This story is a Soulmate AU, taking place post-Winter Soldier. Be warned that this will be a Steve/Oc/Bucky story. Hope you like it!
Ivory Rose winced as she spotted an Avengers section in the small Halloween store she was in, eyeing the costumes wearily, or more specifically the Captain America costume, as she listened to her friend ramble on about traffic through the phone pressed against her ear. Her mind drifted to the name scrawled across her right hip bone and then to the other name on her left hip and she quickly spun on her heel to wander across the store.
Soulmates was a part of everyday life, but while most people showed off their Marks happily and eagerly waited for fate to guide them, Ivory spent countless hours sobbing in the Smithsonian in the Captain America exhibit while security lingered not-so subtly in the back. Her poor father had tried everything in his power to make her happy as she grew up, but she could never find it in herself to be happy, not when she believed that fate had given her the names of two national war heroes.
Two national World War Two heroes that were dead.
Even after they found Captain Rogers in the ice years later, she had angrily made sure to keep the names hidden, she had enough problems than throwing a man way out of time into her increasingly abnormal life.
"Did you get the red cap?" Ivory asked after a few minutes bringing the conversation back where it started, squishing her phone between her face and shoulder while browsing a shelf lined with masks of every color and shape imaginable, a simple black Colombina mask caught her attention and she hitched it under her arm.
"Yes, I got your easy open medicine bottle. I swear I have seen you lift cars, yet you struggle with opening pill bottles and pickle jars," came Olive's response causing Ivory to roll her eyes before hearing her friend beep her horn rapidly through the phone.
"I really don't see how he can move, dear," came a muffled voice from the other side of her phone and Ivory tucked a stray curly strand of blue-black hair back into her messy bun.
"Please don't crash my car, Olive. Or at least wait until my father is out of the car," the young woman chided and received a rather undignified snort from her best friend.
Olive Frost had been employed by Ivory years ago as a caretaker to her father and to help around the house, but their friendship spanned many years before their adult responsibilities.
"Oh, please!" she scoffed, Ivory could just picture her rolling her big dark gray eyes, and she knew she would be making kissy faces at her father.
A small sigh through her phone confirmed her thoughts and she couldn't help but to grin. Olive and Ivory have been friends since kindergarten, ever since a small towheaded girl shared her blanket with the new student at naptime, and they became best friends soon after. They grew impossible close, gaining other close friends by the name of Ava Myst and Rome Steele, and eventually Ivory confided in her friends telling them about her Soulmarks, her 'gifts', and their friendship was cemented by that trust so many years ago.
"I'm pretty sure they make those lids Hulk-proof," Ivory said in slight indignation while maneuvering her way to a small mirror bolted to the wall next to shelf in the small Halloween store.
She snapped on the flimsy plastic of the black mask, Ivory's midnight blue eyes shined through the material and her pale skin stood out starkly next to the black color. She leaned back to admire herself, fluffing her white lacey long sleeved tunic, smoothing her dark blue leggings and wiggled her toes in her black ballet flats.
"Why is he getting out of his car?" was Olive's somewhat distant response causing the dark haired woman to narrow her dark brows at her reflection as a pout formed on her full pink lips at her friend's lack of interest to the conversation.
"Don't make me buy you a donkey mask," she quipped and when her friend stayed quiet the hair on the back of her neck prickled and her heart slowly began to pick up its pace.
A familiar jolt of warm energy skittered across her nerves, making goose bumps rise on her arms as she heard a small gasp from the phone.
"Oh my..." she heard Olive whisper echoed by her father muffled voice and a sense of foreboding filled Ivory.
"Olive? What's going on?" she asked, tightening her grip on her phone in panic and hearing a small crack in protest. When the sound of metal on metal sounded suddenly, glass shattering and her dear friend screaming, the phone shattered in her slender hand.
The lone store clerk jerked awake from his nap and blinked blearily around as the lights flickered in the small shop. Panic rushed through her, coupled with that same feeling of electrical currents prickling under her skin. Ivory darted out of the store and started running ignoring the spluttering squawk from the employee. She headed towards the bright lights of the Brooklyn Bridge where she already spotted a helicopter flying closer. As she neared closer, grateful the Halloween shop wasn't further away, she could see the helicopter hovering as a plume of smoke drifted into the moonless night sky, obscuring the bright stars.
