↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

Harley Keener had a very normal life. He was born in a ordinary hospital, to an ordinary couple, heir to an ordinary life. His father worked at the town's auto body shop while his mother managed the local diner.

He went to school Monday to Friday with average grades and never had to worry about being attacked. Well... by any real threat of course, bullies still existed. He lived in a standard house and even had his own personal workspace his mother had no use for.

The only thing you could say was slightly unordinary was his familial situation. When he was much younger his father had went to get scratcher and must've won considering he never returned. His little sister, Brooklyn, was certain he'd been attack by some sort of villain the Avenger's fought but he and his mother know the truth. Mr. Keener had no unordinary disappearance, he was just gone.

He knew his father wasn't coming back and he was contempt with that. He had no real feelings for a man who'd leave him and his little sister like that.

He was not contempt however with what followed years after. Christy Keener, his mother, had spent every waking second she could picking up extra shifts at the diner to support her two children. Then just like a standard Hallmark movie she had started to get to know the town's new sheriff deputy.

The recent widower, Rick Copper, used to stop by for a morning coffee after dropping his infant daughter off at daycare. After a few months of casual conversation and a bit of flirting here and there Christy finally agreed to go out with him, and Harley hated it.

It wasn't as though he actively hated Mr. Copper, no the man was rather kind. He always tried to include him and Brooklyn in his activities with his own kids. Personally paid him for babysitting and treated his mother way better than his father ever had. What Harley hated was Rick's son, Nathan Copper. Harley despised Nathan Copper, but to be fair the feelings were mutual.

Nathan Copper despised Harley Keener as much as he hated the small town they resided in.

Harley Keener and Nathan Copper were polar opposites. Like the sun and moon. If you could name, it they'd most definitely disagree on it. For example, their music taste. Harley was obsessed with a bit of heavy metal while Nathan would steal the aux and put on classic rock. Harley loved Iron Man, Nathan preferred Captain America. If one liked it hot the other would want it cold just out of spite.

They even looked like polar opposites. While Harley rocked his neatly cut blonde hair, Nathan dealt with his scruffy brown locks haven't been cut in years, leaving them to be down to his near shoulders. But Nathan would always have on clean and well conditioned clothing, while Harley wore his clothes until they actually refused to stay on.

The two would disagree on everything to the point their parents don't even bother asking opinions on dinner because everything turned into a fight. Everything.

But out of all their fights their first, and longest, was about what Harley claimed he did during the Christmas of 2012.

A few years before Rick and his family moved to Rose Hill, Harley had found a legend in his garage. A severely ptsd ridden Tony Stark had taken up residence in his own garage after a group of terrorists blew up his home.

At first the Avenger wanted nothing to do with the boy but after Harley fed him he was tasked with helping Iron Man repair his damaged suit, the two got along pretty well and he even gave Harley the 4-1-1 on all the other Avengers, including all juicy details on the Rogers family.

He was obsessed with being around the avenger, especially considering for the first time it made him feel special, unordinary.

Eventually when Tony Stark left him to save the president, Harley started to tell everyone how he lived in the garage and how he helped save the day. Nobody believed him, especially Nathan.

When Nathan first saw the newly tricked out garage, curtosy of Iron Man himself, Nathan as well as everyone else was convinced it was done by the local church or some kind soul in town.

Only young Brooklyn believed her older brother to this day, but who would take the word of a now twelve-year-old girl seriously?

So now whenever Harley tried to tell his story Nathan was quick to call him an attention seeker.

But even though the two teenagers fought like Thor and Loki, their parents still found a way to stay together, even getting engaged late last spring. Leaving the Copper-Keener residence in a constant screaming match. Oh, and don't forget about Rick's toddler, Katie, screaming as well.

Oh, what a very ordinary American blended family.

Harley tapped his desk with a pair of pencils as if they were drumsticks. Being a long weekend he decided to get an early start on his homework and since Nathan wasn't in their room it allowed him to put on some Iron Madian without headphones.

