#nedward and boxer joe

[aka-willow]

A Promise

gif

Words: 1383

Characters: Willow Wren, Wanda Maximoff, Phil Coulson, Natasha Romanoff, Nedward and Boxer Joe

Prompt/Tag:

“people lie all the time.”

“Did I just see you smile?”

Summary: Willow is taken somewhere new

Timeline: March 2016

Song: A Promise - Alan Silvestri

A/N: the last part is done! part 2 will be starting shortly.

—————————————————————————–

The next few days flew by. I begrudgingly underwent an Index assessment, got some stitches removed, and wondered what I had missed in the real world while gone for all this time. I met Phil Coulson one more time as I was getting ready to leave, with a plane on the way to pick me up.

“I think you made the right decision,” he said, stopping in the doorway of the lab as I put my sneakers on. “Wanted to wish you well.”

I gave a small smile and straightened my hair with my hand. “Will they be here soon?”

“Little while longer,” he said. “Come on, I have something for you.”

With growing curiosity, I followed him through the base, to another lab, where there was a small pile of belongings on one of the tables, and a cage next to them. “Nedward!” I exclaimed, running of to the cage and unlatching it. “Boxer Joe!”

“We found your camp after you left New York City,” he said. “Some of it was boxed up and taken into evidence, but I managed to convince them to hold on to a few things. Put it into one of our backpacks until you came around.”

I unzipped the dark green backpack and found Fanisimo’s goggles, Marty’s USB, the stuffed elephant. The Ziploc bag of photos and drawings. The bible from Father Jake. My headphones. Laptop. The binoculars from Jessica. I turned back to the cage and the rats crawled into my open hands, sniffing the air, and snuggling up in my palms. “I’m—thank you,” I said. “This means…” After everything that had happened, I didn’t think I would see the rats again. I had assumed I had lost everything. And now, just with this small backpack, I felt like I was becoming myself again. The person I had wanted to be. The one who had been so proud to finish eighth grade, the same one who had tried tons of different clubs to find out which ones she’d like. I realized that Willow was someone I liked.

“Of course,” said Coulson. He checked his phone and nodded towards the door. “Looks like they’re just arriving now. Do you need a hand with that?”

Backpack slung over my shoulder, I lifted up the cage, and even though it was much bigger than the one they used to live in, I was able to carry it. “I got it.”

We walked to the hangar, where a jet had just landed, and two figures were departing. I recognized one of them, it was Natasha, and she smiled warmly. “Ready to go?”  I looked up at the other woman and tilted my head. I remembered her from the Sokovia coverage the year before. “This is Wanda,” Natasha said, introducing her. “Wanda, this is Willow.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said.

“Yeah.” The jet seemed giant up close, and far more technically advanced than I thought was possible. “Looks like a spaceship,” I said.

“Wheels up in five,” said Natasha. “Wanda, get her boarded while I talk to Coulson.”

I followed Wanda to the gangplank, where she helped me load the rats and then gave me a hand up. “These guys yours?” she asked.

“Uh… yeah,” I said. “The brown and white one is Nedward, and the white and black one is Boxer Joe.”

“They’re cute,” she said. She helped me lock the cage to the floor and secure it, before showing me to the seats that lined the wall.

“Is it loud?” I asked. “When it takes off?”

“Mm, not really,” Wanda said. “At least not when Natasha is piloting.” She smiled and helped me with the seat buckles. “Now Sam on the other hand…”

“Okay,” I said. “Are you sure?”

“You don’t believe me?”

“People lie all the time.”

“You don’t trust easily, do you?”

“Not anymore. How long is the flight?”

“We’re going back to New York, so about three hours.” She squeezed my hand. “Nervous?”

“I’m not,” I said. “Just never been on a plane before.”

“Really?” she asked. “Well, Natasha told me about your… gifts. It’s just like flying. Except you’re inside.”

“She told you?”

“A little, yes. And I saw a few of the videos. You’re not a bad flier,” she said, and then laughed. “The other stuff could use some work, but it has potential. Really.”

I sat back in the seat and looked over at Nedward and Boxer Joe, who seemed perfectly content as they scurried around. “Did she tell you how I got them, too?”

“The air manipulation… you got that the same way I did.”

I turned to look at her. “HYDRA?”

She nodded. “Except I volunteered.”

“Why?”

“We were fighting a war. I thought I was helping my people. But… I know how it feels,” she said. “These are good people, though. You can trust me on that.” As she talked, she manipulated a red energy around her fingers, almost absentmindedly, and I watched, completely mesmerized. “Here,” she said. “Show me what you can do. Can you move that jacket over there?”

I shook my head. “I shouldn’t. I… I can’t control it anymore. I used to be able to, but now whenever I get mad or upset or… I don’t know. It’s just…”

“So, you learn to control it when you don’t feel like that,” she said. “It’s all about practice.”

“What if… I don’t know… I’m afraid I’ll… break something or…”

“That’s why they had me come,” she said. “Trust me, you lose control, I can stop you.”

“Really?”

“Definitely.”

I raised my hand and steadied it towards the jacket hanging in the locker across from us. “Now, just gently,” said Wanda. “Go slowly.”

I took a deep breath and imagined I was parceling air towards the jacket just a little at a time like I had my finger over a balloon nozzle. Slowly, the jacket began to sway, and even as my fingers lit up blue and went numb, the stream was steady.

“See?” Wanda said. “You can control it. You just need to practice is all.”

I heard Natasha’s footsteps as she marched up the gangplank and she nodded at us as she walked over to the pilot’s chair and closed up the jet. “Ready?” she asked, looking back at us.

I nodded.

The ship lifted off and I watched as the base below us disappeared and we rose into the sky, the landscape turning a golden brown before fading underneath the clouds. Wanda was right, takeoff wasn’t loud, and the only sound was from outside as we cut through the air. “Course is locked in,” said Natasha. “We’ll be back in a few hours.”

She turned the pilot’s chair around to face Wanda and me, sitting with her elbows on her knees as she thought. Are they making the right decision? Am I? I had been so many things, so many people, that it was almost impossible to know who I was now or who I could become. But I guess that’s the thing about growing up. You’re never the same person. Willow wasn’t the same person as she was three years ago, ten years ago. And maybe, in all my struggle to find myself, I had forgotten how to grow and change.

Wanda and Natasha began talking about plans for when they got back to the facility upstate, about a future mission they were preparing for, about whatever Captain America was up to.

“I can’t believe you ran from Captain America,” said Natasha, looking at me and shaking her head.

“I’d gotten enough detentions at that point to know what was coming,” I said.

Her and Wanda chuckled, which caught me off guard. “I’m sure you’ll get the lecture anyways when we get there,” Wanda said.

The corner of my mouth lifted, just for a second and Natasha caught it. “Did I just see you smile?”

I shook my head.

Outside, the clouds passed by and the late afternoon sun was turning the landscape around us orange. I shut my eyes, thinking, again, about the future. I can’t leave. I won’t be able to see my friends. But I’m finally starting to know myself, maybe for the first time ever. I think I trust these people. And for now, that’s all I can ask for.

[emcon-ocs]

oc drawing was done by the wonderful @anti-solidcoffee​!!

MARVEL OC

Willow Wren is a survivor of the Panoptes Foundation who escapes to NYC. She possesses bat wings, as well as enhanced hearing and wind manipulation, and her abilities eventually put her on both the radar of SHIELD and the Avengers.

URL: @aka-willow​ // TAG // PLAYLIST // PINTEREST

Name: Willow Wren Faceclaim: Esme Creed-Miles, Alexa Swinton (younger) Nicknames/Aliases: Nikita “Nina” McFly, Subject 10, October, Batty, The Manhattan Angel, Bat Kid, Rock and Roll All Nite, HYDRA River Tam, Jailbreak, Willow Nikita Bennett Gender: Female Birthday: October 10, 2002 Age: 15 Affiliation: The Panoptes Foundation (formerly), HYDRA (formerly), The Lab Rats, The Avengers Occupation: Student Sexuality: Bisexual Location: New York Powers: Flight, enhanced hearing, regenerative healing, wind manipulation (eventually) Appearance: 5′4″, black hair and blue eyes, fairly pale with dark circles often under her eyes. Left eyebrow is crooked due to an injury that caused part of it to not grow back. Often disheveled looking, wearing baggy clothes to hide her wings and her long hair rarely brushed.  Hobbies: helping Jessica Jones with her PI business, listening to music, Academic Decathlon, robotics club, drama club tech crew, hanging out with friends, playing with her pet rats, Nedward and Boxer Joe Likes: 70s and 80s music, the movie Dumbo, sleeping under tons of blankets with the windows open, flying around on a cool night, Dunkin’ Donuts, trashy reality TV + Trish Talk, an open sky, rats, root beer, Dominos pizza, having her headphones in, Twilight, watching Glee with her friends Dislikes: overprotectiveness, having to sit still, bullies (esp. of the political type..), being talked down to, being left out of the loop, early mornings, loud environments, doctors Canon Character Relationships:

