Two evenly spaced knocks echoed across Tony's apartment, way after everyone else would be asleep.

He looked up from his tablet and narrowed his eyes at the door. Nobody on his team knocked like that, even if someone was awake.

"JARVIS, who's at the door?" He glanced down at the silver bracelet on his wrist, hoping he wouldn't need to call a suit.

"JARVIS?"

Tony approached the door quietly. "Who's there?"

"Agent Coulson."

Tony straightened up and groaned. He'd turned off JARVIS again.

"Now you say Agent Coulson who."

"What do you want?"

"To be let in?"

Tony opened the door and stood firmly in the doorway, pointedly not letting the other man through. "And?"

"To let you know that Laynie's suit has been returned. I even had it polished up. However, our tech wiz, Leopold Fitz, took the liberty of drawing up some schematics for me."

Tony's blood ran cold with anger.

"Now I know what you're thinking, and Fury did have a few schematics of your previous armors. I destroyed them upon taking over. The schematics for Iron Defender will only ever be used for Laynie, by Laynie."

"Okay, I have one question for you. Why do you insist on undermining my authority over her?"

Coulson crossed his arms, wearing that unreadable half-smile. "Maybe because I knew her first."

"Yeah, well my name is on the adoption papers."

"I was close to Rebecca. I can tell you with complete certainty that she would have allowed this. Especially under your supervision."

"Well that's the problem, Coulson. I didn't give her permission."

Coulson was quiet for a moment. "If, when Laynie turns eighteen, you still aren't allowing her to be Iron Defender, I will give her the schematics and allow her to build her armor. Until then, I'd advise you to strike a compromise with her. She's as stubborn as they come, Tony, but she doesn't always make the best choices. I'm afraid she's going to do something you'll both come to regret."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the parenting advice Agent Unpropitious. Get out of my building."

Laynie clapped her hands together, smiling. "It's done?"

Kate shut her laptop with a self-satisfied smile. "Yep. Should we call the team?"

"I'll get Carter, you call the guys, and we'll meet there."

"Sounds good." She paused. "I have a question."

"Yeah?"

"What are you going to do without your suit?"

Laynie stood from her desk and walked across the room to her closet, where she pulled a metal rod out of a drawer. "Natasha taught me how to brawl. Krav Maga, Tai Kwon Do. Steve taught me how to defend myself and how to keep a level head in battle. But Clint..." Laynie pressed a button on the rod and either side extended. She rested the tip on the carpet beside her, and the rod stood as tall as she did. "Clint taught me weaponry."

Kate grinned. "Bo staff. Very stylish. Close combat, though."

Laynie shrugged. "I'll deal."

"Alright." Kate stood and put her laptop in its bag. "I'll see you there. Make sure you bring Carter's tech setup and all your research."

"Right. See you soon."

Laynie collapsed the staff and pulled a belt out of the same drawer she'd taken it out of. It had a special sheath attached that ran horizontally across the small of her back, and a magnet that would keep the staff firmly in the sheath.

After putting it on and throwing her backpack over her shoulders, she left her room to knock on the door of Carter's.

"Come in!" Carter called to Laynie.

Laynie stepped in and found Carter spread out across her bed, playing on her phone.

"What's up?" Carter asked, looking up at Laynie.

"I want to show you something."

Carter sat up. "Okay."

"No, no, it's big. We have to go uptown."

Carter looked confused. "Okay then." She quickly slid on a pair of boots and pushed herself off the bed. "Let's go."

Kate was already waiting with Peter and Noh-Varr by the time the girls got there.

"Okay Laynie, seriously, what's going on?" Carter asked.

Noh-Varr raised his hand and looked between Laynie and Kate. "I second this line of questioning."

"Oh, chill. Don't ruin the surprise."

The team entered the tall, slightly dilapidated office building all together. Kate stopped at the front desk, putting both her hands on the waist-high counter and giving the woman behind it a charming smile. "Hello, I'm Kate Bishop. I was just on the phone with you, I think."

"Of course, Miss Bishop." She turned in her swiveling chair and pulled a card out of a cabinet. "Come talk to me on your way down and we'll have extras made for your employees."

Peter bumped Carter and looked down at her, questioningly mouthing, 'Employees?'.

Carter shrugged. "I have no idea."

Kate led the party into the elevator. She pushed the key into the slot, which was there in place of buttons, and the elevator shot up.

