A red tennis ball landed against the wall and bounced back to the hands of Tony Stark. The rest of the Avengers were scattered around the table and Nick Fury was standing in front of them. There were several files on the table marked with red letters MUTANTS. The recent fight on Liberty Island had brought the protest to such a level that even Steve had heard about them. The random killing of innocents-mutant and non-mutants- was quickly spiraling out of control. Not even the speeches of the mutant doctor/teacher and peace advocate Charles Xavier seemed to sway the sudden rampage of fear and anger that was sweeping the country.

Nick had wanted to stay on the margin of this new fight, mutants were not under his jurisdiction; but for his surprise Tony had brought the problem afloat and wanted to do something about it. Tony claimed that it was because, the Avengers being a group of superheroes that protected the world, should involve themselves in trying to prevent a full out war between humans and mutants. If a war broke out there would be million of casualties and the world would surely be lost in the process. Nick knew that Tony had a point, but he knew the billionaire never did anything without an ulterior motive. Tony Stark was hiding something, something important and he was determined to find out what it was. For now, they were trying to explain to Steve, Vision and Sam who were the mutants and how they became who they are. But it was funny to say that Maria Hill was doing a poor job of explaining.

Everyone jumped as the tennis ball crashed through a window. They looked at Stark as he stood and faced them;

"Look Capsicle, it's not that hard. Mutants are humans, just like you and me. The difference is, that for some reason yet unknown; Mutants are born with a chromosome that are different then those of a human. The scientists call it 'Chromosome X' or the 'X-Gene'. This gene gives the human some type of power or ability. This gene, the human is born with, can be awaken at anytime. They can be a baby or they can be eighty years old. It's usually awaken when the subjects goes under some kind of stressful or emotional moment. Sometimes not. The males are carriers of the x-gene, though they don't have to be a mutant to pass on the gene to their offsprings. The power of the mutant and the strength of such power varies depending of the mutant. There are mutants of Class 5 that if they wish it to be so they can take over the world and we would be helpless to stop them and Class 1 mutants that they only thing they want is to be able to live their life normally and pray everyday that the neighbors or family don't notice their oddness.

Just like there are good and bad humans, there are good and bad mutants. We only notice the bad mutants because of their ability of being able to wipe the floor with us if they become too angry. The majority are harmless and wish to live among non-mutants in peace, but it's the minority and their need to rule that are causing this problem. You can be standing next to a mutant and you wouldn't even know it! Am I right Wanda?" Tony said looking at the young female red head that was sitting behind Steve. Nick looked at Wanda, but his mind was on the speech that Tony just gave. He knew it! Tony wanted to prevent the slaughter but for another reason besides saving the Earth.

"Why are you asking me? I have never met another mutant!" Wanda exclaimed. Tony looked at her and looked among the files before pushing two towards her. Wanda grabbed them and gasped as her eyes filled with tears. One of the files held the picture of Pietro Maximoff. The other held a file with her picture.

"You were given into adoption at a young age and both of you bounced through foster homes, not because you behaved badly but because the two of you showed signs of not being normal kids. In Sokovia no one wanted mutant babies. You're ability were not given by a scientist...you were born with them. You can wish to deny it but it's true, no matter how badly you want it to be so!" Wanda glared at Tony, her eyes taking on a scarlet tinge. Tony lifted his hands in the air, a mocking grin on his face; "Nevertheless, it is not my secret to share, even though I badly want to. The point is...understand what and who are mutants, Captain?" Steve glared at Tony, he wasn't stupid but this was quite the shocking news, he wasn't born with his abilities...so what did that make him?

"Why would you want to get involve? It is clearly not our fight, the best we could do is protect the innocent when the time comes." Steve stated cautiously, anyone with two eyes on their face and a brain could see that, protecting mutants was something Anthony Stark, truly believed in. The problem was that it was hard to believe, everyone knew that Tony didn't believe in anything except himself and his skills.

