↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

School wasn't always a thing in Diana's mind. In fact, when she still lived with her cousin, she couldn't care less about it. Plus... after the event with her only friend Harry Hammer, she was okay being alone.

After all, she didn't really know anything else.

In recently constructed Stark Tower, on the top floor in the second largest bedroom the then ten year-old Diana Rogers-Stark sat on her bed with her guitar resting on her legs.

A few music books were sprawled out over her sea-foam green bedspread, as she practised the melody of mother's song. Over the last year Diana had taken most of her free time and poured it into her new hobby. Her fingers gaining calluses and social life depleted. Not that she had one after her and Harry stopped talking anyways.

It was a mutual agreement between the friends. As now he would be focusing more on college, at the tender age of eleven, while she would be constantly travelling with her family.

Did it slightly sting? Of course, but it wasn't like she'd let anyone know that. No. There was no way she'd ever tell Tony about that. For if she did he would make it his personal mission to make sure she was okay and Diana didn't want to worry him.

Besides it wasn't that she would die without any proper social interaction outside of Tony's entourage, she had her music! The music books created using her mother's songs kept her entertained and were all the friends she needed. In the nice tower overlooking the island of New York City. What more could a girl need?

She hummed along to the notes as she did her best to replicate them. Pepper said Diana had the Stark curse of perfectionism considering how hard she had been practising over the last few months. But it wasn't like you could blame the tween. This wasn't just any music, it was Morgan Stark-Rogers's work. The Mozart of America. Of course Diana wanted to bring pride to her resting matriarch.

Though after the eighth attempt that Friday morning she let out a grunt. Her cuffs, Tony created when she moved in to help her control her insane strength, weighed down her wrists to the point she struggled to play.

Putting her sparkling guitar to the side Diana went to loosen her cuffs once more. Ever since she started to play she had noticeably improved on her strength; focusing her efforts on keeping the strings in a singular piece and trying to make coherent noises. Over the last few months she had noticeably needed to dial down her gold bands, so she shouldn't have been surprised by the outcome. But her eyes did widen as she turned the dial on her cuff, making it fully unbuckle and fall on her mattress.

"What the...?"

She quickly picked up the gold and turned it a few times. Many things started to run through her mind as she stared at the device that was supposed to keep her strength in check. She couldn't have gained control already, could she? Hell, Diana was only ten and her birthday wasn't for weeks.

Her not-so-straight teeth rubbed against her lip as she started to debate with herself. After a few moments she took off her other bracelet and put them to the side. Hesitatingly taking her guitar and giving it a strum. The Stark girl's eyes pressed against each other as she prepared for the sounds of snapping.

Though her blue irises peeked once a pretty note was released instead, "No way...!" Trying to keep her excitement down Diana fingered the strings a bit more, causing any chance of calm to go out the window as her strength didn't shatter the guitar.

Without even thinking properly she gently placed her instrument to the side before booking it out of her bedroom. Her tights made her slide across the tile floor as she rushed to the kitchen. The girl sliding right into the fridge, ignoring the pain as she scrambled to the bowl of fruit.

Diana then proceeded to test her hypothesis by gently scooping up an apple with both hands before letting out a breath in concentration. Slowly positioning the fruit in her right hand, and giving it a gentle but firm squeeze... nothing happened. Nothing happened!

Her squeal was already loud even without her mouth open, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" The child bounced around the room, "I did it-!"

Her excitement was suddenly met with a crushed apple between her hands. She froze for a moment before chuckling, "I sorta did it."

Still even with applause in her hands Diana Rogers-Stark did not stop smiling. Her small feet slightly bouncing as she thought about her achievement, something she'd been trying to perfect ever since she was in the lab. Hell, even her old friend Sawyer struggled with it when they were in the "Garden".

So out of every possible thing to think about, Diana was focused on one specific task, "I gotta tell Tony!" She laughed, "Jarvis, where is he?"

A few moments later her cousin's AI responded, 'Mr. Stark is currently unavailable, Miss. He had an emergency appointment with some classified information.'

She frowned, "What about Pepper?"

'She is in her office. Would you like me to alert her to your location?'

Diana shook her head, "No it's okay," she wiped off the applesauce from her fingers. "I can manage."

