บท 1527: 26
Iron Re-WritelindajennerChapter 26Chapter Text
"A meezer." Saal said. "I don't know what it is, but she has said many times that the only things that she misses from Terra, are her meezer and her grandmother's rocker. She missed holding the meezer in the rocker. If you can figure that out, I would be most appreciative." Saal gave a huffing sigh.
"Meezer is a slang term, a pet name, for a particular breed of cat, the Siamese and in the context that you've given me, rocker is likely to be a rocking chair." Happy mused. "If you don't have to head back to Xandar straight away, find a hiding spot and give me a couple of hours. Both cats and rocking chairs are easy to find."
"Shall I call you?"
"Best call Miss Natashalie, she'll likely be the one to sort that out. I'll give her a call and get her on it." Happy nodded to the Denarian and headed back to the car. "Let's get you home, Miss Nebula." He said to the already sleeping girl. She looked bruised and battered, much as he would expect from someone that had been in a vehicle accident a few days ago.
~~~
May 13th 2006
"You ready, Miss Nebula?" Happy gave the no-longer-an-alien a quick look in the rear-view mirror.
"I… I think I am…" The bruising on Nebula's face and arms, from where she's fought the restraints of the Xandarian medical device, had progressed from rich purple into a sickly green, tinged with yellow edges and stood out clearly against her pale skin and red-brown tank-top.
"JARVIS will let him know, any second now." Happy said. "We wanted his reaction to be visible and almost excessive."
"Just like him." Nebula tried to smile but the bruises and swellings of her face made that difficult.
"Here we go." Happy slowed the car and pulled to a stop in the middle of the large parking area.
~~~
"Sir?" JARVIS spoke almost silently in Tony's ear. "I'm going to buzz your phone, I suggest answering it." Within a second or two, the cell-phone in Tony's pocket began to buzz and vibrate.
"Excuse me, Agent, only family have this number." Tony pulled the cell from his pocket and looked at it, it read 'JARVIS', just like he expected.
"I was under the impression that your family were all here?" Coulson asked.
"Most of them, yeah." Tony nodded. "Yeah, that's… I gotta take this." He grimaced and accepted the call. "Yeah?"
"Sir, Happy has just pulled up in the car park, I suggest you head in that direction, Miss Nebula is in physical and emotional distress and your presence will comfort her." JARVIS said.
Tony's head snapped around to face the front of the house. "Nebula?! Nebula's here?" He blinked. "Phys… she's hurt? J, is she hurt?!" The latter question was sharp.
"No significant injuries but the aftermath of a Xandarian device that converted her from luphomoid to human. 'Officially' she was involved in a motor-vehicle accident five days ago and has been recovering at St. Bartholomew's Clinic outside of Edgewood, New Mexico. She's also your daughter, now."
"What?!" Tony's exclamation was loud enough to silence the quiet conversation between two SHIELD agents, Melinda May and Maria Hill, and Natashalie.
"Do you need me to repeat that, Sir?"
"No! Where is she? Right now?"
"In the front parking area." JARVIS replied and Tony was off and running.
"Ah…? What just happened?" Coulson asked the group as a whole.
"That would be Nebula arriving." Howard gave the man a pained look.
"Nebula?" Coulson asked. "Do we know who that is? Are we missing someone?"
"No." Howard shook his head but before he could say anything more, there came sound of a door opening.
Pepper emerged from the house, onto the wide patio. "Where's Tony?"
"Nebula's arrived." Howard said as he followed his son, at a more reasonable speed.
"Oh, dear, I hope she's okay…" Pepper fretted. "Her paperwork arrived here a few hours ago. With Terrence and Melissa's deaths… Tony's all she has, now…" She settled Morgan in her arms and moved to join Howard as the older man led the group around the house.
Once they cleared the house and the parking area came into sight, Coulson and Fury came to a stunned stop. Tony was kneeling on the loose gravel, hugging a young woman that was liberally covered in recent bruises. The young woman shuddered and shook while Tony rocked them back and forth, crooning to her all the while.
"What…?" Coulson stopped and took a steadying breath. "What happened to her?"
"The pile-up in LA? Both she and her adoptive father were listed among the injured." Pepper gave the pair a sad look.
"Adoptive?" Coulson asked.
"She's Tony's daughter." Howard answered quietly.
"Daughter?" Fury stepped up beside the older man. "Why didn't SHIELD know about this?"
"Because her mother went missing from the hospital, looking back… Nebula would have been only a few hours old at the time. Tony was still at MIT and going through his more-party- than-work phase, that left Maria and I to see to Nebula. Nick, I was fifty-three when Tony was born, I was… I wasn't capable of caring for a newborn and neither was Maria. We found a young couple, the granddaughter of friends, and her husband. They took Nebula and… like Pepper said, Terry was in that pile-up… He didn't survive his injuries. Melissa died from cancer, last year. " Howard and Natashalie had spent hours going through the details of the crash and carefully sculpting a backstory for Nebula.
