The Armorer

All sorts of surprises

I opened the door to Cap, King T'Challa, and Natasha. We looked at each other a moment, then I said, "Are you guys still in trouble with the law? Because this isn't my place."

Cap smiled ruefully. "No, actually, things are being ironed out and we're not classified as terrorists or criminals."

I stood back and opened the door wider. Natasha  looked around as I led them to the living room and asked about the owners. "I think they agreed to sublet to me once I told them about Austria, actually. They're kind of superhero geeks." And remembering my promise--which I didn't think I'd be in a position to honor, actually--I went to the sofa table and withdrew a photograph from the drawer and found a Sharpie. "So if you wouldn't mind, I said I'd ask anybody I saw again if they'd sign this." It was a picture of the action at the Leipzig airport from a wide angle; you could see the two lines of Avengers moving forward for engagement.  Natasha smirked and signed, Cap just signed, and T'Challa smiled, signed, and drew a little panther by his name.

"Thank you," I said, carefully putting away the photograph and sitting in my chair again. "So what brings you by?"

"To see how you were," Cap said. "You seemed pretty upset when you left."

Natasha shrugged. "We didn't get down to business before you and Tony started hammering at each other."

T'Challa leaned forward and held out the vibranium ingot. "You forgot this."

I shook my head and forced myself not to reach for it. "The deal was that I sit down to lunch. I only made it part way."

"I was unaware of your history with Mr Stark," he said thoughtfully. "I believe you've earned it."

I crossed my arms to keep myself from grabbing it. "That little piece of metal is worth in excess of a million dollars. I'm not sure why you're offering it to me as a party favor."

He smiled suddenly. "Mr Rogers was telling me about how you made his shield, all the layers, and one thing he said stuck with me." Cap nodded.

"I said that you'd made it without vibranium but that you'd mentioned it a few times like it was something you wanted to work with."

"Do you have your shield?" I asked him, and he nodded. "Could I see it?" Without another word he got up and went outside. I liked that he doesn't waste time asking questions that will clearly be answered if you're patient. When he returned with it, I examined it carefully. From an objective standpoint, it's remarkable work. From an ego perspective, I'd like to sign it. I probably could persuade the metal to accept at least my initials, but I won't. My part is done. I patted it absently and handed it back. "What I'd like you to do is to bring down the shield on the vibranium ingot to see which is stronger. I'll repair any damage, of course." Both T'Challa and Natasha perked up, and Cap agreed, so we went to the backyard. There's a brick patio there that I could fix if it got damaged. T'Challa placed the ingot on the brick, and Cap used his considerable muscle to bring the shield edge down on the metal. There was a ringing tone, but it wasn't from the shield; interestingly, it transmitted vibration less than the vibranium. We leaned in and saw that he cleanly cut the ingot in half. I grinned like a child and put out my hands. With a tolerant smile, he handed me the shield and I cycled through my vision options on the place where it met the vibranium. There was a tiny burr on the side where the impact was, I could barely feel it and it was a piece of cake to smooth it out again. I handed it back to Cap and gave in, doing a brief dorky dance, complete with fist pumps. Natasha started laughing. T'Challa examined the two halves of the ingot with a stunned expression.

We went back inside. "I would not have thought it possible if I had not seen it myself," T'Challa finally said and again offered the vibranium. I figured that I've shown something pretty cool, so I took half. Ok, it's the slightly bigger half. And it was cleanly cut, now that I examined it. It's been cleaved along the planes of the crystal structure of the metal. T'Challa examined his own chunk, and Natasha asked to see mine.