Chapter 47

After a few long minutes, Maggie peeled her face away from Tony's shoulder and met his eyes. Her small, bruised heart swelled at the look on his face. She'd been reading him wrong all this time – he wasn't searching for a little girl he used to know, he'd just been looking at her, trying to understand her past her blank façade.

She couldn't help but smile at him, and smiled wider when his eyes softened in response. She retracted one arm just far enough to wipe her cheeks, sniffing. "If this is a dream I'm going to be so pissed off," she said.

"I get that a lot," Tony smirked.

"That's a weird thing to say to your sister."

He frowned. "Yeah, you're right." He shook himself. "We can work on it."

Maggie smiled again, her heart glowing, and then experimentally knocked her elbow into his chest. She very pointedly did not think about where she'd learned that kind of casual friendly gesture. "Sounds alright to me." They released each other, and she glanced down to smooth down her pale grey scrubs. When she looked up, Tony was still looking at her with that warm look on his face.

"So what next?" she asked, cocking her head. "Is this the part where you 'throw me off a roof or two', or…?"

He huffed a laugh. "Nah." He glanced over his shoulder at the wings, and then looked around at the state of her room: metal shards everywhere, the mattress propped against the wall, the small gifts from him shoved into the corner where she couldn't enjoy them. Finally, Tony looked back at her and sighed. "Let's get out of here."

It turns out all Maggie needed to leave her cell was to have a willing escort, and the same 'hi-tech LoJack' bracelet that had immobilized her in Siberia. When Tony brought out the unassuming metal band she stared at it for a few moments, heart pounding, before she silently took it from him and slipped it onto her wrist. The band tightened around her arm and the light blinked green.

And then her cell door slid open. And stayed open. Tony raised an eyebrow at her when she hesitated to follow him through.

"Having second thoughts, jailbird?"

Maggie touched the bracelet on her wrist. "Are you sure you're allowed to do this?"

He snorted. "You want me to check with the hall monitor?"

She leveled him with a look.

"Fine," he sighed. "Look, Ross gets regular reports on just how much not-escaping you're doing, and so far he's very pleased with your progress. And for now, what he doesn't know won't hurt him. Probably. I don't know, are you planning on busting out and hunting down Ross?"

Maggie pretended to consider it as she took a breath and stepped through her cell door. She let out the breath when no alarms blared and no guards came running. In fact, the corridor outside her cell – white walls, shiny black floor – was completely empty. "Not just yet," she said.

"Well, keep me posted," he replied. He started walking down the corridor, and Maggie fell into step beside him. At the end of the corridor, a huge window offered a view of a wide, green lawn dotted with trees. "Anyway, let's do the tour."

The Avengers Facility was cool.

Maggie had been in plenty of bases and facilities throughout her life, but HYDRA had always had a propensity for sinister-looking underground bunkers and ominous fortresses. The compound her brother and his friends had built felt like a workplace, and a home. Gleaming glass and white-paneled buildings were built around the green grounds, with everything a superhero team could need for carrying out international operations: training areas, barracks, aircraft hangars, medical facilities, laboratories and a residential area for the team itself. The facility was actually mid-remodel, as evidenced by the half-constructed buildings and machinery lying around.

The facility was built beside a large lake with a single jetty stretching out into the water, bordered by a rocky shore. A soft breeze rippled the surface, making the sunlight shatter and refract. Tony explained that the recruits did water survival training in the lake, and sometimes swam in it in the warmer months on their free weekends. Maggie thought that sounded nice.

Being out of her cell, walking and looking at things that weren't trees and forest creatures, was overwhelming at first, but soon Maggie's curious mind was latching onto each new room, hangar and path she saw. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed having fresh air on her face.

She could see how the compound used to be, filled with Avengers who worked and lived together, training in the open spaces and cooking meals in the common area kitchen. But now, it was like a ghost town.

Each room and corridor they walked into was empty when they arrived, and Maggie eventually got Tony to admit that he was having F.R.I.D.A.Y. clear each area before they got there. She was secretly glad – she wasn't sure if she was ready to be around people just yet, to have them stare at her grey scrubs and her bare feet. It was nice to be alone with her brother, to pretend that it was just the two of them in this whole facility. She was also glad that Tony didn't bring up seeing Pepper again – she didn't know if she was ready for that.

