2

Astrid hung upside down from the tree branch and watched as the children around her ran. She could feel the slight shift in the area around her, her spidey senses tingling. She pulled herself into a sitting position on the branch. New York seemed to have a never ending plethora of villains both normal and mutant. She didn't recognize this one, perhaps a new villain? One specifically tailored to her. That was wishful thinking on her part. She sighed and jumped down from the tree. If she were to go after the villain then she'd leak her identity. If she didn't then someone would get hurt. With great power comes great responsibility, uncle Ben hadn't been wrong about that. He had known about her being the spider since she first started. Her voice had been too recognisable to him. She sighed once again and ran her hands through her greasy hair.

The Walters, while kind, didn't pay much attention to the children under their care. She had tried to take a shower for the fifth time that week when one of the older kids took up the time and pushed her out of the way. She was close to punching them. Her patience was wearing thin. She looked over at one of the older kids and got a sneer in response. Her theory really needed to be proven true because her little "family" was close to tipping her over the edge into villain territory. Which wasn't surprising. She was a smart ass, and a bit apathetic when it came to people around her.

It was one of the reasons why she got along with Wade so well. She was neutral while he was chaotic. She watched as the other children were gathered up and evacuated from the school grounds. She knelt behind the tree and pulled her hood up over her head, the hoodie had been a smart choice. She pulled at the strings and tightened them before tying them into a bow. It would have to do until she scrounged up enough money to buy a mask of some sorts. She released one of her webs and welcomed the floating sensation as she started to swing in the air. She needed to get a move on if she wanted to face off with the person who was destroying buildings. She grew slightly nervous. Hopefully, it wasn't the Hulk. No, it wasn't the right time for him. She shook such thoughts from her head and swung around a building before perching on the side to access the damage.

It was a large man wearing a dark suit and smoking a cigar. Astrid winced at the sight of him. Of course it had to be Kingpin, she couldn't get lucky enough to have a new villain on her hands. She'd have to deal with him in a sneaky manner. It wasn't her usual tactic to ambush someone, but it would have to make due. She was a child who barely reach four feet, the man was easily six feet and taller than six feet five inches. Having a little cunning would keep her alive, for now. She released her webs and closed her eyes before formulating her plan. She jumped from the side of the building and gathered momentum as she swung around the crime scene. She slowly crafted a trap for Kingpin and his men. His goons, she mused in amusement. They weren't paying attention to the pint sized figure flying above them. It would be their downfall. Astrid landed again, this time hard. She clung to the side of the building and gave her maze of webs a mighty tug.

"The hell!?" One of the goons exclaimed as they were all forced into a ball together.

"My work here is done." Astrid muttered as she quickly made her escape before the group could catch sight of her.

Getting Kingpin early meant that she'd have more time to move freely without fearing his interference. She nervously looked back for a few seconds. He hadn't been in her previous life, no the Green Goblin had been her main issue. She untied her hood strings and brought it from her head as she landed in an alley way. She slowly stepped out and into a sea of people. There was some mutterings about her presence, mainly from the elders in the crowd, but for the most part they moved to the side so she could see. She got to the front and held onto some railing as she watched Kingpin and his men be taken away by police officers.

"I can't believe someone took out Kingpin," A young man to her left stated and she spared him a glance.

"What was he doing out here anyway?" Astrid asked, "My school was evacuated because of him."

"Ah, he was threatening to blow up the entire block," The man answered looking down at her in surprise, "shouldn't you be with your teachers?"

"I got curious," She sheepishly answered, rubbing the back of her head.

"Curiosity killed the cat kid," He said before walking away.

He wasn't wrong about that. Astrid gazed in his direction one last time before shaking her head. It didn't matter if she died, she'd just keep coming back. She wished she knew why. She sighed quietly and walked away from the railing. She needed to head back to the foster home before her "parents" freaked out. Not that they weren't going to do such a thing. Human behaviour was difficult to predict sometimes.

Grounded. They had gone and grounded her for disappearing. Of course the school had called them. She stared up at the ceiling from her small cot in the corner and narrowed her eyes. It was a bit shot really, she mused to herself. She brought her hands up to her face and dug the heel of her palms into her eyes. She was tired, but she couldn't sleep. Maybe Wade cursed her somehow. She did deserve it for laughing at him after one of his meet ups with Wolverine. He had been disarmed, wasn't her fault that she found it absolutely hilarious. Granted, she shouldn't have laughed for ten minutes straight. Astrid was sure she had been brought to hysteria due to how much she laughed. Her eyes snapped to the side as her door slowly opened. She didn't even get a knock, she could've been doing anything. Hell, she could've been changing clothes.

