𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭

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Stark Tower
New York City

May 2012

          IT HAD BEEN FOUR years had passed since the world was first introduced to Iron Man, and a lot of things had changed for the Stark family, but neither Tony nor Pepper saw more change than they did in their daughter.

Charlotte was now ten and a half years old, and she had grown a lot over the years. She had definitely gotten taller, a trait that she had gained from her mother; her hair was now a dark shade of copper and it sat past her shoulders and settled between her shoulder blades.

Pepper thought that it was quite funny how most girls her daughter's age dreamed of becoming a Disney princess, but her daughter had other ideas.

After being introduced to Natasha Romanoff two years ago, Charlotte found a new role model in the SHIELD agent. And after pestering her parents about it for months, she was finally taking lessons in Russian. In addition to her language lessons, Tony and Pepper had also hired private martial arts teachers to aid with their daughter's requests to learn karate.

Eight months previous, when Tony had first unveiled his plans to build Stark Towers in New York, Charlotte had been somewhat reluctant to leave their ocean home in Malibu. Her parents knew that she adored that house, it held so many memories for her - granted not all were good, but they were still her memories. But as she stood by the monitor with her mom and watched her dad's point of view camera footage, she felt proud of their new second home; they had built Stark Towers together.

Out in the Atlantic Ocean, Tony, in his Iron Man suit, finished cutting a pipeline transport with a laser, before fitting it with a newly designed Energy Reactor.

"You're good on this end. The rest is up to you." Tony's voice came through the communicator in his suit.

Charlotte was kneeling on a chair by the desk, swiveling from side to side as she watched her mom carefully monitor the new energy stabilizing.

"You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?" Pepper asked.

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy."

Charlotte listened to her dad as a hologram of JARVIS's diagnostic report appeared next to them. She was used to using the hologram port, but it was something that never ceased to amaze her, every time.

"So maybe our reactor takes over, and it actually works," Pepper spoke with a hint of doubt.

"It'll work, mom. You'll see!" Charlotte commented optimistically, patting her mom's arm.

"You should listen to our daughter, Pep." Tony spoke. "Now, light her up."

Charlotte watched as Pepper obeyed and immediately observed the lights outside turning brilliant blue, "How does it look, dad?" Charlotte asked as she stood from her chair.

"Like Christmas - but with more... me,"

"We've got to go wider on the public awareness campaign - you need to do some press," Pepper spoke quickly. "I'm in D.C tomorrow, I'm working on the zoning for the next three buildings-"

"Pepper, you're killing me," Charlotte saw her dad slow his flight down as he approached the top of the tower. "The moment, remember - enjoy the moment."

Charlotte watched her dad walk down a series of stairs while Pepper kept her eyes on the hologram, the sides of the landing platform leading into the tower bent downwards, and the ring he had landed rotated upwards as it matched the hand of her dad. To detach her dad's helmet from his head, the mechanical arms of the platform extended and reached and she found that he appeared to be talking to himself or probably J.A.R.V.I.S. When her dad's suit was completely gone, she smiled at him. Smiling back at her, Tony stepped inside the room.

"Levels are holding steady," Pepper reported, "I think," she said, chewing her lip with confusion, the transparent screen in front of her representing the tower and a magnification of the arc reactor at its foundation, and their related power levels.

"Of course they are - I was directly involved," Tony surmised arrogantly, making Charlotte roll her eyes dramatically as he came closer to them. "Which brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genius?" He brightly asked Pepper to take his ear-talker and throw it on the top of the desk.

"Well, I really wouldn't know, now would I?" Pepper responded, sitting back against the tabletop behind her, as she turned to face him.

"That's not true," Charlotte piped up instantly, not hesitating to disagree as her mother spoke about herself lowly. She felt fortunate to be surrounded by such a strong and knowledgeable female influence. She looked up to her mom so much, and as she reached adulthood, she wished to be as hard-working as them.

Even Natasha, whom she hadn't seen in three years, left a positive impression on the younger Stark, who had begun the process of wanting to practice martial arts, and she now learned how to protect herself. For over a year now, Charlotte has been taking self-defense courses. As Charlotte was a sharp kicker, Tony had even volunteered to be her practicing partner, which ended in the two bonding over it, as well as Tony having bruises all over his thighs.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" As he shut down the holograms of the machine, Tony turned Pepper. "All of this -," he swiveled his right index finger around, "- came from you."

"No, all this came from that," Pepper argued, tapping the arc reactor that was on Tony's chest.

He smirked, "Give yourself some credit, please," he held her upper arms and stated, "Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself twelve percent of the credit."

"Twelve percent?" Both Pepper and Charlotte repeated flatly.

Tony looked at the two with amusement clear on his expression, "An argument can be made for fifteen," he countered quickly, making Charlotte giggle.

"Twelve percent of my baby?" Pepper scoffed as she walked past him, her bare feet silent on the grey tile.

"Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally – I lifted the heavy things. And, sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you." her dad defended. "My private elevator–"

"You mean our elevator?" Pepper interjected, pointing to herself and then Charlotte, who grinned at him. She smirked as she poured the champagne into their empty glasses and some juice into Charlotte's.

