The Panther and The Rose

by Difference-Equals-Normal

Briar Rose Stark is quiet, painfully shy, and definitely NOT a hero like her brother. But when the super villains are set free, and the world needs heroes, Briar doesn't have much choice to go beyond her shell and discover herself. But with danger at every turn, the real people she can count on come out. Especially a certain mysterious super-hero, calling himself the Black Panther.

3. Fated Meetings

So far, so no Deadpool. He must be really enjoying that scavenger hunt I put him on...I just it keeps him occupied for as long as I need it too.

Also, uh, Briar goes through a panic attack (I think that's what happens, I never had one) so if anyone gets triggered, don't say I didn't warn you about that. Or that Briar Rose was going through a thorough backstory change-up, so there will be more moments like this is the future.

---

Chapter 3: Fated Meetings

15th April, 20XX

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and say that passing out like I did was really, really, REALLY bad for my health—specifically my mental health—mostly because doing so messes around my memories. As to how I arrived to that conclusion…well, let's just say that it all boiled down to me having somehow forgotten about Tony and his infamous 'Nearly Insane Over Protective Big Brother' side whenever something bad happens in the world, let alone New York, that could possibly affect me.

As a quick comparison: his daily phone-calls; in-person check-ups; and all of his attempts to get me out and venturing the world beyond my apartment were small things that I could deal with, depending where my anxiety sits on the bar. It pushes the limits of my sanity when I get some sort of injury, and the levels of its severity. If it's a little boo-boo that just needs a kiss better, Tony will take a few hours to calm down….once he's done feeding me all manner of comfort food, barricading me in a pillow fort, in a secret room, in a secret location that only he knows about.

If it's something serious that requires an extended stay in an ICU ward (been there, done that, never again) that I hope that I have someone to smack some sense into my brother, otherwise both a Pandora's Box and the metaphorical floodgates of hellfire, brimstone and retribution open with explosive force. An act that transforms my dear, well-meaning and well-intending brother into a strange and frankly terrifying hybrid creature that is part angry, foaming-at-the-mouth mama bear that's doing a darn good job of mauling the moron that caused an offense, and part mother goose with a honk a thousand times louder than a klaxon horn attempting to sit on it baby (i.e. me) to protect it.

…okay, wow, WOW! Whelp, that's an interesting yet incredibly disturbing mental image for somebody. Unfortunately, it's an all too familiar sight for me.

---

As a direct result of The Big House break-out, I wasn't left alone for even a micro-second. Somehow, most likely through miraculous means, Tony managed to snag a few SHIELD agents to protect me while I was in hospital. Though there was a very probable chance that Fury even deemed me (of all people) as somebody to protect at all costs, I had to briefly wonder at how those agents could be spared with so many super-villains on the loose, and their main base of operations currently laying at the bottom of the river.

On a side note; it was really unnerving when I briefly woke up in the dead of night, brain all foggy with sleep and pain-killers, and see a person silently standing guard at the window, and two more at the door. I can't really remember, but I think I said something about spiders trying to make me dance with them, but the agent at the window just told me to say 'bugger off' to the spiders and go back to sleep. And so I did.

I have strange dreams when in hospital.

When the morning came, I was in a much better control of my mental faculties, so the doctors gave me a clean bill of health. As soon as I was dressed and ready, those three agents bundled me into an awaiting car and escorted me (in complete nerve-wracking silence, I might add) to a rather swishy new apartment in the better part of the city and left me there…by myself…should I worry? I should worry. I'm a-gonna worry now.

Thankfully, my panic and paranoia didn't even get a chance to settle in, because as soon as the door had shut behind the agents did it open again, and Tony breezed in, and proceeded to smother me into a bear hug…which a; set off my 'no touchy' alarm, and b; didn't even come close to successfully hide the sight of some people from his personal security team entering to deposit a few large boxes.

Once the last person was out and the front door shut, I squirmed out of my brother's grip, shuddering to remove the unpleasant tingles (and shot him a Look) before going over to the nearest box and pecked inside…and squeaked rather loudly when I recognized the contents as my things from the crappy apartment.

I spun around to level a very evil look at my brother…only it must have come out as my 'sheer-trouser-wetting' expression on terror, since it was forefront in my mind that random people have touched my personal belongings—what sane person wouldn't find that disturbing as heck?! The very evil look I was trying to go for was mostly due to my minuscule independent streak raising its head to protest, in a very teeny tiny voice.

Either way, my brother was given more than enough warning that he was headed for trouble. So, in order to save his imperiled backside, the rotten fink got the first word in.

He—as well as any others the even knew I exist—felt rather strongly that with all the super-villains on the loose, there was just no reasonably safe way for me to return to my questionably secure apartment, let alone continue to live there by myself.

...Fine, I'll give him that one.

However, try as Tony can (and forever will) to keep things regarding me a secret, Fury inevitably found out about me being moved to a new 'secret' apartment. He even graciously offered up one of his coveted safe-houses dotted around the world, though my brother politely declined. At least, I'm praying on all things soft, fluffy and adorable that he was polite about it. Loa above help him if he wasn't.

So now, as peace of mind for everybody, I was going to stay in one of Tony's city apartments…

…*inhales sharply to prevent screaming*

He vehemently claims that not only did he have people clean the entire place so thoroughly that it was practically sterile, but that he also a mutually trusted friend to choose every bit of new furniture to replace all of Tony's, but come on! This is my brother here, and his—I'm not even gonna go there! There will never be enough 'ew!', 'gross!' and 'gimme da mind bleach!' in the world to cover how I feel.

I can feel the shudders from before growing in intensity as I looked over at the suspiciously innocent queen-sized bed.

At the point, my inner voice more-or-less smacked me upside the head, and explained in a voice loud enough to wake the dead five times over, that the bed was brand-spanky-out-of-plastic new, with the glorious added bonus of all legs firmly attached, with a comfy mattress, and thick fluffy blankets and pillows.

'Did I also mention that your arse won't freeze off in the colder seasons?' It whispered its final and very tempting offer.

…I conceded defeat to the voice in my head and to my need of wanting some proper sleep in a much more substantial bed. Tony saw that I had given in, and tried very hard to not look happy or smug about it, yet spectacularly failing.

He then spent the rest of the daylight hours giving me a tour of the place—sometimes going a little heavy on the details, yet annoyingly vague on others. A little voice inside my head wondered if there might be a surveillance device planted about the apartment, and given how over-protective my brother can be most of the time…let's just say I may need to do my own sort of sleuthing when my brother leaves.

Once I had the (nearly) complete tour of my new home, Tony decided to stay and help me settle in, unpack my things and find new homes for everything. That I wasn't so keen on; mostly because I didn't want him to know just how little I had, but couldn't really prevent if I tried. As we worked on opposite sides of the room, I tried to pretend that I hadn't seen the look on Tony's face when he realized how little I did have. Of course, this would all lead to a shopping trip in the near possible future…yay for me.

That thought was particularly sarcastic, and so must have triggered Tony's fiercely honed 'Uh-oh, baby sister is upset!' alert. He swiftly swung into gear and began talking about something hopefully unrelated; the first choice of topic being if I wanted to watch something on Netflix after we finished up. I…hang on…I have Netflix now?!

In the few seconds it took for that thought to sink itself into my head, Tony had already moved and claimed his spot on the couch, with everything set up and ready to go. Forgetting about unpacking the rest, I ignored his laughter as I dropped the empty box from my hands and nearly dive-bombed into the spot beside him, and paid no mind to his faked groan of dismay when I selected Race to the Edge. Yes, I am a massive HTTYD fan, and I have been crazy eager to watch this.

There just wasn't any possible way to watch this—or anything else—at my old apartment, since the TV set was old and incompatible to a Wi-Fi that disconnected more times than I cared to count.

But that's old news, because now I have a top-of-the-line TV, plus an awesome-sauce Wi-Fi, which means that it's binge-watching time, witches!

…

Or rather, it would be if I could enjoy myself, something that was becoming harder to accomplish, mostly because Tony's cell phone kept ruining the mood, even if it was on vibrate. My brother might be able to ignore something like that, if only because he's had way too much experience in doing such a thing, but I wasn't like him. The constant soft buzzing was well and truly getting on my nerves, to the point where I turned to my brother and leveled a deathly evil look at him.

Properly chastised, and wearing an expression of sheepish apology, Tony quickly answered the next call. The conversation was short and hurried, which concluded with Tony needing to go deal with whatever the problem was in person. In his mind, that was a no-no; because with all the craziness that was recently unleashed upon New York (and very possibly the country) my brother wasn't all that keen on leaving my side, for whatever reason…yet he wasn't going to spill the beans on whoever was calling him so urgently, or what project so desperately needed his attention.

Trust me: when you have a brother like Tony, who absolutely loves to brag about whatever it is he's currently working on, then this sort of behavior becomes very suspicious.

In the end I made the decision for him, and shooed him out. He did try and protest, but I firmly pointed out that it's been a long couple of days, and at some point I'd like to get some sleep…without people hovering about in the same room. He got the hint fairly quickly, and did as he was told (for once).

