THE BUCKET LIST

It was a very hot day to go scavenging for metal pieces in a desert but Raza is desperate to find out how Beca had managed to escape the cave. About a week ago, a few of his men found pieces of her armor in the desert that matched Beca's blueprints that were found in the cave. He planned to assemble it and show it to his American ally.

He watched his men dig up what was left of Beca's armor until a man called his attention. He handed him Beca's helmet and Raza grinned at his new found plan and couldn't wait to share his discovery.

Chloe just finished her paperwork for the week. She was organizing her folders and other papers so she could go to her bedroom to rest. She took her empty coffee mug to the kitchen when she was surprised with the set-up in the dining area. She stared at the candle-lit table for a moment then Beca entered the room holding a huge paper bag. She was wearing an ACDC black shirt with a grey sweater underneath. Chloe can still see the glowing arc reactor on Beca's chest despite the two layers of clothing. Her boss just gave her the famous Beca Mitchell charming smile and continued setting up the table.

"You like Chinese food?" She asked as she placed the paper bag on top of the table. "I know you do."

Chloe raised an eyebrow with a hint of amusement, "What's the occasion?" She crossed her arms and leaned on the door frame.

Beca laughed lightly as she took out the contents of the bag, "Nothing. I was just craving some Chinese food. And I thought maybe you could join me."

Beca turned to Chloe after opening the containers of their dinner. She pulled a chair and gestured for Chloe to sit. The redhead hesitated at first but the genius brunette insisted.

Chloe took a seat and waited for Beca to settle down. She wasn't sure why Beca is doing this for her, "What exactly are we-"

"It's just dinner, Chloe," Beca cut her off and gave her a small smile. Chloe just shook her head in amusement and started digging into her food.

In the middle of their dinner, Chloe had been dying to ask this question and she wanted Beca to tell her herself but she couldn't take it anymore. "Beca, is there something you're not telling me?"

Beca stopped eating for a moment. Honestly, she wanted to tell Chloe everything. She doesn't even know where to begin. She wanted tell her that she's going to secret missions and the fact that she's dying but she couldn't do it.

Beca replied, "I clearly made a lot of really bad decisions. I made mistakes and shit, I was just an asshole." She let out sarcastic laughter as she took a bite of her Spring roll.

"Beca," Chloe pleaded, "You know you can tell me anything." She reached for Beca's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Beca's heart skipped a beat at Chloe's touch and her warm smile. She found it comforting. Tonight, she's not having dinner with her assistant. She's having dinner with the one person who can make her feel certain emotions that she couldn't explain. That one person who she can let her guard down and be herself. Beca knew from the moment she realized her feelings for Chloe, she's the luckiest person alive to have her in her life.

"Fine," Beca let out a deep sigh before speaking, "I just… I can't stop thinking about what if I died in that cave? I know it's been months since that incident. I mean, the therapy helped and I'm fine now. I've only got one life and this is my second chance to live and get to do the things I wanted to do. So I came up with this bucket list and I know it's not really me to make this sort of stuff-"

"What's on your bucket list?" Chloe asked and smiled fondly at the flustered woman in front of her. Beca gave her an awkward grin in response.

She tried to remember the important ones she came up with. "Cook breakfast which I already did so I have to cross that out. Go to a concert."

"Wait, you've never been to a concert?" Chloe gave her a questioning look in which Beca just rolled her eyes.

"Nope."

"Considering your company has been sponsoring concerts lately," Chloe replied with a chuckle.

"Yeah? Well I prefer the after parties," Beca shrugged with a lopsided smirk and begrudgingly ate her fried noodles. Chloe just giggled in response.

"There's an upcoming concert I really want to go to, if you like to come with me," Chloe suggested.

Beca smiled at the idea, "I'd love that."

"What else do you have on your bucket list?" Chloe asked.

Beca went on and on with her list and Chloe couldn't help but smile at how serious Beca is with it. This isn't the Beca Mitchell she met years ago. This isn't her boss that she knew. Beca used to be someone who is just living her life and having fun. She didn't care about what to do with her life this much. As long as she's partying somewhere in a big event or an exotic place, she thinks she's living her life. But this new Beca is different. She doesn't go out and party that much anymore. She became even more domestic than usual. Beca would get them dinner and she had been helping out from time to time with the paperwork. The brunette would even get her coffee in the morning and tell her to have a good day.

"I know it's really stupid to come up with this. I just now realized how ridiculous I am,"

"No. No, Beca. Don't think that," Chloe said and reached for Beca's hand that was resting beside her plate. "I think it's really great that you have a bucket list. And you know what to do with your life."

Beca let out a small smile, "How about you? Do you have one?"

Chloe just shrugged and said, "I don't really have anything specific in mind right now but the one thing I really want in life is to find someone who I can come home to after a very long stressful day and just relax in each other's arms." She smiled at the thought.

Beca hadn't really thought about that. Settling down with someone? It didn't really come across her mind until this moment. She couldn't imagine herself being like that with someone but if there was, she hoped that it would be Chloe. The idea of knowing that there is someone waiting for you at home and you look forward to spending time with them; it made Beca think about her situation with Chloe but she knew she had more important things to do first before getting to that part of her life.

She looked away from the other woman and said, "Now that's really cheesy."

"Says the girl with the bucket list," Chloe raised an eyebrow and took a bite of her Spring Roll. She giggled at Beca who couldn't help but shake her head while biting her lip to keep herself from smiling widely.

After days and nights of trying to figure out the pieces to Beca's armor, Raza had finally assembled it. The only missing piece is the glowing circular light on its chest that powers the armor. Raza smiled grimly at the finished output displayed inside his tent.

"Sir, the boss is here," One of his men told him. Raza got up and went outside to meet his ally.

"Welcome, Mr. Killian," Raza greeted the tall blonde man in a dark suit who was walking towards him with a smirk on his face. When Luke was finally standing in front of him, he noticed the huge scar on Raza's face, "Compliments of Beca Mitchell." He gestured at his scar and his boss just shook his head in amusement.

"If you had killed her, you would still have a part of your face," Luke replied. "Now what is it that you wanted to show me?"

"Come. Leave your guards behind," Raza said as he made his way to his tent. Luke gestured his men to stay put and then followed Raza inside.

Luke entered and immediately saw the fully assembled metal armor. He crossed his arms and studied it carefully, "So this is how she did it."

"This is only her first effort. I'm sure Mitchell had perfected her design. Built something even better than this. She has made a masterpiece of death," Raza said. Luke continued studying the armor, looking at it piece by piece. "A man with a dozen of these can rule all of Asia."

Luke turned to him and Raza continued, "And you want Mitchell's power." He grinned at him and took a seat on his chair, "We have a common enemy."

Luke took noticed of the hole inside the armor and had thought about the arc reactor on Beca's chest. Once he had figured it out, he went to Raza in his seat. The Ten Rings Leader poured a drink for Luke and offered it to him.

"I hope we're still in business. I'll give you these designs as a gift and in return, I hope you repay me with a gift of Iron Soldiers." He gave him a grin and handed the drink.

Luke smiled at him and patted his back. Raza was feeling hopeful about their deal then he suddenly heard a ringing sound. He looked at Luke who was now wearing glowing earplugs and then he became paralyzed. He couldn't move his arms and legs, his entire body went stiff.

Luke switched off the source of the sound and took off his earplugs, "Technology has always been your Achilles heel in this part of the world." He watched Raza sitting still, turning pale, veins almost popping out of his head. "Your paralysis will only last for 15 minutes. Honestly, that's the least of your problems." He gulped the drink and nodded in approval, "Wow, this is good." He placed the glass on the table and left the tent.

He saw the formation outside. Raza's men were kneeling down with their hands up in surrender and half of his guards were ready to fire. "Gather the armor inside and the rest of it. Let's finish up here," Luke said as he walked towards his car. He ignored the sound of shots being fired.

He immediately called his personal assistant when he got in the car, "Set-up Sector 16 under the arc reactor. Recruit our best engineers. I'll be working on a project. I want a prototype right away."

"Damn it!" Beca grunted in frustration as the words "ACCESS DENIED" flashing on the screen.

"You have no access to the Stark Industries' server," Jarvis said.

Beca took a seat and thought about her next plan. Gulmira wasn't the only place where Luke sold Stark weapons. Beca was sure of it. So she wanted to access the company's files and find the latest shipments so she can destroy her weapons.

She can't hack the company system because of course, Luke had suspended her company account. With that, she took an empty flash drive and programmed it with a system that can hack the CEO computer in the office. She didn't really want Chloe to get involved in her missions but she doesn't know anyone else to trust.

After a few hours, she checked the time and it was 10 o' clock in the morning. Chloe must be upstairs by now. She buzzed the intercom and Chloe replied right away.

Chloe climbed down the stairs carefully and saw Beca fixing her armor. She entered her passcode at the glass screen and the door opened. She walked slowly towards the busy woman and frowned when Beca started to give her orders immediately.

"I need you to find out the latest shipments the company made," Beca stopped what she was doing to talk to Chloe. "I can't access it from here. It's in the Executive Files in the company server. If not, then it's in the Ghost Drive. This will help you get in. It's a locked chip," She said as she handed Chloe a black flash drive.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I need you to hack into the mainframe and copy all the shipment records you can find."

"And what are you planning to do with this information when I give it to you?" Chloe knew where this is leading to.

Beca sighed before answering, "Same drill. Luke has been selling weapons under the table. I locate where my weapons are and destroy them."

"Beca, You know I will help you with anything," Chloe scoffed, "But I can't help you if you're doing this."

"Look, that's just one favor. There's no art opening or benefit or…or papers to sign. There's the next mission and nothing else."

Chloe gave her a blank stare and threw the flash drive in one of Beca's containers, "If you're going to continue doing this then I quit." She started walking away from her boss.

Beca clenched her jaw, "Go ahead, leave! That's what everyone does!" She threw the wrench tool she was holding and immediately calmed down when she saw the scared look on Chloe's face. "You've always been here for me all these years. And now that I want to make things right and protect the people from my creation, you're walking away?" She let out a bitter laughter and looked at Chloe, waiting for her reply.

"You're going to get yourself killed, Beca. I don't want to be a part of it."

"I should be dead. I should've died in that fucking cave. But I'm here for a reason, Chloe. I just finally know what I have to do. And deep down, I know that it's right." Beca looked away from her and expected Chloe to leave but her assistant walked towards her and took the flash drive.

"Just be careful, Becs."

Beca nodded slowly in response and watched Chloe walk away from the garage. She can deal with Luke later but right now, she has to destroy all her weapons and put an end to this.