The familiar feeling of warm surges radiating from her bones to her muscles, triggered by the sight of cars fleeing from the bridge, and she quickly darted into the nearest alleyway. Fear for her father and friend had her hands trembling as she tried to quickly hide her belongings in a shadowy alcove. Her hair caught on the elastic string on her mask and she yanked the curly locks free. Ivory was about to rip the mask off when the sound of another news helicopter flew overhead with its spotlight already focused on the bridge. She hesitated, before leaving the mask on and scaling the fire escape on the building next to her, while ignoring the increasing buzz in her body.
Finally, she crawled on the roof of the four story building getting a clear visual of the bridge. She took another fortifying breathe and took off running, letting the buzzing in her head turn into a roar of blood in her ears and seep all the way to her core, and as she approached the ledge she lunged. The dark pavement came rushing at her and with the muscle memory of many years practicing in the shadows of trees in her backyard, she lifted herself high into the sky until the city lights were nothing but glowing pinpricks in dark velvet.
Cold air curled around her body as she reveled in the pleasant hum that vibrated in her body, the way every nerve ending tingled, her skin growing warm against the night's chill, growing hypersensitive and her heart soared at the feeling. A quick glance at her bare arms showed her pale skin glowing slightly and she couldn't help the small grin that curled her lips in response. After making sure the mask was in place she shook away her thoughts before letting herself fall forward all the way to the bridge. She stopped in the shadow of one of the large pillars, eyes roaming the frantic scene before her with a growing sense of dread.
Cars were littering the road, plumes of smoke drifted on the breeze carrying the stench of burning rubber and metal as terrified shouts filled the air. Pedestrians were screaming, running in all directions, abandoning their vehicles in their panic. The spotlight from one of the helicopters was trained on a moving object and she carefully floated down to get a better look only for her heart to stop and ice fill her veins.
An enormous…creature...was prowling around, swiping hands with sword like claws through metal cars and the dark green and orange scaly skin covering its heaving figure shimmered in the light. Snapping jaws with a mouth full of razor-sharp shark teeth were bared at the cars in its path and a familiar old beat up red beetle with a crack windshield was in its eyesight. With a surge of fear, she shot forward a few feet with her palms outstretched, and she began to glow brighter.
The beast swung around just a bolt of white wispy light shot from her hands and hit the monster hard enough for it to be thrown back a few feet. Warmth radiated from her hands while tracing away the terror at spotting the monster, and she spared a quick surprised look at her still brightly glowing hands.
Her dark hair whipped across her face as her eyes flickered back to the monster right as a car came hurling at her. Ivory shrieked and made her body drop out of the way, only for a motorcycle to crash straight into her body. Breath was knocked from her lungs, but surprisingly she only felt a dull thud that jostled her bones on impact. The woman gritted her teeth and let white light fill her palms again, forming it into a sphere shape, before darting to the heaving mass.
As her feet touched the ground she threw the "ball".
The light hit the creature square in the face and flung it against the wall of the bridge, bending the metal out of place with a screech that rang in her ears sharply. While it was struggling to gain its footing Ivory ran over to the beetle and nearly fainted when she saw familiar pastel blue hair peeking out from the backseat.
A ghastly reflection appeared next to Ivory's and she spun and shrank against the car, barely missing a deadly swipe of claws. In a panic she shoved the creature away from her making it stumble, her hands sliding against slimy skin.
The thing roared in anger, the smell of rotten meat blowing across her face and she fought back a gag. Ivory spotted a car on its side near her, frame bent out of shape and claw marks gouged the sides, and she took a deep breath before grabbing the car by its front and swinging it at the creature. The thing swatted it away like a fly before lumbering closer to Ivory who was panting.
'Never did this much before,' she thought to herself before gulping as she was towered over by the beast.
Standing at a full five feet and one inch she was used to be short, but this thing had to be at least seven feet tall. Ivory began to panic as malicious bright yellow green eyes stared back at her. Gritting her teeth in determination, she lunged at the thing, and with a floating flip that had her shocked at her sudden flexibility she wrapped her arms around its thick neck with her hands braced on its reptilian face. Ivory could feel the rough texture of its rippling scales, the bulging muscles shifting under her small frame and she tried not to breath in the toxic smell leaking from its body.
