DRABBLES with kissing and all that good stuff below!
Sentinel could only dizzily watch as the Avengers strapped her in. They had moved her into their jet and were quickly taking off.
The doctor, Bruce Banner, as he had introduced himself while waiting for the stretcher, hooked her onto some medical equipment. "Vitals look good. How are you feeling now?"
"Same as before. Sleepy." Her ears felt stuffed as she heard her own voice.
Some of the others tensed at her voice. It hadn't escaped her attention that these people kept on glancing at her. They kept on looking at her when they thought she didn't know. Even if she didn't see them looking, she could still feel their eyes on her. Constantly.
"Well," Dr. Banner gave her another look over, "try not to fall asleep just yet."
"Okay."
He looked like he wanted to say something more. Or he was expecting something from her. What, she didn't know. He nodded, and sat on the side with his headphones slipped on.
The whir of the aircraft was the only noise for a long time. Sentinel felt her eyelids drooping with each passing minute. She was so tired. Her head despite the lightheadedness, was still pounding. The doctor had done something to her wound that stopped the bleeding for now, explaining he had a friend that would help with the rest.
"Hey, you don't look like you're following doctor's orders." A confident voice interrupted her near lapse into sleep. She landed her gaze on Tony Stark. "I'm Tony Stark."
She simply nodded, clueless as to what to say. "I know."
"So…what else do you know?" At what she guessed were glares from the others, he said indigantly. "What? Someone's gotta ask! Rip the band aid." He paused and glanced at her. "Do you know what a band aid is?"
She was almost thrown off by him, but recognized this was just him. This man had an odd way of breaking the ice. "I know what a band aid is."
"What is it then?"
"Someone who helps a music group." At his lost look, she shut her eyes and tried to not smile. "It's a bandage."
The covered snickering was almost as good as the lost face Stark had pulled before. Seeing him unsure of what to say to an injured, probably amnesiac person was gold. A couple of the others whispered to each other.
"Definitely her."
Black Widow, or Natasha, spoke up. "Come on, leave the patient alone to rest," she lowered her voice, "or you're just going to embarass yourself more."
"She is right. A warrior must heal." Thor said.
"Steve?"
He looked like he would be on Tony's side, with the way he kept glancing at her. Always a strained look on his face. But he said: "She's tired."
"Fine!" The genius threw his hands up. "I tried."
Despite all the joking, the others' interest had piqued when Tony asked. She knew they wanted to hear her answer. The tension was thick on the jet. Everyone hovered yet stayed away, unsure of her boundaries. They wanted to say a lot, she guessed. Tell her who she was, what she should be like. Sentinel sighed.
Should I cooperate? I don't even know if I did the right thing. She shifted and pulled at her injury. I did because I got shot and I wanted answers. But if what…Steve? Steve. If what Steve said was true, then I am supposed to make an effort to remember and be whoever it was I was before.
With so many thoughts milling about her head, she was surprised when she responded. "I know your names from what they told me. The rest…I remember bits and pieces sometimes. But it's different."
Different was one way to put it. Her dreams were just as confusing as normal dreams. Sometimes you're in a body, sometimes you're watching from afar. When you're in a body, you are who you are. If it's a particularly emotional dream, you might even wake up upset and believing whatever it was had happened. But in her special dreams, even if she was in her body, she felt like she was an outsider.
An outsider to herself. Which made absolutely no sense.
"Like you didn't feel whatever's happened?"
She turned her head. Hawkeye. Clint Barton. "Yeah. Like that."
At her expression, he shrugged. "I've had my share of mind messes."
"Focus on recovering. You can worry about the rest later." That's what Bruce had said to her before she was sent to the med bay beds.
It was a good call too. With the exertion of using her powers today, and getting shot, she was exhausted. On the stark white bed, she let herself reflect on everything.
The others had lingered around while Clint and her tissues were being rebuilt. She had been fascinated by what Dr. Cho was doing to her. A burning curiosity had came out automatically, like it had always been there. She had watched and listened with great attention as Dr. Cho explained how it worked.
The Avengers seemed to loosen up a bit as they noticed her fascination with Dr. Cho's work. Was she supposed to be like this?
Does she want to be like what she was like before?
Her head hurt, so she let herself be lulled into sleep.
