Disarm • Stark

"Sorry, kiddo. You're staying here."

It felt like that was the only thing Mazzy would ever hear ever again ever.

"But, Daddy, you know I can help," Mazzy whined, dragging her feet as she moped behind her dad.

"No. Not when you're nine years old," Tony told her, raising his eyebrows just a little bit. He was tweaking his Iron Man suit just a little bit before the Avengers left on their little mission. Mazzy was a big distraction, though, and she was making it take a whole lot longer than he wanted.

"I'm arguably a better person to go into a fight than you are because I've got superpowers and you've just got your suit. You should really let me come, Dad. What's the worst that could happen? I get a broken arm and it heals in, like, five minutes. Plus, I'm strong and I can help. For real."

"I'm sorry, is the word no not yet in your vocabulary?" Tony asked. Mazzy only rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Look, Curly Sue; the answer is no. You're staying here with Maria, and you're gonna go get fitted for new hearing aids."

"Pshh," Mazzy blew out the side of her mouth. "I only really need one."

"You need both. And you need them to fit you better, anyway. If they fit you correctly they wouldn't have fallen out in the first place," Tony explained.

It was incredibly frustrating when he got Mazzy back and discovered that whatever serum they pumped into her veins wouldn't fix the damage done to her auditory cortex. It could fix up her skin when she got scrapes and cuts, it could mend her bones when they broke, and it could keep her alive when she otherwise wouldn't have survived.

The one weakness of that serum was that it couldn't fix her brain. It couldn't fix her auditory cortex or her cortical deafness. It couldn't fix the areas around her hippocampus that were damaged during the escape. It couldn't cure her retrograde amnesia.

But, for Tony, that part was a relief. The serum couldn't help her remember how she got it in the first place. Of course, there was always the chance that exposure to those memories could make her remember them, but he doubted that would ever happen. He wouldn't let her get near any of the people she was with when she was taken ever again. It was better this way, even if Mazzy hated it.

"Why is Maria taking me? Why can't you?" Mazzy complained. She didn't really care who took her to the audiologist, to be honest, but she wanted to either convince her dad to stay back or to let her come with him. She was hoping that maybe he would cancel the appointment.

"Because I have to go stop my murderous robot son."

"Ugh," Mazzy groaned, tossing her head back in complaint. "I can't believe you're not letting me come with you. That's so mean."

"You're not going to guilt trip me. It's impossible," Tony told her. "I'm heartless."

"Well, I can at least try."

"It's not working. Go get your shoes on and be good for Maria," Tony said. He turned away from his suit to see Mazzy glaring at him. He put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed. "How are you gonna feel if Ultron takes me out and the last thing you did was glare at me? Huh?"

Mazzy's glare dropped into a frown. "Don't say that! It's not funny," she said.

"It's a little bit funny," Tony said. He let go of her shoulders and turned back to his suit. "I'll be back before you know it, Maz. Be good. I love you."

"Yeah, I love you, too. I'll be good I guess," Mazzy huffed.

She began walking off, heading to her room, where her shoes were. She sort of wanted to disobey him and sneak onto whatever jet they were taking to find Ultron, but she remembered how that turned out last time. Plus, she did need new hearing aids and she didn't mind hanging out with Maria.

Maria was always nice to Mazzy. Most people were. Most people are just nice to kids in general, just because they're kids. But Mazzy didn't know Maria very well yet, and she was hoping that Maria would like her for more than just being a kid. Maybe she'd like her for being smart. Maybe she'd like her for being funny. Or, even better, maybe Maria would like her enough that she answered the questions that no one else would.

When Mazzy got to her room, she sat herself on the ground and slipped her shoes on. They were pink, high-top Converse, and she liked them very much. She wanted to draw stars on them with a marker. Maybe she would some day.

"Mazzy?" That was Maria's voice from the outside of the door. She knocked twice, gently. "You ready to go?"

"I'm ready," Mazzy called out. She tied her last shoelace and hopped up off of the ground, making her way over to the door. She swung it open and saw Maria waiting for her on the other side, a small smile on her face. "Hi."

"Hey, sweetheart. Ready?" Maria asked.

"Yeah. Except I don't like being called sweetheart, mostly," Mazzy replied.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"Let's get going, huh?" Maria said. She gestured down the hall.

"Good idea."

The two of them walked down the hall together, side by side in silence, until they got to the elevator. And then they got into the elevator and stood in more silence as it lowered them to the ground level of the Avengers Tower. This was painfully awkward. Mazzy wanted to ask about it, but she didn't think they were on that level yet, so she had no idea what to say at all.

As they were standing in the elevator, Mazzy noticed the manila folder tucked beneath Maria's arm. Her eyebrows furrowed and she chewed on her lip. "Is that a file about me?" she asked, gesturing to it.

"Yeah. We'll need it for the audiologist," Maria said with a nod.