While he was no doubt busy talking to whomever was guarding me outside, I pulled the blanket closer around my body, and curled into a comfier position on the couch. I realize there's a proper and decent bed waiting to be used in the next room, and that sleeping should really be at the top of my must-do list, but my mind and body had hit that state where I was so sleepy I was wide awake.

At least now I could think in peace without triggering Tony.

The first thought that came across my mind was my silent promise to get back into shape. If someone were to ask, they'd be surprised to know (after they stopped laughing) that I wasn't always just a nerd; I was a nerd with some chutzpah to her chops, thanks mostly to Clay. In fact, I had enough chutzpah to safely hold my own against some of the babies from SHIELD's latest bunch of recruits. Clay always had that proud dad look on his face as he watched some dumb jocks land in a painful heap after a tussle with me.

There had even been a rumor going around that even the ever stoic, Captain Unflappable that is Nick Fury openly cringed when I viciously kneed a highly insulting loud-mouthed green in the…just a rumor, mind, because Fury is like a rock about everything. And he knew that he'd get a newbie who'd tick off the wrong person, and be schooled. Maybe not by me, but it was bound to happen.

…Ahem.

Sadly, life has proven to have a sick and twisted need to throw the occasional wrench into things.

Almost three years ago, there was an incident between Stark Industries and a neutral country, which resulted in a former trusted employee being fired (amongst other events) and my self-confidence being rather rattled. Subsequently my interactions with SHIELD newbies—and thus my skills—took a back seat. Tony and Clay, plus a few others who knew what happened, worked tirelessly to help me regain my confidence, to the point where I was just—JUST—gotten over the problem…

…which was about the time that someone I thought I was close to had decided to show me what the previous four months amounted to, in an event henceforth dubbed The Bad Thing, where I hit absolute rock bottom, and I was trapped in a dark, scary rabbit-hole, with severe trauma, panic attacks every few minutes, physical rehab, and as a few psychologists described it, the worst case of haphephobia they'd ever seen…that's fear of being touched, for the non-geeks.

To put some perspective on my personal journey of Hell, it has taken 2 and a half years of solid therapy to lower the amount of panic attacks I have per day; to walk myself outside without feeling like I was being choked from the inside by my own paranoia; to let a select group of people, including my own brother, give me a brief hug with the only 'hitch' being that my skin felt like bugs were crawling everywhere—as opposed to going into hysterics and screaming blue murder if anyone got within arms-reach of me.

Sounds like fun, right?

During the healing process, my tiny collection of friends and family (blood and otherwise) tried to help pick up the shattered pieces of my confidence and rebuild me, even if the process was done one itty bitty, teeny tiny, baby step at a time. But like every recovery after a significant trauma, it was a long road to walk, with a whole lot of road blocks of various setbacks, and more often than not I had very little results to show for my efforts.

…Having said that, there is a fantastically bright light in a dark tunnel!

'Really… after all that, you see a light?'

Ignoring the sarcastic commentary of my inner voice, I freely admit to feeling more than a little chuffed—not to mention relieved—that my reaction skills were still functioning as fast as they used to (Clay always praised me for that…especially when it came to avoiding paint balls) as proven when confronted by Anaconda. Ok, sure, it could've ended better, and I had a few things that needed to be worked on, but hey! Any start is a good start, right?

'…very true, I guess. Ok, I'll buy that.'

So I can totally do this! No big deal…

'Nothing like the threat of SHIELD's worst being on the loose to motivate some people, huh?'

…please don't let this bite me in the backside later.

---

21st April, 20XX

A week later

A loud, exhausted groan left me as my body allowed everything to wake up, though I'm better that is was really due to the alarm clock. Unfortunately, as soon as consciousness came, so too did the aches and pains all over my body, eliciting a plaintive, whiney sounding 'ow' on my part as I struggled to reach over and turn off my alarm.

Ok, when I told myself that I was getting back into a better shape, I really should have warned myself that this endeavor would more than likely hurt…a lot.

'To be fair, I didn't even realize how badly I let myself go,' I weakly defended myself as I slowly rolled onto my back. Trust me, after 2 and half years of walking the bare minimum of daily steps, sprinkled with the sporadic session of either Pilates or yoga, it definitely showed itself.

'So, we're not going to discuss the extra muffins you've got packed there?' My inner voice teased. No, we are not…and for the last time, it's just fluff. Fluff, I tell you, fluff!

…even I don't believe my own lies anymore.

The…*sigh* extra muffins as mentioned was the pudge on my hips and stomach, and the blunt reminder that I had let myself go a little bit—it really hit home when I struggled through a third of my old routine…and that was before Clay found out what I was getting up to! When word did reach him, it only confirmed an earlier theory that passing out really messed with my memories. Don't get me wrong, Clay is absolutely the guy to go to…when you need a training PARTNER. But when he believes (and quite rightly, but still) you need a training INSTRUCTOR?

I suddenly found myself later in the same after of the first day going from normal types of exercises to almost-near-SHIELD level exercises, which are insanely intense! After a few days of solid work, I could barely feel anything in my extremities…and I had more due again the very next day! But my long thought forgotten, now totally pumped up stubbornness refuses to let me back out (even if it did, Clay wouldn't) so I reluctantly forged ahead.

At the very least, I can be grateful for him deciding at the very beginning not to put me through what he made newbie agents go through, and I've seen/heard the horror stories! And don't even get me started on the new diet—I doubt my stomach and intestines have forgiven me for the shock.

'Not a chance in Tartarus, shorty.' My inner voice laughed as my poor stomach let out a long, pathetic sounding whine, pleading for some sort of junk food.

But today, after seven long, grueling days of sweat, pain and carefully portioned meals, the Heavens Above have blessed this poor little mortal with a much needed break.

Clay had been called by Fury himself, to come in for something. As much as he wished he could, not even Clay would (or could) ignore a direct call like that from the director, so now I was more or less left alone to my own decisions. Believe me, the urge to just stay in bed, or flop in front of the TV and watch Netflix was very tempting…but I could only spare an extra 5 minutes before the even stronger urge to get up and do something productive with my day hit in full force, not to mention the feeling of itchy restlessness.

So loading my trusty backpack with the needed essentials, I biked over to a nearby Stark Industries-owned private gym—and very possibly under discreet but heavy supervision of a security team, and possibly SHIELD via cameras—and got to work.

Beginning on the treadmill, I found it wasn't easy (at first) to power walk and watch Netflix on my computer tablet at the same time, but quickly found my rhythm…besides, it is so worth the sweat and strain to watch Race to the Edge, especially the episodes with Viggo Grimborn.

Yes, I know: he's a very bad man, the sort—if he were real—I'd have no serious qualms about feeding to whatever would eat him…I'd feel bad for the creature doing the eating, but not about the man. But darn, that smooth voice, and that infuriatingly arrogant yet devilishly, delicious and charming smirk of his! It really doesn't help that I found a fanfiction about the series and movies with an OC named Lillian. The shenanigans that young woman puts Viggo through makes it interesting…if only the author wasn't so frustratingly slow about updating. Like seriously, a turtle can run faster than this person!

'Wow, a shameless plug and a shameful dig in the one 4th wall break.'

Pardon?

'Nothing.'

…okay, moving on, then.

After finishing my warm-up on the treadmill, and working up a fair bit of sweat, I found a quiet little spot to do some Pilates stretches, when who should find me but the one and only Pepper Potts?

Pepper is my brother's long suffering yet incredibly loyal personal assistant, and the only female I know of (aside from myself) that can easily put Tony in his place, and make him behave like a good boy; all with nothing more than a raised eyebrow, or a playful quip that leaves him speechless, and everyone else in stitches of laughter.

I asked how she managed to score some personal time (since it's been proven that Tony can't be trusted to be alone for 5 minutes before something goes BOOM when it probably shouldn't) but she explained it was just to let off some steam before meeting up with Tony to unveil his latest project.

She then asked how I was coping, with the super-villain break-out and moving into the apartment…and if I liked her picks of furniture. I just about genuflected at her feet for that—somehow, she knew that I'd feel that way, if the teasing smile was a clue—but as for the breakout…

I think I opened an entire crate-load of canned worms. When I told her that I was just glad that it was only The Big House that went belly-up, Pepper at first looked confused before it turned into realization, and the way-too-familiar expression of 'I'm going to murder that idiot in his sleep', which kinda made me a little more than worried.

As my inner voice wrestled with my panic, trying to prevent the 'Freak Out' button being pressed, I began a deep-breathing technique to stay calm as Pepper enlightened me to the truth.

Despite what Tony and Clay had led me to think, it wasn't 'a' max-security prison that went kaput—it was all four of them! Now a grand total of 74 of Earths meanest, nastiest and wanted super-villains were out and roaming the globe…the next time I see those two, I'm going to have some very strong words with them. And neon pink hair dye.

As my impish side combed through various plans of retribution, Pepper told me that while some of the escapees caused some trouble in their immediate surroundings, they all soon ran off to their respective hidey-holes…except for one, who decided that he wanted to do more…way more. This particular individual went by the name Graviton, whose real name of Franklin Hall rang some bells.

