JUST A LITTLE BROKEN|| t. s.

Chapter 31: Oh Glory Fighter

“You’re good to go. Fury’s still in the briefing room if you’re looking for him. Remember, if you’re going to go to the fight, do your best to not irritate the stitches, okay?” I nod my head at Siera who finished explaining to me what happened the past few hours while I was knocked out. She smiles at me, and stands up, arms open for a hug. I hug her back and she gives me a gentle squeeze on the shoulder. “You go fight, Elise. Keep safe. I hope to see you soon, hopefully on a different occasion,” chuckling, I give her one last hug and leave the infirmary while gripping tightly onto the strap of my bag.

As I make my way to the compartment sections in the Helicarrier my dad told me through the note, I fish out the communicator in my back pocket and place it in my ear, tapping the button twice to activate it and swiping on a clockwise motion to let it connect me to dad’s comms. There was a slight crackling sound, as I let my eyes travel upon multiple metal doors. Compartment BW-2020… Compartment HE-2020… Compartment CA-1942… “Ah, there we go, FE-4465,” I mutter once I find the right metal door. I press my hand on the scanner and align my right eye to the retina scanner. The locks click, and it takes a few seconds before the compartment doors slide open, only to reveal an empty gauntlet mechanism for dad’s suit. My eyebrows furrow in confusion, that is, until I spot a golden glow from the other side of the room. I follow my gaze to the right, and a gasp escapes my mouth.

“Elise?”

I couldn’t speak. It-It’s beautiful. Oh God, dad made this?

“Elise, are you there?”

“D-dad?” My voice comes out shaky, and a few tears of happiness fill my eyes. From the other line, I can hear my dad grunt and there were a few background noises I can’t decipher.

“Hey! How are you feeling? Better I hope?”

“Y-yeah,” My breath was still hitched in my throat. In front of me stood in a glass case beneath golden lights is my design of a Glory Fighter suit. It was a design I completely scrapped when I was fifteen. My dad and I had been going through a rough patch, we were both closing off on one another and I started to delve into his art of creating suits. I started to become interested in the mechanic of it all and I started to develop a love for it. But once my dad found out about it, he set off my lab to kingdom come, and I lost every trace of design and every trace of the products that I ever made saying that it wasn’t right for me to follow in his footsteps of fighting wars and getting into more danger than I already was. But the Glory Fighter Stance-01 is standing right in front of me in its pale grey glory. I can’t believe this. I take tentative steps towards it, thinking that maybe it was going to explode on my face or disappear.

When dad blew up my lab, I was angry, and he was too. We made up after that, and I realized that the only reason I did what I did was I was trying to prove myself to him, that I can make it on my own without him. That I wasn’t following his lead, but creating a name for my own in hopes of continuing his legacy. I was trying to understand him at the same time, trying my best to understand why he built those suits day and night and forget about me in the process. And I understood. It wasn’t just a hobby. It was his safe haven. It was comforting to create something familiar, somewhere familiar, with tools that are familiar. It was so exhilarating to create the same thing over and over again but constantly tweaking it up, much like if you were addicted to a video game, continuously going up levels and discovering something new and yet still be so… familiar with it. I apologized and he did too, and I scrapped the whole idea of recreating the Glory Fighter Protocol.

But now… seeing it with my own eyes all over again brought back endless memories of nights spent in the lab, non-stop with no sleep and a hundred percent energy. “D-Dad?” I interrupt him from his rambling. “Y-Yes?” He stuttered from the other line due to static.

“How did you recreate Glory Fighter?” I ask him in an audible whisper, as if I was telling him a secret. He chuckled and I can hear a slight explosion from his other end. “You forget that I raised you. I rifled through your back-up ghost files. Sure, I bombed your lab and you lost all your data, hard copy or soft copy, but I think you forgot that we created ghost protocols on multiple drives for important projects. Dump it, burn it, steal it, but-“

“-There’s no use if you’re five steps ahead,” I finish for him. It was a mantra he taught me. After everything that happened with Stane, dad started to create back-ups for everything. He also started to teach it to me. We started to create multiple hard drives for important projects, while in the process storing every piece of data that we have in those drives. Those drives, if compromised were rigged to blow and incinerate itself. We had created multiple softcopies and hardcopies, storing them in safe locations that only dad and I knew about, aside from mom.

”Wow,” was the only word that escaped my mouth. I grin wildly, as excitement and adrenaline started to buzz. “I assume you’re loving Glory Fighter, and since I know you’re my child and you’re too stubborn like me, head out to the fight as soon as you can. The programs and controls of your suit is still the same as years ago but I tweaked it up a bit and added other safety measures. And consider it as an apology for blowing up your lab.” I chuckle at dad’s word and bid him goodbye. I change out of my jeans and shirt with the catsuit that was provided on the metal table. As I stepped onto the gauntlet station, the glass panel of the case slid open, and multiple mechanisms started to attach the suit to my body. Metal plates by metal pates attached itself and recalibrated, as the visor on my eyes snapped into place. Oh this feels way too good.

The spine of the suit was attached first, and then came my arc reactor that was infused with my skin just a few inches below the middle  of my collarbone. The metal plates of the spine slowly encase my back, which soon traveled towards my torso, covering my chest and neck in the process, and reconnecting with my visor. With each second, my arms and legs are being covered with the black and white of my suit, traveling down my palms towards my fingertips, as small repulsors on each finger powers up. The suit then starts to climb down the sides of my hips and towards my thighs, leaving my pelvic regions exposed so as to enable me to be flexible and initiate acrobatics during battle. Metal plates continue to slide down my legs and encasing my feet, making me feel the whir and vibrations of the suit, repulsors, and hidden projectiles.

A soft blue hue encases my visor, as familiar protocols and functions appear, making me feel like floating on Cloud Nine in all its glory! "Holy shit."

"Glory Fighter Suit-Stance 01, 'The Bitch is Back' Protocol has been initiated," JARVIS states, making me laugh. Classic Dad and his protocols. "Glory Fighter in 100% maximum power, recalibrating all mechanisms for initial flight, and initiating 'Aldora Protocol'."

I furrow my eyebrows at the new protocol. As the suit recalibrated, I noticed that there was another gauntlet that was clipping something on my shoulder pads. "Hey J? What's 'Aldora Protocol'?"

"It is a new protocol programmed by Mr. Stark, your Glory Fighter suit is equipped with projectiles, repulsors, and arc reactor technology. Boss has also incorporated his first successful attempts at nanotechnology into your suit. From Greek origins, 'Aldora' is translated to 'winged gift from God', in which it describes your new cape, designed by sir. This cape, as stated is incorporated with nanotechnology and infused with Vibranium fibers."

The cape snaps into place, shining amidst the soft golden glow of the lights, making tye silver satin-like cloth glimmer.

My mouth dropped in pure shock and amazement at the new knowledge. Okay, holy shit dad has a successful attempt at nanotech oh my God. Second, oh my God Dad has Vibranium. Freaking Vibranium. Strongest metal on Earth Vibranium. How the heck did he manage to pull that off?

Tears start to prick my eyes out of joy and sadness. Oh God, please keep my dad safe. He's always been there for me and I don't know what I'd do if I lose him. Shit, he's been with me through my best and through my worst as I have been for him, and I wish, in the very depths of Earth and everything, that Coulson would've seen me in this moment. This moment where I'm donning my battle regalia, head held higher than it's ever been. I wish, in even the most selfish way, that I don't lose anything or anyone on this day of battle. Just this once, I hope that God is with me and that He is making the stars align with my destiny. Just this once, I hope I don't lose like I've been losing all my life.

Today, I am Aldora. I am Elizabeth Stark, and I will fight like I have been doing my whole life.