A loud, abrupt sound of glass shattering sounded through the complex, and the alarms Tony had put in instantly started going off, waking up everyone who has been asleep – which, by the way, was only a few people. Felicity, Silvia and Pepper. The first two had stayed over to comfort Eliza after he break down once Peter had to leave, and they had fallen asleep once the clock hit one in the morning. Pepper stayed up with Tony as long as she could once she notices that her boyfriend wasn't going to sleep anytime soon, but fell asleep around three. The three Starks were awake; Eliza, Killian and Tony, all too worried to get even a wink's sleep. Or too frightened. Or both. So, at the sound of glass shattering, the three were quick to jump up from wherever they were and search for the source.

"What was that?" Killian asked once he got beside his sister, only wearing Green Lantern boxer shorts and penguin socks, hair sticking in all sorts of directions from running his hands through as he played video games.

Eliza shrugged and decided to ignore her brother's choice of clothing. It was nighttime, anyway, so really it was appropriate for him. Besides, she wasn't dressed any better anyway with her old Disney pajama shorts and an over sized t-shirt she had bought from the men's section; fuzzy socks were on her feet and they made it hard for her to keep a steady stance and walk since the floor was so smooth. "No, idea," she whispered.

Another crash sounded and the twins hurried their pace, Killian keeping a hand on Eliza's elbow so she wouldn't slip and face-plant. She pulled her hair into a ponytail so it wouldn't be in her face while fighting. They soon paused, though, as they got closer to the kitchen. The light was on and the two could clearly hear mutters of voices over the alarms. They gave each other a look of confusion. If this was a burglar, they were being bold. Suddenly, before they could go and walk into the kitchen themselves, Tony flew by in the suit and then into the kitchen, ready to shoot whoever it was with one of the blasters on his hands. Killian and Eliza stood there and waited for their father to do something, to hear someone groan in pain, but rather they heard something else.

"Rhodey?!"

The twins gasped and instantly started racing to get into the kitchen. Eliza used her magic to keep her from slipping and pushed Killian farther down the hall. "Rhodes, hi!" She exclaimed happily despite the fact that she could probably break down again at any second.

"Why the hell do you have a security system on your fucking coffee pot?" James Rhodes asked, shocked but also not that surprised. It was Tony. The guy loved his coffee, and so did his kids, and none of them wanting anything to happen to their coffee. Or the coffee pot. Unfortunately, tonight something did happen – Rhodes had broken it. Accidentally, of course.

"Pepper made Dad put this tech-security thing that doesn't let us get coffee past two and before five on it. Guess it goes for you too, huh," Killian explained as he walked in, rubbing his forehead from running into a wall – curtesy of his sister, who he glared at after his little explanation.

Rhodey looked as if he was about to ask why Pepper would do that before he realized who exactly he was talking to. Three coffee lovers who could drink it all day and face the consequences of not being able to sleep all night without a care in the world. None of them seemed to look after themselves in that regard. He sighed, shaking his head and going to where the broom was, starting to sweep up the shards of glass into the dustpan.

"What are doing here, Uncle Rhodey?" Eliza asked, watching as Tony left the suit and went to help his best friend.

"I came to check up on my favorite Starks," he said, "Pepper called and gave me a brief explanation saying that you're all a little too stressed out."

"Look, there's no need to worry."

"It's just hero stuff."

"My hair is falling out from stress."

Eliza quickly turned to look at her brother, as did the other two adults in the room. A look of concern washed over her face, along with guilt; she hadn't thought too much of how Killian had been feeling – how he was taking everything. She looked away from him and to the ground, and vaguely listened to Rhodey saying that, yes, he did need to worry because this – "Whatever it was," he had said, "Pepper didn't explain in too much detail." – wasn't some everyday occurrence for most people. As he and Tony spoke, Killian took a few steps back and gently grabbed Eliza's arm to get her to follow.

"Ellie, are you okay?" He quietly asked, turning to her fully by one of the walls far away from their dad and Rhodey, speaking low so it would be harder for either of them to hear.

She frowned but nodded. "Fine, yeah," she lied. It was far from the truth because she was pretty sure she could break down into a panic at any moment, but she didn't want to worry anyone.

Killian looked at her with a blank stare. "You seriously expect me to believe that after your break-down with Peter?" He asked. At her silence, he rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Eliza, you have reached your breaking point. You do realize that, right? But you're still pushing yourself, just like when we learned Mom died-."

"This is nothing like that," Eliza hissed at him, eyes narrowing.

"Oh, really? Then what's the sleepless nights, constant state of anxiousness, working yourself too hard, having a break down, and all the other things? Huh? I'm worried, Ellie, I don't want you to-."

"Like you're any better!"

"You're right, I'm not! I stay up late at night and act like I'm playing those stupid video games when in actuality, I'm trying to find the dumb crystal! But I'm worried for my sister who's fucking gone through this before," Killian shouted at her. Instantly, Rhodey and Tony were looking their way, and the superhero walked forward to try and stop them, but they just ignored them. "Working so much and barely sleeping? This is exactly like when we found out Mom died, except our lives are on the line, most likely, and that certainly doesn't help! You're gonna fucking kill yourself if you don't get some rest and relax!"

"I'm trying, okay?!" Eliza snapped. "This is completely different from when we heard of Mom's death, because I'm not doing nothing! I'm trying, but my anxiety is haywire and I'm scared for all of my friends and family, and I want to sleep, I really do, but insomnia a bitch. Not to mention, I keep having nightmares and this one reoccurring one where Josh fucking dies, so pardon me for not wanting to sleep in the first place!"

It was suddenly deathly quiet. She had never come clean about her nightmares, so they were a big surprise to everyone in the kitchen. Silvia, Felicity, and Pepper were shocked as well since they had woken up due to the alarms earlier, the three slowly waking up and taking their time to find everyone else. The alarms hadn't gone on forever so they weren't worried too much. Now, though? With the new information of Eliza's nightmares? They were – worried for her mental health and state of mind. Eliza huffed and rolled her eyes, suddenly feeling too exhausted to say anything else to her brother or exactly explain anything. Without hesitation, she left the kitchen and ignored the few who called out to her, even J.A.R.V.I.S. who asked if she was okay or not. She barged into her room and changed into her Vixen outfit before rushing out into the city.

+++

"Kid, you need to come back to the Tower."

"Go away."

"Everyone's worried," Rhodey continued as he ignored Eliza's demand, "Killian even called that Peter kid up, so he's there, too."

Eliza's frown deepened, unmoving as she repeated her words from before but with more force and anger, voice cracking in the slightest as she sat at the edge of a random building she had stopped at. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and she was more than grateful for the hood and mask she had, otherwise she'd be more than embarrassed because then people would be able to see her puffy red eyes from crying, the slowly drying tears on her cheeks, and the few strands of frizzy waves that were sticking to her face as well. She was a mess, but with her Vixen suit on, she simply looked like she was sitting there in boredom. A few times, pedestrians waved at her from the ground below; most were drunk or high, or both, since it was late at night, a time for partying a lot of people.

Rhodey walked forward, the War Machine suit making noise he did so, and stood beside her before moving to sit down, legs hanging off of the edge. He didn't speak for a moment, and neither did Eliza. The only sound that came from him was a small sigh as the War Machine's mask lifted to show his own.

"It's okay to be scared," he finally said. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Eliza shift uncomfortably, arms tightening around her legs. "You're not weak for it, or lower than any other hero out there for it, because everyone gets scared. Cap, your dad, Natasha – which is hard to believe, trust me, but it's true. Even I get scared. It's not bad or wrong or weak in any way. It's perfectly normal." Rhodey paused to see if Eliza would say anything. She was stubbornly being quiet, though, so he continued on. "But it becomes a problem when you internalize it too much, or turn into other negative emotions, and not tell anyone. That's the big problem with you Starks, you guys never come clean about your fears.

"I understand, though; it's not easy to do. And I've already told Killian this, but that doesn't mean you get to snap or be mad at everyone who pisses you off. He's scared too, just like you, but he didn't handle it well back there. Neither did you, by the way. You need to talk to each other, and maybe even someone else. It'll be good for you."

Eliza was quiet for a few minutes, Rhodey obviously done talking. She processed his words as she sat there. Part of her hated that he was right, but the other part of her was grateful that he found her and told her all of that. She didn't know if she wanted to snap at him, stay silent, or admit to him that she was wasn't just scared but terrified. After a moment, she opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out at first.

"I want my mom back," Eliza mumbled, shocking Rhodey because he wasn't expecting that. "None of this would be happening if she was still here."

The man frowned. He knew what she said was right; none of this would be happening if Amethyst Fagles was still alive. And even it would be, things wouldn't be lasting so long as they are. It didn't help anyone that they didn't know how she actually died or why she just dropped the twins off with Tony. Suddenly, with a thought in his head of what they could possibly do, Rhodey was standing up and hurrying Eliza to do the same.

"What?" She questioned, wiping tears away as she stared at him in confusion, slowly moving to stand.

"I just got an idea."

***

A/N— me: says I'll try to update more
also me: doesn't fucking do that

Lmao don't be mad at me, I really am trying my best. It's just that it's easy for me to get writer's block for this fic. Idk why tho. Buuuut things are picking up soon so hopefully & usually when that happens in stories, it becomes easier for me to write chapters. So, yeah, I'll try harder. Also, would you guys want a little prequel of this that focused in Amethyst/her & Tony? I already have it in my drafts, I just want to know if anyone would be interested in that, along with a sequel as well that will definitely be published on here. But yeah please give me your thoughts on the AmethystxTony prequel!!

Anyway other than that, this chapter is basically an after picture of what happened last chapter, like how Eliza's doing after it and everything. Also I just really wanted to put Rhodey in somehow so this came about.

Hopefully you liked this chapter, it's not the best, but at least I updated? Don't forget to vote & comment!! xx