#// 1. it's almost like tony has interests outside of engineering and science

[shellheadtm-a]

PRIVATE LIVES OF SUPERHEROES - TONY STARK’S NETFLIX EDITION FEAT. @shieldslinger [TEMPLATE]

[aire101]

Ashes Chapter 1 (MCU/HP)

Lily Evans attends the Stark Expo during the Autumn break of her 7th year, and ends up finding–and bringing home– more than scientific passion.

Tony Stark just wanted to escape his security detail for a few hours, but a beautiful red head with a sharp mind and fiery soul derailed his plans for the week–and maybe longer. But secrets burn scars in the soul, and they both live in worlds far apart. Can they find a way to rise above or will it all turn to ash in the end?

October 20th 1991

Lily Evans strolled through the Stark Expo, her eyes gleaming with each innovation and display. No matter how much she loved magic, science remained her passion.  Even after she had accepted her place at Hogwarts, she could not bring herself to completely forsake her muggle education. So during the school year she participated in a distance learning program and over the holidays she and her family would take trips to museums, science expos, and academic conferences that allowed her to expand and keep up with current developments. This year her parents had decided to splurge on an especially big trip during the autumn mid-term break-- a trip overseas to New York, where the Stark Expo was currently running through the rest of the year.  Scientists, mathematicians and engineers from across the globe came to exhibit their latest innovations and inventions. It felt like an endless amount of information to take in, and she only had a week to see it all before she headed back home and back to Hogwarts for the rest of her 7th and final year.

As she read a board detailing the release of the internet to the general population, she realized she had never felt more frustrated with the level of alienation that came with living amongst wizards. The world was moving forward at breathtaking speed, and the wizards were being left in the dust.  For every magical innovation released, there were a dozen or more made in science.  It wouldn't be long before wizards were surpassed completely.

And at that point, all the Secrecy Acts in the world would mean nothing.

She sighed and shook her head. There was no point dwelling on the bullheadedness of wizards. They would simply have to face that storm when it hit.

"I know, I think giving the general populace web access is a bad idea too. Bet there's porn on there within a month."

Lily couldn't help the snort that escaped her as she turned to see who had spoken. It was a handsome boy about her age, with dark tousled hair and deep brown eyes.  She smirked as she said, "Well, you'll just have to look it up and tell me if it is then. If it's not too hard for you, that is."

He stared at her in shock for a moment before a wide and devious smile spread across his face. For a moment, Lily wondered if James Potter didn't have an  American cousin...

Merlin she hoped not.

"That was a most delightfully lewd pun! Thank god I finally found someone here with as terrible a sense of humor as myself!" the boy said, as he stuck out a hand. "Miss...?"

"Lily Evans," she said as she shook his hand.

"Beautiful name for a beautiful lady," he said with a winning smile. "You can call me Tony."

Lily felt her face warming in a blush and turned back to the exhibit. "So Tony, what do you really think about the release of the internet on the general masses?"

"Truthfully? It's been a long time coming, and I think the world will be better for it. Just imagine a scientific breakthrough happening on the other side of the globe and reading about it within an hour of the development. But people tend to ruin even the best things in life, so it's only a matter of time before human toxicity bleeds into it. Seriously, it's intended to connect the world and increase the spread of global knowledge, but I bet you my inheritance it will eventually devolve into an international porn hub and pictures of people's cats."

"I can't tell if you're a pessimist or a realist," said Lily with a shake of her head.

"Just depends on if I'm right," shrugged Tony. "And since I'm always right, I'm going with realist."

"Not arrogant at all, are you?" asked Lily sarcastically.

"Not arrogant, just immodest," said Tony.

"Humility is a virtue, you know," said Lily.

"Good thing I'm not very virtuous," said Tony. "It disagrees with my aesthetics."

Lily couldn't help it, she laughed loudly and shook her head.

Tony just stood and watched her with a small smile.

"Would you care to join me, Mr. Immodest Aesthetics? This is my first day at the expo and I only have a week to see it all," said Lily.

"Lucky for you, I know every square inch of this expo and can make sure you see all the parts worth seeing. So let's get started," said Tony with a clap of his hands, before he reached out and grabbed her hand and started running.

When Tony said he knew every inch of the expo, he had apparently meant it as they had hit the ground running (literally) that morning, and didn't stop. He took her from display to demo, the two of them discussing and debating all the way. Occasionally he would suddenly jump track and insist there was something she just had to see, before he would grab her hand and run, just like he had that morning. Tony was wild and brilliant like a solar storm, with the gravitational pull of a black hole. His mind ran at a speed she had never experienced from anyone before, and the sheer charisma of his personality pulled everyone they spoke to in and compelled them to engage, whether it was in emboldened discourse or aggravation.

They spent the rest of the morning and the afternoon like that before they finally decided food was necessary. A quick stop at a midway stall outside the main expo building and they were ready to go again, New York style hot dogs in hand.

That's when security finally caught up to them.

"Shit," Tony muttered as they were surrounded by large, burly men in suites.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to come with me," one of the men said, staring at Tony.

Lily's eyes widened. Who had she been hanging out with all day?!

"No, if you haven't gotten the hint every time I've ditched you today, here's your sign- I don't need a damn escort!" yelled Tony.

Ah... so that's why they would suddenly start running throughout the day.

"That's not your call to make. Now your father requests-"

"Do I look like I give a shit what he requests?!"

"HE REQUESTS your presence at the main stage for the evening's closeout ceremony. I am to make sure you arrive there within the next half hour by any means necessary. Mr. Stark, it's been a long day, please don't make this any more difficult than it has to be. Take up your issues with your father himself," the man said, almost pleading at the end even as he sounded resigned to his fate of chasing and fighting the boy in front of him.

Meanwhile, Lily's brain had short circuited on one word.

Mr. Stark. Mr Anthony Stark- boy genius, recently graduated from MIT at the age of 17, heir to Stark Industries.

No wonder he knew the whole damn expo by memory.

Tony sighed dramatically, running a hand through his constantly wayward hair. He turned to Lily and gave her a sheepish look that she was sure was meant to be a grin, but looked more like a grimace.

"Sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but for what it's worth I really had a great time with you today," he said.

"So did I," Lily said. "Thank you for taking the time to show me around. You were the best tour guide a girl could ask for, Mr. Immodest Aesthetics."

Tony smiled brightly. "See you around, Lily."

And with that he was gone.

Lily sighed and checked her watch. It was 4:30 pm, and she had arranged to meet her family at the drop off point at the front of the expo at 6:00. Just enough time to get there at her leisure, so long as she didn't get distracted and stop anywhere too long.

As she walked her thoughts turned back to Tony. He obviously thought she would be mad that he hadn't been completely truthful about his identity. And maybe she should be, but she couldn't actually bring herself to be.  The look on his face as it was revealed was just too sad. And while she couldn't say she completely understood why, she could hazard a few guesses.

She wondered how many times Tony's heart had been broken by would-be friends using him for their own prestige for him to have that look in his eyes.

The next hour and a half seemed to crawl by as she made her way through the expo to the front. And while she wandered and looked, her mind continually turned back to wild brunette hair and expressive brown eyes.

'I wonder if I will see him again?'

# "Did you miss me?"

It was around noon the next day, and the familiar voice made her jump as it came from right behind her while she was reading a log journal at an expo booth.

"Bloody hell, Tony! Don't do that!" she growled at him.

"I would say I'm sorry, but I'm really not," he said with a grin.

Lily rolled her eyes, "Well, at least you're honest."

"Yes I am, so you must believe me when I say that yesterday was the most fun I've had in quite some time," said Tony.

Lily smiled, "Same. So does that mean you would like to pick up where we left off?"

"I was actually about to ask if you would be interested in heading out to get a bite to eat, followed by a guided tour- provided by yours truly- of the New York branch of Stark Laboratories," said Tony.

Lily's eyes widened. She had promised her parents not to leave the expo, but the offer of an inside look at Stark Labs was too much to pass up.

