Chapter 11: A New Team, A New Family
A Few Weeks After the Battle of New York:
Adora had HOPED to sleep in today. She was practically buried in her pillow and blankets. JARVIS had other plans.
"Ma'am, you really shouldn't be sleeping so late when you have plans." the AI calmly said opening the blinds of her apartment. "Captain Rogers is supposed to be stopping by so you two can discuss what you've learned. You have a training session with Ms. Romanoff at 2pm, Also, Tony called a 'mandatory' meeting of Avengers to show off the finalized Avengers Tower."
Adora pulled the covers over her head and groaned. "Five more minutes JARVIS..."
"Come now, I thought you were a professional." JARVIS deadpanned, causing another groan form Adora as she sat up. Of course Tony would program his AI butler to be sarcastic as well.
As she rubbed her eyes, she checked the clock and climbed out of bed. "Sorry JARVIS just haven't had many chances to sleep in, so I was trying to enjoy it." She said, grabbing some clothes to change into. "Can you get a coffee brewing?"
"Of course ma'am. I'll have it ready by the time you finish your shower." the AI responded.
Adora stumbled her way to the shower. She was admittedly glad that the entire tower was synced to JARVIS's systems. It made so many things much easier from what he was capable of Automating. She calmly showered, hoping the warm water would wake her up more. As she stepped out to dry off she again noticed the scars on her back and tried to shut out the bad memories. Drying off, she changed into her usual casual wear. A White tank top, gray jeans and red shoes. Looking in the mirror, she wondered how she'd look if she still wore her jacket. Maybe a longer shirt? She put her hair up in the ponytail and headed into the kitchen.
"Coffee is ready, miss Greyskull." JARVIS informed her.
"Thank you JARVIS." she replied, pouring herself and coffee and grabbing something quick to eat. "When is Steve supposed to come by?"she asked.
"Within the hour ma'am. I'd suggest you make the apartment a bit tidier?" deadpanned the AI, promtpy and eyeroll from Adora.
"Yeah Yeah I hear ya." She replied enjoying her breakfast and coffee."Say JARVIS? You think I should change my uniform?" She asked.
"I'm not the one to ask ma'am." JARVIS replied.
"Are you able to at least show me how my new idea would look?"Adora asked, having planned out a new outfit.
JARVIS put an image of Adora on a nearby screen. "Of course. I rendered the Mark III armor when Mr. Stark was designing his first suit." he said calmly. "What were you considering?"
Adora thought for a moment. "Try for a White Sleeveless shirt, a white skirt, A bnit of gold trim, some shoulder pads and arm bracers? Oh and White boots with gold trim." she explained. JARVIS modeled the image and Adora was stunned at how accurate it looked. "And a Red Cape"
"I see you're modeling off of the cartoon." the AI quipped. "Perhaps you'll want to ask Mr. Stark his opinion. You'll want the outfit to be practical after all."
"I'm sure it'll be fine. I just need the materials to make it." Adora said.
JARVIS pulled up Amazon on the screen, "Shall I place an order for the materials?"
"Can I afford it?" She asked.
"On your SHIELD salary, you should be able to. Even if you weren't with SHIELD, Mr. Stark has given a stipend to every Avenger, in order to assist the ones incapable of working. Like Banner, or Thor." JARVIS explained, putting in the order.
Adora smiled brightly, "Thanks JARVIS. I appreciate it." she said finishing her breakfast and waiting for Steve to arrive.
Steve Rogers was nervous, beyond belief. He had to reread the files several times, to make sure he wasn't imagining anything.
Adora was cloned from him. For all intents and purposes, she was his daughter.
A Million things ran through his head as he got in the elevator. How did her creators get his blood? How did they store it well enough to create her? Who was the mother? Would he even be able to be a father to her? The only solace he took was that, in a way, he wasn't alone anymore. The commandos were gone, Bucky was gone. But he had a family.
He thought back to the insanity of the previous weeks. He thought of how well she fought alongside him, how they worked in surprising tandem. He also thought of how much she threw herself in harms way for others. Erskine's words repeated in his mind, "Good becomes great, Bad becomes worse." Adora truly must be a good person at heart, and selfless. She was a lot like him, for better or worse.
Eventually, the long elevator made it to the correct floor, and he approached Adora's apartment nervously, knocking on the door. She answered it rather quickly and smiled. "Glad you could make it Steve." she said, nervousness clear in her voice.
