I feel the need... for speed! (open)
It had been a pretty boring day for Stevie. She'd been lucky enough that James hadn't scheduled a training session at some ungodly hour (like any time before 11 am), and luckier still that no super-villains had decided to attack and no aliens had decided to invade. That had left the morning for a combination of sleeping and, when she finally did drag herself out of bed, video games.
She'd been engrossed in a game of
Mario Kart on the Wii when the package had come via a special Stark Priority Courier. Addressed to her. From Not-the-Mama.
In spite of what was probably the general perception, she really didn't not like Tony Stark. But one had to see it from her perspective. He wasn't her mom, her mom didn't even exist in this universe. And while, yes, he was doing his best to reach out to her, the fact remained, he wasn't her family, and trying to pretend like he was didn't even come close to making it so. Here was here and home was home and the two just didn't meet. If that made her rude or ungrateful, so be it. She honestly
did appreciate all that had been done for her, but it was more than she could deal with. Not having the best relationship with her mother made trying to have any kind of relationship with someone who was some bizarre, other-dimensional aspect of her difficult.
Still, the package was a surprise. Stevie skimmed the note that was included with it. "New suit design... woven-circuits... enhanced speed... GPS system... lighter... trades repulsor bolts for more speed... blah blah blah... wanted to help...."
She had to admit, the
suit itself wasn't too bad. Less clunky than the armor-pieces her old suit required. She could probably wear it under her clothes if she had to. The loss of her repulsor bolts and some of the extra-strength her old suit provided would require some adapting, but... if she was that fast, she could more than make up for it.
Not-the-Mama knew she wasn't really much of a Stark, much of an armor user. And he'd seen to it that she could have her own identity now.
...Not too bad, actually.
Trying it on, she had to admit, it fit pretty well. The eye-pieces and mask snapped into place cybernetically, GPS could guide her and mark her speed, the cybernetic relays sped up her reaction time... Not-the-Mama had done his work well. She wondered if her "sister" had handled the coding?
She stepped outside the HQ and accelerated. She was hitting March 1 inside of thirty seconds. Mach 2 in a minute, March 3 in a minute thirty. And that was without pushing any tolerances. Reaction time was good, turning good, suit and repulsor field kept friction down, metabolic linkages kept her body systems good...
She reversed course, headed for home, slipping into the building with a rush of air.
She checked the clock. She'd gone cross country practically and maybe been gone for an hour, discounting stops. Not bad at all.
Stevie definitely needed to thank Not-the-Mama for this.
