Chapter 22
Ashley was anxious. Every few moments, someone caught her wringing her hands together as she paced the tower. Tony had kicked her out of the lab after half an hour that Tuesday morning as she could barely sit still, and she was tapping mercilessly on her keyboard without actually doing anything productive. That morning Pepper had helped her pick out some clothes which were a bit less casual than most of her wardrobe – a pair of stonewash skinny jeans, a loose red top and a white blazer jacket with a multi-coloured flower print. Wanda had helped her curl her hair and do her make-up, which normally Ashley would be fascinated with as she didn’t really know much about the whole ‘dressing up’ thing. However, Ashley could barely find focus in anything for longer than a minute.
“Kid, please sit down. You’ll wear out the floor,” Sam commented from his seat on the couch with Bucky and Steve. All three of them were watching her like a hawk as she had been a jittery mess since Tony had banned her from the lab. Pepper was catching up on some paperwork in her office and had asked the Avengers to keep an eye on her as Ashley had been a bit of a nervous wreck since Sunday night.
Pepper and Tony had scheduled a press conference for that afternoon, which was cause enough for Ashley’s bubbling anxiety, but on top of that Nick Fury had arranged to visit the tower on Wednesday to speak to Ashley. He was going to tell her about her parents.
If Ashley wasn’t thinking about the press conference, then she was thinking about talking to Fury. She could not sit still for longer than a minute and she couldn’t focus her attention elsewhere for long before uncertain thoughts crept into her mind.
“Ash, why don’t you come show me those designs you were working on?” Bucky asked her. That seemed to grab her attention as she came to sit down beside the Winter soldier and was talking over prosthetic designs with him a moment later. Both Steve and Sam smiled as they watched her jump into an animated conversation with their friend. However, it was only five minutes later that the conversation trickled to a stop on Ashley’s end. Instead, she was biting her fingers while her watch buzzed repeatedly in an attempt to distract her.
While Ashley sat beside Bucky silently panicking, Tony left his lab and walked into his bedroom to change from the grease-stained top and jeans he was wearing into an Italian suit. When he reappeared in the lounge, Pepper exited the elevator dressed in a white, tight-fitting dress with a matching blazer. Pepper’s previous hard expression softened when her eyes met Ashley. The young girl’s foot was tapping repeatedly as she bit at her fingernails. Her eyes were looking straight ahead at where Tony was stood, but Pepper could tell she couldn’t actually see Tony. Her mind wasn’t really in the moment.
Pepper beckoned Ashley over to her, wrapping an arm around the younger as Tony walked over to join them. Pepper gently squeezed Ashley’s shoulder. “Don’t worry so much. You don’t even need to say anything if you don’t want to.”
“Yeah, I’ll do the talking for the both of us,” Tony commented. “I’m good at that.”
Pepper rolled her eyes at Tony’s words. “Just try and stick to what we agreed.”
The pair led Ashley into the elevator, which took them down to the bottom floor of Stark Industries. The ride was long and quiet and a fairly awkward affair all round. Even Pepper and Tony felt nervous as the elevator counted down the floors to their destination. The pair were holding hands tightly while Pepper’s arm never left Ashley’s shoulders.
The conference room located on the ground floor of Avengers Tower was packed with reporters and TV crews. From outside the large double doors, the flashing of cameras could be seen from the gaps, accompanied by the unmistakable clicking of shutters mixing in with the faint chatter. Pepper gave Ashley a tight squeeze and Tony sent her a reassuring smile before leading them both into the conference room. Pepper ushered Ashley in after him and sat her down between them. The room erupted with the sound of click, click, click and screams of “Mr Stark! Miss Potts!” Tony simply held up a hand, effectively silencing the crowd. Even the sound of camera shutters seemed to stop.
