Awakening

I'm back!

*Bows*

Thankfully, it seemed that not a whole lot of time passed while I was on Asgard. It wasn't even two in the afternoon when Fury stormed into the building, forty minutes after I exposed Jarvis' condition, sending many of the secretaries and employees in the floors below into a frenzy.

They didn't know who he was, but I sensed the chaos his very presence created.

To most, Fury was a very intimidating man.

To me, he was just an old friend, an old student, and a cause of many a headache.

"Sir, Director Fury is demanding you let him into the top floors." Jarvis said in amusement, but I didn't even pause from where I was working to improve the video quality of my Holoballs. There were also some other random projects I was tinkering with, but they weren't anything important. In fact, I wasn't working on anything of actual importance. I was just trying to stem my headache and keep the memories at bay. I really needed to just go sort through the rest of them...but dealing with Fury came first.

I couldn't have him trying to shut down Jarvis or something else on that level of stupid.

"Let him up," Dad sighed as he rubbed his temples.

"Are you sure, Sir?" Jarvis asked in a more subdued tone and I wondered if he too had noticed Barton in the air vents earlier. Probably.

"If we don't he'll just try to crash your servers with angry calls. Or even try to hack you again." Tony reasoned calmly, though I could tell he was annoyed.

"Can they do that?" Bruce asked, looking worried for the AI.

"Well, they managed to hack Jarvis like...once. But we fixed that rather quickly." I shrugged, my expression rather dark.

Neither of us had been happy when we discovered SHIELD's hacking job. We spent about three days straight upgrading Jarvis' software and firewalls, then put in a bunch of security that would make it even hard for us to hack Jarvis if he didn't want us to.

Might've not been the wisest idea but that was why Pepper had no idea about it. Besides, after we had gotten Jarvis to talk about the incident, we both decided that Jarvis getting hacked was basically his equivalent of rape.

Yeah, we weren't letting that happen again.

"Ah," Bruce said with a small nod. He didn't completely understand Jarvis' yet, but he knew that the living AI was part of the family; and he did know better than to mess with Starks.

"His ETA, Jar?" Dad asked as he started sorting through the holograms in front of him, saving and filing the random projects that he had been working on. The only thing he kept out was a hologram of the Mrk. VII and all of the notes, equations, and improvement ideas that were floating around it.

"He shall be exiting the elevator in 35.6 seconds." Jarvis informed us, and I also threw away any non-important holograms.

Old friend or not, Starks were paranoid bastards.

"Oh, what time is Loki and family coming again?" I quickly asked the AI. Dad and I had spoken about it, and they would be staying at the old Stark Mansion that was on the outskirts of town. It was large, close by yet isolated, and the most kidproof. Dad also didn't care too much what happened to his childhood home, too many unpleasant memories he had said.

Ok, he hadn't said that but it was heavily implied and rather obvious.

"Miss Hel said that her family shall be arriving sometime between five and seven tonight, Miss Penny." Jarvis responded instantly. I still wasn't sure how Hel has spoken to Jarvis without leaving Asgard but I supposed I wasn't supposed to know everything.

I always imagined it would be rather irritating and boring being omnipotent.

"Good," Dad said as we Fury approaching the lab door. He seemed rather furious, pun totally intended, and it made me wonder how on earth he had managed to get rid of his costume. Dad was still silver and holographic, and Bruce was still in his bunny costume!

No, I was not pouting; and I was not going to drill him senseless until I found out what he did.

I was simply going to ask him nicely until he couldn't say no anymore. ….yeah that sounded like utter BS even in my head.

"STARK!" Fury yelled as soon as Jarvis unlocked the door for him, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Oh, the wonders of Nick's tempter.

Note the heavy sarcasm.

"What do you want, Ol'Eyepatch?" Dad and I drawled at the same time, and I managed to stifle my giggles as Fury blinked back annoyance before glaring at Dad.

"I have been informed, by a very...reliable...source that you're AI isn't leashed." Fury said slowly, trying to contain his tempter.

I gave him points for that. Nick was quick to anger, one of the few weaknesses that he had never managed to fully overcome.

