Hey everyone! Time for another explanation of why this story is so late!
Not really, I don't think that's why any of you are here, so if you really want to know comment otherwise here we go!
The Spider's helped Mysterio up as dark vans began surrounding the carnival. Agents began pouring out, some beginning to set up equipment, others rushing to secure the perimeter.
Nick Fury jumped out of the last van to arrive, already barking orders out, "I want this perimeter set up and secured yesterday! Get all equipment set up double-time. We need those readings fast! Where are the Spiders?"
Peter got up. "Right here!" he waved Fury over.
"Parker Report."
"Oh, right...could you not use my real name right now?"
"The area is free of civilians, and has been scanned for bugs It's clear."
"But still...secret identity"
Fury sighed, "Fine, Spider-Man, report on what happened."
"Oh, well, the fire monster came up outta the ground and there was a lot of fire. It chased Ghost through a lot of wooden stands was immune against water, and then not immune against water. Then Mysterio did his glowy thing and then we thought Mysterio died but he didn't"
"Okay...Ghost-Spider, anything to add?"
"Nope, he summed it up mostly. "
Fury sighed yet again.
"Well, Mysterio, what's your say on this?"
"That I could use a hard drink. "
"...Official statement?"
"That the hard drink will in fact be aged bourbon. "
"Okay..."
Once Fury stopped face-palming, he turned back to the three supers.
"You three get into civilians and relax. I don't get how, but you all beat lava elemental with barely any plan or unit cohesion...still thinking it over. Now go before I make you help in the clean-up!"
Gwen raised a question. "Okay, where should we go to change?"
Fury pointed at three of the parked vans. Their lights suddenly flicked on,
"Those vans are full of civilian clothes. You all pick whichever van it doesn't matter, change, go relax, then come back in a few hours. Starks caused a mess in my life again and y'all gonna help me with it. "
"Gotcha"
The three quickly went changed and went out into the city. It was late and the recent events had caused many restaurants and bars to close early. They all settled on a slightly grimy local bar that had stayed open. Beck had gotten his bourbon and was nursing it like it was his baby. Peter had gotten an apple juice and was looking through his phone. Gwen was eating some extremely cheesy cheesy fries and also had some chocolate milk.
They were an unusual crowd.
"So..." Gwen started, "Lava monster, that happened..."
"Yup, tired of feeling powerless against these elementals though, they've brought to light some of the ways our powers can fall flat. It's given me some ideas for some new suits...speaking of suits we gotta get our dried out, I'm never borrowing from Fury again."
"I second that"
"What do you mean brings out flaws? I thought you all did great!" Beck asked.
"Well, our webs burned and we were practically useless with the water elemental, sure we could help with damage control, but we had no idea how to stop it."
"Well, I wouldn't be too hard on yourselves. Now excuse me I gotta use the restroom. "
Beck suddenly quickly got up and went towards the bathroom, well he more shimmied his way there. It was rather comical.
"Beck's...interesting," Peter said.
"Definitely. Something's off though, you've noticed right?"
Peter nodded, "Yeah, like just now, he barely drank anything, yet he says he needs to go to the bathroom... actually he may just have been holding it now that I think about it."
"Well, that's not what I was talking about, so let's move on."
"Yeah, there's no reason to pay close attention to when people go to the bathroom."
"I said let's move on from this topic."
"Oh right! Continue."
"He's argumentative with Fury, he doesn't like not making the plans, and he's gone off plan many times."
"Maybe he's used to being the leader?"
"Leader of what?"
"Well, he said he was in an army, right?"
"Yeah,"
"Well, do we know what rank?"
"I was a sergeant"
Peter and Gwen's heads flick around to Beck.
"And this late dinner is over it seems. "
"Oh crap"
---
Beck had left pretty quickly after that, leaving Gwen and Peter to go back to Fury. They had walked around Prague a bit, but eventually, they worked their way back to the carnival now converted research site.
They walked around the site a bit, looking around, unable to find Fury. Thankfully, they ran into Agent Hill.
"Ah, hey have you seen Fury?" Peter asked.
"Yes, he's left for the headquarters. He told me to make sure you two get there."
"Ah okay, well we can get there ourselves," Gwen said, hoping they weren't about to be escorted.
"No ma'am, I was told to make sure so I'm going to make sure, come on vans this way."
Gwen sighed. She hated escorts.
---
The drive wasn't long. Agent Hill was a risky driver it seemed. She weaved through traffic at speeds barely legal.
As they stopped, Peter rushed out of the car and vomited on the side of the pavement; "Remind me... never to let her drive me anywhere again!"
Gwen just nodded while patting his back.
Once in the facility, it was easy to find Fury; he was in front of the weird halo table as usual.
