𝐏𝐀𝐖𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐄𝟒 | 𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐏𝐀𝐖𝐍 | 𝐏𝐓 𝟏

—♟—

"𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐎 cool." Ned grinned as he and Kara passed one of the TVs that was hanging on the ceiling. The school's news broadcast was talking about Spider-Man's epic save at the Washington Monument, and everyone was wide-eyed as they crowded around the small monitor, watching.

"It's pretty awesome," Kara laughed.

"Imagine if everyone knew that we knew him. If they knew you were dating him! Or if they knew you were Psionic! We'd be so popular," Ned sighed dreamily, looking at another TV that was displaying the same thing.

"Ned," she giggled, glancing around to make sure that no one had heard, "keep your voice down."

Their eyes were drawn to the stairs near them as they noticed Peter rushing down.

"Dude, dude, dude." Ned caught his attention as they went up to him. "What's it like being famous when nobody knows it's you?"

"Crazy, dude." Peter grinned, holding onto the straps of his blue backpack.

"It's crazy," Ned agreed. His eyes suddenly widened, and he looked around. "Should we tell everyone?"

"No." Peter shook his head quickly, furrowing his brows.

"Should I tell everyone?" Ned asked.

"No, that's not a good idea, Ned," Kara chided as she elbowed him lightly. "Anyway, we should go, we'll be late for class."

Peter shook his head, causing her eyebrows to scrunch together in confusion. "I'm not going to class."

"You're already in trouble for ditching the decathlon," Ned pointed out with a sigh.

"Dude, listen, I figured it out," Peter said hurriedly, a grin spreading on his face. "The wingsuit guy is stealing from Damage Control. What he takes from Damage Control, that's how he builds the weapons. So all I gotta do is catch him!"

"But we have a Spanish quiz," Kara reminded him. The hallways were nearly cleared by now; everyone had already headed to their classes as the period neared.

Peter turned his pleading gaze to her. "Kara, I'm probably never gonna come back here. Y'know, Mr. Stark is moving the Avengers . . . so when I bring this guy in—"

"So . . . you want to be a high school dropout?" Kara asked incredulously. "Peter, I don't think Uncle Tony would want you to quit high school just to do . . . this. Listen, I'm an Avenger too, but I'm not dropping out just to hang out with Uncle Tony all the time! Leaving high school would be a mistake."

Peter, however, ignored all this as he began to slowly walk backwards. "I am so far beyond high school now . . ."

She shook her head. She was gonna have to talk some sense into this boy later. "Let's go, Ned, we have a minute to get to class."

"But—"

"C'mon, we're gonna miss the quiz." Kara tugged at his sleeve.

At that, he nodded and followed her to the class.

—♟—

Kara sighed, rubbing her eyes as she tried to pay attention to the homework she was trying to finish.

She glanced over at her phone and turned it on to see that her only notification was a game asking her to play. She groaned as she put it back down.

She hadn't heard from Peter all day. He hadn't answered any of her texts, nor any of Ned's, and judging by the fact that May had called her to ask his whereabouts twice, she had no clue about him, either.

And when her dumbass tried to track him, all she found was a ping from the hotel room in Washington.

The chime of the doorbell distracted her from her worries, and she quickly got up from her spot and headed downstairs.

She frowned as she wondered who was at the door. Obviously, it wasn't her mom, she would've just used her key. Peter usually just crawled in through her window. Amelia and Maximoff didn't bother to ring the doorbell anymore, they just used the spare key that was hidden under the doormat.

Her pondering came to an end as she reached the front door and opened it. A grin came to her face when she saw that it was Peter, though it faded when she saw his appearance.

Peter was wearing a large white shirt that did not fit him at all, which had the words: I survived my trip to NYC with a cartoon taxi under it. His oversized pyjama pants had pink and purple stripes in a zig-zag pattern, with little Hello Kitty heads plastered all over.

"Wha—what are you wearing?" Kara questioned with furrowed eyebrows. She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the stairs as she continued, "Don't get me wrong, you look super cute, but I don't remember ever seeing these in your closet."

Peter glanced down at his clothes as they headed into her room, and he sighed as he sat on the edge of her bed.

"Peter?" she asked softly as she stared at his moistening eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Mr. Stark—" The rest of his sentence was muffled as he shoved his face into his hands.

Kara closed the door and sat down next to him, her forehead creasing in worry. She put her hand under his chin, gently lifting his head towards her to see that his normally bright eyes were now red and puffy.

"What is it?" she asked gently.

He rested his hands on his knees and took a deep breath. "S-so, I tracked down the buyer from that deal before, and he told me that there was gonna be an arms deal with the wingsuit guy on the Staten Island Ferry. Then, I went there and I fought the wingsuit guy and his two goons, but some weapon of his malfunctioned and set off, cutting the boat in half. I tried to use my webs to hold the two sides together, but then they were starting to break, and then Mr. Stark showed up in his Iron Man suit and fixed it."

"But isn't that kinda good?" Kara questioned. Sure, this was more than likely Peter's fault, but it seemed like no one got hurt since Tony saved the day.

"After, Mr. Stark came and scolded me about how . . . you know, I was doing things without telling Happy. He said that he had been the only one that believed in me and that he had been the one to send the FBI after the wingsuit guy. He said the whole thing was my fault, which it was, and then he—" He sniffled as a tear rolled down his face.

Kara quickly wiped it away, patiently waiting for him to continue.

"He took my suit away. Forever."

"What? No way, he probably didn't mean it," she quickly reassured him with a shake of the head. "Maybe he was just saying that to scare you?"

"No, he meant it, Kara. You should've seen him, he was so angry." He shook his face, more tears welling up in his eyes. "What am I gonna do now? I'm nothing without the suit! How am—how am I supposed to save people?"

She put her hands on either side of his face, squishing his cheeks together as she made him face her. "Listen, Peter. You don't need the suit in order to save people. You were doing just fine before you got it, right?" she pointed out, a small smile coming onto her face as he gave a short nod in the limited space his head had. "Sure, it has its bells and whistles, but you don't need them! The suit is not what makes you Spider-Man, you are what makes you Spider-Man. And you are enough."

Peter closed his eyes as her grip on his cheeks lessened, and he sighed. "I don't know, Kara . . ."

"Peter Benjamin Parker, you are the best superhero I know, and you don't need the suit to prove it." She raised her eyebrows. "Got it?"

He gazed at her for a moment before giving a stiff nod. "Mhm."

"Good." She placed a kiss on his lips before letting go. "Don't worry. I'm sure Uncle Tony will forgive you eventually."

"Yeah," Peter muttered, "eventually."

—♟—

Kara didn't bother knocking on Tony's office door as she went in, her hands on her hips.

Tony, who seemed to be thoroughly concentrated on his work, didn't even glance up at her as he called out, "Hi, Kara."

She stopped just in front of his desk. "Wanna tell me why you decided to take Peter's suit away?"

Tony sighed as he looked up from his computer and towards her. "Because him having that suit was a privilege, and he lost that privilege."

"He was just trying to prove to you that he's a good superhero!" she exclaimed as she folded her arms. "Because someone promised him that they'd give him more missions and that someone has been ignoring him ever since."

"Hey, I haven't been ignoring him," Tony corrected with a raised finger. "Happy has."

"That doesn't make it any better."

"Listen, Kara, I told him to do one thing, and he went in the complete opposite direction," Tony tried to reason as he leaned back in his seat and shrugged. "I even gave him a warning. He's too irresponsible."

"He's more responsible than me!" she argued.

"I agree."

"And you haven't taken my suit away," she pointed out.

"Well, because you would annoy the shit out of me, and your mother would berate me, and I don't want to deal with any of that," Tony scoffed, eliciting a roll of the eyes from Kara. "You also haven't done anything to provoke me into taking your suit away. Right?"

"No. By the way, my BondTouch bracelet got fried in an explosion so you have to fix that. Anyway—"

"What?"

"—can you please just give Peter one last chance?" she begged as she clasped her hands together. "I'll make sure he sticks close to the ground."

Tony sighed, rubbing his temples for a few moments before shaking his head. "No, Kara."

"Please."

"No."

"Please."

"How many times do I have to say no?"

"Just say yes."

"No."

"I will never forgive you if you say no again."

"Oh, whatever shall I do," he said lazily. "No."

"Okay, fine," she conceded, a large sigh passing her lips after. "But if he dies, it's your fault."

Tony shrugged. "Sure."

Kara pressed her lips together and stared at him for a moment before turning around. She could hear Tony following her as she left the office and headed towards the kitchen, though neither of them said anything.

Helen, Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy were in the dining room, though Kara's attention focused on Amelia and Maximoff, who were busied in the kitchen.

Her eyes narrowed as she realized that Amelia was wearing a turtleneck—and though she looked great in a lot of things, turtlenecks were just . . . ugly in general. She decided to push this fact aside for now, however, as it seemed that they wanted something from her, and she had a slight inkling as to what it was.

"Karamel . . ." Amelia called, using a finger to gesture for Kara to approach. "Come here."

Kara nodded and quickened her pace to join them, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Tony heading to join the other adults at the dining table.

Maximoff raised his eyebrows as he set some raw patties onto the pan in front of him. "You wanna tell us about this whole Washington thing?"

"And why you didn't think to call? Text?" Amelia questioned interrogatively as she sliced the lettuce with a little more aggression than Kara would've liked. "Reassure you were okay?"

Maximoff gave a hum of agreement. "Bring home souvenirs? Particularly popcorn from that one stand by the—" He stopped when Amelia had thrown a glare at him, and to further his point, he flung his arms to the side. "It's not cool!"

"Yeah, so, funny story . . ." Kara began as she sat on a stool at the island and rested her head on her hand. "It all started, a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, where there were—"

Amelia raised her eyebrows. "Kara."

Kara sighed, tilting her head back as she went over everything she was about to rant to them. "So, this is gonna be long, but bear with me."

Amelia shrugged. "We have time."

"When Peter and I were patrolling, there was a robbery at the ATMs of a bank. Normal, right?"

Amelia nodded.

"No. They had fucking alien tech. I got a concussion, and Peter's favourite sandwich place was blown up."

"Wait, I remember this from the news," Maximoff interjected as he flipped the last patty, his eyebrows furrowing.

"What do you mean 'alien tech'?" questioned Amelia. "I don't remember you telling me this!"

Kara sighed. "It happened a few days ago, we haven't Facetimed since then!"

"Okay, but wait . . . alien tech, what alien tech?"

Kara wrinkled her nose as she thought back to the night. "There was a laser—that one blew up the store—and another was like a force-field weapon, like telekinesis, but in a gun."

Maximoff's eyebrows scrunched together. "Okay . . ."

"Then, I told Uncle Happy about the tech" —she rolled her eyes— "but he just said not to worry about it."

"Typical," Amelia muttered.

"The next day in gym class, after Ned found out that Peter was Spider-Man, he ended up blurting out that Peter was friends with Spider-Man to the whole class" —another eye roll— "and, obviously, no one believed him. So, like an idiot, Flash told Peter to bring Spider-Man to Liz's party.

"While we were there and Peter was getting changed into his suit," Kara continued, "he saw this explosion and went to follow it, and it turned out that it was these dudes who were selling the same alien tech, and Peter tried to follow them but apparently, a vulture-man-hybrid picked him up and dropped him in a lake."

"In a lake?!" Amelia repeated incredulously as she dumped the lettuce into the bowl, then quickly followed up with the cucumbers.

Kara nodded. "One of your dad's suits saved him, though, and he gave him a whole lecture, whatever, and on Peter's way back, he found a glowing core—which turned out to be a leftover Chitauri core from 2012, but we didn't know that at the time.

"The next day, the two sellers ended up in our school, and Peter put trackers on them, and we found out that they were heading to Washington—which is why we rejoined the Decathlon team.

"So, we went to Washington, and then Peter went to find them, and he was gone for the whole night and for the whole competition, and then, when Ned and I went to the Washington Monument, the Chitauri core went through an X-Ray which activated it, and it started to blow up while we were in the elevator, but Peter managed to save us . . . long story short, if your dad had fucking listened when I was trying to ask him about the core, none of this would've happened!"

"And why didn't you call us in the elevator?" Amelia asked as she used her knife to scrape the cucumbers off the cutting board and into the bowl.

"Right, I forgot to mention," Kara sighed. "My phone and BondTouch got fried when the core detonated."

"Shit," Maximoff murmured.

"Are you okay?" Amelia asked worriedly, and the concerned expression on her face was one Kara knew all too well.

Kara gave her the best smile she could muster. "Yeah, I'm good."

"And what about Parker?"

"Well . . . another story for you," Kara chuckled humourlessly. "This morning, Peter was way over his head, talking shit about 'being beyond high school.' He snuck out of detention to go after the vulture dude and ended up tracking him to a cruise ship. Surprise, surprise, more alien tech, and then the ship got split in half.

"Your dad came and saved the day, though, unfortunately. Then another whole lecture, blah, blah, turns out he called the FBI to help, but let's ignore that, and then he took Peter's suit away, forever. And then Peter was all upset and wearing Hello Kitty pyjamas, and now he thinks he isn't good enough to be Spider-Man, which is a whole other problem."

"My dad what?" Amelia asked incredulously, her furrowed eyebrows mimicked on Maximoff's face.

"Why?"

Kara shrugged. "He doesn't think Peter's responsible enough. So, now, he's punishing me, because I have to look at that horrible, terrifying homemade suit every time we patrol."

Amelia wrinkled her nose. "Doesn't think—Parker's the most responsible teenager I've ever met."

"I know. He's way more responsible than me, that's for sure," Kara agreed. "Though, he's been a little reckless lately, with all this alien tech stuff. I mean, I know he's just trying to prove himself, but he's being a little too ambitious."

"Do you want me to talk to my dad?" Amelia asked.

"No." Kara shook her head before correcting, "I want you to yell at him."

"I'll see what I can do," she chuckled. "No guarantees, though."

Kara nodded once more with a small hum.

"Kara, you need to make sure you're careful," Amelia sighed as she began to work on the onions. "This sounds serious, and I want to make sure you at least know what you're doing."

"I know, Mom," Kara reassured her with a small chuckle. "Don't worry, you'll be the first person I tell next time."

"Okay." She sighed. "And call us if you need help. You're not alone."

Their attention turned to the dining table as Helen called Maximoff's name. He swiftly set the final finished burger on a plate and ruffled Kara's hair before heading over to the dining room.

Kara fixed her hair as she turned back to Amelia, who was now grabbing croutons from the cupboard and a bottle of Caesar dressing from the fridge.

Deciding that now was a great time to move things to a better topic, Kara straightened up and began, "By the way, I've been thinking about this for the last five minutes, what the fuck is up with this turtleneck?"

The warm smile Amelia had been giving her soon disappeared, and the sudden nervous spike was obvious as she reached a hand to play with her collar.

"Uh . . . you know me, Karamel," she chuckled, though it was a little shakier than usual as she poured the croutons into the bowl. "Always colder than everyone else. Besides, it's cute."

Kara wasn't stupid. She stood up, squinting her eyes to see further.

"It's, like, ninety degrees in here. And it's ugly. What are you hiding?" she asked as she moved around the island and towards Amelia, who took a step back.

She reached out for Amelia's collar, though she was shot down as Amelia slapped her hand away.

"Wha—stop!" Amelia exclaimed quietly. "What do you mean 'hiding,' what could I hide with a turtleneck?"

Kara made another attempt to grab the collar, and when Amelia had reached out to smack her hand away, Kara grabbed a hold of her hand. She quickly lifted her other hand and used her telekinesis to pull down the collar, and her eyes caught sight of a dark bruise at the base of her neck.

"Is that . . . ew!" she exclaimed, immediately releasing her grasp and backing away.

Amelia only sighed and poured the dressing into the bowl.

"Disgusting," Kara chided, wagging a stern finger. "You are only nineteen, young lady. Not at an appropriate age for any of those shenanigans. The most you can do is hold hands—nay, look at each other—nay, be in the same room!"

"Oh yeah, because you've never kissed your boyfriend, fifteen-year-old!" Amelia shot back with a hand on her hip. "And that's why I tried covering it, asshole! He went a little . . . overboard."

"Why did you use an out-of-style turtleneck and not makeup?" Kara questioned, reaching her hand towards the salad bowl to grab a crouton but getting a slap on the hand.

"Oh, believe me, I tried," Amelia chuckled as she glanced over to Maximoff. "But there was this whole . . . incident with this other guy and Peter got a little . . . possessive. More so than usual."

Kara's eyebrows raised. "Oh? What other guy?"

"No—not like that," Amelia corrected as she waved a dismissive hand through the air. "I went shopping with Jean and Raven and this guy was flirting with me and I didn't pick up on it and . . . it was this whole embarrassing mess that I'm ashamed of every time I think of it."

"Oh, classic Dracula Simia," Kara sighed, a giggle escaping afterwards. "Oblivious to everything. And I'm saying that."

"Shut up," she chided, though that was accompanied by a laugh. "He was oblivious, too—he didn't even know who I was!"

"Yeah, but you were wearing some kind of disguise, weren't you?" Kara pointed out.

"I took my sunglasses off and he still didn't say anything, so . . . ," Amelia rebutted with a shrug. "Jean says he was too busy staring at my boobs to realize what was going on."

Kara rolled her eyes. "Men."

"Got that right." Amelia placed the finished bowl on the counter and looked around before calling, "Okay, dinner!"

The conversations that had been going on quickly came to an end at the call, and it seemed as though everyone's growling stomachs took over their minds as they hurried to help set the table.

After helping with the plates and cutlery, Kara gave her hellos to Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy. She gave her mom a small smile as she kissed the top of Kara's head.

"How was school?"

"It was . . ." Kara licked her lips, her eyes squinting as she thought about the whole Peter dilemma before shrugging. "Yeah."

Helen's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"Oh, look," Kara said quickly, gesturing towards the others, who were settling in their spots at the table. "Dinner's ready."

Kara gave her mom a grin before squeezing herself next to Amelia, who passed her a burger.

"So . . ." Amelia began as she fixed her burger to her liking, "how was India?"

Kara was not the least surprised when Tony immediately went off in a rant about his trip, and, of course, all the things that were of inconvenience. He was so invested in his own story that his burger sat on his plate, forgotten and bare.

Of course, no one dared to interrupt him—if they did so, he would just go off on another rant.

When he brought up the topic of parties, exclusively the ones where he "didn't drink that much, Pepper, I promise," Helen dared to interrupt.

"Speaking of parties," Helen began, looking towards Kara with a grin. "Guess who went to her first-ever high school party?"

"No idea," Kara sighed, silently praying that this topic wouldn't stay on the table for too long. "Please inform me, I'd love to know."

Tony leaned forward, a small frown on his face as he interjected, "Wait, I wasn't done talking about mine—"

"Tell me, Kara," Pepper cut in, a slight smile on her face as Tony gave an exasperated smile. "Are high school parties as . . . extravagant as they used to be?"

"Do they still booze up all the drinks? Did you try drugs?" Happy's eyes widened slightly, and he pointed a stern finger at her as he demanded, "Stay away from drugs, Kara."

"Oh yeah," Rhodey, who was sitting on the right of Happy, quipped, "but the booze is okay."

"That's not what I meant!" Happy quickly protested, though that was just met with chuckles from the table.

"It better not be," Helen muttered, throwing Happy a glare that was usually reserved for Tony.

"No," Kara said sarcastically, "I definitely remember drinking a bunch of vodka and doing lines of cocaine."

"More than I've done in a long—" Amelia suddenly paused before clearing her throat and awkwardly continuing, "Ever."

Pepper looked at Kara once more and raised her eyebrows. "Well, Kara?"

"Well . . ." Kara sighed, relaying the events in her head as she pushed her lettuce around with her fork. "It wasn't exactly the kind of party they showed in High School Musical 3, that's for sure."

Pepper's eyebrows furrowed. "Oh no?"

"Eh, this guy, Flash, is just good at being a real . . . doodoo head."

"Is he still giving you trouble?" Maximoff questioned as he leaned forward and grabbed the mustard.

Kara licked her lips before shrugging. "Well, he got the crowd to chant 'Penis Parker.'"

There was a slight pause within the group, and that was when Kara knew she should've just said: 'Yeah, the party went great!'

"What?" Helen questioned, her eyes widened in horror. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Kara could only give her mother a small smile and shrug. The reason was that Kara had barely even seen her between the party and now, but that was a whole different problem.

"No."

Kara's eyebrows furrowed as she looked to Tony, who had his eyes set on Amelia and Maximoff, who were exchanging glances. Tony wagged a stern finger.

"No, what?" Amelia asked innocently.

Tony chuckled humorlessly. "Don't even think about it."

"Think about what?" Maximoff questioned, keeping the same tone as Amelia.

"I am not having a repeat of this," Tony chided as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. "They are older, smarter, and much more capable of ignoring when someone is rude to them."

Kara scrunched her nose and looked back down at her plate. The memory of the first time was not so pleasant, but at least it had a happy ending, right?

When Kara had been around eight, and Amelia and Maximoff were twelve, there had been a situation that differed not so much from now—except, at least, the worst of this situation was name-calling.

Though a lot of kids thought it was mega-awesome that Kara knew Tony Stark—Iron Man!—some kids, however, felt differently. They were older, bigger, and dumber, and they used their strength to pummel Kara at whatever chance possible.

Helen was always far too busy at the Tower, and Kara didn't want to worry her with this, nor did she want the quality time she spent with her mother to be about the bruises that littered her body. So, she kept it a secret.

That secret lasted no more than a week, however.

Amelia and Maximoff had decided to pay Kara a surprise visit one day, though they were the ones being surprised when she had come home with tears and a black eye.

Being the superheroes and caring friends they were, they had a little . . . confrontation with the boys the next day, and Kara was left unbothered by them—by everyone—since then.

Tony, however, was just as disapproving then as he was now.

"But—"

"No."

"We're not going to hurt them!" Amelia promised. "We didn't hurt them last time!"

"Yeah," Maximoff agreed, "but it'll be . . . just enough to get the message across."

Kara giggled. "I mean, it was pretty funny last time. I think you guys should—" She suddenly stopped as a thought crossed her mind.

Her first year had already been pretty horrible in terms of making friends—that was pretty clear by the fact she really only had four close friends at school. Everyone else was more interested in the fact that she knew the Avengers (some even asked if they could have Kara hook them up with an Avenger—usually Thor).

And if Orchid and Quicksilver showed up at her school? Those four friends will be the only friends she'll have for the rest of high school. Not to mention, Liz was graduating this year, so, really, three.

"No. Never mind," Kara said quickly, shaking her head and receiving incredulous looks from the pair. "For once, I agree with Uncle Tony."

Amelia turned towards her. "What do you mean, no?!"

"I already get enough unwanted attention for knowing the Avengers as is, do you know how much worse it'll become if Orchid and Quicksilver show up at my school?"

"But he's a dick," Maximoff pointed out.

Happy glared at him. "Language."

"I'm just saying he deserves it!" he protested, raising his hands in defence.

"We've handled it just fine for the past year, don't worry about it," Kara reassured them as she took a bite of salad, knowing that every word from that sentence was untrue.

"No, you've put up with it for the past year," Amelia scoffed. "There's a difference. A large one."

Maximoff nodded. "And your stories are only getting worse!"

"What are you gonna do?" Kara questioned with a sigh. "You can't beat him up like you did with those other kids!"

Amelia seemed offended by the accusation. "We didn't beat them up—"

"Honey," Pepper cut in with a small chuckle.

"Okay, we kind of beat them up, but they beat Karamel up first!" Amelia rebutted. "It was only fair! And even so, this time I feel like I'm intimidating enough! My—my words will be enough!"

Kara's eyes squinted. Flash didn't seem like someone who would be talked down. "Will they?"

"I mean, they were enough for telling Jake no more cookies last week," Maximoff said unconvincingly, receiving a hit on the arm.

"Hey!" Amelia exclaimed. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

"I am! But, just, you know . . . leave the intimidating to me."

"Oh, yeah," Kara scoffed. "Mr. Goggles is so intimidating."

"That's right," he said. "Karamel."

Now more worried than ever, Kara grabbed Amelia's arms, and pulled out her best puppy dog eyes (though they only worked half the time—and only on Steve and Bruce). "Please don't come to my school. Please. I'm begging you, Ames."

Amelia frowned as she gazed at Kara for a moment. Finally, she huffed. "Fine. Fine."

"Amelia," Tony warned.

"I said fine!"

"Amelia—"

"Oh, yeah!" Amelia gasped, causing Kara's eyebrows to furrow. "Guess what we found on the side of the road when we went shopping!"

"A dead rat?" Kara asked as she got up from her chair and went towards her purse.

"Ew! No, a puppy!"

"You did?" Pepper questioned with a growing smile. "With a collar?"

"No, someone was giving away puppies for free but I guess this one got left behind," Amelia answered as she gave her phone to Pepper to see. "Isn't she the cutest?"

"Oh, so cute!"

The phone was passed around until it reached Tony, who scrunched his nose and shook his head.

"Are you keeping that thing?" Tony questioned as he gave Amelia her phone back, and Kara quickly leaned over to see the photo of the puppy.

It was an Appenzeller Sennenhund, and very obviously a little under a year old. Kara felt her heart melt a little at the sight of the nearly all-black dog who had some spots of brown and white; she loved dogs.

"No," Amelia sighed. "We're gonna try finding Zelda a home after she gets better." She glanced at Maximoff, who was glaring at her, before correcting, "We're trying to find her a home now."

"Can I have her?" Kara pleaded as she turned to her mother, who shook her head.

"No."

"You'd name her something like Hairy Pawter, that is unacceptable," Amelia scoffed, causing Kara to wrinkle her nose.

"Hey! I can come up with fantastic names!" Kara rebutted before pointing to Tony. "I came up with an incredible one for this guy's suit, although he didn't appreciate my geniusness."

"Ugh, he asked you too?" Amelia groaned. "He hated mine when I suggested it!"

"Yeah, because they were bad!" Tony exclaimed. "You two conspired against me, and came up with a horrible name. I can't even remember, it was so preposterous."

"The Iron Mango?!" both Kara and Amelia shouted in unison.

Amelia gasped as she whipped her head around to face Kara and demanded, "Wait, that's what you said, too?"

"Yeah!"

"I still say Peach Cobbler was the way to go," Maximoff muttered.

Amelia turned back to her father and scoffed, "How can you not like the Iron Mango?!"

"Because it's a disgrace!"

"Well," Pepper interjected. "Have you come up with something better?"

At this, Tony's shoulders slumped and his lips pressed together tightly. He began to play with his napkin, his eyes cast downwards as he mumbled, "I—well . . . technically . . . no."

Amelia sighed. "Okay, okay, okay . . . what about . . ."

"The Iron . . . Mandarin?" Kara tried.

"Oh, yes, let's traumatize me with the name of the fake terrorist who covered up the disasters made by the man who almost killed Pepper," Tony scoffed.

Amelia rolled her eyebrows shooting back, "Well, it's better than the bupkis you came up with!"

"Yeah," Kara added, "the only reason you say you hate the Iron Mango is that you're jealous that you didn't come up with it first!"

Helen chuckled. "I think it's a pretty good name."

"You know . . . Peach Cobbler, though," Rhodey said with a shrug.

"Right?!" Maximoff exclaimed as he straightened up and nodded furiously. "Thank you!"

"I don't understand why we can't just call it Iron Man, or . . . the suit," Happy muttered. "Isn't that what it is?"

"But that's no fun!" Amelia pointed out.

"You gotta give it a name," Kara agreed with a nod. "A good one. Which is why the Iron Mango is the way to go."

"Heh," Amelia giggled. "The way to Man-go."

Tony scoffed. "I cannot believe I'm the one that raised you."

Pepper turned to him and raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Uncle Tony," Kara laughed, "you're the reason she makes such bad jokes."

Helen chuckled in agreement as she nodded. "Yeah, that's all you."

"You people are lost without me," Tony scoffed, jabbing his fork in each person's direction. "This is ridiculous."