(MCU) Arcs Collide: Chapter 9 – To Build Bridges

Chapter 9 – To Build Bridges

Tony was sitting in his lab, looking over some of the schematics he had created with the help of Shuri, Peter, Harley, Scott, and even Cooper, who had suggested a few things.

It had been almost a year since the announcement of the New Avengers and the Young Avengers to the public.

Since then, the family Tony had somehow managed to build after the end of the Civil War had grown closer, and new faces had been added as well.

It all started when the kids met each other.

Flashback

Tony stood in the middle of the living room on his private floor of the tower. Well, his and Carol’s now.

Around him, people were standing or sitting in groups.

The first group was the Bishops. Cooper was sitting shyly next to his excited sister. Lila was looking around at the different people with a smile, which grew bigger each time she laid eyes on Cassie Lang. Laura had an easy smile as she leaned back on the couch, her baby held comfortably in her arms.

Just a week ago, Laura had taken Tony’s offer to use his legal team to secure a divorce and full custody of the kids in absentia. Considering her ex-husband was an international criminal, it wasn’t hard at all. Changing the baby’s name from Nathan Pietro to Anthony James was easy.

Tony, of course, was confused by her choice of name, trying to point out that it sounded as if she had named the kid after him and Rhodey. Laura laughed and gave him a look that screamed, “You are so stupid.”

He understood the Colonel somehow. He and Laura had a spark between them the moment they met, but neither let even a hint of it show until after she got her divorce officially. Tony noticed them getting a lot closer in the last few days and even heard through Vision rumors about a date.

When he incredulously asked why she would name the boy after him, the woman smirked at him and simply said, “Phil told me, Tony.”

Tony reeled back at that. There was only one thing Phil could have told Laura to influence such a decision. During the info-dump fiasco, Tony had Jarvis scan Fury’s private server first, knowing the most sensitive info would be there. That was how he found out about the Barton family. He immediately deleted the info from every place he could reach and sent a couple of scanners to protect the farm. Clint knew about it but never told his wife. Phil apparently had no such issue.

Laura smiled softly at him and said, “Clint wanted to name the baby after the woman who almost made sure our family would be wiped out. I feel it’s just right to name him after the man who worked hard to keep him safe. The fact that my other two children already consider you their favorite uncle is a bonus too.”

And with no retort to this, Anthony Bishop it was, or as everyone else called the baby, mini-Tony.

Across from the Bishops sat the Lang/Paxton/Van-Dyne group. Hope and Scott sat next to each other on one side of the long couch, while Maggie and Jim sat on the other. Cassie sat between the two.

Maggie and Hope looked both relaxed and anxious to finish with the meeting. They had already met once in Pepper’s office, and the three women had hit it off immediately. Pepper had already offered Maggie a job, which the woman was excited to accept. He could understand Hope's anxiety; she wasn’t used to having many friends, but as always, she wouldn’t let anything like that stop her. Maggie, he supposed, was nervous about how her daughter would react to all these new people.

Scott looked kind of uncomfortable himself. Tony guessed he was worried about how he would be accepted after he had aided Rogers during the man’s rampage. Hope told him that Scott was usually a very social and energetic man, so Tony believed everything would be fine there. Hope’s description already reminded Tony of a teen he knew.

Cassie looked around reasonably calmly, but when she noticed Lila, a small smile spread on her lips. Paxton kept glancing at where Happy and Pepper were standing with an excited smile of his own. Jim had been offered a transfer to the NYPD, but he chose instead to take Happy’s offer to work in the Stark Security department. The man couldn’t wait to speak with his new boss.

Said boss was standing next to his girlfriend, Pepper Potts, while looking wary of the teen group sitting not far from him. The poor man was traumatized from Peter’s over-the-top personality during the trip back to New York, so Tony had Happy take over for him. Now his old friend was afraid he would be ganged up on by all of them. Tony wanted to laugh.

The group of young heroes was meeting today for the first time, but apparently knowing they would be part of the same team led them to sit together.

