Chapter 21
“Congratulations, you’ve gained four pounds!” Dr Cho celebrated as Ashley stepped off the scale. Ashley was in for what she hoped was her final check-up in the med bay. Every day she had woke up feeling stronger and stronger. Her wings no longer hurt, all of the bruises had disappeared and most of her cuts were now thin scars. The large cut across her stomach still needed care and had a dressing on it to keep it clean, but there was evidence that her flesh was finally starting to knit itself back together.
“Can I please come off bed rest now?” she practically begged. Tony chuckled in the corner of the room. Pepper had an important meeting that morning, which she had tried to rearrange, but the board just weren’t having it, so Tony offered to come down with Ashley in her stead. Although, if Tony were being honest (which he wasn’t), he would have found some excuse or another to tag along.
“You can…” Dr Cho started before she was interrupted by a loud cheer. “But you still have to take it easy. No physical activity and definitely no patrols or whatever you kids call it.”
Over the last few days, Ashley had been coming to terms with the fact that when Dr Cho referenced ‘you kids’ or something similar, she was reminded of the fact that Peter is Spider-Man. It was easy to forget when he came bumbling into her room, telling her about the latest upgrade he had made to the Avengers' tech, or whatever he had been working on with Dr Banner. But then there would be the slightest slip of ‘I made this new improvement to my web-shooters,’ or ‘this lady gave me a churro when I got her cat down from the top of a tree’, and Ashley would wonder how he ever kept his secret.
“How about a day in the lab?” Tony asked, breaking her out of her reverie. When he noticed the exasperated look on Cho's face, Tony quickly added: “I promise we will take it easy. We’ll mostly be messing around until Pepper comes back.”
Cho rolled her eyes but nodded in agreement none the less. Ashley sent her a bright smile before following Tony out of the med bay, finally allowed to walk around instead of having to be pushed around in a wheelchair. When the pair entered the lab, Tony instructed FRIDAY to play from Ashley's Spotify and the two settled into taking a look into EMMA's programming. Tony was tinkering with the watch itself, trying to make the design sleeker when he spoke.
“Pepper says she mentioned the expo coming up in the New Year.” It was a statement rather than a question, but Ashley nodded her head in reply. “I want to showcase EMMA – get the backing we need from investors so that we can market to the wider population. It’s not their money we need, so much as their names on paper in support. What do you think?”
“Developing EMMA is something I’ve dreamed of for a while now, but I don’t know if she’s ready.” Ashley spoke honestly. There were still numerous bugs to be worked out, and she needed more information and protocols coded into the database.
“Obviously she's not ready to market yet.” Ashley couldn’t help the small smile when Tony referred to her AI as ‘she’. This was Ashley's baby and to her, EMMA was very much real and was a companion of sorts. There had been some nights in the last week, particularly when neither Pepper nor Wanda had joined her while she was sleeping that EMMA had talked her down from a panic attack and even coaxed her to sleep (that was a new feature, although it still needed work). “But with the right investors, we could have more resources open to us.”
Ashley could sense where Tony was heading with his conversation. “You mean, if someone like the King of Wakanda invests, we could have unlimited vibranium resources?”
Tony broke out in a wide grin. “Precisely! You’ve already got a knack for the business side of things. I bet Pepper would love it if you shadowed her in her work, you know?”
“That would be pretty awesome,” Ashley replied. “To see how the real boss of Stark Industries works...”
Ashley giggled and quickly ducked her head when Tony made a half-hearted attempt to cuff her round the ear. He definitely wasn’t mad at her cheek though, as he had a large smile on his face that wasn’t showing any sign of fading. It was actually starting to hurt his cheeks from how much he was smiling just lately.
“So, what do we need to do to get her showcase ready?” Ashley asked as she turned back to her laptop. She was inserting a few more lines of coding into EMMA's ‘Counting Sheep’ protocol, because Ashley had found out the hard way the previous night that whale sounds were not as comforting as they had been made out to be and she couldn’t turn them off until EMMA had finished the whole track.
“I think we need to build a few more prototypes. We mentioned testing them on the Avengers team and I think we could build some good data up from a bunch of emotionally stunted superheroes – myself included. We can definitely market the mental health support angle, and I’m sure after a week Spider-Man will turn up with some kind of new injury that EMMA should be able to catalogue.”
“I think I might know a better test subject for physical injuries than Spider-Man,” Ashley mused. Tony watched her eyes grow downcast and her lips press into a thin line. It had been over a week since she had spoken to the masked vigilante she was referring to. Karen and Foggy had both been by earlier in the week, and Ashley had received them with open arms and a forgiving smile, but she had been ignoring Matt's texts. Tony wanted to be happy about this, but he couldn’t, because he knew that the Devil of Hell's Kitchen was a big part of her life. Nothing would change that fact.
“You ready to talk to him?” Tony asked quietly.
Ashley sighed. “I really should. I forgave him days ago, but I wanted him to suffer for a bit longer...”
“I hope you don’t get that vindictive streak from me,” Tony joked, lightening the mood. Ashley simply leant across the table and elbowed him in the side, prompting Tony to burst into laughter. It wasn’t a hard jab by any stretch of the imagination – he had definitely sustained worse at the hands of Pepper and his team mates.
The two continued for a couple more hours before FRIDAY alerted them of the lunch time protocol, which locked both Ashley and Tony out of their devices until they had taken a break and eaten. Tony was seriously starting to doubt that giving Pepper access to FRIDAY's systems to create protocols was a good idea. Nevertheless, the pair left the lab to tend to some lunch, and Tony had even decided to cook. He made up a simple tuna pasta salad for them both and set a third bowl aside for Pepper for when she had finished with her meetings. The pair sat at the kitchen island while they ate. At first, they were chatting idly between mouthfuls of food, but before long, Tony turned the topic more serious.
“So, Pepper is thinking about taking you out tomorrow… Something about shopping, haircuts blah blah…” He gestured wildly with his fork as he spoke, but his gaze never left the girl in front of him. “That means sooner or later, we’re going to need to tell the public about you.” Ashley nodded slowly at Tony’s words. She could tell there was more he wanted to say, so she kept quiet and waited for him to elaborate further. “I guess the question is, what do you want us to tell them?”
Ashley tilted her head to the side as she pondered over Tony’s question. At first she thought it was a bit of a strange question because the answer was that she wanted them to tell the truth – that they had become her legal guardians. That was when she realised what the actual question was Tony was asking. Do you want us to adopt you?
“Umm… Well…” she stuttered around the words. When she had been adopted at the young age of two, she didn’t have a say. She barely knew what was going on. The first couple of years had been great and she thought she had found parents that loved her, but then things turned sour. A part of her brain (despite how irrational she knew it was) was scared that there was a possibility Tony and Pepper might turn the same way. “I want…” her voice trailed off as if someone was squeezing a hand around her throat. In the background she was faintly aware of her watch buzzing softly against her wrist with a light pressure. She swallowed nervously as Tony came to rest a hand over her fidgeting fingers on the counter top. “I would like to stay with you and Pepper.”
The words were barely a whisper, but Tony didn’t ask her to repeat. Instead he broke out in a brilliant smile and pulled Ashley in for a one armed hug. Her head resting neatly against his shoulder as she sank into the embrace. “We’d like to adopt you, kid.” Tony’s voice was just as quiet as Ashley’s had been, as if he too struggled to get the words out.
An hour later, Pepper had returned to the penthouse to find the pair curled up together on the sofa. Tony’s arm was around Ashley’s shoulders as they watched snippets of FRIDAY’s security videos. It was like their own personal version of ‘You’ve Been Framed’ starring the Avengers, Pepper and Happy. Pepper found the bowl of pasta that had been left on the worktop for her, kicked off her heels and joined Tony and Ashley on the sofa, curling up on Ashley’s other side. The younger smiled softly when she joined them, leaning ever so slightly into Pepper’s side as she sat down. She couldn’t help but find herself hoping she could come home to this every day, as she leaned back, watching a clip of Peter suspended upside-down from the ceiling, seemingly asleep in front of a rather startled looking Bucky Barnes.
***
On Sunday morning Ashley woke up shortly before nine, and made her way into the main penthouse, where Pepper and Tony were busy preparing breakfast. Natasha and Wanda were sat at the dining table, both dressed already: Natasha in a pair of skin-tight stonewash jeans, a thick grey knitted jumper, black leather jacket and a blue knitted beanie pulled over her ears; and Wanda in a pair of thick black woollen leggings, a maroon sweater dress with a navy scarf and a khaki winter jacket slung over her shoulders. Both women were wearing a pair of fur-lined boots. Ashley couldn’t help but shiver as she stepped out in a pair of red and black pyjamas that were decorated with tiny hammers and lightning bolts, and a pair of lilac, fluffy slippers. She immediately walked over to the kitchen island and started loading bread into the toaster – enough for the five of them. Pepper and Tony both tried to coax her to sit down, but Ashley insisted on helping prepare meals when she could.
For the most part, the five of them ate in silence, with just the occasional remark here and there between mouthfuls. Ashley had expressed her fondness for the boots Wanda and Natasha were wearing, hoping that she could perhaps get a pair herself because they looked so warm. Pepper had quickly assured her that she could have as many pairs of boots as she liked when they went out shopping today, and that she could pick out anything she fancied from the shops. Tony had mentioned that he wished he could accompany them, which prompted a rather snarky response from his fiancé.
“It’s a girls day out, Tony. So, no you can’t come. Also, you have some very important phone calls to make and if they’re not done today, I will personally invite those people to come here on the company jet first thing tomorrow.”
Tony stared rather dejectedly in response to that, his head dropping slightly as he resumed eating his food. Wanda and Ashley shared a confused look with each other, while Natasha was smirking proudly in Pepper’s direction. Ashley was curious about who Tony might have to call, but it wasn’t her business, so she left the issue alone. Wanda however, brought it up as soon as the four of them climbed into a large, black SUV, with Happy at the wheel.
“Has Tony got some business calls he’s been putting off?” she asked as she buckled herself in, before turning to check Ashley was buckled in beside her. The younger had changed into a pair of black jeans, a long sleeved top and a too-big, thick, red hoodie after breakfast. She also had on her old black boots, which were falling apart and her thick winter coat to keep her warm in the December weather.
“No, it’s a couple of personal matters. One of these people he has to call he doesn’t particularly like, while the other one serves to make his life a living hell – especially if Tony hasn’t called him in a couple of months, which I suspect he hasn’t.”
Wanda was still none the wiser from Pepper’s explanation but decided to leave the issue alone when they came to their first stop on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. This was the part of their trip Ashley was most excited for. A visit to the hairdresser. The four ladies were greeted at the door by a flurry of staff, who were all dressed in varying items of black clothing, with belts wrapped around their waists containing an array of combs, brushes, clips and scissors.
“Good morning, Ms Potts, Miss Romanov, Miss Maximoff and Miss Carter.” The manager of the salon had greeted them, offering to take their coats and hats. Ashley was in awe of the salon, which was plastered with pin-up style photos of models across the walls, and lined with shelves of shampoos, conditioners and hair-styling products. Wanda and Nat were apparently taking this opportunity to get their own hair done, while Pepper was content to just stay with Ashley.
“What kind of look are we going for today?”
Ashley looked in Pepper’s direction with panicked eyes, wondering what to say. She had never chosen her own haircut before, so this was a very new and unsettling experience. Pepper placed a hand on Ashley’s shoulder, squeezing lightly before asking to look through the salon’s portfolio for ideas.
The four of them spent a couple of hours in the salon and when they came out, Natasha’s hair was a darker shade of red and was cut a couple of centimetres shorter than it had been; and Wanda’s roots had been freshly lightened, and her ends had been trimmed. But the biggest change was Ashley’s hair, which was now a deep shade of purple and was hanging in loose curls just passed her shoulders. The weight of her long hair was now gone, and she felt good about herself.
Hours passed roaming the packed streets of the Upper East Side, dipping in and out of shops. At some point Happy had had to join the group in order to carry the impressive weight of shopping bags that Pepper had collected. Ashley tried not to think about how much money the CEO must have spent on her, but she now had a large collection of clothes, including tops, jeans, shorts, skirts and dresses; shoes and accessories. Pepper, Wanda and Natasha had helped her pick out clothes, asking for Ashley’s opinion on each item and before long, the three of them had gotten a fairly good idea of the style the younger was going for. The afternoon was drawing to a close before they realised it, because despite her initial hesitation Ashley was having fun.
