~Complete~When HYDRA is exposed and S.H.I.E.L.D. collapses with it, more than just agency secrets come to light. Fury shows up on Tony Stark's doorstep with a daughter Tony never knew he had. A 24 year old daughter was not what Tony was expecting, m...
We landed at the tower not long after the conversation between Dad, Thor, and Steve. Dr. Cho and her team rush out to greet Nat as she wheels Clint down and out of the jet. Thor escorts the scepter to the lab while Dad, Steve and I stay behind, cleaning up the jet and taking stock of everything.
I try not to roll my eyes when I hear the familiar clicking of Maria Hill's heels on the jet floor. How Dad didn't see through her blatant lie about who she was still actually working for is beyond me. "Lab's all set up, boss." She tells him.
"Oh, actually, he's the boss." Dad says, turning in the pilot's seat, pointing at Steve. "I just pay for everything and design everything and make everyone look cooler." I chuckle a little at the clear childish mocking he was doing.
"What's the word on Strucker?" Steve asks Hill.
"NATO's got him."
"And the two Enhanced?" I ask, coming up beside him. She looks at me oddly before continuing.
"Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Twins." She explains as she hands Steve a Stark tablet. I look over his shoulder at the video footage as we walk off the jet. "Orphaned at 10 when a shell collapsed their apartment building. Sokovia's had a rough history. It's nowhere special, but it's on the way to everywhere special."
"Their abilities?" Steve asks as we round the corner, approaching the elevator.
"He's got increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. Her thing is neuroelectric interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation." Steve looks at her with total confusion and even though I have a Stark brain, I'm still having trouble keeping up. We'll call it from lack of sleep. "He's fast and she's weird." She dumbs it down for us.
"Well, they're gonna show up again." Steve says as the elevator arrives.
"Agreed. File says they volunteered for Strucker's experiments. It's nuts." I wince a little when Hill says that. I'm not sure what I would do if my home and my family was threatened and I had a chance to protect them. But Steve did. I can tell by his face that he gets it.
"Right." He replies, hitting the down button. "What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?" he asks.
"We're not at war, Captain."
"They are." I reply as the doors shut. I hear him sigh as the elevator begins its downward descent. "Don't worry about Hill. You know her, she's like Nick. Doesn't always think things through before they exit the mouth."
He nods. "Sometimes I wonder..." but he stops himself before he continues.
"I thought we knew each other better than that." I say with a smile. "You never have to watch your words around me Steve."
He sighs. "Sometimes I wonder if it was all necessary."
"What?"
"The sacrifices I've made." He says and quickly exits the elevator when it comes to a stop. I sigh and head out to my rooms, stripping out of my suit and into a pair of leggings and one of Dad's MIT hoodies. Walking in my bare feet, I pad up to the lab, throwing my hair in a bun to get it out of my face.
"What's the rumpus?" I hear Bruce ask as he and Dad enter the lab together.
"Well, the scepter. You see, we were wondering how Strucker got so inventive. So I've been analyzing the gem inside." He says, tapping his phone against one of the computers before throwing out a visual of JARVIS. "You may recognize..."
"Jarvis." Bruce and I say at the same time.
"Doctor, Miss Stark." The AI greets us.
"Started out, Jarvis was just a natural language UI. Now he runs the Iron Legion. He runs more of the business than anyone besides Pepper." Dad explains.
"Oh." Bruce says. This isn't exactly news to either of us.
"Top of the line."
"Yeah." I say.
"I suspect not for long." Jarvis says as Dad approaches the scepter.
"Meet the competition." He says as he lays out a hologram of the inner parts of the gem. It's beautiful, pulsing.
"It looks extremely more complex than Jarvis. No offense." I add, looking around sheepishly.
"If you had to guess, what's it look like it's doing?" Dad asks.
"Like it's thinking." Bruce and I say at the same time.
"I mean, this could be... It's not a human mind." Bruce adds.
"Mmm-mmm." Dad and I agree.
"I mean, look at this. They're like neurons firing."
"Down in Strucker's lab, I saw some fairly advanced robotics work. They deep-sixed the data, but I gotta guess he was knocking on a very particular door." Dad explains.
"Artificial intelligence?" Bruce and I ask, dumbfounded. Dad walks up to Bruce and they start conversing quietly amongst themselves. I take this moment to inspect the scepter, almost as if it's calling out to me.
Entranced, I step closer, my hand stretched out. I'm about to grab it when Dad and Bruce finish their conversation, speaking up again. I jump a little, and the gem zaps me. "Peace in our time. Imagine that." Dad says.
"Well, I guess I'll leave you boys to play." I say before heading out to the kitchen. Something was... pulling at me, and I knew it was the scepter. I needed to wait until Dad and Bruce were gone to get in there and examine it.
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Later that night, when Dad and Bruce had exhausted themselves and were both sleeping in various spots across the lab, I snuck in. Something was pulling me here, a magnetic force I couldn't understand. I move towards it, hand outstretched. I swear it's calling my name. It starts to pulse pink; a bright pink light fills the room. It encompasses me and lifts me from the ground, swirling around me angrily.
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And as quickly as it started, it stops, dropping me to the ground. I land with a thud and that wakes up Dad and Bruce. "Myra! What happened?"
"I'm not exactly sure. One minute I was fine, and then the next..." I trail off.
