Chapter 23
The week leading up to Christmas was a very busy one in Avengers’ Tower. Ashley had spent all of her afternoons in Tony’s lab, finishing and perfecting the latest line of watches to gift to her new family at Christmas. Most of the time, she had the lab to herself, so she was able to crack on at a good pace, but there were a couple of afternoons where Peter had unexpectedly turned up, and one of those times he was in his Spider-suit. Ashley had screamed when Peter had crawled in from the ceiling and dropped down in front of her, taking her by surprise. She had hurried to clear the watch she was working on away – it was a purple and green one for Bruce – before scolding him for creeping up on her.
“I’m sorry,” Peter had apologised after taking the mask off his face. Ashley still struggled to get her head around the idea that it was Peter inside the suit. Sweet, innocent, bumbling Peter. Actually, maybe it wasn’t that hard to imagine - Spider-man wasn't particularly well known for his finesse. “Do you want to work on Bucky’s arm?” Peter had asked, and so the pair of them had spent a couple of afternoons that week going over the designs for a new vibranium prosthetic arm for Bucky Barnes.
Tony had been busy actually doing some work for his company, which Pepper had begrudgingly dragged him into. For the most part, Pepper preferred to keep Tony as far away from her work as possible, but she had to admit when she was in over her head. She also had to admit that it would be good if the man behind Stark Industries helped her decide on the final shortlist of projects to be displayed at the upcoming expo.
Four days before Christmas, Ashley had asked Tony and Pepper if she could leave the tower to visit her friends. Pepper had been fine with the idea provided she wear her watch at all times, and she took her phone with her with the promise to update her with her location regularly. Tony hadn’t been so keen to let her go anywhere without an escort. At first he had tried to argue that he, Nat or Wanda had to go with her. Ashley wasn’t so keen on the first two options, but she didn’t mind if Wanda went with her. She understood completely why Tony was behaving like this, but it didn't stop the building frustration at feeling cooped up all the time. So in the end, Tony, Pepper and Ashley agreed that yes, she could leave the tower, but Wanda was going with her and she had to wear her watch and take her phone with her, and still update Pepper and Tony with her location regularly.
Around mid-morning, Wanda and Ashley had both shrugged on boots and warm jackets and left the tower. The pair grabbed the subway and made their way to Queens, where Peter was having a ‘Christmas party’ of sorts at his place. Aunt May had probably baked cookies (which were very hit or miss when it came to how edible they were) and MJ and Ned were bringing board games and Lego. Ashley knew she couldn’t turn up empty handed, so she brought a Christmas cake she has baked the evening before – with Sam’s supervision in the kitchen, not that it was needed.
Sure enough, when they arrived at the small flat in Queens, they were greeted by May opening the door with one hand and supporting a tray of freshly burned cookies in the other. She grinned sheepishly at the pair and advised that she was probably better off putting the batch straight in the bin. Once her hands were free, she embraced Ashley in a hug, commenting that it had been ages since the older woman had seen her. Wanda had then introduced herself and had been surprised when May had given her a hug as well. Ashley could tell the older girl was embarrassed when her ears flushed a deep red.
The six of them spent the afternoon sat on the carpet, after Peter had pushed all the furniture against the walls to create a big open space in the kitchen. After a rather fierce game of Monopoly, which MJ enjoyed regardless of her comments about it being a ‘microcosm for everything that is wrong with capitalist America’, Ashley and Wanda had left them to go to their next destination, wishing MJ, Ned and May a happy Christmas. As Peter would be coming to the tower on Christmas Eve, he only got a ‘see you later’.
Wanda and Ashley grabbed the subway again, with Ashley firing off a message to the group chat to let everyone know where they were. Their new destination was Hell’s Kitchen and they got off around the corner from the office of Nelson & Murdock: Attorneys at Law. Inside, Matt, Foggy and Karen were clearing up for the day. They had just seen off their last client and were completing their paperwork and finishing off their planning for a court case after the New Year.
