Chapter Forty Six

"Looking back on all the wreckage All I see is their faces How many hearts have I broken? And tell me, are they still breaking? I went looking for attention, In all the wrong places I was needing a redemption, Get me out of these cages..." - Cages, NEEDTOBREATHE

Rosehill, Tennessee.

It was a small town, with a quaint looking main street and several buildings surrounding the outskirt. Snow coated most of the area in a thick blanket. The cold wind that picked up was enough to send a shiver through Ada as she pulled over her heavy coat. She had been warned that it would be cold. With winter in full-swing, she was hardly surprised by the bitter winds that seemed ever-present. She was thankful she heeded Coulson's warning, though.

After dressing in several layers of clothes and making sure she had everything she needed, she set out to the location Tony had planned. He'd written down coordinates for the town itself, but not for the location of the attack.

And, that was where her problem lay at the moment. She didn't know where that location happened to be. She knew there was a memorial dedicated to the lives that were lost during the attack. But, without a map or a working GPS, she found herself getting hopelessly lost.

Letting out a small sigh, Ada slowly made her way through the heavy snow and struggled to maintain her composure. That alone was difficult with how cold it was. She wasn't used to it. Having grown up where it was usually warm, dry and almost summer all-year-round, she wasn't a fan of the cold.

She shivered, and she decided to start with asking the locals where the site happened to be located. If anyone was going to have knowledge on what had happened, the locals would know. Besides, getting to know the townsfolk would give her a better idea of what to look for when it came to investigating.

The good news was, people weren't in short supply in this town. While the snow kept most people inside, there were a couple who were braving the storm and dressed in full gear. She managed to stop a couple and ask where the site happened to be, and once they pointed her in the right direction, she carefully made her way there.

Not for the first time, Ada found herself thinking of how Christmas right around the corner. Seeing the decorated houses reminded her of how much she was missing, now. Another shiver swept through her as she tried picturing where Pepper was, and Happy and Rhodes, along with the rest of the team. All she could hope for was that they were safe, and that nothing had happened to them.

Shaking her head at the thought, Ada followed the directions one of the locals had pointed out and finally found the site in question.

Ada swallowed hard, not missing the fact that there were five shadows covering the wall rather than six. The explosion had occurred just a few weeks ago due to a suicide bomber. Though, the more she glimpsed of the site, the more she began to notice something wasn't adding up.

"So, what's the official story here? What happened?"

Her heart nearly skipped a beat at the familiar sound of Tony's voice. She turned around to see two figures approaching the same spot. Sucking in a breath, Ada moved quickly to avoid being spotted. Though she was more than relieved that Tony was alive, she couldn't let him see her just yet.

"I guess this guy named Chad Davis used to live roundabouts, won a bunch of metals in the army. One day, folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb. Then, he blew himself up right here," a kid with curly brown hair walking alongside Tony, explained.

For the first time since leaving the BUS, Ada suddenly felt overwhelmed with a rush of emotions.

Tony was alive. He was alive, and walking with some kid who barely looked over ten. What amazed her the most was that the kid seemed perfectly happy with it, if not ecstatic that Tony was tolerating him. Though she wasn't entirely surprised with that notion. Tony had changed a lot since he adopted her. He'd become more tolerant around kids, and he'd even proven on more than one occasion how dedicated he was as a father.

"Six people died, right?" Tony asked.

By now, Ada's hands were trembling as she continued watching. She knew he wouldn't likely be happy that she was there. Yet, realizing that he was alive left her heart racing a mile a minute. She was utterly relieved to see that he'd survived, and he was still investigating the Mandarin's attacks.

"Yeah," the kid replied with a nod.

"Including Chad Davis?"

"Yeah."

Ada rose an eyebrow at the kid's lack of conversation. He just might have been overwhelmed with the fact that Tony was with him. Whatever the case, she had to think of a way to step in before things could get anymore awkward than they were.

"Yeah. That doesn't make any sense," Tony cut in just as the kid opened his mouth to say something. He sat down on a nearby bench, still unaware that she was watching from a safe distance, "Think about it; six dead, only five shadows."

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought of that, Ada thought, nearly rolling her eyes at Tony's comment.

"Yeah, well, the people said these shadows are like the mark of souls gone to heaven. Except the bomb guy. He went to hell on a count of he didn't get a shadow. That's why there's only five."

That was enough for Ada to stiffen in surprise. She knew he was just a kid, and likely believed everything people told him. Though, it might have been better for his sake that he believed their story. She couldn't imagine dragging a little kid into this mess. He was far too young to experience anything like that.

Swallowing hard, Ada finally decided to take the initiative and step out of her hiding place. After everything that happened, seeing Tony again face-to-face was something she needed now more than ever. Especially after hearing from the news that he'd been killed when the mansion was destroyed.

"Ada?" Tony's eyes widened in disbelief as he finally spotted her. She hadn't missed the fact that he looked as if he'd seen a ghost. The kid standing nearby just stared at them, eyes widening in surprise as he realized who she was, "My God, I thought you… I thought you were killed."

Tony suddenly sat up, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace. Ada stiffened once again from the initial contact. Tony rarely showed his emotions in front of others. Though it was purely out of habit, she understood why. She finally returned the gesture, feeling more than relieved that he was okay.

"What the hell, dad?" she choked out after pushing him away, "I thought you were dead! I… Pepper and everyone else—"

"Are safe," he cut her off before she could finish. Tony hadn't released his grip on her, though he did wipe away a tear rolling down her cheek after noticing that she had started crying, "Look, I didn't want you going after me."

"I know… I know you don't think I can handle myself out there," she muttered, dropping her gaze.

"Ada, believe me, I know you can handle yourself." Ada blinked in surprise when Tony finally let her go. She sucked in a breath as she saw the sincerity in his eyes, and that he looked equally relieved to know that she was okay, "It's my job as a dad to worry about you. It always has been."

She couldn't hide the small smile that followed.

For the first time since the 'Mandarin' had become a problem, she understood why Tony had been so overprotective. Though it didn't make her life any easier regarding what decisions were made, at least she understood the reasons behind his behavior.

"You're Ada Stark?" the kid finally spoke up.

"The one and only," she replied with a nod. Ada glanced at Tony as he stood up, brushing a bit of snow off his pants. By now, the kid looked as if he was ready to burst with excitement when he realized there was not just one, but, two Stark's in his presence. "Who's the kid?"

"Harley," he introduced himself with a meek smile.

Ada rose an eyebrow at that, before glancing at Tony once more. His expression was impossible to make out as he studied her. She suddenly felt self-conscious under his questioning gaze. It was enough for her to look down at the ground sheepishly as she tried brushing off the sudden unease that followed.

Not for the first time, Ada found herself wondering how he would react to finding out Coulson was alive. She'd promised Coulson that she would keep his miraculous recovery a secret. Not just for his sake, but that of the rest of the team as well. She knew Tony wouldn't react well to the realization that Coulson had lived. To make matters worse, he would likely try and figure out what SHIELD really did to keep him alive in the first place.

"By the way, how did you end up here?" Tony asked curiously.

"Boss sent me here to investigate the site," she explained with a shrug. "We managed to find some information on the project we were studying."

Tony gave a slight nod at the mention of 'project'. The last thing Ada wanted was for Harley to find out about SHIELD. Or that they were here to investigate the Mandarin's involvement with the recent attacks.

"The guy who died… relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?" Tony asked, looking down at Harley.

"Where she always is," Harley replied.

"See, now you're being helpful," Tony pointed out with a knowing smirk. He looked between Harley and Ada, and she could already see the order forming in his eyes before he said it out loud, "You're staying here with Harley until I get this sorted out."

"The hell I am," she snapped. Ada crossed her arms and glared back defiantly. Try as he might, Tony wasn't going to keep her out of the firefight. If he planned on confronting the issue head-on, then she planned on being there to support him, "I'm not letting you order me around like a little kid."

Not for the first time, Tony was ready to argue when he finally seemed to think better of it. Even if he managed to find a way to keep her from following him, she would still find some way to get involved with the Mandarin. He knew her well enough now to understand that she wanted to help him, and, had the power to do so.

Once it became clear that he wasn't going to deter her from following him, Tony finally gestured for her to follow through the heavy snow.

"You know, I remember a time when I was able to order you around, and you'd actually listen," he half-grumbled and muttered at the same time.

Ada only smirked and threw him a knowing look, "Yeah, and those were the worst years of my life, if I remember correctly," she countered.

Tony just stuck his tongue out at her, and it took everything she had not to laugh at his pouty expression. Despite the fact that their lives really were in danger, Tony always seemed to have a way of making everything a little better.

It wasn't until they reached the bar Harley pointed out that things started getting serious. While Tony rarely took anything seriously, Ada soon began to notice that he was more tense than usual. After the Mandarin incident, she couldn't necessarily blame him for finally taking this threat seriously.

She was ready to say something when he suddenly bumped into someone at the entrance of the bar, "Sorry," he apologized after regaining his composure.

Ada eyed the woman warily, aware that she'd dropped something in the process, "Miss, you uh… dropped this," she said once she picked the object up and handed it over.

"Thank you," the woman offered what appeared to be a genuine smile. Yet, the moment she did that was when Ada noticed the scars covering her arms. Her sheer instinct was to flinch at the sight, and it took everything she had not to. Working with SHIELD taught her to deal with scars. In their line of work, scars were inevitable. "An accident; happened a long time ago."

"Nice haircut. Suits you," Tony said stiffly.

The tone of his voice left Ada glancing between the pair as she wondered how the woman would react to that. Her hair looked wild and tangled, and as if she hadn't taken care of it over the last few weeks. Though, instead of taking his response as an insult, the woman simply regarded the watch he was currently wearing.

"Nice watch," she retorted.

Raising an eyebrow in surprise, Ada hardly realized that the watch Tony was wearing happened to be a limited edition Dora the Explorer watch. She almost smirked at the sight, knowing that was probably the last thing he wanted to wear, and that it had been a gift from Harley.

"Yeah, limited edition," he replied without missing a beat.

"Oh, I don't doubt that." There was a pause, and, Ada suddenly felt very uncomfortable under the woman's piercing gaze. Try as she might, there was something almost unsettling about the way she lingered there in the silence. "Well, have a good day."

A shiver swept through Ada as the woman waved and left them. There wasn't something right about that woman, and, it was unnerving to think about. She tried casting the uneasy thoughts aside as she followed Tony into the bar, ignoring the looks a few customers were already giving her.

She'd been to enough bars over the last couple of months to know what they were like. This one wasn't too bad, with country music playing softly in the background and people talking loudly to one another. It reeked of alcohol and old vomit, though, and, that was enough of a reminder why she didn't spend too much time at any establishment.

Tony had already reached a table where a woman was sitting alone with a drink in hand. Once he reached the table, Ada kept her distance and managed to overhear what they were talking about. The last thing she wanted was to make the woman suspicious or nervous around them, especially if she felt as if she was being surrounded.

"Mrs. Davis, do you mind if I join you?" Tony asked when he reached her table.

The woman eyed him up and down, as if scrutinizing his every move. Ada kept glancing over her shoulder as she sat at a table not far from them, hoping to look as inconspicuous as possible. She wasn't exactly old enough to be at the bar in the first place. But being with Tony had its perks. She had quickly learned how to blend in with the crowd when it was necessary.

"Free country," she replied with a shrug.

Her voice was already a little slurred, and,Ada couldn't help but eye her warily after realizing she'd already had a few too many drinks.

"Yeah, it is," Tony nodded in response before taking a seat.

"Alright. Where'd you like to start?"

The woman's straight-to-the-point question caught Ada by surprise. She wasn't expecting her to get down to business right away. Though, she was probably hoping to get them out of her hair as quickly as possible so that she could go back to drinking.

That's not the way I'd wanna spend my Christmas, she thought with a slight wrinkle of her nose. Though, she understood why Mrs. Davis had been drinking so often. It was obvious she was using the grief of her slain husband as an excuse to drink away her sorrow.

