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notquitecanon · 5 years

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Reunions and the F word. Marvel / Criminal Minds crossover pt.3 (reader insert)

Part One Part Two

January 2011

You stood in front of the BAU for the first time in almost a year. Utilizing some of SHIELD’s computer access, you’d been keeping up with their cases- and through their reports (and tidbits of information that the bureau kept) with them. You knew they were in at the moment.

Aside from the usual overwhelming number of cases, you were surprised by how uneventful things had been in the BAU, but grateful at the same time. Uneventful meant safe. The biggest thing that happened was that JJ had gotten a job offer from the Pentagon, and had been forced to take it.

You made a mental note to drop by her house later in the week- depending on how the Team reacting to your sudden reappearance. Would they be happy to see you? Angry that you left? Angry that you came back? Maybe they wouldn’t care?

But there was no turning back now, you had already entered the building and were waiting outside those glass doors (you were shocked at how far you could get just flashing your SHIELD badge). Hell, you could see Derek teasing Spencer at the Doctor’s desk- his hair was much shorter now. Prentiss was laughing with them, and Garcia was making (what was probably) her third cup of coffee in a TARDIS patterned mug.

No, they won’t want me to see me- They’re busy. You decided, turning on your heel back towards the elevators. But your escape was halted by someone’s chest, your eyes flicked up to find-

“(Y/N)?” David Rossi’s voice was astonished, but not angry. Your eyes quickly observed all of his behavior, but all you picked up was curiosity and shock. “What are you doing here?”

Well, at least he’s not angry. You decided as you softly smiled back at him, “Hey Rossi, I thought I was overdue for a visit. Think the team has a minute?”

When Rossi walked you into the Bullpen, heads were on a swivel. You watched your former team, just trying to get an accurate read of their feelings before you spoke to anyone. You caught Prentiss’ eyes first, as everyone in the room: shock, fondness, confusion- no anger. Then you moved on to Spencer: he was smiling, but eyebrows read confusion, slight betrayal, but overall no hostility. Hotch had come out of his office, as usual, his expression was unreadable, except for the glimmer of confusion and disapproval. Garcia was smiling widely, excitement written all over her face. But Morgan... Derek looked like he was barely hiding the anger and masking it with overall disapproval. You sucked in a breath, thinking to yourself, This is going to be fun.

Just as quickly, you were ushered into the briefing room- giving you a sense of deja vu from all the times JJ had called you and the team in. They all took their prospective seats except for Derek who stood behind his- clear sign of hostility. None of them spoke, just all waited for you to start.

You’d made up your mind to come here, but you never figured out what to say once you got there. Awkwardly you smiled, clasping your hands in front of you as you met each of their eyes. “Uh, hi guys, it’s been a while. Just under a year.”

“Not to be rude, but is there something you want to say? If not, we’ve got cases to work. We-” Derek started, arms crossed angrily over his chest. He reminded you a lot of Clint, both now and just your memories of him. Hotch interrupted him before he could continue with a quiet ‘Morgan.’

“No, he’s right.” You assured, glancing down to the floor, pausing as you thought to yourself I’ve never noticed how blue this carpet is... not important right now, “I haven’t been allowed contact until now. But that’s not an excuse is it.”

You took another moment collecting your thoughts, looking into Spencer’s eyes- it was that same “I’m sympathetic but you kind of deserve it smile” he’d given you almost a year ago, this time you smiled back.

“I wasn’t allowed contact until they could be sure I wasn’t a security risk. And then they set me to work, I’ve been working up behavioral profiles ever since.” You explained.

“Them being SHIELD,” Rossi remarked, it wasn’t a question but you nodded regardless. You picked your words carefully, making sure you weren’t telling something you weren’t supposed to.

“They’d been watching the BAU for a while- it was actually the Anthrax case that attracted their attention. You remember General Thaddeus Ross? He works closely with SHIELD. They determined that I was the most likely to actually leave the Bureau, and my sanction provided a clean break, but that’s not the reason I left.” You offered, hoping the information would appease them. “I’ve been, uh, keeping up with your cases. You’ve been doing good work.”

“We’ve been shorthanded.” Morgan remarked, but it was masked by Reid’s question. You couldn’t help the look of hurt that flashed across your face, but you also caught the warning glare that Hotch sent him and look of sadness from Penelope.

“What did they need a profiler for?” Spencer asked, directing attention back to you. You hated having to lie, but you knew telling them it was ‘classified’ would provoke Morgan more.

“You know, they didn’t actually tell me. I’ve been drawing up profiles on agents, scientists, and other people on their radar.” You lied, you knew exactly what they were doing with your profiles.

“Scientists, anyone I would know?” Reid asked, leaning in. You playfully winked at him. Garcia speaking before you could answer.

“Any SHIELD agents you could put on my radar?” She asked, playfully wiggling her eyebrows with a ‘sexy’ smirk on her lips. You and Prentiss laughed out loud, while Hotch and Rossi hid a smile. Reid, as usual, looked confused. Morgan even cracked a smile before regaining composure.

“I’ll see what I can do, Garcia.” You winked. Garcia giggled and Prentiss was still laughing, and for a brief moment, you could imagine that you never left. But you had left, and you didn’t regret it, but you knew they had work to do.

“I’m on leave for a week, and I’d love to catch up with you all. But I know you have cases to go through.” You paused, fishing a card out of your jacket pocket. “This has my new phone number on it, if any of y’all would like to catch up. If your busy or don’t want to, I understand.”

Hotch nodded, motioning for the team to get going. They all started bustling as they filed out, Derek caught your eyes again before leaving. Hotch and Rossi were the last ones out, walking with you.

“It was good to see you.” Rossi nodded, holding the door open. You smiled.

“Figured I owed an explanation, at least what I was allowed to tell you.” You sighed, as he patted you on the back.

“I’m sorry about Derek. I’ll speak to him later.” He promised. You shook your head.

“No need, I know exactly what it looks like. It looks like I’m climbing the latter.” You admitted, looking over the bullpen at Derek who was working through paperwork while the rest of the team was chatting amongst themselves. You knew how he felt about latter-climbers, he basically refused to take promotions himself- he hated having to take over for Hotch. “You think he’ll forgive me?”

They shared a look, but didn’t answer you.

__________

Garcia was the first to reach out, later that day- which wasn’t really all that surprising. She’d already organized a girl’s night- even got JJ and Prentiss involved. You smiled as she rambled over the phone, how some bar was having themed drinks and she was so excited to get the gang back together. Before you knew it, you were sitting on a barstool laughing as Prentiss made a fool of some guy. Now that all the questions were out of the way, it was like old times again.

You turned to JJ, “So how’s Henry? god, I feel like I’ve missed so much.”

JJ laughed a bit more before answering, “Henry, oh he’s great! He’s learning words. Getting into everything he shouldn’t. Me and Will have our hands full.”

Her voice was fond as she stirred her drink. You smiled softly as you sipped yours. Garcia bustled up between you, setting a tray down on the table, “Less sipping, more shots, ladies. Who knows when we’re going to get to do this again!”

You chuckled but knew better than to argue as she slung her arm around you and JJ. JJ shouted over her shoulder, “Prentiss, get over here and be irresponsible with us!”

And that’s the last thing you remembered before waking up on Garcia’s couch, covered in a blanket with a pounding headache and a desperate need for water.

“Good morning.” Garcia groaned as she shuffled past the couch. You waved to her as you propped yourself up, “I’ll drop you by your hotel on my way to work today.”

She then winced at the noise of her dropping her keys on the counter, “Oh, why do I always bring out the shots. It’s never a good idea.”

Slowly, fuzzy memories flooded back- the shots, the dancing, the laughs. You smiled fondly. “Bad ideas make good memories and bad headaches.”

_________

After Garcia dropped you back at your hotel, you immediately put your dead phone on the charger. Next, you opened your computer almost relieved to find no emails from Fury or Coulson. Your stomach growled, nothing in it but the remnants of cheap cocktails and the coffee Penelope made you. Fortunately, the hefty SHIELD paycheck could afford to have breakfast delivered to your door. So one hot meal, a shower, and two tylenol later, you checked your phone.

Two messages from Natasha, and two from an unknown number.

Natasha: You in DC?

Natasha: Heard you got leave. That’s impressive, new agents never get leave in their first year.

Unknown number: This is Reid, you free for lunch today?

Spencer: Morgan said he’d come with me- don’t know if that’s an encouragement or deterrent.

You texted Spencer back first, More than happy to. Just give me a time and place.

And then to Natasha, Quantico, only a short train ride to the city though.

Spencer: Quantico Grill / 12:15 ? You always liked their fries.

You: Sounds good, Doc.

Natasha: just checking up on you. Just got back from my mission & you weren’t in your office.

You: I’ll be back on Friday :)

Ever since Natasha had gotten off her mission with Stark, she’d been steadily hanging around with you more- occasionally even dragging Clint along with her. You’d even dare to call her a friend. She’d also been brushing up on your combat skills, getting you ready for your upcoming field test. SHIELD standards were a bit higher than the FBI’s.

You smiled at the thought as you went through your routine of getting ready, it was already 10:30 AM. Pleased with your appearance by 11, you were startled by a dinging from your laptop.

“[Level 6 Security Clearance] CLASSIFIED. As soon as you’re back, we’ve got work for you.” Was the subject line of an email form Coulson, but the digitized files were dated all in the 1940s. Great another wild goose chase.You thought as you opened the file, skimming them to pass the time.

Captain Steve Rogers.... Captain Effing America.

As much as you were interested in Captain America (always your favorite part of History class in school), you didn’t know why they’d want to profile a soldier that had long since been dead. You skimmed to the bottom, oh that’s why.

Captain Steve Rogers, found in ice, comatose, but Alive.

Under that was another note from Phil, “You’ve got your work cut out for you. You’ll need to build a preliminary with the attached files and then do an in-person interview when he wakes up. Report to the New York field office as soon as your leave is over.”

You scrolled back up to the top, reading over reports from several familiar names like Peggy Carter and Howard Stark. You certainly did have your work cut out for you. You tore your eyes up to the clock.

11:45.

But work could wait.

_________

When your taxi slid into a spot beside the Quantico Grill, you paid quickly already spotting Reid’s old blue Volvo. While you were happy to catch up with Spencer, anxiety was bubbling in your stomach from your last encounter with Derek. You shoved the negative thoughts out of your head as you slid through the tinted glass door.

You immediately spotted Spencer sitting by himself in a booth facing the door, so with a smile and a wave you slid across from him. As always, his relaxed state was incredibly awkward looking, but you were long since accustomed to it. “Hey, Spence. Derek back out?”

The Doctor smiled back, but shook his head, “No, you just missed him. He just went to the bathroom to take a call.”

You nodded, getting situated. Spencer continued on, smiling playfully as he teased, “Prentiss and Garcia looked pretty rough this morning. Long night?”

“It’s always a long night when Garcia serves shots.” You grinned, even though Spencer knew- (JJ had often either dragged him along on ‘girls night’ or called as a DD after said girls night.) A waitress across the way dropped a glass, startled both of you. You jumped slightly before glancing at Spencer who was wincing- one hand rubbing his eye and the other pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Spence, you ok?” You asked in concern as the Doctor across from you slowly stopped rubbing his eye. He nodded, voice strained.

“Yeah, I’m, uh, fine.” He nodded, finally looking back to you. You simply quirked an eyebrow.

“You wanna lie more convincingly or just go ahead and tell me the truth?” You smiled. Even if he had lied more convincingly, you would have been able to tell- the two of you had always been close.

He opened his mouth, before closing it again, collecting his thoughts before admitting, “I’ve, uh, been having these headaches lately. Well, migraines really. But it’s not a big deal, I’m, uh, going to a specialist doctor, soon.”

“Oh, Well, I’m sure everything will work itself out. But keep me updated, yeah?” You nodded as a waiter approached the table. Both you and Spencer gave him your drink orders before he turned back to you.

“So, but, uh, what about your new job?” He asked, you ducked your head with a smile.

“Well, I’m doing the same profiling, just not with serial killers. Well, so far.” You nodded, “Oh, I forgot I wanted to ask, What do you know about Bruce Banner?”

His face lit up, beginning his monologue and not even bothering to stop when Derek slid into the booth, “Bruce Banner- the man has eight Ph. Ds- that’s my goal. His work in thermonuclear astrophysics is unparalleled. His theory about...”

You zoned him out for a second, smiling and nodding hello to Derek- who at least didn’t seem to want to shoot you on sight like he had yesterday. He nodded back to you flagging down a waitress to order his drink.

“... Not to mention his rumored involvement in the creation of the Hulk. It’s honestly fascinating. Honestly, who knows the halt on scientific advancement because he’s gone missing. I actually traveled to Culver University to attend a joint lecture of his with Dr. Erik Selvig about anti-electron collisions. It was fascinating! Why do you ask? Wait, did SHIELD find him?!”

