Jane and her assistant Darcy Lewis showed up to help with the baby and portal problem, and to hopefully get Dr. Pym out of containment. One of the guards frowned at Darcy. "Miss Lewis, they sent you back?"
Darcy tipped her head but smiled. "I don't think I've been here before."
The guard summoned someone. Chris came jogging out with another guard. "Darcy!" Chris crowed, pouncing her to hug. He grinned at Jane. "We had a Darcy from another realm for about three months while Auntie Dawn was pregnant with the triplets. She was a kick ass helper for everyone like Auntie Dawn is." He grinned up at her. "We need more helpers like you." He let her go. "Welcome to Stark Industries." He waved a hand. "Are you here to help with the weird space metal, the baby in the portal problem, or Dr. Pym's younger self being an idiot problem?"
"Mostly the baby problem," Jane said. "I'm Dr. Jane Foster."
Chris shook her hand. "Chris Stark. Heir to the fun Stark stuff." He got them signed in and took them down to a room first. Auntie Dawn had said to make any guests comfortable before letting them work. "Here you go. A nice suite. Has a small kitchen, Miss Darcy, but it's a nice little one. Dad made sure. Ask JARVIS if you need stuff and once you drop everything I'll bring you up to Dad's lab, where he's once again yelling at the younger Dr. Pym."
Darcy patted him on the shoulder. "You're a good boy, Chris. Thank you."
"You're welcome." He pulled out his phone to tinker with something while they dropped their stuff. Then he led them up to the lab, not looking up from his phone. Someone took it from him. "Hey! I was working on a circuit board, Jonathan!" He took it back.
"Never ignore women," Jonathan said with a grin for the ladies. "They get mad and yell at you."
"I've done it many times," Jane said with a smile. "Dr. Jane Foster."
He shook her hand. "Jonathan, of the roomba army fame," he said with a smirk. "Hey, Darcy."
"I was really good here?" she asked, shaking his hand.
"We all thought you were like a non-pregnant version of Dawn. You did great helping all us weird people with our ideas."
"I was taking them to Dad's lab."
"He's in the caf right now. The younger Dr. Pym tried to grab something and got the lab put into quarantine." Chris groaned but nodded, leading them that way. "Have fun, guys." He sent Tony a text message to let him know he had visitors.
Tony looked at his phone then up. "Dr. Foster, Miss Lewis. Why...."
"Portal problem," Natasha said from her table and lunch without the children. "Plus helping stabilize Dr. Pym."
"Oh! That, yeah. Sorry, brain fog from the idiot trying to gas my lab when I was yelling at him. Which did you want to see first? The baby's cute, but purple. The original Dr. Pym is in containment six with his wife." He rubbed his forehead.
"Dr. Shivs to the caf," Chris called. "Before I have to let Aunt Dawn fuss over Dad and teach Maeve and Liz how." A few people laughed but the medical team stomped in and walked Tony off before he could complain. Chris smiled and waved at them. "If you get sick, I have to become the male head of the family," he called after him. "And we're on our way to the conference in the Middle East next week. I'll sell Liz into marriage."
"Do not remind me I know how to beat children," Natasha said dryly. "You will not enjoy it when you are put to real work, Christopher, and then your aunt will help me." She ate a bite of her sandwich, staring at him.
He grinned at her. "You're an aunt-in-law, Auntie Natasha. That would be child abuse."
"Your mother would cover it up," she said between bites.
He huffed but rolled his eyes. "I'm going to tell the idiot press people that you're thinking about having another child so they treat you like they do Auntie Dawn." He walked off. "Let's start with the baby since it's cute and you're women so cute is a necessity in your life daily." He grinned. "That's why so many of you watch those pet videos on youtube."
Jane snickered quietly but Darcy nodded. "Yeah, it can be." They walked into the infirmary and Chris found the baby's files to hand to Dr. Foster. Chris looked over at his father then at the doctors. "Do I have to become the patriarch of the family already?"
"No," Pepper said, staring at him. "And Steve would have it first, Christopher."
"Only if you guys finally married." He smirked at her. "You haven't made us wear fancy, ugly clothes and I haven't seen a pretty dress with jewelry yet, Mom. Until then, he's a great stepmom and therefore can't be patriarch." He grinned at her. "By their rules I had to look up for that report."
Pepper glared at her son. "I'm going to let Natasha beat you for me."
"I'm going to tell the press she wants another kid," he shot back with an evil smirk.
Callia looked over from where she was having her back checked. "Liz, you've changed!" she quipped. "You're a boy now!"
"Hey!" Chris complained. "I'm not as evil as Liz is! I don't like knives or surgery shows!"
Callia smirked at him. "Yes you are. Getting Aunt Natasha press attention is evil, Chris." She grinned. "Maybe you really are a Stark daughter after all?"
"Nope. Still got boy parts!" He grinned. "Not trans at all, even with all the pretty dresses I've worn." He snapped and walked off. "Let me know when you need more stuff, Dr. Foster. I've got to plan how to get my sister safely put into a school far away from us so she doesn't have to pout about being compared to me again."
"No," Pepper called. "I've already talked to that teacher, Christopher Darren Oliver Stark. Leave it alone!"
"Yes, Mom," he sighed from the hallway.
"Hell, *I* had a talk with that teacher when we were picking up Liz after school and my classes the other day," Callia told her mother. "And reminded her that each of us were our own kid. Chris doesn't compare to me, Liz was definitely a Potts since she was only yours, and the bitch teacher was an evil slut who was sleeping with her boyfriend on top of the assignments she needed to grade. Then I handed over the one with stuff on it that Liz had been grossed out about." They shared a look. "I nearly called in Auntie Dawn, Mom."
"No, she's too big for that problem, Callia. Call Gloria first. Suing is nicer to her than siccing Dawn on her." She smiled. "Welcome to Stark Industries, Dr. Foster and Miss Lewis. The baby's over there," she said with a point. "The portal's above the stripped bed there in the center of the room, and her biological parents are in their room resting again. Being here is sucking at their energies."
"It's probably the space rock," Callia complained lightly. She looked back at the doctor. "Can I transition down to a cane?"
"Do you think you can?" he asked patiently. "The last time you tried you said you got too tired after a few steps."
"I do," she agreed. "But sometimes.... Maybe I'll put a compressed one in my walker somehow or attach it to the side." He nodded. "We need the paperwork for the physical therapist too."
"I've got it started. We need to do the scans." She sighed but nodded, being helped into the room with the CT.
Pepper smiled. "It's a weird day for us."
"They happen in science," Darcy quipped. "Jane summoned two elves last month." Jane hit her on the arm. "Lord of the Rings elves, not Nine Realms elves." Jane bopped her again. "They weren't amused at all." A third bop on the arm from Jane. Darcy walked over, smiling and cooing at the fussy baby. "Hi, pumpkin. Are you fussy? Do you need nummies, changed, or just held?"
"We're trying not to taint the baby with our essences," one of the nurses said. She handed Darcy a smock and gloves to put on so she could pick up the baby to cuddle it. It quit fussing and fell asleep on her. The nurse smiled. "You're good."
"Thanks. It's all vicarious since I'll probably never have kids." She sat down to rock the baby for a bit. It'd help it stay calmer and happier. The mother came in scowling so Darcy smiled and waved. "I was solving some mild fussing for cuddling. Want the baby back?"
"Please." Darcy got up and let her sit in the rocking chair then handed over the baby carefully. The mother sat there and slowly rocked, relaxing. "I do not think we have this sort of chair at home," she said quietly to her child. "But we'll see if we can make one." The baby shifted and sucked her thumb so that was great. They were both calmer now. Darcy took off the smock and gloves, pulling out Jane's equipment to test the portal. "We worry that the baby will be harmed by bringing her home."
Jane nodded. "I'd hate to see that and we need to make sure it can't be reopened. With how the person opened it the first time and then the woman who stole her from you did it again, we need to make sure it can't happen a third time." She moved to scan the portal and the baby/mother combo to make notes about what she saw. She looked at Stark. "Do we still have her equipment up?"
"She's locked out of the building and the lab pending the local FBI branch arresting her," Pepper said. "We explained what happened when she went to complain we had taken her child from her." She smirked a tiny bit. "They're arguing about kidnaping charges."
Darcy nodded. "Sounds like it to me but they have to deal with the cross-realm jurisdiction. Do they have police over there?" she asked the mother, who shook her head. "Hmm. Well, they'll figure out if she's going to jail here or over there I'm sure." The mother smiled. "You look like you haven't eaten in days."
"I do not tolerate the local food very well," she said quietly.
Jane looked over then at the portal. "It's partially open. Can we call someone to send you things?"
"Many hate me because of my choice of spouse," she said with a grimace. "I would not trust most."
"Is it the manner of cooking, the food itself, the taste, or is it just upsetting your system?" Darcy asked. "We can try stuff that's more pure and less chemicals to see if that'll help. You won't do the baby any good if you die."
"True. I have tried. Mostly they just upset my stomach."
