Talons of the Bird || Spiderman Fan Fiction

Chapter 17

Peter and Emily arrived at the Avengers Tower and took the elevator up. They both had lots of questions buzzing in their minds about Emily's mother and Martin's true intentions. Peter also wondered to himself if any of the Avengers could have any insight into the matter as Tony had been tracking Dr. Li for months now. As he was lost in his thoughts, he was pulled back to reality when he noticed how fidgety Emily was, fiddling with her sleeves and rocking back and forth on her feet, staring dead ahead of her. "You alright, Em?" He looked over to her, meeting her eyes. The glanced back at him for a second and then back to the door in front of her. "Yeah, I just have so many questions, and I can't believe I'm about to be working with THE Avengers," She emphasized. Peter could read the tension in her voice, and that she had a lot on her plate. He placed a hand on her back. "I know how much you've been through this past month, and I don't think people have told you enough how strong you are," He said empathetically. Emily was rather taken aback by his honesty, even though she knew how caring he was, she never really heard him say anything like that before, not from him or anyone else. Her eyes met his for a moment with a loss for words. "I'm just saying, it's rare you find people like you who are so willing to help in their own time of crisis. But you can stop gawking at me now," He spoke, taking his hand off her shoulder and looking toward the elevator door, preying his blushing was too noticeable. Emily did notice how quickly he removed his hand from her back and looked away, smirking to herself. She was just about to open her mouth to say something before the bell dinged, indicating they had reached Tony's office.

The doors slid open, revealing Tony, Bruce and Natasha sat on the sofa in the center of the room, slouched back with teas and coffees in hand. Peter and Emily approached the gang as Tony looked up. "Finally!" He clapped his hands together as he stood. "What time do you call this? You know what? let's forget about it. You, I have a plan for you" He rambled, pointing to Peter, catching him off guard. Pater awkwardly stepped forward, just about to put his bag down. "No, no. keep that on, you're going with Banner. Follow me," Tony interrupted his movements. Bruce and Petter both followed Tony to his desk, Emily peering over from where she was standing and Natasha watching from her comfortable position on the sofa. Tony lifted two large sheets of metal onto his desk with a grunt. "Peter, I found these at the warehouse that you apprehended the other day. I want you and Banner to do your work on them to make them more functional and safe," He discussed, sliding the two across the table towards the pair. From where Emily was standing, she could now see they were great big wings, which she instantly recognized from her dream the night before when she was fighting Peter. She felt a chill up the center of her spine as she saw them, the kind of chill you get when you imagine a great pain.

Peter and Bruce walked towards her with the wings in arms to access the elevator. "You're Emily, right?" Bruce asked as he approached. Emily just nodded in response, still rather worried about being too excited in front of these literal heroes. "I'm sorry about your mom... And your dad. Family, you know? Can be tough," He patted her on the shoulder as he continued walking with Peter, only earning another nod from Emily as she pursed her lips and looked down at her feet. Internally, she was screaming 'OH MY GOD BANNER JUST SPOKE TO ME' but another voice in her head told her to keep calm because she still had to work with everyone else, yet. Tony called out to Peter just as they were leaving the room. "Oh yeah , kid! I saw the video you sent me, thank's for that!" He was obviously referring to the bank CCTV footage of Emily's mother's incident. "Emily!" Tony called from his desk, Natasha now stood over it with him. Emily brought herself out of her gaze and waddled over. "Em, I want you to tell us everything you know about your father, and in return, we'll tell you everything you have figured out yourself. That includes when you were under his influence," He lightly demanded. Emily pondered to herself on how to begin and decided to clear one thing up. "Okay, first things first, I didn't even know about the guy until I found my mom's diary. Secondly, I hardly remember anything from when I was under, but little bit's occasionally come back to me, so I can't promise I'll be much help," Emily stated, hoping she could still be some sort of help to everyone. "Okay, let me ask, how did you know where to find him the night he kidnapped you?" Tonu asked, assertively. "I found my mom's diary, she said where he was staying- at the docks, and that he asked to meet her at the bank the day she-" Emily fell silent, and Natasha and Tony both look to the ground as if to pay their respects. A few seconds of silence passed before she had the courage to speak up again, clearing her throat. "She ended her own life to protect me from him, but he referred to her as Elizabeth," She remembered her conversation with Peter earlier at the grave, a mild look of confusion arriving on her face again.

"Elizabeth Li," Natasha muttered to herself. "Have you heard that name before?" She asked, looking up to Emily. She just shook her head, knowing she was about to find out why she was called that name. "About 18 years ago, Martin Li had an accomplice named Elizabeth but she disappeared. They were the perfect partners in crime. She was malicious, I would know, I nearly lost to her myself," Natasha explained. Emily's expression dropped. The thought of her own mother working with a man like Martin made her heart sink in her chest. It also seemed rather exciting that her own mother could be strong enough to match the black widow in combat, she could never picture it in her head. "Because you're here, my guess is she was more than just a partner in crime to Martin, but a life partner too. I think she must have fallen off the map because of you. You look about 18," Natasha added. Emily nodded again, knowing she wasn't far off her age as she was turning 18 in January. She felt like she had an answer to one question and two more questions to follow. "I don't get it though. Why only change the first name and not the last?" Emily thought, adding to the argument. "Consider it," Tony replied. "How many Asian Americans share the last name Li?" He proved a very good point. Changing the whole name would look over suspicious to on any register, and so changing the first name and leaving the last would make her less of a target as it would be too obvious to actually be suspicious. "But also, why would she protect you if she was working with Martin?" Natasha asked. "Maybe because she was under his influence for some time too. Maybe somehow she got away long enough to recover from his spell and bring you into this world," Tony replied. It all sounded quite far fetched to everyone around the desk, but it was important not to rule out any potential scenarios.

"You know something else? I remember my fight with Elizabeth, and she had great big wings, just like those you gave to the boys," Natasha added. The thought sprung into Emily's mind, which she then blurted out without thinking. "He was replacing my mom with me!" Natasha and Tony both looked up from the plans laid out ahead of them. "What if, once you have been under his influence, you build up some sort of resistance to it, and that's why he took me instead of mom? What if that's why she managed to escape his grasp in the bank before he got a hold of her?" The questions began to pour from her mouth at this point. Tony was clearly taken aback by the theorizing that was taking place before him. "You know, you spend way too much time with that kid," He scoffed at her, a hint of pride glimmering in his tone of voice.