Books, books, as far as the eye can see
The next few days I spend, since I can't do anything useful, walking around the campus. It's really pretty, actually. The pups walk with me, and on the second day we find the site where the visitors center is slated to be built. They're already grading the ground for the building, parking lot, and parking garage. I turn back on the bluff above and throw a couple of tennis balls for the dogs. One thing about them, they may be super intelligent and all, but they drool just like regular dogs. I take a soggy ball back from Torburn and throw it again. He races off like his life depended on it. I smile and wipe my hand on my jeans. When he returns, I pet him and notice that he needs a new collar. Although he won't be fully-grown for almost three more years, he's grown appreciably since he got here.
The next day I go back to work, and it's comforting and comfortable to be back in my workshop. The mail is delivered; I get a package from textiles with the straps for Steve's new shield, supplies for the workshop, including a squeegie and cleaner for the windows, and a pile of mail. I snort when I sort through it; it's a bunch of tourist information for the UK and a detailed brochure for the Orient Express that I'd sent for back when I thought I could still take vacations. I chuck into recycling without looking at it. Today I'm laying down sheets of what I'm calling a superpolymer on the shield. These polymers are hard, durable, and inflexible, and I've just gotten them to accept molecules of pigment so that I can use them for the design. It's translucent, like stained glass, but exponentially stronger. They require careful attention and proper heating after each application, so I've got to focus as I apply each layer. I concentrate hard, taking bathroom breaks and eating when the shield's in the kiln; it's early in the morning before it's done and cooling for the final time. I stroll back to my apartment, looking at the stars and thinking about nothing important, Sigurd ambling beside me.
I'm feeling pretty triumphant, and it will take me some time to settle down enough to sleep, so I fire off an email to Cap telling him that his shield is ready--it is, I just have to attach the new straps tomorrow, or later today, I guess. Then I see an email from Amazon with the latest book deals and remember Loki's request. I select a few books for him off the fiction best-seller list, then pause as I'm about to order. I browse the fiction offerings, adding selections here and there. I'm grinning by the time I hit the purchase button. Stifling a yawn in favor of a chortle, I shut down the computer and get ready for bed. Sigurd and Torburn wake up and follow me, ready to get down to serious sleeping.
I don't set my alarm the next morning, and when I wake up, we go to the caf for a leisurely brunch before going out to the workshop. I have to hand sew the straps to the shield; the straps are leather on the side facing out for show, and this badass new webbing they developed attached to the underside. It's too thick for the sewing machine. I assemble a small rubber block, a hammer, and pliers, placing the rubber on the shield under the strap and driving the needle through the layers with the hammer, then flipping it over, removing the rubber from the point of the needle, and pulling it through with the pliers. Even for me it takes a good chunk of time, but by mid-afternoon, I'm finally able to cut the thread on the second strap.
I look at the shield critically, like I've done every time I've handled it, and nothing has changed. I'm spinning my vision back up to normal when there's a knock on the glass door, and I look up to see Cap and Thor. Sigurd woofs a greeting and goes to open the door by pulling on a strip of fabric that sends the door down the track as he retreats. They pause to give him and Torburn a pat on the head, then I present the shield.
"Wow. That's beautiful," Cap says, tilting the shield so he can watch the light move over the surface.
"Will it hold up?" Thor asks doubtfully. Ye of little faith.
"it should," I say calmly, thinking of all the tests I'd done, from dropping heavy weights to try to bend or crack samples, then sending the samples back east for them to try to destroy. They'd even gotten Bruce's alter ego to have a go. They'd returned the sample that was just as pristine as it was when I'd sent it. "Why don't you try it? Smack it a few times with Mjolnir." Cap looked resigned and Thor brightened. We all went outside, where I sat down on the steps with the dogs to watch the show. Cap put the shield up and braced himself as Thor used his might to bring down Mjolnir.
Thunk.
Thor stepped back, looking puzzled. Cap dropped the shield to his side, looked at it with puzzlement, then braced himself again. Thor smacked it again.