"It's too good to be true." Steve said by one of walkways, elbows resting on the rail. He swiped at a tablet, but occasionally shot a glance at the med bay Corinne was in.
Bruce was just making his way down the stairs from the workshop. It had been a riveting conversation with Tony. "Corinne?"
The blond nodded. "She's back."
The scientist joined Steve's side. "Is she really?"
"I still think she's here. Even without remembering, she's there." It was not hard to see he meant it. Steve probably applied this to his other amnesiac friend too. "Did you see the way she looked at Dr. Cho?"
Bruce chuckled. "No one could have missed it." Her mannerisms were still so her. He feels more hopeful now than before, in the snow. "I missed her." He states honestly.
"So did I." And the rest of the team. Everyone could finally rest easier. "I want to talk to her, though. Be near her. Tell her everything. But she wouldn't…" He shook his head.
"It wouldn't help. I know what you mean. I think we all do, and it hurts to not be able to comfort her."
"Last thing we want is to alienate her."
When she blearily opens her eyes, she notices another presence in her room.
"The princess has awoken." They say. Smooth voice, slightly accented. She focuses her gaze on them to reveal a man with green eyes and long black hair that falls in waves.
Her tinge of annoyance at being called princess is overcome by suspicion. She puts a shield up just in case. "Did HYDRA send you?" How did he even get in here? Shouldn't Stark's tower have basic, if not the highest in the world, security?
"The program can't detect things that aren't here. Physically, anyway." The man uncrosses his legs in his regal lounge. "And nobody sent me. I am only here to tell you something."
Her lips pressed into a thin line. "Why should I trust you. Who are you, even?"
"I'm your subconscious." Did he actually wink?
She gave him an unbelieving, deadpan look.
"It seems you are still sharp after what happened." His mouth drew into a smirk. "I came here to tell you that after this…truly Midgard threatening issue, follow them."
What threatening issue? The twins? "Who's them?"
"You will meet them, soon enough. They will help you remember fully, among other things. Here's a helpful hint: they will not be calling you Corinne or Sentinel."
This person knew a lot about her life. She surprisingly didn't feel alarmed at his presence though. He could be dangerous, but he wasn't right now. "Did I know you-"
The door clicked open and a head poked in. Natasha Romanoff. "Hey, are you good?" Her eyes scanned the area, and completely passed over the man sitting in the corner.
"I'm good." She scruntinized the spy for any sort of reaction. None. The man sent her a mischevious grin when she glanced his way.
Maybe I have more than memory loss to worry about. I'm going crazy.
This is the least of your worries. The same voice replied, but in her head.
"May I come in?"
It was then that she noticed the redhead had been waiting patiently by the door the whole time. She nodded towards another chair.
Sentinel shot a quick look at the other chair in the corner. Empty.
Natasha's steps were silent as she sat down, placing a tray onto the table beside her. If she had heard her talking to herself, she said nothing. "Thought you would be hungry. We didn't want to wake you up last night, since you were so tired. But here."
On the tray was a muffin, orange, and a mug of something warm. Her hunger made itself known with a gnawing feeling in her stomach. Might as well, right? If they had wanted her dead, they wouldn't have gone through all that effort.
"Thank you." She took a complentative bite of the muffin. Some kind of fruit embedded into it made delightful bursts of flavor. "It's good. Did you make this?"
The agent let out a snorting kind of laugh. "Me? No way. Someone else did…" Natasha said the next words softly. "It was one of your recipes that you shared it with him."
"Oh." She continued eating and drinking in silence. Natasha was at ease with the silence, and somehow sat there without making Sentinel uncomfortable. It felt companiable and familiar.
"I had my memory wiped at least two times so far. I'm sure you know about the watered down history of my life."
Of course she did. Everyone knew that the Black Widow had been a lethal combination of spy and assassin, and when the SHIELD files had been leaked, everyone knew more. Wanda and Pietro often referred to the files as they explained the Avengers to her. The rigorous Red Room training, her operations, everything she's done…It wasn't that big of a leap to believe her.
"It wasn't like I forgot how to do things. I still had my skills. Certain things, sparring, weapons, dancing, I could still remember. There were parts of me that were still there."
"How did you remember?" Sentinel wanted to stop the longing looks on the others' faces. "How long did it take?"
