Chapter 19
Waking up that day was quite possibly the hardest thing in Ashley’s life. Her body was heavy, like there was lead in her veins. Her eyelids were sealed shut, blocking out any light, if there was any. She had no idea what time of day it was. There was a soft groan echoing in the space as she tried to lift a finger. The index finger on her right hand maybe moved a couple of centimetres before dropping uselessly against the soft bed sheets she was wrapped in.
“Ash?” A voice called in the distance. The voice carried an accent, but it brought a warm feeling over her. “Hey, Ash can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can hear me.” There was something warm and soft in her right hand. It was flesh and… metal? Rings. There was only one person Ashley knew that wore so much jewellery on their hands. Wanda? Ashley tried to squeeze the hand, but it took so much strength. She gave up when she felt her head growing heavy. A fog settling in the black void she was currently in. The fog was lighting the darkness, creating a violet tinge around the edges.
Ashley didn’t know how much time had passed when the fog finally cleared. Her eyelids still felt weighed down, but they were no longer sealed at the lash line. They fluttered softly, letting in tiny slivers of white light. There was a new sensation this time – a burning on her right side that stung more than the ice that had settled over the rest of her body.
Seconds, minutes, maybe hours ticked by when Ashley’s hearing finally returned, making itself known with an incessant beeping noise that droned in her ears. As she became more aware, the smell of disinfectant stinging her nose and the familiar brush of calloused fingers across her hands, small whimpers joined the beeping. A moment later, those two noises were joined by a hissing sound. At first, Ashley wondered if maybe there was a cat nearby – it wouldn’t be the first time a cat had gotten into her tent at night. After a while she realised that it was in fact whispering and once she had pinpointed that, every sound came rushing in and assaulted her senses.
“I think she might wake up soon.” The voice was male, that much Ashley could tell, but she couldn’t pinpoint whose voice it was. It was soft and timid and quickly lost to the other voices in the room.
“She’s in pain.” This voice was female. It was strong and caring and reminded Ashley of business suits and fiery hair – Pepper.
“It’s likely her wing. I can hear the bones shifting – I think they’re trying to heal themselves.” That was a voice she could pinpoint anywhere – even sucked into the abyss she was trying to crawl out of. She wanted Matt to keep talking so she could try to make her way back to him.
“Matt-y…” She tried to call out to him, but the words were strangled in her throat. She had no idea if he could hear her or not.
“I’m here Ashley. I’m not going anywhere.”
The voices continued, muttering soft assurances to her as she fought to open her eyes. When she finally managed to pry open her heavy eyelids, she was met with instant regret when white hot lights burned into her skull. She quickly screwed her eyes shut, groaning at the harsh light that now had spots dancing behind her lids. It took a little more coaxing for her to finally keep her eyes open longer than a second.
“Hey, you with us now sweetie?” Ashley’s eyes took a moment to focus on where the voice was coming from. There were five people in the room. The first one her eyes fell on was Matt. He was right by her side, his large hands encasing her right hand tightly. On her other side, stood Pepper and Tony. Pepper’s hand was stretched out and it was only then that she noticed the soft patting sensation as Pepper’s fingers combed through her hair. Beside Pepper, Tony was watching her with a small smile on his face. At the end of the bed stood Dr Banner and a lady she didn’t recognise. They were both watching her intently, gazes fixed into serious frowns.
“Wh-where am I?” Ashley’s voice was foreign in her throat, scratching at the sides.
“You’re at the tower,” Pepper answered, fingers still stroking through her hair. Pepper lifted up a cup of water, a straw perching on the rim of the cup and held it up for Ashley to take a drink. The water soothed her sandpaper throat as she listened to Pepper speak. “You got hurt pretty badly. You’ve been out for a few days.”
“Wanda was here…” It was more of a statement rather than a question. Ashley turned her head, trying to seek out the young woman.