You shook your head frantically, biting not only his location but also the fact that Dr. Banner was the Hulk on the tip of your tongue, laughing it off, “No, well, not that I know of- I’m not exactly high on the totem pole yet.”

He deflated a bit but didn’t lose his smile. You glanced at Derek who just watched you disinterestedly, you smiled awkwardly but continued your conversation, playfully whispering, “But, they did let me interview and profile Tony Stark.”

That spurred another long monologue about the technological advances made by Tony Stark, he only paused long enough to let the waiter take the table’s orders. Then restarted his soliloquy to touch on the responsibilities required for said technological advancements. You smiled as you watched him talk, the crazy motions he made with his hands and all the side stories he’d get into- just like he used to do on the jet. It wasn’t long before Morgan seemingly forgot your existence and was back to lightheartedly teasing Spencer, who was delightfully oblivious.

When the waiter brought out the food, your group quieted. Only exchanging short sentences between bites of greasy sandwiches. As you were finishing up, Spencer nudged Derek before loudly clearing his throat, “Lunch is on me guys. You guys can just wait here.”

With that, the resident genius squeezed past Derek quick enough to outrun protests as he left the two of you alone. You sighed with raised eyebrows, “Well, that was completely subtle.”

It was a veiled attempt to gauge the situation. Derek breathed a laugh through his nose, but made no attempt to continue the conversation. You nodded through the awkward silence, searching for something to continue the conversation.

“So, everything good? Seeing anyone?” Even you cringed at the awkward small talk, so you didn’t even give the chance to answer- not that he seemed to want to answer out loud anyway, “Actually, better question- how long am I going to get the famous Derek Morgan cold shoulder?”

“I’m not giving you the cold shoulder.” It was a simple statement, but the arms crossed over his chest said differently. You snorted a laugh.

“Mmmhm. What are you mad about Derek? That I left?” You asked, making sure you didn’t sound hostile, but some of it seeped out. You couldn’t help it, everyone else at least attempted to hear you out- but Morgan, who had been like an older brother to you, seemed to hate your guts now. He shook his head, holding up his hand to stop you.

“No, no, I’m not mad that you left-” He started, but you interrupted, catching his wording. Pointing a finger at his chest.

“But you are mad! If it’s not because I left... Is it because I jumped rank or because... Are you mad that they didn’t ask you?” You asked, the hostile tone slowly leaving your voice as it just became defeated. He sighed, hanging his head.

“No, no... well... I’m not mad about any of that.” He looked off, probably praying for Spencer to return to end the conversation. You sighed, raking a hand through your hair.

“I was mad because you just left. It took them ten minutes to erase your existence. It was like you died. And the jumping rank was just salt in the wound. (Y/L/N).” He paused, “Tell me right now you didn’t leave for the rank. And I’ll drop it.”

Derek was always an intense person, and the look he gave made it near impossible to lie. “There’s a lot of things I can’t tell you. But I joined the BAU to make a difference, to help save people. SHIELD gave me an opportunity to help save even more people, and that’s what it’s all about right? Saving people?”

You stopped for a moment, “Look, I’m sorry about the radio silence- it wasn’t my call. And it’s not like I didn’t miss y’all. But if someone looked at you, and told you that you had the chance to help save hundreds of people? You’re telling me you wouldn’t take it, Morgan? You would, and I know it, Derek, I know you. Saving people, that’s what we do.”

His arms uncrossed, and you counted it as a small victory. Finally, he nodded, body language untensed, “Just promise no more disappearing acts.”

You smiled slightly as Spencer reapproached the table, “I’ll do my best.”

“Ready?” Spence asked, and the two of you nodded, sliding out of the booth. Derek turned to you.

“You need a ride back to your hotel? We got twenty minutes-” He was cut off by both of their phones chiming,

“Oh, I know that sound.” You smiled, waiting as they read the message.

“Yep, we’ve got a case. You want a ride to the BAU, we can call you a cab from there.” He offered. You could tell the friendship wasn’t completely repaired, but it was a start.

“You worried about me, Derek?” You smirked, collecting your coat and bag. You heard him chuckle. “But yeah, I’ll take that ride.”

___

Once inside the BAU, you took a seat at your old desk (which you were weirdly happy was still empty) as Derek and Spencer rushed to the briefing room. You were only there for a moment before Hotch popped his head out, “You want to take a look at this? ”

You smirked as you stood up, “I’d love to.”

“Alright my fine furry friends, you’re heading to Hindsburg, Connecticut,” Garcia started as she turned on the monitor, “These terribly disturbing pictures are of Mr. & Mrs. Montoya- *ahem* - or what’s left of them, found by their maid in their home this morning.”

“This is grisly, but besides the gore, why are we needed?” Morgan asked, pointing his pen to the monitor.

“Fourth couple found like this. The first one was over a year ago, then one last month, and then two this week. No DNA on scene, Hindsburg PD has invited us in.” She answers, flipping her finger across her tablet causing the images to switch. This time it showed happy photos of all the families smiling. One family was Asian with four children, another was Hispanic with one, and the last two were white families- one with two children and the other with none. You leaned over Prentiss’s shoulder to look at her files. All four families were of different socioeconomic backgrounds, different neighborhoods, with no discernible connections at first glance.

“Not to state the obvious but the amount of overkill is ridiculous, but suggests they symbolize something for him. And the crossings of race and gender indicates there’s no sexual component to these crimes.” You thought aloud. Spencer built off your thoughts.

“The dismemberment could be symbolic of destroying them. Death wasn’t enough so he literally rips their life apart.” He offered, Rossi nodded.

“Garcia, what about the children?” He asked, his file open to the Asian family, the Zhangs. Garcia nodded

“The families with children in the house, the children were unharmed. The ten-year-old from the Smith’s- the, Uhm, first white family. Told the police that the killer promised not to hurt them if they stayed in bed all night. That the killer, uh, tucked her in.” Garcia explained

“Says here, police found the Zhangs’ four-year-old tucked into a wet bed crying for his parents. Stayed there for two days before his grandparents came to visit.” Prentiss remarked, frowning. “Tucking the children in, keeping them away from the sight of their parents? That reads remorse.”

You had an epiphany.

“Garcia, did the ME report say if dismemberment was pre- or postmortem?” You asked, fingers tracing over the picture of the smiling child. Jackson Zhang, it was labeled.

She flipped through her tablet, wincing when she found the answer, “It was before they died, well most of it. The weapon was a hacksaw. ME’s official call was blood loss, except on Mrs. Montoya- she had a stroke, his notes say she was epileptic and the trauma caused a seizure... And subsequently.”

“Any drugs present?” You asked again. Hotch rose his eyebrows, answering your question.

“No, none. Where are you going with this?” He asked. You nodded.

“I have a point, I promise I’m not that rusty. So if there are no drugs in their system, and hacksaw dismemberment,” You paused at Garcia’s flinch, “Sorry, I have apparently lost my bedside manner. But that’s a brutal way to go. What if the unsub locks them in their room to make them listen?”

“Well, that makes them sadistic.” Morgan nodded, but then his eyes narrowed, “Or what if he sees himself in the children? Needs them to feel their pain. Dismemberment was the first part of the signature, and then the children were additional victims.”

“Ok, but if the connection is children, why kill the Montoya’s if they didn’t have children?” Reid prodded. Prentiss answered him, flipping the page.

“The Montoya’s were last seen in public with their neice who they were watching for the day. The unsub most likely thought she was their child.” She answered. Hotch looked past the group, at the monitor.

“Or he’s devolving. Wheels up in an hour.” Hotch decided, and the team immediately sprung to action. Derek clapped your shoulder on his way by, and Rossi stopped to tell you it was good to have you back, even for a little while.

“If protocol allowed I’d ask you to come with us, but-” He started, and you finished for him.

“But you already bent protocol letting me sit in on the briefing. It was nostalgic.” You nodded, understanding as you followed him out. He nodded.

“We miss having you around. Between you and JJ, we’re down two good profilers.” Hotch nodded to you, stopping in front of his office. You just smiled.

“How’s Jack?” You asked, this time Hotch actually smiled.

“He gets better every day. Right now, he’s obsessed with Ironman. He’s already talking about being Ironman for Halloween.” Hotch answered, talking about Jack was one of the few times Hotch was ever fully open. You smiled and nodded.

“I’m more of a Captain America fan myself.” You laughed, imagining Jack in an Ironman costume- even though it was the last thing Tony Stark’s ego needed. Rossi passed by.

“Captain America, now that’s old school.” He laughed, winking at you as he slipped out of his office.

“Well, I’ll get out of your hair. Good luck on the case.” You nodded, smiling at the two of them. Rossi patted your arm, and Hotch simply nodded to you. So with one last smile, you descended into the bullpen. You first stopped by Prentiss and Derek’s desks, receiving two tight hugs. Both making you promise to actually call this time. Next was Reid, who hugs were always just a bit looser but just as comforting- you always thought it was his smell, as he tended to smell like a mix of aftershave and new books.

“You know, I’ve been keeping up with your reading lists.” You smiled, tapping the latest hardback on his desk, “I’ll be calling more, we can have book club. And you can answer all my questions about all these scientists that I’ve never heard of.”

He smiled that awkward grin, nodding, “Sounds like a plan.”

“Be careful on this case!” You called over your shoulder as you moved onto Garcia who was waiting impatiently at your old desk, “What did you think I’d forget?”

“Just wanted to make sure you knew you weren’t getting away without a goodbye.” She grinned, already wrapping her arms around your neck and squeezing. You accepted it gratefully, letting her rock back and forth. Finally, you patted her gently on the back, gasping out.

“Garcia, I need to breathe, babes.”

She quickly let go, “Sorry, sorry.”

“You know now that I’m not ‘missing’ anymore, you’re gonna have to stop hacking my computer. My SA is getting suspicious.” You rose your eyebrows as she used her purple painted pinky finger to wipe a tear out from under her eye. She nodded, smiling, the matching purple lipstick accentuating white teeth.

“I’ll stop hacking, but your gonna have to answer your phone- or at the very least my emails.” She demanded, poking your arm. You chuckled, it was your turn to nod. Without any warning, she threw herself on you again, squeezing you tightly. “Just so you know, you don’t have to wait another year to visit again.”

“I know, I know.” You assured, squeezing her back. It was a tender moment, only interrupted by a sudden voice behind you.

“Agent (Y/L/N), I need you to come with me.” You whipped around, jaw dropped to find Natasha waiting patiently, the smallest smirk on her lips at your shock. “Leave’s been cut short.”

“Oh, hey, Natasha.” You smiled, eyebrows crinkling at her sudden appearance, then noticing your old team gathering around. “Morgan, I won’t be needing that cab now.”

“This is my co-worker, Natasha. Apparently, I’m getting called in as well.” You nodded. Watching them all shake her hands.

“I’m sorry to steal her away from her. But we need her sooner than we thought we would.” The spy apologized, smiling at each team member. The rest of the team nodded, watching her apprehensively- like you they all knew how to spot a dangerous person.

“Stay safe guys!” You called, giving Penelope one last squeeze as you followed Natasha out. You patted Spencer’s arm as you walked past him. Right before you exited the BAU, you turned back around giving them each one more smile and nod. They all returned them as the glass door shut behind you. And once again, you were an agent of SHIELD.

Natasha was already strutting away, a playful smile on her lips as she teased, “Co-worker?”

You rolled your eyes, catching up to her, “Well, I know how you feel about the f-word. Now, lets get to work.”

________

wow people actually asked to be tagged in this so

taglist: @irishfaulk97 @viarogers

#marvel x criminal minds #criminal minds x reader #mcu x reader #spencer reid x reader #captain america x reader

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what-is-your-plan-today · 5 years

Text

Stark Spangled Banner Ch24 : Like The Old Man Said...Together

Summary: The Avengers track Ultron and it’s a race against time before the AI can put his plan into action.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Bad language, Smut (NSFW) violence and crazy assed robots. Oh and “Something dramatic, I hope!”

A/N: As part of SSB’s Birthday celebrations I added in another few scenes I cut from this originally. It makes it a little longer but I hope you enjoy.

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist

“I’ve put the boys to work.” Laura said, gesturing out of the window as Katie chewed on her grilled cheese. She’d had a good 4 hours sleep and was feeling much better after that and a scalding shower. She glanced across the lawn area to where Steve and Tony were positioned at the side of the house, both holding an axe, stood by a stack of large logs and two piles of smaller logs.

“You got Tony doing manual labour…” Katie grinned at her, “Well played.”

She chuckled and then began to chat to about her plans for dinner. “Clint suggested comfort food. fried chicken and Mac and Cheese to be specific”

“You’ll win Steve over instantly. “Katie grinned, “I’m happy to help, lot of people to feed, not to mention Stevie eats enough for 3!”

“You wanna take her up on that.” Clint said as he walked into the kitchen and opened a drawer near the door “She’s a damned good cook is our kiddo…obviously, not as good as you babe.” he added as a quick afterthought. “Smooth Barton…” Katie laughed. Laura threw a tea towel at his head as he pulled a tape measure from the drawer. He left through the backdoor, still laughing, the kids trailing behind him.

Katie stared at the back door as it shut, the normality of the scene suddenly hitting her. He had a wife, 2 children, and still managed to hold down the ridiculous lifestyle the Avengers and SHIELD demanded.

“How do you do it?” she asked Laura suddenly. The woman placed the last plate on the sink to drain and straightened up. “I mean this, it’s so ordinary.” she turned, once more looking out of the window. She watched Steve swing his axe, his light blue Under Armour skin top clinging to every part of his torso.

“It’s possible…” Laura said, standing behind her as she followed the younger woman’s gaze “you know, to have a domestic life…well, a variation on one, away from the mess.”

“Problem is the pair of us are tangled in the mess.” Katie said, not taking her eyes off Steve.

“Well then, you should understand each other more.” She said, before she changed the subject “Here, they could probably use a drink. You wanna take em that jug of ice tea for me?”

“Sure.”

A minute or so later Katie crossed the lawn with a tray sporting a full jug and 2 glasses towards where both men where stood by the decreasing mound of large logs and the two increasing mounds of smaller ones. Steve’s pile of cut logs was significantly bigger than Tony’s, which was hardly surprising. And the pair of them were bickering which was also not surprising.

“Is that a problem?” Steve asked, picking the two halves he had just cut up and throwing them onto his pile, bristling slightly at the fact Tony was digging into why he wasn’t as affected by the Maximoff’s visions as everyone else. Truth be told he had been affected, big time, but since he and Katie had talked it through he felt better. But he wasn’t about to tell anyone that, frankly it was no ones’ business what any of them had seen bar their own.

“I don't trust a guy without a dark side. Call me old fashioned.” Tony shrugged

“Well let's just say you haven't seen it yet.” Steve glowered at him, his temper starting to rise. He couldn’t help but feel pissed at Tony, because if it wasn’t for him they wouldn’t even be in this mess.

“You know this is what he’s trying to do right?” a soft voice said and Steve turned to see Katie setting a tray of drinks down behind them. They both turned to look at her “Ultron is trying to tear us apart.”

“Well I guess he'd know.” Steve said, jerking his head in Tony’s direction “Whether he tells us is a bit of a question”

“Banner and I were doing research-”

“That would affect the team” Steve said, picking up another log. His voice was gaining momentum, and Katie let out a groan, she knew he was getting angry.

“That would end the team” Tony said simply, “Isn’t that the mission? Isn't that the "why" we fight, so we can end the fight, so we get to go home?”

Without so much as a huff of noise, Steve ripped the log he was holding apart with his bare hands in a fit of temper that aroused Katie far more than it should have done. Tony raised his eyebrows slightly and Steve’s chest heaved as he regained his composure. He turned to look at Tony and spoke, his voice calm and measured.

“Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time.” he said softly but sternly, trying to make his point. Loki, Hydra, SHIELD with Insight.. now this.

“I'm sorry. Mr. Stark,” Laura headed across the lawn towards them all. “Uh, Clint said you wouldn't mind, but, our tractor, it doesn't seem to want to start at all. I thought maybe you might...

“Yeah, I'll give her a kick” Tony smiled at Laura then as he turned to leave he looked back at Steve delivering his next line with the air of a petulant child “Don't take from my pile.”

“You know if he wasn’t your bother…” Steve said, reaching for a glass of tea, draining it in one and leaving his sentence hanging. Katie took a deep breath and stood up.

“Cut him a bit of slack yeah?” her eyes flashed “The Maximoff girl. She got to him too.”

Steve looked down at her and frowned, that was news to him. “But I thought…”

“It was the day we found the sceptre.” Katie said. “She got to him in Strucker’s lab only he didn’t know what it was at the time. And you wanna know what he saw?” her voice wasn’t angry but she levelled Steve with a look that left him with no uncertain terms she was defending her brother “He saw us all dead because he hadn’t tried hard enough.”

Ok so now Steve felt like shit.

“That’s what Ultron is about, that’s why he started it again.” Katie finished

“Sorry, I didn’t know.” Steve said gently

“Well now you do.” she said, shrugging and deciding to change the subject “Oh, and by the way…what you did with that log back then…” she mimed pulling something apart. “… kinda turned me on a hell of a lot more than it should.”

He grinned and stepped towards her, closing the short distance they were apart “Well…if we go back inside I can...”

“Nice try… you have wood…” Katie pointed the logs

“Yes and I’d kinda like to do something about it!” he quipped.

“Steve!” She spluttered out through her laugh, as she hit him in the chest, mentally making a note toe have words with Sam for teaching him innuendoes and street slang

He stepped back, laughing and rubbing at the spot where her hand had connected with him. He cocked his head playfully to the right, and was about to say something else about the fact he was feeling pretty horny on account of it being a few days since they’d last enjoyed one another seeing as his plans for her and that tight blue dress had been interrupted post the party, but Katie’s attention was taken by something else.

“Lucky!” she grinned crouching down to pet the dog who was jumping all over her, giving out little barks “man you got big…” Steve looked down at his girl and the sandy coloured dog, frowning as he noticed it only had one eye.

“Is this the pizza eating puppy you talked about?” he asked, bending down to pet the dog. “Sure is…” Katie grinned standing up as the dog ran off back to Barton after he whistled. “Not so much of a puppy now though.”

She smiled and made her way back over to the house. Steve looked at the pile of logs, then her, then back and picked up his axe again.

Inside, Katie started to help Laura with the dinner, the pair of them working together easily. Steve and Clint joined them in the kitchen not long after, both men sitting at the table with a beer as Lila scrambled up onto Steve’s knee, Steve waving away Clint’s instruction for her to leave him alone, he didn’t mind one bit. Katie had noticed the small girl sat there, talking to Steve and she’d smiled and turned back to her cooking. She was just rinsing off the salad when she looked up out of the window, seeing something that she really wasn’t expecting.

“I don’t believe it…” she said as she watched Tony and the tall, bald headed man with the trench coat and the eye patch walking up the path towards them. She turned to Clint and Steve “We got company…” Both men stood up as the door opened, Lila jumping of Steve’s knee, the soldier’s hands went to his hips, his mouth forming a thin line as his eyes fell onto the man in front of him.

“At ease Soldier…” Fury said, a smile creeping across his face as Tony walked into the room behind him muttering about traitors, Maria Hill and ‘Goth Pirates’

****

“Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time.” Fury said glass of water in his hand as he leaned against the kitchen counter. “My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing.”

“What about Ultron himself?” Steve asked, he was stood in the doorway to the kitchen, leaning against the door frame, arms folded.

“Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though.”

Tony shoved the last piece of the chicken he had been eating in his mouth and walked to the sink to pick up a towel to wipe his hands. “He still going after launch codes? “

“Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway.”

Katie frowned from her seat at the table, opposite Natasha. “Well that doesn’t make sense. Tony cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school for a dare”.

Tony smiled fondly at the memory. That had earned him an ass whooping and a half from his dad.

“Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that”. Fury continued

“NEXUS?” Steve questioned.

“It’s the world internet hub in Oslo” Banner explained, he was stood behind Natasha leaning against the sideboard. “Every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth.”

At that point Lila ran into the room, a piece of paper in her hand.

“So what'd they say?” Clint asked, turning 3 darts over in his hand from his stance a few feet away from Fury.

Lila handed the piece of paper to Natasha, who looked at her, then the paper, grinning and gave the little girl a one armed hug. She placed the paper down on the table and Katie noticed that it was a watercolour paint picture of a butterfly.

“He's fixated on the missiles,” Fury said, draining his glass of water “but the codes are constantly being changed.

“By whom?” Tony questioned. At that point Clint threw the darts straight past Tony, about an inch or so away from his ear straight into the bullseye of the dart board. Tony spun round to glare at him, Clint shrugged apologetically, grinning at the same time. Hawkeye by name, Hawkeye by nature.

“Parties unknown.” Fury said, a puzzled tone to his voice

“Do we have an ally?” Katie asked.

“Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing.” Fury said looking at her “Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is”

"I might need to visit Oslo, find our "unknown."” Tony pondered, to no one in particular.

“Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that.” Natasha sighed, leaning back in her chair.

“I do.” Nick said, looking round the room. “I have you”

Everyone shared a look round the room at one another. None of them were feeling particularly useful if truth be told.

“Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else.” Fury continued “Yet here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit, and our will to save the world. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard.”

“Steve doesn't like that kind of talk.” Natasha said, looking at him.

“You know what, Romanoff? “ Steve said, his tone dead pan. She smiled mischievously.

“So what does he want? “ Fury continued.

“To become better. Better than us.” Katie said, looking round.

“Right, he keeps building bodies” Steve agreed

“Person bodies. The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded.” Tony mused “But he keeps coming back to it”

“Yeah, when you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed” Katie said, looking over at Tony then to Bruce, who was looking at Lila’s drawing over Nat’s shoulder, his arms folded, a thoughtful look on his face.

“They don’t need to be protected, they need to evolve.” the Doctor said, not looking up. “Ultron's going to evolve.”

“How?” Fury asked.

“Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?” Bruce looked up around the room.

There was a pause, and then all at once there was a flurry of activity. Tony whipped his phone out and began to dial, Nat and Katie both stood up, Clint hurried out of the kitchen and Fury was also talking to someone as Steve and Bruce began discussing the intricacies of what Ultron was likely to want Helen for, which centred around the regeneration cradle, a larger version of the technology that had healed Clint after he had been shot when retrieving the sceptre.

“If Ultron is really building a body...” Steve trailed off as they all prepared to leave, his voice dropping

“He'll be more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us.” Katie sighed.

“An android designed by a robot” Tony finished.

“You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me.” Steve raised his eyebrows. Katie and Tony both smiled gently.

“I’ll drop Banner off at the tower. Do you mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?” Fury said, pulling on his trench coat.

“She's all yours, apparently.” Tony shrugged “What are you gonna do? “

“I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope.”

Katie found herself slightly concerned that the threat of Fury doing something dramatic didn’t worry her half as much as facing Ultron.

*****

Clint expertly piloted the Quinn Jet low enough for Steve to drop onto the roof of the U-GU-Gin Genetic Research Lab roof.

“Two minutes. Stay close.” Steve instructed as the jet roe again to hover above the building away from any eyes.

A few moments passed and then the crew on the jet heard Steve shout “Dr Cho…are you hurt?” There was a bit of a conversation which they didn’t hear, but then Helen’s voice came over the comms loud and clear, if a little strained.

“The gem, its power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up. You have to get the Cradle to Stark.”

There was another pause before Steve’s voice spoke clearly ”Did you guys copy that?

“We did.” Clint said.

“I got a private jet taking off, across town, no manifest.” Katie said, looking at the computer screen in front of her. “ That could be him.”

“There!” Clint said, loudly pointing out of the front window of the jet. Both Natasha and Katie moved so they could follow his gaze. “It’s the truck from the lab. Right above you, Cap. On the loop by the bridge.”

The jet scanned the truck, confirming they suspicions with the imaging that they all saw on the monitor.

“It's them.” Clint continued “ I got three with the Cradle, one in the cab. I could take out the driver”

“No.” Katie said sharply. “If what Helen is saying is right, that truck crashes, the gem could level the city.”

“We need to draw out Ultron” Steve said. 30 seconds or so later there was a loud bang and he followed up his commentary. ”Well, he's definitely unhappy! I'm gonna try and keep him that way.”

Katie looked down to see Steve was clinging onto the back of the truck and her heart skipped a beat. Making a decision she strode to wing space of the jet and pressed her palm to the pad besides the large locker that contained her suit.

“You’re not a match for him Cap…” Clint said

“Thanks Barton!” he replied, sarcastically.

“We need to get down there, give him some back up…” Katie called, turning round to look at Nat as she stepped backwards, allowing her suit to form around her.

“Ok.” Clint said, nodding “I’ll give you the cover up top.”

Nat took off her headset and joined Katie in the equipment store, pushing a small coms piece into her ear. She headed to the back of the ship, straddling the motorbike that was propped up at the side.

“He’s lost his shield…” Clint said, “I’m gonna drop you as close to it as I can.”

“Roger…” Katie continued with the final checks to her suit, without JARVIS she was flying this thing herself, just as she had been at Klaus’ base so she needed to make sure everything was right. Clint steered them down towards the road.

“We got a window. Four, three...give 'em hell.” Clint said, pushing the button for the ramp. Natasha sped the bike off and dropped down with a squeal of tyres before taking the jet higher.

