บท 55: Chapter 55

Over the next few days Tony was busy handling the fallout from the plane crash, but when they spent time together it was obvious to Maggie just how much his mood had changed. He wasn't moody and silent any more, he was proud. They didn't discuss Spider-Man again, but she knew that he was the cause of Tony's newfound good mood. She wanted to tease her brother but she held herself back, because it was good to see him walking around with his usual easy swagger, cracking jokes that weren't at his own expense.

He was back to working on his secret project, too, and he had quite a few closed-door meetings with Pepper.

Two days after the plane crash Tony and Maggie were working on the tech they'd designed for Rhodey's suit, tossing ideas back and forth about how to mass-produce the tech for publicly-available prosthetics. After finishing the armor it had seemed like a natural progression, but today Tony seemed distracted. Eventually he rolled his stool back and said:

"Hey. Do you like it here?"

She blinked. "Yeah, Tony, I do."

"Even though you're technically my prisoner?"

"There's a lot to be said for Stockholm Syndrome," she teased, still working on her design for a prosthetic leg. "Seriously though, yes. I've got friends, I'm well looked after, I've got work to do. You're not too bad either, I suppose." She meant what she said, despite her uncertain future and the deep, aching way she missed Bucky.

Tony tapped his chest. "That's good," he said. "Would you be alright if I… changed the dynamic a bit?"

She raised an eyebrow. "You're referring to all the stuff you've been doing in secret over the past few days."

"Uh, yeah." He looked slightly guilty, but not really.

"What kind of change?"

"I… don't really want to say just yet, we're still planning it out, but… there'd be a new face around."

Maggie rolled her eyes. No wonder Tony had admitted that he was Iron Man the very first chance he got, he was terrible at keeping secrets. He was so obviously referring to Spider-Man, but she decided not to call him out on it. Let him think he was being sneaky. "That sounds good, if you think it'd be a good idea," she replied. He perked up – he'd clearly been worried that she wouldn't want anything to change.

She smirked. "Hey Tony, I think I know what you're talking about."

He froze. "What?"

"All this talk about changing dynamics, a new face… Pepper's pregnant, right?"

Tony threw a bolt at her and she caught it, laughing at the incensed expression on his face.

September 26th, 2016

Avengers Facility, Upstate New York

"This is such an obvious distraction, Vis. I know you're keeping me out of the way of whatever's going on downstairs."

Maggie and Vision stood on the Avengers Facility roof, the wind blowing on their faces as they looked out at the spectacular view of the facility and New York in the distance. Vision had invited her up to 'take in the sights,' but Maggie had sensed the buzz of activity as they made their way up the stairs, and she could see the high volume of vehicles in the visitor's parking lot. She paced the rooftop, trying to see whatever was going on, and Vision watched her with a smile.

"You're so not sneaky," she shot at him, and gave up on peering over the edge. Whatever was going on must be inside.

He shrugged. "My chess record against you would beg to differ."

She squinted at him. "Who taught you how to trash talk?" But the words had barely left her mouth before she waved her hand. "Never mind, of course it was Tony."

She and Vision chatted about chess, Wanda, and the aerodynamic capabilities of the Avengers' Quinjet as they hung out on the roof. It clearly wasn't meant to be a place for social gatherings – it was just a plain concrete roof with air conditioning units and generator vents. Though now Maggie was looking she noted that it would be a good place to run flying drills from – it looked out over the whole facility, from the wide-open grounds to the training hangar. The forest stretched for miles around, and when she turned she had to squint against the light glinting off the wide river.

She took a deep breath. It would be beautiful to fly around here. She closed her eyes and imagined skimming the treetops with the wind in her face and her wings spread wide.

She shook herself and paced the roof once more, scuffing her shoes against the concrete. "How much longer do you have to distract me for?" she called to the android on the other end of the rooftop, but he didn't respond. "Ugh."

She strolled to the edge of the roof and leaned against an air conditioning vent, peering down at the people walking in and out of the main building. Most of them wore suits or military uniforms, so her eyes caught on a figure dressed in jeans and a canvas jacket. As she watched, the figure – who she noted was a teenager – practically skipped down the stairs and paused on the tarmac road, gawking around at the grounds. He couldn't seem to decide whether to stare at the facility buildings or at the Quinjet that had just landed.

Maggie smiled to herself and was about to turn away, but then she spotted Happy's distinctive bulky figure hustle out of the main building and make a beeline for the boy. She raised an eyebrow. Happy had a brief conversation with the boy, which she was too far away to hear, then ushered him into a dark car. Happy got in the driver's seat and they drove away.

