SOFIA COULD NOT BELIEVE WHERE SHE WAS. She was standing just outside of the newly constructed Avengers' Compound. The day after she had made the call with Tony, some random man who worked for Stark came to pick her up. He had been very grumpy.

The ride had been about forty-five minutes and the man named 'Happy' did not utter a single word. Sofia had tried talking to him, but he gave no response besides his name and the purpose of picking her up. 

Sofia's apartment would not be going anywhere so she packed rather lightly, only bringing everything that was necessary. In her backpack, she carried her Apex suit, the blueprint of the compound, laptop, and a few other things. 

It was dark out now, almost 11 pm, but the compound was lit up like Times Square. Sofia only wondered how much the electricity bill must be.

Right near the entrance was parked a Quintet. Sofia remembers learning all about them since their first debut in 2012. It seems the design has improved, but it's still a very ugly ship, at least in her opinion.

Happy was taking her luggage and boxes out from the back. Sofia noticed him struggling but stayed right where she was and pretended she didn't see anything. From the looks of it, he could do with some muscle strength.

"Right well, here we are," Happy came up to her and gestured toward the massive building. 

Well no shit, Sofia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She grabbed one of her suitcases and waited for directions. She wasn't sure if she could simply enter the building or if a welcoming committee would greet her (Tony Stark).

Since it was so late at night, Sofia wasn't surprised to see it completely empty. Surely during the day, it would be flooded with agents and workers, but now there wasn't a single person in sight. 

"Well look who it is," Tony Stark grandly opened the front doors and put his phone in his pocket. He had been viewing the news channels for any recent sightings of the fire girl. "Our newest recruit!" 

Sofia managed to quickly steal a glance at Tony's phone before he put it away. They were calling the disaster 'The Museum Blaze' and she loved the sound of it. It even gave her an idea on what to call herself. Blaze would be a pretty cool name, right?

Sofia noticed Tony reaching for her shoulders but she subtly backed away. She would not let this man touch her in any way after he abandoned her family seven years ago. He only now seems to care when she shows up with powers, not before. But still, Sofia smiled, "Hi, Mr. Stark."

Tony did not take her hesitance towards him as an offense. Many people are like that with him, especially new team members. He remembers how closed off Spider-Man was when they first met. 

"Welcome to the compound," Tony began, opening the door for the three of them. "Happy can give you a tour of this place later if you'd like."

"Absolutely not, Tony." Happy protested, "I don't even fully know my way around this building yet. Besides, giving tours is not in my job description."

Tony was only amused, "I assume your ride here was not great at all. Happy isn't really the enthusiastic type."

"I could tell," Sofia almost mumbled with a hint of annoyance. 

The three of them continued walking until they reached what looks to be a large living room with a kitchen and giant fireplaces. Yes, there were multiple fireplaces. The color scheme was very different from the outside. It was mostly dark neutral colors, almost homey-like. 

There was a second floor to the room, forming a loft-like situation. Large windows also complimented the room rather nicely. Sofia may hate Tony Stark, but he had a great sense of style. 

"This is the main area for us Avengers. Other agents and employees are not allowed in here," Tony explained, "If you ever want to get away from the fuss outside, this place is where to go."

Sofia caught his small mistake, "I thought you said I wasn't an Avenger?"

"Avenger in training. You still have full access to almost everything in this building," Tony walked across the giant room and opened another door. Sofia quickly caught up with him leaving Happy behind. 

The two of them walked down a long hallway filled with offices and bars, both of which Tony said Sofia would not be using. Apparently, Tony liked to have at least one bar on each floor in case he ever needed an emergency drink or something. 

They walked for almost an hour. The tour was never ending and Sofia was bored. She already knew where everything was because she had studied the blueprint months before coming. Tony showed her the six kitchens, three training rooms, five lounges, ten or more office spaces, never-ending bars, two party rooms, avengers-only areas, and now they were on the bedroom floor.

Apparently, all the Avengers lived on the same floor and were seen as 'roommates.' Only now half the rooms are empty because Tony is trying to make them legal again. The whole mess with the Accords really left behind a huge mess to clean up. 

Sofia was happy to know that the Vision went out to look for Wanda Maximoff which meant she was nowhere near her. The only people that are currently staying at the building are Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and James Rhodes. 

Natasha had just gotten back from taking down something called the 'Red Room.' That was when she received the call from Steve saying it was safe to come back to the states. Tony spent almost every single day with a lawyer working on how to bring back the others and was making great progress. 

The government was finally realizing that making the Avengers illegal would be a terrible mistake. At least, in their opinion. Sofia does not agree.

Sofia has yet to see anyone else besides Tony and Happy but was not angry about it. 

"Here we are," Tony stopped in front of a door at the end of the hallway, "This is your room." He grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, revealing a room much like Sofia's old one. 

It was very modern and only consisted of the colors white, grey, and black. One of the walls was filled entirely with top to bottom windows with a view of the backyard. The bed was nicely made and nightstands stood next to it on each side. There was also a large flatscreen TV and desk filled with all sorts of books. In the room were two doors which probably led to a walk-in closet and personal bathroom. 

But Sofia barely paid any attention to that. Her eyes quickly glanced at the security cameras on the ceilings. She was making up a way of covering them up without making it obvious. Making hacking into the system and setting them on a loop? Oh, but her hacking skills were not the best. 

The next thing she thought about was that she was at the end of the hall, furthest from any main area in the building. This meant that she could make a bit of noise without being heard by everyone. 

Her eyes scanned the large windows. None of them were openable which was bad for her. It would make things a lot more difficult to sneak in and out of her room. Sofia would have to make a solid excuse for leaving her room at four in the morning.

"Wow," she faked being mesmerized, "Thank you, Mr. Stark."

"It's no problem, kid. Happy seems to have already brought up all your stuff," Tony gestured towards the luggage on the floor by the door, "If you need anything, your room is equipped with F.R.I.D.A.Y, the Avenger's personal assistant. She'll help you out."

So her room was hooked up to an A.I? That was something she didn't know, and it was possibly dangerous. If F.R.I.D.A.Y were to snitch on Sofia or catch her doing something that isn't morally right, it could end her position as Avenger in training. 

She would have to play it safe for the next few days, but not too safe. "Good to know."

Sofia made her way toward her new bed and sat down on it. The bed was incredibly soft, softer than she would like. But now it's simply another thing she has to get used to.

Sensing that she wanted to unpack by herself, Tony rushed toward the door. "Kitchen is always open in case you get hungry. Happy unpacking, kid." Without another word, the billionaire was out of the room.

The second the door closed, Sofia finally relaxed on the bed. It had been a long day of acting and lying, but this was only the tip of the iceberg. 

She reached for her backpack and took out her laptop. Sofia decided that getting rid of the security cameras tonight would be best for her, but she simply didn't know how.  She frustratedly sighed and opened the messaging app. 

Sofia clicked on the person she thought she'd never talk to again.

Felicia Hardy.

SOFIA:
can we talk? 
its urgent.

She waited for about thirty seconds before getting a reply. Sofia knows that what she's about to do will hurt her ego a lot, but it's better than getting caught. After all, the plan must go on no matter what.

FELICIA:
what do you want

SOFIA:
I know im a bitch 
but I need your help

No reply. 

SOFIA:
fucking hell Felicia
I made it into the
avengers compound

FELICIA:
congrats?

SOFIA:
I need you to hack
into stark's software for me.
theres cams in my room and
an AI. it could compromise
everything.

FELICIA:
what do I get in return

SOFIA:
if this plan works
you'll have no one 
stopping you from 
robbing anything
anymore. not even
spider-man.

There was no reply for a few minutes. Sofia began to think Felicia simply didn't care anymore. She knew Felicia was a fake ass lying bitc-

FELICIA:
alright fine.
give me a few mins.

-♕-

It was currently three in the morning. Felicia and Sofia have been texting back and forth for hours. They couldn't FaceTime because the A.I would be able to hear everything they were saying. 

Felicia had taken care of the cameras. She set different defaults so it wouldn't show the same thing all the time. Right now it showed a loop of Sofia sleeping on her bed- which she totally wasn't.

It was much harder for her to hack into F.R.I.D.A.Y's network. F.R.I.D.A.Y contained both SHIELD's and the Avenger's top secrets, no wonder it was guarded like hell. 

FELICIA:
the best I can do right
now is separate the AI in 
your room from the rest of
the building's. it'll still be
the exact same AI stark created
tho. it just won't snitch on you
bc I won't have access to any other 
rooms. 

It wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst. Sofia quickly texted back.

SOFIA:
its better than nothing. 
so your saying that it wont
say anything to the others of 
what I do in my room or if I sneak
out?

FELICIA:
exactly

Sofia put down her phone and waited for Felicia's confirmation text that it was done. 

To her surprise, the text came in rather quickly. At least this meant that they could freely FaceTime without worrying about someone overhearing.

"Hey," Felicia greeted once she answered the call. "I have full access to all of F.R.I.D.A.Y's files right now, but not for long. Is there anything specific you want to look at before I get thrown out of the software or exposed?"

Sofia appreciated Felicia for getting straight to the point and not acting all awkward. "Yes, anything on James Barnes and the Winter Solider."

Sofia overheard typing from Felicia's side of the call. "It says here that Sam Wilson aka the Falcon is on the search for him. James was last seen in Brooklyn so Sam went there a few days ago."

Sofia took in all the information, "Brooklyn? But just a few days ago he had bombed a building in Europe. That's what the news said."

"Huh," Felicia paused, "Here it says that the building explosion was not by James. He was being framed. Apparently, he's been in New York since coming back from Wakanda a month ago. The Avengers have been keeping him under watch, making sure he doesn't lash out or anything."

Now Sofia was angry. She was angry that he had been in New York for an entire month and she didn't know. She was angry that she fell for the stupid building bombing lie, and she was angry that the Avengers were keeping this under wraps. No, not just under wraps- they were helping him. 

"Where in Brooklyn?" Sofia demanded to know. Her voice was now heavy with determination. 

She was going to get him, one way or another.

"Um," Felicia began typing once more, "Oh! Here it says he's staying at one of Stark's many apartments. I'll send you the exact address over text."

Sofia received the text within seconds and was preparing her Blaze suit for going out. Right as she was about to put on her hood, Felicia spoke up, "Did you change anything with the hood after I left?"

Confused by her question, Sofia shook her head, "No, why?"

"Good because I built in coms in the hood. They'll give you a direct line to my suit or my phone and vice versa. They give you a full 360-degree sound coverage and I put them in there in case we ever need easy and quick communication with each other."

"What?" Sofia was shocked- and impressed. 

"I'm going with you. I'll see you there," Felicia hastily hung up the phone before Sofia could protest. 

Realizing that there was no stopping Felicia, Sofia continued to put on her suit and readied herself for the night that might as well change her life forever.

A/N

yay another chapter!! I'm actually really excited to write the next one because it will really set things in motion. 

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated :))