A/N: We've finally come to the end! So of course now all my adoring readers want to know about Avengers and Andy and what that will entail... Well, you'll have to wait and see! I can promise, however, that Live to Rise will not take so long to put together. I've been working and refining ideas for it ever since Avengers came out, and the results will be up soon! Thanks for all the support and tune in when L2R goes live!

As you can guess, I was back in New York eventually, but a lot sooner than I'd expected. Apparently Natashalie had filed evaluations on myself and Tony for the Avengers Initiative we'd both initially said no to, and Fury wanted to show us the results in person. Tony went first, being Tony; when he came back out all he offered me was a shrug. Of course SHIELD wouldn't be too impressed with him, no matter how much they might need him.

"What, they want you but they don't?" I guessed in spite of this. He'd want to tell me anyway, and Tony offered me a wry lip-twist as he leaned against the wall next to the sole chair, which I was occupying.

"I get to be a consultant," Tony informed me briskly after a few moments of consideration. "Apparently I'm narcissistic –"

"Knew that."

" – have self-destructive tendencies –"

"Driving in the Monaco Grand Prix was kinda self-destructive."

"I was dying, and so were you. Oh, and the last one, I don't play well on teams."

"I am totally not surprised. Any hints for me?"

"Nope, but Fury's gonna find me and Rhodey a presenter for our fancy medal ceremony."

"Bet ya ten bucks it's Stern," I bet; he'd had to grudgingly admit defeat on global television news once the military had the War Machine suit and therefore had no need to bother the Starks more about their fancy toys.

"Double or nothin'," Tony agreed with a grin that I returned. See, when he's not trying to kill himself – AKA when he decides to actually be heroic and cool – Tony's just any other guy. Excepting the fact he's ultra-smart and ultra-rich. But I can live with that. As to the medals, both Tony and Rhodey were getting medals of honor for their "cooperation" when it came to the suits. I knew it was more to shut up the press about the Expo and the Hammeroids, because I was offered one, too. I was the smart one who actually said no; I didn't need more random crap in my room collecting dust.

"Miss Stark, the director's ready for you," a SHIELD suit informed me, and Tony and I traded spots.

"Good luck in there; if he offers you a job you know to say no."

"Depends on the job," I replied with a smirk before I walked into the room. Apparently even when dealing with his two favorite people in the world Fury had to stay connected with global events that could lead to huge massive problems he had to solve. A circle of screens surrounded the small table, all bristling with interesting information. I had no doubts that Mina was taking advantage of being so close to the SHIELD network and trying to get in now she had a bit of SHIELD code to play with in her system. I sat down at one of the chairs, ignoring the manila folders emblazoned with the SHIELD logo, and watched a live news feed from Culver University. Apparently something big and nasty and military-hating had stormed the campus, and from the amateur footage they replayed I had an oddly itchy feeling about this guy. Like something wasn't quite right with the story surrounding him. Not to mention the fact he was seven-foot-plus and green had something to do with it.

"Keepin' up-to-date, aren't you?" Fury asked, emerging from behind me. I looked away and shrugged a little. Sometimes I had to at least keep up the pretense of being an annoying little sister, and I was hoping this would be one of those times.

"My answer's still no, Fury," I noted sharply as he sat down across from me, picking up one of the folders and flicking it open. "I'm not interested in playing with a bunch of idiot men who play macho all day instead of getting crap done."

"And here I was thinkin' you'd like to hear all the interesting things Agent Romanoff had to say about you," he replied, leaning back ever-so-casually, looking down whatever papers were in there. "Where to start…well, let's start with checking you against Tony. Compared to him, better diplomatic skills –"

"I have to deal with him every day, of course my diplomacy's better than his."

Fury looked at me, as if hoping that'd keep me from interrupting him. I simply returned his one-eyed gaze. Like I said, annoying-little-sister act.

"…also, more varied combat ability –"

"Up close and personal, hacking, range, flight, yes, I know all that, not to mention I have a happier personality when I'm not raging at my dad's ghost. Should I also include my astrological sign and any other personal information?"

"…and better command potential," Fury finished. That one stopped me from another smart-aleck retort. Command potential? What was that supposed to mean?

"Let me say this very simply," Fury continued once he knew I wasn't going to be talking for a bit. "You've got a grab-bag of skill and ability that, to be honest, puts you above par on the types of folks we typically recruit. Not to mention your dad's got history with us, and that means, even if you say no, we're gonna be keepin' an eye on you."

"So, what, so long as I'm gonna be available, why not sign up and have done?" I asked, not expecting a real answer. But it earned me a first genuine sort of expression from Fury to me, and I think it was…hope. Or sympathy. Something along those lines.

"Exactly. Maybe you didn't know your dad well, but I did. Might be hard to believe, but he was hoping we'd find you, and that you'd join SHIELD of your own choice. Won't make you if you say no."

I swallowed hard at that. After everything that had happened to turn my entire perception of Howard Stark on its head – his letter back when Tony and I were about to go after Stane, the film reel I'd since watched through – I was at a very honest fork in my metaphorical road. Before everything, I would have spat on everything Dad tried to say to me and said no just out of spite for him. Now, though, it was something to give thought to, on the scale of have to. Dad had been proud of me, of who I was, even despite our rocky relationship. If he had thought SHIELD would be a good place for me, then he'd had a reason to think that, even if he could never tell me to my face.

"…one more thing you might wanna know, if it helps your decision," Fury added quietly, gently pushing the second folder towards me. I looked from it to him a few times before opening it, and I nearly left my heart stop when I saw a picture of my mother looking up at me, smart in a uniform of some kind and confident in that way both Tony and I had. I had to move the picture to look over the files underneath, but it said what I was nearly to guessing.

Maria Carbonell had once been an agent of the Strategic Scientific Reserve, and from what I remembered from the Captain America comics I'd found in the Long Island attic the SSR were the group that had essentially made Cap…Cap. Maybe they were even an early incarnation of SHIELD. Some more poking up in that same corner of the attic had led me to finding dozes of shield designs, and even though I'd never asked – Tony did, and therefore got all the stories – I'd just known that my father had known, personally, Captain America.

But I had never expected to think Mom would have, too.

What other secrets did you have when you died, Mom?

"…I know it's a lot to take in," Fury said bracingly, even comfortingly. "But your mother was one of the best agents the SSR ever had, and I'm hoping, for her sake if not Howard's, you'll be a full-time SHIELD agent, too. If you say no, that's fine. You don't even have to give me an answer now."

"Then why ask now," I replied, closing the folder and pulling it into my lap. I was going to read those files, even if Fury tried to take them from me. "Why ask me now? You could have said it when you broke into our house after the press conference. After Tony's birthday party when you brought Dad's stuff. Why now?"

"…because if I don't ask now, there might not be time later. Somethin' is happening out there, Andy, and we have to be ready for it. So far, you're our best chance of actually helping to pull something off."

"To do what, exactly?"

Fury chuckled at me like I was just kidding around, but I wasn't.

"I think you know the answer, Miss Stark," he said once he figured out I was serious. "Savin' the world is what we do. So do you."

"So you want me to join SHIELD to do exactly what I already do as Trinity."

"Maybe more," Fury conceded, "but yes. But I can promise you, if you say yes, then you're gonna be pushin' yourself harder and farther than ever before. You and your brother may not be the only heroes out there, but there's just as many bad guys to take down that're ten times worse that the guys you've dealt with so far."

I thought on it. It didn't take me long to figure out what I had to do. If there was something bigger, stronger, and nastier than just greedy bastards like Hammer and Stane, or Ten Rings, or even people like Vanya who blamed my family for the wrongs done to them, then undoubtedly working solo, or even with Tony, wasn't going to get the job done. We'd need backup, and a lot of it, with information and equipment just as good, if not better, than what we already had. SHIELD had that, and were at least willing to share even if Tony wasn't interested in reciprocating.

Besides. Dad had helped SHIELD. Mom had worked for the group that would become SHIELD. If Tony was going to go more Dad's route, working side projects, then it only made sense that the other Stark in the family had to get down into the trenches, the mud and the blood and the dirty work no one else wanted to do. I was best suited for that kind of work.

"…so long as I don't have to spray-paint a new logo on my armor, show me where to sign up."

I'm not going to be boring; working with SHIELD was, in short, a good choice in the end. I was able to work flexible hours, I was paid promptly and in full worth of my work, and the travel benefits were nice, too. Also, the access to information I would never have dreamed of getting my hands on with it just being me and Mina was a plus. It led me into finding out more about the Avengers Initiative, what Fury hoped to do with it, along with other projects SHIELD had up their collective sleeve. Of course there were things I didn't have access to, but, really, it was only a matter of time before either I earned that access or Mina broke into it anyway.

As to be expected with real life, things plowed on. The Expo didn't have any other crazy excitement, Tony was actually working hard on fostering a real relationship with Pepper. I'd made myself go out a couple more times with Rhodey, just to make sure we were still good on the friend-scale, and when we "broke up" Tony was the only one who really made a fuss out of it. Both Pepper and I waved it off as Tony wanting a reason to pester Rhodey more than he already did, which was likely the whole reason of his support.

