So, if you're into that kind of thing, you'll probably notice I don't really describe Kevin. This is partially because he's not entirely my character and because I'm bad at designing and describing things, but also logically because the description doesn't fit here. Howard has known Kevin for over 20 years, he's not going to randomly stop and consider what Kevin looks like. I attempted to fit it in, but it just sounded shoehorned and awkward. Just so you know what you're dealing with, he has black hair, blue eyes, and has a more military-formal dress rather than Howard's suit-formal. A more thorough description will come when Tony meets him.

Quick Glossary:

Kevin: Howard's partner and active Soul Reaper

Samuel: Kevin and Howard's superior/head of the English Section

In the middle of the street, Howard deftly landed, not a human in sight noticing his sudden presence there. Cars passed through him unhindered, the wind blew timelessly, and humans walked in their unending pursuit for whatever happened to be on their minds at that particular second.

Every living aspect of the world continued on.

Howard hated it.

He would never get used to the concept of not moving when large mechanical vehicles came towards him, he would never get used to walking through crowds unnoticed, he would never get used to using a sword, he would never get used to what was literally called magic, and he would never get used to losing everything he had worked up to in 74 years of life.

When he had arrived in the so-called "Soul Society" (neither Heaven nor Hell, he was told) and learned that nearly everyone (aka, everyone that wasn't him) lost memories of their personal life upon death, he had been horrified and confused.

Now, he understood perfectly.

He stared somberly at the previously-named Stark Tower, the expression being one he wore nearly constantly in the last 23 and a half years. (Counting because he had virtually nothing better to do.)

When Kevin joked that he "has literally never seen [Howard] smile," it wasn't a lie.

Gaze focused still on the tower, Howard thinks about the past two and a half years spent parading around New York City. It had taken him until early 2014 to go near either the tower or the new base, and a few months after that to actively seek out Tony. It didn't take long from there to realize that Tony was perfectly capable of seeing him…but never made any attempt to talk.

It was for the best.

Howard wasn't oblivious to the fact hatred simmered in their house. No father was doing his job unless his child both hated and loved him…but their relationship chillingly lacked the love.

Howard only wanted the best for Tony. That was undeniable. Did he always go about it the correct way? That…was debatable. 23 years was a long time to think, after all.

His musings were interrupted by the arrival of his partner. Before said partner could respond, however, Howard immediately said, "Why do you always plan our meetings in the middle of the road?"

"Can you build a sense of humor?" Kevin crossed his arms and rolled his eyes even as a smirk twitched on his face. "But no. The situation is even worse than I expected. You said there's two in the tower with energy, correct?"

"Capable of seeing us. I can't tell if they have spiritual energy or not, the strange energy coating the area is too dense to determine." It almost felt familiar actually. He's been trying to place it since he arrived, but to no avail.

Kevin blinked, redirecting his gaze from the tower to look at Howard. "What do you mean by strange energy?"

"It's not exactly high level vocabulary. It doesn't feel like a soul reaper, it doesn't feel like a hollow, and it doesn't feel like the ambient energy of Soul Society. So it's strange." Strange, and familiar…but there were no other options …

"No. No…you're absolutely correct. I didn't expect you to notice, that's all. It's subtle, but it is a strange energy that doesn't seem native to Soul Society, almost. Which neatly guides us into our next problem. At the Avengers Facility, so they seem to call it, there are four, not two, potential targets." Kevin scratched his face, and a car travelling through him slightly ruffled his hair. "The other two of which I nearly missed because they have their own powers in this world which seem to be carrying over into the spiritual world. A sort of 'too big to notice' paradox, so to say."

"Isn't that normal?" Tony has spiritual energy whether he's a human or a spirit. Just like Howard, presumably, had energy when he was alive.

"Well, yes, but no." Kevin frowned, expression twitching with thought. "If, entirely theoretically, one of us was still alive and had our soul sword, we'd still have it, but while we'd be visible to humans, the sword would not. But these two, their powers are visible while still being viable in the spiritual world."

"What does that mean?" Damn, the world managed to get even stranger than ghosts and monsters.

"Your guess is as good as mine, honestly. As far as I know every spiritual being is invisible to the human world. As far as I'm aware, the last two are just normal humans with spiritual energy. I'm trying to figure out what exactly happened to cause this, but I have no damn clue what I'm doing. You died in the last century, think you can handle the tools they use?"

"It's clear you're new to the digital world." Howard stated flatly. "The world can change a lot in 25 years, and technology especially. But I can take a look if nothing else."

"You know where the headquarters is, right?" Kevin turns to look in its general direction.

"I do." Yes, I used to own the property it's built on.

"Alright, good." Kevin nodded. "If you want to try that, I'll patrol the city."

