"Good god almighty" Clinton groaned as he stood up and walked with a slight limp "why is the coffee pot all the way over here?" He reached the pot and poured some in his white coffee mug that has an image of a coffee pot and underneath it says 'pot head'
"Bring it over here then" Tony grunted from his seat.
"Nu-uh, I had to walk. You get your lazy ass up and walk" Clint muttered.
Tony narrowed his eyes at the assassin. Their encounter with the Winter Soldier didn't go well. The Avengers that went to fight him are sore, bruised and injured. The others that stayed put, that being the women -aside from Natasha- Thor, Bruce, Sam and Rhodey, are fine.
They stayed put by orders of Nick, he didn't want another city destruction so he sent as few as he could but as the Winter Soldier proved his strength, he had to send more.
"It hurts!" Tony moaned like a little kid.
"Yeah, you guys sure got your asses beat" Peter shook his head.
Clint narrowed his eyes at the boy "shut up. Drink your cocoa"
"I'll drink it, but not because you told me" Peter muttered
"And what the hell kid? You were suppose to stay here! What were you doing out there?" Clint demanded. Peter stayed quiet as he drank his cocoa.
"You guys were looking after him. How did he get out?" Tony asked the ones who stayed back.
"We didn't know he was gone until we saw him on tv" Rhodey defended himself and the others.
"Gali was right. Kid listens to no one" Sam agreed with what Galilea said in the video.
"Hey" Steve called Peter "how did you learn to block a punch like that?"
Peter brought the mug up to his lips and his eyes darted around before muttering "Galilea"
Natasha walked over to the group with a tablet in hand "alright Peter, are there any more of your secret passwords you share with Gali?" She questioned the boy "or any secrets she shares with you guys. You never know what else she encrypted" she muttered.
They racked their brains for a moment. Come to think of it they all share some special moments with Galilea and they all have their little inside jokes, but they're not sure if she took any details of their friendship to be her security questions.
"Team, I brought reinforcements!" Nick loudly told the group as he joined the team. They jumped in surprise. They didn't even know he wasn't there.
"What kind of reinforcements?" Bruce asked. Nick looked behind him and nodded. When the man stepped out everyone froze. All except Sam and Peter who have no idea who he man is.
He looks just the same with his suit and tie. He gave the team a small smile "Hello"
"I see dead people" Natasha said like the little boy from the Sixth Sense.
"No. You're dead. Y-you're- you're dead" Tony pointed a shaky finger and his voice became uneven "oh my god I'm seeing things, aren't I? I'm actually dreaming. Someone pinch me- Ow!" He rubbed his arm.
"You said to pinch you" Steve shrugged.
"I'm sorry but I don't think I'm following what's happening here" Sam spoke up.
They explained to him who Agent Phil Coulson is and how he died, or thought he died. Soon him and Peter were up to speed and understood what was going on. Fury came clean and told them that Phil was alive all along but in a very delicate condition. They're not really sure if to be mad at Fury for lying to them about Phil or be grateful that he didn't put them through the strain and stress of wondering if Phil is going to pull through or not.
"Galilea Maria Stark is by far, the smartest person I've ever met in my life" Kamilla was looking down at her tablet as she walked in the room where the avengers are gathered "she has uncovered a very crucial link in our investigation"
"Let's hear it then" Steve said "what is it?"
Kami looked up and smiled at everyone "Down to the lab we go. Hi Phil" she smiled and turned to leave but stopped dead in her tracks. She slowly turned around and dropped her tablet in shock "Oh freak frack! You're- you're..."
"Yes, yes, Phil is alive. Now please tell us what you've found out" Tony winced as he stood up.
"But- but- he- dead... Alive... How?" She spluttered out.
"Galilea is more important than Phillip right now. Come on woman, we're wasting precious time!" Clint slammed his hand on the counter.
Kamilla glared at the archer "don't test me, Clinton"
They went down to the lab like they always seem to do when they discover something or need some explaining. But yet again, that's where all the equipment is.
"What have you found?" Thor asked.
"I assume Phillip is up to speed with everything that's going on, right?" Kamilla turned to Nick and Phil. They both nodded "of course" she sighed and walked over to Tony and whispered in his ear.
