And we're off on the fifth installment of the Junior Initiative series! I'm so sorry that this story took so long to get to you guys, but it is fourteen chapters long, so maybe that'll make up for the wait. The first section is just a part of the last story, so that you know where everybody's at, then we get into this story.
"Okay, guys," Pepper said as the teenagers piled into Avengers Tower behind her and the Avengers late that night. "I know that New York City is a big change from Vermillion, that you're used to your independence, and that you probably don't trust any of us adults, but you will find that there are perks to living here. For example, we have more than enough bedrooms for you each to have your own. You can go ahead and pick whatever room you want; if someone is already there, you'll know by the mess they leave."
"You guys would like the seventh floor of the Avenger's part of this place, I bet," Tony volunteered as he walked up to the group. "There are only eight suites, but they're all empty; you guys would essentially have your own floor."
That's all the kids needed to hear before they were loading themselves onto the elevator with the few things that they had packed from the Junior Initiative Division and disappearing.
"Meeting in the entertainment room," Tony ordered flatly as the rest of his team trickled into the tower around him. "Now."
"What do you want to bet their talking about us down there?" Hazel asked flatly as the JID kids hauled their suitcases off of the elevator and onto the seventh floor of Avengers Tower.
"I'm sure they are," Hayne answered her tiredly.
Andy replied, "I guess it's time for us to talk about them then."
"What?" Eif asked him.
"I thought we did that earlier before we met them," Ryan said.
"Yeah," Andy agreed. "But that was to get intel; we need to set up a long-term plan now."
"Right now?" Scarlet complained. "Can't we do it in the morning – after we get some sleep? We went on our first mission; this has been the longest day ever."
Andy insisted, "Then I'm sure you guys won't mind if we make it a few minutes longer."
Ryan muttered something unintelligible under his breath before he backed Andy up, ordering, "Find a bedroom to drop your stuff in and then we'll meet in whichever room Andy chooses."
A couple minutes later, the eight teenagers were all sprawled across Andy's new bedroom in Avengers Tower, which was much bigger than the room he and Ryan had shared at JID. Andy sat cross-legged in front of the headboard and Hazel folded herself up beside him, laying her head tiredly over on his shoulder. Blaine stood with his ankles crossed, leaning disinterestedly against a wall with his arms crossed over his chest. When Eif settled onto the floor beside Blaine, Ryan sat down a couple of feet away from her. Dakota crawled onto the middle of the bed, and Hayne settled on the bed against the footboard. Scarlet sighed dramatically and flopped onto her back with her head in Hayne's lap and her legs dangling off of the edge of the bed.
"What do we need to talk about now?" the auburn-haired girl asked.
"How do we handle living here?" Andy asked. "What do we want to do in the foreseeable future? Do we trust them or not?"
"Can I suggest something insane?" Hazel asked drily. "What about just being ourselves?"
"Green guys, suits, and everything?" Hayne asked. "That doesn't sound like a plan."
"Why not?" Eif asked. "Don't the Avengers already have those things on their own team?"
"I'm not saying that we need to tell them everything right this instant, Andy;" Hazel said, intertwining her fingers with her boyfriend's. "I'm asking why be so guarded? Why not just let things come out as they will? Let the chips fall where they may, and see what happens. We've learned to role with Fury's punches, why not apply that here and just go with it?"
Andy cast a glance around the room, registering seven nods of agreement before he replied carefully, "Alright then. Let's just see what happens."
No one really slept the night that they brought the JID kids from Vermillion, South Dakota to Avengers Tower, yet Pepper was up at the crack of dawn, as always. Although she assumed the children were all still asleep, she found herself wandering to the previously unused seventh floor of the Avengers' quarters, which the eight teens appeared to have every intention of taking over. Stepping off of the elevator, she was surprised to hear someone clanking around in the kitchen. She was even more surprised when she walked in and saw it was Dakota, hers and Tony's fourteen year old daughter that they had only been reunited with the day before after having given her up to Fury and Agent Hill at a month old.
"Good morning," she offered softly to the girl whose back was turned tensely to her.
The teen's stiffness was the only indication that she recognized Pepper's presence until Dakota asked, "What are you doing up here?"
"I thought I'd just come up and see how you were settling in," Pepper answered lightly, trying to ease the awkward tension.
Dakota kept on mixing the bowl of batter that she had in her hands and stayed with her back to her mother as she asked, "Me personally or the others too?"
"All of us adults are concerned about all of you," Pepper answered, taking a step farther into the room.
"We're all very adept at taking care of ourselves, thanks," Dakota said coldly.
"I know," Pepper replied softly. "But you shouldn't have to be. That's what your parents are for."
"Oh is it?" Dakota laughed drily. "And you would know that how exactly?"
"Dakota, please, listen!" Pepper begged, stepping up and turning her daughter around by the shoulders, forcing blue eyes to meet blue eyes. "As much as Fury hurt you kids, that's how badly he fooled us adults. I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am – that we didn't see through him, or that we let you go at all – and I will do everything in my power to make it up to you."
"You can't," Dakota said bluntly. "There's nothing you can do. I was almost killed because of Fury! There is absolutely no undoing anything or the nightmares that come with it all."
"Sweetheart, I am so, so sorry for everything that you and your friends have been through…"
"Me too," Dakota said softly, once again turning her back to Pepper as her face began to redden.
And suddenly the teenager had begun to sob, and it caught both mother and daughter so off guard that not only did Pepper wrap the girl in her arms, but Dakota went willingly, clinging to the woman who had given birth to her for all that she was worth while Pepper held on to her just as tightly. Wave after wave of tears hit her shaking child, and Pepper felt helpless, knowing that she could do nothing more than hold her through the storm.
When at last Dakota's tears were reduced to watery sniffles, Pepper brushed the girl's hair back out of her eyes and kissed her on the top of her head, asking ever so gently, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Dakota shook her head, but answered softly anyway, "I was so afraid I was going to die that day that Maria took me into the mountains… and then when we got back to JID, Andy dragged them right into training for a mission, and I kept myself busy too, just so that I didn't have to think about what had happened. Then there was them going on the actual mission, and you guys showing up, and I've just kept busy for the past six months so that I don't have to think about everything, and…"
"And you just needed the purge," Pepper supplied, keeping her hands on her daughter's shoulders even as the teenager stepped back.
Dakota shrugged, embarrassed at her outburst. "I guess."
"That's fine, sweetheart, normal even." Pepper's voice dropped to a heartfelt whisper meant just for her child when she added, "That's what parents are here for."
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