Chapitre 2150: 18
Chapter 18: May Considers Banning Caffeine
Notes:
Sorry I'm a couple hours later than usual on the updates. I totally forgot.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Tony hovered just out of frame as Peter finished taking a photo of himself. He was aware of his kid's snapchat account. It was actually pretty hilarious. When Peter slid the phone into the suit, he spoke up. "Hey kid."
"Mr Stark!" Peter whirled, and then pulled off his mask, big bright smile on his face. "Hey!"
He stepped out of the suit. "So a little sparkplug told me you like chemistry?"
"Chemistry? I mean yeah I do." He bounced slightly.
Tony looked at the pool chairs and toys scattered around the roof. "Secret club roof?"
"Uh, yeah I guess?" Peter's fingers twitched.
He'd have to like put an actual pool up here...or maybe just tell the kids they could use his pool? Still he'd come here for a reason. "So I was thinking, want to work on different types of webs for your super hero-ing?"
"Yeah, that would be really cool. But you don't have to do that Mr Stark." Peter hopped up next to him.
Tony looked at the kid and...god he was scared of the kid more than his daughters. His daughters weren't going to put up with being fucked up. "I want to." Which wasn't that terrifying.
Peter's eyes practically sparkled. "Cool! So uh, are we going to do that now?"
Tony looked at the set up they'd put together in the lab. "You changed the proline and tyrosine levels from natural spider webs. Interesting choice."
"Well they affect the structure, and the protein is important to dragline. But I needed it to be able to hold more weight than natural spider web strands do in nature. Or well some of them need to have more tensile strength, but most of mine I adjust the flexibility." Peter looked up at him, slightly shuffled. "I mean it's not that great...but it was the best I could do."
Tony reached out and patted the kid's top head. It was...awkward. "You reproduced spider silk on a scale that nobody has. Good job."
"Really?" Peter perked up, his chest puffing slightly.
His lips pulled up. "Yeah kid, you did good. Have you considered ricochet webs yet?"
Tony chewed on his piece of licorice. "Have you and Spawn planned on working nanobots into the suit? We could make it more aerodynamic?"
"We've talked about it. But I don't want to get too caught up in gimmicks you know?" Peter looked up at him with big wide eyes filled with passion. "I mean Daisy can kick my ass with an arm in a cast and not using her powers. Or well she used to, now she probably would have to not be in a cast. But still. So I want to really master what I have. Ya know."
And god Tony didn't want to fuck up this kid like his dad had fucked him up. Or Daisy's..everything had fucked her up. The world had enough fucked up Starks. "You want to master your abilities and tools before learning new ones. In a few years you're going to be a force to be reckoned with kid. You're far more motivated than I was at your age."
"Really? But you already had graduated and were working for SI!"
He winced. "Kid, believe me, you should be proud of yourself." Tony suddenly grinned. "But you're still a kid. Which means people can't be mad at you for pranks for that long."
"Technically?" Peter's face scrunched slightly as he clearly tried to figure out who he was about to be unleashed on.
Tony dropped his hand down on the kid's shoulder. "Rhodey hasn't even met any of my spawn. My best friend. Your godfather."
"Does he even know about all three of us?" Peter asked slowly.
He pushed through, it was an excellent idea. "You'll get to bedazzle the War Machine suit."
"I'm so in!" Peter grinned right back at him.
A throat cleared behind them.
Tony and Peter both whirled around to come face to face with an amused looking Darcy.
She arched a brow. "Betrayal in my own family. You'd start a prank war, use my own bedazzler and not even include me?"
"It was Tony's idea." Peter casually threw Tony under the bus without a second thought. "Can we use the glitter?"
Tony crossed his arms. "I see how it is."
"You can use the glitter, only if I get to help you use it on the Captain's shield." Darcy replied, a slightly deranged look in her eye.
Tony was kind of touched, they were definitely his kids. "Well, I always wanted to see Cap look like a pretty, pretty princess."
////
Darcy yawned, a professional make-up artist was the only reason she didn't look like she'd only gotten a few hours of sleep last night. She let herself settle. "So how off the rails do you think this is going to go?"
"Completely." Pepper replied without blinking. "Still ready to go through with it?"
She huffed. "I'm here for the crazy train."
"Tony promised he thought this through." Pepper brushed the front of her blazer. "So at least he won't eat a burger or randomly give away a secret identity this time."
Darcy grinned. "I don't think he ever had a secret identity."
Tony joined them while adjusting his cuffs. "My ears are burning ladies. All good things I'm sure."
"Keep telling yourself that Poprocks." Darcy replied without so much as a twitch.
He chuckled. "Well, we can't keep the vultures waiting." Tony strode out the doors to the prepared press conference. The reporters exploded with noise, photos being taken and questions. He came to a stop behind the podium. "Well hello there."
