A/N: Sorry about the cringey summary but this is my first ever Marvel series so I hope you all enjoy. Also, there is no Bucky in the first part (it's just a prologue) and it will just establish the main idea of the story. I'm still writing the story so updates won't be super quick but I've written a few chapters so let's just hope you guys like it. xx
The sunlight peeked through Victoria's bedroom window and woke her from her dreams. With a flutter of her lashes she opened her eyes. Adjusting them to the bright light streaking through, they focused on the digital clock sitting on her bedside table. A bolt of energy shot through her as soon as she registered the time in front of her eyes.
"Shit! I'm so screwed!" She yelled out as she scrambled out of her bed and made an attempt to make herself look presentable.
"How did it go?" She was greeted by her friend Erin as she walked into the coffee shop.
Her only response was a groan as she slumped down on the couch where Erin had situated herself on.
"Not great I'm guessing," Erin continued, her eyes glued to her laptop screen.
"Why do I always have to find a way to screw things up?" Victoria asked in self-pity.
"Yeah I know right. It's kind of like your superpower or something." Erin's sarcastic reply caused Victoria to glare at her which finally got her to look up from the bright light of her screen.
"Okay, I'm sorry," the blonde haired girl apologized, her expression softening, "I know how much you wanted that internship."
"Wanted it? I kind of need it if I'm ever planning on getting a decent job in my field."
"Oh please Victoria, you are way too smart for anyone to pass you up," Erin attempted to comfort her friend, "And even if they do, it's their loss. Plus, the internship is at a University, I'm one hundred percent sure you can do so much better."
Victoria sighed, "Yeah, I guess you're right," she responded as she stood up making her way over to the counter. A drink was exactly what she needed right now even if it was just coffee.
"I am right. I'm always right."
A blaring ringing sound woke her in the middle of the night.
"Whoever decided to call me at three in the morning needs a hard slap to the face," Victoria mumbled as she dragged herself out of bed.
"Hello?" She answered the phone groggily.
"Victoria? It's your mother."
"Mum? What the hell? Why are you calling me in the middle of the night?" She was slightly more awake now, partially because of the anger rising up in her.
"I don't know how to tell you this Tor, but your great grandmother passed away Monday night."
"Oh no?"
"At least try to sound a bit more sympathetic Victoria."
"I'm sorry but I didn't even know I had a great grandmother."
"Well what did you think, your grandmother was made out of thin air?" She rolled her eyes at this remark. Yeah sure, she wasn't always the quickest person in the room but she wasn't stupid.
"So that's the only reason why you called me? To tell me that my great grandmother, who was unknown to me up until this point, died?"
"Could you be a little more respectful, Victoria? And no, that isn't the only reason I called. Apparently she left you something in her will."
"Wait, wait, hold on. You're telling me that my great grandmother, who I have never met or even knew existed, left me something in her will."
"Yes, sweethear-"
"She's never met me. What kind of person writes their will and thinks to themselves, 'Oh remember that great granddaughter I've never even met, yeah her, whatever her name is, I think I'm going to leave something for her'?" She mocked.
"Have some decency Victoria."
She huffed out, she could be real moody sometimes, "I'm sorry but you called me in the middle of the night, what did you expect?"
"Oh that's right, I forgot about the time zone difference. Alright then I'll make it quick. I went to her will reading on Wednesday and picked up what she left you. I packaged it to you the same day so it should be at your apartment soon."
"Okay great, but just out of curiosity, why couldn't you have texted me this information at I don't know, a reasonable time?"
"I just wanted to tell you in advance just in case you thought the package had anthrax in it or something."
"Anthrax, mum? Really?" Victoria loved her mother but sometimes she could be a bit daft.
"You never know Victoria."
"Okay, bye mum."
"By-"
"Package for Victoria?" The man at the door questioned when she opened the door. It was Saturday night and she and Erin were getting ready for a night out.
"Yeah that's me, thanks," she replied taking the package out of his hands and shutting the door.
"What is it?" Erin asked standing up from her place on the couch.
