Lian Harper // Black Arrow

"Agent Harper." Director Fury's voice said calmly into Lian's ear as she walked up the drive toward the expansive modern-style manor perched at the edge of the cliff. "What's your twenty?"

"I'm at Stark's place." Lian said, tapping the earpiece tucked into her ear. "Picking up some gear."

"Ah." Fury said, his image appearing in her HUD as she went. "I see. Well, I'm sure you have more than equipment to discuss with Mr. Stark regardless so I won't put a rush on you. However, we're going to need you back by tomorrow morning. Word has come down from Asgard that there's some kind of war brewing and we need all hands on deck in case it spills over onto Earth."

"Understood, sir." Lian said.

"Fury, out." Fury's image vanished.

Lian climbed the few steps leading up to the door and tapped the chime. She listened to the doorbell sound inside the house and waited. Long moments passed and then the door opened.

The person who had answered the door was a woman with whom Lian had a close friendship. She was tall and beautiful. Her blood red hair was tied up in a high ponytail, her bright, electric blue eyes alight with happiness at Lian's presence. She wore what was her trademark uniform in her capacity as the caretaker of the Stark Family and their house -- suede shoes, skinny jeans, and a long-sleeved plaid button up, its sleeves rolled up to above the elbow. It was none other than...

"Regi!"

"Lian!" Regi said, pulling Lian into a bone-crushing hug. It was times like this that Lian doubted Regi's awareness of her own strength. The artificial intelligence had been in her artificial body for years, but it didn't seem to do much for her self-control when she got excited. As they pulled away from one another, Regi stood back and examined Lian with a broad smile. "Now how is it that I'm only just now seeing you with something other than S.H.I.E.L.D. issue jump-suits on? You cut a nice figure in a dress!"

"Well, I don't get many opportunities to be anything but a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent or an Avenger nowadays." Lian said, entering the house as Regi invited her in with a gesture. "It comes with the job."

"Nonsense!"

Both Lian and Regi looked around as Henry Stark dismounted the stairs down from the top floor, leaning heavily on his cane. He walked toward them as fast as he could, but he wasn't in the best condition these days.

"We all here know why you don't play the part of Lian Harper very often!" he said, wagging a finger at her. "You enjoy being Black Arrow far too much to go gallivanting around as anything but."

And with that comment, his face broke into a broad smile. He threw out a hand as she approached and hugged him, returning the hug in kind. Another old friend, though in a different way. She'd been John's for years and Henry had become something of a second father to her long ago. He'd even found his way clear to get past old differences with her real father, Roy.

"It's good to see you, Li." Henry said. "It's been far too long."

"No thanks to you!" Lian said, punching him playfully in the arm as she stepped away. "All you seem to do these days is hide your crippled ass in your laboratories! You didn't even show up at the Expo last year!"

"Yes, well... Sometimes we are unavoidably detained."

For an android, Regi didn't hide her feelings about this comment very well, but Lian could take a guess at the hidden meaning here and so, didn't pursue it. Rumor had it that Henry's physical condition was deteriorating quickly. The years his natural body spent in storage had taken a toll which was now, it seemed, making itself known. While Lian didn't usually put that much store in rumors, she also made it a point not to doubt the rumors that flew around S.H.I.E.L.D. They were almost always true... But whatever the reasons behind it all were, she wasn't there to sulk in sad news. She'd cross that bridge with John and everyone else when the time came. For now, she was on happy business. She intended to stick to it.

”So. What's this tech you wanted to show me? And why did you need my father's bow?”

”Oh, he... told you about that, did he?” Henry said. He looked a little disappointed. ”I should have known better than to trust Roy to keep it a secret. Well, come on in. You'll like this.”

Lian followed Henry inside while Regi closed the door. She moved past them a moment later mentioning something about preparing some lunch for them. Lian, meanwhile, followed Henry downstairs into the labs.

”I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but... you aren't trying to get me to use my father's bow are you?” Lian said as they reached the bottom of the stairs. ”I'd love to use it, but... it's a relic. My bow is just... superior.”

”Don't be so sure.” Henry chuckled. He tapped a code onto the glass next to the doors into the lab where a small number pad was projected in that signature Stark blue hologram. ”Even very old things can be made new with the right touch.”

He led her through the door into the lab and straight to a large table in the center. There were a number of cases on it. Front and center was a long case. Henry tapped a code in on the glossy black panel on its front and it opened of its own accord. Inside was a bow that was more than just a bit familiar to Lian... and yet...

”I had hoped to surprise you with it.” Henry explained as Lian extended a hand and picked it up. ”Your father and I are, of course, going to be giving you more than a few gifts at your wedding, but those are just for show. We know what you like, Li. And this is the real gift.”

Lian quirked an eyebrow at him and he returned the gesture with a confident grin. Then she turned her attention back to the bow. It was different. The balance had been adjusted. It seemed far more obedient than it had before. The grip had been upgraded to be more ergonomic and had an angle of that promoted natural aiming better. Where she pointed her knuckles, the bow's plane naturally pointed. With a pair of fingers in her off hand, she reached forward and drew the string...

”There's no resistance!” she said, stunned. ”No resistance, no power. This is useless.”

”It's called technology. Get onboard.” Henry chuckled. ”The arms of the bow have been replaced with a new alloy, soon to be Stark Industries patented. It offers very little resistance so long as constant pressure is applied to keep it drawn. However, let it go, and...”

Lian released the string. The bow snapped back to its resting state in an instant with more power than she'd ever seen any bow exert.

”Your compound bow has a draw weight of sixty-two pounds and a resting weight of about fourteen point six?”

”Sounds about right.” Lian nodded.

