After dinner we all ended up on the couch watching a movie.
"Are we going to talk about it"? Bruce asks.
"About what"? Nat asks cautiously.
"The fact that despite the tracking algorithm Mia made. Amara walked right in like she owned the place" Steve adds.
"What are you saying Captain Rogers"? Jarvis inquires.
Steve struggles for words rendered speechless by Jarvis's lightning quick timing.
"He's saying J I think it's time for an upgrade" I tell him.
"Of course" Jarvis replies.
"I mean no disrespect Jarvis" Steve says looking at the ceiling.
"No harm done Captain"
Steve nods thankfully, still looking a little bit nervous like if he said the wrong thing Jarvis might stop ordering all Steve's art supplies.
"I will get right on that upgrade for you Jarvis- the workshop! Did that witch go in my workshop" I demand with a gasp.
Bruce can only nod.
"Jarvis! Did that she witch touch the mark 41"? I ask getting up as fast as my body will allow.
"It does not appear so" He replies.
I start shuffling to the elevator unaware of Bruce following right behind me.
"I shouldn't let you go down there. You on some pretty good pain medications if you're anything like Tony it wouldn't be safe" He says sympathetically.
"Bruce? Seriously? I need to know if she messed with my armor I've spent hours on that" I say wanting to pick him up and move him out of my way.
"Let her go Bruce, or who knows what she's going take apart and put back together up here" Clint pipes up from the couch.
Reluctantly Bruce steps away from the elevator doors, I thank Clint and go down to my workshop if Tony comes back he can build a new one.
I open the doors and sigh I'm home.
"Welcome home Ms Stark everything is mostly how you left it" Jarvis says.
I squint, mostly?
"Mostly"? I ask him.
"She painted Dum-E pink" He confesses.
"Tell the guys to come down here. Dum-E is part of this team, we are going to clean him up together" I say.
Dum-E rolls out completely pink and making sad whirring sounds.
"Oh what did she do to you" I ask touching his claw.
A couple minutes later the team walk in looking worried.
"What's up"? Clint asks.
"He's pink"! I say waving my hand at Dum-E.
"Why is he pink"? Steve asks confused.
"Amara, painted my robot" I say getting out buckets and rags.
"Dum-E pink is not your color" Nat says to the robot.
He shakes his head beeping an affirmative.
A thought sticks in my head, why did Jarvis let Amara get away with painting Dum-E pink?
"J? Did you let her paint him pink"? I ask while filing the bucket with water and paint removal stuff.
"My apologies Ms Stark. It was before we knew you weren't you" He explains sadly.
I nod. We get to work cleaning up Dummy by the time we finish its late in the evening.
Clint point of view
Poor Dummy it seems no one in this tower escaped Amara unscathed, he looked so sad all covered in pink paint.
"Agent Barton? It is late I recommend sleeping" Jarvis suggests.
I lean my head back on the couch wondering if it's worth it to try sleep lord knows I will wake up from another nightmare.
"I'm alright Jarvis. I appreciate the concern though" I say dismissing his concerns.
I jump when I hear a muffled crash like glass. I follow to where it sounded like the noise came from I get worried when I get to Mia's bedroom door.
"Crap" Her voice floats through the door.
I open the door, she's sitting on the edge of the bed glaring at the pile of shattered glass on the floor.
"You ok"? I ask taking in the tangled blankets and the weary expression on her face.
"I bumped the glass" Mia grumbles twisting her fingers molding the glass into a clear orb.
"Nightmare"? I ask knowingly.
Her eyes flick up to meet mine like I had just read her mind.
"Can I tell you something"? Mia asks placing the glass ball on a jewelry dish on her dresser.
"Yeah sure" I nod sitting down next to her.
"I remember things from when Amara was in my body" She starts.
Wow.
"Really"? I ask trying to not sound too shocked.
"Yeah, like the sound of the quinjet leaving Arizona or the fight you had with her. Others are just feelings or emotions from her mind" Mia explains absentmindedly playing with a strand of her hair.
"Yeah that" I sigh rubbing the back of my neck suddenly feeling the guilt again.
