HEY GUYS! I missed my goal but not by much :) I hope you are all doing well! Enjoy this nice long chapter and please leave me reviews! They're highly motivating :D
No promises on the next time I will be able to update. It may be before Christmas, it may be after depending on my school work.
As always, I do not own Marvel or the Avengers
"What? Did you think I was gonna say: Oh yes! Please! Please, take my daughter Thor! Wisk her off to your magic fucking rainbow bridge just cuz the All-fucking-father ordered it?"
"Well, no…but if you agree, it will make this task much easier," the blonde god rubbed his thumbs together, looking only slightly sheepish for the message he was delivering.
"NO I WILL NOT AGREE! Are you crazy? No Thor. No fucking way," Bruce can see the steam rising from Tony's ears as his face turns a charming shade of sunset red.
"Man of Iron, I know it may seem unfair, but the All-Father is the only being in existence that knows the needs of her kind. He can help her."
"We don't need his help, we're doing fine on our own," Tony gritted his teeth, thankful he sent Elli down to the lab with the promise he would follow soon. He didn't need All-dick's wisdom to raise his daughter—he was doing just fine before this, thank you very much.
"I agree that the All-Father shouldn't be interfering with Elli's life. Tony is more than capable of taking care of his daughter," Pepper crossed her arms and leaned on one hip, Coulson standing as support next to her, the two acting as a wall between the two heroes.
"I have no doubt of the Man of Iron's abilities, however, the child will only grow in power. She will not know how to keep them hidden," Thor could only hope to persuade them, he didn't want to watch the child be ripped from her father's arms.
"We will help her learn how. Stark did it before, we can do it again," Fury stood on the other side of Thor, leaving no room for argument in his voice.
"She'll become too powerful, you won't be able to control her."
"Control her? Are you freaking kidding me!?" The God of Thunder could only sigh as Tony's face deepened to a dark, blood red.
"She is a Skīr-r—" Thor was cut off as the billionaire's fist hit the table with a resounding crack.
"SHE IS MY DAUGHTER! NO ONE ELSE KNOWS WHAT SHE NEEDS MORE THAN I DO!" Tony lunged at the God of Thunder, ignoring the way the blonde giant towered over him, "I TOOK CARE OF HER EVEN WHEN I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF! I CHANGED MYSELF FOR HER, EVERYTHING I HAVE DONE IN THE PAST SIX YEARS HAS BEEN FOR HER! I DON'T NEED THE GOD DAMN ALL-FATHER TO TEACH ME HOW TO TAKE CARE OF HER! I ALREADY KNOW, THOR!"
The genius breathed heavily as Thor looked blankly down at him.
"Tony…your hand…" A trail of blood trickled down three of Tony's fingers, the knuckles beginning to bruise under the cuts. His eyes glance down before looking back at the glass table top, a spider web crack spreading out from where his fist had slammed down.
"Bruce can you help me with this," Tony cradles his hand as he walks toward the elevator, not bothering to wait for an answer.
"Stark, we are not done here."
"No, we are done here. Either leave it be or get out of my house, Thor, because there is no way in hell that I am letting Elli go," the door closes leaving the group in an awkward silence.
Elli taps her pencil against her nose as Ms. Buck's sub drones on about division and multiplication—third grade math is so boring. Kicking her feet and turning her head to look out the window, the six-year-old is grateful for her seat in the back corner. It was so much better than her old seat. She had been in the first row due to her small size and age—that didn't last very long. Her constant fidgeting was a distraction and her prime spot was wasted on her as she usually ignored the current lesson in favor of coloring instead. Her grades didn't reflect her inability to pay attention so Ms. Buck was all too happy to move the young genius to the back. The only downside was that Peter still sat in the front, separating them by five rows of desks.
Leaning on her prosthetic hand, Elli reaches her flesh one into her desk to run her fingers over the smooth wood of the colored pencils she had yet to use. They sat in a metal box, a plastic mold holding each perfectly sharpened color in place. Higher quality then she had ever been given before she didn't dare use them for two reasons. 1: They were too perfect to use. 2: Her daddy didn't know she had them—she found them the night before in the lab. The box had been filled with art supplies and an Iron Man plushie with a note from Captain America himself. After reading the letter, Elli had carefully folded it, gently tucking it under the mold of the pencil box. Then she had taken the pencils and plushie up to her room, hiding the case in her backpack and setting Iron Man on her pillow.
Her daddy had kindly fetched her Captain America doll when she asked for it at bedtime. Tucked between Iron Man and Captain America, Elli had slept peacefully—undisturbed by nightmares for the first time since she had been shot by the arrow.
"Elli…Hogan?" Elli's head snaps back to the front as the sub reads her name off of the seating chart, the woman smiling warmly as she gets the six-year-old's attention, pointing at the math problem she had just written on the board "Can you solve this for me?"
"Twenty-seven," the woman's smile gets even bigger as Elli turned back to the window.
Happy was late, which was unusual but not unheard of with New York's traffic. Peter's aunt had offered to take Elli (Ms. Parker being one of the adults listed for the young Stark's pickup) but the substitute had insisted she could wait with the girl.
"What are you drawing?" Elli glances up as the substitute crouches down next to her desk, a perfectly manicured hand resting on the back of the chair.
"The Avengers," picking up a different crayon, Elli begins to color Clint's suit a deep purple. One day he would listen to her and change his costume—black was Natasha's color.
