Legendary

After dinner, the family went down to the batcave; Alfred was taking care of the hospitality for us in Alan's absence. Diana hustled over to scoop up Iris, and Miles made a beeline to Flash, who didn't quite look like he knew what to do with a kid. Aquaman snorted and hefted him, making him squeal. I observed this with a smile before my uncles came up. Bucky looked a little worn. Inexplicably, his baby-whispering skills did not work on his own offspring. Steve had the latest photos of Christopher to share, then updated me. "The decision's been made to rebrand Buck," he said, slapping his friend's shoulder heartily. Bucky looked at him balefully. "I don't know why we didn't think of this before. Instead of the Winter Soldier, he's going to be the Winter Knight." My eyebrows rose and I nodded as I thought about it.

"That does sound a lot more awesome," I said, patting my uncle's organometallic arm. "Totally heroic, just like Uncle Bucky." Steve rolled his eyes.

"I was wondering if you'd make him some new armor," Steve said. "Emma's not making on a large scale, but she'll devise the metal for it, and you're the best fabricator we have. We could go to Asgard, though, if you're too busy."

I also turned a baleful look on Steve. "Right. Like Reginn is so much better than me. I can't believe you'd say something like that," I huffed. Steve smiled.

"Anyway, these were my ideas," he said, unfolding some papers. He'd done a colored pencil sketch of a futuristic suit of plate armor that seemed to borrow from Boba Fett's suit but, you know, streamlined and elegant. And cooler. with more armor plating, less fabric. And designs on the metal. And no funky codpiece.

"Is this for public consumption?" I asked, looking it over, and Steve nodded, handing me a second sheet. This was more practical, a tac suit with armored elements that would be more lightweight and easier to move in. "I'll make some plating for the hands, like my cestuses," I said. "Protect your hands when you punch somebody." My mind kicked into gear as I thought about the possibilities and I hugged my uncle's arm as Steve and I tossed out ideas. Bucky contributed his own, and soon I had a clear idea of what we were going to make. Shining white armor with some golden detailing with that Asgardian metal they liked, nothing fussy, and although one of the tac suits would be dark for nighttime stealthiness, the other would be light, and both fit in with the knight in shining armor aesthetic. Easy peasy. That's how I'd always thought of him.

Then Superman finally arrived, and we got down to business.

"Our joint intelligence collection has been quite fruitful," he said, and we all looked at him attentively. "Nobody's going to like what we've come up with, though." He fiddled with the controller for the 3D projector for a moment, then it sprang to life. "Typhon is apparently a joint enterprise between certain HYDRA elements and international criminal undergrounds." He clicked through photos of the known HYDRA agents. Most of them I didn't know, although some, like Red Skull, Armin Zola, Baron von Strucker, Brock Rumlow, and Alexander Pierce, I did. And then there were the criminals. Again, most I didn't know, although from the way the professionals reacted, they were known by reputation at least. A few I did know. R'as al Ghul and Talia al Ghul. Some homegrown scum, too--the Joker, Bane, Deathstroke, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Black Manta, Dr. Poison, the Mandarin, somebody named Alton Carver who made both Bruce and Damian tense, the Weather Wizard. But not Catwoman, I was glad to note. When his grandfather and mother were shown, Damian swore a little in Arabic, his eyes furious. Bruce didn't like it either, but he hunkered silently in his chair, glowering.

Everybody else at the table groaned as the rogue's gallery flashed by; I thought that almost everybody had a nemesis represented. "I want everybody's notes on anybody you recognize, specifically their weaknesses," Tony said in disgust.

"Past hideouts, too," Superman said with a sigh. "Every scrap of information will help, even if it's outdated. The Avengers are working on finding out current whereabouts, known associates, and assets; the Justice League will also be working on that information."

"Start thinking how we can smash Typhon," Steve directed. "We all know the bad guys we've fought in the past. We maybe can use that knowledge ourselves or mix it up a bit, send somebody they won't be expecting. Just remember that they know us too, and they're probably sharing information as well."

"I'm back in for this," Damian said. "And I know that Dick's going to want in, probably Barbara too."

"What of Valkyrie?" a new voice asked challengingly, and I rolled my eyes when Hawkman left the shadows to sit at the table.

"I imagine there will be things for Valkyrie to do, but I will decide what her use will be," I said firmly.

"If you are not prepared to fully participate, you have no place at this table," he snorted. Then he sneered. "This is work for heroes, anyway, not for someone who never had the courage to take up the mantle, a perhaps-exaggerated reputation and beneficiary of nepotism."

"Hey, now, that's not right," Flash said immediately, but he was immediately drowned out by Damian, bellowing at Hawkman, who was sitting back, smugly enjoying the effect of his pronouncement. Diana stood and took him to task, as did Bruce. Superman had a job restoring order.

"See, even those on the Avengers, her friends, her uncle, do not defend her," Hawkman said, still smug as a bug.

"I can't be bothered to waste my time with idiots," Tony said crisply. "Supes, if we're going to take down Typhon, this moron can't be part of the planning."

