"You know, I'm kind of vibing with this 'all girl' team," Stacy spoke up from behind me, her voice more chipper than earlier. I stood in front of her and Amy as the palace elevator took us up to the landing platform, a duffle bag in my hand with my clothes and few trinkets Shuri had allowed me to bring home. I had honestly forgotten how much Stacy could blabber. "Do I get a super suit out of this? Honestly, I'll make ones for you guys when we get back. Shoot, I forgot about school. Do you think I have a lot of makeup work?"
"I'm gonna say it right now: if you aren't quieter on the flight, I may or may not throw you off," Amy warned her, and Stacy quickly shut up. "I'm actually more excited to meet your superhero boyfriend, Isabel."
"Yeah, well, don't burn him the moment you see him," I said nonchalantly, staring at the elevator doors. I followed each of the passing white lights of the floors with my eyes, not really focused on the conversation. After everything I had been through, I didn't want to get my hopes up on seeing Peter and my father again just in case something happened. Call it a fear of karma, or me taking notice of my really bad luck. Stacy snorted.
"Peter Parker is one of the most normal boys I've ever met," she tried to correct Amy. "Sure he has an attendance problem, but I think you probably mean someone-"
"He's Spider-Man," Amy and I both said at once, and the elevator went quiet. It came to a halt when we finally reached the platform a few seconds later, knocking Stacy out of her surprised daze.
"I'm sorry... what?" I couldn't help but laugh, glancing over my shoulder at the girl, who was staring at me in bewilderment. "You're kidding, right?" I didn't respond, and the elevate doors opened, blasting the three of us with wind and blinding me temporarily from the sunlight. "You're not serious?"
"You're going to have to learn a few things now that you're essentially one of us," I explained to Stacy, leading the way to the waiting Quinjet across the tarmac while Amy followed closely behind and spreading her wings to stretch them. "With how you're most likely staying at the compound, there's no reason for him to have his identity secret. As for school, well... you can't go."
"What about my parents?" Stacy questioned. "Can't I see them?" Amy scoffed, causing Stacy to get defensive. "What if they think I'm dead?"
"Them knowing you're alive and well is worse!" she exclaimed, and I stopped so Amy could properly explain. Stacy's hair was still throwing me off, its once dark shade now a startling white that reflected the sunlight. "Hawkes kidnapped you because he knew you were close to Isabel. Your parents are already in danger with you no longer in his grasp. They don't know you're free, so there's no reason for him to take them. The more people who know that you were able to escape, the more questions that pop up, and the more likely he'll speed up his plan because we can get in contact with outside help." The Fire Elemental turned her head to me for validation. "Did I get that right?"
"Spot on, actually," I admitted before noticing Stacy's crestfallen expression. "I know this is a lot to take in, and I wish you helping us didn't involve all of these rules. Normalcy isn't something any of us can get for a while, maybe possibly ever. The best person to answer any questions you have is my dad once the flight is over."
With that said, we continued to the Quinjet, where Steve and Bucky were waiting for us on the landing ramp. The ex-Avenger extended his hand to me, taking my heavy duffle bag with ease. "Set up autopilot to the compound," he told me. "You just have to take off, land, and send a notice to Tony once you're close. We don't need you getting shot down." I gave a curt nod, understanding his instructions, and Steve looked to the two other girls. "Let me show you around."
"Um, yes please," Stacy spoke a little too loud, and Bucky struggled to hide a grin. Amy gave the girl a glare before following Steve into the Quinjet, rolling her shoulders back as her wings folded up. "I'm just... I'm gonna go." I waited until she disappeared before Bucky and I laughed.
"You know," Bucky told me, still staring at where the three of them had gone, "back in my day, I think Steve would've passed out from all the attention. Before the serum, I mean."
"Please, you sound ancient."
"I am ancient," he chuckled. "I'm almost at one hundred years now." That caused me to laugh again, and Bucky smiled. "You're different than when you left the first time."
"I mean... I'm older?" I offered, and he shook his head.
"No, it's not that," he told me. "I mean, yes, you're older, but... you've changed." I tilted my head to the side, waiting for him to continue. "The girl who left here could never do what you're doing now. All of this was still new to you, and now... now you're leading others."
