Chapter Fifteen

"When the world shakes, Feel my heart race When the voices start again, Oh, the panics creeping in Who will I listen to, Fear never told the truth So I'll wait on You tonight, Worries only wasted time..." - Afraid, Tenth Avenue North

She wasn't sure how long she had been on the run. A few hours or so might have swung by without her realizing it. The problem was, she was in a foreign country. True, she could speak the language with ease and get around that way, but by now, most of the people had likely already seen the news. She was surprised that people hadn't already tried hounding her; a few bystanders had recognized her, but, they'd ignored her presence for the most part.

Ada squeezed her eyes shut as she pictured the look written across Tony's face. He had been terrified when he saw what she could do. She'd let go of her anger on some asshole who planned on killing him. That kind of anger had been seen in her powers. What horrified her more than anything, though, was that she could have just as easily done that to Tony. Thoughts of actually hurting him sent shivers of fear through her. There was always that possibility. Coulson had always been the one to reassure her that she wasn't hurting anyone, and that SHIELD would always be there if anything did happen.

She finally had to stop for a small break and to catch her breath. She'd reached the outskirts of a large city, noting that the streets and sidewalks were relatively empty because it was so late. Only a few people were walking down the otherwise quiet sidewalks, looking at Ada curiously when they noticed her. Relief swept through her when she realized they were going about their usual business as well. The good news about being young was that she could blend in with the territory if she needed to. Few people seemed to recognize her, which was a good thing. The last thing she wanted was for them to figure out who she was, and for them to call the cops on her.

Her heart was still racing with dread as she leaned against a building and stared at the ground. She hardly noticed the tears forming at the edge of her vision as she thought of how things had escalated from bad to worse within seconds. She suddenly wished that she could turn back the clock and prevent any of this from happening. Anything was better than facing the bitter truth in front of her. She always wanted to tell Tony about her powers. The problem was, she never knew how he would react until then.

Why was I born with these powers? she wondered bitterly, knowing that most humans weren't born with powers like hers. True, there were mutants with the X-Gene that was factored into the system. But, that was a whole different story. Besides, something told her that she would have known if she was a mutant. No, these powers had developed shortly after she was adopted.

She peered inside the window of a cafe where a few patrons were sitting and watching the news scroll by on a television mounted on the corner wall. Ada felt her heart nearly skip a beat when she noticed that she was the main source of the news that evening. She knew it wouldn't be long before the police tracked her down, or worse. She thought of calling SHIELD for backup, but she'd left her phone back at the hotel.

The panic she felt earlier suddenly returned full-force. Worry over how people would react to her powers clouded her thoughts. There was still the small part of her that feared Tony would never accept her now that he knew. That she would have to live on her own from now on.

"So, the little mouse finally decides to show her true self."

Her blood ran cold when she heard that voice. Ada peered over her shoulder, eyes widening when she saw a tall, dark looking man glaring down at her. Most of his face was covered in a mask of sorts. He wore a trench coat to keep himself protected from public view, and he hid most of himself in the shadows. Ada's face faltered when she noticed the cold look he was giving her, and the fact that he was hiding what looked like a weapon within his trench coat.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded, trying to keep her voice from sounding shaken.

She failed miserably as the man in question stepped out of the shadows. Ada felt her heart racing even faster than she thought humanly possible as he loomed over her. His presence was enough to leave her shaking with dread. She couldn't explain the feeling that swept through her. Whoever this stranger was, her instincts were screaming at her to get as far away as possible. Though, there weren't many options she had as far as running away was concerned.

"It is good to see that you are so naive; that makes my job much easier," the man laughed as he pulled out what looked like a knife. Her eyes narrowed at the object, realization dawning on her that he was about to strike. "You see, we come from a long line of descendants who are trained to kill people like you, Miss Stark." The words came out in a sneer, sending shivers of dread through Ada, "We have been watching, waiting for the right signs to see if the legends were true."

Ada was about to spit something in response when the air around them suddenly changed. The man's smirk of triumph faded into a scowl as a helicopter came descending down upon them. Relief swept through Ada once more when she recognized the helicopter in question. Low and behold, Clint was piloting the helicopter while Coulson leaned onto the door, clinging onto the railing for dear life as they hovered there for a few minutes. She glanced in the direction where the asshole in question had been standing, only to see that he vanished.

"Get in," Coulson ordered, his voice rising over the roar of the engine.

