Of Canon-destruction and First Introductions
Nine months later…
“You ready?”
“Nope.”
Ava and Cooper shared a look, squeezing each other’s hands tight as they stood across the road from the gates that would define their future.
Sometimes, lying in bed at night, Ava wondered where the last nine months had gone - it seemed like she’d blinked and almost the entire year had passed.
A tall figure appeared to their left, Loki grabbing onto Ava’s free hand, swinging their arms back and forth.
“Ready, Vennen?" (darling)"
She raised an eyebrow - “Still no. But sure.”
It was a big thing, and they all knew it. Ava hadn’t been inside a school building for almost two years now - Tony had hired tutors in every subject for the pair of them, meaning they got to stay together while Ava caught up on the year she missed. Which while it made it easier for her to reacclimatise to being awake, and to her new reality, also meant she hadn’t been with people her own age for far too long.
Kneeling down, Loki looked her in the eyes, “You can do this. I believe in you. Cooper will be every step of the way. You have your necklace, you have all our numbers.
The teacher’s know a little about what happened, you’ll be able to leave a lesson whenever you need to, if you need to breathe, or calm down or just sit with Cooper for a bit.”
The taller girl smiled down, green eyes rimmed with eyeliner, “And even more than that, you have yourself. You’re Ava. Ava Raelyn Kingsley. You’ve helped fight an alien army. You helped Tony Stark build an Iron Man suit. You taught Steve Rogers how to do the macarena. And for that alone you are a true hero.”
Ava laughed, “Okay, yeah, that was pretty cool.”
“You taught me how to throw knives!” piped up Cooper, mischievously.
Loki placed a finger over the boy's lips, “Shush, you. No snitching on your favourite sibling.”
Cooper laughed, “Alright, alright. But we gotta go now O’.”
Ava steeled herself, grabbing her siblings’ hands before the three of them began across the road, slipping easily between the screaming children running across the playground in hordes.
“Hiya guys, are you our new 6th graders? (year 7 for the normal english people around here :) )”
Ava looked up at the smiley teacher standing near the gate, holding a clipboard.
Next to her stood a second, far less smiley teacher, the pair making a hilarious contrast.
Mrs Smiley looked the epitome of happiness - radiating happiness from every pore, smile lines creasing her eyes,
Mrs Not-Smiley, on the other hand, looked as if the world had scorned her once, and she’d vowed to live the rest of her life steeped in bitterness.
Loki smiled, “Hello, yes, this is Ava and Cooper.”
Mrs Smiley smiled, “Brill! I’m Miss Ashborn, and this is Ms Aloe. Depending on what class you’re in, we’ll be your tutors. Would you guys mind giving me your full names?”
“Cooper Barton.”
“Octavia Kingsley. I prefer Ava, though.”
The teacher peered through her board before exclaiming, “There we are! Cooper and Ava! You’re both in my set this year!”
“Thank you,” smiled Loki, “Do you mind if I walk them through to their classroom? Just for today?”
Miss Ashborn grinned, “Be my guest Miss…”
“Skye. Luka Skye.”
“Beautiful name,” the teacher remarked, “Are you an older sibling?”
“Ava’s my adopted-sister. Cooper’s my nephew. “
Ms Aloe raised a brow - Ava could feel the disdain rolling off of her.
Probably something to do with the copious amounts of eyeliner.
Tony called it emo.
Ava thought she looked epic.
And apparently Ms Aloe was siding with the various old-ladies Loki enjoyed scandalising on the streets.
Ava couldn’t wait to see her face when she realised that Loki didn’t give a fuck about how many dirty looks she gave her. Maybe she’d take a photo. And frame it.
“I take it mum and dad couldn’t make it?” said the slightly taller woman, a nasally tone in her voice. Ava was vaguely reminded of Dolores Umbridge.
Loki smiled, with sharp teeth, “On the contrary, we were drawing straws for who would get to go. I got lucky.”
Miss Ashborn cooed, “Aww, that’s so sweet. It’s nice to see a family so close. Now, do you guys know where you’re going?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Brill! I’ll see you guys in a bit!”