"It's the thing that my great grandma left me when she died," Victoria responded placing the box on the cluttered dining table.
"You had a great grandma?" Erin inquired as she examined the small box.
"Apparently," Victoria said, getting the box cutter and slicing the tape that had sealed the package shut.
"So?" Erin probed with curiosity, watching her friend's hands dig inside the box that had been filled with packing peanuts.
She finally managed to find the object and pull it out, a grimace settling on her face in an instant.
"Dammit, I was hoping it would be money," she whined, glaring at the object. It was a large, circular jade amulet with an extensively detailed drawing of a cat carved into it, which hung on a black string.
"It's definitely something a grandma would give," Erin stated as she walked away, clearly losing interest.
"I still can't believe you decided to wear that," the blonde haired girl scolded as the pair walked into the bar.
"What? I couldn't help it," Victoria defended herself, "It was calling me," she half-joked.
"Well don't expect to get lucky tonight," Erin responded, seating herself on one of the bar stools, Victoria following her lead.
"I wasn't planning on it."
"Bartender!" Erin called out, completely ignoring the comment.
Victoria was only slightly tipsy when the two left the bar but Erin had gotten so drunk she couldn't tell her left from her right.
"I didn't get as half as drunk as I would've liked to," Erin whined as the two made their way down the vacant street towards Tor's apartment block.
"Trust me Erin, you're going to thank me in the morning." She responded, rolling her eyes and dragging her blue eyed friend along.
As the two turned the corner, they walked straight into a man who was inconveniently standing in their way.
"What the hell?" Victoria yelled as he refused to let her pass, her eyes adjusting to the darkness, "Wait, Erin isn't that-"
"Yep." It was the creep that tried to hit on Erin at the bar. She had politely declined but he didn't take the rejection too well.
"Okay asshole, what do you want?" Deep down inside she knew that it probably wasn't the best idea to talk to him with such hostility but right now her anger was getting to her rational side.
"You two ladies shouldn't be out so late at night." Classic creeper pick-up.
"Alright, you know what-"
"Tor let's just go," Erin begged, pulling on her friend's arm. She complied thinking it was probably best to do so before she made things worse.
"I don't think so, sweetheart," he growled as the two turned around walking into two more men. Neither of them had expected for their night to go down like this. It was supposed to be fun. They were meant to get drunk and end up alive in Victoria's apartment, not dead in a dumpster behind some sleazy club, and considering the circumstances, she guessed that was probably the most likely scenario. The next few moments happened in a matter of seconds but to her it felt like more. Something inside her felt different as she realised the gravity of the situation.
The man in front of her made an attempt to grab Erin's wrist when she grabbed his hand and twisted it, hard. He yelled out in pain and she used this as an opening to knee him in the groin which followed with a straight kick to his face that sent him staggering backwards. She turned around to find the other two men approaching her and in a matter of seconds she had flipped one down to the ground and kicked the other one into the wall. She panted, staring at the wall not registering her actions.
"Victoria?" She heard a meek voice speak up from behind her. Victoria turned to see her friend and for a moment, Erin swore she saw something different in her eyes.
She snapped out of her trance, "Oh my gosh Erin, are she okay?" Victoria ran over to her, the worry in her voice was evident.
"What just happened?" Erin inquired. Only then did she realise what she had done. Something she didn't even think was humanly possible. At least not for her.
"Let's just get home, okay?" She prompted Erin, putting the thought behind her for the time being.
"I'm telling you it's the amulet, Victoria," Erin argued the same point as she had the last thirty times. The two of them had woken up at Victoria's apartment the morning after the fateful night and had immediately started arguing over her newfound abilities.
"And I'm telling you that it's not."
"Why not?"
"Because… Because why would my great grandmother give me a necklace that supposedly gives me crazy-amazing-action-hero powers."
"Well how else? And don't tell me you've had secret ninja skills for all these years."
"Sorry to break it to she Erin," she teased as she headed towards her small kitchenette, "Coffee?"
"Don't change the subject Victoria, we haven't finished talking about this," the blue-eyed girl snapped back at her friend as Victoria took out two large mugs from the cabinet.