Peter and Kamala were clearly excited to work with their heroes as they were practically bouncing in their seats next to each other. Harley looked as if he didn’t care about what was going on, even though Tony could see he was masking his own excitement. The kid was always too lonely; Tony hoped he would make friends here. And last but not least was Kate Bishop. No relation to the Bishop family present, apparently. She looked intrigued by what was going on around her but not nearly as excited as the first two.

And while he was thinking about the Kenners, his mom, Mercy, and little sister, Holly, were here as well.

Shuri was here too, leaning against a wall and looking amused at everything around her. She and Tony had gone over some details of their new partnership earlier today, and the princess chose to stay for this show.

The last group consisted of two women. One of them was Daisy Johnson and the other was Sharon Carter. Both kept scanning the people in the room. Tony sighed mentally… Spies.

Tony looked around and said, “Okay, we’re just waiting for Carol and Rhodey so they can start this whole thing.”

Friday’s voice filled the room, showing poorly hidden amusement, “Actually, Boss, Captain Danvers asked me to inform you there were complications with the latest addition to the team and they will be held back. Colonel Man asked me to, in his words, make you move your ass and do the job.”

By the end of it, Friday wasn’t even trying to hide her amusement; she was almost laughing when she repeated Rhodey’s words. As always, most people in the room looked in awe at the ceiling, marveling at the AI that could display such genuine emotions.

Tony ignored it all and muttered, “I made sure the UN would hire two leaders and still I’m doing all the dirty work.”

A few chuckles escaped from the group. Tony shook his head and went into full show mode.

Tony spread his arms wide and started speaking in a showman’s voice, “Welcome all to the newly dubbed ‘Avengers HQ.’ Here we will have all our meetings, training, group activities, labs, living quarters, and so on.”

Scott raised his hand slowly. Tony rolled his eyes before pointing at the ant-themed hero. “Yeah, the adult child who raised his hand out of class. You want to ask something?”

Scott blushed a little when even Hope and Cassie chuckled at Tony’s joke, but nonetheless he spoke tentatively, “Ummm. Don’t SI’s offices and labs reside in this building as well?”

Before Tony got the chance, Pepper answered, “After the merger, it became clear Stark Tower wouldn’t be enough for the entire staff, not to mention the lack of space for additional labs, offices, and so on. Tony sold part of this building to the UN so they could turn it into Avengers HQ while he rebuilt the Avengers compound into the SI compound. We have already slowly begun the move toward the finished wings, but it will take time for the process to complete.”

Hope nodded in agreement with the statement before adding, “Pepper will be needed in the compound and at other meetings most of the time. As such, I, as COO, and Maggie, as Pepper’s assistant, will manage things on this end, allowing us to stay in the tower.”

Tony waved his hand dismissively. “We are not here to bore the kids with business talk. We are here for introductions.”

The adults looked a little put out while all the young ones perked up, some more visibly than others.

Tony motioned to Peter and said, “Well, you should start. All of you are welcome to say as much as you wish.”

Peter shifted a little awkwardly before standing up. He looked around and with a small wave said, “Hi everyone. I’m Peter Parker. Ummm… Spider-Man.”

Lila and Cooper both jumped up and started cheering together. “You are so awesome,” Lila screamed in her high voice.

Peter smiled at them, but before he could say anything, another new hero jumped from her seat and screamed while waving her arm high, “I’m Kamala Khan. Miss Marvel, you know, like Captain Marvel. But without the army training and stuff. But I can do other cool things.” After she said it, she enlarged both her legs so she was almost 7 feet tall.

All of the people in the room looked up at her with wide eyes. Well, except Tony. He just got to enjoy everyone’s faces.

Once everyone calmed down and Kamala returned to her original size, Kate stood up. Her voice was calm when she spoke. “I’m Kate Bishop. Umm, just Kate Bishop, I guess. I’m kind of the next Hawkeye.”

Everyone smiled at her, and Lila had a glint in her eye. Tony suspected he knew the reason.

