomfortably. “There are a lot of things you can talk about. It doesn’t have to be all Avengers all the time.”
She scoffed. “What’s the point? Even when I was with my m-mom I never had to worry about being friends with anyone.”
Her voice hitching when she said, mom... I thought for a long moment.
Family. That stuff seemed to belong to another world now. In more than just the literal sense.
Unbidden, the image of my nephew popped into my head. It had been months since I saw any of my family, longer for some of them. My nephew was… well, he’d been an unexpected and beloved surprise. A cute little scamp, who loved video games, hanging out with me and my brothers, and not eating. Seriously, the kid seemed to hate food, which I found odd.
I missed him. I missed all of them. Sure, my current life was cool… except for the scary as shit moments. But I still missed home.
And if I did...
“...How long has it been since you saw your mom?” I asked idly.
Ruby jumped as though she’d been tased. For a good moment, I was sure she was about to attack out of embarrassment. “I-I don’t know! Like, a couple of months, maybe?”
“Well that’s just way too long,” I scoffed. “I mean, your mom is probably going stir-crazy. We should probably visit her. Make sure she’s doing alright. Can’t imagine how much she misses you.”
We walked along for a bit longer.
“I-If it’ll help mom,” Ruby said quietly. “I don’t mind visiting her. But you can’t come!”
Once again, she managed to pull off the combination of threatening and adorable. A true tsundere at heart.
“Sure, sure,” I said with a chuckle. “I don’t mind… Ruby. Appreciate what you have, okay?” I removed my hands from behind my head, my face scrunching up just a bit. “I’d kill to be able to see my family again.”
She gave me an odd look. Before she could speak, I quickly continued. “Anyway, you already saw a few Discworld movies. I think we should look at Going Postal. Learn about how the postal service works!”
“That sounds so boring,” Ruby complained loudly. But she didn’t stop following me, which I noticed happily.
“Yeah, right up until the banshee assassin.”
The next couple of hours were just me and Ruby hanging out and watching a fun movie. She was a good kid, but she had to learn to accept the human parts of her. To be willing to miss her mother, to look for companionship.
Ah, but what do I know? I’m no therapist.
All I knew was that hanging out with Ruby felt like watching out for the family, and that was good enough.
It wasn’t until later that I found the female Avengers had an adventure while Ruby and I were hanging out.
------
May 16, 2014
Fantasma
Fantasma and Mikhail walked side by side through the Avenger Tower’s halls, Fantasma speaking. She was wearing a pink dress with flowers on it, having felt very cheery that morning, while Mikhail was in his best military dress.
“Mr. Fury said we are not in trouble with the city but we should avoid having a night out like that again, at least for a long time,” Fantasma said sadly. “I don’t know how we even got to that point. Things just-”
Mikhail chuckled, interrupting her. “Don’t worry, little one. These sorts of things happen when soldiers party. You will get used to it. And I am glad our new allies took you in so easily.”
Fantasma’s sadness quickly turned to happiness. “Oh, yes! It was very fun, even with all that happened. They were very nice!”
“Good,” Mikhail chuckled.
“What about you?” Fantasma asked curiously. “How did your trip with Mr. Stark go?”
Mikhail’s smile turned a bit darker. “Oh. That went well. We went to Colorado, then back home to drop off an old friend of the Russian government. He’ll be enjoying our hospitality.”
Fantasma looked over at him. Mikhail, for all his joviality, sometimes showed a dark side. Now, the pleased look on his face made her want to shiver a bit. Then he looked at her. His smile became much warmer immediately. “Ah, he wished to speak with you by the way.”
She scowled. “What about?”
“Using your magic as he scans you.”
Her scowl became deeper. “No. I am tired of tests.”
That had been a huge portion of her life at one point. Scientist poking and prodding her over and over, trying to find some way of replicating her powers. They didn’t do anything too invasive, as Boris and Mikhail wouldn’t let them, but it was still a trial.