“Us girls are always picking up after you boys.” She said gently and Katie headed to the back of the ramp, her scans watching as Natashai picked up Steve’s shield, following Clint’s commentary.

“They're heading under the overpass, I've got no shot” Clint said

“Which way? “ Nat asked.

“Hard right... Now.” Clint instructed. Natasha did as she was told. As Clint hovered over the top of them Katie shot out from the back of the jet and swooped down just as Natasha threw the shield up to Steve. Steve caught it and instantly flung it, sent the AI flying backwards. Ultron wasn’t down for long, jumping up and resuming the fight as Katie landed behind the Robot as he sent a blast of power at Steve, who instantly held his shield up as he was catapulted backwards onto the bonnet of the car behind. She fired a repulsor at the AI, turning his attention to her as he wheeled round and shot back. She flew out of the way as the shot hit the car behind, the screeches of brakes and grinding of metal hit her ears as cars collided.

“You Starks are like insects …” Ultron said, groaning “Annoying and irritating…”

“Yeah well, some insects pact a bit of a sting…” She said, sending out a static pulse from the shoulder of her suit. It immobilised him for a good few seconds, which was long enough for Steve to climb back onto the top of the truck, hitting him once more with his shield. As Ultron fell forward towards Katie she jumped up, kicking out with her boot, pushing him down into the metal of the truck before landing. Ultron regained control of his functions and the 3 of them began to fight, Steve and Katie dodging the rays of power as they flew at them, Ultron easily deflecting the beams the Supernova suit sent his way.

“Clint can you draw out the guards?” Nat’s voice came over the comms.

“Let's find out.” Clint replied simply.

Katie fired another static pulse towards Ultron, but he easily deflected it and shot once more at her as she spiralled away.

“You think I’d let you get me with that again?” he growled.

“No but, made you look…” she grinned, and at that point Clint shot the jet downwards and it fired off a few shots at Ultron, deliberately missing the delicate package the truck contained. It worked and as Katie watched 4 Ultron Sentries fly out and follow the jet upwards. Ultron turned and flew at Steve who spun, slamming him into a concrete pillar by the side of the road. Katie swooped in, firing again but Ultron was ready and caught her with a beam causing her to spin blindly through the air. With no JAVIS to help, it took her a while to regain control but eventually she righted herself just in time to see Ultron spear at Steve, the two of them crashing into a nearby moving train. She shot forward, putting all her power into her thrusters, speeding up to catch it.

"Heading back towards you, whatever you're gonna' do. Do it now." Clint informed over the coms as Katie dropped down so I was level with the train, looking into the windows.

"I'm going in, guys can you keep him occupied?" Natasha questioned as Katie finally caught up with the right carriage to see Ultron sending Steve flying again, landing hard against a metal door.

“What do you think we’ve been doing!” Steve said, shaking his head, as once again he stood up, and resumed his fight with the AI as Katie shot a beam through the window, catching the robot unawares and causing him to fly out of the side of the train.

As she flew in through the window, the AI came crashing through one a bit further up and the two of them shot at one another, the beams hitting in mid-air and deflecting off one another, blowing a hole in the roof of the train.

"The package is airborne." Clint informed us, "I have a clean shot."

"Negative I am still in the truck." Natasha said.

"What the hell are you doing?" Katie yelled, as Ultron sent a bench of seats towards her, which she blasted out of the way.

"Just be ready, I'm sending the package to you, Clint!"

"How do you want me to take it?" Clint asked sarcastically as Katie looked up through the hole in the roof to see the truck way above them.

"Uh, you might wish you hadn't asked that."

At that point Katie was floored as Steve landed heavily on top of her, having been blasted off his feet by Ultron.

“Ow…” he muttered, rolling over and off the top of her. Katie groaned as her head bounced off the inside of her metal helmet and hadn’t even had chance to right herself when suddenly she was lifted off her feet as Ultron’s hand crushed at the neck of her suit.

"Like I said, insect…” He practically growled, his grip tightening as she raised both her palms to fire, blasting them both backwards, in opposite directions as Katie crashed into the carriage behind. She sat up and shifted the debris and shot forward, as Ultron came again but he was sent backwards as a blur knocked him off balance- the male Maximoff twin. Ultron took a menacing step forwards and the metal guards shifted red and bent in front of us in a protective manor. The female, Wanda, stood behind Ultron, hands outstretched and glowing red. Ultron turned towards her.

"Please, don't do this." Ultron pleaded with her.

"What choice do we have?" Wanda countered.

Ultron turned back around and fired in Steve’s direction. Katie was quicker though, pulling him out of the way as the front of the train blew out. The AI then blasted out the side door and escaped.

"We lost him!” Katie said into her comms, face plate sliding back as Steve made his way to the front of the train, reaching over the driver. “Clint, Nat He's headed back towards you."

“Nat we gotta go…” Clint said.

Steve turned back to Katie, shaking his head, he could find no pulse. The driver was dead and the train was out of control heading straight for the end of the line.

“Nat… NAT? Cap you guys see Nat?" Clint questioned worriedly.

"If you have the package, get it to Stark! Go!" Steve commanded, looking up instinctively as Katie reached his side.

"Do you have eyes on Nat?" Clint questioned once again.

"Go!" Steve ordered once again and it seemed Clint obeyed because there was silence on the other side of the coms. Katie looked at him, both of them worried about our friend but equally knowing they had to tackle the problem in hand. The train crashed through the stoppers at the end of the line and carried on, heading straight through the narrow streets.

"There are civilians in our path." Steve turned to Pietro, once more resuming command. He nodded and sped off in a blur.

"Can you stop this thing?" Katie asked Wanda. She looked unsure but nodded and blasted red tendrils down into the underlining of the train.

It began to slow, but nowhere near enough for them to avoid the building they were heading straight at. Katie slid her face plate back and Steve held his shield out in front of them, protecting them from the impact, and they felt the train starting to slow down, before it eventually came to a steady stop a moment or so later in a street lined with small trading stalls and shops.

As the passengers scrambled to get off the train Steve and Katie remained where they were for a second, Katie’s face plate once more retracting.

“You’re bleeding…” Steve said gently, wiping at her brow.

“Least I’m still here…” she said, shaking her head. “What about Nat?”

“We’ll find her.” He said, looking her in the eyes. “I promise.”

He slung his shield onto his back and the pair of them exited the train. Katie spotted Wanda stood next to her brother who was resting against a wall breathing heavily, hunched over with his hands on his knees. As they approached he looked up at Wanda, waving her away

"I’m fine, I just need a minute." He assured her.

"I'm very tempted not to give you one." Steve snapped, giving the twins a hard look. The two Maximoffs shared an uneasy glance

"The cradle? Did you get it?" Wanda asked.

"Stark will take care of it." Steve told her, his tone still clipped.

"No he won't." Wanda said incredulously.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Katie glared at the girl

"He will do anything to make things right." Wanda implored.

Steve turned and gave Katie a questioning look before he spoke into the coms.

"Stark come in. Stark? Anyone on coms?" The only response Steve got was silence. He looked at Katie who tried as well, getting nothing but static. She then tried to route through her phone, but there was nothing there either.

“Ultron can’t tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it.” Wanda pressed “Where do you think he got that from?”

Katie took a moment to look around, squinting against the sunlight. People were gathering, chattering in Korean and pointing at the train stretched down the middle of the road.

“I saw into his head.” Wanda implored “I saw what he has planned. It’s not what he said, not what he told us he wanted.”

“Oh and what did he say he wanted?” Katie asked, turning back to her, her arms folding across her chest.

“He said he wanted peace” the boy, Pietro spoke.

“Oh, well…” Katie snapped, looking round nodding and clapping her gauntlet clad hands together sarcastically “Good job”

“Look…” Steve stepped forward a little before his girl lost her temper, his hands grasping the buckle on his utility belt. “This isn’t about sides, or what’s happened before. It’s about how we shut Ultron down.”

"So - what happens now?" Pietro asked.

"That depends on you," Steve answered, putting his shield on his back, keeping his stance non-confrontational. "You've worked with Ultron; you know how he thinks. We could use the help stopping him."

Wanda snarled, lips curling back over her teeth. "We won't work with Stark."

"Well, you kinda have two options." Steve retorted immediately, before Katie had chance to. The authority emanating from him was immense, his eyes steady. "You work with us, or work with Ultron. Your choice."

Katie looked up at Steve as the twins both exchanged glances. Eventually she got fed up and sighed.

“I’m going back to check on Dr Cho.” she looked at Steve “And then I’m going home to figure out how we find Nat…”

“Katie… wait…” he said as she started to walk up the narrow street

“I’m done waiting Steve.” she snapped “And seeing as you don’t seem to want to give things a second’s thought, why should I?” “What’s that supposed to mean?” He frowned, running to catch up with her.

“You work with us?” she imitated his voice. “How do you know that she isn’t in our minds, right now, and this isn’t some elaborate scam to get us right where Ultron wants?”

A breeze whipped her hair slightly, and Pietro stood at Steve’s side, Wanda in his arms.

"You move too slow." the young man taunted looking at them. "We'll meet you at Cho's office."

Katie let out a loud groan of annoyance and walked and out onto the main road, looking around. Steve took a deep breath, she was angry, he knew that. His girl held a grudge, far better than he ever could and he had a feeling that Wanda Maximoff wasn’t going to get round her with a simple apology. But they didn’t have time for that, they needed to get home, find Nat and figure out Ultron’s next steps. And the Maximoffs would be helpful.

Sirens were now flooding his ears and the Emergency services were all over the place, freeing people from the cars, crashed buses, you name it.

“Could use a ride…” Steve said, turning to her and raising an eyebrow. She glared at him for a moment, before sliding her face plate back down. Without saying a word she gripped his harness at the top above where it held his shield and propelled them both into the air.

Dr Cho was going to be ok. Thankfully. The Scientist kindly offered them the use of her QuinJet, which technically belonged to Tony anyway, but they were grateful nonetheless. As Katie thanked the man who had led them to it, Steve turned to the Maximoff twins.

“Go on…”

Katie felt her mouth drop open as Wanda hesitated and looked to her brother who simply nodded and the two of them boarded. Katie watched them incredulously before she rounded on Steve and he winced, awaiting the barrage which hit him full pelt.

“I can’t believe you seriously want to take them back to base.” she hissed at him.

“I told you before, they can help.” he replied calmly.

“You’re out of your mind!” She said, shaking her head, the petulant child in her well and truly rearing it’s head “You know what actually, if they’re going, then I’m staying here.”

“For God’s sake Katie…” Steve said, exasperatedly running his hand through his hair, his helmet hanging in his left hand “You’re being unreasonable…”

“I’m being unreasonable?” she rounded on him, her cheeks flushing with anger. “You’re the one who wants to take them right into the middle of our base, give them access to all our technology, when we don’t know if they’re still working for Ultron or not!”

“Katie, just get on the fucking jet now.” his voice was low, but he was angry. He didn’t have time for this shit, he was tired, worried, and just wanted to get them all together so they could find Nat and end this and she was behaving like a total brat.

Katie looked at him, his eyes were flashing and he had a look on his face she couldn’t ever recall him using on her before. It was enough to shock her into compliance, but only after she shot him the dirtiest glare she could, before she stormed onto the jet.

2 hours later and Katie still hadn’t spoken a word to Steve or anyone else for that matter, she was fuming. Pietro and Wanda had been mostly silent up until that point, exchanging the odd bit of chatter between themselves in Sokovian, but neither approaching either of the other two until Pietro came to the cockpit.

“Miss Stark…I’m sorry, but please, do you have a spare jacket… my sister is cold.”

Katie glared at him, then looked to the back of the jet where Wanda was sat on one of the chairs, her knees pulled up to her chin. Damned it, despite everything Katie felt a small pang of pity for her.

“Sure, just give me a second.” she said, a little gruffly but less angrily as she stood up out of her seat.

Steve had to smile, despite everything she wasn’t callous, and she knew what it was like to be cold and frightened. Katie glanced down and caught the look he was giving her and she glared at him.

“I will slap that smirk right off your face...” she threatened. Immediately he held his hands up, palms facing her in an “I’m sorry” motion and she walked over to the back of the jet and started looking in a few of the cupboards. Eventually she found a black fleece jacket, emblazoned with U-Gen logo, along with a blanket. In one of the other cupboards she found bottles of water supplies along with some snack bars and bags of chips.

“Here…” she walked over to Wanda and handed her the jacket and fleece.

“Thank you.” She said, pulling the fleece around her.

“You hungry or need a drink?” Katie offered.

They looked at one another.

“I’m not going to poison you.” she rolled her eyes.

Wanda nodded and Katie handed her a bottle of water and Pietro took a granola bar from her and a bag of chips. Katie glanced at the twins and then suddenly had to ask the question that was on the tip of her tongue.