Jessica Jones: friend and mentor

Peter Parker: close friend and ally

Ned Leeds: close friend from school

Wanda Maximoff: mentor, like an older sister, friend

Natasha Romanoff: mentor, handler while with the Avengers, friend

Trish Walker: friend and mentor

Steve Rogers: friend, team leader

Sam Wilson: friend, like the cool cousin

Malcolm Ducasse: acquaintance, friendly ally

Jeri Hogarth: Lawyer, ally

Vision: tutor, often at odds with

James Rhodes: acquaintance

Tony Stark: acquaintance, definite distrust, adversary

Daisy Johnson: acquaintance

Leo Fitz: acquaintance

Jemma Simmons: acquaintance

Phil Coulson: has met briefly, has his contact info

Melinda May: has met briefly

Bobbi Morse: has met briefly

Lance Hunter: has met briefly

Grant Ward: was stabbed by

Kilgrave: enemy

Daniel Whitehall: enemy, was experimented on by

Personality:

Willow’s personality has been described on more than one occasion as that of a feral cat. Her generally disheveled appearance and awkward nature set her apart from her classmates, and her misunderstanding of social cues often leave them feeling uncomfortable. Her general distrust towards new people doesn’t help the situation. Due to her upbringing, Willow is fairly socially stunted, looking to her friends for social cues and mimicking their actions. She’s often found repeating dialogue from movies and TV and relating situations to often the same few movies or television shows, as these are her greatest frame of reference for how “the real world” plays out.

Willow is often found awake at all hours of the night, usually because she struggles to sleep, and is constantly hoping someone will be up to hang out with her, though she would never ask. She’s often found sleeping during the day, when others are around and when she feels safer.

Once Willow warms up to someone, she’s more bubbly and talkative, still awkward, but in a slightly more endearing way. She’s eager to lend a helping hand, spontaneous, and full of energy (many have tried to cut her off from caffeine and failed) until she hits a crash and ends up passed out in some odd spot. Thoughtful and encouraging, Willow also cares deeply for her friends and her love language is easily acts of service. 

Willow clashes with authority often, usually only trusting an authority figure, like Natasha, with time (and food. she’s really motivated by food). Once she finds an adult she can trust, she latches onto them for guidance and is eager to please them (re: Jessica Jones, Natasha Romanoff, Detective Bennett).

In dire situations, Willow is a wildcard, often falling back on her more feral nature (she’s well known for biting in fights). Her stubbornness and naivety often lands her in situations where she ends up in over her head, and she often prioritizes a victory over her own wellbeing. 

More than anything, Willow hopes for some semblance of a normal life despite her circumstances and relishes in doing “normal people things”. She also hopes to prevent the types of experiments she went though, and fights to protect the rights of other enhanced individuals, as well as their autonomy.

Biography:

Willow Wren (formerly Nikita “Nina” McFly) was born on premature on October 10, 2002, at the University of Vermont Medical Center. Born wrapped in her then-tiny batwings, her birth was an oddity, and kept hushed among the staff of the medical center. Her mother was Antonia Farago, a young woman who worked as a custodian for SHIELD and died shortly after Willow’s birth. Her father, Vasyl Zakharov, a former first responder at Chernobyl, was out of the picture and passed away only a few years later due to cancer. 

Willow spent the first few weeks of her life in the NICU before the Panoptes Foundation caught wind of the mutant baby and attempted to apprehend her. This attempt was thwarted by the quick-thinking of the staff, who passed Willow off to a medical student. Willow was dropped off at the fire station downtown, and later taken in by firefighter Jackson McFly and his partner David, a graduate student at the University of Vermont. The couple named her Nikita, after the Elton John song, and nicknamed her Nina.

For the first few years of her life, Willow was brought up by the McFlys who found her and hid her from prying government agencies, though she was eventually located and taken by The Panoptes Foundation. Her abilities narrowly saved her from execution, the fate suffered by other taken kids. Willow was brought to the Clinic, a research site where the Foundation studied those with abilities, hoping to identify how to find and eliminate mutants. The Clinic also collected data for HYDRA, who sponsored the Foundation under the direction of Daniel Whitehall.

At the Clinic, Willow met two other children (Dew and Fanisimo) born with strange abilities or traits. The Lab Rats (as they eventually called themselves) were kept under the Foundation’s control through the Faustus Method. As Willow’s abilities further developed, she was eventually brainwashed as a weapon to be deployed. The Clinic was led by Doctor Dawn Turner, whom Willow grew to despise, and who “put down” mutants when the Clinic’s research on them was finished.

At some point in late 2014, Willow found that HYDRA would be taking custody of her permanently, despite the wishes of the Foundation, and sending her to Hydra Laboratories in Dover, Delaware.

Willow escaped the Clinic in November of 2014, and fled to New York City, where she received assistance from a homeless woman who put her into contact with Jeffrey Fields, an underground advocate for people with abilities. Willow met Jessica Jones during the Kilgrave fiasco, and later helped out around the detective agency after school. She also became friends with Peter Parker and Ned Leeds that year in the eighth grade, along with paranormal fanatic Kate Gray, and the son of Jeffrey Fields, Marty Fields.

Though she had no memory of her past before escaping, Willow’s encounter with Kilgrave began unlocking some buried memories, eventually leading to the realization that she had been experimented on and brainwashed. Her summer of 2015 was spent investigating her past back with The Panoptes Foundation, eventually meeting up with another the Lab Rats at the old Clinic, which had been abandoned in the past year. In the fall of 2015, Willow began tracking down old HYDRA associates and doxxing them, though Willow began to take it a little too far, putting her on the radar of SHIELD and eventually the Avengers. 

A case of mistaken identity also led Willow to accidentally target Werner von Strucker, son of Wolfgang von Strucker. During this incident, Willow was stabbed by Grant Ward, and put back onto HYDRA’s radar as well.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Willow, her now-best-friend Marty was also investigating HYDRA for her, realizing the connection between it and The Panoptes Foundation, which led to his murder in December of 2015. Willow became homeless shortly after this and cut off communication with many of her old friends, continuing to go to school but finding and eventually killing old Panoptes associates by night.

She was eventually tracked down by SHIELD and confronted at school. Barely managing to escape, Willow set herself on a final mission to find Doctor Dawn Turner. This led to her capture by The Panoptes Foundation, but not before tipping off SHIELD to the location of the base. After being held by The Panoptes Foundation, and by extension, HYDRA, for a week, she was broken out by SHIELD forces. She was given the option to stay in the custody of SHIELD, or into the custody of the Avengers, whom Phil Coulson and Daisy Johnson felt could better understand and contain her powers. Tests run by SHIELD confirmed their beliefs that she had been exposed to something similar to the Mind Stone, perhaps even in utero.

Willow chose to go with the Avengers and stayed with them through the spring of 2016, finishing her school year remotely, training, and becoming close friends with Wanda, as well as developing a mentorship relationship with Natasha. She also was given access to recently found documents about her past, giving her answers as to where she came from. In June of 2016, however, Willow sided with Captain America in the Avengers Civil War after sneaking out of the Avengers Compound to find out what the Winter Soldier’s reemergence had to do with HYDRA. She was imprisoned at the Raft before being broken out by Steve Rogers and was encouraged by the newly formed Secret Avengers to return to New York City and negotiate a deal with the government through SHIELD. Willow resolved to turn herself in, but not before traveling to reunite with her dads in Burlington, VT, and meeting her adopted siblings.

Back in New York City, Willow lived at the SHIELD Cocoon facility and returned to high school. In the fall of 2016, Willow also rekindled her friendship with Peter Parker and Ned Leeds, as well as made enemies with her old friend Kate. However, following Kate’s untimely Terragenesis, Kate’s friends reached out to Willow for help, and the girl helped Kate escape government surveillance and go into hiding.

In the winter of 2017, Marty’s father reconnected with Willow, asking for her help in further assisting those with abilities in the New York area, and helping a few escape the surveillance of SHIELD. This new responsibility puts her in constant conflict with the law and dangerously close to violating her terms of her freedom. Detective Bennett, who Willow had come to know after Marty’s murder, grew worried about her as the girl continued to show up to the precinct, and eventually offered to take the girl in.

Over time, Willow and Detective Bennett realized that Detective Bennett had also been a victim of the Panoptes Foundation as a teenager back in the 90s, and the two of them team up with Jeffrey Fields, Fanisimo, Dew, and Kate Gray to take down the Foundation once and for all.

After the attack on New York, Willow headed to the Avengers Compound, meeting up with the others before heading to Wakanda and participating in the Battle of Wakanda, getting gravely injured while trying to protect Wanda and Vision from Thanos. Though she survives and is left behind in the Snap, she suffers from long-term brain damage, which concerns Natasha, who she moves back in with after the Snap.