Tony waited for a long moment, but when nothing happened, he picked up a crumpled piece of paper and sent it flying. Not a moment later, the paper hit its target.

Harley turned to glare at him before sighing and saying, “Harley Keener. Iron-Legacy. Yeah, I’m the next Iron Man.”

Tony just snorted at him before looking around the room and saying, “He’s nervous. He’s kind of a git when he’s nervous.”

“Mechanic!” Harley whined.

Tony laughed. He then looked behind him at the teen leaning against the wall and raised his eyebrow.

The girl shrugged before standing straight and trying to speak diplomatically as she said, “I am Princess Shuri of Wakanda, the smartest person in any room I am in.”

The princess got a few offended looks, especially from Harley and Peter. Although if the offense was for themselves or him, Tony wasn’t sure. He just turned back toward the teen and said dryly, “Chill it, Hermione. You should at least respect your elders.”

Shuri smirked back at him and said teasingly, “I will keep that in mind, old man.”

Tony just snorted again. But from there, Tony kind of lost control of the situation. The people divided into their own groups, walking around and talking with whomever they wanted.

Tony decided to hang back for now and listen.

The first conversation he heard was that of Peter, Harley, Kamala, and Kate.

Harley looked at Kamala and asked in an even tone, “So Captain Marvel? What’s the deal with that?”

Kamala jumped in her place and began talking excitedly. “She is like super awesome. She saved me and my class when I was a kid. I got to meet her! Did any of you?”

Kate shrugged. “She was the one to recruit me, so I got to meet her before.” Her voice was indifferent.

Peter nodded as well, saying, “Yeah, I got to meet her during my first training session with Agent Bishop.” Then his eyes widened in Kate’s direction. “Wait… Is she your aunt or something?”

Kate sighed deeply before she answered, “Not as far as I or Mr. Stark knows.”

Kamala looked around them and said, smiling, “So we are going to be a team, huh? I like it. We are all pretty awesome.”

Peter nodded enthusiastically as he rambled, “Yep! We have an Iron Man, a metamorphic girl, a battle-ready fighter, and me with powers better than Rogers. I know, I fought him. We are like the new generation of the Avengers!”

“Well, it didn’t end well for the last group, now did it?” Harley commented.

Peter gave him a big smile and countered, “But we are choosing to be a team. Tony told me that they never had a choice to become a team; the situations forced them to, but we get to be friends as well as teammates.”

Kate looked wistfully around the group and asked, a little vacant, “Friends?”

Kamala let out a huge grin before she spread her arms to her sides and began stretching them until she had her arms around all the other three teenagers. Once she held all of them together, she said brightly, “Of course we are friends! And after we get to know each other, we will be best friends.”

Tony noticed the small smile Harley gained on his face. He was glad that the boy was opening up slowly.

He watched as Lila came closer to the group and pulled on Kate’s shirt a couple of times.

The archer looked down at the kid with a smile. Kamala released her hug, and Kate followed Lila a few steps away.

Once they were a little more alone, Lila looked up at Kate and asked in her usual giddy tone, “So you are an archer like my old daddy used to be?”

Kate raised her eyebrow and asked amusingly, “Old daddy?”

Lila’s face turned to an unusual serious look when she said, “Yes. Mommy said she and daddy are not married anymore. She said we can still call him daddy if we want, but we never saw him a lot. Mommy said he was always at work.” Then her face contorted into something Tony had never seen before on her—anger—as she said, “And he became a big meany that helped hurt Uncle Tony!”

Tony was surprised. This always-happy girl got so angry because he got hurt? The warmth in his heart was something he wasn’t used to yet, but it was happening more and more often.

Kate smiled at the girl and agreed, “Yeah, your old daddy sounds like an ass.”

The little girl giggled, and Tony was happy to see her back to her cheery self as she said, “You said a nasty word. Will you teach me to shoot arrows too?”

Kate looked at her, confused. “Isn’t your mom the training instructor?”

