New York - Avengers Facility - Tony's Office (January 2018)

[Hollywood Heidi]

Tony's Office in the Avengers Facility

Located in Upstate New York, this is the new Avengers Facility Tony Stark had built after the tower was destroyed.

One of the offices set aside for Tony's use when he's visiting the Avengers Facility.

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[Hollywood Heidi]

***Hope enters from New York - Avengers Facility - Living Area***

Hope approached the door to Tony's office, ready to do her thing and bypass Tony's security. As she reached for the panel, a voice stopped her.


"Hello, Miss Van Dyne," came the lilting Irish voice of Friday. "Mr. Stark has granted you full access."

The click of the lock releasing sounded. "He's taking the fun out of it for me," Hope joked as she swung the door open and headed for his desk.


"He said as much, Miss van Dyne," came Friday's matter-of-fact reply.

Hope chuckled, worry over how things were going on his side cutting it short. "No need to be so formal, Friday," she said, settling into Tony's chair. "You can call me 'Hope'."


"As you wish, Miss Hope."

Hope could swear that she'd detected a twinge of snark in Friday's tone when complying yet keeping the 'Miss'. She couldn't help but smirk at the big monitors before her. "You know, sometimes you're just as irritating as your creator."


"Thank you, Miss Hope."

"Noooot a compliment," she said in a sing-song tone as she leaned down and pulled open the bottom drawer.

Tucked toward the back, she found the flip phone. It was plugged into a charger cord that ran through the back of the drawer. The fact that he'd made sure the battery was kept alive indicated the importance of the old device. She unplugged it and pulled it free, wondering who the one and only person was in its contacts.

With a push of her thumb, the top of the phone flipped open and the little screen lit up. She pushed the contact button and let out a "Huh" of surprise when the name 'Steve Rogers' stared back at her. She'd been trying to track down where Steve's group had disappeared to, or more specifically, Scott, and had even begrudgingly swallowed her pride and had asked for Tony's assistance. Seemingly to no avail when all this time, not only did Tony have a way to possibly find their location but he'd had a direct link of communication to him.

With great annoyance, Hope stabbed at the 'Call' button and put the phone to her ear. Oh, she'd have some words for Tony when she saw him again.

Hope stood and crossed her free arm over beneath the elbow of her raised arm, pacing and mentally counting off each ring. 'One... two... three... four...'

[The Jester Of Tortuga]

(Scott via phone from Wakanda)

"Westword Sperm Bank, you jack it, we'll back it, you beat it, we'll treat it, you squeeze it, we'll freeze it!"

[Hollywood Heidi]

Steve Rogers. The Captain America. She'd never met him, let alone spoken to him. A part of her could understand Scott's enthusiasm to jump right in when Captain America asked for help. It still hadn't been right, though, for him to have taken off with her and Hank's tech without consulting them. Worse, to not have included her.

At the same time she counted off the rings, she also wondered how the man answered the phone. 'Captain America, here' or maybe, 'Go for Cap!' She snorted her amusement. Nah, from what she'd read on him, he was humble and very old school. The kind of manners you just didn't see anymore. It would probably be just a simple 'This is Steve.' That is, if he even picked up the phone.

Just as it was about to ring for the fifth time and Hope was fearing it'd go to some voicemail or an automated message saying that the person she was trying to reach wasn't available, the line finally went live.


"Westword Sperm Bank, you jack it, we'll back it--"

Hope pulled the phone from her ear and stared at it in utter disbelief, distantly hearing the voice drone on with the long introduction. That was far from anything she'd ever anticipated. Something was not right. She couldn't wrap her brain around the idea that that had been the man she'd read about.

Was this a prank? No, Tony could certainly be a snarky pain in the ass, but this wasn't his style. Even if it had been his style, she doubted his last passing thought before handing himself over to the government to convince them of the oncoming threat to Earth was that it'd be hilarious to prank her. And yet, something about this nonsense pulled at her with an odd sense of familiarity. She put the phone back to her ear.


"--squeeze it, we'll freeze it!"

And then it hit her like a ton of bricks. It took her a moment to recover, leaving the line quiet for a few seconds. "Scott?!" came her incredulous tone.

[The Jester Of Tortuga]

Scott to Hope on the phone from Wakanda.

"Oh... my... Tony what an effeminate voice you have..."

[Hollywood Heidi]

All this time, all that had happened, and he had the gaul to joke around, making light of their first interaction since. It was his natural state of being. Hope would have found fault no matter what he'd said or how he'd reacted. Even if he'd had some well written, well thought out, heartfelt apologetic speech prepared. Thanks to her childhood, Hope was particularly sensitive when it came to abandonment and though he may not know it, it wasn't the taking-without-asking that bothered her so much as the feeling that he'd left her without a word or the thought that maybe she'd have liked to have gone with.