The four of them were currently browsing through a dress shop, although Pepper had mostly taken the lead on this one. Ashley's feet were dragging listlessly behind her as she grew more and more tired. Pepper had noticed and assured her that this would be the last stop for the day. The CEO had pointed out several dresses to Ashley that hung in the shop, but was met by apathetic shrugs and ‘maybe's’. Pepper suddenly stopped in front of a knee-length dress hanging up in the corner of the shop. It was a dark shade of purple with a chiffon layer over the skirt that was a couple of inches longer than the rest of the dress. The long sleeves on the dress were a thin, translucent material.
“What about this one?” Pepper asked, shooting a smug smile in Ashley's direction. She clearly thought she had found the perfect dress. Her suspicions were confirmed when Ashley nodded eagerly, gently running her fingers over the hem of the dress, as if she was frightened she would tear the silky fabrics.
“I love it,” Ashley told her honestly.
Once Ashley had tried the dress on, which was a perfect fit, Pepper had instructed the shop owner to have it packaged and delivered directly to the tower the next day. She then led them out of the shop back to the SUV, where Happy was waiting with a tired expression that rivalled Ashley's. As they climbed into the back, Pepper advised Happy of one more stop before they drove back. “Tony will want cheeseburgers, so let’s pick up some dinner on our way home.”
Happy had swung into a drive-through on their way back to the tower, not that Ashley noticed as she was trying hard not to doze off on Wanda's shoulder. In her hands, she had one of her shopping bags, which was full of items that she had demanded she pay for herself. Her first Stark Industries pay check was sitting comfortably in her account, and seeing as Ashley no longer needed to worry about buying new clothes for the winter or buying herself food, she had decided to buy some Christmas presents. There were a lot of people to buy for, but Ashley wanted to show how much the people in her life meant to her – particularly Tony, Pepper and Matt.
At some point that afternoon, Ashley had dragged Pepper and the others into a bookshop. She had browsed the shelves for a while, looking for inspiration when she found a gift for Matt. It was a collection of fiction novels in Braille.
For Pepper, Ashley had found a bracelet. It was probably much cheaper than anything Pepper would normally wear, but Ashley found it to be very pretty. It was a metal chain with beads and charms attached in varying shades of red and orange. One particular charm caught her eye, which was a pair of angel wings. The gift might have been a little tacky, but Ashley really hoped Pepper would appreciate it.
Tony was more difficult. What do you get for the man who can buy everything he ever wants? Well, apparently the answer is you get him something you’re fairly certain he never wanted. It was in one of the lesser high-end stores that Ashley found it. It being a gaudy Christmas jumper in the design of the Iron Man suit. It was definitely not Tony's usual chic style, and was in fact bordering on grandpa territory. Ashley had to admit it was kind of hideous, but she didn’t doubt that Tony could make it look fashionable. When Pepper had seen it, she had tried to stifle her giggles at the sight, instead choosing to nod in approval.
When they arrived back at the tower, Tony was sat on the sofa nursing a large mug of coffee and looking as though he was thoroughly reconsidering his life choices. Pepper recognised the look on his face immediately and proceeded to dump a bag of cheeseburgers in her fiancé's lap. He looked up at her with large, round, hazel eyes as he took a bite into his first burger and mouthed a ‘thank-you' to her. Pepper simply shook her head as she sat down beside him.
Wanda and Ashley sat down together on another sofa, tucking into their own food with a little more grace than Tony had, while Natasha had excused herself to the Avenger's floor below. Tony stopped inhaling his burger long enough to look at Ashley as she sat down, leaning into the side of the sofa. Tony was shocked - a good portion of her hair had received the chop, and it was now a dark purple.
“Looking good, kid. You happy with it?”
Ashley nodded, absently twirling a few silky strands between her fingers. Her hair had never felt this good before. It was softer than it had ever been and she loved the colour. “I love it, thank you.” Tony simply smiled in return and made a start on his second burger.
“So, I take it your phone calls went well?” Pepper asked. Her question automatically brought Tony's good mood crashing back down. He grunted rather than actually give Pepper a worded response. “That good, huh? So, when is he coming to visit?”
