Chapter Text
The Tower seemed to be haunted.
At least, that's what Tony and the others have decided. Worse, it irked Tony something fierce. Despite all his technology, he couldn't figure out who or what was messing with them.
Well, not all of them.
This entity pranked everyone but the Black Widow.
As much as Tony wanted to be mad about that, he couldn't blame this entity. Nobody does well when they cross Nat.
Hell, even the pranks being played on Capsicle were tame compared to what was happening to him. In fact, those pranks were actually rather sweet, which irked Tony even more. Who or whatever this entity was would go out of their way to help Cap out whenever he encountered something he didn't understand in this modern age. Whatever aid could be found was always put in a place where Cap was sure to find it. A book or tablet with the exact info Cap would need to understand a modern reference would inevitably be found somewhere Cap was likely to visit within the common areas of the Tower.
To make it even worse in Tony's mind, Cap had even taken to thanking their prankster entity everytime for their helpfulness.
It only grew worse once the Avengers had retrieved and deactivated the former Winter Soldier.
If Tony didn't know any better, he'd almost swear this entity had come to really care about these two super soldiers. It wasn't that the Avengers didn't try to understand and help out, but the entity always seemed to one up them. It was almost like this entity knew how to read these soldiers and even anticipate their needs. It was frankly eerie how well this entity could do that, too.
None of the other Avengers, including Tony, would dare say anything, either.
For all the confusion this entity caused, it hadn't done anything to harm any of them. No, it seemed to want to help however it could, especially the soldiers.
All the same, Tony was determined to figure them out. Anyone who could outwit his JARVIS, he wanted to meet. He simply had to know how they were doing it. Yet, he never could quite get them to reveal themself. Yeah, he got close enough a time or two, but he would always find a little taunt from them after they slipped through whatever "trap" he'd left for them.
He'd even considered using one of the soldiers to lure you, but he quickly ruled that out. If one of them got hurt in the process (a tough but not impossible feat), he feared what this entity might do to the Tower, his labs, or worse of all, himself.
Tony did finally get his wish, though, one day.
A rogue group of Hydra agents had decided to attack the Tower, hoping to reclaim their asset and possibly another Avenger or two. After all, what evil organization wouldn't love a chance of turning America's favorite Golden Boy or possibly using a "genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist" to fulfill their desire of world domination.
They'd done a decent job of messing up Tony's pristine Tower, which didn't help his mood. He'd just finished fixing it after the mess with Loki and the Chitauri. The number of holes that would need patching and a few frames replacing, Tony didn't really want to think about, even as JARVIS kept a running tally for him.
No, he was pretty busy just dealing with these nuisance intruders.
Though, he had to admit he and the others weren't taking some of the heavier hits as they probably should be. Those were being deflected in ways that didn't quite compute with his normal mastery of both mathematics and physics. Either way, he didn't dare question the gifts that he knew belonged to this entity, who'd joined the fight without being asked to. At least, they had this skilled illusionist on their side, and for that, Tony couldn't be more grateful.
"Buck, watch out," Steve shouted behind Tony.
Tony managed to turn in time to see the blast meant for Bucky bouncing back towards the Hydra agent. At the same time, their invisible guest had also realized and experienced Newton's third law of motion—for every action there is an equal reaction.
Lights shimmered and shifted around the space their entity had taken up until they revealed you, sprawled on your side near Bucky's feet. Not that you remained prone for long. With a gruff burst of righteous anger, you shoved to your feet and turned towards that same Hydra agent, ready to fight once more.
Yet, you hadn't moved as fast as you probably would've camouflaged by your powers. The agent had already taken aim and sent another shockwave towards you, but it never hit you even as you braced for it.
"Nice one, Cap," Tony called out, ready to be done with this battle once and for all.