"And you sound exactly like this guy I once knew who took off with my tech," she shot back in a calm, dry tone.  Hope pushed aside her personal feelings and flipped her take-charge switch as if she'd just stepped into a meeting she'd called at Pym Tech.  "Look, now's not the time for quippy banter. We have a serious, fate-of-the-world problem on our hands."  She began pacing back and forth in long, steady strides that matched her tone as she steadily laid out the facts followed by orders.  "Tony's in government custody along with Thor and a few others.  They're going to try to convince them of the oncoming threat but we all know how reasoning with the government can go.  Time is not on our side.  I need you to tell Steve Rogers that we need him and his team back at the Avengers Facility.  Everyone he can get to help."  She stopped pacing.  "As fast as possible but discreetly.  We can't afford anyone else getting taken into custody.  If Steve has any questions, tell him to call this phone."

And just as succinctly, Hope snapped the flip phone shut.  She allowed herself one frustrated growl over the man who'd continued to occupy her thoughts after all this time then shoved her personal feelings aside.  Phone call having gone much shorter than anticipated, Hope decided to make a stop at her quarters to quickly change before meeting the group back in the living area.



***Hope exits to Avengers Facility - Living Area***

[Hollywood Heidi]

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After a quick tour of the Avenger's Facility,
Hope and Peter and his crew retired for the day.

The night passes. It is now early morning.

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[Hollywood Heidi]

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Around 10 hours have passed.

It is now early evening.

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[Hollywood Heidi]

Hope had been going nonstop since leaving the living area of the facility around 10 hours ago. She'd already been dialing her assistant as she'd been walking out the door, taking bites of the cold slice of pizza as she coordinated everything that needed to be done, splitting the tasks between herself and her assistant. She'd gone to Tony's office to make calls and arrange emergency meetings, continuing coordinating with her assistant via messaging until all schedules were synced up.

After a good hour, meeting times and locations had been set. Hope donned some business attire, opted for a nondescript vehicle from her Hot Wheels case rather than giving into the temptation of one of Tony's fancy cars, and was off.


*~*~*~*~*


It had been an exhaustive day, meetings filled with people looking perplexed, questioning her decisions, and rightfully so. Wanting to keep them all free and clear of any trouble by their connection to her, she did not divulge any information as to why she was enacting these changes. Hope put a foot down to any further questioning with a firm resolve that what she had requested not only be done, but pushed through and completed quickly. It had all finished off with mountains of contracts and paperwork for her to sign off on. She was still flexing some kinks out of her hand and hoped she wouldn't have to pick up a pen again for the rest of this new year.


Hope had returned to the facility a short time ago. Needing to work out some frustration and train for the upcoming missions, she'd changed into her Wasp uniform and set to making the last call she needed to make in the privacy of Tony's office before hitting up the facility's gym. This last task would be more difficult than the roomful of lawyers and board members she'd met with in person and via video conference throughout the day.


Earpiece communication device developed by herself and her father as part of the Pym uniforms gave them a more private, less hackable form of contact. Hope listened to her dad stubbornly complain through the device after her announcement that the emergency protocol they worked out and thought would never need to be used was now going into effect. He was going to have to go dark and their lab would have to be moved off the grid. "I wouldn't be asking you to do this unless it was absolutely necessary. I promise, I'll meet you as soon as I can and explain everything in person. Just get the operation moved and contact me when you're settled."

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Hope paced some of the new frustration building up as her father continued griping, going on now about supplies and parts he might need. Dropping her arm, she glanced around, giving herself a distraction while she let him vent it off, knowing he needed it. Her eyes fell on the famous shield that sat propped against the wall. She studied it, wondering at the things it had been through, what it felt like to hold it, how heavy it was and how it handled. It looked heavy, but she'd heard Vibranium was lighter. Tony was very protective of it. He never let her touch that famous shield, but Tony wasn't here right now.

Her father's voice still droning in her ear, Hope wandered over and picked up the shield. It was definitely lighter than she was expecting. She turned it over, studying the back with the electromagnetic arm straps. Hope slid her arm through, one strap loosely around her palm and the other high up on her forearm. Clearly it was designed for Cap's super soldier serum muscles.