"Oh," Mazzy murmured, nodding her head. "Cool..."

"Mhm," Maria hummed. The elevator dinged and the doors opened up, releasing them from the metal box of awkwardness. Thank goodness.

While the two of them walked to Maria's car in silence, Mazzy took the time to think through a plan. A way to get answers without Maria realizing it. Now, Mazzy knew Maria wasn't at all stupid. She knew Maria was super smart and would probably see everything coming. She also knew, though, that Maria was nice. Nat loved her, after all, from what Mazzy could tell. Maria was nice and would answer questions from Mazzy because Mazzy was just a sweet, little girl. So if she started off slow and careful, maybe it would work.

On top of that, Mazzy didn't know what Maria knew she knew. There was no comprehensive list of all the things Mazzy wasn't supposed to know. Or, at least, Mazzy assumed so. It would be pretty rude to make a list of all the things she wasn't supposed to know and share it with everyone but her.

If Mazzy ever found out her dad made a list like that, she would kick him right in the shins, she decided.

Maria and Mazzy made it to the car and Mazzy climbed into the backseat, furrowing her eyebrows when she saw the booster seat in her spot. She did not like sitting in a booster seat. It made her feel little when she was big and strong. That's what she said, at least. Really, she was little and strong.

Still, she didn't really need the booster seat because, no matter what happened to her in the event of a car crash, she would be just fine because of her magic powers. Maybe, she thought, it should be called Mazzy Magic. Secret Mazzy Magic, really, because the reporters and news people weren't really supposed to know much about it. The pouty-lipped lady sort of ruined that, though.

"So, how far away is this audiologist?" Mazzy questioned, raising her eyebrows at Maria through the rearview mirror.

Maria smiled. "Look at you and your big vocabulary. Audiologist," she said.

"Well, that's what it's called, right?" Mazzy asked just to be sure. It would sure be embarrassing if she was wrong about it. No one likes being wrong about things.

"No, you're right. Don't worry," Maria confirmed, glancing back at her through the mirror. Mazzy felt better knowing that. "It's just impressive for a nine-year-old. But you are a Stark, I suppose."

Mazzy shrugged, turning her attention out the window and watching the buildings slowly go by. Preferably, the buildings would be flying by, but who was she kidding? They were driving in the streets of New York City. All there ever was was traffic.

"Just because I'm a Stark doesn't mean I'm automatically smart. You should have seen how long it took me to figure out common denominators. Golly. I hated those," Mazzy reminisced, shaking her head. Fractions sucked, and what sucked even more was that she still had to work with fractions in all the math she was doing now.

"Hey, fractions are hard. I get it," Maria said in agreement.

The first step to getting answers was for Mazzy to get Maria's guard down. So far, it seemed like it was working, but Mazzy couldn't be so sure yet, so she kept going.

"It was hard for you, too? Did you go to a public school, or were you homeschooled, too?" she asked. A good way to get someone's guard down was to get them to talk about themselves. People love talking about themselves.

"I went to public school, yeah. It's not all that great, though. Trust me," Maria said, laughing a little to herself. Mazzy didn't understand that. How could it not be fun if you got to hang out with a bunch of other kids, and even get time to play outside? That sounded so fun. "Other kids get really obnoxious the older you get. What about you? Do you like being homeschooled?" Maria asked.

Oh, jeez. Maria was asking questions now, too. Maybe she knew what Mazzy was up to.

"No. It's really boring. It's like homework all day long," Mazzy answered anyway. Now she had to find a way to switch the topic and get this plan back on track. Maybe it was better to just jump right into it. No, no, no. No need to rush. But if she could just hint at it... "But it's good I'm homeschooled, though, right? Because if I went to real school then I would have missed a lot of stuff when I was sick, right? Do you remember when I was sick?"

Immediately after asking it, Mazzy bit down on her tongue and looked back out the window. That was not smooth, that was not slick, and that was not inconspicuous. Bad move. Bad, bad move.

Maria took these questions like a champ, knowing exactly how to slide past them without revealing a single thing. "I didn't know you back then, but I hear about it sometimes," she said. No information was revealed.

Well, Mazzyhad already ruined the plan so she thought she might as well just go for it. "What do you hear about it? I can't even remember it."

"I've heard just as much as you have," Maria answered with a shrug.

Goodness gracious, she is good at this, Mazzy thought. She needed a shocker question. Something to catch the professional secret keeper off guard. "What's the medicine they put in me called?" she decided on asking.

And for a second, Mazzy thought it might have worked. Maria was quiet for just a few seconds. But then she picked herself up and answered smoothly. "You'll have to ask your dad that one. All the science stuff- it sometimes flies right over my head."

Mazzy huffed quietly to herself in the backseat. Mission failure. "Yeah. I'll ask him sometime," she said. But she knew that if she asked him, he wouldn't give her any answer, either. He probably wouldn't even try to be smooth with it and lie like Maria. He would just try and distract with something else. Maybe a popsicle or something.

✭

Kicking her legs back and forth impatiently, Mazzy sat in the waiting room of a doctor's office. It was technically an audiologist's office, but that didn't have that nice ring to it, and the feeling was just the same. Boredom.

It felt like it took forever, but it was only about ten minutes before a woman came into the waiting room with a clipboard in her hands and said, "Mazzy Stark?" And Mazzy shot up out of her chair.

Maria and Mazzy followed the woman through a maze of hallways that felt a little bit too small for comfort until they reached a little room with a few machines and three chairs. The woman got to sit in the rolly doctor chair while Mazzy and Maria were forced to sit in the regular old person chairs.

"So," the woman began, "you're here for a new pair of hearing aids?"

Mazzy nodded. "Yeah. My dad says they're too small for me now," she answered, leaving out the part about one breaking by being stepped on by an evil robot. That was one of those things that she wasn't supposed to talk about in public.

"Alright, we'll get you set up with a new pair as soon as possible, but we'll have to run some tests and do a fitting first, and then it'll take a little while before they're ready for you," the woman explained in a professional doctor voice.

"Okie dokie," Mazzy said.

"I'm Dr. Harrison, just so you know."

"Nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you, too, Mazzy," Dr. Harrison replied with a polite smile. She then turned her attention to Maria. "And are you the mother?"

"Oh, no. I'm a friend of her father's, but I have all the information you'll need," Maria answered, gesturing to the file in her lap. She glanced at Mazzy out of the corner of her eye, wondering if she would have any reaction to talk about her mother, but she didn't seem to. Maria wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

"Perfect," Dr. Harrison said. She took the file gratefully and began typing away at her computer, murmuring the words to herself as she went. "Nine years old, deaf since age six, due to severe head injury, has been here before," she murmured under her breath.

Severe head injury?

Sicknesses aren't really severe head injuries. That didn't make any sense. None at all. Mazzy stared at her shoes, repeating the words to herself in her head so that she would remember to write them in her notebook when she got back home. Severe head injury, severe head injury, severe head injury.

"Okay. So now, Mazzy, I'm going to ask you some questions about your hearing," the audiologist said, rolling her rolly doctor chair closer to Mazzy's. Mazzy nodded in understanding. "When you're without your hearing aids, can you hear at all or can you hear some things?" she asked.

"When things are real loud I can hear them, I think. Like an explosion. I think I could hear an explosion. Just really, super muffled and all," Mazzy explained.

"So, if I were to scream in your face, would you be able to hear me?" Dr. Harrison asked, raising her eyebrows.

Mazzy let out a little laugh. "A little, but I probably wouldn't be able to tell what you were saying."

"Should we test it out, do you think?" Dr. Harrison teased.

"No!" Mazzy giggled, shaking her head.

"I guess I'll just have to take your word for it, then," Dr. Harrison said, shrugging her shoulders. She wrote a little bit on her papers on her clipboard. Mazzy wished that she could read it. She didn't like people writing things about her on their clipboards. "And with your old hearing aids- I see you've only got one in today- have you had any trouble hearing?" Dr. Harrison asked next.

"I can't hear whispers well at all. It's annoying because I love to hear when people are whispering about me," Mazzy said, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. Being able to hear whispers would be really helpful for her current mission.

"That's fair. I love to hear when people are whispering about me, too," Dr. Harrison replied. She wrote on her clipboard again. "Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of," Mazzy replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Alright. And you don't sleep with your hearing aids in, do you, Mazzy?" Dr. Harrison asked, narrowing her eyes.

"No," Mazzy answered, thinking the answer was really quite obvious.

"Oh, phew!" Dr. Harrison huffed dramatically, pretending to wipe sweat from her brow. "You have no idea how many kids come in here complaining that their hearing aids aren't working only to find out that they're sleeping with their hearing aids in! It's crazy!"

"Oh, brother. Kids don't like listening to what they're told these days," Mazzy said, rolling her eyes.

Maria let out a small laugh, nudging Mazzy's arm with her elbow. "Your dad's right, you know. You do talk like a grandma," she said, a soft smile on her face.

"I guess you're right," Mazzy said with a huff.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about. It just means you're wise," Maria told Mazzy, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

"Okay, okay. Back on track, now," Dr. Harrison interrupted, adjusting the way she was sitting. She rolled her chair over to the machines that were sitting idly in the corner. "We need to run these tests and get this done, honey. You wanna come on over here for me?" she asked.

"Yeah." Mazzy got off of her chair and made her way over to the machines.

"Have you ever taken a hearing test at school?" Dr. Harrison asked.

"I'm homeschooled," Mazzy said, shaking her head.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. You're Tony Stark's daughter, aren't you?" Dr. Harrison said.

"I'm Mazzy Stark," Mazzy replied.