"First off, I just wanna say I'm sorry about your loss," Tony apologized after realizing the woman had beaten him to the bullet, "I want to know what you think happened."

He cast a side glance in Ada's direction, as if hoping for her input. She merely shrugged, already aware that the wrong thing to do now was interfere. The woman may have been drunk off her ass, but, that didn't mean she wasn't suspicious of Tony's presence.

"Look, I brought your damn file. You take it and go," she snapped after narrowing her eyes at Tony. She tossed a manila folder onto the table, pushing it in front of him, "Whatever was in here, he wanted no part of it."

Before Tony could say anything, Ada finally reached over and grabbed the file. She ignored the glare that followed, eyeing the file thoughtfully as she noticed the picture within. A man stood in the picture beside Mrs. Davis, and both looked surprisingly happy.

"Was this taken before he was deployed?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah," the woman replied with a nod.

Tony rose an eyebrow when he began piecing two and two together. Though, Ada had already reached the conclusion that something had happened to her husband while he was serving. She knew that it was somehow connected with the bombing he was involved in.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Tony asked in a whisper as he realized she reached the same conclusion.

Or, at least that was what she hoped.

"That he suffered from post traumatic stress, or, some kind of depression after returning?" she quipped, "And that whoever got a hold of him took advantage of it."

Her father's brows furrowed together at that, telling her that was the last thing on his mind, "Actually, I'm thinking that you clearly were waiting for someone else, yeah?" He turned to the woman, who was watching the pair incredulously when she noticed how close they were.

"Yeah," the woman said with a characteristic snort.

"Well, Mrs. Davis, I can guarantee that your husband wasn't responsible for this attack," Ada cut in before Tony could make things anymore awkward, "Someone was using him."

Not for the first time, she thought of what research they'd found while on the BUS. Though it hadn't been much, they'd discovered a drug known as Extremis that was being passed down to people who served in the military, and suffered from serious injuries. The research itself was too new, but, she knew Jemma and Leo were working their best to figure out what Extremis was about, and the side-effects involved.

"What?" Mrs. Davis frowned after hearing that statement, eyeing both Tony and Ada suspiciously.

"As a weapon," Tony finished, though, Ada doubted that was helping.

"Whoever he had contact with decided to use him as a living weapon, and he paid the price for their greed," she concluded under her breath.

By now, Mrs. Davis had all-but dropped her guard and stared at them as if they were insane. Though, Ada wouldn't have been surprised if people did believe that. After everything that had happened, their lives were pretty much insane.

"You're not the person who called me after all, are you?" she finally asked.

"Actually, I am."

Ada reacted out of sheer instinct when she felt a hand reach over her shoulder. The woman from earlier had suddenly returned, and just as she was about to grab Ada's arm, she wrenched it out of her reach and kicked her square in the shin.

"Hey, hey, hey! What's this all about? What the hell is going on here?" Someone finally reacted from the scene the woman was causing, eyes wide and alert as he tried figuring out who instigated the fight.

"It's called an arrest," the woman explained as she decided to go for an easier target – Tony. She pushed him to the floor after managing to recover from Ada's kick, pulling out a pair of handcuffs while holding him down. "Sheriff, is it?"

She added the last part with a honey-sweet tone, and it took everything Ada had not to roll her eyes in disgust.

"Yes, ma'am, I am. And you are?"

The sheriff eyed the woman cautiously, hand gripping the gun in his pocket holster while Ada glared at her. If this woman was anything like the people who were responsible for the recent attacks, Ada knew she would be dangerous. Getting her out of the bar now before she caused more damage was the best choice she could make.

"Homeland Security," the woman replied, handing out what looked like an official badge.

Ada just snorted at the badge, already seeing a red flag form in the back of her mind, "I'll believe that load of bullshit when I see it," she scoffed, earning a glare from the woman as Tony struggled against his restraints, "My father's done nothing wrong; you can't just arrest someone without proof they've done something wrong."

