OK, this is for someone on Tumblr. Her name is twinkeltoestheavatar. She asked for Tony and Steve with their teenage daughter. The rest was up to me. Someone also asked for more about Francis from 'All We Need Is Some Ice Cream And A Hug'. That was snowwolfninjaprincess-23. So I got some inspiration and decided to be both with an extra helping of the other Avenger's kids in here for my favorite pairings.
This is a little guide:
TonyxSteve: Carmen Adele Rogers-Stark (Cars)
NatashaxPepper: Dmitri Vladimir Romanov-Potts (Demi)
ClintxPhil: Francis Gregory Coulson-Barton (Frankie)
BrucexBetty: Walter Bryan Banner (Wally)
ThorxJane: Leif Odin Foster (Leif)
Rhodey(since he's War Machine)xOC: James Rhodes Jr. (Junior)
Those are the pairings, their child and their child's nickname.
Ok. Well. Have at it then. I don't own the Avengers and I don't own Francis, though I did tweak him a bit for my own uses and purposes. Creative licence was used a lot here. I also don't own the title which comes from the song Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus.
Enjoy.
Teenage Dirtbag
"And where do you think you're going?"
At least she has the decency to stop, Tony thinks to himself. At least she has the decency to look chagrined and embarrassed and caught. At least Tony's not yelling. At least Steve isn't throwing her over his shoulder and tossing her back into bed. Which had happened once, but she'd been five and she and Steve had both been giggling and Tony had caught it all on camera. He has most of their daughter's life on tape and he will never regret it.
"What do you think you're doing?" Steve asks calmly and she flinches. Because Steve being overly calm means he's a bit angry. And she hates getting them angry.
When she doesn't answer, Tony goes in for the kill. "Carmen Adele Rogers-Stark, what the hell do you think you're doing trying to sneak out at 2 in the morning?" He and Steve are in pajamas; she's in an Iron Maiden t-shirt and worn jeans, her converse scuffed up beyond belief.
"Tell me you're not going out to meet a boy?" Steve says horrified.
"I'm not going out to meet a boy," Carmen answers. She pauses. "I'm going out to meet five."
Tony stares in shock, Steve stilling beside him. "What. Are. You. Talking. About?" he asks. Because no. No, no, no. His daughter is not becoming a slut, like he used to be, he made sure of that by marrying a nice man who he loved. No.
But Carmen rolls her eyes. "No not like that, you crazy. I was going to meet Frankie, Demi, Leif, Wally and Junior." Her arms are crossed now, and she looks a bit peeved.
Tony looks to Steve who nods and grabs the phone and then their daughter is groaning about the Dude-Code and how the boys are going to kill her. Steve shushes her and drags her off to her room to let Tony deal with the other parents.
He calls Clint first. "Hey there Clint."
"Stark, this better be worth me waking up at 2:10 in the morning for," Clint says tiredly.
Tony grunts. "Yeah actually. Is your munchkin in bed?"
He hears Clint make a confused noise. "Frankie? Yeah. Why?"
Tony shakes his head. "You might want to have your Agent there check that out. Seriously. Trust me on this one."
He hears Clint sigh and then lean back and prod at his partner until he wakes up and then Clint says, "Phil go check on Frankie?" and the other man goes, not even asking why he's checking up on their son. A few seconds later, there's the sound of pounding footsteps and Tony can hear Phil Coulson's voice say, "Clint, he's not there."
Clint sounds a bit more awake when he says, "Ok, Tony. Why the hell is my son missing?" There's shuffling, which means they're probably getting ready to do a whole search party thing, but Tony assuages them not to.
"Relax. Francis snuck out with the other kids. Steve and I caught Carmen before she got out. She knocked over a lamp and JARVIS notified us. They're probably at the coffee shop that opens insanely early. When Cars doesn't show up, they'll all head home. Relax."
Clint sighs in relief and Tony hears Phil climb back into bed and murmur, "I'm going to kill him." Francis Gregory Coulson-Barton is eighteen years old. He still, on occasion, acts like he's ten.
Tony says his goodbyes then and calls up Pepper next. She answer groggily and then confusedly when he asks her to check on Dmitri.