But there was more to her feeling that she was walking through a ghost town – the Avengers' residential area felt emptier than everywhere else, the space echoing with the team's absence. There were small personal touches in the common room: a red tartan throw rug hanging over the back of a couch, a biography of Nelson Mandela with a bookmark poking out of it on a coffee table. They walked past one room with a big table in the center of it – big enough to seat a team.

They didn't spend long in the Avengers' common area before Tony took her outside again, his face troubled.

Maggie was interested in the facility's gleaming walkways and intricate machinery, but she could sense the weight of unspoken words hanging between her and Tony. They'd come to some kind of understanding in her cell, but it was time for her to break her silence. As they walked around the conspicuously bare Quinjet landing pad with the afternoon sun on their faces, she sighed.

"Where should I start?"

Tony put his hands in his pockets and kept pace beside her, his face grim. "You don't have to talk about it at all, if you don't want to."

Her smile was thin, but it was there. She knew so much about Tony's life, and he barely knew anything about hers - she'd hidden it from him. "If you don't mind hearing it," she said, "I'd like to talk about it."

"Alright then."

So Maggie told him. She told him about her arrival at the base in Québec twenty five years ago, what she could remember of it, about the blue serum and the Project Leader and the teams of scientists who tested her brain and body. She told him about how the serum burned, and how she'd hesitated on the way into the room with the chair. She told him about her enhancements, about the Wyvern Project, the Siberian base, the Red Room. The final showdown between Peters and Karpov, and how Borya had tried to kill her. How Karpov had gotten away.

It felt strange telling it all as a cohesive, chronological story. The memories had come back in bits and pieces over the past two years, and she'd relayed them to Bucky, but never in order. It helped her to make sense of the residual pain that echoed in those memories.

Tony asked questions. He asked about the installation of her wing moorings, and Maggie told him in detail what Marino and Chief Scientist Sanders had done to her. She told him about how she'd been made to lie still on a metal table for twenty seven hours, waiting for her body to heal around the metal. When Tony's face darkened, she gave him a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"I designed the wings," she murmured, as they strode down a corridor. "I designed the metal supports in my body. I knew what I was doing, and I did it anyway."

"Did you ever have the option to say no?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

She bowed her head and continued her story.

It was painful, but Maggie reflected that though she'd been talking to Tony over the past two weeks, it was only now that she really felt like they were saying anything.

After detailing some of her original missions, Maggie looked out of the corner of her eye at Tony. He looked disturbed, with his hands buried in his pockets and his gaze fixed, unseeing, on the ground, but he was listening intently. "Did you ever meet Alexander Pierce?"

His face went dark. "Yeah." He glanced up and met her eyes.

She swallowed. "He visited me for the first time when I was twelve years old." Her fist clenched at the memory of his calm, calculating blue eyes. "He said I looked like dad."

Tony flinched. "He said that?"

She nodded. "Well, he said 'she looks like Howard'. I didn't know what he meant, and I didn't care. I wasn't programmed to care." She gritted her teeth. "After the Project Leader died, I took most of my missions directly from Pierce. He was… cold. I don't think he ever saw me as anything but a weapon."

Tony's face was white. "Jesus Christ. I know it's…" he swallowed. "I know it's nowhere near the same thing, but… do you remember Obie?"

She nodded, frowning. "Sort of. He died in a plane accident, didn't he?"

He ran a hand over his face. "Uh, no. I sort of… killed him." When he caught a glimpse of her wide eyes he made a quelling gesture. "Turns out he paid the Ten Rings to kidnap me in Afghanistan. He was selling Stark weapons to terrorists."

Maggie had to stop walking, because she was too busy staring at Tony to focus on where her feet were going. They were in the middle of a large training hall with floor-to-ceiling windows. She barely remembered Obie, but she remembered reading about how he had run the company while Tony couldn't, been a supporting figure in Tony's life. She recalled the press conference after Tony's escape from Afghanistan, where he'd seemed so wounded and changed, and her fingers curled into fists.

Tony stopped walking as well. "Anyway, when I got back he tried to kick me out of the company, then he ended up taking the arc reactor out of my chest, using it to power a knock-off armored suit, and trying to kill Pepper, and me, and a whole bunch of other people. So, y'know. I exploded an arc reactor on him. Well, technically Pepper did."

