#experience then compounded by having to sit next to my aunt who is too demanding to service workers

[queerpyracy]

only had to experience the nightmare of nobody warning me that what i thought was going to be a chill potluck was in fact a formal lunch with a predetermined menu once and now every time it's announced "we're going to have [meal] with your grandma" i'm like And What Does That Mean, Specifically

[fatandnerdy30]

Land of the Avengers Chapter 4

So, here’s the fourth chapter! I hope that this can help put a little smile on your face during this hard, lonely time in the world. Remember, there is someone who loves you...and though I haven’t met any of you, I love everyone who reads this, and those who don’t!

Her body hurt, that's all Virginia knew the moment she woke up. She let out a little groan, her eyebrows scrunching as she slowly came to. The first sound she heard was Cadet Keener's voice. Instantly her eyes snapped open and she sat up, automatically regretting her decision as her ribs shot a sharp pain through her midsection. "Virginia?" Clint's use of her full name was a sign that something was wrong. "Are you all right?" She nodded, gritting her teeth against the pain."Yes...just got up too fast. How...how are the cadets?" They were more important than her most likely broken ribs. She could deal with those later. "Captain?" Harley's voice was strong as he said her name. She looked to her left and saw his smiling face. Her shoulders dropped in relief at the sight of the boy looking at her with clear, bright eyes. "Cadet Keener...where's Parker?" Virginia took a look around, noting the lake they were seated by. "He's still out," Clint said, wiping his face. "We're staying here for the night, then we're moving in the morning..." He ended his sentence, drifting off towards the end. It seemed as if he wanted to tell her something. "Is everyone accounted for?" There was a silence that fell over the survivors. "Cadet? Is there something you're not telling me?" Keener nodded, putting his head down. "It's Mrs. Parker, captain...On our way down...she was..." he inhaled. "She was sucked out of the side of the ship along with her chair." That made the woman put her head down, tears forming in her eyes. She couldn't believe she'd already lost one of her charges. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Clint, vibrating like a living wire. "Report, Sargent," she demanded. His spine snapped taught and he saluted. "We're in danger being out in the open, ma'am. I saw...and I still can't believe I'm saying this....a giant, captain. A giant man.." He sat, shaking his head. Virginia's face seemed contemplative. "A giant? Clint, what are you talking about?" "I know it sounds crazy!" The man shot up, hands running through his hair as he paced. "But, he took our ship, Pepper...all of our supplies, our communications, they're all on that ship." The captain raised a brow in speculation. "He took...the ship? The entire ship?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. That ship was too big for anyone to carry, let alone one man. "Yes, Gin! The entire ship! He just picked it up like it was a toy and shoved it under his arm and walked away! I watched the entire thing! The ground actually shook when he walked...." Clint took a deep breath. "Okay...okay....so...we're stranded, with no ship, no supplies..." Pepper had trained for this, but never thought she'd actually experience it. "We have to set up a camp with anything we can find." Clint scoffed. "Yeah? What are we gonna use, flower petals? Because I'm sure those are big enough to cover all four of us easily!" "Sargent! You're becoming hysterical, stick to your training." Automatically Clint went rigid, then relaxed, nodding. "You're right...you're right. I'm sorry Captain..." Virginia nodded. "No need. It's just," she looked towards Harley who was still watching over an unconscious Peter a little ways away. "I don't want to scare the cadets." They shouldn't have been here. She sighed and lay back, eyes closed against the pain of the movement. "Why did I have to urge to have them tested early?" She asked aloud. "I should have waited until they graduated...they would have been prepared for this." "Captain, I don't think anyone would have been prepared for this." Clint let out a breath, but chuckled and laid back next to the woman. "So, what do we do now?" "What the guide book says, Sargeant. We found water, now all we need is shelter, and if you look around us, there's plenty of places to find things to build with." She turned her head. "We'll be okay." "Cadet Parker hasn't woken up yet, and it's been a day since we crashed." Harley was staring at his friend with a worried expression, his hand gripping onto Peter's, two fingers along his wrist as if to make sure the cadet was still alive. That got the woman worried. "If he doesn't wake.....then we'll have to leave him." She hated saying it, but....they couldn't be strapped down with unfettered weight. It was bad enough that she wouldn't be able to walk without some help. "What!?" Harley sat up, his voice high. "Captain, you don't mean that, do you?" Tears glistened in the boy's eyes as he went between his friend to the captain. "Yes, I do Cadet. Hopefully he wakes soon...we need to move, if what Sargent Barton said was true, we're going to have to find somewhere safe...." She hoped Parker woke up soon... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tony walked into the compound, taking the elevator down to the vehicle bay. Suddenly, the elevator stopped and Steve walked on, nodding to the man. He then spotted the toy in the man's arms, raising a brow. "A little old to play with toys, aren't you?" "Very funny. I found it out when I was hiking through the village of the ticks. It looked like something, so, I picked it up. I'm taking it back to the tower. Wanna come and watch me and Banner poke it with a stick?" Steve chuckled. "As fun as that sounds, I'll have to decline. I'm going back out. I got a heat signature reading, but it was too small to be an animal... I wanna see what it was." Tony turned towards the man, interested now. "Oh really? Show me." He waited for Steve to bring up his scans, scoffing when it took him too long, grabbing the phone from him. "Never give old people technology. It's amazing you haven't blown this up yet." Pressing he scrolled through the files before he came across what he was looking for. "Friday? Be a dear and make this bigger?" "Yes, boss," the Irish AI commented. A second later, a hologram popped up over the phone. Tony and Steve watched what looked like one heat signature, but...it seemed off. "Is it carrying something?" Steve asked, pressing closer to the screen. "Looks it....so that means, it has to be compassionate. Almost...human. It can't be a bot, because this is a human's temp reading." Tony stroked his chin in thought. "I'm gonna bring this," he held up the ship, "to Brucie, while you can go hunting for heat signatures." The elevator stopped and the man stepped off, only to turn around. "Unless you want to wait for me to come back with the proper equipment? It'll be easier to find them." He raised his brows, walking backward. "Think about it. Until then, I'll be at the tower." He nodded, slipped on his sunglasses, and walked down the hall towards the garage, snickering as Friday showed Steve in the corner of the man's glasses trying to open the doors again, only to have them shut in his face. Classic. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter began to show signs of waking a little later that day. "C'pt'n," he mumbled, alerting everyone to his status. Everything seemed like it was underwater during a storm. "Pete!" Harley's smiling face was above him, blocking out most of the light that was hurting the boy's eyes. "Pete, I'm so glad you're awake." "H'rley? Wh't h'pnd?" His throat was so dry and he felt like he'd just been hit by a bus. "Are we und'rw'ter?" "Cadet? Are you with us?" Captain Potts' voice filtered in from the right and the boy tried to move his head, wincing when he did. "Good to see you awake, Cadet." Peter tried to smile at her, but only managed a pained grimace. "Where's my aunt?" he asked a little more clearly after a minute, making the captain take a deep breath. The woman put her head down, a hand seeking his and squeezing. "May Parker is...KIA, Cadet. I'm...so sorry." The boy's eyes widened, tears gathering in them as he struggled against Harley to sit up, ripping his hand from the woman's and crying out when he put pressure on his injured arm. "No! No, she can't be....no, you just haven't looked for her!" "Cadet!" Clint snapped and the boy came to attention. "There's maybe hundreds of miles of forestry here, and we have no supplies, no shelter, nothing! We have to believe her dead...otherwise, we may leave you clinging to hope, and hope....can be dangerous in times like this." The man stared into Peter's eyes, anger and sorrow mixing together. He couldn't believe it...not his aunt...She was the only one he had left...He broke into sobs, clutching on to his friend for dear life. "I'm so sorry, Pete.." Harley kept saying, over and over again, hand rubbing circles on the young teen's back. But, the teen couldn't hear past his own grief. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Have I got a surprise for you, jolly green!" Tony strode into the lab underneath the tower. It was a 2-hour drive from the compound to here, but it was good to let Bruce know he was coming and to prepare. "Very funny," the large green man said, striding over to where Tony was standing. "Do you have it?" His eyes were searching Tony's much smaller body for any signs of the telltale 'ship' the man had found. "Have what? Oh, this?" He pulled the ship from behind his back, smirking. "Would I ever lie to you? Now, help me crack this egg." He placed the model on the silver table and stared at it until Bruce came over, the table shaking with his quick steps. "Don't touch it until we have it scanned for anything, like gamma radiation or anything nuclear." He lifted the machine, a toy in his hands, really. He was aching to get a look inside, but he had to wait. "You tell me that after I put it in my car and drove it here for 2 hours? What a friend you are." Tony wiped his sleeves, knowing that wouldn't do anything to get rid of radiation. But it got his friend to smile. "It probably won't be in harmful quantities. Especially not in its purest form, at least. But....look," Bruce pointed to the screen that showed the glowing matter on the ship. "It's from space....mostly from the Earth's orbital field...but," he turned to another screen and linked the two up, waiting a moment. "There's a small amount of cosmic radiation...that can only happen in space flight, but...there hasn't been any around here in...what, fifty years? Not that I've been to space recently, but I do read all the articles pertaining to NASA." He motioned to the Starkpad Tony had built for him, the extra wide screen for his massive fingers. "You'll get your chance. For now, let's crack this open and find out whether or not little Tommy has lost his toy space ship." Tony's eyes were gleaming with excited curiosity as the scans were run. "All clear," Bruce said, and not a moment too soon for the billionaire. Tony rushed forward and grabbed the ship, trying to peer into the windows and whistled. "The detail on this makes me think maybe it was a Stark Inventories made toy. I mean, the screens work and everything. Hand me the laser saw, will you?" He held out his hand, motioning with his fingers until the tool was placed in his palm and he promptly began to slice into the ship. "Tony, are you sure that's the right thing to do? I mean, what if something gets damaged?" Bruce looked more intrigued than worried at this point though. "Omelettes," Tony said, putting the tool aside. "And the egg is cracked." Gently he laid the two sides next to each other and what he saw amazed him. "Look at this...it looks like it's from the sixties." He hadn't seen such cheesy machinery besides in the old batman shows. "But this toy looks brand new...Do you think we could have just ruined a collector's model?" The giant green man was looking down over Tony's shoulder, taking in all the lights and the screens. "Psh, no. But...I wanna poke it...Friday, be a dear and run a scan on the tech in this?" "On it, boss." While the AI went to work, Tony pushed the chair away from the table and stood, going to the bar and poured himself a double shot, downing it in a second. "While she does that, I have to get ready for the gala. Something about my name being put on something...yada yada yada..." He hated those things. Emperor Stane would be there, being all touchy with Tony's being, and posing himself with the man in front of the cameras. Ever since Obadiah rose to power the man had become a tyrant. He ruled the world with an iron fist, destroying anyone who dared oppose his edicts. Obadiah and Tony's father had worked closely together before he became a ruler. God, if you believed what Stane called himself, and with the power that he wielded a lot of people did. Most of his power though came from his favorite toy, A.K.A Tony Stark. Obadiah had always been in Tony's life ever since he could remember. So when he started showing a genius that not even Howard possessed...Well, Stane got a little greedy. Once Tony had graduated from MIT and made his first weapon- a blaster that outdid his father by twenty years, Obadiah used Tony, sucked him into his scheme unknowingly to become Ruler of the world. He promised him a new factory and lab with all the newest equipment he could ask for. That, of course, didn't appeal to Tony, but the power to overthrow his father. That's what he wanted. And he got it when both his parents died in a car crash, and Tony was named the head of Stark Industries. And inadvertently helped Obadiah rise to power. "Just be careful, Tones," Bruce said snapping the man out of his thoughts. "I'll have Friday contact you in case she finds something." The green giant smiled and turned back around to look at one of the bots that had just rolled up. "Dum-E, get me the goggles, please? I want to take this apart." Tony left the room, a large glass of bourbon in his hand and downed it before he even got to the door.

[thorne93]

Unusual Upbringing (Part 4)

Prompt: Imaging growing up with the Maximoffs and falling for Pietro

Word Count: 2257

Warning: language, poverty/despair/wartorn country, pain and violence

Note: The events in this fic will take place before, during, and after Age of Ultron…Beta’d by my girl @like-a-bag-of-potatoes

Tags: @amarvelouswritings​ @cocosierra94​ @essie1876​  @magpiegirl80​ @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked​ @harleyquinnandscarletwitch @iamwarrenspeace @marvel-imagines-yes-please @superwholocked527​ @myparadise1982sand @missinstantgratification​ @thejulesworld​ @rda1989​ @marvelloushamilton @munlis​  @thefridgeismybestie​  @bubblyanarocks3​ @random-fluffy-pink-unicorn​ @hardcollectionworldtrash @igiveupicantthinkofausername​ @kaliforniacoastalteens​​ ​

Unusual Upbringing: @ultrarebelheart @feelmyroarrrr @punkdoor

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

It was only three years later that a doctor approached you all from HYDRA.

In those three years, you’d grown somehow even closer with Pietro. With the wars, terrors, and poverty though, it didn’t make for a lot of romantic times. You didn’t get the candlelit dinners and romantic walks in the park. Your city was too in disrepair for that. But you didn’t need that when it came to Pietro. You were happy just being beside him as you helped the citizens of your area. You and the twins ran errands and got things done for the elderly and those with children, trying to help out wherever you could. It didn’t matter that you weren’t off doing overly romantic or couple like things. Watching Pietro be a hero, be a real man to all of these citizens, helping them, feeding them, caring for him when you all had so little...That was worth more to you than a million dates.

