FOURTEEN.

It had been two whole weeks already, ever since the Avengers managed to free Arva from Apex. What happened was, they destroyed the little device that connected to her brain, leaving her free to do whatever she wanted. She switched on the Iron Man suit, and from then on was the battle against Apex.

Apex was defeated, and nobody needed to worry about them anymore. Now that left Arva to get accommodated in her new home, the Avengers Tower.

She had no other place to go. No family to return to, no home, no friends, nothing. All she had were the Avengers, who took her in, gave her her own room and hopefully she'd be happy... but she was anything but happy.

Arva didn't know what it was, because she desperately wanted to get out from Apex' grasp, but nothing felt right anymore. Maybe it was just that she had spent her whole life stuck with that group of people, that it felt weird not being there anymore. Or maybe it was something else... maybe she just... wanted to feel needed, like they needed her at Apex for some sort of mission... maybe she just wanted to be loved. By somebody. At least her parents, who she had no idea if they were alive or not.

A soft knock was heard on the door, interrupting her pensiveness.

She turned her gaze from where she stared at the floor to the door. It was pretty late... like two in the morning, who would want to visit her at this time? She remained sitting on her bed as she asked, "Who is it?"

"It's me... Tony." Arva immediately recognized his familiar voice, and told him to come in.

Out of all the people in the tower, Tony was the one person she barely ever saw. She always wondered why he almost never saw him around, someone called Natasha Romanoff explained he had an obsession with his lab and that he also had a house in Malibu so he would travel a lot back and forth. That made more sense, but still thought what he even did in that lab.

She's never been in the lab, but felt too bothersome to ask if she could. Most of the time she'd spend her time in her room, or in the kitchen. Eating.

The door knob spun, the door revealing Tony and Arva gestured for him to come sit next to her. She was curious as to what he wanted to speak to her about, since he rarely ever talked with her. When he sat down, she only stayed in silence, waiting for him to say something.

"So," he began, "you like it here? You have everything you need?"

Arva nodded, looking up into his brown eyes. "Yeah, it's definitely an upgrade from the small room I was in." She paused. Then, "Do you by any chance know if my parents are still alive? Or, a family member?"

"No, I actually don't know anything on your relatives," he answered. "But I could do a little research and see what I can find."

She nodded, "Okay."

"Okay," he stood up, making his way to the door. "If you need anything just ask me." And right before he left through the door, he added, "And I know we don't see each other much, most of the time I'm in the lab. Pop by there whenever you want."

She gave him a small smile, nodding once again before he left, leaving Arva alone again. For some reason she wished he had stayed a little longer, maybe had a full conversation with her... she swore that all her worries and loneliness had disappeared when he came in and spoke to her for those fifteen seconds. It felt nice, she actually felt content for a short period of time.

Tomorrow she decided she'd visit the lab, to see whatever Tony spends the entire day doing in there.

(9.18.20)

Author's Note.

I'm back, and ready to finish this fic. :D Sorry for the extra wait, from now on updates will be just like before, every Tuesday and Friday. There's about five chapters left until the end!

I'm sorry for not writing the whole fight at Apex, but I felt like I would just get stuck with writer's block again if I went back there... in the future, I'm thinking of rewriting chapter thirteen so it'll be a whole lot better.

I know this one's really short, but it's been about two or three weeks since I've written so bear with me... the next one's longer and it'll get more interesting. I can't wait to finish this!

Thanks for reading!

-zappy.