Complicated Possession

Chapter 21 - Transformation

"She doesn't want to see anyone, sir." Jarvis told Tony as he tried to enter his daughter's bedroom. He had something important to show her, it was an extension of his Iron Man suit and he needed an extra pair of hands to help him steady the extension whilst he modified it. It was unlike Minnie to barricade herself in her bedroom and tell Jarvis not to let anyone inside.

"Jarvis, let me in." Tony said, leaning against the door. He knocked again. "Hey Minnie! Let me in!"

A large crash came from downstairs and Tony looked around suddenly.

"What the hell was that?" he asked the computer system. His thought automatically flew to Pepper, but he remembered she was safe in New York working on the rebuild of the tower. It was nearly finished and she was finalising certain elements. He thought about his robots and whether one of them had accidentally knocked something over but it was unlikely. He thought about Minnie perhaps not actually being in her room but Jarvis would have told him. He thought about an intruder.

"Stark?!" It was Thor.

"Jarvis, tell Minnie I want in, okay?"

"Sir," Jarvis spoke to him from different points in the house as Tony descended the stairs and saw Thor stood in the middle of the room with an older man who Tony assumed was his father. The man Minnie had said she specifically didn't want to see. He threw his extension down on a nearby table. "I believe she will send for you when she is ready. She tells me to tell you she just wants to be alone for the time being."

"Whatever." Tony said. If Minnie wanted to be alone it was probably because she was emotional about something, he trusted that she would come to him when she was ready. He was more confused as to why the Asgardians were there after they'd been told that they weren't exactly welcome. And why they were here such a long time after the events were over.

"Jarvis what's up with our security?" he asked loudly as he walked towards the two Gods in his living room. Jarvis didn't answer.

"Stark." Thor greeted him seriously, this wasn't a friendly visit. "We have important news."

"If it's about your war up there, she's not coming back."

"No we understand her reasons." Thor spoke again. "This is my father." He gestured towards the older man.

"Sup." Tony nodded. And Odin looked confused.

"He believes he knows what is infecting Minnie." Thor said quietly and Tony paused. He'd now forgotten about the infection inside of her but since she'd seemed to be recovering well and wasn't posing any obvious threats he assumed that she was okay.

"What?" he directed his question to Odin. He didn't normally like people besides him being right or figuring things out before him but if it would help Minnie he felt he could be okay with it.

"It is a dark creature known as the Reaper. It would have been weak when it adapted to her and therefore may still be in hibernation. This would be the ideal case, it would give us more time to concoct a plan to remove it and capture it." Odin explained. Tony was momentarily suspicious at how sad he sounded.

"A Reaper? Like with a scythe and robes? She hasn't exactly taken to wearing black." Tony commented sceptically and detected a flicker of anger in Odin's eyes.

"You don't understand tin man," he said venomously and Tony tried not to take offence, "If this infection spreads through her then she will die. She might be fatally wounded already. We must take action now. I must see her." Odin said and began striding in the direction of the stairs up to her room.

"Hey! You can't go up there!" Tony yelled. "If she won't talk to me then what makes you think she'll talk to you?" he asked. He was worried about his daughter but he doubted that the God could get much out of her when he couldn't. She wouldn't even take the calls from Pepper.

"Because she knows I'm the only one who can help her." Odin said, not stopping. Thor and Tony followed close behind and watched as Odin tried the handle of her door. When it wouldn't budge he looked to Stark.

"Sir, I told you. She won't see anyone." Jarvis said, he sounded like he was pleading.

"Jarvis, as a concerned parent, tell me what's going on in there." Tony instructed and Jarvis paused, like he was thinking before answering.

"Sir, Minnie is frightened. She doesn't know what's happening." Jarvis said with a twinge of regret in his voice, he didn't want to betray Minnie but even a computer programme was worried about her.

"Jarvis let us in now. I'm overriding your authority." Tony commanded.

"I'm sorry sir, I would let you in if I could. But Miss Stark has already altered my controls. I have no control over this door other than to keep it locked."

"May I?" Thor asked, stepping forward and holding up his hammer. Tony simply nodded and he and Odin stood back as Thor raised his hammer. He aimed the first blow at the handle which smashed through and a small bleeping noise indicated that the lock was broken.

"No!" Minnie cried from inside the room. And Thor raised his hammer again but Tony was already there. He slammed his foot in a kick at the centre of the door. It flew from its hinges and fell in two pieces to the floor. The three men proceeded into the room and stopped dead in their tracks.

Minnie was standing at the far end of the room with her hands up in a gesture to keep them back. They knew she could fire the light from her hands and injure them or even kill them in a heartbeat so they kept their distance. This wasn't the only reason. Shadows swirled around Minnie like they were all fighting for her attention but whenever one got close she batted it away with a frightened whimper.

