Kapitel 54: Chapter 54
September 14th, 2016
Avengers Facility, Upstate New York
"Thank you so much for this, Vis, really. I know there are people at the facility who normally do this, but I doubt they'd be super comfortable with me as their customer."
"You are quite welcome. Though I must stress that I've never done this before."
"You've got the whole internet in your head. It'll be fine."
Maggie was sitting on a stool on a plastic sheet laid out in the Avengers common room, her hands clasped in her lap and a towel wrapped around her shoulders. Vision, in his standard middle-aged-professor outfit, eyed the scissors in his hand uncertainly, and then reached for Maggie's damp hair.
Maggie had been trying to work out how to get a haircut for about a week – her hair had gotten far too long and unmanageable, and after the umpteenth time waking up with her head looking like a rat's nest she was about ready to shave it all off. She was even willing to try cutting it herself, but she still wasn't really trusted with sharp things. And she knew the facility's on-staff hairdressers probably put up with a lot of weird stuff, but she didn't want to put them in the position of working with sharp scissors around an infamous felon. Thankfully, after moaning to Vision about it, her android friend had offered to put her out of her misery.
And despite his initial hesitance Vision seemed to know what he was doing, pinning up layers of her hair and then getting started near the back, wielding his scissors like a professional. Maggie had hated getting haircuts on the run, hated having a stranger holding a weapon so close to her skin while she was expected to sit still. But with Vision she felt safe.
"You know, if you had hair I would totally offer to cut it for you," she piped up, as a lock of hair tumbled over her shoulder and landed on the plastic sheet.
"I appreciate the sentiment," he replied. "Incidentally, I have been experimenting with synthetic matter manipulation."
Maggie resisted the instinct to turn around and look at him. "Like growing hair?"
"Not growing it, per se," he said, snipping another lock of hair. "But with enough practice, I believe I might have some success in simulating skin cells, hair, and other elements of human appearance, yes."
She did try to turn around at that, but Vision put his hand on her shoulder to keep her still. "That's incredible!" she exclaimed. "Not that you aren't incredible the way you are, Vis, I think we've established that I think you're about the most fascinating person I've ever met-"
"You have been rather effusive in your compliments," he agreed, and tapped her chin to get her to lean her head back.
"If you're ever up for a showcase then I'd love to see what you look like," she continued. "What did Wanda think about this?"
Vision actually sputtered at that, the scissors freezing an inch away from her head and his eyes going round. "I don't… I'm not sure what you-"
"Relax," Maggie laughed, craning her neck to look at him. "Your secret's safe with me."
Vision hadn't said anything to her about it, but a few weeks ago something in his manner had shifted – not dramatically, but Maggie didn't hang out with many people and she'd noticed the small differences. He was more relaxed, his smiles came easier, and he didn't fall into as many solemn, haunted silences. She wasn't sure if he and Wanda had actually met up again yet or if they were just in contact, but something had definitely happened.
Vision recovered from his shock, but he didn't resume cutting her hair. "Am I so predictable?" he asked, eyes falling to the floor.
"Not at all!" she replied, and span around on the stool. "Seriously, I know for a fact that Tony and Rhodey haven't noticed, last week I overheard them talking about ways they could get you out of your room." A frown crossed Vision's face. Maggie sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for springing that on you. I… I know I'm in kind of a weird position, morality-wise, but what you and Wanda do is none of my business, and I'm sure as hell not going to tell anyone. It's up to you to decide what makes you happy, and which, uh, legal documents you're willing to overlook." That just seemed to make his face fall further, so she reached out to touch his arm. "Vis, look at me." He did. "I'm happy for you. And if you get to help protect the world and be with someone who makes you happy, then that's a good thing."
Vision held her gaze for a few more seconds, then smiled. "You are a fascinating person yourself, Maggie Stark."
"Don't you forget it."
He shook his head, and turned her back around. "As for your original question, Wanda said that she would be happy to see me no matter my form."
Maggie smiled down at her lap. "Stop, I'll get a cavity."