Anyone that has a foot in the world of science, mostly advanced physics, knows about Doctor Franklin Hall—well, really, they know he disappeared from the face of the planet almost a decade ago. Still, now we know where he's been all this time: under lock, key, heavy sedation and guard within the deepest part of The Raft…though last time I heard, Hall didn't have powers that required that level of sedation. Ego, yes; powers, nada.

'You know, it doesn't take that much brain power to work out that 'Hall plus SHIELD plus imprisonment equals bat-crap crazy experiment going sideways' which would account for the powers.' My inner voice dryly pointed out, to which Pepper confirmed when I questioned her out loud. Ok, now the powers made sense.

And (typically) like any other narcissistic scientist with one heck of a God complex, and have the power to manipulate gravity itself (ooh, that's why the heavy sedation) Hall went…haywire, to put simply, from the bellied-up experiment, years of forced sleep/imprisonment, and possibly a whole slew of other things.

To sum things up, Hall blamed Fury and all of SHIELD—but really just Fury—for all that happened to him. So while the rest of the prisoners scattered to the four winds, Hall/Graviton took the opportunity to get pay-back on Fury, and make him suffer….and if New York just so happened to get caught in the crossfire, then whoop-dee-dee for him and boo-hoo-hoo for you.

Since nobody wanted a part of Manhattan—or anywhere else—to suffer at the hands of the latest nut job, my brother in full Iron Man armor flew onto the scene, and attempted to fix the problem…yeah, that uh…that didn't work so well…*ahem*.

In fact, it took the combined heroic efforts of Iron Man, Thor the Asgardian (the guy with the magic hammer and long blond hair that I just want to braid?), Ant Man and Wasp…and The Incredible Hulk. Pretty sure I wasn't the only person to do a double-take when the ginormous, greenest, grumpiest grouch decided to help save people.

Despite the odds saying that such a mash-up of characters would never work out, the team-up went rather smoothly. Smoothly enough to knock Graviton back to earth (literally) and into a catatonic state, courtesy of one Hulk-driven pounding. "Gravity, meet Hulk—Hulk, meet puny gravity," was my comment. Pepper responded with a tight-lipped smile that said 'I'm not going to laugh, but that's actually hilarious' as she rolled her eyes and finished the tale.

The rest of it being that once the dust had settled, and things had seemed clam, SHIELD showed up to take Hulk back into custody, since "technically", he was an escaped prisoner.

There are such things as 'timing' and 'gratitude', you know!

A lot of spectators were worried that Round 2 was about to kick off, but thankfully my brother (bless his heart and occasional lack of senses) stepped in and declared that not only was Hulk off-limits, but a real hero: a sentiment echoed by the other present heroes that formed a barricade between Hulk and SHIELD.

I just wish someone right then and there could've pointed out to Fury and the rest that there were other 'world's most dangerous' roaming the world, and that Hulk ranked pretty much bottom of the immediate danger list, despite some idiot Army big wig claiming otherwise.

So one thing led to another, and now there's a superhero group called the 'Avengers'…I'm sure the name will catch on…eventually.

Now that I was all caught up, I finally understood why Tony has been so secretive of late. In the aftermath of possibly the singularly worst prison break of Earths entire history, and formation of a superhero group to combat the aforementioned threat, my brother felt that they would need a headquarters to operate from.

So while I was sweating up a storm this past week, Tony was busy remodeling the Maria Stark Mansion for the groups use. The old-yet-still-swanky-ish building sat near the heart of New York City (I think) where our parents—mostly mom—would host all sorts of events like charities, galas and art exhibitions to raise money for those in need…at least, that's what I'm told. They both died with I was really young, so I don't really have any memories of them.

Any who, the other Avengers were meeting up later today for the grand unveiling…an even that Pepper suggested I should come along to.

…uh…I mean, I-I guess it would be nice to see what Tony has done to the old place. And I sh-sh-sh-should probably meet the other Avengers that my brother will be working with…but I still struggle with people.

'Need I point out that no one would be suicidal enough to approach Hulk, let alone talk to him? Just stick near him and you'll be fine. Now quit yer bitchin' and git!' My inner voice ordered, and when my stubbornness teamed up with it…

---

After finishing up at the gym, Pepper texted me the address and time to meet everyone, before she left to get ready…and since I wasn't given any other option by my inner drill sergeant, I biked back to my apartment to get cleaned up. And more importantly, calm down. So many questions and feels were swimming through my head—one of the questions being 'what should I wear?', but the still rational part of me suggested something low-key and casual, since the aim was not to draw attention to myself.

When I (or rather, my inner voice) deemed myself to be presentable, I found myself standing in the middle of my apartment, awkwardly wondering what I should do with the time left. My hands started to get restless—one of the first signs I was on my way to a panic attack.

'Ok, keep calm and breathe,' I chanted to myself as I took in a lungful of air, slowly running my hands against my jeans. 'Feel the texture…feel the'

A knock on the front door startled me, nearly making me jump out of my skin. One of the security team informed me that it was nearly time to go meet up with Pepper. Of course she would have informed them, and have the team drop me there when she was there.

…well, at least I someone familiar to talk to, and calm me down. Hang on, how long was I panicking for?! Uh, never mind.

Taking another deep, reassuring breath, I grabbed a few things before leaving and locking my apartment, and was driven to the new Avengers base of operations. It wasn't easy, trying to stay calm even though my stomach was bouncing all over, and the more easily frightened parts of my mind were starting to run rampart in my skull.

In an effort to distract myself, I looked out of the car window, to watch the world passing by, something that did help a little…till my destination came into view, which took my breath away (I mean that in a good way). The mansion looked much, much better since the last time I had seen it—Tony had never used it after our parents died, and Pepper prefers to use other venues if Stark Industries was holding an event.

Seeing the old building now gussied up to its former glory, it was almost enough to completely distract me. It did pull me away from my chaotic thoughts, allowing things to calm down, but once I stepped onto the curb, I was greeted by Pepper…and Hulk was already there. I know for sure that I must have frozen in fright when I saw him, and maybe squeaked when he looked at me, but what I don't know is how Pepper kept me from running away, or how she managed to drag me to her side of the pavement without touching me.

Well…here I was, and there goes my ride.

"Briar, this is The Hulk," Pepper introduced, "Hulk, meet Briar Rose, Iron Man's little sister. She's very people shy." The Hulk fixed his green eyes on me—please don't let me freak out—and…gave me a small dismissive sounding snort, before looking away.

…was I just snubbed?

Pepper gave a small raised eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing. She did give me an apologetic look before she informed us that the others should be along shortly…assuming that Tony even remembers to be on time for once. I did hear what she was saying…but my mind and pride were still struggling to comprehend Hulk's dismissal of me. Ok, sure, I don't really look like much, but—

'OI, DUMB-DUMB!' My inner voice yelled, successfully getting my full attention, 'Is it really important? If you do want his attention, it'll mean he has to talk to you.'

…good point.

With that, the remainder of the imagined sting drifted away. As the three of us just stood about, I discreetly watched Hulk from the corner of my eye, taking mental notes. He was large—8 feet tall or more—and built like a bleeping tank. Going back through my memories, I faintly knew that The Hulk was one of two personalities—the other being a Bruce Banner, I believe.

I think I also heard about his area of expertise being nuclear physics, and gamma radiation. What I am blurry on is how Hulk even came into being, other than the Army being involved. SHIELD probably knows (if they didn't, I'd be very surprised) but I wasn't all that keen on risking some sort of trouble just to satisfy my curiosity.

However it happened, it did, and here we are now.

You know…in a strange, really obscure way, Hulk sort of reminds me of Fury. Mostly when he gets annoyed at something or someone (nine times out of ten it ends up being Tony). And Hulk's silence was also…calming. It probably helped that he didn't seem all that inclined to make any sort of conversation with anybody.

…huh…maybe today won't be so bad after all.

After the initial introductions, it then became a waiting game for the others. I will freely admit to feeling a bit apprehensive about meeting the others—please don't let me have an anxiety attack in front of them—but that feeling was kept to the back of my mind, since after a few minutes my boredom was beginning to grow.

My legs were also starting to get a bit weary from just standing around, and the bite from the sun above us wasn't winning favors. Sadly, the only bit of available shade was being cast be Hulk's massive frame…oh, screw it. Taking a deep fortifying breath, I stepped away from Pepper's side and carefully scooted around Hulk, reaching my goal and sat down in the shady spot.

…I'm not sure if I was expecting something to happen, but the ensuing silence was rather welcome. I just wish I could say the same about the unpleasant tingling sensations all over my body—it always happens whenever I get close to somebody.

Since Hulk didn't seem to care, I glanced over at Pepper. She looked rather surprised at first, but then it changed into a proud parent sort of look. Feeling the blush creeping its way across my cheeks, I ducked my head a little before turning to look at our surroundings, it was the very first lesson that Clay taught me: always check your surroundings. Given my history, it's pretty much a must.