His head really wasn't in the right mind space to deal with the algebraic equations as he drummed on his desk. Singing along to the chorus until it was so rudely interrupted by a loud alert.

"Oh come on! Not again! That was mid-song jackass," He stopped mid-drum as the radio stated to spew out the latest breaking news alert.

Yet another alert for people to be on the lookout for Lady Liberty, the escape artist herself Diana Rogers-Stark. He remembered hearing a few stories here and there working with Tony. The girl was a big escape artist, always breaking down doors and getting place to place with ease. He imagined it must've been easier for her now considering the Pockets she could now create.

But now the girl was on the run and it was getting very annoying. His mother was a little concerned about the alerts given out this morning, thinking she must've been kidnapped again. While Rick on the other hand thought there was more at play. Nathan said she probably just wanted out and dipped, while Brooklyn thinks she's running from another villain of the week. Hoping it meant they'd get another Disney movie out of it.

Harley was convinced something big probably happened since he hadn't seen any news coverage of Tony flying over to look for her. A red flag. A very large red flag.

He let out a large stretch before deciding his homework could wait, pushing it aside to go and grab a snack. Inside the small kitchen Brooklyn was hunched over the counter, eating some barbecue chips as she watched the news coverage.

"They still haven't found her," she said, not taking her eyes off the television.

"Not surprised. If she actually did just run away like the tabloids are saying I wouldn't be surprised if she got kidnapped again," Harley slammed the fridge door shut.

The brunette let out a gasp, "How dare you say that!"

"What?"

"Lady Liberty hasn't been kidnapped and she won't be! Don't put that out in the atmosphere!" The abode fangirl sneered.

If Diana Rogers had a million fans, Brooklyn was one of them. If Diana Rogers had one fan, it would be her. If Diana Rogers had no fans, Brooklyn was dead. That's how much the girl adored Lady Liberty, but then again what girl didn't?

Her Avengers shirt containing Black Widow, Wanda Maximoff and Lady Liberty crinkled as she turned to face her elder brother, "Why would you think that?"

The boy shrugged as he opened his Pepsi, "Because all the other Avengers are being suspiciously silent right now. Isn't that a little weird?"

"Well... maybe they are just too focused on trying to find her to participate in any media coverage," the twelve-year-old suggested.

Harley shrugged as a loud clatter could be heard in the distance. The two glanced over as the sound evaporated, "What on earth is that bastard up to now?"

"Beats me," Brooklyn grabbed the remote and put on some cartoons. "He put Katie down for her nap right before you came down. So he's probably in the garage."

The empty Pepsi can crinkled, "What?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. I haven't seen him since. Maybe he went for a drive? He did just get his learners yesterday."

"I think I know exactly what he's up to," Harley threw the can in the recycling before stomping outside.

In a typical household like the Copper-Keener residence a place of sanctuary is hard to find, especially for a fifteen-year-old boy. So when the Copper's moved in his mom gifted him the garage with the only condition of allowing Rick to park his car in there from time to time.

This was a rule Nathan did not want to follow and that's what pissed Harley off even more.

Stomping over to his safe space he immediately noticed the side door slightly opened. His golden brows lowered over his pale nose as his felt a pit of rage begin to brew.

As his hand trembled over the knob the sound of metal clanking happened again, "God damnit Nathan!" Harley slammed the door open, "I told you to stay out of my fucking garage. You don't even like cars-" the boy stopped mid-sentence as he saw the sight before him.

It was in fact not his future step-brother but instead two girls with bandannas covering the bottom halves of their faces. The two seemed worse for wear as well. Both girls seemed to be covered in lots of dirt as he could see the half dried grime from his bandannas sticking to their faces without needing to tie them up.

The girl's gave each other a scared side glance before turning their full attention to the boy. Even though Harley was visibly taller than both they seemed to be much more fit than the scrawny boy.

So as they stared him down with equally vicious glares Harley did the most manly thing he could think of. He got the hell out of there.

The two girls gave each other a nod as the boy booked it passed over the driveway. Though as he blinked the pink haired girl somehow got in front of him. He screeched, moving sideways as the other girl ran forward and slammed into his side.

Harley slid across the pavement and thought about calling out for his sister inside but quickly decided against it for her own safety. So he scrambled to his feet and bolted back inside the garage and pulled out his Mark Fifteen Potato gun.

"Okay hold it right there! I won't hesitate!" He pointed the gun at the girls. "This is fully loaded and ready to use."

The black haired girl chuckled slightly, "A potato gun? You for real?"

Harley smirked as he pointed off in the distance to a hanging Coca'cola sign. Without breaking eyes contact with the black haired girl he shot his weapon, causing the potato to slam straight into the sign with enough force to not only make the potato become mush, but causing the sign to explode.

The two girls' jaws fell underneath their masks before the pink haired one threw her hand behind her. Harley was next to become slack jawed as he watched a blue void appear behind her before she completely disappeared.

"What the fuc-" he didn't get to finish the sentence before she suddenly appeared in front of him before stealing away his gun and knocking him to the floor.

He looked up in awe as the girl unloaded the gun before throwing it to the side, "Colette?"

The other girl nodded, "On it," she ran to the door and locked it.

As the girl, Colette he learned, secured the room to prevent anyone from seeing anything, Harley simply looked up at the girl in awe. Of course he always dreamed of this moment, but he thought his time interacting with any Avenger was one and done.

And yet here another stood, and she had just broken his potato gun, "You're... you're..."

Lady Liberty herself Diana Rogers pulled down her mask and quickly shushed him, "Hi."

He blinked a few times to see if this was a dream, but as he felt the pain of his fall rest in his ass he knew it wasn't, "H-Hey...?"

The teenage icon stood over him with a threatening glare as the two made eye contact, "Can I trust you not to scream?"

He hesitantly nodded, "Y-Yeah."

"Great," she held a hand out to him. "You live here?"

"Um..." His eyes locked on the powerful girl's hand, lingering his words he helplessly stared at the fresh scrapes and bruises she obtained, "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

He then grabbed her hand and was lifted to his feet with ease, "You know a Harley Kenner?"

His eyes widened, "Y-Yeah, that's... that's actually m-me."

"Perfect," She let out a sigh in what seemed to be relief, "I'm sorry we broke into your garage but it's kinda important, but I guess this isn't the first time you've dealt with this," she meekly chuckled.

The boy could only nod.

Her lips ran over one another as she glanced around the room, "Okay... um. My names Diana and that girl over there is Colette. We're-"

"Yeah, I know why you both are and why you're here," he cringed as the two looked at him shocked. "You kinda are all over the news right now..."

Colette stopped looking for whatever she was trying to find and tilted her head, "Even me?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

Her brows rose as she looked actually shocked at his answer, "Seriously?"

"Uh... yeah. There's a couple thousand theories my sister won't shut about over the two most wanted in the country," Colette leaned over the counter as he went on. "Some say you kidnapped Lady Liberty, while others say you two ran away to be together."

Diana made a look of disgust while Colette shrugged. The two turned to each other before the black haired girl chuckled, "Di, you wish you could pull me."

"Who's saying I can't?"

"I may prefer women but I'd chose a dude over you."

The wanted girl let out a scoff and turned back to the very starstruck individual, "So you gonna stay calm or are the two of us gonna have to tie you to a chair?" She crossed her arms.

It took Harley a few seconds to regain any sense of control before quickly putting his hands out, "What? No. No. I'm not gonna tell anybody you're here but like.. why are you here though? You two are on every channel possible right now. Is this like... wait is this a safe house or something?"

The girl shrugged slightly, "I mean... technically?"

The blonde's eyes began to widen in a bit of excitement. After all these years of wondering what happened to Iron Man after he helped fix his suit and save the day, Tony Stark would make his garage a safe point for his heir, "Wicked."

