Ally barely slept the night before. It wasn’t that her grandparents’ guest bed was uncomfortable. The fan was blowing just the right amount of cool air. There was no traffic or loud noises. But this morning she was to officially move into Avengers Tower. In any other context this would’ve been the best day of her life, but in this context she couldn’t have wanted anything less. Instead of giving custody to the grandparents she’d known all her life, the great state of New York decided to instead give custody to Tony Stark, Ally’s biological father that, up until two weeks ago, was just another hero she admired.
A fancy moving truck arrived to take all her stuff and while Tony had offered varying modes of transport--he could pick her up, Happy could pick her up, even Pepper could pick her up--Ally insisted she wanted to fly. She told him she could handle herself, that she didn’t need his help. She was being forced to move, forced to occupy his space, but she wasn’t going to let him infiltrate hers.
After two very long hugs goodbye, Ally took off from her grandparents’ house and started the relatively short flight from Long Island to Manhattan. Hair up in a tight ponytail, the cool spring air rushed against her skin; by the time she spotted Avengers Tower in the distance her cheeks were flushed. She exhaled a deep breath as she got close, starting her descent to the landing pad she had seen Iron Man use time and time again. “He better not have made some stupid welcome party.”
When she finally touched down, hair a bit frizzed and t-shirt very wrinkled, a sweet British voice came through unseen speakers. “Welcome, Ms. Bradley. I am JARVIS. I run the Tower for Mr. Stark and the Avengers. The door is unlocked for you. Shall I tell Mr. Stark you’ve arrived?”
“Uh, hi, JARVIS.” Her tone was brisk but not mean. JARVIS didn’t do anything to her. “Maybe give it a minute. I want to...take it in.”
Walking down the runway, Ally came to the unlocked door and stepped inside what seemed to be a living room. There were large couches on one side and a very large bar on the right. From what she heard about Tony on TV that tracked. “Avengers Tower,” she said to herself, turning as she walked to get a good look around. “It’s so annoying I have to hate this place.”