I raised a hand sheepishly, yanking myself from Nat and Peter's hold. "Sup?" I said weakly.
"Ah, there she is. My daughter. My light. The apple of my eye," My dad said sarcastically from his seat.
I squinted at him. "How's it going, old man?"
The entire room erupted into yelling. Tony was griping about the 'old man' quip while the rest of the Avengers' words were jumbled, but I managed to catch a few common phrases including 'you gave the tesseract to Loki?' 'what on on earth were you thinking?' and 'You look starving. Are you getting enough to eat these days?'
"Enough!" Steve barked over the commotion. Everybody fell silent. "There's no point in living in the past. Did Loki tell you where he was going with the tesseract?" His blue eyes bore through mine sternly.
But I couldn't concentrate and what he as saying, choosing, instead, to stare at the growing whiskers on his chin and cheeks. "Nice beard, Cap. Hey, when puberty hits, that thing will really grow in," I grinned.
"I'm old enough to be your great grandad, kid," he replied, then studied me carefully. "Did he force it off you? Or threaten you at all?"
"No," I huffed. "Guys. Loki's changed. I swear it. He isn't going to.. you know, possess Clint again or whatever."
Clint grimaced from his seat on the couch. "If he does come back, it's every man for himself. I'm volunteering Bruce this time."
"Yeah, maybe he'll actually take a useful Avenger," I tilted my head. Bruce poorly covered up his laughter as a sneeze.
"Listen, Maze. We have to get Loki back here so we can negotiate something for the tesseract," Doctor Strange said. "In the wrong hands, it can power invincible weapons and is not safe within humanity."
"My brother will never return the cube now that he has it," Thor said. "He has most likely attempted taking over a planet by now." He paced nervously up and down the living room. "I must leave immediately and track him down."
"Wait, Thor," I stuck out a hand as Thor began swinging his hammer. "This is my screw-up. Isn't there any other way...?"
"Do not worry, mortal child," Thor smiled. A wave of guilt hit at full force. Despite everything, Thor never changed. "I may even seek the help of that alien girl.. what's her name? Carol something or other?"
"Danvers," I corrected.
"Right. Well, I'll find her and we'll track my snake brother together," Thor pat the top of my head affectionately, like somebody would a puppy, and swung his hammer at full force. He levitated off the ground and flew through the glass wall, disappearing into the sky.
"Does nobody know how to take a door?" Tony grumbled. "F.R.I.D.A.Y, clean this up, please."
Immediately, tiny robots, only about five inches tall, came zooming in from god knows where and scooping up the shards of glass with their pincher hands and tucking them into their small pouches.
"That's adorable," A girl laughed from the corner.
I hadn't noticed her this entire time. She was completely unfamiliar and stood next to another girl who I also didn't recognise.
They were both rather small, with glowing dark skin and full lips. The girl who had spoken wore a futuristic white dress, her hair box-braided and in two buns. The woman beside her had wavy black hair to her waist, which was embedded with dozens of golden rings. A crystal necklace hung around her neck and she wore a sheer lace shirt with a brassiere top underneath, a light blue skirt that went up to her ankles. It was floral and layered, sitting loosely on her curvy hips. Both girls, in my opinion, were rather beautiful.
And I noticed, the more I gaped at them, that they shared many traits such as their intelligent doe eyes and the way they held themselves in this group of people; not as if they deemed themselves higher ranked, but still proud and elevated.
"I'm Shuri," The girl who had spoken introduced herself, stepping forward to shake my hand. "And this is my sister, Tabia. We're T'challa's siblings."
"Hi, I'm that crazy girl you were probably told about," I took Shuri's hand. Tabia, who hadn't moved the entire time, smiled slightly at my words.
"Yes, we were told all about you," Shuri grinned. She seemed to be the mouthpiece of the sisters.
"So.. Thor's gone to get Loki. I have nothing else to do here. I guess.. see you guys later," I attempted turning to walk to the elevator.
"Hold it!" Tony snapped. I grimaced and faced the group again. "We want you to sign a contract."
