Lexi POV:

"Well the sandwich was fair, the spring was a little rusty, the rest of the materials, I'll make do. By the way, when you said your sister had a watch, I was kind of hoping for something a little more than that."

Harley and I laugh as Tony looks down at the Dora watch on his wrist. "She's six! Anyway, it's limited edition. When can we talk about New York?"

Tony visibly stiffens and so do I. "Maybe never, relax about it." Tony says.

"What about The Avengers, can you talk about them?" Harley asks. That's when I notice Tony. I can tell this is unnerving for him.

"I don't know, later. Hey kid, give me a little space." Tony says trying to change the topic.

"Harley this might not be...." I start to say, trying to stop him before this gets any worse trailing off as we stop by an explosion site. Correction the explosion site. The reason that Tony and I are here.

"Harley, what do people say happened here?" I ask.

"I guess this guy named Chad Davis, used to live roundabouts, won a bunch of medals in the army. One day, folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb. Then he blew himself up right here." Harley says.

"Six people died, right? Including Chad Davis?" Tony asks.

"Yeah," Harley says. Suddenly, Tony's questions make sense as I look a little more carefully at the ruins.

"Six people died. But only five shadows." I realise.

"Yeah, people said these shadows are like the mark of souls gone to Heaven. Except the bomb guy, he went to Hell on account of he didn't get a shadow. That's why there's only five. " Harley says.

"You buy that?" Tony questions.

Harley shrugs. "That's what everyone says. You know what this crater reminds me of?"

I tense, knowing exactly what Harley's going to say.

"No idea. I'm not...I don't care." Tony starts.

"That giant wormhole, in um...in New York. Does it remind you?" Harley says getting closer to Tony.

"Harley!" I exclaim.

"That's manipulative. I don't want to talk about it." Tony says, starting to breathe a little heavier.

"Harley stop ask-" I try and say.

"Are they coming back? The aliens?" Harley pushes.

"Maybe. Can you stop? Remember when I told you, that I have an anxiety issue?" Tony says.

"Does this subject make you...make you edgy?" Harley pushes.

"Oh, my gods Harley you really are pushing it. Tony breathe. Slow your heart rate." I say dropping down by his side.

"Yeah, a little bit. Can I just catch my breath for a second?" Tony says, backing away from us.

And what does Harley do instead of backing off? "Are there bad guys in Rose Hills? Do you...do you need a plastic bag to breathe into? Do you have medication?" He says.

"Nope."

"Do you need to be on it?"

"Probably."

"Do you have PTSD?"

"I don't think so."

I sigh. "Harley I need you to-"

"Are you...are you going completely mental? I can stop, do you want me to stop? Do you want me to stop?" He asks.

"Remember when I said to stop doing that? I swear to God, you're going to freak me out!" Tony says. Suddenly his face goes pale and he swears under his breath. "Ah man, you did it, didn't you? You happy now?"

Tony gets up abruptly and runs/staggers across the street. "Tony wait!" I call out to him, catching up easily.

"Tony stop running!" I say putting my hands on his shoulders as he sinks to the ground.  "You aren't there. Look up at me. Breathe." I grab some snow in my hand and give it to Tony, who puts his face in it to calm down.

"Hey! Did I say something?" Harley asks.

"Harley. Shut up for a minute please." I say, making sure no one is watching.

"What the hell was that?!" Harley says.

Tony breathes out and chucks some snow at Harley. "Your fault, you spazzed me out. Okay, back to business. Where were we? The guy who died...relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?"

Harley shrugs. "Where she always is."

"See? Now you're being helpful." Tony says. "Alright let's head back. I'm gonna finish up working on the suit and then Lexi, change into something a little less suspicious. Harley, you're gonna stay back and watch the suit."

"Why do I have to watch it!"

------- 3 hours Later -------

"Guys we've been at this for hours. It's already like nine. No offense or anything Harley but nothing in this shed is going to make your suit charge faster." I say, flicking some hair out of my face.

"Fine. We can come back here later. Lexi, bring your duffle and leave it with Harley a little way's out from the bar. And do you think you could look older? Cuz I don't think it's legal for a 16-year-old to be in a bar."

I close my eyes and imagine myself as a 26 year old. I open my eyes at a satisfied Tony and an awestruck Harley. "Better?"

(A/N: Lexi as an adult vvvvvvv just for future reference)

"It'll do," Tony smirking at Harley's expression. "Kid, close your mouth, you might catch flies. She's taken."

"Wow, I mean what, how did you do that!" Harley exclaims.

"Sorry kid, but that's classified," I say adjusting my leather jacket. That was the one thing I kept when I changed into jeans, combat boots and a black long sleeve.  "Should we get going?"

"Yeah, why not," Tony says. I grab my duffle and we walk all the way to the local bar. I put my bag with Harley across the street.

"You can sit on it if you want to," I call over my shoulder as Tony and I walk to the bar, bumping into someone. That someone being a lady with a burn mark on the side of her face.

"Sorry," I say. She barely notices but drops something.

Tony picks it up and hands it back to her.

"Uh, Lady? You dropped..." He says. She smiles and takes it back.

"Nice haircut. It suits you." Tony says.

"Flirting with another girl in front of your girlfriend?" She asks gesturing to me.

"Nah, I'm just his sister. His girlfriend broke up with him so I'm just here for moral support." I smile.

"Ahh. In that case nice watch." She smirks.

"It's limited edition." Tony snarks.

"Oh, I don't doubt it," She says. "Have a nice night."

"You too," I call out.

We continue into the bar and slip by some police officers to a woman sitting alone. I decide to let Tony talk while I watch around for any sign of the Mandarin.

Suddenly, the woman from earlier comes and handcuffs Tony. Welp that's what happens when I zone out.

https://youtu.be/zuX-Lnor7OU

"Woah woah." One of the police officers says. "What's going on here?"

"It's called an arrest." She snaps back.

"Sheriff is it?" She questions.

"Yes, and ma'am, you are?"

"Homeland Security," She says holding up her badge.

"We good here?" She asks.

While she's distracted, Tony signals to Mrs. Davis who slides under the bar. He then looks to me and I nod discreetly as fighting ensues. I quickly push civilians out of the bar and grab the file. I will my quiver to form and slide it in. Pulling out and electric arrow and shooting the woman with it. Gaining us some time to run and regroup.

Another man appears out from a black car and smiles, throwing his coffee on the ground.  Tony and I skid to a halt and start running in the opposite direction. He shoots at us but gets a snowball to the back and misses. Correction, he gets Harley's snowball to the back.

We catch our breath behind a man's car, who stares at us terrified.

"Crazy huh?" Tony asks the guy.

"Yeah," He responds.

"Watch this." Tony says and jumps through a store window.

The guy looks at Tony then at me. Almost like he's judging me.

"Yeah yeah I'll follow him," I say as I jump through the window and slide on the ground.

"Lexi! Stay down!" He says as a shot rings out.

I slide back toward the counter next to him and pant. Until....her face ends up right next to his. She punches him hard in the face so from my point, I kick out her legs and quickly shoot ice toward her.

But seeing that this woman's got fire powers I realize that my ice isn't much help.

"Lexi! Get to the back I have a plan!" Tony says.

I move to the back of the building and aim an arrow at the woman. When Tony gets free of her, I shoot, stalling her a little more. He shoves a bottle of oil across the floor and sets the entryway on fire with the molten cuffs. Then, Tony throws the dog tags in the microwave and then I pull the hose out of the gas nozzle and open it full blast.

"You've walked right into this one. I've dated hotter chicks than you." Tony calls out as we make our way toward the back door. The woman bursts through the fire with a crazed expression.

"That's all you got? Cheap trick and a cheesy one-liner?" She mocks.

"Sweetheart that could be the title of my autobiography." He says and we sprint out of the building, slamming the door behind us.

3......2.......1.......BOOM!

Then building goes up in a fiery explosion as people are screaming and running.

"See Lexi, this is why we can't have nice things," Tony says, looking around. Suddenly my eyes catch on something hanging from the power lines. It's the woman who nearly killed us.

"Really? I've dated hotter chicks that you? Out of all of the fire-related jokes in the world you pick I've dated hotter chicks than you?" I smile, shaking my head.

"Really? Are you questioning me on this one Carson? You get beat up and try coming up with a relevant joke next time. I-" He says, cut off from the person in front of us. Who conveniently melting the metal leg of the water tower with his hand and had shot us from earlier.

Of course, he is.

"Hey there darling," he says. "It's a pity, you've got a pretty face too."

The water tower comes crashing down and water flows everywhere. I quickly make and air bubble for Tony, however, I'm not quick enough to freeze it as some of the wreckage fall over us. Trapping Tony's leg and pinning me on my stomach.

"Let me go!" Harley's voice calls out.

"Help me!" A guy mocks. I turn my head and through the metal I can see the man with a death grip on Harley and rage swells in me. The fire thing glows under his hand as Harley desperately tries to get away.

"Hey kid what do you want for Christmas kid huh?" The other fire guy asks.

"Lexi! Mr. Stark! I'm so sorry!" Harley calls out.

"Leave him alone!" I call out.

"No, no, no. I think he was saying I want my goddamn file." The guy says, his hand starting glow red.

"Not your fault kid," Tony says. "You remember what I said about bullies?"

Harley's eyes go wide and he pulls out the thing Tony gave him. He closes his eyes and activates it on right by the guy's face. A bright light flashes in the guy's face and Harley breaks free of the man.

"You like that Westworld?" Tony says. I form my quiver and bow from my vantage point on the floor and painfully grab an arrow. "That's the thing about smart guys. We always cover our ass. Now!" Tony yells. I shoot my ice arrow at the guy and Tony blasts him with a hidden repulsor.

"Uh, Tony! I little help here. It's kinda getting hard to breathe." I rasp. Tony frees his leg and runs over to me and pulls the wreckage off.

"You good Carson?" He asks as I hold over and groan.

"Yeah. Just got crushed by a falling water tower but I'll walk it off." I snort, taking his hand as he pulls me up. We walk back out to the main road and keep our heads down. Tony unlocks the guy's car and I grab my duffle and toss it in, taking the file out of my quiver.

"You're welcome," Harley says from behind us as we grab our stuff.

"For what? Did I miss something?" Tony asks. I roll my eyes and smile as I dry our clothes with a flick of my hand.

"Me saving both of your lives." Harley says pretty happy with himself. I just ruffle his hair and take my laptop out to pull up everything SHIELD has on AIM.

Tony scoffs. "Yeah. A: Saved you first, B: Thanks, sort of, and C: If you do someone a solid, don't be a yutz, alright? Just play it cool otherwise you come off grandiose."

"Unlike you?" Harley counts.

"Ooooooh darn." I laugh.

"Admit it, you need me. We're connected." Harley says.

"What I need is for you to go home, be with your mom, keep your trap shut, guard the suit. And stay connected to the telephone, because if I call, you better pick up. Okay? Can you feel that? We're done here. Move out of the way or I'm gonna run you over. Bye, kid." I smile at him and get into the shotgun seat as Tony gets into the driver's seat.

After a sigh, Tony rolls down the window. "I'm sorry kid. You did good."

I get out of the car and walk around the front, giving Harley a kiss on the check. Subtly placing a tracker in his hair.  "Thank you." I smile and walk back to the car.

"So now you're just gonna leave me here, like my dad?" Harley says.

"Yeah. Wait you're guilt-tripping me aren't you?" Tony realizes.

Harley bundles up in his oversized jacket. "I'm cold."

"I can tell. You know how I can tell? Cause we're connected." Tony says and speeds off.

"Tracker on?" Tony asks.

I put in my comm and listen. "It was worth a shot."

"Yes!! It works!" I laugh as we speed away from Rose Hill.

A/N: When my teachers are all like oh yeah you have a unit test this week even though you just had one.

Sorry that was waaaaay too tempting XD. I've just started using these gifs inside wattpad and I might have been going a little crazy with it.

So yeah...I've been updating a lot recently, no idea why but it's just been fun XD.

So vote and comment if you liked and I'll see you in the next part!

Stay Nerdy,

Nerdy_Girl :P