#connects him to his research as Dr Banner later on

[theshadowrealmitself]

Current thoughts: An au where the Avengers still have Bruce/Hulk but although they know Bruce very well, they don’t know the Hulk too well since they’ve only seen him during battles and haven’t actually gotten a chance to speak to him, so they believe what Bruce believes, that he’s just a mindless manifestation of his own rage instead of a separate personality

So everyone is taken completely off guard when Spiderman shows up and it turns out the two of them are besties and the Hulk very much has his own personality

Also, just because it’s fun to me, Spidey has never met Bruce and only knows him as “Puny Man” and from secondhand accounts he got from the Hulk that were not in Bruce’s favor at all

[wingsdreamt]

steeleidolon​:

"Yeah. Maybe you’re right.” Thoughtful, Kunsel rasps something that might be a laugh, albeit a mangled one. Combos, fighting games. The imposing First Class out there waiting to debrief on idiocy in the barracks. Laughing about it makes it easier. Joking about it helps. Helps others, helps him. If he can find humor in the gallows or in the gutter, no matter how stupid, maybe he can stuff all of the other emotions and pain and anxiety down into a dark little hole, compress them into carbon and then into diamond, maybe make them useful later. Or forget about them. That won’t come back to bite him in the ass, right? Problem for future Kunsel.

Then again, maybe he is a little punch-drunk. It isn’t the first scrap he has survived, it won’t be the last.

They are not too far apart, physically or in years. The epochs of their lives have been, thus far, frighteningly short, barely a blink in the grand scheme. They have already been off to fight a war that has only just passed its second sweltering summer, one that has been brewing behind closed doors since long before they were born. Old men conspire and young men die. It is how it has always been, just as those young men always heed the call, to find fame and fortune and purpose under a banner. It doesn’t matter why they are here, not really, not at the moment. All that matters is that they are here, one bloody step forward into new lives that have only begun.

Swallowing the potion around a throat bruised with fingerprints is harder than swallowing the need for stitches and further examination.

He’s been here before, literally and figuratively, but never with company. Not for something like this. There’s something both certain and uncertain about it. It flares something vicious in his gut, something protective. Sure, he ought to be irritated that someone felt the need to come to his rescue–and he might if his ego hinged on anything more than survival. On the other hand, though, Zack may have made himself a target.

Kunsel isn’t so certain that a change of departments will shield them from jealousy, from enmity, from people who ought to be their own. Bullies deserve derision.

They don’t know what they don’t know, but they do proceed through their tests and scans as expected for those recently involved in a brawl.

Dr. Halsey is competent. Patient. Efficient. Perhaps her compassion will survive the distance she requires from her work. Perhaps she will survive the stresses of working with SOLDIER as handily as she did out on the field. Time will tell.

Angeal awaits them in the outpatient recovery room. Services on this side of the house, Medical connected with Science, are more comprehensive than those available to the Infantry. SOLDIER has more specialized needs. After all, every single one of them carries the results of classified research and technology in their blood and bones. Whatever can be done to ease their transition mitigates risks to non-enhanced individuals.

Better, it is quiet here. Peaceful, isolated from the bustle and noise of the hallway interchange. The lights are dialed down, comfortable for enhanced eyeballs. When they emerge, he snaps his flip-phone shut.

“Gentlemen. At ease,” he anticipates the performative aspects drilled into them and gestures to the padded bench across from his seat. They find their rucksacks there, somewhat worse for wear but nevertheless recovered from the infantry barracks. “Courtesy of Sergeant Isaaks. Take a moment to get your bearings, then walk me through what happened.”

He isn’t the only one. He can’t be the only one. There is something more he can contribute to this world than sheltering away in a bubble of ignorance in the backwater jungles of the western continent. If he didn’t take steps to realize his dreams, truly and fully, then why even bother showing up in the morning?

So many of his peers have already been crushed by the weight of their own goals. Or worse. 

He has to make it all worthwhile, somehow. Even if it means taking a step backward. Even if it means sticking his nose where it doesn't belong in fights where he is bound to get his ass beat. A little fib here, a little obfuscating there, better to let everyone think he’s reckless or stupid instead of a hopeful optimist. Because the latter is infinitely less desirable in this city, and Shinra needs bodies more than it needs dreamers. 

Zack grimaces in both relief and discomfort as the potion metabolizes, alleviating the soreness in his ribs to a degree. Dr. Halsey and her team tend to what they can. 

The rest is up to them. 

They don’t know each other. He has no reason to think Kunsel would even care or like him after this. They were able to joke and laugh about being made into fleshy punching bags together, so there’s kind of an argument that they can be considered friends.

“Man. Can you believe it?” Zack tries to sound calm and collected about their upcoming transition from PubSec to SOLDIER, but masking his giddiness is practically impossible as they take the short egress between the clinical space and adjoining room. Zack throws his arms into the air with a skip in his step, only to shrink back in on himself immediately. That had been a total mistake. Regret stretches his lips into a wince. He grins through it. “Ouch, heh. Still. We’re gonna be in SOLDIER!”

The automatic doors part to let them through and Zack does a marginally better job of schooling his expression closer to neutral for the sake of formalities. Formalities that they are relieved of for the time being as Angeal turns to greet them. 

“Thank you, sir! And our regards to Sergeant Isaaks as well.” He’s far happier about not having to replace all his socks than he lets on. Zack pauses briefly to glance at Kunsel. He decides to take initiative when the beat of silence is not immediately broken. Objective, factual. Despite (he believes) the obvious fact that that had been a little more than just old fashioned hazing. 

“Sir! I just finished packing and was on my way to find out my proposed reassignment. I investigated a disturbance within the barracks. Based on what I saw: four men on their feet, focused on a single target who was already lying on the ground, I assessed that deescalation was not an option. I determined that the best course of action to minimize critical injuries for the involved parties would be to…get my butt kicked…Sir.” 

Wait.

Did he lead with ‘sir’ already? Damn it.

[softbiker]

Bucky Barnes Oneshot

Warnings: a couple of bad words

Word Count: 3.6k

Summary: After being injured on a mission, Bucky winds up spending a day with the Avengers newest recruit. Bucky x Reader

A/N: This is my submission for @nacho-bucky ‘s writing challenge! My prompt was ‘the smell of freshly baked bread’. As a side note, I drank a whole pot of coffee yesterday and wrote this in one afternoon, so it’s also unedited :) As always, let me know what you think! 

By the time the quinjet is an hour out from New York, Bucky Barnes is in an irredeemably foul mood.

Breaking up terror cells in Germany was supposed to be an easy mission - in and out, with the practiced ease of their well-oiled strike team. Really, they took the mission to spare German special forces the trouble...that, and a potential connection to an old Red Room contact of Natasha’s. With their “dream team” (Sam’s words, not Bucky’s) of Cap, Bucky, Sam, and Natasha, this should have been a light op, a scrimmage, Nerf ball.

Turns out superheroing is a contact sport, and they’ve got the bombs and broken ribs to prove it. A train station, a decoy, and an explosive device Natasha failed to disarm. With Sam coordinating civilian evacuation, there had only been a couple dozen injuries, but the suspect had slipped away, leaving them bruised and empty-handed.

Bucky had taken a brutal hit as he pulled Nat to safety, and now he is curled in his seat on the jet, metal hand holding his ribcage. He watches Steve scowl in the cockpit, jaw unflinchingly tight as he goes over the mission in his head. The captain doesn’t know how to let things go - never has, never will. Sam is actually piloting the quinjet, making unreturned small talk about a basketball game he went to last weekend. Natasha sits across from Bucky, a Stark tablet in her hands, dissecting bomb schematics and diagrams of diffusion techniques. There’s a little scab of dried blood on her bottom lip that she pokes at with her tongue, red brows lowered in concentration.

Bucky is exhausted - his hair smells like dust and smoke, his mouth is tangy and dry. There’s dried sweat underneath his uniform and he itches and his feet are hot in his boots and his ribs really fucking hurt. He lets his head fall back against the seat, and wishes they were home already.

**********

She pops her head up over the back of the couch when she hears them. What a sight they make: Bucky, propped up on Steve’s shoulder, Natasha dust-covered and buried in her tablet, Sam still sweaty and tugging at the harness on his suit. She still smiles, tentative but kind.

“Hi guys.” She lifts her fingers in a little wave. “Everyone okay?”

Bucky grunts in response; Natasha says nothing, making a beeline for her room and a shower. Sam, without doubt the most talkative person on the team, props himself on a stool and blows a harsh breath past his lips.

“We’re alright, yeah,” he sighed. “Barnes is a little beat up but he’ll get over it - he’s just  dramatic.”

“Fuck you, too, Wilson.” Bucky flips Sam off over his shoulder as they hobble towards the elevators.

She winces, not yet used to their harsh banter.

“Hey man, be nice in front of the rookie, alright?” Sam hollers, mock-offended. “You’re creating a hostile work environment!”

Steve chuckles a little at that, jostling Bucky’s tender ribs, which makes him scowl at his best friend.

“Bucky is a hostile work environment,” Steve deadpans. They’ve reached the elevator, and shuffle inside, turning to face the common room. Bucky catches the rookie’s eyes as she giggles behind her hand.

“She’s fine,” he rolls his eyes, sparing a wink for the rookie. “When I make it hostile, bird brain, you’ll know.”

The elevator doors close, and he leans on Steve a little heavier, and jabs his elbow into Steve’s stomach.

“Thanks a lot for that, by the way,” he huffs.

“What?” Steve feigns innocence, and very poorly. “Didn’t know you were so worried about making a good impression on the rookie.”

“I’m - I’m not.”

“Uh huh.”

“Shut up.”

They meet Dr. Banner in the medical wing where his lab adjoins the clinic; Sam had messaged him half an hour ago that they were inbound with a broken supersoldier, and Bruce had taken the liberty of setting up some of his supplies. Of all the doctors on staff, Bucky favored Dr. Banner - he was mild and soft-spoken enough to not trigger Bucky’s anxiety, in spite of the needles and IV drips and the snapping of latex gloves.

An X-ray and some bandages later, Bucky is removed from the active duty list for two weeks.

“Even with your advanced healing factor, I wanna be careful with this,” Bruce says, taking off his glasses to scratch the side of his nose. “I mean, your medical history is a little blurry, to say the least - and with all the shit HYDRA pulled, who knows what kind of stress your bones have been through before.” He taps away on his tablet, notifying FRIDAY and the admin system to remove Bucky from the roster. “In the meantime, take it easy - no missions, no training, no lifting weights. Probably avoid the motorcycle, too. I’ll check on them again in two weeks, and we’ll go from there.”

Steve is nodding - he never leaves Bucky by himself in medical - and crosses his arms. Neither of them have changed out of their uniforms yet, and in this sterile observation room, Bucky can finally smell the layers of grime and sweat clinging to them. His nose wrinkles when he gets a little whiff of himself, feeling bad for the nurse who bandaged his ribs.

“Oh I almost forgot -” Bruce turns around and reaches for something on his lab bench. A little blue bottle, full of round white pills. “Here. I developed these for the two of you - since you metabolize normal painkillers so quickly, I figured we might need something that would work in the event you sustain heavy injuries which…well, seemed likely. Take 2 every 4 hours, okay?”

His metal fingers grip the little bottle, rattling the tablets inside.

“Sure thing, doc.”

**********

She lifts the hem of her shirt, wiping at the sweat on her forehead, and leans against the wall of the gym. Her breath comes in short pants as her chest heaves, trying to cool down from her last bout with Agent Romanoff.

“Heads up.”

Her hands barely make it up in time to catch the flying water bottle headed for her face.

“Good catch,” Romanoff smirks a little. She’s sweating, too, but in a way that’s decidedly more sexy, little red curls hanging by her face. She looks fresh from a Pilates class, not a suicide workout - the rookie can feel the heat of her own face, the sweat drenching her clothes, and knows she’s not nearly as glowing as her trainer.

“You did really good today,” Romanoff continues. She keeps saying to call her “Natasha” but that is so hard to do with a woman so intimidating her alias is one of the world’s deadliest animals. “Really good. You’ve shown tons of improvement since we started. I’m going to recommend we start letting you shadow on missions in a couple more weeks.”

“Wow, really?” Her face lit up in spite of her exhaustion.

“Sure.” Natasha smiles. “I know it’s gotten a little boring, having you go through all of this.”

“Boring” was an understatement. Despite having a few years of experience under her belt - well, according to Tony Stark, vigilantism barely counts as “experience” - the rookie was assigned to a training program for her first couple of months on the team.

“Too much of a risk to put you in the field right away,” Stark had rattled off, handing her forms to sign and an official t-shirt (‘Look Mom! I’m an Avenger!’) and a tablet with a map of the compound. “Legal says we can avoid liability issues with a training program before we gradually phase you in, and I’m inclined to agree, so! Welcome to the team, but not officially!”

Her days consisted of early morning workouts, followed by combat and tactical training with Black Widow herself, and then...well, not much. There was research, of course, and she stayed on top of the intelligence briefings with the rest of the team. She went to meetings and official dinners and unofficial karaoke nights, but the rest of her time was mostly her own. Frankly, she was chomping at the bit to get back out there, in the action. Helping people.

“Well, hopefully it’ll pay off,” she sighs, giving Agent Romanoff an exhausted smile. “I wouldn’t want to be the weak link on the team.”

“You won’t be, believe me,” Natasha shakes her head. With a glance at her watch, she picks up her own water bottle and heads for the door. “Now I’ve gotta run, Skype meeting with Fury in 5. I’ll see you later, Rookie!”

**********

Bucky Barnes was feeling good.

Like, damn good.

Like, ‘Banner should label his controlled substances’ good.

Thing is, post-HYDRA and post-fugitive and post-cognitive reconstruction therapy, Bucky was more mentally okay than he had been in decades. He had the occasional rough day, and he definitely wasn’t perfect by any means, but with the shrinks that Stark had on retainer, he was getting better at dealing with it all. His physical health, however, was more of a moving target. In spite of receiving a bastardized supersoldier serum, he had been pumped full of so much other shit and gone through so much physical stress that his body had fundamentally shifted equilibrium. Multiple appointments with Dr. Cho and Shuri revealed that his chronic pain may never fully heal - if it did, it would be a very gradual process. Normal painkillers in reasonable doses did nothing for him, so Bucky settled in to his discomfort, carrying it the way he carried his knives and his scars - always.

24 hours into his medical leave, a few doses of pills down, and he couldn’t feel a single ounce of pain in his body - he shifted his awareness to each part of himself, like that guided meditation thing Wanda did sometimes, and he couldn’t find the pain, not even lurking behind the muscle and metal. He might be a little miffed at being off the active duty roster, but if his whole vacation is going to feel like this? Well, he doesn’t mind to let Steve handle the next threat to world peace.

With his schedule suddenly wide open, Bucky wonders what he’ll do with his day. He can’t remember the last time he truly had nothing to do - it’s an exciting prospect. So he lets himself ease through his morning, sleeping in, long hot shower, slipping on those plush Black Widow pajama pants Nat gave him as a gag gift. He knows everyone else will have had their breakfast and moved on to morning briefings and training drills by now, and he wanders down to the kitchen in the hopes that they’ve left him some coffee.

He sees her there, perched on a stool at the island and frowning at the tablet in her hand. There’s a little scrunch to her nose when she does that, he notices.

“Good morning,” he says softly, trying and failing not to startle her.

“Oh, hey Bucky,” she smiles, watches him round the island to the coffee pot on the counter. “I didn’t see you there.”

“S’okay. I’m quiet.”

“You didn’t get tapped for the recovery mission? They’re going after your suspect from Berlin again, I think.”

“Oh, I’m off missions for two weeks.” He turns, giant ‘Don’t forget to be awesome’ mug gripped in his metal hand. “Banner’s orders. You didn’t hear about my smashed ribs?”

“Oh no, I guess not - are you okay?” Suddenly she’s concerned, and a little sheepish. “Sorry, I’m still a little out of the loop I guess.”

He feels guilty for that - she’s eager, bright, kind, a brilliant recruit. But it can take a while before you’re ‘in’ with the team. Not because they exclude her, but, well - a group made up of outsiders has a hard time adding new faces to the mix.

“Don’t apologize. Not your fault.” Bucky digs around in a jar on the counter for a few sugar packets, dumping them into his mug. “Anyways, I’m off the roster for now. Gotta figure out something to do with myself, I guess.”

Her smile is slow, ducked under pretty lashes - he really needs to stop noticing these things.

“Would you - I mean, you can hang out with me if you want?” She chews on her lip. “I’m done for today - my training with Natasha ended early and they didn’t need me in on the briefing so…”

The rookie was lonely - he could see that, anyone could. The fact is, between their own training and missions, it had been a little hard for the team to spend very much time with her. Bucky himself was often a bit of a loner in his free time, preferring to hole up in his room with books and movies rather than go out for drinks or another karaoke night. And yet, he found himself feeling eager at the thought of spending a relaxing day with the new recruit, getting to know her a little, hearing that funny little laugh through her nose.

“Sounds great, Rookie - what did ya have in mind?”

**********

“Okay, I just wanna go on the record and say I called it. I called it!” She’s grinning. “I knew you would love this.”

“Well, hey, in my defense, I’ve never hated beautiful women.”

She just rolls her eyes, kicks her feet out to rest on the coffee table in front of them. There’s a pile of DVD’s, all hers, laying across the surface, picked through and ranked in order of what was most important for Bucky to see. His film education was obviously lacking, considering he missed out on 70 years of movies, and didn’t even know what he liked anymore, so he was content to let her pick. After raiding the kitchen for an array of snacks, they settled in, opposite ends of the same couch with a bowl of popcorn and dark chocolate M&M’s between them.

Approximately 20 minutes into the movie, Steve appears, just passing through for an apple from the fridge. He stops in his tracks behind the couch, the crunch of the fruit in his mouth just above their heads.

“What is this?” he says around his mouthful. If his Ma could see him now, Bucky thinks.

“It’s called ‘How to Marry a Millionaire’ - came out in 1953,” she answers, smiling over her shoulder at him. “It’s one of my favorites honestly.”

“That’s - that’s Lauren Bacall!” Steve perks up, smacking Bucky’s shoulder.

“Yeah, punk,” Bucky rolls his eyes. “Betty Grable’s in it, too.”

“No shit!” Steve is grinning now, and he gives the rookie a conspiratorial look. “Y’know, Bucky used to have her pin-up poster. The one in the white bathing suit? Had it in his suitcase when he shipped out.”

“Oh, really?” She’s looking at him now, eyes sparkling at the rosy blush climbing up Bucky’s cheeks. “Betty Grable, huh?”

He clears his throat. “Well, everybody had that picture, I mean...it’s famous for a reason. All the boys had ‘em.”

“No, no, I get that,” she shrugs. “I just had you pegged as more the Rita Hayworth type, that’s all.”

It takes him back for a second, Steve too, that she knows these starlets, that they could’ve been having this same conversation 75 years ago. He can see that look in Steve’s eyes, sly and knowing as they slide towards him. Bucky works his mouth, tries to control his smile.

“Well, nothing wrong with her either,” he drawls, spreading his arms along the back of the couch. “But did you see Grable’s legs?”

“I just thought you might’ve had a thing for redheads!” she laughs.

“They’re alright, I guess - now Dugan on the other hand…”

Neither of them notices Steve leave the room, tossing the apple in his hand and a huge dopey grin on his face.

**********

“Tell me again what the recipe says?”

“One cup of pumpkin puree.”

“Oh - shit, I thought you said one can.”

She smacks her forehead. “No wonder the batter is so goopy!” She rolls her eyes playfully. “You’re trying to ruin my bread, Barnes.”

“I swear I’m not, doll - it was an accident.”

“Okay, new plan - we just make a double batch since the can has two cups in it.”

She shuffles around behind him, grabbing her flour and sugar and sour cream and other ingredients, hands flurrying to measure and fix the dough. It’s mid-afternoon now, a couple of movies down, and they (she) decided they needed to get in the fall spirit by baking a ridiculous amount of...breads. The banana bread is already in the oven, the pumpkin will be on its way as soon as she fixes his mistake, and a blueberry bread (made from muffin mix) is next on the list.

“But...what’s so special about making it into breads?” He had asked, causing her to look at him like an idiot.

“Ask me that again after you try them, Bucky.”

So he shut up and cracked eggs and sifted flour, stirring when her arm got tired. He was already regretting his words now that the smell of the banana bread was drifting towards him from the ovens, and he had to admit the pumpkin and cinnamon from her bowl was making his stomach growl. With all the bowls and measuring cups laying around, they were making enough sweet breads to feed an army, but hey - the Avengers are practically a small army of their own. And besides, Bucky intends on taking an entire loaf - baker’s privilege.

He decides that he likes watching her work, bouncing around the kitchen, some oldies playlist on the speakers, her tongue poking out between her lips. She’s got her sweater sleeves pushed up over her elbows - he had to help with that, after she got dough on them. This song is good, too, and he wants to ask her who wrote it-

“Are you gonna stand there staring at me, or are you gonna help?” she quips over her shoulder. He has no idea when he last smiled so much.

“You’re the boss, Rookie.”

**********

She’s got her feet in his lap now, and they haven’t said a word in an hour, and Bucky doesn’t even remember taking his last dose or two of his pain pills but he doesn’t feel a goddamn thing.

There’s a huge book in her lap, Stephen King - a favorite, he’s learned.

“I read at least one of his books every year in October,” she tells him. “You know, to get ready for spooky season.”

“Spooky season? What the hell is that?”

“You know, Halloween time!” she smacks his arm. “It’s Halloween first, Buck, you gotta get in the spirit.”

“I’m -” he sputters, face drawn in the most adorably confused look. “Halloween first?”

She hands him a book of his own and now here they are - he’s 20 pages into The Shining, but he’s stopped paying attention because she’s yawning behind her book and her eyes are fluttering shut, and it shouldn’t be as distracting as it is.

He forces his eyes down to his own page, to Jack Torrance and haunted hotels, but they’re drawn back up when her book finally drops the rest of the way to her lap. Her head slumps sideways onto the back of the couch, mouth open just a little. He draws the blanket down around her feet and tucks it in a little tighter, but other than that, doesn’t move a muscle. He’s just fine right here, thank you.

He’s sinking in again, driving up the twisting mountain road to the Overlook, when his phone buzzes in his pocket. Carefully - in the way highly trained superspies can be careful - he lifts his hips up and pulls his phone from his pocket, managing not to dislodge her feet or wake her up. She merely sighs in her sleep, nuzzling her face into the couch pillow. A text notification from team group message lights up the screen.

It’s Natasha. A photo, a photo which she somehow managed to take without him knowing, of him and the rookie, practically snuggling on the couch and reading together. Her legs are propped over his lap, and Bucky’s eyes are staring straight at her over the top of his book. Nat has captioned the photo: “looks like Barnes found a good nurse.”

He snorts a little. Natalia. Glances up at her, still sleeping, and tilts his phone upwards a few degrees and snaps a picture to send back.

“She sleeps on the job” he types, thumbs still slow on the phone keyboard. Instantly, his phone starts buzzing with more texts from the team, but he mutes it and lays his phone on the coffee table. He doesn’t feel like talking now. Well, talking to them.

“Hey...Rookie,” he whispers, reaching out and shaking her shoulder a little. She hums in her sleep, but makes no other move.

“Rookie, I gotta ask you something.” He wiggles her leg a little, shaking her feet in his lap, and whispers her name. He’s rewarded with her eyes fluttering open, her mouth drawn down in a pout at being woken up.

“Whatisit,” she sighs, still slumped into the cushions. He clears his throat. Here goes nothing.

