25|| the light at the end of the tunnel

"Hey kiddo, it's been a while."

Washington DC, Smoak Hospital, October 2016-

A white light shining ahead. Murmurs and whispers from unknown voices. It was like those cliche movies, the light at the end of the tunnel.

Was Ali dead? Was she in heaven? Or hell where she belonged? Was this purgatory? Many thoughts were racing in Alison's head.

Her reasoning and mind had been thrown out of the window, or elevator car, if you wanted to get literal. Was that a dream? Falling down in a metal coffin to impeding death?

Alison wasn't sure. But all she knew was that right now, she was in a whitewashed area that could be purgatory. All she needed was some direction, a sign.

And in an instant, there it was. A hand, faint in the distance, reaching out for Alison. It was one that was calloused, and a faint silver scar streaking across the palm.

Ali knew whose hand this was. It was her mother's. The scar from accidentally messing with the sharpest scissors as a kid. Maybe that was a lie about how she got the scar, but Alison didn't care. Giving a heart wrenching sob, Alison reached out for her mother's hand.

"Mom-" She whispered, not believing what her eyes were showing her. Looking up, the figure of her mother was before her. Was this fake? Was this all some joke? There was so much that Alison wanted to say to her mom, but was there enough time? Question after question flew into her mind.

But before Alison could make up her mind on a question, the hand faded away as quickly as it came. "Mom?! Mom!" Alison hollered, waving her hand around the white space of air in an attempt to find her mom's figure again.

The light began to blind the young girl, blocking up all of her vision. Giving a small gasp, she tried to shield her eyes, but the light pierced through her hand, filling up her sight.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

The rhythmic beeping of an IV machine woke Alison up with a start. Looking around at her surroundings, she saw a hospital. A quite bland one, if she even had an opinion on the matter.

Giving a small gasp, Jackie looked over at her cousin. "Thank god you're awake." She quickly walked over to Alison's beside. "I though you were as good as, well-" Jackie sighed, not wanting to mention the words.

"Dead?" Ali croaked out. "I truly thought I was." She rubbed her head, trying to rid herself of the headache that had popped up straight after she woke up.

"Well," Jackie relied petulantly, carefully sitting on the side the bed, "You're not. I'd say that's an improvement from your irrational behavior the last time."

"Last time?" Alison asked, her mind still a mess. When Jackie gave her the 'you know what I'm talking about glare,' Alison suddenly remembered. "Oh. Yeah."

"Wouldn't want you getting into more trouble than normal?" Jackie laughed lightly, covering her mouth.

"Trouble is more than just my normal." Alison chuckled, smoothing down the sheets by her bed.

"The doctor wanted to come see you as soon as you were awake, to tell us some news." Jackie said in an almost baby voice, as if she was trying to ease Alison into something.

"What? What is it?" Alison asked, hearing the tone in her cousin's voice. "Will I not be able to talk anymore?"

"Well, that'd be heaven on earth for everyone except me." A new voice chimed in, one that sounded like a small child.

Looking down at who had made the remark, Ali saw the small outline of her younger brother Charles. "Charlie!" She gasped, looking at her kid brother. "How'd you get here?"

"By a pr-" Charles started, being quickly shushed by his cousin. He looked excited about something, but he wasn't allowed to say it. Instead, he just smoothed down his Midtown Middle School T-Shirt, trying to distract himself.

Jackie sure knew how to shut up a kid, and fast. Maybe she did have her those motherly instincts in her after all. The truth in that fact almost made Alison laugh.

"A...." Alison trailed off, waiting for her younger brother to finish off his sentence. "Charles, you're a grown man. Almost at least." Alison laughed halfheartedly, "Finish your sentences."

Charles looked excited as he started to speak. He looked up with a sparkle in his eyes. "Welll... we came here by-"

"By me." Another man finished, walking into the room. It was the one and only Tony Stark. "Hi troublemaker." His signature smile was plastered all over his face. "You miss me?"

<~•~>

It had been a few hours of flying, or riding a train, car or something. Alison didn't really know, as she fell asleep again. Getting hurt in a hospital really knocked you out.

