Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Marvel and Annie or it's characters. The girls in the foster home and Ceri are based on the orphans from the musical Annie.

Chapter 4

Tony watched Alessandra run along the sidewalk and bump into someone. He turned away from the monitor but he turned right back to it when something caught his eye.

The person that Alessandra bumped into was a woman. He zoomed in closer on her face and he blinked a couple of times. Her face was familiar. So familiar it went back deep into his memories that he didn't want to recover. The woman's silk black hair fell in waves around her shoulders and her heels clicked rather loudly at each step she took.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Tony watched her walk along the sidewalk after Alessandra took off again. Tony shrugged it off and said a command to J.A.R.V.I.S., but he couldn't take his eyes away from the woman. Something was off about her. Something that screamed danger in his gut.

The woman stopped on the sidewalk and eyed the back of Alessandra as she ran farther away from the camera's vision. Tony kept his eyes on the woman till her eyes turned up to the tower and then she vanished.

Tony blinked. "J.A.R.V.I.S. did you catch that?"

"Yes, sir."

Tony searched the area for the sign on the woman but there was no trace of her. He growled as his assumptions started shifting towards something else. Superhuman assumptions.

As much as he had grown use to the knowledge of people possessing abnormal abilities, whether they were born with them or created in a lab, but that didn't mean he liked crossing their paths. But as Iron Man, he had to get used to it. After all, he was on a team with a bunch of them.

Luckily, any footage the camera caught was automatically recorded so all he had to do was review it to find a clear image of the face that belonged to the woman. "J.A.R.V.I.S. can you find out who this person is?"

After a few moments, J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice filled the room. "The woman on the footage was Ms. Jennifer Perez, a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. That was all I could find. Any information about her is unknown."

Tony hadn't moved from the stool that he sat on in the minutes he sat staring at his screen while J.A.R.V.I.S. searched. He stroked his chin. "Of course, she had to be a former agent. Everything always leads to S.H.I.E.L.D."

"What always leads to S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Natasha asked walking in the room. She, Clint, and Steve had just recently returned from a lengthy mission and decided to drop by the Tower for a few days. The mission left her exhausted and yearning for sleep, but she couldn't find herself closing her eyes just yet.

Spinning around to face her, Tony motioned toward the screen. "Everything. Every person that happens to pass by the place, every disaster that happened in the last couple decades, and anything that happens to catch our attention."

Natasha strolled up to him and peered at the screen. "I thought your suspicions of S.H.I.E.L.D. ceased."

"They never do." He swiped a few files off the screen until the image from the camera was the only thing showing. "DO you know who this is?"

"Yeah, she was an agent a couple of years ago. I went on a couple of missions with her when I was first starting in S.H.I.E.L.D. Why does she hold your interest?"

"I think she might have something to do with that little girl I told you about."

Natasha rose an eyebrow. "The orphan?"

"Yeah," Tony nodded deep in thought. "By the way, what are you doing in here anyways?"

"I wanted to see what you have done overall on planning the reconstruction of the tower so far," she replied.

"I didn't know you were interested in that."

"I'm not really, but I figured it would help me take my mind off things."

Tony looked up from the screen. "Did the mission go that badly?"

Natasha's face was emotionless. "In a way."

"Do you know what happened to her?" Tony asked, referring to Jennifer.

Natasha shook her head. "I can't say much except for the fact something happened to her while on a mission and S.H.I.E.L.D. had to wipe her from the database and relocate her family. So tell me again what does this have to do with that little girl?"

"This Jennifer girl knocked into Alessandra and said something to her," Tony began. "I don't know what was said but Alessandra darted down the sidewalk and the other disappeared out of thin air."

Folding her arms, Natasha raised an eyebrow at Tony. "You think the girl might be in trouble. Even if she might be, how can you just assume she is after a run in on the street with someone who happens to be an ex agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"I'm sorry," Tony clucked, "did you miss the fact that I said she disappeared into thin air?"

"I didn't miss anything, Stark." Natasha rolled her eyes. Leaning on his desk, Natasha picked up a tablet and flipped through random files. "But you are right, it is a little suspicious. How did that talk go with the girl's guardian?"

Tony sighed. "It reminded me why I don't go out in public that often."

"That bad?"

"Very awkward," he corrected.

The air was silent as Tony was lost in thought. He didn't know why all of a sudden he was concerned about an ex S.H.I.E.L.D. agent possibly being a threat to a little girl he helped yesterday. However, it make him uncomfortable to think the woman was heading towards the tower but suddenly disappeared once Alessandra left after a confrontation.

Beside him, Natasha frowned. "Tony, if you are that concerned about the girl, go check up on her."

"If I do that, she might be dragged into some mess."

"No matter what any of us does, innocent people will get dragged into messes that we unknowingly created. It's all part of the creation of this team," Natasha told him. Her eyes threated to close, but she widened them.

"You look a little exhausted," Tony noted, changing the subject. "You should probably go sleep."

"I should." Natasha took a deep breath. Pushing herself off of the side of the table, Natasha left the room.

"You cannot be my mom. My mom is supposed to be sweet and caring. Not some crazy woman that pushes her child on a sidewalk and scares her." A chill went down Lessa's spine just thinking about the word. Mother.

Lessa's supposed mother walked up to her and caressed her face. "We cannot choose our family, Alessandra. You have been wanting to know who I was and now I am here." She kneeled down to Lessa's height. "I'm your mother."

"I think you already established that," Lessa sputtered. "What's your name?"

Lessa's mother brushed strand of hair way from Lessa's eyes and it made her skin crawl. "Jennifer."

"And my dad?"

Jennifer hesitated. "Carlos."

Lessa narrowed her eyes and pulled away from Jennifer's grasp. "You don't seem sure about his name."

"It's been so long since I had last seen your father," Jennifer admitted with a sigh. "He would have been delighted to see you."

Would have? There were many ways the sentence could have been taken. But which one did Jennifer mean? Lessa had no clue. "Where is everyone?"

"I had to have them removed for our little conversation to run smoothly. Alessandra, I have been waiting for so long to finally get you back." Carefully, Jennifer reached out to Lessa's wrists and led her over to sit on the couch.

Jennifer's tone was soothing, coaxing into Lessa to trust her. Lessa didn't know if she wanted to trust her. She might not even be her actual mother! Sure, they look similar, but there are always people not related that look alike in one way or another. "How was I taken away from you?"

"There is this organization that I worked for that protects people from unknown forces," Jennifer told Lessa. "After working for a couple of days, I came home to an empty house just like you just did. And just as for you, my family was supposed to be there all safe and waiting for my arrival." She paused. "I tried to contact your father but then my work called and told me why they – you – were gone."

"What did they say?" Lessa asked.

A dark expression took over Jennifer's face. "They said they had to remove the both of you from me because of the threat you both faced from the problems of the days that I was working. I tried to find you both, but I was shoved in the dark and sent away for many years. After those years I finally had enough and managed to escape."

"So here you are," Lessa concluded. The confession was heavy, but she could feel holes in it. "And you want me to leave here and come with you to wherever you live?"

Jennifer smiled and held Lessa's hand. "You catch on so quickly. Yes, I heard about your attempts to find me and now I'm here. There is no reason to look any further, Alessandra."
The weight from Lessa's search lifted off of her shoulders no matter how odd and suspicious the meeting was. However, there was another she had to finish. Pulling away from Jennifer's grasp, Lessa stood up. "I don't know if I can. I can't leave the other girls when I don't know if they will be alright."

"Don't worry. I will make sure they will be away from Ceri and taken to better homes."

"You promise?"

Jennifer smiled once again. "I promise."