There was a handful of cheap decorations hanging in the office. Lengths of gold and red tinsel had been draped over all the desks and shelves and cardboard Christmas trees (which Ashley had a suspicion Karen had handmade during lulls between clients) were suspended from the ceiling. There was a small Christmas tree stashed in the corner of the room, modestly decorated with glittering baubles. Karen had even strung up some fairy lights around the office ceiling, which Matt had expertly dodged when he stepped out of his office. Foggy on the other hand, did not and walked straight into them, nearly taking his eye out with one of the pointy bulbs. Ashley and Wanda both tried to stifle their giggles at the sight of him cursing out the decorations.
Karen had rushed to embrace Ashley in a tight hug as soon as she had stepped inside the office, with Foggy following close behind. Matt had been hesitant, loitering in the doorway to his office to get a read on the situation. Ashley had texted Karen to let her know she would be stopping by the office with Wanda, but still hadn’t actually spoken to Matt. That was mostly because she didn’t really want to talk to him for the first time in a fortnight by text. She also wasn’t really sure what she was going to say to him. A part of her reasoned she should apologise but what for she wasn’t sure of. For ignoring him? Definitely. For overreacting? Possibly. For being angry at him? No – she was completely justified in that.
So once the hugs were over with Karen and Foggy, she walked up to Matt and wrapped her arms around his waist. It was clear to Matt that he hadn’t been expecting that when she had walked over to him. His posture was tense - bracing himself ready for a punch, a slap or a kick – not a hug. It took a minute for him to relax and bring his arms around the teen to reciprocate the action.
“I’m sorry, Matty.” Ashley figured she didn’t need to elaborate on why she was sorry, and she was right. Matt just echoed the sentiment, not elaborating as well, but Ashley knew he meant it and she determined that Matt knew the same regarding her. Their hug was long, much longer than the brief embraces she had shared with Foggy and Karen. It held all the unspoken words and promises – Promises from Ashley not to ignore him how she had and promises from Matt to trust her and to never lie to her again.
The five of them left the office soon after that, heading towards a local Chinese restaurant – The Royal Dragon, where they had a table waiting for them. They ordered a large array of dishes to share out between them, with Matt making a grumbled comment about wishing Danny Rand were there to help them order. It was a place Matt had frequented with the other Defenders and Danny had a knack for ordering items that weren’t even on the menu. Ashley couldn’t help but notice the slightly terrified looks on the faces of the staff in Matt’s direction as they sat down. When she asked him about it, he had simply responded with:
“I accidentally helped smash this place up once with Danny, Jess and Luke. Danny has repaid our debt in full. Three or four times over, but I guess they still get scared when we come in.”
Ashley enjoyed hearing Matt’s stories of working with the other Defenders of New York. They almost always ended in chaos. It usually started with Danny’s naivety, Jessica’s lack of tolerance for said naivety, and ended with Matt throwing punches and kicks at undead ninjas.
The five of them sat round the table with a large feast in front of them. They spent the next hour eating, chatting and sharing jokes. Foggy told the story of how he could have become a deli owner, procuring specialty meats and cheeses. Origin stories were shared amongst them, with Matt and Foggy telling the story of a drunken night at Columbia and the birth of Nelson & Murdock: Avocados at Law. Karen followed up with the tale of how she came to be an employee at the firm, after Foggy and Matt had rescued her from the hands of corrupt police officers and then the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen had saved her life later that night.
Ashley then retold the story of the night she had met Matt. It was a warm night, so Ashley had ditched the hoodie, leaving her in just a black tank and jeans as she circled high above the city. She had headed down to Hell’s Kitchen that day after a particularly rough day at school, which had been followed up by her parents’ usual antics, and as a result Ashley had been itching for a fight. What better place to find one than the crime centre of Manhattan?
She had landed on a container at the docks and had begun hopping across them when she heard muffled screams and shouts. Towards the North of the docks, a gang seemed to be rounding on one of their members. She caught the tail-end of the conversation, which was suggesting that he had been an informant to the police and the gang had found out about it. Without much thought, Ashley had jumped in, testing out her new powers. She didn’t really know how to fight that well, but she could throw a punch if needed. Instead, she let her powers and instincts do all the work, snatching up chunks of metal and launching them in the direction of the thugs.