So when she got to the new location, the first question that came out of Ali's mouth was this-

"Where are we now?" Alison sighed, looking at her surroundings. It was definitely not the hospital anymore. The place was decked out in tech.

"Definitely not in Washington DC," Charles interjected, still sitting by Alison. The kid wasn't doing anything abnormal, just adding in his normal commentary.

"You're in the Avengers Facility. Special part, of course. Not a lot of people get to see this area." Tony shrugged, walking into the room. "It's the Tony area."

"Of course it is." Ali muttered, rolling her eyes in a sarcastic and teasing matter. She was stuck in a wheelchair, after getting 'discharged' from the hospital.

The more likely answer of how she got out of the hospital was that Tony paid off the nurses. Or made a generous donation to the place.

Giving a small chuckle, Alison turned back to Tony and Jackie. "So what am I even doing here?" She asked, wheeling herself forward.

"Well..." Tony gestured over to a small room, "If you could come over into this room in here, we can discuss your symptoms."

"Blah blah symptoms. Boring." A teenage voice interjected, scaring Alison. "Let me handle this Dad." Ali turned, or wheeled, around her chair to see the fourth surprise of the day. It was Skylar.

Tony just threw his hands up, giving up for the moment. "You take the stage then Skylar. If I'm too boring-" He made air quotations around the words boring with a roll of his eyes, "For you teenagers."

"Thanks Dad!" Skylar perked up, grabbing ahold of Ali's handles on her wheelchair. "Let's go do something interesting now, shall we?" She giggled, wheeling the girl away.

Walking out of Tony's room space, there was a small door at the end of an empty corridor that was labeled- "Skylar's domain- KEEP OUT!" The words were printed on a cute blue neon sign, and placed in the top middle of the door.

"So this is the famed Skylar Stark's room," Alison joked weakly, giving a small smile. "I can't believe I'm actually here."

"Oh shut up." Skylar laughed, giving Alison a small push. "Just because you're injured and in a wheelchair doesn't mean I can't torture you."

"While that is particularly true, that doesn't mean that I can't still torture you." Alison smirked, shifting around in her chair.

"No- no no no no." Skylar wagged her finger. "Don't you use your sneaky superpowers on me. I won't take that right now."

Ali laughed lightly. "I don't think I really can." She gestured down below to the chair she was in. "Chair?"

"True that." Skylar plopped down on her bed, rolling over to her stomach to face Alison. "Although I wouldn't even be surprised if your sneaky hands to tickle me."

"Ugh," Ali winced, giving a small look of disgust. "You're making me cringe. That sounds so wrong." She shifted in her seat again, still uncomfortable in her chair.

"Hate being stuck in a chair, huh?" Skylar grabbed another lollipop from the mason jar on her desk.

Alison held out her hand for one, and was pelted by a storm of five lollipops. "Thanks Skylar." She interrupted, muttering a small insult at her best friends.

Skylar just laughed at Alison, giving a small smile. Unwrapping the sweet treat, the mini-Stark placed the candy in her mouth. "Now you know how I feel when you-"

Skylar was quickly cut off by Alison shushing her sharply. "Sky, be quiet! We don't know who's listening." Ali whispered in a sharp tone.

Skylar gave Alison a skeptical look, taking the pop out of her mouth for a small second. "While I can't argue with that, I'm about 90 percent sure that I had my dad mute this room and block it from camera circulation."

Alison rolled her eyes. "I thought you would know by now that I'm not one to trust your dad. He can hack into anything and everything." She made some wild gestures with her hands, unsure on how to describe it.

Skylar's technological watch buzzed suddenly, and Skylar gave a small sigh. "Well, turns out that my dad hacked into my watch. He wants us in that 'therapy room' again."

"Let's go then." Alison turned to face the door. "Off to adventure!" She joked sarcastically. Ali threw up a fist in fake excitement.

Skylar threw up her fist as well, hopping off her bed to push Alison out. She gave a small laugh, pushing Alison wheelchair off into the corridor. "Off to adventure!"

Skylar raced Alison into the room, both girls giggling at their constant ramming into the walls. "You're really poor at directions." Alison laughed, pushing Skylar away from her wheelchair.

