Carry On My Wayward Avenger

Communication

Tony insisted Isabella come to his place to stay after the cleaners left. Clint popped each excuse she came up with until she had to fold. Clint helped move a couple of Iz's bags to Stark's compound before vanishing with a feeble excuse that he wouldn't even clarify, telepathically. An unapologetic ass.

Izzy perched on his work desk to observe. Tony finally showed her how he'd escaped and how he'd been improving the design with access to his lab. A metal suit designed by Tony Stark. Flamboyant colors of hot rod red and gold which suited him. An Armor that protected himself. An armor he used earlier that day to protect and defend others. She focused on Tony and not the armor that reminded her too much of other robots she's dealt with. He talked enough for the both of them, she let him. So, Isabella watched and learned. Learned how he had changed over the time they spent apart. How his thought process changed since college. "You're alive and survived, that's what matters." She said, finally.

Tony looked up from the repair work. A small smile lit his face up. His eyes drifted from her to something behind her and the smile faded. Iz tilted her head in curiosity. She opened her mouth to ask him why he was acting weird.

The glass door that lead to the rest of his house opened and Iz hopped to her feet, ready for a fight. "Easy, tiger." Tony hummed, "it's just Pepper."

"Ms. Wolfe." Pepper halted in the doorway but didn't continue further. A frightened deer stood in the line of sight of Morrigan.

"Seen the news, right?" Iz grinned. A sharp feral edge in her smile. Hell, she spent far too much time with Logan and Remy. Was that such a bad thing? "Smart woman like yourself watches every day, at least twice a day? Hm, Ms. Potts?"

"Did you know, Tony?"

"Yeah, what of it?" Tony asked. He had immediately backed Izzy up. Iz appreciated Tony's support despite their issues still unresolved. Pepper walked closer at Tony's reassurance. "She's a person same as you and me. More obnoxious and more annoying... Far more self righteous than I..."

Izzy loosened her hold on Logan's mutation. Iz reached out and smacked Tony. Her phone rang and seeing who it was. She needed to answer. Iz deposited a bloodied wallet on the desk, one that she had relived from an intruder. "Well, I'll leave you to it." Iz murmured to Tony. She turned to see what caused Tony to falter and her gaze landed on the dark cherry charger he fixed up in college. An unknown emotion swirled in her chest. She heard right when he was in her memories. She escaped the lab as Tony started to talk to Pepper.

"Hello, Cassi."

"Hey! Mom! You didn't call. Are you okay?"

"Jean said you were sleeping." Iz responded. She placed the phone on speaker after spotting an espresso machine. A state of the art kitchen that looked immaculate. Tony probably didn't use it a lot. The spoiled billionaire probably had a private chef.

"I was pretending to sleep! But I couldn't sleep!"

Iz rolled her eyes. "Then you shouldn't have faked it."

"I thought I would get in trouble..."

"My star, you would never get in trouble for not being able to fall asleep."

"Oh, good! Then I stayed up with uncle Remy and we made pra-lines and played video games!"

Isabella set the chocolate over the mug and started the machine. Gambit clearly had a death wish. Giving an eight year old access to that much sugar at that time of night. "... You aren't in trouble, Cassi." She sighed. Remy was... "How's everything? Did you get any sleep, last night?"

"I did fall asleep, I don't remember when but I was scared."

"Unfortunately, this is a fact of life for us." Iz murmured. "But everything is fine, I am fine and more importantly, you are prefectly fine."