With that, the three of them continued across the playground, ignoring the few strange looks they got.
All too soon, Ava found herself outside a classroom labelled ‘Miss Ashborn - Maths’.
Loki pulled them both into a hug, gently butting foreheads.
“I’ll pick you up this afternoon, alright? We can get ice cream.”
“And then eat in front of Uncle Clint while he complains that he wants ice cream?”
Loki grinned, “Absolutely. Now, you know the rules. Be good, unless you physically can’t, in which case don’t get caught. And I’ll see you later.”
Before either of them could rethink their decision, Loki detached herself from the pair, and walked away, weaving between the crowd.
Ava watched her go for an eternal moment, and then turned away, looking at her best friend.
“Ready?” he asked for a second time.
And this time she was.
—-----
Meanwhile
“Drop has been successful. Pulling out now.”
Nat snorted on the other side of Loki’s comm.
“You could just say that Ava and Coop are at school, you know?”
Loki snorted, swinging back into the front seat of the car, “Yeah, but what fun would that be?”
Natasha laughed, the sound switching to the car’s speakers. Loki started the car, travelling as fast as she could through the streets of New York. Which wasn’t particularly. Honestly, she far preferred her bike, but it wasn’t really an option for two eleven year olds.
“You sound like Stark when he’s trying to justify his terrible life decisions to Pepper.”
“Talking of, is he back from the mission yet?”
“Not yet. The Quinjet’s due to land to about half an hour.”
“I assume everything went smoothly?”
Loki could hear Nat’s shrug over the phone, “I assume so. We’ll get a full debrief as soon as he’s back.”
Loki sighed, rolling her shoulders, just as she broke out onto a stretch of freeway.
“I’ll see you then.”
And then she floored it. Fuck speed limits. Tony’s name was on the car.
—----------------
37 minutes later
“Short and sharp please Stark.”
Tony rolled his eyes.
“That’s my motto, Patches. Short and sharp.”
“Stark…” warned Fury.
“Alright, keep your panties on. Basically, I was right. Growing terrorist group, working with some dick-head called Adrian Killian - seriously, who names their kid Adrian, its like they wanted him to be evil -”
“Stark!”
“Fine, whatever. Killian was working on some sort of enhancement serum. From the look I got seems it was designed to provide fire-resistance? Oh, and there was a rather unethical biologist as well. Everyone’s in custody, serum’s destroyed, and EXTREMIS is shut down entirely. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.”
“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about international terrorists for the moment. Loki, did you figure out what the weird readings were?”
The girl sat upside down in the office chair at the end of the table blinked, continuing to spin.
“I finally got around to reorganising my library last night, and I believe so. From what I can tell, an event called the Convergence is due to happen soon, likely somewhere around the middle of November.”
“The Convergence?”
“Don’t worry about it. I studied it for a project when I was 600, and as long as I can pinpoint the exact centre of the ‘Verge, I’ll be able to shield earth.”
“And what happens if you can’t?”
Loki shrugged, which was impressive for someone who was still upside down, “Eh, we’re dealing with an inter-realm portal of great power here. At worst it’ll rearrange part of Earth. Well, worst, as long as nothing else comes through. That could be bad.”
Everyone blinked, before,
“... inter-realm portal?”
“Yup. happens every 5000 years or so when the nine realms combine. A portal will be opened directly between, with a few side effects such as unpredictable weather, unusually high seidr levels, and reversal of other forces such as gravity. It can also cause space loops in the more susceptible areas of the realm.”
Banner leant forward, “Space loops? As in folded space?”
“Probably? Easiest way to describe it is, say I drop this pencil, a space loop would rearrange the matter once it reached the lower end of the loop and reconstruct it back at the beginning, giving the appearance of an endless loop. This is probably more Doctor Foster’s area of expertise than ours. I’ll text Darcy to keep an eye out for weird readings. If they can pinpoint the central focus of the Convergence, I’ll shield earth.”
Everyone simultaneously shuddered at the mention of Darcy - the pair had met a few months back during one of Jane’s visits to the Tower, and had immediately become inseparable. And terrifying. Tony could never quite forgive Loki for showing Darcy how to use the vents. She was everywhere.
Back at the front, Fury clapped his hand together, standing up.
“Loki, thank you for your help there. If you can contact Doctor Foster as soon as possible I’d appreciate it. Stark, good work on the mission, since the trial run went so well, we’ll implement the code into SHIELD databases. A pre-warning for the rise of terrorist groups could very well be important in the coming years.
Agent Barton, with me.”
“... Why?”
Nick rolled his eyes, “To play jenga. Why do you think?” he sighed, “We’ve got a batch of recruits in. I thought it would be safer to have you break them in rather than Natasha.”
“Yeah probably.”
Tony followed the pair out of the room, turning the opposite way and heading down to his rooms.
A few minutes later, he flopped into bed, exhaustion finally catching up with him. But despite that… he was happy.
The last few months haven't been easy for anyone.
Everyone had nightmares - the 3am Hot Chocolate Club was very popular, and it was hardly unusual to have JARVIS quietly alert the relevant person that someone was about to wake up screaming. Tony himself couldn’t stand small spaces, or the dark anymore. It reminded him far too much of being frozen in space, his only escape slowly closing beneath him.
Loki, the person he’d come to know and (unwillingly) love like, was jumpy, flinching whenever there was a loud sound, or a person snuck up behind them. Tony could see in their eyes the strange mixture of adoration and fear as the God watched their family. He couldn’t imagine what it was like - to be scared of yourself, to be scared of what you did.
He’d seen the same look more than once in Clint’s and Elena’s eyes. Neither of them could stand the colour blue anymore. He once saw Clint physically gag at a bottle of gatorade in the fridge. The next day he quietly instructed the cleaners to remove all bright blue products from the Tower.
He wasn’t sure Natasha had ever really slept soundly in her life, yet she seemed to do so even less now. More than once he’d found her curled in random corners, and got JARVIS to close the area off until she awoke.
Thor… was Thor. Aside from when he was drunk, the blonde seemed perpetually happy, which was admittedly hilarious to see next to Loki, who acted like your average emo goth teen. Standing side by side, Tony always got the mental image of a black cat and a labrador if they happened to be siblings.
Which had been a bundle of joy by itself to deal with.
Back when Loki had first rejoined the Tower, there had been more than one volatile argument between the pair, mainly concerning Loki’s blood status.
It had taken several counselling sessions, and continuous therapy on Loki’s behalf, for the pair to make up. Loki was still attending bi-weekly sessions to try and combat the body? Racial? - the dysmorphia, as well as the obvious trauma and general issues they were working through.
But… it wasn't all bad.
Over the 9 months they’d lived together, the team had bonded more than Tony would ever have thought possible. Through a combination of therapy sessions, sparring matches and disastrous attempts at cooking dinner, what was designed to be a team dynamic had somehow turned into a… family?
If you had told Tony this time a year ago he’d share his home with a group of strangers, and not just tolerate it, but like it, he would’ve laughed in your face. If you’d told him he would consider himself an uncle to three children, and be friends with said children’s parents, he would’ve called security.
Hell, even his relationship with Pepper was on the rise!
Living with people in such close proximity had opened his eyes to several… less than social habits he had, not least the way he treated the people closest to him. Where he’d once drowned her, trying to keep himself afloat, he made his own raft, and helped her clamber up the side.
Tony Stark today was a mile away from Tony Stark a year ago.
He was drinking less, eating more, sleeping in regular patterns.
His work was a pleasure, not an obsession.
He had healthy relationships, the first people other than Rhodey he had considered friends in over 40 years.
He took the woman he loved out on romantic dinners, and came home to her each night.
And as his eyes closed, and he slid into sleep, the last image imprinted on his eyes was a photo frame. And a picture. Of his family.
Of the children, and the gods and the superheroes and the directors in bucket hats that had embedded themselves in his life and had refused to leave. And he didn’t even care he was being bunny-eared by at least three pairs of hands. It was worth it.
They were worth it.