Weird.

She was about to mention the odd scene to Vision, but he took that moment to appear soundlessly by her shoulder, making her jump.

"Maggie," he said. He sounded surprised, which caught her attention. "It appears that your brother has just gotten engaged."

She choked and whirled around. "What?"

After dealing with the pandemonium that was the reporters' response to the press-conference-proposal, Pepper and Tony managed to get a moment alone to laugh hysterically and reaffirm that yes, this is what they wanted. That done, they asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to invite the Avengers and Maggie to a round of champagne in the common room. Happy had also returned from dropping off the kid, so he made his way up.

Rhodey arrived first, grinning from ear to ear. He pulled them both in for a hug and said "Congratulations, you two. I honestly thought this wouldn't happen until you were both like eighty."

Tony's eyes glinted. "Well we haven't set a date-"

"No," Pepper interrupted firmly, though there was laughter in her eyes. "We are not breaking the world record for longest engagement."

At that moment, the door to the common room opened and Maggie, Happy, and Vision walked in. Vision and Happy looked pleased, but Maggie's face was unreadable. She walked up to the newly-engaged couple, eyes flickering over their faces and darting down to the ring on Pepper's finger. Then she punched Tony in the arm.

"Ow," he protested, dancing away.

Maggie narrowed her eyes. "Thanks for not telling me, asshole." She then turned to Pepper, beamed at her, and pulled her in for a hug. "Congratulations, I'm so happy for you!"

Pepper hugged her back. "Thank you, Maggie, that means a lot."

Tony shuffled closer, rubbing his arm. "To be fair I couldn't have given you any warning, Magnolia, it was kind of spur of the moment. I didn't plan it out in advance or anything-"

"Romantic," Maggie snorted as she pulled away from Pepper.

"Hey, I'm romantic," he protested. "Aren't I romantic, Pep, I got down on my knee and everything-"

"In front of thirty TV cameras," Rhodey added, smirking.

"It was romantic," Pepper cut in, smiling as she reached out to touch Tony's arm. His face softened as he looked at her, but she wasn't done. "It was especially romantic that you only did it because-"

"Because I love you," Tony cut in, raising his eyebrows at Pepper in some kind of hidden signal. Maggie narrowed her eyes at the exchange, but let it go.

She grinned, looking at her brother and his… his fiancé. Tony looked a little shell-shocked, but you couldn't fake the genuine happiness on his face, and Maggie smiled at him as Vision and Happy moved in to offer their congratulations. Pepper and Tony agreed on a bottle of champagne, and everyone – bar Vision – took a glass and toasted to their happiness.

"Wow, okay," Maggie said, nodding. "You're getting married." The magnitude of it hit her, and she added: "How does that even work?"

Tony shot her a weird look, but then a thought occurred to him and his expression cleared. "Right, you've never been to a wedding before, have you?" Everyone turned to look at her.

"I've seen weddings in movies," she protested. But that just seemed to make everyone look sad, so she pointed at Vision and said "I'm willing to bet that he's never been to one either!"

Vision shrugged, admitting her point.

"We haven't figured out the details yet," Pepper said, thankfully drawing attention away from Maggie's general inexperience with life. "But I guess…" she turned to Tony. "I guess it won't change much, we'll still live here, right?"

He blinked. "Yeah, I mean, if that's what you want?"

"I want that," Pepper agreed. "Though there is going to be a lot of paperwork. I'm making you sign a prenup."

"That's fair, you are the CEO of one of the world's leading tech companies."

Maggie, Vision, Rhodey, and Happy watched bemusedly as the couple seemed to figure out that yes, they were actually getting married. They left them to it, and sipped their champagne as F.R.I.D.A.Y. started playing music in the background. Happy and Rhodey talked about all the weddings they'd been to, much to Maggie and Vision's interest, and when Pepper and Tony returned to the conversation they all ribbed the newly engaged couple about the likely speculations the media would have. They watched the video of Tony's proposal, which was strangely sweet despite the crowd of shouting reporters. Maggie watched it with a huge grin on her face.

Their impromptu party lasted well into the night, with the Avengers and their family laughing, drinking, and trading jokes. It was a noticeably small party, and the absence of the other Avengers was felt, but for the first time the space wasn't haunted. They missed their absent friends, but in that moment what they had was enough.

