INFERNO │ Marvel

1.3 tony's return

The next few weeks were awful. Amelia quickly realised just how out of control she was of her new ability. A few times she had accidentally set objects alight when she touched them. One night, she had awoken to her bedsheets burning around her. It was this that led her to discover her resistance to fire and also the ability to extinguish them as well as start them. It took a while, but it was like the serum had melted into her brain more than the rest of her body. Not only could she shoot fire from her hands, but she could manipulate it with her mind. Pepper had been right. It did seem rather impossible, but Amelia had done it regardless.

In that time, she had practised with her new ability in the workshop; Dum-E was always on standby with an extinguisher. Control was not easy, and it took a lot of focus at first. After a while, shooting blasts of fire at walls and creating controlled flames that danced around her hands felt natural. Her body had assimilated to the serum quicker than she thought it would.

Amelia was once again in the lab when Pepper came running in, looking frantic. Amelia immediately began to panic, leaping from her seat, and the notebook in her hand set alight.

"Shit!" she yelled, dropping the book and dissipating the flames with a flick of her wrist. She took a deep breath to regain composure before turning to Pepper. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"They found him!" she breathed, her voice thick with emotion. "They found him, Amelia. He's on his way back right now."

All the air left Amelia's lungs as she let out a huge breath that she seemed to have been holding onto for the past three months. For one last time, she allowed tears to spill down her cheeks, although this time it was in relief.

"You're sure? He's alive? He's coming home?" she asked. Pepper nodded and let out a laugh. Amelia grinned widely and hugged her friend. "Holy crap. I'm gonna have so much to explain to him."

"Yeah, well, he's going to have a lot of explaining to do as well," Pepper said, pulling back and taking Amelia's hand instead. "Happy is going to drive us to pick him up. Come on."

Amelia sat in the backseat of the car, bouncing her knee, much to Pepper's annoyance. She was nervous to see Tony again, to see what kind of state he was in. The second the plane landed, she ran up to her brother and almost knocked him over with the force of throwing her arms around him.

"Are you ok?" she asked him as she buried her face into his shoulder. Tony breathed an exhausted sigh of relief and returned the hug.

"Yeah," he said, his voice quiet with a vulnerability he only ever showed his sister. "I'll live."

"I missed you," she told him as they pulled back. Rhodes appeared beside Tony, and Amelia gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you."

Rhodes nodded at her as the three descended the plane's ramp. Tony complained as they walked, clearly feeling at least a little bit like his usual self, as he refused medical treatment and instead kept his eyes directly on his assistant.

"Go talk to her," Amelia told him, smiling down at a waiting Pepper. "She's missed you just as much as I have."

She watched as Tony moved down to converse with Pepper. She leaned over to Rhodes and whispered to him quietly. "Where did you find him?"

"Middle of the desert."

"Did he say anything about what happened?" she asked him.

"Not much," he said with a grimace. "Said he was taken by terrorists and forced to build weapons. He's kept it pretty vague."

"I'll speak to him about it," Amelia sighed. She began walking towards the car. "Thank you again, Rhodey."

He smiled from behind her. "It's my job."