Chapter 9
3rd pov
Steve drove away from the AIM building, looking in the rearview mirror at the girl next to Jordan. While nondescript looking, he recognized her instantly.
Katie O’Neil
After the fourth time Jordan had mentioned her, Steve had Jarvis run a background check. Despite knowing Jordan wouldn’t mind him doing something like that, but he still felt a bit guilty.
The two had grown so close to each other that he was convinced that Jordan would eventually tell Katie about her powers and her connections to the avengers. From what Steve knew, Jordan wasn’t a very social kid, so anyone who got this close to her would eventually become a very important part of her life.
They’d had the conversation about possibly having a secret identity, one where the world wouldn’t know who she was. But regardless, because the two were so close, he suspected that Katie would know despite Jordan keeping her name from the general public.
Weirdly enough, the background check came back with no “obvious” issues. Her parents were middle level scientists, nothing stand-out-ish. They were upper middle class with two kids and had voted moderate in every election. No weird social media posts or news articles, no crime history. For lack of a better term, the family was completely and utterly generic. They could be the perfect candidate for spies.
But there was one small blip to that.
Katie herself was a genius. She had stellar grades since birth, and had only recently been introduced to the science community. In her statement after winning her division of the national youth science fair, she said ‘well, I was forced to take this lab because nothing else fit in my schedule- but hey, now I’m here with a prize! Guess I did a good job!”
Such an extraordinary girl, was too outlandish and bright to be an undercover spy. When it came to flying under the radar, she was the opposite.
Steve had also found a memo from Tony, before the whole attack on New York and he’d buried himself in his tech, that she was a visionary and had to hire her right away. Despite the rocky time Tony was having, Katie was continuing her internship with Stark industries and had been there for almost a year. Her work was going steady, and there were no complaints from her managers and mentors.
It was strange how similar the two were, Jordan and Katie. Steve sincerely hoped that she wasn’t some plant or spy. Someone who had found out about Jordan’s powers before them, because he didn’t know if Jordan could handle losing her possibly first and only friend.
Speaking of Jordan's powers, he had to call Tony. Natasha was increasingly reminding him that Jordan should be wearing braces when she trains. Despite the girl's insistence that it didn’t matter, Steve wanted to go about things the right way. He knew she would eventually agree with what him and NAT decided on.
That worried him. She was strangely compliant for a teenager. While she still had moments of acting like a teen, where she insisted she could take on the whole world and being a full avenger, she took orders well and never crossed the line. The little vigilante scene he'd witnessed during the attack on New York seemed like a one of a kind thing, and it didn’t seem like she had that “with great power comes great responsibility” mindset that most hero’s had.
Steve didn’t understand what her motive was, and Natasha couldn’t figure it out either. Her mind was truly an enigma, and he felt that the only two people who could truly understand her were not available. Those two being geniuses in their own right- Bruce and Tony.
Bruce would not be hard to contact, but he didn’t want to bring him up until Jordan mentioned him. Seeing Steve was probably enough of a reminder of her accident, and he didn’t want to mess up whatever precarious balance Jordan had somehow found to return to normalcy.
The other option, Tony, was not being helpful and dodging his calls. So he’d done the only thing he could think of, and called pepper. She’d thanked Steve profusely for contacting her, and ensured that the next time he called Tony that he’d pick up.
Pulling into the tower's private garage, Steve briskly got out of the car and made his way up to the penthouse. There was a private elevator that only a few people could access, so it was perfect for the avengers to use. Privacy was important when it came to where people saw them together. If someone saw half of the avengers together, it could spark some controversy that something horrible came up. Next thing you knew, the news would be reporting about a ‘potential mystery disaster’.
Despite the building still undergoing renovations after the attack on New York, it was still heavily staffed. Several civilians went in and out the building everyday because of the work that had to be done- and it didn’t help that a majority of the work had to be done on the additions that Tony had wanted to add to the penthouse.
Reaching the very top floor of the penthouse, the part that was finished, Steve stepped out and made his way over to the room he had identified Jordan a few months prior.
“Jarvis” Steve stated, standing in a room full of screens. “Call Tony please, and tell him that Pepper will hear about this.”
Jarvis responded that he’d put the call through, and that a few seconds after the A.I. started the call, a manic looking hologram of a sleeveless Tony himself showed up in front of Steve.
“Dirty Trick you pulled, cap” Tony said crossing his arms, “calling the missus to get my attention. Very stalkerish if you. I’d think you were my paramours with the amount of midnight calls I get from you”
Steve blew out a frustrated breath, but played along.
“It’s only 5pm here” he started, “and I don’t think I ever remember you proposing, Stark. Can’t be a missus without a ring.”
Tony smirked, “how very 1920’s of you Mr. Red white and blue”
“40’s” Steve corrected.