"She's right; without a warrant, this is illegal," the sheriff nodded in agreement.

The woman let out a huff of frustration when she realized they weren't about to be swayed. Ada hadn't missed the small gesture Tony made to Mrs. Davis to hide the file before the woman could grab it. Luckily, she caught on and did just that, frowning after seeing this was more than just a simple arrest.

"Alright, you know what? I was hoping we could do this the smart way, but, uh… the fun way's always good."

No one was prepared for what happened next. The woman's hand began to glow an eerie, almost hateful shade of red. Ada's stomach twisted with worry as she recognized it as the same glow from the man at the Chinese Theater. The sheriff had already begun trying to gather his men to arrest the woman, but by then, it was too late.

"Ada, get out of here, now!" Tony snapped after realizing too late what was about to happen.

Her mouth opened in the beginning of an argument. She hated being left in the dark, but Tony was right. This wasn't her fight, and the less people who saw her powers in the public, the better off everyone was.

With a final glare at the woman who began turning things into chaos, she ran before things could get any worse. The crowd of spectators moved just in time to avoid getting shoved out of the way. She wasn't in any hurry to get caught in the crossfires, or let them get caught in the crossfire, themselves.

She managed to push her way through the crowd just as the woman from earlier began firing at Tony. As he led her to another building nearby, Ada soon realized that the woman wasn't alone. She'd brought backup, along with Savin, the man responsible for Happy's accident.

"I was wondering when I would get to see your face again, Miss Stark," he sneered after reaching her. Flames instinctively danced along the tip of her fingers as she glared back. After the way he'd left without so much as a scratch during the man's attack on the Chinese theater, she wasn't taking any chances. "The boss wants someone with your abilities on our side."

"Yeah? Well, you can tell him to suck it," she retorted.

Before he could make sense of what she meant, she threw a fireball in his direction. It wasn't enough to hit him, but it left him a reminder that she wasn't an easy target.

"You know, we were quite impressed after finding out what you're capable of," Savin went on as if nothing happened. Ada narrowed her eyes with hate as he looked at her mockingly. "The possibilities are endless, and it would be such a shame to see such talent go to waste."

She was ready to spit something in response when an explosion suddenly racked the area. Ada's eyes widened in alarm as she realized Tony was nowhere to be seen. The woman who had been chasing him was gone as well. Her heart lurched with panic as she noticed the building nearby was now up in flames, and collapsing under from the heat.

"Do you really think I'm going to let you take me after everything you've done?" she snapped, hoping to regain her composure.

Savin's smirk told her that he didn't buy it one bit, "Oh, I think you will… after all, you wouldn't want us hurting your daddy, would you?"

Fury swept through her at the mention of Tony. They'd already caused enough damage by hurting innocent people. The last thing she wanted was for Tony to get hurt along the way. Though he could take more than a few hits, she knew she could have easily prevented it from happening. Her fists clenched at the thought. As much as she hated to admit it, giving herself up would at least buy Tony enough time to slip away and finish the job, once and for all. Hopefully by then, these people would be taken care of by SHIELD.

"Alright," she finally relented, ignoring the look of surprise that followed, "I'll go, but only if you promise to leave this town and my father alone."

"We have a deal," Savin replied without missing a beat.

Though, one look told her that this was far from over. Ada swallowed hard, and sent a silent prayer that Tony would get his act together before things went from bad to worse.

AN: I understand that this chapter is worlds different from the movie. To anyone who may still be reading this (I know you are; the views on the legacy stat don't lie), I apologize if that throws you off. I'd love to hear some feedback on how this is going. I've also been thinking of writing one-shots revolving around Ada and the team, but I wouldn't mind getting requests from the readers if they're interested. So, with that being said, please let me know what you thought of this chapter, and what you think of the one-shot requests :)

Also, the song 'Cages' by NEEDTOBREATHE kind of holds a special place in my heart. They performed it live in concert when we saw them with Mat Kearney, and it was just a beautiful song. If you ever get the chance to hear it, I would highly recommend it. It's worth checking out, along with their other albums.