The girl quickly ran towards the elevator and slipped on her shoes before pressing the button to Pepper's office floor. Or rather what floor she assumed Pepper's office was on. She walked around the floor filled with private offices a few times before realising two things.

One, she was currently on one of the two floors dedicated to Tony's personal legal team. And two, she actually had no idea where Pepper's office was.

The Stark girl quickly cringed as she returned to the elevator. Planning on just going back upstairs and asking Jarvis where to go once she got there. Since Jarvis wasn't active on any social or business floors for the comfortability of her cousin's employees.

So you could understand her confusion when the door wouldn't open for her.

ERROR

Diana blinked a few times before pressing the button a few more times, getting the same message again, and again, and again. Until it eventually read, 'Key Card Required.'

"Are you for real right now?" Diana scoffed, "So I can get into one on my floor level but not another?" But to be fair the door on her floor probably only opened because Jarvis was activated...

With a grumble the ten year-old started to walk towards the stairs, preparing to trek the long climb back up, until a finger tapped her shoulder. Turning behind she was met with the face of one of technically her employees. The woman looked to be in her mid forties or so with brown hair and a mousy face, "Sweetheart, are you lost?"

Diana let out a sigh in relief, "Oh thank god. I got on the wrong floor and it won't let me back on. Do you think you could use your keycard and activate the elevator?"

The woman gave a simple nod, "Oh of course dear, it's no trouble. What floor are you trying to get too?"

Diana, preparing just to go back up to her floor and grab the spare keycard Tony had in the kitchen, said, "Just floor ninety-three. It won't be much trouble, I forgot something on my floor."

The brunette's grey eyes suddenly turned as she stared at the child, "The ninety-third floor...?"

"Yeah I just got off on the wrong floor," Diana chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck in an embarrassed manner.

Though the lawyer didn't laugh along with her. She didn't even crack out a chuckle at Diana's situation. Instead she looked the girl up and down, "You're trying to tell me you live in the penthouse?"

As Diana nodded she watched the woman suddenly turned her nose up, "Do I look stupid to you?"

The girl's head tilted as she wasn't used to being spoken to like that, especially by those who worked for Tony, "Hah?"

The woman placed a hand on her hip and she shook her head, "I swear the things kids do in order to meet Iron Man, I will never understand," the paused. "Wait... Aren't you supposed to be downstairs for that 'Heroes of Tomorrow' Field trip?"

The blue eyed girl blinked, "Field trip? N-no I'm actually not allowed down past floor ninety-three without a guardian. I was just trying to find-"

"Trying to find Tony Stark. I understand what you were doing," they crossed their arms. "You thought because you looked slightly similar to Miss Stark you could get past security and sneak up there, yes?"

Diana cringed, to be fair she didn't blame the lawyer for not completely recognizing her. Tony had pulled back on public appearances after the Vanko incident and children's appearances tend to drastically change in the matter of months. Her hair was recently cut and her clothing wasn't on par to what she'd been seen out in public. Usually she would be sporting a nice dress or something similar to Pepper's clothing when at events.

A vast contrast to her grey sweatpants Stark Industries sweater covering up the scars on her right arm. Though Diana was more focused on her incorrect name, "It's Rogers-Stark actually..."

Which didn't impress the woman as she let out a scoff and pulled out her phone, "Kids these days I swear to god..." Diana stood there confused until a member of the security team appeared. She then watched the lady address the large man, "Another one of the children from the field trip found their way up here. Can you return them please?"

"Wait, I'm not-" she yelled as the security guard didn't let her finish, grabbing her hand and leading her towards the elevator.

She tried her best to plead her case as she was definitely not allowed down below the offices of her cousin's tower, but that was met with being told to stop lying. After a few more minutes of being lead down the halls and corridors Diana was taken to a group of kids who looked to range between the ages of eight to ten.

The tour guide glanced at the very terrified Diana before looking at the guard, "Did she try to wander off?"

The security guard nodded before addressing the Stark girl, "That was a warning. Stay with this group or we'll send you back on the bus until the trip is over."

"Bus?" Her brows furrowed as the tour guide suddenly told her to pay attention as they continued to talk about the structure she called one of her homes.

