Chapter 34: Peter and Pietro's Alarming DaysNotes:Alright guys I have some news you're not going to like. I'm dropping this from two updates a week to one. I can't work 40+ hours a week and keep up with the update schedule so I'm preemptively doing this to avoid a hiatus or something later on. I'm deep in the third act of this thing in the drafts and I need to finish the thing before you guys catch up or else there's going to be internal inconsistencies. Because right now I can go back ten chapters and adjust things if they weren't working or needed to be changed for stuff to make sense later on. But chasing eight year olds around is exhausting and some nights I'm just not getting the two to three pages written I need to.
So UPDATES every Sunday. If things change, or when I finish drafting the fic I'll go back to the Sun/Wed schedule.
Chapter TextPeter felt his spider sense blair, every muscle in his body stilled in absolute terror. His eyes widened, he even stopped breathing. Maybe he could fling himself from the window without anyone noticing him?
"I could have sworn I just heard you have diarrhea of the mouth." Darcy's tone had a terrifying calmness to it.
The mechanic slapped his hand on the hood of Aunt May's honda. "Just calling it like it is sweet cheeks."
Peter edged away from Darcy. Should he restrain her if she tried to strangle the man with her bare hands? He was tempted to leave the idiot to his fate.
Darcy's hand with her transforming taser bangle twitched. "Ten minutes under the hood. If the car's running again after that you will refund Mrs Parker and record a video of you saying 'I am a sexist and incompetent asshole'. If I can't fix it then I'll pay you double what you're asking for. Deal? Or are you a coward as well as a sexist and incompetent asshole?" Her smile showed far too many teeth.
Peter's smile felt plastic as he handed the car keys to Aunt May. "So Darcy and I picked up the car for you from the shop."
"Hold up young man." Aunt May looked at him. She gave an exhausted sigh. "Is the mechanic shop at least still standing?"
He winced, but kept his smile as much as possible. "Shop is still shoppy."
"And your sister didn't come in with you why?" Aunt May reached for her purse. "Do we need to bail her out of jail?"
Peter shuffled. "No? It was kinda close. But uh no. Darcy's just fixing the car in the garage. She uh...I don't think you can go back to that mechanic."
"Well before you go up to your room please remind your sister that my car does not need to have jet propulsion. Or guns in the headlamps, I don't care how cool it looked in that movie." Aunt May set her purse back down.
Peter slumped, oh she thank Thor, she wasn't mad. And technically none of Darcy's muttered ideas for upgrades to the car were what Aunt May had just said. He had plausible deniability. "Sure Aunt May. Also Darcy got you a full refund. Bye!" He didn't wait for more questions, Darcy could fall on that sword thank you very much.
He zipped back into the garage. "No guns in the head lamps and no jet propulsion! Also you suck for making me do that!" Peter narrowly avoided a flying wrench as he flipped over the car and out the side door.
Peter pulled his mask over his face before dropping down next to Daisy, who was using her powers to keep two drunk idiots from being able to get at each other.
She looked over at him. "Sup, I'm not sure they even know I'm here."
"Should I web them?" He raised a brow as he recognized the slurred profanity they were yelling at each other. "Possibly their mouths?"
"No, one of them is def going to puke soon and murder by forced drowning in puke is not...let's not do that." Daisy cringed in disgust. "I already called the cops. These two morons will be spending the night in jail. And I stopped feeling bad about it two minutes ago."
His nose wrinkled as he got a whiff of alcohol. "So...do you need help?"
"Really?" She dropped a hand on her hip and stared at him in disbelief. Which fair, the idea that either of his sisters couldn't handle two drunk civilians was ridiculous. Especially Daisy.
Peter's cheeks heated, he was glad his mask hid it. "Right...uh...should I just go?"
"Nope, we're helping Yuri after this." Daisy's lips twitched up.
He beamed. "I get to help!"
"Yeah, partners right?" She punched his shoulder.
Peter bounced, he was finally getting brought in on the good stuff! His spider sense was the only reason he managed to dodge the puke from drunk asshole number two. "Oh Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew."
"Ready to stop trying to punch each other?" Daisy asked, her voice bored and mostly uninterested in their replies.
Peter cocked his head to the side. Huh, either drunk one had slept with the other's mother. Or at some point in their argument he'd claimed he'd slept with the man's mother….and no, they weren't interested in stopping their 'fight'. If swinging at the air Daisy was quaking so they couldn't get at each other counted as a fight. He looked at his sister. "Do you think they'll get tired?"
Peter stared at Darcy. He had been about to go to bed, but now he had a sister sitting on the foot of his bed with a glint in her eye. Sleep would have to wait. "What?"
"So Daisy obviously needs to learn to swim. And she punched cthulhu. So we could use some...humanizing and making sure people don't start to put together how actually terrifying she is." Darcy explained. "So, think your Spiderchannel could use some learning to swim videos?"
"How do we do that in costume?" He couldn't help but ask. But yeah, that could be pretty hilarious. He was interested.
Darcy grinned. "Well we just have to slap Daisy's mask on her and stick her in a wet suit. I'm sure we can get a Spiderman themed wetsuit for you and your mask is already waterproof."
"Uh….I thought we instituted a rule to only use Daisy's illegal hacking money on necessities?" Peter was still adjusting to not having to worry about bills. Not that Aunt May ever really had shared how things were. But he wasn't stupid. And the constant bickering every time Aunt May found money Daisy had funneled into her account was hilarious. But he refused to let himself just depend on his sisters for everything.
Darcy rolled her eyes. "Kid, our dad is a billionaire. And that last prototype of mine sold for sixteen million. I can spring for some wetsuits." She reached out and ruffled his hair. "Besides, you spent your birthday in a hospital bed due to were-wolf attack."
"You got me a science nerd emergency kit for my birthday? You don't owe me anything?" He stared at her in confusion. It was a cool kit, it was basically all the high calorie snacks he could want, specialty fidget spinners, and a watch programmed to make him take breaks. Legit, it was almost as cool as the leather jacket Daisy had gotten him.
She snorted. "Kid we didn't do anything cool for your birthday, I'm giving you the opportunity to try and drown our sister on camera. Party, or filmed victory over our sister?"
"Swimming sounds awesome." He grinned, he never won anything against Daisy.
Darcy beamed. "Excellent, I'll tell Wanda to drag her to the pool next week."
"Cause Daisy won't question it if Wanda asks?" He double checked. It was always good to double check Darcy's plots.