"I believe the super-soldier serum in your physiology would make it supremely difficult for you to develop a dental cavity."
"Hey, if… if you want, could you tell Wanda that I say hi?" She asked as Vision started cutting her hair again. "And tell her that I owe her a joke."
"I shall pass it along."
Maggie smiled again, and her eyes drifted to the enormous TV display on the other side of the room. "Hey, isn't that that spider-guy?"
The scissors went still. "Yes, it appears so."
The screen showed news coverage of the Washington Monument – the headline at the bottom read Spider-Man saves students in dramatic rescue at the Washington Monument, and the footage showed a tiny red-and-blue figure crawling up the side of the tall structure like – well, like a spider.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., could you unmute the television, please?"
The TV's sound cut in. "– previously only known for heroic acts on YouTube and his role in the Avengers incident in Germany, climbed up the historic monument to rescue an Academic Decathlon team from Queens. The team was trapped in a malfunctioning elevator, but the masked hero pulled them to safety before vanishing once more. Investigators are looking into the incident…"
The news replayed footage of Spider-Man's climb up the monument. Once he reached the top he swooped over a police helicopter, then used his webbing to swing from the helicopter and through a window into the monument. Maggie's eyebrows shot up.
"The guy's got moves," she muttered, recalling the agile way he'd flipped around her at the airport in Germany. The footage cut to a gaggle of traumatized-looking students in yellow jackets being escorted out of the Washington Monument. "Good on him."
"Indeed," Vision agreed.
Maggie cocked her head as the rescue footage played again. She'd been annoyed at Spider-Man when she fought him, but she'd also been impressed. He was fast, agile, and a lot stronger than she'd expected. He had also sounded incredibly young. She remembered how he'd called her brother Mr Stark, and his animated jabbering as he avoided her heel spurs.
"I thought Spider-Man was based in New York?" she wondered out loud. She didn't expect Vision to acknowledge her, because Spider-Man's identity was very much off-limits for her, and she wasn't disappointed. He returned to cutting her hair, and they watched the country react to Spider-Man's rescue.
Tony got back from his trip a few days later with a tan, but he didn't have a chance to see Maggie before Secretary Ross showed up with investigators from MI5, who'd just gotten off their flight from London. As Maggie sat with the investigators and tried to remember every mission she'd ever undertaken on British soil, Ross strong-armed Tony into attending a meeting about the Sokovian Accords with ambassadors from a few countries who hadn't signed.
When it was all over and Ross and his entourage were gone, Tony visited Maggie in her room. She was sitting with her back to the statue of her wings, looking out at the darkening sky. She glanced over her shoulder when he entered, nodded once, and then went back to staring out the window. Tony crossed the room and collapsed onto her couch.
"You cut your hair," he noted, pulling his glasses off and reaching up to rub at the headache forming between his eyes.
Maggie absently touched her dark hair, which had been cut to just above her shoulders. "Technically Vision cut it. How was India?"
"Hot. I went to those elephant caves you recommended. A monkey tried to steal my glasses. Are you okay?" He could only see part of her face from his sprawled position on the couch, but she looked a little distant.
"Not really," she murmured, eyes focused out the window. "I killed four people in the U.K."
He stilled. "Wasn't your fault, Maggie."
"They're still dead, though," she replied. "And I remember the looks on their faces when they realized they were going to die."
He watched her look out the window, her eyes haunted, and wished he knew what to say. After a few moments, she let out a long breath and glanced down at her hands. "But that's… that's on me, you don't need to worry about it."
"Don't tell me what to do," he retorted, and a small smile lifted her lips.
"Can we talk about something else?" she asked. "How did that thing with the hypothetical guy go?"
Tony leaned back in the desk chair and looked out at the forest. "It's… still going, but I think it's going well. Hypothetically, he did good work, so I'm thinking of rewarding him. Kind of a hypothetical promotion."
"That's nice."
"Yeah, I'm working on being… supportive," he said, his face twisting. "I don't know. It's a weird time for me, I feel itchy."
