Bruised (Irondad)

13

"Stark?".

The super soldier stares straight ahead, eyes wide open, unblinking, tracking the movements of the five year old girl. A shaky hand holds a phone to his ear, he doesn't trust Jarvis to deliver the message without freaking absolutely everybody out.

"What?".

He's annoyed, Steve can tell, he's annoyed that he's interrupted whatever meeting he's in, but for once in his apologetic life, Steve Rogers does not care. Because a copper ponytail flicks from side to side as the tiny child runs across the mats, not struggling for breath, not expressing any fear as the Black Widow lunges towards her. Her twin brother sits at the Captain's feet, a picture of contentment and tranquillity. There's not even a flicker of surprise as the child jumps a height that five year olds shouldn't be able to jump, her muscles taut and expression one of exhilaration.

"I think you should come down here".

The contrast of a five year old and the world renown assassin is sickening. The contrast of the violence and the innocent smile twists his stomach. The contrast of the shy preschooler who won't talk in front of anybody except her parents and her twin with whatever the hell this is.. it just.. it doesn't make sense. He can't compute it in his brain.

"Steve what the hell have you done to my kids?".

The rest of the avengers are gathered around the sides of the room, watching Natasha Romanov spar with a literal infant. Nobody says anything, but glances between Steve and Gianna. Nobody knows what to say. What the hell are you supposed to say? When a child, a child, transforms into an assassin in front of your eyes. There is nothing to say.

"I haven't I- I just really think you should get down here".

He thinks back to this morning. She said her arms were burning, she wanted to punch something. The desperation in her timid voice should've rung more warning bells, he should've questioned it more. Why didn't he question it more?

"I swear if so much as a hair on either one of my kid's heads is harmed I will maim you".

Even Natasha is freaked out, her eyes flicker towards the rest of the avengers every so often, perhaps questioning if what she's doing is right.. or if they're seeing the same thing she is. It's kind of nightmarish, a tiny inconspicuous child who doesn't talk arrives in your home and turns out to be fully trained in hand-to-hand combat. It's freaky and uncomfortable and none of this is right. It isn't right at all. Where have they been? Where the hell are these kids from? Is the other one like it as well?

"Enter quietly".

Gianna continues to flip across the floor, oblivious to the eminent horror radiating from every singe adult in the room. Because she's five, five year olds don't have much of a concept of social constructs, they don't tend to worry about what other people think, they don't tend to kick an assassin's ass at what was supposed to be a kid's training session.

"I swear, Steve, they'd better be okay".

He doesn't know how to respond. Are they okay? They seem oblivious to the fact that anything is wrong, but it's so wrong. All of it is so wrong. She's so clearly trained, intensively, and it's left a mark on her. Her silence and whatever the heck this is has to be connected.

The door swings open, Stark immediately striding in, his eyes settling on the girl. They widen for a moment, though quickly returning to their usual size to conceal any form of emotion, as is common behaviour for the billionaire.

His body freezes though, his movements taking a while to thaw as he takes slow, steady steps into the middle of the room, his head angled towards Gianna and Natasha the whole time.

Everyone is silent for a moment, the only sound being the two on the mats, feet thumping on the floor and laboured breaths.

"Why is Romanov fighting my five year old child?".

His voice is low. A general tone of exhaustion fails to be concealed, seeping through his words and setting everyone on edge, even more so than before.

They all meet eyes, trying to decide who has the balls to respond, explain to him why his baby is sparring with an avenger. When no one else responds, Steve reluctantly takes the wheel.

"Gianna was getting antsy, Nat offered to teach her to punch.. turns out she already knew how".

As if to laugh in the face of Steve's major understatement, Gia sends a merciless foot into Natasha's chest, sending her to the ground with a resounding thump.

The entire room freezes, staring at the unmoving assassin.

The child stares at her for a moment, blinking her doe eyes before dropping to her knees right in front of Natasha, her face crinkled in concern. The woman stares straight back at Gia, confusion kitting her eyes brows together until russian spills from the girl's mouth.

"I'm sorry! Are you okay?".

Forcing a smile onto her face, Nat pushes herself up onto her elbows, responding in english, "I'm okay, don't worry".

The guilt doesn't disappear from the girl's face though, if anything she looks more upset. Her knees practically buckle as she slumps so she's sat on the floor beside Nat, as if she's only now realising that she just kicked her ass.

"I'm sorry".

Silence settles for a tense moment, then Tony walks towards her.

"Come on kiddo, Nat will be alright, your buddy Pete will be here in a minute with that beast of a dog".

He offers a hand, which she takes, and pulls her to her feet.

As Natasha reluctantly stands up, Gianna catches the eyes of the rest of the adults in the room, still awkwardly lingering in silence, still painfully unsure of what to say.

Her eyes flicker away immediately, focusing on her feet as her grip on Tony's hand tightens. He glances down at her, a smile almost flashing onto his face, and gestures for Geo to join them.

Then they leave, and still no one speaks.