As Diana stood there questioning how she had gotten into this situation as a person suddenly nudged her. She snapped her head towards the person, seeing a smirking boy who could only be a few months younger than her, "You try to sneak away?"

"What?" Diana stared at him.

The scrawny boy with rather thick glasses chuckled, "That guy that just brought you here, did you get caught trying to leave another tour?"

"Uh..." Diana struggled to speak as the entire situation still hadn't been processed properly.

He hummed as he scratched his head, "Well even if you were I wouldn't blame you. That dude was massive."

"I've seen bigger," she blankly stated.

The boy chuckled, "Oh well not me, but what do you expect? I'm sure Mr. Stark only employs the biggest for his security team, right?"

Diana shrugged, "Well... he said he liked to hire ex-cons because they knew the law and deserved a second chance."

"Really? How'd you know that? Did you read that on Reddit or something?" He quickly asked, resulting in a shush from the tour guide.

The girl was about to answer before fully noticing the boy's appearance. He was a little shorter than her; maybe close to four-eight, four-nine feet tall, with scruffy brown hair. Sporting a pair of big nerdy glasses and an Iron Man shirt with the arc reactor present.

Then with a simple glance to the other kids in similar apparel she realised saying who she was may create a little more attention than needed, "Um... he said it in an interview?" So she lied, maybe it would be best to not say who she really was at the moment.

And thankfully the fan believed her, "Oh well that's cool," his smile made her breath out a sigh in relief. "Anyways, I'm Peter."

She saw his hand out for her to shake, "I'm Di-na... Dina Roberts."

"Nice to meet you Dina," Peter smiled. "So what school are you from? I know they kinda divided us up for this tour. My teacher said the event had like eight schools here."

She took a moment to decide if she should have kept up the lie or not, but the sudden realisation that since this boy, Peter, wasn't aware of who she was, she could be anyone. It wasn't like she could leave. If she was technically being forced to be here, why not have some fun with it?

And fun Diana Rogers-Stark had on her side quest inside Stark Tower. After becoming more comfortable with her small lie to the oblivious Peter Parker Diana had started to enjoy the interactive tour inside her home.

They went from place to place in locations Tony had never bothered to show the girl and learned quite a few interesting facts about her own familiar history. There were many things she wasn't even aware Tony had their company handled. Like how Stark Industries funded clean ups in the ocean and were fighting oil companies for renewable energy.

It was an eye opener the girl was obsessed with, that and also the sudden disappearance she was enjoying. Over the last few years she had been so used to people always crowding her because of her namesake, yet the fact people in her tour weren't even giving her the time of day was actually exciting.

Whenever she went to events with her family kids would be often pushed in her direction to try and make friends with her. Diana Rogers-Stark was not only a very famous person, but also very influential. Privilege could come with it. She was aware of that. So it was no wonder why she smiled at being ignored by the many.

It was weird to be happy about, but when she talked to Peter it felt more meaningful. Like he was doing it just because he enjoyed her as a person and not who she was.

Needless to say Diana was having the time of her life. Or at least that was till near the end of the tour when they went to see a section of Tony's suit on display for tours. As the moment they stepped foot on the floor Jarvis was activated on, it alerted her cousin to her location.

Diana could still remember the enraged face of her cousin as they made eye contact from across the hallway. Seeing as she didn't see herself doing anything wrong she just waved to him as he started to scream.

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

"Four hours. I was searching for you for four hours!" Tony Stark scolded his cousin back in the safety of their penthouse.

Diana slumped back on the sofa as she continued her scolding. After he found her Tony very publicly screamed at the child for leaving their floor, taking off her cuffs and not taking a keycard with her.

"Tony it was not four hours, it was two and a half," Pepper huffed next to Diana.

"That's not the point, Pepper!" He stomped his foot, "She left without saying anything!"

She frowned, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wander off. I was brought there. Security thought I was a student. Why wouldn't you tell me that schools come to the tower?"

"It shouldn't matter because you aren't supposed to leave your floor," he rubbed his temples. "Diana I can't handle this stress, I thought you were taken again."

Diana simply shrugged, "It was your employees who called security."

Tony let out a scoff as Pepper tried to defuse the tension, "Okay, look let's all just take a breather and focus on the important thing here... Diana isn't wearing her cuffs anymore. Isn't that a bit of good news for the day?"

