Welcome. In this version of The Avengers, Tony Stark has a sister.

I hope you like my brain child.

Please Enjoy.

I

Stark Tower

Manhattan, New York

9:00 PM

Her fists pummeled the punching bag before her, muscles tight, and eyes narrowed in concentration. Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead and snaked down her neck and spine and then proceeded to drip off her jawline. Her hands flew faster as she shredded the punching bag, the sand slowly spilling onto the concrete as the hole in the thick fabric grew.

She was running through the forest, dodging mortars, gunfire, and azure beams of light.

"There's not enough time! I gotta put her in the water!"

A compass with an image of a pretty woman with brown hair.

"This guy is still alive!"

Iron Maiden's Hallowed Be Thy Name blared from the speakers strategically stationed around the room. Her jabbing increased rapidly with the beat as her emotions spilled from her knuckles and seeped into the ripping punching bag. The glowing glass wall on her right showed a blue silhouette of her body, each hit on the bag displaying on the replica of the outline of the bag in the screen. Her strikes pulsated on the screen as the force was measured by the numbers where her spiking heartbeat was revealed.

"Trouble sleeping?"

"I slept for seventy years, sir. I think I've had my fill."

A pile of papers.

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited, sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."

"Who took it from you?"

"He's called Loki."

She pounded on the bag, forehead furrowed as the strange voices continued to float through her thoughts.

"Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?"

A pause.

"You should have left it in the ocean."

"Miss Stark, your heart rate is accelerating above normal," a voice from the heavens declared.

The woman's eyes closed as she swung and kicked, the bag completely flying off the rack and exploding on the far wall.

Her chest heaved as she took a deep breath, assessed the situation, and pried her black tank top off her sticky skin. She dragged the back of her hand across her forehead and flicked away the excess sweat that came with it. Around her were the debris of at least a dozen fallen punching bags in all tattered shapes and forms. The female tightened her padded fingerless gloves and peered at her form on the screen.

"Load another one, J."

Atlantic Ocean

Stark Tower

Manhattan, New York

10:00 PM

Deep in the dark waters of the Atlantic, Tony Stark aimed another laser at the pipeline transport he was laboring upon. He carefully lowered a Stark Energy Reactor into the section of the pipeline, applying a few more blast of his laser here and there before deeming his handiwork satisfactory. Inside of the suit Tony grinned to himself and rocketed up and out of the ocean. Rivulets of water ran down and off of his suit as he positioned his hands and feet.

"You're good on this end. The rest is up to you," Tony said as he flew back toward Stark Tower.

"You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?" Pepper Potts inquired as her face popped up on the helm monitor within the suit.

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining, clean energy," Tony confirmed.

"Wow. So maybe our reactor takes over and it actually works?"

"I assume. Light her up."

As Iron Man flew closer to the building, weaving merrily through traffic and above tour buses, Pepper happily complied by switching on the power. He watched as the current surged through the tower and the huge STARK sign on the tower was illuminated with radiant light.

"How does it look?" Pepper asked.

"Like Christmas, but with more...me."

"Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I can do some more tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next billboards."

"Pepper," Tony complained, "You're killing me. Remember? Enjoy the moment."

"Then get in here and I will."

"Where's Lea? Is she seeing this?"

"She's working out downstairs. I think she was having some anxiety issues again."

Tony's smile fell as he arrived at his skyscraper penthouse and landed on the deck. Mechanical mechanisms whirled around him as they removed his suit in pieces and stored them away under the collapsible floor.

"Is she okay?"

"Her vital signs are normal," Jarvis informed. "Sir, Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D is on the line."

"I'm not in. I'm actually out."

"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting."

Tony sighed. "Close the line, Jarvis. I've got a date. While your at it, call Lea up from the gym and tell her to get her behind up here."

Freshly showered and in clean clothes, Amelia Stark lazily pulled her wet hair up into a bun as she was summoned. Through the glass doors she could see Pepper and Tony examining the monitors set up at some of the tables that revealed the statistics of the reactor device that was currently powering the tower. Tony had been bragging for days how they were soon going to be using clean energy unlike the other fuel-guzzling bigwigs in the state. The youngest Stark rolled her eyes and entered the room, walking right into the middle of her brother and his girlfriend's conversation.

"Levels are holding steady...I think," Pepper said.

"You think?" Amelia remarked as they both spun to face her. The concern in Tony's eyes hidden beneath his smirk nearly caused the choking unease she had been feeling earlier to re-emerge.

"Of course they are, I was directly involved," Tony replied. He then faced Pepper and said, "Which brings me to my next questions: how does it feel to be a genius?"

"With you two around? Well, ha, I really wouldn't know now would I?" Pepper responded.