“Why do you hate us so much, the Avengers?” she blurted out. Steve turned his head slightly so he could listen in.

“I don’t hate the avengers. I hate your brother. Well I did. I don’t know maybe I still do.”

“But why?” Katie said, puzzled “You don’t know him, or me for that matter.”

“Our home was bombed.” Wanda said, looking at her hands “It hit 2 floors below and blew a hole in our floor. Our parents fell but Pietro grabbed me and we rolled under the bed.” “The second one hits.” Pietro continued gently “But it doesn’t explode. It just sits there, three feet from our faces. And on the side of the shell is painted two words...” “Stark Industries…”Katie said gently, suddenly understanding. She didn’t know what to say. That part of Stark Industries had always been one she had never had much to do with and had always absolved herself of any guilt because she stayed away from it, but she had long since realised that didn’t absolve her from any blame at all.

“You know we shut the arms side of the business down once we both realised the damage it was doing…my brother is a good man, maybe he doesn’t always get it right but he tries.” Katie sighed.

“But that is my point.” Wanda pressed “Ultron…he wants world peace, but he thinks the way to do that is to kill people, innocent people…”

“That’s not what Tony wants” Katie pressed

“But he created Ultron…” Pietro joined the conversation

“Yes, because of you!” Katie said earnestly

“Sorry, because of us…” “You made him see something, in Strucker’s lab. A vision, a vision of all of us, all of the Avengers dead, the world ending and he was left alone because he didn’t try hard enough to stop it.” at that point Wanda and Pietro exchanged glances as she continued “You made him believe he needed to do something, something more and Ultron was the result. He was supposed to be the thing that Tony thinks we need, something to bring peace…”

“You know, maybe we aren’t that different to Stark after all.” Pietro said, breaking the moment or so silence that had descended. “I mean, we volunteered for Hydra…”

"They said that they would make us super-human, like your Captain America over there.” Wanda said, sipping her water and Steve’s eyes flickered over the back of the jet for a moment before he turned back to the front. “Then we could fight…”

“They didn't say what it would cost.” Pietro spat “The experiments. The constant pain.”

“Guess we all made bad decisions for what we thought were the right reasons…” Katie shrugged “What matters now is how we fix this mess.”

With that she left them to it, taking her drink and one for Steve to the front of the jet.

“Thanks…” he said gently

“I assume you heard all that.” she said, a little clipped.

“Super sensitive hearing Doll, what can I say.” he smiled. She rolled her eyes. “You still pissed at me?” She raised her eyebrow at him, and with a teasing note chastised him “language.”

He smiled and taking a drink of water, he looked back out of the front window of the jet.

An hour or so later they managed to get through to Clint on the coms.

“Any news on Nat?” Katie asked him.

“I’m trying the old fashioned way…” he said, “That should avoid Ultron. I’ll find her”

“I don’t doubt it Hawkeye.” she smiled.

“What about Stark and the cradle?" Steve asked.

"In the lab with Banner, why you ask?”

Katie glanced at Steve, his jaw set tightly but that was the sum total of the reaction from him. He didn’t want to voice what was on his mind and risk pissing her off even more. Instead he chose his words carefully.

“Just… well, the twins told us what’s in that Cradle and Ultron’s plans for it. I’m worried Tony could start something he doesn’t understand.” “Twins? The Maximoffs?” Clint asked and then he let out a groan “You’re bringing them here aren’t you?”

“You gotta trust me on this one, Clint.” Steve sighed “They’ve seen Ultron’s end game. They want to help us fight him.” “Yeah well I’ll make my own mind up on that one, I’ll see you when you get back.” “Great…” Katie sighed “Now he’s pissed as well.”

**** “I’m gonna say this once!” Steve’s voice was loud

“How about "nonce"?” Tony shot back.

“Shut it down!” Steve pointed at the cradle.

“Nope, not gonna happen.” Tony shook his head.

There had been a bit of a fight in the lab, shields being flung, repulsors fired, and then Thor had turned up, supercharged the cradle, and it had gotten even stranger when a red man, an android had emerged.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, in JARVIS’ voice "That was, odd. Thank you." He added nodding respectfully to Thor, before his unnervingly human-looking eyes trailed over Thor thoughtfully. Then he rolled his shoulders and a cape of his own appeared and flowed down his back.

"Thor, you helped create this?" Steve asked

"I've had a vision, the world, where it starts, all hope and life and at its centre, is that." Thor responded pointing to the gold stone in the middle of the man's forehead.

"What the gem?" Banner asked in confusion. Thor nodded.

"It's the mindstone," he explained. "One of the six infinity stones, the greatest power in the universe and it is unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."

"Then why would you bring it to life?" Katie asked, taking a deep breath, folding her arms.

"Because Stark is right." Thor said.

"Oh, it's definitely the end of times." Bruce sarcastically to Tony's shocked but proud expression.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron." Thor continued and the red man politely cut in.

"Not alone."

"Why does your vision sound like Jarvis?" Katie questioned still cautious of this new being.

"We reconfigured Jarvis' matrix, to create something new." Tony walked up towards his masterpiece and examined him.

"I think I've had my fill of new." Steve replied sarcastically.

"You think I am a child of Ultron." The red man stated rather than asked.

"You're not?" Steve replied suspiciously still glaring.

"I am not Ultron." He said simply, "I am not Jarvis. I am…" he looked down at his hands as if they would hold the answer.

"I looked in your head," Wanda stated stepping towards him, "I saw annihilation."

"Look again." Vision responded in the same simple tone.

"Ha, her seal of approval means jack to me." Clint snorted, Katie found herself inclined to agree.

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the mindstone.” Thor said, looking round “And that is nothing compared to what it could unleash, but with it on our side-"

"Is it?" Steve cut Thor off then turned aiming his next question at him towards the red man, needing to hear confirmation "Are you, on our side?"

"I don't think it's that simple." Vision answered truthfully.

"Well it better get real simple real soon." Clint said seriously.

"I am on the side of life," Vision continued, "Ultron isn't, he will end it all."

"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked.

"You." He stated easily, looking around at us all.

"Where?" Katie pressed.

"Sokovia." Clint supplied helpfully. "Yeah, he's got Nat there too."

Katie looked at Clint who raised his eyebrow slightly and he shrugged. He’d found her, just like he said.

"If we're wrong about you," Bruce said approaching the man. "If you're the monster Ultron created you to be…"

"What will you do?" The red man asked and Bruce stayed silent.

"I don't want to kill Ultron, he is unique, and he's in pain," Vision paced slowly around the room, "but that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace and presence of him. We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the other."

He turned back to look at everyone in the room individually, then he did something completely unexpected as he picked up Thor's hammer from the table. Steve felt his eyebrows raise in shock whereas Katie was looking at Thor, her mouth open, the god was wearing a look of utter confusion.

"There may be no way to make you trust me, but we need to go." Vision finished holding out the hammer for Thor to take. Thor took his weapon back and the man walked away.

There was a moment of silence before Thor coughed.

"Right, well done." he said awkwardly patting Tony on the shoulder and followed the red man out of the room.

"Three minutes, get what you need." Steve announced.

*****

“Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be running into heavy fire, and that's what we signed up for, but the people of Sokovia they didn't. That's why our priority is getting them out. All they want is to live their lives in peace, and that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them and get the job done. We find out what Ultron's been building. We find Romanoff. We clear the field and keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters, and that we're what's wrong with the world, but this isn't just about beating him, it's about whether he's right."

Steve certainly felt like he was right when he descended down the ramp and the first thing he saw was a huge mural of himself on a wall to his right. If he hadn’t been so concerned with the word, “fašista” scrawled across it, he might have given some consideration to the fact the art work was pretty good. He looked at the painting, before turning and tossing his helmet back into the jet, almost hitting Katie as she walked down the ramp. Frowning she looked at him, spotted the paining and gave a sigh. She knew that would have upset him.

But whether they liked Captain America or not, the people of Sokovia were getting his help and that of the rest of the Avengers too. Thor and Bruce went underground to Strucker's base to find Natasha and the Vibranium, Tony and Vision went off to locate where Ultron was and confront him so that Vision could do his part. The rest of them focussed on the evacuation, if this was going to end in a fight as it always did, then it was best to get the civilians out of the way as soon as possible. Steve dispatched Clint to a rooftop to oversee events from up there and Katie headed off with Wanda to the bridge that led out of the city. She could feel the younger girl's panic even though she did well to try and hide it

"Do you see...the beauty of it? The inevitability. You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, a meteor. My swift and terrible sword. And the earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal."

They seemed to be fighting forever, and Sokovia was getting higher and higher. Just as everything seemed lost and the group looked to be faced with an impossible decision after Tony pointed out that the only thing he could think about was blowing the city before the impact radius got too big. Steve was adamant he was not leaving the city with one civilian on it, when Katie smiled sadly and turned to him.

"I didn't say we should leave." she said softly, and she could feel Natasha looking at her as well from where she stood on her right. Katie turned to Steve, as he looked down at her "There's worse ways to go." she said responding to his silent question, her chest heaving resigning herself to the fact that they might not make it out of this alive, surprised the thought didn’t frighten her more at that point.

"She’s right," Natasha said and Katie turned to look at her. She shrugged and nodded out at the clouds “Where else are we gonna get a view like this?”

"Glad you like the view, Romanoff." all 3 of them started at the very familiar voice that came through the coms. "It's about to get a whole lot better."

That's when the helicarrier came right into view and Katie smiled, her eyes filing with emotion as she felt the relief swell in her chest.

“So this is your ‘something dramatic’?” she quipped and Fury gave a hum of confirmation.

"Nice, right? Pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty," Nick Fury said nonchalantly. "But she'll do."

Katie looked round and noticed that Pietro had joined us, looking at the ship.

"Fury, you son of a bitch." Steve spoke in almost a whisper while shaking his head.

Fury let out a whistle before responded to Steve teasingly. "Ohhh hooo, you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

Their fight led them to protecting the Vibranium Core that was situated in a church which was in the dead centre of the City and of course Ultron followed them. As The Avengers surrounded their precious charge, Thor yelled out to the AI.

"Is that best you can do?!"

Ultron picked his hand up, and what seemed like a million robots began to advance towards them.

Katie groaned, and looked at Steve as he turned to look at Thor, annoyance all over his face. "You haddda ask." He deadpanned, his Brooklyn accent coming out as it often did in these situations, and Thor at least had the decency to look sheepish.

"This is the best I can do." Ultron continued on. "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Well, like the old man said," Tony said, and Steve turned to look at him over his shoulder "Together."

Hulk then let out a loud roar as the swarm of robots attacked.

The robots began running into the church by the hundreds it seemed, but everyone was ready. Arrows, fists and Steve’s shield flew, repulsors, guns and shock sticks fired, speed and red tendrils of power ripped them apart from the inside, lighting flashed and the Hulk smashed. Eventually Ultron joined the fray and Vision flew at him. Ultron punched Vision into the wall but he retaliated by using the mind stone in his forehead to shoot at Ultron making him stagger back and out of the church.

Vision didn't let up as Thor, Tony and Katie joined the android with lightening and repulsor beams respectively. The Starks surged their arms forward, unloading all the power they had in their suits and the 4 of them combined melted away the outer layer of Vibranium that covered Ultron, which was when they stopped. He could be taken out easily now.

"You know, with the benefit of hindsight – " Ultron began to say but Hulk roared then punched him so hard he went flying across the city.

Hulk growled at the remaining robots who immediately turned and ran away.

"They'll try to leave the city." Thor called out.

"We can't let them, not even one." Tony spoke frantically, calling on their other eye in the sky. "Rhodey..."

"I'm on it!" He announced over the radio. “Oh no, I didn’t say you could leave…War Machine coming at you.” there was a pause as Vision flew in to help, phasing and ripping one of them apart “Ok, what?”

"We gotta move out." Steve spoke as those of them left on the ground re-grouped. "Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers…”

“I’ll come with you…” Katie said. For some reason she didn’t want to leave him, or more to the point him to leave her. Steve looked at her, and he understood, he really did. If there was a chance they were getting separated he really didn’t want to take it but he wanted her on that carrier, away.

“You go and make sure everyone gets out.” he said “I’ll be right behind you, I promise."

He’d never broken a promise to her yet, so she took a deep breath and nodded.

"What about the core?" Clint asked while turning to look at it.

"I'll protect it." Everyone turned to Wanda, giving her a worried look. "It's my job." She clarified nodding to Clint. Clint inclined his head towards her, before he turned to leave.

“Nat…” he said as Steve started to usher everyone bar Wanda out of the church. I threw one last glance over at Wanda before Katie turned to Steve.

“Be careful.” “I always am…” he grinned.

“Liar.” she muttered watching him go, before she took off again, looking down at the devastation on the ground below. This was far worse than New York. Far worse than Washington. It was horrendous, and Katie wasn’t sure how the people of Sokovia would ever recover.

