The Avengers (both movie and comic book characters) do not belong to me. I'm just a fan.

I know, unacceptable that I haven't updated this story in a long time. To be honest, I lost the drive for this story. However, I've been getting my mojo back and I have fresh new ideas for Rilla, Bruce and the rest of our Avenger buddies.

Sorry for the shortness but hey, an update is still an update! Plus, we get more Tony and Rilla interaction.

Last Century's Letters

Rilla chewed on the cap of her ballpoint pen, watching every single powerpoint slide flash before until she brought her pen tip to the page and wrote down the information. The dim lighting of the lecture room lulled Rilla into a near-sleep, having to jerk back her head as she let out a small, inaudible yawn as she scribbled down the notes in the margins of her notebook. She felt embarrassed, hoping her professor didn't catch her in a micro nap.

When Rilla wasn't Tony Stark's personal monkey, she was at Duke Community College in good ol' New York City, taking her general education classes and trying to narrow down what exactly she wanted to do with her life aside from being Girl Doomsday. She had been compensated nicely for her contribution in taking down the Chitauri invasion and had even been offered a permanent job working in S.H.I.E.L.D. but Rilla turned it down.

She wanted an education, something she had been robbed of while imprisoned at NSURF. It was her only chance of normalcy, a way for Rilla to concentrate on something other than levitation and space rocks.

"Can anyone tell me how modern science owes to Copernicus' research?" Professor Calthorn asked the half-asleep class, aware that the lighting of the classroom was the reason for the lack of raised hands. He took it upon himself to call out someone's name instead and picked on poor Rilla. "Miss Cain, care to tell us?"

The blonde hesitated to answer but swallowed her anxiety and answered, "The Scientific Revolution?"

Calthorn seemed pleased with her answer as he nodded, "Yes, Miss Cain. With the publication of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, or On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, Copernicus helped spark the Scientific Revolution that shortly followed the end of the Renaissance..."

A small swell of pride grew in Rilla. This History of Science class was certainly fascinating. She wondered if Tony or Bruce were fluent in this subject as she shook her head. Of course they would be. They're both brilliant and smart. I have to work my ass off to just sound intelligent, her smile faded into a glum look as Calthorn continued onto the next slide, a small picture of Copernicus' portrait and bulleted points about his research and life.

The bell rang and students began to pack up their belongings. Rilla stuffed her notebook into her messenger bag, adjusting her beret as she slung the strap over her shoulder. Before she left the door, she heard Calthorn call her name.

"Yes, Professor?" she asked, wondering why he wanted her to stay back. "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh no, no," Calthorn held his hands up. "I just wanted to quickly talk to you about your work in my class."

Rilla gulped. Had she done that poorly? The mutant pressed her brows together, preparing herself for Calthorn's criticisms that he was so fond of dishing out. However, the look on the professor's face suggested otherwise.

"Miss Cain, have you considered a major in history? Your essay on Andreas Vesalius was quite impressive. I can tell you didn't just write it at the very last minute unlike so many students," he praised her.

She blinked, not expecting a gold star from one of the most strict professors. "Uh, to be honest, I'm not really sure what I want to do," she admitted. "I just like history..."

Calthorn considered her input as he handed back Rilla's essay paper. "Well, you should consider going into the field. I'd be more than happy to recommend you to the history professor at NYU," and he bowed his head and left the classroom, leaving a very much confused but inspired young woman in the empty hall.

I hadn't thought about history. Rilla mulled over the potential of majoring in such an extensive subject as she peered down at her graded essay. A-. A wide grin stretched her face, so relieved that staying up past 3am the last few days paid off.

"History, huh?" she muttered as she left the classroom with a spring in her step.

The next day, Rilla was humming a nameless tune as she assorted the mail for Tony Stark. She actually hadn't seen her boss anywhere and she considered using her company cell phone to call Pepper but she decided against it, needing to finish her grunt work before Mr. Iron Man jetted in.

There was still the issue of Foulkes in the same building as her and Rilla's good mood plummeted. The very woman who invented the visor that had been attached to her head 24-7...who treated her like a guinea pig, a test subject instead of a scared young woman with feelings. Foulkes was one step closer to Laroche and frankly she wasn't sure who was worse: a emotionless workaholic or a sadistic facility director. Bit of a toss up there.