"Are you sure, Tony? I wouldn't want you to get in any more trouble, especially after yesterday," Lily said.

Tony waved off her concern, "It's not a problem. We do tours regularly anyway.  And I promise, there's a lot worse trouble that I could be up to than showing you around. Pretty sure my security detail will be thrilled that I want to head back to headquarters.  So lunch, then back to HQ?"

"Sure, though I should probably find a phone first so I can leave a message at the hotel for my parents," said Lily.

"No problem, the limo has a phone," said Tony as he started walking towards the exit.

"Of course it does," sighed Lily as she shook her head.

"How much have you seen of New York?" asked Tony.

"Not much. I've basically spent all my time at the expo so far," said Lily.

"So no preference on restaurant? Anything you can't or won't eat?"

"No allergies, and I'm pretty adventurous so I'll let you choose," said Lily.

"Does that sense of adventure extend to things beyond food?" asked Tony with a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Well, I'm here hanging out with you, aren't I?" Lily said with a flat expression, but a gentle turn of the lips belied her amusement at his innuendo.

"Touché," said Tony as they arrived next to a black limo. He beat his guards to the door by breath and opened it, gesturing for her to enter. "Ladies first!"

"And they say chivalry is dead," said Lily.

"Oh it is. I'm just courting favor," said Tony. "Is it working?"

Lily smiled as she ducked into the limo, "Guess we'll see later."

"You know, I would have been just fine with a pizza parlor, right?" said Lily as she looked around the decadent room. Noon light filtered through etched glass windows and lit candles set a decidedly romantic ambiance.

When they had arrived at the obviously upscale restaurant, Lily had been concerned as usually such places had a required dress code, which she obviously had not planned for today. Tony had just smiled and walked past the front entrance to a side one that had led to a private dining area.  He had to have called and reserved the location before he had even found and asked her to lunch at the expo. She could only roll her eyes at the presumption.

"Hey, I hardly ever do the whole 'date' thing, let me have the opportunity show off properly," said Tony as he pulled out a chair for her.

"I have a hard time believing you can't get a date," said Lily with a raised brow.

"I didn't say I can't get one, I just said I don't do them," said Tony as he sat.

"I'm assuming for the same reasons that you didn't tell me your surname yesterday," said Lily.

"And you would be correct. It doesn't help that I've always been significantly ahead in school, so I've not really had much opportunity to hang around many people within a dateable age range. Anyone willing to date my fourteen year old self after I graduated high school was suspect at best, for a variety of reasons.  And dating in my own age range is... tedious," said Tony.

Lily frowned, "I can see how it would be. You graduated from secondary school at fourteen and just graduated MIT at seventeen. There must have always been about a three to four year age gap between you and your classmates at best. Never mind the performance gap between yourself and most of our age group.  Guess that's the curse of genius."

"How about you? Is there a special someone across the pond I have to worry about hunting me down? Unless you also have a 'curse of genius?'" asked Tony.

"No, I'm no genius. I have been told I'm quite bright, and I've been top of my year at school for as long as I can remember. But being 'bright' isn't quite enough to chase the hounds away.  That being said, no there is no one you need to worry about back home. No matter how much he may wish otherwise," said Lily.

"Oh, that was specific."

"Indeed. Just a boy with an overly inflated ego with just enough talent to get bored, make mischief and still make top marks," Lily said.

"Hey, he sounds like my kind of people," Tony said with a grin.

"Actually, when you and I first met my first thought was to wonder if he had an American cousin," said Lily with a laugh. "In all honesty he isn't a bad sort.  He's a pretty decent person overall, but is an immature prat most of the time.  If he ever decides to grow out of that he might actually make a good man of himself someday."

"Enough about the competition. Tell me more about you.  You mentioned being top of your year. Where do you attend?" asked Tony.

"My school is... a very unique place. I've been attending there since the age of eleven. It's a very old, traditional boarding school located in a remote area of northern Scotland, in an honest to god thousand year old castle," smiled Lily.

"No kidding? Wow, how do you guys get electricity to power stuff in a structure like that?" asked Tony.

"That's probably the biggest downside to the whole thing. There is none," said Lily.

Tony blinked and stared, "What?"

Lily laughed outright, "'What?' That's all?  Did I break you?  This is the first I've seen you at a loss for words."

"I'm still trying to comprehend what you just said... how does your school run their tech?"

"There is no tech. It does however have a most impressive library. And eventually you get used to candle and lamp lighting," said Lily, thoroughly enjoying the gobsmacked expression on Tony's face.

Eventually his shock changed to laughter, "Oh wow, you actually got me. For a second there I actually bought it.  Medieval Scottish castles..."

"I'm not joking," said Lily, looking him square in the eye.

Tony caught his breath for a moment while looking into her emerald eyes. But after a moment he swallowed nervously and grinned.

"What's this technological purgatory called? Just so I know to never go there?" asked Tony as he lifted his glass to take a drink.

"Hogwarts," said Lily.

Lily had to fight to keep a straight face as Tony accidentally snorted water up his nose.

"Ok, now you're shitting me."

"Honestly, I wish I was. I love my school, but the founders must have been barmy," said Lily with a shake of her head.

Just then the wait staff returned to the room, bringing in the first course. Tony had just ordered the chef's tasting menu for the both of them.

"How about you, Tony? What are your plans now that you've graduated?" asked Lily.

"Well, there's not really any choice, is there? My old man is the founder of a corporate empire.  And he's not exactly young. I'm about to start graduate school--was originally supposed to start at Oxford this term actually, until dad decided I needed to get better acquainted with how things were run around SI. I've already dipped into the R&D pool, and I'm supposed to start shadowing around corporate. Before too long I'll have to take over the business," said Tony while he pushed some of the food around his plate.

"I guess that's true enough. Though I like to think we all still have choices, even if sometimes it doesn't seem like it- a choice on what to do, how to do it, when to do it... We can't always control what life hands us, but we can control our own choices on what to do with it," said Lily.

"Hey now, keep your deep thinking and existential logic on that side of the table. It might contaminate me," said Tony with a grin.

"Sorry, things have been a little... tense across the pond. It starts to make you think about what the right thing to do is," said Lily.

"Yeah, I've heard some rumors about a terrorist over there, right? Nothing official mind you, " said Tony with a worried look at her.

"Yeah, it's all really hush-hush. But there's definitely a shady faction gaining power back home. You won't hear anything until it's too late, but if things don't change for the better we might end up in a civil war," said Lily.

"Is it really that bad? I would think the news would be all over something like that," said Tony.

"I really shouldn't be saying anything at all. Most of this is pretty confidential.  It mostly involves certain... underground groups. In all likelihood, most of the world won't even know when the war starts.  There won't be any public battles on the world stage, no news coverage. You'll only know the war has started by the body count and the list of missing persons," said Lily.

"Then how do you know about it?" asked Tony.

"Let's just say I myself have some pretty big choices to make once I graduate," said Lily. "Or as my esteemed headmaster would say, 'we must all choose between what is easy and what is right.'"

"I mean, personally I prefer to do what's smart but maybe that's just me," said Tony.

"I would prefer to do the same as well. Unfortunately, war tends to take that option off the table," said Lily.

"So... what? You're talking about enlisting?" asked Tony.

"Something like that."

"You wouldn't be on the front lines though, right? No offense, but you're not exactly the most physically intimidating person," said Tony.

Lily grinned, "You'd be surprised what an angry red head can accomplish when we set our mind to a task."

The waiter came back and took their barely touched first course and replaced it with an equally unappetizing second course.

They both sat, staring down at their plates with frowns in contemplative silence.

"You know, I think there's a pizza joint a block down-"

"You're a man after my own heart."

The Stark Industry labs were everything Lily imagined and more. The company primarily dealt with weapons development, but included in that was a number of different scientific fields-- energy, chemistry, physics and a dozen others, all with their own projects separate from the defense contracts. And Tony showed her around all of it, explaining each in minute detail with the excitement of a kid in a candy store.  The breadth of his knowledge floored Lily.  It was hard to believe they were the same age; for all her brilliance, she could not hold a candle to his intense genius.