"Well, it was teeming with sweaty workmen," he continued in disgust before foreboding as he sat between his wife and daughter on the carpet, "I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?"

"Yep," Charlotte smiled, popping the 'p', before sipping on her juice. "You should have said twenty percent."

"It's nice to see that someone has an eye for business negotiations. You should be taking notes." Pepper hummed, flashing Tony a small smirk. "And it's not going to be that subtle," She as she handed him his glass.

Charlotte always liked seeing her parents like this – especially seeing everything that had been through as a family over the years, she enjoyed these moments, the laughter and the sense of contentedness.

"Sir, the telephone," J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice interrupted the family's laughter. Tony sighed and ran a hand over his face. "I'm afraid my protocols are being overridden."

As her dad pulled his phone from his back pocket, the familiar voice of Phil Coulson relayed from the speaker. "Mr. Stark, we need to talk." Charlotte watched them with peaked interest, she had not seen or heard from Agent Coulson in a long time.

"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark," Pepper lightly nudged Charlotte as she tried to muffle her giggles at her father's antics. "Please leave a message."

"This is urgent," Coulson pressed.

"Then leave it urgently," Just as the elevator doors on the other side of the room slid open, revealing agent Coulson standing, exasperated, with his mobile phone to his ear.

"Mr. Stark," the agent greeted as he ended the call and entered onto the floor.

"Phil!" Charlotte exclaimed with a beaming smile and followed after her parents. "I've missed you!"

"Hello, Miss Stark. It's good to see you again," Coulson gave the girl a small but genuine smile as he looked down at her, before giving a loop-smile at the little girl. He reached into his pocket and retrieved a small item and handed it to Charlotte, who politely took the gift. "I had a couple of duplicates in my collection, so I thought you would like to have e these," he told her with a smile as he watched her eyes lit at the vintage Captain America trading cards.

"Wow! Thank you, Phil!" Charlotte gasped and rushed to wrap her arms around the agent's middle. This seemed to take him by surprise, but after a moment he gave her a pat on the back.

"Yeah, thanks Phil," Tony interjected, "First of all, his first name is Agent. Second, my daughter has better tastes than playing cards," he protested as he leaped to meet the S.H.I.E.L.D agent's approach.

"Dad, don't be jealous. Besides, I love them," she stated firmly, making Phil smirk in somewhat triumph.

Pepper bit her lower lip in amusement when she noticed her husband's grumpy expression. "Come on in, we're celebrating," she said warmly.

"Which is why he can't stay," Tony muttered as he offered a wide, forced smile.

"Dad..." Charlotte scolded him with the same warning tone her mother often had.

"We need you to look this over as soon as possible," Coulson explained, posing a thin S.H.I.E.L.D. issued computer towards her dad.

He begrudgingly addressed Coulson, "Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday–"

"This isn't a consultation," the agent stated.

"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asked, and at the agent's stare she added futilely, "Which we know nothing about." She waved a finger between herself and Charlotte, who was standing in front of her mother, her gaze cast down to her new trading cards.

"Oh yeah, totally. I know nothing about that." Charlotte said quickly with an innocent smile on her face as she looked up at the agent through her lashes.

"I thought the Avengers' Initiative was scrapped," Tony mused as he started walking towards his desk, scrolling his finger across the tablet Coulson had handed him, "and I didn't even qualify."

"I didn't know that either," Pepper remarked.

"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others."

"That I did know."

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore," Coulson stated.

"Whatever," Tony dismissed, "Pep, got a sec?" he called over his shoulder as he continued to scroll through the information displayed on the computer that he had rested on the desk. Pepper excused herself and quickly made her way over to the desk, leaving Charlotte and Coulson standing in the center of the room.

After a couple of minutes of watching her parents converse in hushed and whispered voices, Charlotte turned back to Coulson and glanced up at him, "So, the Avengers?" she asked, turning the trading card over in her fingers, examing the artwork on the reverse of the card. 

"I thought you didn't know anything about that, Miss Stark?" Coulson spoke slowly, his tone was warning as he looked down at the child, his eyes narrowed slightly as he watched her with a suspicious expression.

"I don't." She replied quickly.

"Good." Coulson nodded.

"Alrighty then," She nodded, mimicking his mannerisms.

"Because that is classified information." Coulson continued.

"I know." She hummed, pulling her lips into a tight line. "But why is it classified?"

"What?" Coulson's brow pinched and furrowed as he turned to look back down at her.

"Why are the Avengers classified? Is it a secret?"

"Yes." Coulson answered quickly.

"Oh, okay." Charlotte hummed. "But why is it a secret?"

Coulson tipped his head back and sighed - he never thought it would be possible for the young Stark to exhibit more of her father's mannerism, but it seemed that during the few years since he had seen her last, Charlotte Stark had continued to manifest into a miniature version of Tony Stark.

And it was exhausting.

"Charlie. Stop pestering Coulson, he's sensitive." Tony called over his shoulder, sounding exasperated. Charlotte happily jogged over to the desk her parents were currently hunched over, multiple videos displayed on the monitors in front of them. Neither of the adults noticed that the little girl had snuck her way in between them and was watching the monitors with curious, yet wide eyes.

