Chapter 33: West Coast Tribulations

[kurff]

Oooh good idea, Gabby, an Ironman suit of my own and I could finally beat sabretooth in arm wrestling...and fly. Teleporting is not nearly as exciting as you think." Blink adds with a shrug.

[doc]

She-Hulk gave Logan a raised eyebrow. "Haven't seen too much of Bruce in a while. You know how much he loves to go off-grid. Something you guys have in common, given how often the two of you run into each other while wandering in the wild. I'm too much of a city girl for that-"

Foggy cleared his throat. "The papers - we should get this settled."

Jubilee put her hand on Logan's shoulder. "We should go and keep all the testosterone drama from playing out - between Clint, Cap, Walker, Stark, and whatever soap opera it is with Ghostsabre and Herc - though I can probably guess, given...well, Hercules." She smiled. "See if you can shift from "gruff loner Logan" to "Samurai Logan", for this one? The one who knows poetry in like, five languages because he's a big old softy? The one who taught me to keep my feelings in check? Could use that guy."

Hercules spun around, catching the other Avengers, and immediately fixated on Cap. "CAPTAIN! IT IS GOOD TO ONCE AGAIN FIGHT AT YOUR SIDE!" Putting down his weapons, he lifted Steve off his feet, though you could see it was not without a wince at the effort. "We shall vanquish these foes, alongside..." He grimaced. "Ah yes, the former Goliath, now claiming the mantle of Atlas. We did decide to put aside our battle, for my friend Hawkeye's sake." He grunted. "But beware - stripped of my divine strength or not, I will keep a close eye on." He caught sight of Tabitha. "Hello again." He tried to give a small, awkward smile. "You look well."

Tony Stark was accompanied by Blink, Gabby, and Hawkeye as they went further into the complex. "The gift shop was just a line - well, I probably could build one, but it'd be outside the premises - maybe a kiosk on the border. I'll have Jen look at it with Pepper sometime."

Alert klaxons sounded.

All the Avengers with their communicards lit up, and you could see Mystique's face on the screen. "...Calling Priority A-1. The Masters and Nefaria are in play. Relaying coordinates."

Stark sighed, putting away his sunglasses. "Well, time to suit up." He looked to large pair of double doors as a sheet of light danced over him.

"BIOMETRICS CONFIRMED. PROVIDE PASSCODE." A voice boomed out.

Stark looked back at the trio following him. "I am Iron Man."

"PASSCODE CONFIRMED." Music began to play as the doors opened.



You are on a platform lowering itself into a giant hall of armors.




Tony looked about. "Well, no time like the present for a test flight of the latest and greatest. Give me the Mark-70."



The suit flew off from its place in the hall.

Then the music was cut by a record scratch, followed by the room being filled with a new tune, followed by a holo projection.






"Hey Tony - long time no see."

Hawkeye perched an eyebrow. "And this is...?"

Stark sighed. "Amadeus Cho. Hercules' former wingman, now heir to a vast fortune. Claims to be one of the smartest people on the planet-"

"Seventh smartest." The hologram chided.

"I have no idea why you'd advertise that, given I'm probably a lot higher. Anyway, he has some issues with me and-"

"-I hacked your security protocols."

The helmet retracted. "You did not."

"And for the next five minutes the biometics and voice recognition protocols are disabled. Anyone can say the four magic words and get a suit. This protocol was set to go off when you entered the room with anyone else."

Hawkeye smirked. "He reminds me of someone but I just can't put my finger on it..."

Tony sealed up the helmet. "Reed Richards."

"Not who I'm thinking of."

"-I'll have this locked down in 20 seconds." Tony responds.

"Not long enough." The Hologram teases. "I just had to get under your skin, you walking military-industrial-complex."

[kurff]

"Magic words? guessing its 'I am Iron Man'? and something I can use a bow with and carry plenty of arrows and throwing blades?" blink says expecting the place to explode with pieces of armor falling from above as she test this out. This will fail miserably or work out awesomely...

[yendorj]

Logan lets out a disgusted sigh, imitating a young Jubilee. “Ugh, fine. Samurai Logan it is.” Manages a small grin. “Come on then. Didn’t see you at the wedding though.”

Inside the armor room with the rest. “’Tony Stark is stupid?’ Would fit for someone who has issues and looks like a teenager.”

[dakota]

Tabitha scowled as Hercules acknowledged her, but decided there was enough drama amongst the senior Avengers for one day. She gave him a slight nod though a close look might betray she had to grit her teeth a bit before answering, "Hercules. Thanks." It took her a moment to realize what she had done, then tried not to be nonchalant about the fact she had taken Erik's hand. Before she had to explain they were just friends, communicards erupted with Mystique's message.

[kurff]

"True Logan, but it hardly mocks the Ironman catch phrase as teenager might as well. 50/50 both of them really. Right up there with 'Reed Richards is Smarter'. Honestly I am just curious what the phrase is." she pauses and looks to tony "Is the phrase 'I am Iron Man' really patented yet?" she asks.

[Mierin]

Gabby sneaks out her phone and records Tony's "I am Iron Man" statement. Never hurts to have the password to things. Gabby thinks to herself. Gabby stills when she hears anyone an get a suit. I deserve one! Cause I'm awesome! Gabby quickly looks around for a suit that looks like it will fit her, preferably one with tank missiles, if possible.

[doc]

(Wolverine)

Jubilee sighed. "Just follow the orders - I'm not going to be a total hardass, though Scott did give me a few pointers over the years...now let's see if we can rally the team. You be my right hand, and we'll do alright, ok?" She looked at Logan as Mystique's message went off. "OK, I've got a location - let's fire up the Quinjet, shall we?"

