An Important Distinction

(Author's note- So that last chapter was weird, but this is where the action really starts picking up. I had this one pre-written but usually uploads will be once a week. Just as a note, all the Avenger's children are OC's I created but some have a few influences in real life, like the actual Young Avengers or real Norse mythology. They are not the same as the comic book ones, and should not be taken as such. At some point we will get a fleshed out backstory for all of them.)

Thalia Stark wandered into the control room of the tower, coffee in one hand, a holographic mobile in the other. She yawned and rubbed her tired eyes, red from another night of staying up late. She had been working for SHIELD on a new thermal scanner capable of detecting the subtle heat differences between the metal of weapons and formulating countermeasures based on the data. Collapsing on the main arm chair in the control room of the tower, a flick of her wrist brought dozens of images to life around her.

Running her hand through her black messy pixie cut hair, Thalia took a long blissful sip of her drink. Today she was wearing a simple red t-shirt with black jeans. Her glasses framed her rich brown eyes and landed on her tan, freckled nose. Her face was petite and small, but her nose was slightly bigger. She stood at a comfortably short five foot four. Her body was curvy, not fat but healthy looking for a nineteen year old. The only truly unattractive part of her were the dark circles around her eyes.

"Friday, daily report, and try to speed it up. I have an omelet that's calling my name." Her voice was strong and low.

A robotic female voice emanated from a seemingly unknown source. "No meetings today, but you do have several voicemails from Ms. Stellan. Do you wish to answer?"

Danielle or "Dani" Stellan was Thalia's best, and possibly only friend. As one of the only SHIELD agents around her age, it made sense the two had clicked. They had been friends since Thalia first began designing technology for the agency, which was when she was about ten years old.

Thinking it over for a second, Thalia eventually wrinkled her nose and sighed, "Nah, she's probably just reminding me to take my meds. Status on the others?"

The holograms around her focused in, suddenly showing each a different person, most locked in combat of some sort.

"Liam is currently still in hiding in Arizona with no sign of Powerhouse emerging." The first image showed a small, pale, curly haired boy on the streets beside a library in a small dusty town. He had dirt smudged all over his body, his hair was greasy and messy, and he wore a torn, old pair of sweats and a jacket ripped beyond repair. His face betrayed him as they showed dark bruises under his eyes, sunken cheeks, and lines too deep for what appeared to be a teenage boy to have. Sleeping deeply, his body was tightly curled inward, like a fist. He looked uncomfortably similar to Doctor Bruce Banner, though unfortunately less put together.

"The Black Arrow is in Hell's Kitchen fighting several armed assassins." This one presented an averagely tall, thin figure with a flat build. She was wearing a SHIELD issue uniform but with the colour scheme as purple and black, accessorized by a sheer olive green scarf. Brown hair in a long braid going down her back whipped around. She had a large, smirking mouth and a crooked nose, broken many times before. Her eyes were covered by tinted sunglasses, though it was clear she was happy where she was, which happened to be fighting several black clad figures in a dark alley.

Thalia looked as though she wanted to know more, but thought against it when she saw The Black Arrow throw one man into a brick wall and drop kick another. "Yeah, it looks like she's got this covered."

Friday's voice continued, "There is no known data on Winter Warrior's whereabouts." The third screen was blank.

"Thrud is currently in Norway battling up to ten ice giants." Friday continued.

That gave Thalia a pause. She looked at the screen which showed a very muscular, towering, beautiful girl with shoulder-length rich blonde hair in an elaborate set of braids. She wore many layers of red and grey battle armor, along with a flowing crimson cape. On her neck she wore a golden necklace set with three shining rubies. She had strong features, with a long nose and full mouth. Her eyes stole the show as they were a rich navy, like the sky just before the storm. They darted from blue skinned enemy to enemy. The warrior was quick to strike down her targets with a great show of force, slamming her hammer, Mjolnir, on the unprepared army.

"Um, can I get risk assessment on her? Just to be safe"

A second passed as Friday ran the numbers before responding, "She has an eighty-eight to ninety-five percent chance of success."

"Then nevermind, I'm sure she can handle it."

Thalia took a moment to fix her glasses. In that time, Friday nonchalantly commented, "You could always have me message one of them instead of illegally following their movements from the Tower."

Glaring no where specific, the Stark was clear when she said, "No, no. We all agreed that after our parents...you know, we wouldn't talk. I haven't even seen most of them in person since I was ten. They handle themselves. Last time I tried to intervene, the Big Guy almost ripped my spleen out."

Thalia's overprotectiveness of the group wasn't unfound. Everyone listed had once been allies, friends, maybe even family. They had all lived together, in Avengers tower. They had all been either raised by their parents in that setting, or taken in by the heroes at a later date. Either way, when you grow up with people like that, you don't just let that connection go. Ten years ago, Thalia would have called all of the kids on the screens her closest relationships. That had changed a while ago.

"Everyone wants their privacy, Friday. And hey, the world is going just fine without the Avengers in it."