Maggie blinked at him, shock written across her face. Eventually, she composed herself enough to say: "Well. Good."

He half-smiled. "Anyway, the reason I brought it up was that what you said… cold, seeing people as weapons… it reminds me of Obie."

She swallowed. "I'm sorry."

He waved a hand. "I had one crazy guy trying to use me, you had like a million." He led her out of the training hall, and they strolled across the lawn. "What was the Project Leader like?" he asked, expression guarded.

Maggie sighed. She'd told him a little about the Project Leader, but it had mostly been in the context of what the man had said or done. She'd described Chief Scientist Sanders and Marino in more detail, and of course Tony had noticed.

She sorted through her memories, ignoring the way her heartbeat instinctively picked up. "From what I understand," she began carefully, "he didn't care about where he was from. He was born in Russia, but he'd cast off any kind of national ties he had, even going so far as changing his name from Petrov to Peters. He only thought about the world, and how HYDRA could control it." Tony was listening, but she knew that wasn't really what he'd been asking. She looked down at her feet, bare on the ground, and reminded herself that she was years away from the Project Leader and the things he'd done.

"I think he was… proud of me, in his way." She swallowed past a sickened feeling that rose at the words. "He liked that his project had succeeded, that I was better than every other weapon. Sometimes, I think he pretended, in his head, that we were partners." Her lip curled. "He and Karpov, the head of the Winter Soldier Program-" Tony's shoulders tensed at the name but his face was still open, so she continued: "they had a rivalry. They were both in the KGB at one point. Karpov saw the Project Leader as a traitor to the Soviet Union, and the Project Leader saw Karpov as a fool clinging to old relics. They used their weapons to prove their dominance over each other, until one day it wasn't enough."

Tony's eyes were on her face. She'd told him the bare bones of what had happened, but it had been blatantly obvious she'd skimmed over the details. "What happened?" he asked.

Maggie sighed. "I was killing the Winter Soldier," she said. She saw his brow lower out of the corner of her eye. "I had him pinned, I had my hands around his throat and-" she swallowed. "Karpov ordered the Project Leader to make me stop. He didn't listen, so they ended up shooting at each other. The Project Leader lost." She took a sudden, deep breath. "He asked me to help him. He had these ice-blue eyes, and they were normally so... so cold. Calculating. But when he was bleeding out he looked terrified - it was the first time I'd seen any kind of real emotion in his eyes." She stared into the middle-distance, remembering the way the Project Leader had clutched her combat suit with bloody hands. "He died in my arms."

Tony watched the anger and disgust play over Maggie's face, and let her process in silence for a few moments. "Do you think he ever cared about you?"

Her face twisted. "I think he loved me," she murmured. "But not me, not Maggie. He loved the Wyvern: his faceless, efficient weapon."

They were walking towards the science section now, and the air in the shadow of the building was cool. Maggie fought a shiver.

"And you?" Tony asked softly.

She stopped walking and turned to face him, holding his gaze. "I wish I had been the one to kill him."

He ran his eyes over her determined expression, and let out a short breath of a laugh. "Join the club."

She tilted her head, considering. "But the Project Leader – Michael Peters – is dead. Marino is dead. Sanders is dead. Pierce is dead. It's not… I lived that life, I obeyed those people and carried out their missions, but they don't matter anymore," she urged. "I'm free."

He eyed her. "Everyone who hurt you is dead, huh?"

The unspoken meaning hung between them.

Maggie sighed, and met his eyes. "I'm done with revenge," she said. "HYDRA is behind me, Tony. I decided a while ago that HYDRA wouldn't have any more power over me – now I'm just living."

He nodded at her and they fell into step again, but she could see that Tony wasn't at that point yet. He was still hurting and betrayed. But she could also see that he loved her, that he might not understand her choices but he respected them.

It was a huge, miraculous surprise, and it took her breath away.

They ducked into a kitchenette after a few hours of wandering around, and Maggie poked around the cupboards while Tony made them both a cup of coffee.

She was elbow-deep in a shelf full of different kinds of Pop-Tarts when Tony came out with:

"You know we were at the same New Year's Party sixteen years ago?"

