𝐰𝐡𝐨'𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐤𝐢?

༻ ❁ ༺

May 12th, 2012
Secret United States Naval Base

          AS EXCITED AS CHARLOTTE was to be travelling again, she could not help but feel a little disheartened as to the reason for their sudden trip.

On the same day that Phil Coulson came to visit them at Stark Towers, her mom took the company jet to her charities conference in Washington. 

Charlotte remained by her dad's side for the remainder of the day, and allowing her curiosity get the better of her, she spent the next few hours absorbing the information that was on the screens in front of them. 

The concept of the Avenger Initiative seemed scary to Charlotte at first, but the more she read about each individual candidate, the more she could not help but feel a tad excited about the possible formation of 'superheroes'. The notion had always seemed to be outlandish, but she just had to remember that her own father was hailed as a 'superhero'.

It was the next morning that Tony awoke his daughter with the sudden news that they would be taken a short trip - for work purposes, he had said. But she could not help but wonder why her father had specifically stressed that she should not breath a word of this to her mother.

He then went on to explain that he would be making a quick detour - in Germany. However, she would have to remain on what he called the Helicarrier, an aerial vehicle that he had spent the past few years developing for S.H.I.E.L.D. While her father would not tell her who or what was so important that required him to travel to Europe, she agreed nonetheless. 

It had been almost two hours since Tony left Charlotte in the custody of Agent Maria Hill onboard the helicarrier, and the young girl had been confined to her quarters. The plain grey walls easily became suffocating and there was only so many times that she could read the information pact on thermonuclear astrophysics that her father had been given that morning.

It was then that she felt her room shudder, suddenly. A flutter in her stomach gave the impression that the helicarrier was now airborne and flying upwards - strange for a ship, she thought.

She made a conscious effort to remain in her room, and she did so for around hour. She then decided to leave her quarters in hopes of exploring the ship as much as she could. The light fluttering feeling in her stomach as as roamed the vast and vacant hallways confirmed to her that they were, in fact, airborne.

With a small skip in her step, the young girl walked along the corridors without a issue. She seemed to be in an area that was completely empty, there was not a single crew member around, but what Charlotte didn't realize is that the corridors had cameras planted all over, closely following her every move.

She ran until she reached a corner of the hall and that's when she saw two S.H.I.E.L.D agents guarding a double door behind them. They took notice of her peeking at them, and one of them raised a hand to his ear, pressing his communicator.

"We've located her, sir."

While she could not hear who was on the other end of the communicator, she noticed a small smile on their faces as they both nodded. "Right away, sir."

"If you'll come this way, Miss Stark," One of the agents beckoned towards her with his hand, "Director Fury is waiting for you."

Shyly, Charlotte obeyed, slightly anxious that she's been caught and that now she was in trouble.

When she approached, the two male agents escorted her into the bridge by opening the double doors for her.

The raised flooring, which was bordered by steel rails, led to a hexagonal conference table and then to Director Fury's position at four control panels, his gaze fixed on the view through the huge windows that made up the ship's prow as well as his crew's activity.

Agents were stationed at rows of monitors on the floor below the director, each equipped with a microphone and headset for contact with the others coordinating the ship's command.

A few agents gave the little girl a sidelong look, others perplexed by her appearance. Maria Hill, on the other hand, seemed to be intrigued.

"Sir," she turned to the Director, but kept her voice low. "Why is Stark's daughter here?"

Fury glanced at Agent Hill before turning his head slightly towards the girl. "You are a curious young lady, Charlotte Stark."

"I was bored," she shrugged innocently, awkwardly scuffing the cap of her boot against the flooring.

As Fury gave a single chuckle at her answer, Maria quickly approached him. "Sir, Agent Romanoff is on the line. They've managed to capture Loki and the Tesseract. Landing expected within the hour."

"Has he said anything?" Fury suddenly asked after he placed a communicator into his ear.

"Not a word."

Charlotte heard the faint voice of Natasha Romanoff coming from the Director's communicator.

"Who's Loki?" Charlotte prompted but was swiftly shushed by Fury. She folded her arms over her chest and frowned at him, a firm pout set on her lips.

"Is that who I think it is?" Natasha asked quickly. "I didn't know you were running a daycare now, Nick."

"Just get him here. We're steadily running out if time." Fury ordered, ignoring the snark remark from the older red head, and the sulking pout he was receiving from the younger red head.

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Exactly fifty three minutes later, a jet landed on the runway of the Helicarrier.

Fury requested that a agent escort Charlotte down to the hanger to greet her father. The unfortunate agent found that he was fighting a losing battle as he attempted to keep the excited young girl from running too far ahead; he almost lost her numerous times in the streams of crewmen.

Charlotte hurried towards her father as soon as she saw him, alone, removing his suit with the assistance of the mechanical weapons he had brought with him.

"Charlie. I thought we agreed that you would stay in your room?" Tony said, glancing down at his daughter with a disapproving look.

"We did," she nodded, watching as the machines surrounding her dad continued to skillfully remove his suit piece by piece. "But I also thought we agreed that you would be gone for an hour at the most."

"It's only been an hour. Hasn't is?"

"It's been three," she retorted with a raised brow. "Your suit can shoot lasers but it can't tell the time?"

"Same thing." Tony smirked, and shook his head subtly at his daughter's quick remarks. Of course, he had absolutely no idea where she gained that trait from.

On the way back to their quarters, her dad explained that he had to attend a briefing on the main bridge. Tony wanted Charlotte to come along with him, mainly so he could keep an eye on her, but also because he knew that she had some nervous reservations about the Avengers. Perhaps if she met them personally, she would not be as concerned about his involvement.

It took a further fifteen minutes for Tony to head back go his quarters and change out of his t-shirt and jeans and into a smarter shirt and jacket. Charlotte waited outside, leaning against the wall as she carefully held her Captain America trading card between her finger and thumb; with her free hand she traced over the comic style lettering.

"Why don't you ask him to sign it?" Charlotte jumped slightly at her dad's voice coming from next to her. She hadn't heard him step out of the room. Her head snapped to look up at her dad, a slight look of wonderment on her face.

"He's here?"

"Yeah. I though Coulson was going to swoon." Tony chuckled.

She giggled at the mental image of Phil Coulson swooning like a dame at the sight of Steve Rogers. She then paused for a moment, brows pinching as she thought about all the times her dad had refused to talk about the iconic Captain, or her grandfather's involvement in his creation.

"Would it be okay, if I did? You wouldn't mind?"

"I don't see why not. Why would I mind if you get the capsicle to sign your trading card?" Tony muttered, but then threw a wink in her direction. "We can always sell it on Ebay later."

Tony outstretched his hand and she took a hold of it instantly. The duo walked down the hallway, lightly conversing and laughing about seemingly nothing.

"Dad?" Charlotte asked after a few moments of walking, her voice was quiet and Tony could not help but detect a slight sense of trepidation in her tone. "Who is Loki?"

Tony faltered in his step for a brief seconds, it almost went unnoticed. "Where did you hear that name?" He asked with a more serious tone and internally, he felt a brief sense of panic seep in.

How did she know about Loki?

Had she somehow had an interaction with the God of Mischief - had he threatened her in some way?

"Nowhere. I think I read it in Dr Selvig's notes." Charlotte shrugged, her voice remained quiet. She felt as though she would get into trouble if she admitted that she had overheard Maria and Fury talking.

"You read Selvig's notes? The paper on thermonuclear astrophysics?" Tony asked, shocked that she not only read the research paper, but more than likely was capable of understanding it. 

"Again, I was bored. You were gone for three hours." Charlotte retorted, another small shrug rolled from her shoulders. "It talked a lot about a cube. It sounded dangerous."

