So, there is one chapter let after this one, but have no fear, there will be a sequel. This story was basically introducing the kids and having them finding out about their parents, sequel is going to be them actually moving into the tower and getting used to living there.
Disclaimer- I do not own the Avengers, rights go to their proper owners.
~~~~~With Archer, Alek, Iris, and Junior~~~~~
Alek froze in place, which shocked Archer, who was standing next to him. Alek's eyes were unfocused, and he was staring at the science building in shock. Archer understood, he was having one of his visions.
He snapped out of it after a second, and he shocked Archer even more when he yelled, "NO!" and tried to fling himself at the lab.
That's when the building blew up.
Archer flung himself onto the ground, covering his face while he still tried to look for the rest of the team. He could see Junior on the other side of the building, and even through the smoke he could make out Iris' bright red curls. But he couldn't see Shay or Belle anywhere.
That's when he realized why Alek had tried to run into the building.
He turned to the demigod, who was still staring at the remains of the building, his arm half raised like he was trying to grab something, he was covered in soot and ash, and Archer probably was too, but he couldn't bring himself to care at the moment.
"Alek...are Shay and Belle..." He couldn't finish his sentence.
"They were in the building, they activated the self destruct to get rid of the robots." Alek said, and fell to his knees. Archer looked around, and realized he was right, all of the robots had crumpled to the ground, and there weren't any more coming out of the entrance.
Iris and Junior had joined them now, Iris staring at the remains in shock while Junior let out an angry roar, and flung himself at the debris, starting to throw the rocks away from the destroyed building.
"He's right guys, we need to look for them." Archer said, almost desperately, and Iris and Alek both nodded.
"They're not dead until we find the bodies." Iris agreed, and made her way to the building, starting to carefully sort through the rubble, Archer joined her, and Alek went to help Junior.
They had been looking for about 10 minutes when they started to get discouraged.
"You're sure they were in the building?" Archer asked Alek for the 10th time, and Alek nodded sadly.
"As much as I wish I was wrong, I know I am not." He said, his shoulders slumping, if only he had gotten that vision earlier, he could've stopped them from going into the building.
"Stop that." Iris snapped from next to him, and he turned to her in confusion.
"Stop what?" He asked.
"Blaming yourself, it wasn't your fault, it's nobody's fault but Lane and Kelly." She said, and she really knew him too well.
Alek only sighed again, and then turned back to the large pile of rocks he was sorting through, he was standing in the corner of the building...or, where it used to be at least, and there seemed to be a large amount of debris in that area.
He pulled a large rock from off of the pile, and then gasped when a gloved hand poked it's way out of a crack in between two rocks. It was moving.
"FRIENDS! I BELIEVE I HAVE FOUND THEM!" He turned to yell at the rest of the team, who came rushing over like they had superspeed, and he grabbed the rest of the rocks and threw them to the side. And then he sighed in relief.
A blue shield was held against the corner of the room, dusty and full of ash, but not even dented, and as soon as the rocks were out of the way, it was pushed away from the corner, and onto...
Belle's lap.
Belle, who was breathing, her hair a mess, her face covered in ash, looking downright terrible, but breathing. Shay was next to her, in the same state, although her armor had protected her from the majority of the smoke and ash.
It was silent for several seconds while the rest of the team stared at them, and they stared right back, then Iris interrupted the quiet, "NEVER! EVER! Do that again." She choked out through a teary, relieved smile.
Belle smiled back. "Yeah, it wasn't very enjoyable for us either." Then Archer was kneeling down next to them, followed by Iris, and Junior calmed down enough to the point where he shrunk back down to Ethan, who leaned on Alek looking like he was about to sob from happiness.
Shay stared at them for a moment, before smirking slightly. "I was right." She said.
"You usually are, annoyingly." Archer said from his spot next to her. "What were you right about this time?" He asked.
She pointed at the shield in Belle's lap. "It's just as strong as Captain America's shield." She sounded proud of herself.
It was silent for a second, before Archer burst into slightly hysterical laughter, his head falling on to Shay's lap while he held his stomach. The rest only lasted a few more seconds, before they all followed suit, busting a gut. Alek and Ethan both fell to their knees, Belle and Iris had to lean on each other, and Shay was literally crying from laughter.
It went like that for a minute before the sound of loud engines broke them out of their hysterical laughing. It was the engine of a jet, no, bigger. They looked up through teary eyes and saw the familiar outline of the Helicarrier flying towards the ruins of the Cyclone building.
"I'm guessing the camouflage isn't working any more." Ethan muttered.
"Yeah..." Shay turned to look at the main building, still standing, but with many broken windows. "But...there's something that we have to do before Shield starts, ugh, asking us questions." She made a face at that, as if it was the most unpleasant thought she could think of.
The others all understood without her having to tell them.
~~~~~In the Main Building~~~~~
Sebastian Lane woke up to a bottle of water being thrown at his face, not the water, somebody literally threw a full bottle of water at his face.
He opened his eyes and was shocked when he saw six pairs staring right back at him, cold and calculating.
Archer was the closest to him, and his bow was currently notched and pointed right at his face, Alek was to his left, his hands flashing with electricity, Iris was next to the demigod, her guns in hand, Shay was on Archer's other side, dressed in her full armor, but slightly leaning against Belle, who had her shield held at her side, and Junior stood next to Belle, huffing loudly.
