THIS HOUSE WE LIVE IN, IT'S JUST A HOUSE
IT'S YOU THAT MAKES IT A HOME
AS LONG AS YOU'RE THERE, ANYWHERE CAN BE HOME
The house located on 10880 Malibu Point had undergone a great amount of changes since Howard Stark had first built the structure in 1991. The house had been extended and expanded to a point where it was called a mansion. The furniture was replaced from antiques to modern and the ceilings began to speak and robots replaced butlers and there were screens on the walls.
The mansion located on 10880 Malibu Point had undergone several changes since it was first built, primarily because the two surviving Starks were called futurists for a reason and also because Tony Stark had a penchant for destroying said mansion every two years. And every time Tony Stark rebuilt the enormous house, he changed the design, added more rooms, changed the placement of the living room, wanted a gym, changed the colour of the tiles, and added an extra floor.
The only thing that never changed was the lab on the lowest floor of the mansion.
The lab was first designed by the Starks when Tony was 28 and Elizabeth was 14. While the tables were replaced with ones that were more modern and the technology was improved, the overall appearance of the lab was exactly the same.
"We need to go."
Elizabeth Stark marches into said lab, the lab that they had rebuilt after their Malibu mansion was bombed into pieces by Aldrich Killian and startles at her brother designing a suit not for him, but for her. She sees the addition of gloves and boots and the suit is no longer entirely made of metal as some areas are made of bulletproof fabric to ensure that it is easier for her to fight and run.
It's still a purple, a purple so dark is barely purple, with black accents, but there's a dark navy Infinity sign on the chest and she suppresses the urge to smile smugly at the sky, wondering if they who want her dead had anticipated her easy embrace of the title.
Her brother spins the suit in place, taking satisfaction in the way his little sister's eyes don't leave the purple fabric. "Go where?"
"Sokovia. There's a HYDRA base there. The others are on their way."
Liz looks at the suit, wondering if she has to put it on physically before shrugging away the thought, her brother is too ostentatious to make a suit that one simply puts on.
True to her thoughts, her brother scans his thumb on the part of the suit that should touch her collarbone and the ensemble opens up allowing for her to walk in.
The two of them fly up through the large hole in the ceiling and use it as a momentum to race through the sky, leaving behind the piece of land where their house once used to reside; the piece of land neither Stark would sell.
The house located on 10880 Malibu Point had undergone a great amount of changes since Howard Stark had first built the structure in 1991 until Aldrich Killian blew it up into pieces and Anthony and Elizabeth Stark did not build it back up again. What used to be a large mansion is now a single circular plate, the plate that would open for a Stark and a Stark only and lead them to the lab that has been a constant since 1998.
The house located on 10880 Malibu Point no longer exists but the lab still does.
The lab always does.
The Avengers know that the sceptre resides in this base just from the amount of soldiers that are charging at them, just by the large machines they are using to attack them.
It rattles Bruce and brings out the Hulk but the remaining four cannot complain, especially when the green monster effectively clears a path for them, allowing them to see that they have many more miles to go before they can reach the large building that looks like it belongs in a Stephan King based horror movie.
"Maybe we should have waited on the Starks for this one," Natasha says into her earpiece as she shoots soldier after soldier, dodging bullet after bullet.
Steve defends his decision to go without them, "We called over fifteen times and asked Jarvis where they were, what else were we supposed to do?"
They see the red and gold suit whizzing through the sky like a firecracker before they hear Tony Stark's voice, "Call again."
The sea of Hydra soldiers, all armed to the bone, fall to the ground like dominoes when Elizabeth Stark lands on the ground with an impact, creating an orange force field just large enough to surround the many soldiers and clear a few miles for the Avengers.
Looking around in thinly veiled shock, presumably because she didn't anticipate that the force field would be so large, she slightly stumbles on her way to meet the others, reaching the group just as Tony lands.
"What did we miss?" Liz asks, doing a double-take at the Hulk, who she hasn't seen in months.
"Stone might be in there. We're too far away to decide. And they won't stop coming." Clint points at the mass of soldiers that somehow materialized from thin air.
They all look expectantly at Elizabeth Stark who raises her hands, "Whatever that was, I can't do it again. I don't even know how I did it in the first place. I need a teacher."
Steve Rogers gets on his motorcycle while Clint and Natasha get in the jeep, the latter telling the group, "Then let's kick Hydra's ass the old fashioned way."
Tony and Liz fly into the air easily incorporating each other into the fight as they get rid of the watchtowers firing bullets at them.
"On your right Ma'am." Jarvis cautions and Liz conjures a wall of ice to surround her, posing as a barrier from the bullets that fly her way.
With a quick movement of her hand, the wall of ice is transformed into blunt shards and is sent flying to the trunk of the tree, shaking the plant enough so that the soldiers that are perched on it tumble down to the snow. The blasts are constant, coming from all sides, and she works her way to dodge them and the trees.
After finding no source of weaponry or soldiers perched on trees or in the sky, she makes her way down to the ground, where the real battle is taking place.
And she has to pause for a fraction of a moment to appreciate the picture that's been painted completely by coincidence.
Natasha and Clint jump from their jeep into the air, Tony lowers himself somewhat above ground to gain impetus, the Captain makes a leap over a log on his motorcycle while Thor leaps from the trees; all unknowingly aligning themselves perfectly, including Hulk who bends down slightly to match the height. Even funnier is the space that is left between Tony and Hulk; for her. Not willing to ruin the picture, she flies down to her unconsciously allotted space before she lands on the ground and Tony flies towards the building.
And cusses when he hits a barrier.
Liz keeps her attention focused on the lightning coursing around her fingertips, closing her eyes only for a brief moment to control the voltage, to reduce the power. She grins in satisfaction when it hits her target square in the leg and arm and doesn't burn them into crisps.
"You're getting good at that." Natasha is somehow behind her, two guns in her hands as she maintains a conversation with Liz while shooting exactly where she intends to shoot.
Liz just smiles at her as if to say 'I know' before raising her hand in the air and allowing a similar yellow barrier to surround her and the only other girl on the team, watching with reserved pride at the way Natasha's bullets catch on fire and release a tiny burst of energy every time it hits something, allowing for Natasha to neutralize the soldiers without directly shooting at them.
"Cap could use some help," Her grin is teasing and Liz shoves her gently as a reminder that the rest of them can also hear their conversation.
She almost regrets getting drunk with the redhead and complaining to the spy about how unfairly hot Captain America is. Almost, because in turn Natasha Romanoff also got drunk and told her about Budapest.
Natasha raises her hand in a silent promise to not say anything more and Liz misses the smirk she shares with Clint, who had invested $50 in the betting pool over when Liz and Steve were going to finally kiss each other. Thor not understanding the concept of idiots who won't admit their feelings, has already lost the twenty dollars he never had.
Liz is flying low, nearly above the ground trying to clear the ground before helping her brother and backs up just in time before the motorcycle Steve throws into the tree can hit her.
She looks at the wrecked bike.
"Hey, that was a really nice bike!" She exclaims as she weaves her legs through a tree branch and flips up to avoid the tank that comes at her, causing it to crash into the tree instead.
"You can buy me a new one." His voice sounds clearer and louder than before, and she turns to see that Steve is right behind her.
They stand side by side in a nearly empty battlefield and Liz knows that Jarvis is scanning for any other soldiers.
"Ma'am there's a bomb two feet in front of you."
She doesn't even have time to respond as Steve lifts his shield and pulls her to him, pressing the shield to her back to protect her from the blast. She winces into his chest at the volume of the bomb, but the pieces of earth and tree go flying past her and the Captain, the cage of ice serving them very well.
"You good?" He asks, his voice just a murmured whisper due to their close proximity.
The proximity that she notices and steps back from, brushing the tendrils of hair that escaped from her ponytail back, tucking it behind her ears and not noticing Steve Rogers follow the gesture intently.
"I like them," Steve says before his brain can catch up with his mouth.
Liz scrunches her eyebrows in confusion just as Steve remembers the joint line they're all connected to.
He points to his eyes, really meaning hers, which are nearly almost golden, pulsing with veins of orange. She looks away before smiling at him, a large tip in the corner of her lip and the crinkling at the corner of her eyes that is so infectious that Steve smiles back.
They're standing there, in the middle of the forest in Sokovia, during a battle between them and Hydra smiling at each other until there are bullets whizzing from both sides.
One of the bullets grazes the very surface of Liz's head and lightning intensifies at the pain, forcing Liz to dodge the bullets as she gets her powers into control and rains small lightning bolts in front of the soldiers, causing them to fall to the ground and get hit by a large ice chunck that keeps them there.
As soon as she makes sure that the last man is down, she whirls around so fast it could be considered comical under better circumstances and searches for the blue and white-clad hero.
She whirls around just in time to see him throw his last punch that sends the final soldier that's standing onto the ground, before he mimics her and turns around so fast she's surprised he didn't get whiplash.
He moves towards her, his thumb gently caressing her forehead and she only realizes that she's bleeding when his thumb comes back red. She winces as the adrenaline wears off and she feels the slight throb on her forehead where a bullet had grazed and replaces Steve's thumb with her index finger, blowing away some pain at the sting.
"Liz," Steve keeps his eyes trained on the wound on her head. It doesn't look too deep but he isn't taking any chances. He's ready to get her out of here and into the aircraft suppose the injury is worse than it seems.
Lately, it's getting harder to ignore the fact that Elizabeth Stark may be the only person that can get him to run away from a fight. It's getting harder to ignore the fact that Steve Rogers is willing to run away from the fight so long as he is running with Elizabeth Stark
"I'm fine." She tells him, scrunching her nose slightly at the faded pain that only feels uncomfortable.
"Let's go get the sceptre."
She's in the air and out of sight after that and Steve has to take a moment to simply look in the air and wonder how much longer he's going to run after Elizabeth Stark for. He wonders if he'll ever get tired of running after the girl with glowing eyes and burning skin. He wonders if he'll ever catch her.
He doesn't realize that she's already fallen. Doesn't realize that he already caught her.