#to sleep and had ugly ass interfaces

[fingertipsmp3]

Full disclosure I do not care if someone copies me. I quite literally do not give a shit. Maybe it’s just because I’m 28 and getting mad about someone “copying” you is high school shit, maybe it’s genuinely not a big deal, I don’t know. I could run into someone who’s wearing the same thing, head to toe, that I am and I would neither notice nor care

[yelena-bellova]

Fault Line: Steve Rogers x F!Enhanced Reader

chapter thirteen - Chapter Fourteen: A Stark and a Secret

Series Masterlist

Plot: Y/n does research on the Maximoffs and gains a better understanding of them. A party takes place at Avengers Tower that charts a new course for the team.

Word Count: 5.9k

Warnings: language, canon typical violence, wounds

A/N: To my 10 readers, I hope you’re enjoying this because we ain’t stopping. We’re getting so close to the story taking a whole new turn and I can’t wait! Hope you like this one! (Apologies, can’t add the ‘keep adding’ thingamabobber on mobile)

—————————

As much as I felt I’d grown over the last few years, my impatience had yet to mature.

Hill hadn’t moved fast enough for my taste on the Maximoff kids. It wasn’t her fault she had higher priorities, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. That had led to a night of no sleep, and that had led to me teleporting out of bed and into my living room. Before I knew it, I was hunched over my couch, using JARVIS to compile information and learn everything I could about the twins.

“Run me through the whole thing, JARVIS,” I ordered, balancing my elbows on my knees and squeezing my hands together. I was one step away from praying.

“Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, born January 1989 in Novi Grad. Parents: Oleg and Iryna Maximoff. Transferred to the Novi Grad Orphanage at age ten after their parents were killed in an air raid. They were added to SHIELD’s watch list upon joining a political movement against both Stark Industries and the Avengers.”

“Great,” I said plainly, watching pictures and video footage of the Maximoffs flicker across JARVIS’ blue screen, “So they hate us.”

“Correct, ma’am,” the interface confirmed.

I rubbed my hands over my face and groaned. We devoted our lives to saving the world and there were still those that hated us. And if they hated us enough, that’s when things got ugly.

I stood to my feet, too agitated to sit any longer. “What beef do they have with Stark Industries?”

“I cannot confirm, but Mr. Stark’s weapons were used by the US Air Force at the time of the strike against Sokovia.”

“Wait,” I ceased my pacing, “The strike was US orchestrated?”

“It was.”

My American military history was shitty and my Sokovian was non-existent. If Tony’s missiles had been used to bomb the Maximoff’s home, their blind hatred gained a face.

“And the rest of us, by default, fall into the same league as Tony?”

“The protest group’s viewpoint on heroes is in the same vein as similar organizations,” JARVIS confirmed.

I nodded in annoyance, “That we’re just puppets of a fascist government. Heard that tune before…”

“HYDRA operated out of Sokovia for several years up until 36 hours ago,” JARVIS said, pulling up a picture of the base we’d been at the day before, “The Maximoff’s online presence disappeared last year.”

“And we found them at the base,” I continued the thought.

“Correct.”

“With powers that, to our knowledge, they didn’t previously have.”

“Correct, ma’am.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, “So Tony indirectly killed their parents, they volunteered to be experimented on by HYDRA, got powers and are now on the loose?”

“As I understand it, yes,” JARVIS stated.

The couch bounced as I plopped down on it. I’d been all prepared to dislike them, and now I was starting to understand them. Loss pushed you to your limits. Coulson’s death had made me want to slit Loki’s throat. Joining an anti-government protest was one of the less offending options.

“Well, this sucks,” I complained.

“Which part, ma’am?”

“The part where I sympathize with the girl who beat my ass,” I pressed my fingers into my eyes, a headache forming behind them.

“Shall I call Captain Rogers for you, ma’am?” JARVIS kindly offered.

“No,” I replied, “One of us should get sleep, at least. In fact, do me a favor, JARVIS, and seal all of this.”

“Is that the best course of action, ma’am, if the Maximoffs are subjects of interest?”

“It is,” I said into my water glass, throwing back the last of it, “They’re misguided, but they’re not full blown villains yet. If they pop up again, we might be able to help them. Plus, if Tony gets involved in this in any capacity, he’s just gonna make it worse.”

On cue, a loud noise from Tony’s workshop came. It was the third time in the last twenty minutes. He’d told me that he’d suffered from insomnia post-New York, I was worried it had started up again.

“Understood, ma’am,” JARVIS promptly locked all files related to the Maximoffs under my personal code. Not even Tony could break in.

“Thanks, JARVIS,” I called, heading down the hallway back to my bedroom. I rejoined Steve, tucking myself back in his embrace, but my body couldn’t relax into the mattress.

With no memory of my parents or my home, I couldn’t fully understand the Maximoff’s pain. And yet there was something deep inside me that felt it as if it was my own. I’d spent years wandering, looking to find my way back to what could never be retrieved. I fell into a life of crime, doing what I had to, just trying to stay alive. I’d been so wary of SHIELD upon meeting Fury, I’d practically walked out of the room. Our stories aligned in slightly different, yet similar ways. And my heart was beginning to hurt because of it.

—————————

Tony could still throw an mazing party.

While I wasn’t sure who half the guests were, everybody was having a good time. I was convinced most of them were just thrilled to tell their friends they partied with the Avengers.

I made polite chitchat with a few ex-SHIELD agents who were now elsewhere in the private sector. Halfway through a particularly braggy special ops guy telling the entirely false tale of how Fury had personally recruited him, Tony interrupted and invented a guest he simply had to introduce me to.

“I was sending you S.O.S thought calls for five minutes,” I said through my teeth as I took his arm.

“I know,” Tony grinned and raised his glass towards a passerby, “See what happens when you insult my smoothies? Ow!”

I absorbed the electricity back into my body with a smirk and took a glass of champagne from a waiter. From where Tony and I were casually strolling, there was a certain beauty to the tower. The lighting was picturesque with New York’s evening skyline acting as a perfect background. The music was light, yet vibrant. Everyone looked good, even I felt special in my dark blue sleeveless cocktail dress. It was a celebration worthy of its name.

“Enjoying yourself?” Tony asked.

“You chose the booze for this thing, of course I’m having a good time.”

The two of us clinked our glasses together. I got the closer look I’d wanted at Tony’s face. There were fresh bags under his eyes, blood vessels had burst around his pupils, even his tanned skin looked a little pale. All of it assisted my theory that he hadn’t been sleeping. Either something was bothering him or genus really didn’t take a night off.

“Hey,” I started, “If something was going on, you’d tell me right?”

“Such as?”

“You’ve been different since we got back,” I said, dancing around the subject had never been my strong suit. He’d been more distracted than usual, the tiniest bit on edge.

Tony went quiet, I could feel him tense up against my arm. He was only confirming my suspicions.

It wasn’t like we didn’t all have our secrets. But whatever he was keeping to himself was affecting him. Tony was the kind of person who could self implode if he kept everything in for too long. I needed to head that off.

“Tony,” I said softly, we’d stopped at the top of the stairs by now, “Tell me when to worry.”

He took a sip of the champagne, keeping his gaze on the partygoers below us without actually watching anyone. He was somewhere else entirely.

And then he was back.

“The only thing you need to worry about is me whipping your ass at pool,” Tony quipped.

I sighed, wishing he wasn’t himself.

“So,” Tony went to lean against the railing of the overlook, “How are you and Spangles?”

“We’re good,” I smiled, catching a quick glance at Steve. He was standing at the bar with Sam, who’d flown in from D.C for the party. Natasha handed them each a beer and the three of them shared a laugh. From my bird’s eye view, I could admire all of Steve. He looked handsome in his signature blue, a dress shirt rolled up to his elbows. He looked happy, rather at ease for someone who hated parties with more than five or six people.

“You two are disgusting,” Tony groaned, downing the rest of his bubbly.

“Oh, and you and Pepper aren’t?” I shot back.

Tony shook a finger, “We keep it in our pants. Not everybody wants to see you making googly eyes at one another.”

He wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. After two and a half years, I was still unshakably in love with Steve Rogers and it showed.

“Is that the sweet, gentle tolling of wedding bells in the distance?” Tony teased as I admired my boyfriend. I elbowed him in the side. “C’mon, it’s about time you painfully boring kids tie the knot.”

Steve and I had talked about marriage in the past, but we’d never actually talked about when. We knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together and that was enough for now. But I couldn’t deny there was a part of me that wondered when life would begin as husband and wife…

“Maybe if we weren’t always saving the world, we’d have time,” I played the comment off.

“Ah, so now that the schedule is open, we should wait with bated breath for an announcement?”

“Is there a point to this conversation,” I rolled my eyes, making for the stairs, “Or are you just being nosier than usual?”

Tony headed down with me, “As long as I’m the one that gets to walk you down the aisle, I don’t particularly care when it happens.”

I smiled softly, resting my head on his shoulder as we walked.

“Only to make sure I’m truly rid of you.”

Another eye roll. “You ruin everything,” I said over his smug chuckle, “I really mean that.”

When we hit the floor, it was like Steve’s radar went off. He turned around and found us, immediately making his way through the crowd.

“Think I can steal you away?” he asked, his hand already extended.

Tony gestured to me, “All yours. Till death do you part.”

I turned to reprimand him but he was already onto his next conversation. It was Tony’s nature to start a fire and run.

“What was that about?” Steve asked.

I threw back the last of my champagne and handed the empty glass to a waiter. “Absolutely nothing of importance,” I replied, taking his hand.

Steve led me into the crowd of guests dancing, or at least moving, to the music. He wrapped his arm around my waist, gripping my waist gently, and we began to sway.

—————————

NOVEMBER 2013

We were at a charity event for underserved communities in New York. Steve, dressed in his tux, and me in a custom ballgown. It felt hypocritical to wear a $3,000 dress while talking about food stamps, but I’d learned you had to play by rich people’s rules to get their money. Speeches had been given, schmoozing had been done, and I was mentally exhausted.

“It’s decided,” I sighed, settling into my seat across from Steve, “Next time, we send Tony.”

“Barton would do great in an environment like this,” Steve smirked. He hated these things as much as I did.

I practically choked on my champagne, the image of Clint having to make nice with a bunch of snobs was beautiful. “He’d kill me in my sleep,” I laughed, “And not quickly. He’d drag it out.”

Steve joined in just as the band struck up another tune. It was an old Glen Miller song I recognized from Steve’s vinyl collection.

“Ooh,” I got to my feet, pleasantly buzzed from the alcohol, and extended my hand, “May I have this dance, Captain?”

Instantly, Steve’s demeanor changed and he tensed up. He looked like he’d rather be anywhere but there in the middle of the party with me.

“I-I’m not much of a dancer,” he said, nervously smiling.

“Oh, come on,” I pushed, going to grab his hand, “You’re good at everything, it’s annoying really…”

He shook his head, “No, really, Y/n…”

“Steve, you love this song-“

“No,” he firmly pulled his hand away from me and looked down at the table. He squeezed his hands together, his knuckles were white. All because I’d asked him to dance.

I quickly sobered up, realizing I’d pushed him too far. Steve and I were best friends, we existed in a space where there was never any tension between us. And for reasons unknown to me, I’d hurt him.

“I’m sorry,” I sat back down. Embarrassment had set in and I tried to look anywhere but at him.

“It’s okay,” he fiddled with his thumbs, “I just…it’s just something from my time. I just don’t like dancing.”

“I’m sorry,” I repeated, trying to smile as if nothing was wrong. As if a little part of me didn’t ache to be held by Steve and sweep across the floor.

The rest of the night was spent in awkward conversation with guests and endless photo ops. Steve walked me up to my apartment, kissed me on the cheek and told me he’d see me at headquarters in the morning for a briefing. I went to bed wondering why the evening bothered me so much, I wouldn’t understand until weeks later on the snowy balcony of Stark Tower…

—————————

“Look at you,” I smiled, “Dancing man.”

“You sound surprised.”

I shrugged, “Well, you wouldn’t dance with me for, like, the first six months of our relationship. And when you did, my gosh, you were terrible.”

Steve gave a dimpled smile, “I told you I was bad.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think anybody could be that bad…”

“And again, I apologize to you and your toes,” he chuckled, pressing a kiss to the crown of my head.

I sighed, letting my head rest against on his shoulder. “We survived.”

Steve pulled me tighter to him till there was no space between us. I could feel fellow partygoer’s eyes on us, America’s Golden Couple, but we were in a world of our own. One I could happily disappear into forever. When Steve squeezed my hand, it was easy to imagine the hard steel of a ring digging into my palm…

“I love you,” I quietly said, looking up and meeting Steve in a soft kiss.

“I love you too,” he replied, pecking my lips, “So much.”

—————————

Around midnight, the party finally died down to just the core group. Rhodey, Maria and Dr. Cho were the only non-team members that got to see us in our natural state.

I was sitting on the floor, leaning my head against Steve’s knee and nursing a beer. His free hand was resting on my shoulder, the other was holding an action figure version of himself. Tony had felt it the perfect thing to bring out miniature versions of us that had just hit shelves across America.

“Oh, check out Sparky,” Tony teased, passing my figure around to the team. Each of them tried to contain their laughter, save Clint, who was tipsy and roared when he got a look at it.

Finally, the toy reached Steve and I. The manufacturers had tried to replicate the electricity that came out my fingertips. The execution was…less than perfect.

“It looks like there’s pasta coming out of my fingers,” I exclaimed, everyone finally letting their laughter free.

Steve rubbed my back, “It’s not that bad.”

“Oh, easy for you to say,” I reached over him and grabbed his figure to examine it, “How do they manage to make such a perfect six pack on such a tiny piece of plastic?”

Tony went after his own figure, complaining they didn’t give him enough ass. Thor lingered on how the prop Mjolnir didn’t have true engravings in it, the factory had just done some squiggly lines. That led to a conversation about the real hammer and its powers.

“But it’s a trick,” Clint stated, cockily twirling a drumstick that had come from…somewhere.

“Oh no, it’s much more than that,” Thor assured him.

“Uh,” Clint deepened his voice, gesturing to the hammer, “‘Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power,’” he laughed, “Whatever, man, it’s a trick.”

We all snickered, Thor gestured to Mjolnir. “Well, please, be my guest.”

“Oh my gosh,” I shook my head, getting on my knees and putting my hands together, “Please. Please.”

Clint raised an eyebrow at Thor, “Really?”

“Yeah,” Thor nodded.

He hesitated for a second before getting to his feet and going for it.

“Oh, this is gonna be beautiful,” Rhodey remarked, looking to me after, “20 bucks on the hammer.”

“I don’t take bets I know I’ll lose,” I took a swig of my beer.

Clint raised a middle finger to us both as he took stock of the hammer.

“Clint, you've had a tough week,” Tony said, “We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up.”

Clint smiled at Thor as we all laughed, “You know I've seen this before, right?”

He wrapped a hand around the hammer and strained as he pulled. It didn’t budge. He didn’t try for long before letting it go with a laugh, “I still don’t know how you do it.”

“Smell the silent judgement?” Tony snarked.

“Please, Stark,” Clint extended a hand towards Mjolnir, “By all means.”

Tony stood up, unbuttoning his jacket with a little flair. The lot of us groaned expectantly. I pulled my phone off the table and started recording.

“Never one to shrink from an honest challenge,” Tony stated, “It’s physics.”

“Yes, all the age old Norse tales involve physics,” I snickered, moving around to get the best angle.

Tony wrapped a hand around Mjolnir, “Right, so if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?”

“Yes, of course,” Thor nodded, his tone condescending and just the slightest bit smug.

“I will be re-instituting Prima Nocta,” Tony yanked on the hammer, causing nothing to happen. He smiled and let go, “I’ll be right back.”