She frowned and turned around. "I think I remember, but I didn't see you-"

He shrugged as he poured the coffee. "I was the guest speaker. I was really drunk, turns out I made some enemies that night."

Maggie tipped her head and watched her brother fidget as he finished making the coffee. "How do you know I was there?"

"It was in some HYDRA data leaked in the information dump, it took me a while to piece it together, but… yeah."

She sighed, thinking of Tony trawling through HYDRA data just for a glimpse of his sister. "I remember. I was there to kill a scientist."

He slid her coffee across the countertop to her. "They found his body a week later. Car accident after a raging party, no reason to be suspicious."

Maggie felt ill – what did the man's family think? She remembered the three women she'd kept an eye on in the Ukraine, remembered the hole in their lives.

"I always completed my missions," she said hoarsely.

Tony was watching her now. "You were thirteen."

She took a sip of her coffee and tried to lighten the tone. "Mm, thirteen years old at a party, drinking underage."

His brows drew together. "You were thirteen, and they brainwashed you and sent you to kill a man. You can't hold yourself responsible for that."

Maggie closed her eyes for a moment. "I've been over this so many times in my head, Tony. A cyber attack I orchestrated singled that man out for assassination. I waited until he was alone and then I stabbed him in the throat and watched him die. I wasn't even thinking about him, I remember now – someone at the party had mentioned your name, and I was trying to work out why it sounded familiar." She set down her coffee and spread her hands, looking into his eyes. "I know I didn't choose it, or want it. But I still did it. That's not something that goes away."

For a few moments they just looked at each other, the clean white surfaces of the kitchenette between them. As the silence stretched on Maggie felt a flicker of fear bloom amidst the ache of her memories, and she suddenly wondered if she'd gone too far, given Tony too many reminders of the monster his sister had become.

As if reading her mind, he put down his coffee as well and turned all of his focus on her. "I know, Maggie," he said, his voice low. "Like I said, moral minefield. But whatever you need, just let me know and I'll make it happen. Psychiatrists, meds, a hug, an effigy of a HYDRA head to burn on a stake, just say the word." He cocked his head. "You're not getting rid of me."

Maggie smiled, and ducked her head. She supposed she had been testing him in a way, baring all her demons to see if one would spook him enough to run. But it seemed her brother had a strong stomach.

And yet, there was one thing they hadn't talked about yet.

"Do you miss mom and dad?" she asked, her eyes darting back up to his.

He looked thrown, but she was surprised to see that he didn't look angry. Or at least, he was hiding it very well. "Of course I do," he said, matter-of-fact. "Do you?" he shot back.

She pressed her hands against the cool countertop. "I do. I only have a few memories of them, and…" she bit her lip. "Looking back, I can see that our family had its problems. Mom did her best, but she didn't know what we needed. Dad… didn't know how to be a father." She saw pain flash in Tony's eyes, and remembered that last, big fight before they'd parted for the last time. "But," she continued, "I'd have liked the opportunity to have had them, anyway. And for what it's worth, I think they'd both be very proud of you."

She thought that might be too far, invoking the names of the parents whose murderer she had defended, but Tony's face merely flickered from grief into a nostalgia-tinted sadness. "I think dad might have had a few choice words about the suit," he muttered.

"Brilliant," Maggie suggested. "Ingenious, a pinnacle of human invention." She tilted her head. "Gaudy."

He snorted. "Gaudy?"

She shrugged. "Red and gold? It's not subtle."

"It has a stealth mode."

"When's the last time you used it on stealth mode?" she challenged, picking up her coffee again and taking a sip.

He opened his mouth, and then closed it. "Wait, let's go back to when you were complimenting me."

"Okay," she said, tapping her mug thoughtfully. "Let's talk about the beard, then: at what point in your life did you come across that–" she made a waving gesture at his chin– "geometric assemblage, and decide 'hey, I'd like that on my face for the rest of eternity'?"

It took Tony a little while to get over the shock of his little sister teasing him, but he rallied himself soon enough and they bickered back and forth as they walked to what he labelled 'the last stop on the tour'. F.R.I.D.A.Y. cleared the way there, instructing all staff and visitors to kindly vacate the area immediately.

They approached a set of frosted glass doors, and Maggie shot a questioning look at Tony.

