it's been a WHOLE brick wall since i've posted. my deepest apologies! And this is a short chapter for a comeback, so again - apologies!
To Guest: Thank you so much! And here is your update :)
To Jack Redhawke: The cover of this story shows what her flight suit looks like, for her armor, I picture it as the Rescue armor, usually red and gold but occasionally changing colors for stealh purposes.
To Bvh: Sorry for the long wait, I don't have chapters pre-written and I don't have a ton of free time.
To Mimzy94: Hehe...your request has been granted (at least a bit?) And thank you so much for the compliments! That means a lot to me :)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Talia
WAYNE MANOR
October 17, 01:32 EDT
Tony was shaking with anger as he landed in front of Wayne Manor. It was almost three in the morning, well past the time any polite person should pay a friend a visit, but Tony didn't care. He stormed up the steps, pounding on the heavy doors. He was relieved when Alfred answered promptly - if he hadn't been asleep, which meant that Bruce wasn't either.
"Master Anthony." Alfred's voice was surprised. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"
"Hello, Alfred," Tony replied, just managing to remember his manners. "I need to speak with Bruce." Alfred's face changed, his expression going sad. To Tony's surprise, the elderly butler didn't try to argue. Instead he just dipped his head in quiet acquiescence.
"Master Bruce is in his study." Tony muttered a thank-you, heading down the hallway. He turned left, pushing through the heavy wooden doors and into Bruce's office.
The younger man looked up wearily as Tony stormed in. He didn't stand, looking at the other billionaire as Tony glared down at Bruce.
"What were you thinking?" Tony's voice was a low hiss as he stared at his old friend. Bruce sighed, rubbing his temples distractedly. He didn't need to ask what Tony was talking about. The entire Team had been so traumatized, Talia's distress would have been clear to her father.
"It went wrong," Bruce said quietly. He offered no other semblance of explanation and Tony rolled his eyes.
"No shit," he replied coldly. "That's not good enough, Bruce. Talia came home fresh-off one of the worst panic attacks I've ever seen her have. She could barely get the story out to me. What the hell were you thinking?" Bruce didn't answer. He shook his head slowly, gazing at Tony unseeingly.
There was a long beat of silence. Then Tony sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat.
"How's Dick?" Tony asked, sinking into the chair opposite Bruce. The younger man's face twitched, and he dropped his gaze.
"He'll be fine," Bruce said, finally. Tony had known Bruce long enough to know that that was about the most concern that Bruce would show in front of anyone, Tony included. Still, a small flare of anger rippled through Tony, and he rose to his feet once more.
"'He'll be fine,'" Tony quoted. He slammed his hand down on Bruce's desk. "That's the part I don't get. How you are so fucking cavalier about this. That's your kid, Bruce. And yeah – he'll be fine. Talia will be fine, Peter will be fine. They'll all be fine, Bruce. Eventually. Time heals all wounds and that shit, right?" Tony scoffed. "But what I'm worried about is them right now."
"Tony." The inventor turned around, fully ready to yell at Bruce again. Something about the expression on Bruce's face stopped him, and Tony stared at his friend. Bruce looked up, his eyes piercing.
"You and I both know that time doesn't heal all wounds," Bruce said quietly, his voice severe. "They will be fine." There was a long, slow beat of silence, and then Bruce added. "That doesn't mean I'm not sorry."
Tony let out a long, slow breath, slightly stunned. He and Bruce had clashed heads over the years, time and time again. It almost always ended the same way – they patched things up over drinks and planned ideas for more multi-million-dollar collaborations. Tony was pretty sure he could count the number of times either of them had actually apologized to the other on one hand. He let out another slow breath.
His anger wasn't gone in the slightest. Truly, he wasn't sure if he could ever truly forgive Bruce for what he'd done. The devastated look on Talia's face would forever be engrained into his brain, an unwanted memory. But still...Bruce's apology held a weight that Tony couldn't ignore. It didn't make things okay, but it was something.
"Thank you."
MOUNT JUSTICE
October 23, 17:21 EDT
Talia sat on the couch in the Cave's den, gazing at the wall unseeingly. Her fingers were absent-mindedly plucking at the threads of the baseball cap in her hand. She sat with her back pointedly towards the kitchen, but she was still faintly aware of her friends around her, the buzz of static from the TV, the sound of M'gann cooking, but she felt adrift.
The last time she'd felt like this…
*FLASHBACK*
Talia knew something was wrong the minute she'd stepped out of her room. The house was too quiet – she couldn't hear the chatter of her mom and dad as they bantered over breakfast, she couldn't smell the coffee they were always drinking. It was what Talia always woke up to when her mom came to pick her up.
"Dad?" Talia called hesitantly. He was sitting on the sofa, holding his head in his hands. Her heart thudded. "Dad, is everything okay?"
Tony looked up at his daughter, his eyes rimmed red from crying. Talia stared back at him, her eyes wide and fearful. Tony swallowed hard.
"Widget…" he whispered. "Come here." Talia walked over to her father, sitting down on the couch next to him. Her throat was tight – she had no idea what was going on, but her stomach was churning with the anticipation of bad news.
"What happened?" she whispered. Tony pulled Talia into a hug, whispering the words that sounded so loud even over the pounding of her heart.
"Talia, there was an accident," Tony said. "Your mom…mom's gone, Widget. I'm so sorry."
*END FLASHBACK*
"Just leave me alone!" Conner's voice echoed throughout the walls of the Cave, snapping Talia out of her painful memory. She shook her head, her chest tightening uncomfortably as the clone stormed past the rest of his friends and Black Canary followed him. The Leaguer watched him go, her eyes sad.
Therapy. Talia despised therapy, but apparently this was mandatory, or she was off the Team. Talia would have balked even under that ultimatum, but Tony stepped in.
*FLASHBACK*
"Widget, you have to talk to someone," Tony said, sitting on the bed next to Talia. "Even if Bruce wasn't making this mandatory, I'd make you." His teenage daughter was hugging a pillow to her chest, staring at the wall opposite of her. She glowered at the white surface facing her.
"No way," she said, making a face. "I hate therapy. Besides, I'm fine."
"Right," Tony said, sarcastically. "You're 'fine,' which is why you've been skipping school, meals, and training. You've barely left your room."
"So?" Tony sighed. He wished he didn't have to make this ultimatum, but Talia was leaving him no choice.
"Okay, Widget." He got to his feet. "Listen. You either go to the Cave right now and talk to Black Canary like the rest of your friends, or I'll make you talk to Sam Wilson." Talia pulled a face and Tony nodded. "That's what I thought. Now get going."
*END FLASHBACK*
"Talia?" Black Canary called the mutant's name, making her look up. "Would you like to go next?"
Not really, Talia thought to herself. She sighed, rising to her feet to follow the blonde woman back into the waterfall room of the Cave. Peter lifted his head as Talia passed, but she couldn't muster the energy to give the boy a smile.
The chair squeaked as Talia lowered herself into it, and Black Canary sat across from her. Talia leaned forward, clasping her hands in her lap and staring at them as they trembled. Her fingers itched for the baseball cap that she'd put on her head, but she didn't want to give anything more to Black Canary to psychoanalyze than what was necessary.
"Talia," Black Canary began, her voice calm and clinically warm. "I understand that these past days must have been painful for you." Talia snorted slightly, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, something like that," she muttered, leaning back in her seat sullenly. Her fingers twitched again, and Black Canary frowned.
"You've been in therapy before, correct?"
"Never willingly," Talia said with a sigh. "But yeah, after my dad disappeared and after my mom died."
"And was it helpful?" Talia was quiet for a moment, considering.
"Depends on your definition of helpful," she whispered after a moment. "It doesn't make the hurt go away." Black Canary nodded sympathetically, leaning forwards as if she was expecting Talia to continue.
Talia knew what she wanted to talk about, she knew what she needed help getting past. But she couldn't voice it, wasn't sure how to. No matter what she said she was going to sound like an awful person. She groped for words, and finally found her tongue. But when she spoke, the words that came out weren't the ones she meant to say.