Tony rolled his eyes, “fine. Fine. Capsicle. Whatever you want, just get to it. I’m busy trying to keep the world safe like you and the rest of our little rag tag team by fighting the worlds mightiest villains etc. etc.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to talk to you about.” Steve said, exasperated. “I’ve tried to talk to you about this before, but the girl I saw during the invasion has agreed to join the team on a probationary period.”
He thought back to what he’d seen today and how Jordan had greatly improved her agility. Instead of clunky steps he’d seen when they started, she’d gotten faster and was almost ready to transition into something more intense.
“The improvement we’ve seen in having her train with Nat alone has been big. But we want to do things safe, mostly for her sake- but to also give her guardians some piece of mind. I believe I sent over the police and hospital records to get a better idea of her situation. Nat said you could easily repurpose one of your old test suits-“
“Look” Tony interrupted, “I know that you want to build out this team, but I couldn’t give two craps about some snot nosed teenager you’ve coerced into joining. Call me again in 5 years when they’ll actually be useful, besides why would I even need to see some random police report and hospital records to make some kid a suit. Ignore that, and watch this.”
Tony swiped a couple times on a screen Steve couldn’t see, and projected a news report with a title card arrows to the bottom with the title ‘is America in danger? Pressing play, A man with a beard and sunglasses was depicted across the screen.
“Some people call me a terrorist, I consider myself a teacher. America, ready for another lesson?”
The man continued on a tirade and listed all of the places he’d attacked. Videos of explosions and people kneeling with hoods over their heads was depicted. As the clip ended and the screen switched to a news anchor with a solem face, Steve frowned.
As this man and the several incidents linked to him had just broken to major news channels, it hadn’t been on his radar prior.
“The nation remains on high alert as American airwaves were hijacked last week. This man, the Mandarin, was somehow able to take over every major news station in America at the same time. This is just a clip of the claimed atrocities that he showed in his impromptu media takeover. Unfortunately, All attempts to find this man and his team have so far proved unsuccessful. Please use caution and discretion when in public areas, and as always- if you see something, say something.”
The screen split to show the newscaster and a picture of the current president. “As a response, president Elis and his administration have stated that they have A newly minted resource. Formerly known as Colonel James Rodes and warmachine, the American people will now know him as the iron patriot.”
Tony clicked off the screen.
“So far, this man can be tied back to 9 bombings and the public only knows about three of them” Tony informed Steve.
Turning around, he waved to the wall behind him full of Iron man suits.
“This is the reason why I am working, the reason why I am perfecting prototypes. Why the HELL would I take time out of my day to design something for a kid who I know nothing about, and have never met.”
Tony threw out his hand to the side, and Steve watched as individual parts flew around and surrounded his body. In a matter of seconds, Tony was completely covered in iron man armor, piece by piece.
Steve remained silent, watching Tony’s pupils enlarge as he continued his speech.
“THIS. This was, and is, being developed for CREDIBLE treats. There is a national threat taking place that requires mine AND your attention. You shouldn’t be wasting yours and Natasha’s time for some kid/avenger intern project.”
Steve clenched his fist, raising his voice in reply.
“But I’m not wasting my time, Tony. You don’t even know her, like you said. If you saw her, what she could do- you’d definitely understand how much of a boone she’d be to this team. She’s insanely intelligent and great at following orders- a real stand up kid.”
Tony turned, ignoring most of what Steve said,
“Oh! Good at taking orders?” He snarked, “Looking for a mini-me I see? Well consider me wrong! That’s definitely more important than a national emergency!”
Steve’s brows furrowed. In almost all facets, Jordan could most definitely be considered a mini-him. If Stark had known how accurate he was, he wouldn’t have been joking. If he’d just look at the files he’d understand, but unfortunately, he was just being a dick.
Steve took a calming breath, and tried to empathize with Tony. What Pepper had told him over the phone had been quite concerning.
“Tony, I know you haven’t slept in 72 hours. Pepper told me what happened the other night with the mark 47.”
Steve gestured inside the penthouse.
“The construction here is almost done. Why don’t you and Pepper come back east to New York, to the penthouse, and we can talk. Not everyone’s safety is on your shoulders, Stark. You're not the only person on this team responsible for the world's safety. We can even have Jordan transition from training to some field work and be a temporary hard for Pepper. You’d get to meet her and It would be a good experience for her. I’d also provide an extra layer of protection for-“
The mark 47 dropped to the ground from its floating position and peeled back to reveal Tony’s face. He was seething.
“You did not” he got quiet, shaking with anger, “suggest that a child would be put in charge of keeping my girlfriend safe.”
Steve’s head reeled back in shock at Tony’s tone.
“Consider this our last call until you’ve regained your sanity.”
The line went dead and Steve scrubbed a hand over his face.
Coming out of nowhere in particular, Natasha came up in front of him with a worried look on her face. Slowly, she patted Steve on the shoulder.
“Well…I don’t think that could have gotten any worse.”