As if to prove a point, an alarm began blaring across the tower at that moment. Panic momentarily took over Thalia before she regained calm and looked at the most likely source. The last screen.

On it was a boy around Thalia's age. He was on the tall to medium side and very well built. His skin was fair and unblemished, a small mole on the corner of his right eye. His hair was hidden behind a deep blue army helmet. With eyes the colour of the lightest blue, very long lashes, and a sharp jaw and cheekbones, he was surely a sight to behold. His clothes nearly matched Captain America's to the exact details. The suit matched the helmet in colour, the traditional stars front and center. His combat boots and gloves both were a brown leather. Finished off with the shield itself, the boy was a spitting image of Steve Rogers.

At the moment he was locked in combat with several ten foot tall robots shooting rapid fire out of shoulder mounted guns. A sickly familiar logo was painted on the torsos. He raised the shield to save himself at the last second, then threw it at the robot responsible, taking out its legs.

"Friday, why is the alarm going off?" Thalia yelled over the piercing sirens. "Super Soldier can handle a couple of Hydra bots. Why is his success rate at less than twenty?"

"Miss Stark, he is currently in Washington. I suggest heading over there immediately. The armor is already queued up."

Thalia was already up and running to the launch bay by the word "Washington." As she stood in the designated spot marked on the ground, pieces of red and grey metal flew to attach themselves to the girl. The complete suit was very similar to an original Iron Man set, the only addition being grey instead of gold and several upgrades to the internal computer systems. That and the new name. Iron Maiden.

Taking off as soon as possible, Thalia darted through the skies without any hesitation. Pulling up the footage of Super Soldier from before into the helmet screen, Thalia looked over the scene and swore when she saw the cause. It shouldn't have been possible, yet it was right in front of them.

"Friday, please tell me that isn't who I think it is."

Frday's voice transmitted through the earpiece Thalia had on. "The physiological scan shows a positive match. It's either the Red Skull himself or a clone."

This only motivated Thalia to push the power of the armor to almost one hundred. She mumbled to herself, "Hang in there, Tom."


Thomas Rogers was not having a good day. First he had to deal with parasitic reporters showing up at his apartment asking about his dad, then he'd broken his favourite mug and cut his hand, and now he was fighting some Hydra bots while staring down at his old man's long dead greatest enemy. Or maybe not. Thomas didn't really know. The man was a picture perfect copy of what the Red Skull had looked like when he still maintained his normal human appearance.

"Well no wonder these guys are fighting better than usually," Thomas quipped as he flipped over a robot and whipped it in the head with the shield, "They probably want to make a good impression." The head toppled off and he took that opportunity to turn around and throw the weapon at the Schmidt standing before him.

The Nazi commander easily stepped aside, letting the shield get stuck in the lamp post beside him. "No my good sir, they are merely following orders. You should be honoured, getting to battling the best mind of this century."

Running to the side to avoid the flurry of bullets, Super Soldier ducked behind a fallen monument. "Hate to break it to you, Johann but you haven't really been around in this century very much."

A chuckle came followed by a rattling cough and gasping. "You are thinking of my father. No shame in it really, even I see the resemblance."

Thomas froze. A son of the Red Skull? No, the resemblance was too strong. A clone then? Hydra had always been crazy but cloning yourself? That seemed a little extreme.

The thought process was interrupted when Thomas was forced to flee as a mechanical hand came down near his hiding spot, crushing it to pieces. The hero vaulted over the robot to appear behind the clone. He picked up his shield, then pointed to Schmidt's son, "Doesn't matter. Whoever you are, you will be defeated."

A raised hand stopped the advancing robots, and a cruel, twisted look gleamed in the villain's eyes. "Among the Hydra officers, I am known as Sinful, but my full name is Stein Schmidt. It is an important distinction to make." Before Super Soldier could ask why he continued, "because it is only fair to know the name of the man to kill you."


Little did either of the two opponents know that Thalia had heard every words. On the flight to DC, she had hacked into Tom's communication headpiece and listened. Scenarios of all that could happen flashed through her mind.

Following the coordinates Friday had uploaded to her suit, Thalia was relieved to see the smoking remains of the decimated battle field. The faint outline of two figures were barely legible.

"Don't worry Super Soldier, back up is here," Thalia sent out of the suit to Thomas' earpiece. However Thomas was too busy talking to the apparently resurrected Red Skull to notice.

Just when the Iron Maiden suit was close enough to begin shooting, a blinding burst of light engulfed the sky. Pausing to hover in air for a moment, Thalia waited for her eyes to refocus after the blast.

She was too slow.

Too slow to notice the new person that had teleported directly behind Thomas.

Too slow to process what was happening as the chair-bound man raised one of his hands.

Too slow to yell a warning to her friend as the gun grasped in his hand was fired, and a ray of energy fired out.

Too slow to look away as the ray caught Super Soldier in the back. As he gave out a final scream of shock and agony. As his physical form burnt away to leave only an imprint of his outline on the ground. As the famous shield clattered to the ground.

Too slow to realize that now she was the one yelling.