Willow was a participate in the Time Heist, going with the New York team, and was devastated when she returned and learned of Natasha’s death. She fought with the Avengers in the Battle of Earth, surviving to fight another day, though dealing with the consequences of the immense losses she suffered, and struggling to help her friends, Peter and Wanda, still alive after the war.

After the Battle of Earth, Willow sticks around with the Avengers for a few days before returning to live with Detective Bennett. However, something strange calls Willow to Westview, NJ, where she accidentally flies into the Hex. Willow appears in 1960s Westview, stripped of her powers and with no memory of her past. However, due to her previous experience with mind control, the illusion breaks down quicker for Willow and by the 90s, she’s moved in with the Wandavision household as Wanda tried to keep her in the new reality and quell Willow’s distress, though Willow eventually regains control and helps to fight off SWORD.

After the Battle of Westview, Willow stays in touch with Wanda, being her point of contact and stopping by weekly with groceries and news from the world outside Wanda’s cabin. Willow has continued her work in hiding mutants and Inhumans from government surveillance and does the same for Wanda. She often splits time between the city and her fathers’ home in Burlington.

In the fall of 2024, this work extends to helping Peter as well, who is grappling with the leak of his secret identity as Spider-Man. She puts him into contact with lawyer Matt Murdock and helps shield him from some of the press, but later loses contact with him when Strange’s spell erases Peter from the world’s memory. However this loss only lasts for a few months. 

Willow regains her memories of Peter when Strange returns to her for help, asking Willow to give up the location of Wanda, Willow being one of the only people who knows it. Willow refuses, and only relents when Strange lets her remember Peter again, helping Willow understand the gravity of the situation involving the multiverse.

[aka-willow]

Making My Name

gif

Words: 701

Characters: Willow Wren, Nedward and Boxer Joe

Prompt/Tag:

“nothing can hurt me now.”

“bro… that’s so… not cool…”

Summary: Willow takes out a ninth ex-Facility member and celebrates afterward to forget

Timeline: January 2016

Song: Paper Planes - MIA

A/N: thank you again to everyone who’s been leaving comments and kudos!!!!! <3

—————————————————————————–

Daniel Royer. He was the ninth ex-Facility member I took out. Or was it the tenth? I was losing count. He lived in a farmhouse in upstate New York. We fought. He got knocked out. Someone left the gas on his stove. The wind blew the wrong way. His house burned.

I decided to celebrate back at the base since I didn’t know how else I should feel. Mostly tired. Annoyed, at first. Daniel wasn’t able to give me anything useful.

On the roof, outside my tent, bundled up in my winter coat, I cranked the heater and opened up the flaps. Nedward and Boxer Joe seemed especially happy to see me, mostly because I brought snacks back from Daniel Royer’s house before it burned down. Music cranked and my cheap string lights flashing, I danced around the roof, sipping at what I think was rum, also from the house. It wasn’t very good, but it made me feel cool.

My phone buzzed and I saw texts from Peter and Ned, asking if I had done the homework for Spanish yet. I sighed and muted the conversation, not wanting to think about school. When I first moved to this rooftop, I thought of it was temporary, and then I thought of this mission to seek out HYDRA agents as only temporary. I had told myself that I would reconnect with my friends “when it was all over,” that I would get my grades up “when this is all over,” that I would clean up the trail of destruction I was leaving behind “when this is all over.” But as the weeks stretched into months, it started to feel normal. Go to school. Come home. Sleep. Work on my mission. Party with the rats. Go to school and repeat. Add a few detentions here and there, as well as some marathon homework sessions, and that was what my life had become.

“Nothing can hurt me now!” I exclaimed to Nedward and Boxer Joe that night, my eyes still glowing with images from the fire. “Look at me! Absolutely unstoppable!” It didn’t matter that the wind whipped around me or that my hands would not stop shaking, or that horrible images wouldn’t stop running through my head uninvited. It didn’t matter. I was winning. Whatever this was, I was winning.

My one-person dance party was interrupted as I saw Nedward chewing through the bag of carrots I had placed down to open for them. “Bro… that’s so… not cool…” I pulled the bag from his little hands and opened it up for him. “See?” I said. “Isn’t that easier?”

I sat down next to them and opened up my laptop, going back through Marty’s USB drive for what felt like the hundredth time. I had opened the willow folder, but it was fairly sparse, only containing a list of cities. Was he trying to figure out which city I was born in?

I had no clue myself, only vague memories from when I was living with my adoptive dads. It was near mountains, cold. The only time I left the fire station was when they took me skiing in the winter. We’d go at night, driving out in the late afternoon and arriving at sunset. The bulky snowsuit hid any chance of the wings being seen. I forgot how much I liked skiing. Back then, it was the closest I’d get to flying. I remember changing into pajamas on the ride home, late at night, and falling asleep to the same radio station. I used to be really happy. Before HYDRA, I was really happy.

The Lab Rats and I had run through all the possibilities for how we ended up mutants in the first place, even before Project Rebirth got off the ground or HYDRA tracked us down and experimented on us. We were okay not having answers for that. What always haunted me was the why. Why us? I could have been content living in the firehouse, skiing at night, watching people walk by on the street below, understanding that I could never be a part of that world, and being okay with it. Why did it have to be us?

[aka-willow]

Search

gif

Words: 731

Characters: Willow Wren, Marty Fields, Nedward and Boxer Joe

Prompt/Tag: “I was left alone for far too long, so, naturally this happened.” x / @ragnar-rockandroll​

Summary: Willow does some investigating for Jessica

Song: Kids in America – Kim Wilde

—————————————————————————–

Dateline, Friday night. Two in the morning.

Marty’s dad is out for the weekend and while Marty is out at a party with friends, I’m living out all my home alone dreams. By that, I mean Nedward and Boxer Joe are running around out of their cages, I have eighties pop blasting, and my work for Jessica covers nearly every surface of the kitchen. I’m hopped on a six-hour Dunkin’-fueled explosion of productivity. Wings out. Eyes bloodshot. Hair like a Who from Whoville.

“Okay, boys,” I say, looking down at the rats. I put on my best transatlantic accent. “What should we make of this?” I turn to the stuffed elephant I have propped up on the counter. “You, sir? What are your thoughts?”

Getting the reports that Jessica asked for was even easier than I thought. Turns out, communication between the precincts I phished is haphazard at best, and most of the time I put into spoofing emails and creating just the right header graphic was for nothing.

I had collected stories of odd “muggings,” where the victims found themselves handing over items because a man told them to, a break-in that wasn’t quite a break-in, strange encounters, and missing persons. It’s a lot to sort through, and I’ve already burned through two highlighters as I pull the most important pieces from each report.

This person was mugged by a woman. Not him. Suspect was Korean. Not him. Suspect had an Australian accent. I pause on this one before putting it into the “maybe” pile, even though I was almost positive that Kilgrave had a British accent. Us Americans are stupid like that.

I rub the sleep from my eyes and consult my “maybe” pile, narrowed down to seven suspicious cases. I’ll show these to Jessica tomorrow. I take these seven cases and pin them up on my map of NYC that I had stolen earlier in the day from a tourist trap. I can’t see any pattern between them, but I grab some glittery string that I bought earlier in the day and use it connect all the cases. Mostly because it feels like the right thing to do.

Even with the music blasting, I hear keys fumbling in the front door of the apartment, and I snap my wings in just as Marty stumbles inside.

“Jesus, what are you doing still up? What’s all of this?” Marty asks.

“I was left alone for far too long, so, naturally this happened,” I say, and turn down the music.

“What are you… this looks like some XFiles shit…” says Marty.

“Feels like it.”

“Wait, where did the elephant come from?” Marty asks. “Why do you have a stuffed elephant?” He laughs. “Is this like when we were kids and you’d put on a performance for all your stuffed animals and—”

“No,” I say. “It’s just here.”

He reaches out to pet it and I pull it away. “Don’t touch it,” I say, a little more snappish than I intend.

“Okay, jeez,” he says. “I’m going to bed. Definitely gonna be drunk still when I wake up. Bye.” He doesn’t make it to his room and falls onto the couch.

I’m still holding the elephant, and as I gather up Nedward and Boxer Joe for bed, I toss the stuffed animal back towards the backpack I arrived in New York City with. Stupid thing. I don’t know why I even still have it. Major league baby move.

I sweep up my notes and my new conspiracy board and stuck in into the tiny guest room that’s become my own. There’s a double-sized bed in the corner, and a desk right next to it. I lay all my files on my desk and sigh, loudly. Who am I kidding? None of these are probably Kilgrave. With all the stuff in the news about Hope Shlottman, I’m starting to have my own doubts about his existence.

I check the locks on the front door one more time.

Marty snores loudly from the living room and I shut my door before climbing into bed, extending my wings again and letting them wrap tightly around me underneath the covers. The stuffed elephant is still staring at me from the floor and after a few minutes of feeling guilty, I get up, plop him back on my bed, get cozy again, and finally go to sleep.