Clint skidded the car he had been driving to a halt by the lifeboats and Katie landed besides them. There was a roar and she glanced to her left, noticing the huge form of the Hulk throwing around debris of the various robots.

“We don’t have a lot of time…” Clint looked at Natasha meaningfully.

“So get your ass on a boat…” she shot back, jumping out of the car.

Clint and Katie then set off, ushering the last civilians around them onto the last boat as they went. Katie spotted Thor stood a little to her left, his head turned over to his right as Steve appeared from inside a building.

“Thor, I'm gonna need you back at the church." Tony said over the coms.

Thor nodded despite the fact that he couldn't see Tony and then looked at Steve, breathing heavily. "Is that the last of them?" He asked him.

"Yeah," he answered instead, quickly looking around at the evacuations taking place, spotting Katie and Clint boarding the boat "Everyone else is on board the carriers."

"You know, if this works, we maybe don't walk away." Tony said quietly, cutting Katie out of the coms temporarily so as not to worry or upset her.

"Maybe not." Thor agreed in a whisper.

At that point Clint sprinted back past them, but before either of them had time to follow him to help a hail of gunfire suddenly erupted where they standing. Steve held his shield up just in time and Thor dived to the side to avoid the bullets that had luckily been fired in a straight line between them all.

But it was Katie who noticed first what had happened. As the dust settled she saw Clint stood, with a little boy in his arms. He’d clearly tried to shield him from the bullets but it was Pietro that was standing there with bullet holes riddling his torso, the blood seeping through them.

“No… “ she muttered her pleading growing more frantic as she flew over to where they were stood “No, no, no…”

"You didn't see that coming?" the blonde man attempted to joke weakly then wobbled before falling face first and Katie caught him as she landed, just before he hit the ground. She laid him down gently and looked him over.

“Friday, life signs…”.

“Negative…” she said, her voice tinged with sadness.

Katie bowed her head slightly before my face plate slid back and she looked up at Clint. The pair of them exchanged a glance before Steve knelt down and closed Pietro’s eyes.

“I’ve got him…” he said gently, as he bent down and picked up Pietro as easily as if he was a small child. The three of them headed back to the airship, Clint with the little boy in his arms. Once on board, Steve lay Pietro down gently on the floor, where Katie sat by him, her suit making a clunk as she slid to the floor. Clint groaned as he lowered himself onto the row of seats behind her. Someone walked over to see if they needed any medical help but Clint waved him away.

“No, no I’m fine…” he said, lying down across a few seats, his hand resting on the metal shoulder of her suit. “oh it’s been a long day…”

Steve stood on the rock for one final look round, he couldn’t see anyone. But then, with a lurch the city fell with huge force and he turned and gave a jump, grabbing onto the platform of the ship as the city fell. He pulled himself up onto the deck and stood up to see, lightning flashing from the sky. As he watched, the city of Sokovia exploded from the inside out crumbling to pieces and raining down heavily into the ocean below.

He turned to see Katie was stood a few feet away, looking down.

“Tony? Thor?” she said, “Wanda?” Nothing.

She looked over Steve, biting her lip.

“They’ll be ok…” he said, although he wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince her or himself.

There was a slight lurch as the ship they were stood on docked with the hellicarrier and they turned to help Clint but he was already walking, carrying the body of Pietro with him. Katie jumped down onto the tarmac, deactivated her suit and made her way over to Maria Hill who was stood with another agent, directing them where to take the walking wounded, medics running onto the ships to deal with the more seriously injured in situ.

“You guys alright?” She asked as they walked over to her. Katie nodded and then spoke again into her coms. It was a relief to see Wanda’s red hair sat on the deck a few yards away from one of the ships, Vision having pulled her out of the city in time.

“Any news from the others?” Steve asked. Maria sighed.

“Natasha is on the bridge, Banner, I mean the Hulk, he got her out in time but…he went off in a jet after Ultron…I got nothing from Thor or Tony…”

Katie turned to look out over the sky, the airborne dust making her cough slightly as she scanned the clouds, waiting for a sign or anything from her brother.

“He’ll be ok…” Steve said, dropping a hand onto her shoulder. “He always is.” “One day he won’t be.” she said, looking up to face Steve

“Maybe, but that aint today…” a familiar voice rang in her ear and she let out a sigh of relief as her brother spoke. “Kiddo, I think we just won again…”

*****

Refugees crowded every corner of the flying base, sitting in the halls, huddling together, terrified. The dust in the air meant SHIELD couldn't connect to their mainframe or satellites, and the internet-based translators were down. Every person on board who knew even a smattering of any Slavic language was being recruited into helping settle the homeless Sokovians.

Fury was meeting via telecon in one of the conference rooms with the Sokovian political leaders, who were not pleased at being dragged from their homes in Novi Grad in the wee hours of the morning only to then watch their nation destroyed. So with Fury busy, Steve and Katie had to tell Tony about Bruce.

That hadn't been fun at all. Her brother had struggled back to the helicarrier, with barely enough power left to make the landing, Thor hot on his tail, soaked to the skin and staggering with a nasty head wound. Steve helped him inside where he was led to a medic bay and they had all retreated to the comms room where Nat was stood in a corner, staring at a blank screen.

"Where's Bruce?" Tony demanded as soon as he got his helmet off. "We've got to figure out…" He trailed off, seeing the expression on Katie’s face. Then his eyes flashed across to Natasha. The woman hadn't moved a muscle in ten minutes, standing in a corner and staring straight at the wall, back to the rest of the room.

"Tony." Steve's voice was heavy. “He’s taken off… we can’t reach him.” “And I don’t think he wants us to.” Katie added. She had barely finished her sentence before Tony bolted across the room to the computer banks, heedlessly shucking off bits of his armour as he went.

"No," he shook his head, fingers flying across the keyboards. "No, I can find him. I can do this, I can bring him home."

"It was cloaked." Natasha's voice was very even, with absolutely no inflection. She didn't stop staring at her wall. "Your own cloaking devices. And SHIELD's secret tracker was disabled in the fight."

Tony's hand slipped, hitting a bunch of things Steve was sure he hadn't meant to. Swearing hopelessly, he stared blankly at the useless screens.

"Why?" he demanded, very quietly, the furious brokenness in his voice made my heart ache for him. "Why would he…?"

The unfinished question hung heavy in the dusty air. Steve was the one who answered.

"Because," he said, swallowing "When you're in the air, and you're carrying something that will destroy everything you love, that's all you can do. You do go down, and you take it down with you."

Tony’s hands curled into fists, anguish in his snarl. "This isn't the same as your golden boy sacrifice play, Cap. No bombs on that quinjet."

"No, no bombs." Steve said gently, his hand on Katie’s arm as he noticed she’d been about to chastise her brother for his venomous jibe, and he shook his head softly as he dragged his gloves back on over his bruised and bloody knuckles, flexing his hands.. "Just himself," he finished quietly.

"Veronica failed, Tone” Katie said gently, understanding at once what Steve was getting at, Bruce’s actions suddenly making sense “ He didn’t want to come to Sokovia and I guess, well he didn’t want to risk hurting anyone again, and he saw a way out."

Natasha turned on her heel and pushed past them, her eyes wet as she made for the door.

“Nat…” Katie said gently, turning to watch her go. She shook her head, signalling she wanted to be alone as she left. Katie looked up at Steve who hung his head sadly.

But there wasn’t time to think on it. Fury arrived at that moment, clearly pissed at something. He explained to the group that after the explosion that tore Ultron's plans to shreds, he had been set to take the helicarrier to a refugee camp in a nearby country but the Sokovian officials had refused, insisting they be set back down in what was left of Novi Grad. Steve nodded and told Fury to do as they wanted.

"This wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for us." Steve's jaw was set, and his arms folded. "We owe it to them Fury, like it or not."

Fury hadn't liked it, at all, but he didn't have much say in the matter - not when Steve had that look on his face.

“This isn’t going to be nice…” Steve muttered as the pod had descended back to the ground.

“I know.” Katie said. “But we face it together, right?”

Novi Grad was an absolute mess. Most of the city had been torn up by the roots, and the rim that was left hadn't escaped unscathed either. Buildings had toppled from falling debris and the initial ground-shaking wrench. Water and electricity were out, phone lines were down, and the streets were clogged with cars and people. Children choked on the thick air as parents tied whatever cloth they could find around tiny mouths, trying to protect their lungs.

It was thankless, numbing work. Most of the civilians avoided them, casting wary glances out of the corner of their eyes. A few swore or spat, some cried, but after a while it began to get difficult as a particular group started to get violent, screaming as they threw things at the 4 Avengers. It didn't cause much damage to the Nova or Iron Man suits, but the rocks soon started getting bigger. Katie heard a yell and turned to her left to see Steve stumbling forward, hand clamped over the back of his head. He fell to his knees and Katie moved over to him, dropping besides him.

“Shit…” he mumbled as she heard Thor give a roar.

“Let me see…” she said gently, as Steve winced, shaking his head.

“I’m fine…” he said, getting to his feet, hand still clutching at the back of his head.

Katie glanced up at Tony, who had completely lost his patience.

"Ungrateful brats," he said loudly after the young hooligans who had immediately scarpered after Thor’s show of anger. "Look, why don't you head back to the carrier, see what the next step is?" Tony curled his gauntlet clad hand over Steve’s shoulder as his face plate retracted. Katie looked at her brother, thankful for his suggestion.

Steve shook his head, but even as she did so she saw him sway a little.

“Sweetheart, you’re bleeding…” she said gently, and he looked at his hand. “At least let’s clean you up…”

Steve didn't want to go, but he gave into her as she whispered “Please.”

"Five minutes," he relented at last, and allowed her to lead him away.

*****

As Katie shed her suit, Steve sat on a chair in one of the hellicarrier kitchens, one of the few rooms that wasn’t being used as a makeshift hospital or treatment bay. There were no spare medics so Katie grabbed some gauze, antiseptic and a couple of steri-strip bandages. He would heal pretty fast anyway.

“You know you should have had your helmet on…” she said gently, suddenly realising he hadn’t had it on for the entire time they had been in Sokovia having tossed it back on the jet when he saw the graffiti picture of himself when they first landed. He shrugged and didn’t reply, but he flinched hard when Katie lightly touched the lump at the back of his head.

“Sorry…” she said gently as he waved away her apology, head bent as she cleaned the blood off his hair.

“Doesn’t hurt as much as what they were calling me.” He mumbled, and Katie paused.

“Which was what? I didn’t hear them.”

“fašista” he said, “Fascist.” His shoulders slumped and sudden angry tears stung at Katie’s eyes, but she blinked them back and swallowed the hot anger swelling in her throat. This was a man who had put his life on the line countless times to fight the very things that people were calling him. She leaned forward, slipping my arms around his neck, connecting them in front of his chest as she bent to lay her face against his cheek.

"At the risk of sounding like an old man, everybody's so young these days," Steve said at last as he turned his head to face her "Has it all been forgotten, or have I really become...?"

Katie cut him off, her eyes on his, faces inches apart. "They've forgotten," she assured him firmly. ”You could never be like those monsters. But people, well they can't imagine – I find it hard at times. We never lived through it, never knew what it was like. History books and lessons can only do so much love."

Steve's fingers laced between mine, "'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,'" he whispered heavily.

"True," she said gently as he rolled his head round to face her “But that's why there are people like us, people like you. You will always remember, and because you do, you help us do our best to keep the rest of them safe."

She pressed a gentle kiss to his lips before she straightened up and continued to tend to the wound on his head. It wasn’t as deep as it had looked and was already starting to heal anyway. She checked to make sure there were no fragments of the brick left behind and when she was satisfied she dropped the bloodied gauze into a bin and turned to face him.

"I shouldn't have taken Banner.” He said, and Katie took a deep breath “I knew he was low, but he said he wanted to come, he wanted to help find Nat."

"You can't blame yourself for his choice," Katie reminded him. “He’s a grown man…” Steve didn’t say anything more about it, instead he stood up and took a deep breath. “Come on, let’s go see what’s happening.”

Katie followed him into the corridor and as they turned to head through a service door to use the maintenance walkways, she spotted a small figure huddled at the other side, knees pulled to her chest.

“Wanda?” Katie said, stopping to crouch next to her. Steve knelt down at the other side of the young girl, as she turned her face to look at her. "I'm sorry about your brother," Katie said gently.

Her face twisted suddenly, and she laid her head on her knees, hair falling around her face. Steve looked at Katie before he shifted, reaching out and lightly putting an arm round her. She didn't pull away, instead she lay her head against his chest.

"You know," he said at last, when the silence between them all felt a little less fragile, "You're welcome to stay with us for as long as you want."

She sat up straight and drew back. "At Stark Tower?" she asked, mouth pulling into a half-hearted expression of distaste. Katie sighed.