"H-hey Adora. Can I come in?" Steve asked, and Adora practically pulled him inside.
"There's coffee made, you want one?" Adora asked, trying small talk.
"Uh yeah, I can get it myself." Steve replied, preparing himself a cup as Adora pulled up a chair at her dining room table. The two sat near each other, silently and awkwardly. Neither knew how to start the conversation. "So uh…. Nice place."
"Yeah, Tony went all out for me. Kinda reminds me of my room in the Triskelion." Adora replied. "Kyle, Natasha and Clint helped me move everything over. Been an odd adjustment period." She looked out the window. "Not used to rooms this big."
Steve took a deep breath. "Okay, let's just get this over with. You're my daughter?" he said quickly.
"The news shocked me too, Steve." Adora replied, stammering a bit.
"This all just feels unreal." Steve said, rubbing his head. "I'm...Technically only 27. You're ten years younger than me. Only ten." he explained.
Adora giggled. "TECHNICALLY you're an old man. Frozen for like over 60 years. Shouldn't be that weird right?" Adora said trying to lighten the mood. She noticed the faintest smile on Steve's face.
"It's just a lot to take in honestly. I'm...I'm happy. But it's so much." Steve explained.
"Trust me Steve, I know. I spent my whole life believing I was an orphan, some lab experiment. Turns out my father is the world's first superhero." Adora said sipping her coffee. "But I'm happy too. Steve...Dad. This is a big chance for both of us." She said, grabbing his hand ad finally calling hi what she was wanting to the whole conversation. "I'm never gonna have a normal life but… knowing I have a father, after 17 years. I have a family, not just Honorary Uncles Clint and Thor, or my adopted mother Nat."
Steve seeing the light in Adora's eyes, just couldn't hold back anymore and pulled the girl into a hug. "And I've got something in this decade apart from my life as a soldier to live for." He replied, as the two embraced. When the hug finally broke, the two went back to their coffee.
Adora then gave Steve a smug grin. "This mean you're gonna start dating Nat?"
Steve ended up spitting out a mouthful of coffee as Adora laughed. "Let's….not go that far." he said, coughing a bit.
Adora laughed more before settling down. "Just kidding Dad, just kidding." She gave a beaming smile. "Wouldn't mind if you taught me a thing or two about how a real super soldier fights though."
Steve helped clean up the mess. "You sure? I mean you ca really hold your own as is." He asked her.
"My usual strategy is hit REALLY hard, you know how to hit really hard, smartly. I'm gonna need to learn a few things if I end up having to face Catra again." She said, quieting down again.
"I keep hearing you mention Catra. Who's that?" Steve calmly asked.
Adora sighed heavily. "Catra was...a very good friend of mine. We grew up together. She was another experiment the Followers of Inperatio, my creators, made." She calmly explained.
"Was?" Steve noted, "Did you lose her?"
"We had a falling out, three years ago." Adora explained. "Did Natasha ever tell you how I came to SHIELD?"
Steve shook his head. "I asked, she said it wasn't her place to tell me." he responded.
Adora smiled, "That's her way of saying I need to talk about it. Alright." Adora leaned forward and took a deep breath. "I'll tell you everything. We were created at the same year, in different projects. Hence our names, we were both named after a cartoon from the 1980s called She-Ra: The Princess of Power. She might have been a few months younger than me because she was a natural birth, though. We grew up together, trained together, hell we even shared a room together..."
"...And she was right. I had broken my promise." Adora said, finishing up her story. "I haven't worn that coat ever since the fight. It got stitched back up yeah but...too many bad memories." She leaned back in her chair, exhaling deeply. "It...feels good to talk to someone about it."
Steve, for his part, had listened intently. "You two sounded very close. Maybe closer than me and Bucky were." He replied.
"Bucky? Oh right, Sergeant James 'Bucky' Barnes right? I saw your exhibit at the Smithsonian." Adora replied.
"I have an exhibit?" Steve asked, incredulously.
"Well, Duh! You're a legend!" Adora said. "Sorry about...Barnes though. There's a memorial to him too."
Steve nodded. "Still hurts to think about."
"Wanna talk about it?" Adora asked.
Steve smiled, "Well you told me your story. I think I'll tell you my whole story. Before the Stars and stripes I was a forty-pound asthmatic, if you can believe it. Turned down by every single enlistment station I went to, all I ever wanted was to fight for my country, protect the little guys Hitler was stomping. During one examination, I met Dr. Erskine..."