Happy got drunk and started waxing nostalgic about the years he'd spent with Pepper and Tony, and professed over and over how happy he was for them. It was sweet, and Pepper actually got a little teary-eyed as he stood up at the end of his slightly slurred speech and toasted them once more. Vision gave a very logical explanation of the statistical likelihood that they would have a happy marriage – 83%, according to various demographic, financial, social, and personality-based factors.

Rhodey ribbed both of them – with Maggie's help – throughout the afternoon and into the night, though it was clear how happy he was about the news. After five glasses of champagne Maggie and Rhodey climbed onto the coffee table and serenaded Tony and Pepper with The Wind Beneath My Wings. Pepper went bright red with laughter, and Tony watched them with a grin that wouldn't have been out of place if Bette Midler herself was singing to him. They finished their performance to a round of applause, and Vision informed them that it had been "objectively terrible".

Toward the end of the night Maggie used her well-honed assassin skills to get Tony alone. He was in the kitchen making cups of coffee for the group, looking strangely domestic for a billionaire. He was just on the right side of drunk, chatty and happy, suit crumpled and tie missing, with a look of contentment on his face.

"Hey," Maggie said. "Sorry for punching you before."

He waved a hand expansively. "You'll be hearing from my lawyers in the morning."

She rolled her eyes. "I was surprised. I thought you were going to invite Spider-Man to live at the facility."

"Oh, I did," he said, leaning back against the stone countertop. "But he said he wanted to stay on the ground, help the little guy. Surprising, but he's a great kid. I'm thinking it was the right choice for him, y'know? Still, he'll be coming around more often." He looked up at her. "Wait, I probably shouldn't have told you that, are you interrogating me?"

"Maybe a little bit," she admitted with a smile. He frowned at her, but clearly wasn't too annoyed. She leaned against the counter top beside him as he moved the steaming cups of coffee onto a tray. "I'm really happy for you, Tony," she said, and his frown faded away. "You and Pepper are great together, this is an awesome step."

He hummed contemplatively, a small smile playing at his lips. "Who would've thunk it, huh?"

"Clearly not you, Mr Spontaneous."

He kicked in the general direction of her ankle, but missed by a few inches. They fell into a comfortable silence, standing together in the common room kitchen as the conversation in the room beyond wound down.

"You're invited to the wedding," Tony eventually said. "That seems obvious, but… just so you know."

Maggie blinked. She hadn't really thought about it, but she suddenly realized that Ross would probably have a few things to say about her taking time off imprisonment to go to a wedding. "Tony, I don't know if-"

He held up a hand. "No. Just… you're invited. End of story."

She cocked her head at him. "Okay."

He grinned at her. "Awesome. You wanna do something at the wedding? Rhodey's my best man, obviously, but you could be a grooms-lady. Or… a ring bearer. No, that's Dum-E's job. Or… hey, you wanna officiate?"

"Okay, you're officially not allowed to make decisions about your wedding while you're drunk," Maggie laughed, and picked up the tray of coffees. "Let's get you back to your fiancé."

"Your future sister-in-law," he reminded her, following her out of the kitchen. "So that's a no on officiating? You could dress up as Elvis!"

"That's a no. To… to all of that. Let's go, idiot."

Late September, 2016

Avengers Facility, Upstate New York

As Happy drove up to the Avengers Facility, Peter couldn't help but stare out the window again – his first visit still felt like a dream, and he couldn't quite believe how cool the place was. He honestly didn't think he'd be back so soon.

Peter had had a big few weeks. After all the stuff with the Vulture he'd turned down an offer to be in the Avengers. And then Aunt May had walked in on him wearing the Spider-Man suit.

She had freaked out big time, so he had freaked out, and it had ended up with a very frantic conversation and before she drove them both to the Avengers Facility and yelled at Mr Stark. That had been pretty embarrassing, but Mr Stark had actually looked really guilty.

Aunt May was still freaking out, but after explaining why he'd put on his first Spider-Man suit in the first place – Uncle Ben – she started to understand. Peter had stopped going out for a few nights, to keep her from freaking out more, but then the bodega down the street from them got held up and he went out the very next day. May was in his room when he got back, but she didn't freak out at him. She asked him about fifteen separate times whether he'd been hurt, and then she made him eat, shower, and go to bed. It was kind of nice, after all the times he'd snuck back home and been alone with his thoughts.

Anyway, things at the moment were pretty tense for him. Even Ned was being weird, because he just couldn't understand why Peter had turned down a job offer to be an Avenger. Whenever Peter tried to explain, Ned just made a face as if Peter was explaining why the earth was flat.