"Alright guys," she said excitedly. "Welcome to Young Avengers HQ!"

The elevators opened on a dingy office space, dimly lit by the sun coming in through the floor to ceiling windows. There was a resounding silence as everyone stepped off the elevator.

"Isn't it great?" Laynie asked.

Carter looked around. "It looks like it could use some remodeling."

"I'm confused. Did you just say Young Avengers HQ? I thought Tony was still against the whole thing?" Peter asked.

"That's the best part!" Kate exclaimed. "You guys seem to constantly forget that Laynie isn't the only rich kid around here. My family is loaded. I bought the space, and we're going to go solo. We won't need any of the Avengers' help. A team is coming by in the morning to brighten it up. And Carter, we're bringing in all new tech and top-of-the-line software. It'll do most of the hacking work for you, once you input the algorithms."

"I'm all for less work." Carter grinned.

"I'm not sure the Avengers will be very enthused with this idea..." Peter sighed, looking concerned.

"You worry too much, Peter." Carter rolled her eyes.

"Yeah Peter," Noh-Varr said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Chill out."

Peter sent a sidelong look at Noh-Varr, but he didn't say anything else.

"Okay, now for the real reason we're all here."

Laynie walked further into the office and dragged a dusty old table into the center of the room. She slapped her backpack down on top of it and unloaded her laptop.

"Coulson came by yesterday." She briefly met Peter's eyes. "He couldn't find anything on Wade."

He nodded grimly. Carter reached out and took his hand.

"But he did give me a tip. A source in Russia spotted Marrow yesterday. He's been scoping out this hotel in Kazan, where a Russian politician and his daughter, Lilia Vasilyev, are supposed to be staying tomorrow night. Deadpool has not been spotted, but then again, he never really is." Laynie paused to hand out pictures of the hotel, along with a floor plan, and the picture of Brandt that had been dropped off by Coulson. "Sorry about the hard copies. We'll have fancy tech tomorrow. Anyway, Mr. Vasilyev recently made a bold move and supported SHIELD in a very public way. Apparently Hydra didn't like that, because Black Marrow was commissioned to kidnap Lilia. All of Coulson's sources point toward the kidnapping taking place tomorrow. Mr. Vasilyev has requested SHIELD protection."

"And we can trust his sources?" Noh-Varr asked.

"If he trusts them, so do I. He wouldn't set us up with information he wasn't one hundred and ten percent sure about."

"What does this have to do with us?" Peter asked.

"Everything. See, Coulson doesn't have boots on the ground in Russia, and he's apparently dealing with some stuff of his own that he can't spare a team. That's where we come in."

Laynie briefly explained the plan for their Russian excursion before leaving them to their own devices.

Carter wandered about the decrepit building, surveying their new HQ.

"Hey Carter?"

She turned to look over her shoulder and found Peter walking toward her. "Yeah?" She smiled brightly.

He smiled back. "I've got to go, but I was wondering if you'd like to go out tonight."

"I'd love to. Where are we going?"

Peter grinned shyly. "You'll find out later. I'll pick you up at the Tower at five, alright?"

Carter nodded. "Alright. I'll see you at five."

"Great!" Peter laughed and started backing up toward the elevator. He almost tripped over a fake plant on his way out.

"Careful, Peter." Carter giggled.

Peter smiled sheepishly at her before leaving.

Laynie appeared beside Carter as if by some magic, grinning. "He's adorable. You're adorable. I ship it."

Carter rolled her eyes.

Laynie's grin faltered and she took on a more serious face. "Are you okay with this setup? Dad's not going to be happy with me, and I don't want you getting caught up in the middle of this if you aren't willing."

Carter shrugged. "I'll be fine. Bruce will be cool with it so long as I'm not in the middle of the action."

"Good. Well I'm gonna head home, I want to get some training in before we head out tomorrow. We're taking Kate's normal person jet, so we have to be there bright and early." Laynie took a few backward steps toward the elevator as she kept talking. "Don't stay out too late with your boy-frand," she finished with a wink.

Carter rolled her eyes once more. "Have fun with the training."

Laynie walked home alone, enjoying the fresh summer air. She didn't spend a lot of time alone and actually like it. She was frequently left alone in the tower, these days, but that was the depressing, unwilling kind of loneness. Being by herself of her own volition felt nice.