She laughed softly, still looking down at her hands. "Sounds like you should get that checked out by a doctor."
"Mm, probably."
Over the next few days Maggie noticed that Tony was working on something in the workshop that he was keeping secret. She didn't snoop, but one afternoon she did catch a glimpse of something that looked like… a suit? But she only saw it for a second, and she couldn't be sure. She shrugged and went back to the holographic model of her wings, trying to work out how to put them back together.
At this rate it was looking like she'd have to create more Adamantium to fix the broken wing seamlessly. But there wasn't a soul alive who knew that Maggie knew how to synthesise Adamantium, and she didn't exactly want to advertise the fact. She wasn't even sure if she should repair her wings. So more often than not she ended up perched on a workbench, Dum-E's claw resting on her knees, as she stared at the revolving blue model of her wings.
September 20th, 2016
Avengers Facility, Upstate New York
Maggie and Vision were in the common area playing another ill-advised round of chess when a new alarm sounded throughout the facility. Seconds later there was a resounding blast, and Maggie ran to the window in time to see something that looked like a missile launch from one of the facility buildings. It soared across the sky in the direction of New York, glinting in the sun.
Maggie whirled around, a look of alarm on her face, but Vision held up his hands.
"That was the Emergency Structural Support Thruster system," he explained.
"What the hell is that?" she asked, turning back to the window. The skies were clear and the alarm had stopped shortly after it began, but her heart was still pounding.
Vision was silent a moment, then added: "It appears there has been a maritime emergency in New York City. Mr Stark is at the scene and the Emergency Structural Support Thrusters will arrive in four seconds."
"Maritime emergency?" Maggie asked, turning away from the window. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., are news crews on the scene?"
In response, F.R.I.D.A.Y. powered up the TV screen on the other side of the room and flipped to a news channel. Maggie's mouth dropped open. The displayed live footage must have been taken from a news helicopter, showing a smoking yellow ferry split completely in two as it sagged in the water. But as Maggie watched, eyes round, dozens of glowing thrusters shot out of the sky and connected with the sides of the ferry, slowly but surely pushing it back together. Then she caught a glimpse of Iron Man, soaring around the vessel – which had Staten Island Ferry emblazoned on its side – using laser beams and cables to keep the ferry in one piece.
Maggie let out a breath and dropped onto the nearest couch. She should have anticipated it, but living at Avengers Facility was a high-stress situation.
"It seems Mr Stark has the situation under control," Vision supplied, and sat next to her. She nodded mutely. "Emergency services are on the scene, and readings from Mr Stark's suit show that there have been no fatalities."
"I'm glad," she sighed. "Hey, isn't that Spider-Man?" she leaned forward, eyeing the red figure that had just flipped up onto the ferry's roof. "It is Spider-Man. What's he doing there?"
Vision, as usual, didn't reply. They sat together on the couch and watched ships swarm around the smoking ferry, as excited newsreaders hypothesised wildly about terrorist attacks, a new supervillain in town, or even another round of crazy robots. Maggie watched the ongoing footage of the ferry rescue with interest, but she wasn't too worried. It seemed that the threat had been neutralized, and Iron Man had saved the day. At least he hadn't gotten injured this time.
Two hours later, Tony returned to the compound with a metal briefcase. Maggie and Vision, still on the common room couch, glanced up when he entered the room. He was dressed as smartly as ever in a dark suit, but he looked exhausted. His face was drawn and his brow pinched, and Maggie easily read the anger and frustration in his expression. She hadn't expected such a look on his face after a seemingly routine rescue, and it took her aback.
Tony took one look at the two of them on the couch, made a sour face, then dumped the metal briefcase by the door and strode toward the bar.
Maggie and Vision shared a glance. Neither of them were much good at nonverbal cues, so they had a short, whispered conversation, after which Vision shrugged, nodded, and got to his feet. He took one look at Tony, who was now rifling through the drinks cabinet, then raised a synthetic brow at Maggie and left the room.