Callia came out of the CT room tucking in her shirt. "We can check to see what herbology has growing, and let you have stuff raw so you can prepare it yourself or just have salads if you want. That's not a huge problem. A lot of the pregnant women around here did that because it helped them. I can get Andrew's soup recipe too. It should be good and soothing for you."
She walked off, tapping her earpiece to call Andrew on the way. "It's me. The sorceress needs some more pure food, Drew. Can I bum that soup recipe for her? I'm on my way to herbology for her." She smiled. "Thanks, dear." She hung up and rolled down there to talk to the biology team. "Guys, that lady from the realm with the baby, she can't tolerate California food. Can we get some totally pure stuff so she can cook? And stuff for soup maybe?"
They nodded, taking her around to pick things. Mostly grown in water instead of in the soil. It was less chemicaled from fertilizer. Callia took it back to their suite, with a pause to get that recipe and a few pots from the kitchen. And some spring water too. She smiled at the half-demon the sorceress was mated to. "Hey, I brought some food things so one of you can cook for yourselves." He let her in. She put down the vegetables and explained what each one was. Then the recipe. "This is a soup that a lot of the women around here got when they were pregnant. It helped with upset stomachs from the morning sickness." The guy smiled.
"Also." She opened the fridge and pointed. "This is a charcoal filter for water. It takes out the gross stuff they put in city water so it's more pure. And the big jug is spring water that's been filtered for germs and stuff. I know most magical sorts can cook somewhat, potions depends on it, so one of you should be able to at least cut things up and put them into a pan to heat to where you want it or make a salad. Right?" She smiled hopefully.
"We can, yes. There's many magical people around here?"
"No, but I am and the coven taught me a lot about teas, distilling, making cookies, and baking vegetables." She grinned. "A whole lot of older ladies helped teach me magic and cooking stuff."
"We had no idea that magic was that available."
"It's not totally a flood in this area but it's not too weak. Auntie Dawn and I both have a good tap into it when we need to use it. I can send Xander an email to see if he can figure out if you logging into the local magic will hurt you. You both look really exhausted and that can't be good for you or the baby."
"No, it's not." He smiled. "Thank you, Callia."
She smiled. "I learned how to fuss at people from my Aunt Dawn. She's better at it than most everyone, even fussy older grandmother witches." She rolled out. "Let us know if you need more stuff. We're kinda used to weird things. Your girlfriend is in the infirmary rocking the baby so she stays asleep." He nodded, going to check on them. Callia went to make notes for Pepper and then went back to her tinkering.
The half-demon walked into the room and stared at his girlfriend and their child. He looked at the nurse. "Go ahead and roll the baby's crib down there," she said quietly. "Bring the baby back in a few hours to check on her."
"I do not want to hurt her."
Darcy looked at him. "I don't think they want to keep the baby here."
"Oh!"
Tony shook his head from the bed he was in. "No, the baby's going home with you once she's stabilized and we have the determination of who's going to arrest the idiot wench. We have plenty of kids and I'd never stand up for a kidnaper." He stared at him. "If it were my kid, I would've already solved the wench's issues by destroying her. You're much nicer than I am." He smirked a tiny bit. "We can send the rocking chair down with you too since they both like it."
The half-demon nodded, picking up his girlfriend to carry her and the baby to their room. He came back for the crib and the chair then he settled in to try that soup recipe. It looked soothing for them. They had everything but the salt. Which he asked himself about so the AI had some sent up. He thanked it and took the salt from the guard. It was a good soup, a bit salty but good for them.
***
Chris found a weird thing that night, down by containment. "What're you?" he asked, looking at it. It felt magicy and tingly so he didn't touch it. He frowned. "JARVIS, is Auntie Dawn still here?"
"Yes, she's in the parking lot."
"This portal spot is magical."
"I'll have her brought down, Christopher. Do not touch it."
"I'm not." He stepped back, looking around. "Tell Dad to stay wherever he is. I can sense Mom over there."
"I can do that as well."
Dawn came jogging up the hallway. "What thing?" Chris pointed. She looked then sighed. "Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck." Chris was wincing at that outburst. "It's another realm portal but I think it's just visual. Nothing's tried to come through?"
"No, not yet," Chris said.
"Okay. That's good." She tested it and nodded once. "That's going to suck. JARVIS, make your maker stay wherever he is, far away from here. It's important." She looked at the portal that just finished opening. "Hi there." She looked at the young girl on the other side then at the boy behind herself. "Go get your sister." He nodded, running off. "Hi. Is there an adult there? We need to talk about how this portal came to be, kiddo."
"Morgan," a woman complained. She came into view. "What's that?"
"It's a viewing portal, Pepper. You're in a hallway in Stark Industries here." She saw Pepper go 'shit' without letting it out. "Yeah. Um...." She looked at Morgan then at the two kids. She waved them over. Callia came over first. She was oldest and most used to weird things. Then Chris came over. That Pepper's eyes went wide. "Yeah. I've had *him* not come near here because I can feel things."
"Oh, dear." She looked at her daughter then at the other woman. "Who're you?"
"Your PA here." She smiled. "Head fussing bitch of SI. These are Callia, and Chris, and Liz is running up the hallway." She waved her over.
Liz stared over. "Wow. Hi." She smiled. The girl gave a shy smile as she waved back. "I'm Liz, this is Callia, and this is Chris."
"In this world they'd be like your cousins, dear," Dawn said. Pepper winced. "Can we talk for a few minutes?"
"Morgan, go tell Stephen we might need him?" She nodded, running off. "They look really familiar."
"Well, you did give birth to us," Chris said with a nod. "Morgan's cute, and obviously less weird than either of my sisters." Pepper cracked a smile. Their Pepper came up the hallway frowning. "Mom, we have a viewing only portal. Not like the one that opened because of the idiot bitch who stole the kid."
"Language in front of others, son. Even if that was a polite way of talking about her." She stepped in front of the portal, taking in that Pepper's all black outfit. "Oh, dear."
"Oh, yeah. We're ...the funeral's later," she said quietly.
"We'll do what we can to close it," Dawn promised. "Without anything like a hanging picture if we can."
She nodded. "It's just a really bad time."
"That's why she had the great monster stay in his lab," their Pepper said quietly. Morgan was coming back with others. She waved. "It's a portal to our realm."
Dawn laid a hand on it. "Your world needs a few energy sinks into the world crystal." She summoned a few books and a goddess of magic who had written the books. "Can we just put an anchor or a drain to help them, Lady Morgana?"
She tested it and nodded. "There's three options but an anchor would be for the best before more of these open." She looked at it then at Pepper. "At least this isn't as bad as the Xander convention he has." She looked at the sorcerer, then nodded once. "You must put an anchor into the world crystal before you have thousands of these, Sorcerer Supreme."
"I know very little of that," he admitted.
"That's a limit to sorcery instead of witchcraft," Callia said. "Witches feel the magic like it's in their blood as tingly stuff or going over our hands as we work like it's invisible water. Sorcery doesn't have that sort of connection to the natural or unnatural energies. Mages would sometimes."
Dawn nodded. "I can't.... Oh, I'm not on that realm. I'm off world." She grimaced. "Okay. Um....Solastra. The me there is on Solastra and we have a natural gift to soak up energy."
The sorcerer frowned and looked at someone else. "Solastra?"
"Other side of the galaxy," the blonde woman said.
"Captain," Dawn said with a nod. "There's a gift that's much like a lesser version of a stone. We hold it." She winced but nodded. "You need to help him create an anchor into the world crystal. Which can take weeks. If not months." Goddess Morgana nodded at that. "The long way will be steadier though."
"Until then can we close this one?" Stephen demanded. "It's not a good time."
"Hi, Callia Stark," Callia said quietly. He winced but flinched back with a nod. "We're trying. Give us a few."
Dawn hissed at Pepper, who nodded that'd be fine. She hissed in Callia and Liz's ear, then Chris's, getting shrugs from all them. "Okay, there's one thing we can to do shrink this one fast, but it won't close. We have cross realm mailboxes thanks to our Xander and his convention system. Xander!" she called quietly. She got Phil. "We need to turn this portal into a mailbox system so Morgan can talk to her *cousins* here."
He looked then nodded once after reading what was going on. "We can do that. Let me talk to Xander." He disappeared.
"Yours survived?" that Pepper asked.
"When Th...that big purple turd showed up here, he was summoned here and the stones were all mostly depowered by it," Pepper said quietly. "We drove him off but it killed a few gods. Nearly killed Xander too. He had a year before he could get a physical form again." That Pepper winced. "We've seen other realms where he showed up and was worse."
Callia nodded. "I got pulled to one."
"I summoned a few of the stones," Dawn said dryly, making Stephen flinch and stare at her. She grinned and wiggled her fingers. She found herself in a book and held it up to the portal. "The me there isn't as strong as I am." Stephen said something vulgar in Latin. Dawn grinned. "Exactly." She closed the book and handed them to the goddess. "Thank thee for the lending, Lady Morgana, and the help."
"It's no problem, Dawn. What of the other one?"