"You have a visitor," Mrs. Walter informed her before giving her a serious look, "behave yourself."

Astrid gave a slight nod at that and slowly trudged behind the older woman. She wasn't well liked, and they thought she didn't notice. An adult woman stuck as a child living her third life was bound to be difficult to handle. She wasn't going to make it easy either. She pushed her hands into the pockets of her hoodie and shot a blank look at one of the older children. A teenager with short dark hair and frosted tips. It was the one that usually barred her from the bathroom in the morning. She needed to do something about her, she needed a shower. She filed those thoughts away for a later time, where it'd be easier to plot revenge, and looked at her visitor. Well, her ideas of fanfic luck was starting to show some evidence.

"Hullo, Mr Stark," She greeted the dark haired genuis.

"Hey kiddo," Tony greeted back before gaining a wry smile on his face, "call me Tony, Mr Stark was my father."

"All right, Tony," Astrid shrugged, it didn't take too much out of her time to do so, "what can I do for you?"

"Mind giving us a moment," Tony asked Mrs Walter, giving her a charming crooked grin.

"Of course, I'll make some tea," Mrs Walter said, blushing like a school girl.

"I need to learn how to do that," Astrid muttered in amusement, Tony's grin increased at that.

"You didn't tell us you were a mutant," Tony said as soon as he was sure they were alone.

"Have you seen how mutants are treated by the general public?" Astrid questioned him, "I'm lucky it just small cosmetic changes and nothing else."

"Nothing else? Like swinging from spider webs attached to skyscrapers?" He countered with a raised brow.

Astrid didn't know a way out of this conversation. She kept eye contact with him as she rubbed the tips of her fingers together in her pockets. Was there even a way out of this conversation? How the hell did he find out in the first place? Her face had been hidden. Did…did Tony Stark also have fanfic powers? That would make far too much sense if he did. No wonder he survived all the shrapnel in his chest. It made as much sense to her as Thor being the god of Lesbians, which she was going to say straight to his face and without remorse. He'd probably end up being insulted before figuring that it was a damn worthy title. She must've been too deep in thought for Tony's liking, seeing as he began to snap his fingers in her face.

"You still in there kiddo?" Tony asked.

"Do you think that saying Cow-a-bummer at a funeral is in bad taste?" She questioned.

It was the first question that came to mind, and it immediately left a bad taste in her mouth. It was made worse by Tony's expression of utter disbelief that she'd say such a thing. She couldn't believe that it just slipped out. It wasn't even an intrusive thought! A small part of her could hear Wade cackling in the background.

"It just might be," Tony answered, his voice still showing his disbelief.

"Ah, cool, I won't do it then," She muttered as she began to swing one of her legs, her feet barely touched the floor.

She was short at her current age, but she doubted she'd get taller if she remained in the foster system. There wasn't enough food to go around, and she required more calories than a norma person. Hell, she probably needed more than a football player, both American and regular. Tony sat back a bit and gave her a serious look, she felt her leg still and her own expression became guarded. He was smart, and sharp. She didn't doubt that he's figure out that she'd be evasive when it came to answering certain questions.

"Seriously kid, what's with getting into trouble?" He questioned.

"Kingpin? He was going to blow up a whole block," She stated with a frown, "was I supposed to sit back and do nothing when I could do something?"

"It's not a kids responsibility," He informed her and she was almost surprised at the serious tone.

Astrid was able to endear herself to people when she wanted, somehow she might've done so with Tony. She wasn't sure, but he was acting like an adult and nothing like his earliest MCU counterpart. Maybe she was wrong in thinking that was the timeline she had ended up in. Yet, he looked identical to Downey Jr. that she knew that's where she was. She brought one of her hands out of her hoodie and rubbed the back of her neck in thought.

"It isn't, but someone once told me that a single person could change the world and do some good," She admitted, thinking back on Uncle Ben and how he always had something motivating to say, "I'd like to think they were right."

"Did they work at a fortune cookie factory?" Tony questioned with a raise of his brow.

"No, but they would've been a good worker," Astrid mused, she couldn't get that image out of her head now but she needed to be serious, "what did you actually need from me, Tony?"

