Stark's home still being a half destroyed wreck, we instead went to a nearby Stark Industries lab that he'd commandeered for himself in the meantime. He got to work right away; stepping out of his armor while robotic arms disassembled it around him in a way that I found unbearably cool, although I'd never admit it to his face. I held out my Scouter and he recoiled slightly.
"I don't like being handed things, it's a.. thing."
I stared for a few moments. "Why would you inflict this awkwardness on me? On my planet this is grounds for a duel." I said, finally leaving the scouter sitting on a work table.
"Luckily it's my planet and not yours. Jarvis, gimme something classy." He said as he popped open the access panel with a screwdriver.
Something classy turned out to be... "Master of Puppets?"
"You got a problem with Mettalica?"
"You mean do I have a problem with unironic dad rock? Hell nah, turn it up."
"Shall I acquiesce to our guest's request Mr. Stark?" A voice from overhead asked; almost comically cultured and british.
"Give him level four access while he's here. Increase volume 10%." He said as he plucked up a pair of tiny tweezers and began to wiggle components free.
"You actually hired a british butler to manage your playlist?" I asked, taking a seat in midair. Never getting tired of that.
"Just A Rather Very Intelligent System sir. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. "
I blinked. "Wait, JARVIS? You made a real time natural language system to manage your playlist. That's like the one thing weirder than hiring a british butler to do it."
"I am not only a playlist manager sir, I handle many of the menial tasks Mr. Stark requests of me."
"I stand corrected. You made a real time natural language system that has a dry british sense of humor."
"Cool isn't it? I guess up in space you guys are still working with manual buttons and mattel plastic technology." He said wryly as he yanked out the SHIELD communicator, wrinkling his nose at it like he'd smelled something and throwing it straight into the garbage. Then he picked up the whole scouter and pointed to one particular piece. "What's this piece?"
"Passive bioenergy detection device." I answered; somehow knowing immediately and exactly what it was.
"Bioenergy." he said skeptically.
"It sounds sciency-er than saying Ki."
"It's an... asian mysticism detector?"
I grinned and held out one hand, a glowing orange orb forming over it and rapidly changing shape a few times.
"... So any chance you got a hologram emitter hidden in those cargo pants somewhere?"
I flicked the blob of Ki into a nearby pile of what I hoped was junk; making it explode violently. I caught a chip of it before it could fly through Stark's head and make this visit pointless and awkward.
He looked over at the smoking assemblage of discarded parts. "Okay then. Bioenergy."
"If you must." I shrugged.
"Why the hell's it wired like this?"
"Like what?"
"Well most of this stuff is fairly clever actually; radiation sensor, spectrograph, what looks like a next generation medical scanner; it's all wired up pretty nicely, keeps it compact and fairly reliable; but this thing is set up so that if you added too much stimulation it'll start a feedback loop that'll burn the whole thing out, if it doesn't just blow up or something."
I shrugged. The real answer, being that Toriyama wanted a cool way to display that someone's number was REAL big and scary, probably wouldn't fly. "Most likely whoever designed these things figured that if somebody that powerful showed up, you weren't likely to survive long enough to need an accurate reading anyway."
"Soviet school huh, tough break. So, did you come here in a flying saucer or-"
The door suddenly burst open and a lot of angry beauty stepped inside, in the shape of my buddy Nat and another leggy redhead who looked pissed off that she had to let her in.
"Nat!" Tony and I both said at the same time.
She stopped short and shook herself like a dog that had something unpleasant in it's fur. "Okay never do that again. You!" She said, aiming at me with an immaculate nail. "If you're going to fly all over the country we're getting you certified as a superlight. Or we're going to have to cart you out in front of a bunch of reporters like Stark and get them used to people flying around just being a thing."
"Did they give you this much guff about the flying thing?" I asked.
"No it was more the bevy of heavy weapons I packed into the thing."
"No, you did, you just let me handle all the fines." The other girl said coldly as she stood near the door.
"Ah, where are my manners; the inimitable Pepper Potts; and this is..." Tony gestured vaguely to me.
"Charud."
He did a small double take. "Wait a minute, like the Brassica?"
It was actually closer to a beet if I remembered right, but I couldn't let the chance pass. "How do you know my grandmother's name?"
"...Okay Pepper, this is Veggie Tails, he's gonna be using one of the spare rooms here for a while."
"Wait he's what?" Pepper replied.
"Wait, am I?"
"Until you teach me all about this brand new branch of physics I never knew about until today, absolutely. Don't worry I'll hook you up with some kickass wi fi."
"Tony... We have to start the move to New York, they're already laying foundations for the-"
"Right right, the tower, I didn't forget. We'll just have to get some extra space- Fuck it, actually. We're going to have a ton of people coming through that place, I'm just gonna buy a building so we can use it."
Pepper set her mouth into a firm line and looked like she was trying to set Tony on fire with her mind. "I will make the arrangements."
I shrugged over at Nat. Apparently my mind had been made up.
She shut her eyes and took a hard, deep breath. "I should have just gone to Russia."
