He stood in front of her almost exactly the way he did the last time she saw him. She adjusted her stance slightly. Tony must have noticed, as he stepped forward. "Go back inside."

V must have been fuming, most likely projecting her anger and fear. She hated when she did that. She sighed and went back inside with Tony, leaving Strange outside.

"You know him? How?" Tony asked.

V felt like she was going to throw up. How was he here? How did he find her? After all these years... She panicked and sprinted up the stairs and to her bedroom, throwing the door open and diving under the bed for a stuffed sock and a pre-packed backpack.

Tony, apparently, followed. "Hello, I'm talking to you." He said. Then he seemed to notice her expression, and if V had to guess, it was somewhere between jump-scared Peter at a haunted house and Tony himself when Morgan said s*t that one time.

V still didn't hear him.

"V," he grabbed her arm, forcing her to look at him. His curiosity stung, since it was mixed with clear worry, which seemed to burn like acid under the skin he touched. "How do you know him."

"Let's just say he patched me up, once upon a time." She turned herself to face him completely. "Look, I just need a little time at the compound, if he's gonna be here."

(The Avengers compound was a new thing Shield helped Tony Stark develop over the last couple of years.)

"Okay but why is his being here such a big deal? So he fixed you up once. What's so bad about that?"

She shook her head dismissively. "I just need to go."

"Did you forget it's your birthday?" He asked after a pause. V could feel his disappointment as she paused, too.

"I promise I'll make up for this." She moved around him and into the hallway.

"At least take Rhodey with you?"

"Fine." And then she was gone.

~~Tony's POV~~

"Bruce?!" Tony asked as he came back outside. Bruce Banner had just materialized beside Dr. Stephen Strange.

"Hey, Tony."

"Tony Stark?" Dr. Stephen Strange asked. He didn't wait for Tony to reply. "I need you to come with me."

ƪ()ʃ

Tony paced in front of the enormous stairway. Stephen Strange explained the deal with Thanos, which Bruce had apparently suffered himself. Bruce insisted that Tony contact the others but he couldn't do it. Not now. Maybe not ever.

Tony had the cell phone open and was dialing Steve's number when all of them heard the noise outside. He led the way out into the chaos.

~~V's POV~~

She still couldn't believe he found her. How? Why? When? Just now, today? Or was he stalking her, waiting to pounce? That sent a chill up her spine.

She snapped back into reality at the snap of fingers in her ear. "Light's green." Rhodey said.

V nodded and started driving again.

They got to the compound and split up. Rhodey told V that he had to check in with what's-his-face, so she went to poke around Tony's office. She wouldn't do anything, just look around. She let her mind wander, taking her time.

These last few years had been amazing. She had her dad, an amazing step-mom, and a sister. Sometimes, though, she actually envied Morgan. She knew she'd never been able to have what Morgan had. A stable family. V was just never ready. Pepper had told her thousands of times that that was okay. To not be ready. Whether that be family, love, spilling her guts and feelings out to a shrink, or really anything.

She let herself into the dark office, moving to stand behind Tony's big black chair. She sat down and drummed her hands on the desk, kicking her feet underneath the desk like a little kid.

The room smelled like his cologne. Like blue. V couldn't figure out why that color came to mind specifically and not a hot rod red or gold. She scanned his desktop and smiled when she saw her drawing of Tony. It was just a bust sketch, but it was apparently good enough to frame on his desk. Next to it, a small phoenix figurine stood beside three eagles. V couldn't help but wonder if the phoenix represented herself, and the eagles the rest of the Stark family. Her smile turned into a slight frown at that, as she remembered her phoenix. The one who had literally come back from the dead. Her best friend. The phoenix who left. The phoenix who hated her. And for what? A surname.

She stood up rather abruptly and hurried out of the office, giving it one single glance before closing the door. She continued at a brisk pace down the hallways and into the 'dormitory storage' section of the compound, stopping at his door.

Her hand hovered over the silver doorknob set in the white door. V wished he was still there. With her. Together again. After three years..? Would he even care to come back?

She shook her head and opened the door, almost ripping it off its hinges. Again. She turned on the lights, and sat on the foot of his large bed. She remembered watching movies all night. Answering his questions about why certain jokes were funny in the movie to Americans. She remembered playing video games and eating snacks with him, teaching him about American culture as he taught her about Sokovian culture.

She took a deep breath, breathing in the masculine scent of his things.

"Why did I have to be you?" She murmured to his pillow. "Why did he have to make those bombs?" She hugged his pillow. "I miss you." She whispered as she bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling.

(( _ _ ))..zzzZZ

"Miss Stark, your presence is being requested downstairs." Friday boomed overhead, making V jerk awake. A few days had gone by, and V had been sleeping in Pietro's old room—or at least what Happy bothered to keep together—since she got there, on her birthday.

"By who?" She asked the AI.