"A long time." Natasha smiled sadly. "I did it gradually. You have to try to do things that feel familiar, and go from there. I also had people fill me in on things that happened. It's possible to remember. Do you want to?"
She took a long time to ruminate. "They called me Sentinel. I liked that name, but sometimes, it didn't feel right. I know you think the twins are bad, but they're not." She looked at Natasha unsure, but the woman nodded. "They were nice to me, and I felt fine doing the missions they gave us. It was just, I always had a nagging feeling that bothered me so much...But I do want to remember."
By now her hands were shaking badly and she gripped the mug with her hands. Natasha placed a hand over hers.
"I know some people who can help with this sort of thing. And you can always ask us." She patted her hand and stood up.
Natasha had her hand around the door knob when she blurted it out. "What if I can never be the same?"
Her response was another laugh. Although this time, it was slightly bitter. "You can't be the same, dushenka." A thoughtful pause. "We won't blame you for not being the old you."
Corinne wasn't supposed to go through this. She was innocent. A civilian with some unique abilities. A normal scientist who liked to bake occasionally. One of theirs. Natasha cursed HYDRA under her breath.
"How is the lady?" Thor asked. He was sitting tensely on the couch, which was occupied by the others. Steve, Bruce, and Clint looked up at her hopefully. Tony was hiding in his lab for some reason, coping in the way only he does.
They had all wanted to go in at once. It was endearing that the team cared, but it wouldn't lessen Corinne's stress. Several members of the team, cared significantly more, and Natasha would not have Corinne deal with that too on her watch.
Love is so messy.
"She's handling it well. For now. Corinne wants to remember."
Happiness shone in their eyes, followed by a solemn acceptance. It was going to be a long process, but they took in the responsibility.
"She needs some sort of psycharitrist." Natasha took a seat at the edge of the couch. "I could ask Hill for trusted SHIELD ones."
"I have some friends from Culver who went into being a psycharitrist." Bruce supplied. "I don't think she would respond well to one of SHIELD's." Not after Tiffany, Rumlow, and all the other HYDRA sleepers she encountered.
Steve agreed. "Sam is still running his group. If she wants to, she can join."
"At the very least, the scepter is here and about to return to Asgard. We can have some peace to help her in her recovery." Thor beamed brightly. "Do not fret, Corinne will be fine."
"Corinne Lin." The name rolled off her tongue smoothly. "Corinne Lin."
JARVIS had pulled up a hologram of the files on her. There was a general summary of her life. She studied and was studying science before everything had happened. She worked in a bakery with her friend Beth sometimes. Once in a while, a photo of her popped up. A picture of her graduating, a picture of her with her classmates, and a picture of her with the rest of the Avengers.
She expanded it. They were in what looked like a living room, huddled into a group. Everyone was tangled into a mess, but they were all smiles. We were all smiles. On the ground was a white mat with different coloured circles.
Twister. Her mind recognized. We were introducing Steve to the game.
She had slept too much, and now, at night, she was wide awake. Corinne left her room and tiptoed into the empty common floor. The only light came from the workshop. She heard two voices and she decided to investigate.
The glass door slid open for her, and she took in Bruce and Tony looking intently at holograms with their backs turned to her. She wasn't close enough to see what was on the projections, so she moved closer.
"JARVIS, run that trial again but this time-" Tony noticed her abruptly, but took it in stride. "Hi."
Bruce jumped a bit and turned to wave at her. It was almost funny how tentative the wave was. Everyone was so cautious, so careful. She felt a pang of annoyance.
The lab looked like a mess. Papers were everywhere on the floors and on the tables. In the middle of it all was the scepter.
"What are you doing?" She asked curiously.
"Just taking a look see at the scepter." Tony shrugged. "Pretty boring stuff." Bruce nodded, albeit after a bit of hesitation.
She had a feeling there was more to it. On one of the projections was an ongoing list of trials, on another were lines of code. Looked like a program or something.
"Are you sure that's all?"
"Positive. Hey, you're coming to the afterparty in a couple of days, right?" Tony brushed her off casually.
"Tony," Bruce said warningly. His eyes flashed to Corinne apologetically.
The pang of annoyance struck again.
It's possible to remember. Do you want to?
"Sure." She said much to their surprise. "What time is it?"
