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poisonepel · 5 years ago

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Chemistry Between the Dorm Leaders and a Hero-Inspired S/O— (pt.1)

After that Snow White request, I had a small idea... so here are headcanons for each dorm leader with an s/o inspired by the heroes of their respective films. I had some hesitation with both Vil and Leona, since their heroes are the Evil Queen’s stepdaughter and Scar’s nephew respectively... I could get past the Snow White one bc Vil’s so different from the Evil Queen, but the Simba one weirded me out too much ;; so I substituted him for Nala. Sorry !!

Of course, this is disregarding the original characters’ ages and assuming they’re all students at Night Raven, in the same dorm as their villain. Please let me know if there’s a problem with anything though !!

Idia, Leona, and Malleus will come in a second post.

Riddle & Alice

I remember Alice as a bratty, opinionated girl who is dissatisfied with her normal life and prefers to escape to her imagination. Very stubborn, but also very sensible. Pairing these traits with Riddle’s hotheadedness and severe need to keep things under his command, I don’t think they would make a very good match. Alice constantly rolls her eyes at all of his decisions, and blatantly refuses to listen to him if she doesn’t agree with what he says.

It would be extremely difficult for these two to even tolerate each other. Alice sticks out to Riddle because she’s the only one who doesn’t fear him—but that might not be a good thing. He develops a “You will fear me, you will obey me” type mindset, to which she responds with an unimpressed, “Oh, really?”

Riddle gets so fed up with her that he marches down to Headmaster Crowley and demands that Alice be relocated to a different dorm—“She’d be great for Pomefiore, with all the other stuck-ups.” (Dire says no).

As much as she loathes Riddle though, Alice might enjoy some of his nonsensical rules. She hates boring things like order and routine, instead craving the thrill of things unique and unpredictable. Riddle is taken aback when one day she exclaims how much fun she’s having during one of his sudden events, which had annoyed and tired out everyone else. He’s not sure how to react.

He spends a long time thinking about this, and then curiosity gets the better of him; he tries to experiment to see if he can do anything else that doesn’t make her turn her nose up at him. So basically, this is his odd way of figuring out her interests - and he realizes she’s not just automatically appalled by everything he does; she’s simply very opinionated. He might even start to appreciate the fact that she’s got such a strong grip of her views and morals.

It takes much longer for Alice to fall in love with Riddle, though. She has such a great distaste for him that there’s no way she’ll even consider falling in love with him. She would have to catch him in a vulnerable state to realize there’s more to him than simply yelling at everyone all the time - maybe when he’s stressed from school, or sleeping, or witnessing him experiencing true happiness (perhaps with his friends? does he even have friends?) And then she, too, having a natural curiosity, might try to learn more about him.

Tbh, the only thing that might help bring them together is the fact that both of them are way too nosy for their own good.

Azul & Ariel

Like Alice, Ariel is very curious, stubborn, and determined, but she can be a little gullible and naive at times. She’s been sheltered her whole life and Night Raven is the first time she’s been away from home for so long. Azul, on the other hand, is very independent; he’s somewhat of an information broker, good at observing people and seeing what makes them tick - and also swindling what he wants out of them. Naive little Ariel makes a perfect target.

Azul is very gentlemanly and polite, enticing and friendly, so Ariel is immediately swayed. She pretty much falls into the honeymoon phase with him straight away, but not truly in love; she’s just excited to be socializing with a nice boy.

It’s easy for Azul to trap her in a deceptive contract with ambiguous conditions. He doesn’t have any personal interest in her initially, but Ariel responds to his betrayal with vigor and goes above and beyond in trying to void the contract. It is only here that Azul starts taking more of an interest in her, since she’s now causing problems for him and therefore in the way.

But, even he has to appreciate her fierce determination to get out of this contract. He even stops at one point to consider why he’s been trying so hard to prevent her from getting out of it; Ariel is nothing but sweet and pure, so why is he so intent on inconveniencing her? He tries to convince himself that his original mindset is the same as it was before: Ariel was unable to pay the price he had set. Perhaps under misleading terms, but it’s her fault for not reading the contract carefully enough - therefore he can’t give her any leeway until he’s collected his payment. Even so, a part of him feels regretful.

However, Ariel has developed a (rightfully) bitter attitude towards Azul, and even though he understands why, it still leaves a sour taste in his mouth. Witnessing how beautiful of a personality she has has made him rethink his whole view of her - and a part of him wishes they were on better terms.

If Azul was serious about remedying their relationship, it would take a serious amount of effort on his part to regain her trust. Ariel can be naive, but she’s not stupid; and she’s already established that Azul is not an ally. But, in the case that he is able to prove himself to her, then the same elation she had when she first met him would resurface.

For their relationship to work, Azul would need to be the one who’s most committed. He already has a personality Ariel would immediately grow infatuated with, so it really depends on him being able to truly become someone she can trust and rely on - and make sure she knows that too.

Kalim & Aladdin

These two are hopeless idiots together. They come from vastly different backgrounds: while Kalim grew up with basically everything handed to him on a silver platter, Aladdin comes from a poor family and barely scraped by in his youth. They share a common resourcefulness, though, as they both are very talented at making do with whatever situation they’ve landed in (but, Kalim always has the advantage of wealth and power).

While Aladdin might be initially turned off by Kalim’s extravagant wastefulness, he also admires it greatly; much like his canon love for Jasmine, he is struck by beauty and wealth and only dreams about what it might be like to live with such greatness. This overpowers his slight aversion for him.