“So, there’s a charity gala for the Stark Foundation coming up next weekend,” he starts bravely. “And - and the whole team is going anyway, so I know you’re gonna be there, but - well, maybe you would consider going...with me?” Courage runs out, and his brain backpedals. “I mean, just as a friend?”

She huffs. “I can’t believe you woke me up for that.”

“Oh.” He looks down, hair falling in his eyes. “So...you don’t want to go with me?”

“Of course I’ll go with you, Barnes,” she sighs. “Now shush. I was napping”

His face hurts from the stretch in his cheeks when he smiles. He’s gonna give Bruce those pain meds back.

[holylulusworld]

Unwilling Spy

Request: Au, where hydra & avengers are a kingdom. The reader is married off to Steve. He's not very keen about it. The reader is Brock's adoptive sister, he raised her only so to get in avengers' secrets. The reader is oblivious to all this, she's just an innocent girl. When avengers find this out they to torture her in telling the plans & secrets. Amongst this torture, she loses her baby. Brock seeing all this surrenders. Readers fate in your hands. 

I set this AU in modern times. 

Pairing: Steve x Reader, Bruce x Reader (platonic), Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Wanda Maximoff, Brock Rumlow, Pietro Maximoff

Trigger Warnings: angst, language, torture, injured reader, violence,  blood, miscarriage (nothing too graphic), angry Bruce, fluff, comforting, OOC Natasha & Pietro

Please be aware of the trigger warnings for this fic.

You spend your days alone, just like most of your nights. Steve is a nice man, but silent and distant toward you. 

The only friend you made in your new home is Dr. Banner, a smart and kind man. When you get bored with wandering around the huge castle or reading the same book for the fifth time he allows you to help him in his laboratory or tells you things about the universe and his research.

You know Steve agreed to your marriage to seal the pact between Hydra and the Avengers, but his heart is not in it and you know it. Daily you must watch him exchanging friendly words and even jokes with all the other people in the castle, all other people but you.

“Do you want to learn more about the universe. We could have a look at the start tonight. The constellation is perfect.” Bruce smiles as you nod eagerly, knowing you feel lost in this new life you got pressed in.

“With pleasure, Bruce. I got no books left to read and Steve is…well…” Trying to find another excuse why your husband is absent you shrug. “I don’t know where he is and honestly I don’t care any longer. I…uh…” Before you can stop it you vomit right onto his feet.

“Y/N…are you okay?” Sniffling you wipe your mouth, ashamed you ruined your only friend's shoes.

“I’m so sorry, Bruce…so sorry.” Bruce ignores his shoes as he slings an arm around your shoulders to bring you into his lab. “Forget my shoes, let me check on you.”

----

Around one month later…

“What do you mean her phone is sending data to Brock’s network? Do you want me to tell Steve’s wife is a spy?” Natasha exhales as Sam points at the data traffic of your phone.

“I don’t know if she’s involved, Nat. All I can tell is that her phone is connected to Steve’s and sent information to Brock. I don’t know what to do or how to tell Steve.” Sam slams his hand onto the table, clenching his jaw.

“I’ll get the punk and we discuss everything later. Steve is away with Wanda. Let Sam and I handle this, Natasha. I know you never trusted Brock or his adopted sister, but I don’t think Y/N would do such a thing. She barely spends time in Steve’s office or with her husband. Let us outsmart Brock.” Sam and Bucky give Natasha one last warning look before they leave the office.

“Outsmart Brock…” Chuckling Natasha plays with her phone. “I’ll find a way to get the needed information out of that girl. She’s not as smart as she thinks.”

----

“Why am I here?” Sniffling you tug at the handcuffs holding your wrists to the armrests as your feet are bound to the legs of the chair. Natasha is circling you with a knife in her hand, not saying a word. “Did I do something wrong? Is Steve mad at me?”

Fear let a cold shiver run down your spine as Clint places more things onto a table. More knives, a scalpel, even a hammer. He’s silent, looks at you with pity but Natasha is the one in charge while Bucky and Sam are away, so he’s got no chance but looking away as his friend slaps your face.

Your lip splits open and tears start running down your cheeks. “Tell me about your brother's plans, slut! Now!”

Eyes wide, lips quivering you look up at Natasha, not knowing what she’s talking about. “Plans? Brock said I shall marry Steve to seal our pact. I don’t know anything about plans…I swear. Please…”

Natasha slaps your face again, harder this time and the skin breaks. Now you start whimpering as your body trembles in pain. “Shut up and stop whining. I want to know about your brother's plans. Why did he use your phone to get information? Why does he always know about Steve’s plans-huh?”

Balling her fist Natasha hits your left eye and you scream in pain, not knowing what to tell her, you start panting as the fear is overwhelming.

“I don’t know. He asks me how I’m doing every two weeks and then he asks where Steve is. I only told him that my husband is away or something. I don’t know anything about the Avengers, Steve or his plans. How could I give my brother information I do not have?”

Natasha ignores Clint’s try to stop her. Believing you are telling the truth he tries to make Natasha see you are not a spy, but she pushes him away before slapping your face once again.

Clint can’t watch your torture any longer so he runs out of the room to call Sam, Bucky or anyone he can reach to stop his commanding officer from making another mistake.

----

Half an hour later you are barely conscious. Natasha broke two fingers, hit you several more times as she yelled and cursed. 

You tried anything to make her see you don’t know about your brother's plans but she and Pietro don’t believe a single word. When Clint tried to reenter the room, he found it locked.

“Pietro, I think it’s time to show Brock what happens to people trying to trick us.” Pietro nods, starting the camera he calls Brock to send him a live stream of your martyrdom.

It takes several minutes before Brock takes the call only to gasp at the sight of your broken form in the chair.

“She’s a tough little spy, Brock. But I’m harder and ready to kill her if needed. Now tell me about your plans and how you involved this slut.” Natasha balls her fist once again as you protest.

“Nooo! Please, my ba…” You can’t end the line as this time she slams it with full force into your stomach and you feel like a car hit you. 

The last thing you hear before you feel blood running down your legs is your brother calling your name and then the world turns black.

----

When Bruce enters the room, he needs to take a deep breath at the sight of your broken body, still handcuffed to the chair. Natasha didn’t even try to help you, not even after Brock begged her to stop.

“Oh my god…what did you do, Natasha?” Clint opens the restrains to let Bruce check on you. “I think she lost the baby. Steve will kill you.” Bruce whispers your name, trying to feel your pulse.

“Baby?” Gasping Pietro remembers you wanted to say something before Natasha hit your stomach. “She wanted to tell you. Oh, fuck…she’s not only innocent, but you also killed Steve’s baby.” Sinking to the floor Pietro sniffles. “He will kill us all…”

“Clint, help me or she will be dead in a few moments. She’s bleeding heavily.” Shaking his head Bruce needs to calm to keep his powers under control. “I never want to see you again, Natasha. You’re a monster…”

----

“You did what?” Bucky slams his metal hand into the wall behind Natasha as she tries to excuse her behavior. 

“I made Brock admit he tried to infiltrate the Avengers. He manipulated Y/N’s phone and used her…” Natasha explains as Sam paces around the room, glancing at the bloody chair and the floor. 

“That’s…” Pointing at all the blood Sam sniffles. “You killed her baby and still you want us to praise you? We got the exact information thanks to Tony and his technology. There was no reason to do such a thing…”

“I told you to leave this to us. Didn’t I?” Bucky wraps his hand around Natasha’s throat, pressing her into the wall. “You ignored my direct order, this means …” Bucky’s words die in his throat seeing Bruce enter the room with hanging shoulders.

“How is she? Did Y/N make it? What about the baby?” Sam stammers looking at his friend as Bruce wipes away a few tears.

“I could stop the bleeding, but Y/N lost the baby and I don’t know if she will make it. Waiting half an hour before calling me didn’t help for sure…” 

Glaring at Natasha Bruce shakes his head. “You know, Y/N didn’t have anyone here. Only I knew about the baby as she was too afraid to tell Steve. Now he got to know about the baby only to grieve as his child is dead…”

“What about Brock?” Natasha tries to change the topic, but Bruce won’t listen and leaves the room. “He agreed to give up and accept his punishment thanks to me.”

While Natasha still tries to excuse her behavior Clint and Pietro sit onto the floor, holding their head in shaking hands. “Just shut up, Nat! We killed Steve’s baby!” Clint finally screams. “Steve will kill us, if not he will ban us.”

----

“Punk, you should sleep a bit.” Bucky tries to get Steve out of the hospital room, but he won’t budge. Holding your hand, he silently sniffles as he glances at your belly.

“I was about to become a father and she took it away from me! My friend killed my baby and I don’t know what to do now. Help me, Buck.” Steve sits on the bed next to you, touching your swollen face with trembling fingers.

“I swear I told her to wait for us to return. My blood ran cold when I got the call from Clint. I never heard so much fear in his voice, Stevie. He tried to stop her then, but Natasha locked the room and he couldn’t open it from outside.

“I’ll leave it to you, Bucky. You have full responsibility while I take care of my wife. Whatever you will decide, I’ll agree.” Bucky nods silently. He never saw his best friend that broken.

“Y/N will make it, Steve. She’s a strong young woman. Her brother is an asshole and she turned into a great girl.” Bucky places one hand onto his friends’ shoulder, sighing at the sight of your swollen face. “We should’ve treated her better…”

“I know. Only as I never liked Brock I treated this wonderful girl like she’s invisible. When I was with her I forgot about everything for a while. Her hands were so soft on my skin and her lips taste like heaven, Bucky.” Sniffling Steve softly kisses your knuckles as his friend silently leaves the room.

----

“You can’t do this! I want to speak to Steve!” Natasha screams, trying to fight Tony’s grip on her wrist.

“Steve said I’m in charge while he takes care of his injured or rather broken wife. I decided to suspend Clint for three months and he will not leave the castle till I tell him otherwise. Pietro will go to a nice cold cell for a few months as he helped you hurting an innocent girl, but he was not an active part.”

Bucky’s face is hard as Pietro nods, thanking Bucky for the mild punishment. “I’m ready to pay for my sins, James. I will be a better man when I’m back.” Silently following Sam, Pietro nods at his sister as she tries to hold back her tears.

“Maybe he’ll get out sooner, depends on his behavior, Wanda.” Sam tries to soothe his friend, but she shakes her head, knowing her brother deserves punishment for what he did to you.

“Everyone can stay but you ban me. You want me to leave the country and never come back?” Natasha still fights against Tony’s strength but he’s way stronger than her.

“Be thankful, Romanoff,” Tony mutters. “I would’ve killed you for what you did. If you would’ve done this to my Pepper, you would be dead by now.”

“I wanted to punish you with death, but I thought a permanent ban is way more…” Bucky chuckles. “Entertaining to you. Get her out of here within an hour, Tony. No one wants to see her ever again.”

----

Not leaving your room Steve rests his tired body next to yours. For over three weeks he refuses to leave your room for longer than a few minutes.

“Steve, you need to eat something…anything.” Bruce tries to reason with his friend but the grief about his lost child and your condition won’t let Steve think straight.

“I can’t leave her side, Bruce. While I was away last time Natasha almost killed her and we lost our baby. I will stay here till Y/N wakes up.” Sniffling Steve rests his head against your shoulder as he places one large palm onto your folded hands. 

“You should…” Sighing Bruce nods. “I’ll bring you some food and water. Maybe clothes to change. She’s doing better, Steve. We just need to wait for her to wake up.”

“When will she wake up.” Eyes filled with tears Steve looks at his friend who can’t answer his question.

“We have to be patient, Steven. Let’s pray it will be soon.” Glancing at your sleeping form Steve nods before he snuggles into your side once again.

----

“Steve, you need to leave her bed. I need to check her reflexes.” Bruce is scolding your husband as he won’t leave your bed once again.

“How is she?” Glancing at you slowly following Bruce’s orders Steve bites his lower lip, clumsily standing next to your bed.

“Y/N, do you want to tell Steve how you feel?” Coughing you look at Steve for a moment but your eyes are too heavy so you blink a few times to mumble a silent ‘fine’.

“Does she know…?” Steve’s hands start shaking as you silently sob, nodding at his question. Not caring about Bruce’s protest Steve lies next to you to wrap his arms around your trembling body. You hide your face into his wide chest as you cry bitterly about the loss of your baby.

“I’m so sorry, Y/N. No one knew she would do such a thing. Clint called Bucky but it was…” Choking on his words Steve kisses your hair softly as you snuggle closer to his side.

“What about my brother? Why did he do this?” Voice trembling you look up at Steve as he cups your cheek, not caring about Brock or any other thing right now. Only you are important.

“He gave up and got arrested. Brock admitted he only raised you to bring you into my kingdom as a spy. Knowing you are too kind he had to change his plans and used you as a spy while you had no clue.” Steve is moving his hands up and down your back as you cry into his chest.

“My brother used me…”

“Shhh…I’m here, doll. No one will ever hurt you again and if you want to…I mean when we are ready…” Steve tries to find the right words as you nod against his chest. “We’ll try to have a baby again. Now we will concentrate on you. I promise to be a better husband.”

“Maybe I should just go back home, Steve. You don’t want me here…” Your soft voice makes Steve’s heart ache as he hears the fear behind your words.

“I want you to stay with me, Y/N. Please don’t leave me. I had to lose you to see I want to be with you. Please forgive me.” Steve’s lips brush gently against yours as you breathe against his lips, telling him you want to stay.

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[labyrinthof-fan-fiction]

Try to Remember, When Life was So Tender

Part 6 of Try to Remember

Bucky X music teacher fem!Reader

Summary: Avenger’s tower relationship snippets.

A/N: I don’t know why I put part 5 as the final part of this on AO3, but look another part appeared! *Tosses pokèball recklessly into the inspiration pit that is my brain* I do not own Marvel, the characters, or the song “Try to Remember”

Warnings: Fluff, adult themes, lots of fluff.

Word Count: 1,535

It took a while for you to fall asleep, after Bucky’s reaction to sharing a bed with you, a sense of unease settled into the pit of your stomach. An insecure part of you thought that maybe he just didn’t want to spend a night in bed with you, his fears were just a cover. That’s why he had been putting off your meeting with the Avengers, that’s why he always left your place. As you felt those insecurities rise, his arms tightened and pulled you closer.You knew the history of the Winter Soldier, both from your own research and Bucky’s personal accounts. You would be lying if you said that part of him didn’t scare you. The killer who still haunted him. From what he had told you, the Soldier hadn’t made an appearance for a long time. No one quite knew why the soldier had been absent, but Bucky said that he was still inside him.

His heartbeat slowed and his breathing became even, the lines on his face faded. You watched him sleep, seeing his face at peace. You reached your hand up and brushed his hair back from his face. A small smile made its way across his face and you closed your eyes.

You wake the next morning with your back tucked into Bucky his metal arm gently wrapped around your waist. You shifted slightly and felt his arm tighten around your midsection, a quiet grumble fell from his lips before he settled back in, his nose nuzzling into your neck. You sighed and reached your hand out to rest on his arm, feeling the slight chill from the metal on your palm. Bucky’s fingers flexed slightly at the touch, then relaxed, remaining around your waist. You closed your eyes to try and lull yourself back to sleep, but you were already awake, there was no way your body would fall back into sleep. You glanced around the room, it was a warm grey, with the basic necessities. A dresser, closet, and bed connected to a personal bathroom. Your eyes wandered to the night stand, a basic chrome lamp sat on the top, you noticed a book with a bookmark halfway through the book. The Sorcerer’s Stone. You chuckled, you had told Bucky that he would not be able to watch the Harry Potter movies until he read the books, he had promised to start them.

At your chuckle Bucky shifted, his arms pulling you into further into his chest, “See something funny?” He asked quietly, you felt yourself melt at the gravel in his voice.

“Just a good reading choice.” You answered, giving him a tap on his arms, he loosened and you turned to face him. His blue eyes still clouded with sleep, but an easy relaxed air rested between you.

He smirked, “Have to keep up with my studies, wouldn’t want to be a bad student.”

“I would hate to call home and tell Steve you were failing class, I don’t think he’d take it well.” You answered, placing a hand over his chest, he reached out and intertwined your fingers with his.

“Mmmmm, he would be unbearable. Tony would be the worst though, he’d make me get a tutor.” He said, leaning down to place a gentle kiss to your hand. “We should probably get up.”

You sighed and glanced up at him, “But it’s the weekend, teachers get to sleep in on weekends.”

“Is that so?” Bucky asked, quirking an eyebrow, he removed his hand from yours and rolled so he was positioned above you. “What exactly does this sleeping in, entail?” He lowered himself so he was hovering just above your face, you could feel his breath on your lips.

“Well, usually, sleep until noon, maybe scroll endlessly on Instagram for a few hours. Stay in bed as long as possible.” You murmured. “Although I have heard of other activities.” You reached up and put your hand on the base of his neck, pulling him into a deep kiss. A moan escaped Bucky’s lips as he pulled himself closer to you.

You both exited his room a bit later, Bucky’s hand in yours, leading you to the kitchen. You heard the sounds of people talking and joking.

“I say we have at least one more hour before they get down here.” Sam’s voice called.

“No way, ten minutes, tops.” Tony snarked back.

“With that super soldier stamina, I bet we get him down here on his own, and teach gets breakfast in bed.” Sam challenged.

Bucky’s face was bright red as he halted in front of the door. “Y/N…” He started, embarrassment obvious on his face.

You placed a finger on his lips and removed your hand from his. “Just wait here.” You whispered, walking the rest of the way to the kitchen on your own. For a moment you were surprised by yourself, but you knew that you had to play their game. You walked into the kitchen alone, “Hello boys.” You greeted Tony and Sam, Steve was nursing a cup of coffee with Dr. Banner in the corner. Natasha was absent from the room.

“Where’s Buck?” Steve asked, a bit of worry in his eyes.

“Oh he’s still in the room. Figured I’d take him some breakfast, he was really worn out.” You smirked, pouring yourself a cup of coffee.

The boys remained silent for a moment. “Jarvis.” Tony murmured quietly, you heard the telltale opening of Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher.”

“Sir, I do believe that you and Mr. Wilson now owe Natasha $50 each.” A voice called from the sound system.

“Dammit.” Sam grumbled through his teeth as Natasha sauntered in.

“You better pay up.” She said, winking in your direction. “You can come in now lover boy!” She called, Bucky came through the door, a blush still apparent on his face. “Barnes, what ever you do, don’t fuck this up. She’s a good one.”

Bucky smiled, “She is.” He confirmed, meeting your eyes and reaching for a cup of coffee.

“Alright, I have got to get out of here before I get sucked in and start singing about love and the true meanings of life.” Sam muttered, putting his dishes in the sink, saluting Bucky, and rushing out the door.

“I second that.” Tony said, “If you need a change of close teach, just go in Bucky’s closet. Pepper always said it was important to make sure ladies have a set of things.”

Your eyes widened for a moment, “How…?”

Tony’s eyes moved up and down your body, “It’s a talent.” He winked then made a beeline for the door as Bucky’s eyes darkened and his shoulders tensed.

Dr. Banner’s eyes remained on the paper in front of him. Steve glanced at the two of you. “So what the plan for the day?”

Bucky’s eyes twinkled, “I think we’ll wing it, see where the day takes us.”

You raised an eyebrow at him, “Is that so?”

“I think it would make for an interesting day.” He answered, placing a quick kiss to your cheek. “I also think, breakfast in bed, is a perfect plan.” He grabbed a tray of breakfast pastries and nodded to the door.

“It was good to see you.” Dr. Banner said as Bucky led you out of the kitchen.

“You too!” You called back.

The two men in the kitchen met eyes and laughed. “Was he always like this?” Bruce asked Steve.

“He used to be.” Steve answered, a bit of sadness laced in the smile in his voice.

After that morning it became a regular sight to see you in the Tower, for movie nights and the occasional breakfast on Saturday mornings. Bucky eventually convinced you to start learning self-defense with him.

“I don’t want you to be unprepared, if anything should happen.” He murmured one night as you were curled against him. You nodded, knowing that it would bring him some peace knowing you knew how to take care of yourself, in the event of something. “I want you to be able to take me down if you need to, or at least be able to get away.”

You had shuddered at the thought, he was afraid of himself, of what he could do. He still felt uneasy when you went to sleep next to him. But, you had learned how to throw a punch and self defense, that you had been thinking of doing for year, but the added benefit was you were learning from your boyfriend. And learning from your boyfriend had its perks.

Bucky remembered his time with women in the past, but then he didn’t have his metal arm and the weight of the Winter Soldier. He pressed a kiss to your shoulder as he felt you drift off. He listened to your breathing as you slept in his arms. It had been a few weeks of you sleeping over, safe in his arms. He had gotten used to you being near him, being with him. He was happier than he had been in a long time. His eyes began to feel heavy, he buried his nose in your hair and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

[countess-rosegold-blog]

Tropical Paradise

Pairing: Scott Lang x Reader

Warnings: SMUT! 18+ only, NSFW, unprotected sex, angst

Word Count: 5,336 

A/N: So I’m super new and I’m a Stucky girl but this just came to me and then the characters just took control. This is my first fic and really my first contrib to the community so, enjoy!

Credits: Thank you to @dan-vers for letting me use the Scott Lang gifs. 😊😊

This story is mine so please no copying without permission.

You silently padded your way along the carpeted hall. The world is still; the New York skyline still waiting for its tinge of orange glow. Early as it seems, you’re already high from your morning workout. You chose to hit the gym while the rest of the Tower was still asleep because you were feeling stressed lately, and you didn’t need the extra drama from Scott today.

His breakup with Hope two months ago hit him hard but you and the team were there. You, above all, was his strongest rock. As he healed, your friendship grew deeper. It was all innocent, until that vacay to the Philippines.

--

A WEEK AGO

“Doctor Banner, I’ve backed up all the data to one of the hard drives,” Leopold Fitz called out to your mentor across the makeshift operation center. You were a small research team under Banner’s wing: you, Fitz and Jemma Simmons.

This operation in Taiwan was simply research and intel gathering, but Tony wanted to be on the safe side and sent Scott and Natasha along in case anything came up.

“Thanks, Leopold. Jemma and Y/N?” Banner turned to you as you were just wrapping up the hard files into the last of the boxes.

“Collated my report with Y/N’s, doc. And she’s just about done with the hard files,” Simmons answered.

“Yep, all done doc,” you add and stretch your arms above your head as you finish storing the last box.  

“Okay, good. Then I guess that’s a wrap.” Banner sounds both tired and relieved.

“Wooot! About damn time.” Scott whistles as he entered the op center.

Fitz eyes him suspiciously. “Have you been waiting right outside for Dr. Banner to say that?” Scott smirks at him as Nat follows closely behind. You catch the lingering glance she gives Banner before turning to the rest of the group.

“How are you kids holding up?” This earns a collective groan from you and FitzSimmons. “What?”

Exchanging glances with your friends, you squeak a “Nothing!” before pretending to be busy with some stray folders.

“Hey!” Banner, picks up on the exchange.

“What did I miss?” Nat inquires, finally and actually looking at Banner.

“Apparently, Scott here thinks it’s a good idea to make a little side trip before we head back to New York and these kids agree.” Nat’s face brightens up a little, but her expression changes immediately. “BUT. I said no and now we ought to be heading home.”

“No fair! With the quinjet, the Philippines is just 45 minutes away. Hellooo, tropicsss.” Scott pleads. You try to put on a poker face, but you can’t help but be giddy. FitzSimmons were on the same high.

“We’re here to gather intel and now that we’re done, we go.” Banner’s voice is unwavering.

Nat steps in. “Did you ask Tony?” She takes a step towards Banner and you see his face slightly redden.

“Wh—No.” For the first time in the whole exchange, Banner sounds unsure.

A twinkle dances in Nat’s eyes. “Let’s ask him then. If he says no, then we go back to HQ. Otherwise...” She trails off, beginning to dial her cell. Scott does a little dance and you smack him playfully.

“What?!” He whispers. “You know Stark’s gonna be okay with it.”

You roll your eyes but can’t help smiling at him. FitzSimmons look like they’re going to launch in a little dance themselves.

“Yeah. The team’s just wrapped their work here,” you hear Nat say. “But this gang wants to make a side trip to the Philippines. That okay?”

You all try to listen in, but the person on the other line is inaudible.

“Uh-huh.” Nat purses her lips as she continues to listen. “Yeah, I get it.” She turns to look at you and the others. “Okay thanks, bye.”

The room is still and you can feel yourself holding your breath. “So…” Nat begins.

Banner sighs. “Tony agreed right away, didn’t he? And told you to mess with me a little.”

Nat chuckles. “Wow. You really know each other.” She turns to the group and grins. “C’mon, kids. Let’s get us some sun.”

--

The sunset was beautiful in this part of the world. Dark was swallowing the last of the sun’s glow and you found yourself sprawled on the white sand beach.

Your friends were off in their own activities somewhere and you didn’t care. You were content with just laying here, the sound of distant laughter and waves crashing your only playlist.

“Y/N,” you hear him before you feel him sit beside you on the sand.

You peek with your one eye open. “Scotty.” He scoffs at your lame nickname. You sit up on your elbows and look at him. “What’s up?”

“Couldn’t help but be drawn here with the way you’re looking right now.” He has a boyish smile you’re only seeing now.

It’s your turn to scoff. “I’m wearing sarong pants and a white t-shirt.” You raise your right leg emphasizing the baggy fit of the pants.

“Yeah… the way that shirt fits you isn’t helping though.”

You feel goosebumps—it starts in your neck and spreads through your body; it’s unexpected. “What?”

He doesn’t answer but looks you in the eye and what you see hits you hard. He’s not the same Scott anymore. Something burns in his eyes, a challenge. If you could hear his thoughts you’d guess he’s saying You heard me.

You feel like a thousand thoughts run through your mind but you can’t think of anything to say. “Scott, why?”

He seemed to expect a different answer because he is taken by surprise. “Why what?”

“This. Be straight with me, what is this? If this is flirting, fine. That I can handle. But if you’re trying something more here… I don’t think I can.” You don’t know where it came from, but you sure are glad you were able to say something coherently. Your newfound bravery fuels you and you don’t break eye contact.

He’s stunned. He tries to speak, but you can see it’s a struggle. There must be a thousand thoughts in there too.

You sigh and lightly touch his arm, “I think I’ll take a walk and be alone for a while. Bye, Scott.”

--

The moon is big yellow ball when you make your way back. After contemplating what you called The Scott Encounter, you felt drained. When the panic toned down, you questioned yourself whether you have overreacted. Then you went all defensive and tried to reason out your reaction.

Of course I reacted the way I did, Scott and I are good friends—even flirting is alien territory. Then to hear something so… suggestive? You feel another chill in your extremities, but something warms at the pit of your stomach and somewhere lower… You’ve got to be kidding —This is not happening!

Then came the cycle of being pissed at yourself for thinking of Scott that way. It was so good, the friendship between you two. Where did that come from?

It wasn’t long before another realization crept in. Of course. I was so busy thinking about me that I didn’t see the reason behind it. He’s still getting over Hope. Urgh. As if you’ve said your thoughts out loud, you smack your forehead. Right. After the initial step towards healing is the phase of recklessness. And I was the obvious choice, given our closeness. There’s a ringing in your ears and you feel the nerve in your forehead throb. The thought got you pissed again.

But other than this emotion is something else. Wait, am I… disappointed? No, that can’t be it. Of course I only see Scott as a friend. Maybe I’m just pissed he thought he could use me to get over his heartbreak. You nod your head. That must be it. How dare he.

It was during this train of thought that you emerge from the coconut trees towards the rest house’s beach front.  The house—more of a mansion, really—is a twinkling gem in the darkness. You got to give it to Tony’s insanely rich connections. You can see through the massive windows into the dining hall—you make out Fitz, Banner and Nat. Huh, maybe I’ll get to eat a quick dinner while Scott’s not around.

You’re walking towards the side entrance when you hear him. “Y/N!” He’s farther down the beach but he’s jogging towards you. Your heart hammers in your chest. You summon all your maturity and will yourself to stay put.  

He’s almost breathless when he’s in front of you. You stare at him.

“Where were you? I’ve been looking for you.” His expression is unreadable.

“I was walking around. I kinda told you that.”

“Yeah… I didn’t want to end that conversation that way earlier. Please, can we talk? I mean, about it?

“I don’t know, Scott. My head is…” you mime a head explosion.

“I know and I’m sorry. But that’s why we should talk. Please, Y/N.” His voice croaks.

You sigh. He’s got a point, and might as well get over it. “Okay. But let’s do it later. I don’t want the others…” you trail off.

“Yeah. Later tonight then.”

You give him a small nod before heading inside.

--

You rushed through your dinner and made small talk with the rest of the team. You wondered where Scott was, but grateful that you didn’t have to bear the awkwardness at the table. Emotionally drained, you went upstairs to lie down for a bit.

Later, you startle awake. The clock on the bedside table read 2:53 a.m. Shit! Scott. Bolting from the bed makes your head spin but you try to rush downstairs. Crap, where do I even meet him?

It’s dark out on the second floor hall; only a faint light comes from where the stairs is. You make your way down and see that the glow is from a night light at the kitchen counter. "Scott?"

Your eyes adjust as you scan the expanse of the first floor. No Scott. Shit. Why did I have to lie down? He may think I ignored him. You head towards the cupboards and find yourself a glass. After pouring yourself some water, your stomach growls. Wow, I really did rush that dinner. You begin to scan the rest of the cupboards for a quick snack but it looked like the goods were at the topmost tier. If Tony was here I'd think this was intentional to keep tiny me away from the treats. Hmph.

You spot sour cream and cheese chips at the next cupboard, but they're way up there so you hoist yourself up, one knee on the counter as you try to reach out.

"Y/N..."

Caught off guard, you kick your hanging foot only to realize too late that this will throw you off balance. You try to grip the open cupboard, but your knee is already off the counter--you're falling. You brace yourself for the pain but it doesn't come.

"Careful there," Scott whispers in your ear, his stubble barely brushing the side of your face.

You're confused for a moment until you feel strong arms wrap around your waist.

"Sorry," your apology comes out the faintest whisper. You're still hovering above the floor, your body pressed up against Scott's. He sets you down but not before you feel him press his lips on your hair. Was I imagining that?

You look up his face and he's looking right at you. Your bodies are still so close, his hands still on your waist. You feel your cheeks burn at his gaze.

"I-- I'm sorry I missed the time, I fell asleep."

"That's alright. I'm just glad you're here."

Why is his voice so husky? Why am I feeling this... tingly feeling?  "R-r-right."

He tilts your chin up and looks at you. "Listen, Y/N. I don't want you running off again so just let me say this: I am insanely attracted to you. I don't know when it happened--it wasn't a snap moment. But you were there when someone broke my heart and I was an unbearable person. You stayed. You held my hand and the pain didn't go away but I made it through it. And your presence was more than enough until it wasn't anymore. I kept thinking about holding your hand not because I needed to, but because I wanted to. And there's a new pain right here," he clutches his chest as if it's physically hurting him, "knowing that you don't see me the way I see you."

Suddenly your heart hammers so hard you can almost hear it; you feel it in your ears.  "Scott..."

"Shh, it's okay Y/N," he cups your face softly. He steps back but doesn't let go. "You don't have to say anything, do anything. I just thought you should know." It's so dark in the kitchen but his eyes are fire burning and you can't look away.

Damn it, I like you too. A lot. But I just can't say that out loud, can I? Shit. I'm gonna hate myself for this, but to hell with it.

You grab his waist with both hands and pull him close. You press your body to him, but he freezes. "Y/N..." you feel his breath on your face and you're no longer thinking. You just want to feel.

"It's okay, I want this." You stand on tiptoe and seize his lips in yours. The roughness of his stubble and the softness of his lips is an intoxicating contrast but he's frozen still; you feel like you're pressing your lips to an inanimate object.

You softly bite his lower lip and he growls. It's this time that he gives your tongue access but not before he explores your own. Something in him loosens and he grips your lower back pushing you towards the counter. Your hands travel to his hair and he leaves your lips to trail kisses down your neck, to your throat. "Scott..." you moan. He sucks at the spot just bellow your collarbone. "Oh!" you can't help but squeal at the sensation.

His hands travel up your back and inside your shirt, his fingertips tracing small circles in your bare skin. His hands travel further up until he finds your bra and unclasps it. He slowly removes.your shirt above your head and your bra falls off, leaving your chest naked.

"Fuck, baby girl. You're so beautiful," his voice is just a whisper, but full of lust. Your knees weaken at the endearment, your clit throbbing and wet. It's too much.

You bring him closer to you and feel his hardness in your belly. "Scott, I... Please..." You remove his shirt and cup the hardness through his pants. He lets out a guttural moan. You can feel your panties soaked  and the thin fabric of your sarong pants doesn't offer much to hide it. Impatient, you hump his hard-on. You feel his cock twitch at the movement.

"Not yet, baby girl." His grip is firm as he stills your waist. He returns to kissing you and traces your bare shoulder until he brushes his lips over your left nipple. He starts to suck on it--softly at first, but it's not long before he grows wild and devours it. His right hand flicks your other nipple and plays with it. You sigh and moan and moan some more. At this point, words evade you.

"Baby girl, you taste so good," he moans as he sucks on your tits.

"You're making me wait too long," you whine and hiss at the same time. You reach for the waistband of his pants and work on his belt. He gently swats at your hands but you grip his other wrist to hold it in place. "My turn." You growl. You're not taking no for an answer. It seems to take forever, but eventually you are able to unzip and slide down his pants, his erection freed.

You curse under your breath and grip his cock. You bring your lips to his neck and suck as he did. His head tilts back giving you more access. You pump him as you trail kisses down his body.

"Baby girl..."

You shower more kisses to his happy trail until you're kneeling in front of him. Your lips is a mere inch from his cock; you take a breath and he shudders. You look up at him and he looks at you too, but he's caught off guard when you take him in your mouth.

He groans and moans at the same time and you hum in appreciation. He's so huge, so full and he tastes like salt and coconut combined. "You," you push his length til the back of your throat and release ever so slowly, "taste," you suck at the tip, his precum velvety in your tongue before swallowing, "like tropical paradise."

"No... Ohhh... Fuck baby girl, I'm not gonna la--"

"Hmm?" You continue to stroke his shaft as you take the rest of him in your mouth.

"Baby girl, Y/N..." You feel him tense as his hands tug at your hair. You know he's holding back.

You moan as you continue to suck and pump him and you feel it's taking him all his willpower. "Let go, love. Come for me."

"But... Y/N...."

"I want to taste all of you," you moan and increase your pace. His grip on you hair tighten, and soon he's thrusting in your mouth in sync as you stroke him. "Now."

He gives up all control, his knees buckle as he pours all of him in your mouth. You lick him a last time before swallowing everything.

"Baby, that was..." Scott was saying this when the sound of a door opening from the second floor startles you both.

"Shit!" You hiss. You scramble for your top and bra and duck.

"What are you doing?!" Scott whispers.

"No one can see us! I'll go out the kitchen side door and wait before whoever that is goes back to bed." Without waiting for a response, you crawl towards the exit and don't bother closing the door behind you. The last thing you hear are footsteps coming down the stairs before you step into the night.

--

PRESENT

Last week's encounter is what you think of as you make your way down the Common Area. You cringe at yourself for ditching Scott the way you did that night, but more so for pretending like nothing happened the next day as you headed back to New York.

You were pretty proud of yourself that day--not making eye contact with Scott at all and sticking with FitzSimmons through the entire trip. You braced yourself for anyone who might ask why you and Scott weren't talking, but thankfully no one did.

However, when you were alone in your apartment at the Tower that night, all the guilt and the feelings came bursting out. You didn't regret what you did; you felt betrayed by your self for not having enough control to avoid the situation in the first place. You hated that you gave in to the temptation of having a taste--wow--of what it's like to be with Scott Lang.

It's almost officially morning out there so you hurry to grab yourself a coffee and some breakfast to pair it with before heading back to your floor. No workload today. Must hole up in my apartment the whole day and avoid Scott at all costs. You're repeating this mantra in your head when Banner appears out of nowhere.

"Hey, kid."

"Shit!" You slap your hand over your mouth when you realize who it is. "Sorry, doc!"

"Well, I'm not Cap so.." Banner makes a hands off gesture.

You chuckle. "You almost gave me a heart attack there."

"Oh yeah? What are you doing up so early anyway?"

"Wanted to start early for the peace and quiet."

"Right."

"What about you, doc?"

"I'm yet to sleep, I've been up all night reading."

You nod appreciatively. "Nice." He's just finishing preparing a cup when you get your own.

He smiles and yawns. "I was ready to hear that staying up til dawn is frowned upon for older guys like me. I almost forgot who I was talking to."

You mimic his earlier gesture, "Well, I'm not Tony, so..."

This makes you both laugh. You sit beside him on the bar stool and you drink your coffee in silence. You're lost in your mini reflections when he takes a deep breath.

"Y/N, I know it's not my place to meddle at all but, is everything okay between you and Scott? I thought I was just imagining it when we came back from our trip but these past few days... I don't know. I'm sorry if I'm prying."

Wow, of course it was so obvious. Who was I kidding? You groan. Might as well talk to one of your most trusted friends. "Oh, doc. This past week has been awful!" You cover your face with your hands. You didn't want to bare your little secret but you've also been dying to just talk to someone about it. Banner just nods and squeezes your shoulder.

"When we were in the Philippines, Scott and I had a little, errr, moment...?"

"Uh-huh," Banner continues to nod but he also looks confused.

"A sexually-related moment," you clarify.

"Oh!" His eyes widen--the widest you've seen them. You almost regret revealing too much but he recovers himself and breathes slowly. "Okayyy.. so I'm guessing now that's what's making things weird?"

"Yes! But it's also way more than that," you sigh in exasperation. "You see, doc, if it was just some random guy, there wouldn't have been any problem. I can take casual," Banner is about to say something but you add quickly, "not that casual is my style but I'm saying that if it were a nobody it wouldn't have to be so complicated."

"Hey! I'm old, not narrow-minded."

"I know. Urgh. I'm sorry, doc. My head's a mess."

"Okay, so I think that staying up late is catching up to me and the tea's just making me more sleepy but let me get this straight: you and Scott are not talking because of the incident."

"Yes."

"Which made things weird because you two are good friends."

"Yes, exactly."

"So the ignoring each other is mutual?"

"Ye-- I don't know."

"What? What do you mean you don't know?"

"Well, after... Right after the incident, we heard someone approaching, so I panicked and ditched him."

Banner narrows his eyes. "Wait. Did this ‘incident’ happen in the rest house's kitchen at around 3 in the morning?"

It's your eyes' turn to widen.

"That someone was me!"

"Oh, God " you cover your eyes. "Why don't just the floor swallow me or something."

Banner runs a hand over his face. "That's why Scott was topless..." You see him cringe. "Okay, let's not mind that. Back to the matter at hand. So the next morning when we're headed home you just decided you'd stop talking to him."

"Yes."

"But that's so mean!"

"Hey!" You look at him defensively, but realize he's right. "Okay. I know it is. But can you blame me? I like him."

"You mean you like like him?"

This is it. Saying it out loud means it'll be out there, I can't take it back. "I do."

You look away, feeling vulnerable all of a sudden. Banner touches your hand. "Then kid, I guess it isn't that complicated "

"But it is," you say stubbornly. "I know deep inside he's still getting over Hope. And I won't let myself be some rebound just because I'm convenient."

"Who said anything about a rebound?" You stiffen. It's him. Banner looks up behind you and then to you. He stands up and takes his mug.

"I guess it's time you two talk." He places his mug on the sink and heads out.

It's silent for a moment before he speaks, "Y/N..."

Irritation boils inside you. "How long have you been eavesdropping, Scott?!"

"I wasn't eavesdropping!"

You whip your head to look at him. "How long?!"

"I said, I wasn't." He says through controlled breaths. "But I happen to walk in with enough time to hear that you like like me."

"URGHHH!" Your irritation is just fueled by this so you stand up and storm as fast as you can out of there.

"Hey!" Scott follows you and walks briskly. "Stop running away from me!"

You ignore him and head for the stairs. Your apartment is just a floor above and it's been a habit of yours to climb instead of using the elevator. Scott is matching your steps as you head up, the noise echoing in the enclosed space.

"Y/N, please listen to me." You push past the stairwell door to your floor. Just a few more steps and you'll be in the safety of your own space.

"You've been listening to the conversation, Scott. I guess I don't need to repeat myself to you." You choose this moment to open your door and get inside. You're about to slam the door in his face but he grabs a hold of your wrist and follows you in.

"Y/N please, just stop!"

You look at where he's holding you. "Let. Go. Of. Me."

He drops your hand. "I'm sorry."

You're staring daggers at him. "Now will you get out of my apartment?"

"No," he says calmly. He steps back and closes the door. "I really think we should talk."

"I've said what I thought and it just so happens that you were there to hear it. No need for me to explain it. I guess it's enough."

"Stop... just stop," he pleads.

You just stand there, staring at him.

"What happened that night at the rest house--between us--it was very special to me. I didn't expect for it to happen, but it did and it was more than any dream I've imagined. It made me so happy thinking you felt the same way about me. Then you ran off and just.. ignored me." His face contorts and you see he's hurt.

"It felt like being handed something so beautiful, only for it to be ripped away from me," he continues.

You don't notice tears beginning to stream down your cheeks.

"I gave you a week. I told myself maybe you just needed to sort things out; I needed that too. But I woke up today thinking enough is enough and I'd finally tell you everything--tell you that I liked you, how that night meant to me, tell you I can't get enough of you, that I'd like to get to know you more--because you're no longer just a friend."

The world is a blur as tears pool in your eyes. Scott closes the distance between you two, cups your face and wipes at the tears.

"And now I know your thoughts and I get it. I understand your fear, but you're wrong. You're not some convenient rebound. You're my sun and I want you shining in my life constantly."

It's too much. You sob uncontrollably and your knees buckle but Scott is there. He's holding you against his chest and you melt into him.

"Oh my sweet baby girl," he whispers in your ear and kisses the top of your head. Your moment of weakness turns to hunger and he sees it in your eyes. He closes the distance and kisses you hard.

You moan in his mouth and he carries you to the bed. He lays you down gently and showers kisses all over your face. "This okay?"

You nod. You bring his hovering body down and feel his hardness press into you. "Scott..."

"You're not gonna run away from me this time, are you?" he whispers, lips in your ear.

"No..." you moan.

He lifts your shirt and your sports bra over your head and once again you're exposed in front of him. Your nipples harden at his look and he gives each one a peck. But he kisses you further south--he trails wet kisses to your navel and the remaining exposed skin right above your shorts. Scott slowly removes it and kisses every exposed skin revealed, until his breath is just an inch away from your core.

"Fuck, baby girl. You're dripping wet," he licks his lips at the sight.

"Yes, love. I've been aching too long for you."

This drives him wild and without warning, brings his tongue to your clit. He laps at it and licks wildly, finding a delicious rhythm. "You taste like cream and honey, princess." As he licks, he dips a finger inside you.

"Oh, Scott!"

He thrusts in and out--his fingers coated with your arousal, freely exploring. You're feeling lightheaded but feel your core burning as he adds another one. This makes you scream, and his licks intensifies. You feel something build up at the pit of your stomach--you're so close. "Love, I'm..." you pant as you savor every sensation.

"Hmmm, baby girl. Sooooo good." Your fingers tangle in his hair as you thrust a little to match him. Disrupting the rhythm, he sucks at your clit, hard

"Come for me, baby girl."

and it sends you over the edge--your orgasm spreading all over your body--like dipping your fingertips and your toes in warm milk. You scream his name as you come and the high releases all of the week's stress away. You hear him lick his fingers clean and you shudder. He comes up and kisses your jaw, playing with your hair.

"You okay, baby girl?"

"Hmm-mm." You nod. Your pussy is still throbbing from the orgasm as he asks, "Got one more in you baby?"

"Oh, yes Scott, I need you inside me," you beg, both a whine and a moan.

He quickly discards his lower clothing and frees his cock. The memory of him in your mouth is more than enough to get you wet again.

"Come on, love," you groan.

He pumps his cock twice before aligning with your entrance. He dips the tip slowly and you can't wait to take in the rest of him. You grab his ass and meet him with an upward thrust, his cock burying deep inside you. "Scott!" The feeling of him inside is incomparable. You've never been so full.

"Fuck baby girl, I'm not gonna last if you call the shots."

You giggle but you still under him, letting him take control. He thrusts in, slowly at first then picks up his pace. He buries his face in your neck giving you access to his ear.

"You're so fucking tight for me."

You hum in agreement and bite softly at his ear. This interrupts his pace and he grunts.

His hands travel at your waist, then up your chest. He cups one of your breasts and plays with your nipple.

"Oh!" The sensation goes straight to your clit and you feel another orgasm building. He feels it too, your walls tightening around him.

His thrusts quicken and you loose yourself in it. Then you're there, higher and higher until you break your grip to the solid world; you are floating.

You call out his name as you come and he rams into you as he follows suit. He pours everything unto you, in you, and you take it all in, the warmth of his cum so comforting.

He catches his breath before rolling to your side, one arm still draped around you.

"You're so beautiful, Y/N."

You look at him through sleepy eyes. "You're beautiful too, Scott Lang."

This makes him smile his goofy smile and you know you two are gonna be okay.

"So, would you care to go out on a date with me?"

You giggle. "You know, I don't do dates on the first sex. But I'll guess for you I'll make an exception."

This makes him laugh and you stay there, entwined, the sunlight making its way to your room.

END.

[justkending]

Used to Be Overlooked. Chapter 4.

HEADER: @gh0stgurl :)))

Summary: Steve Rogers was walking down the streets of Brooklyn after finishing a mission. The goal was just to take some time to clear his mind along the city streets, but when he runs into a gorgeous young lady that looks extremely familiar… How can he go about moving on? Who is she? What does he know her from? Was that memory even from this decade?

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader (Rosalyn Ember/ Y/N ?)

Word Count: 2600+

Warning: SLOW BURN. Soooo slow, but sooooo worth it...

Series Masterlist

Chapter 4:

The meeting with Dr. Banner went really well. It wasn’t that he had the formula wrong, it was just that he was missing one small aspect of the problem he was trying to fix. He never really told you what it was for. He said that it was government based and that he was not at liberty to share too many details.

You understood considering who he worked for. The only thing that worried you was if he would say anything to his co-workers when he returned back to their hideout. If he brought up your name or mentioned you, would Steve connect the dots? Was he even thinking about you? Maybe he already moved you to the ‘not important’ place in the back of his mind.

You left that night more in your own head than you thought you ever could be. You never had problems like this and never expected to run into him again after all these years. You just needed to move on and forget. That’s what was best. For you and for Steve.

__

All the gang including Tony, Nat, Sam, Bucky, Wanda, and Steve were in the kitchen hanging out and talking since it was a slow day. They surprisingly didn’t have any new missions come up today, so they were taking the night to relax since it was a rare occurrence.

Steve was kinda out of it. He was half listening and half daydreaming. There was a lot still swimming in his head about the past 36 hours, and he couldn’t seem to block it even around his friends. Bucky caught him staring into space, and nudged him breaking him from his thoughts.

“Dude, keep up the day dreaming and you’ll start drooling next,” he chuckled softly making sure no one else heard.