A pause, then, "I'm not permitted to say."

That was weird. Usually, as far as V knew, no one permitted Friday to do or not do anything except Tony, Natasha, or Steve. So who could-

One of them was back. She flew out of the bed and down the hallways. The elevator was never fast enough, and it still wasn't. She hurried around the conference floor of the building.

Rhodey was there, already in the hallway. He stepped in front of V as if to stop her. "Before you go in," he started. "Don't break anything. Don't freak out, okay?"

"Why would I?" She asked, almost sounding offended.

"You'll see." Rhodey said as he sucked in a tight breath, letting her in. She went in hesitantly. She knew Rhodey wouldn't put his best friend's daughter in danger or anything like that, but she had her doubts. Then again, said best friend was missing. He had been ever since he went off with Strange. It was on the news just two days ago, and for two days V was an absolute mess. V made her own accusations despite Pepper and Rhodey's assurances. She was terrified for him. Wherever he was.

V stopped so suddenly she almost fell over. She couldn't peel her eyes away to question Rhodey, but she didn't need to. Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers stood before her, and between them, Pietro Maximoff.

Steve didn't look at V as he hurried past her, but Natasha gave her an apologetic glance and put a hand on the girl's shoulder as she followed Steve, leaving V and Pietro alone.

Neither of them spoke for a long minute. They barely moved. Finally V couldn't take it anymore.

"And to think I trusted you." She stated firmly. Pietro opened his mouth to speak, but she continued before he could. "You didn't call, you didn't text, you did nothing. You left. I waited for you every day. And every day you never showed up."

Pietro's head dropped a little, his dark hair—grown out slightly over his shoulders—hung around his face like a curtain. V didn't want to try to get any kind of sense of what he felt, not now.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" He asked simply. His words were like a barbed wire over her heart. Of course she was going to tell him!

"Tell you what?" Her voice seemed to shake as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Pietro sighed, exasperated. "That you're a Stark!" His voice boomed in the room, making her flinch.

"I didn't think it mattered." She fired back, her vision began to blur as tears surfaced in wet anger. "Did it ever occur to you that after you left, without so much as a goodbye, it might've hurt me too?"

"You're being dramatic."

"Me?! You're the one getting all hung up about my last name!" They were taking small steps towards each other as they spoke.

"You don't know what he did to me. To my family." Pietro's movements seemed frantic, like he was in a frenzy.

"I do, actually." Her voice now had an edge to it. "I know because I did the research Tony so carefully tried to hide! I found the recordings of yours and Wanda's testing in that Hydra place! I'm the one who tried to find you, I thought you were hurt, or worse! Again!"

"So that just about fixes everything?" He bellowed again. "Are you happy that I'm here now? Are you?!" He was just a foot or so away from her now. "You think that just because you know what happened to us, means you just know everything about me?"

She took a step forward. "No, I don't-"

He interrupted her. "Sure, of course not! I'm back, no harm done right?! When exactly were you going to tell me he was your father?!"

V was quiet for a moment. When she spoke, her voice seemed to break. "You need to grow up and let it go. It was twelve years ago. He's a different man now, I would know. Hell, even Wanda knows." V knew what she was saying. Even after she got... better... she knew exactly what it felt like to see your past thrown back at you after so many years. Maybe not twelve, but still, she knew.

"What do you know, Violet Stark?" Pietro's words cut through her train of thought so aggressively she jerked back, almost losing her balance.

Pietro didn't reach to catch her if she were to fall.

"You don't want to know." Her fists were clenched. Her muscles taught.

"And why is that?"

"I hurt you once already and I can't do it again." Her voice broke again, and her arms fell limp at her sides.

"Yeah. I remember the drill." His voice was flat, almost bored.

"What is this, exactly?" She asked after a pause. "This thing we have? Or what I thought we had?"

It took him a minute to answer. "You know I had feelings for you."

"'Had.'" V quoted. "Three years ago. What about now?" She crossed her arms in front of her. She watched as he clenched and unclenched his jaw, his arms also folded over his chest, his eyes on the floor and then the wall and then her, then back to the floor.

"Don't you know? You can feel everything in everyone." He barked.

"I want to be numb. I don't want to feel anything. I feel it all and it hurts."

"Then why are you so bent up about me?" He asked as he readjusted his posture.

"Because I thought we had something. Apparently I was wrong." She sighed.

"I guess so." He confirmed.

She shook her head as he began to walk away. "Why are you here, Maximoff?"

"I'm here because of Wanda." He snapped.

"Why is she here?"

"Because of the toaster who is here because of Ultron who is here because of your father."

"That wasn't my point." She argued.

"It was mine." With that, he hurried to leave.

"Don't go," She protested, taking a step forward. He stopped. "Don't leave me alone. Tony's missing. Please."

"You survived just fine before." He let the door close behind him, slowly, agonizingly slowly, and he vanished.