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"You're good to go on this end. The rest is up to you,"
Audelia Motter moved her hands around the holographic screens before her, moving bits and pieces around as she double checked the math and the schematics, looking down at the live video call on the screen and smiling at the sight of Tony.
"So you disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid? Because I don't want to flip this on and have it all go to shit,"
"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy," Tony told her, sending her a grin.
"You're just automatically assuming that the arc reactor is actually going to take over and work-"
"Dell, trust me for more than two seconds and light her up,"
The women let out a sigh, flipping the switch on the desk before turning to the floor to ceiling windows of the Stark Tower living room. A smile lit up her face as she saw the lights outlining the landing zone for the Imperial and Iron Man armors light up.
"How's it looking from your end?"
"Like Christmas, but with more... me,"
"Oh yeah, because that's what we all need," Audelia joked, laughing at the eye-roll Tony shot back at her. Her head popped up, shooting toward the hallway across the room as she heard laughter bouncing off the walls. "Hurry up and get in here so you can celebrate with the rest of us."
"T-minus one minute...or two, depends how slow JARVIS wants to be,"
With another laugh, Audelia Motter disconnected from the call, rising out of her chair as she saw Pepper came running down the hallway.
"It worked? It actually worked?" Deli nodded her head as the woman cheered, throwing her arms around Audelia in a hug that she happily reciprocated. "Oh god, you and Tony need to get out there and start doing press. You've got to go wider on the public awareness campaign. I'll set up some press interviews for tomorrow, I've got to take the jet to D.C. to work on zoning for the next three buildings-"
"Why don't you let her celebrate with this one over here before you bombard her with press, Pep?"
Deli turned away from Pepper, smiling as she saw Nathan Porter exiting the hallway. Her eyes trailed down to the little 5 month old baby cradled in his arms, her smile going even wider as she stalked over, taking her daughter right out of his arms and placing a kiss on her head.
"How about that, Rora? We did it baby!" the little girl let out a tiny giggle as Audelia rubbed her nose against her daughter's, carrying her around the room and back over to the table reading the stats on their newest creation as Pepper and Nathan watched her with a grin. She looked over the numbers quickly before looking down at Rora's smiling face, whispering softly to her. "You know, Tony already told me that one day, this is all going to be your's. The tower, the company, all run by little Aurora."
"Little Aurora who's going to outshine all of us one day," Deli turned around, smiling as TOny walked through the balcony doors to stand beside her, bopping Aurora on the nose quickly as the little girl giggled.
"The levels are holding steady,"
"Of course they are, we designed it and were directly involved, though this was Pepper's idea," Tony and Deli turned to face Pepper and Nathan, who were pouring champagne glasses for all of them. "So, Pepper, how's it feel being a genius?"
"Don't try and give me all the credit for this," she chimed in from across the room as Nathan laughed. "This all came from the arc reactor, not me."
"Come on, Pepper, this is your baby!" Deli cried out, pointing at the screen.
"Yeah, give yourself at most 12% of the credit,"
Audelia, Pepper, and even Nathan stopped what they were doing to turn and face Tony with raised eyebrows.
"12%?"
"Honestly, Tony, you're giving her 12% of the credit?" Deli scolded him, though she was still smiling. "It was her idea!"
"We can make an argument for 15%. Deli, give yourself about 35% of the credit," the woman's eyes widened as Tony quickly took Aurora from her hands and backed away, knowing she wouldn't hurt him if he was holding her daughter. "I did all the heavy lifting!"
"I spent four hours underwater getting the pieces in place," Audelia shot back as she followed him into the sunken living room. "And don't use my damn daughter as a shield."
Tony put his hand up in defeat, passing Aurora back over to her father as Pepper handed them both glasses of champagne, the four sitting around the living room together prepared to celebrate their newest accomplishment.
"Sir, the telephone," JARVIS's voice rang out over the speakers. "I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten."
Audelia passed Tony his phone as he opened it up, accepting the call as Phil Coulson's face appeared on the screen.
"Mr. Stark-"
"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message-"
The elevator door opened across the room, cutting off Tony's comments as Phil Coulson appeared, not looking particularly impressed with the man on the couch as he moved into the room.
"Security breach!"
"Phil!" Deli called out, climbing off the couch as she met the agent across the room, bringing him into a quick hug. "It's been so long since we've seen you! How have you been?"
"Good to see you too, Ms. Motter, I've been good," Coulson smiled, pulling back from the woman. "Congrats on Aurora by the way, I got those pictures you sent me."
"I thought his first name was agent?" Tony questioned as he moved across the room to where they were, behind Nathan and Pepper.
Coulson greeted Pepper with a hug and waved at little Aurora, before shaking hands with Nathan, who he had met briefly months ago.
"Good to see you, Mr. Porter. Congrats on the promotion at the hospital by the way. You stationed primarily at New York now?"
"They've had me splitting my time between New York and Malibu for the last year or so," Nate told the man, smiling down at his daughter in his arms. "It's not so bad with this one and her mom are mainly up here-"
"Are we really ignoring the fact that his first name is definitely agent?" Tony chimed in again as Audelia dug her elbow into his side to shut him up. Phil turned back to him, still unimpressed before handing a file to both Audelia and Tony.
"We need you both to look this over," Audelia took the file, knowing Tony would be stubborn and wouldn't take it. "As soon as possible."
"Is this about the Avengers Initiative?" Nathan questioned, shrinking back at the look that Coulson sent his way. "...that Pepper and I definitely don't know anything about."
Tony and Audelia moved back across the room as the woman opened the large file, producing the tablet inside as she got it set up and ready to go.
"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought? And I didn't even qualify, but Dell did. Apparently I'm volatile, self- obsessed, don't play well with others,"
"This isn't about personality profiles anymore," Coulson informed them from across the room. "We need all hands on deck."
"Just relax for two seconds, Tony," Deli told her bets friend, shooting him a look. "Phil seems pretty shaken up, I think we're dealing with something pretty serious."
Audelia placed the tablet down on the desk across the room, hitting a sequence of keys before she dragged the information on the tablet onto the holographic boards in front of her.
The pair stood in shock, looking around at the information portrayed to them on the screens. Files, information, pictures, videos, it was all laid out before them.
Video feed of the scientist, Bruce Banner, and the incident that leveled Harlem was presented on one of the screens, a blur of green running in front of the cameras.
One showed feed of some of Natasha Romanoff's missions, along with a man that Nat had once told Audelia about, Clint Barton.
There was information and recordings from an incident in New Mexico that Audelia knew Phil had been assigned to, showing a man with long blonde hair followed by a bolt of lightning hitting the ground not far from the camera man.
The last information screen showcased Steve Rogers, Captain America himself. There was old video feed from his missions in WWII, along with a flash of pictures showing him frozen in the ice.
"You found Captain America?" Audelia turned, asking Phil with wide eyes and almost sounding breathless as Nathan and Pepper moved toward the pair in front of the screens. Phil only nodded in response as she turned back to the screens.
"Pepper, you need to take the jet to D.C. tonight," Tony informed the woman as they turned to face the two behind them.
Audelia took a step toward Nathan and her daughter, looking up at her fiance.
"I need you to take Aurora and go with Pepper. I don't know what we're dealing with but if something happens I need you both out of New York,"
"If something happens, though, I have to be in New York," Nathan argued back. "The hospital is short staffed this week, they sent some of the newbies down to Malibu for training and half the board is in Germany for a conference. If something happens I need to be on call for surgery."
"But I can't have Rora here if-"
"I can take her, it's okay," Pepper chimed in, quickly moving over to the frantic Audelia and placing a hand on her arm. "My goddaughter can come with me, it'll be fine. Nathan and I will leave tonight. I'll take Aurora and head to D.C. and Nate can head over to the hospital and make sure they're prepared for anything. You two have homework...a lot of it."
Deli swallowed the lump in her throat, looking between Nathan and Pepper before looking back at Tony. He nodded his head as she sighed, turning back to Pepper and Nathan and agreeing.
Nate leaned down, pressing a quick kiss to Audelia's lips as she then leaned down, pressing a kiss to her daughter's forehead.
"You be good for Pepper, okay baby?" she whispered, stroking her cheek as she looked into her daughter's eyes. "I'll see you soon, sweetheart, I promise."
Tony walked over, taking Aurora out of Nate's arms to say goodbye to her as Deli turned to face Nate.
"Be careful," he warned her, tugging her into a hug. "Whatever this is...it looks bad."
"You be careful, too," she told him, pulling away as Tony handed him his daughter back. "If something happens and it ends up in downtown I'll let you know, give you time to get the hospital prepped."
Nathan and Pepper bid the pair goodbye one more time, grabbing their jackets as Nathan adjusted his hold on Aurora, walking over to the elevators as they climbed inside with Phil, leaving just Tony and Audelia alone in the tower.
Tony placed as arm around Audelia's waist, pulling her into his side and placing a kiss on her head, trying to calm her nerves as they looked around at the screens one last time, before their eyes laid on the hologram of the blue cube lying before them.
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WE ARE HERE PARTY PEOPLE LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLEEEEEEEE