𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

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          STEVE ENCOURAGED EVERYONE to quickly suit up; Charlotte knew exactly what to do now.

She needed to fully confide in her dad and tell him everything about her Extremis. She was not going to take no for an answer this time and she had no intention of remaining behind while everyone else went to Sokovia.

While the team scattered to their designated quarters, Charlotte ran to her bedroom and quickly changed into something more suitable. While she was not expecting to be involved in any fighting, it would do no harm to be prepared. She opted for a pair of dark green combat pants and a grey long sleeve training shirt. After refitting her boot prosthetic, she secured the laces and shoved a spare set of clothes into her backpack - if she was at risk of burning, then she had to be prepared.

She looked at her body mirror inside her walk-in closet and began breathing heavily, Charlotte was starting to have doubts about telling her dad and the team everything.

Granted, her dad was already aware of her secretive training with Ezra, he was not aware, however, of the fact that she did not want to be cured. It was concerning that she did not know the full extent of her abilities, nor did she know how to fully control them yet, but that did not mean that she wished to part with it.

As a trial of sorts, she leveled her hands to her chest, the veins across her arms and hands began shining crimson as she summoned two lava-looking fireballs on each of her palms. It was when her green eyes gained a violent red and orange hue that she truly became afraid. Thrusting her hands by her sides, she scrunched her eyes closed and took deep breaths until she felt her body return to normal.

She was left feeling incredibly powerful yet incredibly vulnerable. She has to gain control. She needed help from her dad, from the team, from everyone.

She left her bedroom in search of her dad, but after returning to the level where the team was suiting up, she found the Maximoff twins instead. Pietro was just about done putting his new shirt on when Wanda noticed her walking towards them.

Charlotte stopped walking and stared, without knowing what to say. She wanted to thank Wanda for trying to protect her but at the same time, she still remembered what she did to Bruce. Charlotte was in a dilemma about the twins. She didn't know if she still resented them, it was all very awkward still.

"You don't have to say anything, if you don't want to," Wanda suddenly told her, using a soft tone not to startle the girl too much.

"You're Stark's daughter, yes?" Pietro watched Charlotte with curious eyes.

He knew that Stark had a kid, Pietro read the papers and saw the news on crappy televisions. He envied her, and when Pietro was younger all he wanted was to make Charlotte suffer like he did when he lost his parents – but now everything has changed. Stark is not guilty, Ultron used him and his sister to try and destroy the whole world and Charlotte, she was so tiny, so innocent.

"I have a name," Her response was snark and paired with a eye roll, "It's Charlotte."

He smirked, "You're daddy's little girl, yes?"

Frowning, Charlotte gave him a challenging look, "So what if I am?"

Pietro nodded, "Nothing wrong with that, especially now that I know that it wasn't him launching those missiles on our town."

"My dad would never do that," he didn't falter at his statement, "Ultron was using you, I'm glad you two realized that before it was too late." Charlotte sighed, thinking about the days Obadiah used her dad to sell Stark weapons to the wrong people, ending up causing the death of many innocents.

The twins seemed to have absorbed her words, silently agreeing with her.

"How old are you anyway? Eight?" Pietro suddenly asked with a tone that held teasing.

"I'm almost fourteen!" Charlotte immediately retorted, feeling slightly insulted. Her birthday was in less that four months.

"So you're thirteen?" Pietro snickered. He still thought she was too young to be here, "You're still a baby."

Wanda, who had been silently watching them talk, squinted her eyes at the teen and looked her up and down, "You..." she gasped softly, "You have something in you. In your veins."

Charlotte instantly brought her hands up, wrapping them around herself slightly. She gave Wanda a startled look, "What are you talking about?"

Wanda looked visibly upset, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! It's so bright and vibrant. It's beautiful."

Pietro tensed, using his speed to advance near his sister and stand next to her protectively, "It's true, sometimes my sister can't control it," he defended her.

"Oh okay," Charlotte mumbled, calmly, "You can see my Extremis?" albeit weirded out, she couldn't help but look in awe at Wanda, "What else can you do?"

"I can take it out of you if you want me too. It seems dangerous," Wanda offered.

"No thank you - I want to keep it. Have you seen my dad? I need to speak to him." she asked, feeling slightly anxious about Wanda being able to easily take her Extremis away.

Pietro shrugged uncaringly, "I'm sure hes somewhere."

"That's helpful," Charlotte deadpanned dryly.

He simply winked at her and vanished out of the room, using his enhanced speed. Wanda began following him, still staring at her.

"The offer still stands." the brunette told the teen earnestly before swiftly following after her brother.

Alone in the room, and still affected by meeting the twins, Charlotte began making her way to find her dad again when a female robotic voice stopped her.

"Hello, Miss Stark! Your father is waiting for you on the upper deck!"

She halted her steps and closed her eyes with a pained expression – that was not JARVIS.

"Who are you?" she hesitantly asked.

"My name is FRIDAY! Mr Stark has just assisted me online. It's nice to meet you!" FRIDAY cheerfully greeted her.

Sighing, Charlotte couldn't help but smile a little as she made her way to where her dad was, "I guess it's nice to meet you too, FRIDAY. Welcome to the family."

