"What the hell?!" Tony exclaimed and the girl's eyes focused on him in glee.
"Tony Stark! I am so excited, I cannot believe that I convinced Max to let me do this, I am such a big fan of yours, and I am so very sorry about the whole breaking in thing, but you can't even imagine, well yes you can! Because you're Iron Man too! That is so awesome by the way, I mean it wasn't enough to be a genius you had to go help save the world! And its Captain America, I am a big fan of yours too, and hello there handsome, I will learn your name later. Auria you are really with the Avengers!" the girl exclaimed, mouth excitedly running so fast Steve could barely catch up before it ended in another squeal.
Now that he was over the shock, he could tell that she was more of a teenager than a little girl, but that didn't keep his eyes from focusing on Tony's face and enjoying his lost expression with no small amount of pleasure. His eyes nearly bulged from his head as he tried to reconcile the genius hacker with the squealing teeny bopper before him and it was enough to make Steve snicker. Bucky had awkwardly shuffled under her unabashed appreciation, but his trademark smirk stretched across his face.
"Yeah, Crystal, I am. Obviously you already know Tony Stark, and Steve Rogers, and this is Lieutenant Bucky Barnes. Now, will you please quit fangirling and work your computer magic? That is why you wanted to help isn't it?" Auria drawled pointedly but the girl, Crystal? only rolled her eyes.
"Auri, you couldn't have expected me to see three of the most wonderful and handsome men in existence and not say hello? You really thought I could, you think so highly of me, I'm touched really, but I'm a fan girl at heart. So, which one of you is willing to sit through a round of only slightly invasive personal questions detailing everything I've ever wondered about you?" Nudge enthusiastically asked them, but her fingers had started to quickly move before her. Her mouth didn't slow as her eyes flickered from whatever screen she was watching to flutter her eyelashes at them. Auria actually chuckled, leaning back slightly in her chair.
"I'd go with, Stark. But really, crazy lunatic scientist on the loose? Prioritize please?" Auria reprimanded, but it came out amused instead of stern. Steve Rogers had looked positively alarmed.
"When will there ever be a time when there isn't a crazy lunatic scientist on the loose? I am prioritizing! I have run into many of these psychopaths, and this is the first time I have ever been able to talk to the Avengers," Nudge told her and Auria had to admit that she did have a point.
"Wait, wait, wait, you're telling me that Kim Possible here is the one that hacked into my system through three layers of encrypted firewalls and deceptions, not to mention every single code that I hired a team of highly illegal geniuses to try and break? They all failed!" Tony abruptly asked, gesturing wildly before running his hands through his hair. Auria blinked at him in surprise but Nudge was suddenly excited, turning to look at him.
"I heard about that!" she exclaimed which once again left the genius gaping.
"I mean, of course I had to pass the encrypted code that invited people to try but that was the week that Max, oops, oh yeah, y'all already know about Max, anyway, Max told me I couldn't do it. It would look suspicious if a twelve year old applied and then our existence would be on the radar or whatever. But really I can take college classes at fourteen? Isn't that just as suspicious?" Nudge was telling them and Auria could already tell that Bucky was starting to shut down from the overload of information and Steve's eyes were starting to glaze over. Tony seemed to be the only one handling it well, but he was still scowling, the wheels in his head turning quickly behind his dark eyes as he figured out whatever Nudge had inadvertently told him.
"How are your classes going, Motormouth?" Auria asked, interjecting the question into their exchange before Nudge could keep going. It was the only way to be part of a conversation with the girl, if you waited for your turn you would never get a chance. This was more like redirecting the monologue instead of having a conversation but Auria had never really minded. She enjoyed that Nudge could just keep up a continuous stream of words with her just like she could with anyone, no matter whenever Auria had nothing to say. She never stopped to second guess who she was talking to.
