The Call to Assemble
Notes: Evelyn looks like Holland Roden with red hair and green eyes.
Chapter 1: The Call to Assemble
New York, Earth
May 2nd, 2012
Dr. Evelyn Stark sat on the sofa in the penthouse floor of Stark Tower with her older brother Tony’s girlfriend, Pepper Potts. Both women were communicating with Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man, who was underwater, replacing an energy conductor line with a portable arc reactor. It would allow Stark Tower to run off of self-sustaining clean energy.
Evelyn had her feet propped up beside her, looking at the data-pad. She was barefoot, dressed in a pair of jeans and one of her brother’s button-down shirts, her long hair tied in thick braid thrown over her shoulder. The shirt was stretched around her 6-month pregnant belly, the baby inside kicking away happily and entirely unconcerned with causing the woman any discomfort.
“Good to go on this end.” Tony’s voice came over the communication system. “The rest is up to you ladies.”
“Did you disconnect the transmission lines?” Evelyn asked in a soft yet cultured British accent, gained from what the public assumed was having spent most of her life hidden away in a private boarding school in England. “You’re certain we’re off the grid?”
The younger Stark heiress had dark ruby red hair that reached her hips, flawless porcelain skin, and emerald green eyes. A striking beauty with an ever present, gentle smile on her pouty, plump lips and kind eyes, she stood at 4’10 and, at least before she became pregnant, had an hourglass figure. Despite her belly growing to accommodate her child, she still walked with an effortless grace that could rival a jungle cat and was as lethal as ever. There were many, particularly the SHIELD agents that she was acquainted with, who believed that she was more of a force to be reckoned with since she became pregnant, her desire to protect her child from harm making her absolutely lethal.
“Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy.” Tony replied, a smile in his voice.
“Well, assuming the arc reactor takes over and actually works.” Pepper sassed, standing at the work table and grinning across the room at Evelyn.
Like Evelyn, Pepper was barefoot and dressed casually in a pair of denim booty shorts and a white button-down shirt. Her short ginger hair was open, tucked behind her ears while her bangs teased her forehead playfully. The CEO of Stark Industries, she and Evelyn were best friends despite her initial misgivings that the company should have been given to the younger Stark heiress instead of her. It was only after being clued in to a Stark family secret regarding Evelyn that was closely guarded to the point that only the Stark family, their previous butler, Edwin Jarvis whom JARVIS had been partially named after, James Rhodes, Happy Hogan, Nick Fury and Phil Coulson had known that she accepted her new role with the company.
The secret was that she wasn’t Tony’s sister, rather she was his aunt, his father’s fraternal twin sister who, according to public record, had died in 1991 with Howard and Maria Stark. Estelle, or Evelyn as she was now known as, was gifted with powerful elemental abilities which, combined with Dr. Erskine’s Super Soldier formula, made her long-lived to the point of immortality. It was this immortality that kept her from aging like an ordinary human, not appearing to have aged at all in the time between 1943 and 2012, still looking 26 like she had during World War II.
Born only a few minutes after Howard on August 15, 1917, she was named Estelle ‘Stella’ Stark and grew up to become a leading scientist in the field of Biochemical Engineering and as a result, was drafted to the Super Soldier Program. Having fought alongside Captain America and the Howling Commandos, she all but disappeared from the public eye when she learned that SHIELD and several agencies were trying to recreate the Super Soldier formula, eventually making it look like she had died with her brother and sister-in-law in a car accident in 1991 – when in fact, at the time, she had been at home with Jarvis and a then 21 year old Tony.
“I assume.” Tony said, his mock-offended tone making the two redheads giggle. They became serious as he ordered, “Light her up.”
Evelyn entered the sequence into her data-pad and lit up the Tower, the STARK name on the side flickering on in a brilliant and fluorescent white light.
“How does it look?” Pepper asked, breathless with anticipation.
“Like Christmas.” Tony replied. “But with more me.”
“We have to go wider on the public awareness campaign.” Evelyn said, focusing on her data-pad and expertly tuning out her brother and her best friend making sultry eyes at each other over the video communicators. “You need to do some press. And I mean you, Tony, not Pepper or I.”
“And remember, I’m going to be in DC tomorrow.” Pepper added. “I’m working on the zoning for the next three buildings.”
“Pepper, Eves, you two are killing me.” Tony groaned. “The moment, remember? Enjoy the moment.”
“Get in here and I will.” Pepper said in a sultry voice.
There was a light banging sound on the landing pad, signaling Tony’s landing as the automated system began removing pieces of his armor while he walked towards the penthouse.