"Wait." Howard was fairly sure he already knew the answer to the question he was going to ask, but another opinion would be nice. "As these people develop spiritual energy, they are going to show up in Soul Society with it, aren't they? What is Central 46 going to do to them?"

"Stark, you make it sound like they're going to be drug into a back alley and slaughtered. Relax, if they happen to remember their human lives, they'll just be banned from human world missions for a while. It's currently a hundred years after their death date, but Jonathan has been talking about plans of making it 150."

"Understood." Howard's expression tightened, but he quickly changed the subject to hide his guilt, "Do you ever feel like something is … wrong? That it's right outside of what you can see but you can't get a grip on it, and even if you could, you're not sure you could fix it?" He wasn't talking about his relationship with Tony and he wasn't talking about the problem with the tower and the hollows, just a vague sense of unease that was enough to put him on edge but not enough to conclusively determine something was wrong.

"Seriously, what has gotten into you?" Kevin's tone twisted in an indication that Howard's inconspicuous topic change wasn't so inconspicuous. "Calm down. I've hunted hollows in various degrees for over two hundred years. It's odd that they're not in the active section, sure, but everything is fine."

Howard didn't agree.

Sneaking into the Avengers Headquarters was easy enough. Sneaking into anything was easy enough when you were a ghost, especially when you behaved and didn't randomly destroy the area around you.

(Howard did wonder if thermographic cameras could pick him up. But if they had no reason to look, he was likely to be safe, so he should probably keep it that way.)

He had bluntly told Kevin that technology could change a lot in the time he was gone, but personally interacting with the sleek half inch objects as compared to the clunky, almost cube shaped computers he was used to was still an experience.

The technology wasn't the issue regardless. The whole point of a computer's monitor and graphical user interface was to be accessible to someone sufficiently intelligent, even if they had never seen it. The problem was the log-in information promptly requested by the device.

Howard wasn't the top dog of computers even in his time—code could never compare to being able to physically see his project as he built it—but he knew that there were ways around and through security, ways that he wasn't even going to attempt now. There would inevitably be new holes to exploit, and while he wasn't necessarily opposed to the challenge, it was for another time. The easiest thing right now would be to find a computer someone had forgotten to log off of. (He never understood why it was so hard to get people to understand the concept of logging off and/or turning off their computers. Of course, he wanted to build an honest, secure workplace, but with Hydra lurking…)

A part of him had attempted to ignore that it wasn't Shield, even if he recognized a few of the members around. It was simply the Avengers. He could only hope that the death of Shield had finally took Hydra with it.

Did it tie into why the hollows were being drawn to the city?

In Soul Society, they heard something about Captain America, Iron Man, aliens, portals to space, and Thor.

They started hearing about this in the middle of 2012, July, Howard estimated—no one was completely interested in keeping track—and then they received reports of hollows by the next February, which was followed shortly by the deployment of who were essentially the only soul reapers available, i.e. him and Kevin.

10:35 AM

8/15/2015

The corner of the display gleefully informed him of the time and date in what was his first clear confirmation of Earth's date and time in a very long time. He tweaks his wristwatch to reflect the time.

Around two and a half years.

Around two and a half years he and Kevin had been parading around this mockery of his hometown, bashing monsters and saving the clueless citizens, and he couldn't even be bothered to say hello to his son.

Oh, yes, it was against the law, it was immoral to blur the lines between life and death, Tony didn't want to see him, their relationship was unsalvageable, oh yes, they were all decent reasons.

They were excuses, the lot of them, and Howard was an intellectual who had no time for harebrained, wily, half-baked excuses!

The area around Howard appeared brighter, and he realized belatedly that his energy output rose with his frustration, shimmering around him with a white sheen. He reeled it back in with an exhausted sigh.

But he had a mission to complete. His personal issues could wait.

(What's a few days compared to years?)

The computer itself was boringly empty of information, at least to Howard's quick scan of the system. Whoever's name he was on stored entirely nothing useful to his purpose, just such personal files as schedules and a few pictures—hardly anything that could relate to the city as a whole.

Which lead him to the internet.

Howard was neither unfamiliar nor familiar with the internet: the concept was perfectly logical (and fascinatingly complicated), but his understanding of the term still brought to mind such concepts as ARPANET and Telnet, not the ideas of "Google" and "Wikipedia" and "Internet Explorer" that he's heard even in the afterlife.

Clicking on a colorful orb and being presented with an equally colorful "Google" was almost surreal, like most else he's been experiencing recently.

The fact that he could type in "New York City" and get information from everywhere in under a second was even more surreal.

Even he's managed to hear the phrase "Wikipedia is unreliable," but it seemed as good a place to start as any for basic information. He skimmed the beginning of the article, quickly determining that the page about the History of New York City might be a better option, and idly realized that he could get trapped on a website like this for a very long time.

