Tuesday, July 10, 2018, 11:30 AM Norfolk, VA

  I woke up after just enough hours, with a bit of inspiration of what I might need to know for my future goals. Tonight, however, the Lady of the Dark Between the Stars took me to a place where I could see different aspects of engineering and technological energies. Not truly full in depth specifics, but several hints that will help to get me there. Maybe tomorrow I will get some knowledge in the realms of the different planes. That might be the thing to get me the rest of the way, hopefully.

  Knowing that I am sufficiently rested for the day, and that it is almost sunrise, I decided to get up and get to work on the tasks for the day. I started with the bevy of Unseen Crafters, trying to speed up the rest of the armor, just to make sure I am ready for the next supervillain. Then I set up to start crafting “Tony’s Hot Box” with this fantastic gold and red metal box that seems to have the appropriate characteristics for the enchanting process. At least it was of a high enough quality that I wouldn’t have to separately enhance the quality before the enchanting. That would have pushed me back even further on the armor.

  The process of enchanting this was not that difficult at all, and it took barely any time at all. Honestly, just a shade over an hour, but it still wiped out anything else I could make. I ensured as many safeguards as I could, to prevent widespread access to it, such that it can only be operated by those who know the command word, are members of the Avengers, and are of good moral character. I know that it wasn’t exactly perfect, but it was the best series of prerequisites that I could set in so that the misuse could be minimized. I hemmed and hawed about everything, and realized that I was going to have to trust the Avengers and Tony himself. It was still an extremely dangerous step.

  Pepper had provided me with the command word, and it was set in, “Calorem Adde, Pepper”, engraved in runes (with the Trade Tongue pronunciation beneath it in parentheses) on the inside of the top of the box. I decided to be a little cheeky in two ways. I found a place that sold what they called “Granite Rip-Rap”, and decided to call them up and have them set aside a pallet of it, for it to be picked up later. Since I had the time, and it would take a few hours more hours for it to be reasonable to have something picked up or dropped off, I decided to spend some time with the ambulance crew, helping out until I could make my way to getting some comfort with hanging around with the police and sheriff’s deputies again. They seemed to have some… reaction to the results of the supervillain attack. I hope that they don’t blame me, but I don’t know if I would blame them if they did, really. I mean, I can only imagine that they have been getting a lot more attacks by these kinds of entities since I arrived.

  I told Sarah (who was on shift today) that I got to meet a couple of interesting people yesterday. Sarah asked me if I meant Pepper Potts and Wong. I smiled and she said that she had seen the social media blow up yesterday with the fact that the CEO of Stark Industries was seen, touring through the Homeless Shelter of Norfolk, after a perpetual donation was made. Sarah asked me if I saw them before or after that, and I told them that the answer was both. Sarah smiled and said that it was really well received online, and that it was giving a lot of those who felt left over normally, and especially now with what happened with the Snap.

  I told her that I was working with something secret with Ms. Potts and Stark Industries, but that it wasn’t open news yet. Sarah asked if I could give any juicy details, and I told her that the big part of it wouldn’t come into effect for at least 60 days, so everything needed to be hush-hush until then. Sarah smiled and said that she expected it to be something good. I told her that I hoped it was and it helped as much as I thought that it would. Sarah said that she can’t wait to hear more about it and I started helping with the shift, waiting for a call.

  **********

  Tuesday, July 10, 2018, 7:30 PM Norfolk, VA

  After about six hours of waiting without any major calls that I could really help with, I begged off with the offer that if there were any other calls that I could help with, or a flurry of calls at all, to feel free to text me the location and I would rush there immediately. Sarah wished me well, saying that these were the days that Paramedics hoped for, no major calls or anything, so she was going to enjoy it. I changed into my “civilian attire”, and hopped on my S.H.I.E.L.D. electric bike and rode to the stone place that I had called earlier. When I arrived, they looked at me kind of oddly, saying that they didn’t think I would be able to load all of that on my back, as a jest. I offered up that I was mainly here to be the point person, for the people who had actually purchased the stone.

