My names Nico. Just Nico
Nico stood on the corner of one of the busiest streets in town. Towering over her the greatest building she'd ever had the pleasure of entering. Not that most people knew she did.
For the past three months the sour lemon blond had left school early changing her normal route. Opting her walk to her foster home for one she actually enjoyed. Breaking, entering, and tampering. Her favored activities at Stark Labs.
She popped her gum with her cherry red lips as the lights turned green for her to cross. She stood out in the crowd of criss crossing people. Unlike the business men and women of the district, she had refused gray suits. Or gray for that matter.
She chose in stead a vintage look all her own. Adjourning her punkish 40's look she was far from average. Shorts, tank, flannel button up shirt a hoodie with fighter jet eyes on rather side of her head and her signature red riveter bandana. It worked well with her body type, flat, thin, and short but even better with her personality. Spunky, smart, and not afraid to fight. But her hair could do most of the talking for her.
Her name was Nico short for Nicole. At least that's what she thought. You never could be too sure with no parents to speak of. Her last name was anyone's guess. She had been a part of the system since birth. Not that it detoured her from livening as normal a life as she could. She had had a decent time at first making friends being the life of her homes party but it never lasted long.
Her life lately truly only had two up sides Stark Labs and her DJ/Diva gigs. She went by the stage name Rosie Eliot playing mostly in underground junctions and sometimes just plan underground. But nothing beat walking into a concert and performing her pants off wherever the place.
Well except using Starks equipment. Now that was a rush.
She waltzed with an ever present vigor and confidence to the back of the tower moving to the tune of one of her newest tracks.
Now you would think with all the security of a place like this that would be difficult. You would be right but. And yet it was laughably easy. She easily hacked the loading bay doors and slipped into the back halls of the lab. Again laughable so that never worried Nico. It was the less predictable things the got her.
She was half way down the halls when a man turned in and gave her an odd look. People. Those were the best and worst security. One because they weren't easily persuaded and two we Nico was a horrible lier.
She continued to walk with porpoise. Her faux dock Martians taping with each step.
"Who are you?" He asked. Authority in his tone. She showed him her badge and quickly handed it to him. She twisted her WW2 messenger bags strap. She supposed the feeling could be summed up as parts having ones art critiqued and parts walking threw a metal scanner knowing full well you have nothing but still worrying. He frowned "All right" he said "Just watch yourself, that badge is out of date might want to get a new one."
She nodded and continued. Out of Date. She frowned to herself. She had just made this badge a week ago. The badges weren't scheduled to change for another year. Something was up and she didn't like it. She new that getting caught again wouldn't end well so she took some halls most people didn't enter.
In truth she had walked these halls many times. Seen many faces some she recognized others not so much. To the people working there she was Sam's daughter. Which wasn't a total lie she was under the less than watchful eyes of Uncle Sam.
In this building she felt she belonged. She was some what happy more so than that place she called a home. However a House is not a Home.
She got closer to the best place in the building. The privet lab. A lab so privet the single man that worked there never actually showed up. But that was to be expected from the famous owner of the company. Tony Stark, Lazy, witty and somewhat predictable. If only.
Nico opened the glass doors to the lab with a swipe of her card. She walked over to the large computer. She willed it to pull up the new key card data and print a new one out for her all without touching a thing. She sat down in the large swivel chair waiting patiently for her card to pop up.
She could control Tech that however didn't mean she could get the printer to go any faster. Not that she was in a hurry. If she was she would have just pulled the card out of the screen.
She sighed and leaned into the chair. "It's good to be home."
"Eh, mines bigger."
Nico's once closed chocolate eyes opened and she spun the chair around.
"Better lighting too."
There leaned up against a table was the true owner of the establishment. A smug smile on his face. Nico looked at him trying to read his stubble covered face. Smug but curious.
In his hand he held her freshly made badge. Fantastic he had evidence. She could wipe the cameras but that wouldn't do much this time. She watched as his brown eyes lazily traced the card as he waited for a response.
"How long we're you there for?" She could feel the icky feeling of guilt growing in her.
"Long enough to see you mind meld my computer. Neat trick by the way but it's still not nice to play with other kids toys without permission."
"Just my luck," she sighed her elbows collapsing onto her knees supporting her hanging head.
This was it. She was caught and this time she wasn't getting out of it. Altho she surprisingly didn't have a record for all the breaking and entering she did. That was about to change.
Her eyes fell to her feet.
"Did you make that?" He asked pointing to an odd pice of machinery on the other side of the room. She looked over to her 'Sugar Glider' as she called it, in progress and nodded. Then her head fell again in the realization she would never get to finish her work. Again.
He looked it over then spoke over his shoulder. " I'm going to guess Amy Pond isn't your real name." He mused. Her eyes fell to the card in his hand. Maybe if she took it and ran what good would that do he knew who she was.
"I'm also gonna guess you've been here a few times and that your probably the glitch in my security system." He turned to her waiting for her answer.
She took in a deep sigh. "Fuck - Yah, I'm the glitch I mean i'm, oh im so screwed. She exhaled. "I suppose it's about time...My names Nico. Just Nico." Maybe she could talk him into letting her go. But that's not what really got her. "I'm gonna miss this place." She mumbled half hoping he would hear.
"Why?" Tony asked somewhat in amusement. Ass she thought.