There seemed to be no end in sight to his arguing. "Hank!" she finally cut off, gripping the strap around her palm in frustration as she started pacing again, now accessorized with the famous shield. It was a long formed habit to call him by his first name that she sometimes slipped back into when he got her temper up and it still carried enough of an emotional jab to get him to stop and listen. Hope was faced away from the door and fully invested in talk of her mom that she hadn't heard the office door open at some point. "Dad," she corrected, speaking softer now. "Whatever we need to get to mom, I will find a way to get it," she said with such conviction that it finally calmed her father into cooperation.

As Hank was giving a short verbal concession, Hope finally turned enough to catch a glimpse that she had company. "We'll talk soon," she promised, then ended the call.

[The Jester Of Tortuga]

The security guard was old. His hair grey. His eyes fixated on the sports section behind his tinted glasses. A name badge pinned to his chest read Stanley. His focus intensely on the newspaper in front of him, a condition Darcy thought was right to casually slip past aging security guard. Her goal was nearly successful as she moved, slowly and steadily without making a sound until a voice startled her with a jump.

"Can I help you young lady?" the security guard had caught her, a spry old man indeed.

Taking a couple of steps back Darcy confronted the guard, "Oh hey there Stanley is it?"

Without looking away from the newspaper the guard replied, "Close, though they always get it wrong. Here to help save the world?"

Darcy was slightly taken aback by the question though in a way it made sense it was the Avengers Facility after all. "Yes?" Darcy questioned herself before continuing confidently. "Yes! I have need to know info that can help save the world."

"Go on through and have a good day Miss."

An opportunity that Darcy wasn't going to let pass her so she quickly made her way past the guard.

"Heroes." she could hear the guard chuckling to himself.

Following doors and hallways Darcy made her way through the facility to find a small office with the word Stark on it, just the one she was looking for. Taking a deep breath Darcy readied herself before bursting into the office.

"Mr. Stark I have some serious information you need to know, I have found cosmic radiation in like a scary amount drifting through space, which isn't a big deal right so I kept an eye on it and its moving, towards earth which is scary bad. So I tried to find Thor to tell him cause we are totes BFFS but how does one just find Thor, it's not like my mobile carrier provides a plan to Asgard. So you were the next logical choice." Darcy finally took in her surroundings noticing the person in the office wasn't Stark at all, they didn't even share the same gender. "Mr. Stark, I didn't know RuPaul was running an Avengers edition of Drag Race. But you would totally get my vote looking like that."

[Hollywood Heidi]

The turning of the door handle completed just as Hope ended the call and in burst an unfamiliar ball of energy, talking a mile a minute. Hope was about to interfere and inform her that she was spilling whatever she needed to say to someone who was not Stark, but the information being spilled immediately triggered a connection to their oncoming big problem, so Hope kept quiet and listened intently.


"Mr. Stark, I didn't know RuPaul was running an Avengers edition of Drag Race. But you would totally get my vote looking like that."

"Comparing me to Stark is not an ideal way to get on my good side," Hope said dryly, her smirk showing the quick jibe at the absent person was good natured in a sort of long running friendly rivalry. As she pulled her arm free from the shield and leaned it against the side of the desk in careful reverence, Hope took a moment to assess the stranger who seemed to have freely wandered the facility to Tony's office.

Hope didn't remember seeing her around before but Stan was an expert in reading people. If he let her pass, she must be a trustworthy ally. Hope recalled the day she first arrived. Stan had given her a studied lookover, smiled, and had waved her in with a jovial, "All once and future superheroes welcome!" After recovering from that overwhelming lofty expectation, Hope had given an unassured grin and had continued on to explore and eventually stumble upon Tony's office.

Facing the girl again from her casual lean against Tony's desk, Hope lightly crossed her arms. "You're sure it's not just a proton storm brought on by a CME? It's not..." Hope freed a hand and ran it in a small circle of thought, trying to come up with the proper term, "disintegrating, dispersing and weakening..." Though her knowledge of astrophysics was more than the average person, it wasn't her forte. "You'll have to forgive me. My expertise lie more in subatomic particles and the Quantum Realm, where space is irrelevant, so I never wandered too far down the astrophysics path."

[The Jester Of Tortuga]

"You're sure it's not just a proton storm brought on by a CME? It's not...""disintegrating, dispersing and weakening...""You'll have to forgive me. My expertise lie more in subatomic particles and the Quantum Realm, where space is irrelevant, so I never wandered too far down the astrophysics path."

"If by 'disintegrating, dispersing and weakening' you mean the exact opposite of all the words then yeah it totally is."

Darcy enterted the room room approach the woman who she originaly expected to be Stark.

