Steve made a light line on the paper before glancing up to quickly check something before returning his attention to the paper and making a few more marks. It was the same rutine he'd been doing for the past hour as he sketched the scene before him. How many times had he drawn this place? There was likely at least one sketch of it in each book he'd ever gone through, but he really didn't care. He loved this place. It made him feel like he was back home. One of the few places technology had yet to touch.
He sighed contently as he looked around, remembering when he used to play there with his mother. The memories were so vivid he swore he could see her walking across the bridge.. Wait.. That wasn't his mother.. His eyebrows knit themselves together as he watched the woman making her way across the bridge, toward him. The skirt of her fourties era dress getting caught in the light breeze. Who was she? For the life of him, he couldn't recall her face or name. Yet there she was, clear as day. Her black hair tied up under her pillbox hat, short, white gloves on her dainty hands that clutched a book to her chest.
He looked away as she drew nearer, glancing at him, catching him staring. He couldn't help himself, he chanced another look at her, a blush creeping onto his cheeks as she gave him a smile that he shyly returned. "Good evening, Sir. Mind if I join you?" Her green eyes sparkled beautifully as he nodded and gestured to the empy spot on the bench, "Yes, of course. Please."
He tried to go back to his drawing, but found his eyes drifting to the young lady next to him instead. He forced his eyes to behave and concentrated on the scene and paper infront of him. She wasn't staring at him. That was his immagination. Wishful thinking! He chanced another look her way and his eyes widend when they fell on her book. He quickly looked up to her face and she gave him a shy smile, "You don't mind, do you?" His brain was trying to shut down but he forced it to keep going, if for just a few more moments. "N-No! I.. Don't mind at all.. heh.. Just.. Wasn't expecting to meet a fellow artist today." He laughed nerviously as he glanced back at her picture. She was drawing him while he drew.
"I just prefer drawing living subjects rather than.. Y'know.." She gave him another shy smile before offering her hand, "I'm Candy.. Dr. Banner's niece." He froze mid-hand shake.. This wasn't a dream or memory? Her laugh pulled him back, "You're Steve Rogers, right? My uncle has told me a lot about you and the other Avengers." He gave a nervious laugh, "Oh.. Um.. Pleasure, mam. Good things, I hope? Um.. What's- May I ask.. um.." He stumbled over his toung as her smile widend.
"Why I'm dressed like this?" He nodded and she shrugged, "Just felt like it. No one can ever predict what I'll wear on any given day. Could be modern cloths, a Victorian ball gown, kimono.. This.." He laughed with her. What a strange lady. They went back to their drawings for a while, until the sun started setting. He didn't want to leave her out here all alone. "Can I walk you to your car or do you need a ride home?" She had just closed her sketchbook and started to get up, "That would be lovely. Thank you." He gave her a smile as he offered her his arm and walked her back to the parking lot, not really sure which it was she'd agreed to.
The walk to the car, it was. He whistled in admiration as he looked the machine over. A deep red 1930 Model-A with a leather trunk strapped to the back. She giggled at his reaction, "It was Daddies'.. I helped him restore it a few years ago." He was in love. She was beautiful, sweet, old-fashioned, an artist and knew how to work on cars. He opend the door for her and let her in. "Wow, just as much the gentleman my uncle said you were." He was going to have to thank the doctor for speaking so highly of him when he got back home. "Would you mind too terribly much if I follow you? I'm not from here.. I kind of stopped here on my way to see Uncle Bruce when I got lost." She admitted with a nervious laugh.
He gave her a bright smile, "Of course! No problem, miss." He closed the door for her and hopped on his bike before leading the way back to Stark Tower. Tony had insisted they all move in after Loki's little tantrum and they were all still geting settled in. He came here to get away from unpacking for a bit. It didn't take long for them to reach the tower and they pulled into the garage, parking their vehicles with Stark's insaine collection. Seriously? How many cars did one guy need?