When it became apparent that this small girl was kicking the butts of around fifteen burly men, a handful of them decided to flee. They managed to get a fair distance before she chased after them, scaling the fire escape of a nearby block of flats. It was a good three or four stories high, but Ashley had an advantage and used her wings to launch onto the roof just as the five remaining thugs had reached the top. Her powers struggled to find objects she could work with to batter the gang members, so she threw fists and kicks at them instead. Her wings helped her evade some of the oncoming attacks, but she still caught a few hits herself.
There was a cry of frustration from one of her assailants when a vigilante dressed in red, wearing a mask with horns entered the fray. He started throwing punches and kicks that were more erratic and forceful than Ashley’s. Between hits, he seethed in her direction “go home kid,” but she ignored him and continued fighting. Even with the Devil’s help, they were outnumbered, and the thugs managed to gain the upper-hand by directing them towards the roof ledge. When a particularly strong kick of Ashley’s went awry, she found herself falling over the side of the ledge and she was accidentally dragging Daredevil with her.
The pair landed in a dumpster below with an audible thump. Ashley tried to move from underneath the Devil, but he held her still. He would later tell her he was waiting for the last of the gang members to clear the area, as they had assumed the fall had either killed or seriously injured the pair. After that encounter, an argument had ensued between the two, with Matt telling her to go home and forget about whatever superhero fantasy she had dreamed up, while Ashley was adamant that she would continue trying to help out the people of New York with her gifts. The argument had lasted a couple of weeks before Matt had conceded and allowed her to train with him.
Karen and Foggy laughed as they recalled the frustrated grumblings of Matt from six months ago. “This kid is infuriating!” and “She doesn’t even know how to fight…” Foggy had even let slip that Matt’s encounter with Ashley had spurred him to accept Tony Stark’s request for assistance with rewriting the Sokovia Accords. The five of them continued to laugh and make jokes for several hours. Night had already fallen when Ashley had received a text from Tony:
Iron Dad: It’s getting pretty late. Want me to pick you and Wanda up? 19:53pm
Iron Dad: Peter has changed my contact name again. I’m going to kill him. 19:54pm
Ashley sniggered at the last message and fired back the address of the restaurant so that Tony could pick them up. He arrived around fifteen minutes later in one of the more inconspicuous Audis. Wanda had jumped into the back seat after bidding quick goodbyes to the trio of law partners. Ashley on the other hand needed a few more minutes. She pulled out two small jewellery boxes from her backpack – one a deep navy colour and the other a dark maroon. She handed the navy box to Foggy and the maroon one to Karen before reaching back into her backpack and retrieving another jewellery box – this time a black one – and a large package wrapped in glittering Christmas paper, which she placed in Matt’s hands.
“Happy Christmas guys!” Ashley grinned shyly as she watched the three of them open the jewellery boxes. Inside each one, were the more recent prototypes of the EMMA watch. Foggy was first to open his, holding up the blue band that was decorated with avocados. He broke out in a wide grin as he secured the watch around his wrist. Karen was second to open her present, pulling out a red band that had been decorated with a small white skull. Her eyes widened as she fixed on Ashley, a dark blush rising in her cheeks. Matt was last to open his, holding the black band lightly as he ran his fingers over the strap and the LED display.
“It’s black and it has a little red drawing of your mask with the horns on the band. I’ve coded EMMA to respond to you verbally rather than relying on the watch face.” Ashley explained. There was a fond smile on Matt’s face as he secured the watch around his wrist and opened the other gift. Inside the paper was a stack of books. The pages were thicker than normal books and the front covers were covered in raised bumps, signalling the titles of several philosophy books. Matt passed the books to Foggy so he could drag Ashley in for a hug.
“Thank you so much. It really means a lot.” Matt had a nervous smile on his face, eyes obscured by his red-tinted glasses, but Ashley could tell there was a crinkle in them. “We got you some gifts – they’ll be waiting for you at the tower.”
***
Ashley was eager to get up on Christmas Eve. At eight o'clock she joined Pepper and Tony for breakfast, still clad in her Iron Man pyjamas. Tony and Pepper were dressed in a similar fashion, with Pepper wearing a tank top and a pair of cotton shorts with her silk dressing gown draped over the top, and Tony in an old Guns ‘N Roses tee and a pair of flannel bottoms. Tony was nursing a large cup of coffee at the kitchen island while Pepper dished up breakfast for the three of them. They had a long day ahead, so Pepper cooked a large pile of pancakes for them to tuck into.
That morning, the three of them finished wrapping up any remaining presents for the Avengers before they would join them for dinner and movies. After a quick lunch, the Avengers started making their way up to the penthouse, firstly Wanda and Vision, then Clint and Nat. Around four o'clock, loud, raucous laughter signalled the arrival of Bucky, Sam and Steve. Last to arrive were Bruce, Rhodey and Peter, who all arrived within ten minutes of each other.
The first activity that afternoon was setting up and decorating the Christmas Tree. Steve, Bucky and Vision were in charge of putting up the tree. It was a large tree, the top of the tree only an inch from the tall penthouse ceiling, which left just enough room to put a decoration on the top. Ashley, Wanda and Peter were in the air to place baubles, tinsel and lights on the top half of the tree. Ashley had her wings out, which flapped lazily as she hovered above the others. Wanda’s hands and eyes were glowing red as she held herself in mid-air and Peter was crawling across the ceiling, hanging upside down on a silk line every so often to hang a decoration. Once the tree was complete, Pepper handed Ashley an ornamental fairy to hang on the top of the tree as the final touch.
Later that evening, a large pile of presents were then placed under the tree and the Avengers, Pepper and Ashley gathered around the large screen to watch Christmas movies and tuck into some Chinese take-away that Tony had ordered. Ashley was sat between Pepper and Tony, a full plate of food on her lap as they watched Love Actually on the big screen. As the film went on, Ashley found herself leaning more and more into Tony’s side, to which the Avenger didn’t mind as he brought his arm up around her. Pepper smiled at the sight as she draped a blanket over hers and Ashley’s legs.
At the end of the movie, Steve, Bucky and Sam brought over all the presents from underneath the tree. It took a few trips, especially as there were lots of little presents (which Ashley had gifted to each of the Avengers). Tony instructed FRIDAY to play Christmas songs over the speakers as they began opening presents. The first present Ashley opened was from Clint. It was a selection of young adult novels, presented in an ornate box. She thanked him for the gift and moved on to open the rest, thanking each Avenger after opening them. She received a large gift box of sweets from Rhodey, make-up from Natasha, books on computer programming and biology from Bruce, and a collection of video games from Steve, Sam and Bucky. Wanda and Vision presented her with a charm bracelet, that had been decorated with various charms to signify the Avengers: a mini Iron Man mask for Tony, a mini shield for Steve, a red gemstone for Wanda, a yellow gemstone for Vision, a spider-web for Peter, a bow and arrow for Clint, a black widow for Natasha, a white wolf for Bucky, a falcon for Sam, a green fist for Bruce, a mini War Machine mask for Rhodey, and even a tiny hammer for Thor, even though she hadn’t met him yet. Her last present to open on Christmas Eve was from Peter and it was a small box presented in the paws of a teddy bear dressed as Spider-Man. Inside the box, sitting on a surface of plum velvet was what looked like a small earphone, that would sit almost invisible in one’s ear. As she picked it up to examine it, Peter explained what it was.
“It’s a special comms unit I designed. So that we can communicate on patrols. It’s also synced up to my AI Karen, who I connected to police radio, so you can use it to talk to her as well.”
Ashley carefully placed the device back inside the box and launched herself into Peter’s arms, squeezing him in a tight hug. “Thank you, Peter.”
Once all the other presents had been opened, Ashley picked up her gift boxes and handed them out to the Avengers team and Tony and Pepper as well. As they started to open the boxes, there were gasps from the team. Peter was first to jump at Ashley, almost knocking her over as he hugged her tightly. His new watch stood proudly on his wrist, the blue and red colours standing boldly under the white spider-web design. Once Peter had put her down, quite literally, the other Avengers started moving in for their hugs. Clint stood off to the side with Natasha and Sam, admiring the small details on their watches – for Clint it was a small purple bow and arrow on a black background; Natasha’s had a red hourglass, mimicking a black widow’s markings and Sam’s was a red falcon. Steve helped Bucky secure his new shiny black and silver watch around his wrist, the screen lighting up with a calming purple LED once it was secured.
Wanda and Vision had matching watches, with the bands decorated in red and pink stripes with a thin gold outline. Ashley had explained to Vision that his watch had been specially adapted so that it could detect bugs in his code. Across from them, Rhodey was grinning widely as he looked at the blue watch he had been gifted that had been printed with a small War Machine head, while Bruce sat next to him admiring his purple and green band. (Apparently, it was his absolute favourite shade of purple.) Bruce’s smile grew even bigger when Ashley showed him that his watch could stretch to accommodate the ‘other guy’ when needed.
Lastly was Tony and Pepper. Tony held up a red and gold band. The face of the watch was a light blue LED that shone brightly, almost exactly like the arc reactor. As he put it on and pulled Ashley in for a hug, he noticed Pepper’s watch also had the same blue display, but the strap was a bright, fiery orange, matching her hair. Pepper joined Tony and Ashley in their embrace while Tony whispered softly: “You did good, kid.” He wore a proud smile on his face.
***
Christmas day was a much quieter affair, which Ashley spent with Tony and Pepper. Tony and Pepper had spoiled Ashley with gifts, which they sat and opened that morning in their pyjamas. The pile of gifts under the Christmas Tree was almost entirely all for her, and there were probably more gifts there than she had ever received in her short lifetime. The gifts were made up of clothes, shoes, jewellery, trinkets to decorate her room, books and films. She turned to the remaining five presents that had been placed under the tree. Two of them had the same delicate scrawl on the labels, which Ashley recognised as Karen's handwriting. Sure enough the gifts were signed from Matt and from Karen and Frank, which Ashley found odd as she had never met the Punisher. She put those gifts to the side for a second, lifting up a smaller package that was addressed quite simply: To Ashley, from Happy.
Underneath the plain brown wrapping paper was a portable CD player with copies of the CDs that Happy would listen to whenever he was driving Ashley to and from the tower. Tony rolled his eyes at the gift and muttered under his breath: “I told him to get an MP3 player... not something from the stone age. Do people even buy CDs anymore?” Pepper scolded him lightly from her seat next to him. Her feet were curled up in his lap while she stroked her fingers gently through Ashley's hair, watching her open her presents.
“I love it,” Ashley murmured softly as she placed it down with the presents from Tony and Pepper.
“Of course you do.” Tony rolled his eyes good-naturedly, resulting in an elbow to the stomach from Pepper.
Ashley reached for another small, plainly wrapped present. It was signed ‘Fury’ with nothing else on the gift tag. She gingerly tore back the paper revealing a silver photo frame. The frame was simple and elegant and housed a photograph inside. The photo had been taken of Daniel and Lily Carter on their wedding day. There was no note or message with the gift, as was Fury's style. As Ashley traced the edges of the frame, a few stray tears fell from her cheeks onto the glass. Lily Carter looked beautiful in a plain, pure white, floor length dress. In her hands, she clutched a small bouquet of pink and white roses. Beside her stood Daniel Carter, dressed in a smart three-piece suit with a gold waistcoat. They were both smiling widely as they gazed at each other, with clearly adoring gazes.