To be fair, she doubted many in the world could.

"...and that is current state of the biochemistry project department. Though I was poking around in my dad's files last night and I think there's a secret project he's been working on for a while that he might be close to completing soon. If he does it might be disclosed sometime around the end of the expo this year," said Tony.

"You hacked your father, Tony?" asked Lily in shock.

"Shhh! Not so loud... and not hacked per se--more like opportunistically investigated his recent activities without his permission or knowledge," said Tony with a wave of his hand.

"Why don't you just ask him?" asked Lily.

"My father and I haven't gotten along in... ever really," said Tony. "Mostly we just try to stay out of each other's way these days.  So long as I keep my head down for the most part and get shit done he leaves me alone. He tried to pull the 'involved dad' bit after I started college, but after doing his best to ignore my existence for the first 13 years of my life, he was a bit too late to the party for that."

"That's... really sad, honestly," said Lily.

"Yeah well, who needs to be a dad when you have butlers and nannies to do it for you, right?" said Tony with a tight lipped smile. "To be fair, Jarvis-- the butler-- is pretty awesome."

"What is your father like?" asked Lily.

"Cold, methodical and brilliant. He's a business cutthroat as much as he is an inventor, if not more so," said Tony. "He didn't rise up from nothing to the leading weapons developer in the world by making friends. Everyone is either a project, an asset or a liability.  And you don't want to be a liability."

Silence hung over them as they walked towards the elevators. It was getting later into the evening now, and Lily would need to check in soon with her parents.

"How about you? What is your family like?" asked Tony.

"They're wonderful. My father is management at a local industrial factory back home in Cokeworth. My mother has been a homemaker for years now, but before that she was a secretary at the same factory. That's how they met.  They are both hard workers and loving, supportive parents. I'm lucky to have them," said Lily.

Tony smiled wistfully as he pushed the down elevator call button, "I'm glad you do. Any siblings you have to share them with?"

Lily's smile fell a bit as she thought of her sister.

"Uh oh... I take it that's a yes," said Tony as they stepped into the elevator.

"I have an older sister, Petunia. We used to be close when we were little, but haven't gotten along for many years now."

"How could someone not get along with you?" asked Tony incredulously. "You have the most agreeable personality of anyone I've ever known."

"It begun a little before I started at my school. Petunia wanted to attend there as well after I got my acceptance letter, but admission is very restricted, and is by invitation only. My parents were very proud of my admission.  But after Petunia found out she couldn't attend as well, our relationship soured," said Lily with a sigh.

"No offense, but your sister sounds like an idiot. You must have been the one to get all the good genes," said Tony.

Lily glared at Tony. "Watch your words. We may not get along well, but make no mistake--she is my sister, and I love her dearly. You do not know her, nor do you understand our circumstances, so you would do well to hold your tongue," Lily said as she exited the elevator.

Tony stood still and wide eyed as if he had just been slapped, and had to lunge out the elevator door to keep it from closing on him.

"Wait! Wait!  I'm sorry! Ok, I'm sorry.  I was way out of line," said Tony as he ran and cut off her path to the door. "Please don't leave."

Lily stood in the atrium and gave him another glare before she rolled her eyes, "Apology accepted. Now stop giving me those sad puppy eyes."

"I will... if you agree to go to dinner with me," said Tony, innocently batting his eyelashes for good measure.

"That is so not fair, Tony! Stop!" Lily laughed.

"Is that a yes?"

"I don't know... I'm supposed to meet up with my family in the evenings," said Lily.

"Do you guys already have plans? If not we could all go to dinner together," said Tony, putting his hands in his pockets. His tone was lighthearted, but there was a tension in his form that belied his nonchalance.

"I don't know, it depends..." said Lily.

"On what?"

"On whether you are the one choosing the restaurant. That lunch earlier was awful," said Lily with a smirk.

This time it was Tony's turn to roll his eyes, but as he looked back at her his expression was noticeably more relaxed.

"Fine, you guys can choose the spot.  But if I already know it's trash I reserve the right to veto," said Tony.

"That is acceptable. Now I need to find a phone to call my parents and see what they had planned for this evening," said Lily.

"Just ask the front desk to use the phone there. They saw you come in with me, so they shouldn't give you any trouble," said Tony.

"Alright, I'll be right back," said Lily with a soft smile before turning to walk across the atrium.

# Tony had no idea what he was doing.

He was by no means a blushing virgin, and the last couple years had given him plenty of experience in wooing women, but the last 32 hours had been something completely different. When he had first approached Lily he had been ready for the usual either disparaging remarks or obsequious flattery.  What he had found instead was sincerity, humor and depth.

He wasn't sure what it said about him or his life that he was more prepared to deal with a manipulative gold digger than he was a genuinely kind and clever human being.

He had to assume that was why he currently found himself heading to dinner to meet the parents of a girl he had known for less than two days.

'I need a drink... What the hell was I thinking?' Tony asked himself again as the driver pulled up to Francisco's Restaurant.

"You look like you're going to meet death, rather than my parents," said Lily with a mischievous smile that made her eyes narrow in amusement.

For what felt like the hundredth time just that day, Tony felt his breath almost catch as his stomach fluttered.

Right, that's what he was thinking. Someday he would learn to put a leash on that tongue of his...

While Tony was busy lying to himself, Lily opened her door and stepped out to head inside. Tony ran his hand through his hair nervously, which only served to increase its chaotic mess, before finally moving to join her in front of the restaurant. Seeing as this dinner had been his own idea, it would be pretty cowardly to beg off now.  Tony Stark was many things, but a coward was not one of them.

"I'm not sure why you're so anxious. My parents seemed pretty excited to meet you. And my sister is enough of a sycophant that I doubt you will have any trouble from her--"

"Wait, your sister is here too?" asked Tony. As nervous as he was, he had figured that dinner with Lily's parents would be a mostly pleasant affair. But if things were as bad as he suspected between Lily and Petunia, dinner with her sister was a completely different matter; and Tony had doubts about his ability to censor himself that long.

"Yes, and I expect you to play nice," said Lily before opening to door and going inside.

"I will if she does," muttered Tony petulantly as he followed.

The smell of rice, garlic and saffron wafted through the entire building, leaving Tony moaning lightly in appreciation. His mother didn't cook often, but when she did this was the smell that always clung to the air for hours afterwards.  If the food was anyway comparative to her cooking, Tony would have to add Francisco's to his list of restaurants to stop at when he was in New York.

A few short words with a host, and they were being lead to the back of the restaurant, where in a secluded corner sat Lily's family.

As they approached, Lily's father stood to greet his daughter with a smile and a hug. Tony's first thought was that the man was quite a bit older than he would have expected. His brown hair was streaked liberally with gray and white, and laugh lines were etched deeply into his smiling face.  By Tony's estimation, the man was likely pushing towards 60. Still not as old as his own father though.  But where Howard had gone into fatherhood begrudgingly late in life, this man seemed to have embraced it.

The man finally turned towards Tony and offered him a polite smile and handshake.

"William Evans.... And you must be Tony. Thank you for keeping an eye on my youngest. I imagine you didn't originally plan to spend the last couple days playing tour guide, but I would be lying if I didn't say that it does this old man's heart good to know his princess isn't gallivanting around New York completely alone."

"Oh Daddy, it's not that bad. I've hardly even left the expo," said Lily as she took a seat next to who Tony assumed must be her sister, despite the fact that the two looked nothing alike. Where Lily's face was soft and slightly rounded with open expressions, Petunia's was long, harsh lines and pinched looks.  Where Lily was fire, Petunia was ice.

It was perhaps unkind, but the simple truth was that Petunia's homeliness was accentuated sharply by Lily's loveliness.

"Petunia Evans, it's a pleasure to meet you, Anthony," said Petunia.

As Lily predicted, Petunia had plastered on a simpering smile as she offered her hand, palm down.