Tony helped himself to a bottle of whiskey and a glass tumbler, then veered into the adjoining study area. Everything about his body language screamed I've had a terrible day, don't talk to me, but Maggie knew there were plenty of other places around the facility he could have gone. And yet he'd chosen to come here.
She smoothed down her jeans and got to her feet, taking a stop by the bar to grab a tumbler of her own before she followed Tony into the study. It was a soothing space with dark wooden walls, soft lighting, and shelves lined with books. Tony had taken a seat at a leather couch against the back wall, and he was already throwing back a glass of whiskey. He didn't look up at Maggie.
Sighing, she strode across the room, took a seat beside him, and then swiped his whiskey bottle off the coffee table to pour herself a glass.
"Kinda rude," Tony grumbled as he took another sip. He'd taken off his suit jacket, leaving him in a dark undershirt.
Maggie shrugged, and took a long draw from her tumbler. She grimaced, then asked: "What happened?"
He waved a hand as if to say nothing.
"Was it the ferry?" she asked. Tony sighed and leaned back in his seat. "I thought there weren't any casualties."
"There weren't," he said, eyes dark. "But it was close."
Maggie took another sip and used the movement to eye Tony's face – she took in the lines around his eyes, the anxious pinch between his eyebrows, and suddenly it all came together.
This is about Spider-Man.
She finished her tumbler and poured another glass, waiting him out. He wouldn't have flounced into the common room like a dramatic teenager if he didn't want to talk about it.
Tony clenched his jaw and stared into his amber glass. She knew he didn't normally drink these days. Eventually, he opened his mouth again. "Do you think I'm like dad?"
Maggie blinked. She hadn't been expecting that. She eyed Tony's pensive, unhappy face, and honestly didn't know what he wanted to hear. She sighed and decided to go with honesty. "No."
He finally looked at her, resting one elbow on his knee and turning his head to her.
She met his eyes. "Of course, I didn't really know him," she added. "I don't think either of us did."
Tony made another sour face, and took a drink. "Really? Sanctimonious, cold, arrogant, unsupportive, emotionally unavailable. That's what I got from him. And none of that sounds like me?"
She frowned. "No. Did someone say it did?"
He gave her a hard look. "I did."
"Well you're an idiot then."
He snorted. "I'll add 'idiot' to the list."
"No, I mean…" she sighed frustratedly, waving her free hand. "What's going on? You're not like that at all."
"It's…" he looked up at the ceiling. "I put my trust in someone who… I think I failed them. I mean, they screwed up, but I feel like it's my fault." He sagged in on himself, and reached out to pour himself another glass.
Spider-Man. Maggie pursed her lips. "Failed them how?"
"By living up to dad's stellar mentoring techniques." He leaned back and toasted her with his newly-full glass.
She frowned again. "Dad wasn't our mentor. He was our father."
Tony took another long draw of his drink, but it didn't seem to relax him – if anything, the tension in his shoulders only increased, and his face fell further. "Well I wouldn't be any good at that either, clearly."
Maggie sat up straight, something sparking in her chest. "If you don't shut up right now, I swear I'll punch you in the face."
That shocked him into looking at her. His eyes darted from her face to her fist, and then a considering look entered his expression. "I might… deserve that."
She scowled. "Shut up."
"Shutting up." He went to sip his drink, but Maggie had had enough. She snatched the tumbler out of his hands and drained it. That done, she put down both of their glasses, then picked up the half-full whiskey bottle and put it to her lips. She drained that too, glaring at Tony the whole time as his eyes went rounder and rounder.
Once all the alcohol was gone and Maggie's mouth tasted like a distillery – but of course, she was totally sober – she turned on the couch to face her brother properly.