Settling into a more comfortable position—at least as one could when sitting on pavement—I leaned back against the wall behind me, and let my eyes rove the world around me, and the people who walked about. For some reason, nobody seemed all that eager to walk closer to us…maybe the giant green grump beside me might have something to do with it.

At some point, down the street and just peeking around the corner, a car pulled to a stop, and my beady little eyes noticed the two SHIELD agents inside as they got ready for surveillance work. Hmm…I know Fury likes to keep tabs and eyes on those he deems "worthy" of it, but isn't this a little too conspicuous? Unless I was just that good at spotting them, which didn't exactly look good either.

'Well, you do have a certain advantage over the general population.' My inner voice pointed out. Still, I may need to bring this up with Clay the next time I saw him, even though I know he wasn't going to like it. He did have a certain pride about these sorts of things.

More time passed; enough for me to get bored of people watching and to start feeling a bit sleepy…or was I getting hungry? I was trying to figure if I was one or the other when Pepper's awkward sounding cough broke the quiet atmosphere. "Well, huh, thank you for actually being on time," Pepper spoke to Hulk, "Unlike the others."

'She just jinxed us.' My inner voice called. Pardon m—it felt like something or someone just reached into my chest, and began squeezing at my insides, and the skin crawling sensation I usually get intensified painfully. I must have let out some sort of pained noise of some sort as I rubbed at my chest—I vaguely heard Pepper call my name, but her attention was soon diverted to someone else arriving and addressing her.

The tightness in my chest lingered for a moment or two longer, enough for dark spots to speckle my sight, before they and the tightness disappeared, leaving only the usual tingling sensation behind. Ugh, I really hope that sort of reaction doesn't happen all too often…again.

'I hate it when that happens.' I whined to myself, taking a few deep breathes and waited for my vision to return…why's it not…oh, wait. My vision wasn't gone—Hulk had just moved…and completely blocked me from everyone's sight. Aw!

I slowly rose to my feet, somewhat leaning against Hulk while my bearings came back. Once everything felt…normal (shush!) I carefully peeked around Hulk's side, his folded arms providing another layer of cover. The newcomer was another unit of a man (though nowhere near the size of Hulk) with long blond hair—I just wanna braid it! Is that so wrong?!

'Focus, please!'

Sorry! Anyway, his hair was partially covered by a winged helmet, a billowing red cape around his shoulders and a hammer by his side. This must be Thor the Asgardian. Once thought by just about everyone to be nothing more than some old Norse myth, Thor's presence on Earth had turned historians and most everybody else's heads upside down—all by proving that sometimes the myths were real.

Personally I was curious as to why Thor would choose to hang out with us mere mortals, and continuously defend us.

'Fascinating as it all is, honey, how about you remember to breath?' My inner voice reminded, soon followed by a sharp poking jab into my sides. Now that I was breathing normally, and pulled from my thoughts, I was more aware of the growing unpleasantness under my skin, and how my hands kept running themselves over my jeans. As I worked to control my emotions, I was distantly aware of more people arriving.

'Ok, deep breaths now,' I instructed myself, 'slowly in; slowly out. Feel the breath.' This wasn't one of my preferred grounding techniques, but it was handy when I didn't have anything else.

"Hey, who's this?" I let out a loud explosive breath of fright as someone's voice pulled me out of my mantra. My mind barely registered that it belonged to a tiny bug-sized person flying in front of me while my body moved on its own, backing away from whomever it was, they were persistent.

It really didn't help that I backed into a solid object—that was moving! Tilting my head back with a near audible snap, I yelped and jumped away from Thor and his outstretched hand, whimpering loudly as everything and everyone seemed to be closing in around me.

"Whoa! Easy, guys, easy there!" I heard Tony call out, something that pulled me to the present just long enough to spot him and Pepper, and rush to hide behind one of them. Everything descended into chaos for the next few minutes as Tony kept the others from getting too close, while Pepper was trying to help calm me down, which—

—the loudest noise I had ever heard seemed to echo over us all, reverberate down the street and possibly the next five streets over. Everyone seemed to stop asking about me, and turned to the source of the noise.

"Ok, that was really gross." A female voice commented in a tone of disgust, earning a few noises of agreement from the others. It took me a few seconds to realize that the noise was…Hulk belching. The stoic, grumpy, anti-social Hulk…belched to rescue me.

A startled splutter of laughter began to tumble past my lips, and soon I found it hard to stop. I was soon nearly doubled over, my arms wrapping themselves around my stomach as my muscles started to hurt from laughing, but I really couldn't bring myself to care—Hulk, without any prompting—and in a single loud (and admittedly a little disgusting) action, pulled me from a panic attack. And I'll be darned if he didn't look a bit smug about it.

It took me a few minutes to get myself back together, save from a giggle or two, and the occasional hiccup, but my anxiety had well and truly taken a back step…it was most likely—

'DON'T SAY IT!'

—blown away by the noise.

'…I hate you.'

Still giggling like a little child on laughing gas, I managed to unfurl myself and stand up straight, wiping a tear or two from my eyes. Once I could see and breathe again, I flinched when I saw that everyone was looking right at me.

"Uh…h-hi," I greeted them quietly, shifting from one foot to the other as I tried to hide behind Pepper, and not squirm outright. Thankfully, my small words were enough to snap them all out of it, with Tony being the first to really recover.

"Right, uh, everyone? This is my little sister, Briar Rose," he introduced, "She's not very comfortable with strange people getting close, so a little space, please?" This seemed to make sense to some of the heroes, though Thor seemed very curious as to why. Thankfully, he didn't address it: I'm not really sure I want anyone else to know about The Big Bad Thing.

Now that I had more or less calmed down, and the others knew to keep their distance, I looked over at the other two heroes. Ant Man I knew of partially: it's kinda hard to forget the person who catches you after falling from the Hellicarrier. That only left Wasp…who I have zip-a-dee-doo-dah clue about. She seemed just as curious as Thor, but thankfully was keeping her distance…I just kinda wished she wasn't in her tiny winged form.

"Alright, now that we've all met each other," Tony said, directing everyone's attention back onto him and began the tour, "Welcome to Avengers Mansion. This was our mothers" However, by this time, Hulk had well and truly had a gut full, losing what little patience he had, and was probably fed up by everything taking so long—something he demonstrated by swiftly kicking down the wrought-iron gates, and stomped to towards the front door.

Everyone was a little shocked, none more than my brother, but said relative pulled himself together to comment on Hulk's rudeness.

I couldn't resist. "Well, you were late. What else did you expect?" I asked him innocently, quickly jogging after Hulk—mostly to avoid Tony's accusation of 'traitor!', but really to prevent Hulk from damaging the front door, too.

---

Entering the mansion, I couldn't help the low whistle of appreciation as we all stood around the entrance foyer. The décor was surprisingly tasteful—Pepper really strives to avoid putting Tony in charge of things like that, since he tends to go light years beyond opulent.

'I think you mean, tacky? Or even, obnoxiously loud?' My inner voice dryly commented.

The marble-tiled floor consisted of black and white tiles laid in a checkerboard pattern, and in the very center was…was just the sort of Tony Stark-gaudiness I was expecting. A large-sized italic A, for Avengers…well, at least it's somewhat tasteful. Further down the hallway was a grand staircase that divided near the top, leading to either side of the building. The marble pillars that flanked the entrance foyer were flecked with little golden veins, and stretched up high, drawing a person's eye toward the large skylight…ten bucks says that a door for those who can fly.

So far it didn't look anything like a superhero base—the only real hints being the giant 'A' motif on the front gates and floor, and the small hand-sized computer panel in the wall…hey wait! That's one of JARVIS' interface panels! Awesome, he's here too!

JARVIS (short for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System) was created by Tony many years ago to be his AI assistant, and frankly he's been a blessing to the Stark siblings; whether it was keeping tabs on each other while we were growing up (and subsequently helping us avoid each other when we wanted to hide from each other), and helping to maintain whatever house we were living in at the time.

At the present moment, said AI was conversing with a somewhat befuddled Thor, who was really sure what to make of…anything. "What manner of palace is this?" the Asgardian questioned, looking over his shoulder at Tony for an explanation.

"This used to be a museum, for the Maria Stark Foundation—mine and Briar's mother's home," Tony explained to everyone, "I've had it upgraded since the break-out. I thought this could be our new headquarters."

"Swanky." Wasp commented as she began to fly about the room in her shrunken form. It probably stemmed from hyper vigilance, my need to keep a close eye on where she was moving. I could argue that I really didn't want her to accidentally invade my personal space (which would be true), but I could also make the argument that I didn't want to walk into her by mistake and hurt her. That'd be a really bad way to begin the Avengers.

"The mansion is also run by JARVIS, my personal artificial intelligence," Tony continued with the tour, gesturing to the panel in the wall. "Anything you guys need, JARVIS will provide. Say 'hi', JARVIS."

"Indeed." The AI complied in its prim and proper British voice. In the beginning, I always questioned why my brother even programmed JARVIS to have an accent, bit I got over it pretty darn quick…especially when I found out that—when asked nicely—JARVIS would narrate a book while I did something else…don't judge me, dang it!

We moved onwards from the foyer, going through a side hallway that led to the kitchen area, which was bigger than I would have thought it would be. "We've got a fully stocked fridge, chef on call," Tony tried to tell us—he really did try—but it was kind of hard to have a tour when Hulk found the fridge and began to eat the contents…very loudly.

True to his personality, Hulk didn't seem to care about the tour, or even seem to notice when WASP landed on his shoulder. The others didn't look all that impresses with the display, but I had to hide a smile. It was good to know that if I ever got into cooking-and-or-baking, I had a ready and willing taste-tester.

Happily snacking on a granola bar that I swiped from the kitchen pantry, I followed the rest of the Avengers as Tony led the way to the personal sleeping rooms. "There are twelve bedrooms, with maid service, laundry and room service," My brother listed as he led us past said bedrooms to one of the formal lounge rooms on the ground floor, near the rear of the mansion. "Plus a theater slash lounge, with satellite TV, and every form of video entertainment on the planet."

'Wasp had it right; this is swanky.' I mentally appraised, eyeballing the many different game consoles, and all the games that went with them and oh, my Loa—it's Pokémon Sword and Shield! I have so wanted to play that for ages, and now I can!

Sadly, as ecstatic as I felt, none of the others (maybe apart from Wasp) seemed to be all that impresses with all they had seen so far. Hey, Rome wasn't built in a day, fellas!

"Are you serious, Stark?" Ant Man asked in an exasperated tone, "This is what you've spent a week repairing?" I interrupted with a noise of protest—there's two of us Stark's, remember? There is no way I'm getting stuck with one of my brother's foul up's.

"Sorry, Briar," Ant Man apologized, remembering that. "But, seriously?"

"Uh, no," Tony answered, and broke out into his trademark smirk—the sort of smirk that said there was more surprises to come. "We haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet." We haven't?

Well, I guess that makes sense, so then where is Tony hiding it all? Knowing my brother, he tends to go all out with technology—so a big space is a must. And it can't be too far away from HQ—minimizes the risk of outside threats, and what-not. So where did he put the rest?

Pepper walked over to each Avenger and handed them what appeared to be a credit card, with the Avengers symbol taking up the left-hand side, and a small black square in the adjacent corner. It didn't exactly look like much—that is, until the 'A' lit up in a soft blue light, followed by a trail of small blue triangles along the bottom of the card, directing a person's attention to the black square that now had a mini head shot of Tony's head.

"These ID cards are linked to the Stark Industries Network, and will keep up in audio and visual communication anywhere in the world," Tony explained, both through the card and in person. "They also give you access and control of the mansion." It came as a little surprise (but not that much) when I was handed a card as well, but I'm guessing that this was Tony's (or maybe even Pepper's) silent asking that if I ever got into trouble that he couldn't bail me out of, I called upon one of the other Avengers instead.

I was caught up in an internal debate as to whether I was comfortable with this or not, but not so caught up that I saw Pepper walk over to Hulk with his card. "I can show you how it works." She offered kindly…only Hulk didn't take it like that.

"Think I can't figure it out by myself?" He snarled angrily. Uh-oh, think quick, Pepper! Another problem that was swiftly brewing in response was Thor; my guess is that chivalry still exists in Asgard (or at least some form does) and Thor was more than ready to leap to Pepper's defense.

Of course, this is Pepper Potts we're talking about: she's faced off against worse people, and won in fabulous style.

"I believe you ca, actually. I offered my help because somebody" she paused to look at Tony with a non-too-impressed expression, "has been known to create gadgets, but not tell anyone about the hidden explosive feature. It's why Tony doesn't making small inventions without a competent supervisor to check his work."

I tried but failed miserably to hold back an undignified giggle-snort at her explanation. There were two main reasons why this was more hilarious that it should be. One; the expressions on everybody's faces, and two; it's a running gag between those who know my brother too well, that I was the only competent supervisor trusted with such a task.

"I do not!" Tony protested loudly and turned to me for help, "Right, sis?" Even though my stomach was doing tumbles from everyone looking at me, my impish side couldn't resist, so I gave his my best flat expression and raised my finger to point at my eyebrows—the flat look turning into a significant one.

True story: many years ago, Tony tried to make a small device, but added a feature that ended up causing the aforementioned device to explode in my face. It was purely accidental (the feature wasn't meant to do that; it just overloaded it), there wasn't too much damage (thank the Loa) but it did singe off both my eyebrows. It took weeks for them to grow back, so I wasn't all that eager to have a repeat event, ever again.

"Somehow, I get the feeling she hasn't forgiven you for that." Pepper lightly remarked, not even attempting to cover her smile. It really didn't help my brother's ego that Hulk found it all a bit funny, as did Wasp. Tony gave me an exaggerated pout at the lack of support from his only sibling, muttered "it was one time!" under his breathe before he strategically moved the conversation back onto the tour. So how exactly is there more?

I felt my jaw, and stomach, begin to drop as the large fireplace in the room—on command from Tony's Avenger card—began to rise up, revealing an elevator.

Ah, snickerdoodles. Suffice to say, me and elevators are not a good mix.

"Is there something amiss, Lady Briar?" Thor's concerned question pulled me into the real world, bringing my attention to him and the others. "You appear unwell." If by 'unwell', he meant 'clammy-looking, belly doing tumbles and restless hands', then yes I am unwell.

One could almost hear his spine snapping as Tony's head spun around swiftly to look at me. I attempted to give him my best reassuring smile, but I'm guessing (from everyone's winces) it came out as something totally different that just made him even more worried.

Thank the Loa above for Pepper. "Briar doesn't like elevators," she smoothly interjected, making a 'calm down' gesture towards my brother. "I'll stay with her, and I can give her a run-down afterwards." The others seemed convinced, but then there was Tony, the man who takes being a 'good, protective brother' to a whole new level of insanity.

An unspoken conversation began between him and Pepper, which was swiftly interrupted by Hulk making impatient noises. Finally, Pepper just sighed in exasperation and said "Hulk, if you'd please?", and the green giant gladly obliged by grabbing Tony around his middle and hauling him into the elevator with the others. Pepper responded with a cheerful "thank you!" as the doors closed, cutting off Tony's protests and leaving the pair of us alone.

Once the room was quiet again, I felt myself begin to sag like a sack of potatoes. Pepper swooped in and guided me backwards to sit on the couch, and then directed me to lower my head between my knees and breathe deeply.

It had taken a while—maybe ten minutes or more—for things to feel 'normal' again, even though my tummy still felt a bit burble-ish. Soon I was able to lean back and rest my head against the back of the couch, exhaling as I did. "Sorry." I lamely offered to Pepper.

"Don't worry about it," She replied in a gentle tone, "I'm very proud of you; standing in a room full of other people that you barely know. That's a big step."

'And with the minimal reaction of just icky skin tingles, so yay for you.' My inner voice added helpfully.

…okay, yeah, I'm a little happy myself. But there was no way I was getting on the same elevator as the other in the future.

My inner voice snorted. 'You're kidding, right? Hulk and Thor alone took up the most room—after Tony's ego, of course.' I almost snorted out loud, but conceded that the voice in my head was right. Tony's ego was so huge, it was a wonder that any of the others could fit.

Sensing that I was beginning to cheer up, Pepper gave me an encouraging smile. She then paused as if a sudden thought occurred to her, and then reached into her little handbag to pull out my new wooden bracers—oops, I forgot all about them.

Apparently Tony had been keeping a hold of them while I was in hospital, but typically forgot about returning them to me once I was in my new apartment. When we were speaking at the gym earlier, Pepper remembered to swipe them from Tony's office in order to return them to me. It has been proven multiple times that Tony can-and-or-will forget about things like this for a long time, even with constant reminders from others.

Part of my cynical side wonders if he does that on purpose, for some obscure reason, but I'm always reminded that Tony would forget about little things all the time.

Placing the enchanted cuffs upon my arms, I felt a gentle tingling sensation flow through my upper limbs, followed by a calming peace that pushed any bad feelings away to a more tolerable distance. Once she was firmly positive that I was in a better head space than earlier, Pepper began her version of the tour.

She explained that Tony had realized quite early on that he would need a lot of room to accommodate the Avengers, and to possibly cater to anyone's specific needs. Since space was limited above ground, and having a separate facility was not an option either, the only real viable choice was to go below ground…way below ground.

Far below the surface, with enough ground to keep the general public safe (and prevent structural damage to everything else) Tony created what he called the 'sub-levels', a rather large area that could cater to what the group needed, and then some. There was an armory for Tony and his suits; a spacious room for Ant Man's portable lab; a hanger that housed two prototype high speed air shuttles, dubbed Quinjets by my brother (really?) and a training room.

Of course, it went without saying that the training room was not like an ordinary one, or possibly even something like SHIELD has…and it also went without saying that both Tony and Pepper would rather that I didn't try the room out any time soon, or on my own.

"And there's also the ever-practical medical wing," Pepper added as she led me towards the elevator, "And it's close by your own private lab." Pepper said what now? Awesome! And a little sweet that Tony included a bit of space for me down here.

Way back when I was little…littler, and showing an interest in tinkering, Tony was a nice enough big brother so let me share in his tools and lab space (when he was home from boarding school, thank you dad). The slightly cynical side of me said that he only did that so he could keep an eye on me, which frankly was rather sensible. I mean tiny little kid and big heavy tools?

Besides I learnt a lot from Tony during those times, and once Pepper came into the picture, I could pester my brother on her request; if he had a meeting that he was avoiding or was deep in a science bender.

Unfortunately, after The Big Bad Thing, my fear of being touched made it sort of hard to be in the same space as my brother, and my inclination of tinkering diminished greatly. There were some improvements on those two fronts, but full recovery (if such a thing exists for me) is a long ways off.

Since my brother hated seeing me suffer in anyway, or be deprived of an outlet, Tony apparently created a little safe haven for me to do so, especially if I wanted to avoid people. "Plus it also doubles as a panic room, in case of emergencies," Pepper added, "It'll be constantly monitored by JARVIS, and if triggered, the only ones who can deactivate it are myself, Tony, you or Director Fury."

"Fury agreed to do that?"

"None of us are taking any risks when it comes to your safety." Pepper firmly stated…hey, I'm not complaining! Well…not that much—I'd rather not take anyone away from something important when I have a panic attack. Then again, what's that old saying? Better safe than sorry?

Seeing that I was accepting those terms (teeny tiny independence can, and will, get trampled by logic and practicality) Pepper offered to show me the way to my new lab, and display how everything worked, Like I'd seriously say no that that?

The ride down in the lift was not fun. Not really because I was sharing the space with Pepper, but I hated elevators since they made me tunny swoop in a slightly nauseating way every time they stopped. It's also a very faint reason why I never left my old apartment building—it had no elevator and the flight of stairs were a good form of cardio…when I felt brave enough to leave.

Once the trip was over and my tummy stopped doing things it shouldn't, the first stop on the tour was to the large laboratory-like room which was Ant Man's space. I've never seen it in person, but I'd really like to see that shrinking lab of his. I wonder if I'll ever get comfortable enough to ask him.

At the end of the hallway, past Tony's latest armory, was the Assembly Hall—where everyone would get their assignments and debrief after a mission. Beyond that was a large hangar with a floor of water: my guess is this is where one would find the Quinjets.

Back out to the hallway and leading to the right-hand side of the underground was the massive training room that Pepper told me about earlier—and it sounds like the other Avengers were having their first taste of whatever the room was giving them.

Returning to the T-intersection, past the Assembly Hall, was the very flashy, hi-tech and cutting edge medical wing. I spied a little hallway off to the side, which Pepper explained led to my lab. "Just out of curiosity, is the medical wing here because of me?" I asked her.

"More like for your brother." She answered with a tight-lipped smile…yeah I can't really argue with that—Tony can be more accident prone than me on some days. Anyway, tucked away in a quiet little corner of the giant facility was my own little get away from the rest of the world.

A large-ish sized room with a right-angled triangular prism look about it, display cases lined along the slanted wall side of the room, with large cupboards along the opposite side; all filled with any tool I may need for whatever sort of tinkering I might find myself doing. In the middle of the room was a large, solid looking work table, and at the very end of the room was a super-sized computer screen with a desk beneath it.

"Does Tony need me on electronic duty, like watching out for hackers?" I asked as I pointed to the over-sized screen. Don't get me wrong, I'm not all that bad at it, but I'd rather not stare intensely at a computer screen for hours on end.

'*cough* gamer freak *cough*'

Pardon?

'Nothing, not even talking about you.'

…okay.

"Only if desperately needed, but JARVIS should be more than enough," Pepper answered, "But mostly, this is for your comfort and personal enjoyment. Tony's downloaded every game, movie and website you like, in case everything gets too much for you. And one last thing…"

She walked over to a section of the wall beside the desk. Placing her hand against the metal in a precise location, a hidden door opened. I looked around to see a small sleeping area, plus a connecting bathroom. Wow, Tony went all out, didn't he?

And with that, the tour of Avengers Mansion (top and bottom sections) was complete. "Thanks, Pepper," I said, "I'm really grateful for the tour, and for Tony doing this in the first place."

"I'm glad you like it," She smiled comfortingly, "We just want you to be happy and safe, that's all we ask. Maybe one day, you could even try…." She clammed up faster than I thought possible for someone, slapping her hand over her mouth as her eyes went wide. It took me a few seconds to realize why she did that.

By then, old wounds began twitching painfully. Not to mention the feeling of nausea that was forming in the pit of my stomach, and intense panic rushing through my veins as my fight-or-flight instincts kicked into hyper mode. Something must have shown on my face, causing Pepper to look like a kicked puppy. "I am so sorry, Briar!" She vehemently apologized, "I wasn't"

"I know, Pepper, I know." I spoke softly, feeling my throat getting tighter, I know that Pepper truly regretted her mistake, but…I'd never tell her or Tony thing, but even after so many years in therapy, I still get horrible nightmares, and more often than not found myself waking up in hysterical tears.

Now my survival instincts had well and truly kicked into full swing, and the walls surrounding me felt like they had both started to disappear—exposing me to danger—and close in around me. Sweat trickled down my neck and down my back, and my stomach began twisting painfully.

Somehow I managed to swallow down the urge to scream and run, I managed to give Pepper a weak smile…she tensed in response.

"I, um…I think I wanna rest down here for a while," I managed breathlessly, "Could you…pumpkin spice." Crap; things must be bad if I used my code word for 'Do not disturb, no matter whom, what or why.'

Pepper agreed instantly, swiftly walking out of my lab, the door shutting behind her. Once the rest of the world was locked outside, my stomach made me run into the bathroom, right to the toilet. As my lunch evacuated, I began to cry at the same time, hot tears flowing fast and free down my cheeks. Even when my stomach was empty, I stayed hunched over the bowl, my sobs getting louder and louder.

That's the crappy side about trauma: sometimes people mean to say well, or get so caught up in what they're already saying, it accidentally triggers any and all pent up emotions inside of someone, bringing back all the badness they wished would never come back.

Pepper's intended sentence was unfortunately still a major trigger for me—how I could one day for love again.

I gave a snort, which started a new wave of stomach evacuations.

From somewhere in the other room, I could hear soft piano music being played—my frantic mind latched onto the noise with clawed fingers, desperate to get away from the darkness surrounding it. The more I began to focus on the music (eventually recognizing it as the Disney Piano Collection) the more I was able to uncurl from the toilet bowl and sit back against the blissfully cool wall.

The music soothed over my nerves, settling every frightened thought in my head, and with a soothed mind did my stomach begin to settle down.

"Feeling better, miss?" JARVIS asked from the other room.

"Thanks, J." was my only response through a mouthful of awful tastes.

"Mister Stark has stacked your private facilities with the necessary essentials." JARVIS added. I just gave a soft grunt as I closed my eyes and let the piano music flow through me.

There wasn't any visible clock in my lab, so I had no clear indication of how much time had passed—minutes, hours?—between my arriving here till now, when I slowly pulled myself to my feet and stumbled towards the sink. Making a mental note to thank Tony for this, I grabbed the toothpaste and brush and set to cleaning my teeth and whole mouth.

It was when I had rinsed my mouth out that I looked up at the mirror, nearly jumping out of my skin at the reflection looking back at me. The vision I saw of myself looked…just about like someone who had a panic attack. My eyes were blood-shot red and puffy, my nose was a little runny like I had a massive head cold, and my skin and hair looked utterly lifeless.

A memory stirred from the back of my mind—someone had said I was a very beautiful young woman, with gorgeous silky shoulder-length ebony hair, the most enchanting bright hazel eyes that made men swoon, and the softest, clearest ivory skin; in short, almost like a princess.

Right now, I resembled a grubby, run-down scarecrow more than a human.

'Like any man would want a piece of this!' My self-hatred sneered.

My inner voice leapt into action and started subduing that nasty voice, but the words did their damage. I gave myself a repulsed look before turning the tap on to splash cold water against my face. Afterwards, I grabbed my backpack and unlocked my lab.

Possibly the most idiotic idea I could have, and one I'll probably regret when my head clears later, I headed topside and exited the mansion, barely stopping to throw a message to JARVIS that I wanted to be left alone in every way possible.

I didn't hear his reply.

---

'Ok, normally this is where I'd jump in and say something profound yet super snarky, but for the love of the Loa, will you stop already?! You've been walking for hours!' My head lifted in a startled manner, and a few discombobulated seconds later, I understood. It was dark, I was in a local park far from some place safe, and my legs hurt from power walking.

This just became a really big 'I done messed up' moment, didn't it?

'Eh…I'm gonna go with 'maybe' here. But we'll deal with that later. Let's just take a quick break and take an inventory check, then go home, kay?'

Well, at least there still some rational part of my brain still looked after me.

'Naturally…although the argument could be made that it's self-preservation at its finest. Either way, I win.'