Tony blinked for a moment. Surely she didn't actually expect him to...

Before he had to decide whether to stomach a chivalrous hand kiss to the harpy's claw or risk Lily's ire for laughing in her sister's face, somebody stepped between them.

Midnight black hair tumbled down her back, and familiar bright green almond eyes stared right into his soul from a round face that Tony felt looked far younger and more innocent than this creature before him really was. She was quite petite, and was physically less than intimidating.

But the look in her eyes as she smiled at him left him cold. Her eyes roved over him in inspection.

She held out her hand to him, palm down.

"Rose Evans, it's wonderful to finally meet you Anthony Stark."

He took her hand and carefully brought it towards his lips without quite touching, and never let his eyes leave hers.

"The pleasure is mine, Ma'am," said Tony quietly.

For a second that felt like an hour, they held each other's gaze. Finally Rose gave a slight grin and a nod to him before she turned away with a whispered, "You'll do."

Tony raised an eyebrow in askance, but Rose merely turned to her husband who pulled out her chair for her before sitting himself.

He took that as his cue to seat himself in the last open seat at the round table, situated between Lily and Rose.

A quick perusal of the menu had Tony settling on the roast lamb, and after the table had ordered they all settled into a semi-awkward silence.

William smiled at Tony, "Lily mentioned you had already graduated from university. That's quite the achievement for your age.  Where did you attend?"

"I graduated from MIT this past spring, with a focus on electrical engineering and physics," said Tony.

"Planning to follow in your father's footsteps then?"

"Ideally I suppose I hope to surpass them," said Tony with a cocky grin.

William laughed, "Indeed! Well, I wish I could say I look forward to seeing it, but given the nature of your father's company, I admit it's a bit of a terrifying thought."

Tony had to fight back a wince at that.

"Don't be rude, father," said Petunia, "It is good and respectable work, and obviously pays well."

She shot a smile to Tony as if to say she had his back, but all it did was tighten that uncomfortable knot he pretended didn't exist in his stomach at the thought of their weapon contracts. If he had his way he would scrap the whole damn thing.  Weapon developers were a dime a dozen.  Any idiot could make something explode.  No, the future lay in energy production, information management and processing, and the systems they would build to do it.

Artificial intelligence.

"No offense taken, though I'll be honest, so long as people continue to try and beat each other into submission, the weapons industry will continue to grow and turn profit; with or without Stark Industries," said Tony.

"And it's only one part of what the company does. Tony showed me dozens of different projects today with civilian and medical applications," said Lily.

"Not that you have any need for such technology, Lily," said Petunia with just the barest hint of disdain.

Lily gave the barest flinch, and had he not been looking at her he would have missed it. She glanced at him before turning back to her sister giving her a pointed glare with her lips pursed into a thin line, clearly holding back a biting retort.

Unfortunately, Tony didn't have that good of a censor.

"Neither do you apparently. I don't recall you having been at the expo at all yet. A bit above your grade point average?" said Tony.

Petunia looked gobsmacked.

"Tony!" hissed Lily as she smacked his arm.

Tony sighed and he closed his eyes before he spoke in a droning voice, "My apologies for my rude behaviour. It was uncalled for and immature."

"Have to give that speech often I take it? I can't say I approve of your rude words to my daughter, but given she was out of line as well, we will let it pass," said William with the air of someone used to dealing with such squabbles.

Then he turned to Lily and shook his head. "I swear Lily, you and your catty, sharp-tongued boys. This one is nearly as bad as Severus," he said with a laugh.

"Severus?" asked Tony.

"A childhood friend of Lily's who attends the same school as she does. We used to live in the same neighborhood, but we moved across town a few years ago. Hardly see the boy now," said Rose as she sipped from a glass of red wine.

"Oh, is this Mr. Inflated Ego?" Tony asked Lily.

"No, that's someone completely different. Mr. Inflated Ego has the potential to become something more. Severus... I'm afraid Severus is a lost cause," said Lily.

The look on her face as she said it was heartbreaking.

"I never did understand what you saw in that lout, Lily. He was wretched from the start, so I'm not sure what you expected. Bad blood, that one," said Petunia, her nose wrinkled in distaste.  She shot Tony a withering look, "At least this one is well bred, if still ill mannered."

Oh hell no!

"Excuse me?!" growled Tony. "What the f--!"

"ENOUGH Petunia," William raised his voice over the table. "You speak of Tony and Severus' ill manners, but here you are being churlish and snobby. As far as Severus is concerned, never forget-- 'There, but for the grace of God, go I.'"

"Really father? God's Grace?  Such hypocrisy! How about 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live--"

"Hold your foul tongue child," hissed a cold voice. It took a moment for Tony to place it as Rose.

'What the hell was the harpy even going on about?' wondered Tony. He turned to Lily and felt his heart lurch.

Lily sat beside him pale and listless, eyes glazed over and studiously avoiding his eyes.

He reached over under the table and grabbed Lily's hand, holding it with firm reassurance. She didn't look at him, but he felt her hand close around his like a lifeline.

He didn't understand what was going on. He didn't understand what had drained all the life from Lily's eyes. And he couldn't fathom why his fiery Lily continued to take her sister's ridiculous venom...

But he would be damned if he was expected to sit here and watch it quietly.

Play nice his ass!

"Listen to me you maleficent hag, Lil' may love you and be willing to let the terrible things you're saying slide, but I'm not. Your tiny, jealous mind is too much for me to suffer," growled Tony.

"Jealous?!" scoffed Petunia. "You don't know what you're talking about--"

"I admit some of this conversation perplexes me, obviously there's some family secret that I'm not privy to that affects the dynamics. But your body language screams of repressed aggression and your words of a deep seated inferiority complex," said Tony.

"You don't know anything about me!"

"I know you fancy yourself a lady of high standing by the manner of your greeting, and that your family's humble beginnings must chaffe you viciously by your critical remarks about blood and breeding. Accordingly, you've no doubt already begun to line up 'appropriate' suitors of well funded stock with which to settle down into a stable and unremarkable life of procreation and home keeping. Unfortunately, your homely appearance, average intelligence, and mean personality has not given you much with which to barter upwards socially, so you feel the glass ceiling above you with equal parts contempt and frustration. To add insult to injury, your younger half sister-- a situation that has left its own chip on your shoulder-- possesses all that necessary to advance herself in whatever manner she would choose, whether it be to marry up into nobility or to blaze a path into a career of her choosing. And it burns you to know that her name will be lifted from the tongues of such exceptional people you will never have the pleasure of knowing.

You're right Petunia, I don't know just anything about you, I know everything about you that I need to know."

# "For the hundredth time Lily-- I am sorry!"

Tony was chasing Lily down the sidewalk, nearing Central Park. Part of him distantly wondered why he even bothered.

But a quiet yet stubborn voice at his center knew why. And so here he was.

The table was a silent battlefield after his scathing roast of Petunia Evans. Tony only had a moment to reflect that perhaps he should have reigned in the tongue lashing a bit before William was on his feet shouting god knew what in Tony's face. But before he could think of an appropriate way to respond Lily moved between them.

"You would side with him against your own sister?! Your own blood?!"

"No, but I refuse to let you abuse him like this when he was coming to my defense! You always turn a blind eye to Petunia's hateful words!"

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words--"

"CAN LEAVE WOUNDS THAT MAY NEVER HEAL!"

After that explosion, Lily had shot off out of the restaurant. Tony had only taken a moment to throw a couple hundred dollar bills at the waiter before he was out the door after her.

"Just tell me what I can do, what I can say--"

"Do you even know what you're apologizing for?!" Lily yelled as she finally spun around to face him, tears streaming down her beautiful face.

It was unfair how beautiful she was, even while crying.

"I don't know?! For castigating your sister? Pissing off Daddy?  Being an insensitive prick with a mouth that won't quit? Not minding my own damn business?  Pick one!  Why are you laughing?"

It was the most confusing thing. Lily was still crying, but now she was bent over double, laughing her ass off.

Most likely at his expense.