“Keep it PG, you two.” Evelyn said, laughing lightly. “At least while I’m around. The last thing I want to witness is the two of you ‘enjoying the moment’. Again.”
Pepper blushed, remembering the latest incident Evelyn was referring to. Several weeks earlier, the heiress had accidentally walked in on the couple while they were in the midst of an impromptu romp in the lab.
“Yeah, sorry about that.” Pepper said sheepishly, making a valiant effort to get rid of the furious blush staining her cheeks.
“Don’t worry about it.” Evelyn said, her laughter slowing to giggles. “It wouldn’t be the first time I had walked in on you two and if he’s anything like Howard was, it certainly won’t be the last.”
Pepper shrugged in agreement, still getting used to the idea that Evelyn and Estelle were actually the same person, even if they looked completely different. She turned back at the hollo-screen, looking at the readouts that were displayed.
“Levels are holding steady, I think.” She said, biting her lip uncertainly.
“Of course they are.” Tony said as he walked into the room before Evelyn could say anything. “I was directly involved.” He went to his sister and kissed her forehead, rubbing her baby bump with a gentle hand before turning and crossing the distance towards his girlfriend. “Which brings me to my next question. How does it feel to be a genius, Pepper?”
“Well, I really wouldn’t know now, would I?” Pepper replied, smiling as Tony wrapped his arms around her waist. “You and Evy are the geniuses.”
“What do you mean?” Evelyn asked in confusion, cocking her head to the side as she looked over at her friend.
“All this came from you.” Tony said, gesturing around the penthouse.
“No, all this came from that.” Pepper said, smiling softly and gently tapping the miniature arc reactor in the billionaire’s chest.
“You need to give yourself more credit, Pepper.” Evelyn said, wincing slightly as the baby gave a particularly hard kick against her ribs. “You’re the one that helped me keep Tony in line for years, which is a feat in and of itself.”
“Eves is right.” Tony agreed, not about to argue with a true fact or with his pregnant aunt-turned-sister. “Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself… 12% of the credit.”
“12%?” Pepper repeated, looking decidedly unimpressed as Evelyn snickered in the background.
“An argument can be made for 15.” Tony amended hurriedly.
“12%?” Pepper repeated, walking away from him and moving towards the coffee table that held a bucket of chilling champagne. “My baby?”
“Well, I did do all the heavy lifting.” Tony pointed out. “Literally, I lifted the heavy things.”
“That’s only because I’m pregnant and you don’t let me lift anything .” Evelyn pointed out, smirking at her brother. “Not even with my powers unless absolutely necessary.”
“And sorry, but the security snafu?” Tony reminded them, pointing in the general direction of the elevator. “That was on the two of you.”
“How is that on us?” Evelyn asked incredulously, accepting the flute of sparkling cider from Pepper in lieu of champagne.
“My private elevator…” Tony continued.
“You mean our elevator?” Pepper corrected, pouring herself and Tony some champagne.
“It was teeming with sweaty workmen.” Tony continued, eyeing the elevator and remembering the sight of the workmen.
“They may have been sweaty, but they sure were gorgeous.” Evelyn said loftily, exchanging a smirk with Pepper.
“I’m going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren’t I?” Tony asked knowingly as he lowered himself onto the ground next to Pepper.
“It’s not going to be that subtle.” Pepper said with a smirk, handing him his champagne flute.
Evelyn snickered, making a mental note to ensure JARVIS soundproofed Tony and Pepper’s room before she went to bed.
“I tell you what, the next building is gonna say ‘Potts’ on the tower.” Tony said in an attempt to bargain his way out of what was likely to be some serious trouble.
“On the lease.” Pepper said, smirking up at her boyfriend.
“Call your mom.” Tony said, wincing. “Can you bunk over?”
“Tony, you do realize that trying to bargain your way out of trouble isn’t going to work, don’t you?” Evelyn asked, looking at her brother with an amused expression on her face.
Pepper and Evelyn laughed, sipping their drinks.
“Sir, Ma’am, the telephone.” JARVIS said, cutting in. “I’m afraid my protocols are being overridden.”
“What?!” Evelyn said, alarm crossing her features.
“Mr. Stark, Dr. Stark. We need to talk.” A faint tinny of a man’s voice called through Tony’s phone.
Tony groaned and picked the phone up, holding it to his face and adopting a blank expression. On the screen was a small photo of SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson.
“You have reached the Life-Model Decoy of Tony Stark.” Tony said in a monotone voice. Pepper and Evelyn exchanged looks, laughing quietly. “Please leave a message.”
“This is urgent.” Phil said, years of training and being a SHIELD agent keeping his irritation at the billionaire off his face.