And then, after a few nights of fighting crime, Peter realized that though he'd gotten the suit back, he was having issues with it. Mr Stark had reinstated the Baby Monitor Protocol, for one thing, and he kept having issues with functions like the reconnaissance drone or the web fluid combinations. Karen wasn't being very helpful, she just kept saying "maybe it would have been a good idea to complete the Training Wheels Protocol."

He didn't want to hack the suit behind Mr Stark's back again, so he called Happy to ask if he could get the errors looked at. Happy was a lot nicer after Peter had saved his job, and since it was a weekend he'd agreed to drive Peter up to the Facility right away. May wasn't happy about it, but she made him promise not to agree to any missions or join the Avengers, and then she let him go. She was still super angry with Mr Stark, but even she agreed that the suit kept him a lot safer than the onesie had.

Happy parked the car, and said into seemingly thin air: "F.R.I.D.A.Y., where's Tony right now?"

A female voice with an Irish accent spoke: "The boss is at one of the outdoor tables by the main building."

Peter's eyes went round. "Who is that?"

"That's F.R.I.D.A.Y.," Happy explained as he pulled up beside the main building. "She's Tony's A.I., she runs the facility."

"Like Karen?"

"I don't know who that is. The tables she mentioned are just up those stairs, turn left and follow the building around, you'll see 'em. I've got to park the car, you head on up."

"Wha- by myself?"

Happy looked into the rearview mirror and met his eyes. "You can't walk around a building by yourself?"

"I can," he protested, "but aren't I… not allowed to, or something?"

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. will keep an eye on you." Happy sounded exasperated. "Just don't talk to anyone or get lost, and let F.R.I.D.A.Y. know when you're ready to head back. It's the weekend, there's not many people around to see you."

"O-okay." Peter climbed out of the car, clutching his backpack, and stared up at the glass and steel building. Happy drove off, leaving him alone on the pavement. "Okay, don't get lost. I can do this."

Peter followed the directions he'd been given, climbing up the set of stairs. He passed two people in suits, but they didn't look at him twice. Walking around the building felt a little like going out of bounds, because suddenly there was no one else around, but he was pretty sure he wasn't lost yet. As he walked, he stared up at the side of the huge white building, at the forest to his right, and at the green lawns stretching away before him. He'd turned all of this down.

When he turned the corner, he abruptly came to a halt. He'd found the outdoor tables, sure enough; sleek silver benches with a good view of the facility grounds, probably meant for staff to enjoy on their lunch break. Mr Stark was there, too.

But he wasn't alone. Mr Stark, dressed more casually than Peter had ever seen him in track pants and a faded Led Zeppelin t-shirt, sat across from a dark-haired woman. The woman sat cross-legged on her bench seat, wearing shorts and a shirt with a picture of a pineapple wearing sunglasses on it. Both she and Mr Stark were drinking green smoothies.

Peter froze by the corner of the building and stared at them.

"Okay, I've got a question," said the woman, after taking a sip of her smoothie. Peter noticed she wore a black metal bracelet with a glowing green light on it. "What's your favorite color?"

Mr Stark scoffed. "Most people don't need to ask that. Just look at the suit."

"Red, then?" Mr Stark nodded, and the woman laughed. "Me too."

Peter couldn't really see her face, because of the angle she was sitting at, but her whole bearing was casual and relaxed, not at all how Peter was used to people behaving around Mr Stark. His eyes flicked to Mr Stark himself, and he was surprised to see him smiling, with genuine emotion on his face.

Peter shifted uncomfortably. He was sure Mr Stark had just gotten engaged to Ms Potts, the CEO of his company. He didn't know who this lady was, but the longer he stood there without saying something the weirder he felt.

He cleared his throat. "Uh…"

Both Mr Stark and the woman spun to look at him, and the sudden attention made Peter flush. He glanced down at his feet. "Um, Mr Stark, I… Happy told me to come here about the suit, I didn't mean to interrupt your… uh…" he looked up, taking in the incredulous look on Mr Stark's face and the bemused one on the woman's face. They were still seated at the table, holding their smoothies. Peter finished by wincing and adding: "… thing?"

They had been completely still as he rambled, but when he finished the woman laughed, her dark eyes crinkling as she tilted her head at him.

Mr Stark rolled his eyes and put down his smoothie. "Kid, meet my sister Maggie. Maggie, meet the kid."

