Stolen - Tony Stark

18.

New York City, 2017

Date night. The jet zoomed low over the nighttime New York skyline. 

"All right, give us a smooch before we go." Tony, all suited up, said as the door of the jet lowered down.

Kass, also all suited up, in one of the fancy stealth and flight suits Tony had made for her, grabbed hold of his mask, taking it out of his hands, and kissed the front of it. Then she tossed it out of the jet.  "Go get 'em."

"You go get 'em."

"Oh I will." With a wink, she jumped out of the jet and into the night sky, soon soaring over the city below.

Tony had retrieved his mask and was now soaring beside her.  Rock music blared around them as they dipped and soared.  Kass cheered. 

They spun around facing each other. Kass was never going to get used to the thrill of flying like this!

Not only had Tony designed gauntlets, a utility belt, and gadgets for her to use, he had also designed her a suit of her own.  After jokingly sketching a design of the suit - if it could even be called that. It had literally consisted of  a crop top and short-shorts.

"I swear to God, Stark-"

"Kidding, babe! Just joking!"

"Good."

The suit was one of her black stealth suits, only it had armour woven into and beneath the fabric, providing added protection. It was also lined with invisi-tech fibres, so with a tap of her gauntlet or her visor, she could vanish instantly, become completely invisible. Now she could really slip into the shadows - literally - unseen. 

After a good soar around the city to some awesome music, they found themselves  sitting atop a building sharing a bucket of mini donuts between them while admiring the lights of NYC.

"This city is pretty spectacular at night," Kass remarked. Perhaps that was something else she would never fully get used to.

"Oh I don't know - it's nothing compared to the view I'm seeing," said Tony, looking right at her.

She rolled her eyes at his dramatics, but secretly loved it.  "Ha, ha. You're so sweet."

"I'm serious."

"Okay then, you're seriously sweet." She leaned in for a kiss, snatching the donut from his hands as she did so.

"Hey!"

"Haha!" But before she could pop the treat into her mouth, it slipped from her hand. "Uh oh-" But she was too late - the donut dropped down from their perch to the street below.  "I may have just knocked someone out with a donut. Oops. Sorry!" she called downwards, her voice echoing through the night. 

"There's one more, you want it?" Tony asked.  "It's extra sugary."

"Oh yeah. Gimme." She opened her mouth and he popped it onto her tongue.  "Oh jeez - you're right, super sweet! So much sugar!" She brushed said sugar off her lips. "You know, there's something I want to do."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Name it."

"Okay, but it's kind of far away."

"No problem."

"It would mean we'd have to travel."

"Absolutely. We could leave tomorrow if you want.   Where is it?"

"Would you come with me to see my parents?"

--------------------------------------

Visiting home was never easy. 

The gravestones were side by side and were written in Cyrillics, as was most common in Slavic-speaking Sokovia, and had a Star of David carved on the top above the names, displaying Jewish heritage. 

Мириам Константин

Дэвид Константин

Miriam and David Konstantin.

"Привет мама и папа," said Kass in her native tongue. Hello Mama and Papa. Tony stood beside her holding her hand. "I wish you could have met them."

"So do I."

"And I wish I could have met your mom and dad."

"Eh..." Tony didn't seem so sure.  "My mom maybe..."

"And your dad."

"Fine, and my dad." 

"I wanted to do this when we were here after we fought Ultron, but there wasn't any time to. But I'm glad we're here now." Kass handed him two small stones and they each placed one on top of each of the graves. 

Tony wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, she leaning against him and wrapping her arms around him as they stood quietly over the graves of her adoptive parents. 

Visiting home was never easy. Not anymore. 

-----------------------------------------

"Thank you for doing that."

"Of course. Anytime."

"I'm glad we did that. I feel much more at peace now."

"Good, I'm glad to hear it."

They were in the jet on their way back to the States. 

"So, I was thinking: a pyjama day. We can stay in, watch as much TV as we want and eat as much junk food as we want. We can order in from anywhere. I was thinking Chinese food or pizza - or both."

She chuckled.  "Sounds perfect."

"Which part?"

"All of it." 

When the jet landed, the reception returned to their devices.  They were quickly greeted by multiple notification noises. 

"Uh oh, she's after us," Tony remarked once they got off the jet, checking his phone and finding many missed calls and messages from Pepper.

Ah yes, setting foot back in America and Pepper was already on their case about something. How classic. 

"Uh oh, what did you do this time?" Kass joked.

"I don't know - do I want to know?"

"I do." Checking her own phone, Kass found the same: multiple unread text messages, missed calls, and voicemails.  She didn't bother reading or checking any of them, instead calling Pepper back right away. "It's my fault, I'm sorry. I made Tony take a quick, last-minute trip to Sokovia with me," she said as soon as the red-head answered.

"Tell Tony to tell me next time he decides to take a last-minute trip. Maybe he'll listen to you."

"Maybe.  What's up? What's so urgent?"

Pepper sighed through the phone.  "Someone broke into the Avengers Facility."

(There, I'm finally making some progress on the next part of this story - yay! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as always! :))