Marvel: A Tale of Shadows

A week had passed since Ethan and Felicia had gone out. During that time they met up multiple times for either breakfast, lunch, or diner. Today Ethan was putting away his gear when he got a call over the radio that he had a visitor. He quickly finished putting his gear away and went towards the main lobby, where his supposed visitor was.

He was only surprised for a moment until he saw Felicia standing by the reception desk in the main lobby. Then he scowled but once again only for a moment as he saw Jackson trying to talk to her only to be ignored as she chatted with the receptionist. Ethan smirked when he saw this, he then walked up behind Felicia and hugged her. Which caused both Jackson and the receptionist to be stunned for a moment, before Jackson's face turned red with anger.

"Hilt! What the-" Jackson's enraged voice was interrupted by a more angelic voice.

"Hey Babe," Felicia looked at Ethan over her shoulder. Ethan only grunted in response. "I was going to go visit my dad. Want to come?" The receptionist was only stunned for a moment before she saw the look of seething rage on Jackson's face. Once she saw that she had a wide smile, as did the other receptionists and staff who were seeing what was going on. Suffice to say, no one liked Jackson.

Ethan tilted his head, "So soon?"

Felicia just shook her head, "if you go with me I will only introduce you. We can sit down some other night."

Ethan nodded, "okay." He then looked at the receptionist who handed over a pair of cards.

"Head on up, I have already checked he is only researching in the public works section but he knows you are coming." The receptionist explained. As they walked towards the elevator lobby, Jackson stewed in his rage until eventually he walked away.

When they arrived at her father's lab they saw a number of various chemicals and liquids around the room. In the center of the room standing by a computer and a microscope, was a man with black hair that was turning white in several parts.

Felicia knocked on the glass door which caught his attention. When the man saw Felicia he smiled but when he saw Ethan he frowned.

He walked over and opened the glass door. He stepped out and closed it behind him, "Felicia it is a pleasure to see you." Walter told her with a smile on his face. He then turned to Ethan and his smile turned into a look of disdain, "and you are?"

Felicia quickly switched gears, standing in between them, "dad this is my boyfriend, Ethan. Ethan, this is my dad, Walter."

Ethan smiled and offered his hand to shake, "pleasure to meet you." Walter accepted the handshake and only grunted in response.

"Sweety, you have been in town for over a week. Why haven't you come to see me sooner?" Walter asked, completely ignoring the presence of Ethan.

Felicia nervously chuckled, "well I have been mostly busy finding a new place to stay. I decided the sorority house is not a place I want to stay for the foreseeable future."

Walter nodded in understanding, "understandable. How about this? I have the weekend off, so I can take you to see the sights around New York."

Felicia hummed. While Ethan held back laughter, "sure dad. We can do that." Felicia glanced at Ethan and he discreetly smiled and nodded to indicate, 'it's okay.'

"Anyways, I was about to go out to lunch. So why don't you join me? There is this Ramen joint down the street that is absolutely incredible." Walter suggested.

"Umm… sure." Felicia was clearly nervous. She only dropped by to say hello. But when she looked at Ethan and saw his smile she calmed herself.

"But as interesting as it would be to do a meet and greet with your boyfriend I would prefer to catch up with my daughter first." Walter said, giving Ethan a cold glare.

Ethan gave him a warm smile back, which strangely annoyed Walter, "I understand. I was interested in an exhibit that was happening down the street anyways." Ethan saw Felicia make a pouting face that he had resisted poking. They proceeded down the elevator and then Felicia and Ethan said their goodbyes at the door.

While Ethan walked one way, Felicia and Walter walked the other way. Felicia didn't talk to her father the whole way. Opting to only scowl at him instead until they got to the ramen shop. But at the same time Walter was all smiles, he was going to spend some quality time with his daughter for the weekend.

They were seated at a booth table and received their menus. "Dad, you didn't have to give Ethan the cold shoulder. In fact you were kind of rude to him the entire time while he was far more considerate." Felicia spat out as she looked over the menu.

Walter chuckled nervously, "well sweety, I just don't like your boyfriend."

Felicia grunted in annoyance, "more like you don't like the idea of me dating. Besides, he is very considerate and helpful. You should be a lot nicer to him, and apologize the next time you see him."

Walter only shook his head, "I refuse. I reserve the right to scare your boyfriends off."

Felicia was about to snap at him when inspiration struck. A look of mischievousness crossed her face and Walter had a sinking feeling, "you know I have been looking for a new apartment. I wonder if Ethan would be willing to move in together. Maybe a nice and cozy apartment with just the two-"

"Okay! Stop!" Walter had turned paler and paler the more Felicia talked. "I understand I will try to be nicer to your boyfriend."

"Promise me that you will be nice, not try." Felicia seemed to get an idea and smiled again, "in fact, why don't the three of us go out to eat on Sunday evening. I will have Ethan pick a place." Before Walter could think of a counter the waitress had already walked up.