"Who's the lady friend, Steve?" Tony greeted them with a suggestive hint in his voice that made him blush and stammer a bit as she gave an amused smile behind him. Everyone was stareing at him as Bruce walked in and she ran over to give him a hug, "Uncle Bruce!" Steve let out a sigh of relief while everyone turned their attention to the good doctor. Tony's eyebrows were trying to blend with his hairline, "Uncle? Um.. Brucey? You forget to tell us something?"
Bruce lauhed at the looks as he held the girl in his arms, "Sorry, I meant to ask earlier. She's between jobs and got kicked out of her appartment and doesn't have anywhere else to go. I was hoping you wouldn't mind her staying here for a bit until she can get another place. I mean, I don't mind if she stays in my room or anything." Of course Tony would say yes. He couldn't refuse a friend and most certianly not a friend's pretty, helpless niece. "Yea, sure. Why not? Go show her to a room and Capsicle and I will go get her things."
Steve was not happy with him for using that nickname infront of her, but led him down to her car anyway. "Oh my God! What did she pack in here? Bricks? Jarvis! Send Point Break down here, will ya?" There were four suitcases. Each one weighed a ton. Or so Tony swore. Steve handled one in each hand with little effort, but Tony could barely lift one! Thor was down in a matter of moments to happily lend a hand. He took both of the suitcases with ease while Tony decided to just close the car door and call it a day. He stoped when he noticed something else in the seat. "Hey.. What are we supposed to do with this? Leave it or what?"
The others looked back to see what he was talking about and saw a miniature, topless version of the Model-A sitting in the back seat. They decided to leave it for now. It wasn't essential. She could get it in the morning if she wanted the pedal car. Tony took a detour to pick up the pizza at the door while the soldier and god took the luggage up. Hey! He wasn't totally useless on this little trip! "Dinner is here! Come and get it!" He said happily as he left the elevator. Steve was just coming out of te hallway from taking the luggage to Candy's new room and was about to go back to let her know that food was there when Bruce stopped him.
"Don't worry about her. She has a condition where she can only eat certian things at specific times." He looked a little concerned at that, "Oh.. What kind of condition? If you don't mind my asking." He watched as Thor made off with two boxes before anyone could touch them. Bruce grabed a couple slices before answering while he sat down, "She was in some medical experiments that messed with her quite a bit. The condition has no name.. Not yet, anyway. She didn't react like the other subjects at all due to an anomaly in her genetics."
"So.. what can she eat?" Clint asked between bites. "Biomass." "What?" He sighed at the weird look he was getting from the archer and finished his bite before responding, "It's a special, compound mixture of vitimines, protiens and nutrients essential to life." "Oh. That sucks. Sounds gross."
Tony stumbled down to his lab, morning coffie in hand, nearly ready to try and tackle the project Fury had him and Bruce working on. "Good morning Mr. Stark." He gave a sleepy grunt in reply. Why did Pepper have to be so chipper in the morning? Wait.. Pep didn't use his last name unless she was upset and even then she used his full name, not Mr. He looked back at the lady in his lab to find her helping her uncle with some of the research. "So, science runs in the family?" "You could say that." Bruce mumbled as he checked something under a microscope and joted down some notes. He hummed to himself as he got busy going over data.
The girl was smart. She found things that they'd both missed and was able to give them a few alternate and more plausible theorys to consider. He liked her. Besides smart, she was kind and playful. Not overly emotional like most women. "Hey, guys? Have you seen- Oh! There you are, mam. I um.. Haven't seen you today and was wondering where you'd run off to." Everyone in the lab smiled at Steve. Candy's was sweet while Tony and Bruce's were mocking of his obvious shyness around the pretty lady.