All eyes on them and she stepped back from Tony. He's looking straight ahead at nothing and he has a sad look on his face "I'm sorry, they have to know" Kami softly said.
Tony took in a deep breath and nodded "Alright"
"What?" They were confused.
Kamilla tapped something on the tablet and it appeared in front of them in hologram mode. A file that says Galilea Maria Stark was seen to everyone.
"Galilea was in a lab accident when she was five years old. It was in her father's home lab. She uh, she tripped and to keep herself from falling she held onto a table but she brought the table down with her" Kamilla began explaining "along with what was on the table"
She pulled up a picture of the table with the vials containing different colored liquid. She then showed the picture of five year old Galilea with cuts all over her body. They gasped when they saw her. She looked horrible and in pain, even tho she's sleeping in the picture. The gashes on her legs and tiny pieces of glass still in her skin. They look fresh, really fresh.
"This was taken later that day. Howard Stark spent hours picking out the glass out of Galilea's body. Whatever was in those vials, got into her" Kami said.
"She said it burned" Tony spoke up "she was crying, in pain, scared. I was freaking out I didn't know what to do. I promised her an ice cream cone... Dad didn't know what was going to happen to her. She was stitched up, monitors all over her room and we hopped for the best. She pulled through. She was fine. She walked and talked and acted normal. There were no scars, no problems no nothing. She was a healthy five year old... Until a month later after it happened" Tony looked down at the ground.
"Her first power, telekinesis. Daddy Stark ran blood tests and didn't find anything. And then her second power when she was seven, that was compulsion. Ten her third power, the shield/forcefield thingy. Twelve her fourth one, and what we thought the last one. Pain" as Kamilla spoke, she pulled up a file for each power.
"Each time Gali had a new power, Mr Stark would run blood tests and power tests and he ran many different tests on her but he never found anything. Everything was normal. Still he didn't give up and well, a year later, Mr and Mrs Stark died in a car crash" Kamilla softly said "now this is the tricky part" she spoke up "all this testing activity was dead. My first and obvious thought was 'well yeah, Mr Stark is dead so why would there be any need to continue?' But Galilea has coding in her coding and I found out that she continued with her dads research"
"She continued? So she ran blood tests even tho there was nothing in it?" Phil asked.
"Yes and no" Kami nodded "Mr Stark said that nothing was wrong but he was lying. He knew what was up. He didn't say anything because he didn't want to worry his family"
"What are you saying?" Tony stood up from where he was sitting.
Kami took in a deep breath "Galilea didn't run blood tests. She worked off of what her dad already had" she tapped something and a video was played.
It was a much younger Galilea. She looks unsure and confused. Her hair is long and curled, her brown eyes are shining and they're standing out due to the eyeliner and eyeshadow she's wearing. She looks like she's about to go out.
"Look at the time stamp. June 27th 2007" Sam pointed out.
"That's like a year before we met Phil" Tony motioned to Phil "and it's in my house in California"
In the video, Gali sighed and passed a hand through her neat hear "all those years dad run blood tests on me, he said nothing was wrong. He said he didn't find anything... A couple months ago I don't know why, but I decided to look over the files" she bit her bottom lip and looked away from the camera.
"Dad lied to protect us, now I know where Tony got that from" she chuckled softly "you see I was only five years old when it happened. Mom and dad were freaked, and don't even get me started on Jarvis" she shook her head.
"So I guess I understand why dad didn't tell us what was in those vials" she looked down at the desk and traced circles with her finger. She didn't say anything, she was thinking and trying to piece things together. She has her suspicions but she doesn't want to confirm them "they must've been really good friends. Dad never shut up about him" she whispered. She sighed and leaned back in the chair and checked her phone.
She suddenly looked up and smiled small "hey"
"What are you doing down here?" Tony's voice was heard.
"Using your computer" she casually answered.
"Why are you all dressed up?" He asked.
"I'm going out with Justin"
"Oh god" he groaned.
"What are you doing down here? Where's your lady friend?"
"How do you- oh" he said once Gali pointed to something out of frame "she's upstairs"
"Well, I'll come by tomorrow and give her a diamond bracelet" Galilea casually said.
"What? Why are you going to give her a diamond bracelet?" Tony was confused.