“I’ll go get her. She’s probably outside.” Tony disappeared towards the end of the room, leaving Ashley with Pepper, Matt, Bruce and the lady she didn’t know. The lady stepped forward, holding a tablet in her hand as she looked over Ashley. The pale blue scrubs she wore told Ashley she was probably a doctor.
“How are you feeling?”
That was a good question. How did she feel? Her head felt fuzzy and like it was too heavy for her neck to hold up straight. There was a dull, icy ache spreading through every bone in her body, but it was far overshadowed by the burning pain in her right wing. The sound of grinding bones echoed in her ears and she couldn’t stop the whimper escaping her throat.
“H-hurts…” she stuttered out. “And c-cold.”
“That might have something to do with the fact you were out in the cold for hours on end in just a hoodie and you were bleeding out from a deep wound.”
A memory flashed in Ashley’s mind of an oversized grey hoodie. “Matt’s hoodie… sorry.”
Matt smirked as he let out a soft chuckle. “Don’t worry about it. I can always get you another one.” Ashley didn’t hear the ‘you’ in that sentence, so thought nothing more of Matt’s words.
The doors to the med bay opened and Wanda came rushing in, coming to a stop beside Pepper. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her hair was a mess of tangles and knots. She carefully wrapped her arms around Ashley in a hug, which elicited a small wince from the younger. “I was so worried about you,” Wanda whispered, her voice wet with unshed tears.
“S-sorry,” Ashley muttered. “I’ll t-try not to d-do it again.”
“Okay, everybody out. This girl needs rest,” the doctor declared. Ashley was thankful for it as her eyelids became weighted once more.
Ashley spent the next few days in the med bay. She had been dowsed heavily with strong painkillers during that time, but they hadn’t prepared her for when the bones in her wing finally snapped back into place completely. The scream that accompanied the loud snap was still ringing in the ears of Matt, Pepper, Tony and Wanda nearly a week later. Dr Cho (or Helen as the woman had introduced herself as to Ashley) had cleared her to be discharged from the med bay provided she was on bed rest for the next couple of weeks and every three or four days she came in for a check-up. Dr Cho had also given her a prescription of painkillers and antibiotics, which she had to take three times a day along with a new dietary regime, which had been entrusted to Tony and Pepper.
The first day she managed to stay conscious for more than an hour, she, Pepper, Tony and Matt had had the talk. Matt and Tony had tried very hard to contain their anger at the situation, but with a little coercion from Pepper, they managed to see Ashley’s reasoning behind living in a tent for the past two months. All three adults had of course deemed it stupid and irresponsible, but Pepper made the other two promise not to get too angry. The scolding then led onto the next topic of conversation – Ashley’s future. To say she was surprised when Pepper told her that she and Tony had been awarded temporary custody over her would be an understatement. The pair had ensured her that she could stay with them in the tower as long as she needed and if she was happy, they could start the process of making the arrangement permanent.
Ashley had promptly burst into tears. There were too many feelings rushing around her mind that made it hard to pinpoint the cause of the outburst. Pepper and Tony were offering her a home when she had none. They had seen her for who she truly was – had seen all sides of her – and they still wanted her to stay with them. They wanted her and they were giving her the choice to stay with them. They weren’t frightened of her or walking on eggshells around her.
So now, she found herself confined to the rather large space of her new bedroom in the penthouse. Her room was next to Tony and Pepper’s and had the most luxurious bed she had ever slept in. While she had been in the med bay, Pepper had hired decorators and interior designers to paint the walls and pick out fabrics and furnishings she thought Ashley might like. She was now wrapped up in plum silk sheets as she lay in a queen-size bed, which was really far too big for her tiny stature. Three walls were decorated in a pale, almost white lilac and the fourth wall was lined floor to ceiling with glass windows. A large mauve blind had been installed where the wall met the ceiling to give her some privacy. There was a large wardrobe in one corner, the doors covered with mirrors and a chest of drawers beside it. But sadly at this moment, the wardrobe stood empty. In the other corner sat a large desk, which had ‘secret’ storage compartments inside it, including a fold out mirror if she wanted to use the desk to sit and do her hair and make-up in the mornings. The woodwork for the furniture had all been painted and finished in a glossy black. Mounted on the wall opposite the bed, Tony had installed a large TV screen, already hooked up to a couple of games consoles, which were sitting on a floating shelf below the large screen. The screen itself had to be at least sixty inches.
It was now Friday morning, a week and a half since the ‘incident’. Ashley had been woken up at nine o’clock when Pepper came into the room, carrying a tray in her arms. Breakfast had been the same routine for the last week now. There were two slices of lightly buttered toast, a bowl of fruit and a glass of milk. Every day Pepper came in with the same tray and she would sit with Ashley while she ate. Sometimes, Pepper brought in her own breakfast to eat with her, other times she would sit beside her on the bed and talk or watch TV together. Once she had eaten everything on the plate, Pepper would then take the tray away and leave Ashley to sleep some more until lunch time.
But today, things were different. For the first time in a week, she didn’t wake up in any noticeable agony. Her wings were now nothing more than an uncomfortable nuisance and Ashley was fairly certain the bones had all fully healed and new feathers had grown over the previously broken bones. The old feathers were now lying on the bed sheets. Ashley was also determined she wasn’t going to sleep all of the day away like she normally did. Especially as today she had some new visitors.
Peter had been to see her a few times since she arrived at the tower, but every time Ashley had been asleep. He had sat by her bedside along with Wanda and Bucky or Nat, or whichever Avenger had decided to come visit whilst on a break from whatever they were doing. Ashley had been told the story of the first time Peter had seen her wings. He had stepped inside the med bay, having been told his friend was in there and was seriously hurt. Peter had held his breath in fear of what he might see, but the first phrase that came out of his mouth when he laid eyes on Ashley, attached to countless monitoring machines and medical equipment was:
“Oh my God, they’re beautiful.”
The large black wings, hanging idly off the sides of the bed were a sight to behold, even with the uncomfortable angle one of the wings was resting at. The feathers looked impossibly soft, and Peter wanted to reach out and touch them. The blind man sitting in the chair by Ashley’s bedside could clearly tell what Peter was thinking when he murmured, “You can touch her left wing. She likes having the feathers stroked – it calms her down.” Peter had tiptoed over to the left side of the bed and gently trailed the tips of his fingers over the mass of black feathers, noting the contented sigh that echoed from the touch.
“How are you feeling today?” Pepper asked as Ashley bit into the last strawberry in her bowl. The CEO was sat beside her on the bed, one hand in her hair, combing through the tangled locks. Pepper would often ask Ashley about a potential haircut once the girl was up to moving around, and Ashley really couldn’t wait for that.
“Much better. I think I can finally put my wings away.” She smiled brightly up at Pepper as she set the empty bowl back on the tray. Just to prove her point, Ashley’s wings ruffled lightly before they seemed to fold themselves inside her body. Pepper marvelled as she looked at Ashley’s back. The only signs the wings were there at all being the two large scars that ran diagonally from either side of her spine.
“No pain?” Pepper asked, her fingers delicately tracing the pink, raised lines. Ashley simply shook her head in response. “That’s good. I expect you’ll want to wear some proper clothes now, instead of that awful hospital gown.” Pepper chuckled as she stood up and made her way to the dresser. She had ordered some basic items of clothing for Ashley but wanted to allow the girl to be able to choose her own clothes once she was feeling up to a shopping trip. Pepper pulled out some fresh underwear, socks and some Iron Man printed pyjamas. Ashley couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her as she looked at the pyjamas. “It’s all I could get at short notice,” Pepper explained, a sheepish grin on her face.
“That’s okay. I’m gonna take a shower before I get changed.” Ashley swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up shakily. She held a hand against her bandaged stomach, wincing slightly as she took small steps towards her en-suite bathroom.
“You gonna be okay?” Pepper asked, biting her lip as she watched Ashley stagger to the bathroom.
