Fated Marks

“So Monday after lunch.” I said.

“Yeah, Jarvis will tell me when you walk into the lobby, I’ll have Happy meet you there to get your security clearance.” Tony said.

“Okay, See you then Boss.” I said.

“See you then kid.” He said with a smirk. I got out of the car and walked up the steps when I saw a shocked Will.

“Is that…” Will started.

“Yeah.” I said.

“How…” He started.

“I’m a genius.” I said.

“Huh?” He said.

“On the first day of class Professor Chambers made everyone take this programming challenge that no one had ever finished or passed. I kind of hacked into it and passed and apparently that’s what was supposed to be done. So the guy that created it wanted to meet me and that was Tony Stark.” I said.

“You passed Tony Stark’s impossible test?” Will said.

“I did and he offered to pay for tuition and everything.” I said.

“You got a scholarship! AH!” He said picking me up and twirling me around.

“I also got a job… well he’s calling it an internship.” I said.

“What? Is he paying you?” Will asked.

“Yeah, that much.” I said taking out the paper Tony had given me.

“Holy Fuck! We can afford to eat something other than ramen now.” Will said. “Is he looking for any legal interns?”

“Don’t know he isn’t in charge of Stark Industries anymore.” I said.

“We need to celebrate.” He said pulling me towards the bar.

“Yeah we may need to find a new bar considering I have to quit waitressing.” I said.

“I’m sure Carl will understand.” Will said.

Will was right Carl did understand and he was actually happy for me. Especially since it meant he now knew he wasn’t paying his own rent.

I quit both my jobs and as promised tuition as well as all living expenses were covered. I wasn’t going to start getting my salary until after I started working.

I woke up on Monday and went to class. After I was done I went back to the apartment where Will had me change into something more formal.

“Do I have to wear this?” I asked.

“Yes, it’s a huge promotion from working at a bar or grocery store. You’re working at an office now. You have to look the part plus you don’t want to look bad on your ID badge.” Will said.

“I know. Are you just doing this because you like dressing me up?” I asked.

“I do admit that’s a part of it but more than that it’s that I do it better than you do now go put these on.” He said handing me the clothes he picked out.

“Okay.” I said.

I put on the fitted black jeans that fit snugly but they were comfy. Then the white top and the blue blazer. I topped it off with a few necklaces including the one with the bird pendant but I kept that one tucked under my shirt like I normally did. It didn’t always match my outfits but I liked keeping it close. I finished it off with tan heeled booties.

I walked out of the closet and looked in the mirror.

“Damn, you are better at dressing me than I am.” I said.

“I know, now you’re hair…” He started.

“Huh?” I asked.

“Loose waves will frame your face nicely.” Will said.

“You know what, I put myself in your trusty hands just no makeup please.” I said.

“A little mascara.” He said.

“I don’t trust you with an eyelash curler, not after last time.” I said.

“It’s not my fault you can’t blink like a normal person.” Will argued.

“You pulled out three eyelashes.” I said.

“They grew back.” He retorted.

“Really? Mind if I…” I started.

“Nope, we’ll just go natural today.” He said.

“I won’t look horrible?” I said.

“Sweetie, you know I wouldn’t let you leave the house if you did.” He said. “You’re good to go.”

“Thank you.” I said hugging him.

“Anytime, maybe one day I’ll find a way to get you to wear pink.” He said.

“Don’t count on it.” I said. “Bye.”

“Good luck.” He said.

One quick ride on the subway and I made it to Stark Tower.

“Hayley Adams?” A man dressed in a suit asked as he saw me come in.

“Yeah, you must be Happy.” I said.

“Yes I am, can I see some ID?” Happy asked.

“Uh sure.” I said pulling out my ID.

“Wow, you don’t look twenty.” He said.

“Good genes.” I said.

“Follow me.” He said. He got us through security and we went up to human resources. After reading and signing confidentiality agreements followed by clearing a lie detector test which I still don’t see the point of, they took my picture and gave me an ID Badge which according to Happy I was supposed to keep on me at all times.

I was finally taken to the common room as Jarvis called it where Tony was dealing with all the renovations. I walked in and he was looking over the plans with a woman dressed in a crisp business suit that I immediately recognized as Pepper Potts.

“There she is!” Tony called out.

