It was a beautiful summer day, and the sun was shining over the famous sites of the town. People were busy going from place to place and task to task, as neighbors helped each other in clearing the streets and fixing their buildings. It had been almost a week since the battle, and things were starting to get back to normal. Relief groups and funds from all over the world were coming together to assist in the efforts. A true sign of camaraderie was being shown by all involved, and the city was proving just how strong it could be in the face of trauma. This was the case all over the city, including in our very own Stark Tower, or as it would soon be known Avengers Tower.
The team was busy at work, having finished clearing out all of the rubble days ago, and now beginning on the repairs and improvements set in place by Stark and Ari. As the sound of AC/DC played loudly in the background, the team moved quickly to complete the tower as soon as possible.
"God damn it!" a voice rang out amidst the noise of crashes and tools. "STARK!" a very angry Natasha yelled out.
"What's wrong, spidey?" Tony asked, glancing up from the electrical work he was doing in the new and improved lab.
"One of your damn building robots keeps messing up," she said, walking in and tossing the broken pipe from the robot towards Stark. "I'm telling you, you're using too much tech on this job. We could get it done ten times faster if we didn't have to deal with all of these shitty robots getting in our way."
Tony rolled his chair towards the glass panes of the lab, looking out to see the robots cooperating perfectly fine under JARVIS' direction.
"I think the robots are just fine. Maybe they just don't like working with your Russian blood," Tony said, sending a smartass look towards Natasha. As she began to walk his direction with an upset look in her eyes, Clint entered the room.
"Hey, watch it Stark. You don't want any of that Russian blood coming your way," Clint laughed, pulling Natasha back from doing anything she would later regret.
"What's the progress report, birdman?" Stark asked, returning to his electrical work. Barton nearly rolled his eyes, never understanding why Tony refused to use the teammembers' names.
"You're gonna have to ask the good doctor or Ari for the answer to that question, Stark. I'm just here to tell Natasha that Fury needs us back at headquarter. Apparently he has another mission for us involving some odd radiation levels in Beijing."
"Aww, and you guys will miss the fun part of building the tower! You just want to have your own rooms without having to do any of the work!" Tony joked, standing up and walking out of the lab in search of someone who could tell him the progress of the building. Natasha and Clint followed, going their separate ways to gather their belongings before returning to SHIELD.
"What, no goodbyes?! I'm hurt guys!" Tony yelled after them, receiving a chuckle from Clint and a middle finger from Natasha.
"JARVIS, what's the current location of one of our two geniuses? Myself not included, of course." Tony asked, while walking into the kitchen to grab a blueberry.
"SHIT!" Tony glanced up to find the speaker of the curse, only to see Ari painting the ceiling of the kitchen.
"Nevermind, JARVIS. I found our lovely designer on my own," Tony told the computer, leaning back against the counter, and enjoying the sight of Ariadne struggling to clean off the giant glob of paint that had seemingly just fallen on her.
"You gonna just stand there, Stark, or are you gonna hand me a towel before this paint gets on your beloved robots, too?" Ari said, slowly climbing down the ladder so as to not make a bigger mess.
"Good point," Tony responded, quickly reaching around to hand the roll of paper towels to her. As Ari worked to clean herself up, she glanced questioningly at Tony.
"Something I can help you with?"
"Oh, right. I came to check in with you on the current status of the construction. Blueberry?" he asked, reaching the bag towards her. Ari shook her head no, and Tony continued to walk towards the kitchen table, pulling the schematics for the building out of the touch screen. Ari walked over to join him, zooming in on the upper, and only remaining section to be finished in their rebuild.
"Right, so this level is obviously the common area. As you can see, we still have quite a bit to do," she said, gesturing through the open area at the mass amount of chaos and work occurring. Bruce was on the balcony, programming the lights and speakers system that ran through the entirety of the tower. Pepper was working with Rhodey, as he assisted her in placing the furniture in the newly finished living room. Steve was off in one of the other rooms, finishing the dry wall or doing some other laborious task, as he insisted was the best use of his time and skills. Tony's robots moved around, painting walls, cleaning floors, and doing other odd jobs to assist in the tasks.
"Yours and Pepper's floor is right below this, and is completely built. I assume you two can figure out the furniture and décor on your own," Ari laughed, as Pepper carried her binder of color swatches and fabrics everywhere these days. Tony merely rolled his eyes, but also expressed a slight smile as he thought of how much he loved Pepper.
"Bruce is obviously on the top floor, as he requested that the other guy had the most room to breathe. He's sharing his living areas with our team lab, as well. That still has quite a bit of work to be done on it, but I'm sure it'll be finished by the end of the week.
"Natasha and Clint's quarters are the floor below yours, and they also have the gym on their level," Tony sent Ari a look on that comment.
"I know, I know. But it was Romanoff's request, and I wasn't about to tell her no. Anyways, Thor's floor is below that, and he also has room for guests and Jane. Steve's and my floor is below that, and we have the computer labs and art studios in between our wings. Those three floors just need the finishing touches, but everything itself is built.
"And then in the floors below ours, everything else are our analysis labs, SHIELD centers, weapons and gear rooms, garage, etc. Everything is coming along well, and pretty soon here we will be a fully operational SHIELD and Avengers hub," Ari finished, looking very pleased that her design was working so well. Tony had been a tough sell on some of the elements, but together the two had designed what would be the best home for the team.
Tony smiled at Ari, realizing just how successful their teamwork had been. "Well, whenever we are all in New York, this sure is going to be a wonderful place for us. Thanks for all of your hard work, Grace." Clapping her on the shoulder, he pushed off of the counter he had been leaning on, returning to the lab and his work.
Laughing to herself and shaking her head, Ari whispered under her breath, "Any time, Stark. Anytime."
As she returned to her painting, she couldn't help but let her mind wander about what Tony had said. 'whenever we are all in New York.' She hadn't considered the fact that despite having a family place, now, they would still have their separate lives to return to. Bruce, Steve, and herself would remain here, as New York was their home. But what about when they were on missions? Even now, Clint and Natasha had just gone off on a SHIELD errand.
Tony and Pepper had whole lives out in L.A., and that's where Stark industries was. Surely, their time would be split in between the two coasts. Thor had been back in Asgard for a week now, having taken Loki and the Tessaract back for safekeeping. She wondered how he was doing, and hoped he would visit when he had the time.
She understood that their line of work as super heroes and spies didn't exactly equip itself for the family, settling down thing. But she did wish that sometimes the team could have its chance to just breathe for awhile; to take a break and enjoy each others company. Maybe during the holidays, she thought, laughing to herself and continuing her painting. If nothing else, she'd always have Steve. But she would miss the moments when they were all together.
Hi, everyone! I hope you enjoyed Chapter 4! I'm hoping that this story has been enjoyable for y'all, but I would really love some feedback! I have some idea of where I want to go with it, but any input you guys have would be much appreciated. I want to make sure that this story is engaging for you, so please, give me some reviews to go off of! If you like it, I'd love to hear that! If you don't, let me know what you think I could do better! Next chapter we're gonna get a look at how Thor is doing after returning to Asgard.
Have a wonderful weekend!
-C.