She laughed. "Exactly. Our sister is a sappy idiot. Now, tell me everything about any progress with Gwen."
"Urgh." He groaned, his cheeks heating as he buried his face in his hands. "She said I looked like a puppy."
Darcy patted him on the back, her snickering was almost not obnoxious.
////
Pietro zipped into the lab. He moonwalked backwards the last stretch to Darcy's desk. "What up?"
Darcy looked up, magnifying goggles giving her a slightly bug eyed look. "You are spending way too much time with my sister."
He shrugged, it was fair, but copying Daisy's slang when speaking to Darcy was amusing. "Who would help me limber up if I didn't spend time with your sister?"
"I should tell Wanda you said that." Darcy slid her goggles up onto the top of her head, while closing the side of one of her portal traveling robots.
He was mostly sure it was Sheep-EE 36, but he could be wrong. Pietro crossed his arms. "Wanda knows I only tease."
"I doubt that will go very far when it comes to innuendo involving her girl." Darcy smirked. "If you help me with this trial run I'll keep my silence though."
He laughed but nodded. "Of course, I came with news though."
"Really? Share with the class speedy." Darcy picked up and dropped her robot into his arms.
Pietro preened. "I was accepted into the training program for firefighters."
"Huh…" Darcy looked at him. "That suits you I think."
"Of course it does. Dashing hero by day and night." He flicked his hair dramatically with a smug grin.
She patted his shoulder while directing him to the testing room. The foot thick glass separating the testing room from the lab at large was only slightly concerning. "Good for you."
"It will be nice to have something to do." He agreed slightly more seriously. Frowning he noticed it really was just them in the lab. "Where is Jane, Ian and the one who never wears pants?"
Darcy huffed. "Field trip to Antarctica for aurora readings. I needed time to rebuild some of the interdimensional drones, so I stayed around."
"And without you, Pepper and Hill here the world would probably end?" Pietro was only slightly joking.
Darcy turned on the control table for the portal generator. "Exactly. Now go put Sheep-EE 36 into the portal generator and let's get some new readings, sweet cheeks."
"Where are you sending this one?" Pietro asked curiously as he gently set the robot exactly where it ought to go. He didn't want to know what Darcy would do to him if he damaged it. She got weird about her creations. It wasn't his fault he tripped over her attack roomba. Really.
Darcy flipped the switches turning everything on. "Since Jane isn't here, it's a message for my bro Thor. I believe he'll get the idea."
Pietro paused, he'd listened to Darcy complain about what a shitty boyfriend but excellent hugger Thor was. She'd actually composed an ode about it last week. "What is the message?"
"Hopefully you'll see when the idiot brings it back via rainbow road. But we're sending it straight into what I believe are his private quarters on Asgard. It's difficult to get an exact lock. But Sheep-EE 23 definitely ended up in the imperial palace on Asgard." Darcy looked up from the control panel. "What are you still doing in there? Get out before it-"
And then the world exploded into light.
His stomach was in his throat, the light practically burned as a sick swooping sensation knocked the air out of him. He wasn't sure if it was seconds or minutes of confounding disorientation, and then his feet slammed onto solid ground.
Pietro's hands grabbed his knees as he wheezed, willing his stomach not to rebel. He winced and looked up as his stomach settled slightly.
This was not Thor's bedroom…..it was almost definitely Asgard. The hundreds of fancy looking people in robes, massive golden stairs and throne with a dude with one eye kinda gave it away. It was...not how he'd pictured meeting an Asgardian properly.
Sheep-EE 36 exploded into a giant pink cloud of pink smoke and glitter and started blaring what sounded like a mash up of something definitly sexual by Lady Gaga and something that involved a lot of the phase 'Fuck You'.
Pietro plastered on his most plastic smile and raised a hand. "Sup." His sister was going to kill him if the aliens didn't first.
////
Darcy stared at the very empty testing room. "Shit nuggets."
This was bad...very bad.
She grabbed her cell phone and dialed Jane. As soon as the ringing stopped the connection clicked open she started talking. "Janey I may have kinda just portaled Pietro into Thor's bed chambers."
There was a long silence. Finally Jane's very groggy voice came through. -"You created an artificial Einstein Rosen Bridge that is still 40% theoretically functional and used it on a human being?"-
"Technically I created an artificial Einstein Rosen Bridge that is still 40% theoretically functional and used it on Sheep-EE 36 and Pietro was maybe accidentally in the testing room." Darcy cringed, oh this was so bad. He was probably alive. Please Thor let him be alive. She refused to do the math. The asshole was alive.
Jane was definitely pinching the bridge of her nose. -"You're going to need Daisy. We don't have a way of holding a bridge open long enough to grab a person and drag them back. If she can keep the black hole open he should have time to come back through."-
"Right… I'll upload the new data." Darcy started bringing up everything from her test and updating their private online server with it. "I'll go collect Daisy while you look at it. How do you feel about skype?"
-"I'm obviously skyping to make sure you don't portal yourself and half the tower to Asgard as well. Or swallow the planet in an uncontrolled black hole."- Jane grumbled as there was a distinct sound of keys clicking.
Darcy ignored the snark and jogged out of the lab for the elevator. "FRIDAY, be a pal and please say Daisy is not currently in the Maximoff's apartment?"
-"I'm afraid I cannot do that Dr Lewis."-
Darcy winced as she hit the correct floor's buttons in the elevator. "Wonderful." She was gonna get magically shischkebobbed.
Accepting her fate Darcy knocked heavily on the door. It wasn't like they really had time for her to waste feeling bad about how much she'd fucked up anyways. She opened the door, no point waiting for someone to open it when she had access. Darcy couldn't help it, she raised her brow as she stared at Daisy and Wanda. "You are so weird."
"Darcy?" Daisy hopped over the side of the couch where they'd been playing battleship.
She shook her head briefly, now was not the time. "I need your help to hold a wormhole stable so we can drag Pietro back from Asgard."
"Pietro's where?" Wanda's eyes blazed red in alarm.
Darcy held up her hands. "Asgard, probably Thor's bedroom. I can't make a portal last longer than four seconds which is fine for robot drops but not for a person who could be trying to flirt with hot alien ladies." She turned to Daisy. "I need you to brute force it and keep it open long enough for him to get back through."
"Of course." Daisy's face settled into her agent face. "I've forced portals open before. Do you have anything to get me up to speed on the resonance first?"
Darcy considered that. "If we dump another Sheep-EE through would that give you enough time to get a feel for it?"
