Chris' POV

The next few weeks were a blur. Tony actually adopted me. I hadn't really expected him to. I thought it was just his excuse for needing to talk to Holt, but he went through with it. Something about wanting me to be trained properly.

When he took me back to the Avengers Tower, which was huge by the way, he showed me around a bit, saying that the rest of the Avengers were gone at the moment but they would be back soon. He showed me to my room, which I swear was as big as the entire common area at Holt's, and told me I could put my things away. That didn't take long, so when I got done, I headed back out to find him. I wandered around for a bit before remembering the UI Tony had introduced me to. I glanced around at the walls, furrowing my brows.

"Jarvis?" I asked.

"Yes, Miss Garrison," the computer responded. I grimaced.

"Please don't call me that."

"My apologies. Would you like me to call you Christine?" I shrugged.

"Just Chris is fine."

"Of course." I continued walking down the hall as I talked to him.

"Where's Tony?" I asked.

"Mr. Stark is currently in his workshop." I nodded.

"Uh huh. And where is that exactly?"

"Down the hall, second door on the right." I gave him a thumbs up and headed away. I stepped down the stairs on quiet feet and peered around the corner. Tony was sitting in front of a computer, his head resting on his fist.

"What are you doing?" I asked. He spun around, startled by my voice.

"Oh...God, you scared me," he breathed. I shrugged apologetically.

"What are you doing?" I repeated. He sighed and waved me over. He pulled another chair over, and I sat in it, crossing my arms.

"I'm programming some stuff in the gym to go fast enough for you to use efficiently," he said. "Then I'm gonna see about getting some reinforced matts and punching bags so they're harder for you to wear down." He chuckled. "The punching bags might help Cap, too." I nodded.

"When am I gonna meet them?" He shrugged.

"Some of 'em might be here today," he said. "I don't really kn-"

"Sir, Agent Barton and Doctor Banner have returned," Jarvis cut him off. He froze and looked at me.

"Well there you go," he said. "You wanna go down?" I gulped and nodded. "Okay, let's go." He placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, and we jogged up the stairs. When we reached the living room, he told me to wait and headed in.

"Hey, guys," he said. "How was...wherever you two were?"

"Savannah, Tony," a man's voice said. "I was in Savannah. It was nice."

"Yeah. And you?"

"Uh, Tennessee."

"Uh huh, that's a nice place, but I have a bit of a story to tell you. You weren't the only ones that were busy." I heard footsteps coming towards the door, and Tony poked his head outside, smiling. He placed a hand on my shoulder and led me into the room, where a man with short sandy hair and a man with curly black hair were waiting.

"Chris, this is Clint Barton-" The blond. "-and Bruce Banner." The blacked-haired man. I nodded. "Guys, this is...my daughter, Christine." Bruce smiled a bit, but Clint groaned, though I could see a faint smile.

"Aw, crap," he said. "There's another one?" I snorted.

"Offense taken," Tony said. He looked at me pointedly. "Don't encourage him." Clint and I both laughed more, and Tony sighed. "I regret introducing you already."

⇔

Over the next few days, I met Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff, both of whom were very nice, and even Thor, who had been gone to Asgard and they didn't know when he would come back.

Obviously Clint is like an older brother. We love messing with the others, especially Tony. Not saying we don't ever get caught in our antics, but definitely saying that we don't care.

Nat is like a mother and a sister in one. Pepper acts like a mother, which makes sense since she's Tony's girlfriend, but Nat is like the cool older sister that practically raised the younger one and will still let me do the things that Pepper won't.

Steve is similar, except that in his case, Tony is the cool dad that lets me be crazy and he's the one that makes sure I don't go too far.

Thor is pretty cool. He acts like an older brother and will let me get away with a lot. Bruce though, I'm not quite as close with. He's pretty quiet, but then so am I, so I can be in the room when he's working and not disturb him. This is pretty helpful since I really like to know what's going on.

Coming into this, I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought everyone would be weird and try to push me into being a normal kid, but everyone's really cool. They aren't pushing me to do or be anything I don't want to, and they're treating me like a real family.

It kind of makes me miss being around Iyunae all the time. But I know we're both better off now that we're away from Holt.

I had my doubts, but I'm honestly really looking forward to living here. I finally found a family that I belong with.