—----------------
Roughly 45 minutes ago
“Where do you wanna sit?”
Sticking tight by each other’s sides, Ava and Cooper mutually decided on the far left, taking seats next to each other. On the desk next to them, a girl with corkscrew curls sat hunched over what appeared to be a drawing pad of sorts.
She didn’t look up as they passed, settling themselves into the chairs and pulling out a pencil case each.
Sat at the back, they watched as the room began to fill up with children, in groups and pairs and alone.
As the last of the seats filled, something niggled in the back of Ava’s mind. Something was… not wrong, exactly but strange. Not bad strange, just… urgh, she sighed as the words evaded her. It wasn’t an issue anyway - her necklace was lying dormant around her wrist, Ava having reformed it before she left to be a delicate teardrop charm on a chain.
“What’s up Tav?” whispered Cooper, sensing in his usual fashion his best friend’s distraction.
“The opposite of down.” Ava replied absent-mindedly before giggling quietly.
“Sorry, no, its nothing. Just got a… feeling. Not a bad one though! Something feels familiar. I just don’t know what.”
As the pair continued to whisper and talk, Ava kept finding her eyes wandering to the front of the room. More specifically the second from the left desk.
Two boys sat at it, one scrawny and short, fluffy brown hair peeking over the top of a green hoodie, and the other slightly larger, wearing a checked shirt.
The pair appeared to be talking animatedly, waving their hands around to articulate their points.
Moving with utmost subtlety, Ava wiggled her finger slightly, muttering, “αφουγκράζομαι”
Keeping half an ear on Cooper, she focused the other half on the conversation in front of her.
“- no way dude! You got it?”
“Yeah! Mom got it as an early birthday present. We can do it after school!”
“Uh, I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it tonight. I’ll have to ask May. But we can do it on the weekend!”
“Cool man! Aw, I’m so excited about this!”
“Do you think - “
“Ow!” exclaimed Ava, glaring at Cooper, “What was that for?”
Cooper rolled his eyes, “Tavvy, you literally said ‘Eavesdrop” in Greek and then your bracelet sparkled. I might not have sparkly hands myself, but I’m not stupid.”
“Debatable,” the blonde teased, but rolled her eyes, releasing the spell.
Just in time, as it turned out, as the door swung open, Miss Ashborn walked through.
“Hi guys! It’s nice to see you again! I think I caught you all at the gate, but in case I didn’t, I’m Miss Ashborn, I’ll be your tutor for the rest of this year. If you guys have a problem, or you need help, or if you just want to chat for a bit, my doors always open. Unless it's closed, in which case you’ll have to use those very important things called opposable thumbs to open it.”
The woman managed to get a chuckle out of the crowd of unimpressed pre-teens, Ava and Cooper giggling quietly in the back row. Miss Ashborn would get along fabulously with Tony.
“Now, we’ve got a few things to get done this morning, including handing out maps, timetables and, of course, getting to know each other!”
Don’t make us do a game, don’t make us do a game, don’t make us -
“So I think it would be a great idea to play a game!”
… fuck you lady.
Ava took it all back. She hated this woman.
Introduction games were the worst - Ava was hardly shy, but she preferred to make introductions on her own terms. She knew how to make a statement - she’d learnt from the best after all.
The only statement introduction games made were ones with terrible grammar and frankly pathetic punctuation.
“How about we start in the back row? Ava, was it?”
… Ava resisted the urge to throw her pencil case at the teacher’s head.
“Awesome, if you could tell us your full name, any nicknames you use, and… three interesting facts about yourself.”
A golden sticker for unoriginality.
What exactly was she going to say for this?
‘Hey, I’m Ava, I live with the Avengers. I have a literal god for a god-parent. And I have a cat who sometimes eats people’.
… actually that was pretty tempting.
“Octavia Kingsley. I prefer Ava, though. I do three martial arts' ' (well, like 12, but whose counting?) “I love Norse Mythology and I have a ginger cat.”
Eh, close enough.
“Hi! I’m Cooper, Cooper Barton. I’m originally from Missouri, I moved down to live with Ava so we could go to school together. I really like archery and have a younger sister called Lila.”