"I couldn't have done it without you," I told him truthfully, and I embraced him. Bucky wrapped his arm around me, pressing his lips against my forehead for a brief kiss before tucking his head down. "I'm so happy I could see you again." As we pulled apart, his eyes caught on the chain of his necklace that was tucked under my dress.
"Is that..." he started to say, and I pulled it out for him to see. Bucky stared at it fondly, his eyes watering slightly. "I didn't think you'd still have it."
"I wore it the night I met Hawkes for good luck," I told him. "In a weird way, I guess it worked." The two of us turned as Steve walked down the ramp towards us, running his fingers through his hair.
"Well," he began, "your friends are settled. I think that's-"
"Wait!" My hand fell from my necklace and my head jerked toward where the elevator stood when I heard Zane's voice, shocked to see the boy carrying a duffle bag of his own and running toward us. "Wait!"
"Who's that?" Steve asked me as the Air Elemental approached, a grin growing on my face.
"An old friend." The boy stopped in front of the three of us, keeling over as he panted. "I thought you weren't coming."
"I wasn't planning to," Zane explained, breathing heavily. He bowed his head down and raised a finger up, giving himself a moment before popping up. "I just... I don't think I could sit back knowing everyone is fighting and I'm taking the safe route like a coward. No one else can do what I can, what we can. Besides, you need all the help you can get." I looked at him proudly.
"Well then, let's get going." I turned to Steve, who was watching our interaction with a twinkle in his eyes. "I'll see you again." The super soldier pulled me in tightly, one of his hands holding the back of my head, and I gave him and Bucky a final nod before Zane and I walked up the ramp and into the Quinjet, pressing the button to close us inside.
Amy shot up on her feet when she saw the boy, staring at him with wide eyes. The two looked at each other awkwardly, and Stacy just hung her head down from the seat she was strapped into, swinging her feet back and forth in the air. "I didn't think you were coming," Amy finally said, breaking the silence.
"Yeah," Zane nodded uncomfortably, shifting his weight from side to side. "Last minute decision." Amy turned away and walked to the other side of the jet, leaving Zane and I alone. I patted Zane's back, grimacing at their encounter.
"Please get that worked out."
______________________________
The flight was quiet until about five hours over the ocean. I wasn't sure if it was restlessness, nerves, or just the fact we were all cooped up for hours with nothing to do. I sat in the cockpit, my job relatively easy after autopilot had been set in place to our destination. I was almost asleep in my seat when I heard Amy finally speak up.
"So how long have you been in Wakanda?" I peered over my shoulder at the three teens behind me. Stacy was fast asleep, her legs pulled up on her seat and her head tucked between her knees. Amy stood next to the computer systems, leaning against the wall and looking to the Air Elemental for an answer. Her voice was lowered in curtesy of the sleeping girl next to her, but loud enough to carry throughout the Quinjet. Zane sat on the opposite side, his legs spread as he leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees.
"Maybe six months?" he guessed, glancing up at the redhead. "I can't be sure; no one really gave me a calendar. Why do you ask?"
"Just wondering how much of that time you actually spent healing," she sniped. "You know, instead of leaving and searching for Isabel like you promised." I shot my head back forward, continuing to eavesdrop but making sure it didn't look that way. "You know, when we all split up to figure out a plan."
"You're mad at Thomas, not me."
"Don't try to read my brain!" Amy fired back. "I'm mad at both of you! I'm mad that he betrayed all of us to a murderer, I'm mad that you've sat on your ass this entire time-"
"Oh, that's what I've been doing?" There was a creak, and I presumed Zane had stood up from his seat. "I was tricked by Hawkes too. When I escaped, I had no idea he had found you. Do you really think I would've left you there for dead if I knew?" Silence. "I would never try to hurt you, Amy-"
"What about that time you left me during that mission to Moscow?"
"That was almost seven years ago!"
