Disclaimer, since I haven't done one for a while. Anything recognizable belongs to Marvel or C.S. Lewis. My own characters and ideas are - well - my own...

Kloi had been living with Tony and Pepper for three months now. So far nothing had happened to cause her powers to lash out – a fact she was pathetically thankful for. Tony had become like the father she never had, in spite of his extreme immaturity. Pepper, on the other hand, seemed to be almost… Jealous of the witch's relationship with Tony. Or maybe it wasn't that… Kloi wasn't sure exactly what was wrong, but she knew that Aslan had been right. She could not trust the woman. It was odd, Pepper had been so kind in the beginning. But one day she seemed to take a dislike to Kloi, and she never got over it.

Tony taught Kloi everything about the world she was in. Well, maybe not everything – he taught her what he considered the "fun stuff", which mostly consisted of using advanced technology and hacking. The rest she found out online, after he taught her how to use a computer.

One day Kloi entered the main living room to find Tony crumpled in a heap on the couch, and Pepper storming over to the elevator.

"What – "

"Stay out of this!" Pepper hissed before the elevator doors opened. "I never want to see your face again!"

Kloi was taken aback, but quickly recovered. She wasn't stupid, and quickly figured out that Pepper had just broken up with Tony. Nobody had the right to hurt her billionaire like that!

"Get out." She responded coldly. Ice began to creep along the walls toward the red-head. "You are no longer welcome in this house."

Pepper sneered at her as the doors shut with a ding, cutting her off from view. Kloi was shaking with anger. She cared deeply for Tony, and seeing him hurt made her powers go hay-wire.

"Kloi." His voice was soft. "Kloi, come here."

She obeyed mutely. He put his arms around her.

"It's alright, kid. You need to calm down."

Once again, he helped her regain control.

"Thanks." She whispered.

He didn't respond right away. After a moment he asked, "What made you lose it?"

"She hurt you. Ain't nobody allowed to hurt my billionaire!" Kloi muttered. "You ok, Tony?"

That did it. The man broke down in her arms and cried. "I don't know what I did wrong, Kloi! She started yelling, and then she just up and left! She said that she hates you, and she hates me!"

Kloi tried to comfort him. "You didn't do anything. I don't know what her problem is, but she's been acting weird for a couple weeks. Maybe she just broke. People do that sometimes, Andy. They think that they can handle something, and then they just break. My guess would be that she loved you, but the stress of the super-hero stuff got to her. If that's true, then maybe it's best. You are Iron Man, and your woman needs to be able to accept that. I'm so sorry – I know you love her."

Tony managed a grin through his tears. "Andy?"

"Eh, you needed a nickname. But I'm the only one allowed to call you that!"

"You know that's a girl's name, right?"

"It's also a boy name, short for Anthony." She retorted.

They sat there on the couch, silently, for an hour or so. Kloi was sitting on Tony's lap, with her head against his chest. He had his arms around her, and eventually started playing with a couple strands of her hair. Finally he sighed, gently kissed her forehead, and disappeared into his room.

The next few weeks were extremely trying for them both. Tony would randomly vanish in the middle of the day, and Kloi would always find him in his bedroom. Usually he was staring out the window with tears running down his cheeks, but a couple time she found him screaming into his pillows. She always did her best to comfort him, and he slowly healed. But it took quite a while for him to be back to normal.

It didn't help any that Kloi had been able to guess why Pepper had left. She had been suspicious for quite a while, as the red-head had been acting strangely. It had eventually become obvious to the witch that Pepper was definitely jealous. Which was, of course, ridiculous. Kloi was not romantically attracted to Tony in any way – and he only had eyes for Pepper. But evidently Pepper had been too blind to see that.

During that time, Kloi had a couple more breakdowns. Every now and then her emotions would get out of control, and she would freeze part of the house. Tony never complained, he just helped her calm down and then got Jarvis to clean up whatever ice was left. After she almost had a breakdown in front of a few of Tony's rather distinguished guests, they developed a code. Tony's idea, of course. When she could tell that she was losing it, she was supposed to alert him that they had a "code white". Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, he would then drop everything to help her calm down. It actually worked pretty well, and they were able to avoid some scenes that would have ended up on the internet (at the very least).