[aka-willow]

navigation

this is a blog for me to tag both canon and OC marvel characters and to use as a MCU writing reference!

I’m currently writing an MCU OC Story, which can be found here, and features the OC characters tagged below:

Canon Tags:

Peter Parker

Ned Leeds

Michelle Jones

Jessica Jones

Trish Walker

Kilgrave

Malcolm Ducasse

Jeri Hogarth

Natasha Romanoff

Wanda Maximoff

The Vision

Tony Stark

Steve Rogers

Bucky Barnes

Sam Wilson

Scott Lang

Clint Barton

James Rhodes

Thor Odinson

Bruce Banner

Sharon Carter

Phil Coulson

Nick Fury

OC Tags:

Willow Wren

Marty Fields

Kate Gray

Nedward and Boxer Joe

The Lab Rats

William and Edward

[aka-willow]

Tomorrow

gif

Words: 1370

Characters: Willow Wren, Natasha Romanoff, Wanda Maximoff

Summary: Willow arrives at the New Avengers Facility

Timeline: March 2016

Song: Let It Be - The Beatles

A/N: And we’re back! 

—————————————————————————–

The flight to the Avenger’s Compound was quick, and before I knew it, we were landing, just as the sun was setting behind the trees that lined the property. The whole placed glowed, lights flanked the outside of the facility and inside, through the massive glass windows, I saw figures moving around inside.

“Here we are,” Natasha said as the jet’s engine quieted. I waited in my seat, still unsure about the whole thing, trying to wrap my head around what was happening. There’s no way they know about everything I did. I shouldn’t be here. I don’t belong here. “Ready to go?” she asked.

“Uh… yeah…” I said, picking up my backpack and standing, stretching my legs. Nedward and Boxer Joe chirped and squeaked to themselves in their cage and I bent down and stuck my index finger through to pet them.

“Want a hand with them?” Wanda asked, standing behind me.

I shook my head and unlatched their cage from the floor. I can do it myself.

It was all so weird, I felt so weird, so out of place surrounded by the same heroes who, before this, I weren’t even sure were real. I had seen them on TV, on the news, in Sokovia, clips of the Congressional hearings, but now that I was here, among them, I didn’t know how to react to any of it. Maybe this is all a dream. What if I’m still at the lab? What if I never left the Facility? Who knows how much they messed with my head… and what if—

“Willow?” Wanda asked, cutting through my thoughts. The jet’s gangplank had lowered, and cool air blew in. “Ready?”

I picked up the cage and followed her and Natasha towards the compound, feeling self-conscious, almost sick with it, wishing I could bolt now and take to the sky. Run away again. Anywhere.

We cut across the grassy landscape and entered through a door on the side. It was so quiet compared to New York City, or even any of the labs. The only noise came from the quiet hum from the vents, and even that seemed like nothing compared to the way our footsteps echoed through the empty hallway.

“I’ll show Willow her room,” Natasha said, looking at Wanda. “I think the boys ordered food upstairs if you’re hungry?”

“Sounds great,” said Wanda. “I’ll see you two later.” She left down another corridor and I continued to follow Natasha through the Facility. It smelled like new construction, like the school did at the beginning of the year. We eventually arrived at a slightly smaller hallway, lined with doors and with a large window at the end of it. She stopped in front of one of the doors and opened it, a lock unclicking when her fingers contacted the handle.

“This is where you’ll be staying,” Natasha said. “This is your room.”

“My room?” I echoed as she flicked on the lights. “Like… this is…” Even at Marty’s, I never really felt like I had my own room, it was just the guest room. I was just a guest. The closer was used for his dad’s storage and I had never really decorated it or put up any posters. It had just been where I slept and kept my stuff. Now, I put the cage down, out of the way, in a corner near the window and slowly took in the space. The bed itself seemed bigger than my entire cell at the Facility, and the walls were lined with windows on their upper half. It was carpeted and the lights were soft, not like the florescent lights of any other room I stayed in before. There were drawers, empty shelves, a TV perched on a dresser.

“I get a TV?” I asked.

“Well… yeah,” said Natasha. “And anything else that you want, just let one of us know and we can get it for you. Bathroom is stocked with basic toiletries and there are clothes in the dressers. Mostly sweats and tee-shirts and training wear that we already had, but again, if there’s anything else…”

I place my backpack down on a chair and continue to stare, wordlessly.

“Thermostat is here, light controls are also here,” she said, pointing to a panel on the wall. “Stark also hooked up the building with one of his AIs, so if you need anything, you can also ask FRIDAY. So… for example… FRIDAY, lower the blinds.”

“Now lowering the blinds,” a voice said, emanating from an unseen speaker, causing me to almost jump out of my skin.

“So, this is yours,” said Natasha. “Is there anything you think you might need for later tonight that I could get you?”

“No. I-I think this is good.” I stepped over to the bed and pushed down on it, testing its firmness, and the mattress seemed to envelop my hand in the foam. Way cushier than anything I ever had before. I didn’t know what to do now, what to say, because I wanted to say thank you, but it was hard to even get the words out. That would mean accepting all of this. That would mean acknowledging that all this was mine and it was a concept so foreign now that I felt like I might be mistaken, like I might make the wrong assumption, that this was only another temporary stop.

“Are you all right?” Natasha asked, and I felt my cheeks redden.

“Yeah,” I said, sitting down on the bed. “Um… this is just… a lot.” I tried to put my feelings into words. “It’s… um… I just don’t feel like I…”

Natasha sat down on the bed next to me and as her weight shifted the mattress, I pulled myself further away. “What’s going on?” she asked. “I know you must have a million thoughts.”

“I just feel like… this is a mistake,” I finally said. “I don’t feel like I belong here. Because you guys are like… heroes… I mean I’ve seen you on TV and I’m… I’m just really messed up. I just don’t want to be a burden,” I blurted out. “And when I’m not that, I’m just an asset. Everywhere I go it’s the same. If I’m not a burden, I’m there because I’m useful.” I stared down at my almost-healed cut on my hands, but even now that the healing process was almost complete, the scars had stayed.

After a pause, Natasha spoke. “Well, you’re not a burden, and you’re not here because we’re putting you out in the field any time soon,” she said. “You’re here because you needed help, and we felt that we were the best people to help you.”

“But why?” I asked.

“Because we believe in second chances,” she answered. “And what you’re going through, what you’ve been through, that’s not something you should have to deal with alone.”

Okay. I wasn’t sure if I accepted the reasoning, but I was too exhausted and hungry to think otherwise.

“Okay,” said Natasha, getting up. “I have a few things I need to do, so why don’t you get cleaned up, settled in, and I’ll come back to get you in half an hour? Your room has its own bathroom, so you can shower, and change out of your SHIELD stuff if you want.”

“Okay,” I said. “And you’ll come back?”

“Yeah. I’ll be just down the hall if you need me before that. You can ask FRIDAY. All right?”

When she left, I took another lap around the room, studying everything, trying again to make sense out of it all. And what about tomorrow? And the day after that? We had only talked a little on the plane, and it sounded like SHIELD wanted me here for at least a few months, before settling me somewhere more permanent. So, I knew this wasn’t my new home, or anything like that. I knew that, and I knew that these people were only doing SHIELD a favor. Right? Because in a few months, once my powers were under control, I’d be turned out somewhere else, and we’d probably never talk again. That’s how it always ends. I can’t imagine it any other way.

[aka-willow]

Has Just Begun

gif

Words: 1061

Characters: Willow Wren, Gooblin

Prompt/Tag:

“I need a place to stay.”

“this is all a fucking disaster.”

Summary: Willow, now on the run, meets up with Gooblin

Timeline: February 2016

Song: Nice to Meet Me - Zack Hemsey

A/N: ...

—————————————————————————–

Without my phone, I had a much harder time navigating to Gooblin’s fire tower. I knew the general direction, and a few landmarks to guide to, but it was a crapshoot, especially when I was hiding in the clouds.

After about half an hour, it became apparent that I hadn’t been followed and I had lost whatever tail there was in the air. Didn’t mean that was it, though. I knew I had to get out of the sky soon and stop following the highway. I needed to disappear.

I landed as soon as I saw the woods and started walking. My fingers were itching to turn on my phone and pull up a map, but I was afraid they’d track it the minute it turned on. I thought about everything I had left behind at my base. My laptop. Marty’s drive. Nedward and Boxer Joe. Who’s going to take care of them now? The stupid stuffed elephant. I didn’t have much, but what I did have had been precious. All I had to my name now was a phone I couldn’t use, the sharpie still in my pocket, and the clothes I had fled with.

It hadn’t snowed in a while and I left no footprints as I went further and further into the wilderness. Is this really it? Am I really done? I can’t go back to NYC. I can’t contact anyone from there. What happens now? Because, beyond Dulce, New Mexico, I couldn’t see what my future was supposed to look like. I had wrecked everything to get this far. And there’s still work to be done.