She hesitated, frowning as she wondered how SHIELD had gotten her location. Though, when she thought about it, this was SHIELD. With a sigh, she reached the latter that was thrown down and allowed herself to be pulled up. She hardly had time to notice the asshole that had approached her earlier was still hidden in the shadows.

…

"Tony!" He stopped his pacing when they reached the hotel lobby. By now, a crowd was gathered inside, but he ignored them. Pepper's shouting was really starting to unnerve him. "Tony, stop!" She suddenly pulled him back by the shoulder, and he turned to face her. "Do you want to tell me what's going on?" she demanded.

"I need to find her," he replied, trying to avoid her questioning gaze. After seeing what she did to protect those people, and himself, it only added to the need to find her. To make things right again. "Look, Peps, I never told you this, but I did adopt her for a reason." Pepper raised an eyebrow. "But, we need to discuss this in a more… private room," he added warily.

Before Pepper could protest, he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her into the nearest room. At least here, there were no security cameras or paparazzi to watch over them. The last thing they needed, at the moment was to deal with the media. The press had a tendency to make things ten times worse, and with Ada running away, Tony wasn't in the mood to deal with them. He tried so hard to keep her out of that kind of life. But it was only a matter of time before she was dragged into it because of the mistakes he made.

"Okay Tony, what the hell is going on?"

Pepper stopped so that she was facing him. She didn't look angry like he was expecting, only worried. She had just as much to do with Ada as he did. Hell, Ada saw Pepper as more of her mother-figure than she probably did with Tony as her father-figure, as much as that pained him.

"You remember that night? When I got a phone call?" he asked once she calmed down. She nodded and he went on, "That was a call from Phil Coulson."

Pepper's eyes lit up at the name. They both remembered Coulson all too well from when Iron Man was first announced. He was the one who took Ada in before she was sent to the orphanage. He was the one who fed her, who named her and even kept a careful eye on her when Tony couldn't. She always had a guardian watching over her, and now, she didn't. The thought was terrifying, to say the least.

"What does he have to do with Ada running away? And when did she start developing those powers? And, what is she?"

Pepper kept spitting out questions, making the situation even more awkward for poor Tony. He let out a sigh of frustration until she stopped talking, confused by his actions. Not that he didn't blame her for her confusion. Given the circumstances, adopting a child in the first place had been so out of the blue that even he questioned SHIELD's motives at the time. The only thing he did know was that adopting Ada had been the right thing to do.

"Coulson was the one who told me to adopt her; when SHIELD got their hands on her while she was an infant, they knew something was different about her," he explained. "When he sent me the files on her and where she came from, I agreed." Pepper looked at him curiously this time. She had never seen him this worried before. It was so strange, realizing that he actually cared about Ada. He was finally beginning to show a side of himself that he rarely did around others. "We need to find her, before they do."

This time it was Pepper's turn to let out a sigh of irritation.

"Okay, who is they?" she asked.

…

The helicopter finally landed in a location that was not far from where Doctor Bruce Banner was last spotted. Ada had kept mostly to herself when she climbed into the helicopter, wrapping her arms around her legs as she stared out the windows until South America came into view. She wasn't surprised to find that SHIELD had a secret underground base in South America. SHIELD had bases just about everywhere where agents could regroup and collect necessary resources while out on the field.

By now, it was early in the morning. Exhaustion crept through Ada, and she wasn't in any mood to talk with anyone. Recent events had left her in a sour mood. She hadn't gotten much sleep during their flight. With Coulson keeping an eye on her while Clint piloted the helicopter, she knew he'd ask questions regarding her most recent run.

"You okay?" Coulson's question caught Ada off guard.

She glanced at the older man, not missing the way he was eyeing her with concern.

Coulson had always been far more supportive than most of the agents within SHIELD. His patience was something that had always taken Ada by surprise. Even with agents like Clint, who could be a bit of loose cannon when pissed off, he had patience for. He'd become more than just a handler for her. Maybe that was why she found it easy to talk to him. After all, Coulson looked out for her in ways that even Tony never did.

She let out a sigh, and looked at nothing in particular. Her hand opened a bit as flames danced along the tips of her fingers.

"I was planning on telling them when they were ready," she explained warily. Coulson gave a faint nod of understanding and sat down beside her, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, "Now, with this asshole on the loose, I don't know how I can face them again."