“If that is what you wish,” Mikhail said respectfully. “He did also want to ask about the possibility of magical protections on the Avengers Tower.”
Here, Fantasma stalled. Magical protections. That was a thought. She had spent some time on the Winter Guard base putting spells on the walls and doorways in an attempt to stave off things like demons making their way into the complex (Something that had been amusingly annoying to Chernobog, who found himself constantly with headaches before she managed to adjust the spells. Otherwise, his constant migraines and cursing were hilarious to behold). A project that might have been slightly laughable, until Rio proved the existence of such things, if much weaker than what could have appeared. And the Avengers Tower, while well defended by technology, was ill-suited against magical onslaughts.
“...He’ll scan me while I do them, won’t he?” Fantasma asked sourly.
“Not if you ask him not to, I believe,” Mikhail placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, stopping them. “My solnyshka, I know you’re nervous. But you will be fine. These people are honorable. Trust in that. Trust in the soldiers in your unit. Especially Creel and Schahed, both of whom have fought alongside us in the most brutal of battles.”
She bit her lip before nodding. As gently as ever, Mikhail led her along. “I will miss you,” Fantasma said sadly. “When you have to go back home.”
Mikhail pulled her into a hug. “Do not worry. I’ll be here for a little longer and I’ll be a quick ride away whenever you want me back. I promise.”
They walked off toward the rec room, where three people were already standing. Thor, Stark, and Dial. Fantasma smiled warmly at the sight of the last, feeling a bit giddy at the sight of her new friend. Then she noticed what he was wearing. A Crimson Dynamo hat displaying her armor-clad friend shooting a beam of light from her chest, and a black hoodie that was designed to look like swirling shadows. On seeing the chest, which was designed to look like it had pale white teeth curled into a grin and pale white eyes, she realized it was a Chernobog hoodie.
So she was unsurprised as she and Mikhail walked up to hear Thor’s annoyed voice.
“- just wearing that to annoy us,” the Thunder Deity said petulantly. He was wearing his usual suit of armor, only missing his cape and his arms left bare. “Admit it.”
Dial grinned up at the deity, apparently unafraid of the far stronger being. “Nah, I just like wearing nerd gear, you know that.”
“You know she cramped my style, right?” Tony asked casually as he poured a drink from behind the bar, the billionaire dressed in a black Metallica t-shirt. “Seriously, I do the suit thing and suddenly everyone is doing it?”
“Dude, people have had the idea of power armor way before you got your hands on it,” Dial said with rolled eyes, though his grin showed he was making fun of Stark. “If anything, you kinda owe royalties to Warhammer 40K.”
“Fanboy,” Stark said as though from long habit. “Seriously, I’m going to buy out whatever factory is making those things just so I can burn them.”
“You would have a long and hard fight,” Mikhail said cheerily as he and Fantasma joined the trio. “I believe the Russian government is rather possessive of them.”
Stark brightened at the sight of Mikhail. “Hey, Misha! Thought you’d be fighting off jet lag!”
“I am used to the rigors of travel,” Mikhail moved to pull out a seat for Fantasma, only for Dial to beat him to it. He gave the young man a nod before taking his seat, Fantasma sitting next to Dial. “Are you so bothered by the idea of Galina, Stark?”
The billionaire shrugged. “Nah. I kinda want to trade tips with her, to be honest. Can’t say I like your guys making the direct comparison between me and the little Russian that could though.”
Mikhail grinned at that while Fantasma frowned. “And Chernobog?”
“He is an evil god,” Thor said, sounding almost incredulous. “Of course I don’t like him! I, how…” Thor looked around at everyone. “Why are you all okay with this?”
Dial shrugged. “He was pretty creepy… but he seemed to like me all right.”
“I don’t like him,” Mikhail added. “So I am in the same boat as you.”
“He is a monster,” Fantasma admitted. “If a useful one. And his stories are interesting.”
“Indeed,” Mikhail nodded. “Hearing tales of Chernobog insulting or disturbing zealots is quite entertaining! Still, he’s an asshole.”
“Asshole,” Dial added.
“Asshole,” Fantasma sighed sadly.
Thor seemed almost pacified by those admissions before Tony spoke.
“Sounds tough, but I think I can get over that, especially for a good story. I mean, I’m friends with you, aren’t I?”
“Wha-!” Thor gaped at the Iron Avenger. “I’m a good god!”
“You tried to electrocute me the first time we met, Point Break,” Tony pointed out. “Not a great first impression.”
Thor didn’t seem to know what to say to that. Tony grinned at him and passed him a drink. “I’m kidding Thor. You’re the only god I like, you big baby.”
He took his drink and mumbled into it. “Better be. Electrocute. You’d have just passed out, wouldn’t have even been hurt.”
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Fantasma giggled quietly. Dial turned to look at her. “So, I heard from Jen that you guys had a crazy night.”
Tony looked at her as though pleased to find a new target to tease. “Is it true you set a building on fire your first night on the town?”
“Technically that was the meth lab exploding,” Fantasma mumbled while blushing.
“I’m so proud,” Stark passed her a drink. She was surprised to see it was a milkshake and gave him a confused look. Stark explained. “Ever since Dial joined up, I made sure to have a bunch of ingredients for non-alcoholic stuff. You want some real booze?”
She shook her head, taking a sip of her drink instead.
“So,” Stark poured himself some whiskey. “I’m guessing your dad here already told you about what I asked?”
Fantasma blushed. “Mikhail isn’t my father…”
Stark scoffed. “Cute. Seriously, what do you think? About magicking up this place?”
Before she could respond, Thor spoke. “That is an excellent idea. I’ve often thought that having such defenses would be good for the tower.”
“That would be so cool,” Dial said in soft awe. “Magical and Supertech defenses. At least we’d attempt making this place invulnerable even if it inevitably fails.”
“Wow, way to bring us down,” Stark said sarcastically.
“Sorry,” Dial winced. “That’s my inner nerd talking.”
“You have an ‘inner’ nerd?” Stark snarked. “So what, this is you as a jock?”
“I’m sorry, of the people in this room, who is the only one who can speak in ASCII?” Dial snarked back.
“I’m sorry, of the people in this room, who has had sex with supermodels?” Tony said right back.
“You sure you wanna brag about that?” Dial said with a grin. “Cause Pepper would love to hear that.”
Tony scoffed and looked back at Fantasma. “Fanboy’s weak game aside-”
“I’m dating Jen!” Dial protested.
“More like she’s dating you,” Tony said without looking away from Fantasma. “What do you think?”
Fantasma sipped at her drink while thinking. “...I can offer some useful spells. However, I need some time to ask you questions, to make sure they do not interfere with the technology you have. That may mean I’ll have a more intimate understanding of the tower than you are comfortable with.”
Stark frowned. He looked almost uncomfortable.
Then Dial put a hand on her shoulder, surprising her. “Fantasma is cool, Tony. We don’t have to worry about anything.”
She smiled at him with some relief. Dial trusting her so much just felt… good. It may have been naive, but it was something refreshing to behold.
Stark still seemed unsure but still nodded. “Then I guess Molly and I will get to work.”
The warmth Fantasma was feeling turned to annoyance. “If you call me that again, I’ll turn you into a weasel.”
“Molly,” Tony said immediately. When Fantasma glared at him, Tony shrugged. “Hey, I kinda wanna see that. Plus, being that small could be fun.”
“It is not a nice feeling,” Thor said, surprising the room as a whole. He gave them a grave look. “I was once turned into a frog. I still have nightmares.”
“Heh. ‘Throg’,” Dial mumbled quietly.
“Anyway, I’m out,” Tony swigged his drink and tossed the glass into the sink, somehow not breaking the cup. “I’m getting a haircut in town.”
“For real?” Dial asked, surprised. “Don’t you have your hair cut by some kind of… I don’t know, hairdresser for millionaires?”
