Copper Feather

4

"So, our first mission is in London. The queen has requested be bodyguards to her son and daughters for a few weeks because of the power transition," said Tony. He looked around at everyone, watching them nodding in agreement. Evie looked excited. "Assignments: Clint, Evie, Peter, and I have Michael the Crown Prince and Luci, the 13-year-old. Natasha, Wanda, Bruce, and Thor will be watching over the Current Queen, and her oldest daughter, Lilly,"

They nodded, separating into their teams. Their salad plates were collected silently by Jarvis. "Required training at 6:00 am tomorrow, we ship out to Paris at 7:00, where we will meet up with the royal family, then fly to London for the week the next day," noted Natasha, looking Peter and Evie in the eyes. Evie gave her the 'what???' look she was known for, making Tony chuckle. "Skedaddle, guys. Not you, kiddo," Evie looked around. Why did Tony want to talk to her?

"So, kid, how'd you sleep?" She'd be annoyed at him calling her kid, but it felt more like a fatherly nickname, and she kind of liked it. "Okay, once I calmed down..." Tony went to the minibar. "No. Not with me here. I respect you too much to see you drunk." He rolled his eyes, but listened, grabbing a water bottle instead. "Any dreams?" Evie shook her head no, but Tony could tell she was lying. "So nightmares, then. How were those? Not good, I'm assuming. I get 'em too. They can be pretty bad if you don't talk to someone, so open up. What's goin' on?"

Evie slumped slightly, "It's that obvious?" "Not really, it's kinda hard to pick up on when you don't know what to look for." Evie exhaled in relief. "So I looked into your files, and you never did get debriefed on your Paris Mission." Evie tensed. Tony watched the movement, noting the stress she was obviously feeling.

"Take a deep breath and start talking." Evie did so, calming down considerably. "I feel like everyone is ignoring Steve's absence, pretending they didn't rely on him for a lot. He told me once, that if anything happened, to take care of the team for him. I'm trying. I'm trying so hard." Evie's voice never faltered, cold, hard determination shining through the eyes Tony had seen grow up. "Everytime someone dies, it's my fault. Pietro was my fault, heck, Steve was my fault," said Evie, finally stating what she'd been feeling.

"I know Steve was a father-figure to you, but he had no right to place that burden on you." Evie shook her head. "Someone has to..." Tony shook his head. "Some footsteps need to be left alone." Evie said, with a-we-are-done-talking-about-this tone, "Some footsteps can't be stepped out of, some burdens can't be set down."

Tony hugged the small girl he truly cared for to him, kissing her lightly on the temple. He left her sitting down on the couch, and went to pack for England. It would be their first combined mission, both the Avengers and the Junior Team. He was excited, nervous, but excited. Evie got up a few moments later and went into her room downstairs. She climbed into her bed and fell asleep, the door shutting and locking to ensure her safety.

***

Peter walked away from Evie and Tony, somehow knowing the conversation was one that needed to happen. He was apprehensive about the Paris part of the mission, what if it sparked Evie's panic attacks?

He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, walking into his room. He laughed as he noticed Tony's, wait, probably Jarvis', preparation. His closet had already laid out appropriate apparel for the time they would be away. His bright red and blue suitcases were laid already open on the bed, toiletries pre-packed. He put the folded clothing into the suitcase zipping it up.

He put on one of his suits, going down the hall to the training room. He swung down the drop, walking towards the sword fighting area. Natasha and Clint were sparring in the corner. Wanda was running laps. He fell into place next to Wanda, running next to her till about 11:30 when Wanda and he went upstairs to their bedrooms. He walked past Evie's room, but the door was locked.