"She's been helping us, no need to worry, Lover Boy." Tony teased and he decided to ignore it. "So.. You're an artist, mechanic and you do science.. things..? What don't you do?" "She does a bit of everything." Bruce answered for her and she elbowed him in the ribs for it. "Whoa! Wait! Mechanic?" Tony asked, a bit shocked. The doctor ignored his niece's attempts at modesty and boasted about her accomplishments, "Yea. Her car, she helped her father restore it, a 52 Nash, a 71 Corvette, a 59 Mustang and several others. They are all.. Beautiful. Just.. Amazing. They win a prize every show they're in." He sounded like a proud father.
"Wow. Your family must be so proud." Steve said in amazement, then his heart dropped as he saw a flicker of sadness cross her features before being hidden. "What's wrong? Did I say something?" She shook her head with a smile, "No, it's nothing. Really. Um, will y'all excuse me just a moment? I need to go eat." She quickly left them alone and they turned to Bruce for possible answers. He gave them a sad smile "We're not really related.. I was working for Gentek when I met her. Was one of her doctors during the experiments. We became fast friends and one day, about a year into the testing I found her crying worse than usual.. She.. She cried often from homesickness because the tests required her to remain and be monitored at all times.. or so I was told.."
He walked into the room, clipboard in hand and smile on his face, ready to see his friend and brighten her day. "Good morning, Ca-" The pen fell from his hand in shock as he surveyed the scene before him. There was blood everywhere and the bodies of his colligues were strewn across the room.. Or pieces of them, rather. A small girl sat in the center of the mess, crying her eyes out, covered in the blood. "Candy! What happend? Are you alright?" He dropped the clipboard and rushed to her side, pulling her into a hug after checking her over for wounds. "Bruce!" She held him tight as she cried into his shoulder for a bit before she calmed enough to tell him what hapened. "They told me if I didn't let them experiment on me, they'd kill my family.. Kept reminding me that if I didn't cooperate, they'd kill them.. They're all I have! They're everything to me! They.."She let out another loud sob and he tightend his grip on her, "You didn't volunteer for this?" He was shocked. Why? Why had they done this to her? Why threaten her? Surely there were others they could have payed to be experimented on, right?
She didn't seem to hear him as she continued, "They killed them after they had me in their possession and have been just threatening me to keep me in line! All of them!" That was it. He didn't like that they were experimenting on Humans to begin with, but this had taken it too far! "Let's get you out of here, sweetheart." She pulled away and looked up at him, relief and gratitude sining in her eyes.
"I helped her escape and get revenge on the ones in charge of the project." He was trying not to choke up over the memories and wiped at a stray tear that managed to escape. "They killed them all. Her parents, her brother, his wife.. Even their kids! The oldest one was five.. The pedal car in the back seat of her car.. That was his. She refuses to get rid of it. He loved it so much.." He sniffled a bit and wiped away another tear, "I've been taking care of her ever sense."
The guys were trying so hard not to cry with the doctor. Steve was failing miserably. "That poor thing.. How.. How could anyone.." Tony nodded in agreement. "She doesn't have to find a new place. She can stay. As long as she wants." Bruce gave him a small, appreciative smile, "Thank you. You don't know how much that means. To either of us.. Can I ask one small favor, though?" Tony didn't hesitate, "Anything."
A/N: Yea, I know I need to finish the other story first, but this one was bugging me! I also know it sounds more like Steve/Oc, but she likes to play with people. Loki will appear in Chapter 2 if I get a review! That's the only way I'll add another chapter! If I get 1 review! Just a simple 'that's cool' or 'interesting' I don't care! I need to know if this is something anyone will read.
The only thing I own is Candy and this plot. The rest is owned by the Evil Purple Space Monkeys! Yes! Marvel is run by Purple Space Monkeys! That's why we don't each have a life-size Loki in our room with super high-tech AI so he acts like the real thing (plus programmable options to make him want to keep his owner happy)! Stark has the technology and they have Stark!
*gasps as an idea hits* Guys, we need to find their mothership! We need to find it and kill the Evil Purple Space Monkeys so we can rescue the Avengers and let Stark make us those Lokis! Free Loki to anyone who joins the effort!