In spite of the very public life that Tony led, he still managed to keep Kloi mostly out of the spotlight. He didn't want SHIELD getting wind of another "alien" and coming in to take her away for studying or "containment". Because of this, it was almost two years after Kloi came to earth before she met his team members.

Tony was in a meeting. They had ended up flying to the New York Stark tower, because Thor got mixed up about where he was supposed to go… Kloi was in her room on the floor that she and Tony were living on during their stay, and the Avengers (plus the ever-annoying Nick Fury) were on a lower level.

Tony was, as usual, cracking jokes and appearing to pay very little attention to what Fury was saying, though of course he heard every word. The others were all startled when Jarvis suddenly spoke up, but he wasn't at all surprised.

"Sir, the lady is requesting admittance."

"Stark, we are in a meeting!" Fury growled. "Your lady friends can wait a couple hours."

Tony cast him a scathing glance.

"Sir, the lady says to tell you 'code white'."

"Send her in, Jarvis, for goodness sake!"

"Stark!" Fury cried, angry.

Naturally, Tony ignored his boss. The door to the meeting room opened, and Kloi ran in. The others were all very surprised, and rather disgusted. Knowing Stark's reputation with women, it wasn't hard to guess why. Kloi was obviously much younger than him.

She ignored his irate team and ran straight into her dad's arms. Yes, she had started calling him 'dad'. It had sort of slipped out one day, and they both liked it. She still called him Andy sometimes, but usually only when she was mad or scared. Tony had decided to officially adopt her, but wasn't sure how to go about it without SHIELD finding out. Well, they would know about her now – so that solved that problem.

"Sh, it's ok. You're ok, kid. I'm here."

As always, she relaxed and calmed.

"What's wrong?" He asked, as soon as he was sure she had it all under control.

"I don't know. Nothing. And then it started acting up… I don't know why, Andy!"

"Hey, it's ok. Don't worry about it." He told her when he realized that she was working herself up again.

"Stark, who is this?" Natasha asked, her tone betraying no emotion.

Kloi finally glanced around at the other Avengers. Then she looked back at her dad. Steve didn't wait for Tony to answer.

"Honestly, Stark. She's not a day over twenty! Have you no shame?!"

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Captain!" Tony snapped, outraged. This was his daughter!

"This is your team, Dad?" Kloi asked, looking at each one with interest.

"Dad?!" The rest of the room chorused.

Kloi made a face and said with some attitude, "Yeah, Dad. You got a problem with that?"

"I do not understand, man of iron. When did you have a child?" Thor boomed.

Tony ran a hand through his hair. "About two years ago, when I found her on my doorstep. Before Pepper left. If she hadn't been with me through that, I probably wouldn't be here. And before you all start asking me why on earth you haven't known about her, allow me to point out that our dearly beloved Director would never have let me keep her."

Except for Thor, the team was speechless. The god of thunder, however, just grinned. "What is your name, daughter of iron?"

"Daughter of iron? I like that." She decided. "The name's Kloi."

Thor – who was sitting next to Tony – reached over and took her hand. He kissed it gently and said, "I am most pleased to make your acquaintance, Lady Kloi."

She smiled. "Finally, someone with proper manners." Then she glanced at Tony, looking sheepish. He was frowning, and murmured something in her ear. She blushed, and nodded.

"Right, I'll try to remember that…"

It was too late, however. The damage had been done.

"Proper manners?" Clint asked, raising an eyebrow. "And exactly where do you come from that you consider that 'proper manners'?"

"A very strict, very conservative childhood." Kloi responded smoothly.

"And where did that childhood take place?" Fury asked suspiciously.

"No comment." Kloi shot back, adopting the classic Stark smirk.

Tony grinned. "That's my girl."

"Oh, great. Now there are two of them!" Steve muttered.

"Yup." Kloi returned happily. "You're stuck with two Starks. But don't worry, I'm much easier to put up with than my cocky billionaire is."

Tony just grinned. She was obviously able to hold her own. He had been a little concerned. After all, it was inevitable that the team would find out sooner or later, and he didn't want her to be intimidated by them or something. He shouldn't have worried.

He sat down again, pulling his daughter onto his lap. He knew that she'd be ok by herself now that she had calmed down, but he also knew that she preferred not to be alone after her powers lashed out.

Kloi leaned back, settling herself comfortably against his shoulder. If not for the fake appearance that her mother had imposed on her all her life – which, without her crystal, she couldn't now change – she would have been much too tall to curl up with her forehead against his neck. This was the one time she was thankful to be short.

The rest of the team just watched in stunned silence as the newest Stark snuggled up to her adopted father with a soft sigh. Bruce thought it was sweet, as did Thor. Clint thought they looked rather cute, but still wasn't sure what to make of the whole "Tony Stark has a daughter" thing. Steve was clearly blown away and Fury did NOT look impressed. As usual, no one could tell what Natasha thought. Had they been able to see inside her mind, they might have been surprised. She was thinking that Kloi might help soften and control him. She had already given the man a heart, and a gentle tenderness that he had never displayed with Pepper.

"Stark –" Fury began, but was cut off by Kloi.

"Yes?" She answered, as though he had been talking to her, and smirked slightly.

Fury didn't respond, simply glared at her. "You are not a Stark. There has been no official adoption, SHIELD would have known if there was."

"Which would be the reason for the delay in official papers." Tony cut in. "But believe me, Director. She is every inch a Stark."

Fury ignored him. "Tony Stark is one of our chief operatives. As such, SHIELD has a say in everything in his life. It is too dangerous for everyone involved for you to continue living in his company. You are defenseless, and therefore a liability both to Stark, and to the Avengers team. We shall make alternate arrangements immediately."

To the surprise of everyone present, both Tony and Kloi began to laugh.

"I'm hardly defenseless, Nicky." Kloi grinned. "I'm a big girl. I know how to fight. I can take care of myself. Besides, Dad designed a suit for me – just in case. I'm always wearing the bracelets for it. In fact, I'd say I'm safer here – even with all Dad's wacko enemies – than I've ever been in my life before. You don't have a clue what my childhood was like."

"This is not up for discussion." Fury informed them, his eyes narrowing and Kloi's rather improper use of his name.

"You are right." Tony said suddenly. "You are absolutely right. This is not up for discussion. My daughter is staying with me. Deal with it." He glared at Fury.

Fury was about to start yelling, when Kloi suddenly stood up. Her eyes were dark and dangerous. The room began to get cold.

"I don't really care what you have to say, Fury! Andy is the only Dad I've ever known, and I'm not about to lose him like I lost the rest of my family. I need him. Way more than you could ever dream. If it wasn't for Andy, I'd probably be on your hit list – or I'd be dead. So you can just shove off! I'm not going anywhere, and you can't make me. I strongly advise you not to try!"

Tony pulled her back onto his lap. "Kid, calm down. You're going to lose it." He told her quietly, still hoping that SHIELD would never learn of her powers.

Kloi buried her face in his neck and took deep breaths. She began to cry softly, trying to let her tension out without losing control. Tony sat still, patiently rubbing her back and kissing the top of her head, in spite of the tears that turned to ice on his neck. He didn't know much about her past – besides that fact that she came from another world, was princess of said world, had powers that she couldn't really control, and had lost all of her family in some traumatic way – but he knew that Fury had touched a very sore spot in threatening to take her away. As she wept softly, the Director found himself on the wrong side of several angry glares.

Tony looked about ready to murder something. The man that had upset his kid would probably be preferable. Bruce was evidently not impressed with how his Director had handled the situation, and was clearly angry that he had reduced the girl to tears. Thor looked confused, but eventually figured out that Fury was the cause of Kloi's tears, and proceeded to cross his arms and fix Fury with a glare that made the man's eyes widen just a little. Natasha – surprisingly enough – also turned a furious gaze on her Director. That was enough to make him swallow hard; his Russian assassin was not a person he liked to cross, whether she worked for him or not. Clint was watching Kloi sympathetically, but every now and then he darted an angry look at Fury. Steve was the only one who didn't look ready to beat some sense into the man. He was staring at the tabletop, listening to Kloi's soft sobs with a sad and thoughtful expression.

"There now, my darling. Whatever can have made you so upset?" A smooth, lilting voice broke the silence.

Kloi froze. Everyone else – with the obvious exception of Tony – leapt to their feet and faced the intruder. How she had gotten in was beyond any of them.

"Come, come, love. Mother taught you better than that." Jadis purred. "You ought never to display such weakness, certainly not to those beneath you."

That did it. Kloi shot out of Tony's arms – leaving him free to stand and summon his suit so that he could protect her. As he did so, Kloi's powers exploded in a storm of ice, snow, and freezing cold.

"YOU – ARE – NOT – MY – MOTHER!" Kloi screamed, trying to hurl all the frozen substances she had just produced at the smirking witch. Jadis looked mildly offended, and then hurt.

"But sweetheart – "

A second iron suit appeared suddenly, and Tony smiled. Yes, making that had definitely been a good thought. To his surprise, Kloi didn't attack. Instead, she sent what looked rather like a mini grappling hook straight at the pale woman, and snatched a necklace off the woman's neck.

Then the suit disappeared. The woman now looked frozen in shock, and Kloi was the one smirking.

"Ah, Jadis. Will you never cease to be fooled by my rather convincing acts?" She purred, in a voice that sounded much more wholesome than that of the other woman. "I would have thought that after I blew my cover and exposed myself as your enemy, you would not be so easily fooled a second time."

Kloi calmly clasped the necklace about her own neck, and then threw her arms out and her head back. She grew taller, until she was as tall as her mother. Her eyes turned green, and her hair turned from blond to black. Her skin, though still pale, was no longer almost paper white. The ice and snow in the room disappeared, and the temperature returned to normal.

"Oh, and thank you so much for returning my crystal to me. It will be so nice to have complete control of myself again. My ice powers keep acting out, you know. Tony's had a devil of a time helping me hide them. They seem to flare up at the most inconvenient times. Of course, now I can do everything I once could – including all the things you never knew about."

Jadis was gaping at her.

"I have one question, my darling mother." Kloi continued, her voice turning dark and dangerous. "No, several questions, actually. And you will answer them."

"Oh will I, now?" Jadis asked, finally recovering herself. Her gaze darted about the room, assessing her situation. She was vastly out-numbered, and now that she wasn't using her daughter's crystal she had almost no control over her (already vastly limited in comparison to the powers that Kloi seemed to wield) powers.

"Yes. Because if you do not… Let's say that you will wish for death, and will not find it." Kloi announced, her eyes narrowed. "First – what happened in Narnia, after my magic took me away to protect me?"

Jadis waved a hand dismissively. "Narnia does not concern me. There are far greater worlds awaiting conquest."

"What happened?!" Kloi shouted, shooting an ice shard at the older witch.

"That pompous Lion decided to practice black magic." Jadis spat. "It brought him back from the dead. My forces were… insufficient."

Kloi growled dangerously. "It wasn't black magic – you're a fool. You see everything through your own twisted mind, and do not understand the deeper things of magic. When a willing victim who has committed no treachery is killed in a traitor's stead, the Stone Table will crack and death itself will turn backwards. That is the true meaning of sacrifice. Aslan gave you his life to save Edmund, and you accepted. Your greed was your undoing."

Jadis sneered, but did not answer.

"If Aslan won, he would have killed you." Kloi continued with her questions, fully aware that everything she said caused the team behind her to gape. "How are you alive?!"

Jadis laughed derisively. "I taught you better than that, Kloi. You can never really kill a witch. We can always come back. One drop – that was all it took. One drop of Adam's blood, and I was freed."

Kloi paled. "Who did you kill?" She whispered hoarsely.

"No one of consequence. A simple Englishman. He was due for death anyway. Over eighty years old. Besides, his life has long belonged to me." She watched the girl closely to see when she understood.

"NO!" Kloi screamed, shooting more ice at the woman she had once loved. "NO! Edmund!"

The witch laughed cruelly. "You see, my little daughter? Even Aslan could not keep him from me in the end."

"Why are you here?!" Kloi demanded, tears streaming down her face.

"Have you forgotten everything you ever knew about your mother, darling?" Jadis asked, amused. "Why would I be here, if not for two things? Power, and revenge. You betrayed me, so I will kill you. And I shall take over this world in the meantime. In fact, I do believe that this is the world I entered before Narnia. A rich place indeed. Had I stayed longer than a few hours, it would have been mine."

"This world will never be yours!" Kloi snarled.

Jadis raised an eyebrow and smirked. She hummed slightly, and then said, "We shall see. Keep the crystal. It won't be long before I need it no more."

With that, she disappeared.

Kloi stared at the last place her mother had been, breathing hard. Then she said, very softly, "I'm sorry, Andy. I was wrong. I do not have a psychotic brother trying to take over the world. Apparently I have a psychotic mother trying to take over the world."

She dropped to the floor, and put her head in her hands.

"Hey, kid. It's ok. The agreement was about your brother. As long as he's not psycho, it's all good." Tony joked weakly, trying to comfort her. To his surprise, it worked.

Kloi stiffened, and then her head shot up and she laughed incredulously. "My brother. My brother! I have my crystal back! I can try to contact my brother! I'm such an idiot. Aslan's mane – why didn't I think of that sooner!"

Tony was obviously relieved that she was in better spirits, but he was also obviously a little confused. He said firmly, "Before you do anything, Kloi – you're going to explain what just happened, and what that necklace has to do with anything, and who Aslan is, and – "

"Ok, Dad. I get it."

"Good." Fury snapped. "Start talking." His eyes narrowed. "Witch."

Tony growled, and would have tackled Fury. Kloi held her hand out and frowned. "It's fine, Dad. That's what I am. A witch. I didn't choose to be, but I wouldn't be anything else."

Her Dad pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms about her protectively. He was still glaring at Fury. The others just waited quietly. They all wanted to know everything that Tony had asked about, and were hoping that WW3 wasn't about to break out in front of them before they got their answers. Or after answers, for that matter…

After a moment of silence, Kloi began. "I was born in another world, Narnia. My mother was – is – a very powerful witch. She came from an entirely different world, and conquered Narnia. She enslaved everyone and everything – even the weather. For as long as I can remember, it was always winter. She decided that she wanted an heir – why, I'm sure I don't know, since she's immortal – and kidnapped a powerful warlock from some other world to be the father. Once she was pregnant, she killed him. She used her powers to speed the pregnancy up, as she didn't think a pregnant witch seemed very fierce and cruel. When she had us, she immediately hated my brother. We are twins, but she only wanted one. And she wanted that one to be a girl. I don't know why but she's always considered women to be better than men. Maybe because Aslan is male? I don't know.

"Anyway, when we were five, Jadis finally decided to get rid of my brother. She had only kept him around that long to see if he would become very powerful. Evidently the powers she was aware of him developing were not sufficiently impressive. She created some sort of portal… It was very draining for her, and I don't think it's a spell she'd ever be able to use again. She just picked him up, and threw him into it… and then it was gone, and Qillaq too. I thought he was dead – it was years before we found each other again."

Bruce raised his hand sheepishly. "Why… Why would she go to all that effort if she hated him? I don't mean to be indelicate but… Why didn't she just kill him?"

Kloi nodded. "It's fine – it's a good question. For a lot of years I wondered the same thing. I eventually found the answer in one of my father's books – Jadis kept the ones she deemed useful. He had placed some sort of charm on himself. He couldn't be killed by magic, and neither could his children. Something to do with protection from his greatest enemy… I don't know who, though. It wasn't Jadis. So she couldn't use magic to kill him. And there are constraints laid on witches and warlocks, to ensure that the race continues. There was a time when a powerful witch decided that warlocks were a threat to her – or something like that, she was a total nut job – and so she killed all the young warlocks she could get her hands on. She was a queen, and so all her subjects had to kill their male children… Eventually a number of powerful witches and warlocks banded together to put a stop to it. Now there is powerful magic that rests on magical children. They cannot be killed by anyone possessing magic, or any non-magical being that is hired to 'do the dirty work' for a magical being. So, whether she used magic or not, Jadis couldn't kill him."

Bruce nodded, and Fury cut in with irritation. "Can we please get back to the explanation? I would like to know what that witch wants with the earth."

Kloi just looked at him. "She kind of made it obvious, Nicky. Domination. And revenge – but that has more to do with me than the earth."

Tony snorted at the expression on Nick's face. He knew from personal experience that once Kloi dubbed you something, it took a natural disaster to get her to call you something else. She was going to annoy Fury with that particular nickname till the day one of them died. And if Fury died first, she'd find a way to get it on his headstone. He snorted again at the thought.

Kloi glanced back at him with a grin. She knew that they were thinking the same thing.

"So, we were five, she sent Qillaq away to die… She fully expected him to. It's my hope that she doesn't know he's alive. That would give us a definite advantage – he's even more powerful than I am.

"She kept me as her personal little doll. I had to be exactly what she considered the 'perfect daughter' or I was punished. I remember when I was little, before I realized that she was evil, I would cry and try to be good enough that she would love me. I think it was when she sent Qillaq away that I realized what she was capable of. Eventually I mastered being 'perfect' – but I didn't ever love her again. I went behind her back, and helped her enemies. Aslan is… Well, he's the true king of Narnia, so he's the chief of her enemies. Long story short, I saved a guy from her – that would be Edmund, he became like a second brother to me – and then I was defending him in battle. She hurt him, I challenged her, we fought. She managed to rip off my crystal – without it I have very little control over my magic. My magic went haywire, and got me out of there to protect me. And that's how I ended up on Dad's doorstep, unconscious."

The team was staring at her. It was Clint who spoke next.

"What was with the 'blood of Adam' thing?"

Kloi's eyes hardened. "Aslan killed her. But, of course, nothing's ever that simple with Jadis. She's a witch – and witches can be brought back once. But only once. Most never come back – why would we? But Jadis isn't happy unless she is making someone else miserable."

"What does that have to do with 'Adam's blood'?" Clint asked again.

Kloi sighed. "That's what she needed – to bring her back. One drop of Adam's blood. That's basically just a fancy way of saying 'one drop of a male human's blood', since Adam was the first of all men. So – like the sadistic bitch that she is, she decided to kill someone that she knew was important to me." Kloi's voice dropped to a soft whisper. "I didn't even know that he was still alive."

Tony's glare forbade anyone to question her further on that account.

Fury shifted slightly, completely untouched by her sorrow, and demanded, "All I want to know is how to send your mother back to whatever hell she came here from."

"Jadis. Is. Not. My. Mother." Kloi hissed, the sadness gone from her eyes as she was distracted. "And I don't know how to kill her. She is powerful, and it will be difficult. I do not even know where she is, and I do not know where to find her. That sort of magic is more Qillaq's strength."

"Then where is Qillaq?" Fury demanded.

Kloi closed her eyes in frustration.

"Well?"

"Hey, give her a break." Steve spoke up suddenly. "None of this is her fault. Just let her think in peace."

Silence reigned. Kloi had given Steve a grateful look, and then returned to staring at the insides of her eyelids as she wracked her brain for any idea of how to find her brother. She didn't know where he was – she never had. All she knew was the name of the realm that he had landed in when Jadis flung him through the portal. Sheepishly, she opened her eyes.

"I don't know where he is. I only have one clue."

"And what is that?" Natasha asked, her tone professional.

"Does anyone here recognize the name Jotunheim?"

So, yeah. That happened. There's an awful lot packed into that chapter. I considered breaking it into two, but wasn't sure where to do that - so I didn't. If anybody figures out who Qillaq is, PM me. :) I hope it's not too obvious...