"Oh shut up." Skylar rolled her eyes, yet again having a sweet lollipop in her mouth. "The next time you come here, I'll have you wander by yourself. Then I'll be the one laughing." She gave a small smile, wagging her finger.

The adults in the back cleared their throats, trying to catch the girls' attention. "Hello?" Jackie waved her hand. "Can we try and get a move on here?"

Tony had his arms crossed, looking over at his employee. "Yeah." He jutted his finger over towards Jackie, his arms still crossed. "What she said."

"Tony Stark at a loss for words? This is something new." Alison laughed, turning her head around to face Skylar. "Has this ever happened to you with your dad?"

Skylar chuckled. "Not really. He's normally the one to make others at a loss for words." She crossed her arms, sticking her lollipop back in her mouth.

How many times would this girl take the lollipop out of her mouth? Alison wondered, her mind getting off track.

"So, back on topic." Jackie redirected the conversation. "Alison, the X-Rays and test results came back, and Mr. Stark thinks he knows what is wrong with you." She adjusted her glasses, a little nervous to tell Alison the results.

"Yeah." Tony nodded. Tapping on the technological computer next to the huge screens, he pulled up a picture of Alison's X- Ray. "So, as seen here, when you first entered the hospital, your spine had been damaged, shattered," Tony corrected himself, "In the thoracic spinal cord, in vertebrae T5-T7."

The picture, in essence, showed what Tony had talked about. The T5, T6, and T7, vertebrae were shattered, the shards slightly scattered around the places they were supposed to be.

"Fun." Alison muttered sarcastically, staring at the picture. "So I can't walk, ever again? I'll be stuck in the death chair?"

"Actually, take a look at this newer X-Ray, that I took off of you when we were traveling back to New York." Tony swiped up, showing a newer X-Ray. The vertebrae seemed slightly better, some shards of the vertebrae actually in place again.

"Wow." Alison let out a deep breath. "That's- that's a big-" She stopped for a moment.

"Difference?" Tony asked, looking at the picture. "Yeah. Now, I'm not a Bruce Banner or Stephen Strange, but I can most definitely tell you that this- this is unnatural."

"I think we can all see that Dad," Skylar made a gesture to everyone in the room. "It's not everyday that someone magically heals a little after shattering their spine."

Charles let out a little gasp, reminding everyone in the room that he was still here. "Does that mean that Alison has superpowers?! Is she like a super fast healer?"

Alison and Skylar looked at each other, laughing lightly. "Charlie," Alison rolled over to her brother. "There's something I need to tell you." She had a small sly smile on her face.

"What?" Charles asked, excited. "Are you like some angel? Someone who's been gifted by the gods!?" He asked, geeking out.

Alison chuckled. "No, but let me tell you, I'm a superhero." She booped Charles on the nose, her joy being uncontainable.

"No way!" Charles gasped with shock. "What are your powers? Who do you work with? Were you in Germany because you were fighting in Germany?" He bombarded Alison with questions.

Jackie smiled softly at her two cousins. She didn't want to interrupt their sibling moment, but she had to. "I think we're straying from the main point. Alison, we think that because of your super speed," Jackie paused for a moment, unsure of how to describe it.

Charles gave a deeper gasp of shock, his eyes filled with more questions. "Your cells process things faster than most. Whether it be food, energy, or anything else." Charles finished, smiling.

"So what does that mean, for now at least?" Alison asked, waving her hand around in the air carelessly. Her eyes looked impressed at her brother, he definitely caught up fast.

"Well." Tony finished, looking around at the group. It was like a big game of tag, people finishing off sentences that he was supposed to complete. "It means that A, your brother is super smart and a comic nerd, which is adorable-"

Skylar gave a chuckle, walking over to crouch down beside Ali. "Yeah, my dad isn't wrong about that."

Tony ignored Skylar's whispers to Alison, and continued on with his talk. "And B, we believe due to your superpowers, that you have the ability to heal, regenerate your cells quicker than most. Plus do things that some bodies can't, like recover from."

"Like having paralysis in the lower half of your body." Jackie suggested, giving a small shrug. "Like you right now."

"Great. Can I see the big picture here, please?" Alison clapped her hands together, almost giving a small sigh.

