Disclaimer- I do not own the Avengers, obviously.
A/N- I won't be going into Mari's backstory in this fic, but if I get enough positive feedback I might write a sort of prequel. This takes place after CA: WS but before Avengers: AOU. I'm not counting Sam Wilson as an Avenger yet.
Mari Lucia Stark was sitting curled up with a book on the communal floor of Avengers tower. She's 15 years old, had waist-length chestnut hair, deep brown eyes, was 5'4, a genius like her father, as well as a mind reader. This is why she rarely ever looked people in the eyes. One look and she would see that person's thoughts, emotions and memories.
She had returned home a few days earlier, back from MIT to visit her father, Tony Stark, for the summer. It was nice to see him and everyone again, although she avoided eye contact with them all, for the most part, wanting to not invade their privacy.
Currently, all the Avengers, sans Thor, who was back in Asgard, were on the floor as well, doing various different things. Out of the 6 of them, she had only ever seen her dad's, Rhodey's and Bruce's eyes.
It was always strange being inside Dr Banner's mind, the Hulk always talked to her and stopped her from seeing too far into his head, acting as a sort of bodyguard, she enjoyed it and as a result of talking to the Hulk so often, the green giant started to like her and looked out for her when trouble would arise and because of this she had developed a close friendship with Bruce as well.
Realising she had zoned out Mari shook her head and tuned back into the room, putting her book to the side and listening to what was going on.
She jumped and looked up when a loud crash came from the kitchen area but stopped when her eyes locked with those of Steve Rodgers.
"Aaahhh!" She screamed, clutching at her head, there was so much information pouring into her mind and it just wouldn't stop even though she had looked away. The pain was terrible, due to the sheer amount of emotion and memories coming through and she could feel hot tears welling in he eyes. Mari was vaguely aware of her father and Bruce kneeling by her side, trying to find out how she was hurt.
That was when she saw a memory which shocked her to her core and her tears of pain turned to those of anger and betrayal.
Captain Rodgers, standing in a cold room, Widow by his side, listening to a computer named Zola telling them of Hydra's plans. That wasn't what got to her though, no, what got to her was the photo of her grandfather on the screen and the heavy implication that he and her grandmother, her namesake, were murdered. Forcing the memories to the side she stood from her seat and began yelling at the Captain, hot tears now flowing freely from her eyes.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?! We trusted you, he trusted you!" She screamed, pointing towards her father, "You had no right to keep this from us, NO RIGHT! It wasn't your secret to keep! All to save him, your friend who doesn't even know who you are! How could you do this to us?!"
Seeming to have finished her rant by collapsing on the floor, Tony picked up his daughter in a bridal hold and held her close, stroking her hair calmingly as she burrowed into his hold.
There were various reactions to what had just happened. Tony was mainly concerned with his daughter but was also confused, worried and curious as to what could have provoked that kind of reaction from his usually calm, happy girl. Bruce and Rhodey were in similar states, mainly concerned by Mari's outburst but also worried and curious.
Clint was focusing on the reactions of Nat and Steve. He could tell that Natasha was worried by the outburst as well, but not for Tony's kid, but for herself and Rodgers from the way she kept glancing at him. She was subtle about it but Clint knew her tells, however few of them there were, from knowing her so long.
Steve himself was standing ramrod straight with a slightly defiant expression in her face, although he too looked worried.
Tony grew more concerned for Mari when she began repeating, "It wasn't an accident," "there was no accident," and "he knew and he hid it from us," over and over again. "Guys I'm gonna take her to bed." Not bothering to wait for a reply Tony held her tighter and stepped into the lift, taking Mari to her own floor.
Tony returned ten minutes later and had tears in his eyes and a broken look on his face. The rest of the Avengers watched as Steve walked forwards and placed a hand on the genius' shoulder and started to say, "Tony, listen, I-" Tony then did something unexpected and smacked Rodgers hand off of him. "Get your fucking hands off of me Rodgers! Don't ever touch me again! You know what, you can just get the fuck outta here right now and you can take itsy-bitsy spider there with you! I never want either of you near myself or my daughter again!"
Everyone stood shocked at Tony's eruption and Rhodey was the first one to fully recover, cautiously walking over to his friend and brother.
"Tony, man, what's wrong? Is Mari ok? What did she say?" The Avengers watched with baited breaths as Tony slowly calmed himself down.
"It would seem that my parent's deaths were no accident. They were murdered by James Buchanan Barnes aka The Winter Soldier. The two of them knew and thought it would be best to keep it from me. I want you both out by tomorrow morning."
No one could believe that the pair would have done this, but one look at their faces told them everything they needed to know. They were guilty.
"Tony, listen, it wasn't Bucky's fault, he-" Steve began again, once more cut off by Tony. "I don't care about your shitty explanations Rodgers! I don't care! Mari was right! You had no right to keep this from us, from me! Now get out!"
Steve went to say something again but stopped when Natasha placed a hand on his arm and shook her head. The pair walked to the elevator and just as the doors were about to close, Tony called out, "F.R.I.D.A.Y, hold the doors."
The disgraced Captain looked up hopefully, but what happened next shocked him. Tony walked into the elevator and grabbed the shield out of the man's hands. "My father made this. It belongs to my family, not you." With that, Tony stepped out of the lift and Steve was too stunned to do anything about it. The doors closing in his face.
The world would never be the same.
A/N- Well, that was fun. As always please review. Have a great day, :).
-MercuryStars