The Ghost Initiative (Avengers Next Gen)

Book 2 Chapter 10

"Mum, 

I turn 18 in an hour, I haven't left my room all day. I know I should be able to celebrate my birthday, I should be happy to have made it this far... but I just can't. Melody made me a cake, she decided it just had to be Iron Man themed. 

Tomorrow I'm going to look into taking over the company, I've got to stop Olivia Stane from destroying everything you and Dad built. She's gone back to building weapons and they shut down the Stark foundation to "cut costs'. Hopefully, I'll be able to talk my way onto the board, or at least talk the board around to restarting the foundation.

I'll be able to start visiting you more now, with SHIELD restarted and the compound all fixed up I have more time to focus on helping you get better. I found a Doctor in New York who focuses on addiction, She says that she might be able to help you recover. 

I should go, the team are starting to get worried. If I don't make an appearance soon they'll be dragging me out for dinner. 

Sincerely, 

Alexandria Stark." 

I folded the letter back up and placed it into the delicately decorated envelope. Running my fingers along the edges. Lexi had grown up so much throughout the book, I couldn't believe that I had missed it all. 

I turned the page, more images filled the pages, various pictures of Lexi with her friends. Across the top in neat handwriting were the words. "My Forever Family". There was a mass of Selfies Lexi situated next to random people, with comments listed below each picture. 

"Cooking with Cap - we totally didn't burn the chicken ;)"

"Showing Nate the true beauty of Taylor Swift" 

"Mel cheated at the staff day races. I'm sure of it"

Each comment showed how deeply Lexi cared for her teammates - her forever family as she called them. It hurt a bit to know that she had moved on from me, but I guess she couldn't wait around for me to get my life together again. 

The next two pages only had a couple of pictures, One of the Avengers - standing proudly outside the compound. Underneath the comment read: "Official opening of the Avengers Compound 05-01-2015" 

The next page held a similar picture, except this time of Lexi and her friends. They were young and bright-eyed, looking excited to be in front of the compound. Which now looked more upgraded than the previous photo. The comment read: "Ghost Initiative's first mission as official agents.  07-28-2029"

Underneath the picture was a large table, I could spot the Avengers mixed in with Lexi's team. Tony was part way through throwing something towards her and she was holding something away from a girl with silver hair. The caption was written with an odd slanted writing that didn't match the others. 

"Alex's first dinner out of the hospital. Goodbye hazmat suits!" That was definitely Tony's writing. Lexi had been in hospital? when?

There were more pages to the book, but I decided I needed to find my daughter. I had pushed off leaving my room, desperate to know more about her from the book but now? why had she been in the hospital? what did they mean by hazmat? 

I sneaked my way through the halls, trying to find where Tony's lab would have been. Eventually, I could see the light from a staircase and made my way down. I stood still in shock at the bottom, there she was... My Lexi throwing a ball backwards and forwards with Tony. They seemed to be working on something because every other throw they would stop and Tony would write something down in a book. 

I stood against the wall and watched for a while, revelling in the sound of her laughter. She sounded so... happy. I can't remember if I had ever heard her laugh so loudly. There was a third person, sitting behind a computer. I could see blueprints being moved around by a mouse as they tried to rearrange something. 

"Children, I am all for enjoying an experiment. but please don't throw a ball near the expensive equipment." The man behind the computer raised his head as he spoke, and to my shock sounded exactly like Tony even though Tony never moved his mouth. Instead, Lexi and Tony simultaneously rubbed the back of their necks before speaking. 

"Sorry old man! Guess we got too excited that I could catch stuff again." Lexi's came out sincere. 

"Sorry Pop's, we'll get out of your expensive bubble" Tony's (was this really Tony?) came out more sarcastic as he took a dramatic step backwards.

Lexi started to step backwards as well before smirking. She suddenly ran around behind the other man dragging his chair away. With it turned I could finally see his face. He looked like Tony, and looking I could see the small differences between the two. My Tony looked older, like he had been stressing consistently whilst the other had a more mischievous look in his eyes. 

Lexie let out another loud laugh and then pushed the other Tony into the middle. 

"What do you say, Howie? do you think Dad can join in on a game of piggy in the middle?" Tony - Howie?- let out another laugh as the other Tony groaned. 

"James Howard and Alexandra Rose, you should both be in bed not dragging me into your experiments." I sank down at the words. James... My James was standing there? that was impossible. 

Still, the more I looked the more sense it made. The boy looked almost exactly like Tony, and Lexi seemed so excited to be spending time with them. I realised as I sat on the steps that it had been James I saw in the conference room, no wonder he had run away from me. Who knew what horrible things I had done to the two of them, their friends certainly didn't like me. 

I eventually worked up the strength to push against the glass door, blinking as lights lit up around me. I could see the three of them turn towards me, Lexi mumbling something before the door slid open.

"Mum, I thought you would be asleep by now. Is everything alright?" Her voice was soft, like when someone was talking to a child and didn't want to scare them. Tears sprung to my eyes as I took the three of them in. 

She looked more like me now. Her dyed hair had grown out into its natural red, she was pale, almost sickly. You could see a faint glow from below her shirt that highlighted her arch reactor, evidently, she had followed in Tony's footsteps while I was gone. 

"Look at you... You're all grown up!" I moved forward to hug her, frowning at the flinch that followed. She took a step backwards before speaking up. 

"Not that I'm not glad you're here and all Mum, but I'm not really ... huggable... write now. I wouldn't want to accidentally hurt you" She muttered while raising her hands. 

"What do you mean, hurt me?" I questioned.