#he could have pulled the coulson move and just stood with his arms crossed

[thatfanficstuff]

Open Wounds - 8

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: nope

A/N: kind of a filler.

You’d awoken just after four in the morning with a dream and were unable to go back to sleep. So you’d made the coffee and found yourself a spot at the side of the room where you could watch the Avengers pass through as they woke. You weren’t certain half of them even realized you were there.

“What’s your plan for the day?” Natasha asked as she ate. She didn’t glance at you, but you knew the words were meant for you just the same.

“I need to pick up Lola from the base.”

Tony jerked in his seat and looked over his shoulder to where you sat in the corner. “Jesus. How long have you been sitting there?”

You simply smirked and lifted your mug in a mock salute.

“Lola? Who’s Lola?” Steve asked.

Nat grinned. “Her car.”

“Your car’s name is Lola?” Sam asked with a little smile.

You shrugged. “I didn’t name her.”

“Lola’s not going anywhere. You need to audition for the team this morning,” Clint said as he handed you a breakfast sandwich.

“What do I have to audition for? They let you on.” You took a big bite of the sandwich and gave him a closed lip smile as you chewed.

“That hurts me, Nikki. Seriously.”

“Nikki?” Tony asked.

“Long story,” Clint responded immediately shooting you a look to say sorry. You ignored him. He’d been calling you that for over a decade at this point. You didn’t expect him to stop just in case someone read something into it. 

“I don’t recall agreeing to join the team though,” you said. “In fact, I’d intended to head to Sister Margaret’s after breakfast.”

“No.” The word came in unison from three different voices, Bucky joining in with Nat and Clint.

You rolled your eyes and finished off your sandwich. “Fine. Let’s get this over with then.”

Bucky stood to the side with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched you spar. He planted his feet and forced himself to not react anytime one of your opponents’ blows landed. You’d started with Clint but quickly moved onto Natasha. You were more than holding your own.

“Nicely done,” Steve announced as he stepped forward. “But how do we know Nat’s not taking it easy on you?”

“Really, Rogers?” the assassin snapped.

Bucky smirked. Sometimes his best friend was really stupid.

“Fine then, Captain. You fight me.” You seemed completely unbothered by this prospect. If anything, you sounded a bit bored.

Steve glanced back at Bucky who simply shrugged. Did he want you two fighting? Of course not. But he also knew Steve would try not to hurt you. The blond climbed into the ring with you taking Nat’s place. Bucky shifted his weight as his gaze flicked between the two of you.

You were the first to attack. Steve dodged but the look on his face said you’d surprised him with your speed. Punches and kicks were thrown in equal measure. Some were dodged while others hit their mark. It was about five minutes in when you flipped Steve and he landed on his back in the middle of the ring.

Bucky couldn’t keep the grin from his face when you smirked down at your opponent. “Captain.” You held out a hand for Steve.

He took it and let you help him to his feet. “You’re strong. And fast.”

You arched a brow. “There’s a reason Coulson was the one to adopt me. And why I was allowed to grow up in SHIELD.” You bent your elbow to show off the arm that had been thoroughly marked up the day before. The wounds were faded and looked as if they’d been healing for days rather than hours. Bucky rubbed his own arm where the matching marks laid. What were you exactly?

“Thanks for the match.” You left the ring with a little wave over your shoulder. You went to the other side of the room where your things sat. Everyone watched as you took a long pull of water and sat on the floor, back against the wall.

Tony turned his attention back to the team. “Well, Steve, what’s the verdict?”

“What do you mean ‘what’s the verdict’? She kicked his ass,” Sam said with a grin.

Steve shot him a look. “She didn’t kick my ass. I can say that Nat wasn’t holding back though. How does she heal the way she does?” He directed the question to the two SHIELD agents.

“Not our story to tell,” Clint answered.

“See, that’s my problem. We don’t know anything about her. Not really. That makes her a liability.” Steve kept his gaze from meeting Bucky’s.

“You can’t expect her to tell you everything within a few days of meeting you.” Nat’s brow furrowed as she argued.

“And you know everything about her?” Steve asked.

They hesitated a moment before Clint answered. “Not everything, no. But we know enough. None of us has the right to know everything about anyone else here. This is a job, Steve.”

Steve frowned in disgust. “It’s more than that and you know it.”

“Do we really need another member right now?” Tony asked.

“Need? No. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take advantage when we have the opportunity to add some kickass talent,” Sam said. “What does Bucky think? He’s got more of a stake in this than anyone.”

Bucky shook his head. “I don’t want her doing anything where she might be in danger but she’s going to do that anyway. At least here I can keep an eye on her. And I know you’ll all have her back.”

“I’m sorry, Buck, I just don’t trust her,” Steve said. “There’s important things that she’s not telling us.”

Irritation crawled through the brunet super soldier. Steve was his best friend but he better back off his girl or they were going to have an issue. “Well, it’s a good thing the decision isn’t entirely up to you then. All in favor?”

Everyone raised their hand but Steve and Tony. The billionaire shrugged when Bucky glanced at him. “I don’t really care one way or the other. Though it seems to me that if Capsicle really doesn’t trust her, keeping her close might be the best way to watch her.”

Steve sighed. “Fair enough. I guess she’s in.” They turned to where they’d last seen you only to find you and your things gone.

“Where did she go?” Steve asked.

“She left,” Nat answered.

Tony’s brows lifted. “Is she coming back?”

Clint and Nat exchanged a look then they both shrugged.

Fantastic.

You’d left a couple of sentences into their discussion about you. You didn’t really care what the result was. You had enough choices you didn’t have to worry about what you were going to do. But you did have a locker to empty and a car to pick up from the base.

You had your Uber drop you off at the front gate. “Hey, Kelly,” you greeted the agent on duty.

He held an arm out in front of you. “Hey, Coulson. I’m sorry but you’re going to have to wait here.”

“Excuse me?”

The tips of his ears turned red. “You’re not allowed on the base without an escort as you no longer work for SHIELD.”

“Well, then get me an escort so I can get my shit.” Petty ass Fury and his bullshit.

Kelly ducked back into the hut and picked up the phone. You listened to this side of the conversation as Fury himself came on the line. From what you could gather he had no intentions of granting you access. Walking over, you snatched the handset from the agent.

“Fury, if you don’t let me on this base to pick up my father’s car and the photographs from my locker, you will regret it. And don’t forget that I know where you live.”

“Are you threatening me, Coulson?” he sounded surprised though you didn’t know why he should.

“You bet your ass I am, eyepatch.”

There was a stretch of silence before he spoke again. “Your personal belongings have already been placed in your vehicle. You come in, get your car and leave. No lingering, no conversations, in and out. Understood?”

“Sure thing, Uncle Nick.” He hated when you called him that. Or at least when you did it in front of other people.

He grumbled a bit before saying. “Put Agent Kelly back on the phone.”

You handed the phone over with a smirk. You tapped your foot as you waited for the conversation to finish. Finally, he hung up the phone. “The director said you may proceed without escort but you won’t be allowed back on the base after today until you come to your senses. His words, not mine.”

“I figured. Thanks, Kelly.” It was a bit of a walk to where Lola was parked but you didn’t mind. Besides, you wanted to take your time, prolong the task as long as possible just to irritate Fury. He was trying to bully you into doing what he wanted and you didn’t like it. God forbid he do the reasonable thing and apologize for being an asshole while offering you a raise to get you to stay. That would be too simple.

Lola was right where you left her. A small box sat on the passenger seat and you rifled through it to find all of your pictures. One in particular caught your attention and you pulled it out. It was of a much younger you surrounded by Clint, Nat, Fury and your dad. You were all laughing. Well, Fury was smirking. That’s as close as he got.

You were feeling very alone at the moment. You missed your family. You missed your dad. A sigh left you as you looked at the picture one more time then dropped it in the box. All you wanted was to go home and lock yourself in your apartment with a glass of scotch.

You parked Lola in your spot when you got home and grabbed your box. The garage elevator took you to your floor and you shuffled off into the hallway. Yours was the third door on the left. You were relieved to find the hall empty. You’d half thought someone would be waiting to speak to you.

You balanced the box on one hip while you picked out the key to unlock your door. The key slid into the lock but wouldn’t turn. You frowned and pulled it out to double check. Seeing it was the correct key, you tried it again. Still no luck. You dropped your head against the door with a groan. What fresh new hell was this?

[falcqns]

Stay The Hell Away From Him

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Morse!Barton!Reader, Sam x Reader (platonic)

Summary: John gets a little too close to Bucky for your liking.

Warnings: John Walker gets punched in the face (as he should), swearing, violence, implied smut.

A/N: Just another idea I got off of TikTok LMAO. Doesn't exactly follow the FATWS plot and timeline but oh well. Also, for anyone confused why I chose Clint and Bobbi Morse as the readers parents, they were actually married in the comics, and I love Adrianne Palicki lol. Hope you enjoy!

Part Two

You watched from a distance as your boyfriend, Sam and Zemo talked to John and Lemar.

To any normal person, it would appear that John was talking calmly to the two former Avengers, however you knew different. You could HEAR different. The enhancements you received from the Infinity Serum that your mom took before she had you that were passed on to you often bothered you, but you were thankful for them in moments like these.

You could hear John accusing Bucky of messing up the most recent mission. They had finally got a pretty good lead on Karli and The Flag Smashers, and Bucky left his post to take care of a former Hydra agent that he spotted. He may be partnered with Sam and all, but he still had a duty to the government in order to make amends.

You watched as John took a step closer to Bucky, and your hand flew back to your waist band to grab your retractable bow, and pressed the button to release the limbs, and it snapped into place silently. You grabbed an arrow from the pack behind your back, and loaded the arrow in to it, just as John grasped Bucky by the front of his shirt and slam him into the wall at his back.

You thought about aiming for his head, you really did, but logically you knew that wasn't the smartest idea. So, you aimed for just above his arm. You knew if you times it correctly, it would just graze his arm, which would make him jump.

You grasped the bow string and pulled it back, glancing through the sight window before releasing the arrow. It flew through the air quickly and quietly, just as John lifted his arm slightly. Your eyes widened, but you smiled when the arrow went straight through some of the material that sat atop his skin, not his actual flesh.

He stumbled back as you put your bow back where it belongs after retracting it, and you felt all eyes on you as you walked towards them. You looked at Bucky who had a smirk on his face, and then Sam who wasn't trying in the slightest to hide his smile. You glanced over at Zemo who just nodded in your direction.

"Who the hell are you?" John asked, pulling the bow from his suit and getting in your face. You heard Bucky growl behind you, and a small thud, which turned out to be Sam gripping Bucky's arm. "This is a government matter."

You scoffed and gave him a sickly sweet smile. "A government matter? Is that what you're gonna call shoving an Avenger into a wall? Nice try." You said, and ripped the arrow out of his hand before turning to Sam, Bucky and Zemo.

"So. What have I missed?" You asked and Bucky smiled.

The six of you were sitting inside the safe house, debating your next move. You were sitting on the couch next to Bucky who had an ice pack on his shoulder from when John slammed him into the wall, and was glancing at your computer, which you were using to find any trace of Karli on the satellite links that Sharon had sent you.

"Anything?" Bucky asked, and you shook your head.

"Nothing yet. She seems to be getting better at covering her tracks, but I'll get a hit sooner or later. If I can't, I have some people I can contact." You said and smiled at him. He returned your smile, and got up to go to the bathroom after pressing a kiss to your cheek. You watched as he walked into the bathroom, and groaned as the door closed and John walked up to you.

"So." He said, and you barely spared him a glance. He scoffed and sat down next to you. "You're pretty talented." He said and you nodded in agreement. You saw him lift his arm and go to lay it behind your body out of the corner of your eye, and decided to finally talk to him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." You said, and he immediately tugged back his arm.

"Why?" He stupidly asked, and you chuckled before tearing your eyes away from the laptop to look at him.

"Let's see. I'm the daughter of an Avenger and a super soldier who was a member of Phil Coulson's most elite S.H.I.E.L.D. squad. My mom had two serums, one of which is a replica of the serum that Captain America had, which got passed down to me. My father is Hawkeye, who is the best marksman in the world. Not to mention, I'm dating a former brainwashed Hydra assassin who can definitely hear you from the bathroom and could knock your lights out in one punch, as can I, so I wouldn't do that." You stated, and John smiled sarcastically before turning to Lemar and back.

"That's impossible. Aside from the Flag Smashers, only Bucky and Steve ever got the serum. And I'M Captain America now. Not Steve."

You threw your laptop to the couch and stood up. You got in his face, just like he did to you earlier. He smirked at you, and you didn't waste any time.

You rose your dominant hand and punched him as hard as you could in the jaw, which sent him flying to the floor, blood flying out of his mouth as you knocked a few teeth out.

You stood over him. "You may carry that shield, but it doesn't make you Captain America. Until you can lift Mjolnir, stay the hell away from his best friend." You said, and stepped over him.

You started to walk over to where Bucky was standing, his arms crossed, and a big smile on his face when John had to open his mouth again.

"You say that like you can lift Mjolnir too." He said, and you turned on your heel.

"You're damn right I can. I'm worthy of ruling a whole kingdom, while you sit there on your self righteous pedestal thinking you're worthy of that vibranium shield. You aren't."

You continued your journey to Bucky, who pulled you into his arms, and pressed a searing kiss to your lips. "Fuck, that was hot honey." He growled, and you smirked at Sam who was standing with Zemo, and allowed yourself to be pulled out of the room by Bucky.

[alpalpym]

Keep me calm chapter 1

A/N: Mentions of violence, hints at anxiety and anger issues. Don’t interact if you’re not 18+

Description: You're a mutant running away from your second family, the X-men. You meet Natasha under not-so-great circumstances, but she'll prove herself to be trustworthy.

(Cross posted on AO3. Check link in bio!)

  You were absolutely furious as you gave the legs of the interrogation table another kick, chuckling as it creaked and heaved under strain. 

Anger wasn't unusual for you, a trait Professor X had despised. But he had never liked you to begin with.

It felt like hours since the guards put her in here, and with nothing to do, you had resorted to wrecking the place. Hopefully, someone would come in and tell you to stop; you were desperate for some interaction at this point. With your constant kicking and trashing, the special cuffs around your wrists had started to chafe the sensitive skin underneath. You bit back a wince as you shouted at the top of your lungs. 

"Can somebody tell me what the hell I'm doing here, for god's sake!" Huffing when you got no reply, you kicked the table again, sending it hurling into the opposite wall. 

"Can you stop breaking our furniture," a feminine voice grumbled. 

You gasped at the approaching woman. A true sight for sore eyes with her lush red curly hair and an incredibly tight tactical suit. How were you supposed to keep a straight face with that?

You were an observant girl, quickly noticing minor cuts and some dried up blood coating the woman's pale skin, but you kept quiet as she suddenly came very close. Her hands came to rest at either side of your chair, effectively caging you in before she spoke in a low tone. 

"You need to behave while I'm in here."

You snorted. As if you'd follow up on that demand after being plucked off the streets and locked away. Although, you couldn't deny that the red-head ordering you around left you feeling all fluttery inside. 

"Your name is (y/n), current resident at the Xavier institute here in New York," she sighed, "you have quite the record on you kid."

"I'm not a kid," you spat.

The woman just quirked her brow before resuming. "You can call me Natash—."

"I know who you are."

"You need to stop interrupting me." 

Another command. Your ears were burning, and your skin felt itchy at the tone of Natasha's voice. You've never been this susceptible to a single person in your life, not your parents, not the people from CPS, and especially not Professor X. You fidgeted with the fabric of your jeans, trying to ground yourself from the haze falling over you. “Probably the lack of food,” you thought.

"You left your parental house at thirteen, only having been taken in by CPS three years later. What happened within that time?" Natasha had an aura around her that seemed to command respect, and all without ever raising her voice. You appreciated that about her.

"I just roamed around," you mumbled, wanting to steer the woman away from the topic.

Natasha nodded, scribbling down in a small notebook before her green eyes pierced straight through you again. "And how did Xavier track you down? 

You clenched your jaw, the memory a painful one as you tried to recall what had happened to you. All you could remember were snippets, like Professor X's hard eyes as he sat across from you at his desk. Then another image of you strapped on a hospital bed as a sharp needle pierced your neck before pain blinded your vision.

"I don't know." 

"You're not giving me enough info here, kid."

You were racking your brain. For something, anything, to give Natasha just so she would back off. But as much as you tried, there were no memories of exactly how Professor X had gotten to you. Just a ton of feelings, the intensity of it all making you feel like you were going to throw up.

You were hot, the room sweltering. You doubled over, hands still cuffed as you fought against the wave of nausea hitting the back of your throat. Banging your still cuffed hands against the tabletop, you let out a low whine.

"Nat—" You couldn't speak. Why was your throat so tight? It was all so hard. You leaned back against your seat, trying to keep your racing heart under control.

The woman quickly got to your side, her hands hovering over yours hesitantly.

"I don't know anything. Please don't make me talk. Please, please," you cried. Pressing your forehead against a warm shoulder, the fabric underneath you dampened with tears making you want to pull away. But Natasha was soft, so soft, as she gently guided you closer against her. Unbothered by your sudden vulnerability. Natasha didn't mind; you were sure of it. 

Loud banging against the door quickly pulled Natasha off you in an instant, and you whined a pathetic whine from the back of your throat in objection.

"What's this Romanoff? We said interrogate, not cuddle!" 

A slightly balding man with crooked eyes and an off-putting smile stood at the threshold. His arms were spread, holding either side of the door frame as he nonchalantly swayed back and forth on his feet.

"Shut it, Coulson."

At least Natasha was sticking up for you. But the sudden intrusion cleared your head enough for you to realize how much you'd slipped with the woman. How vulnerable you'd been. Weak.

You pushed the red-head off of you, surprising her as she looked at you in bewilderment. "I refuse to speak to any more of you. Let me go."

It was perfectly within your right; you knew that much. Not even Shield had the jurisdiction to force you into talking. And you wanted to leave. Right now.

"We can't exactly do that," Coulson said. He stalked further into the room, the authority practically beaming off of him as he planted himself sideways on the edge of the table. "Listen up, kiddo."

"Stop calling me that!" You were growing sick and tired of people looking down at you like some child. You were better than that. 

"I'll call whatever I want. Five children are missing, and you have something to do with it now talk."

"No!" A quick burst of energy, followed by absolute emptiness, coursed through your body before you were suddenly on the other side of the room. Both Coulson and Natasha were looking at you, utterly baffled that you were able to use your powers despite the cuffs. With Natasha trying to reach out for you and Coulsen undoubtedly calling for backup, you were cornered. 

One swift kick was all it took to drive the man backward against the wall. A sickening crunch indicating that you've definitely broken his hand. There was no way back now, no more playing nice. You made a move to turn around, but your still cuffed hands were now held in a firm grip by Natasha. The woman pushed you roughly to the ground and caged you in with her thighs around your hips.

"Don't make me do this (y/n)," Natasha panted against the side of your neck. She was straining to keep you down, and you felt a warmth akin to pride spreading from your chest at the thought.

Natasha's hand came up to grab the curvature of your neck before applying pressure. It didn't take long at all for you to lose consciousness. Maybe it was the stress. Perhaps you just lacked the strength to fight back against the black widow. But you were soon out like a light.

~

You didn't dream, but you woke up in bed with a racing heart and a fuzzy head. Soft sheets pooled at your waist as you sat up. Your hands were still cuffed, but you were wearing different clothes. How long had you been out?

"Goodmorning." 

Natasha was sat in a plastic chair, her back slumped and looking like hell. It was strange to see the woman like that after she'd been so poised earlier, and you wondered how long she'd been in here with you. 

"Where did you take me?"

Natasha sighed. The woman let her head fall into her hands, gripping her hair at the root. "You're safe here (y/n)."

"You really believe I'm going to buy into that crap? You laughed. The nerve of this woman was uncanny. "You choked me, Natasha."

"I didn't mean to. Just trust me, please." Natasha eyed you unsurely before moving her chair closer to the bed, putting a hand just above your knee. "How are your wrists," she nodded to your lap.

You frowned. But as you looked down, you saw that the skin underneath your cuffs was red and raw. Natasha moved to hold your wrists in her hands, but you quickly pulled them out of her reach. There was a heat in your chest, spreading like wildfire, and you banged your hands against the wall beside you in frustration. "Stop touching me," you hissed. 

As Natasha made another move to take your hand, you harshly shoved your cuffed hands against her. Shock flashed through Natasha's pretty green eyes, but it was quickly replaced by their usual blank look. She gripped your upper arm tightly, fingers digging into the soft skin. "You can't lose your temper around me (y/n)," she said viciously, "be good for me."

Natasha firmly pressed you down against the bed by your arm, her grasp on you still tight and painful. You wildly trashed against her, roughly shoving your body against hers as hard as possible. Everything about Natasha irked you right now. Her commandeering voice, the strength with which she was able to hold you down with ease. But most of all, her unnecessary kindness. 

Aside from her slightly unethical method of knocking you out, Natasha had shown she wanted what was best for you. You'd never admit it, but Shield taking you in had scared the living hell out of you, and Natasha had handled you with such gentleness it made your heart ache with anger and confusion. 

Natasha shifted to pin you down against the mattress, her shoulder pressed against the side of your face. 

"You're just using me," you panted against her shoulder. "Why are you doing this? Just let me go!"

Pressing her forehead against your temple, Natasha quietly shushed you, softly stroking your head. "Calm down for me Малы́шка."

Natasha's arms snaked around you, keeping you in a firm hold. And while you continued to struggle against her for a bit, you gradually started feeling the anger seep out of you. You had to admit it felt nice to have the red-head so close to you, the comfortable heaviness of her body against yours made your chest feel a lot lighter. "Witchcraft," you thought humorously.

Natasha let out a hum of content—of approval— and tightened her hold on you the tiniest bit, making your eyes fall closed again.

Translation: Малы́шка = baby girl

[just-dreaming-marvel]

Out Of Time ~ 126

MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 2,525ish

Summary: Y/N sees her men after saying goodbye to Coulson and the team. Infinity War starts.

Tony’s apartment was dark and quiet, which was extremely unusual for any of Tony’s places of living. 

“Tony?” Y/N called, her body was exhausted. She was trying to hold herself together from also saying goodbye to part of her family. “Tony?”

“The Boss is currently away on a business trip, Agent Rogers,” FRIDAY responded. “I will inform him that you are here.”

“Thanks… Uh, FRIDAY?”

“Yes?”

“I’m… I…”

“If I could step in, it seems like your body is exhausted, running on its last amounts of fuel. May I suggest that you rest? I will order food and work with Mr. Stark to get him here as fast as possible.”

“Okay… I’ll be in Tony’s room.”

~~~

“Y/N?” Tony called. 

When FRIDAY had told him that Y/N was back, Tony quickly ended the meeting he was in and flew home. He had been kept up to date on the SHIELD issues, since they were being broadcast everywhere. The man hunt was on Y/N like nothing it had before. He was concerned and so very worried, Tony was barely making it through the meeting.

“Y/N? Are you there?” He tried again, exiting his suit and searching his apartment.

“Boss,” FRIDAY responded. “She is resting in your room. She came back with extreme exhaustion. I’ve sent her to be and ordered food.”

“Thanks, FRI,” Tony sighed, relieved. 

He quickly, but quietly, made his way up to his room. Opening the door, the light from the hallway illuminated a very asleep Y/N, buried in the covers. He walked over, tucking her into the covers more before pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“Tony?” She rasped, eyes half opening.

“Go back to sleep,” he urged, brushing his fingers over her cheek. “I’ll let you know when the food’s here.”

She nodded, quickly falling back to sleep. Tony watched her lovingly before changing into something comfier. He was in the living room, waiting for the food, when the elevator dinged. Quickly on guard, Tony stood up defensively. He relaxed slightly when he noticed Peter waltzing in, bags of food.

“Hey, Mr. Stark!” Peter greeted excitedly.

“Hey, kid,” Tony responded. “What ya got there?”

“Oh, FRIDAY told me that you needed me to run and get some food. Even told me where to go and what to go.”

“FRIDAY, huh?” He looked up at the ceiling with a little shake of his head. “We’re going to have a conversation later.”

“Am I intruding on something?”

“No, kid,” Tony sighed. “It’s about time I let you in on a little secret.”

“A secret? What secret?”

“How about you go and get everything set up for three in the kitchen and I’ll be right back?”

“For three? Okay, Mr. Stark!” 

The kid rushed away to the kitchen. Tony headed back to the bed room. He had the urge to leave Y/N sleeping, as she very well needed it, obviously. But she needed to eat as well. He walked over and gently sat next to her.

“Y/N,” he called softly. “Time to wake up.”

“Hmm?” She hummed, stirring from her slumber. 

“Food’s here. And, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

“Meet?” Y/N was more awake now. “Tony, you know I can’t—“

“They won’t say anything to anyone. I promise.” He grabbed one of her hands and brought it up to his lips for a kiss. “Please?”

“Okay, Tony,” she nodded. Her stomach growled as she threw the covers off of her.

Tony chuckled. “You hungry?”

“A little.” She put her hands out. “A little help.”

Tony smiled and nodded before grabbing her hands. He carefully guided Y/N so that she was standing. Keeping hold of one of Y/N’s hands, Tony began to lead them out of the bedroom. Suddenly, Y/N tripped over her own tired feet.

“Woah, there, honey,” Tony said, steadying her. “When was the last time you ate?”

“Uh… honestly, I don’t remember,” Y/N responded. “It was… I thought happened.”

“And you better plan on telling me all about it after dinner.”

“Yes, Tones.”

Tony wrapped an arm around Y/N’s waist to keep her more steady as they made their way to the kitchen. When they arrived, Y/N saw a teenager, one from the pictures on the wall. He was setting up dinner.

“Mr. Parker,” Tony called, the boy’s head snapped to look at his mentor. The boy was clearly surprised to see who was standing beside Tony. “I’d like you to meet Y/N. Y/N, this is Peter Parker. Or, Spider-Man.”

“Hello, Mr. Parker,” Y/N greeted holding her hand out for the young hero to shake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Peter nervously shook Y/N’s hand. “You’re…” He swallowed. “Y-you’re Lady America. I… I fought your brother in Germany.”

“You did, huh?” Y/N gave Tony a look. Tony looked away, not willing to meet her eye. 

“Yeah! I even stole his shield from him.”

“Well, that sounds like an interesting story. I’d love to hear it sometime.”

“Okay!” / “Let’s not.”

“Miss Rogers, I promise I won’t tell anyone about seeing you,” Peter continued as they sat at the table. 

“Thank you, Peter,” Y/N replied. “It means a lot.”

“How was school today, kid?” Tony asked, taking Y/N’s plate and dishing food onto it. “And patrol? Save any cats?”

“School was school. I spent most of science reworking my webbing. And I didn’t save any cats today, Mr. Stark. Just some old ladies crossing the street.”

Y/N honestly enjoyed the dinner with Tony and Peter. It was a sense of normalcy that had disappeared from her life what seemed like ages ago. After dinner was done, Peter needed to go home to get Aunt May. He awkwardly said goodbye before disappearing into the elevator. Y/N leaned back into Tony once Peter was gone. Tony pressed a kiss to the side of her head.

“Coulson’s dying,” Y/N whispered.

“What?” Tony quickly moved so that he was facing Y/N. “How?”

“I don’t know. But, I said goodbye to him and the team. Only final time.”

Tony pulled her in for a hug. “I’m sorry you had to do that,” he said softly. “I know how much they meant to you.”

“He was there when I woke up… he was my first friend.”

“Do the others know? Does Daisy know?”

“No. And I wasn’t meant to find out.”

Tony looked down at Y/N. “What do you need me to do?”

“Hold me.”

So that’s what he did, all night long.

