𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬

𝐱𝐯𝐢𝐢𝐢

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 was busier than usual, mostly because everyone was packing their stuff to move out and into the new Avengers Compound which Stark had just renovated for the new team. Adelaide however, wasn't packing anything. Since Clint's death, and the public's discovery of her existence after a video of her fighting in Sokovia was posted on Twitter, she never got any sleep. Wanda often came in with Pietro, and sometimes on her own but no matter how much she tried, Adelaide was now somehow able to block her mind off from her friend, something she hadn't been able to ever do completely.

All the Avengers visited her, they would come inside her room, sit next to her on her bed where Addie usually was sat cross legged, or they'd see her huddled in the empty bathtub, gripping tightly onto her knees. She hadn't talked to anyone, she was too pent up in her own mind, that sometimes days would pass and they felt like minutes.

The first time she spoke again, was a month after Sokovia, when everyone had moved out into the Compound, which left her to be the last to pack. Natasha knocked on her closed door, and Addie unlocked it from where she sat, cross-legged once again, on her neatly made bed. Nat entered the room, walking slowly and smiling at Addie.

'Hey, Ad.' She greeted quietly, and sat herself next to Adelaide, who hadn't moved a muscle, not even when she closed the door behind Nat. 'You'll never guess what happened today, Wanda and Pietro were training in the new training room, which you will love by the way, and Wanda absolutely destroyed him; You should've seen his face, priceless.' Natasha chuckled to herself, no expecting an answer from Adelaide.

'Is the compound nice?' Adelaide almost whispered, to which Nat jolted backwards, before playing it off so as not to startle Addie or make her feel uncomfortable for talking. Natasha cleared her throat.

'Oh uh, yeah, it's mega fancy too. Your room looks great, they've designed it so it's practically identical to this, Tony took extra care designing stuff so things wouldn't.... catch fire, you know?' Natasha rubbed Adelaide's back in comfort, and when she did so, Addie turned and faced her and smiled gently.

'I was thinking of starting to move.' Adelaide admitted, looking around at all her untouched things that were neatly around her large bedroom. Natasha got up from where she was sat, to Adelaide's dismay, and left the room for a moment, her bare feet padding along the soft carpet. She rummaged around outside Addie's room for a bit, before coming in with some cardboard boxes; They were small, but not too small and she carried quite a few. She smiled with utter joy painted all over her face, and Adelaide laughed at her glee, while getting up off her bed and standing.

For a while, she forgot about everything. She forgot about Wanda and Pietro, how she had unintentionally killed Clint, everything. All she knew was how happy she was, organising her things with Nat, rediscovering things she owned, finding the most hilarious pictures of her and Nat, all the birthdays she had. Once the girl's had packed all her things, which took a few hours as Adelaide didn't have that many possessions, they lay on her stripped bed together.

The girl's looked to the ceiling, breathing in sync, smiles on both their faces.

'Should we move these to the car? I don't want to stay here much longer, the compound sounds so amazing.' Adelaide spoke first. Nat's throat hitched with worry. She gulped.

'Uh, I will. You just stay here resting.' Natasha sat up, and so did Addie, but one of their faces was a smile, and the other was a look of confusion and a little bit of hurt; What wasn't her friend telling her?

'I don't need to rest anymore, Tasha. I've been sat here for a month, resting. I get that's my fault because of C-' Addie, gulped and felt sick at the notion. 'Because of what happened, but I can move some boxes.' Natasha got up off the bed, and picked up two boxes, stacking them one upon the other. She looked to Addie with pity and sadness.

'When you're at the compound, you can be outside as much as you want so don't worry.' Natasha knew that the only reason Adelaide really wanted to carry the boxes to the car was because she never was allowed outside. She was always cooped up in the tower, Stark afraid of what would happen if she was discovered.

'Fine, just don't be long, and tell me when I'm allowed to come to the car so we can leave.' But Addie had no intention of waiting, and when Nat was far away enough, Adelaide picked up a box of her own, just the one, and followed in Natasha's footsteps. She was quiet as she could be, and made it down into the foyer of the tower. Addie opened the large door, and as soon as she did she was met with flashing lights of cameras and the press yelling and shouting.

'That's the girl! That's her!' One of them shouted, clamouring to grab onto Addie who stood frozen in her spot. Her eyes were widened - she had forgotten that she was known now - and they darted all round. She felt a hand grab the back of her black jumper and pull her back inside the tower, shutting the door in the press' face.

She stood, still facing the door, panting and shaking. The hand turned her round, and Tony was stood there.

'What do you think you were doing?' He questioned, not loudly, but with anger staining his voice. She shivered in front of him, and his eyes melted into her afraid exterior. He pulled her into a hug and she sobbed into his shirt as he stroked her white hair. Tony shushed and comforted her, and noticed Natasha coming towards them, wondering what the matter was and why Adelaide wasn't in her room, but he stopped her with a warning look in his eyes.

Nat stopped in her tracks, before gazing upon the crying teenager and realising, then leaving the two on their own. Adelaide stood backwards, sniffling slightly.

'I'm sorry, they just took me by surprise. I only wanted to go outside.' She didn't look at Tony, afraid of what he would think of her, but he smiled softly.

'It's alright, I should've told you they were there. We can go out the back way? I know all the tricks on how to avoid them.' The large foyer echoed his voice around, and Adelaide looked up at him, her eyes meeting the warm ochre of his gaze. She shook her head, drying her eyes.

'I'm gonna have to face them some day.' She uttered, confidence intertwined with her tone and Addie straightened her posture before turning and facing the door. Tony opened it up, the sun glazing upon his sunglasses, he went through first.

The paparazzi swarmed the billionaire and Adelaide strode out behind him, legs strong and unwavered by the attention she was getting as she was pushed sometimes by men and women eager to get a shot of her. Addie barely got into the car, but when she did she felt exhilarated, and looked over at Tony who kept his macho face, with a small smile creeping over his expression in pride.

'Well that wasn't too bad.' She admitted, looking out the tinted window as the large car accelerated out the drive and onto the New York roads, her hair long enough now that it lay delicately underneath her collarbone. Tony cleared his throat and spoke.

'Next step, a real introduction to the world.'

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