“First, I’m offended you think I’d take a hairdresser for people as cheap as millionaires” Stark grinned. “I hear this guy is pretty good.”
With that, Stark was off, striding confidently to parts unknown. Mikhail rose up. “I’ll need to complete my report and send it out in the meantime,” he said while eyeing the drinks before reaching out to grab the largest bottle of vodka he could. Fantasma felt a sense of fond exasperation at the elation on his face as he prepared to leave.
“Will you be okay here?” Mikhail asked Fantasma.
She nodded. “Yes. Talk to you later?”
“Of course, solnyshka,” with another fond smile, Mikhail walked off, leaving her with Thor and Dial.
She looked between the God of Thunder and the Universal Dial, as both were called (Among a host of titles). There was an awkward moment before Dial spoke.
“So, Thor, how’s Sif and the Warrior’s Three? I know they’re still on Midgard, but I haven’t seen them for a while.”
Thor nodded, looking more cheerful immediately. “Yes, they are! We were planning to spend some time out in the city.”
“Is that good idea?” Fantasma asked without thinking. When Thor gave her an almost offended look she winced. “It’s just, I know they might have an issue with… culture shock? It’s bad enough for me and I’m from Earth.”
Thor’s face cleared. “Ah, you are quite correct, Lady Fantasma. That is exactly why we must visit the city. So that they may see how Earth has changed in our absence, both the good and the bad!”
Dial cocked his head to the side thoughtfully. “Yeah, that’s fair. You want anyone to come along? I mean, you’ve gotten better, but you tend to have some problems with Earth culture to some days.”
The God of Thunder scowled. “No, I don’t.”
Dial crossed his arms.
“...Well, not as much!”
Dial coughed.
“That-! I-!” Thor sighed. “Verily, you are annoying.”
“You’re my friend, dude, I’m just trying to help,” Dial said with a shrug.
“And I appreciate it. But it is annoying,” Thor sighed once more, holding his hand out. Mjolnir flew from a table nearby to smack into his palm. Dial’s face sprouted a grin.
“Man, it is still so cool to see that,” the part-time alien whispered. Thor seemed to hear, for he smiled broadly.
Then the god of thunder looked at Fantasma. “And you, Lady Fantasma? Would you like to join us?”
“Me?” Fantasma asked, startled. “Oh, I don’t-”
“Please?” Dial asked. “It’s going to be fun. We can see how many restaurants Volstagg gets kicked out of!”
Despite his joke, he seemed earnest. Fantasma thought about that.
She didn’t have many plans for today. True, she’d been told to avoid having another night out… but then, it was midday.
“Very well,” Fantasma rose with a smile, taking Dial’s arm graciously. The Trio walked towards the balcony outside. “Where will we meet the others?”
“Near the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum,” Thor said grandly. “The Lady Sif was apparently on quite a journey! She will be returning there with the spoils of battle!”
Fantasma blinked at that. “Spoils of battle?”
Dial looked confused as well but didn’t seem willing to question it as they stood in the empty air. Instead, he separated his arm from Fantasma’s and reached for his watch. After several twists, he pushed down on it.
“Astrodactyl!”
“Squawk! Well, let's go see!” The space pterodactyl yelled. A blast of green released from the jetpack on his back, sending him shooting up into the sky before he twirled around. “Last one there is a rotten egg!”
“You cheater!” Thor shouted gleefully, spinning Mjolnir around to pick up speed.
Fantasma laughed, raising her hands to release blasts of purple magic, floating up into the air.
The three superheroes launched from the Avengers Tower in a blaze of green star power, white lightning, and purple magic, heading out towards the Hudson River.