One by one, the children introduced themselves. Ava only caught a few names as they went by, most of her attention going to drawing a flower on Cooper’s arm.
“ - Michelle Jones, I prefer MJ - Betty Brant - Cindy Moon - Eugene, but you can call me Flash - Elizabeth Allen, most people call me Liz - Ned Leeds! - uh Peter. Peter Parker - Abe Brown -”
Ava’s head whipped round so fast her neck clicked.
Oh.
Oh.
She stared at the back of the green hoodie.
The green hoodie.
The one she’d worn years ago, stolen from Loki’s closet, and given to a boy she’d met ten minutes before.
The boy who she’d almost gotten killed, and then never seen again.
oh
“Ava!” hissed Cooper, “What’s wrong? Do I need to call Lo? Do you need a time out?”
“No, no, no. I’m fine, Coop, I’m fine.”
That was a lie - she was so beyond fine she was practically vibrating in her seat.
“Then what?”
“Okay, you remember a few years back, at the Expo?”
“The one where all the killer robots turned up and Loki got mad at you?”
“Yeah, that one. Well, you remember how I met a boy, right?”
“... You gave him your hoodie?”
“Yes.” Ava wiggled slightly, beaming, “Did I ever tell you his name?”
“Uhh, no?”
“Peter. Peter Parker.”
Cooper gasped, “Wait, isn’t that…”
“Yes!” Ava squealed as quietly as she could. “He’s even wearing the hoodie!”
“Oh my gods! That’s amazing! How do you even do stuff like this?”
“I know! I literally feel like I’m gonna explode. Do you think he’ll remember me?”
Cooper snorted, “Tavvy, I’m pretty sure it’s literally impossible to not remember you. You don’t exactly blend into a crowd.
“It’s a talent,” she smiled back.
“Isn’t it the whole point of a SHIELD agent to blend into a crowd?”
“Or I could just stun them with my beauty and then stun them with my baseball bat.”
“Or you could not?”
“Where would the fun be in that?”
“May I remind you that murder is not the answer to everything?”
“Of course not Coop. Murder is the question. And the answer is yes.”
Cooper sighed, placing his head into his hands with an expression more often seen on a certain SHIELD supervisor’s face.
“Moving on,” he said, “You’re gonna talk to him, right?”
“Yes! Of course I am! I would go now if it wouldn’t get me in trouble with… wait, hold on, where did Miss Ashborn go?”
Sure enough, the smiley teacher was nowhere to be seen.
“She went to the office to get the timetables.”
Ava whipped her head round again to see MJ reopen her drawing book.
“Oh, thanks. I’m Ava, by the - okay she’s not listening. Fair enough.”
It was then she noticed what was going on at the front of the room.
“Oi! Penis Parker! You still sitting with your boyfriend?”
Ava watched in growing fury as the jackass who’d introduced himself as ‘Flash’ sauntered up to Peter’s desk.
To the casual passer-by, you might assume they were playing, ‘boys being boys’.
But Ava knew fear when she saw it. She knew it in the hunch of Peter’s shoulders, the way he curled up around himself, the way he didn’t rise to the jab, opting to ignore the boy.
No, not the boy. The bully.
Ava did Not like bullies.
“Ava…” warned Cooper, “Don’t do anything stupid.”
Ava smiled, showing more teeth than she probably should, “I don’t intend to. Let me deal with this.”
Cooper sighed, not even bothering to try and argue - he hadn’t held his position as Ava’s best friend for 11 years for nothing.
Ava stepped neatly down the aisle, fluffing up her white blonde hair and perfecting her innocent dove look, mismatched eyes staring out of an angelic face, her outfit consisting mainly of white only adding to the effect.
Appearance was the first weapon in any fight - that was something Natasha had taught her, and something Loki had reinforced.
And she fully intended to max this weapon out.
It took Flash a moment to notice her, but the way his entire act changed when he did was truly remarkable and utterly convincing. For someone who hadn’t grown up with superspies.
“Hey,” he said, “Ava, right? I’m Flash.”
