"You guys are spies? What is this Spy kids?"
Ro thought she was toast when her parents called her to the kitchen and told her they needed to talk. She expected a grounding and was racking her brains to figure out what she'd done lately that could warrant one. She wasn't expecting this. This had to be a joke.
"Were spies, and with less thumb-people" Her dad tried to joke.
"Leo, this is not the time." Her mother scolded.
This was a major lie, nothing to do with Santa or the tooth fairy. Her mom was a saleswoman, her dad was the IT guy, or so she'd believed. When Captain America had exposed S.H.I.E.L.D. to the public she'd watched in awe, far from imagining her parents could have ever worked for such an organization. At fourteen, Ro's parents were just that, her parents. They couldn't have lived a double life right under her nose, or maybe they could've.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. was a secret governmental organization, but we weren't spies." Her mom reasoned.
"What did you do?" She watched carefully their facial expressions, one of them was bound to crack. Was this a cruel and unusual punishment? Did they start a family prank channel on youtube?
"Your mom was a field agent and I worked on the tech so it wasn't that far off really." Leo Anderson said attempting not to look too happy to share this information with his daughter when she still looked confused and angsty about the whole secret-being-kept-from-her-for-fourteen-years part.
"So mom's Bond and you're Q."
"Can we drop the references?" Her mom signed.
"I'm sorry, would you prefer I break down over the fact that my entire life was a lie and I'm only hearing about this because Captain America put you out of a job."
"Technically, your life wasn't a lie, ours were."
"Leo!" Danielle exclaimed throwing her hands up. She took a seat across her daughter at the kitchen table, laid her hands flat in front of her. The move which could have once appeared calming now seemed calculated. Ro met her mom's gaze head-on. Negotiating had always been a talent she'd admired in her mom, now it made the room feel colder like she was sitting under a light in an interrogation room. "We are telling you now, but were always planning on telling you when you turned eighteen. Captain America had nothing to do with our decision to tell you the truth and he certainly didn't put us out of a job. What happened in Washington was bigger than him."
"Why tell me when I got older?" Ro crossed her arms. "Did you expect me to follow in your footsteps? The martial arts classes, the hacking lessons, was my entire life a boot camp for the real deal?"
"You will always have the choice over what you want to do with your life." Her dad said resting his hands on his wife's shoulders. "We would never force that sort of life on you."
"I know this is a lot and we'd never expect you to be okay with all of it right away, but remember we love you." Her mom's eyes drifted towards the sky like they always did before she spoke of the past. "Fighting for justice like this, it runs in the family, it's your legacy."
"No." Ro protested. "People aren't born crime fighters, just like they aren't born criminals."
"Maybe you'll think differently when you learn that Nana was one of the first S.H.I.E.L.D. agents recruited by co-founder, Peggy Carter, herself."
"Wait, Nana was what?"
A year later it seemed Ro wasn't far from following in her family's footsteps after all. Sure S.H. .D. was gone, but standing in front of the Avengers' tower, she was pretty confident this was a move worthy of her great-grandmother. She was technically going to sneak in the tower and potentially steal an A.I., but it was all for the greater good, honestly.
In the year following her parents' confession, Ro had slowly come to terms with her parents' secret. They hadn't been criminals. In fact, being agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't that different from being a CIA agent or a member of the NYPD's computer crimes squad which were now respectively her mom and dad's jobs. Although, knowing still had its hardships, the daughter spent a lot of time worrying about her mom's whereabouts when she was away at work. Any attempts from her parents at reassuring her were met with doubts. Was Rosabella having trust issues? Well, she was just about to steal from Iron Man in order to keep a closer eye on her mom.
Sneaking into Stark Tower wasn't all that hard. Sure the upper levels dedicated to the Avengers were secured, but the lobby, not so much. Tourists would come in and out all day long and fans would stand in cosplay out front in hopes of catching a glimpse of the heroes.
Ro could blend in without a problem any day. Thanks to her handy recon mission a few weeks prior (it was totally a recon mission and not her cosplaying with Liz and a few others), she knew how to get around in order to get in and out quickly without drawing attention to herself.
Using her cloned I.D. card she found her way to the third floor without a stitch. Thank god for interns who liked to brag on social media. A quick search and she'd found Chad Jackson an intern who just loved to share every single detail of his internship #madeit #suckstobeyou. Less than 20 minutes on his page and Ro had found which department he worked in therefore which floor he had access to, as well as his full name, major, last place of employment and favourite coffee shop. Less than two days later, she had "bumped" into him all style and bam she had her way in. Again, security on the low levels left to be desired and that was a mistake she was more than willing to exploit. Once on the third floor she had access to the IT's workspace and hacking the upper levels was child's play.
But after making it in the Tower unnoticed her luck ran out. Seated at one of the desks, she didn't get her hands on an A.I. Thunder sounded above and as lightning travelled through the entire building. Thor had put an end to the Avengers' bickering on the top floor. His hammer bringing Vision to life, electricity and energy from the mind stone made its way to the third floor and sent the unsuspecting teen flying out of her seat, knocking her out cold.
Jolting awake, Ro looked around her trying to find out how long she'd been unconscious. Fighting the pounding in her head, she located her phone not far from her, the screen lighting up as her eyes came across the device. Only minutes had passed. Not wanting to wait and see if someone would come around to tell her she'd been found out and not wanting to push her luck any further (she was sure she'd used the last of it surviving a lightning strike or whatever it was that had happened), she ran for the exit.
Passing the elevator on her way to the stairs, the doors opened up in front of her. Her heart leaping in her throat, she found it empty. No one had called it, yet there it was. She got in and pressed her shaking finger on the ground floor button. The elevator began its descent. She didn't hide her face from the cameras anymore not that it mattered as every single one on her path inexplicably turned off in her presence.