Adora and Steve laughed as they shared stories of their pasts, both good and bed. Steve put up his hand and continued, "And then the last Hydra goon just drops his gun and bolts it. Doesn't get too far before Bucky manages to drop him."
"Well yeah, but when you see a guy built like an Olympic athlete bounce a Shield off like eight people, and catch it without even looking, what else are you gonna do right?" Adora replied, laughing a bit. "Oh I got one too. Catra was gloating so hard about an obstacle course she bested me at. I wasn't paying attention and fell in a pit. Kept bragging about how I'm not focused enough. So I point off in the distance and yell 'LOOK A MOUSE!'"
"Oh no…" Steve said with a smirk.
"She jumps up, tail frizzles and goes stiff, claws come out and she looks ready to pounce as she goes 'Where?!' And her eyes start darting around the room. Oh man I could see the embarrassed blush under all her fur." Adora said through laughs, sighing happily. "I miss her so much."
Steve put his arm around his daughter's shoulder and looked her dead in the eye. "We've both lost friends. But you wanna know what the difference is between me and you?" he asked. Adora looked genuinely curious so he continued. "You still have a chance to save your friend. I couldn't save Bucky, but don't you dare give up on Catra, you hear?" he said, surprising her. "A friendship like that is a rare thing to find. You gotta hold onto it while you can."
Adora nodded. "Thank you dad." She said softly.
Their bonding time was cut short as Tony walked in, before stopping dead in his tracks. "Ah, hope I'm not interrupting some Father-Daughter time." he said.
"What the.. How did you-" Adora began.
"I hacked SHIELD remember? They had the familial ties on file. Must not have wanted to say anything." Tony deadpanned. "I figured it'd be something you two should figure out when we weren't facing an imminent alien invasion." They had to concede he had a point. "Still, Cap, must be weird. You come back after being frozen for decades, find out you have a kid. Must feel like on hell of a hangover."
"You could say that again Stark." Steve groaned.
"So Adora, gonna keep Greyskull, or go with Rogers now?" Tony asked, the tone he used indicating he was being genuine, not his usual snarky self.
Adora thought for a moment. "If dad's alright with it, I'll see about legally taking his last name." She said confidently.
Steve shrugged, "That's your decision, you're old enough to make that choice yourself."
Tony took a bite out of an apple he'd grabbed. "Speaking of age. Adora, What's your birthday?" he asked her.
Adora was confused. "Why do you ask?" She asked him.
"Because I collect birthdates. Why do you think?" Tony deadpanned, "You're the kid of the group. If you're gonna live in Avengers Tower, I'm gonna be throwing you Birthday parties kiddo." he explained.
"Oh...huh….never had a proper birthday party." Adora commented, "Natasha usually did a little ting for me, and back with the Followers Catra and I would congratulate each other on birthdays." Both Steve and Tony just gave her concerned looks. "It's January 19th." She finally answered.
"Well, looks like we're gonna make sure to throw you one hell of a birthday party Adora. Cake, balloons, music, the whole shebang." Tony replied. "I'll make sure to let the others know, see if Pepper can join, maybe talk stoic Nick Fury into attending.." he rambled on as he headed for the door. "Oh and don't forget, Avengers Tower tour at 5pm! I'll have dinner ordered for afterwards." he said as he left the room.
Adora and Natasha finished their training session and were resting to cool off. The two had really pushed themselves this session, Natasha practically had to drag Adora back to the locker room. As she took a drink of water Adora turned to Natasha, "If I can finally start catching up with you, maybe I won't have as many problems with Catra in the future." She said.
Natasha nodded, "You have power but what you really have to work on is speed." she replied.
After the two had showered and dressed, Adora looked at Natasha. "Hey Nat? I know I'm still a SHIELD agent but...if I'm an Avenger, can I pick a superhero name?" She asked.
Natasha raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow. You guys have code-names. I figure we're a superhero team, I oughta come up with one." she explained. "I mean, I've already started working on a new outfit."
"Alright Adora, what did you have in mind?" Natasha asked.
"I….don't know yet. I'd say She-Ra but that's trademarked." She deadpanned. "Maybe whenever the Avengers meet up we can bounce ideas off each other."
Natasha just nodded, "Don't count on getting any good ideas." she said. "ESPECIALLY with Tony involved..."
"Lady Liberty?" Tony said, as the Avengers sat together in the penthouse, in front of the TV, enjoying pizza.