"Oh! Thank you, Miss Stark." FRIDAY replied, her tone first surprised, and then filled with gratefulness.

Charlotte smiled fondly. "You can call me Charlie. We are friends after all."

"As you wish, Charlie." 

 
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When she found her dad, he was talking with Bruce and Steve, all of them wore tense expressions. She took a deep breath and tugged on her dad's hand to get his attention.

"Dad? Can I talk to you?"

Steve looked at them and looked confusedly at Bruce, who shrugged.

"Charlie, we don't have a lot of time –"

"It's urgent," Charlotte cut him in, panicking slightly, "Please..." she begged.

"Uh, we–uh, well, Steve and I will go ahead and wait for you Tony," Bruce quickly said, sensing that Charlotte really needed to talk with her dad. Steve, feeling slightly awkward, nodded.

Tony nodded at both of them and followed Charlotte when she walked across to a quieter area. She walked in, pacing fast, and Tony was now growing worried about what Charlotte wanted to tell him. He closed the door behind them and turned to his daughter, who had her back turned at him.

"What's up, honey?" he asked gently, starting to feel anxious. He has never seen Charlotte this serious before.

Sighing deeply, Charlotte now knew that she couldn't make an excuse and back out now. It was now or never, "Dad, do you remember the night that Ultron attacked?"

"Yes?"

"And I told you about the Extremis returning?"

Tony didn't like the way where this was going, "Yes?"

Charlotte took another deep breath before turning to face him, and Tony's face paled at the sight of his little girl's arms beginning to turn with the familiar bright red with orange hues spreading all over her veins. Charlotte wanted him to see how steady she was, so she spoke again before he could respond.

"I don't want to take the vaccine anymore," she stated, "I want to learn how to control it. I've been getting better. I've been training for the past few months and -,"

"Training..." Tony cut her off, brows furrowed.

"Yeah. Ezra has been helping me." She replied sheepishly.

"Who else? Because the last time I checked, you and Ezra are kids, and this is something completely out of your depths." he exclaimed. If anyone from the team knew about this and dared to keep it from him, he would make sure they knew about it.

Charlotte's eyes widened and she immediately answered, "No one from the team, trust me. I wouldn't ask them to keep a secret like this,"  she mumbled.

"But you expected Ezra to?"

Upset, and feeling guilty, Charlotte ignored his remark, "Look at me, I can control it. See?" she formed a scalding, red liquid within her hands and set it on fire, creating a fireball with lava on its inside, "It's easier now that I've been training. It doesn't hurt anymore. Remember what Killian said?"

Charlotte ignored the look her dad gave her when she mentioned Alrdich's name. "He said that my blood would become compatible with the Extremis and it has. Bruce confirmed it. Can't you see that maybe, if I have proper training–"

"What?" Tony cut her, squinting his eyes at her as he approached her, "That you could be an Avenger?"

"Maybe," Charlotte shrugged, her voice meek. "I don't know."

"You want to make yourself a target, is that it? What do you think will happen as soon as everyone in this world knows about what your blood can do? Hm?"

His voice was quiet but Charlotte had never seen her dad so angry at her before.

"Dad..." she didn't know what to say.

"I can't–" Tony closed his eyes as his breathing began to increase rapidly, "I can't lose you. Honey, I can't –" Charlotte made her fireball disappear and her body returned to normal as she approached her dad, "You're my everything, Charlotte. This is bad. This is everything I wanted to avoid for you."

Charlotte sniffed, holding back her tears. She hated seeing her dad like this, and now she started to regret telling him because she had been the reason why he was in this state of panic.

"Dad, I'm sorry but I've made my decision; I'm not going to back down. All I ask is that you give me a chance."

Tony looked at her, a sad expression on his face, "You're still a kid..."

"That may be, but you seem to be forgetting that I can literally walk through fire. And I do it all with one leg," she quipped weakly, managing to make him smile a little.

There was a pause between them, and Charlotte was scared of what he was about to say next.

"Does your mom know about this?"

"No."

"Anyone on the team?"

"No." She paused. "Although, after I accidentally burned Natasha, I think they might be suspicious."

Tony pursed his lips, "Only Ezra?"

Charlotte nodded slowly, "Every sleepover we would go onto the roof. It's well hidden, no one saw us - not even Happy."

"You really are a Stark, my god." Tony let out an exhale through his nostrils and shook his head with a knowing smile on his face, "Look, this changes everything. We don't have the time to talk about it, but I will let you come with us–"

Charlotte instantly grinned, "Thank–"

"If!" he quickly interrupted her celebration, "If, you stay in the Quinjet. Then, if things go sour, you can show me what you have learned. But only if things go south, you understand me, young lady?" his tone was final and serious, and Charlotte knew that disobeying him would not be an option.

She hugged him, and Tony instantly wrapped his arms around her frame, bringing her closer to him, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me, I'm gonna regret this. And if the team doesn't kill me, your mom will," Tony grumbled, still hesitant about bringing his daughter along.
 

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sorry this one is so short guys.

a lot of stuff is going in right now, but i just had to update.