"It is." Tony answered with a firm not. "But, you don't need to worry about any of that, honey. Not Loki, nor the cube." Flexing his fingers, Tony gave Charlotte's hand a light squeeze in an attempt to reassure her. However, he felt as though his efforts were in vain, judging by the knot that had knitted between Charlotte's brow, and her tense jaw.

As they rounded the corner, they were met by Phil Coulson; he seemed to be a little impatient as he stood with his arms folded, passing the occasional glance at his watch. They were not that late - the meeting had only begun nineteen minutes ago.

Knowing that they could not afford to waste another minute, Coulson escorted the two Starks towards the control bridge, where everyone was waiting on them. Charlotte shyly cast her gaze back to the floor as they entered the room, seemingly in the middle of a very serious conversation.

"I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium – what do they need the iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent," her dad answered right away as he and she were led into the area by Coulson. Tony switched his attention to the current topic on the conference table after the agent left, sending Charlotte a brief smile.

Charlotte stayed close to her father, ignoring the quizzical looks she was receiving; she could feel her cheeks burning. "Means, the portal won't collapse on itself as it did at SHIELD," her father explained as he sauntered around the table, pausing as he circled around a large man with long blonde hair.

Charlotte watched her dad walk up to the man who she presumed to be Thor. He patted the Norse prince on his arm, "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing."

A small voice whispered for only the god to hear, "You have pretty hair." Thor's scowl at her father softened when Charlotte looked up at him; he hadn't expected a child to be present.

"Also," her dad continued, projecting loudly to the group. Charlotte stopped staring at Thor and proceeded to find the floor more interesting, "means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long as Loki wants."

Maria Hill rolled her eyes and turned away at his elucidation - she had heard plenty of stories about Tony Stark, more bad than good. The man was nothing short of a genius, however, he knew this to be true, and so it became problematic. They all watched as Tony stepped away from the girl and continued to pause at the end of the raised platform with control panels at each side, "Uh, raise the mizzenmast," he commanded suddenly on the bridge, "Jib the topsails."

He suddenly yelled, "That man is playing Galaga!" Pointing in the direction of an agent, "He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."

Tony returned his gaze to the Director's monitors, a confused frown on his face as he raised a hand to cover his eyes in imitation of Fury's eye patch, "How does Fury even see these?" he asked, gesturing to the left-hand screens.

Maria responded flatly, arms crossed, "He turns."

He replied, "That sounds exhausting."

"Dad, that was rude." Charlotte gently scolded him.

Everyone on the bridge, apart from Natasha and Maria, turned to gawp at the child.

For the past two years, Bruce had been on the run and had no easy access to the media. And so discovering that the little girl was really Tony Stark's daughter, as he suspected, had come as a shock.

Steve Rogers was more surprised than the rest of the team. He'd only known Stark for an hour and he already found the man to be irritating. He may be Howard's son, but the two were nothing alike. However, to learn that Tony was a father was strange, especially seeing as the girl did not appear to share his arrogant traits.

The child appeared to be innocent enough, however she did seem to be intimidated by the sudden attention. Thor gave the girl a small smile, chuckling at her previous complement. "It's a pleasure to meet you, little lady," he gave her a polite nod and bent down slightly until he was almost her height. "I think your hair is pretty too. In fact, it is the colour of an Asgardian sunset."

Charlotte blushed profusely at Thor's compliment. However, before anyone was able to notice, a pair of hands placed themselves on her shoulders. Turning around, a smile beaming across her face as Charlotte looked up at Natasha.

"Natasha!" The girl all but squealed and launched herself into the assassin's arms. The action earned more confused glances from the room.

"It's nice to see you too, Charlie," Natasha laughed, somewhat taken aback by the girl's reaction to her presence. "Still putting your father in his place, I see?"

"I blame her mother," Tony quipped, turning back to the group. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he needs is a power source, of high-energy-density," he stepped around Charlotte, studying the panels, and from her height, she saw him stick something underneath one of the monitors - she frowned but stayed silent.