What followed was a twenty minute spectacle we could have sold tickets to. Tony retrieved a hand from his armor, thinking that Asgard and Stark technology somehow went hand in hand. He employed Rhodey and the War Machine appendage to help with the same disappointing results. Bruce gave it a try, putting his whole body into it, before pretending to transform into the Hulk in his awkward, goofy way. All of it provided a memory that I would make sure lived in infamy.

Steve set down his beer at one point and got to his feet.

“Let’s go, Steve, no pressure,” Tony half-encouraged.

As he walked past me, rolling up his sleeves, I brought the camera in for a close up. “How are you feeling about your chances, Captain?”

“Like we need to make sure this video never sees daylight,” he smiled at my phone, a resounding chorus of agreements following. That wasn’t gonna happen.

Steve grabbed Mjolnir’s handle with both hands and tugged. We were all slightly tipsy from the alcohol, but as I watched him try to lift the hammer…I swore it moved. I looked over to Thor, whose eyes had widened. Suddenly I didn’t feel crazy.

And yet Steve let go of the hammer with a groan, holding his hands up in polite defeat.

“Nothing,” Thor laughed, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him nervous. It was slightly alarming.

“Volts?” Tony called me, gesturing to the hammer.

I was generally okay with who I was. I had a past I wasn’t particularly proud of, I’d also been saved from it. I kept good company and tried to do the right thing, even if it didn’t always turn out that way. I did it all with good intentions of living a good life. An honest life, as honest a life as q spy could live. But I wasn’t delusional, there was a purity to Steve and Thor that didn’t live in me.

“Yeah,” I gave a small smile, taking a seat next to Natasha, “I don’t need Asgard. Watching you humiliate yourselves is prize enough for me.”

They booed me, Clint threw a drumstick in my direction.

“Widow?” Bruce asked.

“Oh, no, no,” Nat took a swig of her beer, “That’s not a question I need answered.”

“All deference to the man who would be king, but it’s rigged,” Tony announced.

“You bet your ass,” Clint nodded.

Maria hummed, “Steve, he said a bad language word.”

Steve’s posture drooped in annoyance, glaring at Tony, “Did you tell everyone about that?”

“Babe,” I tried to soften the blow, “That’s never going away.”

“The handle’s imprinted,” Tony went on, “Right? Like a security code. ‘Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints’ is, I think, the literal translation?”

“Yes, well that's, uh, that's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one,” Thor took hold of his hammer, lifting and flipping it effortlessly, “You’re all not worthy.”

We laughed and disagreed loudly, I felt the urge to delete the video I’d taken just to spare Thor the proof that…not all of us were seemingly unworthy.

Suddenly, feedback sounded all through the room. The screeching had us all covering our ears.

“The hell was…” I started to ask, just before the culprit entered the room. One of the Iron Legion suits was dragging itself in.

“Worthy...no, how could you be worthy? You're all killers.”

“Stark,” Steve said, his Captain voice in full effect.

“JARVIS,” Tony called.

“I'm sorry, I was asleep,” the robot took a clumsy step, “Or...I was a dream?”

Tony began giving commands to the device he carried around in his pocket. It controlled the Iron Legion through JARVIS. “Reboot. Legionnaire OS, we got a buggy suit.”

The robot continued, “There was a terrible noise...and I was tangled in... in...strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy.”

“Who’d you kill?” I asked, standing a little taller.

“Wouldn't have been my first call,” it answered, “But down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices.”

“Who sent you?” Thor asked.

A very familiar voice came from the robot, it was Tony’s. “I see a suit of armor around the world.”

It didn’t take a mind reader to put the pieces together. This was what Tony had been hiding.

“Ultron,” Bruce exclaimed.

“In the flesh,” the bot replied, “Or, no, not yet. Not this...chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission.”

“What mission?” Natasha asked.

“Peace in our time.”

The wall behind Ultron exploded, more Iron Legion suits coming through. Steve kicked the coffee table so forcefully it flew through the air, protecting those who had dropped to the floor. One of the suits slammed through the table, throwing Steve backwards. I quickly formed a ball and threw it at his attacker. It took it down momentarily, but I guessed it would boot itself back up soon.

Tony and Rhodey, trying to make it to their suits, were each thrown in different directions. I telekinetically lifted one of the bots into the air for Thor to whack with Mjolnir. I spotted Natasha and Bruce hopping over the bar, Bruce struggling. I built a force field over him to shield him from the blasts flying past his head. Unfortunately, it left me open for one of the suits to tackle me, sliding me across the floor. I put my hands to its head, frying its innards as best I could. It slowed down enough for me to telekinetically throw it off me, jumping to my feet.

Steve was flying above me, clinging to the back of one of the bots. It slammed him into the wall, before reaching behind and throwing him on top of the bar. I couldn’t build a field around him in time, but gladly sent a ball of electricity into the belly of one of the robots. Steve rose just as it fell to the floor.

I tried to catch my breath, “Shield?”

“Working on it,” he replied, eyes widening as he looked over my shoulder, “Duck.”

He covered my body with his and pressed us to the floor. I felt the heat of a blast fly over us and hit the bar.

“Dr. Cho,” Steve exclaimed, getting to his feet and pulling me with him. Steve ran ahead to the piano, where the woman was hiding from one of the suits, and wrenched the robot back. “Thor!”

Behind us, Thor plunged his hammer into the bot. Tony was flying about, trying to jam a fondue fork into the neck of the suit he was battling. Nat was on the top level, popping out every few seconds to take a shot. It was complete chaos.

“Cap!” Clint yelled, throwing the shield across the room. Steve spun through the air and caught it while I teleported to where Nat was. I created another ball, letting the pressure build and build as I formed it, until I couldn’t contain it any more. I launched it at the nearest bot and it finally shorted out. The amount of energy it took to kill one of them was more than I had in me.

With the last of them gone, silence fell across the room.

“That was dramatic,” Ultron exclaimed, “I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to...evolve?”

Ultron picked up one of the heads of an Iron Legion suit. “With these? These puppets?” he crushed it, “There's only one path to peace…the Avengers' extinction.”

Before he could say anything else, Thor sent Mjolnir flying through Ultron, shattering him.

“I had strings…” the dismembered head creepily droned, “But now I’m free…”

The blue that lit up his eyes faded, he was gone.

I reached for the railing, exhausted. Leaning my head against it, I shut my eyes and slipped into Tony’s mind. The time for privacy was over.

Filing through his memories, I found him and Banner the day we returned from Sokovia. Planning something. A program. Building something that could protect…everything. Tests in the middle of the night. A suit of armor around the world.

Ultron.

—————————

We retreated to the lab, tending to our wounds and waiting for an explanation.

“All our work is gone,” Banner lamented, “Ultron cleared out, used the Internet as an escape hatch.”

“Ultron,” Steve repeated the name, shaking his head.

“He’s been in everything,” Nat reported, checking one of the computers, “Files, surveillance...Probably knows more about us than we know about each other.”

I was leaned up against one of the desks, holding an ice pack to my head and silently seething towards Tony. Of all the secrets to keep…

“He's in your files,” Rhodey spoke up, holding his injured arm, “He’s in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?”

“Nuclear codes,” Maria stated in between picking glass shards out of her feet with tweezers.

“Nuclear codes,” Rhodey confirmed, “Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can.”

“Nukes?” Nat raised an eyebrow, “He said he wanted us dead.”

“He didn’t say dead,” Steve corrected with a sigh, “He said extinct.”

“He also said he killed someone,” Clint recalled from his position above us all. The naive part of me, the one that felt as overwhelmed as a rookie, was comforted that he was present. My mentor through and through.

“But there wasn’t anyone else in the building,” Maria said.

Tony walked to the center of the room, “Yes, there was.”

He flicked the device that triggered JARVIS, the AI’s interface came up…utterly destroyed. All of us stood to attention, it was like losing a member of the team.

“This is insane,” Bruce exclaimed, examining the virtual loose ends.

Steve sighed, “JARVIS was the first line of defense. He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense.”

“No,” Bruce shook his head, “Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy, this is...rage.”

“Oh, so you guys built a bloodthirsty robot,” I remarked, “That’s brilliant”

Thor stalked in, returning from his attempt to track down the one Iron Legion bot that had escaped. He walked straight up to Tony and grabbed him by the neck.

“It’s going around,” Clint commented.

“Come on, use your words, buddy,” Tony strained as Thor let him hang, walking him towards the wall.

“I have more than enough words for you, Stark,” Thor said, his voice so calm it was scary.

“Get in line,” I stated as I set down the ice pack, coming to watch the spectacle.

“Thor!” Steve called, rage would have to wait, “The Legionnaire.”

Thor dropped Tony, the supposed genius stumbling back, and reported. “Trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it's headed north,” he paused, staring at Tony, “And it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again.”

I wanted to take back my prayer for a longer hunt. This was worse, so much worse.

“The genie's out of that bottle,” Nat replied, “Clear and present is Ultron.”

“I don’t understand,” Dr. Cho said, turning from the dismembered Iron Legion bodies to address Tony, “You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?”

And out of all the responses, all the reactions, all the human emotions Tony could have chosen, he chose the worst one…he chose to laugh.

“I’m sorry…” I smiled humorlessly, “Is this funny to you?”

“No,” he said, turning around and barely containing his smile, “It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so...is it so...it is. It's so terrible.”

“This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand,” Thor said, coming to stand next to me.

“No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny,” Tony’s mood shifted, he was pissed with us, “It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this.”

Now it was my turn to laugh. “I’m sorry, you’re mad at us?”

“Tony,” Bruce sang, “Maybe this might not be the best time to-“

“Really? That's it?” Tony turned to his accomplice, “You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls?”

“Only when I’ve created a murder bot,” Banner replied.

“We didn't,” Tony stated, “We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?”

Rolling my eyes, I marched over to the pile of Iron Legion parts. I ripped off one of the heads and held it up, “Then what do you call this?”

“Well, you did something right,” Steve said, arms crossed, “And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD.”

“You had every fucking opportunity to tell any one of us about this,” I added, “What did you gain by hiding it?”

Tony shook a hand between Steve and I, “Okay, can you take a day off from the Mom and Dad bit?”

“Oh my gosh,” I ran a hand over my face, mumbling to myself, “Thor, strangle him again.

“Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?” Tony started up again.

We all groaned, rolled our eyes, showed our exhaustion with him and his flawed reasoning…

“Saved New York?”

“Never heard that,” Rhodey replied, dripping in sarcasm.

“Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but, that up there,” Tony pointed to the ceiling, “That's...that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?”

“Together,” Steve said, so confidant in his answer.

Tony took a step forward, his true feelings showing finally on his face. “We’ll lose.”

“Then we’ll do that together too,” Steve replied, Tony was the first to break eye contact. “Thor’s right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller.”

Tony slinked away with Bruce to begin a program to try and track down Ultron. Rhodey and Maria helped each other with their injuries. I slipped out of the room, suddenly feeling ridiculous in my cocktail dress. I teleported to the elevator, closing the door quickly so no one could follow me.

Inside the car, I leaned against the corner wall and shut my eyes. Tony Stark could age you by a decade in seconds. But I couldn’t put the full blame on him, Banner had participated too. Neither of them had consulted any of us. This wasn’t secret research on a couple of Enhanced…this could ruin everything.

The elevator let me off on my floor. I dragged myself to the bedroom, slipping down onto the foot of my mattress. The urge to curl up under the covers and pass out was tempting, but I had a feeling we’d be working through the night.

“Hey,” Steve’s voice came from the doorframe. He slipped in as sluggishly as I had.

“Great party,” I muttered, running a hand over my dress, “Little rowdy towards the end but…”

He scoffed and leaned up against my dresser, crossing his arms. “Tony didn’t say anything about this? He tells you everything.”

I shook my head, “I’d heard him the past couple nights tinkering…birthing a killer robot wouldn’t have even made my top fifty guesses.”

“Guess it doesn’t matter,” Steve sighed, “What’s done is done.”

A selfish realization hit me. “Shit…” I said, pressing my hands to my lips in a praying position.

“What?”

“Shit…”

“Y/n, what?” Steve stepped forward.

I stood to my feet, at least my secret didn’t hurt anybody other than me. “I had been researching the Maximoffs,” I explained, “JARVIS was helping me. I had him seal all the records and now…now they’re gone.”

“Why wouldn’t you say something?”

I needed to head off any arguments that might be coming. “Steve, this was personal. I wasn’t itching to play Mad Scientist, I was trying to figure out who these people were. And I found out a lot!”

Steve came and took my place on the bed, listening.

“They’re anti-Avenger, anti-Tony…” I pressed the heel of my palm into my forehead, “The Sokovian air strikes were done with Stark Industry weaponry. The Maximoffs went missing a year ago, completely off the grid…Strucker must have enlisted them then.”

I sighed, leaning against my dresser, “Look, it all feels very secondary compared to what we’re facing now but…it’s important to me. Everything I had on them disappeared with JARVIS.”

My mind spun as I recounted everything. There were no silver linings to any of our problems. It felt like a new level of hell and hopelessness.

I crossed the distance between Steve and I, coming to stand between his legs. He held onto both of my hips while I wrapped my arms around his neck, resting my face in his hair. The world could be crashing down around us, and it certainly felt like it was, but being in Steve’s arms slowed everything down. Helped me come back down to Earth.

“Would you look the other way if I killed Tony?” I mumbled against his head.

He chortled softly, rubbing his thumbs against the fabric of my dress. “We’ve faced worse,” he stood up, reaching one hand up and pulling a stray bit of hair out of my face, “We can beat this.”

“Yeah,” I whispered, nodding along, “We can beat this.”

Steve pulled me into his body, enveloping me with his warmth. It felt like the last minute of quiet we’d get before the storm set in. I dug my nose into his shirt a little deeper, trying to preserve every detail in my mind. War was waiting for us the second we stepped outside the door.

————

Fault Line Taglist: @superbookishhufflepuff @narcissism-iskey @fangirl-swagg @oopsiedoopsie23 @justanothermagicalsara @luminousrecs @21st-century-daydreamer @im-a-slut-for-fluff @hallecarey1 @this-is-mycrisis

Steve Rogers Taglist: @x-judyjude-x @dindjarinsspouse @justreadingficsdontmindme

[mabelsguidetolife]

so, my kush trip to trinidad colorado went as follows:

my dad rented a dark red dodge charger that felt like it was designed by a drunk person — it looked douchey, had very little room and fancy-looking but hard and uncomfortable bucket seats (that made everybody’s backs hurt because of the odd slope and placement of the “back support”), and smelled faintly of bad weak cologne and rancid Dude Farts....... the controls also made no sense and the speedometer was HUGE, but there was no clock nor a clock “app” even though they had a compass app in addition to the compass near the aforementioned huge speedometer, and the driver’s chair was electronically adjustable but the shotgun seat was not; the electronic user interface was overall garbage, but it at least handled well and had a good air conditioning system

woke up at five in the morning, got no sleep, sat in the stupid car for a total of sixteen hours throughout the day

endured constant negative rants from my brother-in-law and older sister who live in the third floor apartment of a gated community and regularly use the r-slur to refer to run-of-the-mill stupid people, even though the former has a developmentally disabled little half-sister; they’re not totally based or redpilled or whatever but they watch south park, which they kept describing newer episodes of even though my sister turns twenty-five tomorrow and should know better, especially since she’s seen as the intelligent sister out of the two of us..... some of the unoffensive things they talked about were things i agreed with, and some of our better humor overlaps — my sister and i were both raised by the same liberal hippie-dippy people, after all — but she’s literally been becoming a karen in front of my very eyes for several years and i rarely talk to her these days about anything serious because of it

they also kept bringing up famous rapists and pedophiles (like those in epstein’s flight log) and how fucked up all creative circles are and it was really ruining the vibes and bringing me down