Her hair was down and hung around her limply, Tony had never noticed how long it was. She wore a blue tank top and shorts for the beach and her white sneakers. Tears fell down her cheeks and she was obviously terrified. Tony took a step forward, trusting her completely.

"Minnie?" he asked in a low voice, he'd never seen the shadows before and he didn't exactly know what they were.

"I can't control them!" she cried, "Or I can! I don't know which is worse." She sobbed hitting at another shadow.

"Minnie just come over here…" Thor tried and took a couple of steps forward but Minnie cried out.

"No you have to stay back!" she flung an arm in his direction to keep him back. As she did her eyes flashed a sparkling ruby and a stream of shadows coiled momentarily around her wrist before flying out in Thor's direction. They caught him directly in the chest and he was flung back against the wall. He fell to the ground and stood up slowly. Tony and Odin retreated a couple of steps.

"I'm sorry!" she sobbed and put her hands to her head. As she sobbed. She bowed her head and Tony found he could no longer speak, he could only watch in horror as his daughter was consumed by the shadows. There was a few moments of swirling shadows and they got denser and blacker as they watched. After a few moments they dropped suddenly and Minnie Stark was gone.

Her hair was no longer long and dark, instead the shadows sliced at it before their eyes and it fell to the floor leaving the hair still attached to her head at a shoulder length. Then some shadows seemed to seep out of the open window and grab direct rays of sun before implanting them in her hair, turning it a bright blonde. She looked more like her mother than ever, that was until she straightened up. Tony knew she was wearing no make-up, she hadn't been just moments before, but the shadows seemed to disagree with this look. Her eyes were rimmed heavily with eyeliner and her lips painted a dark colour that wasn't black but a form of red or purple. Her eyes glistened as red as rubies. Her clothes too fell away but were immediately replaced with shadows to form something that looked like Natasha's 'Black Widow' outfit, except it was constantly writhing and moving. Her complexion was clear, her hair shone and held volume. She was perfect, like a dark angel. But she wasn't Minnie anymore, all three men could see that.

"Minnie?" Tony tried anyway, taking a step forward. Her eyes turned towards him and lit up like she was seeing him for the first time. Then she smiled a wide smile with perfect, gleaming white teeth.

"I always wanted to be blonde." She spoke with Minnie's voice but she wasn't Minnie anymore. "So did Minnie, she was just too scared to dye her hair. She was afraid of how you might react. Daddy." She spat the last word but her wicked grin never faltered. She kept eye contact with him, the kind of eye contact that was challenging. She was daring him to be the first to look away.

"Look at her," the Reaper said holding up an arm, she broke the eye contact to look down at her new body. "She's all grown up! She's a star…" she whispered in awe of herself. A trail of shadows moved with her like an aura.

"Give her back to us." Thor demanded, striding forward and whirling his hammer.

"Ah-ah." The Reaper scolded him and held up an admonitory finger, wagging it slightly in a patronising fashion. "You hurt this body you hurt her. I can leave her anytime I want and when I do I'll leave her in whatever way she is. She can heal herself of course that's why she was such a good choice of hosts. I have all of her powers as well as my own. We're spectacular. I wonder what this does…" she commented and held up a hand, she aimed it at Minnie's desk and fired a short, sharp beam of light that set the desk alight.

She laughed suddenly and used a shadow to dampen the flames and put them out.

"Well I know I'm going to have fun with that!" she smiled at the men.

"So Minnie's still alive?" Odin asked on behalf of Tony, he understood it would be difficult for him to say anything.

"Of course she is. I like her. And whilst she's alive she can still communicate with me, I can still hear all of her thoughts. It's a little annoying at the moment but I'm sure she'll come around and we'll make a wonderful team. I have all of her memories, all of her deepest desires and most feared fears. Unfortunately I was one of those so now she's feeling a bit helpless. I can let her out anytime I like. She's not gone." The Reaper assured them in a twisted way.

"Then let her out, give her back to me." Tony said, his voice was shaky and he looked like he was struggling to stand.

"That's not fair." She scowled yet still looked like a fallen angel. "I've only just come out to play. It's my turn at the moment she can have a go later."

"So you will let us see her and talk to her?" Thor asked, a little confused.

"Maybe, depends what mood I'm in. Now are we done with the interrogation? I'm bored and I have places to go and people to see. I'm not the only bad guy you know there are others' out there. Bad guys who could really use my help. Let's see if we can assemble the avengers shall we?" with that she grinned her wicked grin and the shadows converged around her once again. They swirled around her like a tornado until all the men could see were a pair of wicked, gleaming eyes. And then the shadows dissipated, and she was gone. Only a pile of singed hair remained.

A/N: I would just like to apologise for the long delay in updates, over the past few months I prepared for and completed NaNoWriMo and then Christmas happened so all my fics took a bit of a backseat. Thank you for sticking with me throughout this period and I aim to upload a lot over the next couple of months especially to deal with the backlog/ make up for it. Thank you!