"Uh, yeah, sure. I'll ask Nat to." There's a moment when Pepper leans over and shoves Natasha a bit, whispering for her to check on their son. In a moment she's back and takes the phone from her wife saying, "Where's our son Stark?"
Tony quickly explains what happened and tells them not to worry. "It's fine. It's a kid thing. Demi's probably thought it was cool or something." Dmitri Vladimir Romanov-Potts is also eighteen years old. His best friend is Francis Coulson-Barton. This explains quite a damn lot, actually.
Tony moves onto Thor next and Jane picks up. He just tells her plainly that Leif ran out with the kids and would be back by morning. Leif Odin Foster is only fifteen. In the background, Thor is cursing him from Yodenheim to high Valhala. Jane is just calm, and even a bit amused. She thanks Tony profusely before hanging up in favor of calming down her husband.
His next call his Bruce and he's eternally grateful that Betty picks up. "Wally is not home," he tells her softly. "Ran out with the kids. No worries, he'll be back soon. Just keep it on the down-low so the Other Guy doesn't show his face?" Tony asks.
"Yeah, thanks," Betty says softly. Tony hears Bruce snoring beside her then wishes her a good night. He's going to kick Walter Bryan Banner's butt when he sees him next for putting his parents through that stress when they need to be as stress free as possible. He doesn't care that the kid is thirteen and not really thinking much at this time of night.
The last call is to Rhodey who picks up on the first ring and says, "Please tell me you know where he is?"
Which is impressive. Because the other parents, he and Steve included, had found out (almost for them) after the fact. "Yeah. Junior's over with the kids at some donut place? He'll be back by morning. Don't worry." James Rhodes Jr. nick-named Junior not to get mixed up with his father. Tony has no idea what Rhodey was thinking, naming his only child after himself, but he sometimes feels bad for the thirteen year old.
But whatever. His calls are done and Steve is coming back, which means tomorrow morning, they're going to have an interesting conversation with their seventeen year old daughter.
Carmen is groggy in the morning, but Tony is the last one to care. He hadn't gone back to sleep last night, waiting for the five calls telling him his nephews were back home and safe. Once he'd gotten them, it was already eight in the morning and he figured he'd go make pancakes instead.
And now here she was, their seventeen year old wonder, picking at her pancakes and not really eating them. Steve sighs and looks to Tony, twirling his wedding band around his finger, a nervous tick he picked up right after they got married. Tony is the opposite. He's not going to let her get off on this so easily.
"So. Wanna explain what that was all about?" he asks. "Because I wasn't running off into the night at your age."
"You were graduated from college at my age," Carmen points out dryly.
Tony shrugs. "I offered for you to go, but you said you'd rather have the tutors." She's smart is the thing, and Steve's been teaching her 'how to art', as Tony puts it, since she was able to write. Which was when she was three. Whatever.
She's good at drawing, is the point.
"Anyway," Tony says, "explanations? Because what the hell was that?"
She shrugs. "We were just gonna meet at the Donut Shop."
"We understand that, Carmen. But why so late? Why not tell us or something?" That was Steve, ever the voice of reason. Well, kind of.
"Yes, Dad. I'm going to tell you and Pops that I'm going to a donut shop at like, 2 in the morning. Like you'll let me go." She snorted and then looked down. "Although I do admit, that was kind of stupid and I know better, so I shouldn't have been caught."
Tony and Steve share an exasperated look, because no, that's not the point, but they'll let it slide. For now. "This the first time it happened?" Steve asks.
She looks so guilty as she shakes her head. "No. We've been doing it since Junior and Wally were ten."
Tony face-palms then. Because what the hell? His kid could have ended up on the street, dead, out of her own stupidity. Just wonderful. He'd thought that he and Steve had raised her better than that.
"And what, pray tell, was so special about today's meeting?" Tony asks. Carmen has this look on her face, like she's been sworn that whatever it is, is a secret and she can't tell. Tony hates that look. It's the same look Steve gets when he's thinking the same thing. "Oh no…"
"I was told in confidence what was going to happen at today's meeting. By two people. So, I can't really say," she says. Then she shrugs. "Sorry."