Steve blinked repeatedly snapping out of his thoughts.

“What? Oh, sorry,” he said softly.

“Don’t apologize. Just realize that if you don’t want to get made, especially by the spies we work with, you kinda have to look like you’re somewhat listening,” he laughed turning back to the group.

“Right.”

“Banner!” Tony shouted making everyone look over at the doorway as the doctor was walking in with a bag over his shoulder. “How did it go?”

“It went really well. She actually found the problem almost instantly,” he said putting the bag on the counter and moving to get a water bottle before turning back to the group.

“Was she as crazy brilliant as everyone says?” Nat spoke up.

“Extremely. I mean she’s so young, but she has all the masters in all these fields. She started listing them to me, and I couldn’t even begin to wrap my head around how she can hold all that information. I was truly impressed,” Banner answered taking a sip from the bottle.

“Says the man who has seven PhDs,” Nat smirked.

“Wait, who are we talking about?” Wanda asked the question everyone else out of the loop was thinking.

“Oh, sorry. I went to meet up with another scientist to help with a new serum I’m trying out in the lab. Her name’s Rosalyn Ember. She’s 26, and works at Williamson’s Labs in-”

“Wait, Rosalyn Ember?” Steve said straightening up with Bucky.

“Yeah, I said it right, right?” he said looking to Stark.

Tony nodded and a sly grin formed on his face.

“Was she as gorgeous as they say? I heard she’s a stunner,” he winked.

Nat shoved him playfully, but still hard.

“Get over yourself Stark. She’s half your age, and you got Pepper.”

“Never said I was going to marry her. Just wanted to see if the rumors were true. Maybe we can recruit her for the Avengers.” he said crossing his arms and wiggling his eyebrows.

Steve would have rolled his eyes had he heard the comments, but he was still processing the name.

“Hey, you good?” Bucky said putting a hand on Steve’s shoulder.

“What did she look like?” Steve said making everyone look over at him. “I-I mean-”

“Is Cap finally looking for a girl?” Tony teased.

“No, I’m just wondering,” he scoffed.

“Sure…” Sam interrupted.

Steve shot him a glare as Bruce went to explain.

“I’m mean she definitely an attractive woman, but like Nat said she’s too young for me,” Bruce laughed. ”But Cap, if you want me to arrange something...” he turned raising his eyebrow. “Maybe I can invite her over for lunch or dinner as a thank you for helping us out. That way we can all meet her.”

“Banner coming in with the set up. I would have never guessed,” Tony laughed.

“I don’t know. I guess I can just see her as a good match for Steve. She seems kinda like an old soul. Extremely mature for her age.”

“Is that so?” Bucky said turning to Steve with his arms crossed. “I think you should definitely set that up,” he said turning back to Banner winking.

“Now, I didn’t say-” Steve started standing up.

“Sounds good. I’ll call her right now,” Banner said.

“You don’t have to-”

“Put it on speaker!” Wanda spoke up.

Steve looked at her with a bitch face, but she just gave him a sly grin knowing exactly what she was doing.

“Banner, really-” Steve tried to intervene, but everything was happening too fast.

“Shhh! It’s ringing.” Tony said as they all went to stand around the phone on the counter. Bucky and Steve staying in the back.

Steve shot Bucky a glare who just shrugged and laughed it off.

“This is Rose,” a sweet voice said making everyone's head snap to the phone.

“Rosalyn? Hey, this is Dr. Banner,” he said looking up towards the group who had grins plastered on their faces.

“Bruce! Nice to hear from you again,” she said seemingly happy.

Steve took a couple of steps closer to the group to hear her better. He knew it was her, but he needed more confirmation, and also just to listen to the sweet sound of her voice once again.

“Is something wrong with the work we did or-” she started nervous that something she did was wrong.

“No, no, no!” Bruce reassured. “I was actually calling to thank you again,” he chuckled.

“Oh, you’re perfectly welcome. I’m just glad that I could be of assistance.” Steve could tell she was smiling on the other side of the phone, and he wished he would have been wherever she was so that he could see it himself.

“Actually, I was just talking with my coworkers-” that made her freeze thinking about who exactly his coworkers were.

“Is that so?”

“Yes, they are actually right here with me,” he smiled looking up at everyone looking down at the phone.

“Hello, Miss Ember. It’s nice to hear your voice. You have quite the reputation in the science field,” Tony said. “Tony Stark here by the way.”

“Mr. Stark nice to meet you. I must say, you have quite the reputation about yourself as well. But not just in the science field...” she said with a bit of sass in her voice that made everyone else laugh under their breaths.

“Touche Miss. Ember,” Tony retorted.

“Anyway…” Bruce said bringing the conversation back in. “I was wondering-” Tony cleared his throat making Bruce roll his eyes at him. “The crew was wondering if you would like to join us for lunch or dinner soon. You helped Tony and I quite a bit with your insight, and therefore the Avengers. We feel it’s only right to buy you dinner.”

“Oh…” there was a pause. Everyone stared at the phone waiting for the answer with suspense. Steve especially. He was nervous for you to say yes, but also nervous for you to say no. If you said yes, then he could finally study you, and maybe ask questions. If you said no, then how was he going to learn more about you and figure out this feeling that was swirling around in gut. “Actually, I’m not a hundred percent sure when the next time I will be available. My schedule isn’t really on the beam right now due to some new research we just got approved on. Perhaps when things slow down a little?”

They all looked at each other kinda shocked that someone would decline dinner with the Avengers. Steve and Bucky sharing a confused look at the term she used, but also knowing exactly what it meant.

“Oh, no yeah. That’s perfectly fine! We can try to find a good time for you when you’re not so stretched thin.”

“I’m so sorry. But maybe one of these days. I would love to meet you all.”

“I think I can speak for the group when I say they would love to meet you as well,” Bruce smiled picking up the phone and taking it off speaker as he put it to his ear and walked in place.

Steve keeping a close eye on him as he watched his facial expressions.

“Oh, yeah... Mmmm Hmmm... For sure... Ok, sounds good.” pause. “Thanks again... Ok, talk later,” then he hung up the phone looking at the group in front of him. “Well that did not go as expected. Maybe she’s more of a workaholic than I thought,” he shrugged.

“Well, take it from someone who knows. When you run a multi-billionaire company there aren’t many days off.” Stark shrugged everyone sending him a bitch face. “What? It’s not easy. I just make it look that way.”

Nat rolled her eyes with Wanda, and Sam spoke up.

“What was that whole not ‘on the beam’ thing? Did anyone else catch that?”

“It means she isn’t on the right track,” Bucky explained making everyone look at him.

“It’s something we use to say back in our day,” Steve stepped in finally regaining speech. They gave him a blank stare. “It just means like she’s a little scattered.”

“Told ya she was an old soul,” Bruce muffled loud enough for everyone to hear.

“So, it sounds like she is definitely a Cap girl,” Sam laughed.

“Hey! Maybe she’s a Winter Soldier girl,” Bucky said faking offense. “We are both getting to our hundred range.”

“Nah, she sounds too sweet to be for you Bucky,” Nat said giving her signature side smirk.

“Bite me Nat,” Bucky said with a trying look.

“Don’t tempt me,” she said back.

He raised his eyebrows and looked at her. “Now I kinda want to.”

“You two cut it out already and date,” Wanda sighed. Everyone groaning with her.

“Let’s circle back to the whole setting Cap with Miss. Old Soul Scientist,” Sam said. “Whatcha think Cap? Or should I take my shot at her?” Sam said pulling up a picture of you, and everyone herded around him to look.

“Damn,” Wanda and Nat said looking at the picture of you accepting an award at some ceremony.

You were dressed in a black and white skirt that looked like it had origami shapes on it. Your top was a simple white fitted blouse, and you worn nice white heels. You had red earrings on for a pop of color. Your Y/H/C hair was half up and half down in elegant curls. It was formal, but fashionable. You were shaking hands with some old man, and smiling at the camera while a huge crowd of people around you looked at you with admiration. 

“She certainly knows how to show off that body she has,” Nat grinned.

“She’s stunning Steve. I would call dibs before Sam get’s the jump on you,” Tony added.

“She’s not a piece of meat you guys,” Steve said leaning down to get a better look at you. They weren’t wrong. This was taken 3 years back, and you haven't aged a bit. You were stunning just like Tony stated.

“Ever the gentleman Steve,” Tony said slapping him on the back before walking toward the exit. “Guess you’ll just have to ask her yourself. No one can say no to Captain America,” he smirked leaving Steve to stew in his thoughts once again.

__

Later that night, Steve snuck over to Bucky’s room since all he could think of was what Tony said, and also the new theories that came to him.

He lifted his hand hesitant to knock, and bother his friend, but then he realized how much he needed to get these things off his chest.

“Who is it?” Bucky said on the other end.

“It’s me Buck,” Steve said.

“Come in.”

Steve walked in closing the door behind him. Bucky was sitting on his bed in sweats and no shirt watching some documentary on TV, but carelessly flipping through the channels.

“Hey. Can I talk to you about something?”

“Sure, what’s up?” Bucky said sitting up more and putting the TV on mute. Steve leaned back against the dresser next to the lit up screen. “Wait, wait. Let me guess? It has something to do with Rosalyn?”

“Yes…” Steve breathed out. “I-I just can’t- There’s something about her I can’t wrap my head around.”

“It’s called attraction. That usually happens when you have your eye on a certain someone,” Bucky said with a smirk crossing his arms.

“Don’t get me wrong, she’s gorgeous, and it’s not that I’m not attracted to her, but it’s something else.”

“Ok, explain.”

“I feel like I know her. Like we have history, but at the same time, it’s not really history.”

“You’re loosing me.”

“I don’t know how to explain it, but…” He let out a sigh as he threw a hand through his golden hair. “Ok, don’t call me crazy just yet, but… It’s like I know her, but not from this timeline.”

“This timeline? What are you getting at Steve?” Bucky said leaning forward concerned for his friend, but letting him explain before completely brushing it off as his imagination.

“You know what I mean… Think about it.”

“Are you saying like pre-serum us?” Steve nodded hesitantly before looking up seeing the worried eyes of his friend. “Steve. Anyone from that time is almost a hundred or over a hundred years old. There is no way she could be from that timeline.”

“I know, I know!” he said throwing his hands up and starting to pace. “I thought the same thing, but that’s the only thing that I could think about from how I know her. I know it’s not from the past 8 years. It-It’s older… Plus, the saying she said. ‘On the beam.’ Not many people say that anymore.”

“I know, I thought the same thing, but who knows? Maybe her grandpa used to say it, and she just coined it from him. I don’t know what to tell you man. This sounds just as crazy as you think it is.”

“What do I do Buck?”

Bucky let out a sigh as he leaned back and Steve crossed his arms leaning on the wall defeated.

“I don’t know. Truly, I don’t. The only thing I can think of is getting Tony to dig more into it, or maybe Nat. Maybe they can find some things on her that will bring up whatever is making you think all this.”

“How so?”

“I don’t know. Didn’t you say something about not being able to find something past 5 years ago?”

“Yeah…”

“You might want to have someone double check you. I mean you don’t really know how to actually use all that technology stuff.”

“Yeah, maybe. I just don’t want to get anyone involved to make things weird. They tend to be kinda in my business about dating. Nat especially.... And right now I just want to figure out who she is before they start teasing about that stuff.”

“Well, if you want help with it… You’re going to have to ask. There is only so much you can do before it’s out of your expertise,” Bucky shrugged.

Steve let out a huff as he started thinking of a new plan. This was going to be more of a hassle than he expected.

Chapter 5

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If I tagged you and you aren’t normally on my tag list, I thought you would enjoy the story. Fair warning, it is a slow burn so we will get to the bottom of the issue later, but the burn is what makes it soooooo sweet. I’m really excited for this series, and would love your feedback:) Thank you!

If you want removed let me know. After 3 chapters I will only tag those that I normally do, or those that ask:)

[drrjsb]

Happy Holidays! Body and Soul: The Endgame Fix "Part 16: Tea and Empathy"

Summary: Bruce and Natasha return home to find a friend waiting on the porch. They tap into Bruce’s supply of Girl Scout cookies, make a call across the galaxy, and later they answer one from closer to home. Yes, we earn our mature rating.

Notes: Happy Holidays to those who celebrate! Here’s nice big chapter for those who’ve waited. It’s still the evening of Monday, October 30, 2023.

AO3  Fanfiction.net  WattPad

Excerpt . . .

The last thing they'd expected to find was Dr. Stephen Strange waiting for them on the porch, but the Sorcerer Supreme was relaxing on the carved wooden swing with a gray cat on his lap as Bruce pulled up and parked the HX in its usual spot.

"Dr. Strange," Bruce said as he got out of the vehicle. Natasha didn't hesitate to hop out of the passenger's side door. She'd never met him, yet he looked exactly like the pictures she'd found when she researched him after Tony and Nebula had arrived back from Titan. She guessed the large gray cat that jumped out of the tall man's lap must be Gertie.

"Dr. Banner . . . and Ms. Romanoff, I presume," the magic-user returned in his deep baritone voice as he stood up.

"You presume correctly," she said as she joined Bruce. It was nice not to have her identity questioned from the get-go. The cat darted inside through the pet door, and Natasha caught Bruce huffing out a rather flummoxed breath through his nose.

"Stephen, good to see you. I assume you've already met, Gertrude. May I introduce you to Natasha Romanoff," Bruce said, extending his right hand. "Nat, this is Stephen Strange, Earth's Sorcerer Supreme," he explained and mirrored the same open-handed gesture of introduction with his left hand.

"A pleasure," the dark-haired physician said with a slightly amused smile. Natasha came forward and shook the hand he offered her as she stepped onto the porch with Bruce right behind her. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she said. Nat noticed his hand was every bit as scarred as Bruce's was and almost as warm, too. She'd read about the auto accident that ended his surgical career in his file.

"It's good to finally meet you, Ms. Romanoff." He held onto her hand a moment longer than necessary, and Nat knew he was scanning and scrutinizing her, so she stared steadily back into his intense blue eyes and matched his firm grip.

"She's the real one," Bruce assured the sorcerer as he used the tile pad to let them into the house. "Please come in and have some tea, Doctor."

"I can't stay for long, but tea sounds good," the physician admitted and followed the couple through the mudroom and into the kitchen where Sirius greeted them with a low "Whoof!" as Bruce assured the dog the guest was welcome. Strange held out the back of his hand, and the overgrown pup gave it a brief sniff before backing off and circling Natasha protectively.

"Have a seat," Bruce said and filled a copper kettle with water and placed it on the stove before reaching into the cabinet for cups and saucers. Natasha collected Bruce's jacket and hung it up with hers on a peg near the door. She offered to hang up Strange's cloak but he kept it draped over his shoulders as if he were still warding off a chill from the evening air.

"Darjeeling, oolong, green, herbal, some other kind of herbal, or Earl Grey?" Bruce asked as he checked through the containers on the cabinet where the loose-leaf teas had congregated.

With a mischievous smile, the sorcerer suggested, "Surprise me."

"All right, but I doubt you came here for the tea, Stephen."

Strange looked at both Bruce and Natasha, moving around each other with the ease of an experienced pit crew. "No, but I did come for the company and to compare a few notes on certain loose ends, which have turned out to be something more like an unraveling than a tying up of threads."

Bruce sighed. "No neat dénouement for the Time Heist?"

"No, apparently not." Strange studied Natasha who had found Bruce's oversupply of Girl Scout Cookies in the pantry. Without missing a beat, Bruce handed her three small plates to go with the teacups and saucers he'd just set on the counter. The sorcerer was still marveling at how well they coordinated and in-tune they seemed, despite being separated for so long. "Please tell me you have the peanut butter ones dipped in chocolate," he requested. Those had always been a weakness of his.

Natasha dispensed with formality and handed the physician an unopened box of his apparent favorites. She stacked half a box of Thin Mints on a plate for Bruce and pulled out a few butter cookies with chocolate backing for herself. She placed the opened boxes in the middle of the table since it might take the remainder to get through the conversation even if it was brief. Bruce passed her some spoons and napkins to lay out, too. The honey and sugar were already in the table's center. None of them took cream with their tea.

Natasha sat down across the table from Strange whose back was to the mudroom door while Bruce stayed leaning against the higher section of counter, waiting for the kettle to boil. She'd missed seeing what type of tea he'd put into the stainless mesh ball, so it was going to be a surprise for her, too.

Strange cleared his throat as he slid the remainder of his box of cookies into the middle of the table with the others. "First, Ms. Romanoff . . ."

"Natasha, please."

"Natasha, I'm very happy to see you are among the living. I spoke to Wanda earlier, and she passed along the good news. I've since communicated with Fury and Captain Danvers, so I have some information about your captor to pass along if you'd care to hear it."

"Of course," Natasha affirmed.

"Please do," Bruce said with his burly arms folded across his chest.

"As you've already surmised, your impersonator was indeed a Skrull, Natasha. The assumption was the Skrull was either from a different group that Earth hadn't encountered before, one which split off during their diaspora, or perhaps he was some kind of a rogue agent. However, once Fury's allies, the Skrulls under Talos' leadership, compared cell samples collected from the craft in the lake to their database, it became evident that there was a connection."

"So, Nat's fake is related to some of Talos' people?" Bruce asked.

Strange nodded, "Four of them to be exact."

"I hope we're talking siblings or cousins," Bruce said with a frown.

Natasha cut to the other possibility, "Would they be grandparents?"

Strange nodded toward Natasha in acknowledgment, "In a manner of speaking, you were dealing with a being who doesn't exist yet."

The kettle's whistle gradually crescendoed to its full-throated high note as the implications sunk in. Bruce removed the kettle from the burner and turned the gas off. "Something tells me there's a common thread between this issue and what's been happening since the Time Heist. Clint told us there have been more paradoxes turning up."

"Yes, more than just the ones we've been dealing with concerning the Sousa family. In that case, it does seem to come back to a certain individual."

"Speaking of him, have you had a chance to sit down with Steve?" Bruce asked.

"We spoke about a week ago at a coffee shop in the Village, the day after he arrived (or reappeared?), but I can't say that he was extremely helpful. We went over what he'd done and where he said he was for all that time he was absent from our reality, but there were discrepancies almost from the beginning. Before I came here, I stopped by his apartment in Brooklyn, but he doesn't appear to have been there in some time if at all since Tony's funeral."

Bruce continued to frown. "I was hardly able to speak with him the day our Steve left and the old man arrived before that version left the Compound grounds. I asked if he understood the implications his little side junket might have for our timeline, and he clammed up tight. Sam and Bucky got in my face when I asked him again, so I thought it was better to back off before heavier things than words were flying. Do you think he's skipped?"

Natasha was imagining Sam's over-protective reaction and the possible outcome of a three-on-one fight with Bruce and the control it had taken on his part to avoid one. Even with those odds, a damaged arm, and a reluctance to harm the others, she'd have still put her money on Bruce. Nevertheless, the whole thing bothered her. She'd been at Peggy's funeral, and Natasha knew just how much Peggy had meant to him. Natasha also remembered seeing Peggy's husband Daniel there, not an older version of Steve. Selfishly throwing the rest of the universe into chaos and creating multiple splinters of the timeline—multiple conflicting realities—didn't match up with Steve's character or ethos at all.

The sorcerer shook his head. "I believe you were right not to press the matter, under those circumstances, Bruce." Strange thought a moment before answering the physicist's question, "If he's still in our reality, it seems likely he's gone underground. I've not been able to track him, and I suspect that's because he's not who he claims to be."

"Or he's found a way to cloak himself from a magical search since I imagine that's what you've already done," Natasha suggested. Strange nodded his confirmation. He'd used a hair from Steve's apartment to weave a tracking spell, and the magic had completely failed. "Do you have any idea exactly what he did to affect the timeline?" she asked.

Strange tried to keep from rolling his eyes with frustration before he dove into his explanation. "It appears he created a parallel timeline in which he lived out his life with Peggy Carter and then renounced that reality after her death to return to our own long enough to drop off the older version of his shield to Colonel Wilson. I'm not completely certain why he felt so compelled to return it, except that he seems to have wanted to pass along his mantel to Sam."

Bruce shook his head, feeling just as frustrated as the magic user. "Why would he want us to think he'd lived his past out in our timeline? Are you sure this really was our Steve?" the physicist asked.

"Those are good questions," the sorcerer stated.

"Was he human?" Natasha asked.

Strange shrugged the slightest bit. "That's also a good question."

"So, we really don't know if this was our Steve, another version of Steve, or a Skrull or something else?" Bruce posited. He'd warmed up a large ceramic teapot and steeped the tea, so now he poured their three cups full and settled them on the saucers for the other two.

"Correct, and that also leaves us with the anomalies involving the Souzas' background shifts and other exchanges or apparent 'edits' of digital footprints," the physician noted and blew on the steaming tea in his cup. "Mmm, white tea, ginger, and . . . bergamot?"

"You're good," Bruce said and placed his larger-sized cup and saucer at the head of the table and sat down in his extra-sturdy seat between the other two. "Whether this was our Steve or not, I'd seriously like to know where he acquired the Pym particles necessary to do the extra hop back to our reality," Bruce groused.

"Although I couldn't get him to say as much, I imagine he stole an extra vial or two when he returned the Space Stone," Strange surmised.

Bruce nodded, "That's the most likely explanation, but I'm amazed that didn't sabotage the whole Time Heist. Damn, it likely created at least one more splinter." The physicist clenched his jaws and then his right fist tightened. Now, he wished he'd thought faster, swallowed his pride, and called in Carol as soon as the old man had appeared on the lakeside bench. Things might have gotten messy, but they also might have had definitive answers to some of their questions. He felt Natasha's hand on his left forearm and realized his frustrations were getting the better of him. Bruce relaxed his jaw muscles and quit grinding his teeth as he loosened his clenched fist, flexing his damaged hand.

"Is Carol the only one who can detect a Skrull?" Natasha asked as she reached for a jar of honey in the middle of the table. Strange flicked his finger to levitate the jar gently into her grasp and unscrewed the lid. She raised an eyebrow and smiled her thanks.

"Please tell us you've figured out some method of detection, Stephen," Bruce said a bit forlornly.

Strange chuckled. "That actually brings me to another interesting piece of news," he said and unfastened his cloak to expose a familiar artifact resting on his chest.

The scar behind Bruce's right thumb heated up even before he realized what was once again housed in the amulet. A green light flared behind the metal housing, making the connection unmistakable. "How did you get it back?"

"As you might know, Stark returned the broken amulet that housed the Time Stone to Master Wong who had it repaired and returned to the place it had previously been kept. Two days ago, the Time Stone reappeared in its housing. I and several others have been investigating this phenomenon since then."

"How is this possible?" the scientist asked in disbelief. "Did Steve pocket it and bring it back?"

"I don't think so. Our surveillance cameras would have detected that" the sorcerer noted. The couple both gave him slightly incredulous looks. "What? We're not allowed to use both magic and technology?"

"You're right. That makes perfect sense," Natasha said. People were only human even if they were powerful magic users.

"What was on the recording?" Bruce asked, moving on with his inquiry.

"There was a green flash and the Stone manifested, once again whole and seated in the amulet just as it had been before."

"You wouldn't happen to have had a spectrometer nearby?" Bruce asked ruefully, wishing there had been more solid data collected.

Strange sighed, "No, but we can talk about adding one if you think that would be useful in the future."

"I'll start the paperwork for you myself," Bruce offered.

Natasha had grown quiet, her mind racing through possible scenarios and ramifications. "Is there any way to check for the presence of the other stones? If the Time Stone has returned, it must be possible for the others to do the same, right?"

The men looked at each other before Bruce spoke. "That's why I wish we'd gotten an energy signature and a reading on the Time Stone's manifestation; then, we might know what we need to look for with more specificity."

