Sinbound: Armageddon

Part 17

I wake up before Loki does. I'm eager to go downstairs and tell Tony how it went with my mom yesterday, and thank him and Fury for finding her for me. I kiss him gently, then look at the clock on my nightstand. We've been napping for about two hours, Tony should still be around. I bet he's in his workshop.

I slide out from under his arm, then tiptoe downstairs. I wander around for a while until I find him sitting on a couch with his computer in his lap. He sees me and smiles as soon as he does. "Hey, buttercup! Come sit, tell me about your mom."

I walk over and sit, tucking me feet under my seat. I rest my elbow on the back of the couch, propping my head up with my hand. I look at him a moment, studying his face. "It went... well." I start.

"Did she know who you were? I don't know how they treat her in there, but I hope they at least don't brain wash her." He says, closing his computer and setting it on the coffee table in front of him.

"She remembers everything. She knew who... what I was the whole time." I say, my voice shaking. Why am I so nervous all of a sudden?

"That's good, kiddo. What did you two talk about?"

I take in a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. "You knew her, didn't you?"

His face falls slightly. He looks down, then back up at me.

"Tony..." I say, pressuring him into telling me.

"I knew her. I knew your dad, too."

"So did you know about me?" I ask, getting a little upset about the secrecy.

"Not until a few months after you were born. Not until David broke her heart and made her leave." He says seriously.

"Why did you never tell me?" I say, getting angry now.

"Kid, I knew them when we were all in high school together. I didn't tell you because David told me to stay away, and I didn't want him to freak out on you and move you further away from your mother." He says, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. I shrug it off and get up off the couch, starting to pace in front of him.

"So when you met me that night in the ally, when I was threatening Benny, did you know who I was?"

He clears his throat. "I had a hunch."

"And when you found out, did you contact anyone? My mom? My dad?"

"Kiddo, let me explain something to you."

"You fucking better!" I shout at him as he gets up to stop my pacing, looking into my eyes.

"When your parents got married, they did it early. They were only in their early 20's because of you. Ramona thought it would be better for you to have a father, even if it was David."

"What do you mean 'even if it was David'?" I say in a low voice, feeling a knot in my throat.

"About ten years ago I got a letter from a woman named Rory Echlin. She told me about her daughter. About... my daughter."

"Oh my god..." I say, my voice cracking and tears running down my face. I back away, shaking my head slowly. "That's... that's impossible!" I can't handle this. I run up the stairs, Tony calling after me. I ignore him, pushing past Pepper in the hallway as I rush to the first open balcony I see. I slam open the doors and catch myself on the railing. I can't fucking breathe.

Loki rushes out to me, hearing the commotion I've been causing. He holds me by my shoulders, asking what's wrong.

"I can't..." I say sobbing.

"Talk to me." He says softly, wiping the tears off my cheeks.

"I can't... I just..." I can't even speak. I have literally been lied to about everything in my life. Who I am, where I came from, what some freaky deaky evil lineage I have... everything has been a lie and no one bothered to tell me, even at my worst moments. They were are just going to keep lying to me, keep me in the dark.

Loki holds me to his chest, rocking me back and forth while I cry. My stomach wrenches up painfully as I try to gasp for air. He's shushing me soothingly, rubbing his hands up and down my back. Tony arrives at the open balcony doors.

"Kid, I'm so sorry." He tries to talk to me, but Loki slightly turns me away from him.

"What did you say to her? Look at her!" He says protectively.

"I'm..." He begins, then breaks his sentence with a sigh of defeat.

"Responsible?" Loki finishes, blaming him for my current mental state.

"Yeah, I am. Ayça, I'll tell you everything. Just come back inside, ok buttercup?"

"Buttercup..." I say under my breath. "Is that what my mother told you she called me? Is that why you call me that now?" I say, pulling away slightly from Loki's chest to look at him. "I see you completely different now." I say, fully pulling away from Loki and walking towards Tony. "I thought of you as someone I could trust, that would protect me. That would never hurt me, and you did just that."

"Because she told me in her letter not to tell you!" He says loudly, almost shouting.

"So she told you about me, then told you to forget about it? To not come looking? Didn't you want to?" I gasp at the end of my sentence, the painful knot in my throat straining my words.

"Of course I did, kiddo! I would have done anything to have you in my life. To raise you, but David-" He cuts himself off.

"What about David? You're Tony fucking Stark, if you find out you have a daughter but some shmuck has custody, you fucking take him to court and buy out his entire life! You don't say 'oh well' then walk away!" I scream out at him.

"He threatened to have Ramona killed if I came within a state of you, kid! You think I'm gonna cross that line?" He shouts. I stand there speechless.

"I'm sorry..." I say suddenly, wanting to take everything I had just said back.

"When you moved out to live with Benny we lost track of you." He says in his normal voice again.

"I'm so sorry..." I say again, hugging him. He holds me tight in his embrace, more so than he has in the past.

"Who else knows?" Loki asks from behind us.

"Fury." Tony says, looking past me.

"What about Beth?" I ask. Please let her by my real sister...

"Half sister. David and Ramona, but Roe was already out of his life by that time. She was in the mental institute, they wouldn't let her keep the kid. She's your sister, though, kiddo. Don't worry." I lean my head hard against his chest, feeling another wave of sobbing coming. Tony holds me close, letting me have my moment.

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Loki comes into my room later that night to find me packing a small bag. "Going somewhere, darling?" He asks, helping me roll my clothes up to make more space in the bag.

"I'd going to see David." I say like it's a mission.

"Alone?"

"Yes. I need this, Loki."

"I know. I will be right there if you need me, but I understand the space you need." He says, tilting my chin up to look at him.

"Thank you, I'm going to need you." I say, kissing him lightly.

"Does Tony know about your midnight excursion?"

"No, but don't tell him. If he asks, say I'm just taking the night in my room, no disturbances." I say, swinging the bag over my shoulder. David lives in Connecticut now, so I've got a bit of a drive ahead of me.