But he found the recent history, and he read about the Battle of New York. He could tell that some of the information was inaccurate, likely intentionally censored, but the general idea that aliens invaded through a gigantic space portal thanks to the involvement of an alien named Loki and were halted by the Avengers remained clear. But other information was clearly missing, such as the origin of the portal, the status of Loki, and how exactly the invasion was achieved. He suspected this was the information he would need.

"You feel it too."

Howard was on the other side of the room nearly instantly, facing the person he completely failed to notice approaching him. He had a frown on his face and a hand on his soul sword's hilt, but as of yet made no move to attack.

"You're fast," the woman with brown hair, predominately red outfit, and heavy accent said, verging on a sad, regretful tone, "reminds me of someone else I knew."

A strange energy clings to her, decidedly not soul reaper, but obviously not human, both by the inherent feel of it and how she's clearly speaking to him. Howard remained stoic. The woman and her energy were both highly intriguing, but a lot rested on Howard following the rules, which happened to say he wasn't supposed to interact with the living.

"That roaring instinct, deep inside, that creeps into everything you do—that terrible feeling that something is wrong and you—you are so … tiny, too insignificant to even understand what it is, let alone be able to fix it." The woman flexed her hands, an ominous red glow appearing and swirling, almost alive, around her.

Howard didn't like being told how he felt, especially with how correct she actually was. He felt stiff, the hairs on his neck tight, nearly overwhelmed with the feeling that, as she said, something was wrong , the discussion bringing it to life with a roaring vengeance. He still had no plans to say anything to her, and yet, he felt rooted to the spot, compelled to hear the forecast, the situation too terrible to think of looking away from.

"You're being quiet, Stark." She seemed grimly amused, a smile playing on her face while fear swam in her eyes. Howard didn't question how she knew who he was. "Is something wrong?" The double entendre was both innocent and horrible, but enough to make him return his own blank sneer.

"My superior has said that everything is clear and normal," the monotone a far cry from his usual charged statements. Because, at that point, simply standing there was likely enough of an interaction to get him in trouble.

"Ah, the other one. I would not think of you as a man who passively does everything he's told." She was goading him, that much was obvious, but Howard was not in the mood for playing or forming a scalding response.

"Sometimes it needs to be done." His neutrality was carefully maintained, yet blown apart when a thing that looked like a walking "Google" logo phased through the wall. Again, very clearly not human, but Howard couldn't determine if he was staring at a living creature or a spirit. Yes, staring was the right word, but the creature hardly seemed bothered by it.

"I see you managed to confront one of them," Google-logo said, meeting Howard's dumbfounded stare with a critical yet amused one.

"Yes, it was not difficult to manipulate him into not acknowledging my presence," the woman affirmed.

Howard's attention returned to her, with a frown, as he considered the implications of that particular comment. "How? Who are you?"

"You have your tricks, I have mine." The girl grinned again, the glow fading from her hand. "You may call me Wanda. This is Vision."

The creature—man—took a more formal expression, before addressing him. "I apologize for disturbing you, … Howard?" –Howard nodded— "but we had a few questions, and you seem to be the one most capable of answering them."

Wanda's previous comment was close to the mark, in that Howard really wasn't fond of not making the calls, but in reality it was nothing new. There was always someone else to consider, different opinions to weigh, responses to acknowledge. Howard may have had a lot more room to push while he was alive, but he still had boundaries, and to push your boundaries you have to know where they are to begin with. "Of course I am," He said dryly, "but it doesn't change the fact it's prohibited by the government."

Wanda and Vision glanced at each other, and Howard's expression fell as he was unable to determine the meaning behind the expression. The sudden lapse in conversation also allowed him to appreciate the strength of the duo before him.

The woman was of decent strength, though the spiritual energy was disorderly and Howard was fairly certain that if it came to a battle, he could handle her.

The man, on the other hand, seemed to be shimmering with strength—the energy he was releasing coiled and dangerous, seemingly weak but strong, like a river that appears to be shallow yet capable of swallowing those who wade in. It seemed to pull him in, energy akin to the power surrounding Avengers Tower, yet vastly different, a strength unparalleled in destructive capability, capable of ripping apart the boundaries of human understanding, far exceeding Howard's own, pitiful, infinitesimal—

Howard snapped his attention from Vision, staggering a half step back with a strangled sort of cough. He had heard stories of Soul Reapers so powerful that they can incapitate their inferiors with nary a look, and had heard rumors that Samuel was capable of such a feat, but it was the first time he had experienced it himself.

He stared at the floor for a few moments to stabilize, before returning his gaze to the two, making it a note to be more vigilant around Vision.

"We encountered a … creature … earlier today," Wanda started, once again, and the words bounced around Howard's head a few times before becoming clear.

He wondered if it showed, because she waiting until he nodded before continuing.

