A/N: Chapter 3, the longest chapter yet. This chapter was really fun to write, especially towards the end ;)

I know that Adelaide might seem a little...irrational in this chapter, but I couldn't think of another way for her to discover her powers and I tried to build the climax the best I could. In this chapter, we get to see Tony go from teenager to Irondad for a second, but not too long lol. Pepper becomes more of a parental figure for Adie. We also get to see a new character that doesn't seem very important now, but I'm planning on making him contribute a lot to the climax of this story which is wayyyyy down the road. I'm thinking we'll see him every now and then, but that's if I don't forget about him lol. Now that I think about it, we actually see two new characters. One them is kind of like the underdog and the other is like the big boss.

So tonight I'm going to see Spider-Man: Homecoming outside, on a lawn and I AM SO EXCITED! We're gonna have a picnic and stuff and I'm seriously going to scream every time Tom Holland comes on screen. The whole town is going to think I've lost it.

I'm going to try and keep up this pattern where I post a chapter every other day, but after my last fiasco with the messy plot, I've been too busy trying to fix the other chapters and haven't finished a new one. I probably won't write one tonight because of the movie, but I've got another messy chapter written and I just need to edit that one. I'm almost done though, I promise. And to make up for the messy work, this chapter is extra long!

Also, thank you so much to lizlil, NotCurrent, Lilithnocte, AnimeGamerGirl23, KnightLawn, theonethatgotaway, and FanGirlForever19 for following, favoriting, or leaving a review! It seriously means so much to me that you like this story! Thank you guys :)


"G-G-Ghost!"


Maybe using adrenaline to create a plan wasn't the brightest idea, Adelaide thought as she stood on a diving board, looking down at the pool that seemed miles away. Her plan had seemed simple: test if she had any of the mainstream powers such as super strength, superspeed, flying, etc. But jumping off an extremely high diving board wasn't the best idea. In the midst of this, Adelaide had learned that she was afraid of heights. What's the use of a flying superpower if she didn't like heights?

How is the ability to fly going to make me the most powerful person in the world?

She looked down at the pool again. The teenager had trespassed to get here. Sure, it was a public pool, but it was past midnight and she had climbed over a fence to get inside. She wasn't going to turn away now. Adelaide took a deep breath; here goes nothing, she thought and jumped off. As she was falling, she concentrated on trying to make herself fly. She tried making her body feel weightless, but when Adelaide hit the water, she realized that flying wasn't her power. She couldn't tell if she was more relieved or disappointed. Relieved, Adelaide thought as she pulled herself out of the pool, she was relieved. She didn't want to fly.

Adelaide went back into the building, trying to find a towel. Down the corridor, all the doors were locked, except the last one. It was a locker room and luckily, someone had left a towel hanging outside. As she dried herself with the towel, Adelaide decided to leave quickly before anyone saw her. The teenager wasn't in the mood to get in trouble. She finished, hanging the towel back up and left the room, and quietly shutting the door behind her.

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

Adelaide turned around. It was a security guard running towards her with a flashlight. Shit, she thought, she needed to get out of here. She frantically looked around for an exit, but she was at the end of the hall and there were no doors, just a set of stairs.

"Stop right there or I'm calling the police!" Left with no choice, she ran up the stairs. The layout of the second floor was far more confusing than the first one. There were so many corners and rooms. Adelaide just ran, hoping to find her way out. She could hear the guard catching up.

"Hey! Get back here!"

Adelaide felt as if she was running in circles. She couldn't even find the stairs she had climbed to get here.

"Stop right now! I'm calling the police!"

Adelaide turned another corner, feeling hopeful. It was a small, dark hall with only one door and it was slightly ajar. She ran inside, locking the door behind her even though she knew the guard probably had to keys to open it. The room was dark, but Adelaide could see that it was some kind of storage room. There was a small window that allowed some of the city lights to spill through. She hid behind a tall stack of large cardboard boxes in corner, holding her breath and listened carefully. The guard's footsteps grew louder and louder until he stopped in front of the door, shaking the door knob.

"What?" he asked, a slight Hispanic accent slipping through, "Do you take me for an idiot? I know you're in there, and I have the keys to open this door." Adelaide heard a certain jingle as he pulled out his keys. "Kids these days. They just grow stupider," he mumbled to himself as he unlocked the door. She heard a sharp click! and then he swung the door open.