Ada squeezed her eyes shut, picturing that woman who died in front of her. What made it worse was knowing that she had sacrificed herself for the baby she had fought so hard to protect. Ada knew there was a connection between the baby and herself. The nightmares were only getting worse, and she couldn't help but imagine that they weren't going to get any better.

"Ada." Coulson took her by surprise when he squeezed her shoulder gently, "Look, Stark may not be the easiest man to get along with—"

"Just Stark?" Clint's voice sounded from the cockpit as he overheard the conversation. Ada just rolled her eyes at the amusement in his voice, "The both of you are so much alike, that it's hard to believe you're not blood relatives."

"Ass," Ada muttered under her breath, earning a laugh from the archer.

"What I mean to say is," Coulson continued after pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, "That he cares about you. More than you probably even realize."

She couldn't hide the small smile that followed, "Thanks, Coulson," she murmured.

The tension from earlier seemed to dissipate as the helicopter made a smooth landing on a pad. Since there was technically no airport, landing itself was dicey. Luckily, Clint was one of the best pilots Ada could have asked for. She grudgingly admitted that at one point or another during their sparring sessions.

Once they landed, Ada hopped out of the helicopter and made her way down to the base where she was surrounded by narrow hallways. Coulson and Clint had already retreated to the back of the base while she was met by Director Fury. How he moved from one location to the other when said location was so far was beyond her. She didn't plan asking anytime soon, though. She was just thankful to see another familiar face after the madness of yesterday.

"Agent Stark, it might be in your best interests to lay low for the next few weeks," Fury informed her once they'd reached a ridiculously small office. She glanced over her shoulder to where Coulson and Clint had disappeared, suddenly wishing she could have joined them. She knew where this was headed – Fury likely already had a contingency plan in place for something like this, "The press would have a field day if they got their hands on you, especially in light of recent events."

As if he'd read her mind, he tossed her a paper on the desk so she could see the front page.

Ada's brows furrowed in annoyance when she read the headlines: 'Miss Ada Stark: Freak or Daughter of the Year?'

"I had no intentions of using my powers in public," she muttered crossly, frowning at the thought of now having to face the consequences of what had happened, "That asshole gave me no choice. He was going to kill Tony."

"Be that as it may, the public now knows that you have powers," Fury deadpanned, the tone of his voice serious as his eye landed on her, "And, so does Stark. Until we know for sure how he's going to react to your powers, it's better that you lay low."

She chewed the bottom of her lip as doubt clouded her mind. Doubt that Tony would accept her when this was all over. Doubt that she would ever feel accepted in the world, and worse still, doubt that she was now 'agent' material. She remembered hearing Fury mention that the Council had given him a hard enough time allowing a kid to join the agency. Let alone someone with powers like hers. If they made it that difficult, now, she could only imagine how they would react when they found out she was on a sanctioned mission to find Banner.

"So, what am I supposed to do for the time being?" she asked, knowing that she couldn't just sit idly by.

Fury had already pulled out a dozen files and spread them across the desk. Some of them were old, while others were new. Most interestingly enough, were the pictures that caught Ada's attention. She grabbed one picture that stood out, and rose an eyebrow as she saw the person in the photo.

It was a picture of a man in his late twenties, with curly brown hair and brown eyes. She recognized him as none other than Doctor Bruce Banner.

"We've managed to find the location of Doctor Banner," Fury explained after pulling out one file in particular. Numerous reports on Gamma radiation and tests could be seen, along with a file on the accident which led to something all-together more interesting, "He's in Ecuador, trying to work as a canning factory worker."

Ada frowned as she watched the video play out on another picture he showed her, this one more recent the one she held. Now, it showed a picture of a man who looked as if he was trying to blend in. She had no doubt he'd faced difficult times being on the run, and was desperately trying to find a cure for whatever had happened to him that night in the lab.

"So, he's on the run because he's afraid of the military finding him," she guessed out loud, "And you want me to find him before they do."

"Ada, listen," Fury sighed after noticing the reluctance in her voice, "Doctor Banner's going to be afraid. Nervous people tend to do stupid things when they're on the run. The only reason I'm asking you to do this is because you can relate to him."

"Gee, thanks," she muttered under her breath, "That makes me feel so much better."

She knew she would take the case, though. It wasn't as if she had anything better to do, now that the world knew what she could do. Going back to Tony was out of the question, at the moment. Besides, this was a good way to truly test her grit out on the field.

AN: I have a new poll on my profile in case anyone cares, regarding the future of any previous story I have prior to 2017. Please, check it out!