The Invisible Coder (Natasha x OC)

Chapter 16- I reunite with my dad

I don't know how long we stood there, hugging. It seemed as though he'd never release me. Perhaps he thought that if he did, I would slip from his grasp once again.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you, Bryce," Tony muttered. "I'm sorry,"

"No, I'm sorry," I replied. "You freaked out. I had just gotten kidnapped by a crazy robot and suddenly showed up on your doorstep asking for adventure. I was being illogical. Besides, you're right. I'm not an Avenger. I've gotta leave the whole 'Avenging' business to you guys,"

"I phrased it wrong. What I meant to say was..." Tony let out a sigh. "You aren't a physical fighter. You fight with words and with code. We are the ones who fight with weapons and lasers and all that crap. I know that you don't know how to fight like that, so I want to keep you safe from those who do. You're with Nat, you see how she fights- there are people out there who can do the same sort of stuff and they can hurt you really bad. I can't have that. That's why I built you the suit. But when you got FRIDAY to stop my thrusters from working, that got me thinking. Maybe, and that's a big maybe... if I can make hacking go faster in your suit, MAYBE you can join us in a battle against Ultron,"

I nearly squealed in excitement. "Really?"

"I just... I just... I couldn't handle it if you died. I would blame myself, and it would probably already be my fault, so I would get angry, and I'd do reckless stuff, and I'd probably do something stupid... it's a vicious cycle," he explained.

"Ah," I replied. 

There was a slightly awkward pause.

"Are we still hugging?" he asked suddenly.

I laughed. "No, no, I'm done now,"

We pulled back, and he clapped me on the back. 

"I guess it was only karma that you left," he told me. "I never really asked for your permission to take you in, did I?"

I shook my head.

"I can always take the papers back, you know, so how about we try this again..."

He put both of his hands on my shoulders.

"Do I, Mr. Tony Stark, have the consent of you, Bryce Russell, to legally adopt you?" 

I nodded, unable to speak.

"Great," he exclaimed. After another pause, he pulled me back into a hug.

"I'm sorry, kid," he whispered into my ear. 

"It's okay, really," I responded. "I'm sorry too,"

"How about you go grab your stuff so we can head back?"

"Sounds great," I pulled out of our hug and walked over to my suit, which was still in the corner. I still thought it was the best thing since phones were invented.

"No luggage for the road?" Tony asked.

"Nope," I replied. "Can I keep the magenta one here?"

Tony thought for a second before slowly replying, "...sure. If you lock it up and keep it out of sight,"

"I will!" I exclaimed and excitedly sprinted up to my room, grabbing my suit-case and tossing it into my closet. Then, I locked my closet, triple checking the lock before leaving.

As I walked back down the stairs, I noticed Tony messing with something.

"What're you doing?" I asked.

He held up a thin piece of plastic, as though the sight of it would explain everything. When I didn't get it, he sighed. 

"I'm upgrading your suit," he explained. "When we get back, you can program FRIDAY into recognizing the codes I missed, though I'm 99% sure I got all of them,"

"I was gone for 2 minutes, there's no way!" I exclaimed.

"I've been working on this since I left, Bryce," 

"Oh. That explains a lot,"

"Put on the suit," he instructed, elbowing me lightly.

"FRIDAY?" I called. The gold and silver suit flew across the room, attaching itself to my arms, legs, and eventually the rest of my body.

"You sure you don't need any luggage?" Tony asked.

"I'm sure,"

We started for the back door. I unlocked it, stepped outside with him, and relocked it. Tony stepped off of the porch and snapped his fingers. Immediately, his scarlet and gold suit attached itself to him.

"Show off," I mumbled.

"You have a radio on this thing," he reminded me.

"Wait- oh, right. Sorry," I locked my back door just as he powered up his thrusters, lifting off the ground.

"Coming, kid?" he asked.

"Er- yeah. Just... one sec,"

I glanced around, taking in the sight of my neighborhood, just in case it was the last time. Tony waited patiently for me to finish.

"Alright. Let's go," I powered up my thrusters, and we shot off into the air, leaving North Carolina for what I assumed would be a very, very long time.

Possibly even forever.