Automatically, he said "Nice to meet you, I'm Peter." But then the actual content of Mr Stark's introduction hit him, and his eyes shot wide open. He hadn't recognized her at all – he'd never actually seen her face before except in the publicly-released mugshot, and she didn't look much like that anymore. Her bruises were gone, she wore normal clothes, and her face was alive with amusement. Besides, Peter really hadn't expected to see the Wyvern at a picnic bench drinking smoothies.

All of this hit him in a rush, and before he could stop himself he blurted out "Oh shit, you're the lady from the airport!"

That got her attention – she still looked amused, but now her eyes flicked over him, sizing him up. She cocked her head. "You're the one in the spider suit."

Crap. Crap. Crap. "Uh, no, uh, what spider suit? I wasn't at the airport." He instinctively angled himself so she couldn't see his backpack, which he'd stuffed said spider suit into only an hour ago.

Mr Stark rolled his eyes again. "Peter, don't tell anyone about Maggie. Maggie, don't tell anyone about Peter. He's got this… secret identity. Thing. I don't want to talk about it, it gives me hives."

Peter sighed and cautiously walked over to them, his shoulders sagging. He really wasn't any good at keeping the whole Spider-Man thing a secret, was he?

The woman – Maggie – sensed his dejection. "I won't tell anyone, Peter," she said, her eyes warm. "I don't really have anyone to tell."

"Thanks," he muttered, now standing at the end of their table. "It's just, I'm in high school, and I've got my aunt, and the bad guys really can't know who I am."

"Fair enough," she agreed. Now that he was standing next to her Peter could see that she looked a bit like Mr Stark. Suddenly a frown pinched her brow. "High school?" She turned to glare at Mr Stark, who raised his hands defensively.

"He was already fighting crime, I just gave him a better suit."

"And sent him up against half the Avengers," she shot back.

"Hey, you've got no moral high ground here, you're the one who beat him up."

"I wouldn't say she beat me up," Peter cut in.

They stopped bickering and looked up at him again, shooting him identical looks of bemusement.

"That's true," Maggie conceded, "I did run away."

Peter recalled the way the Wyvern had dived after him at the airport, looking terrifying with her big, sharp wings and glowing red eyes. He could hardly believe that this was the same woman. "Yeah, and you threw a grenade at me."

Now Mr Stark turned to glare at Maggie, and she shrugged. "I knew it wasn't going to hit him."

"You did?" Peter perked up. "Thanks, I guess." He cleared his throat and shuffled his feet awkwardly. "Are you, um… okay?"

She cocked her head. "Am I okay?"

He gestured vaguely at her, and then winced. "I just mean after… after everything that went down at the airport in Germany. I heard you got hurt."

Her face softened. Out of the corner of his eye Peter saw Mr Stark watching them with a considering look. "Oh. Yeah, I… I did get hurt, but I'm okay now," she smiled at him. "Benefits of super-soldier serum. Thanks for asking."

"Wait, you're a super-soldier?" he asked, eyes widening again.

"Yes she is," Mr Stark cut in as he got to his feet, "but don't tell anyone that either. You said you came here about the suit?"

"Right," he nodded. "I guess since I hacked it and all some functions aren't working? I was hoping you could help me fix it."

Maggie laughed. "You hacked the suit he made for you?"

Peter flushed. "Uh, yeah. Well, my friend did."

Mr Stark rolled his eyes again. "Alright, kid, let's get the suit to the workshop. Maggot, you coming?"

"Yeah." Maggie, who didn't seem at all offended by the nickname, got to her feet and picked up her smoothie.

"Oh, we're all going up? Now? Together?" Peter asked as the Stark siblings strode toward the main building. Mr Stark looked over his shoulder at him.

"Yeah, kid, get a move on."

"Okay…" Hardly believing that he was in the presence of not one but two Starks, Peter grabbed his backpack straps and hurried after them.

Peter didn't say much on the way to the workshop, so Maggie took the opportunity to surreptitiously observe him. He was a lot younger than she'd expected, all wide-eyed amazement and nerves as he stared at the facility corridors and rooms. He was wearing faded jeans, converse, and a flannel shirt over a plain grey t-shirt. His body language was unconsciously protective of his backpack, so she figured that's where the suit was.

No wonder Tony had been so worried about mentoring and kids over the past few weeks. Peter was a kid. And yet, as she watched him a little more closely, she sensed there was an invisible weight on his shoulders that normal kids didn't have. He'd taken on a lot for such a young person.

