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Chapter 2
Jade was dozing on the bed; Tony and Pepper were sitting on those uncomfortable plastic chairs, while Happy stood outside the door. There was a sharp loud nock on the door.
Jade jumped, startled from her doze. "I'm up Aunt Petunia! I'll get started on my chores right away I swear! I won't do anything freakish either!"
"Shh, calm down, it's not your Aunt." Pepper said.
"Everything's fine." Tony said at the same time. He turned to the door. "Come in." He said.
The door opened and a man in a grey suit entered. "I'm John Smith. I'm here to take Jade Potter into care."
"No!" Pepper said. "Who knows what could happen to her in care?"
"I'm sorry Miss, but I have to-"
"I'll take her in. Get me guardianship, I'll take her." Tony said. "Pep, call my lawyers and get them to get me custody of Jade."
"Mr. Stark, there are checks that need to be done." Smith said.
"I don't care what checks need to be done!" Tony said.
"Until everything is sorted, she has to go into a care home."
Tony ran his hand through his hair. "Only if you can promise me that she won't get lost in the system."
"I can't promise that exactly, Mr. Stark." Smith said. He had a sly look on his face that Jade didn't like.
"You want to blackmail me?" Tony asked.
"Well, I wouldn't call it blackmail. I get say, two million dollars; Miss Potter doesn't disappear into the system. I don't get what I want, well, there's no telling where she'll go."
Tony's eyes were narrowed. He pulled a check book from the inside of his pocket, and a pen. He filled in a check and handed it to Smith. "You'll get the rest when Jade's custody is given to me. And just remember who I fund, should you even think about backing out on this deal."
Smith lost some of his colour, and he seemed terrified for a moment, before he regained his composure, and he nodded.
Tony smiled, and then turned to Jade. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Jade, do you know what the law is?"
"Policemen."
"Well, they uphold the law. The law is like a series of rules that everyone has to follow. Now, the law says that a child whose guardians are taken away have to go into care until a suitable new guardian can be found. I want to be your new guardian, but to prove I'm suitable, I have to go through checks, and fill in forms and it can take a while. Now, until that happens, you're going to have to go with Mr. Smith, alright?"
"You- want me?" she asked, there was a quiver in her small voice.
"Of course I do." He said.
Jade launched herself at him, and hugged him. Tony hugged her back, and heard her start to sob.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked.
"No one has ever wanted me before." She said.
"Now, I'm sure your parents did. But I doubt you can remember them, can you?" Tony asked. He noticed that Pepper also had tears in her eyes that were threatening to spill over. How could those bastards have ever laid a hand on Jade?
When Jade had stopped crying, Tony pulled back, and ruffled her hair. "Take care Kiddo. I'll see you soon."
Pepper reached over, and hugged Jade as well. "See you soon, Jade."
"Bye Tony, bye Pepper!" She said, smiling.
Tony helped Jade off the bed, and Jade followed Smith out of the room. She waved to Happy, and he waved back, before she was led away.
Pepper looked at Tony. "I'm surprised at you Tony."
"Why's that then Pep?" He asked.
"I didn't think you'd take her in. Or cave to that man."
"Around six years ago, I met a woman. Her name was Lily Evans. We became friends. Just friends. The night before she left, we got impossibly drunk and the next morning we're waking up in the same bed, no clothes on at all. Well, we both decided it was a mistake, and Lily went home to England to marry her fiancé James Potter, and I never heard from her again. The main thing I remembered about her was her eyes. Emerald green. Well, I say six years. More like five years, and ten months."
"So you think that Jade is…?"
"Yes I do. Even if she isn't, I'll still take her in. I'll even adopt her. From what I've seen of her she's a good kid. And about caving to that man, I didn't." Tony pulled out a small voice recorder, which he put back in his pocket. Pepper laughed.
"You recorded the entire conversation."
"Yes I did. When Jade is in my custody, John Smith will suddenly find himself in front of a jury. Let's go Pep, things to do, and custody to gain."
Jade had been in the care home for close to two weeks now. She hadn't seen Tony or Pepper, and she was beginning to wonder if Tony had been telling the truth. Mr. Smith had brought her to the care home, filled in some paper work, said she wasn't to be moved, and then left. Jade had been given several sets of threadbare clothes, and then led to her room. She was sharing it with two other girls, Julia and Christina, but she didn't care. She actually had a bed. And the clothes, while threadbare, were more comfortable than her old ones.
Julia and Christina were both two years older than her, and they mostly ignored her. Jade preferred it when they ignored her. If they weren't ignoring her, they were telling her that she'd be here for years, and that Tony didn't want to be her guardian. She tried to shake their comments off, but they were slowly getting to her. But still, life here was far better than at the Dursleys.
Jade was currently sitting on her bed, looking out her window. She saw a streak of fire shoot across the sky. The Human Torch. Whenever she saw one of the superhero's of New York, she always wondered what it would be like, to have people like you. She wondered if they were like her. She'd always done weird things. Like being able to change her hair colour at will for one. And she'd somehow found herself on the roof that one time. Was that how all superheros began? With small freakish happenings? Would she one day be helping the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four, and others like them?
The bedroom door opened, and Ms. White came in. "Get your things, Jade. You're leaving."
"What?" She asked, startled from her thoughts.
"Mr. Stark is here to pick you up. So quickly now, get your things. You don't want to keep a busy man like Mr. Stark waiting. Here, I've brought you this." Ms. White handed Jade a small, battered suitcase. Jade quickly gathered her things and packed them into the case.
Jade then followed Ms. White from the room, and downstairs. Tony and Pepper were both waiting for her.
"Tony! Pepper!" She said, smiling. She hurried over to them. Both Adults smiled at her. Tony crouched down, and hugged her, and then so did Pepper. Tony picked up her suitcase, and Pepper took her hand.
"Thanks for looking after her." Tony said curtly to the care worker. Though you probably could have done better. He added in his thoughts. "Come on Jade. We have a few things to do before we go home." Tony took Jade's other hand, and the three walked out of the building. Happy was leaning beside the car and he took the small case from Tony and placed it in the boot of the car, as Pepper got into the car. Jade got in after her, and then Tony followed.
When Happy got back in and started driving, Jade started to feel curious. She wanted to know where they were going, but she didn't ask. Questions were bad.
"You're awfully quiet Jade, are you alright?" Pepper asked.
"I'm fine." Jade said, nodding.
"I know the Dursleys said you couldn't ask questions, but you can ask us anything. Can't she Tony?"
"Of course you can. Questions are good. How are you supposed to learn, if you don't ask questions?"
"Where are we going?" Jade asked, after a moment of consideration.
"Shopping." Tony said. "From what we were told, you don't have many things of your own. Today, we're going to correct that."
"You don't have to go out of your way for me."
"We aren't." Tony said. "What your relatives, if people can even call them that, did to you was wrong. You should have had proper clothes, a proper room, and toys and books. You should have been allowed to learn, with help and unhampered. We are correcting what the Dursley's did wrong."
"I don't need much. I have a few more clothes in my case than I did before and hey fit."
"We'll get you better clothes that fit. And toys and books." Tony said. "Once we've got everything, we'll head to the house. Your new home."
Jade smiled and settled down for the drive. At the mall, Pepper's help came in very useful. Tony would have had no idea what to buy for Jade, and Jade wasn't that much help, especially at the start, claiming that she was fine and didn't need all that much anyway. Tony and Pepper constantly exchanged worried glances. It was going to take a lot of work to convince Jade that the Dursleys were wrong, and she wasn't a waste of space, like they had beat into her.
By the time they had gotten to the book store, Jade had become a bit more confident. She had plucked up the courage to go and look at the books on her own, and she even chose two herself. Of course they bought more, but Pepper and Tony were ecstatic that she'd asked for two herself, without them being pointed out. It took several hours, but they were soon done and heading back to the car.
Jade was awed at the sight of the house. It was large, rather rounded, the ground's were extensive, and the house looked like it would have a good view of the sea. Jade had never seen the sea before, and it was beautiful to her.
The three got out of the car, and Happy went to park it up. Their purchases were being delivered later on that day.
The front door opened, and a man stepped out, with a worried look on his face.
"Ah, Jarvis!" Tony said, smiling. "This is Jade. Jade, this is Jarvis. I told you about him earlier."
"Hello, Mr. Jarvis." She said, politely, smiling at him. Jarvis smiled at her.
"Hello Jade, it's nice to finally meet you." He said, before looking back at Tony, frowning again. "Someone's here to see you, they literally just appeared in the front room."
"Best see to them immediately then. Jade, Jarvis is going to show you to your room, while I deal with this, alright?"
"Ok, Tony." She said, nodding. They all entered the house, and separated. Tony and Pepper to the living room, and Jade and Jarvis to Jade's new room.
A/N: So, what do you think? Who is the mysterious visitor? Review and find out!