“Fresh from the polygraph.” I said.

“You’re still doing that?” Pepper asked.

“Better safe than sorry.” He said with a shrug.

“Pepper meet Hayley, Only person to ever beat the Programming Recruitment Assessment. Hayley meet Pepper Potts CEO of Stark Industries.” Tony introduced.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss Potts, I loved your speech at the women of business conference last month.” I said shaking her hand.

“Thank you Hayley, it’s great to finally meet the person who managed to get Tony out of the lab after three weeks of being locked in there.” Pepper said giving Tony a look.

“You locked yourself in the lab for three weeks?” I said giving him a look.

“Oh no, you just met you can’t gang up on me.” He said. We both just crossed our arms and gave him a look. “I’m starting to regret introducing you two.”

“You have you have work cut out for you Hayley, if you ever need someone to help put him in his place ask Jarvis and he’ll let me know.” pepper said.

“Any parting advice?” I asked.

“Try not to strangle him.” She said with a smirk before walking out.

“You’re really dressed up today.” Tony said.

“Roommate picked it out, said I’m not working at a bar and I have to look the part. I think he just wanted to play dress up and needed an excuse.” I said.

“Well for future reference unless I have an event I have to wear a suit for you don’t have to dress up. Like I said before, we’re probably just going to hang out in the lab most of the time, or you’ll be running errands.” Tony said.

“Good to know.” I said. “So what are we doing today?”

“I’m planning out the remodel, what do you think?” He said.

“You’re redoing the outside too?” I asked.

“I figured why not go all the way. Besides we’re renaming it Avengers Tower may as well update the look.” He said.

“It looks good, isn’t that to short a ramp for a jet?” I asked.

“Not for a Quinjet.” He said.

“Quinjet?” I said confused.

“Jarvis?” he said and it brought up a video on the video screen.

“Vertical Take off eliminating the need for a ramp, Nice.” I said.

“Finally someone that agrees, Pepper thought it was totally unnecessary.” He said.

“Well a quinjet would actually get you anywhere in half the time though I do have to say for business trips it would be a bit excessive.” I said.

“Which is why it would be exclusively for Avengers business.”

“Sounds good.” I said.

“I need help with the programming for the latch system.” He said.

“What do you have so far?” I asked.

That was how our days went. When I wasn’t helping with programming or any of Tony’s random projects I was running errands. Then one day he decided it was time to change thing up.

“Come on kid we’re going out.” He said.

“Where we going?” I asked.

“You’ll see.” He said.

We got into the car and drove to the DMV.

“You need to get your license renewed? You know you can do that online if it hasn’t expired yet?” I said.

“I’m not the one getting a license you are. You’re taking the written exam today.” He said.

“But I haven’t studied.” I said.

“It’s all common sense. You need to get your license, I don’t trust the other interns to drive my cars and it’ll make you running errands easier. Besides if I want to go out and drink I need a designated driver.” He said.

“You move around in a limo most of the time.” I reminded him.

“I like keeping a low profile.” He said making me laugh. “Laugh it up you’re up next.”

“Appointment, ID, and reason for your visit?” The lady at the desk asked.

“Appointment’s here, her ID and she’s here for a written exam for her license.” Tony said.

“How’d you get my ID?” I said.

“Fingerprint.” She said. It was a good thing I hacked into the DMV and state database to input my prints a few weeks before. I set it up after I realized the background check they were probably going to at work.

“Okay fill this out and wait for your number to be called.” She said.

“Pen.” Tony offered with a smirk.

“This is totally unnecessary.” I said.

“If we ever end up going out of town on business I need you to be able to move around. No fill those forms out.” He said.

“I hate paperwork.” I said.

“Join the club.” He said. I quickly filled the form out and waited for my number to be called.

After that I quickly got my picture taken and then proceeded to take my exam. It was all done on the computer so it was graded right away. I passed with only three wrong answers.

“Congrats, now the fun part your first driving lesson.” He said with a smirk. “Get in the drivers seat.”

“You’re going to teach me how to drive? In your freakishly expensive sports car?” I said.

“Yeah, unless you want me to buy another one so you can learn.” He offered.

“No no not that it’s just are you sure, I mean if I crash the car or scratch it…” I started.

“It’s not like I can’t afford another one or like I don’t have at least fifteen other cars.” He said. “Two of them just like it.”

