he's a family friend
☼ ☼ ☼
"So, who exactly is this Happy we're meeting here?" Aurora asked Andi. She pulled the car to a stop in an isolated field Andi had directed her to. She hadn't told Aurora much of what was happening, but Aurora knew she hadn't been up for much conversation. She respected that and gave Andi her space, but after driving an hour to a random field in the middle of nowhere, she felt it was time for answers.
Andi took her seatbelt off and opened the car door. "He's a family friend," she answered.
Andi grabbed her mask and got out of the car. Aurora switched the vehicle off and got out as well, following Andi further into the field. She was becoming frustrated with the lack of information she was receiving, but she was trying to remain patient, as she knew Andi was currently dealing with a lot.
"Andi, I know you're dealing with a lot right now, but I could really use more than your vague answers," Aurora called out to her. "Don't forget I have no memory of our family, so telling me he's a family friend does nothing for me."
Andi stopped and turned around to look at Aurora. Her brown eyes were still filled with so much anguish, and Aurora was sure the frown on her face was bound to become permanent. Coupled with the contusions and fresh lacerations, Andi did not look good. "Okay, so Happy is Stark Industries's head of security. He was Tony's best friend."
"So, is Tony a family friend too?" Aurora asked. "Is that how you know him?"
"Yes and no." Andi looked to the sky as the sound of a jet overhead grew closer and closer. "Tony is actually my uncle—or our uncle. He married our Aunt Pepper during the Blip, but it'd been a long time coming. They'd been in love with each other since, like, 2008."
"Tony Stark is our uncle?" Aurora was absolutely gobsmacked. Everything she knew about Tony she'd read on the internet or in newspapers or she'd watched it on the news. He was a wealthy philanthropist with an entire technological empire in his name. She'd read he was arrogant and often selfish, but she had a hard time believing that given his sacrifice for the planet, as well as the way Andi acted now that they spoke of him. He meant a lot to her, and it was crystal clear.
Andi shied away from the wind as the jet landed several yards away from them, as did Aurora, but that didn't stop them from continuing their conversation. "Yes, he is...or he was," she answered Aurora. "He practically raised me after our parents died. He was the closest thing I had to a father in years. Then I lost him too."
Aurora frowned, but didn't respond. She didn't want to push the conversation further than she knew Andi wanted to take it. Andi's words were telling, however. Aurora still wasn't sure of all the details, but she was working on putting together the missing pieces of the life she missed out on. One thing Aurora was sure of was that Andi's trauma was deeper than what she'd just been through with Beck. It was deeper than the loss of her parents or Peter or Tony. She'd spent so many years with her abilities, using them to protect the world around her, but when it came down to those she loved, she was unable to protect them. She was forced to watch them die, and she blamed herself for it, though Aurora knew it was not her fault. It never had been. The weight of the entire world was on Andi's shoulders, and she was struggling to carry it.
The jet's door opened to reveal Happy, and Andi started forward cautiously. She'd spoken to him on the phone and knew he was the one coming to get her and Aurora, but with all the tricks Beck had been playing, she remained vigilant. She needed to make sure the Happy in front of her was the Happy she knew.
"Happy, is that you?" Andi called out to him.
"Of course it's me," Happy responded. "You told me to meet you here."
"I know, but I just need to make sure it's really you," Andi told him. "Can you tell me something only you would know about me?"
"Okay, well remember when Tony got you that car for helping him out with Peter?" Happy asked. "You wrecked it six days later and called me and made me promise not to tell him, but I told him anyway and you filled my gas tank with sugar because of it."
"He grounded me for three weeks!" Andi exclaimed.
"You shouldn't have wrecked the car!"
Andi shook her head and ran towards Happy. She engulfed him in a tight hug, shocking him in the slightest. Andi was never one to show much affection, especially to him. The last time she'd hugged him was just after Tony's funeral. He knew she cared about him, but he also knew her affection was only reserved for a few choice people. This meant there was something wrong, and he could see it written all over her face when he pulled away from her.
"What's wrong, Andi?" Happy noticed Aurora's presence, but it was the lack of a certain presence that bothered Happy. "Where's Peter?"
Andi's lip began to tremble again, and her eyes filled with tears. She was unable to form the words to say, so she simply fell back into Happy's arms and sobbed. Happy hesitated but hugged her back, cupping the back of her head as he did. He looked to Aurora for some sort of answer, despite having no idea who she was.
"Peter, um, he's gone," Aurora told Happy.
Happy's heart dropped, and Andi cried harder in his arms. That was not at all what he was expecting to hear, but it explained Andi's behavior.
"Okay, let's get you on the jet." Happy's voice was quiet, and without releasing his hold on Andi, he walked with her to the jet. He gestured for Aurora to follow them, and together the three made their way inside.
Had the circumstances been different, Aurora would've gushed over just how lavish the jet was, but her main concern was Andi and what exactly they were going to do to about their Beck situation. Happy sat Andi down on the sofa. He sat down across from her after closing the jet's hatch, while Aurora sat down beside her little sister. She placed a comforting hand on her back, but she knew she could not provide Andi the comfort she longed for. That didn't mean she wouldn't try, though.
"Andi," Happy spoke softly to the teenager. "I need you to tell me what happened, okay?"
Andi shook her head as if to rid her mind of the image that continued to torment her, and she laid down on the sofa. "I don't—I don't want to. It h-hurts. I just w-want it to s-stop hurting."
