(A/N: I was heavily bribed by a friend to write this, and the dared by another to put it up here. Never one to turn down free food or a challenge, and probably having no common sense...here we are. I know, just...don't judge me, I'm never going to live this down as it is.)
"Ouch!"
There was a loud, echoing clang as the spanner hit the workshop floor. The machine she was working on buzzed and shot vicious blue sparks at Pepper, before sizzling and coming to a complete stop with a defeated-sounding hum. Pepper brushed her clothes with a grimy hand, cleaning away imaginary remnants of the sparks. She inspected her other hand and sighed. There was an angry burn across her palm and a few fingers; the skin red and puffy where it had come into contact with a searing metal plate.
"You're meant to help people not injure them, asshole!" she told the machine, shooting it a glare before searching for something to wrap her hand up in.
Pepper's machine was simple enough to create – in theory. It was intended to simulate the hormonal and environmental conditions a person requires to survive the hibernation months, eliminating the need to spend them in close proximity with another person. Unfortunately, two days away from the beginning of the hibernation months, her invention was malfunctioning. Everything that could go wrong was going wrong.
Pepper wrapped what she hoped was a clean rag around her hand, pulling the knot tight with her teeth, and rested against the far bench of her in-home work area, thinking. To her right lay a pile of spare metal, wiring, and glass. Next to that was a smaller pile of pieces from various electronic devices, and in a small shelf further back were bottles, jars and capped test tubes containing an array of chemicals and other fluids. Pepper looked back at her machine. Beneath all the enhancements, it still vaguely resembled the tormented mini-fridge it was initially built from, but apart from that all Pepper could see was another failed invention.
She sighed and cursed under her breath in frustration. Of all the things that could've stopped working, the most important machine was the one to do it. But Pepper was determined to get it working as soon as she could - she had to.
She sighed and kicked a bit of steel piping into a corner, where it clanged against numerous other bits of salvaged scrap. Grabbing her keys, coat, scarf, and knitted hat on the way out, Pepper flicked off the power switch by the door and ventured out into the snow.
Out in the open street Pepper kicked the door shut and leant against it, welcoming the chill wind and specks of snow settling on her face. She needed to find more parts, and quickly. She read through the list scribbled on the back of last week's grocery receipt; a piece of specific wiring, a certain bit of copper piping, some of this, a chunk of that. 'Shit. Seven things,' she thought, 'Seven.'
Groaning she pushed off the door and slugged through the slushy snow heading towards the empty main street. The quaint suburban houses were all shut up now. Windows and doors shut against the world as people already prepared for the coming months. She pictured them all rugged up in their houses, waiting with slight nervousness and a fair amount of anticipation, no serious concerns regarding winter. Only the homeless and the really unprepared were out this close to hibernation.
Pushing her musings away she shoved her list and keys into her pocket, wrapping her scarf around her neck and pulling her hat over her fuzzy, round bear ears. However, her thoughts wandered and became more and more unfiltered and she trudged towards the scrap tip.
'What kind of fucked up evolutionary step was this?' she thought, contemplating hibernation. 'Fucking unhealthy co-dependence. Oh yeah, how about as a species, we just rely on sleeping for months instead of effectively dealing with the cold? And to make it really fun," she continued sarcastically, "We could just die if we don't spend it with another person? Ha ha what a brilliant idea! What could possibly go wrong with that god damn plan?'
Her reflections stopped abruptly when an angry little man stepped into her path. She groaned, "Look, Grub, I just gotta get some things…"
He interrupted her, "Nope. No one's taking any scrap until after…"
"Grub!" it was her turn to interrupt now, "Scrap metal isn't going to keep you alive in winter, it's not going to help you, I just need a few things."
"For what? Another wacky invention? Let it go Pepper, rug up and slug it out like everyone else does."
"I'm trying to," she mumbled, mentally weighing up whether or not she'd win an argument with Grub today, before eventually giving up and turning her back on him, deliberately rude. Her chest felt tight and her stomach was doing all kinds of twists and turns. She was running out of time and really needed those parts or she was never going to make it.
She headed back to the Main Street and began sorting through skips and people's recycling bins. 'Lucky mother can't see me now,' she thought, 'This'd be the tipping point for sure.'
On her third skip bin inspection, someone suddenly spoke. "Um, you need any help dumpster-diving there hun?"
The voice was so unexpected that Pepper jumped and whacked her head on the lid of an alleyway skip. Rubbing the sore patch on her scalp she turned around to scowl at the owner of the voice.
A lean, muscled woman was sitting elegantly on the cold, redbrick wall, round black ears poking through fiery red hair that fell around her shoulders. A ragged scar ran through one eyebrow, and another much smoother scar glinted silver across her cheekbone. She just sat there, with a smile bordering on predatory, waiting for Pepper to collect herself.
"Uhh yeah, wait NO, I-I'm fine, I'm just looking for something," she stammered. She couldn't take her eyes off this gorgeous street rat. Feeling impolite, she finally tore her gaze away and stared at the ground, fidgeting with her hands in her pockets. 'Get it together Pepper, what the hell?'
The woman smiled mischievously, watching Pepper closely. She hopped off the wall and all but prowled over to Pepper, stopping an arm's length away. "Anything in particular? I might be able to help."
Pepper had finally reigned in enough brain cells to think clearly, but even so her words came out a little breathy. "With finding things in dumpsters? I won't ask that of you."
The woman shrugged, "I'm known around here as the person who can get anything, I'm sure I can help. Show me your list."
"I- what? How do you know I have a list?"
"You've been fidgeting with it this whole time, I can hear the paper crunch in your pocket." She smiled, all sharp teeth, and held out her hand expectantly.
"It could've been an ordinary receipt," Pepper grumbled, handing it over. The woman flicked a glance at her. Pepper's bandaged hand caught her attention, but she didn't comment.
She flattened and read through the list. "I can get you these things, easy."
"Really?" Pepper's eyes lit up and she stood a little straighter in her excitement. "Hang on…" she hesitated, "You can't go stealing them from people's heating systems or electrical switchboards or anything."
"How do you know I'm going to steal? Don't stereotype the street rat!" she said, sounding amused and not really affected.
But Pepper remembered the woman's comment on how she could 'get anything,' and replied, "I know you're going to steal because stealing is your trade. Don't think I don't know about your reputation, 'Black Widow' they call you."
The woman grinned proudly for a moment, as if her reputation was a great achievement. Her grin slowly fell away as she searched Pepper's face curiously, eyes narrowed. "Fine. I won't steal anything essential to anyone's survival, are you happy?"
Pepper nodded, "Yep." Now she wanted to know where this Black Widow person would get the parts from instead, but figured it was smarter to let it go. Besides, she needed those parts and couldn't risk compromising their deal by asking the wrong questions. Instead she asked, "What do you want in return?"
The redhead tapped her lip thoughtfully, "Hmm…I'll think of something." Before Pepper could even formulate a response, the fiery redhead grinned wickedly, turned, and disappeared lightning-fast into the main street.
Pepper groaned inwardly, hoping she wouldn't regret the desperate measures these desperate times were calling for. She looped her finger through the ring on her keys, pulled them free of her pocket and flicked them up into her palm, heading home with thoughts of the mysterious street rat the only thing on her mind.
A/N: If you have any feedback, please feel free to let me know and I'll take it into consideration. Suggestions, comment, corrections, requests, criticism – are all welcome, just let me know. There are more chapters of this which I'll probably post in exchange for some more amazing free food (don't judge me) and for the sake of having at least one complete work up here, so if anyone wants anything included let me know in a review.