If Foulkes is here, she shuddered at the upcoming thought. Maybe Laroche knows where I am. And if he knows where I am-

"Rilla, Rilla, Rils," Tony chanted in a silly sing-song voice as the blonde woman turned on her heel to see her overconfident boss standing in the middle of the room. Rilla scooted letters aside as she wore a smile on her face. "Still sorting out last century's letters?"

She shrugged. "Not everyone uses email. I didn't."

Tony scoffed. "That's because you lived like a Neanderthal. My Stark tablets are selling through the roof and soon email will be obsolete when I launch my inter-connectable messaging system by next summer!"

Rilla rolled her eyes with a slight tilt of a smile. "I'm pretty sure that's not a word, Tony."

He arched his brows at her in a playful but still serious manner. "It's Mister Stark at work, young lady."

With the subject of dying arts and obsolete things, Rilla automatically thought of Steve. She wondered how her straight-laced hero friend was doing and how well he was adjusting to the twenty-first century. Her silence must have bothered Tony as he snapped her out of it.

"Chop chop, I've got some more things for you to do," he pressed his palms together. "By the way, created any black holes lately?"

Rilla glared at him. He knew it was a sore subject for her to talk about after the near-disastrous incident months ago. She glowered at him, her neck turning hot as she adjusting the collar of her blouse as way to fidget with her hands. "No."

"Just asking, Rils," and he adopted the new nickname for her. Anything was better than Dooms. As the CEO and his little armageddon-wielding assistant went down the elevator, Tony began bothering her about her classes at school.

"I'm doing pretty well," Rilla answered blandly. Tony had a way of knocking down things and she was worried that if she brought up her professor's suggestion of majoring in history, he would laugh.

"No, I just find it hilarious that you'd rather be in school than say, kicking ass on the street. Isn't it the other way in comic books?" he smirked at her.

Rilla let out a small laugh, feeling comfortable around Tony again and momentarily forgetting about Foulkes. "I'm not really normal though, now am I?"

"Pft, you're not."

As the elevator floor dinged, the two stepped into a darkly lit observatory with amazing chrome machines and a huge blue wall covered in diagrams of constellations. Rilla was in awe of all the technological advancements; stuff that blew NSURF out of the water. Then again, Stark Industries was out of this world.

Tony took her reaction as a testament to his amazing-ness. "Like it huh?" he asked the gravitokinetic woman. "After our little run in with those nasty buggers, I've taken a personal interest in mapping out space. That's where I," and he bopped her on the nose, "need you."

Rilla immediately frowned. "Me?" She twitched her nose, annoyed that Tony could act immature but she couldn't.

He nodded. "I've been thinking that with your abilities to bring down space chunks, I could inspect meteorites and see if perhaps, there is

She took a few steps back as the color drained from her face. "That's not a good idea. In fact, that is a horrible, horrible idea! I can't just pluck any specific asteroid from space!" she raised her voice at him. "I still don't know how to control things and I've gotten rusty the past few months."

It was true. With the exception of manipulating gravity for the little things, Rilla had dared not exert herself much further. The black hole incident was stained in her mind and she was afraid something similar would happen again with a worse outcome.

Tony looked from side to side as he approached her again and his facial expression changed into an emotion Rilla didn't expect. Sure, the guy had a lithium battery heart of gold but he had layers of douchebag and narcissism as well; facets of his personality Rilla had learned to get used to.

"I won't pressure you again," and quickly morphed back into his regular self as Tony dragged Rilla along for an impromptu tour of his new astronomy department of Stark Industries.

Even with Tony constantly talking, Rilla kept thinking about her powers and felt a twinge of guilt when she turned down Tony's offer. A little part of her wanted to help, wanted to explore what exactly was out there. But she restrained herself as she half-listened to Tony explain every detail of his microscope thingy-mabobber.

Sorry for the shortness of this chapter but I'm planning for a lot of cool new events such as Steve making an appearance, Foulkes' story, Rilla's mom and of course, our lovely Bruce. So hold tight!