had to pee like five times on the way there

my dad and brother-in-law took turns driving, but whenever the latter was in the back seat he was able to sleep like a baby despite his discomfort in the seat while i was squeezed in front where the chairs are actually worse; i had an internal hissy fit because i thought it was unfair for the non-disabled man to be able to nap well during the trip while i, a woman with a neurological disorder, was unable to sleep a wink..... i got over it but i was a bit tightly-wound almost the entire day because i was dealing with the damn Eternal Honeymooners grousing about everything and we didn’t get to smoke any damn weed during the trip (we couldn’t take any up there and it was too dank to smoke back down)

saw a guy with anti-jewish* political conspiracies painted on his suv windows, like, on purpose..... turns out he was headed for the exact destination we were and we saw somebody who worked at a dispensary standing on the street and rightfully calling him crazy as like a half-joke, half-truth so as not to offend his freak ass — we were all aghast at how hateful the words he wrote were, like, my sister took a picture because of how shocking it was *(i mean anti-zionist, which isn’t inherently antisemitic given the nature of the israeli-palestinean conflict, but it was obvious he thought they were entirely interchangeable and he used it as a “jews run the world” kinda thing which is neither okay nor accurate)

purchased some good ol’ bud for the first time, and it was even obtained legally!!!! yaaaaay!!!! (it’s also very high-quality and cheap — a lower shelf indica strain i got has 20% thc and i’m gonna use it for sleepytimes

saw lots of cows, from sad side-of-the-road dairy farm cows who live in their own excrement and have nowhere to roam, being absolutely miserable, to free-range cattle on plains and hills, being sociable and happy.... the difference was galling

saw a goddamn mutilated deer that had been struck by a large vehicle and practically turned to mincemeat, which was revolting

felt ugly the entire time even while wearing a mask

was promised i would get to visit a beautiful lake, but our itinerary sadly wouldn’t allow for it

basically the weed is good but the trip was bad; i’m tired and also a smuggler now ;)

[uzumaki-rebellion]

“Stark’s New Intern” Chp. 7

Summary: Erik receives a clue from his past...

"Leave me breadcrumbs for the ride To guide me back Leave me breadcrumbs for the ride To guide me back Leave me breadcrumbs for the ride To guide me back Leave me breadcrumbs for the ride To guide me, guide me back…"

Jamila Woods (Feat. Nico Segal) —"Breadcrumbs"

Devika pulled in front of Erik's apartment unit and Maria was already standing by the curb waiting for him.

"Thanks for the ride," Erik said.

Devika nodded and Erik was surprised to see Giselle walk down their apartment steps to meet him too. Her eyes glanced at Devika in the BMW.

"See you tomorrow, Erik," Devika said.

She drove away and Erik faced Maria and Giselle.

"Where have you been?" Maria asked.

"Stark had me at his—"

Maria's arms were thrown around his waist before he could finish speaking.

"I thought you were gone for good until I saw your luggage," she whispered into his chest.

"It's all good. Stark had me work in another lab and then he took me to his house."

"For what?" Giselle asked.

Erik hoped she would hug him too, but she stood next to Maria with concern in her eyes. She was worried about him too.

"He had a party and I followed him around. That's it."

"He doesn't have a house. He has a mansion that is out of this world. I saw pictures of it in Architectural Design," Maria said.

"So you're not leaving the internship?" Giselle asked.

"Nah."

She let out an audible sigh and he followed them both back into the apartment.

"Who brought you home?" Maria said.

"Stark's secretary."

Erik looked at Giselle.

"Why are you over here so late?"

"Maria called me."

Maria showed him her cell.

"I received this email from our Project Manager. It says I have to meet in a different department tomorrow morning—"

Maria's face looked stressed out and beyond worry. Erik removed his bowtie and pulled off his tuxedo jacket. Both women ogled his clothes.

"Don't trip. You and Valentina are moving to a new department with me."

"Why? I thought…I thought they liked my work—"

"They do, but Stark let me move to a place that wanted me and he asked me to name two people from my team to go with me. I chose you. And Valentina."

"You chose me?"

Maria's face lit up and she hugged him again.

"Lemme change real quick," Erik said prying her fingers from around him again.

His luggage was on his bed and he quickly slipped into shorts and a t-shirt.

"I gotta warn you Maria, where you're going is pretty intense. The boss of that lab ain't no joke."

"I can handle it," Maria said.

"I know you can," he said.

"I'm going to bed so I can be ready. I can finally go to sleep. Night Giselle!"

Maria scurried into her room, her spirits lifted, and Erik let his eyes rest on Giselle. She looked shy almost, her eyes breaking away from his stare.

"Guess I'll head home," she said.

"You don't have to leave."

"It's really late. I'm glad things worked out."

"Me too."

He walked over to her, stepped close enough so that his face was near hers. Her energy was pleasant, but she wasn't welcoming in the way he wanted. Professional. Bet.

"Night then," he said heading to the front door and opening it for her.

Giselle patted his shoulder and left.

###

Valentina and Maria brought their A-game.

Erik was in the middle of trying to interface two software programs that had maddening glitches that stumped him all morning when Janine pulled him aside.

"You gave me some sharp picks, Stevens," Janine said munching on baby carrots.

"Yeah?"

"Valentina and Maria fit right in. You have a good eye for talent. Tell me something…what do you want to gain from this internship?"

Erik rolled back his standing chair and faced Janine as she snacked in front of him.

"Practical real-world experience with coding applications—"

"No, your endgame. Don't give me the resume speech. What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Erik smiled.

This always happened.

His work ethic, extreme focus, and interests in multiple fields always brought the curious his way. His being Black never let him blend into the background with white people like the Asian staff. Being the small five percent of Black faces in Stark's offices never allowed anonymity. And when one was as good as Erik, that subconscious threat always reared its ugly head: Who is this uppity negro blowing up the spot? Janine wasn't even aware of how she was sounding to him. They never were. It showed up as curiosity, but the goal was to assess where they stood compared to him. Was he coming for their spot? Janine really had nothing to worry about, but after two weeks of him helping that department make progress in such a short span of time, she needed to know if Erik was aiming to become permanent.

"I'm joining the Navy. I want to be an officer."

Janine bit into a carrot and nodded.

"A Navy career. No interest in working for us at all?"

He shook his head.

"Been wanting to be in the Navy since I was little. It's why I went to the Naval Academy."

"Our loss," she said walking away.

Erik rolled back to the computer viewscreen. Janine was glad he wasn't trying to stay there. And she would use his brain up all she could before he left.

"Erik, can I see you for a minute?"

Valentina's face popped up on the viewscreen in a smaller chat screen. Erik closed down his work station and padded over to another station.

Valentina lounged in a beanie bag with her keyboard on her lap and her floating screen hanging above her.

"'Sup," Erik said.

"Does this look right?"

Erik enlarged the string of code near his face.

"What are you trying to do?" he said.

"Bypass all this junk code. There's got to be a better way to streamline all of this. We're on deadline and Janine wants a working simulation by Friday. This is going to take longer than Friday."

"You tell her that?" Erik asked swiping images, searching for problematic links.

"I'd like to keep my head on my shoulders."

"Want me to talk to her?"

"No. If you do that, then she might question why I'm here. Can you look this over later? Maybe you can catch something I'm missing. I'm getting a migraine over it."

"Let's go to lunch."

"Outside of the cafeteria?"

"Yeah."

Valentina powered down her computer and grabbed her purse. They walked through the hallway and found an express elevator they could crowd on. Once they made it to the lobby, Valentina gave out a loud sigh.

"How can you deal with Janine? She makes me feel like I'm not pulling my weight," she said.

"She giving you grief?"

"She doesn't say anything, just gives you those looks with those creepy eyes of hers. It's like playing poker and she has that neutral poker face, but with shades on. And a ten-gallon cowboy hat. And six-shooters on her hip waiting to take you down."

"She ain't that bad."

"I enjoy the work that I do, so don't think I don't appreciate your name dropping me, but sheesh…every time she comes to my station, I feel like I'm under a guillotine."

A bit of a ruckus stirred up near the entrance as Tony breezed in followed by reporters. Security surrounded the paps as Tony pulled off his shades. His head security officer, a big dude he heard Tony calling Happy, posted up next to him with his hands folded in front of him but his green ear bud glowing as he whispered instructions discreetly to the rest of his staff.