“I’ll be fine, but if I need anything, I’ll call.” Ashley assured her before stepping into the large en-suite. Unlike the ones downstairs on the Avengers’ floor, this bathroom was fitted with a large bathtub and a deluxe shower. The walls were tiled in a pale grey and there were purple towels draped over the towel heater. She placed her clean clothes on a shelf next to the heater before stepping in the shower. Wanda had given her some extra soap, shampoo and conditioner. The hot water was soothing as it cascaded down her back. There was a tight knot in her back from where she could feel the slight ache from her healing wing. Most of her bruises were gone and the smaller cuts had either healed or were now scabbed over. Her knuckles were now scabs, so she was particularly careful when washing her hands. The infected graze in her side had mostly cleared up now and the stitches in the large gash across her stomach seemed to be holding.
Wanda, Vision and Bucky were waiting in Ashley’s room once she stepped out of the en-suite. They had clearly changed the bed sheets, which were now a shade of lilac with charcoal accents. Bucky couldn’t stop the loud guffaw as he spotted the outlandish Iron Man print pyjamas Ashley was now wearing. Wanda had snorted into her hand while Vision just looked on with an amused smile. They had apparently queued up a movie on Ashley’s TV, like they did most days just lately and were waiting for Ashley to get back into bed so the four of them could watch together. Wanda was sat on top of the silk sheets, arms open as she waited for Ashley to join her. Whenever the pair were together, they often had their arms wrapped around each other. Bucky had brought a large, leather arm chair into the room, which he had made himself comfortable in, legs hanging over one arm. Vision was simply floating in a corner, content to watch over his friends. He was still learning about human behaviours and found watching Wanda and Ashley together particularly interesting.
“What are we watching today?” Ashley asked as she settled in Wanda’s arms. Her head rested on Wanda’s shoulder, the older girl resting against the plush, crushed velvet headboard. Tony Stark wasn’t the only one with expensive tastes, if Pepper’s chosen interior design for this room was anything to go by.
“I thought we could watch Spirited Away,” Wanda replied. “Bucky and Vis haven’t seen it yet and I’ve only seen it once, so it might hold all of our attention for a little while.”
The four of them were silent as the movie played out – a stark contrast to the usual movie nights the team had, which were normally filled with laughter and chatter. But the atmosphere was just as light. Ashley felt relaxed and she let herself enjoy the movie. There wasn’t much else she was able to do at the moment anyway, especially seeing as access to her tablet and laptop was restricted, meaning she couldn’t work on EMMA or any of the SI projects she had started with Tony and Peter. She was allowed a maximum of two hours a day, which were supervised by Tony – this often led to not getting much done, as Tony preferred to spend their time talking rather than working.
Ashley surprised herself when she managed to stay awake for the whole movie, which was more than what Bucky had achieved. He was snoring softly in the armchair, much to hers and Wanda’s amusement. Wanda had even gotten her phone out to take pictures of the sleeping Avenger, some just of him, and some selfies of her and Ashley, pointing at the sleeping figure in the background.
When noon rolled around, Pepper came back into Ashley’s room, laden with another tray. This time she was carrying a plate of chicken caesar salad, a glass of mango juice and a chocolate bar. Wanda and Bucky always made themselves scarce at this point and Vision had long since phased through the wall prior to Pepper’s arrival. While Ashley ate, the red-head sat beside her on the bed, scrolling through emails on her tablet. Pepper was working reduced hours in order to care for Ashley and while for the most part, her assistant was handling her workload, the occasional project proposal or research grant request cropped up that required Pepper's attention.
“Hmm…” Pepper muttered to herself as she looked at one particular email sent across to her from the funding department.
“What is it?” Ashley asked her between bites of her salad.
Pepper looked up from her phone, giving Ashley a small smile. “Nothing serious. We’ve just got an expo coming up. It’s a chance for our employees to showcase their work to potential investors. I’ve been sent the short list of projects we’re putting forward, but it feels like something is missing.”