------
Luke Cage
Luke swept some hair across the floor of Pop’s Shop, making sure to get as much as he could on each sweep of the broom. Pop was cutting an older man’s hair while arguing with him about the Knicks. A pair of kids were playing video games on Pop’s tv. And a man with glasses and a hat on named Bobby Fish was playing Jessica in a chess game. It was pretty peaceful other than Jessica constantly mumbling angrily to herself, an attempt to keep her cussing to a minimum. She had the swear jar sitting directly next to her just in case though.
As Luke worked, someone entered the shop, drawing his attention. He nearly dropped his broom.
Tony Stark, billionaire and superhero, stood at the door, removing a pair of sunglasses with a smile.
You could have heard a pin drop as everyone stared at him. Luke immediately noticed two things. First, he was alone. No bodyguards or police. Second, he was ignoring Luke and Jessica, only looking at Pop. “I got next.”
Pop didn’t seem to know what to say to that.
Tony freaking Stark moved to sit down on one of the waiting chairs, grabbing a random magazine off a table and flipping it open.
Luke and Jessica shared a dumbfounded look.
Both kids playing video games had stopped to look around when they realized things had gotten quiet, only for one of them to stop Tony. He stared at him for a long moment before his eyes widened in realization. “Y-You’re Iron Man!”
Tony looked up at the kid and smirked. “Yeah, I am. How’s it going?”
The other kid hit his friend with a scoff. “Man, come on, that ain’t Iron Man! Iron Man is taller!”
Tony Stark blinked slowly. Then he looked over at Pop. “See? This is why I need the haircut. I’m unrecognizable.”
The other kid seemed to realize then that he was wrong and gaped at Tony. The first one bounced excitedly in his seat. “That is so dope! Do you have the suit!?”
“Yeah, this one,” Tony gestured to himself with a grin. “It’s a nice one I think.”
“Nah, not that one, the Iron Man one!” the kid said excitedly.
The billionaire rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Finally, he nodded and raised a hand to his ear. “Jarvis?”
A moment later, short enough that Luke figured the thing was waiting somewhere nearby, an armored suit landed in the street outside. The kids, shouting in excitement, rushed out and up the stairs to marvel at the Iron Man suit.
“Took your time with it,” Tony snarked.
A voice came from nowhere, sounding as dry as possible. “Sorry sir, unfortunately, it had to be taken to the cleaners to have it buffed out.”
Luke noted the voice’s sarcasm game was on point. Tony smirked again and went back to reading his magazine.
Luke and Jessica shared a look. He had to assume she had the same thought she did. Iron Man was in the shop. His suit was right outside and apparently could pilot itself.
He felt his palms tighten on the broom on his hand, thinking to himself. He didn’t know if he could fight an Iron Man suit. He was tough enough that bullets bounced off of him, and could punch through steel. But the Iron Man suit could do the same things and had a lot more firepower from those lasers or whatever it shot. Jessica was more vulnerable to the suit since she wasn’t as durable as he was.
...Why was he here? Why was he just sitting there reading a magazine while people outside gathered around his suit?
Luke looked over at Pop and felt surprised when he saw the older man had gone back to cutting his current customers hair. Pop felt his gaze and gave him a shrug.
“What else can I do?”
That was fair.
Luke walked to the back, Jessica following after him.
“We need to run,” Jessica said immediately.
“To where?” Luke pointed out. “He can fly.”
Jessica opened and closed her mouth, then frowned thoughtfully. “Yeah. Yeah… Okay. If he’s here for us, we don’t have a lot of ways out without taking him down first. So if he is here to take us, we have to take him down hard and book it.”
What?
“Jessica, if he’s here to take us in… he’s an Avenger.”
That pretty much said it all. He had a lot more resources than they did, as well as bigger friends. Luke had been nervous enough running from the police as it was. The thought of the Hulk ripping off a roof and reaching a hand down towards him worried him. Or of a lightning hammer, or a giant alien made of diamond… honestly, it was sad to realize that even with super-strength he had a lot more to worry about than he would have a couple of years ago. The playing field was a lot more level than he wanted.
“Then what is the other option, hope that he’s here for a haircut!?” Jessica hissed.