Tony turned back to everyone's inquiring expressions, continuing, "Something to" he drawled, drawing their attention, before snapping his fingers and clapping as he finished, "kick-start the Cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Maria interrogated quickly.

"Last night," he replied. 

"This morning." Charlotte chimed in at the same time.

Everyone looked at her with a mixture of surprised and curious expressions. Agent tilted her head and narrowed her eyes in disbelief while Steve wondered if the young girl was a genius as well. He could not help but feel concerned by the presence of a child onboard the ship - surely this was not a safe environment for someone so young.

"The packet – Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers," Her father went on and asked them in awe, arms spread wide as if hoping for a counterpoint to his own thoughts. "Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve interrupted, sounding increasingly agitated.

Charlotte eyed him curiously, albeit a little in awe. Ever since finding out that he grandfather and Steve Rogers worked closely together, she had spent a lot of time on her own, reading articles and comics about the captain's adventures. 

Bruce, on the other hand, clenched his teeth and shook his head, pacing back towards Steve as he summarized, "He would have to heat the Cube to one-hundred-and-twenty Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier."

"Unless," her dad drawled, walking towards the scientist as he proposed, "Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect."

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy-ion fusion at any reactor on the planet," Bruce stated.

"Finally – someone who speaks English," As he got closer to Bruce, Tony complimented with a survey of the others. Charlotte moved from her dad's side while he conversed with the doctor; she took one of the seats closer to her, which happened to be near Natasha. The two shared a smile.

"Was that what just happened?" Steve remarked in question, his eyes passing over the room with a confused expression.

"Yup," Charlotte replied, popping the 'p' while giving the man next to her a somewhat tired glance, "Just smile and nod, Captain. That's what I usually do." Steve gave her a half-smile in response, amused by the young girl's response.

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner," Tony said as they shook hands, Bruce nodding in agreement, "Your work, on anti-electron collisions, is unparalleled," he released him before adding, "And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the Cube," Director Fury argued as he walked onto the bridge, "I was hoping you might join him."

"Let's start with that stick of his," Steve advocated, "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

Charlotte took a mental note to ask what HYDRA was later. She had heard it name mentioned before, mainly whenever her dad talked about her grandfather's work, and Captain America.

"I don't know about that," Fury countered, "But it is powered by the Cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor repeated, his brow pinched with confusion. "I do not understand–"

"I do!" Steve chimed in enthusiastically and Charlotte smiled at him, despite her father's obvious mockery. "I-I understood that reference," the man explained proudly.

"I did too. It's my mom's favourite movie." Charlotte told him brightly, making Steve nod with a genuine smile.

To her side, Tony turned to Bruce, "Shall we play, Doctor?"

The scientist nodded before turning to escort him down the adjoining hall, "This way, sir."

"Charlie, honey?" Tony extended his arm at her, beckoning his daughter to hold his hand. Before leaving the room, she quickly turned over her shoulder and waved a goodbye to the group behind her.

Steve awkwardly waved his hand as a goodbye with a small smile; Thor grinned widely and nodded at her and Natasha winked with a genuine smile of her own.

The captain seemed to be confused the majority of the time, but he didn't say anything that made him seem hostile. Thor, despite his imposing appearance, still gave her a huge, welcoming smile when she looked at him.

Charlotte decided that her dad's new work colleagues weren't as scary as she first though they would be. Maybe him being a part of the Avengers wouldn't be so bad.

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author's note

hey guys, i'm so sorry that there is always about two weeks in between updates - i'm trying to edit these chapters and get as much into them as i can. 

i'm trying my best to not make this book about eighty chapters long, but honestly, it's probably going to be about fifty to sixty chapters with the amount i have written - i need to calm down, like seriously.

i have planned right up until age of ultron, but i want to make sure that iron man 3 is perfect before i post it - it's going to be the main crux of charlotte's character arc, and it's a bit of a roller coaster, so be prepared for that!