Diana nodded as Pepper held up her wrist, "You were right, I just needed some time. I mean I'm not amazing at control but it's a start."

Pepper's boyfriend only glared at his girls as they tried to calm the very upset man down, "So I have to go on another three hour conference call with Shield tonight... oh joy."

"Tony..." Pepper's sudden voice dropped as her boyfriend groaned, "Look. I'm happy for you Diana but I'm more upset with you than anything. I had a very... very rough meeting and when I found your empty my reactor short circuited."

Diana's emotions shifted, "I'm... I'm sorry," she frowned. "I just wanted to find you or Pepper and got lost."

"No- Diana, I'm not mad I'm just..." he ran his hands down his face as he knelt in front of his daughter.

He took a few moments to collect himself before speaking once more. Reminding himself to act better than his father would have in a similar situation. As he had done far less and received worse treatment. Tony had to remind himself to not be like his father.

She sat still as he gently grabbed her scarred hand and focused on her markings, "When you got hurt I promised to never let that happen to you again, so when you weren't in your room I got a little jumpy. I'm sorry, and I'm sorry you were taken down there."

"It's okay."

He shook his head, "It's not okay, I overreacted. I'm just glad you're okay."

Diana allowed him to rub his thumb over the end of the long whip scar, "I am okay," she told him.

"I know."

Tony pulled his cousin closer and held her in a tight embrace. His therapist said he was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress over her rather traumatic run in with Vanko, and he would have to agree.

Just like Diana said in the hospital they didn't have much family left. It was rather funny how much he loved her. At one point he didn't even want to entertain the idea of taking care of a child that was not morally his, yet now he couldn't go five minutes without making sure she was okay. Tony loved her so much, which made the meeting he just came back from even harder.

"Um... there is one thing I do wanna talk about though," Diana said.

Tony pulled back as he and Pepper looked at her, "Yeah, what's up?"

The blonde Stark bit her lip as she quickly debated saying the words, tucking her hair behind her ear as she couldn't even look them in the eye with the request, "So... when I was on the tour I became friends with someone there and he told me about some stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" Pepper asked.

She shrugged, "Kid stuff."

"Kid stuff?" Tony tilted his head.

The girl sucked in a breath before letting it out, almost scared to ask, "He was telling me about this normal thing... and I kind of want to do it."

They nodded and pressed her to continue, "Okay? And that is...?"

She finally glanced up, "He said that normal kids our age go to this place called Middle School... do you think I can go?"

She asked a question that would domino effect into a fate she and the universe never thought possible, "Can I go to school?"

╚════.✾. ═╝

So needless to say Diana was not that amused as she returned to her prison that she fled the night before. Her tail between her legs as she stood before the tower.

Running away without a plan was the stupidest decision she had ever made. Not taking any money or jewelry left her with no proper way to eat and she wasn't just going to steal. Not to mention it started to rain not long after the fireworks ended, meaning she spent the night aimlessly wandering the streets, wet. Another great way Diana celebrated her birthday.

Diana always knew she wanted to out of her lifestyle, but that was because she believed it was almost impossible to escape. She never actually planned on an after.

She had an idea of what she wanted to do, of course. Diana wanted to live a normal life, but what normal life could the powerful teen honestly have? She had no other family, she couldn't continue any education considering she would be caught. She have no way to make money. Hell, Diana didn't even know how to make money. She had never been in the real world. She didn't know how it worked or how to survive in it.

Of course she knew these were the reasons she wanted to run away. Though looking back, how was she supposed to run away and join those things she had no knowledge in participating in?

It was like throwing an aquarium freshwater fish into the sea. They may both be the same class of species, but they were still different animals. One raised in a protected fresh water environment had no chance of survival in salt water.

Diana ran her hands down her tear stricken face before letting out the loudest sigh, "One day," she promised herself. "One day you will be free," but as she walked back into the tower, Diana knew it would not be that day today.

She could practically feel her stomach in her shoes, as the anxiety of the incoming scolding was approaching with every step towards the elevator. The amount of bile in the fifteen year-old's throat was concerning, but pushing it down Diana placed her hand on the scanner to allow her to use the private access one.