"Would you mind opening the workshop, F.R.I.D.A.Y?" he said, and suddenly the glass doors and walls became clear, revealing a huge room filled with machines, computers, workbenches, assembly stations, robots, and dozens of other things that made Maggie's heart pound with excitement and her mouth drop open. The space was clearly functional, but it was sleek and elegant in a way that she didn't know a workshop could be. It was all steel, glass and concrete, smooth lines and hard angles. At first glance she saw at least four machines that were clearly custom built, and she instantly wanted to get her hands on them. With a whir, the glass doors slid open.

Tony laughed at her poleaxed expression. "C'mon, Maggot, you can't stand there and stare all day." He put his hand on her shoulder and propelled her through the doors.

The glazed floor was cool under Maggie's feet, and she found herself turning around to get the full spectacle. "This is all yours?" she breathed, running her fingers along the edge of a machine like nothing she'd ever encountered before, that she thought might be a laser scanner/3D printer hybrid on steroids.

"You might have heard that I'm kind of a successful businessman around these parts," Tony said with a grin.

She raised an eyebrow. "Well from what I hear, Pepper's the one who actually does the business."

"Okay, wow, you're uninvited." But he merely cast her a dirty look, and then with a quick gesture threw up blue holographic lights across the workshop – Maggie glanced around and saw that the holographic overlay showed readouts about each machine and project displayed, with blueprints, specifications, and progress reports. She hustled to a project that looked like some kind of cannon to be fitted to the Iron Man armor, and hesitantly reached out to manipulate the holographic overlay with her fingers. It responded instantly, revolving and highlighting the circuitry behind the panels.

Something on the other side of the workshop beeped, and Maggie looked up from her inspection of the cannon.

"Dum-E?"

With a gasp Maggie bounded across the workshop to the clawed robot, her eyes round. Dum-E looked different than she remembered, but he squealed as he spotted her approaching, and lifted his three-pronged claw to grab at her face. She ducked the claw and ran her fingers across the robot's sleek black casing, along the rubber-encased wires and over the plating that read DUM-E in white block letters.

"Dum-E!" She exclaimed again, straightening and laughing as the robot made a 'grabby-hands' gesture right in front of her face. She was willing to bet he didn't have that reaction to any random visitor to the workshop, and the idea that Dum-E remembered her made her eyes well with tears. "Oh my gosh, he looks so different!"

Tony had followed Maggie across the lab, and was watching her marvel over his robot with an unreadable emotion in his eyes. "Well I blew him up a few times, but he's just as stupid as ever."

Maggie beamed at Tony and then back at the robot, feeling a bit off-kilter as she realized that in her fuzzy memories of Dum-E she was usually looking up at his long arm and inquisitive claw, instead of being about the same height. "You beautiful, beautiful robot," she smiled, reaching out to touch the rubber grips of his claw. Dum-E beeped at her and grabbed her hand.

She felt a little awkward about the rush of emotion she felt for a machine, but something about the little trills and beeps Dum-E was making called to the part of her that remembered what it was like to be a little girl, running around the workshop floor and causing trouble.

When she looked back at Tony, she was startled to see that his eyes were glistening as he watched his sister and his robot reunite. He noticed her looking though, and hurriedly composed his face. "I made another one, too," he said, whirling around. Maggie suddenly noticed that another robot, remarkably similar to Dum-E but maybe a little larger, had rolled up to Tony's shoulder. "This one's called U," he explained, and the robot nodded its claw at her.

Maggie managed to wriggle away from Dum-E, who was plucking her clothes and trying to keep her attention focused on him, and went over to formally shake hands with U. The robot took her hand carefully, its rubber grips a light pressure on her skin. Dum-E let out a loud bleep and tried to roll around the workbench to get to her.

"Y'know," Tony reflected as Dum-E succeeded in his quest for Maggie's attention, trilling as she ducked her head to look at his wiring, "I figure you and Dum-E are about the same age. I was building him the day you were born."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, and when he was built and you were a little older, I couldn't get you to leave him alone. Or get him to leave you alone, to be honest," he noted, as Dum-E grabbed the hem of Maggie's shirt and tugged her away from U, who was inspecting her bare feet. "I guess entities with similar IQ levels flock together, and all that."

Maggie beamed at the affectionate robot and patted his claw's hinge. "I remember he was my friend."

Tony sighed. "Yeah. I remember that too."

They spent the rest of the afternoon in the workshop – Tony offered sarcastic commentary as Maggie jumped from one machine or project to another, trailing two beeping robots behind her. He'd been telling her about his current projects, but it was one thing for him to describe them and another for her to observe them, put her hands on the moving parts and poke through the wiring. She did notice that Tony was avoiding a particular bench in a back corner, but she didn't question it. There were plenty of interesting things to hold her attention.

Once Maggie had inspected most of the things that had caught her eye, she turned her attention to the War Machine armor, which was hoisted near the center of the workshop. The armor's chest was exposed, circuitry and systems visible to the naked eye, and Maggie's excitement dimmed when she saw the damage across the rest of the suit. Tony followed her gaze.

"He's not letting me work on the exosuit until he's used to it," he said, voice low. "But he said he'd fly again, if he gets the chance. I'm all about making chances."

Maggie padded toward the suit and examined the work done so far – she could see that Tony had been concentrating on connectivity to the lower part of the suit, aiming to make it operable for a semi-paralyzed person. She hadn't seen the exosuit that he'd had built for Rhodey, but she knew the basic principle, and it was clear that he was trying to incorporate that into the armor. But he seemed to be having some trouble with it.

She cocked her head. "You know…" she circled the armor, running her eyes over the torso and lower back. "I might be able to-" she cut herself off, and shook her head. "Never mind."

"No, what?" Tony followed her to the armor, scowling when Dum-E got in his way.

Maggie bit her lip. "Cybernetics," she said. She gestured at the wires trailing from the armor's boots to its hands. "I became an expert on it when I was a child, I helped to develop wings that integrated with the natural connectivity of my body – muscles, bones, nerves. Obviously we don't want to carve holes in Rhodey's back, but… I think the same principles could work here."

Up until this point Tony had been fidgety, joking, as if he was showing a visitor around his workshop. But when Maggie looked up after her assessment of the War Machine armor, she realized his entire demeanor had changed: he was focused now, his eyes glinting as they ran across the armor. She could almost see the ideas sparking and churning in his mind. After a few moments, he looked back at her.

"I'm listening."

Maggie and Tony tossed ideas back and forth well into the night, using the holographic array to pull up specs for previous work on walking aids, neural connectivity, and myoelectric prostheses. They ended up stripping the War Machine armor back to its circuitry, wielding wrenches, pliers and lasers as they kept up a constant stream of ideas and snark.

They worked well together – for hours they talked about nothing else but engineering and the armor, naturally on each other's level. Maggie knew things about neural-mechanic cybernetic connections that Tony didn't, and he was obviously the expert on the armor. They soon realized that they weren't talking about a repair job but a page one rewrite, and abandoned their tools to focus on the holographic overlay. Maggie got used to the intuitive display as they planned out circuitry connections and defensive structures, flicking designs back and forth, and manipulating the blue light with their hands like magicians. They had slightly different approaches to design – Tony was a little more haphazard than the measured, almost robotic way that Maggie was used to doing things, but she quickly found that she could adjust to his style.

They'd barely made a start on their designs before F.R.I.D.A.Y. politely reminded Tony that Maggie ought to be returned to her cell. They froze in the middle of running a simulation converting bio-electrical signals to mechanical signals.

"Oh," Maggie said, glancing around at her surroundings in bewilderment. One of the glass walls had a view of the lawns in the middle of the facility, and she could see that it was full night out, the moon high in the sky.

Tony looked around with a similar look of surprise on his face. "I totally forgot what time it was," he said, and ran a hand through his already-askew hair. "Technically you're on a curfew, so I should probably-"

"It's okay," she said, and rolled her shoulders. Now that her brain wasn't focused on the holographic simulations of circuitry and machine parts, her body realized how tired it was and she let out a yawn. "It's been a big day."

Tony scratched his head and gave her a considering look, as if he'd only just now realized that they'd been working together on something, creating instead of destroying. The corner of his mouth ticked up.

"What?" She asked, pausing mid-stretch.

He shook his head. "It's just… I used to get so annoyed at you, back when you were a kid, because everyone kept comparing your progress to mine and saying that you'd end up even smarter and more successful than me."

Maggie's face fell, and she slowly straightened.

Tony clapped his hands together. "It's just good to see that they turned out to be wrong," he finished, and laughed at the glare she shot him. "C'mon, I'll walk you back."

"You have to walk me back or I'll end up a twitching pile on the floor," she grumbled, waving her least-favorite piece of jewelry at him as she followed him to the workshop doors. Dum-E bleeped and rolled after her.

"I'm a giver," he said with a shrug. "Dum-E, leave her alone, she's coming back tomorrow."

Maggie paused in the middle of fending off Dum-E's claw, and looked up. "I am?"

He hesitated. "You aren't?"

She slipped out the doors, casting one last longing look back at the workshop and Dum-E's dejected claw. "I don't know, I guess I thought this might be… kind of a one-time deal."

Tony sighed, and they started walking down the corridor. The facility was lit up at night, making the gleaming corridors feel a bit like a spaceship. "You aren't really supposed to leave your ce- your room, but it's not like I signed a contract or anything, and as long as no one sees you we should be fine. And I don't know about you, but I'd go crazy being stuck in that room, it was never meant for long-term use." Before she could respond, he continued. "That reminds me – since you, y'know, destroyed your bed, I had F.R.I.D.A.Y. arrange for your room to be cleaned – don't look so panicked, the wings are still there – and for some more stuff to be moved in. No cable or anything, but-"

"Thank you, Tony," Maggie interrupted. From the way he went quiet, she knew he realized she was thanking him for more than the renovation.

They returned to her room in a comfortable silence, striding through the well-lit corridors and across the dewy lawn. When they reached the holding facility and the high-security door to her cell swished open, Maggie's eyes widened. Tony hadn't been kidding about the change – she had a new bed, a couch, and a dresser. There was a desk in front of the window, beside the flightless wings, and an office chair. There was also a stack of grey scrubs on the dresser (the fresh changes had always arrived with her food trays, before), and a pair of slip-on shoes.

Maggie appreciated the gesture, and she knew the room would feel more livable with the simple addition of furniture, but she was determined to not let herself forget that this was a prison. A nice prison, with a brother who loved her as her jailer, but a prison nonetheless.

Tony must have picked up on some of her thoughts, because he didn't try to put on any of his showy bravado as he pointed out the changes. His tone was somber, and his eyes were troubled.

Finally, the time came for him to leave. He took off her metal bracelet – the door is still open, the part of her that was still the Wyvern noted, but she shook it away – and then tipped his head and said "well, see you tomorrow then."

But Maggie didn't let him go so easily. She took two steps forward and wrapped her arms around Tony's chest, pressing her cheek into his shoulder.

"Oh good," he grunted. "You're a hugger."

"Not really," Maggie said, and squeezed him tighter. His arms rose to awkwardly hug her back. "I'm making up for lost time," she murmured. His hold on her settled into something a little warmer, a little more real.

After a few moments she released him, and sighed. "See you tomorrow?"

He grinned. "It's a d-" he cut himself off, and frowned.

She smirked. "Not a date?"

"I'm trying not to make it weird."

"Too late. You can try again tomorrow."

"I'm more of a 'do or do not, there is no try' kinda guy."

Her head tilted. "Yoda."

He stared at her for a few seconds, processing the fact that she'd apparently seen Star Wars, too. "If I'm going to take advice from anyone it's going to be a 900 year old green sasquatch. Later, Maggot."

"Good night, Tony."

They smiled at each other for a few seconds more, until Tony made an awkward gesture that Maggie thought might have been a wave, and left the room. The door swished shut again and made a faint hissing sound as the vacuum lock initiated.

Maggie fell backwards onto her new bed with her hands folded across her stomach, and looked up at the ceiling.

Her thoughts were flying in every direction: she was ecstatic that Tony had accepted her, in his way, and she found herself replaying the conversations they'd had today about HYDRA, about her past, about their parents. She was also still contemplating the War Machine designs she'd been working on. And hoping that Bucky was okay. And missing Bucky. And wondering what the rest of the Avengers were up to. And curious about how long Tony hoped to sneak her out of her cell before someone noticed.

Maggie blew out a long breath and closed her eyes. Stop thinking so much.

She focused on her feelings: she was happy, and heartbroken, and hopeful and terrified, all at once. It was exhausting.

She fell asleep that night thinking about the way her brother had called her Maggot.