"Okay," she began. "Tony, I don't know what the hell happened but you cannot let dad's memory hang over you like this. I agree with you that he was not the father we needed, but you're not his carbon copy! You're made up of parts of him, sure. But you're also made up of mom." He still looked shocked at her whiskey consumption but she could tell he was listening now. "You're also made up of Jarvis. And Rhodey, and J.A.R.V.I.S. the A.I., and Vision, and F.R.I.D.A.Y., and Pepper, and me, god help you. And you might be an asshole some of the time" – he scowled at her – "but you're not an asshole, period. And I don't really remember where I was going with this, but just… go back to basics. Like when you're building something – if you screw it up, figure out where the screw up happened and fix it. Then try again, and when it fails in a new way you fix that, too. Whatever's wrong, you're not an idiot. You can fix it."'
Tony squinted at her. After a long moment of silence, he said "You are… suspiciously good at pep talks. Are you sure we're related?"
She shoved him, clearly a bit too hard for his slightly-inebriated state because he slipped off the couch and found himself on the dark wood floor. Maggie slid out of her seat and sat next to him, stretching her legs under the coffee table. There was a comfortable silence as Tony processed her words.
After a while, Maggie leaned over to elbow him. "Do you need me to beat up Spider-Man for you?"
He jumped and turned to her with wild eyes. "How did you-"
"I figured it out, I'm not a moron!" she said, rolling her eyes at him. Tony made a face. "Seriously, do you need me to do something? I could go beat him up right now, if you need–"
"I don't want you to beat him up, Jesus," Tony said, but he was laughing now. "You maniac." He sobered a little, his chin dropping onto his chest. "I did that well enough on my own."
She blinked. "You beat up Spider-Man?"
"No, I meant verbally." He was staring down at his lap, eyes dark.
"Hm. He seemed like a good kid. I'm sure he'll be okay."
"He is a good kid, that's the problem."
Maggie leaned over again and put her arms around him, giving him an awkward side-hug. "You'll figure it out, Tony. And if you don't, the beating-up option is always there."
"Are you feeling especially violent today or something?"
"Only around you." She kissed his cheek, and he grimaced and leaned away. Maggie just grinned at him. "Now let's get off the floor, I want you to make me one of those weird green smoothies. That whiskey was definitely meant to be sipped." She hopped to her feet and helped Tony pull himself up.
"Why did you even do that?" he grumbled. "You could have just taken it away."
She shrugged as they left the study. "I was angry, and I wanted to make a point."
"Next time make the point with less expensive alcohol."
September 23rd, 2016
Avengers Facility, Upstate New York
There'd been a buzz of activity around the facility all week, because today was Moving Day. Maggie had spent the last few days with her time split between Tony, Dr Nguyen, Rhodey, Vision, and the gym, as per usual, but today she had a new task.
She'd met the Avengers Facility Personnel Manager, a stern woman named also named Margaret, while on a walk with Rhodey a few days ago. After a brief chat, Maggie found herself volunteering to help out with the Moving Day efforts. She knew a thing or two about handling tech, after all, and after the shakeup with the Accords the Facility was short staffed.
Tony was moody and pensive after the Staten Island Ferry incident, but he'd given her the green light to help out. Ross didn't care about Moving Day and it wasn't like Maggie was leaving the facility. The Manacle was configured to remain within three hundred feet of Margaret the Personnel Manager.
So Maggie spent the day meeting each shipment from the Tower, checking logs and documentation, and then helping get each box where it needed to go. Margaret had given her team a speech about work health and safety and lifting practices that morning, but when Maggie picked up the first box full of heavy disassembled office furniture and hoisted it onto her shoulder without breaking a sweat, Margaret merely raised one eyebrow and nodded for her to proceed.
Throughout the day trucks full of furniture, papers, and office supplies arrived at the facility. None of the trucks contained technology and equipment, however – that was being sent via a secure cargo plane later in the evening. Maggie spent the day carrying boxes and chatting with the moving crew, with a warm feeling in her chest that she identified as satisfaction – it was good to feel useful again. She was no longer the dangerous, politically controversial prisoner who didn't do anything. Now she was the dangerous, politically controversial prisoner who moved boxes. It wasn't much, but seeing the members of the moving crew go from wary and watchful to exchanging jokes with her was worth it.
