The exchange was to take place in an old warehouse just outside the city. Nat and Wanda had helped Sam to wrap plastic wrap around herself to cover the bandages and minimize the smell of blood. Sam wore clean clothes over the layer of plastic and bandages. Only Tony and Thor planned to enter the warehouse with her. The others would wait outside, taking up positions where they could help if they were needed.
The two SUVs carrying the Avengers had just pulled into the parking lot at the warehouse when Sam's cell phone pinged.
"That had better not be Scaro," Sam said, taking out her phone to check the message. She read the message and her face turned deathly pale.
"What is it?" Tony asked her.
"It's Dan…" She said, visibly shaken by his message. "He wants me to come back. He says I've played rich kid long enough and it's time to go home."
"Ignore him. In fact, block his number. You're not going back there." Tony said.
Her phone pinged a second time. "He says he's at the station and he's using a GPS tracker on my phone and that if I don't come home in an hour then a squad car will come get me."
"He's not taking you anywhere," Tony told her, "Let's just deal with Scaro and after that we'll take care of Dan."
Sam nodded and opened the car door.
"Actually, let me see your phone. I can disable the tracking." Tony said and when she passed him the phone he simply pulled out the battery.
They entered the warehouse through a regular door next to one of the garage bays. It was dimly lit inside. The large open space housed a spaceship as well as multiple shelves of various tools and junk. In the far end of the warehouse was something huge and metallic just sitting there. Adamantium. There was also an opening in the roof nearly the same size as the ship. Scaro came wandering out from around the other side of the ship. He was seven feet tall and humanoid but rather ugly for a human with a large nose and ears and a protruding forehead. He could pass for human but only because no one expected him to be alien.
"Multi Signal girl!" Scaro rasped, sounding happy to see her. "You are taller since I last saw you. This surprises me since I do not think your guardian treated you well. How did you find strength to grow?"
Sam looked confused that he knew so much about her. "I have your shield generator." She said, not answering his question.
"Yes and you have brought guards?"
"Something like that," She admitted.
"This saddens me, Multi-Signal girl." Scaro said rather dramatically. "You do not need protection from me. I told you, I only eat criminals. My people never eat sentient beings on my home world but since I am trapped here, I am forced to survive somehow. I would not harm you, especially not when you are helping me return home."
"I appreciate that but they're staying with me all the same," Sam said a little warily.
"As you wish," Scaro replied as he opened the door to his ship and led the way inside.
"Hold up," Tony said, taking Sam's arm and stopping her from entering the ship. "I think it would be best if Scaro were to wait outside the ship with Thor while Sam installs the shield. He can come in and test everything once you're done." He didn't want to be trapped inside an alien ship with that guy.
Scaro growled at this idea but he turned and exited the ship anyway. "Go then," He sputtered at Sam.
She went into the ship with Tony while Thor and Scaro waited outside. "You know where to go?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, he sent me schematics of the ship when he contacted me two years ago." She said, heading straight for the place where the broken shield generator was.
Tony helped her to take out the old generator. She didn't ask for his help but her hands were shaking and he was pretty sure she could use a little assistance. She didn't refuse his help. She actually looked a little thankful when he lifted the new shield generator into place so she could plug it into the system.
"Okay, now we need to go to the bridge and run a diagnostic." Sam said, relieved that at least one part of it was over with.
They reached the bridge and found it looked like something out of science fiction. "I want one of these," Tony said, a little amazed. "You still have those schematics he sent you? I want to build one of these."
"Yeah, I still have them." Sam said, heading for one of the stations with a computer.
"Hey, that isn't English," He noticed the alien language on the screen. "How are you gonna…?"
Sam typed something into the panel. "It's fine. I learned Gentari two years ago when he sent me all this stuff. I kinda got a little obsessed with it, with the ship and the language and the possibility of travel to other worlds. It helped keep me sane with everything going on at home."
"Right." He could see how that could happen.
"Crap," Sam muttered as she watched the screen.
"Something wrong with the diagnostic?"
"No, it's fine. I just found his list of victims. They really are all criminals. Maybe he was telling the truth about that." Sam said, a little skeptically.
"Maybe that's not the whole list."
"Good point."
"Anyway, the diagnostic is good. Ship's computer says the shield is working and compatible." Sam said and the two of them headed back towards the exit.
Scaro was waiting for them just outside his ship. "I will run my own diagnostic now. If I am satisfied that the shield is functional, I will leave the metal here for you as promised."
"Scaro does not seem so disagreeable as we were led to expect," Thor said as Scaro left them.
"He eats people, remember?" Tony pointed out.
"I have not forgotten." Thor said.
A short time later they heard Scaro growling and shuffling back out the exit of the ship. "Multi- Signal girl should leave now. Right now!"
"W-what? Why?" She asked, he hadn't had enough time to run a diagnostic yet and he seemed upset. "The shield works. I know it does!"
"It is not about the shield. Your guardian, the one who hurt you, has nearly arrived. You must go. He is very angry." Scaro told them.