"Mr. Fury, you asked for us?" Peter asked.
"Yup."
"Well, we're here," Gwen said.
"I can see that. Now sit down, I'm getting Stark on a call. "
Fury fiddled with the table before eventually, Tony appeared on the table. It looked like he was using a phone camera but in the sense of a hologram.
"Hey, Underoos! Gwenny! Furious how's it going!"
Fury sighed in annoyance. "I'm wondering if it would be better to hang up for my sanity. Stark I've called so that you can explain your sunglasses to these kids, and I can go back to my job!"
"Oh, the glasses! Forgot about those! So they have them?"
"No! What glasses?" Gwen asked, annoyed.
Fury pulled a glasses case out of his coat and tossed it at Peter, "Yes they have it. I think I need a nap"
Fury then walked away without another word.
"Stark! Explain!" Gwen stayed annoyed at being annoyed.
"Okay, okay, I'll explain. Peter, open up that case "
Peter opened the case up. Inside were a pair of glasses in Tony's signature style.
"What's this?" Peter said.
"I'm about to tell you to slow down. Those glasses are called EDITH, which if you know me is a-"
"An acronym we know. Well, what's it stand for?" Gwen said, exasperated.
"It stands for: Even Dead I'm The Hero."
Peter and Gwen went silent.
"W-wait dead? Mr. Stark, what is this?"
Tony's voice was much more somber now, his playful tone all but gone.
"Well, a few months ago before we went and time-traveled and everything, I wasn't thinking I was going to survive...I was completely sure I was going to die. "
"Why the hell would you think that!" Gwen yelled. She was feeling a messy combination of emotions, and anger was her only way of expressing that.
"Well, I had reason to think so, Doctor Strange had stayed something to me before he died, and it just resonated with me weirdly, as if some other force was preparing me for death...I don't know it's weird."
"Yeah... sounds pretty weird," Peter agreed.
"So anyway, I knew that if I died, it would basically shatter the Avengers at that point. Even if we succeeded, I knew that time-traveling would be the Avengers' last big act for a while."
"Why? Barely anyone died... actually, did anyone die?"
"Besides Vision, I don't think so... some people came back to life," Peter said.
"Yes, all that is true, and yet whilst having more members than ever before, have the Avengers made any large moves since our battle with Thanos?" Tony argued.
"No, in fact, we've not been getting many responses on the network."
Tony nodded and continued, "The Avengers are in a transitioning phase, and I knew that was going to happen no matter what, but I thought that if I died, it'd leave a much bigger impact."
"Well, that's for sure. Your death would probably shake the Avengers to the core," Gwen said.
"Exactly, so I needed something that could protect the world, and something that would let me crown an heir, so to speak."
"And EDITH is that?"
"Yes, see, the EDITH glasses are an AI system, the AI is housed in a large satellite in orbit which also houses thousands of drones that can serve a variety of purposes."
"What! That's huge!" Peter said.
"Yes. EDITH does what Ultron was supposed to do, protect the world, the reason EDITH can't go bad is that EDITH is a limited AI, like FRIDAY or KAREN or CHASE. They all are AIs with personalities and thoughts, but the way I designed them means they need permission from their users to do anything. Their actions are programmed or asked of them."
"Like how KAREN knows exactly how to use my suit, but can only help me select options if I ask?"
"Yes, Ultron wasn't limited. He could make his decisions with no permission, and well, you all know how that ended. That's why EDITH needs someone to operate it. Without an operator, EDITH will just sit and do nothing, making EDITH's morality the morality of the user and not the AI."
"Well, it's better than Ultron, but still if a bad person gets EDITH, that'll lead to a lot of problems." Gwen pointed out.
"That's why Edith can only be operated by Avengers. It's a safety feature...so don't let any bad people into the Avengers."
"So you were going to pass this on to someone, to us?"
"Well, I was going too, so I gave it to Fury for safekeeping. But then I didn't die, which Is great, and then I began thinking and I realized that you all don't have a use for EDITH. You are always in the field and don't have time to sit and operate drones."
"Yeah, that sounds boring"
"Well, we can't have it. You don't seem to want it, so who gets it? "
"Eh, just give it to the Fishbowl guy for a bit. Say it's his induction gift."
"Induction gift?"
"Yeah, we voted Mysterio onto the Avengers, so EDITH should work for him "
"So give it to him?"
"Yup."
"Right now?"
"Yup"
So there we go. I decided to run with EDITH and not a superpower Mysterio. But don't worry, I've just recently had an idea for an interesting plot point ;)
How was it? No action in this chapter, which I was worried about, also ran a bit long.
Anyway, I'm going to get working on the next chapter as soon as this once is posted, so see ya!
-RambunctiousCat