Harley sidestepped around the clone and began to walk off to the corner of his garage, with the two following quickly after, "I mean this is... this is crazy! You're like... you and you came to me. Oh my god, I always had this feeling at the back of my mind that an Avenger would come back but I always thought I was just being silly."

Diana and Colette struggled to keep up with the boy as he went deeper into the garage, trying to call out to him and get his attention but he accidentally ignored them as he continued to word vomit all over the two exhausted girls.

"Everybody kept telling me I was lying or I was seeing things but look at me now! I've got a clone and her sidekick in my garage. Ha! Take that Nathan!"

"Harley-"

"Sidekick-?"

"I knew my suit was gonna come in handy one day!" Harley gripped the curtain near the back of his workspace.

The two girls stopped calling out to him as they focused on the large purple certain, "Suit?" Colette gawked.

"As in... like my cousin's suit?" Diana couldn't help but ask. "As in an Iron Man suit?"

The boy smirked, "More or less. It's still a work in progress considering materials are hard to come by, but it still has working repulsors."

"Harley-"

"Okay fine they aren't actually repulsors, but I mean they work... in a way at least."

"Harley-"

"Fine! It's actually just a power washer attached to scrap metal but I'm like seriously broke guys!" Harley pulled back the curtain to reveal a power washer attached to welded scrap metal with a face.

Diana let out a huff before Pocketing next to him in order to gain his full attention. She placed her hands on his shoulders and made him face her, "Look, dude, as much as I'd love to see it I have more important things to discuss."

"Is it about the Avengers?" She nodded, "W-What's going on? Why are you here? Like why is everyone saying you went rogue?"

Diana let out a long huff as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Now that's a little harder to explain."

"Then try me!" Harley quickly told her, "Whatever you need I can handle it. You came here for a reason right? How can I help?"

Diana glanced over to Colette for the go-ahead to ensure telling him was the smart move, which she did, "Okay."

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

Nathan Copper wanted to be ordinary. He loved it, he strived for it, if only his life could stay that way. He was an honour student, had a good collection of friends and absolutely loved the view from his apartment window. The boy loved sneaking out through his window and climbing up to the roof to take in the loud city life of Brooklyn. Rose Hill didn't have a loud city life.

He understood why his dad decided to take the transfer. After his mother was gone, Rick Copper didn't feel comfortable raising his two kids alone in the same city where danger seemed to literally appear from the sky.

And to be frank, he didn't feel comfortable having his baby sister anywhere near danger either. He remembers the events of New York all too well and never wanted to even think about having Katie in that situation.

But boy did it still suck to leave behind everything he knew behind to live in the middle of nowhere.

Nathan always felt like the very secluded town was against him in some way. As if they saw his family as nothing but outsiders. Kids treated him weird, calling him 'city boy', and some going so far as to pull pranks on him and telling him to go run back home to his sheriff daddy.

So he always wore thick skin. He acted as if nothing bothered him while keeping on a blank facade. It might've meant he now only had little friends and not much social contact outside of his little sister and Brooklyn Keener, but he didn't mind.

The biggest problem being his future step-brother, Harley Keener. That kid did not like him and boy was that feeling mutual. He thought Harley was nothing but an attention seeking guy who loved to run his mouth and Nathan couldn't care two shits about him.

Brooklyn Keener on the other hand was like another sister to him. She loved to hear stories about New York and she would always excitedly rambled about going there one day. She never gave him a reason to hate her and for that he tried to include her in as many activities as he could.

"Nathan, can you help me?" Brooklyn quickly sped over to her step-brother, "I can't find my guitar."

Nathan glanced up from his spot on the ground next to Katie, "You're guitar?"

Brooklyn, now sporting her 2015 Lady Liberty uniform, nodded, "I wanna watch her Disney movie but I can't find my guitar."

Nathan looked down at her right hand, seeing her perfectly fine faux diamond guitar gripped tightly, "You mean the one you're holding now?"