Letting the warm light fill her hands again she pressed more firmly on its face.
It howled before reaching back and wrapped clawed hands around her waist and tossing her away, her body hitting the pavement hard enough for it to crack underneath her. Ivory didn't have time to catch her breath before she was picked up by her legs and thrown a few yards away onto a car, her small body crushing the metal hood and shattering the windshield against her back.
"Dear God, this is more difficult than it looks," she gasped with new found respect for the Avengers before rolling off the car and onto the road as the monster watched her with its claws flexing menacingly.
She groaned and stumbled to her feet, cracking her back and shoulders, before rushing at the creature again. She dodged its swiping claws and snapping teeth, jumping on its back with her glowing hands pressed against its face once more and her feet pressing sharply into its hips. It snarled in pain as a faint sizzling sound began to emanate from the creature and she winced as its howl of pain turned ear piercing, yet she didn't let go. A scaly hand gripped her foot and swung her off its back, throwing her into the railing surrounding the bridge and pain spiked through her ribs and chest as the metal splintered beneath her.
Panting and swaying she crawled to her feet, ready to face the new onslaught of attacks, but the thing was still howling, clawing at its face and she was pretty sure her ears were bleeding. It fell to its knees hard enough to feel the jolt throughout the bridge and Ivory shot into the air, hovering while watching with wide dark blue eyes. Without warning the creature began to...dissolve...into a black mist that began emanating from its skin, the mist the last thing to disappear, the only evidence of its existence was the wreckage around them and Ivory's increasingly aching body. She looked around as the people slowly migrated back to the scene, Ivory spotted an elderly priest kneeling on the ground looking pale and shaken while staring up at her with a mixture of fear and wonderment.
She saw Olive's light blue hair followed by her petite body wiggle free from the backseat of her car, helping a short elderly man wobbling from the back as well. Relief spread through her body at the sight of them safe and she had to stop herself from flying down to them. Instead she hovered enough distance away, so no one could see her face clearly, and more people began to turn to look at her.
"Identify yourself, please" a crisp British voice said suddenly from behind her and she jerked around in surprise to face Iron Man.
Or, more clearly, one of his suits.
Sparks of panic once again kick started her heart as she looked at the sleek metal humanoid shape hovering in front of her, the white capital letter 'A' emblazed on the upper right corner of its chest.
'Oh, this is bad,' she thought while staring into glowing white eyes.
Ivory flicked her gaze back to the people on the bridge before darting away, letting the wind whip her hair across her face as she flew away from the bridge and away from cameras and helicopters.
"Identify yourself or you will be neutralized," the same British voice said behind her and she spun around again as panic had her heart beating rapidly and watched with wide eyes as the suit stopped in front of her.
A soft humming noise filled the space between them as a small missile shifted from its shoulder and pointed right at her while they both hovered in the air. Acting on pure instinct she lifted her own hands to shield herself, wispy pale light surrounded her hands as her heart pounded. Her throat was desert dry and her mouth didn't seem to want to move. Swallowing passed the lump in her throat she stared right into its bright glowing eyes.
She hesitated before letting the light in her hand shoot forward into the robot making it crumple into the black water of the East River. Without a second glance she spun back around and began flying again, making several detours before falling back into the ally where she stowed her things. She slumped against the cool brick wall and slid the mask off her face, the pleasant hum filling her died away and suddenly her body ached something fierce, shivers racked her small frame, and she panted to catch her breath. She pawed through her purse and tugged on a baggy gray sweatshirt over her now chilled skin and pulled her tangled blue-black hair back into a messy bun.
"I'm sure this was only a one-time thing. No need to be worried about men in black suits pulling me into dark vans," she muttered to herself as she began her limp home where it was safe. Once in her warm dark house she fell on the couch, exhaustion finally catching up to her and she blindly reached for the remote to switch on the television, and her rapid heartbeat and the adrenaline pumping through her system started to fade as exhaustion weighed heavily on her.
Before her eyes slid shut she saw an image on the screen, black hair whipping around a woman's face that was twisted into a mask of fierce protectiveness as she glowed high in the sky amidst the stars.