Wanda intensely watched Nightshade as she stood still. The bionic assassin didn't know what to do. She didn't have a superior to give her orders. The A.I. conscience knew that Ivanov had been killed in his own explosion, so there was really no point in carrying out the mission anymore. HYDRA no longer had a leader to lead them into freedom.
"Вы мой начальник?" Nightshade asked, turning to Wanda with a raised eyebrow.
Are you my superior?
Wanda shook her head, holding up her hands to show her that she meant no harm. "I'm your friend. I'm not here to hurt you."
Nightshade stared at her, unmoving. "Вы активировали меня?"
Did you activate me?
Wanda sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "I guess? I really don't know how. All we were doing was talking, and you suddenly became Nightshade, insulting the hell out of me."
Wanda's bedroom door burst open, Natasha, Bradley, and Tony running into the room with their weapons drawn. Wanda immediately stood in front of Nightshade, protectively with wide eyes. "Don't shoot her! She hasn't hurt me!"
Tony bent his fingers in a 'come here' gesture. "Wanda, come over here now. She's Nightshade, and she might attack unexpectedly."
"Должен ли я вынести их, начальник?" Nightshade asked to Wanda.
Do I have to endure them, superior?
Natasha lifted an eyebrow, pointing a finger at Wanda. "She just called Wanda her superior."
Wanda sent them a sheepish smile. "Yeah, I think it's because no one has given her orders since her main superior is dead, and I was the first person she saw. . .she assumes I'm the new one."
Tony lowered his armed hand, as did Natasha and Bradley. "So, she's not going to kill you?"
Wanda shrugged her shoulders. "Unless I order her to."
Bradley's eyes widen as he vigorously shook his head. "Well, let's not do that." He pointed the remote at Nightshade and pressed the button, but nothing happened. Her eyes stayed the same colour, and she didn't move. He pressed it again but got the same outcome.
Natasha, Wanda, and Tony looked at him expectantly and disapproval. "You did not just break it."
Bradley nervously chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. "Um. . .well. . ."
"I could just upgrade Jade to where she can control on changing back and forth," Tony thought out loud.
"That would work?" Bradley questioned, shifting his forest green eyes on Tony before flickering them onto Nightshade.
Natasha nodded, tapping her chin in thought. "It'll be the only way to get her back to Jade."
* * *
Tony looked at the holographic diagrams that hovered in front of him. He had used a neuro-brain scanner that he created to get inside Jade's mind. He had seen every memory that was still salvaged. Most of them were the years that she was captive in HYDRA.
He typed in some codes into the computer as the new set of memories rolled onto the screen. His smile faltered when he realised that he had entered deeper into the limbic system.
His brown eyes fell onto a sleeping Jade as he stared at her with sadness. "Why didn't you ever tell me that you were in the car with Victoria when she overdosed?"
His eyes flickered back onto the screen as he watched Victoria drinking an alcoholic beverage while speeding. He noticed Jade in the rearview mirror, screaming her head off as tears fell down her cheeks, praying for her mom to stop.
Then the pickup truck came crashing into the passenger side. The windshield shattered, and the car flipped over.
Tony squeezed her hand, gently but tightly. "I almost lost you."
* * *
Jade woke up slowly. Her amber eyes adjusted to the dim light of the lab. An oxygen mask was over her mouth; her heart started beating rapidly in nervousness and panic on not knowing where she was. Her attire didn't give off a good impression either, considering she was in one of those hospital robes that made people feel exposed.
Her head was killing her as well. The side of her head was throbbing. She gently ran her fingers over the scar that was on the right side of her head.
The lab door sliding open got her attention, and she whipped around, spotting Tony walk into the lab with a small smile on his face. "Jade, how are you feeling?" He asked as he removed the oxygen mask from her face.
She stared at him with wild eyes before slowly calming down. "I'm fine. Who are you?"
"I got the metal plate out of your head. But your bionic chip can't be reset. It's permanently implanted on the nerve cord," Tony informed, skipping introductions.
Jade stayed silent, breathing heavily. "So I do not need to kill?"
"Correct."
"Then why does it look like you're not fully satisfied?"
Tony sighed. "Because I didn't necessarily delete Nightshade's conscience. I gave you the ability to be able to change back and forth between the two of you. You are the only one able to do it, though. Also, I couldn't bring back your old memories. They're all there deep in your hippocampus; you'll just have to access them on your own. Ivanov put too much damage that I couldn't completely fix you."
Jade lowered her gaze as she slid off the lab table. "What if I never get them back? Or I never remember who I am?"
"Then we'll make new ones." Tony grabbed her shoulders, waiting to see if she'd pull away. When she gave no sign of that, he hugged her. "Jade, I got you back after three years. Do you really think I'm going to throw you on the street? Hell no, I'm going to be the father you always wanted me to be. I'm willing to try again if you are too."
