Lark

Partners

Aria's POV

"Alright Ninja. Tell me what happened." Speaking in a soft tone, Tony carefully watches Aria for any signs of her retreating into herself like she’d done in Fury’s office. So far she seemed to be coming back to herself which he took as a good sign.

Sneaking a glance at him confused, she pinched her brows together. "Didn't Steve tell you?"

"I don't mean what happened with him earlier. I meant what happened in Fury's office. I've never seen you like that before." Aria could tell he wanted to hug her but he kindly refrained, giving her space. She really wished that she could handle being touched because she sure as hell could use a hug right now.

Biting her lip, Aria tries to hold back the tears that spring to her eyes but fails. Swiping at her face she shook her head over and over. 'Why am I crying? I'm safe for a month at least. I just have to do something extremely hard and scary, that's all.' She's faced scarier things than just talking to someone.

"Aria, tell me what's going on.. please." Tony's quiet voice pleading for her to speak to him pulls Aria out of her head. Sinking down on the chair at his desk she told him the basics.

"With the Sparrows you're expected to obey without hesitation or question. Show no emotion, form no attachments or have any loyalty outside of our Masters." Tony freezes. No one besides Dr Kent has heard Aria speak about her time with the Crimson Sparrows. Aria had only been with the team for a little over a year, putting her freedom from them at about two years now. In all of that time she had retreated further and further into herself. His hope had been that with her being around people who would never hurt her that she would finally come out of her tough shell. Unfortunately that hasn’t been the case and now here they were.

"For twenty-one years they molded and shaped me. Body, mind and soul until I became their perfect assassin. The good little soldier. No love, no kindness. Hell, I didn't even know what my birthday was until you surprised me with that cake." She nods when he clearly remembers that day by the look of remorse on his face.

When May 4th came around he knew Aria wouldn't be able to tolerate a full blown Tony Stark party. He thought the better option would be to surprise her at the end of a debriefing with just a few of the team. He had snapped a party hat on her head and blew a noisemaker at her as Steve presented her with a cake topped with a marzipan ninja. Clint, Sam, Steve, Bucky, Tony and Peter started singing the Happy birthday song as Sam lit the candles. Not expecting this sudden onslaught of noise and stimulation Aria had freaked out. Ripping the hat off her head, she ran from the conference room and refused to come out of her apartment for three days. Not even for food or water.

Speaking softly, Aria stares at her hands in her lap."I've never had friends or done anything as simple as have a birthday party. No one's ever done that with me before. I came here and now I'm suddenly expected to do all of these new things.” Frustrated at the tears falling from her eyes she angrily swipes at them. She can't seem to stop crying and she doesn't know why. “I barely know who I am. Why does it matter if I’m nice to everyone as long as my job gets done? I’m pulling my weight aren’t I?"

Tony sits next to her on the edge of his desk. Handing her a tissue, he waits patiently for her to calm down and her tears to slow. The look of pure despair on her beautiful face had him feeling horrible. "You have been, you are. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that we pushed you too far, too quickly. That was never my intention. I think we all forgot that you didn't get to grow up like we did." He thinks to himself for a minute about the meeting. "I think you picked the right person to do this with. Peter is young so he would be more willing to just have fun with you. Give you the experiences that you missed out on."