*No one's POV*
They had arrived twenty minutes early, which surprised them because Tony seemed to be procrastinating. Although technically speaking they couldn't blame him. He really only did this sorta thing for appearance.
Tony place each Avenger around the field, surrounding where the competition was being held. "Look for any building an arc reactor. Also-"
Each avenger froze, feeling their soulmate mark buzzing. Their soulmate was here. It was stronger for some of them because they were closer. They each started searching their own sections, trying to pick out their mate in a crowd of many.
"Our mate's here, what does your marks feel like. Mine feels like a heavy buzz." Steve asked, wondering if the others all felt the heavy buzzing.
"Mine feels itchy."
"I have a light buzz."
"My mark just feels warm."
The rest of them only felt slight tingles. They all concluded that Steve was the closest. It wasn't long before Steve spotted someone. "I think I found her, let me just double check."
Taking a few steps forward he waits to see if the buzzing grows. It does. "I found her, far back left table. She also seems to be making an arc reactor."
Out of the corner of his eyes he saw all of the Avengers automatically look at the back table. Then he noticed a girl holding a baby come over to their mate. The child was crying and when their mate picked it up, it quieted down when she turned.
"Is it just me or does it look like our mate has a baby?" Nat said through the comms.
"Wait what? Did you say baby? Is she still working on the arc reactor?" Tony questioned rapidly.
"Yes and yes. Don't worry, I'm just as confused as you are." Stephen responded.
Throughout the rest of the time they watched their mate, occasionally glancing around at the other contestants. They watched as she took care of the child and also worked on building an arc reactor. Five minutes before the end, Tony beckoned them up to the front and they all lined up behind him.
"TIME'S UP. DROP EVERYTHING!"
"Some of you must have noticed, the Avengers have been watching you all for the past twenty minutes. Please take of your number and place it under whatever you constructed. Remember what you're number is because you will be called up by that. Once you've done that, please make your way back into the school building so the Avengers can assess your results."
They silently watch as the crowd starts moving towards the school, trying to find their mate again. For a split second Tony catches her eyes, but then she's lost in the sea of people.
Tony went down and slowly looked through the tables. About two rows in, he found a completed arc reactor. After quickly looking over the written test his eyes widened as he saw that this kid had gotten all but one right.
"Uh- kid number 15 he's gonna be first place!" He called up to the front.
He continued looking through the tables finding places 2nd and 3rd. As he got to the last row he saw that the others were crowded around one table. Once he arrived he tapped them on the shoulder.
"You wouldn't happen to let me through, would you?" He said sarcastically.
"It's our mates table, look at what she did." Bruce said, moving aside.
Looking at the table, there was an almost complete arc reactor and an 100% correct test.
"WOW, not even Bruce could get 100%. But she didn't finish the arc reactor." Tony quietly said.
"Did you forget that she was taking care of a baby while creating an arc reactor?! Why don't you try doing that!" Steve exclaimed.
"Actually there were two, twins I believe. You just couldn't see them both at the same time. One was always in the shade on a blanket under the table." Bucky interjected.
Tony raised his hands in a placating gesture, "Okay, its fine. She can tie in first with #15, plus it gives us a reason to hang around her to get to know her."
The group went back up to the front and Tony explained the awards to the principal. The principal then sent someone to gather everyone from the gym.
As the people rushed out, all the Avengers subtly looked around to try and find their mate. Once everyone was gathered, Tony started speaking.
"In third place we have #14" Everyone claps as a male makes his way up onto the stage.
"In second place we have #26" The crowd claps again as another male makes his way up.
"Last of all we have first place. We had a problem choosing this one because there were two students that were particularly exceptional. They showed that they understood exactly what the challenge was and also showed extraordinary scores on the written part of the contest. Can I have a drumroll please?"
Everyone patted their legs and anticipation filled the air.
"In first place, winner of the internship, we have----- #15!! But there's also one more person #30!!!"
Another male goes up to the stage but there's silence when they realize that no one else is heading up yet.
"Number 30? Are you still here?" The principal hands Tony Stark a piece of paper. "Ah, your name seems to be Eclipse Power Time."
Happiness surged through the Avengers marks of each other. They now knew their mates name.
A voice comes from the crowd, "That's me!"
The Avengers see their mate trying to make her way up to the front. Tony walks forward into the crowd and the rest of them follow. The crowd parts to make a path for them.
As they get closer they see their mate fall to a knee. They could feel the pain from their own soulmarks and could only imagine what their mate was feeling.
Quickening their pace they arrive and pretend to help her up. While in reality they were locating their soulmarks.
Blocking her from the prying eyes of the public, they watch her get up.