But whatever, even if there were still tears, there was a smile back on her face.

And suddenly Tony realized he would give anything-- anything-- to see it stay there.

Shit...

"Thank you," said Lily.

"Uh... could you run that by me again?" asked Tony, perplexed.

"You heard me."

"Ok, then clarify for what I'm being thanked," said Tony with an eye roll.

"Just... for being you," said Lily.

"Oh. Well, there's a first for everything I guess. Usually me being me ends with lawyers and calls to my parents," said Tony.

"Not this time. This time it ends with my thanks..."

Lily stepped forward, close enough that Tony could feel her breath. She leaned in, and he could feel the soft touch of her lips press against his cheek. As she lingered, his arms moved to embrace her.

She pulled back only enough for her bottle green eyes to meet his own.

Then she leaned in again, and this time their lips met, tentatively at first, then deeper just a moment later.

It was electric and it was gentle; it was passionate and it was calming.  It was precious, like holding a star in his hands... 

It was everything he wanted and like nothing he had ever had before.

And it was over all too quickly.

As Lily pulled away, Tony's hand moved to cup her face and keep her close, unwilling to completely give up what he had only just found.

"Tony... what is this?" asked Lily hesitantly.

"I don't know. But I don't plan to let it go," said Tony.

"We barely know each other..."

"Then we'll go on more dates. At better restaurants."

"I still have a year of school left in Scotland..."

"My family has a private jet."

"There are no airports nor phones anywhere near the school. Even our postal service is... not standard."

"Seriously? Are you sure you aren't going to school in a pocket dimension?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It does feel like it sometimes," sighed Lily.

"Do you... I mean, if you aren't interested--"

He was cut off as her lips found his again.

"Did that seem uninterested to you?" said Lily when she pulled away again.

"Then stop blowing holes in my ship," said Tony.

"I feel like that's a reference, but I can't place it..."

"What I mean is, if you want to, I'm willing to find a way," said Tony. "But I need you to look for solutions, not problems."

"You make it sound so simple," said Lily.

"Why complicate it?" asked Tony.

"Because it is complicated," said Lily.

"It doesn't have to be," said Tony.

Lily sighed, "You don't understand..."

"Then help me to understand."

"That's the problem! I can't. It's illegal! I could do jail time if I did," said Lily.

"What in the hell are you mixed up in? Does it have to do with that civil unrest you mentioned?" asked Tony.

"Yes and no... they are related, but it would be a problem whether there was a war or not. It just makes it that much more dangerous," said Lily.

"Do you need a way out?"

Lily looked up at him and searched his face. She moved to speak before she halted and pursed her lips. After a moment she seemed to settle on a response.

"That is certainly one of my choices. One many others have already made.  It would be the easy choice. The smart choice..."

"But not what's right," finished Tony.

"When you have the power to help others, but you don't because of fear, it makes you complicit," said Lily.

"No, it makes you human," said Tony.

"Then perhaps we should aim to be a bit more than that. Instead of superhuman strength, we should try for superhuman heart and will," said Lily.

"That sounds great, but expecting people to be more than what they are... don't you think that's a bit unfair as well?" asked Tony.

"Perhaps..."

The lull in conversation stretched on, and Tony began to inspect their surroundings. It was long since dark, and they stood on the outskirts of Central Park.  They should probably head somewhere else soon...

"How did you know Petunia was my half-sister?"

"What? Oh, it was a bit of a deduction. Petunia's bone structure  and features only somewhat reflects her paternity and does not reflect your mother at all. Your father has brown hair and blue eyes, your mother has black with green eyes- Petunia is blonde with brown eyes. The likelihood of both of those traits coming through are relatively low if she were their daughter. Also, your father said 'my daughter' when referring to Petunia, not our daughter. And while the difference in age between you and Petunia is not large, Rose is already significantly younger than your father, and likely had you very young. If she were Petunia's mother as well, that would have pushed their relationship from the realm of 'serious age gap' into 'illegal.' Therefore I assumed Petunia a child from a previous marriage, and his marriage to Rose a matter of convenience and a need for a caregiver."

"You know what they say about assuming things?" asked Lily.

"I already know I'm an ass. But was I wrong?"

Lily sighed as she shook her head. "No, you're not wrong."

"So what is Petunia's problem? I get that there's stuff you apparently can't talk about, but it's obvious that something about your relationship disturbs her. With the way she seems to try and emulate Rose I would think it might have to do with you and your mother's relationship versus her own."

"You are perceptive beyond reason," laughed Lily. "How do you do it?"

"It's all in the details, my dear Watson."

"And what do the details tell you about me?" asked Lily fondly.

Tony let his eyes travel freely over Lily's form, until her cheeks began to show a dusting of pink.Then he took a step forward, drawing her into a light embrace.

"The dilation of your pupils and the flush of your cheeks at my proximity tell me you're intensely attracted to me..."

"Well done, Sherlock," said Lily with a roll of the eyes. "You've cracked the case."

"Your description of your school tells me that your exceptional grasp of modern sciences and technology didn't come from their halls, so you must be concurrently enrolled in a proper education program in addition to whatever 'specialized education' this Hogwarts must offer. This tells me that you are a brilliant, driven and stubborn woman, considering the hassle it must be to manage a concurrent enrollment out in the middle of nowhere with limited access to communication," said Tony.

Lily nodded, "I am in fact, concurrently enrolled."

"And the nature of your school itself is extremely telling. Remote--exclusive acceptance done by a manner not related to income, test aptitude, or generational acceptance--limited outside contact--confidential and specialized education.

Between that and Petunia's fit earlier... I gather you're something a little 'more' than the average human."

She did her best to quell her tells, but Lily couldn't quite stop the slight widening of her eyes, the sudden contraction of her pupils, or the subtle tightening around her mouth.

Like he said, he's always right.

Tony lifted his hand to cup her face, and gently stroked his thumb over the tight lines of her mouth. "Don't worry, I'm not going to ask. When you're ready though, I'll listen. Just wish there was something else I could do since powers or not, apparently that world of yours isn't safe right now."

"'Powers' only do so much good when the other side has them as well," said Lily. "I need you to promise you won't say anything about this to anyone. For your own sake."

"Alright, I promise. But if the shit hits the fan over there, I don't care what sort of abilities these people have, I'll come to get you," said Tony.

Lily didn't answer, but gave him a tremulous smile.

"Well, well, well... what have we here?"

<<<<>>>>

AN: Hey ya’ll decided to go ahead and throw this out into the wilderness.  I’ve been working on this story for a while, it will ultimately have a sequel, seeing as this work was originally started as a prologue to another story, it got out of hand and became its own thing.  Basically I wanted to write a story where Harry was Tony’s son, but didn’t have Lily cheating on James to make it happen. So... here we are. Thanks for reading. <3

[inawickedlittletown]

Walking The Wire (1/?)

Summary: Tony Stark always knew about Peter Parker. He didn't know that Peter was going to get superpowers and become Spider-Man, but he always knew about Peter because Peter was his son. 

This will span from pre-Iron Man up through the rest of the MCU (eventually including Infinity War) and will be for the most part canon compliant except where I've taken some liberties and interpreted canon a certain way.

A/N: If you want me to tag you when I post new chapters let me know. This fic is also on AO3 

I used Collider’s MCU timeline to stay canon and the title of this fic is an Imagine Dragons song that is just so fitting for Peter and Tony. 

Enjoy. 

2000

The fact of the matter was that paternity claims came in all the time. They weren’t an everyday thing, but they happened often enough that Pepper had actually gone through the trouble of creating a folder for them just so she could keep track. Jarvis helped to make correlations between the ones that were fairly possible, but everyone knew that while Tony liked to keep his bed warm that he was also a stickler for protection. Still, every contraceptive was only 99.99% effective so there was a whole set up to verify pregnancy and paternity if there even was a pregnancy. Some girls just showed up trying to get a marriage out of the claim, while others wanted a hand out. Pepper gave them nothing. Tony left it in her deft hands -- just like everything else -- and things just went on.