“Still…” I said.

“Kid get in the car, think of it as an extra excentive to learn.” He said.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” I said.

Tony made me drive out of the city to some old warehouse. Apparently it was some old Stark industries storage that hadn’t been used since the seventies. It also had a ton of space so I wouldn’t risk crashing.

“You know you can go faster than fifteen miles an hour right?” He said.

“I know, but it isn’t paved and…”

“Hayley! Drive!” he yelled. I took him at his word and sped up to forty-five, I drove around and out of the property down the road a bit refilled gas and drove back.

“See I told you nothing was going to happen.” He said with a smirk.

“Are you kidding, that semi came out of nowhere!” I shouted.

“Admit it, you actually had fun.” He said.

“That was terrifying.” I said before starting to laugh and so did he.

“I love driving, Rhodey, my best friend, he taught me to drive back in Boston. I slammed my foot all the way down and almost crashed the car into a tree. I’ve never seen him so pale.” He said laughing.

“Somehow that’s not hard to believe,” I said.

“Come on, drive back to the tower.” He said.

“You sure you don’t want to…”

“Drive,” He said.

“Okay.” I said starting the car and driving back.

The next day I got surprised with another driving lesson and another visit to the DMV.

“I’ve only had my permit for one day.” I said.

“You’ll do fine, it’s like riding a bike if you did it once you can do it again.” He said handing me the keys. I took my test and sure enough I actually passed.

Tony drove back to the tower and let me go for the day. “Before you go, Tomorrow before you come here I need you to stop by this address and pick up something. I’ll give them a call just show them your ID.”

“Okay? What is it?” I asked.

“You’ll know it when you see it.” He said. “Night Hayley.”

“Night Tony.” I said walking out. I was meeting Tess and the guys at the pub for Tess’ birthday. I made sure to stay sober and fresh for tomorrow. I went through the usual routine and got dressed in a pair of navy slacks and a flowy white top with stars printed on it. I wore my necklace, which matched perfectly. The shirt was a V-neck so the pendant was shown off nicely. I always hated loose long sleeves so I folded them up and my two soulmarks of the arrow and spider were also showing.

I went to class and nailed my robotics presentation then after that class was cancelled so I decided to run Tony’s errand early and pick up an espresso and a chai tea for Tony and Bruce.

I googled the address and got there in twenty minutes. I thought I had the wrong address until I realized that this would be something Tony would do.

I walked in and looked for someone.

“Can I help you ma’am?” One of the sales persons asked.

“Yeah, my boss sent me to pick up something for him.” I said.

“Who is your boss?” he asked.

“Tony Stark.” I said.

“Can I see some ID?” He asked.

I took out my ID and handed it to him.

“Ah, Miss Adams we were expecting you a bit later.” He said.

“I finished early and I thought I’d get this out of the way.” I said.

“Please follow me.” He said. We walked out to the front and over to the garage. They opened up the garage door. “It arrived this morning with the custom plates Mr. Stark requested. Please let him know that his other order is on his way and we can deliver it to his home like the rest of his order.”

I looked at the car and saw that it was a white Audi Spyder. A car I had only scene on the news when they were promoting the local car show. The plates were customized with Stark 8.

“You’re telling me he’s ordering another car?” I asked.

“Yes the same model but in red.” He said.

“And you deliver?” I asked.

“Oh yes it’s a complimentary service but Mr. Stark insisted that he have someone pick it up.” He said politely.

“Jeffery,” I read off his nametag, “Please have the rest of Mr. Stark’s order shipped to his address I’m sure he would appreciate it.”

“Of course Miss Adams, can you please just sign here.” He said handing me a form.

“Sure.” I said and he handed me the keys to the car. I got in and started driving when someone started calling. “Jarvis?”

“I have forwarded all of your calls to the car’s answering system.” He said.

“Answer.” I said.

“Stark.” A grumpy voice greeted.

“No actually, Tony Stark’s nanny’s phone how can I help you?” I said.

“Excuse me?” He said.

“I’m his personal assistant slash intern how can I help you?” I said.

“I need a meeting with him, and I need to make sure he won’t keep me waiting,” he said.

“He’s free all day, just stop in whenever you want after noon.” I said.

“Oh, thank you miss…” he said.

