Disarm • Stark

Mazzy sat in the quinjet, kicking her legs back and forth as her dad knelt in front of her. He was talking, but she wasn't necessarily listening very well. She was just too excited. She had a job to do. Like a real Avenger. She was very, very happy about this. Tony, however? Not so much. 

"You understand this is a one-time thing, right?" Tony asked as he tightened the laces on Mazzy's shoes. Mazzy was just staring at the floor behind him with a small smile on her face. In her head, she was imagining herself as a real superhero. To Tony, it just looked like she was ignoring him. He snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Are you even listening to me at all, Alice in Wonderland?" 

"Yes," Mazzy lied, turning her attention back to him. 

Tony rolled his eyes and began retying her other shoe. "This is a terrible idea. I never should have allowed this," he muttered to himself, shaking his head. There was no going back now, though, really, considering they were already on the jet.

"I can help, though," Mazzy reminded him, raising her eyebrows. 

"That's not the question, Maz. The question is whether or not I should allow you to help."

"Well, then the answer's yes. Yes, you should."

After finishing lacing up Mazzy's shoes, Tony grabs her knees and gives her a very stern look. "I need you to listen to me, alright?" Mazzy gives a firm nod. "You are gonna stay right by Bruce. He isn't exactly so super when he isn't green, so I'm gonna need you to make sure he doesn't die."

"Got it," Mazzy said, ready to get up and go. 

"Not done," Tony stopped her, giving her knees a firm squeeze. Mazzy huffed. "The comms I have right now aren't gonna work for you, so I'm giving you this thing." 

Tony pulled a small device out of his pocket and put it in Mazzy's hand. She examined it for a moment. It was very small. It had a rectangular shape and in the middle of it was a circular button. On the back of it was a little clip, so Mazzy clipped it onto her waistband. 

"Anything goes wrong, you press that button and I'll come get you. No matter what. Alright?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrows at her in that stern way parents do. The way that means, you better be listening to me right now because this is very, very important. 

"Alright," Mazzy replied with another nod. "So, do I have a superhero name now? Like, ummm... maybe Super-Magic-Iron-Girl? No, that's lame."

"Your superhero name is Mighty Mouse. It's already decided," Pietro interjected from across the jet, where he was sitting beside Wanda, who smiled and rolled her eyes. 

"Is not!" Mazzy spat, glaring at the man. 

"Is too," Tony said, smiling in amusement. He stood up off the ground, ruffling Mazzy's hair as he did so. "Be smart. Be safe. Kick some tin soldier ass."

It made him nervous to allow this. To allow Mazzy to be aware of the fact that she has special abilities and to allow her to use those special abilities to do something good. Since she came home with those abilities, Tony had only been trying to hide them from her. To convince her that they weren't special at all, just because he couldn't stand the idea of her finding out what happened to her or her getting hurt again. 

But she had already figured so much out, and he knew that. He didn't know how much she figured out, but he knew she figured out that she had special abilities that she wasn't born with. She figured out he had lied to her a lot. But she had, for the most part, stopped asking questions, so Tony thought that she had probably figured out enough to be satisfied. He didn't know for sure, though. 

Vision- the being he and Bruce created with Jarvis- had said that they all needed to help to get this done successfully. And Mazzy had the intelligence, the strength, and the power to help, and she sure as hell wanted to help. She wasn't in much danger. If she got hurt, her body would put itself back together. Mazzy was persistent, determined, and stubborn. She wanted to help, so she would help. 

Tony kissed the crown of Mazzy's head as the jet landed. His chest ached. 

✭

"Stay behind me, kiddo," Bruce said quietly, holding an arm out in front of Mazzy

Mazzy shoved past him very easily. "I'm the security guard, here. You stay behind me, adulto," she hissed just as quietly, but much more sternly than Bruce.

Everyone was really quite bad at allowing her to help. They just could not seem to get used to having her there without having to do everything in their power to protect her. But she was really more safe there than any of them. When they got hurt, they got hurt. When Mazzy got hurt, she got hurt for a good couple of minutes, depending on the injury, before being just fine again. 

Still, each and every adult there looked at little Mazzy Stark and saw nothing more than a little girl in need of protection. Every time they gave her that look, Mazzy would give them her best glare to remind them that she was tough, too. It didn't always work. 

Bruce let out a sigh. It didn't feel good being a grown adult man with a ten-year-old girl as his security guard. He pushed his insecurities to the back of his mind and redirected his focus to the task at hand: finding Natasha. 

The place they were in was very dark, which sucked for trying to find someone like Natasha, who was dressed in all black more often than not. Neither Bruce nor Mazzy really knew what the place was. It gave off cave vibes at the same time as seeming like a sewer. If Mazzy were to give it a name, she would call it the Antagonist's Dungeon in an Old Disney Film. It was a fitting name, in her opinion. 

The walls were all a dirty, brownish color that made it look like a dingy basement, only a thousand times bigger. There were stairs that looked endless along with big, wide open spaces that Mazzy and Bruce could only imagine what Ultron was planning to use for. 

There were lots of little machines and even more weapons. Mazzy ran up to a table where a gun-like weapon was sitting. She picked it up, despite the fact that it was practically the same size as her, and turned around to show Bruce.

"Holy cow! Look at this thing," Mazzy breathed out excitedly. 

Bruce turned to look at her, and as soon as he did, his eyes went as wide as saucers. "Holy sh- Mazzy, put that down," he said sternly, marching over to her.

"But it could be useful," Mazzy pointed out. She wiggled her eyebrows in an attempt to convince him. 

Letting out a sigh, Bruce gave in. "Fine. But I'm holding it," he said. 

Rolling her eyes, Mazzy handed the giant gun over to him. "Oh, fine."

With a new weapon to protect themselves, Bruce and Mazzy ventured further into the Antagonist's Dungeon in an Old Disney Film. 

It would be extremely hard to find Natasha if Natasha was unconscious, but luckily for them, Natasha was awake and had the ability to hear and speak. So when Bruce called out her name, she could reply instantaneously. 

"Natasha! Natasha?!" Bruce whisper-shouted, his voice echoing throughout the Dungeon. 

"Natasha!" Mazzy called out a bit louder. 

"Bruce? Mazzy?" 

Bruce could hear that, but Mazzy couldn't. So when Bruce went rushing in the other direction, Mazzy was completely confused. 

"Bruce! You're supposed to follow me!" she whisper-shouted as she ran to catch up with him.

Down the stairs, Bruce and Mazzy went so quickly that they were stumbling over their feet, just one wrong step away from tumbling down each and every flight. Mazzy was still extremely confused until Bruce finally came to a stop.

Behind bars stood Natasha. Alive and awake, and most importantly, okay. 

Bruce rushed up to the bars, resting his hand on them as he looked Natasha over, checking for any sort of wounds. She looked okay. "You alright?" he asked, his eyebrows pinched together. 

"Yeah," Natasha breathed out from the other side of the bars.

"You're okay!" Mazzy exclaimed when she saw Natasha. She joined Bruce at the bars, bouncing on her toes. 

"What are you doing here?" Natasha asked with concern. She was less concerned with Mazzy getting hurt, considering she knew the girl's strength, but she was more concerned with whether or not Tony knew Mazzy was there. "Where's your dad?" she asked. 

"It's okay. I'm allowed this time," Mazzy insisted with an excited smile on her face as she gave a firm thumbs up.

Natasha looked to Bruce for confirmation, and he nodded. Natasha was surprised, to say the least. She saw Mazzy beg and beg to come along nearly every time the Avengers went on a mission, and she saw Tony say no again and again. But there Mazzy was, like she was a part of the team. 

"Yeah. I'm an Avenger now," Mazzy boasted casually. She shrugged her shoulders and looked off to the side like it was nothing, even though, on the inside, she was squealing with delight. 

"Well, Miss Avenger, wanna tell me where the rest of the team is?" Natasha asked the girl. 

"In the city," Mazzy answered. 

"It's about to light up," Bruce added. 

"I don't suppose you found a key lying around somewhere," Natasha hinted. If the city was getting lit up, she didn't necessarily want to be stuck in a cell in the city. 

"Yeah," Bruce said. He backed away from the bars and lifted the gun. "I did."