The couple that were documented as being Nebula's adoptive parents were real people, it seemed so much easier to use existing people and simply add Nebula to their lives, than try and create histories for three completely false identities. Both had been private people, with no extended families and not well known outside of their respective jobs but there was enough documentation online, both written and imagery, of their lives, that JARVIS had been able to insert just enough evidence of Nebula's existence, to suggest over-protective parents.
"Ah." Fury grunted as he studied the father-daughter duo. The way she clung to him and the way his arms trembled as he held her close against his chest, spoke of a deep emotional attachment. "He cares about her… Her parents didn't… mind?"
"No." Howard leaned against an SUV before he replied. "Melissa was the least comfortable with Tony in their lives, but once he and Pepper married, she was much better with him. I don't think Maria and I helped, either. We kept sending her gifts. It wasn't until Melissa was diagnosed with cancer, that Terrence told us how she'd felt."
"And he was in that pile-up?" Coulson asked.
"Yes." Pepper nodded. "He survived the accident but his injuries were… bad…" She shuddered, remembering the medical report that JARVIS had located. "Nebula was lucky, she was jammed in, in between two seats, her injuries were mostly bruising, but you can see how bad that is." In truth, Pepper was shocked to see the depth of bruising that Nebula had suffered, she hadn't realised how bad it would be. Even with Denarian Saal's warning, she hadn't expected this.
"Do we take it that… Nebula(?) will be staying with you, now?" Coulson asked.
"Yes, most definitely." Pepper said firmly.
"How old is she, Ms Potts?" Maria Hill stood beside Coulson.
"She'll be seventeen, next month." Pepper answered.
"Really?" Hill blinked. "She's smaller than I'd expect for her age."
"Not smaller, finer." Pepper disagreed. "She's tall, she's going taller than Tony, when she finishes growing."
"And her… birth… mother?" Coulson asked delicately.
"We don't know." Howard said. "Tony's looked for her but he could never quite locate her. Where she'd been, yes. Where she was, no."
Pepper shook her head. "It was very frustrating for us all."
Howard nodded and went on. "Then, suddenly… Nothing. Mid May of 1999, we thought we'd located her in Jacksonville, Florida. We missed her by less than an hour, but… Tony hacked the city's cctv to track her and…" He grimaced.
"And…?" Coulson asked.
"She vanished between cameras." Howard sighed. "She came out of the grocer's and walked into the alley. The camera on the main street followed her nearly halfway down the alley, but the camera at the rear of the alley didn't pick her up at all. It had the van that exited that alley seconds before her and then the next image Tony found was Barnes entering the alley. No skips, no jumps, no freeze frames, she just… wasn't there." He huffed. "And we haven't picked a single trace of her, since. No bank access, no Id use, not a single hint of her, anywhere."
"Ah." Coulson nodded. "Do you want SHIELD to look for her?"
"No, we don't really see the point." Pepper shook her head. "She signed away her parental rights, before leaving the hospital, she's got no legal connection to Tony or Nebula."
"If you change your mind, just let me know." Coulson replied. "I'll see it done, quietly."
"Thank you, Phil, I'll let Tony know." Pepper smiled at the man. "Shall we go in for lunch and leave them be?"
"I think that would best." Coulson barely glanced at Maria and Melinda, while Fury's nod to Jimmy Woo and Antoine Triplett had both men straightening from their relaxed positions and flanking their Director.
~~~
May 14th 2006
Natashalie smiled as Denarian Saal descended the steps of his Nova Corps ship. "Nice ride."
"It is." Saal said. "I am slightly disappointed that I don't get to keep it."
"Excuse me?"
"It belongs to Nebula." Saal replied. "We 'confiscated' the ship she purchased at Nowhere and this is to replace that one. I had it tethered to the transport that I used to bring Nebula here. It was always our intention to provide Nebula with control of this ship."
Natashalie looked around. "So, where's your ship, then?"
Saal smirked and gestured to the cliff behind him and a smaller, more angular ship shimmered into being, hovering a few feet out from the edge of the cliff. Natashalie tilted her head and hummed.
"I think I prefer Nebula's, being stuck in space in something that small, is not my idea of pleasant." She told the alien.
"I can understand that." Saal nodded. "It took many months before I grew comfortable with it myself."
"Yeah…" Natashalie nodded back. "I'm not sure I could do it."
"It's not for everyone." Saal agreed.
"Well… It's late and we need to look at getting you out of here, undetected." Natashalie straightened.
"Do you have a pilot available? Someone that can fly that?" Saal nodded towards the ship that Natashalie had admired.
"Between JARVIS and Clint, we should be right." Natashalie replied, indicating the blonde man that was sitting on the roof of the SUV she'd arrived in. "If not, we'll bring Nebula down, under the guise of a shopping trip."
"Good." Saal nodded. "Stark's Chief of Transport, Hogan, suggested that you might be able to locate a few things for my wife. A meezer and a rocker. He also said the meezers were cats(?) and that rockers were a type of chair?" Saal didn't look convinced of this.
"Meezer is a diminutive of Siamese, which is a breed of domesticated feline." Natashalie explained. "They have distinctive colouring, usually a creamy coloured body with brown, grey or ginger extremities." While she was speaking, she held up a Stark-pad and JARVIS was displaying images of a variety of Siamese cats. "They are born white and as they mature their colouring becomes more defined."
"Ah… we have something similar but in avian form." Saal said. "If possible, I would appreciate some… more detailed… information. The Nova Corps may have access to Terra's information network, but only for work related searches and I don't think pets come under work related…" Saal grimaced.
"No, sir, they do not." Natashalie agreed. "Not knowing quite what you wanted as far as examples are concerned, I did some guesswork and some research." She indicated to the pad. "I searched for your wife here on Earth and where necessary JARVIS and I deleted or altered information. Ava was last sighted in Florida, a southern state, on the 7th of July 1999. Unfortunately, for Nebula's history to hold, we had to alter Ava's history, slightly. Now, while we have her as being last sighted in 1999, instead of it being in Florida, we placed her as being in Wyoming, much further to the north, entering a wilderness area, some weeks later." She waited for Saal to acknowledge that.
"I would assume there is a reason for that?"
"Yes." Natashalie nodded. "We've stated… We, meaning those of us in the know and we've brought Tony into the loop, on this, as well. We stated to SHIELD that Tony and Howard traced her as far as Florida, but we've left enough details that SHIELD will trace her just a bit further, it will convince them that they found something that Tony didn't and will confirm what we've already stated."
"And confirming Ava's missing status will secure Nebula's history." Saal nodded.
"Exactly." Natashalie agreed. "Now, while in Florida, Ava stayed with her maternal grandmother, correct?" She waited for Saal to nod and continued. "And that grandmother had a meezer cat. After Ava's disappearance, the woman's health declined and in 2001, she died as a result of complications arising from pneumonia, a respiratory illness. The cat that Ava spoke of was her grandmother's meezer, Balthazar, a ginger point male. After her death, he'd been handed in to a rescue shelter and put up for re-homing. Fortunately, it was a no-kill shelter, as Balthazar lives up to the reputation that his name implies and was returned after each attempt at adoption." Seeing the confusion on Saal's face, she explained. "Balthazar is reputed to have been the name of a king, some two thousand plus years ago, but modern cinematic entertainment usually attributes the name to a villain. The cat lives up to both, he's regal and demanding of attention but he's also extremely protective of the people he chooses as his, to the point where he'll attack someone that is hurting them."
"And this is seen as a problem?" Saal asked.
"Only by those that aren't the people he chose." Natashalie smirked. "Locating him wasn't difficult, nor was 'adopting' him from the shelter. He's been neutered so he's not able to impregnate a female, but it hasn't changed his personality all that much, according to the shelter."
"You found him? The meezer that Ava spoke of? You found the exact one?" Saal blinked.
"We believe so." Natashalie nodded.
"Oh…" Saal blinked a few times. "And a… rocker?"
"We couldn't get any clear information on what it looked like and without asking Ava, we're running blind. So, we took a chance and found a rocker maker in South Carolina that makes traditional styled rockers from metal, by hand. We didn't want to provide timber ones as sometimes timber can contain parasitic larva and introducing that to a foreign environment could be disastrous to that environment. After looking at his stock we chose two chairs. One is more delicate and the other heavier, we figured that if you liked them, you could have one each or at the least, Ava could have one inside and one outside." She handed over the Stark-pad. "This has information and videos on meezers and on putting the chairs together, as they're flat-packed for transporting." She indicated towards two large flat boxes leaning against the SUV and a large-ish crate beside them, sitting on an equally large box. "The crate is Balthazar's, he's big boy, larger than the average meezer, which made it easier to locate him. He's not fat, just big, most cats weigh between eight and twelve pounds, he weighs sixteen. We've had him checked over by a veterinarian and he's been cleared of all parasites. The box has samples of food and other supplies, we figured that you'd be able to replicate anything he liked. He's a good traveller, but likes to sit beside you, rather than in his crate. There's a litter tray so he won't make a mess and his crate has his bed and a selection of toys."
"He's… safe to let out?" Saal asked.