"I did my homework and looked into it, I followed the trail of CME back as far as I could and if we were to show it all in reverse then yeah it weakened. As it moved it would periodically get stronger, like way stronger and the energy would slowly change. Ok not so much as change but it was like things would get added to it."

Darcy move towards the desk to have a better look at the freshly put down shield.

"So I hacked into some more of Stark and Hammer satellites to check some databases and run some comparisons and I find instances of similiar energies here on Earth. What instances I hear you asking, well how about New York City 2012 but there was a lot going on then so I couldn't exactly nail anything down. I did however find two more which almost mirrored the energies permeated throughout that whole ordeal. 2015 is the next time I could really track something down, there were 2 I could trackdown, one was near Seoul it just appeared with like a snap of the fingers. Then shortly afterwards another one could be seen flaring up all over Sokovia."

Darcy stood there looking pleased with herself.

"I know, I'm awesome."

[Hollywood Heidi]

Hope listened carefully, making note of the dates and locations, angling herself to the side as the visitor came over to take a closer look at the shield. 'Hm. Could it be the Infinity Stones that Thanos was after that was creating those energy spikes?' she wondered mentally, unsure yet if she could trust bringing this young lady into the fold; or even if it was right to get her entangled in it.

Though she did not speak, her expression and lack of response hinted at some form of recognition or familiarity in what she was being told.


"I know, I'm awesome."

That snark and that self-assured ego. Though hers was more of a playful, joking nature unlike Tony's, which was completely serious and smug in his self-assured awesomeness. Now Hope eyed her again, narrowing her eyes, though in a non-threatening way. They had yet to exchange names so even though a random connection popped into her mind that she doubted would check out, it wasn't completely out of the realm of reality. "Are you a Stark? Or some relative of Tony's that I haven't heard about?" she asked, half joking.

[The Jester Of Tortuga]

"Are you a Stark? Or some relative of Tony's that I haven't heard about?"

Darcy let out a snort of laughter, it would be nice to have the kinda of money not to need student loans.

"God no. I'm a Lewis, a Darcy Lewis. Why did you here otherwise? Oh my god am I getting robot suit?" Darcy held out a palm and made lazer firing noices. "Pew, pew. I could be the Iron Maiden! Though we will need to talk about suit design as I'm not sure I could fit these puppies in a tiny tin can." Darcy grabbed her chest seeing if she could flatten her breasts enough to fit into a superhero suit.

[Hollywood Heidi]

Hope shook her head and chuckled. "We're more of a BYOS--Bring Your Own Suit--kind of operation. The good thing about making your own suit," she gestured to hers, indicating it was self made, at least in part, "is that you can build and alter it to fit..." she gestured to her own chest area, settling on a work appropriate term, "your assets." Hope started for Tony's seat behind the desk, adding over her shoulder, "Also, you're probably going to run into a copyright issue with that superhero pseudonym."

Turning things back to a serious topic, Hope gestured to one of the guest chairs at the desk in invitation for her to have a seat, then settled herself in Tony's seat. She leaned forward and rested her threaded fingers on the desk. "So, Darcy Lewis, what is your association with the Avengers?" Realizing she had yet to introduce herself and her own association, she quickly did so. "Hope Van Dyne, by the way. Consultant-slash-independent contractor with the Avengers. You said something about Thor?"

[The Jester Of Tortuga]

"Hope Van Dyne, by the way. Consultant-slash-independent contractor with the Avengers. You said something about Thor?"

"Oh yeah me and Thor, or is it Thor and I?" Darcy questioned as she joined Hope sitting at the desk. "Guess it doesn't matter but we go way back. I helped him save the world in New Mexico from a giant doomsday robot armor thing and again in London from some serious dark fantasy elves. Dont wanting to brag or anything, well just a little."

Darcys eyes looked over Tony's desk, finding a pen on it she picked it up and inspected it. Much to Darcy's disppointment the pen was incredibly ordinary leaving her with no real reason to keep it.

"Ya know I thought Stark would have had really flashy fountain pens all branded with Stark Industries and in varying shades of red and yellow. Oh I also hit Thor with my van and tased him so thats twice I defeated not only a mythological God but also an Avenger. I am awesome! But ah, he isnt an easy man to track down. I tried talking to lightning but that didn't work and no other Avenger is like "Imma make a compound and call it after the group" or make a giant building with their logo on it."

Darcy threw the pen back down on the desk.

"So Tony seemed like the logical choice to bring my findings to. Unless you know of a Consultant-slash-independant contractor better suited for the job."

