Of Neuromancy and Iron Wills 13 (Patreon)

I pulled my M1895 up and to the side as Toni finished up the last of the home invaders. JARVIS had warned us that someone was hot wiring the gate, and that gave me time to slap my tags on to interface with the drones as well as load ammo into my rifle. Though as nerve wracking as this ordeal was I will admit that there was a silver lining to it. Turns out that if I use the drones as positioning guides, I can hit the broad side of a barn.

“You okay, Toni?” I called out as I loaded fresh rounds into the rifle and slowly made my way out, gun at the ready but the barrel pointed at the floor.

“I’m good, this is the last of them,” Toni said as she dropped the last goon to the floor. “You alri… did you drop your anvil on one of them?”

I glanced over to where Toni’s helmet was looking and winced. One of the goons I’d shot had managed to wreck one of the drones, so I sorta panicked. In the future, it was going to make for a funny story, in the present, it was making one hell of a mess. I was about to say something in my defense, when something about the body tripped the sensors on one of the drones.

“Hello, what do we have here?” I murmured as Toni started making all the appropriate calls.

Walking over to the body, I brought the drone over and closed my eyes as I “listened” to what the drone had found. It was the materials sensor, the one to make sure that the right material was grabbed before assembly, and it had in its database damn near every metal known to science. So why was it reading an unknown metal on some random mook?

Curiosity overriding any squeamishness at touching a dead body, I gave a quick search of the remains. In addition to the ritual scarring over the chest, there was a rather curious ring on a chain around what was left of his neck. A mix of silver and the unknown metal, about nineteen grams in total. Wait… ritual scars, african skin tone, and unknown metal? Was I holding a vibranium ring?

“Will?” Toni’s voice snapped me out of my musings. I turned to look at her, and she continued, “Cops will be here in fifteen minutes, you good to keep an eye on these guys?”

“Yeah, don’t want them seeing the armor, I’m guessing?” I asked.

I got the impression that Toni was giving me a look that said I was an idiot, “You do remember that I was taking a shower before they showed up right?”

My eyes unwillingly dropped down to her chest and a bit lower, as my mouth operated before my brain could banish the images that materialized, “Wait, are you naked in there?” Dammit mouth.

“Be a good boy, and you just might get to find out,” Toni said with a teasing lilt as she walked down the stairs to the garage. And now my pants were starting to get too tight. Damnable mynx!

[hr][/hr]

Dealing with the cops was a lot easier than I was afraid it was going to be. They were quite professional, took my statement, and I think the fact that I had apparently gained a reputation as Stark Industries’ wonder inventor. Like the brainiac at the Baxter Building in New York, but for practical stuff. I did notice that the majority of the cops were wearing the glasses I had designed and patented through Stark Industries a while back, which made me happier than words could describe.

Sure, I was making some really high end stuff for myself. But my overall goal was to raise the base tech level across the board. I didn’t want to be like Syndrome from Incredibles or even Tony from the comics, there were so many inventions I could make to improve health and quality of life for everyone. People always talked about how grim and depressing cyberpunk is, but they always seem to miss the fact that on average, the tech in it had people’s lives better. Hell the biggest difference between the average cyberpunk setting and real life before I woke up here wasn’t the lack of cybernetics, it was the fact that the global megacorps were competent enough to actually get shit done in cyberpunk settings.

I shook my head, banishing my musings and preaching from my head, before calling out, “JARVIS?”

“Yes, Sir?” the AI responded.

“Ready up every material scanner you’ve got,” I told him, flipping the ring I’d taken from the body like it was a coin. “I’ve got a hunch I want answered.”

“Very well, Sir. Shall I inform Miss Stark?”

“Of course, if I’m right, then this will lead to an even bigger game changer than the carbon nanotubes,” I told him as I headed down to the garage.

They say hindsight’s 20/20. It only occurred to me that at this stage removing the suit was still a long, complicated endeavor when I entered the garage and looked up to see Toni still having parts of the suit being removed. Her hair was in a very rough bun, showing off the smooth, elegant curve of her neck, down to her shoulders, from there to the creamy expanse of her back.

I swallowed. There wasn’t anything indecent on display, there were some backless dresses that showed more, but all the same…

…Power Reserves Increased…

…

…Bonding 90.90% Complete…

…

…Implanting Datafeed: Incredibly Inspired Inventor…

Dammit CFU! Not now!

…But It Amused Me…

…

…CFU 2.543x10^54 Now Understands Subject: “Internet Troll”...

Yeah, yeah, yuk it up.

“Will?” Toni’s voice once again pulled me from my mental meanderings. I looked up, to see her looking over her shoulder at me, pink dusting her face. “Would you mind handing me my towel?”

“Uh,” I so eloquently stated, before shaking myself and grabbing the towel that had been thrown over a chair. “Yeah, here.”

The one hand free from the suit took the towel and wrapped it around her torso, just in time for the other arm to be freed. From there, it was rather quick work, which made me wonder if she’d been stalling… nah, it was a nice thought, but both of us were rather big on communication, so she’d have said something if that were the case.

“So, before we get to whatever it was that JARVIS said had you in a tizzy,” Toni said as she stepped off the platform in nothing but a towel (and quite notably didn’t leave to get dressed). “I have a question for you.”

“Shoot,” I told her as I set the possibly-vibranium ring on one of the tables.

“How was the view? Of me, I mean.”

…I take back what I’d thought about her stalling in removing the armor. I gave a chuckle, before turning to face the lightly blushing Toni. She was sitting on one of the opposing tables, which gave her a not insignificant boost in height, one of her fingers fiddling with a strand of her hair in a nervous tick. Smiling at her, I leaned in and gave her a kiss. Not a peck on the nose or cheek like we had done up to this point, a genuine, mouth to mouth, kiss.