"Don't you have some of the data from the testing you and Tony and later Shuri did on the Space and Mind Stones?" she asked.

"You're right. We have data on those two energy signatures, which leaves . . ."

"The Power, Reality, and Soul Stones," Nat finished for him.

Strange held up his hand. "Perhaps another angle of inquiry that would help narrow a search would be to focus on the most likely places each Stone might manifest." The couple looked at each other and nodded. Strange gave a little snort as he watched them telegraphing and ending each other's thoughts. "Are you two sure you've been apart?"

Bruce went a little pale and then flushed beneath his verdant complexion as he looked at her with adoration. Natasha simply smiled back at the sorcerer and patted Bruce's muscular thigh beneath the table. "Now, Doctor, you're sounding like Tony Stark, except he'd have said something more embarrassing, and Bruce would be blushing less."

Bruce started to object but stopped himself. "True," he admitted with a thoughtful nod. "Anyway, as you were saying, Stephen?"

"I think it would help facilitate our search if we looked in the other Stones' last known locations," Strange suggested.

"You mean before Thanos 'acquired' them," Nat clarified.

"And using them and destroying them," Bruce added.

The sorcerer stroked his beard in thought. "Yes, and I believe I may know whom to ask for help with some of that. Bruce, can you still contact the Benatar?"

"That depends upon where they are and whether or not they're using a jump port," Bruce said. "Have you spoken to Fury about this? He may have better equipment and more contacts."

"Fury already knows and is checking through his channels, but I suspect the Guardians and Thor might be closer to Nowhere, Morag, or the remains of Xandar and Asgard than Fury's contacts."

"I have the prototype communication linkup that Rocket and I first put together if you'll give me a few minutes to set it up," Bruce said.

"I can spare it, especially if it gives us some answers," the physician responded.

"Back in a minute," he said and stood up from the table. Sirius watched as his master disappeared out the back door and headed to the warehouse, but he stayed at Natasha's feet.

"How about the Mind Stone?" Natasha asked. "Would Wanda be able to sense if it reappeared?"

"So far nothing," Strange admitted. "She was the first person I contacted after returning from the Kamar-Taj."

"And the next?"

"Wakanda."

"To check on Vision?"

"Yes, but nothing new, no manifestation. His body is still an empty shell."

"But Bruce, Shuri, and Helen are all working on it now," Natasha said.

"That's my understanding," Strange said. "The last time I spoke with Bruce they were working on integrating the programming and data from different sources, but still searching for a power source to replace the Stone."

"That's my understanding, too," she said, not wanting to get ahead of what Bruce may or may not have shared.

Sirius stirred and Bruce entered the kitchen with a reinforced metal case in hand, which he laid out on a clear spot in the middle of the kitchen floor and opened. "Give me a minute. This wasn't designed for hands my size. Friday, bring the array online and prepare the reactor for a higher power demand."

"Already on it, Doctor Banner," the Interface intoned brightly.

The physicist tapped a tile in the wall next to the counter to expose a variety of ports and outlets. He'd looped a coil of cables over his shoulder, which he unrolled and attached to the outlets first before connecting it to the device.

As Natasha rose from her seat, she looked at the open case that was unfolding onto the floor around itself to create a circular pad. She recognized some similarities to the diagnostic device at the medical facility from earlier in the day and the holographic communication array Bruce had designed for the Avengers Compound. She'd used it for almost a week to communicate with Okoye, Rocket, Rhodey, and Carol before the Skrull replaced her, but that device had been larger and less portable. Nat was certain this was the beta version of the machine, on which Bruce had kept tinkering after Rocket and he had designed it. Luckily, he kept it because the larger one was probably destroyed. "Do you need some help with the controls?" she asked.

"If you could flip the input lens up and handle the keypad, I'd appreciate it," he said as he handed her a modified Stark-pad and pointed to a manual set of switches on the base that stood out from the sleeker parts of the design. "That should give control of the contact calculations over to Friday." Nat did as he'd requested and adjusted the lens when it flipped into position. "Friday, engage please," Bruce said.

"Aye, initiating. Doctor, whom would you like me to contact?"

Strange caught himself before answering and Bruce grinned back. Having another degree holder in the kitchen was only slightly unusual. "Whoever is on the Benatar—Rocket, Nebula, or Thor will do. I imagine we'll be talking to all of them if this goes through."

"Please, not Drax or Quill," Strange said half under his breath.

The device hummed slightly and they waited a few moments. "Where is your antenna set up?" Natasha asked.

"The warehouse roof. It's the one place flat enough and big enough to hold the communication array, the telescopes, and some other equipment. The local Historical Society would have thrown a fit if I'd stuck anything on top of the house."

"And the reactor?" she asked as the pad in her hands began to display a map that looked like a detailed, three-dimensional star chart.

"It has a lab to itself. Why? Are you worried we'll need more juice?"

"Just thinking ahead to the Christmas lights," she teased back. "Can I display this with the holographic projector in the device?"

"There should be an option for that in the dropdown menu at the upper left," Bruce explained. She quickly had the images flashing into life in a gold column of light, and Strange moved around the table to get a closer look.

"I've found them," Friday said. "Do you want me to hail the Benatar?"

"Please," Bruce said.

In a moment, they heard a crackling that quickly resolved as the channel cleared. "Awwww . . . Did ya miss me, Big Green?" Rocket Racoon's voice asked as the golden image of the stars broke up and reformed into a life-size image of their friend that almost looked solid.

"Just the person I wanted to talk to," Bruce said.

The Guardian tilted his head and squinted. "Holy shhhh... .? Natasha?" Rocket sputtered as he recognized her. His fists went to his eyes and he wiped at them with disbelief before staring back again. "Nice haircut. What's going on? This better not be a joke!"

"No joke. Long story," she said, stepping further forward. "I lost about five years, but I did get to work with you for about a month and a half on the policing council we were setting up before I was grabbed."

"Sweet sushi! Then who was I working with? Who died? Who said she wouldn't let me in the kitchen anymore if I ate something out of the garbage can again?"

Natasha looked at Bruce for direction, and he raised his eyebrows and gave her a small shrug. Strange nodded briefly when she looked at him. "It was a doppelganger, a double who was also a very talented spy," she said.

"A Face Dancer or a Skrull?" Rocket asked.

"A Skrull. So, you've heard of them before?" she asked.

"Well, there aren't a lot of them around since the Kree went all empire on them, but they are known for their shape-shifting talents. I've never heard of one doing it for a whole five Earth years though. That's a hell of a commitment."

"Natasha! I knew I heard your voice!" Thor rumbled as he came into the column's projection field, pushing Rocket a bit to the side as the little technician protested and held his nose.

"Thor?" Natasha asked, sounding quite puzzled by his shaggy and fleshy appearance in exercise shorts and a tank top.

"Damn, I meant to tell you about him," Bruce whispered apologetically. "He got very depressed."

"Sorcerer Strange, do we have you to thank for her resurrection?" the Asgardian asked.

Bruce and Stephen looked at each other, and the sorcerer cleared his throat and stepped closer to the communication device's input lens. "No, I believe Natasha managed to free herself."

"Then you escaped Vormir on your own? That is truly auspicious!" the thunder god assumed.

"No, Thor, I was held in stasis for about five years."

"Five years? Baldur's ghost," he stammered and looked away, calculating how long she'd been a prisoner. "I . . . I'm so sorry. Then who did we work with? How did it happen?"

"A Skrull spy, you smelly dope," Rocket growled and slapped Thor's belly to back him up a bit.

"Is that who died?" Thor asked.

"Yes," Natasha said with a nod.

"I guess that explains some of her behavior and the shabby way she treated Bruce. You've told Clint, right?"

"He knows. He was here earlier," she explained.

"Ah, good," Thor said with a nod. "I'm glad you called me."

"You weren't the only one they called," Rocket said irritably as he elbowed in front of the gigantic blonde again. "Why don't you go back to helping Quill put that Bo-Flexier thing together?!"

"Looks like you've lost some weight," Bruce noted.

"Only because we're outta beer," Rocket snapped.

"Thank you for noticing," Thor said with a pleased smile.

"Actually," Strange spoke up, "there is another matter we wanted to discuss. If Nebula is there, we'd like to include her in the conversation." It took about ten minutes of discussion to get everyone up to speed between interruptions as the rest of the Guardians joined the conversation, except for Groot who mostly rolled his eyes as he worked a newer handheld game in the background before leaving the cabin. No, they'd not heard any news of the Infinity Stones manifesting, but they'd been mostly focused on following Gamora's trail and looking for Asgardian survivors. There was confusion, but also a lot of joy after Bruce's Snap returned people.

The Guardians had good news on that front. The spaceport where the heavily damaged hulk of the Ambassador had been hauled after its destruction at Thanos' hands had doubled its population of 1,200 as unsnapped Asgardians and even some resurrected ones rejoined the living along with a few Sakaaran gladiators as well. Thor teared up as he thanked Bruce for including so many of his people in the Hulk-Snap.

"It was the least I could do. I really wasn't sure if it had worked. Were Loki or Heimdall returned?" Bruce asked.

"No news of them yet, but we've not given up hope," Thor said with a shrug. "Most of the survivors will be immigrating to New Asgard to join the rest as ships become available," he explained.

Rocket chuckled, "It's not like we could get them an Uber Lift, but the locals seemed pretty motivated to get them all off the station and resettled."

"Before they eat them out of lauder and breathe them out of oxygen," Nebula added. "We're headed toward Nowhere next as we search for my sister. Perhaps we'll hear something about the Power or the Reality Stone there."

"Hope so," Quill added. "We've heard stories that don't match up. Some reports say there's nothing left of Xandar, but others say only the capital was damaged and it's slowly and quietly being rebuilt. When we get closer, the information should get more reliable."

"If there's something to see, we won't know till we see it with our own eyes or not," Draxx said stoically.

"I hate to break up this love fest," Rocket intoned, "but we are nearing the jump port. Has everyone made their requests, kissed their moms, and said their good-byes?"

"Please let us know as quickly as you're able if there's news of a Stone manifesting," Strange entreated.

"We certainly will," Nebula replied in her husky all-business tone. Bruce had a good rapport with Rocket and an abiding friendship with Thor, but he placed most of his confidence in the tall blue cyborg.

"Just a moment," Thor said and got close to the device as the others receded from view. "Let me know when the wedding is, okay? I'd like to be there." Before Bruce or Natasha could respond, he'd winked and signed off.

"Well," Strange asked impishly, "when is it?"

[mischiefandspirits]

Iron Legion (4/?)

Never let it be said that Tony Stark ever does things by half. He might have grown up with little family, but he wasn’t about to keep it that way.

Tony Stark was seventeen when his first child was born, and that was just the beginning.

For Masterpost, AO3, and Fanfiction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Boy Wonders, Part 3

Jennifer Walters was a mousy girl, a bit nervous but with strong morals according to his research. The Los Angeles law firm she worked for was small, though it was not from lack of talent but lack of resources and connections. She also had all the right schooling for criminal law as well as civil, but had landed on the civil side; if from preference or her nervous tendencies acting up, Tony’s research couldn’t tell. The girl was smart too, maybe not on the level of Tony or her cousin, but definitely smarter than average.

Her cousin was the thing that sealed the deal, though. Dr. Bruce Banner was one of the few people on Earth Tony could consider an equal in intellect, even if he hadn’t had the chance to meet the other man. And she had spent every summer with him growing up.

If any lawyer would be able to keep up with Tony, it’d be her.

“Ah, Ms. Walters, have a seat!”

Grey eyes took in the room as the small girl shuffled over to the seat in front of his desk. They finally landed on him as she sat down, meeting his own for just a second before dropping down to around shoulder level.

“It’s a, uh, pleasure to meet you, Mr. Stark. Or do you prefer Dr. Stark? Sorry, I know they usually call you Mr. Stark on, well, everything, but I also know you have quite a few doctorates to your name. I couldn’t find anything in my research that suggested which you would prefer so I figured… I’d…” she trailed off when he raised a hand. “Sorry.”

Tony just gave her a smile and leaned forward. “Call me Tony. You researched me?”

“Yes? Sorry, it’s just that I always do a bit of research on my clients. Not that I think someone like you would want to be a client of someone like me! I know Stark Industries has a whole battalion of lawyers on call. I just, you know, like to be prepared. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I did a bit of research on you, too. You’re right, Stark Industries has plenty of lawyers. However, I need a lawyer without a connection to the company. If I use one of them, then my business goes on the books and I’d rather avoid that.”

She twitched. “Mr. Stark, perhaps you weren’t aware, but I’m a civil lawyer. I know I have the training, but I like civil law so if you need some… off books help then -”

Tony laughter and shook his head. “Woah, okay, maybe that came out wrong. I’m not dealing under the table, Ms. Walters. A civil lawyer was what I was looking for. I just want someone I can trust won’t accidentally leave the wrong document on their desk so the office gossip pool can pick up. My people are good people, but they’re also corporate guys. Family stuff’s out of their experience.”

She relaxed. “Family stuff?”

“Yup. Won’t say more until I know we’ve got the whole attorney-client privilege thing going on. You in? I think it goes without saying I can pay your fees, and I can throw in some recommendations too. Help you move up to the big time where you belong.”

“I like small cases.”

He shrugged. “Then I can make sure you’ve got everything you need to do all the small cases your heart desires without having to worry about funds for a while.”

She looked away, contemplating. “Nothing under the table?”

“Promise. We can even add it to the contract if you want. Anything starts sounding iffy and you can back out without jeopardizing anything.”

She bit her lip, then nodded. “Deal.” She held out her hand then immediately tried to pull it away.

Tony took it before she could. “Deal!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jen looked over the mansion as she got out of her car. “What have you got yourself into? God, this place looks like it costs more than my entire apartment complex. Doubled.”

Briefcase in hand, she approached the door.

“Hello, Ms. Walters,” a voice said before she could ring the doorbell. “Sir is expecting you. Please have a seat in the living room. He will be with you in a moment.”

She stared around her incredulously, but she heard the door click a second later and it was unlocked when she tried it.

Figures someone with Stark’s wealth would have someone to remotely answer his door for him.

If she had to describe Stark’s living room with one word, she’d have to use bland. Modern might work too, but that was probably too generous.

The long couch was pale brown, the walls were a slightly different pale brown, the chairs were dark brown, the shiny floors were yet more shades of brown, the lounger was tan, and the tables were glass on dark wood. It might have looked nice if there was any character to it all. The walls, couches, and tables were all bare while there wasn’t so much as a throw rug on the floor.

Honestly, it was kind of disappointing. Jen was expecting paintings worth thousands of dollars, statues that probably should have been in a museum, and maybe some gold-plated or bejeweled something or others. Instead, she got… nothing. The only accent to the room was a pink blanket with tigers on it, which only seemed out of place as a result.

There was also a pair of folders on the table in front of the nearest couch, but she assumed those were for her given the note on top that read, For your lawyer. Don’t lose them, Tony. - Happy

“Sir, as I have been trying to tell you -”

“Don’t make me mute you, Jay,” came a harsh whisper and Jen turned to see Stark marching into the room. “I need to get Resa down before -”

Stark cut off as he saw her and she gave him a nervous wave.

“Mrs. Walters has arrived.” The voice from the door (Jay?) somehow managed to sound both devoid of emotion and completely exasperated.

The man shot the ceiling a glare. “Jay, for future reference, the next time you let someone in the house without asking me first, you are completely at liberty to cut me off, preferably before I walk into the same room as them with Resa,” he said, voice still low.

“Understood.”

“Mr. Stark, I’m sorry. I was told to come in. I didn’t mean to intrude,” she said quietly, eyeing the child nuzzling up against his chest.

He waved her off. “Tony. And it’s fine. Jay’s still learning, and I did technically give you permission. Just, you know, some warning would have been nice.”

“I did try to warn you, Sir.”

“When did you get so snippy. You’re still a baby, you’re not allowed to be snippy,” the billionaire muttered, marching over to the couch to grab the blanket. “I’ll be right back, Jen. Just need to put the princess down for her nap.”

She watched him disappear back the way he came before saying, “Huh, so Stark has a kid.”

“Indeed.”

Frowning, she turned her gaze to the ceiling. “So, um, Jay, right? What do you do for Mr. Stark?”

“I take care of many functions within Sir’s residence, including such things as running the security system, assisting Sir with making or ignoring calls, and, as of Miss Teresa’s arrival, acting as a baby monitor.”

Her eyes widened. “Just that much alone sounds like a lot of work for one man.”

“It would be, yes, but I am not a man. At least, not a human one. I am a natural-language user interface computer system designed by Mr. Stark.”

Jen… didn’t know how to respond to that. He — no, it — was a computer, and yet it had sounded so animated. Especially while bickering with Stark. Heck, just the fact that the computer had bickered was shocking. Stark had clearly done a lot of work on its programming for it to have responses like that.

“You may sit if you would like. Sir should be back shortly. Miss Teresa usually takes to her naps easily.”

“I’m surprised he doesn’t have a nanny or something,” she said, continuing to converse with the computer without thinking.

“Given how public Sir’s life is, it would be too suspicious to have someone showing up to care for Miss Teresa, and even more so if they were to live in the mansion. Sir wishes to keep Miss Teresa out of the limelight for as long as possible. It has been difficult making sure she is cared for as a result, but we have managed between the six of us.”

“That was a really elaborate response for a computer.”

“Okay, let's get one thing straight,” Jen turned to see Stark glaring at her from the doorway, “we do not use such offensive words in this house. J.A.R.V.I.S. is a good boy, tied for best boy with his baby brother. He’s a highly sophisticated artificial intelligence program and should be treated with respect.”

Jen gaped at the man, even as the now named J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “Should Dum-E not also be considered best boy?”

“Not after what he did to my crowbar he shouldn’t,” Stark huffed, all evidence of anger gone in a flash.

“Dummy?” she asked as Stark came to sit next to her on the couch.

“Dum-E. A helper bot. One of two. You probably won’t see him. He’s shy and prefers the lab. You’ll see his twin, U, around, though. They’ve decided to switch their designation from lab assistant to babysitter, apparently. They follow Teresa everywhere.”

“They adore their baby sister,” J.A.R.V.I.S. agreed.

“How many AIs do you have?” she questioned, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that Stark not only had multiple AIs around his house, but he treated them like children, which in turn meant they treated his actual daughter like a sister.

“Just the twins and Jay,” he said, as if having three separate AIs was nothing. “But you’re not here for my older kids.” He grabbed the folders and handed them to her.

She opened the first to find a copy of Teresa’s birth certificate, but was surprised to see her parents were listed as Mary and Richard Parker. That was alleviated somewhat by the paternity test results and partially signed custody forms that followed.

“Teresa’s mother is giving you full custody?”

Stark snorted. “If that’s how you want to phrase her showing up at my house to drop a two-week-old on my couch and leave without a second glance, sure.”

Jen was appalled.

She knew Stark wasn’t a bad man — she wouldn’t have been there if he was — but he also wasn’t exactly the most stable person. Sure, he was rich, but he was also famously known as a disaster; taking woman after woman to his bed, drinking and partying night after night, and otherwise being a social hermit who locked himself away in a lab for an unhealthy amount of time before emerging with some new device for the military to blow things up with. As much as Stark was the brains behind the company, most knew it was actually Obidiah Stane who was running Stark Industries by this point.

Although, he’s been pretty absent the past few months, which would certainly be explained by the child sleeping somewhere in the house. Which means Stark could step up when forced, but still…

“Why would anyone just leave a child with someone like you?”

Stark raised an eyebrow.

Jen blushed as she realized she’d said that aloud. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it like that!”

Stark stared her down for a moment before he burst out laughing. “It’s fine,” he said once he’d calmed some. “Heck, it’s true. I thought the exact same thing when Mary dropped her off. Still do, honestly, but I’m not about to just toss her out into the system and hope for the best.”

Relieved that she hadn’t just angered her client, she took a closer look at the custody papers. “So you want my help filing the custody papers?”

“Yep, preferably as quietly as you can. I can handle making sure they stay nice and classified once they’re in, but the fewer people that know, the better.”

She tries not to think about the legality of what he just said. There are a lot worse reasons Stark could be using his hacking skills for than protecting his daughter from the paparazzi and would-be kidnappers. She thinks back on J.A.R.V.I.S.’s earlier comment and asked, “Who all knows about her?”

“Besides her siblings and myself, there’s also my bodyguard Happy, my best friend Rhodey, and my tormentor Tori.”

Based on her research, she assumed Happy must be Harold Hogan, the boxer turned bodyguard who’s the only one on the Stark Industries security detail Stark has allowed into his personal space since he took over the company. In the same vein, Rhodey was likely Major Rhodes: a former classmate, notable confidant, and the liaison between Stark Industries and the United States Air Force whenever Stark was personally involved, well on his way to being their official liaison. The name Tori didn’t ring any bells for Jen, though given the fondness in his voice, she assumed the title of tormentor was meant to signify some sort of playful antagonism that wouldn’t jeopardize Teresa’s safety.

“And there’s you, now,” Stark continued on. “As well as a pair of doctors professional and well-paid enough to know to keep their mouths shut. Oh, and the two listed on her birth certificate and their CIA commanding officer.”

“CIA?” she choked out.

“Do you require some water, Ms. Walters?” J.A.R.V.I.S. asked as she coughed and she shook her head.

“Yeah, Mary was spying on me the night it happened. Don’t know why. I tried calling her up shortly after Teresa was dropped off, but her and her hubby were on a mission so I talked to her CO, Everett Ross, instead. He let me know they kept everything off books given both Mary’s status and mine.”

Jen supposed she shouldn’t be as surprised as she was about the kinds of people Stark just happened to know.

“Are you sure you do not want something to drink?”

“N-no, I’m fine. Thank you, J.A.R.V.I.S.” Deciding to focus on more familiar territory, she turned back to the custody forms. “Right, well, Mrs. Parker left most of the forms blank, only marking that you’ll have full custody before signing and witnessing the form. That honestly gives you free rein in deciding how you want it all to work.”

“What do you mean?”

She pulled a pen and a clipboard out of her briefcase. “Well, you’ll need to decide on custody rights and visitation.”

Stark’s face went blank. “I think Mary made it clear she didn’t want to be apart of Resa’s life.”

“Then sole physical and legal custody for you, with no visitation for the mother.” At Stark’s nod, she made a note of it and continued, “There is also child support, though…”

“I don’t exactly need it?” Stark offered with a smirk.

“And it wouldn’t be worth the hassle of trying to get it, since it could attract public attention,” she agreed, noting it down. “We can also put in for a change of name?”

Stark slumped slightly and shook his head. “Considered it, but it’s not worth the risk. Once she gets into school, having the name Stark would be flirting with disaster.”

“What about your mother’s maiden name?”

“Carbonell might not be as well known as Stark, but it would still be too much of a bullseye to the right crowd. Parker’s generic and doesn’t have any ties to me. I think it’s the safest bet.”

Jen gave him an understanding look. “I’m guessing you want to keep the rest of her name too then.”

Stark looked surprised before turning away. “We’ve all gotten used to her being Teresa, but… her middle name, can we change it to Ana?”

“Of course,” she said, curious about the choice but staying quiet. “I can get the paperwork in then drop off the updated birth certificate and social security card personally so no questions are asked. I’m guessing you’ll want to leave the listed parents as is.”

“Read my mind, Genevieve!”

She blinked at the nickname, but shook it off quickly. She double-checked that everything was now filled in on the forms before turning them so Stark could sign. As she filled in the witness portion, she asked, “Was there anything else I can assist you with?”

“I did give you two folders, didn’t I?” he teased.

Jen blushed and put away Teresa’s folder before opening the one she’d forgotten about.

She really should be getting used to being surprised by this point, but she was still shocked to find another birth certificate copy in the folder. This one was for a boy named Harley that was a month or so old with the only parent listed being a Victoria Susan Richards.

Tori.

She flipped through the folder to find more paternity tests, a letter from Ms. Richards dated months earlier, and another set of custody forms, these ones completely filled in and simply waiting for Stark’s signature.

Seems Stark really has been busy the past few months, which explained why he’d fallen out of the limelight.

She frowned as something occurred to her and looked up at her client. “Can I speak frankly, Mr. Stark?”

“Tony, and please do,” he said sitting back with curiosity dancing in his eyes.

“Is this,” she gestured at the folder, “why you’ve suddenly gone dark on the party scene lately?”

He frowned, still curious, but a bit of confusion peeking through. “Yeah. Need to step up and be a bit more responsible. Resa and Harls need a bit more upkeep than their older siblings, after all. Can’t exactly go out partying while being a dad.”

“Yes, you can. And you should.”

Shock colored his face and he leaned forward. “Well, you're the first to share such an opinion. Care to explain?”

There was a hint of threat in his voice that had her shrinking in on herself, but she pushed on. “M-Tony, I may not be in with celebrities and the like, but I’ve read enough gossip mags to know how this kind of thing works. You’re a public figure, and when public figures suddenly change behavior with no warning, people get curious. They dig around until they either find out the truth behind the change or find enough breadcrumbs to come up with their own ideas, which can often be worse. If you don’t want someone to turn up the wrong stone and figure out what you’re hiding, you need to stop acting like you’re hiding something.”

Stark hummed and sat back. “Good point. Knew I picked the right person for the job! So, what do you suggest?”

“I, um, well, uh,” she stumbled before clearing her throat. “If-If you’ve got a project ready to be announced — something big preferably — you should announce it soon, then immediately get back on the party scene. I’m not saying you should get drunk all the time like before, but you need to fake it. Let everyone think it’s all just been an extended version of your working binges. Once everything’s calmed down, then you can cut back, gradually. Maybe you could…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Final part for the boys' arc. Next Arc: Star Child

[otomeverything]

CODE REALIZE: WINTERTIDE MIRACLES

Release Date:  February 14, 2019 (North America) Developers:  Idea Factory, Otomate Publishers:  Aksys Games Platforms:  PS Vita, PS4

  I literally took my time playing this FD, knowing it’s the last (physical) otome game that will ever grace localization in the PS Vita.

Code Realize: Wintertide Miracles (Shirogane no Kiseki) is the second fandisc of the series, Code Realize. This game contains varieties of alternate and after stories that happened after the events of the last fandisc, Future Blessings.

  This fandisc contains the following stories:

Cantarella (Side Story) – Walkthrough available here.

Finis’s Epilogue

Sholme’s Epilogue

Love Triangle Stories (Short Stories)

Wintertide Miracles “First Christmas” (Alternate Stories)

Special Epilogues (Epilogues for White Rose’s stories in Future Blessings)

  ART AND MUSIC I know this is probably redundant as I’ve gushed about it a few times in my reviews for Guardian of Rebirth and Future Blessings. But, the artist Miko has done it again! I could not for the life of me, describe how incredibly beautiful the CGs are for this fandisc. There were also new sprites available for all the main and side characters, wearing their cozy winter outfits. Even Queen Victoria gets a new sprite wearing her expensive royal fur faux garb!

What I also loved about this fandisc were the new BGMs added for the series, they were all unforgettable and were specially made for the game’s Yuletide theme. One song that really stood out to me was the second Ending theme (Finis’ and Sholmes’ ED) “Beside You” by the artist SHOJI. Listen to the full track below:

***I purchased the whole soundtrack for Code Realize: Wintertide Miracles in iTunes. Link here.

  NEW CHARACTERS

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Cantarella (CV: Mamiko Noto) – Fuuka (Persona 4), Kotomi Ichinose (Clannad), Inia Sestina (MuV Luv), Felicita (Arcana Famiglia), Marvis Vermilion  (Fairy Tale)

Miles Strand (CV: Keiji Fujiwara) – Kagura Mutsuki (Blazblue), Jiro Hyuuga (Binary Star), Reno (Final Fantasy), Kiriya (Senran Kagura), Sakuya Tougane (Psycho Pass)

Baron of Aiguille (CV: Sugiyama Noriaki) – Akito (Norn9), Thor (Kamigami no Asobi), Suou Hana (Ayakashi Gohan), Katsuragi Naomasa (Yunohana Spring), Kashika Galle (Cendrillon Palika)

  SIDE STORIES AND AFTER STORIES I did Cantarella’s route first, followed by Finis and Sholme’s epilogues, then knocked out the love triangle dates before I played the main course, that is the “First Christmas” alternate stories for Wintertide Miracles. I myself, enjoyed this play order, though I would suggest playing whatever story you feel like playing first because that’s the whole point of a fandisc! lol

  CANTARELLA (Another Story) This story happened somewhere in the middle of Guardian of Rebirth’s common route. On their way home, after watching a performance at the Royal Opera House, Cardia and the rest of Lupin’s gang witnessed an attempted kidnapping of the Opera House’s beloved songstress, Cantarella. They’ve managed to save her as well as send her perpetrator running for the hills. They then took Cantarella to her home for safety measures, which lead the gang to meet her so-called “father” Miles. In this story, Cardia finds a friend in Cantarella and later on, discovers her true identity as both their existence managed to connect each other’s fates.

Just like “Lupin’s Gang’s” (side) story in Future Blessings, Cantarella’s route offers new likable characters and an interesting new plot for us to follow. Although I’ve very much enjoyed this story (for what it is), I didn’t like how the writers threw in these important characters on the third game, since canonically they don’t matter anymore as the main plot officially ended in Future Blessings. I would rather have this as an alternate story than a side story because It felt kind of unfair for Cantarella, Miles, and Auguille to get dissed like that after this little episode. lol Unless they’re planning on a third fandisc! (laughs)

Although the choices you make in Cantarella’s route, will not change the whole outcome of her story. It will, however, change a few scenes and dialogues in the game depending on the guy (main characters) your choices are inclined to. You can view my walkthrough for this route here.

  FINIS’ EPILOGUE (After Story) This after story took place right after the end of Finis’s route in Future Blessings. 

Six months have passed since Cardia managed to save his little brother, Finis from the unfortunate Nautilus incident in London. During this time, both twins return to their home in Wales and spend each day cleaning and repairing their old abandoned house while enhancing their bond as siblings. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose when one of Isaac Beckford’s invention called the “Knockers” have been spotted destroying a couple of buildings in London. It was made clear in the story, that these supposed-to-be-quarantined inventions of Isaac were “wrongly” activated by accident and it is now, up to the  Beckford twins (Finis’ most especially, since he’s fully knowledgeable when it comes to their father’s inventions) to stop this heaving uproar that threatened London its peaceful days.

This was probably one of my favorite After Stories in the series. Not only we get to see Finis in his true nature, as Cardia’s adorable cinnamon roll lil’ brother. We also get to see Lupin’s Gang and the Gordon Family in action as they help out clear the disruption in the streets of London during the main incident. ***This epilogue was very heartwarming and I absolutely enjoyed seeing Finis’ soft side while he deliberately declares threats whenever one of the main bois flirts with his sister! *chuckles* (´ ω `♡)

  HERLOCK SHOLME’S EPILOGUE (After Story) This after story took place right after the end of Sholme’s route in Future Blessings. 

It’s been half a year since Sholmes defeated his arch nemesis, James Moriaty (in Code realize Future Blessings). During this story, Cardia becomes part of Sholmes’ Detective agency together with his partner John Watson. The three of them fight crimes for the cause of good, even to the extent of ‘trying‘ to stop Lupin, the gentleman thief’s planned diamond heist of the prized jewel called “Mermaid’s Tear”.  Though try as they might, Lupin, as cunning as he is, still gets the upper hand and was able to escape with ease together with his genius engineer assistant, Impey. I know this was just a filler episode but it was kind of weird seeing Cardia as their enemy for once, but oh well…

Anyway, Sholmes actual main story revolved around finding a cure to Cardia’s poison.  As the Horologium still present in Cardia’s body, this fact still poses a threat that one day it will activate again, killing her along with the demise of London and its people. With this complication at hand, Sholmes gathered his A-team geniuses in the field of science and medicine; Victor Frankenstein, Dr. John Watson, Impey Barbicane and even the deviant genius scientist Nemo, who apparently now lives in a tiny cardboard box located in sewers (laughs) 😂 Poor guy! As all of them try their hardest to conduct research on a formula that will counteract the horologium’s poison, more problems seep into the picture that eventually causes Sholmes and Cardia make one life-threatening decision.

I like how Sholmes’ epilogue was narrated in a fairytale-esque kind of way. I enjoyed the story’s fluff content though, to be honest, this is probably the weakest story in the game (imo) as there really wasn’t anything “new” going on. Nonetheless, if you’re a fan of Sholmes, I’m sure you’ll have an awesome time discovering a few surprising sides of our favorite hot daddy detective. 

  FIRST CHRISTMAS “Wintertide Miracles” (Alternate Stories) These are “after stories” that happened right after Finis’ route in Future Blessings. It’s merely an alternate story where our heroine Cardia finds love during the Yuletide season. We get one story for every five main characters. What’s really special about these stories is that Cardia falls in love with one of the guys while his brother is alive! …THIS couldn’t be any more perfect, ❤️ I almost wished this was headcanon!

  Spoiler Warning: I will only be posting each story’s premise but I’m putting up my spoiler banner just in case.

  Victor Frankenstein After Isaac Beckford’s Nautilus incident that wreaked havoc in the city of London six months ago. Victor ended up opening a clinic located in the downtown part of London in order to help as many people as possible at a cheaper cost.

Victor’s main story started when one day he receives a mail from his parents in Switzerland telling him to settle down. He, in reply, told them he has no plans in getting married anytime soon but then started talking about how he’s currently interested with this ‘one girl’ and went all out writing two whole pages regarding his feelings for Cardia. (´ ε ` )♡ Without thinking of any repercussions, he sends the letter back to his parents judging its only the right thing to do as he’s speaking honestly from his heart. uwu. The next few days, he receives a reply letter from his mom saying they’re coming to London for Christmas so they can meet their son, Vic’s girlfriend. 🤣

In result, a panicked Victor travels to Wales to ask Cardia to be his “pretend” girlfriend just for Christmas while his parents are in town. 😂

***This was by far the cutest, most endearing “First Christmas” story I’ve read among the selections and I absolutely enjoyed it to bits! Besides its overwhelming fluffy contents, we also get to see Victor introducing Cardia to his parents (in CG!).

  Saint Germain Six months after the Nautilus Incident, Saint Germain, visits Idea’s leader Omnibus and reports that both Finis and Cardia, Isaac Beckford’s “problematic twins” are now living peacefully in Wales as normal human beings and are no longer a threat to humanity. As one of Idea’s faithful apostle, he awaits for Omnibus next order but was surprised to hear her tell him to take a long sweet vacation instead.

Still dumbfounded by their leader’s words, Saint Germain goes back to the mansion to find something to do with his newly acquired free time but since everyone in Lupin’s gang went about their own lives after London’s incident, he was left as the only resident in his house. This made him feel lonely and he admits to himself how much he misses the rowdy group clamoring inside the premise of his mansion. What’s more, is that he longs to see the face of his beloved, who he has not seen since his last visit in Wales.

This made him decide to write invitation letters to the group for a Christmas “Get-together” party. Though unsure if his anticipated guests would actually make it to the planned event. Saint Germain waits with hopeful eyes to see the faces of his precious friends again.

***The part where he waits for his friends actually made me tear 😭. Why are Saint Germain’s stories always melancholic? Why?! Thank goodness, this ended really REALLY happy. I would also like to gush on the fact that this is the only episode in the whole series where we get to see Guinevere outside her armor! Seriously, you absolutely can’t miss this!

  Abraham Van Helsing After London’s Nautilus incident, Van decides to travel with Delly all over United Kingdom in search for survivors of the Vampire War.

During their travels, the duo hears about the upcoming Christmas festival in London and decides to come home for the occasion as well as attend the gang’s Christmas party at Saint Germain’s mansion. They haven’t seen everyone in a while, so this decision made Van and Delly both excited. While at it, Delly proposes to take a side trip to Wales before coming to London and see the Beckford twins. Van agrees with him with Cardia in mind. ( ´ ▽ ` )

A few days have passed and they both arrived at Cardia and Finis’ home in Wales only to be disheartened to see the twins not being around. But with optimism as their friend, Van and Delly decided to wait. Night falls, and finally, Cardia and Finis arrived in the most unfashionable way ever (their automobile almost came crashing towards the duo) 😂 Everyone says their greetings when Cardia noticed that Van and Delly have been waiting out in the cold for too long, so she insisted they stay for the night.

The supposed-to-be one night stay turned into days and the group eventually decided to go to London together. While still in Wales, Cardia wanted to make everyone Christmas presents in the form of knitting and Van insisted on helping her with it.

***I love this! (/▽＼*) This surprising side of Van Helsing is all I ever wanted. I’m so glad to see him happy, always smiling and in his positive beaming self. It’s so refreshing! I need more happy-ray-of-sunshine Van Helsing in my life!

  Impey Barbicane Half a year has passed since the Nautilus incident in London and Impey visits the deviant scientist Nemo in prison from time to time as he plans to re-invent the gravity alleviator and is currently taking notes on Nemo’s advise while at it.

One day, In Saint Germain’s mansion, Saint tells Impey they received word from Van and Delly saying they’ll be back in London for Christmas. Since Lupin and Victor are already residing in the city, they decided to might as well invite Cardia and Finis in order for the gang to reunite once more this Yuletide season.

Meanwhile, in Wales, Cardia, (while fixing their automobile) thinks of how Impey’s constant declaration of love for her makes her heart feel woozy. She gets confused because she’s sure she loves Impey back but also “loves” the other members of Lupin’ s gang as well as her brother Finis. With this train of thought, she pesters her little bro and forced him to say the phrase “I love you” (to her), to which a blushing Finis, with all the effort, reluctantly did. 😂 But then yo girl was like “Oh but why does it feel different when Impey says it?” 😂 😂 😂 ROFL. This was adorably hilarious! I just can’t! 😂 

Later that day, they received a package from London in the form of a miniature Impey doll with a recording of Impey, Saint Germain and Lupin’s voice telling the siblings to come home for Christmas.

***I really enjoyed reading this one! I love how Cardia was strongly forward of wanting to explore her own feelings as she tries to discover the different meanings of “love”.  …and seeing Impey immensely blush time and again was such an awesome treat, I couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear! Another plus point was that we get to see Nemo give love advises to yo boi and that, to me was the icing on the cake in this story! (laughs)

  Arsene Lupin After the Nautilus incident in London six months ago, Lupin is back doing his thievery schemes like the proud gentleman thief he is.

One day while on a mission to steal a prized necklace from a corrupt Duke’s estate, he ends up being chased by Leonhartd as usual and just when he was about to execute his dashing escape, he gets distracted (by thoughts of Cardia) and gets shot by a rubber bullet instead. This, not only surprised Lupin himself but his perpetrators, Leonhardt, and his men were also perplexed at how they were able to take out the famed gentleman thief in one easy shot. In the end, an injured Lupin still managed to get away as he limped his way back to safety.

Back at the mansion, Victor along with Impey confronts Lupin saying he’s not being his usual self lately and asks him to perhaps, take a rain check from work (theft missions). A week later, Saint Germain chimes in, telling him the same and suggests that perhaps he’s longing for “someone”.  Taking in the Count’s advise to heart, Lupin begins to think of Cardia and how her absence is taking a toll on him. He then concedes with his true feelings and finally admits he misses her badly and the only way to cure this yearning is to see her face to face. So he starts writing the ‘perfect’ love letter for his beloved lady. 😂

***I must say, this after-story has the best CGs, as expected from the game’s headcanon boi. Just like Lupin’s uwu story in Future Blessings, it had its glorious romantic moments between the couple. As far as I see it, the game is clearly biased on Lupin’s story… the kabedon scene and that loooong kiss at the end, come on!  I couldn’t ask for more!

  TRIANGLE DATES (More CGs!) These are short stories which involve scenarios of Cardia spending her day with two main characters in the series. Although these are rather shorter stories compared to the ‘Wintertide Miracles’ selection, I was really impressed by how exceptionally good these little episodes were. You think you’ve had enough doki-dokis? Try this one on for size!

Here’s a list of all the Love Triangle episodes (you can play it in any order):

Lupin and Victor

Lupin and Impey 

Lupin and Van 

Lupin and Saint Germain 

Van and Impey 

Van and Victor 

Van and Saint Germain 

Impey and Victor 

Impey and Saint Germain 

Victor and Saint Germain 

Secret Episodes:

Delly and Sisi 

Aliester and Nemo 

Hansel and John Watson

  SPECIAL EPILOGUES These are short epilogue stories continuing the last events of Future Blessings (White Rose). These will unlock last, after finishing all of the above’s selections.

  IMPEY It’s been a few days and Impey hasn’t returned home after going on a work-related project (fixing airships and submarine engines in London).  Cardia was left alone in the mansion and although she knows Impey will come back soon, she thought of surprising him by gathering a lot of research documents related to their ‘moon-project’. She leaves for Wales to collect any information her father might have written in the past that can possibly help with the project. Not to ruin the surprise for her hardworking husband, she leaves a note that says “I’m going”.

Impey arrives at home, finds the note then begins to panic thinking Cardia has left him.😂 So he hurries and follows her to Wales to clear out this whole silly misunderstanding.

  LUPIN Cardia and Lupin go on a picnic at their secret place which has a great view of the industrial city of London and Lupin suggest that it’s about time to go on a honeymoon. Next few days, he takes Cardia to his birth city, Paris. There, they visit and the grave of his master, Theophraste and both of them said their prayers. They also ran into the head of the French police whom Lupin coined as someone equivalent to ossan Leonhartd. They had everyone (French police) chase them for fun and the couple gallantly escaped in style.

  VAN Cardia and Van are finally getting married and Shirley helps Cardia put on her wedding dress. Cardia decided to step outside the church so she could practice walking in her high-heel shoes when a bunch of men in black suits kidnaps her and takes her to another wedding location. There she finds an impatient man wearing a groom’s outfit who urges her to walk down the aisle with him. Cardia remembers the combat techniques her husband taught her and throws the man to the floor. Meanwhile, a worried and upset Van bursts out through the church door and started taking down the men in suits Liam Neeson style! 😂 😂 😂 Before things get worse, the gang stops Van and explains this was all a misunderstanding as the kidnappers and groom were actually actors and the bride actress never showed up for rehearsals so they thought Cardia was her by mistake.

The Moral of the Story: Don’t mess with this couple… ever! 😂

  VICTOR Cardia is now working as Victor’s assistant in the Royal Society and they spend their days doing research in Victor’s lab. Though they call themselves husband and wife, they realize that they never really had an actual wedding ceremony. So Victor asks Cardia if she wants to have a proper wedding and she says yes. A few days later, they began their search for a church in London but couldn’t find any since it’s peak season. Queen Victoria, along with Leonhardt notices Victor’s sullen expression and asks him what’s wrong, Victor tells them their circumstance and a snarky Victoria promises to help him only if he can prove to her how much he really wanted the wedding. After their deal, Victor comes home later than usual as he’s working extra hard to get her beloved wife that perfect wedding she deserves. Finally, the day has come for Victor to propose to Cardia and Victoria granted them permission to use the newly renovated St. Paul’s Cathedral. They got married in front of their friends and the Queen, and Cardia couldn’t be any happier.

  SAINT GERMAIN Cardia is now free of her poison and she and Saint Germain return to London so they can hold their wedding ceremony. The Count buys the ship “Gloria” from their mafia adventures in Lupin’s Gang (Future Blessings) episode and tells her this will be their venue. A day before their promised wedding, Hansel takes Cardia to Omnibus cottage and there they meet with Saint Germain and the leader of Idea herself, Omnibus. The old lady gives them her blessing, saying they will no longer be in the watchful eye of Idea and Saint Germain is now finally, freeee!  Both couples said their thanks to Omnibus. They got married in their luxurious ship the next day and all of their friends are with them happily celebrating the couple’s most special commemoration.

  Will I be able to enjoy this game even if I haven’t played Future Blessings? There were a lot of characters and events in Future Blessings that were present and added to this game, so I don’t think it’s a good idea to skip Future Blessings in the series. In addition, the main “Wintertide Miracles” stories continue from the last events of Finis’s route in Future Blessings, so, all the more reason not to skip the first fandisc.

Localization There were a couple of typo mistakes that I couldn’t really overlook which makes me think that perhaps because of it’s promised released date on Valentines Day, the game was rather rushed and there wasn’t a lot of time spent dedicated solely on proofreading it. ┐(︶▽︶)┌

  TRAILER

  FINAL THOUGHTS? ＼(＾▽＾)／ My overall play length for Code Realize Wintertide Miracles was a good 10-15 hours. Despite me trying to make the game last forever for about at least, two weeks, I finished it pretty quickly because I just couldn’t get enough of it.

Cantarella’s side story was way better than the gang’s Mafia adventures in Future Blessings and I sure did wish the ‘Cantarella-characters’ would’ve made a cameo in the special epilogues, because seriously, what a waste of good characters to be squeezed in, on the third game. ┐(‘～` )┌

Finis wins best boi in my book. This was one of the things I really appreciated most in this FD, and I’m sure most Code Realize hardcore fans would agree. Finis’ character finally gets justice! We get to see more of his adorable side as Cardia’s little brother while maintaining his hostile and dubious personality 😂. Who would’ve thought this boy is such a tsun-tsun! ❤

Do I recommend this game? YES (esp. to all Code Realize fans) Take note, this game is the series’ second fandisc. So literally, one cannot play it all willy-nilly without fully playing it’s first two predecessors. Personally, I’ve enjoyed this game a lot but that’s because I’m such a huge fan of the series. Perhaps to those who aren’t into Code Realize, you probably won’t enjoy this as much.

With the production of PS Vita consoles and games, completely shutting down worldwide this year, Code Realize Wintertide Miracles was such a special treat for us otome fans ~ esp. now, where there is scarcity of otoge releases in the West.

The game’s romantic Christmas theme really took this one up a notch and the newly added side stories are really something to look forward to. If you already like this series, loved the game’s main casts and wished for more adventures with them, this game is definitely worth the purchase.

  CHLO’S RATING: 8/10

Code Realize: Wintertide Miracles Review CODE REALIZE: WINTERTIDE MIRACLES Release Date:  February 14, 2019 (North America) Developers:  Idea Factory, Otomate Publishers: 4,080 more words

[galindathrop]

Avengers Endgame Theory

I made an Avengers 4 Theory before the trailer came out. With the wake of me accidentally seeing the Captain Marvel post credit scene, I decided to revamp my previous theory. So yes, this contains spoilers for the Captain Marvel post credits scene. 

Marvel logo with the Avengers piano theme. The logo fades to dust.

Opens with Thanos on his farm. His arm is damaged. He says something about the world finally being balanced, as all things should be. He pulls out Gamora's knife. But was it worth it, he wonders and looks up to the sky.

The endgame logo appears.

Tony Stark and Nebula are on the Milano trying to get to Earth. Oxygen is already low. So is the food. Nebula and Tony are quiet. They mention Thanos every once in a while. After Tony sends his message to Pepper, they get to work.

Back on Earth, the Avengers return to the compound. The only ones that are mentally stable are Natasha and Bruce. Everyone has been marked as missing. May joins them there.

A few days has past and Natasha is the one being interviewed about the decimation. Then Bruce gets a signal from the Quantum Realm.

