Nᴇʙᴜʟᴏsᴀ 》Bᴏᴏᴋ ₁

Ｏｎｅ 《 Ｐｒｅｓｅｎｔ

¤Present, May, 12; 2018 - 16 years later.¤

¤¤¤

"Good morning, Mrs. Potts. The Avengers team have left the tower less than an hour ago."

"Let me guess, another Hydra hideout?"

"Indeed, Ma'am. Also, Mr. Stark told me that you have to leave your present in room 6."

"At which hour will the party start?" The ding of the elevator resounded through the Penthouse of the Avengers tower, Pepper Potts hurriedly walking out of the elevator. A box neatly wrapped in shiny purple giftwrap paper currently held tightly between her hands.

16 years, Pepper still could not believe it had already been 16 years since Tony presented her with a small bundle of purple scales with big brown eyes. His daughter. She had originally called it madness, as did Rhodey, as did Happy.

Yet, as years went by, and she watched Harper grow; she warmed up to the idea of a smaller Stark, Harper was a sweetheart and a great kid. Regardless of her being not wholly human.

Pepper couldn't be more thankful, to whatever sent Harper to earth; that they had come so long as to be celebrating Harper's 16 birthday.

"A hour after the Avengers team arrives, which would be late this afternoon."

"No clear hour?"

"No clear hour, Ms. Potts."

"Of course." Pepper mumbled through gritted teeth, her mood nosediving quickly. Tony was a great dad, he was not perfect; not a single parent was, but still Pepper felt that he was lacking in a few departments. Spending more time with his daughter being one of the highlights.

Avenging and being Iron Man was seemingly the prime thing he was focused on nowadays, no wonder Harper flew to spend time with her so often! The poor child often spent too much time alone at the Avengers tower.

...wait.

...speaking of--. Oh no.

"....Speaking of Harper, Jarvis. Where is she?" Please let her be anywhere else doing anything, other than what she thought she was doing-.

....The AI did not respond, making it clear that her fears were actually true. God, her good mood was dead now.

...Pepper let out a sound, close to a whine; of pure exhasperation.

"She went on another joy flight, didn't she?"

¤¤¤

The city of Manhattan, tall and proud and glistening in the sunlight, lay unaware. Oh completely unaware.

It started small, almost seamless; like a normal mid-May breeze, completely calm. Then it picked up strength, feeling like a earthquake was shaking the buildings; the glass of the windows rattling, clearly signaling that something was arriving. And fast.

A dark purple blur sped through the skyscrapers like a maze, going so fast; only the after effect of a fluorescent purple trail was any indication something had passed, several car alarms flared up as said purple blur did a nose-dive, nearly touching the pavement before the flap of powerful wings sent it speeding back into the air.

16 year old Harper Stark grinned wildly, attent eyes looking at the scenery of Manhattan from the now 700 feet she had put between the great city, dark wings extending fully as she remained still in mid air.