Chapter 3: Her Sixteenth
Lizzie huffed and tried to keep up with her uncle Clint in the training room, fighting hard to match his speed with the bow and arrow. He laughed at her, finally stopping the targets but ducking when she shot one at him instead.
"I vasn't done!"
"Well I am," he straightened. "I'm too old for this~"
"Stop complaining. Daddy is vay older than you und he never complains!"
"Well not all of us have the super soldier serum to keep us healthy!" he smacked her shoulder. "So stop complaining about my complaining."
She rolled her blue-green eyes at him, flicking her long dirty blonde hair over her shoulder. "Ja, ja…"
Clint laughed once again, leading her out of the room to the elevator. "Oh cheer up! It's your birthday remember? How old are you again, six right?"
Now it was her turn to punch his shoulder. "No! I'm sixteen!"
"Don't let you dad hear that." he motioned to her white, red trimmed t-shirt with her father's shield printed on it. "He might start crying."
She chuckled, reaching into one of the pockets of her blue cargo pants to grab a nut bar. "Nah of course he von't. Mutti might though."
"Oh yeah that's true." he let her exit ahead of him as the doors opened. The girl kicked off her red combat boots as she pulled out her cell phone, texting her Aunt Natasha to see where she was. Her Iron Cross glinted in the light as she started for the kitchen, but her Uncle Bruce suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stopped her.
"Hey Elizabeth come to the lab with me!"
"Huh? Not right now Uncle Bruce I vant a drink." she tried to go around him but was stopped once again. "Oh come on Uncle B I'm really thirsty."
"No you have to come with me." her grabbed her arm, tugging her toward the elevator. "You, uh, need to have a check-up before this evening!"
She narrowed her eyes, taking up that infamous German glare she inherited from her mother. "Uncle Bruce I am going to the kitchen."
"But-" she jerked away, heading for the room. She wasn't surprised to find her Uncle Tony and Aunt Natasha arguing over party details, but they both looked embarrassed as she passed them. She simply ignored them, grabbing a soda before heading back out to Bruce, but she did pause in the doorway.
"Don't forget I like chocolate guys."
"Uh, right…"
The girl giggled and went to join her uncle in the elevator, heading down to the lab. He smiled slightly, pushing his glasses up his nose before he stepped out into his lab. She followed quietly, trying to not slip on the tile floor. She looked over all the tools and gadgets laying around, and smiled when she saw him get a familiar chart. And after about twenty minutes of physical exams she given a clean bill of health, though he did seem concerned about her six inch growth spurt and thirty pound weight gain, though he wrote the latter off as muscle gain. The girl didn't have an ounce of fat anywhere on her slim, muscular body, and her fierce training regiment could account for most of it.
"So how are you feeling Elizabeth? Anything weird I should know about?" he checked her reflexes, nearly losing an arm in the process. "Anything you can't explain?"
She shrugged. "No, nothing. Well, actually now that I think about it I have been feeling a little odd when I'm training recently."
That caught his attention, his hand pausing over a drawer handle. "Odd how?"
"Well you know how when you fight your adrenaline starts to pump? Well whenever that happens my head starts to pound and my body starts feeling funny." she tapped her cheek. "My muscles and bones start hurting really bad like they're… Like they're trying to stretch or something."
Bruce smiled slightly, opening a different drawer and pulling out a small vial filled with a purplish liquid. "I thought you might start showing those signs. The same thing happened to your mother once, it's just your body accepting and activating your super soldier gene. Next time it happens just use this: it works like an EpiPen, all you have to do is stick this end in your neck, not your leg your neck, aim for the base, and it should help ease the pain. But listen, you must not stop your adrenaline rush, you have to fight through it and keep it going."
"And it'll do what exactly? The adrenaline I mean."
"It'll force your body to change, adapt it to the gene. That's why Steve and Nicole have trained you so hard, to make you strong enough to go through it."
"Ah…" she rubbed her neck, slipping the vial into her pocket, but looking up when he reached into the first drawer and retrieved a small present. He smiled and handed it to her, tussling her hair before he got up and started for the elevator, just in time for JARVIS to signal a red alert. The two exchanged a laugh, rushing into the elevator and letting it take them to the top floor. Once there they stepped through the doors and into a large, frilly pink party that made Lizzie wrinkle her nose in disgust. But when she caught her father's eyes and saw the tears welling up there she smiled, walking over to hug him.
"Daddy don't cry…"
Nicole snickered, patting her husband on the back. "He's fine Lizzie, don't vorry about him."
The girl smiled, looking around at everyone, then down at the present Bruce had given her. "How about cake first?"
"Yeah, alright." Everyone gathered around, singing the birthday song to her. Lizzie blushed, fussing at them for dragging it out longer than necessary. Finally, after the cake was decimated, they settled down for presents. Lizzie gleefully opened all of them, pleasantly surprised by some of them:
Bruce's present: a pair of technical sunglasses with JARVIS tech uploaded into the lenses.
Natasha's present: a pair of small, M1911A Pistols and some throwing knives.
Clint's present: a quiver with shiny new arrows, designed with the same tech as his.
Tony's present: A brand new Lexus with all kinds of upgrades including JARVIS tech, weapons, and tons of other things.
Nicole's present: her customized Harley Davidson, cleaned up and tuned up.
Steve and Thor exchanged a glance, the Asgardian giving a frown as he handed her a green and black wrapped present. "Odin… sends his regards..."
Odin's present: a gold bracelet with a peculiar blue gem on it…
Finally only Steve and Thor were left, Steve approaching her first. He handed her a soft bundle, leaving her to unwrap it. In the center of the bundle was a pair of navy blue combat boots with rockets in the heel, as well as a black utility belt. The cloth that had been wrapped around the shoes and belt consisted of kevlar and steel infused black cargo pants, and a top of the same material with a metal strip on the back. The shirt itself was red, with white sleeves and a white star over the left bust, and two white stripes from the star across the right bust. It was a uniform, she realized, and it meant something very important.
She had proven herself to be capable of fighting alongside her parents.
And then there was only Thor left. He smiled at her, handing her a round package. She opened it without hesitation, grinning ear to ear when she saw it was something she had been waiting for since she was eight.
In her hands was her own, personal shield, made of the same metal as her mother's. It was almost identical to it, with an Iron Cross in the center. But instead of the Black, Red, Gold, Lizzie's shield went Red, White, Blue, just like she had hoped.
"Oh thank you everybody! I love it!" she smiled, giving everyone a hug. "Thank you all."