Chapter 1: Haven't Met You Yet
Chapter Text
Title Song: Haven’t Met You Yet - Michael Buble
Steve Rogers POV
I must have sat for days at the table in my dark apartment watching old Captain America movies and commercials, reminiscing about the world I'd left behind. There I'd been surrounded by people, family, good friends which was a stark contrast to now, in a world where I'd woken up alone. I sighed and switched the TV off with the remote. That was something I'd have to get used to: having a television in my apartment, among other things.
Flicking through old SHIELD files instead, I stared at the time worn, sepia print photos of my friends that were now long gone…
Dum Dum, deceased.
Jim, deceased.
Montgomery, deceased.
Gabe, deceased.
Jacques, deceased.
Happy Sam, deceased.
Junior Juniper, deceased.
Seemed like every single file said the same thing, and then I came across Peggy's. Retired. She must have been in her nineties at least, almost at a hundred. I was well past late for our date at the Stork's Club. But there was another file I was interested in, and it didn't seem to be there. Where was Bonnie's? What happened to her after the plane went down? I'd found Howard's file under Peggy's, it came as no surprise that he was also well in his grave. Under his, though, was what surprised me. Stark, Tony. Howard had a son.
Grabbing my jacket, I headed out onto the street, going for a walk, hoping to clear my mind. It wasn't quite the same as my old one from the war, but it was unlikely I was going to track that one down, last I’d seen it I leant it to Bonnie and she’d misplaced it almost instantly. The street was filled with the same hustle and bustle of old New York, but this new New York was also filled with peddlers selling things I'd never even heard of, the roads were packed full of cars I'm not even sure I would know how to get into, people dressed differently, vibrantly; nothing here was wrong, per se, it was all just very different. Too different. Almost making me wonder if I’d ever adjust.
I could hear giggling up ahead, over the top of all the usual assaulting noise of the busy city. Looking up briefly, I saw some glowing blonde hair, the same colour Bonnie's used to be in the sunlight. It seemed odd to me that I'd been given the files on everyone except her. She’d been my Sergeant, why had all records of her seemed to completely disappear? It was like she’d been erased from time.
Hands stuffed deeply in my pockets, I sighed. Walking used to help me think, but in this busy city that was so foreign to me, walking did nothing more than make me feel even more overwhelmed than I already was. I didn't know what to do to get out of this melancholy. It seemed unhealthy to cling to the past, but the future - the present, even - was so unfamiliar it was almost scary. Even when I was on my own in the then Brooklyn, I never felt so lost. This world wasn’t really home without my friends.
After all the destruction courtesy of the Chitauri invaders was long since repaired, and I was done hearing tales of supposed giant, mutant lizards, I found myself in and out of SHIELD doing missions for them. It was there, when I was flying out of Budapest, that I got a call that would give me the new direction I needed to take my life in. Fury rang me directly, saying an old friend wanted to see me. As far as I was aware, I didn't have any old friends left alive, save for Peggy, and she was in a home now. It seemed unlikely she’d been let out and had come to visit. Still, I went home, got some rest and dressed myself appropriately for a reunion.
By eleven hundred hours I was at SHIELD again and walking through the familiar building. The sun shone through every large, glass window I went by, summer just passing through before the Autumn chill set in. I walked into Fury's office where he'd said to meet him beforehand to discuss something, what I didn’t know.
'I did some checking over the files. You said one of your friends was missing,' he said as I stepped into the office, not turning around to see me enter. He was peering out through the large window behind his desk, watching over the city like some kind of hawk.
'Bonnie's file was missing, yes,' I confirmed, standing “at ease”. 'I have no idea what happened to her after I hit the ice.'
'And you said her name was Parker?' he asked, glancing over his shoulder and raising his visible brow at me. I nodded once. 'See, we couldn't find her file because that's not her real name. Her files were found locked away in Howard Stark's vault along with several journals,' Fury placed the files down on the table. 'Tony was kind enough to send them out to us when he found out we were looking. She wants to see you, you know,' he said softer, sitting down at his desk.
'She's alive?' I asked, shocked, but also ecstatic.
'She's younger than you remember,' Fury replied.
'Younger?' I asked dumbfounded, approaching his large, hardwood desk.
'We're not sure how she did it,' he responded, looking bemused. 'The Bonnie Parker you knew was not from your time, we’re hoping Stark's journals will reveal more.'
'You're joking,' I shook my head. Surely this was a prank. Where was that sitcom actor who’d gotten his own MTV prank show? 'Time travel?'
'We've had theories and methods for years now, none that we were aware of being practised or tested. Although it seemed to fascinate the late Howard Stark and retired Margaret Carter very much.'
'Unsurprising. She was very close to both of them. She must have filled them in. They loved her very much, we all did,' I said the last part rather quietly, thinking of Bucky and how much I missed him.
'Unfortunately, Rogers,' Fury replied. 'This Bonnie hasn't met you yet.'
'If she hasn't met me yet then why does she want to see me?' I asked. Surely she wasn't just trying to see me because she was a Captain America fan. I couldn’t picture her as the crazed fan type, breaking into the SHIELD office just to get a glimpse at an Avenger.
' You're related,' he said simply.
'What?' I scoffed, almost choking on my spit. There were a few back in the day that thought we might have been brother and sister, but we always set them straight. We were just close friends, found family. No way we could be related. I didn’t have any actual family she could be descended from.
'You may want to sit down, Rogers,' Fury gestured to the seat across the desk from him. I took it gladly, getting my bearings. Suddenly I felt very light headed, like before I’d taken the serum.
'Margaret Carter was pregnant by the time your plane went down.' He told me sadly, looking a little apologetic he’d had to deliver the news. I sucked in a deep breath, realising I'd left her in a mess all by herself. The very least I could have done was marry her, instead of leaving her with nothing and a bastard child. Not that she’d ever let anyone treat our child as one. 'She gave birth to a Michael Carter who, twenty years later, married Betty Goodwin, and had Daniel and James Carter. Twenty one years after that Daniel married a Jane Barkley and had a Bonnie Margaret Carter in the mid nineties.'
'Carter. You mean Bonnie's..' It made too much sense. We'd always looked alike, she had been fond of me from the start. She knew me, and I didn't know her. Of course no ordinary girl could walk into my life off the street and just adore me from the get go, I’d just thought she’d been pushy. But she was using all she knew about me to squeeze her way in and get some protection from the harshness of the forties. Not that I could blame her, in fact, I was a little proud she’d felt she could come to me for help, even when she knew I wouldn’t know her.
'Your great-granddaughter, yes,' Fury confirmed. 'But her file is here if you want to read it.'
'No, not right now. Can I see her?' I asked, anxious to see my old friend again, even if she was now related to me. I’d been so alone without anyone I knew, and now my best friend was here, even if she was a little younger, I’m sure she’d be the same.
'She's quite the pistol, your granddaughter,' Fury commented and I smiled, thinking back on just how much of a ball breaker she’d been.
'She always was,' I said, smiling and thinking fondly at the memories of every time she punched someone in the street for being rude. How she argued freely with anyone, regardless of gender or rank. How she had Bucky wrapped around her finger. How he didn’t even seem to really mind.
'She managed to get up here by what must be considered some feat of genius. She got past the guards, reception, and several clearance checkpoints with ease, and did it three days in a row,' he added. Although not having the right clearance had never stopped Bonnie before. 'And once she was up here, she walked into me, chased me down the hallway, barged into my office virtually uninvited, insulted me , and begged me to confirm this file she built herself. Apparently it's three months of research. The lab results came back, you're a genetic match.'
'Yeah, that sounds like my best friend,' I grinned. 'Can I go see her now?'
'Yeah, off you go,' he brushed me off. 'I've had enough of you star spangled, blonde haired, blue eyed devils.' I snorted and got up from my chair, headed out of his office. 'She's in the cafeteria.'
Bonnie Carter POV
Monday 12th August 2013
Slouching forward in my chair and resting my elbows on my old, tattered jeans, I tapped my foot nervously as I waited, glaring angrily at the marble floor. My stomach grumbled again as I stared at the sterile, office environment that surrounded me. It felt like I had been sitting here for hours and my ass, that had been stuck on the uncomfortable, hardwood and leather chair for the last few hours, agreed. I looked up at the clock and confirmed what I already knew, 8:19pm , I had been here for hours.
The two days before now had been spent the same, wasting the last of summer sitting here, waiting. Every morning I came in, had to convince the receptionist to let me through, or rather, wait till she wasn't looking and sneak past the counter on my hands and knees. It was day three and I was still waiting to see the Director of SHIELD, Nick J Fury, show his one eyed face. I didn't even want to see him , but if I didn't, there was no hope. He was a necessary means to an end so I could get an audience with this guy everyone seemed to love so much.
Before all this I'd been searching through archives, and going through old family files and folders and albums just trying to see if the stories were true. God damn it I wanted to believe her, but with no evidence no one would ever believe me, not when I was only armed with the stories of a half senile old woman. I'd powered through the family albums, read old journals and skimmed through dusty books, but nothing, there just wasn't enough. What other choice did I have? It was either this, or be homeless. It was either this, or go into the foster system, either be in a youth home or be adopted by strangers (unlikely considering my age) and then being ripped away from my family home and my best friend. Harry had moved away when we were in middle school, I couldn't lose Peter too.
At the very least I wanted to see him, I wanted to see Fury just so I could know. I had to know, at least so I didn't spend my entire summer getting a vitamin D deficiency in dusty old libraries, researching ghost stories. I didn't want him to tear me a new one like he was renowned for, I didn't want to be wrong either. Because if he didn't yell at me, he'd have me tested and it was likely I'd be wrong, these were just stories. Or he’d have me banned from the building and I’d be placed on some list for something.
Sighing, I looked up at the clock again. 8:30pm . I was tired, hungry and running out of options. I wished Fury would just show his face. Get his ass back here and find me. I was beginning to crave human contact. I was afraid I was blending into the furniture, and so was my ass. My tailbone was numb. Hell, I wish he’d just show up to yell at me at this point.
I sighed again. Looks like I had wasted my time. 'Guess I'll have to try something different tomorrow,' I thought. I didn't want to give up, but what else was there to do? I mean, I could have written to one of Great Grandma's friends, but like most of my other relatives, they were dead. There was only the son of one of her oldest friends left, and he wasn't exactly the type to help with my specific predicament. He wouldn’t read whatever I sent to him, and if he somehow did, he’d think I was delusional. Or worse, lying.
Standing up slowly, I stretched after sitting so stiffly for so long, and heard the crack and pop of all my joints after they'd been released from their stationary prison. It sounded like someone had stepped on a plastic water bottle. Taking a tentative step forward in my high heeled boots, I tested the waters. Pins and needles shot through me, a direct result from sitting down and so still for so long. I walked further forward, heels clunking across the icy, white floors with my head hung low with disappointment.
Not watching where I was going, I slammed right into a hard chest with an audible slapping sound as leather hit leather. I looked up from the floor to see a tall, dark man in a trench coat and eyepatch looking incredibly pissed off. Fury… Jaw dropped and flabbergasted, I stared up at him in awe.
'Watch where you're going kid! This is a busy corridor, lots of people are walking here,' he said as I openly stared at him, mouth agape. I was completely unmoving and in shock. It had finally happened, three days of waiting and he was here. 'Kid are you alright? Where are your parents?'
'Dead,' I blurted out awkwardly. He still looked mostly pissed but was a little empathetic, probably because he thought of me as a child. I mean, technically I was…
'You're parents work here?' he asked. Shaking my head, I felt my jaw wag up and down a few times before any sound came out.
'No, my great grandmother did,' I explained and he gave me a look.
'Recently?' He stared at me in confusion.
'Sort of, she retired in the late nineties,' I explained badly.
'And you're here because?' he blinked.
'I needed to speak to you,' I told him straight. 'I need your help.'
'Sorry kid, that's not really my thing,' he brushed me off, turning to the side, ready to walk around me and continue off into his office I was waiting in front of. Rolling to my knees, I started crawling across the cold floors, trying to push up to my feet.
'No wait, you have to help, no one else can!' I called after his retreating figure. Leaping up off the ground, I started to run after him, desperate for anything he could give me. 'Director Fury, I'm a Carter!' I yelled up the passage at him. He stopped abruptly and I slammed into his back this time, after trying and failing to stop, skidding across the white marble and leaving black rubber skid marks in my wake. This was like something out of a cartoon, how many times was I going to get hit in the face today?
'What was your great grandmother's name?' He asked as he turned and took a step back from me.
'Margaret Elizabeth Carter,' I breathed, chest heaving. 'I'm Bonnie Margaret Carter, my father was Daniel Carter, named after Great Grandpa Daniel, her husband. His father was Michael Carter, son of Peggy. I need your help, if you don't help me no one can, and I'm desperate, please , just hear me out and then I'll go, I promise.'
'Fine,' he told me, looking pissed but resigned to his fate. 'Come inside and make it quick.'
I followed him inside, closing the door behind me and staring at him awkwardly as he sat down in his big, leather swivel chair. He gestured to the two leather seats on the other side of his giant hardwood desk and I stumbled forward.
'Have a seat,' he said. 'What is that you have with you?'
He gestured to the files I'd been carrying with me, nestled inside my tight grip, creasing the longer I held them. I reluctantly handed them forward and almost didn't let go when he grasped them. What if he laughed in my face, or told me they were fake? This was my last hope. As if to humour me he opened the manila folder to see old SHIELD records, journal entries, birth certificates and dusty, tattered pictures.
'Look, I understand you're busy and are on a tight schedule, and I'm sorry for just showing up like this, but I really didn't have any other choice,' I explained while he stared down at the files in his hand, showing no sign of hearing me. 'If there was some way you could help me, like confirm this for me, tell me this is true and give me something to work with, please, I'm begging you. I have to find someone and this is the only way.'
'How long have you been building this file?' Fury asked after a while of skimming its contents.
'All summer, there's only a few more weeks until school goes back and I need to find someone to sign this,' I slid forward my enrollment form into junior year, “ Class of 2013 ” across the wooden desktop.
'All this for a permission slip?' he raised the brow not obscured by his eyepatch.
'Well it's a bit more than that,' I replied. 'My legal guardians, well I don't exactly have them anymore. All my other relatives are dead or unfit for the role.'
'And you're chasing an old wives tale for what? A last desperate attempt to stay out of the foster system?' he asked.
'I don't want to lose my best friend,' I explained. 'I've lived next door to him since I was six and he's all the family I've got. We've been through everything together. If I lose him too I'll have nothing left.'
'Kid, I'm sorry,' he started and I could feel a lump in my throat. I wanted to cry. 'There's nothing I can do for you. There isn't anything in my power here to help you. If you could find him, you could ask for a DNA sample but until then, there's nothing I can do.'
'Nothing? You can't do anything?' I looked at him, tight throat and ready to just die right there on the spot. My heart almost gave out as the last drop of hope I had hit the sink pan and swirled around the plughole before I watched it fall down the drain.
'What did you say your name was, again kid?' Fury asked and I sniffed.
'Bonnie, Bonnie Carter,' I replied.
'Right,' he nodded and then reached for his desktop corded phone and started typing in numbers to the dial pad. 'I'm sorry there's nothing I can do kid.'
I waited as he made his phone call, deflated and ready to give up. They were going to take me away. I was going to have to move schools, I'd lose my job and I'd have to find a better place to hide my college fund than a shoebox under my bed. I probably wouldn't even get new parents. I'd live in an overcrowded foster home until I was eighteen and then get kicked out on the streets, desperately trying to support myself. I'd have to drop out of high school to work full-time and then I'd lose all chances of college.
'Coulson,' I heard him say into the phone. He sat turned around in his large office chair, slowly twirling the cord around his fingers. Now I knew how it always got messed up, people like Fury fiddled with it. 'Could you see me in my office for a moment, I have a favour to ask of you and it's pretty urgent.'
'Do you want me to... I'll head on out now,' I stated, feeling awkward just standing in the room with him. 'I've wasted enough of both of our time.'
'Sit down,' he told me as I pushed myself out of my chair.
Plopping back down quicker than I’d gotten up, I sat quietly while and waited for whatever Fury was organising. For someone who supposedly couldn't help me, he didn't seem to have much of a problem holding me hostage in his office. Maybe he was going to have me escorted out rather than trusting me to leave on my own accord. Which was fair, I had snuck in here three days in a row.
'Sir,' someone said after there was a knock at the door and it opened behind me. Glancing over my shoulder I spotted a stern looking man dressed in a tarmac grey suit. He looked unpleasant, so much so even his hairline was running away from him. He was probably security, coming to launch me out the door and onto the front step, rear scraping along the pavement on my way.
'Coulson, I wondered if you might take Miss Carter here down to the commissary for a hot meal, and then escort her home,' Fury said and I raised a brow at the one eyed man. Free food and a ride home? That seemed suspicious. He said he couldn’t help me, and he wasn’t exactly renowned for his generous and friendly personality. Maybe this was a coded message of some sort, shit, maybe he was telling him to take me out.
'Sir?' the guy named Coulson asked. He looked confused, and although he looked me up and down, he didn’t do so judgingly. Good boy, question your kill orders. I don’t want to be executed for trying to get myself a legal guardian. Maybe Peter was right, we should have gone for the tin man.
'Coulson,' Fury raised an eyebrow and the guy called Coulson dropped whatever issue he had, and offered me a hand. Choosing to take it, he helped me out of the chair and I was escorted back through the cold corridors, and down the elevator into the cafeteria. It was a quiet period, conversation was at a lull and there were a few scattered agents all sitting either by themselves or if they did have someone else with them, they paid them no attention.
'So,' Coulson cleared his throat, looking down at me as we stood in line behind the one other agent filling a tray. 'Fury seems to have taken a liking to you.'
'How can you tell?' I asked, thinking about the surly man in the leather trench coat who probably wanted me dead. Coulson laughed, tilting his head back with amusement but staring just a little too long at the ceiling. Flicking my eyes up, I noticed he was obscuring me from the security camera. If this was accidental, or on purpose, I didn’t know. But I strongly leaned towards the latter. Oh boy, I was so going to die.
'The Director is a complicated man,' Coulson started, tilting his head from side to side. But he perked up when he moved to say his next line. 'But he likes you, or else he wouldn't have bothered.'
'So are you saying he wants something then, or are you saying he feels sorry for me?' I asked, shuffling along the queue behind him with the tray he was putting things on. He reached for the green beans and I put a hand out, grabbing his wrist and stopping him.
'What would give you that impression?' he asked, laughing at me as I shook my head at him.
'How much did Fury tell you? You were checking your phone a minute ago,' I stated and he gave me an odd smile. His tongue darted out to lick his lower lip and he put his hands in his pockets.
'Perceptive, did you see the messages or are you guessing?' he asked, nodding at me to take over filling the tray. Grabbing a scoop of watery looking mac n cheese, I let a sheepish smile fall over my face.
'Guessing,' I said, glancing up at him. 'But you did want to ask questions before and couldn’t, or at least not be seen to argue with Fury in front of me, I figured he was filling you in.'
'He was,' Coulson confirmed, giving me a singular nod. 'What was your backup plan, should this not have worked?'
'I didn't have one,' I replied honestly. Well, there was the tin man plan, but I doubted that one would work. Hell, this plan was a hail mary and that one was even more ridiculous. 'This was the backup plan. This was the last hope.'
'A bright mind like yours, I'm sure you'll come up with something,' he shrugged, tapping a badge on a scanner and leading me towards a cold looking metal table with plastic chairs.
I noticed to take us through to the cafeteria doors he had to swipe his card and punch in a number, which meant strict security measures. It was expected, but made my sneaking in all the more impressive. I’d been lucky being able to sneak in behind people, but that meant I couldn’t just happen across an access card later, I’d need to know the code as well. Or if different sectors needed different codes. Perhaps I could make a card, enter myself into the system temporarily if I could just find the computer that did that. Probably somewhere in HR.
'I know,' I agreed, sliding into the equally as cold plastic chair. This was much less comfortable than the chair I was waiting in before. 'But I don't want to, I shouldn't have to.'
'That's life I'm afraid,' Coulson told me with a gentle sigh and a small shrug.
He pulled out some cutlery from the little cardboard sanitary pouch and handed them over to me. Looking down at the tray, I looked over his selections a little, wondering if by what he picked I'd be able to tell more about him as a person, but then I remembered I was a teenage girl and not a super spy working for the CIA or something. And also, this might be what he thinks I would like or should be eating, and he wasn’t putting them on because he liked them.
'Do you attend school still, or college?' Coulson asked. Flicking my eyes away from the tray, I watched him instead, taking a moment before answering.
'Midtown Science,' I said eventually. 'Peter and I applied after middle school, and we both got in. Don't have many classes together anymore, he's primarily science based, but my interests lie elsewhere.'
'And where's that?' Coulson prodded.
'Medicine, mostly, I wanted to be a nurse after this, but I'm on the football team. I really like sports,' I answered, giving up on trying to play spy vs spy and just eating the food in front of me. I was hungry after all. Thinking about the team, I sighed. I didn't always get on with the other members, but it would crush me to leave that behind too. Hell, if I moved, they might not even let me play.
'The football team, huh?' he asked, smiling a little proudly.
'I don't care who says it's a boy's sport, it's my sport too and I'll play it if I want to,' I answered and was met with a big grin.
'You sound a lot like your great grandmother,' he told me and a brow shot up before I could spot it.
'I wasn't aware you knew her,' I replied. Guess Grandma Margaret still had some pull here after all. Senility be damned.
'Not well,' he answered, bouncing his head around for a moment. 'She was still Director when I first joined, I was privy to a few speeches here and there, but mostly I liked the films she was in, documentaries and such. She was a very wise, very stubborn woman. I see a lot of that in you, from what I’ve witnessed so far.'
'She’s still like that, when she's lucid, of course' I smiled sadly, looking down at the food and pushing it around with the metal cutlery. 'I miss her, I spent so much of my childhood with her. Her and Grandpa Daniel.'
'So is Peter your brother then?' Coulson asked, I shook my head.
'No,' I replied. 'Peter Parker, his father used to work for Oscorp with my uncle James, before the lab accident.'
'Peter's father died in a lab accident?' Coulson asked.
'No, my uncle did, there was an explosion or something. Peter's father and mother dropped him off one day at his Aunt and Uncles when he was four, before I ever knew him and apparently they died shortly after. I think it was a plane crash.'
'And you've known him since after that?' Coulson asked.
'Yeah, my parents moved in next door when I was six and he was five,' I explained. 'I'm older by eight months or so but we're in the same year,' I explained and then yawned, trying to talk through it. ‘Grandpa Daniel redshirted me so I could continue my studies at home with them.’
'Come on,' he said and gestured for me to get up. 'Let's get you home. You look exhausted.'
'I feel it too,' I muttered and he chortled, leading me away with a hand hovering behind my back for guidance. We left the cafeteria and he led me through entirely new icy corridors. I noticed some seemed to go uphill and there were stairs hidden off in certain corners and it made me wonder just how big this building actually was. And just how many exit strategies and secret passages it had.
'I park my car out back on the other side of the labs,' Coulson said. 'So we'll cut through here.'
'How come you don't park with everyone else?' I asked as we wandered through the corridor between labs and I glanced briefly at all the testing and experiments around. My stomach lurched and I paled as I realised what was about to happen.
'Coulson,' I said and he turned back around, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me to the ground. Just as I hit an explosion sounded and the floor and walls shook with the waves. The glass on the window above us shattered and shards rained down upon us. Coulson stretched out his suit jacket to try and shield me from the debris a little and I held my hands tightly over my head.
'Ah!' I cried softly as a piece cut through both me and my tattered jacket.
'You alright?' Coulson asked as he pushed himself up off the ground.
'Yeah,' I replied breathily, nodding as I looked down at myself. My shoulder stung and it was bleeding pretty hard, red liquid spilling down my elbow and forearm. I sighed. It just wasn't my night…
'Come on,' Coulson said, breaking me out of my thoughts. 'The lab has a first aid room. Let's get you cleaned up before we go.'
'Nothing else is going to explode, is it?' I asked nervously and he laughed, shaking his head.
'It shouldn't,' he replied unsettlingly. He swiped his card and typed in his passcode into the computer system by the door and it buzzed open, letting us in. How the door had remained intact but the windows hadn't was a miracle. It was the same code to the cafeteria, which probably meant it wasn’t a different code for each sector. That didn’t seem wise.
I was instructed to sit up on a cold, metal table in the sterile first aid room, just as sterile as the lab and the rest of the SHIELD environment. Coulson went over to the cabinets and got everything he would need to clean up my wound and I took off my jacket.
'Boy, you weren't kidding about being big into football,' he said as he looked at my arms. 'These are some big muscles.'
'Always had them,' I shrugged. 'It's never been very difficult to put on muscle.'
'I see,' he replied and went back to cleaning up my wound. 'Alight,' he said after a few more moments. 'We're done, let's get you home.'
He left the stuff out on the bench, including his gloves and the bloody cotton, which seemed like a breach in protocol and a biohazard. I didn't say anything, there was a reason he'd do something like this, and I wanted to find out why. I watched my surroundings as he escorted me back out. We headed back into the hallway and through the broken window I saw a tall scrawny guy head over to the stuff left in the first aid "room" which was really more of a corner.
'Maybe he was going to clean it up for Coulson? That still seemed odd. Why expose more than the necessary members of staff to a potential biohazard if you didn't have to?'
I figured I'd ask about it in the car, it was definitely suspicious. I followed him down the hall and out the exit door, into the warm summer air. I loved this time of year. As much as I was a New Yorker at heart, I was definitely not a fan of the harsh wind, the sleet and the grey brown snow that coated the paths in winter.
'Coulson?' I asked as he opened my door for me.
'Hmmm?' he asked, going round to his side of the car.
'Why didn't you clean up that stuff from earlier? The cotton swabs, the gloves, surely leaving them there breaches some kind of protocol..."
'The lab tech can take care of that, I figured it was more important to take you home,' he told me and I scowled out the window, watching the road fly by.
'I'm sure you did,' I replied, not believing him.
The rest of the journey was silent, most conversation I got out of him was the scolding I got when I went for the radio controls, and a clipped goodbye when we pulled up to my house. He pulled away before I was inside, left standing on the cracked and broken pavement, by the overgrown grass. Walking in the wire front gate and down the path leading to my front porch in the dark because the light was broken, I jammed my keys in the lock. Hitting my shoulder into the swollen wood, I pushed the door open and kicked off my shoes at the door, closing the heavy, wooden mess behind me. Seemed everything in this hell hole was falling apart. My mother would be so depressed if she saw this. She'd have never let her house fall into disrepair like this. She loved this place, it was our home.
I heard some movement in the living room and I reached behind me instinctively, grabbing the baseball bat in the umbrella stand. Shuffling forward I peaked my head around the archway into the living room from the hall.
'Hi,' a hand waved from the couch, that, and the face poking over the headrest, was all that was visible. Everything else was shielded by the sofa. Tension dropping from my body, I sighed in relief.
'Peter, you scared the crap out of me,' I told him and put down the baseball bat.
'..Least your instincts are in check,' he chuckled, wide grin on his face. 'Constant vigilance.'
'I thought you were Spider-Man not Professor Moody,' I rolled my eyes as I came back around the corner and flicked the light switch on. 'Why were you just sitting in the dark anyway, or was it just to scare me?'
'Scare you,' he replied cheekily and got up off the sofa.
'Jees,' I said, looking him up and down. 'What happened to you?'
'Minor car pile up,' he shrugged and I sighed. 'It's been a little harder to do this job without my perfect sidekick.'
'Please,' I huffed. 'I'm nobody's sidekick.'
'Partner in justice?' he offered and I smiled softly at him, leading him to the bathroom.
'Sure,' I replied. 'Partner in justice.'
Getting a washcloth out, I wiped the black soot and grease from his face before performing some minor first aid. I understood though why he was here. It wasn't like he could go home and let Aunt May see him like this and he wasn't exactly going to go and let Gwen see him either. Aunt May would have a heart attack and Gwen would guilt trip him again about going out and doing this stuff.
'I uh, I need to talk to you about something,' I told him.
'What?' he smiled genuinely, not sensing the worry in my voice.
'I spoke to Fury,' I replied.
'What? That's great! Did he help you?' He asked.
'No,' I shrugged. 'He said he couldn't help me. Basically this is it. It's the foster system.'
'No way,' he replied. 'Not going to happen. No way. We're going to figure something out, we'll get it sorted, don't worry Bonnie. I'm not going to lose you. We've been best friends for eleven years now, I'm not going to just give up because that guy is a jerk.'
'Peter this is hopeless, you know he was my last resort,' I ran a hand through my hair.
'We'll get Iron Man to help us,' he told me enthusiastically. ‘Tin man plan.’
'Iron Man?' I raised a brow. 'Sure, I'll just send out the bat signal shall I? Cast a light in the sky?'
'I mean, maybe he'll help me, I am Spider-Man,' he shrugged. 'I'll find a way to get a hold of him. He'll know what to do.'
Tuesday 13th August 2013
I sighed from my cramped position on the arm chair. Peter had stayed over after we chatted about how exactly he planned to get Iron Man involved in helping us. I never understood his unwavering faith in Superheroes. I guess they were like his Jesus. His heart wanted to believe in something, he wanted to have faith, but his science side refused to believe in anything that wasn't real. He'd been obsessed with Superheroes since we were kids. Actually, his adoration of Captain America is what we'd first bonded over.
When Aunt May had heard he was spending time with me again she was thrilled, she'd been extra worried about me since what happened with my father, and when I hadn't been around recently she'd silently worried some more. Of course I'd actually thrown myself into researching my great grandma's stories and that's why I hadn't been around in a while, but if I told her what I was up to, I'd have to explain why and she'd instantly try and adopt me. And as much as I didn't want to lose Peter, I knew I couldn't put extra strain on May. Things were tough for her since Ben had died, and it wasn't up to me to add to it by creating an extra mouth to feed.
'Morning,' Peter mumbled from the couch.
'Morning,' I replied tiredly.
'Man,' he said with a yawn. 'We're getting too old for this.'
'And too tall,' I agreed, looking at his extra long legs hanging over the end of the sofa.
'You've never been too tall for anything in your life,' he laughed at my inferior frame.
'I love how you flatter me in the morning,' I scowled. 'I have skyscraper self esteem.'
Just as I was sure he was going to come back at me with a witty retort, the landline rang. I raised an eyebrow at Peter, no one had called since my father. There wasn't anyone here who used it. I got up off the armchair and walked over to the table in the hall, taking the phone off the hook.
'Hello?' I asked, a little bewildered.
'Carter,' a familiar sounding voice said. 'It's Fury.'
'How the hell did you get this number?' I asked, even more confused than before.
'I'm Nick J. Fury, I know everything,' he replied. 'There isn't anything out there that I can't find out, and looking through the phone book, isn't exactly a difficult feat for the Director of SHIELD.'
'Right,' I agreed. 'So, can I help you?'
'Some blood was found in the lab last night,' he told me. 'We tested it and found a genetic match for both Steve Rogers and Margaret Carter. We looked through the family trees and the only person's blood it could have been was yours. We'd like to investigate how your blood happened to get on the premises, so if you wouldn't mind coming in to answer a few questions.'
'Uh,' I replied and thought back to last night.
'There's nothing I can do for you. There isn't anything in my power here to help you. If you could find him, you could ask for a DNA sample but until then, there's nothing I can do.'
'When do you need me in?' I asked.
'Come in at ten,' he replied and hung up.
'So...' I said as Peter came over. 'I have to go to SHIELD headquarters.'
'I guess we don't need Iron Man,' Peter shrugged. 'I thought Fury said he couldn't help you though?'
'They found some blood they're investigating. Apparently it's mine,' I replied and suddenly I realised why Coulson left all that stuff laying around. Fury said there was nothing in his power he could do. And I'm guessing, he found a loophole.
'You think you can go another day without assistance?' I asked.
'Um, if it means you get to stay at Midtown Science Academy and keep living next door to me, YES! Go, go, go, go.'
He practically pushed me up the stairs and into my bedroom so I could get ready. He bounded down the stairs and I could hear him clattering in the kitchen as I changed and cleaned up. I ran down the stairs after him and he had "made" breakfast. I sat beside him at the counter and started eating cereal as quickly as I could. I hurriedly brushed my teeth and then I was shoved by Peter out the front door. I was at SHIELD earlier than expected because the receptionist just let me through instead of me having to sneak past. I sat in the same cold waiting room for a few minutes before Fury came and got me, ushering me inside.
'Did you orchestrate a lab explosion last night?' I asked him before either of us had sat down.
'Excuse me?' he replied, bemused but with a slight smug look about his face.
'You said there was nothing you could do for me, I'm assuming you have staff DNA on file to eliminate it from crime scenes and stuff like that, but you'd need permission to use it, so you couldn't just test me against Steve's to see. So you have Coulson distract me, keep me out of the way, the lab sets up the explosion, I get injured and then Coulson fixes me up. I knew something was up when Coulson didn't clear up the biohazard stuff. Major breach in protocol.'
'Interesting theory you're working, Carter,' Fury replied. 'But when I brought you in for questioning, it was me who was supposed to be doing the asking.'
'So did you?' I asked, ignoring him.
'Someone found some glass with blood on it by the damaged window, mysteriously, the security camera footage is missing from ten minutes either way. We know everyone who was in the building and it was none of them. Only other person is you, although we don't know how you got into the building, why, or what happened during the explosion, so you need to clear that up for us,' he replied.
'You know, insurance fraud is a crime, Fury, stop trying to build a break and enter case against me,' I scowled. 'You know what happened, so just write down something satisfactory in that little book of yours and let's get on with the real reason you brought me here.'
'Sign this ready prepared statement,' he shoved some paperwork in front of me. 'Also, like I said over the phone, you're a match for Steve Rogers.'
'Does he want to see me?' I asked.
'I haven't asked him yet,' he shrugged. 'Head to the cafeteria with Agent Barton and I'll call for you later.'
'I hope you're still getting paid for this baby sitting mission,' I said as I sat beside Barton with a cup of coffee.
'It's easy enough,' he shrugged. 'And I get paid regardless of me going on missions.'
'So did Fury orchestrate the lab explosion last night?' I asked and Barton started laughing.
'That's classified,' he smiled at me and I took that as a yes. We sat quietly while I waited for whatever Fury wanted to do with me. I hoped he wasn't going to use my blood to frame me for some crime now. Damn spies. 'Hey,' he nudged me with his elbow. 'Look up.'
I followed his line of vision and clapped eyes on the two hundred pound American beefcake beaming as he came over. I wondered if he was a friend of Barton's and that's why he was so happy to see us. Surely, even the friendliest of people weren't this happy to meet a stranger.
My heart started to race, I'd worried and stressed over this moment for months but I'd never thought it would actually happen. My hands were sweating like crazy and I'd already wiped them several times on my pants. I grew pale and I could see him shoot me a sympathetic look. But why?
'So, can I call you Bonnie, or would you prefer Miss Carter?' Steve asked when he reached us.
Steve Rogers POV
Almost rushing through the few open hallways I made my way to the cafeteria as Fury had directed. I couldn't wait to see her, even if she had no idea who I was. I missed my best friend but I couldn't help but be worried. Would she still be the same Bonnie I knew? Would she still like all the things she liked? I sighed and shook my head, of course she would.
Getting close to the doors, I swiped my card to enter the mess hall and walked around a corner. There she was. I was half expecting her to have gotten bored and wandered off by now, that was usually her style.
Her blonde hair glowing in the light just like it always did and her iconic features still looked defined but soft. I enjoyed sketching her almost as much as I did Peggy or Bucky just because of how bright her smile was. But I didn't see a smile on her when I rounded the corner and headed up to her. She paled visibly, looking faint. I shot her a smile, hoping to sooth and encourage her. She seemed to calm down by the time I reached her and I put a hand out to shake her hand. I saw her wipe her hand on her shirt and I smiled, knowing the sweaty palmed feeling all too well. She took my hand in her grasp and she squeezed back with a firm grip, much stronger than I was expecting but I'd forgotten just how strong she was when I knew her. She was a little spitfire, but I was guessing now it had something to do with her being my great granddaughter.
'So can I call you Bonnie, or should I call you Miss Carter?' I smiled at my private joke, knowing she planned to meet me again at some point and introduce herself as Miss Parker.
'Bonnie is fine,' she replied warmly.
'You know Fury told me a lot about you. He said,' I started, knowing she'd get a kick out of it.
'Oh god,' she replied, running a hand over his face. 'I can only imagine the kind of things he had to say.. What was is something like "blonde haired imbecile with shockingly simplistic plans?"'
'Actually he said you're a very smart and brave girl. You know, you're one of the few people that can get what they want from the guy,' I responded, although what I said wasn't a lie, he never quite said it in so many words.
'I like to think I'm a pretty persuasive person,' she replied with an amused expression, that was the Bonnie I knew.
'Want to go get lunch?' I asked, hoping she could direct me to a good burger place, as it was our shared favourite. I looked at my watch to check it was a suitable time for lunch and I was right to be starving.
'If you think you can cope with my enormous appetite,' she snorted and flipped her hair over her shoulder. Of course I could, and it was nothing compared to mine now anyway.
'Somehow I think I'll manage,' I smiled at her. 'Hey, I had a jacket like that once,' I said, looking her up and down and thinking of the jacket I'd flown over enemy lines to rescue Bucky in. She snorted in response and slid the jacket off her shoulders and presented me the label. I wondered if she’d misplaced my jacket on purpose because she’d known she’d worn it here. Although it was entirely possible she’d just lost it.
'This is yours,' she chuckled.
'Should have guessed,' I smiled, she was always stealing clothes from Bucky, Howard, and I.
Chapter 2: Back 2 Good
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Back 2 Good - Matchbox Twenty
Bonnie Carter POV
Tuesday 13th August 2013
'Any ideas on a good burger place in New York?' Steve asked as I walked beside him
'My great grandma used to take me to the one place when she'd visit. She used to swear by it, says it's stayed virtually the same since the '40s. Minus inflation.' I told him. 'She said her best friend back then introduced her. I'm named after her actually.'
'Oh?' Steve asked, raising a brow.
'Yeah,' I nodded. 'Grandma Margaret, Howard and Bonnie were best friends.'
'So how'd you come to get her name?' Steve asked.
'My mom really liked family names and all that kind of traditional stuff,' I shrugged. 'Everyone in the family is named after someone else, at least for the past four generations.'
'Like who?' He asked as we kept walking.
'Well Great Grandma Margaret named her son after her brother, Michael. And when Grandpa Michael had his two sons he named them Daniel, after Great Grandpa Daniel, and James, after Great Grandpa Steve's best friend. I'm Bonnie Margaret Carter after Great Grandma Margaret and her best friend Bonnie.'
'That doesn't leave a lot of names for you to name your kids after,' Steve commented.
'Nah, there's still plenty,' I shrugged. 'Or at least plenty of boys' names at least. I'm screwed if I have girls.'
'So,' Steve asked. 'Where's this burger place, I'm starving.'
'Unless you have a secret car I don't know about we have to take the subway,' I told him. 'It's in Brooklyn.'
'It's not a secret just because you didn't know about it,' he told me. 'And it's not a car. I have a bike back in the SHIELD garage if you're okay with them.'
'Depends,' I replied. 'By bike you mean motorbike, right?'
'Yes of course I do,' he rolled his eyes. 'I do not plan on wheeling us all the way to Brooklyn on a tandem bike.'
'Just checking,' I laughed. 'You never know in this city.'
While true, my next sketching project had to be the imagery I'd just created in my mind of Steve and I on a bicycle built for two riding through the city.
'Quite an appetite you have there,' Steve commented as I started stuffing fries into my second cheeseburger.
'You were warned,' I rolled my eyes through a mouthful of food. 'I've always had a high metabolism. It runs in the family,' I shrugged, swallowing.
'Hey, I'm not complaining,' Steve replied. 'A lot of girls your age don't eat anything at all. Just so long as you're eating because you're hungry, then I don't care.'
'I couldn't do it,' I replied. 'I'd be in jail for sure. Hungry Bonnie is murderous Bonnie.' Steve laughed and went back to eating his food.
'You know, Fury never told me why you wanted to meet me,' he pried after a while of us chatting over lunch. 'I am flattered you spent so much time trying to track me down but is there a particular reason you did so? Anything you wanted to tell me?'
'Slow down there All American Beef Cake, if I tell you now you'll lose that big appetite of yours. As much as I'd love to say this was just a social call, it's also something slightly more important.'
Steve nodded. 'Alright, after lunch we'll go for a walk before heading back to headquarters and you can talk freely.'
Steve took me to a park he knew in Brooklyn and we walked through it at a leisurely pace. Although the dread and nausea I'd felt earlier had come back full swing and were eating me up inside, making our stroll anything but leisurely. And making me rethink how much I’d eaten at lunch. We got to an empty picnic table and I sat down on one side, him taking the seat across from me.
'Look uh,' I sighed and hand a hand through my hair.
'What's bothering you Bonnie?' Steve asked. 'I've known you long enough to know when you're in hot water. Let me help you.'
'Long enough?' I raised a brow. It had been a few hours, at most. 'I wasn't aware the Super Soldier Serum gave you expert character judging skills.'
'Let's pretend it did and get back to the problem at hand,' Steve replied. 'So, what's wrong?'
'This isn't easy for me,' I told him, heart racing again as a lump formed in my throat. 'I've never needed anybody's help before. I've always been the one doing the helping. And even when I did need something, Peter, he was there. But this is the one thing I can't do alone and he can't help me with.'
'So what do you need?' Steve asked seriously.
'My dad's dead,' I blurted out. 'When I was 12 my mom died in a car accident. We went out to the lake with Peter's family. They were looking after me when my parents went for a drive. They lost control up the hill. I remember seeing a car coming over the railing and tumbling down the cliff. Peter and I were fishing at the pier. He ran inside to go get someone but I just remember staring, speechless and unable to move. At the time I thought it was just a car, not their car. It slid into the lake and she couldn't get out. Dad managed to, in fact I only knew it was his car when Peter's uncle, Ben, found him lying on the shore.'
'Bonnie I'm so sorry,' Steve said and reached out to pat my arm. I pulled away and shook my head.
'He's been feeling guilty over it for years,' I explained. 'He was the one driving, he was the one who managed to get out. He got out in time, he said he tried to go back down and get her but he couldn't get her out in time. He was sick with grief from then on, and I.. Well it apparently got too much for him. I'd been caring for him all this time, making sure he ate, I got an after school job to bring extra money in but it just wasn't enough. I couldn't give him the support he needed.'
'What do you mean, Bonnie, you can't think this is your fault,' Steve told me. He grabbed my arm this time and pulled me closer. 'Bonnie listen to me, your father, he made his choices but none of them were your fault. Nothing he did was a result of you or any of your actions. No matter how much you beat yourself up over it it was never your fault.'
'Doesn't make me feel any better about it,' I replied, wiping away some tears.
'I never said it would,' he replied simply. 'So, what can I do to help you?'
'I wanna stay at the same school. I don't wanna lose Peter too, he's my best friend and I can't lose him after everything else,' I explained. I pulled a scrunched up piece of paper out of my pocket. 'This is the piece of paper my Dad was supposed to sign for me to keep going to Midtown Science Academy. It can only be signed by a legal guardian. If I can't find one before the month is up, they're gonna put me in the foster system and it's unlikely that I'll get to keep attending. I make enough with my job for tuition but depending on where I go, it's unlikely that they'll let me keep going there.'
'So what, you want me to sign this? That's all?' Steve asked, smiling softly.
'Well you can't just sign it, you might be Captain America but that's not going to mean much to the school board,' I replied wiping away some more tears.
'I see,' Steve replied. 'You want me to adopt you.'
'You don't have to do anything, not really, just do the paperwork and I can look after everything else myself, I don't even have to live with you, I can manage, really. I can scrape enough together each month for the bills and I've got tuition covered. It's just someone to sign this really.'
'Slow down firecracker,' Steve put a hand up in front of me and shook his head. 'No way am I just going to leave you like that. Of course I'll adopt you, you're family. And I'm paying for your tuition from now on. You can live with me and I'll be the one worrying about bills. You're in high school, your responsibilities are getting good grades and doing your homework. Your job can be for earning you pocket money, that's it.'
'But.. why?' I asked. 'People don't just do stuff for free. Why are you helping me?'
'You're my family,' he told me again. 'Now come on, let's get you cleaned up before we head back to SHIELD.'
'Sorry,' I cried some more.
'You've got nothing to be sorry for, it's okay to cry, everybody does it sometimes,' he told me. 'Even I have, so don't sweat it.'
'Thanks,' I told him, and wiped away some more tears while he pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed away the salt tracks.
Steve Rogers POV
'It certainly was interesting, to find out she's named after herself,' I replied as I stood by the wall in Fury's office. Stark let out a laugh from the chair in front of Fury's desk.
'And I thought I was narcissistic,' he said.
'She doesn't know,' I shook my head. 'So it doesn't really count as narcissism. Even if she did know, she didn't name herself.'
'Apparent narcissism or not, we still need to try and figure out why she time travels and how,' Fury interrupted. 'And Stark, you should have brought this to my attention much sooner.'
'What did you want me to do? Come up to you one day and say "Hey, btw sometimes a tiny blonde girl visits my dad and once I got to meet her and fucked up the whole thing," ?'
'What are you talking about?' I asked.
'Ugh,' he ran a hand over his face. 'A long time ago when I was young and more of an asshole as I am now..'
'I didn't think that was possible,' I replied.
'I met her, we hit it off but she never told me how she knew my dad, my old man being my old man, I assumed they were sleeping together and I tried desperately to find proof so I could tell mom,' he explained. 'What I actually found out was that she was a time traveller. And at first I was fine with it but at my parents funerals she was there and I was hurting and terrible at dealing with my emotions so I snapped at her and well, I can't take back what I said but I hurt her and I've been trying to figure out a way to make it up to her ever since. It wasn't until now that she showed up again.'
'Well I can't say I really blame her if you hurt her as bad as you say you did,' I replied. 'She's never been one to spend much time with her enemies.'
'Well Stark, you're in luck,' Fury said. 'If you wanna make it up to her so badly, Rogers has agreed to adopt her. So she'll be living with you for the foreseeable future.'
'Now hang on a minute,' I cut in. 'When I said she could live with me, I meant back at my apartment in Brooklyn.'
'You barely ever stay there anymore,' Stark waved off. 'You almost always crash with the rest of the team back at Avengers Tower. The kid might as well move in too.'
'I wanted to create a stable home environment for her, not put her in harm's way living with dangerous assassins, the Hulk and a crazed inventor that keeps blowing things up.'
'Glad you have so much faith in us, Rogers,' I heard from the doorway.
'Tasha you know that's not what I meant,' I told her as I ran a hand over my face.
'I know,' she replied. 'But with you going away all the time on missions, her never knowing when you'll be home and when you won't, don't you think it would be more stable for her to live in a place where there's people to protect her?'
'I suppose you're right,' I sighed. 'I just hope it won't be too much for her too soon.'
'Why's “dangerous assassin” here anyway?' Stark asked, throwing a paper ball at the redhead.
'Fury wants me to follow her home and observe her for a little while,' she shrugged. 'She might already have the stuff to time travel, she might not. But if she's done it, regardless of if it's this her or another, people are going to be looking for her. Nothing's ever secret.'
'You really think she's going to be in danger?' I asked.
'I'm sure of it,' she nodded and then headed out of the room.
Bonnie Carter POV
'Peter,' I called out as he stood at the top of a halfpipe. He looked up and beamed, waving at me before he skated down it, doing a couple tricks. I cheered and whooped for him while he was up there and he punched me lightly in the shoulder when he came to meet me.
'You're in better spirits,' he commented.
'I feel like a weight had been lifted off my chest,' I told him.
'Have you been crying?' He asked, flicking off some mascara flakes from my face.
'A little, yeah,' I blushed.
'That's probably why,' he shrugged. 'You can't keep things bottled up. They slowly choke you to death.'
'Hey, I told you that,' I pointed out. I remembered being up in his room, perched on his desk as he lay curled up on his bed one night just after Ben had died. I didn't know exactly what to say to him, but it worked at the time.
'Then practice what you preach,' he told me. We started walking towards our houses and I put my hands on the back of my head, sighing.
'He wants me to move in with him,' I told Peter after we'd been walking for a while.
'What, Fury?' Peter turned to me, a goofy look on his face. 'Wasn't that who you went to see today? I didn't think you'd made that much of an impression.'
'Don't be an asshole,' I rolled my eyes. 'Steve, I met with him, I told him everything and he wants me to move in with him.'
'You think he's going to let you keep going to Midtown?' Peter asked.
'I think so, he said he'd pay for my tuition,' I explained. 'But it does mean you can't just keep climbing in my bedroom window whenever you feel like it.'
'I mean, I can, it's just farther away,' he shrugged.
'Hey do me a favour and pretend this is just an ordinary conversation,' I said to Peter.
'Up until now, I thought it was,' he joked and I glared at him.
'When I was walking to the subway I thought there was this car following me,' I explained. 'Turned out this woman actually wanted to get on the subway,' I was cut off by Peter laughing at me. 'But I've been feeling uneasy since. And there's still a similar car following me. They're driving slow too, maybe I'm paranoid but in my gut I feel it.'
'Your gut's never been wrong before,' Peter told me and eyed the black car behind us carefully. 'There's a guy in it, sandy blonde hair, sunglasses. You know if it's the same guy?'
'I'd have to look again,' I told him. 'I'm sure it was a redheaded woman though.'
'Let's take a different route home today,' Peter said. 'We'll figure out if they're following us and if they are, we won't lead them right to our houses.'
'I like how you think we can take on two random goons,' I commented as we walked.
'I mean, we take on random goons all the time,' he told me with a shrug.
'Well yeah, but these guys could be dangerous. Well, more dangerous, you know I've spent a lot of time at SHIELD, what if these are the kind of bad guys we usually leave up to someone a little more qualified?' I explained.
'Then I hope you have Steve's number,' he shrugged. I hate how blasé he could be about this.
'I did,' I fumbled for the card in my pocket.
'He gave you a card?' Peter sighed. 'It's 2013 I can't believe this.'
'He's old ,' I justified. 'Leave him alone.'
'He's like 25 or something,' Peter argued.
'Yeah, 25 or something from the '40s,' I replied as we turned another corner. 'Look I know I sound paranoid already but do you think there could be more than one person following us?'
'The hairs on the back of my neck haven't gone down since we started talking about this, my spidey senses are going off constantly, it would explain a lot,' he replied.
'I hate my life,' I sighed.
'I hate your life too,' Peter said, giving me no sympathy. 'Okay they're definitely following us, but if we turn this corner and then run really fast there's an alleyway we can duck into and disappear.'
'I know the one,' I told him. 'We can come out the other side and go back the way we came and then take Jefferson St to really throw them off.'
'You with me?' he asked and we turned the corner at walking speed and then took off, running as fast as my little legs would take me. We turned sharply into the alley and then Peter grabbed me, tossing me into a dumpster and climbing in afterwards. One side of the lid was down so we crouched and scuttled under it, using the open side to watch the alley.
'I thought we were going to go straight through?' I whispered.
'Can't,' he whispered back. 'They'd see us running down here. They're in a car.'
'Good point,' I told him as we laid low. For the first minute or so, the silence was painful. But the longer we were in there the fear and adrenaline wore off and I just got bored. I looked up to see Peter had drawn a tic tac toe board on the side of the dumpster in the dry dirt. I chose not to comment on how gross that was. Instead I marked the middle square. We gave it just over five minutes of doodling on the inside of the dumpster before we decided it was safe to come out. I poked my head out of the dumpster and looked the way we'd run in. Nothing. I singled to Peter who opened up the flap on the right and jumped out, dusting himself off. I swung my leg over the side and jumped down towards the ground, it was a lot harder getting out of the dumpster than it was getting in, thanks to my little legs. I felt a hand on my back, helping me out of the dumpster and I uttered a soft 'thanks,' before bending and dusting myself off.
'That was close,' I breathed out, standing upright again. 'I'm gonna have to tell Steve about this when we get home. This seems like an adult assistance thing.'
'Yeah just don't tell Aunt May or I'll never be able to leave the house again,' he replied and I turned around to head out the other end of the alley. I let out an ear piercing scream as I jumped back into Peter. Standing beside the dumpster was a man in full black attire, buckles and belts everywhere. He had a mask covering his mouth and goggles on with brown hair.
'Jesus,' Peter said as I slammed into him. 'HOLY SHIT!' he yelled as he saw the guy I'd been terrified of.
There was a blink of silver and at first I thought it was a knife but for some reason this guy seems to have a glove made of metal. I heard two sets of running footsteps behind me and Peter and I both turned at the sound. A short, redhead and a guy with sandy brown hair came running into the alley and I turned back to see where the guy was but he was gone.
'He's gone,' I breathed and Peter swore as he followed my gaze. I pushed forward and ran out of the alley looking for him but he really was gone. I turned back around to Peter and shrugged. 'He disappeared.'
'Are you kids okay?' The guy asked and I did a double take.
'Agent Barton?' I asked.
' Agent ,' Peter hissed.
'Yeah he bought me a coffee today,' I replied.
'Isn't he a little old for you?' Peter replied.
'NOT LIKE THAT,' I smacked him. I turned to the two people in the alley and they looked amused. 'Were you the guys following us?'
'Yeah,' Barton nodded. 'I was surprised you picked up on it to be honest, but I'm also impressed.'
'Gut instinct,' I shrugged.
'By the way, I'm so using that "He's old" line on Steve when I get back,' Barton grinned.
'How'd you hear that? You got a listening device or something?' I asked, confused.
'No,' he shook his head and pulled off something from behind his ear. It was a hearing aid. 'I'm deaf, and can read lips.'
'Oh,' I nodded. 'I guess that makes sense. So you knew what we were going to do the whole time?'
'We had a fair idea you were planning something when Clint told me you knew,' the redhead told me. 'We were waiting just outside the alley when you screamed. Why did you, by the way?'
'There was a guy,' I pointed at the exit to the alley behind me. 'He's gone now.'
'He was creepy,' Peter said. 'Defiantly having nightmares tonight.'
'Can you be serious for five fucking seconds?' I growled at him.
'Calm down, just trying to lighten the mood,' he put his hands up in surrender. 'He was in full-on combat gear, looked like a cross between a swat guy and a soldier.'
'There was something off about it. Too many buckles, the face covering, the goggles,' I described. 'That weird metal glove thing.'
'Would you know him if you saw him again?' The redhead asked.
'I could sketch him,' I told her. 'Take us back to my place and I'll draw him for you.'
'Deal,' Clint shrugged and led us back to the car.
'Are these standard issue SHIELD cars or something?' I asked. 'You have the same car as that guy who dropped me home last night, and it's similar to the one you were driving.' I pointed to the redhead.
'I'm Tasha by the way,' she introduced herself as she got in the passenger seat.
'I imagine you already know who we are if you've been told to follow us,' I replied as I climbed into the back seat beside Peter.
'We've got both your files,' she shrugged.
'I have a file?' Peter perked up.
'Yes, you're super important to the World Security Agency,' I replied sarcastically. 'You're currently under investigation for the toxic gasses your gym socks are producing. They have reason to believe they're what's causing the hole in the ozone layer.'
'You're hilarious,' he rolled his eyes at me.
'That's in the file actually,' Tasha confirmed.
'What really?' he whipped his head around to her.
'Your forehead says gullible,' I told him and he grumbled, flopping back onto the seat.
I leaned back against the seats as Peter gave directions back to my house. We'd been right, at least, there had been two people following us. The red headed lady and agent Barton. We had however, been wrong about, or not noticed the 3rd. I froze, goosebumps slithered up my skin.
I felt a hand on my back, helping me out of the dumpster and I uttered a soft 'thanks,' before bending and dusting myself off.
Whoever that guy was, had helped me out of the dumpster. Had he known we were in there the whole time? Had he just been waiting for us to climb out with an amused smile under his mask? This was like something out of Looney Tunes. He'd helped me out of the trash... I sighed.
'You live here?' Tasha asked, looking at the rundown house.
'It didn't always look like this,' I told her as I climbed out of the car. I headed to the front door, Peter trailing behind me as I noticed the two agents hadn't gotten out of the car. I unlocked the door and looked back at them. They seemed to be arguing about something. I shrugged and walked inside, closing the front door beside us.
I walked through to the kitchen to wash my hands and get my sketchbook. I sat down at the table, going to work immediately. Peter went into the fridge to grab some lemonade I made every year because of the giant lemon tree in the yard. It was always dropping fucking huge lemons, large enough to kill you if you got hit.
'I think the best thing about your lemonade is that it doesn't taste like lemons,' he told me. 'Aunt May makes it so bitter because she doesn't want me eating too much sugar.'
'It's mom's recipe,' I shrugged. 'Apparently she doesn't care if I get diabetes. Didn't, sorry.'
'Don't apologise to me,' he told me. 'I wasn't going to correct you.'
'I wonder who this guy is,' I said as I heard the front door going. Peter leaned back to check who it was but didn't seem worried so I went back to drawing.
'You know, you should really keep your front door locked,' Tasha said as she sat beside us and helped herself to a glass and poured some lemonade.
'Would it have stopped you if I did?' I replied.
'Touché,' she replied and sipped the lemonade. 'This is good.'
'Mom's recipe,' I shrugged again.
'This is a pretty good likeness to the guy we saw,' Peter said as he pointed to my sketch book. I wrote along the side all the details I could think of. Hair colour, height, distinguishing features.
'Can I take this in?' Tasha asked and I signed the bottom of the page and ripped it out of the book.
'All yours,' I told her. 'You think we'll run into this guy again?'
'If it's who I think it is, definitely,' she told me. 'But if not, someone else probably. You're in the big leagues now, kid, whether you wanted that or not.'
'Please,' Peter brushed off with a pfft. 'We were already in the big leagues.'
Steve Rogers POV
'Someone did follow them,' Tasha said as she came into the tower with Barton. 'She drew me a sketch, also she blew our cover. She picked up that she was being followed from the subway station.'
'That's pretty impressive for a 17 year old girl,' Bruce commented. 'Considering she's an ordinary human with no specialist training,'
'Either that or we're slipping in our old age,' Clint replied.
'Fuck you, I'm not old,' Tasha bit back and I laughed.
'You recognise the guy in the sketch?' Tony asked and she looked grim.
'If it's who I think it is,' she started.
'It's a ghost story, Tasha, let it go,' Clint brushed off.
'Anyway,' she said after an eye roll. 'We've got someone watching the house, so she'll be okay.'
'Good,' I nodded. Things were never this dangerous before, and that was during World War II. The 21st century really was something new and frightening. I ran a hand through my hair.
Bonnie Carter POV
'Pizza?' I asked as I grabbed the phone.
It was our usual order, but one we hadn't made in a long time. It had been so long since we'd had a proper pillow-fort sleepover with pizza and snacks. I missed this. And I was glad that I had Steve now because it meant that, even if things took some getting used to, I'd get to keep this. I could keep this one thing. And this was worth it all.
'You know it,' he grinned.
I dialled the number I knew off by heart and ordered two meat lovers with bbq and hot sauce. I went to the kitchen and got several jugs of lemonade and some glasses, coming back to our pillow fort that opened for the TV. There was a mattress we'd dragged down from the guest bedroom and we sat on the floor, propped up against the couch.
'I've missed this,' I told him.
'Aunt May misses you,' he told me. 'Next time we should do this at my place.'
'We will,' I agreed. 'I just didn't want to leave after those agents left.'
'I know,' he nodded. 'What do you think it's going to be like, living with Steve?'
'He seemed nice enough,' I told him. 'But he is from the '40s so I'm worried he's going to be super strict.'
'Your grandma used to rave about him, Margaret, I mean,' he told me and I nodded.
'Yeah and she'd never settle for someone who was a strict, stuffy asshole,' I agreed. 'He must be something special, to catch her eye. She had absolutely no patience for most '40s men.'
'No, I remember the stories,' he laughed. There was a knock on the door and we both got up. Peter went first as I reached the umbrella stand, grabbing the baseball bat, just in case it wasn't our usual delivery guy.
'Paul!' I yelled enthusiastically when Peter opened the door and I saw it was our long time favourite delivery guy.
'Good to see you again, been awhile since you ordered two large meatlovers with bbq and hot sauce,' he knew our order by heart.
'Too long,' Peter nodded, grabbing the boxes and eating a slice as he walked away. I paid Paul and chased after Peter before he could eat all the grub.
'Wat goovy d'yu wan watch?' Peter said while stuffing his face.
'Depends, what movie do you want to watch?' I replied more eloquently.
'Anything that isn't one of those crappy chick flicks and rom coms Gwen makes me watch,' Peter replied, going slightly green at the thought.
'How about “Die Zombies, Die”?' I asked, chugging the free soda out of the bottle.
'We watched that last time,' he whined.
'Okay, “Back from the Dead III”?'
'Nah, let's watch “Honey I cooked the kids”,' Marvelous. The comedy about cannibals that takes the piss out of the “Honey I shrunk the kids” movie.
'Deal. But you make the Popcorn,' I agreed. I always burn them, like I'm not kidding, I almost set the microwave on fire.
'Yeah, I'd rather not have to call the fire department. I'll make the popcorn, you get the candy,' he ordered and disappeared around the corner and into the kitchen.
Wednesday 14th August 2013
'Hey, rise and shine snotball,' Peter said yanking off my blankets and nudging me with his foot. I groaned as I rolled over, rubbing my eyes with my fists.
'Nice to see you too butthole,' I grumbled. Mornings weren't my thing.
'That's Sir Butthole the Third, to you, peasant,' he corrected, waving his arms around dramatically.
'Clean up time?' I mumbled, yawning and stretching out of my curled up position amongst the nest of pillows and blankets from last night. He nodded and pulled the duvet out from under me. I shot him a glare.
'Hey, the faster we get this done the better,' he shrugged. 'Aunt May is making breakfast.'
I smiled and sat up. He'd called her and told her about the sleepover so it was no surprise she insisted we have breakfast at hers. I was not a stranger to one of Aunt May's home cooked meals. She was a fantastic cook, until it came to meatloaf. Any time Peter stayed over at mine the next morning I was dragged down the street in my pyjamas.
'Oh, it's so good to see you again. It's been a while, I was beginning to forget what you looked like,' she gushed when I came in the front door in just my pjs and socks.
She wrapped me in a warm, motherly hug and then hurried us into the kitchen. She stood there, frying up bacon and pancakes dressed in her grey shirt, plaid pyjama pants and all tied up in a blue cardigan looking well rested enough that she'd slept for thousands of years. She turned away from the stove to receive a kiss on the cheek from Peter and wrapped her arms around him in a bone crushing hug. For a petite woman she was surprisingly strong.
'It's been too long Aunt May,' I said softly, feeling guilty I hadn't been around in a while.
We went through breakfast like nothing had changed, with Peter getting scolded by his aunt every five minutes for eating like a pig and Aunt May asking me about my summer homework.
I'd known Peter since he was 5 and I was 6, and any time Aunt May asked me about how we were doing in class or what we were up to I always had to come up with a quick excuse, because usually, we were up to no good. Don't get me wrong, we weren't anything like Flash but we certainly weren't the good little students like Gwen.
There was Peter, skateboarding through the halls even though he knew better, and me, letting the frogs from biology loose in the girls' locker room.
Aunt May left to go get ready for the day and left Peter and I to do the dishes. 'So what do you plan on doing today?'
'Well I maybe should start cleaning up the old house and start getting ready to move,' I replied glaring at a water spot on the glass.
'That's great,' Peter said. 'Everything's coming together, you'll see and we'll have the team back together in no time.'
'So what are you doing today?' I asked, changing the subject.
'I figured I'd go see Gwen, haven't seen her in a while 'cause of the Spidey business,' he explained as I turned slightly green at the thought. It was no secret Gwen and I didn't get along. I tried to like her, she was important to Peter and I wanted him happy. It was just, she seemed to instantly hate me since we were introduced. Why, I'd never know.
'Yeah, I bet she misses you,' I nodded, trying to be empathetic.
'Yeah,' he smiled, gesture recognised. 'So we'll hang out. And uh, let me know when you're moving in with Steve, I'll help you.'
'Thanks,' I smiled sadly, nodding and scrubbing at the spots on the dishes with a dry tea towel.
'Hey Bonnie?' Peter said after a few moments of silence.
'Yeah?' I turned to him.
'I appreciate it you know,' he told me. 'How you are with Gwen, I really do. I know for whatever reason she doesn't like you but you keep trying and I know you're only doing it for me. So thanks.'
'You're saying that like it's the last time I'll ever see you,' I brushed off.
'You're going to the same school, sure, but this could be the last time we have a post sleepover breakfast. We're not going to be neighbours anymore,' he said taking his hands out of the sink. He picked up a tea towel and dried them off. 'I love you,' he wrapped his arms around me. 'So don't forget me when you're hanging out with your cool new Avenger friends and getting caught up in the fast lane beside Captain America.'
'I won't,' I smiled beside his chest. 'You know you're my first superhero. The OG. I could never forget that.'
'I wouldn't say the OG. But I'm glad I could be your first,' he grinned down at me. 'You're my best friend.'
'You're my only friend,' I replied.
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 3: Can We Be Friends
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Can We Be Friends - Justin Beiber, Bloodpop
Bonnie Carter POV
Wednesday 14th August 2013
'Uh.. Hello?' I asked as I picked up the landline. What was with everyone and calling this number all of a sudden? Old people .
'Bonnie Carter?' some guy asked enthusiastically.
'Uh, who's this?' I asked scratching the back of my head.
'Tony Stark,' the guy replied.
'Bullshit,' I replied with an eye role and hung up the phone. I headed for the kitchen, doing some washing up from last night. Peter was right, this could be the last set of dishes I wash up here, last sleepover I clean up after.
I looked at the wallpaper in the kitchen and sighed. It was peeling off the walls, the hardwood floors had barely any varnish left and I wondered, it had only been 5 years since my mom had died. I just mustn't have noticed how bad things had gotten until she'd gone. Maybe the cracks in the pavement outside had always been there, but my mom had always weeded all the green growing through. Maybe the wallpaper was always peeling but mom just smoothed it back down. Maybe the floors were always scuffed but she just polished them really well. Regardless if all that was true, it wasn't happening now. And now she was gone I had noticed.
I sat down at the kitchen table and sighed. My family was never rich, but we had enough. The scuffed but polished floors, the smoothed, peeling wallpaper and the weedy, cracked sidewalk was enough for me. Now dad was gone too, what did I have left? This house was empty. The house that used to hold a constant warm glow, this house that always felt like a home, well, it wasn't anymore.
'Guess I should start on the grass, finally,' I said to myself and got up from the table and went outside to the garden shed.
Tony Stark POV
'You sure this is the place?' I asked Happy.
'Your GPS system is never wrong,' he shrugged.
I'd looked up the house just like I'd looked up everything about Bonnie Carter, now I was able to get her real name. I always figured she'd pop back up again eventually, but I never thought like this. The Bonnie I knew was always on trend, brand names and always bright. This house was drab, dreary and falling apart. The grass was un-mowed, dry, like it hadn't seen water in months and the house looked like it hadn't been painted in years. Pieces of weatherboard were rotting and the path leading to the porch had more cracks in it than a dried up lake.
'Let's go see if she's home,' I suggested and got out of the car.
'If I was her,' Happy said as we walked up to the front porch. 'I wouldn't wanna be.'
I reached out and rang the doorbell. It sounded, so at least that worked. I stood with my hands clasped in front of me while I waited for her to come and answer the door, Happy standing in a similar manner. After a few minutes he checked his watch and I rang the bell again. Radio silence.
'Maybe she's not home,' Happy shrugged.
'She was when I rang,' I replied.
'Fucksake!!'
I raised an eyebrow at Happy who shrugged. I leaned around the side of the house, out over the railing for the porch. There was a chain-link gate and a path behind the driveway.
'Come on,' I said to Happy. 'Let's go.'
I walked back down the porch steps and round the side of the old house, headed for the sound of swearing. Since the original, there had been a few more strings of curses and some clattering. Seemed interesting enough for me.
I opened the gate and it creaked, reminding me that I was surrounded by things that were falling apart. I headed through the back yard, I saw an open shed with a girl in it looking like she was close to losing her shit.
'Does nothing in my life work?!' she cried out in frustration and grabbed her face, turning around to stare at the wall at the back of the shed.
'Something broken?' I asked as I got closer. She jumped and went for a wrench before looking up.
'Easy, Kochanski, I come in peace,' I told her.
'So it was you who called earlier, wait, what?' she replied looking up at me.
'Kochanski, Red Dwarf, that time she beats Kryten over the head with a monkey wrench,' I explained.
'Obscure,' she bit back, nodding slightly. 'How was I supposed to get that, again?'
'It's a good show, you'd like it,' I told her.
'How the fuck do you know that?' she replied angrily.
'What's the problem here?' I tried again.
'The problem here?!' She threw the wrench down and put her hands up to her face. 'Everything! Everything is a problem here. My life is falling completely apart and every time I fix one problem, something else breaks. I am powerless, things have been falling apart for years and I'm stuck, stood here just watching it all happen.'
'I meant with the lawnmower you had on the bench,' I replied. 'Although, nice to see you sharing.'
She glared sharply at me, the same way she always did.
'It doesn't work?' I tried again.
'No,' she sighed.
'Let me take a look at it, I know a thing or two,' I said and took off my suit jacket.
'I wasn't aware there was much call for billionaires to mow their own lawns,' she replied sarcastically but moved out of the way.
I unbuttoned the cuffs of my shirt and started rolling them up before deciding to just ditch the button down completely.
'Woah,' she said, stepping back. 'I didn't realise you taking a look would require you getting naked. I am so not on board.'
'Relax, I just don't want Pepper to kill me for getting grease on this shirt,' I rolled my eyes and handed my jacket and shirt to Happy.
'You're a billionaire ,' she told me like I was a moron. 'Buy a new one.'
'Being careful with things is how you stay a billionaire,' I replied. I can't believe I'm having this conversation.
I went back to the lawnmower and started pulling pieces off. I grabbed a rag that was nearby and cleaned some of the grease off the carburetor inside. If I had to guess by the state of the engine, it'd be something to do with the spark plug. Everything else, albeit a little dirty, seemed fine.
'Ah,' I said after removing it. 'I was right, debris in the spark plug. We wipe this clean and you should be good as new.'
'Great.' she crossed her arms. 'You gonna mow the grass too?'
'Is that what it's gonna take?' I replied.
'What what's going to take?' she looked at me unimpressed.
'To get you to trust that this big bad billionaire isn't out to get you,' I replied.
'What do you want, that requires my trust?' She always was a smart cookie.
'Your friendship,' I replied simply.
'You're a billionaire, buy someone else's,' Bonnie shoved past Happy and I and headed out of the shed.
'Come 'ere, help me with this,' I instructed the security guard and longtime friend.
'You're not actually going to mow her lawn are you?' he asked.
'Yep,' I replied. 'She's gotta see I mean business.'
'Pepper's going to kill you, you're pants'll get green stains,' Happy warned.
'I'm a billionaire, I'll buy some more,' I replied with a smile.
Bonnie Carter POV
'I don't believe it,' I looked out the back window. 'He's actually mowing my lawn.'
I sighed and went to the fridge, seeing if we had any lemonade left. Peter always drank it but we had plenty of lemons going around that it wasn't much of a problem. We didn't so I went to the fruit bowl. I wish my mother hadn't taught me to be so hospitable. I hate people.
I pulled out the juicer and started squeezing them by hand on the little plastic tool. With the amount of grass I had it was likely I could get a batch made before he was done. I poured all the juice when I was done into a pot on the stove and added the sugar, heating till it all dissolved, immediately sticking it in the fridge. I went to the living room, looking out the front window to see he had started on the rest of the lawn. What a weirdo.
I went back to the kitchen and got out some glasses. I hoped me giving them lemonade wouldn't make them want to come inside. I had no desire to entertain these strangers for longer than strictly necessary. How was I supposed to brood in company?
'Uh care to tell me why Tony Stark is mowing your front lawn, and when you hired door security?' Peter asked, walking into the kitchen.
'I thought you were going to hang out with Gwen?' I asked.
'I was but she flipped out about our sleepover and then said she had homework,' he shrugged and then went into the fridge. 'Cool, lemonade. Pour me a glass.'
'I don't know why they're here, I didn't invite them,' I explained. 'I got a call after I got home from someone claiming to be Tony Stark. I called bullshit and hung up. Turns out it was him. Or a really good impersonator who has a thing for lawnmowers.'
'His day job?' Peter asked with a shrug.
'But then, who's his friend?' I replied.
'Can't be a successful Tony Stark impersonator without an entourage,' he suggested.
'That is very true,' I heard from the hallway. I just noticed the lawnmower noise was gone, he must have finished up. I poured out some lemonade glasses.
'It's all about nailing the finer details,' Tony said when he came into view.
'Here,' I thrust the glasses out towards them and stalked back towards the counter. 'You still haven't told me what it is you want.'
'You're lemonade recipe now,' he replied after taking a sip. 'It's not bitter at all, what's the secret?'
'The variety of lemons,' I told him. 'Depending on the breed, the flavour is different.'
'And yours is?' he pried.
'A family secret,' I bit back. Meyer. Meyer lemons. A crossbreed known for being sweeter in taste.
'I'm hurt, I thought we were friends,' he smiled back.
'No you thought upon seeing you I'd jump you and we'd be BFFs,' I argued. 'Mowing the lawn doesn't mean anything.'
'While normally I wouldn't pass up on a pretty face, you sweetheart are on the wrong side of legal and a few years too late, Pepper and I are very happy.'
'Gross,' I replied.
'Gross we're happy or gross you don't want to sleep with me?' he grinned.
'You're the worst,' I told him.
'You'll get used to it,' he replied and I glared at him.
'I like to live my life in a way that I never have to stay in a situation that makes me feel uncomfortable. Including but not limited to weird billionaires occupying my time,' I crossed my arms. 'So get out.'
'Bonnie come on, don't be like that,' Peter tried to reason with me.
'I'm calling Steve,' I replied and walked out of the kitchen and over to the phone.
Steve Rogers POV
My phone buzzed in my pocket as I finished up the last patrol of the building I had secured. I pulled it out to reveal a call from a number I didn't recognise.
'Hey,' I heard from the phone.
'Bonnie,' I recognised her voice instantly.
'Can you come over? Tony Stark is here for some reason and he won't leave. He also fixed my lawn mower and cut the grass,' she told me. Stark. Although I couldn't help but chuckle.
'I'm on a job right now,' I started.
'Oh, sorry,' she replied and I smiled.
'I've just finished so I can be there in an hour, could you text me the address?' I asked her and she agreed. 'Great, try not to kill Stark till I get there.'
'You gonna help me hide the body if I fail?' she replied and I laughed. I had missed her humour.
Bonnie Carter POV
'Steve's on his way. You'd better behave yourself or I'll tell him,' I told him. 'He's gonna be here soon.'
'I'm so scared,' Tony replied sarcastically.
'I have a question,' Peter turned to Tony and I rolled my eyes.
'Just one?' Tony raised a brow. I glared at him from across the kitchen. He put his hands up in surrender.
'If we'd have gone to you instead, would you have helped?' Peter asked. 'Because that Fury guy is a dick.'
Tony snorted. 'Keep the boyfriend honey,' he looked at me. 'And yes. If Bonnie had come to me, I would have helped in a heartbeat.' Peter looked impressed.
'Why?' I glared at him.
'Let's just say I owe an old friend a favour," he grinned. I didn't trust him, no goofy smile was going to change that.
'So, uh, what do you wanna do till Steve gets here?' Peter asked awkwardly, watching the stare down between Stark and I. I sighed.
'I've got homework I was supposed to do over summer,' I replied. 'Mind these two idiots while I run upstairs and grab it?' I looked to Peter.
'No problem,' Happy, Tony's bodyguard replied. I almost laughed. Almost.
I headed up the stairs to my room, going to my book bag that I'd abandoned in the corner at the start of summer. I looked around this old room. It barely looked like that of a high school student. Or much of anything. Once mom had died, the superhero posters got taken down. As did all the pictures of me and the people I loved. I couldn't bear to look at any of them. So many of the people I was with, smiling, suddenly were out of my life.
I swallowed hard. I wasn't sure I wanted to go with Steve to his apartment but I wasn't sure I wanted to stay here either. I wanted home, but I wasn't ready to give up the past either. I hoped he could understand that. Steve seems pretty cool, like he understood what it was like, but, I barely knew him.
I walked back down the stairs with bag in hand, and went to the kitchen table where Peter and Stark were practically in each other's laps. I raised a brow, watching them fawn over each other and their science. I understood little of the formulas they were beaming over so I sat down and left them to it. I saw Happy roll his eyes, at least I wasn't the only one who thought it was too much.
I immersed myself in my work, furiously scribbling in my notebook the advanced nursing subjects I was studying. At the end of the last school year Peter and I had both done aptitude tests to see what careers we would be best for based on personality and ability. I got a lot in the medical field as well as the Police Force, I chose medical, because we did attend Midtown Science after all. I imagined though, the police based courses would be things like forensic science and stuff like that. How to be an ME.
The doorbell rang and I jumped, so deep in my studies I was startled. I got up fairly quickly, recovering from my shock and heading for the door. I hoped it was Steve. I got to the hardwood frame and put my hand on the nob. My ears pricked up. I heard what sounded like talking, I heard Steve, but there was someone else. And they both sounded on edge. I flicked the lock and tugged the door open, no care as to who else was out there. Just standing there was making me feel uncomfortable.
'Bonnie,' Steve turned to me immediately, looking startled. I looked at Fury, who was next to him.
'Why'd you bring the pirate?' I heard Tony ask from behind me.
'She has some forms to sign,' Fury replied.
'Oh do I?' I raised a blonde brow.
'I see you cut the grass,' Tasha commented as she slipped into view from the side of the porch. She shoved past me into the house and walked down the hall to the kitchen.
'By all means, why doesn't everyone come in?' I said sarcastically. These guys were overbearing and ridicule.
'Thanks,' Clint said as he dropped down from the roof of my porch and followed Tasha. Fury and Steve stepped inside and closed the door behind them.
'I don't have enough fucking chairs for this,' I muttered and I heard Steve chuckle beside me. We all met up in my living room, Tasha and Clint having helped themselves to snacks and drinks. Peter, Clint, Steve and I were squeezed onto one sofa and Stark and Happy were next to each other on the love seat. Tasha perched on the edge of the Fury's arm chair as we all looked around in discomfort.
'How come no one is sitting in that one?' Clint asked, pointing to the floral patterned armchair by the fire. He moved to get up and I grabbed his arm. 'What?'
'We don't sit in that chair,' Peter explained.
'Why, is it broken?' Stark asked. He also moved to get up but paused when my other arm shot out in gesture to stop him.
'It was mom's,' I replied softly. Tony cleared his throat.
'Sorry,' Clint replied, sitting back down.
'Anyway, is there a particular reason you've all shown up uninvited?' I asked.
'I wanted to meet Steve's kid,' Tony shrugged.
'Dude, he's like her grandfather or something,' Peter corrected.
'Great grandfather,' I sighed. 'Now, those things I had to sign?'
'Here,' he handed me a packet of various forms. I rolled my eyes.
'Looks like adult stuff, are you sure you don't need Steve?' I asked.
'No, this is about your future,' he replied.
'My future is undecided,' I replied. 'I'm glad you're here Steve, I've gotta get ready for work and I don't trust Stark alone in my house.'
'Understandable,' Fury replied.
'You're going to work?' Peter asked as he bounded up behind me. 'When Tony Stark is in your house?'
'I'd move to Nepal to be a goat herder before I was under the same roof as Tony stark,' I replied.
'Boy do I have some bad news for you,' Stark grinned at me. I scoffed and headed for the stairs. I could feel the amused looks on both Tasha and Clint's faces. I changed quickly into a pale yellow chequered dress. I headed down the stairs with my apron and walked through to the kitchen, grabbing my book bag and homework.
'How come you hate him so much?' Peter asked, making me jump.
'How come you love him so much?' I countered.
'You don't admire all he's done?' He asked, thinking about all the technological advancements he'd done over the course of our lives.
'Yeah sure the egghead, accidental superhero,' I said rather harshly. The others were probably listening, even if they weren't I knew Peter always looked up to him. 'Look, I'm not saying he hasn't done a lot of stuff, I just don't trust him. And you shouldn't either. No one does anything for nothing.'
'He's doing it because he's Steve's friend,' Peter replied. 'Even if not, his dad and your great grandma were friends weren't they? So wouldn't it be like, family connection?'
'I don't know, look, I have to go to work, shouldn't you get home before Aunt May wonders where you got to?' I asked.
'Stop hiding from the truth Bonnie, not everyone is an asshole,' Peter told me before heading out and into the living room. I followed after him and received a whistle from Tony.
'Where's work?' he grinned.
'You gotta go now?' Steve asked, getting up off the couch. 'Let me drive you.'
'It's not far,' I told him. 'I can get there myself.'
'Can I come with you then?' he asked and I smiled softly.
'I guess that'd be alright,' I replied. He was trying.
'Yeah?' he smiled. 'You guess?'
'Don't push your luck,' I rolled my eyes. He offered me his arm and I accepted it, even if the custom was a little outdated and strange to me. He escorted me out the front door, Tasha and Clint ushering everyone else out after us and I'm assuming they locked the door after them.
'That looks heavy,' Steve commented, gesturing to my bag. 'What's in it?'
'Homework,' I shrugged. 'All the books I was meant to read up on and study while I was looking for you.'
'So what do you study?' He asked.
'This is just my advanced nursing stuff,' I explained. 'I don't even know what to do about the math. Peter used to help me but we're in different classes now. He does all the advanced stuff, I just learn what I need to for college.'
'So you're planning on going to college then?' Steve asked.
'I'm attempting to finish high school, and if I do then I'll try and get into a college,' I replied. 'I don't really have time for dreams or ambitions, I can only really afford to live a quarter mile at a time.'
'That's going to change,' Steve told me. `you're too young to be so caught up by the real world. You're only this age once, enjoy it.'
'Easier said than done,' I rolled my eyes.
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you, or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 4: How Did You Find Me
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: How Did You Find Me - Kings Of Leon
Bonnie Carter POV
Wednesday 14th August 2013
'There she is!'
I looked up from my books on the counter. Steve had driven me on his bike to the restaurant and carried my books inside. He'd then insisted I introduce him to my boss and all my coworkers. They were a little starstruck but the owner, Mr Samberly, seemed all knowing, like he'd known all this time who I was and that sooner or later Steve would be at the door.
They'd gone into the back to talk for a little while and then Steve had found himself a table at the back in my section to quietly read the paper with a coffee. Apparently he was also in need of a break from his overbearing friends.
Approaching the front counter where I was scribbling down answers and highlighting, was Jack, an old friend of Mr Samberly's. He'd been coming here as long as I'd worked here, and even since beforehand. He'd always been super nice to me, like a nice old grandfather. He was friendly, but, when he started talking to me, it was like he'd either mistaken me for someone else or already met me. I knew he was Flash from school's grandfather, but, that wasn't how I knew him, or how I thought he knew me. His face was a little familiar.
'Haven't seen you in a while Dolly, where've you been, the place isn't the same without you,' he told me, sitting down at the counter just to my left.
'Trying to track down a guardian,' I told him honestly. He knew all about my mom and dad. There was just something about Jack, even if he seemed to know everything already, that made him easy to talk to. Maybe that was why. I told Jack everything. Well, almost.
'And you find him?' he asked. I hadn't told him I was looking for Steve. Or a man specifically. See what I mean?
'I did,' I replied. I pointed over to the booth in the back. 'He dropped me off here today and hasn't left.'
'Bet it's odd for you, having someone around to watch your back, huh?' he asked. 'Not to worry Dolly, you'll get used to it. You deserve it. Nothing wrong with a bit of support every now and again.'
'Do you just know everything?' I rolled my eyes. 'What'll it be today, huh?' I pulled out my notepad and pen.
'Usual Dolly,' he told me. 'And send a coffee over to your new friend too.'
'You should go introduce yourself,' I smiled, ripping the paper off and handing the order in to the chef.
'You know, I just might cookie,' he hopped off the stool and made his way over to Steve. At well over 90, I was surprised Jack was still hopping on and off these stools so easily, and that he looked so well looked after. You could see his skin had worn over the years, wrinkles weren't absent, neither was the grey hair but he somehow managed to walk around like he had the muscles and bones of a 30 year old.
Steve Rogers POV
I was absentmindedly aware that Bonnie was talking to someone now, rather than quietly doing her homework on the counter. She seemed so animated all of a sudden. The displeasure she'd felt for Stark had shifted away and she was clearly happy. I looked up from my paper and saw her laughing and joking with some 90 year old man. She'd never been ageist, but this was a new one. After a few moments of watching I watched her walk over to the kitchen. I wondered if he was a regular. I went back to my paper, these were always so depressing these days, full of false truths too.
'Bet you're glad you've got her back, huh, goldilocks?'
I looked up and the old man from earlier was sat in front of me, in my booth. I raised an eyebrow at the old guy.
'Sir,' I started and his face opened up into a wide toothy grin.
'Ahh none of that bullshit,' he said and my brow shot higher as an amused grin tickled my features. 'I'm Jack, I used to work with your Peggy.'
'Oh,' I replied shocked. 'It's nice to meet you Jack.'
'Told me all about you,' he continued. 'Still, I bet you've been missing your Bonnie. She doesn't know how much you mean to her yet, but I'm glad she's found you. She was so sad these first few years. Not the bright, happy girl I met. Look after her, will you, our Bonnie deserves it.'
'Sir do you know about..' I started but he cut me off.
'I know all about her jumps through time,' he rolled his eyes. 'Not too sharp on the uptake, are you, son? I knew her, back in the day. She used to work for me. Gave me a hard time almost every day of my life. I didn't know of course until our second or third visit. Overheard her talking to Peg, my star agent, about it and I confronted her about it. All three of us knew, Peg, me and Sousa, course little Bonnie ended up calling him Grandpa Daniel eventually. Imagine my surprise when I ran into her here. She lives down the block from my grandson, Eugene. She gives him a hard time too. She's about the only one that does. It's odd, having fought beside her and also having held the tiny, gurgling baby version of her in my arms years later. I won't keep you, you young ones are always off doing something, I'm just here to ask you to continue my job for the last seventeen years, I'm handing you the torch now son, look after Bonnie. I made a promise to our Peg, years ago, when her mind first started to go, to keep an eye out for her. She made a promise to Howard years before that when he was getting older and Bonnie still hadn't been born yet. It's your turn now, Steve, keep our girl safe.'
'Of course I will,' I replied. 'She's my best friend, she's family. I'd have done it without asking.'
'I know son,' he told me. 'I'm just getting old now, I can't protect her like I could even 30 years ago. The world's getting more dangerous, she's not trained now, she'll need someone to have her back while she finds her footing in the world. That's your job. Peg taught her all she could, it's up to you now.'
'I can't imagine it's been easy for her either, now that her father's died,' I said.
'No, so she's going to need good male role models in her life,' Jack agreed.
'All the more reason to keep Stark far away from me,' I heard and looked up. Bonnie was putting a coffee in front of each of us. Jack let out a chuckle. He muttered something about her changing her tune.
'I'm going on break,' she told Jack. 'Brenda will bring you your food.'
'I'll wait,' he told her.
' Jack' she warned.
'Brenda's just not as fun as you cookie,' he told her.
' Fine, ' she sighed and walked back over to the counter.
Bonnie Carter POV
Steve drove me back to my house after my shift. I was glad to see everyone had actually cleared out like I'd asked and it was just the two of us sitting on the porch. Steve had insisted on carrying my heavy book bag for me again, though, it wasn't like I couldn't handle it. I'd always been strong for my height, weight and gender. At least now I had someone to blame it on. Though, I was pretty sure the Super Soldier Serum wasn't an inherited gene.
We sat down on the creaking porch swing that felt like it might give way at any second and I watched the golden haired hero as he thought about what he was going to say next. He leaned his elbows on his knees and then looked over to me, it looked like what he had to say would be hard, or at least for me to hear anyway. I wondered if he'd changed his mind.
‘Can I ask you something?’ Steve asked. I shrugged and offered a singular not.
‘Sure,’ I said.
‘What happened to your leg?’ he said, nodding towards the deep, purple-ish scar on my thigh, poking out from under my uniform. I glanced down at it, remembering the feeling of when I got it all too well.
‘Giant lizard,’ I shrugged again, downplaying its significance. While I wanted an open and honest relationship with Steve, I also didn’t want him to put me under house arrest after he found out Peter and I fought a giant lizard that had been rampaging through New York last year. He looked like he wanted to question me on it further, but shook his head. Apparently that wasn’t what had been weighing on his mind.
'Listen, Bonnie,' he started. 'I know I said I wanted you to move into my apartment with me but I just think it would be too dangerous. I don't exactly live a low profile life because of what I chose to do for work, and with me being gone a lot because of it, I don't feel comfortable leaving you there alone.'
'That's okay, so long as you sign the permission slip I can keep staying here out of the way and then you can go about your business and I'll keep going to Midtown Science,' I replied. Steve chuckled.
'That wasn't what I meant,' he replied. 'I can't leave you here either, not when the place is practically falling down around you. No, I wanted to ask you if you'd be okay with moving in with me to Stark Tower.'
'Absolutely not,' I replied instantly.
'Listen I know you don't much like Stark, I don't care for his boisterous attitude either but..' he started.
'Listen, where you're from it might be normal for people to just walk into your life and throw money and affection at you, but that shit's not gonna fly with me. Everything happens for a reason, nobody does anything for free. It's not that I don't like him, I don't trust him.'
'No one's asking you to. Not over night, not ever if you feel that strongly about it. But can you trust me? I want you in a place where if anything happens, you'll be safe. I know you've been on your own for a while now, even when your dad was still around. And you had to do everything by yourself, but that's not the case anymore. I'm here, and I want to help you. Will you let me?'
'Can we fix this place up?' I asked after a moment of careful thinking.
'Eventually,' he agreed. 'I don't know when we'll be able to fit it in, but if that's what you want, we'll do it together.'
'What about Peter?' I asked.
'You can see him whenever you want,' he assured me. 'Now come on, let's get you inside. It's late.'
'Fine,' I huffed.
I climbed off the rickety seat and headed for the door. I stuck the keys in the lock and twisted it, unlocking the handle before pulling the keys and going up for the deadbolt. I pushed the door open and stuck the keys in my pocket, moving into the entryway to take off my jacket. I hung it up on the coat rack and felt something off in the pit of my stomach. I looked to the side out of the corner of my eye and I could have sworn I saw a silver flash. I reached for the baseball bat in the umbrella stand and looked behind me. Steve was texting on his phone which was a funny site to say the least.
I left the door ajar behind me and continued into the hall. I followed my gut, headed towards where I'd seen the figure and the flash of silver. Slowly I crept around the corner and into the kitchen. As soon as I set foot inside I was greeted with the same guy I'd seen the alley with Peter. We stared at each other for a moment, me holding the baseball bat at my shoulder, ready to swing, him standing still with a calculating expression. There was almost a look of amusement, even though I could barely see his features because of the mask and goggles. I heard footsteps in the entryway to the house and I knew Steve was coming inside. Snapping out of it I let out a scream as loud as I could and swung the baseball bat. It made contact with his arm although it made a noise that sounded much more like I'd hit part of a car rather than human flesh. It was almost metallic.
'Bonnie!!' Steve yelled and I heard thundering footsteps down the hall and turned to see him enter the room. I looked back to the figure I'd hit, just like that, he was gone again.
'Are you alright?' Steve asked, coming into the kitchen and seeing no threat.
'You know the redhead who was here earlier?' I asked.
'Natasha, yeah,' Steve nodded.
'You got her number?' I asked. He handed me his phone. Immediately I started ringing it and took a deep breath to settle my nerves. Steve started turning on the lights in the house and then went to the doors and windows, checking they were locked.
'Steve,' Tasha greeted cheerfully. 'How'd the diner go?'
'It's Bonnie,' I told her.
'Is Steve okay?' she asked immediately.
'He's fine. The guy from yesterday? He was here,' I told her. There was a pause before she very seriously asked me to put Steve on. I handed him the phone and sat on a stool by the kitchen counter, biting my nails anxiously.
'Tasha is coming over,' Steve told me when he hung up the phone. 'Wait here while I do a sweep of the house.'
'If it's all the same to you Grandpa Beefcake, I'm not hanging out by myself in the room we just found a scary guy. I'm coming with you,' I replied and Steve sighed, though you could see the slight smile on his face.
'Alright,' he said and I stuck behind him brandishing the bat as he made his way from room to room and then up the stairs.
It felt pretty ridiculous to be hiding behind THE Captain America with a pink, children's baseball bat as my only defence but I mean, when you're standing behind THE Captain America, you really don't have to worry much about someone getting past him for you to use it. Heck, I could have been holding the Hello Kitty umbrella from the stand and I still would have as much use for it.
I heard a thunk and then slight rattling from the vibrations coming from my bedroom. Steve turned on his heel and marched towards the door. I reached out to grab him and shook my head. I recognised the ungraceful and awkward movements too well.
' Peter, ' I hissed.
'Yeah?' he called back from my bedroom. Steve looked annoyed and continued on to do a sweep of the house while I went into my bedroom with the bat.
'You scared the shit out of me,' I told him as I glared at him in the dark. He smirked from his spot on the floor.
'What is it with you and that bat?'
'Well if you've got a glock just kicking around that you're not using I'll gladly switch over to it,' I replied and offered him a hand up.
'Why are you so on edge?' he asked, grabbing his backpack and pulling out his street clothes.
'The guy we saw yesterday was here. Get dressed, Steve can't see you like this,' I warned.
'Right, SHIELD has a file on me and you're expecting them not to know,' he rolled his eyes.
'Hey, if you're no longer committed to protecting your identity then fine...' I replied and peered out the window and into the back yard.
'I never said that, I just think of all people, we can trust Captain America,' Peter replied pulling his hoodie over his head. He was stumbling into his pants when I thought I saw something just beyond the back fence. There was a small park land behind our housing estate. A small woods if you will. And the thing that scared the shit out of me? In between the trees I spotted a figure.
'You feel like you're being hunted?' I asked.
'No, why, do you?' Peter replied. I held back a snarl.
'Yeah, and I'm tired of it,' I replied.
'It's been two days,' Peter told me. 'You don't think you're being a little impatient.'
'It's never been one of my strong points,' I said swinging a leg over the sill.
' Bonnie, ' Peter hissed as I stepped out onto the roof. I shrugged. Peter was right yesterday, we take on goons all the time.
'Watch my back,' I told him and ran along the roof to the drain pipe.
I tucked the pink bat under my armpit as I shimmied down and ran over to the back fence. I put my foot on one of the notches and pushed myself up and over the fence, narrowly avoiding catching the bottom of my dress on a splinter. I looked up to where I saw the figure, he was still there. I ran over, dodging rabbit holes and tufts of grass and dirt on my way. He towered over my small frame as I held my bat up to prime swinging position. I stood strong. Even with the goggles and mask, again, he looked amused. I mean, I was doing something kind of dumb, and the pink bat didn't really do anything to help my image.
'Who are you?' I demanded. He didn't say anything, merely looked me over, as if gauging my threat level. I didn't need his smug look to know I was somewhere between cartoon ducks in sailor suits, and a newborn deer wearing ice skates, on that scale. And maybe I was out of my depth here, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to make this guy's life hell.
'Not a talker, huh?' I asked. 'Well, while you're spending your time trying to figure out if I'm a threat or not, let me assure you of this, yes. I. am. And if you need reminding of that, I'm here, pink baseball bat and all. Now get the hell out of my yard.'
'Bonnie!!' I heard Steve yelling. This time I didn't take my eyes off the guy, not wanting to risk him slipping away again. He took a step back, ready to leave me here, but I wasn't going to let him. He turned and I took a step forward to follow. I almost heard a chuckle. The same arm I'd hit with my bat earlier, picked me up off the ground, lifted me up over his head and sent me flying back towards the back fence. I slammed hard into the ground, dirt flying up into the air around me and raining down on my face. The bat landed on top of me seconds later with a loud clatter.
'Ow,' I groaned as I watched the guy disappear into the forest.
'Yeah,' Tasha said from somewhere behind me. 'You deserved that.'
I looked back behind me in the dirt and saw her perching leisurely on the top of the wooden fence, legs swinging. She grinned at me as I started up at her, and waved a little. I groaned again as my injuries caught up with me. The air returned to my lungs and I moved the bat off of me, pushing myself up into a sitting position.
'Tell me about it,' I grumbled.
'You learn anything?' she asked.
'Is Barton around?' I replied.
'He's at Stark Tower if you wanna come back with us,' she told me.
'And he's completely human, right?' I asked. She quirked a brow.
'Yeah,' she agreed.
'I have an experiment in mind, I have a feeling though, either way I'm not going to like the results,' I replied. I gripped the top of the fence and pulled myself up, throwing the bat into my backyard before swinging my legs over the fence and jumping down.
'Bonnie what on earth possessed you...' Steve started and I rolled my eyes.
'If I knew, I'd have it exorcised,' I replied and walked back into the house.
Peter went home to Aunt May’s with the promise to call immediately if he was even remotely suspecting something was off. Tasha loaded me into her corvette while Steve escorted us the whole way on his bike, acting like a presidential escort to the Tower. It felt ridiculous. But even if I felt pretty safe sitting between an assassin and a super soldier, I felt a little uneasy at not being right by Steve. I mean, I didn’t really know either of them, but I knew Steve from stories, I knew Steve by blood. The Russian spy? I didn’t know her at all. And something tells me I wouldn’t know her unless she let me.
Steve didn’t seem happy about it but he let Tasha take me right up to the training floor where Barton would meet us. He seemed to know there’d be no arguing with me once I made up my mind. He seemed to know a lot about me full stop, but I’d never met him before. It was strange. But at the same time I trusted that, with Steve at least, it would all make sense to me later.
'You want me to what?' Clint laughed. I poked the blue mats we were standing on with my toes. Just like in PE the mats that were supposed to break our fall proved hard and unreliable. The proof would be in the pudding. Or I would be pudding depending on how this went.
'Pick me up, with one arm, over your head and throw me, over there,' I pointed to a wall maybe 65 yards from where we were standing.
'Why?' he laughed. Tasha had been watching me carefully.
'What's your gut telling you?' she asked. 'What'd you see?'
'When we were in my kitchen, I hit him. I hit him with my baseball bat, hard. And it just, when I hit him it didn't sound like I hit someone's arm. It was almost like it was made of metal,' I explained. 'And then he picked me up and threw me almost 70 yards like I weighed nothing. No ordinary human could do that. Or so we're testing.'
'I can tell you right now that if he really threw you 70 yards that he's not ordinary,' Clint told me.
'It was more like mid 60s but I need to prove it, so pick me up,' I told him.
'Your funeral,' he shrugged. 'Or maybe mine depending on how heavy you are, pipsqueak.'
He moved over to me and put both arms around me and I raised an eyebrow at him. He muttered out a ' fine ' and gripped me tight with just one. He let out a grunt as he swung me above his head. I could feel his arm shaking as he held me above him. With another grunt he tossed me forward.
'Ow,' I groaned as I landed on the hard flooring maybe 50 feet from where he stood.
'Yeah you and me both,' he rubbed his arm.
'Teach you anything?' Tasha smirked at me.
'Clint's pretty strong for an ordinary dude,' I shrugged from my spot on the ground.
'Thanks,' he rolled his eyes and sat down on the mat.
'Proves your theory though,' Tasha sat down between us. 'So now what? What's your next move?'
'I never got that far,' I sat up finally. 'I mean how many men made of metal do we know?'
'Well if you count Tony's suit, two. Him and Colossus and I'm pretty sure neither are following you down the street and throwing you around your backyard,' Tasha answered.
'And if they were, why the disguise?' I agreed. 'So it's someone we don't know. The next question is why me? At least if we figure that out we might find out who he is.'
'There's lots of reasons why you. For starters you're Captain America's great granddaughter,' Tasha told me.
'Thanks, I feel so much better,' I rolled my eyes. 'I'll sleep soundly at night knowing why people wanna kill me.'
'Speaking of sleeping,' Steve said from the entryway to the gym. 'Shouldn't you be headed to bed?' I snorted.
'What are you, my father?' I shook my head. 'It's still summer vacation. Besides, you're dreaming if you think I'll be able to get any sleep here of all places. I can already feel Stark snooping through my stuff.'
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 5: Home
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Home - Machine Gun Kelly, X Ambassadors & Bebe Rexha
Bonnie Carter POV
Thursday 15th August 2013
'Okay so, now there's a metal guy after you?' Peter asked as he skate boarded beside my quick steps. We were walking down the streets of New York, heading as far away as possible from Stark Tower. I didn't really have justification of my hatred for Tony. Distrust, maybe, this level? Maybe not. Still, it was going to take more than 2 days for me to let up.
'Yeah but why?' I said frustratedly. 'And none of this, because Steve, bullshit either.'
'Maybe your above average strength comes from him,' Peter shrugged. 'I mean, people have been trying to recreate what Erskine did for years, that's why we have the Hulk, why we have me even. I'm pretty sure that's why my dad, your uncle and Doc Connors were doing all that time. Imagine what would happen if we found out it could be passed down genetically. Then all we'd have to do was get a DNA sample, a blood sample from all the people in your family, compare them and could theoretically recreate it.'
'Well that's scary,' I told him. 'Thank you for sharing that with me. Now they don't want to kill me, they want a blood mine.'
'At least you'll be alive,' he shrugged.
'Awesome, got that to look forward to,' I replied sarcastically.
'Wanna go bowling?' he asked.
'Yeah,' I nodded.
We rode the subway to the little alley we had been frequenting since we were little and walked straight in. Upon entry we were greeted by Joe, the old guy who owned the place. He's known us since we first started going, knew us well enough that it was by name.
'Hey Bonnie, Peter, haven't seen you kids in a while,' Joe said.
'Thanks Joe,' I smiled. 'It's been too long.'
'Usual sizes?' he asked and I nodded.
He handed us our shoes and we paid for our usual lane, three game special as always and I felt more normal than I had in such a long time. It was like we were kids again and I wasn't living in Avengers tower and I wasn't being hunted. I went over to the racks with bowling balls on them and picked out the red one that was the right weight for me and grabbed Peter's usual blue one.
'Prepare to go down, short stack,' he grinned impishly at me.
'Oh yeah?' I quirked a brow and smirked at him.
'Yeah,' he nodded, proud of himself and then swinging his arm back. 'I've been working on my swing game.' I rolled my eyes as he got a spare.
'It's actually been months since I've done this,' I commented, thinking about how my research mission didn't leave much time to go bowling.
'Don't think that means I'll go easy on you,' he teased and I swung my arm back, watching the ball roll down the wooden lane. 'Not that you'll need it,' he commented as I managed to knock down seven pins in my first swing.
Peter beat me for the first time in a long time and he walked over to the counter feeling like a million bucks. I smiled as I walked behind him, getting a couple of copies of the score sheet printed out. Peter said something about having it framed and I rolled my eyes. He was never a sore loser but boy, was he an annoying winner.
I climbed up on the stool beside him and he waved down the server. I rolled my shoulders, letting loose some tension and stretching out my legs a little, street shoes now put back on and bowling shoes returned at the rentals counter.
'Chilli cheese fries for the lady and a New York dog for the gentleman,' the server handed us our food and gave us our sodas as we sat chatting about normal things for once. About school and boring homework and the outcome of tomorrow's football tryouts. I felt like me again and I didn't have the whole world riding on my shoulders.
'So,' Peter said as we wandered over to the arcade machines. 'You think you'll get in?'
'I did the last two years,' I shrugged. 'Only reason I wouldn't is if Coach added in height restrictions,' I joked, pulling out one of the guns attached to the hunting machine. It felt good to be able to hold a plastic rifle and shoot virtual bullets instead of swinging pink plastic bats at actual assassins and their smug faces.
'Might not be a bad idea,' he laughed. 'When you get tackled you get thrown halfway across the field.'
'Screw you, that's got nothing to do with my height,' I shook my head and focused on the game.
'Yeah, keep telling yourself that' he smiled, taking one of my targets from me. 'Maybe he should add some weight requirements, either that or we could put some lead in your shoes, weigh you down a little.'
'Keep to your side, bucko,' I growled, sniping my next target. 'And I don't mind getting thrown around occasionally, it doesn't hurt much. No one does it maliciously, it's just for the game.'
'If you've got to have sides, you're not good enough,' he responded and I slammed my hip into his, bumping him out of the way to take down some of his targets. 'Cheater!'
'If you can't handle the heat, Peter,' I grinned and he growled.
The machine spat out tickets and we walked over to the basketball shooter. He was showing off with his Spidey skills and I rolled my eyes, using my own sportsmanship to score goals without the need for trick shots. We got an even score with that and more tickets spat out and we went around, versing each other until we ran out of petty cash.
'Where are you going?' I asked and he tugged me over to a claw machine.
'Remember when we were thirteen and we were down at the lake again and there was that dinky old claw machine with the gremlin toys in it and you won one but it broke down?' he said putting in his last quarter.
'Yeah and I never got it out and I was salty about it for the rest of the summer?' I asked and he nodded.
'Well,' he smiled, leading the claw over to the stuffed mogwai plush. 'I promised I'd get you one and I've been practicing with this thing all summer while you were busy.'
The claw slid down and grabbed hold of the stuffed plush and picked it up out of the pile, carrying it over to the hole and dropping it down into the shoot. He slipped his hand in the door and pulled it out. He grinned at me and then handed me the stuffed toy and I smiled at it, feeling a bit teary eyed.
'Peter, you didn't have to do this,' I looked affectionately down at the plush. 'It's been years..'
'But I never forgot,' he gave me his goofy, sweet grin and I held the toy close.
'This is really sweet,' I smiled and slammed myself forward into his chest, knocking him a step back. I wrapped my arms around him in a thankful hug.
'Your welcome,' he smiled down at me as I pulled away.
We walked up to the prize counter to cash in our tickets and combined we had enough for the tiny little hot wheels keychain. He handed over our tickets and valiantly leant over and presented me with the keychain. I smiled and took it from him, holding it close to my chest.
'Oh Peter,' I said dramatically. 'It's exactly what I wanted, how did you know?'
'Man's intuition,' he joked and I snorted as we headed out of the bowling alley, evening now set in and the sky a dark blue.
'What's your man's intuition saying about tonight, hmm?' I asked as we walked closer to the subway entrance. 'Any crime out?'
'Well we can always find some,' he replied.
'I'd put a hold on that.'
I looked forward and saw Agents Barton and Romanoff dressed in civvies and leaning against a vending machine by the entrance. I crossed my arms over my chest. I found Steve so my life wouldn't have to change, not so I'd have agents constantly showing up and ruining my side quests.
'You two sure do like looking for trouble,' Clint commented.
'Why are you here?' I asked.
'And here I thought you liked us,' he replied.
'We're here because Fury wants to talk to you,' Tasha answered. I sighed.
'I guess we'll have to have a rain check on all that.. stuff we had planned,' I told Peter.
'Yeah,' he agreed. 'I guess I'll see you around.'
Peter left us for the arriving train and I stood with the agents, holding my stuffed mogwai. I looked at them and then Tasha raised an eyebrow at the soft toy.
'I thought you said he wasn't your boyfriend,' she said.
'He's not,' I replied.
'You should have invited him along, it's not exactly like SHIELD doesn't know about all the Spider-Man stuff,' she told me.
'Let him have his illusion of anonymity,' I shrugged. 'What's Fury want?'
'He wants us to kick your ass,' Clint told me and I snorted.
'He thinks you should get some combat training if guys are going to keep showing up at your door,' she told me. 'Especially after Steve and I's reports from last night.'
'Right, I can't imagine it looks too good, me fighting off bad guys with a pink, children's baseball bat and getting thrown across fields while dressed as a waitress,' I replied. 'Kinda ruins your rep.'
'Yeah, you're letting the team down,' Tasha grinned. 'Let's go.'
As I lay on the hardwood floors, far, far from the blue gym mats I was supposed to be training on, I heard the door to the training room open up. I looked over to see Steve who immediately spotted me in a crumpled heap and shot me a sympathetic look. He was meeting with someone, I saw that much, but not who.
'You're embarrassing yourself,' Tasha said as she stood over me. I looked away from Steve to look up at her instead.
'I thought I was embarrassing SHIELD,' I replied. 'The World Security Council.'
'Them too,' she offered me a hand up.
I stared at it suspiciously. Knowing her, she'd have at least 30 different ways she could kill me, flip me or seriously injure me as soon as I grabbed hold. I thought about rejecting it, but then, if I was wrong I'd be seen as rejecting her kindness over immaturity and poor sportsmanship. Instead, I grabbed her hand and smirked. She tilted her head in confusion before I allowed her to pull me up before putting so much weight into my swing that I threw her back behind me. Of course, she recovered, stumbling instead of falling but it was a start. I spun while she stood crouched and facing away, and swung a kick out, hitting her in the back and sending her forward still.
My "win" didn't last long though, no one expected it to. Before I really understood what happened, I was on my back again landing hard onto one of the blue mats. At least I was over this side of the room again. Though it did beg the question, how did such a tiny woman possess so much strength? I'm starting to think if I'd had her throw me across the room last night, instead of Agent Barton, then I'd have gotten my results.
'How ya doin kid?' Steve asked.
'Do your job and save me,' I glared up at him. He smiled and offered me a hand.
'Alright Tasha, I think she's had enough for tonight,' Steve said as he pulled me up.
'Steve, she can still do more,' Tasha argued.
'I can, but I have football tryouts tomorrow, I can't join the team if you keep beating the shit out of me,' I replied. 'So beat me up tomorrow when I get in.'
'They let you know that fast?' Steve asked.
'Well I made the team last year and the year before, I just kinda assumed,' I shrugged. 'Maybe I'm being cocky.'
'Being the only girl on the team will do that for ya,' Tony said coming into the room munching on some freeze-dried fruit. He saw me staring at him and he offered me some. Raspberries. I shook my head.
'You think I can't do it?' I asked.
'I think they're letting you in because of the shitstorm you'd kick up if they didn't, Princess,' he replied. 'How much game time do you actually see?' I smirked.
'Come to the homecoming game, you'll see,' I told him confidently. I flipped my hair and marched towards the elevator. I heard heavier footsteps than Tasha's so I assumed Steve had followed.
'I'll mark the date in my calendar, Princes,' he called.
'When does school start anyway, kiddo?' Steve asked.
'Monday,' I replied.
'You get everything, your books?' He asked as he followed me out to the elevator. I smiled and nodded. I'd gotten them already, which I supposed was a good thing, the inflation would probably give the old guy a heart attack.
'Hey Steve?' I asked awkwardly. I was twiddling my thumbs.
'Yeah?' he asked softly, sounding concerned.
'Will you come to football tryouts?' I asked.
'You want me to come?' he raised his brows.
'Well,' I wrung my hands. 'My mom always used to come to my cheerleading tryouts when I was in middle school, but when she died, my dad didn't exactly pick up the tradition. So Peter used to come to my tryouts but now he doesn't come either, not since he started dating Gwen.'
'Of course I'll come,' he told me. 'You don't have to explain it to me. I'll be there because you asked.'
'Thanks Steve.'
Friday 16th August 2013
'Alright, some warm up drills,' our coach told us.
I was in my gear, puffing me out to the side and making me look more solid but I was still dwarfed by the other players. I was handed a red vest along with Luke Cage and Flash Thompson from the team last year and then a few new people trying out. The others donned yellow vests. These would come in to play later I assumed.
I looked over to Steve who was wearing a terrible disguise of a dad hat and sunglasses. He saw me staring and smiled encouragingly and then popped up his thumb for added effect. He really was an old man. I was only kidding before. I smiled nervously back. As much as I loved Football, I was lying when I said I wasn't worried. Our coach always gave us positions based on skill, what if I wasn't good enough? What if I was too beat up from last night?
'You probably all know what this is,' he tapped the row of joined tackle practice dummies and smiled. 'Red Team, push it to the goals as fast as you can.'
He pulled out his stopwatch and we hurried over to our marks. We couldn't risk being late, or he'd start without us and we'd let our team down. Our hurrying didn't mean though, that Flash wouldn't stop for the chance to antagonise me first.
'You know, I would have thought after your two years of fun pretending, you'd have just gone back to the cheerleading team,' he said. I rolled my eyes. 'Are you sure you're not better off out of direct line of fire?'
'If you're so worried, why don't you stand in front of me?' I replied and took my mark, shoulder going into place.
'But I like the view from behind you, so, much, better,' he told me and I tried to shake it off. He was the same asshole he's always been. The same asshole I used to get into scraps with in the sandbox because Peter was too non-confrontational at the time.
Coach blew the whistle and I threw myself forward, shoving as hard as I could with the rest of my team members. I didn't look to see what the rest of my team was doing, I focused only on the task at hand. The whistle blew again before I knew it and I was the last person to let go of the dummies. I looked around, that seemed too quick.
'Yo, Carter, have you been drinking rocket fuel or something?' Cage asked me.
'Uh,' I replied dumbly. 'No. We moved kinda fast, huh?'
'Yeah that's not the way I'd put it,' he told me.
'What do you mean?' I asked him.
'I didn't even have to push you shoved that dummy so hard, if you're experiencing some strange new surge in strength like a bad superhero movie, you might want to keep it under wraps,' he told me. Strange new surge in strength? I've always been a bit strong but that wasn't new.
'Sorry, I was just mad,' I told him. It wasn't the truth but it wasn't exactly untrue either. 'I was just focusing on moving the dummy because of Flash.'
'Yeah I know what a jerk he can be sometimes, don't let him get to you, especially if this is what we can expect when he does,' Luke told me. I didn't understand exactly why he was giving me this pep talk. It's something I imagine Superman or Wonder Woman would say to any new recruits to the Justice League. Weird.
'Right,' I nodded, weirded out.
'Red team! Nice hustle out there!' Coach chimed, before Yellow team had to go get the dummies and drag them back to the start line before they had to push, which didn't really seem fair but I didn't want to argue because Coach makes us do pushups every time we do.
'Were you thinking about me out there? Is that what I heard?' Flash sidled up behind me.
'Yeah,' I confirmed. 'I was thinking about shoving you right off a cliff.'
'I was thinking dinner first, but we could do that,' he replied and I rolled my eyes.
I couldn't decide whether or not Flash was interested in antagonising me or fucking me. And it looked like he couldn't decide either. He was still as much of a jerk as when we were kids but come middle school he was a little, tiny, minuscule amount nicer to me than the rest of my friends. There was also the constant flirting. But at least since we left the sandbox he stopped swinging for me, now he was just swinging for my friends. Unluckily for him, I never stopped swinging for him. If he was going to go after my friends, he had me as an enemy too.
'I don't see Peter here today, you finally break up with your longtime boyfriend?' Flash asked.
'Peter and I never dated,' I told him. 'We've always been friends, like family. He's not here because he's with his real girlfriend.'
'I always wondered what a hottie like Gwen would see in such a nerd like Parker,' Flash said honestly. 'At least I don't have to wonder how he managed to score two hot blondes.'
'Were you dropped on your head as a child?' I asked.
'So is the guy in the dad hat over by the grand stand with you?' Flash asked, ignoring me.
'Yes,' I replied. 'That's my legal guardian. Don't let the dad hat fool you, if you gave him a reason, he could kick your ass.'
'Hey Bonnie,' Flash said, a little softer. 'I'm real sorry about your dad. I know you really cared about him.'
Flash walked off leaving me confused and standing by myself at the water table. Though Flash was a jerk, he was known for random and completely out of character moments of compassion. I remembered last year when Peter's uncle Ben got shot and Peter was so angry, Flash weirdly tried to talk him down as Peter had him pinned to the lockers. And it wasn't a "let me go and I'll tell you anything you want" kind of talking down either, it was like he really understood what Peter was going through. And when Harry moved away when we were kids he gave us a grace period of about a week before he started picking on us again.
I looked back over to Steve, he'd been watching the two of us carefully, I smiled softly though I could tell it didn't meet my eyes. Steve noticed too. I walked back over to Coach who set us a few more warm up activities before we were going to have a "friendly" game against each other.
Steve waited patiently through it all and sat outside the changing rooms while I cleaned myself up. I noticed in the mirror some nasty looking bruises from my "friendly" spar with Tasha. They accompanied the healing bruises from my "fight" with the masked assassin as well. Luckily, I'd escaped tryouts without adding too many more.
I headed out of the change rooms in a t-shirt and some shorts, the air still too hot and thick here to really wear jeans during the day. Or at least outside anyway, Tony always kept the tower as icy as SHIELD kept it's HQ.
'That's a pretty violent sport you play, huh,' Steve commented, having no doubt seen the bruising I'd not made the effort to cover. I smiled to myself.
'Yeah,' I agreed. 'I actually wanted to join the school's demolition project as the wrecking ball but they already had someone.' I told him and he laughed softly.
'So who was the guy you looked like you wanted to hit the whole game?' Steve asked.
'That was Flash,' I explained. 'He used to live down the street from me before I moved in with you. He used to pick on me and my friends in elementary school. Middle school he still picked on my friends, but he settled for just teasing me. Now I can't work out if he likes me or likes antagonising me.'
'Huh, so your bully's got a crush,' Steve commented as we walked out towards his car. 'You think it's always been that way? What with the crock of complete crap that is, guys are mean to you if they like you?' I snorted. Steve really was a 21st century guy trapped in the 40s. You know, when he wasn’t being an old man.
'I think he started liking me in middle school, but I'm not sure. He doesn't subscribe to the being mean to a girl you like philosophy, I think he legitimately thinks he's being nice.'
'Those are always the worst,' Steve sighed. I leaned against the car and he clicked the beeper, unlocking the doors. He walked around his side before pausing and saying, 'I wouldn't worry, someone who's not an asshole will come your way and when you find him, grab hold and don't let go.'
'I won't,' I smiled softly. I wondered if he was referring to him and Grandma Margaret. I climbed into the car beside him and he started the ignition. I pulled on my seatbelt and leaned back against the headrest. There were a few moments of comfortable silence before Steve decided to break it.
'You like time travel?' he asked me. I raised a brow at him. 'There's a movie showing that Tony said I need to watch. He said I'd like the 3rd one best, apparently most old men like westerns.'
'Time travel trilogy that ends in a western, I think I know what movie you're taking me to see,' I replied, with a slight smirk.
'So you wanna go, then?' he asked. I nodded. 'Awesome, we'll head there now.'
'Are you trying to keep me away from the tower?' I joked.
'I know these last few days haven't been easy for you,' he told me. 'Your time with friends gets interrupted, you have to move out of your childhood home, a spy may or may not be trying to kill you and you sort of hate Tony Stark, so I figured some normal activities might make it easier.'
'And going to the movies with a 200 pound, all-american beef cake is normal, is it?' I asked.
'For you, it's going to be. I'm not going anywhere Bonnie,' he told me. 'It's okay to push people away, to not trust Tony, but I'm here, and I won't leave you.'
'Steve..' I started. My throat started to close up.
'No,' he told me. 'These last few years have been hard for you, these last few months even more so. It's not okay, but I couldn't do anything to change that. But I can make it okay now. I'm sorry. I'm here.'
'Okay,' I replied, nodding.
'Okay,' he smiled cheerfully. 'So, you think a nickel each will be enough?'
I burst out laughing. I knew he was joking, he couldn't have made it this far into the future without at least hearing about inflation, seeing the price difference in things, and unless this was some elaborate form of entertainment for Tony, which it could be, he more than likely knew about the small fortune he was about to spend taking me to the movies. At least this was just a reshowing so the tickets would be hella cheaper.
We got to the theatre and Steve parked behind it, leading me into the ancient lobby. It was clean and well kept, it was beautiful but it was super old looking. Stepping into it was like taking a walk back through time. I walked over to the wall of the lobby while Steve went and purchased our tickets. They had photos throughout the decades of past movie goers. I didn't believe at first they were from here, just pictures they'd gotten from the internet until I spotted the similar architecture. I looked closer and gasped. I smiled warmly. I'd know that pipsqueak anywhere.
'What'cha looking at kiddo?' Steve asked from beside me. I didn't have to tell him, in fact I didn't tell him, but he'd bought peanut MnMs and handed them to me.
'Is that you?' I pointed to the young guy standing beside a young couple, the guy tall with dark hair and an equally as short blonde girl.
'It is,' he chuckled. 'I didn't expect to see us up here. That guy there is my best friend Bucky and the girl next to him is the best friend of your Great Grandma. They were a couple before I ever met Peggy. She's the woman you're named after.'
'That's Bonnie Parker?' I gasped. 'Do you think she's related to Peter?'
'I think it's a name anyone could have,' he told me. 'But you never know.'
'Ominous,' I laughed and opened the packet of peanut MnMs.
Saturday 17th August 2013
'Morning,' Steve said as he sat at the table, reading the paper.
I nearly jumped out of my skin, still not used to waking up to someone else around. I smiled softly at him before going into the cabinet for some cereal. I looked back at him for a moment before pouring myself a bowl and coming to the table to eat. It was quiet, but unlike the deafening silence at home, it was comfortable. I munched thoughtfully on my cereal. I suppose this was home now, or it would be, once I got used to it.
'You alright?' Steve asked, looking up from his paper. I nodded.
'Just thinking about the house,' I told him. 'That this is home now.'
'It might not feel like it just yet, but I want you to be happy here,' he told me.
'I know,' I nodded. 'If I'm honest, that house is just a memory of home. It hasn't really felt that way in years. Maybe this'll be better.'
'I know it will,' Steve told me.
'I have school on Monday,' I told him.
'I know,' he nodded. 'You told me.'
'Who am I supposed to ride the subway with now that I don't live next to Peter?' I asked. I didn't need hand holding, I just, I like having someone there every morning to talk to. Someone to ride home with, to complain about homework to. He was my brother, my best friend.
'I thought I'd take you,' he told me. 'We could ride the Harley.'
'Okay,' I nodded. That wouldn't be so bad I suppose, though, on the back of a bike with wind blowing us every which way there wasn't much room for talking.
'Tasha, Clint and I have a mission, we should be back by tomorrow, but if you need anything, anything at all, Tony is here,' Steve told me. 'I know you think he's a jerk, but I've asked if he could find it deep within himself to be less of an asshole for a weekend.'
'What'd he say?' I asked.
'He said he'd think about it.'
I laughed. I shook my head, of course he did. I finished my cereal and then washed my single bowl and spoon, heading for my bedroom next. I thought back to my bedroom back at my childhood home. The walls there were just as bare as here. Once mom had died, the superhero posters got taken down. I lost my faith in them when my world came crumbling down and no one seemed to care. I wasn't expecting Superman to fly in right from the pages of a DC book or anything but all these great people I was supposedly related to, were nowhere to be seen. All the pictures of me and my loved ones got torn down too, I couldn't bear to look at them knowing that they were gone. Maybe it's time they went back up.
'Hey Tony?' I said quietly. I'd learned very quickly if you just yelled out the name of someone you wanted to talk to that JARVIS the computer system would link you up.
'Yeah Princess?' he asked with an unusual amount of seriousness.
'I uh, I wanna go back to my house. Just to grab a few things,' I said.
'You don't have to ask my permission, I'm not your father,' he told me.
'I wanted to know if you'd come with,' I explained further, blushing, although I knew he couldn't see me.
'I'll be downstairs in 10,' he told me. I quickly pulled some shoes on and ran down to the entrance to this floor, jumping into one of the elevators. I went down to the lobby where Tony met me and led me to the car he decided to take out today from his private garage. This was a completely different floor to the one Steve and Tasha parked their cars on.
He took some kind of sports car and put the top down, speeding down the highway and towards my house. Tony wore his usual suit and sunglasses and stared straight out the windshield. He let me sit in silence, which was nice. I wasn't sure if this was me accepting him or using him, but I still didn't trust him.
We pulled up to the house and I climbed out. He waited a few moments before following me up the cracked garden path and waited by the door for me to let us in. I unlocked the door and the deadbolt and shoved the swollen wood with my shoulder. It made a loud creak as I opened it and I stepped inside, letting Tony close it behind us as I walked towards the stairs. He stood in the entryway and I gestured for him to follow instead of standing there like a mule. This would be a good trust exercise.
'So what'd you have to get?' he asked. 'If it's clothes you know I would have just bought you some nice new stuff.'
'I know,' I replied. 'This is something you can't buy.'
I headed down the upstairs corridor to my bedroom and opened the squeaky door. I stepped forwards and went right over to the closet, sliding the door open and reaching up onto the top shelf. I heard the creak of a floorboard and saw Tony enter my bedroom out of the corner of my eye. He perched on the end of my bed, springs whining as he sat down. I could see him looking around as I stood in front of the wardrobe, grabbing my precious memories.
'So you take these down in preparation or..' Tony said reaching out to touch the marks on the wall where pictures and posters had been taped. They were long gone but the outlines were still there.
'I took them down after my mom died,' I told him. I pulled down another box, it held all my posters along with all the family albums and photos. I kept them in my room because my dad burned a lot of them after my mom died. A lot of these were older ones, ones of my Great Grandma, her friends, my grandparents, my dad when he was younger. I had some pictures but a lot of the ones of my mother were gone. A lot of the ones of my parents together and happy, gone. In the back of the cupboard, covered in a layer of dust was the teddy bear Grandma Margaret had given me when I was very young.
'We came all this way for a teddy bear?' Tony asked.
'Don't tell anyone,' I smiled softly.
'Secret's safe with me Princess,' he replied.
I was sitting on Grandpa Daniel's knee and he was bouncing me while we waited for what Grandma Margret had gone to go get. There was a glass of milk and some cookies on the end table beside us and I reached out excitedly for the chocolatey treat. Grandpa Daniel chuckled and reached for one off the plate. He snapped it in half and gave me a piece to gnaw on. I stared up at him with wide eyes of adoration, chocolate already melting in my hot hands, smeared all over my rosy cheeks. He smiled down on me with the warmest smile, to date, I'd ever received from someone. He was my favourite relative. I always said it was Great Grandma Margret because of all the adventures we go on, but great Grandpa Daniel loved me the best. I greedily chewed through the second half of the cookie before making grabby hands at the plate again. He chuckled some more.
'Someone's hungry today,' he said and snapped another cookie in half. I chewed on it and then he waved the other piece in front of me with a goofy expression before he popped it in his mouth and made another face at me before grinning. I giggled and clapped. He was fun, I loved him.
'You want some milk, little bug?' he asked. I clapped and made grabby hands at the glass before he carefully brought it to my lips and helped me sip it. He put it back on the table and pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket. He licked the tip before dabbing away at the chocolate on my face and wiped my hands clean. I beamed at him.
'Alright, I got it,' grandma Margret said as she came back into the room, clacking heels on the wooden floorboards. She walked over with her hands behind her back and kneeled beside the two of us as Grandpa Daniel bounced me on his knee again, hands clasped around my stomach to hold me steady.
'I've got a little present for you, do you want to see what it is?' Grandma Margret asked.
'Gift, gift,' I clapped and giggled.
'What do you say?' she prodded, poking me with a finger in my chubby belly.
'Please,' I smiled pleadingly at her.
'Here you go,' she pulled out a stuffed bear out from behind her back. I had stuffed toys, what made this one so special? 'Now this is Bucky Bear, he's one of Captain America's Howling Commandos, he'll keep you safe from harm, always.'
'Will he scare away the nightmares?' I asked.
'He will,' she nodded.
'And fight off bullies?' I asked.
'That too,' she nodded.
'And he loves me too, right?' I asked.
'Always,' she told me. 'He loves you just as much as Daniel and I do sweetheart.'
'I love you,' I told her. I turned my head back, to look at Grandpa Daniel. 'I love you.'
'I love you too little bug,' he gave me a squeeze.
Tony drove me back to the tower with my few boxes of stuff. Again he was quiet, letting me think. Truth was, I think I was staring off into space most of the time, lost in memories of when I was a child. I missed them. Great Grandpa Daniel died when I was young, I must have been eight or nine. I missed him. I missed my mom, my dad even, but the person in my life I missed most was Great Grandpa Daniel. I didn't see much of Betty and Michael Carter, my Grandparents, because they retired to Spain when I was little. Last time I saw them was my Uncle James's funeral. They died before my mom and dad did. So now it was just me and Great Grandma Margret, but she was in a home in Washington, so I didn't see her much now either.
I remembered when I was little, Grandpa Daniel used to take off his prosthetic leg and pretend to be a soldier wounded in battle and then Grandma Margret would lean over the back of the sofa and provide over fire while I was the combat medic who would heal Grandpa Daniel. I sometimes wondered if that's why I wanted to be a nurse when I finished school. All the fond memories of me fixing things, of my safe space with Grandma Margret and Grandpa Daniel. Although now I doubt me kissing everyone's boo boos would actually work, I'd need those grades to get me in.
'Can we make one more stop?' I asked. Tony took his eyes off the roads to look at me. I smiled softly.
'Where to?' He asked.
Steve Rogers POV
Sunday 18th August 2013
It was late when we got back, it was after midnight, some time after 3am. The elevator dinged and Tasha and I stepped out of it together to debrief. I opened the entryway to Bonnie and I's apartment and through to the kitchen. There was a light on down the corridor, Bonnie's room. I was assaulted by a strong scent as I walked closer to the kitchen.
'Do you smell paint fumes?' I asked Tasha. She nodded, sporting a perplexed but amused look.
'Did Stark say anything about redecorating?' she asked me, getting a little suspicious.
'Not in my apartment, no,' I replied walking further down the corridor. I saw Tasha's head turn towards the spare bedroom and just as she did, we heard a loud groan. We raised eyebrows at each other before popping our heads into Bonnie's room. I was taken aback by the sight.
'What's going on in here?' I asked. Bonnie turned around, letting the tight grip she hand on her face go as she did. I could see her arms were covered in different colours of paint as she stood there in a white t-shirt and blue jeans. There were rips at the end of them, like she'd scuffed them by shuffling instead of lifting her feet with each step. I'd seen her do that actually. Which reminded me, I needed to get her some new clothes. But her standing there in tattered clothes and paint smears wasn't what had me so shocked, it was what she'd been doing while I was away.
'You said you hoped this would become my home,' she shrugged sheepishly. 'I made some changes..'
'Just a few,' Tasha scoffed, stepping out from behind me to look at the walls closer.
There were white sheets all over the furniture, cans of paint and brushes over on the desk with a lot of pictures and posters splayed out. The bed had more pictures and posters on them. She was turning the room into a giant mural. At the moment it was just the groundwork but I could see what she was doing. She's created the sky with a dark grey gradient to make it look like night time NYC. Or I'm assuming it would be New York. They had dried and she was currently painting the outlines of the buildings.
'You've certainly been busy,' I commented.
'It's okay, right? I'm not in trouble?' she asked, looking a little worried.
'In trouble?' I asked. 'This is cool, you're doing a really good job.'
'But I didn't really ask first,' she explained. 'I talked to Tony about it, but really it's your apartment. I should have asked first.'
'Your bedroom,' I shrugged. I can't say I would have let her if she'd asked, I probably would have suggested a sketch book but after seeing her work, how well she'd done, it was nice. She'd done a good job.
'Do..do you like it?' she asked. I nodded. Tasha had wandered over to the desk where Bonnie had a bunch of concept sketches sitting out to help her plan. She picked on up.
'Is this me?' Tasha asked. Bonnie nodded.
'Hey Princess,' Tony called walking into the apartment. He headed through the hallway and into the room holding a stuffed bear in her mural. 'I got your bear back from the dry cleaners. It's good as new, wouldn't even know he's been left in the back of the closet since... oh hey guys.'
Tony said looking up from the bear, noticing Tasha and I were in the room. He slid the bear behind his back and Bonnie laughed.
'They can see him,' she told him. 'Bit late now anyway.'
'You did a good job, Princess,' Tony said admiring the walls.
'Who are these?' I asked, going over to a box full of pictures. There was a photo of what looked like an older Peggy sharing an armchair with an older man and a little girl was sleeping on his knee. Bonnie walked over to the bed and picked up a picture and handed it to me. It was of Peggy I was sure now. She was watching her sleep with a look of affection. I flipped it over, neatly scrawled on the back it told me who it was. "Daniel Sousa, Margret Carter, Bonnie Carter 1999"
'This is you when you were little,' I held the picture and Bonnie nodded. I pointed to what Peggy was holding. 'And this is your teddy bear?'
'Bucky bear,' she told me and I flinched, hearing her say his name. It was odd, she didn't know who he was, yet she'd named her teddy after him.
'Grandma Margret gave him to me when I was 3, told me he'd always protect me, keep me safe and love me forever. When you said you wanted me to feel more at home here I went back to my old house with Tony and dragged out all these boxes,' she said pointing to the cardboard boxes littering the room.
'I took all these photos and posters down when my mom died, and that's really when my house stopped feeling like home, because I'd lost hope, because the people I cared about were gone, because the house was so quiet and desolate. So I decided to bring them back, put some of this stuff back up.'
'Well, if this is what it takes to make this place feel like home,' I said.
'It's only paint,' Tony shrugged. 'If you hate it in a few years we'll buy some more and do another one.'
'Come on,' I told her. 'Close up the paint, it's getting late and you have school on Monday, can't have you staying up too late and ruining your sleep cycle. You can't sleep in here either, so get ready for bed and meet me in the living room.'
I went to the hall cupboard and solicited the help of Tasha and Tony. I shoved the sofa and coffee table back before using Tony and Tasha to build a fort of blankets and pillows. I remembered back when we were young Bucky, Bonnie and I would make these forts, and we'd just talk about our problems. Bucky laughed at first, saying it was a bit childish, but I remember loving it. Thinking how cool she was just letting go off all the adult world and climbing back into the innocence of childhood for just a moment. I didn't realise at the time it was because she was just a teenager.
'So does it?' Tony asked when Bonnie stepped through the doorway from her bedroom into the living room. She was wearing her pink pyjamas and had her thick curly hair braided behind her head.
'Does what?' she asked.
'Does it feel more like home now?' he said.
'Yeah,' she nodded, coming over to the pillow fort. 'A little bit yeah.'
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 6: Life Is Strange
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Life Is Strange - Marina
Bonnie Carter POV
Monday 19th August 2013
A loud and abrupt alarm rudely awoke me from my slumber. I jolted out of my relaxed, sleep filled state and looked around frantically. I slapped the iPhone beside me until I had either pressed snooze or turned it off. I wasn't sure which, but I'd find out if it went off again in 15 minutes, no doubt making my shit myself in the shower.
I looked up at the pink and cream butterfly blanket that was suspended above me serving as the roof to the pillow fort Steve had made late Saturday night. I rubbed my face tiredly and sighed. There was no getting out of this save for sudden death, no matter how much Steve liked me. I pushed myself up and put my phone in the pocket of my sweatpants, crawling out of the fort. Steve had made me stay in there last night too because he was still worried about the paint fumes in my room.
'First day back, are you excited?' Steve asked as soon as I stood up from the floor. I jumped. I hadn't expected him to be sitting at the breakfast table in the kitchen already.
'Just have me shot,' I replied with a grumble, stalking past him toward the bathroom. 20 minutes later I was sitting in front of him with wet hair and a bowl of cereal. Though I may not have liked spending time at the Tower, it was preferable to heading back to school after three months away from the student body. I fought hard to stay at Midtown Science, but that didn't mean I liked the general populous or the early hour in which classes began.
'I thought you liked this school,' Steve said, folding the newspaper in half.
'I do like school, I just don't like the people in it,' I replied.
'You're on the football team, I was under the impression, from all the movies Tony's been making me watch, that made you popular,' Steve said. I scoffed. Though I wasn't sure what was the more entertaining thought, me being popular or the mental image of Steve watching teen high school movies on netflix.
'I'm on the team because I'm good, not because I'm popular,' I replied. 'I have my friends but it just so happens that even Science Academies can have nerds. It's one of those schools you either get in because of your grades or because your parents have the cash.'
'And you've got the grades but not the cash,' Steve nodded in understanding. 'The football guys seem to get along well enough with you, even that guy you hate.'
'Yeah but I could never just let them have at my friends,' I replied. 'I picked my side. And I'm okay with that. I just don't have to be content with the misery the system creates, even if I'm powerless to stop it.'
'Stop with all the cheer and excitement this early in the morning, Bonnie, this old man can't handle it,' Steve replied sarcastically. I chuckled. Moving in with Steve was more like living with my sarcastic best friend than it was having an adult role model. It was a little better this way. I really liked Steve, he was my friend, he had my back. It was easy to see why America had chosen him as her hero.
It wasn't long before I was downstairs in the parking garage, climbing onto the back of Steve's Harley. He'd even gotten me my own helmet. Not a spare, my own. I smiled softly at the gesture and tugged it on over my head. My hair was in braids, squashed under my helmet and the ends tucked under my jacket. After zipping our way through cars on the highway with the wind whipping past us, pulling into Midtown Science's car park and climbing back off seemed a little disappointing.
'When do you finish?' Steve asked.
'1:30,' I replied.
'Someone will pick you up,' he told me. 'I'll try and be here.'
'I know,' I smiled softly, using my fingers to comb out my braids as we spoke. I handed him my helmet, he smiled softly.
'Good luck,' he wished me.
'I’m gonna need it,' I sighed. I could hear Flash off in the distance somewhere calling my name. I wasn’t ready for summer to be over. I tuned from Steve, walking away and scowling. I'm not going to humour him, I'm just going to walk away without witty retort. I'm not going to humour him. I'm not going to..
'Hey Carter! Bright and early I see, trying to make a good impression on the ‘dults?' he asked, slinging an arm over my shoulders. I was about to make a snippy remark when I paused.
'The what’s?' I raised a brow.
'You know, ‘dults. Adults. Like when you call parents ‘rents,' he explained as he walked me up to the doors for the main building.
'Nobody calls adults ‘dults Flash, and don’t call your parents ‘rents either,' I told him, finally shrugging off Flash's arm.
He walked beside me to the office, pulling lightly on his backpack straps. He was being oddly nice this morning. Nice was the wrong word, civil perhaps? We stood in line to get our assigned lockers and class schedules for the year. I hoped I’d get a locker near Peter again this year but it was unlikely as we had fewer and fewer classes together now we were nearing the end of our high school careers. I chewed my lip. Peter wanted to be a genetic biologist, even after all that stuff with the Lizard last year. I was dead set on being a nurse, but it did beg the question, if this was a science academy, why the hell was Flash here?
'So you doing anything Friday?' Flash asked after about five minutes of peaceful silence. I turned and raised an eyebrow at him. '‘Cause I was thinking we, maybe like, go out for pizza or something.'
'Don’t you have a girlfriend?' I asked.
'If I didn’t would you say yes?' he asked filled with giddy excitement.
'No,' I replied bluntly and turned back to the counter. It was my turn. I stepped forward and started giving my details to the receptionist, anything to get away from here. I got my class schedule and headed out of the office to my assigned locker. Hopefully I'd get there and my stuff unpacked before there was another encounter with Flash.
'Good morning, snotbag,' Peter breezed past me cheerily, far too upbeat for the first day back Junior year.
'What are you so happy about?' I asked, glaring.
'You're still here, aren't you? All the goals we set at your dads funeral have been achieved,' he said. 'You found a guardian, got to stay at this school and made the football team again. Congrats on being the Vice Captain by the way,' he said, stacking all his books inside. I rolled my eyes.
'Don't pretend like you're happy about it, you know it means more time devoted to football and less time to hang out,' I said. 'And it now means I have to be on the social committee.'
'You having to plan social events,' Peter snorted. 'The horror.'
'Yo Carter!' I groaned under my breath and as I looked over and saw it was Flash again. He jogged over towards us and I internally sighed. He tossed a thick, muscled arm over my shoulders and used his other hand to tussle my hair. I lifted his arm off my shoulders and took a step back from him, folding my arms over my chest.
'What do you want, Flash?' I asked.
'What, no "hello again Flash, what classes did you get?"' he grinned a goofy grin at me, proud of himself.
'Listen up Flash, you might be acting a little nicer than normal today, which I personally see as a miracle, but whether or not it's possible, it doesn't mean anything. You're still the bully who used to shove us in the sand in elementary, still the bully who used to fight my friends in middle school and just last year you shoved Gordon in a locker, on the last day of school, at the end of the day. He was trapped in there for hours. We had to use vaseline to get him out. So as far as the social niceties you seem to be pulling go, thanks, but that's all they are.' I replied. He faltered for a moment.
'Right,' he nodded slowly. 'I'll uh, just see you in class then.'
He tossed his stuff into his locker with a bang and slammed the doors shut, storming off away from us. I raised a brow. I hadn't told him anything that wasn't true. He was an asshole, why did I feel bad?
'Do you think I was too harsh?' I asked.
'No,' Peter snorted. 'Someone finally said it. The guy's a jerk. He's always been a jerk. If he doesn't want to get called a jerk then he shouldn't have been a jerk.'
'Maybe you were,' someone said to my left.
I spun away from Peter and saw a surfer looking guy with long blond hair pulled back into a bun at the base of his head. He was wearing a cowrie shell necklace, hoodie and pyjama pants along with some slippers and stuffing snacks into his locker. I raised a brow.
'He was a jerk, was. He's making an effort this year, or at least today. Wouldn't it be worth encouraging him to continue down this positive new path?' Pyjama Sam said.
'When he starts, maybe,' I said. Surfer dude gave me a look. 'Alright, if he keeps it up, I'll encourage it.'
'Positivity towards Flash might affect you positively too, Bonnie,' he told me.
He took a cake bar out of his locker and then headed off towards his first class of the day. I watched him go before I turned back to Peter. I raised a brow and he just shrugged.
'What was that about?' I asked.
'No idea,' he said. ‘I swear that kid does drugs,' Peter replied. He stood beside his locker holding his skateboard.
'Who is he anyway?' I asked. Peter shrugged.
'See, this is why you two have no friends,' Luke said, taking the locker besides surfer dude's. He stuffed his books in haphazardly and then closed the door. 'Carter, he's been in all of your classes since middle school.'
'How do you know that?' I raised a brow. 'You've not been.'
'That's Daniel Rand, of Rand Industries,' Luke told me. 'Everyone knows what classes he has. Just like everyone knew where Harry was. Even if nobody liked him. You see Flash this morning, by the way? Just saw him and his girlfriend getting into it in C corridor. He just out of the blue decided to dump her and now she's screaming the place down. After a performance like that, I'm not surprised he dumped her.'
'So you doing anything Friday?' Flash asked, grinning hopefully at me. '‘Cause I was thinking we maybe like, go out of pizza or something.'
'Don’t you have a girlfriend?' I asked.
'If I didn’t would you say yes?' he asked filled with giddy excitement.
'I think I know why,' I muttered. I'd said no though. Maybe he was more determined than I thought.
'Parker you had better not be planning on riding that thing,' I heard Vice Principal Benson call on his way past. Pete had paused mid step, he had been about to throw his board onto the ground and skate to homeroom. I figured that was my cue to head off to mine, for morning announcements. If there was one person you didn't want to get for homeroom it was head of the disciplinary team, VP Benson. And if you did, you didn't want to get on his bad side. Unfortunately for me, I fell into both categories.
I headed off without another word to homeroom. I stood outside the classroom leaning on the doorframe waiting for the bell to ring sending us off to our torture. It did and I stalked into the room, hopping up onto the high stools by the equally as tall desk. I looked over to the middle far right of the room. There he was, Daniel Rand. How had I not noticed someone coming into the class in their pyjamas every day? I doubted it was a new thing, he clearly didn't give a fuck he was wearing them.
Luke sat down next to him, were they friends? Trotting in, looking slightly worse for wear, Flash jumped up on the stool beside me. I frowned. I had promised to be civil, to not discourage his efforts. If he's nice, I'll talk to him, if not, I'll ignore him. I spotted he now had a large red mark on his cheek, though. I wonder if Liz had given him that when he dumped her.
'Class, I'll take roll and then there will be an announcement from Coach Danvers on who made the cheer squad and the football team. Soccer and Lacrosse will be announced tomorrow.'
I sat quietly while Coach opened up his speech with well wishes for the sports season, reaffirming what Benson told us about the soccer announcements. The longer the list got before I'd heard my name mentioned I got more and more nervous. I chewed my lip. Maybe they'd made a mistake. Maybe I wasn't Vice Captain. Maybe I wasn't on the team at all. What would I do without Football? I supposed there was always Basketball later in the year...
'Lastly it's time to announce the Captains and Vice Captains of each team,' Coach said. I sighed. That was it, all the names except the captains. I didn't know why I was so nervous. Coach had called yesterday to talk to Steve about it. 'The cheer squad Vice Captain of 2013 is Monique Rockwaller and Captain is Stacey Cummings.'
I looked down hard at my book. Even if I hadn't gotten that call, at least I'd gotten the chance to try out. I felt a soft pat to the shoulder. I looked up to a sympathetic look from Flash. It was jarring. He was being unusually nice this year. Especially today. I picked up my water bottle, taking a long, hard swig to choke down the rock in my throat. I worked really hard every year. This torment wasn't fair.
'Next, on to the football team. Vice Captain, Bonnie Carter,' Coach Danvers said and I choked on my water, spraying some over me and my books. I could hear Flash sniggering before the coach called his name and everyone cheered and clapped.
'You right there Carter?' Luke asked from the seat in front of me. I nodded, still coughing lightly.
'Isn't Vice Captain normally your spot?' I asked once I'd recovered.
'Can't be Captain of two things in one year,' he shrugged.
'And what did you get Captaincy of?' I asked. I didn't think he was the soccer type.
'I haven't yet, but I want basketball,' he said. 'Coach knows this so he gave it to someone who he thought really deserved it.'
'What?' I asked.
'You work hard, he likes your hustle,' Luke shrugged.
I stayed quiet after that, pretending to observe my class schedule deeply as Benson read the announcements. I peeked over at Flash's schedule, he was as usual, in all my classes. I sighed. He raised an eyebrow at me but instead of rising to it, I climbed off my stool and gathered my things. Before Vice Principal Benson could give me the, "the bell hasn't gone yet, why are you packing up?" speech, the bell rang and I shot out the door.
I headed to biology and perched on one of the benches, waiting for the teacher to arrive. This was one of two subjects I had with Peter. I couldn't let my foul mood ruin things. Peter was right, I'd gotten everything I wanted, why wasn't I happy? I unpacked my books on my desk and opened to a blank page, copying out the notes already written onto the board. A new teacher this year, Professor Reskine. Why did we have a German Professor as our Junior year science teacher?
An overly friendly looking gentleman with circle glasses sitting on the end of his nose, toddled into the classroom. He had a short beard and brown hair, both with salt and pepper streaks in them. I smiled as he smiled at me and went back to copying down the notes.
'Vhy am I not surprised to see you in here so early, already copying down zhe notes?' he said in a thick accent. 'Your reputation precedes you, Miss Carter.'
I shot him a funny look and he laughed. I didn’t believe him, how could I? My reputation was a bad tempered, prankster on the football team, with more strikes against her file than baseball even gave out. And if that was what he was talking about, why was he happy about it? Why was he mentioning the note taking?
‘I doubt that,’ I said and he smiled a knowing smile at me.
‘It’ll make sense to you someday,’ he assured me before he walked over to his desk and started setting up for the day. Why were old men so weird? Him, Jack, Mr Samberly. Shit even Steve was acting a little off. Well, weird, I don’t know him enough to say it’s abnormal. And I’m hoping Stark is just eccentric. It’s like they all know something I don’t.
The chair beside me moved and I turned to see Flash. He refused to make eye contact, or look at me at all. Gingerly he grabbed hold of the chair and pulled it back. He climbed into it like one wrong move it would explode and scooted closer to the bench. I raised an eyebrow as he still refused to look at me.
I didn’t have time to question Flash as the class had filled up while I was watching him and Reskine was greeting everyone and introducing himself. He started teaching right away before I saw him walking around the room with a bucket of folded paper. Great lab partners.
He had filled the jar up with half the class’s names and walked around randomly stopping and offering a student the jar. Conveniently, I’d already seen Peter, who had snuck in in front of me, earlier this morning. He leapt up onto his lab chair beside his girlfriend Gwen, forgoing saying hi to me or sitting near me in fear of pissing her off. Which probably meant we wouldn’t be lab partners even if someone did want to switch pieces of paper. I looked up, Reskine had stopped beside us, it was our turn. Great . Flash reached into the jar and pulled out a name.
‘YES!!’ he roared like he’d just won the lottery.
‘Who did you get, Eugene?’ Reskine asked.
‘Bonnie,’ he grinned wide enough I was sure his face would crack. He pulled the edges of the paper straight and showed our teacher before turning slowly to proudly show off his slip of paper to the rest of the class. He put it down and slid it across the desk towards me. I groaned and dropped my head down on the desk. I heard Reskine chuckle softly before picking up the jar and continuing on down the class. For some reason, there’s a God out there punishing me. I bet it was Loki.
At least Flash had stopped pretending not to look at me. Instead he was happily scribbling away in his book. I glanced over at his notebook. He wasn’t taking notes, but that was no surprise, instead he was doodling Spider-Man. I smiled softly and took out a pencil and started drawing in the blank spaces around today’s notes.
Instead of Spider-Man however, I drew Steve. I could feel Flash’s eyes on me. I looked over and he smiled ever so softly, nervously, at me.
‘He looks just like Captain America, like from the health class videos Coach makes us watch,’ Flash told me. ‘You like Superheroes too, huh?’
’You could say that,’ I told him. ‘I loved them when I was a kid, but after mom died they kind of let me down. This is Steve, my legal guardian now dad’s gone. He’s my hero. He’s brought back that faith.’
’Hey Bonnie?’ Flash said. I nodded. ‘I’m sorry about your dad. It’s not fair that you’ve lost both of them I know, but you’ll get through it.’
I bit my lip, nodding slowly. How could Flash be the only one besides Peter to have said anything. Harry didn’t even write. He used to send letters all the time. I didn’t understand why Flash had gone through a personality transplant recently, but now he had I was confused.
I didn't have much time to think on it though, as the bell rang and it was time for math. And with Peter no longer in my class in order to keep my grades up, I'd need to give it my full attention. I wasn't bad, I had normal grades but to get those grades required a bit more work for me than other people.
I sat in math, taking down as many notes as I could, not looking for empty doodling space once. Not that the teacher noticed. Our math teacher was the kind that applied just enough effort to get paid and then left it at that. She had no passion for the job. But it was alright, if I kept trying, if I kept working, I'd get the grades I needed.
'Attention all students, this is an announcement from Vice Principal Benson. After lunch today everyone is expected in the auditorium where the student body will be addressed by the new Principal and a new list of rules will be discussed for the year.'
'Great,' I groaned, dropping my head down onto my text book.
'Carter get back to those problems,' Ms Starch, my math teacher, yelled.
'But my own are building ever higher,' I muttered.
Steve Rogers POV
I held my arms folded across my chest. Myself, Barton and Tasha were overlooking a small team of SHIELD analysts that Fury could trust to find out who the guy that kept showing up in Bonnie's life was, and how she'd managed to travel through time. But so far, it was as much a mystery to us as it was when we first started days ago.
'Still nothing?' I asked. Tasha leaned forward, placing her palms on the table she was standing in front of. I watched a bead of sweat drip down an analyst's neck.
'Nothing,' she said coldly. He swallowed. I wondered if Bonnie knew already, how to do it. Maybe it was something her family came up with. But if she did, she'd have gone back already, wouldn't she have?
'I don't see why you're so worried about how she did it, just get her to write it down in a diary and leave it in the past for us to find,' Barton suggested. 'It's who's also looking for her we should be worried about.'
'And why she thought she could take one on with a pink baseball bat,' Tasha agreed.
Bonnie Carter POV
I stalked through the corridors at lunch, headed for my locker so I could put my books away. I was annoyed that this meeting with the new principal would cut into my nursing subjects. I actually liked those. Even if Flash was in them. What was he even studying them for?
'Hey Bonnie,' Daniel greeted when I was at my locker. I looked up and smiled at him.
'Hey,' I said. 'Daniel right?'
'Danny,' he corrected.
'Right, Danny,' I nodded.
'You got a buddy to sit next to in the auditorium later?' he asked. I wore a bemused smile.
'No,' I replied. 'I would normally sit with Peter during these kinds of things but I think they're making us sit in homeroom groups.'
'Well how about we get a bunch of snacks, grab your friends and sit together in the back. Our homeroom is the last in our year,' he suggested. I smiled genuinely this time, nodding softly.
'That actually sounds really fun,' I agreed.
'What's this I hear about fun?' Luke asked and I smiled. He was probably one of the nicest Jocks I knew. Nicest people. I didn't know him well but we were friendly. He'd been nice to me, when my mother had died, his parents had died in a plane crash the year before. He understood what it was like to lose someone you love suddenly which is why it had hurt a little when he hadn't even looked at me when my dad had done what he did. But then I suppose we were all a lot closer in middle school. I was still a cheerleader then.
'We have to sit with our homeroom during the assembly today, so we're gonna grab a bunch of snacks and sit together,' I replied.
'That does sound like fun,' he said. 'I'm in.'
'Can uh...' I heard someone clear their throat. 'Can I join in too?'
I turned at the voice. Flash was leaning against his locker behind me. I hadn't even heard him join us. Had he just been awkwardly lurking behind me? What did I do? I promised that if he made an effort I wouldn't discourage it. And I hadn't seen him be mean to someone even once today, even after I yelled at him. The red mark I'd spotted on his cheek earlier was now a bruise. I looked at his sad eyes and sighed. He was still on probation.
'Yeah,' I nodded. 'It'll be fun.'
And so Danny and I went off to raid the vending machines and Luke and Flash headed to the cafeteria to grab some more substantial food and we'd meet back at the auditorium early to grab some seats. Or rather, to rearrange our place markers so we were sitting next to each other. Flash and Danny were actually pretty close to each other on the roll as were Luke and I, but unlike homeroom, we didn't have the freedom to choose where we sat. But should someone only be following where the place markers led them, they couldn't get into trouble.
Sitting with them was actually the most fun I'd had in awhile. Even more fun than when Peter and I had gone bowling recently. That felt like it was more like a distraction, or a goodbye, than this. This really felt like things were changing. Like they were getting better, one gummy bear at a time. I grabbed another handful and stuffed them in my mouth. Shortly, the bell rang and students piled in. We were shot a disapproving look from Vice Principal Benson before he went to join the faculty on the stage. Everyone was introduced and then the new principal was named. He walked out onto the stage with his head held high, looking a little smug. I raised a brow. Pulling out my iPhone just to be sure I opened the camera function and zoomed in. I was right, I did know him. I snapped a pic and went through my contacts. I tapped on the Pirate himself and entitled it with just one word. "Why?"
'Hey, Carter, what's up?' Luke asked.
'I just, I think I know that guy,' I explained awkwardly. I couldn't exactly tell them why. Luke frowned as he looked back at the stage. Danny didn't seem at all surprised or even like he remotely cared but Flash looked confused.
'What? How?' he asked. 'He's just some old guy. How could you?'
'Doesn't matter,' I shook my head. Things just got more complicated.
The final bell rang for school but I was already outside, waiting in the parking lot with my jacket hanging over the strap of my bag. I had my arms folded over my chest as I waited. Steve said he'd try and be the one to pick me up but I didn't know what I'd do if it wasn't him. I tapped my foot. I couldn't work out if I was pissed or not. Why did Fury have a SHIELD agent at my school? I'm not important enough, it wouldn't just be for me.
A black SHIELD issue covert car pulled up and I sighed. I thought about it, and it happened. The window rolled down and Agent Barton in sunglasses nodded at me. I walked around the side, tossed my bag in the back before climbing into the front, slamming the door each time.
'Good day at school?' he said cheerfully, ignoring my bad temper. I turned to glare at him. He pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards the highway, taking me back towards the SHIELD base rather than headed towards the Tower.
'Where's Steve?' I demanded.
'Is that what's bothering you?' he asked and I shook my head. I put my feet up on the edge of my chair and leaned an elbow on my knees. I rested my head on the heel of my palm and stared out the passenger side window, trying not to watch Barton analyse my face.
'I need to talk to him about something,' I replied. 'School was weird, some good some bad, something happened though. He'd know what to do.'
'I'm an international spy and an assassin, can I help?' he asked. He seemed genuinely interested.
'We got a new principal today,' I tried, leaning back in his direction to watch him answer. 'Know anything about that?'
'Why would I? I know I said I was a spy, but I'm not spying on you,' he answered, he was either too good for an untrained teenager to tell he was lying, or he legitimately didn't know.
'Because I've seen him before,' I answered.
'As in, he's the weird guy from the alley, seen him before or..?' Barton prodded, face changing to show slight concern.
'No,' I shook my head. 'I saw him at SHIELD. And if you hang out with Fury as often as you do, I would have thought you'd know why he was the new principal. I don't even know what happened to the old one. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not interesting enough for SHIELD to have someone around watching me. So who is? It's a high school.'
'Listen,' Barton said. 'Steve's more the kind of guy to shake down Fury for answers rather than go digging. He's capable of stealth missions, yes, but those are infiltrations. That's why the Avengers have Tasha and I.'
'What are you saying?' I asked.
'Let me take a look at it, or Tasha, if you like her better for it,' he said.
'I wanted to go to Steve because I've known all of you the same amount of time, but Steve is pretty transparent. What you see is what you get. He's capable of pretending, but he doesn't. You two, it's your job,' I explained. 'How do I know, you're not just going to brush this under the rug? How do I know, you're not lying when you say you don't know and are actually a part of all this?'
'Legitimate questions,' he replied. 'You should be careful about who you trust, can't say I blame you for that. But if you're looking for people to be suspicious of, Tasha and I are the wrong people. Go to Steve if you want, but you risk tipping off the people involved if you do. You want the upper hand, this has to be done quietly.'
'How do we know Fury didn't just not tell you what's going on?' I asked.
'How about we exchange a secret, will that get you to trust me on this?' he asked. I thought about it for a second. I nodded.
'The Geography teacher Mrs Phen is cheating on her husband with her sophomore student Alan Haze,' I replied. 'The rumours are there, but there's no proof so she's still here.'
'Fury doesn't think SHIELD is running as smoothly as it seems,' Barton told me.
'He thinks there's a leak?' I asked. That was big.
'Every agency has leaks,' Barton shook his head. 'Those are relatively easy to deal with. He thinks there's multiple leaks and they're working together, a bigger leak if you will.'
'And you're worried, that the bigger leak, has someone at the high school, and if Steve kicks a fuss someone will tell the guy at the school and they'll just replace them before we can do anything,' I said and he nodded. 'But what does the leak want? If I'm right when I say I'm not interesting enough for SHIELD why would I be interesting enough for enemies of SHIELD?'
'That's what the digging is for,' he replied. 'Not just to find out if they're Fury's or not. But to find out what it is whoever is directing them wants.'
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 7: Over My Head
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Over My Head (Cable Car) - The Fray
Bonnie Carter POV
Tuesday 20th August 2013
'Carter,' Flash nodded at me while I stood at my locker, trying to stay awake.
I'd stayed awake last night, unable to stop thinking about what SHIELD were up to interfering with my school, if I should tell Steve or not and who exactly I should trust. Plus there was Flash who had acted weird all day, all my shitty new responsibilities and despite my best efforts to stay close, Peter was drifting away more and more each day.
And all those thoughts plagued my mind before I'd even got home and tried to sleep, because first Agent Barton had dropped me at SHIELD's New York HQ and then left me to sit outside the task room Steve and Tasha were holed up in. Didn't get an explanation as to why either, I know they couldn't tell me what they were doing in there, obviously. But why couldn't Barton drop me off at the Tower? Unless he thought I'd murder Tony. But we were getting along a little better since that day at my house.
'Hey,' I muttered tiredly. I leaned against my locker door holding my books too sluggish to walk to homeroom just yet.
'You alright?' he asked.
'A lot on my mind,' I answered. 'Please, no shit today. Don't bother anyone, don't fight with anyone, don't even cough near someone.'
'I wasn't planning on it,' he told me. He then opened wide, stuck his tongue out and gave an “aaaah ”. 'See? Not even a tickle.' I let out a puff of air and I shook my head, smiling. Of course he was joking. The bell rang before Peter had gotten here, I wondered if he was running late or if something had happened on his way to school.
'Come on,' Flash jerked his head towards our homeroom and reached out an arm towards me. I stepped forward, walking at his side as we headed to go see Vice Principal Benson first thing. Because of course what I needed was more of him in my life.
I hopped up on my chair and closed my eyes, almost falling asleep in my seat. That was, until Vice Principal Benson marched in, looked straight at me and screamed out my name, jolting me out of my doze. I was given a warning and then he took roll. I managed to keep awake enough to get to biology. And even if the teacher did weird me out a little, I wanted to do my best. This was a subject I both enjoyed and needed for after high school.
I climbed up on my bench, Flash not long after me before I started furiously scribbling down notes before I could fall asleep and miss them. I was actually super tired. I blame Steve for keeping me at SHIELD for so long last night. I started to nod off halfway through the lecture but tried to keep writing in my notebook. I kept skipping time, so I was definitely falling asleep, even if only for a little while at a time. In the back of my mind, I could have sworn I heard someone yell to Reskine that I was sleeping in class. I couldn't open my mouth to argue, because I was pretty sure I was asleep. But I know I didn't dream them ratting me out.
'Zhat is because she is tired,' Reskine told them. 'Students, do try to come to class vell rested and ready to learn, but if your bodies need sleep, you are powerless to stop it, as demonstrated by Miss Carter. Now, how many of you have heard about zhe urban myth, zhe Russian Sleep Project? Hmm?"
Flash nudged me and I shook myself awake. I blinked rapidly before I raised my hand. Reskine raised an eyebrow at me in return and nodded to me, permitting me to speak.
'I've heard of it,' I said and he chuckled.
'Running 10 minutes behind, Miss Carter,' he told me. 'Though I'm glad you've heard of it, because we vill now be studying zhe real effects of lack of sleep on zhe body.'
'Right,' I nodded. 'Sorry.'
'Try to come to next class on a good night's sleep, uh?' he told me. 'Now I believe the reason Eugene nudged you awake is because the bell has rung for your next class. Mathematics, I hear. Better hurry.'
'Right,' I said looking around and noticing I was the only one left in the classroom.
I grabbed all my books up off the desk and jumped from my chair, running towards my next class. I breezed passed Mrs. Phen who shot me a sharp look for running in the corridor but I wasn't in her field of vision long enough for her to catch and reprimand me. I skidded across the floor and into the classroom. By some miracle, I'd gotten there before Ms Starch. I hopped into the only free seat, opened my books and scribbled down the notes at a lightning fast pace.
'Oh, so you've decided to join us after all, have you Bonnie?' Ms Starch said, appearing in the doorway and I frowned. Not as fast as I thought. 'You're on a warning.' I nodded.
I sighed and listened to her drone on, not paying as much attention as I would have, if I wasn't having a bad day. I leant on my arm and started drawing the guy from the alley again. I had to figure out if it was the same guy as the one from my house. I'm sure it was. They both had the tinfoil hands, which, unless it was a really lame fashion trend, it meant he had a prosthetic hand. And I still hadn't gotten over the fact he'd looney tunes-ed me. Or managed to throw me as far as he did.
I put my pen down, I couldn't stay awake. I would have thought the brief nap I'd had in bio would have meant I'd have better luck in this class. Apparently not. I yawned and rested my head on my arms, low on the desk. I didn't care anymore. Catch me sleeping, so what?
The bell rang and I was jolted out of my sleep. I sat up and packed up my books. Everyone got up and slowly left, headed to their next class. I was about to climb out of my chair before Ms Starch halted me. I looked over to the door in the now empty classroom when Vice Principal Benson walked in the door. I choked. I took a couple of naps and I was getting this guy? Shit. That was a bit extreme.
'I'd like to see you in my office, Miss Carter,' he told me and picked my books up off the desk.
'Yeah,' I nodded and followed him out of the classroom. We walked down the halls and I heard a clank in the vent above me. I glanced up before heading forward. Knowing my luck I'd finish my day here by getting crushed by one falling from the ceiling. I slid into the seat I was all too familiar with, in front of Benson's desk and prepared myself for what was to come.
'What's going on with you, Bonnie?' he asked gently. I almost choked on my spit. 'Now, I am used to getting calls about you, but usually because you're disruptive, rude and usually up to no good. But sleeping in class, that's a new one. If anything, despite your behaviour your classwork and grades are unparalleled.'
'It's nothing, it won't happen again,' I said. Though this side of Benson was new and welcome, I couldn't exactly tell him what was really up.
'Perhaps I should call, uh, Steve is it? Your new guardian. Would that get through to you?' he asked. 'Something's going on, you don't usually do this.'
'He's in Prague,' I told him.
'So that's it? Steve's out of town so you stay up late partying?' Benson asked.
'He was here last night, I was at the office with him after school and we didn't get home till kinda late,' I explained. 'And when I did, I went straight to bed. I just, I had a lot on my mind. So much is happening this year. A lot of responsibility, so much I don't know, so much I have to do. I couldn't stop worrying.'
'Maybe you need to have someone you can talk this through with,' Benson suggested. 'Because if like you said, you've got a lot to do and a lot to learn, then you can't afford to be sleeping in class. Do you have someone?'
I paused. Peter was drifting, and he'd been pretty blasé up until now, how could I talk to him about this? I'd just met Steve, what would I say to him? I didn't trust Tasha or Barton. And Tony? We'd been getting along, but we were a long way from this. I realised, I didn't have anyone. I didn't have anyone at all. I put a hand up to my mouth. When had I gotten so isolated? I had friends. But, were they, if I couldn't talk to them?
'No,' I croaked eventually.
'Not Parker?' he asked. I shook my head.
'Might be worth you talking to someone,' he said. 'The school nurse can book you in with the counsellor if you can't find someone on your own. You can head to English now.'
I nodded, pulling out of the chair and taking my books with me out the door. I glanced back at Benson. What a weird new side to him. I walked slowly to class, wondering what the hell my life even was anymore. I needed to get out more. I'd been so wrapped up in myself lately I'd let everyone float away on the wind.