"Once the ship is secure, yeah, sure." Natashalie answered. "He'll go exploring, might get into places he shouldn't, but if he gets stuck, you'll know, Siamese are very vocal and Balthazar is quite chatty."
"Chatty…" Saal gave her a flat look.
"Oh, yes." Natashalie smiled brightly and nodded to the Stark-pad. "There's a selection of videos of Siamese on there, so you won't get caught off-guard, when he starts making noise."
"Thank you." Saal gave her a smile and headed for the flat boxes. "Once these are loaded, I will depart. If you need anything from the Nova Corps, you can contact us via Nebula's ship's communications array."
"Same here, Denarian Saal." Natashalie smiled back.
As Saal loaded the crate onto his ship, a distinctive "Mrrp…" came from its interior, that was followed by a long mournful "mrowl…"
~~~
May 20th 2006
Denarian Saal studied the living area of the large apartment that he shared with his wife… or rather with his wife, and now, with a cat.
"Well, Balthazar," he looked down at the large cream and ginger cat, ignoring the way it wove between his legs, "I think that's as good as it's going to get." He laid a hand on the larger of the two rockers and gave it a gentle shove, watching as the chair dipped back before swinging forward again, the motion repeating itself until the small amount of energy, dissipated. "Shall we try this out?" He'd become accustomed to talking to the cat, as he tended to respond, even if he didn't actually understand what Saal was saying.
"Mrrp." The cat stretched up and laid his forepaws on Saal's leg, asking to be picked up.
"I agree." Saal bent and lifted the cat into his arms and with a little caution, sat himself down in the larger rocker, letting his feet bend and flex, giving him enough leverage to set the chair into motion. The large cat settled himself across Saal's lap, his head resting on Saal's arm and his tail flopping out from between Saal's leg and the arm of the chair.
It was a good fifteen minutes later before the apartment door opened, and by that time both man and cat were dozing, the chair moving gently in time with Saal's breathing, a movement matched by Balthazar's tail.
Ava Saal, nee Weldham, entered the room and came to a sudden halt, not sure if she was imaging things.
"Bally…?" She whispered and the cat's head jerked up, his eyes blinking away sleep, before he erupted into motion, leaping from Garthan Saal's lap to the floor and darting over to Ava.
"Mrowl rowl mrrp mrow." The cat yowled stridently, waking Saal abruptly.
"Oh, Lord…" Ava dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around the cat that was standing on its hind legs nudging at her with his head, knocking against her roughly. "Hello, baby. Oh, Bally…" She looked up at her husband. "How?"
"Chief Hogan and Miss Rushmanov." Saal smiled at her. "I mentioned that you missed a meezer and rockers and they did the rest. Miss Rushmanov told me it wasn't difficult to find Balthazar. Nor was finding a rocking chair."
"Rocking chair?" Ava asked.
Saal didn't answer, instead he gave a little push with his feet and let his chair rock into motion again.
"Oh, my…"
"And a few specials, too, my heart." He gestured to their balcony. A balcony that was lush with plants.
"Is that…? Is that an apple tree?" Ava whispered.
"I have no idea, love, I know they're trees from Terra but no more than that." He smiled and looped an arm around her shoulders. "They're labelled but the names mean little to me. There's also a communications device that has details of the plants and a few other things that might interest you." He'd spent quite a few hours on his way back from Terra, going through the Stark-pad's contents and knew that some of it would interest her greatly.
~~~
April 8th 2007
The young woman sighed as she woke, inhaling the scent of orange blossoms before a frown settled on her face. It was the wrong time of the year for orange trees to flower. She opened her eyes and her frown grew. It took her a few minutes to realise what was unsettling her.
"What on earth?" She muttered. This was her quarters at the Pegasus site in Texas, going by the antique dresser that sat in the corner. A dresser that had been given to her by her grandfather, when he'd heard she was leaving the military and settling in Texas as the Personal Assistant to the Director of SHIELD.
"But that's not possible…" She whispered. "The base was destroyed by Loki and the tesseract…" How could she be here? A brief thought of 'what did Stark do, now?' flashed through her mind before she froze and blinked. "They used time travel to locate the Infinity Stones… Is that…? Did that…?" She wasn't going to say it, she couldn't.
What she did do was sit up and dig into her bedside table, pulling out a leather-bound diary. She opened it and began to read, ignoring the fact that the contents were in code, it was a code that she and her brother had created as children and she could read it as easily as English.
What she read confused her. "Stark's involved." She sighed. "Of course he is. What the hell did he do? And how?" She muttered. At least the diary was giving her a clear picture of what was happening within SHIELD and…
"Shit!" She swore. "Stark found Barnes and Rogers, not SHIELD. Goddammit!" This was not the past that she remembered. She would need to speak to them to work out exactly what they planned to do and who else knew.
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