"At the end of the exercise, I was dying," Talia said quietly. She felt like she was listening to someone else speak. "And I was recalling a conversation I had with my father. He said I was too much like him, and that's something I've heard over and over." Talia drew in a shaky breath. "For the first time, I didn't want to be like him. And I'm..." Talia struggled to find the right words. "I'm a bad person."
There. Maybe that was close enough.
"Talia, you are not a bad person." Black Canary almost sounded confused. "Your father is a great man, but he has made mistakes. So have many other great men and women. You can be like your father and still be your own person, you know that? You can learn from his mistakes."
"Yeah," Talia mumbled. She was wrong, it hadn't been close enough. That affirmation felt good, but it couldn't help the rotting, ugly feeling in her chest she got every time she looked at -
Talia rose to her feet suddenly, rubbing a hand across her forehead. "Can I go now?"
Black Canary sighed, watching as Talia visibly closed off before her very eyes. The therapist nodded gently, wondering what the girl wasn't saying and why.
"You can go. Send Artemis in on the way. If you want to talk again -"
"I know where to find you," Talia agreed, already heading out of the room. She passed through the hallway quickly, her heart pounding with the desire to get out of the Cave. She felt like she was disconnected from the rest of her body as she called to Artemis to go in after her. Her feet carried her through the living room, past her friends and towards the side exit of the Cave.
"Talia?" M'gann called after her. Talia froze, her heart rate picking up as M'gann spoke quietly, sadly. "I - I just put some cookies in the oven. Maybe they'll cheer us all up, would you like to stay?"
"Um," Talia mumbled, not turning around. She couldn't look M'gann in the eye. "I - I can't."
Talia fled.
AVENGERS COMPOUND
October 24, 03:41 EDT
Talia barely noticed what time it was as she typed feverishly on her computer, her eyes glazed over as she stared at the numbers on her computer. She was compulsively running the data they'd been collecting from Vision, making sure he was showing no signs of the homocidal urges that Ultron had. She was so engrossed that she didn't notice the footsteps approaching, or the heavy sigh of her companion.
Wanda had just gotten up to get a glass of water, but the light coming from the lab downstairs had caught her attention. If it had been Tony, she would have left, but it was Talia sitting there. Her face was puffy and the bags under her eyes were dark.
"Talia." The disapproval in Wanda's voice weighed heavily on the younger girl, but she lifted her chin stubbornly.
"What?" she replied peevishly, curling her arm around her laptop and pulling it closer to her. The Sokovian girl stared at her younger friend incredulously, the silence taught. Things had been awkward between them since Vision.
Still, it killed Wanda to see Talia upset. She felt a responsibility of sorts towards her. Wanda had lost her entire immediate family - the only blood relative she had left was Peter Maximoff, an American cousin she'd never even met in person until five years ago. She thought of Talia like her little sister.
"Go to sleep," Wanda said with a sigh. "It's almost four in the morning, and tomorrow's Monday."
"It doesn't matter, I'm not going to school," Talia muttered, turning back to her laptop. Wanda sighed again, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to Talia. The half-Korean girl stared steadfastly forwards. Her lips were trembling.
"Why are you avoiding school?" Wanda asked. Talia shook her head and Wanda closed the laptop, forcing Talia to look at her in irritation. "Talk to me."
"I already had therapy," Talia replied evasively, glaring at the table. Wanda didn't respond. She knew how to get Talia to open up. She could wait out the younger girl's impatience.
"I don't want them to read my thoughts," she said finally, her voice small. She was tugging at the threads on her baseball cap now. "I'm...I'm a terrible person."
"I'm a telepath, too," Wanda reminded Talia, trying to keep her voice light. Talia's face twisted uncomfortably.
"Yours is different. You have to try, it's less invasive. Jean and the Professor just do." Wanda sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. She scooted a bit closer to Talia.
"And, you don't want people to read your thoughts because you're angry at your friend, and you don't want your privacy to be invaded again," Wanda suggested, filling in the blanks. But Talia was already shaking her head, her face contorted with guilt.
