❝Just because I'm smaller than you doesn't mean that I couldn't easily take you in a fight.❞
Subject: Carter May
Number: 17
Age: Nine
Sex: F
In which the nine-year-old test subject escapes, using the powe...
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OVER THE NEXT year, Carter began to think of the Avengers facility as a home. She even began thinking of some of the Avengers as family. At least, they were the closest thing to family that she had ever had-- or at least that she could remember.
She had met some new people since arriving. One of those people was Happy Hogan, Tony's head of security. Despite his name being Happy, he was often cranky, making his name rather ironic. She didn't see him much, but each time she did, his attitude towards her seemed to get just a little kinder.
Another person she met was Pepper Potts. She was Tony's girlfriend and probably-- no-- definitely, the nicest woman Carter knew. From the first interaction to their most recent, she had been extremely caring towards the young girl, acting like what Carter assumed a mother would act like to their child-- selfless and warm-hearted.
Carter had been in the kitchen, eating some cereal (corn flakes to be specific) for breakfast when Tony came in, telling her that there was someone he would like her to meet. He brought Pepper in, a tall woman with strawberry blonde hair and kind blue eyes. A smile adorned her face as she walked over to sit across from Carter.
She introduced herself, saying that she had heard a lot of great things about the young girl. Carter smiled nervously. It wasn't like she was intimidated by Pepper or anything of the sort, but she felt as if she had to impress her. Carter felt as if she wasn't good enough to connect with this woman.
But it wasn't long before Carter began to feel comfortable around Pepper. They didn't talk about any Avengers-related topics or about the lab, but Pepper was asking Carter about her interests, what foods she liked and what her favourite colour was. The young girl appreciated it as it got her mind off of other things.
She also spoke more with Vision. She had met him the previous year, before and during the battle of Sokovia. Carter liked Vision, not caring about the fact that he wasn't human. He was kind and often cracked jokes.
She got to talk with some of the new Avengers, too. The one that she had talked with most was Falcon, whose real name was Sam Wilson. She liked watching him fly with his cool wings. Occasionally, they would race each other; Carter using her stair portals and Sam using his wings. Sam usually won, but sometimes, if Carter was quick enough, she could just beat him.
As well as meeting new people, she also grew closer with some of the people that she had known for a while now. The person she was closest to was Tony, but Steve wasn't far behind.
Tony often took her outside to practise with her powers. When he did, the time they spent together was enjoyable for her. They got to work hard and have some laughs. She also noticed that Tony seemed to even like her a little more.
The story with Steve was pretty similar. They had gotten closer as he trained her. The same with Nat, although Steve was naturally kinder than Nat, so Carter wasn't as close with the Black Widow.
Sometimes, Tony mentioned school to Carter. She was ahead of the average student of her age, thanks to the lab, but she couldn't go through the rest of her life with only the knowledge she had now. She didn't want to go to school. Never having been to a proper one, she didn't know what it was like. It would be a change and change scared her. School in the lab was never great. She was expected to be able to read something once or twice and be able to repeat it word-for-word immediately. And if she didn't do that perfectly, there were punishments.
Tony agreed to not make her start yet, but when the knowledge she had was reached by nearly everyone else her age, she would have to start.
Carter loved to draw. She had felt calm when she was drawing with Lila back in Clint's house, so she kept doing it at the Avengers facility. She missed Lila. Lila's drawing of the two girls was delivered to her by Clint, who had stopped by one day. The picture now hung on the wall above her desk. She sometimes looked at it when she got sad. Or even when she got some flashbacks of the lab as it helped to calm her down. Around it were some drawings that Carter had drawn herself. One was a drawing of Iron Man in his suit. Another was of Pepper and her, another of herself, halfway through a portal. In that drawing, she was wearing a superhero suit. It was completely black, bar the red splashes around the wrists. There was also a mask that didn't cover all of her face, but so much so that she wouldn't be able to be recognised. It, too, was completely black with the exception of red outlining the eye holes. Once when Tony had come into her room, asking her about something, she caught his gaze lingering on that particular drawing. She didn't think much of it, assuming he just thought her drawing was interesting.
Tony would sometimes try to teach her how to make stuff. It was usually way too complicated for Carter to follow, but she tried her best as she enjoyed how happy Tony would be when describing the items or when she got something right.
Her life at that moment seemed as near to perfect as was possible. But nothing stays perfect for long.
AUTHOR'S NOTE _________________________________ This chapter is more of a filler than anything. I had a random urge to write this chapter as I felt like I needed another one before the one that'll be posted next week. So, sorry for the crap past 2 chapters but we're actually getting in to Civil War in the next chapter!(And there may or may not be some people that Carter interacts with that she hasn't with before...)