“Hiya Flash,” she said, honey coating her words, “Yeah I’m Ava. I was just wondering if you could lend me a pencil? I think I left mine at home.” she let a simpering laugh out of her throat, batting her eyelids in an approximation of a disney princess.
Flash smirked, “Sure I can, my dad bought me - argh!”
Ava left the smile on her face as she twisted his arm further, bending backwards.
“Oh sorry, did I say pencil? I meant ‘would you mind leaving my friend alone?’”
“What the hell! You can’t - arrggghhhh - don’t you know who my father is? And you’re defending Penis Par- ow ow ow OW!”
Ava released a little of the tension on the boy’s arm, knowing full well the image she made to the shell-shocked class. The tiny little angel dressed in white, smiling prettily while bending a boy’s arm in half.
“Now, I’m a nice person, Eugene. I believe in second chances. Which is why you're going to do two things for me, alright?”
Flash outright whimpered.
“Firstly, you’re going to apologise to Peter and Ned for being so rude. Secondly, you’re going to return to your seat, with your fancy pencils and your daddy issues, and never so much as look in Peter’s direction again. Capiche?”
Flash nodded desperately.
“I can’t hear you!” Ava sang.
“Capiche.” whimpered the boy underneath her, crying out in relief as she let go of his arm. Relief that was short lived as she promptly pinched his arm, causing him to shriek.
“Before I forget, “ she added sweetly, “You can keep a secret, right? I mean, I would hate for something to happen.”
Flash nodded, on the verge of tears.
Letting him go, she pulled him upright, dusting off his shirt.
“Good man,” she said, “Come on Peter, there’s a spare desk next to me and Cooper.”
The brunet stuttered, looking a mix between terrified and confused.
“Th-Thank you.” he said, “Why-why did you help me?”
She grinned at him, dropping the angel look, “Don’t remember me? I’m offended Pete.”
The brunet squinted for a moment.
“Picture me, slightly smaller, standing next to a very tall goth,” she suggested helpfully.
“Oh my god! Ava!”
“Hiya Peter,” she smiled, sincere for the first time, “Miss me?”
“Oh my holy lord! That was so cool! I’m Ned by the way. Peter, you didn’t say you were friends with a ninja!”
“I-I mean we’re not really friends. We met at the Stark Expo when we were like 8. How did you recognise me?”
“The hoodie,” Ava shrugged, “It was one I stole off of - “
“Ava, would you like to explain why you’re out of your seat?”
Miss Ashborn had a slightly exasperated yet amused expression on her face.
“Hi Miss!” she chirped, “This is my friend Peter! I’m sorry about standing up, but I was so excited to see him! It’s been a while,” she said, with an abashed look on her face, “I don’t suppose he and Ned could come sit with me and Cooper?”
She turned on her brightest smile, and sent a little wave of persuasion towards the teacher, who absorbed it with a slightly dazed look.
“Oh, that's lovely! I don’t see why not,” she agreed, “As long as the four of you don’t disrupt the class.”
“Thank you Miss!” Ava beamed, helping a blushing Peter collect his stuff and carry it to the back of the room.
As she went, a small wave of flinches followed, the rest of the class still with the image of the crying Eugene in their eyes.
Cooper stared her down as she sat, Peter sitting next to her and Ned on the brunet’s other side.
“Seriously?” he hissed, “Attacking him in front of the entire class?”
Ava gave him an equal look back.
“Yes,” she replied, “I needed to make a statement. I can guarantee you no one will try anything like that again.”
“Yeah, cause you terrified them,” the boy said, but his tone had already softened.
In an hour's time, Ava’s reputation would have already become cemented in the minds of the student body.
In weeks to come, people would learn that said reputation was earned.
They would learn to back away when her smile grew too wide.
They would learn to leave those she placed under her protection alone.
Flash was still a bully - one encounter with Ava could not fix him for life. But Peter never had the words ‘Penis Parker’ yelled at him again.
And in the moment? A girl with crazy hair and a cynical smile was watching a certain group of people with interest. Maybe this school would be worth something after all.