“Is this about Evelyn’s pregnancy?” Tony asked, his expression becoming concerned while Evelyn and Pepper exchanged equally worried looks.
Evelyn didn’t know how she became pregnant; she wasn’t one to have one-night stands, if ever, while also being a woman who could clear out a brewery without being affected by the alcohol, thanks to her powers combined with the Super Serum. The few brief flings she did have had all ended on relatively good terms and in the time frame in question, she had been single. The only thing she remembered was going to a bar after a long day at Stark Industries to wind down before going home to the Mansion. The trip to the bar had also been in an attempt to give Tony and Pepper some much needed alone time. The next thing she knew, she was waking up in a motel room the following morning with no idea of how she got there or what had occurred after her first drink at the bar.
Though pretty much all of SHIELD was aware of the situation, Phil and a few agents were investigating her whereabouts and movements 6 months earlier, around late October-early November, in the hopes that they would be able to discover what had happened to her. Thankfully, all the tests that had been run, by SHIELD and by Tony himself, came back clean of any signs of assault, sexual or otherwise. The only evidence to her kidnapping was that she had ended up surgically impregnated with no idea who the father was.
“No, there hasn’t been any new developments in the case.” Phil replied apologetically. Evelyn and Pepper sighed in disappointment. “But this is just as urgent.”
“Then leave your message urgently.” Tony said, masking his own disappointment behind his flippant demeanor. The elevator doors opened and the three looked over to see Phil standing there with his phone held to his ear, a decidedly unimpressed look on his face. “Security breach!” Tony called upon seeing the agent, turning to Evelyn and Pepper as he added, “It’s on you two.”
“Mr. Stark, Dr. Stark.” Phil greeted, pocketing his phone. His bland expression when greeting Tony warmed and a small smile crossed his face when he greeted Evelyn. While Phil and Evelyn had only known each other for a few years, the two had become rather good friends and he was one of the people helping her in regards to her pregnancy. He was also among the handful of people who knew her secret, being told by Evelyn when he had confronted her about it a few years earlier.
“Phil!” Evelyn and Pepper exclaimed brightly in unison.
“Come in!” Evelyn added, struggling to her feet and managing to get up on the second try.
“‘Phil’?” Tony repeated in confusion, he and Pepper also getting to their feet, champagne flutes in hand.
“I can’t stay.” Phil said apologetically, entering the room and hugging Evelyn warmly before letting her go.
“Uh, his first name is ‘Agent’.” Tony said, pointing at the agent and looking at Pepper’s back.
“Come on in.” Pepper invited, smiling warmly. “We’re celebrating.”
“Which is why he can’t stay.” Tony muttered, only to be ignored.
“We need you and Evelyn to look this over.” Phil said, holding a tablet profile packet out to Tony.
“I don’t like being handed things.” Tony said, looking at the tablet distastefully and shaking his head.
“That’s fine, because I love to be handed things.” Pepper said, reaching out to take the tablet while handing Phil her flute. “So, let’s trade.” Phil took the flute, handing the tablet to her. She turned and handed it to Tony, smoothly taking his champagne flute from him. “Thank you.” She chirped, taking a long sip from the flute.
“Official consulting hours are between 8 and 5 every other… Thursday.” Tony said dryly.
“This isn’t a consultation.” Phil said gravely.
“Is this about the Avengers?” Pepper asked, making Phil look at her with a raised eyebrow. “Which I know nothing about.” She hurriedly added.
“Wasn’t the Avengers Initiative scrapped?” Evelyn asked curiously as Tony grumbled under his breath.
He moved towards the desk with Evelyn beside him, opening the tablet and perusing through the electronic documents, angled so that the petite redhead could see as well.
“And I didn’t even qualify.” Tony snarked, shooting a glare in Phil’s direction.
“I didn’t know that either.” Pepper said, shaking her head innocently.
“That is because Tony is volatile, self-obsessed and doesn’t play well with others.” Evelyn said dryly, rolling her large eyes. “Among other things.”
“That I did know.” Pepper said, nodding.
“Honestly, I would have been surprised if you didn’t know that, Pepper.” Evelyn called absently.
Evelyn had qualified for the Initiative but declined the position, stating that she had enough to deal with as it was without adding the fate of the world on her shoulders, even if it was as part of a team. Privately, it was also because she had survived being a beacon of hope for the nation once, she was in no hurry to become one, or anything of the sort, again.
“This isn’t about personality profiles anymore.” Phil said in the same grave tone he had used earlier.
“Whatever.” Tony said dismissively, putting the tablet on his desk without looking away from it, Evelyn standing beside him and not looking away either. “Ms. Potts, got a second?”