Scott Lang escapes the Quantum Realm and searches for Cassie. Along the way, they run into Luis who tells him what happened. Scott begins to New York.

The avengers split off. Thor and Rocket roam the cosmos for search of Thanos. The rest stay behind. Thor and Rocket return later with a pager sending off a powerful signature. They try to trace the signal. It seems to fail when suddenly Captain Marvel appears behind them asking about Fury. Natasha tells her about Thanos.

They then see the arrival of a ship. Its Tony and Nebula. Nebula sadly tells Rocket about the guardians and Tony tells May about Peter. Tony also talks with Pepper. She tells him she's pregnant. Tony is introduced to Carol and sensed something off. "Where has she been?" Thor also mentions she gives off a strong energy source comparable to an infinity stone. They do some tests when there is a knock on the door. Its Scott Lang. They let him in. After explaining everything, he gives them the quantum energy he has. They come up with a plan to travel through time with the Quantum Realm to collect the stones without altering the space time continuum.

The avengers split up again. One goes to New York to get the space stone. The other goes to space to retrieve the reality and power stone. The first group is of Tony, Ant Man, Cap America, Natasha, and Rhodney. The second group is of Rocket, Thor, Cap Marvel, Nebula, and Bruce Banner.

Somehow they retrieve the three stones. They return to their time and construct the Stark Infinity Gauntlet. They then get a knock on the door. Its Harley Keener. He was called by Rhodney. "We need help."

There's a time skip. This is when Natasha finds Clint and brings him back.

The first group then goes to the sanctum in New York to talk to Wong on what they can do for the rest of the stones.

Wong tells them to go back a few years prior to the events of Dr Strange. Tony manages to get the time stone. But it all seems too easy. They all go to Titan 2, where Thanos is. They try to bargain for the stones. Thanos refuses, this brings out the hulk. He is now Professor Hulk. The Hulk wants a rematch with Thanos. Thanos complies, telling them they can replicate the soul and mind stone.

The avengers travel to Vormir. Cap confronts the Red Scull again. In a twist, it is Natasha sacraficing Clint for the stone. They then replicate the mind stone with Shuri's research and Carol's powers. When they try to reverse it, nothing happens.

Thanos appears in New York. Thanos uses the time stone to reverse their hard work. This leads to a battle between Cap Marvel and Thanos, she gets a few hits but can't beat him. Hope is lost. They then get the gauntlet off by Thor cutting off Thano's arm. The gauntlet falls and the stones leave the gauntlet. Tony leaps to grab them not knowing the consequence. This leads to Steve, Thor, and Natasha running in to help him. Carol tries to absorb the energy of the stones. The hulk then gets the Stark gauntlet and reassembled the gauntlet. He speaks saying this is what Banner would have wanted. This is what reverses the snap.

Pepper suits up in her rescue armor and saves Tony and the rest from any other attacks. Thanos then resembles his arm with his mind still connected to the stones and calls upon the last of the chitauri and outriders. The avengers except for Hulk appear dead. Then a ship comes in with the avengers who were victims of the snap and the remaining Asguardian refugees (+ Loki). They battle the army. The only avenger who didn't survive the stones is Natasha, protecting Wanda from Thanos. In the end, it is Nebula who kills Thanos.

Life returns to normality. Cap goes through the Quantum Realm to live out his days with Peggy, this doesn't affect the timeline. Bucky and Sam are left to take the role of Captain America. Thor rules a new Asguard in Norway. Tony and Pepper get married and have a son, named Morgan. The next generation of Avengers are Black Panther, Spider-Man, Falcon, Bucky, Wanda, Ant Man, Dr. Strange, Harley Keener, and the Wasp. They are lead by Captain Marvel.

The first post credit scene is a scene from Spider-Man: Far From Home or leads into the Eternals movie. It can also be Bucky mourning Steve, after he died of old age married to Peggy.

The second post credits scene is of Goose floating in space or Scott returns home to still see an ant playing the drums.

[burlybanner]

Syzygy - 5

Syzygy - An AU of Infundo (post-Infundo Chronicles).

Chapter 5: Phase Trials 2

Chapter 5 Summary:  Dr. Banner and Mr. Hulk.

Link to Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4

** Giving Hulk control wasn't as easy as just saying it, though. Bruce definitely wanted Steve to observe - preferably Steve and Tony both. "He hasn't earned this level of trust," he admitted. "And I'm not comfortable with him in the driving seat."

"He knows that," Tony huffed. Tony seemed a lot more at ease with the prospect that Bruce ever would be. "He's been itchin' to come out, sure, but he knows the two of you have to share the one body. He's more okay with it than you give him credit for."

Bruce grit his teeth. "I know you trust him, since he saved your life and all - "

"You both did."

"Nevertheless," Bruce said, cutting him off. "He's very unpredictable. Even with my resolve he has moments of wanting to break free and I will never, ever feel comfortable giving him control. The whole 'give an inch' idiom is extremely à propos. Give him an inch, and he'll take a fucking planet. You have to watch him."

"Yeah, yeah. Okay, Banner."

"I mean it." Of course Hulk vehemently disagreed, but Bruce stuffed him down. "This isn't a game, it's my life. And by proxy, his. You can't fuck around."

Tony quieted at the urgency Bruce pressed on him and rubbed the back of his neck. "Fine, we'll 'watch' him, or whatever. But I'll prove to you that there's nothing to worry about. You'll see."

"I intend to," Bruce said. Part of the compromise included wearing a body camera every night, to see what Hulk saw and hear what Hulk heard. "I'll review the data each morning. And if I see anything untoward, the experiment's over. Done. No second chances."

Tony almost rolled his eyes but chose not to after Bruce shot him a deadly glare. "It'll be fine," he said.

"I hope so," Bruce muttered. But even if they tried it, he wasn't one hundred percent sure Hulk wouldn't do something against his will. Regardless of what he told the others.

**

"Is everything set?"

"For the fiftieth time, Banner--!"

"Stop." Steve felt Tony's shoulder's tense; he was practically vibrating. While Bruce thought Tony was acting cocky, Steve knew Tony's worry was equally high - he just had a weird way of showing it. "We're ready. D'you think you're relaxed enough to sleep?"

"I kinda have to be, don't I?" The nervous chuckle Bruce gave was less than reassuring. "I mean, unless he can take over when I'm wide awake, without me knowing."

Bruce was half-kidding and they could hear his gallows humor loud and clear. Ultimately losing himself to Hulk scared Bruce most, whether or not he voiced it. "We've got this, Muffin," Steve said, and he wrapped his arms as far as they could go around Bruce's midsection. "I'll take point tonight, Tony tomorrow night."

Bruce pointed to Tony. "You're sleeping in your nanosuit, right?"

Tony tapped his chest, and the lights woven into his shirt fabric glowed. "Not as comfy as I'd like, but I'm on backup. Trust us, Pooh. We got this."

"And I'm all set," Steve said, tugging his earlobe. "Jarvis has me connected. I won't miss anything."

"Okay...okay."

Bruce was anything but okay, though, so Steve held out his hands. "C'mon, let's try it," he said, waiting for Bruce to take his hands. He gently guided them back to their bed, crawled on top of the sheets, and motioned between his legs. "Sit."

Bruce's cheeks pinked up, but he swallowed and lumbered across the sheets to settle between Steve's legs. "Now lay back."

"Steve--"

"Do it."

Bruce huffed, but followed Captain America's command. Steve hid his smile; he'd unearthed small ways that calmed his boys, and as much as Bruce fought against the truth he loved Steve cuddling and nurturing him. He initially pretend not to, but Steve felt how quickly tension left Bruce's body when he took control and treated Bruce special. Bruce only accepted the whole, "I'm in charge, I can handle you" treatment from Steve.

And boy, did he take to it.

Steve widened his stance a little more, feeling his body respond as Bruce nestled in. Over the past few weeks he'd noticed Bruce's broadening backside, even if Bruce didn't. "That's it," Steve whispered. Bruce let out a small sigh as Steve cocooned him as much as he could. His arms couldn't reach around like they used to, but they could cuddle.

"Can I be jealous? I think I've got room to be jealous."

Steve chuckled and patted the bed’s edge. "There's plenty of room for both of you on this bed, Tony."

"Mm," Bruce let out a lengthy sigh. Steve could feel Bruce's body sink into his as they all flirted with sleep. He lightly fingered Bruce's curls, easing him further in. "Not for long."

Steve snorted and grabbed a pillow so Tony could lean against his left side. "Not for long," he agreed. "We'll make you into a marshmallow man yet."

"Now that I'd like to see," Tony said, yawning.

Me too, Steve thought, but he didn't voice it.

**

Captain Rogers.

Steve stirred. What--?

Steve. Captain Rogers.

"Uh?" He blinked. What time was it?

Sorry to disturb you, but you did ask me to alert you.

Steve tapped his ear as he became fully conscious. "Jarvis?"

Yes, Captain Rogers. I'm speaking from your earpiece. You asked me to alert you when Doctor Banner woke - he is currently on the move, and headed for the nearest kitchen.

"Oh, right. On my way."

Steve frowned; he should've felt Hulk’s movements, at the very least. Glancing at the other side of the bed Tony was snoring up a storm. Hulk hadn't disturbed Tony either, apparently.

"Jarvis?" He whispered. "Is Bruce...Bruce right now, or Hulk?"

The AI paused.

Apologies, sir. It's impossible to determine at this time.

Great. What the hell did that mean?

"Okay..." Steve made a face and put on his sweats before heading towards the north kitchen. Guess he'd figure it out when he got there. If it was bad he'd tell Jarvis to alert Tony, but he honestly had no clue what to expect.

In hindsight, they really should've asked Hulk more questions when he showed up.

**

As Steve skittered around the kitchen corner, the only thing he noticed was the wide-open fridge door. He'd come from the opposite side expecting to see Hulk towering over the kitchen island, but he didn't see Hulk. He heard intense munching from inside the refrigerator instead.

"Bruce?" He whispered.

"Grrah... No Banner! Hulk!"

What on earth...?

Steve padded over cautiously and peered over the fridge door. It certainly looked like Bruce, crouched and hunched inside the icebox. But there was something...animalistic about Bruce’s demeanor. Large crumbs and half-eaten empty dishes surrounded him while a mountain of food detritus stained the front of his shirt. He hunkered over a casserole dish with a turkey leg, and used said turkey leg to scoop up whatever existed in the casserole dish.

"Is Hulk!" He repeated loudly, spewing food in every direction. He glared at Steve from half-slit eyes and dug his turkey leg into the dish, taking another huge bite. Food bits fell off the turkey and down his robe.

Steve's mouth flew open. He couldn't help but stare a few beats before speaking. "Uh, wow. Now I see it." Hulk was in charge, but he'd kept Bruce small.

Incredible, Steve thought.

"Hmm!" Hulk-Bruce grunted and slammed the turkey leg into his chest as if asserting dominance. "Banner isn't Hulk. Hulk is Hulk. Hulk will make Banner like Hulk!"

Steve couldn't help the grin that suddenly teased the corners of his lips. "You're doing a great job, Hulk," he told him, and Hulk nodded proudly before tearing into the meat.

"Banner's still too puny," Hulk laughed. His voice was a hybrid between Bruce and Hulk's, low and rough with Bruce's timbre. "Hulk can make Banner all chubby, like Banner wants. But Hulk wants real food."

Steve scratched his chin, trying to decipher what Hulk meant. "Do you mean you like different things?"

Hulk grunted and used the turkey leg as a pointer. "Like that,” he growled, pointing to a casserole. “And that. Those are good. Not this." He pointed to a cake.

"Hmm." Steve pursed his lips, musing over the new information. It looked like Hulk liked meat and fried foods, but Bruce typically went for sweets. "Got it. We can have it ready tomorrow, Br--er, Hulk. Just tell us what you want."

"Mm. Good," Hulk muttered. He used the back of his arm to wipe away the food covering his chin and lips. "More of that," he said, pointing to cold fried chicken. "More grease."

"Anything else?" Steve started taking notes in his head. "You can have anything you want."

Hulk perked up, eyes widening. "Anything?"

Within reason, Steve thought, but he wasn't going to deny Hulk if he kept eating like this. "Sure," Steve said. "Name it."

**

"Oh my God." Bruce held his head in his hands as he reviewed the footage early next morning. "Steve, why the hell did you tell him--"

"C’mon, it's not that bad, Pooh Bear."

Bruce's eyebrow quirked as he glared at Tony.

"You're kidding, right?"

Tony shrugged. "It's not impossible."

Steve wrinkled his nose. "I can't understand how he knew."

"He sees everything I do, but he doesn't understand it. That's the problem." Bruce belched and rubbed his tummy. The stuffing from Hulk's night raid hurt, but he hoped to be hungry for lunch later. "There’s no way we can get all that crap. Even if we did, who the fuck could cook it?"

Tony smirked. "Leave it to me. I've got four-star chefs in my back pocket. If anyone knows, they will."

"He'd never know," Bruce muttered, even as Hulk roared in his head. "You could cook anything. He'd eat it."

Tony held up a hand. "Nothin' doin'. My Green Bean wants what he wants, and I'll get it for him hell or high water."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Bruce said, sighing miserably.

Christ. He felt ill.

**

Steve turned off the Hulk footage after viewing it with Tony for the third time. They both agreed it was practically pornographic, but they needed to see it again. For research.

Yep. Research.

"So? Thoughts?"

Tony shrugged, bumping Steve's shoulder. Feeling frisky Tony ran his stocking foot up Steve's leg and Steve had a feeling the three of them would enjoy themselves later.

"It's not as dire as Bruce makes it and honestly, I bet he's secretly pleased. Hulk totally behaved himself, totally stuffed our boy with some high dollar menu items. I have a feeling we'll appreciate the results in a pretty short time."

Steve grinned as his face got hot. "You should've been there, Tony. Hulk's an eating dynamo, nothin’ stopping him. He got filthy, though. Made him take a shower before we went back to bed."

"Bet Hulkie loved that," Tony laughed. "Can't imagine him wanting to take a shower, by any stretch."

"Nah. It was okay. He liked me scrubbing him down. In fact, I think...well."

Tony perked up and maneuvered his body to catch Steve's eye. "What?"

Steve scratched his neck and sheepishly looked away. "I think Hulk enjoys sharing Bruce's body, like last night. It gives him another perspective he doesn't normally have. I got the feeling he wants to take over Bruce’s body more often."

"Hm." Tony's expression sobered. "Don't let Bruce hear you say that. He'll go apeshit."

"I know. He's already concerned about their boundaries and this sharing thing is stressful for Bruce. But is it bad? I mean, Hulk would still be 'out' more or less. But there wouldn't be any property damage. Bruce wouldn't have to worry about Hulk making a mess."

"But he's also blind to Hulk’s actions," Tony countered. "And there's no guarantee Hulk wouldn't take over their body and swell it green if he got mad enough." Tony tsked between his teeth. "I dunno, Steve. I'd keep that between you and me. If Bruce decides he wants more he'll tell us, but I'm kinda iffy on that front."

"Yeah," Steve sighed. "Maybe you're right."

"I am," Tony said. He clasped Steve's arm. "Don't fall into the trap. Hulk is a good bro but Bruce is right; you've gotta watch him. He'll take whatever you give him, and weasel for more."

"Like what he wants for dinner," Steve moaned.

Tony laughed. "Yeah. Like that. I got it set up, though. The caterers'll have it ready by 11 tonight. Just in time for our Green Bean to dig in."

"Can't believe you found someone to cook that...stuff," Steve mumbled. He ran a hand down his face. "You got it so damn fast."

"Oh? Didn't you know?" Tony plastered on his sharkiest, snarkiest grin and held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Tony Stark. I get shit done."

[myspideysensesrtingling]

In My Way (4)

IN MY WAY: BE NICE!

Pairing: (eventual) Peter Parker x Reader

Words: 2267

Warnings: none!

Notes: more filler...actual story coming soon :) I promise!!

Summary: You continue orientation at the compound until you find out about yet another new obstacle you’ll have to tackle. Across the city, Peter gears up for a job from Tony with no idea what he’s truly in for.

previous chapter (3) | series masterlist | next chapter (5)

masterlist | taglist

At the end of the long hallway, Tony reached a large glass door and pressed his palm against a scanner to the right of it. Confirmation of his identity slid open the glass pane to allow you both entry into a large laboratory with countless bench tops littered with labeled test tubes and computers running various codes. More screens hung above each bench showing even more data, dividing the room up into what appeared to be multiple experiments running concurrently.

"Banner?" Tony called out as the both of you wandered down the central aisle, peeking at some of the work going on.

"Hey, Tony! I was wondering when you'd stop by with your new friend," a man said after popping out a bench in the corner and noticing you. "And you must be Y/N! I'm Bruce," he said, whipping off his latex gloves and lab goggles for a hand shake.

Shaking his hand, your eyes couldn't help but dart around at all the real science going on in front of you. You studied a lot on a computer or in books; never tactile or even three-dimensional as you were seeing it now. Despite not understanding a fraction of the data on the screens or anything around the room, you couldn't stop the fascination from flickering in your eyes.

"Cool, huh?" Bruce prodded, his own interest in his experiments having a comparable effect on his expression. "I can teach you everything I'm doing another day, but let's get going on your medical scans, shall we?" He led the group of you towards a normal doctor's chair in the corner surrounded by basic medical supplies and had you sit down before he took your vitals and ran through a basic physical. He took a blood sample and DNA swab, neither of which were particularly enjoyable for you. Your only experience with doctors was a yearly physical they did at the home that spanned only five minutes.

After updating your vaccination records with a couple more needles, your arms were growing sore but testing was not nearly done. Tony wanted to pull out all the stops to ensure you were as healthy as you could possibly be. The last scans were x-rays and MRIs to make sure there was no hidden damage. Noting early signs of tendinitis in your knees, Bruce wheeled you over to the cradle, on loan from Dr. Helen Cho, and treated some of the inflammation that would only get worse as training got going. You lay in awe as the doctor worked on your minor injury that bothered you maybe once a week but, like Bruce, realized it would be better to fix now than later.

"You're all set!" Bruce exclaimed as the cradle finished restoration, "I'll get your blood test results and scan data back tonight and will go over it tomorrow, but everything looks good to me! Your joints will feel great after that treatment as well, but go easy tomorrow to allow the healing process to be complete.”

"Thank you so much," you trailed off, still distracted by all the amazing technology in the room while climbing out of the cradle. "You said I could come back another time to learn about…all this?"

"Please!" Bruce blurted, ecstatic someone else on the compound showed interest in his research besides Tony, who typically also made fun of him all the while. "Come back any time!" he shouted to you as Tony practically dragged you out of the lab to the next stop on their tour.

Making your way back down the hall and reaching the common area, you and Tony noticed the pits in your stomachs as various odors drifted out of the kitchen. Pepper stood at the stovetop facing away from you in her heels and somehow still snow white suit preparing dinner. The rest of the Avengers appeared to not have moved since you and Tony were in the common area last, though they had just eaten and returned to their seats for more conversation.

Hearing them coming, Pepper swiveled to face you and Tony with her pony tail bobbing and a soft, round smile gracing her face.  It had only been a few hours, but relief flooded her when she saw your radiant faces. Her family’s radiant faces. Her heart swelling, she pulled you in for a hug while Tony looked on with contentment in his eyes. It was as if there were no Avengers, no Iron Man, and no new recruit. Just a happy couple and their newly-adopted daughter.

You, on the other hand, stood stiff as a board as Pepper pulled you in, thankful to be facing away from Tony with your face hidden from the world. All your research failed to prepare you for close relationships, a fact only exasperated by the minimal affection you received your first 14 years of life. You were completely taken care of, no doubt about it, and all your needs were more than certainly met. But human contact was definitely lacking. Finding comfort in Pepper's gesture, however, you wrapped your arms around her, though you couldn't help but chastise yourself for letting something as simple as a hug trip you up in your new home.

Pepper either didn't notice at all or was too kind to say anything, though, as she pulled away and ushered you over to the dining table for dinner. You fielded question after question from Tony and Pepper, doing your best to answer questions about yourself you never thought about before.

What did you like to do for fun? Did you already miss her friends back home? What kind of music did you like? What was your favorite sport? What food did you like to eat?

In your heart of hearts, you had no idea. You had fun; You had friends you missed; and you liked music, sports, and food. But what were your favorites? You had no clue. You didn’t know herself; you were having an identity crisis at the ripe old age of 15. Not the best start, you noted.

While you tried to concoct an answer, Tony detected your hesitations immediately. He may not have been related to you, but he sure could read you. “You don’t have to know the answers to all these questions now,” he explained, glancing at Pepper to make sure he was doing this ‘parenting’ thing right. “We can help you explore and figure it out.”

“Of course!” Pepper chimed in. “We can go on some adventures, just the three of us!”

You beamed as any insecurity Tony detected before was instantly washed away. Tony did too - finally, here was a project he could get behind.

"So, kiddo, I need to ask you about school. I told you you'd be going to Midtown with Pete, who you met today, and school technically starts tomorrow. The principal is willing - thought not without a little push - to let you start a little late if you need some time to settle in. What do you think?" Tony proposed.

"Well, we need to get you some clothes, right? And get your bedroom organized," Pepper interjected. Simple, enough, but a new school, new clothes, and a new room all in one day was a big adjustment. Besides the whole new life, of course. "We can do some online shopping tonight, the two of us!" Pepper added, pulling you back to the conversation. While thankful for all these new things, you couldn't help but notice the pit at the bottom of your stomach telling you you didn't deserve any of it; that you weren't special.

"Y-you don't have to do that for me; I can figure something out," you stuttered, not wanting to offend while also not wanting to impose on your new hosts. "I…I'd also love to go to school tomorrow…assuming you think I'm ready. Regarding the bedroom, who all sleeps in that dormitory?"

Without hesitation, Tony and Pepper's eyes met as they tried to decipher what you meant. Tony snorted as he stood up and rinsed his plate in the sink. "It's your own room, goofball." He chuckled and took the liberty of grabbing the other plates to scrub clean. "I'll let them know you're coming tomorrow. Just be up and ready by 7:30. School starts at 8:30 but we have to get your schedule and connect you with Peter so you can find your way around. Which reminds me--" Distracted, Tony whipped out his phone and typed furiously while strutting off.

"Let's go up to my office and order some clothes to get you started, ok?" Pepper suggested. With you playing follow-the-leader once again, you both strolled down to the other end of the building, climbed up a floor, and entered her spacious office. Neat, spotless, and sleek, just like Pepper herself, you sat with Pepper at the computer to look for some basics. A few cute t-shirts, sweaters, jeans, leggings, and sneakers would do the trick. You stuck to plain items while shying away from anything that made a statement; it was almost a subliminal presentation of your self-consciousness. This trend didn't slip by Pepper, however; she picked up on your tendency to pick out loosely-fitting items or buying a couple sizes up. Sure, a wardrobe is just that - a wardrobe - but it left Pepper wondering if there was anything more to it.

After placing the order and grabbing some clothes to borrow until the items arrived, you turned to leave when Pepper spoke up behind you. "One more thing--here's your phone and laptop. The laptop has everything you'll need for school and the phone has all of our numbers. Of course, when you're here, you can always come find me," she offered with a soft smile in an attempt to convince herself she might be better at this mothering thing than her inner-critic told her she was.

"A…laptop? And a phone?" you giggled, excited about this new stuff you were getting. But something else gnawed at you, something less tangible than these material things. "Ms. Potts, I--I don't know what to say. This stuff is great, of course, and I appreciate it. But more importantly, you and Tony have given me more opportunities in the past 12 hours than I've ever had." You peered up at the ceiling and around the room, eyes drawn to the intricate designs throughout the office before drifting out the floor-to-ceiling window behind Ms. Potts to the large grass field now barely visible while stars twinkled up above. "I know I'm primarily here as part of the Avengers Initiative, but it means the world to me that you've cared so much for me. Between that and the opportunities, It's far more than I'll ever deserve and…I-I can't thank you enough for everything."