Tony looked at everyone in surprise; usually they were all about saving the world! Maybe he shouldn't have had them locked up in a high security prison in the middle of nowhere; they would be more open to his idea if they didn't hate him right now. He opened his mouth to speak, when the alarm blazed through the Hellicarrier. A pilots voice broke through the intercoms; "Sir, I believe the Iron Legion is surrounding the Hellicarrier! How do we proceed? One of them seem to be carrying a package." Fury looked at Tony, who held up one of his hands as the other fished out his tablet from his pocket.

"I have nothing to do with this!" Tony said as he looked at his tablet. "FRIDAY, talk to me what's going on?!" The screen stayed black, but FRIDAY said;

"Sir, Miss Skyler sent the Iron Legion, she says to get on deck now, because Miss Joey is scared out of her mind." Tony stared at the screen in disbelief;

"Why in earth would she sent Josephine with the Iron Legion?" FRIDAY voiced crackled again in the speakers; "Miss Skyler says that if your phone wasn't on silence, you would know what's happening and if you hadn't forgotten about meeting them."

Tony slapped his forehead; "Shit!" And raced through the stairs. "Fury tell everyone not to shoot! They come in peace" He shouted as he disappeared towards the landing docks. Everyone looked at his disappearing back and without a second thought, raced after him also. Maria Hill passed on the message through the intercom as they arrived on deck.

The Iron Legion surrounded the Hellicarrier, but they were looking outwards with their arc reactors raised; as if trying to prevent something from landing. Natasha, Fury and Hill took out their guns, Steve prepared his shield and Clint his bow. Wanda with her magic brought Sam's wings and helped him put it on. The Iron Legion was clearly ready for an attack; and so where they!

They walked over to Tony who was kneeling on the ground, talking to someone. As they got closer, he stood up and turned around, a little girl in his arms which made everyone gasp. The little girl was barely five, she had curly dark chocolate hair, skin the color of coffee and cream and wide bright aquamarine eyes that were framed with long lashes- Tony's eyes. Natasha groaned and put away her gun, she approached the two of them with her arms raised for Tony to pass the girl to her. The little one wouldn't stop crying and it was breaking her heart.

"Don't tell me you're a dad and decided to kidnap your own child!" Natasha told him as she received the girl, the girl laughed, tugged one of Natasha's curls and told her; "He's not my daddy! He's my Pop Pops, silly!" The simple phrase dumbfounded the others even more, but made Natasha look at Tony with one eyebrow raised, who in return looked sheepishly to the ground.

"My name is Natasha Romanoff little one; what is yours?" The girl sniffled but said; "My name is Josephine Stark. But my mommy calls me Joey, like the baby kangaroo" Natasha laughed and tickled the little girl. "You are adorable too, just like a baby roo." Joey laughed at Natasha's rhyme.

Tony looked at her with a smirk and asked;

"Since when are you an expert on children?"

"Since when are you a Pop Pops?" She shot back. Tony raised his hand with a smirk. "Touché" The smirk fell of his face as he faced his granddaughter; "Joey, where is mommy? Why did she send you here?" Josephine started sniffling again and buried her face in Natasha's shoulder, making Natasha rub her back soothingly. She cried for about two minutes until Tony lost his patience; "Joey!" She lifted her head and looked him in eye, she sniffled a bit but answered;

"Me and Mommy were at Zoo, looking at the animals when mommy picked me up because she said 'we are being followed darling, don't use your power no matter what!" We went to see the monkeys, there was so many people, so mommy put me down to call Uncle Logan and Uncle Wade when bunch of people attacked us. Mommy started fighting, but they grabbed me and was taking me away so I got scared and I screamed and all the cages opened and Mommy did something and the monkeys helped me" Tony sighed and pulled Joey from Natasha and crushed her to his chest.

"Mommy called FRIDAY and sent you with the Iron Legion. What did mommy stay doing?" Joey started wailing at those words making Tony hug her all the harder.

"Mommy stayed fighting! She said she had to protect me no matter what!" Joey wouldn't stop crying no matter how hard Tony rocked her, he eventually passed her to Natasha who worked her magic and in an instantaneous Joey was asleep. Tony grabbed a screen, tapped a few things, hacked the system and ordered F.R.I.D.A.Y to show the simian exhibition feed located in the Central Park Zoo. Everyone crowded around the screen as it focused into view. It was blurry at first but it wasn't hard to tell what was happening; an ambush. There was a black haired female standing in the middle, surrounded by twenty males that seemed to be all dressed the same. She was clearly outnumbered, but as the image cleared and Tony zoomed in on her face, the confident smirk that she had on her face showed that she clearly wasn't scared. She was the first to attack, taking down her opponent with deadly precision. She moved fast and deadly, her hits precise and final. Her movements were graceful, fast and very familiar.

"Nat, she moves just like you." Clint said, the others said nothing but silently agreed. The girl had just perfectly executed the Widow's Bite without batting an eyelash. Natasha looked at Tony, though he didn't turn around he started to squirm under her stare. He had some explaining to do once all this was over. The girl was quick, but for every man she took down two more appeared in his place. It was liking trying to take down a Hydra. Tony gasped as he saw another person appeared behind the girl with a club in his hand. The club was spiked as the person raised it above his head; Tony grabbed the edge of the screen and started murmuring;

"Turn around Little Bit. Turn around!" The club collided with the girl's back, and Tony almost snapped the screen in half. She fell to the ground and quickly rolled away as the club came down again. Before it hit her, a pair of katana came out of the attacker's chest and a man with a red mask appeared from behind. He said something to him before ripping the katanas from his chest and kicking him to the ground. He approached the female and helped her up. She leaned on him for support, making the red masked man grab her butt for her not to fall. In return she straightened and smacked him in the head. She took a fighting stance as more clones started appearing. Two more people landed beside her, a wolfish man with steel claws coming out of his hands and a big man with a mechanic arm, a yellow glowing eye and a massive gun in his hands. They all stood with the girl and as a team that showed that they were comfortable and used to each other, they fought the clones. They were all quick and brutal, they showed no mercy but the clones wouldn't stop replicating.

"If they don't find the source of the clones, they will wear themselves out before winning. The girl is losing too much blood." Steve said, putting a restraining hand on Tony's shoulder. He looked like he was about to take off any second.

"What I want to know is why are here when we could be there; helping them!" Sam said, cracking his knuckles in frustration.

"Joey's mom obviously sent her here so we can help Tony defend her if needed." Natasha said. Tony glanced at his beautiful granddaughter in Natasha's arms and though it broke his heart in two, he knew that Nat was right.

"Did you see that? She just shot lightning out of her hands." Wanda exclaimed in her thick accent. Tony looked at Wanda like she was crazy.

"It must have been a trick of light. There is no way she shoots lighting out of her hands." But there was no denying what was going on. The girl held up her hand as lighting shot out of her hands and hit every clone directly in the heart. She must have hit the original one, because one by one they all disappeared. One of them kneeled to the ground and fell over; smoke rising from his body. The others stepped towards the fallen man and the wolfish man turned him over. He said something to the others and looked back towards to the woman. She was encased in a purple bubble and seemed to be struggling with something unseen. Her hands were raised towards her companions and her hands were sparkling. Electricity were sparking in here hands, she was struggling not to let loose on her companions. She shouted and the electricity erupted inside the bubble and then exploded outwards. The video feed shut off and Joey woke up screaming for her mother. Tony's phone started ringing and he struggled to take it out of his pocket. He answered on the final ring but before he could talk;

"Mr. Stark, Charles Xavier speaking. Your daughter is being taken back to my school. I require your presence and that of your granddaughter immediately." The communication cut off before Tony could answer. He looked at the rest of the Avengers and with a simple shrug, said;

"Looks like you all will finally meet the mutants."