Tony held his hands out to the paps.

"There is no connection between my deal with the Afghan government and the SICA rebels. I am a businessman who works with many countries and I don't deal in politics—"

"But your weapons systems give certain groups advantages that our government has questioned because of anti-democratic behavior and human rights abuses—"

"And our government does business with plenty of countries with anti-democratic behavior and human rights abuses…China anyone?"

"Tony-!"

"Mr. Stark-!"

Tony turned away from the paps and Happy herded them out of the lobby with security in tow.

"Stevens, Berlotti…"

Tony's eyes swept over them.

"We're heading out for lunch," Erik said.

Valentina stood next to Erik a bit starry-eyed.

"Where to?" Tony asked looking at his platinum watch.

"The taco spot—"

"Cool, let's go," Tony said.

They followed Tony to a side exit.

"You not worried about reporters following you out here?"

"Happy has that under control," Tony said.

Alberto's Tacos was a small vendor cart that Erik found to his liking. The carne asada street tacos were flavorful and cheap and washed down with a cold Coke, it was heaven. The three of them sat on a bench not too far from the Stark building. White-collar workers streamed past them and no one took notice of Tony scarfing down greasy meat with his fingers.

"This is really good. Had no idea this stand was here all these years," Tony said licking his fingers.

Erik gulped down his Coke and Valentina kept quiet as she listened to Erik shoot the shit with Tony. He couldn't understand why she didn't ask the questions she was burning to ask him that she was always pestering Erik about during their lunch breaks. Tony took notice.

"You're really quiet Valentina," Tony said, his eyes taking her in.

"I'm just soaking it all in, Mr. Stark," she said, her eyes darting over to Erik.

"Things working well for you in your new set-up?"

"Yes—"

"Janine makes her nervous," Erik said.

Valentina nearly choked on her Sprite as she pulled the can from her lips.

Tony chuckled.

"You alright there, Berlotti?"

"Yes…yes, Sir. Went down the wrong pipe," she said wiping her lips.

"Janine is a tight ass, but don't let her chilly façade scare you. Are you worried about something?"

Erik gave Valentina a look for her to open her mouth and speak on her concerns openly. Her perfect bow lips quirked and then she put her soda can down. Erik nodded his head slightly at her.

"I'm worried about an assignment I have due on Friday. I won't be able to finish it because I need more time to work out the kinks because there are so many of them. There is no feasible way to have a working simulation up and running by then. There are four of us working on it and I'm the lead, but I can't…I can't fix it under this rigid time limit."

She pushed her hair back behind her ears. Her face looked ashamed. She sipped her soda again and Erik felt all of her confidence drain out into the ether.

"What do expect to happen on Friday?" Tony asked.

"Failure. I asked Erik to take a look at the work—"

"What about your immediate team?

"They are working on it—"

"Why aren't you with them now?"

Tony's eyes were bright and firm looking. He wasn't here for excuses.

"I have to eat."

"Working lunches are a thing Berlotti. You are the team leader. You wrangle your people and you figure the problem out. Why are you asking Stevens to look at your work? He has his own deadlines and team to worry about. You want him to take on your workload too? Alvarez has the same deadline and you know where she is right now? At her desk grinding. Janine said jump, Alvarez asked how high."

Valentina crushed her soda can and tossed it in a trash receptacle. She stood up and stared at Tony.

"I better get back to work," she said. The click-clack of her heels echoed as she left them.

"That was cold," Erik said.

"Cold? How?"

"She was confiding in you."

"That's what you're for. Not me. I expect results. Janine answers to me. So who do you think needs those codes running on Friday? Me."

"Did you have to throw Maria in her face like that though?"

"Maria works her ass off—"

"Valentina does too. She just hit a snag."

"And she will unravel the snag."

Erik finished his taco and Tony made a quick call.

"Let's get back to work," Tony said.

Erik followed him back to the offices and when they separated, he texted Valentina.

You okay?

He thinks I'm shit.

No he doesn't. Just high expectations.

Did he talk bad about me when I left?

Said you'd figure out the problem. Want me to look at the codes tonight?

No. I'll figure it out.

I know you will. Badass.

She sent him a happy face emoji.

"Erik Stevens?"

A guard at the information desk stopped him from going to the elevators.

"Yeah."

The guard reached down behind the desk and handed Erik a FedEx package.

"This came for you twenty minutes ago."

"Thanks," Erik said.

He walked over to a lobby couch and sat down. The return address was from his Uncle Bakari in D.C. Erik quickly opened the package. A folded note was taped to a small black notepad.

"JaJa,

Hope this finds you well. We found this in some of your mother's belongings when we cleaned out our attic for some installation issues we were having. Don't know how we missed it. Looks like it belonged to your father. We didn't want to throw it out. Not much written in it, but we wanted you to have it.

We are proud of you and look forward to seeing you at the end of August.

Love and Hugs,

Uncle Bakari & Aunt Shavonne"

Erik quickly pulled out the small black notepad. He flipped through the pages that had his father's distinct script written in it. All in Wakandan.

His eyes darted around where he sat. No one was paying attention to him. He jumped up and walked briskly to the nearest restroom.

Locking himself in a stall, Erik pulled down the toilet seat cover and sat down. He opened the notepad again and flipped to the first page. His fingers touched the paper gingerly, and he saw his fingers shake. His tongue touched his top lip and he felt the sting of tears prick the corners of his eyes.

"Baba," he whispered.

Wiping his eyes, he tried to gather himself together. The writing was neat, legible, and concise. Erik's brain shifted its language mode. Memories flooded his mind.

Sitting in his room back in Oakland tracing letters.

Wakandan letters.

Baba singing to him in his language, telling him stories about his homeland. Copying Baba's habit of writing in journals.

Stringing symbols to make sentences that looked otherworldly.

Think.

Remember.

Translate.

These were numbers. Cardinal directions.

Coordinates. GPS coordinates.

His father had made a handwritten map. For himself or someone else?

The numbers came to him quickly, but it took several minutes to accurately make out the rest.

Three places.

There was something buried in three different locations.

One of the places wasn't that far away. Joshua Tree. A little over three hours away.

Erik stepped out of the restroom stall and washed his hands. He stuffed the notepad in his shirt pocket right over his heart.

He wiped his face with a paper towel, and when two interns walked in chattering away, Erik slipped out and onto an elevator.

Baba left him a treasure map.

He just needed to figure out a way to go find what was buried in all three places.

###

Part 8

Tag List:

@fd-writes​ @soufcakmistress  @cherrystainedlipsbaby @tclaybon  @thadelightfulone @allhailqueennel @bartierbakarimobisson @cpwtwot @shookmcgookqueen @yoyolovesbucky @raysunshine78 @the-illllest @terrablaze514  @l-auteuse @amirra88 @jimizwidow @janelledarling @chaneajoyyy @sweetestdream92 @purple-apricots @blackpinup22 @hennessystevens-udaku @scrumptiouslytenaciouscrusade @bugngiz @stariamrry  @honeytoffee @meilintheempressofdreams

[rovvboat]

Painted Flaws - Colossus/Piotr Rasputin x villian!Reader

Part 10

A/N: send an ask if you wanna be added to the taglist! Lmk how you feel about this series!

Summary: You’re a villian with a moral grey area. You meet Piotr at an art exhibit, but both of you are there for completely different reasons. Though the attraction was inevitable, will it be enough? A growing passionate love wrought with secrecy, both of you try to move through this maze. But when the ball drops, what will you choose?

word count: 3.3k

You lie in bed the rest of the day – the same scene repeating through your head; like the world’s worst silent film; of Piotr and his form as Colossus. And with that flicker of recognition, you realise just how much more you’re entangled into the X-Mens’ affairs – how much more you were set-up to be the catalyst for their demise.

There’s a moment when sleep catches up to you, somehow, despite the headache of thoughts.

You see him.

He’s standing in your room – the colours on the walls all distorted into a deep and ugly purple and pink – blending into every piece of furniture, fluid and balmy in its touch – as if it was all happening underwater

but Piotr doesn’t seem happy to be there; his face twisted into one of disgust and disappointment as he faces you.