I narrowed my eyes. "What kind of contract?"
Tony tapped on the piece of paper that sat on the coffee table. "You're only seventeen, kid. You're lucky I'm still giving you a choice," He said.
"What he means by that," Steve cut in quickly, seeing my mouth open to argue defiantly. "Is that we want you to be safe, Maze. And this contract will guarantee it."
"Right, I'm sure that's what dad meant," I snorted. "So what's on the stupid contract?"
"First of all, you have dinner with us twice a week," Natasha cut in.
"I already hate it. Go on," I grunted.
"You attend school regularly, not just as you please," She continued. "Just wait till I'm finished!" She insisted when I frowned. "You help us find a cure for the Wakanda virus and no more stealing from us."
"And.. what do I get in return?" I asked.
"We allow you to continue living by yourself and we don't hack into your system and keep an eye on you at all times," Bruce said.
"I'd like to see you try," I scoffed. Tony rolled his eyes, showing me his phone screen.
"In the last five seconds, I found her name.. A.N.D.R.E.A, is it?" He cocked his head. "You learned from the best, sweetheart."
I growled. "I want five hundred thousand every week and your green Tesla," I told him.
"Not happening," Tony replied, narrowing his eyes. "You can have three hundred thousand a week and my yellow convertible."
"Four hundred thousand a week and the lime BMW."
"Six hundred thousand a week but no car. Final offer."
I weighed the bargain momentarily, taking the contract from Steve, skimming over the words. They were basically verbatim of what the Avengers had already told me. "I'll take it home and think about it," I said, pushing the paper into my bag.
"Just so you know, we made digital copies, which means burning that contract won't change a thing," Tony said.
"Look, everyone. Tony made a funny," I rolled my eyes. "Well if you're done kidnapping me, I'll be on my way." I once again turned around.
"How are you getting home?" Steve asked.
"Bus," I called back, grinning to myself, imagining how my father would react to his daughter taking public transport.
"Let me drop you off," A soft voice said. Wanda Maximoff walked to my side. I studied her for a moment. She may have been the only Avenger I trusted right now. "Fine. But don't tell any of these lot where I'm living yet. I don't need 'I survived the army of aliens' postcards in my mail every other day."
Wanda smiled. "Of course not," and lead me to the elevator.
We sat in silence for most of the way back to my house, interrupted only by the GPS giving directions. "I really do miss having you around," Wanda finally said when we were only about five minutes away from my house. "I wish you'd consider the contract. I mean actually consider it."
"I will. I promise. And.." This was something I could barely admit to myself. "Seeing you guys twice a week would actually be nice. It'd be a change from microwave Mac n cheese in bed every night, anyway."
"Good. I mean it when I say everybody misses you," Wanda said gently.
I scoffed.
"No, I'm being serious. I think I even saw Steve shed a tear when you left that night," Wanda giggled. I turned my head towards the window, watching as each house progressively became more drab.
"He didn't try and stop me from leaving," I muttered. "None of you did." I couldn't face Wanda but her shock was nearly tangible.
"We thought objecting would just make you angrier," Wanda said. "And we knew you had to be on your own for a while. It would do you some good to grow your own perspective."
"Sure," I mumbled.
"Maze!" Wanda snapped. "We all love you. Like family, remember?" She took my hand, a little more aggressively than she had to, but held it firmly. "And would I lie to you? My boyfriend's a robot."
I had to crack a smile. "How's that going, by the way?"
"Vision?" Wanda said, pulling up outside my house. "Really great, actually. I never knew a man made from vibranium could be so..."
I nodded understandingly. "Good in bed?"
Wanda choked. "What? No!" She spluttered. I grinned, holding up a hand for her to high-five. She rolled her eyes, pointing a finger at my car door. A red swirl of magic wrapped around the handle and pushed it open for me. "Don't tell the dweebs where I live yet, yeah?" I ensured, kissing her swiftly on the cheeks.
"I know. I know. Now go, before I tell Steve what you said about Vision."