~~~

To say Bucky was anxious would be an understatement. Y/N had been gone for about a week, without a word from her. Shuri had tried to cheer him up, but it was only met with grumpiness. He was beginning to worry that something had happened to her. After that worry crept it, Bucky noticed that T’Challa and the others were keeping something from him.

“What do you know?” Bucky asked, marching into the throne room where T’Challa and his counselors were.

“Leave us,” T’Challa requested, and the others quickly left. “This is about Y/N.”

“What do you know?”

“I will show you.”

T’Challa showed Bucky the news footage of Talbot’s press conference and him getting shot in the head by Daisy, only for Y/N to appear moments later.

“The government will stop at nothing to throw her in Raft,” T’Challa stated. “I have—“

“They won’t waste their time with Raft,” Y/N’s voice came from behind. The men spun around to see her standing there. “They’ve already made it clear that they will kill me on sight.”

After spending time with Tony, Y/N knew she needed to go back to Wakanda to see Bucky. She willingly let Tony make her breakfast before fighting him to let her leave. Luckily, she won.

“But I’m fine,” Y/N continued. “Healed it myself.” Bucky began marching towards her, clearly angry. “What? I’m okay, I pro—“

She was quickly cut off by his lips smashing onto hers. With his only arm, he pulled her into him, keeping her tightly against his chest. Y/N could feel all the worry and frustration that was being poured into the kiss.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Bucky growled against her lips. 

“I’m sorry,” she replied softly. “I really had no choice.”

T’Challa cleared his throat, reminding the two that they were not alone. “I’m glad that you are alright, Y/N,” T’Challa said with a slight smile. “I’m afraid Barnes here was about to burn the whole country down to search for you.”

“The whole country, huh?” She looked at Bucky, teasingly. “Wow.”

“The whole country, no,” Bucky defended. “The whole world, that’s probably about right.”

“Cause that would solve the problem.”

“Anything to get me to you, doll.” He gave you a softer kiss. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. And I’m safe.”

~~~

The next year went by in this weird, fast-slow sort of way. Both Tony and Bucky were as understanding as they could be with the situation Y/N was putting them in. But as time went on, the more frustrated and jealous both men became. Valentine’s Day was honestly the least problematic of any of the holidays. And that was saying something.

Alone, Y/N worked to gain more control and confidence with her abilities. She needed to be ready for whatever was coming. At the start of 2018, the Stones slowly began haunting her dreams, concerning both men greatly. Sleeping was becoming a luxury. The Stones showed to her their powers and the vision Wanda showed her three years previous. They kept telling her to prepare, but not exactly what to prepare for. 

The mounting stress of choosing between the men she loved and the oncoming battle that laid ahead, was enough to make anyone go crazy. But Y/N tried her best to keep an even killed head on her shoulders. Both her men could see that this was all weighing on her, but they did their best (somedays) to take a weight off of her.

Y/N also began to grow more angry at Steve. Though she missed him greatly. She was so mad at him. Mad at him for not reaching out or appearing to not care. She was mad at him for not telling her about Howard’s death and for not being willing to see outside his stubborn ass. For that being there when she lost AJ. But Y/N also missed him terribly. Steve was her twin after all. She would always love him.

It was now currently April and Y/N was up late after having visions of the Reality and Power Stones. And a purple giant. She was alone in her Wakandan bedroom, staring at her hands nervously. She had woken up deciding that she couldn’t wait any longer to choose. A choice needed to be made before what ever was haunting her came. In all honesty, Y/N had known for months, who’d she choose. She was just lying to herself.

With a deep breath, Y/N looked over at her side table. There were two clocks on the table, one with New York’s time and one with Bucky’s. It was almost time for her morning run with Tony. 

“I guess it’s time to make the choice official,” she whispered to herself. “Someone help me.”

~~~

Tony was already waiting at the Compound for Y/N. He had bought the property on the other side of the lake months back so that their dates could be outside more. He put in a dirt path so that they could run in the mornings too. Tony was leaning against a tree, waiting for Y/N, with his fingers running over his knew (detachable) arc reactor. Ever since Y/N began to struggle to sleep at night, he knew he needed to do something to protect them. To protect her. The new arc reactor didn’t get placed without a fight. But Y/N eventually gave in.

“You ready to lose again, tin man?” Y/N teased, appearing through a portal beside him.

“I never mind losing,” Tony smirked. “The view’s great.”

“Perv!” 

Y/N playfully swatted him. Tony grabbed her hands and pulled her into him for a kiss. Something was off about it.

“You okay?” He asked, pulling away.

“Yeah,” she responded, unconvincing. “Just ready for a run.”

She pecked his lips once more before sprinting off. He quickly followed. They ran in silence for a while before Tony started talking, but it wasn’t all making sense to Y/N.

“Slow down, slow down,” Tony requested. “I’m totally not kidding.”

“You’re totally rambling,” Y/N laughed, slowing down to a walking speed.

“No, I’m not.”

“Lost me.”

“Look, you know how you're having a dream, and in the dream you gotta pee?”

“Yeah,” Y/N nodded.

“Okay, and then you're like, 'Oh my god, there's no bathroom, what am I gonna do?', 'Oh! Someone's watching,' ''m gonna go in my pants.’”

“Right. And then you wake up, and in real life you actually have to pee.”

“Yes.”

“Yeah. Everybody has that.”

“Right! That's the point I'm trying to make. Apropos of that, last night, I dreamt, we had a kid.” Y/N stopped turning to face Tony. “So real. We named him after an eccentric uncle. Uh, what was his name?”

“Right… Tony, I think—“

“Morgan! Morgan.” He snapped his fingers.

“So you woke up, and thought that we were…”

“Expecting.”

“Really?”

“Yes?”

“No,” Y/N shook her head. “We haven’t even had sex in a year. How could that me possible?”

“I had a dream about it. It was so real.”

“I’m sure it was, Tony. But I haven’t even—“

“I know, I know. You haven’t chosen yet. But just think about it, will ya? My dream can’t be far off.”

Y/N sighed and untied the jacket sleeves around Tony’s neck. “Also, if you wanted to have a kid, you wouldn’t have done that.” She tapped the new reactor.

“I'm glad you brought this up, 'cause it's nothing. It's just a housing unit for nano particles.”

“It's not helping your case, OK?”

“No, no, it's an attachment, it's not a—“

“You don’t need that.”

“I know. I had the surgery. I'm just trying to protect us. The future uses, and that's it. Just in case there's a monster in the closet, instead of, you know…”

“Shirts?"

“You know me so well. You finish all my sentences.”

“You should have shirts in your closet.”

“I should have more of your shirts in my closet.”

“Tony—“

“I know, getting ahead of myself again. You know what there should be no more surprises. Let’s have a nice dinner tonight and we should have no more surprises. I should promise you.”

“Actually, Tony, I really need to talk to you about something. I made—“

“Tony Stark,” a man with a red cloak appeared a few feet away. There was an orange portal behind him. “Y/N Rogers, I’m Doctor Stephen Strange. And I need you both to come with me.”

next chapter >

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[avengers-age-of-fanfics]

just for you, honeybee (6/?)

pairing: steve rogers x reader (platonic), natasha romanoff x reader (platonic), bruce banner x reader (y/n is a big fan of his), tony stark x reader, bucky barnes x reader

warnings: mention of bucky, fighting, training, mention of guns, takes place during The Avengers

words: 3,359

a/n: part 6! i honestly don't know how long this series will be, but i think i may end it at either endgame or TFATWS. so basically going through all the movies lmao, but skipping over a few. i just want honeybee and bucky to be happy but gotta add some angst.

Transitioning into a new world, the year of 2011, was no easy feat, and you appreciated Director Fury being somewhat patient and honest about how much has changed. Him, and apparently one of your biggest ‘fans,’ Phil Coulson, have been the most helpful with your adjustment, teaching you all about the new technology and supplying you with a new phone, courtesy of S.H.I.E.L.D.

However, along the way, were a few speedbumps. You and Steve trained consistently in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s gym, almost leaving no room for sleep or taking proper care of yourselves. You both knew it was terrible, you should be looking out for one another, but the loss and confusion overran your needs to live a normal life. However, over time, he seemed to adjust better than you, as expected. Even though Steve had only been awake a few months before you, he jumped right back into the new world.

For you and Steve, the both of you had seen Bucky a few weeks ago; you had seen Steve a few minutes ago, from the time you had woken up. To everyone else in the world, including Steve, however, that was history, a moment written in textbooks ages ago; and for Captain Rogers, that moment was months ago.

In your mind, you deserved to release your anger out on some punching bags.

It had taken Director Fury and Agent Coulson a while until they shared the news to you and Steve, that Peggy was alive. They had claimed that since they found Steve, high hopes were in store for finding you, hence saving off on telling him beforehand. Steve had immediately wanted to see her but you hesitated; what would Peggy say to the both of you? How would she react to you both being alive? No matter, Steve had begged you to come along to visit Peg and you caved, giving him some time with her before he called you in.

Peggy’s eyes lit up, “y/n, you’re alive! Sweetheart…”

You smiled, pulling up a chair next to her, “hey, Peggy. How’s the strongest woman alive doin’?”

She sighed, grasping your hand, “better…much better. Howard never stopped looking for you, the both of you. He’d be so happy to see you.”

You sucked in a breath as her eyes turned glossy, “we know, Pegs. We know.”

She held back her tears as she continued, “he had a son, Anthony; just as stubborn but smart as Howard. You’d love him.”

Steve chuckled, “sounds like a handful.”

Peggy laughed before falling into a coughing fit, turning away for a few seconds. After regaining her breath, she turned towards you and Steve, “Steve! Y/N! You – you’re both alive; you came back!”

Steve gave a sad smile as your face fell, “yeah, Peggy, we did…”

Steve’s eyes teared up, “I couldn’t leave my best girl; not when she owes me a dance.”

Over time, the visits to Peggy became too much and you needed to rest. So, with little convincing to Director Fury, you found yourself in a small cabin in Bozeman, Montana, with frequent visits by both Coulson and your new female friend, Natasha Romanoff. At first, you hated the idea of someone visiting you during your time to reflect, but once you realized that she wanted to help you train and become used to your super serum abilities, you appreciated the company.

You barely had any time to adjust to your newfound strength, among other things, and you slowly became grateful that Natasha had joined you over the course of a few months. Sure, sometimes she was so nosy and bossy, waking you up in the ungodly hours of the morning to train, but she had slowly become one of your closest friends.

Honestly, some days it felt as if you just met Natasha the day before:

You stood in Fury’s office, arms crossed, as he stood adjacent to you, Coulson awkwardly standing beside him. “Why are you sending a babysitter to a place where I am supposed to be, oh, I don’t know, relaxing? Reflecting?”

Director Fury grumbled for the umpteenth time, “because, Agent L/N, you never know when the day will come where we will need you and Rogers, along with your special abilities. You are unskilled in hand-in-hand combat, among other areas in defense, and it’d be nice to enhance our agents.”

You uncrossed your arms, still very pissed off, “I don’t want them to visit me every day. That’s my one condition. I need time, Nick; I feel like I haven’t properly…taken everything in. I just want time to myself.”

Phil spoke up beside Fury, “and we respect that, Y/N, we truly do. But we hope you also see where we are coming from. Natasha Romanoff is very skilled in her profession and understands your situation – you’re in good hands.”

“Phil, you’re making me blush,” a female monotonous voice spoke.

Whipping your head around, you were met with a beautiful redhead who definitely seemed like an Agent, someone who meant all business. You’d learn later on that was just a façade.

“I- Y/N L/N, you must be Agent Romanoff,” you said, holding out your hand.

Natasha grinned, shaking your hand in hers, “just call me Nat, Agent sounds too formal. I look forward to seeing what that super soldier serum truly did to you.”

Apparently, not too much as she continuously kicked your ass in combat.

Training with Natasha was, well, with your lack of combat, embarrassing. You had your ass handed to you so many times, it was a bit pathetic – but she always told you that you were improving. You used your heightened senses to your advantage, listening to her footsteps and figuring out what move she intended to use next. You hesitated to use your strength at first, but with continued training, you knew Nat could handle it.

With Nat, you also became very skilled in shooting handguns, rifles, the whole nine. Your aim was impeccable and target training was becoming a breeze. The thought of shooting someone terrified you at first, but when Nat reminded you that hesitation could get you killed, you understood – there was no room for mistakes.

During your stay in Montana, you kept in touch with Steve, but only through short texts. He was not thrilled with you leaving him, but he understood where you were coming from; you needed to mourn but also keep busy, careful to not fall into a dark abyss. Fury kept you updated, telling you that he had pushed himself into training continuously and visiting Peggy all he could. You knew seeing Peg was doing Steve no good whatsoever, and your heart ached...but at least he got to see his long love.

Nat had been there when Bucky’s birthday passed, holding you as you cried, unable to leave your bed the day of and a few after. She held you as you yelled at the sky for taking away the most important person in your life, leaving you so alone. She knew you had Steve, but it wasn’t the same – you needed Bucky. But she also knew by letting you cry, your emotions out of your body, you’d feel so much more at peace.

And she was right.

Natasha also told you about Howard's son, Anthony, and from what you saw on the news, that was definitely Howard's kid. Tony was arrogant, self-absorbed, but did what he thought was right. After his declaration of being Iron Man, you followed Tony all over the internet, but hearing first hand from Natasha of the man that Tony was...Howard would be proud. You wished to meet him, you did, but something pulled at your heart, telling you that Tony probably hated you for taking his dad from him, forcing Howard to become obsessed with finding you and Steve and thus, costing him his life.

Natasha told you he might see you in that light, yes, but if you ever got to know Tony, he'd warm up.

You weren’t healed and you still weren’t okay, but you were…better. You hated whatever being there was in the sky for taking your James, but you came to terms with it. But the one thing you were so resentful about was the fact that there was no body, no funeral for him.

Becca hated that, too.

You had visited her in her old age, just like Peggy, and the two of you held hands as you talked about James and Steve – your boys. She had missed you so much, just like she missed Jamie, and she understood your pain the best. She had tried to encourage a search party for him, to have some closure, but the government refused. He was gone, and they couldn’t send more men to find a disfigured body.

You hated thinking about that, what James would look like. It haunted you in your nightmares, waking you up in the wee hours of the morning, his frostbitten body staring right back at you. Phil had found you a morning after such nightmare, sitting on your porch in nothing but an oversized shirt and a blanket around your shoulders, cheeks wet with fresh tears.

You sniffled once more, wiping your nose with the back of your hand, watching as a black car parked into your dirt driveway. The car opened and Phil Coulson emerged, as expected - on time for your monthly visits. Hugging onto the blanket tighter, you shivered against the cold air, hoping Phil would just leave upon noticing your state.

He did the exact opposite.

Phil took off his jacket, resting it upon your shoulders even though you had the blanket. You sniffled, inhaling his scent, and hugged the jacket closer, feeling Phil take a seat next to you on your wooden bench.

"I always found snow to be soft, almost like a cloud, falling down upon it when James and I would make snow angels," you began. A shiver ran down your spine as you continued, "but now, I can't help but think of his body just...plopping onto the ground so roughly that he was hurting, still alive, yelling out for anyone and..."

Phil ran his hand over your head, brushing your hair back, "freezing."

You glanced to Phil, "freezing to...to death. He must've been so scared, I-"

Phil shushed you as the tears formed, "no what if's, y/n. He's safe now - that's what matters most. You're okay, and so is he."

Your bottom lip trembled as you held onto the dog tags, nodding to Phil's words, "you're right, as always."

Phil gave a tight smile, "let's go inside and heat up some milk, 'm getting tired myself." Coulson held your hand for the rest of the night.

Trying to convince yourself to get some closure, you told yourself that the next time you were in Washington D.C., you’d visit the museum and read all about Bucky, all that he had done, and see the amazed looks of citizens who saw him as a hero. Your James Barnes was a hero to so many people, including yourself, and you should be able to celebrate his goodness from when he was alive.

You were going to go the next day until Director Fury knocked on your door at 2:30 in the morning, holding a file labeled “CLASSIFIED.”

You raised an eyebrow, “couldn’t have given me this at a decent time?”

He narrowed his good eye, “it’s urgent, didn’t have time for formalities, your highness.”

With a snort, you grabbed the folder from his hands, “glad you know how to properly address me. What time do we leave?”

Fury tilted his head toward the quinjet, directing your eyes toward Steve who stood alongside Natasha, “once you get dressed, Agent. You’ll have time to look over the file in the jet.”

You weren’t sure why you got dressed so fast; seeing Steve for the first time in about 6 months, finally going on a mission, or just getting some new sense of scenery. Either way, you engulfed Steve in a hug and he laid a hand on the back of your head, “hey, honeybee.”

Your heart ached whenever he called you that, but you figured it was one of the last things he could hold onto Bucky as his dog tags laid against your chest, “hey, Stevie. So, what’s the deal?”

Reading over the file while Nat gave more information about Clint – someone else who you had grown quite close to – you grew confused. You looked to Steve, “the Tesseract. That’s the blue cube that…disintegrated Schmidt, right?”

Steve nodded, “looks like Howard recovered it and it’s been in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s hands since, but this guy, Loki, wants something to do with it – Hydra’s secret weapon.”

Fury spoke up from the front of the jet, “that scepter he has, it controls the minds of anyone it touches, including one of my sharpest agents. The Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy – that’s something the world sorely needs. Falls into the wrong hands, well…”

You shook your head, “you shoulda left it in the ocean.”

Silence overtook the quinjet until Phil came over to your seat, sitting beside you, “I’d like you to come along to recruit another member, if you don’t mind.”

You gave a small smile to Phil, “um, yeah, that’s fine. Where we goin’ and who are we recruiting, Coulson?”

Phil seemed a bit nervous as he spared a glance to Nat, who nodded her head, “Tony Stark, Iron Man.”

You sucked in a breath, “Howard’s son? You want me to come along?”

Phil laid his own hand upon yours that rested in your lap, file forgotten about, “I do, and I hope you wouldn’t mind tagging along.”

Holding back your tears, you nodded, “yeah, yeah, I’ll come. When do we leave?”

“Once we land in D.C., we’ll take a quick trip to New York. Easy car ride.”

You squinted your eyes, “isn’t that like, a 6-hour drive?”

Phil gave an uneasy smile, “not with me driving, we’ll be there in 2.”

You chuckled, “as long as I get there alive, I don’t really care how we get there.”

In all honesty, the drive to Stark Tower was relatively calm, save for swerving through traffic and going way too fast for your liking. Once you arrived, you and Phil talked to the impressive AI named JARVIS who told you both that he was informing Mr. Stark of your arrival.

“Impressive Artificial Intelligence,” you whispered to Phil, “definitely Howard's kid.”

Phil was about to respond until JARVIS spoke up, “Mr. Stark is not in, Agent Coulson.”

Your friend pursed his lips together, “please tell Tony that this is urgent and we need to speak. Now.”

Very quickly, Tony ignored your calls until Phil hacked into the system, overriding JARVIS and his protocols. Phil spoke into the phone, pulling you inside the elevator, “Mr. Stark, we need to talk.”

Tony sighed on the other line, “you have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message.”

Phil rolled his eyes, causing you to let out a snort, along with Pepper Potts on the other line, “this is urgent, Tony.”

You and Phil stood in the elevator, about to reach his floor as Tony responded, “then leave it urgently.” Right on cue, the elevator doors opened and Tony held up his glass of champagne, “security breach, it’s on you.”

Tony’s eyes glanced over your figure as you stood beside Phil, Pepper getting up from the floor to greet him, “Phil! Come in. I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met yet, Miss?”

You smiled at Pepper, meeting her halfway and shaking her hand, “Agent Y/N L/N, Miss Potts.”

Tony stood beside Pepper, “the infamous Miss America, Cap’s sidekick. How’s S.H.I.E.L.D. treating you? Always annoying you with something, barging in without your knowledge, telling you that you've been asleep for 70 years?”

Phil spoke for you, “I’m afraid we can’t stay. We need you to look this over as soon as possible.”

Tony shook his head, “I don’t like being handed things.”

You let out a chuckle as Pepper took the folder, “that’s fine, because I love to be handed things. So, let’s trade.” With a quick switch of hands, Pepper gave Tony the folder as she handed Phil the glass of champagne, “thank you. Anything for you, Y/N?”

You shook your head, “no thank you, Miss Potts.”

You took a moment to look Tony over. Peggy was not kidding – he looked exactly like Howard, and certainly acted like him, too. They had the same eyes, the same face, and the same attitude; it was almost like looking at a clone of Howard. Your eyes filled with unshed tears but you pushed them back, taking a small breath as Phil continued, “this is not a consultation.”

Pepper’s eyes grew wide, “is this about the Avengers? Which I know nothing about.” She looked guilty once the words slipped.

Tony sighed as he walked away, opening up the folder and looking through it quickly, “the Avengers initiative was scrapped, I thought – and I didn’t even qualify.”

Pepper shrugged, “I didn’t know that, either.”

Tony continued, “apparently I’m volatile, self-obsessed, don’t play well with others.”

You mumbled, “kind of like Howard.” Tony pointed his finger towards you as he nodded, “and she speaks of him!”

Pepper nodded her head, “that I did know,” ignoring his comment towards you.

Phil shifted his weight, “this isn’t about personality profiles anymore.”

Tony grunted, “whatever. Ms. Potts, got a second?”

As the two were talking, screens were lit up of you, Steve, and others fighting, and you stumbled back with a slight gasp, still new to the whole holographic stuff of technology. Phil turned towards you, asking you if you were okay with a look, and you nodded. Pepper looked towards you both and back to Tony, whispering, “maybe while working on this, you can get to know her. Get to know your dad. I’ll take the jet to D.C. tonight. You have homework – a lot of homework.”

The two kissed before Pepper headed your way, “so, any chance you two are driving by LaGuardia?”

Phil nodded, “I can drop you.” Pepper smiled, “fantastic!”

The two began to walk towards the elevator as you looked on at Tony who held a holographic Tesseract in his hand. In that moment, your brain convinced yourself that was Howard, your Howie.

Tony turned towards you, “you joining them or you just gonna stare?”

You took a step back, a frown on your face as you mumbled an apology, meeting Pepper and Phil in the elevator. Pepper turned your way as the doors closed, “I’m sorry about him. When it comes to his dad and you, he gets a bit…”

You finished her sentence, “jealous. He missed out on a lot and I can imagine Howard spent too much time talking about me or Steve instead of him. I understand.”

Pepper gave a tight smile.

In a few short hours, you, Phil, Steve, and a few other S.H.I.E.L.D agents were on your way to the helicarrier, something that only a few of you knew about. You sat next to Steve, looking over Dr. Bruce Banner’s files, examining videos of him as Hulk, and how he was trying to recreate the super soldier serum. You had known about Dr. Banner and honestly, had become one of his fans – when he was in his human form, of course. His works on nuclear physics and gamma radiation greatly interested you and upon reading many of his published articles, you had completely forgotten about his condition. Having the opportunity to meet him in person was certainly one of your dreams and you just knew Bucky was making fun of you for being such a dork.

Phil stood up from his seat, walking towards you and Steve, leaning above you both. Steve looked to Phil, “this Dr. Banner was trying to replicate the serum they used on me?”

Phil nodded, “after Howard Stark’s death in 1991, Dr. Banner made it his mission to replicate it. A lot of people were. You – you both – were the world’s first superheroes. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine’s original formula.”

Steve looked uneasy, “didn’t really go his way, did it?”

Phil shifted his weight as he looked towards you, then to Steve, “not so much. When he’s not that thing, though,” you interrupted him with a glare, “sorry, the Hulk, the guy’s like a Stephen Hawking.”

Steve looked to you, confusion written on his face. You shrugged, “a really smart person.”

Silence enveloped the three of you until you nodded to Phil, urging him to continue. Phil seemed all giddy, “I gotta say, it’s an honor to meet you officially. I’ve sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping.”

You snorted as Steve nervously smiled at Phil, covering your face as he continued, “I mean, I was present while you were unconscious from the ice.” Steve stood up as you continued laughing, making his way to the front of the jet, “you know, it’s just a huge honor to have you on board this.”

You followed Phil, clapping him on the back as Steve overlooked the ocean, “thank you for that, Phil, truly.”

Steve elbowed you as he mumbled, “I hope we’re the people for the job.”

Phil’s eyes lit up, “oh, you are – you both are, absolutely! We, uh, made some modifications to your suits, by the way.”

You glanced towards Phil – now this was what you missed.

-

honeybee taglist:

@clownerlyluv

@ginger-swag-rapunzel

@starkleila

@intothesoul

[cipheress-to-k-pop]

Tension

Pairing: Danny Rand x Reader

Warnings: Mentions of injuries

Word Count: 4.5K

Summary: What happens when Iron Fist takes an interest in an undercover agent? (I’m so bad at summaries and Titles please forgive me)

A/N: This has been sitting incompleted in my drafts for like months and I finally got the energy and ideas to finish it. I feel accomplished.

It made sense that you and Danny never crossed paths. You were just a S.H.I.E.L.D agent and he was part of the superhero program. Even though you were similar in age, you didn’t attend the same school and you had no skills in common so you never saw each other during training.

You were born into being a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, growing up on the Helicarrier and training your entire life to be an undercover agent. You spent your days with different names and different personas, gathering intel and you were more skilled using weapons and gadgets than actual hand-to-hand combat, while he was parading around the city in a spandex suit.

You, of course, had heard of him but only by the name Iron Fist, and you had never seen him in person.

And it would have remained that way if you hadn’t gotten shot on your last mission. Even though it missed anything vital and the surgery had been a success, you were still told not to do anything that might agitate it for the next 3 months.

So, that was how you got transferred from the undercover agent assignments to team strategist department.

“But I don’t want to be in strategies!” You complained, stubbornly following Fury around the Helicarrier as he desperately tried to get away from you.

“Strategies is for boring people! Like Coulson!” You shouted ignoring Coulson’s offended ‘Hey!’, practically throwing a tantrum in the middle of the training room.

“And more importantly, you gave my assignment to that bitch, Lia?! I’ve been gathering contacts for that mission for around a year and you want me to just hand it over to that lazy piece of shit who would rub it in my face even if she never did anything for the mission?!”

That finally made Fury turn around to face you and you sighed in relief, hoping he would at least listen to you.

“Agent Coulson, make sure that every time (Y/N) swears, 50 bucks is cut down from this month’s pay check.”

You threw him a foul glare.

“You will be transferred to strategies in a week—”

“But I don’t want to—”

“Under the superhero programme—”

“Those pyjama freaks—?!”

“End. Of. Discussion.”

You glared at him so coldly, it could have frozen hell over. Your nails were digging painfully into the palm of your hand but you barely felt it through your anger.

You practically growled, pulling out a 50-dollar bill from your pocket and slamming it onto Coulson’s desk.

“MOTHER F—”

***

The first time you met a member of the team wasn’t one that you had expected. It was a month and a half into your recovery and you had written numerous mission reports on behalf of them and reset the programming of their training bots after each practice session but you still hadn’t met any of them.

The time you were taking to recover was driving you crazy. It made you feel weak. 2 months ago, you were in Barcelona, undercover as an underaged bartender for a mafia gang and now you were going to physiotherapy every week.

Since you were young and Fury didn’t want to take the change of you permanently injuring yourself, he was being very strict about what you could do, he basically confined you to a desk job for the next 2 months.

It was driving you mad.

So, one day when everyone was asleep, you snuck into the training area to practice shooting which you were sure had gone a little rusty since the accident. Nothing a little practice couldn’t help.

You picked up your favourite gun, smiling at the familiarity in your hand, loading it and clicking the safety off before pointing at the target and shooting.

The next thing you felt was excruciating pain. So painful that you were on the floor, pressing your forehead against the cold metal, wondering why this was happening to you.

The rebound of the gun had been too powerful for your arm to take. You felt your injury pull suddenly and you couldn’t think of anything other than the blinding pain as you cried on the floor. Feeling utterly helpless.

“Hello?”

You started, teary eyes getting wide at the sight of a blonde by the door. You had to wipe your eyes for your vision to focus, grunting in pain as you raised your arms again.

You recognized Iron Fist. You had been seeing footage of him and his team members for the last few weeks and writing mission reports about him but seeing him in person was a different feeling.

You hid your face, pulling your knees to your chest, hoping he would leave.

“I heard a gunshot.”

“Yeah,” Your voice cracked embarrassingly, “That was me.” 

“Everything alright?” He came closer to you, standing a foot away from you and you shook your head no.

In all honesty, you wanted to get off the floor and go back to bed, but your arm burned so painfully you were scared to move it again.

“Here, let me help.”

You froze, but still let him raise his hand towards you. You saw his palm light up before he pressed it to your shoulder and you whimpered, shuffling away from him but he continued to apply a gentle pressure.

Soon you felt the pain get better, it slowly reduced to a dull buzz.

“H-How did you do that?” You asked, turning to him with wide eyes and he chuckled, seeing the childish wonderment. You clearly had never seen him in person before even if he had seen you.

Danny noticed you the day he had joined S.H.I.E.L.D. You were returning from yet another mission and the soft blue dress you were wearing among armoured soldiers was hard to miss when he passed the debriefing room. Immediately, he stopped to peer inside.

The contrast between the soft summer dress and your cold, professional expressions sent a shiver down his spine. You looked so untouchable. However, he noticed the blush on your face when the agents complimented you and felt his heart flutter.

He had seen your road to recovery, he noticed you falling asleep at your desk every day, constantly doing work because you had nothing else to do and he wondered if it would be weird if he asked you to lunch sometime. For your sake, of course.

Looking at you curled up on the ground, he had wished he had done it sooner.

“You shouldn’t strain yourself before you’re ready.” He muttered, feeling tongue tied next to the girl he had been infatuated with from a distance.

You could only nod. This whole-time people had been telling you the same thing and you always retorted with confidence, saying that you were as good as ready to get back on the field. Never in your wildest dreams would you have thought they were right.

“I’m Iron Fist.”

“(Y/N).”

“I know.” His answer came a little too fast and had you raising a brow. Danny wished he adorned a mask to cover the whole of his face like Spiderman when he felt his cheeks becoming warm, “You write our mission reports. I’m not creepy, I swear.”

You chuckled airily, turning back to the gun that was left on the ground and you pulled it back into your hand before clicking the safety back on before chucking it across the room.

“Thanks for helping me.” 

“I’m glad I was there to help.”

***

After your first meeting, you found him approaching you more often after training. At first it was just ‘hello’s and ‘goodbyes. Then he began asking about your day and you gave him mundane responses before you were forced to ask him how his day was.

Then he started coming early before his training with a cup of tea for you, though it was sometimes juice, sometimes hot cocoa.

Then he started staying late after training and you would give him a bottle of water and complain about him being sweaty.

It was an unlikely friendship but nonetheless, you got closer as the days passed by and once you did, it didn’t take long for you to meet the rest of the team. They kept you company and you grew fond of the rest of them; however, it wasn’t the same way that you felt with Iron Fist.

Your crush on Iron Fist snuck up on you when you were least expecting it but once you realized it you couldn’t stop yourself from falling hard and deep. Still, you continued to hang out with him, pushing down the butterflies whenever he smiled and stopping yourself from grinning too wide whenever you were around him.

You tried to keep your relationship platonic, not wanting to get caught up in it because it was unprofessional. You didn’t even know his identity and you didn’t want to find out. You were afraid that once he revealed that part of his life to you there was no going back on your love for him.

So, you stayed friends, good friends.

***

“So, it all blew up in her face? Huh, I should say I’m surprised but I’m really not.” You said, sighing when Fury handed you the mission file that you had been working on for a year before handing it off to another agent.

“You get to relieve her of her duties and start working again. Effective as of next week.”

You were grinning now. The doctor had given you the all clear a month ago and you had been waiting for a mission to be handed off to you but it had been a quiet month, with no need for undercover or even recon missions.

To get back the mission that you lost when you got shot seemed like the best one to start off again, and you thought your day couldn’t get any better but it seemed like you were having an incredibly good day.

As soon as you exited the room, there stood Iron Fist in all his glory and your excitement got better of you. You bolted right into his arms, catching him off guard with a hug.

“Woah, did something happen?” He asked curiously but still wrapped his arms around you to return the hug. You pulled away, flashing him the mission file in your hand and grinned brightly.

“I finally got cleared for a mission!”

“Congratulations!”

“Thank you! I’m so excited! I have to go and prepare right away!”

“Wha—Right now?” He asked and you nodded frantically, “I’m off in about a week, lots to prepare before that.”

“Well, how long is it going to take?”

“Not sure, oooh, maybe I’ll get relocated someplace cool like Dubai or India or something.”

He didn’t seem to share your enthusiasm but just chuckled in a dejected sort of manner before nodding his head, “Maybe.”

***

“Partner? Fury, I don’t do partners. I am a single lady and would like to stay that way.”

He just sighed, used to your temper tantrums. Though he was honestly wishing he had a mute button on you. You were like the daughter he never wanted. Usually, he maintained a professional relationship with all the other agents but you were like the gem of the department.

Being one of the youngest and most capable of the agents was a reason for many of the older ones to fawn over you. I mean let’s be honest, a baby who can kick ass was adorable!

That always made you more outrageous than the other agents, letting yourself have the temper tantrums and choosing not to be a stiff, boring agent. You knew just how to push Fury to get what you wanted.

“The mission is to go to a socialite party and while you have the skills, you don’t have the contact.”

“That hasn’t stopped me before—”

“We need someone that has the last name to get you in. Besides, after last time, another agent looking after you wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”

Your face fell and Fury knew he made a mistake in choosing his words. Your lip quivered slightly and he heard an agent tut disapprovingly at him and mentally sighed.

“That wasn’t my fault...” You said softly, your voice seemed thick and he knew one wrong move could possibly break the floodgate. He sighed, wrapping an arm around your shoulder, “I know that. But we just want you to be safe. Just in case something goes wrong again, so this time somebody can have your back.”

You nodded sadly, lips in a small pout and eyebrows furrowed. Somewhere in the background he heard another agent whispering to another that Fury was trying to make you cry and felt his eye twitch.

“No one blames you for what happened.”

You nodded wordlessly again, still frowning.

“Tell you what, because it’s your first mission back, you get a higher budget for it.” That was it. Your face brightened like the sun and you giggled childishly, sending him a mischievous smirk as you thanked him.

You disappeared before he could even scold you and Fury then heard the rest of the agents burst into laughter about how you managed to play him.

Again.

***

“Daniel Rand.” You mumbled, looking over the case file. Apparently, he would be your partner for today but it was odd that you never heard of him before. It took you a very short time going through the S.H.I.E.L.D. database to find his name.

‘Daniel Rand, a.k.a. Iron Fist.’

‘WHAT?!’

Daniel Rand? The blond aristocrat that looked like he was picked out of your wildest dreams. With a face that could break hearts and make knees weak, was the confidant and friend that you had been crushing on for weeks now?

Wow, he definitely had a face to match.

Without realizing, you had been staring at his picture for about 5 minutes, fawning over his sharp jaw and deep green eyes with a ridiculous love-sick smile on your face, with your heart fluttering in your chest.

‘God, please, like me.’ You said in your head. So far you had sort of a flirtationship going on with Iron Fist but you wondered if it was the same for Danny. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would intentionally lead you on, but now that you were seeing his face, you realized just how little you knew about him.

He probably had a life of his own and you took up only a sliver of it. Being an agent, you didn’t leave the Helicarrier very often, and you certainly didn’t have too many very friends. You never really realized how much you were missing until you got shot.

Iron Fist, well Daniel, filled the void you felt during your time off but it was also very possible that he didn’t feel the same way, that you were just someone he spent time with to get over his boredom.

Maybe tonight would be the time to change that.

The mission was supposed to take place today, so you woke up bright and early to finish up some things. Go over case files, do a weapon check and pick out your outfit. You were supposed to wear something that would catch people’s attention. And in the back of your head, you also wanted to blow Daniel’s mind right out of his skull.

Red seemed like it would make a statement. So would a bodycon, or maybe a long dress with a high slit. You wanted to go all out for your first mission in months. Maybe even get a few jaw drops.

Finally deciding on an outfit, you quickly texted Daniel.

‘Wear (F/C).’

***

“This guy is coming right?” You asked, bored. You had been ready for about 15 minutes now, looking like you were dripping diamonds and lounging comfortably in Fury’s seat, with your legs thrown over the armrest.

“He’ll be here any minute now.” Said Coulson, checking his phone.

You rolled your eyes, “Why do I feel like this is one of those movie moments where the girl comes down the stairs and the guy is just staring at her with a jaw drop. Or like when the bride walks down the aisle and the groom bursts into tears.”

You sighed, checking your watch again. 20 minutes.

“For someone making me wait this long, he better be so good looking that it makes me cry.”

“Well, I hope I don’t disappoint.”

The new voice certainly turned a few heads and there stood Daniel Rand. The pictures online really did him no justice. Sure, you didn’t cry, but your eyes definitely didn’t feel worthy to be looking something so pretty in the eye.

Before you could help it, a ‘wow’ slipped past your lips and he blushed, having heard you. Wow, he was cute inside and out. Unfortunately, Coulson had to come in where he wasn’t wanted and suggested a quick briefing which you had to agree to.

In the middle of the briefing, Coulson handed you a ring box and you raised a brow, “I’m a little young for you, don’t you think?”

He let out an irritated sigh but you noticed the tips of his ears turn red from embarrassment, “You’re posing as his fiancé. You need an engagement ring to match.”

“Shouldn’t he be getting on his knee then?” You joked, gaping at the size of the diamond for a second before slipping it on, completely missing the way Danny got redder at your teasing, “Wow, it suits me so well one would think I was made to be a socialite’s fiancé.”

Danny didn’t say anything and you brushed it off, putting him off as the shy but cute bookworm who would come through in a difficult situation. As soon as the thought came to mind, you facepalmed. All it took was one good looking guy to mess up your work habits.

“Well, come on honey, we have a party to get to.” You called out teasingly and handed him the keys to the car before strutting to the garages.

Coulson clapped him on the back with a small smirk on his face, “Good luck, honey.”

***

It didn’t take much effort to meet your contact in the party and you quickly left Danny’s side to discreetly to get any information he could pass to you. You quietly chatted with the contact.

Behind you, you vaguely heard a bunch of girls flock around him, giggling shrilly and trying to flirt with him. You resisted rolling your eyes. You had on an engagement ring but Danny’s finger was still bare and even though he might have announced being taken to them, apparently it was necessary for a ring to show his commitment. Something told you that even if he got it tattooed on his forehead, people would still try to flirt with him.

He just had one of those faces. Those faces that made people lose all reason. I mean, you’re slightly annoyed at the girls that have no moral and are shamelessly throwing themselves at him. But really, can you blame them?

Danny was gorgeous. He looked like a Greek Adonis that was sent down from the heavens to grace your eyes. Honestly, you couldn’t take your eyes off him while the two of you were driving down to the party.

Seeing them get handsy was more irritating than It usually would be. As annoying as it was to see these women through all their morals out the window and try and get a taken man to reciprocate their advances, it was more annoying to see them gawk over the guy you were crushing on.

A part of you wanted to just leave him in the car and not have anybody look at him.

But to keep your crush a secret, you maintained your distance from him, talking to the contact in a mixture of different languages so no one would be able to understand. Once you were done, you opted for getting a drink until you saw the pleading look on his face and almost felt bad.

So, you sauntered over to him, cutting right through the throng of girls, disgusted to see that some of them had wedding rings on, right to Danny’s side, snaking an arm around his waist and placing your hand underneath on his chest, giving him a sweet smile.

The shiny engagement ring on your finger caught their attention and they frowned, reminded that they were allowed to look, but not to touch.

“I hope you didn’t miss me too much.” You said, syrupy sweet and loud enough for the girls to hear before turning to them with a charming smile, “I hope my fiancé wasn’t too short with you girls today, he’s very stressed lately, with the wedding planning and all.”

Their faces fell further when you leaned into him and they could all recognize the possessive glint in your eyes. A look that said, I saw you trying to get your hands on something that was mine, you vultures.

The left you two quickly after that, resorting to go gossip in some corner. You wondered if they were snivelling about you but then realized that you shouldn’t be too cocky.

Instead, you turned your unamused gaze to your ‘fiancé’, pulling away from him with a frown.

“I’m assuming that you haven’t come here to flirt with someone else’s wife.”

“I wasn’t flirting though...” He replied innocently and you pursed your lips, resisting the urge to scowl at him. Instead, you just sighed and turned away from him, keeping an eye on the rest of the guests.

If what you were told is true, then someone is going to attempt an assassination on your contact and it was your job to protect him. However, you were distracted once more when he placed a hand on your waist.

You meant to turn around and ask him what he was doing but his grip was strong and he then pressed his lips to your ear. You froze, neck getting uncomfortably hot.

“At the entrance to the foyer.” He mumbled, looking into the mirror that was facing the entrance. Sure, enough you saw it too, the glint that came from the shadows. Someone was there.

The two of you still managed to stay inconspicuous, pretending like you were a couple in love. You turned to him with a smirk, hand going to your thigh where a gun was holstered.

“What do you say about getting out of here?”

With a hand around your waist, he led you to the other end of the room. Just as you expected, a waiter came up to you, trying to guide you elsewhere and you realized that both exits were covered. Grinning up at him, you asked him where the restroom was, giggling in a way that suggested something and he showed you up to the staircase to a hallway. 

Some of the older couples gave you knowing smiles while some of them passed disgusted glances as you made your way to the bathroom that for some reason had a couch in it. Damn, rich people.

You pulled up a schematic of the house, along with security cameras and looked figured out that each one of the exits were covered. Quickly making a plan with Danny, the two of you were about to exit again when you stopped him

You reached up and raked your fingers through his hair, dishevelling it a little before messing up his collar and slightly untucking his shirt. Taking a step back to admire your handiwork, you stopped for a second.

Something was missing.

It quickly occurred to you and you used your thumb to ruin your lipstick a little before smearing it at the base of his neck, “That should be convincing enough. Don’t you think?”

You didn’t give him a moment to answer, not that he even could, with you so close that he could smell your perfume and the scent made him feel dizzy. You pulled away to mess up your own hair and dress.

“How do I look?”

“Dishevelled.”

“Excellent.”

***

“Mission successful, assassination attempt was unsuccessful, contact is safe and being placed into witness protection, assassinators are in custody for questioning. Report 291220. Agent 290803. Phase Beta successful.” You reported into the com set.

Danny was quiet beside you, choosing to pay attention to the road while you deactivated your gadgets for the night. A quick glance from the corner of your eyes made your heart speed up just a little. He was doing that thing where he drove with just one arm.

“You know...” You started, clicking the safety on your gun, avoiding his eyes, “We don’t have to go back to HQ right now? We can get some dinner or something? In the mood for a veggie burger?”

“Is this meant to be platonic?”

“It’s meant to be a date.” You commented. His jaw tightened slightly and you raised a brow at him, did you really make him so uncomfortable?

“I thought you were in a relationship.”

“What?”

“Iron Fist. You like him, don’t you?”

An amused chuckle left you. Of course. He didn’t know you were aware of his secret. Resisting the urge to laugh at him, you shot him a smirk, leaning against your arm.

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

Danny’s hands tightened around the steering wheel, knuckles turning white. He didn’t look at you, instead staring at the road with a steely gaze and for a second you wondered if you shouldn’t have pushed him.

“It’s a little hypocritical of you to nag me for not being loyal in a fake engagement and then going behind Iron Fist’s back, don’t you think?”

His voice was tight and he was gritting his teeth as he talked to you. You sighed, not wanting to upset him, “Not when you’re the same person.”

He jerked.

“Woah! Drive straight dude!”

“You knew?”

You snorted, “Pretty much, yeah. And since when are we in a relationship? I don’t remember you ever asking me out?”

His cheeks coloured, embarrassed and he looked away from your gaze, “I was planning to.”

“You’re lucky you’re cute.”

You continued in a comfortable silence while he drove. You weren’t really paying attention to where he was driving, choosing to look at him with a small smile. He really was beautiful. Judging by his red ears, he was well aware of your staring.

Eventually, he pulled into a parking space and you were mildly surprised to see he had driven you to a McDonalds. You grinned at him and he returned the smile, getting out of the car to open your door before taking your hand.

“You owe me a date.”

You sent him a soft smile, curling your finger underneath his chin before pulling him in for a gentle kiss. He returned it immediately, slightly pushing you onto the car door and gripping your hips. You pulled away, giggling when you realized some of your lipstick was now staining his.

Chuckling, you leaned up until your lips were brushing against his ear, “Hey genius, you still haven’t asked me out yet.”

Forever Taglist: @simonsbluee

USM Taglist: @imcarolinashannon

[ihatecoconut]

It’s been a while, but we’re back again

Cross Posted to AO3

It was over. For her, again, a second time, and although the memories of the first time were hazy, they were coming back to her slowly- food. They had all gone out to get food after the battle of New York; some restaurant that Tony claimed to have seen while they were fighting and persuaded them to try. She didn’t remember much from it, just the warm press of Clint’s leg against her own and the knowledge that everyone was safe.

No nukes this time. No heart wrenching moment before Tony fell back through. No need for the Hulk to scare him back to life.

All around her people were starting to realise that it was actually over, not just another lull in the fighting. Realising that they could lean on other people again, and starting to gather in groups, wrapping their arms around one another. She twirled the sceptre in her hand, still holding it, and leaned back against the nearest bulkhead- on the other side of the helicarrier, she could see Steve and Tony hugging. A relationship that was apparently developing faster here than in her own. And Coulson. Of course: she must have died here instead of him.

“Nat?” A voice asked from behind her, quiet, carefully and accompanied by a hand settling on her shoulder, one finger at a time as if the owner wasn’t quite certain that she was real. The voice washed over her; the last voice she had once thought she would ever hear.

“Clint.” She turned to look at him, a busted lip, a small cut on his forehead, pink skin, healthy and bright and hopeful and she raised her own hand to settle over his, soaking in the warmth he gave off, just from being alive.

“Is it… is this real?”

“Yeah.” The word came out unexpectedly choked up as he turned his hand over to interlace their fingers. “Yeah, I’m here.”

He pulled her in, forceful and unexpected, wrapping his arms around her as if she would slip away if he loosened his hold at all. She understood the feeling, wrapping her own back around him just as hard, letting the sceptre fall to the floor- someone would pick it up later.

“God, I missed you.” He whispered into her shoulder, pressing his forehead to her cheek and inhaling.

She thought of the utter silence that he had left her with, of his death, the way he let go of her hand and fell, the memories that had played in her head over and over for weeks before anything had happened. “I missed you too.”

They were both crying, she could feel Clint’s tears soaking into the fabric of her top, and dropped her head, leaning even further into him so no one else could see the moment of weakness she allowed herself.

“Laura?”

Clint laughed, wetly, “She’s fine, she’s completely fine. Gonna be mad that I exaggerated your death though.”

At some point she was going to have to sit all of them down and explain exactly what had happened, make sure that Tony never tried to do what he had done in so many other universes, explain that she wasn’t their Natasha, but that was for later. That was for a calmer time.

Clint pulled back slightly, tracing fingers over her face, her nose, her eyebrows, “I can’t believe this is real.”

“Completely real. I’m here to stay.”

He pulled her back in again, pressing a kiss to her jaw, hidden behind her hair, a private moment just for them before she was passed around everyone else. “Good, ‘cause I don’t think we’re gonna let you leave again.”

She laughed again, more of a sob coming out. “I want to go home.”

“I know.”

“Natasha?” Steve asked from behind her, the same trepidation in his voice that she had heard in Clint’s, another careful hand setting down on her shoulder.

She wiped her eyes, squeezed Clint’s hand and turned around to face the rest of her team, the team that she had once watched die painful deaths, the team that now stood in front of her. “Hey guys.”

“Ok,” Tony said, ridding himself of his remaining armour, “group hug. Right now.”

The Natasha that they had known would have protested, moved away or otherwise resisted their affection, but she was not that woman and she had spent too long in isolation, too long with only a Nazi for company, to resist any form of physical contact. They piled on, Thor the last one to join, somehow managing to scoop up most of them and lift them off their feet, to loud protests.

In the middle, Natasha just laughed.

Behind her team were Fury, Coulson and Hill, waiting for their own chance to greet her again. Behind them were even more people, some wanting to thank her for her sacrifice, some just wanting to see her miraculous resurrection with their own eyes. There were people to greet, explanations to explain, forms to fill out, things to do, but for that moment she was surrounded by her team again, happy, loved, Clint at her back and Laura waiting for them to come home.

“I missed you.” She whispered into their laughter. “I missed this.”

[emcon-imagines]

Finally Okay, Pt. 3

part 1, part 2

gif

characters: Wanda Maximoff x reader words: 2194 summary: reader and Wanda are close friends, one joining the Avengers and one going rogue after Sokovia. But after one terrible night, Wanda is forced to face the reality of your mission for revenge. a/n: ahhh fingers crossed please don’t let this flop lmao I worked real hard on this part and you can catch up if you haven’t read parts 1 + 2 yet!!! but anyways surprise and merry christmas!!!!! it’s like a little additional gift to you guys and the conclusion to this trilogy. tagging: @moonlit-imagines​ and @xxxtwilightaxelxxx​, who both expressed interest in a part 3!

You sat with Wanda for a long time in containment, saying nothing, but her familiar presence calming you down enough that your stomach started to churn less and less, and the shaky, panicky feel began to dissipate into exhaustion.

“You still with me?” Wanda murmured as you laid into her, head resting against her shoulder. She squeezed your hand again, trying to get a read on where your mind was. “You seem better.”

You lifted your head up as the door opened, simultaneous with the mechanical beeping of it unlocking. Wanda seemed to sense you tense and she didn’t let go of your hand, even as you clenched hers harder.

