or with great power, come lots of paperwork but the author don't tell you that
His physical therapist had expressed the concern that Stark and his work would put him out of a job and James could see why.
It took two weeks for him to be able to fully walk with the braces but now, despite being semi-paralyzed down the waist, he could sprint faster than before.
The technological advance that were the braces was going to help millions but he felt his heart warming up at the thought that it had been invented to help him specifically.
And now the idiot who invented that was grinning proudly at him as he stepped -almost without difficulty, this shit was miraculous- out of the car.
“Platypus, I think I’ll never be prouder of any of my creations than now.” James grinned
“I hope this is the last time I hear you say those words because I remember you saying exactly when DUM-E baked you an inedible cake” his best friend reddened with recollection and shame as they walked inside the coumpound.
“I’ll have you know that the doctor had first diagnosed that the food poisoning came from the pizza.” The argument was weak but it was more for the sake of the pleasant bantering than anything else
“Anyway we both know I’m right, though can you update me with the latest news.” James had been advised to stick solely to physical therapy while he recovered and avoid anything job related, the problem was that his job was usually a billionaire all over the news and social medias.
“Well, SI started to commercialize the braces and I’ve began to work on other kinds of prothesis in the workshop, it’s really fun to dissect how your biology works and how you can build your tech while adapting to it…” and he continued to talk about this for five whole minutes
James had gone to MIT for a reason so while biomechanics wasn’t his field he could easily understand that Tony had began ranting about it more than necessary, trying to stir the conversation away from another topic
“Anything else I should know about” the colonel cut him off Tony visibly winced.
“well there have been… other development that I’m not sure I want to talk about, though you’ll press for them and I’ll end up caving in, so I’ll just save us both lots of time.” He took a deep breath.
“First of all Friday asked for a body and we built her one, she’s been a sweetheart and filled her week between hanging out with Pepper and working with me in the desk or in the workshop, we watched a movie two days ago.” He closed his eyes and sighed
“Then the Avengers were asked for yesterday for a hostage situation, we had systematic clearance for those on US soil, so we tracked down the hostage taker, started to plan the mission Rogers and his crew barged in, screwed up the op and went out when we started to kick their asses.”
James cursed. Loudly. For what might be three whole minutes, Tony gave him a satisfied smirk when he was done but avoided his gaze for a split second.
“Something else you don’t want to talk about ?” Tony’s gave met his own and before his friend opened his mouth, James knew he wouldn’t like it.
“I might have asked Friday to start running the NA algorithm.” James grabbed Tony by the shoulder.
“What the hell are you thinking about, you’re just that eager to make new “friends” and get stabbed in the back all over again, I saw you in the hospital after Siberia, it wasn’t pretty, you can’t just keep on giving your trust if it’s what people do with it.” His friend put a hand above his own and James knew that the brunette was confident, that he knew what he was doing
“Listen, I’ve learned my lesson, I won’t be so generous again and let other people walk over me and all that jazz” so far so good
“But I can’t just give up on the Avengers, on my own I’m not powerless however some more back up would have been appreciated with the Mandarin mess and Natasha for all of her flaws was necessary in avoiding casualties at Stark Expo” Rhodey cringed but saw the point
“Alright I got it, so what are you going to do about it.” Tony stopped in front of the coffee machine and picked coffee for both him and James
“Well I’m going to find enhanced and create some kind of network to ask for help when things go south, they would be like… consultant, and in case of global threat like the Chitauri invasion we could coordinate a global effort that would make a real difference you know?” he hated it when Tony was right.
“Okay, that seems more sensible, though if some of them wants to be permanent members of the team, you got to ask me.”
“We’ll put it to a vote or something, I’m trying to build a real structure and rules all this kind of thing”
“Damn and here I thought you’d never become responsible.” He was glad that Tony had changed -in good ways- so much since MIT and yet kept being the good friend Rhodey always had.
“Don’t think you’ve won yet honeybear, I’ll still blow up thing in my lab at the first occasion.” They both let a laugh at that last comment.
“Anyway that’s the news, oh and I recruited another minion, she’s probably in the lab right now, she’s Wakanda science princess and she’s really awesome, and evil, but awesome.”
“please tell me this one at least is over twenty-one?” Tony shrugged
“She’s got a degree, why do you assume that everybody but me on the science squad is a minor?” James gave him a single disbelievingly raised eyebrow.