I started recognizing landmarks, the way the hills curved, and the wide-open views up ahead. When I came to a clearing, I realized I had flown over it before. Gooblin’s fire tower couldn’t be much further. I trekked deeper and deeper until above the trees ahead, I saw the tower up on the hill. I ran for the tower, my movement catching Gooblin’s attention. She came out to stand on the deck and yelled down to me.

“Heckergal? What are you doing here?”

“Um… I need a place to stay. I can’t stay in the city anymore. They came looking for me.”

“Really?” Gooblin asked, and I was thankful that she was the most mellow of my siblings. “That’s crazy. Come on up.”

I took a few steps back, and instead of taking the stairs, got a running start and flew up to the deck, almost overshooting it. “Thanks,” I said, removing my hands from pockets and using them to warm my numb face. I hadn’t been able to grab my winter jacket when I was, so I was just in the jacket I used at school to hide the wings.

“You can come in,” said Gooblin, and she opened the tower door, letting a blast of warm air out.

“Oh, this is much better,” I said, and I sat down on the floor, exhausted.

“Who was it?” she asked.

“Um… SHIELD,” I said, still trying to process the other two people. “I got into a fight yesterday and accidentally used my powers. I didn’t think she knew, but now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure that hallway had cameras. It was stupid, and I wasn’t thinking. I should’ve have gone to school today.”

“Did they try to talk to you?” she asked. “Sabbath said they talked to her when they put her on the Index.”

“What’s the Index?” I asked. “And since when? How did they find her?”

“She said that SHIELD keeps a list of people with powers, that’s what the Index is. And they didn’t find her,” Gooblin said. “She contacted them. She said it was safer that way. It was at the beginning of December.”

“But she said she wouldn’t,” I said. “She said last time we met that she wouldn’t turn herself in.”

“She was lying, I think.”

“And she went and put herself on a list? And didn’t tell us?”

Gooblin was silent.

“Why would she do that?” I asked.

“She didn’t tell them about the… blue lab stuff… if that makes you feel better,” said Gooblin. “Just the vocal manipulation thing. Not the water thing.”

“This is all a fucking disaster,” I said.

Gooblin went outside for a little bit to enjoy the view and I continued to sit on the floor of the tower, uncapping the Sharpie and retracing Sumerkey on my upper arm, before going over to Gooblin’s computer set up. I rapped on the window. “Okay if I use this?” I asked, and she nodded.

I knew I couldn’t log into any of my accounts; I just needed maps—some sort of course of action towards Dulce, New Mexico. I had never traveled that far before. I didn’t know if I could make the whole flight, and if I could afford to be a fugitive, traveling across the United States with a target on my back. It’s too cold to fly. You’ll never make it—it would be at least a fourteen-hour flight. I started looking at bus websites, but everything to New Mexico seemed to depart from NYC, and I couldn’t afford to go back there.

Flights?

I scoffed at the irony.

I couldn’t drive and hitchhiking was out of the question.

Stowaway? Maybe on a semi? Risky. I sighed and started looking at the bus website again, beginning to plot connecting trips, until I landed on one that would take me from Albany to Colorado Springs. Close enough? It was a little more than a hundred dollars, and sure it would take forty-two hours, but it was the best I could do.

“What’s up?” Gooblin, asked coming back inside. She took a look at the screen. “Buses? To Colorado? What’s there?”

“Absolutely nothing,” I said. “I just need someplace to disappear.”

“What, my place isn’t good enough for you?” she laughed.

“No,” I sighed. “It’s not that. I just need to get as far away as possible right now.”

“Fine, whatever,” she said, but I knew she was joking. Thank God that out of everyone who has to hear about what happened, it was Gooblin. “Are you at least going to stay the night?”

I took another look at the list of departures from Albany. “Yeah, thanks.” Paused. “You don’t happen to have a hundred dollars, do you?”

[aka-willow]

Against The Tide

gif

Words: 1569

Characters: Willow Wren, Mr. Fields, Kate Gray, Annabel Carson

Prompt/Tag:

“and where do i go?”

“What did you expect? For everything to just go back to normal?”

“why didn’t you tell me?”

Summary: Marty’s funeral

Timeline: December 2015

Song: Boats Against the Current - Craig Armstrong

A/N: this shit HURTED

—————————————————————————–

Marty’s funeral was held on a Tuesday. It snowed.

I returned to school the Monday after it all happened, trying to regain some sense of normalcy, but when I walked in alone that morning, I had never heard the halls that quiet. The teachers offered sympathetic smiles as students walked by, but no one talked, no one joked around at the lockers, and people moved from one class to the next as if we were in a trance. The soccer teams had shown up with blue ribbons pinned to their shirts, and when the morning announcements came, the vice-principal’s voice cracked as she read the news.

People seemed almost afraid to talk to me or make eye contact as if any gesture would cause me to break down. I sat with my head down in most classes, staring at the floor, just trying to make it through one class at a time. None of the teachers said anything when I turned in worksheets blank, my name written at the top.

Kate was not at school, and she never returned any of my texts. I didn’t see her until the funeral.

On that Tuesday, school buses took us to the funeral, which was public. The wake was for family members only—and I wasn’t invited.

We packed into St. Giles, all the students standing in the back of the church. His dad spoke, and I saw his mom crying in the front row. I had stayed at Jessica’s since that night and had hardly talked to Marty’s dad, beyond when I stopped at the apartment before school Monday morning. Detectives had the place marked up and I had to be escorted to get my school binders and my rats. It seemed there was nothing to say, and when I went into the living room to find a book, there was still blood on the floor and tarps covering the windows. Marty’s dad had been staying at a hotel.

Girls in my class were passing around the little packages of tissues and when I got handed one, I looked up to see it was Annabel handing it to me. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face blotchy. I took the tissue, but I realized that as hard as I wanted to, I couldn’t cry. I didn’t cry at Marty’s funeral.

Kate was standing alone at the end when we were milling around waiting for the buses. She had sunglasses clipped to the front of her jacket and bags under her eyes.

“Kate?” I asked. “Hey, I was worried when I didn’t hear from you.”

She looked up at me but didn’t smile. “Hey, Willow.”

“How are you?” I asked. “They said you got a concussion, I’m so sorry—”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she interrupted.

“Tell you…”

“You know what,” she hissed, her eyes darting around to make sure no one was listening. “What I saw that night… I don’t even know… I don’t even know if I know who you are. I mean… I saw what you can do.”

“Then why did you lie to the detectives? We should talk—”

“No, no, I don’t think… I don’t want to.” Kate said, and the tone of her voice made me sick. “I can’t do this.”

“Well, maybe we can hang once you’re feeling better and—”

“No,” she said firmly, and a few people turned around to look at us. “What did you expect? For everything to just go back to normal? I’m sorry, Willow. But I just can’t… I’m scared,” she said, her voice cracking. “So, please, just stay the fuck away from me.”

“You know me,” I said again.

“Do I?” She leaned in. “You know what I saw on his killer’s jacket? A fucking HYDRA patch. I’m not stupid, Willow. Marty sure as hell wasn’t involved with that shit, and what I saw you do?”

“I’m not HYDRA, if that’s what you think,” I said, my mind racing as I took in this new information.

“No,” Kate said quietly. “But it wasn’t that person that gave me this concussion. It was you.” She checked her phone. “I gotta go.”

“Kate!” She ignored me, walking away over the frozen ground, to a car waiting outside the church. “Kate!” I called again, and she turned around once more, shaking her head, before getting into the car. I sat down on the steps of the church, searching the crowd for Peter or Ned, but I thought better of it and instead of getting back on the bus, I left the church and walked for blocks and blocks, only stopping when it began to get dark.

I thought about what Kate had said and now it seemed to confirm what I had been told all along. They will never understand your abilities. Everywhere you go, chaos will follow. They were right. This is your fault. I went back to the apartment to grab a few things and tried to get a hold on things, continuing to text the Lab Rats as we scrambled to organize a meetup.

When I stepped inside, the lights were on, and Marty’s dad was sitting at the kitchen counter surveying the damage. It was freezing inside, and he was still wearing his winter coat.

“Hi Mr. Fields,” I said, quietly. He sighed and turned to look at me.

“I want you out by tomorrow morning.”

“Out… like back at Jessica’s?” I asked.

“Out,” he said, his voice raised. “I want you out of this apartment. Take your shit and get out.”

“And where do I go? I don’t have anywhere to—”

“I don’t care where you go!” he yelled. “I want you gone. Do you understand? My son is dead, my place is destroyed, and I should never have taken you in.” He took a sip of his drink. “Fucking Jeri.”

“I don’t have anywhere to go!”

“I DON’T CARE!” He turned away and looked back into the living room, where shards of glass still littered the floor. “My son is dead. Do you understand that?”

I rushed past him, into the guest bedroom and locked the door behind me. I could feel myself shaking and a breeze passed around the room as I grabbed my hands. Don’t lose it. Not now. I looked around the room, the first place I had been able to call home since I was six. At the pictures taped to the walls, the silly drawings Marty had made for me, the tech that Peter and I collected over the summer.

With a shuddering sigh, I dumped my backpack out onto the bed, surveying its contents, sorting through what I wanted to take with me. I don’t even know where I’m going yet. I didn’t want to go back to Jessica’s, I didn’t want to talk to Peter and Ned. I wanted to be alone. I had to be alone.

I sorted through my clothes, stuffed them into a trash bag, and packed the rest of my belongings back into my backpack. Stuffed elephant. Photos and drawings in a Ziploc bag. Laptop. The Shrek umbrella that Kate got me last Christmas. The binoculars from Jess. I found the flash drive from the night before and plugged it into my computer, planning to use it for back up.

However, when I opened up the drive, there was already a file on there. It was a giant text file, but when I opened it, there were only a few paragraphs written:

willow– i hid this in your bathroom drawer since you’ve never clean it and I don’t think anyone will find it. if you’re seeing this, you can just give it back to me. unless something happened to me.

if something happened to me, you should extract the files hidden in this notepad. the password is based on a book recommendation I gave you. no spaces, all lowercase. once you unzip it, it’s pretty self-explanatory.

ok now if you’re still reading this come bail me out of jail or whatever. use the shitton of cash i’ve been stealing from my dad and that’s in a bean can in the ceiling above the toilet. i was saving it for weed but whatvers. thx. xoxo MARTYY

I reread the last line several times over, trying not to let my heart break. xoxo MARTYY.

My heart pounding, I opened up WinRar and tried to extract the file, but I had no idea what the password would be. Book recommendation? When? I heard the apartment door shut and receding footsteps down the hall and I jumped off the bed and went into the bathroom while Marty’s dad was out of the apartment. I grabbed my toiletries and then I put the lid down on the toilet and stood on top of it, pushing the ceiling tile in and searching the space around the hole. My hand closed on a metal can and I pulled it down as dust fell into my face.

It was filled with cash.

Not wanting to see Marty’s dad anymore, I went back to the guest room and finished packing, tucking the drive and can into my backpack and slinging the trashbag of clothes over my shoulder. I surveyed the now-empty room and sighed. I would be going back to Jessica’s to get Nedward and Boxer Joe. And then I’d be leaving there, too. This part of my life was over.

[aka-willow]

I Will Not Fear

gif

Words: 595

Characters: Willow Wren, Trish Walker

Prompt/Tag: “I haven’t slept in ages.” x  / @anti-solidcoffee​

Summary: Willow tries to get some much-needed rest after the Kilgrave incident

Timeline: April 2015

Song: Paris (Refuge) – All Sons & Daughters

A/N: I now am trying to find gifs to go with these because I’m an extra bitch

—————————————————————————–

I thought I could avoid going to the doctor, but Trish insisted on having me seen by one. I ended up being stuck in a clinic waiting room for hours while Trish took Kilgrave’s dad to his motel room. I tried not to think about health insurance or whatever—especially since according to the government, I don’t actually exist.

I should really do something about that at some point.

The nurses gave me a cast I didn’t really need and said I was ready to be discharged late that night—but then wouldn’t discharge me without an adult present. Marty and his dad were on a vacation for spring break, I didn’t want to see Hogarth any time soon, and so I called Trish again. I just want to go to sleep. I haven’t slept in ages.

She dropped me off at their apartment complex and I climbed out of the car, staring up at the dark building.

“Thanks,” I said. “See ya.”

Trish rolled down the passenger window and leaned over. “Willow? Are you going to be all right? What happened today… I mean… it was a lot. For anyone.”

“Yeah,” I said. “No, I’ll be good.”

“You have someone to talk to?”

I paused. “Well, I mean, I have Nedward and Boxer Joe, so.”

“Who?”

“My rats,” I said.

Trish glanced up at the tower. “No one’s home, are they.”

“Well, no,” I said. “I mean, Marty and his dad went away for our April vacation, but I wasn’t… like… invited? Because, you know, I just live here or whatever so. But yeah, I’m just gonna probably make some cereal and watch tv or something—like go to sleep with that on—I’ll be fine.”

Trish sighed. “Willow, do you want to crash at my place while they’re gone? You shouldn’t have to be alone.”

“No, no, I’m fine,” I said. “I have my toothbrush and pajamas and stuff here, it’s just easier.”

“You could take those with you, you know. It’s safer,” she said. “No one’s getting in.”

So, that’s how I ended up crashing on Jessica’s sister’s couch for the night.

“Let me know if you need any extra blankets or anything,” she said, tossing a few at the end of the couch. “Make yourself at home. I’m going to be up for a little bit longer but I promise I’ll be quiet. Okay?”

I stood next to the couch, watching as she walked over to the counter to pour herself some water. “You want some?” she asked.

I shook my head. My wings were aching and needed to be stretched, unfolded like they normally were when I slept.

“Everything okay?” Trish asked.

“Yeah,” I said, sitting down on the couch. “It’s just... uh... I usually open my wings out when I sleep? And I just don’t want you to freak out or scream or anything. Uh...”

“I’m not going to scream,” said Trish. “Trust me, that’s the last thing to faze me these days.”

For once, I managed to sleep through the night.

I even ended up staying over the next day as well while Trish ran errands. When I got bored, I started listing all the different places I had slept overnight since running away from the Facility. Church. Park bench. Train. Marty’s apartment. Jessica’s floor. Sleepover at Kate’s. That really comfy chair at Peter’s place. In a random warehouse. Trish’s couch.

I really need to get my life in order.

The day took a turn for the weird when I, browsing through my access point to police files that I had gotten weeks ago, found out that there was a fire at the warehouse—the same one we had been at. Okay, that has to be related to us, right?

I searched more, browsing through files and Googling unfamiliar terminology.

Body found. Shot. Police-issued bullet.

Well, that’s definitely not good.

I texted the information to Jessica, just in case. At least I can still be a little helpful.

I got bored on the second day, and almost texted Peter and Ned, but then I remembered that my arm was still broken, and they would ask questions and I didn’t have time for that. So, we settled on online gaming together; I told them I was sick and couldn’t hang out. I flew when it got dark, above the storm clouds that had gathered. Finally, I returned back to Trish’s apartment, landing on the ledge and trying to decide what I needed to do next.

[aka-willow]

Only Once

Words: 662

Characters: Willow Wren, Marty Fields

Summary: Willow goes on a joyride

Song: Take Me To Church, Live In America - Hozier

—————————————————————————–

“Where have you been?” Marty asked me. “You’re soaked to the bone.”

I stood in the doorway of the apartment, dripping all over the tiled floor. “I was out. Got caught in the snowstorm.” I was grinning.

“Don’t get too much water inside,” said Marty. “My dad’s coming home for the game tonight.”

“Awesome,” I said sarcastically. “Don’t make this weird.” I took off my coat and let my wings stretch, all several meters of leathery glory. I shook them a little, letting the melted snow fall off, while Marty’s mouth hung open.

“They’re wet, too,” he said.

“Uh… yeah?”

“Willow, were you flying?”

“I need to shower,” I said. “Changed out of these clothes.” I brush past him and head down the hallway. My heart is still pounding.

“Were you flying?” Marty asked again. “I thought you couldn’t—or uh—wouldn’t? Did you?”

 It wasn’t something I planned, but it rather just happened, because I missed the sky. I had stolen another rat, the other one that Mr. Harrington kept in his classroom. I realized Nedward needed a friend—rats get lonely on their own—and it needed to be a rat of the same sex. That’s how I ended up with Boxer Joe in my pocket, and on the run from a weekend janitor who heard me sneaking around the lab.

I got to the roof just as flakes began to fall and when I looked up at the sky, I knew what needed to happen. If I wanted to get away with Boxer Joe, I needed to reclaim the sky. I wasn’t going to let the Facility take away the one thing I actually enjoyed in all my years there.

People don’t realize how laborious flying is. How exhausting it is. And what it feels like to be one with the elements. I zipped Boxer Joe into my backpack, stuffed my coat in there with him, and started running for the edge of the roof, unfolding my wings from underneath my tank top, letting them stretch through the wide arm holes I had cut into the tank, just in case. Here they are, out in the open. One. Two. Three.

Three flaps were all it took, and I was propelled up and forward, leaping into the gusts of wind as the storm front moved in. My hair whipped around my face and I struggled to hold my altitude. I’m too close to the ground, I thought. People will see me. Get out of here!

With a few more long, heavy flaps, I cleared the buildings surrounding Midtown High, and suddenly, the sky was mine.

It had been so long, since coming to New York, that I had flown and I forgot how sweet the cold air was as I shot forward and the wind pummeled my face. I glided higher and higher, streaking through the snow, up into the dark clouds where I could no longer be seen. Let’s see Dr. Turner do this!