"I like it here." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Tony nodded "So you want a job?" He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like the natural conclusion was to hire the stranger sitting in his lab.
Nico dead paned "What?!" She yelled.
"I said do you want a job?" He repeated again most natural thing.
"Why?" She stood up her anger getting to her. This jack ass was messing with her she deserved to be arrested not toyed with. "Why would you offer me a job!" she cried "I snuck into your facility, tampered with your equipment, hacked your systems! On top of that I've been stealing! Why would you want me to stay?"
"Because your the first, ever, to break into my facility. That's why I want to hire you." He said
"Are you nuts?" Nico asked
"Depends on what doctors you ask, you want the job or not?" He asked
Nico's face split into a giant grin. "Your serious. Fuck yah! Thank you so much Mr. Stark -"
"Tony, Mr. Stark was my father." he corrected
"Sure yah Tony. Oh this is so cool, I promise I won't let you down!"
She was the happiest she'd been in a long time. And it was only going to get better.
Nico was now official. Every day for the next month she had walked into the front doors of Stark Labs. She was finally doing something she loved and getting paid for it to. She couldn't help but love her first check. All those zeros. However it was short lived as her adoptive mother took them from her.
She groaned she was only 16. She had accomplished a lot but also found the only fruits of her labor to be the labor.
Nico had been given full control of the lab. She no longer had to hide. Plus she could order any equipment she wanted. (Some things were just to difficult to pull out of a screen plus when you pulled food out of the TV it was never real food they had filmed with it the first place.)
As she walked into her lab Nico found that everything was in disarray. Just the way she liked it. Her latest project lay on tables all over the place. Now that she no longer had to hide she no longer had to clean. Making her job all the funner.
She also noticed her partner in crime working on his own pice.
"Yo T, I got lunch." She called over the sounds of welding. She then proceeded to miniver thru the rubble
The welding stopped and he pulled off his goggles. His face was covered in ash. She laughed a little. He rolled his eyes. Then focused on the food.
"What ya get?" He asked picking apart the bag of fast food. For some reason he really loved Burger King.
"Pig ass." She said in return. In reference to the bacon cheese and meat monstrosity that lay in the bag.
"Thank for that visual." He said in return. She laughed. Then turned to her own work. "You not eating?" He asked.
"Na, I'm not hungry" She was tinkering until she looked up to see what he had been working. She could feel her stomach twist at the sight of the nearly complete missile.
It was another pice to his newest weapon. That was the one thing she truly hated about Tony, even with his corny jokes of flirtatious personality, was that with all his talent and genus he still made weapons.
She hated war. She always had for as long as she could remember. Looking at the weapon just made her blood boil. And that anger effected the world around her.
Tony frowned. She had no idea she was doing it or that she ever had. Just like always the machines and lights around her flickered and dimmed. He knew she was upset and he had a good idea why.
Tony would never say it upfront but he understood. He loved building. He loved the ideas. The thought that went into every project. That euphoric ah ha moment he knew so well. But he hated where he's genus ended up. He had honestly been able to block out the gilt for years, the thought of the people he had hurt and killed, but when she stood over his work he couldn't help but feel like a compleat and total ass.
"You ok Nico?" He asked hesitantly. The lights in the shop snapped back to a stable state. She looked at him nodded once then walked over to her own equipment. "You know-"
"It's ok T, " She cut him off with a sad smile. "I have no complaints or even room to make them." All the same her eye's still found the floor.
"Not everyone get's the choice's the want... Or the courage to make them." She finished and turned back to her Glider.
Tony could tell as the words left her lips they weren't for him. They were about her. In all honesty he knew very little of the small girl. She was smart but that was an understatement. She had a bundle of odd quirks least of which was her nick naming of others. She stayed in the shop as long as she could even when she was board, however that was very unusual.
He had seen much of her but had understood little. The one question he had wanted to ask he feared asking. Who was she? The girl that sat before him, where had she come from? Why was she here? How could she do the thugs she did.
Tony had turned a blind eye to her abilities in a sense. He never judged her or called her out on them. He knew first hand what being different was like. Who was he to judge?
He knew nothing of her home life. What she did outside of work. If she even went to school. He had dropped out long before her age. And he was home schooled. What was her story?
In a fleeting act of whimsy he asked.
"What's you're story?" And completely regretted it as he spoke.
Nico just kind of stared at him. The only word she said was "What?"
For as long as she'd been there he almost always asked questions about her tinkering or even the occasional question relating to clothing choices. He never asked about her home life because she had never mentioned it. She hadn't wanted to.
Tony got another spout of courage. Now he really wanted to know.
"No seriously I want to know what you do out side the shop."
"What, Why?"
"Because I want to know who I hired."
She frowned at him. " You know who you hired. A girl that had been breaking into your facility for three months." Well actually six but he didn't need to know that.
"Yah but still the whole mind meld thing needs explanation." Maybe he was pushing it a little.
Nico shook her head and sighed. If he wanted questions answers she would just have to do it in a way that left him with more questions. And she knew the perfect way.
"You know that's not the only thing I can do." She turned to a huge pice of equipment that hung on chains from the rafters. She put her hand out and forced the 3,000 pound item to lift. Tony was shocked to say the least but in an instant he noticed what she hadn't.
"Pretty cool hu?" She said as the equipment settled.
"Wait Nico Don't!"
She heard some horde metallic sound and the in a split second her world went black.