When they entered the workshop, Peter's mouth dropped open. Tony liked showing off, so Maggie hung back and watched the two of them talk as Tony showed Peter the workshop. Peter had forgotten all his nerves – he couldn't seem to stop talking as he stared at the machines and projects lying around the room. Tony's eyes glinted with amusement as the teenager spun in place, eyes wide and mouth open. Maggie wondered if that's what she looked like her first time in the workshop.

Peter's attention caught on a mechanical trill from the other side of the workshop. "What is that?"

"He is Dum-E," Maggie piped up, striding over to the pair of robots near Tony's workbench. "And this is U. The robots swiveled their claws as Peter approached, his eyes wide. "Dum-E, U, this is Peter."

The robots opened and closed their claws in greeting, and Peter laughed slightly hysterically. "Okay, there's robots now, that's… that's cool."

She grinned at him. "Yeah, it is."

Tony hopped on a stool and rolled toward the bench. "Alright, spiderling, let's have a look at the suit."

Peter pulled the suit out of his backpack and they got to work. Peter stared at the revolving holographic overlays as he explained what the problem was, and Tony listened while playing with a wrench. Maggie took the opportunity to blatantly snoop through the suit's subsystems, seeing what Tony had equipped Spider-Man with.

Eventually, Tony explained that there wasn't anything wrong with the suit, it was just that Peter didn't have access to certain functions yet.

The teenager frowned. "But Mr Stark, I don't need the Training Wheels Protocol! I fought the Vulture, I beat him, haven't I… haven't I proved that I can handle myself?"

Tony sighed and put down the wrench. "Look, kid, it's not about proving yourself – it's about sending you out into the field with a suit you don't know how to use. Let's not forget that you beat the Vulture in pajamas. I'm impressed, really, but there's a difference between heart and grit or whatever helped you win then, and handling a highly complex mechanical suit. The Training Wheels Protocol is just that – to train you. Otherwise you could end up hurting yourself, or other people."

Peter threw up his hands. "How am I mean to know how to use it if I'm not allowed to use it? What if I need to use one of those functions to help someone, but I can't because I've been locked out?"

Maggie watched the two of them with a smile playing at her lips. She'd only just met Peter but she liked him, and liked the exasperated, proud, protective side of Tony he brought out. After another minute of back and forth, she cut in.

"He's got a point, Tony." They both turned to look at her – Peter in surprise, Tony in annoyance. She raised an eyebrow. "Can you really tell me you gave yourself a Training Wheels Protocol before you took the Iron Man armor out the first time?"

Tony opened his mouth and then closed it, looking guilty. Then he rallied himself: "Okay, but I wasn't twelve-"

"Fifteen!" Peter protested at the same time as Maggie said:

"Yes, you were a very responsible, mature adult who made good decisions," she interrupted, both eyebrows raised. Tony's face twisted. She gestured at Peter, who watched them with an open mouth. "Peter's shown that he's capable. And let's not forget that he's not the only person in this room who went into battle as a teenager."

Tony sighed. "Okay, but my original point stands – he doesn't know about the suit's subsystems."

"So show me," Peter piped up, closing his mouth and straightening his shoulders. "I can handle it."

Tony looked at Peter for a few long, silent seconds, glanced at Maggie's face, and then back at Peter. He sighed. "Fine. Okay. If you pay attention today and prove to me that you can handle this suit's functions, I'll take off the locks."

Peter nodded emphatically. "Yes, I can do that, Mr Stark, thank you!"

Tony sighed again. "Whatever. Your aunt might actually kill me if you get hurt doing something stupid in the suit."

They spent the rest of the day going through the functions of the spider suit in detail. They relocated to the demonstration bay a few doors down from the workshop: a reinforced, mostly empty concrete room that could withstand low-to-middle range explosions and most kinds of artillery.

Peter put on the suit and tried out each button and voice command when Tony instructed him to, as Tony explained what each function did and why he'd chosen to install it. Maggie, who had brought a swivel chair into the demonstration bay with her, was learning as they went, just like Peter. She piped up every now and then with ideas about alternative ways he could use each function, and advice about what to do in different kinds of combat situations. Whenever they discussed anything to do with projectiles, she assisted by pelting Peter with pencils, metal bolts, and grapes – whatever was closest to hand.

Mostly, however, she browsed through the holographic readouts for the suit and chatted with the young superhero.

"Hey, Peter," she said, as Tony demonstrated how to navigate the suit's complex HUD. Peter, his mask shoved up to his forehead, turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Tony told me about how you stopped those guys from stealing the Moving Day plane last week. I wanted to say thank you. You did a good job." She smiled at him, and his eyebrows shot up.

"I, yeah… I mean, no problem!" he said, eyes wide. "Thank you, Ms Stark-"

"Maggie," she suggested.

"Maggie, right. I, uh, I was pretty glad when the bad guy turned out not to be you - I thought, that first time at the lake-"

She held up a hand. "I'm sorry, what?"

Peter frowned. "The Vulture. He had big metal wings, like yours?

There was a beat of silence. Then Maggie turned to Tony. "What the hell?"

Tony, who had been very pointedly not looking at her, winced. "I didn't tell you about the Vulture? Huh, weird."

"Tony-"

"I thought it would upset you! A guy flying around with metal wings, doing bad-guy-stuff-"

Maggie rolled her eyes. "I'm fine. F.R.I.D.A.Y., can I see the Vulture, please?" F.R.I.D.A.Y. obliged, replacing the holographic overlay of Peter's suit with an image of the Vulture. At first she was struck with an odd sense of déjà vu – the Vulture wore a dark outfit, his face concealed by a mask and glowing goggles, as he was held aloft by two menacing metal wings. But the differences quickly jumped out at her – his wings were a different design to hers, more bird-like than bat-like, with two enormous turbines. His whole design was heavier, clunkier, than the Wyvern's sleek, efficient wings and uniform. The Vulture also held a glowing purple weapon.

"Huh," she said after studying the image, along with the short blurb F.R.I.D.A.Y. had thoughtfully included about the Vulture himself and the man who'd designed the wings. She turned to Peter, who glanced between Maggie and Tony as if expecting to get in trouble. "How did you take him down?"

Peter blinked. "Um."

She gestured at the Vulture. "I know a thing or two about how wings give you the advantage in combat. How'd you get him?"

"Oh, I…" Peter flushed. "I didn't, really. I was more focused on stopping him from stealing the plane, and once we were down he, uh… kind of beat me up. A bit. But then he tried to steal a bunch of Mr Stark's arc reactors, which blew up, so I just kind of… dragged him out of the fire, um, and tied him up."

Maggie and Tony stared at Peter for a few moments. Peter just flushed further, and scratched the back of his neck.

"Well." Maggie cocked her head. "Well done."

Peter ducked his head. "Didn't do much."

"Sounds like you saved the plane and the Vulture's life, if you ask me," she said. "And… for reference, if you ever end up fighting someone with metal wings again – go for the power sources. Engines, turbines. Wings are really difficult to design, and once you mess with those crucial parts they're basically useless. Also, if you're up against anyone using metal to protect themselves, go for joints and hinges, and remember that metal doesn't do too well in the cold."

"Oh," Peter replied, his eyes round. "Okay."

Tony eyed Maggie, and she shrugged at him. "Just saying."

"Whatever, weirdo," Tony said, and went back to explaining the suit's various reconnaissance mode subsystems.

After watching them talk for a few more minutes, Maggie couldn't help piping up again. "So you're in high school? What's that like?"

Peter, using the reconnaissance mode to observe a squad of Avengers agents on the lawn through the reinforced window, cocked his head. "What is high school like?"

"Yeah. I never went, I'm curious."

He switched out of reconnaissance mode and turned around. "Oh. Uh… school's alright, I guess. I do best in science, but I'm getting pretty good at Spanish, and I'm on the decathlon team with my friends."

"You're in science classes? What are you working on at the moment?"

Peter seemed a little surprised by her interest in his life, but he didn't seem to mind chatting with her. Maggie didn't know if she'd ever really spoken with a teenager before, save for while she was at the Red Room, but it was fascinating. He was full of pop culture references and funny observations, and he had a genuine interest in the suit's capabilities. He obviously looked up to Tony, and though he seemed a little overwhelmed once he realized that Maggie was just as smart as her brother, he relaxed as the day went on.

In the afternoon Peter ended up hanging upside down from the demonstration bay ceiling, nodding along as Tony gave him various warnings about what not to try in the suit. Maggie watched with her chin propped on her hand and her feet tucked up under herself. It was interesting seeing Tony like this – protective and concerned, lecturing the kid about not taking unnecessary risks. Tony eventually noticed that she was staring, and glanced over at her.

"What?"

She smiled. "Nothing."

Tony had always been good at making his own family.

As they neared the bottom of the list of subsystems they moved back into the workshop, since the demonstration bay was covered in webbing and projectiles.