I steadied my course with my arms, letting them hang parallel to the wings and screamed as loud as I could, soaring for the first time in a long time. This is where I’m meant to be, I thought. This is what you were made for.

 “Holy shit,” said Marty. “You did it! You actually did it!”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” I said, toweling out my hair.

“It’s a huge deal,” said Marty. “You’re like an Avenger or something! My roommate is finally using her powers!”

I snorted. “Nowhere close.”

“Flight,” said Marty, ticking off on his fingers. “Super hearing. I know you can fight.”

“Add fast healing to that and you got ‘em all,” I said.

“I didn’t know about that one!”

“Dude, it’s not a huge deal,” I said. “I just went on a little snowy-day joy ride. That’s all. It’s not going to be a regular thing.” I let Boxer Joe out of my backpack, and Marty yelped at the sight of him. “It was just a one-time thing.”

[emcon-ocs]

BOOH release tonight to be delayed due to the appearance of one of Nedward and Boxer Joe’s friends in my apartment

[aka-willow]

Revealed

gif mine

Words: 1111

Characters: Willow Wren, Tony Stark

Summary: Willow makes a rash decision

Timeline: June 2016

Song: Revealed - Henry Jackman 

A/N: I swear I have a ton of chapters written, I’m just waiting until I hit certain checkpoints to post so I make sure contingency and everything is a thing

—————————————————————————–

Even flying didn’t help me feel better, as I soared above the grounds of the New Avengers Facility and tried to stave off my nervous energy. What I need to do is get over to Europe. I need to know what’s going on and I can’t wait here for them to come for me. HYDRA or the government. Except I have no way of getting there undetected and I need at least a day’s head start before anyone notices I’m gone.

Because if I’m caught this time, I’ll really be fucked.

I knew I wasn’t thinking with my head, that my idea to leave the compound and try to go overseas would ruin any progress I had made in working with SHIELD to assure them I wasn’t a threat. It didn’t matter. The alternative was worse. If any of the Lab Rats somehow got sucked into this, or if HYDRA’s planning something… I need to help. None of them know that part of HYDRA like I do.

I could almost hear Natasha’s voice in my head, lecturing me about not planning ahead, only looking towards the next step. What will you do when you get to Europe? Are you ready to be a fugitive again? And what will you actually do in terms of HYDRA?

“I’ll find out what facility he came from,” I said to myself, my voice drowned out by the wind. “Try to get in contact with the Lab Rats again. Go from there.”

As I flew back over the compound, breaking over a cloud, I saw movement on the grass down below and narrowed my eyes as I tried to figure out who it was. Tony? That’s the only person that could be.

I angled my wings and shot downward, wondering where he was going, until my gaze found the Quinjets on the other side of the grounds. As I got closer to the ground, I saw that Tony was on the phone, back to the hangar and at a few hundred feet, just high enough to stay unnoticed, I caught bits and pieces of his conversation.

“I’ll be there as soon as possible. Of course not. I already sent Rhodey over.”

Europe. He’s going over there to deal with this.

It was like a lightbulb went off in my head, and I shot towards the hangar, aiming for the Quinjet already on the tarmac, gangplank already lowered. Still got it.

I was only wearing my training windbreaker, no change of clothes packed, no supplies, Nedward and Boxer Joe still in their enclosure in my room. Wanda will take care of them. I’ll get supplies when I get there. I’ll be homeless again. I’ve done it before. I had no memory of what it was like in Europe, even if my HYDRA files reported that I had been there before, and while I was nervous, I was also brimming with excitement.

My feet hit the tarmac and I jogged over to the jet as I dispelled the momentum, looking back to see Stark still on the phone, turned the opposite way. With a final sigh, I climbed up the gangplank, my stomach flip-flopping as I realized there was no going back from here. My heart hurt as I thought of everything I was leaving behind, not just the security of living at the compound, but the people, the rhythm. I realized that Marty’s flash drive was still in my room, along with my few possessions: the stuffed elephant, the pictures, the binoculars from Jessica. I’ll have to leave those, too. I don’t have time to get those.

Inside the quinjet, I spied a row of storage cabinets and I hoisted myself up, climbing in and shutting the door, sealing myself in the dark. I pulled my legs and wings in close to my body and powered down the iPod touch still in my pocket so that my location wouldn’t be tracked. Maybe I should ditch it outside. Do I have time before Tony gets on?

Just as I placed my hand on the cabinet door, I heard footsteps on the gangplank. “Engage takeoff protocol,” I heard Tony say, the words coming out like a sigh as he took a seat. I forgot how much I hate tight spaces. And the dark. This is going to be a long flight.

I felt the ship rise, my ears popping, as the engines began to hum and the ship accelerated, I was pressed back against the side of the cabinet. I stuck out my legs to brace myself and within minutes they were aching from the constant tension. My wings didn’t seem to like our accommodations either and a steady soreness radiated out from my shoulder blades. It’s just for a few hours. And then you’re home free.

Tony was quiet in the cockpit for a while and I wondered what he was thinking about. Eventually, he started talking to FRIDAY, asking for more details and updates on the bombing, and I caught that they had located Bucky over in Romania. Located… that means they’re going to bring him in. Let’s see what else Tony knows.

I shut my eyes and tried not to think about the road ahead as Tony continued to talk to FRIDAY. The minutes passed, and soon it had been a few hours in the dark. I got comfortable the best I could and thought about sleeping, but I was too wired.

“Arrival to Berlin in thirty minutes,” FRIDAY announced, and I shook out my fatigue. It would be time to go soon.

“FRIDAY, status report on the compound?”

“Readings all normal. No security changes. Ms. Maximoff is currently in the lounge with Vision.”

“And the kid?”

I bolted up, nearly banging my head on the top of the cabinet.

“Ms. Wren cannot be located in the compound.”

“Sorry, come again?” Tony said, and I heard the pilot chair creak. “Then where is she? Check security footage and scan the airspace.”

“Ms. Wren was last seen at twelve-thirty-one local time on camera ninety-two.”

“Camera ninety-two…” Tony muttered. “That’s the one on the west side of the hangar?”

“Yes.”

“Shit.”

The chair creaked again and there were footsteps against the metal flooring of the jet. I pressed myself against the back of the cabinet, praying that I wouldn’t be found. I’m so close. Thirty minutes more. That’s all that I need. I can fly out of Berlin on my own. I can run. I can—

The cabinet door suddenly snapped open and I shielded my eyes from the light as Tony’s peeved face filled my field of vision.

“Hi,” I said.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

[aka-willow]

Finding Peace

gif

Words: 756

Characters: Willow Wren, Steve Rogers

Summary: Steve talks to Willow after her fight with Vision

Timeline: April 2016

Song: Praying - Kesha

A/N: it’s a baby chapter. also, does anyone actually read these? idk but here :)

—————————————————————————–

I paced around my room, muttering to myself, to Nedward and Boxer Joe, eventually sitting on the floor with my back against the bed, hitting my head against the mattress over and over as I tried to figure out what happened now. They didn’t tell me. What else aren’t they telling me? They’re probably right. I don’t deserve to know some things, but they could’ve at least been honest. How am I supposed to feel safe?

There was a knock on my door, and I lifted my head off my bed. At first, I thought it was Vision, but if it was him, he would’ve come through the wall. “Who is it?” I asked.

“It’s Steve, mind if I come in?”

When I didn’t respond, he opened the door a crack and leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed as he peered on in. “I heard you were upset with Vision.”

“Did he tell you?” I asked miserably.

“Look, I should’ve told you about where Doctor Turner was. That’s on me.” He walked over and sat down on the floor next to me and I stared at Nedward and Boxer Joe instead of making eye contact. “We thought that by not telling you…”

“You thought I’d try to go after her,” I finished. “That’s what Vision said. You were protecting her.”

“We were protecting you,” Steve said. “You deserve to be free from all that.”

“It’s because of what I’ve done,” I said. “What I am. I heard what Tony said. He’s right, isn’t he? Because no matter how hard I try, I can’t get them out of my head.”

“What you did, what they made you do, that wasn’t you,” Steve said, his voice soft. “You know that, right?”

“Still did it,” I said. “Still happened.” I tried to fake a smile, but it ended up as a shaky frown. Truth was, I still didn’t know how to be free from all that. I thought I was, I thought I was safe, but that didn’t stop the nightmares or the flashbacks, the little things that would set me off: someone accidentally touching my wings, the tiny static shock when I touched my doorknob, phrases, smells, sounds. I missed when I was back in eighth grade, recently escaped, with no memories of what happened before. I knew it had been bad, and that was all. I had no idea of what I had done. I could just focus on getting better without guilt.

All of that was finally boiling over.

“What are you thinking about?” Steve asked.

“Everything,” I said. “What if she escapes? Then what? What if she finds me?”