“Thank you for joining us today. We have an announcement to make, so please remain quiet. Any questions afterward should be addressed to our PR Team.” Tony paused, shooting a small smile to Ashley and Pepper – his girls. He stood up, making a show of buttoning his suit jacket and putting his signature sunglasses on. “A couple of months ago, Stark Industries took on a second high-school intern. Ashley Carter,” Tony signalled the young girl, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Has been working very closely with myself and Dr Banner on a number of projects over the last few weeks. Recently, we learned that Ashley has been living on her own and had been abandoned,” Tony spat the word, “by her parents. Both Pepper and I have come to think of Ashley as a member of our family, which is why we have made the decision to adopt her. We would like to add at this time that if anyone harasses her going forward, we will take legal action. That is all.”
The crowd near enough exploded as Tony ushered Pepper and Ashley out of the room. There were shouts echoing the four walls and bright lights as the camera flashing resumed.
“Mr Stark, why did you make this decision?”
“Mr Stark, do you think you're a stable parental figure?”
“Who is the other intern?”
“What do you stand to gain from this?”
Tony simply ignored the vultures’ ravenous questioning. He reached behind him for Ashley's hand, which she took eagerly and dragged her and Pepper out of the conference room with him. They hurried towards the elevator to take them back up to the safety of their penthouse. Once they were inside the elevator, both him and Pepper let out a collective sigh before noticing Ashley stood between them, shaking as she clutched at their hands in hers tightly.
“See, piece of cake? Told you I'd do all the talking.” Tony joked, trying to lighten the mood. Ashley took no notice as Pepper rolled her eyes at him.
“In all fairness, it wasn’t your worst press conference speech,” Pepper mused. “At least this time you didn’t out any secret identities and you weren’t scoffing cheeseburgers the entire time.”
“I’d say that’s progress!” Tony argued before turning his attention back to Ashley. “So, do you think you’ll be able to focus now if we head back to the lab?” He asked her.
“M-maybe?” Ashley’s voice was a little shaky as she spoke, her mind still several floors below in the conference room. “Aren’t you worried about what the reporters will say?”
Tony shrugged. “No, not really. The Bugle will no doubt write some trash piece about how I’m destined to be a no-good, dead-beat dad, not that anyone with half a brain cell reads that slander… I’ve already sent a piece into Ben Urich at The New York Bulletin, which is set to make tomorrow’s front page, which will clear up any loose ends and answer the important questions.”
Ashley nodded her head as Tony spoke. “I know Ben… He and Karen have worked on a few pieces together. Sometimes Karen freelances for The Bulletin. She wrote that piece on The Punisher that got a lot of attention.”
“I remember reading it. I might consider going to her the next time I have something that needs to come out in the news. If that woman can make this city feel sympathy for The Punisher, she must be something special…”
The elevator came to a brief stop at floor sixty-five, where Pepper got out to resume her meetings for the day. Before disappearing down the corridor, she looked at the pair still in the elevator and brought up a stern finger. “I can’t stop you going to the lab, but know your limits… That goes for both of you.” Both Tony and Ashley looked sheepish under Pepper’s stern glare. “I’ll see you guys in a few hours.”
Sure enough, Tony and Ashley did head straight for the lab when they got back to the penthouse. Ashley sat down at her desk and picked up a watch prototype she was in the process of programming. Tony sat on the other side of the lab, tablet in hand as he cycled through some protocols he was tweaking for the Iron Man suit. For the first hour or so, the pair were mostly silent; with just the occasional humming to music. Ashley chose to break the silence after she started to lose her concentration.
“Did you know my parents, Tony?” Ashley’s voice was quiet as she spoke, but not enough that Tony didn’t hear her. He set down his tablet on the work bench before sitting in front of Ashley on the other side of her desk, giving her his undivided attention.
“No, I didn’t,” he started. Ashley’s head dropped slightly in response and she hadn’t even realised that she had been hopeful that Tony could tell her something about them. “But I’ve heard they were good people. Rhodey worked with your father years ago on a military case. Next time he stops by, I’m sure he’d love to fill you in on any details he can.” Tony paused for a moment, picking up one of the watches scattered on Ashley’s desk. The pair had been working on making a whole bunch of them so they could start collecting data on EMMA’s performance from the Avengers. The one he held in his hands was made up of a vibranium strap coated in a black plastic casing with a red hourglass detailing along the strap. The screen was black with a red LED display. This would soon be Natasha’s watch.
“I knew your Grandmother though.” Ashley lifted her head at these words, focusing her attention on Tony once more. “She was one of the strongest women I’ve ever known. I used to be scared of her when I was about three, mostly because she was my dad’s colleague. My opinion of her changed one day when she stood up to him for me. I fell over and scraped my knees.” Tony had a far-away expression on his face as he remembered the moment fondly. “My dad told me off when I started crying and Peggy told him off and helped me clean up the grazes.”
“She sounds like a nice woman,” Ashley commented.
“Peggy Carter wouldn’t let anyone tell her what she could and couldn’t do. Once she put her mind to something, that was it and no-one else stood a chance. That’s probably why Steve loved her so much. If things had been different, Captain America could have been your Grandfather.”
Ashley stared at Tony with a wide-eyed expression. “Really? That’s… so weird to think about.” Tony simply grinned in response as he set Natasha’s watch back down beside a blue and red watch with a silver star in the middle of the band – Steve’s watch.
That afternoon, Ashley and Tony completed another three watches for Bucky, Sam and Peter. Bucky's was black and silver and was the simplest looking of the lot, except for a tiny white wolf icon that had been engraved on the strap. Sam's watch was silver with a red falcon printed on the strap, and Peter's watch had a white spider web pattern over the red and blue casing. Peter's watch had definitely been a challenge for the pair, but they were very happy with the end result. The watches had then been securely locked away in Ashley's desk before Peter had showed up later that afternoon to work on the new prosthetics project with the pair.
***
Wednesday morning brought a renewed feeling of anxiety when Ashley woke up. It had been a rough night for her after some particularly horrible nightmares involving two faceless figures who had been murdered horribly, and a cameo from the man on the rooftop that got away. When Ashley woke up that morning, she was accompanied by both Tony and Pepper laying either side of her in bed. She tried to remember what had happened after her nightmares, but at no point could she remember the pair coming in her room.
Apparently, Pepper and Tony had both woken up to the sounds of Ashley’s screaming. But what was new was that she was crying out for her mother and father. Tony had put two and two together and guessed that her nightmares were how Ashley likely perceived the death of her parents to be her fault. He couldn’t blame her because he would probably do the same in her situation. Tony was also very good at carrying guilt for events that were out of his control.
Pepper cooked breakfast for the three of them that morning, but most of it went untouched. Both she and Tony had tried to coax Ashley into eating, but she had refused after her second bite, stating that she felt sick. Even threatening her with a trip to Dr Cho didn’t sway her. Pepper and Tony barely ate anything after that themselves and simply put the plates to one side and made themselves comfortable on the sofa, ready for Nick Fury’s arrival. Ashley was in her room getting dressed while Pepper and Tony discussed the previous night.
“I can’t help the feeling that this is a bad idea. What if Fury says something that could upset her?” Pepper asked, biting her lip nervously. Her azure eyes were fixed on the corridor that led to the bedrooms.
Tony knew the meaning behind Pepper’s question. What if Ashley’s parents were killed because they were trying to get to her? “I don’t think that’s the case… It wouldn’t make sense – not with what we know so far.”
“And what do we know, Tony?”
“We know Ashley’s abilities didn’t start to manifest until she was twelve. We know that Daniel and Lily Carter were responsible for taking down Karito’s operation in the nineties. It’s likely their deaths were a pay back of sorts. Supposedly, the pair were retired for about three years by this point from SHIELD, but Karito located them and killed them. Why did they wait so long?” Tony hadn’t even realised he had the SHIELD files loaded up on his tablet in front of him until Pepper cleared her throat. Something about the timeline just didn’t add up. It seemed there was a lot of missing paperwork surrounding Karito, and Daniel and Lily Carter – stuff that Nick Fury wanted buried and that didn’t sit right in Tony’s stomach.