E  R  R  O  R

Diana slowly blinked at the red lettering on the screen as her anxiety was quickly being smothered by the feeling of rage. Was Steve actually that mad at her? Was he seriously that pissed off that Diana didn't attend their special little party to show off how awesome they were, that they took away her access to the higher levels?

"Those mother fuckers," she sneered before glancing at the stupid doors leading to the stairs.

It must've been part of her punishment, no doubt. A way to give her a chance to think about what she had done. Running away must've meant having to walk up the ninety-three levels in order to gain the almost daily scolding. Hell, maybe Diana's punishment would lessen since she decided to return. Ha. She was funny.

Pulling up her watch Diana quickly checked the energy levels. Since she was running on no dinner or breakfast she was only reading a solid seventy-one percent. Meaning if she really felt like it, the girl could Pocket up at least six floors without passing out, or seven if she felt like making her father feel bad once she made it to the top. But considering punishments usually meant more physical training, and yelling, Diana probably shouldn't push her energy out all at once.

Then, as if Diana's life was a joke, because it apparently was, the watch started to beep saying it was time for her daily workout. So with a blank face Diana Rogers-Stark begun her ascent to the penthouse, where her family would be waiting. 

The first twenty floors weren't so bad, but by floor fourty her legs started to feel tense. By floor sixty the teen's energy levels decreased ten percent and would the more she went up. So, in order to keep herself entertained, as she did the climb of shame, Diana studied the fun walls.

The Avengers used to get a lot of fan mail after New York, and they still did, but before it mostly just sat around in a box or bin somewhere in storage after they all looked at it once. Out of all of them it was surprisingly Natasha who felt the most bad for putting it away. So she teamed up with a few interior designers and took all of the art and put it in the stairwells. It took a while to complete but after a long time each and every appropriate creation people have made for the Avengers was permanently resting inside the stairs, railings and walls.

It was an ugly cluster fuck, but a very cool cluster fuck. She was so proud of it. So Diana simply smiled and agreed with her. Though whenever the girl saw a picture of a kid adding themselves as superheroes with the others she couldn't help but frown. They wanted to be heroes but they shouldn't want to. Nobody deserves this prison sentence.

Though something suddenly seemed to be off. Noticing how one of the pictures in the wall had a missing chunk. Almost like a bullet had been fired at it or something. As she raised her brow, focusing on the hole, she didn't look in front of her. Gasping once her shoe slid over something, "WHOA!" Diana yelped, grabbing the railing to keep herself from falling down the steps.

Once she steadied herself, Diana properly looked down to whatever the culprit was of her almost demise, seeing something she was definitely not expecting. Although she was preparing for a cigarette or lipstick, she was not prepared to see a bullet shell.

The pain of walking disappeared almost instantaneously as Diana stared down at it. Hesitantly glancing up to see more. She slowly started to stretch out her fingers in preparation of what was to come as she continued to walk.

Making a small defensive Pocket as she opened the door to the penthouse. After taking a deep breath she finally opened her eyes to see the complete destruction of her cousin's home. The empty home. If you could call it that.

The place was an utter pigsty. Streamers were falling from the ceiling, while balloon carcasses rested sparacticaly on the floor. Sparks were flying periodically out of a cracked flatscreen that just barely hung to the wall.

Then there was the food. If you could even call it that anymore as it didn't seem edible from the places Diana could see it. It was absolutely everywhere. The cake was on the wall with a strange outline dead in the centre, almost like someone was pushed into it at one point. The sushi bar was now a sushi titanic, on the floor with the broken table split down the middle. Then to top off the mess there were plastic wine glasses everywhere. Making the floor sticky as the coke seemed to still be leaking out of most.

Though one glass caught Diana's eye. A half filled one with the name 'STEVE' in all caps written on the side. It may seem like a weird thing to notice, but to the girl, it's what stood out to me the most.

Steve Rogers grew up during the Great Depression. Meaning he never believed in wasting anything and he was very serious about it. She could remember one time Tony used too much ketchup for his fries and his uncle gave him a piece of bread and said he had to finish the ketchup. A fight ensued ending in Pepper putting them both in a time-out.

