The Avengers walked away from Sokovia mostly unscathed. Pietro had a few bullet wounds but with his quick healing he was simply sore when they reached the Avengers Tower. Tony had been yelled at by Pepper the whole ride home. The other Avengers listened in, trying hard not to laugh.
"Pepper, I was trying-"
"I don't care, Tony. You didn't even ask me; you didn't even tell me. Dammit, Anthony, what were you thinking?"
"I was trying to help people. And he was supposed to be like Vision, but-"
"Woah, woah, wait. Who's Vision?" Tony cursed underneath his breath. "Tony, who is Vision?"
"He's…uh, he's…"
"Dammit Tony, you are in big trouble. When you get back to the tower I'm going to kick your ass."
"I'm guessing that's not a euphemism?"
"NO!"
"I love you."
"I love you too." Pepper said angrily. She takes a deep breath. "Also, I forgot because I was blind with rage. Remember before you had the lead on Loki's scepter, there was that real science problem you and Bruce had where you couldn't find the correct equation for the CDC?" Tony nodded but then realized she could see her.
"Yeah, I guess I'm going back to that pain in the ass."
"Someone came to me today and said they had figured it out." Tony stood up in the helicarrier.
"What? Wait, what?" Steve walked over to Tony, concerned. "Who? Give them my money, give them my car, give them my house, give them everything." The rest of the Avengers came close to Tony, extremely interested in why Tony would give this mystery person his life possessions.
"No, I'm mad at you. So I'm going to leave it as a surprise. And oh, it is a good surprise."
"I deserve that. Okay, I'll go be surprised. We'll be at the tower around three in the morning."
"Good. I gave them a key, and offered them a room. So, you may not see them until tomorrow morning. Goodnight, Tony."
"I love you."
"Sure." Pepper hung up.
"What was that, Tony?" Steve asked.
"A couple weeks ago, before the whole Ultron incident, Banner and I were working on how to get rid of this horrid sickness plaguing the world. You wouldn't know what it was, the CDC asked us to keep it down low. We couldn't find anything, and frankly, it pissed me off. Loki's scepter gave me a distraction; I thought maybe the answer would come to me if I wasn't paying attention to it. But yet, nothing. Now Pepper said some person figured it out and that they're at the tower."
"Is this person from SHIELD?" Natasha asked.
"Pepper is mad at me; she didn't tell me anything other than they are at the tower. I am so intrigued right now. FRIDAY?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Can we go faster?"
"Yes, sir. How much faster?"
"As fast as you can. I need to be at the tower now."
"Yes, sir." The AI responded.
The Avengers exited the helicarrier walking a bit slower than usual. Tony, on the other hand, raced into the tower.
"Stark, wait." Steve ran after him.
Tony and Steve were the first to enter the living room, they looked around and saw nothing amiss.
"Stark." Steve was standing in front of a red, leather, couch. "Found your magic scientist." Tony jogged over to the couch to find a teenage girl sleeping on her side. Her blonde hair draped over her face.
"A kid. This is a joke; this must be a joke. No, this is a foster kid who couldn't find a cab. Yeah, that's what this is."
The rest of the Avengers joined Stark and Steve staring down at the girl. She wore a grey V-neck, and jean shorts that seemed to had been worn for years. Her feet were covered in shoes that were falling apart at the soles.
"This kid can't be a scientist, or even a college graduate. Look at her." Tony whined. "We should wake her up and demand why she is in my tower."
"Let young girl sleep, Stark." Pietro said.
"Yeah, I'm not taking orders from you, Speedy." Tony snarled. Pietro put his hands up in surrender.
"Let's just all go to sleep and talk to her when she wakes up." Steve offered. The Avengers nodded and went to their own room.
Before leaving Pietro covered the mystery girl with a nearby blanket. He brushed her hair out of face and saw that she was, in fact, beautiful. But she had smudge across her face, like she worked near dirt.
Kennedy woke up with her hand crushed against her check and her other placed on the red, leather couch she was lying on. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, she just laid down to wait for Mr. Stark.