Another grunt. Both Wanda and Ashley looked up between Tony and Pepper, watching as they exchanged looks with each other – Tony giving her tired, annoyed shrugs, and Pepper giving him reproachful, pointed glares. Neither girl knew what, or more importantly, who they were talking about.
“What about your other phone call?” Pepper asked.
“Actually, that one went surprisingly well,” Tony answered, his voice taking a more upbeat tone. He then turned his attention to Ashley, who was now cuddled into Wanda’s side as she lazily picked at her fries. “Ashley, how much do you know about your birth parents?”
Ashley’s brows furrowed at the sudden change in conversation, not seeing how it was related to Pepper’s previous line of questioning. She shrugged as she swallowed her mouthful before answering. “Not much. I know their names were Daniel and Lily Carter. They left me with a babysitter one night and then they got hit by a car.”
Tony sighed deeply. “Actually, the truth is they were ex-SHIELD agents. In fact, I think they were Fury’s first agents apart from Coulson. Fury has agreed to come talk to you about them.”
Ashley's heart stopped. “They were SHIELD agents?” Her voice was quiet as she spoke, almost frightened to ask the thousands of questions in her head. “Were they...?” she stopped herself. A part of her didn’t want to know the answer to the burning question. If the answer was yes, that opened up a whole other can of worms. But she had to know. “Did Karito kill them?”
Tony simply nodded in response; his expression solemn. “I don't know why. There's nothing in the SHIELD files I hacked that explains it. In fact, there's barely anything in the files at all.”
“You hacked those files?” Ashley asked. Tony nodded again, fixing her with a confused look. “Matt told me it was Wade... I should have known he was lying then.”
Tony rolled his eyes. “Please tell me you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Wilson.” Tony found himself quite pleased when she shook her head. “Best to stay away from his type.”
“Trust me, I know. I don’t think Matt is overly fond of the guy, but I’ve heard Deadpool has certain ‘charms.’” She chuckled dryly. It still stung a little bit to think of Matt, even though she had mostly forgiven him. She still hadn’t replied to any of his messages, and she had noticed earlier that afternoon that she had some messages from Karen and Foggy begging her to talk to him, as his Catholic guilt was driving the pair crazy.
Her mind turned back to the topic at hand and her smile dropped. Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD, knew about her parents – knew what happened to them. He knew if it was her fault. “So, when is Mr Fury coming?” Ashley asked.
“In a few days, I think. He didn’t exactly give me details. And please call him Mr Fury… I’ll get a kick out of his reaction!”
A few days... a few days until she could find out the truth, she hoped. But she worried a little bit about whether Fury would end up telling her that her parents died because she was the target. A cold shiver crawled down her spine at the thought. She really didn’t think she could handle finding out it was all her fault.
Ashley was only brought out of her thoughts when her watch buzzed and seemed to restrict around her thin wrist. There was a second faint buzz to Ashley's left which was accompanied by Wanda's arm snaking around her back to wrap around her waist, pulling her in close. “Hey, you okay?” Wanda's voice was low enough so that only Ashley could hear her. She nodded in reply, not quite trusting her voice. Instead she just let herself relax slowly in Wanda's grasp.
A few minutes later, Ashley received a text on her new Stark phone. When she was handed this one, she suspected that it was more updated than the previous one Tony had given her. The screen seemed to be bigger than the old one she had accidentally left on the rooftop in Koreatown.
MJ: You might want to check the news. 19:21pm
Ashley frowned as she read the text. She turned to look at Wanda who had been reading over her shoulder. The older girl had a confused look which mirrored Ashley’s. The younger opened up a news tab on her phone and was instantly greeted by a rather grainy photo of herself, Wanda and Pepper. Somehow, Natasha had gone completely unseen in the paparazzi photos that were now posted all over the internet. The headline read: GIRL SPOTTED WITH STARK CEO RUMOURED TO BE NEW STARK INDUSTRIES HEIR.
Wanda snatched the phone from Ashley’s hand once she had seen the headline and chucked the phone in Tony and Pepper’s direction. Both adults read through the article with increasingly annoyed expressions. “I think you guys might need to move your press conference up sooner.”