"It's ok Clint it wasn't me" Mia adds.
"Doesn't make it ok, I mean we said we wouldn't yell at each other like that" I say ducking my head.
"Are you or the team doing anything thing tomorrow"? She asks.
I think about it, now that we have our sparkles back no we aren't doing anything.
"No. Why"? I ask nearly getting lost in her eyes.
"There's someone I want you guys to meet" She says.
I feel a sudden spike of jealousy is that what it is? My mind wondering if she met someone and didn't tell us.
"Ok" I say hesitantly.
"Good. Well I'm gonna to try and get some sleep, you should try too. You know Bruce will be all over your case if you can't keep your eyes open during breakfast" She says pushing me out the door with her powers.
I find myself chuckling this what I was missing while she was gone. Our late night chats or training sessions, she brings out the carefree side of me that I thought was buried too deep.
Mia point of view
I lightly push Clint to the door he's chuckling a goofy smile on his face.
"Night hotshot" I say gently laying back down.
"Night sparkles" He grins.
I groan.
"Is that going to stick"? I ask covering my face with my hands.
"I think it is" He says as he walks away.
-the next day-
The winter sun streams in the windows in my room, I didn't get back to sleep but winter sunrises are are still my favorite kind.
"Ms Stark"? Jarvis asks softly.
"Yes Jarvis" I ask him.
"Justin Hammer is on the line for you" He says carefully.
"What does that guy want"? I demand.
"Unknown Ms Stark, but he is insisting" Jarvis reports.
"Alright put him through. Voice call only" I say with a sigh.
"Amelia Stark it has been too long since we spoke" Justin drawls.
I roll my eyes at his flirtatious tone.
"Not nearly long enough Hammer. Now what do you want? I have things to do today" I say getting up to pick out my clothes.
He only grins wider, which is very off putting.
"I think those plans will have to wait"
"Why is tha"? I ask tossing my outfit on my bed.
"I think the Avengers will be quite busy in about three minutes" He says smugly.
"What did you do"? I ask him.
Before he can reply the tower rumbles and I hear an explosion.
"Have fun with my new and improved Hammer bots" He says ending the call.
I run out to the common room.
"Guys! Hammer-"
"We know. He just set off an explosion near midtown high, it's lunch at the school" Steve growls.
Meaning lots of kids in the open, which also means potentially many civilian casualties.
"Let's go" I say summoning my suit I blink out then reappear in my suit.
Bruce looks like he's going to argue I shake my head at him.
"We don't have time for this" Steve says.
Thor and I teleport to where the explosion originated. The whole block is crawling with strange looking Hammer bots.
"This is new"
"Yeah. He did say 'new and improved' I guess this is what he meant" I say looking around.
"Jarvis? You getting this"? I ask dropping into a fighting stance.
"Yes it appears that they have been retrofitted with Hydra technology"
"Hydra"? I echo, staring wide eyed at Thor.
That's when the battle started, soon after the rest of the team showed up. We paired off then split up each pair taking on a different pocket of robots.
I as blast a robot I hear Thor scream in complete agony, I spin around Thor is down clutching his arm.
"Thor" I call out, running to him.
"That's not possible" He grits through his teeth.
I toss up a wall of energy against the still attacking robots.
"Is it broken"? I ask my hands hovering over his right arm.
He can only nod, his eyes fog because of the pain. I take a protective stance in front of Thor.
"Thor is down. I repeat Thor is down" I say on com.
As soon as the words were spoken there's a flurry of questions in my ear.
"The robots are fitted with Hydra tech" I say leaving a bubble of energy around Thor.
It's silent on the com channel as they process this new information.
"Hammer is working with Hdyra" Clint demands sharply.
"Looks that way" I say gathering as much energy to my hands as possible forming a energy bomb.
I lift it up then bring it back down hard effectively smashing the bots, I sigh happily when I see the quinjet over head.
I stop when I see a robot sparking and glitching out on the ground.
"This isn't over Avengers" The garbled voice of Hammer says.
"It is today" I say crushing it under my boot.
...