"I'll make it work." Daisy yanked the door open. "How long has he been missing?"
"Ten minutes." Darcy led them towards the elevator. "Jane's going over the specs I used. But the location was definitely Asgard."
Wanda's voice was tightly controlled, but there was the faintest waver to it. "Is Pietro safe?"
"I haven't lost a Sheep-EE to portal related issues since 13." Darcy slapped the button for the lab floor. "He's enhanced and the destination was a habitable planet with friendly aliens. Odds are def in his favor. But he's spending the next forty hours under medical supervision as soon as we get him back."
Daisy gave her a short nod of acknowledgement. "Safest portal incident I've heard of." She reached out touching Wanda's arm lightly.
Wanda didn't say anything, and no one said anything about the wisps of red circling her. Which was honestly less murdery than Darcy had been expecting. Now to get the obnoxious twin back.
Darcy spoke carefully into the microphone. "Pietro, go into the next shiney portal. We're going to hold it open for thirty seconds. Get your speedy ass back through." She hit the stop recording option. Loading up the recording to blast from the Sheep-EE they were about to send through she bit at her lip. He couldn't have gotten that far from the initial portal…..
"Not to judge, or step on the science toes. But what if he's not in Thor's bedroom anymore?" Daisy asked from where she was pulling on one of the testing suits.
Darcy shrugged. "Well if he doesn't come back Sheep-EE is going to make air siren noises till we retrieve it. And somebody will notice that and shove Road Runner back through if they have half a brain cell." She tilted her head to the side. "Or smash it with magical hammer after dumping him through the bifrost."
"Why haven't they just sent him back if they can?" Wanda asked while zipping up the back of Daisy's testing suit. The testing suit they hadn't been planning on using for months, but well they couldn't just have Daisy in jeans. If something went wrong they were going to need all the data possible.
Darcy carefully set a Sheep-EE in the testing room and backed out. "You never spent a lot of time with Thor did you?" She shook her head with a snort. "I'm fully expecting your brother to be sloshed on alien mead and to have taken his swing at Lady Sif already when we get him."
"You know, respect. Lady Sif is a badass." Daisy commented while snapping on the science goggles. She yelped as red energy swirled around her arm. "Babe! Really?"
Wanda shot them both a glare. "Can we not joke till I have him back?"
"Fair, sorry." Darcy accepted, she purposely turned to give the two of them a private second. She flipped the switches and then glanced over her shoulder at her sister. "Time's up, you ready?"
"I got this." Daisy stepped into the testing room, but clearly outside of the portal generator. She sat down cross legged and held her hands palm outwards. Honestly she looked like she was trying some weird futuristic meditation scam.
Darcy took a deep breath. And hit the button.
////
Wanda stayed perfectly still, her powers wrapped protectively around Daisy. If things looked bad she was yanking her girlfriend out of there. They were not portalling her brother and her girlfriend to an alien planet. This was going to give her new and horrifying nightmares. But Daisy's calm confidence was keeping her grounded. Darcy's manic feeling panic was not. Which left her staying out of the way while picking at the cuff of her jacket.
The machine clicked on, the weirdly familier flash of light filling the labs. And then it was like the very air slammed downwards, Daisy's entire body going rigid. There was a blueish blur that came bursting out of the portal and then it snapped shut, Daisy wheezing as she half keeled over.
Wanda's first move was her brother who'd just run straight into a wall. She grabbed her brother and let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding as he grinned dopily at her. She just crushed him into a tight hug. "You idiot." She hissed.
"I'm fine...uh that wasn't Thor's bedroom by the way." Pietro hugged her back. His familiar warmth and presence easily slotting back exactly how it should be.
Darcy punched his shoulder. "Why did you linger in the testing room? I mean I was stupid and didn't check you were out, but dude!"
"You were right that Asguardians are hot though. 10/10." He grinned at Darcy.
Wanda slipped out of his arms with a final squeeze. She left him and Darcy to snipe about alien hotness and lab protocols. She dropped to one knee in front of Daisy. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, that was disturbingly easier than last time." Daisy's voice was slightly breathy, but she wasn't radiating any pain. More sort of dazed jitteriness. "Pietro ok?"
Wanda leaned forward and kissed her solidly. She sighed as she pulled back. "Thank you."
"Totes." There was a smile to Daisy's voice as she lightly brushed their noses against each other.
She pressed a last light kiss to Daisy's lips before floating back to her feet. Without waiting to see Daisy try to be tough, she easily hooked under Daisy's arm and hauled her girlfriend to her feet.
"Are you two always this sickenly sweet?" Darcy asked, her voice slightly exasperated.
Wanda felt her cheeks heat slightly.
Daisy rolled her eyes before replying. "Well we were having a board game date night before you went mad scientist. So your suffering is irrelevant."
"Well game night is still on hold. We have to go put Road Runner here through medical supervision." Darcy tossed Daisy her bundle of clothing. "And you need out of the space suit. I'm impressed at how well you're pulling it off cause it's hideous. But off."
Wanda glanced between her brother and her girlfriend. "All four of us are going to be in the medical labs for a long time aren't we?"
Chapter 35: Amira Ahmed, Professional Kidnapping TargetNotes:Sup! Not sure if I've mentioned this but I needed a non-white reporter for this fic. And I did some google deep dive into reporters in the Marvel cannon. And like...it was kinda depressing. But anyways and then I stumbled on the reporter from the first Ironman movie who is reporting on the refugees on the tv for like twenty seconds. And joy of all joys, sh has a full name and isn't white or like one of the two black reporters in the thing. (I was being stubborn about it). So that's who Amira Ahmed is, she's the reporter who got seconds of screen time in Ironman 1. I had to make the tag for her.
Chapter TextAmira Ahmed hit her emergency beacon as she was hauled into a dark alley. One day back in New York and grabbed. At least it was better than Michigan..hopefully. If this was another government group she was going to scream. She blinked at the ski masked goons. "I'm a reporter."
"We know, you're the reporter who's been interviewing those freaks." One of the goons hauled her into a van.
Amira's teeth clenched as her hands were tied behind her back. Other than some poisonous looks she didn't try to fight. "Whatever you think this is going to do, it's not going to work."
"Oh I think it will." The guy who'd spoken before pulled off his ski mask. He was..horribly bland looking. Average looking macho white dude. His face twisted with a sneer as he squatted down in front of her. "You're going to tell us how to find all those freaks you've been talking to."
Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him in disgust. "I've met a hundred small minded men like you. Who see anything different as a threat. Who hurt and cause harm as easy as breathing, who've never faced a real consequence. And you don't scare me." She let out a grunt as he slapped her across the face.
He clucked his tongue. "These enhanced freaks aren't like some poor put upon minority. They are walking weapons. Hell, they're not even human." There wasn't a flicker of doubt in him.
Amira knew in her head that rescue was coming. But something cold and resolved settled in her chest anyways. Even if rescue never came she'd die before giving up a single one of her sources. "You kidnapped the wrong person if you think I'd ever cooperate with you. If I didn't give over my sources to the government why would I give them up to a thug like you?"
"We can be very persuasive." He swayed with the movement of the van. "In the meantime you should consider your loyalties. Those monsters, or humans."
There was the faintest but still steady vibration. Amira smiled, showing her teeth. "You kidnapped the wrong person." Those vibrations were definitely coming from the road not the van. And she only knew one person who caused vibrations.
"You're the one making people sympathize with the freaks. Even if you tell us nothing we still did the right thing grabbing you." He spat. "It's people like you who don't realize how dangerous they are that are going to get our race killed."
Amira glared at him. The fact the van hadn't been sent flying yet meant Quake and probably Spiderman were waiting for an opening. Keeping as many of the idiots in the van focused on her as possible was for the best then. So she sucked it up and kept talking. "You're making a good case that us regular humans are plenty dangerous."
"But I can't kill a city block with my mind. Did you miss the part where Quake blew that kraken's brains out with a single punch? What if she decides to punch a building? She could probably make an earthquake that would swallow the city."
She tipped her chin up. "She wouldn't do that. And even if she did SHIELD or the Avengers, or some idealistic idiot in spandex would stop her. You think what she handles for SHIELD is us regular folks? She's their option for handling enhanced who commit crimes. This isn't the Dark Ages. There's too many enhanced, with different moral codes for some idiot with powers to try and conquer or enslave the planet. The others would stop them."
"That won't keep the regular people crushed under their fights alive." He made a sharp arm gesture outwards.
Amira had learned several things, and honestly the one likely to have the largest impact on enhanced rights had nothing to do with their humanity or the horrific dangers presented towards them. "And who do you think is going to save the planet if they're not here? Because we're not enslaved by alien outsiders because of the enhanced on this planet protecting every last one of us. Even you assholes."
"We'll figure it out. 'Sides, from what I've seen bullets work just as well on aliens as they do on enhanced and humans alike." He had a smug look on his face. "But sounds to me like someone isn't too objective. Really, reporting when you clearly have a side you agree with."
Amira actually had to blink in bafflement at that. "You think I didn't have personal feelings when I reported on the US using drones to kill innocent people as well as the guilty? Or when I reported on the horrors the Ten Rings inflict? Or the sex trafficking routes I uncovered? I am obliged to report the truth, not be an opinionless robot."
The goon's face twisted up in a wordless furry. And then the van slammed straight into something with a resounding boom. Everyone was slammed forward, metal screaming in protest at the sudden ceasing of movement.
The glass windows shattered. And then there was a blur of red and blue as goons started getting webbed all throughout the van. There was the sound of metal twisting, the van vibrating almost violently. And then it was ripped open, and strong arms grabbed Amira and hauled her out and back into daylight.
"I got you." Quake's voice assured her, her arms strong but not painful.
Amira relaxed, she was going to be ok. She laughed breathlessly as she spotted Spiderman hopping out of the van, the kidnappers groaning from inside where they were attached to the sides with webbing. "So this one not about to turn into a cross city shootout?"
"Well I've got back up within five miles, and we did a circuit of the block. No snipers or back up for them. So I think we're good." Quake laughed good naturedly as she let Amira go. One hand staying on her arm, steadying her. "You good?"
Amira nodded. "I'm good." She reached up touching her face where she'd been back handed. "I could use an ice pack and some aspirin though."
"Do you need some self defence classes?" Quake's head tipped to one side ever so slightly. "Cause I can hook you up with a theoretically legal taser and some classes if you need them."
With an amused huff she patted Quake. "Thank you." She considered the woman. "I could use a beer and Stark's number, for my next article."
"I think we can do that. You have plans for post police interviews? Cause this evening works for me." Quake raised a hand high fiving Spiderman as he jumped over to them.
Amira eyed the street around them. This was going to cause such terrible traffic. "Sounds like a plan."
"Oh are you coming back with us?" Spiderman bounced slightly. "Also good to see you again Ms Ahmed."
And the crazy thing was, she was sure he meant it.
Amira sighed as she sipped at her beer. "I'm a terrible muslim but I'm making an exception for kidnapping."
"No judgement." Quake passed a rootbeer to Spiderman. "The stuff you've found on the ATCU is impressive."
Spiderman nodded while sticking a bendy straw in his soda. "Yeah, you've been really dragging those asshats."
"The facts are the facts." She looked up at two heros. "Would it be alright if I asked you some questions? I don't even know what I'd do with them. It's not like I'm working on something but I'm curious, and I'll probably be able to use it."
Quake and Spiderman glanced at each other before Quake turned back towards her. "Sure."
Amira set her phone on the kitchen and clicked on the recorder app. "If you were asked to stop each other would you?"
"Huh." Quake fell silent looking thoughtful.
Spiderman twitched with outrage. "No. That would be... never I'd never do that."
"Don't say never." Quake's voice was quiet. She looked up at Spiderman. "I agree if someone told me to, or tried to order me to take you in, they could fuck off." And her tone was dangerous as she said that. "But…"
"But what?" Spiderman was so clearly frowning under his mask. "You're-" He cut himself off from saying what Amira was about 90% sure would have been 'my sister'. Still he made a frustrated noise. "We're partners!"
Quake shook her head. "This life, what we do changes people. Lines start blurring and you get people falling further off the edge then that Punisher guy." She held up a hand preventing him from interrupting her. "And that's just what we can control. I've seen people controlled and turned into sick puppets of who they were as people by others. Hive was…" The woman's eyes flicked the phone. "I don't know the future. But if I ever became a threat, a real threat I'd want to be stopped. And it should never be you, things would have gone so completely wrong if it ever came down to you. But I'd want to be stopped."
Amira's apartment was dead silent at that. Her breath stuck in the back of her throat. And then Spiderman yanked Quake into a tight hug.
"That's never going to happen." Spiderman's voice was tight. "Never."
