A/N

Spoilers for the seventh Harry Potter book in here.

Chapter 14

She laughs, something missing all humor, short, dry, and brittle. "Taylor, Taylor." She tsk's me a few times.

"Is that any way to talk to your mother?"

"WHAT?!"

Everything goes still, like the entire ship is shocked.

I whirl around to face my dad, who is pale, wide eyed, and shaking. When he finally finds his voice, he isn't talking to me.

"Rebecca?"

The lady – Rebecca – raises an eyebrow as she looks my dad up and down. "Tony."

"What are you doing here?"

"I have a better question." I cut in. "What the hell?"

They both ignore me as Rebecca continues talking, this time to the entire ship. "You have one hour to give us the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. before this ship explodes and kills every single living being on board. One hour."

She disappears with a swish of her cloak, bringing the entire army with her. I glare at my dad expectantly. He opens up his mouth, but I just hold a hand to silence him before spinning on my heel and storming out of the room, trying to ignore the hot tears itching my eyes.

I find a girl's locker room and fling open the door, sinking onto the bench. I rest my elbows on my knees and lay my forehead on my linked fingers.

Why was this such a shock? the logical side of my brain asks. Biology states you have a mother. Somehow.

But I never met mine, the emotional side counters.

You knew she was out there somewhere.

Not necessarily.

Somewhere, out there, you had a mother.

"Taylor?" a quiet voice asks, and I snap my head up a little and I can hear shuffling on the other side of the door.

"You can come in." I whisper as I drop my head back down.

The door clicks open and someone settles beside me. I immediately recognize the smell of whiskey, motor oil, and expensive cologne. I lift my head a tiny bit to stare at my dad and wait for him to talk.

He combs a hand through his mussed, sweaty hair. "Her name was – is – Rebecca."

"I got that."

"She was an amazing girlfriend, but on July fourth, we got a little drunk, and…"

"Okay, stop, stop, I don't need details."

"Anyways, she turned all mean as soon as she found out she was pregnant, She blamed you on me, said that she wasn't ready and I was an idiot. She fought until you were born to get rid of you."

He pauses, and I stare at him with more tears brewing in my eyes. My own mother did not want me.

"On the day you were born, she gave me an ultimatum: stay with her or keep you. We both know what I chose."

I nod and blink my tears away as he hugs me like I'm five, not nineteen. "Thank you."

"Always, Taylor."

"Was that a Harry Potter reference? Because I hope you know both those people die. You know that, right?" I asks him indecredously as I pull away to face him.

"Shut it, neerrrddd."

Nerd. My eyes fly open as that word snags something in my brain.

"Dad?" I say quietly as a maniac smile grows on my face. "I found our genius."

I take off like a rocket down the now lit hallways towards the control room, vaulting over debris and gouged holes. And a corpse or two.

"Guys!" I shout as I slam through the doors. "Guys! Guys! Guys-"

Slam!

Right, note to self: you need to stop eventually. Walls, genius.

"I'm okay!" I start to pace. "I know who our mystery genius is."

"Who?" Steve asks from where Bruce is tending a few minor scrapes.

"What do you think of when I say Stark?"

"Arrogant."

"Cocky."

"Smart."

"Science."

"Which Stark?"

I look at Steve, Bruce, Clint, and Thor, as I wave off Natasha's question. "No…well, yes, but not exactly." I admit as I begin pacing again.

"Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropists?" my dad casually throws out, a line not expecting to get a bite.

"Right!" I spin to face him. "Genius. The genius is the…woman…that was supposed to became Rebecca Stark."

Realization dawns on five faces as my dad turns to me, an indignant look overtaking his face. "Hey! How do you-"

"Know that?" He nods. "The keypad to your desk drawer is Tony numerical and backwards. You should change it." I turn again as his face deflates and face the team. "HYDRA's second in command, and the agent that took and reprogrammed our robot, is my mother."

Everyone just stares with wide eyes. Natasha snaps out of it first, marching up to me and giving me a small smile as she squeezes my shoulder. "We have fifteen minutes left. Fury and Coulson are safe in an undisclosed bunker. We will radio in when the battle is over. For now, we need to get ready to fight HYDRA, Pierce, and Steel."

I shoot her a thankful glance as she uses her codename. "I do not think it will be us as a team."

The room stares at me like I've just announced I was an alien member of HYDRA, so I backpedal a little bit. "Well, I mean, us fighting as a team, yeah, but…but when the final battle with Steel comes, something tells me it will have to be me or my dad."

Everybody grudgingly sees my point, eventually.

And then a voice echoes out of the loudspeaker. "I'm baaack! Avengers, come out come out wherever you are. Ready or not, I'm waiting for Director Fury in the control room."

The voice – Steel – cuts off with a deafening screeching groan as we all stare at each other for a moment before sprinting towards the control room.

"Steel!" I shout as we thunder into the room. "Surrender now, or else!" I prime an arrow and train it on her head.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to disrespect your mother?!" she screams at me as she loads a gun and aims in at the head of an innocent S.H.I.E.L.D. intern.

Those words matched with those actions cause me to finally snap. I angle the arrow down and slightly to the right, releasing it and watching as I flies true, smacking straight into the side of the gun barrel, causing the gun towards friendly lines.

"YOU DON'T GET TO SAY THAT!" I scream. "AND WHILE POINT GUNS AT INNOCENT PEOPLE!" I take a deep breath. "You lost all right to say that nineteen years, two months, and five days ago. You lost all right to your child the moment you turned your back on me and my dad, May 30th, 1999."

"But I am still your mother-"

"YOU LEFT US!" I scream again, a sob haunting my voice. "You left us…You do not get that, do you? I grew up without a mother, I do not need you now. You are no mother to me. Hell, I can name a Russian redheaded ex-assassin that is more motherly to me than you." I can feel Natasha's beaming grin on my back. I glance back at her and my lips quirk up. "So anyways," I turn back to Steel, "you need to stop saying that before I punch you. Or get my dad to do so. Or my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?! You…just…never mind, unimportant. HYDRA, attack!" she screams and the army gathered behind her rages forward, war calls ringing through the ship.

Steel just stands there, arms raised, feet spread in a pose like-

Metal starts flying through the air, hitting her arms and legs, forming gloves and legs and arms. The last piece of sliver metal encases her head, a green circle lighting up her chest.

My mother has an Iron Man suit.