“Is Mr Stark showcasing something?” Ashley thought back to the Stark Expo from a few years ago. She had been at her nana and granddad’s house at the time and they were watching it on the TV together. Tony had arrived in his Iron Man suit, much to the pleasure of the crowd, but the event had quickly turned sour when Justin Hammer unleashed his armoured drones on the general public.
“You could say that,” Pepper answered with a coy smile. “He was planning on showcasing his two amazing interns.” Pepper grinned as Ashley’s face lit up in shock. “It was also going to be the official launch of SI’s step into prosthetics. It’s not until January, so there’s plenty of time to work out the specifics with Tony before then. But I think you and I will need to go on a shopping trip first.”
“A shopping trip?” Ashley questioned, before finishing her glass of juice and picking up the chocolate bar. It had been a long time since she had a chocolate bar before coming to stay with Tony and Pepper, so it was something she very much looked forward to, despite now having one with her lunch every day.
“You’ll need something pretty to wear for the expo. We need to get you some clothes anyway. Once you’re up to walking around for long periods we’ll take Wanda and Nat out for a girl’s day.”
Ashley’s eyes widened. “I feel like that’s a bad idea…” she mumbled quietly.
“It’ll be fine. We’ll have security, but we’ll also have Wanda and Nat, so nothing bad is going to happen. Plus Tony is constantly getting caught by paparazzi diving into grotty burger joints in Midtown and Queens. It will do some good for the Stark name to get spotted shopping on the Upper East Side for a change.”
Ashley couldn’t help but snigger at that. She was very much aware that a lot of the small restaurants and diners across New York City were now claiming that THE Tony Stark had eaten at their dingy establishments. It was certainly one way to get the tourists to step inside.
Once Ashley had finished her meal, Pepper had disappeared again, taking the now empty tray with her. Ashley imagined Pepper had returned to her office a few floors down to crack on with some work. It sounded like the CEO had a lot to do before SI shut its doors over the Christmas period. In particular, the expo needed to be pretty much planned out to the finest detail in the next week.
Ashley had just popped an earphone in and was scrolling through her music library on her phone when there was a knock at the door. She swallowed nervously, knowing who was on the other side. She squeaked out a quiet “come in” and the door opened to reveal three teenagers – Peter, Ned and MJ.
At first there was silence. The three just shuffled awkwardly into the room and stood somewhere in the middle of the space. MJ’s eyes darted around the room, taking in the décor before dropping to the soft pale grey carpet at her feet. She couldn’t look directly at Ashley, who felt her heart ache at the gesture. Ned was also looking around the room, but his expression was in genuine awe. He had been to Avenger’s Tower many times with Peter, but this is the first time he had been in a penthouse bedroom and it was even more luxurious than Peter’s Avenger’s bedroom downstairs.
Peter was first to break the silence. He pounced on the bed, drawing Ashley into a tight hug. She tried to muffle the wince that left her when Peter’s arms came a little too close to the still-healing wound. He instantly fell back as the sharp intake of breath echoed in his ears, his face quickly turning a beetroot shade. “Sorry,” he muttered quickly and sat back on his feet at the foot of the bed.
“It’s okay,” Ashley reassured him, sending him a small but genuine smile. Peter broke out into a wide grin of his own in return.
“I’m just so glad you’re alright. When I saw you in the med bay, I was so worried!” Peter’s voice rose as he spoke until both Ned and MJ shushed him. He mumbled out another quick apology but still continued his little rant. “I still can’t believe you’re Pegasus! Those wings are amazing!”
Ashley’s eyes widened impossibly, eyebrows raised and her jaw slack. Within a minute, Peter had outed her to MJ and Ned, who didn’t look surprised, which meant that someone (read Peter) had already outed her secret identity. “You told them?” Ashley screeched.
At least Peter had the decency to look embarrassed as he brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck. “Err… oops?”
A growl worked its way up Ashley’s throat, and if she wasn’t so focused on trying not to strangle the life out of one of her friends, she probably would have remarked that she had been spending way too much time with Matt. Peter looked taken aback at the sound and the tips of his ears had flushed bright red.