As the rest of the year passed, though, I was dreading more and more the night of the closing ceremony for Stark Expo 2010. I had fought hard to try and get out of it, even hacking the schedule and trying to erase my name from the listing, but that had failed dismally. Whether or not I liked it, I was going to have to give a speech. Compared to Tony, I am no good at talking to any large group of people, or at least not without a strange digression or a bit of sarcasm that flew over everyone's heads. So when that night finally came around, standing backstage under the Tent of Tomorrow, I was a massive nervous wreck. Sure, I'd managed to get out of wearing a dress, instead in a smart pantsuit Pepper had gotten for me, but I still couldn't help but shuffle my notes uncomfortably.

"Sure you don't want somethin'?" Tony asked, also in a suit but much more relaxed than me. "I'm serious, a scotch is gonna help the nerves, I do it all the time."

"You are not helping," I grumbled at him, though Pepper did offer me some water that I managed to chug at without making a giant mess of myself. She snatched away the bottle, though, once Tony walked out, smiling brightly – and for real, not faked – and proceeded to banter with the audience, summing up the Expo and all the stuff that had happened. He took a bit of a serious note, though, because he brought up nearly losing me and, amazingly enough, how it got his head screwed on straight.

Note to self: freak Tony out with near-death-sorta very often. It'll keep him normal.

"Ready?" Pepper whispered as Tony turned friendly again. I knew what was coming next, and I shook my head emphatically.

"Nuh uh," I admitted, even as Tony introduced me, not as his sister Andrea, but just plain Andy. Pepper gave me a small push out onto the stage, and I had to screw on a smile. The roar of applause and cheers I got nearly made me turn tail and bolt, but of course Tony had a plan for that, too. He left the podium to meet me halfway, hugging me tightly.

"You owe me," I grumbled in his ear.

"Just smile and be you. They love us, remember, And-ster."

"Shut up," I told him before he let go, giving me a smile before he motioned me on up. I had to make myself take each step to the podium, and waiting for the applause to die down nearly sent me running anyway. But it did, and now I had to talk.

"…not quite sure how I can follow that up, but I'll try," I started, earning some chuckles from my audience. In my head I was screaming and running away in terror. But as Tony said, they loved him, they loved me, and I had to play nice. Okay. Nice it is.

"…I was three years old, when Dad opened the 1974 Stark Expo. I remember just being excited, energized, at the thought of all these really smart, creative people coming together, to make something better. I might've just been a kid, but I loved being a part of it. And, well, here I am again, now closing what Tony began."

This earned a polite smattering of applause. Okay. Not bad. I took a deep breath; not it was time to get a little more personal. And not freak myself out over it.

"Tony mentioned I was…comatose earlier this year…some…issues came up, he went a little crazy…yes, Tony, I still love you…"

Snickers and laughs. Humor. Just had to keep breathing.

"…but even with all of that, I was thinking. I kept thinking about what Tony said, how all of this is about what we leave behind for those who come after us, a better future that, in some way, we helped make happen."

I allowed myself a smirk here.

"Well, no offense to my big brother, but I respectfully disagree. It's not about the future. It's not what we leave for others to build from. It's about us. It's about what we are left with on our plates to handle from those who came before us."

I looked around a little, and the silence meant either I had their complete attention or they were already asleep. I hoped and prayed for the sleep factor, and imagined it. Still, I had to plow on.

"This might seem like a surprise, but…I never got along with my dad. Not really. And ever since he died, I thought he didn't have anything for me. Just heaped up for Tony, and left me out to dry. Obviously, not the case. It took me a bit to figure that out. But I really realized it when…I met this guy. He didn't like my dad, either. Hated him, hated Tony…but, somehow, I looked at what he was left with, on his end, and what I had on my end, and…it hit me.

"It's not about our legacy," I pressed on, hoping that that one little tribute to Vanya would pay back the anger and hate that had filled his life. "It's not what we leave for others. It's what we do with what we have. Why else would we have a twenty-ten Expo if we hadn't had one in seventy-three? It's so we can show that…we've learned. We're better. And maybe one day, maybe in twenty-fifty, it'll happen again. So with that…I formally close the Stark Exposition of Tomorrow, but in the hope that what we've accomplished…we'll have something better next time."

I don't know how. I don't know why. But that last paragraph got the whole bunch of them on their feet, cheering and clapping and hollering. Even Tony, when he came out to finish out the rest of the ceremony with me, looked oddly moved and impressed by my little speech. But once I was thinking about it, I realized how right I was. Mom and Dad had left me with a history and everything I needed to be who I was, and I made myself the better for it.

And, maybe, somehow, that would make the difference, when all was said and done.