The first screen displayed some grainy cell phone footage of Dr. Bruce Banner, or rather the Hulk fighting against the military forces that had been set to detain him a few years back.

In the top left corner of the centre screen was Steve Rogers official military identification photo. Dotted around the screen were multiple archived propaganda films of Captain America fighting HYDRA agents, and besides that footage of S.H.I.E.L.D. discovering the Valkyrie submerged in the ice.

And finally, on the far right were multiple photos of a blonde man swinging a hammer, scattered around a video of the so-called 'God of Thunder's' battle with a giant machine that she had learned was called the Destroyer.

"Is that the Hulk?" Charlotte suddenly asked, appearing next to her parents, who both were startled by her sudden appearance.

"Charlie. You really shouldn't be watching this," he said with a firm warning tone.

Ignoring her father's warning, she almost climbed onto the desk to point a finger at the screen on the far right - specifically at the man with the long blonde hair "Who's that?"

"Thor," Coulson replied. He had quietly made his way over to the family, smiling absent-mindedly as the young girl's curiosity. "He's a God."

"Woah," she exhaled, giving the agent wide eyes.

Pepper seemed pale, she breathed out slowly, announcing, "I'm going to take the jet to D.C tonight."

"Tomorrow," Tony quickly corrected with a nudge.

"You have homework. You have a lot of homework," she stated.

"Well," Tony glanced down at his daughter, who was distracted while watching the videos, especially the Hulk ones, "what if I didn't?"

"If you didn't?" Pepper smirked at him, "You mean when you've finished?" Tony nodded, "Well, then," She started by whispering suggestions into his ear, her words trailing off into husky tones, leaving the genius slack-jawed.

Coulson turned his eyes to the floor, turning his head away from the scene so as not to intrude, an amused smile crossing his face. Charlotte was still indifferent to the flirting.

"Square deal. Fly safe." Tony pulled back with a smile, "Let Charlie stay with me." 

"Is that a good idea?" Pepper asked.

"We'll be fine, Pep. Besides, I think I'm going to need all the help I can get here." He said, motioning to the screen behind him; Charlotte was still leaning against the desk, her arms folded underneath her chest as she took in every second of footage that was flashing before her.

"Okay," Pepper ultimately surrendered. She smirked and quickly leaned in to press a lingering kiss to his lips before stepping back, "Don't work hard. That goes for you too, Charlie."

To that, Charlotte finally returned her attention to them. Pepper side-stepped Tony and opened her arms to receive the hug the ten-year-old was always ready to give, "I'll see you in a couple of days."

"Please make sure your father behaves himself," Pepper whispered placing a kiss to the top of her head. Charlotte giggled as she pulled back from their hug.

The two Starks watched her walk away as she asked Coulson, "So, any chance you're driving by LaGuardia?"

"I can drop you," he answered, and the pair disappeared into the main elevator.

Charlotte watched her father return to the files he'd been given, a picture of a man with dark hair and a twisted smile appeared the screen, astride the crippling damage S.H.I.E.L.D.'s base of operations had sustained. Below was his name - Loki.

Underneath was a seperate display of what her father explained was called the Tesseract. The blue cube like object had been secured into a metal contraption in an attempt to harness its powerful and ultimately unpredictable energy. S.H.I.E.L.D had successfully managed to gather a small sliver of information from the cube, however it was abundantly obvious that the organisations scientists were at a lose, and therefore had no where else to turn - hence Phil Coulson's appearance.

"Dad?" Charlotte began as she approached him; he had reached into the hologram and plucked the image of the Tesseract out of the picture, and he was staring at it, his focus drifting into the distance. "Something bad is going to happen, isn't it?"

Tony licked his lips, now knowing what to say. How should he explain to his ten year old daughter that he had no sure idea of what was going to happen - all he knew was that if S.H.I.E.L.D were asking for his help, then they must have exhausted all of their resources, making them very desperate.

"I think so," he nodded in response, knowing not to lie to her. Charlotte was still very young to understand the far fetched extent of the dangers out in the world, but at the same time, she was incredibly perceptive and would have been able to see through any lie he may have embellished.

"Do you think this Loki is worse than Obadiah and Vanko?" she asked, remembering the events of the past few years.

He sighed, "I don't know honey, it might be," he replied, deciding to be honest. Tony cast his gaze down to his daughter. She seemed to vulnerable by his side, her small face had softened with a worried glance as she fixed her eyes on the monitors.

"Hey. Charlie look at me," he said softly, kneeling down to her level; taking her hands in his, Tony brought her focus back to him. "There will never be another Obadiah or Vanko. And even if there was, I'll never let anything like that happen to you again. And that's a promise."

The girl didn't speak, she simply responded with a small nod. Tony wrapped an arm around her shoulder and the other around her middle and Charlotte happily fell into the embrace.

"And if anyone even tries to get close to you-what did Romanoff teach you to do?" Tony questioned with a smirk, bringing Charlotte back to arms length.

"Kick them with the metal leg."

"That's my girl."

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author's note

very heavy dialogue chapter, but we've offically begun the avengers!