She groaned, "Not this one! My other one. The old one!"

He shifted slightly as his two-year-old sister pulled the book he was reading her out of his hand, "Why do you want that old thing? I thought dad said he threw it away because of the chunks missing?" He slightly chuckled, remembering her breaking it a while ago.

"No, Harley said he took it out so he could use it for parts, somehow, but I need it for our singing battle," she pointed her finger at the sixteen-year-old. "You promised to reenact the scenes with me, remember?"

The brunette let out a small sigh as she glared at him, "You promised me," she told him again.

He got to his feet and picked up the toddler and placed Katie in her playpen, "I'll go check the garage."

"Yay!" She smiled, "Be careful though. Harley went in there a couple hours ago in a mood."

Nathan let out a mixture of a scoff and a chuckle, "I can handle him, Brook. Don't worry."

As the boy walked outside the three kids inside the garage continued to look for the old piece of tech Diana Rogers so desperately needed.

"Yes! Found it!" Harley held up the outdated laptop for the two girls to see.

Diana let out a sigh as she grabbed the silver cased tech from the boy, "Thank god," she actually hugged the device.

Colette on the other hand rolled her eyes as she wiped off the grease that now coated her clothing, "I still don't know how you misplaced a laptop given to you by your so-called hero."

Harley shrugged as he threw the magicless sorcerer a rag to clean herself, "Electronics only last so long before they become outdated," he chuckled. "I can run test faster on my phone than a 2012 laptop."

Diana ignored the two's back and forth as she tried to activate the laptop, being met with nothing but a blank screen. She tapped it once, then again, then again, then again but the screen stayed black.

"What's going on? Why isn't it working?" She sneered. "WORK!" Both eyes turned yellow for a split second before going back to their respective colours.

Harley ran over and grabbed the device, "It needs to charge, Di. It hasn't been used in a year or two so it needs some time to boot up."

Her scarred hands went to her face as she held in a scream. Even if it had been only eight hours since she had realized her family was missing it felt like an eternity.

Colette gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "Diana, it's going to be okay. We just let the laptop charge and we can find out exactly where your dad and the others are hiding."

"Exactly," Harley plugged the device into the wall. "Just give it like ten minutes and we can find out exactly where they went."

The clone let out a long drawn out sigh before nodding. She was starting to get very anxious over the situation. Diana just knew her family was probably at some safe house right now trying to find her and she was in some dingy garage waiting for a laptop to turn on.

Though her annoyance turned into fear as the doorknob jiggled. Her and Colette both prepared for the worst, she made two small pockets that rested against her fingertips while Colette grabbed a pole.

Harley didn't even have time to look up before the door opened with ease, "I'm just grabbing Brooklyn's old guitar, so don't get your panties in a twist," Nathan obliviously stepped inside.

The spare key once hidden under the mat outside jingled as he slipped it into his pocket, "I know it's your safe space or whatever but she's certain you keep it in-" the brunette froze once he saw the bright blue portal coming from the familiar looking girl, "...here."

He scanned the three figures before locking eyes with the pink-haired one. Keeping his sight on her very scarred figure before taking a step back outside, "Ah... ha, nope!" He shook his head before slamming the door shut. Walking away as if he saw nothing at all.

The girls prepared to attack him like they'd done Harley but the teen put his hands out and said he'd handle it. Running outside he caught up to the older boy and grabbed him, "Nathan, wait!"

Nathan let out a yelp as Harley slammed him into the side of the garage, "Let me explain-"

"You have two wanted criminals in our garage!"

"Yes, but-"

"There is an Avenger in our garage!"

Harley slammed his hand over the boy's mouth, "Yes and more people will find out if you don't shut up!"

Nathan took a moment to calm down before removing the hand from his face, "Lady Liberty is in our garage," he whispered more to himself than to his step-brother.

"I told you I wasn't lying."

Nathan's shock quickly morphed into a mixture of worry and frustration, "Why the hell is she here?"

