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STARK TOWER. MAY 2012.
As she waits for her sparkly pink nails to dry, Nyota Lahiri watches the half-melted bowl of cotton candy ice cream swirl into a purple galaxy. An episode of Star Trek: The Original Series plays in the background, Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the Enterprise crew keeping her company.
Incoming call from Mr. Stark, Jarvis' robotic voice informs. Shall I let him through?
"Sure thing, J. Thanks."
Nyota vaguely sees Tony Stark's holographic face appear in front of her, her attention still hyper-focused on painting her left hand.
"Uh, hey kid! Real quick, here's the thing -"
"Can you pick up dinner on your way home?" Nyota interrupts, silently cursing when she smudges some of the nail polish. "I've been wanting to try this shawarma place."
"Yeah, we'll get shawarma, but first -"
"Also, I finished the PopTarts, so if you could get some of those, that'd be great, too."
"Kid, I need you to listen right now!"
"Do you want to watch a movie tonight? Technically it's your turn to choose the movie, but maybe we can negotiate that."
"Ny! Listen to me!"
Nyota finally looks up. She then realizes that Tony's face is painted with worry, his eyebrows furrowed and face slightly flushed, and immediately stops what she's doing.
"You need to go down to the lab right away and stay there until I call you again."
"What?" She listens to him nonetheless - it's not often that Tony Stark is frightened - gathering her things and letting the hologram follow her as she moves through the building. "Tony, what's going on?"
Tony sighs. His eyes move frantically across the heads up display of his suit. "How do I explain this...." Tony pauses. "A demi-god is using Stark Tower as a beacon for an intergalactic army. We - the Avengers - are coming to protect the city, but I need you to get to safety right now."