Quake seemed to accept anything she said would be denied. So she hugged him back. "Ok." Her voice had a hoarse quality to it.
Amira turned off the recording app. She hadn't meant for them to go that...well dark. But she knew what she was going to do with it. Because it was quietly powerful. She could ask her other questions later.
////
Daisy used her core strength to keep herself steady as she carefully swung herself between the bars. Twisting she hooked her feet onto the next one and then hung upside down letting her arms rest. "So any improvement?"
"Yeah you're getting the hang of the flying." Kyle huffed in amusement from where he was sitting on one of the weight machines down below. "Your body control is nearly top notch. Your grip strength is probably what we want to work on most. I take back my first impressions. Well that and more practice on the obstacles."
Daisy nodded, this obstacle stuff was fun. "Sounds doable. By the by, I'm not gonna be around tomorrow. Spiderman has plans he's not sharing."
"Big romantic date then?" His voice turned teasing. "Do I get deets on Superhero romance?"
She actually snorted. "We're not dating. Spiderman and I are partners and inside scoop, nothing romantic is ever gonna happen."
"Oh wow you're in some deep denial there." Kyle leaned back staring at her in disbelief.
Dropping down she caught herself with some light vibrations. "Why is that everyone assumes I'm in denial or lying?"
"Cause you've got a hickey and I don't know about you but I don't hold people's hands I'm not fucking?" Kyle hopped to his feet and tossed her a bottle of water.
She rolled her eyes. "Oh please that's a lie. And I never said I was single, just not with Spiderman. Although my girlfriend does find the whole thing kind of hilarious."
"Girlfriend?" Kyle paused.
Daisy raised her eyebrow. "Do I need to explain that to you in more detail?"
"Nah, but huh. That puts things in a different context. Poor Spiderman, that's one hopeless crush then."
She barely resisted rolling her eyes again. "Oh he's got a hopeless crush, but not on me. Do you know how much ice cream I've eaten due to moping over the last couple of weeks?"
"Can't he just flash some super powers? I'd think the Superhero thing made dating easier?" Kyle looked generally confused.
Which… "If you're an asshole."
"Wait, does your girlfriend not know you're Quake?" He looked genuinely and painfully confused and concerned.
Daisy laughed at that. "She knows, but let's say we're not the norm. I mean take a second and think about it. If you were keeping a secret identity, and mine is more of an open secret then anything, but a real secret identity like Daredevil, Spiderman, those guys. Like think, really think about the issue dating would bring to that."
Kyle blinked, and then his brow furrowed as he frowned. He opened and then closed his mouth. His face twisted into horror. "Oh man that would suck. But..oh shit."
"Exactly." Daisy patted his shoulder. "So what's your idea for grip strength training" Her pat turned into a grip. "And I like you Kyle, but I won't be happy if this conversation ends up on the web."
"Duh, of course." His voice squeaked slightly.
She smirked. "So more rock climbing in my future?"
////
Darcy hummed as she waltzed into Steve's apartment. "What up Capsical!"
"Do I even want to know how you got in without the key?" Steve looked up from where he was doing something in the kitchen...probably boiling something that shouldn't be boiled.
Darcy smirked. "I sweet talked FRIDAY. But what about you? Like what are you boiling and why? I thought you agreed boiling was bad?"
"I'm still working on modern cooking." He grabbed a towel, drying his hands. "What brings you here besides judging my skills in the kitchen?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Skills? No. I see why you're single." Stepping forward with a shake of her head she tossed a usb to him. "I bringth the legal team's advice for how to act during the trial."
"Thank you, really. For everything." Steve held it carefully.
She shrugged. "Didn't do it for you." Her head tilted. "I do have a question though. How have you not said something awful? Like you're blandly modern. I mean at the least I'd expect you to use some problematic terms."
"SHIELD had a class on changes in jargon and what wasn't ok to say that used to be." Steve shrugged and then scratched at the back of his head. "And I don't get why everyone expects me to be racist or sexist or something."
Darcy hummed while swinging open his fridge and poking around till she nabbed a classic glass bottle of coke. "Expand my dude, I'm curious."
He gave an amused huff and leaned against the counter. "I grew up in Brooklyn, 1930's Brooklyn. It was an immigrant and social outcast type of place back then. And my Ma raised me by herself after the Great War. Kind of hard to look down on women when you were raised by one of the smartest, toughest and hardest working ladies around. Then in the war I insisted on the best people for my unit. We were one of the first interacial ones out there. People give too much slack to my generation for thinking awful things. They knew that stuff was junk back then and they know it now."
"That is...not what I was expecting." Darcy considered him. "What about sex?"
Steve's cheeks pinked slightly. "Well it's not exactly proper, but if you think my generation didn't have sex, especially with the war and everyone living like it was their last days, they didn't teach history right."
Darcy couldn't help the laugh as she opened the coke bottle. "Yeah I can see that. What about you, you get any war time nookie?"
He spluttered, his blush turning his ears red. "I was gone on Peggy almost as soon as I joined the army and before that it wasn't like girls looked at me."
"Well that makes sense then, you're just a prude as a person. Captain uptight. But it's cool, kinda sweet actually. You'll make Barnes a very happy man in like however long your angst over being queer takes you to process." She sipped her coke while looking at him challengingly.
Steve's shoulders slumped ever so slightly. "Are you ever going to give that up?"
"No, cause if I do you'll happily box it up and stick it in a corner and be miserable." She hopped up on the counter. "And while I might not be doing all this trial stuff for Bucky, for either of you really, doesn't mean I want you to be miserable."
Steve sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You're a good person, a bit crazy though." His lips twitched. "But stop. Please."
Darcy's eyes narrowed as she looked at the man. There was a certain resignation to him, an exhaustion. Maybe it was less repressed queerness and more something else? Either way she wasn't an asshole. "Fine, but in exchange for this boon, I get to make final call on what you're wearing to court."
"You can have final call on my court outfits." Steve relaxed. "Thank you."
She smiled at him, he was a bit of a shit but she liked the good Captain. "I got you. And fear not, we'll fix your hair so it's all nice, natural and respectable for the trial. But once Barnes is free your hair is no longer safe."
"I'll live in fear of what color you turn it next." Steve glanced at his pot of boiling...something. "Do you have a take out recommendation because that does not smell good?"
Darcy considered that, she could do with some greek. And being rich meant take out without worrying about the bill. Small perks, even if she was giving away 98% of her net wealth. "How do you feel about Greek? Cause I could eat."