“Y/N?” one of the SHIELD agents in the doorway asked. “We’re going to have you stop by the lab to get checked out one more time, and then someplace more permanent for you to sleep tonight.”

You looked at Wanda, uncertainty etched across your face, as you mouthed the word “lab?” with the fear unmistakable in your eyes.

“They’re gentle,” Wanda said. “They’re not going to hurt you. Probably just make sure...” she nodded at the bandage on your stomach. “Well, you really tore yourself up there,” she said, almost ruefully.

You considered her words and finally nodded, sliding off the cot and wincing at the muted stab in your side, still hugging the shawl over your shoulders, as if it could offer some sort of protection from the unknown. When you got to the door, the SHIELD agent waved over to Wanda, who had gotten up as well, but was still standing on the other side of the room.

“Coulson asked if you could stay with y/n,” the agent said. “It’s better than...” he trailed off, glancing down at you and then back at Wanda, who was glaring at him.

“Sedating them again?” Wanda asked. She stepped over. “That’s what HYDRA used to do. You scared them, working on them while they were asleep.”

“That wasn’t my call,” the agent said, quietly. “But... I’ll let Coulson know.”

“It won’t happen again,” Wanda said, and you weren’t sure if she was talking to you or the agent.

The journey to the lab was quick, though you couldn’t ignore the stares from other agents, and the way many of them stopped walking completely to let the five of you, the main agent accompanied by two others, pass. You tried to look braver than you felt, standing up straight, putting up the same mask of anger that had helped you survive for so many years with HYDRA, your eyes dark and your eyebrows furrowed, mouth in a hard slash.

It was clear that Wanda wasn’t comfortable around the agents either, perhaps she would have preferred Natasha or Clint be the liaison instead, but if she did feel that way, she didn’t say anything about it. She’s here, isn’t she? Not her hero friends. Wanda came.

There were only two people in the lab when you arrived, but it seemed busy enough for ten times that amount of people. Not like any of the labs you had seen before. It was well-kept, though lived-in, a mug of tea here, a sweatshirt tossed over a chair there. Work covered the lab benches; you could only begin to guess what SHIELD was working on.

“Hi,” the new woman said, and gestured to a medical station set up behind a glass partition. “You can sit right over there, I’m just finishing something up first.” The others agents stopped at the door, not going any further, and you stepped into the lab cautiously, as if breathing could break something.

“Fitz, where did you put my notes when you moved them?” the woman asked. “Was two tables not enough space?”

“I put them over there,” Fitz said, pointing to where you had been directed to sit.

“Oh.”

You said down on the edge of the cot just as the woman, who you realized must have fixed you up earlier, joined you, finding her notes. “Sorry about that,” she said. “We’re all over the place today, Fitz is trying to build a... well... never mind, that’s a whole other thing.” She pulled a tool off a shelf, something that looked like a gun and you flinched. “Mind if I take your temperature again?” she asked. “I want to see if it’s gone down at all.”

You relaxed and nodded, picking at the paper unrolled on the cot underneath you. She held the thermometer up to your head and read it when it beeped.

“Hmm. You’re still a bit warm. How are you feeling?”

“Y/N runs warm,” Wanda interrupted, and you looked over to see her leaning against one of the lab benches, her arms crossed. “Something to do with their powers. It’s why they’re always cold, too.”

“So, you radiate it all out?” Simmons asked. “And so it’s like you leave none for yourself?” She smiled a little as she put the thermometer away and scribbled a note down. “That’s neat.” She glanced back at you. “I mean, it’s just interesting is all.”

“Thanks.”

Simmons raised an eyebrow at Wanda, they talk?, before picking up her notes and writing something else down. “When was the last time you had a doctor’s appointment?” she asked. “I mean, a real one.”

“Um...” you glanced down at your feet. “Never?” You had managed to avoid doctor’s all these years, even the time you had the flu, or the time you nearly cut your own finger off trying to cook. Glancing at the nasty scar on your thumb, you began to think that maybe that was a mistake. From the other side of the room, you heard Wanda’s exasperated sigh.

“Right, okay,” Simmons said. “Well, I’m going to try to make this as painless as possible, as long as... well... you’re going to have to promise to help me out here. Have you eaten yet? I can send Fitz to the cafeteria to get you something to eat while we talk. What do you like?”

“I’m a bit occupied at the moment,” Fitz said from the other side of the lab, earning a hard look from Simmons, under which he finally relented. “Sorry, what do they like?”

Simmons kept her promise, which surprised you, and you kept yours, which maybe surprised you even more. She checked on your wounds and changed your bandages, tried to find out if anything else hurt that she had missed when you arrived, and only gave you one shot-- a flu shot-- of all things. And you finally ate, picking at the layers of the sandwich Fitz brought, eating one ingredient at a time, swatting Wanda’s hand away when she tried to steal one of the apple slices Fitz brought as well.

“You’re not going to share?” she asked, nudging you and giggling.

“No.”

“Brat,” she said, but she was still smiling. “After all this, you won’t even share one?” You saw red magic light up around her fingers and you clutched the bag of cut apples closer to you, knowing what she would try. “What if I--”

“Nope.”

Simmons’ exam ended shortly after that, and the SHIELD agents returned to escort you to your next destination, which the scientists had referred to holding. It was a stark white room, the walls made up of the same material your original containment cell had been made of, but this room was warmly lit, with a real bed, couches, a desk, and even a television screen. There were clean clothes laid out on the bed, grey sweatpants, socks, and a grey SHIELD sweatshirt, heavier than you expected. Warmer. There was a bathroom, too, already stocked with tiny soaps and shampoos, and you finally got to scrub the blood and soot off of yourself, turning the water as hot as possible and watching the grit run down the drain.

“Better?” Wanda asked, when you got out of the shower, examining the sweatshirt you had changed into. “You look better.”

You nodded, flopping onto the bed and staring up at the ceiling, just as the door opened again, and Wanda stood up from the couch to see who was there. “Hey, how are you?” Phil Coulson asked, stepping through the doorway, tablet in hand. You looked at Wanda, who gestured back to Coulson.

“He asked you, not me.”

“Tired,” you said. “Um... but all right.”

“I’ll take that as a good thing,” Phil said sitting down on the couch. He turned to Wanda. “Natasha dropped some things off for you if you want to grab them and clean up as well.”

You realized that Wanda still had blood, your blood, under her fingernails, and that she had been there the entire time you had. Did she not even leave this place once? When Wanda did step out, you sat on the edge of the bed, eying Coulson, still trying to figure him out. Is this someone I can trust?

“This won’t be too long,” he said. “I’m going to let you rest. I just wanted to talk with you a little more. Is that all right?” When you didn’t respond, he went ahead, glancing down at something on the tablet. “So, Simmons mentioned something in her notes here about your temperature readings. I’m assuming that has something to do with your abilities? Can you walk me though that?”

You paused, staring at your hands. “Um. They said I run hot. I heat things up with my hands... usually.... but sometimes without even touching them.”

“Is that how the fire started?” he asked softly, and you nodded.

“I didn’t want that to happen,” you said. “No one was supposed to be there.”

“I know you didn’t,” Coulson said, and you blinked, surprised. “Powers can be unpredictable. Scary, if you’re new to them, or if you were never trained.”

“I was trained to burn things,” you said. You remembered the trials, trial after trial, leaving you colder and weaker each time, unable to stop shivering, curled up against the glass wall of your cell, where a heat from the lab had warmed the glass enough for you to sleep.

“Wanda told me,” Coulson said. “I’m sorry for what you went through there.” He took another read through of his notes. “We’re going to bring someone else in to do a psych eval tomorrow morning. He’s one of the best, even helped our own. I think you’ll benefit from talking to him. And we’ll go from there. How does that sound?”

You nodded once, and Coulson stood back up, adjusting his suit as he looked around the room. “Get some rest for tonight. Simmons might be by a few times to check on you, and if you need anything in the meantime--” he pointed at a button under the screen “--call button is right there.” Just as he prepared to leave, the door unlocked and opened again, Wanda stepping back in, having cleaned up and changed herself, dropping a duffle bag by the door. She and Coulson nodded at each other as he left, the lights in the room dimming in his wake, something more suitable for sleeping.

You leaned back on the bed, sinking into the pillows, though the constant undercurrent of anxiety prevented you from relaxing completely. “Can you stay?” you mumbled, not daring to ask the question any louder, afraid of the answer. “Just until I fall asleep.”

“I’ll be here when you wake up, too,” Wanda said, crossing the room and sitting down on the other side of the bed. “Okay?” You had pulled her shawl over yourself again and she reached over to tuck it tighter around you, you pulling away for a moment.

Oh.

It was love. All of it, all around you, you realized, was love. Something you had been certain you didn’t deserve, especially in places when there was so little to go around, acts of kindness existing only in mercy. 

Wanda paused, waiting for you, as your heart beat a little faster. It was too much, sometimes, overwhelming to think about, these people with so much love to give, relentless until you were ready to accept that perhaps you deserved some peace after all. Not despite your past, but because of it.

Finally, you laid back down on the bed, leaning into her, tucking yourself in close to her warmth, sighing as a burden was lifted off of you. “There you are,” Wanda said, her hand rubbing your back as she pulled you in closer, and this time, you didn’t feel like you had to escape. It was okay. You were okay.

“Thank you,” you whispered, shutting your eyes, already drifting off.

Wanda planted a kiss on your forehead and you smiled in response, the first smile she had seen in a long time from you. It was safe to sleep here. There was enough warmth to go around. Your head rested in the crook between her arm and her chest as she laid back as well, her hoping maybe you finally would sleep peacefully for the first time in a long time.

“I’ll be right here in the morning,” she repeated again, the last thing you heard before you finally rested, finally okay at last.

[stardust-walker]

World on Fire: Chapter 2 {Loki x Sigyn)

Summary: Sigyn was supposed to have died almost 100 years ago. A peace mission to Migard gone wrong and she had never returned. Everyone had thought she was dead until Loki is shown someone who looks too familiar when he comes to Earth on a mission. Sharon Odell. Shannon Orwell. Sidney Orwell. No matter what name she goes by, it’s all the same. Now that Gods and heroes are real, there’s no use hiding who she really is anymore.

Masterlist

Chapter 2: Start a war

Sidney hated the fact that she was stuck without much of a choice. She had to trust SHIELD and that meant she had to trust Nick Fury with her life. A heavy sigh left her lips right as she heard a branch crack in the woods somewhere behind her. The blonde squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. She couldn’t get turned around right now when she was so close to getting out of here. 

Sidney’s eyes popped open as she heard a jet flying overhead. She was off again, but this time she didn’t even care. She pushed her way through the brush and branches before she stumbled into a clearing. As the wind whipped around her, she faced the woods. Those rogue agents could still be after her.

“Miss Orwell,” a voice shouted over the whir of the engine. She had been so in her own world, she hadn’t even heard them land behind her. A small smile appeared on her face as she turned and met the gaze of Phil Coulson. “How nice of you to join us,” Coulson called over the roar of the engines. Sidney stomped past him as the jet began to ascend again.

As the ramp began to close back up, they could just see the two SHIELD agents stumble out of the woods. “So those bastards were still following me,” Sidney grumbled as she shrugged off her leather jacket. 

“Some branches in your hair,” Coulson smiled as he motioned towards the back of his own head.

Her eyes narrowed and a sarcastic remark was cut off by another voice.

“Anymore detours?” That voice.

Sidney turned quickly. Her jaw nearly dropped as she finally realized they weren’t the only passengers on the jet. She swallowed hard as Coulson stepped forward to make introductions. She could practically feel the excitement that radiated off of the older man. “Steve, this is Sidney Orwell. Sidney, this is-”

“Steve Rogers,” Sidney interrupted as she took a step forward and held out her hand. Steve stood and squeezed a little too tight as they shook hands. “Pleasure to meet you, Captain.” She smirked as she pulled her hand from his grasp and straightened out her green sweater. “I have to say, I’ve been dying to meet you since they thawed you out.”

“It’s a pleasure, ma’am. I wish the circumstances were better,” he smiled at her. She couldn’t help but notice how terribly sad he looked. “I knew an Orwell.” Sidney’s shoulder stiffened as Phil’s eyebrows shot up. 

“Shannon,” Sidney stated after a few moments of silence. Her mind worked quickly. “My grandmother,” she answered Steve’s unspoken question. This seemed to comfort the man somewhat. The two of them were silent for a second.

“You mean to tell me that your grandmother knew Captain America and you held out on me?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be working right now, Philip?” Sidney responded in a cold voice. “Call me old-fashioned, but sometimes a girl would like to know who’s trying to kidnap her. Along with what they want with the Tesseract.” 

“Hope you’re a quick study. There’s a final exam when we land,” Coulson dead-panned as he picked up a tablet off of the seat where Steve had been along with a folder. “This will tell you all that we’re working with so far.”

Sidney lowered herself onto the bench across from Steve as the two men moved closer to the cockpit to talk. She was grateful they weren’t closer when she opened the folder. It felt like all of the air left her lungs and she just couldn’t bring herself to breathe as she stared at the image that had clearly been printed from security footage. There was Selvig on the right and Barton on the left. They hadn’t been lying about agents being compromised that was for sure.

It was the man in the middle that had caught her attention. He looked tired and sickly, but it was him. The person who had tried to kidnap her was Loki. She could feel the whole charade starting to crumble down around her already.

Coulson had realized a few minutes before they landed that he needed to make sure Sidney knew exactly what she was getting into. She quickly recited a shortened version of the notes she’d read about the others. Banner was a genius who turned into a monster due to gamma radiation. Natasha was a former Soviet spy, current SHIELD spy. She had tried hard to repress any emotion in her voice when she stated all she knew was that Iron Man was a man with more money than God.

Steve had laughed at that one. “Sounds like something your grandmother would say about his father,” he shook his head as the small jet jolted.

Coulson clapped his hands together. “Alright, everyone out of the bus.”

Sidney rolled her eyes as she slapped her hand down on the folder one last time before she turned to stand up. Steve had his hand held out in front of her. “What a gentleman. This must be what it was like in the good old days,” she joked as she allowed him to help her to her feet. The blonde still felt far off in her own world as she shrugged her jacket on and followed the men out onto the deck. 

The salty sea air relaxed her as she took a deep breath and allowed herself to get lost in the sensation of it for just a few seconds. The dampness in the air felt nice after being cooped up in a jet or running through the woods for most of the day.

It felt like home.

“Welcome back, Sidney,” a familiar voice called out.

A smile spread across her face as she reached out an clapped a hand on Natasha’s shoulder. “Don’t get too cozy, Romanoff. I don’t plan to make this a regular thing.”

Natasha rolled her eyes as she motioned for the two of them to follow her. “It was quite the buzz around here when they found you in the ice.” The red-head addressed Steve as Sidney continued to survey her new surroundings. “I thought Coulson was gonna swoon.”

Sidney snorted. 

“Did he ask you to sign his Captain America training cards yet?”

“Natasha,” Sidney scolded jokingly. “Let’s not scare away out new friend.”

Natasha smirked at the blonde woman as Steve stepped forward to greet another new arrival.“Dr. Bruce Banner,” she interjected, “this is Dr. Sidney Orwell. Her family’s been with SHIELD since the beginning.”

“Very nice to meet you,” Banner waved at her as he smiled awkwardly. His hands tugged nervously at his jacket as he seemed to study her warily.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your research is just absolutely incredible.”

“Sidney was brought on to help with the Tesseract…once we get a hand on it, anyway.” She didn’t miss how Steve seemed to tense up at every mention of the cube. 

“I expect we’ll be spending a lot of time together then,” Sidney grinned. “Don’t worry, I pride myself on being a very calming person.”

Bruce let out a short laugh. Sidney couldn’t shake the feeling that things were going to go downhill very fast. She had heard of the Hulk. Everyone had after what happened in the Bronx, but the only thing she could do was try. As long as she did what SHIELD wanted her to do, she could go home.

Home.

Maybe she could even see—No. She wouldn’t even let herself think about that even as her heart beat a little faster and her stomach turned.

“It must be strange for you. All of this,” Bruce motioned around the deck. At least Bruce seemed like a nice person; she wasn’t too sure she wanted to meet the other guy yet.

“Well actually, all of this is kind of familiar.” Steve sighed.

“We might want to step inside for a minute. It’s gonna get a little hard to breathe.” Sidney didn’t miss the smirk on Natasha’s face as she turned to face her. 

“God I hate planes,” Sidney whispered to herself as she jolted slightly when they rose up out of the ocean and into the sky.

The bridge of the plane was impressive that was for sure. If SHIELD was anything, they were efficient. Her stomach turned just a little bit as she spotted Nick Fury at the helm of everything.

“Gentlemen,” the older man called out as he turned around. “Sidney,” he nodded at her. The blonde responded with a sarcastic smile. 

“Hello, Nicholas.” She patted the man on the shoulder as he passed her to greet Bruce. 

“How long am I staying?”

“That’s exactly the question I had, doctor,” Sidney chimed in.

“Once we find the Tesseract, you’re in the wind,” Fury replied. Was that supposed to be reassuring?

Sidney narrowed her eyes slightly as Coulson spoke up from the lower deck. “We’re accessing every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet.”

Sidney suddenly became very aware of her own phone in her pocket. She would have to make a mental note to dump both of her phones when she was done with this place. Bastards.

“It’s still not going to find them in time,” Natasha sounded worried. That couldn’t be good.

“How many spectrometers do you have access to,” Bruce frowned. 

“How many are there?” Fury raised an eyebrow.

Sidney pursed her lips as she watched Banner shrug off his jacket. “Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I’ll figure out a tracking algorithm. Basic cluster recognition.”

“Dr. Banner, I’m impressed.” Sidney smiled as she nodded her head. She figured it went without saying that she would help him with that. “Do you have somewhere for us to work, Fury?” She crossed her arms in front of her chest. 

“Agent Romanoff?” Fury called out. “Could you show Dr. Banner and Dr. Orwell to the laboratory?” 

At least she trusted Natasha enough to follow her.

“So what’s your specialty?” She didn’t expect Bruce to be one for friendly conversation and if anything this proved her right. He was trying to be nice, she could tell. It seemed like he hadn’t had a normal conversation in years. Sidney knew what that felt like a little too well.

“Astrophysics,” she sighed. “Kind of runs in the family,” she smiled as she brushed her hair from her eyes. 

The two of them were silent as Sidney began to busy herself. SHIELD’s technology was advanced past what the general population had access too but, thankfully, she had somewhat of a grasp on it. As her hands extended along the touch screen that hung in the middle of the room. 

“Are you one of them?” Bruce spoke up suddenly. Sidney’s dark eyes narrowed as she surveyed the man.

Sidney hated to say it, but she’d been asked that question many times. Maybe not in the same context but still. “A spy? Oh no, Bruce. I’m far too much of a talker to make a good spy.” She laughed at her own poor excuse for a joke. “I’m more of a quiet observer if anything.”

“Sounds a little like a spy to me,” Banner retorted. Sidney let out a small peal laughter. 

She dragged her fingers along the screen. All the humor disappeared from her expression as her face went pale. “What the hell,” she whispered as she tapped the screen again.

“What?” 

“Nothing,” Sidney shook her head as she gulped. 

“What the hell is that?” Bruce raised an eyebrow as he stepped closer. 

Sidney shook her head. “Nothing! I…I was just trying to see what they had on Loki and Thor. I guess I just ended up in the wrong section or something.”

“Why Thor?” Bruce frowned in confusion.

Sidney crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at the image on the screen. “Because they’re brothers. Haven’t you heard the stories?” She wasn’t surprised to hear that Bruce lacked knowledge in the Norse mythology department.

“So if you were looking for them, why-”

He trailed off as Sidney swiped the image off the screen and hurried from the room. The text on the screen was still burned into her mind’s eye. 

Alias: Sidney Orwell

Threat Level: Neutralized

There was no time to corner Fury as she intended to. No time for anything, in fact, as she stomped her way onto the bridge of the ship.

“We found him. 67% match. No…79% match!”

She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the image on the computer. He didn’t look quite as sick as he did in the photograph, but something still felt…off.

A chill went down her spine as Loki cast a brief glance at the security camera.

He knew they were watching him.

_________________

Hello friendos, here’s another chapter. I’m just out here tryin my best so feel free to give me any feedback. I really appreciate it! Let me know if you would want to be added to a taglist! Hope you continue to enjoy!

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch33: Locks Can Be Replaced

Summary: Steve and Katie leave Bucky behind in Wakanda and set about freeing their friends before their life on the run begins…

Warnings: Bad language, Smut! (NSFW, Under 18s) Bad Language words.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: Wonderful edit again from @angrybirdcr​

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 32 Part 2

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

“You’ve been quiet.” Steve said gently as he unlocked the door to their room in the Palace. It was the eve of their second night in Wakanda and T’Challa had invited them all to eat dinner together. Which as nice, but none of them could relax, not really. Their friends were in prison, Katie was still brooding over the fact her brother basically hated her guts and Steve knew they couldn’t stay on T’Challa’s hospitality forever, which meant not only was he going to be forced to leave Bucky behind again but they also had to find somewhere to go once they broke everyone out of the raft.

“I know, just can’t get everything that’s happened out of my head, or the fear of what’s to come.” Katie sighed as she stepped in the door and the lamps on the stands by the bed flickered on instantly “I don’t know Steve, I’m happy Bucky is gonna be ok and he’s safe but…”

“You can go back.” He offered gently as she crossed towards the bed. “As it stands, there’s still time. Tony will calm down and…”

“And what about you?” She interrupted him as she turned to face him. Steve took a deep breath and looked away. “You leave?”

“Katie…”

“After everything we’ve agreed in Siberia you’re still thinking of le-”

“No, of course not.” He cut her off.

“So you’d settle for jail?”

“I don’t know…” His voice betrayed the anguish he was feeling inside as he looked back at her, stepping forward to take her hand. “Maybe it wouldn’t come to that.”

“You know as well as I do that’s not true.” She sighed, looking away for a moment before she looked back. “From the minute we refused to sign those damned accords we’ve been outside of the law. There’s no way Ross is just going to let that go.”

“I just want more for you than a life on the run.” He whispered, his eyes sad.

“I’m not going back Steve, not without you.” Katie’s voice choked slightly as he sighed and wrapped his arms around her. “Wherever you go, I go.” she pulled back to look up at him as he wiped the tears from her face with his thumbs “I can’t be without you Steve, I just can’t. Don’t make me go back, don’t leave me…”

Her voice broke and then she was crying and he pulled her to him, his arms wrapping her in their safety as they always did, trying to comfort her, one hand gently stroking through her hair.

“I’m not going to do anything like that, I promise.” He dropped a kiss to her head. She stayed in his arms for a few more moments before his hands gently moved up to her face. He titled her head up so she was looking at him and pressed his lips against hers. The kiss started as deep and soft, Steve trying to reassure her he had no intentions of leaving her behind, but quickly it became hot and feverish as she slid her hands into his hair. He put his arm around her and walked her to the bed, tugging her down with him so the pair of them were sat on the edge, Katie straddling his lap. His hand travelled over her back, legs, hips, ass, pulling her so she was flush against his chest as his lips moved to her neck, causing her to shudder slightly and grip tighter onto his hair. She moved to roll her hips against his and he groaned at the contact, his face going skyward for a moment.

She took that opportunity to lay her lips against his neck, then his jaw and he slid his hand under the shirt dress she was wearing before pulling it straight off over her head. He pulled one side of her bra down, exposing just enough for his lips to find the most sensitive area of her breast and pay attention to it. As he did so, her fingers curled around his shoulders before she pulled back gently, hands falling to the buckle of his trousers. She moved off his lap, tugging at his waistband until he stood enough for her to drag his jeans and underwear down before she sank onto her knees and without any further pause, took him into her mouth. Steve practically purred as she worked with her hands and tongue, his hand gently moved her hair back behind her ears and she couldn’t help but smirk slightly as his cock twitched when she gave a particularly hard suck. She took in a little more of him causing him to lean back slightly. “Fuck, Katie…”

Taking that as encouragement, she made her movements a little faster. Steve knew if she carried on he was going to lose control way too fast so he pushed her away, taking her hands and pulled him up to him, kissing her neck and cheeks before finally landing on her lips as he deftly unhooked her bra, sliding it off.

"I love you.” he murmured and she kissed him again.

“I love you too.”

His arm went around her waist, and she giggled as he picked her up and tossed her unceremoniously onto the bed, before he pulled his T-shirt off and dropped back over her, spreading her legs as he moved between them, dropping to kiss at her neck. She let out a soft moan, her thighs rubbing against his waist as she fidgeted, wanting to feel him. His grinned at her impatience, kisses moving down to her chest, then her stomach, then thighs. He slid off her underwear and as her hand tangled into his hair he set at her with his mouth.

“Oh god…” she groaned, her legs twitching with every motion his tongue made, the hand that wasn’t in his hair gripped at the sheets. Before long her abs were tensing at the sensations and he changed his angle ever so slightly, and she let out a loud, "Fuck!” which made him stay in that position, holding her hip and working his tongue harder. The grip in his hair tightened and he almost hissed at the bite of pain, the sensation acted like a hotwire to his groin. He didn’t stop until she was moaning his name and arching off the bed, every muscle of her body tensing as she reached her peak.

He didn’t wait for her to come down. He crawled back up the bed, slowly pushing into her causing her to cry out again, relishing the feeling of him being inside her. His elbows either side of her head, he propped himself up just enough so he could start a steady rhythm, face buried in her neck, nipping at her pulse point as her name and a plethora of curses tumbled from his lips.

“Me and you always.” He whispered, and she groaned, holding onto him tightly with legs and hands and every other part of her body she could. He continued driving into her, his hands grabbing at every part of her he could reach, his mouth hovering over hers, panting as he thrust over and over, her nails digging into the skin on his back. “Sweet heart, I’m gonna…” He gabbled and she smirked as she clutched him closer to and turned her mouth to his ear.