It’s easy for Kalim and Aladdin to become friends. Aladdin is funny and bright, with a knack for socializing since he’s come across so many people from being in such open, unstable living conditions before. Overall, he’s just very easy to slide into conversation with and feel like you’ve known him forever. Kalim is also very extroverted, but in more of a you-will-pay-attention-to-me-now forceful kind of way. Like Jamil, Aladdin is one of the few people who doesn’t tire out from Kalim’s constant energy & semi-sheltered mindset.

Once they find out their shared extroversion is very compatible, Kamil and Aladdin talk nonstop. Aladdin is a natural storyteller, and loves sharing about all his experiences from his childhood. He had to be very independent and willing to defy authorities in order to secure his survival, while also helping all the other orphans and street rats obtain food and shelter as much as he could. Kalim finds this extremely admirable. To him, Aladdin is almost like a literal prince - he rose from nothing and now is thriving at the prestigious Night Raven College. Also, he seems to have turned out fairly normal for someone who suffered so many hardships as a child.

But evidently, the closer the get, the more Kalim realizes Aladdin is not as normal as he makes himself out to be. His traumas from his youth have and are still affecting him, and once Kalim sees this different, more somber side of Aladdin, he becomes desperate to help him any way he can. He first takes him on a “date.” This isn’t meant to be romantic, just a nice all-expenses-paid trip to give Aladdin something nice.

Jamil is surprised because this is the first time Kalim has ever thought about anyone other than himself. But then, once the “dates” keep happening, Jamil realizes there’s more between them than just Kalim “being nice.” Things might escalate between them both, and while the final trigger for Aladdin was Kalim’s little acts of kindness, there had been something clear between them since the beginning.

Vil & Snow White

This sort of piggybacks off the headcanons I wrote here.

Snow White is sweet and pure of heart, a girl who doesn’t fully realize when someone might be taking advantage of her. She is gentle and sweet when she talks to you, but also doesn’t mind keeping to herself for long periods of time. On the other hand, Vil is vain and proud, constantly needs attention, and keeps his own appearance as his top priority. He always makes sure his connections are up to his own beauty standards too, and if Snow White enters his social circle, this includes her. Fortunately, there’s not much for him to do, because she is already extremely beautiful.

Vil takes interest in her because of her beauty. He feels a bit threatened by it in the beginning, but every time he talks to her, she always, always acts like the nicest, most genuine human being he’d ever met. He gets a little frustrated because he wants to hate her for being so much more beautiful than him, but she’s so ridiculously precious.

Snow White doesn’t mind Vil much. Like with everyone, it’s basically impossible for her to view him in a bad light, and she respects him as Pomefiore’s dorm leader. That being said, he’s not a major interest for her - she has a very tight-knit circle of 3 or 4 girl friends who she spends most of her time with.

Their interactions are usually initiated by Vil. Half the time, it’s because he can’t understand how she’s so nice all the time, so he tries to draw out a negative reaction from her.

But with enough time spent together, the opposite effect happens. Snow White develops a small crush on him. She starts getting flustered whenever he talks to her, and even more fidgety and precious - and even more, starts picking up his little mannerisms and habits. She sometimes points out whenever she notices something’s changed in his appearance.

Then, it’s Vil’s turn to feel flustered. She noticed. She notices whenever he does his hair differently, or when he paints his nails a new color, or when he wears a new arrangement of jewelry. He’s taken aback when his own heart starts fluttering whenever he’s around her, and soon he drops his mission to find fault with her and refocuses his attention on trying to avoid her. He has no time for falling in love.

But now Snow White is the one nervously trying to get his attention. And he's fallen so head over heels for her, he can’t not interact with her - and would feel too bad if he was mean to her. For a while, there’s a lot of tension between them, and Vil feels hideously awkward. He hates it. So he tries to finally confess, as slyly as he can.

Snow White isn’t very good at reading between the lines, but Vil isn’t very good at being subtle when he’s struck by so much emotion - so their feelings for each other come to light very quickly. There isn’t much verbal communication between them when they “confess,” though - Snow is too shy and Vil can’t admit anything unless he’s not being serious. But, if they do establish that they love each other, their relationship would be stable and warm from both parties.

#twisted wonderland #twst hcs #riddle #azul #kalim #vil #riddle rosehearts #azul ashengrotto #kalim al-asim #vil schoenheit

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valkyrie-echo · 7 years ago

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Project Echo, Part 3: Chapter 1 (119 Days Before the Explosion)

Part 3 Summary: Seven years after the events of “Part 2”, Avengers Tower explodes, fulfilling Bucky’s vision. All evidence points to Avengers Shadow-Ops leader Inessa Ryker, who is forced to seek out Bucky in hiding. Together they must determine who the traitor is in their ranks and if their friends are still alive- all while trying to survive deadly ambushes orchestrated by Sam Wilson and his hand-picked army.

NOTE ON THIS AND ALL FUTURE CHAPTERS: Only those chapters that contain “____ Before the Explosion” in the title take place before Avengers Tower exploded. All other chapters take place after the Tower exploded. I apologize for any confusion moving forward.

Chapter 1: 119 Days Before the Explosion

Avengers Tower.

Avengers.

Motherfucking.

Tower.

Marie just stared at it, mouth ajar like a complete idiot. Or, more accurately, like the dozens of tourists around her. For nearly a decade the Avengers protected pretty much the whole damn world from one threat or another, and Marie was actually standing outside of their main base!

