The Conceptual Deck

Chapter 61: Cheers

Natasha quickly regained her self control, wiping away her tears and coughing, before looking around as if for a distraction.

"This all looks pretty professional," She said, her intelligent eyes jumping from object to object. "I don't suppose you would give me a tour?"

"That depends, would you immediately pass it all on to Fury?" I asked, leaving back in my chair.

"...That depends on what you show me," She said with a shrug. "I would report anything dangerous."

"Yeah, alright," I said with a chuckle, standing up. "I'll give you the short tour."

I led her around the warehouse, showing off a few of its features. I made sure to call the UCM's simple production machines, giving the illusion that they made simple items without actually lying. I showed her the workshop area, a small space set aside for simple metal fabrication, as well as an area with a few conceptually crafted 3D printers for various sizes and materials.

My last stop was a wooden door that opened into my living area. A much larger space than my old apartment, it was a warm but modern design. The space was very open, with a large kitchen on one side and a fully equipped living room on the other. It lacked a real kitchen table, instead opting for a long island with comfortable bar stools along it. The living room had a crackling fireplace, making the room feel even cozier.

"Your house is connected to your workshop?" She asked as she looked around. "Does Fury know you moved?"

"I hope not considering him knowing where I live is why I moved in the first place," I explained. "You guys might be clean now, but we both know how little that matters for an intelligence agency. With the right leverage in the right place you can learn anything you want."

The Shield agent reluctantly nodded, turning around before her eyes focused on the window on the opposite side of the living room. It displayed a snowy tundra with an incredible view, as if the whole warehouse was perched on a massive mountain overlooking a pristine and unbroken snowy pine forest. It looked as if she was memorizing the image before I clapped twice and the shades descended, blocking the view.

"You don't think you'll be able to figure out where we are just by that view do you?" I asked, smirking as she looked at me annoyed, relenting after a moment.

"Sorry, can't help it," She said with a shrug. "Old habits die hard."

"I suppose that's true."

The tour ended not long after that, the two of us back at the landing pad, which was set

flush into the ground.

"So, not going to show me what's through the other doors?" Natasha asked, gesturing to a heavy armored door about ten feet wide and eight tall, a second much more normal looking door beside it.

"That leads to an area still under construction," I said, pointing to the heavy armored door. "The other just leads outside. You don't want to go out there, it's awfully cold and you're not dressed for those conditions."

For a moment Natasha looked like she was going to ask anyway, but she didn't, instead sticking out her hand.

"Well then I guess it's time I headed back," She said with a genuine smile. "Thank you Maker. I I still can't believe you fixed me but thank you."

"Happy to help Natasha," I said, returning her smile and taking her hand.

With a few words I traveled her back to DC, flying with her back to Shield. I took the wing pack back from her and returned to the warehouse. When I got back Ema was still working on the fall mural, specifically a tree with hundreds of different color leaves, most of them shades of orange and red.

"It's coming along nicely."

"Thank you, this tree is going to take at least the next few days to finish," She responded, using the controls on her hovering bench to slowly sink back to the floor. "Everything work out alright?"

"Yeah, she is all set," I said. "She seemed happy with the results, so I won't argue with her."

Ema nodded, cleaning up her paints and brushes before hopping off of her bench.

"So Jarvis called earlier, when you were giving your tour," She said. "Tony and Pepper are coming home from their vacation in a few days"

"It's fine Ema, I already did most of what I wanted to today, and I'm leaving to see Steve and Bucky soon anyway," I reminded her. "Are you going to the mansion or New York?"

"The mansion," She said, her blue cheeks darkening in a simulated blush. "He has a new recipe he is trying out"

"Go, have fun!"

"Thanks! I'll have my phone on me if you need anything!" She said with a smile. "I'm stopping by the apartment before I travel to the mansion. Bye!"

With a flash of color she traveled to the old apartment, which she had turned into her own space. She turned the kitchen and living room into an area to store her paintings, and my old bedroom into a closet for her own things, mostly clothes and other knick knacks. The idea of her wearing actual clothes was a newer development, more recent than her painting.

About two weeks after Tony had started me on my large-scale building tear with his robotic shell, Ema came to me and asked if I could help Jarvis realize a desire of his, to have a way to personally interact with the world. I saw no reason not to help, so we all got together, Jarvis, Tony, Pepper, Ema and I, to figure something out. Eventually Tony and I collaborated to create a humanoid body for Jarvis, which we then tied his primary instance to, condensing his entire mainframe into an artificial brain. He was still capable of creating separate instances, as well as multitasking and other computational feats, but now he ran it all from his singular body.

Tony had been against this limitation, but Jarvis insisted, claiming he wanted a body, not a puppet. Using a variety of makeup, a polymer composite that Tony specifically made to be as skin-like as possible and several other things Jarvis now had a robotic body that was visually indistinguishable from a human but was as tough and as strong as I could make it. I also designed a secondary core that Jarvis could use to help come off as more human-like, which he described as having an on and off switch for his humanity.

Ema, seeing her new friend prosper and develop so well, started to wonder what that would be like. After a week of spending time with his new form she asked me to make a secondary core for her as well. Not wishing to alter my friend directly, but also not wanting to deny her wishes, I agreed, but only if it was attached to her exosuit. Within a few weeks she had started to develop more independence, which I was ecstatic about. Her life was no longer about just serving me, though she was still my partner. She also stopped complaining about being in her exosuit for too long, and started developing hobbies. She still left her exosuit occasionally, but she was flourishing and I couldn't be happier about it.

I let out a long breath of contentment before heading back to my new home, entering and kicking off my shoes.

"Alright Alfred, you can come out now," I called, heading over to the couch and plopping down.

Not a few seconds later a humanoid robot, with a painted on suit and bowtie stepped out of its storage closet, gently shutting the door behind it.

"Welcome home sir. Is there anything you need?" The robot butler asked, stepping into the living room.

"Yeah, change the window image to something else, maybe something tropical?"

The robotic butler, a repurposed and selfish offshoot of the robotic shell Tony created for me four months ago, nodded before walking to the thermostat. The small screen lit up when he got closer, and dimmed after he tapped a few buttons and stepped away to the kitchen. The window, which was a perfect live feed from an improved camera attached to a tree somewhere in Canada, switched to a similar feed, this one displaying an empty beach, waves crashing on the sand.

"If that is all sir I need to continue cleaning your room," It said with a bow before turning and heading back.

I waved it away and leaned back on the couch, watching the news for a little while, checking the time occasionally. At around two thirty I got up and headed back into my bedroom to change into something a bit less casual, pulling off all of my armor and my shirt, leaving me bare skinned. I turned for a moment, checking out the tattoos on my back. I knew that despite most of my body seemingly clear, save my back, seventy five percent of my body was covered in tattoos. Most of them were just invisible.

I still had a compass done on the back of my right shoulder, as well as the torn skin on the right side of my stomach, though all of them had been redone at least twice at this point using a painless tattoo removal tool I had made. The shoulder opposite to the compass was a sextant, done over the same clockwork gears and detailing as the compass. This contained the essence of my US travel band, made after I copied it a few times, so that my ability to travel couldn't be taken away.

The clockwork steampunk design continued down my back, acting as the background for several circles, all set on a disk. Each smaller circles contained symbols for different "classical" elements. Most of them enhance my resistances to something, like fire and electricity, as well as light making me impossible to blind. Others were less specific or complete misdirections. Water extended how long I could hold my breath to three hours, while air increased my resistance to loud noises and sonic attacks. Earth was perhaps the largest misdirection as it made me impervious to poisons and venoms, while darkness symbol simply increased my natural night vision.

My entire back design was cut in with a single black line that acted as a hard edge, which was accented with marks made to look like places for screws, as if a panel had been pulled away. When my back was done I had decided to transition into more subtle tattoos by making invisible ink. Now most of my non-armor enhancements were tattooed into my body. My danger sense, my strength and stamina/speed cuffs were all tattooed in, though only after some massive improvements by copying and stacking them a dozen times each. Now, even without my armor, I was as strong as Steve, slightly faster than him and while reflexes were hard to judge I seemed to be comparable to him as well. I even had a minor healing ability tattooed in, though it was a basic version, not the divinity enhanced ten stacked version I wore.

I was more than a little paranoid about getting stuck in an endless torture loop.

I even had an emergency travel tattoo, which would travel me directly to Ema's side if I was unconscious for more than forty eight hours in a row, including a coma. If I didn't wake within twenty four hours after that I would be traveled here, to a bed with almost a hundred healing amulets stacked into the mattress, sheets and pillows.