"You're telepathic," Tony said, it finally making sense.
"Yes, and she must go. He has brought many police officers. He has told them that the girl was stolen from him. They will kill to get her back." Scaro explained.
"So what do we do?" Sam asked no one in particular.
"Do they have news vans out there too?" Tony asked. "Seems like the kidnapping of a cop's kid would be news worthy."
Scaro thought for a moment, as if searching for other minds in the area. "Indeed they do."
"Good. What's Dan's number? I'm gonna call him." Tony said. Sam looked skeptical but she gave him the number anyhow. "This is Tony Stark," he said the moment Dan picked up. "You need to pack up all your officers and leave right now."
"Where is Sam? Is she okay?" Dan asked. Tony knew he probably had to say that because some of his fellow officers were standing right there listening. Still, the man did a pretty good job of sounding concerned.
"If you don't leave in the next fifteen minutes, I have a file I'm gonna send to that news crew out there. When they get it, the result will be that you will no longer have a job or freedom."
"What file? Look, Sam has a very serious mental illness. Whatever you think you have, you've got it all wrong. Sometimes she hurts herself. She throws herself down the stairs and then she call 911 and tells them I beat her up. But I never hurt that kid. Never." Dan insisted. "So send whatever file you want. I don't care...just let me talk to her. I wanna hear that she's okay."
"No, you're not talking to her," Tony said, a little frustrated that he was losing his advantage because of Dan's story that his crimes were gonna be passed off as Sam's mental illness.
"I'll talk to him," Sam spoke up.
"No way," Tony put the phone down for a moment. "You'll probably have nightmares for a week."
"I have an idea. Please?" She asked.
Reluctantly, Tony handed her the phone. "Dan?"
"Sam? Are you alright?" Dan answered.
"You can stop the charade now. It's over. I went to the hospital two nights ago. They have proof now of what you did to me." Sam told him. "You need to tell your people to leave, and then come in here unarmed."
"Sam...don't do this to me…" Dan actually sounded worried.
"Send your people away, and get in here." Sam handed the phone back to Tony.
"You heard her. You got ten minutes." Tony said and he ended the call.
"What do you expect we will do with him when he enters this place?" Thor asked her.
"Nothing. We're not gonna be here. It will just be Dan and Scaro." Sam said, heading for the back door. "Maybe he needs some rations for his journey home."
Scaro perked up at that. "I could eat him for you Multi-Signal girl. He was very cruel to you. I could eat him slowly."
"Wait a minute," Tony said to Sam, "You can't just-"
"It is done!" Scaro interrupted, angry. "I am hungry. I have smelled her blood for nearly an hour. I will eat the cruel man and I will go home. She offered him to me. It is done."
"Well, technically it's not actually done yet," Tony said.
"The police officers are leaving," Scaro said. "The cruel man is coming here. I can eat him or I can eat her. You decide."
"You're not eating her." Tony said, "And I'm pretty sure Thor and I could stop you from eating anyone."
"I do not wish to stop him," Thor said. "Not unless you tell me that the man called Dan will face justice for his crimes against your daughter."
Tony was pretty sure whatever Dan might face, it wouldn't be justice. Even if they did manage to convict him for a crime, no amount of time in jail could make up for the things he had done to Sam. "I don't wish to stop him either." Tony said after a moment. "Come on Sam, let's get out of here."
"Sorry to interrupt Sir," Jarvis spoke to Tony at work with the rest of the Avengers. "Sam has left school early and is on her way here."
"Why did she leave early?" Tony mused aloud.
"Maybe something happened?" Nat added, not so helpfully. For the past six months the team had been just as concerned for Sam's well being as Tony had. It was as if she were their mascot.
"I'm sure nothing happened," Bruce said. "Nothing big anyway. University can be stressful. Maybe she just cut class."
"University can be stressful?" Clint asked, annoyed. "This from one of the smartest people in the room. Which part was stressful? Getting good grades or getting all the professors to love you?"
"Getting the other students to understand…" Bruce said.
Tony nodded agreement but said nothing on the matter. Moments later the elevator doors opened and Sam came rushing in. She looked happy, not sad or upset.
"I have the best news! Can you guess what it is?" She was beaming.
"You have a boyfriend?" Wanda made a guess.
"How is that good news?" Tony asked.
"Nope. Not that," Sam said.
"You invented something new?" Steve suggested.
"Well, I did just yesterday, but not that….never mind, I'll just tell you. As of an hour ago, I just made my first million dollars!"
"Huh," Tony said. "I was gonna buy you a new car but I guess you can buy your own."
"You can still buy me a car." Sam said. "I probably wouldn't say no if you did."
"Then I still will." Tony said. "And even though you didn't quite outsell Stark Industries in your first year, you still did really well. I'm proud of you kid."
"Thank you so much Dad," She said, hugging him briefly. "And all of you. I couldn't have done it without you. To celebrate, dinner is on me tonight."
After dinner at a fancy restaurant with all of the Avengers Tony and Sam went home and watched a movie that evening, more thankful for each other's company than for all the money in the world.