"Now are you going to come out, or do I have to look for you?" He sighed when Adelaide didn't come out. He mumbled something about not getting paid enough. Adelaide watched him through a small crack between the stack of boxes.

"You know," he said, shining his flashlight behind a shelf, "you kids are really predictable these days." He checked behind a cabinet. "You never really surprise me. Do you know why?"

The guard looked inside some boxes, coming loser to where she was hiding. Adelaide took a step back, holding her breath. Her heart was about to beat itself right out of her chest and her stomach was tying itself into a knot. On accident, Adelaide knocked down a box, making the guard laugh. She looked around for a place to run, but she had trapped herself into a corner.

Shit.

"Because you always reveal yourself," he said, knocking down the boxes in front of her. He shined the flashlight right at her eyes, and she instinctively covered her face, crouching into the corner. She waited for the next insult or for him to grab her arm, but nothing happened. Adelaide opened her eyes carefully. The guard was waving the flashlight around, looking right over her. The teenager studied the guard curiously.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," he said, turning around. Adelaide sat there, confused.

What just happened?

She peered through the space between the boxes as the guard continued to search the room for her. He looked behind more shelves and boxes, getting restless. Adelaide grew more confused. She looked down, at herself.

Then, a lot of things happened at once. She realized she couldn't see her body – it just wasn't there. She screamed, knocking over more boxes and making the guard look in her direction. When he didn't see anything, he took several steps back, scared out of his mind.

"G-G-Ghost!" he yelled and ran out of the room. Adelaide struggled to breathe, feeling more scared than the guard. She closed her eyes, willing for this nightmare to go away. Slowly, she opened her eyes and gathered the courage to look down. Suddenly, she could see her body again. It was there. All of it. She pinched her arm to make sure that it was real.

"Ouch!" she whispered into the dark. The air returned to her lungs. Her body was back, and it was real. She leaned against the wall, taking several deep breaths. What in the world was that? She couldn't see her body, but she still felt it. How was that even possible? The teenager closed her eyes, pulling her knees up to her chest. What was happening to her? In her plan to find answers, Adelaide had found more questions.

Our daughter's power will make her the most powerful person in the world.

And in that moment, realization dawned her. For the first time since she had the memory, the sentence suddenly made sense. It made sense why the guard couldn't see her or why even she couldn't see herself.

Her power was invisibility.


Knowing the guard wouldn't be back for a while, Adelaide decided to stay in the storage room for a little longer and test out her powers. She sat on a dusty chair next to the window and used an old mirror she had found in a pile of rubbish. It was cracked and stained, but it would have to do. The teenager closed her eyes, focusing on making herself invisible again. Adelaide imagined the light from the window bending and curving around her to make her invisible. She felt her whole body buzzing with energy and excitement when she opened her eyes to the reflection of an empty chair in the mirror. She got so excited, she almost fell out of her chair. When she made herself reappear again, she noticed her blue eyes were brighter than usual. They almost seemed to be glowing like they had in the bathroom earlier when she had that memory.

Then, Adelaide got an idea. She concentrated on a stack of binders on the floor next to the mirror, stretching out her hand. She could feel tips of her fingers tingling slightly as she manipulated the light around her again. Right before her eyes, the stack of binders seemingly turned into a stack of pillows. In her excitement, she lost focus and the pillows turned back into binders. Adelaide sat back into her chair, beaming.

Her powers went farther than just invisibility, she realized – she could manipulate light to make people see, or not see, whatever she wanted. That explained why her memory felt so vivid. Without realizing it, she had bent the light around herself to make the illusion that she was reliving that memory again.

Hours passed. Adelaide had been so invested in discovering the limits of her power, she hadn't realized that it was already 2 in morning. Her eyes began dropping and she became more tired as she continued to use her powers. The teenager decided that it was time to go back to the Tower. She would continue this tomorrow.

As she stood up, her hair flaming red hair turned back to its original dark brown color. Despite how tired she felt, Adelaide decided it would be best if she turned herself invisible until she left the building. She left the room, quietly closing the door behind her. The teenager walked through the halls without worrying about being seen. Not having to worry about being chased by a guard this time, Adelaide found the exit easily.