Huffing a quiet little laugh to myself, I looked at my surroundings and found a park bench close by, allowing me a chance to collect myself, and to give my poor legs a chance to rest before I made my way home.

But first, inventory check.

The thing that came to my attention first was my enchanted cuff/bracers/whatever. Remembering what Alenka said about them drawing power from the moon, I turned up both my sleeves so that the light could reach them. The inquisitive side of my brain questioned how they drew power (I knew I should've asked Alenka that!), or if there was an actual difference in battery power sources (for lack of a better term) since moonlight was just reflected sunlight, though weakened.

'Ugh, please no strenuous brain power right now.' My inner voice begged, and guided my hands to grab my backpack and open the flap. The contents I saw weren't exactly all that promising: my wallet; my new Avengers card; keys; and a granola bar.

"Well, at least I have these things." I said, looking at the cuff on my right arm. I should probably call someone to pick me up…if I hadn't of left my phone at my apartment.

An uncomfortable twisting sensation made my stomach clench rather painfully. Tony is most definitely the type of older brother who, even when told by everyone else to give me space because I wanted to be alone, would do anything and everything in his power to invade said personal space and alone time. What's more, even if I did have my phone on me, and if Tony were to call right now, I'd have to admit that I wasn't with my security team, or even at Avengers Mansion…

'May I make the suggestion that we go home right now, and pretend that this never happened?' My inner voice suggested, 'I DO NOT want a nuclear Tony on our arses.'

When you're right, you're right.

As I repacked my back and stood up, a burst of laughter caught my attention. I turned my head towards the source, and winced when it turned out to be a couple, out on a walk and completely enraptured by each other's presence. The besotted look on their faces said it all—they were completely in love with each other.

The jealous (yet surprisingly not even bitter) side of my brain grumpily asked why it was so darn hard to come across a man who is kind-hearted, warm, devoting and a gentleman towards others? All I ever seem to attract is self-serving egotists, and that one wasn't even tied to a villain group like HYDRA or AIM.

Another burst of laughter brought me out of my thoughts and to the icky twisty feels in my stomach as I watched them. Probably a good time to head home now, since there's only so long JARVIS can keep Tony occupied from unlocking my panic room.

"Home again, home again, with a jiggity-jig." I half mumbled as my backpack slid into place on my back.

"Aw, going home already? I was 'bout to have some fun." Since I was all alone, and therefore not expecting a response, I was perfectly justified in giving a small cry of fright and jumping away from the voice. When I spun around, my hands slightly raised in defence, I didn't get that good a look at my would-be attacker because there was an intense flash from my right arm, and the other person was sent flying backwards onto the dirt.

"Ooh," I couldn't help but wince, "Sorry! Though you kinda had that coming, so not that sorry." Personally, I'm just glad that I didn't freeze up—that could've been really bad right now.

The street hoodlum struggled to catch his breath and get to his feet (I was slowly backing away as he did so), and he had barely stood up straight when cosmic karma made its appearance, with a furry entrance. From out of nowhere, a great mass of white fur leapt at the guy, pinning him to the dirt. I foolishly stopped move to stare…but honestly, what person wouldn't when they see a massive freaking unit of a wolf-dog?

It was a big beast; possibly around 4 feet tall at the shoulders (maybe more) and it must weigh a lot. The hoodlum was wheezing, like he had fractured a rib or two from either being tackled or being held down by something so huge. The great beast snarled in primal fury at the kid's head, snapping its jaws awfully close.

Once the hoodlum was suitably terrified, the beast got off of him, allowing the kid a chance to get to his feet before giving chase for a few yards. As the kid ran into the growing darkness, the wolf-dog gave a low huff to the night air before turning and walking back to me.

'Oh, geez!' my brain just about pooped itself, resulting in my entire body freezing in fear. In the distant back of my mind, I tried cataloging what type of dog it could be: it looked like some sort of cross between a German Shepherd and a Mastiff or along those lines. Whatever the breeds, there was no way this was a normal-sized dog!

As it came way too close for comfort, it stopped and looked at me, like it was judging whether I was friend, foe, or a tasty snack…and then it broke its serious facade and adopted a happy, silly face and began play bowing at me, its tail wagging furiously.

"…uh…" was pretty much the most intelligent thing I could say in a situation like this, what with my heart pounding so loudly that everybody in the park could be able to hear it. "Thank you?" I questioned before shaking my head a little, "Gah! Why am I talking to a dog like it understands me?!" The dog in question just gave a soft bark, but didn't seem all that concerned about my brief moment of insanity. Instead it chose to sit down in front of me.

It—or rather, he—didn't look or act like he was going to hurt me, so I slowly reached my hand out for him to sniff. He gave it a cursory sniff or two, and then began head-butting it, as if demanding a scratch. Acting on some courage that I didn't know I had in me, I moved me hand and began to gently scratch his head. In response, his eyes closed and whine in happiness as he leaned into the touch.

Feeling a little bolder, I stretched out my other hand and rubbed at his white fur. Well, mostly white fur—there was a wide streak of black dapple along his back, tail, encircling his neck and ear, and around his eyes, like he was wearing a cape and mask.

When I stopped patting him, the dog opened his eyes (holy Loa above, they were the bluest eyes I've even seen anywhere!) and puppy pouted in protest, making me giggle a little.

"Well, you don't seem to have a collar," I observed out loud as I felt around his neck, squeaking a tiny bit when he leaned forward and gave my cheek a lick. "Still, you might be chipped, and just slipped your collar." At least, I'm assuming so—he's too beautiful to be a stray, not to mention there wasn't anything in the news about a great big wolf-dog-thing on the loose.

The moment was somewhat ruined by an owl hooting nearby, reminding me how late it was getting, and that I wasn't somewhere safe. "I better get back to the mansion." I decided out loud, "It's nearer and I can fib to Tony about being in the garden." I had already taken a few steps when I remembered my furry hero, and saw that he was following me.

…okay, I have to admit that a part of me wasn't too certain about having a 'stray' dog follow me home—his owner may be nearby, after all. But there was another part of me that really, really, really wanted to keep him. As if sensing my indecision, the dog chose for me by standing next to me and burying his big head under my arm till it was sitting around his neck.

…

"…Well, it's not like I can stop you." I gave in. The dog just huffed softly and rolled its head, the accompanying noise sounding strangely like 'duh!'

A little amused and bemused at his display of near-human attitude, I began walking again—this time my new friend sticking to my side. As we came closer to the park exit, the thought of giving him a name (even if it's just temporary) hit me. I had been mentally sifting through any sort of names that might fit him, when I noticed my friend had stopped suddenly, looking back the way we just came from and started growling.

That's never a good sign in any situation.

I was proven right when the same street kid from before reappeared, only this time he had friends…a lot more friends.

'Oh, this just turned into a massive 'I done messed up' moment!' My inner self exclaimed as the group slowly encircled me and the dog. I could feel my panic beginning to swell up inside me as reality sunk in…but strangely I didn't as scared as I normally would. Is that because of the dog beside me?

"That's her, alright," The injured kid announced, "And the stupid dog that got me."

"And that's my fault why?" I couldn't help but ask sarcastically, "You were the moron that tried to attack first." The dog growled in menacing agreement.

"Don't matter whose fault it is," Another hoodlum announced (My guess is he's the leader), "They can't get all of us, so she'll be easy." The rest of them agreed. Each one carrying a deadly weapon in hand as they began cat-calling various insulting names.

My body seemed to be locked in rising fear as my head turned to try and keep all of them in my line of sight, the dog pressing himself against my side even as he growled and bared his teeth. As I frantically looked for any sort of way out—while trying not to puke—a flicker of light caught the corner of my eyes. My cuffs!

I looked up just as the supposed leader stepped forward, smacking a baseball bat against the palm of his hand. The lecherous smug grin on his face almost made me toss my cookies. "Looks like the fun's about the start!" He crowed in excitement, riling up the others.

'Not yet, dirt bag,' I told myself, and thought of something useful.

The kid had noticed my supposed lack of concentration, and acted. Just as his weapon began to swing down, two things happened. The first was me calling on the power of my enchanted cuffs and creating a spherical barrier around myself and the dog.

'Yas, witch! Go, you—' my inner voice was cut off when the second thing happened. Before the baseball bat connected with the shield, a strange purple dart shot out of nowhere and smacked solidly into the handle of the bat. The force of the unexpected impact was enough to not only startle the kid into dropping it, but hurt him a little as well. He backed away, cussing as he cradled his injured wrist.

"Did your parents not teach you to respect women?" A male voice asked, sounding rather angry as the question seemed to echo all around us, putting a temporary stop to the madness.

As the gang looked about trying to find the owner of the voice, the kid that tried to attack looked slightly panicked. "What the actual fuck?!" He exclaimed, either from the unexpected attack, or from suddenly noticing my shield.

"Language, please, a lady is present." The disembodied voice reprimanded angrily. Then, from the shadowed tree branches above our heads, something big leapt down, putting itself between me and the kid.