"Oh, they're fine, Max made me stop sending in my assignments early and, um, you know someone else, took over sending in my computer assignments instead of letting me finish them in three seconds. I just completed the class and made a file for them to send in assignments at a 'regular pace' but everything is so easy! I swear I would go crazy if I didn't peak at some of the upper classes lectures, one of those were Ms. Potts actually, Tony, can I call you Tony? She is brilliant, I love her so much, and she is one of my role models. Not only does she hold herself with a complete goddess like poise and beauty she has complete control over one of the most powerful companies in the world. She was a guest speaker for a class over economics and managing the interior structure of company logistics and the impact every decision has on the stability of your shares," Nudge told Tony and like anything to do with Pepper it made him beam, pleased and more than anything proud.
Auria noted the respectful titles that never seemed to pass any of the bird kids lips with slight surprise. It would seem that no matter how boy crazy she was she was awestruck by the CEO. Which made Auria proud, because Nudge might be a fashion loving chatterbox teenage girl but she had a brain in her head. And it seemed like she wasn't going to stop using it just because of some handsome faces.
"What was your favorite part of her lecture?" Stark asked, obviously probing her to see if she had actually understood, and Auria scowled at him protectively. Nudge didn't seem to notice however, she lit up at the fact that she was actually discussing the Pepper Potts with the Tony Stark.
"Everything was brilliant of course! But surprisingly my favorite part had to be about how loyalty, from each singular employee to the different portions of your company, actually affected the productivity as a whole. I'm a double fashion and computer sciences major so I didn't think it would be so interesting to learn about but it really was the way she talked about it," Nudge told him, and Auria would have been upset that they were talking instead of searching for the doctors location, except that something popped up at that moment, making Stark move forward with surprise and open it up.
He quickly started going through it, making a small chuckle as Nudge lit up and moved to type once more. Auria had absolutely no idea what they were doing but the screen was quickly filled with numbers and diagrams. Some of them were immediately dismissed but other were made larger and tweaked before sending them on, the two throwing things back and forth so quickly that Auria had hardly blinked before the next thing had come up.
Nudge started to frown, leaning forward intensely, and for once not talking but that's because she was talking with her fingers, with her mind, through the computer. Auria was surprised to see that the energy in which the girl was usually consumed seemed so easily converted into numbers. Stark easily held up, quickly sweeping his arm in a wide gesture that threw the charts into the air, blue holographic lights making Auria gasp but he didn't seem to notice, only continue working with a feverish like concentration.
Every now and then he would mumble in surprise, or curse in under his breath. He nearly vibrated with energy, captured in whatever complicated dance they were having through the technology at their fingertips. It seemed Nudge had finally found someone who spoke her real language.
"Um, does anyone else know what is happening?" Auria asked the two men still by her side as they watched Tony and Nudge mutter about things that seemed like gibberish to her but they had no problem understanding. Steve rubbed his forehead before shrugging eloquently, transferring his shield to his left hand.
She watched it with something that felt like awe for a moment because she was really here, talking casually with Captain America, the hero she had read about, all of the great things he did and people he saved. But she quickly shrugged it off, reminding herself why she had never really cared about the Avengers the way that Nudge or the boys seemed to. They had never saved them after all.
"I hate to admit it where he might hear me but Tony really is a genius. I've figured out my smartphone and the internet, but he starts talking about something beyond that and I slowly lose my mind," Steve admitted, and Bucky snorted, laughing at the sulky way Steve seemed to mope.
"He doesn't give himself nearly enough credit. He can follow along, hell, he can complete some of the crap they talk about on missions when he needs to get into the computers. I just figured out Netflix," Barnes told her and Steve seemed to duck his head the tiniest bit, pleased by his friends praise and embarrassed by it at the same time. He wasn't one to stand by and let Bucky sell himself short however and he quickly elbowed Bucky in the side.
"Hey, considering you've only been working on technology for a couple of months you are doing great, Bucky," Steve told him, and his eyes softened with the unavoidable words that seemed to be added onto everything anyone ever said about him these days. Since what you've been through, didn't really need to be spoken.