"We're talking about this." Miss Potts said as she let herself out. Tony watched her go with an affection that was clearly a bit more than just physical... Hah. So that's how it was. Good taste my dude.
--------------
"I'm calling this not fair. You've got an infinite energy generator in your chest cavity."
"It's an arc reactor monkey business. Still beat you here."
"Same difference." I waved him off as we set down on the roof of a building that it turned out Tony already owned. Quite a weight off Pepper's shoulders I was sure; and hey, it turned out the place had been mothballed when Stark got out of the arms trade. Good for him. "Guess I'm picking up lunch." I said. Or Shield was. Suck it Fury. Not that they'd even notice the difference in volume with the addition of one guy."
"Yeah I'm gonna raincheck that, I've got to install a temporary armor assembly in here somewhere, get started making some space for you to do your... whatever you do."
I shrugged. Based on what I'd seen so far, Pepper had probably already called up a work crew to get started while we flew over the whole continental US. Tired me out and gave me a serious hankering for meat, but damn it was fun, especially when Tony and I had wordlessly started a contest to see who'd hit the most clouds. Guess he got bored as easily as I did. "I'm gonna go clear out a few food trucks then, call me when Nat shows up, she's probably gonna want to hit me for a while after I made her fly cross country twice in twenty four hours."
--------------
She did. But Stark had anticipated my needs better than I figured, and there was a huge gym mat already laid out and waiting when I suggested she take out her aggression for a minute.
With my ki relaxed, I actually felt the blows she was landing on me. It didn't hurt, but it also wasn't going to break her hand. It also reinforced the value of technique. I was bigger, stronger, and faster than her, and with my instinctive ability to fly she couldn't even really knock me off balance; but she kept sneaking in blows from directions I wasn't expecting; if we were running a points system she'd have won by now. I actually tried to hit back in fact; but when I slowed down enough to keep from killing her, she slipped almost every blow.
Almost. She dove between my legs and kicked the back of my knee; I let it drop out from under me, partly just out of a sense of fair play, and when she grabbed my collar to try and yank me to the ground, I just stayed still, gripped her wrist, and rolled her over my back onto the ground.
"I don't think this is very productive." She said from her position, as I floated myself back up and laughed.
"Maybe, but it's fun right?"
"Fun would be if I could make you flinch. Sorry. I don't think you're going to get much benefit out of training with me unless Stark lets me borrow a suit." She said, rolling up into a relaxed position and taking deep, firm breaths.
"I dunno about that... When you hit me, I can feel it. Guys three times your size haven't managed that much. You're doing something right... Alright. Experiment time." I said, standing up and spreading my arms wide. "I want you to try and kill me." I said, grinning down at her.
"Are you serious?"
"Hit me, like all you have is your hands and feet. Like I'm a real motherfucker who really deserves it, and you want more than anything to put me in the ground."
She kicked me. Not even a half second of hesitation; and god damn, my teeth rang. She stepped off the ground, and drove her knee into my face. Once, twice, three times. I felt something in her knee grate, and my lip split. I set my hand against her abdomen and pushed; knocking her right back onto her ass.
I dragged my thumb across my lip and smeared the blood between my fingers. "See? You've got something worth thinking about."
She glared as she sat up again. "I think if I keep trying to kill you, I'm going to end up breaking something." She said; massaging her knee.
I laughed, and sat down next to her. "I think if you really wanted to kill me you'd bring more than your body. But I felt something from you when we first met... Here. I want you to try something." I suggested, as I took her wrists and carefully adjusted them in front of her. "Try to do what I do."
She scoffed slightly as I sat back and sat in the lotus position, bringing my own hands up and letting the ki flow; making the familiar tiny ball between my palms.
"I don't think I can do that."
"You won't know until you try." I said. "Close your eyes; just focus on that space between your hands. Don't rush; just relax. Don't think of it as making something; you're moving something. You're extending yourself beyond your body; making that place part of you." I lectured, sitting back and watching as she skeptically followed my instructions. It was just a hunch, but if this world has Saiyans...
She gasped softly, and a tiny glimmer of silken red light flashed between her hands. She snapped her eyes open and saw just a glimpse, before it faded and her hands shook. "What the..."
"HAH! I knew it!" I grinned, hopping up to my feet and clenching my fists. I got myself my very own Videl!
"What's a Videl?" She asked, stumbling slightly as she got to her feet; lacking the grace I'd come to expect from her.
Shit, had I said that out loud? "Uhh.. old saiyan word for apprentice. Guess I figured I'd never get one of my own." I lied, less than smoothly. She still seemed enraptured by what she'd done, so I hoped I was in the clear.
"...I really felt it. Like something that's been waiting inside me just slipped out a little."
"First step's the longest. Now you know what it feels like, you can call on it again. Call it enough times and you'll learn to feel it even when you aren't paying attention. That's when you can start learning the really cool shit." I grinned, letting Ki crackle along my fingertips and pop like tiny firecrackers.
Hey. That's a thought...