Tony wants to yell, but he's stopped yelling in this house because no one pays attention when he does. Beside him, Steve says, "Don't tell us and get grounded for a month, because the others sure are. You want to be one of them?"
Her face contorts. "Well, no, but you said-"
"Baby-girl," Steve says, "I appreciate you wanting to be like me and following my rules, but you're a kid, sweetie. And we'd really like to know what you were going to risk yourself for."
That seems to get her because she then looks away and says, "Frankie and Demi were finally going to tell each other they liked each other. I mean, obviously Frankie didn't know Demi was going to do it, and vice versa, but still. That was going to be tonight. "
Tony blinks and then looks at Steve who's got a goofy grin on his face, because he's been saying that for years. The smirk goes away though and his face hardens. "That's great and all, but it's by no means grounds for you to leave the house in the dead of night." Steve pauses. "Tony?"
"Mhm?"
"Punishment?"
Tony grins and Carmen's eyes go wide. "Grounded for two weeks."
"Hey!" she says pointing a fork at the both of them. "You said I wasn't going to get grounded like everyone else if I told you."
Tony snorts. "Yeah. You wouldn't get grounded for a month. No one said anything about two weeks." Tony gets out of his chair and ignores her groaning and moaning. "Suck it up, kid. It's not that bad." Then he turns to Steve and asks, "More coffee, babe?"
Steve smiles, wide and true, and even to this day it makes Tony's heart flutter. "Don't mind if I do."
Two Weeks Later….
"We weren't breaking and entering!" Carmen insists. The officer that has her handcuffed to the table gives her an exasperated look. She's been at it for hours to no avail. "Seriously. There was a creep, he was hurting someone. We went in there to stop him."
"Hate to break it to you kid, but you're no Avenger," he says dryly and isn't that a kick in the pants. She wants to say that she is, of course she is, but she isn't. Her parents are, but not her, not yet at least.
"Look, you have to let me out either way. Don't I get a call or something?" And then she freezes. "Wait. Please tell me you didn't handcuff Wally."
The man looks at her funny. "Who?"
"Nerdy little kid, thirteen, glasses, curly-hair?" She moves her un-cuffed hand to about his height. "Yay-tall?"
"He's in a room just like everyone else."
She slams her head into the table and refrains from reaching across it to choke this man because her father is Captain America and he taught her better. But the next words out of her mouth are scathing because her other father is Iron Man and he taught her better too.
"Look, sir," and her voice is dripping with insubordination. "Little nerd kid? Don't let anyone piss him off. He takes after his dad. You wouldn't like him when he's angry. Little black kid? He might swear then start to cry, so be gentle with him. The kid with the blond hair, talks like he just walked out of a Viking sit-com, is probably going to punch someone and you can't stop him. There are two other's: a red head and the kid who sticks to him like glue. You probably separated them?"
The officer nods. "Standard procedure."
She chuckles. Right. That's going to go sour soon. "Yeah, ok. The red-head's going to kill someone trying to get to the other guy. And the other guy's gonna do the same thing. I suggest that if you don't want any more casualties-" because they'd resisted arrest, naturally, "- that you put those two in the same room. Hell, get a video feed. Put them on different sides of the room with blindfolds. Just don't keep them separated. And did you search them?"
The officer is starting to look freaked out. "Yes…?"
"No," she says shaking her head. "Not well enough. You're screwed, you know that?"
"Look Miss," and now he sounds exhausted, "I don't know what to tell you other than that it doesn't concern you."
"Oh but it does," she says. "It fucking does, I'm responsible for them." And then she says as an afterthought, "And my parents are going to kill me."
He glares at her language but she glares right back. "Look, kid. I can't help you. I need to ask you a few questions though. I need your name."
"Carmen," she says and then waits.
He sighs. "Middle initial."
"A for Adele," and then she holds up a hand. "And if you make a quip about the singer, I will be getting arrested for breaking and entering and assault and battery."
He cocks an eyebrow. "Last name?"