"You boys have me beat, I just do whatever that fabulous glittery genius tells me to do. I had to toss the last computer I used at an Eraser because I wasn't quite sure how to delete all of my history. Which technically is just being thorough although the librarian didn't really understand that," Auria confessed seriously and Steve seemed caught between alarmed and amused. Bucky was just amused. She smiled at him, caught by the way his lips tilted up and his eye seemed to brighten.
"Got it! Can I keep you? I'll feed you three times a day and take you for walks and all that jazz you are supposed to do with children," Tony announced, and Auria whipped around, rising from her seat and making it beside Tony before anyone could react.
"Shut up, Stark," Auria told him simply, and although it wasn't harsh it was icy in a way that made his hands tighten reflexively as if he was in the suit.
"Auria, it's fine, he was just kidding. He was trying to make a joke, he doesn't really think I should be treated like a pet. I'm also not four, I know he isn't going to go all daddy Warbucks. And I'm not exactly orphan Annie," Nudge reassured her, and Auria exhaled, backing away from the man and moving closer to focus on the girl. She really had grown up, and that was just since Auria had met her a couple of years ago.
"We found it, well, Tony found it, although I could've done it by myself it would have taken like weeks. He left traces back to South Dakota, so that's new, although it was heavily encrypted and the signal was bounced around making it impossible to narrow it down from its specific source, we know the general area. Miles to cover, but I'm sure Max wouldn't mind helping-"
"No," Auria interrupted sharply, making the younger girl sigh.
"Look, I will do it. No need to get anyone else involved. It was me. This is focused on me, and now the Avengers. Not anyone else, and no one else is going to be put in danger because of it," Auria told her firmly and Auria held up her hand before Nudge could argue.
"No. Especially not Max," Auria told her, giving her a pointed look and holding her defiant eyes before Nudge looked away, drooping in defeat.
"Fine. Be careful, be safe. And call me if you need absolutely anything. You aren't really alone you know, not anymore," Nudge told her and Auria tried to give her a smile. It was more of a grimace, and so she quit trying.
"I know. Thank you, for everything. Call me if you need anything," Auria told her and Nudge rolled her eyes.
"That totally works both ways, you have got to get over this complex. You basically forced me to go to school but when was the last time you did anything because you wanted to?" Nudge asked and Auria moved forward, fingers hovering over the keys.
"Not a therapy session. Bye," Auria told her gruffly, but the farewell was kind as she waited for Nudge to reply before pushing the button and closing the window. She sighed before sitting and quickly exiting out of everything that Nudge had opened, trying to catch any stray leads that Tony could follow back to her. After what she had just seen however, she was certain no matter what she did he could figure it out if he wanted to. She knew that Nudge could handle herself, but that didn't stop Auria from trying.
"Hey!" Tony exclaimed as he watched her but it was only halfhearted.
"Thanks for all the help, Stark, but I've got this," Auria told him before standing, moving to stride back out of the room. Steve moved in front to stop her before she could and her wings flared in alarm and surprise. Everyone's eyes followed them in astonishment and she stilled them, snapping her head up to glare and make them look away.
"What?" she snarled, the tone reflexive from being exposed and startled but it didn't faze Rogers at all. He watched her steadily, blue eyes firm but kind in a way that made Auria want to shrink away in shame.
"You aren't going alone. This involves us as well now," Captain America told her, and Auria could see the way he held himself so firm and steady. It was the way Max stood whenever she had first met her, wings spread as she faced down Auria with the Flock behind her.
"It won't the moment I leave," Auria told him, still certain, even in the face of his strong determination but then Barnes was moving to stand beside him.
"You can't know that, it was pretty apparent that he had to work hard to get in here. He wanted the Avengers, not just you. You are just the excuse," Barnes told her brusquely, but it made Auria drop her head in acknowledgement. It was true, it was her fault, and even if she left that didn't mean he would stop.