“Hayley Adams, I’ll see you later, actually would you like to have lunch waiting for you, I’m sure Tony would love the company.” I said.

“That sounds great,” he said chuckling, “What’d he do to piss you off?”

“He has me running around town picking up orders when they offer free delivery knowing I have midterms in primetime traffic.” I said.

“Suck it up kid.” He said before hanging up.

I went to go pick up Tony’s dry cleaning and even got coffee and some Chai tea for Bruce before heading to the tower. I had Jarvis order lunch for everyone.

“Hales you’re early and you’re dressed up, do I have a meeting?” He said smiling but for some reason it faded when he saw me.

“No I had a presentation for class. One espresso and whole wheat bagel since I know you skipped breakfast.” I said setting it down in front of him. “And one Chai tea.” I said handing the drink to Bruce.

“Thanks Hayley.” He said before his eyes went wide for a bit and he started staring, maybe this top was too low cut. This is what I get for letting Will pick out my outfits.

“So I had Jeffery set up the delivery of the rest of your order because it’s free and I don’t feel like driving in prime time traffic again, your Audi is in the garage, keys are in the box, your dry cleaning is in your closet and I ordered lunch so I’ll let you know when that’s here. I expect you both upstairs no arguments.” I said.

“But…” Tony started.

“You haven’t slept and I’m sure that bagel is the only food you’ve had since yesterday and don’t even get me started on you Bruce.” I said.

“We’ll be there,” Tony said giving me a smile. The smile that I knew meant he was planning something.

“Okay… I’m gonna go restock your kitchen. Any requests?” I asked.

“Nope.” They both said at the same time.

“See you in an hour.” I said getting in the elevator.

Third Person’s POV-

Tony and Bruce saw the doors of the elevator close and then turned to one another.

“What did you do?” Bruce said.

“I didn’t know. It’s the first time she wears that necklace and even then what are the odds.” Tony said.

“She has Natasha and Clint’s marks on her arms, it’s her.” Bruce said.

“What are the odds huh?” Tony said with a small smile.

“Tony…” Bruce said.

“Oh come on Bruce you know I didn’t actually go looking for her. You’ve seen her work that kid is a genius.” Tony said. “And I should know.”

“Yes but what are we supposed to do now?” Bruce said.

“Uh, we can tell her.” Tony said and Bruce gave him a look. “Or we can call everyone and talk about it.”

“That’s a good idea, I’ll call Steve you call Natasha and how are we supposed to call Thor?” Bruce said.

“He said he’d know when we need him.” Tony said.

“Let’s call whoever’s on earth now and figure out how to get Thor here after.” Bruce said.

Hayley’s POV-

I was upstairs putting in the order for groceries when Will called. I turned on the hands free set so I could continue programming the practice program for my midterm.

“Hello.” I said.

“Hales, what are you doing tonight.” He said.

“Staying in and cramming for Chamber’s midterm. I’ve heard people have dropped out of the program because of how hard it is.” I said.

“You have three days and don’t think I can’t hear you typing right now.” Will said.

“Will it’s a big one and I admit I have been a bit distracted lately but after Thursday I’m free until finals.” I said.

“Hayley, you’re fried. You need to detach yourself from your computer at least for a few hours so I took the liberty of getting us both dates for the night.” Will said.

“Will, it’s not a good time…” I said.

“Come on, it’ll be fun. Dinner and a movie please.” He said. ‘He’s really cute.”

“Your guy or the guy I’m distracting so you and your date can disappear for a few hours.” I said.

“I’m sending you a picture.” Will said.

“Will, don’t…” I started as my phone beeped. I sighed. I opened the text and saw a picture. “Oh wow he’s hot.” I said.

“Lacrosse player, Political Science major at Columbia, come on Hales he’s your type.” Will said.

“I have a type?” I said.

“Oh you do, you really do. Every guy you’ve ever gone on a coffee date matches the same mold. Come on please for me, just so I know you still have social skills and that they haven’t rotten away behind that computer.” He said.

“If I do this will you let me stay in front of my computer as long as I need to so I can study for midterms and finals?” I said.

“I’ll cook dinner and take them to you and even spoon feed you if you need it.” he said.

“Okay but I may need to change.” I said.

