No Strings Attached

7

"Please don't cry!" He waved his hands in the air, trying to think of something to say. In all of his flailing, he slammed the back of his head into the wall. "shit." He cursed.

Angela looked up at him, a small smile on her face. "Careful. Hollow bones make you bounce."

"Was that a bird joke?" He stammered.

"Depends." She smirked, tears long forgotten. "Hey, is it true that you can't see glass?"

Clint groaned. "Just because my name is Hawkeye, doesn't mean I'm an actual bird!"

"Suuure." She giggled.

Tony emerged from the medbay, a few gray hairs added to his face. Banner said that the kid was gonna be okay and just needed to sleep. The doctor also recommended that Tony go and catch up on some much needed beauty rest. He expected everyone to have gone home by then, so imagine his surprise when he saw Angela sitting on the ground against the wall with Clint of all people, both laughing up a storm.

"Glad to see you find this funny." Tony crossed his arms and glared at Angela.

The redhead clamored to her feet and brushed off her pants, returning the glare. "We were only talking, calm down Stark." Clint said.

"Calm down? The kid was shot and I find out his supposed friend is out here with you cracking jokes when Peter could have died!"

"We both know he's fine. I thought someone should let Angie know incase you forgot she was here." Clint defended.

"He was shot, Barton. Shot." Tony reiterated.

"You think I don't know that?" Clint stood up and faced the billionaire. "I care about the kid just as much as you."

"If you really cared about the kid you wouldn't be fraternizing with the enemy." Tony stated.

"Enemy?" Angela repeated. "Excuse you, we're on the same side!"

"Are we?" He spun towards the teen. "Because it was one of your grandfathers men that shot Peter."

"What?" Angela mumbled in disbelief.

"He must have figured out that Peter worked for me, so he sent you to live with him, gain his trust." Tony explained.

"No! He sent me to live with May and Peter because he had no other choice!" She shouted back.

"Once Peter trusted you enough, you come to the tower and take whatever it was he wanted. Shooting Spider-Man was a distraction to get me out of the lab and he would have you on the inside to take whatever you wanted."

"That's not true!"

"Stark, stop it." Clint said sternly.

"Yes it is!" Tony grew red faced.

"No it's not! My grandpa may be old school, and he may be stern and hard on me sometimes, but he still loves me! He would never do the things you've said and he would never-"

"He's done it before." Tony cut her off. "A few years back, he sent his own son. He scored an internship and tried to steal plans for the arch reactor. I caught him and him thrown in prison."

Angela choked on air. She never knew that he had a son...

"He lied about a lot of things. For example, he's married, has three children, four grandchildren, has a whole other house in the next city over where his family lives and the reason why he has so much money is because he was a high end smuggler back in the 80's and 90's." Tony listed off. "He's been trying to get his grubby hands on Stark Tech since it was first established. The reason why he kept you inside for all those years? Was because he didn't want any one knowing you existed."

Angela couldn't believe it. Neuman had told her that he had no children. That she was all he had. That she wasn't allowed to leave the house because it was dangerous. She thought he cared for her and what hurt most was that she cared for him.

"B-but he promised he w-would come back for-"

"For you?" Tony cut her off. "He lied."

Just like that, Angela's heart shattered into a million little pieces. Her mind went completely blank with only one word echoing, "Why?"

Why did she fall for it again? Why is this happening to her? How could she be so foolish?

Angela felt her grip on reality slipping for the first time in years. It was dangerous and she knew that, but she couldn't help it. All she wanted was for the world to disappear.

Having no other choice, Angela sprinted away from the two men and out of the tower. She had to find somewhere desolate, somewhere she couldn't hurt anyone.

Only one place came to mind.

Angela raced through the streets, not stopping for anything. People, traffic, nothing. She couldn't risk slowing down out of fear of someone suffering the cost. She ran and ran until the bridge came into view. Instead of taking it, she veered left and ran to the coast where the statue of liberty stood.

Since it was in the middle of the night, there were no people out touring the area. Her best bet was Liberty Island. The problem was, how was she going to get there without a ferry?

Luckily for her, she still had some control left. Using what ounce of will power she had, Angela skated across the top of the water, her feet sinking in every once in a while. Once on the island, she fell to her knees and cried, letting it all out.