Once outside, she didn't glance back. She had failed to leave with what she had sought to steal. She would later come to find that she had not left empty-handed at all. In fact, she had gotten a whole lot more than she'd bargained for.
Hearing knocking at the door of her apartment Ro jumped to her feet itching for a break from the endless hours she'd spent thinking about the accords and the bombing in Vienna. Opening the door she found her worries had materialized on her doorstep in the form of Tony Stark.
"Who is it?" Her dad shouted his voice coming closer.
"Pizza delivery guy, um... wrong door, I'll show him the way." She threw over her shoulder stepping out before her dad could catch a glimpse of who was truly standing at their door.
"Not inviting me in?" Stark greeted her. "Probably smart. Fewer questions, no need for a cover story."
Ro shushed him, looking around for any neighbour who might catch her talking with the Avenger. "Roof. We can talk on the roof and keep your voice down, I don't need people seeing me with you."
Once outside, the wind and the implications of Stark's visit hit her in the face. She did not turn to face him right away. Surely, this visit was about the Accords, he simply could not afford to focus on anything else, but how did she fit in this. He couldn't be there to make her sign the accords, right?
"I don't think introductions are necessary, do you?" He said breaking the silence.
Ro spun around. She didn't have time for this. He didn't have time for this. If he wasn't going to cut to the chase then she would or as much as she could without incriminating herself. After all, she didn't know how much he knew.
"How do you know? What do you know?"
"You have powers, hacking skills too fast to be human, too good to be true."
Ro shrugged. "I'm good, nothing more to it."
"Except that you weren't so good until you sneaked into my tower two years ago, on the same night we created Vision with that alien jewel that's now on his forehead. That's quite the coincidence, no?"
Now, she could have denied it. She'd kept the secret to herself for two years and could have tried to keep to it to herself longer, but anger rose in her. She'd spent those two years caring the burden of her powers alone and he had let her?
"You knew this whole time and you didn't say anything." Her tone was rising by the second. The worry and stress of the last hours gave into her anger.
"You weren't doing anything illegal or too illegal anyway, and you didn't show any sign of wanting to reach out to us or doing more than staying in your room hiding behind your screens." He dismissed waving his hand as if brushing her aside.
"But now things have changed. So you just barge in here because you need something."
"I think you know what's changed." He answered more seriously this time. From his phone, he projected footage from one of the many news channels that covered the attack on the UN council, the very same she'd been watching before he knocked on her door. "We need to apprehend the suspect responsible for this attack and Cap's making it... difficult."
"You're going after your own team and you want me to help you? Fat chances."
Tony got rid of the images and fiddled with his watch. He looked exhausted, he had met resistance from everybody around him the last few days and to have this argument with a feisty teenager as more than he had prepared for on his way to Queens.
"They've left me no choice. You can go back to hiding in your den afterward, no long-term commitment needed." He compromised.
"You think I'm going to buy that? There will be no going back. Even if I don't go with you, the Sokovia accords will catch up to me. The accords are setting a precedent. It's not just about the Avengers. They open the door to regulation of all powered-people, that includes me." She wanted so badly for the conversation to return to the accords, this infighting was pointless. Didn't he understand that she was scared?
"I'm not here to talk about the accords. I'm not here to make you sign or-"
"It's all related. You are about to fight each other and use your fists when what this situation needs is diplomacy. You're not accomplishing anything by going head to head. In fact, you are all letting down the very people you swore you'd protect."
"I don't need a lecture from a sixteen-year-old." Tony rubbed his hand over his face letting out sharp exhale when it came in contact with his freshly bruised eye.
"I turn seventeen in a month," Ro said her voice turning quieter. "If you didn't want a teen's opinion why did you come to one in the first place? Who in their right mind recruits a minor."
"We need all the help we can get. When I leave, I'm going over to the Spiderling's place."
"Are you threatening to go recruit a fifteen-year-old if I don't come with you?" Her voice was sharp, her jaw set, she was no longer burning with anger. She was so cold, Tony had to admit she looked much older than she was.
"No, I'm not. I'm giving you a heads-up about what's going to happen next regardless of your decision."
Maybe he believed what he was saying or maybe he was hoping she'd come along if she was worried about the younger hero, but his intention didn't matter. She could never go along with someone willing to let her and Peter fight against trained professionals. She was wise enough to know that he didn't have all the answers that adults should try to keep her safe even if she thought she was ready.
"We're done here." She said walking to the edge of the roof to look at the skyline in silence. When she turned around again, she was alone. The only proof that Tony Stark had ever been there at all was her dad's inquiry about what had taken so long with the pizza guy when Ro returned to her apartment.
After spending the whole weekend worrying someone would show up at her doorsteps again to make her sign the accords or bring her in because she'd refused to help Tony, things finally settled down. She didn't hear a word from Tony or anyone else and she was forced to accept that in this case, no news was good news. It seemed the man-in-the-tin-can hadn't told anyone about her. Peter Parker flew back from Germany slightly injured but in one piece, and Ro allowed herself a breath of relief.
It would only take a couple more days for the silence to start driving Ro crazy. She resorted to hacking into Parker's computer in hopes of piecing back together what had happened in Germany. She was too wary of hacking Tony directly from fear that he had always known whenever she did so and had never seen the necessity of stopping her. If that was the case, he might feel differently about letting her roam freely through his files now that she had refused to help him.
Luckily for the young hacker, it seemed Spider-Man had an interest in cinematography and had taken to documenting his time abroad. A film by Peter Parker appeared on her screen. Seriously? He took the time to edit this and put his name on it. He couldn't even show it to anyone. She was watching, but he didn't know that. That kid was so naïve and immature when it came to the world of heroism. He was sure to be the death of her.