"I'll try," Jade whispered. "I may not be good at it since this hug is really making me uncomfortable right now, but I'll try."
Tony let her go, pushing her back by her shoulders. "I'm sorry. We'll start with some baby steps."
Jade looked down at her attire with disgust. "I'd rather have my uniform back. I feel way to expose in this."
Tony chuckled as he walked behind his lab desk before picking up bags of girl clothes. He sat on the operation bed before pulling out sets of outfits. "I may have had Agent Hill and Wanda go clothes shopping for you." He handed her a pair of white ripped shorts as well as a black tank top and a black and white plaid flannel. "I personally wouldn't want you to wear this, but Agent Hill and Wanda said that you'd probably like it because this is what is in style with teenaged girls."
Jade shrugged, grasping the folded clothes. "I wouldn't know what I'd like. The only things I've ever really remember wearing are a poopy brown jumpsuit and my black HYDRA uniform."
Tony let out a small smile. "Well, that's going to change starting now. Whatever you want, I will give you." He held up a finger, pausing as he backtracked. "I will if it's nothing illegal."
Jade chuckled. "I'm over that illegal stuff. If anything, I'm done with missions. I want to find my way to being normal. I want to feel that again, you know? God, I've missed out on most of my teenaged years. I want those back because you only get to live those once."
"Why don't you go change, and I'll take you out," Tony offered. "What do you like? You like ice cream. . .um the flavours you'd always get as a child was a double whammy of blueberry and strawberry. We'll stop by this famous ice cream parlor in the city. Then afterward, how about we visit Times Square? Or the Statue of Lib—"
"Mr. Stark," Jade interjected with an amused look on her face. "Slow down; I'm not even dressed yet. Besides, we got all day. We don't really need an agenda. Let's just have fun."
Tony smiled for the first time in a long time. An actual genuine smile. He was getting the feeling he had when he and Jade went flying together for the first time in their suits at night with no worry in the world.
* * *
Jade looked around her with fascination as her amber eyes danced around each of the lit-up signs in Times Square. She walked a little ahead of Tony due to curiosity. He watched her with a tender smile as he finished up the rest of his vanilla ice cream held in a small stir-foam cup.
Jade took in every detail of the part of the city that they were currently in. When she moved to New York with Tony to live at the Stark Tower, she barely went out due to the news media. She stayed confined to what was provided to her within the building.
Jade stopped as she looked up at one billboard sign of some famous band that would perform at Madison Square Garden on the weekend. She perked up when the band's music started playing from the speakers nearby.
"You like them?" A male's voice asked from beside her, startling her just a tad. There was something about his voice that made her believe for a second that he was a girl.
She glanced over at him. "Never even heard of them."
The brown-haired boy chuckled, extending his hand out in greeting. "I-I'm Peter."
Jade looked down at his hand before fully turning her body towards the person. She grasped his hand, making eye contact with him. "No need to stutter."
Peter nervously smiled, nodding. "Yeah, I-I do that when I get nervous."
"What are you nervous about? We're just talking," Jade said with a light laugh.
Peter blushed before clearing his throat. "Uh, are you new here? I've been seeing how really fascinated you're getting."
Jade nodded. "Yeah, I am. I'm not from around here."
"That's cool. Where'd you move from?" Peter asked curiously. "I m-mean if you want to tell me. If not, that's cool."
Jade chuckled at how this kid was acting. It was kind of cute to her. "I lived in Northern Europe."
Peter's eyes widened. "Wow, that's honestly so cool."
Her eyes sought out Tony, who was observing nearby. "I have to go. It was nice talking to you." She quickly walked around him, heading towards Tony.
Peter spun on his heels, calling out for the girl. "Wait! I never got your name!"
She looked back at him from over her shoulder, her long ombré hair whipping to the side in the process. "I'm Subject JS2."
Peter made a facial expression as if he was a fish out of water. "Pardon?"
"Not interested," Tony cut in as he gripped Jade's arm. "My daughter is off limits, kid."
Peter gaped. "O-oh my god, I was talking to his daughter. I have a crush on his daughter," Peter said to himself as he watched them walk away.
Jade sent Tony a disbelief look as they walked in the opposite direction on the sidewalk. "I'm seventeen. I could've handled that independently."
"Yes, I know, but you've been isolated for a couple of years while being brainwashed. You obviously don't remember what boys in New York are like," Tony pointed out. "You tell them 'no', they won't care. They always come back."
"Aren't they like that everywhere?" Jade questioned.
"Only if they're respectful, but we live in New York," Tony replied. "The only respectful man that lives here in this state is probably Steve, or perhaps myself."