"No it wasn't!" Amy's voice broke on that sentence, and she paused to catch herself and lower her volume. "They might have done something to us to make us grow older physically and mentally under the ice, but as far as I can remember, you ditched me and would've let me die if HYDRA didn't send the Soldier to rescue me. And now he and Captain America are friends somehow? I saw the look in his eyes when I passed him. He remembers us. I barely understand how you look the way you do, where my wings even came from, or- or-"
"Hey, breathe," Zane said to calm her down, and I realized Amy was crying. There was a pitter-patter of steps. "We'll figure this out together, okay?" Unable to resist, I snuck another look at the two of them briefly. Amy's wings were drooped, touching the floor, and Zane held her tightly with a hug. He had a hand running through the back of her hair, the other rubbing her lower back, and he was rocking slowly as she sniffled. "Hawkes isn't going to hurt you ever again," he told her quietly. "I promise."
I let my gaze linger for a moment before shuffling back to my original position, pulling my legs up on my seat similar to the way Stacy had fallen asleep. Seeing their interaction made me miss Peter. After space, the Framework, and now this, I realized I was putting him through so much. He didn't deserve this. I brought a spy into his house only to have him rip his friend group apart. How many problems in his life were a result of me?
"Here's a little Holiday greeting I've been wanting to send to the Mandarin; I just didn't know how to phrase it until now." I sat on the edge of my bed, leaning forward to watch the news from my ceiling projector that played on my wall. As my father spoke to the reporter's recording phone, he took off his blue rimmed sunglasses and tucked them in his pockets, allowing everyone to see his glare. "My name is Tony Stark and I'm not afraid of you. I know you're a coward, so I've decided that you just died, pal. I'm gonna come get the body. There's no politics here; it's just good old-fashioned revenge."
"What are you doing?" I questioned him, standing up and staring at him. The doors to my balcony were open, carrying the breeze from the ocean as the sun was setting. "Tony, please."
"There's no Pentagon; it's just you and me," the man continued, obviously not hearing my pleas for him to stop, "and on the off-chance you're a man, here's my home address: Ten-Eight-Eighty, Malibu Point, Nine-Zero-Two-Six-Five. I'll leave the door unlocked." The recording stopped, returning back to the news station, and my jaw dropped.
"JARVIS, turn it off," I ordered the AI, and the projector shut off. I threw my bedroom door open and raced down the stairs, my bare feet loud against the tile as I rounded the corner and took the next set down to my father's lab. "Tony!" The man looked up guiltily from his desk, where a list of holographic pictures and server traces were displayed.
"Hey, kid." I shook my head from the stair landing, scoffing in disbelief. "What, no hug after a long day? Happy's in the hospital you know, and you didn't offer to send flowers."
"She knows about the incident with the paparazzi, sir," JARVIS explained to him, and I crossed my arms against my chest angrily. My father sighed.
"Isabel, I'm really not in the mood right now-"
"Why would you give our home address to him?" I questioned, marching down the stairs angrily. "This is a murderer we're talking about! How can you just sit here like everything is fine-"
"Oh, I'm acting like everything is fine?" he interrupted me back, standing up from his seat. I couldn't help but cower as he towered over me by over half a foot. "Trust me, dear, this situation is anything but that. Now, if you don't mind..." My father sat himself back down, stretching his hands out for a moment before continuing to search through the files. "... I'm busy."
I stayed quiet for a moment, watching as his eyes scanned everything at a lightning speed, moving the holograms away with his black fingerless tech gloves. "What have you found so far?" I asked him, ducking as he expanded a tiny set of files and threw it over my head to the center of the room.
"Well," he started, moving forward to the elevated circle where he normally suited up, spinning slowly on his feet to read the date. "His name is an ancient Chinese war mantle, meaning "adviser to the King." South American insurgency tactics, talks like a Baptist preacher. There's lots of pageantry going on here...lots of theatre." He lifted his arm up and closed his fingers into a fist. "Close."
"The heat from the blast was in excess of three thousand degrees Celsius," JARVIS informed the two of us, reconstructing the crime scene that had resulted in Happy's stay at the hospital. "Any subjects within twelve point five were vaporized instantly."
"And no bomb parts were found close to the Chinese theater?" I asked the AI.
"Not within a three mile radius." I looked at my father, who's eyes were narrowed down at the holographic ground forming below him.
"Talk to me, Happy," he murmured, and the bodyguard's form started to form in the pixels. I began to turn away, but my father snapped for my attention. "Look at his finger." Confused, I followed his gaze to Happy's pointed hand, walking in its direction until I stepped on the virtual image of dog tags.