As she climbed over the fence, she felt someone watching her. She whipped her head back, scanning the pool area, but there was no one. Adelaide reminded herself that she was invisible. No one could see her. Even then, she convinced herself it was probably just the guard from earlier. The teenager turned around and jumped down from the fence. Adelaide thought she heard footsteps, but it was still silent and there was still no one. She decided to get back to the Tower quickly. It was getting late and it was getting harder to keep herself invisible.


The man watched the fence shake as the girl jumped it, a sly grin on his face. She might be invisible, but he'd been watching her for years. He'd know her anywhere. He turned around, adjusting his eye patch and pulling out his phone. He dialed the number with one hand, twisting the gun casually in the other.

"Tell me you have good news, Graves." The man chuckled.

"Good news? I have great news. The girl's doing exactly what we planned. She just found her powers."

"Is she remembering anything?"

"Nothing. You wiped her clean, Lukov."

"хорошо. Let's hope she stays that way."

"By the looks of it, she's going to stay this way for a while."

"Keep me updated. If anything goes even slightly wrong –"

"I know, I know. My head, your bullet. I've got this under control, Lukov. You just start planning our celebration party."

"I will plan that when we're victorious. Keep your good eye on her." Lukov ended the call. As Graves put his phone back into his pocket, he heard some footsteps coming from around the corner. In half a second, he had his finger hooked around the trigger, ready to pull without hesitation. Shoot first, think later was his mantra. He had killed so many men, it was like a game now. A sort of entertainment.

Then, a man turned the corner, oblivious he was living the last moments of his life. Graves recognized him as the guard who was chasing the girl earlier. This should be fun, he thought. The guard's eyes grew wide when he saw the gun that was aimed at his forehead. He put his hands up, taking a step back. Graves curled his lip deviously.

"Any last words, officer?" The man opened his mouth, probably to plead, but Graves didn't wait. He pulled the trigger. He had heard too many men plead and it was always 'please let me go, I have kids' or 'please, I won't tell anyone'. The man just didn't have the patience to hear it again.

"Told you, Lukov. I've got it all under control," he said to himself, grinning maniacally. Graves stepped over dead man, leaving the place – and the body – behind him without turning back. He'd stopped feeling remorse for the dead a long time ago. But here, the guard was the least of his problems.

He was only here for the girl.


Soon enough, Adelaide was back out on the street, where there were lights and a crowd. The city seemed to be ignoring the fact that it was 2 in the morning and it was only slightly less crowded than it was during the daytime. Adelaide made herself visible again before merging into the crowd. She didn't have any money to take a cab back to the Tower, but it wasn't far so she just decided to walk. It would give her more time to think.

Our daughter will avenge us.

She knew what her power was, but she still couldn't understand why she needed to use it to avenge her parents. Why did that man kill them? What had they done? She still was still missing something important. There was something from her past that she didn't know yet and it seemed to be the one thing that would answer all her questions. But her mind was still stubbornly blank and Adelaide couldn't remember anything no matter how hard she tried. She was going to have to get her answers from somewhere else. Maybe she could find someone from her past who would be able to give her the answers she wanted and maybe there was a chance she would be able to find out how she lost her memory in the first place. There must be –

"Hey! Watch it kid!" Adelaide had accidentally bumped into man who was walking next to her, lost in her thoughts. The teenager lost her balance, falling into oncoming traffic.

Adelaide looked up and her eyes locked onto a truck racing towards her. Her body seemed to freeze in place. She couldn't see anything but the truck and how fast it was coming towards her. The truck was only 2 seconds away and by the time she had control over her body again, but it was too late. She closed her eyes, instinctively covering her face.

Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted off the ground moments before the truck made impact. Adelaide opened her eyes, dazed. She was in the air, flying over the city, the truck left behind her. The teenager was being carried by a pair of red and yellow metal arms. She looked up to find herself face to face with Iron Man.

"Tony?" He ignored her and continued to look ahead. Adelaide looked around. He was taking her towards the Tower, landing perfectly on the top. He put her down and stepped out of the suit. Adelaide hadn't seen Tony look this angry when she had his arm pinned behind his back. He walked past Adelaide, not acknowledging her.

"Tony." He stopped. Then, he marched back to her.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he yelled, "You almost died out there tonight." Adelaide stayed silent.

"Tell me," he said, his voice cold, "what was so important that you had to leave the security of this Tower and wander through a city that you don't know your way around at 2 in the morning? What was it, Adie? What was so important that you almost died for it tonight?"

"It was my memory." Tony stopped, listening. "My parents…they said that I had some kind of power. I had to find out what it was." Tony watched the teenager as she fumbled for words. The same teenager who had his arm pinned behind his back this morning was struggling to find the right words to say now. The billionaire was reminded that she was still just a teenager and softened slightly.

"Did you find out?" he asked quietly. Adelaide nodded, forgetting the incident that had almost taken place seconds before.

"Well, what is it?"

"I can control light," she answered, feeling the buzzing energy in her veins again. Adelaide altered the light around her to make herself seem as if she was inside the Iron Man suit. Then, she made it disappear and made a clone of herself appear. As the clone vanished, so did she. Adelaide walked around Tony, standing behind him before making herself visible again. She tapped his shoulder. He jumped, turning around. His gaze got cloudy, as if he was deep in thought about something.

"You're forgiven," he said a moment later, "but first, turn your hair back to brown. Red's not your color." Adelaide reached up to touch her hair.

"I thought it looked nice," she said. He shook his head.

"Brown." Adelaide rolled her eyes and turned it back to brown.

"And second, why are your eyes glowing?" The teenager shrugged.

"I think they glow whenever I use my power. I can't help it." Adelaide briefly thought about the girl in the car.

"I'd say that's strange, but so is the ability to manipulate light." He yawned. "You know what," he said, "we'll deal with this tomorrow. I'm too tired to be a genius right now."

The teenager agreed. She felt as if she could fall asleep right where she was standing, she was that tired. Adelaide followed Tony into the penthouse, holding back a yawn of her own. Inside, it was dark and silent. Tony stopped her.

"Not a word of this to Pepper, do you understand?" he whispered. Adelaide nodded obediently. She knew that Pepper would get really worked up over this especially after she had told Adelaide to give it some time. Yeah, it was best if Pepper didn't find out that Adelaide had almost died tonight.

Suddenly, the lights turned on, revealing a very cross Pepper standing in the room. Tony halted, looking like a deer caught in headlights. As menacing as Pepper looked, Adelaide tried not to laugh at Tony's expression.

"Not a word of what to me, Tony?" she asked, crossing her arms. Adelaide could hear Tony mumble underneath his breath.

"Damn."

"Well, Adie and I were just out for a walk," he lied, "You know, fresh air and…other…healthy stuff. Right, Adie?" He subtly nudged her with his elbow and Adelaide nodded immediately. Pepper obviously didn't believe a word. She uncrossed her arms, revealing the tv remote in her hand, and switched the tv on. Adelaide's attention turned to the giant flat screen against the wall as it streamed live news.

"The public came very close experiencing a very gruel incident that almost took place here in Midtown Manhattan, but it was prevented thanks to our favorite, Iron Man. Let's see some footage of what happened now."

The screen switched to a shaky video of Adelaide taken from the sidewalk. She was on the road, frozen from fear in front of the truck. Adelaide winced. Although the footage didn't show her face, it made her look weak and she hated that. She cursed at herself for not having control over her own body. A second before the truck hit her, Iron Man flew in and swooped her off the road. The crowd was cheering and then the video cut off. Pepper switched the tv off and Adelaide stared at her reflection in it. She looked like a mess.

"Last time I checked, going for a walk didn't include getting hit by truck or the Iron Man suit," Pepper said.

"In case you were wondering, I already scolded Adie so we can all go to bed now and discuss this tomorrow when it's not 2 a.m. in the morning," Tony said, beginning to walk away. Adelaide winced as she watched Pepper grow angrier. That was definitely not the right thing to say.

"Oh, so you just tell Adelaide to not do something like this again and then pretend like it didn't happen? Tony, Adelaide almost died tonight under out watch! We can't just ignore that."

"I wasn't ignoring it."

"You weren't even going to tell me!"

"I was going to, just not right now. Tomorrow," he said. Pepper turned to Adelaide, taking a deep breath.

"Adelaide, go to your room and wait for me there," she said. If it was anyone else, Adelaide would have argued, but this was Pepper and she was furious. She left without a word.

In her room, she sat at the foot of her bed again, legs crossed. She could hear Tony and Pepper arguing, but she couldn't make out what they were saying exactly. Adelaide knew it was about her, though. She had been careless tonight and this had been the result. It was her fault they were arguing. She unconsciously ran her fingers over her scar. Now that she knew she had powers, she would have to use them carefully. The teenager still didn't know who the man who killed her parents was or even why he did it, but until she found out, she decided it would be best if she kept her powers to herself. Without knowing her past, it was too dangerous to tell anyone. Soon, Adelaide realized that it was silent once again. They had stopped fighting.

There was a knock on the door, and Pepper walked in.

"Hey," Adelaide said quietly. Pepper carefully took a seat next to her. For a moment, it was completely silent. Then, Adelaide spoke up.

"I'm sorry, Pepper. I shouldn't have ran out like that. It was my fault and Tony was just trying to help. He saved my life."

"I know," she said softly, "We talked it out." Adelaide watched her carefully.

"So you two are good?" she asked. Pepper smiled gently.

"Yeah, we're good, but he's sleeping on the couch for tonight." This made Adelaide laugh. A grown man, billionaire, running a multi-billion dollar corporation, sleeping on the couch tonight because he got in trouble. He was going to get an earful of jokes from her tomorrow.

"But we still need to talk about what happened," Pepper said, dropping her smile. She was being serious again. "What were you thinking, Adelaide? You almost died tonight. Why did you leave and where in the world did you go? You don't even know your way around the city yet." Adelaide decided to tell her the truth. Her gut told her that she could trust her.

"In my memory, I heard my parents talking. They said that I have some kind of power that would make me the most powerful person in the world. They said that I would avenge them. I wanted to figure out what that power was and why I was supposed to avenge them. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep until I found out the truth so…I went on a power hunt," she said. Thinking about it now, her idea to search for her power was a little – no, it was very stupid. She wanted to scold herself for coming up with such a stupid idea. She knew she was smarter than this, but her curiosity had blinded her.

"But you could have searched for it tomorrow. Tony and I would've helped." Adelaide nodded, filled with guilt and anger towards herself. She had just caused more problems for everyone. The two of them sat in silence for a little while until Pepper spoke up.

"You realize there's going to be consequences for this, right?" Adelaide winced. Somehow, she had seen this coming. She might not have known Pepper for very long at all, but this was expected. "From now on, you are not allowed to leave the Tower unless Tony, Happy, or I am with you. And you are definitely not allowed to sneak out in the middle of the night.

"So I'm staying here?" Adelaide asked quietly. Pepper stopped, dropping her anger in a heartbeat.

"Of course – I thought we already decided that you were going to stay here until your memories come back or we find your home again."

"I know, I just…never mind," Adelaide said. It was stupid anyways.

"What is it, Adelaide?" Pepper asked quietly. Adelaide shrugged.

"It's just…you guys are being so nice and I don't…This morning, when I was with Tony, he tapped my shoulder unexpectedly and I impulsively pinned his arm behind his back before I realized it was him. I know I can't remember anything from my past, but I'm worried, Pepper. If my first instinct was to twist someone's arm behind their back, then I'm not sure about the person I was before this. In my memory, there was this man who killed my parents and I still can't figure out why. Honestly, with everything going on…I don't know if I was safer then, or if I'm safer now." Adelaide felt as if she had lifted a big weight off her chest. Ever since she found out about her power, she couldn't stop thinking about her past. What if she had misused her power in the past?

"Adelaide, I know you can't remember anything, but thinking the worst about yourself isn't going to make this any better. Whatever your past is, you can't change it anymore," Pepper said. She gently placed her hand on the teenager's arm. "And I can promise you, you won't be as safe anywhere else as safe as you are here."

Adelaide nodded, but she wasn't reassured yet. The teenager didn't trust herself. She didn't know what she was capable of. Until she found out the whole truth, she wouldn't feel comfortable in her own skin and no amount of safety could protect her from herself.

What Adelaide Rivers didn't know was that she didn't need to be protected from herself, but rather the truth.