Mazzy's eyebrows shot up and a smile grew on her face. She was practically jumping with excitement. "Can I do it? Please?"

"Absolutely not."

"Lame."

Natasha backed herself up against the wall as Bruce aimed right at the lock. A burst of energy and flames shot out of the weapon and burned through the metal lock and bars. Natasha pulled the cell door to the side and slipped out through the gap. 

"So what's our play?" Natasha asked.

"We're here to get you to safety," Bruce told her. 

And as much as Mazzy wanted to continue fighting and helping, she knew that Bruce was telling the truth. Their job wasn't to get Natasha and join the fight with the others. Their job was to get Natasha and take her back to the jet, where she and the rest of them would be safe. 

"Job's not finished," Natasha reminded him, her eyebrows furrowed. 

"We could help with the evacuation, but I can't be in a fight near civilians," Bruce explained, shaking his head. He was too dangerous to be around civilians. At least, that's what he thought of himself. "And you've done plenty," he said. He took a step closer to Natasha. "Our fight is over."

"So we just disappear?" Natasha asked. 

"We're supposed to go to the jet, but that's just what they said. We could just not listen," Mazzy suggested with a shrug. 

Natasha smiled. "I like that idea better."

And suddenly, the ground began to shake. Mazzy's eyes widened and she looked up at Natasha and Bruce for an explanation. They looked just as concerned. The shaking only got worse. They could hear the Earth cracking around them. They could only wonder what was going on above them. 

"Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness," Mazzy muttered out very quickly. She stepped closer to Bruce and Natasha, and they all edged further inside to see through the cracks and holes what was going on outside. "What's- I didn't- I didn't know this was gonna happen."

"We gotta move," Bruce said, panic in his voice. 

"You're not gonna turn green?" Natasha asked with concern. 

"I've got a compelling reason not to lose my cool," Bruce answered. 

"I adore you."

Mazzy's eyes narrowed and she furrowed her eyebrows. She took a step backward, and just as she did, Natasha pulled Bruce's face towards her own and kissed him. 

Gross. 

Natasha pulled away from Bruce with a quiet gasp as she shoved him backward, through a hole in the ground. Because they were now being lifted into the freaking air, Bruce went falling through the sky and Mazzy stared at Natasha with her jaw dropped. 

"But I need the other guy."

The green monster that was the Hulk flew back up through the hole and landed right in front of Natasha and Mazzy. 

Mazzy ran her teeth over her lip. "Um, when we see my dad again, can you tell him this was your idea and not mine? Or else he's never gonna let me be an Avenger again."

Natasha said nothing in return, being too focused on the Hulk to answer, but Mazzy hoped that she was going to do it, anyway. Hulk smiled at Natasha and she returned it, cocking her head to the side. "Let's finish the job," she said. 

✭

"That was, like, the most dangerous thing I've ever done in my whole entire life! I never wanna do that ever again!" Mazzy whined, her heart beating hard in her chest. She and Natasha had just ridden on Hulk's back to get to where they needed to be, which was absolutely terrifying, but also a little bit fun, even though Mazzy would never admit it. 

Now, Mazzy was running through the woods with Natasha, heading for the city. Their main objective, now, was not to get Natasha to the jet. It was to get as many people off of the floating piece of land as possible whilst also taking down as many of the tin soldiers as they could. 

When they made it to the city, Natasha pulled out two little, metal baton-like weapons that had blue glowing light coming off of them. Mazzy watched as she used them to take down Ultron's army. Each time she hit one with one of the batons, it electrocuted them and made them crumple to the ground. It was a very useful weapon, and Mazzy, who had no weapon since Bruce took the gun, was jealous. 

"Can I have one of those?" Mazzy asked Natasha. "Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"If you promise to stay in my sight, then yes," Natasha answered in a strong voice that said she really meant it. 

"Promise."

Natasha tossed one of the batons to Mazzy, who caught it and instantly used it to take down a robot that was coming her way. When the electricity crackled out of it and made the robot fall limply to the ground, Mazzy let out a giggle of delight. She felt like Natasha.

As more and more of the Ultron Sentries came flying towards them, the Avengers worked together to kill them. She hadn't seen her dad yet, though, which she was sort of relieved about. She was glad he didn't yet know she hadn't stuck by Bruce's side like she was supposed to, but she also didn't like what he was tasked with doing, which, according to Steve, was to figure out how to stop the piece of land they were floating on from falling back to the Earth and wiping out nearly every living thing left on the planet. 

"What's he saying? Does he have a plan yet?" Mazzy asked Steve, who she was sure had comms.

Steve didn't answer her. He only answered Tony over the comms, instead. "I asked for a solution, not an escape plan."

"Hey, what's he saying?" Mazzy asked again, her eyebrows furrowed as she nudged Steve's arm. 

"He wants to blow up the city before it can drop," Steve answered. 

That was not good. That was, like, maximum destruction. Or almost maximum destruction, because maximum destruction would be allowing the city to fall and destroy the whole rest of the Earth. 

"Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow this rock..." Natasha spoke. 

"Not till everyone's safe," Steve interjected, shaking his head. 

"Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there."

"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it," Steve insisted. 

"I didn't say we should leave," Natasha told him. 

Mazzy frowned, digging the toe of her shoe into the rubble below her. Was she going to die on that rock? Were they all gonna die on that rock? There had to be another solution. There just had to be. 

"There's worse ways to go," Natasha said. She turned to look out at the clouds ahead of them. "Where else am I gonna get a view like this?"

Before Mazzy could suggest maybe an airplane, she watched Natasha's and Steve's eyes widen as their heads snapped over to the left. She followed their gaze to see the Shield helicarrier rising into the sky. 

"Fury, you son of a bitch," Steve breathed out, a smile on his face. 

Nick Fury. Of course. 

As Mazzy stared at the helicarrier, she saw smaller carriers coming out from the sides and heading toward the rock. Carriers to bring the civilians to safety. 

Pietro appeared beside her, smiling at the view. "This is Shield?" he asked.

"This is what Shield is supposed to be," Steve answered.

"This is not so bad."

"Get to work then, Pietro. Load 'em up," Mazzy ordered in a teasing manner. 

"You," Pietro said, pointing a finger in Mazzy's face, "do not give me orders, Mighty Mouse. I'll load up these carriers because I want to. Not you."

"Whatever you say," Mazzy joked, shrugging her shoulders. Pietro rolled his eyes before disappearing, off to help get the civilians to safety. 

It was hard for Mazzy to get people to listen to her, considering she was only about four-foot-three and not wearing any clothes that would indicate that she was an Avenger. Despite that, she managed to get a few families to follow her lead to the carriers, and once they got on, she would repeat the process. 

While the others went to defend the core, Mazzy was tasked with helping Rhodey- because Rhodey apparently showed up with Shield, which was totally awesome- get the rest of the civilians on board the carriers, as well as taking down any bots that strayed from the group of them going after the core. 

"Hey!" 

Mazzy stopped and turned at the sound of Clint's voice. 

"Get your ass on a boat!" Clint shouted from a good thirty feet away. 

"It's not a boat! It doesn't have any buoyancy!" Mazzy shouted back at him. 

"Just get on a carrier, kid!" Clint scoffed, shaking his head at her. 

After giving Clint a thumbs up, Mazzy joined the civilians on one of the last carriers with seats left open. She kept her eyes glued to the city, though, watching just to make sure that no civilian was left behind. 

Her eyes caught on Clint again. He was picking up a little boy, probably around Mazzy's own age or a bit younger. The boy clung to him for dear life, but when Clint turned around, a hijacked jet flew near. Bullets rained from above, getting closer and closer to Clint and the boy. 

Mazzy's heart beat so hard in her chest that she could feel her pulse in her head, her hands, and her stomach. She got off of her seat, running as fast as she could towards them, because maybe if she got there in time, she could shield them. But she wasn't fast enough. 

Clint turned around, shielding the little boy's body with his own. 

No bullets hit him. 

Mazzy stopped where she was. No bullets had hit her, either. 

Beside Clint was Pietro. Blood soaked through his shirt from the bullet wounds that were scattered all over his body. 

"You didn't see that coming?"

His body dropped to the ground, and all Mazzy could hear was Wanda's screaming.