Piotr I can explain –

You try to speak, but no sound come out no matter how hard you try. You bring a hand up to your throat, and that’s when you look down and realise: you’re naked.

Your hands springs onto your bed, pulling desperately at the sheets to cover yourself – trying your hardest to scream your heart out at the same time, just for Piotr to listen to your pleas – but the sheets don’t come out, and neither does your voice.

Piotr, all of a sudden, has his back turned to you, walking out of your apartment as the door shuts with a loud creak.

The sheets finally spring out of the bed, and you scramble to get them to cover you.

You run to the door, swinging it open – but he’s no longer there. He’s no longer waiting.

 You wake up in a cold sweat, gasping as your eyes shoot open. You sit up on your bed, beads of sweat run down your back, sending a vaguely uneasy sensation down your spine. You look to your window, yanked wide open, as it swayed back and forth with heavy screeches.

The weather outside matched your sentiment – heavy thundering rain crash against the surface of the outside, alongside the ghosts of howling winds that sent sprays of rain onto the spot where the calm moonlight would normally hit.

You rub at the tiredness of your eyes, unravelling from the nightmare that had awoken you so terrified, before getting up to shut the window close.

It wasn’t in your nature to feel fear – where it wasn’t used as fuel to succeed on your missions – but you knew how far gone you were with Piotr.

To have felt his love, and to be brave enough to love him back – that was a risk in and of itself, and you knew it.

But now that his truth has been bared –

where does that leave me?

Your phone buzzes against your bedside table – and you turn to look at your notifications, somewhat tethering you back to the present.

10 unread messages

[Dd]: hey, I’m locked out of my apartment – could you come give me the spare key?

[Dd]: hey

[Dd]: heyyyyyyyyy

[3 missed calls from Dd]

 You immediately hop off your bed, stretching your arms over your head as you let out a high-pitched whine.

This is no time for a pity party.

You wash yourself up and immediately suit up – throwing on a thick white t-shirt, paired with a black leather jacket as you hurriedly grab your keys (and DK’s spare keys), wallet and the purple vial. You put the purple vial into a small black drawstring bag – your grip tight on it as you walk towards your motorcycle.

You revv the engine – booming down the street – before speeding off towards the direction of D.K.’s dorm.

***

NTW fiddles with the interface to the hologram, bringing up profiles of people with their physical and affiliation descriptors.

‘’We were able to track the manufacturing company of the spear that hit Colossus in the back. It belongs to a small company called Lazarus – which has ties to the creator of the Sentinels, Dr. Bolivar Trask,’’ – she swipes at the hologram to reveal Dr Trask’s profile, ‘’who is also linked to this man.’’ She swipes at the hologram again, but this time, the profile showed a silhouette of a man with a question mark in the middle.

Name: Unknown

Alias: Boss, D

Affiliations: Sentinel technology, Dr Bolivar Trask

‘’We don’t have any idea what he looks like, but he’s been linked to dozens of mutant testing labs and sentinel technology. He also does seem to have a weak link.’’

A picture of the mystery lady comes up, half her face covered under a thin fabric of her turtleneck.

‘’We’ve been tracking this lady for past 3 months and we just came in contact with her again. Intel tells us that she had the serum on her at that time, but we’re pretty sure she was to hand it off to her boss after she fled on the helicopter. The Sentinels also had their eyes on her, but she managed to evade them when we were too busy keeping them down.’’

‘’So, what you’re telling me – is that we’ve been helping this lady get her way?’’

NTW rolls her eyes at Deadpool.

‘’I’m just saying what everybody’s thinking, sugarplum. She doesn’t seem like that weak of a link to me – going by how she kicked half our asses out there,’’ Deadpool lightheartedly brandishes one of his katanas around– pointedly at Cable and Colossus – as he lay sprawled over the sofa.

Cable tenses his fist on the table, uneasy at the prospect of having this mystery lady getting in their way of getting the anti-mutant serum.

When an idea pops into his head.

‘’Where’re you headed, foxy pops?’’ Deadpool quips, as Cable stands up – pushing his chair back with a screech – and strides over to NTW.

‘’Do you think we could scan this for prints or DNA?’’ Cable presents his metal hand, swaying each finger in a wave. ‘’I burnt her hand, and I’m sure some of her skin is on here.’’

���’Sounds like something I could do.’’

‘’Holy Mother of God, all we do is sit around trying to track this woman! I wanna go do something fucking worthwhile!’’ Deadpool howls.

‘’You’d be doing us all a favour by shutting the fuck up, douchepool,’’ NTW crosses her arms as she stares at Deadpool.

‘’Suit yourself, one-man travelling circus of megatronic teenage big head,’’ Deadpool stands up and steps directly infront of NTW, staring her down.

‘’Enough.’’

Colossus’ booming footsteps enter into the meeting room.

‘’You are not children. There is no need for this nonsensical bickering. Come, Wade. We will do some review of the evidence from the helicopter weapon.’’ Colossus instructs as he starts heading for the door.

Deadpool lifts up his mask partway, showing only half his face, humming as he sticks his tongue out at NTW – then yelping as he gets elbowed hard in the ribs by her, before pacing behind Colossus.

***

The afternoon sun was slowly waning, disappearing and reappearing behind passing clouds as you zoom down the highway to D.K.’s dorm.

You see him the moment you turn into the dorm’s parking lot, standing near the lobby – no doubt playing some stupid game on his phone. He looks up when he hears your motorcycle pull up near the curb. You flip up the wind shield from your helmet, greeting him with a little toss of your head backward.

‘’Here’re your keys, dumbass,’’ you toss D.K.’s spare keys at him.

‘’I have the highest GPA in my class. I beg to differ,’’ he retorts as he catches the key between both hands, clanking against his phone.

‘’Well, that didn’t help find your key, did it? You better get your locks changed.’’

‘’Yeah, yeah whatever.’’

You park by the curb, before following behind him up to his dorm room.

The smell of fresh flowers hits you when he swings open the door to his room. You had to admit, he was an overall meticulous and responsible kid – which didn’t make sense that he would lose his keys; especially considering that the both of you were always on high-alert with the threat of Demetrius and his goons looming around you.

But teenagers will be teenagers – even though this one was just initiated into the young adult 20s club recently.

‘’Make yourself at home,’’ D.K. announces, pulling out a chair out of his study desk towards you. He heads to the bathroom, leaving you alone in the room.

You look at the pictures on his desk – of his 2 little sisters back home, and him in the middle; the three of them seated on some kind of child-sized toy car. They were all beaming at the camera – carefree and innocent. As they should be.

You snap back when you hear the click of the bathroom door unlocking.

‘’So, what brings you here, sis?’’

‘’Well, for one – you forgot your keys somewhere.’’

D.K. smiles at you sheepishly, shrugging as he drapes his towel over his shoulders.

‘’But more importantly – I got the anti-mutant serum vial with me. I need you to pass it onto to Dr. Wong. I’ve sent him instructions–‘’

‘’My chemistry elective professor, Dr Wong? You’re kidding me, he’s working for you too?’’

‘’He works with me. Not for me.’’

‘’hE wOrKs WiTh Me,’’ D.K. imitates you in an annoying high-pitched voice – which prompts you to reach out to his ear lobes, twisting it as he winces.

‘’I was joking! Ow– OW!’’ He swats at your hand.

You spend the next hour going through your plans with him – giving him contingencies and back-up plans in case he’s unable to deliver the vial for any reason.

‘’So… how long until I have to go back?’’ D.K. asks, a hand rubbing the back of his neck.

You tilt your head at him. ‘’You don’t sound too happy about that.’’

‘’Yeah, well. This has been my home for the past 9 years… and you – you’ve been taking care of me since I got tangled up with your Boss. I just… Maybe we could make it so that you don’t disappear from my life after this?’’

There was a knot in his throat you could hear through his voice, and it broke your heart.