Tony noticed the tonal shift right away and gave the girl a speculative look. Something wasn't completely right with her, she could act the foolish child in one moment and a serious adult in another. He knew that people had their masks that he showed to the world, his being the sarcastic playboy persona. Though he did see more women than he'd ever admit to, it was just his charm really. But he was an adult, a child shouldn't have such masks yet. She showed him three masks in a single sitting. The sarcastic child that asked inappropriate questions that were slightly amusing, the demure child that leaned away from her foster parent, and now a serious child that seemed more adult than the five-year-old she actually was.

"Pepper was concerned and I was in the area when you pulled that stunt," Tony commented and he watched as she winced slightly before letting her face blank again, "neat plan with the hoodie but you forgot to take it off."

It's always something. Astrid's own words echoed in her mind. She huffed quietly at them and tried to will them away. Astrid met his eyes for a few seconds and didn't detect any malice from him. There was no hatred for mutants. Not like the teenagers she was living with. Those kids seemed to hate mutants with a passion and she didn't fully understand. Perhaps it was the human condition to hate what couldn't be comprehended. That was a sad thought to think, simply due to how short life could be. She stopped herself from going into an existential crisis and looked back at Tony.

"Good thing you seemed to be the only perceptive person in the crowd, and bad on me for being indiscreet," She said, gaining a wry smile.

"I didn't inform Pepper," Tony told her and her brows rose at that, "she'd have come down with me and given you a piece of her mind if I had."

"Is Miss Potts doing well?" She asked, genuinely curious as to how the red-head was doing.

"Yeah, Pep is doing fantastic," Tony answered, finding that the kid seemed to have her heart in a good place, "how's the foster system treating you?"

"I have yet to take a shower because the older kids like to hog the bathroom," Astrid informed him, not caring that she could possibly be moved when he gained a slight frown, "teenagers will be teenagers."

"You talk like an old lady," He pointed out.

"Oh sweet, does this mean I can get a senior discount at Tesco?" She joked.

"English store?" He asked.

"It's a bit like a Walmart really," She answered with a shrug, "I think my favourite thing is the small cakes you can get with strawberries."

"Ah, a fan of strawberry shortcake I see," He muttered with a nod of his head.

Astrid gave him a strange smile at that. She found it a little ironic that the man who claimed he sucked at talking to kids was doing so well with speaking to her. Granted, she was an adult…in theory. Was she just easy to talk to? She'd never really wondered about her ability to talk to people. The only person she was unable to dissuade was the person who knifed and ran. Didn't even have the common courtesy to stay around and watch her bleed to death. Well, it was all in the past. A good 20+ years in the past but she wasn't counting.

"Ever have it with matcha sponge cake?" She asked before bringing her hand up in the 'ok' sign, "It's banging."

Of course, she liked using lingo that no one really understood and wouldn't for a while. She couldn't use the "good soup" meme anymore, and that made her sad. At least she had her comic book and movie references, nothing could really take that away from her. Whatever was causing her to loop would have to genuinely let her die to stop her, and she didn't think that was going to happen for a while. She looked to the side as tea was brought in by Mrs Walter and she left them again.

"School going good?" Tony asked and Astrid finally saw his unease with children.

"You were doing so well," Astrid quipped before nodding, "I'm fine, I'm ahead of my classes."

Tony nodded at that as she picked up her cup of tea and sipped from it. She gave it a look that made him wonder if it had somehow offended her. Right, she was English they were the biggest tea snobs.

"You are too young to be offended by a cup of leaf water," Tony commented and he watched as she slowly looked at him.

"I thought we both agreed that I basically skipped to old age," She stated, "I'm English I'm pretty sure it's imbedded in our DNA to be tea snobs…and loyal to Queen Elizabeth."

Tony found that he was enjoying the kids presence. She was able to bounce jokes with him, and shared his dislike of Norman Osborn. She put the cup of tea down when one of the teens walked into the room. Her mask of being demure went back up and he noted how some of it wasn't just the mask. The kid had layers, and was good at hiding them. Astrid would never let him know that she was wondering how comfortable the teen was wearing pants so tight they were possibly cutting off circulation to their calves. Honestly, not even her spandex Spider suit was that tight and spandex was usually skin tight. The teen gave her a sneer and she pleasantly waved back, seemingly unbothered. Tony's phone went off and he pulled it out of a small inner pocket of his suit jacket.

"Excuse me for a bit," Tony said and she waved him off.

Astrid was left alone with the teenager. Her senses were starting to go haywire. She didn't remember their names, she really referred to them as teenagers 1 and 2. This one was number 2, a male with a bad attitude. A male with no proper way of dealing with his anger. He'd been there longer than the others, no wonder he was mad at the world. It didn't help that she was speaking with what he perceived to be a potential parent. Then again if the powers of fanfic, she was going to call it bullshit really, held up then Tony would end up being her dad. Iron Dad. She inwardly chuckled at that as she tried to ignore the tense atmosphere.