When the sun set Maggie ended up in the Avengers common room with Pepper, having a few drinks while they waited for the cargo plane full of tech to arrive. It was a cloudy night, but from the lounge by the window Maggie could see the occasional glimpse of stars in the dark sky. The facility itself was well lit, the bright lights spilling across the lawns outside.
Pepper was talking about Ross's latest conference, in which he'd promised that the investigation into Maggie's criminal activities was progressing well, but Maggie wasn't really listening. She spent so much time worrying about her future and her place in the world, she wanted to have this day to pretend that she could have some semblance of normal.
So when F.R.I.D.A.Y. interrupted them an hour later to alert them to a plane crash on Coney Island, she wasn't prepared. Her stomach plummeted as she and Pepper stared at the TV screen, which showed a burning, smoking trail of debris along Coney Island beach. She was so surprised that it wasn't her who put it together. Pepper did.
"Oh my god," Pepper murmured, her eyes widening. "That's our plane."
Sure enough, the footage swept across the burning chaos on the beach and focused on a warped piece of fuselage, half-buried in the sand, with the Avengers logo emblazoned on the side.
"Holy shit."
Pepper immediately rushed off to make phone calls and take charge of the situation, so Maggie was left to stew by herself. F.R.I.D.A.Y. politely suggested that she return to her cell, so she made the walk alone, vaguely reflecting that the terms of her imprisonment were getting looser every day. But as always the Manacle was on her wrist should F.R.I.D.A.Y. decide that Maggie was acting out of line, and she couldn't feel less like escaping.
A little after midnight, Tony came into her room. He stank like a bonfire, and there was ash on his face. At Maggie's alarmed look he held up a quelling hand and went to sit on her couch.
"It's all okay," he said, scrubbing a hand across his face. "No one was hurt, and all the tech got recovered. Dum-E was on the plane, but he's like a freaking cockroach, so he's fine. Happy's kicking himself, but with the tech these guys had there's nothing he could have done." There was a pause, and Tony took a deep breath. Maggie, cross-legged on her bed, leaned forward. "Spider-Man stopped the bad guys," he eventually said. "Figured out who they were, snuck up on them while they were stealing the plane, fought them, and even stopped the plane from crashing right on a populated area."
Maggie's eyes widened. Tony looked like he was in shock, his face blank, but the pride in his voice was unmistakeable.
"Are you okay?" she asked, noticing the way his eyes were drooping.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he said distractedly. "Did I screw this up, Maggie? The kid said I wasn't listening to him, and maybe…" he shook his head in frustration. "I don't know."
Maggie got off her bed and went to sit next to him on the couch, putting a steadying hand on his shoulder. "You didn't screw this up, Tony," she said. "But seriously, I don't think there's much more you can do tonight. Everyone's safe, Spider-Man saved the day. And you look exhausted. You should get some sleep."
"Hm," he said, tapping his chest. "Alright."
He'd apparently taken her suggestion to sleep as an invitation, because almost as soon as the words of agreement left his lips he pitched sideways, laying his head on the arm of the couch and letting his eyes drift shut.
"No, I didn't mean-" Maggie cut herself off, noting the exhausted lines on Tony's face. "Ugh, fine. But you're getting old, don't blame me if you end up with a bad back." She stood up, and frowned when Tony took that opportunity to swing his legs up where she'd been sitting. She grabbed the blanket from her bed, and when she turned around he had rolled onto his back and his eyes were closed. He was still fully dressed.
"Hopeless," she grumbled, and threw the blanket over him. Muttering under her breath, she grabbed his Louis Vuitton shoes and tugged them off his feet, then tugged the blanket over his legs.
"Go away," Tony mumbled.
"Screw you," she replied. "Sweet dreams."
He didn't reply. Maggie rolled her eyes and tumbled into her bed, her nose full of the smell of smoke, and her thoughts full of her brother. Well, her brother and Spider-Man. She couldn't help but be curious about the masked hero who had single-handedly managed to put a stop to what sounded like a well-orchestrated heist of Avengers tech, and who Tony seemed to care about so much.
She wanted to meet him.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein