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[buildsomething]

You have not reached Tony Stark. Clearly. Leave a message and I'll get back to you if I feel like it.

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[forwakanda]

How about explode my things and you'll be in lock up for a night. How does that work?

[buildsomething]

You wouldn't lock up a guest.

[forwakanda]

It is unkind of a guest to explode things.

[buildsomething]

I'll try to restrain my urges.

[forwakanda]

How about indulging in other urges instead?

[buildsomething]

Have a suggestion or two?

[forwakanda]

You will see when you arrive.

[buildsomething]

Curiouser and curiouser.

[stevegrogers]

Maybe when you've earned the privilege because right now not so much.

[buildsomething]

I'll keep that in mind.

[video] un: redwidow

[krasnaya_vdova]

[It's kind of late by the time she calls him, but she's pretty sure he'll be awake.] Hey, you got time to talk?

[Really, after her text conversation with Steve she couldn't leave it alone. If he'd managed to get it out of her then she couldn't really justify not telling Tony. She's sitting at the desk in her room, feet up on the table so her body lilts at an odd angle as she looks at the screen.]

[video] un: iron.man

[buildsomething]

[Tony is indeed not sleeping. As the video flicks on, it reveals a largely empty space that will eventually become his workshop. His face comes into view a moment later, not looking particularly tired despite the time.]

Ava? What's up?

[krasnaya_vdova]

Well, there's more to the story I didn't quite tell you the other day. [She looks a little chagrined, shrugs her shoulders.]

It was just all a bit much with just ending up here, you know? Not that I didn't want you to know. [She clearly feels a little bit bad about it. It wasn't deceptive, just her threshhold for those kind of conversations was pretty low.]

Especially if you're going to try and figure out how help with my powers, might be good if you knew all the weird science that went into how I got them. It's-- seriously, it's a mess.

[buildsomething]

Okay. [He says it slowly as he drops into a chair and rests the phone on the table in front of him. Tony's clearly giving it all of his attention, eyebrows drawn together thoughtfully.]

And you don't want to do this in person?

[krasnaya_vdova]

Well-- [She considers, she'd opted for video because it seemed easier, and easy was good. Especially when talking about it can be Hard. But he has a point. Hell, given how insane this all gets she might need a drawing board.]

Are you putting together a lab? If you're up for guests, might be cool to stop by.

[Skimpy pretense, but it's something.]

[buildsomething]

Working on it. [He gestures at the empty room around him with a wry look.] But you're welcome to come check it out. Might need to bring your own chair.

[krasnaya_vdova]

Where are you setting up? [There's a touch of a smile, pushing away from her desk, warm enough she doesn't bother with her coat.] I'm sure I can find something. Maybe one of those terrible folding chairs.

[buildsomething]

I'll text you the address. [There's a slight pause.] I'm kidding about the chair.

[krasnaya_vdova]

Alright. [There's a slight touch of a laugh.] So was I. Folding chairs are for chumps. I'll bring soda, though. Anything else and you're on your own.

[buildsomething]

Soda's fine. [He snorts, amused. He's not going to be drinking anything heavier with a kid around, anyway.] Swing by whenever, I'll be up.

actionnnnn

[krasnaya_vdova]

See you soon.

[And then she flips the video off. It doesn't take her too long, and she is true to her word swinging a six pack of coke in one hand when she stops by. She's still not sure if this is better face to face or if she could have used that scant distance. Oh well.]

Hey.

[She looks around, setting the soda down, pulling two out and handing him one. They're even cold, go figure.]

[buildsomething]

[The space is, as promised, pretty damn empty. There's a desk, a chair and some stools, but that's about it. There are chalk lines all over the floor demarcating something that clearly makes sense only to Tony, and one wall is essentially torn open to reveal the wiring.

Tony himself smiles faintly as he takes one of the cans and gestures her towards one of the stools.]

So what was it you wanted to tell me?

[krasnaya_vdova]

[Ava takes it in, eyes the chalk markings and the open wall and smiles as she steals one of the stools, opening a can as she frowns faintly.]

It's you, so I guess I can at least start at the beginning. [She pauses, takes a sip of the soda.] So, what if I told you someone had successfully weaponized quantum entanglement? Been able to find a way to not just manipulate and create the connections, but make it so we're no longer talking about electrons, but complex objects.

People.

[buildsomething]

[His eyebrow lifts at the it's you, then curves even higher as she starts actually talking.]

Not just developed, but weaponized? [It's an important distinction, especially for a former weapons developer.

Tony's eyes narrow just a little, his focus sharpening. She's got every bit of his attention now, but there's something almost sympathetic in it. He can guess where this is going.]

What happened to you?

[krasnaya_vdova]

[It's not like she would talk to Steve about quantum entanglement. But she knew Tony would get it.]

The idea was to make a sort of entangled army. People that could interface with people with clearance codes and information in governments and corporations around the world. The biggest security breach the world could imagine. So, yes- weaponized.

The short version is that when I was nine the people responsible for this project were somehow able to leak information through SHIELD ensuring that Fury would send Natasha to handle it. We were the first successful test subjects though it took years before we realized there was something going on.

The long version starts with the fact that the people that developed it were my parents.