"What can I get started for you?"

"I would like some crab puffs and spicy ramen as well as water and a root beer." Felicia quickly stated. The waitress wrote it down then looked at Walter.

"Um…" He glanced at his menu for a second, "fried tofu and vegan ramen with a glass of water."

Once the waitress walked away Walter turned his attention back to the topic at hand. "What were we talking about again?"

"This weekend's itinerary. You were going to take me out Saturday then Sunday we were going to have Ethan join us for dinner. I will leave the rest of the weekend's schedule up to you." Felicia stated.

Walter could only sigh and accept it, "okay let's move on from that. Do you know what you are going to study yet? From what I understand, you got some experience with forensic sciences while you lived with your mom?"

"Yeah, for 2 years after high school I went to live with my aunt in florida. I was able to do some basic stuff that forensic scientists do. Like all that filling and forensic work. But that stuff isn't really my… stuff. Auntie Renee was disappointed but fine with it. As for what I am going to study. I am between criminal psychology and biochemistry." Felicia explained.

"Huh? Criminal Psychology? I expected something related to chemistry but I didn't expect Psychology." Walter frowned as he thought. "Is your boyfriend going to college?"

"No. He already graduated when he was twenty. It apparently took only two years to graduate high school then another two years to graduate college with a 'Mechanics' degree." Felicia explained when she looked at her father and saw a mixed expression. "What's wrong?"

"There is no mechanics degree at ESU. There are a few different degrees close to something like that but not a degree called mechanics." Walter then pulled out his phone, "He works at Oscorp right?"

"Yeah but why- No! Don't go looking for his information-" Felicia tried to stop him.

"Too late. Besides, as he is a guard, anyone can…" Walter made a face as he looked at the resume. They were both quiet for a moment as the waitress delivered their drinks.

"Well?" Felicia asked. She was genuinely curious as to what degrees he had. She knew there wasn't a 'Mechanics' degree at ESU but she also knew he wasn't lying when he got a 'Mechanics' degree.

"The 'Mechanics' degree is a composition of four other degrees. Looks like he got a degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Aeronautical, and Aerospace Engineering. Well not just a degree but a doctorate in each. As well as a degree in programming." Walter explained then he thought of something, "let me check something…" A few minutes later, their appetizers arrived.

"Have you been working on anything interesting?" Felicia asked, tired of the silence.

"Umm… yeah a biochemical substance that can both conduct and stop electricity given a chemical trigger. So have you been looking into anything recently?" Walter countered but he was putting a lot of focus into his phone.

"I have been reading theories on biochemical electricity. I think with some liquidized modified Vibranium-Carbon mixture that I can use to combine and integrate electrical pulses and control into plants, with it I should be able to turn a rose into a supercomputer." Walter stopped what he was looking at for a moment.

"Huh? Vibranium-Carbon? At what mixture?" Walter asked.

"Not telling, what have you been looking at for the past twenty minutes?" Felicia asked.

"Oh, I was looking up more of those titles like the one your boyfriend has. It seems there are several more. Including one called 'Chemist' which you might be interested in." Walter explained as he put up his phone. "You would need to do Chemical, Biomedical, Environmental, and Biochemical Engineering."

"Cool, I will look into completing it later. Anyways, how do you think he got four doctorates in-" Felicia was interrupted when the sound of several police sirens passed for a few moments. The entire restaurant looked towards the door, hoping to see what was happening.

—---------------------------------------

About roughly 30 minutes earlier.

Ethan walked into the Stark Young Sciences Center. He looked around and saw various booths which showcased various school inventions. Each booth seemed to be connected to a workshop and lab. There were four floors, one underground and three aboveground. On each floor were four spots, one for each school.

As Ethan read through the brochure it appeared the school could keep a slot if they were able to present and demonstrate their technologies. It also stated that the building and individual spots had security measures to keep both the people and guests, who came to check out the displayed technologies, safe.

He nodded as he looked at a display, they were showing off an alternative for energy, a hyper battery. He took a few pictures and then made some notes on his phone. He did the same thing as he went around looking at various other stalls.

On the first floor there was an alternative neural network, which was basically an exoskeleton of a nervous system; that was from a Visions Academy. Next up was an adhesive metal that could meld to any material it was attached to, this one was from a Horizon Academy. Then there was an adhesive electronic magnetic pulse spray, which came from Maria Stark Academy. The final thing he found on the first floor was from Midtown High School, it looked like a rhino head but on closer inspection it was a high functioning and protective communication device.

The horn was an antenna that was super reinforced. The helmet itself was also a super reinforced polymer. While the visor has a display function similar to the one Stark uses in his suits as well as a communication system. Seems it was intended to be a helpful protective helmet for soldiers.

As he was reading over the information a group of high schoolers walked up. The three of them were talking about the helmet.