  The employee looks at me oddly, but shrugs, and agrees. They leave me alone and I go inspect the pallet of stone. Just as requested, the fist sized granite “rip-rap”, if I had to guess, would be north of six hundred and fifty rocks. I took a chance and texted Pepper, telling her that I had something that would be of interest to her and Wong, if she could get to my location. Pepper texted back after a few minutes, saying that Wong could catch up to me fairly quickly, he had just gotten done banishing a demon that had tried to take advantage of the chaos of the Post-Snap world, and could make his way to my shelter.

  I texted her back and told her that I wasn’t at the shelter, and sent her a picture of where I was. She said that she would send it on, and it took fifteen minutes for Wong to show up. Wong apologized, saying this was not someplace he had ever had to go to before. I laughed, and told him that I hoped that he never had to, as the only thing I could see him having to fight here would be an earth elemental. Wong looked at me with a bit of shock, and I was a bit confused, asking him if they were that common here.

  Wong told me that elementals were strong enemies that should not be underestimated. I sympathized, yeah, maybe the elder ones, or even anything larger than human, but below that size, eh? Wong lifted an eye, and I told him that I had to tangle with a small one that a cult had summoned back in Magnimar, and managed to deal with it. Wong said that we’d have to talk a bit more about this later. I cleared my throat and agreed, and then shifted his attention to the pile of rocks, saying that this was the one that would need to be transferred to Mr. Stark, along with this box.

  I pulled a box out of my sling bag that was clearly too large to have the sling bag look as empty as it did. Wong’s eyebrow lifted again, recognizing the box that he had gotten to me yesterday. I relayed to him the actual description of the item and how it works, and the reasoning behind all of it. Wong looked at me and asked if we could discuss this back at my storage unit, to which I agreed. I confirmed that we were going to get the pallet of rocks with the employee, and Wong, I, and the pallet of rocks all moved through space to be just outside of my storage unit.

  I opened up the storage unit with Rex laying in a corner, peacefully taking a nap. We left the pallet of rocks outside and sat down at the table. I offered refreshments up to Wong, from my personal Field Provision Box, and changed it to be how he desired. Wong laughed as he had the ramen and asked how long it would maintain the temperature. I told him that all of the changes would last for roughly an hour, after that, it will go back to what are figuratively universal rations.

  We finally started talking about what this item and magi-technology would mean for everyone, not just Tony. I agreed, and said that I wanted him to have some kind of safety that couldn’t be bypassed or worked around, and listed out every safety I had put into it, including the fact that the command word HAD to be uttered by one using it with intent to use it. I continued with answering every further question, going in depth into the theories and practicalities of the spell, and questions about everything that would normally be done with it. Wong repeated the list of prerequisites that I had told him, obviously mulling them over in his mind as he spoke. After it was all said and done, he asked what the command word actually meant, and I told him what it meant and that since Pepper herself had chosen it, I figured that it would be an amusing thing for him to have to say, repeatedly.

  Wong smiled and put it all together that every time that Tony was going to use his, “Tony’s Hot Box”, he was going to have to say “Add the heat, Pepper”, and that he’ll have to do that dozens or even hundreds of times a day. I agreed, and said that I COULD have made it automated, but that I felt that it would be better for him to get a real grasp on what the magic did, before making it take less effort to get more. I added that he’d have to ask Pepper directly to see if there was any way that it could be automated, and even then, I’d only remove the restriction when both She and you (Wong)agree. Wong nodded with a slight smile, offering up Tony likely wouldn’t even think of asking someone else to do that, probably jumping in to it by himself, bashing his head into trying to maximizing his productivity from his end, and that at the least, it would be a good jest for a while.

  I asked him if both he and Pepper would like to Scry again, to ensure that everything is going Okay for Tony when the new parcel arrives. Wong thought about this and asked if it would take the one hour preparation time like last time. I told him that it indeed would take that long to prepare, and maybe we can arrange a time with Pepper. Wong says that we should reach out to her, before we send this to Tony. I text Pepper to see if she is available in about an hour, and explain the plan of sending the box and an amount of sample stones for Tony to test on.

  Pepper texted me fairly quickly, saying that she would be busy for the next few hours, that she was currently coordinating the limited resources that they have access to, and that she can make some time closer to half past five. I thanked her and told her that I would talk with Wong and have him deliver it when she was available. I relayed this all to Wong, and he nodded thoughtfully, noting that it really was an issue of not having the resources for everyone. I asked if it was like the Shelter needing food. Wong agreed, noting that a LOT of the Masters of the Mystic Arts were using their abilities to portal supplies between areas, but that was limited to however much access they could get to the supplies and how large of a portal that they could make. This made it a tough decision for me. I asked Wong if he could act as my sounding board for something.

  Wong agreed and we talked about how I was being taken to mythical locations in my dreams to gain access to special knowledge, at the cost of future versatility. Wong listened as I described the mythical locations as I told him what I had been trying to do, getting access to the Elemental Maelstrom, to learn how to modify the spell, and only that spell, to utilize and emanate different types of energy. Then I told him that I could shift focus to make it so that I can learn a different ability from a different realm, that of Heward’s Hall, that might get me the ability to make more items that could help them and the world, first, instead of studying the energy modification effects. I explained how I would be able to make more items and how it would go about, and we talked through the ethics of this as well. Wong listened intently, gaining more experience about my varied magical system to their own, before noting that this was a very difficult dilemma, but that if I was concerned with helping the most people, especially in this trying initial time, it would probably behoove me to go with the option to make items faster.

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  I thanked Wong for his insight, and we spent the remaining time until about four forty-five, when he split off to go be ready to get Pepper. I started my focusing on the few hairs from Tony Stark, and the mirror in front of me. I set up my camera to record the entirety of the event. Rex, as always, was standing guard over me and being his generally protective self. The next hour went by fairly quickly, and right about at the end of it, Wong came back with Pepper. Pepper took up her seat slightly behind and to the left of me, leaving Wong his seat on the opposite side

  The cloudiness of the mirror cleared away as we saw Tony and Bruce still working on testing the “Phoenix Core”. He had not, in fact, contacted the Wizards, from what Wong had revealed, and that he was still trying to figure out everything that he could from his own tests. Wong identified a good location for both the pallet of stones and the newly enchanted box. The note that was prepared had been vetted and confirmed with Pepper and Wong, before it would be sent, so everything was ready. The marvelous Sparkling circle appeared a little distance above the ground in the lab, to a loud crash as a pallet of stones with a gold-titanium alloy box on top, landed on the floor.

  This brought both Bruce and Tony’s attention, immediately, as the ring portal disappeared. There were comments and complaints about Wong just dropping off a pallet of stones like this lab was a construction site. Then Tony immediately noticed the Stark Industries branded red and gold tinted, gold-titanium alloy box. He recognized that it was an old item that he had designed and made years ago, but had been sitting on a shelf somewhere in one of his factories. It was… changed. Now there were brilliant green hued runes etched into the box, around the lip of the bottom, and set into the top. Also, etched in the same green color, however, etched in English text, was the title of this new item, “Tony’s Hot Box”.

  The note that was taped to the top (scotch tape) was in Pepper’s handwriting, and it told Tony, in her own unique syntax, that “Tony, you are being gifted a unique magic item. As such, the person who created it claimed that he was entitled to name it, and they chose to name it for the recipient, Tony, and its function, a ‘Hot Box’. Your ‘Tony’s Hot Box’ is permanent, and the effects that it generates are permanent. It creates ANOTHER ‘Phoenix Core’ every time you use it. The procedure is as follows: 1) ensure that the box is empty, 2) place an appropriately sized (fist sized) piece of igneous (like granite or obsidian) stone inside the box, 3)Then close the box and say the command phrase, “Calorem me” Pepper, 4) watch the green energy pulse (takes less than 6 seconds), 5) remove the new “Phoenix Core”, and start the process again. Enjoy your enchanting, Love Pepper.”

  Tony was gobsmacked and immediately told Bruce that someone was playing a joke on them both. He spoke to the air, as if to proclaim to some entity that was listening, that this was NOT a funny joke, but that he’d go along with it. He grabbed the choicest rock, and put it in the box, with some Tony Stark brand Flair. With poise and purpose, he declared to the sky, “Calorem Me, Pepper”, and looked down at the box. To both his, and Bruce's surprise the green runes flared brighter, and a similar color light bled out from the lip of the box. After the light dimmed again, Tony opened the box and felt warmth coming from the new Phoenix Core, immediately, which looked just as it had before, however now it had a logo imprinted on it of a phoenix rising with the Stark Industries Logo set inside it.

  Tony looked to Bruce and asked if he caught anything on a meter. When Bruce responded that he had not, Tony asked the disembodied voice, F.R.I.D.A.Y. if she had noticed anything, to which she replied that no, she had noticed no known energy spikes, either. Bruce passed the infrared thermometer over the rock, and muttered that it was the same one thousand, two hundred and ninety-two degrees Fahrenheit. Tony took the box and inspected every square inch of it. There were no obvious electronics, and the rocks had all been scanned as normal by F.R.I.D.A.Y.

  Giving it another try, he took another rock from the pile, and performed the same ritual. Again, Bruce and Tony witnessed the green light flare out, and when the former plain rock was removed, it too was the same temperature and had the same logo. Tony was silent for a minute before he seemed to have puzzled that the Box was doing this now, but that someone or something else had made the initial one. Tony quickly yelled to Bruce to keep making them, while he was going to get something. Bruce yelled after Tony that he was VERY uncomfortable saying “Heat me up, Pepper” like that, but Tony just yelled back that it was for science.

  After the first few tries where he was too quiet and the magical item did not function, Bruce realized that he actually had to say it out loud, and then started a very tense minute and a half of Bruce saying, “Calorem Me, Pepper”. This of course, had Pepper laughing with mirth. Even Wong seemed to have a slight grin at the slight schadenfreude. This was until Tony had returned from outside with five different rocks, three were roughly fist sized, and of the other two, one was substantially larger, and one was substantially smaller. Tony told Bruce that he can take over again for now, and put the first rock in “Tony’s Hot Box.” like before, with an impish grin, and said the Command Word, With gusto.

  The box performed its steps as intended, but when the lid was opened, the rock wasn’t hot. Tony Looked to Bruce and asked if he had done everything correctly. Bruce confirmed that he had, and asked what he had tried. Tony told him that he tried limestone, and that it did not work. Tony held up two other stones, indicating that one was Gneiss and one was Schist, and asked Bruce if he thought that it was worth it to try either of them.

  Bruce shrugged, and said that it was worth a shot and all it did was delay making another “Phoenix Core”, looking over at the pile of ten that he had made in the time it took Tony to get back. Tony attempted the one he indicated was Schist first, and again, there wasn’t any result. Just that the Box attempted to activate its power, but that the power did not latch onto the stone. Tony took the Schist out of the box, and tossed it to the side. With the last one, a piece of Gneiss, he tried it one last time. He put the rock in, and said the command word.

  Just like before, the light was emitted from inside the box. When the lid was opened, this rock WAS hot, with the logo imprinted into it. Tony looked at the stone oddly, and Bruce started to have a dawning realization, when F.R.I.D.A.Y. spoke out, telling Tony and Bruce that the reason why it might have worked, is because the original stone was Igneous, as the description says is required. Bruce starts out, repeating that the spell works to “bring forth some of the heat that was present at the stone’s birth”, and that the metamorphic process happened after the stone was born, maybe it was a loophole. Tony looked at him and told him frankly that Physics didn’t have loopholes. Tony put in a much too large piece of granite, and tried the command word again.

  Tony’s Hot Box tried to perform its magic again, but when the box was opened, there was no lingering heat radiating off of the stone. Tony is quiet for a minute before F.R.I.D.A.Y. helpfully brings up that the stone was much too large, Boss. Tony uses a hammer to break apart the piece of granite and tries again, and this time it was successful. Tony tried with one of the smaller size pieces, and after another “Calorem Me, Pepper”, that smaller piece of granite works as well. Pepper notes that he is already in the experimentation phase with his new toy.