Herc raised an eyebrow, and looked from Tabitha to Atlas and back again. He opened his mouth to speak, but a series of fireworks appeared between the various Avengers.

"Yo! Save Testosterone Smackdown Time for the Masters of Evil! Get in the Jet! And where's Stark with the others? Anyone know?" Jubilee barked.

Cap spoke up. "She went down to the Armory with Hawkeye, Blink and Gabriel."

Jubilee nodded. "Cap and Agent fire up the jet. The rest of you? Double time it and get ready! Move it!"

(Gabby and Blink)

"HARD LIGHT ARMOR MODEL YT-1 SELECTED" Blink found the chest plate, boots, gauntlets and helmet snapped onto her, while the rest of the armor appeared to shimmer into existence around her.



Tony grimaced. "The kid's armor...that's gonna be messy later."

"ARMOR MODEL 51 - MODEL-PRIME TRANSCONFIGURATION AND VARIABLE THREAT RESPONSE SELECTED."



The armor dissolved into a cloud of grey hexagons before reforming around Gabby.

Stark winced in the armor as he resealed the helmet. "Not the model-prime..."

Hawkeye was grinning ear to ear.

The top of the armor hall retracted revealing open sky and an Avengers Quinjet hovering above. Gabby and Blink could hear the music play in their helmets as they rose into the sky on boot jets.



Hawkeye fired an arrow with a grappling cable, and shot Tony a look.

You could hear Tony's teeth grinding. "None of you tell Cap how this happened."

[yendorj]

“Follow orders, keep Jube safe, steal Tony’s stuff. Gotcha.”

[kurff]

"Deal, Tony! So I can call you Tony, right?. Hard light like the practice 'sentinels' my Dazzler made*? this will be fun. I won't freeze will I or have any Icing issues?" she asks as moves around and tests how it flexed on her so she could better anticipate jumps and other maneuvers. Blink thinks how easy it was to use. Blink figured it would be more complex. Perhaps an AI was running the suit and following her lead. That made sense and sounded like a 'Tony Stark' solution.


*The 'Hardlight' Sentinels appeared albeit briefly in Amazing x-Men (AoA). Dazzler noted that it gave her a headache to make them.

[dakota]

“What testosterone problems?” Tabitha grimaced as Jubilee’s fireworks were a bit too close to her face than she liked. “Glad Miss Lee back home wasn’t this cantankerous,” she uttered under her breath so only Atlas or those with super hearing could hear her before she followed Cap towards the Quinjet.

It took her a moment to realize Hercules was pacing her and she looked over at him, “Look you apologize after running out after a,” she paused to see if Erik was listening,” …. decent night, and I won’t teach you why it’s not smart to do that to a girl who could have kicked your ass before you ticked off Daddy, let alone now. The offer stands until we get aboard, otherwise sometimes collateral damage happens in a big scrap. “ She winked with a smirk.

[Mierin]

You could hear Tony's teeth grinding. "None of you tell Cap how this happened."

Gabby grins. "Of course! He won't hear a word of it from me. Oh, by the way, thanks for the new prime suit you just gave me in exchange for my silence!" Gabby tests out the new armour. "THIS! IS! AWESOME!"

[doc]

Hercules raised his hands to Tabitha. "I do apologize. Sincerely, I regret much of what I've done of late." He let the words hang as you entered the Quinjet.

Tony did not respond to either of the women in their suits as they trio flew as a support formation.

Captain America sounded very curious on the comms. "Decided we needed some extra air support, Iron Man?"

You could hear Hawkeye's laughter over the comm line.

Iron Man switched to a private channel. "Just follow my lead, you two." He then addressed Cap. "Hey, just figured these two young girls could -"

"Don't finish that sentence, Stark." Walker cut in. "I'd hate to have to bring you in for anything regarding a minor."

The two teams of Avengers soared over Downtown Los Angeles, soaring towards the beaches.

"Count Nefaria has some beachfront property from his Maggia days that he likes to use. I bought a few over the years. Man has taste." Tony remarked.

"Closing in on Mystique's card." Jubilee announced. "Everyone get ready - I got a feeling we're going in-"

She never got a chance to finish that sentence as a beam of light cut the quinjet in half, leaving the team hanging 400 feet above the beach.

Tony didn't miss a beat. "Pink Lady gets Jubilee and Wolverine! I've got Cap and Walker! Talky Girl, have the Armor reconfigure for Rescue Operation! GO!"

Atlas grinned and grew to 50 feet, grabbing Hercules and Tabitha.

In the air in front of you, you could see Nefaria, his eyes still glowing. "Did you really think you could take me in my own home unawares? I expect better, Avengers!"

[kurff]

"On it," she drops in the air from above them to grab as opposed to getting under and risking them getting injured by the catch. once grabbed accelerates angling to the ground in an arc to bleed off any potential impact that might harm jubilee then gracefully curves up to avoid hitting the ground. As a gymnast Blink knew how to make a safe landing from height or while accelerated. Her own Gymnastic training taught her that much. That and Morph and the other brainiacs in the palace getting into physics debates at the palace. She just hoped it applied to armor. Hope I don't screw this up...she thinks.

1d20·1d20FAEr8czA

[yendorj]

Smirks seeing the ladies trying out the power armor. "Expensive bribe, Tony, but worth it."

"Ah hell," remarks Wolverine as the Quinjet is cut in half by an energy beam. "I don't want to land the hard way," he manages to say.