2018-06-03 - Winning Iron Hearts and Minds

Summary:

Riri tells Pete what she's been up to lately, and learns about a project for a certain Spider

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Mon Jun 3 01:41:42 2019
Location: A rooftop in Midtown

Related Logs

None

Theme Song

None

riri-williamspeter-parker

Pete's phone would vibrate with an email notification. moc.liamg|smailliW.iriR#moc.liamg|smailliW.iriR, which is a bit odd instead of the expected .edu address. «So, a thing kind of happened on Friday. Thought you might have heard online or something. Got a good place to talk, not too public? Kinda complicated, easier to show.»


Peter, currently webslinging along as Spider-Man, lands on the side of a glass-windowed skyscraper. He checks his phone, mentally adding that option for the new suit. «How do you feel about Chinese takeout? The Golden Pagoda has a rooftop patio with no windows facing it from other buildings. Saw Spider-Man up there once.»


The reply is pretty quick. «How strong's the roof? No structural issues?»


Spider-Man pauses. «Okay. Uhm, there's an office building south of the Pagoda. Made in the 1950's. Cinderblock construction. I can see the fire escape from here.»


«WOrks for me. See you there.» In the distance, Spidey might be able to make out a faint tearing roar, the rather distinctive sound of repulsor flight…


Spidey swung over to the building, grabbing his clothes from his backpack and dressing quickly. the gloves and web-shooters went into the bag, and he slid socks and shoes over the suit. Nimble fingers tied laces and buttoned buttons quickly. By the time he could clearly hear the repulsors, the mask was in the bag, too and Peter Parker was standing there, looking around curiously.


The sound gets steadily louder, a flying figure coming into view above the buildings, light trailing behind them, clearly the source of the sound. They decelerate as they approach, arcing upwards before coming in for a landing. The armored person shifts into a hover, before cutting power and dropping to the rooftop. Shifting, they scan the surroundings, and when satisfied that nobody's watching, the faceplate lifts up to reveal Riri. "Soooo… I may have dropped out of college and landed a job at Stark Industries within 24 hours."


Peter STARES. Well…she certainly gamed the system if she was able to do THAT. "Holy crow…" he whispered. He almost couldn't believe it. It couldn't be that easy. Then he realized she was a genius, that she was ahead of him in many ways, and that she demonstrated her work for Stark himself…

And he had demonstrated his work at a science fair. He mentally sighed. No ambition at all. That was him. He had been "cured" of ambition when it get Uncle Ben killed…

Then his brain seemed to grab his train of thought. *BE HAPPY FOR HER, YOU ENVIOUS SCHMUCK! She earned her place there, so stop acting like a jackass!*

He smiled wryly, and said, "Well…as excuses for dropping out of college go, though, that's…a pretty good one." He looked at the armored suit. "Did you develop this yourself?"


"Well… I kind of literally dropped out. The window." She reaches up, metal fingers brushing over the back of her helmet before she realizes that she can't really scratch the back of her head while suited. "Guess there were a few too many noise complaints from working, and Campus Security was onto my materials sourcing. Kinda panicked and went out the window, then took off. Was flying over the city, and I get intercepted by IRON MAN AND CAPTAIN FREAKING MARVEL!" …Yeah, she's a genius, but she still fangirls. And seeing a suit of power armor do that with its body language is /weird/. "…So I basically got lucky. ANd I'm pretty sure the only reason I'm not getting arrested is that Mister Stark said he'd smooth things over. …Oh, yeah. The armor." She shifts a bit, holding out a hand in case he wants a closer look. "Pretty much, yeah. Once I knew it was possible, I just kinda went backwards and looked at all the stuff people had found out about it. Ran into you the night I was getting the last of the supplies for the Arc Reactor."


Peter nods. He could see how the narrative went. And making an impression with Iron Man, with Captain Marvel in attendance? Yeahhhh, that would do it. He only met Col. Danvers once while not being Spider-Man, and the two other times she was busy being awesome, so…yeah, he could see this.

"So that's what you needed the equipment for. Okay, then…"


"Actually… I kinda need your help too." The back of the armor splits, limbs clamshelling open and the backplate lifting upwards, and Riri steps out, looking earnestly at Pete. "You said you were working in neurology, right? Well… Let's just say I learned why Tony Stark flies one of these with an AI. I'm in the works on writing one, but I figured I could talk to you as well. Maybe see about scanning my own brain, using some of the patterns and stuff?"


Peter hmms. "Are you talking about an actual A.I., or simply an Expert System? How many separate systems are running in that suit?"


"Either or, honestly. I just know he has Jarvis." Riri turns back to the armor. "Suit, close up, and run control surface test." She turns back to Pete, as nothing happens for a moment. "I basically got as far as glorified Siri-" She's cut off by the sound of the armor sealing again, and the various panels shifting, extending, and retracting as the suit puts every aerodynamic surface through its paces. "So there's flight control, power routing, The sensor package, navigation, the comms suite, targeting…. And this is just the prototype. I'm going to keep adding more."


Peter nods. "Sounds like you can get away with using an Expert System package. They can monitor and run about 30 systems without latency issues, although they don't have a personality."


"Not sure how much I'll eventually end up with, but it'd be a good stopgap." Riri leans back against the armor once it's finished the test. "Seriously, it's kind of sensory overload in there if you don't get selective with what the HUD shows. You should drop by the lab sometime. …I'd probably need guest passes, or something, though. …Note to self, ask about guest passes. Suit, Set reminder to ask Mr. Stark about guest passes." There's a beep from the armor. "…What've you been working on lately?"


Peter smiles wryly. "Been doing some coding after signing up for classes. Working with another person who has her own skills in that area." He looks around, then whispers, "Can you keep a secret?"


"…Probably. I know I've been kind of gushing, but… I don't really have anyone to talk to about this. …Still putting off calling my mom since I'm kind of scared she'll be upset." Riri bits her lip, before looking back up to Pete. "What is it?"


Peter takes a deep breath. "It's a job for Spider-Man. Designing a new suit for him."


Riri blinks a few times. That… wasn't expected. "Okay. What do you need? I'm more of a robotics and hardware specialist, but I've dabbled in other stuff."


Peter smiled. "Actually, I didn't want to presume. If you want to look at the stuff I've put together already, I can show you, but we haven't run into any roadblocks yet. We're also fully-funded…up to ten grand so far, and more if it's needed. And my basement lab has a lot of fabrication equipment."


"I'd love to take a look. At least you won't have to spend two months breaking up catalytic converters for palladium if you have a budget. What kind of stuff are you adding?" Riri pulls out her phone, tapping rapidly as she navigates through folders.


Peter reaches into the backpack and pulls out a tablet, a hairline crack running diagonally along the screen. He pulls up the project on the CRAFTSOFT app, holding it up for Riri to see. There are three major parts. The detachable mask, the suit proper, and wrist-mounted devices labeled WEBSHOOTERS.


Riri shoves her phone back into a pocket, before taking the Tablet and scanning through things. She particularly zooms in on the webshooters, closely examining the business end. "Oooooh. Variable geometry laminar flow nozzle. That's… genius. Disrupt it in just the right way and you get the wide sprays, or the long strans for swinging… …if the webbing's an electrical insulator, you could almost make little capacitors and use them to deliver a shock…" Aaaaand she's off.


Peter chuckles. "Read the document marked List under Webshooters. That is the list of concepts that we've come up with so far. The web-shooters will be computer-aided. We have 47 configurations so far. 'Web-Shocks' are #34, right under Web Grenades."


Riri blinks a few times. "…Damn. Uh… Okay." She pages over. "Some of this is going to need some pretty close tolerances. I might be able to get you some machine time, Mr. Stark said he mostly just wants to see what I do with things in my free time besides working on actual SI problems. …These are definitely workable." She taps a few list items, highlighting them.


Peter looks startled. "Hey, wait, Riri…hang on. I dunno how your new boss would feel about freelancing his equipment for a non-Stark project. Besides, you haven't seen my own lab yet. You might be surprised to realize that I already have the equipment needed to fabricate just about all of the equipment. I even have the processors purchased to turn the entire suit into practially a server all by itself. Note the modular design. You should probably see the lab sometime."


Riri nods. "…Oh. Sorry. Was in project mode. And… He'd probably be okay? Especially if I said it was for a superhero? Would like to see yours too, though. Only fair." She looks up, handing the tablet back. "…Anything in particular you want me to think on until we decide on a time to meet up?


Peter tilts his head. "Well, I was looking for both an overlay and underlay. The overlay has to be flexible yet protective. I was thinking Kevlar fibers. I have a concept for running a spanned-volume RAID for safety reasons, and I can email that info to you. If you want to look at it, maybe make some suggestions. We can meet at my lab." He looks up at the suit. "Mayyybe without that, though. I live in Queens, and that WILL wake the neighbors.


"…You're already working with synthetic spider silk. If you could make a variant that didn't evaporate, maybe doped with carbon nanotubes, you'd have a lot tougher weave." Riri glances up at her armor at the gesture, and bites her lip a bit. "Yeah… I'm still figuring out the commuting thing. Might just take a train instead."


Peter grins. "Y'know, just plug in a route on the NY subway website and they'll plot which trains to use. There's a subway a couple of blocks away from my home in the burg. 20 Ingram Street. We you step on a street that makes you think you've gone back in time a few decades, you're there."


Riri nods, punching the address into her phone. "Got it. Assuming I don't get entirely too wrapped up in design work for the actual Mark One, I'll drop by sometime. Maybe get me an autographed picture of Spidey or something?" She offers a shy grin. "And I could probably take you flying sometime. If you wanted."


Peter shakes his head. "No flying for me. I have a thing about heights. I can see about getting you a Spidey autograph, though. Would you like me to let him know you'd like to meet him?"


"Sure, if he'd want the help." Riri manipulates something on the back of the armor so it opens, before climbing in again. "Hang on, I'm sending you the number linked to my suit." His phone would ping a few seconds later. "Good luck!" She takes a few steps away, before blasting up into the sky again.


Peter steps back as she launched, raising a hand to protect his face. "Wow…I hope she filed her flight plan." He smiles slightly. "Well, at least her heart is in the right place."


Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License