FINDING HOME
SUMMARY – Renee Dwyer was Tony Stark's half-sister. When Renee is murdered in her home in Jacksonville, Tony knows something isn't right. He is distraught and needs answers. When his digging unearths several more related deaths and a niece he never knew existed, how will he react? Can Bella overcome the horrors of her past and make a new life with the only family she has left?
MARVEL'S AVENGERS X TWILIGHT CROSSOVER…
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER – All Avenger's characters belong to Marvel Comics, and all Twilight Saga characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. I own nothing, and no copyright infringement is intended.
CHAPTER 2
"Where's Tony?" Clint asked as he made his way into the Avengers Tower living room.
Natasha, Thor, Bruce, and Steve were all already there, and none of them looked pleased to be kept waiting, though he noticed that Nat and Steve both looked exhausted. Whatever reason Nat had for calling this little family meeting wasn't going to be good, and the fact that Stark wasn't there yet had him nervous.
"He'll be up in a few minutes," Rogers told him, avoiding answering his question.
Plopping down on the edge of the sofa, he turned to the rest of the gathering and said, "So, is someone going to tell me why we are all here, or why you all look like someone just died?"
Of course that was the moment Tony chose to make his entrance, and he couldn't help wincing slightly at his friend's choice of words. "You're not that far off," he told him, keeping his voice level. He had allowed far too much of his turmoil to come to the surface with Nat and the Cap earlier, and he was not prepared for a repeat with the rest of the team present.
"Care to explain that?" Banner spoke up. All Romanov had told them when they arrived was that something had happened and someone Tony cared about might be in danger. Talk about vague intel…
"I discovered last night that my estranged half-sister, her husband and young daughter were all brutally murdered in their home in Jacksonville three years ago," Tony said matter-of-factly, "I hadn't spoken to Renee in over twenty years, but she was family all the same, and I need to find out what happened to her."
"Agent Romanov and I did some digging this morning and discovered that Renee's first husband was also killed in a similar fashion only days later, though he lived in Forks, Washington," Steve continued for him, "Three close family friends living on the nearby Indian Reservation were also killed by the same person days after that."
Natasha, who had been handing each of them case files with all of the pertinent family histories and police reports, returned to her seat and picked up where the Captain left off, "At each of the killings, a letter was left that we believe was a message from the killer intended for Isabella Swan, Charles and Renee's daughter, and Tony's niece. From what we can gather, whoever is responsible for these deaths meant to kill Isabella, but she disappeared around the same time as the killings."
"We need to determine if Isabella is still alive, and if so, where she has been hiding these past few years," Tony picked back up the briefing, "And hopefully, she will have some answers as to who killed our family and why. I'm all that girl has left, and I'll be damned if I let anything happen to her now that I know what's going on."
To say that the team was shocked would be quite an understatement. Tony Stark, Mr. Go-it-alone, anti-family-man, had a half-sister he never told them about, who had not one, but two husbands, and a daughter to go with each marriage. And as soon as he discovered that this large extended family existed, he also learned that most, if not all, of them were long dead. What the hell were they supposed to say in the face of that?
"We are with you," Thor spoke up first, "The young Isabella is your family, and that makes her our family. We will help you find and protect her." The rest of the team nodded their assent.
"Of course we will," Bruce spoke up, finally thawing from his shock, "If nothing else, Isabella should be able to give you some answers. We'll find her."
"Am I the only one that just wants to meet a young, female version of Stark?" Clint added, trying to lighten the mood a bit, and was pleased to hear Tony's distinct snort and a few light chuckles in response.
"If she's anything like me," Tony smiled sadly, "She's a survivor. She's alive out there somewhere, but that means she's been staying one step ahead of her would-be killers for years. No paper trail, no putting down roots, fake names, fake documents, never staying in one place for long."
"So, how do we find her?" Thor asked.
Natasha spoke up first, "I can tap into SHIELD's surveillance systems. Facial recognition on CCTV cameras, TSA checks, traffic cameras, satellite telemetry, you name it… If they've caught her image anywhere in the world, I'll find it."
"I'll work facial recognition on the social media angle," Bruce continued on her train of thought, "Every photo uploaded and every video streamed online from someone's smart phone in the last three years. Maybe someone's seen her and doesn't even know it."
"Good idea," Steve commented, "While you two are trying to determine where she went, Thor and I will try to figure out who is after her."
"What is your plan, Captain?" Thor asked him, curious, but also confident in their leader's ability to handle this situation.
"We go to Jacksonville first," Steve told the Asgardian, "Talk to friends of the Dwyers, neighbors, coworkers, anyone who might have seen or heard anything back then that could help. Then we do the same thing in Forks with people who knew the Swans."
"We should also visit the Quileute reservation," Thor added, holding his copy of the killer's last note in his hand, "'You can't keep her from me.' The killer clearly believed that someone there was protecting Isabella, and they killed the chief and two tribal elders. Someone there knows what happened."
"Agreed," Steve replied, deep in thought.
"You two go to Forks and La Push," Clint spoke up, "I'll head to Jacksonville. We'll cover more ground that way."
"Good," Tony concurred, "I want to find her quickly. She's been out there on her own for the last three years with no lifeline. It's about time we brought her home."
"What will you be doing?" Natasha asked, realizing he didn't have a specific task laid out.
"I want to find out who helped her disappear," he said, "Dropping off the face of the Earth the way she did is damn near impossible when there's not a serial killer hunting you. I'm going to see if I can dig up who could have gotten her a new identity, and how she might have financed that sort of Houdini move. Papers don't come cheap."
"But if you can get us the name or names she's been using…" Clint left his comment open-ended.
"It will help us track her down that much faster," Steve finished, just before Thor added grimly, "But if we can find her identity, the killer might be able to as well…"
"And they've got a three year's head start on us," Tony reminded them.
That brought all of it back into focus, and everyone rose at once. "We'd best get moving then," Natasha concluded, "I'll call Fury, fill him in. He should have jets ready to go for you guys by the time you arrive at SHIELD."
And with that, they all made to leave for their tasks, ready to do whatever was necessary to bring Tony's family home.
"Thank you," Tony whispered, causing them all to stop and turn their gazes back to him. He was trying not to let his emotions leak into his voice as the magnitude of his loss hit him once again, but they all saw it in his eyes.
Failure simply was not an option this time. Isabella Swan would be found, and she would be brought back to New York so they could protect her from whatever this was. For Tony's sake, and for Isabella's, they would not fail.
