The S.H.I.E.L.D. briefing room was quiet, save for the low hum of the arc reactor display flickering on the wall.
Tony Stark sat at the head of the table, fingers steepled, half-listening to Steve recap a Hydra logistics report.
The door hissed open.
Nick Fury walked in without knocking, a manila folder in his hand, dark coat still damp from outside.
Nick Fury
tosses the folder onto the table, it slides across the polished surface and stops right in front of Tony Stark. You want to tell your team something?
Tony Stark
doesn't touch it If this is about the Sokovia paperwork, HR already flagged it.
Nick Fury
stares at him You have a daughter.
Silence.
The kind that settles heavy and wrong, like the second before a storm.
Clint Barton
slowly turns in his chair …What.
Steve Rogers
Tony.
Bruce Banner
adjusts his glasses You have a child?
Thor
perks up Stark has offspring?
Sam Wilson
whistles low No way.
Tony Stark
finally looks up, voice flat …You went digging.
Nick Fury
I always go digging.
Natasha didn't wait for permission. She reached out, flicked the folder open, and started turning pages.
Photos of you at a party in Madrid, bored out of your mind on a kitchen counter. School reports with grades that made Natasha pause. A flagged cyber intrusion report. A teacher's note: Extremely intelligent. Does not apply herself. Does not respect authority.
Natasha Romanoff
looks up, smirk curling She drinks, she smokes occasionally, she hacks billion-dollar companies, she's smarter than most adults and doesn't respect authority. looks at Tony You didn't have a daughter.
Clint Barton
grinning You cloned yourself.
Sam Wilson
You have a teenage daughter in Madrid going to parties while hacking your company?
Bruce Banner
She's sixteen and rewriting Stark code.
Thor
Does she also build flying metal suits?
Clint Barton
Please tell me she steals your cars too.
Tony Stark
rubs his temple She does not steal my cars.
Nick Fury
deadpan She did once.
Tony Stark
…That was one time.
Steve flipped to another page, a disciplinary report from a private school in Madrid. He read it aloud, quiet.
Steve Rogers
reading "Brilliant. Sarcastic. Frequently bored. Does not respond well to authority. Social but detached. Likely capable of far more than she shows." sets the paper down Tony.
Tony didn't answer.
The silence stretched, uncomfortable, settling into the space between the team.
Clint Barton
trying to break it Well, good news, Tony.
Tony Stark
There is no good news here.
Clint Barton
When she shows up, she's absolutely going to like me the most.
Natasha Romanoff
No. She's going to like me.
Sam Wilson
She's going to roast all of us.
Thor
I believe I would get along with the Stark child.
Vision
tilts his head She appears highly intelligent. I would enjoy speaking with her.
Tony Stark
leans back, exhausted You are all banned from meeting my daughter.
Nick Fury
picks up the folder, taps it against the table That is not how this works.
Fury turned toward the door, paused, and looked back over his shoulder.
Nick Fury
She's sixteen, Stark. She's already on three watchlists, hacked two secure systems, attends parties with international diplomats, and has your brain. pauses She's either going to run a company, run the world, or burn something down.
He walked out.
Clint Barton
grins at Tony I can't wait to meet her.
Tony Stark
puts his head in his hands …I'm being punished for my entire life.