Then, came Mary Fitzpatrick.

Pepper had met Mary sometime after Mary started working for Stark Industries. She stood out a bit in part because her background wasn’t in mechanics but instead bio-chemical engineering. Pepper didn’t know the logistics behind what Mary did for Stark Industries, but she knew that Mary was a good conversationalist, absolutely brilliantly smart, and that she was beautiful. She looked the part of the kind of girl that Tony went for, but Pepper thought she was too smart to get ensnared in that web.

Mary had worked for Stark Industries for about a year before she met Tony. It happened at an office party and Pepper remembered seeing Tony break away from Obadiah to speak to her and had known that Tony would either charm Mary or get shot down hard.

Pepper knew everything about Tony and was in charge of almost every aspect of his life, so she was well aware of the moment when Happy picked Tony and Mary up and drove them back to Tony’s house.

Tony and Mary became friends. It surprised Pepper, at first, because Tony never befriended the women he took to bed, but she shouldn’t have been surprised because Mary was different and she seemed to keep up with Tony when it came to all the science talk. Tony even invited her into his workshop at SI a few times and they seemed to work well together. Pepper saw promise in the partnership and she could see how easily Mary could change Tony for the better.

2001

Two months later, Pepper found Mary crying outside her office.

Mary just whispered two words. “I’m pregnant” and Pepper knew. She invited Mary into her office and gave her a drink of water and let her calm down before asking if she was sure.

Mary gave her the full story. She had a long-distance relationship with a man named Richard Parker. He was in New York City but it was temporary and he was moving out to California to be with her and in the meanwhile they had an open-relationship to make things easier. Mary hadn’t expected for Tony to come into her life the way he did and she definitely didn’t love him. Mary loved Richard. There was no possible way for Richard to be the father and Mary hadn’t allowed herself to see anyone else in any sense except for Tony.

“So what do you want to do?” Pepper asked.

“I can’t have an abortion,” Mary said at once. Then, unlike all those other women claiming to be pregnant and carrying little Starks, Mary demanded that Pepper never tell Tony.

“I’ll talk to Richard. He’s -- he’s very understanding and we always wanted to have children. Tony doesn’t want kids. He doesn’t need this and this life he leads is not one that a child should be introduced to. This is my two weeks notice. I just need you not to tell Tony.”

Pepper couldn’t keep it from Tony. Not only did she not want to try to keep it a secret, but she knew enough about Tony Stark to know that secrets were not things he handled well. What he did handle well was being told how something was going to be.

“Mary Parker tendered her resignation. She’s pregnant, Tony.”

Tony’s expression was surprise and he was at a loss for words for once.

“She is leaving for New York in two weeks to her boyfriend. She doesn’t want anything except to be left alone. She’s going to raise the baby with her boyfriend or on her own. Mary didn’t even want me to tell you but I figured you should know.”

Tony responded just as Pepper had expected him to after the immediate shock had blown away.

“Set up a fund for the kid,” Tony said, “make it accessible on his or her 18th birthday and make sure that Mary gets some sort of paternal support. She has the right idea, you know, I wouldn’t be good for a baby.”

Mary sent Pepper pictures and stories and little tidbits about her and Tony’s son over the next four years and even though Tony never acted like he was interested, Pepper showed them to him and had Jarvis keep a file on him. Peter Parker was a beautiful boy with chubby cheeks, a huge smile, and just a tuft of brown hair on his head. His brown eyes were Tony’s and Pepper suspected that he would look more and more like Tony as he got older. Even though Tony had been reluctant to look at the pictures, once he did he seemed to be fascinated by them but even then he didn’t ask to contact Mary or ask to meet his son.

Every year brought more pictures and stories and a toddler Peter looked more and more like Tony had in the baby pictures that Pepper had found once in an old photo album. It was almost sad that they didn’t actually know Peter.

Then, Mary and Richard died.

2005

Pepper found out when May Parker called searching to Tony and for a long moment Pepper had feared that this woman who wasn’t even related to Peter by blood wanted Tony to step up and take his son or that worse she wanted some sort of incentive to keep the secret of Peter’s parentage. Having worked for SI for long enough, Pepper was well aware of how horrible some people were.

She was surprised when instead, May said: “My husband and I are going to take Peter in. He’s a wonderful kid and it’s what Mary and Richard wanted and specified in their will. I just figured that you might want to know. That Mr. Stark might want to know where his son is. He’s in good hands, Ms. Potts. Mary told us about Peter’s father and she always felt respected because Mr. Stark followed her wishes. These are her wishes.”

To Pepper it had felt a little bit like May was making sure that Tony wasn’t going to try and get custody because as Peter’s father he had more of a claim to be Peter’s guardian than May Parker did.

Since Tony had never expressed interest in actually meeting Peter, it felt better to just let May and Ben Parker take Peter. They were his family, after all, and Tony had only gotten worse since Mary. He had men and women both in and out of his bed and Pepper was just the face they saw in the morning on the way out. No one ever got as close to Tony as Mary had and while there were still paternity claims, none were true or Tony’s in one case. That girl had been happy the baby wasn’t Tony’s and so confused that Pepper had had to wonder about where he’d picked her up in the first place.

May didn’t send updates as often as Mary did, but she always sent a thank you note after all of Peter’s birthdays for the birthday gift that Pepper picked out and sent with Tony’s signature -- which she had perfected over the years. Along with it usually came a few pictures and tidbits about Peter’s day to day. Even though his parents were gone, Peter seemed well adjusted and happy.

Pepper knew that it didn’t matter what May sent because Tony looked in on Peter in his own way through Jarvis. He had files on him that had things like his school reports and medical records and all kinds of things that Tony really shouldn’t have had and yet there they were. He still sent money for Peter too and when that wasn’t enough made sure that Peter went to the best school in New York City, even if he was still just entering elementary school. He cared in his own ways, a care that intensified in some ways after Mary and Richard died.  

Then, Afghanistan happened.

Chapter Two

[ohnohetaliasues]

If you drew this yourself, I applaud you. Fantastic job.

I know this isn’t a complete OC, he and the other factions are more like hybrid OCs, but he’s got a lot of differences. Also, be as mean as you want! really pick this apart so I can improve. 

General

Given Name: Lagos Gender: Cis Male Sexuality: the “I swear I’m not gay” sexuality Age: 1,157 Alias: E-3 Steve Rogers, E-5 William “Pop Eye” Costello, O-6 John Smith, Special O-11 Alfred F. Jones Species: Officially Social Faction of United States of America Title: American Federal Government Employees, Elected Officials, and Military Active Duty and Veterans Nationality: Born Scandinavian; Officially United States Citizen Born: Around 861, born to a Thrall, assumedly the then collective tribes in what is now the UK, though this isn’t proven, and sired by who is now Sweden.

Physical

Hair: Dirty blond that is regularly bleached. Due to how fast he heals, his hair grows rather fast being as how the body sees it as healing. He has to shave every day, and if he shaves in the morning, by 11:00 pm he would have stubble. Give him a weekend of fishing and he will be able to braid his beard. He can speed the process up if he focuses, just as how he can control his healing if he focuses. He can also generate an excess of iron in the cells of the hair, giving the hair a red appearance, though this takes a lot of concentration. And he would have to cut the old blonde off.

Eyes: Blue almost always. Depending on the depth of his emotions, his eyes change color the same way the ocean does depending on depth. That being said, they loose all saturation and turn white shuts off his emotions, as he’s learned to. And if his eyes are gold? God fucking damn it monty.

Skin: Naturally fair but very tan thanks to how often he is outside, plus horrible tan lines from different uniforms and gloves.

Build: He’s almost always had a swimmer’s build, at least since the start of the civil war, but when the frogmen turned into SEALs, thanks to the new workout routine, he became more top heavy. Now he has more of a running back’s build. From his childhood to the revolutionary war though, he was build like a red wood. A mix between a linebacker and a water polo athlete.

