The Last Avenger [What If...? x DCAMU Crossover]

27. The Things We Don't Say Out Loud

Indiana Stark, A.K.A. Tony Stark's little sister, became the deadliest woman known to man.

And there came a day unlike any other when, Earth's Mightiest Heroes found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, she joined the Avengers.

This is what she does now that they're gone.

Last time: protecting a building once again in thrall to a tracksuit gang of unspecified Eurasian origin, Indiana found herself in over her head. While letting The Outlaws crash as her place, Indiana gets targeted by a hitman hired by the Tracksuits.

The first strike left a resident dead. The second left Indiana with profound damage to her ears.

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The sky is the colour of 1991 and the sky is the colour of spring break. It is the blue sky over a beach in Malibu.

Indiana is the Stark girl. She has heard people across the country call her that. Poor little Stark girl. Mad little Stark girl. A troublemaker. The black sheep of the family, which is ironic because she does not have black hair like her brother and father. But she is not her mother's daughter either.

It is the last day with her family and Jarvis and Rohdey before she goes back to school, and Tony goes back to MIT.

Indiana is just coming in from a wave, to take a break from surfing. The morning has been so perfect Indiana knows something has to go wrong soon - a rabid horde of paparazzi, or maybe a great white shark attack. No way her luck would hold.

But so far they've had excellent waves, a clear sky and a mile of oceanfront completely to themselves. Dad had found this out-of-the-way spot, rented a beach front villa and the properties on either side, and somehow managed to keep it secret. If they stay here too long, Indiana knows the photographers will find them. They always did.

"Seven feet, Dad," I called. "The wave was seven feet."

Howard - Dad barely looks up from his paper. "Good job out there, kid."

Indiana wonders what her Mum every saw in him that made her marry him. Dad was a pain, but Mum made it work. Her soft touch balancing his strictness. She supported him. He conferred with her. They fell in line together, their opinions and policies stronger for the absolute support of each other.

But Maria Stark is not Howard's. She is her own.

Indiana rolls her eyes and helps Tony bury Rohdey in the sand. She buries Rohdey in the sand the same way she buries secrets alive inside herself. Because she has secretes, ones she can't tell Tony.

"Ignore him," says Tony. He gives her a smile he was famous for: perfect teeth, dimpled chin, a twinkle in his dark eyes that always made grown woman scream and ask him to sign their bodies in permanent market. His close-cropped hair gleams with salt water. "You're a natural."

And even though he is five years older than her, he lets her tag along with him and Rohdey.

Lunch time comes around and Jarvis hands a marmite sandwich. She takes it, though her stomach is too upset to eat. She always asks for marmite. For one thing, it is British vegemite, closer to her Scottish heritage than anything in the U.S, and another, it is simple food, like a regular kid would have for lunch. Something she pretends Dad has actually made for her, not the British butler who liked to call her Lady Indiana.

Can't anything be simple? That is why she turns down the fancy clothes Dad always offers, the designer shoes, the trip to the salon. She cut her own hair with a pair of plastic Garfield safety scissors, deliberately making it uneven. She prefers to wear beat-up running shoes, jeans, a T-shirt and a Hawaii shirt like Goose from Top Gun.