You had moved out of Wanda’s room after four months of dating Pietro and moved into his bedroom. It was a change for the better as Wanda had her own bedroom for the first time in her life and you and Pietro got more quality time together.

If you weren’t off helping the city or picking up other odd jobs to make ends meet, you were spending evenings reading, sharing with each other your favorite excerpts or poems or passages; or you went on a couple of leisurely walks every once in a blue moon; or sometimes you could manage to find a movie at the store and as a treat you would get it and curl up on the couch to watch together. If you didn’t have to be anywhere though, you just lied in each other's arms in your room, completely shut off from the world. It was those times, that for a few small hours out of your life, the invasion of military forces and poverty and hunger didn’t plague you. You two were just a normal couple, content with the feeling of being in each other’s arms.

You often spoke of the future, what you two would do if you went to college and had any career of your choosing. Pietro said he’d like to teach, be a professor. You said you’d want to be a doctor, to help people. It was a fun game for you two. You pretended you had every opportunity in the world. You spoke of what your house would look like, you and him playfully disagreeing on the kitchen’s color scheme. The two of you said what you would do if you were billionaires and came up with the craziest ideas, cars, and things to own.

But sometimes, you spoke of what you would do in real life - in this life. Children were brought up and Pietro seemed more than happy to have kids, as were you. Wanda would chime in about being the best aunt in the world. Talk of getting a cat or a dog even surfaced. Talk of really finding real jobs or trying to leave your home maybe for a better life. But no matter what you talked about, you were always on the same page. Sharing every thought equally.

The Hydra doctor had come to your apartment door and said he had a proposition. The doctor unsettled you, but at the same time, he was the first person to even resemble an ally to you, outside of the Maximoffs.

“I have a way for you to drive war out of your country, forever,” Dr. List promised as he sat across from the three of you on the couch. You held Pietro’s hand and there was no gap between you. Now that you and Pietro were romantically together, you were even more inseparable than before, constantly together, constantly leaning on each other for all sorts of support.

“If that’s true, why haven’t you done it yet?” Pietro demanded definitely. Something you loved about him was his fearlessness.

“I need people who are strong,” the doctor said simply.

“Strong enough for what?” Wanda wondered.

“I can give all three of you the power to make anyone fear you. But...it won’t be easy. There will be experiments, which you might not survive….but if you do, the possibilities are endless.”

“And if we don’t agree?” you asked, worried.

“Then you can sit and watch your home become another third world country, buried under machines, men with guns, and crumbling rubble,” he said simply.

“When do you need an answer?” you asked.

“The sooner the better, this opportunity won’t last long. I’ll say...a day. I’ll be back tomorrow for your answer. Just know that once you sign up, there is no going back.”

The doctor left, and you three were faced with a difficult decision.

“I say we do it,” Pietro said as soon as he turned around from closing the door.

“What? You would just let them experiment on you? On us?”

“Wanda...look around you. We’ve spent twelve years in this Hell, and for what? To pay for Tony Stark’s tower in New York City? To let the foreign powers that be march up and down our streets? How long are we going to be victims? This is our chance to do something about it.”

“Or a chance to get ourselves killed,” Wanda argued. “He said it’s experiments, ones that we might not survive. And you want to sign us up for that?”

“It’s either that or we can continue to live in this misery we call life. What’s the worst that can happen? We die? We already faced death once, we can do it again,” he said with a glint of sorrow and rage in his eyes.

“Y/N,” Wanda started as she turned to you. “What do you think? Do you think it’s a good idea?”

You looked between your boyfriend and your best friend. You weren’t sure. This was a huge deal. Risk your life to save your city or wait around for...what? Clearly no one was coming to help you all.

“I think we should try it,” you quietly said as you hugged yourself. “Pietro’s right. We’re just going to end up sitting in this country forever, with no happy end in sight. No one is coming to save us, no one is coming to help us. We can only help ourselves. That’s all we’ve ever done.”

“So you’re okay with them experimenting on us for god knows what?” Wanda demanded.

“The way I see it, we can die trying or live this way…” You gestured around you all. “And it might finally be a way to take down the Avengers.”

“We won’t do it unless we’re all in agreement though,” Pietro announced. “If you’re solely set against it, we won’t do it. But if you’re in, we’re all in, for better or worse.”

Wanda nodded. “Okay, let’s do this. For Sokovia. For Mama and Papa. For Annette and Phillipe,” she said, mentioning your parents with a nod.

You three hugged and Pietro kissed the tops of your heads. This was terrifying, to say the least.