“Come for me, Stevie…”

That made him moan and his rhythm stuttered as he fell off the edge, his body dropping down on top of her as he floated away, the last ribbons of the ecstasy he always got from her winding over him. After a moment or two, Katie rolled her head to the left, as her hand slid into his hair and she pulled him round to kiss her softly before their foreheads pressed together and their noses began their familiar dance. After a minute or two of just holding one another, Steve kissed her a final time before he rolled off and pulled her with him, so her head was laying on his chest, legs tangling gently together.

"We’re gonna be ok.” She nodded, and he put his arm around her, squeezing her to him and kissed the top of her head.

“Yeah, we are. Because as long as I’ve got you, it doesn’t matter where we end up.”

That little sentence was enough to kick start the cogs in Katie’s mind whirring. And, before she had drifted off to sleep, she had the bones of a plan formed in her mind that might just work…

**** “Coulson.” The voice spoke and Katie let out a sigh, it was good to hear him.

“S’up AC.” Katie spoke into the phone which had been supplied by T’Challa, “Long time not speak.” “Nova?” Coulson’s voice was laced with surprise. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you.” “Since when have I ever done anything anyone expects?”

“True. I’m assuming this isn’t a social call?” “You assumed correct. You know that favour you owe me for being tortured and raped because I knew you were alive?”

“Jesus…” Coulson groaned at her bluntness. “I’m cashing it in.” She continued, leaning back in her chair.

“What do you need?” He asked after a pause.

“A safe house and a lawyer. And when I say safe house I mean safe. Off SHIELDs radar, and it has to stay that way. And when I say lawyer I mean one that’s gonna be discreet.”

He let out a sigh before he finally replied. “The lawyer bit is easy. As for the safe house, I’ll need a bit of time but I should be able to sort something.”

“I got money. With some help I’ve managed to syphon off most of mine into a number of untraceable accounts so whatever it costs to get it up and running.”

“I’m assuming it doesn’t matter where?”

“Nope.”

There was a moment’s pause as Katie could hear Phil tapping at a keyboard in the background. “The lawyer I’m going to put you in touch with is a guy called Matt Murdock. He works out of Hell’s Kitchen, and his firm have always handled SHIELD’s more delicate cases should I say.”

“So he’s discrete?” “You could say that.” Coulson replied, and Katie could hear the smirk in his voice.

“How do you know we can trust him?” “Because he’s a Lawyer by day, masked Vigilante by night” Coulson replied simply, and Katie let out a snort. “SHIELD turns a blind eye and lets him clean up the streets in exchange for help when we need it.”

“Is there anything SHIELD don’t have secrets about?” Katie rubbed at her temples. “Not much now. I’ll tell him to expect your call. I don’t suppose there’s much point me asking what exactly you have in mind?” “Compartmentalisation.” She grinned and Coulson gave a snort.

“Huh. I’ll be in touch.”

“Oh, one more thing.” Katie bit her lip. “Do you know what happened to Widow? She helped us escape but I’ve not heard anything about whether she was imprisoned or…” Phil hesitated “She fled. Fury’s working on tracking her down..” “Oh, that’s good. I think…” “She’s not inside Nova.” Phil chuckled “That’s always a good thing where Widow is concerned. I’ll be in touch.” And with that he cut the call.

Katie leaned back in her chair before standing up and heading for a shower, drawing strength from the scalding hot water. How long she stayed under there for she had no idea, but by the time she got out she had a message from Coulson.

Give me a day and the Safehouse will be ready. Number for Lawyer enclosed.

She smirked to herself, before tossing the burner phone onto the bed and dressed in one of Steve’s shirts and a pair of denim shorts. Once that was done she picked the phone up, made her way over to the sofas by the small coffee table and sat down, dialling the number Coulson had given her.

"Mr Mudock.” she began clearing her throat “Coulson said you were expecting my call.” There was a pause, before some muffled muttering and she waited patiently. A couple of minutes the man’s New York drawl hit her ear.

“Apologies Mrs Rogers, I wasn’t alone. I am now, and this line is secure. You’re free to talk.” “I err, don’t know what you know or what Coulson has told you, but I need your legal expertise, and this has to be done discretely, no one can know that I’m involved.” “I can do discrete.” “So I heard” she replied.

"What is it you need?” He asked

“I’m assuming you know about the events of the last few days in Leipzig?” “Who doesn’t? It’s all over the news. It won’t surprise you to know that you’re top of America’s Most Wanted along with your husband and the Winter Soldier…” “Well I have proof that the guys involved were imprisoned with no rights to any legal representation whatsoever. I’m going to arrange it to be sent to you soon. What I want is for you to negotiate with the FBI to take the case off the Counter Terrorism Unit seeing as they made such a fuck up of it in the first place as well by hunting the wrong man, and hopefully get them a deal that keeps them out of prison.”

"How many deals are we talking about?” 

“I’d think two at least” she paused. “The two of my friends who have families are the main priority, but I want you to see what they’ll offer us all. Then we can decide what to do.”

“You know that my standard legal fees will apply.”

“Whatever you want you got. No expenses spared”

“Then you got yourself an attorney, Mrs Rogers.” He said and she smiled "When do I get to meet my defendants?”

“Working on it.” Katie replied vaguely “The paperwork will be sent directly to your office. Expect them anytime over the next week, more or less.”

"How… vague.” A hint of amusement lilted the man’s voice. And she had an idea he knew that they weren’t going to be on bail at all, more like fugitives. “I have a contact in the FBI who owes me a favour, so send me what you have and I’ll be in touch.”

“Consider it done.” She smiled, and with that she cut the call.

“Game on.” She mumbled to herself before tapping at the laptop Suri had sent her, filing the documents Lawson had dug up to Matt’s email address.

It took him all of an hour to get back to her. He was confident that he could get the CTU’s case completely quashed, and the FBI to take it up. He was furthermore convinced he could get Clint and Scott both a house arrest deal, possibly Wanda too, but was slightly less confident with her, Steve and Sam given their record of ‘bad behaviour’ which she thought was quite an amusing way to term ‘bringing the country’s intelligence services to its knees’.

So that was it, there was nothing more she could do. Settling further down onto the couch, legs propped on the coffee table, she began to have a look through the news websites at the various reports on what was going on, whilst she waited for Steve to come back from his meeting with T’CHalla.

***** “So, it has the highest level of security, built to house enhanced beings.“ T’Challa said, spinning the blue-prints of the prison round on the hologram in the middle of the table. Steve crossed his arms, smiling slightly, before he caught Bucky’s eye who was also grinning. He’d faced worse odds. He looked back to T’Challa.

"So not completely impossible to get into?” he quipped.

“Not impossible Captain, it will just take a little more effort.” T’Challa said, smiling wryly “I cannot offer my help in person, as you know, but I can certainly help with the planning and Suri has a few tricks up her sleeve which should ease your efforts somewhat…”

Steve smiled and the 3 men began to get down to the serious planning, and after a few hours they had a pretty good plan fleshed out, coupled with the technology T’Challa had to hand, Steve was pretty confident they could get in and out of the raft in record time and be on their way before anyone even realised there was a security breach.

Feeling more positive than he had in a long time, he suggested to Bucky that he joined them in their suite for a beer. Bucky was hesitant at first, until he gave in and nodded, following Steve through the palace and over to the guest rooms.

“What’s on your mind Buck?” Steve asked, pausing to turn to his friend. He was brooding, he could tell. He’d always been able to tell.

“I’ve been speaking to Suri.” Bucky said, looking at his friend “I’m going back into stasis unit she’s done what she needs to do to get this shit out of my head.”

“Buck…” Steve frowned, intending to try and talk him out of it but Bucky stopped him mid flow with a look.

“It’s not safe.” He said firmly “If I react to what they’re doing…” Steve knew deep down it was the right thing to do, but he still didn’t like it. It felt wrong especially after everything he’d been through.

“Look, over the past 70 years I’ve been frozen on and off, sometimes for a decade at a time.” Bucky shrugged, sensing Steve’s reticence. “What difference is another 6 months or so gonna make?”

Steve sighed “When?”

“Couple of days.” he said, looking at Steve. “The sooner she starts, the sooner I get out.” He couldn’t argue it was a bad idea. Not really.

“Well in that case…” he said, as they continued to walk “All the more reason to have a few drinks huh?”

Bucky smiled and clapped his friend on the shoulder.

They reached the room and Steve opened the door and took a deep breath at the sight that greeted him. It didn’t matter how many times he saw it, but seeing his wife sat in his shirt, bare legs on show, damp hair, it still made Steve’s heart leap into his throat. It was the only time she ever looked completely innocent and at peace, relaxed even. He hovered in the doorway for a moment, before he realised Bucky was behind him.

“Quit perving.” his friend said, shoving him hard in the back. Steve fell forward through the door and Katie looked up, smiling.

“Hi boys.” she said, swinging her legs down from the coffee table as Steve dropped a kiss to the top of her head.

“What you up to?” he asked, glancing at the laptop screen.

“Stuff.” she replied vaguely.

“Stuff? What stuff?” he frowned.

She looked up at him and smirked.

“Take a seat boys and I’ll explain my master plan.”

“Oh you have that look in your eye.” Steve smirked, sitting down next to her, and looking at the seat opposite, indicating for Bucky to do the same,

“What look?” Bucky asked, declining the seat, opting instead to stand with his back to the door, hand in his pocket.

“The look she gets when she’s about to do something she shouldn’t.”

“To be fair handsome, we’re well past that point don’t ya think?” she grinned at him and Steve quirked an eyebrow as Bucky laughed.

“She has a point, Stevie…” he smirked, his straight, white teeth flashing through his beard “You’re on the run, in Wakanda, abating the world’s most dangerous assassin…”

“Nawww he called you Stevie.” She leaned over and ruffled Steve’s hair drawing a moan of exasperation from him before she continued. “Hey, when you were kids, when he was asleep, did he do that thing with his nose where he twitches and looks like a rabbit?” she looked at Bucky who gave a snort of a chuckle and looked down nodding as Steve nudged her.

“I’m beginning to wish you two had never met…” he gruffed, although his eyes which were twinkling told her a very different story. He was actually thrilled they’d finally met and got along so well, even if it was in such shitty circumstances.

“Oh don’t be like that.” she pouted. “If we’d never met I’d be dead now.” “Don’t.” Steve shook his head, glaring at her. He hated that she joked about what HYRDRA had done to her. She ignored him and smiled at him.

“Besides, you got all my childhood secrets from Tony…don’t you think it’s fair I get some back?”

Steve sighed and ran his large hands over his face and Bucky, shot her a wink before he spoke as he walked across the room, feeling comfortable enough now to sit opposite her, even if she was only wearing Steve’s shirt and a pair of tiny denim shorts.

“Did he tell you his ma used to force us to drink camomile tea?” he asked, dropping into the seat opposite her. “To try and calm us down when she’d come home from a shift to find us running around the apartment”

Steve gave a huff of a laugh and looked up at Bucky as he spoke, fond nostalgia laced his voice. “Like a couple of young hooligans…”

“I can imagine the pair of you being absolute hell-raisers.” “Nah Steve was a good boy, I was the tearaway.” “I dunno, I had my fair share of whacks off Ma…mainly for being a clever little shit.” Steve chortled. “Now that doesn’t surprise me.” Katie chuckled.

“Anyway, you were going to tell us about your plan.” Steve turned to her and she nodded.

“Oh, right, so yeah, last night you got me thinking, you know when you said that it didn’t matter what happened as long as we were together…well I spoke to Coulson before. Once we’ve broken the guys out of the pokey he’s getting us a safe house to lay low in. And I’m working on getting a deal, something that keeps us out of jail.”

“How you gonna do that?” he asked, frowning slightly. “Ok, so first off, after a bit of expert digging from Lawson, I know Ross didn’t follow due process and simply threw them into the Raft without any rights for a defence attorney or anything else, that in itself should be enough leverage to get them out on remand. And coupled with the mess in Bucharest and Berlin the CTU made by going after the wrong guy, this should give the lawyer, enough to go on to get them released and have their case handled by the FBI whilst he negotiates some kind of settlement. He reckons house arrest. It ain’t perfect but…” she shrugged.

Steve looked at her, his mouth falling open slightly. Jesus she never ceased to amaze him “You think that’s a possibility?” “For Clint and Scott.” She nodded “It means they can be with their families and then I guess we’ll just have to see what he comes up with for the rest of us. I’m expecting them to be slightly less favourable towards me, you and Sammy after what happened with the Triskellion, especially me and you as we’ll be breaking them out of jail as well…but I ain’t going down without a fight. If anything I want to do it just to wipe that smug look of Ross’s ugly face.”

“She always this tenacious?” Bucky raised his eyebrow looking at Steve.

“You have no idea.” A smirk crossed Steve’s face as his gaze flicked to hers before looking back at Bucky. “She’s amazing though, huh?” Katie flushed slightly.

“Yeah, still not sure how she puts up with a punk like you.” Bucky smirked gently.

“He has his uses.” Katie winked back, causing Buck’s smirk to spread even wider. “Now, someone getting me a beer for being totally awesome or shall I just die of thirst?”

**** The next few days flashed by in a whirl of planning, planning and more planning.

Murdock had done exactly what he said he would do, and had started setting the wheels in motion. His contact at the FBI who owed him a favour after he got him out of a sticky situation involving a strip joint and a drugs dealer had convinced the people he needed to convince to petition the CTU to take the case over, following the potential false arrests and had told Matt the terms they were willing to release them all under.

It wasn’t great for all of them though.

“I’m afraid that’s the best I think I can do.” Matt spoke as Katie and Steve both read the details on the screen. “So, all of you will have to sign up to the accords as they stand, and then it’s 2 years for Mr Lang, 3 for Mr Barton because he has displayed less than favourable behaviour in prison…”

“Define favourable.” Katie raised an eyebrow

“Not head-butting Secretary Ross.” Murdock quipped.

“Matter of opinion.” She snorted as Matt continued. “10 years for both of you and Mr Wilson.” “10 years?” Steve asked, sighing.

“Best they will offer given your records.” “Shit.” Katie mumbled. And the pair of them looked at one another, each thinking the same thing. That was not an option for either of them.

“And Ms Maximoff is a different case all together. She would get two years and then she would have to wear a power suppression collar for life, like she currently is, unless she is working for the Government under the terms of the Accords, and a tracking device.” Again, not an option.

“I’ll leave you to go over the details with them all once you’ve erm, posted bail.”  Murdock quipped and Katie smiled gently “Get back to me when you know what you want to do.” Katie nodded and cut the call on the laptop.

“So we sign the accords and then we get 10 years with a tag on house arrest…” Steve bit his lip. “Sam’s not gonna go for that.” “And a collar for Wanda, like some kind of animal.” Katie sighed, “But I suppose we should at least offer it to them, let them say no themselves.” “And you?” “Fuck that.” Katie snorted and Steve chuckled slightly, kissing the side of her head. “Best hope Coulson’s safe house is on an island somewhere warm by the sea.” Well, it was halfway there… “A 4 bedroomed cottage in the Hebrides” Coulson explained as Steve and Katie both looked at the photos he had sent “It hasn’t been used in 6 years and there’s only one way on and off via the mainland. There’s nothing for miles and plenty of places in the grounds to keep a jet hidden from eyes either on the ground or above. Fury set it up in the 90s when he first started to think about the Avengers Initiative, thought it might be useful to have a place off the books so to speak. It’s never been used by any of you or anyone you know. I’ll need to update the security systems and furniture but it’s completely off radar. The only people who do know it exists bar me and Fury are either dead or no longer on Earth.” “Banner?” Katie asked immediately.

“Amongst others.” 

“I won’t even ask what that means.” Steve sighed. “It’s yours for as long as you need it.” Coulson continued “You’ll need a cover though.” “Already on it.” Katie smiled. And they were.

T’Challa had been working with them solidly to sort them some cover identities up. They both had four different passports and drivers licenses each under various names and nationalities, a couple for Sam and Wanda too and several sets of coloured contact lenses to go with them. Katie was now sporting a vastly different look, to the one people knew her by having had her waist length hair cut to her shoulders, and it was now a soft brown with blonde and honey coloured streaks. Steve was still getting used to it if he was honest, simply because it was so different, but he had to admit the style framed her pretty face well. He was also growing his beard out, much to Katie’s delight, after having remembered the advice Natasha had given to them a while back.

“It isn’t about altering yourself completely, just enough so that the average joe won’t give you a second glance…”

Katie tried not to be too disappointed. She’d known her and Steve were going to be hung out to dry, but Steve could tell she’d been holding out some hope that maybe there had been a way back. But sadly, it really did look like they were about to embark as a life on the run. Certainly for the foreseeable. But there was nothing they could do, not now. And at least she had options for everyone else.

They also, after a deep discussion decided to give Tony the means to contact them if he so needed and T’Challa had provided a burner phone which would connect to the new, untraceable ones he had issued them both with. In addition, Steve and Katie had written Tony a letter each, neither of them reading the others and this was all set to be delivered at the same-time the prison break was taking place. T’Challa was set to be on UN business in Washington, giving him the perfect alibi and ability to have his aides deal with Fed-Ex directly.

All too soon it was time for them to be bidding goodbye to Bucky too. And waving him off into Cryo-Stasis didn’t seem like a great omen to be leaving on either.

“You sure about this?” Steve asked Bucky for the thousandth time. To Buck’s credit, he avoided rolling his eyes and turned to his friend, nodding.

“It’s safer this way. Besides, aint you got a prison to break into?” Steve took a breath and then the two men swept each other into a huge hug. Katie felt herself welling up a little. It all seemed so unfair.

“Take care of him, don’t let him do anything stupid until I get out.” Bucky looked at Katie and she smiled as she gave him a quick hug.

“How can I?” Steve shot back “You’re taking all the stupid with you.” “Punk.” “Jerk.” With a last look at one another Bucky was led away by Shuri and taken into the small room which contained the cryo-chamber. Katie laced her fingers into Steve’s and he gave her hand a small squeeze before he looked at her. He couldn’t not be there when they put him under, he had to go with them.

“I’m gonna…” “I know” she nodded, and he sprinted after them into the room. A few hours later they had the jet packed, everything the needed, had gone over their plan a hundred times and were ready to go. They found T’Challa in Suri’s Lab, looking over the grounds of Wakanda.

“You are ready?” he asked. Steve nodded.

“You know we really are thankful, for everything.” He said.

“The least we can do Captain.” T’Challa turned his eyes back to the window.  

"You know if they find out he’s here, they’ll come for him.” Steve sighed, hands in his pockets.

“Let them try.” T’Challa said calmly, looking out at the forest surrounding his fortress.

Steve smiled ruefully to himself. He doubted even Ross with all his resources would be able to breach through Wakanda’s defences, from what he’d seen of the hidden nation so far.  

“You are welcome to return, with your friends.”  T’Challa turned to face them both “You would be perfectly safe in Wakanda for as long as you wanted to be.”

“Thank you for your offer its very kind, but, if we stay here it puts a target on your head.” Katie said, shrugging. “And drags you into a dimplomatic row not of your making. It wouldn’t be fair.”

“I would like to be here when you wake him up.” Steve said, not needing to explain who he was. “If that’s ok?”

T’Challa nodded “You are an honourable man Captain. I will of course send word, and in the meantime if you need anything…“

Steve shook T’Challa’s hand furiously before Katie stepped into his embrace to give him a hug.

“Thank you.” ****

It all went quite smoothly, really. Once they had taken down the guards in the control room, Katie plugged in the device that T’Challa had given them which automatically reset and overrode the prison’s security protocols, plunging the raft into darkness as it suffered a complete power cut- all part of their plan to prevent any communications or notifications being sent about there being a breach until they were well on their way

They made their way swiftly to the holding cells, Steve having memorised the plans of the prison. The pair of them stepped silently into the cell area, taking care to keep to the shadows until they were sure there were no further guards. Sam instantly whipped around, as Steve approached his holding cell and Katie followed, finally stepping into the thin beam of light coming from the back up strip lighting in the ceiling. Sam smirked.

"Well you two took your time.” he quipped at the same time Clint let out a little laugh.

”You’re definitely my favourite Stark” He grinned, causing Katie to smile at him as she walked to his cell and opened it, before hugging the archer.

“Good to see you Nova.” “You too Hawkeye.” Across the room Steve was busy releasing Sam.

“Sorry we took so long,” He said as the man stepped out of his cell and the two men embraced. “We had a fair bit to plan, you know.”

“See Lang, I told you we wouldn’t stay here for long.” Sam quipped as Steve moved to release the door to Scott’s cell.

“Never doubted you, for a moment Captain.”

“Just so you know, I’m definitely retiring now.” Clint looked at Steve who smiled, before turning to see Katie was crouched in front of Wanda. Steve felt the anger surge through his system as he took in Wanda’s appearance. She was staring at Katie, tears in her eyes, arms bound by a straight jacket and a metal collar round her neck. He made an angry noise in his throat. 

“Gimme a hand?”  Katie turned to look at him “I don’t know how to get this off.” She gestured to the flashing collar.

Steve crouched down next to her, reached forward and with a fair bit of effort and a grit of his teeth managed to snap it, the electrics sizzling as he threw it to the floor. He pulled Wanda gently to her feet as Katie removed the restraints and quickly shed her of the straight-jacket.

“Thank you,” Wanda told her in a shaky, hoarse whisper and Katie didn’t miss the red flash in the younger woman’s eyes as she gave her a hug.

They made a quick detour on the way out to the storage rooms.

“Oh come to papa!” Sam groaned, picking up his Falcon pack and strapping it to his back. Clint picked up his myriad of gear, bow and arrows, whilst Scott grabbed his suit and Katie handed Wandas her leather coat and her corset top and belt.

Together they emerged onto the jet pad, it was now pouring with rain. The storm T’Challa’s people had predicted was well on its way to manifesting, which was perfect. Even more cover.

“Man I feel like Andy Dufresne.” Sam groaned, tilting his face up to greet the rain. “Who?” Wanda asked and Sam turned to her, an incredulous look on his face.

“You shitting me?”

“It’s a film about a man who escapes from prison.” Steve explained, and Katie had to bite back a grin at the fact he was educating someone on pop culture. “Good one too.”

“Get busy living, or get busy dying.” Katie supplied, her eyes locking with Steve’s and he gave her a small smile.

Once on the jet, Sam took his seat in the cockpit and took a moment, looking round at Steve.

“So, where to Cap?”

“Safe house.” He stated simply, “That is for whoever wants to come. Get us airborne and then we’ll explain.”

Sam did as he was told, and once the jet was out of the vicinity of the raft, stealth mode engaged, the group crowded round the cockpit as Katie held court.

"How did you manage that?” Clint asked, his voice full of wonder as she finished explaining about the deals Murdock had negotiated.

“Called in a few favours.” she shrugged. “That the best it’s gonna do so it’s up to you guys whether you cut the deal or run with us.” "10 years confined to a house, sitting on my ass?” Sam raised an eyebrow at her. “No, thanks. I’d rather stay out here with you.”

“We figured as much.” Steve smiled and flickered an eyebrow back at him, then he turned back to Clint and Scott.

“I’m taking it” Scott said, instantly “I’ve already spent so much of my life away from Cassie.” Steve nodded.

“Yeah.” Clint sighed “I can’t leave the kids and Laura.”

“Wanda?” Katie asked.

“No way am I wearing a collar like some fucking dog.” She snorted. “Ok, that’s settled then.” Katie nodded, turning to Clint and Scott. “As Murdock advised, we’re gonna drop you two somewhere in Canada. You’re to hand yourself into the FBI, and ONLY the FBI and instruct that they call him. The rest of us, we get to the safe house and lay low.” “Low sounds pretty good.” Wanda groaned, dropping her head back against the seat and closing her eyes.

*****

A few hours later they landed the jet not far outside of Toronto and it was time to say goodbye.

“I can’t thank you enough.” Steve shook Scott’s hand.

“Well, like I say, when Captain America needs your help.” He shrugged, before turning to say goodbye to Sam and Wanda.

“I need you to give this to Murdock.” Katie handed Clint and an envelope which he looked at before nodding and stashing it in his backpack.

“What’s that?” Steve frowned.

“Paperwork to transfer my stake in Stark Industries, and control of SIP over to Tony.” She looked at Steve. “Means it doesn’t get frozen and he keeps control.”

Steve looked down, until then he hadn’t even given a second thought to her business. He sighed, all that work she had put in…

“Gonna miss you Nova.” Clint turned to Katie as he wrapped his arms around her.

She rolled her eyes, which were now full of tears as she managed to whisper “Shut up.” And then she was the one pulling him into a tight hug as they just stood in each other’s arms for a moment.

“Keep those guys out of trouble.” Clint pulled back at last, his eyes also misting over before he shook Steve’s hand.

“I’ll do my best.” Katie raised an eyebrow as Steve dropped an arm round her shoulder, and smiled back at him. “Give Laura and the kids my love. And if you know who gets in touch…”

“I’ll let her know you’re about.” He nodded. “Maybe when the dust settles you can come up to the farm.”

“Maybe.” Katie shrugged, knowing full well that was never going to happen. ****** “Are you Tony Stank?” the old man in the FedEx delivery uniform said, squinting at the name on the package then through the glass window.

“Yes, this is- this is Tony Stank.” Rhodey said, snorting slightly as Tony groaned. “You’re in the right place. Thank you for that!” he turned to make his way back to the bars he had been using to test out the braces Tony had designed, patting Tony on the arm, “I’m never dropping that. Table for one Mr. Stank! Near the bathroom please.”

Tony laughed and went over to sign and accept the package. It held no clues, no names, no returning address and he instantly knew who it was from. Therefore he waited until he was back in the office that had belonged to Steve before he opened it.

He reached in and pulled out 2 envelopes. He recognised the writing on them both and opened the one that was in Katie’s first.

