Hiding in the Shadows

Chapter 8 - My Suit

I opened my eyes, breathing a sigh of relief when I discovered that I had only missed the mark slightly and had ended up in my bathroom. Heading back into my room, I took the mesh out of the bag and went into my lab so that (A/I) could start making my suit. I was starting to feel the effects of my extensive use of magic. The amount of energy I had to expend all at once to travel across the Atlantic left me with absolutely no energy.

I heard a knock at my bedroom door and my father calling out, "hey (Y/N), are you in there?"

Panic set in as I quickly hid the the vibranium mesh in my lab table and ran back out to my bedroom, closing the door. I pushed my bag with the other weapons from Shuri underneath my bed and pulled out the homework I had from the day, pretending that I had been working on it all along.

"Yeah, you can come in dad," I replied, trying to slow down my heartbeat as I started skimming my work and writing down the answers.

"How was your first day of school?" He asked as he walked in and sat at the edge of my bed. "You raced off to your room as soon as you got home so we didn't get to ask you about it."

"That was kinda the point," I replied with a small smile. "It was fine, I found some nice people to hang out with, but the school sucks."

"How so?" Tony questioned, cocking his head in curiosity.

"Most of my teachers think that, because I'm a woman, I am not smart enough to be in their classes," I answered, fighting to keep my eyes open. All I wanted to do was curl up and fall asleep as I lacked the energy to do anything else.

Tony frowned, "really? They underestimated you? That doesn't seem right, they're supposed to be a smart school, of course you're going to be smart. I had heard such great things about that place."

"Well is your source a male? Because if so, that would explain it. But don't worry dad, I proved my teachers wrong. Now, I am absolutely drained from my day, so can you hold off your questioning for another time so I can finish up my homework and get to bed sooner?"

"Of course, sweetie, Wanda's going to make dinner soon. We can talk a little more then, if you are up for it," he replied, kissing my forehead. "I'm so proud of you, (Y/N)."

"Thanks dad," I smiled, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze. "I've learned from the best."

Tony left my room and the minute I knew he was out of ear shot, "(A/I), can you start working on the suit? Also, I could really use a cup of coffee to recharge after my journey."

"Of course, Miss (Y/N)," (A/I) replied and I immediately heard commotion from inside the lab as (A/I) began working. About a minute later, they called out, "your coffee is brewed in the lab, Miss (Y/N)."

"Thanks, (A/I), you're the best," I spoke, pushing myself off of my bed and dragging my body into my lab to grab the mug of coffee waiting for me. Drinking it as though my life depended on it, I tried to refuel my body with the caffeine before finishing up the work I had to do and occasionally checking the progress of my suit.

"Miss (Y/N), Wanda has finished dinner if you are ready to go down. I estimate that the suit will be finished late tonight, so you may check it in the morning to see if it is satisfactory and then add any additions you need."

"Thanks, (A/I), tell them I'll be right down, I just want to finish this problem," I replied, finishing up my homework for the night.

I honestly didn't see the point of me going to school, it wasn't like I appeared to be learning anything new. I was already way ahead of most of the class, I could probably skip to senior year of college and be fine at this point. But if my father wanted me to attend public school, I had to please him. And besides, at least I met some nice people. Once I was pulled from public school, I had very little opportunities to meet other people my age and it was nice to have friends besides the Avengers.

The caffeine helped reenergize me a little, but I found myself still very lethargic as I made my way to the dining table, where most of the Avengers were gathered, taking plates of the Sokovian pasta dish that Wanda created for us. I sat in my normal spot between Wanda and Natasha, putting on a fake smile so that my exhaustion would not show through.

"Hey, (Y/N), Tony's been telling us that school really drained you today," Pepper greeted as I dished out some food onto my plate.

I shrugged, "yeah well I was expected to prove myself smarter than the teacher in every class then we had a hardcore game of dodgeball, in which I carried my team to victory, thank you very much."

"You didn't reveal that you were trained by master assassins, did you?" Steve questioned, the only one who seemed concerned that I had accidentally outed myself.

"Um," I replied, not meeting his eye. "I may have made them suspicious, but it's fine. I, uh, told them that I used to do gymnastics, which is how I knew the rolls and flips I accidentally found myself performing."

"(Y/N), you have to be more careful-" Steve began to reprimand me, but was interrupted by Sam.

"Steve, leave the kid alone, she was only doing what had to be done. You said that your team won, right?" He asked, seeming very proud of me for being the reason our team won.

"Yeah, it ended up being one against five and I beat the other team easily. Not to mention I kicked some jerks ass to win, you should've seen the look on his face when I hit him," I smirked as I began to dig into my food. "And then he tried to hit on me and I shut him down in the middle of the cafeteria."

"Wait, some guy hit on you?! Tell me who he is so I can go beat his ass for even thinking about you as girlfriend material!" My father suddenly roared from across the table.

"Hey! You don't think I'm girlfriend material? I find that quite offensive," I acted offended, causing Natasha to come to my aid.

"Yeah Tony, like it or not your daughter is incredibly sexy and is going to have a million boys chasing her. Besides, she can handle herself. You don't need to be murdering potential boyfriends. She's perfectly capable of doing that herself," Nat interjected, winking at me.

"Exactly, weren't you listening dad? I already made a fool of him during dodgeball and then destroyed him in front of everyone at lunch."

Natasha playfully punched my arm, "that's my girl."

"Nat, I don't think we should necessarily be encouraging this behavior," Steve spoke, making me laugh at him.

"Steve, this guy's a bully and I thought you didn't like bullies?"

"Oh well in that case, you better continue to give him hell," he replied with a smile on his lips.

"Language!" About half the table screamed at him in perfect unison.

"That was one fucking time!" Steve cried out in annoyance.

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(A/N): Ok I had to put language in here somewhere, sorry Steve! I hope that you all enjoyed the chapter!