You hold him by the shoulders, looking directly at him as he looks up at you surprised – ‘’Hey, kid, listen to me okay? You’re gonna be okay. Your family can’t wait to see you again. Your life is over there – living like a 20 year old kid; working for your goals, partying with friends and just living a normal life. Not this. I was never meant to be in your life. In fact, I’m probably the reason why you’re here in the first place–’’

‘’But that’s not your fault!’’

‘’It was. And I’ll pay the price for it, not you.’’

D.K. frowns at you, then looks to the floor.

‘’I’m sorry, D.K.. It’s the only way I can keep you safe.’’

‘’I know,’’ he sighs. ‘’I just – I’m sorry.’’

‘’Don’t be, D. I know it’s hard. But you have to be strong. I’ll be okay, and I’ll definitely contact you, one way or another – I promise.’’

He holds out a pinky to you. You look at it, then smile at him – before meeting his pinky finger with yours in a pinky promise.

***

Colossus meets with Beast at the analytics lab, as Beast worked on pinpointing the different locations that the weapon could have come from. Deadpool walks up to the closest piece of evidence – a large broken spear – and slowly puts a finger towards it – only for Beast to smack it away without even looking up from his screen.

‘’Do we have any more information about our mystery lady yet, friend Hank?’’

‘’I’m afraid not, Colossus. We only managed to get information on the organizations that she might be affiliated with. Most of them are contractors – but we do have information on who was piloting the helicopter. Perhaps we could pay them a visit – ‘’

Colossus’ phone notification sounds inside his pocket.

‘’Da¸ we could. Please excuse me– ‘’ he fishes his phone out of his pocket, and walks a little away from Beast.

Y/N: Hey big guy♡ Hope you’re recovering well. I was wondering if you wanted to take a walk with me? Wanted to see you. Let me know♡

Colossus couldn’t keep his smile in, when Deadpool peaks over his shoulder, startling him.

‘’What’s this, tinman? Another booty call?’’

Colossus rolls his eyes – ‘’No, it is not.’’ – as he walks back towards Beast.

‘’I have some matters to attend to. Please alert me if there is any urgent business.’’

‘’Will do, Colossus – ‘’

‘’Chrome-Dome is ditching us for his side chick!’’ Deadpool accusingly points at Colossus, ‘’that’s right, I said side chick, because we all know I’m the main course. And also! How is this fair? I ask for a fucking vacation and it’s ‘’superhero is a full-time job’’ this and ‘’Wade, you can’t demand money in exchange for saving lives’’’ that. I’m sick of the double standards – Hey, listen to me when I’m talking to you!’’ Deadpool calls after Colossus, who’s already disappeared behind the lab doors.

***

You debate sending the message for a good hour.

I should break up with him. I can not deal with anymore emotions on this issue.

Your mind swirls with ideas on how to break it off gently – but every time you imagine the scenario, your heart gets much too heavy to get to the we should see other people part of the dialogue.

Maybe not today.

You decide that maybe just having a quick meet-up with him could calm you down a little – maybe even prepare you for the next time you meet him.

To break things off, of course.

Even the internal mentions of it makes your heart drop. He made you happy. Happier, safer and more loved than you’ve ever been.

I don’t deserve any of it.

You let out a resigned sigh. No matter how you looked at it, you were incompatible. Not to mention that he lied to you about his job.

Not that I didn’t, but still.

You fiddle nervously with your hands in your pockets – when your phone rings – a call from none other than Piotr.

***

You feel the soft – almost fluffy – fine sand sinking under you with every step, getting between your toes in the most crisp manner that only barely itched the edges of needing attention.

You wave it away, and instead focus on the small tingles you felt when the back of his hands brush against yours, as you walk along the shore.

He had asked to meet you at this beach – ‘’It is a good beach for couples and walking,’’ he suggested through the phone – an eagerness to his voice that was now something you always looked forward to hearing.

Not for long…

The thought makes your heart dread your next few steps.

Distant squawks of pelicans and seagulls fade out across the beach as you trod along, arms swinging gently, with Piotr next to you.

You look up when you hear him inhale, long and slow, as he takes in the glistening surface of the sea. You watch him, as his body relaxes, and he exhales an equally long breath. You follow his eyes to meet the sunset before you.

‘’Your taste in beaches is impeccable,’’ you mention off-handedly, mostly as an attempt to calm your own nerves.

He smiles back at you – that million dollar smile – ‘’Really? I am glad you like it too…’’

A strong chill breeze brushes past – bringing with it the fresh salty savour of the ocean – gliding over your exposed skin and gently caressing your hair, as it finds its way the back of your neck – cooling you off from the sweltering heat of the day.

Piotr’s arm slowly snakes around your waist, drawing close to you, without taking his eyes off the scene before him, as you feel a heat rising to your cheeks.

“Beautiful is it not? I wish I had a chance to paint this. To maybe… capture this moment”

You look up at him and attempt a sly grin to cross your face, as you hook your arm through his.

“This moment, after you spent half the week in bed?”

Piotr chuckles – a deep well-kept laugh that rumbles in his chest – then smiles back at you, smile lines creasing the edges of his lips – his eyes twinkling under the slow receding sun.

His eyes regard you warmly, and you feel an intense burning in the pit of your stomach – a desire. To not only spend the rest of the night with him, but your whole life too.

You feel your cheeks burn with embarrassment at the thought of even considering a normal life with someone so kind and generous and wonderful.

‘’Hey Piotr? –’’

He raises his eyebrows at you, his full attention undoubtedly on you.

‘’– do you believe… do you believe that good people can do bad things?’’

He doesn’t even take a moment to answer the question.

‘’Of course. Good people do bad things all the time. But it only matters what they do to make things better. If they know what they are doing is bad, they should stop immediately – if not it can make them… tolerate more evil in the world.’’

‘’What about– ‘’ You cut yourself off when you notice a lady clad in her bikini walking past the both of you, giving Piotr a painfully slow once over – smirking as she nods in his direction.

Your stomach drops as you loosen your grip around his arm, letting your hand fall back next to you, and Piotr’s face changes to one of concern.

He doesn’t deserve this. Not me. Not for who I am, that’s for sure.

“Is everything alright?”

“No, I… I think I’m not feeling too good.”

“Would you like to head back home?”

You think for a moment. And though you wanted nothing more than to stretch these serene and wonderful moments with him – moments which felt almost final – you genuinely didn’t think you deserved it. Much less be competent enough to protect it from the life you actually lead.

“Yes please,” you force out, albeit a little choked, as you look away from him. When you’re with him, your feelings always showed somehow – something which in your line of job was called ‘a massive liability’.

He watches you, deciding whether to press the matter – but your avoidance makes him want to do nothing else but bring you home and allow you to settle in comfortably for the night.

His finger grazes the back of your hand – finding the inside of your palm – before allowing each of his fingers to interlace with yours; and he does it loosely – in case you weren’t comfortable with it. You smile up at him, before gripping his hand tightly, as you walked back towards the road.

Piotr walks you to your apartment, stopping near the entrance. You busy yourself with sliding your fingers over the straps of your handbag, looking anywhere but at Piotr. You start at a sentence, when Piotr speaks up.

‘’Are you sure you are okay, myshka? You sound unwell…’’ he tilts your chin up towards him, ‘’please tell me if there is anything I can do for you? I can stay the night if you –’’

‘’No! I– I mean, I would love that but, I have a lot of work to do tonight and, uh… yeah.’’

‘’That is okay,’’ his voice soft and unhurried, ‘’please take care of yourself if you are working through the night. I heard lawyers do that a lot,’’ he huffs a laugh, trying to ease your nerves. He reaches out for your hand, and when you offer it, he steps forward into a tight hug. He whiffs at your hair – in the way men do in affection – then presses his lips against your temple.

You pull away a little to look at him, still enveloped in his arms – safe and full – tiptoeing as you pull his face towards you into a deep, needy kiss; eyes scrunched closed.

You let yourself enjoy his love; pure and unadulterated by anything.

Even though it hurt to know that it might be one of the last times you can actually do so.

—

Taglist! 

@emma-frxst @chromecutie @fluffymadamina @master-sass-blast @marvelhead17 @onthequill @candle-light-writings