"Um- hi. I- Uh- I should probably go, sorry for inte-interrupting."
Everyone looks at her in bewilderment. It's Stark who speaks first. "You weren't interrupting, you're the one who won the prize and was supposed to head to the front."
She glances down, seeming to not want to look at them. "I- thank you. But are you sure you picked the right person? I didn't even complete my project?"
"Nope, no mistake. Unless you weren't the one who made the almost finished arc reactor. Then we'd have a problem. But we were watching you when we arrived early. Therefore, no mistake."
When Stark's done talking Steve speaks up, "We should probably head back up front to finish the ceremony thing."
As they walk up to the front people are videoing and taking pictures and there's nothing the Avengers could do.
The awards get passed out as the ceremony continues. All the Avengers feel a wave of sadness shoot through their mates mark on their bodies.
They were all frustrated that they couldn't do anything. Until they saw Stephen's cape leave his shoulders and go onto their soulmates.
His cape had never gone to another person.
Never.
Once everything was over the Avengers were mobbed by fans, teenage students, and even adults asking multiple questions.
In all of that, they didn't notice when their mate quickly and quietly left the area. Except for Stephen, he was still wondering why his cape had stayed with his mate.
He followed her, the whole hour of the walk. He wondered why she hadn't stopped to take any sort of transportation.
She arrived at a cheap looking apartment on the bad side of NYC. Stephen called on temporary invisibility and stepped inside the door right before she closed it. They went up a whole seven flights of stairs and to the door at the end of the hallway.
He followed her in and noticed that his cape came back to rest on his shoulders, it also turned invisible along with him.
Sitting over in the corner, he watched as she got the twins taken care of, her homework done, and then ready for bed.
What confused him was why she had twins, and why there seemed to be no apparent adult figure that lived in the house.
Knocking him out of his thoughts, he heard the pre-emptive buzz of the comms. He quickly made a portal and went to the roof.
"Where are you?"
"Are you ok?"
"Did you follow our mate?"
"Please tell me you didn't follow our mate."
The group bombarded him with questions, worried about Stephen. He winced slightly but answered, "I'm at Sent or Rent Apartment's, Building F, Floor 7, Apartment 78. But technically the roof."
There's silence on the end of the line while the others look it up.
"Why is our mate living in one of the worst places of NEW YORK CITY!" Tony practically yelled.
"I don't know. I do know that the babies do belong to her, and from what I've seen of the appartment it looks like there isn't an adult figure living with her. At least not in the past two weeks."
"We need to go pick her up." Steve said.
"Whatever you do, don't do that. She practically disappeared after the event and didn't even stop to chat with her newly found soulmates. How do you think she would react if you came over here and told her you were taking her somewhere else." Stephen tried reasoning with them.
"He's got a point. She wasn't exactly jumping for joy when she met us. Also it would probably feel like kidnapping for her." Bruce conceded.
"How about this. Stephen, you watch her for tonight but leave before the sun comes up. That way we know she's safe." Bucky explained.
Everyone murmured their agreement and Stephen stayed.
*Eclipse's POV*
The night was a constant, taking care of the babies, trying to sleep and repeat. By the time it was morning I had only had 4 hours of sleep total. No wonder parents always looked exhausted.
There had been some points during the night, where I'd had this weird feeling that something was off, but I didn't know why or what.
I woke up before the girls, so that meant I was able to get ready for school and feed myself. Thankfully when the girls woke up, it was easy to get them ready and out the door.
After the hour walk to school, I arrived just in time for me to rush into my first class.
The day only got worse.
In between classes when I was walking in the halls I heard whispers of,
"Avengers slut."
"-had their kids."
"-a whore."
"-only reason she won-"
Oh how I wished this was one of the times I didn't have enhanced hearing. MJ wasn't even around, I mean, I didn't really expect her to be, but it would've been nice.
Finally lunch came and I quickly grabbed my food and went out to the shade tree. I rolled out a small mat and set the babies on it. Thankfully, they were sleeping.
Any hopes that I had of it being a quiet lunch were crushed when I saw flash come out of the cafeteria doors. He made a beeline directly towards me, his cronies following.
Fear surged through me as he stormed closer. He was mad.
"Hey there Avengers whore. Did they only let you win first because you slept with them? I bet you that's where your bastard babies came from."
I knew he was just taunting me but it didn't make it hurt any less.
"Can you please leave me alone? I'm trying to eat my lunch."
"Ha, she wants us to leave her alone. Not after the stunt you pulled to get your name called instead of mine." He scoffed, motioning to his cronies beside him.
"Now stand, or my friends will help you."
I panicked.