“Is that why you wouldn’t tell me anything?” MJ spoke up quietly. Her gaze was still fixed to the carpet as she waited for a response from her best friend. The silence between the pair stretched on before Ashley answered.
“Yeah… I’m sorry, MJ. I thought it could keep you safe.”
MJ looked up and met the familiar jade irises of her best friend. MJ noticed they were brighter than she had ever seen them, and her skin now had a healthy pink tint to its pallor. She couldn’t help the soft smile that tugged her lips, which elicited a bright grin from Ashley. MJ jumped onto the bed, making a quick mental note at how soft the silk sheets were as she pulled Ashley into a hug, minding to be a lot gentler than her boyfriend had only minutes previous.
“I’m sorry too Ash,” MJ mumbled.
The three of them hung out in Ashley’s room with her that afternoon. They watched TV shows on the large screen and Peter brought up some of the Lego sets Mr Stark had gifted him, which he and Ned assembled while the four of them sat on Ashley’s bed. There had been a lot of questions at first. ‘How did you get your powers? What happened to your parents? Is Lucas okay?’ That last one had been a bit of a sore spot for Ashley and was the first of many vague answers she gave her friends. For the most part MJ was asking all the questions, although Peter and Ned chipped in occasionally. ‘Did you get pecked by a radioactive bird or something?’ Ned had asked, which was only answered by a furrowing of Ashley’s eyebrows at the odd specificity of the query. The questions continued. ‘How long have you had your powers? Do you really hang out with Daredevil? That’s so cool!’
After a couple of hours, Ashley had started getting tired from the onslaught of questions. Her answers had become vague and mumbled and her body had slumped further and further into MJ, until her head finally came to rest on her best friend’s shoulder. She was almost asleep when Peter spoke again. As soon as he opened his mouth, MJ sent him a dangerous glare that had him cowering. Couldn’t he tell Ashley was exhausted?
“I wish I’d know it was you on the roof that night.”
Eyes fluttering open, Ashley fixed him with an inquisitive stare. There were only two people she knew of that she had hung out with on a roof, and one of them was more than likely sitting behind his desk in his small, dingy office, going over whatever case had landed in his lap. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ashley mumbled as she continued to stare at Peter.
“Dude, did you still not tell her?” Ned questioned, raising his head up from the Lego model for the first time in the past twenty minutes. He had mustered the best ‘I’m not mad, just disappointed’ expression he could in Peter’s direction.
“Oh um, oops again, I guess. Ummm, I’m Spider-Man.”
“Of course you are,” Ashley muttered before her eyes slipped closed again. A moment later the room was filled with the sounds of clicking as Ned and Peter continued to assemble Lego bricks and the soft, steady breaths as Ashley slept against her best friend.
MJ watched her sleep, taking in the small smile that just tugged at the corners of Ashley’s mouth. Her cheeks were starting to look a little plump in places, thanks to the new strict diet that Tony and Pepper had her on. MJ had been shocked to say the least when Peter had told her that Tony Stark had found her best friend bleeding out in a tent behind the school. She had been even more surprised to hear that Tony and Pepper had applied to foster Ashley, and she was now living with them in the Avengers Tower. Finding out that not only had her best friend been hiding the fact that she was homeless, but that she was also a crime-fighting vigilante, seemingly with a bounty on her head was the real kicker. Ashley sure had been a lot better at hiding her alter ego than Peter had. MJ had worked it out long before Peter had even mustered up the courage to try and tell her himself, but MJ had no inkling whatsoever that that was the case with Ashley. She wracked her brains, trying to figure out if maybe she had missed signs that were blatantly there, but the only conclusion she could draw was she actually understood what the secret part of secret identity meant.
Now she had not one, but two crime-fighting, self-sacrificing, vigilante idiots to take care of. That felt like a lot of responsibility, but as she sat there, Ashley snoozing gently on her shoulder as Peter worked with Ned on their latest Lego project, his tongue poking out in that cute look of concentration he often had, MJ couldn’t imagine herself being anywhere else.