He sighed. “You know, when we brought you here, we had talks with lots of people. SHIELD, mostly. About whether it was safe to have a former HYDRA asset in the compound and about what was most beneficial for you. We kept your case internal, along with all your files. No one knows you exist here outside SHIELD and us. And with SHIELD, it’s high-level information. Very few people know.”

“What if… the words are still out there. I had been gone for a year and she said those words and all of the sudden… it was like nothing changed.”

“But you figured out how to break it,” Steve said. “If you did it before, if somehow someone who knew the words before the book burned found you, you could do it again. SHIELD considered this as well. This decision wasn’t taken lightly.”

“Tony seemed to disagree.”

“He didn’t know the full context,” said Steve. “You belong here, kid. Even Nat says you’re doing well, and believe me, she wouldn’t say it if she didn’t mean it. And someday, when SHIELD clears you to leave, if you chose to go back to New York to finish up school, you’re always going to have us. We’re not going anywhere.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Really,” Steve said. He checked the time. “All right, we have a meeting in a few minutes in the conference room. Do you want to sit in?”

“You’d let me?”

“Sure.” He stood and offered his hand to help me up, as I realized that in our conversation, I had stopped thinking about Doctor Turner. I didn’t feel the same burning anger to go find her now. Wherever she is now, I can’t care anymore. She’s not hurting people anymore. That’s what counts. That’s what you wanted to stop. I’m done worrying about her. This isn’t forgiveness, but I want to be at peace.

[aka-willow]

Hydra

gif

Words: 1559

Characters: Willow Wren, Dr. Dawn Turner, Laura Grace Ferguson

Prompt/Tag:

“We have to look out for each other.”

“quiet. they can hear us.”

Summary: Dr. Dawn Turner runs tests on Willow to figure out her progress since the Facility

Timeline: March 2016

Song: Hydra - Henry Jackman

A/N: thanks for reading - as always! ily guys

—————————————————————————–

Back in the cell. Couldn’t think properly. It was like I was processing everything through a wave of television static. I watched the scientists through the window, but nothing made sense to me. I paced, until I was too tired and hungry to pace, and sat up against the wall near the door. I knocked on the concrete wall and wondered what was on the other side as I shut my eyes.

“Hello? Are you awake?”

I opened my eyes again and looked around the cell. There was no one else there and I put my ear against the wall to see if I could hear the voice again. It sounded tiny. “Who’s there? Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m Laura Ferguson,” said the voice on the other side of the wall. “Who are you? And quiet. They can hear us.”

I’m October. No, that’s not right. I’m… “Willow,” I said slowly, the name sounding so unfamiliar in this space. “Wren.”

“What’s your middle name? Mine’s Grace.”

“I don’t have one,” I said, wishing I could see who this was. It sounded like a child.

“You can share mine if you’d like,” Laura said. “So, you can be Willow Grace Wren.”

I nodded my head, even though she couldn’t see me. Yeah, if I remember that when I get out of here. If I get out of here. “How old are you?” I asked. “How did you end up here?”

“I’m seven and a half,” she said, and I felt a new level of despair I didn’t know was there. “My parents said it’s for work. My dad says that if I do good, he’ll let me get an Xbox. Did your parents send you here too?”

“No.”

“Oh. Why are you here?”

“It’s a long story. Are you okay? Are you hurt?” God, this poor kid. She’s not going to get out of here. That’s not how HYDRA works. Neither of us are getting out of here unless we have some miracle.

“My tummy hurts,” Laura said. “And my head. I threw up earlier.”

Not good. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you okay?” she asked, and I heard the genuine concern in her voice. “We have to look out for each other.”

“Yeah I’m fine.” I struggled to concentrate. What are they doing with Laura here? Is she like me? Like my siblings? Or just some kid with really sucky parents? “Um Laura, do you have powers? I mean, can you do things other people can’t do?”

“I can fold my tongue up into a taco,” she bragged. “I’m the only person in my class who can do that.”

“That’s neat. Uh… I meant more like… you know Captain America? Like him.”

“Oh. No. But I want to.”

Esh. No you don’t, Laura. Please… just leave her alone.

I heard motion outside the door, and I stopped talking as I moved away from the wall and back towards the cot, as far away from the door as possible. One of the guards, armed, entered, and motioned for me to stand up. I couldn’t use my powers, I didn’t have the energy to fight back, and the effect of the words they continued to repeat to me was really starting to take hold now. I felt like I did back at the Facility, like a robot, just going through the motions until the next assignment.

He walked me down a series of halls before we stopped in front of the door and he opened it with a keycard before pushing me inside. Dr. Turner was already in there, sitting at the table inside, and I was handcuffed to the chair across from her. I didn’t resist the restraints this time and she smiled as she opened up her laptop. “How are you adjusting to being home?” she asked.

“I’m hungry,” I whispered, one of the only things I could concretely think about.

“You can eat when we say so. You don’t need to eat now.”

“But I’m hungry.”

“You’re fine, October,” she said, and that ended that conversation. “Otherwise, how are you feeling? Any anxiety… stress?”

“What do you think?”

She paused before making a note. “You know what I’m going to tell you, don’t you?” Don’t say it. “Take a deep breath,” she said, and she took one herself to demonstrate. “Clear your mind.” She clicked her tongue. “Still, I’ll have them give you something for that.”

I looked away from her and back at the door, trying desperately to imagine myself anywhere but here.

“Look at me,” Dr. Turner said, and I turned back. “I want to ask about the others. After a period of… chaos… we are finally equipped to bring the rest of you back in. You’re going to help us do that. Do you know where any of them went?”

I didn’t answer and tried to stare at the wall behind her instead.

“Do you know where any of them went?” she repeated, louder this time.

I knew that if I talked, I would tell her. I couldn’t help it. It was like I wanted to—like with Kilgrave and the Facility before that all over again. It’s like I’m back to where I started.

When I didn’t answer again, she stood and hit me across the face. Hard. I didn’t react to that either.

“The only reason we haven’t reset you is because you may have valuable information,” said Dr. Turner, pacing. “If you don’t give us that, then we’ll just go ahead with the reset.” Reset. The Faustus stuff only worked a little on enhanced individuals—we still had some sense of self. A reset was the total wipe. There was no coming back from that, and if the Monster book were used as well, that would be it. I would lose whatever bit of me was still left.

“I don’t know about the others,” I whispered. “Maybe if you just give me time to think…”

“We’ll reset tomorrow night.” I stared at the floor and I heard her shoes click across the floor as she walked towards the door, knocking on it. When I peered out, I saw several more armed guards waiting outside. “You can take her to the lab now,” she said. “I’m interested to see how she reacts to some of the new stuff we have in development.” She let one of the other scientists in past her and I watched as he uncapped a needle.

“We need to update our other samples,” she said to him, speaking over her shoulder. “Now that she’s in better shape, I have a list of biopsies I want done.”

He prepped my arm for the needle. “And that’s being done right now too?”

“Yes,” she said, just as I felt the pinprick and my eyelids began to shut again. “Let me know if there are any problems.”

I didn’t wake up until hours later, back in the cell, lying on the cot. My whole body was sore and went I sit up, I find various bandages taped down over my body. Even my wings hurt, and I lifted up the back of my shirt to let them out, even though the space was too small for them to fully expand. They were fine, but I noticed a neat line of stitches on my right one, and the ligaments themselves seem to ache. What time is it? How much time has passed? I looked up at the camera in the corner of the cell and watched the red light blink on and off. In the other corner, I saw a tray with remnants of food on it. Oh. So, I did eat at some point between the lab and waking up now. How much have I already forgotten?

I dragged myself over to the wall I shared with Laura. “Hi Laura. You awake?”

It took a moment, but she responded. “Yeah.”

“Doing okay?”

“I’m okay. Just tired. They’re doing a test soon I think. In the morning.”

I didn’t have anything else to say to her and I watched as the scientists in the lab began to clear out for the night. It had to be late, possibly even early morning at this point. How did I escape last time? It was luck, really.

The lights were dimmed, and I brought myself back over to the cot, wondering if I should try and sleep, if I could ever bring myself to sleep. Back when I was sleeping on the rooftop, so long ago, I had always been afraid to sleep, always half-dozing off, my ears always listening for trouble.

But now, I couldn’t even bring myself to do that, not unless they made me.

I laid my hand over the side and my finger caught something underneath it. I peered underneath and saw a wire poking out from the thin mattress. I looked back up at the camera and then slowly extended my hand towards the wire and let it cut into the palm of my hand. Methodically, I scratched in the one word I could remember, still at the forefront of my mind. Sumerkey.

Willow. I’m fourteen years old. I’ve been here… for three days. Maybe four. Laura is the girl next door to me and her middle name is Grace. I used to sleep with a stuffed elephant. I had two rats named Nedward and… Boxer Joe.

When I finished, I pulled my hand out and saw the word in bloody lettering across my palm. I used the scratchy blanket on the cot to stop the bleeding and I hoped that I’d remember tomorrow.