Tony I thought long and hard about what I wanted to write in this letter but the more I thought about it the more I struggled to find the words, so I decided to do what us Starks do best… wing it. I’m glad you’re back at the compound and with people but for God’s sake do me a favour and sort things with Pepper. Please. She’s the best thing that ever happened to you, and I know she makes you happy. I’m arranging for my share of Stark Industries to be handed back to you and also full control of SIP. At least this way a Stark keeps control over SI and SIP can carry on, seems pointless all the hard work going to waste. I’ve also worked on cutting us all a deal but I don’t think the one they’ve offered me and Steve is gonna be a goer…

I know I said this before, and it doesn’t make it right, but I should have told you about Mom and Dad. I thought by not telling you the truth I was saving you from more pain. You suffered enough when they died, you grieved for the pair of us as I was far too young, I guess this time I figured it was my turn to shoulder that grief. I was wrong, and that’s something I’ll never forgive myself for. I know you’re ashamed of me and you probably hate me right now, and you have every right to, but I need you to understand that I never wanted to have to make this choice between you or Steve. You’re my brother, you’ve been my father and my mother too, all rolled into one and the thought of parting with you on such bad terms breaks my heart, but for the time being I can’t see an alternative. Certainly not until all this business with the Accords dies down anyway. Who knows how long that will be but as long as there’s hope for a resolution, I’ll try and remain positive. But whatever happens I want you to remember one thing. I love you to the stars and back. Always. Kiddo xxx

Blinking away the tears in his eyes, he gently ran his hand over the letter before he sniffed slightly and picked up the one from Steve.

Tony,

I’m glad you’re back at the compound. I don’t like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself. We all need family. The Avengers are yours, maybe more so than they were mine. Before I had Katie, I was on my own since I was 18. I never really fit in anywhere, even in the army. My faith’s in people, I guess. Individuals. And I’m happy to say that, for the most part, they haven’t let me down. Which is why I can’t let them down either. Locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn’t.

I know I hurt you, Tony. I guess I thought by not telling you about your parents I was sparing you, but I can see now that I was really sparing myself, and I’m sorry. Hopefully one day you can understand. I wish we agreed on the Accords, I really do. I know you’re doing what you believe in, and that’s all any of us can do. That’s all any of us should do.

Rest assured I’ll keep the most important thing in both our lives safe. She’s my world and on that you have my word. And if you need us, if you need me, we’ll be there.

Tony smiled a little and upended the box and an old flip phone tumbled out of it. He flipped it open and noticed there was one number in it- Steve Rogers.

Stupid bastard didn’t even have the sense to list it under a code name. He shook his head, somethings never change…

“Priority call from Secretary Ross.” FRIDAY suddenly pipped in, “There’s been a breach at the RAFT prison.”

Huh, how about that? No one saw that one coming, did they? I mean, who would have though the world’s greatest soldier aided by the word’s most stubborn brat would dare to do such a thing…

“Yeah, put him through.” Tony smirked slightly, and his desk-phone beeped before Ross’s voice came through urgently.

“Tony, we have a problem.”

“Ah, please hold.” Tony interrupted, reaching over to the phone.

“No. Don’t-”

Tony pressed the hold button, watching the little red light beep with his hand under his chin. As much as he might hate Rogers at this moment in time, he knew Katie would be safe with him. And she was free.

That was the best he could hope for, certainly for the near future anyway.

***** Chapter 34

**Original Posting**

[butbutts]

been a while ~ n.r. x r

A/N - not my best work, but it's.....something. also, i love this assassin so damn much 🥺🥺🥺🥺

Warnings - none, this is just....so soft (can be read as gender neutral or fem reader too lol)

"Y/N, Elena, Trip, do we have any questions?" Coulson just finished debriefing you all for the upcoming mission.

It was a stealth job. You had to infiltrate the HYDRA facility and retrieve intel. May was taking lead of the mission, and the Black Widow herself was to join the team too.

Everyone at the base, that knew about this, was freaking out about meeting the ex-assassin. Daisy, Jemma, and Fitz had all been fangirling the whole day, and with good reason too. The Black Widow had quite the reputation at SHIELD.

You yourself were quite excited to see her after so long. There was so much you wanted to say to her.

And when she finally arrived, you could swear you heard a few people gasp. She wore an all black outfit, the leather jacket looking stunning on her, as always.

"Coulson! May! It's so good to see you guys after so long," she said as she hugged them, before introducing herself to everyone else.

Always so humble, you mentally teased her, and she locked eyes with you just that moment, as if she could hear your thoughts.

"Agent Y/N, it's been a while," she said as she shook your hand, sounding oh so professional.

"It has. I'm really glad you could join us." You wanted nothing more than to just kiss her. But, alas, you had to keep your feelings to yourself.

She moved past the group, May and Coulson accompanying her, as everyone stood in awe of her.

"She's really something, huh ?" Trip quipped from beside you. And you knew he would never cross a line with anyone, but you couldn't help but feel protective of her.

"Man, you might wanna watch your flirting. She doesn't pull her punches. Or her kicks," you adviced him, you gaze still fixed on Natasha, who now turned a corner.

"Yeah? How do you know?" Trip nudged your side with a suggestive smirk, and you turned to look at him, chuckling at his antics.

"Oh, I've tried before-"

"What?! You've made a move on The Black Widow?" Daisy exclaimed.

"I'm not answering that," you left with a smirk.

May catched Natasha up on the mission details, and with another thorough debriefing, you were finally done for the day.

You took a shower and just when you were about to plop down on your bed, someone knocked on your door.

"Agent Romanoff, hey," she smiles softly at you.

"I need to go over a few things with you Agent, may I?" she gestures towards your room, and you let her in, closing the door behind her.

"So-" you are cut off by the redhead throwing her arms around you, her head buried in the crook of your neck. You wrap your own arms around her tightly, relishing the feeling of being this close to her after so long.

"I missed you," her voice came out a little muffled, making you chuckle.

"I missed you too, wifey," she lifted her head to look at you, nothing but love and adoration for you in her eyes.

[endof-theline]

Day 30- Tropetember: Free Space (Soulmate)

Last day of super early Tropetember with Soulmate for Free Space! In a world where Soulmates couldn't lie or harm each other, it made Tony's search extremely easy as most of the people around him were either lying to him or attempting to hurt him.

(The document all of this series is in totalled 113 pages worth of writing in the end!)

On Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32925826

In a world where Soulmates couldn't lie or harm each other, it made Tony's search extremely easy as most of the people around him were either lying to him or attempting to hurt him. Those who were actually close to him, Tony immediately asked for them to pinch his arm to make sure.

Being Howard Stark's son and following him into the business world meant that people were always lying to gain his favour, so the genius got very good at being able to tell when people were lying to him which came in handy when he met Agent Coulson and was forced into the world of spies.

As much as Tony had wanted Natasha to be his soulmate when they first met, but Tony quickly found out that she was lying to him and then later was harmed by her so it was pretty clear that they were definitely not soulmates, much to Tony’s dismay at the time. It was a good trial run before he met with the rest of the team, every time he met a new teammate he hoped that they would be his soulmate and every time he would be lied to or he would be hurt so by the time he met their leader, he had given up slightly.

“Mister Stark, they’ve told me a lot about you” Captain Steve Rogers said with a smile, offering his hand out for Tony to take while Tony quickly decided that he had no longer given up hope.

“Likewise Captain, though Howard had already told me most of it” Tony shook his hand with his own grin on his face, he noticed Steve’s surprised look before it was covered back over “Dad never shut up about you, actually”

“They told me he was the one who kept searching for me in the ice” There was an odd look still on Steve’s face but it wasn’t the surprise from before so Tony ignored it as he dropped his hand to his side.

“That’s right, he was out looking for you all the time when I was a kid before he let Shield take it over” Tony was still smiling even as he was mentally panicking, he had never told anyone about how much Howard had been invested in finding the frozen soldier and he wasn’t quite sure why he was telling said frozen soldier all of this now “Anyway, you’re leading the fight with Loki?”

“I am, and I hear you’re joining us” Steve nodded as he gestured for Tony to sit down with him, the blonde sitting down first as Tony paused for a moment to really take in the height difference between them “Iron Man, right?”

“I didn’t choose that name, but you’re right, me in my armour” Tony sat down and barely reacted when Natasha snuck up behind him, placing her hand on his shoulder so he looked over with a raised eyebrow “I’d say this is a private conversation, but I know you spies don’t have that sort of thing”

“Certainly not here, we don’t” Natasha smirked at him before nodding to Steve who was looking between the pair of them curiously “Captain, Director Fury is looking for you, he wants to discuss Loki and his army since Thor has opened up about it”

“Of course, it was nice meeting you Tony” Steve stood with a small sigh that Tony could barely hear, he gave Tony a smile still however before he started walking away.

“Back at you, Cap!” Tony called over his shoulder, waiting until the man had disappeared behind closed doors to turn to Natasha with a grin that she knew all too well “I’m in love”

“You’re an idiot” Natasha replied just as quickly, resisted the urge to smile at Tony’s dramatic gasp as he held his hand over his heart “You just met him and you think he’s your soulmate”

“No one ever says it’s nice to meet me and actually look like they mean it without being sarcastic, you were here, do you think that was a lie?” Tony asked quickly, moving from sitting in the chair to sitting on the table in a flash, feet on the chair and arms crossed on top of his knees as he leant forward to Natasha with a grin on his face.

“Just because he wasn’t lying to you doesn’t mean he’s your soulmate” Natasha argued as Clint walked through the door, Tony didn’t worry about the archer hearing the conversation because he was fully aware that Natasha told him everything anyway.

“Who does Tony think is his soulmate now?” Clint asked as he came over and sat beside Tony on the table, Natasha rolling her eyes at the grown up children in front of her.

“The Captain”

“You would be really cute soulmates” Clint commented with a shrug before Natasha groaned and Tony cheered as he threw his hands up in celebration “Cap’s all big and serious and Tony’s small and fun, they would be great!”

“I’m not small!” Tony yelled.

“That’s not the point!” Natasha shouted at the same time.

“Whatever, I’m just saying that they would be cute together” Clint shrugged once more before Bruce, Thor, Steve and Fury all charged into the room, Tony and Clint hopping off of the table and into chairs before either Steve or Fury could scold them for it. Natasha was contemplating smacking Tony when she noticed the soft look on his face as he watched Steve sitting opposite him, she was sure he wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying but just staring at his face instead.

Everyday leading up to the fight with Loki, Tony tried his best to trick Steve into lying to him or riling him up to try and provoke him to at least try to slap Tony away. Nothing was working, Natasha was bragging about how she was right while Clint was brainstorming ways to help Tony in his mission.

It wasn’t until the night before they predicted Loki, Tony got his answer. It was getting close to one in the morning and Tony had given up the thought of being able to sleep through the night so he decided to get up and grab some coffee before going back to sleep for nightmare number four, it was in the kitchen that Tony found Steve with his back up against the wall, head between his knees as he had curled into a tight ball as he sat on the floor.

“Steve?” Tony called out softly, not wanting to spook the man if he was going through something but also wanting to check in on him. When Steve didn’t make any indication of even hearing Tony, he came to his side and waited for a moment for the man to look up “Steve?”

Still nothing. Tony gently reached down and touched Steve’s shoulder before everything happened all at once. Steve jerked at Tony’s touch before he jumped up and shoved Tony’s arms behind his back as he pressed him to the wall. Steve's eyes were hard but glazed over for a second before he shook his head and stared confused at Tony who was trying hard not to panic himself.

“Tony? Why-? What happened?” Steve’s voice was so lost that it made Tony want to cry for the man. He tried to worm out of Steve’s grip but found it too tight to really pull away without possibly hurting the other man.

“Think you might have been a little caught up in your head there, Cap” Tony teased to try and ease Steve’s confused, sad look off his face but Steve just frowned at him even more “Flashback, maybe?”

“Shit, I think you’re right, I’m sorry” Steve hissed under his breath as he dropped his head down, his grip going loose so that Tony could turn around and look up to the lost Captain “Did I hurt you?”

“Not sure you could” Tony laughed but there was little humor in it, luckily Steve didn’t really take the hint as he seemed to be lost in thought again “You worried about tomorrow?”

“I didn’t think so, maybe I am if I’m screwed up so bad” Steve huffed as he fisted his hair, eyes screwed shut before Tony reached up and took hold of his hand gently, a flash of panic running across Steve’s face before looking like he realized something and calmed back down again “I’m- I’ll be fine, Tony, thank you though”

“Did you just try to say I’m fine to me?” Tony asked quickly, he recognized that defeated look from his own face and he knew what he always told Pepper and Rhodey whenever he looked like that and it was always a lie.

Steve paused for a second before nodding slowly, his eyes going wide in shock as he stared down at Tony “Are we-?”

“I think” Tony squeaked, he hadn’t imagined it ever getting it this far so he didn’t know what to say now “I mean, if you can’t hit me then it’s true”

“I don’t want to hit you” Steve refused quickly as he stepped back and pulled his hands away from Tony’s, Tony matched his steps with bright eyes and only slightly aware that he probably looked more than a little crazy.

“I honestly think you won’t be able to” Tony said confidently as he held his head high, chin out and almost looking defiant “I want to know before we go into this fight, please try even if you end up hitting me!”

Steve stared at Tony for a long moment before sighing slightly and holding his hand up, Tony just clenched his jaw and managed not to flinch when Steve’s large hand swung down towards him, his hand stopping inches away from Tony’s face like there was an invisible barrier in front of him.

“Can’t hit you, feels like a wall” Steve whispered before dropping his hand and moving to cup Tony’s cheek instead making Tony blush and Steve grin as he felt the heat in his hand “Guess you’re the reason I stayed frozen for so long, waiting for you”

“Just wish it didn’t have to be so rough for you” Tony hummed softly as he couldn’t help thinking that Steve would be the first person in his life that wouldn’t lie to him, he would be the first person Tony wouldn’t have to worry about getting hit by. Even if something awful happened during the war on Loki and his army, Tony would still be happy that he finally found his soulmate and that his soulmate would be by his side while they fought. Even if the worst happened to Tony, he could die happy knowing that he had met the one person who could tell no lies or do no harm to him, his soulmate.

[the-nerdy-goddess]

Innocence

A little Loki blurb I did because I needed a little break from my FATWS book which is already halfway done!

Warnings: mentions of torture but nothing too bad

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I did my best to stay still in the shattered marble as my magic started to wind it's way through my body. Now that the Other's mind control was gone, my magic was unleashed, although I feared what might happen if I used it for anything other than healing.

Thanos would know of my failure and would eventually come for me. I'd sabotaged his plans, giving way to the Avengers to rise and take control.

Had the mad titan sent someone other than his puppet, Earth might be subjugated at the moment.

I managed to open my eyes, blinking hard as the sun filtered in through the broken windows. In front of me stood the mighty Avengers team.

"You've lost Loki" said the man suited in metal armor. Tony Stark, I believe. He was rather smug as the rest of his fellow comrades held some sort of weapon toward me, all except Thor who was looking at me with a level of disappointment.

"Silly mortals" I closed my eyes in relief. They weren't as incompetent as I originally thought. "You think I've lost, when I won"

"Why do you speak in riddles brother!" Thor demanded. I looked to him now, a laugh bubbling in my chest, although it hurt to let loose.

"Don't you think if I was really trying to win, I would have?" I struggled to push myself into a seated position, my own body protesting the movement. The Avengers looked at me with a mixture of confusion and suspicion. "I lost on purpose! Had I failed, this world would have wished something as sweet as death."

"And you suddenly care so much about earth?" Bruce Banner raised a skeptical brow. "Aren't you supposed to be the god of lies?"

Rolling my eyes, I sunk back carefully into the crater. "I care not for earth but for Asgard, had Midgard fallen, then the nine realms would have followed soon after. Stopping the attack here, remedied the situation"

"Who threatens the nine realms brother" Thor knelt down next to me, silently pleading with me to expose the truth.

"It's much more delicate than simply saying the name Thor" I took a deep breath. "When I fell, I was found by the chitari."

Thor paled at the implications. "No, brother, he is dead"

"Not as dead as we all believed" I supplied.

"Can someone fill us in on who this 'He' is and why he's so bad." Tony asked impatiently.

Thor turned toward his team, his face ashen. "My brother was under the control of someone we thought to be a legend. One told to children to make them behave. He speaks of Thanos"

I flinched at the name, wanting to get away from Thor for even saying it, as if he would suddenly know where I was simply by uttering his name.

"And why is Thanos so bad?" Romanoff quirked a brow in suspicion.

I ignored the redhead, trying to get my oaf of a brother to understand the gravity of the situation. "He probably knows what I've done and is coming for me"

Barton narrowed his eyes. "What is it exactly that you did?"

Feeling some strength fill my muscles, I slowly stood, despite the Avengers raising their weapons in defense. I moved toward the island and leaned against it. "I manipulated everything, including taking control of Agent Barton's mind. Once I heard your director fury refer to him as the best agent, I knew I needed you, although it really was just luck that you happened to be so close to a member of the team"

"You killed Coulson" Stark crossed his arms.

I looked to him, confused. "The agent that was in the room where the hulks cage was, is that correct?" At the nod I continued. "He should be alive. I merely wounded him, although midgardian anatomy might be different than I thought. I stabbed him in the shoulder"

"Why should we believe you?" Steve Rogers, who had up until now been quiet.

"My wounds go far beyond this battle" I began, unhooking the chest plate to my armor with one hand, pulling it away slightly to show the damage done by the Chitari. "They tortured me until I was broken enough for the Other to reach into my mind. Then they gave me the scepter to strengthen their control"

"And then the hulk hit your head hard enough to shatter the control" Romanoff nodded to herself, gesturing toward the crater in the center of the room, Barton rubbed his forehead while the other Avengers looked to her confused. "I had to give Barton a concussion to snap his mind control"

So it's not as fool proof as the Other claimed it to be. I inwardly smirked in victory. "After I was captured, I realized that if I could band the six of you together, you might be able to stop the invasion."

"So you manipulated everything from the moment you got here" Bruce Banner summed. I nodded, pulling my chest plate back into place. My magic was slowly mending the torn flesh and it needed some sort of protection.

"If this Thanos person is so powerful, why didn't he come here himself?" Stark questioned.

Swallowing, I forced the images of the mad titan out of my memory. "I was a pawn in a much larger scheme. He intended to see Earth’s defenses, you all have proven to be formidable foes.”

Over the next several hours, I strategized with the defenders of Midgard, gaining their weary trust when they realized I was nothing more than a victim manipulated by a power hungry tyrant.

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[diaryofabeautyfiend]

Small Time Witch (32)

S I X M O N T H S L A T E R

Vanaheim had been kind to you but it was time to make your next move. Loki had been pardoned on Asgard. The convergence was nigh and preparations for Malekith had begun. Asgard was fortified as a precaution. You thought maybe Malekith wouldn’t bother since the entire universe knew you had the stones. The small council was not so sure. They wanted you locked away in a secure location where he couldn’t find you. You wanted to fight. That’s all you seemed to want these days.

Malekith and Frigga have long been enemies. His brute murdered her when the dark elves invaded Asgard. You would only hide if she hid with you. Being ever stubborn she declined. You didn’t tell her what would happen but, because of your insistence, she could guess. “If it’s my time, it’s my time. I won’t hide.” Everyone in this family was ridiculously stubborn. You fit right in.

Loki fought you ad nauseam about expelling the stones. You refused to even entertain the thought until the convergence was over. He thought the stones were overtaking you. They changed your personality. You argued they just made you stronger and perhaps he was threatened by you. That never failed to spur him into a tirade about how dangerous they were and how no one knew what they were doing to you. The voice in your head told you otherwise. He would prattle on about how they seemed to speak for you. How you had changed. You never listened.

“Mortal are you listening?” It drove you insane when he called you mortal. Just a constant reminder that you were beneath him.

“I am. And I’ve asked you to please stop calling me mortal.”

“Well aren’t you? Are you now unable to die? Have I missed something?”

“As long as I have them I am.”

“And that’s why you shouldn’t have them. Where is my wife? You were not this war mongering battle hardened warrior when I first met you.”

“You prefer me weak? Too afraid of my own shadow?”

He knelt in front of you to look in your eyes. “I have never known you to be weak, Y/N. You were powerful enough.”

You laughed but the smile on your lips never met your eyes. “Just enough that I couldn’t ever take you.”

“Stop it. That’s never mattered to me.”

“Until I became stronger than you.”

He picked up a pillow off of the bed and smashed it into his face. He let out a deep growl out of sheer frustration. “Your new found obsession with power is exactly why I am worried. They need you. They are like parasites and you are their host. You feed them, darling. Of course they don’t want to give you up.”

“And what if I do release them? What then? Do we just wait for the next maniac to use them against us?”

“Then we keep them locked in the vault.”

“Oh yeah, because Odin’s vault has never been breached.”

“Only by me.” He hated fighting with you. Absolutely loathed it. You kept putting off the release of the stones but he wouldn’t give up. You were scared they would fall into the wrong hands. He was afraid they already had. The only other person who was in your corner was Odin.

Loki knew his father all too well. He was not interested in what you wanted but what your power could do for him. He treated you like his own sentient weapon. Your daddy issues completely clouded your judgement in regards to Odin. He doted on you. Called you his daughter. You lapped it up. When Loki or Thor would say something he would laugh it off and say they were jealous that he had a new favorite child. After Asgard was safe, they thought it was time for you to go back to Midgard for a while for an extended holiday. Maybe your family could talk some sense into you.

“My love. My little queen. Please don’t be cross with me. I am simply worried for your safety and sanity. Don’t you want to leave all of this behind? Perhaps we can start our family. I’ve longed to see you with child.”

Your voice was quiet, “That’s not my dream. It’s yours. You know how I feel about having children. Can’t we just go on forever having adventures?”

“Pet, I have had my fun. I just want to start a family and be settled. I don’t care if I ever ride into another battle. Children or not, I just want this constant upheaval to end. I quite liked our life on Midgard. I actually miss television. Why don’t we go back and rebuild our little cottage? Will you at least think about it?”

You kissed the tip of his nose, “I will. When this is all over, I will agree to take extended leave and visit my family.”

—————————————————————

The day Malekith invaded was like deja vu for Loki except he was not in the dungeon. The dark elves were unable to breech the outer reaches of Asgard so they moved on to Greenwich where he and Thor would meet. Against your better judgement (and certainly Loki’s), you jumped the portal to help Thor. You served as nothing but a distraction. Thor was nearly crushed by Malekith’s ship. Had it not been for Dr. Selvig, Thor would have been killed.

Your magic destroyed half of a library and a lot more property. When law enforcement arrived they thanked Thor for his help. You, on the other hand, were put in shackles and taken into custody. Thor tried to stop them but they were under strict orders from the World Security Council to take you in.

You tried to break free for your bonds but your magic wouldn’t work. “Stop resisting, Princess.” one of the Interpol officers shouted. They didn’t have regular guns pointed at you. They looked like ray guns or something you’d see in a sci fi movie. Thor rushed behind you asking where you were being taken. They muttered something about an Air Force base as officers held him back.

“I’m coming, little sister! Just hang on.”

They had you locked in the back of a van that was caged and padded. A thick metal partition separated you from the driver. The doors on the back were also thick metal. Three officers wearing helmets rushed in in a practiced military style drill. Keeping their weapons trained on you, one officer stood in front of you and pressed a button that magnetized your restraints. He stuck your hands to a small but sturdy loop on the bench you sat on. Another officer put a mutant inhibitor collar around your neck while the third jabbed a needle in your arm. “Nighty night, Princess.”

When you awoke your head was pounding. There was a jumpsuit on the small table next to you. On the floor were socks and slippers. The collar was pretty heavy and seemed to grab at your skin when you pulled. “It won’t come off Mrs. Odinson” a voice said. There was a speaker just above the door.

“Where am I?”

“Change into your jumps.”

“Where am I? Don’t make me ask again.”

“Change into your jumps, prisoner.”

You tried to use your magic but only a tiny spark flickered between your hands.

Your cell doors opened and a familiar face stood in front of you. “Ma’am. I’m Coulson. Come with me.”

“Wait. Aren’t you...”

“Dead? As in your husband killed me? Yeah. Something like that.” He stood in the doorway looking at you expectantly. “Unless you’d rather stay here.”

You followed behind him flipping off the speaker when you left. “Can you remove this collar, Coulson?”

“Please forgive me if I’m not super trusting.”

“Understandable I guess. Where are you taking me?”

“New York. Into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. It’s the only way the US government will release you. Part of the MCA.”

“MCA?”

“Mutant Control Act. You’re an unregistered omega level mutant. Your powers, as defined by the government, are unlimited. You’re dangerous.”

“So when I’m on Earth, I am a prisoner?”

“When you’re on Earth? You think you’re leaving? You belong to us now.”

He took you along to an airstrip where you boarded a small plane. He helped you into your seat, shackled your wrists and ankles and bid you a safe flight.

——————————————————————

Thor was too scared to tell Loki you were captured. He would have been pissed at the both of you. If he thought you were in danger he would rip Midgard apart to find you. The only person he knew to contact was Steve Rogers.

In Tony’s infinite wisdom, he named Steve his successor of sorts. He called him the Chief Moral Compass of the company. That gave Steve all kinds of contacts and diplomatic immunity in 46 countries.

Steve met your flight at the base in New York. Coulson was thrilled to see Steve again but he wouldn’t release you. He got into the backseat and went with you to the facility where you’d be staying.

You waited for several hours in a holding room. You hadn’t eaten in a couple of days and your body was exhausted without the stones to prop you up. You fell asleep with your head on the table. Finally Steve came in to wake you.

“Hey, Y/N. You’re free to go. Get this collar off of her now!” he said to an agent.

“Can we grab something to eat? I haven’t had anything in a couple of days.”

He planted his hands on his hips and clenched his jaw. You were freaking Asgardian royalty and a human being. Surely that earned you some respect. He was livid. “Seriously, guys? You couldn’t have gotten her food? My apologies, Princess.”