“No that outfit is perfect it shows the perfect amount of boob without being slutty.” He said.

“You ass, I knew this was too low cut.” I said.

“Relax you prude, it’s tasteful.” He said. “We’re meeting you at MacLaren’s so text me when you’re on your way.”

“Okay.” I said. “Bye.”

“Love you.” Will said.

“kay.” I said hanging up.

“Miss Adams, Lunch is here.” Jarvis said.

“Send them up please.” I said. The food was set up and everything was set up. Just as I was about to call Tony and Bruce a man with a black leather trench coat and an eye patch walked in accompanied A woman with fiery red hair, A man with sandy blonde hair and grey eyes, and a tall muscular blonde with really blue eyes.

“Miss Adams I presume.” The man with the eye patch said.

“That would be me, I’m sorry you hung up before I got your name,” I said.

“Nick Fury Director of SHIELD.” He said shaking my hand.

“Good to meet you.” I said. “I was just about to call Tony and Bruce up for lunch. I didn’t tell him you were coming and trust me it’s better that way.”

“We know.’ the woman said. “Natasha Romanoff.” She said extending her hand.

“Hayley Adams, do we know each other you seem really familiar.” I said. She looked down in surprise and for a second I saw her eyes go wide before she backed away.

“I don’t think so.” She said.

“You I remember,” I said looking at the blonde with grey eyes.

“How’ve you been Hayley?” Clint asked.

“Good, Just had my first Midterm at Columbia.” I said.

“You got in? Congrats.” He said and then his eyes widened and he stared at my left arm.

“I should probably call those two up before the food gets cold.” I said. “Hi Steve.”

“H-Hey.” Steve said dumbstruck.

“Jarvis Patch me through to the lab please.” I said.

“Yes ma’am.” Jarvis answered.

“Guy’s lunch is here.” I said.

“On our way.” I heard them say obviously not meaning it.

“Okay.” I said.

Everyone sat down and I stared at the clock. In five minutes they still hadn’t made it up there.

“Time’s up.” I said. I grabbed my phone and started hacking.

“Should I…” Steve started when I put a finger up to tell him to give me a minute. I hacked into the lab’s speaker system and started playing very loud pop music.

“AH!” I heard them both groan.

“Lunch, Upstairs Now!” I said on the overhead and they both got in the elevator right away. A few seconds later the elevator dinged and they both stepped out looking like kids who got yelled at by their parents.

“Stark so good of you to join us.” Nick Fury said.

“Patchy.” Tony greeted, “and your band of Merry men. Didn’t know we had a meeting. Hayley I thought we were cleared out for today.”

“You wouldn’t have shown up if I had told you.” I said.

“That is… completely true.” He said. “But heads up would have been nice.”

“Again you wouldn’t have shown up. You know they wouldn’t have come over if it weren’t important. Eight or higher I don’t check with you.” I said remembering what he had said at my internship orientation.

“Damn, I knew I shouldn’t have introduced you to Pepper.” He said.

“Come on boss, I ordered you’re favorite. And here’s another espresso.” I said handing him a mug.

He sighed. “I can’t be mad with coffee in my hand.”

“Good now enjoy your meeting.” I said.

“Oh no you don’t, responsibility number three, you stay for all meetings and take notes so I could ignore everyone and then look over them later.” He said.

“Right.” I said I went over to sit down when suddenly the sky started rumbling and a beam of light crashed onto the balcony.

“My friends, I have returned from Asgard. Heimdall informed me that you were all meeting…” He stopped his loud greeting to stare at me. “Milady it is good to see you again.’ He said taking my hand.

“Same here Thor never got to thank you for saving me from you know getting squashed from that building.” I said.

“You two know each other?” Tony said.

“Oh yeah never told you but the day of the invasion while I was running for my life Thor flew me out of the way of a collapsing building. I was that close to becoming a pancake.” I said.

“That’s enough chit chat. We have matters to discuss.” Nick Fury Said.

Everyone settled down and we got straight to business.

“Since the battle of New York the World Security Counsel wants to know what the plans for this team are. Romanoff, Barton and Rogers have been working for SHIELD but the question remains what the three of you are doing? The world owes you a great debt but that doesn’t mean no one is concerned. The three of you have a track record that can’t be easily overlooked. They want you all monitored and as much as I’m against that they do have a point.” He said.