While it was nice to finally put a face to their entity, these Hydra scum had overstayed their welcome. A few well-placed blasts from Tony had the ceiling of where they'd been fighting coming down on top of the agents. Another series of other blasts had them completely segregated from the Avengers with their only escape being the staircase behind them. By the time they made it down, Tony's spare suits would have them captured and contained until the proper authorities could come and claim them.
Or at least that's what Tony had accomplished until a lone agent pushed through the rubble.
"Hail Hydra," they shouted, pulling out a few hand grenades and mouthing the pins.
Before Tony or the others could react, you were already up. Your eyes had gone a golden color as yours hands moved in controlled patterns. The pulled pins soon returned to the grenades before being jerked out of the agent's hands. They landed with punctuated thuds against the floor before they rolled towards Tony, who quickly gathered them up.
You weren't done, however.
The golden glow of your eyes brightened while a devilish smirk crept over your features. With another controlled twist of your hands, the agent's arms stretched as wide as they'd go until distinct pops echoed through the maimed hall. A scream of pain and terror spilled from the agent's lips. It was only then that you dropped them to their knees and sent them flying back into the rubble where they'd emerged.
"Come here again and threaten them, you'll be dealing with me," you shouted at the agent's sliding form, "and I don't play nice."
Tony had the presence of mind to swallow back the tremor of fear shooting through him. Whatever smartass comment he would typically make to loosen the tension of a moment stuck to the back of his throat. All he knew was that he was really, really happy you were on their side as your eyes returned to their natural color.
"Holy shit," Nat murmured to which Clint quickly nodded his agreement. "You've been able to do that this whole time?"
You had the audacity to shrug. "I can do a lot of things. Though, I guess my little game here is up. I can't say it wasn't fun while it lasted. I'll just grab my things and get out of your hair."
You couldn't help feeling like you'd lost your home once more, but then, you knew this wouldn't last forever. How could it?
"Wait!" This came from both Steve and Bucky.
The smile their voices brought to your lips only made your heart twist more.
In your time in the Tower, you'd really come to care about these two. Like you, they'd lost so much, and it'd been nice to try and give them some solace when and where you could. Even if they couldn't see you, it'd been nice to feel wanted, appreciated, as they seemed to be. Steve's little thank yous had been a balm to your soul as were Bucky's soft nods of acknowledgement.
"Who said you had to leave?" Tony demanded, apparently not wanting to be outdone. "I didn't hear those words come out of anyone's mouth. Besides, you can't leave. Not until you reveal how you've fooled JARVIS this whole time."
"Well, even before I had my powers, I was one of your programmers. JARVIS is a wonderful AI, and he's been quite instrumental in keeping my secrets as well as yours, Mr. Stark."
Well, that certainly seemed to gobsmack your former boss, but it was just as well that he was speechless.
"Okay, now I'm siding with Tony on keeping you here," Nat said with one of her signature smirks sliding into place. "I simply have to hear what secrets you know of Tony."
You shrugged. "His aren't the only secrets I know. Every since you and Cap released all of SHIELD's and Hydra's files, I've been learning quite a few different secrets about all of you and so many others. Gotta keep myself occupied during my downtime after all. The more you know about your allies and your enemies, the better."
"And yet we know nothing about the one who's been haunting our halls for the past three years," Clint snarked.
"Oh, if I wanted to hurt you, I could've done it ages ago. Especially someone who likes to crawl around the vents of all places. You're a weird one, aren't you, Legolas?" Your gaze traveled back to Tony as you added, "It's a fitting nickname for him, you know. Kudos for your creativity there."
"Thank you. I try, you know."
Turning back to Clint, you asked, "You're right. I haven't been playing fair. What do you wanna know?"
"How did you get your powers?"
"I'm not sure really. I was working in the labs downstairs during the New York attack. A power surge went through one of the outlets near my station. Knocked me out for a while. When I came to, my fingers were shooting off little sparks. From there, my powers just sorta grew."
"What all can you do?" This came from Nat.
You shot her a small smile. "Well, you know about the invisibility. Though, it's not like I really disappear. More like I can manipulate the lights around me so I'm reflecting them back out rather than absorbing them or casting shadows. I can also manipulate metallic materials like those grenades and Tony's suits. If I have enough energy, I can even generate enough heat to melt some metals."
"You've also got some impressive fighting skills," Tony observed. "Where did you learn that?"
Your grin widened. "Well, you have an impressive gym where all of you go from time to time to work out and spar one another. Was bound to pick up a few things from watching and practicing on my own whenever I could."
That generated more than a few raised brows at that.
You simply shrugged. "What? I've always been a pretty quick learner. How else would you explain how quickly, and I must say, easily I reprogrammed an AI like JARVIS to not notice my movements through the Tower? How else did I also always manage to keep any of you from actually catching me despite some of your best efforts?"
"But why hide from us? You've known who and what we are. Could you really not trust us?" Steve asked, his voice holding a note of something that threatened to tear your heart in two.
"It wasn't about trust. It was just easier to stay in the shadows. Help where I could whether it was actually something helpful or something playful. Prove that I was useful." You shook yourself before you could pour out any more of yourself to this crowd. No sense in spilling too much should they decide to expel you anyway. No, it was better to do what you did best—hide behind some humor. "Besides, if you had the ability to be invisible, wouldn't you be tempted to have a little fun now and then?"
"Mostly at my expense," Tony grumbled though you didn't hear any censure in his voice. Then as if he just considered it, he asked, "Where exactly have you been living here? Last I checked I had all the living quarters designated to one of the Avengers with none to spare."
It took everything in you not to roll your eyes at that.
"I'm not a perv if that's what you're not so subtly asking. If you check your schematics again, you'll find one of your these same floors has been relabeled as Storage. Sits below the guest quarters if I recall correctly. That's mine."
As if to confirm your words, Tony pulled up a hologram of the Tower's schematics and soon frowned deeply as he studied them. After a moment, he pulled up security footage and cursed under his breath, his gaze meeting yours.
"You've been living with actual storage boxes in those quarters."
Another shrug left you. "Well, I had to really sell it, you know. Didn't want anyone getting suspicious. Besides, it provides plenty of hiding spaces when I don't have enough light to manipulate."
"You can't live in a storage room. I won't stand for it. Not if you're going to be one of us. You'll take the guest quarters for now. We'll figure the rest out later." Tony put away his hologram tablet and started towards the opposite end of the hall, away from the mess he'd created and the still unconscious Hydra agents underneath. Over his shoulder, he asked, "What should we call you? Our newest Avenger needs a good superhero name."
"Haven't really thought about it," you said, then paused as your mind caught up on the first part of his little speech, "but wait a minute! You're letting me stay? You don't want me to leave? I thought…"
"You thought what?" This came from Bucky, who'd moved to your right side while Steve took up your left.
When they'd done that, you couldn't say, but you liked the warmth their nearness provided. You couldn't deny they made you feel safest of all whenever they were close by. Probably why you'd been the nicest to them out of all the Avengers.
You shook your head, unable and unwilling to expand on that.
"You're one of us now, kid," Clint said, coming to stand behind you, bringing up the rear. "Tony's certainly deemed it so. Sure, there'll be some kinks to work out down the road, but welcome to the team, our little Illusion."
A loud clap resounded from ahead of you a moment before Tony shouted, "Yes! That's it! That's the perfect name for her, Legolas. You're our little Illusionist. Fits your manipulation magic to a tee. Add that to her new file, JARVIS."
For the life of you, you couldn't seem to comprehend everything that had gone down in the last few minutes. So sure you'd be kicked out of the Tower upon them really discovering you, but here you were, gaining a real room. You'd even gained a superhero name. If you thought it would wake you up, you would've pinched yourself.
Then again, you weren't sure you really wanted to wake up if you were dreaming.