She'd spent most of her life in a small farming town, the biggest building she'd ever seen was the two-story fire station. It was quite literally the middle of nowhere- 2,000 people (though if someone told her there were only 200 she'd believe them based on what she'd seen), one little school covering K-12, two churches and a Jewish temple- even fast food chains didn't bother setting up shop! Nothing ever happened to even put a strain on the ten or so police officers. Even when the Mad-God Thanos came to Earth and killed millions with the Infinity Gauntlet not a single person in the damned town got so much as a paper-cut, or even knew someone who had!

If Marie had even just heard an Avenger was within 100 miles of her town she'd have been happy. Now she was standing outside Avengers Tower itself.

With an invitation to go inside.

Maybe.

If it wasn't a joke and she wasn't a completely gullible idiot.

Marie took a deep breath and tore her eyes away from the gleaming building. She tried to slow her racing pulse as she crossed the street with a group of German tourists heading for the Avengers Store at the corner of the Tower, open to the street. The crowds were so dense it was nearly impossible to free herself from the press of people craning to see the remote Iron Man suits that "guarded" the doors of the large shop and were for tourists the New York equivalent of the guards at Buckingham Palace (as if anyone would dare so much as pickpocket in the shadow of the Tower).

Already blushing in embarrassment, Marie went to the main entrance. She was keenly aware of the large and unnecessarily buff guards glaring at her through the windows. Avengers Tower wasn't only the main base of the Avengers and home to several heroes- it was a major research facility for the world's leading technology corporation. Security was tight, and tourists were strictly forbidden from cluttering their lobby and wasting the time of Stark Industries employees.

The packet that had arrived anonymously and unsolicited two days before included a plane ticket, hotel confirmation, taxi card, a map to the Tower, and a silver security badge. Up until now everything had proven legitimate, she had to go on faith. Marie reached into her patchwork bag and fished the badge out with a shaking hand. She held it up so the guard inside the doors could see it, nervous and probably brick-red by now. Her best friend was a practical joker, and even though this was fairly far from her normal pranks of bouncy-balls in the school locker, Marie had never been the most confident person. Any chance to second-guess herself, she took it.

As soon as he saw the card the security guard's scowl melted into a kind smile. He pointed to a black box by the door and mimed the direction to insert the badge. Marie nodded dumbly and went over to it. She thought it worked like a credit card reader at a gas station- put the card in, pull it out. She tried, but nothing happened. The guard mimed again, and it took three tries for Marie to figure out what she was doing wrong- the machine was meant to keep the card. A credit to his professionalism- the guard didn't laugh.

The door slid open just long enough for her to walk through, then it closed tight behind her in an instant. Some curious tourists stared (and even snapped a photo). Marie felt even more self conscious- how many of them saw her screwing up with the machine?

"Bag please," the nice guard checked through her things carefully- he looked over each page inside the packet she carried, pulled out every card and looked in every pouch in her wallet (thank god she'd removed the girls' supplies in the hotel before coming). He even took the battery out of her cell phone to make sure nothing was behind it. While he did his search, another guard had Marie walk through a massive metal scanner that blasted her with a puff of air and spun around her for a moment. Evidently they found no issues (as if they would, Marie never even snuck a drink from her parents liquor cabinet) and her bag was returned to her. The first guard held the inner door open for her to admit her into the main lobby with a tip of his hat and a, "Have a nice visit."

The second Marie's feet hit the polished white tile of the lobby she was approached by a petite, beautiful receptionist who looked more fit to be a model. "Welcome to Avengers Tower," she quickly consulted a tablet, "Miss Richards."

Marie had spent her entire year's babysitting money on nice pants and a professional looking top from the clearance section of the department store in the next town. Her mother lent her best church shoes to complete the outfit. In all her life, these clothes were the most expensive thing she'd ever worn and all of it combined, at full price, couldn't have cost a third of what the knee-high boots this woman was wearing did.

Everything together- the outfit, bumbling with the card reader, the stares of the tourists, the enormity of where she was and what she was doing hit Marie like a ton of bricks. Her heart dropped into her stomach and suddenly she wanted nothing more than to walk out the door, get directly on the airplane, and curl up in the back of her closet, never to emerge. One day her grandchildren would ask her about this trip and her reply would be "Here, have some candy, shut up and go away before I disown you." And that was even if she ever admitted to leaving home in the first place. The sudden (and completely irrational) thought of an Avenger glancing at the video from a security camera and seeing her humiliation made it all the worse.

"Um, I- I think," she swallowed hard and coughed to clear the tremble in her voice, "I- I think I should probably just- just-" she glanced back at the door. At least she didn't have to worry about blushing- Marie had a feeling she'd gone white.

Two security guards were standing inside the lobby on either side of the reception desk chatting with a young man working the phones. One of them- a young woman barely older than Marie- looked up when she coughed and immediately judged the situation. Taking the evident distress on the kid's face as her cue, she promptly excused herself and walked over, glancing at the (confused) receptionist's tablet as she did so, "Are you Marie Richards?"

"No. I mean, um, yes. I was just- I'm just leaving," she turned towards the door quickly and tried to open it, but it appeared to be locked from inside. The nice guard shook his head and refused help.

"I got this Anaiis, thank you," the guard smiled to the receptionist who nodded politely and returned to her seat at the desk. She put a hand on Marie's slumping shoulder and lightly turned her back. "I'm sorry Miss Richards, but we can't let you leave. It's our strictest policy- no one comes in without an appointment, and no one leaves before they've had it. We had a pretty big issue several years ago with a psychic and- well, I won't get into that but if I let you leave everyone in this lobby could lose their job."

"Please-" Marie half-whispered. She felt horrible, looked terrible- why had she even come here? She knew why- it was those stupid kids. She did a good deed, somehow someone found out and a month later she gets a packet. She cursed herself for ever getting involved (not that she'd ever have made a different choice).

The guard saw her eyes beginning to water and stepped closer so they could speak softer, "Hey, it's alright." she steered Marie to a corner, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know why I'm here. I don't know what I expected. I don't belong here," she touched the fabric of her shirt- she'd been so proud of herself for picking out such a nice outfit and now she was just embarrassed. She'd loved it- but it would always be a reminder of this horrific day.

The guard eyeballed her, "We'll take the stairs the first few flights, OK? Give us time to calm those nerves?" Marie had no choice but to follow her to the stairwell- to get the humiliation over with as soon as possible.

"I don't have to see anyone but the lady in HR, right?" she was desperate for a silver lining.

"The lady in HR?" the guard was confused as they stepped up.

Marie pulled out the only thing in the packet specific to this leg of the trip- a one page letter requesting a meeting to "discuss unusual occurrences in your area". She glanced at the name printed at the bottom, "Miss Inessa Ryker?"

"Oh, yeah, well- she's not HR, actually..."

Marie's heart sank, "Security?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

She was quiet for a flight while she worked up her courage to ask what she had been dreading, "This is about Kyle... Isn't it?"

The guard kept looking ahead as she recited, "Sergeant Kyle Richards, AKA the Crocodile. Hydra interrogation specialist for five years. Killed by Bruce Banner's Hulk in Sokovia before the war with Ultron." The guard glanced back at Marie, "I read your file. He came up a few times."

"I'm nothing like him," she whispered fiercely.

"We know you're not. He's all over your medical history. Burns, broken bones, extracted fingernails, the two severed toes- trust me. No one who sees that will ever think you were in league with him. He was a textbook sociopath. With a kick."

Marie nodded and swallowed hard, "Do you know what his power was?"

The guard shook her head, "Just theories. His Hydra file was destroyed with half of Sokovia."

"Persuasion." the guard's expression darkened at that, "He could make you believe whatever he told you. That's why it took so long for him to finally be sent away. He'd have come home within a day, if Hydra hadn't recruited him. All he'd have to do was tell the police I lost those toes in an accident- they'd believe him in an instant. They wouldn't have a choice. Until he died none of us realized exactly what he was. What he'd been doing to the animals on the farm or the children at school."

"The psychic dies, their illusions sometimes go with them. No one knows why," the guard sighed. "The policy- meeting before you leave- that's because of a psychic with the same damn powers. Five and a half years ago. It ended with the Falcon trying to kill Captain America, and Tony Stark conducting illegal experiments on another Avenger."

Marie nearly missed a step, "Seriously?"

"Can I tell you a secret?" Marie nodded, "They've had their eye on you since they figured out Kyle was an inherent gifted. What files the Avengers did retrieve before the Ultron issue mentioned he had a family. That put you on a watch list."

"When you say 'They've had their eye on you', you don't mean-?" Marie's heart-rate doubled. The guard just nodded, "And they let me in the Tower still?"

"Like I said, no one believes you and Kyle have anything but parents in common. If you were a psychic, that would be a different story, but from what I've heard, you are cut from a very different cloth."

Marie was actually proud of her power, "After the first few burns from Kyle it just kind of started up. I can draw heat from any source and transfer it to another. At first it was little things- a hot drink or the air out of a hairdryer (what Kyle had tried to burn her with)- but eventually it was matches, pans from the oven, an overheated engine. Not too long before I got the packet I put out a fire on our back field!" That was the achievement she took the most joy from- and the most fear. Three kids were in the middle of that fire, and Marie had a feeling they'd seen her through the smoke.

"That's pretty awesome," the guard was impressed. Marie smiled, her nerves forgotten.

"Secret number two?" she'd wanted to say it earlier, but now was as good a time as any as they passed the third floor door. Marie nodded again, "Anaiis? She gets a bit crazy with the tourists always looking in through the windows. You shouldn't compare yourself to her. Most people who work here wear jeans and corny t-shirts. There are theme days- I kid you not I have seen our CEO herself come in dressed like it was the 1980s. You look fine. Very professional."

That helped more than the idle chatter to improve Marie's mood. Her smile grew, "Really? It's OK? Miss Ryker won't think I'm under-dressed?"

"Most people who meet Miss Ryker come in muddy or bloody. Trust me- she'd be happy if you came to the meeting in pajamas, just so long as they didn't have to clean the carpets behind you."

Marie's smile turned into a frown, "Muddy or bloody? What exactly does Miss Ryker do for Tower Security?"

"Not a thing," the guard shook her head and smiled, "Avengers security however..."

"Wait- what?" Marie stopped dead in her tracks.

"Want to take the elevator the rest of the way up? The Avengers begin on the 115th floor. It's kind of a hike." She went up the rest of the flight and swiped her badge to access the fifth floor. Marie followed, but she didn't give up the question.

"What do you mean Avengers security?"

Just inside the door was an elevator. As soon as the guard pressed the button, it opened. She ushered Marie inside and held up a hand before the girl could repeat her question. "What floor please?" a woman's voice came from the speaker above them.

"A-1."

"Of course, madam." Marie jumped as the voice changed to that of a British man, "Ah, you must be Miss Richards. Welcome to Avengers Tower."

"Is that- are you-?"

"Just Another Rather Very Intelligent System. JARVIS. I assist Master Stark and all Avengers within any of our facilities."

Marie's mouth fell open, her question was completely forgotten, "It's- it's really nice to meet you, Mister JARVIS."

"The pleasure is all mine. How are you finding New York so far?"

This was utterly unbelievable, surreal, terrifying, and amazing all rolled into one, "It's incredible. I've always wanted to come here. There are so many things to see."

There was a small ding and the doors opened, "Well, I do hope you enjoy your stay at Avengers Tower. If you would like, I can provide maps and pamphlets to any number of touring destinations in and around the city."

"Yes, please. Thank you!" she replied quickly as she followed the guard out and the doors to the elevator closed- then immediately felt stupid. He was freakin' JARVIS- he could probably hear her from anywhere in the Tower. If half the rumors were true, he could probably hear her through her own cell phone.

The guard just chuckled, then pointed at the elevator they'd exited, "That one goes to the Tower," she pointed to another directly in front of them etched with the Avengers 'A', "That's the Avengers private elevator- it goes from any of their floors to their parking garage. JARVIS operates that one by himself, it is probably the most secure elevator in the world." They were in a relatively small entryway- just the hallway the elevators were in, a door for a private stairwell, and two large mahogany doors. The floor was thickly carpeted, absorbing the sounds of their footsteps. Marie was outside of the Avengers headquarters- their home. She felt like she was trespassing on sacred ground, "You ready?"

She couldn't think of any reply but, "My legs don't work," popped out of her mouth. Her question came back to her suddenly, "What did you mean by 'Avengers security'? Who's Inessa Ryker?"

JARVIS' voice clicked back on at the question- scaring the living daylights out of Marie, "Nadya Antonia Emilia Ryker, commonly known as Inessa, Nessie, or Nessa. Avengers Codename: The Shadow."

"I was planning on breaking that to her slowly," the guard sounded slightly annoyed.

"Master Stark has misplaced a member of his team, he would like you to locate him. It is quite urgent," Marie was breaking out in a cold sweat, but JARVIS' words barely registered. It didn't sound like something the guard could even help with. Unless-

No way, not possible.

"Is it Thomas?"

There's no way.

"Yes, it is."

Holy mother of god.

"Alright, hold on. But make sure Tony knows he totally screwed me over." The guard raised her hand and a young man appeared in front of them in a burst of black mist, "Stop wandering off!" she lowered it and the man vanished the same way.

There was a pause, then JARVIS came back on, "Master Stark sends his apologies and gratitude."

The guard looked over at Marie apologetically, "Sorry... It's- in my experience it's easier to interview people if they don't know they're being interviewed."

"You're-" Marie's voice was a squeak. She clamped a shaking hand over her mouth.

"Inessa, Nessie, Nessa, like he said, I'll answer to any of those."

Marie shouldn't have taken her hand off her mouth, because when she did, "But you're human?" came out. Instantly, she was red with embarrassment.

"That's been debated," Inessa just shrugged. "The media decided a long time ago I wasn't, I just never corrected them."

"Avengers Black Ops... Why does Avengers Black Ops need to meet with me?" she was in a complete daze.

Inessa thought for a moment, then nodded to herself, "Meeting's over. Now it's a job offer."

All that came out was a squeak.

Inessa held out a hand and an envelope appeared in a small puff of mist. Marie recognized the handwriting on it, but it didn't seem possible, "After what you did with that fire your mother sent us a letter. You've kept a small enough profile we didn't know for sure what your powers were, but she laid them out for us. The fire got our attention- but your other work was what impressed us. You've lowered children's fevers, kept temperatures down in your school when the AC broke during a heatwave-"

"The kids were getting sick-"

"-and suddenly the whole school is a cool 68 degrees."

"I'm not a hero," Marie didn't know how to express what she was thinking, "I'm not enough to be anything like that."

Inessa frowned, "Not enough what?"

"Not brave enough-"

"You ran into a burning field to save 3 kids."

"Not smart enough-"

"Third in your class."

"Not... unusual enough."

"Right," Inessa nodded, "because everyone has your powers."

"Not special enough," Marie was getting frustrated, she didn't like having to explain why she was unqualified for the greatest job in the world anyone, including her, would kill to even dream of being offered.

"Do you know who I am?"

Marie nodded, "The Shadow."

She shook her head, "A kid with a German-Russian father, Russian mother, born in Kazakhstan, raised in Chicago. I grew up mostly in soup kitchens with an alcoholic uncle calling me 'little bitch' ever since I was 5. I half-lived in the public library because at least there was heat and warm water. Captain America? He was a runty guy with a voice too deep for his scrawny little body essentially squatting in his apartment after his parents died during the Great Depression. His life expectancy was what- 30? Optimistically? Hawkeye ran away from foster care and joined the circus. I could tell you 30 stories of 30 Avengers who's origins are just as 'un-special' as yours. Thor and Tony Stark are really the only ones exceptional from the beginning, or at least they pretend so. Vision? He's just an odd case across the board." Marie laughed slightly.

"None of us are anything more than people doing our best to help. We just have more tricks up our sleeves than some- and that's not even a requirement to be an Avenger. Agent 13 doesn't have any superpowers, but she's the Lieutenant of Captain America's team. My lieutenant is a weird Asian kid with a weird name who's claim to fame is that his IQ is very very high. That could be a superpower- we're really not sure if it's natural or not. Like I said, he's got a lot of weird going on." That got a bigger laugh.

Inessa smiled, "You don't have to accept the offer right now. In fact, for anyone with parents or guardians it isn't allowed. You've got to go inside, get the fear-inducing-speech about how you'll probably see horrible things or die a horrible death for one week straight, and only then are you offered the job for real."

"A week?" Marie was stunned, "I get to come visit Avengers Tower every day for a week?"

"Oh no, you don't visit. You stay here for a week. Meet the teams- Thor, Steve, and myself are in-residence here, so that's 11 Avengers. Talk to them, shadow on a few missions- pun intended- and decide if it's what you want to do."

"That sounds fair, actually..." What the hell, right? Doesn't dad always say try something before you say you can't do it? If I screw it up at least I can tell the story of how I was almost an Avenger, not how I turned down the chance at being one? She wanted to accept more than anything, she just had trouble saying it. "If you really think I'm anything near Avengers material..." Marie looked away.

"Come on. Let's get out of the hallway."

Walking into the lobby of Avengers Tower was as surreal as the rest of her visit. The layout and interior were never revealed to the general public, and Marie had always imagined something in chrome with shining white floors and a big circular meeting table surrounded by flat screen monitors with feeds from every news station in the world. In reality it was nothing short of homey.

The Lobby was a large space, mostly filled with low-back leather couches and recliners. Several low coffee tables were stacked with books, files, or forgotten coffee mugs in all shapes, sizes, and designs (Marie expected some official Avengers design, not a Hodge-podge of musical-themed mugs, ceramic animals, and very sarcastic jokes). The ceiling was two stories high and criss-crossed with beams and rafters, many of which appeared to be home to cup holders, tables, and throw pillows braced against the wall, as if people spent hours up there. Of course Marie thought, Hawkeye and his team must go up there when they visit. Most of the wall to her right was one massive window overlooking New York and a tremendous balcony. It had benches, several potted plants, two helicopter pads (one was silver for some reason), and even an outdoor kitchen area.

"Home sweet home," Inessa smiled. "Any Avenger team can come to the Tower- it's equipped to handle all of them if need be, but Steve Rogers, Thor, and myself are the permanent residents these days. If you ever need to find me just go out to the Avengers elevator or head up the stairs- my level is marked with my symbol- the wolf head. Hammer is Thor, shield is Steve."

As Marie gaped, two people came out from a side hall- an Asian boy (Marie wondered if that was who Inessa had been talking about) and a tall Amazon-esque girl. They wore gym clothes and were arguing over who won a sparring match. The guy glanced over and saw Marie and the conversation immediately stopped. He froze in place, the girl glanced over, and the boy slowly reached up to tap just in front of his ear, "Attention all Tower Avengers. Attention all Avengers," his voice was flat-automatic, "New person spotted in lobby. Fresh meat. I repeat. Fresh meat."

"Oh brother," Inessa rolled her eyes and patted Marie on the shoulder, "I'm about to lose you to a mob. Before you're hijacked-" she pointed to the boy and the girl, who was still watching, intrigued, "the guy is Amadeus Cho, my lieutenant. The girl is Noelle Martinez. Both of them are Shadow Unit, so stick by Noelle to learn the ropes, and stick by Amadeus to see what not to do." Inessa's tone was playful and she spoke loudly enough for them to hear.

Several footsteps echoed down a set of stairs on the far side of the lobby, accompanied by talking and random shouts. Six people came down at once. Inessa held up her hands to stop them, "Don't scare her away." she gave Marie a light shove towards the group and they immediately swarmed her, asking questions and introducing themselves and overall acting surprisingly like most young adults. "Cho- I need you for a second."

"I'll catch up to you later," Amadeus called to the others as they swept Marie up towards the other levels of the Tower. He came over to Inessa with his trademark grin, "What's up boss?"

Inessa waited for Noelle to head up the steps behind the mob. She pulled out her tinted contact lenses while they waited and tossed them in a nearby bin. As soon as Noelle disappeared her smile vanished. An ice cold glare replaced it (expertly emphasized by the silver eyes) and Amadeus gulped, "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Tell me what?" he tried to smile, but Inessa didn't budge. He imagined he could hear Nadya growling- wait, was it imagination? He turned around to check.

"You're a shit liar Amadeus. I know you've been looking for him. This is the third time. You didn't even know him. No one else wants him here, so why won't you let it go?"

Amadeus sighed, "During the Civil War, while you stayed behind to keep an eye on Tony, Steve saved my life. He stopped the goons that dickhead Pythagoras sent after me and he did everything he could to try and save my family. He doesn't talk about it, but I know it bothers him what happened all those years ago. I'm not trying to bring him in. I just want to track him down for Steve and give him the option of talking it out. It's the least I could do to repay him. Besides, I don't see how it's a big deal- I've never even gotten close. The guy's off the grid."

Inessa shook her head, "Steve's the one who made the rule at his request. If he wanted to find him again, he'd ask. I'll keep your latest attempt quiet, but no more." Amadeus looked away and Inessa followed his motion so he was forced to maintain eye contact with her, "Promise me, or-"

"-or you'll throw me out of the Avengers?" it was the posted punishment- though only Amadeus was stubborn enough to test that.

"Worse. Stop looking or I quit the Avengers and you have to lead the Shadow Unit."

"Killing me would be kinder." Amadeus liked to be a member of the team- not a leader. It was a genuinely terrifying notion.

"Promise me." Inessa wouldn't let it go.

Amadeus looked away, but she waited, patient. After a few grumbles and a sigh he finally caved, "I swear on Thanos' bloated purple corpse burning in the crater of a volcano that on the threat of the pain of leadership I won't go looking for him again." he looked at Inessa, "And this time I mean it."

"Thank you." Inessa nodded towards the stairs to signal to Amadeus that he was free to go join the others. He wanted to abandon the Avengers. That was his decision. Inessa was not about to allow anyone to bring James Buchanan Barnes back into Avengers Tower.

Chapter 2: The Nomad

#marvel #avengers #my writing

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keaalu · 7 years ago

Text

Remember Me, chapter one

Title (chapter): Remember Me (01)

Series: Transformers, G1-based “Blue” AU

Rating: PG-13

Notes: In which the coneheads have a fairly simple job to do, but Ramjet is pretty confident one of them (probably Dirge) will still manage to screw it up.

“I’m sure I could hit him from here.”

“We’re not meant to be shooting him, Dirge. We’re not meant to be drawing attention to ourselves yet. Or did you forget that part? Again?”

Sitting on a distant cliff right on the territorial limit of Vos, Ramjet had a headache coming on. He still didn’t understand precisely why Megatron had sent his trine back here, unless it was to get shot of the three of them for an orn or two. (Which Ramjet could understand; he’d have liked to be able to ditch his wingmates for a couple of orns, as well.) It wasn’t like this played into any of their specific skillsets. Spying on the former command trine was the whole reason mechs like Soundwave existed. They didn’t have a whole lot to show for their trip, so far.

And now he had to deal with a bored, argumentative Dirge. Sure, Ramjet loved his wingbros, but they really made his helm hurt sometimes – even more than flying into slag did, and he was actually engineered for that.

Ramjet tuned his brother out, returning his attention to the matter at hand. After Soundwave had picked up on some carelessly unguarded Autobot chatter that suggested there was going to be some sort of official celebration in the coming orns, the three coneheads had been sent back to Cybertron to get a feel for what was going on.

That idiot spacebridge guard had even asked them if they were coming for ‘that Vos thing?’ and had happily let them through when they’d lied that of course they were; what else would they be going back to Cybertron for?

They’d arrived to find the ‘thing’ involved Vos – correction, New Vos – being on the cusp of being recognised as an autonomous city-state once again. The celebration was the official recognition of that fact. Looking at the news reports, half the damn planet was going to be attending.

And Ramjet, one of a small number of pure-sparked Vosians, who’d survived Tarn’s attack, and dug out Primus-only-knew-how-many survivors, and fought against the Autobots that had wanted to keep them all grounded, and actually defended that ungrateful red slagger on more than one occasion instead of just letting one of Prime’s band of merry morons shoot him?

Not invited.

The white jet couldn’t help feeling just a tiny bit hurt. And vindictive.

Megatron had been cooking something up for a long time – something to permanently wipe the insufferable smirk off a certain jet’s faceplates. Ramjet was looking forwards to getting to see it.

Of course, the warlord hadn’t let all his remaining loyalists in on the details – didn’t trust them not to prematurely screw it up, Ramjet guessed. Fair precautions if Thrust was involved. All they’d been told was go to Cybertron, see what’s going on, and when you leave, make sure you leave my calling card. Preferably something that will get them to come to me.

The three uninvited mechs had quietly set up a scope on the escarpment, to watch proceedings from a discreet distance. New buildings in Vos had sprung up like weeds; even now, two small Seekers were carefully hoisting a girder to the working platform, their trine leader shouting directions down to them.

Thrust watched them with a curl in his lip. “Yeah, this looks so much better than working for Megs, of course. I’d so much rather be hauling building materials around like some dumb beast of burden.”

Ramjet kept his vocaliser carefully offline, to keep from pointing out that actually? Something about this sounded… tolerable. Something possibly even rather appealing about the idea. Coming home, helping rebuild. Not getting shot at by underclocked Autobots for the sake of a few dregs of energon.

If only it wouldn’t involve the need to thank the scarlet traitor. He was fairly confident his vocaliser would glitch out before he managed the words.

Atop an unfinished high central tower, a small group of Seekers had clustered; there were a few that Ramjet didn’t recognise, and didn’t feel inclined to try and get an ident off them, but Starscream’s ivory wings were present, of course, right in the middle. Acid Storm stood off to his left, and Thundercracker was close by on his right. That giant white Autobot bus sat in the middle of a little cluster of curious Seekers on the edge of the platform, apparently more interested in chatting with the residents and enjoying the view than contributing to the conversation.

No Skywarp, but that was no surprise. Even before ditching the ‘Cons, the mech had elevated slacking off to an art form. No great deal – he’d have probably been as useful as a cardboard blast shield to them, right now.

Ramjet wasn’t sure what they were discussing, but figured it was something political. Could never be a good sign when even your (supposed) friends didn’t really want to get involved.

Starscream’s laughter – a high, grating sound that set Ramjet’s denta on edge – was audible even over the distance between them. Nice to see some things didn’t change. He was gesticulating grandly about something, arms waving as though conducting an orchestra, although Ramjet couldn’t parse his words at this distance. In front of them, a holographic representation of part of a city hung in the air; it probably overlaid the real streets, so Starscream could demonstrate where he was thinking of building his palace, or some slag.

Ramjet glared at the back of the silver wings, as if he could somehow focus his optics into lasers and bore holes through them. The traitor actually looked good. Perhaps a fraction smaller than the conehead remembered, more lightly built, but he was clean, well-polished, and highly animated, so obviously not suffering from lack of energon. It made Ramjet feel slow and heavy – not to mention, reminded him how fragging depleted he spent most of his life.

He’d got all New Vos pledging their alliance to him, and half the dirt-crawlers in the neighbouring districts. It was like a giant middle finger to Megatron, and the dwindling number of remaining Decepticon loyalists. Ha ha, look at me, bribing all these suckers with gifts and false promises. They’re such a gullible bunch of idiots, it’s truly shameful your mighty leader couldn’t lie so convincingly as me.

It’s not our fault we’re stuck on Dirt, on the wrong side of the space bridge, dealing with underclocked Autobots who just have no idea of when to fragging quit.

“I definitely could hit him from this distance. Might even be able to knock half the other slagheads off in the process.”

Yeah, that headache wasn’t going to get any better any time soon. Ramjet glanced up at Dirge, who perched on the very top of the escarpment, cannons up, making a big show of measuring his aim.

“It’s not about whether or not you’re physically capable…” the white jet sighed and covered his face with one hand. “We’re not meant to be shooting him, Dirge, or we’d have done it already. It’ll blow our cover, if nothing else.”

“Your life wouldn’t be worth living if the Boss found out you offed him, anyway,” Thrust added, from his ledge further down the rockface. “You know he’s been fantasising about finally killing the slagmunch for vorns. He might kill you in his stead. Then we’d have to find some other depressive loser to make our numbers back up.”

Dirge made a little noise of displeasure and folded his arms. “This from the mech that watches far too much human-made entertainment, and is always complaining that the bad guy doesn’t just kill the hero when they get the chance.”

Thrust vented a snort and finally looked up at his wingmate. “We’re calling the Screamer a hero, now?”

Dirge ignored him. “Anyway, I never said anything about killing the fragger. I just want to knock that obnoxious smirk off his faceplates.”

“Fine.” Ramjet glared back into his scope. “If you can do it without him raising the alarm, feel free. But if you ruin this whole plan that we’ve been working on for the last quarter vorn? You’re on your own. You can rescue yourself when they come hunting you. And when Megatron comes for your wingtips.”

Dirge went quiet, muttering to himself. “Just wish he didn’t look so fragging smug. And comfortable.”

“Yeah, speaking of which,” Thrust glanced up at his wingleader, “remind me why WE haven’t ditched the ‘Cons and come home, like those three losers?”

Ramjet glared back, but without much heat, and Thrust didn’t back down. Why indeed. “Because we know the meaning of loyalty, to the mech that scraped us up out of the gutter while Vos burned? We don’t owe these traitors anything.”

“You act like they’d even let the likes of you in, in the first place,” Dirge sniped. “We half-smelted guttermechs have no place in Cybertronian high society.” He waved a hand, airily. “Why are you suddenly so interested, anyway?”

“Because it looks nice, over there? It’s not some stupid tin can on the bottom of the ocean on a planet of dirt? We could have it made, over there. Comfortable. Not starving all the time?” Thrust glared up at him. “If a buncha soft-sparked Autobots and wibbly neutrals let Starscream come live here, without even separating him from his spark for war crimes, why aren’t we getting in on the action?”

Dirge snorted and used one thruster to give his burgundy twin a shove-kick to the head. “’Cause you’d get shot at before you even get to say ‘hi, how’s it going?’? You know those three are territorial as it gets. You saw what they did to Astrotrain, and that was just for roughing up one of Skywarp’s femmes.”

Thrust rubbed his helm and pouted. “That’s why you broadcast something friendly while you’re still out of range of fire?”

“Yeah, and I got you a massive white sheet to wave while you’re at it.”

“You know what? That wouldn’t actually hurt to have.”

“Guys,” Ramjet groaned, finally lifting his head from his hands. “Did you ever think the reason we’re a laughing stock that never get anything done is ‘cause you two spend all your time bickering?”

Two sets of hostile crimson optics glared back at him.

Dirge leaned subtly closer; “Right, so, nothing at all to do with the fact our de facto wingleader’s a waste of space whose only solution to problems is to headbutt them?”

Ramjet came halfway up into a crouch and Dirge hastily stumbled backwards out of range. “Where you’re just all noise, and no substance? Right,” he sneered. “Anyway. If this all works, you might get your wish, Thrust.” He picked up the scope. “Come on. We’ve got one more job to do before we can head back to Dirt.”

New Vos was separated from Deixar by the districts of Tysta and Surkea. Surkea was still a derelict ruin, but Tysta had plenty of high perches a mech could put down on to watch the goings-on below, and plan their next steps.

Dirge peered through the scope. “All right, so I could understand watching the Screamer, but why are we spying on a bunch of grounders?”

“Remember the second part of Megatron’s instructions?”

“Leave a calling card?”

“Right. And you clocked that one of the dirt-crawlers is Skywarp’s brat, right?”

“Like any of us could forget,” Dirge drawled, sourly, folding his arms “Point being?”

“Point being, you unimaginative troglodyte, if we want their attention, how better to get it?”

#remember me #transformers #blue au #ramjet #thrust #dirge

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