----------------------

When Dr. List came for you the next day, you told him you were ready. He told you all to pack very little, as you would be provided with clothes at the base. With three small bags, and fear and hope in your hearts, you trekked out to a military style SUV. You and Pietro held hands, staring into each other’s eyes the entire ride. You were terrified, but at least you were together. Whatever you had to face, whatever you  had to go through, you had each other. Eventually all of you were taken underground, to a compound.

“What sort of experiments are these?” Wanda asked as you were ushered through hallways that seemed to house horrors your mind couldn’t even imagine. You didn’t see anything, but the fact that this compound was hidden, and you were being told very little about everything, made you get the impression that it wasn’t an incredibly safe place.

“In due time, Ms. Maximoff,” he assured. He introduced you to Wolfgang von Strucker. They explained more on the experiments and said they weren’t here to hurt you, but pain would probably come from the experiments. They introduced you to ten other volunteers in the program, all residents of your city.

After half a day of sitting in a cell together, they finally approached the three of you.

“Who would like to go first?” Dr. List asked, with three burly men behind him, and one petite assistant nurse beside him with a metal clipboard.

None of you were jumping at the chance now. This all seemed much more sinister now.

“Come now, don’t make us choose,” the doctor encouraged with an undercurrent of threat.

“I’ll do it,” you said suddenly. You couldn’t bear the thought of Pietro going under and it wasn’t right to make Wanda do it when she was the one who was most hesitant to do it. It needed to be you.

“Y/N,” Pietro said as he frowned at you. “No, you don’t have to. I can go.”

“The girl already spoke,” Dr. List said with a grin as one of the large men grabbed your forearm and yanked you out of the cell. “We’ll take her and we’ll be right back.”

Pietro and Wanda stared after you in concern, worry, and fear. They held each other’s hands as you looked back at them while they closed the door to the cell.

“What is it we’re going to be able to do...once these experiments are done?” you asked in wonder.

“We hope to achieve the impossible, Ms. Y/L/N. It will mean untold power.”

“So why don’t you just use soldiers? Someone who’s trained to fight. What good does it do to...give powers to some townspeople?” you asked while you walked along.

“So many questions,” he noted.

“I’m merely curious. I’m not backing out. We volunteered for this, I would simply like to know some more information behind it,” you gently said.

“Because soldiers don’t have the kind of heart and passion you and the Maximoff’s seem to share. You three are made of something rare - will.”

Finally, you were in a room where there was a table with straps to probably hold you down. There wasn’t much else in the room besides a counter, a computer, and a camera.

The sight before you scared you. It made you want to turn and run away. But after all you’d been through, after all the fighting, bullets flying through the air near your head on countless nights, after missiles landed and took away your family and you waited for two days for another missile to go off. You could handle this. You could handle anything they threw at you.

“So I  just lay down here?” you asked, ready to get this over with.  

“If you please,” Dr. List said with a gesture to the table. He stood beside, as the three men stood in other corners of the room, and his assistant took place on the other side of the bed. They began strapping you down and you tried to calm yourself. You knew if your emotions or adrenaline went haywire it could make whatever they were going to do, a lot worse.

Once you were strapped in, they attached vital measuring units to you, and turned on the monitors and machines, and the camera, they were ready to begin.

“Go to a pleasant place in your mind, Y/N,” Dr. List said soothingly. “This may hurt a bit, but try not to focus on the pain.”

You nodded, looked straight up to the ceiling, and tried to ignore whatever sensation was about to come next. Your mind went to Pietro. His smiling face. His face when he laid next to you at night. The feeling of his fingers over your skin in the most tender and intimate moments between you two. The sound of his voice as he lulled you to sleep.

But you didn’t know that the next sensation would feel like fucking fire in your veins, seeking to destroy any source of relief. You weren’t sure where it was coming from. Your head? Your feet? Your hands? Your chest? You didn’t know. All you knew was everything was fine one second, the next, they set you ablaze.

Somewhere someone was screaming and you were hoping they would stop, because it was scaring you. You were worried something was happening to you that wasn’t pretty. But when you opened your mouth to ask the woman to stop screaming, you realized it was already open - you were the one who was screaming.

You must’ve passed out because when you woke up, you were being wheeled to a new cell, next to the Maximoffs. There was a clear wall between you two, but all you could do was lie down on the small bed in there, curling into a ball that faced away from your family.

“Y/N? Princess?” Pietro said as he rushed over, placing his hands against the glass wall, trying to get as close to you as he could. The fact that he couldn’t touch you killed him.

You mumbled a response, too weak to do anything else.

“What did they do to you?” Wanda asked in horror, her eyes widening on your broken form.

“Don’t worry, you’ll find out all too soon,” Dr. List promised.