Carry On My Wayward Avenger

Reunion

A/N: I do not own x-men or Marvel. I only own Izzy, Jazzy, their parents and Magnolia Coulson. In the  future- Hecate and Sebastian Wraith. Hecate will come in around Thor and Sebby will arrive in the next chapter, hopefully.

Reunion

             Izzy forced herself out of those memories and she steeled herself. Izzy straightened and brushed off an invisible piece of flint off of her clothing. What did her Mother always tell her? To always keep smiling no matter how much you want to scream and shout. No matter how much everything hurts. How many times in her life has she followed those rules? Too many times to count, Isabella answered her own question.

              Izzy Wolfe started to walk to the nearby parking lot, where her pride and joy waited. A beautiful candy apple red, 1969 mustang sat. Her and her father rebuilt the car when she was 15. Izzy shed blood, sweat and tears over this precious vehicle. As she neared her car, Jewel, she saw a man leaning against the side. The Sun blinded her vision. Fearing the worst, Isabella drew her Colt 357 magnum Python out of her Coach purse. Isabella was gripping the handle in a two handed grip just like Clint and Natasha taught her, it was a major pain to train into the correct way to shoot after she was used to the 'wrong way' as they had said. "Who are you?" Izzy demanded, she wasn't going to take any chances. Call her paranoid, she didn't want to take risks on anything. Not after HYDRA.

           "I'd thought you'd recognize your best friend?" Tony Stark's snarky voice answered. It was still him, Stark snarkiness and sarcasm proved just that. "Paranoid, Bella?"
Izzy grinned widely at her old nickname and she replied, smoothly. " Mr. Colt was escorting me to my carriage." Isabella was well aware, that there was a theoretical elephant in the metaphorical room. Isabella placed the pistol back into her purse.
          "Lucky man." Tony answered.
         "He's a jealous type." Izzy quipped back as she placed her pistol back into her purse. It was easy to complete her mission, to watch after the last Stark. SHIELD wanted her to keep an eye on him, she wanted too for her own reasons.
          "Bet he is. What rock have you been hiding under, Rose?"

"Clearly not the one you've been under, Edward." Izzy retorted. Another moment of consideration of what she spoken, she added," Too soon, Tony?" The retort slipped easily from her lips as she fell back into their familiar banter.
He shook his head with a laugh, brushing off her comment. "Seriously,
Where have you been?"
            "Busy. Here, there, Everywhere." Izzy gave him a cryptic answer, not wanting him to have the whole truth yet. That only further intrigued her best friend. Her eyes softened at the man. "How are you, Tony? Really?"
             "Mentally? Alright, I guess but I shouldn't be. I should be traumatized and I'm not." Tony admitted, Izzy spotted a flicker of emotion in his dark gaze.
           "Shock." Izzy answered," It's shock. That's what I felt after... The fire. When that wears off, come to me. I'm here for you." Bearing her fragile glass heart to him, offering support for her oldest friend.
"But you aren't are you?" He snapped back with hurt venom. His Stark persona returned with a fierce vengeance. Shattering that glass with little effort and care. He barked out a bitter laugh. "As kids, we promised, 'forever and ever'. Do you even remember that? You left at the drop of a dime because of what? You couldn't trust me to help you? Your so called best friend? That's ironic with the current situation, don't you think?" His dark eyes hard and unrelenting, dark and light locked into a battle. Tony lashed out because he was Anthony Stark. He shattered her fragile heart without even realizing it, crushing it with shocking ease. She couldn't help but to wonder if he would care if he did know. That thought alone hurt her even more than his comment. They were one and the same when it came to their self destructive nature.
           Izzy stiffened at Tony's scalding words. The stabbed and twisted at her insides, at her heart. She blinked, eyes watered.  "I had to run and never look back, I needed to protect Jazzy. I couldn't... I- I couldn't risk y- anyone else." Isabella admitted, her eyes dropped to the ground. She was disgusted with herself, how easy she could lose control.
           Tony said," Why? Tell me, please I want to know." His voice was a mix of sarcasm and earnestly.
"I can't tell you here." Izzy shook her head, wanting nothing more than to tell her best friend, to explain why she fled. She also hoped he understood her hidden message in her words. She deflected the inquiries. "This isn't about me, this is about you."
His gaze narrowed at her. "Isabella Rose Wolfe."
"Anthony Edward Stark." She retorted. 
           "Clinton Francis Barton." A voice chimed in. The Agent of SHIELD strolled toward them, Isabella stiffened. It was a muscle reaction, she forced herself to calm down. Even after the weeks getting to know both; Clint and Natasha, Isabella still remained on high alert when she and/or Jasmine were around the two. Force of habit more than anything, that and a slight sense of unease, discomfort and distrust.