"I'll stop him," Auria told them passionately, lifting her head and striding to move through them but they didn't budge, forcing her to stop and leaving her far too close.
"We'll stop him, that's what we do, Auria," Steve told her but Auria tossed her head back in a harsh laugh that was empty of any amusement.
"No, that's what I do, Steve Rogers," Auria told him sharply and this time they let her shove passed them. They watched her go, Steve giving Bucky a helpless look. He wasn't use to people not wanting him to save the day. Auria went into the elevator without looking back, and the doors slid closed behind her. It didn't move though, the AI holding it and Bucky wondered how soon Auria regretted her angry decision to get back into it.
"Well, I'll let you handle that then," Steve told him, slapping his shoulder and moving back towards Tony, which told Bucky more than anything exactly how much Steve didn't want to go with him.
"Stevie," Bucky asked but he only grinned at him over his shoulder, the mischievous annoyingly smug grin he remembered whenever he got into trouble even though Bucky had told him not too.
"I've got to talk to Tony! Avengers business with the new psychopath and all. Don't worry about it, I'll catch you up whenever you calm down Auria," Steve told him and Bucky glared at his retreating back. He could still pummel him, at least a little bit. But then he sighed, feeling his muscles tighten and loosen in his shoulders as he made his way to the elevator.
When it opened he found Auria with her arms wrapped around her middle and clutching her arms defensively in front of her. Her fingers trailed over the hilt of her knife, the same way a child would pet its toy for comfort, and her eyes were sharp the moment they caught sight of him. She was definitely panicking.
"Max?" Bucky asked, and her eyes narrowed. Not the best distraction tactic then. The elevator started moving, taking them back to their floor now that Bucky was with the 'prisoner'. Really, the way she took charge and practically did whatever she wanted didn't promise real prisoner treatment but that really was for the best.
"South Dakota," he tried again and this time she sighed, tilting her head back to lean against the back of the elevator. Her muscles loosened as her forehead creased, staring up at the ceiling as if it had the answers she was looking for.
"Yes," she replied simply and he moved to lean next to her. Her eyes cut to watch him for a moment but after all he did was stand next to her she relaxed once more. Bucky had learned patience after all of his trials, at least that was something, and so he waited for her to speak. He knew how hard it was sometimes.
"I meant it, I don't need anyone's help," Auria finally said and Bucky nodded, crossing his arm as well. He tapped his fingers against his left arm, the smooth metal in under his sleeve hard against his fingertips. Auria turned to watch him but he didn't answer.
"What?" she finally asked, not quite able to wait out his silence and he felt the corner of his mouth involuntarily twitch up the barest bit.
"Just because you think you don't need help, doesn't mean you're not going to get it. Steve is stubborn like that," Bucky told her and she sighed, rubbing her forehead as if this was giving her a headache.
"He never helped me before, no one has," she uttered spitefully, but her eyes widened as if she didn't mean to say it out loud. He felt as if someone had punched him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. Her lips thinned as she pressed them tightly together, turning to face away and hide her face, but he could see her knuckles turn white where they gripped her arm so tight. It would probably leave bruises.
"So, that's why you don't want his help now?" Bucky asked amenably as if nothing had changed from the moment he stepped into the elevator and they weren't tense and emotional. She visibly swallowed before answering him, her voice cool and distant.
"No. I simply do not require anyone else's involvement," Auria told him, and the elevator chose that moment to arrive at their floor. She gracefully stood, striding out the door and down the hallway before he could think of anything to say. He mentally sighed before following.
"Well, get ready to load up. Because we're all going," Bucky called after her, and he saw her gait hesitate before she continued walking. This was going to be fun, he thought sarcastically, rubbing his head. Now he had two of them to chase around and make sure they didn't get themselves killed.
Thank you EmmaSEWW for the review! :D It inspired me to hurry my butt up and publish a new chapter, so I hope y'all enjoy it! Thank you!