Height: From his maturity in Sweden to the gilded age, he was 6”1’. After the gilded age, when his spine was damaged in the civil war and replaced with a steel rod, he slowly lost height until modern times where he is 5’7”, though he grew an inch during the space race only to lose it again. Space travel expanded his joints, but all the metal bones contracted them again, along with the inces he lost to the spine surgeries.

Weight: Natural body weight; 170, though a lot heavier thanks to metal bones.

Blood type: N/A each red blood cell correlates to that of one individual human or dolphin. The DNA thus blood type is that of the given human. Where the amount of Americans and dolphins is dwarfed by the count of red blood cells in an average body, the lack of the former is thereby filled with a hybridized stem cell that creates his super healing. Thanks to his body’s dimensional hyperlinks to locations throughout the united states, his organs can draw on power from such places, making his body’s need for oxygen much lower. Not only can he survive on a tiny amount of red blood cells, but he can also hold his breath for about 30 minutes.

DNA: A hybrid of human and dolphin thanks to Tony. By “healing” parts of his body he wounds intentionally, he can control the dolphin based stem cells

Alterations: Iron forearm on his left arm, created by the invention of the Ironclad during the civil war. Steel spine to mirror the steel monopoly building the backbone to the American Military. Gold and silicon bones in his right hand to mirror silicon valley; the inventions at which changed warfare forever.

Tattoos: All tattos were removed after 9/11 to prevent easy identification by the enemy. A spine over his own with red wings sprouting from it, ripped open skin to show an american flag under his left forearm, tally marks up and down his right thigh that stop at 1200, the lagos symbol on either ankle, a snake ringed over his left knee with “Don’t tread on me” inscribed. An Ahuizotl on the knee below the snake, the hand on his tail seeming to be holding the outline of a woman as two temples burn in the background. (… To be continued as the story progresses)

Scars: Triangle brand behind his left ear, slice on his hairline, burn through his left shoulder, bayonet slice through his right side, surgical slices on his left hand, speckled acid burns across his right temple, surgical I scar over whole torso, coat of arms brand over his chest (… To be continued as the story progresses)

Strengths: Physical strength, super healing, built in connection to AGES (a system that connects all US Navy ships together and provides live intelligence on their geographic coordinates), perfect navigation, strong memory, can cause electrical surges using his spine and hand, can record magnetic signatures with right hand, combat training, blood diffused poisons take longer to take effect. He can also form a sword from the iron in his blood with a norse rune.

Weaknesses: Electrical surges from outside forces can shutdown the system in his spine. Once in his veins, poisons lasts much longer and has a stronger effect, even if it takes a while. While he can regrow most anything, he can’t magically fix damaged cyborg parts. He has to be conscious and concentrating to control his healing, and if not the body might heal things wrong. Especially if he can’t focus, the healing could give him away. Alcohol takes a long time to kick in which may seem good until he accidentally gives himself alcohol poisoning which is like every friday for him. He lowers his guard for sexy women. Summoning the sword will take at least an arm (not a leg though because fuck you Edward).

I see what you did there.

Emotional

Personality: An extrovert who easily brings respect from those he meets. A womanizer, he does have an alcohol problem, and can also be quick to the punch… Though he’s not a bad person having learned morals from the ground up. He has a technical smartness with a strong right brain, thus good with math, engineering, and science, but isn’t the most artsy person. Being a splinter of APH America, he has some character differences. Where America would struggle with making a tough choice (ie. risk 100 people for 1000) Navy would have no problem, especially when he can’t see the people. Where as Alfred doesn’t always enjoy being a soldier, Navy prefers it. He feels more comfortable having a constant moral reminder by wearing the uniform. He is also afraid of commitment where APH America is willing to feel the pain of loosing loved ones to have loved at all, but Navy doesn’t like taking the chance. 

Knowledge: He’s got multiple doctorates in engineering, a few doctorates in sciences such as physics and marine sciences. He also has sporadic degrees in classes such as leadership psychology, national security, warfare theory, and other useful places. Most of these are from military academies, though he will take a class or two (especially recently) online. In the last few years he has been working on degrees in cyber security, programming, and computer science, and he ends up re-taking the same classes every few years thanks to new languages being released or updated.

Magic Powers: he can instantly navigate to any bar no matter where he is. No one knows how…

Logical Fears: Meat hooks, the ocean herself, loud sounds in certain situations, being physically helpless, becoming invested in people outside his men

Illogical Fears: Small children, superstitions, vore art (though maybe this is logical), commitment, blowjobs, Also, losing someone he’s in love with. Now i know this seems like a logical thing that everyone fears, but hear me out! He’s traumatically lost a girl before and it hurt him so much so that he can act illogically while trying to protect either them or his own feelings.

Also, let me know if you think I need more sections! Thanks a lot for doing this! I actually took a Mary Sue test once and he flagged it rip.

Okay, he seems pretty good. I’m guessing he’s another version of America, but he confuses me a bit. He’s not a gary stu, he’s pretty well made and I find him interesting. Thanks for the submission. He’s coming along nicely!

~Kat

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1294

Monday, December 30, 2019

 This week's batch starts off with a bunch from the week before that I didn't get around to. I had plenty of extra time because the newest batch only had a few titles. I wish everyone has a safe and happy New Year's Day and the same for 2020.

 I've been reading comic books for over 50 years. I'm one of those fans that reads almost everything except maybe the ads. Letters pages and comments from the creators at the back of the books are usually very interesting. Reading Livio Ramondelli's "welcome to my comic book" page in the back of Kill Lock #1 I saw that he asked for reaction to his book and included his e-mail address. I sent him my thoughts and he replied! I felt like a kid again whose letter got printed. I know from personal experience how busy comic book creators are (Thanks Pepe Larraz) so for Livio to take the time to contact me made me feel special. I really do like Kill Lock and I wish him much success. What a great way to end the year.

 Conan Serpent War #2 - Jim Zub (writer) Stephen Segovia (art) Frank D'Armata (colours) Vanesa R. Del Rey (art James Alison sequence) Jean-Francois Beaulieu (colours James Alison sequence) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). I'm enjoying this adventure with these time displaced heroes. It's funny that this is the third comic book that I'm reading that has a talking head in it. I'm glad that Agnes, Moon Knight and Solomon Kane are given as much page time as Conan.

 Future Foundation #5 - Jeremy Whitley (writer) Alti Firmansyah (art) Triona Farrell (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). That's it folks. This was a fun series and I'd recommend it to kids who like science-fiction adventure.

 Guardians of the Galaxy #12 - Donny Cates (writer) Cory Smith (pencils) Victor Olazaba (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). That's another good story come to an end. It looked like Rocket Racoon was going to the big trash heap in the sky but he'll be back on the racks January 22, 2020 in the new Guardians of the Galaxy #1 by Al Ewing (writer) and Juann Cabal (art), two creators who I adore.

 Heart Attack #2 - Shawn Kittelsen (writer) Eric Zawadzki (art) Michael Garland (colours) Pat Brosseau (letters). I compared this Image book with Marvel's X-Men in my review of #1 and I had to laugh when one of the characters called themselves the X-Men right in the first panel of the first page. If you like stories about the struggles of people different from the norm, then you'll like this.

 Gung-Ho #1 - Benjamin Von Eckartsberg (writer) Thomas Von Kummant (art) Ivanka Hahnenberger (translation). This post-apocalyptic story about two delinquent teenage orphan brothers has that nice European look to it. Zack and Archer arrive in the fortified town of Fort Apache in the Danger Zone where they get their last chance to fit into civilized society. I might hang around to see what's so dangerous outside the fortress walls.

 X-Force #4 - Benjamin Percy (writer) Joshua Cassara (art) Dean White & Guru-eFX (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). The mutants are being attacked on multiple fronts while Charles Xavier and the other leaders sit around arguing what to do. No wonder more mutants get killed. Sometimes the best offence isn't just defence. I wonder when will the X-Men go after the bad guys.

 Excalibur #4 - Tini Howard (writer) Marcus To (art) Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This sure is a pretty book. I'm still reading this title because I like the art so much.