"Because Anthony, those girls expect nothing more than a fun time and a diamond bracelet as a goodbye" Gali explained. Tony mumbled something before the closing door was heard. Gali shook her head "like father like son" and the video ended.
"I don't understand" Thor said a few minutes later.
"You should put that on a shirt" Natasha mumbled.
"That explains nothing...?" Tony said unsure after a few minutes of silence.
"It explains that you're a dog" Clint firmly said.
"It explains this" Kamilla pulled up another file "the new power she got a couple months after the whole Loki thing" she began "for the first time in years she ran blood tests and the results were the same her dad got. She then began a completely new research with- uh, another persons blood"
Kamilla pulled up another video but that one is of Gali from around the time she got her newest power of memory showing.
"New power, more tests. That's what dad did. I went back to the old files and saw the video I did back in 2007. I had suspicions and I really didn't want to confirm them, but after I got this new power I just had to. I couldn't just go by and not understand why this is happening. So I went through dads crap we have in storage and found this well preserved blood sample from World War Two" she held up a vial with blood in it.
"This is a sample of Steve's blood. My dad worked off this for years. He tried to recreate the super soldier serum and he partially succeeded... That is until a five year old broke all his hard work" she sucked in her bottom lip "all the liquid from the vials mixed together along with part of the formula of the super soldier serum. I didn't get super speed or super strength, thank god because I'm not an active person, instead I got all these powers. So you see all this is crap" she let out a breathy laugh "and if my suspicions are right, in a couple months I'll say why" the video ended.
"I still don't understand" Thor said.
"And there's the back of the shirt" Natasha smiled.
"Does she ever say anything?" Sam asked. Kamilla shook her head.
"How much does Galilea know about all this?" Steve asked.
"Way too much. She never told anyone. She kept it all to herself" Kamilla explained.
"Then why would Hydra take her?" Phil asked.
The group was quiet, thinking of an answer "there's only one person we can ask" Peter spoke up "her ex"
"Why is it always the ex that has the answers?" Pepper questioned.
"Who knows?" Natasha shrugged.
Someone cleared their throat and said "Excuse me" not recognizing the voice, everyone turned to the old man standing by the open door of the lab.
He's wearing a FedEx uniform and has a package in his hands "is there a Tony" he looked down at the name on the package "Stank?" Tony stared at him with a look of disbelief.
"Yes, this is Tony Stank" Rhodey pointed at Tony. He rolled his eyes "you're in the right place. Thank you for that!" Rhodey happily said "never dropping that, by the way" he told Tony. "Table for one, Mr Stank. Please, by the bathroom" Rhodey joked.
Tony and the others laughed. He signed for the package and the old man walked away "wait, how did he get in here?" Everyone shrugged "Jarvis, you and I are are going to have a very serious talk later!" Tony told the A.I. He opened the package and pulled out an envelope with the same neat handwriting they've seen on the letter "oh no" he breathed out.
"What is it?" Nick questioned.
Tony held up the envelope that has his name written on it "Hammer"
"How do you know?" Peter asked.
"He's the only person who doesn't call me Tony. It's always Anthony" he explained "why did he even send this to me?" He quietly asked himself. He looked up and stared at Kamilla "please tell me you didn't tell him what's going on" he pleaded. She didn't say anything "Freckles!"
"Hey, I know we don't like him but he warned Gali about Hydra and for some strange reason she trusts him. I mean I don't trusts my ex boyfriends, well maybe Nico but that's it!" She defended herself.
"Should I be worried about this Nico?" Bruce asked.
Kami sniggered "yeah, no"
"What does the letter say?" Steve asked.
Tony let out a breath and shook his head "It doesn't make any sense. Hello Anthony, I hope you enjoy this little giraffe flashlight. Reminded me of you for some reason. Your pal, Justin Hammer" Tony read the letter. He pulled out a small giraffe and he pressed the button. A little noise came out and the eyes lit up "it's kinda cool" he grinned.
"Secret message?" Steve held the letter.
"Maybe" Kami took the letter and read it "video call tomorrow, 11:30 a.m. Doesn't say anything more" Kamilla set the paper down.
"So we do what now, wait?" Steve asked in exasperation.
"Rest. You look like hell. The kid is right, you did get your ass beat" Sam stared at the purple bruise on Steve's face.