"At the Avengers Tower," she corrected quietly.

Wanda surveyed her for a moment, and then lowered her eyes and clenched a hand over her mouth.

"I wish I could tell you that it gets easier," Steve told her after a minute. “It won't, not right away. But you don't have to do this alone. We got your back, Wanda.”

Her face crumpled. Then she cried. Katie threw her arms around her and she turned to her, sobbing into her chest.

*****

It took almost two days for relief services to arrive at Sokovia. Steve felt dirty, tired and desperate for a hot shower and his own bed and he wasn’t alone. None of The Avengers had changed in 2 days. All their extra equipment had gone on the missing Quinjet with Bruce, including the change of civilian clothing everyone tried to keep on hand. But their discomfort paled into insignificance when he glanced over at Wanda as they landed at the tower. Katie guided her up to the spare room, ensured she had what she needed and then instructed her if she needed anything else, all she had to do was ask Friday, who would contact her immediately. Wanda nodded and Katie left her to be a lone for a while.

When Katie got back to her floor Steve was already in the shower, and the bed had never looked so inviting, which was why she couldn’t wait to get into it. Stripping off her filthy cat suit and her underwear she walked into the bathroom which was filled with steam and stepped into the shower behind Steve, her hands straying round to the front of his chest, simply laying her head against his back. He didn’t flinch, he simply grasped her hands in his, pulling her closer and dipped his head slightly as she nuzzled into his shoulder, the grime from the last few days whirling down the plug hole as the water rained down on them. Without speaking Katie grabbed his shampoo, and gently as she could massaged at his hair. Steve gave a soft moan, relishing at the feel of her nails on his scalp, happy to bliss out for a moment. He turned to face his future wife, tipping his head back to rinse his hair off and smiled tiredly as he dropped his head to kiss her softly.

“Turn round” he said gently, and she did as she was told as his hands wound into her hair, repaying the favour. She closed her eyes and leaned back into his touch, the intimate moment also serving as a perfect relaxer so much so that she didn’t object when things started to get a bit heated. This was always how things went with them both, they sought solace in one another, the physical relief of losing themselves with someone they loved was how they coped, how they stayed grounded, reminded ourselves that they weren’t alone.

His hands travelled down her body, her back pressed to his chest as his fingers reached between her legs, finding her spot. She moaned, arching back into him as his other hand caressed her breast, his arousal pressing into the lower part of her back and she lazily rolled her head to catch his mouth. As the hot water cascaded down onto them he took her to the brink before he spun her round and lifted her easily, pressing her back onto the cool tiles. He thrust into her without warning and she groaned, her hands gripping his shoulders as he began to pump in and out, his head falling to her collar bone as he gave a soft nip. With each roll of his hips Katie felt her pleasure beginning to mount, soft moans falling from her lips as she dropped her head to his shoulder, the feeling in her stomach beginning to overwhelm her.

“Look at me Doll” he said gently, and she opened her eyes, emerald gems locking onto his as he saw her mouth open, lips part in a soft cry as she came, a deeper groan bubbled over in her throat and her head slid backwards. Steve would never get tired of seeing her like that, ever. It was the most arousing thing in the world to him. His pace began to quicken and he followed shortly, the tight bands in his stomach snapping as he pressed her harder against the wall as he rode out his release.

When they had finally finished in the shower the pair of them were almost dead on their feet. They dried off, Katie shucked on one of Steve’s T-shirts and clambered into bed with him. Neither had any idea what time of day it was but neither cared, the blackout blinds sent the room into darkness. Katie lay her head on Steve’s chest, his hand slid up the cotton of his shirt and he gently ran his fingers up and down her spine.

He managed to do it about twice before the pair of them were out for the count.

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huangels · 6 years

Text

nct u reaction to another artist dedicating a love song to you

request: Hi! May I request a nct u's reaction to an idol from another group dedicating a beautiful song that's super romantic to their s/o? Like the idol knows they're dating but just doesn't care. Thank you!

a/n: i hope the requester didn’t request this intending for it to be angsty bc it’s kinda fluffy i think ? lol also nct u is a rotational group, so i just focused on “boss” unit bc it’s the most recent and stuff lol i hope that’s ok. also also, i decided to add in members of other kpop groups as the person who dedicated the song to you bc it just helped the reactions flow smoother, they’re random and prob untrue so don’t focus too much on that lol

˗ˏˋ TAEYONG ˎˊ˗

You and Taeyong are both sitting on the couch, alone in your empty dorm. The bottom of your laptop warms your upper thighs as it works hard to search up videos on Youtube. What Taeyong and you like to do sometimes is to watch other artists or groups performances, especially older musicians, to learn from them since the both of you are in groups yourselves under SM Entertainment. Taeyong points to a new music video by EXO, a group from the same company. You don't even have to think twice before clicking the small rectangle, since you along with your group look up to EXO. While the music video plays, you enjoy the song, moving your body to the beat. Taeyong sits up straight as his previous position with his head on your shoulder has been disrupted. After the video ends, Youtube auto-plays another video, it's the behind the scenes. You leave it on, as the artists sometimes go on to explain the title songs, which you always enjoy watching. That is until the member, Chanyeol, during his interview segment, mentions that one of their track songs is a love song, inspired by you from your group. Taeyong shoots up from his position on your shoulder as he reaches to rewind the video. You try to hold back a chuckle at his actions.

"Did I just hear that right? He dedicated a song to my girlfriend?"

˗ˏˋ DOYOUNG ˎˊ˗

Doyoung and you are in the same group, well technically. You're both in the same group, NCT, but in different units. While Doyoung is in a couple of units, like NCT 127 and NCT U, you're in the girl unit, NCT G. Sitting around the velvet-covered table, you lethargically tug on the ripples of your crimson dress. You and your group are currently attending an awards show that has been going on for several hours. After performing your songs and dances, everyone is tired out and just ready to head back to the dorms and rest. Doyoung is sitting beside you, a hand resting on the back of your chair, mindlessly tracing circles on the exposed part of your neck. Up on the stage is VIXX, wrapping up their performances. Doyoung's hand comes to a halt after hearing what the leader, N, is saying about their new comeback songs. The crowd 'ooo's' and the fans run wild. With a raise of an eyebrow, Doyoung leans forward, stopping just by your ear.

"Why the hell are they dedicating a song to you? Am I missing something? You have a lot of explaining to do tonight..."

˗ˏˋ JAEHYUN ˎˊ˗

You inform Jaehyun that you are going to find a seat for the both of you. He pecks the side of your temple before letting you off. The small cafe is packed with people, but you're able to find an empty booth towards the back. You quickly claim it before anyone else. While waiting for your boyfriend to purchase a quick snack, you pull out your phone to scroll through Instagram inattentively. Your eyes shoot wide as you come across a short video of a sneak peek of Seventeen's comeback on Joshua's Instagram, the caption stating that isn't a self-written song that's dedicated to you. Joshua and you are friends on Instagram since the both of you can communicate in English together. However, you did not expect him to dedicate a whole song to you. Jaehyun meets you shortly after, a plate of two muffins in one hand and a cardboard tray of two mochaccinos in another. You help him grab the plate so the muffins won't fall. As he sits down, you hesitate to tell him what you had just come across, but do so anyway. Jaehyun's eyebrows knit for a moment, studying the post, before letting out a hearty laugh.

"Wow, I can't believe I won't be the first to dedicate a song to you."

˗ˏˋ WINWIN ˎˊ˗

With Sicheng napping on your lap, you try not to move a muscle to disturb his peace, even if your leg is asleep from the lack of movement. You woke up from your nap about 5 minutes ago and to pass the time, you play around on your phone. While playing a game of Superstar SM Town, a vlive notification pops up, causing you to miss a note on the song. Spoiling your perfect score of three stars, you exit the game to visit the app. It's a live video from Monsta X, a good friend of your groups'. You think 'why not' as you tune into the video, lowering the volume for Sicheng. They're hosting a LieV, all decked out in adorable pajamas and drowning in soft plushies. The video continues with a song recommendation, one of their new songs. Changkyun introduces the song, informing the audience that he composed it. Then, he shares that when writing the song, he used you as inspiration, so now he dedicates the love song to you. Overhearing this in his sleep, Sicheng bolts up from your lap, almost knocking the phone out of your hands.

"What? He dedicated a love song to you? Did I dream that or...?"

˗ˏˋ JUNGWOO ˎˊ˗

The car is silent, except for the soft jazz music playing in the background. Jungwoo and you are on your way back to the dorms after a long day of practice for both of your separate groups. Jungwoo is mindlessly scrolling on his phone, slouching in his seat, with you laying on his shoulder, eyes resting. All of your muscles are sore from the non-stop dancing and all you need is a warm shower. You slowly drift into sleep with the humming of the song on the radio and the steady drift of the car lulling you to rest. That is until Jungwoo shoots straight up in his seat, eyes furrowed at his phone. You groan, trying to rest your head back on his shoulder, but Jungwoo reaches an arm over to pat you awake. Swatting his hand away, you question what he's doing, but before you can finish, Jungwoo pushes his phone into your line of sight. Your eyes scan the website from Cube Entertainment, it's an article about Pentagon's new comeback album. Further in the article, the leader, Hui, explains that one of the songs is dedicated to you. You giggle in response, causing Jungwoo to break into a laughing fit as well.

"You're so lovable, everyone wants to love you. But you're my girlfriend don't forget that."

˗ˏˋ LUCAS ˎˊ˗

Lucas and you like to attend fansigns or meet and greets of other artists just for the fun of it. Today the group ASTRO are hosting a small meet and greet in Seoul, not too far from the dorms, so the both of you decide to go. All dressed up in inconspicuous clothing, a face mask, and a hoodie to hide the both of our identities, the two weaves through the crowd to situate near the side of the stage area. The group is preparing to perform their new title track, making sure their clothes are settled, shoes are tied, hydrated. The six moves into position and the song plays momentarily. It's a good song, about love at first sight. Though, Lucas argues it's not about love but about shopping, but his Korean isn't that great so you just ignore him. The performance meets an end as the crowd cheers. One of the shorter members grabs a hold of a mic, introducing the song. A few cheeky side glances are shared by the other members as the introducer blushes. He continues to say that the song is actually dedicated to someone. When he mentions that special someone is you, Lucas gives you a stunned look before making his way to the stage. You try your best to hold him back, stifling some laughs.

"I'm gonna give all of them a piece of my mind, dedicating a song to my girl."

˗ˏˋ MARK ˎˊ˗

Your finger scans the page of the textbook, browsing for more information on the topic of your essay. Having found a paragraph of information you can use, you quickly type more into your essay on your laptop. A ding sounds from your phone but you ignore it as the clacking of your keyboard continues. Another notification sound fills your dorm room and then another, it causes you to lose focus. You grab your phone, looking to see what is so urgent. It's a text from your boyfriend, Mark. The first message reads, "Have you seen this" and then a screen-recorded video is sent, followed by a spam of question marks. You click on the video, it plays automatically. It's from an Instagram live, GOT7's Jackson to be specific. It seems like he's in a recording studio, headphones hanging from his neck. The short video clip is of Jackson explaining his new mini album, introducing a specific song. He continues to say that it is dedicated to you from your group, and the recorded video stops there. Mark is still spamming question marks when you return to the chat.

"How can he dedicate a song to my girlfriend? Isn't that weird? You're also younger than him. I'm gonna fight him next time... Maybe not he's built like the Incredible Hulk."

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otiss131 · 4 years

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tatekitkylejimmyjamesrorylover · 8 years

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I Care For You Peter Maximoff x Reader

Words: 3,053

Description: You started dating Peter who is a mutant and your parents aren’t very fond of mutants. What will happen when they find out?

Author’s Note: This probably stinks. But requests are open! I hope you guys enjoy this!! XOXO

1985

One year. One year of dating Peter in secrecy. The reason why it had remained a secret for so long was because Peter is a mutant and I am not. My family didn’t really hold their arms too open for mutants. They just thought they were the scums of the earth or that they were too different. I didn’t agree. I thought that they were normal people with just something unique. Unlike normal people who were most of the time boring. The same routine. Get up, get dressed, brush your teeth, eat breakfast, go to school, eat lunch, more classes, go home, eat dinner, and then night time routine. It was the same. It was boring. Dull. Peter had removed that boring day to day routine. Sometimes sneak out and skip some school, meet him for lunch, walk me home but then manage to get the heck away when he saw one of my parents car, and then throw pebbles at my window to let him in at night and we just talk, quietly. He made my days extravagant. Meaningful. I had never felt this way. I had never really been this open to someone. Anyway this all started on April 23, 1984.

April 23, 1984

It just started out as a regular boring day to day routine. I was walking to school. I met up with my friends who were so graciously waiting for me outside.

“Hey!” I said.

“Oh, hey (Y/N)! How was your morning?” Vanessa asked.

“Boring, as always. You?” I asked.

“It was pretty good. Anyways Chelsea and I were wondering if you wanted to come with us to a bar as a girl’s night out. Can you?” Vanessa asked.

“Sure. Who else is going?’ I asked

“It is just going to be Vanessa, you and me.” Chelsea said.

“Alright, I could use it.” I laughed. The bell rang suddenly so we rushed to get to our classes. We all had the same schedule which was really nice.

It was a long day of stupid classes that no one really paid attention in.

“Okay so what is this bar place called?” I asked.

“Dine’s and Drive’s. It just newly opened so the place should be hopping.” Chelsea said.

“Exactly. So that means maybe we can find a guy for each of us!” Vanessa screeched.

“Oh my gosh. Why do you guys always assume we are going to find the one at these ‘newly’ opened places?” I asked.

“Well Chelsea and I’s horoscopes said that we would meet our true love somewhere unexpected!” Vanessa said.

“Oh come on you honestly believe those stupid little horoscope stories?” I asked.

“Oh stop being such a let-downer.” Chelsea said.

“I am just being truthful. Anyways what time are you guys picking me up?” I asked.

“We will pick you up at seven.” Vanessa said.

“Okay. See you then.” I waved and ran inside my house. I looked at the clock and saw that it was only four. I ran up the stairs and took a long warm shower. When I got out I looked at the clock and it was five. I walked over to my closet and picked out a black polka dot red dress.

I put it on and then sat in front of my mirror and applied red lipstick and mascara. I curled my long flowing locks. I looked in my mirror for one final glance and started to walk downstairs. I heard the door bell ring. I opened the door to Vanessa and Chelsea standing there.

“HEY (Y/N)! You look gorgeous!” Chelsea and Vanessa said.

“Aw thanks. You guys do too!” I replied, “Shall we go?”

“Yes! Let’s go!” Chelsea said. I walked out and closed the front door to my house and then walked to the car. I got into the back seat and just looked out the window until we got there.

“We are here!” Vanessa said. I got out of the car and waited for Chelsea and Vanessa.

“Okay so while we are here tonight, we are going to find a potential bachelor.” Chelsea said.

“Guys, please. I just want to have fun without having to worry about guys.” I said.

“(Y/N), who are you going to dance with when there is a slow song? Huh?” Vanessa said.

“I don’t care. I would rather just sit. I mean that is what I’m used to.” I said.

“This is what I’m talking about (Y/N)! You need to stop with being mopey and you know what? That is all going to change tonight!” Chelsea said. Knowing that I wasn’t going to win this conversation, I just started walking with them. We arrived at the doors of the bar and opened them. I wasn’t going to lie, this is a pretty cool place. Who knows I might meet my soulmate. The bar was packed with people. Vanessa saw a high table open for four people and she ran over and grabbed it before anyone could steal it.

Chelsea and I sat down.

“So, Chelsea, (Y/N), see any potential bachelors?” Vanessa asked as she wriggled her eyebrows. A waiter came over and asked us what we would like to drink.

“We would like ten shots of vodka please.” Chelsea said.

“Alright! Coming right up!” The waiter said and left.

“Okay Vanessa, do you see the group of guys over there?” We looked to where she was pointing and Vanessa nodded. “I like the guy with the brown hair and glasses. I think I might go introduce myself.” Chelsea said.

“Oh, and I like that guy with the sorta long hair in the wheelchair. He looks really cute. Let’s go over there.” Vanessa said as they walked over there.

“Um guys?” I said as the waiter came over with the tray of the ten shots of vodka. I just smiled at the guy and gave up on my friends as I saw them flirting with the guys. I looked over there and saw a guy with silver hair looking at me. I blushed and looked down smiling. I looked back up and the man was right in front of me.

“Hi! I’m Peter Maximoff.” Peter said as he held out his hand.

“(Your Full Name).” I said and smiled as I took his hand. He slowly brought it up to his lips and kissed it. I blushed and looked away.

“Is there anyone sitting here?” Peter asked as I shook my head no. “Sweet. SO what are you doing here all by yourself?”

“Well originally I wasn’t alone, my friends abandon me for your other two friends over there.” I said as I pointed over there.

“Oh, so they like Hank and Charles huh?” Peter asked.

“I guess.” I said.

“So why didn’t you go over there?” He asked.

“Didn’t want to. They just wanted to find there soulmate.” I said looking away.

“What’s wrong with that?” He asked with a smirk on his face.

“Nothing. I just didn’t see the point at all.” I said.

“There must be a reason. Come on, you can tell me.” He said.

“I just met you but alright. I just came out of a very serious relationship. I thought he loved me. I gave him my whole heart but he just stomped on it and threw it in the trash. I’m scared of that happening again. I don’t want that. I want to be in a relationship that will go somewhere. Not just a month fling or something stupid. You know?” I said.

“I totally understand.” Peter said as took my hand and rubbed his finger along the back of my hand. “I came out of a relationship too and it was the same situation.” He said. As soon as he said that a slow song came on and I saw Hank and Chelsea go to slow dance. I guess he noticed that I was looking at them because the next thing he said I would not have expected at all.

“Do you want to dance with me?” Peter said while pointing his thumb over to the dance floor where the dancing was going on.

“Sure. I would love too Peter!” I said. Peter stepped down from his chair and helped me down from mine. All of a sudden, Peter puts his hand on the back of my neck and before I blinked we were already on the dance floor. I had to take a step back and a blur of confusion covered my face.

“Are you okay?” He asks sounding worried. I just nod my head yes.

“How did we get over here so fast? Or did you drug me?” I asked. Peter took my hands and rubbed his thumb over the back of mine.

“(Y/N), I have to tell you something. What I am about to tell you I don’t really tell this to other girls on the first date but there is just something about you and I feel like I can trust you. Please don’t start running and freak out, please.” Peter said.

“Peter you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?” I asked.

“(Y/N), I’m a...mutant.” Peter says and puts his head down. I smile and put my arms around his neck and I move his hands so that they’re on my waist. I start to laugh at how nervous he was.

“Peter, That’s...amazing!” I said and he immediately raises his head and stares deep into my eyes to see if there was any sign of me lying.

“Are you serious? You aren’t scared?” Peter asked.

“No, why would I be scared. I know that the news depicts mutants poorly. I figured that the only reason that there all these new mutants are popping up was because they don’t know how to control it, and I just wish that I could help them.” I said.

“I think you are the most amazing person I have ever met. I sincerely mean that. I know that this might be way to soon but I think I’m in love with you. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.” Peter says as we sway to the music.

“I was thinking the exact same thing. So what I am guessing is that your mutation is teleportation?” I ask. He laughs and shakes his head no. “Then what?” I say laughing.

“My mutation is super speed. Teleportation is my friend Kurt’s mutation.” He says.

“So are Charles and Hank mutants?” I ask.

“Yes, Hank is a blue fur covered beast, so we call him Beast. Hank takes these shots that make him look human. Charles is a mind reader. He is also our recruiter. He was paralyzed when my father, Magneto, accidentally moved a bullet and it hit Charles.” Peter finishes.

“Wait, that guy I see on TV every morning, Magneto, is your father?” I ask with a shocked face.

“Yep. I met him when I broke into the Pentagon and I didn’t know it yet but I figured because my mom knew someone who could control metal.” He says.

“Oh. I’m really sorry Peter. I know how much that might hurt.” I said as I put my hand on his cheek and caress it.

“It’s really fine.” Peter says as he puts his forehead on mine and slowly leans in. I meet him in the middle. I bring him closer by grabbing his shirt collar and pulling on it while he puts his hand behind my head. What we both didn’t realize is that the song had ended and everyone was staring at us. I broke it apart when I heard Chelsea, Hank, Vanessa, and Charles whooping and cheering. My face got red very fast and so did Peters. We just placed our foreheads against each others and laughed.

“So would you like to meet my friends?” Peter asked.

“I would love to. Oh, would you love to meet mine?” I asked laughing.

“I would love to.” Peter said and pecked me on the lips. We walked over to them and he started.

“Hank, Charles this is my girlfriend (Y/N), (Y/N) this is Hank and Charles.”

“GIRLFRIEND?!” I thought, “Oh I like this very much. Two can play at this game Peter.” I finished thinking.

“Nice to meet you guys.” I said as I hugged them.

“Girlfriend? Well Peter, I am sure you got a good girl on your hands.” Hank said.

“I sure do.” He said as he put his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

“Chelsea, Vanessa this is my boyfriend Peter, Peter this is Chelsea and Vanessa.” I say. I look over at Peter and see his eyes go wide. I laugh silently.

“Very nice to meet you.” Peter said as he hugged them.

“Well, well, (Y/N). Looks like your plan for tonight didn’t work out. You found someone like us. I am happy for you. I am very happy (Y/N).” Vanessa and Chelsea said.

“Thank you guys. I am sorry for being a stubborn fool earlier. I am happy that you guys found someone as well.” I said as I gave them both hugs.

It was two hours later and I was tired. The whole time we sat at a table and just chatted like we were best friends. I leaned my head on Peters shoulder and yawned. He saw that I was very tired.

“You tired baby? You want to go home?” He asked as he pushed back my hair. I just nodded a yes. “Alright folks, tonight was fun but I think we are going to call it quits. It was nice meeting you Vanessa and Chelsea.” Peter said as he waved goodbye. Peter picked my up and walked me outside. “So should I kiss you now or right outside your front door?” He asked.

“Now. I will be too tired when you get me home.” I said not thinking of what my parents think of mutants.

“As you wish.” Peter said. He let me down and put his hand behind my neck and kissed me. “Okay, now time to take you home.” I told him where I lived and he responded. “No way! I live like two houses down from you!”

“Really? That means I can see everyday. Okay now I am officially too tired. Take me home, now please.” I said as I smiled.

“Yes. Here we go. Hold tight.” Peter said. I blink and I was already outside my house.

“Bye Peter. I love you.” I said.

“Goodnight (Y/N). I love you too. He said.

1985

That is how I started dating Peter. We were very cautious. A lot of times in the middle of the night, Peter would throw rocks at the window. I would open it and automatically smile. Then Peter would speed climb and just stop where I was leaning at my window and he would kiss me. I would help him in and then we would talk and fall asleep in each others arms. I would never wake up to him. He would leave before I would wake up. This morning was different. Something was off. I got out of bed and went downstairs. I went into the kitchen and saw my mom crying and my dad keeping her safe.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” I asked as my heart was beating faster.

“Is it true?” My mom said with her voice breaking.

“Is what true?” I asked scared of what they were going to say.

“That for the past year you have been dating a..a...a...a mutant?” She said with tears falling down her face.

“Yes mom. It’s true. I love him with all of my hear and he is one of the most considerate, kind, loyal, humorous, and romantic man I have ever met.” I said standing my ground.

“Oh NO! WHY, WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO US?” My mom said as she cried.

“Why would I what? Fall in love with someone who gets me? Who loves me? Who makes me feel special?’ I said crying as well.

“IT’S ALL LIES (Y/N)! EVERYTHING HE HAS TOLD YOU IS A BIG FAT LIE! HE DOESN’T LOVE YOU! HE WANTS TO HURT YOU! HE WANTS TO KILL YOU! IT IS THE SAME INTENTIONS OF EVERY MUTANT! THEY MEAN NO GOOD!” She yelled.

“How would you know?” I asked.

“It is their type, have you not seen the news?” She cried.

“Peter is different!” I yelled.

“He is trying to get inside your head.” My dad said.

“No! He is not! I am tired of this. I am leaving!” I said.

“And where are you going?” They asked.

“Non of your business!” I said. I ran up to my room locked the door and packed up all of my stuff. I sat on the floor and cried. I finally pulled my strength and escaped through my window. I ran with my stuff to Peter’s. I frantically knocked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming!” Peter yelled from inside. I had tears all over my face. He opened the door and his smile turned into a frown. “(Y/N), what’s wrong baby?”

“Can I please come in?” I said with my voice cracking.

“Of course. Come on in. Please.” Peter said and I dragged my stuff in. “Let me put your stuff downstairs in my room. Okay?” He asked.

“Can I come with you? Please.” I said rubbing my arm.

“Of course babe.” He said.

I followed him downstairs. I waited in his living room and sat on the couch. He came in a second later and placed me in his lap.

“Tell me what’s wrong.” He said as he wiped my tears away. I told him what my parents had said and I placed my head in between the crook of his neck. He placed his hand on the back of my head and rubbed my hair back and forth. “You know that isn’t true. What your parents said right?” He said, I shook my head yes, “Good. (Y/N), I love you. I don’t want anything to happening to you. I care for you. Nothing will ever get you. Nothing will hurt you. I love you.”

“I love you too Peter.” I said and kissed him deeply.

I stay with Peter until we can afford our own house. I love him and he loves me nothing could get better than this.

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