Lila nodded quickly. “Yes. But I don’t want to just fight. I want to shoot arrows like you so I can be better than old daddy and make Uncle Tony and Mommy proud.”

Kate gave the girl a wide smile before promising, “You know what? You got it. We will figure something out; I will make you the new and improved Hawkeye.”

Lila jumped as high as she could in the air and said loudly, “Yay! We will be like sisters. We already have the same family name.”

As Kate laughed at the girl, Lila turned around and ran toward the two other young girls in the room.

Once she reached the other duo, she said giddily, “She said yes!”

Both girls squealed with happiness for their new friend. Cassie smiled and said, “Cool. I still want to learn how to fight too. But when I grow up, I’m going to convince Grandpa Hank to build me a suit too.”

Holly gave a small nod before she said quietly, “When I grow up, I want to be a spy.”

Cassie grinned at the blonde girl and pointed out, “The three of us will be the next generation of Junior Avengers.”

Both girls gave a determined nod before all three of them dissolved into giggles.

Tony shook his head with a smile that grew even wider when he noticed Shuri talking with Peter, Harley, and Cooper.

Shuri was showing them something using her beads from Wakanda. Tony really should take a look at that one day.

Peter pointed out something on the edge of the hologram and said, “Did you consider reducing that line? It will cost you some synapses per second at first glance, but if you look at the bigger picture, by reducing the time the program runs each time, it will increase the output per minute.”

Shuri blinked at the image. She was obviously surprised Peter thought of something she hadn’t.

Harley then said, “Have you thought about changing the conductors? I mean, yours are great, but they are built to pass a large amount of electricity. Synapses carry a much smaller charge. If you replace them with something more resistant but capable in the small charges department, you will be able to double your efficiency.”

Once more, Shuri just kept blinking, her face starting to gain a slight blush.

But then Cooper, the youngest and least educated one, didn’t let any of this stop him as he suggested, “Synapses shoot faster in an awakened state of mind. If you put Vision under, you might not be able to get a reaction from him, but you will have an easier time catching up to all the synapses.”

Shuri was now gaping. Her jaw was moving up and down for a good few moments before she finally exclaimed, “Ingenious!”

She started to change the plans in the beads when a frown appeared on her face. “Creating those changes will take time, and I need to work on preparation for the surgery as it is. I am afraid that to use your changes, the project will have to be delayed by a month at least.”

The three boys frowned as well. But then someone cleared their throat awkwardly not too far away from the group. Scott Lang stood there, obviously overhearing the conversation, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he spoke, “Ummm… I can build it. It won’t take me long. I’m good at building things. I just need an extra pair of hands and some heavy-duty tools.”

If the man expected some pushback, he was surprised when instead Harley spoke almost immediately. “I’m good with building stuff. Just ask the mechanic. I will help you.”

Peter didn’t wait to jump on the wagon himself. “I have super strength, so this can work as heavy tools.”

Cooper looked down, sad that he had nothing to contribute here, but Scott was quick to fix it. He put a hand on the youngest’s shoulder and said in his usual energetic voice, “We need someone to coordinate us while we are working around. What do you say, little man? You got this?”

Cooper nodded happily.

Tony kept looking around. Kamala and Kate were talking with Laura, Daisy, and Sharon. Happy and Jim were in an intense conversation while both kept glancing at the teens around the room. Hope, Maggie, and Mercy were talking with Pepper.

This worked even better than Tony had hoped. He kept looking around the room even when the doors of the elevator dinged.

Present

Tony finished writing a few things on the plans in front of him and put them in the finished pile on his desk.

This memory was just the beginning of an eventful year, and Tony had a strong feeling it wouldn’t be the last. A thought that both worried and comforted him.

The plans for the planetary defense were progressing better than he anticipated, as well as SI’s new partnership with Wakanda. There were some who were against it at first, but after a few positive results, like the artificial Vibranium that was now officially called SW metal, people changed their minds.

Tony’s line of thought was cut off when the doors to his lab opened.