Harley shrugged, "Apparently Tony Stark made it a safe house."

"A safe house?!" Nathan loudly whispered before taking in a deep breath, "Why would he make this dump a safe place for them to go?" He calmly asked.

"Because I wasn't lying. I helped Iron Man a few years ago and now they need me, or-er... my tech at least," he explained.

"Do you understand how dangerous this is? Having them on our property?"

Harley let out a scoff, "Oh come on, Nate. Diana isn't dangerous. The media likes to play up on fears-"

"What?" Nathan sneered, "No. No, no! I'm not talking about what she can do, I'm talking about what danger she can bring. If people find out about her being here things could get ugly. Our sisters are in the house. Think about them!"

"Well she doesn't have anywhere else to go!" Harley exclaimed, in a hushed manner. "Think about her."

The elder boy raised a brow, "What do you mean?"

Harley sent a glance back to the garage door before sighing, "We can't tell anybody. You can't tell anybody, okay?"

He nodded.

"Avenger Tower has been compromised."

Harley's words made Nathan's eyes widen, "Huh?"

"All that news coverage of her running away? Bullshit. Well, mostly. Apparently she snuck out and when she came back some very bad people were waiting for her."

"So what exactly are we supposed to do?" Nathan asked, "It's not like we have any way to help her."

"I have one thing," Harley said. "A laptop that Tony Stark gave me. Apparently it has some sort of private access to the security system. She says if she can log on she can find out where her family is hiding from these people."

Nathan blinked a few times to take in the information as Harley went on, "So yeah, she needs my help and I'm not gonna throw her out, okay?"

He nodded.

"Great," Harley smiled before the sound of a honk could be heard. Both boys snapped their heads over towards the driveway where a cop car began to drive in. "Shit," they both said before rushing back into the garage.

Diana rushed forward and glanced out the open window before Nathan stepped in front of her and closed the curtain, "Was that the cops?" Her eyes widened.

"Worse. That was my dad," Nathan huffed.

"Why is your dad here?" She glared at the boy before Harley spoke up, "Diana, Colette, this is my... roommate, Nathan. His dad's the local sheriff," he said as he made sure the other windows were covered.

Nathan gave them a nodded greeting, "Hi. Yeah, I know who you both are."

A sudden knock appeared at the door, "Nathan? Are you in there? What did I tell you about bugging Harley."

The four kids all tensed as the now locked doorknob juggled, "Uh... it's okay, Rick!" Harley thought fast, "I asked him to come in...?"

Nathan gawked at the very unrealistic excuse, causing Harley to frantically shrug. Even Rick Copper didn't seemed to buy it, "... you serious?"

"Y...yep. Yep!" Nathan shouted through the door, "Harely asked me to help him with the... the shlond poofa on his car...?"

Harley slapped his forehead at the boy's lack of car knowledge, but it seemed that Rick's lack of the same knowledge was enough to fool him slightly, "Okay? Well come on inside for dinner. Christy brought takeout."

"We'll meet you out in a second. We gotta clean off!" Harley added as Rick gave a goodbye before going into the house.

The two boys spun back to the girls as Harley grabbed some dirty rags, "Okay, we will be back as quickly as we can but whatever you do don't leave the garage," Harley explained as the two dirtied themselves up, causing Nathan to internally cry as oil now covered his new flannel.

"If my dad found out you were here he'd call in the entire brigade. No joke," Nathan sighed. "He's a real stickler for the rules. He's the type of guy to give speeding tickets to kids on bikes."

Colette's eyes lowered, "Seriously?"

"Look, we will be as quick as we can just don't wander off," Harley promised before the two boys stepped outside and gave each other a worried glance.

Even though the two were polar opposites for the first time they had finally agreed on something, a thought. The thought over what the hell did they just get themselves into?

•••

(We finally have my core four (aka The Songbirds) in the same room! Oh my god I can't wait for you guys to see what they do!)