He stared at them for a second, then he let out a loud gulp.
"I-I think I'll tell you the truth now." He stuttered.
~~~~~A few moments later~~~~~
By the time the Helicarrier landed, the kids had handcuffed Lane and were standing on the steps leading up to the entrance of the main building. A bunch of Shield agents came running out, and the kids got many confused stares before somebody finally grabbed him away from Archer.
A bunch of the agents were running around, searching through the rubble of the lab, maybe for any bodies, though the kids knew they wouldn't find any, or maybe for any information that may have survived the explosion, again, they wouldn't find any.
"Jesus Christ, do they really think that we don't notice them staring at us?" Archer asked.
"Well, let's face it, we would be staring too." Belle said.
"Yeah, either they know about the whole parent thing, or we're just a bunch of stupid kids who blew up an enemy building, either way, it's a good reason to stare." Shay said casually.
"If they don't know, I suggest we go with the whole, stupid kids that blew up an enemy building, it would make our lives a lot easier." Iris said, glaring back at the agents, who flinched and turned back to their work.
Another man stepped out of the Helicarrier, he looked more important than the rest of the agents, considering he was wearing a gray suit instead of the dark blue uniform that everyone else was wearing. He was looking at the kids, who were all looking back, Shay lifted up an arm and waved at him. He shook his head, and turned back into the ship, grabbing something from inside and then started walking back to them.
"Hello children." He said when he approached them.
"We're not children, we're almost 16." Shay corrected instinctively.
"That's still 38 years younger than me." He answered instantly. "Now," He straightened and held his hand out. "My name is Agent Phil Coulson, from Shield."
"Sup Phil." Archer said, inclining his head.
"Hello, Agent." Shay said, waving again.
Belle, who was standing between Thing 1 and Thing 2, elbowed both of them in the sides, and then shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you Agent Coulson."
Coulson smiled slightly, and then turned to Ethan. "Here, you might want this." He handed him the thing that he'd grabbed from the Helicarrier, it was a plain black T-Shirt, one that could be found at any store for $10.
That didn't mean Ethan wasn't thankful, he found it embarrassing to be standing there in just his pants while so many people were staring at him. "Thank you." He said, and pulled it over his head.
Coulson looked down at the pants. "I'm surprised those aren't ripped, those are nice pants." He complimented.
"Thank you." Both Ethan and Shay said together, Ethan sounding embarrassed, Shay sounding proud of herself. They all turned to look at her.
"What? No thanks for the one who made the pants?" She asked.
Coulson stared at her and sighed, looking away and back toward the Helicarrier. "Yup, you're definitely his daughter." He muttered, and all of the kids followed his line of sight.
He wasn't looking at the Helicarrier, he was looking at the people who were currently getting out of the ship, the people that they've wanted to meet their whole lives, the Avengers...their parents.
The two groups simply stared at each other for a moment, Captain America, Iron Man, and Shay all had their masks off, but they were still reluctant to meet each others eyes. Even Iris, normally unshakeable, couldn't look Natasha in the eye, so she was instead, looking over the rest of the Avengers. It took a moment, but eventually, they managed to look each other in the eye, well, most of them.
Shay and Tony's eyes kept wandering away from each other, but they kept finding their ways back, so it...kinda counted.
It was absolutely silent, not even Shay had a sarcastic comment to break the tension, then Phil decided to have mercy on them.
He leaned close to them, and they all turned their eyes back on him, almost relieved. "If there is something that we can do for you kids at the moment, we'd be glad, you kids just helped save the world." He said, and damn, he knew how to cheer the kids up.
None of the kids spoke up, until Belle remembered something. "Well, actually..." She whispered, almost silently. "In the surrounding forest, near the building that exploded, there should be...there should be seven bodies that weren't harmed from the explosion. They were our foster parents, and our...well, foster uncle. They...they saved our lives and..." She couldn't say any more, but she didn't need to.
"We'll get on that." Phil said, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it. "But first, do any of you kids need any medical attention?"
"No." Shay, Iris, and Archer, the only ones who actually needed it, said.
"Yes." Belle, Ethan, and Alek corrected them, turning to glare at the other three.
The three members of the team who were very vulnerable to injuries looked back at them, then turned to Phil.
"Yeah, I guess I might've sprained my wrist." Iris admitted.
"And, I may have twisted my ankle." Shay rubbed the back of her neck.
Everybody then turned to Archer, Belle, Alek, and Ethan were all still glaring at him.
"I'm not really that hurt, but if it will get the 3 Musketeers over there to stop glaring at me, I'll get all my bruises and scratches checked out." He gestured to the three who finally stopped glaring and grinned.
"Alright then, let's get you to Medical." Phil put a hand on the small of Archer's back, and started to lead him to the Helicarrier, the rest of the team paused for a second, before following him.
The Avengers had parted at the entrance, Steve, Tony, and Clint on one side, Natasha, Bruce, and Thor on the other. The kids could feel their eyes on them while they passed, but none of them could bring themselves to look at their heroes, and merely walked by them, their eyes glued to the ground.