Darcy kept behind Pepper's elbow, the perfect secretary. It was the easiest way to get her here. Besides the only photos were of her in full hipster gear and from a distance. She pointedly ignored how twitchy Hunter and Happy were acting as they stood stiffly in their bodyguard roles. All in all they were all there to fade into the background. Which wasn't hard when Tony was...well he was Tony.
Tony lightly held onto the podium. "So we're here because some rumors have been going around about one of my employees. I've seen accusations that I'm stepping out on Pepper with an intern." He looked at the reporters with a smug pout. "I happen to like my bits where they belong, so we should all be thankful that's not true."
There were some polite chuckles at that. And god it was kinda horrifying that someone as painfully awkward as Tony was so good at controlling the press when he wanted.
"Now the other rumors about the girl you all have some photos of me with is that she's my daughter." His lips pulled up. "Which is true." Tony was stupidly smug as he looked out at the explosion of noise from the reporters. He held up a hand quieting the press. "As you all know I had a bit of a partying phase." He laughed. "So I really shouldn't have been so surprised when some DNA pinged my system."
"So yes, it's DNA official, which considering how much she looks like me that would have been a bit redundant. Which leaves me to introduce the newest Stark. Dr Darcy Lewis, mechanical engineer, heir to all the Stark stuff and my daughter." He waved his hand back bringing everyone's attention to her.
Darcy choked slightly. Heir? He made her his fucking legal heir!? She plastered on a smile though and stepped up next to Tony. As soon as this was over she was going to kill him.
Tony grinned, his hand settling on her back. "And no we won't be taking any questions at this time."
She was going to kill him with one of his own robots. It was the only fate worthy of this. Or maybe just tell Cap why he shouldn't use his shower in the tower anytime soon. But then she wouldn't see a Captain America with pink hair….she'd find a way to make Tony pay.
////
May added an extra sandwich to Peter's backpack. "Peter you're going to be late!"
"Hey Aunt May, what do you think?" Peter slid into the kitchen. He was wearing a scarf that was...very puke green.
She wasn't sure how to put this. "It's uh...is it cold enough for you to need a scarf?"
"Is it bad? I just thought it would be good to wear colors that weren't red and blue." Peter touched the scarf nervously.
May couldn't let him go into public wearing a puke green scarf with sparkles. It just...she might not be 'hip' with the times but she was pretty sure that scarf was not going to help him. "Sweetie, maybe not that shade of green exactly."
"Is it that bad?" Peter pulled at one side of the scarf.
She sighed. "It's not a great look."
"Thanks Aunt May." His shoulders slumped as he slung his backpack on with one hand and pulled the scarf off with the other.
She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry sweetie."
"Aunt May." He grumbled, rubbing at his cheek. "I'm not a little kid anymore. I know you all call me a kid but I'm not."
May sighed looking at him, he was already taller than her. Not by much, but still. "I know, now go! You're going to be late!"
"The bus!" Peter's eyes widened in alarm and then he was out the door faster than a human should be able to move.
May dropped her hands on her hips. "Baby steps. Baby steps." She picked up the coffee pot and started filling her travel thermos. It was weird not to have to fight Darcy over coffee. But… crap. She walked as quietly as she could, it probably wasn't that quiet, but still.
She gently poked her head into Daisy's room. May felt a pang as she saw Daisy. The girl was passed out on her desk.
May walked over to the bed and picked up the Cap throw blanket off the bed. She padded towards Daisy and laid the blanket over the girl's shoulders. It was telling that Daisy hadn't startled. She let her hand rest on Daisy's back, tiny vibrations spread from the touch all the way to her shoulder. It was sudden, one minute she was gently touching the girl's back and the next there was an iron grip on her arm and cold eyes on her.
Daisy released her and cringed backward. "May! What are you doing here?"
"I was just checking on you." May ignored the horror stricken look on Daisy's face and gathered up the empty energy drink cans. "Why don't you climb into your bed and get some more sleep?"
"I...I can't." Daisy reached up and touched the fluffy edge of the blanket May had laid over her shoulders. Her face cracked, only to close up again. "You shouldn't wake me like that May, I could have hurt you."
"But you didn't." May reached out and squeezed Daisy's shoulder, ignoring how rigid the girl was under her hand. "Now try and get some sleep.
She slipped out and carefully shut the door behind her. May dumped the rest of the coffee in the pot down the sink as soon as she got back to the kitchen. Caffeine was clearly not the answer.
May sorted through the new donations. "I don't know how to help her."
"I think you already are doing what you can to help her." Martin replied while folding a jacket. "We see it here all the time don't we?"
She looked at the rows of cots. Working at a FEAST homeless shelter meant she saw a lot of veterans. And she wasn't unaware of the similarities. "She'd just been doing better. And now I don't think she's slept for more than two hours at a time in the last week."