"Rogers-Stark," and no, she isn't smug. Why would she be smug that her last name has influence in the corporate world? And everywhere else?
The officer looks up at her slowly. "Rogers-Stark as in…"
"Yes as in Steven Rogers, Captain America and Tony Stark the owner of Stark Industries and, coincidentally, the man behind Iron Man." She doesn't even smile because those two are going to kill her and hide the body when they get called. "Yeah. They're my dads."
He sits there and blinks, his mouth open a bit before his radio goes off and there's screaming from the hall. "Shit," he curses, listening to what is obviously a call for help. He turns to her, getting up and out of his chair and hisses, "Don't you dare move." Then he's gone.
"Right," Carmen says after a few minutes. She twists her wrist one way, yanks the table another and breaks out of her handcuffs, the leg of the table splintering as she yanks through. And she feels bad that she ruined the table and that she broke out of her handcuffs. And that she's technically still under arrest and is escaping from that too.
But still. Her boys. They're worth the trouble. One thing both her parents taught her is that family is the most important thing. It comes above all else.
So when she skids out into the hallway, people yelling and screaming around her, she doesn't feel too bad. Especially when she rams into someone and lands on her ass.
"What the ever loving-" But she gets cut off. "Demi?"
"Oh thank God you're not dead," the red-head says. He's several inches taller than her and only a year older. "This is ridiculous."
"Me not being dead?" she says, confused and a bit insulted.
"What? No. The station's under attack by… might be Doombots, but I'm honestly not even sure." He turned around and scans one of the rooms before saying, "Hey Junior! Get over here."
The younger boy runs in. He beams upon seeing Carmen. "Cars! You're ok!"
"You good little man?" she asks, checking him over. Just in case.
"I'm fine," he drawls. "And I'm not little. Hell, I'm taller than you."
"Language," she reminds, though there's no bite to it. There's more crashing coming from the main lobby, but before they can go there, they have to find the others. "You see anyone else?"
"No," Dmitri says. "Looking everywhere, but I can't seem to find them." He gnaws on his lower lip, worriedly. She knows he's thinking of someone specific though.
"I'll see what I can- Duck!" They all drop to the floor, Dmitri half-covering Junior as a 'bot explodes where their heads just were. "Holy mother fucking shit, what the hell was that?"
"Sorry I'm late. And sorry for the mishap. Won't happen again, ma'am." And she knows that voice. Carmen drags herself off the floor and turns to see Frankie crouched on one of the staircases, cross-bow in hand. He flips off and lands on his feet, throwing a smile her way. Then his eyes land on Dmitri and Junior knows well enough to get the fuck out of the way.
"Frankie," Dmitri says, just as Francis says, "Demi, shit. Are you ok? You're bruised, who the hell touched you?"
Dmitri lets him runs calloused fingers over his hurt face. "'Bot flew at me, it's fine. Are you ok? Where were you, you complete bastard?" There's an underlying panic in his voice.
Frankie looks wrecked, dragging his fingers through his brown hair, dark brown eyes going wide and woeful. "Shit, I didn't mean to worry you, babe, I'm sorry I-"
No one gets to point out Frankie's slip-up, seeing as Leif and Wally-turned-Hulk show up. Leif is on his shoulder and Wally is swatting at the Doombots that fly around his head. Carmen runs over, glad to escape the soap-opera.
"He ok?" she asks, nodding to the Hulk. Well, the new one. Hulk II. Mini-Hulk. Whatever.
Leif nods. "My dearest comrade Walter was unfortunately provoked by these tiny machines of Doom and in his righteous rage, he transformed into his glorious warrior ego."
She blinks at him. "What?"
Leif sighs. "A Doombot hit him in the head. He got a little pissed so he snapped and turned." Yes, Leif spoke like an Asgardian sometimes because he wanted to and got a little carried away. Besides that? He spoke just like the rest of them.
"Awesome," Carmen says with an eye roll. "And they took everything from me. I didn't even go into that house with my shield. Or a suit." She turns to Frankie, who is avoiding Demi's gaze. "You got the crossbow though." She turns to Demi. "And you've got something on you?" He pulls out several knives and a baton that he's slipped into his boot. "Great. We've got the Mini-Hulk and Leif, you can call Tamarin to you, can't you?"
