Hacky Sack ~ An Avengers Story

Six - Cedar Slang

After my short yet meaningful conversation with Bucky last night, I went to my room to lay in bed and stare at the ceiling for a good what? Three hours, until there was a knocking on my door. Maybe if I pretend that I'm dead, they'll go away.

"Miss Cedar, Mister Rodgers is on the other side of your door. Shall I let him in?" Jarvis questioned, causing me to jolt from surprise. God that's gonna take some getting used to.

"Tell him I'm dead." I groaned, flipping over to be face first in my pillow. "What time is it anyways?"

"Seven on the dot."

Seven.

Shit.

"I HAVE WORK FUCKING HELL!" I screamed as I threw the duvet covering my body off of me. The knocking continued as well as a concerned voice, "Cedar? Are you okay?"

"NO I'M NO O-FUCKING-KAY AUSTEN IS GONNA KILL ME!" Pulling my door open, I didn't realize how close Captain Spandex was standing to my door until I ran right into him. "Who put a wall there?" I asked rubbing my head, not yet realizing that it's Cap. "Oh, oops?"

"Who is Austen and why is he going to kill you?" He questioned, steadying me before I fell to the ground.

"I have work, you know... a job! How else am I supposed to survive?"

"Tony." He shrugged causing me to roll my eyes. I pushed past him and to the elevator. As soon as the doors opened I realized that Tony brought me here. "Shit." I mumbled to myself, pulling my phone out of my pocket. Tapping my thumb against his number, I spoke to Jarvis before I got an answer.

"Jarvis, take me to Tony please." I requested in which he replied polite as always. Finally after the second ring, Austen answered.

"Cedar? Why are y-"

I cut him off before he could get to asking questions, "Look, I'm really sorry but some family shit came up - well technically not family but sort of is - anyways - I'm not at home and I don't have my car and I don't even know if Stark is awa-"

"Good morning dear." Tony smiled at me as he sat on the counter of the bar in the living room speaking to a man with a phone pressed against his ear. The man chuckled at the same time Austen did. As the other man spun around in his chair to face me, my phone dropped to the floor.

"Austen? Stark? What the hell?"

"Cedar you never told me that Tony Stark was your father!" Austen exclaimed excitedly.

Austen Coopers, my boss, my best friend, the twenty-three year old man-child. Austen and I have been friends all throughout high school since my first day as a freshman and his as a Senior. We became friends after he spilled my coffee on my sweater on the first day of school resulting in me Patrick-Swayzeing him. After that we went to the coffee shop he worked at so he could buy me another. I eventually got a job there and he became manager. He's one of the very few people in this word that know of my abilities, solely because on my sixteenth birthday he brought me a cupcake to school with a lit candle. His clumsy ass tripped out in the courtyard and dropped the cupcake. So in order to avoid... well... a fire, I extracted the flame before it hit the ground. To say he was aghast would be an understatement.

So seeing him sitting next to Metal Man in said Metal Man's lounge while chatting over coffees is only slightly alarming. "Stark, explain, now!"

"You aren't the only one who knows how to do some digging sweet child o' mine." He smirked at his own clever reference.

"I don't know whether to applaud or stab you."

"Why not both?" Natasha spoke up from her seat on one of the couches that I just saw she was occupying.

"Or just the latter." Steve suggested as the elevator chimed, letting him off the contraption.

Tony held a hand up to his chest, "Ow, you hurt me. Right in here."

"Your ego? Don't worry, you've got plenty of that." I mumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. He faked hurt as he gasped at my statement.

"So um... yeah can we talk about this giANT ASS SECRET YOU'VE KEPT FROM ME FOR FIVE AND A HALF YEARS!?" Austen exclaimed, jumping up to meet me and shake my shoulders violently. "Can you chill your fanboy ass for one god damn second? Jesus on a jackhammer Austen.

"Stark technically isn't my father-"

"Bullshit." Tony interjected which resulted in me flipping him my favorite finger.

"He raised me for - you know what? I've heard this story three or four times in the past twenty-four hours I think I'm going to McLose it."

"McLose it?" The walking fossil asked with an eyebrow meeting his hairline.

"I like to call it Cedar Slang." Austen shrugged, answering his confusion. "Now, I don't care how many times you've heard it, you're telling me it."

With a heavily - and I mean heavily - over exaggerated sigh, I flopped myself into a chair and gave him a very brief summary of the story. And Stark being his egotistical 'give me the spotlight' self, he inserted himself into the story to add details and correct me. "Now you have to tell me why you're here stopping me from going to work."

"Mister Star-"

"Just call him Tony I swear..."

"Tony called me last night and told me that he needed to speak with me this morning and that it was urgent. So I came here and he told me that you'd be missing work today and most likely every day hinting that you were quitting."

My eyes narrowed and shot over to Tony, "You WHAT!?"

Immediately, his hands went up to defend himself, "Cedar, you don't need a job! You need to train and join the team an-"

"I don't need to do shit! What part of 'I want a normal life' do you not understand? If I wanted to be an Avenger then I would have contacted you as soon as I found out, but I don't!" I could feel my anger activating my ability without control. A bad habit I suppose you could call it, except a tad more extreme. A tad.

The sting of my words caused Tony to cringe slightly, something you wouldn't have noticed if you weren't paying close enough attention. It hurt me to hurt him, but he's pissing me off. I've gone years without some organization breathing down my neck and I'd like to keep that streak. And it's not just that, I could put them in serious danger by joining them.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the lampshade flicker as I subconsciously obtained it's energy.

During his moment of silence, Stark tried to carefully formulate his next string of words, "Cedar, listen. I know you're upset but just think of the opportunities you could have here wi-"

"What if I just want to be normal!" As I moved my hand to add to my point, a ball of energy shot from my palm, just barely missing Natasha's head. She whipped it around to stare at me completely shocked. I stared at my hand in disbelief. "I-I'm sorry. I should go."

"Cedar wait," Steve tried grabbing a hold of my arm but immediately flinched back as the remaining energy surging through me shocked his hand at first contact. There wasn't enough to harm him, especially since he's a super soldier. He's encountered much worse than a shock pulse from an angry twenty-one-year-old girl.

Making it my mission to leave without causing anymore damage, I didn't stop walking until I made it into the elevator. I kept my eyes down until the doors shut, but heard Tony whisper my name.

Am I being a little dramatic? Possibly. Possibly. But to be fair what he's doing is uncalled for. Just because I hacked into his system to get information on myself doesn't mean I want to live with him and join his super secret boy band of super heroes. I just want to go home.