"Until she asks for help there isn't anything you can do." Martin picked up another coat to fold.
May looked up at her boss. "Thank you for listening to me."
"Anytime." Martin smiled warmly. "But Peter's doing well?"
She picked up a pair of jeans from the donation box. "His team won their academic decathlon. He almost wore this hideous scarf to school today. And god I didn't know if I could just say it was hideous?"
"How hideous are we talking?" Martin's face was amused.
May couldn't help a snicker. "Puke green, there were sequins."
"Oh no." Martin snorted. "Being a teenager is rough. I remember some of the things I did to impress girls."
May nodded. "I remember those days, I was in highschool in the late seventies. We got up to a lot of things."
"I do believe you owe me some stories next time I have time to come down here." Martin took a step back. "But I'm afraid I have a call from Beijing I need to take. Have to be able to pay for all this somehow."
She picked up the box of the newest folded jackets. "It's always good to see you Mr Li."
"Ah! I had you saying Martin for a whole twenty minutes. I'm counting that as a win." He laughed while pulling his phone out of his pocket and then frowning. "But I really have to go now. It's been good to catch up."
May smiled at her boss, he was a good man. "Take care of yourself."
////
Wanda was curious as she climbed through Daisy's window. Not that it was hard, she could fly. But it was odd. She bit back her instinctive wince at the dark circles under Daisy's eyes. Instead she gently closed the window behind her. "Daisy, what's going on?"
"I need your help." Daisy twitched slightly as she said that. She was sitting on the far end of her bed, legs curled under her.
Wanda could feel the swirl of emotions all tightly reigned in. Without intruding, it was hard to parse out what they were, and Wanda respected that Daisy didn't want her powers focused on her in that way. Explosions, wildly dangerous launching sure, nothing in her head. "What do you need? And why the window?"
"I almost broke May's arm today." Daisy's shoulders curled further inwards. "And I can't trust myself to sleep here. I'd taken for granted we modeled my sleeping quarters off our containment facilities at SHIELD."
Wanda cautiously sat down on the bed, leaving room for Daisy's jittery energy. Actually now that she was looking for it she could feel the air vibrating. It was a soft buzz filling the room. "You're worried you'll take the house down if you sleep?"
"Think more New York dealing with an earthquake." Daisy looked up. "Even in a containment unit when I had nightmares I nearly brought down an entire underground base. And that's with people to wake me up."
And Wanda got it. She brought her own legs up, folding them under her. "You asked me to come through the window so the Parkers don't realize how dangerous this could be?"
Daisy nodded sharply. "I won't hurt them."
"I know that." Wanda had to resist reaching out and taking Daisy's hand. It wouldn't help. "You love them, they know that. I only feel echoes of it and I know that."
Daisy's voice was surprisingly thick as she spoke. "In the framework...everything was wrong. I was Hydra. I hunted down, tortured and killed Inhumans. It was...to know that could have been me." Daisy's knuckles turned white. "I know what I'll see if I let myself dream."
Wanda frowned. "Do you need me to be here to contain your powers while you sleep?"
"I…" Daisy trailed off before breathing in. She looked up, meeting her eyes. "I need you to make sure I don't dream."
Her mouth opened and then closed. Because that was… "You…" And she could feel resolve but also mind numbing terror from Daisy. Which suddenly made a horrible amount of sense.
"My trauma isn't more important than everyone's safety." Daisy's eyes were clear, her face determined. The clear exhaustion only slightly belayed that.
And Wanda...she hesitantly reached out touching Daisy's hand, ignoring the barely noticeable flinch as she made contact. "There must be other options? The tower has a room to contain the Hulk?"
"I ran a simulation." Daisy's voice was just..exhausted. "I'd cause a 2.3 earthquake in the middle of manhattan. The safety measures on the room would prevent anyone from being able to get in to wake me for twenty minutes."
"Ah." Wanda cast for another solution. Because she did not want to use her powers like that on someone who was terrified of them. She valued their friendship. It would be...it would be cruel. "Sleeping pills?"
Daisy shook her head. "Dendrotoxin or opioid blend with dissociative drugs. And non-sustainable." Daisy's lips pulled into a smile, though it was mirthless. "I've looked at the options and believe me, this isn't something I'd ask lightly."
Wanda could feel how serious her friend was about this. And she wasn't going to make her ask again. Daisy and her siblings had helped Wanda at every turn. She refused to stall at being asked for something without return for the first time since they'd met. "I will do it. But Daisy I can tell you're terrified."
"It has nothing to do with you if that helps?" Daisy winced slightly.
She raised her hands to the side of Daisy's head. "Are you sure?"
