To Neptune And Back

Do You Like Pizza? (Chapter 9)

"Hey, FRIDAY?"

"Yes, y/n?"

Shutting the door to your lab, you flip on a few switches and boot up some of the machines you need to complete the tasks at hand. Grabbing a water bottle from the mini fridge in the corner, you make your way to a lab bench and hover your hand over the ipad on the table.

"Can you pull up blueprints for Natasha and Yelena's widow's-bite bracelet?"

"Of course." Various blueprints and code are projected over your lab bench. A 3-D hologram of the widow's-bite bracelet floats off to the side, various sections enlarged to show details and information on how the actual gadget works.

"Thanks, FRI!"

Flipping through the files FRIDAY pulled up you find the one that holds the information that you need. Making a copy, you slide the file to a nearby computer and immediately start making the modifications and adjustments that came to your mind last night.

After talking to Natasha on the roof, you learned more about her widow's-bite bracelet. You've seen her fight plenty of times at this point, usually being the one that is always being thrown to the ground by her, but the bracelet has barely been used until recently. After witnessing the numerous design flaws or easy updates that would make the device way more effective, you couldn't wait a minute longer to fix all the problems you found.

Once you update the blueprints and various code, making a few aesthetically pleasing changes as well, you move on to your next project as Dum E jr. takes on the task of actually making the new bracelet. Sliding back to your workbench, you sketch up the design that has been floating in your head recently for two new additions that will help someone without any superhero capabilities hold their own during a battle (if absolutely necessary that is). With the two designs worked out enough to create prototypes, you send them over to get sorted. Since these designs aren't too involved, unlike the widow's-bite bracelets, they don't take long to complete. Slipping both accessories on, you leave Dum E jr. to continue its work and head down to the training room.

The closer you get the more clear the banging sounds you hear coming from the training room are that of that good old red, white, and blue shield being thrown around like a frisbee. Not wanting to interrupt the training session in progress, you take a seat next to Kate who gives you a wide smile as you enter.

A feature you have yet to test out in the training room includes nanotech bots that help to add a more realistic training environment for an array of potential battle situations. When this setting is being used the training room puts up walls in the middle that to the out-looker are completely see-through, essentially a window into the room. However, for those on the inside the walls don't allow them to see out and keep the fighting in. This means Stark tech is allowed to be used when inside the walls. Which is why the hyper-realistic guns being used by Natasha and Yelena are being shot at Steve as he jumps around the room, throwing his shield while simultaneously trying to attack the widows.

"What are they doing?"

"They claim it's a training exercise but honestly it's just a more deadly version of capture the flag." Kate points to a small flag on the far end of the room, being protected by Natasha and Yelena. "Yelena and Nat have to try and protect the flag for 6 minutes, while Steve has to try to retrieve the flag and get it back to his side of the field. This is his third time trying, and in 30 seconds he will have failed to get the flag all three times." Kate seems to have a proud smile on her face as she recounts the success of the two women in the room.

Turning your attention back to the 'training exercise' in front of you, the clock counts down as the timer hits zero. The lights in the room brighten and all three of the individuals inside seem to drop their fighting demeanor and sport either huge smiles or small pouts.