the strongest avenger

forty eight

"Have you met Black Widow?" Flash asks as they walk down the never ending staircase.

"Yes, she's one of my best friends." Talia holds her side, which continues to throb, but she refuses to collapse from exhaustion.

"What about Iron Man?" Liz asks.

"He's my dad."

"No way!" Liz says excitedly.

"Holy shit!" Says Flash.

"Language Flash." Mr Harrington says.

Talia sighs, she was going to be heading to the Raft either way, so she didn't bother keeping anything secret at this point. There were people recording everything so it was bound to be on the news.

"How do you know Spiderman?"

"He's a good friend."

"Have you met Thor?" Cindy asks.

"Yes, he used to train me before he went off world."

"This is so cool. Train you for what?" She asks.

Talia holds out her hand and shows them little sparks of lightning.

"Awesome."

"What about Captain America?" Flash asks.

"Best friend—er, he's a fugitive so...well i'm not supposed to say that he's my friend. Whatever, everyone's fugitives now."

"Why don't we stop with the questions," Mr Harrington says. "Give the girl a break she's probably exhausted."

She gives her teacher a grateful glance to which he smiles.

"We're probably going to head back tonight...that's probably what's best." The teacher explains.

They make it to the ground and walk outside. Ambulances are parked everywhere, news reporters everywhere, and so many people.

This is Tal's worst nightmare. But instead of shrinking down from the prying eyes, she stands up straighter, meeting the eyes of a police officer who walks towards them.

"Talia James?"

Her heart drops. "Yeah?"

"Come with me please."

I think I'm getting arrested, if I don't get to see you again, thank you for being my friend. She sends to Ned's thoughts.

Tal, no. You saved us!

She pulls from his thoughts and bites her lip while she follows. The man leads her over to the furthest ambulance and gestures for her to get inside. He pulls the phone that's on the wall and hands it to her.

"Your father's on the phone."

She gulps before lifting it to her ear.

"Hello?"

TALIA JAMES. WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FIX THIS?

"My friends were in danger. I had to help them. I'm not sorry that I saved my friends. I won't apologize."

She hears Tony sigh on the phone.

Here's what is going to happen; you are gonna come home from your field trip. Then we are going to have a conference call to discuss your punishment with Secretary Ross. I'm not letting you go to the Raft. For now until I get home, you are grounded. That means no playing superhero with Parker, no extra trips to Mr Delmar's. You go straight to school and then you come home to the Tower. I'm gonna delay your personal move in day for a little longer until we sort this all out. Got it?

"Yes."

Please listen to me for once, this is important.

"I know dad. Listen, I kind of have this piece of metal stuck in me, so I'm gonna go cause I want them to take it out cause it hurts—"

YOU HAVE A WHAT IN YOU?

"Okay bye dad!" She hangs up and looks at the officer. "Can someone please take this out? And can I get like a shirt or something? I don't wanna walk around with blood stains."

The officer sighs but nods. "Be back in a minute."

Talia fiddles with her fingers and waits until the officer and a paramedic come back.

"Lie back." Talia listens to the paramedic and lays back while the lady unzips her suit, sending a glare at the officer who turns around, and takes a look at the wound.

"It's an inch deep, but missing important stuff." Tal says. The lady gives her a look. "I did a scan..."

The paramedic sighs and puts some gloves on before cleaning the outside of the wound.

"I'm gonna pull it out and then we'll put pressure and stop the bleeding. Then I'll stitch you up, wrap it, and you'll be good."

Talia nods at the lady and braces herself. She grits her teeth and refrains from screaming as the lady pulls out the metal. She lets out a breath as the lady immediately pours some liquid on her stomach and puts a thick towel over her, pressing down.

Talia gulps and waits as the bleeding slowly stops, and the lady starts stitching. The pain isn't too bad, so Tal just takes deep breaths while she finishes.

"There might still be a little bleeding, but as long as the wound doesn't reopen fully, you'll be fine."

She cleans off the blood and places a thick patch of gauze over the stitches. She places tape around the edges to keep it down and puts some extra gauze and tape into a brown back for Talia.

The lady zips up her suit and helps her sit up. Talia goes to stand but the lady stops her.

"Your head." The girl blinks, having forgot that she hit her head the previous night.

The lady cleans off the dried blood and checks her pupils.

"You might have a small scar but nothing major. I'll stitch you up real quick, and no concussion."

Talia clenches her teeth while the lady stitches up the cut on her head and relaxes when she finishes. The lady hands her the bag with extra supplies and the officer gives her a black DC
t-shirt. She throws on the shirt and thanks them before exiting the ambulance.

She's met with many news reporters and cameras trying to get her to answer questions, but she just pushes through them over to her friends.

She sees Peter and Ned and swiftly walks over to them, fleeing the news.

"Oh thank God you're not arrested." Ned says as he walks towards her and pulls her into a hug.

She pats him on the back and pulls backwards glancing at the boys. The other students are getting checked along with Mr Harrington.

"I'm not in the clear yet. Tony called and I am severely grounded and I have to have a conference with the Secretary."

"This is my fault, I wasn't really listening. We were all just upset that you two didn't show up and frustrated and—"

"Ned," she holds up a hand. "it's not your fault. We should've brought it with us. It's okay."

"She's right," Peter says. "We shouldn't have left it with you, we could have put it in storage with the other stuff." He looks at the girl. "How are you doing?"

"I'm all stitched up, and ready to sleep on the bus ride home."