CHAPTER 7 - Meet the twins

"BUCKY!" I yelled angrily as I rushed down the hall.

"YO WINTER SOLDIER WHITE WOLF," I kept going as I reached the common floor.

"BARNES, I WILL ACTUALLY TEAR YOUR THROAT OU-Oh! Hi guys!" I interrupted myself when I caught sight of the Extended Avengers, all gathered in the living room.

"You stole my charger," I blamed while pointing at Bucky with a raised eyebrow.

"You're a billionaire. You can afford it," he stated coldly.

"My father is a billionaire, I am just a millionaire," I corrected while moving my hand to my hip; "and that doesn't give you the right to steal my things!"

"VERONICA!" My dad interrupted. I looked at him.

"Yes?"

"Meet Pietro and Wanda Maximoff," he introduced me. I looked at the two people in front of me. A woman with brown hair, dressed in a black dress and with a shy smile on her lips next to a tall guy with gray hair.

"Oh," I mumbled awkwardly before smiling politely; "I'm Veronica. You must be the twins." They shared a quick glance before both saying hi back.

"Right," I mumbled to myself before turning back to the super soldier; "I need my charger. My phone ran out and Liam will think I'm ignoring him," I explained.

"Liam again?" Steve complained.

"Are you two a thing?" Natasha interrupted; "What's his last name?"

"Guys, stop, don't go all superfamily and scare him away, we're just friends," I promised; "I just need my charger.

"Why don't you invite the kid over?" Steve suggested.

"Why don't we continue this when we're alone?" Bruce suggested instead, gesturing to the twins.

"Kid, take my charger, it's in the living room. Go bother Liam instead," he advised before grabbing me by my shoulders and turning me towards the elevator to give me a gentle push.

"I am not bothering Liam," I mumbled like a child as I walked away; "Liam loves me!" I continued.

"Excuse me?" I could hear Steve say loudly behind me as I walked into the elevator.

"So, any themes?" my dad asked.

"Yes. I like dinosaurs," I informed him and looked at all the papers on the table. Pictures after pictures.

"I meant color-wise, smartass," my dad mumbled. Pepper send me an apologising smile as I sat down besides her and across from my father.

"Dinosaurs had colors," I mentioned; "It's not like they were see-through," I pointed out.

"But why are you handling this? Don't you usually use a party-planner?" I asked and picked up a printed picture of a flower decoration.

"I will this time, too, I just want us to decide on what we want together first," he explained without paying attention. He held up a picture of round tables to show me.

"Pretty," I agreed: "So your plan is for us to work... Together on this party?" He nodded with the cap of a red marker in his mouth.

"We've never done that before," I pointed out to both him and his girlfriend.

"Nope," he mentioned and blew the cap out so it landed in his hand; "Because we don't have parties together. I have parties, some of which you are invited to, and you have parties, none of which I'm invited to." He sent me a snarky smile.

"You've been invited to every single one of my, may I say, rather few parties, you've just never bothered showing up," I corrected emotionlessly.

"Tell her she's wrong, Pepper!" my dad cried.

"Wish I could," she mumbled; "I have to get going, though. I'll stop by later to pick up these things and forward them to Christina," she promised. As she left I could hear her stilettos click against the floor.

"Who's Christina?" I asked curiously as I picked a list up to look at it. A long list of names went down it in Peppers cute handwriting. I flipped a page to see the list going on. I raised my eyebrows with impressment.

"Party planner, I think. Have I really never been to one of your birthdays?" he interrupted my thinking. I looked up from the list to his brown eyes, fixated on me.

"I mean... Well, no, but, you've been busy," I mentioned. I looked back to the list, hoping the conversation would be over. I noticed my own name.

"I'm invited. How lovely," I joked casually.

"Why are you excusing me?" I looked at him in confusion. He sighed; "You said I was busy. Why are you excusing me? Shouldn't you be all teenager and... Hate me or something?"

I shrugged; "You're my dad. I don't want to force you to get to know me."

"I know you," he argued. I smiled and looked at him.

"If you knew me you would've known I don't hate people," I informed him.

"Everybody hates someone. You have plenty of people to hate. Me, your mum..." I noticed him running out of suggestions. I smiled sadly.

"You're right. I have so many people I could hate," I agreed; "But... It's not worth it. The only life that'll ruin will be mine. I believe everyone deserves a second chance."

"How did you turn out to be so much of a better person that I've ever been?" my dad asked after a short silence.

"Probably have something to do with you not raising me," I suggested with a shrug; "I don't know any of these people."

I looked through the entire two pages again, only recognising names of Avengers.

"No, I wasn't quite sure who you talk to and hang out with and stuff, so I just thought you might want to add them yourself. Anyone on the list gets an invite," he explained to me while holding up a white envelope.

"I don't really hang out with a lot of people," I admitted while grabbing a pen. I looked between it and the paper.

"Well, you're going to. Over 200 people are already on the list," my dad mentioned. I looked at him with wide eyes.

"How do you even know that many people?!" I cried out. My dad shrugged.

"Acquaintances," he mumbled.

"Strangers," I corrected him. He shot me a silencing look.

"I'm just gonna check my contact list on my phone and add people from there," I decided and placed the pen back.

"Better take people from facebook instead. You probably have more friends on there," my father suggested.

"Yeah, that's why I'm not using that friend list," I explained; "Also, I can't invite everyone from there. My fanpage alone has 70.000 followers."

"You have a fanpage?" my dad asked surprised. I nodded.

"Stark Industries PR department made it," I explained shortly; "Anyway, I'm gonna head down to see if anybody wanna get their asses kicked in Ludo."

"Yeah, I need this list done by 5, Veronica," my dad mentioned after me.

"Yeah yeah," I agreed, picking my phone up from my pocket.

"I'm serious! Otherwise I'm just gonna write the names on I want," my dad yelled after me.

"You do that," I agreed.

"I have news!" I stated as I entered dramatically from the elevator.

"Hey kid. What happened?" Steve asked.

"Turns out I have a dad," I explained and dropped down in the couch.

Natasha smiled into her phone where she was doing... God knows what. Besides them, Bucky was the only one in here.

"Where's Bruce?" I asked; "I'm bored."

"In the lab. He's pretty busy, might not wanna disturb him," Steve advised.

"Kidding? He'll be thrilled to see her, he loves her," Natasha mentioned.

"Doesn't mean she won't be disturbing," Steve pointed out before making a suggestion; "Why don't you go train a little?"

"You know I'm not allowed to train alone. So unless one of you guys wanna?" I asked.

"I'm sure one of the other guys will want to," Steve promised before practically shoving me out the door. I looked annoyed behind me before heading down the hallway. I thought about it for a second.

Could ask Bruce, but sounded like he was busy. As was my dad, plus he'd never even once done such a thing. Steve and Natasha was too boring. I might be able to convince Bucky, if I could find him, or even Clint if he wasn't skyping the kids.

"Veronica!"

"Shush!"

I turned around to see who was talking, even though it should've been easy to guess from the accent.

"Hey Maximoff's," I greeted; "Where are you heading?"

"I wanted to go eat some food," Wanda explained with a smile while nearing me, her brother following from just behind her.

"That is usually what you do with food," I agreed; "How about you?" I looked at Pietro who didn't utter a word.

"He's not doing anything," Wanda replied for him before elbowing him in the side when she thought I wasn't looking.

"Wait, you guys are officially S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, aren't you?" I asked, an idea forming in my head.

"We are, yeah." I smiled.

"Okay, that's really great because I was just looking for a agent or avenger to go to the gym with me, but nobody has time, sooo, I thought maybe you'd wanna come train with me? I know it's a lot to ask for-""Not at all!" Wanda interrupted me joyfully; "Not a problem at all."

"Great! Thank you so much," I replied, equally happy; "Are you guys ready then?"

"Actually, I'm gonna go get some food, but Pietro will go with you," Wanda offered on her brothers behalf. I looked at Pietro, who looked uncomfortable at his sister.

"Are you sure?" I asked him directly.

"Of course he is!" Wanda promised. She said one last bye before leaving Pietro and I alone. I looked at him.

"So.. You probably need to get into some training clothes. I'll wait here," I offered politely.

He smiled confidently.

"Oh no, I am very fast," he promised me. I restrained myself from making an 'I bet you are' joke, and instead answered politely.

"How fast?" I asked, never actually having gotten an answer to that question. He smiled before vanishing. Literally vanishing before my eyes. I looked to both sides, not entirely sure what to do with myself. I shifted the weight to my other foot.

"Pietro?" I mumbled after 30 seconds.

Suddenly he stood in front of me again

"Pietro!" I said surprised. He smiled.

"Very fast. Excuse me, I had to go say a word to my sister after changing," he explained. I looked at him.

"Oh, you've changed!" I exclaimed. I looked at his blue longsleeved training shirt and black Adidas.

"Wauw, how fast did you go?!" I asked impressed.

"Very," he repeated with a smirk.

"Must be so cool to be able to do that," I mentioned.

"You could try?" he offered. I smiled.

"I wish. Not everyone is as fast as you," I replied.

"No. We are going to train. I could train my speed by carrying you and when we get down there, we could train you," he explained. I thought about it.

"Are you sure you can carry me?" I asked unsurely. He nodded.

"Yes. I'm very fast and very strong," he mentioned. I thought for a second, considered his words.

"You're sure you can carry me?" I checked, only to receive a certain nod.

"Okay, but if I get too heavy just put me down, okay?" I told. Without saying a word, he quickly swept me off of my feet, bridal style, and looked at me.

"Ready?" he asked quietly. I nodded and closed my eyes to avoid getting dizzy.

"Veronica, you can open your eyes," Pietro commented with a small laugh. I slowly opened my right eyes.

"Wait... We're here," I realised as I jumped down from his arms, only to having to lean against him when I realized having closed eyes had not worked. I was dizzy.

"Oh... Wow," I mumbled and moved my free hand to my forehead.

"Wow... Indeed," Pietro mumbled quietly next to me. I looked at him.

"That was amazing!" I stated, slowly getting back to myself.

"Amazing? You cannot train when you are dizzy," he argued; "I will follow you home."

"No no, this is good. After doing my thing, I always get dizzy, I need to still be able to fight. Just in case," I added as to explain.

"Are you sure?"

I looked at him in the eyes and nodded. "I'm sure."