After I got dressed again, my armor and undersuit all in its least conspicuous form, I traveled back to New York. I pushed out my basic truck, which was now black, though it looked just as beat up as it always had. I drove through the city, eventually getting to a now familiar bar. Steve and Bucky were waiting for me outside and I waved as I drove past, pulling into an alley to card my truck. I walked back around to the front entrance, shaking both of my friends' hands.

"Hey guys, good to see you." I said as we greeted each other, stepping into what was now our usual hangout. Apparently the owners father fought alongside Steve and Bucky in the war, and he was nice enough to keep everything low-key

"How have you been Maker?" Steve said as we climbed onto our usual bar stools.

"It's been busy. Making lots of progess on some of my projects," I answered. "Sorry about skipping out last time, I got a bit distracted with something."

"It's fine," Bucky said with a shrug. "Just means you're paying."

I chuckled and motioned for the bartender for three beers, the familiar man knowing what we drank. We all enjoyed our first sip before leaning back in our seats.

"How's everything going with you two?" I asked, turning slightly to them. "You find a apartment you like yet Bucky?"

"Yeah, it's not too far from here actually," He answered with a shrug. "It's a bit expensive for my tastes but it's nice."

"Let me know if you need help moving things or want anything done," I offered with a smile. "I'm the ultimate moving service, and after I custom made almost everything in my new place I have some cool things that really spice a place up. I managed to make my fireplace burn the same logs forever, with no smoke or oxygen loss. It's even adjustable like a gas stove, but with the real deal aesthetic."

"Thanks. I don't know about the custom stuff but I might take you up on the moving service." He said with a small smile before taking another sip of beer.

"What about you Steve? How are things with Peggy?"

"We are taking it slow," He answered with a shrug. "While the wholething was happening, we both kind of just slipped into old habits, older for her. When it all settled we both agreed to take a step back. She moved into her own apartment and I got one nearby. We have been on a couple of dates, and we spend a lot of time at work together. It's going well though."

"What he did not mention is the love sick puppy eyes they shoot each other whenever the other one isn't paying attention," Bucky said, his smile now big. "I give them three weeks before going slow isn't going fast enough."

I chuckled as Steve groaned, rubbing his face.

"How's work going? Are you three settling into your official positions?" I asked. "Ema and I stopped in today to fix up your fragility problem."

Steve and Bucky had both been officially put in charge of the enhanced squad, with Steve leading and Bucky as his second command. Peggy was given an intelligence position, far away from active field duty.

"You did? How did you manage that?" Steve asked before waving me off. "No never mind, I know you won't actually tell me here. How effective is it?"

"It's significant," I said with a shrug. "Fury has all the data I have on it. If you're interested in it for yourselves just let me know."

They both gave me non-committal shrugs, as they always did when I mentioned my method of permanent personal enhancement.

"I'm glad though, ever since Johnson broke his foot they have all been worried about it," Bucky said. "Bunch of pansies. It's not like it won't get better in less than ten minutes with your other gear."

"Sounds like you two are having fun."

"He is just being overly harsh," Steve said, nudging his best friend. "It's refreshing to work with a team who is both skilled and enhanced. Leading the Howling Commandos was great, but knowing that my team can follow me when I jump fifteen feet from a second story balcony is priceless."

"You're welcome," I said with a smirk. "And Peggy?"

"She complains about the work but she secretly loves it," Bucky said. "Well not so secretly really. You can tell this is what she lives for."

"She thought she put it behind her Buck," Steve said with a somber shake of his head. "After what she went through can you really blame her?"

"If it's too private, it's fine, but what happened?" I asked.

"Peggy was married," Steve explained, sounding a bit lost. Not angry or jealous, just lost. "Long enough to have a son, named Steve. They both died when their home burnt to the ground while Peggy was away on business."

"Fuck." I cursed under my breath, shaking my head as my mind flew back to arriving at the home I grew up in, the whole house a charred shell, knowing my parents had been inside. "That That's horrible."

"She threw herself into her work after that," Steve continued. "Really burnt herself out."

The three of us were quiet for a few minutes, before I finally spoke, gesturing to the bartender.

"C'mon, let's get some food, then we can head out to the range. I've got some new toys for us to try out."

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