"None," I answered, sounding more smug than I intended. I turned to Shuri. She had a deadpan expression.
"Right, and may I take the liberty to ask his majesty how an ordinary person in a world full of villains and heroes ends up in another dimension fighting alien invaders?"
"I never said I was ordinary. That's your story." I waved her stare off.
"So, you live in a world filled with superpowers, but you have none. I could relate to that." She then smirked. "But I am smarter."
I snorted. "If being wrong makes you happy, who am I to judge?" I replied.
"Is that a challenge?" Shuri asked, a little offended.
"Only if you aren't a sore loser."
"Ha, you got guts, kid. But I am way out of your league. Look around. Everything you see in Wakanda is my invention."
"Uh-huh," I answered absent-mindedly as I got my phone, which was lying on the side drawer. "Eve, how pure is the vibranium in this palace?"
"Welcome back, Hiro. Glad you missed me too." Eve responded in a frustrated voice. She sounded almost human. "The vibranium is 70% pure in the palace and less than 60% all around Wakanda. Only the black panther's suit is 85% pure vibranium."
"And what about in our lab?" I asked, smirking at the face Shuri was making.
"Almost all our equipment is made with 100% pure vibranium."
"Thank you, Eve." I then turned to Shuri. "Any more complaints?"
She stood up aggressively, sending the chair rolling away as she marched towards the door. "Why did I even think coming here was a good idea? I should have just gone to the stupid meeting."
"And you are a sore loser," I muttered loudly. She stopped mid-step and turned to me with a smirk.
She tilted her head slightly, that signature royal confidence sliding back into place.
"Oh, little prince," she said smoothly, folding her arms. "A sore loser? No. I do not compete in games where the other player thinks Google is a superpower."
She tapped her kimoyo beads, and a holographic lattice of vibranium structure bloomed between you.
"You asked about purity," she continued calmly. "How adorable. You measure strength by percentage. I measure it by application."
The lattice shifted—your lab's "100% pure vibranium" appeared beside Wakanda's 70% palace alloy.
"Pure vibranium is unstable in large-scale architecture," she explained. "Too reactive. Too energy-dense. It fractures under harmonic stress unless buffered. The palace alloy is engineered to breathe with the city's vibrational frequency."
She stepped closer.
"Your lab uses 100% purity because it is controlled. Contained. Safe." She smiled faintly. "Wakanda uses 70% because we are not playing with metal, we are conducting a symphony."
The hologram vanished.
"You see inferiority. I see optimization."
She leaned in just enough for it to feel deliberate.
"And if your little assistant truly scanned Wakanda without triggering twelve security failsafes and three AI countermeasures I personally designed…" her brow arched, "…then I allowed it."
A beat.
"Because, unlike you, I enjoy a worthy challenge."
She turned toward the door again, but paused.
"And for the record?" A glance over her shoulder. "Intelligence is not proven by what you build in isolation. It is proven by what a nation thrives on."
A smirk.
"So if this is a challenge, Hiro… try not to embarrass yourself. I would hate to win too easily."
And just like that. She walked out.
I stared at the door for a little while. "Eve. Did I... lose?"
"I am also not sure." Eve's voice came out a little impressed. "But I would say you won, and that was just trying to save face."
A smirk crept on my face. But Eve wasn't done.
"But that would be lying, and I wasn't programmed to lie." She finished with some petty amusement in her voice.
"Why did I even build you?" I asked, shutting off my phone and pulling the sheets a little higher.
Knock Knock
I looked at the door as Nozomi stepped in. "God, why am I receiving so many visitors today?"
Nozomi snorted. "Why ask God when there is a Goddess in front of you?"
I turned to her with a confused look. "I really don't get you at all. When I call you a Goddess, you go all defensive as if it is a curse. But it's fine for you to call yourself one when you want?"
"Always so stingy with the details." She waved me off. She took a seat in the chair Shuri had occupied a few seconds ago. She then released a small amount of soul-flux and cast a sound-dampening barrier. She then turned serious. "You probably know why I am here."
I knew the look on her face. "We are still here. In this world. That means Thanos wasn't the final boss." She added as the look of unease increased on her face. I grimaced at this. "Hiro." The grip on her skirt's hem tightened. "We are stranded in another world. Full of monsters, aliens, and gods. We have no clue what we are looking for. It's just like—" Her voice broke. "Just like—"
I leaned forward and put an arm on her shoulder. She stopped talking and looked at me. I pulled the chair forward and hugged her. "Calm down. I can't have you break down." I then smiled slightly, though it didn't quite reach my eyes. "If you break down here, who's gonna keep me anchored?"
She took some deep breaths and stopped shaking. "You're right. Sorry."
"It's cool," I assured, leaning back on the bed. "And I know what you mean. No matter how much time passes, it can't be erased."