“Half a mo.” Pepper whispered to Phil before turning and walking over to Tony and Evelyn, standing on her boyfriend’s other side.
“You know, I thought we were having a moment.” Tony said, transferring the data on the tablet to JARVIS’ mainframe.
“I was having 12% of a moment.” Pepper sassed.
“You can’t exactly have a moment while I’m here.” Evelyn pointed out. “It defeats the purpose of you two having alone time.”
“Eves, things didn’t exactly go well the last time you decided to give us some alone time.” Tony said, glancing at her briefly. “So, for the time being, you’re stuck being the third wheel.”
“You’d better get used to it, Evelyn.” Pepper added. She was in complete agreement with Tony in not letting Evelyn out of their sight. While it did put a damper on Pepper and Tony’s relationship at times, Evelyn being safe was more important than the interrupted moments between the couple just when things were getting hot and heavy.
However, to her credit, Evelyn did try to give them their space as much as she could, letting them have their dates and making herself scarce when things became intense between the couple. And aside from the few occasions where she would accidentally walk in on them, the three had managed to make things work.
Evelyn sighed and glanced over her shoulder at Phil. She turned back to Tony and Pepper, a worried look crossing her features.
“Phil’s incredibly shaken.” She said softly to her brother and his girlfriend. “Whatever this is, it’s serious.”
“Yeah, I noticed that too.” Pepper said softly.
“How would either of you know if it’s…” Tony started before trailing off, realizing that Evelyn had spent enough time in the agent’s company, especially over the past 6 months, to be able to read him relatively well. He turned to Pepper, an irritated look crossing his face. “Why is he ‘Phil’?”
“What is all this?” Pepper asked instead of replying, looking at the electronic files, partly curious and partly worried.
“This is...” Tony started, sending the files up onto the hollo-screens that were above the desk. “This.”
The three of them looked at the files in stunned disbelief, audio/video footage of the various battles fought over the past few years overlapping and creating a cacophony of sound that filled the room. There was even footage of the battles Evelyn (as Stella) and Captain America had fought nearly 70 years ago, in black and white while the more recent battles were in color.
“Dear God.” Evelyn breathed, staring at the screens with wide emerald green eyes. She reached out with a slightly trembling hand to touch the holographic image of a blue cube, a cube that wasn’t an ordinary cube but the – “Tesseract.”
“I’m going to take the jet to DC tonight.” Pepper said softly, her eyes wide.
“Tomorrow.” Tony corrected, his gaze not moving away from the hollo-screens.
“You and Evelyn have homework.” Pepper said, also not looking away from the screens.
“We have a lot of homework.” Evelyn corrected, her gaze on the screens just like the other two.
“Well, what if I didn’t?” Tony asked, tearing his gaze away from the screens and looking at Pepper.
“If you didn’t?” Pepper repeated, looking at Tony with a knowing glint in her eyes. “You mean when you’ve finished?” He nodded in response, not looking away from her. “Well, then…”
She leaned over and whispered in his ear for several seconds, Evelyn adamantly not looking at them. Pepper pulled back and looked at him, a sultry smile on her face.
“Square deal.” Tony said slightly breathlessly, nodding. “Fly safe.”
Evelyn giggled as Tony and Pepper leaned towards each other and kissed sweetly. They pulled apart several seconds later. “Work hard.” She whispered before turning to Evelyn and hugging her tightly. “Be safe.” She pulled away from the smaller redhead and bent over slightly, putting her hand on the baby bump as she added, “And you, let Mummy and Uncle Tony work.”
As though hearing Aunt Pepper’s words, the baby gave a particularly hard kick to Evelyn’s abdomen.
“Ow.” Evelyn cried with a wince, rubbing the spot the baby had kicked. “I don’t think the baby particularly cares if we’re working or not.”
Pepper laughed lightly and pressed a kiss to her fingers before placing those fingers to the bump. She smiled at the siblings and turned, walking towards Phil.
“So, any chance you’re driving by LaGuardia?” Pepper asked as Tony and Evelyn watched her retreating back.
“I can drop you.” Phil offered.
“Fantastic.” Pepper said happily as Tony and Evelyn turned to the hollo-images, Tony picking up the 3D hollo-image of a glowing light blue cube. “So, I wanna hear about the cellist. Is that still a thing?”
“She moved back to Portland.” Phil replied as he and Pepper got into the elevator.
“What?” Pepper asked in surprise. “Boo!”
As the elevator doors closed behind the pair, Tony and Evelyn focused on the 3D hollo-images in front of them, getting to work on the task they had been assigned.