There was a free spot left, when I got to English. Danny looked up and smiled, patting the empty half of the workbench. I smiled back, taking the seat and opening my books. He slid his over, so I could copy his notes. I noticed, they were meticulously kept. So much for his unkempt appearance. Perhaps I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Perhaps this was fate’s way of saying I should make some new friends.
‘Hey did you wanna hang out tonight?’ I looked up from my locker and Danny was smiling at me.
‘Uh actually I have football practice tonight, rain check?’ I replied awkwardly.
‘Yeah some other time,’ he said.
‘Actually,’ I reached out to stop him turning away. ‘I’m working a shift tomorrow at Aloicious, they’re usually pretty boring on Wednesdays so I do my homework to keep busy. It’d probably be a lot less boring if you came with.’
’Oh uh..’ he stuttered.
’They’ll be free coffee,’ I said. He relaxed, smiling again.
‘That sounds awesome, but I can’t tomorrow,’ he shrugged sheepishly. I laughed.
’We’re just not meant to hang out, huh?’ I said and he laughed.
‘Let’s try again when the universe is ready,’ he suggested and I nodded. I finished getting my stuff together and grabbed my gear to change into.
Coach once again trained us hard and made us play first string against second string. Which wasn’t really fair to the second strings when you thought about it. They’d be better players if we had mixed teams, like when the tryouts were on. Still I couldn't complain if it meant we always won. Although, we'd get stronger if it was more of a challenge. Maybe that was why we hadn't won a season in a decade.
'Carter,' I heard Coach yell. I looked up.
'You're thinking pretty hard over there, anything you want to share with the class?' he asked. I frowned, shaking my head. 'Good, then maybe we can get back to it.'
Coach went over some plays on a board as I sat on the bleachers, drinking some water from the paper cups by the water stand. I looked at the waterboy, he smiled softly at me before I directed my attention back to Coach. Yeah, mixed teams might help training.
I stood staring at my locker, trying to decide what books to bring home when Luke shook me out of my thoughts. I turned, he was waving a hand in front of my face, like he'd been talking to me this whole time. Which was entirely possible considering how my day was going.
'You feelin’ okay Carter?' Luke asked. I nodded. 'Because you don't look it.'
'A lot on my mind,' I told him.
'I noticed,' he said. 'By this time last year at least 3 pranks were set off somewhere in these halls. You're quieter this year too, something happen over the summer?'
'No,' I replied with a scowl. 'Something happened at the end of spring.'
'Bonnie I..' he started.
'Save it,' I slammed my locker door shut, deciding on giving myself the night off from homework. I walked away before he could say anything else. I couldn't deal with this. Of course I'm not myself. Everyone I'm related to is dead save for one Alzheimers patient and freeze dried 91 year old. I heard a clank in the vents above me again and sighed. One of these days a vent is going to collapse and come crashing down on me. I shook my head. Things were low, but they wouldn't stay that way. Life has ups and downs, right now was no different. Life is meant to be confusing and difficult and stupid at times but it's also wonderful and funny and filled with love. The second part was just taking a while to get here.
I heard a door open and looked up. Across the hall Mrs Phen was coming out of a janitorial supply closet. 10 guesses why she's here. I wondered if I should stay, wait to see if there's a student in there. Or open the door. But the student might already have left. Also, I really didn't want to be the one to find out. Or get caught finding out. What would I even do with this kind of problem anyway? I usually take down random goons and call it a day. Barton was right, I should leave stuff like this to adults who know what they're doing. I was debating staying some more when I got a text. There was no call ID but it was an all caps message demanding I come outside alongside a bunch of emojis. I snorted.
Walking out into the parking lot, I found Tasha waiting for me in a black corvette. Subtle. I raised a brow. I wondered if the students were going to notice I get a ride home with a different person every day.
'What, no Barton today?' I asked. 'I was getting used to him being my chauffeur.'
'Haven't seen Clint since yesterday. Didn't come into the task room today,' Tasha shrugged. 'He's probably working some case.'
'Agent Barton's first name is Clint?' I asked, sniggering. 'Dork.'
'You gonna get in or what?' she asked and I shook my head, walking around to the passenger side and climbed in. She took off at high speed before I could get my seatbelt on and headed right for the tower.
'What, no SHIELD today?' I asked.
'Steve's still in Prague, I figured we'd train and get pizza,' she told me.
'You just like beating me up and picked today to do it because you know Steve can't save me,' I said. She chuckled.
'Yep,' she agreed and swerved into the oncoming lane to avoid stopping at a red light. I might die today after all.
Wednesday 21st August 2013
I went to bed early last night. After getting beaten up on the football field and later by Tasha coupled with the shitty nights sleep the day prior I couldn't stay up even if I'd wanted to. Steve still hadn't come back from Prague when I woke up. And there was no Barton either. I supposed that was SHIELD life. Steve had said we should live in the Tower so I would have a sense of normality, there would be people around me and I wouldn't be on my own. The constant back and forth of all the new people he'd introduced me to, popping in and out on me made it feel lonelier than living on my own had. But I'm sure it would level out. It wasn't like I was starved for attention, I had my job and Football.
I munched on some cereal looking at my iPhone before Tasha walked in. She sat in her PJs eating a muffin and flicking through a magazine. I looked up at her sitting nonchalantly before looking back down at my phone. Fine, if she wasn't going to say anything, neither was I. I looked at her in my peripherals. She was smirking. I got up and got dressed for school. If we were going to play the not acknowledging game then I was going to take the service elevator and head to school early. I don't know what weird game she was playing, just sitting there with her magazine and muffin, but I wanted no part.
Maybe I did have trust issues.
I took the elevator to the ground floor and walked out onto the street. I knew my way around New York, from all the swinging I did with Peter, well enough to get to school on my own. I used to do it all the time, I didn't need Steve or Barton or Tasha to take me.
The warm, end of summer breeze blew through my hair and I sighed. I'd forgotten how good walking through this city could feel. I'd missed it. I rolled my stiff shoulders and headed towards the nearest subway station. I walked with a spring in my step, slipping in and out of alleys to get around the crowds of people headed for their 9-5s and smiled. This was the New York I wanted. The New York I'd missed in the time it had been since the end of the school year and summer to have passed. It was a new year, good things were coming. So long as the weather stayed like this.
I caught the early train on the subway for a change, because I was actually around to catch it and rode to Midtown. Maybe even early enough I could do the homework I decided not to do last night. Or even take from my locker. I sat back on the seat as the train gently rocked across the tracks headed for the station 3 blocks from school. I could have sworn, out of the corner of my eye, that I saw someone watching me. I tried to follow what I'd seen with a nonchalant glance, but I also could have alerted them that they'd been made. I don't know, I'm not a spy. I didn't see anyone though.
I shook it off, must be my imagination. All this tall, dark and dangerous assassin business was getting to me. Nevertheless, I ducked through a few more alleys on my way to school. Once I got there I was sure I was safe, either because they weren't following or because even if they were, they couldn't follow me in here. I heard a clank in the air vents above me again and sighed. I wondered if anyone else heard them. Surely they did.
'Hey,' I heard from beside me. Danny.
'Oh hey,' I smiled. 'You're here early.'
'Yeah, I had some things to do earlier today,' he said. 'You don't usually get here until right before the bell, right?'
'Yeah but my uh.. the lady who lives in my building but also works with Steve was looking after me while he's in Prague and she was weirding me out so I left early,' I explained.
'What's Steve doing in Prague?' he asked walking beside me to our lockers. I shrugged.
'Your guess is as good as mine,' I told him. The bell rang shortly after and I headed to homeroom. I offered a small smile to Vice Principal Benson before I headed to my seat. I still didn’t like the guy, but I didn’t want the effort I’d seen him make yesterday to go to waste. He nodded at me and I sat down. This year was different, I’d always known it would be, I just wasn’t expecting how.
Professor Reskine gave me a copy of the lesson notes I’d missed yesterday and everything went back to normal. Or as normal as things could be, aside from the clanking in the vents.
‘Hey old sport,’ Peter greeted outside our English classroom, sounding like Simone from the Great Gatsby
‘Where have you been these last few days, huh?’ I asked, smiling. ‘Didn’t even eat lunch with me.’
’Yeah sorry,’ he smiled sheepishly. ‘Gwen’s been making me fill out college stuff.’
’This early?’ I asked. ‘It’s only junior year.’
’She thinks I could get early admission,’ he said. ‘I don't even know where I want to go.’
’I don’t know if I am going,’ I shrugged.
‘Why not?’ he asked, sounding genuinely surprised. He moved to lean up against the wall with me.
’I feel like college is one of those things that you need to be sure about before you sign up. And I don’t know what I want to do with my life.’
’You’ve wanted to be a nurse since we were kids,’ Peter replied. ‘That and a superhero when we were like 6. What changed?’
‘I’m getting kind of tired of not being able to save people. Between my mom, dad, Ben, Chief Stacy... it’s just too much.’
‘None of those were your fault Bonnie,’ Peter told me.
‘I know,’ I cut him off. ‘But I couldn’t do anything either. You know I hate feeling helpless.’
’Wouldn’t going to college, learning to be a nurse make you less helpless? You’d be able to save some of those people.’
’Some,’ I told him. ‘That’s not enough for me.’
‘What, some isn’t good enough so none at all? You can’t save everyone but you can’t just give up. It’s the trying that makes it worth it,’ he said, pushing off the wall dramatically, caught up on his passionate rant. We both were, so much so we hadn’t noticed everyone staring at us through the window.
’Are you two going to join the class?’
I hadn't noticed that the classroom had been slowly filling up while we’d been talking and now the teacher was trying to start our lesson. I sighed, shaking my head and walking away from Peter. I went to take the free seat next to Flash. I couldn’t sit with Peter today.
Flash smiled at me as I sat down. I shook my head at him, staring sharply ahead. I took notes until the bell rang and then got ready for PE. I'd like to deal with the way I was feeling on the courts but after what happened on the football field it might be better if I didn't. I don't know what it was, but somehow I had a huge surge in strength. I'd always been strong. Stronger than others. As strong as I needed to be to fight the person I was fighting but no more no less. Why had I suddenly gotten so out of control? Was it a fluke or would it keep happening? I couldn't risk it. I'd just have to concentrate hard on keeping it in till I got home and could train. Hopefully I wouldn't have to go to SHIELD headquarters again today.
Steve Rogers POV
'So what's it like finally being able to see your friend again?' Stark asked as we sat in the quinjet, riding back to the Tower. The jet lurched occasionally with turbulence but otherwise, it was a smooth ride. Nothing like the planes back in the 40s. No enemy fire threatening to send us into our graves either, not like the time Bonnie and I parachuted into enemy lines.
'It's queer,' I replied. 'Bonnie was my cool nurse friend who took no shit. She was foul mouthed and short tempered. She'd knock guys on their ass just for flirting with her and always knew just what to do. She was a spitfire. She still is, sort of. But now she's a scared young woman, not even eighteen. She can't defend herself like she could, she's not confident. She needs help and I'll always be there, I just wasn't expecting to basically be raising my best friend. She was like a sister to me.'
'She still can be,' Tony shrugged. 'She's just your younger sister now rather than your partner in crime. I know it's hard to see her like this, it's not easy for me either. She doesn't trust me, I wouldn't say she hates me, but she's treating me like I deserve without even knowing why. And what's worse is she eventually does trust me, when I first met her she treated me like family right off the bat. Told me we were friends when I figured out who she really was. And then I said all those things, I wish I could make it go away, take back all the things I said, never say them in the first place. I hurt her and I have to watch her learn to trust me only to see it come crashing down again because of some stupid young boy's words.'
'If you know her as well as I do, or like I used to, she probably came back here and forgave you. You'll probably talk it out, she'll swear at you and she might punch you but she'll forgive you. I know she will,' I told him.
'You think?' he asked. I nodded.
Bonnie Carter POV
Lunch time should be my solace. But knowing Peter would be with Gwen made me feel lonely all over again. I know I'd pushed him away but I missed him. I wondered if this was how he'd felt, spending his summer alone, because I was stuck in some dusty old files. Maybe I should have done it with him. I knew he was itching to be Spider-Man so I'd let him go off by himself, and maybe that was wrong. We should have done both. Up until this summer, all the Spider-Man stuff, I'd done too. I'd been at his side the whole time. He told me right away when things started to get weird. Hell, I'd helped him sneak into Oscorp where he got bit in the first place. And he'd been there for me, at my side every moment after mom died. But when dad died, I'd slipped away. He used to come to the diner sometimes when I had shifts, we'd do homework together when it was quiet, but now he went to Gwen's instead. Which was fair enough, he needed to spend time with her too. But when my dad had died I just cut him off. He tried to come after me, to help me, to be at my side but I pushed him farther and farther away until he spent his summer alone, still trying to help me from afar while I sat by myself sulking. I'd done this to myself, but I couldn't get over it simply knowing it was my fault, I was still alone.
'Carter, yo, you okay?' I heard Flash call. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. I turned in the corridor towards him as he jogged over.
'No,' I answered honestly. 'I have a lot on my mind.'
'So I've noticed,' he told me. 'There's been no pranks this year for a start. And you've been less witty, more snippy. And your dorky sidekick isn't hanging around. Something's off. It's like invasion of the Bonnie snatchers or something.' I scoffed. That was actually pretty funny for him.
'Are you busy tonight?' I asked.
'You wanna go out to the movies after all?' he replied giddily.
'No,' I smiled. His face fell a little. He looked down at his shoes. I smiled softly and touched his arm. 'I have work.'
'Oh,' he nodded in understanding. Then he paused. I watched his head shoot up in confusion. He opened his mouth to ask a question but just as he sucked in a breath to start, I cut him off.
'Peter used to come with, we'd do our homework together, Wednesdays were always quiet. Would you maybe, like to join me instead?' I asked. He frowned. I could tell he did not want to sit around some old person's diner doing his homework but he also looked torn.
'Sure,' he said slowly, sounding like he was in pain. 'I have my truck. I'll drive us.'
'See you after school,' I told him.
I walked out to the school parking lot through the double doors and waited for Flash out on the pavement. I hoped that Danny was right, and I should believe in Flash, to believe he was changing. He called my name and I looked up, seeing him close the door to his blue Dodge Ram and jog over. He reached for me, hand brushing down my arm before he led me back over. I climbed into the passenger seat and he peeled out of the parking lot, taking us far from this place and down to Queens.
Flash had the radio on, gently playing in the background while we drove along the highway. I nodded my head softly to the music before I realised this was Simple Plan. I looked down to the cup holder. There were CDs in here and one was a Simple Plan album. I raised an eyebrow but kept my remarks to myself. I reached out gingerly to it and picked it up.
'Your favourite band, right?' he asked. 'You liked them since that guy left a mix CD in your locker. Did you ever find out who did it?'
'No,' I shook my head. 'Good taste in music though.'
'Yeah,' he nodded.
We pulled up to the diner and I climbed out of the monstrous truck, having to jump a bit to get to the ground. I walked into the shop, taking my book bag with me and settling Flash with a spot by the end of the front counter. I went to the bathroom to change into my little yellow uniform. I emerged later to find Flash with a stack of books open in front of him and his grandfather beside him. I raised a brow, walking slowly over to them. They seemed like they were arguing with each other.
'Where's the fire Jack?' I asked.
'Does Steve know you're here with him?' Jack asked.
'Steve's in Prague,' I replied. 'Even if he wasn't, I'm not doing anything wrong. He's your grandson, what's your problem?'
'My grandson is an asshole,' Jack said.
'You're not wrong,' I replied. 'But who I consort with is my business. Now, do you want your usual or do you want to find a new diner to go to every Wednesday?'
'I'll take my spot right here,' he said, scowling at Flash. I shot Flash a look, hoping for some context. Just like any time I ever asked about his father, he looked away. I frowned. Maybe Flash needed a friend just as much as I did. Come to think of it, I'd noticed, Flash was always by himself. He used to have a pack of fellow bullies he'd sometimes hang out with but this year? By himself. Had something happened?
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 8: Born To Run
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: I’m Born To Run - American Authors
Bonnie Carter POV
Wednesday 21st August 2013
Flash did his homework quietly for a while but he packed up and left. I told him I'd be alright, that I could get home by myself and he took off. I frowned, looking to Jack who hadn't spoken to me since I'd given him his order. He wouldn't look at me either.
When my shift was over I packed up my stuff and walked out into the cooler night air, the lights of the diner glowing brightly against the heavy black contrast of the night sky. I was about to start walking towards the subway station when I looked up to Steve leaning against his bike. He offered me a small smile as I stood staring at him. I shrugged my bag higher on my shoulder, walking over to him instead. I was in a mood, I was half tempted to ignore him and keep walking but before I knew it, I was reaching out for my helmet.
Steve took my bag and put it under the seat while I tugged on my helmet. I climbed on the back and he took off. I was upset. This year I'd realised there was so much I still didn't understand about the world. And I didn't know if I ever would. Or if I did, would I like it. If I didn't, could I do anything about it? It's time I broke out the old mask and jacket, hit the streets like Spider-Man and I used to, Peter or no Peter. Crime Fighting always helped me think.
'You alright?' Steve asked when I climbed off the bike in the Tower's garage. I shrugged, leaving my book bag to him and heading straight up the stairs. I found some workout wear in my half painted bedroom and headed up for the gym. First things first, I was 3 months out of shape when it came to crime, I'd need to train before I started knocking heads again.
I plugged some headphones into my iPhone and started on the punching bag. Even if I didn't go out tonight, I was sure to find the warm up therapeutic. I thought about everything that was bothering me. Why did Fury have to be so cryptic when I was trying to find Steve? Why the cloak and dagger? He staged an explosion in the lab and then covered it up with a break in. Fury said that he couldn't run DNA without someone's permission or in the case of elimination from a crime scene. Why was crime easier to prove than just asking Steve? Fury wasn't the kind of guy to protect someone's feelings, so why then, did he do it that way? And what was in the papers he brought to my house? I should have read them instead of palming them off on Steve. I thought I'd be better off making them his problem, but am I? And Peter, why was he avoiding me? I know he says it's just time with Gwen, but it's more than that. I know it is. He's a shitty liar for a start. But there's something, I can feel it.
I punched the black bag harder. I could feel the sweat dripping down the back of my neck. My pulse was just beginning to start pumping. I pushed more. My hands didn't even hurt yet. I let out a deep breath. What had made Flash want to change? It was sudden, why this year? Why was he all alone? What could he have done, to make his pack of bullies leave him? And why? What were he and Jack arguing about?
Where was Clint? Was this normal for him or was Tasha just playing it off as nothing? Should I have told him what I did? What did there being a SHIELD agent at my school mean? And how did this all connect to this weird guy following me around all the time? Just who was he? And what did he want with me?
My heart rattled in it's cage, I was finally beginning to feel the effects of my brutal beating of the punching bag. I occasionally swung kicks into it, at this stage I was more angry than confused. My life had become difficult in under 2 weeks. Why? I was sick of it. I didn't like this. How did I go back to being just me? I was better that way. My father may have thought he was doing me a favour, leaving me, but I'm trapped just as much without him as I was looking after him. And I didn't mind it, I liked being with him, trying to help him, even if I didn't do a good enough job.
I let out a scream, throwing a punch with all the might I could muster into the bag and it I felt something in my hand burn. The bag went flying across the room as the sweat covered my body. My ears were ringing, the music was too loud, my heart beat too fast as my pulse drummed in my ears. Everything around me was a blur, the sound echoed. I could feel a searing pain in my hand. I screamed out again, crying out in anguish. My eyes stung as I realised I'd been crying. I was crying properly for the first time since I'd found my father's body. There had been the brief breakdown in Steve's arms when I first met him, the occasional feeling like I'd wanted to cry, maybe a tear, but this was something next level. The partial numbness I'd been feeling up until now towards everything that had happened with my father was coming out and I couldn't control it.
I stumbled over to the punching bag, staring at the ground where it had landed by the mirrors before I looked up at myself. My face was puffy, angry red and my hair was slick with sweat. As was the least of me. My eyes stung. I still couldn't shake the anger. At what had happened, at myself. I should have done more, I could have tried harder. Maybe all the time I'd spent out with Peter had pushed my dad over the edge. Maybe he just couldn't take the loneliness. And when I'd abandoned Peter, maybe he was putting distance between us so he didn't feel the same dependence. He'd recognised it, and he was running. No, that wasn't it. Peter wouldn't do that. I looked at myself harder, but I had played a part in dad's death. That much was true.
I screamed at myself. I'd been balling my fist, nails digging into my hand and I swing my fist forward, connecting with the mirror. The destruction, just like hitting the punching bag, felt good. But one punch wasn't enough. I kicked out, smashing more of the mirror. A spray of broken glass flew over the room, coating the floor with mirror shards. I pulled back from the mirror kicking over a weight stand, dumbbells denting the floor.
I don't remember when I stopped, just that I did eventually, my heart rate slowed down and I found myself laying on my back on the floor, feeling exhausted. Feeling empty, like I'd let go of a big weight, but not relieved. I don't know how long I laid there but after a while, I felt myself being picked up. I stared at the person carrying me in his arms.
Steve.
How could I do this to him?
Steve Rogers POV
'Mister Rogers,' JARVIS interrupted my sketching. I'd been drawing an old friend, I missed him, I'd been missing him for a long time but he was back in my thoughts now. Things were a lot simpler with him by my side. I thought they'd get easier with Bonnie here with me again, but I should have known better. Bucky was the one that kept the three of us on track. Bonnie and I were the loose cannons. Without him, we were two idiots hurtling towards the sun on a plane with no breaks. And now I was the responsible one, because Bonnie was clearly in some trouble, even if she wouldn't tell me what it was.
'Yes JARVIS?' I asked.
'Miss Carter seems to be throwing a tantrum in the gymnasium,' he told me. She was always known for her occasional bust temper, some screaming, yelling, the occasional punch to some goon's nose. 'Mister Stark advised me not to say anything until she'd stopped. She's been on the floor for an hour now. I think it's over.'
'Thank you JARVIS,' I told him. 'I'll go see her.'
I put my pencil down and pulled back from the desk in my office. I did most of my paperwork at SHIELD before I left, why did I have an office? I suppose having a place to sketch did have it's benefits though, even if this wasn't the room's intention. I headed up the stairs, giving myself a few moments to work on what I would do, say, wondering what things would be like when I got there. Why had Stark told JARVIS to wait to tell me she was having trouble until after?
I made it to the gym's lobby and saw Tony by the window, staring sadly out onto the training room floor. I walked up to him before really looking out the window. The place was a mess. Broken glass littered the floor, as did dumbbells, the stuffing from the punching bag, some wood chips from the floor. My voice cracked. I didn't know what to say. I stuttered incomprehensibly a little before Tony clapped me on the shoulder and nodded softly.
'I know,' he said. 'It's not her fault, things got on top of her. Her father’s just died. She’s grieving. We have to help her, but, Steve?'
'Yeah?' I asked, still staring in shock.
'Don't punish her for this,' he told me. I pulled back to look at him. I couldn't read the emotion on his face. 'This is deeper than vandalism. This is just stuff, it can be fixed, replaced if needed, but she needs help, not punishment. I've never seen her like this. She was my friend, back then, and I was the one on the floor, destroying stuff. She was always so understanding, I didn't realise it was because she understood the pain I was going through. But I don't think she understands hers just yet, so hold her close, don't push her away.'
I nodded softly, heading for the gym door. I walked out to her spot on the floor. She lay expressionless and unmoving on the floor. I slid my hands under her knees and back, scooping her up and holding her close to my chest. I'd forgotten just how little she was compared to me now I'd had the serum. We'd been the same height when I'd first met her and though I'd dwarfed her when I went through the project, her confidence, her attitude, had made her seem 10 feet tall. And now she was a broken little girl and I was holding her like if I let her go she'd fall apart. I knew her father had died recently, I guess I didn't realise how she was coping. She seemed fine, I forgot she wasn't used to death yet, she hadn't been to war like I had. But this was more than a death, this was her father. And I'd taken for granted that she was okay.
'I've got you,' I told her as I walked through what was left of the gym. 'I've got you and I'm not going anywhere.'
Tony Stark POV
Monday 16th December 1991
I felt sick. I'd been snarky to my father mere hours ago, we'd almost had an argument before, instead they'd left with me feeling angry and tossed aside. Bonnie had been there, they'd left me with her at least. I considered her my best friend, though at the time, that might just have been because I'd had none before her. And for a while, she seemed like she was more friends with my father than me. I'd been so sure they were sleeping together, there was something in the way he looked at her. He was in love with her, he looked at her the same way he looked at my mother, the way she looked at him. But Bonnie never even seemed to notice. She never looked at him like that, not once. That was why I liked her, she had all the charm and allure that he liked but when offered the life most girls would die for, she turned him down. And she was just as sarcastic and funny as I thought of myself. Spending winter break with her wouldn't be so bad, being home for the holidays just got less lonely.
My mother had been playing on the piano, singing while Bonnie quietly sketched with her pastels Howard had gotten her. He milled about, getting ready for him and my mother to leave. I laid on the couch trying to nurse my hangover. I'd gotten in late last night from a party and Bonnie had been up, reading. She never seemed to sleep. She'd joined me in drinking and somehow seemed to be fine come morning. My parents left, my dad kissed her on the cheek as they left, skipping past me entirely. He'd say goodbye to her and not his own son? And that was the last time I saw him. He never even said goodbye to me.
When I got the news I was floored, literally. I shook as I sat there by the phone. All I'd gotten was a call, not even a visit. But then, who would? Aunt Peggy had long since retired, she was living in New York from what I heard, off to see her great granddaughter or something. Not that I cared. Would I see her, now dad was gone?
'Tony,' I was broken from my thoughts as I lay there in a pile of destruction. I'd torn apart my dad's office. Smashing the glass cases, pulling books off the shelf and throwing them to the floor. I'd never been allowed in here, growing up, and Bonnie could just waltz in whenever she pleased. He welcomed her, even. Why? I wasn't jealous of her, I loved her, but, still, why hadn't my father loved me? Had he? My mother assured me he missed me when I wasn't around.
'What?' I demanded. Instead of answering me right away, she sat down on the floor beside me, kneeling around the rubble. She frowned when she looked at my face. She softly wiped away some tear tracks before laying beside me. She slid an arm underneath my waist and wrapped her muscled arms around me. She held me tightly and rested her head on my back, sitting behind me rather than looking at my face.
'It's okay to break things,' she told me. 'They're just things after all, they can be replaced. I'm here, I'm here with you and I'm not going anywhere. I won't leave you.'
'I know,' I sighed, relaxing in her hold. I felt better, a little, I still felt sick to my stomach, but it was less lonely. I'm glad he'd left me with her, even if I didn't have him anymore, I had her. He'd trusted me with his best friend.
Steve Rogers POV
Wednesday 21st August 2013
'She asleep?' Tony asked, making his way into my office, a couple hours after I'd come to get her. I nodded softly, not looking up from my sketch book as he sat in front of me. I'd stopped drawing Bucky, unable to go back to him after what I'd seen. Instead the scene that haunted me now was how Bonnie had been laying, so defeated, in so much pain. I'd agreed to be her guardian because I thought I could help her, I thought she'd be the one friend I could save. Jack had told me she needed protection, I just didn't realise it was from herself. The imagery in my sketch mirrored what I'd seen, Bonnie laying here, ankles crossed, arms out wide like she was on a crucifix. Did it symbolise her? I'd always idolised her, looked up to her. She was my cool nursing friend who seemed to know everything, had a smart remark for everything, who never let anyone challenge her. Bring her down. And now she was down, laying there like she was defeated. I knew like a phoenix she'd rise from the ashes, she always did, but I didn't know she'd need to be pulled up this time. There was so much I didn't know. How did I help?
'Yeah,' I said eventually.
'I don't know how to help either,' he told me. 'I've been trying to find a way to make up for what I said to her all those years ago. Maybe this is it, maybe I have to help her heal so she'll help me.'
'And then when she does, she'll see you throw it back in her face,' I replied.
'Maybe, but if I do this, she might decide to forgive me,' he shrugged. 'And if not, I at least owe it to her to try.'
Bonnie Carter POV
Thursday 22nd August 2013
I climbed out of bed, sore from the night before. I'd really pushed myself, and that was before I snapped and had my little tantrum. I was embarrassed. How could I let myself go so bad I'd destroyed a whole room? How was I supposed to prove myself more mature if I threw temper tantrums? I was a child. And now everyone else would think so too.
I got up and headed to the bathroom to shower up. When I got to see myself in the mirror I frowned. I'd really done a number on myself. The broken glass from the mirror had left superficial cuts on my face, deep cuts on my hands. I had bruises on my knuckles from the punching bag I'd obliterated and everything else I'd hit. There were some bruises on my shins from the things I'd kicked too. Luckily we had an extra football practice tonight to get in shape before the Homecoming game. It was good, I would have the getting thrown around on the field to blame the bruises on, I just had to cover them up until then.
I climbed into the shower, letting the hot water roll over my stiff muscles, washing off any blood. The sweat from last night, the grime, washed away under the battering torrent. I threw my head back, letting the water blast my face. Say one thing about this nicely decorated prison, it had good water pressure. Eventually I convinced myself to get out and dress myself. I wore long sleeves and jeans today, dealing with most of the marks. Then I applied more concealer than usual when I was doing my makeup. If you got close enough, you could still see the cuts under my foundation, but, from a distance, it was gone.
I stalked into the kitchen, lurking in the shadows created by the morning light, trying to see if Steve was there and what he'd say. He wasn't there yet. Scurrying in, I grabbed some cereal and tried to eat it before he came through. When I was done I scurried to the front door where Steve had put my book bag from yesterday and I collected it, leaving early so I wouldn't have to face him. Once I was at ground level I practically ran out of the building and towards school. Several blocks and I realised I was running and I hadn't stopped when I was far enough away he couldn't catch me.
I kept running, the running made me feel like if I kept going I'd be free. I didn't know why I thought I would, you couldn't physically run from metaphorical problems but I did it. And I felt better. I dodged and ducked into different alleys, I jumped over trash cans and dumpsters, I slid across the hoods of taxis and commuter’s cars. I skidded across the road between a bus and a car and I leapt over an open manhole. People looked at me worriedly, like I was being chased by something but if they looked behind me, they wouldn't see anything.
Though dramatic and probably scaring the people around me, I felt great. And Tasha would probably be proud I'd made it this far without hitting a single person. She'd probably make this regular training. Actually, if she was making me do it, she'd be chasing me. I skidded round a corner into an alleyway and looked behind me to see if anyone glanced my way. I chuckled when I saw someone's head look away and then collided with a hard object. I was sure when I turned down this alley it went all the way through. I looked up from my spot on the ground. It did, I'd just slammed into the exact person I didn't want to see today. My emo stalker.
I sat back on my hand, ass on the ground and legs splayed out in front of me. He stepped forward, his presence dominating as he stared at me. I had no idea what he was thinking as he stared, he was still wearing the face mask and goggles. Reaching behind me, I slid my iPhone out of my pocket. I stared at him, knowing if I looked away he'd probably disappear again. At least Peter had seen him, and I wasn't imagining this guy. And come to think of it, when I'd been thrown across the field behind my house Tasha had been watching, so hopefully she'd seen him too.
I tilted my phone out from behind me, taking a snapchat and adding it to my story. I must have been obvious about reaching behind me, because he bent forward and grabbed my phone. I stared at his shockingly close face, letting him take the phone from me. I let out a shaky breath. He knelt in front of me, knees in-between mine. He brought the phone in between us for me to see before he crushed it in his gasp. He tossed it to the side of the alley once he had and I let go of the breath I didn't know I was holding.
Instinctually and probably stupidly, I lurched forward and ripped the face mask off, throwing it into the opposite side of the alley. I tried desperately to burn the image I was now seeing into my brain. To remember the jawline, his lips, the bottom of his nose. He reached forward, grabbing my collar and dragged me up to my feet. I hung above the ground, toes of my shoes occasionally scraping at the ground as I scrambled to get my footing. His mouth was expressionless. If he was angry, his face didn't tell me. I put my hands on his arm, tugging lightly. He stared at me, calculating, I assumed, before lowering me to the ground. Once again, deeming me not a threat. I supposed that was a good thing, that I wouldn't die today, but it didn't do much for my self esteem. He lowered me to the ground.
'Who are you?' I asked. 'What do you want?'
He didn't answer. I didn't expect him to. I stepped forward, shoving him with all my might. He didn't move an inch. I saw a slight smirk, he was clearly amused. It was like watching a small Chihuahua barking at a Rottweiler. I stared up at him with a seething glare.
'Do you work for someone? Are you going to kill me?' I demanded. 'Why do you keep following me?'
I dropped my book bag to the ground beside me. I wasn't really sure what to do here, I couldn't fight him, I couldn't even make him sway a little with a hard shove. I couldn't run, he'd catch me and if I dared look away he might disappear. And he'd already made sure there was no calling for help. I could yell out, but I didn't want some innocent, do-gooding New Yorker coming down here to fight this guy.
'How can I make this stop?' I asked, sounding desperate.
'Hey!' I heard some yelling from behind me. I gripped tightly to one of the buckles on his jacket before I looked behind me. Power Man was standing behind me with Iron Fist. I gripped harder.
'No, I've got this,' I called back to them. There was another slight smirk on the guy's face.
'Doesn't look like it,' Power Man told me.
'Go, please,' I cried out, staring desperately at them before returning to look at my foe. If he left, I might never get another chance for this confrontation, even if it had yielded no results. Gently, one of his hands slipped up to wrap around mine. Which surprised me a little bit. He easily unhooked my fingers from his jacket and lowered my hand to our sides. He did the same with his other hand and mine. He stared down at me for a moment and let go of my hands, before turning swiftly and escaping down the other side of the alley.
'Damn it!' I yelled. I spun on my heel. 'What the hell is wrong with you?!'
'With us?' Power Man asked. 'You're alone in an alley with a creep after you've been running like a bat out of hell for the last 20 blocks.'
'You've been following me?!' I demanded.
'You see someone running like that, you step in to help,' he told me.
'I wasn't running from anyone,' I rolled my eyes. 'And what I'm doing with that creep is my business.'
I bent down to pick up my book bag before walking over to where my crushed iPhone had been thrown. I looked forward to the other side of the alley and frowned. I spied the mask. I should take that too. I put all my things in my bag before walking out of the alley the same way the spy guy had left. I looked at both sides, I was foolish to think he might still be there. I turned around and walked back up to Power Man and Iron Fist.
'Stay away from me,' I told them before heading out to the other side of the alley. Left took me back onto the busy streets of New York, right took me into a different alley. Stupidly, I followed that. Hurrying I kept on straight forward, glancing to the side every time I passed an alley leading to the street. I reached the end of the one I was in and nothing. He'd been made, he wouldn't still be hanging around. Unless he was lurking on some rooftop somewhere but I wasn't climbing up each fire escape to check. I sighed and checked my watch. I had just enough time to get to school if I caught the subway now.
Defeated, I walked towards the station, before swiping my metro card and boarding my usual train. I stood next to one of the poles, squished in between a young guy in a suit and an old guy in sweats. The train lurched and I hit the guy in the suit. I stuttered out a sorry before I stood upright again. The guy in sweats was wiggling his eyebrows at me and I rolled my eyes.
I stalked up the steps towards the school. Flash jogged up to me as I stepped through the open double doors and slung an arm over my shoulders. I smiled softly at him before thinking hard about what today meant. Tasha was in the back of my mind, asking me what I'd learned. I didn't know what I'd learned. My interaction with the guy from earlier told me something about him, about all of it, but I didn't know what any of it actually meant.
'So do you?' Flash asked. I shook my head, he'd been talking to me and I'd been too wrapped up in my thoughts.
'Hey sorry, I didn't get all of that. Tell me again?' I said.
'I said we have a social committee meeting today, do you have any ideas about the theme for homecoming?' he asked. I shrugged. I never usually went.
'I'm not a fan of over the top dresses, let's make it a costume party,' I said.
'I'm down,' he agreed. 'Tuxes are expensive to rent.'
We walked together to our lockers before I opened mine and opened my book bag, pulling out what I needed for the day. My hand brushed against the mask. What did I do, now I had this? I pulled out my books, taking my sketch book with me too. In homeroom I ignored everything Vice Principal Benson had to say and frantically sketched the alley guy. I sketched him over and over trying to figure out who he was, with the minuscule amount of extra face I'd seen now. I sighed. Who was he?
'Who's he?' Flash asked, looking over my shoulder.
'No idea,' I shrugged.
'Cool, you made him up? Why does he wear goggles?' Flash asked.
'I think it's so you can't see who he is,' I replied. 'But maybe the goggles do something.'
'That'd be cool,' he told me. 'Maybe they have cameras in them, or they have night vision or computer systems that make it easier to shoot stuff or something.' He gave me an idea. He wore them at daytime and night, so maybe they had a grid in them, something to help him calculate angles, distance, etc. On the run, he wouldn't have time to do it quickly, without added assistance. They looked too small to be connected to a computer. Technology hadn't come that far, unless you were Tony Stark that is.
'Good idea,' I told him off handedly and I wrote down notes on what they could possibly do. He looked proud as punch I'd taken down his suggestion. I walked out of the classroom when the bell went only to be grabbed and yanked between some corridors. I yelped and looked up. Peter was staring at me with his phone in his hand.
'Why aren't you returning any of my calls or texts?' he demanded. 'You put up that scary ass pic of that guy and then just ignore me? What gives?'
'He destroyed my phone,' I told him. 'I didn't know you were calling me. I didn't even know if my snap actually got uploaded.'
'It did,' he told me.
'Send it to... actually... screenshot it and send it to me when I get a new phone. Don't tell the adults about this,' I told him.
'Wait, I thought we were open with Steve and those agents..'
'No,' I shook my head. 'Barton is missing and Tasha weirds me out. And I'm hiding from Steve at the moment. It's just us for now.'
'Why are you hiding from Steve?' he asked.
'I threw a tantrum last night and I'm embarrassed.' Peter snorted.
'Trust me,' Peter told me. 'You never threw them as a kid, with everything going on, you've earned this one. Now come on, we're going to be late to bio.'
'Something feels weird with Reskine, did you notice?' I asked.
'He looked just like Dr. Erskine from those old Captain America files your great grandma let us look through when we were kids, if that's what you mean,' Peter said. 'But he's been dead for decades, people don't just come back from the dead. And if they did, it wouldn't be to teach science to teenagers.'
'Yeah,' I nodded. 'You're right.'
We headed to biology and I hopped up at the desk beside Flash and started taking down notes. Class flew by like normal and I headed to math, things feeling a little more normal now I'd gotten over last night and what happened in the alley this morning. It was when I went to the Social Committee meeting that things got weird. I strolled in, took the only available seat which was between Flash and Stacey and everyone looked at me, like, waiting for something. I raised a brow.
'Sorry I'm late?' I offered. There was a chuckle. I looked at Flash who shrugged. Was I meant to say something? 'So Homecoming is soon... first on the agenda we should discuss how we want to do the voting this year.'
'Right,' Stacey agreed. 'In previous years, we've run videos over the school TVs and had campaigns. Which I think takes away from the spirit of Homecoming, makes it more about a popularity contest.'
'Wasn't it?' I thought.
'Well,' I thought, thinking back to a Veronica Mars episode I'd seen. 'A week before the dance we could have each homeroom nominate some candidates and then at lunch we could have people vote anonymously one which candidate they'd vote for, we narrow it down to 4 or 5 and then on the night those are the names we vote for. No speeches, or dramatic videos. Either that or we do what they did in a Cinderella Story and have the teachers vote but uh, that seems scary to me.'
'You're only saying that because they all hate you,' Flash said and everyone chuckled.
'Not true,' I replied. 'I haven't met the new Principal yet.' Another chuckle.
'So if we're all in agreement,' Stacey said. 'What's the next item?' I shrugged, I made the first one up.
'Uh,' I said. 'Venue?'
'School gym,' she replied. Was the girl across from us taking minutes?
'Theme?' I replied.
'What about under the sea?' she asked. No way was I being a mermaid or a fish. 'We can all wear pretty blue dresses, or maybe coral and then decorate the room all nice.'
'How about a costumed dance, save all the dresses for prom or something?' I replied. Fuck dresses.
'Yeah I'm down,' Flash agreed, which made all the other jocks agree.
'Okay, but under the sea?' Stacey asked. 'Because like, there's only so many costumes you can do for that.'
'Yeah, you're right,' I agreed, hoping desperately to rule out having to recreate the Seagull scene from The Little Mermaid. 'What about a decade theme?'
'No, every decade before this one had bad hair,' she shut me down and I laughed.
'Okay, what about Cartoons?' I said. 'It's a pretty wide genre and it let's you get pretty vague with the costumes.'
'Too general,' she said. I frowned.
'Alright, what about the cartoons we watched when we were kids?' I asked.
'What do you even call that?' she frowned. My eye twitched. Why am I the only one making suggestions?
'Childhood throwbacks?' Flash suggested. I shrugged and nodded, that would do. 'Kicks cartoons out of the water, but hey, it's a bit more specific.'
'Hey, I can still come as Lola Bunny if I want, Space Jam was in my childhood,' I said.
'You know,' he said. 'I would pay to see that. Lola Bunny was hot.' I rolled my eyes.
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 9: No Glory
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: No Glory - M.I.M.E, Drama B
Bonnie Carter POV
Thursday 22nd August 2013
I walked out of football practice, showered and covered in many more bruises. I'd decided, I was going to talk to Coach about mixed training games. I heard clanking in the vents above me and looked up. Coming out of the janitor's closet I was standing across from, Mrs Phen hurried out. I wondered if hanging out in the janitor's room was enough to get her on. I frowned, nah. I tugged my bag up higher in my shoulder and flicked through my playbook. I guess I could hang out here while I waited for Coach. For some strange reason his office came off the boys locker room and I'd have to go through there to get to him. And I had no desire to walk in there right now.
After about ten minutes of studying the plays I heard the door again and looked up. It wasn't Alan Haze like the rumours told. I didn't even know this student, but that didn't mean he was the only one. I'd caught them, but alas, with my iPhone little more than dust, I couldn't get any proof. It was just my word. I frowned. What she was doing was wrong. The teenage guys might think they're cool, Mrs Phen was pretty, but she was an adult. Sleeping with minors was wrong regardless of gender, and people certainly wouldn't think it was cool if it was a male teacher sleeping with the girls.
There was some more clanking in the vents before I decided to head into the locker room to see Coach. I was hoping the guys had mostly left by now. Still I kept my eyes to the ceiling and kept my playbook at the ready to swing. I heard the occasional wolf whistle and then finally made it to see Coach.
'Carter,' he said as I stepped in. 'Something I can help you with?'
'Yeah,' I nodded. 'Versing the second string players is easy. I'm not being arrogant, I just think it would be more of a challenge for all of us if the teams were mixed. A few first strings on the same team as second strings and same for the other side. Test my team by having to verse someone of our caliber and give the seconds a chance at seeing the ball so they can practice and get better too.'
'We can try that,' Coach Danvers nodded. 'You're good Carter, don't doubt your skills because we've had bad seasons. It's just luck. I know all you kids work hard.'
'I just feel like, if we worked a little harder, we could do it,' I replied.
'Work too hard and you'll disadvantage yourself too,' he told me. 'It's about balance. But if you really think it'll help, we'll mix the teams.'
I nodded and headed out to the carpark, using the field side of the locker room. I walked across the field in my sneakers and headed to the usual spot I met my rides. I was surprised to see Happy and Tony waiting for me in a convertible. Usually I thought it was Steve or a SHIELD agent. It had never been Tony before.
'Hop in Princess,' Tony called. I walked over to the car and threw my bag in, tossing myself over the side rather than waiting for Tony to get out and pop the seat forward.
'I did call to let you know we'd be coming,' he said. 'I uh wanted to know if you had to rush to get back or if we could get pizza or something.'
'You sound like Flash trying to ask me on a date,' I replied. 'Don't sound so nervous, my tantrum last night isn't me normally. I just.. snapped. And I'm sorry your gym was in my way when I did. I know I can't undo it but I am sorry.'
'It's only things,' he told me. 'I am a billionaire after all.' he joked.
'And my phone is broken, so I never got your message,' I told him. He turned to me.
'Your phone is broken? What's wrong with it, maybe I can fix it,' he suggested and I snorted. I opened my bag and then leaned between him and Happy, who was driving and handed Tony my phone. He held the crumpled pile of metal and broken glass in his hand and raised an eyebrow. 'Perhaps not. What'd you do?'
'I didn't,' I replied. 'I'm just keeping quiet about it for now, I have this weird feeling about the SHIELD agents. The less people who know the better.'
'You're right to not trust SHIELD,' Tony said. 'Old ‘one eye’ is always up to something. You wanna tell me who did it or should I mind my own business.'
'Depends,' I smirked. 'You gonna buy me a new phone if I do?'
'You can have one of the Stark Slates we just brought out,' he told me. 'We have a bunch for functions and gifts for important people blah blah blah. And you decide if you're going to tell me or not, rather than asking for a bribe.'
'Alright then, no,' I replied. 'For now, it's just between me and Peter.'
'Of course you told him,' Stark rolled his eyes.
'Not my fault,' I said. 'I was able to upload who did it to my snapchat just before my phone bit the dust, he just saw it.'
'Smart,' he said. 'Unfortunately your phone had to pay the ultimate sacrifice.'
'Yeah,' I nodded. 'You don't think there's a way to recover what was on it do you?' He snorted.
I sat in the pizzeria munching on my usual while thinking about the best way to go with this. Tony seemed to appreciate the kinds of people who were straight up, the “what you see is what you get” more than the spies in his life. I glanced between the two, he seemed to trust Happy a fair bit too.
'So,' I said. 'You said I was right not to trust SHIELD, why?'
'Big questions before dessert, huh?' Tony replied.
'Something weird is going on at school, I mentioned it to Barton. He told me to be careful who I trusted but running to Steve straight away might not be such a great idea either because he's not exactly subtle. And that was the last time I saw him, just after he told me he'd do some digging,' I explained. 'And everyone is keeping the alley guy from me too. You said you want to be my friend, friends trust each other. How do I know I can trust you?'
'You want to be my friend?' Tony smirked, his face illuminated in the dark booth by little more than the flickering candle light. He'd picked the right place for this kind of talk. Dark and desolate. We had our privacy.
'I'm considering it,' I replied. 'Tasha played off Barton's disappearance when I mentioned it to her. More time goes by and still nothing. It might be, but something tells me if an international spy and assassin disappears one day, it's something.'
'He is missing,' Tony said outright. 'We don't know why, though. They do this from time to time, they have so many covers, sometimes they get blown and have to go dark for a while. But, with you saying what you did about the school, and him promising to dig into it, changes things.'
'And the guy?' I asked.
'We don't know who he is,' Tony shrugged. 'I still think it's more than one guy, but if it is just the one, he's a ghost. I can't dig up anything, and neither can SHIELD.'
'Tasha said something, and Clint shut her up about it, said it was a ghost story,' I said, reaching for a sip of the wine Tony had gotten the three of us. I didn't know why he was serving the minor wine, but I wasn't snubbing it. 'What's the story?'
'I think they were talking about the Winter Soldier,' he shrugged. 'But that really is a ghost story. It's all the uncredited assassinations. No country or organisation has claimed them so they get put under him. It's an urban myth to explain the unexplainable. And, if he was a real assassin, he'd have killed you already. It's not like he didn't have ample opportunity.'
'That's true,' I agreed. 'Doesn't narrow it down any. I know I was saying I wanted to be a kid again, but keeping this kind of stuff from me isn't helping either. Maybe it's time to bring Night Fury back.'
'Night Fury?' he asked, shaking his head. 'I should have known she was you. You're best friends with Spider-Man for god's sake.'
'You mean you didn't know? SHIELD has files on everyone,' I said.
'SHIELD's file on you just says you're the great granddaughter of Peggy Carter and all the people of interest you know, they don't know you're Night Fury, I didn't even know that,' he told me.
'But they know about Spider-Man and who he is?' I said and Tony nodded.
'Your boy isn't very good at keeping secrets or covers,' Happy told me. 'Pretty sure I caught him changing outfits in our back alley.' I snorted, sounded like Peter.
'So what do you need?' Tony asked.
'A new outfit and a lot of alibis,' I replied. 'I used to run with Spider-Man, but I wanna put some distance between the two of us, just until I figure out what's going on.'
'Is that wise?' Happy asked. 'Even Tony has myself or JARVIS for a partner.'
'You wanna come with?' I asked, smirking. He shook his head.
'I'm working on a JARVIS prototype, make him more portable,' Tony said. 'Plus, if you're in deep trouble, JARVIS can call you help without you even having to say anything.'
'And you get to keep tabs on me, right?' I asked.
'I can put him on his own operating system, all the files would be yours, he'd run by himself and only upload to the Tower what you want to share. And what you did upload could be encrypted, just for you.'
'And what do you get in return?' I asked.
'Your trust,' he replied. 'If I give you space. If I support you, you might see me as a friend. And I've got nothing but time, so I'll wait.'
'Alright,' I agreed. 'He can help. And you'll help with a suit?'
'What's wrong with your old one?' He asked.
'It's just me in a hoodie and a scarf,' I replied. 'It's not exactly the most sophisticated of costumes.'
'Alright, I can give you something more...bulletproof,' he said. 'But covering your face the way you did, it makes the look. That's what separates you from random goons.'
'And here I thought it was the witty quips,' I said.
Once dinner was over, we were back in Tony's sports car. There was something a little therapeutic about driving at night with the top down. I'd never done it before but the wind ripping past my face was like running or being on the back of Steve's bike but faster. It was a little less dangerous but was just like I felt when I was swinging around New York with Peter. The trip on the highway didn't last long, as Happy didn't seem to follow the road rules like Tasha and Tony. Even Steve. Barton seemed to be the only one who did, but that may have just been because I was in the car.
We pulled into Tony's personal garage. Happy handed me my book bag from the trunk when I leapt over the side of the car. We said our goodbyes and Tony led me up to one of his many labs. He was itching to get to work on Night Fury's new suit as soon as we got in. He handed me the Stark Slate I was promised and got to work on ripping any files I could from my iPhone with a device Tony had given me. With an adapter it slotted right in to the iPhone's plug point and later it fit just as easily into the Slate. There was apparently stuff to be saved and it got to work transferring everything across. I sat it down on the bench and then jumped up beside it, crossing my legs and pulling some books out of my book bag.
While Tony worked away, I figured I'd do my homework. Couldn't fall behind or more attention would be on me. I could afford to get a little behind when my Dad was around, because he didn't much care what I did but now he's gone, Steve's going to be watching me like a hawk. Tony had rock music playing, which wasn't bad, it was just hella old. I couldn't listen to my own anymore though, my primary listening device was dust.
'So tell me about this JARVIS prototype,' I said, scribbling down some notes into my index book. He looked over at me and smirked. He walked over to me, bringing his holographic screens with him. He handed me three boxes.
'So there's these,' he pulled out some clear earbuds. 'They're how JARVIS will communicate with you. They're waterproof and can provide noise cancelling, even explosions. But if you get involved with many of them, I'm taking him back and putting you under house arrest.'
I took them from him and they slotted into my ears easily. I looked at them in my ears with a camera, you could barely see them. They sat right in the ear canal, virtually undetectable and slipped in and out at my discretion. Tony opened the next box. It was a simple curvy grip.
'JARVIS needs eyes too,' he told me. 'Slid this in and it's completely undetectable. No one will notice anything out of the ordinary. It's also waterproof.'
'And the last one?' I asked, sliding the J cam into my hair.
'This is JARVIS, your portable pal,' he said and handed me a small silver brick about the size of a USB mini and about half as thick. 'Downside is you can't go farther than a mile from it or you'll lose signal. But he's small enough you can hide him and he's waterproof too.'
'Are you expecting me to go swimming or something with him?' I asked. 'I can't swim, I just drown.'
'You should probably work on that,' he told me.
Steve Rogers POV
It was getting late. I'd said Tony could pick Bonnie up from football practice and take her out after because he said he wanted to talk to her, that maybe it'd be easier to talk to him than me. She'd just slipped out this morning, before I could drive her. Tasha said she went by herself the day before too. I wondered what it was that was bothering her. I knew she had a lot on her mind, but what could I help her with, how could I help her? She used to come to me with everything.
I wondered if they were back yet. Even if I could just see her face. I wanted to check she was alright. This was her first week of school and it so far didn't seem to be panning out like I would have expected from all the movies Tony had made me watch.
'JARVIS,' I called.
'Yes Mister Rogers?' he replied.
'Where are Stark and Bonnie right now?' I asked.
'Mister Stark and Miss Carter are currently in his lab, talking,' JARVIS replied. 'Would you like me to contact them for you?'
'No,' I replied softly. 'That's quite alright JARVIS. I'll leave them to it.'
I sighed. She'd come to me when she was ready. I had to have faith. I'd have to be around, while it was hard, don't push too much and wait for her to come to me. She was a wounded bird, she needed to get used to me before she'd come to me to help her mend her wings. Soon I'd have her out there and flying again, but I had to wait.
Bonnie Carter POV
I went back to doing my homework after Tony had shown me everything, I slipped pocket JARVIS into my well, pocket. It was easy enough to do and soon enough I found myself finished. Tony was still over there working away while I sat on his bench top. I put my books away in my bag and my hand brushed against the black mask I'd effectively stolen from the Winter Soldier, if that's who he was. Unlikely.
I pulled it out of the bag and climbed off the bench top. I walked over to where he was standing, designing the elements of my suit. Currently he was working on the pants.
'Beryllium weave?' I asked.
'Beryllium has the second lowest density compared to the common structural light metal alloys, Aluminium, Magnesium and Titanium. Magnesium has a density of 1.74 g/cc and aluminum has a density of 2.7 g/cc. Beryllium's unusually high Young's modulus (287 GPa) is usually a useful property in structural applications. The high modulus and low density make beryllium alloys useful for aerospace applications. However if we make your suit out of a beryllium weave, your suit can have the same qualities. And! Another important thing about making it out of Beryllium weave is Beryllium has a superior specific heat dissipation or heat dissipation per unit mass compared to other metals because of beryllium's high specific heat and thermal conductivity. Beryllium also has a low thermal expansion coefficient (CTE). Many heat sinks and other thermal management products are fabricated from beryllium, beryllium alloys, and beryllium oxide ceramics due to beryllium's excellent thermal properties,' he explained. I looked at him stunned.
'What?' I asked.
'Which part didn't you get?' he asked.
'A lot,' I replied.
'Explain to me what you think I said,' he told me. 'I'll fill in the gaps.'
'Beryllium is dense and can get really hot?' I said. 'What does it being dense mean?'
'Okay so it being dense means it's really tough and can take a lot of hits but it's also a super lightweight alloy. That means that even though it's strong, it's not heavy so you can still wear it without having issues of wearing a hundred pound suit all day. Putting a beryllium weave in the fabric of your suit means you've got a much more free range of movement but you're still effectively wearing armour,' he explained and I nodded.
'So then what are these for?' I asked, pointing to shin plates strapped into the boots. Quick release, nice.
'Keep a secret?' he asked. I nodded. 'I found a really tiny vibranium deposit. There's not a lot so I'm only using it in emergencies. I'm putting shin guards here, and some kevlar like plates in the torso. They're honeycombed on the chest so you can still move around easily.'
'And the padding here and here?' I asked pointing to the shoulder pads that extended down to cover part of the collar bone and the elbow and knee pads.
'Safety first,' he explained simply. I smiled. 'What's that you got there?' Tony took the mask I had in my hand from me to examine. 'This is cool.'
'Keep a secret?' I asked. He nodded eagerly. I pulled out my phone and showed him the snap story I now had access to on my Slate.
'You stole that from the guy?' he asked and I nodded.
'You know how you said I should keep the mask?' I asked. He chuckled.
'That's adding insult to injury if he sees you wearing this next time you encounter him, though it might give away your alter ego,' Tony said. 'You're evil.'
'I just,' I said. 'I reached for it before I even knew what I was doing. And then when he left, I just, I took it. He left without it so.. I was drawn to it.'
'You don't have to explain yourself to me kid,' he told me. 'You want it, you use it, you little klepto.'
Friday 23rd August 2013
I got up and headed through to the kitchen still in my pyjamas. I was pretty tired after staying up all night with Tony working on my suit. He was having it 3D printed before I went to bed so it should be done by this afternoon. I'd also spent last night after going to bed sewing JARVIS sized pockets into the ridge between the cups in the centre of my bra. I poured some cereal in a bowl before I heard someone clear their throat. I glanced up over my shoulder. Steve was standing awkwardly in the entrance to the kitchen, leaning on a counter.
'Hey,' I croaked, groggy morning voice and chapped lips.
'Morning,' he said smiling softly. He looked like a shy puppy making a friend for the first time. 'Do you need a ride to school this morning or are you going to get the subway?'
'Can we ride together today?' I asked. I felt bad about just slipping out yesterday, I was embarrassed about my freak out in the gym, I didn't want him to look at me like he was disappointed. I didn't want him to be pissed either.
'Yeah,' he grinned. He came over to grab some cereal himself and we ate sitting across from each other at the table.
'Hey Steve?' I asked, pushing the loops around in the bowl.
'Yeah?' he looked up from his cereal.
'When Fury came over to my parents house to drop off those files,' I started. 'What was in them, what did they say?'
'You really wanna do this now?' he asked.
'I wasn't aware they contained anything that couldn't be discussed over breakfast,' I replied, shovelling more cereal into my mouth.
'He wants to get you to join SHIELD, get you training now so when you leave high school you can walk straight into a job,' he explained. 'I didn't sign them because I thought you wanted to go to college. You can always get a job for SHIELD afterwards, it'll be easy for you. I just didn't think it was something for you to worry about right now.'
'I uh...' I looked down at the bowl. 'I'm not sure I want to go to college.'
'Two weeks ago you were talking about going, you have a shoe box under your bed full of wads of crinkled notes you've been saving since you were little, what changed?' he asked.
'College is expensive,' I started and Steve jumped in.
'I told you not to worry about tuition, that's my responsibility,' he told me and I shook my head.
'I know,' I told him. 'My thinking is, it's expensive, so even if I'm not the one paying, if I go, I should be damn sure about it. But, I don't know if I want to be a nurse anymore.'
'Okay,' he nodded. 'What are you unsure about?'
'Well,' I started and I thought about it.
My mother was a nurse. All the games I used to play with Grandma Margret and Grandpa Daniel involved me being a nurse. I'd been studying nursing and watching medical documentaries my whole life. I was kind of sick of it. I couldn't remember if I was passionate about it, or if everyone else was passionate about me being a nurse.
'Nursing is kinda being jammed down my throat at the moment so I don't know if that's what I want anymore. And if it's not, I don't know what I'd want instead,' I explained.
'There's lots of other stuff you can do at college,' Steve told me. 'If not being sure what to study is all you're worried about, let's go to some open days, find something else you're interested in and you can study that. God, I was an art student back in the day.'
'Alright,' I nodded, not that thrilled about the prospect of going to college open days. Why is everyone so obsessed with going? I liked being a waitress, couldn't I keep doing that until I figured it out?
'Is there anything else bothering you?' Steve asked.
'Yes,' I thought. Rather a lot actually.
'No,' I replied. 'That's everything.'
Maybe I should have told him about how I was feeling about my dad. Maybe I should have told him about Night Fury. Maybe I should have told him about how I was pretty sure the Winter Soldier was after me, despite what Tony had said. I just... couldn't. I'd only known Steve for 2 weeks. How was I supposed to go to him with my problems, no matter how nice he was.
I just needed to find proof about this Winter Soldier thing, maybe Night Fury could find out who he's working for and what they want. I also needed to find Barton. Him disappearing right after I tell him something weird was going on? That can't be a coincidence. I thought he'd just try to bury what I'd told him, I thought he was on their side. But this was something different. Was it like Tony had said, had one of his covers blown or had he rattled the wrong cage? Was this my fault?
'I have to go get ready,' I said, getting up and abandoning my cereal. However, I hadn't helped my "I'm fine" case but staring at the wall for like 20 minutes instead of eating my cereal.
I got dressed quickly, covering my face with the same amount of makeup as yesterday to cover the almost healed scratches. I made sure to put on all the equipment that Tony had given me for pocket JARVIS, slipping the little silver box into my bra. Soon I had my book bag in hand, mask tucked safely away inside. I didn't know why I was carrying that thing around.
'Ready?' Steve asked. I smiled and nodded but it didn't meet my eyes. I was too focused on getting answers.
I braided my hair in the elevator, ready to put my helmet on. When we reached the parking garage I swung my leg over the bike and we peeled out of there. I rolled my neck and shoulders, taking in the feeling of the wind ripping past us. I wouldn't get over this feeling. I wouldn't. Pulling into the parking lot at school, Flash was waiting for me. He slung an arm over my shoulder and we headed into the school like what had become our morning custom. I missed Peter. It had been a week of bumping into each other in the hallway for the occasional chat and that was it. We used to take the subway together in the morning, hung out at lunch, went home together when I didn't have football. I didn't have much time to ponder what to do about my drifting friend as something broke me from my concentration. Elizabeth Allen to be exact.
'BONNIE CARTER!' she cried out after us in the hallway. Flash groaned beside me as he took his arm off my shoulder and we turned around to face her.
'What?' I asked.
'Don't you what me!' she screamed. 'You boyfriend stealing bitch!'
'You what?' I asked. Last I checked I hadn't stolen anyone's boyfriend.
'Flash,' she said. 'This little fling, might be cute. A bit of fun for you, but that's all it is. He'll never love you, not the way he did me. Not the way he's going to love me.'
'He dumped you,' I told her blankly. 'And this isn't a fling. We're not dating.'
'He didn't dump me, it was mutual,' she said and I snorted, thinking back to the bruise Flash had had on his face earlier in the week. 'It was.'
'Sure,' I laughed. 'Anyway, buzz off Liz, I'm not interested in dating Flash and even if I was, that'd be none of your business, non girlfriend.'
I turned on my heel and headed to leave, ready to leave Flash behind in the gathering crowd if I had to. I headed past a few people before I heard a squeaky pitched scream from behind me and the clacking of heels on the linoleum. I rolled my eyes. Surely she's not.
'Don't you walk away from me!' she demanded and then I felt a hand in the back of my hair. I was yanked backwards by my braids I hadn't had the chance to undo yet and thrown backwards towards the floor. I threw my hands back and on top of hers, stopping her from being able to rip out my hair and then twisted up and around to face her. I threw a kick out to knock her away and she let go of my hair and fell back towards the ground. She regained her balance and flew at me, screaming louder than ever.
I readied myself in a stance and she threw a punch my way. It was poorly aimed and her grip wasn't right but it still packed an unbelievable amount of power. I didn't know she could be so strong. I blocked and counter punched straight to the face. Before giving her the chance to swing I kneed her in the chest knocking her up off the ground and swung a kick out to send her back away from me.
'What the hell, Liz!!' I yelled. She flew at me again with more vigour and I found myself actually having to fight her like she was one of the low level goons Peter and I came across when we were swinging through the city.
We threw punch after punch and I tried to get her on the ground, thinking if I could get her down I could pin her and get away. Or pin her and help would arrive. I aimed my hits to the chest when I could and tried to block all hers to the face. Eventually I got a kick to her ankle in, and swept her other foot out from under her before she could get the first one back on the ground again. I pivoted on my heel and tried to run for it, deciding against pinning her and just on my exit strategy. Mistake.
Liz grabbed my shin and yanked me down to the ground, dragging me across the linoleum to her. I kicked my legs as she was dragging me but I couldn't get a decent hit. She climbed on top of me, pulling my head back and slamming it into the ground. My head was yanked back up and I noticed a camera flash.
'Really?' I demanded as I tried to stop her from slamming my head back into the ground again. I swung a leg out trying to knock her off her knees. I swung both legs that way while keeping my grip on her hands and slid out from beneath her legs, yanking her arms with her. She flipped on the floor and I slammed a fist into her face as we lay on the ground. I scrambled to get on top throwing punch after punch in a frenzy, getting blocked a lot.
She kneed me in the chest and I stumbled backwards, trying to stay up and not land on my back again. I managed to get on my feet but so had she. Liz was crouching in front of me and without thinking I sprung forward, tackling her onto the ground again and we slid forward a few feet before we started to roll out towards the side, throwing punches and trying to get on top. We hit the wall of the corridor and I was stuck beneath her. She got to her feet and dragged me up by my hair again which had long since come out of it's braids. She slammed my head into the window of the chemistry lab and it cracked deeply. I threw an elbow into her side and managed to grapple free.
I kicked her away from me and looked around, we were surrounded by a group of screaming teenagers, cheering for the fight. I frowned. Even Peter was here, camera out. I raised an eyebrow and him and he shrugged. Liz screamed and I turned back to her, stepping forward and aiming a kick to her torso. She slipped backwards and I stepped forward, kicking her back again. I took a page from her book and grabbed her hair and dragged her up, slamming her into the wall. I used my other hand to punch her in the face. She punched me in the throat and I choked, scrambling backwards so she couldn't hit me again while I was trying to regain my breath.
I was still walking backwards as she stepped forward. Who knew Liz had all of this in her? I always knew she was a bully, I just thought she was the wear-pink-on-Wednesdays and picking where I could sit, kind. She threw a punch towards me and I stuck my arm out to block. She cried out and grabbed my arm, pulling me towards her with impressive force before spinning us. She gathered momentum and before I knew it I was flying backwards into the window I'd cracked with my face earlier. I slammed through the glass before I could fathom what was happening and landed on my back on one of the bench tops in the chem lab.
'Alright that's enough students!' I heard Vice Principal Benson yell as I lay writhing and trying to get up, choking from the punch to the throat and the winding I'd just received. I cried out as I tried to get up. I rolled on to my side and pushed myself up through the broken glass shards. I stood up, walked across the countertop and leapt back through the hole in the window. I landed on the ground with a thud.
'Carter,' Benson frowned at me. 'Pranks and a little hell raising I'd expect from you, but this? I thought you were turning over a new leaf this year.'
I frowned myself and turned my head away. The chanting had stopped and the student body had begun to clear out. I looked up and noticed Steve standing looking shocked as I stood in the rubble. I balled a fist. This wasn't fair. How could Liz do this to the both of us? She stormed over.
'This isn't over!' she cried out. I snarled and pulled back my fist, sending one last punch hard into her face. She was on the floor and I didn't see her get up. She laid there, furious, staring at me.
'Yes,' I told her. 'It is.'
Steve Rogers POV
I watched Bonnie go off with the guy she supposedly hates and sat for a moment. She told me it was only college that was bothering her this morning, but I could tell when she was lying. I always could. I wished she'd tell me what was bothering her. I sat for a moment longer before I settled on a plan. I'd go inside and see if I could speak to some of her teachers, ask them if they knew what was up. Surely one of them would have noticed she'd not been her usual self.
I climbed off the bike, hanging my helmet on the handlebars and walked towards the doors I'd seen Bonnie enter by. I walked in, a little bewildered at what the school looked like. It was a lot more advanced than I was expecting from the movies Tony had made me watch. I needed to stop getting all my information from movies, clearly Tony was making me watch them to lead me astray, not to teach me about popular culture.
There were television screens advertising various events, showing students doing school activities, reading the morning announcements and the weather. There were lockers with individual pin code machines instead of locks. I got further forward and heard girls screaming, I was about to run forward when I heard the familiar chanting of 'Fight, fight, fight!' and suddenly I knew what was going on. I spotted some kids running towards where I'd heard the screaming.
'Yo did you hear, bro?' a passer by called to his friend.
'What bro?' his friend asked.
'Liz Allen is throwing down with Carter! She's totally wailing on her!' the passerby said.
'No way bro! I thought Carter would knock her on her ass if she tried,' the friend replied.
Carter. Why am I not surprised? Although what was surprising was that Bonnie wasn't winning. I also thought if Bonnie was in a fight she'd knock someone on their ass. That's what usually happened. I followed the teenage boys to the fight, sad I'd had her in my care barely 2 weeks and she'd already gotten into a fist fight at school. I didn't think she was that kind of girl. She fought bullies, bad guys and she wasn't afraid to punch the occasional creep in the face. She wasn't prone to random acts of violence, not usually. But what happened in Tony's gym and now this? Maybe I didn't know her as well as I thought.
I got there just as another adult did. He looked pissed. Benson, said his name tag. Bonnie had talked about him. Head of the Disciplinary team, apparently he hated her. If she acted like this I wasn't surprised. I looked up to the fight just to see Bonnie fly through a window. I was taken aback. This other girl seemed to have a lot of strength, more than seemed normal for a teenage girl of her height and stature to possess. I could hear Bonnie coughing and spluttering in the classroom she'd flown into. I heard her cry out before there was movement and she leapt out. She looked okay at least.
'Carter,' Vice Principal Benson called to her. 'Pranks and a little hell raising I'd expect from you, but this? I thought you were turning over a new leaf this year.'
I frowned to myself as she turned away. So this wasn't usual behaviour for her. In a way, this made things worse. I saw her clench her fist, she looked disappointed in herself. Annoyed, presumably at the other girl. She looked up, noticing me. I frowned. I was confused, what caused this? The other girl stormed over to Bonnie, I stepped forwards, if they were going to start a fight Benson and I would have to break it up. I turned to him and he nodded at me.
'This isn't over!' she cried out. I heard Bonnie snarl and before either of us could do anything Bonnie knocked a fist into the other girl's jaw. She was sent flying towards the ground and stayed there.
'Yes, it is.' Bonnie said determinedly.
Bonnie walked over to Vice Principal Benson looking angry as she kept her head down, not making eye contact with either of us.
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 10: That Girl's A Problem
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: That Girl's A Problem ( Problem) - Natalia Kills
Bonnie Carter POV
Friday 23rd August 2013
'Do you want to tell us why we're here?'
Steve sat across from Vice Principal Benson in his office, beside me, and I refused to make eye contact with either of them. I was embarrassed, more so than the tantrum because at least my tantrum hadn't hurt anyone. Even if the person I had hurt was Liz Allen. And the gym thing was private. This had happened in front of the whole school.
I still had shards of glass sticking out of me and my clothes. There was blood on the side of my head from it being slammed into the window. There was blood all down my face from it being slammed repeatedly into things, the floor mostly. I could feel thick bullets of it sliding down the back of my neck. My hands stung. I frowned. None of this was supposed to happen. This wasn't in my plan. I shook my head. This had gone so out of control. I went through a window.
'I don't know,' I said eventually.
'You don't know?' Benson said, pulling his head back in shock. He was stunned for a moment. 'What do you mean you don't know, Bonnie, there's an entire hallway full of rubble to explain it. You don't know?'
'This wasn't supposed to happen,' I said. I looked up at him. 'I never meant for any of this, this went wildly out of control so fast. I..I..I.. I don't know what happened. First I was just trying to get her off of me and then I was through a window. Why the hell is she so strong?'
'That's what you’re focusing on?' Benson asked.
'Are you kidding me?' I said standing up. 'She threw me through a window! Granted I'm 4'8" and not particularly heavy, but no ordinary teenage girl should be able to just pick someone up and throw them across a hallway with enough force to break a window, even if that teenage girl had previously used my face to crack the glass a little beforehand!'
'Carter calm down!' he snapped, I dropped back down into my seat.
'I didn't start this,' I told him. 'You said yourself, I've been better this year. You have to believe me, I don't go around fighting people at random!'
'It doesn't matter who started this Carter, you fought one of your fellow students, why?' he asked.
'She thinks I stole her boyfriend,' I said, crossing my arms over my chest. I winced. 'And she took the time this morning to tell me how much she didn't appreciate it.'
'And did you?' he asked.
'No!' I yelled. 'And even if I did, does the punishment really fit the crime? I went through a window!' I threw my arms out.
'Oh you haven't been punished yet,' Benson told me. 'Fifteen years I've been Vice Principal here and never in all my time have I ever seen a fight this bad. You don't think the school's been through enough with the giant lizard rampaging through the school last year? No? You decide to take another corridor? Smash a few windows. Did it make you feel better? If this is you acting out because of what happened with you father..'
'That's enough,' Steve cut him off. Benson stopped looking at me for a moment to turn to Steve. He raised an eyebrow at Steve who wore a look that said try me. He was pissed but not at me like I'd expected.
'I know you must be angry, Carter, about what happened, but it's not up to you to take it out on other students, or on this school,' Benson told me.
'Good thing I didn't then!' I cried out. 'Ask Flash what happened. Ask Peter! He was there. He got pictures. I didn't start shit. I'm not out to get this school, I didn't fight all summer to stay here only to get thrown out in week 2. I'm trying to keep going, I'm trying to get through this year and none of this Liz shit is helping. I don't want her boyfriend, I don't want any boyfriend. She can have him! She's crazy! And that's got nothing to do with me. Why isn't she here getting reprimanded for trying to use my face as a mop!'
'Miss Allen and I will be having words later,' Benson told me.
'Oh good, you'll be having words, I feel so much better,' I bit. I threw my head in my hands. 'So why am I here? You've already decided it's all my fault, are you going to punish me? Expel me? What?'
'Try suspension,' he said. 'The Principal wouldn't allow me to expel you on a first time offence even if I did want to and believe me, this school wouldn't miss Bonnie Carter. Not after all the crap you pulled last year or the year before. And I imagine if we pulled up your file from middle school it wouldn't be much better.'
'Yeah, releasing the biology frogs into the girls locker room while the cheerleaders were taking post practice showers is really on par with beating a girl to a bloody pulp before homeroom,' I said and I heard Steve snort beside me. Benson and I turned to him, he had his head in his hand and was smirking slightly.
'Something funny Mr. Rogers?' Benson asked.
'Bonnie did what?' Steve asked.
'Freshmen year a few weeks after tryouts. I believe that had something to do with Miss Allen too,' Benson explained.
'Yeah, she gave Stacey Cummings a Nair-tini because she'd gotten a better spot on the cheer team than her,' I told them. 'Stacey's like, the only nice girl on that team and she was given a bald spot for months, the hair still isn't as long in that spot as it is on the rest of her head. She didn't deserve that, I had a little fun. And it's not like I didn't collect them after that. No one, not even the frogs, got hurt.'
'What's a Nair-tini?' Steve asked.
'Nair is a hair removing cream,' I explained. 'A Nair-tini is what happens when you mix it with water and throw it on the back of some girl's head. Liz saw it on Gossip Girl. Gossip Girl is the same reason we have that shitty blog GO Gossip.'
'And is this why you started that fight with Liz today?' he asked.
'For the last time I didn't start it!' I yelled.
Benson looked like he was ready to read me the riot act when there was a knock at his office door. I looked up at it and Benson walked over to answer it. He stuck his head out the door, nodded and then came back. He sat down with a scowl that could sour milk and leaned back in his chair.
'Apparently,' he said. 'The new Principal would like to handle this case personally. He's gathered all the involved parties outside his office and you're to join him, Miss Carter. You can go now, Mr Rogers, he's decided not to involve parents and guardians.'
I got up from my chair a little surprised. I carried my book bag at my side, bloody knuckles pulling the straps as I held it. Steve walked out with me, also looking a little surprised.
'I really thought you were done for,' he told me.
'Me too, I still might be,' I replied.
'Did you really not start it?' he asked.
'You doubted me,' I looked up at him suddenly. 'Of course I didn't!'
'Bonnie I'm sorry,' he said and I shook my head.
'Save it,' I told him, heading to Reception where the Principal's office was.
'I'll see you at home.' he called after me but I ignored him.
I got to Reception and saw Flash and Peter sitting in the chairs outside while I could hear screaming from inside the Principal's office. I raised an eyebrow. Peter smiled sheepishly at me and patted the seat beside him.
'Sorry about the pictures,' he said. 'I thought it might prove you didn't start it.'
'I didn't think I'd need to,' I said. 'What do you think this new guy wants with us? You think he'll believe us?'
'Well it's three against one,' Flash said.
'And the truth ,' Peter replied, screwing up his face in disbelief.
'Obviously,' Flash said. 'When have you ever seen Carter start a fight? Almost all I've been in she's broken up.'
'Look, just because you've got this thing going with Bonnie doesn't mean I've..'
'What thing?!' I threw my hands up.
'There's no thing,' Flash assured, though whether it was me or Peter I didn't know.
'I can't believe I got the shit kicked out of me and I didn't even do the thing I'm being accused of,' I said. 'At least if I had a crush on you I'd understand but this is ridiculous, I don't even like you.'
'And here I thought we were reconciling our differences,' Flash said, looking at his shoes. He looked like I'd just kicked him in the shins.
'That's an awfully big word for you, Flash,' Peter said. I sighed.
'Look, I'm sorry,' I said. 'I know this year you've been trying to be less of an asshole. But a week or two isn't long enough for me to forget all the stuff you used to do to my friends. I'm giving you a chance, but I haven't let go just yet.'
'And you shouldn't!' Peter said angrily. 'Are you forgetting all the times he gave me a right cross? Forgetting Harry left us for boarding school just to get away from him?'
'Harry didn't leave to get away from Flash,' I said.
'Oh come on, like he didn't,' Peter argued.
'He left to get away from me,' I replied, I dropped my head.
'What?' Flash scoffed. Peter shot me a look.
'Why?' Peter said seriously.
'He kissed me,' I said. 'Mom mentioned she always thought he had a little crush on me but I just ignored it. You two were my two best friends, brothers. And then one day after she died he came over, trying to be there for me and he just kissed me. He asked me out after but uh.. I didn't think that was such a good idea. And I told him I wasn't interested. A couple of days later he was gone, he didn't even say goodbye.'
'Sorry,' Peter said, nodded his head solemnly. 'I didn't know. He told me his dad kept asking about the bruises and he cracked, just couldn't take the lies anymore. And that his dad was pissed his own son couldn't be a man and was shipping him off to boarding school.'
'You know that me fighting your fights isn't because you can't, you know that right?' I asked.
'I know,' he nodded. 'You fight mine I fight yours.'
'I don't know which is more likely, you knew Harry, what he was like,' I said. 'But I thought it was my fault this whole time.'
'According to you everything is your fault,' Peter said.
'Except this,' I said.
'And hopefully today we can prove that, Miss Carter,' I heard and the three of us looked up.
The SHIELD agent, I'd forgotten. I still hadn't had a reply back from Fury on that text I'd sent him. I knew now, which one he was, where I'd seen him. I got up and walked over to him, he led me into his office. He closed the door after me and I walked over to the desk, not sitting down. He walked over to a mini fridge and took out a can of coke and offered it to me. I took it and held it to the side of my face. He walked back around to his side of the desk.
'Have a seat,' he gestured for me to sit down, sitting down himself. I shook my head. I walked over to the window instead. No way was I doing this again. I couldn't take someone else not believing me.
'What'd Liz have to say?' I asked.
'You're an unhinged psychopath with no regard for the rules or the safety of the student body,' he said. 'And you're a boyfriend stealing bitch,' he added with a small smile.
'And what, you don't believe her?' I asked, shaking my head as I stared out the window, can still to my head.
'No,' he replied. 'That's not the impression I got of you in the cafeteria. And it's not the impression I get having seen what you look like compared to her.'
'I wanted her off of me, to get away, not to hurt her, not much anyway. It's hard to stay completely objective when you're getting knocked around like that,' I said. 'She put me through a window.'
'I know,' he said. 'And the window is angry with Miss Allen too.'
'Steve thinks I started this,' I said, inhaling sharply, voice cracking. 'He didn't even believe me. He had to ask.'
'Why do you think that?' Coulson asked. I turned back to him, tears in my eyes.
'I made a mistake,' I said. 'Everything has been piling up on me, what happened to my dad, my mom, not having any family left. And now there's this guy following me. Everyone keeps pushing for me to go to college and I don't even know what I want anymore.'
'I heard about the guy,' Coulson nodded. 'That Agent Romanov thinks it's the Winter Soldier but no one else believes her.'
'If she's right then I'm on borrowed time,' I said. 'I'm 17, don't you think that's a bit much on it's own?'
'I do,' he told me. 'That's one of the reasons I'm here, at this school. Fury wants you protected.'
'So it is me,' I said. 'I didn't think one student was enough.'
'It's not,' Coulson told me. 'Fury wants someone keeping an eye on all the enhanced students. You're going to the same school as Spider-Man, Power Man, Iron Fist, Nova, White Tiger, that many kids all special all only learning, someone needs to be here to do damage control.'
'All those heroes and then there's me, the victim,' I bit.
'Is that how you see yourself?' Coulson asked.
'I can't do anything about any of this,' I said. 'And more shit just keeps on raining down.'
'Who says?' Coulson asked.
'Who says what?' I replied, walking over a little closer.
'Who says you can't do anything about it?' Coulson asked.
'I tried,' I said. 'I found Steve and even that wasn't enough.'
'What did you do that made him doubt you?' he asked.
'I snapped,' I put my head in my hands. I put the coke can down on the desk and walked away from the chair again. 'I couldn't take it anymore, I felt like it was crushing me. It started with the punching bag, I knocked it right off it's stand, it split open. And then, hitting things, it almost made me feel something. I thought it made me feel better. I hit more stuff. I just kept at it and then I was laying there in a pile of broken glass. I was embarrassed. I threw a tantrum like some little girl. And now they all look at me different, Steve, Tony. I can't keep this up, I don't know what to do.'
'Trashing some stuff doesn't make you a bad person Bonnie, and Steve doesn't think that,' Coulson told me. 'He doesn't see you like a little girl because you got upset, he sees you like a little girl because you're his little girl.'
'I'm almost 18,' I said.
'And you're still a kid,' he said. 'In so many ways you're still just a kid. I know you're almost an adult, I know you're about to be old enough to vote, to go to college, to live by yourself, to get a job doing whatever you want but you still have to ask a teacher's permission to go to the bathroom and that's the part Steve sees because you're family. It's not because you're incapable or because occasionally you do something embarrassing. It's also not a bad thing you've got someone who sees you like that. Because between you and me, Fury sees you as all grown up and ready to fight Loki all by yourself. And that might be running before you can walk.'
'Why does Fury want me to join SHIELD?' I asked.
'He thinks it's rare for someone your age to already be showing the qualities he looks for in one of his agents,' he explained. 'There are SHIELD agents and then there are Fury's agents. They're people like myself, Romanov, Barton, people he trusts. And he doesn't trust many. He doesn't know you, but you give off a vibe, just like Steve does, that you can be trusted. You have the skills already to work a case, build a file. And your combat skills are coming along too. Which is why he wants you on his side before you get the choice to be on someone else's.'
'I think I got Barton killed,' I said, sitting down.
'What?' Coulson coughed, choking on his coffee he was halfway through taking a sip of when I sat down.
'I told him about some of the stuff going on in my life, he's known about the guy, he's always known and then I mentioned that there was a SHIELD agent at the school. He said he was going to do some digging and then he disappeared and no one knows where he is. I just, he went missing right after he promised me he'd look into some pretty dangerous stuff. He told me he could handle it but I keep feeling like he rattled the wrong cage and it's my fault.'
'I understand why you'd think that,' he said. 'SHIELD isn't perfect, every organisation has leaks. It's possible one of them blew one of his covers and he's doing damage control. Or, if he's rattling cages like he spoke about with you, then maybe he had to go in a little deeper and that's what he's up to. Barton is good, wherever he is, whatever he's doing, he's alive. I know that much.'
'One more question,' I said.
'What?' he asked, going for a second shot at drinking his coffee.
'How do I know you're not one of the leaks? How do I know I can trust you?' I asked.
'You don't,' he said. 'If I'm this close to Fury and a leak, a teenage girl, no matter how good your instincts are, you wouldn't be able to figure it out. My cover would be too strong. But think about it like this, if I'm this close to Fury, it's likely that he trusts me not because I'm a good liar, but because I'm actually trustworthy.'
'Tell me, why is Fury so interested in enhanced teenagers?' I asked. 'Is it more than damage control?'
'It is, but we need to be getting back to why you're here,' he told me. 'Some other time.'
’Liz thinks I stole her boyfriend,’ I told him.
‘And did you?’ Coulson asked.
‘No! Why does everyone keep asking that? Even if I did, does my face really deserve what it went through over one high school douchebag?’ I asked frustrated.
‘No,’ Coulson replied. ‘It was a matter of personal curiosity. Did you start the fight?’
‘No,’ I replied. ‘She grabbed me by the hair and I took countermeasures. Things escalated from there.’
‘Is that what Mr. Thompson and Mr. Parker are going to tell me?’ he asked.
‘It’s also the truth,’ I said.
‘Frankly,’ he said. ‘I don’t really care if it’s the truth. I just need others to corroborate. You wouldn’t be the first SHIELD operative to throw a few punches to blow off steam. Just don’t make it so public next time.’
‘You’re a fucking asshole you know that?’ I said bitterly. I was angry. How could no one believe me?
‘And you’re getting detention for that,’ he smirked. ‘You can go now.’
I scowled at him, getting up and gathering my stuff. I looked at the spot Peter and Flash had been sitting but I turned back and snatched the coke I’d been using as an ice pack. I hurried out of the room and back into Reception.
‘You’re next Pete,’ I said pointing behind me with my thumb. He got up to head inside and headed for the door. ‘Hey,’ I said and Flash looked up. ‘Even if we’re not going out, I think you’re better off without that psycho.’
He smiled at me and I started turning away from him to head out of the door. Just as I was I saw his face change to a look of horror and he opened his mouth to call out. My coke can slipped from my grip as he yelled.
‘CARTER,’ he said a little too late and the last thing I remember was seeing a bruised fist.
Tony Stark POV
I stared at the freshly printed suit. We’d done a good job. I was impressed. At the same time I still thought there was more we could do. Nevertheless, it was ready to road test.
‘Mister Stark,’ JARVIS called. I kept up with my calculations.
‘Yes JARVIS?’ I asked, not really paying his attention.
‘Miss Carter has been knocked unconscious.’
’Activate security protocol big brother,’ I ordered. How did She get knocked out at school?
‘Overriding body cam privacy settings,’ JARVIS said. ‘You now have access to view the live stream.’
I could see the sharp jawline and the t-shirt of Bonnie’s friend Peter while I heard high pitched screaming.
‘You’re a bitch Bonnie Carter, a man-eating bitch who deserved everything she gets!’ the high pitched voice screeched.
‘Stop it Liz, calm down!’ someone else roared.
‘Get that psycho away from here,’ Peter said as he cradled Bonnie’s head at his chest.
‘What the hell is our principal doing?!’ the other male voice said.
‘JARVIS, have Happy ready a car. I’m going to pick up Bonnie from school,’ I told the computer. ‘Call Peter’s cell for me.’
‘Certainly sir,’ JARVIS replied and I headed for my parking garage. The dial tone echoed throughout the elevator as I made my way down before it finally connected.
’Peter! Take Bonnie to the parking lot, I’m on my way to come and pick her up,’ I instructed.
‘Mr, Mr Stark..’ he stuttered. ‘Yeah but someone has to sign her out.’
‘It’s alright, JARVIS will take care of that,’ I soothed. ‘Can you get her to the parking lot, just that.’
I saw him nod before I heard his reply. Happy and I peeled out of the garage only to be stopped by Tasha standing right in the path of our speeding convertible.
‘Move out of the way, “dangerous assassin”, before you become a dangerous cadaver,’ I called.
‘Where ya going?’ she asked.
’We’re picking Bonnie up from school,’ I told her. ‘She got into a fight.’
’I wanna come,’ she said walking to the side of the car and leaping over the side. Happy put the foot down and come 15 minutes later we were at the school.
Bonnie Carter POV
I groaned. I had a pounding headache, worse than I'd ever felt before and everything hurt. My bones, my skin, my face, my muscles. I was stiff and in an immense amount of pain. I was also travelling at what felt like 100 miles per hour while I was laying down. I also felt vaguely sticky.
'So you're awake then,' I heard Tasha say. I opened my eyes and winced at the bright like. I shut my eyes again, groaning.
'I wish I wasn't,' I grumbled. I tried opening my eyes again and was greeted with Tasha's upside down face. My head was resting in her lap I noticed, and we were travelling at 100 miles per hour because Tony was driving in his convertible with the top down.
'Heard you got beat up,' she said. 'You look like shit.'
'You should see the other guy,' I replied. She laughed.
'I heard it was a girl, and she's fine,' Tasha said.
'Good doesn't win because we have to fight fair,' I replied. 'If I was a bad guy, she'd be dead. And I probably would have stolen her boyfriend.'
'All this over some guy?' Tasha asked.
'Yep,' I said.
'Punishment doesn't really fit the crime even if you did steal her boyfriend,' she told me.
'Finally,' I sighed. 'Someone agrees with me. You know Steve didn't even believe me. He was at the school, he thought I started this fight. And everyone else really thinks I stole Flash.'
'Why?' Tasha asked. 'You could do better.'
'Besides the point,' I told her. 'The issue is of everyone I told, Steve should have been the one in my corner. And he wasn't.'
'I know,' she told me, stroking my hair. 'He told me, he got home just before Tony and Happy left to pick you up.'
'What's he gonna do?' I asked.
'His current plan is to love you to death,' Tasha told me. 'Steve's not real big on punishments. Or he doesn't know how to issue them.'
'Considering how much my brain rattled around in my skull today, maybe we should see a doctor or something,' I suggested.
'The Tower can give you a detailed bio-scan if you're worried,' Tony told me. 'First I think you should probably get yourself cleaned up. All that broken glass, you're sure to need some stitches.'
'Yeah she's bleeding on your upholstery,' Tasha told him.
'Salt and cold water should get that out,' I said.
'How do you know how to get rid of blood stains?' she asked.
'I had a life before you knew me,' I joked and she chuckled darkly.
That night as I hadn't gone to any classes I didn't have any homework. So I sat in my room in front of a small section of my wall mural, painting finer details. Small being anything I could reach without moving from my spot on the floor as I couldn't move well since the royal ass kicking I'd gotten earlier. Coming home wasn't any easier as I needed assistance just getting out of the car. I'd had to strip down to my underwear in a bathroom for Tasha to personally bathe the blood off and treat the wounds I was covered in. The broken glass had torn through and destroyed most of my clothing. She had to sew a few cuts on my back and arms. My legs weren't too bad as my back and head took most of the blow when I'd hit the windowpane.
So I sat on the floor, bandaged and broken, painting. My injuries didn't bother me much, they hurt, but they would heal. What upset me most was that Steve didn't believe me. I suppose I had only known him 2 weeks but he constantly went on about how long and how well he knew me. If he really knew me, he'd have stood up for me. He would have trusted I didn't start this.
'Hey Pocket JARVIS?' I asked.
'Yes ma'am?' I heard through my headphones.
'Can you please pull up all the footage of the fight?'
'Certainly ma'am,' he replied and the footage was suddenly projected out in front of me.
'Please send this to Steve,' I asked. I'd show him and then he'd feel bad about not believing me. And then he'd have to trust me next time. He should have had faith.
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 11: Run Boy Run
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Run Boy Run - Woodkid
Bonnie Carter POV
Monday 2nd September 2013
It took a week for most of the bruises to heal and it wasn’t until the weekend after that the open wounds finally healed. But I was still a little scarred up and would carry those for a few more weeks.
For the first week I didn’t speak to Steve. I know it was childish but I just didn’t want to hear him out. I didn’t see him the whole weekend after it happened but when I had to come out of my room for school, he was waiting awkwardly with breakfast. I always skipped it and took the subway to school. The next week we spoke in broken sentences, saying the bare minimum to get what I needed. The best part of the whole thing was that I hadn’t seen the Winter Stalker since I’d stolen his mask. At the same time, I was a little disappointed. I wanted to try and get answers.
I’d tried to keep a little distance from Flash, getting beat up for giving someone the time of day just wasn't worth it, but he was determined to prove himself. Even if he wasn’t, we did almost everything together. We had every class together, same extracurriculars. There wasn’t an escape.
‘Hey Carter,’ Flash greeted softly. ‘The game’s coming up.’
‘Yeah it is,’ I replied.
‘You thought about what you’re going to wear to the dance?’
‘I don’t know,’ I sighed. 'Why?'
'Well I just thought we could do a group costume or something, Peter and Gwen are going as Jake Long and Rose from American Dragon,' he said. 'So I figured you'd be free.'
'What did you have in mind?' I asked and he shrugged.
'Talk about it at our next Social Committee meeting?' he grinned sheepishly.
'Fine,' I sighed.
He was practically skipping beside me as we walked to homeroom. When I walked in I gave the cold shoulder to Vice Principal Benson, not that he noticed, as I sat down in my usual spot. The bell rang and I headed to biology, again, with Flash at my side. Instead of giving him a chance to change as Danny had suggested, what I’d actually done was acquired a very loyal guard dog. I hadn’t seen Liz since the incident and when I had, one nod from Flash and an army of jocks came from nowhere and blocked her from coming any closer. I had my own presidential level escort to class. Still no Agent Barton. And when Tasha was around, she was there with Steve so I didn’t get to chat with her. Most of my evenings after school had been spent in Tony’s lab doing my homework, getting takeout and then kicking the crap out of the re-enforced punching bag he’d brought up for me. I didn’t know when exactly the dynamic between the two of us had changed, he hadn’t exactly done anything differently, in fact he’d acted exactly the same since I’d met him. But he was the only one at the moment that was completely straight with me. Everyone else either lied or kept me out of it. Even Steve who was meant to be “what you see is what you get” smoothed things over. Tony straight up told me the answer to anything I asked.
He reminded me of Peter. He was more arrogant, that was for sure, but he was still a quirky little nerd boy that came over scientific theory. Sarcastic to a fault too. Pocket JARVIS was proving useful, told me I was getting better at fighting, helped me cheat on a pop quiz the other day too. Or rather loudly announced through my headphones that my answer was wrong until I erased it and when I did he loudly blurted out the correct one. Pocket J was just as obnoxious as Tony was.
It was English today before anything particularly unusual happened and that was just that a large number of seemingly unrelated students were called in to the Principal’s office. Perhaps unrelated was the wrong word. Unrelated to each other. I was called in, Luke Cage from football was called in. Danny Rand from my classes was called in, Peter Parker, my best friend was called in. Those three were at least related to me. But I didn’t know how Sam Alexander and Ava Ayala fitted into any of this. Or what we were all here for.
Peter Parker POV
I was in shock. I'd known that one, SHILED had a file on me, and that two, Bonnie had mentioned she thought there was a spy working as a principal but she wasn't sure if he was a good guy or a bad guy but this wasn't how I was expecting this to come to a head.
I was sat in Principal Coulson's office with my back pressed hard into one of the chairs across from his desk as I tried to be as far as physically possible from him and the uncomfortable situation as possible.
'You want me to what?' I asked. 'If I was hypothetically Spider-Man why would Spider-Man or woman, we don't know, want to join an extracurricular class after school with several other people who'd know their alter ego. And in a building, i.e. this school, where other non supers could find out their true identity. If I was hypothetically Spider-Man, I'm not sure I'd go for that.'
'Hypothetically, I'd like you to shut up now, Parker,' Principal Coulson said. 'Cut the crap, we know you're Spider-Man, SHIELD wants to make you legit, why are you fighting it? Bonnie's going to be on the team too.'
'She what?' I asked.
'Yeah, she's got Captain America's blood in her and Fury thinks she has great potential to become a SHIELD agent when she leaves high school. And with Steve refusing to sign her on the apprenticeship after school that she was offered Fury had to find another way. And SHIELD wanted to keep an eye on the young enhanced kids at this school anyway, so this program was us killing two birds with one stone,' he told me. He offered me a cup of water from the cooler beside his desk. I declined.
'What does Captain America's blood have to do with any of this?' I asked. He should have said, Steve's relative or something. Agent Carter's relative. Why specifically did he mention blood? Coulson shot me a look, like he'd noticed he'd slipped and he wasn't thrilled with me picking up on it.
'The sample she left at SHIELD,' Coulson said. 'It wasn't exactly normal, compared to regular O type blood.'
'Oh I see, you get control of the other mutants in this school plus you get to experiment on Bonnie when she turns 18 and is no longer under protection from Steve. What did you find?' I asked.
'That's not your concern,' Coulson said. 'But know, she's not in danger Mr. Parker, and neither are any of these kids. We're trying to protect them.'
'Then stay away,' I said.
Bonnie Carter POV
The door of the office opened up and I saw Peter hurry out, looking flustered. Ava was called next and Peter dropped down to my side, sliding down in his chair and pulling his collar up to cover his mouth. I raised an eyebrow at him. His awkward behaviour hadn't gone unnoticed by Danny or Luke who were staring at him.
'We need to get out of here,' he muttered. 'I'm serious, don't go in there. Run with me right now. We need to get you out of here.'
'What the hell are you talking about?' I asked.
'I'll explain later, we have to run before Ava gets out. Do you trust me?' he said, sounding desperate. Something Coulson said spooked him, the guy was an asshole, but if Peter was riled, it must have been something.
'Of course,' I said getting up from my chair and taking my book bag with me. We hurried out of Reception and into the main hallway of the school. We ran down to our lockers, putting our book bags in and only taking the necessities.
We were booking it so hard out of the school that I didn’t even notice Flash heading our way until I slammed face first into him like a wrecking ball. We tumbled towards the floor.
'Woah, Carter chill out where’s the fire?' he asked, helping me up.
'We have to get out of here,' I replied. 'Peter’s gonna fill me in on why later.'
'Pretty sure I figured out why Fury put Coulson here and you’re not gonna like why,' Peter said.
'Okay let’s have this conversation on the run then,' Flash said grabbing my arm and tugging me forward.
'So explain to me again what happened with your blood and the explosion?' Peter asked.
'You were in an explosion?' Flash asked.
'No I just got hit by some glass on the way down,' I said. 'I noticed the experiment going wrong, the experiment exploded, Coulson and I were on the ground and when he fixed me up he left the stuff behind. But Fury told me my blood was on the glass so I don’t know why he left the bloody tissues and shit. I thought that was why, so he could run my DNA on the system but if they went away I don’t not know why.'
'Well have to find out what they did with that later,' Peter said. 'The most important thing is that when they ran your blood they found a mutant gene and they think it’s the super super soldier serum you got from Steve.'
'So why are we running?' I asked.
'They’re going to try and use you to recreate the serum,' he said. 'And also apparently everyone Coulson called in was an enhanced human somehow.'
'Wait,' Flash said as we made it to the exit doors. 'You have weird blood too Peter?'
'A discussion for another time, Flash we just have to get out of here first,' Peter said.
'Here,' Flash handed me his car keys. 'Head down to Mexico or something. That’s what they always do in the movies.'
'You might not get this back,' I said.
'It’s a piece of shit anyway,' he shrugged. 'If you come back you gotta be my date to the dance though.' I laughed. If we were running to Mexico I doubted I’d be coming back. But if he was willing to lend us his Dodge Ram to get to freedom, I suppose I could promise him that.
'Deal,' I said and ran with Peter toward Flash’s parked truck.
I unlocked the doors and climbed into the cab and into the driver's seat. We pulled out of the car park slowly, I didn’t want the screeching of tires to attract unnecessary attention.
'We’d really need to work on your driving,' I said to Peter.
'Please,' he said. 'I’m really more of a shotgun person anyway. Can’t jump out of a moving vehicle if you’re driving it.'
'I mean you can,' I said. 'It just has higher stakes.'
We drove to some of the backroads I knew as we tried to figure out how to get out of the city without being picked up on any cameras. And that’s when I came up with a plan.
'JARVIS,' I said. 'Call Tony.'
'Certainly ma’am. Calling Mr. Stark from an untraceable line,' he said.
'Princess, shouldn’t you be in class?' Tony said jokingly. 'What are you up to?'
'We’re on the run from SHIELD who wants to use me to experiment on because I might have genetic secrets to what’s in the super soldier serum and we can’t get out of the city,' I said.
'Tell him they’re also planning on forcing all the enhanced kids at our school to work for them,' Peter said as he held onto the handlebar on the roof for dear life while I gunned it through the steers. 'DOG DOG DOG.'
'Would you relax, I'm not going to kill the dog,' I said. 'Also Tony I was thinking we could play a game of hooky.'
'What did you have in mind?' he asked.
'Flash gave us his car to make a dash for the border,' I said. 'What if we let SHIELD think that’s what we’re doing, leave a false trail to Mexico while we go someplace else. They’ll believe it’s easy to fund us because we’re idiot teenagers.'
'Okay and where are you really going? I hear the Bahamas isn’t bad this time of year,' Tony said. 'I could fly you kids out there on one of my planes.'
'Nah if you go anywhere they might suspect you’re helping me,' I said. 'I think we should stay here'
'WHAT?' Peter asked.
'We can’t run forever,' I said. 'Also are you willing to give up everything?'
'I figured we’d work it out once we were safe,' he shrugged.
'It’s SHIELD we’ll never be safe,' I said. 'No I think we should have someone drive Flash's car down to Mexico and stay here to work out just what’s going on. Find out why exactly my blood is weird, and how we can’t get leverage on SHIELD to free ourselves. Then we can stay here.'
'Alright,' Tony said. 'I already hacked SHIELD during the battle this year, so I’ll go through the files with a fine tooth comb and dig up every single one of their dirty little secrets. I’ll get Happy to find Peter and Bonnie doubles to drive to Mexico and I’ll contact some friends I have to help with your blood problem. Until then I’m sending Little J some directions to a secret location you can hide out in until we make the switch.'
Steve Rogers POV
'Is she still mad at me?' I asked when Stark got off the phone.
'It didn't come up how she was feeling but I'd say she was never mad, just hurt,' he replied, skimming through some files.
I stepped out from behind the pillar I'd been hiding behind just in case Stark was video chatting with her. After JARVIS had sent me the video from Bonnie's body cam I'd felt incredibly guilty. I don't know why I hadn't believed her. There was a time I trusted her with my life, to watch my back and if she'd have told me she was actually 10 feet tall and a redhead I'd have believed her. I sighed and ran my hand over my face. I'd screwed up.
'Why didn't you believe her?' Stark asked me.
'I don't know,' I sighed. 'After the incident in the gym, everything she'd been through, I just thought she'd changed. I thought this was a different Bonnie I was dealing with.'
'Steve,' Stark turned away to look at me. 'It's Bonnie.'
'I know, I know,' I cried out frustratedly.
'She's the same Bonnie she's always been, she hasn't become the cranky war vet yet, but fundamentally down in her soul she's the same Bonnie,' Stark told me. 'You're trying to treat her differently because you know she hasn't become her future yet, but by treating her differently maybe you're forgetting who she is. Maybe you're stopping her from becoming that person.'
'How did you get this parenting thing right so quickly?' I asked. Stark smirked.
'I'll try not to take offence at that, Rogers,' he replied. 'You forget, I am much older than you are.'
'It's just not often I get to see that in you,' I told him and he chuckled darkly.
'Wow, have you been hanging around with my dad recently? Explains why you haven't grasped the whole parenting thing,' Stark replied going back to his files.
'Anything I can help with,' I asked, gesturing to the holo-screen. He shook his head.
'If she wants your help, if at all, she'll probably want you as team back up,' he replied and I sighed, nodding. I turned on my heel and rubbed the back of my neck.
'How do I fix this?' I asked, turning around.
'Have her back, trust her and let her come to you on her terms,' Stark replied. 'Hope she can forgive you easier than she can forgive me.'
'You never did tell me what you did that was so bad,' I said.
'A story for another time,' he told me. I nodded.
Eugene Thompson POV
I sat relatively calmly across from the new Principal in his office. He looked like a cartoon super-villain with his high backed swivel chair and serious expression. He'd called me up to his office halfway through lunch and I'd walked in pretty sure I already knew why I was here. I rested my hands on my knees as I waited for him to ask me what he wanted to know rather than stare me down, like a super-villain. I wasn't too uncomfortable, I just wished he had the bigger chairs that Vice Principal Benson had in his office, my knees were up at my chest in this seat. It's like they were made specifically for midgets like Bonnie and no one else.
'Where's Bonnie?' Coulson asked.
'I don't know,' I replied. Like I was gonna rat Carter out. Snitches get stitches.
'Come on Eugene, you were the last person seen with Bonnie or Parker before they booked it off of school property,' Coulson said.
'And I believe, since they are no longer on school property, this is more of a police matter,' I replied. 'So unless you double as one of New York's finest, I'm going back to lunch. I don't know where Carter is, and I definitely don't know or care where Parker is. Although why he booked it with Carter and left his hot girlfriend behind, I don't know.'
I went to push myself out of my tiny chair when Coulson put a hand up to stop me. I groaned.
'Not so fast, Thompson,' Coulson said. I heard the crackle of the radio and the chatter before I saw him. Walking into the office was my dad. I frowned. Did they think after all this I was going to rat Carter out to him of all people? I thought back to the moment I remember things changing for me and Bonnie. Before this moment, I thought she was pretty, sure, but this was the moment I knew she was different from all the other girls I knew. From anyone I knew.
I wasn't much more than seven, Bonnie, older than me by a year. I had sat down outside the chain linked fence outside my house on the cracked sidewalk. I'd sunk into myself, resting my arms on my knees, hiding my face in them. I was so wrapped up in feeling sorry for myself I hadn't noticed her walk up. She slid down onto the ground before me and leaned up against the wire of the fence, pushing it further back with her weight.
'I don't get it, Flash,' she'd said, not waiting for me to say anything. Not thatI would've. ' You could be everyone's friend, I mean you're popular. Why be mean to everyone?'
I'd forgotten up until that point, that I'd gotten into a fight with Peter and Harry before we'd come home. How could I think she was here for me, that she knew about what happened inside? I shook my head, trying to choke back tears. I didn't want one of her lectures right now.
'Go away Bonnie,' I told her. I hugged my knees tighter, hoping she'd get up and walk away. She didn't. She simply crossed her legs out in front of us and made herself more comfortable.
'No,' she replied simply. She turned slightly to me and rested her head on her hand. 'We might not get on, but you're clearly upset. I'm not just going to leave you by yourself.'
'Why not?' I asked, looking up at her, eyes swollen so much I could barely see. She frowned at me, scanning over my face.
'Because, idiot,' she started. 'It's the right thing to do.'
'I'm not going to talk to you,' I replied, glaring at her. She always was nosy.
'That's okay,' she told me softly. 'I'm not going to go anywhere.'
She patted my back once as she said it before turning back around to lean on the fence, waiting for me, waiting for grass to grow, I don't know, but she waited all night. The sun went down and she was still there with me, turning to glance at me every now and again, frowning but not of anger or disappointment like I was used to, but concern. The same concern she usually showed whenever someone at school was in trouble. But this time, I was in trouble. The streetlights came on and I could hear her mother calling for her. She shifted forward slightly, getting into a crouch but staying low. She patted me softly on the back before pulling me into a very gentle hug.
'I have to go now,' she told me. 'But I am here. Even if you can be mean sometimes.'
She got up off the sidewalk and walked back down the block to her house. I imagined she'd go back inside, with her family, nice mom and dad. Be greeted warmly, get a hug from her mother maybe before washing her hands and getting ready for dinner. A proper family dinner like you saw on TV. I was a little envious of her. After a hard day's work grinding bullies into a pulp at school she'd come home, play with her friends until the streetlights came on and then she'd go inside to her happy little family.
Not like me, not like my family. I wanted to be like her, to stand up to bullies. But the only one I knew was much bigger than me. He swore to protect and serve but all he really did was work late and when he did come home he did the exact opposite of protect and serve my mom. I used to shove my sister back into our room, keep her out of the way and try keep her quiet. I wasn't big enough to help mom, but I could stand in front of Jessie, I'd seen Bonnie do it. She was tiny and she stood up to everyone. Couldn't protect Mom though.
I can now though. I can protect them both and still have room left to protect Carter from these goons. I don't care who asks, Dad or anyone else. Not Coulson or who he works for. I'm not saying anything.
'Where is the girl, son, no one really cares about the other boy, Parker,' my dad said, leaning over the desk.
'I really don't know,' I replied.
'Cut the crap, Eugene,' he said.
'I mean it,' I told him.
'You remember how I was telling you son, that a man under investigation usually had one or more tells when he's lying. Some people scratch their ear, touch their face. Some refuse to make eye contact or they bob their knee. There are also more subtle tells, like being rigidly still. Your tell, son, is your defensive attitude. And that smug little grin. So tell the man where they are,' my dad said, leaning into my face playing the bad cop.
I did remember that conversation. And I wasn't as much of a dummy as everyone thought I was. This was a school for the gifted after all. I scowled at him. A few more minutes and I could break. I just hoped Carter and Parker knew what they were doing. Otherwise we're all in trouble.
'EUGENE!' my dad snapped.
'Mexico,' I sighed. 'I think that's where they were going. I really don't know for sure but they took my car keys when they knocked me over in the hallway. I overheard them say something about making a run for the border. I can't believe it too, I just managed to get Carter to come with me to the homecoming dance with me. We were going to do a group costume. I really thought she was into me, but as it turns out she was only saying yes because she knew she was leaving town.'
'Okay tell us more about Parker, about Mexico,' Coulson nodded, writing down notes. I resisted the urge to smirk.
'I know! It's so weird that Parker, who has been just friends with Bonnie for ages, is dating Gwen, and is suddenly amazing at basketball if last year's anything to go off of. And who does Peter decide to skip town with, not Gwen, his girlfriend, no, Bonnie. I mean come ON Peter, save some hot blondes for the rest of us. Like it's ever going to last anyway, just like in every movie I've ever seen they're going to get to Mexico, survive for a little while then someone is going to do something stupid and it'll come to a big showdown where he sacrifices it all for her and you know she's not going to appreciate it. However when she does come back here, I'll be around to help her forget Parker and the sacrifices he made. In the meantime, I suppose I could always comfort the scorned girlfriend now he's not around.'
'Alright, alright,' Coulson said. 'It's clear your son actually knows nothing, Sergeant Thompson. How he managed to get into this school is a miracle. You can go now Eugene.'
'Hey when you find her will you give her my number?' I asked. My dad's head snapped to me.
'Go EUGENE!' he yelled and I stood from my chair, heading out into the hallway. That wasn't how I was expecting that to go. I thought spies were meant to be smart. Still I also wasn't expecting my dad to be there. And when I went home tonight I'd better prepare for the worst. But when Carter comes back this would all be worth it.
Bonnie Carter POV
'How long do we have to hang out in the shady alley?' Peter asked, hopping up and down nervously.
I leant against the wall between the two dumpsters I was hiding beside. I'd tucked my hair into a baseball cap and pulled my hoodie up over that. Peter just had his hoodie on, hood over his head and brown hair sticking out at the front. There really was no taming his gravity defying hair. I was flicking through some of the files Tony had given Little J access to and was trying to find out why Fury was so antsy about this Plan B thing.
'Hey,' Peter said.
'What?' I rolled my eyes.
'I'm serious,' he said. He nodded to the side of the alley and I shut down my holo windows and stuck my head out from behind the dumpsters. I didn't see anything. I turned to Peter and scowled.
'I don't see anything you paranoid moron,' I snapped.
'Up there you braindead sailor scout,' he pointed to the top of the alley. I stuck my head out again and looked to the top of the brick wall. There was a black tube with a glass tip poking out after back, closer was a slightly less wide black tube that was a little closer and much longer. I swore.
'Peter,' I said leaping up and grabbing him.
I dragged him forward and charged at the brick wall. Whoever this was wouldn't be able to readjust as quickly as he could with us running this way instead of out of the alley. I leapt towards the wall, throwing Peter up in front of me. He used his spider skills and clung to the wall slightly higher up than me and used one of his web shooters to swing me up over the wall. I yanked on the string and pulled him up after me, running after the darkly dressed figure who'd been pointing a rifle and it's scope at us. I used the recent training I'd been doing to push myself as fast as I could and could feel myself getting closer but also felt something pulling me backwards. I reached behind me as I ran and tore off the web Peter had attached to me and kept forward. The guy was reaching the end of the rooftop so in a last bid to catch him I sprinted forward a few more steps before leaping forward and reaching out for him. In my head, this would knock him to the ground and we could confront this guy, maybe have to fight him a bit. What actually happened was this guy, who was much bigger and stronger than me, kept running and I was attached to his back like a jetpack as he leapt over onto the neighbouring roof.
I cried out as we sailed through the air before we hit the rooftop with a level of grace and perfection I didn't think possible. Our almost shooter had thick brown hair behind his head, almost at shoulder length. What was it about the assassins that I kept seeing all having the same look. Same outfit, one silver glove, long flowing locks. As if anyone ever tried to convince me this was more than one guy. But if this was the Winter Stalker like I thought, then I was probably in more trouble than I thought, worse now I had piggy-backed him to freedom.
'Hey, where are we going?' I asked as he kept running, not showing any sign that he knew I was still on his back or that he cared. He ignored me. I rolled my eyes. I grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged.
'Enough with the silent treatment! Why do you never say anything?' I yelled at him. I screamed as he moved his shoulders and sent me sliding to the ground with ease. I clawed at his black uniform, trying to latch on to one of the buckles and not fall onto the gravel atop the rooftop we were standing on. He reached behind him and grabbed my shirt collar and yanked me off the rest of the way, throwing me on the ground in front of him.
'Sorry I pulled your hair?' I said sheepishly. He glared down at me. I noticed though he still wore the glasses, he no longer had a mask. Though that was probably because I'd stolen it from him. And he wasn't getting it back. He stood above me for a while, simply staring me down as I sat on the ground, leaning back on the heels of my hand. Okay, I could give up the mask if it meant I wasn't going to get shot. Tony could just make me a new one. A better one.
'If it's the mask you want back that's in my backpack down in that alley you tried to assassinate us in,' I told him. 'But I'm not sure assassination is an appropriate counter action to someone stealing an item of clothing.'
'What do you mean, sorry?' he said and I choked on my spit. I wasn't expecting a response. Was that why he was staring at me, was he really so surprised someone had apologised for hurting him?
'I hurt you?' I said confused. 'I said I'm sorry because we weren't really fighting, it wasn't asked for. I pulled your hair because I was frustrated. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I took my temper out on you.' I decided to roll with it, this was the most conversation I'd had out of him ever. He simply nodded. Fucks sake.
'Do I keep seeing you because I'm going to die?' I asked. He cocked his head slightly.
'If you were a threat, you'd already be,' he said. 'You have not been deemed a threat.'
He turned and took off again, leaving me on the ground, more confused now than when he didn't talk. Deemed by who? And why is someone having him follow me around to judge that exact thing? Did they have him follow me or was he following me for his own purposes. These were the thoughts swimming around in my head when my jerk of a best friend decided to bring me back to him.
I let out a scream as I was suddenly yanked backwards, flying across the gravelled rooftop, over the gap between it and the next one and landed with a thud on the one Peter was standing on. Then I was dragged back across the concrete on my ass until I finally got to him.
'You okay?' he asked. I turned to glare at his concerned face.
'You know, surprisingly, most of the pain is in my ass,' I said and he chuckled.
'If you're cracking jokes that means I'm off the hook,' he told me and reached down to offer me a hand. He yanked me up to my feet when I accepted it, and we worked on climbing back down to the alley we'd been in before all this shit had happened. I leapt down just to see two people walk into the alley. One short blonde with curly hair and another tall brunette with glasses. Happy walked in after them with a duffle bag.
'Right on time,' he praised. 'Here, there's some clothes for you to change into.'
I immediately took out what was intended for me and started changing, Peter on the other hand shuffled behind a dumpster, worried someone was watching. I rolled my eyes and finished pulling on the knee length straight cut skirt, shirt and blazer that had been brought for me. I also pulled on a brown wig. I looked over to Peter who was dressed in a boring brown suit and had a salt and pepper wig. I looked at Happy. This wasn't going to work, we both still looked like dumb teenagers. Very specific dumb teenagers. He opened up a box. Inside there were four clear face masks and he offered the box for me to take. Without questioning it, I attached my face mask and gestured for Peter to do the same. Happy then offered the box to the two fake us-es and they put theirs on. Happy tapped a button on a remote and suddenly everyone I was looking at wore a different face. Peter looked like an 80 year old man for some reason and the two body doubles looked just like we did. I wondered what I looked like. 'No time to mess around guys, let's get on the road,' Happy told us. I handed the fake Bonnie Flash's keys and followed Happy into his car.
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 12: Panic Room
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Panic Room - Au / Ra
Bonnie Carter POV
Monday 2nd September 2013
We walked into the Tower with our heads held high, mostly because we wore other people's faces. Happy escorted us to Tony just like he would if we were important business contacts and I grinned when I saw him. I knew calling him was a good idea. We were both chaotic good whereas Steve and Peter were more lawful good. They just made their own laws and stuck to them rather than strictly abiding by the rules of our current society. Kind of like Great Grandma Margaret in that regard.
'So, now all we need to do is try and find out if their theory is correct before they make it to the border and also find enough leverage to free ourselves,' I said and Tony nodded.
'Oh, there's a package for you in your bedroom by the way,' Tony said. 'I don't know when or where it came from or when or where it got there.'
'Knowing my luck it's a bomb,' I said. 'What do we have to do to find out if it's true?'
'Take blood, compare it to Steves,' he shrugged. 'But mutations, genetics, they really aren't my thing.'
'They're Peter's,' I shrugged.
'By all means, Spiderkid can help,' Tony gestured to the lab. 'Mi casa es su casa. But I was wondering if you'd let me bring in some friends on this.'
'Who?' I asked.
'Dr. Reed Richards and Dr. Bruce Banner,' he replied. Peter looked like he was going to wet himself.
'Well Dr. Banner is one of Peter's favourite scientists, so I can't complain,' I replied. 'I don't really know Reed.'
'He was a member of Fantastic Four and helps out occasionally at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters,' he explained. 'I imagined you didn't want to be on the X radar if you do turn out to have a genetic mutation so even though I don't particularly get on with Richards, I brought in two people I could trust to be discreet.'
'Yeah fine,' I sighed. 'I don't really want to know, but if SHIELD is up to something, I have to.'
'When did our lives get this complicated?' Peter asked.
'You got bit by a radioactive spider,' I shrugged.
'How is this my fault?' he laughed. 'Your great grandma is a spy legacy, if anything it's yours.'
'Her’s really,' I smiled.
Heading down in the elevator I walked past Pepper and nodded to her, forgetting I wore another woman's face and I had no idea who I was. She beamed though, apparently not only knowing who I was but being excited I was here.
'Mom!' she said.
'Fuck,' I blurted out.
'What?' Pepper did a double take. I had 2 options, tell Pepper the truth and hope she understands, or pretend to be her mother for the afternoon.
'Darling,' I smiled. 'I'm just so excited, it's been too long.'
'I'm surprised you're here to be honest,' she told me as we stepped into the elevator. 'After everything you said about me getting together with Tony.'
“Oh shit,” I thought. 'He brought me here. Happy drove me in earlier.'
'Tony did this?' she exclaimed. 'Oh that's so sweet I didn't even suspect! He's been so deep in a project I just left him to it.'
'That's Tony for you, full of surprises,' I said, trying to hide the anger in my voice.
'Where were you headed just now?' she asked.
'To go and see you,' I replied.
'Oh that's wonderful,' she said. 'I was just on my way down to check on Tony, let's head back that way and I can thank him.'
'Sure,' I replied biting my tongue. I should have been honest, if I say anything now I'm the biggest jerk on the planet.
We walked back down the corridor and Pepper typed in the code to Tony's lab. Our heels clacked on the linoleum and we came into view. Tony looked surprised, horrified and then sheepish. He was looking slightly pale before Pepper let out a squeal of joy and ran over to give him a hug and a gross, sloppy, big wet kiss.
'Pepper,' he pulled back surprised. 'You're taking this well.'
'Oh of course I am!' she beamed. 'You're so unbelievably sweet. I can't believe even after everything my mother said about you you reached out and brought her here! I love you so much.'
'Oh you know me Pep,' he said smiling at her before turning to glare angrily at me. I shot him a sheepish look.
'I was thinking, we should get lunch to celebrate. I can fob off work for a few hours, how does that sound?' Pepper said looking between the two of us. I heard the sound of wheels scraping across the lino behind me and I grimaced. Rolling into view, Peter, still looking like an old man skateboarded past all three of us.
'Dad?' Pepper gasped and I resisted the urge to face-palm.
'It's his bucket list dear,' I answered for him and sighed, shaking my head. I am an asshole.
'Is that such a good idea, with his hip?' Pepper asked.
'I'm buying him a new one,' Tony said, sounding awkward.
'Oh that's so kind of you Tony,' Pepper said. 'You're just so full of surprises today.'
'He's really trying to make me rethink those things I said about him,' I said.
I felt like I was sweating bullets trying to keep up this ridiculous ruse. I should have just been up front about it but, had I and SHIELD had gotten a hold of her? What would she have done, said? What could she have? It was self preservation and I was an asshole, I know, but I was in it now.
'And remind me, what were those things, June?' Tony said bitterly.
'Oh come now,' Pepper said. 'Let's not start that back up again. Come on, let's go to lunch. What do you think..' she turned to Peter who was awkwardly standing on his skateboard like a deer caught in the headlights. 'Dad?'
'Sure, sport,' he replied.
'Fantastic!' she cheered.
Fast forward fifteen award minutes and the four of us were squeezed into one of Tony's luxury sedans with Happy driving us to some fancy-ish restaurant. And I still didn't find out what was in that package in my room. Tony assured me over text that Bruce and Reed had been called in already and would arrive after lunch to work on my blood scenario. He'd also asked Bruce to get some blood from Steve which I imagined would go well. I was surprised actually, that Pepper was going along with lunch so easily considering there couldn't be any possible way I was acting even remotely like her mother. And Peter fucking skateboarding through the lab was no help. This had to be some kind of test, see how much of a jerk I was. The answer is huge, let's not make this go on all day.
Peter had snagged the front seat beside Happy which left the back to Tony, Pepper and I. Pepper was on my right and Tony was on my left because I was so short I'd been squeezed into the middle where there was no leg room.
'So Happy, you went and got my parents?' Pepper asked.
'Yep,' Happy said, keeping his eyes on the road. 'Just like Tony asked.'
Steve Rogers POV
I was annoyed Stark wouldn't let me get involved on whatever it was Bonnie had called him about. I'd gotten snippets from their conversation, but that wasn't enough to go off of. It sounded like she was on the run and that she wasn't at school and somehow she'd gotten ahold of a car. Which, knowing what I did about Bonnie, didn't surprise me much. Usually though, I was the other passenger in the car, or I was the one she called for backup.
Can't say I blame her for keeping me out though, I should have believed her. I knew it wasn't like her, that she wouldn't have started trouble like that out of the blue, not with some cheerleader. But, with Bonnie not being the girl I remembered, Bonnie being the younger, less wild version of herself, I had wondered if she had done it. If maybe she was still on the road to becoming my Bonnie.
It didn't matter much, if I was unhappy I wasn't being involved in the plan, however, because Fury called me out on a mission less than half an hour after that conversation. I wondered if he knew, if it was a mission I was being put on simply so I would be out of the way. It wasn't exactly the kind of mission someone with my particular skill set normally went on. It was when I landed back on New York soil and was debriefing that Fury broke the news.
'What do you mean Bonnie's been kidnapped?' I asked.
'It's become apparent that at 10:35 this morning Bonnie was no longer at Midtown Science Academy and all our investigations have led to the same discovery. She's in a stolen vehicle headed to the United States, Mexico border. It's unclear at this moment if she's travelling with Peter Parker against her will or not,' Fury said. I almost snorted.
Peter, kidnapping. Not just Peter kidnapping, Peter kidnapping Bonnie of all people. Knowing what I did, I knew that this was some kind of story I was being spun in relation to whatever it was Bonnie had been cooking up with Stark this morning. But I didn't know what was going on, so I didn't know how I could help. Fury seemed to catch my amusement anyway.
'Are you sure that she's not just skipping class, I mean, she's a teenager. A kidnapping seems.. a little unreal, and with Peter no less,' I replied.
'I assure you, Rogers, Parker is a lot more dangerous than he looks,' Fury told me. 'Are you aware he helped create the giant Lizard that terrorised New York before you were pulled from the ice? We think that was to get himself some fame, save the world from a threat he created. And now? Whatever he's up to with your charge can't be good.'
'Keep me posted,' I said. 'When you find her, I'm going in. Like you said, she's my charge.'
Helped create the Lizard? That was news. I'd known he'd worked with Doc Conners before he'd become the Lizard, I'd known his alter ego, Spider-Man had stopped him but I didn't know he'd helped create him. But Bonnie was a good judge of character, if she trusted Peter, even if she didn't know that Peter had helped, and she most likely did, then I had to trust her judgement.
'Will do, Cap, will do,' Fury said, not sounding as convincing as I imagined he hoped he did. Although, I imagine Fury already suspected I was in on it. I wasn't and I was at the same time. I think that was why Bonnie kept me out, everyone would expect she'd come to me. I'd told everyone she was my best friend back in the day, I talked about her just as much as I talked about Bucky. So why wouldn't she?
I was on my way back to the tower when Bruce called me on a secure line. I answered, he needed my blood but couldn't tell me why. Bonnie was involved, and considering he didn't need a large amount, I could safely conclude she wasn't in trouble. Just a drop, he'd said. I pulled into the parking garage and made my way up to the secure lab for the second time that day.
'Steve,' Bruce greeted fondly. 'I wasn't sure how secure Tony's secure line was. This is Dr Richards.'
'Steve Rogers,' I nodded at him when he made no move to walk away from the microscope he was intently looking through.
'We need a familial sample to compare Bonnie's blood to, as well as regular O type blood,' Bruce told me. 'Peter was concerned that SHIELD was after Bonnie's blood, concerned that the super soldier serum had been passed down genetically. And if he was correct, they could use comparisons of the two samples to recreate the serum and make an army of super soldiers.'
'When Erskine told me why I was selected for the project, he told me why Schmidt wasn't. What is bad, becomes worse, what's good becomes great. You take a bunch of run of the mill soldiers, and a lot of them, that's a mixed bag of who knows what you'll get. Too many at once and it'd be chaos. The serum should only be trusted to a select few, in the wrong hands, it could be dangerous,' I said.
'Which is exactly why Bonnie is having us look into it, not SHIELD,' Bruce said. 'Everyone in this group are all on the same page.'
'And what page is that?' I asked.
'The "fuck the government" page,' he replied and I scoffed. Banner, who was normally so serious, often trying to be mellow, could occasionally be replied on for a witty quip. And he could always be trusted for his hatred for the US government, not that I could blame him for that. I'd read his file.
'Well alright,' I nodded, rolling up my sleeve. 'Let's get to comparing that blood. Howard used to have a sample of my blood, years ago, the government used to have a bunch too. I wonder what they did with those.'
'Probably squandered the lot,' Bruce shrugged and walked over to the bench, setting up a station to extract a small sample. They already had Bonnie's apparently. And the regular type O. I hung around as Bruce and this Richards guy ran various tests on the samples. It was mid afternoon that something actually presented itself.
'There's something else here,' Richards said.
'What?' Bruce asked, walking over to look at the same holo-screen.
'Look,' Richards pointed to a particular fluctuation in the stream. The same fluctuation happened on a simulation brain. I walked over closer.
'What's that,' I asked.
'That's a recent scan of Bonnie's brain,' Bruce told me. 'The tower completes regular bio scans of it's occupants for health purposes. Tony's a little paranoid about losing people to terminal or hidden illnesses so he's set up a bunch of security to keep an eye on these things, catch them early.'
'He's a little paranoid about a lot of things, Bruce,' I replied and the scientist just laughed and nodded.
'This fluctuating part here, that's definitely a genetic mutation,' he explained. 'But, it's not connected with the super soldier serum.'
'How can you tell?' I asked. He then pulled up a file with my name on it.
'See this,' he pointed to a particular part of my blood stream. 'That's your blood, this here is the control O and that's Bonnies. In yours and Bonnies there's the O, and there's the serum. But Bonnie's,' he pointed to the fluctuating blue part. 'That moves almost like a wave, an electrical current on water. That isn't like anything we can see in the control O type blood or yours. And, when we watch the fluctuations, they happen in time with the ones in her brain scan. And they happen to have the same shimmer.'
'I didn't know you could see stuff like this in depth,' I said. 'When they first took samples of my blood, they could see what they saw under a microscope and that was it.'
'Well, most of the world hasn't come much further. It's mostly SHIELD, Stark Enterprises and OSCORP that has that kind of technology. Doctors, scientists, they do what they can, but Tony's bio-scans, his holo-readers, they turn the data, all the numbers, the figures, the words, and make them into a real time diagram. A moving, 3 dimensional image. Even SHIELD and OSCORP are behind Tony in this,' Bruce told me.
'Good thing he's so paranoid then,' I replied. 'And good thing no one else has this technology.'
'But?' Bruce asked, giving me a knowing look.
'How do we know this wasn't what Fury was planning all along. You said yourself, SHIELD doesn't have this kind of technology,' I said.
'No,' he agreed. 'And it's certainly something to keep an eye on. But if you second guess every decision everyone makes, you become more paranoid and less able to work. And the data is safe here, it's being saved directly to Bonnie's private JARVIS system, that no one, not even Tony has access to without her permission. And no one has ever hacked Tony's systems before.'
'So once you're done here, it's gone,' I said. 'Neither you nor Dr Richards are able to access these files. It's just your word, what Bonnie is or isn't.'
'Exactly,' Bruce nodded. 'So even if someone overhears, says Bonnie is or isn't, SHIELD has no proof.'
'Has anything happened to cause this sudden mutation?' Dr Richards asked.
'What do you mean sudden?' I asked, moving around Bruce to face him.
'Cap it looks like this mutation Bonnie wasn't born with, or at least, she wasn't born being able to use it. It was developed later in life,' Bruce told me.
'And they don't just happen this late for no reason,' Richards continued.
'She fought the Lizard,' I shrugged.
'Could be that,' Bruce bounced the idea around in his head. 'Peter got his powers about the same time. Although he got bitten by a biologically altered spider, Bonnie seems to have the mutant gene. You don't know if any of her relatives were enhanced humans, do you?'
'No, I know of her father's side, who all come from me and Peg,' I replied. Thinking back to even our time during the war, Bonnie only talked about a few of her relatives, none on her mother's side.
'We'll have to ask her when she comes back,' Bruce shrugged.
'Where is she anyway?' I asked.
'She and Peter are in disguise somewhere,' he shrugged. 'They were here earlier.'
'They came back to the tower?' I asked. 'Fury said no one has seen them since they left the school.'
'She's a clever girl,' Bruce replied. 'Something tells me, though she may be young, if she doesn't want you to find her, you won't.'
Bonnie Carter POV
Pepper had left for the bathroom a few moments ago, leaving Peter, Tony and myself watching the news on the overhead television. I'd put down my knife and fork, jaw dropped in horror as I watched an amber alert come across the screen for Bonnie Carter and Peter Parker. I could only imagine what Aunt May was going to say.
'Who did you hire to drive to Mexico?' I asked.
'Some of Stark's formula 1 drivers,' Tony shrugged. 'They liked the idea of an open road challenge.'
'Are they going to like the idea of being arrested when SHIELD finds them?' I asked. Peter hadn't looked away from the screen, probably mentally organising his affairs for when Aunt May kills him.
'By the time SHIELD actually catches them and brings them back here, we'll have our plan in motion and they'll be free,' Tony assured me. 'Now what the hell are you playing at telling Pepper you're her mother?'
'I didn't exactly,' I told him, picking up my fork and pushing my pasta around on the plate. 'I nodded at her, trying to act casual and she recognised me. I didn't have time to explain, I panicked and before I knew it, we were here.'
'Pepper is estranged from her parents, and has been for a long time. She tried to reconnect when she became CEO and started dating me but it never worked out, June just had some choice things to say and that was where things left off. This means too much to Pep to call this off, we just have to hope this doesn't come back to bite us in the ass. Try and keep a low profile, and no more skateboarding, Parker, you're supposed to be an old man,' Tony said.
'Sorry,' came Peter's muffled response, having gone back to eating bits of garlic bread. I shook my head and turned away from both the table and the TV. This was a mess. The only thing that could make this worse was getting into another brawl.
'Is that a dessert bar?' I asked.
With eagle-like eyes I spied a tray of chocolate mousse. I loved chocolate mousse. I hadn't had it since before my mother died. I looked at Tony who had an eyebrow raised at me. I didn't bother rolling my eyes at him, for I knew he was a billionaire, and this was on his tab. Instead I made my way at olympic record breaking speed and joined the line of other elderly women. I hopped from foot to foot and wrung my hands as I waited for my turn. I watched anxiously as one by one the queue got shorter and one by one the number of chocolate mousse containers shrunk. I was practically chewing through my bottom lip, I was salivating, I wanted this mousse. I had to have it for both sentimental, and I'm a decadent bitch reasons. At last, my sweet victory was in sight. Like Homer Simpson my head was leaning slightly back, lips parted and I'm pretty sure I was growling as I drooled.
Before I knew it I was bumped back, swaying in the silly old people shoes I was wearing. I looked forward, some grey haired old crow had cut in front of me. I glared at the back of her coarse, dry hair and almost growled for a different reason. No way was she getting my mousse. I balled my fists. Was I seriously getting upset over a dessert? Yes, I was. After everything I'd been through since the end of summer, I deserved my mousse. I'm on the run from the government, this could be the last mousse I ever eat. I'll break this woman's brittle, osteoporotic bones if I have to. Who the fuck does this old biddy think she is anyway? No cuts, it's the rule of the American people, who is she not to follow? Calm down Bonnie, she's an elderly woman, not a super villain, you can just talk this over with her. How much of a threat was an old person going to be anyway?
'Oh erm....' I started, trying to sound like an old woman to match the disguise I was wearing. She stepped forward to load up on desserts. Well, there goes the no cuts speech. She reached for the chocolate mousse and a small scream left my mouth before I could stop it. She turned around in shock. Now's my chance.
'Pardon me dearie but I think that was mine?' I said. She raised a brow. 'I was actually first in line, and you see you cut in. I don't mind, really, the mousse though...'
'Oh, sorry my love, didn't think you wanted it, but I've touched it so I should have it...' she replied. WHAT GAME WAS SHE PLAYING!?
'Well truth be told it's in a container, so it doesn't matter?' I replied, knuckles going white. We hads to have it, the precious.
'But it's mine now so finders keepers,' she replied with a shrug. My hand, piloted by a mind of its own, was reaching out for the mousse before I could really do anything to stop it. She had to be stopped. It was my mousse. Finders keepers? How about no cuts? Emotional ploy? Could I guilt her into giving me what I wanted?
'Oh well you see,' I said looking down. This sad act always worked on men. 'I haven't had chocolate mousse since before my mother died when I was 12.' I wobbled my lip for effect.
'How sad,' she nodded feigning sympathy. I could tell she didn't mean it though. 'But, they serve it here every day, you can have it another time.'
Something in me snapped. I was tired of people just taking what they wanted, getting whatever they wanted at MY expense. I worked hard, I scrimped, I saved, I carried on. I was always working to do the right thing by others, even if it affected me negatively. I'm on the run from the government for that very reason. If I have one thing go right for me, this moment, this mousse, it's mine.
'Kid gloves are coming off, you shrivelled-up old shrew, hand me the mousse!' I demanded. I shoved the blazer sleeves up my arm like some 90s bully preparing to launch my attack. 'I'm only here today, you can come back whenever you want, give it to me.'
'No, I don't think I will,' she replied, turning. I snarled. The mousse, it was slipping through my clutches. I reached out, grabbing her upper arm, I only meant to turn her back around to talk to her. Too late I saw her pull back her other arm. An unexpectedly quick strike from a withered old hand, she punched me square in the face. All this over a dessert.
'You bitch!' I screamed. I threw my head forward, slamming it hard into hers, she stumbled back a bit and I shook my head, recovering from the blow. The recovery period was enough to wake me from my frenzy, I realised that this was an elderly woman, not one of the goons I usually took on. I couldn't use break neck force, honestly I shouldn't be doing it on people that could take it. I was supposed to be the good guy after all.
Knocking me from my thoughts and straight to the ground, the old crony kicked me. I lunched forward and grabbed her bony ankle and yanked it towards me, bringing her down to my level. I roared at her like a t-rex, gripping her tight with my tiny arms.
'You crusty little democrat!' the grey haired demon yelled at me. So now we were getting political. 'Give up on the mousse, your life is almost over already, are you going to waste time on a dessert?'
'If it's so meaningless, hand it over,' I told her, struggling against her. For a grandma, she sure put up a fight. 'You're no spring chicken yourself. I could die tomorrow, if I do I want to have eaten the mousse.'
'Never!' she said, throwing her head back and slamming it into my face. I released my grip, damn her!
'It would have been mine if you hadn't cut!' I cried out, choking on some of the blood spewing from my nose. Hard-headed, old bitch. She wrapped her arm around my throat, squeezing as she had me in a choke hold.
'Well I did, give up on it, you mousy little dwarf!' she said squeezing harder. I clawed at her flapping water wings and managed to pull her elbow forward enough to slip my head out the lock. I swung my legs up, wrapping them around her wrinkled arm, trying desperately to pin it down. I opened my mouth wide and bit down into the sun-spotted, squishy part of her hand between the thumb and forefinger. She cried out and I released my jaw.
'I saw it first!' I said.
'Well I touched it first!' she wriggled against me.
'And I'll be eating it after you shrivel up and die, you selfish, crusty-assed, baby boomer!' I grabbed a fist full of her hair and tugged, shaking her as much as I could. She reached up and yanked at my wig and I panicked, praying it would hold. Though the mask proved difficult to distinguish as a disguise, people would wonder why I had a full head of blonde hair under this brunette and grey streaked wig.
'Mom?' the two of us ceased fighting for a moment, unrelenting in our grips of the other's hair, to turn to the sound. Oh, that's right, I was pretending to be Tony's mother in law in order to sneak into the labs after this lunch. Shit.
'Hi sweetie,' I smiled sheepishly.
'What's going on here?' Tony's fiancée demanded. I paled. How did I explain to the women I was pretending to be the mother of, the woman who didn't know I was pretending to be the mother of, why I was on the floor, grappling with a demented old bat over a single serve of chocolate mousse?
'Your mother is a head case!' the old woman yelled. 'All this over mousse!'
'Mom, did you really start a fist fight over this dessert?' she asked. I didn't know what to say. She certainly looked surprised. 'You're allergic to cocoa!'
'I'm allergic to wha..?' I said, almost in tears. The other woman started to chuckle darkly. She had won. I looked, horrified up to my fake daughter. I let out a whine.
'Well,' Pepper sighed. 'At least you're not fighting with Tony.'
'June,' Tony said, coming up beside Pepper. 'What the hell?'
'Darling,' Peter said, coming over, offering me a hand up. I could see the childlike glee in his eyes, he was trying not to laugh at the insane predicament I'd gotten myself into. I looked down at the old woman I'd been wrestling with. The bigger person would reach down and offer her a hand, I'm sure. But I was not the bigger person. I turned, in a sweep, I grabbed the mousse and spun on my heel, running for freedom past our table and right out of the restaurant. Victory, was mine.
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 13: Trouble
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Trouble - Valerie Broussard
Bonnie Carter POV
Monday 2nd September 2013
'Mom,' Pepper called from behind me.
I sighed and put down the half eaten, victory mousse. Apparently, she was still set on believing this crappy ass act I was doing was her mother. Though I supposed Tony's technology was hard to argue with. I wondered if the mask also made me sound like her mother, because no way did my Queens/Brooklyn hybrid accent scream middle class, elderly, mother.
I looked up from the glass dish that held the remains of my winnings and wiped the chocolate off my face. She sat down on the curb beside me. I'd sat down by a palm tree to eat my mousse, having only slowed down from fleeing the scene long enough to grab a spoon. She produced a spoon of her own and gestured for me to hand her the dish. Reluctantly, I passed it over.
'You know I could have gotten you chocolate mousse from anywhere in the world, right?' she asked.
'Yeah,' I nodded. 'Problem is, I didn't want it until it was staring me in the face. I haven't had chocolate mousse since my mother died.'
'You never told me,' she said, taking another spoonful. I shrugged.
'It was something she always made, rather than a signature dish it was more something she made and had in the fridge on a rainy day, when the weather was too bad to go outside or when I was having a particularly bad day. And when she died, every time I even looked at chocolate mousse it made me feel sick to my stomach, so I avoided it. And then time passed, I stopped grieving, and I just never really thought about it again. Then there it was, right in front of me, mocking me as one person after another took one. It was my turn, suddenly I wanted something I hadn't even thought about for a long time. And then that crusty old bat took it from me.'
'Well, that does explain why you said you were allergic to cocoa but always had some chocolate hidden away in your closet. I thought it was always to make sure dad and I never got fat, could never have it in the house. Had no idea it was causing you pain,' she told me. The more I heard Pepper talk about her mother the more I thought June sounded like some old bitch. If she was never going to see her real mother, this could be my opportunity to help Pepper reconcile with her. Give her some peace of mind before the old crow died. Granted, should she ever find out about this I'd be the biggest asshole on the planet. Now, what was Pepper's real name? I was pretty sure Pepper was a nickname Tony came up with, so I should use it less. Since I was supposed to hate him so much.
'Virginia, dear,' I started, sighing for dramatic effect. 'As a parent, not every decision you make, is actually what's going to be best for your child. If you're a good parent, or want to be one, you try to give them all you missed out on as a child, you try to give them everything you did have and more, but you don't always get it right.'
'Mom, it's okay, I know that..' she said and I put a hand up to stop her.
'And there becomes a point where you become somewhat selfish, you get so wrapped up in raising them, you have a plan for them and you get really upset when your child that you've raised to have a mind of their own, has the audacity to have one,' I explained. 'When they stray from that perfect plan you had in mind for them. Sweetheart, you've done amazingly well. You're well educated, you're comfortable and most of all you're in love. I might not like Tony, but I can see how much he loves you, what he's willing to do for you. I might have been wrong about him. And I'm glad he makes you so happy, even if I want to do to him what I just did with that old lady in there.'
Pepper chuckled. Then before I knew it, I was bumped slightly sideways as I was enveloped in a bone crushing hug. I could feel soft drops of water bouncing off the skin of my neck and I reached up to pat her head. Pepper needed this, she needed to hear this, but from her actual mother and not me. I felt like such an asshole. The tighter she held me, the more she softly cried, the more of a horrible person I felt like.
‘Well,’ I heard Tony say. ‘I guess we can cross being kicked out of an expensive restaurant off your bucket list, can’t we, June?’
‘Got to set a good example for the grandkids, don’t I?’ I asked, shaking my head. I heard Pepper laughing before she pulled her head back and wiped the tears from her face. She shook her head, unable to form a sentence for a while.
‘Never in a million years did I ever think you two would ever even be civil with each other, let alone be partners in crime,’ she said. ‘I don’t just have to babysit Tony now, I have to keep an eye on when you’re together.’
‘Virginia,’ I started.
‘Let’s go home, I’ve got some work to do in my office, but I’m sure you can spend some time with Tony, you don’t mind, do you?’ she looked between the two of us.
‘..no..’ Tony replied. I shrugged.
‘You know, you’re different now Mom,’ she told me. ‘But I like it.’
I walked into the lab with Tony and Peter only to stop, faltering in my steps for a second. Bruce Banner and a guy I didn’t recognise were working away, analysing things they saw on holoboards and in their microscopes. The other guy, I assumed was this Reed Richards, Tony had told me about. What I hadn’t expected, was for Steve to be helping them.
‘Steve?’ I said softly. I hadn’t really spoken to him since that day at school. Not really. And he was here, helping. He did a double take, he didn’t seem to understand who I was.
‘It’s Bonnie,’ Tony said. ‘This is how we disguised her.’
‘Old lady chic, huh?’ Steve replied, smiling softly.
‘Do I not sound like me, either?’ I asked.
‘No,’ Steve shook his head.
‘Little J has a voice filter built in, he knew what to do,’ Tony explained. ‘Peter, he’s just good at old man voice.’
That had me raising my brow. I turned back to look at him and he shrugged. I shook my head and he walked back over to where he’d left his skateboard and jumped on it immediately. I had a lot I wanted to say to Steve, but right now, we didn’t have the time. Especially after our little lunch excursion.
‘So,’ I said walking over to Bruce. ‘What do we have so far?’
‘Well,’ Bruce said. ‘We can confirm the super soldier serum is a gene that can be passed down, and has, at least to you. We don’t know if something needs to activate it, because we don’t really know much about your other family members and we don’t have samples to compare them to..’
‘Do you wanna exhume…’
‘No,’ he said immediately.
‘Sorry, that must have seemed so... impersonal… they’re my family, they always will be, but they’re dead. I don’t know what samples would be degraded or not, but it would provide valuable information. We probably don’t have enough time right now, but with SHIELD after us, at some point, we’re better off with whatever leverage we can get.’
‘Bonnie,’ Steve said. ‘I may not approve of SHIELD trying to make you into a spy, trying to force your hand, but they’re not all bad. They can’t be..’
‘What because Peggy founded it?’ I asked. ‘I know, but right before Barton went wherever it is that he went… look, never mind. I just need to make it so that Peter and I don’t get forced into this.’
‘Yeah, the Principal only really seemed to care about you to be honest,’ Peter said, skating over. ‘Everyone else seemed like a bonus, it was like it was their choice but you had to come.’
‘Whatever their operation is, I really don’t want to be some stupid, young Avengers bullshit. I’m nobody’s mini Steve,’ I said and then paused. Steve cocked his head at me, waiting for what had just popped into my head to make its way into the room.
‘What if we took it from them?’ I asked.
‘Took what?’ Peter asked.
‘I mean their operation, we’re trying to shut it down, or stop them from being able to force us into it, but what if we just took it from them? Went independent?’ I asked.
‘I really don’t think that’s such a good idea,’ Steve started.
‘Why not, you did it?’ I replied. ‘Everyone in this room did it at some point. The government wanted you in a lab but you said no. And when the army wanted you in tights, you said no. You went over enemy lines and you did what you wanted. Grandma Margret always did what her gut told her, she went against the government all the time. Tony rescued himself and then went on to stop some of the biggest rising threats of our time…’
‘Alright, I get it,’ Steve said. ‘But the benefit of working with SHIELD instead of separate from them is you’re protected if something goes wrong.’
‘I know you’d like to think that,’ I said. ‘I know we’re just kids who still have to ask permission to use the bathroom and we think we know everything but you’re out there being far wiser and smarter because you’re old as fuck, but you know what? The government doesn’t care. They picked us because we’re young, we’re vulnerable and we’d still see them as an authority and would do whatever they asked, no matter what. And do you really think that all those bureaucrats in DC are going to care if the enhanced go down? We’d die sure, but our secret identities would just go missing. And, kids just go missing all the time. Why should SHIELD care? Why should anyone? No, we might have to depend on ourselves but at least we’re going to give a fuck if we get into hot water.’
‘Alright,’ Steve sighed. ‘I never could argue with you.’
‘What?’ I asked, he shook his head.
‘A story for another time,’ he said. ‘So what’s the plan?’
‘I was reading the files Tony gave me, I think I have enough leverage anyway, I just wanted to find out what was wrong with me. Why SHIELD wanted me so bad. And we have an answer. You.’
‘Well, that’s not exactly true,’ Bruce said. He brought up some screens in front of me. ‘This is your brain, and this is your body. This is the blood pumping through your veins. Now, if we take a close up, you can see that it’s O, just like this one, that’s Steve. But yours is different too.’
‘How?’ I asked.
‘This little fluctuation here, see how it lights up your brain?’ he said. ‘Now we’ve tested you for the mutant gene, whatever the fluctuation is, it lights up your brain too.’
‘Whatever the fluctuation is.. As in you don’t know?’ I asked.
‘We know,’ he told me. ‘It’s electrical impulses, lighting up for some reason. We’re not sure exactly what the reason is, because I’m not sure whatever your power is, you’re aware you’re using them, or if they’re constant or what.’
‘That’s not great news,’ I said. ‘What can we do about Aunt May?’
‘What do you mean Aunt May?’ Peter asked. ‘SHIELD wouldn’t hurt her, would they?’
‘I don’t think so,’ I shook my head. ‘But they put an amber alert out on us, she’s going to be worried out of her mind. They’ll be watching her, so we can’t contact her, have her meet us, but we should at least try and get her a message that we’re alright. It’s not fair to put her through that.’
‘I can take care of that for you,’ Tony said. ‘What else?’
‘How can we get a hold of the other enhanced kids? Before I can threaten SHIELD with a rebellion, I have to actually get them onboard with it,’ I said.
‘I can set that up too,’ he told me.
‘Get me a new face, I don’t want to be lying to Pepper anymore, I feel like an asshole,’ I said.
‘I think you helped her a little,’ he told me. ‘Don’t do it again though.’
‘No plans to,’ I said. ‘Why’d you give me this face anyway?’
‘JARVIS picked them out,’ he explained. ‘And we’ll be having words about it later.’
‘I’m going with Peter to say goodbye to Pepper, I can’t walk around freely in this face,’ I said. ‘Have me a new one when I get back.’
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 14: Watch What Happens Next
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Watch What Happens Next - Waterparks
Bonnie Carter POV
Monday 2nd September 2013
‘Happy is going to drive you and Peter to the airport, you’re each going to go into the passenger lounge, slip into the bathroom and change disguise. You’ll each get a cab back here, and we’ll go on with the next phase of this plan,’ Tony said.
‘Annoying, but okay. That should work,’ I agreed.
Tony handed us each a wad of cash and some plane tickets and membership cards. Happy escorted us down to the garage and we were at the airport in 30. Happy opened the door for us and reminded us to enjoy ourselves at the passenger lounge, which was code for don’t run straight home or people will be suspicious.
I took the arm Peter offered me and we walked inside, heading for the check in desk. It surprised me just how many people believed we were actual old people, but I should know better than to question something Tony designed. I don’t know why I didn’t trust him right away, he’d been my number 1 backer right from the start.
‘Drink?’ I asked Peter.
‘But we’re minors,’ he hissed.
‘Tell that to your face,’ I laughed.
‘Fine,’ he said. We walked up to the bar and ordered, I got a scotch on the rocks and Peter, that nightmare, ordered a pink. raspberry. cosmo. I shook my head.
‘Subtle,’ I said.
‘I wanted to know what it tasted like, also shame on you for judging me. I am a strong independent man who doesn’t conform to traditional gender norms. I’m confident enough in my sexuality to order any drink I want, regardless of colour or contents.’
‘Alright, settle down,’ I rolled my eyes. ‘I’m not judging Peter for ordering it, I’m judging Peter for making people remember him.’
‘Nah, they’ll remember I went here, ordered my drink, that’s what we want, isn’t it? People to trace us here?’
‘Fine,’ I sighed. ‘Drink up I wanna leave here.’
‘You want to go first or should I?’ he asked. ‘Should we cab share?’
I shook my head. ‘It would make me feel more comfortable, but as two strangers, we can’t really justify it if we get questioned. We’ll meet up later.’
‘I’ll go first,’ I said. ‘You head over to that comfy lounge chair and read the paper or something, I’m going to the bathroom.’ I chugged the rest of my drink.
I headed inside the much nicer airport bathroom and walked past the marble sinks into one of the large stalls. I slid my bag off my shoulder and took my new outfit out of it, slipping my shoes inside. I pulled off the pencil skirt and blazer. I slid on some bluejeans and exchanged my shirt for a tank top and flannel. I slid on some ankle boots and peeled off my fake face. I stuffed that in the bag too. Inside the lining of the bag was a small backpack I pulled out, putting the handbag inside, along with the brunette and grey wig. I walked out of the stall and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like me for just a moment. I pulled out my new mask and put it on. That was the downside of these masks, they needed reprogramming and it would take too long for me to do it in the bathroom. I put on my new face and watched myself transform into a new person. I was still older, I must have been in my 40s. But I wasn’t grandma old so that was good.
I gave myself a nod and headed out, it was now or never. I walked out of the bathroom, walked straight past Peter without even acknowledging him, like a stranger would, and then I was out the door and heading for the taxi rank. This was it, I was home free. Sort of.
‘Actually, can you just let me out here?’ I asked.
‘Sure, no problem doll,’ the cabbie said and I paid him in cash, climbing out of the yellow vehicle. I wanted to talk to him again. I got him talking, at least a little, I had to know something.
I walked into an alley and did a head check for cameras. Satisfied, I pulled off my flannel and mask. This was stupid, dangerous, but it might prove worth it. I felt it in my gut he wouldn’t kill me, I hoped I was right. I walked up to a building and reached for the fire escape ladder, pulling it down and ascending. This had better work. I climbed all the way to the roof, walked to the middle and stood, waiting.
It took 20 minutes but I heard the crunching of gravel behind me. I turned and there he was. I smiled softly. I didn’t know why, as far as we knew, this was an assassin. He made no move to speak, but then again, he didn’t really do that. I crossed my arms over my chest.
‘There are people after me,’ I said. He showed no acknowledgement that he’d even heard what I’d said. But he had to have, he wouldn’t have shown himself if he didn’t want to talk. I sighed. ‘Are they the people you work with?’
‘The people I work for already know where you are,’ he replied. ‘The people I work for aren’t concerned you’re a threat.’
‘Are you saying SHIELD does?’ I asked. He didn’t reply. ‘When did they decide I wasn’t a threat?’
‘Shortly after observing you for the first time,’ he said.
‘You know, I might not be able to get a scratch on you, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely incapable of fighting,’ I said and he looked amused. I scowled and he looked more amused. Fuck this guy. ‘What do you think I should do?’
He stayed silent for a moment. He seemed puzzled I was asking him for advice. I waited. And I waited. I raised an eyebrow at him.
‘You can’t hide,’ he said eventually. ‘It’s too late for you to prove you’re not a threat. Get yourself some powerful friends. Or learn to actually be a threat.’
‘If I do that, how are we supposed to keep having such nice conversations? If I was a threat, wouldn’t your people have me killed?’ I asked.
‘If you don’t, your people will have you killed,’ he replied. I frowned. So this SHIELD thing was serious. I wondered if the people he worked for had something to do with the leaks in SHIELD. I wondered if I could trust his advice. ‘Someone is coming,’ he told me. ‘Better run cookie.’
I frowned, only really old people ever called me that. I looked down for a moment as I thought about why he was calling me that nickname specifically and by the time I looked back up again, he was gone. I headed back for the fire escape and peaked at the alley. Nova and Iron Fist were below, talking. I stayed quiet.
‘I’m just saying, I don’t think we have a choice,’ Nova said.
‘There is always a choice.’ I recoiled. For some reason, Iron Fist sounded really familiar. I’d not noticed it last time I saw him, I’d been too preoccupied by the fact they’d lost me my emo advisor.
‘It’s SHIELD,’ Nova yelled.
‘It does not matter,’ Iron Fist said. ‘They cannot force us.’
‘Do you think if we found Parker and Carter they’d let us off the hook?’ Nova said and I almost yelled out. What the fuck?
‘No,’ Iron Fist said simply. ‘I think we would still have to help them and we would also have aided them in hurting our friends.’
‘I barely know them,’ Nova said. ‘And we don’t know they want to hurt them.’
‘Do as you want, but I will not assist you,’ Iron First said and I thought about the way he was speaking. I only knew one person that spoke that uniquely. It was gentle and awfully zen. I watched Nova walk out of the alley and then fly off into the sky. Luckily he didn’t look back or he would have spotted me. I looked down and saw Iron Fist sigh. He leaned back against the brick wall of the alley. It was now or never.
‘Danny?’ I asked. He looked up instantly.
‘How long were you there Bonnie?’ he asked.
‘Long enough to know I should trust Nova as far as I can throw him,’ I said climbing down. ‘I was meeting someone and you two spooked him.’
‘The same guy Power Man and I saw you with?’ he asked and I nodded. ‘I do not think you should trust him.’
‘And who should I trust?’ I asked, raising a brow. I’d only known this guy for a couple of weeks, what gave him the right to tell me who to trust. Also, I never said I trusted him.
‘Are you expecting me to say myself?’ he asked in return. ‘You do not know me, why would you? But I think you should not trust him. You should not trust anyone who meets up with you in dirty alleys.’
‘Careful,’ I said. ‘I am talking to you here.’
‘I already said I would not tell you to trust me,’ he said.
‘You called me your friend earlier, was that a lie? Why don’t you want to turn me in?’ I asked.
‘Because I do not want to work for SHIELD either,’ he said. ‘And because, while you had not spoken to me before the start of the school year, I know you.’
‘You know me?’ I asked. ‘Why?’
‘I respect you,’ he replied. ‘You may not trust me, but I trust you.’
I nodded. I pulled my flannel out of my backpack and slid it back on. I looked up at him for a moment before pulling on my middle aged mask and fixing it in place. I stood up again and turned in the alley, heading to the exit. I turned back for a moment.
‘Another time, Iron Fist,’ I said.
‘Where the hell have you been?!’ Tony yelled as soon as I walked into the lab. I looked up to see everyone staring at me.
‘I had to do something on the way back from the airport,’ I replied with a shrug. There was a 30 year old business man in the lab with us, which I assumed was Peter. I raised an eyebrow at him.
‘Yeah, it’s me,’ he said.
‘I have to go see what that package is,’ I said. ‘After that, we need to discuss how to recreate the serum.’
‘What?’ Tony and Steve said at the same time.
‘SHIELD is only going to this much trouble because they think I’m a threat,’ I said. ‘Instead of proving I’m not one, I want to get strong enough to fight whatever they throw at me.’
‘You’re insane,’ Tony replied.
‘I don’t even know how we would begin to recreate this, even being able to identify the same proteins in Steve’s blood,’ Bruce said honestly. ‘I was trying to recreate the serum when I first became the Hulk. I really don’t feel comfortable fucking around with this kind of stuff.’
‘Alright,’ I nodded. ‘We’ll figure something else out.’
I didn’t want to make Bruce feel uncomfortable, although what made me feel uncomfortable was that when I said we’d find another way Steve and Tony exchanged a weird look. I frowed for a moment but went downstairs to my bedroom to find out what this package was. I walked across the white carpet of the living room and into my bedroom, noticing instantly that there was a large document sized envelope on my desk. Gingerly I walked up to it and touched it softly. It just felt like paper. I ran a paint spatula I’d left on my desk along the seal and opened it up. Inside were photos. I flicked through them. It was Mrs. Phen. Some of her entering and exiting various rooms in the school, supply closets and such, some of students doing the same. Alan Haze was one of them, what surprised me was that there was more than one. What surprised me more was that there were other photos of her actually kissing or having sex with the students. I wondered if this counted as me in posetion of child pornography. Now, did I go to the police or to the school? Deciding I’d think about it, I put them back in the folder and slipped them into my bookbag, set for when I went back. Maybe I should ask Barton what to do with these. But, I had assumed it was him who’d gotten these. He was the only person I’d told I knew. And Peter would have said if he had these pictures, he’d have said something after the first student, he wouldn’t have taken them.
‘Tony, what are we doing about sending Aunt May a message?’ I asked JARVIS.
‘Taken care of Princess,’ he replied. ‘I set up a press thing with Steve, he’s going to take care of it.’
I had no idea what Tony was planning but I still had a day until the drivers he paid got to Tijuana. Unless he was planning on them getting caught before the border. I went back upstairs.
Steve Rogers POV
‘Well,’ I said to Tony once we were in private. ‘At least we know why she goes back. She must go back for the formula.’
‘To the 40s maybe,’ he replied. ‘We still have no idea why she goes anywhere, any when, else.’
‘I’m not even going to pretend to understand the things Bonnie says and does,’ I replied. ‘I just know I’m going to be there for her whenever she needs me. I messed up, but I won’t do it again.’
‘You can start with going downstairs to talk with the press,’ Tony told me and I nodded. I wondered if messing with SHIELD would get me fired. Probably not, but I can’t imagine Fury being particularly happy. Regardless of how he felt, I headed downstairs to deal with the press.
What did surprise me was, where was Tasha in all of this? She’d know what to do. But, she also trusted Fury implicitly, she’d never cross him. Perhaps that was why she wasn’t here. She didn’t want to get involved. But there was also the more sinister option of, whatever happened to Barton, she was involved somehow. She was either with him or trying to find him or they were both in the same shit and hiding. Either way, she wasn’t here. And I missed her.
Bonnie Carter POV
I stayed quiet as Bruce and Richards worked away mechanically. Tony seemed to have some kind of animosity towards this Richards guy, but he’d been quiet. I couldn’t get a real judge on him at all, I could see him, but he was basically a ghost in this lab. I looked over at Peter who was sitting doing his homework. I raised an eyebrow. I walked over and sat beside him. He smiled over his shoulder at me, before going back to his work. It was incredibly odd seeing some 30 year old stranger look at me with the fondness Peter normally did and it was weirder he was wearing his glasses. I leaned my head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent, he still smelled like Peter, beneath the disguise. I had so much information swirling around in my head, information I had no idea what to do with, how to use, so for now, I just wanted to sit and be blank.
‘What a day, huh?’ Peter said and I chuckled softly.
‘We’ve done so much and moved no further forward,’ I replied. ‘And we found out my brain is weird.’
‘Your brain was already weird,’ he smiled. ‘We’ll get through it. We got through the spider thing.’
‘Yeah,’ I smiled.
‘Here we go kids,’ Tony said coming into the room and bringing up a live feed from CNN, it was in front of Avengers tower and Steve was standing with their head Superhero/Supervillian/Alien etc. reporter, Addison Chen.
‘So, Mister Rogers, how are you coping with the current amber alert out on your foster daughter?’ she asked and then held the microphone out to him.
‘It’s certainly bizarre,’ he replied. ‘You see amber alerts come up from time to time on the news and you think, “God, hope that kid’s okay”, you think how glad you are it’s not your kid, and you pray that everyone involved turns out okay. But now it’s my girl’s face plastered all over the TV. You never think it’s going to happen to you. Although I think the most bizarre thing about this whole situation is, she’s not even missing. There’s no reason for there to be an amber alert out.’
‘Are you saying you know where your foster daughter is?’ Addison replied.
‘I do,’ he replied.
‘So how do you respond to the claims that a classmate from Midtown Science Academy, Peter Parker as we now know, has kidnapped her?’ she asked and Steve snorted.
‘First of all, have you met Peter?’ Steve started and an image of Peter flashed up on screen. It was from the yearbook, he was in the background of a shot of me and a few other students playing basketball. He was standing behind us, posing with a camera and pretending to take pictures. It was a pretty good shot, but it didn’t help him look any less weedy.
‘Kid’s not got it in him to hurt a fly. He’s been nothing but a gentleman every time I’ve ever met him and they’ve been friends for years. Also, if anyone has been kidnapped in this situation, it’s him. Bonnie is both older and stronger than he is.’
‘So you’re saying our concern should really be that of Peter Parker and his safety?’ she asked and Steve laughed.
‘No Ms Chen, I’m saying neither of the two of them have been kidnapped. And neither of the two of them are missing. They’re upstairs, at home in my apartment, watching Mean Girls and eating ice-cream. I really don’t know where these kidnapping claims came from, but they are both safe and unharmed in any way.’
‘He’s right, you could totally kidnap me,’ Peter said. ‘He forgot to mention how incredibly persuasive you are.’
‘What, and how complicite you are? You’d never just come with me, you ask way too many questions,’ I replied. ‘This only worked because you asked if I trusted you and I didn’t ask any questions, we just ran.’
‘I seem to remember some questions,’ he said and I rolled my eyes.
‘How good would it be to actually be eating ice cream and watching Mean Girls?’ I asked and he chuckled.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Let’s go.’
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 15: Fresh Laundry
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Fresh Laundry - Allie X
Bonnie Carter POV
Monday 2nd September 2013
‘How do you think we’re going to get out of this one?’ Peter asked as Cady started breaking up the plastic crown at the conclusion of the movie. I shrugged. I still had no idea. I frowned, thinking about the shots in my school bag. I wished Barton was around, I don’t know why I suddenly trusted him as much as I did, but I was sure he’d know what to do. I headed to my room, leaving Peter and our empty ice cream bowls in the living room.
I pulled the envelope out of my bookbag, scanning through the shots. I frowned as I saw one, I saw Mrs. Phen on the same day, around the time this was taken. The angle of these pics was so high, how did Barton even take these? They didn’t look like security cam snaps. I took a clean one and headed back to the living room.
'Pete,' I said. 'Can you look at these for me?' He looked up from the couch and came over.
'Sure, where’d you get… did you hire a PI to investigate those rumors?' he asked looking at the pictures. 'These are disgusting. Does this count at kiddie porn? Are you going to get me arrested?'
'No,' I shook my head. 'Just tell me about them.'
'What do you mean? I didn’t take them,' he replied. 'What do you think I’m some amazing photographer that could tell you the make and model of the camera by seeing a picture?'
'I was hoping you might tell me why the angle is so high, genius,' I rolled my eyes. He was about to say something and then he paused, looking at them.
'Well, either your PI is 11 feet tall or.. no, it can’t be security cam, the resolution is too clear, the image isn’t distorted by the lense either, nothing like our other security cams. Unless they put up their own cams,' Peter muttered to himself.
I thought back to where I’d been when I remembered seeing Mrs. Phen. Any time I’d seen Mrs. Phen. The vents. There was always a clank in the vents, it seemed to have been following me around, but, maybe it was her and I was just there at the right moment. But then, Barton wasn’t crawling around in the school’s ventilation system, was he? That’s ridiculous.
'How hard do you think it would be to break into our school?' I asked and Peter choked. 'What?'
'Well for starters, it’s a school night,' Steve said. I hadn’t heard him come in. 'Why do you wanna break into your school?'
'Digging purposes,' I shrugged. 'There’s no one around so there’s less risk of getting caught. We just need to kill the cameras.'
'And are you sure breaking in can give you the results you want?' he asked. 'Because if not, you’ve committed a crime for no reason. And if it goes wrong, you’ll be in a completely different world of trouble.'
'I’m sure,' I said. 'Plus, I have the feeling we won’t be the only ones there.'
'Oh no, not the big guy,' Peter groaned.
'No, not him,' I shook my head. 'Look, you don’t have to come. This might go better if I go by myself.'
'No way, you jump I jump,' Peter said. 'You always say people work better when someone’s around to watch their six. You’re no different.'
