Takes Place During Iron Man 3

3rd Person POV in Avengers Tower

In her newly decorated room, Ash was sitting at her desk, tapping her pencil against her notebook, hitting a roadblock in her "homework" that Tony gave her to test out how much she knew about Earth math.

Bruce had been called away on another science consulting assignment, leaving Ash in the Stark Tower by herself with JARVIS looking after her, keeping her occupied with training simulations and Earth homework.

Groaning in frustration, she hit her forehead on the wooden surface of her desk and she heard a voice say,

"You doin' alright?" When she looked up to see that Natasha was leaning against the doorway to Ash's room.

"I thought you were on a mission." Ash brightened up as Nat came over and gave her a hug.

"I was, but I wrapped it up pretty quickly."

"Your solo missions are always finished quickly."

"Yeah, well this one more quick than others for reasons you don't want to know."

"Ok."

"So, what do you want to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, you've had the Tower all to yourself and now I'm back, so we should do something fun."

"Like what?"

This made Nat smile as she thought of something she thought the kid might like.

Short Time Skip

"What is this place?" Ash questioned as she looked at the scene in front of her; small humans were running around laughing and screaming on strange-looking structures, bigger ones with larger people were zipping around at a fast pace, and everywhere people were eating unusual things.

"Welcome to Coney Island." Nat gestured around them as no one recognized the two of them in their disguises; normal clothes and hats over their heads to conceal their bright red hair.

"Is this place some sort of training facility, because that is what I'm supposed to be doing; training."

"You've been training much more than the average 12-year-old, I'd say you should learn to have fun every once in a while."

"That does not sound like something you would normally say." Ash squinted up at Nat in confusion.

"You tell any of the others I said that and you're gonna have to go one on one with me for 'training'..." Nat stated dangerously low.

"Now that sounds like the Nat I know."

"Come on, look we'll hang around here for one hour, if you don't like it then we'll head back to the Tower, deal?"

"Deal." Ash and Nat shook hands to make it "official" before Ash asked,

"So what do we do first?"

"Let me think..." An idea sparked in her mind and she grinned before saying,

"I think I know just the thing."

Another Short Time Skip

"So I just strap this on and then pull this down?" Ash did so on the ride that Nat had chosen; one where there were two people on each side of a tall rectangular pillar that seemed to go up pretty high.

"Yep and hold on." Nat told her from beside her as the ride was started up.

"Why?" Ash asked nervously as their seats started moving slowly toward the top of the pillar.

"You'll see." Their seats stopped at the top and Ash looked around in confusion,

"Are we supposed to be enjoying the view or-" She was cut off as their seat went sliding down at a fast pace, hair blowing upward Nat 'woohoo' ed while Ash just screamed with the other people that were strapped in. Their seats went up and down several more times before the ride finished and the other people got off while Ash was stuck in one place with her head bowed down and her hair shadowing her face.

"Hey you OK?" Nat asked, a bit concerned she may have introduced something new too fast for the girl before Ash's face lifted up and broke out in a wide grin as she started laughing.

"That was so much fun!" Ash bounced up from her seat with a renewed energy that she didn't have before.

"Yeah?" Nat grinned to see that she was doing alright before taking her hand and leading her off the ride as other people were starting to get on.

"Now that you know what you're getting into, what do you want to do next?"

"Ummmm..." Ash looked around in thought before her eyes fell on a small stand that was giving out big puffs of colorful fluff, "I want to try that."

"Cotton Candy it is." They went over to the stand where Nat paid for one big blossom of blue cotton candy.

"Here you go." Nat handed Ash her treat and she pulled some off and popped it in her mouth.

"Mmmm..." Ash loved the way it tasted and how it dissolved right in her mouth so she kept pulling more off as they walked around the games aisle.

"What should we do next?" Ash asked as she tossed the paper cone into the trash can after accidentally taking a bite out of it and finding out that it wasn't edible.

"How 'bout that?" Nat pointed to a game where there were a bunch of bottles filling a small space while people around were tossing rings onto them.

"How do you play this?"

"You have to try to get the rings onto the bottles and if you get a red bottle, you win a big prize." Nat explained as she pointed out how someone managed to land a red bottle and the booth manager whose name tag read "Terry" handed them a giant stuffed frog.

"But the circumference of the ring is smaller than the bottles themselves."

"Don't overthink it, just have fun trying."

"I'm starting to wonder if you're the real Natasha..."

"One on one..."

"Ok." Ash was given five rings for the five dollars that Nat handed over. She missed the first three times but managed to land two regular bottles.

"You get a Medium prize." Terry announced pointing to a row of stuffed animals that were between the large and small ones.

"I'll take..." Ash put her finger to her mouth in thought before she made her decision, "The Oryctolagus cuniculus."

"Uh the bunny?" Terry pulled down one of the medium-sized brown bunnies with large floppy ears, big brown eyes, and a red ribbon around its neck tied in a bow.

"Yes, please." Ash answered somewhat awkwardly.

"And we'll be going now." Nat hurried her away from the booth as Terry was starting to observe them more closely.

"Ok, most kids here don't use the scientific names of animals, and we're trying to keep a low profile while doing this remember?"

"I'll try to be more careful..." Ash admitted with some shame in her voice before Nat patted her back and told her,

"Look on the bright side, you just won your first Earth carnival toy. What're you gonna name it?"

"Name it?"

"Yeah, you can't seriously be thinking of calling it the 'Oryctolagus cuniculus'."

"Well, maybe I could call it... Hops?"

"That's cute."

"Now what?"

"Well, it's starting to get dark so we'll try one more thing and then well head home, good?"

"Yes."

"How about that?" Nat pointed to the dunk tank that was in the corner of the fair as two employees were switching shifts.

"What is the objective?" Ash questioned as Nat went up to the carny and purchased three shots for each of them.

"You have to try to hit that target with these to make her fall into the water." Nat explained holding the ball up and demonstrating, but doing it sloppily so she wouldn't draw any unwanted attention to the two of them.

"I see, the objective is to humiliate the person in the cage as a method of amusement." Ash innocently stated and Nat gave her a thumbs-up while clicking her mouth in agreement before she made her last two shots, missing both times on purpose.

"Very well." Ash stepped forward and tossed one, it narrowly missed the target.

"Come on, is that all you got Buttercup!?" The man in the tank taunted, making Ash the slightest bit annoyed as she tried her second shot and it hit the target, but not hard enough to activate it.

"This kid's got nothing!" That one word made Ash snap: thinking about all that she had lost and now some human who didn't even know her was ridiculing her pain. As she wound up for her last shot, her powers went out of control and lit the ball on fire before she tossed right in the middle of the target and bended forward enough to pitch her hat off. The target activated and dunked the man into the water, but it was also hit with enough heat to melt it as Ash uprighted herself with her bright red and copper hair uncovered.

"What did you do?" Nat whispered as she looked around them to see people gazing at them and some pointed at Ash recognizing her from the way they shouted,

"It's the Ion Phoenix!"

"You mean the fiery hazard?"

"No, I mean the hero."

People started to argue while others started to advance toward her, paying no attention to Nat.

"Alright we gotta move kid." Nat grabbed Ash's hand, making her drop Hops, as they began to run toward the exit, some of Ash's haters shouting after her while her fans stopped them from pursuing the two of them.

Once they made it out of the park, they slowed down to let Ash sit on the street curb to catch her breath as Nat surveyed the area to see what the best way to get back to the Tower was.

"If we take the street just past..." Nat was devising the route out loud for no one to hear, but Ash heard and she looked down with guilt written all over her face before breaking the silence with,

"I apologize for losing control of my emotions and endangering our safety..."

"Hey, it's not your fault OK, I should have known to better prepare you for people who can be a little..."

"Insufferable?" Ash supplied helpfully.

"Yeah..."

"I should not have overreacted, that man did not know about everything I have lost, to say that I had 'nothing', and I do... have nothing that is..."

"You may have had nothing when you first came to this planet, but now you have Bruce, the team, me... and Hops." Nat pulled the stuffed bunny out from behind her and Ash smiled before taking Hops and burying her face in its soft fur.

"You know, human kids your age have given up their toys by now?"

"But I'm not a human kid, therefore it does not apply to me." Ash smiled mischievously before Nat lightly smirked before ruffling her hair and pulling her up so they could head back. When they got to the Tower, JARVIS informed Ash that Bruce would return tomorrow along with Tony and she went to sleep, content to know they were safe.

Short Time Skip

The next day, Ash slept in from all the excitement at the park and when she came out, still wearing her pajamas and clutching Hops, she saw that Bruce and Tony were in the living room, but Bruce was sleeping on the couch next to where Tony was talking with his eyes closed,

"You know and thank you by the way for listening. It's something about gettin' it off my chest and putting it out there in the atmosphere instead of holding this in. I mean this is what gets people sick you know. Wow I had no idea you were such a good listener. To be able to share my intimate thoughts and experiences with someone it just cuts the weight of it in half. It's like a snake swallowing its own tail, everything comes full circle. And the fact that you've been able to help me process-" Tony stopped when he saw Bruce waking up after he had dropped his glasses.

"Sorry what?"

"You with me?"

"I was yeah we were at-"

"You were actively napping?"

"I was I I I drifted"

"Where did I lose you?"

There was a pause as Bruce thought before answering,

"Elevator in Switzerland"

"So you heard none of it."

"I'm sorry, I'm not that kind of doctor, I'm not a therapist. It's not my training I don't have the-"

"What the time?"

"Temperament."

"I don't think that is required to listen to someone." Ash spoke up, bringing their attention to her as she went to give each of them a hug before going to sit on the couch opposite from Bruce and next to Tony.

"Where have you been?" Tony pointed to Hops with a questioning look.

"Coney Island, where have you both been?" Ash asked pluckily, making them both smile before Tony started his story all over again, this time with Bruce and Ash listening.

2269 Words

AN- Hey Y'all, I'm still alive, I've just got a lot on my plate at home with the end of my high school career looming closer every day, but I have been trying to work on several different fanfic projects at once so that I could try to update a little more often. Soon, by tomorrow I'm hoping, I will post the into to my OC File Book as well as start posting some new art pieces and photographs to my Deviant Art account so, aside from college decisions, I'm going to be busy with updates and revisions.

See y'all in the next chapter, Bye!