I guess I was more tired than I thought.
Kennedy sat up and stretched. She turned around to see that she wasn't alone. The whole Avengers team watched her with curious eyes as she stood and walked over to them.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep. Ms. Potts gave me a key, she said y'all would be here soon. I, uh, fell asleep." She walked over to Tony and stuck out her hand. "I'm Dr. Kennedy Garrett, it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Stark." Tony shook her hand with two fingers. Kennedy puts her hand in her back pocket. "I'm friends with one of your interns, he told me about the problem that you and Dr. Banner were having and I thought I'd give it a try. I believe to have solved it. I would like to go over it with you."
"Calm down, kid. We have all day to do that, take a seat. I need to trust you before you enter my kingdom." Kennedy looked around the table.
"He means his lab." Natasha clarified. Kennedy nodded and took a seat, she sat at the edge of her chair with her spin straight.
"You are doctor?" Wanda asked.
"Yes, I graduated a few months ago." Wanda smiled.
"Either you look way younger than you are, or you are really smart." Clint cut his eggs, while asking the question.
"Both. I'm 19 years old." Tony chocked on his coffee. "I know, it's weird."
"It's amazing." Pietro said expanding the word, leaning across the table. Wanda kicked his leg. "How did that happen?"
"I graduated high school at twelve, then did seven years of college in different places." Kennedy explained.
"Out of curiosity, what colleges?" Natasha asked.
"UT was first, then I went to a small college in Paris, then John Hopkins, Stanford, UCLA, I spent some time at Karolinska but most of that was more independent research. After that was London, and then I graduated from Harvard." The whole team jaws were dropped open.
"So, you flew to Paris when you were 14. Isn't that illegal?" James Rhodes asked.
"Yes, but the flight attendant must have lost her glasses temporarily while checking my passport." Kennedy smiled. Natasha smiled openly, she liked this girl.
"So, you grew up in Texas?" Natasha asked.
"Yes, ma'am."
"What are you doing in New York?" Tony asked.
"I'm trying to get a job at Carter Research Facility, specializing in outbreaks." For the first time Tony fully turned to her.
"Why don't you work for me?"
"Stark Industries? Uh, no offense, Mr. Stark, but your research facility doesn't focus on outbreaks. Actually, you don't focus on disease control at all." Tony nodded.
"We could always start." Kennedy leaned toward him.
"Are you offering me a job? Cuz, I need a job, I haven't worked in four months, four months. You know what I've been doing? Gardening. Like with plants and dirt and the outside." Pietro smiled at the frenzied girl. "I need a job. CRF has been keeping me on a string this whole time, not even an interview. I need to work, Mr. Stark. I need to help."
Tony looked down at his coffee, he didn't hate the girl. And he hated that he didn't hate her. He understood her frustration at not working, whenever Pepper thought he shouldn't be working he too thought that he could go insane.
"Alright, kid, you got yourself a job. Congratulations, welcome to Stark Industries." Tony stood up and put his plates in the sink. Kennedy looked at him with hope in her eyes. "Well, let's go, kid. We got people to save."
Kennedy stood up, pushing her chair into the table. "It was real nice to meet y'all."
"You are welcomed here anytime, Kennedy." Steve said. Kennedy nodded and almost skipped after Tony. After they were gone Steve looked at the team, "she is…"
"Amazing."
"Highly intelligent." Vision said.
"Krasivaya." Wanda smacked her brother's arm. "What?"
"Alright Avengers. Training time. Let's go." Steve announced and the team placed their dishes in the sink. Wanda grabbed Pietro's arm, holding him back.
"Pietro, I like her, and she is young. You cannot ruin her for me." Pietro laughed.
"Ruin her, sister? How would I ruin her?" Wanda growled and slapped his arm.
"Every friend I had back home you would sleep with then you'd break their hearts and I would be friendless. Now, we are in America, we are Avengers, we will start over. You can go out and sleep with girls who are dumb, leave Kennedy alone." Wanda warned before leaving the kitchen.
"As you wish, sister."