"GOD no!" Adora yelled out. "That sounds so dumb!"
"Better than 'Miss America' was." Clint replied, chuckling.
"That was just an idea..." Adora sheepishly replied.
Bruce thought a moment, "Agent A?" he offered. "A for America, and A for Adora?"
"Do we have to focus on the Captain America tie, guys?" Adora replied.
"Baby America" Tony quipped, causing a glare from Adora and him to playfully back off.
"What about something related to your surname. Grey Skull?" Thor offered.
Steve chimed in, "Too close to my old enemy, Red Skull."
"Also a bit too evil." Adora added.
"Power Girl?" Pepper said, shrugging.
"Sounds corny." Adora replied. "Plus it feels a bit simple."
"This'd be easier if you weren't so picky." Natasha deadpanned.
"How about we put this conversation off for a bit?" Steve commented. Everyone agreed it would probably be for the best. Everyone just simply enjoyed their time together and their pizza. Adora especially.
Meanwhile:
Catra sighed in annoyance as the Followers brought in some salvaged Chitauri technology. She sighed even louder as Emily ran into the room, practically giddy at the concept of playing with alien technology. "Catra this is SO awesome! ALIEN! TECH!" She yelled out, poking at the stuff and beginning to tinker.
Catra rolled her eyes and picked up a piece of what looked like a weapon, turning it in her hands. Suddenly something soft and purple yanked it away and back towards Emily. It took Catra a minute to realize it was Emily's HAIR. "What the fuck?! Emily how are you doing that?!" she yelped out in amazement.
"Catra, you poor stupid child." Came the voice of Lorraine Santos, her mother, as she walked into the room. Lorraine had taken to wearing the mask much more frequently over the past 2 years. By this year, it seemed she was in it almost every couple weeks.
It gave Catra the chills every single time she saw it.
"Young Emily Dryll is a hybrid, you read her file did you not?" the doctor said, looming over the two. "Half of her genes are an unidentified Extraterrestrial species. It's what gave her that genius level intellect, and her incredible talent with machinery. And it would appear it's caused her to develop prehensile hair, capable of acting as extra limbs."
"It's fucking weird." Catra said, yawning.
"It sure makes things easier when I'm working!" Emily gleefully said, slamming a welding mask over her face as she worked.
Lorraine looked and Catra and put her hands on her shoulders, causing the kitten to shiver. "If your Intel about Adora's whereabouts are correct, perhaps you have finally made use of yourself. You are in charge of Emily's work. Whatever machines she crafts are to be used to bring Adora back at once. Understood?" she said, with a chilling voice. "Failure won't be tolerated."
Catra nodded nervously. "Y-yes Ma'am." With that, Lorraine let her go and returned to her chambers silently. Catra exhaled with relief and walked over to Emily. "Whatever you build, make sure it won't KILL Adora okay? We want her back in one piece." She said. "But considering how stubborn she is, it MAY require knocking her around a bit."
To Be Continued….
Filler Episode!
Right so, I've decided I'm going to be trying to slow down a bit. I'll probably be trying to alternate between a chapter of this and a chapter of my Power Rangers Story, Mystic Knights, just so I can prevent burnout. Hopefully.
So, as for this chapter. Emily was much more than just a REFERENCE :3
Allow me to formally introduce the MCU equivalent of my favorite geeky princess, Entrapta! I freaking love the little lunatic. She's easily one of my favorite characters from the show, especially since her first episode is actually what hooked me on She-Ra in the first place. The earlier episodes were pretty meh to me, but then I saw Entrapta, Dryll, and Drunk-Adora. HOOKED. There was no way in hell I'd leave my favorite girl out of this story.
I do not own She-Ra or the MCU, and related characters are the property of their respective owners.
I know I say this a lot but Reviews are HIGHLY encouraged. Please review if you enjoyed, I really want to know if people like this story and where I can improve. It's a bit disheartening when I hardly ever receive feedback despite the effort I put into every chapter.
I still have not watched past Season 1 of She-Ra. NO spoilers please.
NEXT TIME: Birthdays and Robots.
EDIT: To whoever keeps leaving novel length rants about Superheroes not killing criminals. STOP! Reviews are for REVIEWING THE STORY, not posting your 2 cents about the comics industry. IF you're really so motivated about that topic and not just trolling, make your own account and post it there. IT's incredibly disrepectful to continually try to fill my review section with this.