"It appeared from nowhere—a few plumes of smoke before it, a small black creature, materialized and charged towards us." Wanda tilted her head, clearly recalling the situation. Vision nodded along, though he remained as impassive as always.

Howard's expression darkened, as the description hardly matched what he expected. Hollows were known for their pristine white masks and he wouldn't entirely classify the ones he'd encountered as small. "How small?"

Wanda glanced at Vision, who replied, "Approximately a foot, though we did not exactly take the time to analyze it." He almost seemed amused by his own words. "We both retaliated immediately, she used her powers to hold it still, and I vaporized it, for lack of a better word." He made a vague gesture to his head, where the gleam of some sort of gemstone seemed to shine in respond to his statement.

Howard narrowed his eyes at it, but did not comment.

"We experience a lot of odd things in this line of work," Wanda seemed to find a grim humor in the situation, "but any such incident,"

"Especially one occurring within our own home," Vision interrupted.

"needs be reported, so we requested the recording from security, and imagine our surprise when we appear on camera to be attacking nothing." The two of them now focused intently on Howard, as if they had uncovered some incriminating masquerade and expected him to reveal everything because of it.

"I apologize for the inconvenience. I will discuss the situation with my partner and will work to ensure that it does not occur again." It was a standard, nondescript response to any annoyance who expected more than you were able to give, and while it was possible to say the cookie-cutter comment sincerely, Howard's dry, clipped tones definitely were not.

"I only ask that you do what you can." Vision, on the other hand, managed to smoothly sound sincere, and Howard wondered if he was being nice or failed to interpret Howard's reply.

That was meant to be the end of the conversation—Howard even turned to walk away—but before he actually left, he spoke, yet again, "This is not a normal situation. I would suggest that you stay on guard and defend yourselves."

"We know," Wanda said confidently, and Howard glanced back one last time at her overly-innocent expression and Vision's strange visage, before disappearing from their sight.

He would wonder later why he gave in at the very end and left more information than he should have. Maybe it was because he always valued intelligence and hated being left in the dark. Maybe he trusted their immense power to handle the situation as well as he could, if not better.

Maybe it was because he feared deeply what may be coming, and knew that they would need all the help they could get.

He would also later realize he didn't actually get any useful information.

"So you got caught and talked to the spiritually aware humans?" Kevin asked, slack jawed, pitch steadily rising.

"Yes."

"And didn't get any relevant information?" The question tapered off into an undignified squeal, honestly.

"Yes."

"Do you make it a habit to do the exact opposite of what you're told, Stark?" Kevin ran his hands down his face and exhaled sharply. Howard honestly didn't understand the hullabaloo.

"Yes."

Typically, a response like that was standard between the two of them, and would have at least amused Kevin. A lack of humor was a testament to how serious the (apparent) violation was. "What did you tell them?" He mostly calmed down, at least.

"Nothing. I listened to their concerns and suggested they be on guard. If they managed to sneak up on me and take out a hollow on their own, maybe we're not handling this correctly."

"They fought a hollow?!"

So let me clear up some potential worries now. In this universe, there is a single Soul Society divided into five sections. The Japanese Section/Yamamoto's Section is the section you see in Bleach. Now, if you actively read Bleach fanfiction, I'm sure you've seen one that's tried this idea. I'm not going to say they can't be done well, but they often suffer the problem that they have a TON of characters that it's impossible to casually keep track of, no matter how well written. I don't want to spoil too much plot, but I will say that the English Section (where Howard and Kevin are from) has THREE active Soul Reapers. Yes-Three. There's an actual reason behind this that will be explained later, but I wanted to put some worries to rest now. This is why it's such a big deal that Hollows are attracted to New York City and why Howard is deployed despite being relatively young. One other section will be mentioned as a plot point, and the other two may be casually mentioned, but that's about it. (This is part of the 'expanded bleach universe' in the tags, by the way! I hope you like my take on it.)

In other news, I'm aware that Kevin isn't being very 'minor' right now, but I wanted to expand more on Howard's motivations and his side of the relationship, and certain conversations just make more sense between two spirits. As the Avengers get a better handle of what's going on, he'll get pushed more to the side. He's mostly here as a mediator between Tony and Howard. If you read between the lines, you can also see a bit of what hurt Tony and Howard's relationship (hint: what kind of things is Howard saying that sound fairly normal if a bit like an asshole to a friend but could seriously hurt a kid's self esteem?)

If any OC (Kevin or otherwise) ever becomes too much of a nuisance, drop me a line and I'll do what I can to drop them from the focus.

Finally, Howard is a genius. I think that much is fair to say, and I don't want to sell him short, so if he seems a tad clueless in this chapter, I want to take a moment to say he's a genius in other ways than already expressed by the modern, living geniuses. He can do a lot of things, but he's not going to magically bridge 20 years of advancement.

He also got blindsided by Wanda, but I think that's understandable without any more explanation.