He quickly cleared the files off the screen when Ashley reappeared. She had her own tablet in hand, which looked to be open on the familiar lines of EMMA’s code. Tony beckoned Ashley over to sit beside him and help her go through the latest update she was making. In the new prototypes, Tony had helped her build in sensors to take various readings, so Ashley was trying to program the sensors to record body temperatures and set up protocols for actions to take at certain points. However, this was quite difficult knowing that people’s body temperatures tended to run all at slightly different levels. In particular it was hard accumulating the designs for the super soldiers and enhanced individuals of their group. Peter, Steve and Bucky all ran a couple of degrees higher than everyone else, which may result in an alert for a fever in the likes of Ashley, who ran about a degree lower than the average.
“The key is measuring the average for each person and setting the protocols based on average. I feel though that recipients of the watches may need to undergo a full physical in order to correctly collect and program data into the watches. That will help EMMA with a base for measuring the average.” Tony explained to her. Pepper watched the pair of them work together with a fond smile on her face. She idly scrolled through her work emails – mostly more planning for the expo next month and the events team asking for extra budget towards the staff Christmas party.
Barely half an hour later, there was a ding as the elevator opened revealing a stoic Happy escorting a rather sombre looking Nick Fury. Or was that his ‘happy to see me face’? Tony asked himself. Tony stood up and moved towards the elevator, nodding as Fury stopped in front of him.
“Stark,” Fury greeted. His voice didn’t have quite the usual amount of snark, so Tony assumed his mood was leaning towards the side of sombre.
“Fury,” Tony greeted in an equally dull tone.
Pepper stood up rolling her eyes, while Ashley watched the scene unfold from her spot on the sofa. She had tucked her legs up underneath her and was surveying Fury with a wary expression. She had heard a lot about Nick Fury not just from Tony and the Avengers, but also from Matt, and hardly any of it was good. Some of the Avengers described him as scary, whilst Matt seemed to think he had something to gain from ‘collecting’ the Avengers.
“Nick, it’s good to see you,” Pepper spoke. Her eyes were steely as she stepped up beside Tony – the only give away of her uneasiness towards their guest. “Would you like something to drink?”
Fury shook his head. “No, I don’t want to impose.” His eyes moved from Tony and Pepper, seeking out Ashley, eyebrows lifting in surprise when he looked at her. He pointed in her direction, corners of his mouth turning up in a slight smile. “Ashley, right? You look so much like your mother.” He took a seat on one of the sofas, leaving a good amount of distance between himself and the obviously scared teen in front of him. He reached into his leather jacket, pulling out a manila folder, which he slid across the glass coffee table towards Ashley.
Ashley hesitated before she gingerly picked up the file. Inside were a collection of documents emblazoned with the SHIELD logo, but in front of that were a collection of photos of two people – a woman with silver-blonde hair and a man with dark hair that was almost black. As Ashley looked at the woman's face, she instantly knew this was her mother. It was like looking into a fun-house mirror that was predicting her future. Both she and the woman in the photograph had emerald eyes; soft, rounded noses; and full, pink lips. Her skin looked as pale as Ashley's, while the man's was a darker, almost tanned shade. It was clear looking at the photos that these were her parents. These were Daniel and Lily Carter. Ashley gently ran her fingers over the photos as Nick Fury continued to speak. “They were two of the best people I ever knew and certainly two of my best agents. I blame myself for what happened.” Ashley lifted her gaze to look at him then, eyes glassy with tears that were already threatening to spill. “Officially, they were retired because they wanted to concentrate on being parents, but I called them in on a case which they had some history with.”
“Karito?” Ashley asked, without thinking. Tony sighed deeply as he sat down beside her. In all fairness though, Fury didn’t exactly look surprised by this admission.
