Here we are! A quicker update! I hope you all enjoy!
True to her promise, once her bags are packed and they've left the apartment, Tony's car is missing. She smirks triumphantly without taking her eyes from the empty parking space across the lot. His sigh of recognition is nearly inaudible. Nearly. The sound of it only widens her smirk and turns her face in his direction, mouth opening to say something. But when her eyes finally find his, a cell phone is already to his ear and a finger is pointed sternly toward her.
"Not a word," he warns, listening as his phone rings for Pepper.
This doesn't dishearten her, this stern reproach. It only makes pride ruffle the weight in her chest. She's gotten under his skin. He's paying attention to her. Reprimanding her like she's always anticipated real fathers do, grinding his jaw at her antics like the patriarchs in films are often seen doing. Lee hides her smile, but even as a second car arrives at Tony's call, it sticks around. All the way to the tarmac of private landing strips in some Texas field, she smiles. She can't contain herself. Tony needs her. Her father needs her. The private pleasure of that knowledge makes her happier than she can ever remember being before.
Tony's halfway up the stairs into his Lear jet before he remembers that the two women on the tarmac have never met. He may have never realized it had he not heard Pepper's chipper tone, filled with both joy and snark, cut above the whirring engines. Pepper is used to Tony's flippant and forgetful nature, so she simply barrels on as she always has.
"Pepper Potts. You must be Lee."
The redhead is beaming a smile, extending her hand as she balances her time ledger in the crook of her opposite elbow. The photographs simply didn't do Tony's progeny any sort of justice at all, she thinks as the young woman shakes her hand and nods. J.A.R.V.I.S.'s 96.478% likelihood calculation turns to 100% in Pepper's mind; there is no doubt in the world that Lee McCarthy is actually Lee Stark. The hair that just manages to look brushed. Those small, dark eyes. The set of her jaw and the But, more than that. There's the Stark swagger. She carries herself with the weight of the world on her shoulders, managing to make it look like a gift than a burden. The same way Tony does. Pepper's smile only gets bigger. After New York, after The Mandarin... This can only mean good things for Tony. This can only mean stability. Having a daughter will only help heal him, she thinks. At the top of the steps, leaning from the door, Tony shouts with a sideways look at his watch.
"If you'll take your seats, we can get this dog and pony show on the road."
Pepper rolls her eyes and waves for Lee to follow behind.
"Dog and Pony show is right," Lee mutters under her breath, giving one last look at the vast Texas field before ducking into the plane. The adventure is only just beginning.
The flight passes with Tony's silence and Pepper's insistent questioning. The woman knows that, upon their arrival to New York, none of them will have the time to become acquainted, so Pepper takes the opportunity to learn everything that the various files collected on the young girl didn't show. At the beginning of the inquisition, Tony shoves his hands into the pockets of his jacket and reclines his seat back, closing his eyes as if to nap. But he never manages to fall asleep. No, his desire for information exceeds Pepper's. He's just never going to let anyone know that. Lee is just a means to an end, he reminds himself. She is not a spectacle. She will not become a fixture in his life. She will not become family. She will get the job done and be sent away to Boston, to be forgotten and locked away.
Conversation rolls from one topic to the next, Pepper lightly grilling Lee on everything from her education to the music on her computer to the clothing stores she prefers to shop at. Lee teeters every few questions, sometimes giving long-winded paragraphs of answers, sometimes mere syllables. On the one hand, she cannot remember the last time someone cared enough to ask her questions about her life, much less actually managed to care about her answers. On the other, she struggles with the knowledge that she is not permanent here. She cannot get used to this reality because it won't be reality for long.
"Stark!"
The plane lands and then the world around them explodes into a flurry of unexpected commotion. Tony's on his phone. Pepper is barking orders, ledger open and pen at the ready. A man and a woman approach them purposefully, surrounded on all sides by soldiers whose uniforms Lee vaguely recognizes. S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms. This has S.H.I.E.L.D. written all over it. She gulps as the crowd comes closer to her. Pepper is three feet away from her, mid-conversation with her earpiece, when she leans over her shoulder and tosses a remark to Lee.
"Natasha and Steve will bring you to The Tower. We'll see you in a bit, alright?"
There is no room for discussion. Pepper turns around and continues away. Tony merely gives Lee a sharp nod of his head, as if to say, "I acknowledge your presence even if I don't enjoy it," before following Pepper's path. And then, she is alone. Surrounded by soldiers on every side, feeling a bit claustrophobic as she reshoulders the backpack holding her few belongings, Lee gives a tentative smile at the strangers. The two in civilian clothes step closer, giving her expectant gazes. She reaches out her hand toward each of them respectively, nodding deferentially as she introduces herself.
"Lee McCarthy," she offers.
Neither of her new companions return her smile. They only nod and return her handshake with firm grips.
"Romanov. Natasha."
"Steve Rogers. Come with me."
With a waggle of her eyebrow, she feigns shock and places a hand over her chest. This is a joke she is fond of making.
"Oh, Captain. Take me to dinner first," she exclaims with a wink.
He doesn't seem to find that particularly funny, though the Russian smirks and shoves her hands in her pockets, tipping her head to hide her vague amusement behind a curtain of red hair. The directive was to retrieve Stark's daughter and return her to headquarters while Tony and Pepper "sorted things out." At first, Natasha couldn't find herself any sort of way to believe it. Stark with a kid? It doesn't seem logical. But, with that little quip, Natasha's fears are, in part, brushed aside. The Stark sass is strong with this one.
An awkward silence settles between them all as they slide into a nondescript black car. They turn out of the air field's parking lot, where a caravan of protective vehicles are waiting to escort them back into the city. Lee fiddles with the strap of her backpack and wonders at a million things, questions that were shoved into the back of her mind in light of all the interrogation Pepper did during the flight here. How would she manage to "snag" Peter Parker? How could her father just abandon her with these strangers and the masses of soldiers? How was she to be expected to get on like anyone else when she isn't just anyone else?
As the city skyline passes by in a flurry of dark corners and skyscrapers, Lee lets the questions rattle in her brain, completely invested in herself and unaware of the scrutiny paid to her by Captain America. He can't take his eyes off of the Tony Stark look-alike sitting across from him. Steve Rogers furrows his brow at her, knowing himself to be an excellent judge of character. Yes, it only takes one look for him to know that he does not like this girl. And, thus, he spends the rest of the awkwardly silent car ride trying to figure out just why that is.
When the car stops, the soldier who had been driving opened the door for them, allowing the three passengers to step onto the curb before the building. Lee's never seen anything like it before. Well, not in person. She had, at one point, hacked far enough into S.H.I.E.L.D's database that she found the original plans for the building, and (of course) she had seen the photographs circulating around the internet of the building both before and after the attack on Manhattan. But... in person, it is a monument to advancement and heroics and... Tony. She thinks with a sigh. It is a monument to her father and all of his achievements and glory. That realization drags the rose tint from her gaze, and suddenly the building isn't magnificent. The reflective panels lining the windows, the mirrored glass that could render it invisible, the energy-efficient fixtures suddenly hold little joy for her. Her stomach turns as Steve Rogers walks up beside her and interrupts her ogling with a fixed glare and a stern tone.
"It's a little convenient, isn't it?"
She doesn't have the mental or emotional wherewithal to comprehend what it is that the good soldier beside her is trying to say to her. Her brow knits in confusion and her head swivels to look up at him.
"What?"
The sun is glaring high above her, glinting in her eye painfully. Squinting, she reexamines Steve Rogers. His disapproving eyes don't turn to look at her. Instead, they focus where her eyes once rested, on the Avengers logo at the top of the building. But she can feel the hot waves of his objections to her radiate from him even as his gaze is turned elsewhere. He shrugs and folds his arms across his chest.
"Showing up out of the blue when your Pop becomes a national hero?"
A little convenient. Lee scoffs. This has nothing to do with that. Nothing at all. She shakes her head, her ponytail flopping this way and that, before offering up a quip.
"Tony Stark has always been a hero."
Taking her first steps toward the sliding glass doors straight ahead of her, she shakes her chin and looks downward, muttering to herself all the while:
"There's nothing convenient about it."
Peter Parker is waiting in his bedroom, police scanner on the windowsill, papers scattered around his desk. It's all homework he should be doing, all papers due tomorrow at 8 a.m. sharp or equations that need solving before he goes to bed for the night. But he just can't get his mind off it. The letter currently hidden beneath stacks and stacks of graded essays and copies of Popular Science. He slid it under there in the hopes that out of his sight, he might be able to forget its contents. But, no. His mind just keeps wandering to it. The fourth notification. His fourth conscription for the special forces unit that is The Avengers. It is a draft card that he is willing to burn.
Against his better judgement, he reaches for it once more and delves into its contents, eyes furiously flitting across the words.
Dear Mr. Parker... Fourth Notice...It is a great honor... A man of your talents should surely want...Your country needs...With the departure of Iron Man...Without your consent...Further delays will result in an escalation of force on our part... Kindest Regards...Nick Fury.
An escalation of force? Peter doesn't know what a phrase like that could mean. Surely, no one would put a gun to his head and make him join some super team. Surely no government agency could manipulate him into taking up such ridiculous arms. With a huff, he presses the letter down into the depths of the garbage bin, where such threats belong. They'll never make good on their promise, he reassures himself as he brings himself back to his British Literature classwork, They could never make me join The Avengers.
So... Thoughts? We finally met Peter, which is good, I think? Don't worry, he and Lee will finally have some real interaction very soon, I promise! Please let me know your thoughts and feelings in the reviews! Can't wait to hear from you all! :)