Once in the tower again, she went upstairs and changed into a tank top and some soft shorts before heading a few floors down, to the training area.

Laynie connected her phone to JARVIS, and put on some music. It blasted through the overhead speakers, drowning out everything else in her head. She started with some quick stretches, and half an hour later, she was punching the bag a little harder than she really had to. She alternated hooks, crosses, jabs, and elbows. She threw in the occasional backfist when she felt like it.

This was just her warmup, really. Next would be kicks, then she would practice rolls, and maybe see if anyone was around who'd be willing to be beaten up by her bo staff.

For as much as she wanted to let her music drown out what she was feeling, she couldn't get it out of her mind. She stepped back from the bag and threw a kick. She waited for it to come back, then went back to punches.

There was nothing holding her down anymore. Her relationship with Tony had been really touch and go since Christmas. Pepper was actively avoiding anyone who lived in the tower, Natasha was gone. She found herself longing for her old life with her mom. She'd long since accepted that no amount of Tony's love would alleviate the pain in her heart, but she was beginning to find that the absence of his love made it a lot worse.

In a perfect world, Laynie would still be with her mom, and she'd be aggressively working for a spot in the SHIELD academy. The operations division, of course. She wouldn't be fighting Tony to be Iron Defender, she wouldn't be feeling so lonely. In a perfect world, Wade wouldn't be missing.

Maybe she would have never met him at all.

She didn't do many kicks, opting instead for sit ups. She had lost count of her reps when her music cut abruptly.

She stopped, breathing heavily and rubbing the tight spot in the center of her chest. Maybe such an intense workout wasn't a good idea right before a mission. She probably shouldn't be pushing herself this hard anyway.

"JARVIS? What the heck, man?"

"I did it," Tony said. He laughed a little as he approached her. "You're turning into me."

She couldn't help but crack a smile. He'd sworn out some and chased others down with garage tools for turning off his music. There had been some of the same venom in Laynie's voice.

"I've always hated it when people do that, for the record."

He hesitated on the edge of the mat. "I believe it."

Laynie walked around him to get her water bottle, taking a long drink before sitting on the edge of the mat. "What's up?"

He sat down beside her and rested his elbows on his knees. "Well, everyone upstairs can hear your music."

"Oh, sorry."

There was an awkward silence. Laynie wasn't sure when they had last been in the same room for so long without fighting.

"Are you okay?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Me? Yeah, I mean, I was just a little winded."

"No, I wasn't talking about that," Tony said, a little frustrated. "I mean...With everything that's going on."

She leaned back on the mat, resting on her elbows and avoiding eye contact. "I'm fine."

Tony scoffed, but he didn't say anything else.

There was another long silence. Laynie was unsure of how to fill it. Obviously her dad had something to say, otherwise he wouldn't still be sitting beside her.

"How long are you grounded for again?"

"Wait, I'm grounded?"

There was a pause, and both of them laughed.

"Has there been a time in the last six months where you weren't?"

She shook her head. "No, probably not. Sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. It's not like it's really keeping you from going anywhere anyway." He groaned and rubbed a hand across his face. "That sounded like a jab. I just meant that I'm not around to—to enforce it. It's pointless."

"I agree," Laynie said quietly.

Tony sighed, and turned to look at her. "Sorry to interrupt. I'm going to go back upstairs." He ruffled her hair, a little damp with sweat near her forehead. "Love you."

She paused, watching him walk out. "I love you too," she called.

Tony leaned into the wall of the elevator as it took him up. When he stepped off the elevator onto the main floor of the tower, he immediately veered off to the kitchen. Without Pepper around to stock the fridge in their—or, his apartment, there was rarely any food in it at all. He had resorted to taking food from the main floor rather than shopping for himself.

He stuck his head in the fridge, then closed it again and leaned against the counter. He didn't really want food. What he wanted was a distraction from the conversation he'd just had.

"Hey Tony," Bruce greeted as he walked past him and to the fridge. He pulled out a bottle of water, then paused. "Everything alright?"

He gave his colleague a blank look. "Y'know Brucey, I'm honestly not sure. I just had a conversation with Laynie that was startlingly devoid of raised voices."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Bruce asked.

He laughed. The noise kind of surprised him. "Yeah, it is. It just hasn't happened in a while."

Bruce gave him a bemused smile.

"Do you think I'm being too hard on her?"