“I would kill for a slice. Ever hear of Joe’s Pizza in Brooklyn?”

He smiled, “Best in New York. How do you know about that place?”

“I was in love with a guy from Brooklyn once.”

“Yeah? What happened?”

“He couldn’t handle who I was.”

Steve chuckled to himself, “Then he didn’t deserve you.”

——————————————————————

Pending a hearing, you were released to your mother’s care. You absolutely could not prevent Loki from coming any longer. When he landed you were sitting in the open space where your house would be built.

“This is the perfect spot isn’t it?” You were picking blades of grass and letting them fall through your fingers.

“Afelheim has ample space for cottage building. No cable though. I guess this rules out our extended holiday.” He sat next to you and you rested your head on his shoulder.

“I think this is our extended holiday. My hearing isn’t for another month.”

“You know what you did was careless and stupid right? Also incredibly arrogant. Thor didn’t need your help.”

“I know. I don’t know what came over me. It’s like I wasn’t thinking.”

“You weren’t. The stones were. While we’re stuck here, I’d like to get as many people as possible involved in removing them and healing you. That’s even if you can be healed. Your body could be riddled with cancer like poor Jane.”

“Well I’ve saved her from that fate.”

“Not yourself. If I lost you....”

“You’re not losing me.”

You snuggled against him and he kissed the top of your head. He no longer tried to hide his feelings from you. He was afraid. You just found each other again and he was afraid he would lose you. The old Loki would have run screaming. This Loki would fight for you. And, if he had to, he would follow you into Hel. Maybe he was selfish in that regard. He lost you once. Never again.

[loki-hargreeves]

Once upon a dream - Loki x Reader Ch. 1

Warnings: amnesia/memory loss, imprisonment, angst, fluff, nothing major really (yet) Word Count: 8,5K Summary: You’ve been locked up for years with no memory of your past, ever since S.H.I.E.L.D. learned about your special abilities. When you get an offer to leave the prison-like facility on one condition; that you’ll join the Avengers, you take it. For years, you’ve dreamed about the same man. The dream man is also your target on your first mission. It’s Loki. He too seems to recognize you. In fact, it seems like he knows more than you do. You’re eager to find out what it is. {it’s like a soulmate AU with extra twists and turns} Author’s Note: I got this idea after I listened to Lana Del Rey’s version of the song ‘once upon a dream’. This will be a miniseries so I hope you’ll enjoy it! Please let me know what you think about this. Feedback means so much to me Xx Listen to: Once Upon A Dream playlist

[CH 1: In my veins]

THIRD POV

~ Will leave you in the morning

       But find you in the day    ~

Music was playing beautifully, echoing all around her because of the high, curved ceiling. The bright piano’s song blended in harmony with a gentle hum of a violin. People were talking, but it was all muffled. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was him.

Y/N was in a candlelit ballroom, dressed in an emerald gown that kissed the wooden floor when she walked. The dark-haired man held her hand gently, leading her to the middle of the floor.

Suddenly, the people stopped talking as they watched the couple prepare for a dance. Everyone seemed to gleam from joy. The aura was romantic, carefree, almost too good to be true.

“I love you,” The man said with a deep, raspy voice. Hearing that made her feel important and safe. She trusted the man. He had an elegant accent, jade eyes full of adoration. Y/N felt like she had always known this man, yet she couldn’t place a name on his face. All she knew was that she loved him too. Somehow, that didn’t trouble her. Nothing else mattered now but their moment. He grabbed her ever so gently by her waist and moved their bodies in the rhythm of the melody. They glided across the dance-floor with ease, as if they had danced to this song a thousand times before. There was no need to watch their steps, instead they focused on the intense and loving gaze they shared. It was perfect, until…

A loud beep made Y/N jump in her room, awakening her from her dream. Once again, the only thing she could recall from the vision her dreaming mind painted was that man. A face she had seen a million times before in her sleep, but she didn’t know why. Who was he? Did she know him before? She would’ve stopped to think, but she wasn’t given much time to do so.

A heavy door was opened from the outside and a group of armed guards marched into the dull corridor, nearing Y/N step by step. She didn’t see them, but by listening to their heavy steps, she figured that there were at least six of them. Her room, which was more like a cell, was a place where she had spent years by now. Years without aging a day on the outside. She looked the same she did ten years ago. Hell, she looked the same she looked a hundred years ago and beyond that – which she didn’t remember much of unfortunately. It’s like this facility had worn her mind down to the point she felt like a ghost.

She had done nothing wrong, yet people neared her with weapons and filled her days with threats.

The guards stopped behind her door and she sighed deeply, preparing to me hauled to another interrogation room. How long would they keep her there? Locked up, like a beast.

Her door opened and she welcomed the guards with an empty smile. It never reached her eyes, no matter how much her lips curved.

“Boss wants to see you,” one of the guards, Thomas informed her. Thomas was nice. He would talk to her sometimes and keep her company when they delivered meals to her. Out of all the numerous guards and agents Y/N had met, Thomas was her favourite. Seeing him genuinely made her days brighter. “It seems serious this time,” the tall man added.

As Y/N got up from her cold and lonely bed, she chuckled, “Isn’t it always serious?”

“I heard it might have something to do with the incident last night,” Thomas shared his thoughts as the other guards surrounded them, blocking Y/N from escape. She had tried to escape several times, but the machines and gadgets she was hooked to made it near impossible. If she used her powers, she would get shocked which kept her from doing anything. Eventually, she learned to accept her fate. It’s not like anyone missed her in the outside world anyway.

An incident? Y/N had heard whispers about a facility blowing up, but she had no idea what it was about. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Y/N smiled as they walked. They stopped behind the same iron doors and waited for that god-awful beep which alarmed them that it was unlocked. As it opened, they walked to the nearest elevator.

In the windowless elevator, Y/N took a deep breath. Whenever she was brought in for questioning, it always pissed her off. Sometimes it felt like they brought her in just to taunt her, to see if they could get a reaction from her and see her powers, if she would finally break the restrains. As if they didn’t see enough when she was pretty much forced to train every day.

“Do you remember when a god came to earth about a year ago?” Thomas wondered. It had been everywhere. People thought that gods were myths, but then humanity found out that Thor, god of thunder existed, and everything changed. Y/N had heard about it and about the change on earth, but she hadn’t seen it herself.

“Yes, what about it?” Y/N inquired curiously.

“They think that whatever happened yesterday is connected to that,” Thomas explained.

As interesting as it was, it confused Y/N, “What does that have to do with me though?”

Before Thomas could answer, another guard spoke, “Enough chit-chat!” It was Mark. Mark was an experienced soldier and the grumpiest man in the facility. He had a scar on his face which earned him the nickname, Scar. It wasn’t the most creative nickname, but it fit him. He was clearly a wounded man who had a harsh and modest shell. Y/N didn’t like him at all, and the feeling seemed to be mutual.

The elevator doors opened, and Y/N saw a much brighter floor. They were on the top floor. It was a huge facility. The corridor they walked through was short and they had to cross a huge common space to reach the interrogation room. The common room was large, and the bulletproof windows offered plenty of natural light. The view was beautiful, but haunting. There were trees that carried as far as Y/N could see. It meant that they were far from civility, in the middle of nowhere. No one would ever find them there.

As they finally reached the heavy door, they stopped behind it and Thomas pressed the buzzer next to the door. “She’s here,” He told whoever sat in that room with a monotone voice. Whenever Thomas spoke to Y/N, he sounded much livelier. She often wondered how such a nice man ended up in a terrible place like this.

“Come in!” A familiar voice replied through the speakers.

The door was opened for her and she was nudged to go in. Y/N put a stern expression on her face as she walked inside the white room, hating how the bright lights hurt her eyes. She was much more comfortable in the dark.

There was a table in the middle of it and several seats. There was a guard in each corner of the room, cameras too and in the middle were two familiar faces. Phil Coulson stood there with papers in his hands as Nick Fury sat by the table with a profoundly serious look in his eye. This didn’t seem good.

“Take a seat,” Fury told her and gestured at the plastic chair.

Y/N was slightly nervous, but she refused to show that as she sat down. “You look like you’ve gone through Hell,” she mocked him. Fury had scratches on his face which told her more than enough.

Her straightforwardness made him smirk. Usually, he would let out a sarcastic laugh, but it didn’t seem like he had time for that today. “I would say you’re absolutely right! You see, last night something really important was stolen from us.”

Phil opened his folder and pulled out a printed picture of a blue cube. Y/N had never seen anything like it before, yet the sight of it sparked a sense of familiarity inside her. She looked at it curiously without saying anything unnecessary. “That’s what he stole.”

So, it was a ‘he’ who stole that cube? Y/N wondered why that cube was so important that an otherworldly god would come all the way to earth to steal it. Personally, she didn’t really care. 

Coulson seemed to notice her wonder on her expression, “That’s the tesseract. We think it could be used to generate energy. It’s very precious, Y/N.”

“Who exactly was it that stole it?” Y/N wondered. If she was going to use her powers on somebody, she wanted to know who it was and what the cause was. Y/N knew better than anyone how much harm her powers could inflict – even on herself.

Fury sighed, “He called himself Loki, god of Mischief. Doctor Erik Selvig said he’s the brother of Thor, the other wacko that showed up here and left behind a massive mess for us to clean up. You should’ve seen him! He put on quite a show.”

Loki? That name rang a bell. Y/N could’ve sworn she had heard it before, but she didn’t know where or when. Then again, she had lived for several hundred years. Among her lost memories could be mentions of this god. She had always been fascinated by history; she wasn’t a stranger to Norse mythology. Knowing that it was all real was truly magnificent.

“Yeah I heard about it. Such a shame I missed the show,” Y/N pretended to be upset. A part of her wished she had been there just to see the destruction and the shock on these people’s faces when they realized they weren’t invincible. 

“We lost a lot of men because of him,” Coulson let Y/N know.

She simply raised her eyebrow, silently asking him if he truly expected her to care about that. “Did he look like he does in the history books? Big horns and all?” She wanted to know, completely ignoring agent Coulson. For her, it was truly amusing that these mythical characters could show up and stir up so much chaos on their journey.

“He has a scepter that he likes to wave around. It’s also a weapon, apparently,” Fury remembered. He had nearly been shot by Loki with a beam from that strange scepter of his.

“Nice,” Y/N seemed impressed. That’s when Coulson pulled out another printed picture. It was of a man with short, brown hair, tan skin and a strange outfit. She had never seen him before.

Coulson explained, “That’s one of our agents that Loki took with him.”

The plot thickens. “I assume you want him to be found?” Y/N jumped to conclusions and she was sure she was right.

“That too,” Fury confirmed her conclusion. “I don’t know what it is about these ‘gods’ who think they can show up here and do whatever they want, but it pisses me off. We need to get the tesseract back, ASAP which is why I’m offering you a…let’s call it a job,” Fury went straight to the point.

A job?

Y/N failed to hide her interest as she looked up from the paper to face Fury. He must’ve been in a hurry since he went right to the point. She had only been in that room for merely a minute. “What kind of job?”

Fury turned to look at agent Coulson who explained it to her, “We’ve been working on a project. The world is changing and so are the threats, which is why we’ve considered putting a group of special people together, to face these threats.”

He certainly seemed nervous to speak of this. It was almost like Coulson was afraid to use the wrong terms to upset Y/N. It was almost too good to be true, to see him like that. “Just call me a freak, Coulson,” She chuckled, shifting on her seat to be more comfortable. Their reactions were priceless.

“You would have to work with a group of people to find that son of a bitch that stole from us,” Fury explained which was obvious by now. Judging by the tone of his voice, he was furious - as ironic as it was. They were running low on time, which also became quite evident.

Although Y/N had waited for an opportunity like this for years, she was hesitant. They had captured her; they had kept her locked away from the world because she was ‘a threat to society’ but now they were asking for her help. As much as she wanted to say no out of spite, she wouldn’t. She could finally leave this facility. She could see the world again. It would be an adventure! Perhaps, just perhaps it was exactly what she needed. Y/N decided to push her luck, “What’s in it for me?”

“I thought you’d be jumping on the chance to get a breath of fresh air,” Fury raised his eyebrows in surprise as he continued, “You wouldn’t be a freak, Y/N. If this is a mission success, you’ll be a hero. Maybe we can see the good in you and trust that you don’t need to stay here anymore.”

Anger bubbled in her veins as she listened to him. She had never been a threat! But normal people would never understand. They saw her gifts as curses. They feared what they didn’t have or what they couldn’t control. But perhaps Fury was right? Perhaps this was her chance to prove that she wasn’t a villain?

“What do you say, miss Y/N?” Coulson wanted an answer. Now everyone in that room looked at her expectantly. She felt the pressure building up on her shoulders.

Y/N took one last glance at the paper before her and she felt certain of her choice, “I’m in.”

                         Being outside the large, secret facility for the first time in years was strange for Y/N. She was sent off immediately with Phil Coulson and to her surprise, there was someone waiting for them in the jet. Y/N was surprised that they let her walk outside without handcuffs, but she still had a chip in her neck, a tracker. They wouldn’t trust her that fast, now would they?

The moment they got seated in the jet, they flew off into the air, into the unknown which made Y/N beyond excited. Phil Coulson talked on the phone, which gave her a moment of privacy with the other man. He was tall, muscular, and blonde. She liked the brown, leather jacket that he wore. Y/N knew it was no other than Captain America, which was quite funny to her. Despite having lost so many of her memories, she could remember Captain America from the 40s. Back then, she had been free. It was impossible not to hear about this man and she was sure it was still like that today.

“Steve Rogers, it’s nice to meet you,” He broke the silence by introducing himself and then offering his hand for her to shake. So, he was polite. Y/N liked that.

She shook his large hand, “Y/N. Nice to meet you too, Rogers. The last time I saw you, you were on the silver screen.” He seemed surprised to hear that as they let go of each other’s hands. It appeared that the agent hadn’t told Steve much about Y/N yet. Good, she preferred to do that herself. “Just like you, I’m much older than I seem.”

“I’d ask you for your age, but that is a little rude, isn’t it?” Steve tried to lighten up the tension that seemed to linger in the aircraft. It was obvious that he was a man out of his time.

“Oh, I don’t take offense that easily. I’d give you an answer, but I don’t have one. Can’t even remember my own birthday,” Y/N let him know with a smile, acting as if her amnesia wasn’t hard on her.

Before Steve could react to that, Coulson returned to them. “We’re forty minutes away from the base. You’ll get to meet the others there,” He told them. Y/N was surprised to see how different Coulson was now that Fury wasn’t there. Perhaps, Steve’s presence made him that happy? “And I see you two already met,” Coulson pointed at the two of them as he spoke.

 It would be a long forty minutes.

Just as he said, they landed forty minutes later. They got out of the jet, which Y/N had learned was called a Quinjet. The platform they landed on belonged to an enormous ship. They were on sea and land wasn’t anywhere in sight. Other Quinjets were landing and taking off, soldiers were running on deck and overall, it seemed like a terribly busy place. Y/N had to admit it was nice to see something else than the white walls of the facility she had been stuck in for so long. The salty smell of sea was nice and even refreshing to her. The idea of jumping into the water and taking a dive seemed so tempting, but she knew that wasn’t an option. 

A red-haired woman walked over to them; eyes directed at Coulson. She seemed like she had plenty of work to do and that she wasn’t in the mood for smalltalk. Y/N liked that.

“Ma’am,” Steve greeted her.

“Hi,” She smiled but it was quite empty. Instead of staying to chat with Steve, she walked right up to the agent. Y/N watched from aside. “They need you on the bridge. Face time.” And just like that, Coulson was sent off.

“Glad to see you survived that flight with him,” She seemed more relaxed now as she faced Y/N and Steve. “I’m Natasha.”

Y/N recognized her name. Coulson had explained that Natasha, a Russian spy, would be working with them on the project. “I assume you already know all about us, but hello, I’m Y/N,” Y/N greeted the woman. She assumed if Natasha was anything like the others, she had read all there was to know about her background and memorized it already.

“Oh yes, I read all about you,” Natasha said as it was the most common thing to say. 

Before anyone else could speak, a fourth person walked up to them quite nervously. A man with a plain jacket, dark hair and glasses looked around and Y/N could sense how jittery he was. Was he anxious to be there?

“Doctor Banner,” Steve somehow recognized the man.

Jealousy stung Y/N’s gut a little bit as she stood there. Everyone else knew so much about this project already. Everyone else expect for her. She barely knew who and what they were looking for. Coulson could’ve used that flight time on telling Y/N more about the mission rather than swooning after Steve and talking about his Captain America memorabilia. 

A squad of guards neared them which by now was a very familiar sight for Y/N to see. She half-expected them to come and grab her to an interrogation room or perhaps a training hall. “Miss Y/N, you need to come with us.”

Although she expected that, it somehow surprised her. Why weren’t the others treated like prisoners? Why was she being treated like she was trying to smuggle explosives into the place?

Everyone around her looked at her awkwardly, but they all knew what was going on. Y/N was annoyed but defeated. “Show me the way,” She sighed and went along with the guards. She only had to assume she would regroup with the others inside eventually.

The guards surrounded her as they walked, just like they had earlier that day. Once they reached the inside of the ship, Y/N noticed how hauntingly much it resembled the facility. There was no personality or warmth inside the walls. It was all so cold and metallic. She was led through the clean corridors to a room with a bunch of computers and agents. It was just as busy on the inside as it was outside.

Somehow, Fury was already there. He must’ve taken a different route. The familiar face seemed to have expected Y/N and beside him was a woman. She seemed like an agent too. “Y/N! I think it’s time you get to know your teammates a little better. Agent Hill has offered to fill you in on the details.”

“Can’t wait!” She mumbled halfheartedly.

“As you get to know each other, we’ll keep trying to locate Loki. Once we find him, you’ll be on your way.”

That’s when agent Hill walked closer to Y/N. The guards seemed to trust the agent as they let her lead Y/N away from them. “Call me Maria,” She offered her a genuine smile. It was small but it was there.

“Alright, Maria. What am I supposed to do?” Y/N wanted to know more about the mission. Fury and Coulson had barely told her anything at all.

Hill walked them closer to the stations. They could see the screens. They were viewing security tapes from all across the world. Paris, New York, Tokyo.... Y/N saw some screens that were scanning several faces. It was almost fascinating to see how much work they put into this. That must’ve indicated that this was much more serious than a little hunt to find an energy source.

“Right now, your main mission is to find our target and bring back the tesseract. But you need to know who you’re dealing with,” Maria started, never taking her eyes off the screens. That’s when the ship began to tremble wildly, but no one seemed bothered by it. Y/N was cautious, but she didn’t feel the need to panic when everyone else seemed so calm. “Don’t worry, we’re just taking off.”

“Taking off?” Y/N spat out. 

That made Maria chuckle, “You’re on a helicarrier. It flies just as well as it floats.”

“Great!” Y/N managed to find something to say. When they landed, she saw the size of this thing. To think it could fly was astonishing, to say the least.

“You already met Steve. Natasha is one of ours. She’s might not seem it, but she’s one hell of a spy. She’ll keep an eye on you,” Maria started. Y/N wanted to comment on that, but she bit her tongue instead. “Doctor Banner, or just Bruce is a scientist. If you see him on the battleground, he’s going to be quite different. He turns into what some would call a raging beast, the Hulk.”

The Hulk sounded familiar. Y/N wasn’t sure how that worked, but she didn’t doubt it was true. She had seen stranger things. “So, I’m going to work with a spy, a scientist beast and a war hero to catch a god,” Y/N tried to put it all together. She didn’t quite understand where she came in use.

“Technically, yes. Don’t worry, Tony Stark aka the Iron Man is joining you too. Besides, you’ll have a team here as well. You won’t be alone,” Maria continued calmly.

Y/N wanted to ask more about the others, but she was curious to hear why they needed her help in particular. “Why did you ask for my help? It seems like you’ve already got quite a team gathered up.”

That question made Maria tense. So far, she seemed honest, so Y/N hoped she would come up with a good answer. “We’re searching for someone who claims to be a god, Y/N. He has abilities no one has seen before, expect…well, expect in you. I am aware that you’ve lost your memories, you might not know your full potential yet. But based on your training, you’re capable of far more than we thought. We thought that you could be able to fight this ‘god’.”

All that sounded far too nice, but Y/N didn’t mind it. Surely no one liked to admit they had captured someone and forced them to train. Perhaps Maria didn’t know. Y/N wasn’t in the mood to talk about it. Before she could say much, one of the agents seemed to get a match on the scanning system. “We found him! He’s in Stuttgart, Germany.”

That was quick.

“Let’s go find the others. Looks like you’re going to Germany,” Maria patted Y/N’s shoulder as they got on the move. Already, Y/N’s heart was beating a little faster in her chest. Adrenaline rushed through her system and she was excited. For the first time in a decade, she was going to break her daily routine. This was bound to get interesting!

                     That day had felt like a week and they were still not finished. They were in a Quinjet that was flying to Germany. How they would get there so fast, Y/N didn’t know. She only had to assume that the jet was much faster than a normal jet, but it felt like it barely moved at all as it soared through the sky.

She sat in the corner, watching as the others on her team spoke. Everyone was geared up, including Y/N. Natasha was flying, Steve and Tony were talking. Y/N hadn’t spoken with Tony yet and she wasn’t in a hurry to do so either. The man had looked at her with a strange look in his eyes when he got on board. Although it had only been minutes, Y/N could tell he knew much about her already. Did he fear her?

After a while, Tony turned to Y/N, interrupting the conversation he had with Steve. “You’ve been awfully quiet,” he noticed.

“I don’t speak unless I have something to say,” She explained bluntly. The day had been long, and she already had a lot on her mind. Despite how fun it was to do something else than stare at the facility walls, it was a lot. The pressure of it all made her tired. 

Tony walked closer to her, clearly interested in forming some sort of a conversation with her. “We could start with you telling me how you still look like that despite your age. Do you and Steve maybe share some anti-aging secrets? Do tell,” Tony tried to ease the tension between them, but it didn’t work all that well. It wasn’t like Y/N hadn’t heard that a million times before.

“I’m sure you would like to know,” Y/N tittered, hoping that she could ignore her weariness and at least try to get to know her team. After all, they were kind of stuck together.

That’s when Tony took a seat next to Y/N, minding a little distance though. “I heard you’ve been living at a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility for a while. That must’ve been a bore.”

Did he think before he opened his mouth?

Steve rubbed his temples as he eavesdropped on their conversation. Clearly, Steve didn’t like what he just heard any more than Y/N did.

“A bore, you could say that. One day they decided I was a threat to society, so they locked me up. I don’t see why they didn’t do that to you though. Do you also have trackers in your neck?” Y/N couldn’t help but to get a little heated. She wasn’t angry, but she felt defensive. She never wanted to go to that facility, and she would be damned if she let anyone talk about it as it was nothing.

That’s when Tony realized his mistake. “Right. Well let’s hope this is your chance to start anew,” He desperately tried to make up for what he said. Despite how dumb his words were, Y/N let it slip for now.

“So, what are we going to do when we find him? Doesn’t he have the power to make people do things in his favour?” She changed the topic of conversation.

That’s when Steve decided to speak, which was a relief. “We need to make sure civilians don’t get hurt. Hopefully, we’ll be able to overpower him. It’s easier to come up with a plan once we see the guy. We don’t really know what he’s capable of.”

Steve had a point. Coming up with a detailed plan with little to no information would be difficult. All they really knew was Loki’s location. 

Natasha joined in on the conversation from the cockpit, “We can’t kill Barton. He’s still in there. We just need to break whatever spell Loki has on him.”

“What if he gets one of us under control? What happens then?” Y/N wanted to know. She wasn’t interested to be mind-controlled if it meant it put a target on her back.

No one seemed to know what to say to that. They hadn’t thought of it, or so it seemed. “We can’t let that happen. Even if it happens, no one gets left behind. We’re supposed to work as a team and that we will do.”

“That sounds like the Captain I’ve heard of,” Y/N commented on his little pep talk. She had faint memories of Captain America’s speeches from his roles in the 40s. He sure knew what to say and he had a leader spirit.

“What exactly do you do then? According to your file you don’t age, great. But you’ve also shown to have super strength, speed, and senses. Did you get a superhuman serum too?” Tony seemed awfully curious about Y/N’s abilities. he had read her files but they were lacking. After years of training in the facility, they still struggled to put her in a box. 

She couldn’t blame his curiosity. “I don’t know why I am the way I am. I’m far older than I thought I was. I remember waking up on the streets of London in 1911. It’s like I was simply dropped into existence. All I could remember was my name. Throughout the years, I’ve got some memories back and I’ve tried to test my abilities, but it’s all vague, hazy.”

Tony never took his eyes off her. He seemed fascinated by her story and he examined every word she said. Even Steve and Natasha had stopped to listen. “Can you fly? Or shoot lasers from your eyes? That would be cool,” Tony wondered.

“Lasers? No, not that I know of,” Y/N giggled, finding his enthusiasm funny. “I’m not Superman,” She added.

“Fury wanted you on this mission because you can manipulate energy. Is that true?” Natasha wondered. They knew so much about each other, which made them all so curious about Y/N whom they knew so little of.

It was sweet of them to be curious, but Y/N didn’t know whether she liked all the attention. Her life had changed from a boring facility life to whatever this was. It was a lot and these questions were difficult to answer. She hardly knew herself! “You’ll see,” She decided to keep it mysterious. That way, she would get less follow up questions.

“Ooh, playing hard to get! I like that, Supergirl,” Tony gleamed, either happy over her answer or the stupid nickname he just gave her.

“Whatever you say.”

  Finally, they arrived in Stuttgart. The old buildings stood proud, beautiful trees were planted all around the place and it looked like a wonderful place – if it wasn’t for the god who seemed to threaten all life there was there. Y/N was dropped off with Tony. Tony flew out of the jet in his suit as Y/N used her powers to ease her landing. She floated down silently, hoping to stay unseen by the help of her dark outfit. They were a safe distance away, hidden by the night’s large shadows. There was a large mass of people outside the building and a man, several versions of him around them. Y/N could tell which one of them was real because only one of them had the warmth and energy of a living creature. The others were illusions - impressive nevertheless.

