Shadowbreath: The New Avenger

Chapter 13

Edit (02/01)

When the door to the interrogation room shut behind him, the sharp sound seemed to reverberate endlessly throughout the wide hallway that led to the large circular room where everyone else waited.

Tony rubbed at his face, not quite ready to face the others. Natasha had paused as well, turning to carefully gauge his reaction. "She really didn't know, did she?"

He snapped his hands into the air, suddenly furious at Alex's circumstances. "Of course she didn't know! Did you see her face? Those fuckers murdered her goddamn family, and then tricked her into thinking they were the good guys! They've been using her from the start!" Tony ran his fingers through his hair, slightly pulling from the roots. "I just can't...she thought...they used her, Nat, made her think they loved her..." He trailed off, unable to continue with coherent words. The situation drudged up far too many memories of Obie...no, Stane that should have been long buried.

Natasha leaned up against the wall, tilting her head back and closing her eyes. "Peter was right, Tony. Alex Anderson isn't our enemy. She's a victim. One that we need to protect."

He nodded, relieved that they had reached the same conclusion. The person sitting in the interrogation room was just a scared, sixteen year old girl whose whole world just came crashing down around her. She needed the Avengers, despite what her past might look like. He wasn't sure he had the heart anymore to turn someone like that away. Maybe before, but Peter's influence was like a kick to the gut. Tony wouldn't be able to just walk away from this, even if he wanted to. Whatever happened, whatever she had done, it wasn't her fault. The poor girl had been manipulated in the worst way possible.

Natasha kicked off from the wall and headed towards the others in a purposeful stride, and Tony took a steadying breath before following. Rhodey and Fury stood a few feet apart waiting for them, with their arms crossed in similar fashions. Peter, on the other hand, was glued to the flat screen that displayed Alex. She was still bound to the chair, her gaze continuing to burn a hole through the metal table in front of her. The room's light reflected off of her tear-stained streaks. Tony made sure to focus on anything and everything that wasn't the video feed.

Fury stepped forward, his one good eye narrowed. "What's your read on the Enhanced, Agent Romanoff?"

"Thanks to Stark's cuffs, she's neutralized for now. No word on the stolen Arc Reactor, but we have confirmation that the Five Families were involved." Natasha lowered herself onto the armrest of one of the couches positioned around the room. "As you can probably infer, Miss Anderson seemed to have a misunderstanding of the events that transpired on the night of her kidnapping."

Peter turned to watch them, his gaze instantly finding Tony's. The look on the kid's face was almost enough to have him crossing the distance between them and crushing Peter's small frame against his chest in a sudden need to provide comfort, but he managed to stay where he was. They could talk about this later. "I think 'misunderstanding' is a bit of an understatement, don't you?" The kid's voice wavered in barely controlled anger.

Fury's jaw clicked in an attempt to ignore Peter. "I don't care what tactics you need to use, find out who she gave the arc reactor to, and what they plan to use it for. The sharp progression of the Families' criminal activity over the past few months is disconcerting to say the least, and I want to know what they plan on using all of this alien technology for."

After a sharp look from Natasha, Tony was able to stop himself from biting back at Fury's words. He shouldn't be surprised that the big bad spy would care more about the mission than a teenage pawn, but it still pissed him off.