"I'm very uncomfortable with the energy we've created in the studio today," She informed the teen.

"Why is it that you of all people have a potential parent?" The teen hissed, ignoring her comment.

"Tony? What makes you think he's a potential parent?" She countered, dodging his question with one of her own.

"He came to check on you without needing to, the people who find us never check on us," The teen grumbled.

Astrid wanted to point out that Pepper was more likely to be a parent than Tony. She was the reason he was there. Would she like to leave the foster home and go home with him? Absolutely she would. It would move things along and give her ample funding for what she wanted to do. She needed to make herself a suit, or a mask. Even if Tony didn't want her being a vigilante, she would anyway. Though, she would stop if Pepper asked. What could she say, red-heads were her one weakness because of her mum. Her mask of sarcasm almost fell at that thought. Her mind was so warped by dying and coming back that she was losing what was left her personality, filling the holes with a personality like Wade's so she wouldn't feel anything. Tony didn't need a mess like her, she inwardly cringed. She could be completely wrong about him adopting her. She just hoped she wasn't. It would make all her theories worthless.

"Freak," The teen muttered before stomping up the stairs to their room.

Astrid wasn't too bothered, she'd been called worse. She rubbed the tips of her fingers together in thought. TVA, a sudden topic that appeared in her thoughts. How hadn't she been pruned from the time lines? It wasn't as though she wasn't messing with things. Loki destroying New York? He was mind controlled, hit him hard enough in the head and it could possibly knock some sense into him and lessen his sentence on Asgard. Could possibly save Frigga in the process as well. She looked at the cup of tea. It was such a boring subject, but one she could stare at and think without much problem. The TVA was confusing. Perhaps they couldn't prune her? She didn't exist in the time lines before she died in her first life. Could that be giving her some form of immunity? She didn't know, and she didn't want to find out. It would complicate things far too much.

"He's a ray of sunshine," Tony's sarcastic comment caused her to jump slightly.

"Yeah," Astrid agreed, "good phone call?"

Tony gave a shrug. Pepper had asked questions concerning the kid and he answered them to the best of his knowledge. The red-head seemed to have found some maternal instinct towards the kid after having some food with her. Pepper believed that Astrid was a sweet girl who was shy. Tony knew she was a mischievous kid that didn't hesitate to say the damndest things. The cow-a-bummer being a shining example of that. Also her little excerpt about the energy in the studio. He'd caught that when he had checked on her for a few seconds not trusting the older kid. Even he could read the room enough to see that it had gone south real quick.

"Yeah, you seem to have endeared yourself to Pep completely," He informed her and she smiled at that.

A genuine smile at that. Astrid gave a quiet hum that showcased her positive emotions. He liked the enigma that was the kid. He finished his now cold tea and stood up from the couch. She snapped out of her happy stupor and assessed his moves. She goes from adorable to downright creepy. He needed to learn that. He could only imagine how many meetings would become entertaining if he could freak out the others.

Astrid gained an annoyed look as she sat on her bed. Tony had left her behind again and her theory was starting to gain so many small holes. She tapped a finger against her knee as the lights turned off one by one. She reached over towards the lamp on the small bedside table and turned off her light. She was encased in the dark, her eyes quickly adjusting. She bit her lip slightly.

She had been afraid of the dark as a small child, well actual child. Her childhood home had been old, she was the fifth generation to be born inside its walls. A part of her believed that the spirits of her ancestors were still there, watching over the family. Another felt there was something malevolent as well. She narrowed her eyes slightly and looked over at the broken cupboard she was using as a closet. She could almost see the figure from her memories. Its tall and lanky body flickering in and out of focus. Its face had always been impossible to see, and it never made a single sound. She blinked, and the figure disappeared completely. Astrid shook her head and laid down in the bed, curling up as she got comfortable. It wasn't healthy to dwell on the past instead of the present. She'd rather not get stuck reminiscing about days long gone. Her mother's image passed in her thoughts, calling out her own hypocrisy. Her mouth opened slightly as she felt tears welling in her eyes. Her mother's passing had been incredibly difficult on her and she felt incredibly selfish for thinking such things. She wasn't the only one who had lost her. Her two older brothers and big sister had lost her mother as well. She was a horrible person really, no amount of good deeds could change that. She went to sleep with that mentality, but had no dreams.