Dependence

Chapter 9

"Well... One thing a time. We need to talk."

~~~

"So we're good?" Tony asked after an hour and a half of discussing emotions and other tiring topics. Eventually Peter and Peyton seemed satisfied and willing to deal with the whole 'Tony Stark is our father' mess.

"I guess so... Next order of business, SHIELD... I don't know if I trust them after the whole Hydra crap the first time..." she sighed.

"Well, nothing has even happened yet. You haven't done anything. Maybe we can just wait." Peter suggested. She sighed and nodded, thinking as she looked around. An image on the TV caught her eye and she grabbed the remote, unmuting it.

"-have been seen coming in and out of Stark tower for months as well have been seen directly with the billionaire more than once. We haven't been able to identify the two teenagers as of yet, and the question still remains: who are they?" in the left corner there was an image of Peyton and Peter walking out of Stark tower after the first real internship meeting, before May died, the image was blurry, but their faces were still identifiable.

Peyton was standing as she stared at the screen, shaking. Her head began to pound in her skull, and her chest tightened. She squeezed her eyes shut, wondering if this was some kind of anxiety attack amped up- she had never felt this bad before. She felt what was presumably Peter's hand on her shoulder. Suddenly she heads two voices, Tony and Peter's, rambling and talking quickly.

"Crap that was fast. I'm going to have to hold a press conference. It's okay, Pepper and the PR department will be able to take care of it but what about the twins. There's already a lot going on I wonder if they'll be able to handle it. Shit, by the way Peyton reacted, probably not well. Should I do something? Oh, no Peter's got it. I ho-"

"Well, at least now everyone will believe me about the Stark internship. Still, this probably isn't the best turn of events, especially with everything else going on. Peyton looks like she's going to throw up, is she about to have an anxiety attack? It's never looked like this before. It's okay, I just need to help her calm down like normal and then Mr. Stark will fix everything, he always does. Maybe he'll-"

"Would you two shut up?!" she screeched, her eyes popping open as she spun around. The two males looked at her in surprise and the each other.

"Peyton," Peter said slowly "neither of us said anything." he said. She shook her head in confusion, squinting her eyebrows.

Is she okay?

Maybe she was talking about the TV...

She heard her brother and then her father's voice, but their mouths never even opened. In the back of her mind their minds continued to race, she could hear it all. She dropped to her knees putting her head in between her hands.

"Oh my God, I can hear your thoughts, you're so loud," she whimpered. After a second Peter's voice stopped and in its place was music. No special song, probably just the last thing he listened too, but she knew he was doing it on purpose, so she focused on him. Then she began to play a song in her own mind, drowning out the other two. After a second, she collapsed. Tony caught her and laid her down on the couch.

"Is she okay?!" Peter asked, dropping to his knees next to the couch. Tony nodded.

"She should be fine. Probably just scared and over stimulated." he replied.

"I think we've figured out her powers," Peter said. Tony nodded warily, he did not seem very excited to know she could hear what he was thinking.

~~~

Quick trick- headphones. If she plugged in her headphones and focused on the music, she couldn't hear what everyone was thinking, which was good because the moment she stepped out of the tower to get in Tony's car and head to SHIELD, her head began to throb from noise. Music- the thing that always saved her.

She didn't bother to stop the music when they arrived at the secret base Daisy told them about. They had to jump through hoops to get there and get in with all of the security, but that was expected. A younger agent led them to an office in the back, the door opened and the young Asian pulled Peyton into a tight hug.

"How are you doing?" Daisy asked. Peyton pulled out a headphone.

"What was that?" she asked.

"How are you doing?" she repeated with an amused smile.

"Fine, I just have a headache." she replied.

"I can imagine. Come on in, you guys," she let the three Stark's enter and before anyone could say anything, Tony's thoughts burst through the fragile wall she had been trying to hold up in her brain.

What the hell?!? Coulson?! He was dead. I went to his funeral! I funded his funeral!

"Agent?" he asked. Peyton rubbed at her head and looked up to see a kind looking man smiling sadly at her father.

"Tony, keep it down, please. You're thoughts are noisy." she muttered.

"Oh, sorry, kiddo," he said.

"Daisy why don't you take her to the room, I'll talk to Stark." the unidentified man said. Peyton watched her friend nod.

"Wait, what room?" she asked.

"One that will dampen your powers, you won't be able to hear everyone's thoughts," Daisy said. Peyton clearly relaxed at this and nodded.

"I'm in, this lot won't stop thinking." she said, and it was true. Tony was raging about the man supposedly back from the dead, Peter was worrying and stressing about Peyton, and Coulson was thinking about seeing Tony again and how he can't believe Tony has children.

"No, Peter, I'll be fine, stay here. I need a nap and I won't be able to sleep with your rambling." she said before Peter could even speak. He raised his eyebrows but nodded before hugging her.

"Okay, I love you."

"Love you too."

Tony watched as his daughter exited the room with the young woman before turning back to Coulson.

"I thought you were dead." he said

"I was. Fury and a team of scientists used alien technology to bring me back." he said. Tony wanted to fume. He had grieved over Coulson. No one thought to tell him his friend had been alive that whole time? However, he didn't really have much room to talk as he had always pretended he didn't care about the man. Still, he was hurt no one said anything.

"Huh. You owe me funeral costs." he said. Coulson only smirked.

"As much as I'd love to continue discussing this, we should probably talk about your daughter." he said.

"Yeah... This is Peter by the way." he said.

"Agent Coulson," the agent held his hand out.

"Peter Parker." Peter replied, shaking his hand awkwardly before they all sat down.

"So, I gotta say, I'm surprised, it's been a while since someone took one of those pills." he said.

"Yeah, well when a bunch of teenagers find out they have a bottle of old vitamins that might give them superpowers- they get overexcited." Tony replied. Coulson raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Not Peyton though, we actually, kind of, talked her into it." Peter looked at his lap sheepishly.

"I figured, by the way, where is the new director? Shouldn't he be here?" Tony asked.

"Mace is only the face of SHIELD. I'm the real director, I work more in the shadows." Coulson replied.

"Okay, so what are we going to do about my daughter?" Tony asked.

"Well, Right now she's in a room where she can't access her powers and when she's out of that room, Daisy can help her get a hold on her abilities and figure out what all she can do." Coulson said. Tony nodded.

"So you guys can help her, then?" Peter asked. Coulson nodded.

"Of course."