Jade laughed, shaking her head. "Okay, Mr. Stark."
Tony patted the top of her head. "We've been to Central Park, Times Square, had our favourite ice cream. Where to now?"
Jade shrugged, closing her eyes as she breathed in the spring city air. "We did all the things you thought I'd like to do. Why don't we do something you want to do."
Tony took a deep breath, nodding as he thought about what he wanted to do. "Ah, I don't know. All I want is to spend as much time as possible with you, now that I finally have you back."
"Well, what did we used to do together when I was a kid?" Jade asked, vaguely curious. "Do we have a father-daughter tradition that we would always do back then or something?"
"Building things," Tony replied. "Yeah, mostly we just built things in my lab."
"That seems boring, no offense. How about we race?" Jade suggested.
Tony lifted an eyebrow. "With what and where?"
"Don't you people have ATV four-wheelers in a storage building at the compound? We could race them in the back lot," Jade explained. "It's a lot of open ground."
Tony gave her a stern look. "Yes, but those are strictly for the agents when there's an emergency or a mission."
Jade smirked. "Well, I'm technically an agent. I was one at least, and you're the boss of the whole facility so. . ."
"Actually, Cap is the boss," Tony corrected, shaking a finger in disagreement. "I only make the team look cooler and pay for everything."
"Ouch."
"My point being is that we aren't going to race those four-wheelers in the back of the compound," Tony concluded.
Jade pouted, bringing out the puppy dog eyes with her brown eyes. "Please? Pretty please?" She asked in a somewhat higher voice.
Tony tried to avoid eye contact with her. "No, and that's final."
* * *
"I hate your puppy dog eyes," Tony mumbled as he slipped on his four-wheeler helmet.
Jade chuckled in triumph. She gripped the handles of the blue and black four-wheeler, revving up the engine, the sound blaring mean. She looked to the left, seeing Tony doing the same on his full black four-wheeler.
"Okay, we head to the lap pool, go around it once before coming back," Jade instructed, pointing as she gave off the directions of the race. "Whoever gets back here by the storage units wins."
Tony nodded. "Then we do something a little bit less dangerous."
"Dangerous? Be a man, Mr. Stark," Jade teased.
"Oh, it's not dangerous for me. For you, yes."
Jade rolled her eyes. "You want to talk about danger for me? Try jumping into oncoming traffic on the freeway just to kill a CIA agent because he had information that Ivanov wanted."
Tony widened his eyes. "You fucking did that?!"
Jade shrugged. "No vehicles touched me. Well, if they did, I kind of smashed them with my strength. It was an easy extraction. I was out of there before the cops even got word on what the hell was going on."
"You're not proud of it, are you?"
Jade sighed, licking her lips. "No." She leaned forward, her thumb hovering over the trigger that made the four-wheelers move. "On your mark. Get set. Go!" She pressed down on the trigger, zooming off.
Tony was right on her tail. They sped through the whole background area of the facility, catching the attention of workers inside the compound. They gathered around the glass windows, watching them with amused looks on their faces. Happy marched to the window, gazing down at the two people racing, a small smile forming onto his face. He was elated that those two were beginning to be themselves again.
He missed how it used to be back in 2010, once Tony had started to begin his new mindset after the whole explosive birthday party incident.
Jade checked over her shoulder, getting an idea of where Tony was at. He quickly turned the handlebars, going onto her right and passing her. Jade twisted the gray part on her handlebar, revving up the engine as she went even faster. They rounded the corner, racing neck-to-neck on the concrete around the lap pool.
After the second turn at the pool, Tony moved a little to the left, causing Jade to jerk the ATV away from him before they crashed. But the only direction she could've gone was to the left as well since Tony blocked her right. Jade screamed as her ATV lost control and sped right into the pool.
She dived into the coldness of the crystal blue chlorine water. She pushed her feet against the bottom of the pool, using that momentum to shoot out of the water. She coughed as she unstrapped her ATV helmet off of her wet head. Tony stood at the edge, trying his best not to laugh at her.
Jade frowned before sighing. "Go ahead, laugh at what just happened."
Tony burst out laughing. "Oh my god, I. . .was not planning for that to happen." He clutched his abs, bending down a little.
Jade cracked a smile, swimming over to the drowned ATV. She turned off the engine before pushing it towards the shallow end. "Okay, I'm going to take a shower now. I wasn't planning on going for a swim."
Agents helped her out as she got to the shallow end. She climbed out of the pool, the white jumpsuit soaking wet and sticking to her body.
Tony squeezed her shoulder, releasing a deep breath. "So that you know, I got that on video."
Jade groaned as they walked towards the facility. "Let me guess; you'll never let that go?"
Tony smirked. "You're damn right."
____________________