“You graduated from MIT when you were seventeen, and between Peter and Harley...” the inventor sighed as they reached the penthouse kitchen
“Well if they’re starting early and they manage to pick up all my skill and knowledge, just imagine how good they’ll be once they’ll be really old and start with their own generation.” James nodded and was thoughtful of such things for a moment
“We better hope they’ll be more responsible than you are, otherwise they’ll probably cause another apocalypse.” Tony put a hand on his chest in mock offense
“It was only once, and you know that I really wouldn’t mind another Ultron with some better programming it could only kill people who are stupid, assholes or both, this would be great.”
“Not so great, you would probably be its first target.” The sassy remark has came on its own but the self-depreciating smile and nod that came in response left James uneasy
“Well then I should probably try to make them responsible munchkins, oh and before I forget, I cleaned up Rogers old desk, it’s yours now.” James frowned at that last piece of information
“Erm, it’s the biggest one and It has the holographic conference thing for emergency meetings with the council and all that jazz, shouldn’t you be the one to have it.”
“I don’t think so, since you’re the team leader, it’s yours to have, I mean, if you want we can work out something for you to have it closer to your quarters or something but, until now you reside here.” James scowled as he understood the game his friend was playing
“Look I know you want me to get better and all that crap but I don’t need you to give me your pity and try to make me look like a soldier again.”
“When we were both in the hospital and you started your PT with the braces I built for you, you told me you’ve went on the field for 138 combat missions, and each of these flight made you better I don’t need to make you look like the military guy who leads other on the field and keep the politicians at bay when they oppose saving people, it’s already who you are.” The argument was pretty good but there was another problem
“Okay maybe but what about the symbolic aspect, I mean you can’t expect people to be fine about a new guy, not one of the original avengers to step up and take that role.” Tony shook his head and looked at him with determined eyes
“Perhaps the public think you’ve yet to prove that you’re a hero, but I know you’re mine, as far as I am concerned there isn’t anyone in the world who I would trust more to look after the defenseless than the guy who saw a scrawny kid at MIT and thought, damn! This kid could use a friend regardless of everything else. It’s the kind of guy who I can trust to make the right calls and that’s the guy the public will see.”
James sighed, maybe it was pointless to argue with the man if Tony wanted him to be the new head of the Avengers who was he to deny him
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He had been then granted the position of leader of the Avengers initiative and one of the Councilmember -the one from Nigeria who Tony had eased into the idea of a new better team- had joked that with the iron patriot suit, he had worn the red white blue better than Rogers.
Serves that asshole right.
He was now in his gigantic office Friday by his side helping him through the paperwork, while his time as a leader started smoothly.
“Alright, I’m done with my contract and since I’m now officially the Avengers leader, it’s my job to do your interview for you to become an official member, the transcript will be given to the council and if they have further inquiries about you they’ll probably schedule an audience with you.”
Friday looked up from the stack of paper she was currently reading and seated herself on a chair in front of the desk
“I’ll try to answer the best I can, I’ll have the interview recorded and furnish the transcript.” James smiled at the enthusiasm shown by the young AI
“I am Friday, it’s the first November and I’m here to be interview about my candidateship for the Avengers team”
“alright first question, when were you born.” This one was easy enough but the answer came unexpected
“depends on what you mean by born, the program that was put in my brain was created on march the twentieth of two thousand and six, I’ve been initialized for the first time during the Ultron incident and I’ve acquired a body six days ago.”
The new leader nodded and decided that this exhaustive answer would satisfy everyone.
“Okay, next question, are you enhanced, if yes what information do you want to disclose to the Council about that.” The woman tilted her head thinking about it for a second
“When constructing my body through the means of the Craddle I was given free reign by Dr Anthony Stark for the cell growth, I therefore used some of the data I had stored in memory about Steve Rogers’s DNA to replicate the effect of Dr Erskine super-soldier serum and the Extremis virus in order to avoid being… powerless when a situation similar to Siberia would arise.”
James took a sharp breath and images of Tony on a bed just in front of his flashed in his mind, making his chest ache and it took all of his willpower to regain composure
“Those enhancement means that I have a rapid healing factor, added strength and exothermic manipulation I have joined a document with tests results, I also pilot a suit similar to the Iron Man armor that I’m not going to disclose infromation about, to avoid reverse engineering.”
“Alright, that’s good, we can skip over the medical records and lawsuits precedents, same for past employments… Why do you want to join the Avengers ?” green eyes stared at him intently
“mmh, it’s the logical thing to do, when I went on field to help Miss Shuri it felt like the right thing to do, maybe it’s because of my programming, or maybe it’s just a gut feeling but helping others is fulfilling and joining the Avengers is how I have the opportunity to help the largest number of people.” Huh, helping as much as they could, he would have to pull that one for the press conference speech.