"Yes, we hav-" Victoria was interrupted mid-sentence as one of the mugs slipped out of her hand and broke into pieces as it impacted the tiled floor.
"Shit!" She cursed as she knelt down to pick up the broken shards of glass.
"Careful," Erin warned approaching the dark haired girl to lend a hand. Not a second later, Victoria let out a sound of pain as she unintentionally sliced her palm open on one of the broken fragments.
"I told you to be careful…" Erin trailed off as her eyes caught attention of the amulet hanging on Victoria's neck.
"What?"
"Y-your necklace." Victoria looked down to find it emitting a bright green light and suddenly the sharp sting that was caused by the gash on her hand had suddenly stopped.
"Holy crap." She couldn't even begin to comprehend what she was witnessing.
"What? What?" Erin questioned in a panicked manner wondering as to why Victoria was so captivated by her own bleeding hand.
Victoria turned her hand to show the blonde woman her palm. It was no longer spurting out any blood and the slit that once was there was replaced by the flawless skin of her hand.
The amulet ceased to glow.
"So what did you want to show me?" Victoria asked, stepping into the apartment cautiously. Erin had texted her saying it was 'urgent' and that she 'needed to see this' but she knew her friend and she knew this never meant good news, but had decided to visit her friend's loft anyway. It had been a little over a month since the incident with the amulet had ensued and she had refused to touch the thing ever since the morning her hand healed up within seconds. Erin on the other hand, had been prompting her to put it back on and test out its limits but she wasn't having any of it. Basically, she was a wimp.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're here, you're not gonna believe this." She heard Erin's exclamations coming from the bedroom as she approached it.
"I seriously dou-"
"Wait don't come in!" Erin called out, "I don't want you to ruin the surprise."
"Oh no," Victoria mumbled to herself, her voice barely audible. Nothing about this seemed good. She heard some scuffling in the other room before Erin walked out and stood under the doorframe. Her left arm was extended past the wall which was used to hide the object in her hands.
"Well?" Victoria pressed on.
Erin's smile was so wide, the corners of her mouth almost reached her eyes.
"Tada!" The blue eyed girl exclaimed as she brought the object in her hand into view. A few seconds passed before her smile slowly faded into a frown as Victoria emitted no reaction, "Well? What do you think?"
"I would tell you, but I'm not exactly sure what it is," Victoria responded with furrowed brows.
"It's a cat-suit," Erin whined, clearly disappointed by the lack of excitement shown by her friend.
"Okay, but why?" Victoria spoke in a very slow manner hoping that Erin would understand that she had zero clue as to what was going on.
"Well, all superheroes need suits, Victoria." That's when it clicked. This was about the stupid amulet again. Erin had tried pretty much everything trying to convince Victoria to test its limits. Bribery, blackmail, she even had a séance to try and contact Victoria's great grandmother by using an Ouija board. Victoria thought that was when Erin had hit her lowest point but she was obviously very wrong.
"I'm going home." With that, she turned around not wanting to hear another word of Erin's grand scheme. She had stood her ground before; she can do it again.
"Wait Victoria, just hear me out," Erin begged as she ran after her friend, dropping the cat-suit onto the couch.
"That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid doing, Erin," she replied not slowing her pace.
"It's the least you could do after what happened on New Year's Eve." Erin had already used this excuse a million times but Victoria had never succumbed to the pressure, not once.
"Nice try but you already used this excuse on me," Victoria said turning around on her heels and crossing her arms, "I'm not putting on the amulet."
"I didn't ask you to put on the amulet. I asked you to hear me out." Well, she did have a point.
"Ugh, fine," Victoria said, dragging herself along to the couch where Erin had put the black cat-suit. She picked it up examining the fine details of it. It seemed to have been made out of some sort of spandex which stretched all the way down the legs and down to the fingertips which extended into small claws, similar to that of a house cat. Along the sides were large grey rips made to look like scratch marks.
"Where did you even get this thing?" Victoria asked, not completely sure how far Erin would go to convince her.
"Work."