Nozomi, now calm, leaned back in her chair. "So, now what?"
I took a second to think of what we can do. Was there anything we could do? I sighed.
"I honestly don't know. But, if I am to stay in this world any longer, I want to make the most of it, you know? Go to school. Make more friends."
"Beat up more villains?" Nozomi added with her signature smirk.
"Maybe," I answered, and we both burst into giggles.
"Why not work with S.H.I.E.L.D. We could help them out in some jobs, and they keep us informed on any abnormal activities in the world." I suggested.
Nozomi perked up at the idea. "Why didn't I think of that?"
"Some Goddess you are," I remarked.
"Former Goddess." She corrected me.
"Again with the Goddess thing."
"Again with the details." We both burst out laughing again.
...
Tony Stark leaned against the workbench, arms crossed, one eyebrow arched in that way that made junior engineers break into a sweat. He stared at us as we'd just tried to patent fire. The day after I woke up, we went with Tony to New York for a period of two more days.
"Queens," he repeated flatly. "Of all the places in New York. Hell, of all the places on Earth. You want to go to Queens."
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
"Midtown High has an excellent science program—"
"Please." Tony held up a hand. "I read your file. You built an AI from scratch. In a lab at the age of four. You then continued and gathered a box of scraps to load your lab with guns that can level a city." He glanced at my phone. "You know how long it took me to put Friday and Jarvis in my suit?" His eyes snapped back to me. "You don't need Midtown's science program. You are their science program. So try again."
Nozomi shifted beside me. I could feel her desperately wanting to sink into the floor. Some Goddess.
"I mean," I tried, "Queens is... quiet? Good neighborhoods? Low alien invasion frequency?"
"Low—" Tony's face contorted. "Kid, a kid in Queens has been swinging around in red pajamas, stopping carjackings for two years. It's not low anything. It's managed."
Nozomi pinched the bridge of her nose.
"We just want—" I started.
"You just want to be near Spider-Man," Tony interrupted.
Silence.
"That's it, isn't it?" He uncrossed his arms, walking toward us with that predatory amusement rich people get when they're right. "Not S.H.I.E.L.D. Not the Avengers compound. Not Wakanda with its magical metal and science utopia. Queens. Because Queens has Peter."
"We never said—" Nozomi tried.
"You didn't have to." Tony stopped directly in front of me. "You want to be close to the one hero your age who isn't a god, a supersoldier, or a billionaire in a tin can. Someone who started with nothing but a bite and some guilt." He tilted his head. "Someone you might actually relate to."
I held his gaze. "Is that a problem?"
Tony studied me for a long moment. The humor faded slightly, replaced by something almost... understanding. Almost.
"No," he said finally. "It's not a problem. It's actually the smartest thing you've said since you got here."
He turned away, walking back to his workbench.
"But if you're going to be near him, you're going to be useful. I'm not dumping two interdimensional refugees in Queens without someone keeping an eye on things."
"We don't need a babysitter," I said.
"No, you need a handler." He grabbed something from his bench—two small devices, sleek and silver. He tossed one to me, one to Nozomi. "Comms. Encrypted. My frequency. If something happens, you call. Not S.H.I.E.L.D, not the Avengers. Me."
I turned the device over in my hand. It was surprisingly light.
"And when something happens in Queens," Tony continued, pulling up holographic displays, "you handle it. You're not tourists. You're not refugees. You're assets. Local support. Peter's good, but he's one kid. You two seem to have... complementary skills."
Nozomi finally spoke up. "You're trusting us?"
Tony paused. Looked at her. Something softened, just barely.
"You saved the world. You didn't have to. You could have found a corner to hide in until the fighting stopped." He shrugged. "That buys a lot of trust."
He turned back to his displays.
"Now get out of here. I'll have Happy drive you to Queens tomorrow. Find an apartment. Enroll in school. Try not to break anything."
I stood there for a second, the comm device warm in my palm.
"Oh, and Hiro?" Tony didn't turn around.
"Yeah?"
"Shuri called. She says you owe her a rematch. Something about vibranium purity and 'educational smackdowns.'" He glanced back with a smirk. "I have no idea what that means, but she sounded annoyed. So whatever you did, good job."
Nozomi looked at me as we walked out. "You picked a fight with the Wakandan princess?"
"She started it."
"She's going to destroy you."
"I have Eve."
"I can hear you," Eve chimed in. "And for the record, I am flattered by the confidence, but that woman's AI countermeasures are terrifying. Please do not provoke her again."
Nozomi burst out laughing.
I sighed, looking at the comm device.
'This will be a fun time.'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This chapter is a little shorter than the other as I wanted to start the next one on the movement to Queens and reunion with spider-man.
Anyone curious to know what the anomaly is?
It will be revealed soon.
But not too soon.
So stay 'tuned in to the midnight heart'. Look it up. It's nice.