”Right.” Henry nodded slowly. ”Well, this thing has a drawing and resting weight around twelve pounds. However, we've clocked her force at one-hundred and seventy pounds. That is a considerable improvement over your compound, wouldn't you say?”

”I'd say so...” Lian said quietly, looking at the bow in amazement. She'd never heard of a single-string recurve having qualities like that before.

”We also applied plasticized vibranium alloy. That bow could take a direct hit from Thor's hammer and survive.” Henry continued, moving along the table and picking up what looked like a small ring box and returning. ”Then there's this.” he opened the box and placed it down in front of her. Inside was a ring the size and shape of a college graduation ring but with a distinctly technological look about it. ”We're calling it KWIVAR. Don't ask what it means. Point is, this thing will replace your arrow pod. Weighs less, carried more arrows. Even carries extra mags for your new sniper rifle. We'll get to that in a minute. Go ahead, give it a try.”

Lian picked up the ring and began sliding it onto her index finger.

”Ah, ah!” Henry said, wagging a finger reproachfully. ”Note the notch there on the inside. I designed this thing to fit over your engagement ring and wedding band. It'll protect both of them from harm. And all you have to do is tap the top and...” he tapped the ring and it vanished. Lian could still feel in in her grasp though. He tapped it again and it reappeared. Henry smiled.

Lian slid the ring onto her ring finger. Henry'd done his job well. It fit perfectly. Now Lian knew Regi had a hand in this. There was no way Henry would have been able to get it that right without her help. Instantly, her sunglasses activated. The HUD displayed a new arrow mode selector and an arrow count. It stood at three-hundred. Another, smaller HUD addition showed up just beneath it with a count on remaining sniper rounds. This one read seventy-five. A small window popped up a moment later with a summarized instruction tutorial. She followed the steps. She placed her drawing fingers on the bow string and drew the string back. As she did so, a standard arrow materialized.

”Wow.” she said as her sunglass lenses deactivated.

”'Wow' is right. That's one-hundred percent prototype Stark tech. No one else in the world has it.” Henry said.

”This is great!” Lian beamed, testing out the bow with a few shots at a target set up at the far end of the room. The power of the bow was a little surprising. It wasn't like her compound bow. The arrows flew laser straight and twice as fast as they normally would. Longer ranges would no doubt provide a challenge getting used to a whole new scale of arcs. But where the bow was concerned, there was no upgrade Lian couldn't come to terms with inside of a practice session or two.

”Glad you approve.” Henry smiled.

”Once I get tech to work out some sort of collapsing feature for the bow, it'll be better than the compound in every way.”

”Oh ye of little faith.” Henry joked, reaching over lazily and tapping a small button on the handle of the bow Lian hadn't noticed until then. The bowstring split at the center and zipped up to the tips of the arms before the arms themselves collapsed down to the handle.

”You do know what I like...”

”Told ya.” Henry grinned. He walked down the row of remaining cases opening each in turn, explaining their contents as he went. ”Here's your new rifle. Like the bow, it collapses. Otherwise its every bit your favorite Stark SR-17K. We're calling it the Mark Two. Next comes your new body armor and utility belt. All the old favorites with a few upgrades. The suit has rubberized vibranium plates in all the vital areas and an elasteel-kevlar byweave. It'll give you significantly improved bullet resistance and it'll even stop a knife so long as there's not too much force behind it.”

He moved to the last and smallest case.

”This is something I designed just for you.” Henry said, opening the case slowly. Inside was a fine looking combat knife. It had an unusual curvature to it, however, and had some curious reinforcement along the blade. ”I call it, the 'Combatchet'.”

”Looks like a combat knife to me.” Lian said, folding her arms. Despite her sarcastic tone, she was just itching to see what it did. Henry always gave her the best toys...

”As a person whose career is where it is because she's beautiful enough to convince people she isn't a trained killer, I would think you of all people should know...” Henry said, pulling the knife from its case and brandishing it. ”Looks can be deceiving.”

He suddenly drew the knife back and then threw it with an expertise worthy of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. As he did so, the weapon unfolded, becoming a rather vicious looking hatchet. It flew across the room and embedded in a solid steel wall.

”That's fun...” Lian said, grinning.

”It gets better.” Henry said. ”KWIVAR can recall the combatchet. Just extend your hand and think 'return'.”

Lian did as she was told. At the mere thought of the word, the hatchet ripped itself from the wall and flew at her handle first.

”I got the idea from Thor.” Henry said, his arms folded. ”That hammer of his is something. Of course, this doesn't work at unlimited range, but anything inside about sixty yards and it should work fine. Then again, if you can throw that thing more than sixty yards, you belong on a sports team somewhere, not in S.H.I.E.L.D.”

”Oh, I'm going to cause some serious chaos with this stuff.” Lian grinned mischievously.

”Just make sure Fury doesn't curse me out for giving you a few too many trinkets he didn't know existed.” Henry said, laughing. ”He's always bitching at me about how long it's taking for that thing to hit the assembly line.”

He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at what looked like a camouflage-patterned Iron Man suit. It had the look of a uniform about it, the way it was marked.

”You're going to mass produce the Iron Man suit for the military?” Lian asked, surprised.

”Limited run. S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't have an Iron Man any more in the conventional sense so they figured they could finally get away with strong arming Stark Industries into providing a corps of their agents with suits. It worked, but my every waking moment has been consumed by it and it still isn't going far. You have no idea how hard it is to hold back on features after decades of throwing everything but the kitchen sink into these things.” he headed for the doors of the lab as he spoke. When he reached them, he turned around. ”Come on, let's see what Regi's cooking. Rej. Have SMYTH box all that stuff up for Lian. Don't need her trying to carry a tower of boxes out when a duffle bag will do.”