"Work?" Erin worked at a fashion organisation which handled some of the clothes made by some major labels but Victoria never could've imagined Erin would find something like this.
"Yeah, it was a prototype that I found in the recycle bin, so I recycled it. You like?"
"I… I don't really know what to think, Erin."
"Look, Victoria, don't you think it's a good idea? You can fight crime the right way, without any collateral damage." A slight crack could be heard in her voice as she said the last few words.
Victoria exhaled. Erin's brother. No wonder she was so invested in the amulet. Erin wanted justice for her brother's death during the battle of New York. She always blamed the Avengers for it. And Victoria wasn't going to lie to herself, the idea did sound tempting. Who didn't want to be a superhero growing up? And now she had the chance to be just that.
"How about I do you one better?"
Victoria heard the familiar sound of the door click open as she stepped inside the apartment, switching on the lights. She let out a sigh, exhaustion taking over her body and mind. It was hard to believe the day she had. Agreeing with Erin about becoming some sort of vigilante was not a conversation she thought she would ever have to be a part of. Not only had she decided that she would fight for the greater good, she also told Erin about a job offer at Stark Industries and said that she would take it. When she first got the opportunity, she had thought she would turn it down in support of Erin but now she was doing the exact opposite for the same cause. Although she had to admit, it was sort of brilliant. Infiltrate the Avengers to try to lead them off track. As they say, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
Now, she had walked into her apartment with a black cat-suit in hand. As she studied it once more, she noticed something she hadn't seen before. A small black button that was resting in the fabric of the glove right on top of the forefinger. Curiosity took over her. She made an attempt to press the button but no avail. It appeared to have been embedded into the fabric. Seemed like the only way to press it was to push it up and out from the inside of the glove. Victoria thought about her options for a second before making up her mind.
She had to admit, she looked good. The suit form fitted to her skin, showing off her curves. Plus, it was really light. It almost felt as though she wasn't wearing anything at all. She could've fallen asleep in the thing. Victoria was skipping around her apartment so much that she just about forgot why she had put it on in the first place. The button.
She could feel a button brush against both her forefingers – one in each glove – but she wasn't able to push it up. To aid her with her task, she moved her thumbs so that they were placed over the visible material of the button on the outside of her glove. Then, with synchronized timing, she pushed her thumb down and her finger up at the same time. Almost immediately, the kitten sized claws had elongated into that of a lion. Victoria suddenly felt that she had slightly more space for her fingers in the gloves. It was difficult not to stare at the three-inch talons in front of her eyes. The claws that she thought were merely for decoration just turned into a freaking weapon. She didn't know whether to be impressed or scared. She chose to be confused. How in the world did Erin manage this?
It was about four in the morning when Victoria's phone went off. After the whole claw situation, she had decided to take the suit off and get some rest. There is only so much weird shit a girl could handle and she had had far too much for one day. And what was supposed to be a good night's rest was interrupted by a text message. Why couldn't anyone learn to contact her at a decent hour?
Without lifting her head off of the pillow, she lazily patted around the bed for an object which resembled a phone, succeeding after about the fifth pat.
Opening one eye, she turned on her phone, the bright light of the screen making her turn it back off. Deciding to be strong, she turned it back on, enduring the painful glare. Two new texts from Erin.
I'm outside your building.
Let's the test the powers of your little gadget.
Go away.Was Victoria's only response before shutting her eyes and dropping her arm to her side. Not a mere minute later, she heard the muffled sound of the elevator doors opening from outside her apartment before the sound of the door swinging open hit her ears. At times like this, she regretted ever giving Erin the keys to her home.
"Victoria, get up." The all too familiar voice of the blonde haired girl called out from the living room.
Her only response was a groan as she firmly covered her ears with a pillow.
"You promised me you would test the amulet out with me." Her voice was closer now and the pillow was not doing a very good job of blocking out the noise.
"I didn't mean at like four in the freaking morning!" Victoria yelled out, refusing to open her eyes.
"Well when else are we going to do it? In broad daylight when everyone can see?"
She did have a point.
"Ugh, fine. But I'm not going to enjoy it."
It was almost half past when the two got to the warehouse. It was Erin's grand idea. The warehouse was owned by the company Erin had worked for and it was used for storing fashion items of all sorts. When she had first started working at the company, part of her job was to make sure everything was accounted for. Although she didn't have to do so anymore, she had never returned the key.
Once the duo stepped inside, Victoria opened up her bag and took out the amulet which she had carefully wrapped in a small cloth.
"Alright," Victoria said picking it up and putting it around her neck, "Here goes nothing."
As she tied the string into place she felt more refreshed, more awake. Almost as if she had just had a shot of espresso, but not exactly. She didn't know how to describe it, but it was a good feeling.
"How do you feel?" Erin asked as if on cue.
"Different," Victoria responded, "So what do she want me to do?"
"Well, I have a few ideas. My first one being this." Erin said reaching into her own bag and pulling out a small Swiss army knife.
This caused Victoria to let out a groan. She knew exactly where Erin was going with this and she wasn't all that keen about having to slit her hand open again.
Quickly but firmly, Erin sliced straight down Victoria's palm causing blood to begin oozing out. Though not long after, the amulet began to glow once again and the wound sealed back up before her very eyes. The two of them had seen it before but couldn't help but be amazed.
"What next?" Victoria asked, much more eager than before.
"Well, I was thinking that the best way to find out is to go out there and fight."
"Fight? Fight who exactly?"
"I don't know there's ought to be some villainous people out there."
"At five in the morning? Even villainous people have to sleep, Erin."
A sigh escaped Erin's lips. "I guess you're right. We'll come back later tonight," Erin responded, picking up her things and heading towards the exit, Victoria followed soon after.
"So what you're telling me is that you woke me up at four in the morning to test something we already knew was possible?"
"Why do you always have to be a pessimist?" Erin teased as the two began to walk down the driveway of the warehouse towards the main road.
"I'm not always a pessimist," Victoria argued back as the two set a pace down the dimly lit street, passing the alleyways that resided between buildings.
"I beg to diff-" Erin's sentence was interrupted by an ear piercing scream coming from an alley on the other side of the street.
"What was that?" Victoria asked, the fear in her voice was evident.
"It sounded like a scream."
"Let's go take a look."
"Victoria, I don't know."
"C'mon Erin, isn't this the sort of fight you were talking about?"
Erin agreed silently, knowing that her friend was right.
As the two of them approached the alley, a more muffled cry for help was sent out. Entering the walkway, Victoria saw four men circling around a timid woman who seemed to have been getting home from work.
"Hey!" She called out, "Leave her alone!"
Her demands were followed by the sound of laughter resounding from the men which only aided in fuelling her anger.
"Okay, be that way," she muttered to herself before rushing at the men with all the force that she could muster.
Before any of them could even blink, Victoria had wrapped her legs around the head of one and brought him to the ground with her and then flipped back onto her feet, kicking another man in the process. Two down, two to go. She then pushed herself off the ground and onto the lid of the large garbage bin which was conveniently placed in front of the third target's head. With a kick to the face he went flying across the alleyway, his body crashing against it. She turned to face the last man, only to be taken by surprise as he lifted she from the bin and slammed her against the wall, his hands holding her wrists down so hard that she was sure they would snap. She pushed against his grip and managed to free herself from it but this freedom lasted a mere second before one of the other men had stood up and shoved her back into place. A small knife emerged from the pocket of the larger one of the two and held it to her throat. Victoria was sure this was the end. That's when she felt a blunt pain, but it wasn't from a cut on her neck. No, it was her gums, it felt as though she was growing teeth in a matter of seconds. Her vision blacked out for a moment and then returned, only she was seeing the world in a much more muted manner. The men began to back away from her, releasing their grip. Looks of fear had stricken their features. Victoria pounced on them and bit into the larger one's neck before ripping her mouth off. By the time she had finished, the other man had run off. Blood covered her mouth as she felt an odd feeling in her gums once more. Victoria jumped up onto the roof of the nearby building, using the dumpster for leverage and ran along the roofs of the buildings towards her apartment, away from the scene.