“So you’re going to keep us locked up? Because that worked so well the last time.” Bruce said. They were locked up before?

“I have a compromise that the council will accept it’s just a matter of getting you all to agree to it but mostly Stark.” Fury said. I suddenly felt an intense sense of discomfort followed by annoyance and worry. “If you were to all move here and have this be your base of operations then everyone would know where you are and that would make everyone feel safer.”

“You want us to move here, and live together?” Clint said. “Are you insane?”

“Last time you put all of us together we almost crashed a hellicarrier.” Steve said. What’s a hellicarrier?

“It’s either that or they try and have you monitored every hour of every day for the rest of your lives. This way you can all continue to live your lives and if another global threat emerges you’re all on standby and prepared for it. You would all continue with your lives. Romanoff, Barton and Rogers could continue to go on missions for SHIELD but the Avengers would be run independently and based here.”

“Why would I agree to let you all move in here?” Tony said.

“You renamed the place Avengers Tower, from a PR stand point it could only benefit you.” I said making everyone look at me. “What, I pay attention at your meetings.”

“You do realize you’d be in charge of setting everything up right?” Tony said.

“I figured.” I said. “Not to mention since part of the building will be turned into apartments you qualify for another tax break.”

“That’ll help sell it to the board.” Tony said. “I guess I’m in.”

“I already live here so yes.” Bruce said.

“I wanted to move back to Brooklyn so I guess this is close enough.” Steve said.

“Free rent, how can I say no to that.” Clint said.

“Fine.” Natasha said.

“It will be an honor to live amongst Earth’s greatest warriors.” Thor said.

“Good, you’re all moving as soon as possible. Stark start getting everyone’s rooms ready.” Fury said.

“You’re not my boss.” Tony said.

“No but you’re mine and you need to sign these forms pepper just sent over.” I said sliding my tablet over to him. He chuckled when he saw my doodle of a shark eating fury. “Whoops.” I slid the correct app and let him read over them.

“What are you doing this weekend kid?” Tony asked.

“Apparently helping everyone move in.” I said.

“Yup, send these to Pep and take the rest of the day off.” He said.

“Seriously?” I said.

“Yeah, you’re going to be working late the rest of the week.” He said. “Get some rest.”

“Sweet, I might actually make it on time for this dumb blind date Will’s setting me up on.” I said.

“You’re going on a date?” Bruce said.

“It’s more of a favor for Will, I’m his wing man for the night. Apparently I have a type and this guys it. Wish me luck.” I said grabbing my bag.

“Luck.” They all said awkwardly.

Third Person’s POV-

“Now that that’s over I’ll leave you all to catch up.” Fury said standing up and walking out as well. They waited a minute until they heard the elevator ding and they knew they were alone before all hell broke loose.

“What the hell Stark?!” Steve shouted.

“We agreed not to look for her.” Natasha emphasized.

“I didn’t look for her.” Tony said. “She just kind of came up.”

“We all did kind of already meet her.” Clint said.

“I do not understand?” Thor said.

“Hayley is our mutual soulmate, the bird pendant on her necklace, the two soulmarks on her arms that matched Natasha and Clint.” Bruce explained and it finally clicked with Thor.

“This is wonderful news, I can stay in Midgard and we can get to know her.” Thor cheered.

“She’s amazing.” Tony said with a smile.

“Are we all forgetting what we talked about a few months ago?” bruce said. “What’s changed?”

“She’s here,” Tony started.

“We’re all moving to New York.” Clint said.

“The world is relatively at peace.” Tony started.

“The fact doesn’t change we all have enemies and unpredictable lives.” Steve said.

“Not to mention she’s on a date.” Natasha deadpanned.

“So where does this leave us?” Bruce asked.

“She’s going to be around no matter what we decide here.” Tony said.

“I say we tell her, she deserve to know.” Clint said.

“Aye, I would like to get to know her.” Thor said.

“I’m against. Hayley’s great but she’s still at risk being around us.” Bruce said everyone understanding the double meaning of his words.

“Bruce in the two months she’s been working here how many times have you gone green?” Tony asked.

“Tony…” Bruce started.

“No think about it, how do you feel when Hayley’s around? I’ve seen you joke around, hell I’ve seen you smile.” Tony said.