They were too far away for her to see his face clearly. At least she saw the golden horns which was almost amusing to see. How did he balance his head with that thing on it?

“Let’s get him,” Tony said to her and it was her cue to get on the move. Y/N was almost too excited. Adrenaline kicked in and she felt like she could run a marathon.Perhaps she was supposed to be worried or even scared. They were going to fight a god! But she liked it.

Just as Loki pointed his scepter at an old man, Steve attacked him. No one could hear Y/N, but she whispered, “Nice one,” as her own commentary on the situation. Captain America got the fight started and the frightened people scattered away from the scene, screaming in horror over what unfolded before their eyes.

Y/N was finally close enough so she could join in. Just as she was about to knock Loki over with a blast of energy, she froze on the spot. Loki turned to look at her and recognition sparked in his eyes.

She recognized him too

Y/N lost her breath as she faced Loki, now feeling much more frightened than before. Loki was the man she kept seeing in her dreams!

What truly freaked her out was that he seemed to know her as well.

Just for a moment, the world stilled around them. It felt like the flow of time stopped completely, giving them a brief moment of privacy. To make it even more terrifying for Y/N, who struggled to grasp why her enemy was in her dreams, he spoke, “Y/N!”

 He knew her name!

 Before she got a chance to answer him, Steve attacked Loki. It was a reminder that this fight wasn’t over. They were on the battleground and Y/N had a job to do. But now it felt impossible. The only stray of hope she had of remembering her past was that man - a god! She had seen him in so many dreams, so many nights that gave her glimpses of a life before, one that she yearned to return to. Now they were there, standing face to face and she was supposed to attack him! How could she?!

Even with Steve and Tony attacking the god from both sides, he seemed unbothered by their attempts. Loki was keen on defending himself, pushing the strong men away from himself like flies. He swung his scepter around and eventually pinned Steve to the ground.

The sight made Y/N react. Even with her legs feeling like jelly from the strange encounter, she ran towards them. Her feet moved much faster than any common human’s feet would. In only a split second, she pushed Loki off Steve, almost knocking him on the ground.

Her attack seemed to surprise him. Loki looked at her through knitted eyebrows and that looked hurt her. He seemed…betrayed?

“How do you know my name?!” Y/N felt tears stinging in her eyes. She was angry that this had to happen. The past seemed to haunt her and now that she had the chance to get answers, she would have to lock the man away! It was unfair. “Tell me!” She screamed when Loki didn’t answer. Oddly enough, he didn’t even try fighting her.

“I see what’s going on,” Loki concealed his pained expression by smirking darkly, as if he was completely unbothered by the situation, “You don’t even remember. That’s such a shame, dear.”

Dear? Who did he think he was?!

Y/N felt eyes burning holes into her back. She felt anxious as she was there, above Loki who was pinned beneath her. It was too much. She knew she had to end this, so instead of focusing on her own curiosity and shock, she decided to do what she was asked to do. To avoid further pain, she focus don her mission and tried to lock away her emotions. If she screwed up now, she could end up returning to the facility which was her last wish.

“Don’t call me that,” Y/N tried to sound as intimidating as she possibly could, but it was hard when Loki seemed to know her. Energy was flowing around her hands, illuminating a golden light all around her. Loki glanced at the power forming around her hands and he smiled. It almost felt like he expected this or that he had seen it all before. Whatever it was, it made Y/N’s skin crawl. Did they know each other from her past? It sure seemed like that and it didn’t look good on her record. S.H.I.E.L.D. would surely love to know how Loki knew her name. Could it be his power? Was he messing with her?

It didn’t make sense. Loki had been in her dreams; it must’ve meant something!

To everyone’s surprise, Loki raised his arms up in surrender. The defeated mannerism made Y/N let go of him as she stood up. By now, Steve and Tony stood right beside Y/N. Loki was seemingly overpowered, but she didn’t believe it at all. This seemed like something he wanted to happen, which made her feel sick.

This all felt like a huge mistake.

“Seems like you got me cornered,” Loki pouted, never taking his eyes off Y/N as the others grabbed him. His wrists were cuffed, and he lifted his magic, his golden armour vanishing into thin air. “Besides, I wouldn’t like to get torched by your little energy blasts, now would I?” Loki gestured to Y/N’s hands. Despite his words, he didn’t seem threatened by her power.

Nevertheless, Y/N let go of the energy and watched it fade into thin air. There was no use in attacking a man who surrendered and was clearly cooperating. Y/N just stood there, struggling to find the right words. Shock, disbelief, fear was boiling in her troubled mind and heart. Her thoughts were running in circles. Breathing felt alien to her.

“Let’s go,” Steve yanked Loki. He sounded angry. It seemed like the mission ended just as fast as it had begun. It was easy, way too easy.

Something was terribly wrong.

 They were all in the Quinjet again and this time, the atmosphere was tense. It felt heavy on Y/N’s slumped shoulders. Loki was cuffed and he sat on his seat ever so calmly. He didn’t even try to put up a fight.

No one had dared to ask Y/N about the more than odd encounter. Shortly said, everyone seemed on edge. Somehow, Y/N felt like it was her fault although she recognized they could feel on edge because of how easily Loki turned himself in.

Unfortunately, Loki decided to speak. His voice made Y/N’s stomach churn in worry. It also made Tony and Steve shut up, forgetting whatever conversation they were having. “Did you hit your head perhaps? Or did someone curse your mind?”

Why was everyone so interested in her memory loss? How did Loki know so much? It was infuriating and Y/N was tired, which only made it harder for her to handle.  Instead of answering him, she kept quiet.

Tony didn’t.

“You gave up quite easily. I thought you’d put up a fight. Heard you liked theatrics and all that,” Tony got closer to Loki.

“I couldn’t pass an opportunity to be stuck in a metal box with such…fascinating company,” Loki prolonged the word fascinating, almost as if he were being sarcastic. As he spoke, answering Tony’s question, he looked right at Y/N. It felt personal.

That’s when Y/N heard thunder roaring. It was odd, since she hadn’t seen any dark clouds around. Even Natasha seemed confused by the sudden lightning. Then again, they were flying fast through the sky. The weather could change in the blink of an eye, so she didn’t think too much of it. She was busy worrying about what nonsense Tony would say. Hopefully, nothing that would infuriate the god.

To everyone’s surprise, Loki seemed uncomfortable. Every roar of the storm made him flinch. That was…odd.

“What’s the matter? Scared of a little lightning?” Steve wondered. He too noticed how Loki reacted to it.

Loki didn’t like Steve’s question too much, at least not based on his expression. “I’m not overly fond of what follows,” he replied which made everyone feel a little confused and uneasy.

What ‘followed’? As the others wondered what Loki meant by that, Y/N remembered who he was. Loki, Brother of Thor. Thor was the god of thunder. Right before Y/N could say anything about it, a loud thud caught everyone’s attention. Something or someone landed on the moving Quinjet.

The heavy, metal ramp was torn open and a blast of lightning followed, making everything bright for a brief moment. As the lightning subsided, a man walked in which was unexpected. Someone just entered a moving aircraft!

It was Thor.

“Holy shit,” Y/N cursed as the angry Norse god marched inside, heading straight for Loki. He grabbed Loki by his scruff, unbothered by the other people onboard. He didn’t even seem to notice the others.

He couldn’t just take their prisoner away like that! Or could he? 

Before anyone could even try to stop him, Thor jumped out of the Quinjet with Loki. It had only been a few seconds and they were gone, leaving everyone else baffled.

“Now there’s that guy,” Tony was the first one to speak, trying to cover his shock.

“Another Asgardian?” Natasha wondered. She didn’t sound too thrilled by this.

Steve wondered, “Think the guy’s friendly?”

That’s when Y/N felt like they were talking too much. “It doesn’t matter. We need to get Loki back!” Getting Loki back was her only chance of getting a life, and perhaps answers of her past. Answers that somehow, as mad as it was, Loki seemed to have.

Tony put on his iron mask, preparing for whatever plan he came up with. “Funny you’d say that. Seems like you two know each other.”

Now wasn’t the time for offhand comments like that.

It sparked annoyance within Y/N, but she knew they didn’t have time to fight. Everyone else seemed to agree so they ignored Tony’s statement.

Steve returned to his soldier mindset, “We need a plan of attack.” That was quite clear.

Tony walked closer to the torn open ramp, “I have a plan. Attack.”

Y/N agreed with Tony this time. Just as Tony jumped out of the Quinjet, Y/N followed him. She didn’t have a parachute, but she trusted her powers. Her gut told her to do it and she trusted that gut feeling. As she felt her body fall dangerously towards the ground, she squinted her eyes and tried to aim her body towards the ground safely. It was far too dark to see Thor, but she had a faint idea of where they might’ve landed. After all, all living things left behind a trace of energy. Her heart was pounding in her chest. The adrenaline rush she had was unbelievable, but exactly what she needed to wake up. 

As she was free falling closer to the ground, Y/N closed her eyes and focused on the energy fields around her. She felt the wind, the temperature, the movement all around them. She caught onto the air and let it carry her body, slowing down her inevitable impact. Soon enough, her body was enveloped in a golden cast of energy, warming her body that had cooled down in the rapid fall and cold rain. She used her magic to direct her safely to the ground. Just like that, she landed on her feet without making a sound and she let go of the energy, releasing it back to the world.

Y/N found herself in a dark, mossy forest. Trees were tall and all around her. It smelled like rain which was a trace of Thor’s powers. She would have to find Loki, but where? For a moment, she felt restless until she heard something.

Someone was yelling nearby. It sounded like an angry man and Y/N knew that it must’ve been Thor. She followed the voices she heard.

“…You listen well, brother!” It was definitely Thor. Y/N crawled out from the bushes, just in time to see Thor and Loki on a large rock. Before she could even consider getting in between them, Tony flew right at Thor, grabbing his body and flying off the stone. They disappeared out of sight within a second.

“I’m listening,” Loki replied to his brother who was now far away and who most certainly could not hear him.

Was Tony serious? He left Loki out of sight! Unless he knew Y/N was there, that was quite reckless of him.

“Damn it,” Y/N cursed as she realized she was alone with Loki. The thought of facing him now was terrifying. She didn’t know what to expect, but she knew she couldn’t just stand there. Before Loki could make his grand escape, Y/N ran towards him and jumped up on the stone. In a second, she was right beside him.

“Fancy seeing your brother getting involved in this mess of yours,” Y/N muttered. She was furious that Thor had to get Loki. Then again, they were family. She couldn’t really blame the Asgardian.

Loki sighed, “You really don’t remember me? Or are you putting up some sort of an act?” Loki had seemed genuinely surprised when she hadn’t recognized him in the way he had hoped.

Y/N knew this was likely her only chance of speaking with Loki alone. Maybe she could use this opportunity to speak to him instead of fighting him. It didn’t look like he was in a hurry to run off either. Although it scared her, she decided to trust him just enough for a chat. “Am I supposed to know you?” She asked him, hiding the fact she had dreamt of him several times for decades.

“Fascinating,” He murmured the word again. Loki had a sad look in his eyes, but his expression was the contrary of it. He looked amused, but it didn’t feel genuine. Now that she got a better look of him, even in the night’s darkness, she noticed how beaten down and tired he looked. Everything about this mission and Loki was bizarre. Something wasn’t adding up.

“What’s so fascinating about this? What are you doing here? How do you know me?” Y/N struggled to stay patient. She had waited for answers for so long and this was the closest she had come to find them.

Loki narrowed his eyes and looked at her closer. She should’ve backed off; she should’ve informed her team that she found him, but she didn’t. She let him get closer. “Trust me, you’re better off not knowing. You’d thank me if you knew better.”

What on earth was he rambling about?

“Loki,” Y/N said his name. It didn’t sound foreign to her. When she said his name, it felt so natural. Her mouth had grown accustomed to it although she couldn’t remember him. “No one can hear us. If we’ve known each other, you can tell me. I need to know.”

Something about him was odd. She could feel that he wanted to act differently than how he did. Was something holding him back or was Y/N overthinking it? It’s like one moment he wanted to say something and the next he acted like he couldn’t have cared less. At this point, nothing seemed to make sense.

All traces of Loki’s sincerity vanished, “What if you don’t like what you’ll hear?”

“So you know something?” Y/N sounded a little bit too hopeful.

“I know a lot of things, Y/N,” Loki explained mysteriously. Sure, he was a god. He knew more than any human, but did he know anything about her past?

“Just tell me if you know something!” Y/N grew restless. She had a hectic need to know what he knew. 

Loki moved his lips and mouthed, ‘ooh’ after she finished her sentence. “You’re getting angry. You must be desperate.” He taunted her. Something told her this was useless, but she didn’t want to give up. It was so foolish, but she honestly believed Loki could give her answers.

That’s when he decided to change the topic. “Why do you even bargain with these mortals? They’ve held you captive; they fear who you are. They don’t deserve your aid, if you ask me. Once they’re finished with me, I’m sure you’ll find yourself where you came from. Locked away from humanity.”

How did he know all that? Shivers ran down Y/N’s spine as she stood there, listening to each and every word he said. She hated to admit it, but he was probably right. Maybe Loki wasn’t as evil as she had been told. Then again, he had done terrible things -- according to her captors.

The cunning god of mischief continued to stir the pot, “If you truly wish to learn from my knowledge, you could join me. We can finish this together and you’d be free from those invisible chains.”

She looked at him in shock. “Why would you do that? How do I know you wouldn’t kill me, first chance you got?” Y/N was tempted to join him, but she had common sense. He could lie to her, trick her into trusting him so he could stab her right in the back.

“I see you haven’t lost your brain,” Loki didn’t seem surprised by her response. “But you serve yourself. Please, befriend the people who treat you like a beast. Who am I to stop you?”

This was too much. It had been an incredibly long day and having a god toy with her mind wasn’t exactly fun. Y/N figured that she could question him later. Surely they would allow her to have a chat with him once he was locked up, right? She could prove she wasn’t evil. Maybe in the end, she could get her answers and her freedom? But Loki offered that to her right now. 

No. She couldn’t blow it. If they got caught, she would be locked away for good. It hurt to decline his offer, but she had to. “Let’s go. I’m taking you back to the Quinjet.”

Loki didn’t seem alarmed. “Fine,” He shrugged and even offered his wrists to her. Y/N gritted her teeth together as she grabbed his wrist so she could pull him with her. But as their bodies touched, she felt a jolt. It’s like an invisible force pushed her out of her physical body.

In the blink of an eye, she saw herself and Loki in a dream realm. Loki seemed to notice the change too. They weren’t in the forest anymore. Instead, they were in a dim ballroom. They were the only two people there. The candles had burned out, no music was playing, and it smelled like dust and rotting wood. There was an old piano in the corner of the ballroom. Dead roses were laid on it and the petals had worn off and scattered on the dusty keys and the floor.

The ballroom was so familiar.

Just like the one from Y/N’s dreams.

Their eyes met and for a moment, Loki seemed stunned. It was obvious that he recognized the place. He looked at Y/N and she could swear he looked sorry. It was all too much for her to handle now.

Startled by this, she let go of Loki and stepped back, nearly stumbling on the ground. They were back in the forest as if they had never left. “What the hell was that?” Y/N cried out in fear. Nothing like it had ever happened to her before.

Somehow, Loki didn’t even look startled by it. That same look of agony returned into his gaze, but he refused to address it. Before another word could be spoken between them, the Quinjet landed on the forest ground. The tall trees swayed because of the wind and leaves scattered up in the air. The broken ramp wasn’t useful so instead Natasha jumped out of it, landing smoothly on the ground. Steve must’ve joined Tony to fight Loki’s brother.

“I see you caught him all on your own,” Natasha broke the silence. Something about the way she spoke made Y/N feel guilty, as if Natasha suspected something had happened. Nothing had happened, right? Y/N had made sure Loki didn’t escape and she had only asked him a few questions. How did she still feel so bad?

“Yeah. He’s all yours,” Y/N tired to brush her worries away. She wished Natasha would take Loki into the Quinjet. After what just happened, touching the god wasn’t on the top of the list of things Y/N’s wanted to do. She wasn’t sure what she would do if that thing happened again.

[Ch. 2]

A/N: Please let me know if you’d like to be tagged. A reblog and your feedback would mean so much 💚

[thirtysomethingloser92]

Chapter 2

Summary: After being removed from his own time, Agent Daniel Sousa finds himself in 2020 lost, alone and vulnerable. You, an Avenger, find yourself face to face with Director Coulson and Agent May begging you to help another man out of time. This time however, instead of a super soldier, you meet an average man haunted by war and a time he once knew.   Pairings: Daniel Sousa x Reader.

Your eyes stared at the files on the coffee table, the SHIELD logo staring at you, almost mockingly, daring you to open them up and read them. To peer into the personal lives of the people from a past time. To peer into the personal file of the man sleeping soundlessly down the hall. Hands covering the large mug you held between your palms kept your hands somewhat distracted from twitching over the wanting to open them.

You hadn't done it with Steve, but that was because Steve was easy to read. He wasn't a spy like Daniel was. He couldn't hide behind his mask, his eyes and his demeanor gave him away far too easily.

However with Daniel, he seemed to be taking this all in his stride. Eager to learn new things, eager to reintroduce himself back into society. It had been 3 weeks and his demeanor hadn't even faltered under your watchful gaze. At night time, when he was sure you couldn't hear or see him; That was a completely different story.

You reached down and picked up your phone, placing your cup next to it, fully preparing to call the one person on this planet who would know what Daniel was dealing with, what emotions he was feeling; whether Steve Rogers answered his phone to you, that would be decided. It was the unbalanced walk and the steady sound of a walking stick against your wooden hallway that made you pause what you were doing. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a the familiar dark haired man standing in the doorway, somewhat frozen to the spot as his eyes glanced around before finally landing on you. A reassuring smile graced your face as you turned in your seat to fully face the former SHIELD agent who was clad in a white singlet and loose pajama pants, "Good morning. Sleep well?" You asked politely, placing your phone down on the coffee table and standing up to meet Daniel halfway into the living room.

"Yeah it was fine," He smiled hesitantly for a moment before pointing to the plush couch, "Do you mind if I-?"

You turned to look at the couch, "Oh no. Please make yourself at home. Anything you need help yourself too. This is pretty much your place as well now,"

"Thanks,".

You hovered slightly behind him as he fell into the couch, his walking stick sitting neatly next to him. You watched as his eyes lingered on the manila folders sitting on the oak coffee table before making their way up to the television. "How do you turn the television on again?" He asked, somewhat hesitantly.

A proper smile graced your face as you made your way to the table and picked up the remote to your TV, "This, is a remote control," You pointed to the large television sitting in the corner, "You find the sensor on the TV, which is located just on the bottom, point the remote, and press the red button," You pressed the red button and the screen lit up to show the familiar news channel you were watching the day before

You watched as an array of emotions crossed Daniel's eyes, his face never once giving away an inch; "How?"

"Please don't ask me that. All I know is I press a button on this and it does things to that,". A small smile crossed Daniel's face as he shook his head slightly and moved his head to look around at your other appliances you had in your home, "Two thousand and twenty. A long way from home," He murmured, his eyes finally landing back on yours.

You placed a hand on his arm and gave a tight smile before reaching over and grabbing the files that were sitting on the table and sitting them on your lap, "Phil came over yesterday when you were asleep. He dropped these off for you," You held them out to him, "Inside is files on your friends, your family, people you worked with; and what became of them over the years,"

His hands hovered over the files for a moment before looking up at you, "Peggy Carter?"

"She's in here too,"

"Thank you" He said sincerely as his hands grasped the folder.

You gave a short nod as you stood up, grabbing the empty coffee mug, to make your way over to the kitchenette. Behind you, you could hear the rustling of papers that you assumed Daniel was reading over. Two cups, three sugars between the both of them and two teaspoons of coffee and you waited patiently for your kettle to finish boiling. Last night was an unusually sleepless night for you, waking up every few hours to check on your new roommate, if he had woke up and if so, how he was coping. You noticed the blank look on his face, the same look Steve once wore. The one that didn't want to show you that he wasn't okay, but you knew that deep down, he was struggling. He was going to continue to struggle until he allowed himself to grieve and accept what he had lost.

"Was she happy?" You heard from behind you. You lifted your kettle off the stove and quickly turned to Daniel who's brown eyes looked deeply saddened. You could see the heartbreak flash across his face and it took you barely a second to figure out who he was talking about.

"In the end? It says here that she had a husband, a few kids," He swallowed the lump in his throat, "Was she happy in the end?"

A small smile crossed your face as you nodded. There's no mention of her husband's name in any files, nor her children; but any time she would speak of them you could hear the pride in her voice; the pure joy she had. "She was happy, I promise" You watched as he returned to the files and closed them, swallowing once again and placing them down on the coffee table.

"I regret not being able to say goodbye. If I just had one more day, an hour. I'd tell her that I lo-" His words were cut off by your front door swinging open and the familiar, bouncy haired brunette walked into the room.

You placed a hand on your hip and shook your head "Audrey we've talked about this. You can't just walk in without knocking,"

The younger woman's eyes widened as she saw Daniel sitting on the couch in his pyjamas. The other man looked increasingly uncomfortable as the silence grew. "Oh my-" She quickly cut herself off and threw her hands over her mouth, "Oh I'm so sorry. I didn't realise that you had company," She stumbled out, a large smile growing over her face.

A small sigh escaped your lips, "Audrey, this is my new roommate Daniel. He's from New Jersey, just bunking in until he gets settled in,"

Daniel gave a small smile as he held out his hand for the younger woman to shake, which she did almost immediately; "It's so so good, great, so great; to meet you Daniel,"

The pair of you raised an eyebrow at Audrey's star struck demeanor; "It's wonderful to meet you too Audrey," He replied. You noticed that he was beginning to feel somewhat uncomfortable by how long Audrey was shaking his hand so you cleared your throat to draw her attention to you.

"So what's up anyway? I don't expect you to barge in like this until at least Eleven," You picked up yours and Daniel's coffees and made your way into the living room, setting them carefully down on the table, nodding at Daniel's smile of thanks.

"Oh I forgot what month it was," You heard her mumble under her breath before a smile crossed her face, "You know what, don't stress. I'll ask Mrs. Maisel down the hall if she would be able to help me out. You just uh, settle in and get comfortable.," She backed towards the door, "It's was fantastic meeting you Daniel,"

"You too,"

"Bye Audrey," You smiled as you gave her a small wave that she greatly returned before exiting the apartment

"She's a bit odd isn't she?" You turned from the the mug in your hand to look at Daniel who was now staring at the door Audrey left through, "She's harmless. Moved in a few months after me. She's sweet enough," You moved over to Daniel who was watching you with curious eyes, "If she was a bad guy she would have a attacked me ages ago. So far she comes over and vents to me. It's nice, makes things less lonely," "There's something about her..." "Come on, instead of scrutinizing my neighbors, how about we learn the wonder that is Google Chrome," "Google?"

"You're gonna love it," You grinned as you picked up your phone and pulled open a streaming app.

<>

The strong breeze fell over your face as you pulled your jacket around your body tighter, the sun beamed down on your face as the familiar smell of hot cart food and coffee drifted through the air and into your nostrils. You side eyed Daniel who was easily keeping your pace through Central Park, his eyes taking all the views around him. The people, the cars; more importantly you knew that the fresh air might do him a bit better.

"So in Two Thousand and Twelve we found Captain Steve Rogers in the Arctic Circle, still in the plane he crashed, frozen," You continued from your previous conversation about major events of the past years he had missed, "Took him back to SHIELD and surprise surprise, he's alive," You watched Daniel's eyebrows raise into his hairline, "Theory has it it was his super soldier serum that preserved him for all those years. A week or so later I get a phone call talking about something called the Avengers Initiative. Now, I'm not a superhero, in fact, people kinda suck," A small laugh came from Daniel's mouth, "But Agent Coulson called in a favor from me to help Steve assimilate to the 21st century,"

Daniel nodded, "How did he cope with it?"

"He's currently on the run from One hundred and Ten countries,"

A confused look crossed over his face as he paused and turned to face you, his mouth slightly open, fully prepared to ask questions; however before he could you held up your hand to silence him, "It's such a long story. Short version, we screwed up, now the UN wants to put regulations on people with abnormal abilities,"

"Like Daisy?"

You rose an eyebrow, "No idea who that is. But if she has special abilities then yeah, like Daisy. Like me," You both continued to walk, "The problem with that is it stops the Avengers from going where they needed to be. The government decides where we need to be,"

"And that's a bad thing?"

A dry smile crossed your face, "If you ever met General Ross then you would understand why it's bad," You shook your head, "Anyway, they called them the Sokovian Accords. Some of The Avenger's agreed with them, others didn't. Those who did were put under restrictions, those who didn't had a warrant for their arrest set out for them,"

"I assume you agreed with them?"

"Why would you say that?"

"Well you're here. You're not looking over your shoulder,"

You nodded and held up your left arm, a strong silver band wrapped around it, "I didn't agree with it. But my friend made a good point, by signing it at least we can then negotiate it. We wouldn't have a chance if we went on the run,"

"What does your bracelet do?"

"Stop me from being able to use my abilities," You smiled.

"What are they?"

You pointed to the familiar green and white coffee shop in the distance, "Starbucks, possibly the best and worse coffee place you'll ever set foot in. Founded in 1971, the frappacino's are to die for,"

You missed the concerned look on Daniel's face as you started to walk towards the crosswalk. There was a reason why you didn't like telling people about your powers, the exact same reason why you were ashamed of them when you first met Agent Coulson. They were dangerous, even if you were able to somewhat control them, there were times when you couldn't, and you never knew what was real and what wasn't. It was both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.

You'd like to be able to keep them to yourself for just a little bit longer.

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