"I know you're not going to hurt me." And she meant it. "That doesn't mean my head is going to be any more pleasant for you."
Wanda nodded and the red light of her powers curled around her fingers, and then sank into Daisy connecting them. Daisy's eyes went red and then Wanda felt the chasoming pain, fear, love, resolve, kindness, loneliness, hate, and myriads of other emotions slam into her. This wasn't the simple pulling of certain fears to the consciousness as she'd done to the Avengers. It was… far more delicate. Because she could feel the damage the one here before had done.
She carefully, painfully carefully soothed the fear and guilt and other twisted up emotions. Not a lot, never completely. But enough she could pull something pleasant and warm forward. Wanda carefully eased the mind into sleep. Not that it was hard, the bone deep exhaustion barely needed a nudge from her. Wanda caught Daisy as she slumped forward, already unconscious.
"I got you." Wanda was careful, and grateful for her powers, as she managed to get Daisy into her bed. Which apparently Daisy sprawled when she was completely out. She carefully tucked in her friend.
Wanda stood there. Now what? It felt...wrong to just leave her to sleep. She looked around the room...there were a lot of computer bits and pieces, but generally the room was pretty sparse. Did Daisy not read? Not a single book? She was going to need something other than what looked like a broken laptop. How good was she at lying? Time to find out.
She made her way down to the kitchen. Wanda set the kettle on the oven and got two mugs out of the cabinets.
"Oh I didn't know you were here honey." May smiled as she pulled out a packet of popcorn. "Is Pietro here?"
Wanda just softened as she looked at May. "No, he's reading bedtime stories over skype to the Barton kids."
"That's sweet." May was just so warm and genuine. "There's some leftovers in the fridge if you want dinner."
She brushed it off easily. "I've already eaten, but thank you. I'm just going to need some tea and a book if I'm not going to fall asleep."
"Daisy have you helping with something?" May asked while leaning against the counter, letting the popcorn pop in the microwave.
Wanda grabbed the box of tea. "Something about helping move the tiny parts of her new computer." She stayed carefully calm. "I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of nothing."
"Ah, do you need a book?" May just looked amused. "And if you could curtail some of the energy drink consumption I'd be grateful."
Wanda's lips pulled up. "I'll do what I can. A book would be wonderful though."
"I hope you like romantic novels. It's that or Peter's comics and chemistry textbooks." May's head tilted slightly. "Or I think Darcy has some political science and historical texts somewhere?"
Wanda huffed in amusement. "I'm beginning to think Starks are allergic to literature. The only one of the Avengers who reads is Natasha."
"Oh, what does the Black Widow read?" May asked.
She let her powers pull a book from the living room into the kitchen. "Depressing russian literature. Also depressing french literature. Your romance novels will be a good change of pace."
"Ah, the most dramatic and depressing of all books." May pulled her popcorn out of the microwave. "Is there anything else you need?"
Wanda shook her head. "I'm fine. Thank you though."
"Of course, it's good to see you. Are you bringing Pietro with you to movie night tomorrow?" May asked, pausing in the entryway to the kitchen.
She nodded. "I will, we'll be a bit early, Pietro volunteered to teach Peter to make durney."
"Well I for one am looking forward to whatever they produce." May smiled warmly before leaving.
Wanda sighed, that had gone surprisingly well. She was distracted by the kettle. She carried the two mugs of tea and the book back upstairs. Thankfully her powers were useful for carrying things. Closing the door behind her she looked at Daisy's room. Well, at least that beanbag in the corner looked reasonably comfortable.
Wanda jerked slightly as she heard a sound from the bed. "Daisy?"
Daisy blinked blearily at her. Her face was scrunched slightly in confusion as she woke. "What… you stayed?" The confusion was so clear in her voice.
She raised a brow. "Of course? You were scared, how could I just leave you alone?"
"Oh." Daisy blinked owlishly.
Wanda set her book aside. "Why is your computer in pieces? It's been bothering me."
Notes:
I noticed something kinda hilarious and totally accidental in this fic the other day. You know how the core of the Avengers are Tony, Steve, and Thor? I think I accidentally made mirrors of more successful version of them in the kids. Like Darcy is much more grounded Tony. Peter's an everyman turned superman who goes out there because they feel a responsibility to like Steve, and Daisy is certainly an alien force of nature like Thor. Only they're all slightly healthier versions. Like Peter in this hasn't been forced to lead or compromise his morals and thus is a much better able to be the emotional and moral center of the team. Daisy is much more successfully able to balance her responsibilities between her SHIELD family and her new family with the Parkers. She's also able to actually use her combat, strategy, etc training much more effectively with her siblings than Thor ever was with the Avengers. And Darcy...enough said. She's a much healthier Tony. Anyways I just thought that was a kinda hilarious thing to have happened.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone