Edge of Seventeen

Chapter One

"Oh father tell me, do we get what we deserve?"

Kaleo, Way Down We Go

I was dead.

I knew the sensation already; the peaceful calm the weightlessness that came with it, and the total darkness that surrounded me were the most notable indicators. But this wasn't my first tryst with death. The hallow empty feeling in my chest was what gave it away.

Oh yeah, did I mention this wasn't the first time I died? Shit, it really wasn't even the second time I had ever died. Actually this was the third time I died. And yes, all three times my someone had a hand in my death somehow, but that I didn't find that little detail out until later. But I guess the Council didn't want me dead. Or as Giles sometimes believed, I was strong enough to defeat death. Yeah, whatever.

It was the same as the first time I had died. The numb feeling, the hopelessness. The despair it was all the same. Only this time another emotion had come to play with the rest.

Rage.

See, the first time I died, I was nowhere near feeling rage. I had been killed doing my job, I was more than willing to accept my fate. I mean I am a Slayer afterall. But we'll get more into that later.

Now even dead as I was, the day I was killed replayed itself over and over again in my head. My own personal hell. I don't know how many days or years even passed but every passing second in that darkness and the rage grew. I could see the blood on my hands, I hadn't gone down without a fight. And then there was the blade.

Her blade. The one she used to plunge into my chest and kill me.

To be honest, that was how I thought I would die. I just never thought it would be my own mother who would kill me. Okay let me rephrase that, I never thought that my mother would kill me herself. I always just assumed she'd send someone else to do it. Guess she got fed up.

Yes, you heard that right folks, my own mother plunged a dagger in my chest and killed me. It was a very dramatic affair, I even fell eight stories off a roof. A little dramatic I know, but we had been fighting on the rooftop so, being as I was close to the ledge when she knifed the life out of me, I only had one way to go. Down.

The irony wasn't lost on me that Faith had been taken down by my mother in almost the exact same way. Of course, Buffy had taken Faith down because she went rogue. Me on the other hand, well she just hated anything having to do with me. I knew eventually she would find a way to get rid of me, I just never thought she would kill me. I always pictured something more like boarding school. Not death.

The first time I died, I had been perfectly content to stay dead. The second time I had wanted to come back I'll admit, being dead didn't sit right with me. This time though, I wanted no more than to unleash hell on everyone and everything. And in the moments where rage was all I could feel as a growl lingered in the back of my mind. A dark, seedy, animalistic growl. Something deadly and fierce that held a dark promise.

Hearing those growls changed something within me. My skin would crawl every time I heard it. If you ask me exactly what it was, I wouldn't be able to tell you. To this day I still don't know what changed. All I knew was that the empty feeling in my chest was replaced by something, a stirring. But just as quickly as it came, it went.

It was occasional and I never really knew when I'd hear the growls again but I knew I would.

And then one day, a growl ripped through the hell and set me free. It felt like something was clawing it's way out of my chest leaving me raw and open but still so alive. Okay, that's dramatic but there was a huge growl and I did wake up. Only I woke up in captivity. And not with the Slayer's Council as I had expected.

Instead a man, dressed in all black with an eyepatch towered over me.

"Kenzie Summers." His voice boomed around the room they were keeping me in. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

I opened my mouth ready to question him, but only a guttural rasping sound came out. Well, so much for question Petey the pirate over there. Although I did settle for glaring viciously his way.

"You're probably wondering what's going on." It wasn't a question.

I could only nod, still glaring and watching the pirate who was still just standing in the same place with his hands behind his back. His one eye staring down at me. He was too relaxed for my liking, but he wasn't a vampire, so he wasn't a threat. Humans weren't a problem for me. Other Slayers, a minor nuisance. My mother, the bane of my existence and my ultimate demise.

"My name is Nick Fury, and you are now under S.H.E.I.L.D custody."

Well, fuck me. I was not expecting that.

Only two things really went to through my mind at that moment. One was what in the fuck is S.H.E.I.L.D. The other was more a more frantic "what the fuck do you mean in custody." I would've spat that out had it not been for the desert my mouth had become.

"We received a special request from a Faith Lehane to look after you after the tragic accident you suffered." At the mention of Faith my eyes narrowed even more than they possibly could.

Pirate man moved to the right side of the hospital bed I was in now, pouring a cup of water before handing it to me.

I glared at it. If he was trying to poison me he would have a very hard time of it. Thank you accelerated healing. So I snatched it from him ignoring the pain that shot up my arm at the movement - something a normal human would not have been able to do if they had been in my shoes.

There had to have been a reason Faith had come to these people. Faith didn't trust anyone. The brunette veteran Slayer, in every way my mother's opposite, did not trust anyone so for her to call up this S.H.I.E.L.D thing or whatever, she must've trusted them. I mean she was the one who killed a whole bunch of people and almost started an apocalypse. Faith did not have the best relationship with people. So this was a pretty big deal.

"Imagine our surprise when not only did we discover you were actually dead, but Ms. Lehane assured us that you'd wake up." He was beating around the bush, but he kept giving me water and that was helping my throat, so I let him continue his little monologue. Sometimes it's better to let people think they have the advantage.

"But also that your DNA matched to a very important person to us here at S.H.E.I.L.D."

I rolled my eyes. Here we go, another idiot trying to tell me that my mother was just god's gift to Earth. And all the great things she's done and all the apocalypses she's stopped and blah blah blah. News flash people, she was created with the essence of a pure-demon by Shadow Men, definitely not "god's gift" or any of the other crap they say about her.

"Tony Stark." Uh, say what now?

I must've made a face or something because next thing I knew Captain Eyepatch was explaining himself to me.

"Your DNA was tested while you were under and after a myriad of tests and inconclusive results we found that your DNA matched with Tony Stark." I lifted an eyebrow but still said nothing.

"We come to believe that there is a very strong possibility that Tony Stark is your father."

Okay, now I know the cosmos are shitting with me because there is no possible way in hell that Tony Stark could be my father. I mean, he's Tony fucking Stark for fuck's sake. And my mother had told me my father had died in a car accident when I was younger. Even my crazy bitch of a spiteful mother wouldn't lie about that. Even she had boundaries, right?

I took in a deep breath when I felt the tickle in my nose beginning and the stinging behind my eyes. Okay Kenzie, time to channel your inner Elsa. Conceal don't feel don't let it show. Especially not in front of patchy the pirate who was watching my every move like a hawk.

I held my breath as long as I could before slowly releasing it through my nose. Trying to be as discreet as possible.

"From the look of it you didn't know about that." No shit Sherlock, if I did do you think I'd be living with my psychopath of a mother, who if I didn't mention before, killed me!

If only he could read my thoughts right now. Still, my face was the embodiment of stoicism. But then again so was his.

"What do you want with me?" My voice cracked a bit but I didn't sound like I was a dying dehydrated mess, so that's a plus.

If I didn't know any better I'd say pirate captain Fury looked almost amused. But as far as I could see, emotions or facial expression were not something he was well acquainted with.

"From the looks of it Miss Summers-"

"Kenzie." I interrupted. Fury's eyebrow on his one eye rose but he didn't comment. "No one calls me that."

"Well, Kenzie," He gave me an exaggerated look. I merely smirked. "You have two options; you can either stay in S.H.E.I.L.D custody for the next three months until you're of legal age." Something told me Fury thought this was the better option. Somehow I doubted either of the options he was going to give me would be any good.

"Or you can be released into your mother's custody."

I felt the emptiness swallow up my chest. The minute my mother found out I was alive she'd kill me again, no doubt about it. And who knows if I'll wake up next time. My eyes began to sting again and I held my breath willing them back.

"You just said Tony Stark is my father." There was no way in hell I was going back to my mother. Nope. Not gonna happen. I was not dying again. All this resurrecting that I was doing was going to take a serious toll on soul. And bad shit always happens whenever you mess with the balance of the universe. And I had already cheated death three times. I doubt I'd get another shot.

Fury nodded, and I could swear he could almost see the desperation that was starting to overtake me at the thought of being returned to my mother.

"It is a possibility, a very high possibility, that Tony Stark is your father. But he still doesn't know you exist." Welp, there went all of my hope of getting away from Fury and his S.H.I.E.L.D thing.

"Of course Tony Stark isn't an easy man by any means." Fury sounded like he was just through with Tony Stark. Now that has to be an interesting story.

"The guy announced to the world that he was Iron Man during a press conference. That just means he doesn't play by your rules, because let me guess, you wanted it to be a secret." I was afraid to admit that I was starting to see some familiar traits in him. But I quickly pushed that thought to the back of my mind. Now was not the time to be thinking about that.

"You almost sound like you admire him." Fury pointed out.

I shrugged. "He had the balls to tell the truth. I respect that."

"We can try to contact Mr. Stark get him to come in for a paternity test, but in the meantime you would have to stay in our custody, since you're still a minor."

Funny how I was a minor for somethings but not when it came to fighting monsters or stopping an impending apocalypse or literally dying to save the world.

"Fine." I sighed. "As long as I don't have to go back to my mother."

Something tells me this was going to get very interesting.