"You're welcome to stay for dinner." Steve pulled out his phone and went straight to a food app. He was surprisingly good at the tech thing.
////
Tony paused as he read the last lab report. "Pep...my kid portaled Quicksilver to Asgard and back."
"They got the bridge running?" She asked as if that wasn't terrifying from where she was skimming through her own reports.
He swallowed, was this what other people felt when they saw his inventions? Because if it was it explained a lot of the hate. "No. Accidental portaling. He was in the testing room and she didn't double check. So she portaled him to the throne room of Asgard. And then got him back by using her sister to manipulate the artificial wormhole, to keep it open long enough for him to get back through."
"I didn't know Daisy could manipulate wormholes or blackholes or whatever world ending space science is happening in astro lab." Pepper actually looked up. "You know on a power scale Peter has more abilities and if Daisy wasn't a former agent I'd say he'd beat her in a fight. But then she goes and does things like that."
He felt kind of weak as his brain automatically did the math on what that meant for the sheer versatility of Daisy's powers. "My kids are terrifying."
"I don't know how this is surprising." Pepper winced slightly. "Also your daughter is using her guilt over the portaling to bug Hill."
Tony took a wonderful moment to imagine what Maria Hill dealing with Darcy would be like. "I want pictures."
"Tony!" Pepper glared. "Call your daughter and convince her to either go back to PR, legal, or the labs."
"But Pep, just think of what she'll do!" Tony had images of Hill marshaled onto blind dates and glitter taking over her office. It was fantastic.
Pepper just stared at him dubiously. "I don't think I want to know what you're imagining but it's not what's happening. Maria wants to keep her."
Tony stilled, that was a terrifying thought. "I'll call Darcy."
"And Peter, you were going to look at the specs on his drone." Pepper gently reminded him.
He nodded while climbing to his feet, he had calls to make. Half way out the door he paused. "Pep, I think I'm gonna stay here till the trial is over."
Her face softened. "Well we did need to have a negotiation with SHIELD. I'm sure Director Mace will be thrilled to have you personally attending."
"That's…" Tony winced..he was very sure that was not the case. And he very much did not want to deal with SHIELD. However it was a good public cover to avoid anyone asking him why he was avoiding the trial. "Fine, but I'm not waking up before noon."
Chapter 36: Dog Paddling Past SuspicionsNotes:I worship upon the alter of tea. For tea is good. The hoard of unruly children I preside over cannot defeat the beacon of calmness holding a mug of tea. Also their little noses scrunch up every time I remind them it's tea not hot coco and it's hilarious. But the power of keeping a blank face and sipping your tea instead of responding to a stupid question is immense. You can see the prepared whining fight fade from their eyes. And there are stupid questions. For instance if you just chucked a fist full of rocks at another child and I tell you to go sit down for five minutes, you know why I said that. An arched eyebrow of 'really' with a sip of tea leads to sulky acceptance of time out.
Chapter TextWanda sat beside her brother, their elbows lightly touching, as they watched the...chaos that was Peter and Darcy trying to teach Daisy to swim. "If they stopped trying to drown each other it would go much faster."
"I think that's the point." Pietro replied dryly. "Why are we here?"
"Because Darcy and Peter wanted to feel clever and had me bring Daisy." Wanda couldn't help smiling as she felt the delighted energy coming from the siblings. "And once they give up killing each other, we're going to actually help Daisy learn how to swim."
Pietro's mood flickered with a touch of mischievousness. "So I'm to fall on my sword and distract two thirds of the trio while you help Daisy?"
"If you don't mind." Which Wanda knew he didn't, she could feel it. "I am glad we are not siblings in the same way they are."
He snorted as Daisy sent a wave into Darcy. "It would not have suited us. It's a good thing no one is siblings like them."
"I don't know, they don't feel that unique." Wanda used her powers to block some water from sloshing into them. "They're just intense individuals."
Pietro stared at her. "I refuse to accept that. They're too weird."
"And we're what exactly?" She looked at him, sharing her amusement with him.
He held up his hands. "We're totally normal. Communication by magic space rock mind powers is completely normal."
"Of course." Wanda barely kept from laughing as she returned to watching the Starks trying to kill each other in the pool. "If you try to drown me I'll take advice from Darcy."
Pietro hopped to his feet. "Might be worth it." He winked at her before vanishing in a blur.
She sighed, well time to join in before her girlfriend was drowned on accident. Wanda brushed off her pants as she straightened and then headed to the locker rooms. Because of course Stark's private pool had locker rooms. She was continuously baffled by Stark. The man spent money on the weirdest, most unnecessary, extravagance and she wasn't even sure he remembered a fraction of the things he actually owned.
Wanda waited till Pietro cannonballed into the pool, to slide in. He'd keep Peter and Darcy busy. She used her powers to gently push Daisy towards her and away from the chaos. She swam over easily. "Have you progressed to floating and blowing bubbles yet?"
"Not at all." Daisy panted, her eyes bright and happy as she used her toes to keep her face above water.
She laughed in delight. "Come on, I'll help you. There was a pool in our old neighborhood. We can work on it this week."
"You're my favorite." Daisy bopped forward and kissed her lightly. "So you said something about floating?"
Wanda caught Daisy's arm and pulled her further away from the others. "The first step is learning to float on your back."
"You can certainly get me on my back." Daisy teased gently, a knowing smirk in her eye.
She slapped her shoulder lightly. "You're terrible! Now come on, we don't have forever till they realize I've stolen you."
Wanda lazily sipped at her weird juice thing Darcy had ordered. She was exhausted, sprawled along one couch, Daisy slumped half against half on her. Pietro was half swallowed in a bean bag pretending he was asleep. Peter was actually conked out on Darcy's shoulder where they were sprawled on the other couch.
"So we should do that again." Darcy mumbled before taking a slightly obnoxious slurp of her own juice.
Daisy let out a groan. "Maybe give me like two weeks to get past the doggy paddle stage."
"You were doing really well." Wanda chimed in gently.
Darcy let out a groan. "How are you two so gross? Like tall dark and easter European pulling off 'mysterious wiccan' vibes meets 007 hacker punk and you two turn into mushy grossness. How are you the two coolest people I know and the lamest couple."
"Thanks Wanda." Daisy raised a prominent middle finger towards her sister while purposely not looking at her.
Darcy scoffed. "Thor, I'm going to get a cavity."
Wanda glanced over at Darcy. "I can tell you're happy when you see us."