"When is a bomb not a bomb?" I asked my father, sitting down in his chair and swiping my hand to make the hologram rise to me. He remained quiet, obviously as stumped as I was. The dog tags appeared within reach, and I picked the holographic chain up with my fingers and carried it back to him, placing it up in the air between us. JARVIS continued the work, flipping the dog tag sideways and revealing the engraving on it.
"Any military victims?" my father questioned JARVIS.
"Not according to public records, sir."
"Bring up the thermogenic signatures again," he tried, taking my hand and leading me to stand on his desk. "Factor in three thousand degrees." The crime scene disappeared, turning into the country's map as the AI followed its instructions.
"The oracle cloud has completed analysis," JARVIS told us. I watched as temperature beams skyrocketed on the map, all spread across the country and relatively stopping in the same area as each other. "Accessing satellites and plotting the last twelve months of thermogenic occurrence now."
"Take away everywhere that there's been a Mandarin attack," my father ordered. Most of the data disappeared, each heat signature barely reaching fifteen hundred before both our eyes caught on-
"Rose Hill, Tennessee?" I read out loud.
"That," my dad said at the same time, pointing at it with his finger. JARVIS expanded the file, showing photos of a Military man and news articles regarding an explosion. "You sure that's not one of his?"
"It predates any known Mandarin attack. The incident was the use of a bomb to assist a suicide."
"Bring her around," he told the AI, and the file was moved forward.
"The heat signature is remarkably similar," JARVIS agreed with him. "Three thousand degrees Celsius." The two of us looked at each other, back at the file, and then back at each other again.
"Two military guys, same heat signature," I shrugged. "Too weird to be a coincidence."
"Thinking exactly the same thing," he said back, and I grinned. "Ever been to Tennessee?"
"I don't think so, I can't be sure- wait." I paused, doing a double take. "You're... you're inviting me on a mission?"
"If there's any time, I think it's now," he told me. "This whole Avenger thing got me thinking. Maybe the world is ready for you. We'll figure it out one step at a time, but... can't think of another person I'd rather have by my side right now."
"Yes!" I jumped on my tip-toes and wrapped my arms around him, squeezing him tight. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you-"
"Rights can be revoked, kid!"
"Sorry," I apologized, backing up. He raised an eyebrow at me, giving me a smirk. "Thank you, Tony." I hopped off of his table, carefully making my way over to the stairs. "I'll start packing my things!" I was so caught up in my joy as I made my way into the living room that I didn't realize there was a visitor. That was, until the doorbell rang.
I pivoted, my hands up and ready to attack, when I saw a brunette woman standing outside the mansion's front glass doors. She stared at me curiously for a moment before knocking again, and I stayed still. There was a dull clunking noise, and I looked behind me to see my father approaching in his red and silver Iron Man suit.
"Let her in, JARVIS," he told the AI, and the glass door swung open. I backed up cautiously as the woman stepped inside, the security beams scanning her for a moment before disappearing. "Right there's fine," he addressed her, and she halted, pursing her lips and looking mildly annoyed. "You're not the Mandarin, are you?" His helmet lifted, revealing his face. "Are you?"
The woman smiled uncomfortably, nodding as she held her purse tight. "You don't remember," she sighed, her eyes scanning the front entrance of the house. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Don't take it personally," he defended himself nonchalantly, "I don't remember what I had for breakfast."
"Those nasty gluten-free waffles," I piped up, and he gestured at me proudly.
"That's right." The woman's eyes narrowed in my direction before she shook her head, looking over her shoulder at her car.
"Okay, look, I need to be alone with you," she told him, and I raised my eyebrows at her forwardness. "Someplace not here; it's urgent." My dad winced at her words, turning around and walking into the living room.
"Normally, I'd go for that sort of thing, but you can't talk about that stuff in front of the kid-"
"I'm the kid," I introduced myself as I followed him, uncomfortable with the situation at hand.
"-and now I'm in a committed relationship." As if on cue, two bags fell from the balcony above, more likely thrown, and he looked up at where they had come from fondly. "With her."
"Tony?" Pepper called down, and I sighed. "Is somebody there?'