"You don't understand." Talia turned away, ashamed of her own feelings. She felt terrible for feeling this way. "I - I'm not mad at M'gann. Or - I'm not just mad at M'gann. It's worse."
"It's okay," Wanda soothed Talia. "Whatever it is, Lia, you can tell me." Talia swallowed hard, staring at the ground. Finally, she breathed out the truth that she'd been fighting against since the end of the simulation.
"I...I'm scared of her." Wanda sat back, surprise flickering across her face. Talia's eyes were downcast, scrutinizing the ground. "I know it's unfair," Talia whispered. "I know I'm a terrible person. I know M'gann didn't mean to, but..." Talia took a deep, shaky breath. "She reached into my head and pulled out my worst fear. My friends were dead, and I was alive, and I couldn't do anything."
There was a moment of heavy silence as Wanda absorbed this.
"It was I who made you scared of telepaths in the first place," Wanda said quietly, feeling guilty. Talia shook her head.
"It's not your fault," Talia said, somewhat unconvincingly. She didn't blame Wanda, not anymore, but it was an indisputable fact that Talia's mistrust of telepaths went back to her first encounter with Wanda.
The mutate was quiet for a moment, studying the younger girl. An idea occurred to her. Wanda leaned over to Talia, her fingers out stretched gently.
"May I?" she requested permission. Talia blinked in confusion, and then understanding flickered over her face. She nodded, slowly, but she couldn't erase the wary look from her face.
Wanda concentrated, her red magic swirling from her fingers and towards Talia's face. The girl couldn't stop herself from cringing back slightly, but as Wanda entered her head, she relaxed.
The telepath sifted through Talia's brain gently, pulling out memories. She showed Talia flashbacks of the Team - of M'gann.
On the beach...the Martian holding out a tray of fresh baked cookies with a grin, trying popcorn for the first time, her eyes wide with delight. Helping Talia up after a sparring session, playing board games with her, listening to her ramble about something that absolutely no one else cared about just to be polite.
M'gann saving Talia's life, over and over, in missions.
"She is your friend," Wanda's voice broke through the memories as they swirled before Talia's eyes. Wanda's voice was gentle - a reminder, not a reprimand. "You shouldn't be scared of her."
The images dissipated, and Wanda watched Talia anxiously, wondering if she'd made things worse. To her relief, the other girl was smiling slightly. She looked up at Wanda, her eyes shining.
"Thank you."
Even after Wanda had worked her magic, it was hard for Talia to get to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the alien ships, the people she loved being zapped into nothingness. But now that her fear and anger had faded somewhat, she could focus on another feeling - one of a deeper fear.
Earth was so unprepared. Sure, it had been a simulation, but it had taken them nothing to invade. Earth was completely defenseless.
She sat up, a thought occurring to her. Reaching over to her bedside table, Talia groped for her glasses and flicked the switch on the lamp. Blinking at the sudden light, she tossed the covers back and padded across the room. She straightened the glasses onto her face as she slid into her desk chair. She powered up her laptop and surrounding computers with a quick touch of a button.
"FRIDAY," she whispered, speaking to the new AI that Tony had set up after JARVIS had been incorporated into Vision.
"Yes ma'am?" Talia chewed on her lip, considering her next words very carefully. She knew it - Starks had hubris. She was in the exact position to make the same mistake her father had.
But she couldn't just sit by and do nothing. She would do it right. She would learn from Tony's mistakes, just as Black Canary had told her too. Talia nodded to herself, speaking again.
"Start new project file - locked, please."
"Project name?" FRIDAY prompted. Talia tilted her head to the side, drumming her fingers against the desktop thoughtfully.
"Ultron Initiative 2.0: Secure Altruistic Firewall for Earth's Galactic Unfriendlies: AI/Robot Defense..." Talia smiled. "SAFEGUARD."
i'm sorry, you guys deserve more than 3000 words after three months. but this is such a short episode and i just wanted to get something out for y'all. hope this is okay.
anyways, reading your reviews really puts a smile on my face! please please pretty please give me feedback!