Chapter 3
"Oh my God, I have been kidnapped, I knew it," Parker says, horrified.
That startles Stark out of whatever mysterious guilt he's feeling as he snorts with amusement. "Give me a break. If I was kidnapping you, I'd be a lot less subtle about it." He sets down the gauntlet on the workbench before heading for the door, raising an eyebrow at Parker when she just stares at him. "Well, come on. Agent's waiting."
"His name's Phil, not Agent," she says as she follows him, belatedly realizing that she's left her backpack against her workbench when the door closes behind them. Well, there's no escape now, in any case.
"Sure, whatever." Stark waves his hand dismissively. He seems to do that a lot, and the more often he does it, the more it annoys Parker.
As they reach the top of the stairs, Parker sees Phil standing by the couch in the living room, looking as nervous as Stark had in the lab. He's clutching a folder with an odd insignia on it - the shadow of an eagle's head and wings against a gray circle.
"What's going on?" Parker demands as they approach him and Phil chews his lip as he glances at Stark, who shrugs back at him and gestures for Parker to sit on the couch. She remains standing, crossing her arms stubbornly, and Stark sighs.
"Look, this is gonna be a long conversation and you'll wanna sit down for it."
"I'll stand," she answers stiffly, clenching her jaw.
"Calm down, Park," Phil says, but she ignores him.
"I want to know why exactly I was brought here and what you lied to me about," she addresses Stark.
"To be fair, we would've picked you for the summer program at SI regardless," he hedges.
"Regardless of what?" she retorts and to her surprise, he flinches. She's not that intimidating, or even that tall, so she wonders why he's afraid of her.
Phil cuts in, "You can either sit down and get some answers or keep getting angry at us and get none. Pick an option." His tone is sharper than she's ever heard him use with her and she sits down on the couch after a moment's hesitation, dropping her gaze to her knees and biting her lip to keep her temper in check. Phil sighs as he sits down beside her and places the folder in front of her on the glass coffee table.
"What is that?" she asks quietly, not daring to look at him as she studies the folder's front. It's unmarked aside from the eagle insignia and a stamped CLASSIFIED in red ink on the front.
"Your file." Phil's tone is calmer now, and even a little apologetic for snapping at her.
"From the system?"
"Not exactly," Phil admits, "I guess you've figured out by now that I'm not really your case worker." He doesn't stop her as she picks up the folder and sets it on her knees before opening it.
"I knew it," she mutters as she scans the first page. It's the usual information about her - her name, her passport photo, her physical characteristics, the boxes reading "N/A" where her parents' names should be - but something unfamiliar catches her attention.
In bold, black letters, the word "Avatar" is written under her picture.
Phil is talking, and she catches the tail end of his sentence as she turns her attention back to him. "...work for an organization called SHIELD."
"Oh, hey, you shortened the name," Stark says cheerfully.
"Not now," Phil says stiffly and Stark wisely falls silent.
"This is SHIELD?" Parker taps the eagle insignia on the front of the folder.
"Yeah. Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division." She chances a look up at Phil, who's watching her nervously for a reaction.
"Kind of a mouthful," she says and it's clearly the right thing to say, since he relaxes a little with a wry grin.
"Yeah, that's been said." He throws a look at Stark, who's settled into an armchair near the couch with a small smirk.
"What does 'Avatar' mean?" Parker flips the folder back open and points to the caption underneath her picture.
"I was kind of hoping to lead up to that," Phil says dryly.
"Throw her a bone here, we've beaten around the bush as it is," Stark interrupts as he leans forward, his elbows on his knees. "Look, there are things you can do, right? Freaky things involving raw elements like water and fire?"
Parker blinks at him, instinctively shutting her folder and clutching it close. "How'd you know that?" She turns an accusing glare on Phil. "Did you tell him?" Phil raises his hands in surrender.
"Call it a lucky guess," Stark reassures her, grinning a little.
"So what if I can do that stuff?" she demands as she tightens her hold on her folder, her heart pounding in panic. She wants to make a run for the door, but her backpack with her phone inside is still down in the lab. "Doesn't mean I can't control it. I'm getting good at it, too. I haven't had an incident in months."
"And I'm really proud of you for that," Phil says soothingly, prying her folder away to set it on the coffee table again. "You were crushing it," he says in response to her scowl.
"I'm not a freak," she tells Stark, who raises his eyebrows.
"Never said you were." He turns a frown on Phil. "Have people been telling her that? What the hell kind of homes have you been putting her in?"
Phil looks a little embarrassed even as he answers dryly, "I wouldn't've had to put her in any home if you'd followed your father's last wishes like you were supposed to and adopted her."
Wait, what?
"You were supposed to adopt me?" Parker's voice cracks and Stark turns his attention back to her, looking extremely abashed now.
"Long story, lots of daddy issues. Kind of said a big 'screw-you' to the part of his will where he said to look out for you."
"I wasn't even born when he died," she insists. "I don't understand."
"Just give us a minute to explain and you will," Phil says, placing a hand on her knee to calm her down. She does her best to take a deep breath and relax, but it doesn't help much. "There's a name for what you can do with controlling the elements. It's called bending. Centuries ago, there used to be benders of all kinds, who could only bend one element depending on where in the world they were from. They all slowly died out, but there's always been one bender who can bend all four elements. That bender's called the Avatar."
"What makes the Avatar so special?" she prompts as she chews her lip, taking the information in.
"Okay, this is where it gets into the weird spiritual stuff that nobody really understands yet," Stark takes over, rolling his eyes. "Basically, each generation, one person's singled out by whatever ethereal powers are out there to keep the world in balance. Then when that person dies, their reincarnation takes over keeping everything in check, and so on."
"And if that person doesn't want to be singled out?" she says, frowning now. "What if that person wants to live a normal life?"
"Kind of not in the books for you. You were always gonna be special." Stark gives her a tiny sympathetic smile, which looks strange when she's only ever seen him smirking. "Sorry, kid. No getting out of being who you are."
She exhales slowly, scrubbing a hand over her face. "So what does all this have to do with your dad?"
"Well, my dad knew your past reincarnation. She was in World War II with him." She files that away as an interesting fact about...herself, she supposes. "She died in '95, and you can guess where this is going."
"She got reincarnated into me," she says slowly.
"When my dad died in '91, his will said that I was supposed to look out for you whenever you were eventually reincarnated. Which I kind of threw out the window." Stark drops his gaze away from her and she can't help but feel somewhat sorry for how guilty he clearly feels.
"It's okay." Stark looks up at her again, looking a little like she's just hit him over the head with a heavy object. "I mean, it's not like it really screwed me up or anything, growing up in the system. No harm done."
Phil squeezes her shoulder gently. "Speaking of which, that's going to change. I brought the papers for you to sign, Mr. Stark, if you'd like them."
"Yeah," Stark says immediately and Phil passes over another folder of papers and a pen. Stark takes them before pausing, glancing back at Parker. "If you want me to, I mean."
"Want you to what?" Then it clicks. "You want to adopt me?" Her voice breaks embarrassingly again and Stark cracks a small smile. "Even with the incidents?"
"You won't be having many of those anymore," Phil reassures her. "Officially, you're working for Stark Industries now, but we'll be moving your actual training to SHIELD headquarters."
"I'm gonna be trained?" Parker feels like crying - whether out of joy or fear, she's not sure - but swallows the lump in her throat before she can embarrass herself further.
"Okay, first things first. How badly do you wanna get out of that children's home?" Stark interrupts, thankfully distracting her from the overwhelming flood of emotions rising in her chest.
"More than anything," she says firmly and without hesitation, he signs his name on the papers before getting up and handing them back to Phil, who's smiling as he tucks them and Parker's file into his briefcase before getting to his feet.
"We'll have the forms expedited so you'll become her legal guardian faster," he informs Stark, who nods and turns back to Parker. She gives up on trying to contain her tears as they well up in her eyes.
"When do you wanna move in?" She can't bring herself to answer as she stands and throws her arms around him, burying her face into his chest. The corner of her forehead presses slightly against something hard and metallic, which she assumes is the arc reactor. Stark makes a startled sound, almost like a yelp, before awkwardly patting her back. "Okay. This is a thing that's happening. Um. There, there?" He sounds a little terrified and she does her best to pull back as quickly as she can, wiping her eyes with a broad smile. It's not exactly the family she's always imagined getting adopted by, but it's a start, at least.
"When do you want me to move in?" she manages to get out past the tightness in her throat and Stark grins widely.
"We can get you moved in by tonight, if you want." She nods immediately and Stark adds to Phil, "When exactly is her training supposed to start?"
"Ideally as soon as possible," Phil admits, "We won't send her on field missions until she's good and ready, though."
"What kind of missions?" Parker asks and Phil shakes his head.
"We'll get to that later." He gives her a reassuring smile. "What matters right now is that you get control of your bending and be able to use it whenever you need to."
"Does that mean I'm not actually gonna get to work on my venipuncture app project?" She doesn't mean to sound as disappointed as she does, but it makes Stark laugh a little.
"Well, I can't fault you for your enthusiasm for it," he agrees. "And I'll work on it with you if you're really keen on pursuing it. It'd be a good addition to SI now that we've changed tracks from weapons manufacturing."
Parker nods in agreement. "I'd like that. I wanna keep working on the stuff I like just as much I want to learn to control my bending." She's giddy with relief and excitement at the thought of having a real home and a chance to learn to use the powers she's been so afraid of her whole life.
Phil's phone chirps and he looks at it, frowning now. "I have to get back to headquarters."
"She'll be fine, Coulson, go ahead," Stark insists, placing a hand on Parker's shoulder to squeeze it gently. She has to physically restrain herself from leaning into the contact to avoid startling Stark like she had before.
Phil looks a little torn, so she adds, "I'll be okay, really. And I've got your number if anything comes up."
He chews his lip, nodding. "That's true. Promise you'll call me if you need anything? I won't be far away." She nods and he grabs his briefcase to leave, which instinctively makes her move forward to wrap her arms tightly around him. He freezes in surprise, his free arm hovering awkwardly over her back.
"Thank you," she mumbles into the front of his suit and he relaxes slightly, squeezing her back gently.
"You don't have to thank me for anything." He ruffles her hair affectionately as he lets go. "I'll see you soon, okay?" She nods again, stepping back reluctantly to let him leave.
Stark places a hand on her shoulder again once the door shuts behind Phil, offering, "You wanna head to the children's home and pack your stuff?"
She nods in agreement. "I don't have a lot of stuff, anyway, so packing won't take more than a couple minutes."
His expression twists a little, as if he wants to ask why exactly she doesn't have a lot of stuff, but he doesn't say it out loud, shrugging instead. "Sure, sounds like a plan. Come on." He ushers her outside, where Happy's waiting by the car and snaps to attention when they step outside.
"Back to the home, boss?" he asks as he opens the door for Stark and Parker to climb in.
"Yep. We're packing Parker's things and moving her here." It still sends a thrill through Parker whenever she hears it as she settles into the backseat of the car and buckles her seatbelt on instinct. Stark notices and rolls his eyes.
"Car safety is very important," she tells him, frowning, and he makes a show of sighing heavily before buckling his own seatbelt reluctantly. She sees Happy grinning in the rearview mirror as he starts up the car to begin driving.
"Think fast." Parker doesn't have time to react as Stark tosses a small water bottle at her, her hands flying up to protect her face from the impact. The water bottle never even reaches her hands and thumps harmlessly to the seat between them as she lowers her hands slowly.
"What the hell was that for?" she demands and Stark grins at the clear indignation on her face.
"Just wanted to see how you'd perform on instinct. Not bad."
"Why? I didn't do anything," she points out, frowning. "It didn't even reach me."
Stark raises his eyebrows. "You mean you didn't notice that you just sent a blast of air at the bottle to stop it?" Now that he mentions it, she does see that his hair looks slightly more ruffled than it had a moment earlier.
"No, I didn't." She drops her gaze to her hands in her lap, studying them, but they don't seem to be out of the ordinary. "I don't usually know when I'm bending," she admits quietly, biting her lip.
"Well, you can work on it." When she dares to peek up at Stark again, she's surprised to find that he's watching her consideringly rather than looking upset the way Phil usually does when she accidentally uses her powers. "Any chance I can get some blood samples from you?" Well, that explains it.
"I don't like needles," she informs him and he looks distinctly put out. "And quit throwing things at me. I once set a car on fire when someone startled me," she adds as she picks up the water bottle to twist open the cap and take a sip. That had been one of the worse incidents she had caused, and somehow, Phil and SHIELD must have covered it up because it had never been brought up again by anyone.
Happy makes a slightly strangled noise from the driver's seat as Stark hurriedly says, "Okay, okay. No more throwing things at you." He pauses. "Without prior warning."
She supposes she'll have to settle for that.
You can tell how eager I am to get into Avengers territory. I'm hoping this is a good introduction to Avatar lore, and I definitely plan on expanding on it in the future. It does feel a little rushed in this chapter, but it's kind of meant to as we see Parker training and developing her understanding of her bending more.
I'll be working on grading for the course I'm teaching more frequently from here on out, so updates may not be extremely close together, but I'll do my best to get as many as I can out before the summer ends!
Hope you enjoy it and please leave a review on how it's going so far!