"That's cheating is what that is." Darcy pouted only to wince as she went to move. "I'm going to regret this so much in the morning."
Daisy leaned forward and stole a sip from Wanda's juice. "This is why you should have been joining Peter and Pietro for workouts."
"Fuck no." Darcy managed to look surprisingly indignant considering they were all wearing essentially comfy work out gear and smelled like chlorine. "I go to a self defence class once a week, I learned how to shoot a gun against my morals by the by, but no way in hell I'm joining enhanced workouts from hell. I'm not doing it."
Wanda actually agreed completely with Darcy. "If I wasn't an Avenger I would not be doing the workouts Steve and Natasha made for me."
"I accept I've turned into a workout freak." Daisy felt surprisingly amused. "You know I complained about SHIELD being a 24/Fitness when I first joined?"
It was oddly difficult to picture a Daisy who wasn't deeply physical. Wanda actually paused slightly at that. "What did you do when you were bored?"
"I watched a lot of youtube videos, hacked a lot, reddit. Just so much time on reddit. Also was living off of gas station food so it was a bit of a system shock to join SHIELD." Daisy's face scrunched up slightly. "Even if my SO was originally Ward."
Wanda ran a hand down Daisy's back in comfort. "It is odd to think of you before you were an agent."
"I'm more concerned that a year ago Wanda was Hydra and four years ago you were a cyber terrorist." Darcy looked at them before shaking her head. "How you're so gooey I don't know. It's not the Stark genes that's for sure."
Daisy just flipped her sister off again.
Which Wanda wasn't sure why exactly but she laughed, running her fingers through Daisy's hair. She was delighted as she felt the gentle vibrations from her girlfriend. It happened when Daisy forgot to control everything. Not that she'd ever say it, she was fairly sure Daisy wasn't even aware of it. It was nice as they all fell silent in quiet companionship, all of them just sprawled out everywhere in their apartment.
Peter let out a particularly loud snore.
"Is he ok?" Daisy shifted so her head was laying on Wanda's shoulder, an arm wrapping around her waist. Her thumb rubbing circles against Wanda's hip absentmindedly.
Darcy straightened Peter's hair, he kept on sleeping. "He'll live."
Daisy hummed. "We're not going to be able to use any of the footage from today are we?"
"Not a bit of it." Darcy snorted. "Maybe a few frames but I'm not hopeful."
Wanda laughed outright. "The murder attempts wouldn't play well I think."
////
Yuri glanced up as Quake settled next to her, before going back to her binoculars. "You're early?"
"Eh, the kid is getting better at undercover. He's going in through the vents. If he runs into trouble he can hold out till I can get to him." Quake passed her a granola bar. "So how much evidence are you thinking before the case is airtight?"
She considered that, they'd pulled in a lot with the bugs, files, and that one informant. "We could take in most of them now. But I need something flashy if I want to make sure they can't try and make some deal with the prosecution."
"That's fair. I was thinking if we take down Hammerhead first, well that'd spook some of the Magia enough we might get some low level guys to flip." Quake suggested.
Yuri would admit that was a good point. "I'd ask you if you were sure you could take him, but I saw what you did to that kraken."
"I'm getting pretty awesome at punching things." Quake made a slightly amused sound. "Want to ask what's been bugging you?"
She cursed the fact that hiding things from the woman was basically a joke. "Look, Spiderkid's your brother right?"
"And what makes you think that?" Which, oh Quake's voice was definitely dangerous now.
Yuri pulled back from her binoculars and looked at Quake. "I can ignore the fact he's obviously a teenager if he's got someone like you following him around watching his back. But there's two reasons for you to be following him around. Most likely he's your brother. Or, you're romantically involved with him."
Quake twitched at the word 'romantically'. She sighed. "Yeah he's my brother. I don't have to explain why spreading that would be bad for his safety do I?"
"Because it's an open secret in intelligence you're Daisy Johnson. I've got a friend in the FBI who mentioned it." Yuri relaxed, which thank god. "Don't worry, I'll keep my mouth shut. I'm just glad I don't have to try and arrest you for statutory rape. That would have been… I don't see that going well for anyone."
Quake, or Daisy actually snorted. "Darcy would kill me if that happened. Can you imagine the media nightmare?"
"I can. Thank god you're siblings. I really would get fired if you didn't make me a smear trying to arrest you though." Yuri shivered, she had not been looking forward to the inevitable death trying to take on someone like Quake as an unenhanced police detective.
Quake actually snickered at that. "If it makes you feel better I wouldn't have hurt you for trying to arrest me for something like that. Wouldn't have let you arrest me, but wouldn't have hurt you."
-"I got the files"- Spiderman's voice came in through the comms. -"Leaving now. And please stop talking about Spiderquake, it's gross."-
"Rodger, also don't get cocky. You're an underpaid pizza delivery kid if anyone spots you between the office and the vent. Dissatisfied misery is the mood." Quake chided gently, humor easy to hear in her voice.
Yuri shook her head. "You know you two are so much scarier than most people realize. It's the spy stuff not the kraken punching that is scary."
"I don't know, it could be worse. My SO is way scarier than me. And the kid still has curfew." Quake passed her another usb of whatever she'd found through arguably legal means.
-"Hey!"-
Yuri raised her comm to her mouth. "Pizza delivery kids don't yelp at thin air." She grinned at Quake. "Have I mentioned how disturbingly useful you yahoos are as partners?"
-"Uh this file is a contract for someone named Aleksei? How dramatically Russian can your name be? Maybe Vlad would be worse?"-
Yuri and Quake both snapped into the mike at the same time. "Stop talking till you get out!"
////
Darcy woke up with a hangover and a slight feeling of dread. She cracked an eye open. Fucknuggets. With the subtlety and stealth of a rock she slid/thudded out of bed. Her head popped up, no her bedmate had not woken up. She breathed out in relief. Ok. She could do this.
Fuck, where were her clothes?
She cringed at her shirt that was clearly still wet from spilled tequila...right. Grabbing her bra and jeans she accepted the rest was a lost cause or just...had no idea where it was. Her cellphone had a minor charge. Thanking Thor, she stuck it under her chin while she pulled on her pants. Pausing she glanced out the window. "Shit." It was snowing, of course it was fucking snowing it was December...how the fuck was she supposed to do a walk of shame in the snow with no shirt?