'—you magnificent beast.' My inner voice finished its earlier sentence, trailing off in awe as the figure stood up, revealing itself to be a man in a black cat-suit costume, a near-tight-fitting one at that, if the tensing and shifting muscles beneath were a hint.

Out of nowhere, my heart strangely fluttered.

"What the hell is he supposed to be? One of the hoodlums asked any of his friends, "A cat man?"

This seemed to snap Baseball Bat into focus again. "It doesn't matter!" He snarled, "Just waste him and the dog, and grab the girl!" The fear and panic of them doing unspeakably evil things to me in the park was gone, as the fear and panic of them kidnapping me and then doing unspeakably evil things to me made its appearance known.

My hero didn't say anything. He just seemed to be standing stoically—aside from a slight twitch of his gloved hands, which with a soft 'shink' revealed sharp claws. I don't think I wanna stick around to see what damage they can do to a person.

The tension in the air was thick as everyone wondered who would make the first move. It was a kid carrying a crowbar, and he went down faster than lightning. Everyone was stunned, but soon all chaos broke loose and they all converged on the hero. Whoever he is, he had some seriously deadly moves! I was jerked out of my transfixed state by something nudging my side: it was the dog, indicating that the exit was all clear. Since everyone's attention was on the hero, I took the chance to lower my shield and run for it, the dog close on my heels.

As I ran down the oddly-yet-totally-not-complaining empty streets, the sounds of the fight became fainter. Unfortunately, the pain in my legs was increasing, till the point where I had to stop or else risk falling over.

Finding an empty alleyway, I finally stopped, my hands resting on my knees as I hunched over slightly to catch my breath. "I need to work on my cardio." I gasped between pants. The dog whined softly as he stood protectively by my side.

Once I had caught my breath, and everything stopped screaming at me, I stood up straight and checked my surroundings, hoping to find something familiar. After what just happened, there is no way I was staying out any longer than needed.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" I yelled in fright and spun around, my cuffs glowing again. This time, however, I caught whoever it was in a bubble and not blasted them, which was a good thing, because the voice belonged to the man who just saved my backside.

"Do you mind?!" I haltingly exclaimed, trying to be nice and civil even though I was freaked out. "After what just happened, you really think that sneaking up on a girl is a good idea?"

"I deeply apologize, ma'am," he spoke in a soothingly gentle accented tone of voice, "I just wanted to make sure you were not harmed."

"…well, not physically harmed, but my nerves are more than shot to pieces." I commented, "Thank you, by the way, for stepping in when you did."

"I despise men that treat woman as those children did you." He replied in a dark tone…can't say I blame him. The air became quiet as I caught my breath for the umpteenth time this evening. As I did, I looked over at my hero to get a better look at him, now that I wasn't out of my mind with panic. He was tall, almost as tall as Tony is, and definitely worked out.

Again, from out of nowhere and for no reason at all, my heart fluttered.

A quiet noise of someone clearing their throat caught my attention, and it came from the man inside the bubble prison. I couldn't help but blush—I was obviously ogling the man who just rescued me from untold horrors, and it didn't help matters when my inner voice started to swoon.

The man dipped his head a fraction and his voice conveyed that he was at least smiling. "Are you going to let me out?" He questioned gently.

It was almost instinctive that I made to drop the bubble, when a sharp thought poked my sides, and I recognized it as Clay's training. While this guy may look nice and innocent, the training reasoned, it could just as easily be a ruse to make you lower your guard.

My bottom lip became lightly trapped between my teeth. "Depends," I answered cautiously, "Are you going to hurt me? 'Cause then I'm not letting you out." Rather than be angry or indignant, the man softly chuckled as he raised his hands in a show of peace.

"I am not going to harm you, though I understand your caution." He promised. Nibbling at my bottom lip again, I glanced at the dog beside me. He didn't seem to be outright aggressive to whoever this is, but he wasn't all buddy-buddy, either.

'Not really all the comforting.' I remarked to myself as I looked back at my captive…and finally decided on the risk. I lowered the bubble. And he just stood there, calmly.

"Thank you." He said, giving a polite nod of his head. I gave a soft humming noise, but I was still trying to decide whether I just made the final mistake of my life.

'Ah, chill out already.' My inner voice complained, but didn't offer an explanation as to why I should. The dog was clearly braver than I right now, and walked over to the stranger, stretching his head to delicately sniff at him. The man calmly let the dog check him over, not even flinching or protesting a word as the beast stood on his hind legs, planting both fore paws on his broad shoulders.

I held my breath, waiting…and the dog gave our new friend a small lick on his masked cheek before dropping to the ground. "I guess he thinks you're an okay person, then." I offered, my lips turning upwards slightly into a smile.

"I am glad he thinks so." The man commented, and took a step towards me.

It was two-and-a-half-years of fear and haphephobia that made me take a step backwards, but my legs suddenly refused to work properly and began to fold underneath me. I closed my eyes as I braced for the inevitable impact and gravel rash, only to be stopped mid-fall by a pair of strong arms curled around me.

"Are you alright?" My eyes snapped open, and I was a little astounded to see how close his face was to mine.

Only…I wasn't panicked, or afraid.

It was like a calming peace had flowed over and through me, calming my nerves and soothing any and all of my fears. Only my heart was acting differently, fluttering like it had been turned into a swarm of butterflies.

"I'm…I'm good." I answered softly, blushing as I realized that both of my hands were pressed flat against his chest, and I could feel the vibrations as he breathed, as he spoke. He felt so solid, and warm.

He was staring.

'...is it warm, or is that just the smoking hot guy holding you?' My inner voice asked teasingly, causing me to blush. At the same moment, the dog gave a soft bark towards us, and used his head to gesture to the end of the alleyway, signalling that it was time to go home.

The magic in the moment (if there even was a moment, you crazy sod!) was gone, and the real world came back with a vengeance. The man gave a small murmur of apology as he stood up straight, taking me with him. Once we were both upright, he stepped back a little, as if trying to see that I could manage the same on my own. My legs were a little wobbly, but I could stand without falling over.

My heart gave a slight twinge of longing as the man removed his arms from around me, but I managed to cover the feeling by brushing some stray hair behind my ear.

"I should probably go home." I said softly.

I don't know what it was that did it, but the man tensed, as if some sort of instinct took over him. "Allow me to escort you home." He blurted out, to the surprise of us both.

'Uh, we're not letting some stranger near the apartment, right?' My caution asked.

'No, because that's sure to get us into trouble—by him, or by Tony, or from someone else.' Another part answered.

'We can't let him do that anyway! He could be a security risk.' My training pointed out.

'How about we let him escort us to neutral grounds?' My practical side offered, 'Say, Avengers Mansion?'

…

"S-sure," I finally agreed, "If it's not too much bother."

"Not at all." He replied, relieved that I even accepted his sudden offer. Silently, he offered his arm, and I let my hand be threaded through the crook of his arm as he walked me onto the streets, the dog happily walking in front of us. The mood was quiet between us, like a comfortable blanket. It was…perfect.

All too soon, we were out the front of Avengers Mansion. I was worried that all of Tartarus had broken loose because Tony couldn't find me, but everything was blissfully quiet. Thank the Loa above for that small mercy.

"Good evening, Miss Stark." JARVIS greeted as I scanned my Avengers cards to open the gates.

"Hey, JARVIS," I replied in a tired voice, a sure sign that the night was catching up to me. Before I did anything else, I turned to my hero/escort. "Thank you for walking me home."

"It was my utmost pleasure, Miss Stark." He assured me. But the title he addressed me by didn't sound right coming from him.

"Rose," I blurted out, blushing as I looked away, "Just Rose. I'm only called 'Miss Stark' when I'm in trouble with my brother."

"Rose," He repeated in a soft purr as he took my hand in his, "A fitting name for an attractive young woman." And apparently, I wasn't done filling out my blushing quota for the evening, hence the soft burning in my cheeks once again.

"Thank you," I said shyly as I looked back at him, a little smile on my lips to go with my blush. "Um, I…will I see you again?"

'Whoa, wait?! Slow down, girl, you just met the guy!' My cautious side exclaimed, only to be tackled into submission by my inner voice.

The man before me didn't seem to notice the inner tussle. "Perhaps we will, Rose," He replied cryptically in his deep, warm voice, raising my hand closer to his face. "Until then." My face just about turned into a tomato with all the blushing as he pressed a delicate masked kiss to the back of my knuckles.

Overcome with shyness, I bade him goodnight and led the dog towards the mansion doors. 'Hey, you didn't get his name!' My inner voice protested. I turned around, but as luck would have it, he was already gone.

"Dang." I whispered to the night air. Since there wasn't more that I could do, I went inside and closed the door behind us.

'Well things just got interesting.' My optimism commented cheerfully.

They certainly have, my friend…

…they certainly have.

---

"They certainly have, indeed." Remarked a gentle female voice, as the unseen specter observed Briar Rose Stark enter the building, and the Black Panther watched her from his hidden perch.

---

Well, that's the last of the already fixed chapters. Now I just have the rest of S1 to change and then it's back on to S2...not really looking forward to that, I've gotta be honest, but I made myself a deal, and I will stick to it.