"Ah, so you're a fan then?" The woman leans in closer, tucking her golden hair behind her ear. She holds in a chuckle at the sight of the Hulk riding into battle on a pink unicorn.
"Mmhm," Elli picks up the red to fill in Thor's cape.
"You like to color?" Nodding, Elli finishes the drawing and then tucks it into her backpack to give to her daddy later. Taking out another sheet of paper, the little genius turns to the woman holding a crayon in her direction.
"Wanna color with me?" The woman tenses, looking over the tiny child in front of her, finally getting a close look at her face. Carefully, the substitute takes the crayon from Elli, smiling to her ears as she does so.
"I would love to, Elli."
Watching out the window, the woman waves to Elli as she walks out the school gates with her "father". Taking a deep breath, the woman looks down at the piece of paper in her hands before hugging it to her chest, gently as to not crinkle it.
Gathering her things, she waves her hand and steps into a circle of light. After being deposited in her living room, she runs her fingers through her hair—the blonde shimmering as it lightens to a snow white. Blinking her eyes, the pale blue she sported throughout the day changes to a deep gold. Smiling, she walks over to the fridge, taping up the portrait Elli had made of her.
"We have a problem." Fury storms into the lab causing Tony to raise an eyebrow, not bothering to turn away from his current project.
"You mean the Thor problem?"
"No, not the Thor problem."
"The Steve problem then?" Tony leans in closely as he messes with the knee joint.
"Close," Fury throws a file down on the bench, waiting for Tony to finish.
"His name is the Winter Soldier, formerly known as Bucky Barnes before Hydra kidnapped and brainwashed him," Choking on air, Tony swivels on his stool to look at the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Bucky Barnes is alive?" Fury nods as Tony flips through the file, stopping at the picture they had gotten in D.C. "Why isn't he old?"
"Hydra experimented on him," Fury states blandly, but Tony can here the anger in his voice.
"He…he has a metal arm," Tony studies it closer as he compares it to Elli's sitting on the bench in front of him.
"You're going to help Romanoff and Rogers locate him." It wasn't often that Fury ordered him rather than ask—which meant the man was going to push until Tony did what he wanted. Not this time though, the genius would stand firm.
"Not gonna happen," Tony snaps the file shut and turns back to work on Elli's new leg, snorting at the thought of working with Rogers again when the man didn't even have the decency to show his face and give a proper apology.
"I'm not asking, Tony," Fury ignores Tony rolling his eyes, "He is dangerous and on the streets of New York."
"I don't see why you need my help."
"Please, Tony, I tried but we can't do it without you," whipping around, Tony nearly falls off of the stool at the image of Captain Freaking America standing in the doorway to his lab, begging for his help.
"Gah! Jarvis! What the hell!?" Tony barks at the ceiling, annoyed that the A.I. hadn't informed him of Steve's arrival.
"You never took Mr. Rogers off of the residents list, sir. I have no protocols to keep him from entering the building."
"Tony, please, I know you probably hate me, but I have to find him. He's the only family I got left."
Tony glares at the Captain, unwilling to help despite the puppy dog look that could rival Elli's. His glare only breaks as the genius flinches at he sound of the tap of little feet coming down the stairs.
"Daddy! Daddy, I—" the now white haired child stops at the door, looking up as Captain America turns around. Both have looks of fear on their face, terrified of the feelings of the other. Tony glares at Fury as the man observes with a slight smirk.
"Elli," Steve gulps as he looks into the Stark's golden eyes for the first time. They were so innocent—he couldn't believe he ever thought the child was dangerous.
"Hi," her voice is small and timid, it's so unlike Elli it makes Tony a little sick.
"Hi...uh…Happy Birthday."
"My birthday was last week."
"Yeah, I know...I'm sorry, Elli," Steve kneels down in front of the six-year-old.
"You were right," the white haired child smiles causing Steve to relax, "Iron Man is my favorite super hero. You can be my second though."
"I would be honored, little lady," Allowing himself to smile at her, he flinches when she throws her arms around him, but quickly returns the hug.
"It's nice to meet you, Captain America."
"It's nice to meet you, too, Miss Stark."
"You totally planned that," Tony leans back on the bench, watching as his daughter forgives Captain America, slightly annoyed because he wasn't quite ready to forgive the hero himself.
"I did no such thing," the man smirks, happy with the results.
"Pepper says she got that from me, but she definitely learned it from you," Tony thinks back to Elli's 'broken' bracelet and the Parker's surprised faces.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Right," snorting and shaking his head, the genius returns his attention to the knee he was previously working on as Elli drags Steve up the stairs, "I'll help, but you owe me."
"Don't forget to come up for dinner."
"Yeah, yeah," Tony waves off Fury as the director walks out of the lab.
The man was clad in black and red, passed out on a moth-eaten armchair, fast food, pizza, and chimichangas littering the room. His snores were distorted by the half eaten slice of pizza hanging out of his mouth. A mouse crawls at the base of the chair, nibbling at a taco shell.
Let's have some fun, this beat is sick
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick
Let's have some fun, this beat-
"Deadpool," The mercenary pulls the pizza out of his mouth and pulls his mask down as a man chatters on the phone. The white eyes of his mask widen at the price.
"You got yourself a deal," snapping the phone shut, Wade Wilson hops out of the chair and starts gathering his favorite guns, "Looks like I'll get to meet Sam Jackson after all."
XD
