"I wasn't there of my own accord, Agent Coulson."

"Why were you there at all?"

"It's… complicated. And something I would really rather not get into, if that's all right."

"Where are you from? England?"

"I think so." She assumed it was England due to her accent, but she didn't actually know because her memory had been erased.

"You think so? Why don't you know?"

"I lost my memory years ago."

"But someone must have told you where you were from. Afterwards. Why did you lose your memory?"

She turned her attention to the broken glass on the floor and walked to the closet to get a broom, Dummy was nowhere to be seen and leaving there didn't seem like a good idea. "It's complicated and I'd really rather not get into it."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. can find it out if you don't tell me. Why don't you just make it easier?"

Bella wasn't sure how well the existence of her and the others from the program was known. On one hand, S.H.I.E.L.D. might get the other girls out of it. Or they might just make them work for the organization.

Bella didn't know which it would be.

"Miss Stark? What's your real last name? Not Stark, the one you had before."

She shrugged. "I don't know. Amnesia, remember? I don't think I had one."

"That's starting to sound awfully convenient. S.H.I.E.L.D. can find out what you're hiding, Miss Stark."

"Can they?" asked Bella, turning around to face him. "In which case, why are we having this conversation? I assume that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s done their homework, looked me up. You wouldn't be asking me these questions if you could find the answer, could you? If you don't know the answers, it's because you can't find them, isn't it? I have no history anywhere, do I? I never existed until after Afghanistan, is that right?"

He said nothing for a moment. "You're right, Miss Stark," he admitted. "We have no proof of your existence until a few years ago."

"I thought so," said Bella. She took a broom and walked forward toward the broken glass.

"Miss Stark. I don't want to make this any harder than necessary. Where are you from?"

Bella paused. "I told you. I don't know. My memory of the first ten or so years of my life was erased. And I spent the last bit of it in a coma or something of that sort."

"Why were you with the Ten Rings?"

"It wasn't my choice. Like I said, it's complicated and I'd rather not discuss it."

Coulson stepped forward toward her. "I'm sure you haven't done anything wrong. But you have to think about this from our point of view. If Mr. Stark were unknowingly bring a member of the Ten Rings in here, to get their hands on his technology, it would be very bad. I'm not saying you are, I'm just asking that you see this from our point of view."

Bella sensed something move behind her. She dropped and rolled away, coming up next to the table with the new Iron Man armor. She grabbed the two repulsors off it, sliding them onto her hands and taking aim.

It was a man with a bow and arrows. He had an arrow aimed right in between Bella's eyes.

"I told you to stay outside," said Coulson.

"Well, Sir, I –"

"You're still not off the hook for what happened in Budapest. Don't push it, Barton."

"I thought you liked Tasha. Aren't you about happy about the fact she's still alive?"

"Get outside."

"Yes, Sir."

He climbed out the open window.

There was silence for a moment. "He was only supposed to watch," said Agent Coulson.

"Yes, I'm sure," said didn't remove the repulsors. They fit perfectly, strangely enough, but she would wonder about that later.

"We just need to talk to you, that's really all, Miss Stark."

The door swung open. It was Tony.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"No!" said Bella.

"Yes, could you leave us for a while?" said Agent Coulson.

There was a short pause.

"Anything you have to say can be said with Tony in the room, can't it?" said Bella. She was sure a law must exist that said that for something like this, a minor's guardian had to be in the room.

But Tony wasn't legally in charge of her yet. And this wasn't officially anything aside from a conversation.

"What are you doing, Coulson?" asked Tony after a moment.

Coulson seemed to realize this probably was not something he wanted to involve himself in at the moment and backed toward the door. He shot Bella a we-will-finish-this-conversation-later look and walked out.

"What was that about?" asked Tony.

Bella related the conversation.

Tony glanced toward the window.

"Bella… do you think you could figure out how to use an Iron Man suit? You've used simulations, right?"

She nodded.

"The blue and silver suit… it's yours. Take it, go out the window. I built it for you, just in case."

000000000

"You built this for me," she repeated as she stood at the window.

"Yes. Like it?" Tony had hoped she would. Giving something like this to almost anyone her age would be a recipe for disaster. Izzy… if anyone in the world would use it responsibly, he didn't doubt it would be her. Besides, it wasn't armed.

"It's exactly what I would have wanted."

"I'll talk to Coulson. In the meantime, keep a low profile."

"As low a profile I can wearing a suit of armor and flying around in the sky, that is." Her voice was muffled through the helmet, but her accent was still recognizable.

"Yeah, something like that," said Tony. "Don't go getting it wrecked. It's a brand new suit."

"Got it."

"Don't stay anywhere for too long, don't tell anyone. Not even Pepper." Pepper was friends with Coulson. He didn't think she'd betray them or anything like that, but she might let something slip out by mistake.

The doorknob started to rattle. Coulson was staring through the glass at them, an expression of absolute shock on his face. "What are you doing in there, Stark?!"

"Go," said Tony.

Bella nodded. "JARVIS, you there?"

"Yes, Miss Stark."

"Just get me out the window, then start giving me instructions, got it?"

The suit lifted, then flew out the window.

Wow. I posted the last chapter, left for a few minutes, then came back and found two reviews in my inbox. Thank you, srosegarden and little firework. So, as a thank you, here is another chapter. Two chapters in a day… a record for me.

And no, Hawkeye's appearance was not just a random thing. He'll be making more appearances.

I may post the next chapter again today if I get another two or three reviews. Hint hint, readers.