Diana walked towards the cup and picked it up before regretting it instantaneously. Feeling her throat start to close up from the smell alone. Dropping it as she started to gasp for breath. Having to kick it aside in order to breathe. NyQuil.

Why was there NyQuil in her father's drink? Those toxic ingredients were banned from the tower. Why would they be in the penthouse? How did they even get in his glass? Did he drink it? A single drop was enough to put Diana or Steve into a coma.

Once she was able to get her breathing back to normal Diana could feel the room spin as she looked around at the destruction. Wondering only one thing, what the hell happened last night?

"Well I must say you are rocking that pink hair," the hairs at the back of my Diana's neck stood up as a voice she never thought I'd hear again, asked. "Hey Libby."

It was as if all the air was kicked from her lungs as she slowly turned around when she finally gained the courage, "Rumlow?"

Rumlow. Otherwise known as the girl's first betrayal. When she was living in DC with her father after New York she became friends with Steve's group called the Strike Team. They were fun. They were nice. They didn't treat her like a celebrity.

So when they were revealed to be working for the company that her family was against she obviously felt helpless. So seeing him years later was not something she expected. Especially in her her home.

The man put his arms out, "In the flesh- well... as much as I can be," he chuckled.

The man Diana once considered a friend was wearing what seemed to be an old worn out military uniform. He had riot gear covering his vital organs with a white X covering the front. He was fully loaded with multiple forms of artillery and sharp weapons, but his face sent a shiver down her spine.

She didn't even think he was alive after Washington and judging from the scars drowning his face it seemed he just scraped by. It made her wonder if his eyes were even more messed up as they were covered by his red goggles. And now he was only a few feet away, "What are you doing here?" Diana put her hands up and created two Pockets, ready to use them.

He put his hands out defensively, "Whao, whao, girl. I wanted to wish you a happy birthday," he smiled. "I was originally gonna wish you in person yesterday but... it seemed you had other plans," he gestured to her hair. "And man you missed out. It was some party, I'll tell you that."

"Where are they?"

He gave a small shrug, "Let's just say they put up a good fight."

The blue and yellow eyes widened as everything finally fit together like a finished puzzle, "Don't worry, they're not dead. Well... dead yet anyways," he promised her.

Diana's hands started to slightly shake as the fear began to take root in her chest, creating a burn in her throat. Still, Diana decided to press for more information, try and call his bluff, "And what? You expect me to have them? That you were able to take on Earth's Mightiest Heroes all by yourself?"

He gave a small chuckle, shaking his head, "You'd be surprised how easy it can be with the right bluff."

She watched as he pulled out a pair of chunky metal cuffs, similar to what Diana had seen back in her Shield days. He took a step forward with a sigh, "Now look Libby, I really like you, don't think anything less I truly do."

Diana took a step backwards as he held the cuffs out for her, "She'll go easy on you if you just surrender like your daddy did."

Her eyes widened as the cuffs opened. She didn't even have time to question who this 'She' was before Diana had created a Pocket behind herself and jumped towards the door, making the teen smash into another armed person wearing similar red goggles.

"I told you," Rumlow sighed as she looked around, noticing many people begin to pile in from separate locations.

She quickly shifted herself and created more Pockets, but each time she stepped through one, it led her closer to more of his men. Soon her back became pressed against the glass door leading to the terrace as the thirty men and women all pointed their weapons at her. Though it didn't stop her from looking around, trying to find some angle, someway to get out of this. But it seemed as if all her exits were covered.

"Look, Libby. I told you I didn't want to do it this way," he huffed and dramatically turned to face the fifteen year-old. "We know how your little Pockets work. The furthest you can travel is only a few feet, and you can't Command us when we're wearing these goggles. So please just make this easier on yourself."

Diana's back pressed even further into the glass to the point she could feel her skin become stuck to some of the food splattered on it. But that's when she noticed how the Terrace was surprisingly empty.

She only needed a glance before creating a very stupid escape plan, "That's the thing, Rumlow," Diana huffed out a smirk. "I don't do anything easily."

His brow raised but before he could respond Diana Rogers-Stark had already made a Pocket appear under her. Making the usual damsel in distress reappear outside a foot away from the terrace. Giving a one finger salute as she jumped off of the tower.

•••