To say Shuri was excited was an understatement. Today she would be arriving at Tony Stark's tower, Tony. Fucking. Stark. As in, I Am Iron Man. She knew her technology was superior, but this guy had been able to synthesize something to power an entire tower with and was 30 years ahead of everyone else in technology. And did she mention without any vibranium?
Nothing could wash the smile off her face, not even her bland pancake of a brother sitting in the seat next to her. Happy, the driver, had told them that they would be at the tower in 5 minutes. Her brother sat up straighter (ha, straighter, they were polar opposites) his crossed arms not moving in the slightest.
He was probably thinking of why they were supposed to be there in the first place: the man that they had harbored for a few months before they were moved to a US government facility and then to their trial run at Stark Tower. Shuri was there to speed up Spider-Boy's recovery and to help her brother to assess the exvengers, as had called them in the email, and as Peter called Tony.
Her hands kept pulling the handle rapidly until Happy unlocked the door, and she jumped out of the car to run to the elevator. The air was crisp with a chill unknown to the sunny plains of Africa, but it was refreshing after sitting in a stuffy car for so long. T'challa walked at a leisurely pace regal enough for a king, or as regally as he could get while holding a suitcase, and they rode the glass elevator, her brother sulking, and Shuri having taken up a conversation with FRIDAY.
"So, how is everybody? I haven't seen them in a while."
"They are fine, but Steve has a lot to think about. How are you?"
The UI had improved a lot since Shuri had last seen her, not as great as JARVIS, or so Tony claimed, but she had picked up a habit for mischief and gained some more conversation skills.
"I'm good, but it's been boring without any broken old white boys to fix. Hey, has Tony gotten into any more trouble since I last saw him?"
"No, Boss has been fine by his standards. There are some other people you may want to meet, and Miss Potts has been looking forward to seeing you."
"Nice."
Their conversation continued until they had gotten out of the elevator, and Tony was there to greet them.
"Tony, any new stuff for me to play with?"
"Hey Shuri, yeah actually, the first drawer in the 'random stuff ' section of the lab. Make sure Green Bean doesn't see you. I'm assuming you've hacked into the files and seen everything you aren't supposed to?"
"Yep!" She beamed, racing off to the lab and leaving her brother behind.
She and Tony had an odd sort of friendship, one more than the professional vibranium trading lines that Stark industries owned, where they would make gadgets for each other. They had instantly clicked. She supposed that great minds did think alike.
After she had retrieved the nondescript box from the drawer in his lab, she went off to find Peter's room from the directions she had filched from FRIDAY's databanks. She and he were going to have so much fun, but first, he had to wake up.
Best mental evaluation trial ever.
Pepper Potts had simple needs, most of those being the same as other humans. Her wants were less simple, wanting Tony to become a smarter genius, for him to sleep, and maybe those nice high heels she saw around the corner of 54th street.
Anyway, she had found someone similar to her, and she was great. May Parker was her new best friend.
They had bonded over their self-destructive children, because all honesty her fiancee was a child, and she learned the reason why May and Tony were so stressed. Peter was an enigma, but a sweet boy nonetheless. The world seemed to be converging on this point, with the Avengers evaluation and Peter being at Stark Tower.
Speaking of the evaluation, Pepper was glad that she had been called in to be one of the chaperones. God knows what Steve would do to Tony if they were left unsupervised. Apparently, May had taken him down a few notches and he had become quieter.
With newly painted nails, courtesy of Shuri, she walked with a stride given only to the CEO of a very powerful company. She scheduled a meeting with the shareholders, Tony excluded this time, organized everything, and now her only task was a board meeting with the rest of the evaluators.
The room was pleasantly full of chatter when Pepper entered. The evaluators sat around a fancy wooden table, surprisingly rustic for a technologically advanced tower such as this one. They had a view of the city below, the sun passing through the sky and December creeping closer without any sign of stopping.
Shuri and T'challa were next to each other, T'challa sighing exasperatedly at the horrifying knock knock jokes Shuri had learned. Tony, Vision, and Rhodey were also there in quiet discussion. FRIDAY had surprised everyone by projecting a form much like a hologram to sit in on the meeting, something Tony didn't know she had learned to do but was nonetheless immensely proud judging by the expression in his eyes. Bruce was blowing on a cup of tea.
The last member of the room was the one Pepper sat next to. May, Peter's aunt, smiled as Pepper took her seat. As soon as everyone had arrived, she cleared her throat and the talking died down.
"We have two issues on the table, one which you all know about, and another that has become related to it." T'challa's face twitched in confusion, as well as Vision and Rhodey raising their eyebrows.
"First things first, the Avengers evaluation. Welcome May Parker to the roster, she'll be here for the next few weeks. The evaluation period is one week long, starting tomorrow. At the end of the week, the Avengers will have been here for 12 days."
"Your role is to report every day by writing your interactions, which FRIDAY will also record." The UI waved at the mention of her name, prompting Bruce to raise his eyebrows.
Pepper nodded at her and looked at the rest of them. "Questions?"
"Yes," Vision replied. "If the Avengers have broken the law, why are they being given another chance?"
"I got this Pep," Tony interceded. "I decided that maybe not all of them are bad so we need to decide which ones. This also puts the council's trust in me even more, enhancing my reputation so I can sue the hell out of Ross for some made up shit and get him kicked off the council."
"Ah, you mean to say this is also a move to get rid of Ross? As Shuri would say, feed two birds with one scone?"
Tony blinked and nodded, replying to the king. "Yeah, basically."
"You mentioned a second item?" T'challa's eyes moved from Tony to May. He had never met her, so what made her a part of the evaluators?
"I'll be taking this, Tony, Pepper, if you don't mind." May's sharpened gaze sliced over the table and grabbed the attention of some of the less engaged.
"You know of Spider-Man, correct?" At the nods, she continued. "The one behind the mask is my nephew, Peter. Currently, he is in a state somewhat like hibernation. We have two options, try to keep the Avengers occupied enough that they won't investigate even more, or to slowly reveal stuff to them like weaning a baby."
"The problem is the fact of Peter's age. He's only 16, 14 in Germany, and is very cautious about his identity. We will eventually need to reveal this to the Avengers that end up staying anyway."
Mutterings broke out among Rhodey and Vision. "Who all knows?"
"Peter's two best friends, Ned and MJ, Shuri, Tony, Pepper, and Me. Now its everyone in this room excepting Ned and MJ."
"Are Ned and MJ trustworthy?" T'challa asked.
"Yes. You'd believe it if you saw them," she added at his skeptical face.
"That's that," Tony said with a clap. "Personally I don't think it's viable to keep Peter a secret. I'm sure our resident super spies already know, so we can probably mess with them. Rogers, Barnes, and Maximoff probably won't find out, they're on the danger list anyhow."
"You do what's best Tony. I trust you with Peter." Most were surprised with the sureness in May's tone. She looked at the people and clapped. "Meeting adjourned."
They got up, some chatting and Bruce not caring to move. Pepper and May talked, Shuri assaulting FRIDAY with questions about her hologram, and Tony leaving immediately.
Tony and Natasha needed to have a chat.
Natasha suspected that Tony knew.
What did he know? To what extent? she had no fucking clue, but he knew. Now she sat on a chair not too far from the door of a random board room on floor 78. The door opened, and Tony walked in.
"Hello."
Such a simple thing to say. "Hello, Stark."
"Ah, still calling me by my last name. You know it's just Tony right? " his gaze mock-sharpened and he began to question her. "Wait, you do know my name? Isn't it on all of the newspapers and patents?"
"You did have a point?" sighed Natasha. She could probably afford to be rude if Tony was snarking (Heh, starking.) His smile dropped, not in a sudden change of mood or a deflated happiness, but his mask of teasing fun fell away to the more serious side he rarely showed.
"Yes. First, call me Tony. Second?" He looked up at the ceiling, strolling over to sit on the table in the middle of the room. He took a small breath before diving in. "I need to know if I can put my faith in you. I won't trust you, but I'll try to believe I could."
"How am I supposed to prove that?" Her eyebrow raised, SHIELD-bred as if they had been trained to do so. She leaned back, even as Tony gave her a halfhearted glare.
"Everything you do is proof. What I need to know are your intentions."
Natasha said nothing but corrected her posture so she wasn't leaning towards the door. "Concerning what?"
"The Avengers. Do you intend on being loyal, even with all that you were raised into? Can we know that you'll have our backs in battle?"
"Mm." A noncommittal hum. "I'll try."
Tony sighed leaning his head back. "What I mean to say is that however much you don't trust us, however much you hate me, I want to be able to look at you and smile and say: 'Yep, that's our widow.'"
"Stark... " she began but he cut her off.
"I know that we both have red in our ledgers, but this is a place where we've found a home. I'd like it to be our home. And… maybe have you see it like that sometime. It doesn't have to be now, it doesn't have to be soon. Just, we miss you. We miss the way the team used to be. Sure we had some issues, but we can make it work." He smiled down at the memory of a feeling. "I'd like to move on with you all."
Natasha opened her mouth slightly and closed it again. Clint did say to at least attempt an understanding, but this was more emotion than she was used to dealing with. She had found a family with the Avengers, once upon a time. With the civil war it was like two parents that held custody over the team, and she couldn't decide who she wanted to stay with more, and now to suddenly have the option to have both?
She stood and went to leave, stopping at the door. For whatever reason Tony's disappointment was something she didn't want. She supposed she could gain nothing bad from saving the world, and perhaps something like a family with it.
"I'll do it." And she left. Tony stood up, shaking his head with his arms still crossed, but he was smiling.
"And they say I'm dramatic."