“I’m not taking that chance.” Bruce said

“I’m with Bruce, maybe we can be enough to keep her safe but we’re not always going to be around and besides that, I still have a lot to catch up on, so no.” Steve said.

“Nat?” Clint asked.

“No, she has a life and she’s just getting started.” She said.

“So it’s a tie.” Tony said. “Same as before unless it’s unanimous we don’t say anything. And what I said before stands. Hayley’s here and she’s not going anywhere.”

“How’d you even find her?” Clint asked.

“About a year ago I got really paranoid about my legacy and what would happen if I died so I created this test that was essentially impossible for anyone to pass using traditional means. I spread the word and no one even finished in the time limit. That is until a few months ago when I got a hit from Columbia that a first year transfer student managed to crack it. and that’s how I met Hayley.” Tony said.

“So she’s a genius?” Steve said.

“In a nutshell.” He said.

“And she’s your personal assistant?” Natasha said.

“Technically she’s my intern.” Tony said.

“How old is she?” Steve asked.

“Twenty almost twenty one.” Tony said. Everyone just stared at him dumbfounded. “I know I checked too.”

“So she’s twenty one, computer programming major at Columbia…” Steve started.

“Her roommate’s name is Will.” Clint said and everyone turned to look at him. “What we talked.”

“When?” Natasha asked.

“Last year when she was debating applying to Columbia and got into an argument with Will.” Clint said. “She met Lucky too.”

“Lucky?” Tony asked.

“My dog who by the way is also moving in.” Clint said with a smirk.

“There goes the carpet.” Tony mumbled. “Since we’re on the subject any requests for your floors?”

“Surprise me.” Natasha deadpanned.

At that statement they started feeling a sense of nerves but happiness.

“Looks like the date’s going well.” Clint said.

“Feels that way too… You ever stop to think what feelings she gets from us?” Bruce asked and everyone stopped to think about it and got shivers at the thought.

Hayley’s POV-

I texted Will that I was on my way to the bar and I got a reply with an obscene amount of emojis that I didn’t understand.

I walked into the bar and saw Will sitting in a booth with two other guys.

“Hayley!” He said cheerfully when he saw me.

“Hey.” I said.

“This is Jake.” He said introducing me to his date.

“Hi.” Jake said getting up to greet me with a hug.

“Hi.” I said.

“And this is Nate.” Will introduced me.

“Hi, I’m sorry to keep you waiting.” I said.

“Oh it’s not a big deal I know how internships go. Where do you work?” He asked.

“Stark Industries.” I said. “I basically just grab everyone’s coffee orders or lunch.”

Will gave me a look but I sent him one to shut it.

“Got to pay your dues. I work at Hogarth Chao and Benowitz in the mailroom.” He said.

“Ah paperwork,” I said.

“My dad knows a guy and since I didn’t go to Dartmouth like he wanted me to I had to give into one. I wanted to work for Honeywell and Cootes but at least I get paid.” He said.

“So you’re interested in Environmental Law?” I asked.

“Yes, I’m really outdoorsy. I went out camping last summer and there was this lake my grandpa used to take me and my cousins as kids. The water was crystal blue and there were animals and fish. When I showed up this summer it was closed because some pharmaceutical company had dumped chemicals into the lake. The water was green and the fish were dead. I was outraged and when I did some digging the company did get sued but they only got fined fifty thousand dollars for the millions of dollars in damages they caused.” Nate said. He was really passionate about law.

“That’s horrible. The repercussions of polluting that lake don’t just affect the immediate area, if those chemicals were to get into the underground water sources we’re talking Health problems on bigger scale.” I said.

“Exactly.” He said.

“Wow.” Will said.

“I know, there’s two of them now.” Jake said.

“I’m going to get another drink.” Nate said. “Can I get you anything?”

“Uh, I’ll get whatever you’re getting.” I said.

“Two beers coming right up.” He said.

“So…” Will started.

“He’s great also I need to cancel this weekend, I have work.” I said.

“Seriously?” He said.

“Yeah, something came up and I’m going to be super busy.” I said.

“What are you…” He started.

“You know I can’t tell you.” I said.

“Stupid Non disclosure agreement.” Will mumbled.

“Don’t worry you’ll find out pretty soon.” I said as Jake and Nate came back with our drinks.