Duty (An Armorer/Paladin Story)

Field trip!!

I got back around three in the morning, calmer and more relaxed than I'd been before the Yucatan. It was amazing what real solitude could do for a person. I'd done some thinking as well. When I got back, there was a message from Peter, saying his aunt was worried about his lack of focus and was worried he was in danger of losing his scholarship from the Stark Foundation, and would I talk to her. I texted an affirmative, then rethought and said I was coming out. Then I went to bed and slept until nine.

When I woke up, I had a summons from Nick. I had a hasty breakfast and went to his office. "Where did you go last night?" he asked without preamble.

"Out for a drive," I replied briefly.

"You're not supposed to leave the campus unescorted," he said, frowning.

"I wasn't; I had Sigurd and Torburn. But that's one of the things I was thinking about last night. What is it about my abilities that presumably make me so valuable? I can't do mass production. I'm not terribly effective with biologicals. I am not like the rest of your heroes. And how would anybody have known where I was? I picked Seattle on a whim. You know what I think? I think the first thing, the men with the needles, was a setup so that I'd be more receptive to your offer, and the second thing, the airplane thing, was a result of either somebody being careless or deliberately leaking information. Nothing too specific, just that the Avengers were interested in a person, which would be enough to make some people very curious. I don't think Stark would deliberately crash his own plane." Nick just sat there very still.

"No comment, Fury?" I said mockingly.

"Not really, no," he said, crossing his arms and leaning back.

"Since I'm not field-trained, I expect that I won't be going out into the field anymore," I said tersely. "So I won't need any more costumes, and I won't be making any more appearances." Fury's eye widened. "Furthermore, Pete got in touch with me last night. His aunt is worried about him and he wants me to talk her down. I leave at noon."

"Emma, don't do anything rash," he said, sitting up.

"I'm not. I'll do what Peter wants, which is to reassure his aunt that he's not in trouble and he still has money to pay for college, which he does. I will personally guarantee that." I got up and left.

When I left, telling the dogs they'd need to hang out with Thor, Scott was waiting in the hall with keys to the car pool. "I'm your driver," he said jovially. I looked at him. "All I know is that Fury asked me to drive you to the airport, you were going out to talk to Pete's guardian." So he drove me out; there wasn't much conversation. I don't think either of us really knew what to say. I got through security easily, and my flight to New York was without incident. No crashes, not even a drunk on the plane.

I got a room at a nice hotel that did not have a view of Stark Tower and called Peter; he asked me to come over after dinner. At seven, I was in a nicely tailored suit knocking on the door. Peter's Aunt May answered the door; she was a pretty woman about my age. I introduced myself and she invited me in; we talked a little about the weather first, then we got down to business. She was concerned; she'd woken up a few times in the night and found Peter gone, and she felt he was keeping something from her.

"I certainly don't know your nephew like you do, May, but this is concerning behavior. I'm quite impressed with Peter; he seems to have a level head and a great deal of common sense. There's got to be a rational explanation, and I think I might have one." She looked interested. "Stark Industries tends to collect workaholics. A lot of people go back to work for a few hours at night if they think of something; it seems to make people more creative if they feel like they can explore their ideas as they occur. It's possible that Peter's picked up on that aspect of the culture." I held up a lanyard with an ID with Peter's picture; I'd aged it a bit on the flight over. "This was found the other night in his workspace."