Iron Soul [2]

Chapter 16

As promised, Pepper was fixed to be normal again. At that point, Tony thought, why couldn't he be fixed? He had every bit of shrapnel taken out of his chest. And Ada...

That was another story. 

Killian saying that stupid phrase caused another realm in her powers to be opened. Originally, Tony had her placed in a normal hospital after the incident, but she woke up screaming about how she saw the future. Her eyes reverted back to their chocolate brown, thankfully, and, while Tony would've deemed her ready to come home, she thought otherwise. 

After intensive thought, she deemed that she needed serious help, in more ways than one. On top of learning to control her powers, she wanted to go back to normal. Well...age normal.

So here she was, a month later sitting with a therapist hired by SHIELD in Washington D.C.

"And what emotion do you feel like when you shift," the man's annoying voice droned on.

This was not what she meant by needing help.

"It's a little similar to what I feel now," she grumbled, hoping he would get the hint.

"And what would that be?" 

He didn't. 

"Like I want to r-" 

"Okay!" The blonde man from the corner stood. "I think that's enough for today." 

He pulled Ada up off the couch and put a hand on her shoulder as he began to walk out. 

"But we ju-" the therapist started. 

"Enough."

Ada smirked as she was lead out of that room. She hated the therapist more than anything else. She absolutely loved it when Steve got her out of these things.

"Ada," a stern voice spoke as he removed his hand. 

"Captain," she mocked. 

"If you want help, you actually have to talk," Steve shook his head. 

"This is not the kind of help I need," she began to walk away. 

"I have no clue where you think you're going," Steve called. 

"Home! Maybe I can find answers then," she shouted back. 

"Guess I'll meet you there," he turned the other way. 

That was another thing. Ada wanted help from SHIELD, so Tony set her up to live with the Star Spangled Man with a Plan. It was... different to say the least. Steve was definitely a lot more responsible that Tony, which in all honesty was probably good for her. However, it sometimes became explosive, especially when Steve wouldn't let her up and run away to try to 'fix herself.' 

He tried to tell her she didn't need fixing, to which she put a hole through the wall. 

Her converse sneakers squeaked as she walked through the D.C. streets. That was another thing, Steve would not let her drive because she was too young. She tried to tell him she's actually 20 so its legal for her to drive, but he responded that he's 90 if they went by that logic. 

That proved the point to Ada. 

Tony tried to plead with her to come and stay with him in New York, but she insisted that she needed help. The only people she knew could help was SHIELD. She turned and walked into the cafe that was next to their apartment building, a daily visit for her. She enjoyed how quaint it was, and it had a calming effect on her.

"Hi, what can I get you today?" the barista asked. 

"Could I get an iced caramel macchiato?" Ada ordered. 

Not even two minutes later, Ada was sitting at the table by the window, coffee in hand, as she hacked secure SHIELD files for any hope. What she had quickly found out is what had done this to her in the first place was the Tesseract, but any hope of finding it diminished when she learned it was now on a place called Asgard. 

Norse gods literally lived there. 

That information all came in an earlier investigation, and SHIELD did not like Ada getting in. The firewall was much more difficult this time, so Ada ran her program while she sipped on her macchiato. That was until a familiar lanky figure sat down across from her. 

"Hey," Spencer smiled. 

His honey eyes beamed bright at her as his finger drummed against his own coffee cup.

"Come here often?" he chuckled. 

"Spencer...it's been so long, how have you been?" she questioned. 

"Oh you know, gaining more and more of anxiety everyday. I can't focus anymore," he whispered quietly. "It's like a nervous tick almost. I sneeze and next thing I know my laptop shatters. What about you?" 

"Just happens when I'm angry. Steve says that my anger is getting worse and I'm more moody so," she shrugged. 

"Steve?" 

"Captain Rogers," she reiterated. 

"Ah the guy who's uniform is literally the Puerto Rico flag and says he's Captain America, gotcha," he spoke bitterly. 

Ada's brows furrowed. 

"He's sweet, old fashioned, but sweet. I've been living with him. It's been a nice change of pace." 

She ran her fingers through her hair. Spencer seemed...off. This was not the Spencer she remembered in that base. 

"Anyways...what have you been up to?" She asked.

"Oh um...nothing much," he threw his arms up. "Trying to make it by, considering my entire family is gone, so...that's nice." 

An awkward silence fell between the two. Ada bit her lip, not entirely understanding why he was so sour today. Spencer's eyes glanced outside and quickly stood up. 

"It was nice talking to you, but I have to go. See you later," he headed for the door and waved goodbye. 

"Yeah," she nodded. "See you." 

Her chocolate eyes went back to her computer screen to try to find anything that could help her. From her father's apparent new element to Thor's hammer, which she wasn't sure how to pronounce exactly, she left no stone unturned as she searched for any device that could cause her to age. 

Then her eyes widened as she finally found her answer. She spent so long looking that she didn't even realize how late it had gotten, until a familiar 90 year old sat across from her.

"You weren't at the apartment," Steve noted.

"I've been doing schoolwork," she looked up at him. "Very extensive research."

"I'm sure it is," he slightly chuckled at her. "What are you really doing?" 

"Do you anything about an Agamotto?"