Bruce sighed. "Honestly, yes. She's a smart girl and brave too. I think she'll be able to handle herself out there. And why give her the suit if you didn't intend for her to use it?"

Tony was silent for a moment. "I didn't give it to her. I never meant for her to use it whenever. Maybe in an emergency, maybe, but... I just wanted to do it."

"And as usual, you didn't think of the repercussions beforehand."

Tony cast him a sideways glance.

"Look, Tony, the only reason I don't want Carter out there is because she has no training. But Laynie came to us half trained. Think about when Carter was shot in Costco—Laynie didn't even think about it. She busted open a package of paper towels and put pressure on it right there. Rebecca had been teaching her how to fight for years before we met her. Her mom was a fighter, and now she has you to look up to. She's going to do this, Tony, with or without you."

Tony was silent for a moment. He found a lump in his throat that was hard to talk around. "I guess you're right."

"So... What are you going to do about it?"

Tony stood up suddenly and put his hands on his hips, staring into space. "I don't know yet." He clapped Bruce on the shoulder, then disappeared.

In another part of the tower, Carter had just spent an hour figuring out what she was going to wear for her date. She finally decided on a light blue, knee-length dress. After waiting around for a while, having gotten ready too early, JARVIS piped up to inform her that her date had arrived.

"Thank you, JARVIS."

She quickly grabbed her purse and made her way downstairs before Clint or Steve could ambush Peter.

"So, you and Carter then?" Clint asked.

"Uh, yeah." Peter went bright red.

Carter groaned and stomped out to the living room.

She grabbed Peter's arm as she passed. "Bye Clint!" She said, dragging Peter toward the elevator.

"Don't stay out too late." Bruce called from the kitchen.

"Got it!" Carter called back before the elevator doors closed.

"Thank you so much." Peter buried his face in his hands.

Carter grinned. "Oh trust me, it was just as much for me as it was for you."

Peter chuckled.

As they were exited the building Carter asked, "So, where are we going?"

"You'll see." Peter smiled and offered her his arm.

Carter rolled her eyes and linked arms with him.

After a walk around the city and the sun had set, Peter had led her to an old, abandoned building.

"Uh..." Carter looked up at Peter curiously.

He led her to where he had set up two chairs. "Wait here."

"...Okay." Carter watched as he ran off.

Next thing she knew, Sleeping Beauty was being projected on the side of the building.

Carter looked up with a big smile.

"You told me it was your favorite Disney movie. After Lion King, that is." Peter said.

"Oh Peter, I love it." Carter jumped up and hugged him. "You really go all out, don't you?"

He blushed and held up a basket. "I brought food. You wanna sit?" He gestured to the chairs.

Carter nodded. "Yeah, of course."

Peter pulled a blanket out of the basket and draped it across Carter's lap, then started unloading snacks. All of the things he already knew she liked, and a couple he'd asked Laynie about.

"How'd you get it up there? The movie?"

Peter shrugged, smiling down at the basket. "Technology stuff, y'know."

She laughed.

They watched the movie in silence for a while. Halfway into "Once Upon A Dream" Carter leaned into Peter's shoulder. He put an arm around her.

"Are you serious about this?"

She looked up at him with a dead serious look. "Yes. This movie is amazing, don't get me wrong, but Lion King will always be the best."

He laughed. "No, no, not that. I mean, y'know, us? Dating me?"

"Oh!" Carter chuckled nervously. "Yes. Yes, of course I am." She pulled away from to look him in the eye. "After what happened with James last year. I wasn't really sure I'd be up for dating again anytime soon. And I knew that when I did start dating again I wanted it to be with someone I really cared about." She grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight.

Peter nodded. "I swear I'll never do what he did to you."

Carter leaned back toward him. "I know."

"I've gotta tell you, I haven't dated a lot since Gwen because... well, it's really hard to keep secrets. But I have to be sure I'm not telling people I can't trust."

"Like your aunt?"

Peter fell silent.

"I was just kidding, Peter."

He let out a nervous laugh. "Right."

"I get why you haven't told her."

"Right. I was just trying to say...I like being with you. A lot. That's all."

Carter smiled. "I like being with you too." She quickly pecked him on the lips. "Now, hush, I want to watch the movie."

Carter felt his chest tighten against her side, then he let out a breath and kissed her on top of the head, probably grinning like an idiot.