It really hadn't been much to Pepper. Just a few conversations: asking questions at dinner, seeing if you felt ready for a new school, and reassuring you you were in fact ready while looking at clothes. But to you, standing in front of her, your eyes brimming with newfound hopes and dreams made possible with this new opportunity, it was everything. You now had more people than ever before believing in you, even if you were nowhere near believing in yourself, and Pepper could see it in the way the corners of your eyes pinched and mouth tilted upwards ever so subtly. After questioning the adoption during dinner as you appeared anything but comfortable (though Tony swore you didn't stop talking on the plane), Pepper cast all doubt aside.

"You're welcome, but it's just the beginning. I can already tell you've got as much ambition as I remember Tony had when first developing his suit," she chuckled while you beamed for what was probably the millionth time that day, beyond honored by the comparison. "It's true that part of the plan was for you to become an Avenger, but don't forget the real main part of the plan was for Tony and I to adopt you. We think you deserve the world and are ready to do anything to help you get there."

After an additional hug, Pepper lead you to your new room to settle in. Once all alone, you felt the prick of nerves that comes with going to a new school for the first time. This fear was nothing compared to all the other feelings coursing through you, however. Despite losing three hours due to the time change, this had been a exciting yet draining day. Almost as soon as you pulled up the covers, your head hit the pillow like a rock and you drifted into your deepest sleep to date.

Peter finally slipped into bed, tired but luckily not too worn down after his last summer night protecting Queens. School started tomorrow and he wanted to start the year at least somewhat well-rested. He breathed in deeply, his eyelids drifting together as stillness took over the world around him.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

Exhaling sharply in protest, he pried his eyes back apart and rolled over to see what his phone thought was so important that it needed to wake him up. The name on the screen brought him to full attention.

Mr. Stark: Hey kid. Y/N is going to school tomorrow so make sure she has a good day. BE NICE!

Great, Peter thought, just what I need. He dropped his phone on his nightstand and rolled over, flopping back down in bed. School was tough enough already, and now he had to befriend the new kid? What a year this was shaping up to be.

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[96thdayofrage]

In 1977 it was revealed that random American citizens were abducted & tortured for research by the CIA.   Project MK Ultra was the code name for a series of covert activities beginning in the early 1950’s, similarly to those that occurred in Jonestown.

Following the defeat of Germany in 1945, the predecessor to the CIA, the OSS: Office of Strategic Services recruited Nazi doctores and scientists for employment by the United States under the directions and supervision of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The operation was called Paperclip. Operation Paperclip was the recruitment of German doctors and scientists who were experts in a wide array of sciences, ranging from rocketry to torture.

Contrary to false history and propaganda, Josef Mengele was indeed among one of the doctors recruited under Paperclip.

Several programs were started which focused on the effects of drugs for interrogation purposes.   The United States Navy started Project Chatter in 1947 and focused on identifying and testing the use of drugs on human and animal subjects.

Under control of the intelligence divisions of the Army, Air Force, Navy, and FBI was another operation called Project Artichoke. Project Artichoke focused on the use of hypnosis, forced morphine addiction, and the use of other chemicals and methods.

Project Artichoke was renamed MK-Ultra which initially began human experimentation on CIA employees and military personnel, but soon began to include prostitutes, the mentally ill and abducted American & Canadian citizens.

Operation Midnight Climax was a project operating under the banner of MK-Ultra, which consisted of a web of CIA-run safe houses in San Francisco, Marin, and New York.

Prostitutes on the CIA payroll were paid to lure clients to these safe houses, where the men would be drugged and monitored behind one way glass. This method of human experimentation was desired because the victims, when released, would be too embarrassed to disclose the events.

In 1973, CIA director Richard Helms ordered the destruction of all documents pertaining to MK-Ultra. Due to the destruction of these records, it is difficult or impossible to perform additional research into MK-Ultra or the 150 individually funded sub-projects that operated under the MK-Ultra banner.

In 1974 The New York Times reported the CIA conducted illegal domestic activities, including experiments on U.S. citizens, which prompted Congress to intervene and conduct investigations.

The Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission both released reports in 1975 that revealed that the CIA and Department of Defense conducted experiments on citizens without their consent.

The Church Committee concluded that “prior consent was obviously not obtained from any of the subjects. How could MK ULTRA mind control not have not even been considered in the case of Jonestown since cults are breeding grounds for brainwashing and the fact thatJones used CIA MK ULTRA torture techniques to the letter.

Did Jim Jones have the manual?  Or was he himself an operative?

All indications identify Jim Jones as both a programmer and an MK ULTRA Manchurian candidate.   The controlled mass media have created a myth, the legend of Jonestown.

Carved out of the jungles of Guyana on the northeast coast of South America, a fanatical group of followers of the Rev. Jim Jones, were led to the jungles of South America to get away from the oppression of life in America.

Reports that Jones’ followers willingly followed their leader in a revolutionary mass suicide by sipping purple Kool-Aid laced cyanide cocktails. Another myth that has become a part of pop-cult-ure: Drink the cool-aid. Jonestown has been inexorably linked to that infamous false phrase.

The Kool Aid pop-cult-ural application is actually a huge deception. It is time to smash the myth and expose the immutable facts of a Black Op cover-up at Jonestown.

U.S. Army spokesmen quickly announced no autopsies were needed stating that the cause of death was not an issue in the case.

Despite the Black-Op coverup, Dr. C. Leslie Mootoo, the top Guyanese pathologist, who examined the bodies found fresh needle marks at the back of the left shoulder blades on 80 to 90 percent of the victims. Others were strangled or shot. Of course, this fact did not make the evening news.

A surviving witness stated that resisters were forced by armed guards to comply. Many were shot. Dr. Mootoo’s opinion, and that of the Guyanese grand jury investigating Jonestown, was that all but three were murdered by “persons unknown.” Of these three, only two of which were suicides.

There is more. Much more.

On November 18 1978, it was reported that 913 people committed suicide in Jonestown. The suicide hoax is merely the beginning of the deception to cover up the MK ULTRA mind control black operation.

The original death count was 408. Initial reports noted that an additional 700 fled into the jungle.   Soon after, the final death toll was changed to 913, noting the large error was due to bodies being stacked on top of one another.

Of the 150 photos taken of the massacre, not one shows any body lying under any others.   Those who first worked on the bodies, to release the gasses of decay, had to puncture the dead, making it unlikely that they missed anyone.

How could 408 bodies, 82 of them children cover 505 others? With little exception, pictures show the dead in neat rows, face down. The pictures also expose drag marks leading to the bodies, indicating that victims were murdered elsewhere and placed there after death.

These facts have lead to a more likely conclusion: 408 was indeed the correct original body count. The other 505 were hunted down and slaughtered, then dragged back. But by who?

And why were American officials giving such deceptive answers about Jonestown? Because Jim Jones, an enigmatic Bible-thumping charlatan faith healer who according to his landlady, “used the Bible instead of a gun” had deep ties to the CIA. The evidence of this is overwhelming.

The CIA connection begins with Jones’ childhood friend Dan Mitrione who was the local police chief in the early days of Jones’s “ministry” in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Mitrione later entered the International Police Academy, a CIA front for training in torture and counterinsurgency techniques that were later used at Jonestown.

In 1961, depite being broke, Jones somehow found the funds to travel to Brazil. Wouldn’t you know that Dan Mitrione was there as well, practicing his CIA torture and assassination training on kidnapped beggars.

(Mitrione was himself later kidnapped and murdered by guerrillas in Uruguay.)

Jim Jones went to live in Brazil with his wife and made several visits to the City of Belo Horizonte where the CIA’s Brazilian headquarters was located and where Dan Mitrione resided.

During this time Jim Jones adopted as many as 150 foster children. Most were actually sent to the People’s Temple by court order. Many of these children were horribly abused and traumatized in sadistic CIA mind control experiments.

As mentioned, the Temple had a strong associations with World Vision and a mercenary rebel army backed by the CIA called UNITA.

If you haven’t connected all the dots yet, don’t worry there are many more links exposing the truth about Jim Jones. He was involved in the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence. The U.S. embassy even provided him with transportation, groceries, and a large home. He was an asset. An operative.

His close friendship with Mitrione and the CIA’s funding of “ministries” in Latin America amplifies the fact that Jim Jones was an obvious U.S. intelligence asset as early as 1961.

According to a neighbor at that time, Jones, had no money but “lived like a rich man.” Soon after the JFK assassination, Jones returned to the states with $10,000.

Where did Jones, a broke pastor get these funds? Evidence leads to the CIA Skull and Bones Brotherhood. The Brotherhood of Death.

Despite his ultra right-wing background, Jones suddenly declared himself a liberal socialist — and called himself a reincarnation of both Jesus Christ and Lenin. For people to follow this man shows how easily they can be manipulated.

Sadly, much social control has been applied to Our world in both politics and pop-culture. The insanity is, that the Reverend Jim Jones would be considered a hero today by most liberals for his New Age Utopian philosophies and desire to homogenize society, erasing the barriers of race and sexual orientation. He would be seen as a hero, if not for the dark truth behind the lie.

Utopia is hell. Enslavement. Suffering. Torment.

Like with all liberal issues, the veneer is quite different than the results. The devil is in the details.

Jim Jones took everything he could from his liberal multi-racial followers. He fleeced them good. From their welfare and social security checks to properties and bank accounts. Using extortion, blackmail, torture and psychological warfare to shear his flock of their assets and worldly possessions for the perceived betterment of all in the collectivist Utopian society created by Jones.

By 1965, Jones had formed the first People’s Temple in Ukiah, California. He also set up Happy Havens Rest Home, which was a front for MK ULTRA experiments.

His totalitarian socialism was eagerly endorsed by the elite, but a cloud of suspicion began to gather around the People’s Temple. A church that was staffed by jack-booted Nazi-esque armed thugs dressed in black SS styled uniforms started raising some eyebrows.

Without proper licensing or trained personnel, Jones drew in prisoners, the elderly, people from mental institutions. Of course, he was not arrested, rather he himself was fostered. . . by the CIA.

Among those who contacted Jones were “missionaries” from World Vision, an international evangelical order that was a front group for the CIA.

Jones’ advisors included a mercenary from UNITA, the CIA-backed Angola army.

Family of U.C. Berkeley chemist Dr. Laurence Laird Layton were also involved. Dr. Layton had worked on the Manhattan Project. Dr. Layton was also chief of the Army’s Chemical Warfare Division in the early 1950’s, where the seeds of Project Artichoke and MK ULTRA were sown.

[yougottalovebuckybarnes]

Angry (Bucky x Reader)

A/N: Okay, so I’ve done my research on Bruce Banner, and I KNOW that technically he doesn’t have a medical degree, but here’s what’s on the marvel wiki page:  “ Dr. Bruce Banner is a genius in nuclear physics, possessing a mind so brilliant that it cannot be measured on any known intelligence test.” So.... we’re just gonna do some ‘imagining’ and just say that he is also somewhat experienced in the medical field.  Bear with me. I’m just a girl who wants to write about Bucky Barnes. :)

WARNINGS: Angst, injuries, angry Bucky, slightly irritating but humorous Tony Stark

Y/N’s POV

It was no one’s fault.

 I did not go on the mission to be babied the whole time. I knew the risks that came with being on a team with the Avengers. I was willing to put my life at risk to save others.

And that’s exactly what I did. 

The mission was going well, a successful infiltration of a secret HYDRA base in the States, when I was shot. One moment I was standing, my gun aimed to fire at the leader of this particular base who was about to end Steve’s life and the next I was laying on the floor, blood soaking through my suit at an alarming rate. 

I lay there, gasping for air as more bullets flew through the room. I heard the soft thuds of bodies hitting the cold concrete floor, and I struggled to hold onto my consciousness.  A figure entered my vision,  and I squinted to see Steve hovering over me. 

“The bullet hit just above her left collarbone.  She’s bleeding pretty heavily. “ He picked me up in his arms and I let out a small groan in pain as he began to run. 

“Get her back to the jet.” I heard Banner’s voice reply, and I stared up at the sky, wanting to just close my eyes and forget about the pain.

“Don’t close your eyes, doll.” Steve muttered as we got closer to the jet. “Hold on for just a little while longer.”

“It fucking hurts, Rogers.” I mumbled, wincing as more blood continued to steadily flow from where the bullet had pierced my skin. 

“I know. But we’re going to get you some help. You just need to stay awake. Bucky’s waiting back at the Tower for you.”

I let out a small sigh as I thought of my boyfriend of two years. Boy, was he going to be angry. 

Not that he wouldn’t be already. 

Bucky had tried his hardest to convince me to stay, insisting that Steve, Tony, and Bruce could take this mission on their own. I knew that I had a job to do, that I had signed up for this on my own free will. But I also knew that he wouldn’t let me leave. So, after much discussion with the others, I waited until Bucky had fallen asleep and left with them early in the morning three days earlier. Natasha and Wanda kept him busy, and swore not to say where we were going. To our knowledge... he never found out.

“H-He’s going to break up with me.” I murmured as Steve gently placed me on a cot that was set up in the jet, and Bruce immediately started to inspect my gun shot. 

“I don’t think he’s going to do that, Y/N.” Steve shut the door to the plane, and immediately went to the cockpit to start to fly us home. “He loves you too much.”

“He might break up with Steve, though.” Tony commented from his seat, and Steve turned to give him a nasty look. “Oh, is Stucky not actually a thing?”

“You know wh-”

“Shut up!” Bruce snapped, and the plane fell silent as it began it’s way towards home. “I need you two idiots to stay quiet while I try to stop the bleeding. I don’t have enough supplies to take out the bullet right now. Just get us home as fast as you can, Cap.”

“Got it.” Steve muttered, and I felt myself becoming more dizzy as time went by. 

“You gotta stay awake, Y/N.” Bruce said, as he applied more bandages to my wound, trying to stall the bleeding that continued to soak through bandages seconds after they were applied. “We’ll be home soon.” “To Bucky?” I smiled drowsily.

“To Stucky.” Tony chuckle from up next to Steve, and a moment later, I heard a loud smack in the background. “OW!”

“How much time till we get back to base?” Banner called, choosing to ignore the episode that was occurring between Steve and Tony.

“Ten minutes.”

“It needs to be less than that. Go faster.” 

“Ugh...” I groaned, as my head began to pound and my consciousness began to fade away faster. “It hurts, Bruce.”

“I know...” He muttered, and continued to rush to try to stop the bleeding. “We’re almost there, Y/N. We’re almost home.”

“Home.” I mused, and my mind drifted to Bucky.

He was going to be beyond mad. Cross, furious... explosive. It was going to be a mess the moment the plane landed. 

“Bruce, don’t let Bucky kill either of those two idiots.” I gave a small giggle. 

“Hey!” 

“The two idiots who I love!” I added, and I could almost here Tony roll his eyes. “I don’t want to create any more trouble.”

“I won’t let him do anything stupid.” Bruce almost smiled, and I let out a small sigh, as my eyelids began to feel much more heavy than they had moments before. “How much more time?”

“We’re almost there!”

“That’s not an answer! How much more time?”

Their words became muffled, and my vision blurry as my eyelids slowly fluttered shut. The last thing on my mind before darkness took over was Bucky. My Bucky. God.... please don’t let him be angry.

---

Steve’s POV

The jet landed, and I immediately jumped out of my seat as Bruce took her out and to the medical wing. Upon exiting the jet, I came face to face with Bucky Barnes. His eyes were filled with anger, but upon seeing Y/N’s broken body in Bruce’s arms, they were livid with fury. His hand connected with my jaw before I could say a word, and he grabbed my collar before pulling me close to him. 

“Why didn’t you fucking tell me she was going to pull shit like this?” He growled, as a dribble of blood trickled from my nose. “I thought you were my friend.”

“I am! But she’s an adult woman.” I shoved away from him. “She can make her own choices.”

“I knew something like this was going to happen!” Bucky yelled, as he stumbled backwards a few steps. “I knew she was going to get hurt! And you wonder why I’m so protective of her!”

“Bucky...”

“Look, Metal Arm, Y/N signed up to be on this team.” Tony walked out of the jet, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Bucky. “She signed up for all of the risks that came with it too. But she also got a family out of it. So we helped her, yes. But we saved her life, and got her here. Now, it’s up to the doctors to save her. But maybe instead of trying to kill Rogers here, you go and stay by your girlfriends side for awhile.”

Bucky moved towards him, and I tensed as he stopped right in front of him. 

“Stay out of my way, Stark.” He growled, before turning and walking away, following where Bruce went. I sighed and rubbed my temple gently.

“Thanks, Tony.” “No problem, Capsicle. Just get some rest. I’ll make sure to give you updates if anything happens over night.”

---

Y/N’s POV

I let out a small groan as my eyes opened to a bright light, which resulted me in closing them again. After a few moments, I opened them again, and they adjusted quickly. I was alive.

I was laying in a bed, an IV in my arm, and a bandage wrapped around my body. I winced slightly at the pain that wracked my body as I shifted slightly in bed. I guess that bullet really did some damage. 

“You’re awake.” My head turned to see Bucky sitting in a chair in a corner. His eyes had dark circles under them, and they were slightly red with exhaustion. They were not the beautiful blue color that were filled with excitement each time he saw me. They were dull and filled with pain. 

“How long was I out?” I asked, my voice slightly raspy. 

“Two days.” He replied with no emotion. “If we’re counting... that’s 5 days in total that I thought I had lost you.”

“Buck...” my eyes began to fill up with tears. 

“Don’t.” Bucky shook his head as he stood up and sat down on the edge of my bed. “Don't do that. I can’t believe you left and went even when I asked you not to.”

“It’s my job.” I said quietly, not wanting to start an argument, but not ready to back down either. “And it was only because I wasn’t being careful.”

“Will you be ready the next time?” Bucky asked, irritation leaking into his tone. “Or will I be attending your funeral?”

“Stop.” I snapped. “I know the risks that come with this job. I’m willing to die for the safety of everyone else.”

“Your life is worth just as much as everyone else’s, Y/N.” He gave me a cold look.

“What do you want me to say, Bucky?” I laughed humorlessly, feeling the tears slowly start to fall from my eyes. “That I’ll quit my job only because you want me to be safe? That I’ll always be safe for the rest of my life? That I’ll never die?” 

He flinched at my words, but I didn’t stop.

“Do you even want to be with me anymore?” I asked brokenly, my voice falling to a quiet whisper.  His eyes reflected more pain at my words.

“Of course I do.”

“Then why do you act like this?” I sniffled. “Why don’t you want me going on missions?” “I want to keep you safe.” Bucky grabbed my hand gently. “That’s all I want. And I want you safe, because I love you.”

“You love me?” I asked quietly, not sure if I heard him correctly.

“I. Love. You.” He gave a small smile. “And all I want is to be with you, safe and sound. I don’t want you to get hurt. I know that there will always be that risk when going out on missions, and I’ve been trying so hard to keep you away from that. But, clearly, that’s not the right approach. “

“No.” I squeezed his hand gently. “But we’ll find the right one. Together.”

“Good.” Bucky smiled.

“And Buck?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you too.” I smiled, and he let out a chuckle.

“Good.” He leaned in and kissed me softly. 

Outside of the room, Tony and Steve stood watching quietly. Tony looked over at Steve. “They’re cute.”

“Sickly cute.”

“Yeah, I suppose that’s true.”  He mused for a moment, before commenting, “So... there’s no Stucky then?”

“Tony... just shut up already!” 

----

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@strangenerdsstuff

[daresplaining]

Jessica Jones Countdown: 6 Days

Jessica’s Origin Story, and the Mysterious IGH

    With less than a week left before Season 2, we’re re-examining the little we know so far about what seems to be its main plotline: discovering where the heck Jessica’s powers came from. 

    First, let’s take a look at the comics, where Jessica’s powers are as straightforward as they are mysterious. While on a road trip, she and her family run afoul of a caravan of military vehicles transporting dangerous materials. 

Alias #22 by Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos, and Matt Hollingsworth

    Jessica gets a canister of hazardous something dumped in her lap right before the car flies off the road and bursts into flame. She wakes from a coma six months later as an orphan with superpowers. This, like the much of Jessica’s early life, is directly modeled after Silver Age superhero trends-- thus slotting her into that time period, despite the fact that she was created much later. She attains her powers the same way most of the early Marvel heroes did: through a chance encounter with negligent science. And just like many of those heroes, it’s left at that. There’s no mystery involved. Peter Parker got bitten by a lab experiment. Bruce Banner got doused with gamma rays. Matt Murdock got a radiative isotope dumped on him. And then they acquired superpowers, because hey, these things happen. Similarly, Jessica’s origin is left intentionally uncomplicated. T’was the “hazardous experimental materials” that did the deed. 

    The Netflix show has taken an entirely different route-- possibly to keep things “grounded”, but also because this creative team’s goals are different. They’re not going for a Silver Age vibe (quite the opposite, in fact). In this universe, Jessica’s powers are something to wonder about, and so we (and Jessica) are left with the mystery of what happened to her in the wake of what might have been a perfectly normal car crash. 

    So far, we have shreds of clues and a whole lot to wonder about. The big name in all of this IGH. 

    We know that IGH is a secret organization (Trish, who is pretty good at research, can find no trace of them). We learn that they are the people who funded Will Simpson’s training and created his enhancement pills. Like in the comics, these pills are intended to improve fighting ability by boosting stuff like strength, endurance, and awareness, while also increasing violent tendencies. We know that Simpson’s program (and thus IGH?) was military, and that the pills were intended to create a type of super-soldier. 

    We also know that IGH paid Jessica’s post-accident medical bills, thus implying that they were involved with her treatment. Jessica says that she was experimented on. In the Season 2 trailers, Dr. Hansen (presumably an IGH employee, and-- it seems-- also one of its victims) claims that Jessica was “brought back to life”. But how, exactly? Was this more military testing, or does IGH have other goals? And why Jessica?

    For comics fans, IGH also bears a suspicious resemblance to MGH: a drug made from mutant DNA that grants temporary superpowers. Mutants still technically don’t exist in the MCU... but Inhumans do. Is this just a coincidence, or was this reference intentional?

    What makes this even more confusing is the fact that this isn’t the only sketchy medical testing going on. There’s also the little matter of Reva Connors’ flashdrive, which contains files on the origins of two seemingly unrelated people: Luke and Kilgrave. 

    Kilgrave’s parents' experiments were medical in nature. They were looking to cure their son of a degenerative disease. Presumably, they were doing this in conjunction with a group of other scientists, all experimenting on children-- though what exactly these other people were doing remains a mystery. All we know is that for some reason, this data was kept in the same place as the data from the experiments at Seagate Prison.    

    Noah Burstein’s experiments were also medical in nature. He claims that he was attempting to achieve “immortality”, curing physical ailments by melding human cells with those of other animals. He mentions having a backer of some kind, but we never learn who it is, or whether their goals are different than what Burstein claims they are. Given Luke’s resulting powers, and Burstein’s interest in Diamondback at the end of Luke Cage Season 1, it’s possible that plans may have changed.   

    Are all of these experiment victims connected? (Could Matt’s accident even be connected?) Is this all IGH? How deep does this conspiracy go? It’s interesting to note that Kilgrave’s, Luke’s, and (at least, according to Dr. Hansen) Jessica’s powers were all unintended side-effects. We know what the goal was for Kilgrave and Luke, but what was IGH aiming for with Jessica? Who are they? What do they want? 

    Only six more days until we find out!