Maggie reclined in her chair and started juggling tools, watching metal flash through in the air as her hands made the familiar movements. Tony took one look at her and muttered "of course you can juggle." Peter stared at her, the white eyes of his mask wide.

"You can juggle?" he asked, voice high.

"No," she replied, still juggling. "I'm just very good at tricking people into thinking I can."

Tony snorted.

"Can you juggle anything?" Peter asked, undeterred.

"As long as it's about palm size," she replied. "Oh, and I can solve Rubik's cubes while juggling them."

Tony slapped the workbench. "That's gotta be a lie," he said, spider-suit subsystems forgotten. At Maggie's unimpressed look, his eyes widened. "Really?"

She cocked an eyebrow. "Do you have three Rubik's cubes?"

Maggie had not started the day intending to perform her Fuck You, HYDRA skill for her brother and his protégé Spider-Man, but that's what she ended up doing. Peter had pulled off his mask, and he watched the cubes get closer to being solved with a childlike amazement. Tony wasn't much better, his eyebrows high on his forehead and his eyes wide. When she finished and presented the solved cubes with a flourish, Peter burst into applause with a huge grin on his face, and Tony stared at the Rubik's cubes.

"How do you know how to do that?" he asked, gesturing from her to the cubes. "Why do you know how to do that?"

She shrugged and set the Rubik's cubes on the workbench. Peter immediately swiped one of them, messed it up, and started trying to solve it.

"Because it's something that HYDRA would have hated me knowing," she explained.

A shadow crossed Tony's face. "Huh. That something you do often, learning stuff because HYDRA wouldn't like it?"

She smiled. "No. Nowadays I only do what I want to do, because I want to do it."

His eyes softened. At that moment, however, Peter's cellphone vibrated on the workbench. He jumped and checked it, then swore under his breath. "Uh, I've gotta head home now," he said, glancing up at Tony. "Am I… did I pass?"

Tony's eyes narrowed. "If I say no, you're just going to hack the suit and get rid of the Training Wheels Protocol anyway, aren't you?"

"Probably," Peter admitted, meeting his mentor's eyes. Maggie smothered her laugh with a cough.

Tony sighed. "Well for what it's worth, if you remember everything I said and make sure to come back when things in the suit need restocking – like parachutes, Parker – then yes, theoretically, you should be fine. You pass."

"Yes!" Peter said, pumping one fist in the air.

"Alright," Tony said, moving back to the workbench. "I'll just unlock all the subsystems-"

"Don't worry about it," Maggie interrupted. "I already did it." She flicked up a holo-screen, showing a wall of code with green letters superimposed over it: Training Wheels Protocol Deactivated.

Tony scowled. "When did you do that?"

"About three hours ago."

He opened his mouth, looking as if he was about to start lecturing her, but Peter was already slipping out of the suit and shoving it back in his bag.

"Thank you so much Mr Stark and, uh… Ms-"

"Maggie," she reminded him.

"Right, Maggie, thank you both! I've really gotta head back though, May's getting worried. F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you ask Happy to take me home?"

"Mr Hogun has already brought the car around, Mr Parker."

"Great," Peter shrugged on his backpack, then looked at the Rubik's cube he'd left on the workbench. "Um, Ms St- Maggie, can I borrow that?"

"Go for it, Spider-Man," she grinned. "It was nice to meet you."

He blinked. "It was nice to meet you too."

Tony rolled his eyes. "I'll walk you out, kid."

Maggie cleared her throat, drawing Tony's attention, and waved the Manacle at him. Peter looked confused, but Tony just frowned.

"Right," he said. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., please reconfigure the Manacle to remain inside the workshop until I get back." That done, Tony put a hand on Peter's shoulder and steered him out. "Come on, kid."

"Later, Peter!" Maggie called, hopping up on the workbench. Peter waved back at her, beaming, and just before the workshop doors closed she heard him ask Tony:

"What does the Manacle do?"

Once she was alone in the workshop, Maggie grinned to herself and clapped her hands together. She'd never really imagined that her brother would have a protégé, but seeing Tony and Peter together had just made a kind of sense. The kid was eager, excitable, but strongly principled at the same time – he was young, but he knew what he was doing. Maggie wondered, if she'd had a semi-normal upbringing, would she have been so mature at fifteen?

She shrugged to herself, and watched Dum-E inspect the remaining Rubik's cubes. Peter might have chosen not to be an Avenger just yet, but he was definitely connected to Iron Man. And after spending time with them together, Maggie knew that that would be good for both of them.