I blamed his last name. I mean, seriously! If I had a last name like Fury, I would be angry all of the time too! His parents basically condemned him to anger issues before he was even born!

"Why would I have Jarvis on a leash?" Dad asked simply as he pulled off one of the holo-Mrk. VII's arms, and then magnified it by three hundred time, until Dad was standing amongst the circuitry.

"He's not a dog." Dad continued, and I found myself nodding in agreement.

Fury opened his mouth to say something but I beat him to it.

"Look, I don't know what Barton told you he overheard while sneaking around in the venting system," That wasn't a total lie. I didn't know what Barton had told Fury, I just had a very god idea, that was probably right.

Dad didn't blink at the revelation that Barton had been sneaking around the air ducts, and neither did Fury (though I'd be surprised if he was). Bruce however, blinked rather rapidly as he tried to digest this new information.

He was smart, but he didn't have the same capacity for weirdness that us Starks did, even if his was rather high.

"But I have a feeling that you've known what Jarvis is capable of for a while now." I continued on, turning back towards the tiny, partially dismantled Holoball in my hand. "I know you remember the last time you attempted to hack his system."

Fury, for once, didn't respond to that and I nodded mentally. So he had known. I bet it was the council again. The little maggots.

"So, you going to tell us why you're really here and why you seem to still have a stick shoved up your ass?" Dad asked dismissively as he shrunk the hologram, and then glanced at an email popup.

I noticed that it was from Pepper, and wondered what she wanted. She wasn't exactly happy with Dad and I at the moment.

Fury sighed and shook his head.

"I was in a meeting with the Council when Barton appeared, ranting about Stark creating Skynet and some such. I tried to play it off, given Barton's...status...a few days ago, but the Council would hear nothing of it." Fury sighed and shrugged. "They've been jumping at every chance to cause trouble for someone, and usually that person's me."

"Well that's nothing new." I snorted, thinking of how much strong arming it had taken me to get the to back down. They were like vipers, and even though I had a feeling most of the members weren't the same people, they had the same ideals and habits.

Basically, they were still pains in the asses.

"True," Fury nodded as Bruce raised an eyebrow in question and Dad actually paused in his work, his eyes flickering between Fury and I.

"But ever since Thor dropped out of the sky...well, they've been panicking; and since Loki...they want to micromanage everything." Fury grumbled, and I pushed another wheely chair over. He nodded as he collapsed into it.

I had a feeling that it was only because I was in the room, and Dad was smart enough to notice, that Fury was relaxing so much.

"And that means you have to go storming around ranting at everyone?" Dad asked, waving aside his holograms and leaning back against his desk.

"You don't understand." Fury said wearily, and I looked at the man in concern. What now? "They haven't approved of the way I run SHIELD for a while now. Before, they were satisfied with my reports, and I was able to be...flexible...with what I told them."

Dad, Bruce and I grimaced, ah I could see how that might backfire.

"Let me guess, they no longer trust you." Dad quipped, though I could tell it was without his usual bite.

Fury snorted and Bruce raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"That's the understatement of the century. They wouldn't trust me if I was offering them the last glass of water on earth and they were dying of thirst." Fury stated plainly and I winced. Ouch. "The worst part is Hill and Coulson are in a similar boat."

"So let me guess, now instead of the Council allowing you to handle matters yourself, they're making you prove you're handling them the way they want." Dad said and Fury nodded sagely.

"They want video documentation of me dealing with basically everything. I can get away with a few things here and there, but my every move is pretty much being monitored." he growled, and I felt bad for Nick. His Council was much worse than the one from my time.

"At least you can get away with not having a lot of footage of yourself in the Tower," I spoke up, trying to cheer up my former apprentice. "Considering we only allow you to snag a few seconds of footage at a time."

Fury nodded and looked actually thankful.

I wasn't surprised, but looking over at Bruce and Dad, they totally were.

"Glad to be of service." Dad said, masking the fact that he was quite shocked. I giggled quietly. It was funny when someone managed to render my father surprised.

There was a half a moment of silence and I took the time to focus on the movement of my friends/acquaintances in the Tower. Pepper hadn't moved, but Romanoff was slowly coming to. Rogers and Coulson were no longer in the gym, in fact they appeared to me making their way here. Barton was back in the vents, having snuck back into the Tower after Fury had stormed in. Said archer would actually be in hearing range in a few seconds.

I giggled just a bit, causing Bruce, Dad and Fury to all look at me, curious.

A smile on my face, I didn't reply. However, I manifested my sparks above my head, creating a bow and quiver out of sparks, before creating an arrow and pointing towards the air vents.

Understanding lit up the men's faces, and a mischievous look flickered across Dad's. I covered my mouth to stifle a giggle.

Barton was within hearing range.

"That's not the only reason why I'm here." Fury continued on as if nothing had happened, though I saw the glint in his eyes. He was up for some fun.

I was glad to know that he hadn't changed completely.

"Really?" Dad asked completely honestly, and I loved the fact that Starks were such good actors.

"There is a press conference for the Avengers at three o'clock to discuss what happened two days ago in the invasion. Rogers shall be presenting a statement, and Stark, I ask that you prepare one as well. Most of the conference will be Q&A, so it does not have to be long, nor thorough. Just think of this as a very large PR campaign."

Well, that was short notice.

"Don't you think you're cutting it a little close?" Bruce spoke up hesitantly, "It's barely an hour and ten minutes until three."

I blinked, and then looked at a clock. Well that was rather specific.

"I only found out an hour ago myself." Fury grumbled quietly.

I felt for the man, I really did.

"Council?" I asked in sympathy, and Fury nodded, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"The Council." He confirmed and Dad shrugged, a slightly sheepish expression on his face.

"Pepper told me a few minutes ago." He admitted and I realized that that was what the email I had seen earlier was.

Of course Pepper found out before we did. I really wasn't surprised. The corners of my mouth twitched downward as I sensed Barton shifting in the vents. Something felt...off.

I wasn't sure what it was, but all of the sudden my senses felt dulled, muggy, confused.

"Well, we best get ready then." Dad started, clapping his hands and starting to shut down the lab.

I threw the half formed Holoball onto my desk and stood quietly as the lights dimmed and the Bots all rolled back to their charging stations.

Fury and Bruce both made their way towards the door as all of the holograms vanished. Dad gave me a slightly worried look, and I tried to smile. But I was pretty sure I failed.

Why on earth was I feeling like this all of the sudden. My blood felt thick, and my eyelids heavy. The almost nonexistent buzz from the Arc seemed to be extremely loud.

What was going on? I had gone almost a whole two hours without a flashback, and my headache had been fading. This couldn't have anything to do with my memories...did it? It wasn't Fati, I would've sensed her. Besides, she wouldn't have attacked again so quickly. Cor was on high alert for the Fate Immortal.

"You alright?"

I blinked, and saw Dad's hand on my shoulder as he lead me from the lab. Where had he come from?

"Yup," I said, though I knew he didn't believe me. At the moment, I didn't even believe me.

He gave me a look, and I knew that we'd be talking about this. Again.

Lovely.

Dad steared me out of the lab, pausing at the door as the final light flickered off thanks to Jarvis.

"Oh, and Barton?" He said with a smirk on his face and an amused tone in his voice. I felt Barton stiffen in the vents. He hadn't known that he'd been caught. "For the record, if Jarvis wanted to conquer the world, you wouldn't even realize it until long afterwards."

Even with my foggy head, I was able to chuckle.

"It's the same for Dad, FYI." I piped up. "And you should know, there are very little about what happens in this Tower Dad and I don't know; and if we don't, I assure you that Jarvis does."

There was silence, but we both knew that we had been heard.

I let Dad lead me towards the elevator.

I think I was going to go take Romanoff's place on the couch.

Hi...I'm not completely happy with this chapter, but hey I got it out. Anyway, let me know what you think and I might be able to get another chapter up before the end of the day. (For me anyway).

Thanks to everyone, you all rock.
Cp