It wasn't long after the Bomberman attack. Barely a day had passed since then. Tony had spent the better part of the previous afternoon trying to convince the rest of his present team mates (Steve, Bruce) that yes, he had just found a child psychic ("Technically, she'd be telekinetic," Steve had interrupted, surprising everybody) and no, he wasn't hallucinating from a hard knock to the head.
"I told you, okay?" he said at last, throwing up his hands. "I know what I saw, and I know what I felt. I was thrown off her. There was no one else around. And you've seen the feed from my helmet. She stopped the bomb. What else could she be but a psychic?"
"Telekinetic," Steve said again, but without heart. His eyes were intent on the video clip being looped in front of him. "If you're right – and I'm not saying you are," he added at Tony's triumphant look. "How strong do you think she would be?"
Tony crossed his arms and glared. "Does the Iron Man suit look like a stick to you, Cap?" His words were mocking, with an extra bite that made Steve bristle where he stood. "It's made of the lightest titanium with the strength of a fighter jet's armor, and I still weigh more than four hundred pounds in that. Not just anybody can throw me around."
"The Hulk can," Bruce said dryly, keeping a wary eye on the growing tension between the two. It said a lot that he felt more tired than nervous about the argument about to blow. Bruce almost wished it would, if it weren't for the radiation humming under his skin. Every time Steve came over, Tony tried to push every button on him he could find; and when Steve tried to keep the peace he inadvertently said something that made Tony close off. Things had gotten even worse after Steve had mentioned he was looking for a place to stay in Brooklyn. Tony acted like that was the most insulting thing he'd ever heard, and Steve was left puzzled and annoyed because he thought they didn't get along anyway, so why was Tony mad?
Tony's eyes darted to Bruce, successfully distracted. His posture relaxed by a smidge. "The Hulk can throw anybody." His glare blossomed into a gleeful smile. He rubbed his hands. "For example, a certain puny god-"
"Tony." Bruce groaned and covered his face in his hands. Somehow, despite having to power the massive death ray opening a portal of doom in the sky, the Tower surveillance system had managed to catch some footage of the Hulk – as a Youtuber had put it – pwning Loki. Tony had salvaged it from the wreck, polished it, and posted it online. It had gone viral within minutes. If it just so happened to match the time the authorities started muttering about "reparations", "dangerous", and "the Hulk", well, who would know? Not Tony, that's for sure.
Bruce didn't buy it for a minute.
Released from the impending blowout, Steve had gone back to studying the video. Bruce hadn't missed the way his lips twitched in amusement, however. If he didn't know better, he would have also categorized the shift in his shoulders as relief. "JARVIS," Steve said suddenly, drawing Bruce and Tony out of their little camaraderie session. "Is there any way for you to slow this video down?"
For a man out of time, Steve had adjusted to the idea of JARVIS and holographic displays pretty well, in a way that had left Tony spluttering. Pepper had rolled her eyes at his wounded pride and pointed out that, for Steve, it didn't matter how futuristic something was. For him, everything was futuristic. So a thinking computer wouldn't be any more amazing than a metal suit that let a man fly. That didn't stop Tony from sulking, of course.
"Of course, Captain." The AI's smooth voice flowed from the speakers. Bruce turned his attention to the video again, trying to see what Steve was looking for. His brow furrowed, as he watched the camera pan up until it was looking straight at a small, teenage girl. She had her hand up, palm raised in a gesture that seemed to ward off the small, blinking ball hanging in the air in front of her. Bruce would have brushed it off as a glitch if he didn't know just how high tech all of Tony's equipment was. That, and the rest of the screen was still moving, even if the bomb was not.
"There," Steve said, jabbing his finger at the hologram. "Did you see that?" He looked around, only to find incomprehension on his team mate's faces. He turned back, the furrow in his brow all but declaring his impatience. "JARVIS, can you play it back? Slower this time."
JARVIS obliged, making the fuzzy frames move at an agonizing rate. Bruce blinked and straightened his glasses, unconsciously leaning forward to see better.
"It moved," he said aloud, his eyes wide. He couldn't keep the incredulous tone out of his voice.
"What? What did?" Tony whirled around. "JARVIS, play it back-"
"The last few seconds," Steve added, narrowing it down. All three men watched as the girl stared at the bomb in shock.
The bomb turned into a blurry hotdog, then the screen went white.
Tony spoke first. "Ha! Ha, you see that? Did you see that?" He made two finger guns, shot the display, and haphazardly shot Cap and Bruce too. He ended with a sweeping spin and pumping fists. "I was right! She is psychic!" Never let it be said that Tony Stark missed an opportunity to rub his superiority in another person's face.
Steve gently massaged the bridge of his nose. Banner wasn't quite sure if it made him look terribly young or saddeningly old.
"So!" Tony pointed at the screen. "Who is she? Where is she? Chop chop, JARVIS, can't leave randomly superpowered kids with civilians for long, you know how teenagers are…"
Bruce spared a breath for a chuckle. The video floating in midair shrank and moved to the side, to be replaced by a close-up of the girl's face (from when Tony had been trying to rouse her, Bruce remembered) and blue lines as JARVIS scanned it and started searching for matches. Several windows popped up as the results started streaming in.
"She appears to be Lisa Olsen, fifteen years old," JARVIS said, enlarging a missing poster. The girl – Lisa – looked much younger, with round, rosy cheeks and a shy smile. He continued his summary, blowing up the relevant articles as he went on. "She was reported missing by her family two years ago, and has been sighted in several states since. She has a police record, with charges under petty thievery and trespassing."
"So, a runaway," Tony said, glancing at his teammates for confirmation.
"Looks like it." Steve nodded. "Got her powers, parents didn't react kindly to it… you think?"
"But then why the missing poster?" Bruce gestured at the flyer still hanging in front of them. "If she ran away because they rejected her, they wouldn't post that, right?"
"What about this?" Steve pointed at the window in front of him. He had been studying one of the mid-air displays; with a flick of his wrist, it became large enough for the other two to see. It was a news article, dating three years ago. A steaming car wreck took center stage.
Tony crossed his arms and tapped out a rhythm on his bicep. His glare at the article looked sharp enough to cut. "Mystery Car Wreck," he read aloud. "Two people injured… blah blah blah… What's this?" His eyes gleamed. With a sweep of his hand, Tony cleared away the rest of the files and enlarged the article. "No one knew what caused the vehicle to flip… and the only eye-witnesses to the incident were a family of four about to cross the road." He looked over his shoulder at his companions and smirked. "Guess what their family name is."
Bruce ignored Tony's posturing. He met Steve's eyes and gestured at the display. "So you think Lisa did that?" he asked, motioning at the car. It lay flat on its back, the windows shattered and at least one door hanging off its hinges. Bruce could almost imagine the wheels still spinning in midair. But what really caught his eye was the front end, crumpled and squashed like a flattened cronut. It looked like the car had crashed into a wall… right in the middle of an empty road.
"It's possible," Steve agreed. "But the question is, why? What would make her do something like that?" They paused for a moment, contemplating the car wreck. The couple inside had been extremely lucky to survive.
Tony grabbed one of the floating windows. "School record – quiet kid, well-behaved, high grades, creative- ooh, nice science project." Bruce tried not to roll his eyes. Because of course that was important in the scheme of things.
"Are you sure you should be accessing that?" Steve asked, eyeing the "document" in Tony's hands. Tony flapped a hand at him.
"Don't worry 'bout it, Cap, it's a public school in the middle of boonies-ville, not the Pentagon." Steve didn't look comforted. Tony barreled on before he could protest further. "Clean slate, bit of a temper, parents pulled her out not long after the car accident." He swept his hands out, and the windows rearranged themselves, until everything's floating in a rough timeline. "So what does that tell us?"
"The car accident happened," Bruce said, his words slow as he studied the information before them. "And her parents pulled her out of school. A year passes… and then she goes missing. Her police record starts a few months after that. She's probably been on the run ever since."
Steve turned towards Bruce, his eyes sharp. "You don't think she's a runaway?" he asked, noting the other man's phrasing.
Bruce shrugged, and adjusted his glasses. "I'm just saying… it doesn't have to be her parents she's running from."
They grew silent at that. Bruce smiled dryly at his hands. Of course he would know. He was probably the resident expert in running away.
"Well," Tony said at last, clapping his hands together. "There's only one way to answer that." He grinned, a scheming glint in his eye that his teammates were starting to get to know (and dread). "JARVIS, find out which hospital the victims were sent to, will you? Looks like Tony Stark is going to make a charity visit."
Steve and Bruce's eyes met behind Tony's back. They were both thinking the same thing. Bruce certainly wasn't going to say it. Steve gave up and emitted a muffled groan.
"Oh no."
A/N: Believe me, I didn't expect this to get updated either.
If you want a few post-AoU drabbles, check out my tumblr at fleeting-white-feathers under the tag wwec. (that's fleeting-white-feathers. tumblr tagged/wwec/ for the non-tumblr literate) The drabbles are canon in this little universe I'm trying to establish, but certain tiny details like Tony being referred to as [ooh spoiler] aren't accurate nor permanent.
Will there be another update after this? Who knows? I'm writing this universe for fun now, and it's a sweet way to burn some steam when I need to. But that also means I won't take the writing as seriously as I do, say, RWTBD. But to everyone who's stayed on til now and plans to stay on even after:
Thank you.
Cheers! :)