Thunk. Not the ringing "WHANG!" they were expecting.
"What is this?" Thor said, looking bewildered.
I chuckled, gloating to myself. "Vibranium is supposed to dampen vibration, which it does to a certain degree. It turns out that it's much more effective when it's complexed with a bunch of other stuff." I'd already sent the sample to T'Challa.
"It sounds like when you hit a corkboard with a wrench," Cap said.
"There's a visual," I said cheerfully. "Sound is a kind of vibration."
Cap shot me a look then turned away to throw it like an oversized Frisbee. The dogs thought this looked like a lot of fun and charged off to get in the game. I watched all four of them horse around but was distracted by the daily mail delivery. I had some catalogs, some interoffice mail, envelopes, a box of hopefully durable, non-toxic dog toys from the materials lab and Torburg's new collar, and a huge box from Amazon. I tossed the paper in on the workbench, set aside the dog toys, and ripped into the box. Awesome.
A shadow fell over me as I pawed through the bounty. "You were laughing. A little maniacally," Steve said anxiously.
"What is the purpose of these?" Thor said, his lip curling a little as he held a book with a half-dressed Regency lady on the cover by the corner.
"Loki asked for books," I said mirthfully. Thor looked taken aback, then let out a roar of laughter.
Steve looked at the pile of books and grinned. "Not nice," he said.
I shrugged. "He didn't specify. You should always specify."
"Would that have stopped you?" he asked playfully.
"Probably not," I admitted. I threw everything into the box. "I need to get these down to the guards so they can inspect them. It'll take awhile."
"I will help you carry them," Thor announced. "Then we will dine, and after that, you can give them to Loki." We all laughed, and it was as he said, although Steve helped carry the books.
I hummed softly as I pushed the books through the slot to Loki, who looked puzzled by the bounty.
"What ARE these?" he asked disdainfully, holding another bodice ripper up to the glass.
"You asked for Earth books," I reminded him angelically. "So here are some. Romance is a very lucrative section of the market," I lectured him. "There's also the first Harry Potter book, the first Magnus Chase, A Game of Thrones, Memory, Princess Diaries, volume one, The Monstrumologist, Fallen Crest, Life Reader, A Clockwork Orange, Adventures of Huck Finn, Dune, Carrie, Fahrenheit 451, War and Peace, Fellowship of the Ring, Hunger Games, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, the Eyre Affair, Princess Bride, To Kill a Mockingbird, Three Musketeers, Count of Monte Cristo, Man in the Iron Mask, Gulliver's Travels, Ulysses, The Iliad, the Inferno.
And, as punishment for invading, Twilight. There was the new Nora Roberts, a selection of romance books, more classics, including a collected Works of Shakespeare and the Sherlock Holmes books. Some Danger Involved. Some graphic novels: Sandman, The Walking Dead, some Batman comics. Bloom County. A selection of cozy mysteries. Lovecraft, Bradbury, Asimov. The Bone Collector. A Jack Reacher novel. I had the rare experience of seeing Loki disconcerted. I passed the last ones--Eye of the Red Tsar, Rhetoric of Death, Wearing the Cape, Curse of Chalion, Good Omens, and Grendel Affair--through the slot, and stood back. Loki looked a little dazed.
"This ought to give you something to do," I said encouragingly. I couldn't help myself. I cackled a bit. I stepped back with Steve and we watched as Thor and Loki had a few words. Loki was off his game and their conversation was almost civil.
I walked with them to the quinjet. Thor couldn't stop laughing at seeing his brother caught completely off guard. "Thanks for this," Cap said, holding his shield up a little. "This is amazing."
"You're welcome," I said. "Let me know how it works for you." I looked in the jet but didn't see the pilot.
"I just got certified," Steve said proudly. "Barton taught me." I smiled and stood well back and watched as Steve took off, wobbling only slightly, before racing away. I stopped by the workshop to collect the dog toys, and the pups and I enjoyed some product testing until it got dark.