Luke shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. We aren’t doing anything in Pop’s shop. It’s in Switzerland. Neutral ground.”
Jessica scoffed. “Does Tony Stark know that?”
Pop finished with his customer. The man in the chair rose up very quickly, stepping aside for Tony Stark. Tony rose up and moved over to Pop, sitting in the chair very casually. “So, how’s the day been?” Stark asked casually.
“Pretty good,” Pop seemed to relax once he was putting an apron on Tony’s neck, as though the return to routine had calmed him. “How about you, Mister Stark?”
“Tony, please,” Stark winced. “Seriously, I get fake politeness all the damn time. It gets fucking annoying,” he said frankly.
Pop frowned, finger raising to point. Tony looked in the direction of the finger to see the innocuous yellow can with the words ‘Swear Jar’ on the side.
“...”Tony’s eyes seemed to light up and a grin grew. “Are you serious?”
“As sin,” Pop said with a smile.
“Well damn, take a little off the top and let’s get this started!” Tony said cheerily. “Now, I’m going to tell you a story while I do this. What’s the exchange rate on the jar anyways?”
“A dollar for every swear,” Pop’s said as he began to cut.
“Huh…” Tony thought about that. “Well, just don’t tell Pepper I told you about this. The story of me, and the 2007 Maxim Calendar Girls.”
Luke blinked. “Is he for real?”
------
He was. For the next few minutes, Tony Stark told the raunchiest stories Luke and Jessica had ever heard. At one point, one of the kids came back inside to excitedly ask something, and Tony stopped to answer him, his language completely clean once more. Then the kid went back outside and suddenly Tony was tearing apart any sense of decorum. Pop’s, in the meantime, didn’t seem to mind at all, which was almost as surprising. Luke and Jessica watched, Jessica looking reluctantly impressed. Luke kinda got the impression she was taking notes.
At one point, Tony began to describe, in incredible detail, what he’d done with the Christmas cover girls, who had been twins.
“How much of this do you think is true?” Luke asked.
Jessica smirked. “What, you getting jealous?”
Luke scoffed, untouched by the insult. “Hardly. Just starting to wonder what his endgame is. After all this, things are starting to feel anticlimactic.”
It was. Luke was starting to feel like hiding in the back was an overreaction. Tony was just sitting there getting a haircut and running up his swear jar tab. Which people did do from time to time, honestly. Not because they wanted to disrespect Pop but rather to have an excuse to reward the man for all his good work.
Honestly, the fact Tony stopped when the kids were around were the only reason Pop was letting him get away with it. If he wasn’t doing it just to raise his tab, Pop wouldn’t have been half as willing to let it go.
“Actually, they’re all nice girls,” Tony ended. “I should have them over for a party or something. Anyway, we all good?”
“Just about,” Pop said. “If you’ve stopped turning the English language into a cesspool,” he ended with a wry smile.
“It’s the best language to swear in,” Tony joked, before frowning. “I guess Russian is pretty good. So is Greek… Japanese is fun. You know what, raincheck on those,” Tony shrugged as the apron was swept off of him. Tony leaned forward to look at his hair. To Luke, there was no perceptible difference, but the man seemed satisfied because he nodded and reached for his wallet.
“Here you go,” Tony handed Pop several bills. Should be exact change, right?”
Pop looked it over and grunted. “Huh. This is the exact amount. Three hundred and seven.”
“I’m good with numbers,” Tony smirked. Then he looked over at Jessica and Luke. “Nick Fury should be here in a few days, so if you two wanna keep hiding every time I come by, I’m gonna warn ya. The cyclops doesn’t play those games,” Tony’s smile had become just a bit more vindictive. “Have a nice day you two.”
Tony Stark turned and left. Moments later, the sound of the Iron Man suit taking off filled the air, leaving Luke and Jessica to stare out of the shop.
“...We’re leaving,” Jessica said at last.
Luke didn’t know how to tell her that it probably wouldn’t be any use.