Happy took a deep breath and frowned. The news regarding Peter hurt him more than he anticipated, as he'd grown to really care for the teenage boy, but seeing the way Andi reacted to it was just as heartbreaking. If there was anyone in the world Andi loved with everything in her, it was Peter Parker, and he could already see the havoc his loss was wreaking on her. What truly devastated Happy was knowing he'd have to tell May. Peter was all May had, so there was no doubt in his mind the news would destroy her.
"I've never seen her like this before," Happy said to no one in particular, but Aurora was listening.
"What do you mean?" Aurora asked Happy.
"Well, she's Andi," Happy told her matter-of-factly. "Expressing major emotion isn't really her forte. When her uncle died, she didn't express anything, at least not to me. She just shut down completely."
"That doesn't mean she didn't feel anything," Aurora said.
"I felt everything," Andi spoke up, her tear-filled eyes on the floor. "I felt like someone had punched a hole through my chest. I watched him die in front of me and there was nothing I could do about it except tell him goodbye. I remember the way he smiled at me when he realized he wasn't gonna come home. It was like he was telling me everything was gonna be okay, but it's not okay. Nothing is okay!"
Aurora and Happy were shocked with her outburst, but didn't interrupt. Whatever was inside her, they knew she needed to get it out.
"How can everything be okay when this is my life?" Andi exclaimed. She sat up, ignoring the pain shooting through her body, and began pacing around. "I love helping people and keeping people safe, but why do I have to sacrifice my happiness to make sure everyone else has theirs? Why do I have to watch everything in my life fall apart? How is it fair, Happy? How is any of this fair?"
"It isn't fair, kid," Happy told her. "And it was never going to be fair. You didn't choose this life, I know that, but you've done one hell of a job living it. I think that's why Tony did what he did, because he knew in the end, that despite all the pain and suffering, you'd still find a way to do what's right."
Andi took a deep breath and wiped her face. "I'm so tired, Happy. I don't know if I can keep doing this."
"Well, I happen to know you can," Aurora cut in. "We talked about this the other night, Andi. You are so fiercely determined to do what's right that I don't think you have it in you not to. I mean, you just went through something so traumatic, yet in the car you were concerned with how to stop Beck, and I don't think Peter's loss is the sole reason why."
"I can't let him hurt anyone else," Andi responded quietly. "So many people have already died because of him. You saw it yourself, Aurora! The destruction in Mexico? The destruction in Venice and Prague? All those people died, and for what?"
"And that's exactly what we're talking about, Andi," Happy said. "You don't have it in you to not do what's right. I remember when you started looking after Peter and the thought of having a normal life was everything to you, but then the consequences became crystal clear. The mistakes you were making consumed you, and you learned from them and did what you had to do to correct them."
"But how does that help me now?" Andi questioned Happy. "How does that help when I've lost almost everything and everyone I love? My parents are dead, my own sister doesn't even remember who I am, my Uncle is dead, my Aunt barely has time for me, and I just watched the sweetest and kindest boy in the world get murdered. I mean, all of this started because I was supposed to protect him, and I couldn't even do that. Beck was right—all I am is a disappointment!"
"You are not a disappointment!" Happy reassured her. He stood up and stepped closer to her, reaching out to grab her arms in a comforting manner. "Sure, you're attitudinal, sarcastic, and a bit abrasive at times, but you're not a disappointment. Take it from someone who's known you since you were a little girl. I've watched you become everything I thought you'd be, and I am so proud of you."
Andi wiped her face again and met Happy's eyes. "How can you be proud of me when I've done nothing to be proud of? Tony said I was the other half of his legacy, and I don't know how to be that. I don't know how to live up to what he expected of me. I don't know if I ever will."
"That's where you're wrong," Happy told her. "You continue to fight even if you know it might just be the fight you lose, and that's exactly what Tony always did. He fought despite the risks. He fought despite the pain. He fought despite the consequences. I like to think you're living up to that just fine."
"You got injured in Prague, Andi," Aurora reminded her. "You shouldn't have been back on the field yet, but you decided that was where you needed to be. You fought through your pain to make sure no one else was caught in the crossfire."
"Injured? What kind of injuries?" Happy glanced between Aurora and Andi with worried eyes. "Are you okay, Andi?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"She just has a first-degree burn on her neck and a few bruised ribs," Aurora informed Happy. "Today probably didn't help much with the healing process, but she should be okay. I'd say her greatest pain at the moment is solely emotional."
"What are you? Her doctor?" Happy asked.
"I'm actually her sister," Aurora said. "Y'know, the one that doesn't remember who she is?"
Happy's mouth fell open and he looked back to Andi for some sort of confirmation. The blonde simply shrugged her shoulders and walked back over to the sofa to lay down. "You're really her sister?" he asked Aurora.
"I am, or at least that's what she told me."
"We thought you were dead!"
"Well, here I am."
"Guys, can you please stop talking so loud?" Andi asked with a groan. "I'm really tired and I wanna go to sleep, but I can't do that if you two don't shut up."
"It's amazing how she can be so heartbroken but still so much of herself," Happy muttered as he walked back to the jet's cockpit. "Get some rest, kid. We'll reconvene when you wake up."
Andi held her thumb up at Happy and closed her eyes. She focused on trying to halt her tears, though the images she saw behind her closed eyes made it difficult. The day had been a rough one for Andi, and she knew the days ahead were bound to be just as rough. She'd lost not only her love, but her very best friend, and her partner. She wasn't used to doing the whole superhero thing on her own anymore, and while she knew she had Gwen, things just wouldn't be the same without Peter. Having him by her side made the fight so much easier, but in the blink of an eye, things had changed. She was determined to make things right, though, or as right as they could be without him by her side.
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