“Yes, I heard you'd come across them. I also know that private SHIELD files have somehow ended up in the hands of your lawyer friends...” Ashley's eyes widened dramatically while Fury simply shot a glare in Tony's direction, knowing full well he was the one responsible. “When they resurfaced after your parents drove them out of the country, I called them both immediately. The case had become very personal when Karito had made several attempts on your mother's life. They agreed to help, and the mission had seemed to go well. It was kept off the records and it seemed your parents could go back to their retirement. They were actually on their way to meet Daniel's mother who had flown in when they had been attacked.”
“Why were they after my mother?” Ashley asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Fury sighed and fixed Ashley with a hard stare. “Your powers are very impressive, Miss Carter. But you're not the first person I’ve known who can do the things you can.” Fury gave her a minute for the words to sink in. He leaned forward and pulled another photo out of the folder that had been hidden between the pages of reports. The photo showed Lily Carter standing in the middle of what looked like an abandoned warehouse, her feet hovering a few inches off the floor as a pair of large grey wings stretched out behind her. Ashley’s gaze drifted to the woman's eyes where the usually jade pupils were glowing a fierce violet.
“She's... like me?”
“Lily was an incredible woman in more ways than one. To this day I still don’t know where her powers came from. She didn’t come to work for me by normal methods.” Fury pulled out a report from the back of the folder and pushed it into Ashley's hands. The report was dated December nineteen ninety-five. As Ashley skimmed over, Fury summarised the events of Daniel Carter's first major mission. “We received intelligence about a group of terrorists who were kidnapping and experimenting on enhanced individuals. Enhanced people were just starting to come out of the woodwork at this point and this was the first mention of mutants and the like recorded. I assigned Agents Carter and Coulson to investigate. Inside an abandoned power station in North Dakota, they found a woman with wings being held captive by a group of Japanese terrorists calling themselves Karito. The agents freed the woman but were quickly cornered by her captors. Carter and Coulson probably wouldn’t have made it out without her.”
“So, that was her? My mother?”
“Yes. There was no record of her anywhere. She didn’t have a name or anything. As she was enhanced, I wanted to keep an eye on her, so I gave her a job. Assigned her to partner one of my most promising agents. Barely a year later he proposed to her. And the rest is history... or so they say.”
Ashley was speechless as she took in the information from the stoic director. Her tears were flowing freely by now as she looked through the photos that Fury had brought with him. Her mother was ‘enhanced’ like her and had been rescued from the very same people that were now trying to get their hands on her. And now, Ashley finally had faces she could put to the obscure figures in her dreams.
She hadn’t even noticed when Fury had left, promising to drop off more of the Carter's possessions if he found any. Instead, she had completely blanked out any further conversation in favour of staring at the photographs of her parents. She only lifted her attention from them when Pepper came to sit beside her and put an arm around her. Ashley leaned into the touch, bringing a hand up to wipe the tears off her face with the cuff of her hoodie sleeve. “Sorry,” she mumbled, although she wasn’t quite sure why she felt the need to apologise. But the feeling of guilt swelled nonetheless when she thought about her parents around Tony and Pepper.
Her birth parents had never once been a topic that was brought up with the Sampsons. Ashley thinks that was mostly because she was too scared that it might bring out a negative reaction from her guardians. She couldn’t even bring herself to use the word parents to refer to them anymore, especially considering that Tony and Pepper had done far more for her in the last few weeks than they ever had.
“There's nothing for you to apologise for,” Pepper commented as she pulled Ashley to lean into her further. “That was a lot of information. I can't imagine how you must be feeling right now...” Pepper's voice trailed off and Ashley realised that it was an invitation for her to tell Pepper how she was feeling.
“I don't really know how I feel,” she admitted.
“That's okay,” Pepper reassured her. “But both me and Tony are here for you if you want to talk about it... To talk about them.”