spectralsoldier-archive

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bcrtonhawk​:

“Well, no offense to your team of course, but Fisk just ran a team in my reality that did some pretty bad things. The new mayor wants a rebrand. A fresh slate.” God, he sounded like a commercial or something. Clint needed to lay off of the press appearances before he sounded like a robot. “If you wanna get technical, we had the name first.”

"How much are they paying you to do that?” Ava titters. “Talk about how good you are?” She’s under no false pretenses about what her team is and what they’re contracted to do. They’re not the fresh slate type. “I don’t always want to be the technical type. We’re both here, aren’t we?”

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barneswinters​:

“Hey, I didn’t pick it. And I’m sure as hell not taking it up with Val.” The woman was insufferable, and Bucky definitely limited his interactions with her the best he could. What Yelena said to him the other day was still lingering around in his thoughts. I’m going to kill her one day. The more he started to observe Fontaine’s actions, the less sure he was about joining her team in the first place. But for the moment, he was playing along. Keeping a watchful eye. “Yeah, no one’s really like Yelena.” She was a force of her own. Strong, funny, capable.. Any mission spent with her was sure to be smooth, and Bucky had placed a kind of trust in her that he hadn’t placed with anyone since he and Sam grew closer. Bucky didn’t even realize the way his face softened for a moment as he got lost in his own thoughts about her.

“I see you.” Ava speaks in a light sing song. “I see lots of things.” Her abilities make it all too easy to go unseen. Some would call it snooping or eavesdropping. Ava merely sees it as a side effect of her powers. She’s watched Barnes and Belova from afar, the two of mild interest to her. “But I won’t tell.”

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destroyrofworlds​:

Daisy eyed the nursing uniform the other woman wore and couldn’t help the slight frown she gave in response. “Can’t say I blame her there.” If she was being honest with herself, she wished she would have just finished the job back in the Town Hall. “But it’s not our job to play jury and executioner.”

“Tell that to Valentina.” Her boss tends to do as she pleases. Ava pulls at a loose string of the thermal that’s under her scrubs. “I’ll be upset if I’m the one sent to kill her.” For obvious reasons, Ava would be a good choice. She could get in and out unseen. There was a reason why S.H.I.E.L.D. had kept her under lock and key as an assassin. 

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kitchensdevil​:

Matt’s shoulders deflated a bit at that, but he was already running through the next courses of action as he nodded at her and let himself think for a moment. And then she mentioned Pleasant Hill, and a white, hot anger flared in his chest as he thought about Fisk’s involvement in the entire thing. It was no secret that Wilson had been a benefactor, and he was already working on Kate Bishop’s case in the whole matter, but he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t more personal than that. His eye twitched underneath his glasses as he reached up to adjust them and cleared his throat. “Building a case against S.H.I.E.L.D. will be easier to navigate, if that’s something you want to pursue. I’ve been taking on a lot of the victims.”

“Nobody cares about me outside of what I can do. I doubt that adding my name to your lawsuit will change anything.” Valentina’s piping mad. She won’t want her team suing S.H.I.E.L.D. without her permission, and it’s unlikely she’ll give it. “Do you think you have a chance at winning?”

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spectormcrc​:

Marc got the sense that Valentina liked using a lot of people. But he kept that thought to himself as he just gave Ava a gruff nod. He couldn’t imagine Ava having much choice in the matter with what he’d seen from Valentina so far, but her words were spoken with sincerity and Marc didn’t really have much else to say in protest. It wasn’t his job to convince her it was a bad idea. “I’m not gonna be forced to do anything.” He refused to let this woman get under his skin, and he’d be damned if she got under Layla’s. “Just.. do me a favor? Encourage her to back off, and I’ll owe you one.”

There’s a sigh. “You think that she listens to me? I’m a tool. A weapon.” Valentina uses Ava just like S.H.I.E.L.D. At least she gets properly compensated now for it. “I would say she’ll lose interest soon, but she seems like a woman who doesn’t stop until she gets what she wants.” Her sheer persistence had hooked most of her team in. 

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destroyrofworlds​:

“Well, I guess I’m glad that one good thing came out of it.” Daisy remembered exactly where she’d been when she first discovered that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. Remembered the way Koenig’s body pressed against the grate above her while she watched Ward’s tracker head right towards them. That kind of helplessness wasn’t something she ever wanted to feel again. “Bill Foster, right?”

“Yes.” She confirms. “Dr. Foster.” He was the first and only person to care about her. Bill is family in every way that counts. “He saved me. Without him, I don’t know if I ever would have gotten free of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

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barneswinters​:

“I’m not sure there was a point to the roster that Valentina chose.” He was sure that it was calculated to some extent, but honestly it still confused the hell out of him. The Winter Soldier, Ghost, Red Guardian, Taskmaster… It was weird to him that Ava was so concerned about Yelena’s place in the team. They were all very decidedly not team players. “What did you imagine Natasha to be like?”

“A good roster wouldn’t consist only of super soldiers, one human and myself.” Really, one would think that Valentina would be a little more intentional with team diversity. Ava’s the only super powered member of the team if you don’t count Antonia’s Taskmaster chip. The former assassin shrugs a shoulder. “Not like Yelena.” She speaks in circles and makes no move to clarify.

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destroyrofworlds​:

“Hill’s been taken care of.” When Daisy realized how final that sounded, she raised her eyebrows and quickly backtracked. “She’s not dead, though. Just on a mandatory medical leave.”

There’s a moment of quiet before Ava’s form flickers into view. She’s still dressed in her Pleasant Hill attire, and she feels naked without her suit and helmet. “Valentina will want her dead.” Ava can’t imagine her boss is going to take any of this lightly. “She’s done a terrible thing.”

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kitchensdevil​:

“There’s ways to make that contract null. For example, if you feel as if you were signing it under duress. Did she threaten you physically or psychologically to sign it?”

“No, I signed it sound in mind. It was my choice.” Which, Ava does realize, will make it hard to do anything. “I wasn’t expecting to be sucked into Pleasant Hill as a result.”

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spectormcrc​:

“She had Yelena reach out.” The name was said with resentment for the way the Widow deceived him during their first meeting. Of course Fontaine wanted the potential power of a god on her side. It was why she’d been pestering Layla recently, too; showing up to the museum and trying to intimidate her. As soon as she stepped a single heeled foot near his wife, Marc’s protective instincts flared. Layla was just figuring out how to navigate being an Avatar, she didn’t need some bogus proposition to join a mercenary team. It was manipulative and Marc wasn’t going to let her get hurt. His face softened slightly, even if his eyebrows were still furrowed. “You don’t have to feel forced to do anything, you know.”

“Yelena? I’m not surprised. She likes using Yelena.” It makes sense. She’s the sister of the Black Widow, and people love Natasha enough to look past Yelena’s faults. Bucky comes with preconceived notions, as does Walker. Alexei is a bumbling idiot and Antonia, in addition to not speaking English very well, has socialization skills even worse than Ava. They’re a dysfunctional group if there’s ever been one. “I know. This is my choice.” And, in a life mostly devoid of them, it’s something that Ava doesn’t take lightly. “I hope you don’t feel forced to either.”

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destroyrofworlds​:

Daisy paused at Ava’s words, her brows furrowing as she tried to recall the other girl’s file. When more recognition hit, she bowed her head slightly. “What were you doing when that all.. you know, went down?”

“It’s around the time that Bill broke me out.” She hadn’t even known what to do with herself at first. Being free of S.H.I.E.L.D. for the first time since she was a child had been overwhelming. “It was the perfect cover to get away.”

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antdad​:

“certainly,” scott nodded, “i hope you know you’re no exception, ava.”

“I suppose we’ll see, won’t we?” She shakes her head. “I do hope so.”

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madamefontaine​:

“Of course he does, he’s Russian. Belova is the same way, if you ever stop to notice it. She’ll talk your ear off with nonsense if you don’t stop her. But you, Ava, you’re far more reserved than them.” Valentina took a moment to reach forward and brush some stray hair away from Ava’s face as she planted a kind smile across her face. But behind her eyes, there was an unspoken darkness as she pulled her hand away. “You make a fine addition to the Thunderbolts. We’re truly lucky to have you.”

Ava doesn’t mind when Yelena talks at her. She’s more coherent than Alexei is. At least her sardonic stories make Ava laugh. There’s no outward flinch when Valentina touches her, but Ava’s form flickers. She does not do well with physical affection after being a touch starved child. She wants to ask Valentina to not do so again, but instead her tongue is bitten. “Thank you.” Her voice, like always, is high. “You know I’m glad to have the chance.”

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spectormcrc​:

“Only because Valentina won’t stop trying to shove the team in my face.” Marc grumbled out, a disapproving scowl written all over his face as he eyed the woman up and down. He recognized her from the dossier Valentina had shown him when she attempted to recruit him, and ultimately failed. He wasn’t buying any of the kumbaya bulshit that Val was trying to sell to him. “What did she promise you, huh? A second chance?”

Ava takes interest in that. “She wants you as well?” That’s worth noting. Other than herself, there’s no one with abilities on the team. It’s just a bunch of super soldiers and Yelena. What did she promise you? Probably less than she had promised other. A purpose, for starters. A chance to use her lifelong training and conditioning to be more than a killer for S.H.I.E.L.D. There was a potential for camaraderie and getting closer to people for the first time in her life. Ava doesn’t care about money. She never has. She just wants the chance that the man has acutely guessed. “Valentina is persuasive.” Ava dodges the question. “She knows how to get to the heart of things.”

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casslang​:

“Pet project? Sounds… fun.” It didn’t, really. Cassie wasn’t sure what the Thunderbolts were, but the name itself didn’t sound super promising. She wanted to give Ava the benefit of the doubt, given how the way the woman turned everything around after finally getting the quantum infusions that she needed, but if Ava was getting herself into trouble, Cassie’s Dad deserved to know. And so did Hank and Hope. “But it involves teamwork? Is it a superhero team?”

Ava’s not really sure if fun is the right word, but she doesn’t correct Cassie. There’s no reason to, and Ava can be picky with her words. The blonde is asking questions, though. She’s continuing the conversation; Ava buries her hands in her sweaters, one finger wrapping around a loose thread. “A superhero team? No, no. I don’t think they’d want me for one of those. But it’s a team, yes. Governmental.” 

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bcrtonhawk​:

“Oh, definitely not. We’re going for a rebrand of the name. It makes it kinda hard when you guys are operating under the same one.”

“Why is that?” Valentina seems like a woman who would want to stand out. She’s got the flashy purple streak in her hair. Clearly, she doesn’t mind people looking at her. It’s an interesting leader for a stealth team. “You’d think there could be different names.”

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kitchensdevil​:

“I have no place to tell you what to do, but if you feel like you were forced into a contract with Valentina, I can always offer you some help.”

“My contract actually prohibits me from seeking outside legal counsel.” Ava’s read it with a fine tooth comb again and again. She wants to know what she’s signing up for.