"Yeah," he answered back as he stepped out of his suit, the metal peeling off like a shell before coming back together to stand as a sentient. "It's Maya Hansen." I plopped down on a leather chair, throwing my legs over the side. "Old botanist pal that I used to know, barely."
As the two continued to talk, Pepper joining them as soon as she managed to get down the stairs in her heels, I zoned out of the conversation, picking at my fingernails absentmindedly. It wasn't until Maya walked past me and pointed at the large plush dogs standing by the staircase, both wearing a name tag that had Pepper and I's name on it.
"Is... is that normal?" she asked, and I looked up from my hands.
"Sadly, that is... very normal-"
"Yes, this is normal!" my father told her, almost shouting. "It's a big bunny, relax about it!"
"Calm down!" Pepper told him in annoyance while I at the same time said, "they look more like dogs to me."
"Stay out of this, the grown-ups are talking right now," my father warned me.
"Also her!" Pepper continued, remembering I was in the room, "she's ten years old! She's not going anywhere except leaving with me out of this house!"
"Guys, can we... um," Maya tried to say, but the three of us were now bickering.
"I'm sorry, who put you in charge of me?" I questioned Pepper, sitting up from my seat.
"The kid stays with me, no if's, and's, or but's," my father shot back. "She's excited to hang out."
"She's a kid! Of course she's excited! You never let her out of the house!"
"Hey, I think we should-"
"What?" Tony cut Maya off angrily, and the three of us turned to where she watching the TV playing a video of the Stark house.
"Do we need to worry about that?" she asked us. The camera moved, and my heart stopped when I saw the bomb coming flying towards the house. I looked out the window, and sure enough, there it was, hitting the glass immediately and sending us all flying in different directions.
I felt metal quickly wrap around my body before I hit the wall, taking most of the impact for me. I fell forward on my hands and knees, and I squinted as my eyes readjusted to the Iron Man helmet I now wore. With a groan, I looked up at the cracking noises of the ceiling starting to fall apart, and then my eyes landed on my father's still unconscious form.
"Tony!" He started to move at the mention of his name, his eyes widening when he saw the cracks above him, and I realized I wouldn't be fast enough to get to him. Large chunks of the ceiling began to rain down, but another Iron Man suit flew between him and the debris, blocking him from getting hit. The front helmet lifted, revealing Pepper's face.
"I've got you," she told him, and he stared at her in shock. I pulled my helmet off, taking long, shaky breaths as I walked toward them. "You okay, kid?"
"Yeah... I'm fine," I said, but it was clear I was lying. Pepper helped Tony to his feet.
"I got you two first," he told us, looking back out the window. I did the same, seeing the three approaching helicopters. "Like I said, we can't stay here."
"You are now entering a restricted air zone, please state your business." My head shot up at the voice coming over the comms, and I began to reach over for the headset. I hadn't meant to fall asleep. "I repeat, you are now entering a restricted air zone. State your business or turn around."
"This is Atlantis, calling in Stark Code Zero-One-One-Three-Two-Zero-Zero-Two," I said quickly, adjusting the mic as I spoke and pulling the headset over my ears. "Requesting permission to land in..." I looked up at the estimated arrival. "... forty-five minutes, over."
"Sorry, code what?" the operator questioned as my heart beat. "Ma'am, this is a stolen Quinjet; you have a minute to state your business before-"
"Get off the monitor!" I heard my father yell at the operator, his voice muffled from the distance. "Give!"
"Sir, this isn't procedure-"
"I pay the procedure, I choose it, now scoot!" I laughed at the brief noise of static as power was transferred over. "Tell me I'm talking to who I think I am, Stark junior."
"In the flesh," I confirmed, and my dad let out a whoop of joy on his side. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up to see Stacy staring down at me with dazed confusion, sleep still written across her face. "I'm coming with company. Amy and Zane are on board, and we..." I paused for a second. I couldn't let my father know I had seen Steve. Not yet, anyways. "I rescued Stacy. I can land us in the field in about forty-five minutes."
"Sounds great," he told me, much more calmer, and there was a click as he set his headset down. I assumed he had turned it off until I heard him yelling faintly in the background, "Stop everything! Call the kid! Call Pepper! She's back!" I turned off my headset and set it back in its original place, unable to contain my grin.
"Get ready," I told the crew. "I'm about to take you home."