"We've got to get them home first. Their baby could be hurt and we need to find out how to cushion it," Chris said.
"I would like to look at that one. Perhaps we can work on that." Chris led her off. "You have good manners, young man."
He grinned at her. "Auntie Dawn and Mom do try a lot. So does Stepmom Steve." Morgana smiled and patted him on the arm.
Pepper looked over at Xander as he appeared with two slim devices, one a glass tube with an opening and one a wooden drawer and holder. "Hey, Morgan, we're going to let you talk to your cousins in this realm, sweetheart. That way you have other Starks to talk about Stark things with when you want. Would that be okay?"
"Stark things?" she asked.
Callia smiled at her. "We're the genius engineering people here." She winked at her. "We've all done weird things and we're kinda cousins. We'd love to talk to you when you want to talk about Stark things or building things or even just need to talk. Liz is really great at that."
"I..." She looked up at her mom, who nodded. She looked at them. "I might like that."
Liz beamed at her. "You're a great Stark, Morgan. Just like Tony only a girl so you're better. Girls are always better." Morgan smiled and nodded. Callia took their side's glass box to charge while Xander got the portal split and into their wooden box. They sent through a note for her and she sent back one so it worked. "You write us if you need to talk. Ours is glass so even if we're super busy with school stuff we'll notice a note came in. You just let us know, Morgan." She pouted. "If you were closer, we'd hug you." Morgan sniffled but nodded, hugging Pepper. "You have a great, cool, understanding mom too." She winked and carefully carried off their box to hang in her sister's lab.
"You'll do wonderful things," Callia told her. "Because even regular things done by a Stark are great." She winked at her too. "You write us when you need to talk, Morgan." She rolled herself off thinking about how bad it could be if her father had died already.
Pepper nodded. "They're all very empathic kids," she said with a small, sad smile. "And we don't mind if Morgan wants to write to them. That way she has kids who understand her. There's plenty of days I don't understand Chris and Callia myself." That Pepper smiled. "How hard is it to make that anchor, Dawn?"
"Not that hard. Large crystal, anchoring runes, metal holder, small ritual to link them. Then protecting it forever from anyone being able to use it."
"I have ways to do that," Stephen agreed. He saw that Tony and his eyes widened.
"No," Dawn ordered, glaring at him. "Not yet." He nodded and went the other way. She sighed. "You're going to get a lot more of these and they might be more shocking." That got a nod. She smiled at Morgan. "You're cute, smart, and the perfect daughter of your daddy." She smiled again. "You call if you need us. The box is in Callia's lab so we can all check on it. We're kinda nosy and break in on the kids all the time before they build more weird things."
"I'm just glad neither one built their own friends like Warren did," Pepper complained. That Pepper snickered. "Seriously. Couldn't tell it was so good." That got a nod. She smiled at Morgan. "It'll be okay."
"Daddy's gone," she said quietly.
"According to some ancient traditions, as long as someone knows about them, they're never gone. Even if they're not physically there. Besides, your dad's probably floating around you pouting that you're sad. He's just a ghost now. We have a ghost of Howard so it's not so bad." Morgan relaxed and nodded, going to talk to the others.
She looked at Pepper. "Really, we do. We had to banish Howard to the Bahamas. He had plots." That Pepper smiled. "And the same writing is up to you as well. Not like I can't answer things. I have whole hours not taken up by beating my kids into more normal people." That Pepper smiled and touched the portal. This one touched her side. Xander ended it there. It was now in the post boxes.
Dawn looked at her. "It could've been a lot worse," she said quietly.
"Yeah." They walked off to talk to the kids. They had to be a bit freaked out by the knowledge that the other Tony had died. Being a hero was a dangerous career and life choice.
Dawn went to talk to Tony, who had seen it on the cameras. "Morgan was cute but about three," she said. "The kids have a post system so they can talk."
"I like that idea. She could probably use some comfort. Does she know...."
"No. We told her they're cousins. Chris told that Pepper."
"That'll work for years." He looked at her. "I might sneak a note now and then too." She patted him on the arm. "The baby?"
"I'm hoping we can protect the baby on the way home."
"Good. It'll be better for that family to be home. And the Pyms too."
"I'm working on how we can get him out of there, boss. So is Jane Foster."
"That's fine."
"Do we want to talk to her about signing on?"
"I.... Huh." He frowned. "Well...no idea," he admitted.
"Okay. Think about it."
"You just want to steal Darcy," he quipped with a smirk.
"You bet!" She strolled off. "We were heading home." She went to let Clint drive them home.
Tony relaxed and then wrote out a long note for that Pepper. He picked up one from Chris and Liz. And Callia was staring at the box while trying to write one. So they finished it together and sent it one envelope. He sent a USB stick drive over too. He had taped letters for his kids if something had happened. She could edit them if she needed to.
***
Pepper heard the quiet ding and looked at the small box with a drawer, pulling it out. The envelope was easily taken and the USB stick fell on top of it. She smiled, taking them to put aside for now. It was a good time later to look at those. When she did, she finally got to cry about things. Yeah, she'd be okay and she could talk to that Pepper if she needed to feel like her Tony was around again. She could edit those videos too. Morgan would appreciate that.
***
Jane came up with an idea for the baby and Dawn came to help it go through. Jane looked at the nursing staff and the parents. "All right. If we put the baby into stasis...."
"Suspended animation," Darcy cleared up at the confused look. "We basically stop time for her for a few seconds."
"Yup, that. We can bring her back across the portal and she'll just need a few days of acclimation to get used to the energy over there. She still reads a lot like her natural realm. So slightly tainted to over here but we can guard her natural energies."
"Would that harm her?" the mother demanded. "I don't want her killed."
"It won't kill her," Darcy said. "It'll.... Dawn?"
Dawn frowned. "It's like freezing her for a moment but she's not cold and not dead. It's like a fairytale sleep only she's going to wake up about two minutes after you get over there."
"I've heard of such but I know not anyone who can undo it," the boyfriend said.
"We can put a stop on it," Dawn assured him. "Here, let me do you. It'll push the spell back by about a day." She walked forward and froze the boyfriend for a few seconds then let it up. "Like that."
He frowned. "That was the weirdest thing." Dawn smiled and nodded. "That's ...it won't hurt her. It didn't me," he told her. She sighed but they planned on how to do it and what they needed to bring with them. They'd bring some charged crystals over to help wean the baby off this realm's energies. Dawn had bought the baby a cute outfit to go home in, and a blanket to protect her as she was walked across.
Jane got the portal set the next morning while Dawn and Diana did the spell together. The boyfriend walked across, accepted the baby, then helped the mother across. Dawn ended the spell and the baby let out a yawn then fussed some until she found her thumb. The mother smiled and accepted the package of shrunken things for the baby. Including that same rocking chair. They walked off together. Then Jane got the portal shut with a small snap of displaced air.
Dawn sighed, looking at the others. "This has been a weird month," she said. Jane smiled and nodded. "Any idea on Dr. Pym? His younger self got sent back last night but he's still energy shedding."
"He'd have to have a stabilizing force," Jane said. "I'm not sure how to build that. I'm going to talk to Tony tonight."
"He's in the lab with Chris. Being frustrated." The ladies smiled and left together. "Hey, Darcy, if you ever need to leave Jane, come back here please?" She grinned. "I could an assistant. I'm losing one of mine next week."
"If I need a job that's not being on Jane's butt, I'll consider that, Dawn. Thanks." She smiled and left to tell that to Jane. Who pouted but agreed it'd be a great job for Darcy.
Dawn laid down on a bed, letting out a sigh. "So, two out of three huge incidences are done with. If there's a third that means Avengers have to handle it, I'm going to destroy somewhere on purpose." The nurse got her something to drink and let her fall asleep there. She sent up a note to Pepper's office that Dawn was asleep but the baby was back home.
Maybe now things would calm down.
***
Carol gathered up the locked safe of weird metal to look over. "Not too big or too bulky. Thanks, kids."
"Welcome," Chris said with a wave. "We hate that stuff. Especially since it tried to take over my sister and aunt because they have magic. It's also dangerous." He looked behind him then sighed in pleasure. "Thankfully nothing took that hint." Carol smiled at him for that thought. "Weird things happen around here." He shrugged as he walked off. "Have fun, come back soon? We like talking to you. You're weird in different ways."
She laughed but nodded, going to change so she could take that metal off. It needed to be dropped into a star. No one wanted that to be in any sort of hands because it would probably be misused. Or cause them problems they'd blame on Stark. Then Carol really had to get to Louisiana to talk to her best friend and niece. But duty before fun and all that heroic bullshit she hated to believe in.
Chris went to talk to Dr. Pym, who was still in his chamber. His wife was out. "Maybe we can link you to the hellmouth or something. At least that'd be more interesting than in here."
"Don't you dare," Phil Coulson's voice called.
"Yes, Uncle Phil," he sighed. "It was a hypothetical."
"We're going to find an anchor tonight, Chris. Quit stressing and go eat a cookie."
Chris grinned up. "Thanks!" He ran off to do that. He was kind enough to bring back a few cookies for the grown ups too. He smirked a tiny bit. "It could be a lot worse. You could be a ghost instead."
Pym ate one of the cookies then nodded once. "I'm not sure if her gear would help or not. Go get Hope to talk about it, Chris?" He nodded, running off to talk to her. She was down in the guest quarters for a bit with Scott.
Scott opened the door, grinning at the grinning madly kid. "What's up, Chris?"
"Dr. Pym ate a cookie and said that someone named Ghost might have a cure to him being in the tube. To ask Miss Hope about it."
Scott looked at Hope, who got up and followed the boys back to the containment center. "Ghost's gear?"
"It might stabilize my form," he said. "I'm not sure though."
"We can look at it." She pulled up her notes on it and nodded. Chris got a virtual screen to where his father was making hamburgers on the grill. "Stark, we may have an idea. One of our problems had some phase shifting gear and it might help."
"Great!" He shifted to look after flipping another burger. She showed him the files on Ghost's escapades and gear. He frowned. "The phase generator may help but he's not shedding energy that way. Though we might send him out and bring him back to see if he's stabilized." He leaned closer. "That other thing on her might be more pertinent.
"Nice job with that too, VanDyne." Hope smirked at him. "It's never been an area I was interested in but that's pretty work." He looked over and flipped the hamburgers again then put cheese on it. "Would you suggest moving him out and back?" he asked as he cheesed.
"It might work," Hank Pym agreed. Chris let him have a tablet to do the math on, getting a smile back for that. "You're going to do great things, Chris."
"Maybe when I'm out of my pretty girls phase. I've got a whole lot to figure out about pretty girls and it's better to do that when you're younger instead of being over forty. Then they only want your wallet and name but not you cuddling."
"This is coming from the same kid that used to explain that boys were mean because he has a penis," Tony joked, smirking at his son. "I take it you finally quit finding girls icky?"
"Um....unfortunately?" he guessed.
"It's a part of puberty we all get, kiddo. It means a few more talks and stuff and some confusing times coming. Just like Callia had thanks to her breasts."
"I'm just glad I don't have them," Chris complained. "Bras itch."
Tony nodded. "Especially the pretty ones."
Janet VanDyne looked at Chris. "Did you wear one to find that out?"
"Um, yeah. Liz convinced Philip and me that we had to be girls to fit in. I do a *fantastic* makeup job. I can rock slutty heiress clothes better than my sister too." He grinned. "Bras still suck."
"Women wouldn't wear them if men didn't complain," Hope said. "Better than corsets but still annoying things we wear for guys."
Chris grinned up at her. "I don't care if my girlfriends don't wear bras. Heiress clothes mean that you can't wear one anyway." He shrugged but smirked. "Titties gotta be titties even when they're in man-traps."
Hope burst out giggling but Scott hugged him. "I need to teach my daughter that, Chris. Thanks." He walked off calling her.
Janet patted Chris on the shoulder. "Sometimes you appreciate the effort and sometimes you don't need it, Chris. Sometimes we wear them for special occasions." He hugged her and she smiled at him. "You're a good boy." He beamed and nodded then left them to talk phase science because he had not a clue about that sort of science. It didn't have machines, he didn't understand it.
Tony shook his head. "Loki got them a magazine for transvestites a few years back. They can pass very well. Him and Philip both. I keep seeing his future wedding dress being a huge, puffy, glittering thing."
"If I get married I'm doing it in a bikini on a beach somewhere quiet," Callia called.
"That'll keep press people down," Tony quipped back. Tony looked around where he was. "Just don't get a sex tape online, daughter."
"Ewww, gross," she complained. "Dicks are a useless thing unless you're using it to destroy an idiot man, Dad."
"Good!" He beamed and nodded. "You keep thinking that, daughter!"
Hope started to snicker, looking at her father. "I knew you weren't going to be that wild, Hope," he said. "I just hoped you'd never find a guy to date so I didn't have to think about you having relations." He went back to the math. "We'd have to recalibrate Ghost's generator to take me out of phase and back to see if I can quit shedding energy. I'm not sure if it'll work though."
"We can always try," Hope reminded him. "If not, it probably won't hurt, would it?"
"No, at the worst it'd be ineffective but not harmful."
"Then we'll work on that once someone can find it," Tony decided.
"SHIELD took it," Hope said.
"Coulson, we need the gear that Ghost had to try to help Pym," Tony yelled.
"Tomorrow," got called back.
"Thanks." He grinned but shrugged slightly. "We'll see what he can find."
"Thank you, Tony," Janet said.
He grinned. "Not a problem, Dr. Janet," Callia quipped. "I'm learning a lot from you guys while working on problems." She leaned into view. "It's gotten me out of an english paper too." Tony swatted her but she just grinned and winked at them. "One of your interns wanted to take me on a date. I said I'm not old enough but I think that turned him on."
"William?" Hope guessed. Callia nodded. "I have the feeling you'd have to tase him, kiddo."
"Me too but I prefer lasers." She winked and got out of view.
"I made great kids," Tony decided. "And if he touches you I get to kill him after you burn him, daughter."
"Yup, if Mommy Pepper doesn't get there first."
"Point." Hope and Janet snickered at that agreement.
Dr. Pym just shook his head. This Stark was a lot different from the old one he used to know and hate. This Stark he might just stand. Maybe.
***
Liz got out of the car so she could walk over to someone. "Hey, Cassie." She grinned. "I'm kidnaping you to your dad. He went on a total brain fart earlier about you being in danger because of the HYDRA idiots who're at your school. So let's go."
"You're Liz Potts," she said, looking confused.
"Yeah!" She beamed at her. "Usually they only recognize my sister Callia and sometimes Chris." She nodded. "Let's head before the icky HYDRA sorts try to attack."
"We have to save the other kids." She looked around. "Oh, dear." There was a strike team like in the movies. "Mrs. Jenkins?" she called and pointed. The teacher screamed in horror.
"Guys, evacuate the area. Shooters!" Liz yelled. "Stark Security team?" she bellowed and pointed. They rushed over to help protect the kids. One of them got Liz and Cassie out of the way but the HYDRA guys were fleeing because Bucky had just shown up from the following car. He got three of them down and ready for arrest but a few more escaped. Liz looked around. "Uncle Bucky?" she shouted with a point, making Cassie duck and head behind a tree.
Bucky spotted the problem sniper and got them down too. "Car, Liz. You know that."
"Yes, Uncle Bucky." She ran that way with Cassie, dragging her along, with one of the guards going with them. Liz sighed once they were inside the car, leaning back. "Damn. Sometimes I hate those sorts more than others." She got them a bottle of water from the mini fridge and handed Cassie one. "We're safe in here and I have the keys." She held them up with a grin.
"Why did they attack here?"
"Girlfriend, you got tagged." Liz stared at her. "They want your Uncle Hank's work."
"I know nothing about that."
"Yeah but a hostage can lead to a hand over demand."
"Point." She sipped her water, watching the other kids be gathered. "I need to let the teacher know. And my mom. She's going to freak out."
"Use my phone," Liz said, digging it out of her pocket to hand over. "That way they can't trace yours. Call your dad too." She nodded, relaxing to sip her water and call her mother. She started out with an 'I'm okay', which made her mother shriek, and went on to tell her why it had happened. That got a bit more screaming but mostly about her dad. Liz took the phone. "Hey, it's Liz Potts. She's safe. We made sure no one could get her to try to make her father hand over information.
"And she was under that much stress before because they were looking her way to see if he'd build something." She took a sip of water. "No, we heard rumors that they were going to show up today so I showed up with my bodyguard sort of guy that takes me to school to kidnap her to her father's side. Then HYDRA showed up." The mother complained some more. "No, she's fine. We're in the bulletproof car. I'm going to tell her teacher in a minute. She's all right. Yup, going to Malibu. Thanks, her mom." She hung up and shook her head. "Wow."
"Moms can be that way. Wouldn't your mom scream?"
"Once we made it home. Callia got a lot of those for going into Summers woman mode." She grinned. "She does it very well." She looked. "Let me go tell your teacher I'm stealing you."
"I should."
"You stay. It's safer. No one's going to bother me because they don't want an Avenger in their grillz." She got out and jogged over to the school bus. "Hey." She smiled a bit. "Are you Cassie's teacher?" She nodded slowly. "I'm glad we heard rumors that they might come for her to get her dad. I showed up to bring her to her father." The teacher looked confused. "I'm Liz Potts, Pepper's daughter." She smiled slightly.
"I...her mother wouldn't appreciate that." Liz pulled out her phone to re-call Cassie's mom so they could talk like grown up.
Bucky stomped over. "You're still to be in a safe location."
"She needed to tell her teacher we're bringing her with us. They know not to shoot me, Uncle Bucky. They'd hate to have Mom in their face. Or Dad."
"Point," he admitted. "Minor bit of tactical rule breaking there, Liz." He stared at her. "You have extra escape classes this weekend."
"Please." She grinned. "Before I get the mimbos that want to flirt with my sister."
"She's getting extra then too. Teenage boys are assholes." Liz smiled and took her phone back from the teacher. "Are we cleared to bring Cassie to her father?"
"Yes. Her mother is most upset."
"I'm upset HYDRA still exists," Liz said with a grimace. "Someone really needs to release a nundu in their camp." Bucky looked confused. "It's a mythical creature that breathes diseases." She smirked a tiny bit. "It'd serve them right."
"Don't turn into your older sister, Liz. She drives us nuts when she goes into Summers woman mode."
"Nah, I'm not that sort of woman. I turn into a Stark." She grinned at the teacher. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine, Miss Potts. Thank you for the help."
"I would've just shown up and taken her but then I saw the super yucky moron parade." She shrugged. "Glad I could help." She walked off with Bucky.
Bucky nodded at the teacher. "It should be safe to continue. The last few agents are on the run. Go back to enjoying the park. Local law enforcement is guarding it too." He pointed at the ones who had responded so she could talk to them herself. The teacher relaxed and nodded, letting them leave together. He looked at Liz. "That was dumb."
"No it wasn't. I was going to show up and be impressive then sneak her off."
"Not a bad plan," he admitted. "Go back to the compound with her. You can use more normal girl time." She nodded, jogging back to her car so they could head off. Bucky looked up. "And she's the easy one," he sighed. The guard with him laughed. Bucky nodded. "Yeah. She's almost a teenager. Soon it'll be dates and college boys."
"Could be worse. Her mom used to model. She could turn into a traveling socialite sort."
Bucky looked at him. "Then I'd be stapling one of you to her." He got into the car so they could follow the teens. The kids were driving him nuts this week. He still had the tiniest one, the one without any sense, just like her father, to go.
***
Liz walked into the Malibu center, finding her father waiting. "I did not turn into Callia, Dad."
He stared at her. "Are you certain?"
"I yelled, I got out of the way, I didn't take on or shoot a single blessed HYDRA member to get her to safety, I didn't drive myself, and I brought help." She smiled. "I turned into a Potts instead of a Summers." Tony snorted but looked amused. "Is her dad still pacing?"
"In the gym." He pointed. "Building five, Avengers gym, ladies. Welcome to Stark International, Miss Lang." He shook her hand and let his second daughter lead her there. Tony went to calm down Pepper. "She's right, she didn't turn into a Summers woman, she turned into your style of handling things, Pep." He kissed her on the forehead then left her to angst over her daughter's first kidnaping of someone.
Pepper huffed but she'd talk to Liz later. All Potts women had sense. Liz needed to be reminded of that.
***
Cassie was let into the gym and found a lot more kids. "Are you adopting, Dad?"
Scott beamed and hugged her. "Nope. It's apparently a free day."
"We got kicked out," Chris and Philip said together. "We were ahead of where the substitute teacher was."
Philip nodded with a grin. "She thought we should be back by four years. She was kinda an idiot because she yelled at us for being smart. Thankfully I told Mommy Natasha instead of Mommy Dawn." Chris nodded quickly at that. He looked at his buddy then at the new girl. "I'm Philip Summers. Who're you?" he asked with a smile. His mommy said his smile was pretty.
"I'm Cassie Lang. This is my dad." She shook their hands.
"I'm Chris Stark," he said with a wink and a grin. "Are you into science too?"
"Not totally, no."
"That's okay. Neither's Liz. We're used to girls who do other things." He looked at Scott then at Philip. "We need to go sort out the closet and hand the whiny ones play clothes."
"They'll look great in that new plum dress you bought that was too small," Philip agreed. "Thanks, Mr. Lang. Have fun with your daughter." The boys ran off.
"They wear dresses?" Cassie said. Then she shrugged. "I've seen weirder than that." Her father grinned, hugging her again. "We totally had a problem, Dad."
"With Liz snatching you?"
"With the HYDRA guys that Liz got there before they could snatch me instead." He scowled. She nodded. "Liz thought they might use me to get you to hand over stuff or build stuff."
"I'd ask Barton to help me beat them all," he assured her, cuddling her. "Or maybe one of his scary wives."
She giggled. "Maybe Miss Hope?"
"Probably. She'd probably lead the way and tell me I'm being slow."
Clint leaned in. "Did the grounded twins come this way?"
"The boys went to clean their closets to give the younger girls their cast off dresses."
"Good! I'm tired of their style of dresses. They look like they're in the fifties." He looked at Cassie then at him. "She okay?"
"Liz went to kidnap her right before HYDRA got there."
Clint leaned in more, staring at him. "Excuse me?" Cassie looked at him and nodded. "Huh. We'll have to remind them to be scared of us. Let me talk to someone."
"Tooooo late," floated up the halls. "They think we're weak; they're stupid," a male voice said. "Sucks to be them."
Clint looked. "Let me know what you're doing, Jonathan. So we can pick them up or add in."
"Of course. I can't do alpha male as well as you do, Clint." He skipped off.
Clint shuddered then nodded once. "Yeah, we'll see how HYDRA does with evil. Maybe their wives can divert their attention." He walked off to talk to the geek wives. Before Dawn had to clean up a mess.
Scott looked at his daughter, who shrugged back. "Those two geeks wanted to be evil overlords." She patted him on the shoulder. He cuddled her again. He needed more daughter cuddles to make sure she was all right. Her mom had said some boy wanted to date her so she needed protected.
***
Liz walked into the cafeteria that night. "People, the only evil allowed here is me and possibly my baby sister. She's too young to think it's more than fun. So no evil plots or plans without me running it please." She grinned. "Some day I'm going to that evil genius high school track to make sure I have all the training I need but for now, the only evil here is me. Give me ideas and I'll gladly stretch my evil wings." She strolled off again.
Andrew and Jonathan shared a look, Andrew moaning a tiny bit. Their wives nodded. "She's going to do so great with that," Jonathan said. "Even better than we did."
"She'll have fun doing it," Andrew agreed then ate a bite of dinner. "Those poor boys in her future." Their wives giggled but nodded. They'd have to give Liz some ideas when they tested the baby Potts for evil ideas.
"At least she'll be a humane overlord," Jonathan noted. The others nodded because Dawn had done good teaching the kids ethics.
***
Liz met with her mentor that night. "Auntie Natasha, can you please tell me what I'm missing with my current plan? I know I'm missing something but not what."
"Of course. What are you plotting?" She held out a hand so Liz handed over the spiral notebook. "Nice security with your handwriting being so poor." She flipped through it slowly, reading it all. She looked up at the young woman. "What if they resist?"
"Page sixty something?" Liz suggested. Natasha went back to that. She also nodded slowly. "I know I'm missing something but not what."
"You're missing that it would cause problems with whoever this was planned for." She stared at her. "It would make your father scream most likely."
"He could hire so we could make sure they're reasonably ethical. I'm sure whatever geeks they have would like being ethical." She tipped her head to the side and smiled slightly. "We can totally remake that problem so it's helpful and good. It might even get used by some of Callia's challengers."
"Were you contemplating HYDRA?" she asked.
"No, those icky science morons."
"AIM?" she demanded.
Liz smiled and nodded. "They had plans to kidnap Chris and make him work for them. I'm the only one that gets to torture Chris. Plus he'd never be able to destroy them himself so I've got to do it before they get to use him. Dad would really hate that."
"I can mention that to your father."
"I've got the names of three young geniuses who'd do great running it as an alternative to whatever my sister thinks up." She pulled them up on her phone. "I was looking them over for Callia. She was wondering if they'd like to join her later think tank." She showed her aunt. "Would that work?"
"I...." Natasha reread it, considering it as a plan. "Many contingencies are covered but not all."
"What am I missing? Can you help?" She beamed and bounced a bit. "I don't get mentors like they get from the geeks. I could use a great mentor to help me with my planning."
"It's not a bad start," Natasha admitted. "There's a few points you didn't consider. We'll go over this after your escape lessons this weekend." Liz squealed and hugged her, taking her phone and notebook back to bound off. Natasha thought about warning someone but...she wasn't sure if the child could do it or not. She'd have to watch over her shoulder.
Perhaps she could someday take Joyce's place at the head of SHIELD. Though she would have to check Dawn's own plans for those sort to make sure Liz's wouldn't be bothered. Dawn didn't need to take out AIM or HYDRA. It'd give her a bad reputation among the business sorts.
***
Callia had the Pym Particle and phase devices in her lab to look over. Her father had to run off to save San Diego with his group of besties. Chris had sighed that it wasn't very much for him since it wasn't really a machine sort of machine, and it definitely didn't go fast like he liked to tinker with, so she had it to try to arrange it so they could finish fixing the old Dr. Pym. He'd probably like to be out of that tube. She had a thought and did the math on a virtual screen, frowning at it as she modified it. She took that up to the containment chamber, ducking her head when she realized she had interrupted the older couple. "Sorry."
"It's all right," Janet said patiently. "He's done it before and so did Hope, Callia." Callia came in and put up her math so they could see it. "Hmm. Just sending you out of phase won't fully help."
"We could *probably* warp it but that'll mean magic getting into your tech. Which may be dangerous."
Hank Pym grimaced. "That's a bit weird."
"Yeah but magic makes all things smoother," she said with a slight grin. "It's the lube for a lot of physics if you know what you're looking for. Grandpa Bruce gets *so* frustrated with that."
He nodded. "I can see why. I never considered magic by any form." He stared at it. "You dropped an integer." She looked and sighed but redid it. He nodded that was correct. "So any idea?"
"I'm thinking we'd have to do it on Asgard or somewhere magically active that way, and possibly with magic instead of your particles. I'm not sure if we can do that down here and Auntie Dawn's asleep by now thanks to the triplets being little jackholes all day." He scowled. So did Janet. "You didn't get to see them having a color fight about one's outfit. Changed it back and forth until they all ended up crying with magic overuse headaches and still hating the shirt. Like that scene in _Cinderella_ with the fairy godmothers only with cranky toddlers.
Finally Chris stopped it and changed it back to the natural color, ending all the dyes in it, and that made them scream more until Philip told them off for being spoiled little kids. So they snuck out, creating a huge problem with security, and went to hug Mom, who was in New York. They found Liz at least, and she got them calmed down, but they went home to complain a lot and Philip's hiding from them because they were cranky little jackholes all day too."
"You live a weird life, Callia," Janet said patiently.
She nodded. "I'm kinda glad I didn't have that sort of problem when I was little. I used my magic to climb bookcases to get books on animals." She shrugged but grinned. "I'll talk with Auntie Dawn and Auntie Tara tomorrow to see if what I think it'll take will. Then we'll have Dad help when he gets back from whatever's trying to eat San Diego." They nodded. She smiled. "Let me go get dinner. You guys go back to cuddling things. They're important when you're married." She strolled off with her walker squeaking in the quiet halls.
Janet looked at Hank. "If that's true, it's probably why you had all those early wobbles in your attempts." He nodded. "Hopefully you'll be out soon."
"I hope so too. It'd be nice to take a real shower instead of the tiny micro shower in here."
"At least they thought of that. Most people wouldn't."
He nodded. "Tony did make these comfortable." He sat down again. Their teasing mood had been broken by the interruption but they had been together for many years before Janet had gotten stuck. It was an easy transition into talking for them.
***
Chris was watching the news when Callia strolled in. "Dad's injured," he said in greeting.
She sat down, staring at the news feed. "What the hell is that?"
"Something that'll probably take more firepower." The kids shared a look. "JARVIS, can you send Dad the thing on his workbench?" he called.
"No. He said to leave that there, children. It's too powerful and would cause other damage."
Callia considered it. "C'mon," she said. Chris came with her to her lab, getting into something she had been working on. Chris grinned, taking it and the spare suit for their mother that they weren't supposed to know about. JARVIS tried to lock him out so he went to the other suit, the one he had been playing around with to show his father his ideas. It needed a power source but he could mange that. Kinda. His sister's power cube was handily available for his stealing and use.
"Your father would be quite upset," JARVIS noted patiently.
"Not if he's dead." He finally finished and locked in the new ideas he had. Callia brought down her new UAV things for him to take with him too. That'd help a lot. Chris got into the suit, locking it around him since the suit put-on system wouldn't work for him. Then he flew out and down the coast.
Callia waved. "Be safer and smarter than usual!" she yelled after him. "Before Mom gets you next time!" She went back to her lab to tinker something into being. Her paternal unit would probably need it. Yup, the news showed they yelled at Chris but he helped with the UAV's and a few other options he had.
They were down to half the alien menace but more were trying to come in. Janet came stomping in. "Miss Hope's suit is in there," she said with a point. "It's in the repair unit because she had a lot of small rips." Janet smiled, looking it over before putting it on with a few grunts. Callia got her something. "Tasers help?"
"Yes, dear. Thank you." She took the wrist tasers like Natasha used to put on and zipped up the suit with a wince. It was a bit tight. She put on a helmet and left to head down there to help.
Callia looked at her options then sighed and considered it. She told Andrew that Chris had went to help her father. He stomped off to get their battle robots to help too. Callia got her brace frame for her own special suit but it didn't fit right. She didn't have time to add two inches for her latest growth spurt.
So she'd have to do something...wackier than usual. She had a brace for long standing needed times. She had something that could pass as her aunt's battle outfit without the chainmail. Though she did bum it for a bit. Together, she looked hot but dangerous. She sent herself down there via the beaming satellite and appeared then pulled magic up to blast a few of the aliens.
"Grounded!" her father yelled. "So damn grounded!"
"Yup, if we all survive and so does the city," she quipped back. She looked at the portal, moving to help Tara with it. It shut, cutting off new aliens. The old ones were going nuts.
"Put up a shield so they can't escape," Tara said quietly. Callia nodded and did that. That shoved the aliens back into the line of fire. Then Callia set off her add-ons to Chris's suit. The aliens mostly got exploded. The few left were destroyed by the Hulk, who was not happy that they squished instead of broke. Callia looked at Tara, who shrugged back. "Sometimes you gotta step in and help a tiny bit."
She looked over. "Chris, get to medical," she shouted. "I saw that limp!" He flew off quickly to get out of the way of nagging. She sighed and looked around, then pointed. "There's the guy that opened the portal." Tara looked, grimacing. Dawn showed up and took that one out with an arrow to the neck. The spell whipped around until she, Tara, and Callia froze it and absorbed it. Then all three witches sighed in pleasure.
"So damn grounded," Dawn yelled, glaring at Callia. "Next time, wake me the fuck up, niece!"
"I thought someone tried," she quipped back then waved a hand and hit the beaming satellite's remote to send her home. The radar in the lab was showing that Chris was only a few miles away. Callia went to medical, it was standard procedure after a fight, and got cleared to go hide. Chris got his leg bandaged, and a few bruises creamed with stuff to make them quit hurting so much.
The siblings shared a look and used the beaming satellite to go to the house in North Dakota. They could get lost there for a few days until their parents calmed down. Callia even hid the remote for the satellite so no one could find her using it and bring them home for a few days.
Tony Stark looked around the battle then at his people. "Thanks, Dawn."
"Welcome. If someone had told us I would've been here sooner." She stared at the downed sorcerer then shook her head. Tara had magic nullifying cuffs to use on him so that was handy. Dawn went to check on the others. Hulk was pouting. She patted him on the arm, getting a pouty look. "Do you want to help yell at the kids?"
Hulk shook his head. "Hulk hides behind you while Joyce yells."
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Dawn said, smiling at him. "Go home, Stepdad. Get calm, get treated, tell Mom." He nodded, heading for the jet to go home. "Clean up teams, bosses?"
"Coming," Steve called back. "SHIELD is in route to clean up their messes." He looked around then at Tony. "Do you want first screaming or second?"
"We were down," Dawn said as she walked over. She waved a hand. "Even heros that aren't Avengers were here, Steve. You guys didn't call in reinforcements so we had to show up on our own. The kids decided it was that necessary. Though they do need to be reminded of their ages and Chris needs to fix his damn suit since it looked like a pile of scrap."
She took a deep breath. Then she turned and hit the portal trying to open, destroying it. "No thank you. Had enough stupid today already!" She looked at Tony and Steve again, who were both shaking their heads. "If you had called me earlier...."
"You were exhausted," Tony reminded her.
"I know that." She smirked at him. "Sometimes you gotta do it anyway." She walked off. "Dr. Janet, lets get you back for medical checks. The docs can be mean if you try to avoid them." She nodded, walking over. "You look good in your daughter's suit. Most women can't fit into their daughter's clothes but you do it well."
"It's a bit tight."
"Yeah but older women have different bodies than younger ones. Pregnancy did it to all of us," she quipped. "I gained an ass that makes Clint happy and then breast fed Philip to get bigger boobs. My chainmail had to be adjusted. Which sucks since my niece fit into it pretty well." They went back together talking about remaking her old suit to fit her now.
Tony shook his head, looking around. "Let's hit the medics, people. Those who aren't ours and need it, we can bring you there and let you hide from the Malibu facility if you want." Most of the hurried off to join them to get away from the press and agents showing up. Steve followed on the way to the quinn jet. Tony flew off talking to his AI and Pepper about the kids and them being in a lot of trouble. When Tony finally made it out of his suit, he found Liz waiting on him. "What's up, Liz?" He hugged her.
"My stupid siblings that jumped in like Summers women are hiding at one of the other houses. I'm pretty sure they're in some woods." She grinned. "Maeve is so damn fussy. She called her besties at Auntie Dawn's house to wake her up for the battle. I grounded her for that since Mom was still in New York." Tony gave her an extra squeeze for that. "Are the bad aliens coming back, Dad?"
"Not if they're smart." She grinned and skipped off to do her homework. That wouldn't get her into any sort of trouble. Someone would look at what she had been doing if she got in trouble. Her mother might not like her ideas on taking out bad people. Pepper liked to negotiate, not take over.
Tony went down to medical to get his checks. "Steve, your daughter's grounded for waking up Dawn." Dawn snorted and flicked a hand in the air. "Liz grounded her for it. The older two are somewhere, probably with woods."
"North Dakota?" Dawn guessed. Tony nodded. "Well, they probably won't get into trouble for a few hours. There's supplies in case they want to eat. They might think they'll be safe in a few days." She grinned. "Then I get to yell, right?"
"After us. Parents first," Tony quipped. "Because I'm about to beat my children."
"Did you know Chris had his own suit?" Janet asked from where she was getting her wrist wrapped up. It was a tiny sprain.
"After we got back from the realm merge I designed one to get each of the kids to safety. He wasn't supposed to use it for that. I think he's been tinkering." He grimaced. "I love my kids but I didn't want them to turn into me."
"I think we all want that for our children," Janet said, staring at her daughter when she stomped in. "I'm fine, Hope."
"Mom," she said patiently. "You should've had us called."
"I was doing this since before you were born," Janet shot back patiently. "And you're not really fit for full field battles."
Hope scowled. "I could've done it, Mom. My suit's still got holes. It could've gotten you hurt again!" she insisted quietly.
"Dear, I'm fine. It was my choice."
"I'm going to tell Dad."
"He saw me stomp off and complained," she admitted. "If he could've gotten free he would've taken Scott's suit." She stared at her. "I'm fine. Callia even came up with a way to get Hank out of that tube." Tony stared at her. "She thinks it'll take a bit of magic to lube it."
"That's interesting," Tony said. "When I grab her I'll have her show me so we can work on it." He looked over at Dawn. "My daughter fit your chainmail better than you do."
"I noticed," she shot back, smirking at him. "I've lost all the baby weight but the usual breast expansion did happen, boss. I was going to take it up there to have them mend it for me anyway."
He nodded. "Not what I'm concerned about, Dawn."
"Yeah, boss, your daughter's stacked," she said with a grin. "But you knew that before."
Janet was snickering. "She did look much older than fifteen." Hope nodded she agreed. "Where did the chainmail come from, Dawn?"
"The dwarves made it for me when Xander asked before the battle in Sunnydale." She grinned. "I just grew too much breast after the triplets to fit into it easily. The rest of the outfit she wore today is like a throwback to my original outfit of a long sleeved unitard only she had leather."
Tony shook his head. "I'm going to beat them both."
"She probably couldn't fit into her suit," Dawn said. Tony scowled. "She's hitting her last growth spurt a bit early."
"Wonderful!" he snarled. "Just what I needed to think about," he complained.
"Sorry, Tony, but your eldest is fifteen. Nearly sixteen." Tony scowled. Dawn grinned back. "We can't stop time that way. Though one of the labs is looking into age retarding nanites for some reason."
"What?" Tony demanded. "Since when?"
"Since Pepper was angsting about a wrinkle so they thought it might be really good for the company's pocketbook. They were going to sell it to the hollywood types that worry about that too."
"Hell no," he muttered. He shook his head and rubbed it. "Have they handed in reports?"
"Yeah. Lab 14."
He got up and went to look at those reports. He really had to talk to his geeks.
Dawn grinned at the others. "Sometimes geeks have ideas." She got up to hug Jonathan and Andrew. "You guys are good at that too." She strolled off. "I'm going home to ground my triplets for their magic abuse earlier."
"I can come help," Tara called, following her. "It might take a full coven to out stubborn your triplets."
Dawn nodded. "I think so too." They shared a smile. The triplets were about as stubborn as Philip was. It'd probably take Clint getting into them to make them behave.
Janet shook her head. "I'm really glad you didn't grow up with magic like that," she said with a smile for her daughter. Hope smirked back but helped her mother off the table so they could go talk. She needed to yell at her mother.
Steve looked over from his bed, shaking his head. "I'm kinda glad Maeve doesn't have magic either." A few in there laughed. "If you spot the other two first, let us know so we can yell at them please." He got up. "Let me go shower and get a meal." He walked off shaking his head but plotting how to yell at his two children. Bucky ran into him in the hallway. "The scientific two are in deep shit."
Bucky nodded. "The youngest is a problem and Liz has plans she's started to put out."
"Plans?"
"She's going to take over somewhere, Steve."
"Aw." He grimaced. "I'll talk to her."
"She went to Natasha but I'm not so sure she won't take out a bad group."
"She probably could. She is just as strong as Pepper is."
Bucky nodded. "And as wacky as her aunt."
"Could be," Steve agreed. "I'll talk to her after a sandwich and a shower."
"Food's on the counter. Shower's all yours." Steve patted him on the arm before heading for the food first.
***
Tony looked at his geeks the next morning. "I feel like Callia right now but apparently I've missed some stuff. We're not the evil in the universe, people."
"Does that mean Liz would have to take us over if we do become the great evil ones?" one of the geeks quipped. Tony shook his head with a sigh but that geek pulled up Liz's announcement in the caf to show him. "She'll do great, Tony."
"We've discovered my darling daughter had plans of taking out AIM. And nearly managed it. We made her hand it to Natasha." A few geeks laughed. "Seriously! She got them about halfway down and was going to suggest a few geeks that wouldn't join Callia's later thinktank take it over." A few of them moaned. "The kids are getting scary."
"I take it you saw the Times?" Jonathan asked. Andrew winced. Tony stared at him until Jonathan pulled up their online website and that article was right on top. It had a picture of Callia from the battle and the headline 'Iron Lady yet still disabled and being a teenage heroic role model.' Tony sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. "Where are they?"
"North Dakota thinking I can't pull them back by the satellite without the remote." He took it to read, then handed it back and kicked the wall before looking at people again. "Anyway, we'll get back to the kids in a bit when I can beat their asses." A few laughed. "People, apparently you're not truthfully reporting on weekly reports.
"I found out we've got four or five projects that I don't have a thing on the reality of it. While I don't mind our nanite team working, the subset that was working on anti-aging nanites....I'm to clear all those sort of projects before you start it, people." They huffed but nodded.
"Andrew, please go over Callia's math with Dr. Pym? She's thinking it may take magic." He nodded at that, looking pleased. "Otherwise, I need to be updated this week on everyone's *real* projects. We don't need another situation like the guys that were going to split the atoms in an old arc reactor."
"Or the one that was working with the goo clones so they could stage a takeover event," Jonathan quipped. "Those were not fun."
"Or those," Tony agreed. "So everyone has to update me this week. By Saturday, and please don't wait until the last minute. Liz has her first riding lessons Saturday afternoon. If I don't get updated I'm going to lock you out of your labs until I hear from you." That got a few pouty looks. "I don't want to encourage the kids to have to save us all, people. Or Dawn." That got a lot of nods. Dawn would be mean to them if she had to save them. She had yelled at them in the past when she had saved them.
"It's blue!" a tiny voice shouted.
Tony sighed and looked out there. "Stop it!" he shouted. "Quit magicing things! Quit arguing! Go back to the daycare before I make sure none of you get cookies today and they all know to blame you three!" The trio ran off crying. "Thank you!" He looked at them. "Help Dawn with that please. The triplets are going to end up harming themselves."
Jonathan grinned and waved a hand. "Loki showed up to talk to them about how they were doing chaos magic. He's a hamster in our lab, boss." Tony burst out laughing. "Dawn's promised to get him changed back today."
"I needed that," he said. "I'd buy them cookies for that but it'd encourage them to do it again." Jonathan grinned at him. "Wow. I've got to tell Clint."
"He apologized for them."
Tony nodded. "Great. Okay, go gather things, sign up for an updating talk spot today please. Don't make the kids save us please, people." They nodded, trailing out to work on their reports. Tony probably wouldn't get any that day but tomorrow he'd get a ton of people ready to talk to him. The rest would probably be Friday and Saturday.
Tony went to check on the hamster of Loki. It just huffed when he saw it. "I'll talk with the triplets about not doing that. You need anything?" The hamster shook his head. "I'll tell Dawn too." He walked off texting Dawn. He almost felt sorry for the God of Mischief. Kinda. Almost.
Dawn walked into the lab that night, staring at the hamster. She sighed and undid the spell, making Loki reappear next to the cage. "I'm sorry. They're horrible and I'm trying to teach them better but they're young."
"They're strong," he said patiently.
Dawn nodded. "And stubborn. Tara and I both had a talk with them about their clothing issues. Any idea on how to stop that?"
"Limiting band. I'll ask Freyr for one." He disappeared.
Dawn went to talk to her triplets in the daycare about bad magical ideas. Turning people into hamsters wasn't a good idea. Even Callia had learned that. She spotted a copy of the Times and stared then groaned and took it out of the trash to save for Callia to complain about.
***
Callia and Chris got beamed home, with their remote for the satellite, though Steve walked past and confiscated it before they could grab it again. Tony smirked at his children. "You're both so very, very much in trouble," he said, sounding amused. "Even your grandfather is hiding so he doesn't have to hear Joyce yell."
"Had to happen. We can't let you die yet, Dad," Chris said then shrugged and tried to walk off. Unfortunately Callia had installed her freezing beam in the security system so he got caught there. Callia winced but sat down. She got frozen too. Then Tony got up and let Joyce yell first. They'd never remember what he needed to yell at them about if she went second.
Bruce finally walked in and gently pulled Joyce from the room to calm her down. Dawn nicely had a cup of tea waiting on them for Joyce's sore throat. Tony's usual coffee mug had some honey tea waiting on him too. Tony took it to sip while he went to yell at his own children for being smartass Starks.
At the end, Dawn walked in and put two newspapers in front of the kids. "Something else to consider before you do something so stupid again, kids. Not until you're an adult, or if you have to so you're protected." She stared at Chris. "He's found your suit. He's disabled it and wanted to talk about your updates." Chris moaned but went to handle that. She looked at Callia. Who was staring at her picture. "Yeah. And social media is going nuts that you haven't been online."
"I was ignoring it," she admitted, looking up at her aunt. "I...I don't want to be that girl."
Dawn leaned down some. "Then quit doing things that make you that girl." She smirked. "And don't steal my chainmail again, Callia. Talk to someone so you can get your own made when you've finished growing." She straightened up. "Go gather stuff because your father called for a mass updating as people were doing things he didn't know about."
Callia groaned but walked off, finding her walker waiting on her in the hallway. That let her take off the brace and relax finally. She had a ton of stuff to gather to show her father. Who'd probably pout a bit but she'd handle that she guessed.
Dawn strolled off, going to check on her triplets of misery in the daycare. They were pouting at the limiting bracelets they were wearing but it was a relief to everyone. Clint was in there helping the daycare workers with his pouty young ones, and the rest of the kids loved him too. Dawn let him handle it after getting a kiss and going to do her checking rounds.
Clint grinned at the triplets. "Your mom's happy today, guys. You should color her a picture." They settled in to color, stealing crayons from each other. Those three loved to fight with each other for some reason. Shamira and Alexina were doing daycare, thankfully, so they weren't egging the triplets on. Philip was back in class today, thankfully. Clint decided he'd talk to the older three about not being heroic later that night. He needed to make sure Philip didn't want to follow Chris' lead and the older two didn't even think about it.
Liz walked in pouting, giving her uncle a hug. "Dad got really mad that I was taking out that bad, yucky science group."
Clint tipped her chin up. "That's because that's an adult job. You're turning into your sister."
"Eww." Clint grinned and nodded. "Fine." She sat down to help the triplets color. She also got them extra crayons so they had more choices and could just pick up a new one when theirs got stolen by their sibling. She had one last idea on how to get the super yucky science geeks down and she could think about that while she colored. Maybe she'd make sure her favorite aunt didn't have that much work to do. Auntie Natasha worked too hard sometimes.
Clint saw the plotting but he'd let Natasha handle it. She was Liz's mentor. She could handle the plotting. He looked at his kids then shook his head. Thankfully his kids weren't Starks so they wouldn't start plotting until they were teenagers.
***
Callia rolled out to the gate and sat on her walker's seat, staring at the reporters. "People, I don't want to be heroic but Chris and I are both going to be damned if we let our fathers die. So yes, we did jump in against all common sense and training. No, we're not going to make it a hobby. And I'm not going to turn into Dad by any means. I may be his female clone but I'm a lot more like my Aunt Dawn." A few pouted. "Don't get your hopes us for more than wacky, wonderful ideas from my think tank, people."
She stood up. "And I'm not a fashion icon either. I really hate clothes and I'm still mostly in leotards and shorts most of the time. I'm not the glamorous one that my mother or aunt is. I hope I never have to because each time I dress up that way I feel like I'm being a bimbo and I hate that."
She strolled off. "Back away from the gate please. You're blocking the delivery trucks and I need what's on one of them for lunch." They backed off and sent that film in. Callia was not going to be a Stark in the news if she could help it.
They'd have to see about Chris. Or Liz and Maeve.
Chris walked out a few minutes later to stare at them. "I'm not Dad. I'm not going to become Dad. I'm not Iron Lad or whatever they called me. Someday I might wear the suit but I'm not Dad, people. Leave off it before you piss us off and we start to run from you or buy an island to hide on or something."
"Are you going to head to college early?" a reporter called. "Most of your family did."
Chris looked at her. "No, I'm enjoying being a boy for a while. Why would I want to hurry that on? It looks even more boring than school does." He strolled off. "Go away please, people. Liz is looking for a new evil target. Don't make me suggest she take over a paper."
Liz leaned out of the main building with a grin and a wave. "I talked Mom into helping me buy stock in an internet news source so I can use them when I take over more yucky idiots who'd make you become a hero, Chris." She smirked at him. "Before Daddy Steve has a heart attack thanks to you." She smirked at the reporters. "Don't worry, some day I'll take over all the news outlets too." She disappeared. "I've got to help Mira and Lexi sort their closet because Maeve has weird ideas about fuschia."
"Of course she does. Mommy Steve taught her about Barbie," Chris quipped as he walked inside. "Eww, what is that?" he complained. "Lasers on, destroy the thingy!" A laser went off and the slime creature vaporized. "Thanks, JARVIS."
"Welcome, young sir," the AI said.
The reporters shared a look. They might really have to worry about Liz going evil and her siblings having to fight her. It was almost Shakespearian. Or Asgardian.
***
Hank Pym finally got free, after three attempts. He walked out of the containment tube, stretching up with a groan of pleasure.
"Hold it," Dawn said. "You've still got a tiny leaking spot." She moved closer. "I'm going to have to look. It's here on your side, Dr. Pym. I need to see if it's an injury or can be cured." She and Janet VanDyne both looked. "That's a melanoma," Dawn said quietly.
"Cancer would be counted as wrong cells so they'd probably not be fixed right," Callia said from her seat on the side. "Is it one of the ones you can remove and would that fix it, Auntie?"
"It would, I think. Let's start with removing it. That's the only spot you're leaking energy from so let's see if we can remove that?" she asked him.
"I'm not against that idea," he agreed. He let them take him to the infirmary. The docs came over. "They think they found one last energy leak from some wrong looking cells."
"Looks like skin cancer, Doctor Pigali." She showed her.
"That is a melanoma, yup." She got some local and what she'd need to remove it. "Let's get you sitting, Dr. Pym. Then we'll do your just in case exam. That way we make sure you're not sick from all that traveling. It can wear you out." He smiled slightly. She got the bit of skin cancer, and a bit around it, out then sewed the small hole up. "Dawn?"
She tested and nodded. "That stopped it." He relaxed and smiled. "If you get another one, we'd have to see if you go back to leaking but each time you use your Pym Particles it should stabilize easily enough." She smiled at him. "I'll leave you with your wife, sir, and tell your daughter since she's outside in the lunch garden while Scott talks to his daughter about dad stuff." She left them alone.
Callia waved with a grin. "I'll quit being a third wheel. I'm sure you want to snog or something that I don't really understand why people do yet." She strolled off.
Janet did kiss him, making him smile. "Some day she's going to be a brighter star than her father is," she said quietly. "You all right?"
"I'm fine, Janet." Scott walked in to spontaneously hug him then walked off talking on his phone. He smirked a tiny bit at her. He noticed Chris lurking in the doorway. "It's all right, we're both okay."
"Good." He grinned. "That way I can do big scientist chatting with people beyond Dad's tinkering group." He beamed. "Your wife's really smart, Dr. Pym." He ran off.
He looked at her. "Well, he's not wrong." She poked him but looked pleased. "And I can definitely see why the current generations aren't like Howard. Thankfully they won't be ruined by him." She hugged him again.
Tony leaned in. "I've sent a smug letter to my father that you're better than he ever was because your kid's a genius but normal. I'm told the ghost of Howard threw a fit." He smirked a tiny bit. "I also told Chris he can't just show up to pick your brain about things. Or Callia. Or even Liz, who might like to learn more strategy stuff. She seems to have a slight crush on Hope." He waved. "Have fun, people, and be safer please. The world needs more people who have sense. Before the triplets take it over." He walked off.
Hank looked at his wife. "That might be a horrible future."
"It might," she agreed. "But they'd probably want to solve humanity's bigger problems because they'd consider them icky."
"Could be." He hugged her. "We need to go on vacation."
"Take a second honeymoon," Doctor Pigali called from her office. They smiled and went to gather things so they could go home. Hope came in to help them gather things. Scott hung up and came in to do his own helping. Hope looked at him but he smirked back. So apparently the kid was okay for the moment.
"You are not allowed to become the evil triplet overlords of magic," Clint called up the hallway. "Put the damn bracelets back on before I sell all your clothes and toys!" The triplets burst out crying and ran to get Mommy hugs but they did put back on the bracelets. Hopefully they could seal them on until they had some sense. Doc shook her head with a sigh. So damn weird sometimes.
The End.
Old Ones Shrinking and Enlarging.