'Fine,' I sighed. 'Steve, you hold our cover? Liaise with us through JARVIS?'
'You want my help?' he asked, sounding pleasantly surprised.
'As funny as the press thing was, you’ve put doubt in SHIELD’s mind that we’re actually going to Mexico. I need someone to tell us if there’s any change at all in the situation,' I said. 'I don’t want us running around blind.'
'Fair enough,' he said.
'Little J, I need a secure line,' I said heading to the stairs. It was time Night Fury had an evening out. I was tired of being someone else.
'Who should I contact, ma’am?' he asked.
'Get me the personal number of Danny Rand,' I said.
'Yes ma’am,' he said and I could hear the dialing in my ears. I made it to Tony’s lab, to find everyone had gone.
'Hey, this is Danny,' I heard over the phone.
'Hey,' I said, unsure of how to start. I headed for the display Tony had stored my suit in.
'Bonnie?' he asked. I was taking my suit down and pulling off my clothes as I tried to figure out how to explain why I’d called.
'So, I’m breaking into our school to go digging for information, or rather to confirm some theories I’m working, I realise, we’re usually in the business of not committing crimes, but I think we can be excused just this once. You in?' I asked.
'We?' he asked.
'Yeah listen, I know who you are, it’s probably safe to let you know who I am,' I explained. 'I’m bringing Spider-Man with me, meet me in that alleyway you and Power Man found me in with that guy. It’s about 3 blocks from our school.'
'Alright, I’ll be there soon,' he confirmed.
I tugged on my suit as he hung up. I wondered where Tony and Bruce and Richards guy had gone. Surely they hadn’t clocked off for the day. I shrugged as I finished dressing and headed for the stairs. I ran down and met up with Peter who’d changed into his Spider suit. I went to my book bag and packed the pictures into an adaptable size backpack that Tony had provided. I slipped my slate into my pocket and picked up my stolen face mask. Night Fury was back, new and improved.
'You ready?' Spider-Pete asked. I nodded.
'So you’re Night Fury?' Steve asked, I nodded again. 'I guess I should have figured.'
'Don’t tell anyone,' I said and he nodded. Peter and I took the elevator to the roof, planning on swinging out of here.
It wasn’t long before we made it to the alley I’d said I’d meet Iron Fist in and we dropped down to the ground. It wasn’t exactly unusual for vigilanties to go co-op from time to time, but this was a tro that had never happened before.
'So you are Night Fury?' Iron Fist asked. I nodded. Popular question lately. 'How are we going to do this?'
'Little J, I need you to kill cams around us as we make our way to the school,' I said. Ordering my bra around had become almost second nature to me in not that long at all. I gestured to the guys to follow and we headed out, moving quickly but casually. Or as casually as three masked dweebs could.
'Oh my god, Night Fury! You’re back!' some guy with a Brooklyn accent gasped. 'Oh, my, god!'
'Evening,' I said.
'Love the new costume, and is this a new team up?' he said.
'I guess we’ll see,' I shrugged. 'We have to go.'
'How come everyone thinks you’re cool, and all I get is the J Jonah Jameson flame?' Peter said once we were far enough away. I chuckled.
'I guess you gotta be cool under the mask to be cool with the mask,' I teased and he grumbled.
'You’re just as much of a nerd as the rest of us,' he replied. Danny had been oddly silent this whole time. Or, I assumed it was odd. I really didn’t know him.
'So what is the plan?' Iron Fist asked as we neared the school. 'What do you hope to find when we get in there?'
'A few things actually,' I said, looking over my shoulder. 'Hey, J, disable the cameras around the outside of the school. And once we get to the building turn off the ones inside.'
'Yes ma’am,' he replied. 'Should I also start disabling the alarms?'
'Yes please,' I told him. 'There’s this agent I know who went missing recently, I think I might be able to find out where he went, I also think I might be able to find some leverage on how to get us out of this whole, trapped thing.'
'Anything else?' Peter asked. 'Something we can help with perhaps. Or are we just here to stand there and look pretty?'
'I can’t deny some eye candy would be nice, I really should have brought Power Man for that though,' I smirked. I could feel Peter scowl beneath his mask. 'Actually, I’m worried about how much I can tell you without someone else overhearing and without getting you killed. I really just need some back up, someone to make sure I’m not so deep in this I get me killed.'
'Perhaps Spider Man can remain outside then, he has the skills to climb up to the roof easily and watch for anyone incoming while we’re inside,' Iron Fist suggested. 'You can search inside and I will watch from the inside.'
'I don’t like the idea of leaving you in there by yourself,' Peter said.
'She will not be,' Iron Fist replied.
'He means with someone he doesn’t know or trust yet,' I explained. 'It’s been just him and me since we started. You’re new. And he doesn’t even know you beneath the mask.'
'You did not tell him?' Iron Fist asked.
'You trusted me not to say anything,' I replied. 'I didn’t want to do anything to betray that trust. And anyway, it’s not like you know who he is.'
'I suppose you are right,' he agreed. 'But do you trust me to watch your back?'
'For now,' I agreed. 'I don’t know you either, even if I know who you are.'
'Then I hope that will change in time,' he said.
'Okay, Spider-Man, you head straight up, Iron Fist and I will figure out how to get in on our own,' I said. Peter nodded and pulled himself up onto the roof with a web, leaving Iron Fist and myself alone in the dark.
'Have you ever broken into a building before?' he asked.
'Once,' I replied. 'But I was trying to get caught.'
'Here,' he moved in front of me and grabbed the door handle. He twisted it sharply and there was a crack. He slowly pulled the door open and stuck his head inside. Deciding it was clear, he gestured for me to come inside.
We headed down the halls and I directed us to Coulson’s office. I had Danny break the door knob again and I ducked my head in. As soon as I walked in I could hear a ringing in my ears. I reached up to grab the side of my head.
'Do you hear that?' I whispered, leaning back out of the office.
'Hear what?' Iron Fist asked.
'Never mind,' I shrugged and walked inside. I reached the desk and clutched my head. The ringing was stronger the closer I got to the back wall.
'Are you alright?' he whispered.
I grimaced. No. Nodding, I walked up to the back wall, looking for something to have caused the horrible sound. I thought briefly it may have been something going wrong with Tony’s pocket JARVIS prototype. I shook my head, no, this was too strange of a fault. Was it me? Was it my head? No, it was just my ears.
I thought back to the night it was just me and Tasha at the tower. She’d picked me up from school, we’d gone to train, ordered pizza and I'd gone straight to bed. While we were eating pizza on the training room floor though, she’d mentioned something to me. It was just idle chatter about Steve. She’d said how while he could do stealth missions, he hated missions that involved bugging places or going to places that were bugged. He said the modern bugs that most spy agencies like SHIELD used let off a horrible ringing sound, almost higher than a dog whistle that nobody but him could hear. It was some kind of higher frequency that the serum made him able to hear.
'Help me with this,' I whispered and reached up to the painting on the wall behind where Coulson would normally sit. Danny helped me pull it off the wall and place it down on the desk. I didn’t see any bugs. Just some of the paper backing peeling up at the sides. Wait. I slid my fingers along the sides of the paper backing until some of it lifted considerably. I slipped my hand inside and pulled out a black circle. Putting it down on the desk beside the painting, I then motioned to Danny to leave the painting where it was for the moment. I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what he thought about me destroying the bug. I was concerned, if this was here, every meeting Coulson had had could have been listened to. Which meant all the people SHIELD knew were enhanced, whoever was listening now knew too. I frowned. I left the bug on the table and walked out of the room.
'Were you able to hear that bug’s location?' Danny asked when we were further down the hall.
'It was letting off a ringing noise,' I shrugged. 'JARVIS can you trace where that bug is going?'
'Do you think someone was spying on Coulson, or that he hid it himself?' Danny asked.
'Why bug his own office?' I asked. 'He could simply report anything he needed to, to his superiors. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have many. No, someone is definitely listening in, and that means any meetings held there, are no longer confidential.'
'That is a problem indeed, it makes the SHIELD problem much bigger than we first expected,' he said. I nodded.
'That alone would be enough leverage,' I said. 'But I still wanna know what else I can find. I’d like to find out how long it was in there. I don’t remember hearing the ringing noise the first time I was in there. That’s the first time I heard it, so it has to have been some time between all of the meetings Coulson held with all of you guys and the fight with Liz.'
'That is still a considerable window,' he told me. I frowned, he was right.
'Once JARVIS traces it, we should destroy it,' I said. 'I don’t care if it lets them know we know about it, we can’t risk anyone getting hurt because of it.'
'Agreed,' he said. I heard a clunk above us. I frowned.
'We don’t have much time,' I told him. 'And we’ll have even less when someone figures out we killed the bug.'
'What do you want me to do?' he asked.
'Give me a boost,' I said and he put his hands out, though not quite understanding why. That was the thing about his mask, I could see when he was frowning at me. He had a very expressive mouth. I stood on his hands and he pushed me up towards the ceiling. I yanked on the vent and it popped open. I hoisted myself up and crawled to where I’d head the clank.
'I thought I might find you here,' I said, face to face with him in the cramped tube. 'Unless this is you digging for something else, I think we have enough to get Mrs. Phen.'
'Would you believe me if I said I was keeping an eye on you?' Barton asked.
'I might,' I nodded. 'But I think it’s something else. Come on, spill, we’re supposed to trust each other now.'
'That was quick,' he joked. 'Alright, I was doing some digging on the leak and got caught by the leak. They blew some of my covers and I was in the vents when all this happened. Figured I’d stay put. There’s far too many cameras around this area for me to have dodged all of them.'
'Guess it’s a good thing we’re here then,' I said. 'I killed them all within 3 blocks of here.'
'That’s bound to get noticed,' he told me.
'That’s why we’ve got to be quick,' I said. 'Are you coming with us?'
'You think I want to get caught cruising around with a bunch of kids?' he asked, shaking his head. 'Trust me, I’ve been doing this for years. I can handle myself. You’d better hurry up though.'
I rolled my eyes. Men. Scooting backwards in the vents until I got to the hatch I’d come in from, I lowered myself down, ready to jump. Just as I let go I landed in soft, but firm arms. I looked to see Iron Fist, he’d waited around to catch me. I smiled softly, unsure if he could see it due to the mask covering the lower half of my face. He put me down and I hurried into Coulson’s office.
'J?' I whispered.
'Complete ma’am,' he told me and I slammed my fist down on top of the bug, crushing it into pieces.
'Alright, can you get this back up while I start going through these drawers?' I said, not waiting for him to respond. I tugged open drawer after drawer. I knew it wouldn’t be out in the open, but I was hoping I’d be able to figure out where he was hiding everything. I ran my hand over the bottom of every drawer, looking for a false base. So he wasn’t that old school. I noticed Danny had started looking on the other side of the desk, flicking through paper files.
I moved to a different section of the office, the filing cabinet. They were all locked, fortunately JARVIS was able to walk me through picking the locks. It did however take longer than expected because I was a complete novice. Once I was in, they were just boring permanent files.
'Well, seeing as I’m here,' I said, pulling out all the ones I wanted and slid off my backpack. I put it down on the floor and slid the files inside. I zipped her back up and made a move to stand only to stop short and drop to a squat again. I frowned, touching the lock on the side. This filing cabinet had a false back. He was that old school. I ran my hands over the padlock and it burst open, revealing a touch pad with numbers on it.
'JARVIS?' I asked.
'Scanning,' he told me. 'I’ve scanned the buttons, there are four buttons pressed and it’s a 4 button code.'
'That only narrows it down to 16 combinations,' I growled.
'I’ll see if I can open it myself, ma’am,' he told me. I stood up, looking through the rest of the office, not wanting to put all my eggs in one basket or waste time.
'You find anything?' Danny asked. I shrugged.
'Just a lock I can’t open,' I replied. I frowned.
'That is puzzling, I did not think we would find anything here,' he told me. I nodded, I’d been skeptical. But I suppose if SHIELD was as bad as it seemed, it may not have been safe to store what was in there too far from home. Or in this case, far from him. But why an easily broken into school? I mean, we’d just done it, easily so.
'Ma’am,' JARVIS said. 'I have it.'
'Are you kidding me,' I groaned as I heard it. 7418. 'His fricken birthday?'
'Principal Coulson used his own birthday?' Iron Fist asked, coming over to crouch beside me. I shook my head.
'Steve’s,' I sighed. I typed it open and the filing cabinet clicked in release then sprung open. It was another filing cabinet. It was much smaller, I wondered if we could get everything in there. I didn’t know what was relevant but I knew we were really short on time. We’d been here way too long. I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it and answered.
'Thank god,' Peter said through the phone. 'Guys, we have a big problem. There’s like, a lot of black SUVs heading this way.'
'Shit,' I swore. 'Help me get these in here,' I said to Danny, shoving as many files as I could in the expandable backpack. It was pretty heavy now. 'Peter, we’ll meet yo..'
'I’m coming down to you, I don’t want them to see me,' he said. He hung up and I stuffed my slate back in my pocket. I shoved the cabinet closed and the rest of the lock and made everything all secret again. Danny helped me up and took the backpack for me. Hurrying down the hallway we met up with Peter, who was swinging like mad to reach us.
'They’re coming this way he said,' and I spun on my heel, trying to get back the way we’d come. Hearing a door smashing open and a lot of heavy footsteps heading straight for us, we ran towards the gym, the way we came in too risky. Another door nearby burst open and I internally swore. We were boxed in. Panicking, I grabbed Danny and Peter and yanked us into the girls locker room.
'I think we’re going to have to hide for a little while,' I said. Danny nodded and Peter, if possible, looked annoyed even through the mask.
'We should spit up,' Danny said and I agreed. Peter lifted himself into a vent and closed himself in. I nodded to Danny before I watched him climb into a laundry hamper and cover himself with towels. I walked up to my locker and typed in the combination to the pin pad, climbing inside and pulling the door closed. It was an awfully tight squeeze, but I was in. Whether or not I could get out, was another story. I hoped they didn’t find Danny, not only because I’d dragged him into this, but because he had all the information we stole.
After what seemed like an incredibly painful half an hour, the locker room door burst open. I almost held my breath, trying not to be the one who got us discovered. Also praying not to be discovered like this. I’d never been caught before as Night Fury, I didn’t want my first experience to be unmasked and squashed inside my gym locker.
'Clear,' I heard someone yell.
'I don’t get it,' another voice said. 'Why come all the way here, kill the bug and the cameras and then leave again? Why wouldn’t they try steal something?'
'How do you know they didn’t?' a third voice asked. 'They could have gotten out before we got here. If they knew where everything was, knew how to get it, it would have been in and out.'
'We would have seen them escaping,' the first voice said. 'Trust me, they’re here.'
'Sir, but we’ve checked everywhere,' the second voice asked.
'We’ll just have to wait them out,' he replied.
Fuck.
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 16: Better Open The Door
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Better Open The Door - Motion City Soundtrack
Tony Stark POV
Tuesday 3rd September 2013
After a late dinner Bruce and Reed headed back to my lab to work on trying to figure out what the mutant gene did in Bonnie’s system. I wanted to go back with them, help her like I promised myself I would, but I also needed to see Pepper. Just have some us time. Since Bonnie had been here I had been spending more and more time trying to do what I could to fix the mistake I’d made years ago, and ignoring Pepper as a result. That couldn’t continue. Otherwise I’d be making a mistake I couldn’t undo.
I headed up in the lift to our floor, finding her on the couch with her glasses on, reading through paperwork. The day was done and here she was, still hard at work. I smiled as I walked over, she looked briefly over her head at me and went back to working. I sat beside her on the sofa.
'What is it?' she asked, not looking up.
'Thought I’d spend a little time with you, I’ve been busy lately,' I told her.
'You’ve been incredibly thoughtful lately. First my parents earlier and now you’ve left the lab early. Did you break something?' she teased.
'I have to break something to be nice to you?' I asked and she smiled, shaking her head. She put her papers down on the coffee table. 'No, but I would like a reason.'
'Okay, my reason is I love you,' I said, tucking some hair behind her ear. She smiled at me, turning towards me and leaning in for a kiss.
'Usually you only say that when you’re dying,' she commented. 'I could get used to this. Wait, you’re not dying are you.'
'Not this time,' I kissed her forehead.
'Good,' she replied, resting her forehead on mine.
I skipped down the stairs to my lab after a couple of hours with Pepper. She was in bed now and I could work late into the night without feeling guilty about ignoring her. I wondered if Bruce and Reed would still be up. I walked in and sure enough, there they were. I read over their notes before going in to check over the research and results myself. I got to working and then time started to fly. I heard Bruce yawn a couple of times and that’s when I knew it was getting late.
'Sir,' I heard JARVIS chime above me. I kept looking through the microscope. 'You asked me to notify you if Miss Carter was ever in a no win situation.'
'Yes,' I agreed, pulling back. 'What is it?'
'Well, last night accompanied by Iron Fist and Spider-Man attempted to steal some information from their school and have not yet returned,' he told me. I pulled the slide out from the microscope and looked up at the clock. It was 4am.
'When did they leave?' I asked, brow furrowing.
'9pm,' he told me and I dropped the slide I was working on.
'WHAT?!' I screamed. Bruce and Reed turned to me. I waved them off.
'They reached the school at approximately 10:30pm,' he told me. 'Spider-Man called Miss Carter to inform him they were in trouble at 11:15pm. They have not moved location since 11:25pm.'
'Why are you just telling me this now?' I asked.
'You asked me not to inform you of Miss Carter’s affairs unless I was sure she needed help,' he replied. Four hours and thirty five minutes seems like long enough to tell she does not have another plan.'
'She’s been captured for four hours and you just let that happen?' I demanded.
'Miss Carter has not been captured,' he told me. I paused.
'Then why hasn’t she moved in 4 hours. Give me eyes.' I started laughing. 'She’s in a locker?'
'Yes,' JARVIS replied.
'Is that the only issue?' I asked.
'No,' he replied. 'Miss Cater climbed into her locker to avoid the forces sweeping the school. They have not left.'
I sighed. 'Can she text?'
'Yes,' JARVIS responded. 'Her slate has been in her hand and she’s been using it to text Spider-Man and Iron Fist back and forth.'
'Good, call her for me,' I said. 'Secure line.'
'Right away,' he said and I shook my head. I’d forgotten how life with Bonnie was never dull.
'Princess, stuck are we? Text me the sitch,' I told her. I saw the camera move down and her hands came into view, holding a phone. She opened her messaging client and started up a text message to me.
'We killed a bug in the
Principal’s office and now
two teams of soldiers are
patrolling the school waiting
us out.'
'Right,' I said.
'They’re not SHIELD,' she typed.
'Okay,' I sighed. I pinched the bridge of my nose. 'What do you want me to do?'
'I can get Spider-Man and
Iron Fist to the vents, once
there someone needs to get
them out without alerting the
strike force inside. I’m staying
put,' she typed.
'Why?' I asked.
'Technically only Iron Fist
needs to get out because he
has all the files we stole,' she said.
'But mostly because I am stuck.'
I laughed. 'Alright Princess, do you know what you’re going to do once they’re gone?'
The camera moved up and down. Looked like she was nodding.
Bonnie Carter POV
'Please.' I said to Peter.
'No. I’m not leaving you.' he replied determinedly.
'Okay, how about this?
You take the bag from Iron
Fist and get it to Tony who’s
working on getting the two of
you out. You hand it over and
come back. You won’t be
leaving because Iron Fist will
still be here with me.'
'Fine.' he finally agreed.
A few moments later I heard the vent slowly, quietly open up and then a whooshing past my locker which was probably Peter tugging the bag up via a web line. I wondered what Barton was up to, now we’d ruined his hiding spot. I texted Tony the new plan, he made changes accordingly. Apparently he would send a very quiet drone to pick up the backpack from the closest exterior vent and all Peter had to do was attach it. I relayed that information to the boy in blue and red, and he seemed relieved that I hadn’t tricked him into getting rescued. But it did unfortunately mean I’d have to come up with a new way of getting us out.
'JARVIS,' I typed.
'Yes ma’am?' he replied through my headphones.
'Can you turn the security
cameras back on but
reroute the footage to
come to my slate?'
'Yes ma’am,' he replied.
After a moment footage from all the cameras came up in small squares across my screen. I zoomed in on the ones near us, no one. Zooming out, there wasn’t anyone around for ages. They’d all gathered in the staff room save for a group of 5 that was doing a sweep, corridor by corridor. I could assume that this was a regular patrol, carried out by those who were not gathered in the staff room. They must have done this when they decided to wait us out. We had two options, wait them out in turn, hope that they’d leave when school was in session, which, was unlikely. Or, we use the opportunity to escape, we knew where they were, we had a chance. We had a bigger chance if we went through the vents.
'Hey, can you fit in the
vents?' I asked Danny.
'Probably??'
'I have an idea. Please
unlock my locker, I’ll give
you the combination.'
I heard someone’s footsteps on the ground and then a few moments later someone was typing in the pin. My locker door opened up and Danny helped me shimmy out of my very snug hiding spot. And the vents weren’t going to be much better.
'What’s the plan?' he whispered.
'I’ve got the security cam footage for the whole school, we’ll know where they are before they get there,' I explained. 'We travel through the vents where possible, so they can’t hear or see us and make a break for it when we get near an exit.'
'Great plan, get up here,' Peter said, opening the vent.
Iron Fist gave me a boost and Peter grabbed my arms, pulling me in. I leaned back down to offer Danny a hand and he pulled himself in with my help, which he probably didn’t need.
'JARVIS,' I whispered. 'Vent schematics.'
'Yes ma’am,' he replied and I then had a map guiding us of where we were going next to a live feed of the cameras in the section we were in and the one we were headed to next. We shuffled through the vents as quietly as possible and headed for the door we’d broken in via.
Things were running smoothly, so far, we’d only come into any kind of contact with these scary ass bad guys once. We crawled into an area where they were about to walk into and we stopped, staying painfully still until they’d gone into the section we’d just cleared and we moved on. I wondered where the hell Barton was, if he was still here. He probably left as soon as I’d told him we killed the cams.
Sliding to the last section I frowned and halted everyone. I couldn’t see exactly, but in the classroom right by the door, it looked like.. something. Something didn’t seem right. I asked JARVIS to reroute us to the nearest external vent hatch and we’d exit that way. It took a little longer to get there, but I was sure I saw someone in that room. I couldn’t really see a person, or much of anything, but my gut told me if we went near there, we’d be toast.
Peter opened the vent and slowly lowered himself out. I climbed out and dropped gently on the ground next to him. Danny was out just after me and Peter used his spider skills to close the hatch again. We looked around and then legged it out of the area, headed straight for the alley we’d met up in. Once there we could finally relax.
'Holy shit,' I said.
'My thoughts exactly,' Peter agreed.
'Did we get what you wanted?' Danny asked. I shrugged.
'I’ll have no idea until we go through it,' I said. 'I’m so sorry I dragged you into this. Of all my ideas, this was a pretty bad one. I didn’t think this would get so out of hand so quickly.'
'We all got out of it, did we not?' he replied. 'I signed up for this job when I donned the mask. If I could not handle that in there, I do not deserve to be wearing it.'
'Fair enough,' I nodded. 'Let’s head back, I’m really tired, and I think it’s safe to say, school won’t be in session this morning.'
'Agreed,' Danny said.
'So, subway?' Spider-Man asked. I laughed, of course we couldn’t swing away, since we now had Danny with us.
'Actually,' Danny said. 'I think we should part ways here. But, Night Fury, I am always up for a team up. Just give me a call, I will be there.'
'Alright,' I nodded. 'See you soon.'
'All aboard the spider train,' Peter said, wrapping an arm around me and then shooting a nearby building with a web, pulling us into the air.
I didn’t really relax until we’d landed safely on the landing pad at Avengers tower, and even then, I wanted to cry, sleep and eat. Maybe do all three at once. As soon as we were inside, I had JARVIS fix Peter up with someplace to sleep and I headed to where I could find Steve. I went to our apartment and didn’t see him. I went to my room and got changed into some pyjamas. I pulled off the mask and dropped it in a pile with the rest of my suit. I walked back into the living room with a blanket over my shoulders, looking for Steve. I wandered around for a little while, eventually finding him in the office.
'Are you okay?' he asked. I nodded not very convincingly. 'What happened?'
'We destroyed a bug in my principal’s office and the people on the other end got mad and showed up. I came up with the genius idea of hiding in the girls locker room and got stuck in my own locker. We tried to wait them out when they didn’t find us, but after four and a half hours we had to make our move. You know, after someone pulled me out.'
'But are you okay?' Steve asked. I shrugged.
'That scared the shit out of me,' I told him. 'I.. I put everyone’s lives at risk. They trusted me, they did as I asked, and we could have died. Or they could have gotten hurt..'
'But you didn’t,' Steve told me. 'I don’t like you going out there and putting yourselves at risk, that’s my job. That’s the job of an adult. But you’re almost 18. And it’s your life. The important thing to take away from this, is that you managed to get your team out. And you’re okay. If you don’t like what happened, if it scares you, go over what you did, what went wrong. And do better next time.'
I nodded and then wrapped my arms around him. I needed a hug. He put down his pencil and then stood up, to hold me a little better. I didn’t end up crying, but it took a little while for the urge to go away.
'Come on,' Steve said after a while. 'You hungry?'
I nodded. He led me through to the kitchen. It was almost 6am. He pulled out some leftover Thai food from the fridge and reheated it for us. We ate quietly in the living room before we put our bowls down on the coffee table and sat quietly. After a little while I got tired and put my feet up on the couch. I rested my head on Steve’s lap and felt him move the blanket around me and tuck me in. I was out shortly after, but it felt good having someone in my life, to sit with me when I’d done something stupid and scary.
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 17: Sleeping In
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Sleeping In - All Time Low
Bonnie Carter POV
Tuesday 3rd September 2013
I woke up at noon, my slate ringing on the bedside table. I didn’t remember falling asleep in my bed. In fact I was pretty sure I fell asleep on Steve after some Thai food on the couch. Someone had gone to the effort of tucking me in, of making sure Bucky bear was close by. I reached out for him and pulled him close. My slate had long since stopped ringing. It’d only been 6 hours. I could grab a couple more. I slid down in the sheets and dropped my head back down on the pillow. Just as the thought of sleep became more of a reality, my slate started ringing again. I picked it up with a groan.
'Hello?' I said.
'Hey, sorry to wake you,' Danny said. 'I thought you might want a hand with those files.'
'That’s a good idea,' I said. 'But I plan on continuing to sleep. Are you busy this evening?'
'No,' he replied.
'Great, I’ll come by your building and we’ll flick through them,' I said and then hung up. How dare he interrupt sleep.
I heard the door open to my bedroom, waking me up before I really realised it. There were footsteps to the side of my bed and I didn’t hear anything else.
'You going to get up or stay in bed all day?' Steve asked. I opened my eyes to see Steve standing beside the bed with his arms folded. I frowned and put down Bucky bear who had been tucked into the side of my arm. 'I thought you had big ambitious plans to follow.'
'I do,' I replied.
'Then stop sulking because you feel guilty and get up,' he told me. Where the hell had this tough love come from? I turned and scowled at him. 'There’s also a boy here for you.'
'Boy?' I raised an eyebrow. I knew no boys.
'His name is Danny, he has long hair,' Steve said.
'Ah,' I nodded. 'Fine.'
I climbed out of bed, walking out into the living room to meet him. He was in sweats and a t-shirt. I didn’t bother getting dressed. By the door Tony had put my Night Fury backpack that Peter had sent him and I walked over to the files. I brought them over and placed them on the coffee table in two separate files, the SHIELD ones and the Permanent Records I’d stolen for fun. I mean, if I was going to commit a crime it was go big or go home, right?
'Sleep well?' Danny asked.
'More than I probably should have,' I admitted.
'I can imagine you’ve got a lot on your mind,' he said. I nodded. 'What happened yesterday was not your fault. All of us went in there, prepared to deal with SHIELD catching us, no one could have known someone was listening in on SHIELD.'
'But I knew,' I replied. 'Barton told me that Fury thinks SHIELD has a leak. I didn’t think..'
'It doesn’t matter,' Danny told me. 'You’re 17 years old, you can’t know everything.'
I nodded, sitting down on the couch instead. Danny picked up a folder and I picked up another at random. I held the folder in my hands, not really looking at it. I frowned.
'Something wrong?' Danny asked, not looking up from his file.
'How’d you know?' I asked.
'Your chi,' he replied simply.
'Well,' I paused, not really understanding his explanation at all. 'Who was it?'
'Who was what?' he replied.
'Last night, we know it wasn’t SHIELD,' I explained. 'So who was it?'
'That’s a good question,' he told me.
'JARVIS,' I asked. 'When you traced that bug for me, where did it go?'
'I’m pulling up a location now,' he answered and a holoscreen appeared in front of Danny and I. It was an old abandoned antiques shop in Brooklyn. I frowned, why did this place look familiar?
'Do they know?' I asked.
'No ma’am, Mister Stark’s wiretaps are untraceable,' JARVIS replied.
'Good,' I said. 'Watch this location for me.'
'Certainly ma’am,' he replied and I opened up my file with a newfound vigour. I smiled to myself, glad we’d been able to make a breakthrough. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Danny smiling too, he must be just as happy about it as I was. We spent a good couple of hours reading quietly and bouncing different paragraphs off of each other, trying to interpret them.
'Would it really be so bad to have a team?' I asked.
'What do you mean?' Danny asked.
'SHIELD tried to force us all together, the same way they did with the Avengers, none of us really want to be under their thumb but, is it just that or the fact we didn’t really want to be forced into some group project,' I said. Danny nodded. 'I mean, last night, we all did pretty good together. You team up with Power Man a fair bit, and didn’t you team up with Nova?'
'Nova was under duress,' Danny told me. 'But yes, small team ups aren’t such a bad thing. Trying to force six heros who do not know or trust each other is the problem. Our other collaborations occured organically. Anything you force, breaks.'
'Regardless, if we break in somewhere again, I think we’re going to need backup,' I said and he chuckled.
'You’re supposed to have a taste for stopping crime, not committing them,' he said.
'Everyone loves a rebel,' I smiled. 'What did the school say this morning?'
'School has been cancelled due to a gas leak,' Danny said. 'Though, none of us really believe that, especially when I told them what really happened last night.'
'Great, White Tiger knows I got myself stuck in my own locker,' I sighed. 'She probably thinks I’m a moron.'
'If it makes you feel any better, she already thought you were a moron,' Danny told me and I snapped my head around to him.
'What a jerk!' I threw my hands up. 'Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to stop doing stupid stuff and hope for the best.'
'God knows you’ll never be able to do that,' I heard and Danny and I turned to Steve holding pizza boxes behind us. 'Doing stupid stuff is the famous Bonnie Carter schtick.'
'Well I wasn’t going to say anything,' Peter said from behind him.
'Peter,' Danny greeted. 'When did you get here? Have you come to join us with the research?'
'I’ve been here since yesterday when we made a break for it before lunch, and I can’t. I’ve got other research I need to be doing upstairs,' he explained. 'Did you guys find anything?'
'They have profiles on everyone, they know everything about you, everything. They even have a report from Chief Stacy where he expressed concerns over your psychiatric state,' I said. 'But for some reason, they have a seperate file on Night Fury and Bonnie Carter.'
Danny chuckled. 'You’re the only one who managed to pull off the secret life. I guess when you are already high profile because you’re the great granddaughter of the former director, they didn’t think you’d hide being Night Fury.'
'What about you, then?' I asked. 'Shouldn’t you be Iron Man-ing it?'
'That is not really my style,' he replied. 'I would like my time spent as Danny Rand to be just Danny Rand.’
'Well just Danny Rand, would you like to stay for pizza?' Steve asked.
'That sounds good,' Danny said with a smile.
It was late, Danny had gone home and Peter had headed back up to the lab. It was just Steve and I left in our apartment. We were both in the kitchen cleaning up the pizza boxes, refrigerating what was left. I’d run the sink and filled it with soapy water to start washing plates and glasses.
'Will you teach me to shoot?' I asked. Steve paused in front of the fridge.
'That serious, huh? You’re not about to start packing heat, are you?' he asked. I shook my head.
'I just want to know if someone points one at me, I have more options than to kneel or get shot,' I replied.
'Okay,' he agreed. 'Wash the rest of those dishes and meet me upstairs. I’ll teach you.'
I watched him go and then went back to washing. I rinsed the dishes and left them in the drying rack, not hand drying them like what was probably expected. I headed to my room to change into my suit. I took the stairs to the range, needing the extra time to think about the world I was about to enter. Previously, I’d defend myself and others with my fists and my pink baseball bat. This would be the first time I used offensive weapons, the first time I really learned to attack.
I reached the range and Steve lifted a brow at my attire. I shrugged him off, meeting at the table he was standing by. 'The suite has shock absorbers. I don’t know much about guns, but I do know they recoil.'
'And the force will probably take you by surprise,' he agreed. 'Alright, since you’re already prepared for that, maybe I should show you how to use the M1.' he moved to pick up what I assumed was a rifle. 'This is an M1 Garand standard U.S. Army infantry rifle from 1936-1959. This is the first thing I ever learned to shoot.'
I understood while no longer in common use, Steve wanted to teach me a bit more than how to not get killed. He handed it to me, let me hold it, get used to the weight. Then he started pulling it apart, showing me how all the parts worked. What went where, how to clean it. He showed me, and then I had to do it. He made me do it over and over and over before he had me put it back together and load it one final time. Then he started showing me how to line up a shot, where to brace it against myself, the proper stance. Even with the shock absorbers in my shoulders, Steve was right, I wasn’t expecting the force.
He didn’t let me put it down until I’d mastered the vital shots on the stationary targets. Next, he handed me a colt. Showing me how to take that apart as well. This was intensive, I had no idea there’d be this much information in this. I thought it would be ‘stand here, bang bang bang go to bed.’
'Alright,' Steve said as I removed an empty clip from the 1911. 'It’s getting late. I know you slept all day, but you should probably go to bed.'
'Yeah,' I agreed. 'Sometime tomorrow our doubles should get to the border, I need to be ready, maybe start wearing my disguise again.'
'I hope you’re ready for what happens when SHIELD catches up to them,' Steve said.
'I think so,' I nodded. 'I hope so.'
Wednesday 4th September 2013
I woke up early, when I normally would for school, and put down Bucky bear. I stretched and headed for the shower, getting dressed casually and sending my suit to Tony’s special laundry service. Then I headed to the range and picked up the 1911 colt Steve had been training in, wanting to get some practice in. Steve met me up there an hour or so later, taking the handgun off me and handing me instead, a sniper rifle. I raised an eyebrow.
'Trust me, there will be a time when you’re going to need to know this,' he told me and I nodded. Trusting him. He taught me how the sight worked, how to take it apart and put it back together again, just like he did with everything.
'What the fuck,' Peter asked from behind me. I took a deep breath and ignored him, pulling the trigger and hitting the target. Nowhere important, but I hit it. 'When did you start using guns?'
'Last night,' I replied, trying again.
'Why?' Peter demanded. 'I thought we were clear on the whole, not killing anyone front.'
'We are,' I said. 'I’m not learning about guns to go around shooting people for fun. This is important.'
'Whatever, today’s the day we’re supposed to get to Tijuana, are you ready? Is the plan you’ve neglected to share all the details on ready?' he asked. I sighed, pulling the trigger again. 'Was that intentional?' he asked as he stared at the hole in the crotch of the target down the range.
'No,' I scoffed. 'I’m just not a very good shot.'
'Good,' he replied. 'Because a leader who can’t take questions is not one I want to work under.'
'Leader? We’re a team Pete,' I said. He smiled and shook his head.
'Oh come on,' he said. 'You don’t believe that, not anymore. You’ve got the same qualities Grandma Margret and Steve have, people rally around you. You say jump and hundreds of people climb over the safety rail and land in the water.'
'What the hell are you talking about?' I asked, putting the rifle down on the table.
'You just asked Spider-Man and Iron Fist to come help you, gave us no details and we fricken did it,' he said. 'Your guardian, you ask to teach you to shoot guns and overlook being out after curfew and he just does it? Whether you’ve noticed or not, you’re our fearless leader. People trust you, they look to you. They think they know what you’re doing. So I hope you do, because I’ll be following you even if you don’t.'
'Fuck,' I replied and he scoffed. 'Don’t really think I wanted that much responsibility so soon. Awesome. Let’s lead a bunch of people to their deaths.'
'That’s the spirit,' Peter clapped his hands together.
'JARVIS, give me a report on the antiques shop I had you watch,' I ordered.
'Shift changes occur on a 6 hour rotation, few movements happen in between those hours, namely when the bug was destroyed, though many mobilised from an alternative location. The current occupant numbers are low, and remain that way excluding shift changes.'
'Perfect,' I said. 'And the school?'
'The force’s numbers have died down significantly, only a few remain,' he told me. 'Now would be the optimal time to return.'
'I’m not going back there just yet,' I said. 'Can you find out what kind of security the building has? And get me the schematics as well.'
'Certainly ma’am, I should have that information available in a few minutes,' he told me.
'Very good,' I said. 'Pete, how many other enhanced humans do we know?'
'Personally? We just know Iron Fist,' he replied.
'I’ll have to reach out to him again, see if we can mobilise some troops,' I said. 'We’re going on an adventure.'
'And just like Bilbo was, I’m filled with apprehension,' Pete said. 'But I’m down, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it years to come in retrospect, miss it even.'
'You chose the web life,' I shrugged.
'The web life chose me,' Peter corrected. 'I just happen to enjoy it.'
'And someday, just like you said, you’ll find you enjoy this too,' I smiled.
I moved over to where Steve was pretending to read the paper. He closed it, folded it and put it down on the table. I smiled to him and handed him the rifle. He tousled my hair before I left and I headed to my room to get dressed for the day.
As I showered, I thought about how many people I actually thought we’d need to check out this antiques shop. It was small, abandoned, we could probably manage it with just the three of us again, but I wasn’t sure that would be such a good idea. I didn’t want so many that it would draw attention to us but I didn’t want so little that if we got into trouble, we couldn’t get out of it.
Pocket J chimed in with the schematics I’d asked for and I pulled up a holoscreen in the shower. I frowned. We were so boned. There was an entire secret floor to this place. What the hell, why? I washed the conditioner out of my hair and turned off the taps. I angrily dried myself off as I got ready for the day, grabbing my freshly cleaned uniform. Fuck it, worst that can happen is we die and we’ll be out of this mess. Best that can happen is we save the day and we’re out of this mess. It’s win win. Kinda.
'Hey Danny,' I said as I put on some makeup. JARVIS connected him with me straight away.
'Hey Bonnie,' he replied.
'You up for another suicide mission?' I asked. I could hear him chuckling.
'Sure, what do you have in mind?' he said and I had Pocket J send him the building and the schematics.
'What is this building?' he asked.
'This is the building where Little J traced the bug to,' I explained.
'And you want to investigate?' he said and I smiled.
'You betcha,' I agreed.
'Alright, we’ll need some backup,' he said. 'I’ll contact Power Man.'
'It’s in Brooklyn,' I told him. 'We’ll meet three blocks west.'
'See you there,' he said.
I headed to meet Peter, I’d been kind of neglecting him a little, but he seemed so wrapped up in what he was doing. And even if that was a shitty excuse, I was too wrapped up in what I was doing to come up with a better one. I pulled his spider uniform out of his bag and threw it at him. He was in the lab scribbling down signs and numbers that made no sense to me. He looked up, startled, just before the suit hit his face and he frowned.
'Some spidey senses,' he muttered and I laughed.
'Get ready, we’re going on an adventure hobbit boy,' I told him.
'Awesome,' he replied sarcastically.
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 18: Keep Myself Alive
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Keep Myself Alive - Get Scared
Bonnie Carter POV
Wednesday 4th September 2013
I felt the wind tear past the exposed parts of my face as we swung through the New York City skyline. Buildings rushed by and it wasn’t long before we were in Brooklyn. I hummed softly, over the summer and when I’d been too melancholy to really hang out with Peter, I’d missed out on all of this. I hoped to never have something like that happen again.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the two yellow uniforms of Power Man and Iron Fist as we hurtled to the ground. We touched down in an alley just out of the way, it was the perfect meeting place. I did my best superhero landing on the dirty ground, one knee and one fist on the cobblestones as Pete stuck himself to a wall like a fly. He paused there, as I pushed myself to my feet. Iron Fist and Power Man approached us with purpose.
'Good to see you again, Night Fury,' Iron Fist greeted, grabbing my arm in a sort of medieval knight handshake.
'Likewise,' I said from beneath my mask.
Power Man stood silent as Spider-Man sauntered over, once he’d climbed off the wall. We all met briefly in the alley’s centre to then be led by me out the other side we’d come in from. I started out the other side, leading us to the antiques shop. Coulson had said we went to school with a bunch of enhanced kids, I wondered if Power Man was one of them. Iron Fist was. We started getting close to our location, not speaking to one another more than our initial greetings. We were barely a block away now.
'So what’s the plan?' Power Man said.
I wondered who he was. I tried not to think about it right now. We had work to do. We walked into the back alley behind the building we were breaking into. I figured it would be safer to enter from the back, rather than just walking in the front like we owned the place. `
'I’ve got the building’s schematics,' I said. 'Looking over them, there’s an opening through that vent there we can get in through. I say we send someone in and they unlock the door and let the rest of us through. The room the vent comes out into is pretty narrow, so the likelihood of running into big trouble is small. We’ve all taken out our fair share of low level goons before.'
'No,' Spider-Man said. 'There’s four of us, if we’re sending bodies inside, it’s two of us or none of us. Being alone will put us at risk, we don’t know what’s on the other side.'
'It’s a small room so it’s not like there’s going to be an army on the other side,' Power Man replied.
'True, there might just be emo boy, that giant possible assassin we keep running into,' Spider-Man argued. 'And we already know he could kill us with a look.'
'You’ve run into that guy too, huh?' Power Man asked. 'Iron Fist and I were on patrol once early in the morning and we ran into this girl from our class. He’d cornered her in this alley, we stepped in but before we could do anything he fled. I don’t think that guy’s going to be much of a problem. Seems like he only prays on the weak.'
'What makes you think she was weak?' I said in a low voice.
'Not everyone is Night Fury,' he replied. 'I’m not saying she’s weak because she’s a girl, if that’s what you’re thinking. This chick’s an athlete, she’s plenty capable but this guy is next level. More than she can handle.'
I wanted to chuckle. He thought Night Fury was capable, but not Bonnie Carter? I wonder if this is how Peter felt when Flash told him he wasn’t cool enough to be Spider-Man. I shook my head. We were getting off topic.
'Night Fury, she can’t fight him,' I said. 'Not yet anyway, I haven’t figured out the right combination of moves, what his weak spots are, but I don’t think I need to. I’ve actually spoken to him before. He doesn’t attack if he doesn’t think you’re a threat.'
'You are a threat,' Peter told me and I rolled my eyes. 'Or at least dressed like this you are.'
'What does that mean?' Power Man asked.
'It does not matter,' Iron Fist interrupted. 'We do not know this man is even connected, so there is no use in worrying about the what if’s. We just need to put our plan in action and get going.'
I supposed Danny didn’t really want to debate the differences between me and my alter ego now that he knew who I was, or he didn’t want one of us accidentally outing me to Power Man. I wasn’t sure if Peter knew who Iron Fist was, he knew Danny had been over to help me go through the files but he hadn’t questioned me on why. He hadn’t said anything about how I knew Iron Fist either, or not much anyway.
'Right,' I agreed. 'Well, once we get the door open, we can sweep the building. There might not be much on the upper floor, it’s just a cover after all, but still worth checking out. It’s once we get to the stairs, things get complicated. We’re going to need to split up, the underground facility is massive.'
'What exactly are we looking for?' Power Man asked.
'These guys have been listening in on us, hearing all kinds of sensitive information. They bugged Midtown, exposing the identities of many, if not all, of the enhanced kids attending. And who knows what else from where else. We need to get in, grab what we can, destroy what they have and try stop them from getting anything else. It depends on what we have time for, but if we know what they have, it’ll give us an upper hand on what’s to come. We also need to try find out who these guys are.'
'Alright,' Power Man clapped his hands together. 'Let’s get in there and burn this place to the ground.'
'Metaphorically I hope,' Peter muttered as he moved up to climb the wall. It was unspoken that, myself and himself were the only two out of the four that had any chance of getting into the tiny vent in the side of the old brick wall. Danny picked me up and hoisted me onto his shoulders, ready to help me through the vent.
'Yeah, we’re going to need to find a new way in,' Spider-Man said as he pulled back from the wall he’d stuck himself to. 'There’s no way I can fit inside. And there’s no way I’m going to send you in on your own.'
'I’ll be five minutes, tops,' I said. 'I can do this. We’ve got to do this now, before they have a chance to spread this information, if they haven’t already. It’s damage control and it’s now or never. People’s lives are at risk, if we don’t do this now, we’re fucked.'
'Blunt,' Power Man said. 'But she’s right.'
'I don’t like this,' Peter sighed. He tugged the vent open again. 'Something doesn’t feel right.'
'I’ll be fine,' I said firmly, shutting him down.
Danny moved closer to the wall and stood still and firm while I pushed myself up and into the vent. I slid through the tight shaft. It took a minute or two of shimmying before I managed to get to the end of the tube I was in but once I did, I was able to simply push on the grate and it flopped open. I pushed myself out more before turning around so as I came out I was upright. I grabbed hold of the bricks, gripping them hard with my fingers, feelling their rough surface cutting my skin. I slid my legs out of the vent and dropped down on the floor with a light thud. I sighed softly, that wasn’t so bad, now the way out.
‘Hands up,' I heard.
'Fuck,' I said and I heard a dark chuckle behind me.
'Yeah, you said it best, Night Fury,' I heard a gun clicking behind me. 'Now hands where I can see them,' I lifted my hands slowly into the air, bent at the elbows. 'Good, now turn nice and slow.'
I did as asked, trying to think of a way out of here. Out of this situation I’d gotten myself into seconds into being in the room. Peter was right, I needed to start listening to his bad feelings, some of the time, they weren’t just him being an overprotective worrywart. I laid eyes on the guy, he was dressed the same as the soldiers from the school, holding a glock out at me. He was Italian American, very strong New York accent, that meant at least he was local. If they were all local, maybe this was a small operation. Or this was a local division of a much larger scale operation. I hoped it was the former rather than the latter. I gulped.
'Don’t get any funny ideas,' I told him. 'I’m going to cooperate.'
'Well that makes a nice change,' he said. 'Your kind don’t usually like to play by the rules.'
'I like games,' I shrugged. 'If you wanna play, there are some rules involved.'
'So you know how this works, then, hand over your weapons. Put them on the ground and then kick them over,' he said, gesturing to the old, manky carpet. I paused, staring at him. 'I thought you said you’d cooperate.'
'I don’t carry,' I replied. 'Pat me down if you want. Not even a knife.'
'The games you like must be dangerous,' he said.
'Those are the best kind of games,' I said.
'Or you have something much bigger up your sleeve,' he said, approaching. I smirked, it met my eyes even if he couldn’t see my upturned lips. I knew if I had three big friends outside, so I just had to get to the door and I’d be okay, but that wasn’t a card I was going to play just yet.
'Or, I am the weapon,' I said as he held the gun on me with one hand and patted down my sides with his hands. He gestured for me to turn around and patted me down again.
'You certainly got some dangerous thighs,' he replied. Gross. I’m 17. 'You really don’t carry?'
'Nope,' I said, turning around to face again. 'I find I have the skills equipped that I don’t need to.'
'Is that so?' he asked, raising a smug eyebrow.
'Yep,' I said, popping the P.
Choosing my moment, I swung a leg up in the air, kicking him in the face. I grabbed his wrist with one hand, holding the gun away from me while I wrapped the leg I’d just kicked him with, over his shoulder. I jumped, using it to pull me up onto him. Praying I did the trick Tasha had taught me right, I twisted and flipped the both of us over. I hadn't managed the whole, jump off at the last second and land with catlike prowess thing yet, like she did, so we both landed on the ground with a thud. His superior body weight was crushing me and I coughed, trying to shove him off. He lay limp, maybe I’d knocked him out in the flip. I eventually got him off me and I kicked his firearm away. I ran over to the door and typed in the passcode JARVIS read out to me. I had the door pushed open, relatively quietly for the speed I’d done it at and ran out. I almost crashed hard into the back of another goon. This was shaping up to be a lot harder than expected. I guess this is what happens when you play in the big leagues.
He hadn’t heard me right away, he had his gun pointed out and I panicked, pretty sure he had it pointed at my friends, even if I couldn’t see them at this particular moment. I smacked him hard in the neck, getting him in the pressure point JARVIS had identified for me. Barton had tried to teach me about them, in training, but I only knew the vague areas, I still couldn’t pinpoint them exactly on my own. Practice I guess.
The goon dropped down to the ground in front of me and Power Man, Iron Fist and Spider-Man stared at me in shock. I raised an eyebrow at them for a second before I moved down to check the guy was unconscious. Finding nothing to tell me otherwise, I grabbed him and his gun, and dragged him back through the door. The others followed me inside, staring at the body on the floor.
I found an empty cupboard in the old back room and dragged the unconscious guy across the old, flakey floorboards. I shoved him inside, watching his head loll to the side. I went over to the first guy I’d knocked out and dragged him in there too, dropping his heavy body on top of the other. I pushed their knees up to their chests and slid the door shut. I looked around the room properly for the first time. There was a table in the back corner with one chair. It was facing the back door and there was an open sports illustrated magazine on the table. My guy was either on break, had slipped a way for a cheeky wank, or he was meant to be watching the back door. I walked over to the spot I’d dropped him, picking up his gun as well, hiding them on my person. Steve taught me how to use these for a reason. And even if he hadn’t, I wasn’t just going to leave them around for the bad guys to find again when they woke up.
'Alright,' I said, letting out a deep breath. 'Now we’ve got two knocked out guys in the closet, let’s get back to the plan.'
'Actually ma’am,' JARVIS chimed. 'That first assailant is dead.'
My blood ran cold. He was what..? I froze up, the others staring at me, they didn’t hear JARVIS, they couldn’t, it was just me wearing headphones. I didn’t know what to do. According to JARVIS, I’d just killed a man. I’d taken human life. I..I.. I didn’t mean to... I knew I’d have to one day, in my chosen career path, or second job. But I’m only 17..
'Are you alright?' Iron Fist asked. 'Your Chi just changed dramatically.'
'I’m.. I’m fine,' I said. 'Let’s go, we need to split up and move fast, just in case someone starts to wonder where these guys are. Or before... one of them wakes up.' I’m sure at least Peter noticed how I’d paused saying that, how weird I’d suddenly started acting.
'Okay, I’ll take Spider-Man and we’ll go this way,' Power Man said, walking to the next door and gesturing right.
'No I wanna go with..'
'And I will head left with Night Fury,' Danny agreed. I shrugged at Peter, I didn’t really want to be around him right now, not after what I’d just done. I had to hold it together, just for a little longer, get my team in and out of this building before I let myself fall apart. Compartmentalise.
Danny and I walked through the building, looking around. It really was just an abandoned building. There weren’t any visible cameras, no bugs I could hear, nothing besides the security system passcode locking all the doors and windows. I frowned, downstairs it was then.
'Downstairs?' I asked. Iron Fist nodded.
He hadn’t said anything about what had happened, save for the earlier comment on my Chi. I wondered if he would. We headed to the stairwell, meeting Power Man and Spider-Man there. They’d apparently also come up with nothing on the top floor. I supposed that was just in case some idiots like us managed to break in and didn’t know about down stairs. We’d get in and assume there was nothing here and either leave or wander around looking at nothing long enough for them to find and kill us.
I grabbed the door handle, pushing it down. It resisted, I shook it again. I frowned. It was locked. I looked around, there was no keypad. I looked at the others. Iron Fist stepped forward and took the door handle from me, pushing it down hard. He frowned as well. He mustn't be able to do the thing he did the other day when we couldn’t get in the school door. I looked up and around. There was a vent. I pointed up.
'Try not to take too long this time,' Power Man said as he hoisted me up into the air. 'We’ll keep watch here. You’ve got Iron Fist’s number if anything happens.'
'Or mine,' Peter butted in. He’d been salty this whole time. He clearly didn’t like having to depend on others to get this job done. He’d have done it all alone had he and I not been such good friends when all this started.
'Okay,' I said as I shoved myself through the vent.
The space was short, I was met, almost instantly, with a corner. I tuned it and had to either turn again or go through a grate. I decided on the grate and pushed against it, dropping down into the stairwell, this time checking for goons before I turned and shimmied out. I dropped down lightly onto the landing of some grey stairs, I searched the white walls for cameras, nothing. Why? I looked at the door, an old fashioned deadlock. I twisted the knob on the deadlock and then unlocked the reinforced door handle as well. I pulled the door open and the guys followed me down the stairs. There was nowhere else to go but down.
Once we got down there were two long corridors, forward or right. I looked to Danny who nodded right. I grabbed Peter’s gloved hand for a brief second in passing to let him know it was okay. He squeezed it back before dropping it and continuing down the hallway with Power Man. Danny and I took the first door on the left, opening it, spotting no bad guys or cameras and then closed the door behind us. It was just a locker room, which I suppose it made sense why there were no cameras inside.
I cruised around the room, finding nothing of any real value, like school every locker had pincodes so I’d have to have JARVIS crack every single one and there was no way of knowing if there was anything of value in any of them. I looked at the names on the lockers, I couldn’t find anything of value. Rodriguez, Smith, Brown, Taylor, Anderson, Williams, Garcia, Johnson, Miller, Rumlow. They all sounded generic American. They were all too common to know anything about them either. I’d never know who these people were. Damn. I nodded to Danny, the few minutes we’d spent in here was long enough.
We headed back out into the corridor, walking down to the next room and stepping inside. It was a meeting room. A large table sat in the middle with eight chairs around it. There was a blackboard behind it on the far wall that was scrubbed clean. It was like they knew we were coming. I frowned as we turned to leave. Maybe they did.
'This feels.. wrong,' Danny said as we entered the third empty room.
'I know,' I agreed. 'It’s been too quiet.'
'Let us just search the rest of these rooms and be grateful we have not run into anyone yet,' he said.
'Yeah, I suppose you’re right, those two goons earlier was enough,' I said, trying not to let my mind wander too far into what I’d done.
After fifteen minutes of wandering around and finding nothing we decided on heading back to where we’d split off from Spider-Man and Power Man. Danny was walking in front of me as I wandered down the hallway, deflated we’d done all this for a waste of time. I’d killed a man, and it was all for nothing. In fact I was so wrapped up in this, that I was almost clotheslined by Danny, as he threw an arm out to catch me before I rounded the corner by the stairs.
He tugged me back against the wall and put a finger up to his lips. He pointed round the corner and I nodded, slowly peering around the corner with him like something out of Scooby Doo. Wandering up the corridor towards us, were two guys, and they’d be on us soon. Quick stepping, I dragged Danny backwards with me into the locker room. We seemed to be hiding in them rather a lot lately.
Thankfully, the guys seemed to head up the stairs, unfortunately, there were two guys missing from upstairs. Maybe that was why they were headed up. What if they discovered the bodies? What if they discovered them while we were still here. I was armed now, I couldn’t use the unarmed defence now. Because I took the guns off of my pile of bodies.
Peering through the door and agreeing the coast was clear, Danny and I headed out again to find out what had happened to Spider-Man and Power Man. I hoped Pete was okay. We moved down the corridor, looking in each room for them. Halfway down someone grabbed my collar and yanked me through a doorway. I looked up through the door I’d been yanked through, and Iron Fist had turned around and noticed I was being pulled through. He didn’t look concerned. I turned my head around, speak of the devil. Peter.
'Did you see those guys? That was close,' Peter said through his mask, closing the door after Danny.
'Yeah, we saw them heading up the stairs,' I said.
'Hopefully, it is not because of the two guards we took out upstairs,' Danny said. I frowned. He’d thought that too.
'We’re running out of time then,' I said. 'Better get the rest of this hallway cleared.'
'Alright,' Power Man agreed. 'Same teams, let’s split.'
Steve Rogers POV
'I thought it was about time Fury discovered they aren’t really on their way to Tijuana, where are they?' I asked, walking into Tony’s lab.
'They went out on another mission. Bonnie had her pocket assistant trace the wire tap they found in her principal’s office and they’re breaking into the source,' he replied, not looking up from the microscope.
'And you just let them?' I demanded. That sounded like big leagues stuff and this was their second mission as a team. Not to mention they almost got into serious trouble last time.
'Princess would have gone with or without my go ahead. You know her as well as I do, at least this way, we have big brother protocols,' he told me.
'Big brother protocols?'
'I have real time access to a body cam and mic. I can see what she sees, when she sees it, her pocket assistant sends me her location and we can get in and pull her out,' he explained. 'She’ll be fine. Last time I was contacted because she hadn’t moved position in 4 hours and that was because she’d gotten stuck in her gym locker.'
'Alright,' I nodded. That did make me feel a little better. 'Can you activate it now?'
'Only if her pocket assistant thinks she’s under duress or she decides to send us a visual,' he replied. I frowned. No way she’d do that.
Bonnie Carter POV
It had been a good twenty minutes since we’d split up, nothing had changed, meaning those guys who went upstairs hadn’t found anything wrong. Or hadn’t sounded the alarm yet. Either way, that was good. For now. As usual, we’d found no rooms of use. We were on our last room on our side of the corridor and they were on their last door. Which meant there were just the double doors in front of us.
'Anything?' Power Man asked as I walked into the white corridor.
'Nothing,' I replied.
'Man, this is weird,' he said. 'Are you sure this is where you traced the signal back to?'
'100,' I replied. 'Pocket assistant is never wrong. It’s possible the signal went here on purpose. A decoy building.'
'I guess we will know when we check behind this last door,' Danny said.
'Alright, here goes nothing,' I said, shoving the door open.
We were immediately greeted with a balcony and a railing. Out over the railing was a large and dusty project room. I almost looked like the old pictures of the room they made Captain America in, that I’d seen when I was a little girl. Only there was a chair in the centre of the room, rather than a large space age pod. I moved forward, taking the stairs two at a time. Once I was on the ground again, I could see there was a lot more to the chair in the centre of the room than I thought.
'Ho-ly shit,' Power Man said.
'You can say that again,' Peter agreed.
'Is that what I think it is?' Power Man asked.
'Yeah, yeah I’d say so,' I agreed.
'These guys have a tortchure chair,' Peter said. 'Maybe that’s why they let us get this far, figured why bring us here when we could come to them.'
'Or it’s not for us,' I said hopefully.
I looked around the room. There was an old console that had Stark written on it. That was concerning. At one point or another, Stark Enterprises has had something to do with this building. Looking around the room I spotted what looked like a glass escape pod to my right. I wandered over to it without even thinking. It was giving off cool air. I touched the glass, I gasped, pulling my hand back instantly, like I’d been burned. It was cold, like ice.
'It’s cold,' I said. Peter came over and started looking at it.
'I think this is a cryo-tube,' he said. 'I thought they only existed in fiction.'
'Well, someone is trying to make them a reality,' I said.
'I’m so uncomfortable,' Peter said. 'My spidey senses are going off constantly. Let’s hurry up and get out of here.'
'Agreed,' Iron Fist said. 'Let us split up again. There is an office back there and then there is that room up this second set of stairs.'
'We’ll take the stairs,' Power Man said.
'Then we’ll take the office,' I shrugged. Might actually find something in there.
I walked on ahead, opening the double doors. There was a large desk and heaps of filing cabinets along the walls.
'Alright, we’re going to have to split up on looking through these,' I said and walked up to the closest one, pulling open a drawer. Empty. 'What the fuck?'
'Yours empty too?' Danny asked.
'Yeah,' I replied. I started pulling the drawers open rapid fire, trying to get through as many as possible. Soon I was in the center of the room and nothing. 'Anything?'
'All empty,' he replied.
I frowned. Just to be sure I walked over to the desk and tugged on a drawer. Except it wouldn’t open. I sighed in relief. Finally it looked like we were on to something. Danny came over and ripped the front off the drawer, leaving the drawer inside the desk. I pulled out the contents of the drawer onto the floor. He did the same with the rest of the desk drawers. Not really having the time to see if any of it was useful, once again Danny and I shoved what was paper in my backpack. There were pens, paperclips, and various pieces of crap in varying sizes scattered on the floor. They got kicked aside, nothing of use. It was the last drawer that I paused when picking up the files. Photos had scattered themselves across the linoleum. Our photos. Pictures of me, of Danny, of Iron Fist, Peter, Spider-Man, Power Man. Everyone who was called into the office that day and more. Flash was in here. I turned, shocked, to Danny. He ran his hands over them, scooping them together and stuffing them in my backpack.
'We do not have time right now,' he said, leaning over my shoulder. I looked at him. I bit my lip. I nodded. We didn’t.
He helped me up, throwing my backpack over his shoulders as we headed for the door. I felt my phone in my pocket vibrate and I grabbed Danny’s arm, tugging him back. I pulled my phone out but heard the footsteps of heavy boots near the door.
Forgoing the text, we ran back towards the desk and ducked under it. It was awkward, but we both managed to squeeze in the small space. I picked up my phone, it was a text from Peter saying they’d managed to duck but the room had soldiers in it. Wherever those guys had gone, they were back, and they had friends. I showed the message to Danny who nodded. We listened under the desk for a while. There was nothing. I typed out a message, showed it to Danny. He nodded, agreeing I was right. We should sneak through the doors one at a time.
Sliding out from under him, I crawled around the side of the desk. Scurrying over to the door, I listened for the footsteps. There didn’t seem to be any near. I gently tugged the door open a fraction so I could peep out.
'I don’t get it man,' I heard. I looked to my left and there were two strike soldiers coming down the stairs.
'Don’t get what, Anderson?' the second soldier asked. Anderson. That was one of the names in the locker room.
'The bug in the school was destroyed like two days ago, why haven’t they come yet?' Anderson asked.
'I don’t know man, those kids might be smarter than we thought,' he said. 'Or, they’re coming and they’re just not here yet. They’ll take the bait, don’t worry.'
I frowned. We’d been played. Or, I was meant to hear that and we were being played in a different way. Or, the most unlikely option, we’d slithered around a trap, broken into their drawers and gotten some decent intel without getting caught. Yet . But that was doubtful.
They walked across the room and headed for the other stairs. That was the area Peter and Power Man had been exploring, but they’d said they’d hidden. I hoped it was well enough. I’d taken out two guys, I could probably do it again, but I didn’t know if I could take out two armed guys at once. And if I could, could I do it without alerting others to my presence?
I let out a shaky breath. I could do this, I could figure this out. I used the opportunity of them being upstairs now to slither out of the office, crouching by a consol under the cover of the landing above. Hearing walking the opposite way overhead I kept going, heading under the stairs, hiding, ready. I pulled out my phone, texted Danny my plans to take them out. Told him to stay put. I put my phone away only to see his head poking out from behind the door. He slipped through it, closed it behind him and walked softly to where I was. He crouched to get under the stairs and readied himself beside me. I scowled at him, what was he thinking? He leaned in as close as he could to my ear.
'We are a team,' he whispered and moved back to his position. Idiot.
I heard footsteps on the stairs. Danny and I readied ourselves as they came down. I’d grab the guy on my side, he his. We’d have the element of surprise, but these were well trained strike soldiers, they’d soon get the upper hand if we didn’t go hard and fast. Boots touched the linoleum and I dove out and grabbed my guy and dragged him back before he could react. We were under the stairs before the other guy knew what hit him. Danny used the shock as his moment to dive round and start fighting his soldier.
I had Anderson, he pulled his gun out and tried to aim for me but I grabbed the top like Tasha had taught me and he fired just as I pulled it to the side. He missed me and my hand over the chamber stopped the casing from coming out the side, jamming the glock. He went to yank his hand free when I kneed him in the nuts, making him loosen his grip for just a second. But that was all I needed. I threw the gun to the ground and kicked it out of the way.
He watched the gun for a second so I threw my leg up onto the guy’s shoulder and pulled myself up. That was as far as I got before Anderson grabbed my thighs and ran head first for the wall behind the stairs. I let out a grunt as I was slammed into the concrete. I brought an elbow down on his head, not really sure what to do in this position now I couldn’t do the flip Tasha had taught me, and I couldn’t dismount because I was being repeatedly slammed into the wall.
I froze up. I knew what to do. What I should do. What Tasha and Barton would do. I’d already done it once today. But that was an accident. This was different. This would cross a line. I didn’t have time. I couldn’t get down. I couldn’t keep getting slammed into the wall. He twisted slightly and slammed my back into the wall this time. My head bounced off the concrete. It throbbed. I couldn’t take another knock like that. I had to. I pulled the gun I had in the back of my pants out, clicked off the safety and fired. One shot, straight down.
I was thrown to the ground, one of my thighs trapped under the incapacitated body beneath me. I pulled myself forward across the ground. Pulling myself free. I clicked the safety back on the gun and tucked it in the back of my pants with the other. I couldn’t look back, I knew what I’d done. Instead I looked up at Danny, his guy was on the ground. I rushed round the stairs, meeting back up with him. He looked at me, concerned, before he took my hand and ran with me up the stairs.
Out the doors we’d come through, we ran into Peter and Power Man, who’d stuck their heads out their respective hiding spots to investigate. Now four of us, we ran for the stairs to take us to ground level. We heard people nearby but we kept running, if we were fast enough, we’d beat them.
At the last second I heard the door to the stairs open and Danny dragged me back into the closest room. I saw Peter and Power man duck under the stairs and we hid by the door. Danny had it ever so slightly ajar so he could watch what was going on. Suddenly he threw the door open and dragged one of the guys inside, closing the door behind him. He kicked the guy over to me and I threw a punch. We took it in turns, throwing hits until the guy dropped. We pulled the door open to see Peter had webbed the other guy to a wall.
'Let’s get out of here,' I said and Peter nodded.
Danny had a hand at my waist as we ran up the stairs and out into the back of the antiques shop. We turned for the back room we’d come in from only to see two more soldiers coming in. Thrusting the backpack into Spider-Man’s arms, Danny ordered them to go out the front while he and I rounded on the strike operatives. I leapt up in the air, wrapping my legs around my guy and flipping him. I’d been doing the same move over and over, but as Tasha put it, practice makes perfect. My guy dropped and stayed down, Danny’s followed shortly after. We headed for the back room, checking for others when the cupboard door to the place I’d stashed the bodies in opened. Looking worse for wear, it was the guy I hadn’t killed, stumbling out of there.
'Night Fury, I might have known it was you that got the drop on me,' he said. 'Not many that could.'
'Your welcome I guess, congrats on keeping your ego intact,' I replied.
'Well, now it’s my turn,' he said, pulling a remote out of his pocket. 'The others might still be here, but it’ll be worth it to the cause.'
I didn’t have time to ask what he meant, he pressed a button on the remote immediately and there was an explosion downstairs. The building shook and I almost fell towards Danny. I frowned. There was another just as I was recovering.
'What did you do?' I demanded.
'I’m closing shop,' he replied. 'And you’re staying behind for stocktake.'
'The hell we are,' I said. If this building was going down, we weren’t going with it.
I threw myself forward and swung for him. I was too obvious with my maneuver and he hit me square in the head. I was thrown for a moment, dizzy from the punch. Danny took over as I came back to my senses.
'Step back,' I called as another explosion went off, this one shaking the foundations harder than the rest. I pulled the gun out and fired a shot out hitting him twice, square in the chest. I clicked the safety back on and ran out the back door with Danny.
Notes:
Bonnie: *gets taught to shoot*
Bonnie: *immediately shoots people*Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 19: Take Back The Power
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Take Back The Power - The Interrupters
Steve Rogers POV
Wednesday 4th September 2013
I watched the simulation Stark was running on his holo screens again. Not really giving Fury my full attention like I should have been. He was irate on the other line, but this time, not about Bonnie. Instead, he had called me to tell me one of the old SSR bases SHIELD had in its possession had been blown up. It was an old disused building located under an antiques shop in Brooklyn. Apparently, the very same one I’d been created in.
'Right,' I replied. 'I’m ready to mobilise whenever.'
The line went dead as I watched the brain fluctuate with the electrical impulses that Dr. Richards and Dr. Banner had deemed abnormal. I had no idea what any of this meant. Or why it was happening now. Had it only started now? And what was it ?
'What did the pirate captain want?' Stark asked, not looking up.
'He called to tell me the base I was created in just got blown up. And that while the search for Bonnie and Peter continues, he’s putting another team on it and focusing on who just attacked a SHIELD building.'
'Does he have any idea who it might be?' Stark asked. I shrugged.
'My mind did wander..' I said. 'But I don’t think he knows anything more than we do this time.'
Bonnie Carter POV
I was slammed onto the ground, pinned under Danny who’d been using his body to shield me from the debris. Despite the explosions, the building looked like it had been the victim of a controlled implosion. Making me wonder how far in advance they’d planned this. It was all so controlled, measured. I was panting hard, Danny and I barely made it out of there alive. I was panicking, what happened to Peter? I had to keep myself from screaming out his name, revealing his identity. I looked at Danny, he nodded he was okay. I pushed up off the ground and past him. I ran, stumbling over the rubble.
'Spidy! Spider-Man!!' I screamed, muffled by my mask. It took a lot not to throw it off right there.
'Fury!' I heard Power Man call. Why wasn’t Peter yelling back to me?
'What happened?' I demanded.
'He got hit by a piece of debris,' Power Man explained. 'Well we both did but, with my powers..'
I knelt down beside him on the concrete. I felt under the back of his mask, feeling for blood and trying not to take it off. I felt his neck for a pulse. He was breathing and his heart was beating, that’s what was important.
'Get out of here, now,' I said. 'We can’t get caught here, regardless of who did this.'
'What?' Power Man demanded.
'I’m serious, I need you to go to Stark Tower, take my backpack and give it to Happy or Stark himself. No one else. Explain who it’s from. No one else, do you understand me? Stark or Happy. Not Captain America, no one. Stark or Hogan.'
'Got it,' Power Man replied.
'What are you going to do?' Danny said. 'I will stay and help..'
'No,' I replied. 'I need you to go with him, make sure it ends up in the right hands and no one comes after you. I’ll be fine.'
'Are you sure..'
'Just get out of here!!' I screamed.
'Alright,' he nodded. The two of them took off and I looked down at Peter’s unconscious form, finally letting myself break. This was my fault, I dragged him into this. I should have done this by myself.
'I’m so sorry,' I sniffed. 'This is all my fault.'
I took a deep breath. Having a breakdown wouldn’t help him. He needed me to be strong, to get him help and to get it soon. I was shaking as I held him.
'JARVIS,' I mumbled. 'Please, I need help.'
'It’s taken care of ma’am,' he told me, gently, if an AI was capable.
I hated having to move him, but we couldn't stay here. It would be dangerous if we did, it had to be done. I tugged Peter up off the ground, awkwardly carrying his lanky, much taller form the rubble. I had to find a place to hide us until help could arrive. Get away from the scene. As usual, he wasn’t heavy, I guessed that was because we now knew I carried the Super Soldier Serum. A few alleys away I laid him down, hiding us behind a dumpster.
It felt like hours before anything happened. I was cradling Peter’s head in my lap, praying he wouldn’t need a craniotomy or anything serious. Hoping he’d just wake up with a headache. I heard footsteps in the alley. I stopped sobbing. Peeking out from behind the dumpster my stomach dropped. It was him. I slipped out from under Peter, walking out to meet him. Hopefully Peter was wrong, he wouldn’t see me as a threat like this.
'You’re wearing my mask,' he said.
'You know who I am?' I replied.
'It’s a miracle no one else has figured it out,' he told me. I laughed softly. It wasn’t a very good disguise. And it was only now it was even a real mask. Before it had just been a scarf.
'You know, does your employer?' I asked. He shook his head. 'Do they see me as a threat now?'
'Night Fury, yes,' he replied. 'Bonnie Carter, no.'
'Can we pretend I’m Bonnie Carter today?' I asked, looking back at Peter.
'You’re Bonnie Carter every day,' he replied. 'Who are you?'
'What?' I asked.
'Who is Bonnie Carter?' he asked. 'I’m an assassin. I take out targets, threats. Why am I following you? You’re just a little girl. Who are you?'
'I wish I knew,' I replied. 'Are you the Winter Soldier?'
'They also call me by the Asset,' he said. 'That used to be the building I’d report to when I was finished tailing you.'
'Sorry, I didn’t really intend on blowing it up,' I told him.
'They did plan on blowing you up,' he said. 'I wouldn’t feel that upset about it.'
'You’re less stoic today,' I commented. 'Does this mean you like me?'
'No,' he said bluntly.
'I think you do, or else I’d be dead,' I toyed. 'You kept my alter ego secret, why’d you do that? You’ve been protecting me all this time, why?'
'You seem... familiar to me,' he said. 'But I can’t always protect you. If you keep acting so reckless, the people I work for, they might figure out who you are, or deem you a threat. And then I’ll have to take you out. I won’t have a choice. I never have a choice.'
'You always have a choice, if you don’t like what they make you do, just leave, you’re not a puppet,' I said.
'You don’t get it, I am a puppet,' he replied. This was the most conversation I’d had out of him, ever . 'I don’t work for them, I’m owned by them. I’m the Asset, a tool. An object. You’re my mission, and I can’t remember anything before I woke up to this mission.'
'The cryo tube. That’s yours?' I asked. 'That’s why they call you the Winter Soldier. But why… all the assassinations, it’s not one organisation, that’s you. They’re all yours. But why the memory loss? The Winter Alzheimer's Patient doesn’t have the same ring to it.'
'The chair,' he answered. 'I get wiped after every mission, I get wiped if I start asking questions.'
'How long since they last wiped you?' I asked.
'I was woken when your friend first started dressing in tights,' he replied. 'You popped onto their raidar, why?'
'I don’t know, he got bit by a radioactive spider, that wasn’t down to me,' I said. I looked back at him, he was still breathing.
'No, you were already on their radar,' he said. 'They just found you again.'
'What?' I asked.
I heard screeching tires and looked back at the sound. Pulling into the alley was an armoured SHIELD van. Looking through the tinted window I saw a flash of red hair. Tasha. I turned back to the Winter Soldier but he was gone. Typical.
The back doors opened, to EMTs in SHIELD uniforms got out with a gurney and wheeled it over to Peter. I left them to it, walking over to the van and getting in the passenger side. Tasha raised an eyebrow at me.
'Were you behind the explosion?' she asked.
'Not intentionally,' I told her. 'I take it you’re in on this now too?'
'Barton and I don’t have secrets,' she replied. 'Or, not anymore.'
'You knew where he was this whole time?' I asked.
Tasha pulled the car out of the alley again and started speeding through the Brooklyn streets, heading for a secret SHIELD hospital. I’d become aware of them having emergency outposts all around the city. In many cities all over the world.
'I found out,' she said. 'I put those photos on your desk after he had me develop them. I helped him get out of the school after you fucked up your break in. Just like you screwed this one up. You need more training. Or you need to leave B and Es to the professionals.'
'I know,' I looked down. 'I almost got him killed.'
'He’s going to be okay,' she told me.
'I killed three people,' I whispered. She turned to me, taking her eyes off the road as she studied me. 'The first one was an accident, I fucked up the flip…'
'We’ll keep practising,' she assured me, sounding unsure of how to comfort me. I looked back at Peter again. The EMTs had taken his mask off as they worked on him. He was covered with a blanket to cover his uniform as he was strapped to the gourney.
'The other guy I didn’t have the choice, I was stuck on his shoulder as he was slamming me into the wall, I mistimed the flip…'
'Why did you keep doing it if you sucked?' she yelled at me.
'You said practice!' I yelled back.
'Not in the field!!'
'And then the other guy, he was the one I left alive, just knocked him out, he set off the explosions, fighting him was taking too long so I shot him,' I said.
'You learned something,' she said. 'You learned a lot. This will be useful. He’ll be fine. This will help you become a better agent.'
'I’m not going to be an agent,' I told her. 'I’m going to tell Fury that when he figures out I’m not really driving to Tijuana. This has to be separate. The bug in the office, that got to those guys, whoever they are, everyone’s secret identities got exposed. SHIELD put a bunch of kid’s lives at risk.'
'You think you can do better?' she asked.
'I’m the only one SHIELD doesn’t know is a masked vigilante,' I shrugged. 'I’ve gotten more intel in three days than SHIELD has in years. Maybe I can.'
'You also almost got yourself and your friends killed, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves,' she said.
'What am I going to tell Steve?' I said.
'You don’t have to tell him,' she told me.
'I don’t want any secrets between me and Steve,' I said. 'I got really hurt when he didn’t believe me about that fight, when I didn’t tell him how I was feeling before that, he was really hurt. If I want him to trust me and to keep trusting me to do stuff like this, to do anything, we can’t have secrets.'
'He’s your legal guardian, he might put a stop to all this,' she said.
'He might,' I nodded. 'But no secrets. Plus, I killed three people, that might not be a bad thing.'
'He’s killed more,' she said.
'He was at war,' I said.
'Since then,' she said.
'That’s part of his job,' I said.
'It’s part of your job,' she said.
'I’m 17,' I said. 'Most people get into murder later in life.'
'You’re like me,' she shrugged. 'An early bloomer.' I felt a chill down to my bones. Was she implying she’s been killing since she was my age?
We pulled up to the SHIELD hospital and I watched them wheel Peter out without getting out. I turned to Tasha. She had an eyebrow raised at me.
'I need to get to those files,' I said. 'I need to read them and then I need to get to school.'
'Alright,' she said. 'Let’s ditch the mommobile, we need fast.'
She led me to a corvette and I climbed inside, letting her speed even faster than she normally drove with me in the car. We were at Avengers Tower in no time and when I got to the lab Tony and Steve were waiting for me. I pulled off my face mask. Steve looked at me sympathetically and that’s all it took for me to be in tears again. I ran straight to him and let loose. He held me tightly, cradling my head as I clung to him for dear life.
'It wasn’t your fault,' he said. 'None of that was your fault.'
'I knew walking into that would be dangerous,' I said.
'And that’s okay,' he said. He pulled back from me, lifting my head to look him in the eye. 'When I go out on missions, I know it’s going to be dangerous, but I still never know what’s going to happen. That’s why we train, to try to be prepared for every situation. But you never do. You’re here, everyone who went came back alive, that’s a win in my book. It’s okay.'
'But..' I said.
'No buts, go get cleaned up,' he told me. I nodded.
I headed to my room, stripped off my uniform and dumped it in a pile on the floor. I stepped into the shower and let the hot water run over my joints. I looked down at the floor, watching the water run red with blood and grey with the concrete dust. There was blood on my face from being close range to the shots I fired. I thought back to my conversation with the Winter Soldier. I was familiar to him? I’d never seen him before that day in the alley. What was he talking about? And why did he still wear the goggles?
Steve Rogers POV
'She killed three people,' Tasha told me as soon as Bonnie left. I frowned. I knew if she was determined to be an Avenger or a SHIELD agent she’d have to eventually. I knew she’d done it back in the 40s, I just hoped to keep her innocent just a little longer.
'Did she have a choice?' I asked.
'No,' Tasha replied.
'Then nothing’s changed,' I told her. 'She’s not a murderer, she doesn’t do it for fun. It comes with the job. I can’t say I’m happy about it, I’m furious with myself for letting her put herself in a situation like that, but I know if I didn’t let her she’d have snuck out. If I hadn’t have let her train with you, if I hadn’t have helped her with the Tijuana situation, it could have been a lot worse. I’d rather she did what she does keeping me in the loop.'
'She said she didn’t want any secrets between you, even if it meant putting a stop to all this,' she said.
'I want to,' I said. 'I think if I was a real parent, I would. But I can’t keep her from what I already know is her destiny.'
'Do we know any more about how she goes back?' Tasha asked.
'No,' I shook my head.
'I know that when I was friends with her, she could do it whenever she wanted, I’m just not sure if she could control the time and place, she always had to catch up on where she’d been. She’d meet people for the first time with them already knowing who she was,' Stark said.
'Your dad’s journals say anything?' I asked.
'I hate reading them,' he said. 'But, there’s nothing I can tell. Maybe they’ll make more sense to someone who knew him. You should read them.'
'Remind me to get her to write a journal,' I said. 'Maybe then we’ll know.'
'Then we’ll know too much,' he replied.
Bonnie Carter POV
I took a deep breath as I looked in the mirror, I could do this. Agent Coulson didn’t scare me. And I owed it to my friends to keep it together. I turned away from the Tower’s interior decor and headed for the doors. Danny said he’d meet me outside around now. I walked outside to find him waiting for me, stood in some street clothes for a change, rather than his usual pyjamas.
'Thanks for coming with me,' I said.
'No problem,' he told me. 'Your chi seems a little better now, I trust you were able to talk with someone about today’s events.'
'I did,' I said. 'And Peter’s going to make a full recovery.'
'That’s good news,' he said. 'Are you going to tell Coulson who you are?'
'No,' I smiled. 'If he hasn’t figured it out yet, we’ll leave him in the dark.'
'Night Fury, I can’t believe no one noticed, you’re just like her.'
'You’re not the first person to say that,' I laughed softly, thinking back to the Winter Soldier again. 'I wouldn’t bother with the cloak and dagger at all if it wasn’t for the safety of my friends. Iron Man is very high profile, he can get away with his identity being known. I don’t have that luxury.'
'Being high profile isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,' he told me. I’d forgotten he was technically heir to Rand Industries. We’d had a similar discussion not too long ago about just this with Steve.
'I’ll keep that in mind,' I said.
We walked in comfortable silence the rest of the way to the subway station and rode to the stop 3 blocks from our school. I liked Danny, he knew when to make conversation, when to enjoy the quiet and when he did talk, he knew just what to say.
JARVIS had told me that since the facility had blown up, the private army that had been occupying our school had left. And shortly after, a SHIELD cleanup team swept the school. Coulson was now in his office.
Danny and I made it to the Administration Office and walked through to the privacy glass door to Coulson’s office and knocked firmly. Not waiting for permission, I twisted the knob and pushed the door inwards. I waited a moment before stepping through. Good thing I had, I looked up to see Coulson aiming a glock at the door. I raised an eyebrow at him and he looked bemused.
'Miss Carter, I was under the impression you were on your way to Tijuana, in fact, we’re still tracking you there,' Coulson said. 'I’ll bring up the live feed.'
'No need,' I told him. 'They’re hired body doubles. I knew I couldn’t outrun SHIELD so I bought myself some time to get a grasp on what was going on.'
'And did you?' Coulson asked. I sat in one of the chairs across from him. Danny followed suit a moment later. I tried to hide my smirk at his knees hitting his chest. I didn’t know why the chairs in Coulson’s office were so short but I loved it.
'That’s what we’re here to discuss,' I said. 'I believe on Monday you were calling certain students in to build a new team for SHIELD.'
'That’s somewhat right..'
'Save the bullshit,' I put my hand up to silence him. 'Whatever you had to say to sell it, to protect us, to train us, keep us safe, to keep an eye on us, whatever. It’s not important. What is important is how much danger you put us in doing it.'
'Excuse me?'
'There was a bug in your office this whole time!' I exclaimed. 'Your whole school was taken over minutes after the bug was destroyed. You’re facing a sizable enemy with resources and skill, so much so your arrogance put us all in danger. You had a cabinet in this very room with all the intel you’ve gathered on all of us in here. If they bugged this place, and they seized this place, who’s to say they couldn’t get a hold of all that information. You put everyone at risk.'
'An oversite which hasn’t gone un..'
'Shut up, I’m talking,' I told him. ' No one is joining SHIELD. I understand why Fury wants another team. Why a backup is important. But you can’t do that if you get B-team killed before they’ve even been called up. Which is why we haven’t dismissed the idea of a team entirely. Just the part where SHIELD gets it’s grubby little hands all over the project.'
'You want to build a completely independent team?' he raised an eyebrow at me. 'You really are a naive…'
'What part of "I’m talking now", do you not understand?' I asked. 'As for whether or not you think we’re capable? We’ve already discovered a leak, tracked that leak to it’s point of origin, mounted various investigations and managed not to get any of our team members exposed to the enemy. We’re still doing damage control over your slip up, everyone’s secret identity was put at risk. For someone who deals with the World Security Council, I don’t feel particularly secure. We’re teaming up completely independently from SHIELD. If you want this to happen, that’s the way it has to be. That being said, we’re happy to lend assistance where possible when SHIELD can’t handle something, which, from what I’ve learned so far seems like it’ll be happening a lot. Since you were so fooled by the Tijuana diversion. And that this could happen under your nose.'
I placed the file Barton and Tasha had gotten for me on the desk in front of me. Coulson opened the envelope and flicked through the photos. He frowned as he did so. Eventually he looked up.
'You blew up a base and barely managed to get out alive, you’re not that competent, do you really think you can handle this? This isn’t some game where you can play at being spies, you have to be committed. And I’ll still need any intel recovered from there by the way,' Coulson said matter of factly.
'One base destroyed is one less the enemy has at their disposal. As far as I’m concerned, that alone makes the mission a success. And as far as you or SHIELD is concerned, there was no intel recovered from the explosion site,' I said getting up from my chair.
'If there was no intel recovered, it wasn’t that much of a success,' Coulson said as I turned my back to him. Danny followed me out. I didn’t think I handled that negotiation very well, I think I came off as more spoiled than commanding, maybe I needed some lessons from Steve.
'You think that worked?' Danny asked.
'I think it was a double bluff,' I replied. 'I think they did want us under their thumb but I’m wondering if they meant for us to be completely independent. Fury’s been suspicious of SHIELD for a while now, it would make sense to keep B-team separate.'
'Do you think they knew about Tijuana?' Danny asked. I shrugged.
'The doubles were pretty convincing,' I told him. 'Who knows, we just have to make choices with the hands we’re dealt, rather than trying to constantly be ahead of each other. We’re not in competition with SHIELD, we’re trying to save lives. And really, that’s all that matters.'
'Yeah,' Danny agreed. 'Listen, Power Man agrees, I think we’re a good team, the four of us. I think we should keep it up. I don’t know about the others at this school, but the four of us did well.
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 20: Regret Roulette
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Regret Roulette - Unlike Pluto
Bonnie Carter POV
Thursday 5th September 2013
'So,' I heard Flash’s voice as I stood by my locker, reading through some Biology notes so I could catch up for class. I looked away from my folded over workbook to see him leaning on the locker beside mine. He smiled softly at me. 'Since you’re back I take it our deal still stands?'
'Deal?' I asked.
'You, me, homecoming?' he waved his hand between the two of us.
'Yeah,' I nodded, small smile on my face. 'What could go wrong?'
He pulled his fist down towards himself theatrically. I rolled my eyes and finished grabbing my books. He walked beside me to homeroom and even pulled out my chair for me when I went to climb into it. I laughed to myself and let him push me in too.
I thought back to the fight I’d had with Liz over this very thing, but when it came down to it, I just didn’t care anymore. After everything I had on my plate at the moment it seemed so long ago. And if it came to blows again, I’ve had to fight so many goons that what she’d do doesn’t even matter. I could take her this time.
‘You pumped for training tonight?’ Flash as we walked to the social committee meeting. Today we were counting the nominations and compiling the 5 most popular people for each category. It would be nice to be doing something mind numbing and boring for a change, rather than fighting and sneaking and gathering information. I still hadn’t worked my way through the files we recovered.
‘Yeah,’ I smiled. ‘And the game tomorrow.’
‘We’re going to win this season, I can feel it,’ he said. ‘This is going to be a good year.’
‘You really think?’ I asked. ‘We haven’t won a season in like 15 years or something. Sure we win games but come on, you really think this year’s going to change anything?’
‘Yeah, I do,’ Flash agreed. ‘Especially since Coach is letting the new exchange student try out for the team today.’
‘Huh?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, Pie-y-tru something or other,’ Flash said. ‘He started after the teams were made, but he asked Coach if he could join the team and he must have impressed him or something because he’s joining our training tonight.’
‘The Maximoff kid, yeah, I remember seeing his name in the office when I was getting my schedule for the year. Before we got the new principal..’ I said. Though I wasn’t sure why I’d remembered a random name on a random attendance roll that day.
We walked into the gym where piles of boxes were placed on tables and kids were scribbling down names and numbers onto paper. Looked like we’d be here after lunch too. I guess it was a good thing I was still ahead in my nursing subjects. I’d have to catch up on everything else later.
Flash and I took a box and a clipboard and got to work. He’d pull out a slip and read it out, I’d scribble down each new name or put a tally mark next to existing ones. The scariest thing was my name kept coming up an awful lot. I’d made a splash this year, and in the very wrong way. I had liked being the prankster jock who otherwise slid under the radar. I had one friend when I started high school, Peter, and I missed it.
Not that I didn’t appreciate the new friendships, I just wasn’t anticipating the extra responsibilities that came with it. Not to mention the days at work I’d missed because SHIELD decided to issue a national search for me.
‘Have you even heard of Sokovia before?’ Flash asked me. I raised an eyebrow at him.
‘You still on that?’ I asked.
‘Another point for you and Luke,’ he said and scrunched the slip up in his hand. ‘And yes, it’s interesting. We never get fun exchange students. This guy could end up being really cool.’
‘Look, I’m glad you’re branching out this year and making loads of new friends, that, you know, don’t beat the snot out of the freaks and geeks but I really couldn’t care less about who this new guy is.’ I replied. ‘He’ll either hate me or ignore me, that’s how these things work. I just hope he doesn’t have a problem with there being a girl on the football team.’
‘You do know there’s no American Football over in Sokovia, so I don’t think he’ll notice things aren’t exactly as they’re supposed to be,’ Flash assured me.
‘How do you know? You hadn’t even heard of Sokovia until just now,’ I challenged and he laughed, shaking his head.
‘One for me and Diana Martinez,’ he ignored me.
As the final school bell rang I was walking to my locker, defeated. There were so many papers to get through and we’d managed it, but not without the loss of my will to live. I sighed. And we still had football practice. I rolled my slouching shoulders and stretched before making it to my locker. I looked around to see if Danny or Luke was around, so I could chat with them before I left for the locker room to get changed for practice. Instead I sighed again. Gwen Stacy.
‘Bonnie before you say anything I’m not here to fight with you,’ Gwen said as I pulled open my locker. I turned to glare at the significantly taller girl.
‘I wasn’t going to say anything to you at all,’ I said as I continued to take out the books I wanted for homework and leave the books I didn’t. ‘But,’ I paused. ‘I suppose it’s good you don’t want to fight, I really don’t want another person throwing me through a window because I’m a boyfriend stealing bitch.’
‘Where’s Peter?” she said cutting right to the chase.
‘He got injured doing some Spidey stuff and he’s in a recovery room,’ I said. She gasped.
‘How bad?’ she asked.
‘He’s fine, he’s going to make a full recovery,’ I dismissed. I knew she’d be worried, but honestly I’d been thinking more about what we were going to say to Aunt May. She’d still be worried out of her mind over Peter, even if Steve did try to defuse the amber alert with comedy. He’d even called her, assured her that Peter was safe. We couldn’t hide him away forever. She hadn’t seen him in days, and I wasn’t sure what we could say without her finding out he’s Spider-Man.
‘I want to see him,’ she told me.
‘I have football practice,’ I told her.
‘Well after,’ she said. ‘I’ll tell my mom I’m studying late after school. I’ll wait for you to finish and you can take me.’ I sighed.
‘You know, I don’t have to help you,’ I told her. I shut my locker door with a slam and pulled my bag strap further up my shoulder.
‘No, you don’t,’ she said. ‘I know we don’t always get along, but don’t you think you’re being a bit of a jerk?’
‘Gwen, you’ve been on my ass the ENTIRE time you’ve been going out with Peter even though you knew we were best friends BEFORE you started dating. I’m not interested in sleeping with him, he’s like my brother, it’s gross. And fine, you can’t always help how you feel so if you don’t like me that’s okay. But you know what’s not? Your actions because of how you feel. You’ve been unnecessarily cruel to me for over a year now and I haven’t done anything to deserve it. So no, I’m not the one being a jerk. You want to hang around till after practice FINE. But I get one snarky ass comment from you and I’ll leave you here. And you better start being nicer to me after this as well,’ I told her. She nodded eagerly.
‘Deal,’ she said and moved to follow me down the corridor.
I couldn’t believe the shit I always got myself into. I grumbled the entire way to the girl’s locker room, now I was fucking late as well. I angrily dressed in my uniform and safety gear and headed out to the field where Gwen was sat in the stands watching.
‘Oh, Carter, decided to make an appearance,’ Coach Danvers called out to me. ‘You know the drill, everyone, drop and give me fifteen.’
There was a chorus of groans and muttering before everyone dropped and played kiss the grass. I did my fifteen before Coach made us run laps around the field, also for punishment. Maybe this was why we always lost, Coach was so focused, too focused, on drilling subordination into the players.
‘Alright team, gather round,’ Coach called. ‘I wanna introduce you to Pietro Maximoff, he’s a new student here this year. He plays for his school’s Rugby team. He’s been going over the rules and how to play with me up until this point so I don’t want you to worry about his ability. Today we’re just doing a trial of how well he gels with the rest of you. So don’t be little assholes.’
I looked over at Flash who looked like he was about to wet his pants with excitement. He was so weird. I was fully convinced someone else was occupying his body right now and one day the real Flash would break free and start wreaking havoc again. At that moment a tall and cocky brunette strolled onto the field. He’d fit in here just fine.
‘Hello everyone,’ he greeted cheerily.
‘Pietro, we’re gonna skip all the fun facts and personal stuff and get right to some actual playing. Now, we’re doing mixed teams thanks to your Vice Captain, Carter,’ he pointed to me. He started walking around on the green directing players.
‘I’m going to need first string players to line up over here,’ he gestured for us to stand by the bleachers. And then turned on the spot. ‘and second string players to line up over there,’ he pointed out to the entrance to the field and then pivoted again to stare right at me. ‘Two team leaders. We’ll go with Cap and Vice on this one. Carter, since this was your idea, you’ll have Pietro on your team. Now I’m going to split up the rest of you, if I tap you on the shoulder you’re with Thompson.’
I looked over at Flash who looked so cut up he didn’t get to hang out with the new student I was almost chuckling. Pietro swaggered over to me and stood at my side, leaning down to talk to me.
‘How come your boyfriend seems so upset, uh? Can’t stand to be on opposing team?’ he asked in a thick accent.
‘He’s not my boyfriend, and he’s cut up because he knows he’s going to lose,’ I said loudly so Flash could hear. He grinned wide and gave me the bull horns with his fist. ‘So you don’t have boyfriend?’
‘You just join the football team because you think it’s a way to get girls?’ I asked. Luke laughed beside me. I hadn’t noticed him walking up. It was weird to me, knowing he was Power Man, I’d almost choked on my chocolate milk last night when I was reading through the files we’d recovered.
‘Sorry my man, that’s just in the movies,’ Luke told him.
‘Alright, what position did Coach teach you?’ I asked and from then all, Pietro switched to all business.
Danvers blew the whistle and we got to starting positions. Another whistle and we were breaking. For the first time since we’d been training, the opposing team was really putting up a fight. Usually it was just in real games I got thrown wildly around the pitch. One thing about that new guy? Fast as hell. He always managed to get where we needed him when we needed him. We were all good players, but thanks to this guy, we might actually be a little closer to winning the season. Flash was right.
Still, the fun of practice was over too quickly and I was thrust back into the real world full of problems. I quickly changed, not stopping to shower as I had to take Princess Stacy to see Peter. Mind you, I couldn’t just tell her where he was being held because even if she did manage to get there I’d be in big trouble for telling her how and she still might not be able to get in for lack of clearance.
I left my gear in my locker, only taking my uniform home to wash for the next day and grabbed my book bag, hurring outside. I almost slammed head first into Pietro who was standing by the door.
‘Jesus,’ I said, almost falling. ‘Shouldn’t you be showering or something.’
‘Americans all bathe together in the same shower, it's weird,’ he answered. ‘I will shower back at my host family’s house. I come to ask you, if you had date to this uh, dance?’
‘Yeah actually,’ I replied softly. ‘I lost a bet with Flash, the price is I’m going with him. But I’ll see you there if you go?’
‘Sure, sounds good,’ he nodded, not looking at all disheartened. ‘Flash is nice guy, no?’
‘Yeah, this yea r he is,’ I agreed, rolling my eyes. ‘He used to be a big jackass, but he’s been making a lot of changes recently.’
‘He invited me to do my homework with him at this diner on Wednesday, do you know it?’ he asked, showing me my place of work on his phone. I scowled. “Or is he being this big jackass again?”
‘Aloicious, yeah, I know it,’ I said, nodding. Of course Flash had brought him to my diner. ‘I’m working there that day.’
‘Ah! Perfect, we’ll see you there,’ he cheered. ‘At very least, if Flash is big jackass I get to see pretty girl.’
‘Alright Pepé Le Pew, I’m heading out now,’ I said with a dismissive wave. Going out to meet Gwen, I shook my head as I left. There must be something in the water, for not one but two guys to be this keen on me.
I got to the parking lot and in a big, black suv was Barton. I grinned cheesily. Things were looking up again. He was back. He rolled the window down and looked through the lenses of his sunglasses at me.
‘Well, what are you waiting for dork, get in,’ he called and I walked over to the passenger door.
‘Bonnie,’ I heard from behind me.
I frowned. Momentarily, I’d forgotten about her. I turned slightly, and looked at her, she was standing with her books balanced on her arm, backpack hanging loosely on her shoulder. I felt bad, being so angry with her at a time like this. She was clearly worried out of her mind, especially now she knew Peter had been hurt. But at the same time, her affection towards my friend didn't make up for all the hate she’d sent my way. Still, maybe I’d have to be the bigger person this time, she wouldn’t thank me, I knew that, but it would mean something to Peter. Hopefully. I jerked my head towards the car, before turning back around and slipping inside the front seat.
‘You bringing a friend home?’ he asked.
‘She’s not my friend,’ I replied sullenly. Sliding down in my chair, I pulled my knees up in front of me. ‘We have to go see Peter today, we’re not going straight back to the tower.’
‘If she’s not your friend, who is she?’ he asked, just as Gwen reached the car and pulled the door open.
‘Hi I’m Gwen Stacy,’ she introduced. ‘Bonnie and I have Biology together.’
‘I know,’ he replied simply. I’d forgotten about all the time he’d spent crawling through the vents. I’d need to ask about how he managed to get food and water and live out all that time in the vents. Surely, he didn’t spend the whole time up there.
‘Bonnie,’ he said as we got closer to the same place Tasha had driven us in the minivan. I’d visited a couple times since, but I hadn’t really been paying attention to the route. ‘Are you sure about this,’ he said nodding towards the back. I nodded at him and he looked at me for a second longer before taking the turn. We pulled into the parking garage and parked.
‘You’re not supposed to be here,’ I told Gwen. ‘And if you get caught it means big trouble for all of us. Especially him. So if you’re caught, don’t mention him. You didn’t see him, he wasn’t here, you don’t even know who he is.’
‘Got it,’ she nodded. Before taking up her opportunity to throw in a snarky jab. ‘Just what kind of shady stuff are you into anyway?’
‘If I kill her, it’s okay, right? She is sneaking into a classified area.. I mean technically I’m helping out,” I said and Barton nodded.
‘I didn’t see her, she wasn’t here and I don’t even know who she is,’ he replied with a grin.
I saw Gwen huff from the backseat while I checked the mirror one more time before getting out. I grabbed my book bag and uniform and slung them over my shoulder. We walked through the garage until I saw Steve’s bike and paused, opening up the seat and dumping them in there.
‘We’re gonna take the slightly longer way,’ Barton told me. ‘There’s still cameras everywhere which we can’t dodge but there’s less people. I’m hoping as there’s no threat, people won’t be checking the cameras as thoroughly and we’ll be able to sneak here through.’
‘Got it,’ I nodded and then blew some hot air out my nose.
Why was everything in my life so god damn complicated? I flicked my fingers towards myself, gesturing for Gwen to follow us and Barton and I led the way, taking turns, quickly ducking back behind corners when we saw agents that might snitch on us. It ended up taking us about 20 minutes to get to his room which was only 5 minutes away from the parking garage. And when we did finally get there, Gwen just breezed past the both of us, no thank you and sat beside him.
‘If you hate her so much, why are you risking so much to help her?’ Barton asked and I sighed, leaning against the wall.
‘You ever love someone so much you’d bleed for them if you thought it would help, and even if it didn’t you’d do it anyway?’ I asked. He nodded instantly. ‘Peter’s my family, and until I met Steve, he was all I had left. He loves her, so as long as he does, I have to help.’
‘You don’t,’ he told me. ‘You could simply not have anything to do with her. There’d be no fights and he’d still get to hang with the both of you separately. She could have waited, Peter was going to make a full recovery. It’s not like she wouldn’t see him again.’
‘And if the roles were reversed, I’m sure she’d pick that option, because she hates me, but I wanna do the right thing, even if it’s the harder thing. Plus I know it’ll mean something to Peter, and he’s all that matters,’ I explained.
‘That’s the Rogers spirit,’ Steve said as he approached from behind.
I spun round. He was still in his mission gear and had a little dirt and dried in blood on the side of his head. I frowned. I knew it was just a small cut, but Steve was supposed to be the unstoppable force that meets and destroys even immovable objects. Still, he wasn’t invincible, I knew that. It was just strange seeing him mortal.
‘I spotted your stuff in the bike, thought I’d find you here with Peter,’ Steve said, smiling softly at me. ‘Everything alright?’
‘Keeping Peter here a secret from the people he loved seemed wrong,’ I said. ‘As much as Gwen and I don’t get along, it’s easier to get her here because at least she already knows about his alter ego, I still don’t know what to do about Aunt May, she’s going to be going out of her mind.’
‘So you were already thinking about this when she asked you to take her here,’ Barton nodded. ‘I knew there had to be more to it than you were saying. It’s not like you to put up with shit for long.’
‘When it comes to my family, I do,’ I replied. ‘It’s just that this time it happened to align with what I was already thinking about doing.’
‘Alright, I’ve got to stay late today kiddo so if you want to go home before I’m done just let me know and then I’ll have someone drop you,’ Steve told me, moving to leave. I nodded, that worked out well, I wanted to have the opportunity to talk to just Peter.
‘You wanna grab a snack while those two talk?’ Barton asked. ‘Not many people are coming to this room because Peter’s still adamant he’s not Spider-Man even though he was brought in in his suit. And after what you said to the operative in your school, Fury respects his privacy.’
‘I just pointed out they hadn’t done a great job at keeping us safe if not even two months of them being embedded they got bugged and revealed critical information,’ I shrugged as we walked to the cafeteria we’d gotten coffee in one morning when this all started.
‘It’s a good point,’ he said. ‘It’s almost embarrassing we dropped the ball on this one.’
‘I think SHIELD just got too arrogant on this one,’ I said, ‘Luckily my team put a stop to it before it got too serious.’
‘He trusts you, he thinks it’s unusual someone of your age was able to do what you and your team did, so he’s giving you more wiggle room than he would have, but he respected your great grandma a lot when he started, so I suppose it’s because he sees a bit of her in you.’
‘I’m lucky he thinks that’s a good thing, if any of her old coworkers from the 40s met me and saw the same, I’d probably be shot,’ I said and he laughed.
‘You’d so be getting beat by your husband by now,’ he said. ‘You’re very lucky you were born in the 90s.’
‘Don’t I know it,’ I said. ‘The amount of times I played war games with Grandma Margaret and Grandpa Daniel, almost felt like they were trying to prepare me for WWIII.’
He stayed silent after that, looking concerned as we walked to the cafeteria. He was quiet until we got our coffees because he was offering me a cookie. Then he went back to being quiet as he stared at the lino for half an hour before I got weirded out and decided to head back. He didn’t snap back to himself until Gwen mentioned she was running late and wouldn’t make it to her thing on time. I’ve never seen anyone volunteer chauffeuring services faster than he did then. I’d have to ask Tasha what was going on with him.
‘Hey stinky,’ I greeted as I leaned against the door jam.
‘Hey you,’ he smiled. ‘Getting all the cute blondes today. Although you’re more the Danny Devito kind of cute than the Kristen Bell cute.’
‘Thanks,’ I replied, rolling my eyes.
‘You’re even the same height as him...’ I sat down across from him and smirked. I knew what he was doing.
‘Call me cute all you want, but we’ve still gotta talk about what happened,’ I said.
‘And what we’re going to say to Aunt May,’ he nodded.
‘Well if you want to continue living, it can’t be the truth,’ I sighed. And he nodded. ‘I wonder if Barton could help us come up with a cover story, or a way to explain it. He and Tasha are spies, they already have a bunch of experience crafting them.’
‘Hopefully what Steve said on the TV soothed her,’ Peter said accompanied by a sigh. ‘I’m so going to be grounded for a while.’
‘Given the whack to the head, that’s probably a good thing,’ I told him. ‘On the bright side, SHIELD no longer wants to kill/hire us. That’s nice.’
‘I sense a but coming,’ Peter grumbled.
‘I think we should partner up with Power Man and Iron Fist more often,’ I replied. ‘I know that what we’ve been doing recently has been big leagues stuff and we’re not usually in the business for that, but next time there’s a giant lizard rampaging through the city it might not be such a bad thing to have backup. And for that to happen, we need to forge a relationship, get to know each other.’
‘ Fine, ’ Peter sighed. ‘I can’t believe you managed to make a reasoned argument for you getting to hang out with your boyfriend more often.’
‘He’s not my boyfriend,’ I said, rolling my eyes.
‘Are you sure, because the two of you seem pretty cosy. I’m pretty sure he likes you,’ Peter said.
‘I’m not sure why, he saw me kill some people,’ I said and Peter choked. ‘Not for fun.’
‘I knew you training with guns was a bad idea,’ he scowled.
‘If I didn’t, I’d be dead,’ I replied. ‘We shouldn’t have gone on that mission, it was too hard for us, we got lucky.’
‘Are you okay?’ he asked me. He pushed himself further up in his bed, turning to look at me sympathetically.
‘Yeah,’ I nodded. ‘I still wish I had another option, if I was better than I could have done something else but I know even if I’d only knocked them out, in the building collapse they still would have died. And they were bad guys. But it’s a lot, I’m only 17.’
‘I don’t see you any different,’ Peter told me.
‘I don’t think Steve does either, and I’m kinda surprised,’ I explained. ‘Especially after that tantrum.’
‘What I miss at school?’ Peter asked, changing the subject.
‘We got a new member on the football team, that exchange student, Pietro Maximoff,’ I told him. He raised an eyebrow.
‘That dude’s built like me,’ Peter scoffed. ‘And he’s playing football?’
‘Apparently he used to play rugby at his school and he’s hella fast, I’ve seen that,’ I told him. ‘Flash has a bro crush on him and the two of them are coming to the diner on Wednesday to study. Two of them both seem to have a massive crush on me. Something must be in the water at training.’ Peter snorted.
‘Maybe you’re secretly a siren,’ he joked.
I stayed with Peter until one of the nurses kicked me out, saying he’d had enough attention tonight and he needed some rest. I headed out to find Steve who was still holled up in the room he’d been in with Tasha and Barton all those weeks ago. I wondered if this was their regular meeting room or something.
I lay back on the row of seats, arms tucked behind my head as I stared up at the ceiling, listening to the Watch The Throne album while I waited. Briefly I heard some hushed male voices beside me before I woke myself up with my own snore and sat up with a start. Steve and Barton turned to look at me, amused expressions on their faces.
‘Who wants to buy me a burrito?’ I asked, swinging my legs off the side of the chair.
‘Barton will drive you home, I’ll take your books, unless there’s anything you need. I’ve still got some things to do,’ Steve told me. I checked my watch. 11pm.
‘Don’t work too hard,’ I said and headed back to the parking garage, Barton following along behind me. He pulled through Taco Bell’s drive through, eating a crunchwrap supreme as he drove along the highway.
‘How old were you when you first killed someone?’ I asked and Clint choked. I heard his indicator going and he pulled off the main road. We started heading out of the city and I looked at him.
‘Asking the big ones, huh?’ he asked.
‘Just one,’ I replied.
‘Are you still bothered about the site collapse?’ he said empathetically as the car rolled to a stop on a dirt road miles for anything or anyone. He turned the ignition off and slumped back in his chair, peeling back more of the wrapper on his crunchwrap.
‘The first time was an accident,’ I explained, looking down at the centre console instead of up at Clint. ‘everyone else, it was my choice. I had to, but I pulled the trigger. I chose to.’
‘Tasha told me about the flip,’ Barton nodded. ‘she also told me he was a pervert and got a little too into your pat down. I wouldn’t mourn a guy like that.’
‘I don’t.’ I sighed. ‘But it did make me worry that I wasn’t enough. That I wasn’t trained enough. We got lucky but next time we might not be. It got me thinking back to the last time Peter and I were in over our heads. We got Gwen’s dad killed.’
‘Her dad’s that Chief of Police, right? That was his decision to go in,’ Barton told me.
‘He took a hit for me and I know he chose to, and that I should show him some damn respect for making the choice he did, but if I was better, he wouldn’t have had to take the hit for me,’ I said. ‘I keep making bad decisions. I keep going into these situations I’m not ready for, I’m not strong enough to handle and one of these days if I don’t get myself killed, someone I care about might..’
‘We’re not going to let that happen,’ he told me. ‘Tasha and I agreed we’d train you, if you’re with SHIELD or not. We didn’t always work with them anyway. You’ve got potential, you've got some skills already, Tasha can see that and she was in the field younger than you. You’re not losing anyone.’
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 21: Breaking The Habit
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Breaking The Habit - Linkin Park
Bonnie Carter POV
Friday 6th September 2013
I sat up with a groan and stumbled out of my bedroom to the bathroom to shower before school. I needed to catch some Zs at some point, it was game day and we had a lot riding on this. We hadn’t won a season in years, and we didn’t win that many games. If I wanted college scouts to look at me, to take me, Bonnie Carter, a girl, seriously I’d need to bring my A game. This was Varsity. It seemed a little unfair the universe was making me balance crippling doubt, guilt and homework with all the Football stuff. But I hadn’t the time nor the knowhow to take it up with the powers that be.
I didn’t bother washing my hair, knowing it was going to get full of mud later, despite the bucket helmets. Walking back through the house in my towel, I noticed all my stuff from Steve’s bike was placed by the door and there was a note on the table letting me know he wouldn’t be driving me to school and that Stark would be taking care of me. Strolling in the door, as if on cue, Tony walked up to me with a box of donuts.
‘I made breakfast,’ he grinned.
‘Sure you did,’ I replied, smiling wryly and I popped the lid, finding a glazed one. I grumbled at the icing getting my fingers sticky right after I’d had a shower and Tony grinned mischievously.
‘Bet you’re not used to getting this sticky in the morning,’ he teased, grabbing a cinnamon one. I rolled my eyes.
‘I had a life before you knew me,’ I told him and he let out a chuckle.
‘Go get dressed, barely legal, it’s game day,’ he said.
‘You remembered?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, you had me mark it in my calendar, whole team’s coming out to watch,’ he agreed. ‘Now go on, get.’
I scurried off to get dressed, now stressing that the Avengers would be watching me get tossed around the field. And he’d remembered me challenging him to come see me play. I threw on some clothes, light makeup to cover the bruises and grabbed my bookbag. I stood silently beside him in the elevator as he pressed the button for the parking garage and chewed my lip. At the same time I’d demanded Stark come see exactly what I was made of, I’d also told Flash to show me the same. And he had been. This whole time. Granted, it had barely been a month, but they say it takes 21 days to break a habit. I promised Danny if Flash showed change, I’d treat him like the new person he was becoming, not the person he used to be. I was torn, but I knew he needed a little push. Some kind of encouragement to put in the final steps. Or to keep heading towards them. A few weeks wasn’t enough to consider him “cured” if bullying was something you could be cured of.
‘Hey Tony?’ I asked. He hummed in acknowledgement, barely looking up from his holoscreen or his coffee. ‘What happened to Flash’s truck?’
‘That kid’s truck you stole to make a run for the border?’ he asked.
‘Yeah,’ I agreed. ‘It wasn’t in the best shape when he lent it to me, and I don’t think he really has the kind of funds to just go around giving people cars like Oprah. I’d like to get it back for him.’
‘No can do,’ Stark replied. ‘That hunk of junk barely made it there, and that was before SHIELD totaled it to make sure you guys weren’t pulling a double bluff.’
‘Fuck,’ I sighed, running a hand through my hair. Also, SHIELD was willing to put us in a major car accident? I knew we were expendable but Jesus Christ. ‘So it’s really gone?’
‘Pretty much, there’s probably still a burnt out husk if you wanna taunt the guy,’ he replied, slight smirk quirking the corner of his mouth.
‘No, he’s been really proving himself lately. A kind gesture like that, it can’t go unrewarded. He didn’t have to help me like he did. Especially not when helping me helped Peter, those two hate each other and for good reason. I wrecked his car and I don’t really have anything to show for it,’ I said. I thought back to the shoebox full of crumpled notes which used to be my college fund. There was something I could do. But I don’t know I should just buy the guy a car. ‘What do I do?’
‘You go to school,’ Tony shrugged. I frowned, that was it? I glared up at him. He grinned cheekily at me and the elevator doors dinged open. ‘And you bring him some new wheels.’ He dropped a set of keys in my hand and pointed to a brand new, blue, 2013 Dodge Ram. I raised an eyebrow at him.
‘Kid looked like he could use an upgrade. Anyway, any friend of Bonnie Carter’s is a friend of Tony Stark’s. He helped you when you needed him to, and I’m grateful.’
‘Tony..’ I started. I didn’t know what to say. I knew he was good for the money but this was massive. Also, we barely knew each other, how was he willing to make such a large contribution to this guy’s life based solely off of his connection to me?
‘Don’t bother, just go to school. Capsicle will freak if you’re late,’ Tony told me and I nodded, taking my book bag to the truck and swinging it into the cab.
I pulled into the school parking lot after a quiet, peaceful drive with plenty of time to spare before class. I jumped out of the cab and saw just the guy I needed to see walking towards the school building looking pretty miserable. I suppose if you trade in all your thugs for the respect of a social leper you’re bound to get pretty lonely. And now he was down a set of wheels too. I called out to him and waved him over. He looked pretty surprised to see me leaning on an oversized, shiny new ride but came over anyway.
‘Wow Carter, new car? This doesn’t exactly scream your style,’ he said and I chuckled.
‘No? And what does?’ I asked. He shrugged.
‘I don’t know, something sporty?’ he laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck.
‘You’re right though, this isn’t my style. It’s yours,’ I told him and tossed him the keys. He let go of his backpack straps to catch them, still confused and surprised.
‘Wha??’ he stuttered. He stumbled back a few steps, as if the car was about to explode. He kept looking between it and me.
‘You know I live at Avengers tower now, yeah?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, Steve’s like, Captain America or something, right?’ he asked and I smirked.
‘Or something,’ I laughed. ‘Well, let’s just say Stark was pretty grateful for your help when we were in trouble, and I’m really sorry about what happened to your last truck so this is yours.’
‘Like mine?’ he scoffed.
‘Yours. Now and forever,’ I confirmed and he just about choked.
‘Oh my god,’ he said, shaking with excitement. It felt pretty good being able to give him this, even if I’d contributed nothing. Seeing the wet yourself level excitement on his face, it was like no one had ever given him anything before. He paused, his face fell a little, and so did my light mood. I was about to ask him what was wrong when he walked forward, fingertips barely brushing the new paint.
‘This is new. What am I, how am I going to explain this to my dad?’ he asked and I soured. Of course that jerk was coming into things. I hadn’t much experience with the man, but I’d heard the rumours, I asked once, when I was little, why no one had done anything about it. I remember being appalled at the answer. But, that had all gotten brushed to the side. Why?
‘Fuck him, he’s a jerk anyway,’ I shrugged, playing off my sudden change in mood. ‘If he asks, tell him insurance paid for a new one after yours got stolen.’
I pushed off the front of the truck and started walking into the school building, leaving him standing there staring at the keys in his hand. I glanced at the doors, walking past the very door my friends and I had used to break in not so long ago. I made it to my locker and spotted Danny already at his. I smiled at him as I came to a stop, leaning against the hard metal.
‘Hey Danny,’ I said and he smiled back at me. I can’t believe I’d gone so long not knowing this kid existed, he was actually very nice.
‘Hey Bonnie, how are you?’ he asked. ‘It’s good to see you looking happier today.’
‘It’s game day,’ I shrugged, breezing past his comments referencing my chi or whatever he ket talking about. ‘will I see you there?’
‘Raincheck? With Spider-Man out of commission, and you and Power Man out playing, someone has to make sure the streets stay safe,’ he said. ‘And I’m not sure I trust leaving it up to Helmet.’
‘Fair enough,’ I snorted at the nickname. ‘With Spider-Man out of commission, I might need a buddy for upcoming patrols. I’ll call you sometime, yeah?’
‘Yeah,’ he smiled, seeming taken aback by my offer. I pushed off my locker, heading into homeroom for the day.
Perched in my chair and waiting for Vice Principal Satan to show up, I had Pocket J send Tony the footage of Flash getting his new truck, hoping he got just as much of a kick out of him being so grateful.
Ordinarily all this time without Peter would have felt pretty lonely but between Danny, Pietro and Flash it made it hard to feel lost. I still missed him, worried about him, but I wasn’t as codependent as I used to be. I actually had fun in classes, the concept of I’d always thought was an urban myth, and by the time lunch rolled around I had a table of people to sit with. Luke joined myself and the others and it felt like I finally had real friends, ones my own age. Sorry Tony, Tasha and Clint. By the time game time came around I was actually feeling a little hoarse with all the talking I’d been doing. I couldn’t wait to share all this with Peter.
It looked like a hurricane had come through the Women’s Locker-Room by the time I got to it. I was the only one in it, but there had been movement. I’d forgotten what it was like, having separate training days to the Cheerleaders what it was like having to share this space with other people. Even if they weren’t currently here, all the signs someone had been still were. There were bags and towels and items of clothing strewn everywhere and I struggled to find a spot on one of the benches to get changed. Thankfully, one of the lockers in here was mine and only mine. I shook my hands in front of me, hopping from foot to foot as I prepared for the upcoming onslaught. The game was a big deal, and just like I’d gotten nervous when I’d worried Coach would change his mind about making me Vice Captain, I worried we wouldn’t do so crash hot on the field. We hadn’t won a season in 15 years, and seldom won games.
I took a deep breath and tried not to make eye contact with myself as I pulled my messy curls back into braids behind my head. I knew if I did, I’d start talking myself out of going out there. I was a first string player, I was vice, I needed to be out there, running was illogical. Especially because I signed up for this, I enjoyed this. Most of the time...
It was a little overwhelming, stepping out onto the field, bright stadium lights illuminating the field like it was the 4th of July. I felt shaky, worried in the heat of the moment I’d suddenly realise I’d forgotten how to play. I always felt like this, first game of the season. This wasn’t a particularly female dominated sport, I was incredibly lucky to be here, and I did not want to screw this up.
Grandma Margaret would shake her head at me if she heard me fussing like this. Grandpa Daniel would sit in front of me, cup my cheek and tell me to go raise hell, that there was nothing to be worried about, that I had this. He’d tussle my hair and send me off, and I was suddenly overcome with sadness he never lived long enough to see this. That he only got to be a part of my life for such a short amount of time. I’d give anything for just a little more time with him. Grandma Margaret and Grandpa Daniel were both sure of my value, but had different ways of showing it. I just wish I had their confidence. I missed them. I know if they could have they’d have been here today.
I looked up at the cheer squad, they were already out on the field and dancing. They performed the usual cheer song but had thrown in some new moves this year. Seemed everyone was breaking their old habits. I could see the opposing cheer team on the other side, also trying to raise hype for their team. Crowd engagement was a big thing in sporting events, if they had fun, if they believed in us, we got more hyped. Or theoretically, our team had yet to be amped up enough to actually win a game. Maybe I was being pessimistic.
Huddled around the coach, he started marking out on a little whiteboard the plays we’d be using this quarter. I could see the orange and white opposition running out onto the field, waving to the cheering crowds there to support them. I never noticed before just how much bigger everyone was, compared to me, until I stared up at Luke as we gathered by Danvers. My size had never really bothered me before, Grandma Margaret had always told me great things come in small packages. Steve had started out as a little guy, I knew I could do everything I needed at the size I was. But now I was nervous. So nervous I barely paid attention to Coach Danvers, and looked over instead, to the bleachers.
Sure enough, just as Tony had promised, he was there. He was sitting in between Pepper and Happy and in front of them was Steve, Tasha and Clint. Steve spied me watching, looking a little green, and gave me a goofy thumbs up. Man, he really was an old man at heart. A warm smile spread across my face.
I moved to pay attention to Coach, just in time for him to dismiss us and send us to our positions on the field. It didn’t matter I had no idea what play we were doing, as soon as the ball was up and moving, the whole thing would be out the window. Winning wasn’t imperative, we hadn’t won a game in three years, a season in fifteen. I swallowed my nerves, I could do this. I was Vice fucking Captain. I had this. We would win. We would.
The starting whistle blew and the tension slowly building around us skyrocketed and it no longer felt like being in the eye of the storm, debris and bad weather happening all around without quite reaching us, no, now it felt like time had sped up to impossible speeds and bombs were going off. We’d lost three people already to the nurse’s station and subbed in some of our, now slightly better, second string players. But the improvements they’d made didn’t matter, this was still a shitshow.
I was covered in a thick coating of dirt, my sweat turning it to mud on my body as it trickled down my hot skin. My formerly blue and yellow uniform was the least of my problems, and so was the portion of grass and mud up my nose. Flash had just taken a tumble, and even though he got back up again, I could still see the slight red tinge of blood seeping through his uniform. He refused to leave the field, saying it was nothing, and Coach didn’t argue. How could he? He was our star quarterback. He was the fastest player on the team, besides me on occasion. That’s how he got the name Flash in the first place. But I did worry that he’d taken a hit like that and just carried on as normal.
Despite the slaughter, the roaring crowd was currently witnessing right before their eyes, two things about this team had become evident.
One, Pietro was really. fuckin. Fast. Like faster than Flash, faster than me. And two, it didn’t matter how much training I had been doing for Football or being a vigilante, I was still being absolutely obliterated out here.
I was strong, stronger than the average girl, but I was still 4ft 8” and didn’t weigh much, so it didn't matter I could take a few hits, I still ate more dirt than anyone else on this team. It was hard to remember in times like these, why I played this damned sport in the first place. Maybe I should follow in Luke’s footsteps and take up Basketball. But see, he did both. Maybe I needed a nice, non-violent, contact free sport. Like ribbon twirling or something...
An orange jersey thundered past me and I was smacked to the side with an ‘ ooft’ and I slid around in the dirt, struggling to stand. I wobbled one final time, unable to regain any of my balance and hit the deck. I let out a cough, the field was still so dry from summer, that a puff of brown dust flew out in front of me. It stuck immediately to my damp skin and the insides of my nasal cavity, making me screw up my nose in discomfort.
I felt a strong grip on the back of my shoulder pads, by the base of my neck, and suddenly I was being yanked up off the ground, little legs flailing. I was dropped back down onto my feet before I could look around, all I saw was Luke jogging off after the ball.
I stared back up at the bleachers again, feeling a little out of sorts. Tony was sat up there looking unimpressed, I would be too if I’d come all the way out to some random high school, and spent the last half hour watching little more than a bunch of unsuccessful teenagers get dirty. I made eye contact, accidentally, with Tasha who offered me a small nod. I swallowed thickly, where had my start of game confidence boost gone?
The halftime buzzer went off and you could see each team trapse off towards their various water cooler attendants. Our team looked solemn, as if already knowing even though they’d fought so hard, it would all amount to nought. The opposition, however, looked invigorated. They were thrilled all their hard work was paying off and they were looking like they were going to win. We were losing steam. We had to do something, but it looked like not even the cheerleaders could lift our spirits off the ground on this one. I had to do something. I was down to me. Somehow... We needed a win.
I ripped off my helmet and chugged down a cup of water. I hadn’t noticed how thirsty I was until I was guzzling down cup after cup. I took a deep breath once I’d had my fill, raising my face up to the sky and closing my eyes. A heavy splash of water bounced off my face, I opened my eyes and turned around, looking for the cause of the water dribbling off my cheeks.
‘Hey, Sonechko,’ Pietro greeted warmly, covered in a minimal amount of dirt. ‘You look like very sad chinchilla in muddy puddle.’
‘We’re going to lose,’ I said, shrugging and ignoring his comment about my absolutely drenched uniform. And I was pretty sure he was the one who’d just sprayed me in the face with water. ‘I don’t know how to motivate everyone to push us through to a win.’
‘Who says we will lose?’ he scoffed. ‘We are not far off other team. A little more fight and we will win. No need to be sad, Sonechko.’
‘We honestly need a Hail Mary,’ I said, looking out at the other team. I looked back at him to see an odd expression on his face.
‘I do not think praying will help us,’ he said. ‘But I know Americans are very religious. Pray if you need to.’
‘No, a Hail Mary, it’s a play,’ I said and he looked intrigued. ‘I mean a really fucking long forward pass. Usually you’re desperate, and it’s not real likely to be successful, but you go for it anyway. So the name’s a reference to the prayer for help, but like, it’s an actual thing.’
‘Ah, I see,’ he nodded. ‘We can do that. If you pass to me, I can make sure it goes in goal line.’
‘You have much more faith in us than I think is deserved,’ I said and he chuckled.
‘Little chinchilla, so free of faith,’ he said, rubbing the top of my head, probably getting covered in sweat from the tops of my braids, the dirt on his hands turning to mud.
I pulled my helmet on, looking at Coach who had just blown the whistle to call us in to discuss our next few plays. I glanced over at the opposite team and one of the guys who’d knocked me down earlier was looking at me all smug. His friend came over and stared too, they were up to something, that I could feel in my gut.
The whistle blew and we took our positions on the field. Back to the shitshow. I took one last glance at my supporters and I saw the look of concern on Steve’s face. Clearly he wasn’t used to how much our games looked like this. I’m still struggling to remember why I liked this so much. Maybe I just got so beat up fighting crime recently that I wasn’t prepared to have my teeth knocked out for fun as well.
The whistle blew again and I was launched backwards instantly, hitting the ground a few feet away before I saw it coming. I threw myself back up and started running, so far from the ball now. I wasn’t going to let this get me down. No way.
After several plays in a row I barely saw for being thrown into the dirt, I was surprised to see we had actually gained some points and were catching up to the others. Apparently Pietro was right, we just needed a little faith. I just needed a little faith. As if only moments had passed, I looked up at the clock and found we were not far off the final buzzer. The first three quarters had come and gone and we were 6 points between the opposition. One touchdown away from a win. But that wouldn’t matter, we didn’t have enough time to pull it off. Not when I was being as useless as I was.
The whistle blew and I managed to ground myself into the dirt and push back. I made it forward and tried to get to where I’d be important but still kept getting shoved back. The ball flew suddenly overhead, whizzing by my helmet and I pivoted, running down the field as fast as I could to try and get the ball. Someone grabbed my shoulder pads and my feet lifted off the ground, launching me out of the way and into the dirt.
Props to their left tackle, they were really doing their job. I hit the ground with a cough, dirt flying out in a cloud underneath me and into my face. We were only 7 points from a win. I had to get back up.
I pushed myself back up with a groan, glancing around as I searched for the ball. Finding it, I made a bline right for it. I ran faster than I had before in my life (sorry NYC criminals) and charged at the ball. I had to stop them from getting to their scoring line. Someone grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and threw me back behind them and into the dirt. I hit the ground hard, dust flying up around me and I let out a cough, the wind having been knocked out of me. I rolled onto my side and pushed myself forward. I would not let them win this.
I had to keep charging direction as my team kept wrestling the ball from the clutches of the enemy only to have it snached back again once we made undoing any real progress. I spied the ball and grunted, pushing myself harder than I had before and tried for it.
Someone ran hard into me, elbow in the side I was launched almost out of bounds and hit the ground, again. I fell into a coughing fit and tried to push myself. I could hear Steve calling out over the rowdy crowd, he was calling for the ref or a medic or anyone to help me. I had to prove I was okay, I had to get back into it, before Coach sidelined me for the rest of this pitiful game. And I had to win this for us. Giving up was not an option.
I shoved myself up out of the dirt and saw the ball moments away from a win to the opposition. I threw myself forward and pushed my tiny legs to burning point, and I realised it wouldn’t be enough. I needed some serious momentum. And I did not have much time. I saw Luke charging like a rampaging bull for the ball and remembered a little something about his alter ego. Power Man. Hopefully he wouldn’t mind… I took a running leap, landing a foot on his rock solid back and launched myself forward, swinging an arm out to catch the ball, intercepting a pass right over the point line.
There was a member of the opposition behind me, and I’d land on them in a moment, wasting everyone’s time if I did nothing. I saw Pietro practically miles away from us, almost half way to our goal. I screamed out his name, throwing the ball from my grasp and watching it fly, spinning, as it cut through the air. He leapt up into the air to grab it and hit the ground running.
Everything seemed to be running in slow motion, or it had been until he caught the ball and started running, then there was a record scratch moment and everything sped up. I hit the guy behind me like a tonne of bricks and was sent crashing towards the ground. I let out a soft groan, too tired to fully express my pain. I heard screaming, violent cheering but I was unable to move at first. I tuned back in to the commentator from the box, and heard them say something about a win. For Midtown Science. That was us…
'Ow,' I said eventually, and the guy I was laying on top of chuckled.
'Yeah,' he sighed. 'Same.'
I looked up to see Flash above me, asking if I was planning on getting up and I commented that I was pretty sure I couldn’t. He laughed and scooped me up, offering a hand to the guy I’d landed on. He declined, saying he was fine now I wasn’t pinning him. Luke jogged over and helped Flash hoist me up onto my shoulders and I groaned a little.
‘That was one hell of a move, Bonnie,’ Luke commented. ‘Way to hustle, where did that even come from?’
‘Wherever it did, it sure as hell paid off!’ Flash cheered.
‘You could say that,’ I agreed, spying someone pouring the water cooler over Pietro’s head. I smiled lightly at the sight, he looked up just as I did and he winked at me. I don’t know why, but it made me feel fluttery inside. ‘Sorry for using you as a springboard, Luke.’
‘Don’t mention it,’ he chuckled.
Steve Rogers POV
Having watched all the high school movies and Football games Tony had sent my way, I knew what was going on in the field today was not normal. And I was shocked at the referees for allowing this kind of butchery to happen right in front of the eyes of the crowd. The commentators had been trash talking Bonnie’s team the whole game, mentioning a few times they were sure having a girl on the team wasn’t helping their chances any. That ground my gears. Bonnie worked hard, if her team was suffering, it was because the others were playing hard too, not because they weren’t any good. Not because she was no good.
I watched as Bonnie got thrown across the field, father than I’d ever seen someone go in these things. She was miles from the ball now and they had barely a few minutes to get a total of at least 7 points in order to win. Or at least 6 to go onto the overtime clock.
Much to my horror, as soon as Bonnie threw herself back up out of the dirt, she was launched across the field again to the other side. She hit the ground and was instantly back up again. I had to admire her resilience, I know I would have trouble with this. Especially if she’s the height I used to be before the serum. Heck, if I was pre-serum and playing I’d probably have died from my asthma at this point. And Bucky would be personally throwing hands with everyone playing.
Bonnie was thrown again, farther than before when I thought that was far. She climbed to her feet again, wobbling a little and running towards the ball as fast as she could. I hadn’t seen her run faster even in the training room. She pushed across the dirt and grass taking a leap and slamming her foot into one of her own team’s back and launching herself up and out, grabbing the ball just before the opposition got a touchdown. As gravity took over and she hurtled towards the ground she threw the ball with a spin far across the field. It crossed the halfway line and kept going, farther and farther. Landing in the arms of the fast, tall guy, he grabbed it and kept running right over the goal line and threw it enthusiastically into the grass beneath his feet.
The final buzzer for the game went off and there was a momentary lull in the crowd. Everyone stared in shock until they’d absorbed what had happened. Bonnie’s team had won. Despite all odds, they’d won. There was a practically violent uproar amongst the crowd and all those spectators who had been here for Midtown leapt up out of their chairs, screaming and cheering. I looked over at Tony, he had a thoughtful expression on his face while Pepper looked enthusiastic. I was proud. I’d been horrified, calling several times for the ref to do something about Bonnie’s treatment on the field, calling for a medic when it looked like she wasn’t going to get up, but against all odds, she was resilient enough to keep getting up. I looked for her on the field and found her laying on top of the guy she’d crashed into, virtually unmoving.
The bug guy I’d seen her with before, Flash, I think his name was, walked over to her and offered a hand. Unaccepting, I watched as she said something instead. He let out a hearty laugh, I could see it from here, and he bent down to pick her up instead. The guy she’d stepped on joined them and between the two big guys she was hoisted up and dropped on their shoulders.
'Bonnie, Bonnie, she's our girl! She is gonna rock your world!' I heard the cheerleaders start to cheer and I smiled to myself. 'We are the panthers, fierce and strong! We're gonna beat you, it won't take long! We're the panthers, lean and fast! We're gonna win while you come in last!'
I looked over at Tasha, she wore a wry smirk and Barton was too busy with his head in the popcorn bucket to really be readable. She glanced up at me and offered me a genuine smile and a nod. She pushed up, hand on Baton’s shoulder who followed after her once she’d shaken him from his food based pursuit.
'Well that was interesting,' Tony said from beside me. He and Pepper had gotten up and were making their way escorted by Happy down towards the stairs.
'Yeah,' I said exasperatedly. 'You could call it that.'
'What, you didn’t have fun?' Tasha teased.
'Are they all that violent?' I asked, staring at Bonnie as she sat atop those two boys’ shoulders.
'No,' Tasha shook her head. 'Not even the professional games.’
‘Yeah,’ I sighed, looking across the field to where I saw Bonnie pulling off her helmet to reveal a beat up face. At least she wore a helmet. ‘I figured as much.’
Bonnie Carter POV
I stepped out of the locker room, freshly showered and rubbing some ointment on the bruises on my face. I jumped when I heard a rough accent call out to me. I looked up just in time to see Flash and Pietro jogging over to me and waving frantically.
‘Hey guys,’ I greeted.
‘That was Hail Mary, no?’ Pietro asked enthusiastically and I nodded. ‘One hell of move.’
‘We’re gonna go out to celebrate our first win in a decade, you coming Cap?’ Flash asked and I thought about it. I’d have to see if Steve said it was okay.
‘It’s Vice Captain,’ I told him, pointing at Steve who was approaching. ‘That’s the Captain.’
‘Oh whatever, we know you’re the reason we won,’ Flash rolled his eyes. ‘Although this speed machine certainly made it easy!’ he said, gripping Pietro’s lanky frame and giving him a good shake.
‘Bonnie,’ Steve said when he finally made it over. ‘The others are headed back to the tower but I’ve gotta go to work, you alright to catch a ride with one of them?’
‘Well actually, sir,’ Flash interjected. ‘We were going out as a team to celebrate, is that okay if she comes too? I can give her a ride home after, I’m already giving Maximoff a ride.’
‘Bonnie?’ Steve looked directly at me and raised a brow.
‘It’s cool, they’re.. cool,’ I said, trailing off a bit as I looked at the two goofballs.
‘Alright, call me if you need anything, even if I’m on an OP,’ he told me and I nodded. ‘And don’t stay out too late!’
‘I won’t,’ I smiled at him, rolling my eyes a little.
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 22: It’s On Us
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: It’s On Us - AJR
Bonnie Carter POV
Friday 6th September 2013
I let out another laugh as Flash tried to explain to Pietro why garbage disposals exist. I picked up another slice of pizza as we sat in a booth by ourselves rather than at the big round one the rest of the team had been at when we’d arrived. And we were still here long after they’d left.
‘You have tiny blender in sink! This is not normal!’ Pietro arged and threw a fry dramatically down onto the paper they came in. I threw my head back, belly aching as I listened to the two of them argue.
‘Hey, there’s plenty of weird stuff we’ve got going on over here, don’t limit yourself to the humble garbage disposal,’ I told him and Flash laughed.
‘All I am saying, Sokovia, much less strange by comparison,’ he told us and Flash snorted.
‘Oh yeah?’ Flash said. ‘Well what about all the weird phrases you keep telling me? None of them strike you ask odd?’
‘No!’
‘Okay what about that one from practice the other day! Under the lying stone water does not flow, what does that even mean?’ Flash argued.
‘If makes no effort, makes no progress, get nowhere,’ Pietro shrugged.
‘What?’
‘No pain, no gain,’ I explained and Flash nodded finally in understanding. ‘From what I understand, most phrases we have here, have a similar translation somewhere else in the world, it’s just not obvious right away.’
‘Exactly,’ Pietro threw a hand out, glad finally someone understood him. ‘I knew you would understand Sonechko.’
‘No way you already have nicknames for each other,’ Flash grumbled. ‘What language do they even speak in Sokovia anyway, what did he just call you? I looked it up, Sokovian is not a language.’
‘Ukranian,’ I answered, chuckling. I picked up my napkin and wiped the grease from the cheese off the corner of my mouth. ‘They speak Ukranian in Sokovia.’
‘This what I would like to know,’ Pietro said, dropping an arm behind me on the backrest of the booth, leaning his head on his other hand. ‘How you come to look up Sokovia, get all the way to finding out Sokovian is not language, and not take one extra step to find national language?’
I let out a loud laugh, clutching my aching abs for a moment before I settled myself. I patted Pietro’s knee sympathetically, lips pressing together in a thin line. ‘Don’t mind him, he’s one of those guys that think we speak American.’
‘We do!’ Flash threw his hands up and Pietro laughed at the frustrated jock. ‘It’s called American English. American. ’
‘English,’ I argued. ‘American English. ’
‘Spolucheni Shtaty,’ Pietro sighed, shaking his head. I smiled softly at him, watching the corners of his eyes crinkle up when he smiled. He had such lovely blue eyes.
‘See something you like, Sonechko?’ Peitro smirked and I jerked back a little, realising I’d been staring.
‘You have something on your face,’ I said, picking up a clean napkin and dabbing at an imaginary spot on his cheek.
‘Sure malia,’ he chuckled softly and I turned my burning face away.
I picked up my soda glass, ice causing condensation to drip down the side. I brought the paper straw up to my mouth and looked up at Flash who was smirking at me. I shot him a glare and he only grinned cheekily at me. I did not know how to feel about this new development in my life. I had enough to worry about, I did not need the butterflies currently rampaging in my stomach every time I looked at Pietro and his dumb face.
‘You kids close to finishing up?’ A waitress said and I looked up at the clock.
‘Oh, sorry, it’s way past close, you probably want to get home,’ I said and pushed myself up. I climbed over Pietro who thankfully kept his hands to himself as I did. I followed her over to the register and paid the bill while Flash and Pietro chattered amongst themselves. They looked pretty serious.
‘You need a receipt?’ our server asked and I shook my head with a smile.
‘No, it’s all good,’ I told her. ‘Thanks for letting us stay this long.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ she told me. ‘You looked like you were having fun.’
Eugene Thompson POV
It wasn’t a good feeling, knowing as much as I was trying, trying to be good, to do right, it was all for her, but she was blushing about him. The one making her laugh, the one catching her gaze and flirting with her was him. I frowned, he was my friend. And he was a real one, so far anyway. Not like the others who were my friends because I was popular, who were my friends as long as I wanted to take Gordon’s lunch money, or rough up Parker but as soon as I stopped didn’t want to know me. They hadn’t been my friends, and I’d known them all my life.
Carter got up and went to pay the bill, something I should have been doing. If I was her boyfriend, if I had the cash to spare, I’d be doing that. I’d happily do it. I sighed and leaned back in the booth, there wasn’t much a thug like me could offer her. I knew that, I’d always known that. I can’t believe I thought if I changed it would be enough. I’d be enough. But I couldn’t see myself going back to those guys, I couldn't even be mad at Pietro. He was getting her because he was nice. Because he really was funny.
‘Something wrong, Flash?’ Pietro asked.
‘You speak to many girls in Sokovia, Pietro?’ I countered, I had to get serious. If he was going to get Carter, he had to be right for her.
‘I talk to my twin sister every day,’ he shrugged. ‘There is girl who lives down the street Yana, she is Wanda’s friend. I have few friends at home, not many girls.’
‘You sleep with many?’ I asked. You don’t have to be friends to pull girls.
‘No,’ he shook his head. ‘Why does you want to know?’
‘You plan on doing that here? Getting all the American girls you can?’ I demanded, getting slightly annoyed. He frowned at me.
‘You are acting like Bonnie says, big jackass,’ Pietro said, looking as annoyed as I felt. Carter calls me a big jackass? ‘What is you problem? You want to hang out after school at this, Aloicious, next week but now you want to know my bedroom details?’
‘Carter,’ I said bluntly. ‘What are your intentions?’ I said, nodding towards the blonde at the register.
‘Ah,’ he said, nodding in understanding, going back to leaning leisurely against the backrest of the booth. ‘You like like Bonnie.’
‘Yes I… but do you?’ I asked. ‘I know she doesn’t like me. But I want to know you’re not going to hurt her. Because if you do, I’m gonna have to hurt you. And I’m kinda doing this thing where I don’t hurt people anymore.’
‘Is very sweet you don’t want your friend hurt,’ Pietro said. ‘I respect girls. I don’t want to hurt pretty girl. I am not going to break Bonnie’s heart.’
‘Good,’ I nodded. ‘Because I’ve seen the way she looks at you. She’s been through a lot. Both her parents died recently, she’s dealt with that mostly on her own. She doesn’t need anymore trouble.’
‘I know a little of what that is like,’ he nodded, picking up a pizza crust and chewing on it. ‘Wanda and I live with foster parents in Sokovia, both our parents died in Sokovian war when we were little.’
‘Sorry I uh, I didn’t know,’ I told him. I felt a little bad about drilling him so hard. I may not have liked my dad, but at least I had two living parents, not something I could say about Carter or Pietro or even Parker.
‘Is okay,’ Pietro assured. ‘You are looking out for friend.’ I nodded, at least he understood. ‘Now is my turn. I have question.’
‘What?’ I asked and he grinned evilly at me.
‘What is your bedroom details? You sleep with many girls?’ he asked and I laughed. ‘Come on, you want to know my life, tell me yours.’
‘I used to get a few cheerleaders here and there, but then I started seeing Liz,’ I explained and Pietro’s face soured.
‘This Liz girl was assigned as my guide for school, she was not very good,’ Pietro told me. ‘Very crazy girl, does not like Bonnie very much.’
‘No,’ I scoffed, thinking back to the fight a few weeks ago. ‘No she doesn’t.’
‘Hey, what are you two losers talking about?’ Bonnie asked, making me jerk up in my seat. She smirked at me, folding her arms over her chest. ‘Oooh, I catch you out talking about something secret? What’s up? Sharing nuclear launch codes? Going to assassinate the president?’
‘You wish,’ I rolled my eyes.
‘Now you know, you must also die,’ Pietro joked. ‘Sorry Sonechko, it didn’t have to be this way. But you know too much.’
‘You can try, but many have failed,’ Bonnie replied dramatically and put some fists up in front of her face. ‘No supervillan could take me.’ That I believed.
‘You guys ready to head out?’ I asked and they nodded, Pietro climbed up out of his seat and I followed, heading out of the restaurant. I noticed Pietro put an arm around her waist, he was hesitant to actually touch her, but the arm hovered behind her. And she didn't seem to mind. He was only on exchange for the year, I told myself. There was always next year.
Bonnie climbed up into the passenger side of the new truck and I still wondered how I would explain this to my father. He was sure to flip. If I had money to buy some flashy new wheels, why wasn’t I paying him more rent. He never asked where I got the cash from, only that I gave it to him. Which made me sigh, I needed to find a job now I wasn’t stealing income from the nerd army.
‘Wait, is this Three Days Grace?’ Bonnie asked, turning the volume up. I had connected my phone to the stereo as soon as she’d given me the keys. I got this CD when i heard her singing one of the songs with Parker.
‘Yeah, you like them right?’ I asked and she nodded.
‘You know, I’m starting to think you made me that mix CD,’ she joked and I laughed. I didn’t even know how to burn CDs, but I would have liked to.
‘Safe to say I didn’t, but don’t worry, if you want me to, I can always learn to make CDs,’ I told her and she laughed.
‘It’s one of life’s great mysteries I guess,’ she said, leaning back against the headrest and staring out the tinted window. ‘Why are we here? How do we know we’re on the right path? What’s in McDonald’s special sauce, and who made Bonnie that mixtape?’
‘What mix tape?’ Pietro chimed in from the backseat.
‘When Flash and I were in middle school, back when I was a cheerleader, I found this mix CD in my locker. I never found out who left it there,’ she explained, looking back at him. ‘I just assumed it was either Harry or Peter, but neither of them said anything. I don’t really know anyone else. It wasn’t Flash.’
‘You talk to many guys, was not someone on football team?’ Pietro asked and she shrugged.
‘I didn’t really know any of them, if it was, they never told me. Not much I can do about it now,’ she said. Good. I didn’t need more competition.
I noticed Pietro give Carter a squeeze on her shoulder before he hopped out at his host family’s house and noticed her giddy grin and small giggle. It was almost unnatural seeing her act like some school girl. She normally behaved like some kind of salty war vet who’d seen the horrors of the world. Or at least around me.
I could hear buzzing before I saw Bonnie fumble for her phone in her pocket. Gone was the luminous lime green iPhone, I noticed, and in was a shiny new Stark Slate. She really was in with the Avengers. Boy was I glad I decided to shape up when I did, I did not need Captain America kicking my ass.
‘Hey,’ I heard her say. She looked almost amused for a moment and I could hear someone sounding pretty frantic on the other end of the call. ‘Chill out Pete, I’ll be over soon.’
I raised an eyebrow at her and she chuckled as she hung up the call. I started the car up again and started driving, assuming she’d tell me where we were going. She glanced over at me and then the road before biting her lip.
‘You mind doing me a favour?’ she asked and I shrugged. ‘Could you drop me at Peter’s house instead of home? He’s just down the street from you, next to my old house. You can even just drive home and I can walk from there. It’s like, a few houses up.’
‘Yeah,’ I nodded. I remembered. ‘I can do that.’
It was a quiet drive the rest of the way, Three Days Grace playing in the background as I was anything but relaxed. She looked quite happy though. She had her head back against the seat and a lazy expression on her face as she watched the world go by just out the window.
I drummed on the steering wheel as we sat in the late night traffic. It was pretty late, even for me to be out. I’d just gotten so wrapped up in the lighthearted situation. Everyone was laughing, they were happy. I never wanted that moment to end. Running through my head were all the things that could be going wrong at home. I shouldn’t have stayed out this late. I should know better.
Forgetting I had Carter in the car will me, I pulled up into the drive to my house. Instantly I could hear the screaming. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Carter already springing into action, her hand already on the door handle. I hit the door lock button with one hand and grabbed her wrist with the other, yanking her towards me. She turned back to look at me in shock.
‘Get low, and stay in the car,’ I ordered. She raised an eyebrow, she looked like she was going to argue. I didn’t have time. I shook my head at her. ‘Please,’ I said desperately. She frowned. Nodding softly after staring a me for a moment. I let go of her wrist and she slid down in her seat, crouching in the space between the dash and the passenger seat.
‘Be careful,’ she warned and I ignored her, climbing out of my car and closing the door behind me. I locked it with my keys and took a deep breath, matching inside. Time to face the music.
Bonnie Carter POV
I let out a slow, shaky breath. I remembered the last time I heard this, I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten. Not forgotten, but pushed this to the back of my mind. How could I? I’d become just like the adults I’d been so angry with. I realised with the yelling and sound of fighting inside that I’d let Flash down. I’d really let him down, and he wasn’t the one who needed to redeem himself, I was.
It bothered me, not understanding why Flash was upset. He seemed to have everything. He was popular, had lots of friends. Why bully? Why seem so miserable when at home? Why did he seem so sad and pathetic that day outside his house?
I perched on the sidewalk a little ways down from his house, so it wasn’t obvious that I was waiting. On what I didn’t know. I picked up a stick and started poking at the ground with it, drawing in the dirt. And so I waited.
For three days the streetlights came on and my mother called me in for dinner and nothing happened outside Flash’s house. So why? What was it that made him so upset? Day four Officer Harrison Thompson pulled up on the curb, home early from work. He paid me no mind as he walked inside his house. And for the first half hour or so, nothing much happened.
I saw Flash walk past me, also paying me no mind and shortly after stepping inside, the yelling started. And not the kind of yelling you hear at a sports game, not like the baseball games Uncle Ben had taken Peter and I to before he realised Peter had absolutely zero interest in sport. No, this was the kind of yelling you’d hear in some kind of disaster. There was screaming, crying and Officer Thompson sounded very angry. I needed to talk to my mom about this. She’d know what to do.
I sat there, just outside of Flash’s house until the sun went down and the streetlights came on, just as I had every other night. I heard every shout, every harsh word. I’m pretty sure I heard words I’d yet to learn, but would never be allowed to say. I frowned occasionally, concerned. Something was really wrong. And I couldn’t be the only one to hear this. So why wasn’t anyone doing anything? How many adults were there around that could hear this and didn’t do anything. I’d beat up guys at school for less.
I could hear my mother calling me, I knew it was time to go, even if I didn’t really want to. Even though I couldn’t do anything, I was far too small, even though that had never stopped me before, I still wanted to be here. As if somehow, if I heard all this, it would help somehow. I got up off the ground and dusted my jeans off a bit before I left, going back down the block and inside for the day.
‘Hey mom,’ I said as I went to the bathroom to wash my hands.
‘Hey baby,’ She smiled. ‘Where've you been? You weren't with Peter. He stopped by earlier to ask if you’d come play.’
‘I was with Eugene,’ I replied. ‘Sort of. Something’s going on in his house. I saw him the other day and he looked like he’d got beat up, I thought it was one of the other kids. He seemed pretty upset, and I thought he just got what he deserved. But this is something else.’
‘Probably not one of the other kids, sweetie,’ my mother commented, putting a soft hand on my shoulder and turning off the taps. We went through to the kitchen and I sat at the dinner table, working on my homework till dad came down from his office and my mother put dinner on the table. Why was that all she’d said? Time to bring out the big guns. Dad would do something.
‘Dad,’ I asked, looking up from my green beans.
‘Yes, pumpkin?’ he asked.
‘I was talking to mom about Eugene earlier,’ I started, wanting to know exactly what mom meant.
‘Oh?’ he asked, intrigued because I usually never had a nice thing to say about him.
‘What'd she mean when she said it probably wasn't another kid that got to him?’ I asked, glaring at my food and then looking up at him.
‘That's probably a conversation for when you're older,’ he replied, leaving it at that.
‘What does that even mean?’ I huffed. ‘Something’s going on over there. Something bad.’
‘It’s none of our business Bonnie Margaret Carter, you drop this right now,’ he scolded and I huffed again. Stupid grown ups. I needed answers.
I didn't get my answer till I was 14, after mom had died and dad hadn't come out of his office in weeks. I went for a walk, telling Peter I needed to be alone. I was angry, I almost didn't see what was happening I was so pissed. I walked past Flash's place, fists clenched when I heard the screaming and yelling. Jessie was wailing, his mother was crying and I could hear the pained cries of Flash. His father had been angry, drunk as usual and he was yelling. Same as I’d heard, same as everyone had heard for years. And it was still going on. And still, no one was doing anything… because it wasn’t our business.
The thought had never occurred to me before that moment, that the reason Flash was a bully, was because he'd learned it from his father. I stared at the slightly rundown house I was standing in front of, shocked and no longer angry. I let loose my clenched fists, staring, just starting, at the house. This didn't excuse Flash's behaviour but it at least fucking explained it. My mom had known, my dad had known everyone in the fucking street had known. How had no one done anything? Surely it couldn't have been because his father was a police officer. It didn't matter, that wasn't right. Bullies had to be stood up to, especially the ones in a position of power.
And so as I sat wedged between the glove box and the seat adjustment lever, I felt myself being compelled to get out of the car. To hell with what Flash had asked, someone had to do something. So many people had failed him up to this point. Something had to be done. Someone had to do something and if no one else would, I would.
I jerked upright when I heard the driver side door get yanked open and someone climbed inside. I looked up at Flash to see him sitting there with his head in his hands. He was shaking, but with rage or fear I didn’t know. I pushed myself up, crawling over to him. I gingerly reached out to touch his shoulder. He flinched when my fingertips made contact and he looked back at me in a panic. My heart broke and it was pretty evident on my face. He was bruised, there was a large red lump forming on his cheek and I could see the tops of weals forming under his shirt collar. There was some blood seeping through the back of his shirt and when I opened my mouth to speak, nothing but a cracked sob came out.
‘Give me the word,’ I said through my teeth. I was shaking angrily. How had this gotten so far?
‘No,’ he said firmly.
‘Fla..’
‘I said no,’ he said again. I was shocked. Why would he not let me go in there and knock ten bells out of this guy? That jerk hurt my friend, and who knows who else?
‘What? Why not, Flash! He hurt you,’ I argued and he grabbed my wrists, pinning them to my lap, stopping me from reaching for the door lock. He squeezed them tightly, not to bruise but to hold me, to feel me, to ground himself.
‘That’s okay,’ he told me.
‘No it isn’t!’ I argued.
‘Yes, it is,’ he said just as firm as he had everything else. ‘Because it’s me he’s hurting, he’s not hurting my mom or my little sister. I couldn’t protect my mom when I was little, only Jessie, but I can now. I’m bigger now, I’m stronger now. I’m just like you, I’m protecting the people I care about but you gotta let me do this my way.’
‘What? And just let this keep going on? I care about you Flash, are you asking me not to do the same?’ I shook my head. How could this be?
‘Fighting him just makes it worse, I learned that a long time ago. I just need to be there, to take the hits. He needs somewhere to channel the anger, and I’ll be that, I’ll be his punching bag, so long as it keeps my family safe,’ he explained I felt tears poor out of my eyes, hitting out hands with a hot, heavy splatter. ‘I don’t care.’
‘I do,’ I told him softly. ‘I care.’
‘Bonnie, you can’t do anything here,’ he reasoned and I shook my head, face aching I had my jaw clenched so hard.
‘What do you think will happen when you leave for college, when it’s just Rose and Jessie? Huh? You might think you’re the aggressor but he’ll move on once you’re not around, and you can't take his hits forever.’ I explained. ‘Do you think he’ll go after Jessie when you’re not there to protect her, or do you think your mom will step in and take the hits for her? Which would you prefer? Because it’s gonna be one of them. Or do you think it’ll be both, huh? You really are stupid if you think this can keep going on the way it does. Because either one day it’ll go too far and he’ll kill you, or you’ll move on, unable to protect them and everything he does to you will transfer over to them. It might be your mom doesn’t make dinner right one night, or Jessie just laughs too loudly one day and it’ll all come crashing down. I can’t just do nothing.’
‘Don’t go in there Bonnie,’ he begged. ‘You don’t get it, it’s not because I think you’re too little, or not strong enough. It’s because it’s just going to make things worse. Just leave it, please don’t get involved.’
‘Someone has to do something, Flash, this has been going on too long,’ I told him.
‘But not you,’ he said. ‘You are little, you can’t fight him, even if I know you can hold your own. Even though I know you can bounce around the field all day, I don’t want you hurt. Not by his hands. And even if you somehow managed to come away cleanly, he’ll just get much worse. So don’t do anything, don’t get involved. Promise me you’re not going in there.’
‘Fine,’ I said, yanking my hands away. ‘I won’t set foot inside that house until you tell me I can.’
I flicked the lock on the door, grabbed my bag and pushed out of the car without another word. Someone had to do something, and I still would. I’d just have to do something that didn’t involve walking through his front door and kicking Harrison’s fucking teeth in.
Notes:
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Chapter 23: How To Live
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: How To Live - Simple Creatures
Peter Parker POV
Friday 6th September 2013
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on edge, sweat dripped down my forehead. How could the SHIELD hospital release me? Now there was nothing between me and Aunt May’s wrath. I should have come up with some excuse while I was in there, but SHIELD hadn’t let me send any messages within their secure facility so they couldn’t be traced. So other than the interview with Steve and Addison Chen, she had no idea I was even alive. Maybe it was easier to just run away to Peru. I could become an archaeologist, study mummies or something…
I took a deep breath and walked inside the front door. The minute I let go of the knob she rounded on me, stern expression on her face and hands on her hips. I looked back at her sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head.
‘Peter Benjamin Parker!’ she boomed. ‘Just where have you been ? No note, bed empty, skateboard gone. You’ve been missing for days, where the hell have you been?’
‘Uh sorry, it’s a funny story actually,’ I said awkwardly. She raised a pencil thin eyebrow, looking at me expectantly for my excuse. I had to come up with something. I wish Bonnie was here, she would know what to say. She was always good at coming up with excuses on the fly.
‘See I needed to buy a new camera lens from The Photo Centre and I got click and collect rather than having it shipped because I needed it right away,’ I said awkwardly. I did actually get a new camera lens so that would be believable right?
‘Turns out I had my location set to New Jersey by mistake and I tried to change it but it wouldn’t let me. And you know I’m a man of my word. Uncle Ben always told me when you make a plan, stick to it. And see, all I had was my skateboard to get there so it took a little while…’
‘You’ve been missing since Monday and you expect me to believe it’s because you Skateboarded to New Jersey?’ She scoffed.
‘Well yeah,’ I nodded, too late to go back now. ‘See I left Bonnie’s apartment on Tuesday and I went to the park on the way home and thought I might take some shots of the ducks.’
‘And that’s when you realised you needed a new camera lens and decided to skateboard to New Jersey?’ she asked impatiently and I shook my head. New Jersey wasn’t actually that far I realised, I should have said Bel Air or something..
‘No,’ I shook my head. ‘See there were these kids feeding the ducks some bread and I must have spooked them and they flew away and I thought wow, what a great action shot. So I went to take a picture and when I was flicking through the shots I got talking to this old man who was sitting on the bench. And he was upset, I assumed because the ducks flew away but he was like ducks aren’t supposed to eat bread, it’s bad for them. Did you know that bread is bad for ducks? Because I didn’t. And so he wanted the park to put up a sign but he said it would all just be pointless and you know me, I don’t like to see people giving up so I went to the park security and asked if I could put up a sign and they were like, nah man, you gotta speak to the city.’
‘Peter, what does this have to do with your camera lens?’ she asked and I waved a finger at her.
‘Ah, I’m getting there,’ I assured her and put my bag down at the door, herding her to the couch. ‘So I went to City Hall but there were subway delays and with my skateboard it took all day to get there. And by the time I got there it was closed but it was pretty late and I didn’t think I could make the subway in time so I figured I’d just wait till they opened back up again.’
‘So you waited all night outside city hall instead of coming home and having me drive you the next day?’ May asked and I nodded.
‘I figured you’d be busy,’ I shrugged. ‘So Wednesday morning they open back up, I get held up at reception because apparently you can’t just show up to speak to the Parks Department, you have to book an appointment and fill out all this paperwork but I was able to sweet talk the receptionist and she squeezed me in that day and printed my paperwork for me. But when I did finally get to the right department for my apartment, they rejected my application to put up a sign!’ I threw my hand up. ‘Go figure, I guess the old man was right.’
‘Peter,’ Aunt May warned. ‘The camera.’
‘I’m getting there,’ I soothed. ‘So after they rejected my application, for seemingly no reason, by the way, so I decided this was wrong. I needed to do something about the ducks. So I started to talk to people and we started something. They wanted to march on Washington. And I actually got halfway there but I dropped my camera and the lens cracked so I had to order one online. And I said I’d pick it up in store, but as you know I messed up my location so I had to skateboard from Baltimore to New Jersey and then I realised, why was I doing all of this when I only wanted to take some pictures of ducks? So I phoned my protest group from a payphone because my cell battery was dead, oh yeah, my phone died..’
‘I noticed,’ May told me.
‘So yeah, I called them from the road and told them good luck, but I wasn’t going to go through with it. And I skateboarded back here,’ I told her and she looked like she didn’t want to believe me. I was just spitballing here, and I could completely understand why she wouldn’t. But then she knew how awkward I was and how I often used to get wrapped up in projects and embroiled in other people’s schemes. So she was torn. Plus, it would be a more acceptable explanation than “sorry, I got caught up in an explosion and had head trauma”.
‘Yeah, you’re so grounded,’ May said and sighed.
‘The things I do for ducks,’ I replied and she pointed out of the living room and up the stairs. I pressed my lips together in a thin line, yeah, that’s about as well as I could have expected that to go.
At that moment there was a knock on the door and I glanced between the staircase and the door. May raised her eyebrow at me again and I started heading for the stairs. I heard her get up and head for the door, and I looked back from my spot halfway up the stairs. Bonnie stood in the doorway, tearstained face and puffy red cheeks.
‘You heard he was home, huh?’ May asked. ‘You can see him, but you can’t stay, he’s grounded.’
‘I figured,’ she nodded, high pitched voice.
‘Oh sweetheart,’ May said and pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back softly before pulling away and pushing her towards me.
I jogged down the stairs and opened my arms into a hug. She gripped me tightly and lost all composure, sobs wracking her body. She was either a very good actress or something else was bothering her. And knowing my best friend, she had definitely managed to find trouble in the .2 seconds it had been since we last spoke.
‘I didn’t go far, it’s okay,’ I told her, also rubbing her back.
I looked over at May who sighed and gestured for the stairs. I tried to hide my grin before letting myself out of the hug and tugging Bonnie up the stairs. Once in the safety of my room I flicked the electric lock closed and plopped down onto my sheets.
‘So I heard you won the game,’ I tried and she nodded, perching beside me on the bed. ‘What happened?’
‘Flash’s dad beats him,’ she told me. I frowned. Pretty sure the whole street knew that, why was she crying over it now? ‘We always suspected, but it’s different actually seeing the marks fresh on his skin.’
‘Oh, you were there? Tonight?’ I asked.
‘He made me stay in the car, he made me promise I wouldn’t go in and knock ten bells out of his dad,’ she told me.
‘Given he’s a cop, that’s probably a smart move,’ I told her and she shook her head, wiping some of the hot tears off her face.
‘He won’t let me do anything at all, made me promise,’ she said. ‘How am I supposed to watch all that happen and do nothing? I don’t care he’s a bully and a thug, that he used to push us in the dirt in kindergarten, that up until last year he took people’s lunch money. An adult beating a child is still wrong.’
‘I know,’ I nodded. Without any personal attachment to the situation, I might have felt similarly. I couldn’t say Flash deserved it, but I wasn’t falling apart like Bonnie was. What had I missed while I was out of school?
‘What do I do?’ she asked, she sounded so desperate. I put an arm around her as she sat in front of me, one leg crossed in front of her, ankle sitting on her opposite knee. Her little hands made tight fists. She was pissed, she hated feeling helpless.
‘Nothing,’ I told her. Her head shot up from where she’d been staring angrily at her lap to stare angrily at me instead. ‘Have someone else do something. We are just kids, remember, there’s not much we can do. Think of all your connections, ask them for help, there’s no shame in it. Ask Stark for a custody lawyer, ask Natasha to take a hit out on his dad, I don’t know. There’s plenty you can do without actually doing anything. You don’t have to solve every problem with your fists, Huck Finn.’
‘You sound like my Mom,’ she told me and I laughed. Janie Carter never really approved of Bonnie’s methods and according to Grandma Margaret, Sarah Rogers felt the same about Steve. It was no surprise the two got on like a house on fire. ‘So you’re grounded, huh?’
‘Yeah she didn’t believe my excuse, you could have helped me with it if you’d gotten here sooner,’ I teased and she rolled her eyes.
‘What’d you tell her?’ she asked and I smiled, laying back on my pillow. She slid down with me, laying on my arm while I tucked the other behind my head, animatedly recounting the story. She laughed hysterically at my terrible excuses and teased me relentlessly. It was worth it though, to see her look a little less worried. Feeling tired, I noticed her eyes drooping. Too exhausted to really do anything about it, I tugged the blankets up over us and webbed the lights off.
Steve Rogers POV
I sighed as I walked back into my apartment after a long day. I noticed there was no book bag resting by the door and raised an eyebrow. It was pretty unusual for Bonnie to have actually put it away, I barely saw her do her homework, if I’m honest.
‘JARVIS, is Bonnie still up?’ It was a Friday, I didn’t expect her to be tucked up in bed asleep, it was a little after 1am, she was a teenager.
‘Miss Carter has not yet returned home,’ Tony’s virtual assistant told me. So much for not staying out too late, she and I had very different ideas on what late was. She was allowed to break curfew for crime fighting, not partying.
‘Where is she?’ I asked.
‘She is at the Parker residence and has not left since her arrival approximately 3 hours ago,’ JARVIS answered me. ‘Would you like me to wake her, sir?’
‘No, that’s fine,’ I replied. I’d heard Peter had come home, she must have gone to visit and lost track of time. We’d be having words later about keeping me in the loop, but I knew she was safe.
Bonnie Carter POV
Feeling a little warm, I pushed myself up, and looked around at my surroundings. I could smell familiar deodorant and sweat and looked down to see Peter snoozing away, still wearing his glasses. I reached down to gingerly slide them off his face, he stirred slightly but otherwise didn’t wake up. I placed them on the nightstand and swung my legs off the side of the bed. 3am. Bold red matchstick numbers stared me in the face. I was in so much trouble.
I climbed off the bed, walking over to the doorway to pick up my bookbag. I needed to go for a walk, I couldn't think. What was I supposed to do about Flash? If I told Steve he’d just go punch Officer Thompson’s lights out, which would be amazing, but unhelpful in the long run. Tasha and Clint were likely to ruin his life, which would be again, amazing, but he’d just take it out on his family. I needed to get them out of there. But I doubted Rose would ever leave her husband. She hadn’t up until now.
Expertly tiptoeing down the creaky stairs, just as I had been doing since childhood, I managed to avoid making any noise. I tugged my shoes on in the doorway, slowly twisted the knob and pulled the door open. I pushed the lock button in and tugged the door closed behind me. I missed this old neighbourhood. It wasn’t quiet, not even at this time of night, but it was peaceful. Usually.
The air was cold around me, the summer was finally drawing to a close and autumn was in full swing. The football field had been dry earlier but the night was actually becoming cold, there was no residual heat from the day. I could smell the motor oil from an open garage, it surprised me that people were willing to just leave their houses exposed like this even in Forest Hills. Things were mostly safe here, but this street wasn’t the best one in the area. My dilapidated house was a prime example of this. The drug den around the corner was another. It was weird, I’d grown up playing in the street here, the sun had always shined, the roads were always smooth. And everything seemed to fall after my mom died. And I wasn’t sure if it was always shitty and I’d never noticed, or if when the light had drained from my life, so too did the street’s.
I found myself outside Flash’s house again. The waist height, chain link fence and cracked driveway made it mirror my house, even though the single story, gardenless plot was so different in design. And it had always looked like this, poor Flash. It wasn’t the lack of funds that made me pity him, but his home never had someone caring for it with pride like mine had. Rose had always been so focused on keeping her husband happy that she’d never had the time. And he certainly didn't care. Had his house ever felt like home? What must it have been like for her? To marry someone she thought was a good man, to have kids to that man and for him to spiral the way he did? What are things even like for Jessie? This is the only life she’s ever known.
I sat down on the curb, just like I had those days and sighed, head in my hands. What the hell was I supposed to do? There was no way I had the power to fix things the way I needed to, how could I? Where would I even start? But I had to do something. People had been doing nothing for years. Had anyone even tried?
I could feel a presence near me. Lifting my head from my hands I looked up to see a familiar pair of black combat boots in front of me. I followed dark cargo pants up to thick thighs and a jacket covered in buckles. I gazed up at him. Now was not the time for an attempted assasination.
‘Cookie, you can’t sit in the street like this,’ he told me. I raised an eyebrow. He was initiating conversation? Also, since when did he care what I did? Didn’t he point a gun at Peter and I the other day?
‘What do I do?’
‘I’d start by standing up,’ he said and I scoffed. Now he was joking? Where was the stoic, serious Winter Stalker I’d come to know and love?
‘You’ve been watching me all this time,’ I said. ‘Surely you know what happens in there.’
‘That is not my mission,’ he answered.
‘It’s become mine,’ I told him, standing up. ‘That is a cage. He’s my friend, and he’s trapped. No one deserves to be forced into a life they don’t want to live. I want to fix this, but I don’t know how.’
‘He was not your friend when you first became my mission,’ Emo Lord commented and I sighed. He should have been. Instead of knocking his teeth out when he was taking lunch money off the student body I should have been asking why. I was always taught bullies were cowards, but I was starting to think bullies had been bullied at some point themselves. That there was a vicious circle of violence going on. Some people were bad from the start, there was no denying that, no saving them. But Flash deserved the chance to be different, Danny told me that, and I’m sad I didn’t listen until now.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ I shook my head. ‘That guy in there, he abuses his power, he bullies, he hurts his family. My not friend, he deserves better. He doesn’t have to be my friend for me to think that. I have to put a stop to this. But I promised I wouldn’t go in there. I don’t know what to do.’
‘You promised you wouldn’t go in there,’ he shrugged. ‘Don’t go in.’
As if it was that simple. There seemed to be something more to what he was saying. What was he implying? How could I terrorise Officer Thompson from outside? How could I make him pay? How did I make this not about revenge but about justice? How did I give the Thompson family justice?
‘Go home,’ he ordered.
‘Will you watch me?’ I asked. I didn’t know why I wanted the comfort of a 6ft assassin but having the assurance he’d be keeping an eye on me as I made my way back to Avengers tower made me feel safe. Something was definitely broken in my brain.
‘Always,’ he agreed. I gave him a singular nod and started walking back up the street. It would take me three hours on foot, plenty of time to let my thoughts swirl through my brain. I could cut it down if I jogged, but who really enjoys that? No one. No one likes jogging.
Steve Rogers POV
Saturday 7th September 2013
Sitting up suddenly I was unsure at first why I’d woken but when I heard quiet footsteps scuffing across the carpet I threw back the covers. Seeing the alarm clock on my bedside table as I got to my feet I frowned. Bonnie was in so much trouble. 5:37am. It was one thing to sleep over at a friend’s house because it had gotten late. It was another entirely to be walking the streets of this city at this time of night.
‘What time do you call this?’ I demanded, arms folded over my chest as I saw her with a piece of bread hanging out of her mouth.
‘Have you just been waiting up for me?’ she asked after recovering from her shock. I kept my stern expression, while amusing, I couldn’t let her get away with this. I was supposed to be her legal guardian. And while I’d been doing a pretty bad job at being responsible this far, I had to try. She was 10 years younger than me, I had to remember that.
‘What part of “don’t stay out too late” was hard for you to understand?’ I asked.
‘Well technically I didn’t stay out,’ she replied and I rolled my eyes. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘What happened?’ I sighed and she turned back for the fridge, grabbing out some mie goreng and came over to sit at the kitchen table. She gestured for the chair in front of her and tipped some of the cold noodles into her piece of bread. ‘Oh it’s a long one, is it?’
‘I was headed home after pizza but Peter called, he needed some backup on his alibi for where he’s been all this time. But I was late…’ she looked down and sighed. ‘Steve I… I gotta talk to you about something. I have a problem I don't know how to deal with. But I have to do something. And this isn’t the kind of problem I can deal with by beating up a few goons.’
‘Bonnie, you know you can come to me with anything,’ I assured her. This was serious, this was concerning, but my heart did swell up with pride knowing she was coming to me with her problems. She’d started to trust me enough again that she’d let me back in.
‘It’s about Flash,’ she sighed.
‘He’s that guy you hate, which reminds me, why were you going out for pizza with him anyway?’ I’d raised a brow when he’d asked me if she could come, I’d assumed she was looking for an out, not that she took issue with simply telling people where to go. But then he had leant her his truck.
‘Danny,’ Bonnie shrugged. ‘We talked about him being a bully that had a crush, but he started making changes in his behaviour. I told him to fuck off at first, but then Danny said if I didn’t like him being a bully, then I should be encouraging him when he makes the right choices. Positive reinforcement when he does the right thing, instead of repeatedly punishing him for his past.’
‘That’s good advice,’ I pointed out. This Danny kid seemed pretty wise for a guy who wandered around in his pyjamas. I watched Bonnie get up for a glass of milk, wandering about the kitchen as she gathered what she needed.
‘And so I did, and we went out for pizza, stayed till after close and he drove Pietro home,’ Bonnie explained, sipping from the short glass. ‘Peter called, I asked Flash to let me out at his house and I’d just walk up, because it was like, right there, but I… I saw or well I heard..’
‘What?’ I asked. She looked pretty upset, she was on the verge of tears. Had this goon that was after her shown up again?
‘No one is doing anything Steve, it’s been going on for years, I remember it now, I can’t believe I forgot, I feel so guilty,’ she sobbed, dropping her glass down on the counter with a thunk. She gripped her face like she always did when she was at her emotional end. I pressed my lips together into a thin line.
‘Flash’s dad is a drunk cop who beats him,’ Bonnie told me. ‘I didn’t understand at first when I was little. He made me stay in the car, I heard it all, he’s covered in welts and bruises and, and I couldn’t do anything. He made me promise not to do anything. And he’s a cop so I can’t just deck him. Flash said he would happily take the hits if it meant his mom and sister were safe, but that’s not good enough.’
‘And you don’t want to call the police because?’ I asked and she nodded.
‘Because he is the police. First I have to prove there’s even something to investigate, Flash would have to be willing to press charges, his mom and sister would have to back him up, and if she’s already being abused, why would Rose be able to stand up to him. And then we’d have to make sure his shitty police force friends aren’t going to lie for him,’ Bonnie explained. I nodded.
‘So what next?’ I asked. What had she thought up in that little head of hers.
‘Rose is never gonna leave him, she hasn’t yet, she’s trapped,’ Bonnie explained. ‘So I can’t even get them out to a domestic violence centre or something. And Peter made a joke about having Tasha take a hit out on him and I considered it honestly…’
‘Bonnie,’ I scolded and she shook her head.
‘I don’t know what to do,’ she explained. ‘And even if somehow I manage to fix this, I’ll never be able to make up for how long I let this go on. Never be able to make up for punching his face in when I thought he was just a thug.’
‘That’s not your fault, Bonnie, you are a child,’ I told her. ‘I trust you, I know you’re going to be an adult soon, but bottom line is you are still a child. You were even younger then. You didn’t know any better and you aren’t responsible for fixing this all on your own. We’ll figure this out together.’
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 24: Save You
Chapter Text
Title Song: Save You - Simple Plan
Bonnie Carter POV
Saturday 7th September 2013
The soft carpet felt unusually rough on my feet today as I trudged across the hallway floors back towards my bedroom. I’d stayed probably way too long in the shower, but after the savage beating yesterday in the game and my general mopey demeanour, it was at least understandable. I raised an eyebrow on my way passed as I saw Steve standing behind a tabletop ironing board in the kitchen, running an ancient looking iron over the pages of a newspaper. Shaking my head, I continued on my way to my bedroom. I hadn’t had enough sleep to touch that one yet. Besides, when your roommate is a 91 year old, genetically modified soldier from the 40s, ironing the newspaper probably wasn’t the weirdest thing I could have walked in on him doing.
I flopped down on the bed in my towel and let out a deep sigh, wet hair hitting the pillow with a slap. I knew I needed to get back up again, to dress and go eat something. I had homework I should probably do at some point, and it was Saturday. There were Saturday activities I could be doing. However, laying nearly naked and staring at the ceiling seemed to have my attention more.
‘Hey JARVIS?’ I asked.
‘Yes Miss Carter?’
‘Is Tasha here?’ I asked, running a hand over my sticky, freshly moisturised face.
’Would you like me to connect you to her?’ he asked. ‘She’s in her apartment.’
‘Tell her I’m having motivational issues,’ I replied. ‘And not to bring Barton because I’m naked.’
‘Certainly ma’am.’
The door opened slowly and closed again. I felt the bed dip under the weight of a person beside me but heard no footsteps leading up. I glanced away from the ceiling to find Tasha perched cross legged beside me resting her elbows on her knees and offering me a gentle smile.
‘Sorry I took so long,’ she told me. ‘Steve gave me a rundown on last night and this morning when I told him why you called.’
‘I didn’t really notice much time had passed,’ I replied honestly. It had all been a timeless blur. ‘I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I feel guilty I’ve let it go on this long. I’m angry everyone else did too. And I also feel awful I’m the one sitting around moping when he’s the one who is justified in feeling upset.’
‘He’s your friend Bonnie, you’re allowed to be upset for him. But you can’t be upset at yourself, it’s not your fault,’ Tasha told me. ‘If you really wanna help him, start looking into what you can do for him.’
‘I don’t even know where to start, I’ve never been in a custody battle. Both my parents are dead and Steve is the only one who does want me. And the problem with doing things legally is I have to go up against a cop, and I have to convince everyone that something’s going on despite the whole street knowing it’s true. And if I succeed, where do they go? Where are they supposed to live? How are they supposed to support themselves?’
‘Come on Bonnie, you’re a smart girl, you’ll figure it out,’ she told me. ‘Now, about this nakedness…’
She grabbed my ankles in a flurry of movement and yanked me towards the end of the bed, grabbing some clothes from the dresser and tugging them on my now dry body. I shrieked as she did all this, Steve I noticed, did not come to rescue me. That bastard.
‘You feeling any better after going to bed?’ Steve asked as soon as I walked back into the kitchen, now fully dressed. I shook my head. Tasha hopped up on the kitchen counter, picking up a muffin from the basket by the fridge. I’d never been to the grocery store with Steve, but I was pretty sure he wasn’t buying them, and I knew he wasn’t baking them by hand. So where were all these muffins coming from? They were a near constant in our kitchen. I mean his.
‘Plans for the day?’ he tried again and I shrugged, walking over to the muffin basket and helping myself. I sat across from him at the table, dwarfed by his frame and barely visible when he held his newspaper up. He folded it closed and put it down on the table and sighed.
‘Are you gonna say anything?’ he asked, and then I sighed. I turned my head away and chewed my bottom lip, eyes trained on his newspaper instead of looking up at him.
‘You know you don’t have to iron those,’ I told him. ‘That stopped being a thing years ago.’
‘It dries the ink out,’ he told me. ‘I go for a jog every morning and get the newspaper on the way back. It’s so early the ink’s still fresh and comes off on my hands. So I iron it when I get back.’
‘I always just thought rich people were really anal about creased reading material,’ I commented and he chuckled. ‘Why do we always have muffins?’
‘Captain America fans send them to the tower,’ Steve explained. ‘Stark scans them to make sure they’re all normal, unadulterated muffins and then sends them up here. Usually I drop them off at the soup kitchen on a Sunday. You wanna come?’ I nodded. ‘Oh so we’re back to being nonverbal?’
My phone buzzed in the pocket of the sweatpants Tasha had tugged me into moments earlier, said international superspy hopping off the counter with her half eaten muffin and heading for the door, now she was no longer needed to force me into dressing. I pulled out the Stark Slate and glanced over the lock screen to see what the notification was. Pietro.
‘what the hell kind of
theme is childhood
nostalgia??’
‘what does this mean
sonechko, what am I
supposed to wear?’
‘A nasrav yoho mordi’
‘I sound like Wanda’
I giggled to myself at the rapidfire speed that his messages were coming through and asked JARVIS to translate the entirely Ukrainian message he’d sent through. Shit his mug? The hell did that mean?
‘Peter and Gwen are
going as Jake Long
and Rose from
American Dragon,
I’m still not sure what
I’m going as,’
‘I thought about Lola
Bunny from Space Jam,
but I’m lazy and don’t
wanna have to make the
costume or wear the tail’
‘Ahh sonechko, but you
would look very cute as
bunny. I can picture the
ears now.’ -Pietro :)
‘You ever see Atlantis?
Maybe I’ll go ask Helga,’
‘And not Kida?’ -Pietro :)
‘My heart is dying :( ’ -Pietro :)
‘Or maybe I could be
Debbie from Wild
Thornberrys
depending on if I have
to do a joint costume
with Flash because of
the bet.’
‘Could do group
costume for Atlantis,
I will be Milo :D ’ -Pietro :)
‘Not Mole? Now my
heart is dying :( ’
‘Or maybe I go as
explosives guy..’ -Pietro :)
‘Well I have always
been frond of
moustaches…’
‘You are deeply
disturbed sonechko..’ -Pietro :)
‘Deeply disturbed...’ -Pietro :)
‘Pietro huh?’ Steve asked and I looked up, not making eye contact. ‘Is that Eastern European guy from last night? The one who asked you to the diner?’
‘He’s just a friend from the football team,’ I replied and Steve smirked.
‘Sure, that’s why there’s a smiley face emoji after his name,’ Steve said in an amused tone, picking up the breakfast dishes. ‘Aren’t you going to the dance with Flash? How’s that going to work?’
‘I’m going with Flash because he said if I ever came back from Mexico I’d be his date, and thinking I’d never see the guy again I agreed, pretty sure he was joking though,’ I said. ‘Pietro did ask me, but I told him I’d already agreed to go with Flash. And anyway, I never said I liked him.’
‘Sure,’ Steve scoffed, turning on the water and running it over the dishes he’d collected in the sink. I scowled. I did not sign up for this treatment. I’m running away from home. Where’s my bindle?
‘I need to go visit Danny,’ I told him after a moment and he started laughing. The sleeves of his pale blue button down shirt were rolled up to his elbows and his hands and arms were covered in soap suds. He put down his sponge while he laughed and looked back at me. ‘What?’ I demanded.
‘You’re as bad as Bucky,’ he told me and I scowled.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Don’t tell me you’re oblivious,’ Steve said and I cocked my head in confusion, brow still furrowed angrily. ‘They like you Bonnie. Flash, Pietro, Danny. They all have little crushes on you.’
‘No they don’t,’ I argued. What the hell prompted that thought, Steve? Flash’s always been flirty, because well, I presume to antagonise me. But now he’s being nice didn’t mean he had a thing for me. And Peitro, well I’d been flirting with him too, and he did kinda make me feel all butterfly-ee but Danny did not like me.
‘They do,’ Steve replied, sounding more amused. ‘You’ll notice it eventually. Just be careful not to break too many hearts, stud.’
‘I hate you,’ I told him and got up to go put my socks and shoes on. Stupid paranoid super soldiers and their wrong opinions.
‘Hey.’
I greeted, standing in the lobby to Rand Industries in some sweatpants and a t-shirt, hands stuffed into my pockets. Danny looked a little surprised to see me, but not disappointed. He led me up to his apartment without saying much, and invited me to sit in one of his beanbag chairs. I flopped down onto the soft, squishy furniture and let out a deep groan.
‘So, what’s bothering you?’ he asked and I sighed.
‘I already spoke to Peter and Steve about it, and Steve’s friend Tasha a little,’ I started.
‘But you’re not getting the answer you want, are you?’ he said and I ran my hands over my face. I stared up at the high ceiling, completely lost.
‘Did you know about Flash?’ I asked and he was silent. ‘When you asked me to be nicer to him, that treating him with positivity would affect me positively, did you know he was getting knocked around by his father? Did you know?’
‘No,’ he shook his head. ‘I suspected something was going on. Most bullies learn their behaviour somewhere, I didn’t know it was his father. Which presents a problem, because if we’re going to do anything about it, his father is a policeman.’
‘And he specifically asked me not to do anything,’ I sighed. ‘But I can’t just sit around doing nothing. I don’t care if he stops being my friend forever, he’s hurting, and I let it happen.’
‘What do you mean you let it happen?’ Danny asked.
‘When I was a kid, I overheard some of the stuff going on in his house, saw the bruises, I asked, and my dad told me to mind my business. I guess I forgot about it, how can you forget about something like that?’ I told him, dropping my head back and staring at the ceiling.
‘There isn’t really anything I can say to you that’s going to make you stop punishing yourself, is there?’ he asked and I laughed bitterly. ‘Well, what can I do to help you?’
‘Do you know how I can take his pain away?’ I asked. I crossed my arms over my chest, holding myself tightly.
‘We get him out of there,’ Danny said simply as if it was the easiest thing in the world.
‘How?’ I demanded, voice raised and pushing myself up on the beanbags. ‘We just agreed we can’t get him out of there without a lengthy legal battle his mother sure as hell won’t help with.’
‘And his mother is his only adult family member?’ Danny asked, showing no sign of being rattled by my anger. I paused. No, she wasn’t. Jack.
I got up off the beanbag and to my feet, ready to head for the door. I heard shifting behind me and footsteps following mine. I pressed the button for the elevator, calling it back up to his floor. I looked over at him, now he was standing next to me. I noticed, unlike his usual slippers and pyjamas, he was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. Sneakers, which he almost never wore. He was pulling his long hair into a ponytail and I could hear the snapping of the elastic as he did. The doors for the elevator opened with a ding and I stepped inside, followed by him. He reached over and pressed the button to close the doors again, looking relaxed but determined.
‘So,’ he said, turning to me with a smile. ‘Where are we going?’
Peter Parker POV
I scowled darkly at the glass I was holding, scrubbing at the water spots with the dish towel. I didn’t know when we’d gotten this crystal as I’d never seen it during my natural life, but I’d be damned if there was an inch of it that wasn’t free of dirt, dust and marks. Putting the vase in the dishrack, I wiped the sweat from my brow. It wasn’t much, but it was honest work.
‘Is that my apron?’ I heard May scoff and I turned away from the sink to look at her. She seemed amused. I glanced down at the light pink cotton wrapped around my torso, frilly lace straps tying it tightly to my body.
‘You don’t like it?’ I asked and she chuckled.
‘When you’re finished with that, there’s some silverware and polish on the table. Lay down one of the old towels before you start, I don’t want you to mark the wood,’ she told me.
‘Got it,’ I quickly agreed. I knew well enough not to protest, not when I was trying to earn back my freedom.
This didn’t really seem fair. Every day I saved the world, and here I was getting punished for a concussion. I just had to clean a few more things, then I could bargain for outside contact. I saw Bonnie last night, although that seemed like weeks ago, time was beginning to blend together. I would come out of this a changed man. I just hoped I’d be able to cope with the outside world, lest the vicious cycle repeat itself.
Bonnie Carter POV
I’d never been to Flash’s grandparents house. Given that all he was to me was a regular customer, it’d be weird if I could say I had. I stood next to the apartment door, looking at the floral patterned wallpaper of the hallway, wondering how this place could look like I’d stepped into another time. Danny stood relaxed as he waited against the wall opposite the door while I leaned against the doorframe. I was beginning to wonder if there was even anyone inside.
‘Do you think he’s even home?’ I asked and Danny simply shrugged. ‘How long can we wait here before someone calls the police on us for loitering.’
‘Depends on how long it’s been since you started,’ I heard and looked up to the old tired voice of my friend. Jack was walking down the corridor from the direction of the elevator, so he must have been out. ‘I know I didn’t come to the diner on Wednesday, but this is a little extreme.’
‘We’re trialling home delivery,’ I said with a lopsided smile.
‘I don’t think it’s going to take off if you don’t bring my order with you,’ he replied, reaching us finally and putting his key in the door. He pushed the door in and I moved to follow. ‘Who’s your friend?’
‘Danny,’ I told him. ‘We’re here about your grandson.’
Jack let out a heavy sigh after he closed the door after us, taking off his suit jacket and hanging it on the clothes hook by the door. The apartment was just as dated inside as it was out, red wallpaper and dark wood, but by no means dilapidated like my house was. There were photos over the walls ranging from black and white or sepia print to coloured prints from more recently. Lots of smiling happy people stared back at me.
‘What’s he done now?’ Jack asked, grabbing a whiskey bottle and three glasses. He poured one and offered it to Danny who rejected it politely. I accepted it in his stead and Jack poured another for himself.
‘Flash didn’t do anything,’ I replied. ‘Can I ask, is Harrison your son or Rose your daughter?’
‘Harrison’s my boy, why?’ Jack asked, leaning against the island in his kitchenette. His apartment was modest, open planned living and dining space, antique furniture and more photos lined the walls to the private area of the house.
‘He’s a thug,’ I replied bluntly.
‘Excuse me?’ Jack scoffed. ‘He’s a Sergeant of Queens Police Department, he’s one of New York’s finest.’
‘Finest? My we are in trouble,’ I replied.
‘You’re honestly staring me in the face and telling me that my asshole grandson who is a bully and a thug is somehow less bad than an esteemed officer of the law?’ Jack asked in disbelief. ‘It’s been documented, you’ve been wiping the floor with the guy almost your whole life. You’re telling me you’re not here to complain about my grandson?’
‘No, I’m here to protect him,’ I said firmly. ‘You didn’t ever wonder where he learned that behaviour from? Hmm? Your son. I don’t know when it started, but it’s been happening since I was in grade school. His bruises, his cuts, his moody behaviour, that didn’t come from me. That came from standing in front of his mother and sister his whole god damn life. I won’t justify his brutish behaviour in school, we can all agree that’s wrong. But now we know why. And someone needs to do something about Sergeant Thompson, before it's too late.’
‘Why are you coming to me? If you’re that riled up about it I’d have thought you’d be out there doing something about it yourself, you always have before,’ Jack commented, sipping his whiskey with his arms over his chest. He was the picture of 1940s cop, down to the suspenders and posture.
‘I promised him I wouldn’t do anything,’ I admitted. ‘And it’s killing me.’
‘What exactly do you want me to do about it?’ Jack asked, shaking his head.
‘Um, be a good person?’ I asked, shaking all over. ‘Get those kids out of there. How old is Jessie, what’s going to happen when Flash goes off to college? Who do you think is going to be next?’
‘He’d never hit a woman,’ Jack defended. ‘I raised him better.’
‘Did you?’ I scoffed. ‘Because he already has. Flash wasn’t always as big as he was.’
‘You can’t ask me to just believe this, I’ve never seen any kind of indication this might be going on in his life,’ Jack said, frustrated. I wasn’t expecting him to put up this much of a fight, but I was also expecting to have been kicked out by now.
‘Didn’t see it because it wasn’t there, or you didn’t want to?’ I asked, necking the rest of the glass. ‘I’m not asking you to just believe it, Jack. You’re a detective or whatever, look into it. Investigate. Because Rose’s been too beaten down for too long to do much herself.’
The wind blew through my hair as I sat perched on the wall surrounding the roof of the building Danny and I had climbed. There was something nice about Danny and how he was always willing to just go along with anything. He was quiet too. Everything he said had purpose, had meaning. I closed my eyes, feeling the breeze. He was standing behind me, I couldn’t see him but I could feel him around me, feel his gentle energy.
‘Do you think that was enough?’ Danny asked. I sighed.
‘I don’t know, but I hope so,’ I told him. ‘Because I don’t know what to do if it doesn’t.’
‘I don’t think anyone does,’ Danny said. ‘It’s a complicated situation. We’re just kids, we can’t help but not know everything. And even those that have been here a lot longer don’t know everything. We just have to try our best.’
‘What if that’s not enough?’ I asked.
‘All you can ever give is your best,’ Danny said, moving closer behind me. He didn’t touch me, he didn’t need to. I felt his aura envelop me in a soothing, comforting nature. ‘You need to make peace with that, or you can’t help anyone.’
‘I know,’ I sighed again, putting my head in my hands. ‘I just wish I could.’
‘Playing god is a dangerous game.’
Chapter 25: I'm In A Funky Way
Notes:
Guess who's back for another chapter? This homie.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: I’m in a Funky Way (Vibeology) - Paula Abdul
Steve Rogers POV
Saturday 7th September 2013
‘Where’s Princess?’ Tony asked as I stood in the lab overlooking Bruce and this Richards guy.
‘Breaking hearts,’ I shrugged and Tony chuckled knowingly, standing beside me with his arms folded over his chest. ‘She has absolutely no idea the effect she has on those boys. But I suppose it’s a good thing, otherwise she’d be exactly like Bucky.’
‘Your friend a bit of a womaniser?’ Tony asked and I smiled to myself. That was putting it mildly. I suppose one of us had to be charming. We all had our thing, Bucky was charming, Bonnie and I were scrappy little terriers trying to chew through the bars on our crates. So, someone had to smooth talk us out of there.
‘You could say that,’ I replied, turning away from the two scientists to give Tony my full attention. ‘Any luck working out what those fluctuations mean?’
‘Nope,’ Tony shrugged, leaning against one of the lab benches. ‘But, I have set up an alert to see if we can pinpoint when they happen.’
‘That’s good,’ I nodded along. If only we could figure this thing out.
‘I’m not sure it’ll work, it’ll take some configuarting, but if I can get it to work, then we’ll be one step closer,’ he added.
‘I’ve been thinking, what if this fluctuation, what if this is how she goes back? What if its this Gen X or whatever,’ I suggested and he bit the corner of his lip.
‘X Gene,’ Stark corrected. But paused and bounced the idea around in his head. ‘I’m not sure. She had this thing, it was like metal embedded in her skin. Had a weird glow to it, same shimmer that her fluctuations has. I always thought that was how she travelled, but I don’t know how she came across it, she kept things pretty vague, said passing tips along was like screen cheating.’
‘I never saw anything on her when I knew her,’ I told him, hoping this would be helpful in some way. Perhaps this device he saw her with had been created to enhance or control her powers? Help her in some way?
‘No, I doubt you would have,’ Stark snorted, clearly knowing something I didn’t. And given the way he was looking at me, I’m not sure I wanted to know. ‘Can’t we just ask her if she already knows?’
‘No,’ I shook my head. ‘If she doesn’t, we don’t want to influence her in any way. Because like you said, that’d be screen cheating.’
‘ Fine, ’ he huffed.
I heard the familiar voice of Addison Chen sounding throughout the lab and I looked up to the mounted TV screen. She was sitting behind a desk while trying very hard to be polite to whoever pompous looking expert she was sitting next to. I felt a little bad for her, she’d always been kind to me whenever I’d had to do press.
‘We’ve been seeing less and less reports of bank and vault break ins lately which we normally see from Batroc the Leaper and Boomerang separately. The Daily Bugle chalks this down to the hard work of Boys in Blue but others have speculated it’s down to the new crime fighting pairings of some of New York’s resident superheros. What do you think, Mister Wheaton?’
‘It’s Doctor Wheaton,’ the guy in tweed corrected. ‘And while Night Fury seems to have paired herself up with the Power Man/Iron Fist duo I don’t expect her to separate from Spider-Man anytime soon.’
Well that was true. First time one of these experts ever made an accurate prediction. I crossed my arms over my chest as I watched the two duke it out.
‘Going back to your question, Addison, I don’t think the recent reconfigurations of superhero teams has anything to do with Batroc or Boomerang,’ Dr. Wheaton continued. ‘If I’ve learned anything from the world of heroes and villains it’s that quiet is usually the calm before the storm, and not things returning to normal. No, that door is long closed. As long as there are abnormal powers there will always be heroes and villains, this is the new normal. And I think we can expect big things from those two in future, it’ll be any day now that we hear from them again. Mark me on that.’
‘Well you heard it here folks, looks like Spider-Man and Night Fury are expected to continue their long fledged partnership and we should expect movement from Batroc the Leaper and Boomerang quite soon,’ Addison signed off and that jerk Dr Wheaton was taken off screen. The camera panned to a different shot of Addison front on and presumably reading the teleprompter behind the scenes.
‘After the break we’ll be discussing the recent mass prison break-ins across the country and missing convicts in the middle of serving their respective sentences. There's no word yet as to whether any of them are connected or if any of them have been found. This has been Addison Chen, CNN.’
Recent prison break-ins? That was an odd one, usually people were trying to break out of prisons. Although, I suppose they did, if the missing convicts were anything to go off of. Batroc was one of Bonnie’s villains though, and if this jerk was right, I’d have to tell her to watch her back. Whatever he was planning, couldn’t be good.
Bonnie Carter POV
Wednesday 11th September 2013
I had my bag over my shoulder, walking with a slight slump knowing I had work to go to before I could go home and get beaten up by Tasha, as had been an almost weekly occurrence. I missed when my afterschool activities consisted of fucking around with Peter, swinging around the city for a few hours and then going home to fuck around with Peter some more before bed. I could feel myself getting more skilled though. I imagine if she wasn’t always shipping in and out on missions I’d be a master by now. However I was slightly brightened by the fact that even though Peter was still grounded, Flash and Pietro would be coming to the diner again.
‘Sonechko!’ I heard Pietro’s thick accent before I saw him. He was standing beside Flash’s truck. 'You want ride to diner?'
'Yeah, sound’s fun,' I told them. Pocket JARVIS took care of notifying whomever was meant to be picking me up today, but had yet to show, and I walked over to the Dodge.
'Your uniform is just as bright as that hair, lemonhead,' Flash commented. 'That much yellow should be a crime. You look like a banana.'
'It’s not so bad,' I mentioned. 'They were going to change the dress colour a few times but I petitioned to keep the original dresses from when they opened up. I argued because it was a part of our history, but in actuality, the new ones just sucked.'
'I think you look cute,' Pietro assured me, opening the door to the truck for me. I hopped up onto the chair with a slight jump and he smiled at me before closing the door again. I felt that fluttery feeling again as he did and I bit my lip.
'I still can’t believe you’ve tricked me into doing my homework yet again,' Flash commented and I snorted.
'It’s not tricking you if I just asked!' I said.
'Ahh yes, but Sonechko, pretty girl is a certain type of convincing, no?' Pietro said. 'You have very pretty smile that make guys want to do anything for you. Flash, just be grateful all she is asking is homework.'
'Yeah Flash, better watch I don’t start using my evil powers for taking over the world,' I chuckled.
'There’s a scary thought,' he mock shuddered behind the wheel. 'You could do it too.' I rolled my eyes. 'Oh come on, you never noticed how people just do what you want?'
'I thought that was leadership skills not powers of sensuality,' I laughed.
'A little of column A a little of column B,' Pietro shrugged. 'Do not fret, malia, is good thing.'
Things were pretty quiet the rest of the way to the diner and I punched in easily, putting my bag away in my locker and taking out only the books I needed right now. I dropped them on the bench where Flash and Pietro had parked themselves and went in the back to check on things. Finding nothing to do, I checked the front of house. Yep, more nothing. It was Wednesday after all.
'Are things always this quiet?' Flash asked and I nodded.
'Wednesdays are pretty much dead after lunch, there’s maybe a trucker or two and your grandfather but that’s it,' I replied. 'Why do you think I’m so bored all the time?'
'So bored you have to do your homework, huh? What an awful existence,' Flash said somberly, shaking his head. 'I never knew you had such a hard life. I mean Pietro here comes from a wartorn country and I’d say your story rivals his.'
'Yes, very sad,' Pietro looked down mournfully, nodding. 'Sonechko, I wish I could free you from this life of pain and suffering.'
'You two suck,' I said, folding my arms over my chest.
'Only if you good,' Pietro mumbled and I let out a loud laugh.
'I’ll endeavour to be on my best behaviour then,' I said with a wink, picking up my pad and pen as the door chime went off. I wandered over to the waiting customer, asking where he’d like to sit and making him comfortable. He ordered without looking at the menu and I made my way to the kitchen to give it to the equally as bored cook.
It was just before my shift ended when Jack showed up, which was unusual. I’d worried maybe that he’d been so upset at what I’d said when I was at his apartment that I wouldn’t see him for a while. And his late arrival did nothing to soothe my anxiety.
Still, he came in as usual, hanging his hat and suit jacket on the coat rack by the door, taking his usual spot and ordering his usual. He sat thoughtfully in his spot for the rest of my shift, holding the newspaper in his hand but only pretending to read it. I know he was pretending, because it was him that had taught me how he’d used to do it back in the old days. I’d told Grandma Margaret about it on a visit to her home in DC once and she laughed harder than I’d seen in a while and taught me to do it more convincingly.
He stopped me on one of my rounds around the diner, grabbing my wrist gently but firmly. I paused, looking up at him as he fingered the worn edges of the day old paper. I raised an eyebrow at him.
‘How’d you get to work tonight, cookie?’ Jack asked.
‘Flash drove Pietro and I here from school,’ I explained and he nodded.
‘I need to speak to my grandson,’ he told me. ‘You know what about. You and your Peter replacement need to find your own way home. You gonna be alright to do that?’
‘Peter replacement?’ I asked, corners of my mouth turning up in amusement.
‘One of, that boy you brought round, he’s another, isn’t he?’ Jack said accusingly and I chuckled.
‘I make a couple new friends and I’m suddenly replacing Peter?’ I scoffed. ‘Peter’s my best friend, he’s my brother. He’s not going anywhere. It just so happens I am actually capable of making more than one friend per decade...I just had a late start.’ He snorted.
‘Alright, Dolly, just be on your way when your shift finishes,’ Jack instructed and I nodded. I was glad at least, someone was doing something, finally, even if I didn’t know what it was or could be a part of it. I finished up for the day and grabbed my bag from my locker and went over to where Pietro and Flash were.
‘Hey,’ I smiled and then turned to Pietro. ‘You ready to head out?’
‘I can take you guys back,’ Flash told me, picking up that it was only the two of us leaving together.
‘Actually, Eugene,’ I heard Jack say, coming over. ‘I asked Bonnie to make other arrangements, I need to talk to you about something.’
‘Uh, right,’ Flash nodded, looking a little confused. I gave his shoulder a soft squeeze as I walked past him, Pietro following me out.
‘What was that about?’ Pietro asked. I shrugged. I really didn’t know what Jack was planning. ‘That was Flash’s grandfather?’ I nodded. ‘What, pretty girl all face and no speaking, Sonechko?’
‘Sorry,’ I smiled. ‘I really don't have any idea.’
‘Is alright, malia, I am very sure Flash will tell us when timing is right,’ he shrugged.
‘You ever catch the subway before?’ I asked and he shook his head. ‘Oh this is going to be terrible,’ I chuckled darkly. ‘Come on, let me take you home.’
‘What a propesition, Sonechko,’ Pietro laughed. ‘I am lucky man.’
‘You’re hilarious,’ I rolled my eyes, guiding him as we walked to the local station.
He leaned against a support pole beside me and I tried to stare straight ahead but I was too busy going almost cross eyed as I tried to see if he was looking at me without outright looking. We were standing impossibly close but still not touching and I couldn’t decide whether or not I wanted us to be. I liked him, and he seemed to like me. Why shouldn’t I? Oh yeah, I was a secret superhero and he was an exchange student.
The subway car pulled to a stop at the platform and there was the telltale bing bong through the speakers before the doors slid open. I glanced at him waiting idly, showing no sign of moving towards the train. It was our train. Although I supposed I was supposed to be the one guiding him.
‘Oooh, this is us,’ I said, grabbing his hand and towing him onto the train, neglecting to let go of it once we were inside. Fuck it. I’m only 17 once. He shifted his hand so our fingers were intertwined and I smiled, looking down at the sticky ground as I felt a blush in my cheeks and a warm feeling spread up from my stomach.
We stood next to each other the whole train ride and kept our hands interlocked across the platforms until we were ready to board our connecting service. This was a quieter train and we were able to sit next to each other on the bench style seats. Pietro switched the hand he’d had holding mine to rest around my shoulders instead and I felt the flutters in my stomach.
‘I have been wondering, and forgive me if is personal,’ Pietro started and I glanced up at him, waiting for him to finish. He brought his other hand to my left thigh running up the inside before his fingertips trailed over to the purple-ish scar. ‘What happened?’
‘Sewer gator,’ I said with a nonchalant shrug. He chuckled.
‘You are not serious,’ he said and I blinked at him. He paused, looking concerned. ‘You are not serious.’ He repeated, almost demanding I tell him I was joking. I mean, that was pretty close to what had happened. A giant lizard who had been hiding out in the sewers had attacked me, and ruined my favourite pair of jeans. Just that giant lizard was actually Doc Conners.
‘No,’ I giggled after a minute or two of his panicked silence. ‘It was an accident a year ago. It doesn’t matter anymore, it healed up.’
‘Alright then,’ he nodded once, sensing I didn’t want to talk about it. I couldn’t really. Unless I was to explain why I was even in the position to be fighting a crazy giant lizard. ‘Sonechko, another thing I wanted to ask.’
‘Yeah?’ I nodded, feeling his hand still on my thigh and running on the soft skin. I was tingling everywhere his fingers traced. Oh my god, I was so distracted by his hands on me I couldn’t even pay attention to what he was saying. ‘I’m sorry, what did you say?’
‘Sorry, forget I asked,’ he said, moving to pull his hands away from me. In a hurried movement, I gripped the wrist that had been between my knees, refusing to let it lift off my skin.
‘No,’ I told him. ‘I really mean I wasn’t listening. Sorry, I just got distracted by your hands..’
‘So maybe I should take them off you,’ he chuckled. ‘Oh you like it, malia, should I keep them here?’ he cooed playfully.
‘Just tell me what you said,’ I felt my face burning.
‘I keep it simple, yes?’ he teased and I blushed harder. This seemed unfair somehow. ‘Will you be girlfriend, sonechko?’
‘I’m going to the dance this weekend with Flash, doesn’t that bother you?’ I asked, thinking back to a previous conversation with Steve. He shook his head.
‘I will also be at dance, we are doing group costume,’ he shrugged. ‘You said you lost bet, unless you like Flash more than friend?’
‘No,’ I shook my head. ‘He’s my friend, but that’s it.’
‘Then is settled,’ he said simply. ‘If you like Pietro,’ he gestured to himself. ‘Then you should be Pietro’s Girlfriend. If not, still be Pietro’s friend because he will be very sad.’
‘Okay,’ I nodded. Fuck, this was all happening so fast. I had no time to plan for this. What was I going to tell him when I had to randomly rush off because of crime fighting? Oh god, if I ever invited him over the Avengers would be so embarrassing! Or on the more serious note, what if Emo Lord the Winter Stalker showed up and Pietro freaked out?
‘Okay?’ he asked, snapping me out of my spiralling chain of thoughts.
‘Right, yes, yes okay, I will be your girlfriend,’ I grinned.
‘Yes,’ Pietro said, taking one of his hands off me to bring his fist down in a ‘cha ching’ or celebratory gesture and I chuckled.
‘Smooth,’ I teased.
Friday 13th September 2013
Things involving Pietro had continued to progress at a fast pace, most of our friends already knew and we were constantly trying to find free, unsupervised moments to suck each other’s tonsils out. The after school bell had rung and luckily we didn’t have a game this week because we’d had one last week otherwise Coach would have made us do sooo many push ups.
We rolled, I felt my back get slammed into the metal doors of the lockers Pietro was pressing me up against and his hands were knotted tightly in my hair. His long fingers scratched lightly at the scalp and pulled at the curly strands of my blonde hair. His lips pressed against mine in bruising, frantic kiss after bruising, frantic kiss and I hummed softly.
Why had I not had a boyfriend before now? (excluding Tommy from Kindergarten) This was amazing. Kissing was absolutely fantastic. Sure, I’d kissed people before, on the cheek, quick pecks on the lips for stupid spin the bottle games and dares. But real kissing, this kiss, this was new and amazing.
One of Pietro’s hands moved down to grab the belt loop at the waist of my dark wash jeans and I rolled my hips into him. I clung desperately to his brown hoodie and I heard someone clearing their throat. I ignored them, they didn’t sound like a teacher and my eyes were too busy closed for me to double check. In a moment of bravery, I slipped my tongue into Pietro’s mouth, running the tip over the surface just behind his teeth. He made a noise of surprise before a moan of approval and jammed his tongue deep into my mouth.
There was a sigh that sounded like it hadn’t come from either myself or Pietro and I felt an extra hand that definitely didn’t belong to Pietro beside me, working the lock on the door I was half pressed up against. Pietro’s other hand gripped my thigh and he hoisted me up to wrap my legs around his waist. I did a slight jump because of the height difference and he rolled us away from whoever was trying to get into their locker.
‘Whoah,’ I heard someone say as we rolled across the metal. ‘Hey, watch it.’
Who cares? I’m actually kissing someone right now and I can’t be contacted by the outside world. I dropped my legs back down to the ground now we were out of the way of that one person and Pietro went back to fisting my hair. The tight tug on the strands put this most delicious throbbing feeling right at my skull and I loved it. My heart was racing and this felt better than running. This felt better than winning a football game. I felt myself getting pushed further forward into Pietro as the door behind me was getting forced open. Pietro pushed me back harder and there was a metallic slam .
‘Come on guys, when did this even happen?’ I heard Peter’s voice and snapped back into reality. Whoops. I pulled apart from Pietro and looked over, slightly out of breath at his annoyed face. I shot a sheepish look back and he paused, looking slightly amused. ‘Nice hair,’ he teased.
‘Shut up, I’ve seen you with worse,’ I replied. ‘And for your information, Wednesday night. You might know this if you showed up once in a while.’
‘I was grounded!’ he threw his hands out. ‘Now let me get my homework before Aunt May throws a fit.’
Notes:
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Chapter 26: Spectacular Spider-Guy
Chapter Text
Title Song: Spectacular Spider-Guy (The Spectacular Spiderman) - Coded Channel
Bonnie Carter POV
Friday 13th September 2013
I felt the wind rush through my hair, brushing quickly past my face as I clung on hard to Peter’s spandex covered chest. I was a little jealous he wore this one now, instead of remaking the one that he and I had designed when we first started doing this, but I supposed the one he and Gwen had designed was a little more practical with the one way mirrored glass in the lenses and the fabric was a bit more durable. But in my defence, I’d never designed a superhero suit before.
‘How long do you think we have before Aunt May realises you’re gone?’ I yelled in his ear.
‘Hopefully she doesn’t find out,’ he replied and swung us lower towards an alleyway. ‘Did you see that?’
He dropped me down onto a nearby fire escape and then hit the ground in a superhero landing pose. He walked a few paces before making exaggerated sniffing noises.
‘Yep, that definitely smells like crime,’ he said. The guys standing by the door of the closed jewellery store turned back to look at him.
‘Ayy!’ one of the goons called when he looked at Peter. I snorted quietly behind my mask. ‘You’re that spider guy.’
‘Yep, that’s me,’ he said, half sarcastic, half genuine. ‘Spectacular, spectacular, Spider-Guy~’ he sang and I couldn’t stop myself from shaking as I tried to hide my laughter. ‘What’s going on here? Kinda looks like crime…’
‘No way, no how,’ the guy with a suspiciously Staten Island accent said. ‘Keep walking, Spider-Guy.’
‘Well I’d like to, but you know what they say, when it looks like crime, and it smells like crime,’ he said before I leapt over the railing of the fire escape and landed in my own superhero landing behind him. He turned at the sound just as I shot up off the ground and smirked at him, not that it was much visible behind the mask.
‘It usually is crime,’ I finished.
‘Ayyy Night Fury!’ he said excitedly. ‘Can I get an autograph for my son?’
‘Sure, I’ll mail it to the prison we’re gonna put you in,’ I replied and kicked him in the head. He dropped to the ground and Peter looked up at me.
‘That was mean,’ he told me. ‘He’s gonna be really disappointed when he gets there to find you didn’t send one.’
‘You’re right, I’m a real jerk,’ I scoffed. ‘I’ll get right on fixing that. I think I’ll start by sweeping the building to see if anyone else is inside.’
‘I’ll web this guy and watch your six,’ Peter said, eye roll evident in his voice before I flipped my braids over my shoulders and walked inside. I crept into the jewellery store, keeping low as I searched the darkness for more goons. Finding nothing in the main floor of the store, I crouched and ducked around the counter.
‘Miss Carter, I’m detecting a large number of lifesigns coming from the vault room,’ Pocket JARVIS told me. I scowled, I mean, obviously they’d be there, but a large number?
‘How many?’ I whispered.
‘I’m detecting nine,’ he answered. I definitely couldn’t take on nine myself, even with Peter’s help, I doubted we could manage 9 in such a small space. Not when most of Peter’s powers seemed to be webbing people and being strangely flexible.
‘Get Danny, tell him the situation,’ I instructed. I pulled out my slate and typed a quick text to Peter. 9 Goons inside. I listened carefully, trying to figure out why there were 9 people inside the vault room. I felt a spandex covered hand touch my back and knew it was Peter without looking.
‘What’s going on in there?’ Peter asked and I shrugged, pointing to my ears. From what it sounded like, someone was giving an instructional on how to break into vaults without setting off the alarms. Which would absolutely be crazy.
The two of us exchanged a look and silently agreed to waddle closer. Still in a crouch, we made our way to the door frame and peered around it into the vault room, heads stacked like something out of Scooby Doo. The smaller safes had all been opened, doors left ajar and there were about 7 criminals just standing and watching two other goons who appeared to be presenting this Ted talk. I looked back at Peter to confirm, yes, he was also seeing this. Even through his mask, I could tell the look he was sending me. Yes, he was seeing this, and yes, he was pretty sure we weren’t dreaming.
‘Alright, you can all head out to the van and start loading up while Jones and I finish unlocking the main vault here,’ one of the two goons presenting. I grabbed Peter’s hand instinctively, not good. Not good! We shot up and ran back towards the door, practically flying round the corner to the alley way. I almost crashed into the white van that was parked around the corner pointing out into the New York city streets. Found the van.
‘Oh no, not you!’ I heard Peter say and saw my eyes in the sky staring down at us from a nearby rooftop.
‘Relax,’ I told him, yanking his arm and tugging him to a nearby dumpster. ‘He’s not our worry right now.’
Although I did wonder if he was laughing right about now because every time he saw Peter and I together we hid by a dumpster. I was going to get the nickname Trash Girl. I had my hand over Peter’s mask where his mouth would be and I frantically shushed him.
‘Listen, we just have to catch them loading the van before we restrain them so J. Jonah Jameson will stop trashing you in the Daily Bugle. And we’re waiting for backup,’ I explained.
‘How does watching people commit a crime help my image?’ he whispered back angrily.
‘Because I’m giving the police the footage from my head cam,’ I told him. ‘And I might send the same footage to Addison Chen later too. I’ll cut out all the dorky shit though,’ I explained.
‘Oh,’ he accepted. ‘That’s actually smart.’
‘Need I remind you we both got accepted into the same school? You’re not the only one who’s gifted you jackass,’ I grumbled and he chuckled.
‘Ayyy! Who tied up Kowalski?’ I heard someone loudly exclaim just around the corner and I sighed behind my mask. Come on Danny, where are you?
‘Hey man, this isn’t tied up, this is some kind of webby stuff,’ another guy corrected and I turned behind me to glare at Peter.
‘Why did you make him so easy to find?’ I demanded.
‘I was subduing him until the police arrived, not kidnapping the guy! Did you want me to hide him so well he died of starvation because nobody found him?’ Peter defended and I sighed, shaking my head. Obviously I didn’t. Fighting crime just never used to be this difficult.
‘Alright this is that spider guy, fan out and find him, he’s nearby,’ the first guy said and I slammed my palm into my forehead, so loud in fact, it made an audible slapping sound and Peter smacked me on the back of the head to match.
‘Sorry,’ I whispered and he shoved me.
‘Fat lot of good whispering now is gonna do,’ he said and shot a web up to the building opposite us, pulling himself up high and out of the way. He drew the attention of the goons heading our way and distracted them.
‘Hey look, it’s me, Spider-Guy!’ he called and I stuck a leg out and tripped a guy who was paying more attention to Peter than his surroundings.
‘Whoa!’ he said, falling and hitting the ground. I swung a punch to his throat and yanked him off the ground. We just have to subdue these guys until we’re less outnumbered. A couple more people and we’d be evenly matched. Amazing how a few botched missions could humble you.
A few weeks ago I’d arrogantly have assumed we could take these guys, and maybe we could, but I could stand to be less bruised now that the opportunity to be naked around someone else had presented itself. Sure I got knocked around on the football field all the time, and that explained a lot of the bruises on my shins and forearms, all my other fighting related bruises I would have to explain if anyone ever saw them. And I’d made a point this year to get into less fights with the rest of the student body, so there went that excuse. I hoped I wasn’t beat up for the dance...EYES ON THE GAME BONNIE! I shook my head, snapping myself out of my rambling inner monologue and went back to focusing my full attention to beating up New Yorkers.
‘Ayy! I need some help out here!’ unidentified goon no.3 called and the rest of the guys from the surrounding area rushed to our location, which was exactly what we’d wanted to avoid inside the jewellery shop. Sure, slightly better odds now we weren’t bottle necked inside an extremely breakable setting, but there were still 9 of them and 2 of us.
‘Shit,’ I muttered to myself and jammed my elbow down into the juncture between the guy I was fighting’s shoulder and neck, dropping him to the ground. I sighed in what was a rather short-lived relief, immediately being grabbed from behind by some guy.
Using all I had, I threw myself down to the ground, throwing this douche off his game. He dropped me and I grabbed his ankle with my hands and wrapped my legs around his other foot, tripping him. I shot up off the ground, trying to look around for Peter as I dodged goons. I couldn’t get to him and I really needed to, I didn’t want a repeat of the last time Peter and I were together. That was far too close.
‘Uugh!’ I cried out as I was slammed into the wall.
Someone had caught me off guard and tackled me into a nearby wall, face hitting the bricks with a loud crack. Thankfully the mask I’d stolen from my watcher took most of the impact. I don’t know what I would have done if I was still using a scarf like I used to. Blood trickled down over my right eye, blinding me. I slammed my elbow back and heard a crunch as it made contact with his nose but his temporary distraction offered little assistance to me as he held on to me tightly, and threw me on the ground.
Before I could react a sneaker made contact with my chest and I coughed. I reached out, trying to grab his other leg and yank it out from under him while he lifted his foot to stomp down again. I know I could take a beating but Jesus. I swear the goons were getting more cutthroat. I tried to move out of the way of his kick but I was too winded and again, pretty useless. I felt all the breath I’d managed to regain escape my lungs as his foot came down on me again. A yellow burst of light coming from behind me hit him in the chest, knocking him off balance. Using that as my moment I forced myself to move despite my aching body’s protests and grabbed his ankle, finally getting him on the ground.
‘Agh! Damn it,’ I exclaimed as I dragged him by his legs towards me and climbed on top of him. I punched him square in the jaw, hitting him again and again. I’d have kept going, I think, if I didn’t feel the hand on my shoulder.
‘Night Fury,’ I heard Danny’s gentle voice say. ‘Your focus is needed elsewhere.’
I pulled back and tried to get to my feet. I felt a strong pair of hands grip under my armpits and hoist me up off the ground. I glanced back behind me and saw Iron Fist holding me gently and Power Man fighting a goon just behind him. I nodded at him once and went back to the thick of it, he was right, I had to get back to Peter and have his back.
‘There’s a total of 10, one is webbed and the other 9 came from inside the store,’ I told them before I broke out of Danny’s grasp at a run. Ahead of me I saw my target.
Bonnie Carter, do not hesitate. Tasha trained you well. You’re ready this time.
Using the wall of the alley for momentum I kicked out and pushed myself up into the air, landing on the shoulder of a goon and flipping the two of us over and towards the ground. I leapt off at the last second, landing the perfect dismount and seeing him drop to the ground.
‘He is alive but unconscious,’ Pocket JARVIS informed me. ‘Well done, Miss Carter.’
‘Thanks,’ I said, wiping some of the blood away from my eye with my fist. ‘How many are left?’
‘I’m detecting five unchecked hostiles,’ he said and I nodded. Let’s get them. And soon, my head was beginning to hurt.
‘Fury!’ I heard Peter call and turned towards the sound. He was suspended in the air several stories up, slinging a web. Before I could really react, he yanked me up to join him like I was a human yo-yo.
‘I wanna be a yo-yo man, he cried. Make me a yo-yo man!’ I screamed, trying to make a joke as I was flung through the air towards our enemy. I could hear him chuckling as he concentrated on angling me in the right path, trying not to lose focus. Really, I shouldn’t be distracting a teammate while we were in such a situation, but if I died this way, at least I had a good time. ‘But the yo-yo master did not answer, he just kept on yo-ing.’
Slamming feet first into one of the remaining goons, I rode him like a surfboard into a brick wall and then leapt off at the last minute. I have to say, I was getting better at last second jumps. He let out a loud cry and then lunged forward, recovering quicker than I thought. Actually, that’s not right. He reacted quicker than I thought he could after taking a hit like that, but he hadn’t really recovered. His moves were sluggish, lethargic and he swayed a little. Maybe we hit him a little too hard. I hooked a foot around his ankles and sent him tumbling towards the ground. I stomped down on his chest.
‘Stay down,’ I warned and he nodded softly. I don’t blame him, he’d been through a lot. Know your limits, guy, know your limits. I hopped back out of the way just as Peter webbed him in place and I turned looking for my next unfortunate adversary. But that was it, there were no more. Thanks to the help of Power Man and Iron Fist, we’d handled all 9 of the guys. It was over.
‘Well, nothing like that to warm up on a cool autumn night,’ Luke commented, throwing his guy away from him to immediately to be webbed by Peter. It was still weird to me knowing this guy I’d played football with for years was actually Power Man.
‘Thanks for getting here so quickly,’ I nodded at him.
‘Why so many guys in a jewellery store robbery anyway?’ he asked and I shrugged.
‘Looked like they were having a training day,’ Peter said. ‘Well, we’d better get going before the cops show up, lest we want to get arrested for whatever stupid thing they want to get us with this time.’
‘Actually,’ I said, looking between the three of them. ‘I’m gonna wait for them.’
‘You’re what?’ he spluttered. ‘Need I remind you what we do isn’t technically sanctioned? Or did you get hit too hard in the head?’
‘I’ve gotta turn over the footage,’ I shrugged. ‘Or do you want to get ripped apart in the Daily Bugle for the rest of your life?’
‘Send it to them later,’ Peter argued and Iron Fist came up behind me.
‘Do you want me to wait with you, Night Fury?’ he asked and I shook my head.
‘No, I need to do this myself,’ I replied. He nodded once before waving Power Man and Spider-Man aside. Whatever they talked about, well, he must have been pretty convincing, because Peter just webbed away into the night.
‘Ay Night Fury!’ I heard and turned around. It was the first guy we’d taken on tonight. He nodded towards a black duffle bag that had been knocked over beside the dumpster. I squatted down to look inside and raised an eyebrow at him. ‘Hows about that autograph?’
‘Is this a polaroid camera?’ I chuckled. ‘I haven’t seen one of these in years.’
I picked up the camera and walked over to the wall he was webbed up to and held the camera. I held up the peace sign and smiled goofily, not that you could see behind my mask and pressed the button. The flash went off and the camera whirred as the square photo printed out. I put the camera back in his bag as I flapped the photo about, waiting for it to develop.
‘What’s your son’s name?’ I asked.
‘Pete,’ he answered and I pulled a sharpie out of the bag. Flicking the cap off I drew a quick outline of a Calcifer shaped flame and scribbled Night Fury over the top. This was a first.
‘Pete, stay out of trouble,’ I said what I was writing and then stuck the newly developed polaroid inside the hood of his jacket.
‘Alright, hands up!’ I heard and turned around, doing just that.
‘Oh, Night Fury, I’m sorry, I didn’t see it was you,’ I heard a Manhattan beat cop say and I smiled softly. I felt a little bad everyone seemed to hate Spider-Man when I spent just as much time being a nuisance as he did, we even went on the same missions.
‘Hey,’ I waved half heartedly. ‘I got some footage to turn over, who should I make it out to?’
‘Uh, here’s my Captain’s card,’ he said and pulled out a business card with an email and phone number. I took the card and slipped it into my pocket. ‘Was this all you?’
‘No,’ I shook my head. ‘Spider-Man, Power Man and Iron Fist were here also. I told them to move along. These guys...it’s too many for an ordinary robbery, nothing like what we’ve seen before officer..’
‘Russo,’ he filled in.
‘Russo,’ I nodded. ‘One guy on guard outside, rest inside. We had two guys teaching the rest how to break into these kinds of vaults, I’m not sure why but I’m hoping this is an isolated incident and we’re not about to see a rise in these kind of...training sessions…’
‘These guys were teaching? What is this, shadow day?’ he scoffed. ‘All right Night Fury, we appreciate it, better get going before the big wigs get here.’
‘Goodnight, Russo,’ I nodded and jogged down the street and away. I don’t know why I stayed, I really didn’t tell them anything JARVIS could have when I sent off the footage. I just felt like I needed to. If we were going to be a real team, an actual counter force to the Avengers, then we needed to start working with city workers rather than trying to do their jobs for them. We were here to help where they couldn’t not replace them. We all wanted the same thing really, New York, to stay the New York we all loved.
Once I was out of the way of the Police, I ducked into a nearby alley. I wasn’t done for the night just because I was beat up and bloody. No, there was something else I needed tonight. Once again, I had no idea why but I needed to see him. And so I took the nearest fire escape straight up.
In the night air I sat perched on a ledge, high up on a random rooftop in the bad part of town. I wasn’t far from the jewellery store, Peter had thought I was mad not going back with him, and honestly, what I was doing wasn’t helping my case. I still couldn’t work out why Danny was the one to convince him to leave me to it. Peter didn’t even trust him initially. I guess he had a lot of time to think in that SHIELD base.
I could feel the cool wind brushing through my now very messy hair, hanging loosely in my braids. The bangs beside my forehead were caked with congealed blood and I ached all over. So much for not getting bruised for the dance. Friday the 13th was certainly living up to its name. What a day.
I felt his presence behind me, I’d begun to notice him faster than I used to, hyper aware he was around. I don’t know why I didn’t fear him anymore. I should. If he was as bad as Tasha said he was, I knew he could kill me in an instant. And he’d had multiple opportunities just within recent times. But I still felt relaxed now he was here. Somebody hit me, maybe it’ll knock some damn sense into this thick skull.
‘You got beat up, cookie,’ he said and I choked. Understatement.
‘I always get beat up,’ I replied with a shake of my head. I glared angrily at the streets below. How had my life ended up like this? ‘You watch me, you’ve been watching me since before all this. Tell me something, am I slipping? Am I getting worse or are these guys stepping up their game?’
‘They are of a different caliber,’ he answered eventually. I scoffed.
‘Well that makes me feel better,’ I muttered sarcastically. There was silence as the autumn wind blew, nothing to say, but it wasn’t awkward or scary.
‘I see you fixed your not friend problem,’ he said and I turned back. I raised an eyebrow. What did he mean by that? And why was he making idle conversation with me? He used to just stare, and later he only spoke when spoken to. Now he was initiating conversations, he was chatting.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Jack Thompson, former SSR and retired SHIELD agent, stopped by Sergeant Harrison Thompson’s house several times since your visit,’ he explained. Jack was SHIELD? And SSR, that meant he must have known Grandma Margaret, and Grandpa Daniel. Was everyone in my life secretly interconnected? I bet Professor Reskine was secretly my long lost uncle or something.
‘And here I thought you were only keeping tabs on me,’ I smiled softly. ‘You told me not to go in, so I found another way.’
‘As you always do,’ he agreed, approvingly. ‘Did you mean what you said?’
‘When?’ I asked. I’ve said a lot to this man, he needed to give me more to go on.
‘When you said your friend didn’t deserve to be caged,’ he clarified and I nodded softly.
Of course I did, no one deserved to go through what Flash had, even if he’d been a complete asshole our whole childhood, even if hadn’t changed, if he was still being an asshole now. I looked at the Winter Soldier, he was watching me thoughtfully. I wondered who he was before all this. I remembered what he’d said about what his employers did to him. I suppose they weren’t really his employers, not really. I wonder if he felt similarly, caged, like an animal.
‘No one deserves to be someone else’s puppet,’ I told him, reaching out slowly, gently for his hand. Touching the silver glove I almost jerked back immediately, it was like ice. It wasn’t a glove. That’s why when I’d hit him with that stupid pink bat it had sounded like I’d hit a car door, he had a metal arm.
Keeping my cool, I wrapped my grasp around his fingers. He stared at me, shifting so he was standing in front of me, still holding my hand, rather gently for the same arm that had thrown me across my own backyard. Stoically he stared and stared, watching everything I did. Still, I relaxed, uncaring I was under his scrutiny.
His other gloved hand came up to the side of my head with the closing wound, sticky blood still in my hair. He pushed it out of the way, inspecting the cut. His hand trailed down, holding the mask I’d stolen from him. His expression soured a little.
‘You’ve broken this,’ he commented before his fingertips hooked under it and pulled it off my face. In his hand I saw the mask had split, almost fully and he put it into my free hand. I winced as the hard material was removed from my face. Suddenly exposed to the night air, it hurt more. He traced a section of my jaw, brow furrowing as he glared at my beat up face.
‘You should get cleaned up,’ he concluded.
‘Is it bad?’ I asked. He ignored me, looking thoughtful for a moment. I guess it must be. Or he was enjoying a theatrical pause.
‘Something’s coming,’ he said, looking away from me and over at the city. He turned back to stare dramatically at me. ‘You need to be prepared, at your current skill, it’s too much for you to manage on your own and you don’t have time to get stronger. Prepare yourself, and get some rest.’
‘What..’ I started but he let go, pulling away from me and walking off. What a fucking weirdo. Still, if he’d been stalking me this long, I think I owed it to him to heed his warning. I waited until he was definitely out of sight, but never really gone, and put my hand up to my ear.
‘JARVIS, call Tony, tell him I don’t wanna walk home,’ I ordered.
‘Certainly ma’am,’ he agreed and I slouched. What a weird day.
Notes:
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Chapter 27: Cartoon Heroes
Chapter Text
Title Song: Cartoon Heroes - Aqua
Bonnie Carter POV
Friday 13th September 2013
Tired, I almost stumbled when my boots hit the launchpad of the Tower. Tony emerged from his suit and wrapped an arm under mine and helped me inside.
‘It’s like you think I’m running a taxi service,’ he scoffed. ‘Do you not think I have better things to do than pick you up all the time? Take you to school, pick you up from school, come get you off of random rooftops in the middle of the night.’
‘Tony,’ I heard Steve warn and looked up to see him standing at the balcony doors with Tasha. I smiled softly up at them before wincing at the pain in my jaw. ‘I think she’s been through enough tonight.’
‘She’s on the news,’ Tasha commented, jerking her head back towards the TV in Tony’s apartment. We walked inside and I was jerked up the minute I tried to sit down on the couch.
‘That couch is worth more than you,’ Tony grumbled and Steve chuckled, coming over with a dark coloured, wooden chair.
‘What we’re seeing is actual footage from inside the life of one of New York’s heroes,’ Addison Chen’s voice came live through Tony’s massive TV. Thankfully, JARVIS had edited out all the personal stuff, the fucking around and myself wailing on that one guy a little too hard and being pulled off by Iron Fist.
‘What do you think about what Night Fury has uncovered?’ Addison continued asking Officer Russo from earlier. The two were standing by some newly installed Police tape outside the jewellery store we’d been at a couple hours ago. At least a dozen uniformed officers were milling around in the background but one face I recognised. It was that policeman from earlier. Officer Russo.
‘Well honestly Miss Chen, it certainly makes our job a lot easier, we’ve now got irrefutable proof there’s something more going on in New York than your run of the mill robberies. We’ve managed to identify the perps as some of the escaped convicts from across the country,’ Officer Russo said, rocking back on his heels.
‘We normally see vault break-ins from Batroc the Leaper and Boomerang, separately, is there any connection between either of those two and this new gang of criminals?’ Addison asked and I chewed my lip. Those two idiots had been very quiet recently. And I distinctly remember Batroc threatening Peter and I the last time we webbed him to a wall just as the alarm had been triggered and police were on the way.
‘I am uh, not at liberty to say at this time,’ Officer Russo said. Interesting… if there wasn’t a connection, he’d have just said no, or that they didn’t know yet. I leaned forward over my knees, leaning my chin on my fist.
‘I know that look,’ I heard Steve comment which I ignored in favour of watching the news.
‘Is there anything else you can tell us, Officer Russo?’ Addison asked.
‘Well I can definitely tell you, if you or a family member had a class in breaking and entering scheduled, it’s been cancelled,’ he joked and I smiled. ‘And a special thank you goes out to Night Fury and her team from the Manhattan Police Department
‘Well, that’s us out of time,’ Addison replied. ‘Back in the studio we have Kent with finance, and tomorrow morning from 6 we’ll be doing a special on New York’s masked vigilantes. If you’d like to hear more about Night Fury and her work, I’ll be talking to Doctor Wheaton at 6:45. This has been Addison Chen, CNN.’
‘Well what do you know, kiddo, you’re getting your own special,’ Steve chuckled and patted my shoulder.
‘I’m getting a feature in the special, I’m more excited I get to rub it in to Peter and Danny that they’re a part of my team,’ I giggled, instantly regretting it as I clutched my jaw.
‘Come on, let’s get you cleaned up, you’ve got the dance tomorrow and we’ve got to see how much damage we can cover up unless you wanna look like Muhammad Ali post fight in all your pictures,’ Steve said, urging me out of the chair. I groaned as I got to my feet, feeling every bruise. ‘We’ll see if we can convince Bruce to give you something for the pain,’ he encouraged in my ear as a protective and steadying arm held my back.
‘There were 10 guys total,’ I told him, trying to keep him in the loop as best I could. ‘I called for backup, and I’m better at handling these guys, really, but they were...different. Stronger somehow. No, not stronger, just, they seemed almost trained.’
‘And that's much different to fighting morons trying to make a quick buck,’ Steve nodded. ‘You got really beat up today, kid, but you called for backup, that’s good. You know your limits, and it’s important that you do because not knowing can take a bad situation and make it worse. There’s no shame in asking for help, I’m proud of you.’
‘How come you’re so supportive?’ I asked and he sighed, leaning back against the wall of the elevator.
‘Well, I know for a fact you’d be doing it anyway, even if I didn’t, at least this way I know where you are and what you’re up to,’ he said. ‘And it would be a little hypocritical considering I was doing something pretty similar when I was your age. Well, minus the costumes. But honestly, it’s because I know this is who you are, and I have no right to keep you from your destiny, even if I might not like seeing you with bruises.’
‘Might not?’ I scoffed, trying to make the situation a little lighter. He chuckled.
‘Definitely not,’ he corrected.
Wednesday 20th February 2002
Bucky bear was clenched tightly in my grasp as I sat on the hard plastic chairs beside Grandpa Daniel. I didn’t know why we were here again, or why it was taking so long, everyone seemed fine. I snuck a peak up at the window to the treatment room again. She caught my gaze and chuckled lightly, offering me a small wave with sparkling brown eyes. See, she was fine. We didn’t need to be here. Glancing beside me to Grandpa Daniel again who had his glasses sitting on the end of his nose fully engrossed in a book, I snuck my hand up, waving back at her.
‘If you’re bored, little bug, you have your own book,’ he told me without looking up. He saw me, of course he saw me. He always did. I soured and dropped back down on my chair. He looked up and chuckled at the look on my face and I glared at him some more.
‘Why are we here,’ I demanded and he pushed some of my blonde curls behind my ear.
‘The doctors are just checking on Peg’s memory, that’s all,’ he told me. ‘You know that, we come by here every month.’
‘But not on Wednesdays,’ I pointed out. Yes I knew the schedule, of course I did. I did everything with Grandpa Daniel and Grandma Margaret. Not only were we always here but it was always on a Monday. Now we’d been twice this month.
‘The doctors just want to check everything’s okay,’ he tried and I frowned.
‘Is this because of before?’ I asked. She hadn’t meant to say what she had. ‘She got my name right, who cares about the other stuff she said on accident?’
‘Well, we wanna know why she’s saying what she does by accident,’ he explained and huffed. ‘Listen, I know it can be frustrating being here all the time, and that no one is telling you what’s going on..’
‘I know I know, I’ll understand when I’m older,’ I grumbled, throwing my arms over my chest, Bucky bear still tucked tightly close.
‘I was going to say no matter what I’m always gonna be here for you,’ he chuckled. ‘You’re a grumpy little bug today, aren’t you?’
‘Everyone’s always telling me I’ll understand when I’m older and I’m tired of it. I get older every day and I don’t understand even a little bit more,’ I whined, slumping back against the plastic chair. ‘Why can’t everyone just tell me now?’
‘Oh Bonnie,’ he leaned down and kissed my forehead. ‘Just enjoy the stress free time you have now, you’re going to miss this when you’re older.’
Saturday 14th September 2013
I sat up with a groan, stretching and hearing my shoulders crack and pop. I didn’t often dream about my Great Grandparents, but boy was he sure right. I missed him, every day. Of course I missed Grandma Margaret too and I should really visit more often, but it was different. She was still here. And he was gone.
I think I missed him more than I missed my mom, my dad. It wasn’t long after that that my parents had come back and moved me next door to Peter. Which I wouldn’t change for the world but it did beg the question, where had they been and what were they doing? And why couldn’t I remember? I’m sure they told me, I’m sure there was a reason I lived with my great grandparents for all that time.
There was a knock at the door and I jumped in shock, getting knocked from my thoughts. I turned towards the door and heard Steve’s voice coming through.
‘Your segment’s on,’ he called. ‘You wanna watch Dr Wheaton and Addison Chen duke it out on live television?’
I had no idea why he’d become so fascinated with the CNN reporter, but he adored her. And whenever she stood her ground against the dismissive and rude so called expects they always had on her show. Did he have a thing for a journalist?
‘I’m coming,’ I said with a sigh, looking over at the red matchstick letters on my alarm clock. 06:43. Steve was a bastard.
‘Welcome back Dr Wheaton,’ Addison greeted, seeming a little more uptight than usual. Man, she really didn’t like this guy. ‘We spoke not long ago about the newly emerging superhero teams where you commented that you didn’t think we’d seen the last of duo Night Fury and Spider-Man. What can you tell us about this foursome we keep seeing with Power Man and Iron Fist joining the two?’
‘Well Miss Chen,’ Dr Wheaton started and I sighed, this guy was such an asshole. I pulled out my Slate and started texting Peter and Danny about the report. Honestly, what did we do to deserve this man?
‘You’ll never guess what crummy mission we got this time, Steve,’ Agent Barton burst in the apartment door with Tasha in tow. I raised an eyebrow at the Supersoldier who hadn’t taken his eyes off the screen. He let out a chuckle at something Addison had said and I looked back at the SHIELD duo, shrugging at them when they silently asked why they were being ignored.
‘What crummy mission did you get?’ I asked.
‘You’re gonna find out eventually,’ Barton shrugged.
‘Fury wants us to chaperone the dance, apparently there have been some whispers about some not very friendly goings on tonight at the dance,’ Tasha divulged and I nodded. Emo Boy had said something was coming, maybe this was it? No, why would he be warning me about teenage drama?
‘To be fair, he only said keep an eye on it, Tasha was the one who wanted to go undercover,’ Barton hopped up on the back rest of the couch, sitting beside me with a mug of coffee he’d brought with him. ‘Something about killing two birds with one stone.’
‘Huh?’ I asked and the redhead grinned maliciously at me.
‘While I’m there I’m going to catch you doing anything and everything you’re not supposed to,’ she said and I raised an eyebrow. What exactly did she think I was going to get up to? I shot Barton a bemused look and he just shrugged, saying he wasn’t getting involved.
‘Whatever you old weirdos, I’m going to go finish up my costume for this stupid thing before I sneak into the girls locker room to hide my suit, just in case,’ I said, pushing up from the couch. ‘Which reminds me, I need Tony to print me a new mask.’
‘What?’ Steve said, finally tuning back in. ‘You can’t, it’s the dance. No crime tonight.’
‘I don’t know how much attention to the world you’ve been paying, Steve, although I assume it’s about as much as you’ve been paying to this conversation,’ I started, folding my arms over my chest. ‘But crime doesn’t exactly wait till it’s convenient to strike. Not for us, anyway. I have a feeling something’s coming and I’m absolutely not getting caught short.’
‘I just want you to have some normal experiences, Bonnie, can’t you just enjoy the stress free time you have? It’s not always going to be around,’ he said and I soured. The only thing I hated more than weird old men being cryptic was when weird old men cryptically repeated the same sentiments. If Jack or Emo Lord says the same I’m going to riot in the street.
Wednesday 19th June 2013
Hair wiping past my face in the wind I cursed myself for not tying it into braids before I’d grabbed Peter tight and let him web us around the city. I needed this. Between work and dad it felt good to be doing something normal for once. Or as normal as swinging around New York looking for people up to no good could be considered for two teenagers.
‘There we go!’ Peter said gleefully as he spotted our favourite foe in purple. Alarm bells were ringing but the police were nowhere close. It looked like someone was going to have to intervene. Good thing I knew two someones happy to help and very closeby. Peter dropped me on a nearby fire escape and then superhero landed on the street.
‘Hey Batroc,’ he said casually and leaned against a brick wall. ‘Whatcha doin there?’
‘Oh sacrebleu! Spider-Man! What are you doing here?’ I heard Batroc’s thick accent as I watched the two of them. I wondered if other French people were offended at the stereotype he was always acting like. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted movement. I looked to where I thought I’d seen something. Nothing. Probably nothing.
I stepped ever so slightly closer to the edge and adjusted the scarf over my face. I crouched trying to get eyes on the scene. I had to wait for Peter to lead Batroc to me. Picking my moment, I jumped over the railing and indeed on top of our assailant, tackling him to the ground and pinning him. Ha! That was easy.
Peter offered me a hand up and then webbed Batroc to a nearby wall, waiting for the police to arrive. I pulled out my neon green iPhone and opened up snapchat, taking a goofy selfie with Peter beside Batroc and saving it to my phone. No one could ever see these pictures but one day when we’re gray and old we’ll have a good laugh.
‘This isn’t over, Spider-Man!’ Batroc threatened in typical bad guy fashion and I rolled my eyes.
‘You always say that,’ Peter scoffed. He looked like he was also rolling his eyes behind his mast. I heard movement behind me and snapped my head around. That was definitely something. Peter shot some webs out behind me but he came into contact with nothing.
‘Not today Spidey,’ said a voice, but it hadn’t come from where I’d seen and heard the movement earlier. I scanned around, it sure looked like it was just this one other guy. Wherever he was. There was the click of a gun behind me and I gulped. This wasn’t exactly how I saw my night going.
I looked at Peter, if he thought what I was thinking and used his webs to pin this new guy at the same time as I threw myself to the side, I could theoretically dodge the bullets aimed at me and we could take out this new guy. But only if I moved just right and Peter was very quick.
‘Who are you?’ Peter asked, sounding slightly amused. Had he not seen the gun? Peter!
‘I’m Boomerang,’ he responded and we both snorted.
‘Isn’t that a comic book character?’ Spider-Pete laughed. ‘Shouldn’t you be off fighting Batman?’
‘I’m called Boomerang because of my expert marksmanship,’ he defended. ‘Not after the comic book character Captain Boomerang.’ He huffed indignantly and I giggled. He was annoyed but I could see through my peripherals that he was distracted by Spider-Man more so than he cared about me. I slowly checked the ground and thanked my lucky stars I’d been a cheerleader in middle school. I winked at Peter and then threw myself to the side, cartwheeling away from Boomerang just in time for Peter to both web himself into the air and web Boomerang down to the ground.
I kicked Boomerang’s gun out of his hands and stomped on him for good measure. Hold a gun to my head, pfft. Jerk. I kicked the gun towards the dumpster so neither of the two could use it again and I walked over to Peter who had dropped himself down again.
‘You alright?’ he asked and I nodded. The two of us walked out of the alley way and over to a nearby payphone where I pulled a quarter out of my jeans and handed it to Peter. What kind of superhero designed a suit with no pockets? The suit I’d helped design had pockets.
‘You ready?’ he asked me and I nodded. He dialed 911 and left the phone off the hook calling police to the area but not giving them his voice signature.
‘This isn’t over SPIDER-MAN! I’LL GET YOU FOR THIS, NIGHT FURY!!’ Batroc called and I scoffed as we swung away.
Saturday 14th September 2013
Letting out a final breath I wiped imaginary dirt off my clothes then pulled my bedroom door open, stepping out into the open plan apartment and walking through to the living room. Steve grinned up at me before narrowing his eyes slightly, looking perplexed.
‘You look great..’ he started.
‘But?’ I smiled. I didn’t doubt he meant it genuinely.
‘Isn’t this supposed to be a dance?’ he asked. ‘I thought..well..no dress? No skirt? I mean, women can wear what they want, freedom to you, but I thought you know formalwear at least..’
‘The theme’s childhood nostalgia, I’m dressed as a character who’s costume had pants,’ I explained, amused. ‘I know you don’t mean anything by it,’ I assured him and then pulled up my Slate to show him images of Helga from Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
‘You’ve done a very good job of this costume,’ he said approvingly. ‘And this does explain why Tasha was trying to bargain two lab coats from Bruce.’
‘What?’ I scoffed. Just as he went to explain further the apartment door burst open and I saw her and Agent Barton walk through it dressed as Doctor Ann Possible and her husband, Doctor James Possible.
‘They were the easiest costumes to pull off on short notice,’ she explained.
‘And they’re the easiest costumes to pull off,’ Barton agreed. ‘Although I see you went the same way,’ he nodded to my outfit. There was a knock on the apartment door and Barton pulled it open to reveal a nervous looking Flash dressed as Commander Rourke.
‘Hello sir,’ he blurted out immediately, looking about ready to faint.
‘Hello again Eugene,’ Steve said, sounding like he was giving him a verbal eyeroll.
‘So this is Flash,’ Tasha raised an eyebrow.
‘Yes, ma’am,’ he rubbed the back of his neck and I heard the ding of the elevator behind him. The doors opened before she could say anything and I watched relief fill his features.
‘Hey Sonechko,’ I heard Pietro’s thick accent and beamed. ‘I met some of your friends on way here,’ he said and walked through the still open door that Barton was just holding. My eyes lit up with absolute glee as I saw him wearing a surprisingly well attached fake moustache. It was also very convincing on him and I didn’t know how to feel about that one.
Behind him Danny had pinned his hair back and sported some very round framed fake glasses dressed as Milo. Leaning on the doorframe was Luke dressed as Sweet and I almost squealed in joy. Peter and I had done joint costumes before but this, this was something else. I’d never had this many friends collaborate. I’d never had this many friends before.
‘Wow, you kids all look great,’ Steve broke the silence with cheery affirmation and I smiled back at him. He went around taking pictures of everyone individually and then made us all stand together for a group costume shot and I was red to my hairline. He was such an old man.
Peter Parker POV
I sighed, wiping the sweat from my brow as I stood on a step ladder by another bookshelf Aunt May was making me dust. I swear she was just making up random jobs for me at this point. This house was so clean it was going to look like one of those fake display homes. I heard someone clear their throat and looked back to see her standing in the doorway, arms folded over her chest. Speak of the Devil.
'If you don’t find yourself too busy starting civil rights movements for Central Park wildlife, do you think you could manage to bring back eggs on your way home from the dance?' she asked and I spluttered. She was letting me go?
'You’re letting me go?’ I said, trying not to choke on my own spit. ‘I thought I was grounded…'
'You are, but you made a commitment, and you need to learn to follow through with those,' she told me. ‘Just like Ben always said. And come straight home, you have a lot of chores to do tomorrow.’ I stared at her, open-mouthed like a fish. ‘Well, go on, get cleaned up and ready to go. You still have to pick up Gwen.’
‘Right,’ I hurriedly agreed and stumbled off the ladder. I ran up the stairs, heart pounding before running back down again almost immediately to give her a big kiss on the cheek. ‘Thank you, thank you so much Aunt May.’
‘Go,’ she shoved me lightly, slight smile on her face. Oh I was so off the hook, finally.
I frantically dressed in my red hoodie and shorts but ultimately the hardest part was holding the piece of paper just right so I could spray colour just the tips of my hair green. At least I didn’t have to actually dress as a dragon though, there was that. Shit, I had to text Gwen.
‘I know, May called
earlier to tell me. See
you soon, babe :)’ -Gwen <3 <3 :) :)
I tied up my sneakers and practically tumbled down the stairs, stopping to kiss May on the cheek again before I left, shouting promises of remembering the eggs as I skateboarded as fast as I could to the Subway station. I didn’t even like these events, but I was allowed out of the house. And it was a chance to do something completely normal for a change.
When I finally got to Gwen’s my heart skipped a beat. She looked exactly like her cartoon counterpart and the way she looked at me when I showed up. I bounced back on my heels, how did I get so lucky?
‘Hey stranger, good to see you again,’ she smiled and I stuttered out gibberish before leaning down to kiss her.
Actually arriving at the dance, it felt pretty weird to be at school on a Saturday, but at least with the rest of the student body here it wasn’t as bad as the time we broke in a few weeks ago and almost got murdered by men of unknown origin. Or later when those same men tried to blow us up in a secret base hidden in a random antiques shop in Brooklyn. Yeah, it felt good to be doing something normal. Something completely stress free like dancing and drinking suspicious fruit punch.
Speaking of punch, I could see Tasha dressed as Kim Possible’s mom watching a couple of jocks speaking shaky Russian by the punchbowl and I couldn’t tell if she was glaring at them because of their absolute butchery of her first language, or because of their very unsubtle attempt at spiking said punch. Gwen followed my gaze and snorted when she saw the redhead marching over to them.
‘Uh oh,’ she said unsympathetically.
‘I’m pretty sure those guys are on the football team with Bonnie,’ I commented. Speaking of, where was that midget?
‘You know I haven’t seen her around tonight, and wasn’t she like, supposed to be Flash’s date?’ Gwen asked, nodding to the jock currently standing with Danny Rand and Luke Cage, laughing like they were old friends. I raised an eyebrow when Gordon came over and started chatting with them, slipping in naturally like the very same guy hadn’t tried to shove him into a locker a year earlier. What gives?
‘Honestly, the things that guy will do for her,’ I muttered aloud and Gwen scoffed.
‘It’s not that guy, it’s every guy,’ she told me. ‘Haven’t you noticed that they’ll all do absolutely anything she asks, no matter how crazy? Doesn’t that seem odd to you?’
‘Listen, I know you never liked her much but..’ I stared and she cut me off.
‘I made my peace with her while you were in that SHIELD hospital,’ she assured me. ‘I didn’t like her because I thought you did. Regardless, there is something a little off about her.’
‘I like to think it’s leadership qualities,’ I justified. ‘She did live with Grandma Margaret for a while before she moved in next door, and she’s THE Captain America’s great granddaughter. It’s in her blood or whatever..’
‘Forget it, let’s dance,’ she said, tossing her dixie cup into a nearby trashcan and taking my hand, tugging me under the disco ball.
Things were going great, I had served my sentence and out on parole, we’d had another successful crime bust last night, J. Jonah Jameson hadn’t blasted me in the Daily Bugle over it, and I got to spend my evening with my awesome girlfriend, who was really pulling off the Rose costume. I’d always liked her when I was a kid, something about smart blondes just really did something for me. Let’s not talk about Samantha Carter from Stargate.
‘Do you feel..’ I started. Suddenly my Spidey senses started going haywire and I felt the floor rumbling. Way to go, Peter, you jinxed yourself. ‘Something’s wrong,’ I managed to tell her just as there was a loud explosion and parts of concrete and brick flew across the gym with a cloud of dust. I threw myself over her, cradling her in my arms as we both crouched to avoid the flying bricks and dust. Shit. This was so not good.
Bonnie Carter POV
The stack of blue gym mats swayed slightly as I slammed Pietro back into it, lips locked as I firmly gripped his white tank top. His hands squeezed my thighs as he hoisted me up to his level and his lips pulled away from mine with a wet popping sound. They were on my neck moments later and I felt fire through my veins. I hoped Flash didn’t mind I’d ditched him to make out with my boyfriend in the equipment closet. But he had helped with the plan. And it was mostly his plan, I just ironed out some details, fixed it a little.
‘Layno,’ Pietro muttered as he nipped at the sensitive skin in the juncture between my neck and shoulder. I shuddered under his wandering touch and hot mouth, letting out a soft moan.
Yeah, somehow, I didn’t really care I’d ditched Flash. Kissing was fantastic, had I said that before? Old, social leaper Bonnie was missing out on so much, what an idiot. I should have found someone to kiss years ago. Or maybe it wasn’t just someone, it had to be this someone. Like Peter had Gwen, not that I wanted to be thinking about the two of them right now.
‘What,’ I asked, realising Pietro had said something to me.
‘Shit,’ he breathed heavily. ‘That means, layno means shit,’ he explained, trying to give me an answer but also trying to get his tongue back in my mouth. He spun us so it was my back against the gym mats and then stumbled, sending us both tumbling towards the ground. Thankfully, there was the thicker mat used for High Jump and it mostly broke our fall. He chuckled to himself as he lay under me, looking up at me with a hazy look on his face.
‘Sonechko, I never pictured my life like this in a thousand years,’ he told me. ‘After the war, after losing my parents, learning to speak English and coming to America for exchange program… never did I think I’d have such beautiful girl sitting on top of me,’ he brushed some of my hair behind my ear. ‘Kiss me, Chortenia.’
‘Did you just call me a little imp?’ I asked the translation from Pocket JARVIS rung through my ears. I was going to have to come up with a reason why I could sometimes understand what he was saying before he starts expecting me to speak to him in Ukranian.
‘Does not mean what you think it means in Ukranian,’ he assured me, fingers hooking into the waistband of my cargo pants. ‘Is affectionate term in Sokovia.’
‘According to my web browsing, that checks out ma’am,’ Pocket JARVIS assured me and I shook my head, leaning down over him to kiss him deeply.
‘I believe you,’ I told him. ‘Now, about that kissing thing..’ I smirked and kissed him again, little pecks over and over transitioning with each kiss into something deeper and deeper until we were playing ultimate tonsil hockey again.
He flipped us over and I was on my back on the cold plastic covered mat, whining into his mouth. He shoved a knee between my legs and I felt his tight muscles flexing just at the apex of my thighs. My pulse hammered loudly in my ears and I could barely hear anything else but the sound of his mouth on my own. I could feel the ground vibrating beneath me. Surely the music from the dance wasn’t that loud…
There was a loud bang and I pulled back from Pietro in shock. What the hell was that? We exchanged a look of confusion. There was another loud bang and the sounds of screaming. I tried to push myself up but Pietro gripped me tightly, hovering protectively over me.
‘Wait, Sonechko, we don’t know what’s going on,’ he told me as he tried to tug me back down again as I scurried out from under him.
‘And we need to find out,’ I told him, breaking out of his grip. I squatted down by the door, pulling it open just a crack. It was hard to see with all the running bodies, screaming kids but I got glimpses of lots of goons dressed in purple.
‘Come out, come out Heroes! We know you’re here!’ I heard a thick French accent giggle gleefully. Shit. This was so not good.
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 28: He’s Back
Notes:
2 chapters in 2 days? Is it a miracle or do I just need to get some sleep
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: He’s Back - Alice Cooper
Bonnie Carter POV
Saturday 14th September 2013
My pulse hammered in my ears for a different reason this time as I concentrated hard on what to do. Batroc, he was back. Just as he’d threatened. I glanced over my shoulder at Pietro who looked terrified and I was torn between staying with him and going out there. I had to get to my gym locker, as far as I was aware, I was the only one here that could do something. I didn’t know if Danny or Luke had brought their uniforms. Lord Edgy of the New York Edgys had warned me about this, I should have taken him seriously. I mean I did, but I should have had countermeasures. Shit, Tasha and Barton were out there!
‘Sonechko,’ Pietro warned and I glanced back at him. He looked like he’d seen a ghost. ‘Please malia, don’t go out there.’
‘I know you wont understand, and I want to be here for you,’ I started, swallowing thickly.
‘Then be here!’ he cried out exasperatedly. He pushed up off the mat and came over, squatting beside me and taking me in his arms. ‘Do not go.’
‘I can do more good there than I can here,’ I said, slamming my head forward and kissing him passionately. I shoved him back from me and then leapt up, running out the door and closing it behind me. I hoped he wouldn’t dump me for this.
‘JARVIS, you’d better had called the Avengers, like 5 minutes ago!’ I demanded as I ran through the crowds getting pushed back and forward around the frantic students.
I felt hands grip my arms tightly and I looked up to see none other than Liz dressed as Bonnie Rockwaller and grinning at me vindictively. No. In my head I could see exactly what she had planned. I looked at her in shock, shaking my head slowly and she smirked, nodding.
‘Liz,’ I warned. ‘Don’t!’
I glanced behind me as she shoved me with yet again, impressive force and landed me straight into the path of a manically laughing goon. I screamed and swung a leg up, kicking him in the face, trying to break free. That bitch!
I slammed my elbow hard into his ribs and he let go for a second and that was all it took for a web to wrap around my wrist and yank me up to the ceiling. I looked over to see Spider-Man. I raised an eyebrow.
‘I thought you were grounded?’ I said and he wrapped an arm around my waist.
‘Where’s your suit?’ he demanded, on task unlike me.
‘Girls locker room,’ I replied and he nodded once, webbing me and swinging me through the air only to drop and detach me right by the entryway. I ran in there, now I was past the crowd and skidded to a stop just by my locker. I practically tore off my costume, throwing my suit on and running back outside, new mask adorning my features.
‘Night Fury!’ I heard Iron Fist call. He was standing beside Power Man and Nova. ‘What do we do?’
‘Crowd control,’ I said. ‘Nova I need you to get the exits open and Power Man and Iron Fist, you need to be making sure people get out those doors. Spider-Man and I can handle the goons until everyone’s out and backup arrives. I’ve already got the Avengers on their way and we have two SHEILD agents undercover here already. We just need to hold this place until help arrives.’
‘Got it,’ I heard Nova say before he jetted off, flying through the air and going straight over to one of the exit doors. Power Man and Iron fist nodded at me before they broke off and started disabling goons that were impacting students getting to the doors.
‘THIS WAY EVERYONE!’ I heard Power Man call.
I felt a web wrap around my wrist again and I was yanked up into the air again, swinging above everyone until Peter used the momentum to slam me hard into one of the goons. I slammed my feet hard into his chest and then leapt up, flipping him to the ground and knocking him out with a pressure point.
I looked up to see Barton fighting three guys in front of me, looking like he was barely breaking a sweat. That’s how good I wanted to be one day. I ran at a guy who was holding onto one of the cheer squad girls and slammed a kick into his side. He let go of the girl but the two of them were sent teetering towards the ground. A web attached to her and she was yanked up and out of the way. Above my head Nova grabbed the girl and flew her down to an awaiting Iron Fist. Man, we really had this shit when we worked as a team.
But the question was, where had Batroc gotten all these goons? Had he been gathering and training them for months? That did explain why he’d had time to get them all matching purple and black uniforms. How did one begin to organise such a thing? Was someone in New York working as a costume designer for super villains or did Batroc have a seamstress or something working for him? I’m getting distracted again…
‘Heads up!’ I heard and was then immediately yanked into the sky. Peter swung me on his web across the gym like that one vine. He swung me with such high velocity that I was worried the web would get torn off me like usually happened when we swung this fast.
‘We’re soaring!’ I screamed, trying to make myself feel better by singing the music from that vine.
‘Flying!’ I heard and slammed into a hard chest. Glancing back I saw Nova had caught me and was about to throw me towards a cluster of goons in order to free some kids and clear an exit.
‘There’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach,’ he sung and I screamed, getting thrown like a human bowling ball directly at the goons.
‘We’re breaking free!!’ I said as I collided with the group of goons. This was basically just Football with higher stakes.
Steve Rogers POV
The door to the lab burst open and Bruce, Tony and I looked up. It was one of Stark’s interns who’d just been out of the room taking a message for him. He looked shocked and out of breath.
‘Son, are you alright?’ I asked.
‘It’s your daughter,’ he gasped. ‘The high school. It’s under attack. The students are still inside.’
‘Looks like Fury was right,’ Tony commented and I shot him a glare.
‘We’re on our way, Tony, you meet me there. Bruce, I think,’ I started and he nodded.
‘I know, a confined space full of civilians isn’t the best place for the Hulk to be running around. Call me if you need me, until then I’ll keep studying Bonnie,’ he replied. I offered him a nod and headed out to the roof where Fury would be waiting with a helicopter.
Why was nothing ever easy with Bonnie? I was beginning to understand how Bucky felt growing up. Or worse, when there were two of us for him to manage. I looked at Fury, he looked oddly sympathetic.
‘Massive number of hostiles present, none of our embedded agents could get an exact number, but visuals from Bonnie’s bodycam indicated there’s enough to rival the number of students present from the dance,’ Agent Hill told me as I rushed to the chopper. The two of us fastened our seatbelts and I put my headset on.
‘Whispers indicated something would go down tonight, but not what,’ she said and I nodded. I glanced out the window, we couldn’t get there soon enough. Couldn’t this thing go any faster.
‘We’ve got hostage negotiators at the scene but it doesn’t look like Batroc wants to negotiate,’ Fury explained and I sighed. Nothing was ever easy. I looked at him, chewing on the side of my gum.
‘With Batroc being Night Fury and Spider-Man’s usual villain, it looks like it worked out for the better they’re already there,’ Maria told me. ‘It’s a good thing they’re there. They could reason with him.’
‘Could that not be why?’ I asked. ‘Could he be there because he’s their usual guy?’
Bonnie had said that all their alter egos had been exposed. Had someone somehow gotten ahold of that information? Did he know who Bonnie was? Shit, I shouldn’t have let her get involved. No, this would have happened regardless, if she hadn’t’ve gotten involved, we wouldn’t know.
‘We’ve got analysts already in the game, Cap,’ Fury told me. ‘They’re already out looking for identity sales, combing the dark web. If someone was talking about it, we’re going to know about it.’
‘We’re going to find out who knows what and just how much,’ Maria agreed and I shook my head. They shouldn’t know anything.
‘You’re going to do some damn damage control,’ I fired back angrily. I’ve had Bonnie in my care for almost no time at all and she’s already had a half dozen near death experiences.
‘And we’re going to do damage control,’ Fury assured me and I glared at the floor of the chopper. This had to stop.
That wasn’t good enough. This negligence could cost my best friend her life. But it couldn’t, could it? I’d already seen her in the past, she was older, she was bossier. So surely this meant that she had to be okay, that nothing would happen to her tonight?
‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Fury said. I looked up at him. Oh he knew what I was thinking? ‘Is it a sure thing she’ll be okay because you met her after she travels?’ He looked at me and I nodded. ‘Could be multiple timelines Steve, it might not work like that.’
‘Don’t tell me that,’ I warned, glancing out the window to the chopper. We were nearly there. God, we needed to be there.
‘You want me to lie to you, tell you she's gonna be just fine?’ he recoiled. ‘I thought you’d be the type to wanna hear it straight.’
‘Just this once,’ I told him and he nodded.
‘She’s gonna be fine Cap, your bossy little pistol is gonna be just fine,’ he assured me and I smiled, yeah, when you put it like that, she was gonna be just fine.
Bonnie Carter POV
Pushing forward off the ground I charged at the next group of goons by the stage. I could see Batroc by the podium, looking over his carnage with glee. Most of the students had gotten out and the initial chaos had subsided but we were outnumbered now and the remaining students were being held hostage.
‘Why are you doing this Batroc?’ I demanded, not looking at him as I slammed my foot into the chest of one of the guys I was fighting.
‘Night Fury, do you remember our last interaction?’ he returned and I rolled my eyes. Breaking someone’s arm and throwing them to the side. I had to get up to that stupid podium. Maybe I could still reason with this guy.
‘Of course I remember, you were easily apprehended, you gave a corny villain speech, threatened us,’ I listed off.
‘I promised you this wasn’t over, no?’ he smirked and I shoved passed the last guy, meeting Batroc on stage.
‘This is different,’ I argued, coming face to face with him. ‘You promised us this wasn’t over, like you always do. But you rob banks, steal things from safes and vaults. You don’t hold people hostage, you don’t murder children.’
‘Just as you are moving up in the world, Night Fury, so am I,’ he told me, looking my uniform up and down. Only he could think being responsible for the death of multiple children was moving up. ‘Looks like a lot has happened in three months.’
‘Batroc I’m willing to let you just walk out of here,’ I told him. Probably wasn’t the best bargaining tactic, but I really didn’t care. Some of the people I went to school with were laying dead on the gym floor. Others were grievously injured in the explosion. My boyfriend might never talk to me again because I left him alone during an extremely traumatic experience. I left him when he needed me.
‘Well that’s very nice of you,’ he grinned, swinging out a punch that I didn’t quite catch and my nose made a crunching sound on impact. ‘Shame I’m here to kill you and your little friend.’
‘No one else has to die,’ I assured him, ignoring the blood dribbling out of my nose and down my lips. This new mask had offered no protection from that hit, I thought Tony was supposed to know everything. The dripping blood was sealed under the mask, which was actually fine, just me that was damaged.
‘Just let the high school kids go. I’ll stay in here with you, if you want. I’ll stay, just let them leave.’ I grabbed the back of his head and slammed my knee up into his face. See how you like a bloody nose.
‘Oh how very sweet, Night Fury, but I’m going to kill you and any other so-called hero that gets in my way. When that’s over we will leave and what’s left of your precious children will be left to their own devices.’
‘SHIELD is outside,’ I told him. He swung a powerful kick out at me and I blocked, grabbing his leg and yanking him forward. I kicked him away from me again, trying to figure out how to end this quickly. ‘They don’t negotiate. They’re just going to come in here and start killing your guys.’
‘They’re criminals anyway,’ he said and suddenly it made sense. I nodded at him, holding still as it all sunk in. All the break-ins across the country. Batroc was using them to build up his army. ‘Last night,’ I started. ‘That was you?’
‘That was Boomerang,’ he told me. ‘We started out with the same goals, get a larger group together, stand a chance against you. But I do not need assistance with bank jobs, I am moving up, I am doing other, much greater things. And they’ll be much easier once you are out of my way.’
I looked back at the others, they were all pinned down fighting other guys. I was the one that had to take out Batroc. But how? He actually seemed to have done some training, he seemed stronger, more capable. I didn’t have the element of surprise like I normally did, I couldn’t jump off a fire escape and land on him. Was I going to have to...
‘If you two are done chatting,’ I heard Tony’s voice and I let out a cry of relief. I looked up to see he’d flown in through one of the holes Batroc and his goons had punched in the gym’s walls and was ready to provide much needed backup.
‘Iron Man,’ Batroc spat.
‘Cranky Frenchman,’ Tony returned with a nod. ‘Now how’s about we free some of these kids.’
I looked over at the wall holes and saw a couple of SHIELD’s Strike teams pouring inside along with Steve and I shook, grateful they’d finally gotten here. I kicked Batroc away from me and ran off the stage, headed for a ground of goons Danny was struggling with. I couldn’t believe I’d come so close to considering that. I didn’t want to have to make that call again. I was only 17. But maybe those are the choices you have to make if you want to be in the big leagues. And I’d said I’d wanted to.
‘Night Fury,’ I heard Peter call and I stuck my arm up, preparing to be webbed and swung at someone. I was basically a human wrecking ball. We really needed to practice some actual maneuvers, get some training, have some kind of skill or plan. I couldn’t just keep being a giant steel ball on a chain.
With this night finally over I stood staring at the puddles of blood on the gym floor, the MEs coming in to examine the students on the floor, the police and SHIELD photographers taking photos of the scene. Filled with a deap, heavy dread I fought back the urge to cry. Why did I feel like we’d messed up again?
‘JARVIS,’ I said shakily. ‘I need you to send what Batroc told me to Officer Russo. Send them what they did tonight. Send it to Addison Chen. Let the people know what happened. We have to, these kids they..’
‘Hey,’ I heard from behind me and I turned. Steve was standing there, looking concerned and I shook my head. There was a tight lump in my throat and I felt like I could barely speak. I was on the verge of tears.
‘I have to.. I left Pietro in the equipment room, someone needs to check he’s not still there,’ I said. ‘I’m still, I need to change.’
‘Do you?’ he asked. ‘Let me take you home, it’s taken care of now. SHIELD can take care of you during roll call. No one needs to know who you are.’
‘I need to see him, and he doesn’t know,’ I explained. ‘He lost his parents in the War in Sokovia. He lived there during all that, the things he’s seen, this was supposed to be a safe place. And he’s been shoved right back in it. I have to go be with him. I just left him, I feel like I shouldn’t have left but the kids…’ I looked around. ‘If I’d acted sooner maybe… even if I did everything the same, if this is the best outcome, then I had to leave him but it’s hard I..’
‘You feel guilty,’ he nodded. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms tightly around me. ‘It’s not your fault. You did the best you could, you can patch things up with your boyfriend, you did good today, don’t be so hard on yourself.’
‘I thought about killing him,’ I sobbed. ‘Batroc, Tony showed up and I was so relieved. I honestly didn’t think there was another way out. There was so many of them, he wouldn’t let the high schoolers out. I didn’t know what to do, he got stronger, more skilled. I couldn’t subdue him for long, not anymore.’
‘Sometimes we have to,’ he told me and I pulled back, tears streaming down my dirty face. ‘I know, that’s not what you want to hear. It’s not what you expect a hero to say, but I’m not a hero, Bonnie. I’m a soldier, I fought in World War II. I didn’t enjoy it, it wasn’t fun, but I’ve killed people before. Sometimes, I kill people now. That’s the way it is sometimes. But we’re not killing innocent people, the team and I, it’s casualties of war. These are bad people, doing bad things and we’re stopping them in the way that we can. If we can subdue them, do things the right way then we do, but sometimes we can’t. We can’t always do things that way.’
‘I understand, I do,’ I told him, pushing back a little. I never judged soldiers, policemen, whatever when they had to kill someone. I wasn’t there, it’s not my place to judge and I also know sometimes the situation does call for it. But it’s different when you’re the one making that call. And I’m just a kid, we’ve already established I don’t exactly make good decisions. What if I made the wrong call?
‘I don’t want you to have to make these calls,’ he told me. ‘I hate that you already did. I knew you would in future, and I don’t see you any different because of it, but I want you to be a kid as long as you can be. To do dumb fun stuff like this dance was supposed to be.’ I sighed.
‘Steve, you and I know I stopped being a kid a long time ago,’ I said. ‘As soon as I started having to take care of my dad, as soon as I put the mask on, it was over.’
‘I know,’ he nodded. ‘And I wish I could have saved you from that, could have met you sooner.’
‘I have to go,’ I said, pushing away completely to go and change into my Atlantis costume again.
The more I thought about it, the more right I realised I was. It didn’t matter if I didn’t feel ready to make these choices, no one ever did, maybe I never would, I’d still been making them for a long time. I thought back to playing war games with my grandpa Daniel and Grandma Margaret, it was like they were training me for this. Like they knew what was coming. But they couldn’t. No, that was stupid.
‘Miss Carter,’ Pocket J said as I was stashing my suit in my locker. I texted Tasha the combination, asking if she’d pick it up and take it back to the Tower for me.
‘Yeah?’ I asked.
‘I’m detecting a nearby life sign,’ he told me and I stood rigid.
‘Where?’ I asked.
‘In science laboratory 3c,’ he replied. ‘Back row of counters.’
‘Just one?’ I asked, that sounded more like a student than a goon.
‘Yes ma’am,’ he agreed and I walked over to the door leading into the school rather than out into the gym. This room was actually the one with the most exits given the tunnels that lead out into the field, provided Coach Danvers hadn’t locked them for the day, which he usually had.
Pushing the door open gently I scanned the room as if a quick search would prove a random guy wasn’t going to spring out at me like a jack in the box. I walked over to where Little J had said the lifesign would be and saw a little brunette girl about Freshman age huddled up in a ball.
‘Hey,’ I whispered and she jerked, looking up at me.
‘H-hey,’ she returned with a slight stutter.
‘Can I sit here?’ I asked and she nodded. I walked over and leaned up against the wall, slowly sliding down to the floor. She had her knees stil pulled up at her chest whereas I had my legs out in front of me. I reached an arm over and put it around her shoulders, trying to be comforting. She leaned into the side hug and started sobbing almost immediately. We were all going to need some serious counselling after this.
‘Are you okay?’ I asked. She shook her head. Stupid question. ‘It’s going to be alright, you know. Everyone’s been arrested, the Avengers showed up. I know you’re frightened, but believe me when I say it’s okay now. You survived, you’re going to be alright.’
‘Are you okay?’ she asked me and I nodded. ‘You’re covered in blood.’
I reached up to my nose and touched the sticky, half dried blood, remembering how it felt like my nose had been broken. I touched it and winced. It hurt, but it wasn’t broken. That was good.
‘I’m fine,’ I assured her. ‘I tripped.’
‘Do we have to go back there?’ she asked and I shook my head. I didn’t want her seeing how bad things got in the gym. We could leave through one of the other doors, we just had to get to the Emergency assembly point.
‘No, but we can’t stay here,’ I told her. ‘Plus, we have to get you to see some paramedics, get you treated for shock.’
‘That’s right, you’re one of the med students,’ she said. ‘You’re Bonnie Carter right? The Vice Captain of the football team, half the guys in my class have a thing for you.’ I snorted.
‘What about you, what do you want to go into when you take the aptitude test?’ she bit her lip for a moment.
‘I love robotics,’ she told me. ‘I wanna build the next Iron Man suit.’
‘Bet you wanna go to MIT then,’ I said and she nodded frantically. ‘Well, can’t do that if we spend the rest of our lives hiding behind a workbench. Come on, let's leave via the admin office.’
I pushed up off the ground and offered her a hand up. She grasped it tightly and I led her through the empty halls of the school. SHIELD or the cops would have to do a sweep of the school to see if there were any other rogue students trying to hide from all the chaos. She kept holding my hand as we walked, clinging to it like it was a lifeline, and if this was all the good I could do today, then I’d let her squeeze as hard as she wanted.
Opening the doors to the outside we walked to the flashing lights of police cars, ambulances and S.H.I.E.L.D vehicles. I let go over her hand when a Paramedic came over to start treating her for shock. I shoved away from them when they tried to treat my nose. I had to find Pietro. I spun as I walked, looking everywhere and anywhere, hoping if I searched at every single checkpoint, every face in the crowds that I’d find him.
‘Hey, is that Bonnie?’ I heard Flash and I spun around, scanning the crowds for him.
My heart hammered in my ears as I inched closer to finding what I was looking for. I glanced over towards a large tree that had made it’s hope in a too small square in the concrete and breathed a sigh of relief. Huddled under the tall branches I found him and the others. Flash had an orange blanket over his shoulders as did Luke, and Danny. Gwen was under Peter’s with him and my heart skipped a beat when I looked at the last person in the group.
‘Sonechko!’ I heard the desperate cry of my boyfriend and before I was conscious of what my feet were doing I was running towards him.
He thrust his blanket at Flash and started running at me, faster than I’d seen him run, even on the Football field. I leapt up, wrapping my legs around his waist as he slammed into me. I kissed him roughly, overcome by emotion. I ignored the pain in my nose as he kissed me and I gripped onto him like I’d never see him again. I tangled my hands in his hair and kissed him with bruising force. He pulled back for air, desperately gulping in breaths.
‘I saw that Liz girl push you into trouble,’ he told me, kissing all over my face, seemingly uncaring I was covered in blood. ‘I thought you were one of them, Sonechko. I thought when you didn’t come out with the others…’
‘No,’ I assured him. ‘I was on my way out when I found this Freshman girl hiding in one of the science labs. I couldn’t leave her.’
‘I am so glad you okay,’ he said desperately, breathing heavily and kissing me all over. He dropped down to the ground, sitting on his knees while my legs were still tightly wrapped around his waist. ‘Malia, you scared shit out of me. I don’t care. I don’t care. You are here.’
‘I love you,’ I breathed as I kissed him. ‘I don’t care if it’s too soon. I don’t care if you don’t want to say it back. I love you.’
‘No,’ he shook his head. ‘I love you too, Sonechko. Moia kokhana. Chortenia.’
‘You and your pet names,’ I chuckled. ‘How am I your sunshine and an imp?’
‘I ask myself same question,’ he grinned cheekily at me. ‘Come, you’ll get cold.’
He pushed himself up off the ground and I finally let go of my grip around his waist, taking his hand as he led me over to the others and took his blanket back from Flash. He threw it over his shoulders before he draped his arms over my shoulders, wrapping us both up in the blanket.
‘Where the hell were you, Carter?’ Flash asked. Also looking as worried as Pietro had.
‘Sorry, I had to file my taxes,’ I joked and he rolled his eyes.
‘I really thought you weren’t coming out,’ he said softly. My face fell a bit, I felt bad for worrying him. He’d probably felt similar to I had when he’d made me wait in his car when he went in to see his father.
‘The others said they’d seen you but not for a while. I wanted you to come out but…’
‘You look like shit,’ Gwen blurted out. Everyone turned to her in shock and a small smile crept up my face. I raised an eyebrow. Okay, let’s play it your way.
‘You look worse,’ I replied and she laughed, really laughed.
‘We all look like shit,’ she said, mischievous look on her face, glancing around at everyone. ‘But you’re by far the worst.’
‘What do you think is going to destroy the school next year?’ I asked, looking at the rubble that was our gymnasium. I wondered if we’d still be able to play basketball this year. The season was about to start. Maybe Tony’d donate us a gym.
‘What you mean, next year?’ Pietro demanded, looking at me like I’d grown a second head. Seemed like every year something happened to this building. I’m starting to think someone cast a voodoo curse on Midtown Science.
‘Last year it was the lizard, the year before the aliens,’ I shrugged. ‘This year it was that Batroc guy. So, who wants to take bets on next year? My money’s on a blizzard.’
‘Nah, it’ll be something you’d never expect. Like a sand storm,’ Luke said and I scoffed, shaking my head.
‘A sand storm, in New York?’ I put a hand on my hip. Pietro rested his chin on my head, holding me a little tighter.
‘Stranger things have happened,’ he shrugged. That was true. This was a strange existence.
Notes:
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Chapter 29: Want You Bad
Chapter Text
Title Song: Want You Bad - The Offspring
Bonnie Carter POV
Sunday 15th September 2013
Early morning take out was beginning to be a tradition since moving in with Steve. It didn’t seem to matter if it was leftovers or freshly bought, we just seemed to keep finding ourselves on the couch with boxes of ready cooked food feeling a little worse for ware and taking emotional stock.
‘You know, while I was chaperoning the dance these two jocks tried to spike the punch,’ Tasha said as I bit into a piece of pepperoni pizza. I didn’t look up from my slice. So tired. Only time for pizza. Pizza is life.
‘Oh yeah?’ Steve asked, feigning interest.
‘It was such a bad plan,’ she agreed. ‘They were by the punch bowl, talking in Russian in an attempt to be covert. Just so happens that I am Russian, or I was.’ she paused. ‘Weird that of all the languages they could have picked, they picked that one. They weren’t even subtle at spiking the punch.’
‘They’re teenagers,’ I shrugged. ‘What do you expect? Not everyone can be an international super spy like you.’
‘If you were going to set up a punch spiking plot, Bonnie, why’d you pick a language you knew I spoke?’ she asked. ‘They squealed like pigs.’
‘You were supposed to be able to catch them,’ I replied, throwing the crust in the box. I reached for another slice, grease dribbling down my hand as I folded the slice.
‘Why?’ she looked at me, smirking lightly as if she already knew.
‘So I could get into the equipment room to makeout with Pietro,’ I shrugged, taking a bite of my slice. I spoke with my mouth full, glancing at Steve to see if he’d tell me off for it. ‘You were the one who said you were going to stop me having any fun.’
‘So it was a red herring, attract my attention because it was so obvious, and I’d believe it was so obvious because teenagers are idiots, right?’ she asked and I nodded. ‘All so you could trade spit with some exchange student?’
‘He’s my boyfriend,’ I shrugged. ‘Plus, kissing’s fun.’
‘That reminds me of when I used to sneak off with Peggy after meetings,’ Steve smiled softly to himself, leaning farther back on the couch. ‘We used to duck into file rooms and Howard’s labs and all kinds of places to steal a few kisses. It always felt like there was never enough time with each other, like every possible second we could get together would never be enough. We were just kids then.’
‘You’re old and weird,’ I said and everyone laughed. Tony had been on his slate, ignoring us and Clint had been snoozing on Bruce’s lap but the laughter had jerked him awake. ‘So gross, I don’t want to know about how you used to make out with my great grandma.’
‘Hey, he did a lot more than just make out with your great grandma for you to be here,’ Clint pointed out, reaching over for a pizza slice.
‘Hey, she was also my aunty so that’s enough of that talk,’ Tony said and I smiled. I’d have loved to have hung out with him when I was little, I would have ruined his life.
‘I’d have loved to have seen more of you when I was little,’ I repeated my thoughts aloud. ‘I’d have put you through hell.’
‘I don’t doubt that,’ he grinned. ‘I still think you’re going to.’
‘Oh I will,’ I said, and then wiped my fingers off on my pants. ‘It’s nearly 4, I have to get some sleep.’
And by sleep, I meant I had to see someone else. I headed to the bathroom under the guise of brushing my teeth and I did actually brush them, but I was waiting for a moment to sneak out the service elevator and go and see my Emo best friend. I wanted to ask him about what happened tonight. If this was what he was warning me about.
Staring out at the skyline, I felt the cold breeze brushing my damp curls past my face. I’d had to shower as soon as I’d gotten home, feeling like I’d done something wrong even though everyone kept telling me I hadn’t. I felt him behind me and I wondered when he found the time to sleep. Surely he couldn’t always be watching me. Did he take shifts? Did he have some kind of alarm that went off when I moved? Was I a cat with a bell? Did he just get lucky?
‘Dinosaur pyjamas,’ he commented, looking me up and down. There was clear amusement in his voice.
I’d come like this, uncaring if New York saw me in my pjs. I didn’t even feel the cold as I’d come out here braless and in a white tank top and blue pants with green and orange dinosaurs all over my legs. Bringing my bra didn’t seem important, I hadn't gone far from the tower, JARVIS was still connected to me. I didn’t think I’d need to bring him honestly.
‘I was hoping to get an up close look at the pink ducky pyjamas,’ he said, feigning disappointment. I smiled at his jokes, he seems so much less stiff than he had when we’d first talked, he seemed more human. That was good, I liked it.
He reached over and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, face shifting, falling slightly with concern. Deep thought expressed over his features. I wasn’t sure when he’d stopped wearing the goggles, but his eyes were still dark with liner.
‘Why do you look for me, cookie?’ he asked and I glanced back at him. That was a good question. Why did I look for him? Why did I seek him out constantly? It wasn’t like he’d told me, about why he was like the way he was with me.
‘I asked you once,’ I said, turning away from the slowly rising sun. ‘Why you’d been protecting me all this time. Do you remember what you said?’ I asked and he nodded, reaching across my face to tuck some loose curls behind the opposite ear.
‘You told me I felt familiar to you,’ I said. ‘I can’t say I feel the same, not honestly. I’ve never seen your face before we started having our little chats. I don’t know you, not really, and you’re not familiar to me.’
‘So you’re looking for me because I’m unfamiliar?’ he said, bemused. I shook my head, looking down at my lap. Tiny, bruised hands shaking slightly as I tried to hold them still.
‘I need you,’ I replied. ‘I don’t know why, I really don't. But I always feel like nothing makes sense. Nothing makes sense until I talk to you. I don’t know why I keep needing you, or why I think you’re going to make it all better. And I’m sorry I don’t have a better answer. Because anyone else would think I’m dumb or psychotic.’
‘It is pretty dangerous sneaking out in your pyjamas to have a secret rendezvous with an assassin,’ he agreed, perching on the railing to the rooftop beside me. ‘Especially when that assassin is tasked with taking you out if you become a threat.’
‘And am I? Becoming a threat?’ I asked, leaning a little closer. He bounced his head around a bit, as if mulling it over a bit. I started picking at the skin on my fingers, unable to stop myself from fidgeting.
‘A nuisance,’ he decided on finally. ‘Perhaps a minor pain in the neck, but no, you’re not much of a threat. Not to me.’
‘What if I'm a threat to everyone else, but not you?’ I asked. He grabbed my hand with his organic one, a warm weight stopping me from ripping off hangnails and dry skin.
‘You’re already a threat to everyone else,’ he assured me. ‘Why else would that scumbag have tried to murder you last night?’
‘You said if I became a threat that you’d be forced to take me out,’ I said. ‘I sit here, still living, unless you plan on throwing me over the railing once we’re done here.’
‘It’s up to me to tell my employers whether or not I think you’re a threat, and then they review what I’ve told them and decide to give me an order or not,’ he explained. ‘And if I never see you as a threat, I’ll never be forced to take you out.’
‘I wish there was something I could do for you,’ I said. I squeezed his much larger hand, it was warm in mine. ‘I hate what you told me. I hate what they do to you.’
‘I know, cookie,’ he told me. ‘You know how it looked like you couldn’t help your friend, but you found a way?’ I nodded.
By telling Jack what was going on in Flash’s life I’d snowballed a completely different kind of custody battle than I was expecting. Social workers were constantly stopping by, and Flash looked like he didn’t have any new bruises. Negotiations were in place to have he and his sister move into Jack’s apartment. But how was I supposed to do the same for him? I doubted he wanted me to tattle to Jack about him.
‘You’re already helping me,’ he assured me. ‘The longer I’m out of the fridge, the more like who I used to be I become. I think. I’m not sure, maybe I’m becoming someone new. It’s easier now, to disobey orders, to manipulate the game. To think freely. Keep being strange, keep being a teenage girl, keep seeking me out on rooftops for very dangerous chats. I want to know who I am, and at the moment, you’re the only one who seems familiar, who seems like me.’
‘I need to be getting back, I’m pretty sure Steve knows I didn’t go to bed, and I’m pretty sure he’ll hear me coming in, he always does,’ I said and he nodded. He kept my hand in his, helping me down off the railing and walking me over to the fire escape.
‘Take care of yourself, cookie,’ he said, looking down at me as I held tightly to the rungs. ‘I hate seeing you with so many bruises.’
I smiled softly, nodding a couple times before looking down as I climbed. I glanced back up once and couldn’t see him anymore. I blink and he disappears. Sometimes I wonder if he’s a figment of my imagination and the others were just pretending they could see him to make their lives easier.
I made my way back into the tower and up to my floor, trying to take the service elevator because it didn’t make an alert noise when I reached my floor. Not that it mattered much, as soon as I walked into the apartment I saw everyone gathered in the living room, awake and staring at me.
‘Do I want to know what you’ve been up to?’ Steve asked.
‘Smoking,’ I replied. ‘I was by the dumpster and smoking. I’m trying to quit but with all this stress it’s just a lot harder than I thought.’
‘If you don’t want to tell me, the least you could do is cut the sarcasm,’ he replied and then jerked his head over to the group. ‘Now come over here, dinosaur pyjamas, this involves you too.’
Did I mention before when I said everyone was here, that included Fury and his assistant Maria Hill? I scurried over and hopped up on the arm of the sofa beside Barton. Fury looked around as if daring anyone else to make an interruption before turning to address me specifically.
‘You did good, kid,’ he told me. ‘That was good work last night, you gave everyone orders, your team worked cohesively. And it was good you know your limits, you worked crowd control until we could show up.’
‘Uh, thanks…’ I replied, looking at Tasha for an explanation and her face told me nothing. I looked at Barton who just shrugged. ‘You know that Batroc and Boomerang both have control of separate factions of those escaped convicts, right? That there’s probably more still out there and they’ve been trained to be more dangerous than they used to be.’
‘I’m aware,’ he replied dismissively. ‘I’m also aware Batroc’s plans have been left unfinished which is why he’s been placed in a SHIELD prison, rather than the jokes he’s been put in before. The caught criminals have been processed and dealt with appropriately. Are you satisfied, Carter, or do you want to grill me for more?’
‘I’ve been thinking about those files that we took from those guys that tapped the school,’ I said. ‘We know it was a trap intended to kill us, those files we recovered weren’t the only copies and I think the rest have gotten into the wrong hands. How else would they know we’d be at the school?’
‘I thought the same thing,’ Steve told me and I nodded.
‘So we looked into it,’ Fury explained.
‘Analysts were able t0 track and trace the sale of the secret identities of three young heroes,’ Maria said, handing me a copy of the information she was presenting. ‘We were able to block further sales, find the people who sold them but they’ve been virtually useless. The people selling happened upon this information, they’re not the original people involved. We don’t know who exposed your friends.’
‘So Nova, White Tiger and Power Man now have prices on their heads, well Sam, Ava and Luke do,’ I said, looking worriedly down at the files. ‘Anything on Peter, Danny or myself?’
‘No, nothing yet,’ she assured me. ‘We believe that whoever is exposing identities wanted to save the big ones for last,’ and then she paused. ‘But, no one knows you’re Night Fury, do they?’
‘No,’ I scoffed. ‘It’s always separate files on Bonnie Carter and Night Fury, as if Bonnie Carter is too wimpy and pathetic to be capable. But it’s better, I don’t like the assumptions they make about me, but it means my identity is relatively safe. Or as safe as I can be, living in the tower with you guys and being Steve’s blood relative.’
‘Sorry,’ Steve said, shooting me a sheepish look and a shrug. I smiled, at least he was trying to lighten the somber mood.
‘So what are you gonna do?’ I asked and Fury raised his eyebrow. I think. It was hard to tell with the eyepatch.
‘Us? This is your secret identity, your team, you wanted to be independent here you go,’ he said, flabbergasted by my audacity.
‘I wanted my own team because you fucked up, Fury,’ I countered, standing and walking over to him, hand on my hip. ‘Listen, you’re the one with the resources to search for this kind of thing, we both agreed working together where necessary wouldn’t be a problem. Unless you’re going back on that. What? This too hard for you? Awww, baby. No, Fury this is your fault and these are the consequences. You send someone to fix this while I try to keep bullets out of my friends' heads.’
‘And since when did you start giving orders?’ he said, raising his voice as if he was annoyed at me but his face showed something else. It’s like he was almost. No. He wasn’t proud.
‘Since aliens invaded my city,’ I replied, crossing my arms over my chest. ‘Since a giant lizard destroyed my school, tried to murder my best friend and rampaged through my city. Since some French guy with a fondness for gymnastics started running amuck in my city, destroying my school, killing my classmates and interrupting a perfectly good evening. I’ve always been bossy, Fury, if you want me you’re going to have to get used to it.’
‘Well alright then,’ he nodded once. ‘We’re sending a team out to trace where these file sales actually came from. I’ve got my best guys on it. Against Romanoff, Barton and your grandpappy.’
‘What?’ I recoiled. ‘For how long?’
‘As long as it takes, or they get reassigned,’ Fury shrugged. ‘Now, your orders are to recruit Nova to your team, you worked well together, he could be a good addition. Plus, he needs some reigning in, and I think you could be the one to do that.’
‘Now who said you get to give me orders, Captain?’ I said, making Tony laugh at the nickname. ‘Plus, Luke already asked him last night and he said no. Danny told me.’
‘Ask him yourself,’ Fury demanded. ‘And you said yourself, it’s about give and take.’
‘I hate you and this mess you put me in,’ I glared at him. ‘Now who’s supposed to look after me? May I remind you I’m still technically a child.’
‘I don’t have to go, Bonnie,’ Steve assured me. ‘If you need me here I’ll stay.’
‘No you won’t,’ Fury turned back to him. ‘You’re going, that’s an order, Captain.’
‘I’m going to be here,’ Tony assured me. ‘I won’t be going anywhere. Bruce’ll be here too, ready to Hulk out whenever you need him to, right?’ he turned to look at the scientist.
‘You got it kid,’ he assured me. ‘You’ll be safe here.’
‘Good, because there’s still a very real price on my head,’ I said. ‘And I keep exacerbating that by making new enemies and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I want to live long enough to graduate.’
‘College,’ Steve added and I rolled my eyes.
‘Right, sorry Steve, no dying before College. I’ll keep that in mind when people are trying to murder me,’ I went to sit back down. ‘Actually, you should write me a note. Sorry master assassin, you’re not allowed to shoot me in the head, Steve says no. Here's my paperwork. I think you’ll find everything’s in order.’
‘We’ll be back before you know it, kid,’ Barton said, putting a comforting hand on my knee. ‘Tasha can go back to beating you up once a week and things will be normal again.’
‘You know, that isn’t exactly a comforting thought, she hits like she wants to kill me,’ I told him. ‘I’d rather take my chances with the thugs.’
‘She is a thug,’ he joked and then Tasha started arguing with him. He pulled his hearing aides off and put his hands over his eyes, deafening himself and making me laugh. Those two were actually children where the other was involved. I shook my head, heading back to bed or rather, to bed for the day.
Steve came in before he was due to leave with the others, kneeling down beside my bed as I lay tucked up with Bucky bear. He pushed some of my hair off my face as he looked down at me.
‘I don’t want me to be going, you know,’ he told me. ‘But if I do this, I get to keep you safe. And that’s something I wouldn’t trade for the world. I know you’d do the same. So stay out of trouble till I get back. And if you need me for anything, it doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing, you call me.’
‘I will,’ I nodded tiredly.
‘Promise me,’ he said and I nodded, bringing my hand up to his and locking our pinkies.
‘I promise,’ I told him and he leaned up to kiss my forehead.
‘Don’t do anything Tony would do,’ he warned and pushed up off the ground, heading for the door. ‘And try to get enough sleep.’
Monday 16th September 2013
My back hit wood with a dull thud and I ignored the minor pain in favour of focusing on the fire running through my veins. Teeth scraped against my throat and a knee wedged itself between my thighs. I rolled my hips forward, grinding on his flexing muscle.
‘Sonechko,’ he breathed, pulling away slightly. ‘We really should not be…’
‘Do you really want to stop?’ I asked, looking down at his kiss swollen lips. His pupils were blown and I imagine I was in a similar state. ‘Go to class, try not to think about what we're doing in here?’
‘No,’ he grinned, chuckling at the predicament we’d found ourselves in. It seemed like after the weekend we could keep our hands off each other less and less. ‘But this really isn’t the place.’
‘Miss Phen gets away with it all the time,’ I shrugged. Come to think of it, since I handed those photos Barton got me over to Coulson I hadn’t seen her around. ‘Steve left town, if you wanna sneak out of here. But I kind of assumed you did want to get an education between makeout sessions.’
‘Is that all this is?’ he asked, his hands running up and down my thighs while I sat on his outstretched leg. He was moving his thigh back and forth between mine and I tried to stop myself from grinding on him while I mulled it over.
‘I’ve never…’ I started. I started to feel awkward. Abort. Abort. Abort. ‘I want to, but I guess you’re right. For that kind of thing a supply closet isn’t really the place.’
‘Sonechko,’ he started and I felt my face heat up. I didn’t know why I was embarrassed. I was a teenager, this was normal. But I felt so far behind. I was 17 and I’d done nothing. Pietro was my first kiss. And he’d probably kissed lots of girls back in Sokovia.
I hopped off his thigh and fixed my shirt. He tried to grab my arms and I wiggled free, going for the door and closing it behind me. I needed to speak to Tony. He slept with everyone, he’d be able to tell me what to do. I suppose it was a good thing Steve was out of town, he said he wanted me and Tony closer, but I doubt this was what he’d had in mind.
Tony Stark POV
Flipping up the visor for my welding mask, I put the now off blowtorch on the bench. I’d been spending so much time trying to figure Bonnie out I hadn’t tinkered with my lab in what felt like forever. And now I was getting informed from JARVIS she was skipping school.
‘Princess,’ I tutted, waving a finger at her as she walked in the door. ‘Stevie’s only been gone a day, what do you think he’s going to say, finding you’re skipping already?’
‘JARVIS told the school I’m sick, it’s handled, if Steve asks I’ll tell him I wasn’t ready to go back after the weekend and took a mental health day,’ I shrugged. ‘How could he argue with that?’
‘Well if that’s not it, what brings you to see me?’ I asked, watching her face heat up with a deep red blush. She stumbled slightly on her way over and I raised an eyebrow. I’d seen her get a little embarrassed about the bear, but whatever was bothering her now must be serious.
‘Come on, out with it,’ I told her and she scurried over, hopping up on the countertop.
‘I well…’ she started and then stopped, leaning forward to run her hands through her hair. ‘I was making out with Pietro in the utilities closet..’
‘Did you come here to brag about your sexual encounters?’ I asked, teasing and she choked on her spit.
‘NO!’ she blurted out and I laughed more. She was suddenly so awkward. She hadn’t been when I first met her. That’s what I liked about her. The absolute filth she’d say, completely deadpan, just to try and make me uncomfortable.
‘What’s the matter? Did you get caught? Don’t want Capsicle to find out?’ I asked. ‘Look it’s embarrassing but he knows you have a boyfriend, trust me, I don’t think he’s really going to care. He might be a little disappointed you’re skipping class to do it, but he’s not about to transfer you to an all girls school.’
‘Tony,’ she pleaded. ‘Please, this is awkward, let me just..’
‘Alright I’ll shut up,’ I told her and hopped up on the countertop beside her. She stared down at the floor and I poked at her thigh, prompting her to start talking.
‘I don’t know what to do,’ she said eventually.
‘You don’t like him?’ I asked and she shook her head no, that’s not it. Okay, then what was it?
‘I mean, I actually don’t know what to do,’ she explained, refusing to make eye contact as she gripped the edge of the counter. She sounded flustered and a little choked up. ‘As in, I’ve never done anything before and I actually physically don’t know what to do. And I’m 17. And it’s embarrassing. Because I feel like everyone else does and I’m so behind. And it never bothered me before but now I’m dating someone and and….’
She burst into tears and I stared at her in shock for a moment. Was she crying? Well, yeah, I mean, yeah she was crying. She didn’t know what to do..was she telling me she was a virgin? Wait. She’s crying over that? That’s so stupid. ‘Bonnie..’ Wait, don’t tell her that.
‘Hey,’ I said softly and wrapped an arm over her shoulders, pulling her towards me for a hug. ‘It’s alright,’ I told her, softly rubbing her back as she sobbed into my AC DC t-shirt.
It was weird to me, seeing her like this. When I first met her she’d always been so sure of herself. So sure of everything. And she knew everything there was to know about sex, what she liked, how to give me what I liked. She knew what she wanted. She’d known what she wanted when she had dragged me off to the side at DisneyLand and had me wedge a knee up between her thighs. She’d known how things worked when I’d had my hand up her skirt behind Splash Mountain and she’d known exactly what she was doing when she sat on my lap on the teacup ride and hiked that very same skirt up at the back and pulled her panties to the side.
And here she was now, just a kid learning and experiencing everything for the first time and looking terrified. I looked down sympathetically at her anxious face buried deep in my chest and I rested my own on top of hers.
It was weird being so much older than my friend now. Although I imagine if we were both 17, and she’d come to me over the same thing, I’d be equally as unsure of what to say. She’d been the one who knew what to do at the beginning of my journey and here I was being the adult at the start of hers. Sure, she usually came to me for homework help and back then I usually sought her out for ways to get one over on Howard. But I could help her out here as well, and there was no shame in being a beginner. That really didn’t bother guys as much as girls seemed to think it did.
‘I’m not gonna tease you,’ I assured her. ‘Bonnie, it’s okay to not have done this before, it’s not embarrassing. At any age. You’re 17, so what if you don’t know what you’re doing? No one does. Trust me.’
‘You’re being weirdly nice,’ she told me, pulling back up to stare at me and I laughed.
‘Hey, I thought we were friends now,’ I pointed out. She let go of her suspicion and nodded.
‘That’s why I’m here, talking to you,’ she said. ‘That and the list of who you haven’t slept with is shorter than the list of people who like Nickelback. You’ve had probably the most practice of people on this team. And I’m not slutshaming, I just need help from someone who knows what they’re doing.’
‘I’m glad you’re not slutshaming, because we don’t do that in this house,’ I smiled. ‘Now, how much do you know?’
‘I’m a pre-med student at Midtown Science. I understand how babies are made, I know where my clit is,’ she said bluntly and I chuckled. ‘Just, no one else does. And while biologically I understand how dicks work, I have no idea how dicks work.’
‘Okay so you’re telling me you’ve done nothing at all, not just no P in V?’ I asked her and she nodded, not making eye contact. I shook my head. I grabbed the top of her head with my hand and turned her back to face me. ‘Stop being embarrassed, I told you it’s normal.’
‘I’ve just been kissing him,’ she said. ‘A lot,’ she added and I smirked. ‘Although, I’ve had his knee between my thighs, and I know that felt good...’ So that’s where she got that from.
‘But there’s not even been any under the shirt action or anything. He like, hooked his fingers into the waistband of my jeans once, but they never went anywhere!’ she shrieked the last part and I shushed her. Bruce was working next door and I did not want him coming in here and embarrassing her more. Or telling Steve. Or getting very clinical as he also tried to help. Nobody wants to talk to biologists about this kind of stuff.
‘Okay, has it ever occurred to you, he might also be new to this?’ I asked and she threw her head in her hands.
‘I know!’ she cried out frustratedly. ‘But what if he’s not! But what if I’m the only one who wants things to be progressing further? I want more and I’m worried I might only want them with him. So I can’t just, I mean I never would, but I couldn’t just hypothetically dump him and find someone new who does want to do more because even if I did, they’re not him. And obviously I want to wait until he’s ready, I’d expect people to do the same for me, for anyone, but I want more like, now. And what if he does want more and I have no idea what I’m doing? I mean, he’s the one who...’
‘Okay,’ I stopped her. Girls think too much. ‘You don’t know he doesn’t want things to be progressing, and you won't know until you talk to him and you ask him,’ I soothed. She nodded. Good, bring back rational Bonnie please.
‘Sex is one of those things where you have to have clear communication and consent. If it’s too awkward or uncomfortable to have that discussion, you shouldn’t be having sex. And if you want more now, that’s okay, you just need to tell him that. And if you don’t want to break up with him, then don’t worry about not wanting to have sex with other people besides him. Relationships aren’t something you can have contingencies for.’
‘What if it’s not okay?’ she asked. ‘What if it sucks?’
‘Since neither of you know what you’re doing, there’s a high chance it’s going to suck,’ I shrugged. ‘It’s going to be awkward, there’s going to be a lot of learning happening right there but if there’s nothing that you like at all in the experience, bench it and come back to it. And the whole, it’ll hurt at first? Bullshit.’
‘The hymen isn’t something you bust through anyway,’ she shrugged. ‘It’s a ring of muscle that slowly tears and grows as you do. But isn’t there like.. an adjustment period?’ I scoffed.
‘Look, you gotta have like a half hour foreplay minimum before he gets in you. Get wet. Shouldn’t have a problem then with getting him in and having some fun. Just relax, it’s supposed to be a fun and enjoyable experience for both of you,’ I explained and she nodded.
‘Size isn’t important, it’s how you use it but…’ she chewed her lip and I raised an eyebrow.
‘What, what if he doesn’t know how to use it?’ I chuckled.
‘No, what well...what if he does and it’s still not enough?’ she asked.
‘Then he doesn’t,’ I said. ‘Doesn’t matter the size, I’m serious. If you know what you’re doing, everyone can have a good time. But here’s the thing, he’s not going to learn, if you don’t tell him. You’re going to have to talk to each other the whole time. You don’t like something, tell him. You do? Tell him. It all comes back to the clear conversation thing I said earlier. I’m not asking you to perform soliloquies but words are important when you’re getting to know a person. And if you’re unsatisfied, tell him. He’ll never be able to if you don’t. And do. not. fake. orgasms.’
‘Any tips?’
‘Be gentle,’ I told her and she raised an eyebrow at me. ‘I’m serious, dicks are more sensitive than you think. The tip and the balls? Be careful with those.’
‘Alright, now I’m going to try and forget we ever had this conversation, tell all the superheroes I go to school with that they’ve been compromised, and then see if I can climb in his bedroom window to have a different version of this conversation,’ she told me, hopping off the counter and I laughed.
‘Call me if you need a ride or bail money.’
Bonnie Carter POV
Finding myself sitting in one of Danny’s beanbag chairs again I stared at the ceiling. I hoped he wouldn’t mind I invited myself over. I tapped the side of the bag absentmindedly as I waited, JARVIS gently playing some music through my headphones.
‘Hey,’ I heard and looked up to see his confused face. ‘Did you let yourself into my apartment?’
‘Sorry, I needed to talk to you about some stuff but school was still in session so I figured I’d meet up with you when it was over,’ I replied, pushing myself up. ‘Hope you’re not mad.’
‘No,’ he shook his head. ‘A little surprised you got in, but not mad. What’s up?’ He came to sit on his own beanbag and I crossed my legs under myself.
‘We think the reason Batroc was at the school was because he bought our personal details off the web,’ I said bluntly. How exactly did I say that delicately? You couldn’t. ‘Not everyone’s. Not yet. You’re safe, I’m safe and Peter’s safe.’
‘Peter?’ he looked at me and I raised an eyebrow. ‘Peter is Spider-Man,’ he nodded. ‘Makes sense. So who isn’t safe?’
‘We know someone bought White Tiger’s secret identity, Nova’s and Power Man’s. I don’t know how many or if there’s actually a price on their heads,’ I explained. ‘SHIELD is shutting all that down, tracking the buyers and Steve, Tasha and Clint all shipped out yesterday morning. I don’t know when they’re going to be back either. But I need to warn them.’
‘But you don’t want them to know you know who they are or who you are,’ he finished and I nodded, resting my elbow on my knee. He sighed and reached behind him to tie his hair up into a ponytail. ‘I think at this point we’re just going to have to trust each other. Our information could be sold on at any moment. I’ll call everyone together, where do you want to meet?’
‘Honestly, I think the Tower might be the only safe place,’ I said. ‘Besides here.’
‘Alright,’ he nodded, pulling out his cellphone. ‘I’ll invite Nova, Power Man and White Tiger over, you handle Spider-Man.’
‘Hey Pocket J, get Peter to come over, tell him to bring his suit,’ I ordered and flopped down onto my beanbag.
I wondered what Danny’s take on the Pietro front would be. I’d have to ask him later. I didn’t necessarily want to advertise, but he’d been a great confidant before and I trusted him not to judge me. He knew I’d killed people and still trusted me. That had to mean something.
‘What?’ Danny asked and I looked over, raising a brow. ‘You want to ask me something, I can feel it.’
‘I uh, I don’t want to be interrupted so maybe this should wait until after,’ I said and he nodded, accepting. I liked Tony and trusted him but I still wanted to go on more than one person’s perspective.
‘It’s eating you up,’ he commented, adjusting himself on his beanbag chair. I nodded, it kinda was. ‘You often let your problems weigh you down, but this one is different.’
‘I’m scared,’ I replied honestly. Apparently fuck waiting for later. ‘I want to do something, but all the maybes and things that could go wrong are scaring me.’
‘Fear is a natural part of life,’ he told me. ‘You just can’t let it rule you or your decisions. Whatever is frightening you, let it go. It’s not worth your happiness.’
‘Have you ever…’ I started, feeling brave.
‘Hey, got here as quickly as I could…’ I heard Luke say and looked up. ‘What’s Carter doing here?’
‘Hey Luke,’ I smiled. Fuck the secrets. I should just tell him. ‘I’m Night Fury, you’re Power Man, we’re in trouble.’
‘There were better ways you could have broached that subject, Bonnie,’ Danny scolded and I chuckled. It was odd being told off by him, he looked at me with distaste and I giggled some more.
‘You’re really Night Fury?’ he asked and I nodded. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way Carter but I kinda thought you were…’
‘A moron?’ I asked, thinking back to all the pranks I’d pulled in previous years. Not noticing Danny had been in my class for years, being impulsive, yeah I could see why.
‘That about sums it up,’ I heard and looked up to see Ava standing with her arms over her chest.
I texted Pete to tell him not to wear his suit up to Danny’s floor, apparently no one else was going to, but I suppose it would have been kinda suspicious a bunch of masked vigilantes showing up to the heir of Rand Industries personal apartment.
‘So why’d you call us all here then?’ Luke asked and Danny shook his head.
‘It’s best we wait for the other two,’ he explained and then got up to walk to the kitchen. I watched him start preparing a bunch of snacks and drinks and I pushed myself out of the beanbag and went over to offer some help.
‘Hey Bonnie,’ Pete said, rushing straight past everyone else and wrapping me in a quick hug before pulling back and checking me over. ‘Is everything alright? What was the emergency? And why are we meeting here?’
‘No way,’ Luke said, staring at the two of us. ‘You’re telling me Parker is Spider-Man?’
‘You told him!?’ Peter demanded and dropped my arms, pulling back from me and I shook my head.
‘No,’ I assured him. ‘I told him I was Night Fury. Listen, I found out something really important, it affects all of us. It’s big.’
‘Why is nothing with you ever easy,’ he groaned, running a hand over my face.
‘Hey! I didn’t complain when you went on a vengeance quest trying to hunt down your uncle’s killer and then accidentally unleashed a giant lizard into the unprepared streets of New York!’ I angrily crossed my arms over my chest.
‘Yes, you did, repeatedly!’ He threw his arms out. ‘And all I’m saying is, ever since you moved in with Steve our lives got wayyy more complicated.’
‘If I remember correctly, Batroc and Boomerang threatened revenge well before we even found Steve,’ I pointed out and he looked down at me, unimpressed.
‘Yeah well..’ he started and I heard a new voice clear their throat. We all turned to the elevator and saw Sam waiting patiently for an explanation. He was staring at us, raising an eyebrow.
‘Oh good, everyone’s here,’ I said, clapping my hands together. I walked over to the living room, gesturing for everyone to sit down. Danny followed my lead easily and went back to his chair, the rest seemed to follow him. They knew him, they found ease in his relaxed state.
‘What’d you find out, dorkus?’ Peter asked and I smiled slightly. ‘Must be big if you’re prepared to expose all our identities.’
‘Well that’s just the thing,’ I said, folding my arms over my chest. ‘We’re already exposed. Listen, when I tracked down Steve I did it through SHIELD. Whatever I did while I was there, Fury seemed to take a liking to me. Tried to get me to do some pre-training to work for SHIELD after high school. I said no and he put an embedded agent in the school. They already knew I wasn’t the only person there who was enhanced, but it gave them more incentive. They also don’t know I’m Night Fury, they for some reason have two files on me.’
‘Which is totally bogus,’ Peter crossed his arms over his chest in annoyance, mimicking my stance. ‘You play fast and lose with your identity, everyone else here at least tried to keep it a secret.’
‘Yeah, but you gotta admit, it does explain why Principal Coulson tried to get us all to track you down like fugitives when you skipped school,’ Sam pointed out and I chuckled.
‘Coulson is the embedded SHIELD agent and in his office he had files on us which Danny, Pete and I recovered, but that doesn’t seem to matter,’ I said, huffing and moving to perch on the beanbag beside Danny.
‘Because the office was tapped. And when the three of us roped in Luke for a mission to track down the wire tap they blew us up and we got virtually nothing. It was a stupid trap. And it looks like they sold on the information they were able to get from the tap and as a result Sam, Ava and Luke, they know you.’
‘What?’ Ava replied, confused and angry. She stood from her chair, taking to pacing agitatedly around the room. ‘What are you saying?’
‘Steve and a couple of his close agent buddies have gone off to track down the people responsible, but that still means there might be a target on your heads,’ I explained. ‘And it’s only a matter of time before the rest of us are exposed too. So we’d better start training. And if the fiasco that was the dance taught me anything, it's that we make a pretty good team.’
‘Uh, no thanks,’ Sam scoffed. ‘Both Coulson and Luke already asked me to team up with you losers and I’m better off on my own.’
‘Whatever you say, bucket hat,’ I said, leaning back into the beanbag a little more. I kinda thought Sam was an asshole anyway. ‘Ava?’
‘No,’ she shook her head. ‘I still think you’re a moron. But I do appreciate you filling me in on all this, trusting me with your secret identity. You didn’t have to.’
‘No I didn’t,’ I agreed. ‘So I better get brownie points if there’s a time where you have to make a choice about exposing me.’
‘But that’s not why you did this,’ she scoffed. ‘Play tough guy all you want Carter, we all know you’re a big softie at heart. All your pranks were revenge motivated, as were almost all your fights. Like when you released frogs into the girls locker room because Liz gave Stacey a Nair-tini.’
‘Doesn’t matter why,’ I shook my head. ‘Look you might not want to work together now, and that’s fine but I’m always around if you do need backup, all of you. This is a shitty situation because arrogant adults put us at risk. And we’re picking up the pieces, but we don’t have to do it all on our own. Their idea for us to team up doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad one.’
‘I’ll be sure to call if I need anything,’ Ava nodded and then walked over to the elevator, leaving and I respected that. Plus, I had the feeling she didn’t like me too much. I looked over at Peter, I hoped he was okay with what I’d just offered. We’d been just the two of us for so long, and he didn’t really trust Power Man and Iron Fist.
‘The news seems to think the four of us are already a team,’ he said and then looked at Sam. ‘What’s one more?’
‘I need some time to think about this,’ Sam said eventually and then walked out as well. Luke gave my shoulder a squeeze on his way past, choosing to leave with Sam.
‘You know I’m always up to work with Night Fury,’ he agreed. ‘Welcome to the team, Carter, Parker.’
‘Well that went a little better than expected,’ I committed and Peter choked.
‘Are you kidding, everyone called you a dumbass and then left,’ he argued, smirking slightly as he leaned up against the wall to the kitchen. ‘We’re no further forward, it’s just you, me, Danny and Luke, the way it always is.’
‘Yeah but at least they know,’ I replied. ‘I couldn’t just do nothing and hope Steve and the others fix it. I couldn’t have them in danger, and I don't care if they think I’m a moron, I kinda act like a moron, a lot.’
‘Well at least you see it,’ Peter shrugged. ‘I gotta run, I was supposed to be with Gwen but I thought this was an emergency and rushed over.’
‘Fine, next time I’ll hold secret meetings without you and hope you’re fine,’ I said and flopped down against the beanbag. After a moment I threw my hand up and offered him a wave.
‘See ya Bonnie,’ he said and took the elevator, leaving just Danny and I. I glanced over at him and he seemed at peace, showing no signs of discontentment.
‘Have I ever what?’ he asked and I was beginning to see why people were so annoyed with me when I kept pushing things. He was like a dog with a bone.
‘Slept with someone before,’ I decided to just be out with it. ‘Sorry that’s a personal question but I haven’t. And I just…’
‘I have,’ he nodded slowly. ‘I can understand your apprehension over your first time. It’s nerve wracking enough for guys, there can be a bit of stigma involved for you and when you do or don’t decide to do it.’
‘Oh god,’ I put a hand on my face. ‘I hadn’t even thought about that. I was just worried it was gonna suck.’ Danny started choking on his soda and I sat up to pat him on the back, help him clear his airways.
‘So you weren’t worried about what other people were going to think?’ Danny asked and I shook my head.
‘I was worried about what the other person would think, worried about the actual doing of the thing,’ I explained. ‘But I don’t really care what the general student body thinks. I used to be a social leper, and I was comfortable with that. But what if, I don’t know. No one knows what they’re doing at our age and what if it’s a lot of work for nothing? And I take that step and it just wasn't..worth it.’
‘If you’re not ready, Bonnie, no one can make you..’ he started and I shook my head. I leaned a little to the side, breathing out slowly.
‘I want to,’ I told him. ‘I really really want to. I don’t know why I suddenly care all of a sudden, rather than just assume it’ll happen when it happens like I used to. But I want this. I’m just scared it won’t be what I want it to. Maybe my expectations are too high, maybe I’m the only person who wants this. And if that’s so, then am I okay with that? I mean obviously I’d respect the decision but..’
‘Then what?’ he agreed, understanding. He reached over to tuck some of my loose curls behind my ears. ‘You’re not going to be happy about my solution. Not when it’s one you’ve probably heard from everyone else.’
‘Talk to them?’ I asked and Danny nodded.
‘I don’t know if it’s Pietro or Flash you want,’ Danny started and I raised an eyebrow. My boyfriend, obviously. Flash didn’t even come into it. Why did everyone think he liked me? ‘But the only way you’re going to get through this is by talking to them. And if it helps, I don’t think either one is going to judge you over this Bonnie. They both adore you.’
‘As they should,’ I joked and he laughed. ‘Do you wanna train?’
‘Yeah,’ he nodded. ‘I could use a little sparring session.’
Notes:
Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked what you've read so far, and let me know if you spotted any typos, spelling errors and/or grammar issues. Be kind, you don't have to like the fic, you can tell me as much, but no personal attacks to me, you or any other reader. This is a safe space. You don't have the right to change that.
Chapter 30: Just Got Started
Notes:
Le gasp, two in one day. What a shock.
I'd actually had these written for a while but I couldn't decide on titles so...
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Just Got Started - 360 ft Pez
Bonnie Carter POV
Tuesday 17th September 2013
Walking along the familiar streets I looked around for my usual tail. I never saw him, not unless he wanted me to or we were both idle. Not unless I stood still and either waited for him or I spotted him waiting for me to move. I shook my head, I didn’t need to be thinking about him right now. No, I was prepping myself for a very important conversation. Tony had been really supportive today, helpful even. Not that he didn’t help, but usually there was some banter or something. He’d actually just given me real advice. I felt ready, readier than I had before.
I stared up at his apartment building and took a deep breath. Here goes. And here’s to hoping I get the right apartment. I leapt up and grabbed the black bars of the suspended ladder just above my head. Starting to climb the fire escape, I counted carefully how many floors I was climbing. I was turning into Peter. He was always doing this at Gwen’s house. I also didn’t want to be thinking about him right now.
Pretty sure I was at the right apartment, I pulled out my Slate, about to text him. I bit my lip. Steve was right about the emojis. Sort of. He had the “just a friend” emojis but he needed “boyfriend” emojis.
‘Hey, you up? It’s important...’
‘Sonechko, it’s middle of
night...’ -Pietro <3 <3
‘Does your bedroom have a
window accessible by the
fire escape?’
‘You better not be outside
apartment window
right now,’ -Pietro <3 <3
‘What are you gonna do
to me if I am ;)’
‘Hold on malia’ -Pietro <3 <3
‘Sonechko!’ he yelled at me in whispers, leaning his torso out his window over the fire escape where I was perched. ‘What the hell?’
‘I had to talk to you about something…’ I shrugged. He looked at me with an annoyed look on his face.
‘And this had to be done at 2:30am?’ he folded his arms over his chest. ‘Host parents will be most upset if they see you, or hear us.’
‘Well then be quiet,’ I shushed, bringing a finger up to my lips. ‘Listen, I wanna talk to you about sex.’
‘Is this booty call?’ he scoffed, raising his eyebrow at me.
‘Could you be serious,’ I laughed, mostly unamused, but I laughed at everything he said, even when I didn’t want to. He nodded in agreement and swung a leg over the windowsill, hopping out onto the fire escape to sit beside me. Apparently I wasn’t the only one with a fondness for dinosaur pyjamas.
‘Listen,’ I said softly, trying to be delicate. I looked at my lap for a moment before deciding to have a moment of vulnerability. Clear, honest communication Tony had said. ‘I’ve never had sex before. I’ve never done anything but kiss you. I’ve never kissed anyone but you. Except this one very awkward thing with Harry just before he moved but it was really more of a headbutt that I didn’t ask for... But I want more, I want to do more with you .’
‘So this is booty call,’ he smirked and I shoved him. ‘I haven’t either, malia,’ he assured me. He put an arm over my shoulders, leaning down to kiss my temple. ‘And I’m very excited you want more. I want more, Moia kokhana. I do. Lots of things to learn with you, to learn about you. I meant what I said at dance. I never thought my life would be here, and I’m very happy it is.’
‘I believe you said you never thought you’d have such a beautiful girl sitting on top of you,’ I pointed out and he smiled warmly, dropping his other hand down onto my thigh and rubbing it up and down softly.
‘And I’d like to have beautiful girl sitting on top of me again, but not in bedroom with squeaky mattress and host parents who are very nosy.’
‘Steve’s still out of town, we should hang out at mine more often,’ I told him and he chuckled.
‘You are very determined, Chortenia, is sex all you want from me?’ he said and I rolled my eyes.
‘I just mean while we don’t have chaperones we should be taking the time to get comfortable being with each other, touching each other, so that when we are ready to have sex, it’s not awkward,’ I said and he nodded. Not that he seemed to have much trouble in that department. In fact the way his hand was going I’d let him fuck me on this fire escape.
‘I know malia,’ he lifted his hand off my thigh and I almost whined. He moved it up to brush some of my hair behind my ear and leaned down to kiss my forehead, for slightly longer this time. ‘This was very important conversation. Thank you for waking me up at 2:30 in morning. Please never do again.’
‘What if it’s a real booty call?’ I asked and he chuckled, smirking slightly at the thought.
‘Then always wake,’ he agreed. ‘And bring WD40 for mattress springs.’
‘I love you,’ I told him, leaning in to kiss him deeply.
‘I know,’ he nodded, kissing me again. ‘I love you too, Sonechko.’
Climbing back down the fire escape I tried not to think about scurrying back up and diving through his window to get more of the sweet taste of his lips. I didn’t even mind that I could still taste sleep on his breath as his tongue tickled the roof of my mouth. I glanced up and saw him watching me as I climbed, making sure I got down okay. I blew him a kiss when I got to the alley floor and waved, heading back home. I really had to be careful about these late nights, the Winter Edge Lord was right, New York was dangerous.
‘Hey Tony,’ I said and pocket JARVIS connected us instantly.
‘How do you know I wasn’t sleeping?’ Tony replied, irritatedly.
‘Because you sleep less than I do,’ I chuckled. ‘Listen, it’s actually about that..’
‘And not about a ride or bail money,’ I could hear the smile in his voice. ‘Princess, I’m impressed. Okay, what do you need?’
‘I want more time off school,’ I replied. ‘I wanna stay in bed tomorrow, and by myself before you start. I’m just...everyone’s been telling me to take it easy. And I’d like to. To just have this one day to recover. I’m bruised and I’m tired and I’m up late.’
‘You got it kiddo,’ he agreed easily. ‘I’ll have JARVIS contact the school and let Steve know. I’ll tell him not to worry, it’s nothing serious and you just need some time to recover. He’ll be glad you’re actually looking after yourself for once. But, Bonnie?’
‘Yeah?’ I agreed, turning a street corner and pressing the walk button on one of the light poles by the crosswalk.
‘Promise me if it becomes more than that, come to me,’ he said. ‘You don’t wanna talk to me, fine, I’ll give you names. But I need you to be okay.’
‘Is this about..’ I started, thinking about how I’d destroyed his gym.
‘No, I told you it was just stuff,’ he assured me and I sighed in relief, walking across the road as the crossing beeped. ‘But you’ve taken on a lot more than most kids your age, and you’re a part of the slutty orphans club, we look after each other.’
‘Since when did I become slutty?’ I demanded, hands going to my hips as a homeless person raised an eyebrow at me. I suppose it did just look like I was talking to myself. I slipped him a dollar I had quick access to and scurried away.
‘You will,’ he chuckled. ‘I have a feeling you’re going to like this having sex business, and when you do you’ll be a full member of our VIP club.’
‘Oh please, I’m not going to become the next Tony Stark,’ I scoffed and he laughed louder in my ears. What a jerk!
‘Take care of yourself, barely legal.’
Saturday 21st September 2013
Relaxing a little more into his hold, I felt Pietro shift, his hands sliding down from around my waist to rest on my inner thighs. I felt them gently moving up and down against the fabric of my jeans and I let my head drop back on his shoulder.
He’d been coming over every day after school to do homework with me before he had to get the subway back to his host family’s house for dinner. Excluding last night when he, Flash and I went out post game to the same diner we had last time to celebrate another win. And Wednesdays when the two of them came to my work to do homework. God, we were actually nerds now.
I’d been tempted when Peter and I were swinging around the city to ask him about his experiences with Gwen, but that was much more than I ever wanted to know about him.
‘Do you know what you’re doing to me?’ I asked, letting out a relaxed sigh, feeling my skin tingling. My jeans and his hands were creating an amazing friction on my thighs and I wanted more. I was awake in the way he always made me, and I could feel a heat taking over my body.
‘Sure malia,’ he agreed, lips brushing against the shell of my ear as he spoke, voice low and husky. He moved his mouth lower, kissing my neck.
‘Do you want more or are you content teasing me?’ I asked, scooting up further in his lap and rolling my hips back.
‘You really like this, Sonechko?’ he asked and I nodded. He pulled one hand away from my thighs and brought it to my jaw, turning my head to look up at him. ‘Say it, malia.’
‘Yes,’ I agreed. ‘But I want more.’
‘Me too,’ he chuckled. ‘Where is your room?’
He took his hands off me completely and I would have been upset at the loss of contact, I kinda was, but I knew there was more to come if I could just get off his lap and walk to my bedroom. I got up on shaky legs and led him up the two steps from the living room to the kitchen area, and into the hallway towards my room. He was close behind me, close enough to feel but not close enough to actually be touching. I threw the door open, stepping inside and he closed the door behind him.
‘You painting mural?’ he asked, looking at the half done walls and paint cans. I really needed to get back to that. I’d just been so caught up in everything else. ‘You doing good job.’
‘Thanks,’ I replied and he walked over to the bed, flopping down onto the double and leaning back on his elbows. He smirked at me and wiggled his eyebrows. I giggled, tugging my hoodie up over my head so it was one less layer we didn’t have to fight through before I climbed on the bed at the foot and crawled up to him.
‘Oh yes,’ he nodded approvingly at me as he watched me make my way over. ‘Very nice, Sonechko.’
He held my waist as I climbed onto his lap, a thigh either side of him. He smiled adoringly up at me and I felt my cheeks hold a faint tint to them. He reached up to cup my face, thumb running over the hot blush. He tipped his head back, kissing my lips gently before pulling away.
‘What do you want to do,’ he asked. ‘How much you want to do?’
I paused, my whole being wanted me to rip all of my clothes off and roll around on this mattress with him but the other part of me remembered the only person other than myself, or my now dead parents to see me naked was Tasha, and that was so she could wrestle some clothes on me.
‘Hey, malia, I did not ask for state secrets,’ he jerked me out of my thoughts. ‘Is okay, tell me what you want.’
‘I..’ I paused. ‘Listen, I know I said I want more. And I do, but I’m nervous.’ I admitted.
‘What about, malia? How I can help?’ he asked and I smiled down at him. He was so sweet. ‘You change mind?’
‘No,’ I shook my head. I definitely wanted more of what he was giving me. The feeling I got every time we made out and his thigh was rubbing up against me at the peak of my thighs.
‘Then what?’
‘No one’s ever seen me naked before,’ I blushed. ‘It’s a big step.’
‘It is big step,’ he nodded. ‘Let's not rush. I do not have to see you naked if not wanted.’
‘I want you to,’ I assured him. I didn’t know why I was hesitating, I liked him, I trusted him, I loved him. And he felt all the same things about me.
‘Here,’ he said, reaching behind him and yanking his hoodie over his head. ‘Let me go first.’ He pulled his t-shirt over his head next and put it on top of his hoodie before throwing the two on the floor. I chuckled slightly.
‘See, not so scary,’ he grinned encouragingly at me and I took his hands, bringing them back to my hips. I slipped them under the hemline of my white tank top, I felt more aroused with just a simple touch. And it wasn’t even that raunchy. I needed help, obviously.
Head thrown back, I could feel my nipples peaking under the fabric of my top. I’d forgone a bra because I’d been lounging around in a hoodie when he’d texted me, telling me he was coming over.
I looked down at him and this seemed like it was affecting him as much as it was me. He’d been watching my face as I let out shaky breaths at the feeling of his hands on me, but his gaze had now fixed on my pebbled nipples. His mouth was slightly parted as he ran his hands over my hips and stomach. He wanted to see them. I didn’t need to feel shy, this was a welcome sight to him. What straight guy didn’t want to see boobs anyway?
In a moment of bravery I reached down for the hem of my tank top and pulled it up. His hands followed the fabric, fingers brushing against mine as we pulled my shirt over my head together. His eyes were on mine, he hadn’t even looked down yet, he was waiting. I pulled his hands off my back where they’d been resting since I’d thrown my tank top on the floor and brought them round to my breasts.
‘Blyat,’ he whispered as his hands made contact, thumbs gently circling the buds as his palms cupped the undersides. I let out a little gasp, barely a breath and a noise of surprise but he heard and glanced away from them to check my face. I stared down at him desperately. The heat grew between my legs to the point it was almost unbearable. And he’d barely touched me.
‘Kiss me,’ I demanded and his head shot forward and his lips locked with mine.
His tongue delved into my mouth and expertly swiped over all the places he’d learned I’d liked. I moaned into his mouth. Kissing him with his hands on my naked breast had now become my favourite thing. I shifted forward, centering myself more on his lap and lowering myself more. I felt the crotch of his jeans exactly where I needed it and I started moving my hips without really thinking.
‘Sys’ky, dupa, potsiluvaty,’ he mumbled. ‘Sonechko, you are all I could ever want.’
‘Potsiluvaty?’ I asked.
‘To kiss,’ he explained and nipped on my bottom lip, eliciting a moan from me before I could stop it. He laughed breathily. ‘Your tits, your ass, your lips. You not worry about me seeing you naked. I like.’
‘I like you too,’ I replied, experimentally raking finger nails down his naked chest. I was gentle, yet he still shuddered at the touch. His lips were on my neck and he walked them down my body, kissing my collar bone.
‘I can kiss?’ he asked and it took me a moment to understand what he was asking.
‘Yeah,’ I agreed. That I definitely wanted to know what it felt like.
I’ll admit I was a little unimpressed by the light pecks he was peppering all over the swells, it’s not that I didn’t like it, I just, there wasn’t as much sensation as I was expecting. Everything else he did set me on fire. It was good, just anticlimactic. Or it was until he swiped his tongue over my areola and then pulled a hard nipple into his mouth with his teeth.
I cried out and squirmed in his lap. My breathing picked up again and he alternated between both breasts, sucking, licking and very gently biting at my nipples. I snaked my hands around behind him and gripped his shoulders.
‘Fuck,’ I hisssed. ‘Yes,’ I nodded frantically, but to whom I do not know. ‘I like that. God, I like that, baby.’
He didn’t let up and I ground my hips against his, feeling his tenting erection between my legs. Oh my god this was amazing. His hot hands were trailing down my back, leaving behind goosebumps and making their way to my ass. He squeezed at the flesh through my jeans and massaged it, mouth still working my breasts. Fuck, his hands, his hands. He was wasted on football. He should take up touching me like this full time.
‘I..’ I stared, losing myself to the feeling. I shook my head, I couldn’t keep squirming on his lap like this. Focus Bonnie, focus. ‘Hang on a sec, I need to get my pants off.’
He pulled back, fingers hooking into the waistband. I nodded at him and he unfastened the button and pulled the zipper down. I put my weight on my knees and he helped pull my jeans down my legs until the fabric touched the sheets. I laid back for a moment, legs out towards him and he pulled them off the rest of the way. He threw the now inside out garment on the floor to our pile and then reached for my socks, tugging them off and tossing them on the floor. I was about to sit up, expecting him to let go of my ankle but he paused and swiped his fingers across the sole of my foot. I let out a hysterical giggle as I lay there and he tickled me.
‘Stay put Sonechko,’ he said gently and then leaned down over me, hips meeting mine again as he hovered over me. His hand trailed down the inside of my thigh, feeling even more electric on naked skin than it did before when I was wearing the denim.
‘Oh fuck,’ I gasped. He hadn’t even touched me yet.
‘Kiss me, malia,’ he asked and I lifted my head up off the mattress and he met me halfway. His hands moved back to my breasts and I hooked a leg around his waist, feeling the leather of his belt and the loops of his jeans on my inner thigh as I pressed my crotch to his. I rubbed against him, desperate for that feeling I’d had moments ago but what I found was much better. Without my jeans, his were able to cause much more of a sensation between my legs. I could feel the fabric of my blue panties growing wet at the front. He pulled away with heavy breaths.
‘Malia,’ he asked. ‘Can I touch that kitty?’
‘Pussy,’ I correct and he chuckled. ‘And yes, fuck yes.’
‘Let me see,’ he said, fingers going to the apex of my thighs and running over the damp patch on the fabric. I whined. He rubbed me softly, experimentally and I shifted upwards, his hand definitely felt better than mine.
‘Take them off,’ I gasped. He paused, looking at me like he didn’t understand. ‘Fucking take those panties off.’ He smiled, nodding in compliance before he moved his hand away to join his other at my hips, tugging the fabric down.
‘Ahh Sonechko, you’re dripping,’ he hummed as he pulled my panties away from me, a string of sticky cum stretching and eventually snapping as he pulled them further down. They were off and on the floor and I looked up at him desperately.
‘Please,’ I whined and he stared down at my face adoringly.
‘Look at you,’ he cooed. ‘Moya Sonechko. All for me?’
‘Yes,’ I nodded. I reached over for his right hand, steering it towards my dripping cunt. ‘Now please touch me.’
‘So needy,’ his other hand came down on my ass, giving it a light slap and I yelped. He chuckled and let me lead him the rest of the way to my folds. ‘Help me out, malia, show me what you like, let me see.’
‘Okay,’ I nodded. That was one way to do it, I liked that way actually. How better to know everything about your girlfriend than asking?
I circled my clit with my middle and index finger, moaning out as I looked at him, His eyes hadn’t left my slick pussy and it was a fucking turn on. I completely understood girls who had sex all the time. They had the right idea, forget all this shaming and judging shit. They knew what they wanted, they were going after what felt good. And I may just lock the two of us in this room and do this forever. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
‘And then what, Sonechko?’ he asked and I slid my fingers down my folds, dipping one inside me to start with. God I was wet. Was this what Tony had meant when he’d emphasized to get wet ? I so did not want to be thinking about him right now. I slipped a second finger inside and searched for that spongy textured spot I liked. I cried out, yes. Yes.
‘Can I take over?’ he asked and I nodded vigorously. Clear communication and consent. Go away, Tony!
‘Yes,’ I agreed verbally. ‘Please.’
He brought my hand away from me and up to his lips, licking each finger off gently before sucking both of them into his mouth. I cried out, he wasn’t even touching me. He pulled my hand out of his mouth again and leaned down to kiss me and I tasted a tang on his tongue. That was me. Fuck. That was hot.
He slipped his hand between my legs and circled my clit, just the way I’d shown him. He knew where it was right away, he didn’t have to find it again. Fuck, that was hot too. He slid his fingers up and down my folds, absolutely covered in slick and I whined. He slipped two fingers inside and I gasped. Fuck, okay yes, fuck.
First he thrust them in and out, just like I’d shown him I liked as he searched for that spongy spot. I watched the intense look of concentration on his face, also hot. He raised an eyebrow as he slid them over his spot and then glance up at me when I practically shrieked. Yep, yes, yep. That was it. That is what I want you to touch.
‘You like that, malia?’ I nodded frantically. I tried to bring words to my mouth.
‘Yes,’ I said, crumbling beneath him. ‘Fuck yes.’
He changed his maneuvers, stroking his fingers over that spot independently from each other, at the same time as thrusting them in and out. I didn’t teach him that! I let out a low moan. But I seriously had to thank whoever did.
‘Fuck, fuck, fuck,’ I whispered. His hand, on my god, his hands.
‘I love you,’ he assured me, leaning down to kiss me softly. He pulled back to watch my face and swiped his thumb over my clit at the same time as he walked his fingers in and out of me. He started making the circling motions I’d shown him with his thumb and continued his vigorous motions sliding his fingers in and out.
‘Oh!’ I cried out. ‘I’m close,’ I whined. ‘I’m so close.’
‘Good, good,’ he said excitedly, kissing all over my face. ‘I want to see you uhhh…’
‘Cum,’ I supplied, voice a little higher pitched and breathy than it normally was. ‘Fuck, fuck. You’re going to. I’m so close.’
‘Let me see you cum, pretty girl,’ he demanded and I smiled, eyes screwed shut and lips parted as I gasped and writhed beneath him. I cried out, feeling like something snapped inside of me and I arched off the bed.
I dropped back onto the mattress, lying still for a moment as the world spun around me. Oh my god. This was so much better in my bedroom, rather than in the utilities closet that Janitor Stan would probably have a heart attack if he caught us in.
‘You okay, malia?’ Pietro asked, ducking down to pepper kisses all over my face again. He wiped some of my hair off my sweaty forehead with his clean hand and I opened my eyes to look up at him.
‘I’m okay,’ I assured him. ‘Fuck,’ I gasped. ‘That was amazing.’
‘Thank you, thank you,’ he bowed and I rolled my eyes. ‘I aim to please.’
‘I think it’s about time you got out of those jeans, honey,’ I told him and then brought my fingers to his belt. I paused.
‘Can I?’ I asked and he nodded, bringing his hand up to his mouth to suck his fingers clean again. I moaned as I watched him, barely paying attention to his belt buckle. I pulled his zipper down and his jeans open and he reached down to shove them down his thighs to his knees, boxers going at the same time.
I watched with parted lips as his cock sprang free and I reached out hesitantly, hand wavering. He took hold of my wrist and guided my hand to his appendage and I felt the soft skin on my palm.
‘You have very tiny hands,’ he commented and I wrapped my fingers around the shaft.
I went to move my hand up and down but something Tony said rung in my mind. Be gentle. GO AWAY TONY!! dicks are more sensitive than you think. The tip and the balls? Be careful with those.
‘Ah,’ he sighed. ‘I want to be in you, Sonechko. Malia, do you have..’
‘Uh,’ I nodded. Now, where were they?
I remember blushing profusely the next morning after I’d spoken to Tony about sex when I’d found the massive variaty pack sitting front and centre on the kitchen counter. However, it certainly came in handy now. I was a little embarrassed at the prospect of having to go into a bodega somewhere to buy them myself. Especially because at my height I’d definitely have to produce ID.
‘The drawer,’ I mumbled. I propped myself up on my elbows and pointed to the bedside drawer and he nodded, pulling it open, looking down and immediately raising an eyebrow at me.
‘Don’t look at me like that,’ I said, blushing scarlet. Fucking Tony. ‘I am being teased. That was a gift.’
‘No judgement here, Sonechko,’ he said laughing.
‘Kinda feels like there is Pietro,’ I grumbled.
‘Any requests?’ he asked, laughing some more. He pulled the massive box out, pulling it open and bringing the picture guide up to his face. ‘Lets see. Red packet is ribbed, for her pleasure, ’ he did the voice and I laughed. ‘Green glow in dark. We save that for later. Hmmm choices, choices.’
I rolled my eyes and then sat up sticking my hand in the box and picking one out at random. I flopped back down on the bed again and he smiled, taking the package out of my hand.
‘Ultra thin,’ he hummed in approval. ‘Nice choice.’
‘Baby,’ I shook my head and he chuckled, putting the box back in the drawer and tearing the foil packaging open. He put it down on the table and expertly rolled the latex over his shaft. He lowered himself over me again and kissed all over my face.
‘Cheer up Sonechko,’ he gave my ass cheek a slap and I yelped, giving in and smiling at him. ‘Let me fuck that kitten.’
‘Jesus christ,’ I choked. ‘I told you, it’s pussy.’
He shook his head at me laughing beneath him before bringing his lips to mine and sticking his tongue in my mouth to shut me up. It worked because the way his tongue stroked over the roof of my mouth I soon forgot everything outside of that kiss even existed.
‘You ready, malia?’ he asked and I nodded.
He lowered himself further on the bed, body weight resting on me as he worked out how to slide in between my legs. He pushed the tip inside me and I gasped. Holy shit. He pushed the rest of the way in and God did that feel good. Tony was right, it did not hurt, and there wasn’t an adjustment period. Fuck, I just wanted him to move now. And hopefully by doing so I’d forget about Tony. That stupid man.
He propped himself up on his elbows, impossibly close as he planked over me. Pulling back he moved his hips towards mine, it felt pretty good until his hips actually hit mine. Boy was this guy boney.
‘Ow,’ I mumbled and he paused, looking down.
‘You okay?’ he asked and I nodded. He shifted, trying to lift himself off of me more so he had a better angle. I made a face without being able to stop myself as I struggled to get comfortable under him.
‘Sorry,’ I said, looking up at him. ‘Can we change position?’
‘Yeah,’ he nodded, pulling out and I was a little sad to feel him go. I sat up and smiled at him, pushing him back until he was sitting up against the pillows. I climbed up onto his lap, this had worked while we were making out, no reason to assume it wouldn’t now.
‘I need a little help here, baby,’ I told him and he nodded. One of his hands held my hip while the other wrapped around his cock and he helped me line up. I sank slowly onto him and hissed. Oh my god this was good. But then I kept going.
‘Oh,’ I said and he looked at my face. I was concentrating hard. This was a lot. He could get a lot deeper than he had moments ago, and he got deeper than either of our fingers ever had.
‘Malia,’ he said. ‘Are you okay?’
‘You’re deep,’ I gasped, trying to stand up on my knees to take away some of the pressure. He nodded.
‘Is too much,’ he said, understanding. He slowly slid me back up and off him and I sat in front of his lap with a leg over each of his. He wore a thoughtful look on his face. ‘Is too much for today?’ he asked and I shook my head.
‘No!’ I said too quickly. ‘No, no it’s nothing like that,’ I assured him. ‘I’m having a good time, don’t you worry about that. We just, we’re new to this. Working out all the positions is going to take time.’
‘I know,’ he sighed, putting a hand to his face. I soured a little and wrapped my fingers around his wrist. I pulled his hand back away.
‘Pietro,’ I said firmly. ‘It’s okay. I still want to fuck you. And we’re gonna work this out. I liked that position, we just need to work out…’ I paused and he glanced up at me.
‘I know that look,’ he commented with a chuckle.
‘I was gonna say find a way to stop you from going so deep, because gravity she art thou heartless bitch or whatever, but I already did,’ I replied and I hopped off his lap and the bed all together.
‘Sonechko?’ He followed me with his gaze as I hopped up on top of my dresser. The same dresser that was ever so slightly higher than Pietro’s hip height. I know this because of the sheer number of times Peter had walked into it and sworn out as he got bruised again. Thank god they were about the same height. Now you can go as well, Peter.
‘Well, are you coming?’ I asked expectantly. He stared at me in confusion and I spread my legs, hearing the sticky sound and holding back a moan. He didn’t budge.
‘Fine,’ I huffed. ‘If you don’t want to join me I’ll finish up by myself,’ I told him and slipped a hand between my open legs. I slid my fingers over my clit and moaned out, exaggerating just a little. His mouth was open as he stared mesmerized at me stroking my own pussy.
‘Pietro,’ I whined, sliding my fingers inside myself.
As if that was the magic word to bring him back, he threw himself up off the bed so fast he almost tripped over the jeans he’d neglected to take off properly. He paused, pulling them off desperately by the ankles and hopping out of them. He stumbled the rest of the way over and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in for a kiss.
His hands rested on my thighs, running them up and down the way I liked and he used them to pull me a little closer. My ass was just resting on the edge of the dresser and he lined himself up with me again. He moved my hand out of his way and thrust inside. I let out a mewl I didn’t know I had and he sighed.
‘Good idea, Sonechko,’ he hummed and I rubbed my hips into his boney ones.
‘Baby,’ I whined. ‘Please, I need you.’
‘Okay, malia, let me fuck that..’ he started and I sent him a warning glare. ‘Pussy.’
‘Thank you, that’s all I ask,’ I said and he chuckled.
He pulled back slowly and experimentally pushed back in, I sighed softly, yes. This was it. I nodded at him. He slid in and out faster this time and I whined. You got this baby. He held my hips and pistoned me then, confidence growing very quickly and I actually didn’t mind. Because fuck this felt good. The soles of my feet felt like I’d touched ice and I felt like fire was flowing through my veins.
‘ Oh ~’ I heard Pietro moan and he thrust into me a little harder to match his speed and I threw my head back. Yes. Like that. ‘Sonechko,’ he hummed out. ‘The things you do to me.’
‘Fuck,’ I whispered. ‘ShitShitFuck. Yes, like that.’
‘I’m going to,’ he said and then snapped his hips forward one final time. He groaned out and rested his sticky forehead against mine. Oh. He took a shaky breath, trying to regain himself.
‘You alright?’ I asked and he nodded breathily.
‘Oh,’ he said softly. ‘Sonechko, you didn’t cum.’
‘Pietro,’ I started and he shook his head.
‘Believe me I know what it feel like when you do,’ he told me. ‘I’m sorry,’ he apologized and I shook my head. I got to cum once, for a first time that was pretty good. I knew people who didn’t get that from their boyfriends at all.
‘Next time,’ I said and he shook his head.
‘No, let me help you..’ he said and he moved his hand to my clit. Fuck I was sensative. I caught his wrist, shaking my head.
‘No,’ I told him firmly. ‘Thanks, I appreciate that,’ I said, pulling his hand away from me. ‘But I can’t handle anymore right now. I need a break.’
‘Okay,’ he nodded in understanding. He pulled out of me slowly and rolled the condom off his now flaccid self. He tied a knot in it and grabbed the foil package as I leaned back against the wall. That was pretty amazing. I looked back up and saw him standing in a pair of boxers and the socks he’d never bothered taking off.
‘Here,’ he said and lifted me off the dresser and I almost immediately hit the deck. He caught me with a chuckle. ‘Take easy.’
‘Sorry,’ I mumbled. ‘I’ll be back,’ I said and stumbled out of the room, going to the bathroom to pee so I could take a nap. I came back and pulled out an oversized t-shirt over my head. He was sitting awkwardly on the bed and I smiled tiredly at him.
‘Where do your host parents think you are?’ I asked.
‘With Flash, doing homework,’ he chuckled and I grinned.
‘You wanna ask them if you can stay over?’ I asked. ‘Well, don’t tell them you’re with me,’ I laughed and he nodded.
‘I’ll tell them is big big project,’ he replied and reached for his jeans, pulled out his phone and started texting. I flicked the lights off and lay down on the sheets. It was probably a little early for bed but a nap couldn’t hurt.
He pulled the sheets back and over us before wrapping an arm around me and I hummed softly. I really was tired. He kissed the back of my neck and muttered something in Ukranian that I missed. I was out cold in a matter of minutes and the last thing I felt was his hands tenderly stroking my hair.
Notes:
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Chapter 31: Abracadabra
Chapter Text
Title Song: Abracadabra - Steve Miller Band
Bonnie Carter POV
Sunday 22nd September 2013
Fingers scraped at my scalp and I hummed contently. The only other times I’d showered with someone else was in gym, when everyone was pretending the other people didn’t exist, and, I assumed, when I was a child. I felt so relaxed.
Hearing deep chuckles behind me, rumbling out his chest and through to mine, bouncing off the tiles of the shower walls and drowning out the rushing water raining from the sky, however, made me question my serenity. I turned around and raised an eyebrow at Pietro.
‘Look,’ he said, gesturing to Tony’s expensive and well cleaned fog free mirror. I smirked. Sitting atop my head, he’d stretched out my curls, piled them up high and built a surprisingly structurally sound, giant mohawk. I giggled, watching it refuse to waver amongst the suds and turned back to him, pulling him down towards me. I kissed him deeply, yesterday was a good day.
I stepped back under the jets of the water and felt his hard work crumble under the pressure and the suds wash out down my back. He continued to kiss me under the stream, our bodies melded together. I heard the sound of foil tearing and chuckled, wondering which one he’d picked this morning. Strong hands wrapped themselves under my thighs and hoisted me up. He backed me up against the wall and I sank down onto him, sighing heavily. Yes, today would be a good day too.
Wednesday 25th September 2013
Pietro climbed off his stool, excusing himself to go to the bathroom. I watched him with a dopey smile, which quickly changed to horror as a redvine hurtled through the air towards me. Flash grinned cheesily at me.
‘So,’ he said, head and shoulders wiggling from side to side. ‘How are you two?’
‘What?’ I asked, shaking my head.
‘Oh, come on. Pietro asked me for my professional advice as an all out stud,’ he said and I scoffed, glancing over at the bathroom door.
‘No, he didn’t,’ I laughed.
I walked over to the coffee machine and grabbed the pot, refilling one of the customers a few seats down from us at the counter before he could make a passive aggressive comment. Wandering back over, I stood on the other side of the counter from Flash and picked up the redvine. I took a bite out of it, hearing it pull away from my mouth with a snap.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ I started, chewing on the licorice. ‘But if he did come to you for advice, it definitely wasn’t because you’re some kind of lady killer.’
‘Okay fine,’ he huffed. ‘He might have asked for advice for sleeping with someone when it’s your first time, and I told him to just be honest. Because that’s what you’d tell him, right? If he asked you? So did you talk about it?’
‘Wait, if that’s what I would have told him, what would you have told him?’ I asked, taking another bite of the red rope. He ran his hand over his face.
‘I don’t know,’ he groaned. ‘I was drunk my first time and I don’t remember what happened. All I know is girls wouldn’t leave me alone after and then I was dating Liz and not getting any. Look, I’m just trying to be a better person, so I gave him the “you” advice rather than telling him he’s a rockstar and should take you to pound town.’
‘Flash,’ I said, laughing hard.
“You’re a rockstar, take her to pound town,” is the kind of advice I’d expect in our neighbourhood. Let’s be real, it was Queens.
‘Okay, yeah we talked about it. I climbed his fire escape at half two in the morning and he told me to only wake him up that early in the morning again if it’s a booty call.’
‘Smooth moves, Carter,’ Flash laughed. ‘Why not just text him “U up?” and be done with it.’
‘You’re as bad as Stark,’ I grumbled. ‘He’s bullying me. He put a Vinnie’s Variety 50 on my kitchen counter and I just about fainted. He’s so lucky Steve wasn’t there!’
‘Hey, don’t knock them, that’s a good brand. Vinnie knows what’s up,’ Flash told me and I shook my head, walking away to stand in the freezer for a second and calm down.
After a few minutes in the chiller I headed back to the front of house and saw Jack standing beside the boys, laughing about something. So much for thinking his grandson’s an asshole.
‘Hey, cookie,’ Jack greeted. ‘How’s the football field treating ya? Eugene tells me you’ve not lost a game all season, that’s good, isn’t it?’
‘How could you be so un-American as to not be interested in football?’ Flash grumbled and Pietro, who had come back from the bathroom, laughed. I smiled, shaking my head.
‘He’s a baseball boy,’ I said, pulling out a cup and pouring him a coffee, just the way he liked it. ‘We’re doing good,’ I told him. ‘I think we’re having a really good year.’
‘I never said I’m not interested,’ Jack argued. ‘I just don’t watch the high school games. I’ve got important things to do, like keep my grandkids out of trouble. I’m a parent again.’
‘How is Jessie?’ I asked and both Flash and Jack beamed, the same proud smile on their faces.
The two of them spent the next ten minutes gushing about all her school achievements, her talent, how many friends she had now she’d changed schools to one that was closer to Jack’s apartment. Seemed all Jack needed to stop seeing Flash as an asshole, was to get him away from his asshole father. Jack’s asshole son.
‘And Steve, he’s looking after you?’ Jack asked and I nodded.
‘He’s away on a mission at the moment, but he’s taking good care of me,’ I assured him.
I looked down for a moment, thinking about how a year ago I was here, chewing on my fingernails until they bled and telling Jack all about how worried I was for my Dad, for Peter and all the crap going on with Flash. The movie trope is the bartender or the waitress is the wise one who knows all, gives the advice, lends the ear. But Jack had really been there for me, he was like the grandfather figure I needed now Grandpa Daniel was gone.
‘Everything’s changed so much,’ I told him. ‘I’m happy, I really am, but it’s…’
‘Strange,’ Jack nodded. ‘It’s okay, cookie, it’s all gonna make sense to you at some point. It doesn’t have to be now. Enjoy being young and stress free while you can. You don’t want to end up old like me before your time.’
Another old man. That was like, three for three. I’m starting to think they all know something I don’t. Stupid old people. He chuckled at the growing concern on my features as I tried to work it out.
‘Alright, cookie,’ Jack said. ‘Eugene and I have to get to Jessie’s friend’s house to pick her up before she’s up past her bedtime again. You and - Pietro, was it? - gonna be alright to get yourselves home?’
‘Yeah, no problem,’ I agreed, and Pietro and I exchanged a glance.
He smirked at me and pulled out his phone and started tapping away and I went to clock out for the night. As I glanced up I caught Flash and Pietro shoving each other and Pietro blushing furiously. I chuckled to myself. I wonder if he’s getting the same line of questioning I did. It did bring me a little comfort to know I wasn’t the only one who asked others for advice.
He held my hand on the walk to the subway station, only letting go to swipe metro cards. We were in each other’s space as much as we could be the entire trip, including when we changed platforms. By the time we got to the Tower we couldn’t keep our hands off each other.
My back hit the door and I fumbled with the keys, eventually managing to get the door open, not that we moved far from it when we did finally make it inside. I kicked it closed behind me with just enough time before Pietro was grabbing my thighs and hoisting me up to wrap my legs around his waist. Bags dropped at the door, Pietro narrowly avoided tripping over them, spinning to avoid certain death and dropping me down on the kitchen counter.
‘Fuckfuckshit! Oh fuck!’ I cried out as his fingers made their way in and out of me. He kissed me hurriedly, desperate and needy everywhere he could get his lips on. He undid the zipper on the front of my yellow checkered uniform, to get his mouth under the cups of my bra. I kicked my panties off my ankles and they hit the floor, sliding across it and under the oven. I’d need to remember to pick them up later.
‘Keep going for me,’ Pietro told me and pulled back, scurrying over to my room and coming back moments later, ripping the red foil package open and throwing it in the trash. I bit my lip as I watched him eying me hungrily.
‘Maybe I should just watch,’ he groaned, watching me stroke my folds in front of him. I smirked, staring up at him with hooded eyes. Trying not to squeeze my thighs together as I squirmed on the counter. I watched him palm himself, lips parted, before he rolled the condom on over his shaft.
‘Maybe you should,’ I moaned, throwing my head back. He stalked over, hiking my skirt up higher around my waist and dragging my ass to the end of the countertop. He thrust into me and I cried out. Ribbed, for her pleasure.
Monday 30th September 2013
Laughing with the others, I watched my little circle of friends. We’d all come so far from last year. Well, Danny and Luke were still friends, and had been for a while. But Flash sat beside them, laughing at something other than someone’s misfortune; Pietro joining in as he sat between the two of us, hand on my leg.
The most surprising thing was Gordon was sitting across from Flash, laughing and joking too. No, scratch that. The most surprising thing was Peter and Gwen were on the other side of me. Gwen! Gwen who’s hated me since she started dating Peter. Guess we really had made peace. Funny how the concussion of a mutual person can bring people together.
‘How much time is left of lunch?’ I asked and Pietro pulled out his phone, checking the clock. He bounced his head from side to side.
‘Eh, maybe fifteen minutes,’ he answered and I smiled to myself.
‘Awesome, I gotta talk to you about something,’ I told him and then stood, grabbing my tray. ‘We’re gonna head off,’ I announced to the rest of the group. Pietro followed me with his tray. We put them in the returns trolley and headed out of the cafeteria.
‘So what did you need to-Whoah!’ Pietro said as I yanked him by his hoodie into the nearest supply closet and slammed the door shut after us. I kissed him roughly and he chuckled between kissed.
‘Sonechko,’ he tutted. ‘We should not be sneaking around.’
‘No,’ I smirked, palming him through his jeans. He nodded breathily.
‘Okay, you win,’ he replied and kissed me back. I unfastened the buttons on his jeans along with the buckle on his belt and pushed them down his legs, pulling his cock out of his boxers.
‘So needy today,’ he hummed and I rolled my eyes, dropping to my knees in front of him. He raised an eyebrow. I’d never done this with him before. He was blushing. ‘Malia you don’t need to..’
‘Honey, I want to,’ I assured him. ‘Now, let me, unless you’d prefer I didn’t.’
‘No,’ he shook his head frantically. ‘I like. Go ahead.’
I pressed my lips to the tip, remembering unfortunately what Tony had said. The tip and the balls? Be careful with those... Dicks are more sensitive than you think. Fuck off, Tony.
I swirled my tongue gently over the tip, licking the bitter, salty precum weeping from the slit. I slid my tongue down the underside, feeling the prominent vein on the rough surface of my tongue. I pulled my head back, I had to make it quick, or we’d be late for class.
With his hands in my hair his cock pushed past my lips and into my mouth. I bobbed slowly at first, making swallowing motions as I tried to relax and fit it all in my mouth. I gripped his thighs and felt him tugging softly at the hairs at the base of my neck. I moaned softly, the vibrations reverberating through his cock and making him eacho my sounds.
‘Sonechko, you so, you're so good to me,’ he mumbled, sighing with every movement of my head. I heard the bell ring and ignored Tony’s advice, reaching my hand up behind Pietro’s dick, gently massaging his balls.
‘Layno,’ he groaned out as he shot his load into the back of my throat.
I pulled off him with a pop and stood up, wiping the corners of my mouth. I tucked him back in his boxers while he recovered and did up his pants and belt. He looked at me with heavy lids and I smirked. I felt pretty proud of myself.
‘Have fun in physics,’ I said and walked through the door, closing it behind me.
I jogged to my locker, grabbed my new books and ducked into my more intensive medical science classes. Thankfully, Vice Principal Benson didn’t see me that entire time and I was able to slip in without much complaint. Flash raised an eyebrow at me as I hopped up on my lab chair beside him and I just smiled at my books.
Wednesday 9th October 2013
I chuckled to myself, much to the disdain of Pietro. Leaning on the heel of my hand, elbow on the table, I listened to the two of them argue over the current predicament we were in.
‘I don’t understand, why did you tell them you were sleeping at mine? Or why that means I have to come over to your place,’ Flash said, looking at me, annoyed and confused. His annoyance seemed to be over the fact that I was laughing and enjoying myself so much but really, this was to be expected. Nothing ever ran too smoothly for long here.
‘Because we’ve been fucking,’ I said bluntly, coming to my boyfriend’s aid. ‘And while my legal guardian is out of town, Pietro still has his host parents who are nosy and disapprove of a slutty American girl seducing the young, innocent Euro boy under their protection. So every time he wants to stay over at mine, he says he’s with you doing homework.’
‘Yes, and they very upset,’ Pietro nodded. ‘Now they say is your turn.’
‘My turn?’ Flash shook his head. ‘I don’t do sleepovers man, this isn’t gradeschool.’
‘Oh come on, he’d do the same for you,’ I poked him in the arm over the counter. He threw a redvine at me and I shook my head, going over to the coffee pot to fill up the customers’ mugs.
‘No dude, I don’t want to meet your judgy fake parents,’ Flash refused and I chuckled.
‘I don’t want to be there either,’ Pietro argued. ‘Maybe can convince one of Sonechko’s old man friends to adopt me.’
‘I don’t have lots of old man friends,’ I grumbled and he chuckled. ‘Okay, fine, but I have lots of young man friends too.’
‘Young man, there’s no need to feel down~’ Flash started and I rolled my eyes. Now was not the time for the YMCA. ‘I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground. I said, young man, 'cause you're in a new town~”
‘Why don’t you say Flash is scared and only likes to sleep in his own bed, or something?’ I suggested and he nodded.
‘Fuck, dude, tell them I’m a bedwetter if you have to; I’m not coming over,’ he said, having decided to stop singing and rejoin the conversation.
I lost my shit, doubling over behind the counter as I laughed. Dusting off my apron I smiled at Pietro who looked utterly deflated. I patted his arm comfortingly and he looked up at me.
‘Guess we’ll have to cool our jets a little with that 50 pack, huh?’ I joked and he shook his head wildly.
‘Forget about it, Sonechko, I find random homeless man to be Flash stand-in if necessary,’ he proclaimed and threw my head back in another bellyaching round of laughter.
He then pulled out his phone, typed out what looked like a very aggressive text message and then stuffed his phone back in his pocket. I raised an eyebrow but he simply shooed me off and I took off my little white apron, folding it up and going to clock out. I take it he was standing up to his host parents. That assumption became more correct as he took the usual route back to the tower with me, instead of separating from me when we changed platforms like he should have if he was going home.
As was our usual Wednesday night he helped me out of my uniform, lips all over my skin. He was behind me this time, as he held the zipper in his hand, pulling it down slowly. The fabric slid over my shoulders and down my arms, bunching at my waist. His mouth was on my back, kissing over my neck and shoulders.I leaned back into him, letting him take my weight as he held me.
Reached behind me, I unfastened my bra and let it drop down onto the carpeted floor in between the kitchen and the two steps down into the living area. The chequered yellow fabric bunched at my waist was next to go, pooling at my feet and I was left in just my panties and sneakers with my back to the New York skyline. Thank god for tinted windows.
‘Sonechko,’ Pietro whispered, lips brushing against my shoulder blade. His hands, oh his hands. He ran his hands over my stomach, featherlight touch leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. ‘Do you..’
‘Yes,’ I breathed. My eyes were clamped shut in ecstasy. He hadn’t even really touched me yet. ‘Yes, I want you.’
His hand slid further down my stomach and into my already dripping panties, stroking my folds. He found my clit, and rubbed soft circles over it making me moan out. He traded his fingers for his thumb so he could slip them inside my wet heat, doing the motions I liked so well. I let out a small cry, shuddering in his hold.
‘Do you trust me, malia,’ he asked and I nodded. He walked me over to the kitchen counter and pulled away from my back. Moments later his naked chest was flush against me and I heard the clicking of his hanging belt buckle. His hand returned to between my legs while the other worked behind me. I heard the very familiar sound of foil tearing and I raised an eyebrow.
‘When did you..’
‘Started keeping on me,’ he answered. ‘Never know when you going to pull stunt like school. Have fun in physics.’ He scoffed at the last part and I chuckled.
‘Sorry,’ I smiled to myself, proud I’d gotten him hot and not at all bothered at his annoyance.
‘Thought about you all that day,’ he told me and I nodded.
‘I know,’ I replied. ‘You made that very clear when we got home. I think we must have used half the box.’
‘You exaggerate,’ he replied and shoved my panties down my legs with the hand not currently inside me. ‘But was fun, no?’
‘Let’s just say I was glad Coach Danvers didn’t make us do extra training on Tuesdays anymore,’ I supplied and he let out a deep laugh.
He removed his hand from between my legs and I let out a whine, I’d been so close. Both hands behind me now, he spread my cheeks apart so he could see to thrust into me. I hissed at the familiar feeling of him inside me, but this way, he was reaching new depths. But not so much as the time I’d practically impaled myself on him. Though I bet a few more tries and we could do it that way too.
He must have grown more confident, if we were trying a new position today. We’d been doing the same one in different places up until now, my legs around his waist, me always propped up on something. Kitchen counter, shower wall, dresser, various tables around the apartment, a particularly low hanging hand dryer in the bathroom at the subway station after we’d missed our train. Once the elevator at the tower had been busy and instead of taking the service one he’d dragged me into the stairwell and I’d asked JARVIS to have the security camera footage wiped. He’d had to ask Tony’s permission for that one, it was his tower. I was never going to live that one down.
My hips hit the kitchen counter as he bounced off my ass cheeks, thrusting into me speedily. I rested my head on his shoulder and he licked, nipped and bit at the skin in the juncture between my neck and shoulder. One of the many good things about Steve not being home was I could be as loud as I wanted, cry out into the empty apartment without a second thought.
‘Shitshitshit Fuck!’ I cried out as his hand slipped in between us and he frantically circled my clit. I dropped down a little onto the counter, jelly legged as I screamed out his name. Now. Now. It was happening now.
‘I have you, malia,’ he soothed, kissing over my back again as he worked me through. I arched my back again, coming back to lean on his shoulder again as he kept up his thrusting. He didn’t even seem to be close, this new position must either make him last longer or the fact we were doing this so much has helped him with stamina. Or both.
‘Fuck,’ I whispered, pulling my hips down to meet his every thrust and he groaned.
‘Yes, malia, like that,’ he encouraged. ‘So good.’
I gripped the white countertop, briefly wondering it’s material as I held on, so I could remember for when I was an inappropriate old lady, recounting my days of being in the slutty orphans club, at family dinners. I cried out, so close to another.
‘Fuckshit, Pietro,’ I said desperately. ‘I’m going to..’
‘Again?’ he asked proudly. ‘Ha! Perfect, do again. Do it malia!’
I practically slammed my head down onto the cool countertop and let out a muffled scream as I was thrust, hurtling over the edge and a hotwhite heat flooded my system. Yes. Yes.
‘Pietro, are you close?’ I asked, lifting my head up.
‘No! Isn’t this fantastic?’ he laughed and I groaned. Not really, no. I was having a good time, but he’d been on a mission recently to make me cum at the same time as him. He’d let me do it whenever I wanted beforehand, whenever I was ready and usually fingered me to the point of completion before he was really in me. But today, today he was on his mission. And if he wasn’t close to cumming, and I could do it whenever I wanted, I might be in for a long night.
Thursday 10th October 2013
At first, I wasn’t really sure why I was awake. I glanced at the clock and groaned at the matchstick numbers glaring back at me. I ran a hand over my face. But then I heard it again. My phone was buzzing wildly on the nightstand. I reached over to pick it up and answered.
‘Hello?’ I mumbled.
‘Night Fury, thank god, we need backup, urgently,’ Luke said and I glanced back at the sleeping body beside me. Still asleep, good. I slowly pried his arm off of me and slid out from his hold.
‘Where are you?’ I asked.
‘Nova’s on his way now, he’ll fly by the tower, are you there?’ he asked and I nodded, forgetting in my tired state he couldn’t see me.
‘I’ll meet him on the launch pad,’ I replied, walking naked through my bedroom while I searched for my uniform.
‘That’s something you’re going to have to take up with him,’ he told me and the line went dead. I yanked my pants up my legs, strapped on my boots and started pulling on a tank top when I heard Pietro stirring.
‘Are you going?’ he mumbled confusedly. ‘This is your apartment.’
‘I just have to check on something downstairs, it can’t wait,’ I told him, leaning down to kiss his forehead. ‘Stay here, I’ll be back soon honey.’
‘Mmm,’ he mumbled and rolled over, face in the pillow.
I finished pulling on my uniform in the dark, not wanting to risk him waking up further and look up at me in full Night Fury attire. I grabbed my mask and didn’t put it on till I was in the elevator, going to Tony’s floor and rushing through the doors. He was sitting up by the TV and was very surprised to see me at such a late hour.
‘Can’t talk, must hurry,’ I blurted out as I ran through his apartment to the balcony. ‘I’ll explain later,’ I called over my shoulders and closed the doors behind me.
Looking around frantically for Nova I cried out to myself when I spotted him. I stared down over the edge in shock. Steve was gonna be so mad.
‘Nova!’ I screamed out as loudly as possible and jumped over the edge. Faster than Peter had ever swung, he managed to catch me, my body slamming into a hard chest.
‘I thought you’d be lower down,’ he yelled and I shook my head.
‘I need to give you my number,’ I replied. ‘I never wanna do that again.’
‘Number? No offense, but you’re not my type,’ he joked and I rolled my eyes. I was glad this guy wasn’t on the team.
‘You should do stand up,’ I huffed.
I watched New York fly by. It was exhilarating swinging through the air with Peter, but this was just that little bit faster. Although I wasn’t exactly full of trust that Sam wouldn’t drop me, Peter yes, Sam no.
An alleyway up ahead was where the fight was taking place, goons swarmed. Why did we always have to beat people up in back alleys? How come there were no sunny beaches? Although last time I got into a fight with someone in a nice place, Tony got permanently banned from that restaurant. Although technically as I was dressed as June Potts, I could go back any time. More of that chocolate mousse. Yum.
‘What’s our,’ Sam started and I moved to a better position. ‘What are you doing? Careful I’m gonna drop you.’
‘I’m going to jump,’ I replied and spied my target.
‘Now Miss Carter,’ JARVIS chimed and I jumped from Sam’s arms and landed feet first on top of one of the goons. I flipped him and he stumbled into a wall and then hit the ground.
‘Is Spidey coming?’ I asked, looking around and not seeing red and blue.
‘Contacting him now, ma’am,’ JARVIS replied.
Why the hell hadn’t they called him? Although he was all the way in Forest Hills, whereas I’d been at Avengers Tower. Still, if they’d called him the same time as me, or I’d called him when I’d jumped he'd be halfway here by now. Stupid Bonnie. Stupid.
‘Night Fury,’ I heard someone call and turned around. Boomerang. ‘Nice of you to show. I was worried with your recent surge in media attention you wouldn’t come.’
‘Oh no,’ I shook my head, getting myself into a ready stance. ‘I’m still Jenny from the Block.’
‘Good,’ he said, striding over, arms wide. ‘Because I’d like to knock yours off.’
‘Knock my block off?’ I scoffed, swinging out a punch. ‘What are you, sixty or something? No one talks like that, lame-o.’
‘Really, that’s what you’re worried about now?’ he replied, bending my arm behind my back, forcing me to turn around. ‘Look at your little friends. They’re all pinned down. And here you are with me. It’s over Night Fury, it’s finally over.’
I swung my head back, hitting his nose with the base of my skull. There was a crunching noise and he cried out. I stomped on his foot and yanked my arm free.
‘Doesn’t look like it is,’ I heard Peter yell and I looked up. He’d gotten here fast. He must have also been out and swung here when JARVIS contacted him. I still wondered how he was doing that. Was he texting or calling?
‘Spider-Man!’ Boomerang growled. I kicked hard into his side and Peter webbed and yanked him back towards me so I could hit him again.
‘Why did you split with Batroc?’ I asked and he shoved me away. ‘He said he was moving up, how?’
‘Ask him yourself,’ Boomerang replied, kicking me towards a wall. Peter webbed me and pulled me back, combatting the force of his kick and stopping me from slamming back into the bricks.
‘He’s not much of a talker,’ I replied, stumbling a little as I tried to regain my balance. Fury had reported he wasn’t getting much from the hoppy French bastard. His words, not mine.
‘They were all willing to kill children, to get what they wanted,’ Boomerang replied. He pulled out an actual boomerang and I ducked as he threw it. Wait, didn’t those things come back? I ducked again just as I felt something whizz past my head.
‘That’s not what we do. We were supposed to be robbing banks. Every criminal does a bank job eventually, why not learn from the best,’ he shrugged, catching the boomerang. ‘Or at least, the best at breaking in. Thanks to you two he’s not the best at making off with the cash.’
‘Those who did the presentation,’ I said, thinking about the guy who’d wanted a photo for his son. ‘They with you?’
‘Those idiots,’ Boomerang nodded, punching me in the mask. I rammed a knee up between us, hitting him hard in the ribs. ‘Yeah, they were my guys. First jobs, they usually don’t deal with you guys. No wonder they got caught.’
‘I wish I could say I’m sorry,’ I said, and ducked as he threw the boomerang again. ‘Although it does vaguely feel like you’re complimenting me. Cheeky, flattery will get you nowhere.’
‘Ay! Are you two fighting or flirting?’ Peter called from above me and webbed Boomerang up into the air to start fighting him himself.
I looked around and saw Danny pinned down fighting three guys at once. I jogged over, yanking the closest guy’s feet out from under his legs. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your sense of humor, he was wearing his jeans very low and his belt didn’t help him much. When I’d grabbed his legs and pulled him to the ground I also pantsed him and he lay on the ground, love heart boxers on display, with a look that seemed to combine shame and confusion.
I struggled with a bellyaching laugh as I fought one of the two remaining guys, but luckily for me, his two friends also found the situation hilarious. Danny smiled at me, shaking his head as I kicked my guy away from me, only to watch him get webbed to a wall. Seemed Peter was done with Boomerang.
I glanced around and saw that Danny had the last guy and saw that Peter was moving around, webbing people to various objects for the police. Luke had already gone to call them at a nearby phone booth and Sam was watching everything go down.
‘You thought about it any?’ I asked, standing beside him.
‘Thought about what?’ he asked, arms hanging beside him. He looked like a guy standing over his freshly planted crops, admiring a job well done.
‘Come on bucket head,’ I shoved his arm. ‘Don’t play hard to get. Join us. Look how well we worked together, again.’
‘We’d need to talk about hierarchy,’ he said and I raised an eyebrow. Crossing my arms over my chest I shook my head. Surely he did not just say that.
‘Uh, what?’ I replied, scoffing. He turned towards me a little.
‘I work alone, I get to make the calls,’ he explained, pointing to his chest. He then jabbed a finger out at me. ‘I work with you, it’s with you. Not for you. I want to be in charge.’
‘Look,’ I started, turning my body towards him more. I don’t know why he thought I was in charge here, at the moment we were just four people agreeing to work together. Sometimes Nova showed up.
‘That is not going to happen,’ Danny interjected, I turned my head to look over my shoulder. He’d come up beside me and looked a little pissed.
‘May I remind you, you almost bowed to the pressure of SHIELD, and turned over our friends,’ he said. I remember witnessing that conversation while I was on the roof with Winter’s Emo. ‘We do not have a leader, but if we did, it would need to be someone strong. Unrelenting.’
‘And you think that’s you, surfer boy?’ Sam scoffed, throwing his arms out.
‘It’s not you,’ Peter said, dropping down beside me. ‘I follow her, you can too or you can be by yourself, solitary man. But if we ever get led by someone who’s not her, it sure as hell won’t be you.’
‘Whatever, see you losers around,’ he replied in a huff and then flew off. Well, there goes my ride. I turned back to Danny. I knew why Peter had had my back, he’d commented on my “leadership” qualities before, but why had Danny?
‘I know you have questions,’ Danny replied. ‘But now isn’t the time,’ he told me and nodded towards an approaching police car.
‘Crap,’ I said and he chuckled.
‘Crap indeed,’ he told me. ‘See you at school.’
Peter wrapped an arm around my waist and wasted no time in webbing us out of there. I’m glad he’d decided to take me with him, because I didn’t really wanna walk and didn’t want to get arrested asking a police officer to take me home. I chuckled to myself and received an odd glance from Peter, I could tell even with the mask.
‘Can you drop me down at the pizza place across from the tower?’ I asked and he agreed.
‘I have to bounce, if Aunt May smells pizza on me she might ground me again, she’s been hyper vigilant about me going out now, worried I’m not coming back,’ he told me and I nodded. We’d really worried her, so it’s no real surprise. Being a teenage mutant had consequences.
‘See you soon.’
‘Shit, is that the sun?’ He webbed away and I watched him go, wandering over to the all night pizza shop.
The guy behind the till beamed at me and called to all the workers in the back who rushed out and asked if I’d take a photo with them. The six guys split into two groups of three, standing either side of me and one of the customers snapped the picture.
Walked off with a freshly made pie and headed into the tower. I walked into my apartment, putting the box on the kitchen counter and looking for some clothes to change into. I found Pietro’s shit on the floor and tugged it over my head, taking the box into my bedroom. I climbed back into bed beside him and pulled out a slice, watching the cheese stretch and feeling disgusted with myself as the site made me think of my panties from last night when Pietro had pulled his fingers out of them.
‘Are you eating pizza?’ I heard mumbling from beside me and turned to see Pietro had woken up again and was pushing himself up in the sheets. His sleepy face made me smile and I silently offered him the box. He sat up beside me and grabbed a slice, box sitting on his lap.
‘You said you cook, Sonechko,’ he told me. ‘You know this not count, right?’
‘Right,’ I chuckled. ‘Just let me know if you wanna skip first period.’
‘I’d skip whole day if not for scary coach and football practice,’ he replied and I nodded. The idea had been awfully tempting. I smiled mischievously.
‘No one said we can’t go to practice if we don’t go to class,’ I tapped my chin thoughtfully, ignoring the pizza grease on my fingertips. He smirked.
‘And I know what you be doing instead, malia,’ he grabbed another slice. ‘I very tempted, very tempted. Can’t make habit, they might make me stay in Sokovia after winter break if school becomes unhappy.’
‘I hadn’t thought about that,’ I sighed softly. ‘I’m sorry, you must think I’m so selfish.’
‘No,’ he shook his head. ‘Seductive, cheeky, bright like sunshine. Never selfish.’
‘No?’ I asked. It felt good to hear what he thought. I always worried I went too far, that I made people do things they wouldn’t if I hadn’t asked. And I hated that. If people were doing things for me, yes, I understood favours and yes I’d repay them. But these people asked nothing in return.
‘No, Sonechko,’ he shook his head. ‘I love you because you good person. Very kind, not selfish.’
‘I love you because you make me laugh, because you have those eyes that just light up,’ I explained. I didn’t want him to not know all the things I loved about him. ‘I love that you don’t let anything bother you. You’re so relaxed. I love that you make me feel comfortable. You feel like home. And I’ve been trying to find that since my dad died, struggling to cling on to since my mom died.’
‘I understand what that like,’ he nodded. ‘But I was very lucky,’ he told me. ‘I had Wanda, she is the smart one. I like to goof off, I’m relaxed, as you say. She keeps everyone in check, always yelling at me over snapchat while I here.’
‘Is she back in Sokovia?’ I asked and he shook his head.
‘She also went on exchange,’ he told me and then started gushing about her art, saying we’d have a lot in common if we got the chance to meet. She was apparently studying in Germany of all places. Maybe it was a stereotype but I just kinda assumed if you wanted to study art you went off to France.
‘I actually went to her for advice,’ he told me and I raised an eyebrow. ‘Very awkward, she yelled at me a little, but she was helpful. Told me to ask you out. Worked out well, no?’
‘Very well, I owe your sister a great thanks,’ I chuckled and wiped some pizza grease off his chin. I leaned in for a kiss and his tongue found its way into my mouth, swiping over the roof of my mouth. I groaned softly, closing the pizza box and shoving it on the nightstand.
‘I ever tell you how good you look in my clothes?’ he asked and I shook my head. ‘Very sexy.’
‘It’s still kinda dark,’ I commented. ‘Wanna try the green ones?’
‘We save for Fridays,’ he told me and I chuckled.
Post game showers were always fun. We had to beat both the cheerleaders coming into the women's locker room and be quick enough so Flash wouldn’t wonder where Pietro was when he came out of the locker room. And after time at the diner we’d always planned to see how glow in the dark those condoms actually were, but we’d never gotten around to it.
‘We haven’t used warming,’ I suggested, looking at the side of the now very beat up box. He shrugged and I pulled out the purple package and tore the foil open. He smirked at me.
‘Ready already, Sonechko?’ he swung a leg over me, leaning down to kiss me again. His hand slipped between my legs, groaning as he found out I hadn’t been wearing any panties. And I was still a little wet from last night. ‘You are.’
‘I am,’ I nodded, reaching out to palm him.
Chapter 32: Hands Are Mine To Hold
Notes:
Apologies for taking so long to update but I'd like to take a moment to thank all the lovely kind readers who continue to love and support this work. I've been trying to put this story to paper since 2011, I've written many drafts, published bad versions and am now tirelessly working to put this version that you know and love up on A03. And it's not been without it's challenges, but it gets a little bit easier with each of you. So thanks for your continued viewership and welcome if you're new.
Chapter Text
Title Song: Hands Are Mine To Hold (Move Along) - All American Rejects
Bonnie Carter POV
Thursday 10th October 2013
Warming condoms were not warm. Warming was the under exaggeration of the century. I think my crotch is on fire. I hate Tony. If I have to go to the ER because of this, I’m going to kill him. How the hell was I going to explain that one to Steve?
“Hi Steve, sorry to interrupt you while you’re on an important mission trying to save my life and the lives of my friends, but I was having sex with my boyfriend when I took an allergic reaction to a novelty condom and promptly set my netherregions on fire. Hope you’re well.”
‘You okay?’ Pietro said, thrusting slowly into me as he held himself up. He was doing better than last time we were in this position, he’d managed to support his weight and thrust without hitting me too hard with his bony hips. I managed to keep mine far enough apart to give him space to work as well.
I nodded, though I’m sure my face did show a little discomfort. He looked like he didn’t believe me and tucked some of my hair behind my ear. I smiled softly, leaning up to kiss him. He nuzzled my nose with his own and kissed my forehead. I sighed, and decided to be honest. Clear, honest communication.
‘These condoms are just a bit intense,’ I replied, hoping the “warming” sensation would die down. It felt like I’d picked up a scalding hot mug, or stepped into a too hot bath tub of near boiling water.
‘Sonechko,’ he shook his head. ‘Why didn’t you say something, we could switched. Maybe allergic..’
‘Nah,’ I shook my head.
The heat had started to die down a little, now it had been about ten, fifteen minutes. Rational thought was breaking through my initial panic, and I creased my brow, deciding on if I wanted to stop this or not.
Pietro paused above me, waiting for me to form the thoughts in my head. It didn’t hurt, it was just hot. And maybe this was what they meant by warming. I glanced down, nothing looked swollen? Nothing was the wrong colour? How I’d be able to tell, I didn’t know.
‘I don’t think it’s an allergic reaction,’ I decided. ‘But we’re definitely not trying the cooling ones anytime soon.’ He chuckled and kissed my forehead.
‘So long as you sure,’ he told me. ‘And tell me from start next time, yes?’
‘I will,’ I nodded and moved my hips with his. I did actually feel a little better now. Seemed it was only intense straight away, now it’d been on for a while I felt kinda good. Less crotch fire, more sensual heat. If that was a thing. I took the hand not currently being used to keep his weight off me and brought it between us, guiding it to my clit.
‘Let’s see what an orgasm is like with these things,’ I said and he nodded hurriedly, circling my clit with vigour. It made me all fluttery inside how eager he was to get me off. He really cared about that sort of thing. And speaking of getting off, I’ll tell you one thing about warming condoms, I was super wet now. Go figure. Guess they had a purpose after all.
Well rested, thoroughly fucked, Pietro and I made our way lazily to school. I sat on his knee on the subway while he rested his head on my shoulder, enjoying the comfortable silence. Every second we spent in each other's company there was some kind of physical contact, if not sitting in each other’s space, it was fingers intertwined or arms around each other.
We walked towards the football field through the parking lot, trying not to attract any unnecessary attention by walking through the hallways. While we’d done the right thing calling in sick, and then come responsibly to practice, there was always that one busybody teacher who needed to know your business. And it was usually one that didn’t even teach you. We separated to go to the locker rooms and change and joined each other again on the field.
‘Where the hell have you two been all day? We’d got a game coming up and we need to train train train to keep up our winning streak!’ Coach Danvers demanded as soon as he got a look at me. I raised an eyebrow. He was gripping hard onto his clipboard, applying enough pressure it was bending. About ready to snap it in half, he stepped closer, towering over me as he held back a snarl.
‘Did you two think it was okay to skip just because you’re dating now? What? You didn’t think I’d know? I’m your coach, I know what you eat for breakfast,’ he said, attempting to sound scary. Honestly I just tried to stop my mind from wandering back to the sunrise pizza.
‘We weren’t in classes today because we both got sick,’ I replied indignantly, feigning annoyance. I folded my arms over my chest. ‘It’s good you know we’re dating because I imagine you’ll be able to figure out how we both managed to get sick. I’ll tell you, it’s pretty easy when you spend most of your free time with your tongues down each other’s throats.’
‘Carter, give me 20,’ Danvers said, unimpressed and vaguely disgusted. I grumbled about this bullshit as I dropped, pushing myself up and down on the grass. ‘Any more lip outta you and it’ll be 30.’
As my consolation prize, he did walk away looking pretty distrurbed at my comment and I chuckled. Looks like we’d gotten away with skipping. I tried not to laugh too loudly as I finished my set, lest he add to my punishment for talking back, but it was very funny to see him look like he was in physical pain. I could understand why he was antsy though, not only was a win unusual with our team, but to have not lost a single game since the start of the season, that was unheard of. We stood a good chance of winning for the state. Which would bring a lot of college scouts our way, by this time next year I could be securing myself a scholarship, if I ever figured out where I wanted to go after senior year.
Pietro offered me a hand up once I was done with my pushups and the coach split us up into mixed string practice teams again. As soon as we’d finished our warmup exercises, we broke out into a game. It was grueling, and sweaty but worth it. And if anything, all this work as Vice Captain and leading my team against Flash’s gave me the practice I needed to boss around the guys. Not that I needed much practice being bossy.
Tuesday 22nd October 2013
Glaring across the table at the cheerleader who’d just spoken, I folded my arms over my chest. Flash looked down at my sour expression and sniggered. I turned my head to him and kicked him lightly under the table, making him laugh harder.
‘Okay, say it again to make sure I didn’t get a concussion,’ I said, turning back to the tall brunette and she swallowed thickly, no doubt worried about my reaction. I don’t know what I’d done to elicit such fear from my opposite, but it was probably the shear rage I felt at what she’d just told me.
‘The student council is responsible for escorting Midtown Elementary school students Trick or Treating,’ she repeated, voice straining as she tried to keep her voice level and unbroken. I could see a bead of sweat roll down the side of her neck from here.
‘Yeah, it totally sucks, Bonnie, but it’s worth it,’ Stacey piped in from beside me, leaning in to shove my shoulder lightly. I turned to look at her, nose crinkled up in a disgusted expression.
‘How?’ I demanded.
‘Money we earn from their parents pays for the drinks and snacks at the dance,’ she explained and I spluttered.
‘But we just had a dance,’ I argued, shaking my head in disbelief. How were there this many dances in one school year? The gym hadn’t even finished being repaired.
‘Yeah,’ Stacey nodded at me like she was talking to a very stupid person. ‘We just had the Homecoming dance, this is the Halloween dance.’
‘Okay wiseguy,’ I grumbled, dropping my arms down on top of the table. ‘Where are we going to host the damn thing, given that our gym still has chunks of it missing?’
‘Midtown Elementary also invited us to use their gym, as they’re very understanding of the circumstances. They’re grateful we’re still going ahead this year, honestly, after all the total trauma and stuff of our fellow students being outright murdered in front of us,’ Stacey said that last part very bitterly.
I swallowed an uncomfortable lump in my throat. I should have done better. If I hadn’t’ve been making out with Pietro in the storage room, maybe I could have gotten to my locker quicker, stopped the massacre. People died. And it was my fault.
‘Yeah, that’s real nice of them,’ I said eventually, looking down at the books I’d brought with me to the council room. I played with the pages of my textbooks, fingernails running down the corner to make a zipping sound as it dragged against every page.
I still wasn’t happy about the prospect of another dance, nor having to take a bunch of snot nosed kids around trick or treating. But I suppose this was my responsibility now I’d become Vice Captain. I at least hoped I could manage to do this one right.
‘You guys wanna do a group costume?’ the other cheerleader asked, now she wasn’t afraid I was going to punch her lights out. She sounded less meek. Was I really that scary? Well, I suppose I had gotten into a fistfight with Liz at the start of the school year...
I tuned out the rest of the meeting, leaping up as soon as the bell rang signalling lunch. Practically running out of the room and down the corridor to my locker, I threw my books inside and looked around for a quiet place. In there, I’d shut down but now I was out of the room the panic and shame was brought back in full force. I couldn’t handle this, I...Rationally I knew it wasn’t my fault, but I couldn’t shake the feeling. It seemed like every time I got involved in something now someone got hurt.
Maybe they would have anyway, bad people did bad things and because we were there, worse things didn’t happen. But I still wished there was more I could do...
‘Sonechko?’ I barely registered Pietro talking to me. My head was pounding, pulse hammering in my ears and making everything sound muffled.
He grabbed hold of me and dragged me out of the path of the student body that was swirling around me. I’d been standing there, motionless while everyone else hurried to lunch, it was like I’d been standing in between lanes on a crowded highway.
‘What’s wrong, moia kokhana?’ he asked and I shook my head. I felt some tears dribble out of the corners of my eyes and he pulled me further down the hallway and into a disused classroom. There was a coating of dust covering most of the surfaces but it was quiet. I finally felt the quiet.
‘I’m okay,’ I whispered and he scoffed, shaking his head at me.
‘You think I stupid, yes?’ he asked and I shook my head, no, I didn’t think that. ‘Oh, I know, blind. You think I can not see. That make sense. How you lie right to my face.’
‘Pietro,’ I tried and he put a hand up to silence me.
‘No, Sonechko,’ he said and pulled me over to the teacher’s desk which was covered with a white sheet. He pulled it back and pushed me down on top of it. He knelt in front of me and took my hands in his larger ones.
‘You are my girlfriend,’ he said in a slightly thicker accent than normal. It seemed to come out more when he was experiencing an influx of emotions, positive or negative. I’d noticed it too, got thicker when he woke up next to me, still groggy from sleep.
‘I know you,’ he continued. ‘I know when you not telling truth, I know when you upset. I may not be able to fix, I am not Iron Man, but I am ears. I am excellent listener. You tell me what happen.’
‘I just,’ I sighed, shaking my head. I leaned forward, pulling my hands out of his to wrap them around his shoulders. He held me in a gentle hug. I let loose sobs into the shoulder of his grey hoodie and he kissed the top of my head as he rubbed my back and told me it was alright.
‘There’s this stupid dance coming and we haven’t even recovered from the last one I..’ I tried, choking on the lump in my throat. ‘They died Pietro,’ I cried harder. ‘And I couldn’t do anything.’
‘Agh,’ he made a hissing noise of annoyance, sounding like a soda can just being opened. ‘I wish could have spared you from such things, Sonechko. Is common, to see death in Sokovia, war is over, but people still suffering. Not so much in this way, but war is very horrible thing. Many innocent lives lost. Worst part, is not many can actually do anything, even the most powerful of men.’
‘I know,’ I whimpered, trying to wipe the hot tears of my reddening cheeks. ‘I just..what was the point in being there if I couldn’t do anything? And who is gonna pay? How do I make it so they didn’t die for nothing?’
‘You remember them,’ he answered. ‘Seems like small thing, no? But is very powerful thing, you remember them. There is nothing you can do that will bring them back, but you can hold them close, and find comfort in that.’
‘I’ve uh,’ I said, thinking about what he’d said. How was he so young and yet so wise? He had such empathy, it’s what I loved about him, aside from his easy going, goofy personality. His laugh, I loved his laugh. Him. I loved him.
‘Baby I’ve gotta go see Principal Coulson,’ I told him, kissing him one more time. I pushed up and moved away from him, heading for the door. I’d just realised what I could do. I wouldn’t bring them back, but I could ease the pain here.
‘Wait,’ he called out and I turned around at the door. I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to speak. ‘This dance, you have date this time?’
‘I do actually,’ I said, wry smile on my features. His face fell a bit and I shook my head. ‘You.’
‘We will wear matching costumes, yes?’ he asked excitedly. ‘I can even find moustache, if still turns you on.’
I choked and flushed in embarrassment. I’d been kidding, kind of. He laughed and I walked out the door, awkwardly jogging away so I wouldn’t have to think about him in his Vinny costume. Not that I could get him out of my head now. Damn him.
I skidded across the floors at reception, gliding past the counter and stopping right by the Principal's office. I banged loudly on the door and burst through it when I was granted entrance.
‘Carter,’ Coulson said, slightly amused looking. ‘To what do I owe the pleasure?’
‘I can’t stop thinking about the uh...well the dance, and it’s aftermath,’ I explained, kicking the door closed behind me and walking over to take one of the perfectly sized chairs by his desk. He shot me a sympathetic look.
‘I can get you in contact with one of the SHIELD counsellors, so you can talk freely about that night, without having to worry about revealing any sensitive information,’ he said, picking up his corded phone. I shook my head and he paused, other hand hovering over the buttons. ‘I assure you they’re held to the highest possible confidentiality.’
‘No, it’s not about that,’ I replied and watched him put the receiver down. ‘Look, I want to do something. I know I can’t be out there with Steve and the others, and I know Batroc’s already in prison. But there’s still so much damage to repair.’
‘So what do you want me to do?’ he asked, shaking his head. Honestly, I didn’t want much, not from him. I just, it was the only thing I could think of that might help. What else was I supposed to do? It’s not like I could just turn back the clock. No one can save people from death, no matter how hard they try.
‘Seems kind of dumb but I was thinking a bakesale,’ I replied and he choked on his coffee. He put the mug down on the desk in front of him and looked at me seriously, trying to figure out if I’d just been off premises hotboxing with the stoner kids.
‘I’m sorry?’ he asked, he shook his head from side to side, not understanding.
‘All the families of the victims,’ I explained, scratching the back of my head. ‘They get nothing, not really. I want to do a fundraiser, give them something. But I can’t, not without school sanction. And I know that’s not what you’re really here for, but I’m not exactly going to get much help from Benson. So sign off on it for me.’
‘You’re asking me because you don’t think I care about school matters, that I’m only here for my SHIELD purposes,’ he said, nodding as he mulled over the implications I’d just made. ‘You’re wrong,’ he told me and I raised an eyebrow. He sighed and pulled back from his desk a little, stopping everything except looking at me.
‘I do care,’ he said, large hands out in front of him on the desk. ‘The fact of the matter is, this school was under my watch, my protection. I was supposed to keep an eye on all the kids here, keep them safe. And it was my failings that led to all this. I do care, Bonnie, and if you wanna try start a relief fund, you think baking some muffins or whatever will make you feel better, fine. We all have to find a way to live with our mistakes, and if this is what helps you, fine. I’ll sign off on it. Maybe helping you will help me.’
‘I know it seems like such a small thing but…’ I said, pulling my knees up to my chest, resting my feet on the edge of the chair. I felt so impossibly small, so insignificant and powerless.
‘No action towards helping another is small,’ he told me. ‘If everyone tries, does what they are capable of when they are capable, then no one can ask more. You need to remember you’re only seventeen. We’ve put a world of responsibilities on your shoulders, but you’re making the decisions you’re capable of and doing the best you can, Bonnie. Don’t feel small because it didn’t work out the way you wanted this time. It happens sometimes, even with the most experienced agents.’
Nodding, I sat in my little ball for a while longer as he picked up his black and silver pen and went back to his work. He did not kick me out right away, instead let me go when I’d reclaimed my composure, when I decided I was ready. Not that I had much to win back in the first place. Eventually I got up and walked out of the office, heading to go and find Danny. Peter, I knew would be with Gwen, so I needed to talk to someone else about how I was feeling. I wanted to know if anyone else super was struggling with the dance like I was.
Like he knew he needed to find me, he was waiting for me by my locker. Or, maybe he was just at his, since they were near each other. But he looked up before I was close enough to hear, name rolling off his tongue before I’d said anything to him. He knew, he always knew when I was around.
‘Do you have a moment?’ I asked, cutting straight to it.
‘Something is troubling you,’ he nodded, leading me over to the stairwell to the roof of the school. I followed him up to the top, standing behind the brick wall and looking down over the parking lot. I rested my hands on the smooth concrete layer topping the bricks, chewing my lip as I figured out how to ask.
‘You won’t offend me,’ he assured me. ‘Just ask whatever it is you need to.’
‘The kids from the gym,’ I sighed. ‘I just..I’m not..I can’t get over them. All we did and it wasn’t enough. I keep going over and over it in my mind, wondering if I’d done something different, would things have gone differently?’
‘But that’s not what you wanted to ask,’ he said matter of factly and I nodded. I looked away from the lot and over my shoulder at him. He stood about a foot taller than me, blonde hair pulled back in a low bun today. He was relaxed in his hoodie, not bothered by much it seemed, but there was a certain change to him since I’d brought up the dead kids.
‘How do you...I know I can’t be the only one who’s upset about it,’ I replied.
‘But how do I keep going? How can I cope with this? Am I coping with it? How are you supposed to move on? What do we do now?’ he listed off and I nodded. He shook his head. ‘I don’t know. You kind of see me as this guru, for you Bonnie, like I always have some sage advice for you, but I’m sixteen . I’m coping with this the way any other sixteen year old would. Badly.’
‘You seem,’ I tried but he silenced me.
He was glaring out at the horizon, this was the closest I’d ever seen him to not chill. He was always so “surfer kid” relaxed. Peter and I had been convinced he was a pothead for ages, but neither of us could pick up on the smell, even with our enhanced noses.
‘I know well enough that someone else’s actions should never dictate my own,’ he said, not looking at me as he clenched his fist. I stared at his knuckles, it was the first time I’d noticed the yellow glow. At first I’d just assumed it was a shimmer on his gloves. But now, without his costume golden energy generated around his closed hand and swirled around. He flexed his fingers, the energy tapering off and dissipating as quickly as it had formed.
‘I’m angry, Bonnie,’ he told me earnestly. ‘And I also don’t know what to do about it.’
Thursday 31st October 2013
Huffing out an angry breath, I looked over my appearance. I shouldn’t be complaining, with my hair this was a pretty easy costume to pull off. I slid the green plaid shirt over my shoulders, adjusting the orange cropped tank one more time as I walked out of my room and into the living room.
Flash was waiting, leaning up against the front door in nothing but a pair of leopard print board shorts. I raised an eyebrow.
‘You said you were going as Debbie, I thought I’d collab and go as Donnie,’ he shrugged.
‘Flash, it’s October don’t you think it’s a little cold to be dressed as Donnie Thornberry?’ I asked, before looking down to see he’d managed to get a hold of a pair of matching imitation Nikes to complete his outfit. I smiled softly.
‘I did it for the vine,’ he shrugged, pulling out his phone to show me a video where he was making the “Yagabodugityba haabbababab ho bibibi” noise Donnie was known for that already had 300 views. ‘But bro, just wait till you see what I have waiting for you in the lobby.’
‘What do you..’ I asked and he shook his head, leading me towards the elevator and we went straight down, me now buzzing with anticipation. I scanned the lobby and paused when I saw someone with spray coloured orange hair coming towards me. I raised an eyebrow at the moustache before looking into the eyes of my boyfriend. I really was kidding about the moustache thing.. originally.
‘Hey Sonechko,’ he beamed at me, striding over. ‘Flash told me you not looking forward to this children mission. I thought I come along, treat today like is Wednesday at Diner.’
‘As if you could get any sweeter,’ I shook my head, reaching out to link our fingers. He grinned at me cheekily.
‘Hey Sonechko,’ he said, tugging on my fingertips lightly. ‘You look smashing. ’
‘I hate this already,’ I groaned.
Flash laughed and I looked up to see he had his phone out, no doubt posting this to vine as well. We got a group picture for him to post to “the gram” as well and then headed off via the subway to the school where we were supposed to pick up our kids and get our safe neighbourhood assignment.
I already hated Danny, Peter and Sam for being able to avoid this and my only consolation was that Luke was also suffering this, now he’d made basketball captain. How he managed to train for both basketball and football I’d never know. I barely had enough time for one sport but I supposed that was because Luke didn’t have to constantly avoid being murdered, which must really free up his schedule.
‘So…’ Flash asked after a while of silence, he had his fingers in his spiked up hair, scratching the back of his head. He’d been growing it out, I’d noticed. And it was no longer the buzz cut he’d had every year since childhood. Leaning against a brick wall outside the elementary school, I raised an eyebrow. He grinned awkwardly at me. ‘You guys wanna go to a party?’
‘I have never been to American party before,’ Pietro said, tilting his head from side to side as he thought about it. If I hadn’t already raised my eyebrow, I would have.
‘Me either,’ I replied honestly. ‘In case you don’t remember, Peter and I weren’t exactly popular.’
‘Well you probably could have been invited, if you didn’t punch out half the popular kids,’ Flash pointed out and I shrugged. Seemed worth it still. Jocks were dicks.
‘They deserved it,’ I replied. ‘Plus, without Peter, it wouldn’t have been any fun.’
‘Could be fun, what you think, Sonechko?’ Pietro asked, having been ignoring all Flash and I’s back and forth. I smiled softly at him. He was here for the American experience. And I’d give it to him.
Plus, it wouldn’t be that bad, I think, now I was less of an outcast. Maybe we could have so actual fun for a change, enjoy that stress free time while we were young, or whatever it was all those old men were always telling me. I pulled our still intertwined hands up to my mouth and kissed his knuckles.
‘Whatever you want,’ I agreed easily.
Chapter 33: The Spiked Punch
Chapter Text
Title Song: The Spiked Punch (Muddy Evil Pain) - The Rubens
Bonnie Carter POV
Thursday 31st October 2013
It must be physically impossible to be this bored. We were witnessing a universal phenomenon right here. Still, we’d managed to swing it that Pietro and I could still hold hands as we escorted the kids around. Flash was up in front, holding hands with a really awesome Spider-Man, whom I’d immediately snapchatted a pic of to Peter. Seems not all of New York hated him. We’d told everyone we’d be using the buddy system and everyone should hold hands with their buddy, as demonstrated by Pietro and I.
‘Excuse me?’ A very tiny Tinkerbell tugged on the leg of my blue jeans. I looked down and raised an eyebrow. ‘What’s a slut?’ I choked on my spit.
‘What??’ I asked, trying to make sure she’d asked what I think she’d asked. Tinkerbell was holding hands with an equally small Princess Tiana, looking adorably curious in her little green dress.
‘She said what’s a slut? Do you know?’ Tiana asked, and I looked to the front of the line at Flash for help. Pietro was looking down at me, amused, thumb running over the tops of my knuckles, soothing me. Probably also begging me not to savage a first grader.
‘She has to know, I overheard my mommy calling her one when we were still in the gym,’ Tinkerbell reasoned and I narrowed my eyes. ‘She said it’s so sad girls like you feel the need to dress like sluts on Halloween. Are you sad?’
‘I’m not sad,’ I assured her and she looked between me and Pietro.
‘Pee-tru-oh~, do you know what that word means? Are you also a slut?’ Tiana eagerly asked my boyfriend. I tried to hold in some giggles at her calling him a slut. It was nice to see a man being accused every now and again. Keep feminism alive.
‘I don’t know,’ he moved in an overly exaggerated shrug. ‘Do you know?’ he turned to me.
‘Yeah! What’s a slut, Bonnie? You must know if you are one!’ Tinkerbell insisted and I sighed. I was gonna have to answer this one.
‘That’s a very bad word people use to shame women,’ I answered, squeezing Pietro’s hand a little harder. ‘It’s really mean to say to someone, and the only women who do that to other women are suffering from internalised misogyny.’
‘What’s internalised misogyny?’ Tinkerbell asked and I smiled proudly to myself. Looking down at the girl with a slightly too enthusiastic grin I replied simply.
‘Ask your mother.’
We went back to normal the rest of the way to the next house on our list and I glanced over at Pietro who still looked rather amused over the whole, is “Bonnie a slut “ debate. Honestly, I was expecting that kind of talk from the student body, just you know, high school, not elementary. I was only wearing a crop top, it wasn’t even that short. And I was wearing it with a flannel and jeans. God damn it they were making me read too much into this. I was not a slut.
‘I cannot believe that,’ I huffed after we dropped the kids off at the school. I was still mad. Why did women bully other women? Didn’t we get it enough from the guys?
‘What?’ Flash asked, sucking the powdered sugar off the dipstick that came with his Fun Dip. Pietro was shaking a packet of Nerds into his mouth, seeming happy he’d also gotten to get some of the candy we were taking all of these kids around to get.
‘What kind of a woman shames another woman like that?’ I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest. ‘And where little ears can hear! You know kids hear everything, if you wouldn’t say it to your own kid, why would you say it about someone else?’
‘You say it youself, internationalised mis-oh-jha-nee,’ Pietro answered, mouth full of Nerds. He didn’t seem as bothered, or maybe he was just distracted by his candy. So distracted his English was slipping.
‘I don’t see what the problem is,’ Flash replied. ‘Guys like sluts…’ I looked up at him with a glare and he trailed off. ‘No, bear with me on this,’ he demanded and I raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s shitty when guys shame girls about sleeping with random guys, because that’s what we all fantasize about but it’s worse when women do it. If you shame them, they’ll stop doing it.’
‘Wow,’ I rolled my eyes. ‘Thank you for your helpful contribution to feminism, Flash.’
‘I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not,’ Flash replied and I shook my head. It so wasn’t worth getting into this now. I simply tugged a little more on Pietro’s hand as we walked towards the food cart. I was hungry and if we were going to some stupid party, then I was getting something to eat first.
‘Forget it, I’m hungry,’ I huffed.
We lined up at the end of the queue and I leaned against Pietro’s chest. He had his elbows resting on my shoulders, chin on top of my head while Flash continued to eat his Fun Dip. Someday Flash could grow into a human being, I just kept forgetting now we were friends, what kind of guy he’d been last year, even at the start of this year. He’d not taken his eyes off my ass during football try-outs. He hadn’t been instantly reformed, he still had a lot of work to do.
‘I thought street food was dangerous,’ Pietro commented, looking at all the business men and groups of people in costumes waiting for their Halal meals outside the Turkish food cart. Despite his current line of questioning, he seemed excited to try out the meal packs Flash and I had told him about.
‘Depends on the cart,’ Flash shrugged, sucking on his dipstick. ‘Real New Yorkers know which are the safe ones.’
‘How do you find this?’ Pietro asked curiously and I chuckled.
‘Food poisoning usually,’ I joked, but it was true. Word of mouth was also involved. Also, sometimes people simply didn’t care and went back anyway. Pietro ducked his head down kissing the top of my head instead of leaning on it.
‘Sonechko,’ he huffed, nuzzling his face into the top of my head, making me smile.
‘Word usually travels if it’s bad, someone you know will eat something and realise it’s not right and tell all their friends,’ I explained, giving in to him. ‘And if you don’t know anyone, you take a gamble. It’s the same as restaurants, the only difference is convenience.’
‘Well I glad I have real New Yorkers to learn me,’ he said, glancing between the two of us. ‘You best not be wrong.’ I scoffed at his attempt at being threatening.
‘Trust me,’ I told him, moving forward in the line. ‘Peter and I have ordered here before, usually late at night. He’s good, always washes his hands.’
I realised when I’d started talking that Peter and I had not ordered from this cart before, Night Fury and Spider-Man had, and had to change what I was saying after I was already saying it. Neither of them seemed to notice though, or question it, and went back to eating and waiting for more food to eat. Conversations had been easier when I was only friends with people who knew what I did for...well not a living… But in saying that, the only person I was friends with was Peter. Which meant I wouldn’t be telling this story, because we’d both been there.
When the time came I ordered Pietro an iskender meal from the Turkish guy who had affectionately dubbed himself Amca and nothing more. This guy was honestly so jovial, I wouldn’t mind if he was my actual uncle. My dad’s brother, when he’d been alive, was so dour.
‘This is good,’ Pietro commented as we walked down the street, munching on bread, meat, rice and tabouli. The iskender pack had everything and I loved it. We ate Asian food all the time at the Tower, and Pizza was pretty common but I felt like we didn’t branch out enough. I wonder if anyone had introduced Steve to Pakistani food. Or Serbian. If Pietro could cook perhaps I could bully him into cooking for Steve.
‘Oh yeah,’ Flash agreed, having finally put his Fun Dip away. ‘Turkish food hits different. And nobody makes it better than New Yorkers.’
‘I don’t know,’ I shook my head. ‘I feel like the Turkish probably do it best. But whatever.’
We stopped at a bench right by the subway entrance to eat what was left of our food and I texted Steve. I knew I didn’t have to run every little thing I did by him, especially since Tony was the one meant to be watching me while Steve was on a mission, but I knew he’d appreciate the gesture. I’d been doing it every now and again, not so much telling him that I was having Pietro sleep over all the time but if I did something Night Fury related, he always knew about it. And since he’d been so old man about the last dance, I sent him pics of everyone’s costumes and included a reference image so he’d understand.
‘You’re not a slut, Bonnie.
You don’t need to pay
attention to that mom and
what she said. There’s
nothing wrong with what
you’re wearing as long as
you want to wear it, it’s
your body. It was also
wrong of her to use her
child to bully you over
your outfit.’ -Steve
I smiled to myself over the text. I knew all this, but the reassurance felt nice. Plus I did also feel bad about the internalised misogyny comment to her daughter, but maybe I was just trying to shame myself over standing up for myself. We all had crosses to bear, maybe this was my own internalised issue.
Pietro was sitting on the backrest of the chair, a knee either side of my shoulders and his takeout container balanced on my head while he ate. He was so lucky he was cute, no one else would get away with this tall people bullshit. I sat on the seat of the bench leaning my shoulders back on him, Flash at my side, manspreading. The two were very animatedly talking about how they thought the party was going to go tonight, and all I could focus on was the support Steve was giving me. I know my own parents would never have approved.
I felt a pang in my chest. I complained sometimes about what he was like, but I missed my dad. I missed my mom but at least we’d shared that pain. Now everyone I’d ever known was gone. Sure, Grandma Margaret was still alive, she thought I was her friend from the 40s most of the time and even if she was lucid, she was miles away. I’d managed to get all these friends now, but I still felt alone. I just wanted my parents back.
Wiping my face with a napkin, I closed up my empty box, handing Pietro the one he’d been resting on my head. I walked over to the garbage and tossed my trash, taking a deep breath I nodded to myself. We were going to a party, we were supposed to be having fun. Now was not the time to fall apart. I was supposed to be giving Pietro the American experience, and I needed to focus on that.
‘You okay, Sonechko?’ Pietro asked, standing beside me with his takeout box. I looked up at him to see Flash also standing there, sympathetic smile on his face, though he had no idea what was wrong.
‘Yeah, let’s get to this party,’ I said, plastering on a smile. We were going to have one hell of a night, I would make sure of that...
Steve Rogers POV
Leaning over the railing in the warehouse we’d made camp in, I huffed, gripping the metal bars tightly. To say I was angry, was putting it mildly. That woman had no right. Tasha had skipped over earlier, grinning from ear to ear over what her most recent stalking had brought up, showing me some photos Flash had put up on his instant gram or whatever. He, Bonnie and Pietro were posing in costumes which all looked good, even if I didn’t know what they were from. They looked so happy and I was proud of them. A later text from Bonnie had me thinking they’d done an excellent job of emulating them but it’s what had me so pissed. Where did that woman get off saying those things about her?
‘You look like a feral labrador,’ Tasha commented, standing beside me. She turned, leaning her back against the rusty safety barrier to face me. I sighed. She always knew something was up, not that I was making much effort to hide it. Barton was still outside, serveiling, while the two of us were supposed to be taking a break. Which was also why she had time to stalk my great granddaughter. Well, she called it keeping tabs, but we all knew she was a little bit more invested than that.
‘Some mom called Bonnie a slut,’ I told her and Tasha scoffed.
‘Want me to take her out?’ she joked, making animated garotting gestures and I rolled my eyes. ‘I’m more than sure Bonnie had something to say about it, she’s fine, she’s a fighter. What’s the problem?’
‘The problem is I should be there, I should also be chaperoning or something and tearing strips off that lady for talking about her like that, or I don’t know, pulling my rabbid terrier puppy away from that lady when she did fight back,’ I sighed. I ran my hand over my face and leaned over the railing, looking down towards the dusty, polished concrete floor.
‘I know I wanted to be here, and I do,’ I told her after a minute. ‘I want to be able to find the guys that did this, and make sure they can’t do anything that’ll put these kids in danger, but I also want to be there with her. I want her to be able to have a normal life, normal experiences before all the shit starts to hit the fan.’
‘Ooh, I see we’re getting some passionate language there, Captain Rogers, is that the kind of example you set for Bonnie? You’re a parent now, tut tut,’ she teased and I rolled my shoulders, feeling some of the tension being released just from saying all that out loud. And a little more from her light teasing. Tasha always knew what to say.
‘Shut up you,’ I told her and she snickered.
‘Don’t worry, we’re heading home soon,’ she told me. ‘Fury’s reshuffled things around, thinks you’d be better off in the Tower, Barton and I too. We’ve done all we can, and if they need us again, we’ll fly out. We don’t need to be here now, there’s nothing we can do.’
‘Still, I missed our first Halloween,’ I said and Tasha shrugged.
‘There’s always next year,’ she assured me. ‘Maybe we can still get back in time for the dance. If you let me drive, I bet we can make it back in time for the football game.’
‘Key words being “make it back”, Tasha,’ I told her, thinking about how much she liked to speed. I supposed in the air there were few traffic accidents…
Peter Parker POV
Pressing the popper down I watched the die bounce back up and quietly moved my piece four spaces around the board. Why was I playing Trouble with my Aunt on Halloween? Well with my girlfriend taking her brothers Trick or Treating and Bonnie busy escorting children around for the dance, that left May, the only other person I knew to hang with. Plus, she was still edgy about letting me out since my disappearing act. Not my fault, FYI. Still, it was madness out there, so it’s not like I wanted to go anyway. Plus, Danny or Luke would call if things got rough. Or maybe just Danny, because Luke was supposed to be doing the kids thing too.
‘Neighbour kids are throwing a party,’ May said, pressing the popper down for her turn.
‘Hmm,’ I replied and she frowned disapprovingly at me.
‘You know, this time last year you were in front of that TV watching those horrible horror movies the two of you like and then going next door for a sleepover,’ May huffed, moving her piece around the board. ‘And the year before you were carving pumpkins with Ben.’
‘And this year, I’m playing Trouble with you,’ I replied. ‘Or we could put on Honey I Cooked the Kids: Michelin Star…’
‘Absolutely not,’ she cut me off and I chuckled, pressing the popper down again for my turn. ‘But you know I don’t like the idea of you getting into trouble out there, but you could at least be doing something. What about those new friends you’re always talking about?’
‘Those are Bonnie’s friends, Aunt May,’ I stressed, I was not friends with Luke, Flash or Danny. Pietro was okay, and I had to be nice to him because Bonnie had been so good with Gwen. But no one else. They were not my friends. I had Bonnie and Gwen, and that was it.
‘Well you can hardly blame her for making friends, Pete, you didn’t exactly involve her when you started seeing that girl,’ May lectured. ‘However, Bonnie’s your friend. If you want to hang out with her new friends, I’m sure she’d love to have you.’
‘I know she would, that’s not the problem,’ I replied and irritatedly gestured for her to take her turn. ‘They’re not my friends. I liked when it was just me and her. And yeah, when we were younger we had Harry, but Bonnie just gets me. These other guys are new and..’
‘They don’t know you yet Peter. You have to give them a chance, they can’t be your friends if you don’t let them in,’ May said, shaking her head as she pressed the popper down again and moved a new counter around the board. How was she beating me? She wasn’t even interested in the game!
‘Well maybe I don’t want to, why can’t I hang out with you? We never get to spend any time together,’ I said and she shot me a look of disapproval.
‘Peter, I raised you,’ she replied. ‘I don’t need to spend any more time with you. Now, I’m happy to play your games with you, you know I always will, but you also know you should be out there with your friends. You can’t be a recluse. When was the last time you even went on that damn thing?’
She’d angrily gestured to the skateboard by the back door and I looked back at her like she’d grown a second head. She hated the skateboard, worried I was going to break my neck and now she wanted me to go out on it? I’d only just stopped being grounded. Maybe she thought I was being weird because I didn’t really fight her on it. But I understood why she was grounding me, and I knew she’d never let me out of the house again if she knew where I really was. I knew she didn’t really buy the duck thing anyway..
‘Okay, look, if Bonnie calls after she’s done with the Midtown Elementary kids, I’ll hang out with her, happy?’ I asked and May shot me a proud grin. She nodded and I looked down at the board, she was kicking my ass!
Bonnie Carter POV
A bead of sweat trailed down my neck. I knew my palms were a little sweaty but Pietro didn’t say anything, presumably because my hands were always a little sweaty, as were his. Unfortunate side effect to having your fingers locked with someone all day. He swung our hands a little as we walked, subway exit miles behind us. We were almost at the house and I wondered if Flash was as nervous as I was. Maybe that’s why he’d invited us. He’d been popular, he still reasonably was, even if he wasn’t hanging out with his old cronies. Plus, we were in our old neighbourhood, it wasn’t far from his house. But I was nervous because the last time I’d been here we’d had a visit from my Emo Best Friend. That and being here since I’d moved in with Steve it just felt...weird. Like I didn’t belong here anymore now everyone I knew was gone. It was just Peter and May left and he spent a lot of the time at my place rather than me visiting there, which I felt bad about.
‘So you used to live here?’ Pietro asked and I nodded a few houses up. He didn’t show any obvious signs of being put off. ‘That one, with the flag?’
‘Yeah,’ I nodded. ‘The chainlink fence and the cracked sidewalk.’
‘Spolucheni Shtaty,’ Pietro said, shaking his head a little. ‘Why Americans have flag everywhere? Sokovians, we have national pride but this…’
‘It does seem a little cult-y when you think about the elementary kids pledging allegiance to it every day, huh?’ I smiled. It was just a cultural thing we’d all gotten used to. ‘I have a lot of military service in my family history, but I guess you gathered that from Steve…’
‘Of course, Sonechko, I hope you don’t think…’
‘No,’ I smiled, squeezing his hand. ‘I don’t mind. It was Dad who put it up, his dad used to, I think Peggy or Grandpa Daniel did, I’m not sure anymore...it was a long time ago. I just...I can’t bring myself to do anything to the house yet. It feels wrong to let it fall apart but it also feels like I’m wiping away all the memories if I patch it up.’
‘Chystylyshche,’ Pietro nodded and I looked at him with a furrowed brow. ‘Uh, you know, pidvishenistʹ.’
‘Uh…’ I waited for JARVIS to tell me.
‘Purgatory, Miss Carter,’ JARVIS said. ‘Limbo.’
‘Right,’ I said, nodding in understanding.
‘Uh you guys know I still have no idea what’s going on, right?’ Flash said and I turned to look over my shoulder at him, smiling softly at his confused face. I had actually allowed myself to get lost in thought, but I hadn’t forgotten him.
‘Limbo.’
‘Like the game?’ Flash screwed up his face in confusion and I chuckled softly. ‘No?’
‘No the concept, the place in between. Purgatory,’ I explained and he just shrugged, picking up the pace towards the house we were going to.
‘Whatever, you can have your academic theories on why you won’t fix up your house, I’m going with grief,’ he called over his shoulder. ‘But no more of that, because tonight, we party.’
He shot us a mischievous smirk and hurried along the road we’d been walking along the middle of towards the thumping music. It was probably a little loud for a Thursday night, but I mean, you tell that to high school kids in Queens and see what happens. Pietro held his arm up in the air and I spun under it, our hands still connected. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the temple, waiting for us to be let inside.
We were ushered inside and there were bodies everywhere. There was almost no free standing space and I felt claustrophobic. I’d always been able to fit in small spaces, and being from New York meant I’d been in crowds before, but this was ridiculous. We were like sardines. This was more people than I’d seen at peak hour at the subway.
Flash pulled Pietro towards the kitchen, who in turn pulled me towards the kitchen because our hands were still joined. Apparently we had to get to the jungle juice before it got spiked and I made the unpopular suggestion of just not drinking it. Both Pietro and Flash made loud yells of protest and I shrugged, letting Flash pour Pietro and I practically overflowing Dixie cups. He hopped up and down looking anxious and went to the dance floor. Pietro and I exchanged an amused glance and followed him. He was very antsy tonight.
Tonight was apparently the night I found out Pietro could dance. And I know you’re asking, Bonnie, didn’t you learn that at the dance? No. I learned Pietro’s tongue could dance and I was very happy with that knowledge. I was also very happy with the knowledge that Pietro could actually dance, and his preferred moves involved his thigh up between my legs and his hands on my hips. He learned that while I didn’t go dancing often, I did used to practice in the mirror after dinner every night when I was a cheerleader, and my best move involved dropping to the ground seductively.
Pietro’s hands were on my hips as I leaned over my knees in front of him only to flip back up, wild hair getting thrown back over my shoulder. I leaned my head on his shoulder as I ground back towards him and his lips found my neck. Every so often Flash would disappear off with our cups and refill them but as he came back holding all three in one hand and holding a brownie in the other, I was no longer convinced I was getting mine back every time. Not that it mattered, I’d been sharing spit with Pietro for months now and it’s not like Flash was getting any.
‘Dude, these brownies are amazing, better than that bakesale stuff,’ Flash commented over the loud music. I could feel the base reverberating through my chest and I was honestly surprised no one had called the cops yet.
‘Look, I came up with the idea before I found out no one could cook,’ I said with a shrug. ‘But also, the cookies I made were pretty good.’
‘Dude, just try the brownie,’ Flash said, stuffing what was left in my mouth. He smeared crumbs across my jaw and I tried not to choke on the admittedly very moist brownie. But in spite of myself I laughed. I ate the piece of brownie and laughed. Pietro leaned down over my shoulder and kissed me, tongue running over my teeth and he hummed.
‘You right, is very good,’ he slurred.
‘See I told you, come on, let’s get more,’ Flash said and the two of them hurried off to the kitchen. I lagged behind, my vision was getting a little hazy, but I was 4’8” and I’d been drinking all night. I giggled to myself at the two of them lurking in the kitchen with the entire plate of brownies dragged over to them.
‘These are the best fucking brownies I’ve ever eaten,’ I heard Flash say, words muffled in his mouth by the brownie. Pietro nodded enthusiastically, a whole one stuffed in his mouth.
I refilled my dixie cup and walked over to them, hopping up on the counter top and picked up my own brownie. We were laughing and chatting and stuffing our faces when I saw a guy in a gray hoodie stumble past and head outside through the back door. I exchanged a glance with the others and hopped off the counter, stumbling over with my red cup in hand. Poking my head outside the door I found the stoner kids. Sitting on the outdoor furniture and looking so fucking relaxed they sat around passing around a J.
‘Oh hey Bonnie, what’s good?’ some guy I’m pretty sure I’d never met before said. He had some sweats on and was sitting in an armchair on the concrete porch. I looked around and saw most of them were in similar furniture, all stuff that had belonged inside at some point.
‘Oh hey,’ I said, smiling, leaning against the door jam, door resting on my back. ‘You guys having fun?’
‘Yeah, come sit,’ they waved me over and I took my cup, walking out the door fully and joining them. I sat on the couch in the middle, the only free spot available. It was still really soft and I was obsessed with the texture, running my hands over it again and again.
I’m not really sure what possessed me to be perfectly honest, to join these guys, I had no idea who these people were but I just kept hearing Danny’s words from the start of the year in the back of my head. “Give him a chance” and so I wanted to give these guys a chance, you know? They seemed friendly enough.
‘You want?’ the guy beside me said, holding the joint. I made a face. Did I? ‘It’s alright, no pressure,’ he said and passed it to the guy on the other side of me. The back door opened up again and Pietro and Flash staggered outside and greeted me like I’d been missing for days.
‘Ayyyy! Carter!’ Flash bellowed, pumping his fist in the air and hollering. Pietro cheered and trotted over, sitting down on the polished concrete and between my legs.
‘You guys wanna sit with us?’ the guy who’d invited me outside asked. They agreed, Pietro between my legs and leaning against one of my shins to keep him upright, Flash taking a folding chair and setting it up.
‘So, you guys like the brownies?’ the guy with the gray hoodie I’d seen go outside earlier asked.
‘Oh yeah dude, they were awesome, you guys make em?’ Flash agreed easily, sipping from his soda cup.
‘Oh yeah, here,’ he replied, passing Flash the joint. ‘You’ll wanna get a hit of this, it’ll make the trip so much better.’
‘Huh?’ I asked, turning to him. He smiled and gestured inside to the kitchen.
‘The brownies, sometimes shrooms can make you nauseous so we all smoked before we ate them,’ he explained and the rest of the guys nodded and made some noises of agreement. ‘But if you do like you guys and take a hit of this after you eat them, you get a wayyyy more intense experience.’
‘Honestly, we didn’t think you guys would be cool like that,’ the guy beside me said and handed me the joint. ‘I guess that’s why you and that Parker kid like, never come to parties or whatever. You’re at home right?’
‘That’s so sick,’ the guy on the other side of me said. Pietro reached up and took the joint out of my hand, taking a hit like he’d done it before.
‘Sokovia is very different,’ he shrugged. ‘Is Europe, this is more common than you think.’
‘So dope,’ the guys agreed. Pietro offered it to me and I shrugged. I was already apparently on mushrooms.
I wonder if I should have called an adult. I mean, I had accidentally dosed myself. Tony would have been cool about it, come got me, laughed a little. I wasn’t as bothered as I thought I’d be. Honestly, I was sitting with two of my friends feeling safe and comfortable. High school was supposed to be my time for experimenting. Guess I could try it this once.
Putting the joint to my lips I breathed in and was expecting to choke but I didn’t. I breathed in smoothly and held it there. I wonder if Steve was better at smoking weed too because of the serum. Not that I was about to ask. I passed it on and sat with my head back against the couch. I can't believe I went to one party and accidentally dosed myself. I giggled to myself. That was pretty typical luck for Bonnie Carter. I’m honestly just excited I didn’t accidentally roofie myself with the jungle juice. I sipped from my soda cup. Oh well.
Chapter 34: Cover me in you
Summary:
The party part II
Chapter Text
Title Song: Cover me in you (Strict Machine) - Goldfrapp
Bonnie Carter POV
Thursday 31st October 2013
Unable to stop chuckling to myself I realised I should probably go home. Flash and Pietro had managed to get a hold of some sparklers and were lighting them and dancing around the backyard as I lay on the dried up and dead grass, staring up at the night sky. While we weren’t doing anything, I was pretty convinced I was in over my head. I was giggling uncontrollably at nothing, I was far too warm and had the urge to take off all my clothes. I knew I shouldn’t, this was a party, but I was so warm. And also, being naked was kinda awesome.
Pulling my Slate from my pocket I dialed Peter. While he’d probably freak out that I was doing psychedelic drugs the first Halloween we’d been apart in eleven years, he wouldn’t let anything happen to me. Not that I thought Flash or Pietro would either, but I didn’t want to put that responsibility on them, they were also on drugs.
‘Bonnie? Why are you laughing? It’s like, 11pm, what’s that noise? Wait, is that music? I can hear that. Are you at that party down the street?’ Peter asked. ‘How did you even get invited?’
‘Pete, I have to tell you something, really really important,’ I laughed, no longer watching the boys and looking up at the stars in the night sky instead. I was a little worried he'd be angry with me, disappointed even, but I was overwhelmed by the warmth in the pit of my stomach. ‘And you’re going to be so mad at me.’
‘Then why are you laughing?’ he asked and I could hear him turn the TV volume down, he’d been watching some kind of horror movie, what one I didn’t know. That was our tradition. Suddenly I was annoyed I was here. We could have gone to a party at any time, but this was Halloween! We always spent it together. We spent every holiday together. I’d already given up on Valentine's day. We used to watch romcoms and cry with chocolate. Damn, I want chocolate now.
‘Well the answer to that is also the thing I have to tell you,’ I mumbled, tilting my head. I looked down across the grass to see Flash and Pietro light some really long sparklers they’d found, no doubt leftover from the 4th of July. ‘Oh, it’s so pretty…’
‘What’s so pretty? Bonnie, focus, what did you need to tell me,’ Peter tried snapping me out of it. They seemed to move in slow motion, the drag of the light through the dark was like something out of a movie but it was happening in front of me. It was so bright and shiny and perfect.
‘The sparkles, silly,’ I laughed. ‘Woooo!’ I cheered out and Pietro bowed, sparkler thrown out to the side, sparks still flying off the wire. ‘Do it again baby!’
‘Are you drunk or something?’ Peter asked and I snorted. I watched Pietro spin and dance and the sparks fly off the hot wire, lighting up the whole backyard the same way he lit up my life. I was so in love with him.
‘You don’t know the half of it,’ I giggled. ‘Listen, I know you’re gonna freak, but I need you to come get me. I accidentally dosed myself with shrooms and I smoked some pot and I got drunk. Please find me.’
‘You what?! ’ Peter screamed down the phone. ‘Do not go anywhere! Stay exactly where you are, I’m coming over. Where are you?’
Pietro and Flash’s long sparklers finally burnt out and they switched back to short ones as I hummed out to the music that was playing inside the house. Peter was talking to me, freaking out if I heard correctly but I wasn’t really listening. I think I might have started singing.
‘I’m in the backyard, there’s a gate,’ I said and went back to staring at the night sky, dropping my phone on the ground beside me. I don’t remember where the stoners had gone but it was only the three of us outside now. I was still singing, I noticed, but not to the same music as the party was playing. The boys still had their sparklers out and it was so amazing to watch, I felt like a kid again. Had sparklers always been so visually fantastic?
I heard the noise of the wooden gate opening, the creaking sound over the loud music, the base thumping straight into the ground, I felt it in me, that base, it was spreading up through my back. Peter was suddenly above me and I grinned cheerily at him. I reached my heavy arms up towards him and when he tried to pull me up I yanked him down again. He cried out and I held him tightly in my arms as he tried to wrestle free.
‘Bonnie for fucks sake!’ Peter yelled and I laughed. We rolled around on the ground as I tried to keep him pinned and he tried to free himself. But I was naturally strong and he was bitten by a radioactive spider, so it was like an unstoppable force had hit an immovable object.
‘How did you let this happen? What are you.. you..you doing drugs now?’ he stuttered out and I smiled at his stressed face, he was adorable when he was concerned.
‘Firstly, it was an accident,’ I told him, bringing my hands up between us to count off on my fingers. ‘And then I figured hey, you already fucked up so why not do a bunch else? Well, the alcohol wasn’t an accident, I willingly drank from the soda cup. And then I ate a brownie that was really really good by the way. But my bad, they were shrooms brownies. And I figured, well since I’m already on a psychedelic drug trip, why shouldn't I smoke this joint?’
‘Sound logic,’ he nodded. I’d finally let him go and he was sitting on the grass beside me, elbows resting on his knees. He let out a sigh as he watched Flash and Pietro play with sparklers with a look more of disdain than the amazement I’d held. ‘Look, you can do whatever you want I just…’ he turned to look back over his shoulder at me. ‘why’d you call me?’
‘You’re my best friend,’ I told him as if it was obvious. He shifted, laying down in the grass to lay beside me and stare up at the stars. He was still wearing his glasses, he must have been working on something while he watched TV. He always had that damn notebook out these days.
‘Doesn’t always feel like it,’ he said with a sigh. He looked away from the stars to make eye contact with me and I smiled cheerily at him, reaching out to touch his face. He huffed and turned back away from me.
‘You’ve got these new friends now, it’s hard to keep up. You know you’ve got the others, they know who we are...and then there’s those two,’ he nodded to Flash and Pietro. ‘You always had it in you to be popular, if you hadn’t’ve been friends with me, you could have been. Sure, you’d still have stood up for the little guys I think but I mean, you were a cheerleader…I’m holding you back. You could be extraordinary.’
‘Fuck extrordinary,’ I barked. He rolled his head to the side, giving me his full attention. ‘You know I didn’t want to be a cheerleader,’ I said irritatedly, he should remember that. ‘Mom was a cheerleader, I was doing what everyone else at our middle school was doing, legacy fulfilment. I only went along with it because I thought it would be like Kim Possible, you and me, we could use it to fight crime or something.’
Peter scoffed, chuckling at my logic. ‘Who am I in this retelling? Ron?’ I shook my head.
‘No Spandex-Man, I’m Ron,’ I told him. ‘I’m the moron who has bad plans, gets injured and miraculously gets out of the situation because she’s rescued by her friend. But just like Ron, I don’t want to be popular, I never wanted popular. I wanted football, that made me happy but I always wanted you. I was always happy with just you, you were enough. I just never get to be with you. Not anymore.’
‘I know,’ he sighed, turning his head back to the stars. ‘May said as much. I didn’t do the best job of splitting my time. I thought that the Spidey time would be enough, but that’s work. And you work, you have your job and practice and…’
‘You used to come to those, I’m grateful for that, but you stopped and I’m not jealous, I’m not, I’m just surprised it took so long,’ I said. I was a little jealous, back when this had all first started, when he first started distancing himself from me. ‘It must have been so boring for you.’
‘It’s not,’ he said. ‘Okay, maybe football practice is...but any time I get to spend with you is worth it. You really are my best friend. I feel like I’m losing you.’
‘I know I’ve been spending a lot of time with Pietro lately but the truth is I just really like getting laid,’ I said and he choked, coughing. I watched him get a hold of himself and then laughed, writhing around on the grass. ‘Sorry, he’s like my best friend too, he understands me, he can read me like you can. But it is nice, I see why you like Gwen so much now.’
‘We don’t uh...not that often. Maybe once or twice,’ he said awkwardly, going pink at the ears and looking pointedly at the stars. ‘We don’t have the uh.. privacy, the making out is nice though.’
‘Yeah I forget not everyone is as fortunate as me, no parents no problems,’ I laughed and felt that pang in my chest. He grabbed my hand and held it tightly, giving it a squeeze as we both stared up at the night sky. I missed my parents. How could my dad leave me? Wasn’t I enough? I hadn’t been enough for Peter, I understand that, but my dad? How could I not be enough? He left.
‘Can’t believe you didn’t tell me,’ Peter huffed and I chuckled. ‘I told you .’
‘I’d have told you, we just never have the time alone together,’ I shrugged, playing with his long fingers. I tried not to let thoughts of dad poison my trip from the inside out. It was actually pretty easy because I still felt so good. It was like the anticipation, the excitement of being on a roller coaster going up up up but never coming down.
‘Tony gave me the talk and it was the most embarrassing thing to have ever happened to me. Next morning I find out he’s been in my apartment, and left a fifty pack of condoms on the counter,’ I told Peter and he was smirking, enjoying that I had been mortified.
‘Well no wonder you’re getting laid so much,’ Peter remarked and I laughed. ‘Just because you have fifty, doesn’t mean you have to use fifty.’
‘I didn’t think I was getting laid that much but I think I got like three left to be honest,’ I told him and he made a noise of disgust. ‘I didn’t use them right away, I think my first time was near the end of September. That's kind of amazing when you do the math.’
‘Yeah by that logic you’re getting it nearly twice a day,’ he agreed, sounding kind of impressed. ‘You are a slut.’
‘You heard about the kids, huh?’ I asked and he turned his head to me, wearing a look of confusion. Those little turds. Those little turds and their shitty moms. Shitty, bitchy moms.
‘What kids?’ he asked and then I wore a look of confusion. If he hadn’t meant tiny Tiana and Tinkerbell, who had been calling me a slut? What the fuck? Where was all this coming from?
‘No, what do you mean?’ I demanded, looking over at him angrily.
‘Because of what Liz was saying...because you’re the girl on the football team..’ he muttered, suddenly very awkward. Liz. Of course this was down to her. I didn’t even have anything to do with her until this year. I thought she’d been too quiet recently. Apparently her failed assassination attempt wasn’t enough. Damn it!
‘When did she say this?’ I asked and I could feel Peter mentally packing his things and getting ready to check out.
‘Look does it matter? She’s moved now,’ he said and I raised an eyebrow. Wait, she moved? When? Was that why she’d been so quiet? Did someone else see her try to murder me on the dance floor? Heheh. Murder on the dance floor~
‘When did that happen?’ I asked and Peter shook his head at me, disapprovingly.
‘Danny’s right, you really don’t pay any attention,’ he tutted and I rolled my eyes at him.
‘I pay attention enough to know it was Luke who said that,’ I corrected him and he chuckled, punching me in the arm lightly with our joined hands.
‘Whatever..’ he said.
Peter Parker POV
Eventually, I managed to coax Bonnie up off the floor and thankfully her loyal pets wanted to go wherever she went and easily followed after us. Honestly I’d have just left them at the party had they not wanted to come. Pietro was alright, but fuck Flash. I’d agreed to be civil with him because he was Bonnie’s current project, but he was still that guy, and a couple of months wasn’t enough for me.
Bonnie pranced around the street, dodging raised patches on the uneven road, managing with impressive skill to not trip on the cracked tarmac in the darkness. I was glad it was a reasonably quiet street we lived on for once, or we used to. She’d left. I knew she couldn’t stay, but she was so far away. She used to throw things at my window when she was bored, sometimes she’d scale the roof if she hadn’t seen me for a while. She’d been over almost every day when we were kids. Or I was over there.
Pietro had his arms wrapped around her now, they slow danced in the gutter and Flash stumbled around behind me, clearly drunk as well as high. He came up behind me putting a large hand on my shoulder, looking like he wanted to say something. I shook my head and shrugged his arm off, taking off towards Bonnie’s old house. On my way past her I grabbed her, going through her pockets as she still tried to dance, looking for her keys.
Storming over to the door I questioned how I managed to find myself in this situation. Shoving the keys in the door lock I twisted it and slammed my shoulder into the swollen and warped wood. She really needed to get around to fixing this thing. Her house was falling apart so much by the time she finally moved back she wouldn’t have a roof over her head. Pietro slipped on the porch stairs behind me and Bonnie giggled, having obviously caught him, and escorted him inside. Flash followed after, looking around amazed. I couldn’t tell if he was wondering how she lived in a hellhole like this, or if he was seeing pretty birds and unicorns because of the shrooms he was on.
‘No, no, Bonnie stop it!’ I scolded as she stood by the living room entryway with her crop top in her hands and halfway up her body. ‘Put that back down!’
‘It’s so warm,’ she huffed and I reached over, yanking it back down myself and doing up her flannel shirt buttons.
‘You cannot be naked right now, you’re as bad as Flash,’ I told her and steered her into an armchair. ‘Sit, and behave.’
Speaking of, I looked behind me to see Flash in a similar state of undress, tripping over his half off shoes. Thankfully Pietro only seemed interested in going to the kitchen and locating more food. Apparently all the dancing around the backyard had awoken an appetite in him only stale, out of date pantry goods could sooth. I dare not call Paul the pizza guy. How did I get roped into this?
Bonnie very animatedly snuck over to the kitchen, I imagine feeling very sleuth-y but being about as convincing as a cartoon character. I just let her go, figuring there wasn’t much trouble she could get into with the cereal boxes.
‘I hate that nickname, you know,’ I heard and looked over at Flash who had his head resting on the backrest of the couch. He was lounging very comfortably but looking like he couldn’t lift his head even if he wanted to.
‘What, Flash? Everyone calls you that, you’re speedy, Flash lightning,’ I replied and he chuckled darkly, shaking his head and staring up at the ceiling.
‘That’s not how I got that name, Parker, you know that,’ he said bitterly and I stared at him in confusion. He pushed himself up, glaring angrily at me. ‘You don’t even remember? Damn it, you’ve been the source of torment in my story all this time and you don’t even remember?’
‘Oh I’m sorry, in your story? Did we switch bodies when I didn’t notice? Flash, you beat people up to make yourself feel better, not just people, me! You might have Bonnie fooled with your little good boy act, good old reformed Flash, but you don’t fool me and I’m not going to let you break her heart when you revert back because this stopped being fun for you,’ I snapped, practically snarling at him. Me? The bad guy? Ha!
‘When I was a kid,’ he said, leaning over his knees, and looking at the scuffed floorboards.
‘Oh, are we going to hear the poor little abused boy story now? Come on Flash, everyone in this neighbourhood had something awful happen to them, you’re the only one who chose to make it everyone else’s problem, everyone else chose to be good, you chose to be just like..’ I said, I could feel the rage building in me, I thought confronting him would help it dissipate. I thought it would make it all go away.
‘DAMN IT I KNOW!’ Flash roared, throwing himself up completely and flying at me. He stopped himself just shy and turned away, pacing around on the floor. Instead of beating the snot out of me like I thought he was going to, like he had seemed to want to he calmed down almost completely.
‘I know Parker,’ he said softly, nodding to himself. ‘I messed up. We were friends when we were little, just before Bonnie got here, when you first moved. I was going through that phase where I just wanted to be naked all the time. It’s a kid thing, they do that apparently…’
‘Your mom said,’ I nodded, realising. I did kind of remember Flash running around the neighbourhood with no pants on, getting chased by her. Not the friends part, but I remember the clothes thing.
‘Yeah well because I was always giving everyone a free show you nicknamed me Flash Thompson, because I was flashing everyone and it stuck ,’ he said and I bit my lip. That part, it did seem a little bit familiar. ‘I couldn’t get people to stop calling me Flash. I hated Eugene but god it was better than that. I was so embarrassed, everyday I walked around being reminded of just a stupid kid phase. So yeah, I know I chose to do the wrong thing, but..’
‘But what, it was my fault? I deserved it? Are you victim blaming me?’ I spluttered. Dear god. I mean, I felt bad if it had hurt him that badly but he literally punched me in the face so many times I’m lucky to still look like I do. I leaned back in the chair.
‘No,’ he replied, biting his cheek and shaking his head. He let out a heavy sigh, pacing around a bit more before coming to a stop. ‘I got everyone to think it was because I was fast by joining the sports teams and stuff..it’s not so bad. I’m not trying to blame you, I just want you to understand, Parker, I don’t hate you. So don’t like feel bad..’
‘Feel bad? Is that what you think…’
‘Shut up! SHUT UP!’ Flash yelled, finally snapping at me. He put his head in his hands as he stood in front of me, unmoving. ‘Please just let me finish. I’m only gonna have the balls to say this to you now, so please, let me do it.’
‘Balls never seemed to be anything you were in short supply of… okay fine, hurry up,’ I said and reached my hands up behind me and rested them on the back of my head. He nodded, shooting me a grateful look.
‘I imagine Bonnie talked about the kind of guy my dad is. I learned that if I wanted to feel power, I had to use my strength. First it was other people, then I got that nickname and it made it easy to do it to you, I hated you for it,’ he explained and I nodded, made sense. In his mind I’d been the one to hurt him. He walked back over to the couch he’d been sitting on and slumped down.
‘But then Bonnie, she saw me outside my house once. She came talked to me, I think it’s when she realised what was going on at my place and then you were the person she went back to. She stood up for the victims, and she talked to me that day because I was that guy then, but back at school she was, everyone else was struggling too,’ he explained and rested his elbows on his knees, trying to stop one from bobbing up and down. I watched him bite his lip. I didn’t say anything, he asked me not to. But the silence was annoying. Would he just get to it?
‘So the only way I could get her attention then was to be the bully. I had to go for the people closest to her, she hated me then. But she talked to me more, spent more time with me, beat the snot out of me and it hurt but it felt kinda good. The blood in my mouth tasted good, the dirt in my cuts burned so good. And so I had to beat you up for it? Put Gordon in a locker,’ he explained seriously but then made sure to quickly add the caveat that ‘I already told him this, I apologised. I know it doesn’t mean much to you Parker, I know you know I felt good doing it to you, so I don’t expect you to forgive me. But I hope you’re not afraid, because I won’t hurt you anymore.’
‘I…’ I paused. I hadn’t been expecting him to say he was sorry. I certainly wasn’t expecting him to tell me he didn’t want me to be afraid. ‘I’m not afraid of you.’
‘I’m glad,’ he nodded, looking relieved. ‘I did like having the power, being strong, but when I did bully people, they had that fear that I do around my dad. Or what I used to, that fear, it changed. I got used to the bruises, but I was always afraid that my sister would get them, that my mom had them. I took the punches gladly, because I started to understand why Bonnie hated me so much. I owe her everything, I’m going to be the best friend she ever had. But I know how much you mean to her too. Parker, I’m sorry I hurt you, I’m sorry for what I did. And I’m sorry because you deserve it, not just because I wanna do this for her. I do understand, this isn’t some empty apology.’
‘I…’ I paused again, licking my dry lips. I leaned over my knees, mirroring the position he was sitting in. I’d been wrong, or I was about to be. I wanted to believe him but there was a dark part of me that worried he wasn’t actually on the path of redemption. So either I was wrong about him up until now, or if I believed him, I could be wrong about him in the future.
‘You don’t have to say anything, thanks for letting me say that,’ he said. ‘And I will still mean it tomorrow.’
‘I forgive you...Eugene,’ I said, trying not to call him Flash. ‘Also, you know if you tell Bonnie not to, she won’t call you Flash.’
‘Yeah I’m not telling her the Flash story...’
Bonnie Carter POV
Pietro and I were in my old kitchen sitting quietly on the floor while Peter and Flash were in the living room. They were talking quietly about something but it sounded tense. I wonder if Peter was mad we were all on drugs and I’d roped him into babysitting. I knew things with him and Flash weren’t exactly the best, even if I’d managed to turn a corner with him.
Pietro had found all the old cereal boxes and started picking through them. All the stale ones he cursed at in Ukrainian, and then tossed in the trash, the unopened ones he picked through to taste test. He was animatedly chewing on some Cinnamon Toast Crunch up against the cupboards in the counter, and muttering in Ukrainian, and I was too tired to have JARVIS translate. He didn’t even look like he was paying any attention to anything now except his cereal.
I pushed up off the floorboards and walked out of the room, no one stopped me. Why they would, I didn’t know, but they didn’t. I snuck upstairs to my room, again, why I didn’t know. I was going to paint, I’d been bitten by the inspiration bug but given I was trustworthy enough in this state not to eat the paint, I don’t know why I felt the need to hide what I was doing.
Humming softly I pulled out all my paints and pastels and watercolours and pencils, everything. All the sketchbooks, canvases and laid a paint splattered white sheet over the floorboards. First I worked with pastes, smearing the dust over the pages, sure I was creating a masterpiece. Scratching the pencils against my sketchbooks I drew and drew and drew, feeling free, feeling right. Everything I was doing, it all felt right. I was so sure. I knew this was right. I had no idea how much time was passing but I was lost in it. Lost in the art. I took a canvas and broke out the paints, squirting out probably too much onto my pallet.
It was so hot. I reached for my shoelaces and kicked my boots off, throwing my plaid shirt off next. I let out a breathy laugh, excited I was getting some relief from the heat. Peter wasn’t here to stop me anymore, I could be as naked as I liked. I frantically reached for the zipper on my jeans and tossed them into the corner of my room, laying on the floor next to my canvas with a sigh. Smiling to myself, I reached down to the elasticated waist of my panties and slid them down my legs and fired them off to the other side of the room somewhere. I pulled the cropped tank up and off my body, grateful I'd not worn a bra and feeling relieved I no longer had to work within the confines of my clothing. I was free. I was free and everything was right.
After staring at the ceiling for a while, colours swirling around in my brain I felt inspired again and went back to working on my canvas. I worked with brushes, thick, broad strokes of colour, building, building until there were light, delicate flicks with smaller brushes. Canvas pushed to the side I felt the inner child in me crying out for finger painting and I obliged, spilling more paint out onto my pallet. Following my inspiration bug I poured some in blobs directly onto the new, very large, unframed canvas and sat on my knees, leaning over it.
‘Sonechko,’ I heard and looked to the doorway. ‘I thought I lost you. What are you doing?’
‘Painting, come, this is a miracle at work, I am making history,’ I told him, waving over my shoulder at him with painty fingertips and he chuckled, coming to sit by me. I could feel him watching me work as I prepared more colors. I looked up at him and saw he had cereal crumbs on his face and reached up to wipe them away. I giggled.
‘Sorry,’ I told him. ‘I forgot I had paint on my hands.’
‘Is alright,’ he told me.
He watched me, seemingly appreciative of me painting in the nude. The thought gave me a little thrill and I could feel myself get a little aroused. I held in a moan at the feeling of my nipples peaking in the cold and at the anticipation of him watching me.
Glancing back, I watched a little grin form on his face before he crawled closer, dipping his fingers in some paint. He booped me on the nose and I chuckled. Revenge could be cute. I looked back at him fully and leaned down for a kiss, smudging the paint on my nose onto his face. The same thing happened with the paint I’d put on him in an attempt at getting rid of his cereal crumbs.
‘I gotta paint,’ I told him and he huffed, diving in for a more frantic kiss. Suddenly my mind was cloudy again. The desperate need I’d felt to paint had been replaced with a desperate need to feel touch from Pietro. He wrapped his arms around me, sitting on the canvas between puddles of paint. He pulled me into his lap and I moaned, feeling his hands rubbing up my thighs. I remembered vaguely being on the dance floor and how hot it had been with him. God, I wished he was wearing jeans.
‘Sonechko,’ he purred, his voice deep and rumbling in his chest. It transferred through me as we pressed together and I kissed him again passionately. ‘Meni potribna tvoya kytsʹka.’
‘What?’ I said breathily, pressing my forehead against his.
‘I need your pussy,’ he echoed, his nose brushing against mine, our lips touched and every time he or I spoke they brushed past each other. His hand rubbed my inner thigh, stopping just shy of my unclothed pussy. ‘Sonechko, will you honour me?’
‘Fuck,’ I gasped sharply before nodding frantically. Yes I wanted that. I glanced down to see his hand, I reached over and grabbed a rag to wipe all traces of paint off before he slid it back up my thigh and into me.
‘You like painting in nude, Sonechko? Vy brudni malenʹki poviyi,’ he murmured huskily against my cheek. He kissed down the side of my jaw and to my neck, licking, nipping and sucking at the hot flesh. His fingers glided through my slick folds and I shook, trembling with the anticipation, the burning ache he was pulling through me.
‘You like painting in the nude, sunshine? You dirty little slut,’ JARVIS chimned in my ears and I decided after this I might need to have a talk to him about boundaries. I did not need JARVIS getting any data about how my boyfriend dirty talked to me while we were on a psychedelic drug trip.
‘Yes,’ I panted. ‘I was so hot, it was so hot,’ I whined, pushing my body into his hand, willing him to work harder, faster. ‘I wanted to be naked. And then you were here. You were watching me and ah~!’
‘Plach za mnoyu,’ he said, nipping particularly hard on my collar bone.
‘Cry for me,’ JARVIS said and unintentionally, I did as I was asked, whining out as Pietro rolled his thumb over my clit. Everything that had frantically built while he’d been watching me paint to when he’d stuck his fingers inside me was sent tumbling towards the ground, crashing over me like a wave in a storm.
I climbed off his lap, throwing myself back with still trembling legs so he could pull his clothes off without getting paint on them. His cargo shorts were kicked off, he apparently already wasn’t wearing shoes and then his safari shirt and t-shirt underneath followed. I pushed him back onto the canvas and climbed onto his lap. His hands were quickly on my hips and mine guided him to the swells of my breasts. He groaned at the sight of my pebbled nipples.
‘Did you really get all,’ he paused, brow furrowed as he tried to remember the English word. ‘You are light switch for me?’
‘Yes, it turned me on having you watch me,’ I confirmed, making him groan.
Dipping my fingers into one of the paint puddles, I brought my hand up and drew with two fingers across his jaw. He smirked and copied my actions except running his hands over my back and round to the plush skin of my belly. He gripped my thighs and rolled me over and down onto the canvas, propping himself up between my legs.
He moaned as he heard the wet sound of my legs opening up around him and moved down to passionately mouth along my breasts. I didn’t know if it was because he was drunk, high or tired but his English was slipping but I didn’t mind. Hearing him speak in Ukrainian was hot. Especially when he said such dirty things to me. I didn’t know how I felt him calling me a slut after today, but I knew he didn’t mean it.
‘Zzadu? Sonechko, I’m flipping you,’ he told me and my body was rolled across the canvas, cold splotches of paint hitting my hot skin. I moaned as he pressed me up against the canvas and I reached my arms out, gripping and scratching against the ground beneath me, smearing paint. He thrust into me I moaned out, loving being mashed into my work and having him pistoning me from behind. He usually did this position if he wanted to last, he wasn’t just wanting to fuck me, he wanted to lose himself in the moment. Hot.
And thank god I’d already heard from JARVIS that zzadu meant behind, because I didn’t need his real time translations right now. Talk about mood killers. I was happy being blissfully unaware of what his gruff voice was saying to me.
‘God, Pietro,’ I cried out, dragging my cheek across the canvas, through some more paint I’m pretty sure. ‘Fuck, please I want to kiss you.’
‘Whatever you want my Sonechko,’ he told me, kissing all over my back and spine. He pulled out and I pushed up onto my knees, turning to face him again and climbing onto his lap. He helped me line myself up again before kissing me and bringing his paint dipped hands up to my breasts. They felt so tender and sensitive in this moment and his touch set me on fire. I moaned into his mouth as I bounced on his lap and he dragged his hands down my body to the floor where he pushed me down onto it. I wrapped my thighs around him and we rolled about, smearing, wiping scratching paint all over each other and the canvas. This wasn’t the work I'd had in mind, but we were creating art tonight. What we had was a masterpiece.
We switched positions frequently, eventually we were almost covered in more paint than my attempt at artwork had been and his thrusts brought me to an earth shattering orgasm. He’d gotten better at everything since we’d started, and he was so eager to give me everything I needed, it was the hottest thing in the world. I cried out clinging onto him with everything I had. Slowly he lay down on the ground, sighing contently as I lay down on top of him. I don’t remember if he was still in me or not, just that I needed some sleep.
Peter Parker POV
Friday 1st November 2013
Groaning, I pushed myself up. I hadn’t fallen asleep on this couch in months and I was beginning to remember why I’d stopped. I stumbled around looking for Bonnie. So far all I could see was Flash asleep in the arm chair, maybe they were in the kitchen. I walked through and found nothing but a dozen opened cereal boxes. I walked back into the living room and found Flash getting up, also looking confused.
‘Yo, where’s Carter?’ he asked and I shrugged.
‘She might be upstairs,’ I admitted, she might have wanted to cuddle with Pietro, or she was getting out of her costume and into some of her old clothes. I padded across the floorboards and up the stairs, Flash following behind me. Her bedroom door was open and I could smell paint, ah, maybe she was feeling artistic again and Pietro was hanging out with her.
I walked up to her bedroom and looked around. She wasn’t using her easel, she was….oh my god. No, I wasn’t seeing that. Oh shit, I was seeing that. Uncontrollably, I let out a horrified scream and the two of them jerked up slightly with the shock. She looked up at me confused, Pietro seemed to recover quicker and rolled the two of them over so she was shielded from view, and I couldn’t decide if the sight of another man’s balls was more or less traumatising than seeing your best friend naked. I turned around to see Flash looking equally as horrified but the most silent I’d ever heard him.
‘We’re late for school,’ I said awkwardly over my shoulder and hurried back down the stairs. Why were they all covered in paint? Fucking drug addicts.
Notes:
Poor Peter....
Chapter 35: She's Only 17
Chapter Text
Title Song: She’s only (17) - Kings Of Leon
Bonnie Carter POV
Friday 1st November 2013
Flash was in the shower down the hall, Peter downstairs after having brought some food over from next door. I was too afraid to open the fridge after remembering I hadn’t cleaned it out before I moved in with Steve. Though I suppose depending on how much cereal Pietro had eaten last night we could eat it dry and straight out of the box. I shook my head at the idea. We weren’t that desperate.
‘Ah, cheer up Sonechko, is funny. Plus, Peter and Flash found us, not gargoyle or very nosy host parents,’ Pietro soothed, coming down to sit beside me as I towelled dry.
‘Did you mean guardian?’ I asked and he shrugged. I shook my head again, still thinking about how Peter had found us this morning. And Flash who’s spent many years admiring my ass fully clothed had now seen it covered with little more than paint smears. At least I hope that's all he saw.
He leaned down to kiss my forehead when I showed no signs of cheering up any, and then picked up my clothes, bunching my t-shirt up in his hand to tug it over my head. I lifted my arms up and slid them in the sleeves and brought them back down to wrap around him.
‘It’s okay for you, yeah they might have seen something or whatever but you’re a guy, ’ I said. ‘Everyone already thinks I’m a slut and this isn’t going to help.’
‘Is this about little gerls? Forget, was one mother with meental health issues,’ he held me close against his still bare, but now paint free chest. Peter had leant him some jeans so he wasn’t parading New York in November with nothing but a safari outfit. The weather outside however, had not stopped him from refusing to put on a shirt. Stupid Euro boys.
‘No, last night I found out Liz’s been spreading stuff about. Something about me being the only girl on the football team...I just,’ I pulled back from his chest and ran my hand over my face. ‘I never cared what people thought before because the kind of stuff they said was I was a loner, or I hung out with the weird kids. People would call me the violent one, and they were true, but they never bothered me. No one’s ever called me this before,’ I sighed. ‘I just...I don’t want it to be true. I know it’s not but it’s new, and it hurts and even if it’s irrational, I’m worried it’s true.’
‘Is not true,’ he assured me, running his palms up and down my upper arms. ‘The nervous chortenia who climbed my fire escape because had not slept with anyone is not slut. I think you being on team is very brave, especially because American boys are so violent. Treat you like frisbee to be thrown around. You are not slut.’
‘I know,’ I huffed, leaning forward again to rest my head on his shoulder.
Eventually we both got dressed and headed down the stairs to find Peter anxiously eating dry cereal by the handful and bobbing his knee up and down as Flash awkwardly stared into his toast, refusing to make eye contact with either of us. Pietro chuckled and happily sat down beside him, pouring some milk into a bowl with Cinnamon Toast Crunch which apparently he discovered he was quite fond of, and hadn’t had enough of last night.
‘Thanks for the uh,’ Flash cleared his throat and gestured to the t-shirt and jeans I’d leant him from Dad’s closet. Couldn’t have him walking around in just those leopard print shorts. I’d have done the same with Pietro, but he was too damn skinny so Peter had agreed to lend him some jeans.
‘Don’t mention it,’ I replied nodding, and then I muttered a half-hearted excuse before going outside. I’d realised I hadn’t paid a single bill since living with Steve and I was expecting a bunch of past due notices, maybe some threats about cutting off the water, gas and electricity. We’d all had hot showers today, which struck me as odd so I’d been prompted to check the mail.
Pulling the back of the box open I found nothing inside, which was weirder. Where the hell was all my mail? I furrowed my brow and jogged across the cracked footpath, heading back inside. I heard my sneakers squeak across the scuffed wooden floors and I hurried back into the kitchen, grabbing hold of the door jamb to slow myself down.
‘Hey Pete, have you been collecting my mail?’ I asked, and he looked up a little confused and shook his head.
‘No, why would I..’ he mumbled, still barely looking at me.
‘Well the box is completely empty and like, Steve hasn’t said anything…’ I explained, ignoring his inability to look me in the eye. ‘I just remembered I haven’t paid any bills...You know what, I’m gonna meet you guys at school.’
‘Wait, Bonnie,’ Peter said and I shook my head. He’d shot up out of his chair and looked at me properly. ‘I didn’t mean that I didn’t..’
‘I think this has something to do with Tony,’ I told him, cutting him off. ‘If it’s simple, he’ll be interfering, or maybe Steve is dealing with it, I’m not sure. But I need to find out just in case it’s not them, or I have a fat stack of bills somewhere out there.’
‘Okay,’ he nodded, sitting back down. ‘Well, I guess we can ride the subway together until we switch stations and meet back up later at school.’
‘Actually, will you lock up for me? I’m going to go now,’ I told him and jogged over to kiss Pietro on the cheek before I pulled away and went out the door before anyone could argue. Plus I wanted to be alone when I spoke to Tony, I’d just remembered something about last night that had me worried and I needed to see an adult about it.
The subway rocked and bounced along the track, doing nothing to soothe my hangover from last night. I felt a bit sick, if I’m honest, but that could be a multitude of things. For starters, I had a whole hatfull of worries swirling around in my head. I took a deep breath and I pulled my slate from my pocket, holding it to my ear for a few seconds and then pretended I was making a call so I could speak to JARVIS.
‘Hey, could you make sure Tony’s somewhere I can find him,’ I asked. ‘I need to talk to him about some important stuff and I don’t have a lot of time. I’ve gotta get to school, there’s a game today.’
‘Certainly ma’am,’ JARVIS agreed easily, not that he was going to protest exactly, he was an AI programmed to assist. A little too helpful sometimes, but he wasn’t about to just start not helping, so I really had nothing to worry about. At least, not on this front.
With a deep sigh I took the elevator up to the lab Tony was working away in and stepped through the doors as soon as they pinged. He greeted me excitedly, tutting about me missing school again and invited me to see what he was working on.
‘Pretty cool right?’ He grinned, looking over his shoulder at me. He shifted when he saw the look on my face and pulled away from the lab counter. ‘But that’s not what you came here for, is it?’
‘Actually no, I uh…’ I sighed, running a hand through my now semi dry hair. He patted the bench top and I hopped up onto it, watching him join me. My skin prickled under the lab’s air conditioning and I felt myself shiver, still wet hair getting cold to the touch.
‘What’s up, Princess? You know there’s nothing we can’t talk about,’ he asked concernedly and I bit my lip. I was awaiting a stern lecture after I told him what I wanted to. I looked down at my lap for a moment, picking lightly at the old, worn denim.
‘I need to ask about the uh…morning after pill…’ I explained and he furrowed his brow.
‘What do you mean, you know about protected sex, what’d the condom break? I know you wouldn’t have gone in raw,’ he said and I looked ashamedly down at my lap again. ’Right?’
‘I don’t remember,’ I explained, feeling like I was about to cry all of a sudden. He’s right, I did know better. I was left alone for like a month, Steve could not come home to a pregnant teenager. A drug abusing, pregnant teenager.
‘What do you mean you don’t remember,’ he scoffed, shaking his head. ‘How could you not remember?’
‘I was on drugs…’ I said quietly. I felt my bottom lip start to wobble. I felt so ashamed, embarrassed waking up this morning to my best friends seeing me naked after a drug trip bone.
‘ What ?!’ He asked surprised but sounded more amused than angry or disappointed in me.
‘I went to a Halloween party last night and while I intentionally drank the jungle juice, we accidentally ate a bunch of brownies laced with shrooms,’ I explained and Tony outright laughed. He was hunched over and slapping his thigh in a fit of belly aching laughter. I’m glad one of us was having fun. ‘And then we met these stoner kids outside and I figured I’m already high so why not?’
‘Jesus Christ, kid,’ Tony said, shaking his head at me. He put his hand up to his head and breathed out heavily. ‘So your first instinct on psychedelic drugs was to fuck?’
‘No, first I laid on the grass and watched Pietro and Flash play with sparklers, and then I realised I was probably in over my head, so I called Peter who babysit us all until I snuck off upstairs to paint,’ I explained and he perked up, practically jumping up and down on the counter. He slapped my thigh excitedly as he bounced up and down beside me.
‘You must let me see the paintings!’ he said enthusiastically and I wondered if Steve had made a wise decision leaving Tony in charge while he was away. He really didn’t seem all that responsible. Maybe he’d expected me to be responsible. Whoops.
‘Poor Peter had to constantly fight me to get me to stop taking my clothes off, and when I was upstairs in my bedroom I figured hey, it’s my room and painted. Then Pietro came to find me and one thing led to another and we slept together on the canvas and I woke up covered in paint to Peter’s horrified screaming. And I have no memory if we used a condom, I couldn’t find one this morning when I looked so….’ I explained and he nodded. He still seemed much more amused than he did upset or disappointed in my antics which only made me feel worse. At this point I think I was parenting myself.
‘Well now I definitely wanna see the paintings. If you became a famous artist that could go for a bunch of money! Wait, I wanna buy it,’ he laughed and I shoved him. He laughed a little more before tussling my hair. ‘It’s alright Bonnie, these things happen. Plus, I got up to wayyyy more than you did in my time, you’re fine. I’ll sort you out if you promise to let me see your paintings.’
‘If you pick me up after the game I’ll take you to see them, I’ve gotta clean up the mess anyway,‘ I sighed and he made a “booyah” gesture in the air. I shook my head at him. He was something else, that Tony. ‘There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about… who’s been paying my bills?’
‘Me,’ he shrugged. ‘I figured you had a lot on your mind so I took care of it.’
‘I freaked out when I remembered this morning and then when I couldn’t find any mail… I had to make sure it was you and someone hadn’t been intercepting the mail,’ I explained, scratching my head, fingertips slicing through the cold feeling in my half dry hair.
‘I had your mail redirected here when you moved in. All the bills I took care of, the rest I gave to Steve. I don’t know what he did with it after that,’ Tony told me with an uninterested shrug. Apparently now we were no longer on the topic of tripping, painting or teenage sex he had to go back to his project. He hopped off the counter and went over to what he’d been working on when I came in. I vaguely remembered Steve telling me I had some things but I assumed it was new from the tower.
‘Oh, he said I got some junk mail and I told him to throw it out. Did I get any letters?’ I asked as he leaned over his work bench again. He barely glanced over his shoulder and shrugged again.
‘I can’t remember,’ he muttered, counting something under his breath.
‘Great,’ I replied dryly, well seeing as he didn’t care I may as well go downstairs and get my bookbag ready for what few classes I had left for the day. We had a training session today during my pre-med classes because as soon as school was out we had to get bussed out to the other school. Stupid away games.
Tony Stark POV
JARVIS hummed above me with the fan just like background noise and I didn’t register right away he was saying anything. I looked up through the safety goggles and spotted Steve standing at the reinforced safety windows, arms folded over his chest looking unimpressed. I sighed and pulled off my safety gear, turning off all my equipment and heading over to the door.
‘Ahh Golden Boy, what can I do for you?’ I asked. He raised an eyebrow at me and held up a beaten up box of Vinnie’s Variety 50 which looked surprisingly empty. Or unsurprisingly, if you knew Bonnie. I chuckled to myself, looking at his irritated face.
‘Found these when I was taking out the trash,’ he said sternly. ‘When I asked you look in on Bonnie, I didn’t think you’d stick around long enough to have sex in our apartment. Did you even wait till she wasn’t home? You have the whole tower to yourself, Tony, why my apartment?’
I laughed harder, so much for her being his best friend back in the day. I couldn’t believe he thought they were mine. In fact, this was funnier knowing what I knew about Bonnie, last night, and her paintings. He grumbled, looking at me giggling at him and shook his head, walking away and tossed the empty box in the lab garbage can instead.
‘Hey wait!’ I called out. ‘I’m picking up Bonnie tonight after the game because we have plans. It’s at Curtis High School, in Staten.’
He walked out without indication he’d heard, but I knew he had. I wasn’t about to confirm those were my condoms, but I wasn’t about to snitch on Bonnie either. Probably best she tells him on her own terms if she ever wanted to. I laughed to myself, I was so hanging that painting in the communal floor…
Happy didn’t seem thrilled we were going to another high school football game, even less so one in Staten Island but it wasn’t so bad. Plus, the school was nice enough to put up a perimeter around us so we could watch the game in relative peace. I think he spent most of the time worried about the car, if I’m honest I spent most of my time worried about what the local commentators were saying about having a girl on the team.
‘What I think is most interesting, Bob,’ one of the local sports commentators said, smiling with his cheap veneers at the camera that was casting his face onto the nearby screen. I think I was actually paying more attention to them than Bonnie getting tossed around the field like she was the ball.
‘Most interesting indeed,’ Bob - his partner in crime - agreed, nodding at him in support.
‘Is that the team that hasn't lost a single game all season, is also the only team this season to be playing with a girl,’ the first guy finished and I rolled my eyes. It was 2013, had we seriously not gotten used to the idea of women in sports? If anything, it made it hotter, I was significantly more likely to get into sport if there were women there.
‘A queer move on Midtown Science Academy’s part,’ Bob said only to be cut off by the other guy who looked rather worried. He was waving his hand at him, trying to halt him mid sentence.
‘You can’t say that anymore, Bob,’ he said and Bob turned to him, raising a bushy eyebrow. I sighed, shaking my head.
‘What?’ he demanded, scowling at him for interrupting.
‘Queer, Al, you can’t say it anymore, it upsets the homos,’ Bob explaind and I put my head in my hands, sighing and running my hands through my hair.
‘They do realise I’m the one from the 40s, right?’ I heard and looked away from the floor of the bleachers to see Steve looking amused as he moved to sit down beside me. I gave him a flabbergasted shrug.
‘In any case, Bob, it’s definitely a strange move on Coach Danvers' part to include a female football player,’ Al explained and Steve shook his head at the two of them.
‘A move he’s made before, and their team’s ranking reflected that the previous two years. No, what’s most interesting is their recent success seems to be due to the introduction of exchange student, player number 37, Pietro Maximoff. His playing seems to be enough to counterbalance the presence of a woman,’ Bob explained and I could see Steve looking like he wanted to punch their lights out. Glancing over at the field, however, Bonnie didn’t even seem to be aware they were talking, or if she was, she hadn’t let it affect her playing. The score was massively in their favour and the team seemed acutely aware. By the looks of things, they were starting to get cocky.
‘They were hers, right?’ Steve asked and I didn’t turn to him, transfixed by the players on the field. I’d never been interested in football, not really, but the team seemed to actually behave like a swarm of worker bees, connected by some kind of hive mind. And Bonnie actually seemed to get battered around less than she had at the start of the year, she was protected by her team members more.
‘Huh?’ I asked, watching her leap off the back of another player, throwing a ball towards her boyfriend. His skinny frame zoomed across the field, chasing the ball and catching it swiftly, managing to toss the ball down in a touchdown.
‘The variety pack,’ Steve pressed and I took my eyes off the game. He looked through me with his sky blue eyes. I swallowed, feeling a bead of sweat rolling down the back of my neck. ‘You don’t have to say anything, if she’s asked you not to, but it clicked. I just...she’s seventeen. The thought that they could be hers never occurred to me.’
‘Would it bother you if they were hers?’ I asked and he shook his head. I didn’t believe he was lying, no, he looked completely serious.
‘She’s with someone she loves and she’s being safe, so long as it’s her choice, I don’t have anything to say about it. Under the letter of the law, she’s not doing anything wrong. And given the fact she exists in the first place, it would be hypocritical of me to get biblical on her,’ Steve told me and I chuckled, shaking my head. That's true, if he hadn’t decided to sleep with Aunt Peggy out of wedlock, I’d’ve never have met Bonnie, none of us would have.
‘Yeah I don’t think she’s Christian anyway,’ I told him and he shook his head. It was hard to be Christian when you’d witnessed two Norse Gods battle in your home city. I understood that much.
‘Doesn’t matter. I didn’t have much of a say in how she was raised up until now, but I would have raised her in a sex positive household, I don’t want her to think it’s ever okay to shame women, or be shamed as a women for doing the same as a man would,’ he told me and I smiled. There was America’s golden boy. I wonder if he’d still feel that way if Bonnie had come to him with the same thing she’d come to me this morning, but that would be her business.
‘You gonna tell her you know?’ I asked and he smiled, looking out at the field for a moment, shaking his head.
‘No, I think I’ll let her come to me with that when she’s ready,’ he said, settling back into watching the game.
Bonnie Carter POV
Trying to stifle an excited giggle, I held hands tightly with Pietro who was dragging me into a quiet, lesser travelled alcove in the tunnels surrounding the entrance to the field. He always showered at home, still unused to the idea of showering with other people, save for those occasions he got to sneak into a locker room with me and then he was all for it. And I didn’t mind skipping it this once, given that I knew Pietro probably wouldn’t be coming home with me this time.
‘You know, someday we’re gonna get caught,’ I told him, lips brushing against his salty, sweat soaked skin. I licked a stroke across his collar bone and he moaned, sliding his fingers up towards my braids and tugging them back.
‘Don’t talk that,’ he told me, ducking down to lock lips with me. His other hand gripped my ass tightly, pulling my leg up to his side. ‘Is bad luck. Anyway, you said youself, you not riding bus back to Midtown with rest. Have to make up for lost time.’
‘Sorry, I..’ I paused, I probably had to talk to him about this. I pulled away from him a little, looking down at my muddy, grass covered sneakers. I took a deep breath and then brought my eyes back up at him. He was looking down at me in concern.
‘Sonechko?’ he asked and I bit my lip.
‘Do you remember using a condom last night?’ I asked and he opened his mouth to speak, taking a sharp inhale of breath before pausing, falling short of an answer. He stared intently at me for a moment before he shook his head.
‘Sonechko, I.. I’m sorry, I do not remember,’ he told me honestly, looking worriedly at me. ‘What do we..’
‘I uh, I spoke to Stark about the morning after pill, plan b,’ I told him honestly. I put my hands up behind my head, resting them on my sweaty hairline as I stared up at the sky. What an awful position for us to be in. Although, it was hardly surprising, the amount that we got at it. ‘Of course, to do that I had to tell him why. He wants to see the paintings I did when we went back to my old house. I’m taking it tonight.’
‘Is that what you want?’ he asked and I nodded, looking him in the eye. He brought a hand up to my face, cupping my jaw. I took my hands off the back of my head, reaching out to hold onto the shirt fabric covering his hips.
‘We’re children,’ I told him. His grey blue eyes scanned me, searching for any kind of distress or doubt. ‘I can’t even think about what it would mean if I didn’t take it. I...we’re not ready for that. Maybe one day, when you’re not living in an incredibly unstable, post war country with tension running high, when I’m not letting my body get used as a wrecking ball and making stupid choices. When we’re older, someday we’ll have a family together. But not now.’
‘I understand,’ he nodded, pulling me towards him, wrapping his long arms around me. He held me tightly to him, rubbing soft circles on my back. I nuzzled my muddy face into his jersey and he rested his chin on top of my head, holding me closer still. He leaned down to press a gentle kiss to the top of my head. He pulled back a moment, holding the back of my head with one of his hands.
‘Do you want me to be with you?’ he asked and I shook my head.
‘I uh, I’d like to see you tomorrow, if you’d want to uh, I know it’s the dance and all, but during the day,’ I explained and he nodded.
‘Of course,’ he agreed easily. ‘You know, we still haven’t worked out costumes.’
‘I’ve decided to be lazy, I’m going to go as Winnie the Pooh because I found a pair of yellow skinny jeans in my wardrobe last night and I think I have a red t-shirt,’ I explained and he beamed.
‘I have perfect costume in mind,’ he assured me. He leaned down to kiss my forehead. ‘I will not let you down, Sonechko. Not to worry.’
‘I know, you never could,’ I assured him, leaning up on my tiptoes to kiss him softly. ‘Now come on, we’ve got to get you on that bus or else Coach will have my guts for garters.’
He interlocked our fingers, holding my hand tightly as we walked to the school parking lot. He kept his eyes straight ahead, glaring at the horizon as if it was going to bite him. I bit my lip, I worried that maybe this wasn’t the way he’d wanted that conversation to go. But I was only seventeen, he was even younger at sixteen. It was a recipe for disaster, and I wasn’t even sure I wanted one anyway.
‘I very don’t mind being with you, if you want me to,’ he told me slowly, as if trying to perfectly form and articulate the words. I glanced up at him and we stopped, standing on the sidewalk surrounding the parking lot. It was dark, no one was around yet. His hand still gripped mine tightly.
‘I went to Stark for discretion,’ I explained, squeezing his hand back. I glanced around, the parking lot was still empty. ‘If you stay over, I’m sure your host parents will have something to say, they’ve been so antsy recently, I think we’re pushing it. And I’m worried they’re gonna find out why. I mean, Steve probably wouldn’t kill me or anything but like...we messed up, Pietro…’
‘I don’t care who knows,’ he said indignantly, throwing his free hand out. He'd raised his voice slightly and I glared at him. ‘You should not have to do on your own.’
‘Look, we don’t even know anything was going to happen if I didn’t do this,’ I said, shaking my head. I scanned the area again, no one was around still. ‘You’re acting like we already know, like we’re wiping away a life like it’s dirt on a windshield.’
‘No,’ he shook his head, reaching down to rest his free hand on the back of my head. ‘I know how this works. Five days from now you could become host, two weeks from then you know. I understand nothing has happened yet but does not make it less scary. We both slipped up. I want to own my mistakes, be there to help you. I love you.’
‘You make it sound like it’s an alien,’ I laughed. Host. I smiled, relaxing with a sigh. I understood what he was trying to do and I couldn’t fault him for it. I stood up on my tip toes and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. ‘I’ll talk to Stark, get him to pick you up on the way back from checking out the paintings if you really wanna be involved that badly.’
‘I’m your boyfriend, ’ he replied, huffing out and wearing a look of utter annoyance. He let go of my hand, he was so offended he looked like he was about to start stomping around in front of the bus and pacing. I wanted to giggle.
‘It is my job to help you. I’m supposed to be there when you want me to be,’ he said, turning away from me and actually stomping around in front of me. He saw a rock on the ground and walked over to it. ‘Vot eto pizdets!’ he yelled and kicked it across the parking lot, sending it to outer space.
‘This is fucked up,’ JARVIS said in my ear and I had to stop myself from bursting out laughing at hearing him say that. I’d forgotten about his real time translations and just about died at his situational commentary. A+ comedic timing. I was so telling Tony about this later.
‘Baby,’ I said gently, watching him fold his arms over his chest and glare up at the night sky. Dating Pietro was very different from what American boys seemed to be like. I smiled endearingly at him as he eventually turned around with a deep scowl on his face.
‘Tse trakhaet!’ he muttered, trudging over.
‘It fucks,’ JARVIS said and I struggled to keep my composure. Between Pietro acting like a hungry, overtired toddler and JARVIS’s inability to use tact, I was about to lose my shit.
‘I’m not trying to shut you out, honey,’ I said gently. I reached out for him and he stepped forward but his arms remained crossed over his chest. I slid my hands up his waist, running over the bunches in his stinky, dirt covered jersey. I rested my head on his chest and rubbed his back gently. Eventually he relented and wrapped his arms around me.
‘I know you want to be responsible, do the right thing, and I know you love me and want to be a good boyfriend,’ I told him. ‘I’m not trying to shut you out.’
‘I know,’ he sighed, resting his head on top of mine. ‘Will you allow me to do something? I not want you to be alone.’
‘Hey, barely legal, you coming or what?’ I heard and glanced over to see Tony leaning out of an Audi that Happy was driving, who looked as irritated as Pietro had a few moments ago. He glanced between the two of us and then back at Happy, who was not living up to his name. ‘Bring your boyfriend if you want, it’s not like he didn’t see the paintings last night.’ I sighed, glancing up at Pietro.
‘Do you want to come?’ I asked and he looked at me, waiting for me to tell him I didn't want him there. Searching for any indication I wanted to push him away. Not finding it, he brightened instantly and dragged me by my hand to the car. He tugged the doors open and grabbed me by the waist, lifting me up and shoving me across the leather seats. I let out a shriek and a giggle as he did and he climbed up after me and pulled the door closed, strapping himself in before I had the chance to change my mind.
‘What, no drop top today?’ I asked and Tony glanced back at me from the passenger seat.
‘I thought we might need the trunk space for my latest art collection.’ He shrugged and then wrinkled his nose. ‘But by the way you two smell, we might have been better off,’ he said and pressed the electric window buttons, lowering all four of them and letting the cold night breeze inside.
Chapter 36: Overthinking Everything
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Overthinking Everything (Don’t Stress) - New Beat Fund
Bonnie Carter POV
Friday 1st November 2013
Pietro clung tightly to my hand as we walked into the parking garage’s elevator, and I felt a pull briefly as I stepped away to press the button for my floor without letting go. I was in a strange mood now. Things were somber as we marinated in our mistakes, I started to feel a little nauseous, uncomfortable as a reaction to the drug but also in relation to the stress of having to make the decision. And then of course there was Tony’s loving and enthusiastic bounding around looking at everything I’d painted last night, the impressive number I didn’t remember doing. In fact, he was on his way to hang one on the communal floor now. Not that we really used it, or I didn’t, most of the time people showed up to hang in my apartment. Maybe it was because I didn’t drink or play pool that I was never there.
‘You,’ Pietro said, pausing, looking strained about what to say. ‘You are very talented painter. You should do more, we can still hang out while you do. You looked very happy last night.’
‘I think that was the shrooms,’ I joked and he smiled softly. I hung my head back as we stood there, sighing a breath of relief. This had been a nightmare, I was only a month or so into this part of my life, and it was already shaping up to be a disaster.
‘For what is worth, I’m sorry, moia kokhana,’ he told me, rubbing soft circles on my hand with his thumb. ‘You should not have had to make this decision. Is my fault…’
‘No,’ I cut him off, turning to him, shaking my head. ‘We’re not going to do that, pass blame. It was no one’s fault. Let’s just go to bed.’
‘Alright,’ he nodded and the elevator doors slid open and we stepped out into the apartment. He and I dropped our bags by the door and headed straight for the bathroom. Pulling my jersey over my head I let out a soft sigh, stripping down to skin and heading over to the shower. Under the heat of the jets I found myself swaying slightly, feeling the nausea getting worse and a dizziness start. I put my hand on my abdomen, rubbing it slightly.
‘Are you alright, malia?’ Pietro asked, wet arms sliding around my soapy body. I let out a small noise of discomfort. He held on to me, refusing to let me go as I swayed.
‘Yeah, I’m just kind of dizzy, tired,’ I told him and he made a face. After making sure I was steady, he walked out of the shower and turned on the tap for the bathtub, setting it to fill before he came back and tried to coax me out of the spray. I found myself feeling irritated and about ready to snap at him for no reason. His love just felt overbearing in this moment. ‘Pietro, I said I’m fine..’
‘No you not,’ he said firmly, shaking his head. He quickly scrubbed over my body before he hoisted me up over his shoulder and I grumbled the whole way. I decided not to fight him in the slippery room filled with glass easily broken, and he plonked me down into the half filled tub.
‘Fine,’ I huffed, rubbing my stomach. I was starting to feel some cramping as well, which were all normal side effects of the drug. I couldn't see why he was making such a big deal. I rested my head back against the headrest and tried to relax into the slowly filling water. I noticed Pietro had gone back into the shower to clean up and kept eyeing me suspiciously. It was like he was convinced I was playing it down how I was feeling and waiting for me to like, collapse or something. I’d have a hard time doing that while already lying down in the tub, but whatever. I rolled my eyes and went back to staring at the ceiling. I wondered how I was going to have this conversation with Steve, if I should. I’d promised no secrets. I’d told him about the people I’d killed, why would this be the thing I couldn’t say?
Once Pietro was done in the shower, he wrapped a towel around his waist and disappeared off out of the bathroom for a few moments. He came back fully dressed with a pile of clothes and a bottle of water. He smiled gently at me, handing me the water and then setting himself up on the floor beside the tub, on a towel to make himself more comfortable. I craned my neck slightly to get a look at him. I felt a little guilty being inexplicably mad at him. He was only trying to do right by me.
‘You really don’t have to..’ I started and he made a noise of annoyance. I settled back against the headrest of the tub and sighed. ‘Okay, okay,’ I said, bringing a hand up to rub my sweaty face. ‘I know from your side it must feel like I’m pushing you away, and I’m sorry. I just want you to be here because you want to, not because you feel like you have to, because it’s the right thing to do.’
‘I am here because I love you,’ he explained, scooting closer to the edge of the tub and leaning on it. ‘It is also the right thing to do, it is also what I should do, but I here because I love you . Love makes easy to do this. To do what’s right.’
‘I’m sorry I’m just not used to…’ I started, trying to explain. I made a face, trying to figure out how to explain my entire life. I was loved, I’d been loved before, but my upbringing was unusual. It was fair to say that someone who grew up in a country ravaged by war might have no trouble understanding “unusual”, but that didn’t make it any easier to talk about.
I sighed, shifting in the tub so I could look him in the eye without craning my neck. He rested his head on his palm as he waited for me, elbows balanced on the edge of the tub. His free hand moved to the surface of the water, fingertips swirling it and the bubbles around. He watched me intently, eyes locked on my face as he waited for me to speak. He had such pretty, bright eyes.
‘For the longest time, it was just Peter and I,’ I told him, thinking back to when I’d first moved into that house in Forest Hills, and his Aunt had pushed him round fighting and grumbling to my front door to invite me to play. Neither of us had expected it to go well, but we’d ended up getting on like a house on fire. I think that was the moment he realised not all girls have cooties.
‘I can understand,’ he nodded encouragingly. ‘With Sokovia at war, I only got to see Wanda most of time.’
‘I don’t really know much about what my parents did, I lived with my great grandparents until I was six, but that ended because Grandpa Daniel died, and with Grandma Margret’s Alzheimers, I couldn’t keep living there. And so then I was living with my parents next door to Peter. My mom died when I was 12, there was a car accident and she drowned, and my dad was driving... I guess he just couldn’t cope with the guilt, and he killed himself just before summer vacation. He uh, he hadn’t been right for years, depressed, I’m not sure. He just, he disappeared into his office or his room, and I barely saw him. I made sure he ate, the bills were paid, but I lost my dad when I lost my mom, not last spring.’
I thought back to when Peter had first found out, and tried to cheer me up by telling me it was something we had in common now. It did make me smile a little, it seemed all superheroes had sad origin stories and now I had one too. I was officially one of them. But it also made me think of poor dad, I guess I’d never understand loving someone that much that you were unable to function without them. When mom died, it felt like all the light in the world had gotten sucked away, but as much as it hurt, I had responsibilities and they kept me hanging on. My dad, I guess that just wasn’t enough. I wasn’t enough.
‘...So I really don’t understand how to rely on other people, not yet. It’s not because I don’t trust you to do it, it’s that I’ve never been able to before. And these are my problems, I feel like I should be dealing with them. I love you and I don’t want to drag you into my mess,’ he nodded, reaching out to cup my wet face, rubbing his thumb along my jaw. I still had bruises there, some from the game, some from fighting crime. I was lucky, all this football gave me the perfect excuse to be covered in dirt and injury, the added bonus was just that I really enjoyed the sport.
‘Then I guess I have to convince you, you mess is my mess,’ he said simply and leaned forward to kiss me. He hopped up off the floor and went for a wash cloth, using it to help scrub my back, doing it more thoroughly than he had when I was in the shower. I glanced over my shoulder at his adoring face. He was so cute. I loved how adoring he looked at me, and when he stuck his tongue out the corner of his mouth slightly when he was focusing.
‘Will you tell me more about Wanda?’ I asked and he beamed, puffing up his chest with pride as he excitedly started talking about his sister.
Steve Rogers POV
There was a ding and the elevator door pulled open in front of me with a woosh, once again surprising me they could do all this without the assistance of an operator. Although I supposed that’s what this JARVIS system was. Well, all that and more. I missed the music. Regardless, it was hard to lower my mood, I could still feel my chest swelling with pride after watching Bonnie win another sports game. She’d manage to ignore yet another set of local commentators who apparently hated women, didn’t get thrown around the field like a beach ball, and did it all with grace. Seemed all the training with Tasha had helped her on the sports field as well as in her crime wrangling.
‘Ah! Stevie boy, come look at what your little orphan granddaughter painted,’ Stark cheered when I’d come into view. He was standing on top of a cherry picker while Happy directed him to the left or right for the massive canvas he was hanging. I raised an eyebrow. Ignoring the hydraulic lift I didn’t know he had, and the fact he was hanging the painting himself, it was the subject that was most amusing.
‘She painted that?’ I asked, staring up at the freshly painted work. I could still smell the paint. I almost couldn’t take my eyes off it to give Tony a look. I knew she liked superheroes, but this… this was something else.
‘Isn’t it hilarious? I love her,’ Tony cackled, staring up at Thor’s gleaming face.
‘I…’ I said, started but trailed off.
‘Isn’t this that other painting…’ Hogan said and I nodded slowly. He was right, it was reminiscent of Boticeilli’s work; it was almost a parody of it.
‘The Birth of Venus, yes,’ I confirmed. I sighed, rubbing my hand over my face. I had no idea why Bonnie had painted Thor riding a pegasus surrounded by mythical versions of the Avengers in the style of the Birth of Venus, but it did call for me to comment on her skill. She really should be going to art school instead of nurses college.
‘Is that Thor?’ I heard Tasha ask as she walked up behind me with Barton.
‘Why’s he all naked like that?’ Clint asked as Tony continued to cackle from above. I was a little surprised actually, now that I thought about it, why he had gone to the trouble of moving a cherry picker in here when the more Tony style solution would have been to fly in with one of his suits, and blast it into the wall. Perhaps he didn’t want to damage the piece.
‘It’s like that Boticelli painting,’ Tasha answered and Clint shook his head at her.
‘Why do you think I know who that is?’ he asked and I laughed. It was a little unnerving seeing a teammate buck naked in the common room with a grin on his face, genitalia covered only by the wing of the pegasus. I wasn’t entirely sure why she’d chosen a mythical flying horse instead of the traditional clamshell, but it seemed to fit with the overall theme.
‘I’ve just bought the whole collection, she did a bunch of paintings on Halloween and I’m opening a gallery. You should see them, they’re really good, I do hope she continues this series on what I assume is pleasure ,’ he snickered at that last part and I raised an eyebrow at him.
Shaking my head and deciding not to poke that one, I headed for my apartment, looking for Bonnie. I hadn’t actually seen her since I got back and wanted to check in on her. It had been over a month since I’d shipped out with the others, a lot longer than I’d wanted to leave her for, and a lot can happen in a month. When the elevator doors opened with a whoosh I walked across the hall to our apartment to find two bags by the door. I raised an eyebrow. Bonnie had company? Did Tony not tell her I was back? And it sounded like the sound was coming from the bathroom. Getting closer though, it sounded like they were just talking. I paused by the door, careful to make sure my shadow didn’t show under the door.
‘I’m sure they weren’t that bad, she made them with love,’ Bonnie argued and there was the sound of water quietly sloshing around.
‘Yes, very bad costumes. Wanda had little bug ear swirls…’ Pietro disagreed, sounding very animated.
‘Antennae?’ Bonnie interrupted, sounding amused.
‘Yeah, whatever, and I had eye patch made from heel part of father’s old socks,’ he replied and I smiled to myself, leaning against the wall as I listened with empathy to his story. ‘Was year we got typhus.’
‘Oh god, I went to school with a kid who got that,’ Bonnie told him. I was surprised people still got Typhus in this country. ‘Okay, sock eye patches are pretty bad, but my great grandma really had me going to school dressed as Marie Curie.’
I put a hand over my mouth picturing a tiny five year old version of Bonnie wandering around with the big hair and the bustle skirt. Peggy had really dressed her like that? What happened to a fireman or a princess? I hoped she took pictures at least. Those I needed to see.
‘What bad about that? Inspiring woman,’ Pietro assured her and she made a choking sound.
‘Inspiring? She died of radiation poisoning!’ Bonnie yelled and there was a louder splashing noise like she’d just sent a torrent of water towards him. I wondered if he was in there with her, or he was beside the tub while she relaxed. It seemed a little odd they were hanging out in the bathroom together having only been dating as long as I’d been gone, but I learned a long time ago not to question Bonnie.
‘Minor detail,’ Pietro brushed off with a small noise. I smiled again, shaking my head and continuing on to my own room to change into some house clothes. I decided to leave them to it, whatever they were doing. It didn’t sound like they were up to no good, and things were going to get hard for in the future, they’d already been hard, they deserved some happiness.
Saturday 2nd November 2013
Groaning a little, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I was never going to get used to a bed this soft. It was barely six am. Still, I swung my legs over the side of my bed and headed to the bathroom to start my day. Repeating my daily rituals I brushed my teeth, shaved, went to the bathroom, and dressed, all while wondering if routine actually helped like the therapists always said it would. Shaking my head at myself, I didn’t allow myself the luxury, and finished up getting ready for my morning run.
Putting my sneakers on and heading for the front door, I noticed there were still two bags by the front door, meaning Pietro had stayed the night. I really needed to talk to Bonnie about creating a tip hazard… maybe I should install a rack or something. Put up a hanger? Build a shelf?
After a run and getting the paper, I headed back to the tower to shower and iron it ready to read. It was still early, no one else was awake in the tower, save for maybe Tasha and Clint if they were having one of their insomnia phases. It wasn’t until after breakfast and the morning drew late that I actually saw Bonnie stumble out of her room. She shrieked when she saw me, jogging over excitedly and pouncing on me. The shrieking caused some frantic movement on the other side of her bedroom door, and there was some stumbling around before shirtless and confused Pietro came running. He sighed in relief when he saw why she was screaming, before he suddenly went very pale and looked like he was about to faint. I smiled at him, offering him a small wave as I turned back to Bonnie.
‘When did you get back?’ Bonnie asked, excitedly bouncing up and down on the couch beside me in her pink pyjama pants - the ones with the little yellow ducks on them - and a brown hoodie I didn’t recognise.
‘Yesterday afternoon, just in time to catch your game,’ I told her and her jaw dropped. ‘I’m proud of you two, by the way. You did an excellent job out there on the field.’
‘Ah well, you know it’s Sonechko that does most work,’ Pietro said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck while he waited for me to yell at him. I smiled at him again and he shrunk back further.
‘I don’t know, if you weren’t there to catch my passes and keep running, everything I did would be irrelevant, it certainly was last year,’ Bonnie argued, completely missing - or ignoring - Pietro’s clear discomfort at the situation.
‘So, it’s the Halloween dance tonight, right? You kids going?’ I asked and Bonnie nodded excitedly. I was a little surprised at her chirpy face, normally she would have complained the whole time about going, she hated these things. She said so herself.
‘Yeah, I promised Pietro,’ she answered. Ahh, that explained it. The boyfriend. I liked that he was bringing out this side of her. She was chirpy, happy to do normal teenage things like go to parties and dances. ‘We’re doing a joint costume again.’
‘Which reminds, I need to head home to nosy host parents,’ Pietro huffed, heading back into Bonnie’s bedroom. I raised an eyebrow after him and then looked to Bonnie, who just shrugged. Guess she hadn’t noticed. He came back a little later, dressed fully and walked down the stairs to the living area and kissed Bonnie on the forehead. He said goodbye to both of us, and then disappeared out the door.
‘So, anything we need to catch up on?’ I asked and she blushed, glancing over at the front door again before putting her head in her hands.
‘You missed a lot,’ she groaned. And then, albeit a little reluctantly at first, she began to fill me in on everything I’d missed over the last month and a half. That Liz girl she always fought with had apparently moved schools after the dance, which seemed a good thing, Peter and Flash were apparently on better terms too, also a good thing. She told me since she’d had his grandfather interfere, Flash was also doing much better too, I was proud of her, happy for her. Things seemed to be going well for her.
‘Steve can I...can I talk to you about something?’ she asked a little awkwardly and I nodded.
She ran her hands through her hair and I pulled them away before she started tearing out her curls. I looked down at them for a moment, being reminded just how little they were. They never seemed that small when we were the same size, but now I’d had the serum it was always a reminder of just how little I’d been. How little I’d felt. But, despite her tiny hands, Bonnie didn’t seem to have a care in the world how small she was, as far as she was concerned, she was ten feet tall and burly.
‘What’s bothering you?’ I asked and she sighed again, squeezing my hands back.
‘I uh, I wanna talk to you about your views on certain things. Big things, like sex, and drugs, and being pro-life, and vacines and stuff,’ she told me, pulling her hands out of mine and I raised an eyebrow at her. She wanted to talk to me about this now? I mean, maybe if she’d stopped at sex I’d have thought she was wanting to tell me about the boy I knew she’d had sleep over, but maybe this was a cover?
‘I should have asked earlier, these are big things but I just kind of assumed..you’re..growing up you were one of my heroes. I was supposed to grow up to be just like you and I...I took it for granted we’d have the same views,’ she explained, chewing on her lip every free moment she got.
‘Okay,’ I nodded, putting my hands in my lap. Where to start? ‘Well, I guess it depends on the circumstances of all of those things. Sex, are you legally old enough? It is because you wanted to, was it your choice? Do you understand what having it means?’
‘You’re not..I don’t know?? I mean you came from the 40s. Shouldn’t you be old man-ish about this?’ she asked and I snorted, shaking my head at her. Was she seriously worried I’d be some kind of repressed fuddy duddy old man?
‘May I remind you, if not for me having out of wedlock, very scandalous sex, you wouldn’t be here,’ I told her, laughing when she screwed up her face at the thought. It always made me laugh privately when I thought about how she used to encourage my little crush on Peggy. ‘Bonnie, I never approved of the shame and the stigma the men of my eera used to push onto women, it’s a control thing. I fought for your freedom, and the freedom of everyone else out there today. If you decide you’re ready to have sex with someone you love, or even with someone just because you want to, then I trust you’re old enough to make that choice. The law certainly seems to think so.’
‘But I’m seventeen, and seventeen year olds often make poor decisions,’ she told me and I laughed again, shaking my head at her.
‘You’re not every seventeen year old, if I trust you to fight crime and knock ten bells out of goons, why wouldn’t I trust you with your own body?’ I asked her and she seemed a little affronted. I raised my eyebrow again and she shrunk back. ‘Are you saying you have regrets?’ I asked and she shook her head. ‘Good, shall we move onto the next topic?’
She nodded and pulled her knees up to her chest, waiting for me to start with bated breath. I had to resist the urge to shake my head at the whole situation, it always surprised me the things Bonnie would and wouldn’t fret over. She’ll run head first into a Nazi camp but cares deeply over my opinion of her and her life choices.
‘It depends on the drug, if I'm honest. There’s a big push for marajuana to be used medically again, I was in the ice for most of its criminalisation but I was prescribed it myself for my asthma among other things in the 20s,’ I explained, thinking back to the lunacy that was my family doctor prescribing a child cigarettes to cure asthma. And the days I’d sit on the couch in my apartment with Bucky, or Bonnie when I was much older, and sketch. ‘Back then they used to call them Indian cigarettes, racist I know, and they used to make me very popular amongst the art students at my college up until they realized I wasn’t going to share. Bucky spent a lot of his time shooing them off. It was also him that had to help me get a hold of it when New York banned it.’
‘Wait, no way Captain America was a pothead,’ Bonnie spluttered with morbid fascination. I chuckled at her curious face and shoved her shoulder slightly.
‘I wouldn’t call it that, but yeah, I had to be prescribed it to actually get out my front door every day when I was a child,’ I explained to her. It seemed strange to me they cracked down so hard on it back then, and then did a 180° five minutes later. ‘I wouldn’t be particularly thrilled if you started shooting up heroin or snorting cocaine but I feel like I know you well enough that you’re not doing that.’
‘How can you say you know me well enough, we’ve barely been living together a few months, and you were gone part of that time, you have no idea what kind of person I am,’ she demanded and I shook my head softly at the notion.
‘Actually, I do,’ I told her and she scowled, puffing out her cheeks in annoyance. An expression I knew all too well. She’d understand someday. Time travel wasn’t exactly light, coffee table conversation.
Friday 7th November 1941
Feeling a little wheezy, I climbed off the couch and headed to my bedroom knowing it was about time I took my medicine, lest I wanted Bucky to have an embolism and Bonnie to lecture me. Honestly, the two were way more alike than they liked to admit. I just wished they’d start getting along better, I couldn’t handle much more of them being at each other’s throats.
Slowly, I lowered myself to my knees and pried up the wooden floorboard, pulling out the small tin and some rolling papers. I folded the paper in my hands, getting some decent creases in it before I sprinkled some pre ground herb onto it. My hands hurt less now I had Bonnie to fix me up better every time I got into a fight, and because she shared the punches - much to Bucky’s annoyance - it made it easier to roll. He always said it was like having two Rogers’s in the house now, which I think meant even if he was always annoyed, he at least liked her.
Cleaning up a little, I headed back through to the living room with a box of matches. Striking the match and covering the flame with my hand, I brought it to the roll in my mouth and took a deep inhale. I shook the match out and sat back on the couch beside her, where she’d remained sketching, scribbling out crude cartoons in mockery of Bucky. I smiled, thinking back to when we’d gone to see Dumbo and the two of them spent the whole time bickering and got us kicked out of the theater. Bucky’s date had been so mad. Not that Bonnie or I minded, that girl wasn’t very nice anyway.
Bonnie sniffed the air and glanced over at me before chuckling softly. She shook her head with a knowing smile and went back to her book, somehow catching Bucky’s likeness while also managing to make him look like a dastardly cartoon villain. I raised an eyebrow at her. All he needed was a curly tipped moustache and she could have sold the comic on.
‘What?’ I asked and she glanced back over at me, smiling teasingly and shaking her head again.
‘Nothing,’ she told me and I jabbed her with my charcoal pencil, huffing. She grinned brighter, looking back over her shoulder at my annoyed face. ‘Fine, it’s just, it makes sense.’
‘What makes sense?’ I demanded and she chuckled, as she watched me pull the “blue sage” cigarette from my mouth and blow out a cloud of smoke, which she assured me was quite rank. But I barely had a sense of smell anymore so I had to take her word for it.
‘Look, this isn’t a comment on your abilities, or you being small or whatever,’ she prefaced, assuring me like she thought my ego was that fragile. ‘But with all your health complaints, this does explain why you’re able to make it out of bed in the morning. I mean, you shouldn’t be alive, you certainly shouldn’t be able to knock ten bells out of every creep that shows up between here and Jersey.’
‘Yeah, I suppose,’ I shrugged, and then I glanced over at her again. It bothered me a little, why she didn’t have more to say on the matter. ‘Hey, why don’t you…?’
‘Does it work?’ she cut me off and I was a little taken aback. She was so firm. ‘Does it help you?’
‘Well yeah but it’s still…’ I tried and she cut me off again, barking at me like I was one of her patients. I still maintained her bedside manner was atrocious. She was so bossy.
‘I didn’t ask about the law, Steve, fuck them,’ she said matter of factly. ‘It wasn’t so long ago women weren’t allowed to vote, the law isn’t always our friend. Look, you’re not doing cocaine, you’re not getting blind drunk, and you’re certainly not doing it because you have the choice. It’s nobody’s business even if you were, even if you did. The short and curly of it is, Golden Boy, it helps you. It helps you. So I don’t care.’
I smiled to myself, glad I understood her now. My mom had thought the same, which was why she tried to get it for me as often as she could when they first outlawed it. She said when the doctor first prescribed it it had changed my life. Looking at her again as she’d gone back to doodling, I brought my hand over, offering her the still smoking joint. She looked up at it first before glancing at me, I nodded at her and shook my hand a little and she shot me a wry smile. She accepted it and took a hit before handing it back.
We were giggling together, sketch books on the coffee table and talking crap by the time Bucky made it over after work, and it only got worse when he picked up her sketch pad to see the comic she’d drawn of him. He looked at her distastefully and picked up the pencil, starting work on a blank page while she looked between the two of us and cackled. I think that might have been the first night Bonnie and Bucky didn’t have some kind of a fight.
Saturday November 2nd 2013
She was still glaring at me, hugging her knees to her chest as I watched her mind run a mile a minute. She did that often, usually because she knew something was happening around her that she knew nothing about, and wanted in on it.
‘So,’ I asked, smiling softly down at her angry face. ‘Next? Shall we cover vaccines or the pro-life argument?’
‘Well you’re for no polio, so I assume you’re okay with vaccines,’ she told me, peeking over her knees, and I nodded.
‘Nobody should be forced to do something with their body that they don’t want to, and no child should have to grow up feeling unwanted, resented, like they aren’t enough. I expect you know a little of what that’s like,’ I said and she looked at me, head cocked to the side. Something seemed to click into place for her and she brought a hand up over her mouth. She was silent for a while and staring straight ahead. Perhaps I’d spoken out of turn. But she’d always been so deadpan about it before, so matter of fact.
‘Are you alright?’ I asked and she nodded unconvincingly. ‘Are you sure?’
‘How good are Tasha and Clint at finding things out, like I know it’s their job, but for like, ordinary people,’ she asked and I raised an eyebrow at her. ‘I’ve had some questions my whole life, and you just, you.. I think you gave me an idea about how to answer them.’
She dropped her legs down and pushed up to go and find them, I reached out and grabbed hold of her wrist and she turned back to face me. She had this look on her face, she couldn’t understand why I’d be stopping her. She was always so singularly focused. I brought my other hand up and guided her back down onto the sofa, giving her a firm expression.
‘Wha…?’ she asked and I let go of her, gesturing for her to stay put.
‘We were in the middle of something, Bonnie,’ I told her. She blinked at me, silently asking me what the previous conversation could possibly have to do with her most recent thought chain. ‘Breathe, take a moment. Finish doing one thing before you run off and start another. This isn’t time sensitive, if you’ve wondered your whole life, those answers will still be there tomorrow.’
‘I don’t…’ she paused before sighing and nodding. She relaxed against the backrest of the couch and stretched her short legs out. ‘While you were gone I started sleeping with Pietro. It’s none of your business, so long as I wanted to, but I do trust you to tell you.’
‘I appreciate that,’ I told her, nodding encouragingly. ‘But somehow I think that’s not what’s bothering you.’ She shook her head.
‘I messed up,’ she told me, bringing her little hand up to rub her tired eyes. ‘Uh, at the Halloween party I chose to drink, I’ve done it before, my parents were never the type to worry about a glass of wine here, or there, so long as I understood what I was doing. And then there were these brownies…which turned out to be laced with shrooms….’ she told me and I snorted, choking on my own spit and tried to stop laughing. That’s what this was all about? Well, it certainly explained the painting. ‘Stop, this isn’t funny. I had to call Peter to baby sit us and even then I wouldn’t stop trying to take my clothes off and dancing in the street.’
‘Okay, I can see how that might be a problem for you,’ I told her, trying to take her problems seriously. I went to Art College, even in the 40s I’d been around people who did drugs. I was from Hell's Kitchen for God’s sake - not that I was comparing the two, or ruling them as the same - but magic mushrooms weren’t the end of the world. Especially not shrooms accidentally ingested.
‘I don’t remember using a condom when I was with Pietro that night, and he doesn’t either, so after the football game I had to use plan B. Tony had to help me, because I didn’t know you were back, I spoke to him earlier in the day… I just… you trusted me to be responsible and after a month on my own I’ve been having sex, doing drugs and I skipped some school. I… I’m sorry Steve.’
‘Bonnie,’ I said and paused. I shook my head, I felt so bad now. I should have been there for her, come home earlier, not gone in the first place. She should never have had to handle this by herself. The whole reason I agreed to be her legal guardian was so that she never had to be alone again. It was my turn to be the one looking out for her and I’d let her down.
‘Oh god, you’re gonna ground me, disown me? Probably kill me and bury me in a shallow grave,’ she said with her hands gripping tightly to her blonde curls. I shook my head, covering her hands with mine and unraveling her fingers from her locks. Pulling her towards me, I held her to my chest, holding her in a tight hug. I rubbed her back gently, trying to form the right words to say.
‘I’m sorry Bonnie,’ I told her as I rubbed her back. She pulled back a little confused. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m..’ she paused, shaking her head in confusion at me. Her bottom lip trembled as she ran through all the possible scenarios in her head, trying to work out why she wasn’t getting the reprimanding she was expecting. I wasn’t her dad, I wasn’t going to react the way she was expecting him to. Or someone else’s for that matter.
‘It was a close call,’ she admitted. I nodded.
‘So what do we do when we have a close call?’ I asked her and she shook her head again. ‘We learn from it. It becomes experience for us. What can we do so this won’t happen again?’
‘I… well..’ she said, pausing again, sitting back from me on the couch with her hands in her lap. She glared at the white carpeted floors of the lowered living room. ‘Take additional precautions I guess.. We’ve always known condoms weren’t one hundred percent effective anyway, so I should have been anyway.’
‘Great, okay so how do we do that?’ I asked, trying to encourage her. She looked at me like I was an alien or had produced a second head.
‘I uh could take the pill but I don’t like all the side effects, so I suppose I should look into the different types of implants…’ she told me and I nodded at her again.
‘Where do you get that information?’ I asked her and she shot me an unimpressed look, souring now the initial shock had worn off. It was like she was disapproving of me walking her through the steps like she was a child. But she was, and I was supposed to be her legal guardian.
‘I can do independent research on the internet, talk to a doctor or go to planned parenthood,’ she grumbled and I chuckled. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the carpet again. ‘You know this isn’t what I meant when I said I was expecting you to be more traditional…’
‘Yeah well you forget I’m only twenty eight,’ I told her and she nodded in realisation. There was only an eleven year age gap at the moment, how was I supposed to act like an old fuddy duddy? ‘So, do you want me to take you to an appointment? I’ve heard there’s been an awful lot of protests around the front of them and they’ve been attacking women. If you wanna go I’d rather someone went with you. I’ll go with you if you’re okay with that.’
‘O-okay,’ she stuttered, before nodding enthusiastically. ‘Yeah, that sounds good…you’re really not mad?’
‘No, Bonnie, regardless of what you wanted to do, this wasn’t planned but it’s not something I could ever be angry with you over. Good things come from stuff like this, I got a great grandchild, you had a learning experience, and by the looks of last night, you got closer with your boyfriend. How could I ever be angry with you over making a choice that was yours to make?’ I said and she burst into tears and wrapped her arms around my neck, smearing tears and snot into my shoulder. I patted her back comfortingly and let her hold on as long as she needed to compose herself.
While I probably should have given her a lecture about being more responsible in the first place, she’d done all the right steps, telling an adult when she needed help, informing all parties involved and taken action. Plus, she was beating herself up enough that I didn’t have to.
Notes:
There will be further description of Bonnie's paintings at the gallery opening.
Also poor Steve being just a kid himself and being dumped with a random teenager he didn't know he was related to.
Chapter 37: Sex Yeah
Notes:
You guys were loooooong overdue for an update, sorry I had the chapter written but it took me until last night to actually edit the chapter and pick the title song. I'm so glad you stuck with me though, thanks and enjoy :)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Sex Yeah - Marina (Formerly Marina and the Diamonds)
Bonnie Carter POV
Saturday 2nd November 2013
Sighing as I teased my hair a little more in the stupid high pigtails I began to wonder if I’d made a mistake, if I’d been too ambitious. It started off easy enough, splitting my hair into two sections and braiding the back right up to the top of my head and then trying what was left into two pigtails. But now I couldn’t get the stupid things into halfway decent buns. Was it too much to ask that my hair behave in some way other than woven into submission with tight braids? There was a knock on the door and I huffed out again.
‘Bonnie, how’s it going in there? Pietro got here twenty minutes ago and you won’t come out,’ Steve said through the door. He paused, though I could hear him leaning against the wood and see his shadow under the door. ‘Are you feeling alright? Is it the plan B?’
‘No it’s my hair,’ I sighed, pushing off the sink and coming over to the door.
‘You sure?’ he asked, sounding concerned.
‘Will you help me?’ I asked and he made a noise of surprise.
‘Uh, sure, open up,’ he told me and I pulled the door open a crack to make sure Pietro wasn’t there. Satisfied he was still down the hall and two steps into the living room, I pulled the door all the way open and yanked Steve inside. He chuckled as I slammed the door closed again and locked it behind us.
Walking over to the sink I picked up the picture I’d printed out and showed it to him. He nodded and came over behind me, helping smooth the teased hair over and roll it around into a textured bun. He had bobby pins in his mouth and a comb balanced in between some of his fingers but somehow, with relative ease he’d managed to do what I’d spent the last hour struggling with. He pinned the first one into place, my curls making the bun look fluffy and soft like bear fur and he moved on to the other side. His large hands made my head look ridiculously tiny and he also wore a look of intense concentration. Who knew Steve would be so good at hair?
He stepped away after pinning the second bun in place and I looked at him with a look of confusion. I thought it would be a two person job, that maybe we’d both be frustrated but eventually manage it. Did the super soldier serum just make him have a natural affinity for everything? Since when did Steve know how to do hair?
‘What?’ he asked, looking at me with confusion. ‘Do you not like it? I can try again.’
‘No it’s good,’ I said and he looked unconvinced. ‘Really.’
‘Bonnie I won’t be offended, my ego isn’t so fragile I can’t handle criticism. You only get one Halloween dance with Pietro, if it’s not right, we’ll do it again,’ he assured me and I laughed, shaking my head at him. I turned away from the mirror to look directly at him.
‘I just don’t understand how you got so good at this,’ I explained and he laughed, stepping back from the sink further so I could move around and put the final touches on what was supposed to be a very low effort costume. Who knew two buns would be so complicated?
‘My friend Bucky had a little sister growing up, I helped her out occasionally when she was learning a new hairstyle and Bucky was busy, he was actually quite good at hair,’ Steve explained and I raised an eyebrow. Men in the 40s helping women do hair? Now that certainly was interesting.
Picking up my eyeliner pencil I darkened the black button nose I’d drawn over the top of my own nose, and checked my round, dark brows were the right shape and the curved corners I’d given my mouth. I looked back at Steve for approval and he beamed proudly at me.
‘You look great!’ he told me enthusiastically. ‘Just wait till you see Pietro, you’re the perfect pair.’
‘Is he still nervous around you?’ I asked and Steve nodded with a cheeky grin. He reached for the bathroom door and I hurried out to go and meet my boyfriend now my costume was complete. I just wanted him to see it perfect. I scurried along the white carpeted hallway in my sneakers and found Pietro sitting on the couch in a yellow polo and blue jeans. He looked up at me and beamed, clapping his hands together.
‘Sonechko, you look beautiful, just like Pooh bear,’ he assured me and stood, coming over to hug me. Then he got a look at Steve and let go of me immediately, shrinking back at least a foot away. I giggled as he hopped around from foot to foot nervously while Steve caught up.
‘So, can I grab a couple pictures of you kids together before the dance?’ Steve asked and I nodded.
Walking over to Pietro and standing by the living room wall, Steve held his phone up and held it high for some photos that captured us both. Pietro stood a painfully respectful distance away, looking terrified every time Steve asked him to move over closer to me for a better shot. I had no idea why all the men in my life were scared of him, but it was very funny.
‘Ooh wait, I know what could make this better…’ Steve said, walking up the steps from the living room and to the kitchen. He dug around in the panty for a moment and produced a jar of honey and I burst out laughing. He handed me the jar and then gestured for me to move closer to Pietro. I put my hand in his and snuggled in close and he went rigid, looking at the camera like a deer caught in the headlights. These would make for some excellent photos.
A few pics later, Steve took us in his Shield issue car and dropped us off at Midtown Elementary. He was apparently off to some gallery opening nearby and would be available to pick us up anytime we were ready to head home. Which I assumed meant Pietro was going home to his host parents house, which was probably for the best. We needed to cool it with him coming over all the time. Especially after the other night.
Giggling when I stepped out of the car, I saw Flash awkwardly standing by the school gym entrance fiddling with the tail of his Tigger onesie I had to wonder where he’d had the time to find so last minute. Wasn’t he broke? How did he keep getting all these costumes together? Pietro gushed when he saw him, telling him how great he looked and the two bro-ed out for a few minutes outside the gym. Typical, I finally get a boyfriend and I have to share him with another man. Then I giggled to myself again thinking about that Parks and Rec episode “This is my boyfriend Derek, and this is his boyfriend Ben”.
‘Something funny?’ Pietro asked and I shook my head, waving him off.
‘Let’s just go inside,’ I said and tugged his arm.
After messing around for a while with Flash and actually dancing, Pietro and I tried to find someplace to sneak off and makeout, as per tradition with these things. It was harder than last time though, as I hadn’t been to Midtown Elementary, Peter and I had gone to a local school in Queens. Eventually though, I found myself sitting on Pietro’s lap with my yellow skinny jeans, in between the entrance to the library and a very low down drinking fountain. Actually, it looked about the right height for me to use right now…
‘You think Flash will miss us?’ Pietro asked as he kissed my neck, lips brushing against the skin.
‘He’s who you’re thinking of right now?’ I scoffed and he chuckled. ‘We won’t be gone long, and he was fine last time.’
‘True,’ he agreed and went back to kissing me. His warm hand slid up under my red crop top and he cupped my breast. He grabbed hold, going to massage it as he normally would and I let out an unexpected yelp. He jerked back in shock and I reached up to cup my own breast. ‘Is you okay?’
‘Uh..’ I paused, trying to work that out. ‘I..that just hurt. It doesn’t normally.’
‘Perhaps is side effect,’ he suggested and I nodded. I’d heard breast tenderness was one of them, but I never got sore around my time of the month, so I figured it wouldn’t be one of them. I don’t know why I assumed that. Why assumed they were two in the same thing.
‘Yeah, I think it is actually, I just didn’t know it would feel like that,’ I told him. I felt a wave of nausea coming over me as it had periodically throughout the day and I rubbed my stomach.
‘Is you..’
‘If you don’t mind, I think I just wanna sit for a moment,’ I told him and he nodded.
‘Perhaps this dance we actually dance,’ Pietro suggested and I scoffed.
‘Yeah, I heard since the dance got interrupted last time they’re going to reveal the count for the Homecoming King and Queen, you reckon Liz will show up? I still haven’t forgiven her for attempted murder,’ I said and he soured instantly.
‘I not like this Liz girl, very much like movie villain,’ he commented and I laughed, nodding at the comical image in my head. ‘Well we can always head home early if want and watch Sokovian Vines. You have not seen Vine until you seen Sokovian Vine.’
‘You’ve seen the ones we have here, right?’ I laughed and he nodded, maintaining still, that his country’s ones were funnier.
It wasn’t exactly a crying shame I couldn’t make out with Pietro right now, because he was apparently still a phenomenal dancer when stone cold sober. Looking over, I could see Flash bouncing around and entertaining some girl with his orange onesie, and I smiled. Things would be okay. It might be hard, I’ve made some mistakes, but things were looking like they were going to be okay.
Steve Rogers POV
Staring at the various hung paintings on display, I almost wanted to laugh. I shouldn’t, they were actually all very good, but it was abundantly clear that this was an expression of something she’d only recently discovered. It was good, healthy, that she had an outlet for this, but it was also highly amusing.
‘Are you upset?’ I heard and turned to see Tony standing there in a grey, almost charcoal suit, flute of champagne in his grasp. I shook my head, nodding to the painting I was currently standing in front of. It was brightly coloured, two trees had grown into one another and become intertwined. Except on closer inspection, it wasn’t two trees, it was two people. Gnarled roots, legs, travelled up to the trunk of the tree, their bodies, two faces, foreheads pressed together with intense looks on their wooden features. The male side of the tree had brown, dead leaves and branches for hair and the woman sat with her legs around his waist, blonde hair extending upwards to the corner of the canvas, meant to be sunlight streaming through the branches. Fingering the velvet rope around the barrier, I looked back at Tony, smiling softly.
‘No, it was bound to happen at some point, I’m just glad she’s happy and safe,’ I replied and went to move onto the next picture.
‘She uh, she came to me one day while you were away, explaining she wasn’t sure, she didn’t know what to do but she’d like to. I hope you don’t mind, I gave her some advice,’ he told me and I scoffed, shaking my head. I hoped at least, it was practical advice, he’d given her instead of the particular Tony brand I was expecting.
‘Well,’ I said with a sigh, resting my hands on the back of my head, elbows out in a stretch. ‘I can’t say I would have particularly enjoyed having the discussion with her myself, but it was my responsibility, so thank you, Tony. It means a lot that when I left her in your care, you actually looked after her.’
‘Well I mean I did let her go to a party where she took psychedelic drugs and painted a small gallery's worth of paintings in one night,’ he said and I laughed, stopping by the next painting that he’d gestured to. This was an up close portrait of a kiss. Lips met and slotted in beside each other, teeth biting into the flesh and noses squishing against each other. You only saw as far as the lower face’s brow and jaw, the angle cutting off the rest of his head. The face higher was much more femanine, and again, the top of her head was cut off, leaving the brow and jaw in the painting. ‘She’s really very good.’
‘She is,’ I agreed, staring at the brushstrokes. ‘It makes me wonder, should she really be going to nurse’s college? I know, I know she was a nurse when I met her, but she’s an artist. This.. this is what she should be doing. She should be going to study art, painting if it makes her happy. We shouldn’t be preparing her for a war, I don’t think it’s fair,’ I said and Tony looked thoughtful, nodding as he listened. It was like he was in two minds, almost agreeing with me. Tony agreeing with me, that was a scary thought, that almost never happened. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket...
‘I know,’ he sighed eventually. ‘I wish, I wish we could change things, but she was always so adamant that we couldn’t, that things had to happen exactly as they did. I’m afraid she’s never going to speak to me again if I let things run their natural course, I really hurt her. I…I deserve it, but she doesn’t.’
‘She spoke about it?’ I asked, leaning back against a free space of the white wall. I was between two paintings and the two of us were by ourselves in this part of the gallery, other nicely dressed people milled around, looking at the paintings as they held their champagne flutes and discussed the works. It was almost surprising, how quickly Tony had thrown something like this together, but then again, with his billionaire status, it wasn’t that surprising.
I spared a glance to the painting on my left, once again colours of vibrancy lit up the canvas. It was like looking into the viewfinder of a thermal imaging camera. The perspective looked down a body - a woman’s I presumed - belly down as a forreign hand reached forward, sliding up the thigh. The whole body was green and yellow with hot red handprints scattered all over, with the other person’s hand on the thigh being a gentle orange. Warm, but not burning hot, despite what the touch left behind. I know I certainly felt that way when Peggy touched me, things could be intense when you loved someone, I wanted to feel that way again, someday. I didn’t know when I’d have the time.
‘She did,’ he agreed, putting his empty glass down on a windowsill to my right. ‘I overheard her and my dad arguing the first night I met her, and she filled me in when I asked her about it. She told me we were close friends in the future - now I assume - but then my dad died. And I took it out on her, because she knew him, and he adored her. He…it never felt like he liked me all that much, and here she was, this perfect girl and he just..he was in love with her. So if she goes and comes back, and she tells me she never wants to speak to me again, I’ll take it, I understand, I deserve it, but if for even a second, there was a way I could stop all of that from happening, never say those things, I’d jump. Maybe she should go to art school, but then, if I did that, I’m willing to bet she’d kick my ass about the paradox we created.’
‘So we have to let things go the way they're supposed to, even if we know she’s going to get hurt?’ I asked, shaking my head at the man. I folded my arms over my chest, no doubt creasing the cerulean button down I was wearing. He made a face, like that was exactly what he was saying but didn’t want to be saying it. Hot breath shot out my nose as I stood by the wall, she was my best friend, my family, I had to make sure she never got hurt, even if that meant we never met. I would erase every happiness she brought me if that meant she could be alright, I would take that.
‘If we change things then she never meets us, and we never knew her in order to change things for her, we can’t change things because if we do, she might never happen, minimum , we wipe her from existence. Worse, we rip holes in the fabric of the universe. I don’t know, time travel isn’t supposed to be possible, we know nothing about it,’ he explained, looking more and more frustrated as he explained. I watched him almost tear his hair out, pacing slightly in a small circle. ‘I’m trying to make up for something that hasn’t even happened yet. If I could make it so it never does, I would but I can’t.’
‘Because it’ll destroy the whole world,’ I nodded with a sigh and he shook his head. I raised an eyebrow, tearing a hole in the fabric of the universe and reversing my great granddaughter from existence wasn’t reason enough?
‘Barring all the moral complications, of the physical, real world issues, honestly it’s because she won’t let me,’ he explained and I felt myself more confused than when he’d first started talking. How could she have this much hold over the man, Tony for god’s sake, that he was willing to not do his impulsive Tony thing just because she told him no? What happened between the two? Mind you, she had that hold over everyone. She could make any of us do anything, anyone who loved her would die for her, it was a strange, unyielding force. She held the power of the universe in the palm of her little, tiny hands.
Pushing off the wall, I walked across to the middle of the exhibit, intent on getting out of the dark cloud Tony and I were creating. Staring me in the face was a set of nipples, blue and green nipples. I knew Bonnie had said she’d been on drugs at the time, but I did have to wonder why she’d felt the need to finger paint a woman with her back arched, breasts out and knees spread to a hand that wasn’t hers. Oh, it was a pun. Finger painting … The colours were interesting and the brush strokes…or finger strokes? I hate this. It’s graphic. I’d seen some shit, I’d done some shit, but good god, I didn’t want to have to see the paintings my great granddaughter created because she’d done some shit too. Fuck.
‘You like this, wait till you see my favourite,’ Tony said, having walked over to join me. He led me past an up close tongue flicking over a pert nipple, and towards a more abstract painting with seemingly every colour on the canvas. There were blotches and smears and spatters of paint, thin strokes and broad swipes despite none of it looking like any of it had been done with a paintbrush. I stared at it a moment before it sunk in and I let out a groan. I looked over at Tony who was staring at me with a gleeful grin on his stupid face.
‘Somehow, I think you knew this wouldn’t be mine,’ I said and he nodded vigorously, bouncing up and down from his spot beside me. I think I was traumatised now. She seriously had sex on a canvas and then sold it to Tony? Just when I thought this girl couldn’t get anymore outlandish.
Bonnie Carter POV
Pietro shifted his arms so he was holding me tighter as he rested his chin on the crown of my head from behind. He was bored, I could tell, but he was being polite enough to listen to the long winded speeches about us all rallying together after what had happened at the last dance, and all the fake spiel about how the students who’d died that night would never be forgotten. Truth was, even I didn’t know their names, I’d never seen them before in my life, and I doubted most of the people here knew them. I did feel a bit guilty - I had no reason to - there was nothing more I could have done, but they were gone, and I was still here. How was that fair? They were just as good, and smart, and talented as I was, maybe more, and in the blink of an eye, gone.
‘Is you okay?’ he whispered, leaning down to speak into my ear and I nodded. He checked me over for a moment longer before he returned his jaw to the top of my head and we watched Stacey walk out to the stage in her slutty crayon dress to reveal the Homecoming Princess and Prince. I liked the little hat, it was a nice touch.
Glancing around, I watched a few people sniffling and wiping away tears. Apparently they were calling third runner up for Princess because the winner had died, and the first and second runners up had both moved schools after the gym siege. I guess I did know a name. Diana Martinez, gone but still remembered. She read out the name of the Prince, some sophomore I’d never heard of before - unsurprising, because I didn’t know anyone at this school - and then Luke took to the stage to announce the King and Queen.
‘Winner by a landslide, can I please call Flash Thompson to the stage,’ Luke said into the mic and I rolled my eyes, there was no surprise there. He’d been some kind of Homecoming royalty every year since he’d started at this school. Prince the last two years I believe. It didn’t seem to matter he’d dumped his previous group of cronies, or his psychotic ex-girlfriend, he was still popular enough for this crowd. Still won by a mile.
Pietro lost his mind behind me, letting me go to scream out for his friend, shaking his arms in the air as he cheered. For a fleeting moment, I saw him flash a genuine smile, one that was rare, and I barely ever saw, and he shone it right over my head, to Pietro. Maybe I was hard on the two of them, they really were good friends. The clapping died down and Luke stood by the mic again, taking out another gold, shiny envelope from his pocket to reach out the Queen.
‘Now, unfortunately our winner tonight has left us to continue her education at Cathedral High School, so our crown will be going to the first runner up, Bonnie Carter,’ Luke announced and I sucked in a breath so hard I choked on my spit. Liz was supposed to win tonight, and instead, I’d taken both her crown, and the dance with her ex-boyfriend. Damn, no wonder she hated me. I was in shock, I shook my head at him grinning at me, the spotlight had started shining on me in the crowd and Pietro was slowly shoving me towards the stairs to the stage so I could stand up beside Flash.
‘B-but I…’ I stuttered as he pushed me up the last one. Flash reached out for me, taking my arm and steering me towards Luke. ‘This isn’t fair, I’m a social leper. I don’t come to these things…’
‘Unfortunately, Bonnie, you don’t get a say, you have the people’s vote,’ Luke told me and plonked the plastic tiara on my head with a shit eating grin. The stupid little teeth on either side of the band stabbed me in the head and I knew isntantly there was no way I was getting this thing out of my hair with the style intact. Queen Pooh Bear it was then.
Flash led me back down the stairs to the centre of the gym so we could do the King and Queen dance which was awkward, because I did not know how. Flash kept a firm hand on my lower back and led me around in neat circles, apparently having trained for this moment his entire life. Who knew he could be so good at slow dancing? I stumbled a few times, but he caught me and kept us looking clean, precise. No one would ever know, it was seamless. He seemed relaxed, usually he still held a tense aura but tonight, in this moment, he was calm. He was calm, cool and collected, and that made me calm down a little. I still wasn’t happy about this win, it was embarrassing, but at least I wasn’t scared.
The Princess and Prince joined us after a moment or two more, and eventually, the song ended and everyone could dance where they wanted. Still so flabbergasted, I stood stuttering in front of Flash until Pietro showed up, excited that his two favourite Americans were both winners. I’m glad they could both be so jovial, I was still recovering from the absolute whiplash this year had been for my social life. I’d been lonely, angry, and it was just me and Peter against the world. And now I had this big group of friends, and I was a Queen. Homecoming Queen. Oh god. Tony was gonna find out. I need to die.
‘I don’t understand,’ I said, shaking my head. Flash and Pietro showed me no mind, leaving me alone with my own personal drama. ‘This isn’t fair.’
‘Most people are upset about losing, Bonnie, cheer up,’ Flash told me and I shook my head.
‘This is going to end up in the year book, oh god, everyone will know,’ I said, embarrassed and feeling my chest, neck and cheeks heat up with a deep blush. I think I was more scarlet now than I had been the first time Pietro had seen me naked. I had to call Steve. He wasn't far, he'd said, and I needed a rescue. I needed him to schedule an extraction mission, and get me the hell out of here.
Steve did end up coming for me, beaming about going to see my paintings which had me an all new level of embarrassed, while Pietro chuckled from the backseat at my expense. Steve seemed to find my crown amusing, and assured me I looked very cute despite my protests that that wasn’t the point. It was all round the tower when we got back, everyone knew. Apparently it was all over the internet, kids from my school were using their twitter, instagram and facebook pages to post. Making reaction vines and memes. Someone had even uploaded the reveal and a shitty remix to youtube. Man these assholes worked fast. I was going to kill myself. I couldn’t believe Liz threw me though a window, tried to murder me, and then had the audacity to change schools. How could she do this to me? I didn’t want to be remembered for this! I didn’t want to be remembered at all, or at least, not as Bonnie Carter. Oh she would rue the day she ran from potential further chaos after a very real terrorist attack on our school. Of course she had a perfectly good reason. I was so mad.
‘Okay grumpus, off to bed with you, try to wake up in a better mood,’ Steve teased, pushing me gently by my shoulders towards my bedroom from the apartment door. I glared at him over my shoulder, socks sliding across the white carpet after I’d kicked my shoes off at the door.
‘Grumpus is not a real word,’ I snapped, yanking the metallic and bejewelled piece of plastic off my head and he laughed, letting me go.
‘Goodnight Bonnie!’ he waved exaggeratedly at me and I stomped the rest of the way. Now he was imposing a bedtime? Stupid Steve. I was kinda sore, perhaps I should take it easy. Slamming the crown down on my desk, I started yanking out all the pins and ties from my hair, dreading brushing out all the teazed friz from my curls. The only thing saving this was to wipe the canvas clean, tomorrow, before anyone saw me I needed to wash my hair.
Sunday 3rd November 2013
Slowly I climbed out of bed, swinging my legs over the side and letting my feet come into contact with the plush carpet. Padding across the floor, I pulled the door open to hear swearing coming from the kitchen. I raised an eyebrow and detoured from my route to the bathroom and towards the sound of someone kicking an appliance. My white goods. In view now, I could see Steve kneeling on the ground, torso in the oven.
‘Something wrong?’ I asked and he pulled out of the oven, sighing and wiping some sweat from his brow.
‘Something’s wrong with the oven, I can’t get it to work. It’s overheating for some reason, and I’m about to pull it apart. I’m hoping it’s not a board fault. None of the usual tricks are working,’ he said, climbing to his feet to reach for a tea towel. He wiped his hands clean and dabbed off the sweat on his forehead.
‘Huh, weird,’ I commented, nodding and heading off towards the bathroom to start my day, satisfied now that that mystery had been solved. I paused dead on the mark when I realised I’d forgotten to do something rather important while Steve had been away, and it was about to come back to bite me. Leaning up against the wall as if it would give me some stability I called out for Tony.
‘Yes, your Majesty,’ Tony said, grin sounding in his voice. ‘Can I still call you Princess, or should I refer to you as your new title?’
‘Tony I need a favour, it’s urgent,’ I said, trying to calm my breathing down. If Steve hadn’t found them already, it was only a matter of time. ‘You have to distract Steve, please , I’m begging you.’
‘Huh? What do you mean?’ Tony asked, confused.
‘Long story short, a pair of my underwear is sitting under the oven,’ I explained, pushing off the wall and beginning to pace along the hallway.
‘Okay I need a slightly longer story, give me the sparknotes,’ Tony said, amusement sounding in his voice.
‘Pietro and I had kitchen sex and I kicked them off with the intention of geting them later,’ I said with a sigh, feeling my face heat up with even more embarrassment. I swear, when it rains, it really pours. I was apparently deeply overdue for some mortifying teenage experiences because this week was truly awful. ‘For some reason the oven doesn’t work, Steve can’t figure out why, and is about to take the oven apart, and you can guess what he’ll find. I swear to god, Tony, please. This’ll traumatise the man. It’ll traumatise me.’
‘Okay, okay, hang on, I’m on my way down,’ he soothed and I could hear the sound of light jogging. ‘You need to distract him until I get there though, your Majesty.’
‘Please stop calling me that,’ I sighed, shaking my head.
‘Talk to him about college, that should distract him for a while,’ Tony said before signing off and I ran away from the bathroom door towards the kitchen. Bursting around the corner I screamed out more dramatically than strictly necessary at him and he jerked up in shock, hitting his head on the oven roof. ‘Steve!!’ He pulled out from the oven and was up on his feet in a matter of seconds.
‘What?! Are you okay?’ He demanded and I nodded, shooting him a warm smile.
‘Do you have a moment to talk about College? We spoke about it but tabled it for another day,’ I said and pulled out a chair around the table, gesturing for him to sit down. He looked a little surprised. ‘Now seems perfect.’
‘Uh, right now? I was trying to get the oven working so we could have a roast, you know, because it’s Sunday,’ he said and eventually wandered over and sat in the chair I’d pulled out for him. He rested his arms on the table top and looked empathetically at me. ‘Did something happen last night? Or maybe while I was gone? Are your grades okay?’
‘Y-yeah, fine,’ I nodded confusedly. ‘I just…you.. with the painting and whatnot…’
‘Ah you’re thinking about art school, you know I went to art school, Bucky and I enrolled, that takes me back,’ he smiled fondly, looking out just past my head as he reminisced. He looked like he was about to start an old man story. ‘I’m not sure what I’d be doing now if I’d’ve finished, Pearl Harbour got attacked and they put the reports over the radio while we were in class, the two of us went off and enlisted right then and there. They drafted Bucky and rejected me, but I kept at it. I really enjoyed it, you should look into going, there’s nothing to say you can’t do both.’
‘You think I should keep up with the nursing?’ I asked, legitimately curious what he would say if I told him I had no great ambitions with my life anymore. I shouldn’t be manipulating him like this.. He nodded, shrugging slightly.
‘You felt so helpless when Peter got injured during that building collapse, I think you could really benefit from more first aid/medical training. You’d feel a lot more in control then, and this crime fighting thing, that’s important to you, right?’ He asked and I nodded vigorously. I don’t know what I did to deserve Steve, here I was creating a fake conversation to distract him long enough to pull my stale panties out from under the oven, and here he was being supportive of everything I ever wanted. Damn it. Now I felt a different kind of shame, rather than embarrassed, I felt guilty.
There was a knock at the door and Steve raised an eyebrow. I don’t think anyone had knocked on our apartment door the entire time I’d lived here. Once they walked across the hall from the elevator they pretty much just let themselves in. I don't think it was ever locked either. It was the Avengers Tower, this was a safe place. There was no need. Steve got up to go to the door, and I slowly got up from my chair, inching closer to the oven.
‘Steve!’ I heard Tony boom and I dropped to my knees, pushing myself at speed across the kitchen floor, sliding, arm landing under the oven. I did a quick sweep, managing to cover my hand with all the grease, dust and hair that managed to get missed by the little robot vacuum Tony had roaming the floors - or at least I assumed it was just the one. It always made me think of that thing from WALL-E and I often whispered ‘Forreign Contaminant’ when it roved past.
Sighing in relief, my hand closed around the fabric and I pushed myself back across the floor, getting up and running around to the bathroom where the laundry hamper was. I managed to catch Tony’s glance on the way past and he somehow managed to look smug even while “undercover”.
‘Hey, Bonnie, where are you going?’ I heard Steve call after me as I slammed the bathroom door closed behind me.
‘Sorry, bathroom, can’t wait!’ I cried out and sighed in relief as I pressed up against the door. I think that was more work than the patrols with Peter. How was this fair? I was living one embarrassment to another, first Homecoming Queen and now this. And Peter and Flash had both seen me naked. Just one normal week, that’s all I’m asking.
Steve managed to get the oven working rather quickly after that, saying it was probably likely something to do with the board and asking Tony to order him a new part. And then went off to donate the muffin baskets he kept getting, just as he did every Sunday. I ventured off in search of Clint and Tasha, yesterday had sparked an idea in me, as to why I had lived for so many years with my great grandparents instead of my actual parents. It didn’t bother me, I loved my time with Grandpa Daniel and Grandma Margaret, but it was odd. Why had I lived with them for six years? Where were my parents? Had I not been wanted? Was that why Dad had cut me off after Mom died? Why he’d killed himself? Why wasn’t I enough? I was his daughter. Truth was, my dad left me, both my parents did one way or another, and I wanted to know why.
Chapter 38: Bouncing Off The Wall
Chapter Text
Title Song: Bouncing Off The Wall - Green Day
Bonnie Carter POV
Monday 11th November 2013
Given how many people in my family had been in the armed services in some way or another, I should probably have more respect for Veterans Day. Actually, it’s not so much I didn’t respect the holiday, it’s just the last few years, I hadn't had the chance to celebrate. Most years I spent it at home with my father and more recently, Peter and I took to daytime patrols. The parade meant there were less cops around elsewhere. Hilariously, now Steve had to get involved with the festivities and volunteered to take Pietro and Flash with him to keep them out of my hair while Peter and I patrolled, apparently coming up with the excuse I’d bowed out at the last minute for womens reasons. Honestly I think he just didn’t want to be there by himself and since I couldn’t come he’d decided to get closer to my friend and boyfriend. It was appreciated either way, because it meant I didn’t have to come up with an excuse to get out of it on my own. Not that I wanted to. I would have loved to show Pietro the parade, still at least Flash would be with him. They could bro out.
I was bummed out though, because by Thanksgiving Pietro would be flying out back to Sokovia for winter break and not coming back until after New Years. We’d gotten very close and I was pretty miserable at the thought of him breaking our routine to go home, even though I knew I couldn’t keep him all to myself. Not that I could concentrate much on how bummed out I was. No, I was much more distracted by the big tall building I was hurtling towards at likely 200mph. While I had faith in Peter, I was also in immediate danger. On the bright side, that was too fast to actually feel the impact. On the not so bright side, I had the fear that came with imminent death to keep me company until the impact.
‘PETER!!!!!’ I screamed as the building got ever closer.
‘I’m trying, hang on!!’ he called back desperately as he swung after me and the snapped web still attached to me.
‘TO WHAT?!’ I cried out, feeling tears prick the side of my eyes.
‘To slow you down without breaking your spine!’ he said as he frantically shot me with web after web. ‘Nova can’t catch you, if he catches up to you at the rate you’re falling he’ll hit you harder than a truck.’
‘I’ll take paralysis over death, Pete!’ I said, feeling the tears falling out of my eyes and rush past my face as the wind sliced me up. I hated Veterans Day.
‘Give me a web!’ Nova yelled and I cried out.
‘What?’ I demanded. ‘How will that help?’
‘We both swing you,’ Peter agreed, nodding quickly. ‘She’s already got a snapped line attached, grab it on your way past. We can eventually slow her down. You raise her up with the line, and she won’t hit the ground.’
‘This is a dumb plan,’ I told them but they were ignroing me, instead moving into action. In fairness, we didn’t really have time for another. It was kind of impressive we’d had time for this conversation at all, and it wasn’t an immediate splat. Maybe we weren’t going 200mph, but it had to be close, given the height of the building we’d jumped off and the distance I’d travelled. I supposed I didn’t need to know the particulars behind my own death, I just needed to try like hell to avoid it. No dying before graduating college, I’d promised Steve.
Nova zoomed past me in the air, hot blue comet’s trail behind him as he caught the web line and kept flying up and beyond. Peter shot me with another web and pulled me towards him. And then Nova. And then Peter. I felt like a human yoyo again and I was increasingly worried that neither of them were paying attention to the building I was swinging ever closer to. Nova gave another yank on the web he had a hold of but it separated from my suit and went limp in the air. Peter’s web was no longer attached to me and once again, I was in free fall.
‘Fuck!’ I said and Nova echoed my sentiments, racing towards me at speed. You know, the thing he wasn’t supposed to do. He grabbed hold of me and pulled up much to my sigh of relief. Not dead.
‘See, we’re fine,’ he said, letting out a deep breath and flying us up and over to a nearby rooftop. This building was a fair few stories smaller than the rest of the buildings we’d passed by in Manhattan and I looked around, trying to get a sense of where we were.
‘Crap,’ I said and Nova looked back at me as he hovered.
‘What?’ he asked and I nodded my head towards the bridge and then the Civic Centre. If he gave a response, I don’t think I heard it. I was too focused on the ground beneath my feet no longer being there. It happened too fast to register what exactly went wrong or to even let out a scream. Imagine that, I had my life safed from smacking into a skyscraper only to drop several stories from a rooftop in front of 1PP.
I also didn’t register any pain, not right away. I was simply standing staring out at the horizon and then suddenly I wasn’t. Suddenly I could see the grey clouds and the harsh light and broken sections of roof. Nova flew in right away, dropping down to my side. Peter dropped down in his red and blue uniform moments later. He reached for me, the two of them intent on moving me to get me medical help.
‘Stop! Stop! Stop!’ I screamed and they recoiled, looking down at me with worry.
‘What hurts?’ Peter asked me, gripping tightly to my hand.
‘You can’t move me, I could be seriously hurt. I need C-spine stabilisation and to be back boarded. You can’t move me. JARVIS knows I’m in trouble, he’s already contacted Tony, people are on the way. You need to leave, get out of here, now, ’ I ordered and the two of them didn’t budge.
‘Bonnie, I’m not leaving you, okay? I’m staying right here,’ Peter told me and I let out a cry of frustration.
‘No, you don’t get it. Did you see that building right across from here? Do you know where we are?’ I demanded and Nova gripped onto Peter’s shoulder, trying to pull him away. Peter jerked his arm back, refusing.
‘I don’t care,’ he argued.
‘Peter, I crashed through the rooftop of a building right across from Police Plaza,’ I told him, giving his hand a strong squeeze. ‘You need to go, if they find us here they can come up with a bunch of bogus but technically legit charges to get us on. They’ve been waiting for a moment like this, we’ll all get arrested.’
‘I don’t care, I’m not leaving you,’ Peter told me, wiping some bangs off my forehead. ‘You won’t be alone.’
‘No, I won’t be alone for long, go, Pete, it’s okay,’ I told him, squeezing his hand reassuringly again. ‘You’ve got to go. Or this all stops, we can’t keep doing this. We fought too long, too hard. Please, please go.’
‘Come on, man,’ Nova said, pulling Pete’s shoulder again. After one long moment, he stood, reaching an arm out and using a web to yank himself out of the hole. Nova looked back at me one more time before he too disappeared. I wondered how I was going to explain this one at school. I would be out of football for a while, that was for sure. Coach would kill me.
‘Tony,’ I whispered, feeling the tears fall again.
‘Hey Princess, I’m on my way, don’t worry,’ he assured me. ‘I’ve got people on their way, they’re going to do exactly as you told Pete. Then we’re going to get you out of here. You did a good job, don’t worry.’
‘Tony,’ I said again, a little louder. ‘It hurts.’
‘What hurts, Princess,’ he asked, sounding a little more worried despite trying to reassure me. ‘I’m nearly there. Nearly there.’
‘Everything hurts,’ I gasped. What would happen to me after a drop like this? It had to have been at least two or three stories. I really didn’t know enough about medicine, not yet, but I knew it wouldn’t be good.
‘It’s alright, help’s on the way. I’m nearly there,’ he assured me. ‘And someone’s getting Steve, he’ll meet us at the hospital. It’s all gonna be okay.’
Blinking, I felt my eyes getting heavier and heavier now the adrenalin of falling twice was out of my system. My whole body was in agony but I couldn’t really stay awake much longer. Help was on the way, I reasoned, I didn’t have any reason to stay awake. Unless of course I had head trauma. Which I might have done. Shit. Stay awake!
Steve Rogers POV
‘She what? ’ I gasped into my phone. Flash and Pietro looked up at me as I tried to stop myself from clutching my chest in habit. This girl would be the death of me.
‘Uh, Mr Rogers, is everything alright?’ Flash asked and I waved him off as I paced back and forth in front of the two of them with my phone. Pietro and Flash exchanged a look and I noticed the two of them try to surreptitiously get closer to listen to my phone call.
‘She’s alright, Steve, we’ve got her back at Avengers Tower, we’re not actually sure why…Bruce is running some tests,’ Tony assured me and I glanced at the two teenagers again who were suddenly standing either side of me with their heads leaning in close.
‘Right, well I have Flash and Pietro with me, can I bring them back to the tower?’ I asked and Stark chuckled.
‘I forgot Bonnie stuck you with babysitting duty, yeah, she’s fine. I’m sure she’ll tell us all otherwise if she isn’t up for visitors,’ Tony assured me and I signed off, hanging up the phone.
‘If you two are done eavesdropping, we’ve got to head back to the tower now, Bonnie’s had a fall,’ I told them and Flash scoffed slightly. I raised an eyebrow at him.
‘You know, it’s just usually grandma had a fall or we’ve gotta get back to check on grandpa, not Bonnie, the seventeen year old girl has had a fall,’ he explained, stuttering every second word. I smiled softly, it was usually that way, I wonder how he’d react if he’d known she fell three stories. No ordinary human could, or at least, with so little injuries.
Pietro and Flash hurried after me towards the subway where we took a series of detours to get out of the parade route so we could get back to the Tower. Flash looked nervous but stayed silent while Pietro hopped around from foot to foot while standing and paced when there was the room. He looked like he was on the verge of panicking and I found myself standing from the bench I’d been waiting on, walking over and putting a hand on his shoulder.
‘She’s going to be alright, Pietro,’ I assured him and he shot me back a desperate look. ‘She’s made of tougher stuff.’
‘You not know this,’ he said firmly. ‘Why we wasting time with public transport? You Captain America,’ he shoved me in the chest. ‘Do something!’
‘It’s not an emergency, Pietro, I can’t call for SHIELD to helicopter me out on such a busy day without good reason, we’ll just have to wait. Bonnie’s going to be fine, I know it,’ I assured him. I can’t imagine Fury being too happy with me if I decided to take away from their very tightly controlled anti-terrorism watch to airlift me and two civilians to my house to check on my foster daughter with a few sprains.
‘Ugh! Can’t believe you,’ he huffed, turning on his heel to run up the stairs again.
Watching him disappear out of sight, I decided to wait a moment more, before I ran after him and dragged him back on the train. I had to at least let him believe he had a chance of outrunning me. Flash stood, walking over to me and shooting me a determined look.
'Let him go,' he told me, shifting his gaze so he was staring directly into my eyes. 'He needs to believe he’s doing something, the last time he was in a situation like this he was trapped, unable to move even for a second. He’s probably running to her, and he needs to feel like that’s faster.'
'You want me to let a distressed minor in my care run off around the streets of New York to make him feel better?’ I raised an eyebrow. While I understood what Flash was saying, and even respected that I’d misjudged him enough that I was surprised this advice was coming from him, I couldn’t. I could not let someone Bonnie charged me with looking after get that far out of my sight.
‘In two years he’ll be old enough to join the army,’ Flash stated, crossing his arms over his built chest. ‘If the US army can believe he’s competent enough to make decisions for himself and fight in a dangerous warzone, why can’t you believe he’s capable of finding Avengers Tower in Manhattan by himself. Let him go. We can’t help him right now.’
‘This is different, Flash,’ I tried to argue but he shook his head, putting a hand up to silence me. I missed when those two were afraid of me.
‘He’s a man,’ Flash said, walking away from me to sit down on the benches we were standing in front of. ‘He’s been told his entire life he needs to be strong, to fight and protect and he can’t. So he’s doing what he can, which is moving, which is getting there. He’s going to be there. Let. Him. Go.’
Sighing, I realised he was kind of right. If I could treat Bonnie as adult enough to be falling through the ceilings of buildings and fight superpowered bad guys, then I had to respect that Pietro, who was only a year younger, could handle making it to the Tower on his own. If he didn’t show, then it was my job to find him. I think…
Flash and I made the rest of the journey to the Tower in silence, and I sat thinking about the amount of respect I had for him now. Bonnie had been right about him, while an asshole earlier in their relationship, Flash was a victim of toxic masculinity and every opportunity he was given to learn and decide for himself, he made the right choice. Now he was out of immediate danger and receiving the nourishment kids needed to survive, he was flourishing. He was growing and becoming quite the young man.
‘So what is it you’re studying for?’ I asked as we rode the elevator. He glanced over at me, raising an eyebrow. ‘At midtown. You take the same classes as Bonnie does, so you’re interested in something medical at least.’
‘I kinda thought I’d messed up my future, and I wasn’t going anywhere, but now I think I’m going to be an emt or something,’ he said, scratching the back of his neck. ‘People need help when they’re in the thick of it, not everyone can get themselves to a hospital, I mean, look at Carter, and she’s unstoppable.’
‘Emt, that’s a good one,’ I nodded, thinking about all the frontline positions in medicine. Bonnie had been my combat medic. ‘Flash, you’re shooting too low. You attend one of the most prestigious medical and science academies in New York, someone there thinks you're meant for something more. And I do too,’ I told him and he looked up in surprise. ‘Shoot higher, find something bigger. I’m not saying EMTs aren’t important, but I am saying you’re bright enough and strong enough to pursue something harder.’
The elevator dinged and the doors opened, letting us walk onto the medical wing of the Tower. Pushing on ahead, I made my way through the automatic double doors to her isolation room. Bruce and Tony were standing outside by a nurse’s desk, chatting quietly amongst themselves. I cleared my throat and glanced back at Flash who was hanging back a bit.
‘What’s wrong with her?’ I asked and they shrugged. ‘You don’t know?’
‘Nothing’s wrong with her,’ Tony said and I cocked my head to the side in confusion.
‘That’s kinda the problem, Cap, there should be,’ Bruce told me, holding out her chart. ‘She fell through the ceiling of a building, two floors and slammed into a concrete block with considerable force, she should have taken a severe amount of damage.’ He showed me some x-rays and scans and there appeared to be very little damage from the untrained eye.
‘So she’s completely fine?’ I asked and Bruce and Tony shrugged. ‘Can I see her?’
‘She’s conscious, complaining,’ Tony shrugged and pressed the button by the door. ‘The usual.’
Stepping inside, I joined her by the window as she lay in her bed on her back. Someone had given her a capri sun and she was sitting angrily sipping on it. Smiling, I held back a chuckle as I perched beside her on her bed.
‘So, you’re fine,’ I told her and she huffed, pulling the juice away from her mouth.
‘I don’t understand, I’m in agony,’ she replied and I frowned with concern, bringing a hand out to stroke her hair gently.
‘Well, yeah, you would be,’ I agreed, fluffing her pillows a little more. ‘You fell three stories.’
‘How can I be fine, then? If I fell that far, if I hurt this much?’ she shook her head, and then wincied. I waved at Tony and Bruce who were wandering into the room, Bruce still holding Bonnie’s chart.
‘It’s fascinatingly just bruising, despite a couple minor dislocations that we set,’ Bruce told her. He stepped closer to show her her cans, pointing out where the dislocations were. ‘It’s all just bruising.’
‘Excuse me?’ Bonnie scoffed, reaching up to touch the stitching on her forehead.
‘Well, and that headlac,’ Bruce corrected. ‘You are covered in some pretty significant bruising, don’t get me wrong. But that’s all it is.’
‘How can simple bruising hurt this much, and how could this be? I dropped three stories,’ Bonnie pointed out, shaking her head again in disbelief. It was pretty concerning that she fell as far as she did and nothing was wrong. It was a medical marvel. ‘Well am I at least at risk for shock or something?’
‘We’re monitoring and treating that, there have been the occasional case like this, people have fallen off buildings and ended up with minor scrapes and cuts oly to die later in hospital when the adrenalin wore off, but you are in significant paint, which, is actually a good thing,’ Bruce replied and I glanced over at him, raising an eyebrow. ‘As for why you’re in so much pain, we’ve concluded it’s a simple answer.
Bonnie turned to glance at Tony who was uncharacteristically silent. He shot her a look and then bound over to sit on the end of her bed, legs crossed meditation style. ‘You’ve studied the body, yes?’ he asked and she nodded. ‘Then you know most of the nerves in the peripheral nervous system are located at the surface.’
‘Yes Tony, I have made it this far into my high school career with my brains, not my looks,’ she huffed, pulling the capri sun up to her face to take another sip. ‘So believe me when I tell you I am familiar with human anatomy.’
‘It hurts so bad because that’s exactly the point that got hit when you made impact with the concrete surface,’ he told her, rolling his eyes. ‘You have a big owie.’
“Well are you going to give me some ibuprofen for my big owie?’ she gestured with her hand, demanding medical care with frustration.
‘Better, we have an artificial hot spring downstairs, when you’re discharged, I’m going to grant you access,’ he said and she glared harshly at him. He huffed and then nodded to Bruce beside him. ‘And maybe I’ll get Brucie here to hook you up with some of the good pain relievers.’ He clapped the scientist on the shoulder. Bonnie looked like she was going to blow a gasket.
‘You’ve watched me get beat up for months and you’re only just telling me about this hotspring now ?’ She huffed.
‘You never asked,’ he said with mocking indignance. She narrowed her eyes again.
‘I’m going to kill you,’ she hissed. ‘So let me get this straight, for some reason I have the bone density of an Olympic God, and I’m bruised because despite this my skin is still fragile and I’m in pain because I’m really bruised, yes?’
‘Yes,’ Tony nodded with mocking approval. She pulled her pillow out from under her and started beating him with it, which made me relax knowing she was definitely okay.
‘SONECHKO!!!’ I heard just as the automatic doors flew open to her isolation room and Tony, Bruce and myself turned to face them. There were some running footsteps just behind him and Flash jogged into the room after him. I shook my head. Boy that boy was fast.
Bonnie Carter POV
‘I’m here! Not worry! I’m here!’ Pietro panted, leaning over his knees and looking like he was about to collapse in the doorway. Pressing my lips together into a thin line, I pushed my blankets back, swinging my leg over the side of the bed. With a small jump I hopped off and padded with bare feet across to the doorway to greet him. I opened my arms wide, signalling him to come closer and he slowly lowered himself down and around my frame, very careful not to apply too much pressure.
‘Thank you, for being here,’ I said softly, squeezing him tightly. ‘I’m sorry I scared you, but I’m alright. It’s just bruising.’
‘Your head, are you alright?’ he asked, pulling back to tenderly cradle the back of my head with one hand and trace his fingers over the wound on my forehead. I nodded, wincing slightly as I felt my brain rattling around in my skull.
‘Yeah, I mean, I’m not pain free, but I’m alright. It definitely could have been a lot worse,’ I admitted and he nodded, sighing softly, seemingly appreciating the honesty. He leaned in again and rested his chin on top of my crown, rocking me softly in his arms.
‘You must be more careful,’ he said, voice cracking a little. ‘You push self too hard. You not invisible.’
‘Invincible,’ I corrected and he made a noise of disapproval. ‘Fine,’ I huffed. ‘I’ll be more careful.’
‘Wow, I had no idea it was that easy,’ Steve commented and Tony, Flash and Bruce laughed, making me shake my head with a sigh.
‘You really okay, Carter?’ Flash asked and I glanced back over my shoulder, grinning warmly at him.
‘I’m okay, thanks for worrying about me,’ I said and he smiled a big bashful smile at me, nodding. ‘I appreciate it.’
The adults left then, going off to do adult-y things while Pietro forced me back into bed and hopped up beside me, swinging his legs back and forth over the edge. Flash took the visitor’s chair and we chatted just like it was a Wednesday night at the diner. Eventually Flash had to go, since Jack was at some WWII vet event he was responsible for picking up Jessie from her friend’s house. Reluctantly, Pietro went with him so he could get back to his host parents house and actually spend time with thim. I felt bad not spending any time at his house, but he’d been pretty explicit that he didn’t want me to meet them. Especially after Halloween when that mom called me a slut. Briefly, I wondered what I’d done to piss off people I hadn’t even met yet, but I decided to pay it no mind. My friends and family loved me, and that was enough.
Peter showed up with full permission from the prison Warden, Aunt May to stay the night and he refused to leave my bedside, giving me the long lecture about making him leave me. I took it endearingly, feeling flattered so many people had been worrying about me when this time last year, I’d have been pretty much on my own. This year had been life altering for me, and I was no longer mad about being crowned Queen Pooh, instead, I was grateful. If things kept going the way they were, I had no doubts we’d one day get the NYPD on our side.
Tuesday 12th November 2013
Groaning, I pushed up out of bed, swinging my legs over the edge. Still muttering and swearing under my breath at being awake at such a terrible hour, I didn’t notice Steve standing in the kitchen ironing his newspaper and snickering at me. In fact I didn’t notice until I was eating my cereal and when I did, I was more annoyed.
‘Bonnie, you’re clearly injured, why don’t you just take the day off?’ he asked and I shot him a look. He stopped ironing, sowing the iron in the board’s built-in holder.
‘I want to, but we have a stupid school council meeting because of the stupid winter carnival thing that I have to be a part of organising because stupid Coach Danvers stupidly decided to make me the stupid vice captain!’ I huffed, accidentally biting the spoon and crying out at the rattling twang sent through me.
‘When’s the stupid meeting?’ he asked, coming over to sit across from and give me his full attention as I rubbed my jaw with a pout.
‘Fourth period, just before lunch,’ I answered and he nodded. He leaned his elbows on the table, scanning me sympathetically.
‘Take a half day, show up for your stupid meeting, have some stupid lunch and then go to your stupid nursing subjects,’ Steve suggested humerously, big grin on his features. ‘I can call your stupid teachers, clear it with them.’
‘Thank you,’ I grumbled under my breath and munched on my cereal with my head down. He stayed put a moment longer, eyeing me with a scrutinising gaze.
‘Go down to that hot spring again, you had more movement yesterday once you’d come back,’ he ordered, leaving no room for argument. Truthfully, I was in such a bad mood because despite how good the hot water had felt, I felt a deep uncomfortable feeling the entire time I was there. I never learned to swim.
After my cereal, I got changed into a bikini I’d gotten from Tony’s gift shop - yes, the man had everything in this Tower - and waddled down to the private relaxation floor. With bare feet, I padded across the rough, sandy coloured, concrete floor, irritated at the texture. But, I supposed it couldn’t be smooth if there was water nearby, because no one would be able to grip the surface without traction. Last thing the man who had everything needed was to get sued by an Avenger over a slip and fall. Although I imagine the media would have a field day with that one.
There was the sound of rushing water, whomever Tony had had to design this place, had installed a waterfall and river of hot, mineral infused water running around the various baths. There was also an artificial cave-like structure for some privacy and had a night time experience where you could stare out at a fake night sky filled with stars. Which I imagine would have been amazing if I was ballsy enough to set foot in it. But the water was too deep. I’d never learned to swim.
Standing by the edge of the shallowest pool, I swallowed thickly. It was wide, larger in width than a hot tub by a long shot and was almost kidney bean shaped. The water was slightly brown in colour and a decent temperature, knee level to most, and when I sat in it it covered me as much as a bath did. But I was still filled with a cold dread. Swallowing thickly, I stared at the surface of the water for a little longer, feeling myself start to shake a little.
‘Well if it isn’t one of Midguard’s mightiest heroes,’ I heard someone boom from behind me, jerking me out of my thoughts. Glancing behind me, I saw Thor fucking Odinson standing behind me in a pair of those tropical sunset board shorts with the black silhouette of a palm tree and a colour gradient from the sun to the water. I made a rather pathetic noise and cocked my head in confusion. ‘Well, what are you waiting for? The water looks great!’
‘Uh,’ I mumbled, glancing back between him and the water. ‘It’s uh..it looks pretty deep.’
‘I see,’ he nodded seriously, walking over closer to the water. ‘Allow me to check it for you then, my friend.’
He walked past me, stepping into the clear water quickly, forgoing even sticking a toe in the water to test the temperature. He truly was a brave man. Wading through the thick water as it turned to waves around him, he moved to the middle of each side of the bean, checking the depth. Satisfied the water level never reached past his knees, he turned to face me with his hands on his hips, a giant grin on his face.
‘Seems a perfect depth to sit and enjoy the water,’ he said and sat down, torrents of water splashing around him.
He glanced up at me, steam coming off him in clouds as he waited expectantly for me to join him. I blinked. Why was Thor Odinson the Viking God trying to get me to have a bath with him? As confusing as that was alone, I focused my mind on the horrifying thought. Like last night, I was going to have to actually get in there in order to heal my injuries. Shaking, I looked at the water and the more I stared, the deeper it seemed. Every fibre of my being told me to turn around and run, high tail it out of there and get to my room. Or anywhere. So long as there were no large bodies of water.
‘Are you coming?’ he asked and I felt my hands shaking beside me. My bottom lip trembled as I swallowed again, mouth dry as I tried to come up with an answer. I felt almost dizzy, there was a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and I could hurl any second. ‘My friend, you’re shaking like a leaf. Are you alright?’
‘I..’ I stuttered. “I can’t go in there.’
‘Why not? Surely you’re not concerned about bathing beside a man, are you? I was under the impression from Stark that that was no longer an issue in Midgard, or at least here in these United States,’ he told me. And this seemed like conceivable out, I could simply pretend it was an issue of modesty and run. No one would ever have to know I never went, and I could stomach a few deep bruises for a few more days. It’s not like the shower or bath tub in Steve and I’s apartment had stopped working.
‘No,’ I admitted, shaking my head. He sat there, watching me cautiously. ‘I uh…I don’t know how to swim. I mean..uh, I understand the concept but I…’
‘I see,’ he nodded softly. ‘Here,’ he said, standing up, water dropping off his body in a whoosh . He waded over to the edge and offered me a hand. ‘How about we take this one step at a time, my friend? We’ll walk around together, and you can get used to the water, yes?’
‘I…’ I said shakily. Glancing between his friendly face, his hand, and the water, I couldn’t see another real way out of this. I needed to feel better, we had a game coming up and I had to get back out and fight crime. The better I felt, the better I’d be at my job. Plus I had a shift at the diner tomorrow and I didn’t want to ache the whole time, that would be torture.
‘It’s alright my friend, we have time,’ he assured me and I felt myself extending a trembling hand. Wrapping my fingers around his, I stepped closer, letting him put his other hand on my waist and guide me into the water. It came up to my mid thigh, touching the top of my still red Lizard scar and I wavered a little in the water, feeling the bile in my stomach churning.
‘I..I was learning but…’ I tried but he shushed me.
‘You owe me no explanations, my friend,’ he said simply, as he stood beside me.
Waiting patiently for me to be ready, eventually we started walking slowly through the water. Despite the vomit that sat at the back of my throat, ready to project itself over myself and the pool at a moment's notice, this was actually not as bad as it had seemed.
Saturday 28th June 2008
Sitting beside Peter in our camping chairs, I held tightly to his hand, concentrating hard on the placement of the bandaid. My tongue poked out of the corner of my mouth as I worked, pulling the fabric tight so it would stay secure and put pressure on the small cut. He sat idly beside me in his chair, fishing rod balanced on his knees. Ben and May were watching us from the cottage porch, sitting in the shade while we fished. Beads of sweat rolled down my neck and the world around us was deafeningly silent. All that could be heard were cicadas and the gentle, lapping waves of the lake.
‘Looks good,’ Peter commented when I let go of his hand, inspecting the tip of his finger. The band aids were new, in wake of Tony Stark becoming Iron Man, they’d brought out some cool new real superhero bandaids to rival that of the Captain America ones you could get. Grandma Margaret got me those a lot. She kept thinking it was the war again and gave me boxes to put in my nurses kit.
‘Maybe Grandma was right, I do have a future in nursing,’ I said and he laughed, wiping some sweat off his brow. His hair was wet, though most likely from sweat over the shower he’d had hours ago. The days were so long now, it wasn’t even lunch yet.
‘You can work in my lab, then I can have someone qualified to do first aid if one of my experiments explodes,’ Peter told me and I paused, cocking my head to the side.
‘I don’t think scientists have nurses on staff,’ I said and he glanced back, confused.
‘Why not? Schools have nurses. Doesn’t every business have someone for that?’ he asked and I shrugged. I didn’t really know.
Tires shrieked and the noise echoed throughout the surrounding area. Peter and I glanced up to the edge of the cliff and eyes the railing. There was a car and a motorcycle on the road above us, headed down towards the quiet intersection off the highway where our cabin was. An engine roared and there was more shrieking tires and rubber scraped across the tarmac and before I could even comment about the crazy driving, the railing surrounding the road burst open a little, black car flipping over the edge and tumbling off the cliffside. It rolled down past trees that snapped with the impact of a speeding car hitting them and rocks rolled free down the side of the cliff. There was a giant splash as it hit the surface of the water in front of us and the car bobbed in the water around the torrents of water.
My jaw hung open as I stared at the scene of the crash, in complete shock something like this had just happened in front of our very eyes. Glancing up from the car to the road, the railing, save for the impact zone, was surprisingly fine and the motorbike was gone . Peter had shot up from beside me, fishing rod falling to the wooden deck of the pier. He was shaking me, trying to get my attention but I couldn’t stop staring at the slowly sinking black car. It was upside down in the water, slowly getting lower and lower. It was a crumpled wreck and I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
Behind me, I could hear fast footfalls crunching through the gravel as Peter ran back towards the house, yelling for Uncle Ben and Aunt May who had stepped inside for just a moment. Peter dragged me inside on Ben’s orders, and he went to investigate the other side of the lake. May was using the phone on the wall as Peter and I sat in the kitchen, as close as we could to listen in. She reported the crash and it was hours later that Ben came back. My dad was standing, damp in the doorway to our shared cabin. He must have been as sweaty as Peter had been in the summer heat.
‘Bonnie, I need you to come here a second,’ he told me. I stood up from my chair but paused halfway. Now I was closer, I could see he was injured. He had butterfly stitches on his head and cuts on his hands and arms. His jeans were torn and scuffed.
‘Daddy, what happened?’ I asked, cocking my head to the side.
‘I’ll explain everything in a second, just come here,’ he said, gesturing for me to come with him out the door.
‘Where’s mom?’ I asked and his face shifted. He looked like he was about to break. Uncle Ben looked at me sympathetically. I glanced back at Peter and May. May looked a little confused, but also horrified.
‘Pumpkin…’
Tuesday 12th November 2013
Thor didn’t seem to notice, or care, how tightly I was squeezing his hand in mine. It was odd the way he was so friendly towards me, given we’d never met. But, maybe he was just a friendly guy, you know? He was a God.
‘She drowned,’ I said, looking at the hot water lapping around us. Steam billowed off the surface of the water and wafted around us as he glanced down at me. ‘I know you said I don’t owe you anything but..’
He nodded, and I glanced at the slightly brown water, swallowing thickly. Walking us towards the edge of the pool, I slowly lowered myself so I was sitting on the edge, feet and knees in the water but ass on the ground. Waiting to see if I was planning on sitting here or getting in, Thor remained standing. From this angle I felt very good about that painting I’d done when I was high, I thought I’d done a pretty accurate job considering I’d never actually seen the man in person, let alone without clothes.
‘And I was there, I watched it happen, although I didn’t know at the time,’ I explained, and he sat down, sitting on the floor of the shallow pool. I brought a hand up to run over my sweaty, bruised face. ‘Their car got run off the road, but everyone maintains there was never a motorbike there. It was just an accident…My dad could never cope with the guilt of losing her. He could get out of the car but it was too late to get her out. I just…what a frightening and painful way to go. To have those be your last moments, so out of your control. And so I never finished learning to swim, I couldn’t bring myself to enter the water again. And now I find myself needing to heal and I just…’
‘It’s never easy to lose someone, I just lost my own mother,’ he explained, squeezing the hand I was still holding. ‘At least I know she went fighting, it didn’t end well, but I don’t imagine she was frightened.’
‘I’m frightened,’ I admitted, feeling my bottom lip trembling. My eyes burned, I could feel the corners start to fill up with tears. ‘It feels so silly the kind of thing I face every day, to be so scared. I know, I know this isn’t that deep. But I’m terrified. Any moment I could just slip under the surface and it would all be over.’
‘That’s not silly,’ Thor told me, squeezing my hand harder. ‘You have experienced a loss at the hands of water, fear of a real threat is natural. But you have a chance to conquer that fear, if you only reach out and take it. I will be here, as long as you need.’
Nodding, I sat on the edge longer, trying to decide what I wanted to do. I could listen to Thor, get under the water and make myself less afraid, or I could get up and pat myself on the back. Two days running I’d done this, and while I’d managed it yesterday, it wasn’t wrong to not manage today. I thought I’d be better, having - as Thor put it - conquered my fear yesterday, but today it was actually worse. Sure, I wasn’t expecting to be cured overnight, but I didn’t think I’d be afraid to even set foot in the water on day two. Maybe it was because I was in so much pain yesterday I just got down and did it. Today I wasn’t in danger, today required more conscious thought. I hadn’t even realised I was afraid yesterday until I got here, today I’d known this was scary right from the moment Steve suggested it.
‘Okay,’ I said, nodding determinedly. He reached up to put his other hand on my waist, guiding me into the water when I took the leap of faith off the edge of the pool. Water splashed up around my chest and shoulders but I felt soothed. And pretty proud of myself, if a little out of breath and still nauseous.
Chapter 39: Your Love Is Going To Drown
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Title Song: Your Love Is Going To Drown (Marching Bands Of Manhattan) - Death Cab For Cutie
Bonnie Carter POV
Tuesday 12th November 2013
Hearing the bell ring overhead, I hurried along to the class I knew Peter would be in. The hall quickly started filling with the student body and I got swarmed with taller people en masse. Spotting his mop of brown hair above the rest I dashed forwards, grabbing the sleeves of his brown hoodie.
‘Whoah, what?’ he cried out as I tugged him around a corner and into a supply closet. ‘Bonnie?’
In the supply closet Peter was frantic, trying to use his spidey senses to discover the source of the fire. He put his pile of books on a shelf and scanned me for trouble. Other than the stitched up and covered cut on my forehead, I was generally fine. So confusedly, he waited for me to tell him why I’d dragged him off to a remote part of the school.
‘Thor bathed with me and wants to take me back to Asgard,’ I blurted and Peter stopped, blinking down at me. He rested his hand on my shoulders as he cocked his head in confusion before he took them back off again, holding his hands together in a prayer fashion and pressing his lips together in a thin line.
‘What?’ he whispered simply.
‘I can’t swim!’ I threw my hands out and he slowly shook his head at me, hands in front of his face.
‘What??’ He demanded, still whispering.
‘Thor! I went to the stupid hotspring Tony has, and I’m afraid of water, and I didn’t want to go in, and for some reason Thor was there, and held my hand, and bathed with me!’ I explained and Peter squinted at me, hands resting on his temples. ‘Yeah, and then when I was leaving he came with to talk to Steve and demanded I let him take me to Asgard!’
‘Well, what did Steve say??’ Peter asked and I hopped around from foot to foot, quick stepping in front of him.
‘I have school right now, and he should wait till winter break,’ I said and Peter squatted on the floor in front of me head in his hands. After a few more moments of freaking out, we both found ourselves sitting up against a wall, hugging our knees.
‘And you’re sure you didn’t imagine this?’ he asked, turning to me after about five minutes of silence. ‘You did have a pretty serious head wound.’
‘I had JARVIS playback the footage,’ I told him and he nodded slowly. We sat in silence for a bit longer before Peter turned to me with an utter look of betrayal.
‘Wait, does this mean you’re missing Christmas?!’ he cried out, horrified.
The bell for fourth period rang and Peter got up to head to his class, stopping only to help me up off the floor for my student council meeting. Despite being grateful I had more friends and things were going relatively well with Avengers B team, I still found having to be on the committee for social events a cruel and unusual punishment. It made me wonder what exactly I’d done to piss someone off so bad that I had to make posters and go to bake sales .
Sitting in between Flash and Stacey I ignored most of the conversation about the different stalls and activities we’d have running during the winter carnival. I almost rolled my eyes when I realised that because I had to be there then I had no excuse not to take Pietro. It was no secret he loved these kind of events which meant I couldn’t even go home once I’d finished my stupid part. Pouting, I crossed my arms over my chest, indignantly thinking about all the things I’d rather be doing than sitting here. My mind wandered to hand holding with Thor, and then I stopped myself rather quickly because it only made me more confused as to why he was treating me like an old friend despite me having never met him. And why did he want to take me on a field trip to Asgard anyway?
‘Carter,’ Flash scolded, elbowing me lightly. More lightly than he would have done before yesterday thanks to my “trip down the stairs”.
‘Hmm?’ I asked, jerking my head up and looking at the entire group staring at me.
‘Snow Cones?’ Stacey prompted.
‘Sure, I like snow cones,’ I shrugged.
‘Settled,’ Luke said and scribbled down on a piece of paper.
Going back to ignoring everyone, I thought about the Winter Soldier, thinking about how long it had been since I last saw him. I had no reason to see him, not really, but I did wonder what I’d have to do to do it again. It was usually when something big was either going down, or about to. And I didn’t really want that to happen again anytime soon. However, we’d been building a good relationship lately and I didn’t want that washed down the drain.
Friday 15th November 2013
Deft fingers combed through my hair as the water rained down from the water jets. Pietro pressed his lips to the wet skin of my shoulder, seemingly unbothered by the torrents blanketing my skin. It being a home game this week, we’d managed to swing it so that we’d waited for the showers to clear out and had some privacy. Honestly, the rate we kept getting away with this made me certain it was going to come crashing down, and soon.
‘Sonechko,’ he hummed huskily. Most of the bruising on my back had faded and my skin was grey rather than red and inflamed or the dark purple it had shifted to quickly after.
‘Honey, we don’t have time,’ I mumbled, feeling him scrub my shoulders gently.
‘Then let’s not, let me care of you,’ he said, spinning me to scrub soap over my breasts with a washcloth. ‘Plenty of time, today we rest.’
‘It’s been…’ I started trying to argue but shook my head. ‘I know you’re nervous but it’s okay, really.’
‘I wanted you, even after everything,’ he admitted, squirting some conditioner into the palm of his hand. ‘I waited, of course, easy. To care, to do right thing, I love you. I knew time must pass.’
‘So what happened?’ I asked, shaking my head in confusion as I watched him comb the conditioner through the ends of his hair. He reached down to do the same with me, cradling the back of my head.
‘You had accident,’ he replied, looking guiltily. I blinked at him. ‘You not see? I wanted you even in grief. And you were punished.’
‘What?’ I scoffed, shaking my head in more confusion. ‘Pietro, you can’t think this has anything to do with you. So what, you still loved me after what happened and you think the universe decided to strike you down because of that? You think you’re being punished for not changing your opinion of me?’
‘No!’ he shook his head. ‘No, Sonechko, I understand you not religious but I..’
‘You are and you’re pissed, right?’ I pulled back away from him, running my fingers through the ends of my hair to get the conditioner out. He said he was alright with whatever I chose. Great, just what I needed, Christian guilt. I wasn’t religious because within my lifetime two Gods had visited Earth and we’d discovered they were actually aliens. Of course that would make you sceptical, that didn’t make me a monster. And neither did making a choice.
‘No,’ he assured me, stepping back to give me space. ‘I am saying, you were vulnerable, needed support. I boyfriend, supposed to be giving support. Not lusting.’
‘So you think God pushed me down the stairs because you were still hormonal after we had a pregnancy scare?’ I asked, ringing my hair out. ‘Okay, this is about more than… Look, I understand you feel like you shouldn’t have gone to the parade with Steve, but you couldn’t have done anything even if you were with me, I promise you. And I don’t feel like you failed to support me after Halloween, so you don’t have to fuck me, I’d never be upset with you for not wanting to. But I do expect you stop beating yourself up.’
‘Wanting to fuck is problem, moia kokhana,’ he said and washed his own hair out. Stepping away from him, I wrapped myself up in a towel and perched on a nearby bench. Crossing one leg over the other and my arms over my chest, I huffed. Maybe he was grieving, and that’s what all this was about.
Quickly drying off after realising our conversation was going nowhere, I dressed and waited for him to do the same. So much for a post-win fucking. In deafening silence we made our way to the parking lot where Flash was waiting patiently to take us to the Pizza parlour where we could hang out with the rest of the team. And he sat awkwardly in the driverseat while Pietro and I stayed locked in our silence. I didn’t know why we were fighting, I didn’t want to be, but I also didn’t really know how to fix it either.
Flash watched me with scrutiny the whole night, wanting to say something, I know he did, but could’t find a free moment. He grabbed my wrist when I handed him my weekly portion of the gas money and my eyes flicked up to him. Pietro was already outside the car, moving to sit in the front when I got out and went into the tower.
‘What time should I pick you up tomorrow?’ he asked and I blinked at him. That wasn’t what I was expecting him to ask.
‘What?’ I asked, shaking my head at him.
‘You know, for the carnival? We have to go in on Saturday, tomorrow, to make the decorations and stuff for next weekend,’ he explained and I blinked at him again. It was as if he was speaking a forregn language. When had we been told this?
‘Since when?’ I demanded and he laughed, shaking his head at me.
‘At that meeting you weren’t paying any attention to, we’re also working on it after school for the rest of the week,’ he told me and I made a face, dropping my jaw in shock. ‘Well, if you’d been less impressive on the football field this wouldn’t be your problem.’
‘Fuckin’, whenever you want then, I’m so mad,’ I huffed, pulling the door handle open. Stomping the rest of the way to the elevator, I kicked the concrete panel next to the buttons. This was shaping up to be a shit week.
Saturday 16th November 2013
Somehow, I was being victimised for my art affinity, and had been made to paint the signs for all the rides and activities. So I was kneeling in the middle of a board of plywood, painting jovial snowmen on a sign for the “snowball toss”. Flash was beside me glueing blue and silver glitter onto a soft ball for that very event. Next on my list was the hot chocolate “marshmallow” dunk event where some unlucky volunteer would be sat on a board above warm hot chocolate and people would toss pink and white balls at a target and try to dunk the “marshmallow”. How had we gotten approval for this? I blamed SHIELD. How could they appoint some rando agent to head of our school and just let him roam free? Clearly the man had no regard for health and safety. That was just asking for a yeast infection.
‘I don’t care how many snowflake shaped pieces of glitter you add to that thing, it’s not a snowball toss, it’s just skeeball,’ I huffed and Flash chuckled beside me, adding his most recent ball to the pile. ‘You know I’m honestly surprised they haven’t tried to rename the bumper cars black ice accident or something.’
‘Dark,’ Flash scoffed. ‘You’re just mad because you have to help. Now, when are you and Pietro going to tell me what’s going on with you two?’
‘Flash,’ I sighed, shaking my head at him. I put my paintbrush in my water cup. He reached a hand out to me and I voluntarily put my wrist in his grip this time.
‘Come on, let’s go get some air, these paint fumes’ll be getting to us,’ he suggested and helped me up off the sign. He guided me out of the disused classroom we’d taken up in, no longer able to use the gym, as it still hadn’t finished being repaired. I hoped it would be soon, since it was getting colder and more miserable by the day, and I didn’t want to do PE outside anymore.
Out by the drinking fountain, I leaned against the wall and he leaned down, pressing the button on the fountain and legitimately taking a sip. There was an audible slurping noise before he sighed dramatically and stood up beside me, arms folded over his chest. He raised an eyebrow expectantly at me and for a moment I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to drink or spill.
‘I don’t know how to help him, I don’t think I can,’ I admitted, crossing my arms over my chest. ‘We…we messed up Flash. We almost got into some trouble too big for us and I don’t know if he blames himself, or if he’s grieving but…I don’t think I can make this go away.’
‘Grieving?’ Flash blinked at me. I sighed, shaking my head.
‘We…Halloween, we forgot to use a condom,’ I explained and he nodded in realisation. ‘And so I told him after the game, and took the morning after pill. And since then he won’t fuck me. I don’t know what I did wrong.’
‘I don’t think it’s you,’ Flash shrugged, poking the button for the fountain again and again, making it shoot out small spurts of water.
‘Well, I think maybe he didn’t want me to take the pill. Because he thinks somehow me falling down the stairs is his fault, some kind of punishment from God,’ I replied and Flash made a face, chewing on his cheek slightly. ‘I just, I can’t explain to him that this isn’t his fault, it’s not devine punishment and even if he had’ve been there with me, he couldn’t have done anything.’
‘What’d Parker say?’ Flash asked and I shook my head at him, reaching up to put my head in my hand.
‘I haven’t told him,’ I sighed and Flash made a small squeaking noise.
‘Well, maybe he just needs to talk to a guy about this. I’ll try, I’m his best friend,’ Flash said proudly, puffing out his chest. Then he grinned cheesily at me. ‘And Carter?’ he asked and I nodded. ‘Thanks for trusting me with this. I won’t let you down.’
He picked me up into a bone crushing hug, picking me up and spinning me around against my will. Sighing, I let him do it and waited patiently for him to put me down. There were some uniform footfalls in the background and I turned as soon as he did put me down, hearing someone clear their throat. Principal SHIELD Agent was standing behind us with a few off duty, but still very rigid looking other SHIELD agents. They all held large quantities of pizza boxes and I blinked at him.
‘Uh, Principal Coulson?’ I started and he raised an eyebrow at me.
‘Shouldn’t you two be working?’ he asked and Flash nodded vigorously from beside me. He pointed wordlessly to the water fountain.
‘Alibi,’ he managed, and I just about choked. Coulson looked amused as well.
‘What’s with the Pizza?’ I asked and he smiled softly.
‘You kids come in on your day off to work on school activities, so we’re giving you lunch,’ he explained, guiding us back towards the disused classroom we’d been working in. The agents handed out stacks of pizza boxes and everyone went to help themselves. I glanced at Coulson, raising a suspicious eyebrow. ‘It’s in the budget,’ he justified with a shrug.
‘Something bigger’s going on,’ I commented.
‘Last large scale school event something went down. I got approval to beef up security, get some personnel I trust on hand,’ he explained and then gestured for me to leave him. Sighing, I was grateful I’d gotten that nugget, because I doubted he had to give me anything at all. I had basically told him and his groupies to fuck off a few months ago.
Wednesday 20th November 2013
Shivering, Flash and I stood beside his truck. He hadn’t said any more on whether or not he’d spoken to Pietro and I didn’t want to ask. But as we stood here, parking lot slowly emptying, I wondered if he had and things hadn’t gone well. By the time it was empty and we were still standing there, I felt myself slide down the wet cab to the ground, knees pulled up to my chest. Resting my head on top of them, I felt a tightness spreading in my chest. That was the thing that was so great about last year, I was lonely, but it was expected. With just Peter whom I always spent time with when he could, there was no one to break my heart. I never had to feel scared about losing someone important, no one except him.
A sob escaped my lips and I heard swearing and some splashing footsteps across the flooded parking lot. Dropping down beside me, Flash sat against his tuck, joining me in the rainwater one arm over my shoulders. He wasn’t coming. Pietro wasn’t coming, and somehow, one careless night had fucked everything up. My shift this week had been pushed back later because of the stupid Winter Carnival and now I wasn’t sure I wanted to go at all. It seemed silly, childish to miss work because of some guy, but Pietro wasn’t just some guy.
‘Hey,’ Flash soothed, rubbing my shoulder. A year ago, I would not have predicted sitting here, with him as my main source of comfort thanks to boy troubles. No, last year he was the boy giving me trouble, and I could solve that trouble by punching him. Peter would have ridden the subway with me to the diner, we’d have done our homework and gone home, parting ways in the driveway. Only to meet there the next morning to go back to school together.
‘It’s alright,’ Flash said softly, holding me tightly in a side hug. How did I fix this?
Eventually, he got up from beside me, phone in his hand. He was around the other side of his truck, talking to someone, I’d assume, but I was paying him very little attention. It had started raining again and the heavy patter of raindrops bouncing off the blue roof of Flash’s truck drowned out the sound of my sobbing, but only just. I’d never had a boyfriend before, was it supposed to be like this?
‘Come on,’ he said, pulling me up off the ground by my bicep.
He pulled the car door open and put me down on the leather seat, closing the door again. Wordlessly, he drove down the streets in the rain, heater on gently as I sniffled to myself. If I hadn’t’ve been crying so much, I probably would have noticed we weren’t going the right way to the diner. And I probably would have spotted Peter standing outside his house in the rain, large umbrella held above his head as he waited for us to pull up. I would have expected him pulling the passenger side door open and holding the umbrella over us as he cradled my damp form.
‘I’m supposed to go to work,’ I said with a sniff, bringing my wrist up to wipe my nose.
‘I called granddad, he’s old friends with the owner. He let them know you can’t come in,’ Flash told me. ‘You’re gonna go inside, watch romcoms or something with Parker.’
Peter helped me out of the truck, water splashing around my ankles as soon as my sneakers hit the road. He started trying to lead me towards the house but I noticed the engine was still running and Flash hadn’t gotten out of his truck. Pulling away from Pete, I jogged through the rain, grabbing the car door handle.
‘Aren’t you coming?’ I asked and he shook his head, gentle smile on his face.
‘No, I’m going to go find him,’ he told me, nodding off out the window. ‘We’ll fix this, I promise.’
‘Why are you…’ I started and he smiled simply.
‘Because you help everyone else, because you helped me, because you’re my friend,’ he told me and I nodded. Peter walked back over and I waved goodbye to Flash, closing the door and letting him lead me inside. He closed the umbrella once we were under the porch, shaking it to get off all the water before putting it in the stand. He led me up to his room so I could change into dry clothes and went downstairs again to make popcorn while I did.
Eugene Thompson POV
With the ignition off I sat outside Pietro’s apartment building. While I’d handled calling my granddad, and calling Parker, actually getting Pietro to listen to me, would be a lot harder. Honestly, I didn’t know what to do, just that, Carter had hated me but she’d given me a chance anyway. She’d hated me and fixed the largest problem in my life and set me on a better path. And now she trusted me and I wouldn’t let her down. She’d told me things she hadn’t even told Parker, and they were family. She’d trusted me with that, so I couldn’t let her down.
Pulling on the door handle, I stepped out into a puddle, water sloshing around my ankles. I slammed my door shut, jogging out of the rain and pressing the electric door lock on my keys. Thanks to Carter, I didn’t have to stand in the rain a few seconds longer to manually lock the doors. Sliding the security gate back, I stepped inside the lobby to his apartment building and over to the elevator. I tried to think while I waited, on what I’d say. Pietro was my best friend, I’d never had one as good as him. Whatever I said, I had to make sure helped them both. But words, they were never my strong suit.
Sighing, I stepped inside the elevator and pressed the button for his floor. I hadn’t told him I was coming, I knew fine he wouldn’t let me in if I had. But it did mean I had to come up with something to get past his host parents. We’d never met, and I hoped my coming over didn’t drop him in it for all the times he’d stayed over at Carter’s. Words. I hated words. Problems were so much easier when you could just punch them.
Out of the elevator and along the vinyl corridor, I stopped by the potted plant and knocked on the old wooden door. I still didn’t know what to say, what to expect but maybe I could help by just being there. I thought back to the time Carter had sat with me when I was upset. We were just kids, she couldn’t have helped me, but sitting with me had made me feel marginally better. Maybe Pietro just needed a friend.
The door pulled open and a red faced old guy stood staring at me. He didn’t have a hair on his head to hide his massive ears, nor did he have a pound of meat on his bones. He raised an eyebrow at me and shot me a toothy grin. Or, showed me what little natural teeth he had. Trying not to get distracted by his mouth full of porcelain I stared up into his sunken eyes.
‘Uh, hello, Sir,’ I choked, feeling rather nervous. ‘I’m Flash, one of Pietro’s friends. Is he here?’
‘Oh, hello Flash, we’ve heard a lot about you,’ he said in an Irish American accent. He beamed at me, waving me inside the modest apartment. ‘Come on in, I’m Mr O'Donoghue.’
‘It’s nice to meet you sir,’ I mumbled and he nodded, leading me into the livingroom past some old, 70s floral armchairs.
‘Pietro! Where are you my boy?’ Mr O'Donoghue called, searching the dining room and study area.
‘Mick, who was at the door?’ I turned towards the sound and saw a middle aged Indian woman with long, curly hair. Not like Bonnie’s curls though, these ones looked like they’d been done with those pinchy tong things Jessie uses. She raised a meticulously plucked eyebrow at me and I nodded towards her, offering a tight to the chest wave.
‘Hi Mrs O'Donoghue, I’m Flash,’ I greeted and she beamed, excitedly bouncing over in her red, collared dress.
‘It’s good to see you Flash, Pietro talks non stop about you , ’ she said warmly. ‘Come, have some chai, Mick can go and get Pietro from his room. He’s sulking over that trashy girl.’
‘Trashy girl?’ I asked, raising an eyebrow of my own. She screwed up her face at the thought, walking over towards a pot on the stove. She ladeled some thick, milky brown tea into a cup and gestured for me to sit down.
‘You know, that little thing that’s always running around that filthy football field,’ she described and I scoffed, shaking my head.
‘Carter,’ I replied and she nodded.
‘No place for a young woman, gives the wrong idea,’ Mrs O'Donoghue said with scrutiny, and I cocked my head to the side. No wonder Pietro never wanted Carter to meet them. They really were judgy.
‘And what idea is that?’ I asked, unimpressed, refusing to sit in the seat she’d gestured me to. ‘The idea that women can play sports just as good as men?’
‘That respectable girls should run around in those tight little trousers with all those hormonal young boys,’ she explained as if I was stupid. She shook her head at me and poured herself a cup. ‘You don’t understand, Flash, and you won’t until you’re older. But if that girl wants anyone to respect her, she shouldn’t be running around pretending to be a man and letting them all go feral chasing her. It’s just asking for trouble.’
‘Flash, what is you doing here?’ Pietro asked, coming into the room from behind me.
‘Honey, it’s what are you doing here,’ Mrs O'Donoghue corrected sweetly, as if she hadn’t just called my friend a slut who’s asking for it. I didn’t think people like this still existed. So what if Carter wants to play football? She’s good at it. Even if she does get passed around the field more times than the ball does.
‘You didn’t come to study with us today,’ I said simply and he sighed, nodding.
‘She sends you after me,’ he said and I shook my head, no. ‘Look, I appreciate you coming…’
‘Look, I came to visit my friend, be a friend. Let’s just hang out, forget about everything for a moment,’ I suggested and Mrs O'Donoghue grinned approvingly beside us.
‘What a wonderful idea, boys, why don’t you go to Pietro’s room and watch a movie or something. Flash, it’s about time you stayed over here for a change, hmm?’ Mrs O'Donoghue suggested, walking over to the cupboard and pulling out various ingredients. ‘Come on, I’ll make onion bhaji!’
‘Uh, sure,’ I agreed, hoping that would give me plenty of time to beat some sense into Pietro, although I had kinda promised myself I wouldn’t actually punch him. Following after Pietro with my cup of very sweet tea, I asked myself my sacred phrase, “What Would Carter Do?”.
Pulling his bedroom door closed after us, he reached for a DVD off the shelf, putting it in the player and turning the volume up. He sat down on the bed by the window, springs squeaking as he bounced softly. He folded his arms over his chest, waiting for me to say something and I simply ignored him, sitting down to watch the episode of Malcom In The Middle he’d put on. After eyeing me suspiciously for three episodes, he eventually relaxed, watching the show with a small smile on his face. I think Carter would just be there for him. Be his friend. He’d talk when he was ready.
Pietro Maximoff POV
Unable to face her, I decided to skip the diner today. My sunshine would be there, still giving me sad eyes as she tried to come up with something to say, the silence would feel painful and we’d move no further forward. I couldn’t deal with that today. How could she possibly believe that I could be angry with her? I was angry at myself.
Tapping my metro card, I headed out of the gates and up the stairs, water pouring down from the streets and into the subway station. My sunshine had taught me how to navigate the train system, and I thought back to that first night we’d been alone together. How she’d grabbed my hand and not let go, that short yellow dress riding up her thighs. She’d still never told me what happened to her leg, but I assumed it was a painful story, and she’d tell me eventually. What I wouldn’t give to go back to that day. When wanting her didn’t cause any pain.
She couldn’t understand how much I’d wanted her, that day, every day. Instead of being at that boring parade I’d wanted to be tucked up in bed beside her, watching bad American horror movies. I wanted to bury myself inside her while it played in the background, even if she hadn’t been going due to “womens reasons”. Sure, I’d felt guilty she’d had to worry about that all morning while I was eating all her cereal, I’d feel bad she’d had to make the decision on her own without my support, but I could never be angry with her over her choice. It was my fault she’d had to be there in the first place. I was supposed to make sure we used condoms, not her. Shit man. I put her in that position, and then when she was still reeling from it all, I’d gone to some stupid parade.
The morning after pill could mess up your cycle, I knew that, Wanda had told me so. She’d gone through it all with me over snapchat when I’d told her what kind of an idiot I’d been. So she was probably bleeding more than normal, feeling faint or in pain and no one was with her to help her and she’d fallen. This was my fault, despite what she’d said. I should have been there. I felt like God was punishing me for not being good enough for her. And while that may have been wrong, how could she understand what that feels like, when she does not believe? It didn’t matter, if she didn’t, the point was, I should have been there. I should have done more. This was a punishent for being selfish, for wanting to be there so I could fuck her, not so I could care for her. The caring part had come as an afterthought, as guilt. But I’d wanted to be there so I could kiss her, hear her cry out for me. So she’d give me that sweaty, breathless smile as she lay beside me, chest rising and falling hard after she’d cum.
‘You’re home early, beta,’ Mrs Donahue commented, looking up over the nose of her thick framed reading glasses. She’d been reading one of those trashy magazines again, no doubt stocking up on celebrity gossip. ‘Don’t you usually study with Flash at the diner on Wednesdays?’
‘Agh, did not feel today,’ I huffed, trying to say every word perfectly so I could just go to my room. Kicking off my shoes and putting them on the rack by the door, I looked at her disapproving glance.
‘Pietro,’ she scolded and I groaned,
‘ I did not feel like going today,’ I said, sounding out each word. She nodded approvingly at me.
‘What’s on your mind?’ she asked and I shook my head. She closed her magazine and pulled her glasses off, putting them on the table beside her armchair. ‘Oh, you’re not hung up on that trashy girl, are you?’
‘Sonechko is not trashy,’ I defended. I hated how the O'Donoghues looked down on her because she had lots of male friends. That was nothing to be ashamed of. My sunshine was funny, she was smart, very pretty. Why wouldn’t you want to be her friend?
‘I’ll make you some chai, beta, you’ll feel better,’ she told me, pushing up out of her chair and going into the kitchen. ‘You can go study if you like, I’ll bring it to you.’
And somehow everything had gone downhill from there. Flash had shown up, and we had to watch sitcoms, and Mrs O’Donoghue was making Flash stay over on the other twin in this room. And she kept coming in to bring us things, snacks, drinks, to trash talk Bonnie. They’d always been kind to me, I couldn’t fault them there, but there seemed to be an unfair double standard here where women were concerned. I’d need to talk to Wanda about it, see what she thought.
‘Now Flash, Pietro’s told us all about your night terrors, so there’s absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about,’ Mrs O’Donoghue said, perching on the side of his bed as he tucked himself in for the night. Flash blinked at her. ‘Now, would you like someone to check on you if you start screaming or..’
‘Uh, no, no I’m good. Pietro and I seem to have a pretty good system going,’ he said awkwardly, glancing back at me. I nodded stiffly.
‘Wanda used to get them, I just talk to him in Ukrainian like I would her, and he usually settles down,’ I lied smoothly and she nodded. She said goodnight to us and flicked the lights off, closing the door behind her as she left for her own room.
‘Night terrors?’ Flash asked, turning his head to glare at me.
‘Seemed better than bedwetting,’ I shrugged and he scoffed, shaking his head. He was the one who’d told me to come up with a good excuse for him not to come over. He’s the one who ruined it by staying over.
Hours went by with me staring up at the ceiling. I couldn’t stop thinking about her sad little face. She was my sunshine, brought light to my life every time I saw her, thought of her. How could I bring her such misery in return? I had to find some way to fix this, but I couldn’t stop feeling responsible for what happened. And if I was, then how could me trying to dive closer help? No, I had to remain at a distance, earn my way back in.
‘You can’t fix this by pushing her away,’ Flash commented and I glanced away from the pale white ceiling to start at him across the room. ‘You wanna actually fix this, you have to talk to her. And you’ve gotta stop blaming yourself long enough for her to actually tell you her side. Have you even asked her what happened that day?’ I shook my head. No, I realised.
‘No,’ I confirmed and he shook his head.
‘Talk to her, tomorrow, man, soon. You two are too perfect to let this take you down,’ he told me and I scoffed. If only he knew how serious this was. ‘Carter told me what happened on Halloween. You can’t push her away, girls get all emotional about that stuff, you can’t run away from her.’
Thursday 21st November 2013
Vaguely, I was aware that the window beside me was being slid up and open, but not enough to roll over and check who could be opening said window in the middle of the night. I was also barely awake enough to wonder why someone kind of wet was climbing over the top of my sheets while I slept. Blinking in the darkness, I saw the moonlight shining on a figure in the centre of the room.
The figure was small, like a fairy as they reached behind themselves to lift an oversized hoodie off their frame. Over their head it went and damp hair flicked out from underneath. The moonlight shone on her back, making the pale skin of her bare shoulder blades almost glow. Next to go was her jeans and I realised I must be dreaming, once again the victim of my own lust. Although I did wonder, if this was a dream, a sleep paralysis hallucination, why had I gone to the bother of imagining her drying her damp clothes on the radiator?
She turned, standing there braless in just her underwear, nipples peaked in the chill of the room, thanks to the open window. I knew this had to be a dream, because surely my sunshine would have noticed Flash in the room, and not decided to strip off for an audience more than myself. She approached, and the closer I got, the more I could see of her in the moonlight. Her skin was covered in goosebumps as she reached over me to slide the window closed again. Her small hands came to grip the sheets resting over my chest and pull them down. And that’s when I wondered if I was actually dreaming. I shouldn’t be able to feel her touch, if she wasn’t real, right?
Swinging a leg over, she climbed on top of me, sitting on my waist and lowering herself down. She rested her head on my chest and I brought the sheets that were pooled at her legs up and over us. Dream or no, I could fall in love with this moment. Holding her close, I felt her nuzzle her wet face into my neck. Why did this feel so real?
‘Sorry to wake you, honey,’ she whispered, running a hand up over my t-shirt. ‘But with your host parents sleeping, this was the only way I could think of getting you to listen to me. You can’t argue, or be too loud, because then you’ll risk them waking up and finding us like this. And originally I’d planned on being clothed, but they were all wet and I didn’t want you getting cold.’
‘This is not dream?’ I scoffed, looking back up at the ceiling. Why was my life so complicated?
‘Do you often dream of me climbing into bed with you?’ she smirked and I rolled my eyes. ‘What else happens in those dreams?’
‘For starters there’s less cuddling,’ I told her and she leaned down to press a kiss to the corner of my mouth.
She deepened it, moving her mouth over mine and slipping her tongue inside my awaiting mouth. It felt so good to be able to kiss her like this again. But it felt wrong to want her this much. I didn’t deserve to, she’d gotten hurt because I’d been careless. Pulling away, I slid up on the bed, propping myself up on the wall despite the squeaking mattress. She sighed, and perched on my lap, hands resting on her bare thighs with the sheets pooling at her waist.
‘Pietro, please stop blaming yourself for what happened,’ she said desperately. She bit her lip, the same, plump red lip I wanted to bite down on. ‘I wish… if I could explain to you, I can’t tell you. Look, I didn’t fall down the stairs, I didn’t have a fainting spell. Please just trust me when I tell you, me getting hurt had nothing to do with what happened.’
‘What are you talking about? You lied?’ I asked, shaking my head in confusion. She looked down at her lap, continuing to chew on her lip as she thought.
‘I… I’m not who you think I am,’ she told me and I thought back to how covered with bruises she’d been. Had someone done this to her? Why would someone have done that to her? ‘Look, I… it’s not that I think I can't trust you. I know I can but I… it would put you in danger if you knew. And I want you to be safe, always. I love you.’
‘That’s not your decision to make for me,’ I told her and she looked up at me, eyes filled with tears that had yet to fall. I reached up despite myself to cup her jaw, holding her cheek in my hand. She leaned into my palm, reaching out with one of her hands to hold my other, intertwining our fingers.
‘Please understand, I do know that you deserve to make that choice for yourself,’ she said, squeezing my hand. She tried to calm herself down, tilting her head back slightly and blinked away the tears. ‘But I’ve lost everyone I’ve ever loved.’
‘You not going to lose me,’ I started but she cut me off, bringing her other hand up to press her fingers to my lips. Her thumb pulled at my bottom lip and she watched it bounce back into place. She let out a soft breath, shaking slightly as she sat on top of me.
‘My great grandma doesn’t really understand who I am anymore, she’s got Altzhimers, she’s in a home, and she thinks I’m her old friend from the war,’ my sunshine explained, letting go of my face. She still held my hand in a firm grip, as if it was grounding her. ‘I lived with her while her mind started to go, and my great grandfather. Honestly, the six years I spent with them were some of the happiest of my life, but when Daniel died, I was crushed. It seemed to start something, suddenly everyone I ever knew was dropping like flies. My grandparents were next to go, then my uncle, my mom. Ben got shot in the street because he wanted to stop some robber. And then my father, just last spring killed himself because he was unhappy without the love of his life. It was too much grief for him. And I’m scared, I’m so scared.’
‘I promise, I’m not going anywhere,’ I assured her and she shook her head, letting slow, gentle tears fall from her eyes. I sat up further, bringing the hand I had on her jaw up to slow her tears, wiping them away as quickly as they fell.
‘Before I convinced Steve to adopt me, I was left without a school to go to. Without my dad, I stood to lose everything. Peter was the only family I had left and if I couldn’t go to Midtown, I might feel him start to drift away. Or worse. Because he’s really not careful, you know? He could die, any minute now. He’s always up to no good and he doesn’t always bring me along,’ she explained and I felt my hand break from hers, subconsciously bringing it up to run through her damp curls. Despite the room having warmed back up since she’d closed the window, she was still icy cold to the touch.
‘But now I care about Steve, and he’s always off on missions, it’s a dangerous job. He makes enemies, he could die at any moment,’ she explained further and I nodded. With it being just Wanda and myself, I could understand what the fear felt like, of losing someone. But now we had our foster parents, they’d kept us together. Things were better, I’d stopped worrying. Until recently anyway. I had the same fear that one day my sunshine could be snuffed out.
‘I need one constant. I need you. I have that, with you, for now. But you know this year is going to end and there’s no guarantee you can come back next year, I can’t follow you to Sokovia,’ she said and I nodded. I too had wondered a little bit about that. This was just supposed to be a fling, a summer romance for the photo album. I liked her, of course, but I didn’t expect to need her this much. Not so soon. ‘I can’t bear to see you hurt because of me. So trust me, I know being with me is your choice, but I can’t allow what I do to bring you down. I won’t lose you.’
‘I still don’t understand what you talking about,’ I told her with a shake of my head. ‘Did someone hurt you?’ I asked, reaching up to trail my fingers over the raised scar on her forehead.
‘No, I really did fall, just not down the stairs,’ she said honestly. I believed her, but I didn’t know what to make of this. She could not just drop this on me, I needed to know more.
‘Sonechko,’ I warned and she huffed.
‘Fine,’ she said, agreeing finally to tell me what all this was about.
And I imagine she would have, if not for the sudden screaming at my bedside. Jolting up with the shock, Bonnie turned to face the wallside bed and I followed her look of horror. Flash was sitting upright and crying out at the sight of her half naked and on top of me. Arms waving around, bedsprings going mental as he flailed and screamed. I was starting to think the night terrors excuse was a good thing. Hopefully it was enough to make sure my host parents wouldn’t come barrelling in the door and see my girlfriend sitting on top of me with her tits out, otherwise it would be back to Sokovia for me.
Notes:
Next two chapters will be released closer together because there's a cliffhanger and I don't like being an asshole
Chapter 40: Disaster Hearts
Chapter Text
Title Song: Disaster Hearts - I Fight Dragons
Pietro Maximoff POV
Thursday 21st November 2013
‘Why the fuck are you naked?!’ Flash hissed, now he’d finally stopped screaming. My sunshine hadn’t stopped staring at him, slack jawed with the shock and shaking her head. Slowly, I moved the sheets up to cover her, but it proved difficult because she was still facing him. ‘Why are you always naked?’
‘What are you doing here?’ Bonnie asked after a moment, still blinking at him. The embarrassment hadn’t crept up her features yet, so she was still in shock. I knew she wouldn’t have stripped down if she’d known he was here. And I also knew it couldn’t have been a dream, only reality could be so cruel.
‘What am I doing here, I was invited. What are you doing here?’ he demanded, pointing aggressively at her. ‘Pietro, you better not be pantsless under there, I swear to god.’
‘I was wet, what did you expect me to do?’ Bonnie huffed and he looked like he was going to have an embolism. A tinge of red started creeping up her bare chest towards her neck and I could tell, despite the anger, she was mortified. It would have been cute if she wasn’t naked in front of my best friend.
‘You to jerk off at home!’ He threw his hands out and I choked, coughing on my own spit. I put my hands on Bonnie’s thighs to stop her from toppelling off me as I laughed.
‘Not that kind of wet, you idiot,’ Bonnie snapped and pulled the sheets off herself, quietly padding over to the heater where her clothes had been drying. She put a hand on her oversized hoodie and dark jeans. She made a face, indicating they were still considerably wet, too wet to put back on without a fight. She turned on her heel and grabbed a t-shirt from my closet and tugged it over her head, covering herself better than I’d managed with the sheets. She stormed back over whilst being incredibly light footed and positioned herself at Flash’s bedside, hands on her hips.
‘I was trying to talk to my boyfriend, like you suggested. How was I supposed to know you were still here? You think this is fun for me, twice in three weeks you’ve seen me naked?’ She asked, throwing her hands off her hips. ‘Look, if you think you can keep your fucking mouth shut for five minutes, I’m staying put until my clothes are dry enough to put back on.’
‘Fine,’ he huffed, pulling his sheets up over himself more and rolling onto his side so he faced the wall. ‘But no funny business.’
‘Oh trust me, even if we were, the mood is well and truly dead,’ she growled, seething with anger. ‘You know fine he won’t fuck me, what do you think the problem was the lack of an audience?’
She came back over to me and I lifted the bed sheets so she could climb in beside me. She cuddled in close as I covered us up and I felt her rest her head on my shoulder before her breathing evened out and she was asleep. I stared at the ceiling for I don’t know how long, I still felt like I needed to earn back her love, even if I hadn’t ever lost it. But I did realise that by doing it the way I was doing, and sulking a lot, I was pushing her away when she needed me. And I was probably making her feel like shit refusing to sleep with her. She’d been so nervous to show me her boobs the first time, had I been making her feel unattractive?
Bonnie Carter POV
Saturday 23rd November 2013
Groaning, I rolled over to smack the shit out of my slate until the alarm stopped beeping beside me. Pushing up off the mattress and swinging my legs over the side, I saw Pietro slowly stretching with his eyes still closed. I felt a little bad that my legal guardian knew full well that I had a boy in bed with me when Pietro’s host parents didn’t even know where he was. But I supposed Steve’s reasoning was, he was in charge of keeping me safe and if I was a few rooms away it was a lot easier than if I’d been in some subway bathroom trying to get my rocks off before the station closed.
I still hadn’t gotten a chance to tell Pietro what I’d really been doing, and if I’m honest, I was still on the fence about it. So far, everyone who knew about who I was was another hero of some kind, the only person who wasn’t was Gwen, and it hadn’t been my choice to tell her. But Pietro was my boyfriend, I could trust him and if he was going to fall apart and blame himself every time I got hurt, then it was probably better he knew it wasn’t his fault. Pushing up to my feet, I padded through into the common area of our apartment, heading for the kitchen to grab a bowl of cereal.
‘Morning,’ Steve said cheerily, ironing his newspaper as he usually did at this hour. He seemed happy, too happy for this early in the morning. Curse him, I bet that bastard got a good night’s sleep. I stayed awake trying to figure out why Pietro still hadn’t fucked me even after we talked it out. ‘Thor’s looking for you.’
‘Why?’ I muttered and he shrugged. ‘Guess I’ll go find out. Hey, can you let Pietro know there’s some Cinnamon Toast Crunch in the pantry for him?’
‘Can do,’ he nodded, turning the iron off to sit by his glass of orange juice and read. Walking towards the elevator, I asked JARVIS to direct me to the overbearing God of Thunder and ended up on the communal floor I spent no time in. He was playing pool with Tony by a large darkwood table and I raised an eyebrow.
‘You summoned?’ I said, alerting the two men to my presence. Walking the rest of the way over, I perched on the side of the table just long enough for Tony to come round, grab my hips and lift me back off again.
‘Go sit on an actual chair, not this expensive table,’ he scolded and I huffed, putting my hands on my hips.
‘You’re a billionaire,’ I pointed out and he shrugged, aiming the cue.
‘That’s how you stay a billionaire,’ he explained and took his shot. He scored easily, which was no surprise given that the main part of a successful shot was math. Rolling my eyes at him, I walked over to the large circle of couches around a dark coffee table and sat down, staring at the bar across from me. Thor took his next shot and then came over, perching beside me.
‘For you,’ he said, handing me a wooden box with intricate carvings on the surface. I ran my hands over the old norse symbols, impressed with the sheer detail carved on the wood. It seemed a little large for a jewellery box, so I had no idea what he was giving me. ‘Well, open it.’
I ran my hands over the seam, trying to find an opening and made a face when I couldn’t find one. ‘How?’ I asked and he grinned cheekily at me.
‘Will it,’ he instructed and I looked at him for signs of insanity. Seeing none, I ran my hands over the box a following time, thinking about how nice it would be if the damn thing opened. It popped open with a click and I lifted the lid clean off, looking for some kind of hatch opening, some way it could have been sealed shut.
‘What sorcery is this?’ I joked and he laughed, shaking his head at me.
‘In time you will understand, for now, enjoy your gift,’ he told me and I looked down at the thick silver and dark leather armbands inside the box. I touched them gingerly, running my hand over the metal.
‘What are these for?’ I asked, looking back up at him in confusion.
‘They’re gauntlets, to aid and protect you on your noble quest. I was going to wait until the Western Midgard holiday, Christmas, but you seemed so morose lately I thought it would cheer you up,’ he explained and I raised an eyebrow.
‘But why?’ I asked and he chuckled, tousling my hair.
‘My friend, you will understand in time, I can’t tell you more,’ he told me and then climbed up off the sofa, heading for the pool table to go back to his game with Tony. Strange man.
Going back to Steve and I’s apartment, I found Pietro had already eaten his cereal and was in the shower, which gave me plenty of time to show Steve what Thor had wanted me for. He seemed surprised more about the box than he had the arm braces and simply offered to help me put them on. They were an odd design, the metal was engraved with some norse patterns I didn’t really understand at the moment and they held a strange feeling. Almost as if they were buzzing in my hold, but Steve insisted he didn’t feel anything. I held my wrists out to him and he secured the ties along the inside of my arms. Flexing once he was done, I admired the gauntlets. I felt powerful, safe. Perhaps it was placebo, but I really felt like if I took a risk I’d end up alright. Okay, that was definitely placebo and I was doing no such thing.
Going to my bedroom, I changed into my suit jeans and top next, sliding my shoulder pads on when I was done. I stuffed my boots and vibranium shin guards into my backpack and pulled a white and blue hoodie over my head to disguise my uniform. Pietro walked in fully clothed while I was putting on my sneakers and smiled softly at me. Taking a seat beside me, he put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer so he could press a kiss to the corner of my mouth before he put his own shoes on.
‘Do we have to go?’ I asked and he laughed breathily, shaking his head at me. He pulled me close to press another kiss to my lips. While I really didn’t want to me social, his tongue tracing the roof of my mouth did a fair job convincing me. His plan all along …
‘Yes, you are on students council, is your job,’ he said, helping me up. ‘Come on, should be fun. Maybe I can win you stuffed animal.’ He nodded to the Gizmo the Mogwai plush and Bucky Bear.
‘I heard they have a ferris wheel, I’ll spend the day at the carnival with you if you promise when it gets too much we can hide up there,’ I told him and he nodded vigorously.
‘Deal,’ he said and grabbed my hand, tugging me excitedly towards my bedroom door and out into the hall. ‘Is this real reason you did not come to parade? You not liking crowds?’
‘Eh, I don’t really like being social to be honest, but you’re one of my favourite people,’ I told him, intertwining our fingers so I had a better grip on his hand. Swinging our hands, I watched him press the button to the elevator. ‘I like having a few quality people rather than a sea of people I don’t know much about. It’s hard now, there’s so many people in my life when before it was just me and Peter. But I like you. So we can go do this stupid thing because I want your happiness more than anything in the world.’
Pietro spent most of my shift at the snowcone stand sitting under the counter of my stall, cup full of toppings and very little shaved ice sitting in his lap. He popped up anytime a customer got frustrated by the wait time between me giving people their cones, and they usually backed off, though mostly because a random man burst up from behind the counter, and less because Pietro was actually intimidating. I kept suggesting he go explore, worried he’d be bored but he insisted he was exactly where he intended to be. Which honestly made him sound like one of those wizards, like the bossy one from the Hobbit.
Still, my shift passed with little incident and I handed over the money from my shift to Vice Principal Benson, leaving behind the float for the next poor schmuck to run the stand. Quickly, Pietro pulled me off to every single one of the stupid things he’d been thinking about during his hiding under the counter. In fairness, it was pretty warm down there compared to standing next to the ice machines. Why were we selling snow cones in the snow again?
‘Ah!’ Pietro exclaimed excitedly, pointing at the fun house. ‘I got chills! They’re multiplying!’
‘What?’ I asked, staring at him as he appeared to be having a mental breakdown. He yanked me towards the practically empty line, hopping up and down as we waited to buy our tickets and take off our shoes.
‘And I’m losing control!’ he sang. He turned to me and put his hands on my hips, trying to dance with me. ‘Come on, Sonechko, you not see Grease?’
‘Oh, is that what you were doing?’ I asked and he rolled his eyes at me. ‘Yeah I think I saw it once. There’s a carnival in that too, right?’
‘You the worst,’ he huffed, deflating significantly and taking his hands off my waist.
‘I endeavour to be,’ I smiled sweetly, standing on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. ‘Peter and I liked horror movies, there’s nothing horrifying about musicals except for the singing.’
‘YOU TAKE THAT BACK!’ He screamed and I raised an eyebrow at him.
‘Fine, there are lots of horrifying things in musicals,’ I shrugged and he looked like he was about to blow a gasket.
‘Musicals are wonderful! I make you watch Sunshine on Leith, just came out this year. Is very good,’ he told me and sighed. I just had to push him. ‘Ah! You like Harry Potter? A Very Potter Musical is very good too, funny, you like funny. You laugh so much, haha, I promise.’
‘You know, if you wanted to break up with me, that’s all you had to say. There’s no need to be so cruel and unusual,’ I told him, bending over to untie the bows of my sneakers and kick them off by the ticket booth.
‘I could say same to you,’ he huffed, hurrying after me.
Walking up the stairs at the entrance I glared at the giggling clown statue because of its annoying animatronic voice. Feeling Pietro right behind me I stepped into the slow moving barrel that rotated in circles, making us have to walk with it or fall. Pietro reached for my hand and I grasped it, squeezing his fingers in mine. He turned my arm over my head, spinning me so I was facing him and walking backwards. He grinned down at me and I found myself biting my lip. He was always good at putting me in a good mood, and honestly, I wanted to be. He was only here for a year, he deserved as many memories as I could give him.
Stepping out of the rotating barrel, we headed a few paces down the hallway to a ball pit filled with screaming children. If I could have avoided it, I would have but the only way through the rest of the course was into the pit. Well, I guess I might punch a kid today…
As if knowing what I was thinking, Pietro stepped in first, turning back to take both of my hands and guide me in. He kept a firm grip on my hands as he led me through the balls and I was unable to fulfil my child punching dreams. He hopped out the other side and gave me his hands, pulling me out with impressive strength. There was a corridor with corn dog shaped foam pillars hanging from the ceiling and shooting up from the ground, making us get battered around as we pushed through. They reminded me of squishy versions of those rock things… How was Pietro enjoying this? Glancing over at him as I felt my toes start to get cold in my thin ankle socks, he shot me back a grin.
Up some optical illusion ramps that made it look like we were climbing down instead of up, we stopped in the hallway before the exit gate. That stupid clown was going off non stop, and the stairs that shook as we tried to climb them kept making loud, faulty machine noises, but it was as private as things were going to get for the moment.
‘I…I is heading back to Sokovia for winter break,’ he said sadly. ‘Just few days before Christmas and I…’
‘You don’t want to go,’ I nodded, taking his hands again. A small kid ran past us and up the shaking stairs towards the slide that would carry us out. There was a shrieking noise louder than the stupid fake clown and some cheering outside until all was “quiet” again. ‘I wish you didn’t have to either, but I’m also going away for winter break. Things they just.. Wouldn’t work out. I guess we’ll just have to miss each other until you come back. It’s just two weeks. We’ll make it, we’ve already come through worse.’
‘My sister comes back from Germany for break too, I am missed her,’ he admitted, grinning at her memory. ‘I excited for seeing her. And adopted parents, they very nice. Good to see them also.’
‘I.. I have to tell you something,’ I said, looking down at the floor and biting my lip. This was insane, I barely knew the guy. But, I supposed I’d known him as long as Peter had known Gwen when she found out who he was. Maybe this would be okay, I mean, he hadn’t told anyone about me taking the morning after pill.
‘Is this what you was going to say when Flash is screaming house down?’ he asked and I nodded. He reached down to cup my face just as a trio of happy children burst down the hallway towards the shaking stairs. He pulled me out of the way with his other hand and we ducked into an alcove by the stairs.
‘I..’ I started just as another kid barrelled down after the original three.
‘Later, let’s go to ferris wheel,’ he suggested and tugged me out of the crowded hallway and towards the shaky stairs. We climbed them and I got to watch the hilarious sight of someone Pietro’s height sliding down a children’s spiral slide.
There wasn’t as much of a line for the ferris wheel, for some reason New Yorkers didn’t want to be shoved up in the cold wind and rain in the middle of winter and stuck there as the wheel slowly turned. Still, just because it was smaller, didn’t mean the line was empty. There was still grey, mushy snow around the ground piled up in corners and beside walls from last night, but thankfully, it wasn’t cold enough for new snow today. Wrapping my hands in his, I stuffed them into the pockets of his hoodie, warming the two of us up almost instantly. Not only were they warmer because they weren’t directly exposed to the chill, but I also had the benefit of his significantly warmer hands holding my icy cold fingers. Why were we at this stupid thing again?
At our turn, Pietro and I separated briefly so the guy could give us the safety information and make sure I was in fact tall enough to board. And I was, just. I sat on the outside side and the guy pulled the metal bar around us, trapping neither of us in place because Pietro was purely skin and bones and I was travel sized. Still, I’m sure it made the insurance company happy. We slowly ascended towards the grey skies and once we were out of earshot of the operator, I glanced to see if anyone was in the chairs below or above us.
‘It’s hard for me to tell you this, again, not because I don’t trust you but because it puts you in danger. Not only that, but I’ve never had to tell anyone before, not really,’ I explained and he held my hand in his.
It was hard to tell over all the initial noises of the crowds but I was almost sure I could hear screaming. And not the jovial screaming the kids were doing when they did all the fairground activities we’d prepared for them, no, this was real screaming. Like at the homecoming dance screaming. Looking around with worry, I tried to spot why I could hear screaming. Glancing at Pietro, he hadn’t heard it yet. Or maybe this signalled I’d imagined it, but I’d been feeling uneasy all day. I just chalked it down to me not wanting to do this stupid carnival.
‘Do you hear that screaming?’ I asked and he glanced confusedly at me. He shook his head.
‘What screaming?’ he asked and what sounded like an explosion sounded. Dust clouds flew and the screaming was all around now, ant-sized people were running and I felt like I’d been brought up here just to watch.
‘Shit,’ I swore, shaking the barrier holding us to our chairs. Leaning over the side I screamed out to the operator to let us down. He looked up at me and then at something I couldn’t quite see behind him. He jumped off of the platform and ran for the exit gates that were currently getting mobbed and then the other people on the wheel started screaming, realising we had been abandoned.
‘Hey! Where are you going?!’ I cried out, watching him disappear out into the crowd. Looking around again, I tried to spot one of the members of my team, see if anyone was already at work. I couldn’t see much of Coulson’s extra security either.
‘Sonechko…’ Pietro started and I looked around for a way out of this. Unless someone could figure out the controls of this thing, we were stuck here. And that plan required someone to actually think about us instead of terrified running and hiding like they were already doing.
Pulling my phone from my pocket I dialled Peter, putting it to my ear and waiting for him to pick up. He was supposed to be with Gwen today but hopefully he wouldn’t mind. And if he did, I didn’t care. I didn’t want to die here, and I imagined none of the other carnival goers wanted to either.
‘Hey,’ he said and I heard another scream.
‘The Carnival’s under attack, I can’t see who it is, but you should try and get here. Call the others,’ I said and Pietro turned to me in shock when I said that. ‘Pietro and I are stuck on the ferris wheel because the operator freaked.’
‘Peter should not come here, is very, very dangerous,’ he scolded and I didn’t have time to explain to him why exactly Peter should definitely come here. Hanging up the phone I realised there weren’t many options for getting us out while I was up here.
‘I’m going to get us out of here, I promise,’ I assured him, wiggling as far back in my chair as I could. Pushing myself up using the side of the chair and the bar in front of me, I got my ass up against the backrest and legs high enough to bend my knees. Once I had my legs free I stood on the chair.
‘What are you doing?’ he demanded and I looked back at him as I crouched on top of the chair.
‘I’m going to the control panel and I’m going to bring the wheel down, freeing everyone,’ I explained as quickly as I could.
‘No! Sit back down, you don’t know what you’re doing! You could get hurt, Sonechko, please!’ Pietro cried out and I shook my head.
‘No, you can’t know this, but I know exactly what to do, I’ll explain later, just trust me, okay, and yell if you see someone coming for me, okay?’ I instructed and swung my leg over the side of the chair, climbing down the wheel.
The cold metal bit at my hands and the icy wind blew straight through me. It was so strong I was almost falling off. Why the hell had I suggested this? Fuck ferriss wheels. My sneaker slipped on the wet join I’d tried to put my foot on and I heard Pietro shrieking nervously above me. Glancing up at his anxious face, I tried to smile and reassure him but it came out more of a grimace. He was hanging over the side as much as the safety belt would allow looking more terrified than I’d seen him before.
‘I’m okay baby, I’m safe, and I’ll be back with you in just a minute, okay?’ I called up at him. Beads of rainwater rolled down my neck and back, hell, it pelted me directly in the face too, stinging my eyes as I clung on to the side of the wheel.
‘Carter, what the fuck?’ I heard and glanced forwards to see some of the guys from the football team staring at me, wide eyes. They also looked like drowned rats, soaked through from the sudden rainburst that we’d been subject to thanks to us being trapped.
‘Hey guys,’ I smiled and kept climbing down. They shot towards me, heads hanging over the edge similarly to Pietro as they tried to work out if they were in fact seeing what they were seeing. If I was actually dumb enough to pull a stunt like this. News to absolutely nobody: I was. Grabbing hold of one of the thick metal legs of the wheel, I slid down it faster than I would have liked, and almost slipped off. Still,I was proud of myself for not screaming like I’d wanted to when I fell.
Landing on the ground with a light thud I hurried back over the platform and tried to find the controls to the wheel. After mashing the buttons for a while I looked for a chart that had some guide to what these stupid things did. Why were they not labelled?! Huffing out a breath I could see, I eventually found a lever and pulled it, sending the wheel back in reverse.
‘Shit,’ I swore and pushed it up instead. The wheel rocked in the fierce winds, but rolled forwards, bringing the people who had almost been at the ground to level with the platform. Grabbing the set of keys off the dashboard, I ducked towards them and stabbed the allen key into the mechanism on the side, releasing the teenagers.
‘Thank you,’ a cheerleader I didn’t really recognise said breathlessly. She was shivering as she stood, soaked completely through.
‘Come on, Beth, let’s go,’ the guy she was with said, tugging on her hand. Her dark hair swished around her waist and spattered water around as she pried her pink sweater free of his grasp.
‘What about the others?’ she asked him, shaking her head. I moved back over to the wheel, spinning it to find the next people.
‘What about them, Beth, who cares? Carter has them, now let’s go!’ he yelled, tugging her hand again. She tugged out of his grasp once more and pushed him away with a hard shove. He stumbled down the stairs, looking up at her in shock.
‘No, you go if you want to, I’m staying,’ she barked, grabbing the keys from me. One last look at her and he turned on his heel, bolting far away. Figures. You can never really depend on men. ‘You work the controls, I’ll lift the bars.’
‘Got it,’ I nodded, ignoring whoever that bossy guy was. We worked as a team until we got to Pietro who flipped his lid when he was on the platform, also trying to get me to leave like that cheerleader’s boyfriend had. But I told him no, and - unlike that chick’s boyfriend - he stayed by my side, waiting with me until we’d freed everyone. He stood guard, checking over our shoulders for the bad guys everyone seemed to be running from. Who, I didn’t yet know, I hadn’t seen anyone. For all I knew, it was actual terrorists this time and not masked morons.
‘Carter! Pietro!’ I heard a booming voice over the screaming crowd and Flash was running over. Helping us down the stairs off the ferris wheel platform, he took us under his big arms and tried to shield us from the trampling crowd. ‘We’ve gotta get out of here.’
The running crowds battered into us anyway and it was hard to stay with the group. Pietro ended up in front of Flash and I to avoid getting slammed into stalls, and then someone charged into me, body slamming me to the ground. Hitting the ground, icy water splashed around me, soaking me through as if there was any patch of me that was somehow dry. Flash screamed out for me but as I was on the ground I saw more members of the crowd drag him away to the point he was lost. On my own was easier for me to get into my Night Fury getup anyway. Ducking around a corner and into a now empty operator booth, I threw my hoodie up over my head and ripped the zipper to my backpack open. Kicking my sneakers off I grabbed a boot from the bag and yanked it on. The other followed and I grabbed the mask, slamming it onto my face harder than was probably necessary.
Charging out of the booth I stopped dead, skidding across the concrete in my boots when I spotted the Lizard standing directly in front of me. He grinned a wide, toothy grin at me, reaching out a scaly hand in my direction. His fingers flexed, wiggling the sharp nails I remembered all too well. As if from memory alone, my leg started to burn where he’d scratched me last year. Shaking a little, I make a weak noise, all sound catching in the back of my throat with the breath I was desperately trying to get.
Shrieking, I felt my body get thrown to the ground beyond my control. Salling hard into the concrete of the rooftop I could barely manage a groan. Why the hell did turning Connors into a lizard also make him hulk tier strength? I could hear Peter calling out from me until he was cut off, and all I could hear was choking and groaning. But all I was eventually able to manage to get out was a whimper, I couldn’t even turn around as I lay awkwardly. My waist was twisted, chest and arms pressed into the ground while my hips pointed to the sky. Nothing felt broken, not exactly but my leg burned. Hot sticky liquid rolled down my leg faster than I was breathing and I knew if I didn’t move, if I didn’t do something to contain it I’d be in big trouble.
Pushing off the ground, I managed to turn my body so I was facing the one direction and was sitting upright. Scooting towards the door to the rooftop, I got out of the way of the action and tried to will my first aid training to my mind. God, this hurt. Pulling the black scarf from around my face, I brought it around my leg and pulled tightly, trying to make a tourniquet. Finding a thin, broken pipe I slipped it under the tourniquet and twisted, making it tighter still to try and staunch the blood flow. Looking up, I saw the Lizard’s tail wrapped around Peter’s throat.
‘No!’ I shrieked, voice cracking as I begged him to let go. ‘No, stop!’
‘Poor Peter Parker, no mother, no father, no uncle, all alone,’ he said, apparently ignoring the fact that I was here. Or very aware I was about to die.
‘He’s not alone!’ Police Chief Stacy called and I let out a silent breath. Thank god, an adult.
‘Night Fury,’ he said, almost purring as he stalked forwards. He looked me up and down, taking a moment to analyse the new suit and mask. ‘You’ve had an upgrade.’
‘Uh, Doctor Connors, enjoy your time in lockup? Speaking of…how did you get out?’ I asked awkwardly, backing up slightly.
‘New partnership, where is Peter Parker?’ he demanded and I shrugged. Honestly, I didn’t know. Thankfully he wasn’t here yet, I didn’t want him to have to deal with his run in again. It didn’t matter to me he’d changed back to Doc Connors again, he still scared the piss out of me. And he was scaring me now.
‘Carnivals aren’t his thing, this new partnership, that wouldn’t have anything to do with Batroc the Leaper would it?’ I asked and he chuckled darkly, shaking his head.
‘In a way,’ he growled maliciously.
‘Oh, that’s very helpful, thank you,’ I replied dryly, whimpering as he boxed me in. My back hit the booth I’d just changed in and his form was so large I couldn’t get around either of his sides. He dwarfed me and I swallowed thickly, trying to figure out if this was the end for me or not.
‘The time for talking is over,’ he said, swinging at me just like he had last time.
Remembering the burning, the hard hit, I threw my arm up instinctively. This time he’d hit my face and I’d have a hard time explaining that one away. A scream crawled up my throat and out my mouth, fear bubbling out of me like a pot boiling over. The shriek I let out as his talons came at me probably could have been heard all the way from the tower. While things had been close last time, I had no doubt the others were on their way. JARVIS just knew when the right moment to call for backup was, and this was it. Snapping my eyes closed and bracing for impact, I tried not to think about the feeling of claws slicing through skin. Eyes staying closed so I wouldn’t have to see it happen, I worried, maybe Pietro was right, I didn’t know what I was doing.
Chapter 41: Don't Stop
Chapter Text
Title Song: Don’t Stop - Foster The People
Bonnie Carter POV
Saturday 23rd November 2013
Hearing a loud metal clunk I felt the courage to open my eyes and saw a silver metal shield in front of me. Looking around, I couldn’t see Steve anywhere, and also the vibrations from the hit were reverberating through MY arm for some reason. Blinking, the shield folded away again and tucked itself into my gauntlet.
‘What?’ I whispered, staring at my arm in shock. While I’d been practically praying for something to stop this hit, this was not what I’d had in mind. There was chuckling in front of me.
‘My my, an upgrade indeed,’ Lizard commented and I snapped back into action.
Surging forwards, I planted my feet firmly on his scaly chest and both kicked him away and used him as a springboard. Launching myself into the air as he flew back, I tried to will that magic shield thing back so I could hit him again. While it didn’t work, I still hurtled hands first towards Connors and was able to grab hold of his shoulders - which were honestly a little slimy. Using the gravity propelling my body forwards to pull him backwards - in a pro wrestling move I doubted Tasha would approve of - I tried to yank him down to the ground. Honestly, it was perfectly executed, and should have worked in knocking him off balance, if I hadn’t forgotten in the moment that lizards do in fact have tails. He was knocked back a little, but quickly used his extra limb to support himself, and instead I was sent hurtling towards the wet ground slamming down hard onto it.
Groaning, I pushed up, trying to crawl out of the way of the beast so I could get up and fight him. I really needed to start carrying a weapon of some kind, Police Chief Stacy turned this guy to mincemeat with the help of a shotgun, I had to stop being so holier than thou. So I shot and killed several people, that was a small price to pay in order to stop getting beat up and wegied by angry reptiles.
‘Night Fury!’ a male voice called from my side and kicked a glock my way. Ask and ye shall receive. Laying on my side, I flicked the safety off and pulled the trigger sending the bullet in the chamber hurtling towards the Lizard. Thankfully Steve and Tasha had been extensive with their training, otherwise this would have been useless.
Honestly, it was a little, given the regeneration powers that he had but it distracted him long enough that I was able to throw myself up off the ground and take off for a better position. Now, last time Peter had used liquid nitrogen to help freeze the body parts that were getting shot off, but we didn’t exactly have that just hanging around, and I doubted the ice from the snowcone machine would have a similar effect. And even then, it was only keeping him at bay until he could be given the cure. We had to subdue him, keep him trapped in an area but I didn’t exactly know where we could do that here. Honestly, I just didn’t know. At least for the most part he only seemed interested in me, not the general public, which seemed odd, but worked well for me. Even if I was afraid to get hurt again.
‘JARVIS! Tell Peter who it is, he needs to organise the cure!’ I screamed.
‘Taken care of Miss Carter, Mister Parker has been informed and the formula has been distributed to all known associates,’ he replied and I breathed a sigh of relief. This assistant thing was really helpful, how had we managed before?
Taking off towards the entrance that wasn’t as crowded as it was before, I ducked through exhibits. Just like how Pietro and I had been stuck on the ferris wheel, other people had remained on their rides. Though I suspected the teens on the dodgem cars were there for some unsupervised time to obliterate each other, unbothered completely about the mass panic. An idea sparked in me. The dodgem cars! Charging for the fenced attraction, I leapt up the step and climbed over the metal barrier. Glancing past my shoulder as I swung my leg over the wall and looked for the Lizard. Good, he was still following.
‘Yooooo Night Fury!’ a kid yelled, zooming past me. I jogged onto the black rubbery ground and forwards, repeatedly checking to see if I was being followed and also trying to make sure I didn’t get run over myself.
‘So fucking cool, man,’ another said to his friend as they drove past.
‘Oh dude! Look, it's that lizard from last year!’ his friend pointed behind me and I tried to duck through several people’s path so he’d be run over.
‘You guys wanna help on a secret mission?’ I asked, skidding across the hood of the electric buggy.
‘Awesome! We’re in,’ they nodded excitedly, little eyes brightening up.
‘Everyone try as hard as you can to hit that lizard,’ I said, ducking and weaving through the cars.
‘Try and run all you like, Night Fury!’ Doc Connors yelled, sounding like a cartoon movie villain. Hey… maybe I could get him monologuing. That would sure buy us some time.
‘You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!’ I called back, watching a car slam into him. I headed for the edge and he followed, letting out a roar when he was hit with another car. Pleased with their licence to maim, the kids freely ploughed into him as soon as they got the chance. He was, however, very big and crossed the exhibit rather fast and I had to jump the fence on the other side to stop from being swiped at.
‘Thanks kids!’ I called and waved as I ran along the side of the ride. The Lizard followed after me and I tripped over a box of repair tools at the back of the ride, heading for the ground. ‘Damn it,’ I called, tucking into a roll across the wet concrete. Well, there goes the lead I had on him.
Connors swung at me with his talons and I threw up my arm in a panic, deciding that even if I couldn’t get the stupid shield thingy to pop up the gauntlet alone might provide some protection from his swipe. Screwing my eyes shut I heard the clanging and felt the vibrations in my arm again. Success. Not letting it have time to retract, I pushed my arm forwards, punching him in the face with my asgard shield. I hit him three times before I decided to duck under him and head off in search of some way to actually stop the bastard.
‘Okay, you got this, you got this,’ I said, arms moving up and down beside me as I ran full pelt. My heart raced in my chest and my head sang out that I should be zig zagging. But how could I? There were less people around but there were stragglers and I needed to make sure ALL his attention was on me. Where the hell was my team? Or the Avengers? Or this extra security Coulson brought in? Why the hell was I the person to deal with this, I was only 17. Kids should not fight lizards.
‘Where is he? Where is Spider-Man?’ Connors demanded behind me, starting to get irritated with this cat and mouse game.
‘Probably got distracted checking himself out while getting changed,’ I called back, climbing the stairs into the hall of mirrors. ‘Best follow me.’
‘Oh I’ll follow you,’ he said sinisterly, leaping over every step straight to the top. ‘Because if you don’t bring me to him, he’ll come to you.’
‘Uh, nice try, but he’s not dumb enough to take the bait,’ I snorted, knowing Peter well enough to know he definitely would take the bait. He’d know it was bait, but he’d come anyway. ‘We’re not even that close.’
‘Oh really, Bonnie?’ he chuckled and I ignored him. Now that was bait. He was testing me. He had to be. No one, except the Winter Soldier knew who I was. He knew Peter and Bonnie were friends and he was guessing, if I reacted, he’d know. Right? Shit! Had he seen me on the rooftop after I’d used my scarf as a tourniquet?
Skating through the first narrow hallway, I came into a tunnel of reflective glass. Going around a corner knowing he was following after me, I tried to find a good spot to hide. Well, not hide - because a hall of mirrors was a terrible place for that - but so he couldn’t tell which Night Fury was me and which were mirrors. And it seemed like a very good plan, like all my others but it held one fatal flaw. This Lizard fellow was very impatient and since he had the durability to simply punch all the mirrors until he found me, he did. Glass shattered around me and I tried not to make a sound as I ran around the next part of the maze. Here’s to hoping I didn’t get lost in here. This was a stupid plan, but at least it kept him from everyone else. And it bought us time. Where the fuck was everybody else?
Glass sprayed towards me and I bit down on my lips as hard as I could behind the mask to stop myself from screaming. Throwing my arm up I prayed for the shield to pop up and protect me from the glass. This was no good now, I had to get out of this stupid place. I didn’t even like the hall of mirrors when someone wasn’t trying to kill me in it. Shards of glass sliced into my cheek when I couldn’t protect myself with this stupid faulty shield. Who the hell designs a protection device that functions off the power of belief? Better yet, who hands it to a sceptic?
Slipping on the forbidden sand, I was almost crawling out of the maze but I did finally make it out into the open, but unfortunately it meant Connors knew exactly where I was. There was now only one of me. Only me. Looking left and right, I spotted there was no one else around in the immediate area. Pulling the gun out of the back of my pants that that agent had slid me, I took the safety back off and aimed. Two hands on the gun, I stood firm and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down as I waited for him to show his face. He burst out of the doors and I fired. Once, twice, thrice. Still, it held no effect on him other than to make him mad.
Peter Parker POV
Swinging us down towards a nearby building, Gwen and I peered down at all the security and police offices, the cars and the flashing lights outside OSCORP. This was not good. There wasn’t time to try and get past them, and I knew fine Tony probably had the stuff.
‘Grab my cell, call Tony and get him to make it or at the very least, tell him we’re coming to make it,’ I said, grabbing her tight and starting swinging again. Something was going on there, probably where Connors had gone to become all lizardy again.
‘Got it,’ she nodded beside me, reaching into my suit pocket as she clung on. We really needed to get headsets like Bonnie had, I mean, the other avengers had them, why couldn’t B team get some?
Feeling sweat travel down the back of my neck I worried about Bonnie being there by herself. She was stuck but that wouldn’t necessarily keep her long, knowing her, she’d find a way down. But I was her partner, who would watch her back? And she’d been with me the first time we’d faced off against Connors, he probably remembered her and probably wanted vengeance. The place was crowded as well, which meant she’d be doing everything she could to draw all of his attention. Trying as hard as I could, I tried to remember if there were any more of us on the student council so there would be someone, anyone else with her. Danny wasn’t, and that Sam kid wasn’t. Which was good because he was awful. Luke! Luke probably was, he was basketball team captain. That was good, he was good to work with.
‘She’ll be okay, Peter,’ Gwen said gently as we swung closer to Avenger’s tower. ‘She knows what she’s doing.’
‘Is that a bank?’ I asked, spying a uniformed goon running from a building I could hear an alarm system going off in.
‘No, jewellery store,’ Gwen replied, getting a better look as I steered.
‘Look, there’s another one!’ she pointed out. The Tiffany's down the block was also getting robbed by a guy in the same uniform. Things must be hard pressed if they were even burgling there. Normally these crooks went for higher end stores, try and get the biggest payload they could in one shot. Although if they were doing it en masse like I strongly suspected they were, every single one would add up to a massive total. But what the hell did this have to do with Doc Connors?
‘The hell is going on?’ I thought aloud and swung us down onto Tony’s private launchpad.
‘Get to the helipad Spider-kid,’ Tony called in his suit already. ‘Everyone on the team has a vial, Bonnie sent us all the formula just in case. I’m going ahead, you can ride with Cap and Romanoff, Stacy, you stay here in the lab just in case we need you.’
‘Right,’ she agreed easily, glad she’d been assigned a job rather than being left on the sidelines which often happened. I webbed up the side of the building and launched myself towards the helipad. Waiting for me was Steve who tossed me a vial before he stepped into the chopper. I held onto the foot of the helicopter so I could drop as soon as I needed and we headed for the carnival.
It felt like the trip took hours, my nerves were shot thinking about how she was getting beaten to a pulp because of me and my stupid algorythm. More sweat poured down the back of my neck as I breathed, trying to settle myself and focus. One small eternity later, the winter carnival was in my sights. Webbing onto the ferris wheel, I pulled myself up it, stopping briefly to check if anyone was on it. There was not a soul, indicating that not only had Bonnie gotten out, so had everyone else. Good, that was good. Or bad, because now she was out there.
Bonnie Carter POV
Ahead of me was the dunk tank. Everything else was just those stupid gimmicky attractions. Those clown heads with the open mouths that you tossed balls into, there were balloons to throw darts at and those bowling pins that were all glued down so you couldn’t possibly get the best prize. And I doubted I could goad the Lizard into playing any of the minigames with me, so the dunk tank it was. Actually… that was a good idea. While it would take a lot more hot chocolate to give him the type 2 diabetes that, if left untreated, would slowly kill him, I could probably dunk him to buy me some time.
Just… how did I get him there? It wasn’t as if I could ask him nicely to sit on the bench and throw those pink and white softballs at the trigger. Although it did give me a rather hilarious mental image I’d have to doodle later.
‘All out of places to run?’ he scoffed behind me, swinging at me and I shrieked, unable to get my shield to pop up. This stupid intermittant piece of crap! Thor, you gave me a lemon!! His claws scratched against my gauntlet hard enough for sparks to fly but surprisingly, it took no real damage. There were no cut marks, but then, maybe it was made out of the same material as the shield. Well, it sorta had to be, it popped out of there.
‘Poor little Night Fury, scared and alone, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide,’ he said darkly, staking closer. ’Now come here, if you cooperate, I won’t kill you in front of Parker, I’ll kill him and let you go.’
‘No you won’t,’ I scoffed, shaking my head.
‘That’s true, I’m going to kill you both,’ he nodded, stalking closer. Reaching behind me, I took out my gun. He laughed, outright laughed at me. ‘They say the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Shooting me didn’t work last time~’
‘That’s true,’ I admitted, turning on my heel and running towards the dunk tank. ‘Running seems to have been going my way though.’
‘Has it?’ he growled, chasing after me. Leaping up, I bounded over the stairs and up to the still out platform of the tank. Looking back at him as I stood ready, I felt the gun shaking in my hands. I really, really hoped this worked. ‘I have you cornered~!’
‘Then come get me,’ I taunted, watching him charge for me.
The Lizard leapt up and I did too. Taking my place on the board and I soared upwards, landing on top of him and using his body as a launch pad once again. Flicking the safety off my gun mid flight I aimed for the target. This was meant for balls, so there was no guarantee this would work. Slamming into the ground hard, I didn’t hear the buzzer going off but I did hear the roar of anguish and the milky, brown water rising up over the edges of the tank, splashing over the ground like the world’s grossest tidal wave.
Coughing from having the wind knocked out of me, I was powerless to stop the warm waves lapping at my body, covering me in hot chocolate. Glancing upwards as I tried to push up off the ground I could see Connors fighting around in the tank, unable to get out because of his superior sized lizard form. While the water had made it easy for him to slip in, the gravity and the waves of escaping milk kept him stuck in place. There was now an air vacuum sealing him in place and he wouldn’t be able to get out without assistance…hopefully…
‘Now who’s cornered,’ I groaned, using my forearms on the ground to push myself up. ‘Looks like someone’s out of options.’
‘I’ll get out of this and when I do, Night Fury, mark my words, I’ll get you too!’ he roared and I stumbled about a bit, sliding in the fake hot chocolate. I smelled like it, it was slightly sticky and I was a mess. It hadn’t drenched me, my suit was pretty water resistant but it had coated me in several places, and my hair - which I hadn’t been able to tie up - had copped a lot of it. Gross.
‘Well that’s a Scooby Doo ending if ever I saw one,’ I heard behind me and turned to see Fury standing in his trench coat. He eyed the Lizard as he sat struggling in the tank and I walked over. ‘Spider-Man’s here, filled us in on things from his end. You did good, kid, handling this one on your own. So far aside from some trampling injuries, no casualties.’
‘One of your agents gave me this, I don’t know who so I can’t give it back,’ I said, handing him the gun and he nodded, taking it from me.
‘I’ll handle that, someone’ll be over to give him the cure. Hang around for a while, we’ll debrief once we get an idea on what’s going on,’ he said and I chuckled lightly.
‘I thought I didn’t work for you,’ I pointed out and if he could roll his eyes at me, he would be right now. ‘I have something I need to do, but you can fill me in after.’
‘Alright, we’ll debrief at the tower,’ he agreed, giving me permission to head off. I had to find Pietro, this may not be the ideal time, but at least he’d believe me when I told him what I had to.
Almost out of the carnival and at the exit gates I paused. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something moving. Not wanting my already decidedly shit day to get worse, I sighed, looking that way directly. While the balls in the ballpit were definitely moving, I wasn’t sure if it was just the strong wind, or if it meant someone was in there. Rolling my shoulders, I decided I’d better check. While it was probably nothing, if someone’s frightened child was in there and I could do something to help but didn’t, I’d never forgive myself. Walking towards the ticket booth of the fun house I took the stairs two at a time, going inside to find the lost child. Walking straight through the rotating barrel, I headed for the ballpit in the next area.
‘It’s all over now, you can come out,’ I called and there was no movement. ‘Is someone in the ballpit? It's okay. You can come out, it’s safe.’
Sighing when there was nothing, I decided to climb in. Either, there was no one there, or, as scared children often did, they stayed silent. Lowering myself slowly, I tried to make sure I didn’t step on any little ones trying to find them. Cutting through the balls, I threw them around, cutting through them like waves. Where the hell was this kid? Popping up like something out of a horror movie, brightly coloured balls flew around me like exploding popcorn in a pot. Putting my arm up to swat some of them away, I blinked. Flash? I put my arm down.
‘Oh my god, dude get up here it’s fucking Night Fury,’ he squealed and yanked the hood of a brown hoodie up towards him. After some minor choking noises, the person he was yanking stood on his feet and I recoiled in shock. I should have known... Pietro.
‘Guys, let’s get out of here,’ I instructed, crawling through the balls towards the exit.
Hoisting myself up, I walked along the metal floors towards the corn dog shaped bollards suspended from the ceiling and coming up from the ground. Stalagmites and stalactites, that’s what they’d reminded me of. Checking the boys were following me, we stopped at the optical illusion ramps and I held out a hand for Pietro. He cocked his head to the side, looking confused.
‘I have to tell you something, okay? But you two need to keep this to yourself, I’m trusting you here,’ I said and I glanced between the two. Flash nodded enthusiastically, excited his second favourite hero was asking him for a favour. He’d crap his pants if he knew Spider-Man was here. Pietro nodded eventually but snubbed my hand. At least I knew he was loyal. Reaching up, I pulled the mask off my face and there was stunned silence.
‘Holy shit,’ Flash whispered to himself. ‘Carter…you’re..you’re Night Fury?’
‘Yeah,’ I nodded, swallowing thickly. ‘I..I was trying to find a way to tell Pietro since that night you saw my boobs. Don’t take it personally, it's just, I’ve never really told anyone. I mean, Steve knows, but you know… It’s a secret. That's how they stay secret.’
‘No I understand, and just like you trusted me with the pregnancy thing, you can trust me with this. I didn’t rat you out when you went to Mexico, although it’s all starting to make a lot more sense why they were after you,’ he said, starting to babble. ‘Did you actually go to Mexico by the way? And how did our school principal find out who you are?’
‘He didn’t, he legitimately just wanted me because of who my family were. He found out about this after, and he’s a SHIELD agent, again, something you have to keep to yourself. He was hired to keep an eye on things, surely you’ve noticed how many attacks this school has gotten, no one can argue it’s normal,’ I explained.
‘Right, makes sense,’ he agreed, nodding excitedly. ‘This is so fucking cool, I’m friends with Night Fury. I’ve seen Night Fury’s ass. And boobs!’
‘Let’s also keep that one on the DL,’ I ordered and he nodded. ‘Now,’ I said, walking towards him. ‘Do you mind giving me a moment alone with my boyfriend? Steve’s out there somewhere, why don’t you look for him and let him know we’re okay? Yeah?’
‘Can do boss,’ he agreed and headed for the slide. As much as I wanted to talk to Pietro, get some words out of him, I also desperately wanted to see someone built the way Flash was trying to go down the children’s slide. Turning back to face him, I approached slowly, mask in my hand.
‘Baby?’ I asked gently. He stared at me for the longest time, I could see his mind whirring away and I desperately wished I knew what he was thinking but I didn’t want to push. This was already a lot.
‘So all the bruises, it wasn’t football, not much anyway?’ he asked and I nodded. ‘And your fall?’
‘Like I said, I really did fall, but not down some stairs. I landed badly on a rooftop of this old, dilapidated building. And when I did, I fell through the floor, or the ceiling or whatever. Dropped three stories, I…I should have died, everyone’s really confused actually, as to why I didn’t,’ I said, beginning to babble myself.
‘Three stories,’ he said in a sharp intake of breath. ‘ Sonechko! ’
‘Are you mad?’ I asked, feeling guilty. He breathed rapidly, like he was having a panic attack. Stepping closer to him, I reached out for him, taking him in my arms to try and calm him down.
‘I almost lost you that day,’ he breathed. He held me tightly to him. ’I almost lost you today. You’re not allowed to die, you understand?’
‘No, I’m not going anywhere,’ I promised and he pressed me to the wall of the hallway where we’d been avoiding those kids earlier. He kissed me hard, hands all over me as he desperately tried to find some comfort in my body. Frantically, he tried to unfasten my uniformed top and I had to help him, opening it up. I only managed part of the way, and he was honestly only interested in getting access to my breasts. He stuffed his face in the space and wrapped his lips all over my tits.
‘Ty moye sonechko,’ he whispered, repeating it over and over and over.
‘You are my sunshine,’ JARVIS translated once and I let out a moan at the feeling of his lips kissing me between words for the first time in so long. His hands travelled down my back, fingers drumming on my spine as he went and stopped to rest on my hips.
‘Budʹ laska, dayte meni tse,’ he muttered, fingers catching on the waistband of my pants. ‘ty meni potriben. Dozvolʹ meni trakhnuty tebe.’
‘Please give me this. I need you, let me fuck you,’ JARVIS oh so helpfully translated and I tried my best to ignore him. Parting my lips at the thought, an unconscious gasp left my mouth. Finally, finally he’d allow himself to touch me.
‘Yes,’ I said, feeling my words come out shakily. Shivering, I reached for my fly, working in tandem with his fingers and forcing my pants open. He frantically pushed them down to my thighs and stepped closer to me. His pants went down too and he slid his hands into my panties, checking I was wet enough to take him.
‘Why do you smell like hot cocoa?’ he asked, running his lips over my neck as his hand worked me.
‘It’s a long story,’ I replied and let out a desperate whine as his thumb rolled over my clit. ‘I love you.’
‘I love you too, sonechko,’ he replied, thrusting his fingers in and out of me until I was screaming out. Thankfully I was easily drowned out by the irritating noise of that stupid laughing clown between the entrance and exit doors to the fun house. Guess it did have its uses. Though I doubted teenagers fucking was the reason they installed that thing into this children’s attraction.
Pulling my panties down completely, he fumbled around trying to find a condom. I wanted to tell him not to bother, Steve had taken me to get an IUD inserted, which was an experience and a half, but knowing my luck I was one of the 1% of women that managed to get pregnant while they had one. So I let him feel around his pockets until he found one, tear the packet and roll it on. And I watched with anticipation as he used the slick on his fingers to lube himself up more. He lined up with me and thrust forward, making me moan out again.
‘Fuck, fuck, okay, this was worth it,’ I told him, dropping my head back against the cold metal wall. Reaching up to grab hold of the window bars either side of me, I hoisted myself up, wrapping my legs around his waist. He moved his hands to under my thighs so he could support me and I didn’t have to suspend myself for the entire ordeal. ‘So worth the wait.’
‘I’m just sorry I made you wait,’ he admitted, kissing me all over. He nipped and kissed over my jaw, the corners of my mouth and my neck. He bit down a little on my already bite swollen lips and I cried out.
‘Yes,’ I whined against his mouth. He tried it again, intermittently nipping and tugging on them as he kissed me. Reaching up to tug at the hair at the base of the neck, I made him groan out through his kisses. It might have been shorter than normal now, but the frantic, desperate way he fucked me made me feel alive. Stars shot out of me and I came hard. While quick, it hit the spot. And I felt the ache that I’d missed oh so much.
‘I’m… I’m sure I’m supposed to be doing something,’ I mumbled, resting my forehead against him. I shivered slightly and he pulled out of me, pulling my panties and pants back up my legs. He let me down so I could fix my top and adjusted his own pants, taking the condom with him, thank god, and choosing not to leave it behind in here for some grade schooler to find.
He held my hand once we were out of the funhouse and we walked towards a trash bin so he could responsibly dispose of the spent condom and we walked towards the booth I’d changed in so I could be Bonnie Carter again and not Night Fury. He stood guard for me, letting me pull on my damp hoodie and take off the boots and shin guards. I was still cold but that was over quickly as Flash took him home in his truck, and I took the helicopter back to the tower with the rest of the team, and Peter.
‘Look who finally showed up,’ I teased through my headset, grinning at him despite the bruises. ‘I’m glad you weren’t there, he wanted to kill you.’
‘Did he want to kill you,’ he asked, spitting slightly onto his mic and I shrugged. Reaching out to him, I adjusted it on his face so it was a decent ways away from his mouth.
‘Sometimes, depends on how annoying I was being, definitely does now,’ I explained and he scoffed, shaking his head.
‘Actually, we gave him the cure and his only question was “why am I naked and in a pool of hot cocoa?” I don’t think he remembers much from when he’s Lizard. Sort of like the Bruce Banner/Hulk thing,’ Peter explained and I nodded. ‘I’m sorry I wasn’t there as backup.’
‘What are you supposed to do, Pete? Follow me around everywhere? You couldn’t have known the Lizard was going to show up, no one could have except him. I don’t know why he looked for you there anyway, why would you go to that thing, and how did he know about that?’
‘Actually, we’re working a theory on that. Hill will explain in the debriefing,’ Tasha said into her mic. ‘Good job by the way, great first solo takedown. We may make an agent of you yet.’
‘Your gun training came in handy, sort of…’ I trailed off. ‘Bullets made no effect on him, but I was able to use it to make him mad. And hit the target on the dunk tank.’
‘Good job kid,’ Steve praised, grinning cheesily at me. He looked like a proud dad at a baseball game just after his kid had won the game. I guess this was our version of family baseball games. Those who fight crime together…
Chapter 42: Just When You Think You’re In Control
Chapter Text
Title Song: Just When You Think You’re In Control (Here It Goes Again) - OK Go
Bonnie Carter POV
Saturday 23rd November 2013
Wincing as Bruce wiped the alcohol swab over my cheek I pulled away instinctually, he shot me an apologetic look and I moved back in for more suffering. Given the amount of medical staff Tony had on hand, I had no idea why a lot of my medical stuff was handled by Bruce, but I had to wonder if it was because we still weren’t sure what was wrong with me, just that there was something. I couldn’t believe I had some of the brightest minds in the country working on my problem and they were all stumped. Geniuses couldn’t be everything, I guess.
‘You know, when I first started working on this, I thought you were going to need stitches but you seemed to have already started healing since you got cut,’ he commented and I glanced at him. ‘Maybe you have some sort of increased healing factor.’
‘Steve does,’ I agreed and he shook his head. ‘He does, his cells reproduce faster than any normal man.’
‘I’m not arguing with you on that, but this is more, while you get hurt more, you heal faster. Part of me is leaning towards the lack of skill is why you get hurt, but on the other hand, it might be due to a weaker concentration of the serum in your system,’ he explained and I narrowed my brow.
‘Wow Bruce, don’t be afraid to let me have it,’ I muttered and he laughed softly.
‘Honestly the reason we’re having such a problem figuring out what’s going on with you is because of the serum. You possess a lot of traits related to that, but there’s an overlap with whatever else is special about you,’ he explained and I nodded, chewing the side of my cheek.
‘As horrible as it sounds, I wish we’d exhumed my family,’ I said and he furrowed his brow. ‘I did say it was horrible. Listen, I do get all the rest in peace stuff, but don’t we want the chance at a sample before things degrade too far? If we had more data, more samples to compare it would be easier to figure out. I’m just sorry everyone died before I asked you to look into it. If I could come up with another way to get those samples, I would have, it's not like we can just time travel.’
‘Yeah,’ he said awkwardly and went to clean up all the biohazardous material created from cleaning me up. Stupid old men behaving weirdly. Which reminds me, I need to go and yell at Thor over those stupid faulty gauntlets.
Storming up to the communal floor where everyone was waiting for me I looked around for Thor. He was sitting a little ways off from everyone else and I matched right up to him, hands on my hips.
‘You asshole!’ I yelled, startling everyone else. ‘Who the hall gives someone magic gauntlets if they only work some of the time? I almost died because that shield pops out intermittently! Why the hell didn’t you give me any training on how to use them, you jerk!!’
‘I did,’ he argued. ‘The box they came in should have been enough to teach you.’
‘I hate you,’ I hissed and I felt arms on my own. Steve was holding my biceps, slowly steering me away from Thor who looked more amused than insulted. Why did no one ever take me seriously? I hate being 4ft 8. Stupid Steve and his stupid useless DNA. Why had I been passed on both the serum and his height pre serum? Why couldn’t I be 6ft something and stocky? I could reach for everything on my own, I’d never need help opening jars… actually, I usually just used a knife for that. And most people come to me for jar help.
‘Alright then Capim’, what have you got for me?’ I said to Fury, who was unimpressed at the pirate nickname. Tony grinned cheerily, happy he wasn’t the one about to be scolded for being disrespectful.
‘At approximately 0400 Monday Doctor Curt Connors and Boomerang broke out of their shared cell, from there, most of Boomerangs associates in custody were also broken out of their confinements and a plan was hatched,’ Maria explained to us all and I sighed, pulling my legs up as I sat on one of the leather couches. It was never easy, was it? ‘Then at 0800 hours this morning OSCORP was broken into, their lab was accessed and Connors gave himself the serum to convert him into his Lizard counterpart.’
‘Why would Boomerang break Connors out in the first place, surely he's not that great of a roommate? And I doubt he just opportunistically wandered out,’ I said and Peter nodded vigorously beside me.
‘What was your experience solo fighting him?’ Tasha asked and I shrugged. Peter stared at me and I tucked my hair behind my ears. It was still slightly damp from when I’d washed the hot chocolate out.
‘He didn’t seem interested in destruction or anything like that. Last time he would destroy anyone and anything that tried to stop him from distributing the serum en masse, but this time he seemed solely focused on me, as if I could somehow lead him to Pete,’ I explained, glancing up at him. ‘He also called me Bonnie, I ignored him, hoping if I didn’t react, he was just taking a stab in the dark or something. But he may know who I am behind the mask.’
‘It’s about time someone else’s secret identity was in jeopardy,’ Peter joked and I chuckled. Thinking about how we still hadn’t had much luck finding out who stole, sold and bought my friends' identities.
‘We think he was a distraction. Boomerang let him out with everyone else with the promise of a revenge mission in exchange for chaos in a public space,’ Tasha told me and I nodded, sorta made sense. Why could these guys not just stay in prison?
‘The robberies…’ Peter nodded in realisation.
‘Exactly, we also talked to every stallholder at the carnival and after the Lizard broke in, all the cash was gone,’ Maria agreed.
‘The Lizard robbed them? When did he have the time?’ Peter spluttered and I rolled my eyes. Jabbing him with my elbow he seemed to realise what he’d said and shook his head. ‘His henchmen…’
‘So wait, I almost got cut into shredded cheddar because he wanted a payout? He insisted that he didn’t want to hurt kids! They attacked a fair full of kids!’ I threw my arms out.
‘No one knows Night Fury and Spiderman are children, they went to a public setting you’d been spotted at before creating a diversion, knowing it would draw you out,’ Tasha shrugged. ‘He probably just thought you had a base of operations nearby. Meanwhile the trained up goons hit every store they’d planned to in one hit.’
‘They make off with the cash and they might even have their Night Fury/Spiderman problem taken care of in the process,’ Clint finished and I folded my arms over my chest.
‘I miss when the bad guys were easily foiled. Who gave them permission to get better at their jobs? I thought for sure I was shawarma meat,’ I said bitterly. My leg still burned but given that I hadn’t actually taken a hit, I reasoned it was all phantom pain. I ran my palm up over where it would be, biting my lip. I needed to talk to my Emo Advisor about this. ‘I’m going to get cleaned up.’
‘Now hang on a minute, who the hell said we’re done?’ Fury demanded and I pointed at him with a grin on my face.
‘I don’t work for you,’ I said again and headed for the elevator. I’m sure Peter would fill me in on what I missed. Not to mention, I scaled the side of that ferris wheel as Bonnie Carter, what the hell was I thinking? At least things seemed to be better with Pietro, but I hoped that wasn’t all adrenalin and things would go back to the terrible, sexless, new normal we’d had going before.
Legitimately showering, I changed into some warm, comfortable clothes and a raincoat, headed for a rooftop or an alleyway that seemed quiet enough I could talk things over with him. I hadn’t seen him in a while but he had invited me to come back and chat. Seemed rather insistent on it actually. Even though it had been a while since I’d seen him, he still came to me quickly. Before he’d been cautious, almost unsure if he should approach or if that’s what I was looking for. But now he was here almost instantly, and I sat perched on a low rising wall, swinging my legs as I waited for him. He stood in front of me, slightly amused looking and still without the mouthguard. Mostly because I’d stolen it, but I did expect at some point he’d get a new one from his employers. Guess they either didn’t care, or he hadn’t seen them in a while.
‘How are you feeling?’ he asked and I cocked my head to the side. He stood between my knees and I stopped swinging my feet so I wouldn’t kick him. ‘You fell three stories through that roof, I wasn’t expecting you to be back up and on your feet so soon.’
‘Neither was anyone else, no one can figure out why I’m not dead,’ I told him honestly, which, given someone he knew wanted me killed, probably wasn't wise. Playing with my hands, I couldn’t seem to really sit still. Everything was bothering me and I needed counsell from my Winter eyes in the sky. ‘Did you uh…did you see what happened today?’ he nodded. ‘I think I…I fucked up.’
‘Did those kids deserve to die?’ he asked and I recoiled, looking at him with a furrowed brow. I’d moved back so fast my neck cracked and I almost fell off the wall. ‘Do you regret freeing them from the wheel? Did you meet some of them after and go, oh, no I should have left you to die?’
‘No,’ I argued, shocked. He shrugged, throwing his hands out to the side.
‘Then you didn’t fuck up,’ he said simply. He seemed more relaxed, even more whimsical than he usually was. Maybe he was discovering who he was slowly, maybe he was becoming more himself the longer he’d been out of the freezer or that awful chair thing. Maybe that’s why I hadn’t seen him in a while, but in fairness, I hadn’t looked him out in a while.
‘But I climbed down that ferris wheel as Bonnie Carter not Night Fury, your employers…’ I tried to explain but he put his metal hand up, cutting me off.
‘Let me take care of them. I asked you to keep being who you were,’ he pointed out and I nodded, biting my lip. ‘If who you are is a reckless teenager that scales unimaginable heights to save the lives of others, then be that.’
‘We got played,’ I said, shaking my head. We were so unprepared for that. Where the hell was Luke in all of this? He was supposed to be the other person from my team there. Even if he had been, was there anything he could have done? ‘They, the Lizard was just a stupid distraction so they could rob everything of value from here to Jersey. I don’t even know what that’s going to do to the economy. People will lose their jobs…’
‘All things out of your control,’ he reminded me, pointing at my chest. ‘You’re a premed highschool student who leads a double life as a vigilante, you are not a banker, you don’t work the stock market. You’re not the insurance agent for jewellery stores.’
‘Do you…how much of what I did did you see?’ I asked and he stayed silent for a moment, climbing up beside me on the wall. Even sitting, he still dwarfed me with his body size. He was almost a match for Steve he was so big, and his thighs were almost the width of both of mine.
‘Everything, saw you climbing down the wheel in the rain, very dangerous may I point out, then through the cars. Lost you in the hall of mirrors, waited for you to come out the other side. Then saw you try and fail to hit the target for the dunk tank,’ he explained and I turned to him, screwing up my face in confusion.
‘I hit that target, I didn’t miss,’ I told him and he laughed breathily, shaking his head. ‘I did!’
‘You didn’t,’ he assured me, putting a hand out to steady me as I almost fell off the wall with rage this time. ‘I hit the target. I didn’t want you getting hurt and you’d done so well. Plus, it’s sort of my job. I need you safe.’
‘You what?’ I asked, shaking my head in confusion. He sucked his plump bottom lip into his mouth, biting down on it lightly as he worked out what he was going to say next. ‘Your job is to murder me, and you’re doing a terrible job.’
‘If I have any hope of figuring this thing out, finding out who I am, how to get out of here, you need to be here. All of this, somehow it’s connected to you. I don’t know why or how, but if anything happens to you, it’s more than just I’ll go back into the ice, get wiped again. And I don’t want you hurting,’ he explained and I shook my head again. This didn’t make any sense. What the hell is he saying?
‘You spend all your time watching me but have you ever done any research? Are you just digging through what little memories you can conjure up?’ I asked and he shook his head.
‘I don’t have the time, all I do is eat, sleep, watch you, repeat. You were a mark at first, nothing more but… you amuse me. That day by the dumpster changed things for me, I think,’ he said and then he laughed. ‘I helped you out of it and you thanked me. ’
‘I’m glad you find it amusing, I replay that in my mind a lot when I can’t sleep, think it over how dumb I was,’ I muttered bitterly and he laughed more.
‘At least you think of me,’ he shot me a shit eating grin. ‘Oh I can imagine you laying there, unable to sleep, images of me running round in your mind.’ I rolled my eyes and let him enjoy the mental imagery. He didn’t get much in this life, at least he could have a little fun.
‘Can I have your whole face? Sorry I…that made me sound like Hannibal Lecter…’ I said and he snorted. He shook on the wall as he laughed beside me, no doubt also picturing me trying to peel off his skin like this was a horror movie.
Reaching up slowly, I rested my hand on the side of his head, his long hair was soft, if a little unwashed. It was hard to have perfect hair when you stalked someone professionally. My fingertips brushed the leg of his goggles and I pushed them off his face. He didn’t stop me. He had a soft brow, clear of any malicious intent. He was relaxed, just sitting there and letting me touch him. Light stubble coated his jaw and around his pink lips. He had a strong nose, and these bright blue eyes. But I couldn’t place him. I had no idea who he was, but I wished I did. Still, I committed his face to memory, if I ever saw it again, I was going to know it. I would draw his face in my sketchbooks, I would find out who he was. If I could do nothing but keep his face in my mind, then I would. I would remember him until he could remember himself.
‘I’m gonna find you. I don’t know how but…I’m going to find you,’ I promised him and he smiled amusedly down at me. He took my hand with his organic one and he gave it a squeeze.
‘Just keep being you, cookie, that’s all I need from you,’ he replied and hopped off the wall. I watched him walk away and didn’t move until he was out of sight. This truly was a strange relationship he and I had. Part of me wondered if I had some strange version of Stockholm syndrome where I’d developed empathy for my stalker. But at the same time, he hadn’t killed me when he had the chance, and he’d had the chance. By his word, he’d tried to help me where he could. He came to comfort me sometimes. Maybe he wasn't the one who was psychologically damaged. Or maybe he was held captive by some evil organisation and he was reaching out for the only kindness, the only tenderness he’d been given. But none of that mattered, he didn’t deserve to be tortured for any reason, no one did.
Steve was making dinner when I got back and I headed straight to his office to help myself to some charcoal pencils and paper. My pencils had all seen better days and my sketchbooks were far too full to really give him the portrait he deserved. Steve wouldn’t mind, he’d said as much. Maybe I should ask Tony for some supplies. Of course, the thought occurred to me now I didn’t have to save up for my own tuition, for college or pay the bills, I had a decent amount of my own money. More money than I supposed I should have for one day a week’s work, but I’d dropped my hours this year and I also got a fair amount of tips. Right?
Working away until dinner, I sketched portrait after portrait, trying to capture his essence right. Get the right angles, get his face perfect, his hair to fall the right way. Even after Steve called me to join him I worked a little longer, but eventually, the rumbling of my stomach made it too hard to concentrate. Heading down the hall across the plush white carpets I made my way to the kitchen and sat across from Steve, smiling as he started portioning chicken korma onto my place. Steve had been out of the ice for barely two years and here he was, learning as many new recipes as he could. I thought he’d spend his time trying to recreate the dishes he ate in his past but no, all he wanted to do was see everything the world had to offer. It was inspiring.
‘I love you,’ I said out of nowhere. I hadn’t meant to blurt it out, but I realised, I did. Steve wasn’t just my blood, he was my family. And I looked up to him, I loved him. He glanced up at me, gentle smile on his face.
‘I love you too, Bonnie,’ he replied, holding out a plate of naan towards me. ‘Bread?’
‘I just…I was admiring your…well dinner and how you wanna try new things all the time and then I just…I realised you’re my family. I’m not alone, and I have you and I,’ I put my hand up to my face, feeling tears start to well in my eyes. ‘I have a family. I’m not alone.’
‘No, you’re not alone,’ he agreed, reaching out to take my other hand. ‘You always have a home with me, a family and there’s nothing you could ever do to change that. I will always love you and take care of you. And I’m glad you finally feel comfortable enough here, that you see this as your home. That you’re happy.’
‘With dad I… I didn’t realise what I was missing. I always said that when mom died, even though he survived, it was like he died with her. And even though he was around, it felt like I was alone. And I don’t mean to feel ungrateful, of course I love Peter and he tried to be there, but having to share him, I did sometimes get very lonely, because he was all I had,’ I explained, taking my hand away from my face finally. I wiped my tears away and more fell. ‘Things have really changed for me this year, and I just wanted to say, I love you.’
‘I’m proud of you, Bonnie, you’ve done a lot of really hard, really brave things since I met you, even before. And today, despite the risk to your own safety you climbed down that ferris wheel. And you did a good job today, you made sure everyone got out okay regardless of protecting your secret identity, you truly understand what it’s like to be a part of something bigger, and you don’t always see it in my line of work, even though you should,’ he told me and I felt myself heating up with embarrassment as I saw him puffed up with pride. ‘You’re growing up into a strong and compassionate young woman, and that’s something to be very proud of.’
‘Thank you,’ I replied and he smiled endearingly at me.
‘You’re welcome, now eat your dinner, it’s going cold,’ he ordered and went back to serving up like nothing had happened. I wasn’t sure why I was acting so sappy all of a sudden, maybe it was because things with Pietro had finally been reconciled, maybe it was because of the strange confession I’d gotten from Edge Lord my Emo Sniper but who was to know? Today just felt different.
Steve Rogers POV
Flicking off the lights in the living area, I headed up the two steps to the hall and walked along it, turning off the lights there as well. The carpet brushed the underside of my foot and once again I marvelled at how soft everything was in the future. The carpet wasn’t this soft when I was growing up, nor were the sofas or the mattresses. Getting to my study, I noticed Bonnie had left the lights on in there too. Shaking my head, I walked inside, flicking off the lamp by the window and going to the desk as well. She’d felt comfortable enough to use the art supplies in here, which was good, I was hoping she would. It was nice for someone to actually get the chance, plus, she was very talented. It was a shame for all that to go to waste because her future was already predetermined. Part of me still wished I could change it, give her a life free of war and of danger. Give her colours and art and comfort. But, if there was no war and danger, I’d have never gotten to know her enough to wish for these things.
Looking down at the stacks of paper, I paused, clamming up in shock. Staring up at me from the desk was the face of my long dead best friend. It was hanting how perfectly she’d captured his face, except it wasn’t exactly him. He had much longer hair, stubble when Bucky always made a point to be clean shaven. But it was him, it was undoubtedly him. Bonnie had drawn this? With shaking hands I picked up one of the sheets and found another portrait of him and under that another. Going through the stack it was just copy after copy, sketch after sketch. Swallowing thickly, I picked them all up, going for the lights and then heading out of the apartment entirely and up to the lab floor. The others had to see this.
She hadn’t met him, we were sure she hadn’t travelled, so how the hell did she know who he was? How had she drawn such an accurate likeness to his face? Startling Tony as I threw the doors open with a slam, I hurried over to him. He turned off his bunsen burner and took off his safety equipment, meeting me at the first free workbench there was. Almost amusedly, he waited beside me for what I had to show him.
‘Where’s the fire, Capsickle?’ he asked and I put the pictures down on the desk. Without picking them up, he stared at the drawings for a very brief moment. He barely blinked when he saw them. ‘Your friend - Binky, right?’
‘Bucky,’ I corrected, although I doubted he had actually misremembered. This was just another way he articulated he didn’t care. ‘Bonnie drew these.’
‘Talented, isn’t she?’ he admired with a grin, holding one of the pictures up to the light. He’d brightened when finding out she was somehow involved but still did not see the significance that I did. If I wasn’t so in shock I would have hoped I’d explain this better. ‘But that doesn’t explain why you burst up here in the middle of the night to show me these.’
‘We were so sure she hasn’t travelled, but she’s never met him. Not here, not yet. She couldn’t have, he’s dead. He died before the end of the war. She met him just before he was drafted, how could she know his face?’ I explained. He looked at me with concern, all of the light, jovial atmosphere dissipated out of the room. His jaw clenched, face hardening as he tried to figure it out himself. ‘What does this mean?’
‘I don’t know,’ he replied, putting the portrait down. He folded his arms over his chest for a moment, thinking it over some more. ‘JARVIS, let’s call in the others.’
Bonnie Carter POV
Thursday 28th November 2013
Slamming my hand down on the slate screen, I groaned. I’d forgotten to turn off the alarm for today, now that we had no school. Thank you Thanksgiving. Today I was thankful for a long lie, or I would have been, had my dumbass remembered to turn off my alarm. Feeling the bed shift beside me, I wasn’t surprised when an arm wrapped around my waist and I grinned. Another thing I was thankful for.
‘Dobryy ranok,’ he hummed in my ear, immediately peppering kisses all over my neck. ‘Sonechko, would you like to…’
‘Yes,’ I said, rolling over onto my back. My voice was still hoarse from sleep, so was his and it made his breathy whispers all the more sexy. He was shifting on top of me moments later, pulling my panties down my legs and starting to work my clit and folds. I was still slightly wet from last night, we’d really been making up for lost time, or maybe we were just picking out pace immediately back up.
Letting my head sink into my pillow, I looked up at him with squinting eyes, wanting to screw them shut but trying to keep them open to make eye contact with him. Things with us were back to normal, and I was thankful. Better than normal, because we got to fuck at home even though Steve was back. Before long I was rolling Pietro over so I could have another go at getting on top without impaling myself and he was mouthing all over my breasts. Lining myself up, I slowly lowered myself down to the hilt, letting out a sigh once I’d stopped moving. He peppered kisses all over my face and held my hips as I rolled my hips forwards. Everything was so intense I barely registered the nearby knocking sound or someone besides Pietro calling my name.
‘Hey Bonnie, I heard the alarm, have you got a minute?’ Steve called and again, I paid the intruding noise no attention. Rocking my hips I whined and whimpered.
‘Sonechko?’ Pietro mumbled, shaking me slightly and it was EVERYTHING. ‘Did you…’
‘Oh my god!’ I cried out and let out a smaller shriek as Pietro shifted slightly. He was leaning around me to check out the door and I glanced back with squinting eyes. Ignoring whatever he’d turned his attention to, I rocked my hips harder, faster. I needed to chase this good feeling.
‘Bonnie, is everything alright?’ Steve asked and I cried out for a different reason. Good feeling, gone. Oh no. ‘Bonnie?’
‘Yeah, I’m uhh.. I’m all good!’ I called back, face and chest flushing with embarrassment. Suddenly I became aware that that knocking sound from earlier was Steve and he was in fact on the other side of my bedroom door. And he had heard me making very lewd noises. I was going to die. Not because he killed me, but because I killed myself.
‘Are you sure, what’s going on in there?’ he asked and I put my hand up to my mouth trying to come up with something. Come up with an excuse? Nope, he might not go away. I had to do worse, tell the truth.
‘Uh, well, you uh remember that Pietro stayed the night last night?’ I called back and there was a small pause.
‘Oh! Uh…oh no,’ he stuttered from the other side of the door. ‘You know what, never mind, uh, I’m going to leave. And I’m going to go for a run… far, far from here.’
We stayed in a very stunned silence, still of any movement for a long while before either of us dared speak. The apartment door slammed and Steve was no doubt heading for the elevator, or better yet, sprinting down the stairs at full pelt, I would be in his position. I felt bad for the guy, but I was also too mortified to compute anything.
‘You okay?’ Pietro asked from beneath me. After the embarrassment subsided all I could really concentrate on was the fact I had his rod rammed deep inside my cunt and I wanted to finish the deed.
‘Yeah, you?’ I asked and noticed he had a light tint of blush to his cheeks.
‘I will probably survive,’ he agreed and I chuckled, starting to move my hips again. Soon our mutual embarrassment was long gone and what was left was the resurfaced morning desire. I rocked into him as best I could, lips parted slightly as I freely unleashed my moans now the other occupant of this apartment was gone.
And while Pietro was enjoying himself - judging by the look on his face anyhow - he eventually grew a little impatient at not being the one to control things and rolled us over so I was on my back. I kept my thighs by his hips, legs wrapped around his waist as he pounded into me and I threw my head back against the pillow again. Fuck, what was my life before all this, a waste! Everything I’d done up until this moment had been insignificant compared to the way this boy was making me feel.
Kissing me deeply, he thrust into me hard and fast. In a matter of minutes I was trembling beneath him and crying out into his mouth. He shot into the condom a moment or so later and pressed his sweaty forehead to mine. He dropped down, trying not to crush me as he rested his body on mine. We lay there in sticky, postcoital bliss just litening to the sounds of our heartbeats and breathing settling out to normal. It took admittedly quite a while to convince ourselves to climb out of bed and get ready for the day and there was only so long Steve could run for before he either had to start cooking thanksgiving dinner or made it to the state border.
We got up to shower and as usual I found Pietro’s hands in my hair, scrubbing at my scalp. It wasn’t like I didn’t appreciate him being so gentle and loving with me, but I did find myself asking why. He was a teenage boy, from what I understood about love and relationships, this was something they were meant to develop later. Teenage boys were supposed to be selfish, stupid and block headed. Still, I just thanked my lucky stars he was different and relaxed into his chest.
‘You think Luke will come back for next game?’ Pietro asked, combing through the ends of my hair with his fingers. Shaking my head, I turned around, quinting at him through the barrage of shower water raining down between us.
‘You mean he still hasn’t come back to school?’ I asked. Damn, Luke was so right, I really didn’t pay attention to the student body. I went as far as calling him my friend yet I hadn’t noticed he was absent. What the hell was wrong with me?
‘No, not been seen since Friday before carnival,’ Pietro answered and I felt my heart clench. That was almost a week. He was either sick, or something more sinister had happened. The school would have known something if he was sick, even with him being a foster kid. And knowing who we were and what we did, I could rule out him being a teen runaway. But according to like, all the movies I watched, the first forty eight hours were crucial to finding missing persons.
‘We gotta get out of the shower,’ I said, rapidly rinsing and rubbing off all the shower products I was covered in and trying to get dried and dressed as quickly as I could without slipping and dying.
‘What is hurry? He is probably sick,’ Pietro asked, confused and I looked up at him from my towel. The shower door was still open, letting all the steam out and filling the bathroom. I shook my head at him, no, this was more serious. ‘He is not sick, and you know this because you is Night Fury?’
‘I think I know this because I’m Night Fury,’ I confirmed, wrapping my hair up in last night’s t-shirt while I dressed. ‘Look, you need to keep this information to yourself, okay? What I’m about to tell you is very top secret.’ he nodded and I hopped into some jeans. ‘Earlier in the school year, back when everyone thought I had been kidnapped by Peter, we uncovered that someone had bugged Principal Coulson’s office. The information they got detailed the secret identities of several students at our school, including Luke. If he’s been missing this long, it’s more than the norm. Meaning we have to find him.’
‘Why not go to police?’ he said and I nodded, jumping about as I tried to get my jeans up my half tried legs.
‘I’m going to, they can help find Luke Cage, probably, but I don’t think they’re equipped to deal with finding who he is with a mask,’ I told him, finally zipping up the tight fitting denim.
‘And who is he?’ Pietro asked and I shook my head. He soured but understood. ‘Is not your secret to tell.’
‘Sorry, but they trusted me and as much as I trust you, it’s their choice to tell you who they are, not mine,’ I said and he nodded in understanding, finally turning off the shower knobs. He stepped onto the bathmat, dripping feet soaking it as he reached for his towel. Plonking it down on his head, he express dried the entirety of his body, vigorously rubbing himself down to try and keep up with me.
Forgoing makeup and even brushing my hair, I had Pocket JARVIS send messages out to everyone on my team and ask them when they last saw Power Man, and then I asked that Danny reach out to Ava and Sam. Then he was tasked with accessing and going through all the street cam photos and footage from today to about a week or so before Luke went missing to try and find a last known location. And while it was convenient to have a little assistant to do all that stuff for me, it did mean I didn’t have anything to do myself. I couldn’t really make a move when I didn’t have any actual evidence he had been kidnapped, I just knew he was missing.
‘So now what?’ Pietro asked, plonking down on the sofa in the living room while I stood behind a holoscreen. I turned back to look over my shoulder at him. Shrugging, I joined him on the couch.
‘I don’t know, I have to find out where he lives and go to that precinct to file a missing persons report,’ I supplied. I could report to the precinct he went missing in, but I didn’t know which one that was yet. ‘Might be worth visiting his group home too, orhis foster parents, I’m honestly not sure about his living situation. We never really talked about that, and I feel terrible about it now.’
‘He would have told you when he was ready,’ Pietro said slowly, as if trying to get the words exactly right rather than the way he normally spoke, just throwing sentences together and trusting we’d get his meaning when the grammar wasn’t exactly right. ‘You is cannot punish self for not knowing personal information because would be useful now. Up to himself to tall you when he wants you to know, if he wants you know.’
‘I know,’ I nodded, sighing. Scratching my neck as my still drying hair dampened the back of my shirt I glanced down. ‘I know, but if I’d been a better friend maybe he would have been ready sooner, I don’t know. What you’re saying makes sense rationally, but I’m not the kind of person who can just sit around and do nothing.’
‘That’s what I love about you mosts,’ Pietro told me, reaching out to take my hand in his. ‘Well, that and boobies.’
‘Thankfully you get to enjoy both,’ I told him, climbing onto his lap to lock our lips together in a warm kiss.
Steve Rogers POV
Sweat poured down my back in buckets as I stepped into the elevator that led up from the public floors to the private areas of the tower. JARVIS took me up to the floor Bonnie and I’s apartment was on without me having to ask and I sighed, leaning against the safety rail. Here’s to hoping they weren’t still having loud sex. I realised, this was partially my fault for wanting them to be in a safe place while they did that, and allowing my home to be that safe place, but come on. It was thanksgiving for god’s sake.
‘Hey Stevie boy,’ Tony greeted as I stepped out of the elevator beside his and started making my way towards my apartment. ‘You get a chance to talk to Bonnie about Binky?’
‘Bucky, and no. I had to evacuate my apartment this morning because Pietro stayed the night. And he’s been coming over a lot recently. Apparently he’s no longer afraid of me and while that was what I’d wanted, I do miss it,’ I huffed, stuffing my hands in the pockets of my sweats. He chuckled, grinning knowingly at me.
‘Oh come on, you know her as well as I do, are you really surprised?’ He asked, looking like he knew far too much. I chose not to ask.
‘She was admittedly like this a bit with Bucky, but I just assumed it was because one, we were at war, two, their private moments were few and far between and three, I didn’t care because I didn’t know we were related. This is…this is strange, plus she just got started, who has that kind of appetite at the beginning?’ I complained and then I realised Tony was exactly the kind of person to tell me who he knew who did, in gory details. He was just like Howard in that regard and I hadn’t liked it back then either. ‘You know what,’ I said, putting a hand up. ‘Not a word.’
‘You got it, Capsicle,’ he chuckled, letting himself into my apartment. Following after him, I was greeted with the visual of Bonnie’s semi-bare back and the back of her head as she sat on top of Pietro.
‘Oh come on!’ I exclaimed, as she leaned over him, kissing him with a gross ferocity. Their noses squished against each other’s and there was a horrible wet noise from the spit over their mouths.
Bonnie jerked up at the sound of my voice and Pietro shot up from beneath her. He yanked her shirt back down her chest as she tried to climb off his waist and fell, hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes. Tony stood beside me, doubled over with laughter as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. Bonnie threw herself quickly up off the ground and tried to hurry around the sofa and pretend she hadn’t just been caught in the act and Pietro jogged after her, trying to check she was alright after her fall.
Having to raise my best friend seemed like a cruel and unusual punishment from God and I was pissed. But at the same time, I said I would have given anything to get her back when I’d woken up alone. I thought I’d killed her, she was at least unconscious in the back of that plane, I was trying to join her. And then I was found, and she wasn’t. While I had her here, and I was grateful, I still wondered what happened to her that day. Where did she go?
Chapter 43: Do I Have To Tell The Story Of A Thousand Rainy Days?
Summary:
Dun dun dun!
I kinda feel bad for Luke being the first to go missing :( sorry guys, I love him too. And I feel worse for putting the first seeds of radicalisation in Pietro's head but let's be real here, this is probably the least bad thing I'll do to these characters throughout this fic
Chapter Text
Title Song: Do I have to tell the story of a thousand rainy days? (Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic) - Sleeping At Last
Bonnie Carter POV
Thursday 28th November 2013
Tony eventually unfolded himself from the floor and stood up, composing himself when Pietro stopped looking so guilty. Steve looked annoyed, but mostly at Tony who’d spent the better part of the last ten or so minutes laughing. I tried to keep Pietro and I’s PDA to a minimum because I knew that while Steve was okay with our relationship, that didn’t mean he wanted to witness all that and more. But I fucked up today, and I felt a little bad.
‘So I came to invite everyone to a team thanksgiving, none of us really have any family besides each other, so come on, Pepper and I always have too much food from the caterer anyway,’ Tony said and I glanced at Steve and Pietro.
‘Agh, sounds but no good,’ he said, putting his hands in the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie. His hair was sticking up awkwardly thanks to my hands having been knotted in the half dried strands. ‘Host parents wanting us to volunteer at soup kitchen for Thanksgiving. Should actually must be going now anyways.’
‘Yes, I understood what that meant,’ I joked and he shot me a glare. Putting my hands up in surrender, I watched him put his hands on his hips and start muttering incohensibly in Ukrainian under his breath.
‘You sounding like Mrs O’Donoghue,’ he huffed and I furrowed my brow. Turning to him, I shook my head slightly in confusion.
‘Who?’ I asked, blinking at him. My head tilted to the side as I waited for his explanation as to what was apparently supposed to be obvious. He turned his head back to me again, realising even though he thought I should know who he was talking about, he’d never outright said the name Mrs O’Donoghue to me before.
‘Host parent,’ he answered simply and I relaxed in understanding. Rolling my head backwards in a slow nod I felt the answers slowly come into my hazy, post makeout session mind. That explained the slight distaste sounding in his voice at the mere mention of the woman.
‘Ahhh the judgy lady that doesn’t want to meet me,’ I said, putting up a knowing finger. Part of me wanted to meet her, I didn’t want to force his hand, he’d introduce us when and if he was ready but the other part of me also wanted to be included in everything in his life. I mean, I had now. So surely, things had to be equal?
‘Never said they didn’t want to meet, I don’t want you meeting them,’ he corrected, grabbing my hand to fold my finger down back into my fist. He held my closed hand in his larger ones, squeezing gently. And while even though I knew there would be a reasonable explanation as to why, I felt anger start to heat up in my stomach. So he was the reason I hadn’t met them. It was a conscious decision. ‘They rude and judgy, I do not want you to has to put up with that. You deserve the very very best.’
Like a half inflated balloon someone had let go of, I felt the simmering rage I’d been building deflating with a comical raspberry noise. How could I be pissed at him when he had such thoughtful and caring reasons? Damn him. Taking my hand out of his, I held them in front of me, swinging them lightly as I thought very carefully about how I would phrase this.
‘Baby,’ I started, keeping my tone even and light. ‘While I appreciate you trying to protect me, I can’t go around hiding from people just because they don’t like me. Especially when those people are important in your life. Host parents, adopted parents, it doesn’t matter. They’re the adults in your life that are helping shape you. And I love you, so I want to meet them.’
Tony and Steve stayed uncharacteristically quiet, probably watching to see how this played out. I wanted to turn and glance at them, get a read on their expressions but I couldn’t take my eyes off Pietro, this was serious, and I needed him to see that he had my full attention on this.
‘But those little gerls,’ he said and I sighed, shaking my head. Running my hands over my somewhat sticky, recently moisturised face, I let out a small frustrated groan. Taking a moment to process, I pulled my hands away.
‘Forget those little girls, I know who I am, of course I do. While momentarily I second guessed myself then, I know I’m not a slut Pietro. I was just upset because I was caught off guard. And I had every reason to be, who says that to a child? And hell, if your host parents dared trying to say anything like that to me I’d just set Steve on them.’ I said and he rolled his eyes at me.
Tony let out an unexpected - even to him - laugh and I heard Steve scoff. But Pietro didn’t look like he was relenting any. What gives? I’d been diplomatic, reasonable, I’d tried my best to be an adult here. That anger was back and I felt myself shutting down. I took a step back from him and the rest of the group.
‘Okay fine, I don’t have to meet them. Go off and have fun with your weird and judgy host parents, do your charity and have fun sleeping on your very squeaky twin all by yourself,’ I said, not bothering to hide my annoyance. Turning on my heel, I headed for the apartment door which would lead us out into the hallway. If I made it to the elevator without either crying or yelling, I would give myself a bowl of ice cream. It did not matter if it was breakfast, it was a consolation prize for losing the argument.
‘Now hang on a minute,’ he huffed, jogging after me. Yanking the apartment door open after making contact with its cold handle I was out and walking down the hallway before he caught up, and that was with his freakishly speedy legs. ‘Sonechko.’
‘Look, I’m trying to be good about this but there’s only so accepting I can be. I’m upset, Pietro, what do you want me to say?’ I snapped, turning back over my shoulder at him. He stopped dead, looking bewildered.
‘Why?’ he asked, baffled.
‘Because, Pietro, I feel like I’ve shared everything in my life with you. You know all my secrets, you’ve heard my dark and depressing past and I..I know this was supposed to be some fling or something,’ I said, pausing as I felt a lump rising in my throat. Swallowing, I brought my hand up to sweep my curls off my face. ‘I get that this isn’t going to last, but you’re not someone I like, you’re not even someone I love. I’m in love with you. You’re the first person I’ve ever felt this connected to and understood by, and when I’m sharing everything with you it hurts when you don’t want to do the same. I know you have your reasons, and it’s your choice, but I can’t help the way I feel. Only feel it. And I’m trying really hard not to fight with you because I don’t want to feel this way, but I do.’
‘You’re…I…’ he said slowly. His face contorted with discomfort. I could tell the language barrier was bothering him, he understood what I said, he probably had a perfect response prepared in his mother tongue to what I’d said but he couldn’t translate it, not that fast. Coupled with the emotional nature of the topic, he looked in pain just trying to form the words. And it only made me feel worse for sticking the knife in just because I was upset.
‘I know,’ I sighed, turning back around completely. Stepping towards him, I slid my arms under his and held him to me. Resting my cheek against his beating heart, I tried to articulate an apology, but I had as much trouble summoning the words as he did.
‘I do not mean to make you feel like you are…are… only one who is making sacrifices or sharing,’ he said, shifting his head down to kiss my crown. ‘Never even occurred to me stupid judgy host parents could mean so much to you. They don’t mean the same to me, it never came to mind.’
‘Yeah I figured,’ I said, nodding into his hoodie. ‘Let’s put this on the backburner for now, it’s Thanksgiving, even if it’s not a holiday you’re used to celebrating, it’s still a holiday. A happy time. We’ll talk about this again some other time.’
‘This is not trap?’ he asked, pulling back to eye me suspiciously. I threw my head back in laughter, feeling a warmth take over my body. ‘I have sister you know, I know these mind games. Always saying you not upset but deep inside is rage. I’m on to you Sonechko.’
‘This isn’t spy versus spy, Pietro, I really do want to have this chat but not right now. This is the first happy Thanksgiving I’ve had in a long time, I want to actually get it. I have a family again, I can’t ruin that by being salty about your perfectly good reasons for me not meeting your host parents,’ I said and he relented, nodding and pulling me in tighter. After standing with him for a moment or two more, I let go and held his hand the rest of the way to the elevator. Trying to push the nagging feeling in the back of my mind away that he had won.
Pietro Maximoff POV
Stepping off the busy subway car and onto the overcrowded platform I made my way up into the equally as packed stairs to try and get up to the surface. My host parents had arranged to meet me at the bustling station so I wouldn't somehow get lost on the way to the soup kitchen. As if my sunshine hadn’t already shown me how to navigate the subway system. Mrs O’Donoghue beamed when she spotted me amongst the swarms of people, waving excitedly at me. She fawned over me when I finally reached them, and she pulled my coat around me tighter, making sure I was warm and comfortable. It seemed so strange to me, how someone could be so kind to me yet so judgemental to someone I cared so much about. Someone she’d not even met before. Wanda already liked her, and they’d never met. Why was it so hard for Mrs O’Donoghue and her husband?
Mrs O’Donoghue linked arms with me, walking up the street and leaning on me a little for support as her slightly older husband waddled behind us. They weren’t really that bad, they were always nice to me, but I couldn’t shake how wrong it felt to enjoy their company when they could pass judgement on someone they didn’t even know, just for doing what they loved. And the cheek of it all, they loved Night Fury yet the woman they hated was the woman behind the mask. Of course, I could never tell them that, and even if I could, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t just start hating Night Fury.
Opening the door for my host parents, Mrs O’Donoghue beamed when a patron commented on what a good boy I was. The two of them went off behind the counter together talking and giggling while Mr O’Donoghue stayed at my side. He smiled after his wife and I couldn’t stop staring at him. The way he looked at her was similar to the way I felt whenever I saw my sunshine and I didn’t understand how he could look at her like that. It seemed wrong, the two of them had been so judgemental and yet they shared a love like mine, sweet and fulfilling. I didn’t understand.
‘Come son, I’ve got some people I’d like you to meet before we get started,’ Mr O’Donoghue said, breaking me from my miserable and confusing thoughts.
It bothered me I couldn’t even talk to them about what had happened with my sunshine, they didn’t even know I’d been with her because they judged her so. Would Wanda and I’s parents have felt the same? It was hard to picture, they’d died when we were only ten, it was coming up six years since they’d left us. We were too young then to get into subjects so deep, but I liked to imagine the life we could have had. What they would have thought about this.
‘This is Zygfryd Danielski and Hugo Gołąb,’ he said, extending his arm out to two thin looking men sitting behind a silver metal table on the hard wire chairs. They were on the older side, older than Mr O'Donoghue if it was possible and he must have been in his late sixties, early seventies. It made me wonder how a guy so barely holding together had scored someone as comparatively young as Mrs O’Donoghue. She had to be in her late fifties, but it was a different time when they met I supposed.
‘ It’s nice to meet you, stretch, ’ Mr Danielski greeted, offering me a hand I was too stunned to take. He’d spoken to me in flawless Ukrainian, as long as I’d been here, no one had even tried. I was honestly surprised Sonechko bothered to try and translate the words I said to her, and I still had no idea how she was doing it so quickly.
‘ You look like a stunned mullet, sit down skinny, and pick your jaw up off the floor before it gets dirt on it, ’ Mr Gołąb said with a warth I hadn’t felt in a long time. Sitting down, I almost wanted to sigh in relief even with the hard and uncomfortable chairs.
‘ Five second rule, ’ Mr Danielski laughed, shaking his head, dark grey hair peeking out from his worn green beanie. The two of them were dipping bread into something that apparently passed for paprikash in this part of the world and I found myself still feeling shocked.
‘ Don’t be so surprised, son, there are other Sokovians out here, you’re not a pioneer, ’ Mr Gołąb said, and clicked his fingers in front of my face for good measure. His skin up close looked even more paper thin and pale than it had when I’d first set eyes on him. ‘ Some of us managed to get out when things got bad. They tell me you and your sister didn’t, I’m sorry to hear that. ’
‘ No, ’ I shook my head, a bitter smile on my face. I could feel the hot resentment start to fill me up. The name written on that unexploded shell still haunted me, it was hard being this close. Speaking to these guys, it reminded me of it all, brought me back to that moment. ‘ No, my sister and I did get out. We survived and the war ended, she’s studying art in Germany. I'm here. Our parents didn’t make it out, a shell hit our house and killed them instantly. Another came through the gaping hole in our apartment and left my sister and I trapped for days. It was awful, but we made it out. ’
‘ Yeah, you’re still here. And a damn good thing that is, it’s worth being thankful for on a day like today, ’ Mr Gołąb replied, putting his cutlery down. Mr Danielski nodded, humming in solemn agreement.
‘ Thankful for everyday, ’ Mr Danielski added, pulling his beanie off his head to stare at a torn photo he’d been keeping inside. After a moment of silence, reminiscing about whoever was on the photo he looked up, putting on a warm grin as if he hadn’t been hurting as much as I was. ‘ How did you come to get out here? You’re a long way from home. ’
‘ I could say the same to you, gentlemen, ’ I pointed out, shifting in my chair. They both chuckled and nodded, going back to eating their unfortunate looking paprikash. The seemingly more questionable item on their plates was the assortment of muffins everyone had been given.
‘ That’s fair, I’ll tell you what, we’ll have a trade. I’ll share my story with you, if you share yours. It’s okay, I can tell you’re curious, you have questions, curiosity is good for a boy your age, healthy, ’ Danielski said and I scoffed. Glancing over at the O’Donoghues, I saw them looking happy, distracted by serving hungry struggling people and not annoyed I was taking so long in joining them.
‘ I study at Midtown Science Academy,’ I explained and they nodded in understanding.
‘ Ahh, the school for gifted kids, you must be pretty smart to go there. Tuition’s steep, you get a scholarship? ’ Mr Gołąb asked and I shook my head. I knew Bonnie used to work as a waitress to find her tuition, but I didn’t know it was considered that expensive. She only works one day a week, it would have to be cheap, or she was a damn good waitress.
‘ No, they offer full scholarships to a child in each year level for the exchange program they have with Sokovia, as if this somehow makes up for all the suffering, ’ I shook my head, feeling that rage come back. Mr Gołąb scoffed, also looking annoyed and shaking his head. The rest of the world moved on, looked away while we were still reeling, country in chaos.
‘ Imagine that, giving free education to four kids, and putting the fees up each year for the rest of the students, the American kids. That’s wrong, ’ Gołąb said, and I cocked my head in confusion. He didn’t want the American kids paying fees? Or he didn’t want the Sokovian students getting a freebie?
‘ What do you mean? ’ I asked, leaning forwards and taking my hands out of my pockets.
‘ You pay for your education in Sokovia? ’ he asked and I shook my head. ‘ How is that, huh? A country torn apart by war and destruction and we can still afford to make sure every child receives an education, yet here, in one of the richest countries in the world, kids go without. They bring us here, refugees, and dump us on the doorsteps of charity organisations with nothing but the clothes on our back and call it aid. There is no equal spread of wealth, and it’s wrong.’
‘Leave it, Hugo, ’ Mr Danielski scolded, turning to send a scornful look his way. He went out eating the rest of his main with an indignant look on his face as Mr Gołąb ignored him and kept ranting.
‘ I suppose it could be worse, at least we have the freedom to walk about. My brother got sent to Australia and in the six years it’s been, they still sit in those camps on the surrounding islands, ’ Gołąb said and I was horrified. They’d split him up from his brother? I couldn’t imagine worse. While Wanda and I were in different countries now, we spoke almost every single day. We chose to be apart and would be back together again when we wished. Forced separation seemed like a cruel and unusual punishment for war survivors. ‘ They’re glorified ghettos and concentration camps, it’s dreadful. Why bother granting sanction if they were going to hide them away from the rest of the community for six years? Something needs to be done in this world, mark my words. ’
‘ Hugo, it’s Thanksgiving, could you just let us be happy for one day? It’s bad enough to be reminded we’re all torn apart from our families every other day, do you have to bring it all up on the one day we’re supposed to be granted some relief?’ Mr Danielski said, shaking his head at the man. I imagined it would be hard to be happy, knowing what he knew, eating at a soup kitchen when you should be able to eat food, real food. ‘ Come, Pietro, tell us about your life. Got any tail? A girl on your arm, or three, or four? ’
‘ As a matter of fact, I do have a girlfriend. My sunshine, she’s everything to me, she brings light and shines it on everything she touches, ’ I said, feeling my heart swell up as I talked about her. All the tension I felt from the O’Donoghues and Gołąb’s ranting washed away and I felt the love she always gave me take over. My whole body felt warm and the pride I had from knowing her took over inside me. ‘ She’s sassy, and so bright. We go to the same school and she’s a premed student, she wants to be a nurse. She’s so compassionate, she cares about everyone, even people she doesn’t really know. When the school was attacked, she organised a fundraiser for the families of the victims, and we got stuck on the ferris wheel at the winter festival and she scaled the outside and climbed down to free everyone. I’ve never met anyone so brave.’
‘Well, shit son, she need another boyfriend? She sounds great, ’ Danielski said, brightening up with real cheer this time. He leaned over closer to me as if we were discussing something of a secret. ‘ So, is she pretty? ’
‘ Oh, she’s beautiful, most gorgeous woman I’ve ever laid eyes on, I don’t think I’ll ever love anyone as much as her, ’ I said, feeling my eyes glaze over as I thought about her heart shaped face, her bouncing blond curls, it glowed in the sunlight like a waterfall, like canola fields. Her fierce blue eyes. Oh my sunshine, why hadn’t I come up with an excuse to stay with her?
‘ You got a picture?’ Gołąb asked and I nodded, pulling out my phone to flick through and find the folder where I kept all the ones of her and us. Handing over the old android with the cracked screen, Gołąb put on his glasses and looked at the small phone in his hand. ‘ Hmm, I thought so. When you said ferris wheel, this is who I pictured. ’
‘ Yeah, I know her, that’s the little thing that comes in here with that hulking fellow, brings us these muffins every week, ’ Mr Danielski nodded in agreement. I cocked my head to the side and looked at the muffins. She’d been here? ‘First it was just the big guy, then he started bringing that girl in, Bonnie I think her name is. She comes in sporadically but often, not as often as him, but we’ve seen more of her. She talks to us, tries to pick up works in Ukrainian from us, because she knows we have the Sokovian dialect. ’
‘Explains the phrases she’s asked us to explain to her from time to time, can’t keep your hands to yourself, you pervert, can you?’ Gołąb teased and I felt myself getting a little flushed, but smirking slightly. When a beautiful woman like my sunshine wanted you to do those things to her, you did them. Because you were a lucky, lucky man.
Bonnie Carter POV
Taking a deep breath as I stood on the opposite side of the bullet proof glass, I tapped my fingers on the laminate counter. It seemed stupid - I realised in the moment - that they’d bothered with the bullet proof glass. A bullet can easily pierce the desk the officer was working behind, it was laminate, so why bother with the glass? Stop the headshots and leave them to bleed out from the leg or abdomen instead? But the poor planning did little to distract me from the uniformed officer who was refusing to take me seriously.
‘No one has seen him since MSA’s winter carnival, he never showed for his shift. He’s never late, always goes to school. He’s missing, what more do you want?’ I huffed, folding my arms over my chest. ‘Why won’t you file a report?’
‘Listen, honey, I get you’re worried about your boyfriend, but cases like this, really aren’t that unusual, and I wouldn’t even say he’s really missing. Wait it out,’ he told me and I looked for the gold name badge he should be wearing. Officer Marino.
‘Is it or is it not true that when a person goes missing the best leads come from the first forty eight hours?’ I asked, shaking my head at him. ‘It’s been over a week, sir, the longer we leave it, the less chance we have of finding him. You’re right, I am worried about my friend, why aren’t you ?’
‘Look, sweetheart, there’s nothing I can do, now are you gonna leave or do I need to call your parents?’ Officer Marino snapped, losing his patience with me. I scowled at him, eyes narrowing in a sharp glare as I leaned over the counter, getting as close at the glass would allow.
‘Get the Ouija board, I’m staying and I want to talk to your supervisor,’ I said determinedly and he raised a thick and bushy brow at me. He picked up a corded phone that was going yellow with age and held the receiver to his ear. Dialling a number, he waited with slight amusement on the line until someone answered. Finally, a result.
‘Captain, I’ve got a young lady who wants to speak with you, over very important cheerleading business,’ he said and I let out a noise of frustration. I wanted to kick the stupid counter he was being so irritating. Slapping the printed photo down on the counter, I slid it through the tiny pigeon hole and glared at him.
‘See that, if you don’t wanna do your job, then I at least want you to be haunted by his face for the rest of your damn life, because if you won’t do anything, I’ll never get to see him again. And I’m not a cheerleader, I’m on the football team, jerk,’ I said, spinning on my heel and heading out of the precinct.
Police had always hated Spiderman, and they didn’t exactly like Night Fury to start with either, but even with that, it was a surprise to see cops being so useless and unkind. They were supposed to protect and serve, what gives? Why was he so uninterested in Luke’s case? Flash’s dad was an asshole cop, but I was under the impression he was a bad apple, the majority of them were good people who wanted to do the same thing I did, what Steve did. Why didn’t he care about Luke?
Feeling unable to head home just yet, I stomped down the stairs of the precinct and towards the nearest un-cammed alley I could find. Kicking the dumpster as I waited for him to show, I tried to figure out what to do next. Going to the police was what we were supposed to do. Maybe SHIELD was the next step but they'd bungled everything involving us so far, how could I trust them to look after my friend? What was I supposed to do? Letting out a scream of frustration I kicked the dumpster hard enough to make an audible noise and send vibrations right up my leg, shaking me to my core. Ignoring the throbbing in my toes, I turned at the sound of breathy laughter.
‘What’d the dumpster do to you?’ Fabio’s Emo cousin asked and I shot him a look. Huffing out a breath so strong my bangs blew up off my face, I crossed my arms over my chest.
‘Luke’s missing and I’m worried,’ I said, holding myself close. ‘I went to the police from his neighbourhood but they won’t look for him, they wouldn’t even let me fill out a report.’
‘What do you want me to do about it, cookie? I only follow you around,’ he replied, coming closer. Not a wise move at the moment, not when I was going around kicking metal objects.
‘You’ve seen nothing? We overlap sometimes, and you’re my eyes in the sky,’ I said disappointedly, and he shook his head. Screwing up my face I turned, moving to kick the dumpster again but I felt hands on my waist, one so bitingly cold I almost jumped from the shock. Pulling me back away from it, the Winter Edgelord held me against a nearby wall, equally as cold and slightly wet until I calmed down.
‘I don’t know what happened to your friend, but I do know petty vandalism isn’t going to find him,’ he said softly, and I sighed, leaning back into his hold. I’d been so angry lately, I didn’t know what was wrong with me. It seemed like every time we took a step forwards, something knocked us back. I got Pietro back, now I’d lost my friend.
‘I don’t know what to do, I’ve never had to search for someone who’s missing before, all the people I’ve needed to get to were right in easy reach, how do I help him? What do I do?’ I asked and I felt him shrugging behind me, holding me to his chest. Despite the coldness of his jacket, and the buckles biting into the skin on my back, I could feel him warming up as he held me.
‘It’s okay not to know, take a minute, what do you think you should do?’ he asked and I rested my head on his chest, looking up at the grey sky that was getting darker by the second. Pursing my lips, I thought about it. I needed to prove he was missing if I was going to get the police to take me seriously. Which means I need to get his attendance records for a start, and trace things back, find out who the last person to see him was. Go to his house, find out when he was last there.
‘Okay, I need to do the investigating, at least until I have enough to make them see,’ I said and he nodded, giving me a slight squeeze.
‘Good, and then?’ he asked and I turned in his hold, shaking my head.
‘Then I make them help me,’ I said, blinking at him. He shook his head, smiling sadly at me. My hair was flying wildly around me in the harsh wind and he reached out to tuck some of it behind my ears.
‘Cookie, you might be able to make them see you’re right, but they’re never going to help you on this one,’ he explained to me and I cocked my head to the side. Why? His face hardened, as if bothered by what he was about to say. He wasn’t bothered by much, my Winter life coach, so it was odd seeing him get worked up by something. I wondered briefly if this was a hint at who he was. If only he saw it. ‘Your friend is a black youth, in a poor neighbourhood, and this is America.’
‘So? What does money or race have to do anything, he’s a missing kid,’ I said and he sighed, holding my head in his hands. His long fingers cradled the back of my head as he looked empathetically down at me.
‘To certain people, that’s not enough,’ he said, and then let go of me, stepping back. It was strange, even though I knew he was contracted to kill me, I didn’t want him backing away. As we stood there, I felt safe, safer than I had in a while, safer even than I did with my friends. Almost as safe as I did with Steve. And that was saying something. It was weird, wrong. There was definitely something wrong with me. ‘Cookie, you need to be the one. If he’s important to you, you find him. Just because you see him as your friend, doesn’t mean everyone else does. You find him. You help him like I know you can.’
‘I’m just one person, what can I do? You said it yourself, I’m just a teenage girl,’ I said, stepping back from him. Why me? I couldn’t even get Officer lazypants to do his job.
‘Actually I said little girl. But you’re not just a person, you’re the right person, you’ll get your answers, you just have to figure something out, okay? I know you’re gonna be alright with this one, I can’t explain why, but I know you’ve got this,’ he assured me and it felt strange. Gone was the whimsy and the teasing and now was the pep talks and unwavering faith, optimsm even. What was wrong with him? At least I was crazy, he was something else entirely. It was like he was several people trapped in one. ‘Oh, and your boyfriend is looking for you.’
‘How the hell…’ I started, and he chuckled, walking out of the alley and out of sight. How could he be so useless and know little details like that? How the hell did he know Pietro was looking for me, and if he knew stuff like that, why didn’t he know where Luke was? Pulling out my slate I saw a few missed calls and some texts from Pietro asking where I was. Wait… did he have my phone tapped? These were time stamped from before I’d waited for him in that alley…
Chapter 44: There's A Science To Fear
Summary:
Honestly, kudos to Pietro for just keeping calm and carrying on after this one. Boyfriend goals honestly, we stan a focused man
Chapter Text
Title Song: There's A Science To Fear - The Temper Trap (Science of Fear)
Bonnie Carter POV
Thursday 28th November 2013
Stark’s tech was supposed to be untappable, if the Winter Soldier was in my phone there was no telling what he knew. And it would certainly explain why he always knew exactly where I was, he could literally track me using my gps location. But he’d been following me since before I met Tony, so there was more there. How the hell did I get him out of my phone? I didn’t really want to ask Tony and alert him to the fact I was making friends with my stalker, he’d have me committed for sure. Wait, could I hack Luke’s phone? There was no guarantee he still had it but it would least give me an idea of his last location. And I just so happened to have someone to help me do it.
‘Oh JARVIS?~’ I hummed as I walked along the sludgy New York streets. Sleet was falling down in buckets, turning brown when it hit the dirty sidewalk. I tugged my coat around me tighter, shivering slightly despite my improving mood.
‘Yes Miss Carter?’ He replied promptly and I stuffed my hands under my armpits, regretting not owning a pair of gloves or mittens. I was never out in this weather or if I was, I was too warm with the adrenalin of Peter sending us flying through the air at hundreds of thousands of miles an hour. Maybe Steve could knit, that was an old person hobby…
‘I need you to do a trace on Luke’s cellphone, cross match cell tower pings with street cams, and track his movements for about a week before he went missing and up until now,’ I commanded, not bothering to hide from the average passer by that I was seemingly talking to myself. There were lots of crazy people in this city, why did I care about not being seen as one of them. If anything, the weirder I acted the less likely people were of paying attention to me. That’s right innocent citizens, run. ‘And see if you can get into his phone, let me go through his files to see if there’s anything unusual. And get Danny. Tell him what I’m doing.’
‘Would you like me to contact Mr Parker as well? Mister Maximoff and Mr Thompson are already at the Tower and waiting for you,’ JARVIS replied and I paused in shock. I couldn’t believe that I’d forgotten about Pete, I was really dropping the ball at the moment. Wait, why was Flash at my apartment? So much was happening, I swear my life wasn’t this busy last year. This is all Steve’s fault. I was comfortably miserable before, I had a routine and things never got on top of me. Is this what I can expect from getting older? Disgusting. 0/10 would not recommend.
God, how was I going to explain to Peter that I’d told Flash about my alter ego? He’d probably understand about Pietro, but things were still rough between Flash and him. I knew why, it was understandable and completely justifiable, but that didn’t make it any easier. Flash was trying very hard to change, to be a good person, and while Peter should absolutely not have to face his abuser or make accommodations for him, we couldn’t keep holding Flash to who he was and expect him to be something different. In fact, I spent the whole rest of the walk back freaking out about that, so much so, I almost shrieked when I bumped into Peter in the elevator.
‘You got here quick,’ I commented and he smiled easily at me, revealing the hint of blue under his jacket sleeve. ‘Listen… you’re not going to be very happy with me.’
The elevator doors dinged open and revealed Flash immediately in front of us. He was beaming brightly at the two of us while Pietro leaned on a wall nearby, still happy to see us, but less obsessive fanboy about the whole thing. Peter glanced between myself and Flash before he eyed me suspiciously.
‘There she is,’ Flash said cheerily.
‘You know, I think you’re right,’ Peter said bitterly, shooting me a sharp glare. Looking back sheepishly at him, I watched him stomp out of the elevator and head down the hall to my apartment. Well, at least he didn’t leave. Though I’d expect he’d go and never return when he found out. Whoops.
‘What was that about?’ Flash asked as he looked after Peter headed for the door. Pietro nodded and I bit my lips.
‘Look uh, I know you guys kinda made up a little, but…’ I said and he nodded, looking down at the hall flooring. ‘And yeah, I uh, could you guys when we get inside give us a minute? I haven’t told him something and I really oughta…’
‘Wait, Parker doesn’t know you’re Night Fury?’ Flash spluttered and I shook my head at him.
‘No, he knows, but he doesn’t know I told specifically you,’ I replied awkwardly. Reaching up to rub the back of my neck his face fell again and he nodded. ‘Look, I know it’s my choice, but we started this together, he’s been my friend since I was six, he’s my brother. So I just need a moment, and then I need your help.’
‘Help? We get to help?!’ Flash exclaimed and looked back and forth between Pietro and I to see if his BFF was as excited as he was. Pietro wore a look of amusement and nodded acceptingly. I knew I could count on him to help me if I asked, but Flash just looked like I’d offered him a million dollars. He practically skipped down the corridor behind us as we headed for the apartment.
Steve Rogers POV
As soon as I stepped off the elevator I knew something was wrong. While it was all the way at the other end of the corridor, I could hear high pitched sobs. Pushing off the carpet, I ran the rest of the way inside, wondering just what it could be that would have her in tears. While Bonnie didn’t cry often, she fell to pieces for two reasons, severe grief or because she was overwhelmed. I’d quickly learned about the latter when shortly after meeting her she showed up outside my apartment wailing because she didn’t know how to iron and had a job interview coming up. I tried to remember this, as I barreled in the door, because I didn’t want to let all the possibilities of the former cloud my mind.
‘What happened?’ I asked, door wide open behind me as I saw Flash and Pietro looking forlorn and at a loss for what to do. Bonnie was holding herself close, red face and gripping her jaw as she sat in a ball by her door frame.
‘Fight with Parker,’ Flash said softly, looking concernedly at his friend. ‘He’s uh, it’s my fault. He hasn’t forgiven me, he says he has, but he hasn’t. I understand, he’s not ready, I shouldn’t have come ‘round.’
‘No,’ Bonnie said finally, shaking her head and standing up. ‘Don’t put this on you. You’re making changes, he’s not ready, it’s an impossible position. Don’t back off, you deserve to be here as much as he does.’
‘Are you okay?’ I asked her and she shook her head. Reaching a fist up, she wiped her face clean of tears.
‘No, but we’ve got work to do,’ she told me, stepping forwards with a determined look on her face. ‘Steve, I need a favour. Flash and Pietro are helping me with Night Fury stuff, Luke’s gone missing. I had JARVIS pull all the most recent hits for him on street cams, now they’re gonna go through it and try to see if anyone was following them, look for anything unusual, anything that might tell us who has him or where he is.’
‘And my favour comes into this, how?’ I asked, watching her pull up several holographic screens around us.
‘Well,’ she shrugged, offering me a sheepish smile. ‘They have absolutely no experience in doing any of that. But you do. Teach them.’
‘So what are you going to be doing?’ I asked and then heard the elevator door ding. I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck, knowing I was going to regret asking.
‘Danny’s here, we’re going to ask around Luke’s friends and family, I’m bringing him because nobody likes me and would wonder why I’m sniffing around. But he and Danny sit next to each other every day in homeroom,’ she explained, just as he walked through the door.
‘Luke does not have any family,’ Danny said bluntly, glancing at Flash and Pietro. Flash looked like he was about to burst, glancing between Bonnie and Danny, whereas Pietro just looked amused at his fangirling friend. ‘I see you have also filled in your boyfriend and his..your..Flash.’
‘Yeah, but only about me,’ she agreed, shrugging.
‘You may as well tell them the whole truth, if they’re going to be helping us,’ Danny told her and she shook her head, refusing.
‘No, my identity my choice who knows. I’m not breaking anyone else’s trust, they don’t deserve that, not if what I think is coming, is coming,’ she argued and Danny sighed, looking already frustrated with her.
‘Well, Flash, Pietro, my alter ego is Iron Fist,’ Danny said, turning to them and Flash again, looked like he was about to explode. Man, that kid really did love superheroes. ‘Welcome to the team.’
‘Well, I guess we better get started,’ I said, clapping my hands together. Bonnie offered me a nod before going back to her room, coming back in full costume. Meanwhile, Danny pulled his jeans and hoodie off to reveal his suit.
Bonnie Carter POV
‘You just don’t get it, do you?!’ Peter screamed, making me jump. I’d heard him upset before, I’d heard him yell, but he’d never taken that tone with me. Never. Stepping back as he stepped forwards, I tried to come up with a way to calm the situation down. ‘I’m not like you, I’m not the beautiful, bouncy, blonde, popular girl who has everyone falling at her feet. Listen, you gave it a good go being uncool like Harry and me, but you were always destined for guys like that. ’
‘Pete,’ I said, shaking my head as he nodded at Flash and Pietro. ‘This isn’t… I know you’re still hurting, I’m not asking you to forget any of that, it comes in your own time..’
‘Shut up! Will you please stop trying to be reasonable here. Nothing about this is reasonable. We hated him. He bullied the student body for years, he gave everyone bruises, even you. You might have forgotten the bloody hands, the bruised knuckles and all those times he pushed you in the sand, but I didn’t, I can’t,’ he said, walking for the door, shaking his head. ‘I know, I know you see him as this project, that he can reform somehow. You have such hope, but I can’t ever forget.’
‘Pete! I’m not asking you to spend any time with him, that’s not the plan I…’ I tried to tell him and he threw his hands up to his red face. I felt so guilty, I’d pushed him to this. He wasn’t ready, I’d known about this for a while but I kept pushing him. Flash was a bully, Peter was standing in the room with his abuser and by continuing to hang out with Flash, I was making Pete confront him every time.
‘No, I can’t believe you, you told him! That was our secret, ours! It was just our thing and now everyone knows, everyone. I… you have this life, everyone loves you, everyone. Hell, even Gwen who used to hate you loves you, and I…I don’t have a place here anymore,’ he explained and I stepped forwards, reaching out for his hoodie and he pulled away, refusing to let me touch him. I felt my throat tightening up.
‘Cookie, what are you doing?’ I heard behind me and I looked over my shoulder to see the incredible sulk walking up to me, footsteps surprisingly light despite the heavy soles. I sighed, nodding to the building this rooftop was overlooking as the breeze blew through my braided hair.
‘You know my friend’s missing, this is where he lives,’ I explained, resting both hands on the rough concrete barrier protecting me from falling off the edge of the roof. ‘He doesn’t have family, there’s no one to report him missing. He doesn’t live in a group home anymore and everyone else just thinks he’s sick. By the time anyone else notices something isn’t right, it’ll be too late.’
‘That still doesn’t explain what you’re doing up here, I thought stalking was my gig,’ he joked and I smiled, shaking my head. He seemed in good spirits today, I wonder if he’s made any progress on figuring out who he is.
‘I don’t know how to get in,’ I explained, nodding to the window. It was a few stories down but not actually that far across. If the rooftops had been the same height, I could have landed a running jump. But I needed to get into his apartment. ‘I.. I don’t wanna break in because on the off chance I do manage to convince the police to look for him, I contaminate the crime scene. But if I don’t go in there, I can’t find anything that’ll tell me who took him. I’m in way over my head but I can’t trust anyone else to do this for me, and the friend I wanted to help me is mad at me for having other friends.’
‘Given how your other break and entering has gone, it’s probably best you stay out here,’ he said, moving forwards to lean on the barrier next to me. He stared at the building for a while, looking deep in thought with a clenched jaw. Nodding to himself, he sighed and looked at me. ‘Okay, I’ll help you.’
‘I didn’t…’ I started and he picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder as I let out a startled yelp. I kicked a few times in a futile attempt at being set on the ground again but his firm hand on my lower back allowed little more than an amusing wiggle.
‘I know you didn’t,’ he said, sounding irritated despite the amusement on his face at my struggling. Walking with me back towards the centre of the rooftop, he kept me held tightly to his broad shoulder, buckles from his tactical vest digging into my pelvic bone and definitely leaving some questionable marks.
Suddenly, I was very worried that I was laying immobile on this guy’s shoulder. Just how well did I know him again? This was probably how he was going to kill me, he was going to yeet me off a rooftop and I was just going to go along with it because he’d toyed with me a bit in the past. He pushed back against the dusty, gravelly rooftop and charged forwards like a panther. Gripping the back of his vest, I clung on for dear life, sure this was the end.
‘But you two always do this, get yourselves in over your heads and it’s my job to pull you out,’ he said, leaping over the edge of the roof. I tried to hold in a scream, to keep from drawing attention to us. Letting go of his vest with one hand, I pressed it to my mask, as if the extra layer would be enough to muffle the sound.
We slammed into the side of Luke’s building and the Winter Parkour Expert slid down a particularly sturdy pipe until we got to his window. He dropped me on the sill and managed to hang with impressive strength off the side of the building. Pulling a knife out from his person, I felt my eyes widen and a whimper escape my covered lips as the sharp blade was held momentarily at face height. He slid it under the gap in the sill and there was a click as the lock released. With his knife hand he pried the window open from the outside and then swung in the hole.
‘So I may as well help you from the start, make it easier on myself,’ he said gruffly and then held my waist, helping me in the window.
Us two? Did he mean Pete and I? Since when had he actually helped us? Most of my time with him was odd conversations and him looking like he was absolutely going to kill me. But if he didn’t mean Peter, there wasn’t anyone else we shared in common. Well Soulja Boy certainly thought highly of himself. Pfft, helping.
‘Now don’t touch anything,’ he warned, pointing at me with a gloved hand. ‘If you must, pull your sleeves, like this okay? And pick up with the fabric.’
He pulled my sleeve into my hand, covering my fingertips and showing me how to grip so I wouldn’t leave fingerprints behind. Steve had warned me not to be on the wrong side of the law, being a vigilante was one thing, but this was like, the third building I’d broken into in the last few months. Well, not including that building by 1PP or SHIELD all those times. I didn’t have a good streak going for me, did I? Certainly not now I was getting B and E lessons from the Winter Convict.
‘Why don’t you trust SHIELD to help you, you have in the past. You’re not wrong, you are in way over your head,’ my Winter Sensei asked, looking around the apartment with a scrutinising gaze. Luke lived sparingly, there wasn’t much in the way of furniture or possessions, but he did have a few basketball jerseys and football memorabilia littered around. Following the apartment walls up to the ceiling I could see damp patches from where water had gotten in and some old mould markers. It was hard to tell if they were just stains from mould removed or if they were there still from the water leak.
‘It’s their fault he’s missing in the first place,’ I answered, following after him and trying to look at everything he did. He smirked as he looked down at me, watching me watch and copy him. I noticed he hadn’t bothered putting the goggles back on since I’d asked to see his whole face. ‘They allowed themselves to get tapped because of their arrogance. It wasn’t because these other people were simply better, which they might be, they just used less good security measures because they believed no one would look there. It was lazy, slack, and I won’t trust the life of my friend in those hands.’
‘The safest hands are always your own,’ he nodded, grabbing my bicep and steering me around to look at something. He pointed out another window and out into the building nearby. ‘See that?’
‘No,’ I shook my head and he grabbed my head, turning me so I was gazing out the right way and pointing with his other hand. ‘A camera, but that’s too far to really see…’
‘You don’t know that,’ he told me. ‘Plus, the street cam might be small but it’s a good vantage point. Say someone was in that building, it would be the perfect spot to watch this apartment, you couldn’t possibly see them, but they could see you.’
‘It creeps me out you’re so good at this,’ I told him and he laughed, guiding me around the rest of the apartment to show me certain things. He dug through the garbage can a little, holding things out to me and making me smell them, which honestly seemed like more of a prank than a spy lesson.
‘It tells you how long it’s been since he threw it out, now come on, stop fucking around, cookie,’ he scolded and I squatted down beside him, screwing up my face as I pulled my mask off to sniff the can. ‘So what does that mean?’
‘It’s been in there a while,’ I said, shaking my head at him. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his opposite hand. ‘And you’re saying it’s because he hasn’t been here a while, and not just because men don’t take the garbage out.’
‘Yes,’ he sighed.
After a while of looking around, it was pretty clear there was nothing here. He showed me that there were no signs of forced entry, things had been done quickly and quietly. If they’d come in here, he didn’t see it coming, there was no fight. So it was likely even if anyone was here, this wasn’t where he was taken from. He nodded towards the window and I raised an eyebrow.
‘You didn’t think we could just walk out the front door, did you?’ he asked and I nodded simply, looking back to the old and tired wood. He scoffed, shaking his head, gesturing for me to come over closer. Hesitantly, I walked over. He sat me down on the window sill and then climbed out. ‘Come on, this’ll be easier if you’re on my back this time.’
‘What?’ I asked, doing as I was told. He didn’t answer, simply shutting the window again and then grabbing onto the particularly sturdy pipe. With quick, even steps he used gravity to slide us down the wall and pipe to the ground. He landed with an amazingly quiet thud and then let me off his back. He started off in a walk out from between the two buildings before pausing and looking back at me as I stared at him. Usually he said goodbye.
‘Come on, we’ve got work to do, cookie,’ he said and I blinked. He looked frustrated and I ran after him. This was odd, not only was he wayyyy more conversational and helpful than usual, he was also giving me a lot more attention. Or rather sending more time with me, considering he was being forced to follow me everywhere, technically he gave me a lot of attention.
‘So do you…’ I started, jogging after him as he fast walked away from me. ‘Nevermind, I don’t think I want to know.’
I might have wanted to know how he always knew where I was and how he knew I had texts, but I also didn’t want to deal with the information after I got it. There was a lot on my plate right now, and I didn’t need this as well. My stalker could be dealt with later, right now I had to find out what happened to Luke. If I focused on that, it would be easy to push what happened with Peter out of my mind.
‘Please don’t walk away from me,’ I said desperately as I followed Pete out of the apartment and to the carpeted hallway. ‘Don’t… look, I didn’t do this right but don’t leave.’
‘I don’t even wanna.. Bonnie, this year is the year the inevitable happens, we all grow up, we change, we’re drifting apart. I don’t have a place in your life anymore, and I want to go home,’ Pete said, looking at me over his shoulder.
‘This was all for you,’ I said, shaking my head. I stepped forwards, angry, he was just going to walk away. ‘Living with Steve instead of being in a group home, for you. Putting on these stupid suits and running around town, for you. Yeah, I like putting people away, I like making sure they can’t hurt anyone but you were the one who wanted to go on a manhunt for that guy who stabbed..’
‘SHUT UP!’ he screamed and I jumped, stepping back again. He really was angry, but I didn’t know why. Yeah, I was hurting him, although unconsciously, this seemed… out of character for him. He’d never been this angry with me before. ‘Don’t you dare bring Ben into this.’
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…look, what I’m trying to say is that I love you. You can be angry with me, I understand. But please don’t walk out and leave me forever, I don’t want us to drift apart. I hope there’s some redemption for Flash not because I see the good in him, but because I want a safe place for you. There’s a lot going on right now but everything that’s happened this year has been about you. You do have a place in my life, Peter, I love you,’ I said and he turned, stepping towards me and pulling me violently towards him.
Ducking down, his lips crashed against mine and he knotted his fingers in my hair at the base of my neck. I let out a noise of surprise and felt my stomach churning. My brother was kissing me? Sure, we weren’t actually related but we may as well have been. Gross! He pulled away from me and I shook my head, shrinking back and pressing my body into the wall.
‘I didn’t mean…no, not like that,’ I said, still shaking my head as tears rolled down my cheeks. ‘You always have a place in my life, because you’re a brother to me. But I’m not in love with you.’
‘I didn’t mean…uh, look I’ve got to go, this was…I need to leave immediately,’ he said awkwardly and sprinted down the hallway towards the elevator. What the fuck just happened to me?
Steve Rogers POV
Watching Pietro and Flash work together on a case like this was something. For starters, despite their ordinary very goofy attitudes, they approached the situation with a very serious intensity. And they’d taken to searching through the footage and pictures like ducks to water. While this may not have been the intention behind Bonnie’s choice to station them here, it turned out to be an excellent one.
‘Steve, we think we’ve figured it out,’ Stark said over the intercom.
‘You found her friend?’ I asked and there was a pause.
‘Wait, who’s missing?’ he replied and I sighed, rolling my eyes.
‘Nevermind, I’ll meet you in the lab,’ I said, turning on my heel and marching out of the apartment, headed for Tony’s favourite lab. My mind whirled a mile a minute, going through all the possibilities of what Tony could have possibly found. I hoped it was who stole and sold Bonnie and her friends’ identities.
‘It finally happened!’ Stark bellowed as soon as I got through the reinforced glass door. He came bounding over to me, leading me towards Bruce and some holo screens. ‘We’ve had a breakthrough on what those fluctuations mean in Bonnie’s brain.’
‘Wait, seriously?’ I asked, recoiling and staring between the two men in shock. Tony nodded excitedly and Bruce gave me a brief confirmatory nod. ‘So what does this mean, have you told her?’
‘No, not yet. She’s out on some recon mission, whatever it is it’s boring enough she’s doing her physics homework while she’s doing it,’ Tony explained and I paused, raising an eyebrow as I looked at him. ‘She gave me a call earlier to get some help with the math...’
‘Bonnie doesn’t take physics,’ I commented and he glanced up at me in confusion.
‘JARVIS, big brother protocols!’ Tony barked, glaring up at the ceiling as he waited for the AI to do as he’d instructed. He crossed his arms over his chest, tapping his foot on the floor with irritation thanks to it taking so long.
‘Your request has been denied, Mr Stark,’ JARVIS replied eventually and Tony made a noise of indignation.
‘Override,’ he ordered.
‘I cannot do that, Sir, as per my programming,’ JARVIS answered and Tony made another noise of shock and annoyance.
‘What?’ he demanded and I had to admit, it was kind of funny watching Stark’s technology fail on him. It wasn’t everyday you saw the MIT graduate experience technical difficulties.
‘As Miss Carter is in no danger, I cannot cast her audio visual files without her granting access. And your access request has been denied,’ JARVIS explained and Tony growled under his breath.
‘Just…Tony, if JARVIS says she’s fine we can grill her on it later, get to the reason you called me here,’ I said, putting my hands up in a calm down gesture. He huffed, pouting like a child before he eventually relented and brought up a couple more holo screens.
‘Fine, we caught one of the fluctuations and she happened to be standing under one of the hall security cameras at the time,’ he said and then drummed his fingers on the benchtop. ‘Tah-da~!’
‘Is that Peter kissing Bonnie?’ I spluttered, looking at the footage looping on him grabbing her and pulling her in for a ferocious kiss. ‘I thought they had a fight..’
‘Well it’s not hard to guess why,’ Tony snorted, grinning gleefully as he watched the footage as it came around again. ‘If you look at this recording of her bio scan, the fluctuation happens at the exact time of this kiss.’
‘So what, her superpower is making boys kiss her?’ I blinked at him. He was grasping at straws. He nodded, rolling his hand forwards and leading me into the thought process. She had always had guys wrapped around her fingers. But I just assumed that was because she was a good person and objectively very pretty. ‘Wait…are you saying she’s…’
‘She’s a siren, yes,’ he nodded. ‘We’ll have to do a little more testing to confirm, but yes, the theory we’re working is she’s a siren. I’ve reviewed some of the footage other times she’s had this fluctuation and they all seem to line up with when she’s talking to someone who cares about her. I doubt she’s using it consciously but…’
‘But she can’t be allowed to continue this,’ I nodded slowly. ‘Whether she means to or not, she’s manipulating people’s behaviour.’
‘Not necessarily,’ Bruce chimed in finally, coming over in his lab coat. He pulled some gloves off and tossed them in the trash, having been reviewing something under a nearby microscope. ‘It’s likely that when she wants to receive love she’s triggering a pheromone or a response in the person she’s with. And it seems to have backfired this time,’ he pointed to the looping of Peter kissing her. ‘She might be altering people’s feelings towards her, but I maintain that it’s of their own free will to assist her. After all, she’s never actually asked people to do most of the things they do for her.’
‘Never outright,’ I hummed, thinking about how I was going to talk to her about this one.
Chapter 45: Everybody Wants You
Chapter Text
Title Song: Everybody Wants You (Crush) - Noise Ratchet, Sean O’Donnell
Bonnie Carter POV
Thursday 28th November 2013
Walking into the apartment tiredly, I tried to forget how weird my tour around New York city was with the Winter Soldier and try to focus on why I went on it. Luke. We had to find out who took him and where. Kicking off my boots and shin guards, I glanced up to see Pietro and Flash talking animatedly amongst themselves as they worked on their footage.
‘I wasn’t expecting you two to still be here, it is pretty late,’ I commented, pulling off my mask. They turned back over their shoulders at me, grinning when they spotted who was talking. ‘Sonechko, we’re making very big progress,’ Pietro said cheerily. ‘You have luck?’
‘Ugh, I know he wasn’t taken from his apartment but people were watching him for a while. I have a couple possible places he could have been taken from, I just need to cross check them with what you guys have gone through. Find out his usual route to school, where he patrols, etc. All we knew is he didn’t show up to the carnival so he was taken before the Lizard made an appearance,’ I sighed, coming over to plonk down on the couch. Immediately, Pietro pulled my legs into his lap and ran his hands over my shins.
‘You look tired, you is sleeping properly?’ he asked softly, looking at my tired face with concern. He reached up to tuck some loose curls that had escaped my braids behind my ears.
‘Yeah, but I’ve got a lot on my plate, listen, it’s kinda late, so maybe we should call it,’ I said and the two of them spluttered, shaking their heads. Moving my head, I checked the clock on the wall above the TV. 23:34.
‘No way, Carter, we’re set to work on this until we have an answer. I already told my granddad I’m here with you, and Pietro told his host parents he’s sleeping at mine,’ Flash argued, waving me off. He’d barely even looked away from his holo-screens the entire time I’d been back.
‘Ah, there you are,’ Steve said and I glanced back over my shoulder, not noticing he’d entered the apartment. I was tired, at the very least if these two were going to ignore me I was still hitting the hay. ‘JARVIS announced you were back, listen, we need to talk to you in the lab. It’s about your bloodwork.’
‘Oh, you finally make some progress with that?’ I asked, pushing myself off the sofa and he nodded, not doing much to hide his grim expression. Steve took me upstairs and I felt a little nervous knowing how tense he was but not knowing why. Steve was my guy, he always had something encouraging to say even when things looked bad, so why was he so abysmal looking? Footsteps echoing behind us as we walked across the polished stone flooring towards the lab, I felt my stomach start to churn.
Biting my lip as we were buzzed into Tony’s favourite lab, we made our way over to the science bros, Steve leading as my nerves made me fall back a little, things didn’t seem like they were going to go my way. I hoped it wasn’t cancer. I had no reason to suspect it was, but they all looked so…well… not good. Maybe they were about to tell me I was adopted. No, Fury already confirmed I was a match.
When someone did finally say something it was like a bomb had gone off. The security footage of Peter ducking down and kissing me frantically burned itself into my vision, the desperation on his face echoing around in my head like surround sound. It had been weird, awkward and uncomfortable, but now they were actually saying it was my fault? I shook my head, this was too much. Watching the loop of the fluctuation in my body, my brain from Tony’s scans I felt a very loud confusion take over my body. Everyone’s voices sounded muffled, distorted. I was a siren? People loved me against their own will?
Clenching my jaw and then letting it relax again, I stood under the strong fan of the air conditioner, my hair getting blown about by the air from the bets. Trying to let a sense of calmness take over me, I clenched the rest of the muscles in my body one by one and let them all loose. Letting out a carefully regulated breath, I eventually opened my eyes again, tilting my head back to stare at the ceiling.
‘So what exactly are you saying?’ I demanded, feeling the bile start to creep up my throat. Tony looked a little empathetic before he spoke.
‘Well, each fluctuation we’ve been able to record we’ve paired up with footage and…’ he explained but I put a hand up, cutting him off.
‘Forget that, tell me, you’re saying I’m forcing people to love me?’ I asked, shaking my head. Chewing my gums, I waited for him to give me to something, a get out of jail free card.
‘I wouldn’t exactly say love but…’ Tony said and I shot him a glare. ‘Looks like yeah, you’re triggering some kind of pheromone, chemical or hormone response in the person you’re interacting with. I doubt it’s conscious, but whenever you want to receive a certain type of emotion from someone, or you’re feeling something, the fluctuation happens and you get what you want one way or another. We’d have to do more testing to figure out exactly how it works, but we have to start working on it, we can’t just have you..’
‘Are you serious?’ I scoffed, shaking my head. ‘No,’ I said, beginning to pace. ‘This can’t be right, this is insane. I was a social leper, a pariah until this year. No one wanted anything to do with me, people still don’t exactly like me. I mean Liz, Sam… I can’t be a siren. For starters I don’t sing..’
‘Myth vs reality, Bonnie,’ Tony chimed in and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back on the countertop looking very relaxed for someone who’d just told me I can force people’s actions against their will.
‘And Peter, this footage. You’re telling me he doesn’t love me? You’re saying, my best friend isn’t really my best friend, he’s never felt that way, I just forced that out of him? You’re telling me no one’s ever truly loved me, I’ve just been unconsciously manipulating them all this time?’ I asked, hands beginning to shake. There were various noises of disagreement, Steve walking closer to me as I paced in circles around the lab.
‘No Bonnie, that’s not what we’re saying,’ Bruce said soothingly but I couldn’t believe him. They just told me they had a working theory I was a siren and showed me footage of the horrifying experience of Peter snogging me. And honestly, it kind of made sense. I mean, in that moment I was desperate for Peter not to leave, about as desperate as he looked in the looping footage in front of me. From the pit of my stomach I’d willed forth all the love I’d ever had for him and felt my soul begging for him not to leave me, not to walk out of my life forever. While I’d not intended for him to kiss me, he’d done it. And then he’d been horrified, he’d known then he didn’t want that. Consciously or not, I’d forced that. And he was my best friend, how could I do that to him?
‘Well what’s your definition of siren, then?’ I said, shaking my head and clenching my fists, fingernails digging into my palms. ‘I know how I felt in that moment, I… how I’ve always wanted his attention, he’s my friend. How I’d get jealous when he was with Gwen, how he always immediately found some compromise, he was so accommodating, I thought he was just being a good friend.’
‘Peter does love you,’ Bruce argued and I found myself raising an eyebrow. Laughing hysterically I brought a hand up to my face, wiping my brow. This was insane.
‘So what, there’s just been this decade-long subplot of unrequited romantic feelings?’ I demanded and he laughed breathily, shaking his head. Scoffing irritatedly, I crossed my arms over my chest. ‘No?’
‘No. We’ve been able to conclude these powers kicked in either after puberty, or a traumatic event in your childhood,’ Bruce explained and I scowled. That wasn’t much of a conclusion, if you could even call it one. Walking closer to Tony I glared at him, pressing nonverbally for further explanation.
‘I know how much you loved Uncle Daniel, but I’m doubting one death was enough for you to be sent over the edge,’ Tony said with a gentle, encouraging smile on his face despite my distress. He stepped closer, reaching out to gently rub my shoulder. Jerking away from him, I turned back towards Steve and Bruce. ‘Barely legal, that means it was probably your mom’s death.’
‘Which didn’t happen until you were twelve, Bonnie,’ Steve pointed out and I turned back to Tony, brow furrowed. ‘I’ll wager, while he didn’t want to kiss you - or at least he probably doesn’t when he’s clear headed - he does love you. You’ve known each other since you were six. He’s your family.’
‘Yeah, he is,’ I said cynically. My whole body ached with this, I’d been clenching despite trying to remain relaxed and all of my muscles burned. ‘What you’re telling me is everyone else, all the other people in my life, you included, don’t love me. You can’t. Because I manipulated you into it.’
‘Bonnie, you weren’t aware of it..’ Steve tried to justify and I let out a scream, slamming my hand down on one of the countertops. Steve had loved me from moment one, quickly opting to adopt me after one afternoon together. While he’d always been impulsive, this was something else. Fury liked me and he didn’t like anyone. And Tony, he mowed my fucking lawn.
‘Consciously or not, I still did it. There’s no way to know how any of you really feels until I understand how this works, until I can control it. If I can control it, and because I don’t really know what I did, I very much doubt that,’ I said, swallowing thickly. My boyfriend was downstairs. He was devotedly going through hours of very boring street cam footage because I asked him to. He did it because he loved me, because he was in love with me, but was it his choice? Was this really what he would want to be doing if he wasn’t so head over heels for me? My heart clenched, seizing up in my chest. He was my good thing, after all the shit that had gone on in my life so far, all the funerals I’d been to, he was the one, pure thing in my life that saw all my ugly sides and still loved me. But it was all a lie.
Unable to stop the damn from breaking I let out a harrowing sob, chest burning as I gasped for air. This wasn’t fair, I just wanted one good thing. No, what was worse, was that I was a monster. How many countless innocent lives had I manipulated and damaged with my unintentional use of my powers? This year was different, I’d had so many friends, I’d met and learned to love all these new people and now I find out they don’t even like me? Oh god, Clint and Tasha helped me so much, they risked their lives for me and for what?
‘Bonnie, I know this is…’ Steve started and I put up a hand to silence him. My mind wandered to grandma Margaret, what would she do right now? Standing tall, I tried to compartmentalise. This could be dealt with when we had more information, right now I had more important things to deal with.
‘I don’t have time for this, Luke is still missing,’ I said, swallowing everything down hard. Personal drama aside, someone was legitimately in trouble, this would have to wait. ‘Do me a favour and… send all this to Peter, I have a feeling he’s not going to want to talk to me for a while, but he needs to know this wasn’t his fault, it was mine.’
‘Bonnie, this wasn’t your fault either…’ Steve said, calling after me as I ignored him and walked back out the lab doors. Flash and Pietro needed to know, I…they couldn’t continue helping me, not when I was putting them at risk. I was putting them at risk before, but that’s when I believed they had their own choice in the matter.
Hell, I’d been having sex with Pietro, a lot of it and a lot of our relationship was initiated by me. God, that blowjob in the supply closet, could he really have even consented to that? What did all this crap mean? Running across the carpeted corridor leading to my apartment I burst in the door, throwing it closed behind me. Walking, shaking a little as I did, I stood behind the sofa and swallowed.
‘I need you to stop what you’re doing, right now,’ I said and they paused, looking away from their screens, glancing over their shoulders at me. ‘It’s…it’s really important. I have to talk to you about something.’
‘What is it, Sonechko? Has something happen?’ Pietro asked, walking over to me. I stepped away from him, putting my hands up to stop him from coming any closer. Instead, I walked over to the sofa, sitting down with one of my legs tucked under me. Resting my hands on my lap, I ran them up and down my thighs, trying to work out how to tell them any of this.
‘I need you guys to walk away from this project, I… When I first made contact with Steve I submitted to a DNA test to prove who I was. And when I moved here, well, we were trying to isolate the part of the Super Soldier Serum that had been passed down to me genetically, but from the sample of my blood they took, they found something else. There’s a portion of people out there who have the mutated X-Gene, and they found that in me. And it presents in me as a fluctuation, a wave spreading throughout my body, starting from my brain. And it’s the reason Peter kissed me tonight, it was… an accident. But because of that kiss, we were able to determine I’m…I’m a siren,’ I explained and Flash let out a bark of laughter, shaking his head as he leaned back on the sofa.
‘That’s a good one, Carter, but I don’t know about your timing, isn’t this the time to be serious,’ he said and I shook my head, giving him the same grim look Steve had given me earlier. His face fell when it slowly dawned on him that I was being one hundred percent serious.
‘Sonechko, what is you saying?’ Pietro asked and I slowly turned to him, lips pressed into a thin line.
‘I’m… you two can’t help me anymore, because I have no way of knowing if you want to be doing it, or if you think you want to do it, because I made you feel this way. I… I have no way of knowing if anyone is really my friend, if anyone actually cares about me. And believe me I know how emo kid that sounds but I… I can’t force you into doing something, even if you think you want to. This is really dangerous, and until it’s your choice to do this with me, I won’t have you here,’ I explained, shifting uncomfortably on the plush cushions. My mind thought back to what Liz had said, she’d hated me, called me a boyfriend stealing bitch and while I wanted so badly Flash wanted to change for himself, what if it was all just the price of interacting with me? He desperately wanted approval from me because I was forcing him to need it. Oh god, and Pietro.
‘Of course this is choice of ours, Sonechko, is right thing to do, not just because of love for you,’ Pietro said, shaking his head at me. He reached out for my hands, taking them off my thighs and holding them tightly in his. Swallowing, I had to deal this blow, even if I didn’t want to.
‘Pietro, you have to… I’m breaking up with you,’ I said bluntly. This was the hardest thing I’d ever done, we’d gone into this knowing we had an expiration date, talked about how long distance probably wouldn’t work so as soon as the exchange program was over, we’d end it. But then, I’d wanted longer. And it was not supposed to be this painful. ‘I can’t know how you feel, I can’t trust that what you are feeling is natural and not some manipulation by me and I love you too much to ever do that to you. So I.. this is over. We’re done.’
‘Carter, are you insane?’ Flash demanded, standing up from his seat. He was more outraged than Pietro seemed to be. He stalked towards me while Pietro remained beside me, looking down at the ground and shaking his head. He was at a loss for what to say, I didn’t want to be doing this, in fact what I wanted to be doing was curling up into a ball beside him and letting him hold me until I cried all this out, but I would not manipulate the people I cared about, no matter the personal costs.
‘I…’ I started and I heard ringing in my ears.
‘Miss Carter, there is a call from you from Mister Rand,’ JARVIS chimed. Reaching up to the side of my head I answered, stepping away from the couch as I took my call.
‘Night Fury, we have a problem,’ he said, sounding heavy breathed. ‘It’s White Tiger, she’s been taken.’
‘What?!’ I demanded, pausing mid step. Shaking my head, I couldn't be hearing this correctly. ‘Are you sure? First Luke and now Ava?’
‘Yes, I’m sure,’ he answered and I felt sick again.
‘JARVIS, last known location. Get me her cell data, everything,’ I called and ran for my boots and shin guards, pulling them back on. ‘Okay, Danny, where are you?’
‘I’m on my way out, we should partner…’ he started and I cut him off.
‘No, I need you to partner with Spider-Man… it’s.. Look, it’s important and I’ll explain everything later but I can’t work with him, not right now,’ I told him and he made a noise of hesitation. ‘I’m going to call Sam, he hates me and right now, I need that.’
‘Bonnie, is everything alright?’ Danny asked and I scoffed, shaking my head as I stood there, taking his call.
‘No, but I can deal with that later, right now we need to buddy up because we don’t know which one of us will be next. So far it’s been two of the people whose identities have been sold, I’m going to make sure Sam doesn’t go anywhere alone, and I’m going to try and get a lead on Ava, she’s fresher and she might lead us to Luke,,’ I said and folded my arms over my chest. I was hoping partnering Danny and Peter up would not only keep them both safe from the hero nappers, it would also keep them safe from me.
‘Plus, it might prove useful to be with Sam right about now,’ I commented, feeling a little bad at using him as bait. And I was expecting Danny to scold me for it, but he agreed that if Sam was a target anyway, we might as well try and get the upper hand on the bad guys. ‘I’m leaving,’ I announced to Pietro and Flash. ‘It would be best if you weren’t here when I got back, but you should probably make sure someone escorts you home, just in case someone tries something with you two.’
Without another word, I headed out of the apartment to try and track down Sam. He hated me or at the very least he really didn’t like me, and I wanted to know why. In fact, it could be the key to stopping all this. If I could just figure out how to spread that dislike to everyone else in my life, maybe they’d be okay. They’d be free of me. I’d lose my power over them. My great grandparents did not fight for the world’s freedom just for me to take it all away with a bat of my eyelashes.
Maybe that was why the Winter Soldier hadn’t murdered me yet, this whole time he thought it was because he knew me somehow, but maybe it was just because I’d made him care for me. This was sick, I was sick. I needed for this to stop. Jack from the diner, The Avengers, the student body, this was too big, too much. All of New York had inexplicably adored Night Fury but hated Spider-Man, just how wide of a net did I have? Was this why villains were constantly monologuing around me? How did this power work exactly? Perhaps I should have heard more of what the science team had had to say.
Peter Parker POV
The wind whistled in my ears as I swung, I tried to gain as much momentum as I could, get to Gwen’s apartment as quickly as I could. I’d… I’d messed up, I don’t know what came over me, but I had to tell her. We agreed, no secrets. Ever since I told her who I was, who Bonnie was, there were no secrets between us. Nothing made sense to me, that moment was so strange. Bonnie was like an annoying older sister to me, she was my best friend and I’d never felt anything for her, never before. And yet, every fibre of my being cried out in that moment, begging me to pull her close, to hold her in my arms and to kiss her. Like really kiss her, like our lives depended on it, like it was the last I’d ever see of her. Dramatic, I know. But why? Why did that suddenly happen?
Something had to be wrong with me. I was delirious or something, maybe when I’d gotten hit by that slab of concrete in the building implosion I hadn’t actually been fine. It had probably knocked something loose, I couldn’t very well go around kissing people willy nilly. Unless of course this was all the result of some deeply repressed feelings for her, but I didn’t think it was. Surely there would have been signs…
Landing on the brick wall with a hit of a thunk I scrambled over to the fire escape and knocked gently on the window. It was late, so it was entirely possible she was asleep right about now. Which made me feel even guiltier, while no one wanted to be woken up to the news their boyfriend was a dirty cheater, the longer I let it brew the worse I knew it’d be. There was some shifting inside and moments later I was greeted with her sleepy face, blonde hair all messed up from the pillow. She greeted me with an eager grin as she slid open the window and invited me inside. The wind blew in a heavy gust, making her shiver and her nightgown blow around her legs.
‘Well well,’ she grinned cheekily, excited at my arrival despite the late hour. ‘You don’t look injured, so have you finally decided to show up for a late night booty call?’ She teased.
‘Actually, Gwen, I have to tell you something. I’ve done something, something awful and I don’t think you’re gonna be able to forgive me for this one,’ I told her earnestly. She frowned, reaching a ast me to close the window and then waking over to her bedside table, flicking on a low lit lamp. She positioned herself back in bed, waiting for me with her lips pressed together in a thin line.
‘What’s happened?’ She asked when I didn’t speak right away.
‘I kissed Bonnie,’ I blurted out, feeling worse than I thought I would telling her. So much for the truth setting you free.
‘You’re joking, right?’ She scoffed, shaking her head at me. She’d always been jealous, the reason she’d hated Bonnie so much was because she’d thought there was something going on under her nose. Maybe she’d pegged it before everyone else. Despite the guilt and the confusion, I couldn’t say the feeling for Bonnie had really gone away, which didn’t make sense because I loved Gwen, I was madly in love with her. So much so I was willing to break a promise to a deadman to be with her. But why did I still feel this burning desire for someone who’d been a sister to me up until this point?
‘No, I… I don’t understand what came over me. We were fighting about Flash, she told him who she was. She told him her secret identity even though that was our secret. I felt so betrayed, I was walking out and decided I was done with her, with all of it but then she begged me not to leave her forever and I just.. snapped. I snapped and suddenly everything demanded I kiss her, it was like the way I feel for you and I don't know why it happened,’ I confessed and she shook her head, mouth opening and closing in shock. She didn’t quite know what to say.
‘So were you… were you caught up in the heat of the moment? Being over dramatic or did you really actually feel like you liked her?’ She asked after a moment and I shrugged.
‘I..I have no idea,’ I said truthfully. She seemed pissed, but was so far taking this better than expected. So far she hadn’t thrown me out her apartment window towards my untimely death, so I ruled that as a win.
‘Do you still feel that way? Are you going to kiss her again, if given the chance?’ She asked and I paused, thinking about it. I shouldn’t have, I shouldn’t have paused. The answer was no, the answer I should be giving should be instantaneous but it wasn’t. The answer “no” didn’t roll off the tongue like it should. Truthfully, I wanted to do a whole lot more than just kiss her, and I shouldn’t. I never have before, why did this start now? ‘PETER!’
‘Gwen I’m sorry, I don’t know why I feel this way but I came straight to you to tell you what happened. I don’t want to feel this for her, I love you!’ I told her back and she pulled her pillow off the bed behind her and swung it over her shoulder, hitting me with great force. Repeatedly. And I let her. I pretty much deserved all she could swing.
‘Some things I don’t want to have shared with me, you fucking jerk! You cheated, and you’re still thinking about it! You wanna do it again? You jerk! You jerk! You giant jerk!’ She said, wailing on me with her feather pillow. I’d never noticed before how densely packed those things could be.
‘Gwen I…’ I said, pushing up off the mattress of her twin and watching her follow. She beat me back towards the window, swing after swing.
‘Get out! Go the fuck back to that bitch,’ Gwen cried out, throwing her window open and shoving me out onto the fire escape. Yep, there was the reaction I was expecting. I couldn’t say it was undeserved but I didn’t want to be thrown off my girlfriend's balcony, I wanted to stay behind. I wanted to still be with her. Or, I suppose I should say ex girlfriend now.
Bonnie Carter POV
Friday 29th November 2013
Turning at the sound of footsteps in the alley, I smiled softly when Sam entered. Of course, with my mask, he probably couldn’t tell. He approached stoically, looking like he wasn’t thrilled to be working alongside me. Not that I was all that buzzed either. He stopped just shy of me, leaning against the brick wall with his arms crossed over his uniformed chest.
‘So what’s the emergency?’ he asked, seeming almost nervous about things. But I hadn’t really said much over the phone, and he was probably still surprised I’d gotten his number, since he still refused to give it to me. But, JARVIS could get me anything.
‘Remember when I told you your identity may be under threat?’ I asked and he nodded once, helmet sliding forwards on his head as he did. ‘Well, you might be the next one of us to go missing. It’s not just Luke now, they’ve taken Ava too. With yours being the last identity sold before SHIELD cut them off, you should work with someone at all times until we get them back.’
‘So why you?’ he demanded, looking me up and down. ‘I work alone, but I could have worked with Iron Fist, or even Spider-Man would have been preferable.’
‘Well, I can’t work with Spider-Man right now and because I’m sick of my friends going missing, I’ve come up with a plan,’ I explained and he smirked, seeming intrigued by my plan before I’d even started detailing it. ‘Now, how do you feel about being bait?’
Chapter 46: I Don’t See Clearly
Summary:
We got everyone back, but at what price?
Chapter Text
Title Song: I Don’t See Clearly (Everywhere I go) - Sleeping At Last
Bonnie Carter POV
Friday 29th November 2013
Taking a page out of Mister Miyagi's Winter Cousin’s book, I stood overlooking the alleyway on the edge of a rooftop with Nova in my sights. Watching the leader of the bucket head army fight off a low level goon committing a petty crime, I had JARVIS monitoring nearby street cams for any of the vehicles Pietro and Flash had identified as suspicious around the time of Luke’s disappearance. We got a hit coming in from the left and I spoke quietly through JARVIS, warning Nova. He finished off his goon, leaving him zip tied in the corner just as a large black SUV closed off the only entrance to the alley. The plan was to let Sam get captured, let them think they’d gotten him and then I would follow…somehow.
‘Cookie, you’re playing with fire,’ I heard from behind me and jumped, having to bite my tongue so I didn’t scream out.
‘He’s bait,’ I muttered, watching Nova throw a few deliberately mistimed blasts and letting himself get punched.
‘I can see that, don’t you think this is a little above your paygrade?’ he asked and I scoffed, shaking my head.
‘You helped me just a few hours ago, I made progress, or I will, when I follow these guys to their secret hideout and figure out how to save my friends,’ I insisted, watching them whack Sam on the helmet so hard he dropped. They dragged him towards the back of the SUV and the Winter Soldier scoffed. Apparently he didn’t have much faith in the little internship I’d just had with him.
‘Do you even have a plan of how you’re going to follow them? Or what you’re going to do when you find out where they’re keeping your friends?’ he scolded and I shrugged before turning away from him and walking towards the fire escape. I had to get down the fire escape and find a way to latch on to the back of the car before they started off or I’d just helped the bad guys do their job. What I wouldn’t give for Peter’s skateboard right now.
Feeling a hand on the back of my shirt, I was yanked up and backwards off the rusty iron ladder and back onto the roof. Fighting against the rough grip with my hands I kicked out my legs trying to break free. Chuckling, he dragged me across the concrete rooftop and towards the other side. I dug my heels into the ground and tried desperately to get back to Sam. That bastard, who the hell was he to do this right now? Had he been working for them all along? Well obviously yes, but was he seriously going to do me dirty like this?
‘This would go faster if you’d stop fighting me, cookie,’ he commented, shoving me off the edge of the roof and down onto the second fire escape below. I hit the metal landing with a hard thunk and he jumped over the edge after me. ‘No way you’re catching up to them with your plan, not only is it stupid, you don’t have the skills or the knowhow to make it work. Come with me.’
‘Why are you helping?’ I demanded, following him down the rest of the way and around a corner. He stalked towards a dark motorcycle and I was thankful I’d not untied my braids from earlier when I saw him swing a leg over. Climbing on behind him without a second thought, I wrapped my arms tightly around his middle. Admittedly a little tighter than I would have if I was riding with Steve. But you know, this guy was technically charged with assassinating me.
The bike was surprisingly quiet as he kicked it into gear and drove out of the alley with the lights off. The SUV was a few cars ahead but it was distinctively the right one. He didn’t make any moves to catch up but maybe that was the idea. Why would you drive up the ass of someone you were stalking if you didn’t want them to know you were doing it? The turns were often sudden and I noticed he didn’t bother signalling, although again, since we didn’t know where we were going it was hard to do. Not that the particular baddies we were chasing didn’t either, nor did they seem to follow much of the road rules. So much for not being suspicious. Although, if I’d just kidnapped a vigilante superhero I can’t say I’d be particularly concerned with traffic violations.
We got farther and farther away from the hustle and bustle of New York City and towards the outskirts before we finally stopped. Watching the SUV turn towards an old dilapidated building I was suddenly reminded of the time these guys decided to drop a building on my friends and I. I wasn’t in a hurry for a repeat anytime soon, I had to be ready for that. The bike came to a halt and the Winter Soldier looked pointedly at me from over his shoulder.
‘Do you even understand what you’re up against?’ he asked and I shrugged.
‘I never do, but they’re my friends. Even if they weren’t, they don’t deserve whatever’s happening in there, they need my help and I’m not going to stop until they’re free,’ I explained and he sighed. He climbed off the bike and started reaching for items on his person, holding out a combat knife, he waited with agitation until it clicked he wanted me to take it from him. I attached it to my thigh and then he handed me a glock, not unlike the one I’d shot the Lizard with. With hesitation I took it from him, tucking it into the back of my pants. I felt my eyebrows almost shoot through my hairline when he offered me a grenade and frantically shook my head. He forcefully grabbed my wrist and put the explosive device in my hand and closed my fingers around it.
‘Try not to get yourself blown up, cookie,’ he warned before climbing off the bike. In shock I stared at the back of his head, long-ish brown hair blowing slightly in the breeze. ‘This is your stop..’
‘Right…’ I mumbled, climbing off. Still reeling over the fact he’d just handed me a grenade. What the fuck was I meant to do with a grenade? The motorbike gave a gentle hum and he sped off away and I watched him go with confusion. Why had he just left me after giving me a ride? My guy out here acting like the Winter Taxi Service.
Part of me wondered if I should do the smart thing for a change, watch the place, scope it out and make a decision once I knew more. But the chaotic and reckless Bonnie Carter cried out for action. I had JARVIS contact Danny, letting him know where I was and that I was up to my usual shit with Nova. Truthfully, I had no idea what was inside the factory warehouse-y building, what they were doing to my friends. I just knew that I had to make it stop. Natasha had been right, I did need more training, however, I couldn’t do anything about it now. Shrugging to myself, I peeked around the corner to do a final headcount before I decided on what to do with my sparky boom rock.
‘What do you mean you crash landed onto Earth?’ I scoffed, shaking my head at Sam as he explained his “enhanced durability”. ‘And what the fuck is a Terran?’
‘Terran, you know, from Earth? Honestly, Night Fury, Aliens invaded earth like, last year. And like I said, I crashed here after a mission gone wrong with the Nova Corps and this seemed like a logical next step,’ he said with a shrug. ‘Look, I’m not from here, that’s how I was able to tell something was a little… off.. with you. I don’t know if it’s everyone not from here, or just me.’
‘I just confessed to you I’m a siren and you’re completely unbothered by it? Have you always known?’ I asked, wondering to myself if this was why he’d disliked me until now. And probably still disliked me.
‘Something just seemed off, I didn’t know what. I just knew everyone fawned all over you in what almost seemed like an unnatural way, and now I know why. Of course I don’t care, you said yourself the first thing you did when you found out was try to stop it,’ he replied. He pulled his helmet off his head, holding it out to me. ‘I was a part of a team once, people just like me. And then I ended up here, and I got used to it being just me. I don’t like the idea of being led by someone, not when things can so easily be out of control, but you’re right, we do have to work together for this.’
‘So you’re sure you’re not going to be in any danger if we do this?’ I asked and he smirked, putting his helmet back on with a pat. His chest was puffed up as he stood overconfidently in front of me.
‘Oh yeah, I’m gonna be just fine,’ he said smugly. ‘Do your worst, Thelxiepeia.’
He did say do your worst. This seemed pretty bad. Pulling the pin on my grenade and rolling it across the tarmac I watched it bounce steadily under the SUV they’d brought Sam here in and then turned on my heel, running off in the direction I’d seen the Winter Soldier go in. Falling to the ground as the resulting boom sounded, sending a shockwave through the area I groaned. Somehow despite being a while away from the explosion, I’d still managed to fall flat on my face and I rolled onto my side, coughing. Pushing up off the ground, I squat-walked back over to where I’d been, inspecting the damage.
Hovering above the rubble of the exploded SUV and looking at all the fallen bad guys in their various positions of pain or deadness I watched Nova shaking his head. He turned to me, angry frown on his face and hands on his hips.
‘When I said do your worst, I did not mean blow up a jeep! How the fuck did you even… nevermind, let’s just go,’ he scolded, headed for the main door. Jogging over, I slowed by each person, looking for dead people. Tasha and Clint would tell me they were bad guys, and not to worry they’d been affected, but there was a strong part of me that worried how easy it was for me to just roll an explosive device I’d gotten mere minutes ago, unpinned into battle.
The noise of the explosion had understandably drawn the attention of many of the people inside and as a result they came pouring out the double doors into the warehouse. Nova sent blastwaves of blue energy towards his goons whereas I pulled out the knife the Winter Soldier had given me and used it in tandem with my pop up shield. I could have used the gun but not only was I trying to be as non lethal as possible - well, after the grenade thing - but also because it would be rather loud which was a problem. Why draw even more people in our direction? I hoped between people, slashing and ducking, taking more time to clear my half of the goons than Nova did, in fairness, compared to his powers I was severely handicapped. Show off…
Taking a running jump and using the open door as a springboard, I wrapped my legs around one goon while I slashed the other with my surprisingly nice combat knife. It had a nice, ergonomic grip and was very comfortable to use. I hoped I didn’t have to give it back… God damn it Bonnie…
‘There are so many people here, what the hell were you thinking when you said we could do this?’ Nova said, standing beside me as I peaked around the doorway once all the goons were zip tied on the ground.
‘I didn’t know if we could do it or not, I just knew we had to try. Plus, relax, Iron Fist and possibly Spider-Man are on their way to be backup,’ I said with a shrug. Nothing I did was ever possible before I did it, it wasn’t usually possible after I did it, I just had to. I’d always been impulsive when it came to these things, but people needed our help so who was I to not try?
‘So you just walked in here, knowing you could die at any moment on the sheer hope you could do something to help?’ Nova spluttered and I nodded. ‘You crazy bitch.’
‘Like this is any different to what we do day in and day out, any of those situations could change, our school dance kids went in thinking the worst thing that could happen to them was they didn’t bring a date, and they died . They fucking died. A lizard rampaged through our winter carnival, there’s nothing given about anything, except that people need help, and I can try to give it to them,’ I explained, leaving him outside and stepping through the doors.
Lifting my leg slightly higher to climb over the top of a fallen bad guy, I headed to my immediate left, spying a stairwell. Since when have bad guys ever kept prisoners on the ground floor? No, to the underground it was. Sounding in my mind was the recurring intrusive thought, I should have left this to the professionals. There were people trained for this, SHIELD, Steve, all of them should be doing this, and they’d probably have managed better than I did. They wouldn’t have needed to use a grenade and caused casualties, but these were my friends and SHIELD had fucked up before. They were in danger because of SHIELD, if anyone was doing the rescuing, it wasn’t them. And the police had been no help, so it was up to us.
There would be time for regret, for self doubt and the distrust of the people in power later, I couldn’t afford to even try to keep up with thoughts like that right now. What I needed, what Luke needed, what Ava needed was for me to be out of my head and into the coming battle. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I glanced back to see Nova looking just as nervous as I felt. While we’d had the initial barrage of goons when we first started making noise, everything was eerily quiet. And no part of that seemed good.
Halfway down the stairs a door beside us blew open and hit the wall with a slam. A bullet ricocheted off Nova’s helmet and hit the brick, piercing a hole in the wall. Just as quickly as I’d heard the door slam I had my gun out and aimed at the guys. Firing off a shot I saw them reach for the door and yank it closed again.
‘I can’t blast the door open, it’s metal, I’d just weld it shut,’ Nova said frustratedly, choosing to ignore for the moment I’d just whipped out a gun he didn’t know I had.
‘So we use a battering ram,’ I said simply, flicking the safety back on the glock the Winter Soldier had given me and tucking it back into my pants.
‘Oh, you have one of those on you as well? What do you suggest we use, smartass?’ Nova scoffed and I smirked, popping my shield out.
‘Me,’ I replied, holding my arms above my head in the brace position, shield out above me. He looked like he wanted to protest but simply sighed, opting to just go with it and grabbing my waist. He dragged us as far back as the stairwell would allow and pushed off, flying at top speed towards the door. An uncomfortable jolt went straight through me and I let out a grunt of pain, my whole body felt jarred. But, the door was crumpled up and forced open. We were in.
The goons stared back at us in shock long enough for me to pull out my pistol and shoot them both. Nowhere lethal, don’t worry. The pain from the gunshot wound was enough to stop them from fighting us as we zip tied them and moved on. At least, I hoped. Once again, Nova stayed quiet, continuing along the corridor with me until we heard more movement. If video games had taught me anything it was that the more enemies you encountered the more you knew you were heading the right way. So…hopefully this counted as a lot. Also, hopefully there wasn’t a big boss waiting at the end of all this, I was already sore. I’d grown more confident this year, and I was making an awful lot of assumptions, so part of me wondered if I was making the right choices. The Winter Soldier seemed proud of me, or at least less concerned with me, but was that a good thing?
‘Be real,’ I said as Nova and I ran beside each other down the hallway. ‘Do you think I’m making a mistake I can’t come back from?’
‘Look you’ve always been impulsive and kinda callous, but this…’ Nova said, pausing to swing a punch at a goon. I ducked under an attempted clothesline and we both stopped to fistfight our foes. Popping my shield back out again I slammed the metal into my guy’s head and gave him one bad headache.
‘None of my friends have ever been kidnapped before, I’m new to this,’ I shrugged, shooting him a sheepish look as I zip tied my guy around the wrists and left him propped up against a wall. This would have been way easier if Peter had been here to web everyone down. He was also pretty good at talking me off of ledges like this. ‘God, I’ve never had friends to be in trouble before.’
‘And that’s probably a good thing,’ Sam scoffed, shaking his head, making his helmet slide around. ‘Look, just don’t kill anyone.’
‘You know, you’re a headstrong jerk with control issues and you’re really gonna stand there and pretend you’re the one with the high ground?’ I asked, feeling myself start to get annoyed. While I may have had my doubts on the path I was walking down, this alien in front of me had no right to insinuate I was a Deadpool level psycho. We’d been fortunate enough during this whole vigilante thing to never encounter that contract killer and I was honestly glad, I didn’t know how that was going to go down. I wasn’t sure how I’d managed to charm the Winter Soldier but even with my super secret siren powers even I didn’t know I had, I didn’t think I’d be able to do it twice.
‘Let me have it why don’t you,’ he huffed, charging forwards towards the end of the corridor. But seriously, while it was true I was being a little more big leagues than I had been before, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. And I didn’t just go around killing people willy nilly. And these were bad guys.
At the end of the corridor there was a set of double doors which opened to a landing that overlooked a whole factory floor with a set of stairs beside us going down. They loved their repurposed building, these bad guys. The various factory machinery and assembly lines looked disused, but I couldn’t tell if it had been a long while because we were too far up. There didn’t look to be many about on this level, but I couldn’t see much for the equipment. This could be both an advantage and disadvantage, depending on what we were walking into.
‘What the hell do we have here?’ Sam asked beside me as we walked down the stairs, me taking two at a time as I tried to keep pace with hover boy.
Walking past a few of the machines they all had some dust covering, signalling they hadn’t been used in a little while. We checked each row for hostiles, and found nothing. It was eerily quiet after all the ruckus I’d caused upstairs. Had that been all of them and we’d gotten lucky or once again were we playing right into their hands?
‘What do you think they make here?’ Nova asked and I shrugged, pausing by a machine that looked oddly clean. The gears looked wet with oil, a stark contrast to the machinery and conveyor belts in the rest of the large room. Everything else was dusty, grimey and old looking.
‘Not sure, it’s been out of commission for a while now, except whatever they used this one for, the question is why?’ I said, walking along the machine trying to figure out what it did.
‘Who cares, let’s just keep moving. There’s only so long we can be here before more of those bozos show up,’ Sam dismissed, waving his hand. Rolling my eyes I pushed off the ground kept moving forwards but also kept looking at this machine.
‘Hey,’ I heard and turned to look back at Sam.
‘What?’ I asked and he blinked at me.
‘What?’ he echoed, looking at me like I was even crazier than he thought I was. Feeling frustration filling me up, I’d suddenly grown very grateful we’d had limited team ups with him rather than working with him regularly. He was such a jerk, and who the hell was he to question my choices here tonight anyway? I didn’t see him coming up with any plans.
‘Don’t “what” me, you started it. Now what do you want?’ I demanded, putting my hands on my hips as I stared at him.
‘I didn’t start shit!’ he yelled, throwing his hands up. I was seconds away from swinging for him at this point, despite knowing it would do us no good.
‘HEY!’ I heard louder and turned towards the sound. Looked like this time, he was right. Nova turned as well and peered over my shoulder, standing behind me like he was using me as a meat shield.
‘Who the fuck was that?’ he asked and I glared back at his shiny helmet.
‘I don’t know, I’ve been standing here as long as you have, why do you think I have more information?’ I asked frustratedly and I heard a groan from nearby where I’d heard the first noise.
‘Will you jackasses just hurry up and come around the corner,’ I heard a much louder, female voice call. Surging forwards I headed in the direction of the noise only to meet resistance and be yanked backwards by my shirt collar.
‘Are you nuts? You can’t just go over there because a voice told you to,’ Sam said, holding my biceps and keeping me in place as he lectured me. I blinked…had he not recognized that second voice?
‘I can if it’s the people we’re rescuing round there, you idiot,’ I said, shoving his hands off me and ran for where I’d heard Ava. He stood in place for a minute, as if processing what I’d said before he took off after me trying to get in front as if it was a race to rescue our friends. I wanted to roll my eyes again but saved it to make sure we weren’t about to burst out of the machinery area and into a bunch of armed guards.
‘They used the machine to craft these,’ Luke said when I did finally step into his sightline. I ran over, gripping the bars of his cage, not bothering to check if they were somehow electrified or booby trapped in some way because I could see him leaning on it. ‘I got played, just like that last team up.’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked, shaking my head. ‘Did you follow a lead here?’
‘I wish,’ he scoffed, shaking his head. ‘A lost little girl, followed her to where she said her mom needed help and ended up in this cage. It closed before I could get out. It’s reinforced somehow, I don’t know how they managed to make a metal strong enough to stop me from getting out with it being this light but they managed to transport me here easily enough. Watched them making the crate to keep White Tiger in, that’s how I know what the machine does.’
‘So I guess that rules out breaking the door down,’ I said with a sigh.
‘Gate controls have a switch up there,’ Ava said, nodding towards an office up a flight of stairs and directly across from the platform Sam and I had entered from. ‘From what I can tell it’s heavily guarded, they have a separate rotation to the other guards and their orders are to leave their posts under no circumstances.’
‘Great,’ I muttered, looking up to see if I could spot any of them.
‘Double great,’ Sam said behind me. I turned to look at him and he was staring up at that platform, a couple of guys spotting us instantly.
‘Okay, there’s not that many, you take care of them, I’m going to climb up and see if I can get into the control room,’ I said, taking off without another word. I did not want to have him lecture me or try and fight me for the job. Stupid jackass. I was never working with him again.
‘You’re going to fight the special guards by yourself?! ’ Nova cried out and I rolled my eyes. Looking back over my shoulder at him, I raised an eyebrow.
‘You realise, I used to survive before I met you, right? Just go fucking take care of those guys so I can still used the element of surprise,’ I huffed, pushing off the ground again and running for the stairs. Creep walking, I kept low and steady, trying to keep as quiet as possible on the metal stairs.
Okay Bonnie, you got this, you got this. Staying low as I stepped onto the platform, I crouch-walked towards the windows of the room the controls were kept in and peeked over the sill. There were four, MASSIVE men, dressed in intense, black BDU looking like they were swat officers on steroids. Reaching behind me for the gun the Winter Supplier had given me, I counted how many rounds I had left. Including the one in the chamber, I had exactly four. And these guys didn’t look like the kind to sit down after a single gunshot wound, god, even Peter didn’t.
‘JARVIS,’ I whispered, speaking so hushed it was barely audible to even me.
‘Yes ma’am,’ he replied and I swallowed thickly.
‘I need to make sure all four men go down in one shot,’ I said, taking the safety off and steadying my hands. With his help, I was angled and ready to fire off two shots before I stood and took out the other two. Assuming I was fast, which JARVIS certainly seemed to think I could be, I just had to pray they were as predictable as he said they would be. ‘And contact Fury, tell him what I’m doing.’
‘Certainly Miss Carter,’ he replied and I let out the breath I was holding, pulling the trigger and turning slightly to fire again. By the time I’d fired the second shot the first had landed and blood sprayed all over the shattering glass, obscuring everyone’s view. Lining up to where JARVIS had told me to, I fired off my next two shots, all of the shattered glass coming raining down on the grated catwalk in front of me. Throwing my arms up, my SHIELD popped up instantly and protected me from some of the spray. Poking the top of my head out worriedly, I saw all four of the massive swat like guys slumped down and sitting in pools of their own blood. Massive amounts of blood, so much so, I was pretty sure there was no coming back from that.
‘JARVIS….’ I murmured.
‘They’re dead, Miss Carter,’ he confirmed and I surged forwards, jumping over the open window and heading for the controls. Masking tape was conveniently stuck to each control board, identifying which one was for each hero. Flicking a glass case up and away from a button, I pressed it, hoping this was a door release instead of a self district button. It wasn’t red so….
Checking security cams for the cages, I saw that indeed, White Tiger was out, and running for some of the goons Nova was still fighting. Doing the same for Luke, I released Power Man from his confines. The adrenalin was wearing off and as I turned around, all I could see was the blood covered floor. The whole white room was now covered in an inch thick of blood and I started to feel what I had done. Swallowing, I slowly stepped forwards, blood swishing around my boots.
‘Have Iron Fist and Spider-Man finish this, with the others, and stay until SHIELD gets here,’ I ordered, walking slowly, shakily towards the door. Remembering to use my sleeves like the Winter Soldier had taught me, I covered my fingertips as I opened the door, making sure not to leave prints behind. Pulling the door open, I walked across the catwalk, leaving a trail of blood footprints behind. Trying to remain calm, I descended the stairs, and made my way across the room and to the opposing stairs, to leave. Not saying a word to anyone, I made my way out of the facility and towards the entrance. Looking around at the groaning, injured goons, I swallowed, taking in everything.
Perhaps Nova, just this once, had been right. Maybe this was going too far, maybe I was crossing a line. These guys were bad guys, they did awful things, but that didn’t justify what I’d done. If I’d been a more experienced agent, hell, if I actually was an agent, then maybe I could have done better, but I wasn’t. I hadn’t. I’d made the choices I was capable of, but maybe I shouldn’t have been in the situation to have to have made those calls. I needed more training, this, this could never happen again. I was seventeen.
Making my way to the alley I was dropped off in, I found that he was waiting for me. The Winter Soldier had moved his bike, and came back for me. Well, I guess he was tasked with watching me. I just wasn’t expecting him to be in sight. He’d been getting very comfortable with me recently, but honestly I couldn’t care about how odd that was, I was just glad to see a friendly (???) face.
‘I killed four people,’ I whimpered, stumbling forwards. He looked surprised at how cut up I was about it but reached out when I all but threw the empty gun at him. He took it from me, clipping it back in place and then taking the combat knife from me as well.
‘Only four?’ he asked, sounding as surprised as he looked. ‘And your friends, they’re free?’
‘Mmmhmm,’ I nodded, feeling my throat start to tighten and my eyes well up. Surging forwards the rest of the way, I threw myself on him, letting out a childish wail, snottering all over his chest. His buckles dug into my face a little, but I paid them no mind as I sobbed. He gently patted my back, standing rigid and looking a little bewildered. ‘I..I can’t just keep killing people. I’m supposed to be the good guy . I… that’s seven total. There has to be a better way, I need more training or something.’
‘The world won’t miss them, they were bad people,’ he assured me, rocking me slightly in his arms. I wondered briefly, how my life had gotten to this point. Somehow, since August, I’d moved in with the Avengers, killed seven people and developed a codependency to the Winter Soldier who was currently cradling me like a baby.
‘That’s not for me to decide, I’m not a god,’ I argued and he sighed, resting his chin on the crown of my head.
‘No, but you have the power to help people, and you’re trying. Cookie, you’ll never be perfect, but if you can’t make peace with it, don’t do it. If you want to keep doing what you’re doing, people will die, and you have to be okay with that,’ he explained to me, being very delicate. He was such a strange man. ‘Come on kid, let me take you home.’
He guided me on foot along a block, ducking between apartment buildings and alley ways. Revealing where he’d hidden his bike, he swung his long leg over it, kicking it into gear and then gesturing for me to climb on after him. We took a different, also quite secure path home, weaving through the streets of New York and avoiding traffic and street cams. Holding on tighter than was probably necessary, I let my mind mull over what he’d told me. I wasn’t so sure I did have to be okay with people dying. I wasn’t sure I ever had to be okay with that, I didn’t want to. It was convenient, it was easier and it certainly meant I got beat up less but killing those guys, but it still felt wrong. People were dead now, because of me.
‘Are you in love with me,’ I asked when he pulled up near the tower. He spluttered, coughing as he choked on his own spit. He let out a loud burst of laughter, his voice rumbling through the back of his chest and reverberating through me. He glanced over his shoulder at me and shook his head slowly.
‘Am I in love with you?’ he sighed, climbing off the bike and offering me a hand. ‘No cookie, I’m not in love with you, I don’t love you. I don’t even know who you are, or who I am.’
‘I just..’ I looked at the floor. ‘I shouldn’t tell you, you’re supposed to kill me, find out if I’m a threat but I… I found out something about myself and I want to make sure the reason you’re not killing me is not because I’ve tricked you somehow.’
‘You what?’ he laughed, shaking his head at me again. I’d really put him through the ringer today. ‘You want it to be my choice to kill you, is that it?’
‘Well ideally, there would be no killing involved but I’m a siren, and I’ve been unconsciously using it on people and I don’t know how long for, but I don’t want to be manipulating you. You’ve had enough people forcing you to do things against your will, I don’t want to add to that,’ I explained honestly, bringing a hand up to rub the back of my neck. I leaned back against the wall of the alley we’d stopped in.
‘Cookie, that’s sweet but there’s no way. I don’t love you, alright? Now go back to the tower and focus on being a school girl for a while, maybe lay off the daring rescues and try feel better about all the dead people,’ he said and walked back towards the bike, pulling off without another word. Well, that could have gone worse. Could have gone better, but it definitely could have been worse.
Chapter 47: All In Your Hands
Notes:
I wish i could say I had a good excuse for not uploading for months. I've just been tired. Real tired.
Chapter Text
Title Song: All In Your Hands - Framing Hanley
Bonnie Carter POV
Friday 29th November 2013
The shame of going inside and facing the others after what I’d done… it was too much. So after far too long of staring up blankly at Avengers Tower, I bolted. At first I couldn’t work out where to go, there seemed nowhere safe in New York that someone I knew couldn’t find me, I’d always known that. There was no real way to disappear, you could never really do it with people like SHIELD or the Winter Soldier looking for you. Not unless you had some way of leaving the planet. With that in mind, I tried to finish up what I had responsibility for. My friends were back, safe, and I had one last thing I needed to do before I… well… I didn’t exactly know what I was going to do, I’d just killed four people but I had others depending on me. I had a duty to finish that first. Maybe Flash was right, I should make a run for the border, start out a new life in Santa Fe, sure it wasn’t New York but it was a city, and there were big buildings and stuff. What else did you need? Plenty of alleyways to be stalked in, hey, maybe the Winter Soldier could come, take up a new mantle of Sunburnt Soldier. The Super Sweaty Soldier, Board Shorts and Flip Flops Soldier, I don’t know…
Either way, ending up outside my high school before sunrise hadn’t been the plan, but it was the only thing that made sense right now. We had the game. Football. World’s greatest sport. And today, the season’s final. Today we found out if we were winners or not, and after dragging the team through the mud up until this point, I wasn’t about to not fight now. No matter what happened, this battle I’d be a part of. And then, when all was said and done, when all the blood, sweat and tears were shed, then I’d run away and hide like a coward. Just as nature intended. Where in this world I’d manage to hide, I didn’t know, but that was once again, future Bonnie’s problem.
The game couldn’t come soon enough, it was the one distraction I could count on to stop the absolute whirlwind in my mind. I was a killer, a cold hearted killer. It wasn’t like the times I had to weigh my life, or my friends' lives, up against some bad guy, I simply chose this time to do things in the quickest, most effective way. I killed four people for no reason. And if that wasn’t enough on its own, I couldn’t even bring myself to talk to the people closest to me about it. Steve would try and come up with some way to justify it, or he’d give me that sad look with those stupid eyebrows of concern. And Pietro? I so desperately wanted to talk to him about it, now he knew everything about me. I wanted his comfort, but I couldn’t. I had been manipulating him all this time. Even if I hadn’t been, if I wasn’t a siren, I couldn’t cope with the way he looks at me changing. He’d see me as a monster. He called me his sunshine, what I wouldn’t give to actually be the sunshine in his life. Instead I was a lightning bolt straight to the nards.
The too bright stadium lights shone brightly over the whole field, that was surprisingly dry today, despite the weather we’d been having recently. Finishing my braids off with my helmet under my arm, I stood by the tombs, ready to head out onto the field once I was ready. Coming out of the boys locker room, Pietro stood in front of me but about ten feet back, like he was frightened to get close. He looked awkward, uncomfortable. I couldn’t be surprised. I’d be hurting too if I found out the last few months of my life had been a lie. In fact, I had just found that out, and I was hurting. He swallowed, and even from this distance I could see his Adam's apple bobbing with the movement. This felt crazy, my whole being cried out for me to dive forwards and hold him against me, never let him go, but if I loved him, I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t torture him, manipulate his feelings, he needed to be set free.
‘Sonechko, can we..’ he started only to be cut off with a louder voice.
‘Bonnie,’ Steve called from behind me. I turned, seeing him standing by the closest bleachers and walking closer. He didn’t look angry, or even disappointed as he should be, he just looked concerned. Looking between the two I felt my bottom lip trembling. Shaking my head, I glanced at the field, the cheerleaders were out, almost done with their starting routines.
‘The game’s about to start,’ I blurted out, throwing my helmet on my head and literally running away from them both. It felt childish, running away, but there was no guarantee this… this power of mine wasn’t manipulating Steve somehow too. He did take to me very quickly after we met.
For the most part, everyone else left me alone. Luke didn’t say anything, even though I was pretty sure I knew he wanted to, Flash originally tried acting like everything was normal. Until of course, he didn’t get even the slightest response from me, and immediately backed off. But what really threw me, and took up my whole mind the entirety of the game, was Nick J. Fury sat in the bleachers, waiting for the game to be over. By half time I was leaning over my knees, ready to throat up by the water stand. In fact, I had to violently slam my cup down on the table and run under the nearest bleachers to puke. Dropping my knees into the dirt, I threw my hands out to support me and felt deep retches escaping from my throat. Arms wrapped around me, holding me upright and supporting me as I hurled, a hand even made its way to my braids to sweep any loose hairs out of the path of the vomit.
‘I got you, Carter, I got you,’ Flash said gently, and I felt tears bubbling out of my eyes. ‘You’re gonna be alright, I’m here.’
Once I’d stopped vomiting, he held me up for a moment or two longer, until I was able to stop crying and stand up. He picked up my helmet off the ground and plonked it down on my head, giving it a smack of encouragement and walking off without another word. It was weird he’d taken over Peter’s role this year, but when I thought about my siren powers, and how I still didn’t understand how they worked, maybe it wasn’t that odd after all. Still, I couldn’t say I hadn’t felt deeply comforted, him holding on and supporting me. I just wanted my friends, my family, my boyfriend, but I couldn’t look at them. I couldn’t face them. I was becoming a monster. Instead of the goons, the bad guys like Batroc, I was the one who needed to be stopped.
When the final buzzer rang, I felt myself getting lifted up, hoisted over two sets of shoulders and the crowd cheered. Looking around in the bright lights, I could see the crowd going nuts, the commentators were saying something, also yelling, but I couldn’t make it out. By some miracle, we’d won the game. Not just the game, this win, meant we’d won the season. Midtown Science had one their first season in a decade. And I had had something to do with that. I should be proud, I should be partaking in throwing the water cooler over Pietro’s head with the other jocks. Instead I found myself climbing down off the footballer’s shoulders and disappearing off to the girl’s locker room before anyone had the chance to stop me.
Everything I’d wanted for this year had come true and then crashed down in one fell swoop. My school, my team, we’d won, and I couldn’t even enjoy it because the life I’d built over the last few months was in shambles and it was all my fault. I’d been too ambitious and I was so out of my depth I didn’t even know how to fix it. Rain burst from the clouds and pelted the ground around me as I jogged away from the school. The parking lot was in chaos thanks to the win, and it made things perfect for my escape. I wasn’t quite sure where I would go, or what to do, but I knew I couldn’t go home. That was not an option. There was nowhere in this world I could run where I wouldn’t be found.
Nowhere in this world…
Nowhere in this world.
This world.
Bonnie Carter you are an idiot and a genius. Shaking my head at myself, I jogged out of the showers and out of the school grounds, as far away as I could get. I needed to find a place fairly free of the general public, someplace quiet. Past the sporting fields and into the scungy, empty lot behind it, I looked up at the dense, cloud filled sky. Each puff was a dark grey, heavy with rain. The humidity had risen since the game, and I might have been wrong about there not being a downpour. The sky cracked loudly with thunder as I stared up at the night time Midtown skyline. Feeling the atmosphere in the tips of my numb fingers, I exhaled a shaky breath. No going back.
From deep within my core I felt a call coming to me, but from where I did not know. While I wanted to leave this place, how I knew just what to do, I had no idea. My knowledge on space travel was limited to the moon landing and the curiosity rover. But somehow, lodged deep within my subconscious, was all the knowledge in the known universe. And in a bright hot burst bubbling right out of my chest I blurted it out. My vision was temporarily blinded, everything felt glowing and strange, and in a language I’d never heard before, I spoke.
“Ek kallár mightyrinn þórr,” I said, words falling from my lips. My voice cracked as I spoke, coming out as barely a whisper. Sucking in a deep breath, I tried to say it louder. “Ek kallár mightyrinn þórr!”
In another harsh burst of light, and a loud crack of thunder, parts of the ground erupted upwards, clumps of dirt flying everywhere. Covering my face with my arm, my shield popped out, bursting through the sleeves of my henley. When I brought my arm down again I squinted through the rain, eyes landing on him. Thor.
“My friend, Lady Carter,” Thor boomed brightly. “I see you have remembered.”
“Remember what exactly? Why are you here?” I asked and he blinked at me, walking over in the rain. The very cold rain that was rolling down his rippling muscled body as he purposefully walked towards me. The rain that drenched his whole body, cape changing to a darker colour as it soaked through the fabric, as did his long, cascading blond hair, moulding it to his chiselled features. Boy had I done a good job with my painting. This was better than the hotspring…
“You called me, Lady Bonnie, in Old Norse,” he explained, towering over me as he looked down my dripping, miserable form. Shivering in practically electric anticipation as I stared back up at him, I tried to recall what he meant. “If you can speak Old Norse, then you must be the old friend I once knew.”
“Uh, I’m the person you met the other day in the hot springs, and I can’t speak Old Norse, I can barely speak English, and I’ve been trying all my life,” I said, before shaking my head. “Look, it doesn’t matter. We need to go, get out of here. I can’t… something’s wrong with me and I’m not in control. Nova says it doesn’t work on people who aren’t from here, so you need to take me to Asgard, just like you said you would. It’s urgent.”
“Of course, you are welcome in Asgard, always, in whatever time you find yourself,” he said, wrapping one arm around me while he held his hammer up in the other. Part of me was melting, being held onto like this by a literal god, the other, was freaking out because not only was I literally running away from home, I was ditching my whole planet. But I had to make the hard choices in order to keep the people I cared about safe. “Heimdall.”
In a bright flash of light, a rainbow shot down from the sky, engulfing the two of us and dragging us at what should be break neck speed. This was faster and tugged us at more Gs than Peter’s web slinging did, or Nova’s flying. There was a slight buzzing in my ears and my eyes dried up in the extreme winds but before I had the chance to really look at anything, we hit a hard, glasslike ground.
“Lady Carter, welcome to Asgard,” Thor said, stretching his hammer arm out to show off the whole, crazy other world I’d found myself in. “Now, how about some refreshments and dry clothes? I’ll send some handmaidens to your quarters to assist you.”
“You’ll do what now?”
Steve Rogers POV
Confused, didn’t really cover it. Not only had Bonnie shown up on the security cameras outside the tower last night, refusing to come in and simply staring at the building for hours, she’d also run away from me at the Football game. And now, now , she was running off to Asgard with Thor at least two weeks early. I really didn’t understand. According to Fury she’d handled the situation expertly, an amazing improvement from where she’d been a few months ago. And she’d done it practically on her own. Not to mention, she’d managed to find her friends faster than SHIELD had, and we’d been trying. Why was she skirting about so awkwardly?
“Rogers, you’re needed in Prague, you ready?” Hill asked and I turned away from the Norse crop circle Thor had left.
“Uh, sure. Let me know the next time you pick up on an energy signature like this, and when I get back I wanna talk to these kids she rescued, something happened last night, and she won’t talk to me,” I said, making her nod.
“I’d just like to know where she got the explosives from,” Maria agreed. “And Rogers, perhaps seventeen is too young to have a body count that high, yeah?”
“Maybe…” I said with a sigh, rubbing my jaw. What was I supposed to have done? If I’d told her no, she’d have done this stuff anyway, it just would have been behind my back. Maybe I should have made her do some ride alongs or something.
Heading back to the school carpark I bumped into Pietro, who looked pretty abysmal for someone who’d just won their season. At least he was no longer covered in orange Gatorade. He stared at me, as if he was waiting for me to bark orders at him, or tell him to go away and leave Bonnie alone. When I did neither, he took a tentative step forwards.
“Why did he take her away?” he asked, each word careful and measured to be enunciated exactly right.
“I don’t know, Son, I don’t know,” I sighed, looking down at him. “I just hope she feels safe enough to come back.”
“Is not her fault. I is not on love with her because of magic powers,” he insisted and I nodded, reaching out to put a hand on his rain soaked, gatorade stained shoulder.
“I know that, and I think she knows that, but she’s going through something right now, and the best we can do is be there for her, and wait patiently until she’s ready to come to us,” I explained and he nodded, looking down at his sneakers.
“I will wait my whole life for her, Bonnie Carter is the only sunshine in this life of rain, my Sonechko,” he said, sounding exactly like a lovesick teenager. It was endearing, but I don’t think I’d put it past him to actually wait his whole life for her. He seemed very taken by her, and I think that’s why Bonnie was pushing him away so hard. This kind of undying, puppy love that was so common with teenagers felt like a magic spell. And when you’ve just been told you can cast them, of course you’d worry.
“I know you will, Pietro, why don’t you work on yourself why you wait, so you can be ready when she comes back,” I suggested and he nodded exaggeratedly, walking off to rejoin his friends. Well, turns out I did have it in me to be a father. Or at least I had the long hard talks sorted out…Who knew I’d be having so much practice on my best friend.
Pietro Maximoff POV
My sunshine was the light of my life, that was true, but she’d never actually glowed before. She’d looked practically like starlight as beams of icy blue burst from her chest and her eyes glowed, the same colour engulfing the entirety of the whites. In the afterglow of an orgasm her delicate face had always looked soft, warm just like she’d been kissed by the sun. Her skin held a gentle flush, and it was beautiful, but this new form of glowing was scary. My girlfriend was a human glow stick. Why was my girlfriend a human glow stick? And while we’re on the matter, Steve really hadn’t helped on the, Thor abducted my girlfriend matter. Fucking aliens. At least my god never kidnapped anyone, least of all my girlfriend.
“Yo, Pietro, what’s up with you and Carter, you get a chance to talk to her?” Flash asked, suddenly beside me in the pizza parlour. Shaking my head, I slumped against the booth seats. I missed the diner. Bonnie’s cheeky, impish smile as she teased us over something while she worked. That short little uniform when she bent over. This pizza parlour was trash, especially without her when she wasn’t here to share in the victory we’d worked so hard to bring forth.
“No,” I sighed, thinking about my sunshine. “Sonechko… has become out of reach.”
“So she dumped you, if I’ve learned nothing from the humble sitcom Friends, it’s breaks mean nothing and you always get the girl in the end,” he said cheerily. “Trust me, you and Carter are like, goals. You just gotta talk to her man.”
“Flash, is meaning literally. Sonechko is in Asgard…” I explained, fed up with him comparing us to Rachel and Ross. That dinosaur man was a jerk anyway, why would I want to be compared to him?
“What?? How did she get there? Is she coming back?” he asked and I offered a stiff shrug in response. Some guy from the team whom I still didn’t know slid past, dropping another pizza down on our table before exiting quickly.
“If am lucky,” I said, picking up a slice to silence the rumbling in my stomach. The cheese pulled in a long stretch, yellow, greasy dairy flinging backwards at the tray as soon as the piece snapped free from the rest of the pie.
“She’ll be back, she’s never let us down before. She’s loyal, Carter, and she was good to me even when I didn’t deserve it, she’ll come back for us, I know it,” Flash said optimistically. From what I’d heard from Peter, he really hadn’t deserved it, but he’d been nothing but kind to me. Not to mention, if Bonnie thought he deserved a second chance, then my friendship with him couldn't be all that problematic. He’d been the only real friend I’d managed to make here, sure people liked me because of the football team, but if it wasn’t for Flash, I didn’t think I’d have anyone at all. I’d certainly not have gotten Sonechko, that’s for sure.
Oh how I yearned for a simpler time, when I was in Sokovia, walking past ruins on the way to school, my sister and her dumb friends talking nonsense and town gossip. When I was the top of my class because there were very few students my age within the mixed classes, few even, within the school as a whole. I missed my foster parents, they had been good to Wanda and I, stopped us from being separated by a group home or relocation from the allied war effort. These host parents tried, but they simply weren’t as good. Not to mention they still hated my Sonechko.
“What are you thinking about?” Flash asked, legs swinging under the table, looking at me expectantly, not unlike Wanda and her friends did when I was sat beside them brooding.
“When I go back to Sokovia,” I said and he nodded excitedly.
“Yeah bro, what’s Sokovian Christmas even like?” he asked, folding over another pizza slice and stuffing it deep into the dark hole he called a mouth.
“No, at end of school year, when exchange is over,” I explained and his face fell. His chewing became laboured and his heavy breathing slowed down.
“Isn’t there an option to like, come back next year? Be an exchange student two years in a row?” he asked and I shrugged.
“Who knows if my school will even still be standing then, funding gets cut more and more, and people in town keep moving out, out, out. Is nobody left. And if even there is chance, there are other kids who deserve chance to exchange,” I told him and he looked even sadder. From what Bonnie had told me, he didn’t seem to have many friends besides me either.
“Well, can we exchange to your school? Sure, I’d have to try and learn to speak Sokovian, but Carter and I could always do our Senior year with you. It’s not like I’ve got much chance of College anyway, even if I do impress the Football scouts and Bonnie’s got all those big rich people connections, she’ll be okay,” he suggested and the thought of my Sonechko seeing the wreckage of my former childhood home sent alarm bells firing in all directions in my head. No way could I show her my town, how we lived. She’d kill herself. And she wasn’t even responsible for the war.
“Ukrainian, I don’t know how many times I have tell you, in Sokovia, we speak Ukrainian,” I said with another sigh. How did this big idiot make it to a school for the gifted?
Bonnie Carter POV
“Thor, that wasn’t help, that was a violation. You sent a bunch of handmaidens to sexually assault me!” I argued as I wobbled beside him in my high heeled sandals. My new dress thing dragged along the ground behind me, too long for my short frame. Although, given this was the royal palace, I expect it was supposed to be trailey. “Also, why did they feel the need to bathe me so intimately? I was already wet!”
Why did Royal people need a bunch of servants to hold them under the surface of the water and scrub every part of their body in intimate detail. There was a list of people who had touched my naked form and I could count them on one hand even if I was missing fingers. And let’s not get started on them drying me off again afterwards. Or poking and prodding me as I was practically sculpted into this stupid, admittedly quite pretty, dress.
“You complained this much the last time you were here,” he commented, confusing me again. Glaring up at the man, I wondered just when any of this bullshit would make any sense.
“I’ve never been here before, why don’t you believe me?” I huffed, crossing my arms over my rather exposed chest. Why did this dress push my boobs up so far? Perhaps it was the chest plate I was for some reason wearing. And why did no one else’s dress have a slit this far up their thigh? Actually, everyone else's outfits seem significantly more modest, I seemed to be one of the only people dressed this way at all.
“Are you impressed with the wardrobe in your quarters, my friend? My brother and I have been filling it for years, each time we found a piece we thought you’d enjoy, it was hung waiting for your return,” he explained and I looked down at my body. Of course a man chose this. That makes soooo much sense. But hold on. His brother??
“Do you mean to tell me, Loki the war criminal, has been buying me slutty dresses? Why?? ” I demanded and he smirked slightly at the nickname. At least I hoped it was the nickname… Maybe running away to Asgard wasn’t the brightest idea after all.
“Ask him yourself, we’re on our way to meet him,” Thor explained, guiding me towards a hidden staircase. I squeaked, backing up a little in the hallway and treading on the long, velvety train of my dress. My heartrate hammered in my ears, beating heart actually bouncing off my ribcage as it flew off into a wild panic.
“I don’t want to meet him! He murdered thousands! Why would I want to meet him? That’s like wanting to meet Hitler!” I hissed, spinning around and getting tangled up in my dress so much I managed to bind my legs, and drop like a graceless sack of potatoes. Looking up from the ground at Thor as he stood over me with an amused expression I bit out my next response. So much for simply leaving the situation. “I want to be able to control my siren powers, not seduce a mass murderer.”
“Loki is a gifted sorcerer, he’s the one who enchanted the box for your gauntlets, he’s also a master manipulator, if anyone can help you control your powers, it’s him,” Thor explained, bending over to scoop me up in his arms. Instead of returning me to my feet, he carried me against his firm, hot chest down the stairs and towards the dungeons. Despite being dungeons, they were surprisingly well lit. And there were a lot of guards around. Which meant I couldn’t exact revenge for my alien damaged city. At least until I found a way to bribe them. See, this was the kind of murderous attitude I’d come to get a reprieve from, not encourage. I’d already killed so many, I was in danger of becoming Loki, not defeating him. Plus, he was already serving his time in this very nice looking, white collar prison. Who was I to break in and murder him?
“Well, you always did know how to make an entrance, didn’t you, my darling,” Loki greeted, smirking at me through the glass of his white cell. He stood, when we approached, and stalked towards the very edge of his confinements. It was pristine in there, and his robes hung off him in just the right way. While he wasn’t as built as Thor was, he certainly was a specimen of Asgardian men, Royalty perhaps. And I felt dirty just thinking it. Hitler was not supposed to be appealing. It felt like looking at Ted Bundy.
“Fuck you,” I spat and he snorted. He didn’t seem offended in the slightest, only amused at the angry burlap sack in front of him.
“Eloquent as always, too,” he said, trailing his finger gently over the glass. Looking down at myself, I noticed that despite being bound in my dress like someone had rolled up my body in Grandma’s antique Turkish carpet, my boobs were still practically hanging out of the front, looking like golden little grapefruits, ripe for the taking. No wonder none of these men seemed to be taking me seriously. “So, you cheeky little temptress, you can’t control your powers of seduction, is that right?”
“I have no way of knowing who loves me for me, and who loves me because I unconsciously told them to. I need to set them all free, it’s not fair to play with people like puppets for my own self inflation, although, given your history, I’m not sure how exactly you’re supposed to help,” I hissed, glaring sharply at him through the glass. Thor chuckled, holding me loosely by his chest. With immense difficulty, I tried to wriggle out of the tangles of fabric, and out of of his gentle, carefree hold. Despite the little effort he was exerting holding me up, I was firmly in place, and he showed no sign of dropping me anytime soon. Great.
“Guards,” Thor ordered, voice booming in my ear, making me wince. Oddly, Loki shot me a look of sympathy and I only felt myself grow more confused. Why did he care if his brother’s loud voice hurt my ears? “Prepare my brother for transport, we’re going to the Library.”
“Yay…” I mumbled barely audibly. Somehow, Loki still managed to catch it, and smirked.
Chapter 48: This Girl's Got Me All Messed Up
Chapter Text
Title Song: This Girl's Got Me All Messed Mp (More Than A Friend) - Girli
Bonnie Carter POV
Saturday 14th December 2013
Crossing my wrists and resting them on top of my head, I leaned back in my chair, letting out a deep sigh. If Loki was still paying me any attention, I’m sure he’d roll his eyes at me, but he’d tuned me out after the first day. How could Thor do this to me? He just abandoned me in some random - admittedly very nice - library with a literal madman, and I was supposed to not kill him? Mind you, he was only being snarky and sarcastic, not at all creepy or murder-y like I’d expected. Although that could be due to the large Asgardian royal guard presence around the room, looking rather bored as we hit the books. But I liked to think it was because I was at least a little threatening.
'I just don’t understand, I know, I know you’ve told me a hundred times already,' I said, dropping my hands from my head. 'But why are we stuck reading these stupid dusty books when you’re supposed to be helping me stop myself from ruining everyone else’s lives? Why can’t we… I don’t know… actually do something?'
'Because, my little, impatient friend, you need to be able to understand Asgardian magic before you can control your powers, because they’re quite similar, and you can’t do that, until you can read the books. So, unless you want to be doomed to have an army of male servants at your beck and call, then you have to read these stupid dusty books, ' he explained and I nodded, before dropping forwards and slamming my head down on the open book in front of me. Essentially, I was flicking through the Asgardian version of Learn to read with Dora and it was hard. 'Fret not, little pet, you’ll get this eventually. I have a feeling you’re going to become quite the talented little sorceress.'
'How can you know that,' I said, muffled voice coming out into the pages. Shaking my head, I eventually managed to convince myself to lift my head, go back to reading the incredibly simple story about a little duckling who was very… hang on. 'Is this just the fucking ugly duckling.'
'I don’t recall that being the adjective they used to describe the swan,' Loki commented and I flicked through the pages with more vigour. ‘Pet this is a children’s book after all.’
'Yes, yes it is,' I said, tearing through it as quickly as I could. I knew this story, I knew what the words were supposed to say. Grandpa Daniel used to read it to me every night upon my insistence for months. It was to the point I knew the words by heart. ‘One I happen to know rather well.’
'You’re a lot more enthusiastic, do you particularly enjoy anecdotes about little ducklings, I had you down as having much more deep interests,' he said and I ignored him this time. 'Oh, you’ve finally decided to take this seriously have you?'
'I know what this says,' I replied, running my fingers over the page. Suddenly all the stupid old letters made sense to me, I could read this. Pushing the book away, I grabbed one of the others he’d been trying to get me to read and I read them too. By the end of the night, I was through the stack it had originally taken me over a fortnight to get through. Loki was escorted back to his cell and I was taken to my very grand room, where handmaidens waited, lurking, to strip me and dress me in nightwear. I still hadn’t gotten used to all the hands on me, or all the people eyeing me, naked as the day I was born. They didn’t seem to care, but I sure did. I missed pyjamas, and pants. And being able to put on my own clothes, without being assaulted!!!
Each night spent here was riddled with guilt, as I climbed into the massive bed under the crisp sheets, wearing my silky soft nightgown. All I could do was sob as I thought of all the people left behind. But I was doing this for them , I had to stop hurting them, making them hurt themselves for me. This was wrong. As bad as this felt, all the pain I’d caused was worse, and it had to stop. Sometimes you had to be cruel to be kind, and today I’d made progress. But I couldn’t let myself feel that pride, so instead all I did was think of Pietro, of Steve, of Flash, of Peter, of the Avengers, of Danny, of Luke, Sam, and Ava. Of Gwen, and how rightfully pissed she should be. If only I’d have found out earlier, maybe the damage could have been lesser. All I seemed to do these days was cause destruction, all I wanted to do was rid the world of pain. Maybe I could convince Loki to teach me some healing magic, help me out until I finished my nursing qualifications.
Rolling around in the sheets, I found it difficult to sleep. There was still so much about me I didn’t understand, less I understood about the others. Or more specifically, why they acted the way they did around me. They all knew something, something I didn’t, and it was driving me insane. Pushing up out of the bed, I let my bare feet hit the cold marble floors, heading straight for the door. While I knew who he was, all the things he’d done, I truly believed if anyone was going to tell me the truth, it could be Loki. But perhaps that was just another sign of my juvenile naivety. Marching my way through the palace, I eventually made it to the cells I met Loki at every morning to begin my lessons, and found him sitting awake, upright in a chair with a book. He looked a little surprised to see me, but smirked as he looked me up and down. I felt rather dirty as his eyes roamed my admittedly rather cold and perky form.
'I can’t… I can’t sleep, you know something, you all do. There’s something about me no one is telling me and I need answers, please, you don’t have to tell me the truth, I shouldn’t expect you to, but Loki, please tell me what everyone’s keeping from me,' I begged, stepping right up against the thick glass. He folded his book closed, putting it on the table beside him and standing up. He walked over, towering over me as he stood, pitying me. The mass murderer, destroyer of New York, pities me. Great.
'Oh how much of a fool it makes one feel, when everyone knows something about you and won’t breathe a word,' he said, looking empathetically at me. It was like he genuinely felt a pang of legitimate sorrow, like we were kindred spirits somehow. And I hated that. 'It’s like they’re laughing at you, it’s cruel, not knowing who you are. My darling, I am the last person to keep something like this from you. What do you want to know?'
'Why does everyone act like they know me, before I’ve even met them? Where did these siren powers come from? Who am I?' I asked and he sighed, shaking his head. ‘I don’t understand, the only thing genetically special about my relatives came from Steve, and that came from a bottle and got passed down. Now I’m supposedly some mutant as well. Why kick in now?’
'Not even Thor told you?' he asked and I shook my own head. 'No, I wouldn’t expect much from that oaf. You might want to sit down.'
Steve Rogers POV
Rolling out of bed for the morning, I checked the clock. Six am on the dot, like usual. No alarm was needed, for some reason I was forced to wake up at this time no matter what I did, how little sleep I’d gotten. It was worse now, if that was possible, now Bonnie was in Asgard with Thor. It would help her, probably, to be able to learn to use her powers, even perhaps use some of that Asgardian magic I’d seen her use. Maybe this was how she learned it. But even if it was good for her, I still wished she’d talked to me, tell me what was going on in her life. There were still so many questions I had for her, like why was she drawing Bucky, when she hadn’t even met him? Was breaking things off with Pietro such a good idea, when she couldn’t even be sure she was using her powers on him? Why had she even doubted me? Her powers have never worked on family before.
'Sir, ready for training, sir,' Eugene bellowed, startling me ever so slightly as I came out of the bathroom, ready for my run. He was standing to attention, saluting me in his own gym gear, while Pietro stood, yawning and looking like he would rather be anywhere but awake right now. Still, he also wore training attire and looked reluctant but ready.
'You don’t have to call me sir, Flash, and you also don’t have to get up this early on a Saturday,' I said, and he nodded, still standing to attention and refusing to relax. 'While I don’t mind you kids staying here, don’t you think this is a bit much?'
'No,' Pietro said through a yawn, shaking his head. He wiped some dry drool from the corners of his mouth. Poor guy. 'Sonechko will need our help when comes back from space.'
'Yeah, and how can we help her if we’re not on her level? We need to get stronger, or else we’ll just be a liability and cause her more trouble, we need spy training, we have to become the next Black Widow or something…' Flash said and I raised an eyebrow. Tasha would have fun with that one. Relenting, I sighed. I guess I could respect their eagerness, after all, it wasn’t that long ago I was trying to get my way to the front by any means necessary, and people had doubted me just as much.
'Alright, well, I’m going for a run, you think you can keep up?' I asked and Flash grinned at Pietro, who seemed to be weighing it up.
'Perhaps,' Pietro agreed, heading back to Bonnie’s room to get his sneakers. Well, now I knew it was serious. He was rather fast out there on the field, faster than Bonnie, and she had the serum’s help.
‘Oh, and when we’re done, maybe we could stop by that soup kitchen,’ I suggested, perking Pietro up significantly.
‘Yes, I want to see my friends again, is very refreshing finding other Ukrainian speakers with the Sokovian dialect,’ he said, looking like he was ready to race me before we even left the building. Flash wore a look of determination, as he always did. It didn’t seem to matter he always came in dead last, he always fought as hard as he could to try and beat us, keeping up simply wasn’t enough. That was a hustle I could respect, he reminded me a little of younger me, it was surprising to see how far he’d come from a simple highschool bully to one of Bonnie’s trusted confidants.
Bonnie Carter POV
Either Loki thought I was stupid, and that I would be so desperate for the truth I would believe absolutely anything, or he was the cruellest man alive. And I strongly believed he could be, he was, after all, a war criminal. But it did kind of explain why everyone had been so odd around me, why old men took to me so suddenly, as if they already knew me. Why they treated me like old friends. No, that was crazy. This couldn’t be real, he had to be messing with me.
'You can’t be serious,' I said, shaking my head. 'You’re telling me, I’m somehow, not only Captain America’s great granddaughter and have the super soldier serum coursing through my veins, making me different from any other man, but I’m also, a distant cousin of yours, is that the long and short of it?'
'I’m not sure distant cousin is correct,' he nodded, pondering this for a moment. 'Before he married my adopted mother, Frigga, Odin’s first wife was Freyja, and she was a gifted sorceress too. A goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr. She was adept at weaving the strands of time, which as you can imagine was very advantageous for the likes of my adopted father.'
'Right, and so you’re saying I’m related to her somehow, and that explains my enhanced durability, my manipulation of men’s emotions, and I have a bonus super power that allows me to travel through time and space, wow Loki, you really are a piece of work,' I said, folding my arms over my chest. Crossing my legs, I leaned back in the chair I was sitting in, glaring at him as he sat on his bed. How I’d managed inside his cell with him, was a mystery to me, but somehow the least prominent issue right now. 'I came to you on my knees, begging for an explanation and you spin this… this story..'
'Darling, I do think I’d have remembered a sight like that, I can assure you you were not on your knees, but do go ahead,' he said, looking smugly at me. I threw one of the many books from his night stand at him and in a flash of blue it landed back where I’d picked it up from. Bastard. 'And this isn’t a story, you asked for the truth, and I gave it to you. And my oaf of a brother simply doesn’t understand you don’t already know your history. But go on, if you don’t believe me, head out there and ask him for yourself.'
'You complete and utter bastard,' I said, standing up suddenly and heading over to the glass, banging against it to alert the attention of the guards. 'I’m ready, let me out. I want to go and see Thor now. He’ll set things right.'
'Oh, you have no idea,' Loki said, relaxing against his pillows as he reached for the book he’d been reading before he got here, the one I was pretty sure I’d thrown at him. I couldn’t believe I’d been so naive.
Marching down the hallways of the palace once again - or as soon as I’d convinced the guards I wasn’t Loki, and therefore allowed to roam the castle freely - I made my way to Thor’s room, hammering on the grand double doors. It took several minutes of violent hammering before he finally made his way to open them, swearing as he went. Earth swears too.
'Alright, alright, I’m coming,' he said, pulling the door open and letting the bright moonlight from outside into his dark quarters. 'Ah, Lady Carter, you’re here rather late, I was under the impression it was my brother you favoured. Well, come in, as a mighty Prince of Asgard, I will of course attend to your needs in any context, my home is your home.'
'What?' I asked, blinking at him. Attend to my needs? No, preferred his brother? I wanted to knock his brother’s teeth out, not spend extra time with him.
'I assumed you couldn’t sleep, my Lady,' he said and I nodded slowly. Yeah, there was no rest for the wicked and all that. 'You’ve remarked every morning come breakfast time that you have been having restless, lonely nights sleep.'
'Thor, I’m not propositioning you,' I said and then he blinked at me. It was then I noticed he’d answered the door in just a pair of Earth boxers and I felt very hot under the collar. The Thor was shirtless in front of me, wearing only teeny, tiny boxer shorts that were very tight. Oh god.
'My apologies, Lady Carter, when you mentioned you’d broken off your courtship with your Midgardian boyfriend I assumed….' he said, trailing off and I stared at him in shock. The Thor of Asgard thought I was boneable? Well that was certainly the ego boost I didn’t know I needed. Although what did it say about him, that he was willing to fuck a seventeen year old? Well, almost eighteen. Wait a minute, favoured his brother?? Why would I want to fuck Loki? I would never. He was a war criminal. That was like saying I wanted to bang Hermann Göring.
'Wait, what do you mean you thought I favoured your brother?' I demanded and he shook his head at me, smiling softly.
'Well in the past the two of you were thick as thieves, in fact, he could barely keep his hands off of you. It was such a sight to see him actually happy with someone, even if you did have to venture back to your own time,' he said and I dropped my jaw. Ask him for yourself… 'And you have no idea the great joy it brought me to see you again after all this time, oh how I’ve missed fighting at your side in battle. Your snarky remarks, just like my brother’s.'
'So he wasn’t lying…' I muttered and he stared down at me in confusion.
'Has my brother said something to you?' he asked and I nodded. My face held only deep confusion as I stared up at the incredibly muscled man.
'Yes, I just went to see him and…' I started and watched a smirk spread up Thor’s face. Reaching out to smack his arm, I glared at him in distaste. ' Not like that! I wanted to know why everyone treated me like an old friend, even when I had only met them for the first time, why men fall at my feet. He said I’m a time traveller, a child of Freyja or something..'
'You didn’t know?' he asked, stepping back from the doorway. He opened the door wider, gesturing for me to come inside. 'Lady Carter, I had assumed when you returned to your time, that it was now. When I met you last Midgard century, you said you were from now, and you were at the Tower, with the rest of my friends, the Avengers, they all knew you.'
'Well yeah, because I tracked down Steve because he’s my great grandfather, I needed a legal guardian…' I explained, following after him once he’d closed the door behind us and headed over to his table by the window. Sitting in one of the two chairs, I folded my arms over my chest. I had to be dreaming. This night was just getting stranger and stranger.
'And why do you need a guard? Are you in some kind of trouble, my Lady, is that why you have come to Asgard, to seek refuge?' he asked, getting amped up and barely sitting in his own chair. I shook my head. ‘I had no idea, I shall increase guard presence around the castle at once.’
'No, Thor, a legal guardian is someone who isn’t your parent, but recognised by the courts of New York as responsible for you. My parents are dead and I’m still regarded as a child until January,' I explained and he nodded, pondering this for a moment. He winced after a moment before eying me suspiciously.
'So how old are you, you don’t look any different to when I saw you last,' he said and I blinked. It was still weird hearing him say that. Somehow I’d met Thor before, and had a brief fling with Loki ??? This had to be a nightmare.
'I’m seventeen,' I explained and he relaxed, slumping into his chair. Men . 'But that’s besides the point, if I’m supposed to be a time traveller, how do I go back, when, why? What could I possibly have to gain from going to the past?'
'As I recall, the last time was an accident, Loki had to help you learn to use your travelling abilities and you returned. As for when, I don’t think it’s right, you mentioned something about not wanting to mess up the flow of time by meddling, whatever that means,' he said and I grew quite cross.
'Why would I say such a stupid thing like that, clearly I had no idea what I was talking about, tell me everything,' I said and he laughed.
'You said you’d say that,' he told me and I got more mad. With this new information, I suddenly knew even less. What bullshit. 'So, is there anything else I can do to help you sleep?' he asked and I felt a hot hand on my leg. Oh my god, Thor wanted his brother’s sloppy seconds. Wait, if I hadn’t travelled back yet, technically I wasn’t sloppy seconds, he was cutting the line.
He eyed my chest and I regretted my nightwear choices, not that I’d had much actual choice in the matter. His large hand rubbed gentle circles on my inner thigh and I couldn’t deny it felt good. While my heart still belonged to Pietro, even if I wasn’t sure if I should hold onto him, if it was fair, I couldn’t deny Thor was hot. He was the God of freakin’ Thunder. And not to mention, he was interested in me. On one hand, I’d probably regret it later, feeling like I’d betrayed Pietro even if we were technically broken up, on the other hand, how many opportunities would I get to say I’d fucked an actual God? If Tony were here, I’m sure he’d tell me to go get it, I deserved some tail, but given the shambles his life was constantly in, I wasn’t sure his advice was what I wanted to take. Steve was a one woman guy, his heart still belonged to Great Grandma Margaret, and I’m sure he’d tell me not to, he wouldn’t judge me if I did, but I’m sure he’d tell me that Pietro and I could fall in natural love if I just gave it time.
'Is something the matter, My Lady? Have I displeased you in some way? I assure you, if you do not want me as I do you, there will be no hard feelings involved,' he said and I shook my head, looking at my lap, where his hand still sat.
'I’m just not sure, it feels like I’m doing something wrong,' I explained and he nodded, sighing.
'I feel that way sometimes about Lady Jane,' he said sagely. 'How I miss her, but alas, we cannot be, she will die a long time before I, as a mortal. My father disapproves, he hasn’t outright forbidden it, but it wouldn’t work. But every time I try to move on with someone new, it feels wrong. Which is why I favour you so, you’re not new. You are an old and dear friend whom I respect very much. Surely it would be easy to slip into.'
'I uh… look I’m flattered, but if we did anything, it wouldn’t be long term. The only thing you’ll be slipping into, will be for an overnight stay,' I said and he chuckled, a slightly darker look on his features.
'Oh, I get all night to be inside you? What an offer,' he said, standing up from his chair, his hand temporarily coming off my thigh. All instinct, all rhyme or reason screamed at me to stop, to say no, to go back to my own room. But as I had discovered with Pietro, I was a being ruled by their loins. Standing up in front of him, I grew nervous. My mouth dried up and all the moisture transferred to my hands becoming sweaty, clammy palms. How could I do this to myself? I got the chance to bang the Thor, and I was a sweaty, nervous mess.
Turning away from him, I walked over towards his rather large bed and climbed into it, rather ambitiously tucking myself between the sheets. It was still warm, where he’d been laying, despite it having been a while since he was last in it. I felt dwarfed in this bed, it was massive, even bigger than my own, and that was saying something. Oh how I missed my normal, human sized bed. Seeming to take it in stride, he followed me over, climbing in beside me. His hands moved to my hips and he leaned in, kissing me easily. My mouth moved clumsily as I tried to match his tone, but it was little use. He was hot, there was no denying that, I was lucky in a way no other mortal girl had been, at least not in this century, but I couldn’t. It just felt wrong.
Stiffening up, I pulled back, looking back at him sheepishly. He wore a knowing expression and nodded as he pulled back. Running a hand through his golden locks, he sat against the grand headboard, thinking for a moment. He opened his mouth to speak but words failed him, I opened mine and the same thing happened. He rested his hands in his lap, clasping them together over the sheets. Pursing my lips, I tried to come up with something to say.
‘I… this just feels wrong. Pietro and I, we’re not dating anymore, I broke up with him to protect him, for his benefit but I.. I’m not over him, I’m not sure I can ever be,’ I explained and he nodded. ‘Thor, I’m sorry, you’re still wonderful, and I’d love to call you a friend. But I fear that’s all we can be.’
‘It’s alright, Lady Carter, I understand. I feel the same for Lady Jane,’ he told me, putting one of his large hands over mine. ‘If you’d like to stay anyway, we can sleep, or chat, I don’t mind. But just because we don’t do anything… you don’t have to go.’
‘I’m lonely too,’ I told him in a moment of vulnerability. Sinking into the mattress, I slipped further under the sheets. He followed my movements and got himself comfortable. Sliding over closer in the football field of a bed, I leaned my head on his hot chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat, and letting it lull me softly to sleep. Bonnie Carter, you idiot. You could have been sleeping with Thor , and instead, you’re sleeping with Thor.
Peter Parker POV
Gwen, understandably hadn’t forgiven me, and I was going out of my mind trying to figure out how I could get her to. But I was never really in my mind, was I, if I was kissing my best friend. The very same best friend who had treated me as a little brother my whole damn life. Why did I feel this way towards her? Why now? Before the idea of kissing Bonnie was enough to upset the bile in my stomach and send still digesting food back up my oesophagus into the back of my throat. But now I just wanted to do it, and all night long. The thought of her filled my stomach with butterflies the same way it did with Gwen. Oh, what a horrible time to be alive.
My homework was doing a poor job of distracting me, all I could really concentrate on were my conflicting feelings for Bonnie. I knew in my head and my heart I wasn’t attracted to her, I had no desire to be with her at all, but I sure wish someone would tell my loins that. The desperate look she’d given me right before I kissed her was burned into my brain, and for some reason it stirred up some pretty intense feelings. JARVIS had sent me some documents, and I hadn’t read them. Everyone had been trying to contact me, Steve, Tony, Pietro, even Flash. But not Gwen, and that's who I wanted to hear from, even though I had no right to after what I’d done. Speaking of thinking solely with my crotch, my pants were getting to be incredibly painful. For some very odd reason, I’d had a near permanent erection since I’d kissed Bonnie, and I couldn’t get it to go down. Spider duty was impossible, so I’d been holed up in my room for weeks. I was starting to get light headed, and I worried nothing would relieve it. Not even thinking about grandma. Not that I wanted to think about Grandma. I’d see a doctor if I wasn’t a strange, genetic freak thanks to one unfortunate incident with a mutated spider. Maybe it was time to get help.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I decided I’d have to call Tony. And while it was kind of humiliating, he had access to doctors that could cope with the spidey situation. Or at least not ship me off to a government facility to be dissected. Unlocking it, my background flashed up and I sighed. She was everywhere, she didn’t even have to be here to be in my face. Sitting beside me in a crop top that apparently showed everything, Bonnie smiled at the camera, perched on my lap. We’d taken this before I’d even met Gwen, and yet, she was still beautiful. Damn it. Damn it all to hell. Why did I want her?
I loved the way her cheeks pulled back to reveal her perfect white teeth, the crinkles beside her oh so blue blue eyes. I loved the slight roseiness to her cheeks, and the rolls her stomach had from sitting down. Her golden blonde hair spilled down her shoulders like a waterfall of sunshine and it hurt. I didn’t like her, I didn’t want her, but I couldn’t get her out of my head. My pants gave another twinge and I sighed again, I had to do something about this, even if I knew it would only make me feel more disgusting if I did.
Pulling the grey sweatpants down - which had become my permanent wardrobe of choice thanks to my permanent crotch demon rearing its ugly head - I felt the erection spring free, offering me a slight, slight bit of relief. I really, really didn’t want to do this, but what other choice did I have. They had aphrodisiacs, but they didn’t really have substances that did the opposite, there was no way choking down a dozen snot flavoured oysters would help push this feeling down. But if it did, boy would I try it. I wanted anything other than to have my hand in my pants, rubbing one out to the hormone crazed thoughts of my ex-best friend. But here I was, calloused hand wrapped around my cock, lubricated only with my own spit. I had to do this, but that didn’t mean I deserved to enjoy it.
My body was filled with an intense fire, one that only seemed to be getting worse the more I brought my hand up and down. Instead of feeling relief imagining the soft, velvety feeling of my best friends pussy stretching around my cock offering me relief, it only caused more blood to rush to the area. I could almost see my hands scrunching tightly in her soft blonde curls, her drool covered mouth sloppily sucking and choking around my dick, but it wasn’t enough. I didn’t just want to imagine it, I wanted to feel it. I wanted to fuck her, and I was horrified. Oh, what a terrible time to be alive. Thick ropes of white cum shot out the tip of my painfully hard dick, and as was apparently to be expected for my life, nothing got any better. The erection hadn’t gone down, I’d just haunted myself with incredibly disturbing thoughts for no reason. I was never going to get my mind back after this, there was no way.
Reaching out for my phone again, I realised I was going to have to make a very embarrassing phone call. Tony was going to have a field day, and I suddenly understood Bonnie’s reluctance to get him involved in certain issues, which was probably the very same reason she’d been so horrified when she had to ask him about sex. And I was very glad she hadn’t asked me, even if she was my best friend at the time. Although now the idea of showing her how everything worked, being the first person to strip her down and push inside her filled me with a hot desire. Oh, how much I wanted to be the one to do it, to do it with her again, even if she had been with another man.
‘Petey! What can I do for ya, finally look at that file JARVIS sent you?’ Tony said gleefully into the receiver. ‘I imagine the siren thing is pretty difficult to cope with.’
‘Wait, siren??’ I spluttered. While that made absolutely no sense, if he was telling me what I thought he was, it did explain the pain in my crotch.
Chapter 49: It's Alright
Notes:
Sorry I didn't update for four months, I don't have a good excuse, I just lost passion for everything. Brushed my teeth for the first time in months the other day, I'm making a little progress, managing to shower every few days, I think I'm back on the mend now I'm being creative again.
Chapter Text
Title Song: It’s alright - Mother Mother
Bonnie Carter POV
Tuesday 24th December 2013
It didn’t seem to matter that I’d done it before, crossing that rainbow bridge and gushing back towards earth still made me feel like my insides had become outsides. Looking around, I tried to orient myself. Unable to, I climbed off the algae covered rubble, and headed towards the nearest street sign. This was a poor decision on my part, just another in a long line I’d made. My time in Asgard had come to a close, and from what I’d learned from Loki, Thor, and even Sif, I knew I couldn’t do any of this without love by my side. Not that Loki would ever admit to even implying that love was a mighty force. In fact, I remembered him very strictly enforcing the belief that power and leverage were the only true forces a leader should wield. But that didn’t matter, I was here in Sokovia, and I needed to let Pietro know regardless of how my powers had interfered with our relationship, the love I felt for him was real.
How I could tell him this, I wasn’t sure. Because my foolishness had once again come into play, and I had no idea where he lived. Sure, I knew he was from the capital city, and I was in Novi Grad, but it wasn’t exactly like his name was on the door. This was a stupid idea. I just didn’t want to risk my having broken his heart would make him decide not to come back after winter break. Rubbing my hands together, I tried to bring some heat back into them as I wandered, cold air turning each breath to steam. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I opened snapchat, and sent a message to Pietro.
‘Tell me about Novi Grad’ - FireCarter
‘Google exists, Sonechko. I’m
sure there are plenty of
wikipedia articles to delight
you with fun facts of the city.’
- Maxipad
‘I know, but I want to know
about
your
Novi Grad. Your
favourite places, where you
go. Where you live.’
- FireCarter
While it felt a little dishonest to be fishing for this information without explanation, to essentially be lying to him about why I was asking, I feared he wouldn’t see me, if he knew I was here. I’d hurt him. He should be feeling betrayed, hurt, all sorts of negative feelings. How could my sudden appearance with a declaration of love make up for all of that? It couldn’t. But I was even more of a fool if I didn’t at least try. Taking a seat on a cold and slightly wet wooden bench at a nearby park, I waited with anticipation for a response. Perhaps this had been a bad idea.
‘
Wanda and I like feed
grapes and peas to the
ducks at local park. Flash
took me Central Park
just after us broke up to do
same. It very funny to see
him wage war with the
very nasty creatures. Why
is American ducks so evil?’
- Maxipad
‘
They’re New Yorkers, we’re
known to be quite coarse...An
acquired taste. You should…
You should feed the ducks
today…’
- FireCarter
There were some ducks quacking quietly behind me, while I knew there were many parks in Sokovia, many in Novi Grad, I prayed to whatever god was out there that this was the one he liked. This was the one he went to. Standing up, I meandered over to the lake that was surprisingly not frozen over despite the cold weather. It was surprising they hadn’t hit the skies for winter, but knowing nothing of European geography, and even less about Sokvian specifically, perhaps this was where they ended up. Perhaps Novi Grad was their equivalent of flying south for the winter.
Standing by the water’s edge, I watched them waddle around happily, ducking and diving in the water for little fish and the scarcely present insects. There were some old men on a bench nearby, watching the ducks as I was, and I couldn’t help but wonder what Pietro would look like as an old man. Would I be as taken with him when we were old and grey like Grandpa Daniel was with Grandma Margaret? Hopefully I will. I was a fool to think I could make this work as just a small, yearlong fling. Pietro was so much more than that to me.
‘Tak, ya dumayu, shcho ty bozhevilʹnyy. Ty ne mozhesh prosto vytyahnuty mene v park, tomu shcho tvoya kolyshnya divchyna skazala tobi pity hoduvaty kachok,’ I heard a woman yelling and turned my head. There was a brunette walking trudging behind a guy much taller than her, reluctantly holding a bag of frozen peas.
‘Yes I think you're insane. You can't just drag me out to the park because your ex-girlfriend told you to go and feed the ducks,’ JARVIS translated for me in my ear and I found myself chuckling to myself.
‘Ty zovsim durnyy, ya povertayusya vseredynu,’ she said, tossing the bag of peas in his direction. Grabbing them with one hand, the guy turned and faced the lake, and I knew for sure it was him. Pietro. He was standing there, peas in one hand, grapes in the other.
‘You're completely stupid, I'm going back inside,’ JARVIS translated as I watched the fleeting figure of the woman who was no doubt Pietro’s fraternal twin.
Smiling to myself, I approached the lake, watching as he set down the bag of peas and started pulling grapes off their vine. Splitting them in half, he tossed them towards the ground, sending the ducks into a flurry, racing to get them before each other did. My mouth ran dry, and as much as I didn’t quite know what to say, I knew I had to say something. I had to fix this. Reaching out as I approached his back, I grabbed hold of his winter coat, giving it a gentle tug. He glanced over his shoulder and dropped the bag of grapes, jaw dropping in shock. My throat gave a slight croak as I tried to speak, but words failed me.
‘I love you,’ I said and he nodded slowly as he stared at me, still in a state of relative shock. ‘I know I broke things off with you, but I had to let you know. I never stopped loving you. I don’t… I don’t know what’s going to happen with this siren thing, I’m working on not using it involuntarily, in fact I’d like to never use it at all, but I promise you, all the love I felt was real. Even if we can’t be sure yours is, I never did any of this to hurt you. I genuinely, truly love you.’
‘I knows this, Sonechko, my heart beats for you, even if you have these silly notions in your little, surprisingly symmetrical head,’ he told me, making me scoff at his description. ‘You practise this on me, yes? You want to learn to control powers, you must be practising on me. Because I love you with, or without strange magics.’
‘I know you believe that but…’ I started but he cut me off, turning around fully and tugging me into his arms. He ducked down quickly, kissing me with all the passion he had to give, and then a little more. Suddenly all my guilt and protests over his feelings melted away, and all that was left was my heart in his hands. ‘There’s a lot to talk about before I even consider that, before you can kiss me like that.’
‘No, nothing you can do that ever changes my mind, nothing you can says,’ he told me. ‘’I know you alter ego, I know things you have to do for others freedoms, I know all. And I still love you. I forgive everything you have do, and everything you could ever done in future. Understand this, no?’
‘Pietro…’ I started and he scoffed in annoyance, leaning in for another deep kiss. He pulled back, our lips separating with a click. ‘Fine,’ I huffed.
‘Come, so much time to makes up for,’ he told me, stepping back and taking my hand, abandoning the grapes and peas. Where he wanted to take me, I didn’t know.
‘I can’t stay long, I’m not supposed to be here, and I have to get back to New York for Christmas with Steve,’ I explained and Pietro simply shook his head at me, an amused smile on his face. ‘And you can’t just leave that here, the ducks might eat the plastic. Let’s finish feeding them.’
‘Together?’ he asked and I nodded. ‘Okay, we let ducks eat. You know, yous could have just told me you here. I have come without grapes. Or you wanted them for self?’
‘No, thank you, I’m quite capable of getting my own grapes, and frozen peas for that matter,’ I said, rolling my eyes as I bent over to pick up one of the bags. I scooped up a bunch in my fingers and scattered them over the banks of the pond. ‘I was worried you wouldn’t want to see me, that I was doing the wrong thing contacting you again. I just couldn’t bear not seeing you again. But I have to tell you something about when I was in Asgard, before we can agree to be together again, before you can kiss me like that again. I won’t live a lie, and I won’t keep secrets from you.’
‘Promise?’ he said and I smiled softly, nodding at him. ‘So, what’s happening with Gods?’
‘Uh, well it turns out, Loki isn’t all that bad, which is concerning, considering all he did to New York last year,’ I said and he nodded empathetically, glancing in the direction of a fenced off pile of long forgotten rubble. ‘He… it’s possible he was lying, but Thor… he confirmed it. And I can’t work out if it’s all some big prank to play on the silly mortal girl or if it’s true. But if it is, it’s insane.’
‘What it? Sonechko, can’t help if don’t tell,’ he said simply and I smiled sadly at him, nodding. ‘Start from beginning, tells everything.’
He upended his bag of grapes in the dirt, and took my peas, scattering them out across the ground. Grabbing my hand and the rubbish, he tossed it in a nearby trashcan and pulled me out of the park and down the street. So much for talking… Eventually he stopped tugging me, and I walked slowly by his side, strolling up the cobblestoned hill towards a reasonably nice dwelling for this part of town. His house, I later learned as he snuck me up the stairs to his bedroom. Plopping down on his bed, I relished in the silence, no squeaky bedsprings here. Kicking my shoes off, I brought my feet up onto the sheets, knees to my chest. Leaning over to me, he pulled me out of my huddle and into a hug. We shifted down so I was laying on him, and he stroked my hair as I regaled my tale to his skinny yet toned chest.
‘Okay, so in Norse Mythology, there’s some mentions of Odin being married to both Frigga and Freyja. People have speculated they’re the same, one is just the older form, others two different Gods, etc. There’s a lot on it, but not a lot of answers,’ I explained and he nodded, leaning down to kiss my crown.
‘And let me guessing, you knowing the answers now? You find this? Is why you went to Asgard?’ he asked and I shook my head against his firm chest.
‘No, I went to Asgard to find out about me, Nova said my powers don’t work on him, they wouldn’t on anyone not from Earth, I thought that if anyone could teach me without being affected, it would be the Asgard,’ I answered and he nodded, nuzzling in closer to my hair. ‘And yes, I know now about them. Odin was married twice, once to Freyja, later to Frigga, Thor and Loki’s mother. Freyja, has some ancestors on Earth, and I’m on that family tree.’
‘Sonechko, you is God?’ he asked, startled and pulling back a little. ‘And you want Pietro?’
‘I’m not a god, and yes. Of course I want you, what’s not to like?’ I asked and he grinned a little, chest puffing up with pride.
‘This is true,’ he said, bouncing his head to the side smugly.
‘Freyja is the God of basically drugs, sex, and rock n roll, and my siren powers, come from her. So I super went to the right place, it’s an unconscious use of her magic, however diluted, and so I’ve got the foundations, but I was also given a lot of homework,’ I explained. ‘God, I haven’t even told Steve yet, I have no idea how I’m going to. But this also explains the enhanced durability, why I was able to fall through the ceiling of a building and aside from a bit of bruising, be otherwise fine. She’s also got some roots in fertility, explaining the whole morning after pill shenanigans. Thanks, you old bitch.’
‘You should probably not be speaking ill of Gods we know are real, moia kokhana,’ he pointed out and I waved him off.
‘If she was all powerful enough to hear me, she’s all powerful enough to help me, and she hasn’t, so fuck her,’ I said and he sighed, leaning further back on his bed. ‘How can you just… accept all of this?’
‘I’s told you, forgive before, now, and later, always love malia,’ he said with a shrug. Shaking my head, I pushed up off of him, propping myself above so I could stare into his eyes.
‘But there’s more.. while I was in Asgard, I kissed.. Well, I almost had a one night stand with Thor,’ I said, worry running deep throughout my veins. He blinked at me, staring back in confusion.
‘That’s..’ he said, pausing almost immediately. Climbing off the bed completely, I went to grab my shoes.
‘I’ll just go..’ I said awkwardly, I was right when I felt like I was betraying him. This was unforgivable. I didn’t exactly wait long, I almost immediately jumped into bed with someone else.
‘I am confusing,’ he said, sitting up, placing his feet on the floor. He reached out to take my arm, fingers wrapping around my elbow. ‘If was Flash, I should be proud, yes? This is big. I am Christian, so I believe in own God, but having opportunity to sleep with a God, this is big?’
‘Well yeah, he’s the God of freakin Thunder, but the point is, I’m supposed to love you. I do love you, and I’m not Flash. Also, why do you think Flash has a chance with Thor? No, that’s not the important bit. Pietro, I know I broke up with you, but aren’t you… I don’t know… angry? It’s not like I waited particularly long,’ I said and he scoffed, shaking his head at me.
‘Flash is good man, these Asgard would be lucky to have him,’ Pietro argued and I felt my eyebrows shooting through my hairline.
‘ That’s what you’re focusing on, if the Gods would find Flash bangable?’ I exclaimed, immediately being shushed because I’d forgotten his adopted parents were just downstairs and he most certainly was not allowed to have girls in his bedroom. Least of all illegal immigrants from the United States. If that’s what I was.
‘No you is right, besides the point, but Sonechko, you did not sleep with this thunder man,’ Pietro pointed out, waggling a finger. ‘You is stopping, yes? You stop. You not sleep with Thor, why?’
‘It felt wrong. I still loved you, it felt insulting to your memory, it felt like I was betraying you,’ I explained and I watched a proud smile spreading across his face.
‘So even though we is breaking, you still care about Pietro, that is why I do not care,’ he told me and I sighed, putting my shoe down on the ground and taking a seat beside him again. He lifted the hand not currently on my arm to my hair, tucking the loose strands behind my ear. ‘Sonechko, I is in loving with you. This is more than this fling for me, why would I fret almosts?’
‘And Peter?’ I asked and he shrugged.
‘You didn’t mean to, why worry? You try to stop this, no?’ he said and I sighed, nodding. ‘See, no worries.’
‘Why is everything so painfully simple for you?’ I asked half heartedly and he smiled, pulling me back down to lay on the bed with him.
‘I has lived through war, I have seen new countries, I have learned new language, much change, complicated change. You is simple. Feelings, not complicated so long as you love Pietro, and Pietro loves you,’ he told me and I furrowed my brow.
‘Why do you keep slipping into the third person? You know referring to one’s self in the third person is one of the first signs of insanity, right?’ I said and he chuckled, rolling over so he was pinning me to the bed.
‘Yes but insane for you,’ he said cheerily, swinging a leg over and ducking down to kiss me deeply.
Wednesday 25th December 2013
Tiptoeing down the stairs at Pietro’s parents house, I unlatched the door and dropped my shoes down onto the doorstep. Sliding my feet into them, I turned to say one last goodbye. One step ahead of me, he had already ducked forwards to wrap his arms around me and kiss me deeply. Pulling away eventually with a pang in my chest, I continued my walk down the front path and out into the street. He offered me a single wave as I looked back before he closed the door and locked it behind me. Now. How the hell was I going to get back to New York in time for Christmas morning?
‘Uh, Heimdal? Any way I could sway you into getting me back to the Tower?’ I asked and felt a jolt as a ray of rainbows hit me like a bolt of lightning. Guess I had my answer. My insides surged and I was immediately met with a hard surface, hitting it with a thunk, white powder spraying up around me. Looking around, I glared at the offensive snow, shivering slightly as I pushed myself up.
Realising I was on the landing pad, I walked forwards to Tony’s balcony door and let myself inside. Padding across the soft carpets in my slightly wet sneakers, I spied Tony sitting at his kitchen counter in an ugly Christmas sweater, mug of something steaming in his hands. He raised his eyebrows at me and I continued my approach. He lifted his mug, offering me one of my own, but I simply shook my head. He shrugged it off and took another sip.
‘It’s Irish,’ he tried again and I screwed up my face. Alcohol turned Bonnie Carter into a bad girl, a slutty girl. Lessons were learned the last time. Although it might be more fair to blame the hallucinogenic drugs. ‘So you’re back, or is this just a flying visit?’
‘I’m back, I couldn’t leave Steve alone for Christmas,’ I explained and he nodded. ‘You should consider putting a heating element in your landing pad, like the back windscreen of a car, keep the snow off.’
‘Hmm,’ he said, making a face before pulling up one of JARVIS’s windows to make some notes as I continued on my path towards the apartment door. ‘You smell like sex by the way, you might wanna shower before you give ol’ capsicle a welcome back hug.’
Thankfully, Steve wasn’t home when I got back to our apartment, so I had time to do exactly that. Although I was still annoyed Tony seemed to know from a brief glance what I’d been up to before I got back. And he hadn’t even known where I was before this, so he likely didn’t know who it was. Great, so now I had a bit of a reputation too. Although in saying that, it was somewhat deserved, seeing as I had considered doing what he no doubt suspected me of. Cleaned up and in the kitchen, I had DVDs in a stack and I was making popcorn on the stove. Sure, it doesn’t exactly say “sorry I ran away to Asgard for nearly a month without so much as a goodbye” but how does one exactly apologise for that?
The front door went just as I was grinding down the salt in the mortar and pestle and I poked my head around the kitchen cabinets to Steve kicking his shoes off and putting them in the caddy by the door. I was pretty sure that was new. My book bag for school was in there too, he’d always said he wanted something for that. He glanced up at me and a warm smile spread across his features and he approached with open arms. Instantly relaxing, I closed the gap between us and ducked in for a well overdue hug.
‘I thought I smelled hot butter,’ he commented and I nodded against his chest.
‘I can’t make microwave popcorn, I always burn it,’ I explained with a shrug and he scoffed. ‘And it’s ghee. Clarified butter has a higher smoke point.’
‘You know, it’s supposed to be the easier one, right?’ he said and I smiled a lopsided smile.
‘Now when have you ever known me to do things the easy way?’ I said, making him laugh. We separated and he went through the stack of DVDs. Flicking through the glossy covers, he held each one up under the light, scrutinising the covers.
‘How is Gremlins a Christmas movie?’ he said sceptically, holding it out to look at me.
‘Takes place at Christmas,’ I said and he tucked it behind the next DVD. Shaking the pot on the stove, I tried to make sure each of the kernels were heated up enough to pop, and Steve shook his head at me. The ghee sizzled in the pot and kernels began to pop and explode out into crispy white clouds.
‘That’s like saying Die Hard is a Christmas movie… Bonnie, what is this, Santa With Muscles?’ he asked, looking at Hulk Hogan’s proud face and cut off sleeves lining the cover of an absolute classic 90s movie. He held that cover up as well, shaking his head this time in disbelief.
‘Don’t talk smack, that’s an amazing movie. Hulk Hogan is a fitness guru with a protein powder business, who gets a concussion and believes he’s Santa Clause, so he saves Christmas for a ragtag bunch of needy orphans,’ I explained and he raised an eyebrow at me. Waving my hands in the air, I grinned cheerily at him. ‘ C l a s s i c. ’
‘I’m sure,’ he muttered sarcastically. I sighed, turning the stove off once the majority of popping was done. Going over to the cabinet where the oversized bowl we used specifically for popcorn was kept, I pulled open the door by the fancy handle. ‘I got eggnog.’
‘You know, It’s A Wonderful Life is in there too, you grumpy old man,’ I told him and he rolled his eyes at me. It didn’t often make an appearance around me - as I suspected he was trying to be a good role model - I very much enjoyed sassy Steve. ‘Old people like black and white movies about cranky middle aged men, who don’t know how good they’ve got it, right?’
‘I’m only ninety one,’ he said, small smile on his face despite the faux iritation. Steve didn’t push, he wasn’t going to make me talk about why I left, how long I was gone for, or why I’d come back. He was just happy I was back, and would let me come to him in my own time, when I was ready.
So the early hours of the morning were spent binge watching movie after movie. And despite the childish nature of the cheap fart gas jokes, I did manage to catch him laughing at Santa With Muscles. Leaning back against the couch pillows as the credits flashed up, I waited for JARVIS to automatically change the DVD disc to the next movie in our stack. Unaccompanied Minors, another classic. Well, it was only seven years old, but that counted, right? Peter and I had made a tradition of watching it every year since we first saw it in theatres. It was a shame he couldn’t be here to watch it, and maybe wouldn’t ever again, but at least I always had Steve.
Spencer and Katherine’s dad’s car had just exploded and I glanced over at Steve who was rubbing his face with his hand. He seemed almost embarrassed for the guy and it was sweet. Sighing, I felt bad for ruining the moment, or that I was about to. Pulling my legs up onto the couch with me, I crossed my ankles and held my knees at my chest with my arms. Steve lifted the TV remote, pressing pause on the feed and turned his body towards me. Clearly he was enjoying this film as well, if he was pausing it, rather than letting it play in the background.
‘I wanted to know more about… When I told Nova what happened that night, when Peter… Well, he said it didn’t work on him. He’d not originally from earth, said something about a failed Nova Corps mission, whatever that means… Said he’s always known something was a little off with me, and that my siren-y powers don’t work with him. So the idea struck me…’
‘The only other person you know that’s not from earth is Thor, and he’d already invited you to Asgard, and you didn’t tell me, because you thought I’d stop you?’ he said and I tilted my head to the side in thought for a moment. Shaking my head, I gave him a shrug.
‘Not exactly, I thought you might talk it out with me, make me see sense, and reason, make me wait until winter break or something, and also I felt like…’ I sighed, looking at my lap. He put a hand on my knee and gave it a squeeze.
‘You can tell me anything, you know,’ he assured me and I nodded, still looking at my lap. Biting my lip for a moment, I tried to phrase this in the least offensive way I could.
‘I couldn’t face you, see you, after what I did when I freed my friends, I knew I took it too far, and I was ashamed. You always… you always see the best in people, you have such faith in me, and even though you’d probably never say it, I felt like I let you down, and I couldn’t live with the shame,’ I explained and I watched his eyebrows droop, those disappointed guilt trippers he kept on his face for personal chats. ‘I was a coward, so I ran away. But I… I got training, I learned things, about this work, about me, my history. ’
‘Thor never was good with all that,’ Steve sighed, running a hand over his face. He put his palms flat on his thighs as he leaned his head back on the backrest of the couch, looking irritated and defeated. ‘We agreed not to tell you, because of your own rules. I didn’t know anything about it until I woke up last year, until after the Chitauri invasion. And when they told me what you could do, they said you might not know yet, and not to mess with things. I’m sorry I kept this from you, especially since I preached honesty from you.’
‘It’s okay Steve, when the fate of the world rests in preventing a potential paradox from imploding and crushing us all, you’re allowed to keep things from me, there can be exceptions to that rule,’ I told him, and he laughed breathily.
‘So how much do you know?’ he asked and I shrugged awkwardly. ‘Thor at least stick to those rules then, huh?’
‘Yeah pretty much. I asked for answers, and he left me with more questions than when I started,’ I said and he sighed again.
‘Such is life, I’m afraid, kiddo,’ he said, picking up the remote and starting the movie up again. Well, at least we’d cleared the board, fresh start from here. Well, almost fresh start, I had one more pressing question.
‘Am I grounded or…?’ I asked and he outright laughed, a bark sounding deep within his chest.
‘As if I could keep you here if I tried,’ he said and then shushed me, grabbing the popcorn bowl. So he really did like this movie. Noted. I was definitely publishing this to my Avengers fan blog on Tumblr. People would go nuts.
By the time Christmas breakfast rolled around, Steve herded me upstairs to Tony’s apartment, where I had been not hours ago, to meet with the others. Apparently, since last year, exchanging of gifts was customary. While I had been prepared for this eventuality, I thought I was just being sweet. Steve seemed less onboard with my gifts, when he had been lumped with transporting them upstairs. Irritatedly, but remaining silent, he held more paintings than any ordinary man could. Probably.
‘You couldn’t have done sketches?’ he huffed, lugging a stack of five paintings into the elevator. Grinning at him, I gave him a lighthearted shrug as we approached the rowdy noise of the others already gathered. Hopefully Bruce wouldn’t be too offended with his particular painting.
‘There we are, Princess, so glad you could join us, I see you have Cap taking up the mantle of errand boy,’ Tony greeted and I gave a tight to the chest wave. ‘And what are these? More additions to my very popular new gallery?’
‘Where you chose to display your Christmas gift is up to you, although I rather think you’ll wanna put this one up here alongside the one of Thor, you seem to like it when I repaint the classics,’ I said and he beamed, skipping over to open his present first. After unceremoniously ripping off the butcher's paper I’d covered it with, he gleaned down at it, laughing like a madman.
‘The last supper, really Princess?’ he asked, presenting it to the group. Shaking my head, I distributed the rest to each of them, handing Bruce’s his last, a little sheepish as I did. Biting my lip, I held onto the painting a little longer than necessary when he took it.
‘I uh… I hope you’re not upset by yours, I just painted what came to mind so..’ I said and he smiled reassuringly at me, taking it from my hands when I was finally able to prise my fingers off.
Clint seemed happy with his rendition of Wanderer Above The Sea Of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich, in which he was standing in the same spot, only this time with a bow and arrow aimed. Tasha gave a hint of a smile at her Flaming June by Frederic Leighton, and I was still on the fence about whether or not that was the famous painting I should have picked for her, it was an awful lot of red and orange, given her hair. But Girl With A Pearl Earring By Johannes Vermeer didn’t seem quite right, and The Lady Of Shalott By John William Waterhouse seemed too sad. The blissful sleeping face in Flaming June seemed to suit her, although admittedly I’d only ever seen her asleep once. Bruce got The Scream by Edvard Munch, not as the Hulk, like many would have predicted. No, I’d wanted to depict the anguish he often felt at transforming into a being other than himself, helpless against his own actions. But I didn’t want this painting to make him feel like I saw him as a monster.
‘Uh,’ Steve said, unwrapping his. Steve got Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals for no other reason than I wanted the opportunity to paint a silly moustache on him. ‘It’s the moustache, isn’t it?’
‘Sorry,’ I giggled. He smiled, shaking his head and put the painting on the coffee table so the others could see, and also laugh as much as I was. Natasha handed out very personal scrapbooks to each of us, and the only one who didn’t seem rattled by the collection of intrusive photos and documents so lovingly displayed over the decorated pages was Clint.
‘Thanks Nat,’ he said cheerfully and fingered through the pages of his scrapbook.
Flicking through my own, I saw many meetings I thought had been secret pictured on the pages, all with nice borders and stickers, some 3D, others foiled. And, as it would turn out, that day I’d bailed out of the apartment when she’d been supposed to be babysitting me, she had been following, and had a nice aerial shot of me walking towards a train platform. She’d even captured the day I’d been running through the streets of Manhattan. As well as some comments praising me on my speed run, there was also a picture of me with Power Man and Iron Fist. And of course, one captured me with the Winter Soldier. Glancing at her, she looked back at me with an innocent, almost blank expression and I knew I needed to discuss some things with her when everyone else cleared out for breakfast.
God, I’d been back a day and I was already up to my eyeballs in trouble. Not to mention, I still had to actually deal with the whole killing people thing. Steve had given me a free pass, but I still felt like I’d done something wrong. Four people died. Sure, they were bad guys, but they likely still had families, people who would miss them, and I turned their jobsite into a river of blood with JARVIS’s help. Steve handed me a present from under the tree that had been wrapped in newspaper, and I fingered the tag sadly. It didn’t need to have a tag on it for me to know who it was from, and Steve gave me a sympathetic squeeze on the shoulder. Great Grandma Margaret never missed a birthday, and never missed Christmas, despite her Alzheimer's, she never forgot those things. Unwrapping the paper carefully, I folded out the paper and looked at the piece she’d chosen. She always seemed to wrap it in pages that held some sort of importance, what, I still hadn’t figured out yet.
‘What’cha got there, kiddo?’ Steve asked and I shifted the old newspaper for him to see. ‘Sunday, April 21 1946.’
‘Grandma Margaret always wraps gifts in old newspapers, I never really took much notice in it before, but I did note they all held significant headlines. What the significance is, I don’t know,’ I explained, glancing at the headline.
STARK FAILS TO CONVINCE
THIRD DAY OF TESTIMONY EXPECTED
CAPTAIN AMERICA ALLY YET
TO EXPLAIN WEAPONS SALE
‘Do you think it could be to do with your travel?’ he asked and I shrugged. It was odd, hearing him so casually discussing the fact that somehow, my future self had time travelled and met all my current friends, and my great grandparents.
‘I don’t know, I still don’t even really know how I do, when I do,’ I said, putting the paper down. ‘Hell, there might not even be any significance. She still thinks I’m her friend from the war, and it’s still going. Look at this,’ I said, picking up the Captain America brand first aid kit. ‘She’s giving me supplies, but, kind of useless when you think about it. If I actually was out in the war, needed to restock my nurse’s kit, I’d need a hell of a lot more than some plastic band-aids, and some-man-out-of-the-ice wound spray.’
‘Maybe there’s more to it than that,’ he said with a shrug and I groaned. Why couldn’t old men just give it to me straight?
With the breakfast spread out in a buffet style setting, everyone loaded up their plates and returned to the plush couches surrounding the TV. Tucking my feet under myself as I sat on my knees, I rested my plate on my lap and pushed my food around my plate. There was still so much bothering me about everything going on in my life. Tasha clearly knew more than she was letting on, and the fact she was dropping hints in my scrapbook, meant she wanted to talk, and Steve straight hadn’t said anything about the seven total people I’d killed, and I found that odd. If I had a foster kid in my charge and they’d murdered that many - hell, even one person - I’d sure have a lot to say. Glancing over at him, I made a face. Something he tuned into almost immediately. He turned away from Miracle On Thirty Fourth Street and gave me his full attention.
‘What is it?’ he asked and I looked down at my plate, deciding on ditching it entirely and placing it gently on the coffee table with my knife and fork.
‘So you really don’t care I killed four people?’ I asked and he looked a little taken aback. ‘You’re not going to say anything? Like at all?’
‘Four people?’ he echoed and I huffed, bouncing my head from side to side.
‘Well, seven total,’ I corrected and he shook his head at me, though not in disagreement like I thought it would be. No, he was doing so in confusion and disbelief.
‘Bonnie,’ he said gently, putting his own nearly empty plate on the coffee table beside mine. His cutlery were placed neatly on the plate, indicating he at least had the intention of going back to it, or so said the silly etiquette rules Grandma Margaret had taught me for fun when I was little. ‘There were no survivors when SHIELD got to that factory.’
‘What??’ I said, shaking my head in disbelief. Now it was my turn to be confused. While it was likely me throwing a grenade under that jeep had killed some additional people to my mental totallings, not a single survivor? No, that couldn’t be right.
‘That wasn’t you and this Nova guy?’ he asked and I shook my head more violently, still aghast by the prospect that everyone there that day had died, and Steve thought I’d been the one to do it.
‘No,’ I replied, reaching up to start tugging on my hair. ‘This doesn’t make sense, I was nonlethal, after the explosion everyone was still alive, I only shot the special guards in the control room, and to be fair, that was JARVIS’s fault.’
‘Hey, don’t blame him, he’s AI, he didn’t know any better,’ Tony remarked from the armchair not far from us, indicating he was listening in on our conversation. It was likely they all were, but I didn’t really care at this point. They all thought I was a mass murderer. They all thought I was a mass murderer, and were eating Christmas breakfast with me.
‘I asked him to help me out, because I had only four rounds left, and I needed to make them count, I didn’t realise he thought I meant killing them, but I took the shots anyway, I was really cut up about it, but I didn’t kill those other guys, I left them for you guys,’ I explained, shaking my head as I held my hair in my tight grasp. ‘I don’t understand, how could they all be dead?? I thought we’d finally figure out who these guys were, who sold our identities, who tapped the school! And they’re just dead?! ’
‘Well that’s probably why they did it,’ Tasha remarked, sipping her coffee easily. ‘Think about it, if you’re compromised, injured but left alive, you can be captured and interrogated.’
‘Hill said in the debriefing there was a new compound found in their blood, we were unsure of what it was, or did,’ Clint said, further explaining things. They didn’t need to tell me the rest, but I glanced at Tasha again anyway.
‘But with your report, and our working theory, it was likely a compound similar to cyanide,’ she finished and I groaned in frustration, putting my head entirely in my lap and crumpling in on myself.
‘Pocket J, bring up the body cam footage from the factory,’ I said eventually, although my voice came out rather muffled thanks to my face being dressed into my lap.
Everyone got to watch as the Jeep exploded and I fought my way inside. There was some amusement from Tony, Tasha, and Clint when Sam and I had had some Looney Tunes level shenanigans when exploring the unguarded cages. Clint and Tasha seemed impressed with my shooting abilities when it came to the four special guards, and I couldn’t read the expression on Steve’s face, not while I was in this position anyway. Sitting up as I started to grow sore, I looked at him, watching for any hint of what he was thinking. The footage looped and there was some concern on the other’s features as it settled in what this meant for all of us, but I still couldn’t get a read on Steve.
‘Steve?’ I asked weakly, desperation clearly sounding in my voice. He sighed, leaning his head against the backrest of the couch. Here came the disappointed eyebrows I feared so much.
‘That’s a relief,’ he said and I jerked upright in further confusion. ‘I didn’t really know how to handle this, if it had been you and your friend. I know I said I could separate what’s happened in the past from you, that it wasn't your fault, and you made the choices you had to, it was hard to excuse this. This seemed like I was letting you get too deep, that this was too big for you, beyond your abilities and what a kid your age should be doing.’
‘You’re not mad? Disappointed? Grounding me? Disowning me and sending me to an orphanage?’ I asked, spluttering slightly. He shook his head, relief very clearly evident on his face.
‘No, I’m relieved, but after today, I think we need to have a talk about your future in this business,’ he said and I nodded frantically. Oh thank God, I really thought he was going to stop loving me.
Chapter 50: Don't Shoot Me Santa
Chapter Text
Title Song: Don’t Me Santa - The Killers, Ryan Pardey
Bonnie Carter POV
Wednesday 25th December 2013
With our plans of watching Miracle On Thirty Fourth Street dead and in the dust, we all agreed to go home and regroup later for lunch. Remarking I had nothing to wear, Tasha very quickly opted to invite me to her apartment - of which I have never been to in the entirety of the four months I’d lived in the Tower - and I agreed. Nothing she owned would fit me right, she was not only six inches taller than me, she was also a lot better built. While I had some footballer’s muscles on me, and Pietro certainly didn’t seem to mind my ass or tits, I wasn’t built like she was. There was nothing wrong with that, women came in all different shapes and sizes, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was taken with how beautiful she was, and how I wondered if I’d ever compare. None of that mattered of course, because it was all a ruse to get some privacy to talk to her about the scrapbook.
‘Tasha, you can see I’m in over my head,’ I said desperately as she twisted her key in the lock. Given that she was in her pyjamas, I had no idea where she was keeping it, or why she even bothered locking the door in the Tower. In fact, she had very strict security measures in place for this apartment, and several different kinds of locks to go through before we were able to get inside. Guess you could take the spy out of the KGB, but you couldn’t take the KGB out of the spy.
‘I know,’ she remarked simply, glancing over her shoulder at me as she pushed open the door. Steve and Tony’s apartments were both kind of blank, sure they were well decorated, but they felt like display apartments filled with rented furniture with the intent to sell said apartment to potential buyers. Tasha’s apartment, though similar in size to the one Steve and I shared, was cosy.
It maybe shouldn’t have come as such a shock, but it was well lived in, warm. The couch was covered in soft, brightly coloured blankets, throw pillows, rugs on the floor gave pops of more colour. The furniture wasn’t bland or hard shaped, everything in here was soft looking, inviting. It was easily the nicest, most homey feeling place I’d been in in a long while, and it helped take the tension off a little. She ushered me into the living area, offering me a tea and immediately going to brew it on the stovetop like Grandma Margaret used to. Leaving me alone in the living space, I tucked myself under the many blankets on the plush surface of the couch, sinking into the very very soft cushions. Already I felt like a weight was off my shoulders and sitting on the floor next to me, although I suspected this feeling was only temporary. Tasha came back over with fun coloured mugs and a plate of cookies that looked home baked.
‘You can bake?’ I asked, picking up a chocolate chip and thinking warmly of Grandpa Daniel’s homemade cookies. He was quite the baker in his old age, and took very quickly to spoiling me with them regularly. Oh how I would give anything for one more afternoon of reading together with a plate of his warm cookies and milk.
‘Betty Crocker packet mix, sure,’ she said with a dismissive shrug. ‘Now, are you going to come clean about this Winter Soldier stuff?’ Staring at her blankly, I held the cookie in my hand, pausing before I could put it in my mouth. ‘So much for no secrets. Or does that courtesy only extend to Steve? I bet he doesn’t know what you get up to.’
‘He’s not murdered me, and he had the chance, God he’s had every chance,’ I said, shaking my head in embarrassment. ‘I… He’s helpful, almost whimsical when we interact, he’s not stoic, or scary like when I first met him, he’s evolving.’
‘It won’t stay that way,’ she warned, looking empathetic. I raised an eyebrow. ‘When he develops too much personality, they always wipe him.’
‘How do you…’ I started and she waved me off.
‘I never believed he was a ghost story, how could I? He trained me,’ she explained and I blinked. Shaking my head a little, I dropped the half eaten cookie back on the plate to give her my full attention. ‘In the Red Room, when I trained in the Widow Program, seniors with promise underwent training by the asset. When I first started with him, he was stoic, unrelenting in any way, the more time I spent with him, the more human he became, until one day, he was wiped. It was like he was reset back to factory settings, had no memory of the relationship he built up.’
‘When we got caught up in that old SHIELD facility, he was there while I waited for you to come get Peter, he told me the chamber in there was his, the chair was used to torture him, I was hoping to figure out who he was before, help free him,’ I explained and she looked at me with deep concern. She shook her head.
‘You don’t understand just how dangerous that would be,’ she started and I cut her off, arcing up almost immediately.
‘It doesn’t matter! None of that matters, what’s happening to him is cruel, it’s wrong, and you should always stand up…’ I started but she cut me off rather firmly, snapping at me as I tried to push.
‘There’s so much more at work than you understand, it’s far too deep for you to be able to do, and if anyone else knew what you were up to, you’d have been stopped long ago,’ she said and I sighed, here we go. ‘Even if it wasn’t, they’d never even let you get close. Whoever is in possession of the asset now, believe me, you don’t want anything to do with that. You need to stay away from him, I’m serious. No more meeting up with him on rooftops, and in alley ways. Don’t.’
‘Or what?’ I bit back and she shot me a look that honestly shook me to my core. I forgot, momentarily, that I wasn’t dealing with a family member, not really, this was a trained assassin and she could wipe me off the face of the earth almost immediately.
‘You don’t really mean that,’ she said simply, picking up a cookie to eat leisurely, a relaxed look on her face. ‘You don’t want the team finding out about this, it stops now .’
‘Blackmailing a minor? Aren’t there laws against that?’ I scoffed and she raised a perfectly manicured brow at me. Deciding this was a fight I did not under any circumstances want to have, I dropped the subject almost immediately. Sighing, I slumped further back against my pillows. ‘Will you help me with this… siren thing? Before I came back, I went to see Pietro. He says he wants me to practise using my powers on him, he wants to prove he really does love me, and I… god I want so bad for everything between us to be real, but honestly, I just feel like a monster. I could be hurting so many people, and I hate feeling like this. I feel the same about this as I do about killing all those people. I’m in so over my head.’
‘I’ll help you,’ she agreed easily. ‘Of course I’ll help you.’
Things tapered off then, and we sat in relative silence eating her packet mix cookies and sipping the tea she’s prepared. It was some kind of black tea, it was sweet to the taste, almost malty and smoky. Admittedly, I didn’t know much about tea, other than my great grandmother favoured it so, but I could taste certain nuances, subtle flavours, each more interesting than the last. Oh how I wished I understood the finer things in life, it wasn’t so much I was ashamed of my white trash life growing up in the poverty of queens - it hadn’t always been that way after all, and growing up in the harsh conditions of lower end New York was nothing to be ashamed of - but I did wish I knew more about things, about the world. I wanted to understand everything, the more I knew, perhaps I’d finally stop being in over my head. Although learning what made each cultures respective teas probably wouldn’t help me in the grand scheme of things. It wouldn’t help me end crime here in New York, or help get homeless off the street. It wouldn’t protect the children to helpless and unequipped to help themselves.
Ever prepared for every situation, Tasha did in fact have something for me to wear today. Apparently she had been preparing for multiple occasions wherein I would face the unlikely occurrence of being without an appropriate outfit. Featuring a high neckline, and a 60s waistline and a knee length skirt, it somehow managed to combine short almost spaghetti straps and yet still modestly cover my underarms and chest. She paired it with a simple necklace, a single pearl sitting in the hollow of my clavicle, and some Cuban heeled Mary Janes. Returning downstairs to Steve and I’s floor, I sat in further silence as he helped me sculpt my hair to suit the outfit. I should feel pampered, but honestly I was on autopilot, my mind weighed down so heavily by everything I was thinking about.
Lunch wasn’t as jovial as Thanksgiving dinner had been, the air was much more sombre as we all explored silently what was to come. All the weight I’d lifted off my shoulders by seeing Pietro again was gone, as was the comfort I’d gotten from enjoying old movies with Steve. Something didn’t sit right within me about what Tasha had told me, how could I simply drop all the work I’d done with my Winter friend and leave him to suffer through all that alone. I promised I’d help find him, that I’d help free him somehow. I couldn’t in good conscience abandon him without a second though, not when he was the only thing that made sense to me. As dessert was being set out, I excused myself under the guise of jetlag and headed to the Lobby.
Heels clacking on the marble floors, I walked past the usual concierge and offered him a small wave. He nodded back at me as I reached the doorman, who also greeted me fondly, with a smile and the tip of his hat. The sidewalk underfoot was covered in snow, and I regretted my decision to leave without a winter coat. Folding my arms over my chest, I shuddered slightly and looked for an alley free of cameras. Looking around I managed to spot my eyes in the sky and smiled fondly up at him. He showed no acknowledgement at the gesture but I paid that no mind as I leapt upwards to reach the fire escape’s entry ladder. Swinging a little as it whooshed down, I felt my toes reach the ground again. Rungs of the ladder sitting in the arch of my Mary Janes, I pulled myself up to the first platform of the fire escape.
The biting cold slightly burned my fingers as I made my way to the top and the cold concrete of the half wall encircling the roof was not much better. Hoisting myself upwards, I swung my legs over the edge and hit the rooftop with a light clunk. Smiling, I made my way over to his side. He stared at me and I noticed he was back to wearing the goggles and mask. It was pretty icy out here, and he was wearing his glove again, the mask and goggles were probably to protect him from the chill in the air. He probably didn’t have much to do while I was off planet, I wondered if he'd made much progress in finding himself.
‘So I found out a little about who you are,’ I said, hugging myself again for warmth. Rubbing my hands up and down my biceps, I tried to keep what little heat that remained in my body there. ‘Well, at least a place you’ve been before now. You had any luck?’
He stared at me, and while I couldn’t actually read his expression behind his mask and goggles, it seemed blank. Frowning, I shuffled closer, using his taller frame as a wind block. Taking his gloved hand in mine, I tried to give it a comforting squeeze. He swatted my hand away with a slap and I recoiled a little bit. Dropping my hands to my side, I tried to work out why he could possibly be angry with me. While he hadn’t known where I was the past few weeks, I didn’t owe him any explanation of my whereabouts. What was I supposed to do? Take him off world with me while I found myself so he could continue to keep tabs? That was nuts.
‘What do you know about the Red Room, it’s a program spearheaded by Soviet Russia and then taken over by the KGB,’ I explained and he remained standing to attention in front of me, expressionless, and almost statue-like. ‘In the 90s, you trained the senior widows in private training, one of your students was Natasha Romanoff, then Natalia Alianovna Romanova. Apparently the longer you spent there the more of your memories you got back, the more personality. And they’d wipe you again, I’m worried that… you’ve been out of the ice for a while. I’m worried it’s only a matter of time before they do it again, please, you have to disappear. Break free of them while you still have the chance.’
He continued to stare, saying nothing as he loomed over me. He hadn’t said a word at all in the entire time I’d been up here. Anger didn’t seem quite right, there was no emotion at all in him and that worried me. Tasha had said it was only a matter of time, perhaps I’d been too late. Cautiously, I stepped forwards again, going for his hand. He swatted it away like I was an annoying fly in the summer heat, clinging to his sweaty face. He reached up with his left hand, ice frozen metal encircling my neck, holding tightly. His grip burned my skin, pressing in deep enough to bruise. Coughing, I clawed at his finger joints, attempting however weakly to prise them off. Choking desperately, I tried to free myself, knowing now this wasn’t him, this wasn’t my Friendly Neighbourhood Edgelord, this was my Christmas nightmare. This was the uncomfortable and unwelcome visit from Krampus every little kid who’d seen that horror movie feared.
‘Please,’ I gasped out weakly, kicking my legs out as he started to lift me off the ground. The toes of my heels scraped on the concrete as he strode towards the edge of the rood with firm, measured steps. ‘Don’t do this, you’re my friend.’
‘You’re my mission,’ he said evenly, voice not altering in the slightest, or showing any sign of emotion whatsoever. It was monotoned, completely devoid of the amused whimsy he normally spoke to me with.
Throwing me with the same amount of power and strength as he had in summer, I fell over the back of the rooftop, hitting my back on the safety railing for the fire escape. Crying out, I was so winded and shocked at the action, I didn’t have time to catch myself before I continued to fall, head hitting the safety railing of the landing below with a sickening crack. My head bounced off every one until I made contact with the ground, my back erupting with fiery pain I was too delirious to really register. The snow melted into my dress, chilling me to my core as I lay on the ground below, staring up at the dark figure looming over me. I’d come too late to help my friend, instead all that remained was the Winter Bastard, devoid of all humanity once again.
Steve Rogers POV
The sight of Clint in an ugly woven Christmas sweater should have been funny, whimsical, and Bonnie’s dress and hair being reminiscent of the way it used to be in the 40s should have brought a smile to my face, but it hadn’t. Instead I was too wracked with worry about what the future may hold for her, that this sizable enemy she’d discovered was quickly becoming a world level threat. Her immortal soul was in peril, as she very quickly upped her personal body count. This wasn’t the life I wanted for her when I signed on to be her legal guardian. I wanted her to go to the movies with friends, I wanted her to have a home, a safe place to do her homework and prepare for college. Instead all she got was a lifetime of danger and trouble.
‘Well,’ I sighed, standing up from the seldom used dining table Tony kept in his apartment, wanting to take a step back from all this grandeur. ‘I’d better go check on Bonnie, make sure all of this really is jetlag, and not something else bothering her. Thank you for hosting us for dinner, Tony.’
‘Hey, no problem, it’s better than spending it alone. Pepper’s home with her parents now she’s made up with them, course, that was actually Bonnie in a disguise, hopefully she doesn’t figure that out,’ Tony says. ‘And Happy’s vacationing in Hawaii, so it was just going to be me.’
‘Most of us would have been alone, Tony,’ Tasha commented, pushing back her chair and standing up. She walked to my side, standing up on her toes to press a kiss to my cheek. ‘Merry Christmas, Steve.’
‘Mister Stark, there is an urgent alert for you regarding Miss Carter’s monitoring system,’ JARVIS chimed in and I pulled away from Natasha in shock.
‘What’s the message, J?’ Tony said, snapping into action.
‘Miss Carter is unconscious three blocks away, vital signs are critical, and body scans indicate grievous bodily harm,’ he explained and I ran to the elevator.
‘Send me her location!’ I barked, diving in the opening doors. Pressing the button for the parking garage, I headed for my SHIELD issue car. While I could have been there in no time, it was only three blocks, if she was as injured as JARVIS told us, I’d need to drive to get her out of whatever situation she was in. We seriously needed to have a talk with her about her leaving the tower without letting someone know where she was going, or that she was gone.
Almost unable to find her despite the coordinates JARVIS had given, I pushed through the falling snow. Blanketed in a cocoon of fresh powder, I barely noticed her body. Wiping it away, I looked down at her blue skin, eyeing the blood frozen under her head. Scooping her up carefully, I carried her back to the backseat of my car. Laying her down, I strapped her in as best as I could, looking up at the sound of approaching footsteps. Tasha was running towards me, cheeks flushed and wind burnt as she approached. Without a word, she climbed into the backseat beside Bonnie, supporting her head and neck with her thighs.
‘How bad is it?’ I asked as I pulled the driver’s side door shut and peeled out of the alley way I’d found her in. Glancing into the backseat once I was on the main road, I spied her shining her cell phone’s built-in flashlight into Bonnie’s eyes, peeling her lids back one by one.
‘Her pupils are dilated, and unresponsive to light,’ Tasha said grimly. ‘I’m not sure of any spinal damage, but her skull’s cracked open, I can feel that just with my hands.’
‘What the hell happened?’ I said angrily, slamming my hands against the steering wheel as I wove around the slow moving cars. Traffic laws be damned, there was something more at stake. ‘Do we take her to the tower or…’
‘Number one ranked hospital in New York is New York-Presbyterian, number one for specifically neurosurgery is NYU Langone. It’s up to you, Steve, if we get her back to the tower, the medical staff there could stabilise her for airlift to either one, or we could go straight there,’ she explained, looking down at her phone screen. On one hand, if the injuries were specific to her head, neck and spine, the neurology place was where we should go, but with Christmas traffic and all this snow, maybe it was better to airlift her. On the other hand, could a chopper fly with all this bad weather?
‘We go back to the Tower,’ I announced, feeling very unsure in my decision, but hopefully Bruce could put my mind at ease, along with the other medical staff on hand. Not to mention, Tony had state of the art biomedical scanning systems which could give us the most in-depth report on what was happening to her.
As it would turn out, nothing could put my mind at ease, not even the rest of the team sitting in the waiting room on the hospital’s surgical floor, waiting for Bonnie to pull through. It didn’t put my mind at ease that we got instantaneous flight clearance, it didn’t put my mind at ease there was little turbulence despite the harsh weather conditions, it didn’t even put my mind at ease that the surgeons had a perfect road map from Tony of Bonnie’s injuries. I was starting to believe nothing could put me at ease. She had a whole team of surgeons working on her, they’d even called in a specialist from New York-Presbyterian anyway as he was apparently the number one surgeon in America and had held the title for over a decade.
‘Steve, Philip E. Stieg is one of the best neurosurgeons in the world, forget America, and he has expertise in base skull surgery,’ Natasha told me, and I could see her looking up the world rankings on her phone. ‘This is the best neurosurgery department in New York, she couldn’t be in safer hands.’
‘It doesn’t bother you that they were all so eager to jump at the chance? You saw her scans, I find it hard to believe that not even one of them was apprehensive,’ I said and she shrugged.
‘Surgery is a highly competitive field,’ she explained and I sighed, leaning back against the hard plastic chairs.
‘I don’t want them clambering over each other eager at the possibility to work on the great grandchild of an Avenger, I want them to be taking this seriously, I could lose her today, and she’s my only living family,’ I said and Tasha nodded, looking a little hurt by my comments. Lifting an arm, I put it around her shoulders and she shrugged it off instantly. ‘It’s not that I don’t care about you guys too, but both my parents died when I was a teenager, I had no family, I found it again in Bucky, later Bonnie, and lost them both all over again. I understand found families, and I recognise their importance, but she’d actual blood. I have an actual, living family member, but if she keeps this up, it won’t be for long.’
‘I know Steve,’ she said with a sigh. She leaned her head on my shoulder, seeming to forgive me for what I’d said earlier, and she slipped her impossibly tiny hand over my own, gripping it tightly. ‘Our girl is going to be just fine.’
‘There’s so many things she’s yet to experience,’ I said and she nodded, keeping her head on my shoulder, her red hair falling over my back longer now than it had been when I met her last year. ‘With everything that’s been going on, I haven’t even had the chance to tell her about us.’
‘She’ll be okay with it,’ Tasha assured me, and I knew she would, but I’d preached honesty and hadn’t exactly been a shining example of that lately. First the time travel, and now this. Although it hadn’t been particularly long, sometime between Bonnie’s football final, and her coming back this morning I’d realised just how well Tasha fit with me. Who knew if it would last, I hoped it would, but there was still so much I didn’t even know about her.
‘I know,’ I said noncommittally. She lifted her head off my shoulder to look at me, trying to get a read on me. She was always studying me, at first it had been off putting, her always watching, staring, but it had shifted into a comfort. Someone cared enough to watch me, gauge my reactions.
‘Are you?’ she asked and my head snapped round to stare at her, shock written all over my face. ‘Steve, are you okay with us?’
‘I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t, Tasha,’ I told her firmly. It was odd seeing someone so sure of themselves with a hint of insecurity. ‘Nat, listen to me, I used to think I was a one woman man, when I met you, I respected you, found reassurance in your confidence and skill, you’ve been a better friend to me than I could ever imagine. And now I get to call you my girl, if I wasn’t sure, I wouldn’t play with you like that. Do you understand how lucky I feel, getting not one, but two great loves?’
‘Love?’ she echoed, scooting further back in her chair.
‘You know what I mean,’ I groaned, leaning back against the hard plastic chair again.
‘Mister Rogers,’ I heard and looked up to see the resident we’d spoken to earlier, standing in front of us, surgical gown and cap still on. ‘The surgery was successful, your daughter is being moved to recovery as we speak, in a few hours, you can go in and see her. Due to the extent of the damage and the swelling on the brain, it’ll be a while before we bring her round, but once we do, we’ll be able to assess her condition further.’
‘Thank you,’ I nodded and she smiled gently at Tasha and I.
‘Are there any questions I can answer?’ she asked and I shook my head.
‘No, so long as she’s okay, have someone let me know as soon as I can go see her,’ I said and she agreed easily, before departing and leaving us to it.
‘Cap,’ Tony said, standing up and groaning. He stretched, walking over to join us along with Barton and Bruce. ‘We’re gonna head back to the Tower now we know she’s going to be alright, let us know if you need anything.’
‘Will do, thanks Tony, everyone,’ I said, although it was hard to feel actual gratitude at a time like this. No weight had been lifted off my shoulders, there was still a long road to recovery ahead, and that was with her enhanced durability and genetic possession of the serum. The serum. ‘Wait, Bruce, I have something to ask.’
‘Name it, Steve,’ he said easily, pausing in his walk to the door. He stood in front of me and I thought carefully about what I was going to say.
‘Bonnie and I are the same blood type, right?’ I asked and he nodded.
‘Cap, they have a blood bank here in the hospital, they can get all the O positive they need downstairs,’ Bruce said and I shook my head. He paused, blinking at me before a look of realisation spread on his face.
‘Is it possible?’ I asked and he shrugged.
‘We didn’t think passing it down genetically was possible until we met Bonnie, so who knows, but it’s worth a try. She’ll probably be needing blood post surgery anyway, give me a moment,’ he said before he walked out of the waiting room and to the surgical reception desk. Overhead a page sounded for Doctor Stieg who was leading and overseeing her case, and I stood, readying myself for blood to be drawn. I wasn’t optimistic, it never hurt, not exactly, but it never quite went as smooth as when Bonnie had done it in the second world war. She was rude, crass and sometimes mean spirited back then, but she always had the best bedside hands of anyone I’d ever met. Her bedside manor could use some work, but she was always as gentle as she could be when it came to actual treatment.
Bonnie Carter POV
Saturday 5th January 2014
If I could just get my arms and legs to cooperate, I’d sit up and turn off that god awful alarm that was beeping right by my head. Furrowing my brow with annoyance, I pushed harder and managed to bring my hand up to slap the side of my pillow until I reached the end of my bed. Continuing on that path, I looked for the nightstand that no doubt held my alarm clock. Not finding it, I groaned in frustration and brought my hand to my face again, wiping my eyes. Blinking them open, I noticed the harsh white lighting in the room, and winced. This… didn’t look like a bedroom. Of course, I couldn’t recall what my own bedroom looked like, but I knew I wouldn’t have gone with hospital chic as my decorating style of choice.
‘Ah, you’re awake,’ a doctor said, walking into the room with a team of eager young students behind him. He was wearing dark grey scrubs, and his students also wore grey in a lighter tone. Glaring at him, I tried to work out why I was in a hospital, and why I suddenly had a major headache. ‘Do you know where you are?’ I raised an eyebrow.
‘I’m gonna go out on a limb and say a hospital, as for which one, you’re gonna have to fill in the blanks,’ I said bitterly. Everyone stared back at me in shock and I grew more annoyed. It was first thing in the morning - I think - and I’d been rudely awoken by the beep-y machine by my head, plus there was now a crowd of people ogling me. How rude.
‘Your speech ability is phenomenal,’ the dark grey guy commented. ‘Do you know what’s happened to you?’
‘I was rudely awoken by this noisy beeping thing,’ I said, gesturing to the machine host to a wiggly green line, and he smiled warmly. Shaking his head slightly, he walked over closer and brought out a light pen. Clicking it, he shone it in my eyes.
‘You were found three blocks from your apartment in the snow with significant head trauma, you’ve had a craniectomy, and are scheduled for a reconstructive cranioplasty, among other things, your surgery was ten hours long, and we had little faith with the extent of your brain injuries you’d wake up,’ he explained and I shook my head, instantly regretting it. Pain shot through me and I winced, reaching up to touch the sore spot, and regretted that too. ‘No, no, don’t touch.’
‘These are my surgical interns, they’ll be checking in on you, and will be happy to help you in any way you need,’ he explained and I nodded slowly so my head didn’t hurt. ‘Now, do you know who you are?’
Instantly, I opened my mouth to respond, and then I paused. Shaking my head, I realised, I didn’t. I didn’t know who I was. What kind of person didn’t know their own name? My first clue should have been being unable to recall the layout of my own bedroom, but it hadn’t sunk in until he’d asked me. I didn’t know my name, how old I was, or even really where I was. Bringing my hand up to my face, I cupped my mouth, feeling tears start to well in my eyes. Distress overtook me and immediately wanted someone. Who that person was, I also didn’t know.
‘Okay, you’re okay,’ my surgeon told me, putting what was meant to be a comforting hand on my shoulder. ‘Doctor Moore, see if you can track down Mister Rogers, or any relation to the patient.’
‘Right away Doctor Stieg,’ she replied and hurried out of the room. Wiping my eyes, I tried to pull myself together. Brain surgery, that did explain why the back of my head hurt. Sitting up further, I pulled my legs up towards me to sit cross legged and rested my elbows on my folded out knees.
‘You’re movement is good,’ Doctor Stieg commented as he read through what I presumed was my chart. ‘Your cerebellum took most of the impact, so we had concerns you would have difficulty moving around, and with your motor skills. The swelling caused secondary damage to your temporal lobe, more specifically your hippocampus which is…’
‘Where memory is stored,’ I nodded. Wait. How did I know that? We stared at each other for a moment, both wondering how I knew that. He smiled fondly at me.
‘You’re a premed student at Midtown Science Academy, I see some of that knowledge stuck around,’ he told me and I blinked at him. ‘But of course, that name means nothing to you, right?’ I nodded. ‘It’s a high school for gifted students specialising in the sciences. Your aptitude test scores recognised a certain affinity for the medical sciences, I believe you’re studying nursing.’
‘Right,’ I nodded and then glanced to the door when I heard footsteps approaching. A tall, very built blond man looked at me with relief and rushed past everyone else. His blue eyes and slightly darker eyebrows looked at me with concern as I stared blankly at him. Another, shorter man followed in after him, this one a brunette with a very silly beard.
‘Oh thank god you’re awake, Bonnie, you had me so worried,’ he said and I blinked at him again before turning to the other man. This brunette guy seemed incredibly familiar, I knew him somehow.
‘Everything okay, Princess?’ he asked and I cocked my head to the side, hadn’t the blond guy said my name was Bonnie? ‘Is everything okay with her, Doc?’
‘Miss Carter is experiencing a form on amnesia,’ he explained and I relished in the small victory that was me knowing that word
‘Oh kid,’ the brunette said sympathetically and I felt bad he looked so crushed. Actually, so did the blond guy. He glanced back at the doctor. ‘How permanent is it?’
‘We don’t know,’ Doctor Stieg said with a shrug. Well that was good news, I thought, rolling my eyes. Were doctors ever helpful? ‘We didn’t believe she would wake up, or even if she did that she could talk and move around, yet here she is, doing exactly that just over a week since her accident.’
‘Well, Bonnie, my name is Steve Rogers, your name is Bonnie Carter, we live together,’ the blonde guy started to explain.
‘What, like as my boyfriend? No offence, but you don’t really seem like my type. And so, this man… he is my father? He looks very familiar, if a little silly with his facial hair,’ I said, nodding to the brunette. This made a wide grin break out on his face and he burst out into laughter.
‘No Princess, I’m not your dad, I’m a family friend, I own the building you live in,’ he explained and I nodded. ‘My name is Tony.’
‘Tony…’ I said, rolling the name around in my mouth. That did seem familiar. ‘I did think it was a bit odd I’d be living with my boyfriend if I’m in high school like Doctor Stieg just told me I was. So then… who are you?’
‘Well, it’s a bit of a long story, I’m your great grandfather,’ he said and I scoffed, outright laughing after a moment.
‘Okay, good joke, make fun of the amnesiac. That’s a bit sick, you know that right? You can’t be more than twenty five, and you expect me to believe you’re my great grandparent? Fuck off,’ I said and despite my rudeness, and cursing, everyone seemed quite pleased I’d reacted this way.
‘Well, her personality is intact,’ Tony said, smiling and bounding over to sit on the edge of my bed. ‘He’s telling the truth, Princess, but he’s right about it being a long story, also one that’s a bit larger than life. He’s also your legal guardian.’
‘Why doesn’t he look familiar to me, you do,’ I told Tony and he shrugged.
‘I went to MIT,’ he answered and I nodded. That actually seemed familiar to me, correct even. ‘Well,’ he said, glancing back at the team of interns and the … attending. ‘What do we do about jogging the old noggin?’
‘Attending,’ I said and everyone glanced at me. I nodded to Stieg. ‘If they’re your interns, and your scrubs are a different colour, you’re leading this… the rounds? Then you’re their attending, right?’
‘That’s right,’ he praised. ‘Well, I can’t give you a schedule, or any promises if her full memory will return, but Bonnie seems to be doing just fine. I’d suggest gentle exposure to things and people she knows, and it might bring things back.’
‘I’ll have Tasha bring in her scrapbook, see if the photos help,’ Steve said and I glanced at him, brow furrowing in confusion. ‘Tasha is my girlfriend, we work together.’
‘I scrapbook?? That doesn’t seem right,’ I said and Tony scoffed, shaking his head. ‘I mean, I think I might be creative, but scrapbooking ? That’s such a lame hobby.’
‘Don’t tell Nat you think that, she made it as your Christmas present. Plus, pissing off a dangerous assassin is probably the last thing you wanna do in your condition,’ Tony said and I looked at him.
‘Are you serious?’ I asked, nodding to Steve. ‘My mid twenties, great grandfather is dating an assassin who scrapbooks? You do understand how insane that sounds, right?’
‘Well, I’m sorry sweetheart, but a lot of the stuff in your life is going to sound pretty insane, but I’ll be here to help you get through it, I promise,’ Steve said and I rolled my eyes again. It seemed pretty rude to be doing, if he really was my family, but I mean, I didn’t know this man.
‘I imagine that would be a greater comfort to me, if I actually knew who you were,’ I said and he smiled warmly at me, not even telling me off for my rude behaviour, like a proper adult should.
Chapter 51: I Will Remind You
Chapter Text
Title Song: I Will Remind You - Brian Asselin
Bonnie Carter POV
Wednesday 22nd January 2014
This Steve guy was standing outside my private room arguing with the head doctor on my case. Apparently he was quite well renowned, and this was a very prestigious institute in the city of New York. This however, didn’t matter to Steve, as my progress wasn’t progressing enough. His girlfriend stood beside him, trying to calm the situation down, but I didn’t see things getting any less volatile anytime soon. He was a concerned loved one, it would be weird if he wasn’t upset. Sighing, I pushed up off my hospital bed and out from under the cosy covers, padding across the cold lino in my grippy socks. They’d brought me my pyjamas to see if it would bring back any of my memories, but as cute as pink, duckie pyjamas were, they did not.
'Ah, Miss Carter,' Dr Stieg greeted, drawing everyone’s attention to me and abruptly stopping the yelling. 'Your mobility continues to impress, going for a walk are we? I’ll page one of my interns to escort you.'
'No,' I replied simply, looking at Steve and his girlfriend. 'I just wanted you all to shut up. I can hear your yelling through the door.'
'Yelling?' Dr Stieg said, looking at me with a legitimately confused expression, cocking his head to the side.
'Yes, you’re all so insanely loud, it’s crazy. Steve, of course it’s going to take a while for my memories to come back, if they ever do, I fell over six stories, I’m lucky to be alive, let alone talking. So will you shut up already?' I snapped, glaring at the all American blonde beefcake. Folding my arms over my chest, I glared rather harshly at him. 'So what if I don’t remember anything? Does that make me any less of a person? Are you going to stop caring if Phil boy over here can’t wave some medical magic wand and cure me of my amnesia?'
'Of course not, Bonnie, I know it seems like I’m hammering this point but I…' he started and sighed, glancing between the girlfriend and I. 'Maybe we could take this out of the hallway, come on, let’s get you back to bed.'
'Why??' I demanded and he smiled at me like he was seeing his friend again for the first time in years. It was odd. Ignoring me for the moment, he opened the door to my room again and ushered me inside. Sighing, I relented and padded across the icy floors and back into my bed. His girlfriend fussed over me nonverbally, making sure to tuck me in with some personal blankets of mine I didn’t recognise.
'Well, there’s no easy way to bring this up. SHIELD is relocating myself, and Natasha,' he said I blinked at him. How was this supposed to be difficult for me? 'And with you as my ward, this would mean you’d have to come too. I know you’re eighteen now, and can legally make your own choices, but with the situation as it is right now, I’d never leave you. Even if you..'
'Were normal?' I supplied and he shook his head instantly.
'Bonnie, there’s nothing wrong with you, you’re not different, I don’t want you to think you’re not normal. I’m saying that even if you hadn’t had an accident, I wouldn’t just walk out of your life, you’re family, you always will be,' he explained and I wanted to roll my eyes. This guy, he just showed up in my life. I didn’t know him. 'I know this won’t be easy for you, you’ve really turned over a new leaf this year. You made Vice Captain, you’ve got new friends, a boyfriend. You fought really hard to stay in your school for gifted kids, I know it’s a lot to give up.'
'I imagine it would be, if I could remember any of that. Honestly, if you’d never told me, I wouldn’t care. I mean, I haven’t seen or heard from these friends the entire time I’ve been here, and boyfriend?? Where the hell is he? Who is he? All I’m doing all day is sitting here, what does any of this matter to me?' I asked and he sighed.
'Well, that’s what I thought. We were arguing about me refusing those orders, I wanted Dr Stieg to make a statement, write a letter to Fury, and whomever is necessary to tell them about your progress, that if you’re to continue making it, you should stay here. If there’s a chance of getting you your life back, it’s being in your home,' he explained and I nodded. That actually made sense for once, and here I was thinking he was requesting permission to drag me out of state. 'Pietro has been dying to see you actually, but he’s been having difficulty getting permission from his host parents. And Flash is at the tower non stop, trying to get any kind of update.'
'Host parents? Also, who names their kid Flash? What, was his dad Thomas Eddison, does he have a brother called Lens?' I huffed, these people didn’t seem real to me. Steve snorted, meanwhile, his girlfriend kept staring at me. She was always watching me, expressionless as she silently judged. She was very weird. I wasn’t sure I liked her.
'I’m going to organise for you to see them, in the meantime, Tasha brought some of your stuff, see if it’ll jog your memory. I think it’ll take bringing you to places you’ve been before, there’s only so much being in here can do for you,' he said, standing from the armchair and walking towards the door. 'But don’t worry, I’ll be back.'
'So, what this time? Flashcards?' I asked Tasha bitterly. She smirked and put a sketchbook filled with loose papers on my lap, and waited expectantly. 'You draw too?'
'No, you do,' she replied and I scowled, opening the cover. The front page was one of a man with blue eyes coloured with pastels. He was tall, had long dark hair and a metal arm. Apparently I drew fictional characters. Who was this Robot Man? Raising an eyebrow at her, I wanted for her to give me some context. 'You don’t recognise this man?'
'Why would I?' I asked and she flipped over the pages to reveal drawing after drawing of the very same man. Some were black and white sketches, other coloured drawings, some paintings. He was in different positions, there were different angles to his face, but it was always him.
'This is the Winter Soldier, sometimes he’s referred to as the asset, I believe he did this to you,' she told me and I scoffed, as I did whenever more of this insane world I lived in got revealed to me. Men flying around in metal suits, bodies being altered with various types of rays, genetic mutations, this didn’t seem real. This wasn’t normal. Maybe Steve was right, it wasn’t me who was not normal, it was everyone else. I was the only normal one here. 'He was tasked with watching you, you made acquaintances with him. Just after I warned you to stay away, you left the tower and were found later with head trauma after a six story drop.'
'That’s correlation,' I pointed out and she smirked then, shooting me a mischievous smile.
'Keep looking, there are other people in your life in this book, even if you do seem obsessed with this guy, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you had a little crush,' she told me and I scoffed at the notion. According to her and Steve, I already had a boyfriend. Why did I need an adult man tasked with killing me? Wait, how did I know he was tasked with killing me? Tasha said he was supposed to be watching me. It’s possible I got it wrong, my head is a little screwy, but I strongly believed my life was in danger. Well, not serious danger as he’d apparently failed in his mission.
'What’s so important about me that someone would hire an assassin?' I asked and she shrugged.
'We don’t know,' she said honestly, although not very comfortingly.
'SONECHKO!!!!' I heard male shrieking through the door of my room and thundering footsteps fastly approaching. Before I had even opened my mouth to ask what that word meant, the door burst inwards and a lanky boy with chocolate hair skidded towards me.
'This is Pietro,' Tasha filled in and I cocked my head to the side. Steve entered the room a few paces behind him, walking at a normal speed.
'The boyfriend?' I asked and out of the corner of my eye, I saw her nod. 'Right, well, has anyone explained to you that..'
'You has knock to head, very serious. No memories of Pietro, or otherwise,' he nodded vigorously. 'Is okay, I support you through all. That’s what boyfriend means.'
'Well, don’t I feel lucky,' I muttered sarcastically, which only seemed to amuse him. It was honestly weird, it didn’t seem to matter how rude I was to people, they seemed happy, almost adoring when I did. Was I just a rotten bitch before all this? I didn’t think I wanted my memories back if I was.
'You has visits from Peter yet?’ Pietro asked in broken English and I glanced at the others. Who the hell was Peter? ‘He is your best friend, you fights the crimes together. He is the spiders man.’
‘I do what now?’ I asked and he looked amused again. ‘So let me get this straight, I’m an eighteen year old, crime fighting, nursing student who lives with a time travelling grandpa, an assassin, and a billionaire. An entirely different assassin has been hired to murder me, my boyfriend is a foreign exchange student who barely speaks the same language as me, and my best friend has some borderline threatening name about spiders ? Am I missing anything?’
‘Yes, you has entire teams of super heroes, and you is siren with powers that make the kissy kissy,’ Pietro said and I stared silently at him. Was nobody going to break? Where was Ashton Kutcher popping out from somewhere and yelling punk’d. Wait…
‘Who is Ashton Kutcher?’ I asked and everyone stared back at me in confusion. ‘This can’t be real.’
‘You remember the 2003 tv show Punk’d, but not your family?’ Tasha asked and I shrugged at her. The human brain was a complex organ, as far as modern medicine had come, we still didn’t know very much about how it worked. Which I also didn’t know how I knew.
‘Why don’t we give the two of them some privacy for a while, sweetheart?’ Steve said, and I saw a small hint of a smile on Tasha’s face when he said that. Pietro trotted over the rest of the way to my bed and hopped up on top of what constituted as a mattress here. She nodded, and the two of them left, saying they were only a call away if I needed them.
‘Sorry I missed you birthday,’ Pietro said, producing a small, brightly wrapped box from the kangaroo pocket of his brown hoodie. Ignoring the box for a moment, I stared in fascination at the threadbare fabric. Reaching out for it, I gripped the soft fabric in my freakishly small hands, trying to focus on the images coming to mind.
Hot wet lips pressed to mine as he pinned my back into the ice cold metal doors of the lockers he’d just slammed me into. His long fingers knotted themselves into my blonde curls, short nails scratching my scalp. Each kiss was frantic, bruising and made me hum ever so softly. Kissing felt amazing, and I regretted not doing it more before now. Or ever. One of his hands moved down to grab the belt loops of my dark jeans, giving me the urge to roll my hips forwards into his. Gripping desperately to the fabric of his brown hoodie , I held on for dear life. Someone nearby cleared their throat, but I ignored them. Feeling brave, I slipped my tongue inside his mouth, running it over the roof, drawing out a moan. Someone nearby sighed and tried to work the lock behind my back, get into the locker we were leaning against. He gripped my thigh, hoisting me up to wrap my legs around his waist. We rolled away from the offended person trying to get to their locker, and didn’t break apart for breath even once.
‘You are my boyfriend,’ I murmured and he looked at me with a bemused expression. He was still holding the small gift in his hand, and he glanced between it and me, a small smile quirking up the corners of his lips.
‘Because I give to you gifts?’ he asked and I shook my head, wearing a small smile of my own.
‘No, this hoodie. You’re my boyfriend because I remember gripping on to it so tightly I thought for sure I was going to rip through the fabric that time you kissed me against the lockers,’ I explained and he beamed brightly, bouncing up and down in his spot.
‘You remembers Pietro?’ he asked excitedly and I sighed, shaking my head.
‘You know, referring to one’s self in the third person is a sign of insanity, right?’ I asked and he laughed. ‘I don’t remember you, not really, but your hoodie. I remember holding it, and kissing you. And kissing you felt amazing, and I figure, if I enjoyed it that much, I must at least like you.’
‘Is your favourite one, you is always stealing,’ he told me and I nodded. For some reason, stolen hoodies seemed right for me. That seemed like something I did. ‘Has to make sure I remembers to bring back from Sokovia after winter break. Especially since you visits me to tell me we is not broken up anymore.’
‘We broke up?’ I asked and he nodded solemnly. ‘Why?’
‘You are wanting to protects me, when you finds out you have kissy kissy powers you said you couldn’t trust self. Couldn’t trust not using manipulation accidentally to date me,’ he explained and I nodded. That made sense, if I couldn’t control these powers I had, then how could I be sure the people I cared about were doing the things they did because they wanted to? ‘You kissed me by ducks pond, assured me that our love too strong, and you wanted to be with me anyway.’
‘Poor judgement on my part, but alright,’ I said and he laughed, putting the gift box in my hand and closing my fingers over it.
‘Is part of you charm, all judgement calls you make is bad, is what I like,’ he said and I should have been offended, I really should, but despite myself I laughed. ‘Open! Open!’
‘Alright, alright,’ I said, waving him off and untying the ribbon around it.
‘Wanda wrapped this for me, she did good job, no?’ he said proudly and I nodded.
‘That’s your twin sister, right? She’s on exchange in Germany studying art,’ I said and he shot upright off the bed, throwing his arms in the air. A little startled, I leaned further back in bed, scooting as far back against the pillows and headrest as I could.
‘Yes!’ he confirmed proudly, boogying around the room. ‘Very good Sonechko!’
‘Uh,’ I said awkwardly and then looked at the present I was holding. ‘Am I still opening this or are you going to dance a little more?’
He sat back down and waited for me to unwrap whatever was in this small box. Sliding my fingers under the tape, I carefully unwrapped the paper, careful not to tear it and folded it up beside me. Lifting the lid off the box inside the paper revealed a small, ornate silver necklace with a light, orang-y brown stone in the middle. It was beautiful, and I blushed a little at the contents of the box. He beamed proudly at my reaction, seeming to smile all the time in my presence. Maybe that was why I liked him so much, he was so bright and happy all the time, like a summer’s day.
‘Is sunstone, a piece of the sun for my sunshine,’ he told me dotingly and I smiled at him. Even though I could barely remember him, I was pretty damn sure I was in love with him. Every moment with him made my heart beat faster, and not as an expression, my heart rate monitor was going off the charts. He reached over to open the necklace by the clasp, and put it around my neck, fastening it on securely. ‘Found in little shop in Novi Grad.’
‘The capital city of Sokovia, they constructed the church in the centre of Novi Grad so everyone could be equally close to God,’ I said and he grinned. Little bits and pieces were coming back to me rapid fire, turns out all I needed to remember my life before the accident was Pietro. ‘You like Paprikash, it’s a chicken dish. You think garbage disposals are silly.’
‘I said that first time we hanging out after footballs game,’ he said and I nodded. I remembered that.
‘That’s…’ I said, feeling another memory come to light.
Screaming sounded in the house as I hid under the car’s dashboard. Jumping slightly as the car door opened, I looked up to see a broad shouldered man, face littered with bruises and blood. He was shaking and as I reached out to touch him he flinched. My body simmered with rage.
‘Flash got hurt that night, that big guy with the giant head, he’s Flash, right?’ I asked and Pietro laughed.
‘I am tellings him you saids that,’ he told me and I rolled my eyes. ‘He is my best friend, close friend of you too. His father is bad man, so he is livings with Grandpa and sister. You has weird relationship with old men. We think he is crushing on you.’
‘Gross,’ I said, screwing up my face. Pietro seemed to know a fair bit about me, and he was pretty open about things. He could have omitted the part about us breaking up, and I’d have no reason to believe we had, yet he told me anyway. I felt like I could ask him about my life and he’d be honest with me. ‘So, tell me about, well, me. Who are my friends? What do we do? What do I do?’
‘You is snarky loner type, friends thing is new to you. Before this year you only has Peter, then you make things be good for Flash, and you makes friends with Danny and Luke, there is Sam but I do not likes him very much, and I don’t thinks you do either,’ he told me and I nodded. ‘And Stacey now captain of cheer squad is old but not close friend of you. You both hates Liz Allen girl, she tried to murder you one time, but now she is catholic schooling.’
‘Wait, is everyone trying to murder me? The hell did I do to some cheerleader?’ I spluttered and he shrugged.
‘She is thinking you stole Flash from her, but Flash dumps her because she is mean and crazy,’ he explained and I nodded. ‘You also was dance Princess by popular vote, a role she wanted. You dressed Whinne Pooh Bear, I Christopher Robin and Flash Tigger. Very good costume. Halloween we took children treating tricks and we did joint costume. You Debbie Thornberry, I was Nigel and Flash is Donny. Oh and for other dance we did Atlantis.’
‘Yeah I… everyone thought I’d go as Kida, and instead I went as…the blonde one…’ I hummed trying to remember. I loved that movie growing up, why couldn’t I remember, I’d come this far. ‘She had an easy costume and I was feeling lazy.’
‘Helga,’ he told me and I sighed. I knew that, I should have known that. ‘Is okay, you will remember in time. You is very very smart. You get this.’
‘I just hate being a stranger to myself, and I hate that when I lose my temper and snap at everyone they just smile, they say I’m being more like myself. It makes me worry I’m some terrible person who’s rude and awful all the time. I mean, who else would have a reputation for being so bitter and mean spirited all the time?’ I said, venting my frustrations. He took my hands in his and brought them up to kiss.
‘The fact you is worrying means you not bad person. You is honest, and direct, but not mean or bad or awful. You kind, you did not even like Flash when you and you alone worked out how to save from bad man father. You gave him chance despite him used to be bullying you when children,’ he explained and I did feel like he might be telling the truth. It did also feel like he was just saying that to make me feel better. ‘Pietro was just exchange student, had no friends when he met you, you gave him best friend, beautiful girlfriend, introduce to so many more peoples. You give him many fond memories of new place to take back home.’
‘Maybe,’ I said frustratedly. ‘I just wanna get out of here. Go see things, I hate being stuck in this boring room with no privacy.’
‘We could be breaking you out?’ he suggested and I cocked my head to the side. ‘I bring you clothes. We will be sneaking out and go to diner, or perhaps date spot? Maybe you is remembering then, if not we still have fun. Is win win.’
‘That actually sounds nice,’ I said with a smile. The fact he was just so willing to break me out of this over sterilised building was endearing, and I understood why I dumped him, who wouldn’t want to protect this golden retriever of a man?
Very easily, Pietro agreed to go back to my apartment, wherever that was, and gab some of my stuff before we set off on a city adventure. I was actually excited, even though it was supposedly the place I grew up in, it felt like I was going travelling for the first time ever. Tasha and Steve returned and were sad to see Pietro gone already.
‘I was a little tired, he was nice, brought some memories back but it takes it out of you, y’know?’ I said and Steve nodded empathetically. Tasha looked a little sceptical, but chose not to say anything. Steve walked over to the armchair and sat down at my bedside, settling in for the afternoon.
‘I understand, it’s been a big day for you,’ Steve said and I nodded, slowly and gently to make sure I didn’t rattle my head about too much. ‘Do you want me to dim the lights for you?’
‘Yeah, uh, listen Steve, I don’t wanna be rude but do you think maybe that you could…’ I started and he nodded. Climbing up out of the armchair again, walking over to my bedside.
‘Of course,’ he said, without me having to finish my sentence and gave me a brief kiss to the crown, stroking my hair gently, before he and Tasha walked towards the door. Turning the lights off, they left me in my room alone and I relished in it. Soon I would be out of this nightmare room, and out in the real world. Freedom was coming.
Once I was sure they weren’t coming back, I climbed back out of bed and turned the volume down on all the machines. Thinking better of it, I switched them off completely. Although, I didn’t really have any idea how I knew how to do that. Maybe it was due to me doing nursing at school? No, I thought that was just more intense biology. Who knows, I’d find out when I started back at school. Going through the room I managed to find some cotton balls and disconnected my IV cannula with expertise I once again didn't know I had. Somehow, I just knew what to do. Ripping through my ID bracelet, I put it on the bed and sat ready and waited for Pietro to return. Reaching behind me I realised my hair was all wonky, and tried my best to style it around the bandages with the one hair tie I possessed.
‘Sonechko, is coasting clear?’ Pietro asked, sticking his head around the door. I nodded and he came inside, giving me a brown paper bag full of clothes. He was going to turn around to give me privacy but I stopped him, reaching out for the sleeve of his brown hoodie.
‘Have we…’ I asked and paused. ‘I don’t mean to pry, but are we…’
‘We have do the sex, last time the Christmas Eve,’ he told me and then looked a little awkward. ‘But I do not wish to… no expectations.’
‘No, I know, but if you’ve already seen me naked, I shouldn’t worry about you helping me get out of these silly pyjamas,’ I explained, gesturing to the garishly cartoon prints I was wearing.
‘I is liking your bedclothes, very cute,’ he told me and I rolled my eyes.
Coming over, he reached for my hemline and pulled the t-shirt I was wearing over my head. Not seeing the point in wearing a bra up until now, I felt my breasts fall free in front of him. He ducked forwards and connected our lips and I felt the same fireworks for him as I had in those memories only twice as intense. His hands slid up my bare back and littered my skin with goosebumps. Shuddering, I pulled away and tried to get my breath back.
‘Does it always feel like that?’ I asked and he nodded, looking a little flushed around his cheeks. ‘I hope we do a lot of that.’
‘We do,’ he insisted and grabbed my bra out of the bag. Or at least, I assumed it was mine. It was purple satin, and had a lot of padding at the bottom of the cup. ‘When you is being better, we can do more of.’
‘Spoil sport,’ I huffed, making him chuckle. He slid the straps over my shoulders and reached behind me to fasten the clasp. Reaching into the front, I scooped my boobs into a more comfortable position. He tugged a t-shirt over my head and then pulled on a hoodie that seemed kind of masculine. ‘Is this yours?’
‘Yes, I not knowing if you is liking this bra, but I see it often when we is doing the kissy kissy sexy times,’ he explained and I laughed. ‘Lots of padding, I assume is comfortable.’
‘I think that’s so they look good, actually, but it is comfortable,’ I told him and he cocked his head to the side.
‘You not thinking your boobs looking good? That’s ridiculous, you have the perfect boobs,’ he assured me, leaning down to press a quick kiss to each one. ‘As much as I liking to continue, we should perhaps hurry up. Do not want to get caught escaping.’
‘As far anyone is aware, you’re just helping me get dressed,’ I said with a wry smile. He grinned back cheekily at me and tugged my pyjama pants off as I lifted my hips on the bed. He seemed very practised at that, but as my boyfriend, I figured it was nothing out of the ordinary for him. Especially after what he’d just told me.
With him pressed up close behind me, we ducked our heads around the corner of the hallway we were in like something out of Scooby Doo. Which I’m pretty sure was a cartoon I’d enjoyed, but I wasn’t sure. Grabbing my hand, he walked at my side, our heads ducked as we scurried quickly past the nurse’s station. Making it uninhibited to the lift, we ducked inside as soon as it opened and pressed the close doors button. For some reason, I knew if I held that button along with the floor we were going to, we’d make it straight there without anyone else being able to get in. Why did I know these things? What, was I a part of some high stakes espionage team?
He jogged with me through the lobby, past the shop that was closing for the day and out into the open and busy streets of New York. Concrete was everywhere, towers spanning high into the clouds. It was cold, the streets covered with dark grey slush and it was beautiful. It was hard not to get distracted by all the hustle and bustle of people going places, all the excitement as we ran. Nurses and doctors in different coloured scrubs hurried inside, others left with their backpacks going home for the day. Patients sat outside in wheelchairs enjoying the less than fresh, very brisk night air. Some people had lit cigarettes, some with something stronger, and foul smelling in rolling papers. Drugs, I think. And weirdly, that smelled familiar too.
Taking me to the nearest subway station, Pietro kept his hand tightly in mine as he swiped our metro cards and got us on a train, headed for someplace called Queens. It felt… I didn’t know it, but I was sure I did. Just the world alone made me feel like I was going home, to my home. Leaving the subway station we’d arrived at quickly, he walked with me through very familiar looking streets. Now we were no longer on the run, he walked slower at my side, letting me take in all the sights and smells. It did somewhat smell of hot garbage and urine, but oddly, I kind of liked that. That smelled like home too. Both the road and the sidewalk was littered with cracks and had a completely uneven surface, garbage rolled along the slushy streets, blown by the breeze and I even wanted to smile when I saw people on the street corners peddling knock offs and stolen crap.
‘Is looking familiars, Sonechko?’ Pietro asked and I beamed brightly up at him, nodding enthusiastically. ‘Your old house is this way, I have only being there once, you was painting these after wild party.’
‘I party?’ I asked and he scoffed, shaking his head.
‘No, you does not party. You did that night, that night you is being very different. You got drink, you ate drug brownies, smoked weeds,’ he told me and I scoffed, looking at him while I waited for him to tell me he was joking. That didn’t sound like me, that sounded wrong somehow. I didn’t think I did that, I didn’t think I had many friends, although the others kept telling me I did. ‘You did not have many friends, just one, Peter, until this year. Then things changed, you changed. You said new leaves. Pietro is happy, though. You make Pietro have wonderful experience in exchange program, make him friends, give him very beautiful girlfriend.’
‘That… that feels right. All these friends I supposedly have, that feels wrong. You, I know that I know you, it feels right. But being popular, having lots of people around me feels wrong, what I was sure I had was a few good people around me that I could depend on, but…’ I trailed off and he looked down at me, pausing mid step as we stood in a very familiar looking street. The neighbourhood sign said Forrest Hills. It admittedly rang a bell. ‘Where are they? I’ve been awake for ages, and you’re the only person I really know. I have no idea who this Steve guy is, his girlfriend, she weirds me out. Besides you I haven’t met a single person I feel like I can properly trust.’
‘Give time,’ he told me, tugging me along the street. We came to a stop out the front of an old, dilapidated looking house with overgrown grass and a chain link fence. Across the street from it was a house with a high wooden fence, chipping brown paint and plumes of smoke that smelled just like those not cigarettes I’d smelled out the front of the hospital. He wanted me to go inside the first house, but for some reason I felt drawn further down the street.
Continuing on despite his protests, I kept walking until I found another house with a chain link fence. The garden was just as unkempt as the other house, only this one I was pretty sure had been this way longer. There was some broken glass in the driveway, one car home and some screaming coming from inside. Clutching my head a little at the sound - it was so loud - I realised I recognised it. Flash had lived here, this is where we sat in the driveway, he’d looked so beat up. He sat here often, looking bruised and beaten up. He was a child when it started, he was still a child now.
‘Sonechko?’ Pietro asked, walking up behind me as I clutched my head. ‘Where is here?’
‘This… Flash used to live here, the screams, I remember them, he used to get beat here. Everyone in the street, they just let it happen,’ I told him and he looked empathetic. ‘Why? I.. this street felt like home, felt familiar, safe. But how can it, when all that goes on and nobody does anything? Is this why? Is why I do what I do? To stop people like that?’
‘Yes, though you doing the saving of Flash as Bonnie Carter, not Night Fury,’ he told me, reaching out for my hand. Taking it again, I let him lead me away from the sound of a couple arguing and taking me back to the house he’d wanted to show me. He gestured to the one across the road. ‘Halloween party, you and I first party. Flash and I lit fireworks.’
‘And this..’ I said, gesturing to the other house.
‘Where you used to be living, before Steve adopts you. Your final year before making own decisions,’ he explained. ‘You junior, but has red shirt or something, makes you start later.’
‘Red shirting, that’s right. My… Great Grandparents kept me home an extra year to prepare me. I wonder if that was right,’ I said and he shrugged. ‘It’s why I’m eighteen now, but I still wonder, maybe if I’d been around kids my own age. I wonder why they did it? I spent most of my time learning about the forties, about medical techniques that are no longer used. What was the point of that?’
‘If was not, never you had meetings me,’ he replied and led me inside the crumbling down house. He had keys that seemed familiar in his hand, a little silver spider keyring dangling off the edge of the ring. He put them in the lock and had to shoulder the old and warped door open quite hard to let me inside. Immediately inside, there was a pink baseball bat in the umbrella stand and for some reason it made me smile. Reaching out for it, I brushed my fingertips across it.
Approaching the figure with the pink, children’s baseball bat held tightly in my hands, I glowered at him. He towered over me, looming like a dark cold I couldn’t shake. Even through the dark shaded goggles and the black mask covering his face, I could sense he felt amused seeing me primed to swing for him. It was like he couldn’t imagine me possibly hurting him, it was like a chihuahua snapping at a doberman.
‘Who are you?’ I demanded and he neglected to answer. He scanned me up and down, trying to assess my threat level. Deeming me incredibly low risk, I could tell he was smirking, even beneath the mask. ‘Not a talker, huh? Well, while you’re spending your time trying to figure out if I’m a threat or not, let me assure you of this, yes. I. Am. And if you need reminding of that, I’m here, pink baseball bat and all. Now, get the hell out of my yard!’
Steve was yelling out for me, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off this man. He could slip away from me, and I wouldn’t let that happen. He stepped back and I stepped forwards, intent on taking him hostage if I had to. He would not get away again. He let out a noise that was almost a chuckle, picking me up with one arm and hoisting me over his head. Easily, he launched me across the field behind my house, and onto the ground just next to my back fence. Dirt flew up around me when I made contact with the ground, and before I could cough out my bat landed on me with a heavy thunk .
‘Ow,’ I groaned, watching the guy disappear into the woods, leaving me humiliated and sore.
‘Yeah,’ a voice said from above me. Glancing upwards, Tasha was perching leisurely on the top of the wooden fence, swinging her legs. ‘You deserved that.’ She grinned at me as I stared up at her in annoyance, waving a little with a tight, loose hand. Groaning, I rolled to my side and pushed myself up into a sitting position. Why the hell did I think that was a good idea?
‘Something come back to you?’ Pietro asked, breaking me from my thoughts. I nodded slowly, that man that Tasha said I’d been drawing, I did know him, he was there, that dark figure. Why would she think I had a crush on him? He beat me up and she witnessed it. Talk about glutton for punishment.
‘The man Steve’s girlfriend thinks did this, he’s been here, to this house,’ I said and he looked concerned. It was like he was regretting bringing me here, breaking me out, as if he thought he’d come back to finish the job. Somehow, I didn’t think that was his style. He wouldn’t leave a witness. Mind you, I suppose Pietro wasn’t much of a threat, and he also wasn’t someone anyone really cared about. I did, his sister did, Flash did, but he was a poor exchange student in a foreign country. From another country that was war torn and damaged.
‘Where’s my room?’ I asked and he jerked his head towards the stairs. Closing the wooden door closed behind us, he followed slowly after me, letting me make the journey unbiasedly. Somehow, I knew where to go.
My room was just after the landing, but I didn’t go in there. Something pulled me towards the room at the end of the hall. Stepping inside, there was a made double bed, antique wooden end table either side. Each table had a lamp, one side hosted an alarm clock, the other, a cordless phone. There was a pair of reading glasses and an open book on the left side, the window side, and the phone. Walking over to it, I sat down, reaching out for the glasses. Smiling as I picked them up, I held the small, metal frames in my hands and looked down at the thin pieces of glass that made up the lenses.
‘This was fathers room?’ Pietro asked, standing in the doorway.
‘My mother, she uh, she hated her glasses. She was never a vain woman, modest and usually uncaring about how people saw her. But she hated these glasses, said they made her feel like an old woman, I wished she got to be one. She would have made a wonderful grandmother to our kids. We almost had one, didn’t we? You spent the night with me after a football game, because I took that pill.’
‘That’s right,’ he said solemnly, nodding as he approached. ‘You is thinking if mother was here, you is making another choice?’
‘No,’ I said gently, shaking my head and putting the glasses back on the nightstand. ‘She might have let me, but my father never would. He was always so concerned about my future, said medicine was my main focus, it had to be. I think regardless of what they would have wanted for me, I still would have made the choice I did. We could have kids one day, I do love them, even if that little girl called me a slut. I don’t know how I remember that, but that was halloween, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes, the night we partied, we had the sexy times in your room, rolled around on canvas covered in paint. Was very beautiful, but ended in mistake, you having to take the morning pills,’ he confirmed and I stood, slowly walking towards him. Opening my arms to him, he stepped forwards and held me in a gentle hug. Squeezing him tightly, I nuzzled my face into his chest.
‘I love you, I know I do, I’m sure of it. I love you, and being with you, it feels right,’ I told him and he pressed a gentle kiss to my crown.
‘I love you too, Sonechko, and not because of siren powers, I is loving you, because you are sunshine in my life, my special girl. Even if you find out siren powers making me loving you, I have no regrets. And would still love you anyway because of how much you is caring about Pietro,’ he said, holding me tighter.
Chapter 52: Dollhouse
Notes:
TW: This next chapter involves kidnapping, a necrophiliac serial killer, a daring rescue from our favourite emo lord and a happy ending. If you wanna skip this chapter because of it's dark themes, you can go straight to chapter 53 which I am publishing at the same time.
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss with the reader that despite the actual, powerful villains the heroes face, sometimes the real monsters are just ordinary humans. And that's much scarier.
Chapter Text
Title Song: Dollhouse - Evan Royalty, Kurea
Bonnie Carter POV
Wednesday 22nd January 2014
Head resting against Pietro’s stomach, I dotingly let him rest his takeout box on my crown, my own on my lap. Amca had given him an iskender meal, something Pietro had apparently had before, and this man named Amca had remembered. He remembered me too, and Pietro lovingly tried to explain to him that I could not remember anything, in broken English. However, as the Turkish man also spoke broken English, he did not seem to mind. Apparently I’d always adored Amca’s balik ekmek, and while after biting into it I believed him, he also could have been taking the opportunity to give me a fish sandwich he couldn’t sell and I’d be none the wiser. Flash had been here once, I was fairly certain I’d seen him in a tiger onesie, eating besides Pietro and I. Pietro had taken me to many places tonight, all places we’d been to together, and while I hadn’t remembered everything he’d shown me, I felt more like myself than I had in ages.
Once we’d finished eating, Pietro took my hand and guided me to the nearby garbage can, disposing of our rubbish. He led me through the city, noticing I was getting tired. Walking around this much, while exciting, had been very taxing. But, I suppose major brain surgery would do that to you, no matter how genetically similar you were to experimental super soldiers with a powerful scientific solution coursing through his veins. As we wandered along the streets, I started to lag, being towed towards the nearest subway station so we could get back to the hospital. Showing some empathy for me, we paused at another bench, one that had a weird metal bar in the middle, separating us. Glancing across at the alcove coming off the building across from us, I saw the ground littered with pyramid shaped concrete spikes. It seemed like a weird artistic feature, but I’d been seeing it all over. Squeezing Pietro’s warm, much larger hand with my own, I nodded towards the spikes.
‘What are those, I’ve been seeing stuff like that everywhere,’ I asked and he wore a sad look.
‘Is bad homeless structure, makes them not allowed there,’ he explained and I felt my brow furrowing. ‘City is full of poor, instead of helpings them, city decided to push them away, pretending they do not be existing.’
‘Anti-homeless architecture,’ I murmured and he nodded. Scowling deeply, I glared at the concrete, at the handrail between the two of us. This was horrifying. ‘It’s not their fault they’re homeless,’ I snapped in distaste, though not at him. He nodded vigorously at me.
‘Before Wanda and I got foster parents, we sleeping in rubble, no home. The soup kitchen, has lots of Sokovian refugees, many suffer through streets at night. Why open borders if only to be doing this?’ he told me and I felt my stomach churn and my heart lurch. ‘You is always hating this, sometimes on Sundays, you going to soup kitchen with Steve, he always there on Sundays. He takes muffins, sometimes helps out with prep work. Does not wanting to draw wrong kind of attention by serving hungry, so he makes self scarce. You stay longer, sometimes is even working with Pietro.’
‘That’s sweet, but honestly, I’m not sure it’s really enough,’ I said, shaking my head and regretting it. My brain rattled around and hit the free edges of my cranium. I wondered when the doctors were going to put my skull back together. Maybe staging an escape this early wasn’t wise, I could be opening myself up to all kinds of dangerous, life threatening infections and injuries. Hell, with the way I actually feel right now, it was possible my brain would fall out the gaping hole in the back of my skull.
‘Is Sonechko going to be okay if I go to bathroom before we go back?’ Pietro asked and I nodded, slowly this time. He stood from the bench and I watched him head towards the public convenience before I stood up, approaching the spikes. While I couldn’t do anything, it felt good to kick them, even if I lacked the strength to really be doing so. Really, I should still be sitting, resting. I’d pushed myself, too far I feared, and needed to take things easy. On the bright side, as soon as people noticed I was gone, which they likely already had, I would be on a strict lockdown upon my return.
Feeling a hand slip around my waist, I relaxed into the hold. Pietro had been quick. Another hand slipped in front of me, sliding around my mouth. A sharp, ether like smell hit my nose, a sweet taste in my mouth as cloth touched my lips. Realising rather horrifyingly that this was not my boyfriend and love of my life, I let out a muted scream, sound falling short in my throat. Chloroform, yay for me. Eyes rolling back into my head, I fell back against the body behind me and everything went black.
My body felt heavy, and I couldn’t move my arms or legs. Pushing myself, I lifted my arms and felt a tugging at my wrists. Trying to clench my fists to get some feeling back from the tight bonds I heard a tutting by my ear. There was something wet and cold being stroked across my fingernails, and I wondered what the hell was going on. Where was Pietro? I had been with him, I was with my boyfriend, wasn’t I? So why was I tied down, and why was it so hard to open my eyes? The wet feeling was gone from my hands, and instead I heard the sound of laces being untied. My sneakers were slowly, delicately pulled from my feet and the wet feeling returned, only against my toenails this time. Rolling my head to the side, or trying to, I felt my neck was bound by something too. A brush stroked across my lips, different ones stroked all over my face. Something cosmetic hit my nose, I could smell powder, foundation. A scratchy brush rolled down my eyelashes and I furrowed my brow, fighting against the sensation only to receive more tutting.
Pietro Maximoff POV
Giving myself a final shake off, I fixed myself back into my pants and went to go and wash my hands. It never ceased to disgust me just how many American men I saw exiting the public restrooms without washing their hands, or the few who I did see, would wash them with only cold water, no soap, and call it a day. Checking my reflection in the dirty, graffiti covered mirror, I hoped I didn’t look too unpresentable for my Sunshine. She’d seen me with messy bed hair, but this was something else. So hopelessly worried for her safety, for her condition now she’d gotten injured over Christmas, I’d found myself with my hands near permanently in my hair. It stood so far off my head now I was beginning to look like Doctor Emmet Brown from Back To The Future. Wetting my hands again under the taps, I dragged my fingers through my hair, hoping to settle it down a little so I wouldn’t look like a wildman from the woods when I saw her. Not that she’d seemed to mind. I was just so thrilled to be able to call her mine again, my sunshine girl.
Stepping out of the dirty toilets, I walked back over to the bench, panicking slightly when I saw she wasn’t there. She’d seemed too tired to go off wandering, so it was unlikely that she’d gone far. Walking over to the anti-homeless spikes in front of the eyesore of a building, I looked to see if she was vandalising the property by trying to remove them. She’d done this once before while we were out, breaking some thin aluminium bird spikes a business owner had screwed to the ground outside his shop. She was not there either. Turning around, circling, I scanned the nearby area for her. Nowhere in sight, I looked around for people in the street I’d seen before I went to the bathroom, maybe I could ask them where she’d gone. It wasn’t like her to just wander off and leave me, even when she had superhero business she offered a rushed goodbye. If she’d been really desperate, it wasn’t unlike her to simply force her way into the mens bathroom and tell me where she was going.
In saying that, she’d lost her memories, perhaps she’d forgotten she usually said goodbye. But even if she had, where would she have gone? We were going back to the hospital specifically because she was tired. Why would she go somewhere else? Heading to the hotdog cart near the bench we’d been sitting on before I left her, I tried to get the man running the stall’s attention.
‘Hey, buddy, back of the line, no cuts,’ a particularly upset Brooklyner snapped at me. Looking between his middle spot in the line, and the rest of the queue I shook my head.
‘Not wanting hot dogs,’ I said, putting my hand up apologetically. Turning back to the man running the cart, I stepped over closer. ‘Sir, please to be excusing me, did you see Sonechko? The girl I was with, blondie hairs, very very little, cranky face most of the times?’
‘Hey, you heard the man, back of the line,’ another guy said and I felt myself getting mad.
‘Not wanting food!’ I snapped, throwing my arms out. ‘You see girl or not? Where is she? Bonnie Carter, is very important to me. I goes to bathroom, she disappears. You see or not?’
‘Sorry pal, looks like you got ditched,’ the vendor said, offering me a shrug. ‘I gotta get back to serving, so if you’re not buying, buzz off. And if you are, get in line behind the other bozos.’
‘You don’t be understanding, she would not going on her own! She has head injuries!’ I said and some guy from the line shoved me out of the way so he could order.
Sighing, I gave up on these useless old men, they wouldn’t help me find my sunshine. Walking away from the cart, I looked for someone else who might have seen her leaving. Sitting by the entrance to the subway station I saw a man with a torn jacket and dirty pants holding a sign asking for food or money. Excitedly, I ran towards the man, he must have seen something! Skidding to a stop in front of him, I waved to get his attention.
‘Sir!’ I yelled just a little too loud. ‘Having you seen little blondie girl?’
‘Is that a Sokovian accent I detect?’ he said, looking up brightly at me. Nodding frantically at him, he looked happier than he had when he was sitting there miserably asking for help. ‘ What can I help you with my son? Lose track of your girl? ’
‘Y es, my sunshine. She has gone missing! She got tired and I was supposed to be taking her back to the hospital so she could rest. We snuck out, she has amnesia. It was a terrible idea, I never should have done this, ’ I told him and he nodded along. Finally I was able to properly talk to someone about my issues. It was very difficult to translate all of my frantic thoughts into the stupid English language. I spoke well enough most of the time, but as soon as I got emotional, all of that went right out of the window, even my sunshine had commented on that. ‘ I went to the bathroom and when I came back she was gone. It’s unlikely that she would have wandered off, even with her head injury. She knew who I was, even with her amnesia. She was the type to always say goodbye if she was leaving, even if we were arguing. Please tell me you’ve seen her! ’
‘ What’s she look like? I did see a short blonde before, she was kicking the anti-homeless spikes in that little alcove, I think I recognised her from the soup kitchen on west twentieth, ’ he told me and I nodded frantically at him. That was her! That sounded just like her!
‘ She is under five feet tall, blonde curly hair in a ponytail, she was wearing a navy hoodie and jeans, she always looks cranky but she’s actually very sweet girl, please tell me you saw her, ’ I begged and he nodded solemnly.
‘ I did see her before. An older looking guy, maybe early forties, grabbed her. He was wearing khaki slacks, starched white shirt, red and blue tie. There wasn’t much of a struggle, she just sort of collapsed into his arms and he carried her away, ’ he told me and my heart jumped into my throat. My sunshine girl, she had been kidnapped. ‘ I tried to say something, but everyone just thought I was a crazy homeless man. I’d call the cops, but I don’t have a cellphone, and there’s no quarters in here for the payphone. You should go for help, as quick as you can. ’
‘ I will! Thank you so much! ’ I said, about to start taking off in a run. Pausing mid step, I reached into my hoodie’s kangaroo pocket and pulled out a crumpled five dollar bill and placed it in his pocket. ‘ It’s not much, it’s all I have, but I really appreciate your help. I hope you’re okay! ’
Running away from him then, I dove through the entrance to the subway, taking the steps two, three at a time, trying to get on the next possible train to get to help. Steve and Natasha had gone home for the day, my sunshine had asked them to so we could escape. They might be at the hospital if the staff had called in her absence, but if that was the case, surely I would have gotten a call. A CALL! I still had Steve’s cell phone number in my recent history. Pulling it out of my pocket as I ran towards the right platform I slammed my thumb down on the button, holding it to my ear. It rang only twice before he picked up.
‘Pietro, what’s the matter, did you need me to talk to your host parents again?’ he asked.
‘No is big trouble!’ I said frantically, shaking my head despite him not being able to see me. ‘Sonechko is not at hospital!’
‘Yeah, I know, son. They called, but I figured she was with you. You signed the visitor’s log just before the nursing staff noticed she was missing, are you going back now?’ he said and I growled in frustration.
‘No, you don’t understand, she’s gone!’ I said and he made a noise of concern.
‘You mean she didn’t leave with you? She left by herself?’ he asked and I cried out in frustration. Curse this stupid language. There was a loud honk as a train came into the tunnel we were standing in.
‘No, no, no, she was with me, but now she gone! I went to bathroom. Sokovian homeless man said she kidnapped. Bad man took her! We have to be gettings her back, she in big trouble!’ I yelled and there was a sharp intake of breath on the end of the line. The train pulled slowly up to the platform, coming to a stop and pausing for a moment before the doors opened and a large pack of people poured out.
‘Listen to me, I need you to be absolutely certain, where were you when she went missing, what time was this? Can you be sure this man knew what he was talking about,’ he asked in rapid fire and I nodded, stepping onto the train that would take me towards the Tower from here.
‘Yes, yes, yes!’ I said frantically. ‘He knows, he saw her. He recognising her from soups kitchen. It was less than ten minutes ago I got back from bathrooms. I wasn’t in there long, maybe five minutes maximum. We nearing the Chrysler building, near hotdog cart! She in trouble! She in trouble!’
‘Okay, it’s okay, we’re going to get her back. I need you to try and calm down, where are you right now?’ he asked and I watched the subway doors close as I leaned against the support pole.
‘On train, headings to Tower,’ I told him and he made a noise of acknowledgement, pausing to think before he spoke again.
‘Okay, come here, I’ll have someone meet you in the lobby, I’m going to pull the security footage, I’m having JARVIS contact the police, we’ll find her,’ he told me, acting very calm for someone who’d just found out their legal charge had just been kidnapped. He was certainly doing a lot better than I was.
Bonnie Carter POV
Finally able to open my eyes, I was met with harsh, white lights. Standing over me was a thin white man, hair oiled with what looked like brylcreem, and slicked back in the perfect forties style down to the side part and slight quiff. He was clean shaven, pale, and had a very pencil-like neck. He had his sleeves folded up to the elbows, a dark green polyurethane apron over his starched shirt and neatly pressed khaki slacks. Everything about him screamed yesteryear, but well kempt, very business-like. Thin red and blue stripes adorned his tie that was meticulously tied over the top button of his collar. He brought a hand over to stroke my jaw, staring adoringly at me.
‘Such a natural beauty,’ he commented, voice sinister and threatening. Walking around in front of me, on whatever I was tied down to, he pushed the end downward, leaving me angled but almost standing.
Reaching for my waist, he unfastened the buttons of my jeans, slowly sliding the zipper down and revealing the black lacy panties Pietro had picked out for me. He tugged the jeans down my legs, tutting at the angry red scar on my thigh. While I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten it, I was assured by everyone I’d mentioned it to, that it had involved something to do with a giant lizard. Which sounded crazy to me, but at that point, everything I’d been told about myself had, so I’d let it go. Following the thick denim down my legs, I noticed my ankles were no longer bound, but I couldn’t move them. Pursing my lips, I tried to speak, but couldn’t. I couldn’t move my hands anymore, and the gentle thought of paralytics whispered in the back of my mind. Succinylcholine was a short acting paralytic that was often used for short procedures requiring intubation and in emergent situations. Vecuronium, rocuronium, and cisatracurium are longer-acting paralytics used to maintain paralysis during longer surgical procedures. That must have been my nurses training kicking in, how else could I know that? But which had he used, short acting, or long?
Neatly folding the fabric in his hands, I watched him step back and bend down beside me. Placing the jeans into a cardboard box marked donations that was close to my feet, I realised he was stealing my clothes. But why? And if he was, why had he gone to the trouble of paralysing me first? Coming back over, he slid his fingertips into the waistband of my panties and slid them down my legs as well. These he didn’t donate, he couldn’t, I was pretty sure they had policies about those kinds of clothing. He brought them close to his face, breathing deeply into them. If I could have screwed up my face in disgust, I would have. When he was done savouring the scent of my sweat and other fluids, he folded them delicately and placed them into a resealable bag that he put into an ornate, delicately carved wooden lockbox. There were other bags, he’d stolen women’s underwear before. Weird.
At first I feared, when he came back over, that he was going to touch me inappropriately now I’d had my vulnerability exposed to him, but he didn’t. He produced a very large pair of silk underwear and began sliding them up my legs, and secured them at my waist. He lightly tapped my toe nails, seeming approving that the bright red was dry. Why had he painted my toenails? Moving my eyes - just about the only part of my body I had free reign of - to my hands, I noticed the long fingernails had also been painted the same red, leaving a small clear semicircle at the base. They’d also been filed into an almond shape, something I never bothered with, knowing they’d only break in a fight. Because fighting was something I apparently did a lot. I’d like to have pretty nails, I think, but maybe not like this.
Around my waist, he also secured on something I recognised from my great grandmother’s wardrobe. A garter belt. Sliding some silk stockings up my legs, he fixed them to some clasps hanging at my thighs. He was going to an awful lot of trouble redressing me, and I wondered why. He walked over to a table I hadn’t really noticed was at my side, and grabbed a pair of Mary Jane heels, something I also recognised from Grandma Margaret's closet. Gently pushing them onto my feet, I watched him dotingly fasten the two black straps over my feet, taking care with the clasps. Was I just a doll for this man’s entertainment? I was certainly the right size to be someone’s doll, not that I understood, or appreciated that I’d been brought here for this. Leaning the table thing I was laying on further forwards I felt him unfastening the bindings from around my wrists and neck. Heels hitting the ground with a dull clunk I fell forwards, landing in the awaiting arms of my very strange captor. Struggling to stand, I fought against him, which only got me more tutting. He leaned me forwards over his metal side table, hands going behind me to pull Pietro’s hoodie up over my head. My shirt quickly followed, as did my bra, which he gently removed the clasp of.
He was quick to fasten another bra over the swells of my breasts, which were hanging free in the cold room. Pulling me back, he guided me towards an awaiting chair, lowering me down into it and leaning me against the backrest. My head lolled back and I couldn’t manage to keep my head up. Stupid paralytics. He fussed about in front of me, stuffing the bullet bra with foam padding. He uncomfortably manhandled my breasts until they sat the way he liked them. Not that I could really feel what he was doing. Picking up another item of clothing off the table he was now further away from, he walked back over. As annoying and uncomfortable as this was, I was almost glad this was all he was doing to my unwilling form. Dragging a silk slip dress over my head, he let it fall and pool at my waist, not quite covering me as I was sitting down. Sliding what was admittedly a very pretty floral dress over my head as well, he leaned me forwards and slid the invisible zipper up my spine. I remembered those zippers from when Tasha had dressed me like something from the sixties at Christmas. I remembered .
Shrugging a cardigan up my arms and over my shoulders, he lifted me, letting my dress fall properly around my thighs. Sitting me back down, he adjusted me in the chair, fasting new bindings to my arms, legs, and across my shoulders to pin my chest into place. Pushing my head forwards, he untied my ponytail and then let out a noise of disgust when he revealed my bandaging. He pulled them away from my head and made more noises of disapproval when he likely saw my damaged, slightly sunken-in head.
‘You’ve come in so disgustingly damaged,’ he said harshly. ‘Such natural beauty, so needlessly destroyed. Can’t you take better care of yourself?’ Letting out nothing more than a moan, I saw him shake his head behind me. That much my peripherals managed to catch. ‘No matter, I take much better care of my dolls, and do enjoy the challenge of fixing broken toys.’
Was that a British accent I detected? It sounded like the recordings I’d heard of great grandma Margaret’s brother, Michael, but slightly off. He was posh sounding, but it was possible this was a part of his creepy, kidnapper persona. I didn’t like that he’d called me a toy, one of his dolls. I’d hit the nail on the head before, when I’d remarked he was treating me in the like. He fussed over my hair, doing everything out of my eyesight. Honestly, I was rather glad I was paralysed, because I feared he was being rather rough with my delicate curls. Ones I was unsure of who I got from, because they were much tighter, more wild than anyone I’d seen in my family line. Most of my family had curls that were artificial in nature, either by means of perm, or styling. Once I was styled to his liking, he scooped me up easily like a groom carrying his bride over the threshold of their first home together, and took me over to a much less harshly lit part of this old building. There were no windows in here, I realised, but it was set up much like a large dollhouse. It was forties themed, or perhaps fifties, I didn’t understand much of architecture, nor this part of history.
Taking me over to a much larger version of a doll stand I’d had as a child, he secured me in an upright position by a mirror in what constituted a bedroom in this little set he’d designed. There was a very pale, very dead looking brunette woman I could see through my mirror. In the next room over, she was sitting at a dining table, spoon positioned in hand as an empty bowl sat in front of her. It was a six seater table, but it was set rather elegantly for two. All around this playset there were other dead looking women, all similar in frame and stature to me, classic style looks, but with different colours of hair and eyes. They were dead, and I began to worry when I would be joining them. He walked away and I heard his quiet, measured footfalls moving purposefully away. He returned - sans apron -, carrying a redhead along with him, who was also dead, dressed in a pale yellow fifties style babydoll nightie and matching frilly, shorties. She had her hair styled up, hair protected with a silk wrap, still wearing too much makeup to be sleeping. Her eyes were wide open, glassy, almost artificially so, and dead looking.
Pulling back the sheets on the immaculately made up bed behind me, he lay her down on the printed fitted sheet, head resting against the pillows. Positioning her in a way he liked, he lifted her legs, revealing heeled slippers matching the pyjamas almost exactly, with fluffy feathered embellishments over the arch strap. He reached under her nightgown and slid her shorties down her legs and I felt my stomach churn, despite not being able to feel much of anything else. Opening the bedside drawer he pulled out a bottle of something, what, I couldn't see from here. He cracked the cap open and there was a wet sounding squirting noise and I tried to close my eyes. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was going to do next. He climbed off the bed, walking over to me, and if I could have let out a scream, I would have. He rotated the doll stand I was in, and the mirror slightly, so I’d have a full view. He smirked at me and my stomach dropped. My eyes probably told the story of how horrified I was, and he relished in it.
Returning to the bed once more, I watched him unfastening his slacks, pulling himself from his boxer shorts. He was hard already, and I had some serious concerns over my ability to perform next time I was intimate with Pietro, if I ever got to again. This wouldn’t be something I could get out of my head easily, maybe I never would. Tears slowly trickled out of my eyes, rolling down the makeup my captor had tirelessly painted on my face as I waited with fear and anticipation for what was next to come. I didn’t want to watch this, it was horrible, but at the same time, when he stopped, what was he going to do next? What would he do to me? They were all dead, why wasn’t I?
Above the slapping noise of skin meeting dead flesh, I heard quiet, near silent footfalls coming from the other side of the basement I was being kept in. Focusing on the noise, a new fear filled me up, what if he had a partner? The footfalls got louder, closer, and in the mirror I saw the dark figure that had haunted me since I’d begun to remember him. If I could have screamed, I would have. As scary as the man who’d captured me was, this man had tried to murder me. Had he come to finish the job? Was he involved with this somehow? Was this why he was stalking me? Producing a gun from behind him, he aimed quickly, easily and pulled the trigger. The noise of the bullet leaving the chamber, gunpowder ignited, would have made me jump if I could move. It was jarring, a shock despite me seeing home ready himself to do so. He fired twice more, making the man drop, gurgling as blood spilled from his mouth and poured out over the immaculately dressed dead woman he was inside.
Walking over to me, I managed to let out a whimper, and he wordlessly, stoically worked on unfastening my bonds, gun gone from sight. If I knew where it was, when I was free, I could shoot him. Once I was free, I dropped immediately, unable to stand or move on my own. He scooped me up, carrying me away from the playset that evil man had created, and towards the stairs that would exit us from the building, or at least the basement. Choking and dribbling, I tried to move, tried to say something, anything. My jaw hung open and I forced out a rather pathetic scream, prompting him to slow his footsteps. He reached a hand to the back of my head, stroking me gently with his organic hand, as if to soothe me.
‘Shhh,’ he said, voice muffled from behind his mask. ‘You’re safe now.’
‘Nnno,’ I murmured. ‘Nnnnot.’
‘You are,’ he insisted, and I tried to shake my head. ‘I’ve got you.’
‘A..fraid,’ I managed and he glanced behind him at the dollhouse. ‘You.’
‘You’re afraid of me,’ he said, nodding. ‘I’m not going to hurt you. I came to free you.’
‘Lie,’ I managed. I’d been going for “liar”, I wanted to argue I was safer being left here in the doll stand, praying someone discovered me and released me, than with him, but I couldn’t get words out. Fighting with all my might, I managed to move ever so slightly.
‘The paralysis is wearing off, that’s good,’ he told me and I shot him a glare. ‘I’m really not here to hurt you.’
‘Y-you tried…’ I said, lifting a heavy arm and digging my freshly manicured nails into his leather shoulder straps. Fighting rather pathetically, but still fighting. ‘To kill me.’
He didn’t say anything, beginning to move again. Still fighting, I managed to get more control back, kicking and fighting with some lethargy, but much more vigour than I had even moments ago. Letting out a much louder scream I heard him shush me. Wriggling out of his arms, I dropped rather violently to the ground and he reached for me. Crawling away, I dragged myself across the wooden floorboards and over to the table I’d woken up on. My nails dug into the old, scratched floors, trying desperately to get away. He bent down and picked me up, holding me much tighter than he had when I was a limp noodle in his arms.
‘Why?’ I demanded, much more firmly than I could before. ‘You tried, and almost succeeded, to kill me not a few weeks ago. Why are you trying to save me? Put me down, I’ll take my chances with the necrophiliac serial killer.’
‘I don’t know,’ he admitted, walking me towards the stairs despite my animated fighting. ‘The first words I ever heard you speak were about me, you know me , and you didn’t treat me like the others do. You tried to help me.’
‘I don’t bloody know you, I thought I did, that I could, and then you fucking tried to assassinate me, now let me fucking go!’ I snapped and he scoffed, shaking his head. ‘I’m better off alone!’
‘You’re not nearly out of the woods, cookie, I’m taking you back to that hospital,’ he assured me, seemingly more amused at me than offended. ‘You can’t win this fight, you’re too weak right now, you’d be too weak, too unskilled, even if you were in your prime condition. So stop.’
‘Hoodie,’ I huffed out, reasoning he was right.
‘What?’ he said, cocking his head in confusion, dark brown hair falling around his jaw.
‘Pietro’s hoodie, I was wearing it, it’s in the donation box,’ I said and he blinked at me. ‘I’ll behave, be a good little girl on the conditions that one, you actually take me to the hospital, and two, you let me take that hoodie with me. Or I will kick, scream, and bite the whole way. Sure, it might not be enough to stop you, but it’ll sure inconvenience the hell out of you. And you know what, fuck you, you stupid bastard.’
‘Fine,’ he huffed, carrying me back over to the little butcher shop of horrors table I’d been worked on on. He grabbed the hoodie out of the box on the floor, dumping it on me and storming up the stairs to reveal the lobby of an abandoned apartment building. What a waste, if this place was fixed up, it would have made a perfect place to house all the homeless I’d been thinking about earlier.
Dumping me at the front of his bike, I barely managed to keep myself upright, which was why, I suspect, he put me at the front. He tied the hoodie around my waist and then climbed on behind me. Wrapping a tight arm around me, he kicked the bike into gear and had us flying through the less busy streets of New York. The city was always populated, but he managed to go through back streets and dark alleys with ease, on what I noticed was a rather silent bike. Pulling up to a back alley near the hospital, he climbed off the bike, tugging me with him. Carrying me as close as he could get to the building, he stood me up against a wall, testing my ability to stand. It took nearly twenty minutes, but once I could do so on my own, he had me walk in a circle, confident in my ability to exist without flopping to the ground like a fish out of water, he stepped back towards his bike.
‘That way,’ he commanded, pointing a single finger towards the exit to an alley. ‘Turn left, you’re at the entrance. You scream for help. Do it, or I’ll find you.’
‘And do what? You already failed at killing me once,’ I hissed and he scoffed, kicking his bike into gear again and leaving me where I stood. I watched his dark form disappear off into the distance, straight brown hair flowing in the wind. Tasha was way off, there was no way I’d had a crush on him. It was more likely that the reason I was drawing him all the time was for wanted posters, for police sketches. I hated that man.
Still, I did as I was told, and as I stumbled to the entrance of the hospital, I started screaming loudly for help. Medical staff rushed out the door, large red Emergency sign illuminated over top. Someone grabbed a wheelchair for me as they saw me staggering, and gowned doctors in scrubs asked me questions. I could barely speak still, all of my energy used up on the assassin man, all of my fight evaporating into the night air. Gurgling and feeling my head loll about from side to side, I tried to come up with something, anything to say.
‘Kidnapped,’ I blurted out. ‘I was kidnapped. Chloroform, uh, and later given some kind of paralytic. I was staying here, head trauma. Phil! Phil boy, Doctor Philip Stieg knows who I am.’
‘Head trauma, can you tell me more about that?’ one very short doctor asked, making me smile a little. I was short. She had beautiful box braids in her dark hair, tied back away from her warm, umber face. Eventually, I managed to purposefully shake my head.
‘I.. I’m very out of it still,’ I admitted. ‘I tried my best to get here, to have enough left in the tank, to fight. I’m very tired. I’m really, very tired. Please help me.’
‘We’ll help you, you’re okay, you’re in good hands, we’ll help you, I promise,’ she assured me, giving my shoulder a comforting squeeze with her gloved hand. They wheeled me into a trauma room and a doctor in dark grey scrubs, the ones the attendings wore, I believed, scooped me up and laid me down on an exam table. I was getting really sick of people carrying me, being put on tables. I just wanted to go home, wherever that was. Hell, I’d even take the crumbling hunk of junk I’d apparently used to live in at this point.
‘Steve,’ I murmured, watching someone give me a neuro workup and wincing when their penlight shone in my eyes. ‘Pietro. They’ll be so worried.’
‘It’s alright, we’ll contact your family, we’ve already paged Doctor Stieg,’ the dark skinned doctor told me. She was my favourite. No one else bothered speaking to me. She had a good bedside manner. I hoped I was like this when I was a nurse. Hey wait a minute, why was I training to be a nurse in the first place? Didn’t I have the smarts to be a doctor or something? A surgeon? I was supposedly attending a school for the gifted, it was the twenty-first century.
‘You’re pretty,’ I murmured and she smiled at me, before shooting another doctor a concerned look. ‘Steve, someone should tell Steve.’
‘We’re contacting them, we just need your name, can you tell us your name?’ the doctor who’d been doing my neuro workup asked, speaking directly to me, finally. ‘Do you know where you are?’
‘Bonnie,’ I murmured. ‘I was at this hospital before. It’s fancy, one of those snobby private hospitals.’ This made her snort a little. ‘Carter I think. I think my last name is Carter. Where’s Steve?’
‘He’s coming, we’ll get him,’ the doctor in grey scrubs assured me. ‘Do you know what’s happened to you?’
‘Do you think I’d be here if I didn’t?’ I snapped. I was tired of all this. I just wanted to rest. I was so tired.
Steve Rogers POV
Pietro was beside me, pulling his hair out of his head as he went out of his mind with worry. He was always like this with Bonnie, any time she might be in danger. While I might have always been team Bucky, I certainly liked the way he treated her. He was a good first boyfriend for her, he made her happy, and he cared about her. While he might have been the one to suggest they made a jailbreak, I knew fine she’d be doing it eventually. Once she had her mind set on something, there was no stopping her.
‘This wasn’t your fault, son,’ I assured him and he simply shook his head, chewing on his fist now rather than ripping out chunks of his long-ish floppy brown hair. ‘You couldn’t have known this would happen.’
‘Mister Rogers,’ one of the surgical interns called my name. Doctor Kadri I think her name was. ‘She’s been found, Miss Carter, she’s downstairs in trauma two. She came back herself, she’s being checked over, but she seems fine. She was drugged, her tox screen came back positive for midazolam and cisatracurium, and she said she was chloroformed earlier, but it dissipates from the body quickly, so we couldn’t pick that up. She’s being taken to CT for a head scan, but she should be brought back up here quickly, provided there’s no change in her condition. The police are also on their way to take her statement when she wakes up.’
‘But she’s okay? She’s fine?’ I asked, standing up and she nodded, her neatly pinned hijab unfurling slightly at the collar. I wasn’t sure if it was polite to point it out, so I chose not to say anything. At the moment, it didn’t seem important. While she’d probably want to know, and I wanted to protect her right to her modesty, I didn’t know the best way to go about it. Surely, she’d eventually notice, if she hadn’t already.
‘All her other tests and exams have come up fine, it’s just her skull as she still has an open cranium that we’re concerned about, we’ll also be monitoring her for signs of infection, her bandages were removed,’ Dr Kadri told me and I sighed in relief. While she wasn’t completely out of the woods, she was going to be fine. Somehow, while she’d always been a trouble magnet, I didn’t remember her giving me this much heart failure when we were in the forties. Maybe it was because she was older, maybe it was because I’d been younger. Maybe it was just because the times were different. ‘If you need me sir, you can have one of the nurses page me. I’ll be in the labs monitoring the 3D printer.’
‘The 3D printer? I thought you were a surgical intern,’ I said and she beamed, nodding at me.
‘Since Mister Stark provided us with Miss Carter’s medical data, we’ve had access to her brain and skeletal mapping. Dr Stieg took the fractured pieces of her skull, and was able to extract bone samples from them which we’re using to artificially replicate an accurate bone flap,’ Doctor Kadri explained and I nodded. While Bucky had always had an avid interest in science, I understood some of what she was saying. I wasn’t an idiot. But the medicine these days seemed more like magic than science, and that I understood even less. ‘Once the replacement piece has been printed, provided there are no defects in the printing process, we can implant it and fuse it to her existing skull. It’s an experimental procedure we had to get emergency FDA approval for, but Doctor Stieg is the best, and I know it’ll work.’
‘So with this being experimental, how normal of a life can she have? She’s a very active person,’ I said, trying to come up with a way to bring up the topic of Night Fury without outing her. It would greatly upset her if she couldn’t be the hero she’d been training all her life to be, she loved that job. Not to mention what it would mean when she went back to the past. She never told me any of this. Mind you, how could she?
‘Once the bone is properly fused, she should be able to go back to her usual activities,’ Dr Kadri said and I nodded. She wavered for a moment. ‘Of course, she has had a traumatic brain injury, so she should take some care not to do things that could injure her again, but we generally advise people not to have life threatening accidents involving the brain…’
‘Right,’ I said in understanding. She could go back to it, but she should try not to play fast and loose with her own head. It might be time to discuss Night Fury adopting a helmet. Doctor Kadri left then, heading off to the labs she was talking about, adjusting her hijab as she went. I guess she had noticed, and I was right not to mention it. I didn’t want to embarrass her, or come off as rude.
Bonnie was asleep when she was brought upstairs, dressed in a hospital gown again, only with a very made up face. Even in the forties she didn’t wear her makeup like this, so I was surprised to see her done up like a silver screen star. Police had taken most of what she’d been wearing as evidence, but she’d apparently clung on tooth and nail to the hoodie on her bedside. I recognised it as one of Pietro’s, and even in her sleep, she had her fingers wrapped tightly around the fabric. Her normally well taken care of curls were frizzy and all over the place, like they’d been brushed out while her hair was dry, and looking like at some point her hair had been teased. I was fairly certain naturally curly hair was dryer, and more fragile than straight hair, and it made me wonder why someone had gone to the trouble of doing this to her, but I suspect I’d get that information later.
‘Did you want to stay until she wakes up?’ I asked Pietro who was looking tired, but still so wired he paced around the end of her bed. He nodded and I offered him a reassuring smile, pulling my cell phone out of my pocket to make a phone call to his host parents. While they may have initially had their reservations about him seeing Bonnie, that was quickly blown out of the water when I showed up at their apartment door to discuss the matter.
Bonnie Carter POV
Friday 24th January 2014
The beeping noise was back and I groaned. As much as I was thrilled to be back in the hospital, I wished they’d turn the machine down. The police had been by again, giving me an update on the case. SHIELD had taken care of most of my statements once I’d given them the story. Everyone was suitably horrified with what I’d told them, reminding them once again, that sometimes ordinary humans were the real monsters, and not giant lizards, alien invaders, and masked villains. They had dubbed him the Dollhouse Killer and the news was constantly circulating the story, leading Steve to turn the TV off and try to find other ways to entertain me. I wasn’t sure why, but I’d left the Winter Saviour mostly out of this. I’d lied when I said he was masked, like he had been when I first saw him in my kitchen. I’d lied when I said I didn’t know him at all, when I’d been asked privately by Tasha if it was the Winter Soldier again. While I should logically tell everyone the whole truth, and I had no real reason to lie, I felt a deep need to protect him. He might have tried to kill me, but he’d also tried to save me, and I wanted to know why before everyone else got involved.
With cards in hand, we were playing a sizzling game of gin rummy. Pietro had been refusing to leave my side, and usually sat uncomfortably by me, bobbing his leg until he absolutely had no choice but to go to the bathroom. This couldn’t have been good for him, it seems most of our relationship was just me further traumatising him after the very harrowing events of his early life. Maybe this was why pre-amnesia me had broken up with him. I certainly wanted to protect him from all harm, even if that harm was harm coming to me instead.
‘Can you have Tasha bring nail polish remover next time she visits?’ I asked Steve, looking over at him as he sat in the armchair beside my bed. He cocked his head to the side slightly and I lifted my shaking hands. ‘I… I hate looking like this. Wearing what he did to me.’
‘I can do that,’ he nodded, swallowing thickly. ‘I can go to the drugstore right now and buy some if you want.’
‘No,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘I’d prefer it if you stayed here with me for a while,’ I said and he smiled softly, nodding his head in understanding. He always seemed happy when I asked him for help, flattered, and I wondered if it was something I didn’t usually do. Being independent seemed natural to me, real. But if he was my family, like he assured me he was, then it stood to reason that I should be able to depend on him.
When I’d come back to the hospital after the Winter Contradiction had rescued me I’d been swabbed and examined for sexual contact. When it had been explained to the staff what he was doing to those other girls, they had to. While I didn’t think he’d done anything to me, I’d been unconscious for quite some time, I couldn’t be sure. I’d probably never know, provided he was gentle and used a condom. That didn’t sit right with me, that he might have. If they hadn’t have done a kit, I would have blissfully assumed he hadn’t touched me, and now I couldn’t get that horror out of my mind. Yesterday I’d been so close to death and there was nothing I could have done. I couldn’t save myself, I had to wait for the Winter White Night to swoop in and rescue me. And I felt pretty shitty about that too. Why had he saved me? Surely it couldn’t just be about me being nice to him. He’d tried to kill me, how could he do a complete one eighty? What, was he jealous he wasn’t the one to do it? Did he want the credit? He seemed confused through most of our interaction though, like I was as much a mystery to him as he was to me.
‘So this masked man,’ Steve said and I shook my head. ‘You sure you don’t know who he is?’
‘I have no idea, I recognised him, I think, as someone I’d seen before. But even when I had all my memories, I didn’t know who he was,’ I replied and Steve nodded a little disappointedly. At least he always believed me when I told him things. Of course, I had promised him no more secrets… ‘When did we promise no more secrets? I remember making that promise, but I don’t…’
‘It wasn’t really a conversation you had with me,’ he replied. ‘You made that decision yourself, told Tasha as much. It’s been a silent understanding between us, you tell me everything, and I keep you safe, help you where I can because I have all the information. Are you thinking about having secrets now? Did something more happen to you?’
‘No,’ I insisted enthusiastically. ‘No, I was just thinking about.. It’s nice to have someone trust me, believe me with everything I said. Even if I don’t really remember what I did to earn that trust. I figured it was because of our promise, which I don’t remember making.’
‘Well, that’s good, I’m glad,’ he said, pursing his lips as he thought about his response. In all the time I’d known Steve, I didn’t know him as someone who thought about what they said before they said it. He wasn’t impulsive, per say, but he said what he meant and meant what he said. ‘At first when the nurses called to say they couldn’t find you for their blood pressure and stats check, I wasn’t worried. You’d been getting restless, and even if you’d been tired earlier when you asked us to leave, I figured you’d gotten frustrated and went for a walk, try to get your memories back your way. So I’m glad nothing happened to you, and I’m sorry I made a bad call. That I wasn’t looking for you until Pietro called, I’m sorry I didn't find you.’
‘I’m back now,’ I said, shaking my head and waving him off with a raised hand. ‘It was… horrifying. Of course I’d heard podcasts, news reports, about guys like that, about serial killers and stuff. It’s very different having experienced it myself. It’s worse I think, because of who I am, what I do. I think… I still don’t remember everything, but I’m certain I was stronger, that I was usually the one hunting people down, fighting crime, but yesterday, yesterday I was the one hunted down. Captured. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. All those girls, young women , they were people, they had families and they’d been grabbed off the street. At some point when he was with them, they were alive.’
‘And then they weren’t, Bonnie, it could have happened to anyone, you shouldn’t beat yourself up over getting captured when you weren’t your best. If he hadn’t have taken you, as awful as it must have been for you, you helped all of those families get closure, find their loved ones,’ he assured me and I shook my head. ‘I know that doesn’t offer you much comfort, it’s still a blow you took, but I hope you can find comfort in at least that. That you helped those girls, even if they weren’t around anymore to know it.’
‘It does, knowing they aren’t forced to be his dolls anymore, that he can’t use them for his sick desires anymore,’ I explained and he nodded. ‘Do you think they’re going to make me go to court?’
‘I think SHIELD is taking care of that, so you don’t have to,’ he said and I nodded.
‘Guess it pays to have friends in the right places,’ I shrugged. ‘It feels weird… having friends. Especially since I haven’t really seen any of them. I’d like to meet them, why aren’t they here? Why haven’t they visited me?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said with a sigh. ‘You were kinda AWOL for a while before you hit your head, they know where you are now, but I suspect they’re trying to keep the streets safe while they wait for you to come back, if you want to go back to that.’
‘I… I don’t know what exactly I used to do, but there is something I want to do, even if it’s technically a crime,’ I told him and he raised a dark blond eyebrow at me. ‘Those anti-homeless stuff people keep putting everywhere, pushing them out of the city, pretending they don’t exist so they don’t have to deal with them properly… I want to take it all down.’
‘The spikes, the bench arms in the middle of the seats, that’s what you want to do when you get out of here?’ he asked, slightly amused. I nodded firmly.
‘They have to go,’ I said and he smiled gently.
‘Okay,’ he agreed, not really saying as much, but I had his support. Something good had to come of what had happened. Pietro had told me the only one who was even remotely helpful was that homeless refugee. While I doubted I could track specifically him down again, I could make the city a little better for him and people like him. And that's who I was supposed to be, right? I was supposed to be someone this city could count on. It had more problems than giant lizards, and really, that seemed like the Avenger’s schtick more so than mine.
Chapter 53: I Don't Know A Lot About Love
Chapter Text
Title Song: About Love - MARINA (Formerly Marina and the Diamonds)
Bonnie Carter POV
Wednesday 12th February 2014
The bell rang harshly overhead and I still wasn’t used to just how noisy! everything was. Walking towards my locker with the map I’d been provided, I tried to put in the combination I had had written down for me. Sighing, I slammed my fist hard into the metal door beside the latch. Trying again, only quicker, I pressed the hash key and finally got into the stupid book box. Getting what I needed for the subjects I had the first two lessons, I figured I’d come back for the rest later. The doctors had finally let me out under strict orders to take it easy. Pfft, take it easy. Had they ever met Bonnie Carter?
‘Hey,’ someone said beside me and I looked up, blinking at the man clearly wearing pyjamas in broad daylight, in a public place no less. Well, semi-public. This was a school for specifically the gifted after all. He had long, sandy brown hair tied up in a ponytail behind his head, and a gentle smile on his face. ‘I’m Danny.’
‘I think we’re friends, right? Danny Rand… we have homeroom together? And maybe something else?’ I said and he nodded encouragingly. I tried very hard not to stare at his slippers. ‘You’re also someone else to me. I.. I’ve been told that. A lot of my life now is things I’ve been told over things I knew, but I know that in some way or another.’
‘I’m sure it’ll come back to you eventually, even if it does not, your chi still feels the same, I’m sure you’ll make many new memories,’ he assured me and I raised my eyebrows.
‘My what now?’ I asked, hearing the bell ring overhead again. ‘Nevermind.’
He walked at my side to homeroom, which was good, because I couldn’t remember where it was. Even with the map, I wasn’t sure how well I’d be able to find it. Or how quickly. Apparently the Vice Principal was my homeroom teacher, and he was also the person in charge of discipline, so there was no way I wanted a bad relationship with him. This Danny kid was nice enough to show me where I usually sat, and I was in it before the teacher could be upset with me over my tardiness. Not that that mattered much, and as soon as I sat down, he was calling me to the front and giving me a hall pass to see the Principal.
Finding said Principal’s office was also a task, and I was annoyed at the familiarity he greeted me with upon entry. He was nice enough about me taking my time to see him, and invited me to sit down, offering me a coke can. Raising a brow at him, I wondered just what exactly he could want to talk to me about, and why it warranted a bribe. He sipped his coffee thoughtfully before he spoke and that bothered me more. Whatever he wanted to talk to me about, wasn’t causal, it required carefully thought out sentences, why?
‘So, you’re legally an adult now, despite only being a junior,’ he said and I nodded, ignoring the statement of the obvious. ‘I’ve been led to believe this was a decision made for you by your great grandparents, while you were living in DC.’
‘Yeah, they redshirted me so they could teach me survival skills or something. They assured me it was very important, but from what I remember now I’m looking back at it, it’s mostly useless stuff in this time. Not that I can really blame them, they were ancient,’ I said and he scoffed at me. ‘I mean, why else would the nursing techniques they taught me be woefully outdated?’
‘Well, they wanted to set you up for your future, can’t really blame them,’ he brushed off, swirling his black coffee around in his cup. I wondered if he took it with sugar, or if he was just doing it for theatrics. ‘I wondered if it might be beneficial to do something similar now. You’ve been absent from your classes for quite some time now, and while I don’t wish to alienate you from the student population any further, some intensive, one on one private lessons for a few weeks might catch you up on everything you’ve missed.’
‘And are you asking me, or are you telling me that this is how things are going to go?’ I asked and he smiled proudly at me. As if I’d said something right. I hated how everyone kept doing that to me. I hated how everyone just looked at me like they knew more than I did. Though, for the next little while, that was how things were going to have to be.
‘Well, I already got permission from your legal guardian, though I suppose I don’t really need to do that, even if it is school policy,’ he told me and sipped more of his coffee again. ‘There’s an empty, disused classroom, and SHIELD has secured you a tutor in all your subjects. You’ll be allowed out for regular breaks, recess, lunch, and your scheduled school council meetings. Your Coach is keeping your spot warm for you on the football team, we’ve been instructed by your doctors that you aren’t ready to be playing sports again, but we have no intention of cutting you from the team. Especially since the season’s over anyway.’
‘So what, I start now?’ I asked and he nodded at me. Sighing, I stood, leaving the coke can on the desk and walked towards the door. Pausing, I turned on my heel and walked back over to the desk, having decided I was taking it anyway out of spite. He chuckled and I had vague memories of me doing something like this before. Although I couldn’t place it exactly.
SHIELD seemed way too involved in my life, even if I knew I wasn’t your average teenager. I’d have to ask someone about that, maybe Steve, he seemed trustworthy to me. Why the hell was there a SHIELD agent as my principal anyhow? Lifting the tab on top of my Coke I opened the can with a click and a gentle hiss , putting it to my lips, I took a sip before I decided to figure out where exactly this disused classroom was. He hadn’t told me where, was I supposed to already know, or was I supposed to be waiting around for someone to collect me? Stepping out of the administration building, I waited outside by the door, breath coming out in front of me as steam. Footsteps that I assume were meant to be quiet sounded nearby and I turned my head to the side, seeing a man in an expensive looking suit approaching. His top button was done up in his neatly pressed dress shirt, his tie was fastened tightly and there wasn’t a crease on him.
‘Hello, Bonnie,’ he said, clasping his hands in front of himself and leaning against the brick wall of the building. He didn’t have a single hair on his head above his eyebrows, and I wasn’t sure if he was shaving his head, or simply bald. His incredibly smooth, tanned skin made it hard to tell how old he was but I guessed it was somewhere in his late thirties, early forties. ‘I’m Jasper, I’m the SHIELD representative responsible for training you.’
‘You?’ I asked, raising an eyebrow. The grunts that usually followed Principal Coulson around behaved more like mindless drones, stood rigidly, like soldiers, lacked a certain personality. Or a personality at all. Yet here was this man, cleanly dressed in an expensive suit, rather than a cheap, yet clean off the rack set. He stood with confidence yet he was relaxed, the others, they stood tall, but they looked like they were prepared to be taken out at a moment’s notice. This man, it was like he knew with great certainty that he would be fine.
‘Yes, me,’ he said, raising a brow above the clear, rimless lens of his glasses to match my own scepticism with smugness. ‘Is that a problem?’
‘Why you?’ I asked, shaking my head slightly in confusion. ‘Isn’t this a little above your paygrade?’
‘You caught on to that, huh? I’m here as a personal favour to Coulson, he’s a close friend of mine,’ he explained and I nodded. That made sense. ‘I’m Jasper Sitwell, I work predominantly within SHIELD administration, but this isn’t a task I’m not more than qualified for.’
‘That’s what bothers me,’ I replied, and he nodded, waiting for me to continue. ‘’Why me? Even with you being a personal friend of my principal, why is this a task that requires someone of such high clearance, so overqualified. I’m just some kid.’
‘If that were true, there wouldn’t have been an attempt on your life,’ he said and I raised my brows.
‘Is that what happened?’ I asked. Of course, I did know that there likely had been. I remembered the Post-Fall Prowler had thrown me off the rooftop, but I still wasn’t sure if that was something he’d been ordered to do, or if he’d just done it. I also hadn’t told anyone I’d remembered that. Tasha had seemed sure someone had done this to me, him actually, but no one else knew someone had thrown me. I’d just been found in the snow.
‘You don’t believe you were?’ he asked and I shrugged.
‘I don’t remember anything, why do you think you’re here?’ I replied, reaching up behind my head to run my fingers across the raised scar at the base of my skull. I had a feeling that was going to be there for a while, as would the bald spot. ‘Well, whatever, I guess we’d better get this show on the road.’
‘Yes, lets,’ he said and pushed off the wall, leading me towards a classroom at the other end of the school. The corridor was eerily quiet, Coulson hadn’t been kidding about the classroom being disused .
Jasper pressed the door handle down and pushed it open, revealing every desk save for two were covered in dust sheets, almost every piece of furniture was. The teacher’s desk at the front of the room had been cleaned off, and had books and papers stacked neatly on the top. The student’s desk directly in front of it had also been dusted, and had a single pencil, eraser, sharpener, and a thick test booklet presented neatly on its surface. He gestured for me to take my seat, and I dumped my book bag down on the floor beside my chair, sitting in my seat and setting the Coke can down on my desk. In front of me was a plain white page with a section for me to put my name and student number on, and it was labelled as a general knowledge quiz.
‘I thought to start with, we’d get a gauge on what you still remember,’ he told me, taking his own seat behind his big desk. ‘There’s no time limit, I’d just like to know what you already know before I begin teaching you.’
‘If you had paperwork to catch up on, I would have been happy with a movie day,’ I remarked, nodding to the manila folders piled up on his desk. He made a small scoffing noise, and nodded to my test booklet.
‘You may begin,’ he instructed, basically telling me to shut up and stop being a smartass. I wonder if this guy had met Tony before, it would certainly explain why he had such a large stick up his butt.
Leaving my student number blank, as I couldn’t remember it, I flipped over to the first page and sighed. Of course it started with math. Still, it could be worse, I could actually be being taught by Ms Starch. I didn’t remember why I held such a deep disdain for her, but I was quite convinced she was evil. The bell for the next period and I sighed. He might have said there was no time limit, but I was bothered by the fact I was still in the first section. Why was math so hard? Why couldn’t Peter be here, he always helped me with my math homework, despite him being in massively harder classes.
Letting out a cry of frustration, I leaned over my arms and rested my head on the counter. Today wasn’t just quiet, Aloicious was dead tonight, so dead not even the owner of the same name had even graced us with his presence. Peter leaned over the counter to give me a comforting pat on the shoulder before he went back to the textbook, reading out the same problem.
‘Reading it again isn’t going to make me any smarter, Pete,’ I huffed and he shot me a look of distaste.
‘Bonnie, you’re not dumb. You don’t need to be any smarter, that’s not the problem. You can do this, you’re just struggling with confidence, I know you know this,’ he said and tore the top page out of my notebook. It had been filled with failed attempts at getting the answer to this same problem, I’d done it five times now, and it still wasn’t right. ‘Come on, let’s do it together.’
It had been weeks since my accident, and I still hadn’t seen Peter. I’d been under the impression from everyone else that he was my best friend, my memories only served to prove that, so where the hell was he? Maybe I could look for him at recess. Turning to the next page in my booklet, I sighed in relief when the bell rang overhead, signalling the very break I’d been praying for. Folding my booklet closed, I dropped my pencil down on the desk and pushed up out of my chair. Goodbye math . All but skipping out of the classroom, I went to go off in search of my AWOL best friend. Managing to make it back to my locker, I found that Danny kid again, and reasoned I could probably ask him where I could find Peter. He cocked his head to the side in confusion when I did ask, though, and took a while before answering. Why?
‘I thought you knew,’ he said and I blinked at him, only a blank look taking up residence on my face. ‘Peter hasn’t been at school since before you left, he’s been taking all of his classes online. He’s unwell at the moment.’
‘Unwell?’ I asked and he nodded slowly. ‘What’s wrong with him? Mono? The flu?’
‘Something like that,’ he replied awkwardly. He brought a hand up to run over his face, thinking for a moment before he said what he was trying to say. Why would this be hard? He said Peter was sick, what was so difficult about that. Wait, was it cancer? Was he dying? Was that why he hadn’t visited me? ‘You have had your abilities explained to you, yes? Since you lost your memories, someone has told you what you can do, right?’
‘Yeah, Captain America’s great granddaughter, masked vigilante, apparent siren,’ I said, wondering how this related to Peter's cancer. ‘It’s not a tumour, or anything, right? It’s not terminal? He’s coming back, right?’
‘No,’ he said, shaking his head softly at me. ‘He’s not that kind of unwell. Listen, about your abilities he’s still… he’s suffering from desire. Whatever you did to him before you left, intentional or not, he’s still dealing with it.’
‘He’s not coming in because he’s accidentally in love with me?’ I asked and Danny shook his head again. ‘Then what…’
‘Maybe we should talk about this somewhere more private,’ he said, taking my bicep and gently steering me away from our lockers. Taking me up to the rooftop, I briefly wondered if he too was going to throw me over the edge, or if that was a uniquely Winter Soldier favourite pastime. He let go of me, and stood by the railing while, I, kept a safe distance in the middle of the roof. Once bitten and all that.
‘So what’s wrong with him?’ I asked and Danny sighed, rubbing the back of his head.
‘I don’t know that this is my place to tell you, but you might be the only one who can stop it,’ he explained and I cocked my head to the side in confusion again. What did this have to do with me? Or better yet, why was my siren powers enough to keep someone from going to school? So he had a crush on me, surely it wasn’t that bad he couldn’t focus on his schoolwork for half a day. ‘He has an erection, Bonnie.’
‘What?’ I scoffed, shaking my head. ‘So? Why can’t he just think of grandma? Take a cold shower? Rub one out? How does this stop him from coming to school every day for over a month?’
‘It won’t go down,’ he explained and I made a choking noise. ‘At all, nothing helps. He’s on medication because it’s making him lightheaded, it’s actually causing him medical problems. It’s the weirdest side effect to accidental power use I’ve ever seen.’
‘I… I don’t know how I would even begin to fix that…’ I said and he shrugged. ‘This is my fault? Are you sure it’s not actually a tumour or something? They could cause that.’
‘It’s not, it's definitely you, he’s already been tested,’ he explained and I shook my head again. This had to be a prank. Was nothing in my life ever simple? Why was everything I learned about my life so convoluted? Ashton Kutcher, I’m still waiting for you.
‘I…’ I said and cut myself off. ‘Why has no one told me this?’
‘You don’t know how to use your powers, you knew, I believe, when you came back. But now you’ve got amnesia,’ he explained and I frowned.
‘So what, people just left him to gather dust? No one’s helping him?’ I asked and he shook his head at me.
‘No, they’re trying, but there’s nothing they can do. It’s a type of magic, you’re the only one who might be able to stop it,’ he said and I swore.
‘Damn it,’ I huffed. ‘Okay, I’m going back to the Tower. If I can find it… There were some books on my desk, they’re all written in a language I can’t read, I assume it’s Old Norse, as I apparently brought them back with me from Asgard, I think they might have been homework. Maybe there’s something in there about undoing this.’
‘I’ll take you,’ he told me and I nodded. The bell rang beneath us and I felt my eyes widen. ‘What?’
‘We have to go now . SHIELD hired me a private tutor, and if he catches us trying to skip I’ll have to do math,’ I explained hurriedly and he chuckled lightly. Scurrying down the stairs I didn’t even bother to go back to my locker and risk getting caught, however Danny did, so I had to wait around the corner from the school for him. Being alone still made me nervous after the Dollhouse Killer incident, I hoped Danny hurried his ass up.
Squatting in some bushes, I peeked through the leaves at passers by, waiting until slippers and pyjama pants came into view. Following his legs upwards I met his amused glance, seeing his eyebrows raised and hands in the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie. He offered me a hand up, and I took it, stepping over the shrubbery and back onto the sidewalk. Leading me through the streets, we eventually made it to the subway entrance and he helped me navigate the system. Which bothered me slightly, as I had some vague memories of me teaching Pietro how to get around, and now I had to learn all over again.
Heading upstairs once we finally made it to the lobby of the Tower, Danny followed me towards my bedroom. He marvelled at the mural I’d allegedly started at some point, and I shrugged it off. Since waking up from that coma I’d been in, I’d tried to draw something, anything, but everything I managed to conjure up was complete garbage. Guess that mural wouldn’t be getting finished anytime soon. Sitting in my desk chair, I picked up the books and ran my fingers over the runelike text. Given I couldn’t do any of the things I’d apparently used to love doing, I wasn’t sure why I was hoping to instantly know what any of this said. Maybe I was just hoping I’d be like that guy who got hit on the head and woke up knowing French.
After wandering around the room for a while, scrutinising the artwork on the walls, Danny came over to go through the stack of books with me. He perched on the desk beside the large pile, picking one up at random. He flicked boredly through the pages before he swapped it out for another in the collection. A piece of paper fell out of one of the tomes, floating softly to the floor with a crinkling noise. He bent forwards to pick it up and smiled slightly, showing me the paper.
‘Looks like you wrote yourself a cheat sheet,’ he said and I took the old, browning, thick paper from him. Next to each symbol was the phonetic spelling of it, and the English corresponding letter, word, or sound. I hummed softly. Thanks past Bonnie, for once you’ve done future Bonnie a solid. There was also a note scrawled at the top with “fucking ugly duckling” written in heavy black ink. Underneath was the runes for it, and I hummed again, going through the stack of books for a title that matched it.
Finding what I was looking for, I held the sheet next to the book, holding my finger on each word and sounding it out as if I was learning to read for the first time. The more I read of the story, I realised I knew it. The fucking ugly duckling. This was a clue from me.
Turning to the last page in the time worn book, Grandpa Daniel cleared his throat again before continuing. He’d been doing that a lot lately, slowly getting sicker and sicker looking too. He ducked his head into his elbow, turning away from me and let out a hacking cough. Picking up a glass off the nightstand he sipped the water he’d brought with him to story time, and sipped it slowly. Placing it back beside the lamp, he returned to the book.
‘And so he flapped his beautiful, white, swanny wings as fast as they could go, and joined his new friends,’ Grandpa Daniel read, looking up at me with a warm smile. The book snapped closed in his weathered hands, and he brought one up to stroke some loose curls off my forehead. ‘The end.’
‘Again,’ I said, clapping my hands animatedly together over the top of my tightly tucked comforter. ‘Again.’
‘Again?’ he said adoringly. ‘No, I think it’s time for bed now, Bonnie, we’ve already read it four times tonight.’
‘One more?’ I pleaded and he sighed, pulling the book open to the first page and clearing his tired throat.
‘One more,’ he agreed. Giggling with excitement, I snuggled in further under the blankets with Bucky bear, excited the two of us got to hear Grandpa Daniel read the story again. ‘Once upon a time, Mama Duck sat on her next…’
Grandpa Daniel read this story to me every time I’d asked, and I’d asked a lot. If this was the same story, then I could probably figure out what it said. Well, I knew already what it said, and because of that, I could figure out the rest of this. For the most part, Danny sat quietly while I read through the books with a new vigour, patiently waiting for me to figure a way out of this one. He’d moved over to my bed, sitting cross legged on top of the sheets and doing his schoolwork while I worked away across the room for him. Floating around somewhere in the back of my mind, I had a memory of doing something similar to this with a man I recognised, one I recognised as being bad. Though the bad man liked me, he was very encouraging to me, and even seemed amused when I was frustrated or yelled at him. I’d been in a library with him, in what looked to be a palace, but as far as I was aware, I'd never been to a palace before.
Moving my hand around from side to side, I flexed my fingers and watched the blue, translucent magic twirl and wave around in each way I directed it. Loki seemed impressed, praising me gently as I moved my hand around as if I was holding a sparkler. Picking up a quill from the table we’d gathered around, he took my hand in his and dragged the sharp metal point across my palm, quickly slicing through the flesh and splattering blood across the table and my dress. Crying out, I attracted the attention of the guards in the room, all of us staring at Loki in horror.
‘Now, focus your magic on your palm,’ he instructed and I tried, I really did, but I was too distracted by the stinging. ‘You’re losing it, keep focused,’ he said firmly and I shook my head.
‘I can’t,’ I said and he tutted at me.
‘Yes you can, you’ve done it before,’ he said and I furrowed my brow. ‘Well, you will, so you can.’
‘I don’t… I don’t know how,’ I said and he chuckled.
‘Yes you do, it’s in there,’ he said, tapping my temple with his index finger. ‘You subconsciously know, it’s in there. You just have to will it. Focus.’
Taking a deep breath, I held it in my lungs for a moment before I slowly let it out in a controlled exhale. Blinking my eyes closed, I thought about my palm slowly knitting itself shut again, the blue dusty streams of magic sliding around my arms, wrists, fingertips until the cut was gone. Opening my eyes again, I watched the magic doing exactly as I’d pictured, and I waved my opposite hand over the top, as if I could simply wipe away the wound. Disappearing from sight, I was healed, but there was still wet, bright red blood on my hand.
‘There,’ he said as if it had been a simple task I was just refusing to do. ‘When you get better, you’ll be able to push your blood back into the wound, make it as if it simply never happened, reverse the effects of whatever ails you, but for now, you’ve got a basic grasp of healing magic.’
‘I thought Loki was a war criminal,’ I said aloud before I’d really thought about it.
‘He is,’ Danny hummed quietly. ‘Did you remember something?’
‘Apparently I’ve been to wherever he lives, or I went to a palace with him,’ I said, glancing over my shoulder at him. He nodded as if this made sense to him, that I was right.
‘You went to Asgard with Thor after you won the football final,’ he explained and I nodded. Steve had mentioned something about me having done a disappearing act. Guess I had been to a palace afterall. ‘Have you come closer to figuring things out? I hate to put pressure on an already tense situation but…’
‘But Peter’s already had a near permanent stiffy for two months straight and any normal person would be dead by now? But the strained blood flow to all the important extremities, vital organs, even his brain, should be killing him? I know ,’ I said frustratedly. Maybe there wasn’t a reversal spell in these books, maybe there wasn’t anything I could read to get me out of this mess. To get us out of this mess. Maybe I just had to do what Loki had taught me to do with my healing magic, will it. It was the same with the box of my gauntlets, hey… where were my gauntlets anyhow? I almost never took them off, and I hadn’t seen them since before Christmas. ‘Where does he live again? He lives next door to me in Queens, right? I might be able to try something. If all else fails, maybe we give him a shot of lidocaine between the legs.’
‘I’m not a med student but even I think that might be a stretch, Bonnie,’ he said and I huffed in annoyance. You get asked to come up with a plan, and it’s not fast enough. You come up with a plan, and it’s not good enough. You just can’t please some people. ‘So, shall we go to the subway, again?’
‘No, that’ll take too long, it’s been long enough as it is,’ I said, pushing up out of my chair and taking the book of spells with me just in case. I slipped it into my bookbag and wondered briefly how everyone was explaining this one to Aunt May.
Ignoring Danny’s questioning look, I headed back to the elevator and pressed the button to Tony’s garage. Here’s to hoping driving a car is just like riding a bicycle and I somehow remembered how to do that. Otherwise things were about to get more awkward than they already were, and they were pretty awkward. It’s not every day you find out you’re the cause of your best friend’s boner. I wasn’t sure our friendship would ever recover from this. Tony, ever arrogant in his home security system, kept all his car keys on the wall of the garage, hanging neatly on labelled hooks. Picking up a set, I pressed the keyfob and unlocked a car at random. Red Maserati it is. Granturismo. Nice car. Climbing into the driverside, I glanced expectantly at Danny.
‘Are you sure you know what you’re doing?’ he asked sceptically. I shrugged. No, no I wasn’t sure I knew what I was doing, I never did. But something had to be done right. ‘Well, I think this might be best left between the two of you.’
‘You just don’t wanna get arrested for grand theft auto,’ I teased and he nodded. Rolling my eyes, I stuck the keys in the ignition and put my foot down on the accelerator, speeding up the curved ramp and out into the streets of Manhattan.
Steering around traffic, I knew I was likely committing countless traffic violations, I knew what I was doing was kind of wrong, I also didn’t really care. Ever since I woke up in that damned hospital bed, my life didn’t feel like my own, everything was stupid, wrong, and nothing seemed to matter anymore. So fuck the laws, they were stupid anyway. The law allowed for people to do those horrible things to homeless people, the law allowed for people to buy up building after building and develop them to the point no one could afford to live there. The law allowed teens to go missing in the streets. The law allowed people to get kidnapped. The law let bad people go, and punished the innocent. Fuck the law.
‘Princess,’ I heard Tony chime in my ears. He sounded scolding, but in an amused sort of way. Ever since I’d made it back from the clutches of the Dollhouse Killer, I’d been instructed to keep my JARVIS model on me at all times so I could be tracked in the event of an emergency. It also meant I was always contactable. Once again, making me feel like my life wasn’t my own. Everything was stupid.
‘What, Tony?’ I demanded, swerving around a corner and through a red light.
‘You know you could’ve asked to borrow a car, right?’ he said and I rolled my eyes. ‘You really gotta take those corners more carefully, you nearly scratched the Granturismo’s paint job on that exit ramp. While your location data might not be mine to track except under big brother protocols, that doesn’t mean you can’t be caught on traffic cams. Are you trying to have every cop in the city on your tail? Slow down, what’s the hurry?’
‘Peter,’ I replied, using my blinker for once. ‘How come no one told me about him? How come no one’s doing anything? It’s been months.’
‘No one knew you could do anything, you woke up without your memories,’ he explained and I scowled. ‘No one knows what to do. We’ve tried everything we can think of.’
‘Okay, but why didn’t anyone try to contact me in Asgard? I could have come back earlier, hell, how come no one told me on Christmas before I got my head bashed in?’ I said frustratedly. ‘Tony, everyone’s always keeping everything from me, why am I the only one who has to promise no secrets? I’m so sick of this! I want my life to be my life.’
‘I know, Princess, and I’m sorry,’ he said with a sigh. ‘This is unfair to you, why don’t you come back to the Tower, we can talk about this.’
‘I’m a little busy right now, Tony,’ I huffed and instructed JARVIS to shut him off and field all future calls. Maybe it was childish to be doing this, maybe I was acting spoiled and badly behaved, but I wasn’t just going out for a leisurely drive, I had a mission. A mission to save my best friend from a potentially embarrassing death. Who was I kidding, death might be potential but the embarrassment was certain.
JARVIS also had to give me instructions on how to get to Peter’s house, even though I’d practically grown up there. It didn’t seem to matter that I’d been back to my own house that was just next door, I still had no idea where such a significant location in my life was. It didn’t matter that I’d been awake since the fifth of January, I was no further forward in remembering who I was, or any part of my life. This wasn’t fair. From what I could actually remember of that night, I’d been trying to help Mr Cold Shoulder when he’d thrown me off a roof, and it hadn’t exactly paid off. Even if he had rescued me from the Dollhouse killer. Though I still maintain I could have managed to escape on my own.
Aunt May wasn’t home when I knocked on the door, and nobody else answered either. Though, if I was Peter, I couldn’t say I’d want to either. Going over to my own house, I shouldered the door open, climbed the stairs and went to the window I’d spent so many nights as an early teen sneaking out through. As I got older, I’d just used the front door. Swinging my leg over the sill, I contemplated if jumping out of a second story window was really the brightest idea this soon after an experimental bone flap reconstructive surgery. Briefly. Leaping across the way, I hit the wood on the other side of the fence with a thud , holding on tightly to the trellis. Clambering to the top, I pushed his window open, a little concerned he hadn’t even locked it. Sliding inside and hitting the floorboards with a dull thunk I made eye contact with a very surprised Peter, who was sitting in his desk chair. He had his computer open, as well as some workbooks, clearly trying hard to manage his schoolwork despite his condition.
‘What are you…’ he started and I gracelessly gestured to the crotch of his grey sweatpants. He looked down, going beet red with embarrassment. Which given how much blood was downstairs, was honestly quite the feat.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said plainly, palms a little sweaty. He needed to hear I was sorry, he deserved that much at the very least. ‘I don’t know if anyone told you what happened to me, but regardless, I’m sorry I left you this long. I’m sorry I ran off without a second thought, I’m sorry you’re suffering because of me. I’m sorry that your life is screwed up, I’m sorry I’m the one who screwed it up. I’m here to fix things.’
‘Okay,’ he nodded breathlessly. He stood from his chair, taking the few steps towards me and towering over the top of my small frame. ‘They explained to me this isn’t your fault, not really. I know it’s your siren thing. It’s been hard to wrap my head around, these feelings I suddenly have for you, how much my brain is trying to fight it, because I don’t actually feel these things for you.’
‘I know,’ I nodded, reaching out to take his much larger, longer hand in my ridiculously tiny one. ‘I’ve uh… I’ve done about an hour’s study on this, and I don’t know if it’ll work, but I’m going to stop this. I’m going to do everything I can to make this right.’
‘So how does this work?’ he asked and I shrugged. I didn’t know that. Acting without thinking was my whole schtick.
‘When I… when you kissed me, when I inadvertently made that happen I was desperate not to lose you, so I guess I just desperately want you to not..? I guess I just have to really mean it, and I do. I actually want this kind of attention, intimacy with Pietro, and I wouldn’t even wish this on him, so it should be easy enough to do, right?’ I asked, though mostly myself. He looked perplexed. But I suppose when you've been a science man all your life suddenly being introduced to magic would be rather perplexing.
Putting my hands out in front of me I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. Here goes. Similarly to the first time I’d consciously done it, I felt energy coursing through me. What I’d previously thought was adrenaline had actually been my Asgard ancestry fighting its way through my veins. My fingertips started to tingle and I excitedly opened my eyes. Looking straight down I got an eye full of Peter’s trouser tent and frowned, disheartened rather a lot.
‘Maybe it takes a while to go down,’ he suggested with a shrug. ‘You know, like normal. The blue hands thing was cool though.’
‘My hands went blue?’ I asked in disbelief. He shook his head.
‘Well no, but there was a blue magic-y misty stuff around your hands,’ he explained and I relaxed a little, nodding. That had been what had happened last time. I didn’t need to add my body turning literally blue to the list of things going wrong in my life.
‘So what? We wait?’ I asked and he shrugged. I was glad the future of science could be so precise. Sighing simultaneously, we both moved to sit beside each other on the bed and wait this out. Flopping down beside each other with our legs hanging off the side of the twin, I glanced at Peter. I wasn’t eager to try something until we knew this hadn’t worked, lest something worse happen. I also wasn’t optimistic it had worked. Who knew with this magic stuff? ‘I suppose the other option is I ask Thor very nicely if he’ll take us both to Asgard.’
‘Thor does not get to know I’m having downstairs trouble,’ he huffed and I chuckled.
‘Maybe he’ll be impressed, maybe he’ll compliment you on being such a virile example of Midgardian men,’ I teased and he rolled over, groaning and hugging his pillow. ‘I really am sorry.’
‘Are you?’ He asked, sounding rather upset. He rolled back over onto his back before he shifted to his other side, facing me. ‘I know magic viagra wasn’t exactly what you intended, but Tony did say that you use your powers when you want something from someone. Tell me you didn’t want me, even for a moment. This is… this is crazy. You were like an annoying older sister to me since I met you, and now I have all these feelings about you, and they make me sick to my stomach. All the images in my mind. My whole relationship with Gwen is ruined, it’s never going to be the same, I’m never going to get it back. You did this to me, can you at least tell me you meant it?’
‘I didn’t mean it, Peter, I don’t want you like this, I never have. I never will,’ I assured him and he made an angry noise of disbelief. He shook his head at me and I looked sadly up at him. ‘I don’t know why this happened, all I wanted was a reason for you to stay, a reason for you not to leave. But that reason is not intimacy, it’s not sexual, it’s not romantic. I wanted you to still be my friend because you’re like family.’
He reached a hand up to stroke some hair off my face, moving it down to cup my jaw as he stared at me disapprovingly. It was like he didn’t believe me, like he was upset at me for lying. But I wasn’t. I could honestly say as long as I had lived I’d never felt that way about him. He was a brother, a friend, a partner, but he was not anything else. His thumb brushed across my bottom lip and he looked at me with pleading eyes before he ducked forwards, pressing his lips to mine. Letting out a shriek of protest I tried to yank my head backwards and away but he held a tight grip on my jaw. Squealing like a pig as I kicked and pushed myself away, I fought against his domineering lips. Things I never wanted to know about Peter, he was a good kisser. I could objectively see why Gwen liked him so much, however, if he were to keep doing it to me, I was going to punch him in the throat. The adrenaline-like feeling started pumping through me at full force, my heart rate skyrocketed and the overwhelming feeling of desperation took over me. Only this time, to stop. Before I’d been desperate for him to stay, to make him stay, but now all I wanted was for him to stop. For this to stop. For all of this to stop.
Like lightning cracking across the sky, the room lit up with a flash of harsh blue and all sound began to feel muted, like I was trapped deep underwater. There was a breathless gasp like the wind had been knocked right out of someone’s lungs and Peter pulled violently away from me. The intense spike of energy deep in my core started to dissipate and I felt myself growing very tired. Still, at least Peter had stopped kissing me. Someone began to move around the room but I felt myself too tired, too lethargic to move. Shifting just enough to relax my neck and shoulder against the mattress, I allowed my eyes to drift closed. Here’s to hoping this had worked.
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