"I am telling you Peter, if Midtown sells this technology then we will have enough money to sponsor more projects." A kid with cleanly combed brown hair told a kid with a shaggy head of brown hair, Peter he assumes.

"Give it up Harry," The young red headed girl chuckled as she spoke, "once Peter decides something he won't give it up easily."

"Fine," Harry said as he looked over to see Ethan looking at the helmet. He walked up to him, "the Protection Observation and Communication Unit. It took us months of work to make it, and all for this event where we just show it off. Isn't that just a waste, wouldn't it be better if we could make some money out of it?"

Ethan saw the young man's two friends roll their eyes, "kid I am not one to get involved in a dispute between friends who I have no affiliation with." The kid blushed at Ethan's response. "But I would be remiss if I didn't point out the flaw in your discussion. The purpose of this center isn't for selling ideas but is to help inspire more ideas. Not just among other schools but among the public too. It also teaches you to invest in your own creations and not just to sell to others. It also allows you kids to understand and instill what your competition is really capable of, not to mention what can result from working together."

The trio stared at Ethan in awe as he spoke to them. He then noticed he attracted the attention of a few other bystanders during his speech. Before he could say anything he heard a slow clapping behind him.

He thought for a moment he would be in trouble but instead he just smiled as he saw the red haired, freckled woman approaching him. "Ethan, here I was looking around with the investors for the event and I found someone who can explain all the technical stuff for me and the investors, since Tony appears to have something better to do. But I must thank you for reminding the students that this isn't an exposee or investor event but rather an investment for their future." She then smiled at the people that are around, "unfortunately the only part of the business world I won't be able to replicate for these kids is the underhanded way most businessmen do their work."

Ethan saw some of the 'investors' behind her flinch when she said that. "How may I be of help Ms. Potts." Ethan had a slight smile on his face.

Pepper smiled at Ethan, "just follow me and explain stuff when the kids say complex things. Then since we are here, let's start with Midtown." She then walked towards the unit's backdoor when they entered they were joined by the three kids that Ethan scolded and a few others that were working in the lab joined them. "Kids, treat us like real investors and tell us about your invention and its purpose."

They stood for a second before the one called Harry stepped forward. "This," he showed a diagram of the invention, "is a Protection, Observation, and Communication Unit. Its purpose is to help assist soldiers in the line-of-duty. It has a more durable helmet that can stop a normal sniper round. For the lenses it is able to identify bodies and anomalies as well as a scanning function to show any weapons. It also has multiple vision modes, such as night vision, infrared, and ultraviolet. There are also-"

"Hold up," one of the investors raised their hands, "what do you mean by ultraviolet? I have never heard of a vision like that."

"Have you heard of a blacklight?" Ethan was the one to speak this time. The investor nodded, "it's like that but for a vision mode like night vision goggles." Ethan then turned to the kids, "though I am surprised you were able to grasp the programming concept around it for a computer system."

"Umm.. There are also the communication functions, the horn on the head acts as an antenna which allows it to act as a radio and a satellite phone in one go. In addition it also has bluetooth so you can connect your phone to it." Harry finished off his explanation.

Pepper turned to the investors, "Any questions?" None of the investors raised their hands. As Pepper was turning back around she saw Ethan had his hand raised, "yes Ethan?"

"Is your helmet tested to continue its functions after battlefield conditions?" Ethan asked.

Harry seemed genuinely surprised by the question. He turned towards his friend Peter who responded, "not to a condition where it could be considered battle field tested. After all, we would need explosives and other heavy duty weapons to do that."

Ethan turned to Pepper and gave a thumbs up, "okay I believe that we are done. Remember in the future to have a more in depth explanation ready in case someone asks it. Only reason these guys didn't ask for one is because they don't understand science concepts as well. So your summary worked this time. Anyways let us move on to the next station." Pepper led the way out and into the next station.

This time the group was far more organized than the last one when they walked in. Standing in front of them was a blonde girl and a black haired hispanic girl. "So my name is Gwen Stacy and this is Anya Corazon. We were the inventors of this adhesive armor plating. It has multiple properties that make it special, whether it is the adhesive substance that is resistant to the forceful removal or the experimental metal combination of adamantium and steel in a honeycomb structure. If you would like I can give a more in depth analysis of the metal and adhesive substance."

This time one of the investors raised their hand, "what use does your invention have in the real world?"

"Well it's…" Ethan stopped paying attention as he watched a young kid sitting in front of a computer taking notes on a combination of chemicals.

He walked over and looked at the chemical formula, "kid what are you making?" Ethan quietly asked the kid.

The kid kept working while he made notes and responded, "a chemical formula that should enhance the user's endurance."

Ethan nodded in response and went back to the group. "Okay I believe we are done here we can move on to-" Pepper was interrupted by a loud explosion.

*Boom*

The entire structure shook which was followed by the lights turning red and everything being closed and sealed behind metal shutters.