  I decided to add a deadpanned quip about Tony apparently loving to play with his “Hot Box”. Wong looked with a slightly larger grin and let out a slight chuckle, while Pepper had made it too exasperated, complaining about having to deal with Bruce’s therapy after this. That was when I volunteered to her and Wong that, actually, her name wasn’t part of the Command Word, I just had her write it so that it looked like it was. Wong looked at me, and put it together that I had just made Tony, and hence Bruce, repeatedly said Pepper’s name for just the absurdity of it. Wong actually laughed at that point, and said that he can’t wait for Tony to learn that.

  The three of us continued watching while Tony attempted the process repeatedly with several more granite stones, just to make sure that the process continued to work, while Bruce kept checking and rechecking specimens. F.R.I.D.A.Y. would add helpful tidbits about how each of the stones retained the same contact temperature before adding that the temperature of the room had not increased beyond the localized fields of seventy degrees Fahrenheit, a little over one and five-eighths feet radius from each individual stone. Tony Perked up at that, and double checked the figures. He looked to Bruce, and asked if it made any sense to him, how the temperature was set to only go this high, even when two were right next to each other. Bruce made some non-committal comments about just recording the data first, but that the only way he found for the temperature to increase was if the “Phoenix Cores” are touching something that retains and transfers thermal energy, and then that gets hot up to the one thousand, two hundred and ninety-two degrees and slowly increases in temperature to match the contact temperature of the “Phoenix Core”. F.R.I.D.A.Y. confirmed this and went through the various indicators and methods by which this was witnessed.

  Towards the end of the Scrying window’s duration, we saw that Tony and Bruce were already developing new and advanced tests and experiments to learn more about their new toy. Pepper thanked me for just what that item that Tony now has will do to help the world come back. I told both her and Wong that I planned on doing everything I can to make sure that this world can recover as well and as quickly as possible. I offered up that if they ever need to contact me, that I am available via the Sling Ring portal whenever it might be needed, but that if it wasn’t immediately necessary for me to respond, i.e. just a question on information or whatnot, I should be available to respond every day when I either pull a shift helping the Ambulance crew or when I am out on patrol.

  Wong and Pepper both nodded slightly and said that they would need to debrief the team after this revelation, but that I might need to be available for further meetings and information. I told them that I would be glad to, as long as Norfolk was safe while I was gone. Pepper and Wong nodded and said that this was wise, and I offered that we could have the meeting in my Tent, as it was even more secure than anywhere else on the planet. Wong and Pepper looked thoughtful for a minute before Wong said that they would keep it in mind before they both said their goodbyes before Wong created his Sling Ring Portal back to what appeared to be Pepper’s office in the Avengers Compound. I watched them leave, and then went back to work.

  I stepped out of the Tent Flaps, into the storage unit, and cast my Ears of the City spell to see if there was anything going on. Fortunately, I had not gotten any positive responses towards anything happening tonight, but got notified that there might be something that was possible tomorrow morning, at least from the rumors I heard. I sighed, and let Rex know through the Tent Flap that I was going to be getting a burger before heading back. Rex yawned and acknowledged what I said, and curled back up. I left the Storage Unit, and headed to Rally’s to get a combo.

  When I got there, I walked up to the counter, and placed my order. The cashier looked a little star-struck for a minute before asking if I was the Winter Soldier. I laughed and told him that no, I wasn’t, but thanked him for the compliment. The cashier was fairly certain, despite my repeated reluctance. I got my combo and thanked him again and headed back to the Storage Unit, thinking about how many people looked like anyone else, before pulling out my S.H.I.E.L.D. phone to pull up pictures, and I just couldn’t see it.

  I mean, we both had long brown hair, but that was it. I shrugged and went to the Tent and then sat down to eat. After I was done, I put it in the bag I had set up for trash, and then went to my new armor, to add more Unseen Crafters to the horde working away. I stepped back out of the storage unit to continue to cast Ears of the City repeatedly to get more information about everything I could about the Avengers, this Winter Soldier, and everything else I could think of. I think I am starting to get a grounding on this place, I thought, as I finished up and got ready for bed.