Pepper gently wrapped her arms around Ashley to offer her some comfort. “They look beautiful,” she commented as she wiped away Ashley's tears. Ashley thrust herself into Pepper’s embrace, her head coming to rest comfortably against Pepper’s small shoulder and allowed herself to cry openly for the first time in months. Ugly sobs tore from her throat as her breath caught with each intake of air. As Pepper held tightly onto the small girl, Tony moved around to her other side and rubbed a calloused hand across her back. It took a while for her to calm down, but Tony and Pepper were nothing but patient with her. They didn’t push her to talk, instead giving her as much time as she needed to get all the tears up. They had clearly been building for a long time, but it seemed as though Ashley finally felt comfortable enough to share them with her new, adoptive parents.
Once she had calmed down, she turned to her last three presents. The first one was wrapped in a shiny blue paper, with a gift tag that read ‘Love Foggy x’. It was a bulky present and the object or objects inside were clearly soft as the paper would shift underneath her fingers. She carefully tore back the paper, revealing a pair of teddy bears. Ashley couldn’t hold back her snort of laughter when she took in the customised outfits that were decorating the bears. The first bear had a small tuft of chestnut fur peeking out from the head-to-toe red and black Daredevil suit it was wearing. It even had a pair of miniature billy clubs clutched in its red, faux leather-clad paws.
The second bear had pale blonde fur and was decorated head to toe in a similar suit to the mock Daredevil outfit, except the red parts had been switched out for a dark purple. The suit had a hood, which was pulled up over the bear’s head and the bottom half of it’s face was covered up by a piece of purple cloth that was extended from the main body of the suit. If it weren’t for the pair of great black wings that had been sown to the bear’s back – that were almost bigger than the bear itself – she probably wouldn’t have known who the bear was supposed to represent. She took a photograph of the two bears, which she pinged to the Avengers group chat, to Ned and MJ, and to the Avocados at Law group chat – adding a quick thank you note in the last one.
She then took out the next gift, which was delicately wrapped in glittering Christmas paper. Ashley had no qualms that Karen had deliberately wrapped these in the office, making sure the glitter spread to every surface just to annoy Matt. In neat hand writing, Karen had written ‘Happy Christmas Ashley! From Karen & Frank’. Underneath the paper, was a soft, thick, tartan blanket. Ashley slowly unwrapped the blanket, revealing a pair of Mulan-themed pyjamas with pictures of Mushu the dragon all over them. Nestled in the pyjamas was another item, which Ashley was sure had been Frank’s idea – a set of lock picks, wrapped in a leather case.
“What the hell…” Tony muttered under his breath as Ashley set the gifts aside to open her last present. She picked up the rather bulky package, which was also wrapped in the same glittery paper, with a gift tag that read ‘Happy Christmas. From Matt.’ She gently ripped back the wrapping paper, revealing a mass of black and purple leather underneath. Ashley stood up to reveal the full length of the armoured suit, which had a long piece of violet cloth at the neck line, that Ashley imagined would probably cover her face, just like on the teddy bear from Foggy. Just like the bear, the suit was full length and would cover her whole body. It had a black hood and there was a large section cut from the back, which looked like just the perfect amount to expose her wings.
“It’s perfect... How did Matt get this?” Ashley thought to herself out loud. She didn’t expect a response – Tony and Pepper were happy to let her have a moment as she admired the suit, turning it over several times in her hands.
Once Ashley had gotten over the shock and awe of her presents, it was time for her to give out the last of her gifts. She handed Pepper a small jewellery box and gave Tony a much bulkier gift. Pepper went first, lifting the lid on the box to reveal the fire-toned bracelet inside. She immediately pulled the bracelet out of the velvet box and fastened it around her wrist. The red and orange beads stood out brightly against her pale skin. “It’s beautiful Ashley, thank you.”
Tony then opened his gift, tearing through the wrapping paper very much like a young child would. A strangled sound escaped Tony’s throat as he held up the Iron Man Christmas jumper. He stood up, holding it flush against his chest. “It’s hideous... I love it!” He yelled before throwing it over his head.
The jumper certainly made for some interesting photos that year.