Her lips were soft, and if I were a poet I’d be able to properly put into words more than that. But suffice to say, it was easily the best kiss that I can remember being part of. We broke apart, our foreheads resting against each other, our eyes meeting. No words were said, and for a time we forgot about everything except for each other.

Finally, after I don’t know how long, I broke the silence, “Thank you, for trusting me with that.”

Toni blinked, before softly smiling, “Who else would I trust like that?”

Dammit feels, right in my heart. Refocusing, I stepped back from Toni and picked up the ring, “JARVIS, you got your sensor suite ready?”

“Yes, Sir. Might I ask what I am scanning for?” JARVIS asked as I set the ring in the appropriate location for him to start scanning.

“One of my drones pinged an ‘Unknown Metal’ in that ring. There’s only a few possibilities that I can think of, and I want to see if I’m right,” I explained, Toni hopping off the table and walking to stand next to me as JARVIS went to work.

“One moment please,” he said as the full bevy of the most advanced sensors on the planet went to work. After five minutes, he spoke up again, “Scans complete. The ring is composed of a mix of silver, natural lacquer, and the largest known sample of vibranium in the world.”

I smirked, as ideas started running through my head. Ideas that were momentarily stalled as Toni let out a strangled skwak, “How did that yutz get his hands on two billion dollars worth of vibranium?!”

“Hey Toni,” I said, my voice a little distracted as possibilities danced through my mind. “How long would it take to start up a Stark Industries space program?”

“Wha?” Toni asked, turning to look up at me, confusion in her eyes. Before that beautiful mind of hers kicked into gear and realized where I was going with the question.

From what I’d read since arriving here, around ninety nine percent of vibranium discovered could be traced to meteorite fragments, with the largest known chunk having been pulled from the yucatan, and that was barely two pounds worth. With us having a good enough scanner, and the possibilities from repulsor tech, give us a year, two at the most, and we could have dedicated space mining probes to go looking for new sources of vibranium.

The sheer value of vibranium meant that we could easily talk Obadiah into backing us, even without his pseudo-familial affection for Toni. This attempted raid or assassination attempt, or whatever the hell it was, would end up propelling us further than we could have ever imagined just a day ago. And I’d use that to drag the rest of the world into the future with us.

[hr][/hr]

“Toni, I’m glad to see you’re okay,” Obadiah said with a relieved voice as he stood from his desk and made his way towards the two of us. Toni wrapped him in a hug that he returned before turning and firmly shaking my hand. “Gibson, thank you for being there for her.”

“Glad I was,” I told him honestly, before we moved over to his desk and sat down. “Though I have to say, that attack was a blessing in disguise.”

He raised an eyebrow, and I placed the vibranium ring on the table in front of him. He picked it up, smothering an amused smile when he saw Toni all but vibrating in her chair. After inspecting the ring for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed and he muttered, “I think some of this is silver, but I don’t recognize the rest of it.”

“It’s vibranium, Uncle Obi!” Toni said, barely managing to contain herself to a normal volume. “In the single largest known quantity since the forties. That amount is enough to serve as a starting point for scanners we can put into mining probes. Uncle Obi, what you’re holding has the potential to be the start of getting Stark Industries into asteroid mining!”

Obadiah was quiet for a moment, before he turned to look at me with an expression that screamed, ‘Translation, please?’

Chuckling, I obliged him, “Essentially all known sources of vibranium are from meteorite or asteroid fragments, and the sheer value of vibranium means that the first haul would still have enough vibranium to pay for not only the expense of the trip, but also pay for setting up the infrastructure needed to make such a trip possible in the first place.”

“And you want my help in convincing members of the Board to spin off another subsidiary to focus on space based interests, am I right?” Obahdiah asked, seeing what we were after.

“I think it’s well known by this point that I don’t have the right kind of mindset for big business,” I stated, “and while Toni can talk business, I think you can tell…”

“I’mtooexcitedbythescientificpotentialstonotrunmymouth,yesyou’vesaidthatWill!” Toni blurted out, still vibrating in her seat from sheer excitement.

“Thank you for proving my point, Toni,” I teased, before leaning over and kissing the top of her head. Before I remembered that there was a pseudo-paternal figure to the girl I just showed romantic affection towards sitting on the other side of the desk. Oops?

“Toni,” Obadiah said with the kind of calm tone that only comes from smothering one’s emotions. “Would you mind waiting outside for a moment?”

“Uncle Obi,” Toni said with an annoyed frown, before quieting at the look on his face. Without another word, she stood up and walked outside. Leaving me alone. With a father-figure that looked like he outmassed me twice over. Gulp.

He stood up from his desk and walked over to one of his cabinets, not saying a word as he picked up a bottle of something expensive looking as well as two glasses before walking back. The entire time, not saying a word. He poured the drink into the glasses, filling them halfway before putting the fancy glass cork back in.

“I’m going to be honest, Gibson,” he said, picking up a glass and taking a sip as he sat back down. “I like you. I think you’ve got a bright future ahead of you. More than that, you’ve made Toni smile like I haven’t seen since her parents died. So, just be aware that if you hurt her, you’ll have one of the wealthiest men on the planet pissed off at you, but otherwise, be sure to treat her right.”

“If we’re both being honest,” I said, not touching the second glass. I didn’t care for booze. “I’m pretty sure that if I did anything to warrant a shovel from you, Toni would have already beaten you to the punch.”

Obadiah laughed, “You’re probably right about that. Girl got Maria’s temper, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”