"I agree," Steve said. "There isn't an Avenger who doesn't know her worth, and even the ones she trained who could never beat her respect her skill and don't hold grudges because they aren't as talented." Rare contempt leaked into his voice.

Uncle Bucky, who was looking murderous, only said, "Friendly fire isn't."

Miles, reacting to the tension in the room, blew a raspberry. I didn't know he knew how to do that. Aquaman laughed and bounced him on his knee.

"Hawkman, we're going to talk later. Until then, you're relieved of duty. You're not needed here," Superman said sternly, and stood, arms folded across his chest, until Hawkman shoved back and stomped out. "I apologize, Alex," he said. "Hawkman's letting his ego get the better of him." I nodded.

"Well, a lot depends on their goals, but with a good plan, the right plan, I could probably be bait for a couple of these guys," I said briskly, moving on since Hawkman was no threat. "Joker, of course. Talia loathes me, she'd enjoy the opportunity to get rid of me. Rash doesn't despise me, he'd be open to using me to get to Damian." Damian smiled sourly, and the meeting continued.

Damian was still ruffled when we were getting ready for bed. "I'll apply for League membership just so I can vote to kick that asshole out," he fumed. I just laughed.

"He's jealous and can't handle losing to a human," I said dismissively. "Everybody there knows it and he did himself no favors. Steve didn't say anything at the meeting, but Superman is going to have to do something to appease him and the other Avengers or there won't be a cooperative effort. Everybody is just going to have to get a grip and focus on the real threat. I'll be reminding Steve of that, too. We all need to be pointed in the same direction."

"You're too generous," Damian mumbled, losing his anger slowly.

"Not really, but that guy's an irritant. He doesn't watch himself, he's going to be swatted. And if he causes trouble on this joint op, he will be. And it might be by me."

"I'd sell tickets to that, Sweet pea," he said after a moment.

"I wouldn't do it in front of witnesses, darling," I said, and this restored Damian's good nature.

The next day I spoke with both my uncles and got them facing the right direction. It was easier to do than with Damian because they also felt that Hawkman was a troublemaker rather than a serious threat. A couple days later, Daniel assured me that Hawkman had been disciplined by the League and he and Alfred had a surprise for me; in a space off the main bat cave, my own forge, where I could work on my armor and Bucky's as well as any other commission I might take. It was compact and neat, just the way I liked it, and had all the tools I needed. It was created by way of apology by the League, who had paid for everything. Alfred, Daniel, Damian and Bruce had put it all together for me.

I didn't have anything to contribute to the intelligence gathering phase of the operation, so life for me went back pretty much to normal. I had bids to prepare, work to do, and that kept me busy at Valkyrie. Valkyrieville had its grand opening; we threw a big party for residents in the apartments and the business all got in on the fun with specials. I saw Selena, Tabby, and Bruce at the festivities. And Margaret had her eyes on another opportunity for us, which we talked about at a partners meeting and started to make preliminary plans. At home, Miles wandered in one day when I was doing some barre work before dancing. I explained what I was doing.

"Show me, Mama," he said, so I taught him arm and feet positions. Iris tried it too, but ambled off, not engaged. But Miles started showing up more often, and I slowly started to teach him more ballet. Sometimes we went to the tower, where Natasha doted on him. He was mesmerized by the glamorous spy, and always insisted on showing her what he'd learned. Iris was like a lot of little girls, and gravitated to the horses; both Daniel and Damian liked to take her with them when they rode. We indulged their interests as much as we could. They learned how to swim quickly, but they weren't allowed in the pool by themselves yet.

Alsyn and Alan got married. It was a beautiful wedding, and afterward, they moved into the gatehouse.

I enjoyed my new forge and made Valkyrie a new suit of armor with an elaborate, elegant pierced visor that completely concealed my face. Steve made the clothes portion of it, and Magni gave me a red cape that clipped on to the shoulders of the new armor. It hung low enough in back so that the wings could pop out without damaging the cape. It was the same red as the lining of our swansfeather capes. Emma made some new shielding for the bones of the wings, lightweight and engraved with knotwork to match the rest of my armor. Tony had taken over making the solution to protect my feathers. It was still a two part solution, one of which required hand painting and was applied after each molt, and the second part, which made the edges of the feathers hard enough to cut, could be applied with a spray bottle and dried with a fan. I took special care with the work for the Winter Knight, and grudgingly my uncle had to admit he liked his new persona. The public loved it. Winter Knight fanfic and fan art exploded.

Information on Typhon was hard to come by, even though we knew who many of the principals were. Other plots were foiled, including acts of terrorism as well as damage to other historic buildings, but it wasn't until almost half of the Forbidden City was destroyed that the governments really got off their butts. The Avengers/Justice League got the information that the UN developed, but there was always the concern that Typhon had infiltrated government, so all that information had to be taken with a grain of salt. The twins were getting ready to start kindergarten before the superhero task force felt they had enough to start planning.