"What do you mean? All this came from you." Tony's eyebrows came together in confusion.

"No, all this came from that." Pepper pointed to the arc reactor that was shining through his shirt.

"Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself...twelve percent of the credit."

Amelia snorted as the two females exchanged a glance.

"Twelve percent?" Pepper questioned.

"An argument can be made for fifteen." Tony nodded.

"Twelve percent? For my baby?"

"Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things."

"Uh, I helped," Amelia piped in. Tony teasingly waved her away.

"And sorry," he went on, "but the security snafu? That was on you."

"Oooooh."

"My private elevator–"

"You mean our elevator?" Amelia interrupted in Pepper's defense.

"–was teeming with sweaty workmen. I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?"

As Pepper poured the three of them a glass of champagne she raised her eyebrows.

"Not gonna be that subtle."

"I'll tell you what. Next building's gonna say 'Potts' on the tower," Tony compromised.

"On the lease."

"Call your mom, can you bunk over?"

"Ewwww," Amelia broke in.

"Lea, you and your nonexistent sex life can sleep on the couch," Tony quipped.

"Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten," Jarvis warned.

A new voice broke into the group as Pepper handed Amelia her glass.

"Stark, we need to talk."

Tony simpered slightly and picked up his phone. He looked into the screen at a man who was on the other side.

"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message."

"This is urgent."

"Then leave it urgently."

At that moment the elevator door split open and a man dressed in a well tailored suit and a receding hairline appeared.

"Security breach!" Tony called as he moved to stand in front of his sister in an attempt to hide her (which wasn't easy considering she was a few inches taller than him). "Pep, that's on you."

"Mr. Stark," the man greeted.

"Phil!" Pepper exclaimed. "Come in!"

"Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent," Tony corrected.

"Come on in, we're celebrating." Pepper waved.

"Which is why he can't stay," Tony tried.

Phil, unfazed, held a file out in the eldest Stark's direction. "We need you to look this over. Soon as possible."

Tony threw his hands up as his glass of bubbly wobbled dangerously. Amelia attempted to move out of her sibling's way but he maneuvered from side to side to block her path.

"I don't like being handed things."

"That's alright 'cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade." Pepper passed the glass to Coulson and took the file from him, handing the stack of papers to Tony and then retrieving her drink. "Thank you."

"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday," Tony said.

"This isn't a consultation," Coulson notified.

"Is this about The Avengers?" Pepper chimed in. Tony gave her a sharp look and she then hastily added, "Which I-I know nothing about."

Amelia tried once again to get out from around her brother without pushing him aside. Irritatingly, Tony knew her all too well and mirrored her movement.

"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify."

"I didn't know that either," Pepper guaranteed.

"Yeah, apparently you're volatile, self-obsessed, and don't play well with others," Lea vocalized as she finally slipped out from around her brother.

"That I did know." Pepper smiled.

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore, which you did qualify for, Miss Stark." Phil stuck out his hand, eyes cast upward to stare at Amelia in awe. "It's and honor to meet you at last. Agent Phil Coulson. I work with S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Amelia Stark," she introduced. "Call me Lea."

"If S.H.I.E.L.D has come here with needles in search for my sister's blood for some mystery project again I swear to God–" Tony started but he was swiftly cut off.

"I've only come here to deliver the file and bring Director Fury's condolences for the rash behavior of two scientists I personally fired after the ordeal," Phil explained.

"Condolences my ass," Tony uttered. "Whatever. Miss Potts, got a minute? Whenever you're done fangirling over my sister, Coulson, I'd like to speak with her."

Amelia's eyes followed her brother as he placed the files into his own databases and a man in a star spangled uniform Lea oddly recognized was in action, the beast she knew as the Hulk destroying an army at Culver University, a male with blonde hair wielding a hammer and fighting against a metal man, and a dark haired male with a blue cube the Amelia and the voices in the back of her head immediately could name: the Tesseract.

"You know, I thought we were having a moment," Tony started.

"I was having twelve percent of a moment–" Pepper went on but Amelia tuned them out.

"It really is an honor to meet you," Phil said. "I've read a lot about you and I've seen you in all the media coverage. I find it especially interesting how you wear a suit like your brother but you don't exactly need it."

"I'm just happy S.H.I.E.L.D is keeping everything under wraps," Lea agreed. "My brother and I, although he's not going to show it anytime soon, really appreciate it."

"The Captain's been found," Phil muttered. "He's finally been dragged out of the ice. He's alive and well to boot. And the blood they drew from you, the DNA was a complete match–"

"What DNA–" Lea started but her voice was severed by Pepper's.

"I'm going to take a jet to D.C. tonight," Pepper acknowledge, breaking Lea and Phil out of their conversation.

"Tomorrow," Tony demanded lightly.

"You've got homework. You've got a lot of homework."

"Well, what if I didn't?" Tony asked.

"If you didn't?"

"Yeah."

"You mean if you finished? Well, um...then..." Pepper whispered something in his ear that caused Tony to gasp. Lea gagged dramatically and Phil looked away in embarrassment.

"Square deal. It's the last date."

Pepper leaned forward to kiss her boyfriend, the kiss lingering for a few moments. Amelia became suddenly very interested in her wool socks while Phil's cheeks flushed.

"Work hard." Pepper beamed and sashayed her hips as she left the room, Phil dipping his head to Lea and pursuing Pepper. Lea set her untouched champagne down on the piano and plucked nervously at the keys as Tony grabbed the Tesseract in holograph form, worry etched across his features. Her stomach twisted in knots as she got up and approached him.

"Tony?"

Her brother peeked up from the footage. "Yeah, sis?"

"The Tesseract was stolen by Loki, which means they'll be getting a team together right? To get it back?"

He surveyed his sister and placed the hologram back where it belonged. "You don't have to help if you don't want to, Lea."

"No, I want to," Lea reassured. "It's just...I don't know. Dad's project and the whole thing with Obadiah and now this–"

"Amelia Maria Stark," Tony started. "If I told you once I've told you a thousand times, okay, you aren't a test tube baby, you're not a freak of nature, and you are certainly not going to be a plaything for S.H.I.E.L.D, you hear me?"

Lea dipped her head in acknowledgment.

"I wish I could have known them." Lea sat back down at the piano and her fingers traipsed over the keyboard. "I wish–"

"If wishes and buts were clusters of nuts we'd all have a bowl of granola."

Lea's eyebrows shot up at the speed of light.

"Don't give me that look. I read it in a philosophy magazine somewhere. My point is that you wouldn't have wanted to meet the man, Lea. Mom was fine when she was in the mood. At least you acquired some of her looks," Tony expounded in exasperation. "You got her pretty cheek bones and her sense of humor. Unfortunately, Dad passed on his stubbornness to the two of us and I've warped your sense of humor so far that you nearly peed your pants when you were anxious the other night and I said–"

"'At least you're not addicted to crack cocaine,'" Lea recalled with a giggle. Tony ruffled her hair and pointed to the piano.

"Play me something, will you? I always work better when you play me something."

Lea cracked her fingers and began to play, her slow movements working out an elaborate and gorgeous symphony. As she played Tony studied the holograms and shuffled through his stack of papers. When Amelia's tailbone tingled with symptoms of sleep she got up and stretched. It really irked her when a body part fell asleep and then it had the audacity to feel heavy and full of static like an old TV.

Amelia stopped to plant a kiss on top of her older sibling's head on her way to her room. She enjoyed the simplicity of her bedroom unlike Tony's modern man cave that was across the hall from hers. Because her room lacked a window with the dazzling landscape of the city, the whole north wall was made up of a Stark SmartScreen that could display anything from her work to the scenery of a gushing waterfall or an Amazon forest.

Against the south wall was her bed so she could roll over and glimpse at the SmartScreen and then on the west wall was her desk and dresser. To the east next to the door, the whole wall was one huge bookshelf stacked to the brim with different books from scientific readings like The God Particle all the way to a very battered, aged, and worn copy of Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul.

"Jarvis, can I see a copy of those files Tony just loaded in the database?" Lea queried.

"Of course."

All at once the videos, mathematical graphs, and readings popped up on the SmartScreen.

"Pause."

Lea dug around in the drawers of her desk for a thick manila envelope. She retrieved it and opened it up, carefully shimmying out the dogeared papers for her to examine. As she browsed through them, she then said, "Play."

Jarvis resumed the videos but then shortly before they even really begun Lea narrowed down the one she truly wanted from the selection of an archer to her own brother.

"Can you clear the others and keep the one of the blond solider?" Lea requested.

The video she desired grew in size as the graphs were replaced with information about the solider. Lea scanned through it and then examined her papers. She watched as the man she strangely recognized all too well was running about, saluting officers, and was exchanging bullets with the enemies. Her gut churned and clenched as if she was having more anxiety issues but she separated them and focused on the task at hand.

"What do you know about him, J?"

"Steven Rogers, although popularly known as Captain America, is the world's first superhero and Avenger. He was given the super solider serum which enhanced his strength, agility, speed, and other qualities to make him the world's first enhanced human. He saved America by crashing a plane full of explosives and missiles into the Arctic and was recently found and dug up in the ice. Status: Alive."

"He's a super solider?" Lea breathed, her heart skipping a beat.

"Yes, Miss. At this time I would like to remind you of your father's files and his scientific breakthrough with you."

Lea pulled her blond hair down from her bun and skimmed through the paperwork until she found the files she was looking for. There, recorded on the yellowing paper in her father's handwriting that she had marveled over all of her childhood, was her legacy.

After Steve Rogers had crashed the plane, Howard Stark spent the rest of his life looking for the solider and attempting to replicate the super solider serum. He worked with the blood that had been drawn from the super solider, extracting the serum infused within it and replicating it into it's original form. When Tony was born, the serum wasn't ready. It wasn't until Anthony had grown up that it was, but by that time it was too late. So Howard looked to another bloodline; an additional heir.

Using the blood they had taken from Steve and some high-tech technology, Howard implanted the serum into a fertilized egg from his wife and placed it back inside his wife so she could carry the child.

Nine months later, Amelia Maria Stark was born healthy and well; a super baby. On their way back from the hospital Maria and Howard were in the fatal car crash that ended their lives when they were t-boned in the front by oncoming traffic. Miraculously (and with the help of the serum), Lea survived. She was dragged out of the wreckage and then when Tony arrived was given his sister and she was placed in his care. From that moment on Tony brought up his sister almost as if she was his own child.

Although the secret of the recreated super solider formula that was racing through Lea's veins was not spilled to the public, Tony did find out via his father's files, Jarvis, and video footage of the process Howard had originally left for Lea. There were many times during Lea's childhood that it almost slipped. For example, once Lea took down the entire wrestling team at her school because of a stupid bet. Another time she stopped a car from hitting a child by grabbing the bumper and dragging the whole car back toward her (luckily Tony managed to pass the incident off as purely an adrenaline rush to the media). What Tony could not stop was Lea growing up knowing she was different or the bouts of anxiety she sometimes fell into from a bad turn with press that had scarred her when she was eight. Tony couldn't control that she had grown up in the limelight when he was flocked to whenever they went out in public or how the nation would always know her as "The Stark Miracle Baby".

Lea smoothed back her hair from her face and continued to read he father's writing, but none of the words made sense when her thoughts were trapped in the reverie of memory.

She remembered Obadiah and how he had always been their in her life as an uncle figure. Lea had adored him until Tony went missing and he took his bitch fork and stuck it deep into her back, each threat, blood drawing, and lab rat procedure an extra twist and yank. Before him there had been other scientists and then the whole ordeal with S.H.I.E.L.D. Obadiah's betrayal had been the worst. It only started the panic attacks, no matter how rare they were.

The thought of the tribulation was making her shudder with nerves. Lea needed to focus on the positive: she wasn't alone in the world anymore.

Lea had never been alone alone. Not necessarily. But she could feel the icy barrier of her enhancements between her and her peers when she had gone to school and at college. The barrier brought fears of possible exposure or maybe her getting too rough in gym and potentially causing someone to be seriously injured. There was the normal girls like Josie Harland or Kelly Foster with average lives. Then there was Amelia Maria Stark–the secret super solider, a Stark with the family brains that had been passed down like a precious heirloom, who had a body guard named Happy, and Hollywood starlet who wanted nothing to do with the acting, singing, writing, or fashion business but lived on the red carpet with her older brother.

It didn't help that she had been dreaming her whole life about flashes of war, muffled voices, and frigid ice. At that moment it was like the childhood fog had lifted and she was hearing slices of clear conversation. Whatever it meant, she wasn't sure if it was good or bad.

Now there was the whole "world-at-war" thing.

"Jarvis, can you show me the plans for Mark V?" As she said this, she set the papers aside and got to her feet. As her armor for the Mark V materialized on the screen, she observed it for a moment before she got to work. Poking the screen, sliding parts about, and going through the list of weapons, she added the notifications she deemed necessary by simply tapping the SmartScreen with her pointer and middle finger. She spread her hand over one of the shoulders on the suit and paused.

"Jarvis, add the tracker missiles under the plates. While you're at it, let's stabilize the thrusters and reprogram and test the stealth cloak. Hopefully, we'll get it right this time. I'll have to peek and measure the quanta while considering the possible use of those ammonium nitrate darts–"

"Or you could go make the modifications now," Jarvis suggested rather briskly.

Lea gave him a faint nod, but her eyes were only on the video of a smiling man in his handsome military uniform.

"He's a super solider," she exhaled. Her stomach fluttered with nervous butterflies. She would finally get to meet him. She would no longer be unique. It was exhilarating.

"Miss, we were talking suits?" Jarvis reminded.

"Right," Lea murmured. "There's work to do."

~Illumini