Summary:Peter comes to Riri's place to help her pick up the pieces…of her suit, too. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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«Got unkidnapped. Sorry I didn't text earlier, got kind of blindsided by things. Meet me at 7 East 3rd St? Need some help moving some gear.»
When Pete arrived, he'd fine a rather downcast Riri leaning against the completed Mark I outside the brownstone, drawing stares from passerby. Next to the armor is a cart loaded with gear, a tarp thrown over the top not entirely hiding glints of metal inside. Riri is oblivious to the stares, however, as she's fully immersed in her phone.
Peter shows up in about 15 minutes. There was a robbery nearby and it cut the travel time.
The while Kidnapped thing was an unwelcome wake-up call. He didn't mean to snub her, or whatever it was. Ghosting? Was it ghosting. Dammit, he SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE FOR HER. Maybe they could have avoid the whole…
He sighed. As powerful as he was, he couldn't umscramble eggs. The most he could do was make them edible.
He waved as he came up on the address, raising an eyebrow at the stuff. "…Riri…?" he asked, a little uncertainly.
"Oh. Hey Pete." Riri shoves her phone back into her messenger bag and looks up at him. "It's not your fault. Whitestar decided she needed me to build a harness to keep her power from exploding, and I did it. In a basement, with a box of scraps." There's a little bit of a grin in there. "It took her down to zero energy during hte calibration, and I'd improvised a sonic pulse emitter into my smartwatch when she wasn't looking, so I blew her through a wall and ran for it. Got back, finished the Mark I…. And I got laid off. Probably some kind of corporate bullshit or something, I don't know. …But I live on the second floor, and as much as I love the armor, I don't think I can get all of this upstairs on my own…" She kicks one tire of the cart, which rattles. The smile cracks.
Laid off…from Stark Industries? Jeez. He had thought SI being the dream job, but the HR department had killed that idea in no time. Still…working for Kane Industries was something else. He was waiting for the design HE made to get cleared, and then Aunt May can walk around without the pain she tries to hide.
He smiles sadly, but says, "All right. Know where you're going to put this stuff up there?"
"…My apartment? Don't really have anywhere else to go unless the Young Avengers have a spare room I can use as a workshop. …Can't even do a lot of work here since there's only one 220 outlet and that's for the dryer. And it's only single phase…" Riri sighs, standing upright again. "…Okay. Awkward parts are probably going to be the larger armor plates to get in. …Should I try to navigate the stairs in the suit, or just take it up then we carry things up together?"
Peter chuckles. "What say we get inside, and then I'll haul them up for you?" he says with a quiet chuckle. "I mean, how much doe it all weigh, anyway?"
He steps in front of the cart, then grunts as he pushes. It's for show, of course. They are out in public. People might wonder how he could push the entire cart one-handed. Maybe even one-fingered.
"You lead, I'll follow."
"Uh… At least a ton. I only got it here because I used the armor to push it. Really wish I'd gotten AISHA to learn to walk in the armor already." Riri sets herself up on the other side, and helps guide the cart. Fortunately, there's a ramp up into the foyer. …Unfortunately, this accessibility does not extend to the upper floors, one of which has Riri's apartment on it. A quick jog back outside, and Riri returns in the armor. "…Okay. I'll start carrying up some of the spares and tools." Fortunately, a lot of the stuff that's not outright armor plates is in cases with convenient carry handles.
Peter looks around, then grabs four of the cases, two in each hand…and just lifts them. Six hundred pounds, maybe seven, and he just…lifts them. Because he can, and no one is watching. "Is the door unlocked?" he asked, wondering what her fine motor control is like in that suit.
There's a thunk from the door. "It is now." Riri leads the way in, before decanting herself from the armor in one corner. The apartment… looks barely lived in. There's a few signs of furnishing like soda cans in a recycling bag and a laptop sitting on a coffee table, but it's clear that Riri spent most of her time at the lab. "…Damn. Okay, I'll start on the lighter stuff I guess?" She's not sure she'll ever get used to how strong he is. "Just… Kind of put it wherever."
Peter nods, stacking the cases along the wall, spacing them evenly to keep them from stressing the floors. "Hey…if you want, I could put in a good word for you with Kate Kane. My project just got completed, and we're waiting for the AMA to approve the design. Aunt May will be the first to get the new hip replacement I designed."
"Congrats, Pete! That's amazing!" Riri's voice is slightly strained due to the fact that she's carrying a sixty pound case full of micromissiles. More like dragging. "And… I think I'll wait for a bit. See… what comes up." The crate thuds to the ground, and the teen crouches down to take a break. "Argh. I miss my robot arms…"
Peter walks over to Riri, then picks up the crate and carries it inside. he heads back down to grab more of the cases. "Okay, if you're sure. But Miss Kane has been very supportive." He paused. "Have you thought about finishing your post-grad work? I'm sure Stark could at least give you a good reference, right?"
"…Dunno. Pretty sure… ESU doesn't want me back. Only reason they didn't go after me for building the armor in the first place was because Stark stepped in…" Riri slumps again. "I just… what'd I mess up this time? I thought everything was going well…" The cases are upstairs, now there's just the actual larger plates themselves, which are wrapped in bubble wrap.
Peter sighs. "Sometimes it's nothing you did wrong, Riri. Life…is inherently unfair. But that's okay. It's better for us that it is. Because if life was fair, then we would deserve everything terrible that happened to us. And who needs to deal with that nonsense?"
He does, of course. But he'll never admit it, of course.
"Just pick yourself up. Get back on your feet. If you want some tech help, you could always come over to my lab…"
"…You sure your aunt would be okay with me landing in your back yard?" Riri cracks a smile again. "C'mon. We should probably get the torso plates upstairs, they're the biggest ones… Then I can show off the new features if you want?"
Peter chuckled as he grabbed the torso section, hefting it before heading up the stairs. "I think she would spoil you ROTTEN with food. She loves guests. It's refeshing since I seldom had guests when I was young. Well, younger."
He heads into the apartment and places the torso down gently. His Spider-Sense suggests he move it to the left by five feet, and he does so.
Riri's next trip up results in MILLIE being plonked unceremoniously in the kitchen nook. Sometime since Pete last saw her, the bot has had a handle bolted to its upper surface. "Probably no point turning her on until I get some codes up so she knows where her charger is. …And something for her to do. And food is pretty good."
Peter smirks. "Just tell her you're a friend from school. Tell her the code word is 'Scarlet Ruse.; It's the name of one of my uncle's favorite book series." He chuckles. "I used to have kids say they were friends just to they could either trash my room or sponge off my Aunt May. We had to do a little verification setup for my Aunt may's sake, since we lost Uncle Ben."
"Also have to make sure I don't crack the driveway landing. …I don't think I'd come by unless you're there, though. Still not the best at social… stuff." Riri waves her hand in the direction of nothing in particular, before peering into her fridge. Seemingly disappointed, she shifts to rummage in the cabinets. "Uh…. I have pop tarts? Or I could order pizza or something. …That's the traditional bribe for moving help, right?"
Peter snickered. "Fair enough. There's a Pino's nearby. Order their meat-lover's pizza. I need all the protein I can get." He looked thoughtful. "I tried delivering a pizza once by webslinging, The result is better left IMAGINED than DESCRIBED."
"Got smashed all over the place, right? You'd need a gyrostabilized pizza carrier…" Riri stops about halfway through dialing, gazing off into the middle distance and muttering under her breath. …Yep. Pete nerd-sniped her.
Peter smiled. "Yeah, but it would cause more problems tan it solved. Anyway…the pay's good and I think I'm really making a difference. I'll have to go to part-time in a week when classes start, but…I can manage it." He looks thoughtful. "Listen, you ever want a home-cooked meal, head on over to my house. 20 Ingram Street. You'll know it when you see it, it's like a suburb out of the 1950's with satellite dishes. But you give the code word. Even if I'm not there, if Aunt may's there, then you're golden."
Riri shakes her head violently a few times as she snaps out of it, and finishes placing the order. "…Thanks, Pete. You're a good friend." This smile is definitely genuine. And she's feeling a bit better too. "Want to look at the new armor while we wait for delivery?"
Peter chuckled. "Thrill me with your leet skillz. I'd like to see what you've done."