[Hollywood Heidi]

As Darcy settled into a seat, questioning the grammatical rules of 'me' and 'I', Friday spoke into Hope's earpiece. "Would you like me to run a check on our guest?"

Hope's eyes discreetly flicked upward, giving a barely discernable nod to one of the cameras Friday monitored through as she sat back and crossed her arms. Boy, this Darcy was a chatty one. Hope calmly listened and observed, quietly assessing. If what she was saying was true, not only was she an ally of Thor, but she'd dealt with hostile aliens in the past and seemed unphased. That was more than Hope could say for herself. She'd only just personally met beings not of Earth and was still trying to wrap her mind around a talking raccoon and a video-game-obsessed tree with the personality of an emo teenager.

While her guest started to veer off to talk of fountain pens, Friday used the opportunity to chime into Hope's earpiece. "Identity and affiliation confirmed. Present at the Battles of Puente Antiguo and Greenwich. Doctorate in astrophysics."

Huh, impressive. It made sense, considering the information she'd gathered, but bubbly and energetic wasn't the usual personality type found in people in the scientific field. She had a youthful air that probably had people underestimating her intelligence and abilities.


"So Tony seemed like the logical choice to bring my findings to. Unless you know of a Consultant-slash-independant contractor better suited for the job."

"Lucky for you, I am better suited than Tony," Hope half-joked with an in-all-things insinuation. Too bad her contributions to their friendly rivalry were partially wasted without him present to hear them. She could swear she heard Friday snicker her disagreement in her earpiece. But only because Tony wasn't here to overhear, Hope allowed herself to add what could barely be gleaned as conceding. "Well, in most things anyway."

Friday interjected once again, but this time, via speakers for all ears along with visual traveling from the cameras at the front of the facility into the lobby. "Miss Hope, food delivery has just arrived. Also, the human-alien hybrid attempted to engage my assistance a bit ago. Would you like to allow him my assistance?"

Hope glanced at the monitor, watching Stan hurry out with the cart as the delivery kid stepped out to help load it up. A couple heavy boxes overflowing with several of everything the menu had to offer transferred from the car to the cart. "His name is Peter Quill," Hope said dryly, knowing that as an intelligent computer always gathering and storing information, Friday knew that. Tony and his smart ass programming. "Yes, I'm sure he could use your help with repairs. Grant him Guest Access. And call him Star-Lord. He likes that," she said in fond amusement.

"Prepare to dust off some old music and entertainment files," she mused before giving one last instruction. "Could you please ask everyone to gather in the Living Area for dinner?"

"Will do, Miss Hope," came the Irish lilted confirmation.

[Hollywood Heidi]

Hope's attention went back to Darcy as she prepared to give her an offer with the option to decline. "We could use that astrophysics expertise of yours on the team. But it's a big ask. Life altering, big." Hope gave Darcy a studied look as she'd purposefully sprinkled in the information about Darcy's educational background obtained from Friday that Darcy had yet to reveal about herself. Anyone being considered to be taken into the fold would be vetted. This was the Big Leagues. It was important that a person took that into consideration before accepting the invitation.

She let the physical and emotional weariness of having just come back from completing the first steps in preparation of her own life altering sacrifice show on her face so that Darcy would understand the seriousness and depth this decision would have on her life. "You should take a little time to decide if you're willing to make the same sacrifice those of us already on board have made." Hope got to her feet, walking around the desk to lean against it next to Darcy and crossed her arms once again as she carefully considered her words. A way to insinuate but not directly admit anything. "Whatever anyone's opinions are on the Sakovia Accords, we've got a situation coming at us that cannot withstand all the time consuming red tape. We're trying, though. We've already got a team trying to handle this by the book. Your buddy, Thor, is on that team. Another team," obviously she was referring to herself and the others already here, though she purposefully did not name herself or the others, "is preparing to do whatever has to be done to face the oncoming threat." In other words, working with and around accords, rules, and laws did not play a part in the planning. "Whatever it takes."


Hope pushed herself up from her lean. "Friday, could you ask Stan to meet us?" As Friday was giving a "Roger that", Hope gestured for Darcy to follow. There was nothing left to say. It was up to Darcy to decide what she wanted to do and if she decided to make the sacrifice, like Hope and the others that had already done, Darcy would need to settle whatever affairs she had and prepare herself for living in hiding.

Meeting Stan halfway down the hallway, Hope stopped to face Darcy one last time. "Give it serious thought," she implored. "No pressure, no judging." With a nod to Stan, she let him lead Darcy the rest of the way out and worked her own way back to the others and the food.


***Hope exits to New York - Avengers Facility - Living Area***