"So, the belief is that you will recover from your paraplegia, but it will take three weeks to five weeks to recover." Tony summed up, clicking on the computer screen.

The screen then showed a simulated time lapse, one of Alison's spine healing over the span of three to five weeks. It was only an estimate, yes, but it still looked like a good healing job.

Ali had to admit, it was really weird to see her back on display. But, at least it would heal properly. "I'm assuming that this is-" she gestured to the time lapse. "A good sign?"

"Theoretically, yes." Tony nodded. "But you will have to stay in the wheelchair until it heals. Which will be, as I've stated before, 3-5 weeks. Boom. Knowledge." Tony dropped a fake mic, earning a little applause from Charles.

Jackie laughed, looking over at Charles. Her little cousin could definitely be a dork. Alison chuckled as well, ruffling her younger brother's hair.

Skylar smiled, still squatting by Alison's wheelchair. On the opposite side of Charles, of course.

"Thank you Dad." Skylar sarcastically clapped, looking over at her father. "And now I will pretend to be impressed, as I walk away." She stood up from her squatting position, and gestured towards the door.

"Bye." Alison turned around towards her friend, waving goodbye. "See you at school, tomorrow."

"Bye," Skylar waved back, looking at her friend. "Be prepared to have me and everyone else in the group to be babying you all week!" She gave a sly smile, walking off towards her room.

Alison gave a small groan, looking over at her friend, who was walking away. "And this is why your daughter is my best friend and most annoying girl I know." Ali looked back at Jackie and Tony.

Tony chuckled, walking towards Ali. "Where do you think she got those genes from?" He squatted down to meet her face. "Me. Good luck with Stark 2.0." Tony patted Alison's shoulder, quickly rising up after that.

"Alison," Jackie looked over at her cousin. "I think that's it's time to go. We have to get back to Queens, it's almost dinner time."

"That sounds like a good idea!" Charles added in, smiling. "I'm in the mood for some Mac and cheese!"

Jackie laughed, dragging in her standing cousin. "Come on Charlie, let's go. You too, Ali." She glanced back at her other cousin, the paralyzed one.

"You have some Mac and cheese to make, and some root beer floats to craft." Tony pointed at the small family with a smile.

Charles rubbed his hands together excitedly. "That's a great idea!" He exclaimed. "Root beer floats sound great!"

"Oh my god, now there's root beer floats!" Jackie threw her hands up in exasperation. "Let's get out of here before Tony-" She gave Tony a small angry glare. "Gives you another idea on what other junk food to eat tonight."

Jackie began to push Charles towards the doors, Alison following suit. Alison gave a small chuckle, looking back at the billionaire.

"Bye!" Tony waved at the small family, watching Jackie hurry Charles out of the area. "Don't forget the ice cream sundaes for dessert!" He laughed, sitting back in his seat. "Or brownie sundaes!"

"See you later, Stark." Alison rolled her eyes one more time, exiting the doorway, and leaving the 'Tony part' of the Avengers Facility.

"See you later." Tony smiled, looking around the room. "F.R.I.D.A.Y.?" He asked his AI, an even bigger smirk growing on his face.

"Yes sir?" F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied, her AI voice booming over the speakers.

"Prepare to send a huge basket of Mac and cheese boxes, root beer bottles, brownies, and ice cream tubs to the Anderson-Marnell Family." Tony thought aloud, nodding his head slightly.

"Right away boss." F.R.I.D.A.Y. answered politely. "The goodie basket is going to be prepared and sent tonight."

<~•~>
wow I'm 85 percent sure that 100 percent of you hate me for that last chapter.

oops...?

I'm seriously not sorry for that.

ANYWAYS, a small filler chapter! Ali is in a wheelchair right now, they don't know how bad (or to what extent) her injuries are, so that's *great*

If you have questions about this chapter, HMU! I went pretty bold with the first part, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep that in. But I did :)

Give me feedback on my stuff, cause I'm experimenting at the moment! (as seen with my first ever actual cliffhanger)

I'll be on an elementary school band tour the next two mornings so I'll be able to reply to comments!

But I hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time!

word count- 1,730