He raises an eyebrow, sticks out a hand and a few moments later, a large sword slices through the wall adjacent to him, and lands in his hand. "Aye, my lady. That I can." He swishes it around a bit, getting used to the feel of the weapon in his hand. "Fuck yes."
"Language," she corrects on automatic, not really putting any feeling in it. She turns to Junior, the only one besides her that's unarmed. "We double-teaming it, short-cut?" she asks. They can both box and they know which wires to pull on a Doombot. They can do this by hand. It'll hurt, but it's not impossible.
The younger boy nods. "Hell yes," he says with enthusiasm and she rolls her eyes.
"You assholes can't watch your fucking language can you? Swear jar when we get home, the lot of you." There's smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
"Fucking hypocrite," Frankie mutters.
"Aye," Leif exclaims, hopping down from Hulk II's shoulder. There are explosions and gun shots coming from the main lobby. "Shall we?"
"Yes, let's," Carmen says, cracking her neck. "Before the NYPD destroys their facilities beyond repair and my Pops has to pay for it." She goes for the door, the others following.
"Cars, he's already paying for it," Frankie says falling into step beside Demi, slotting an arrow into his crossbow.
"Point taken," she says.
And then they charge in.
Tony finds out on the news.
He's eating a sandwich on his lunch break in his office at Stark Tower and he spits out the bite he has in his mouth when his daughter flies across the screen, unprotected, yanking off a Doombot's head, her fingers bloody and a deep cut in her forehead.
He turns the volume up while calling Steve and then changing his mind when he sees the rest of the Avenger's kids running across and making it a team-wide call. Dmitri looks like he has a concussion and Francis seems to have broken an ankle. He sees a flash of green and swears because he has to change the number for Bruce to Betty so that the other man doesn't flick on the TV and Hulk-out in the middle of a lab when he gets the call. Leif is almost glowing with Asgardian rage and Junior looks as beat up as Carmen, kickboxing a bot into submission in what's left of the NYPD's front lobby.
"Fuck, Steve, turn it on to channel 7 and tell me what the hell we should do!" Tony practically yells into the receiver. He hears his husband clicking on the television as Pepper walks in, confused , then turns pale when she turns to the TV and sees her son slam into a wall.
"Tony what the hell is this?" and she's calling Natasha, who Tony has on another line, so he just tosses that phone to Pepper and catches hers in the switch to call Thor with.
Thor's on his way in less than five minutes, Steve's walking in, Betty is informing Bruce in a very calming manner and Pepper is coming off the phone with her wife, nodding to him. Tony picks up the phone, calls the Air Force base and is told Rhodey's already on his way, just to have the man himself slam through into his office, a pissed and panicked look on his face.
"What the hell do they think they're doing?" Rhodey explodes, looking at the television in surprise.
But Tony's mesmerized. His daughter is shouting orders, from what he can see and hear from the footage, and the other kids are listening, even Walter in his monstrous state being aided by Leif or Francis in the direction he should be Smashing in. He barely notices Steve and the other walk in until his husband has a hand on his shoulder.
"They're not half bad," Steve says quietly, but Tony can hear the pride in his voice.
"Their form sucks, they have about a million weak spots and they're all teenagers," Tony says in disbelief. "But they work better as a team than when we all started." He snorts. "Yeah. They're not half-bad."
"What do we do then?" Clint asks, his eyes tracking Francis's movements on the screen, seeing where his son needs to adjust his grip and then watching in amazement as Francis realizes it too and adjusts. Phil has a hand on Clint's lower back and doesn't look so worried, although his husband can feel the tension radiating from his body. "Relax, he's fine," Clint whispers to him and Phil does. Just a bit.
"Let them finish what they started," Natasha says, as Thor nods in agreement.
"They chose this. They must conclude their battle. It is their fight, not ours." But there are lines of stress and worry around his mouth and eyes as he watches Leif slice bots left and right with Tamarin. The look on his face says that Jane won't be happy that he let this happen when she sees reruns of it on the news later on tonight. But he sticks by his decision anyway.
It takes another hour and by then everyone is antsy. They get a call from Fury that Phil handles and when he comes in, he looks a bit confused.
"What?" Tony says, his stomach in knots, Steve's hand squeezing his shoulder painfully from his own nerves, the only thing keeping Tony grounded. Pepper has her hand in Natasha's, Clint's walking up to his husband and Betty and Bruce had only just joined them a few minutes ago, when Bruce was under control well enough to watch the goings on.
"He says we can go see them now. They're in the Empire State right now, seeing as the police had to get them out of the destroyed area. The bots are all destroyed and our kids are hand-cuffed." Everyone starts getting coats and heading down to the garage for their cars.
"Why were they at the police station anyway?" Bruce asks ushering Betty down the stairs at a quick pace.
Phil's face looks unsurprised and there may be a smile forming on his lips. "Apparently they were caught breaking and entering."
Instead of looking angry, Bruce just looks resigned. "Of course they were. You'd think that after getting in trouble for sneaking out of the house they'd try to stay out of trouble."
Beside him, Clint laughs. "Now where would be the fun in that?"
"Point taken," Tony says, and they're off.
"You are in so much trouble, young lady," Steve says when he walks into the main lobby of the Empire State and sees his daughter hand-cuffed to a chair, bloody, with a manic grin on her face. And then he hugs her. Tony joins in, kissing her forehead, the terror in his chest lessening. She has cracked ribs, he can tell just by the way she's holding herself, but there's also a satisfied look on her face, like she just found what she'd been looking for.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Tony exclaims in a whisper, rubbing the back of her neck tenderly.
She blinks sky blue eyes at him, just like Steve's, and says seriously, "I was thinking that Doom got too high in his britches again and was going to hurt those people in the NYPD and around it. For no good reason. And that we could do something about it."
Tony can't argue with that, because he'd figured as much. Carmen's a pain in the ass like he is, but she's got Steve's heart of gold and he can't begrudge her for that. It only makes him love her all the more.
Around the room, the others are having similar reunions. Thor has Leif in a bear-hug, congratulating him on his victory while simultaneously damning him to Yodenheim and admiring his wounds. Rhodey is checking Junior's wrist, which seems to be sprained and a finger or two broken. He's murmuring softly, telling his son he did well but that he was going to get a load of shit from his mother when they got home, and the he should be prepared for that. Junior only laughs and cries as his father pokes and prods. Wally is in an officer's coat, looking shaken up. He keeps asking his father if he hurt anyone innocent, if he killed a cat or something. Bruce looks heartbroken but proud as he tells Walter that he smashed Doombots and only Doombots. Betty rubs his back and doesn't speak. This is Bruce's territory and she knows it.
Near the front desk, Dmitri and Francis are sitting together on chairs brought in from some other room. Their parents are around the two of them, Natasha and Clint checking injuries, Pepper and Phil calling in to the hospital, getting all six of the teens rooms.
Clint gently lifts Francis's ankle and the boy swears. "Shit! Jesus Christ, Pops, ow!"
"Well if you weren't such an idiot, you wouldn't have a broken ankle right now!" Dmitri exclaims, a worried, hurt look on his face. "God, you couldn't stay put, could you?" Natasha pokes at the cut on her son's cheek, cleaning it out a bit, deciding that he'll need stitches and that it'll scar. She'll have to tell Pepper to pick up some scar-cream for later. He winces. "Damn-it, woman!"
Her eyes flick to him and she says while raising an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"
His eyes go wide and he looks away. "Sorry." She sighs and kisses his forehead instead of saying anything. She respects his decision, and the way she sees it, is going to have to deal with his injuries. She'll leave the coddling to Pepper, though she does run her fingers through her son's hair to let him know she is proud and impressed at what he's done. He knows it for what it is and gives her a smile, wincing when it opens the cut on his face.
Francis looks up at him at that and answers his question from before. "No, I could not stay put. That fucking building was going to collapse on you, you moron." From the phone, Phil reaches over and flicks his son in the ear, mouthing 'Language', without even looking away from where his gaze is trained on the far wall as he concentrates on the woman on the phone. He's moved onto dealing with the authorities and the damage the kids have caused. Clint chuckles as he checks some bruises and Francis scowls.
Pepper hangs up and says, "The ambulances are coming." Both boys groan and she smiles, though her smile is watery. She goes to her knees in front of Dmitri and puts her hands on his knees, rubbing them. "How're you holding up?"
He gives a smile. "I'll be fine, Mother," he assures her as he she kisses his undamaged cheek and sits on Natasha's lap to be close to the both of them. Dmitri switches his focus to Francis and his earlier comment. "And I would have been fine. I could've dodged it."
Francis bats his Pops' hands away while his Dad rolls his eyes, still on the phone as Clint stands up and backs away, and says, "Honestly, tell me the truth: did you even see the part of it that almost crushed you? Did you even know it was falling?"
Dmitri looks like he's going to lie, but then Natasha pokes his side and gives him a look. She knows her son's lying face; it's been directed at her plenty of times. Dmitri sighs and looks away from the other boy. "No," he concedes.
"Then hell yes I had to shove you out of the way," Francis says incredulous.
"You tripped," Dmitri says quietly. "It crushed your ankle. If could have crushed you."
Francis blinks. "Well I'd rather have a fucked up ankle than a fucked up you, Demi."
Phil hangs up and says, "Hey, language. I'm smacking you're Pops when we get home, because you certainly don't get that potty-mouth from me."
Clint rolls his eyes. "Shut up, Phil." Phil flicks him now and they smile at each other.
"Well that's great," Dmitri says, like his adoptive uncles haven't spoken, "but you almost gave me a shit attack, you –" He stops at the look Pepper gives him. "You idiot," he finishes. "It's not fun watching someone you care about almost get crushed."
"Then you can understand why I did what I did. Because I snatched you out of the way for the same reason, Demi," Francis says seriously.
Dmitri looks away, his throat constricting. "No, believe me, not the same reason."
Francis rolls his eyes and says, "Stupid idiot," while threading the fingers of his free hand together with Dmitri's. "Yes, Dmitri, same reason." His face is red as the red-head turns to him in surprise. "Shut-up," Francis says at the awed look Dmitri is giving him.
"I didn't say anything, Francis," he says back, giving his hand a squeeze.
"You're looking at me funny."
"That's because you have a funny face, babe," Dmitri says easily.
Francis grins and says, "But you love this face."
Dmitri looks away. "A bit, yeah."
Phil and Pepper cough a bit and look away. Clint and Natasha share a satisfied look. About time, he mouths to her. She nods back.
Across the room, Tony rolls his eyes and Steve smiles, as Carmen says, "Oh now they get together, ok. I see how it is. All of my attempts are futile, but they come out of their first fight all broken into pieces and they somehow click. Ok. That's it. I give up."
She can't move one of her shoulders, since it's been dislocated, so Steve doesn't bump his shoulder against it. Instead, he bops her on the head, then chuckles. "You lead them into battle, didn't you?" Because he saw her, looking fierce and leading them, a piece of metal as her shield, using it like she's seen him use his.
She shrugs, but she's starting to smile. "A bit, yeah."
"So you helped," Tony says.
"Yeah," she says slowly. "I guess."
The NYPD don't press charges and they catch the original creep that had gotten the kids into the house they were 'breaking and entering' into before they'd gotten into the whole mess.
But Fury calls them in, and their parents go with them into SHIELD HQ until Fury sends them away.
"No way am I leaving my precious, innocent baby in here with you Fury," Tony says as Steve rolls his eyes and grabs Tony by the arm, leading him out of the room, saying, "We'll be outside, sir."
Pepper drops a kiss to Dmitri's forehead and Natasha squeezes his shoulder, takes her wife by the hand and walks out behind Steve and Tony. Clint rolls his eyes, messes up Francis's hair as Phil tells him to behave with a smile on his face and they walk out, hands together, fingers intertwined. Bruce looks from Fury to Walter and purses his lips before giving his son an encouraging smile as Betty kisses his cheek. Thor pats Leif on the back and Jane rolls her eyes and drags him out of the room. Rhodey high-fives Junior and then winks before he leaves.
Fury knows they all don't trust him with their kids. Good, he thinks, you shouldn't.
They sit in front of him, all on one side of a conference table as he stands on the other side of it. He opens his mouth to speak and then snaps it shut as Carmen raises her hand. He sighs. "Yes, Stark-Rogers?"
She rolls her eyes and he's reminded of Tony. Fury tries not to groan. "It's Rogers-Stark, Patchy the Pirate. If you're going to be using my last name."
"What do you want, kid?"
Carmen looks to Dmitri, who's holding Francis's hand over the table. Fury is never going to get used to these kids. Walter mutters, "Here we go," as Junior answers, "What, you thought she wouldn't?" and Leif looks like he's getting comfortable.
Great.
"Well, I want a lot of things. Mainly for those two," and she nods to Dmitri and Francis, "to stop kissing in front of me because they think the faces I make are hilarious, but from you, specifically?" She leans forward and Fury's reminded of Steve in Captain-America mode. It's even more terrifying than when she reminded him of Tony. "What the hell do you want us for, sir? Because I'm not stupid. Far from it. I may be young, but I know you have some sort of angle here. I'd just like you to be straight with us."
She sits back and Fury feels a thrill of excitement run through him. This might just work.
"You're aware of the Avengers Initiative?" he says, addressing them all.
They nod slowly. "Our parents are part of it, correct?" Walter says. He pushes his glasses up higher on his nose.
"Correct, Mr. Banner. Are you all aware of the state of the Avengers?" he asks slowly.
Carmen makes a face. "If you're referring to their age, be plain."
Fury's surprised she caught on so fast. Then again, he's not. He knows who her father is. "Yes. Their age. Some of them are getting on. It'd be best not to push their limits."
Carmen thinks of the grey in her Pops' hair, the wrinkles around her Dad's eyes. Sure the serum has held that off for a while, but it's happening, nonetheless. And she knows the two of them won't want to fight for ever. And she's seen it in her aunt and uncles' eyes as well. "Yes," she says, feeling Dmitri and Francis tense beside her. Leif looks alert, Junior wary.
"The Council is going to have me shut down the program because of this. But today is proof that we need the Avengers around. And it's proof that someone else can do the job just as well." He looks at her. "Do you understand?"
The six of them meet eyes then look back to Fury. "Explain," Francis says.
"SHIELD wants to start a New Avengers Initiative." He pauses. "With you six as our starting group."
"You want to make us into heroes?" Junior says incredulously.
But Fury doesn't look at him, but looks at all of them. "We have a need for it. You can fill that need. It's not your parents' decision, it's yours. You're valuable. And you work as a team." He clicks a button on some remote and they see the footage from earlier that week. And it's true. They merge well.
"We have threats coming from everywhere. Soon, you're folks aren't going to be able to be of much help," Fury continues. He slides a sheet of paper across to Carmen. Her eyes briefly flick over it and then she passes it around. Beside their names are words like Falcon and Grenade. Words like Hulk and God of Lightning. Words like Viper and Iron Captain.
Superhero names, they realize.
"What do you want us to do?" Carmen asks, standing up. She won't let them get into something just to be put on a shelf or used as press for good PR. If they do this – and she can feel the interest in her friends, her family, piqued – if they do this, they do it.
"Mrs.," he says and it takes her a second to understand why he doesn't say her last name. Mrs. Rogers-Stark. M for Mrs., R for Rogers, S for Stark. M. R. S – Mrs. The title is also an acronym for her name. Fury taps on the glowing blue-light in her chest. It's new. She doesn't talk about it, but she can bet Fury knows exactly what happened when she was kidnapped last summer.
"What are you prepared to do?"
She stares at him, at the words that just came out of his mouth as he steps away, dropping his hands. Carmen makes brief eye contact with Dmitri, and Francis, and Leif and Walter, and Junior, too. They each nod slowly.
She looks back at Fury and sits down. "What exactly do you have in mind?"
There might be more. I don't know.
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