Darcy was just...she stared at her contacts. That was...Aunt May was a no go obviously. Daisy was at her stupid morning therapy, which...Hunter was a good option. He was her bodyguard, totally something he should be down for doing. Even if it was his day off...god she wasn't that big of an asshole. With great reluctance she dialed a number.
It only took two rings before an irritatingly awake voice picked up. -"Darcy? What are you doing calling this early?"-
She kept her voice at a bit of a hiss. Sweet Thor her head hurt. "I need a favor."
Darcy grabbed the stack of clean clothes from Pietro's arms. "Oh thank Thor."
"Hello to you too sweetheart." Pietro chuckled while leaning against the hallway.
She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Really?"
"Too much?" Pietro gave her an amused once over. "Is this a walk of shame? I've never had one."
Darcy jabbed a finger at him. "You do runs of shame asshat." She hopped on one foot and yanked on a sock. "Don't go pretending you've got any more dignity than me. We can't all have touched magic space rocks."
"Fair, fair." Pietro held up his hands in surrender, though his stupid smug smirk didn't go away. He glanced at the door. "So who are you running out on? Because I do not remember you avoiding mornings after."
Darcy cringed at that. "I was very drunk. Bad decisions happened, sleeping with the ex is not a morning after I'm prepared for with a hangover."
"Ian?" Pietro bit down on his lower lip to keep from laughing outright. "You slept with the puppy?"
She groaned while dragging on her jacket. "Yes, yes I was stupid. Let's get greasy diner food and coffee now."
"I see, I'm just a taxi service to you. How shall I survive?" Pietro mocked while zipping to her side and hooking an arm around her. And then the world blurred.
Darcy moaned into her cup of coffee. Thor, she was addicted to that sweet, sweet caffeine. "Ok, you can live and I owe you one."
"I spend several nights a week at your apartment to avoid our sisters. Some of which are quite pleasant." He winked at her as he referred to their occasional nights in bed instead of just binging tv. "The horrible part is that I keep learning new and horrifying things about their powers, I do not want to know." Pietro stared at his pancakes like they might hold the answers to the universe. "I thought if Wanda blocked our bond occasionally it would be enough. The water on my bedside table got knocked off by quakes last week."
Darcy tapped her coffee mug against his. "I didn't need to know that, but also that's hilarious."
"I am happy for Wanda but…" Pietro's nose scrunched. "This is not how she felt about the girls in Sokovia I was with."
Darcy stabbed her sausage link. "It's cause you're happy for her and not just vaguely disgusted. Also I doubt she dealt with learning quite so much about your sex life."
"That is fair." Pietro dumped sugar into his coffee. "Do you think they realize they've mostly moved in together? They just switch between our place and the Parker house."
Darcy smirked. "Nope, and we're not telling them. I'm looking forward to being woken up at one am by a panicking Daisy when she realizes."
"They deserve the panic." He agreed easily. "But you are avoiding. How did you end up fucking the puppy?"
She let her head hit the table. "Oh Thor." Darcy groaned, but looked up. "Janey nation got back from Antartica last night. We did margaritas. Tequila happened, and Ian was there and he's reasonably cute."
"And you forgot he follows you like a mopey puppy." He winked at her. "I'll have to drop by the lab to watch the trainwreck."
Darcy took a bite of her sausage. "This is going to suck."
"I think you already did that." He sniggered.
She chucked her napkin at him. "Boo!"
////
May shifted through the bills. "Is it weird I'm thankful for bills that haven't been paid yet?"
"It means Daisy is listening to you and respecting your authority. A good sign, Starks are masters of agreeing politely and then doing exactly what they were going to do anyways." Pepper replied from her side of the video call.
Morse set a stack of papers down on Pepper's desk. "Speaking from experience with Daisy, the fact she's stopped just paying your bills is a good step. From the way I hear it it took a nanny bracelet, multiple near death experiences, and a year for her to actually listen to Coulson more than half the time."
"Is it bad I'm thankful she's past her teen years?" May grinned. "And she thinks I don't notice her sneaking out or Wanda sneaking in. At least she's not like Darcy sneaking in every couple of weeks with a hangover from margarita nights."
Morse hummed a slightly thoughtful look on her face. "If you are noticing her sneaking it's because she isn't trying to hide it from you."
"Spies." Pepper sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It's like Tony pretending he doesn't know when my birthday is. I know he knows, he knows I know he knows. But he still insists he doesn't know so he has an excuse to do something ridiculous and over the top for it. I almost miss when he actually did forget my birthday."
May signed on the check for the garbage and slid it into the correct envelope. "Does this mean I should continue to act like I don't know or that I should say something?"
"Imply you know but don't push it." Morse replied easily. "Also would you please make sure my idiot husband is eating."
She smiled at that. "He's coming to dinner tonight. I think the kids plan to drag him into whatever it is they're doing with the mafia."
"Sounds fun." Morse looked slightly dreamy for a second.
May and Pepper shared disbelieving looks of commiseration.
Pepper cleared her throat. "How's Peter doing?"
"Moping because his crush is dating a senior boy." May picked up her electric bill, absently skimming it to make sure everything was in order. "It's probably for the best that he never got the nerve up to ask her out. He's wonderful, but two years is a lot in high school."
With a light chuckle, Pepper signed something on her end. "I remember high school, dark days filled with acne and braces. Bobby Kestler asked me to junior prom and the whole time there was something stuck in his braces and I just stood there like a deer in headlights."
"Oh gosh Ben was so awkward back then. Always tripping over his words, just a twig of a boy trying to be all chivalrous. Peter is so like him sometimes." May smiled softly at the memory of the early days between her and Ben. "But Ben took a photo of the moon, printed it and mailed it to me. Said it was as close to catching the moon for me as he could do on short notice. I had to kiss him after that. And he never gave me reason to regret that. Not really."
Pepper looked up at the camera. "I wish we could have met him."
"He was a good man." May set her pen down. "He and Tony would butt heads like no one's business." She laughed at the thought of that.
Pepper smiled back at her. "God the posturing would be awful. Tony's bad enough about Step-dad Brad and Coulson."
"This is why I'm your assistant Ms Potts and not Tony's." Morse added her face somehow miraculously professional.
May bit back a laugh at that. "I like you and Tony Pepper. But you could not pay me to work for Tony."
"I don't blame you. It takes a special mindset." Pepper's eyes were bright. "But then I'm not the one raising three of his kids."
May shared a look with Bobbie. "Really, you want to bring up Stark children? You're their step-mom. Also any plans for future little Starks?"