 The Marked #3 - David Hine & Brian Haberlin (writers) Brian Haberlin (art) Geirrod Van Dyke (colours) Francis Takenaga (letters). The military is weaponizing the magic tattoos and Liza is helping them. Being possessed by a mad Nazi scientist is a good twist.

 Doctor Strange #1 - Mark Waid (writer) Kev Walker (art) Java Tartaglia (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The Doctor is in. I stopped reading Doc's last run so I don't know why this number one is being trotted out but that's okay because I think it's a good jumping on point for those of you wanting to follow the Sorcerer Supreme's adventures again. Stephen fights a classic villain in this first issue and finds himself at a disadvantage due to a weapons upgrade for the bad guy. I love the cliffhanger ending and I can't wait to see if the magician is also an escape artist.

 Kill Lock #1 - Livio Ramondelli (story & art) Tom B. Long (letters). These are the droids you're looking for. It's about four of them who are exiled and sentenced to death for crimes not revealed yet. The four bad robots (I hope I don't get sued by J. J. Abrams) are linked by The Kill Lock so if one of them dies, all of them die. These things are sentient and I love their personalities. One of them is "young" and claims it's innocent, so off these "aberrations" go on a quest to find the cure for what caused them to malfunction. They don't have names yet but I'm calling them the Engineer, the Labourer, the Wraith and the Kid. This was a lot of fun and I'm putting the rest of this 6-issue mini on my "must read" list.

 Incoming #1 - 17 creative teams contribute to this $9.99 US teaser for 16 upcoming Marvel titles hitting the racks in the new year. I read it and wept. Folks reading The History of the Marvel Universe will recognise the Masked Raider and make the connection to that series. The surprising change for me is that Tony Stark isn't Iron Man but that's been done before so nothing new there. If you've got some extra bucks and you are curious to find out what's been going on in the Marvel U recently then please indulge yourself. I think you'll be happy with this package.

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How colleges and cannabis companies are working together to create pot training programs

British Columbia’s Okanagan College has a mandate to serve the interests of businesses in its community. So when licensed cannabis producer Sunniva started building a greenhouse and manufacturing facility in the region, the company reached out to the school in the hopes of forming a partnership. Sunniva knew it would need to hire 200-plus employees for their launch in 2019 and they wanted them specially trained — people who understood the plant biology, the production cycles and the business of cannabis.

Normally, Okanagan creates new courses using information provided by the government to determine what kind of workers are needed and what classes should focus on, but in the fast-moving cannabis industry that wasn’t an option. Instead, the college created an advisory board with their partners to hear straight from the companies themselves — Sunniva and Crop Health, a local crop consulting service — what skills they needed.

The result is a plethora of cannabis-based courses being rolled out at Okanagan this fall, including everything from Cannabis Business Fundamentals to Growing Your Own Cannabis to Pest Management for Cannabis Production.

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“Right now we’re forced to hire outside the industry and then train people ourselves,” said Dr. Tony Holler, CEO of Sunniva. “That’s costly, it takes time.”

“We reached out early on to Okanagan College and said listen this is going to be a big industry in the future, the college should start an educational program,” he said. “They’re trying to support the industry, which desperately needs it.”

Okanagan is just one of a number of post-secondary institutions across the country that have been working closely with the cannabis industry to provide training programs ahead of the legalization of recreational marijuana in October.

The new sector is expected to create thousands of jobs in the coming years, and the hiring spree has already begun to heat up. As of July of this year, cannabis-related searches on job site Indeed were four times higher than last year, while job postings for the sector have more than tripled. The kinds of jobs are evolving, too.

“Production … was really something that we had to focus on almost a full calendar year ago to make sure that we had the platform to be able to fill the demand,” said Jordan Sinclair, vice president of Canopy Growth, which has built relationships with a number of schools, most notably Niagara College in Ontario.

“The next wave that comes has got to be the sales teams in order to satisfy all these accounts…. Then the retail teams get layered on top of that and that’s kind of where we are in the process.”

Jordan Sinclair, vice-president of Canopy Growth.

Among the schools that are focusing on delivering more business-oriented classes is Ontario’s Durham College, which has seen 350 students complete a two-day intensive course called Medical Cannabis Fundamentals for Business Professionals that it launched in 2017.

It is now expanding its offerings to establish a cannabis industry specialization program that launched this fall and is comprised of six courses. The part-time studies program is meant for people who have already completed a diploma or degree program in business and will be delivered both in class and via interactive online simulcast.

It will include classes such as Importing and Exporting Cannabis and a Cannabis Capstone Course in which students will produce research on an aspect of the industry. (Students must be 19 years of age to take the course — anyone caught lying will get a refund, but lose their administrative fee.)

Durham has partnered with Ample Organics Inc, Molecular Science Corp, Cannabis at Work, GrowWise Health and CannaInvestor Magazine to help build their program, and is aiming to eventually integrate cannabis units into other general degrees, such as engineering, nursing and human resources.

“There can be in some cases this perception that, ‘I’m going to go and work in a cannabis company, and what do those people do all day? Well they must be smoking and getting high and having lots of fun,’” said Debbie Johnson, dean of the school of continuing education at Durham College.

“This is one of, if not the most highly regulated industries in the world and what they’re looking for are people who are really serious about working in the industry.”

Knowledgeable retail sales people are also in demand, something that has fuelled a partnership between retailer Fire and Flower, which says it is planning to open more than 40 stores in Western Canada following legalization, and the College of the Rockies in B.C.’s Kootenay Rocky Mountains.

Jesse Cheetham, vice president of human resources at Fire and Flower, said that his company sees selling product as only one facet of the retailer’s job — they also need to educate customers about cannabis and the industry as a whole.

“With cannabis it’s always been taboo to talk about, to use openly, and now we as an industry need to make that normalizing happen in a period of months. So it’s a huge gap to fill in a short time. It’s a huge responsibility,” said Cheetham.

Carmen Rochwell-Hoover, an instructor at the College who had a background as an herbalist, helped develop the school’s Cannabis Retail Specialist Program, along with Fire and Flower and other partners.

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She said her own experiences taking cannabis education classes made her aware of some of the blind spots in existing programs.

“(The programs I took) were definitely production and facility oriented which was not what I saw as being valuable to those front-line workers who were going to be out there.”

The 26-week certificate launched in May and will be available four times a year — the next course runs in October, just before legalization — and includes a practicum placement.

While Fire and Flower will not be able to launch a planned internship program until legalization is official, other companies with a background in the medical marijuana field have already begun offering students hands-on opportunities.

Canopy Growth and Ontario’s Niagara College, for example, have already run co-op placements for students.

“We’re all responsible for building the industry,” said Canopy’s Sinclair, who is a former teacher and has taught some cannabis classes himself. “We don’t have an infinite talent pool of people who know how to build in the cannabis space, we have to build that capacity ourselves. It’s almost like self-preservation.”

On Sept. 5, Niagara College also welcomed the first cohort into its Commercial Cannabis Production program, a graduate certificate program that the school says is first post-secondary credential in the production of cannabis.

The school said the year-long program — which requires students to already have education in a related field — was “the result of extensive consultation that Niagara College has conducted with LPs over the past several years.”

The program will offer students hands-on experience growing cannabis in a 900 square-foot facility that can hold 150-200 plants.

“The unique nature for us has been in the licensing requirements to grow plants on our campus,” said Alan Unwin, associate dean of environmental and horticultural studies.

Niagara said it received 300 applications for 24 spots for the program’s first cohort.

With the young industry changing by the minute, institutions will need to work closely with employers to keep the curriculum up to date.

Bradley Poulos, an instructor for Ryerson University’s business and cannabis course, expects he’ll have to change up his lesson plans on the fly, especially with legalization looming.

“The first people that are involved aren’t academics sitting in an ivory tower somewhere, these are people who are involved in the industry,” he said. “It’s a very fluid world. Anyone who is involved with it will have to live with the fact that they will need to keep learning.”

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