I did two drabbles this week chosen from the two who reviewed their vote!
One is Steve/Corinne, and the other is Loki/Corinne.
I'll probably do the other people next time I update. Make sure you vote for a prompt and name a ship. Describe if you wanna, it makes my job easier. I choose randomly :)
Here are the prompts:
1."Come over here and make me."
2."Have you lost your damn mind!?"
3."Please, don't leave."
4."Wait a minute. Are you jealous?"
5."I almost lost you."
6."Wanna bet?"
7."Teach me how to play?"
8."I think we need to talk."
9."Kiss me."
10."Hey, I'm with you, okay? Always."
11."Looks like we'll be trapped for a while…"
12."I've seen the way you look at me when you think I don't notice."
13."Just once."
14."I got you a present."
15."Marry me?"
16."You lied to me."
17."I think I'm in love with you and I'm terrified."
18."Wanna dance?"
19."Hey, have you seen the..? Oh."
20."No one needs to know."
Steve/Corinne #19. "Hey, have you seen the...? Oh."
He wouldn't have known if Tony hadn't asked about it.
The billionaire had looked like he was in a hurry, but his eyes had lit up when he saw Steve. "Hey cap, can you bring the shield to my lab for a quick minute? Thanks!" He bounded off to his labs without waiting for his answer.
Steve had furrowed his brows. Tony was one of the few people who had access to his shield in case he wasn't here. Why couldn't he get it himself? With a sigh, he headed to where it was being kept.
Kept behind glass almost as invincible as his vibranium shield, it shone as the ridiculous lights hit it. Everyone's gear was kept in this room, each in its glass casing like a mini pedestal. His shield was near the center (Tony had put his suit in the center, obviously).
Or it should be.
His eyes widened at the empty glass case. His mind ran with the possibilities. The case hadn't been broken or anything, so it had to be someone who had access.
"JARVIS? Who took the shield?"
"I'm afraid Mr. Stark has forbid me to inform you. I apologize," the program continued almost slyly, "however, may I suggest the main laboratory?"
"Thanks, JARVIS." He broke into a fast walk. He couldn't wait to tell Tony just how stupid this prank was, he seriously could have done better. How was this even funny?
The door to the lab automatically swished open and he declared in what he hoped to be the most sarcastic voice he could muster: "Hey, have you seen the…? Oh."
Oh.
A light sheen of sweat on her forehead, Corinne was blocking and throwing his shield at some bots Tony had made. She moved fluidly with his shield, much like with her own. She took down each bot efficiently in her own style of fighting. His heart skipped a beat at the sight.
At his entrance, she stopped, breathing heavily. Her face was flushed with exertion and she looked at him innocently as if she wasn't using his shield just now. "Steve? Hi."
Steve was at a loss of words. He closed his mouth that had been gaping and tried to think of what to say. He swallowed thickly.
Tony interrupted before he could get a word in. "Stevie! What do you think? Thanks for agreeing to let her use the shield so we could test out some stuff-"
"Get out." Steve said quietly.
"What?" Tony was still grinning that obnoxious grin.
"Get. Out." He bit out, voice strained.
Tony left triumphantly, and it bothered Steve even more because he knew what he had done.
Corinne stood with his shield still strapped to her arm. She had caught her breath, though her face was still tinged red. "I'm guessing Tony lied about this. I should have guessed. Sorry, I'll just-"
She made moves to remove the shield from her arm and give it to him. He stopped her.
"No, it's okay." It was better than okay. God, he felt like a teenager. "You, uh, looked like you knew what you were doing."
She smiled. "Yeah, I was thinking of making a shield in a similar shape to this one. The disks are getting boring. Kinda wanted to get a feel of what it'll be like."
He blurted before he could think. "Do you want to spar?"
"Now? Sure. Here-" She held the shield out to him, but he shook his head.
"Try sparring with it. I think it'll help more to practice with someone instead of bots." Besides, they sparred all the time.
Corinne shrugged and they fell into position. The two circled each other. He swung out, and she blocked it with the shield. She kicked, and he dodged. This odd dance went on until she tried to hit him with the shield while her arm was still still in the straps. He caught it and held on, but she abruptly pushed forward.
It resulted with her smiling in victory on top of him, shield held up in the air proudly. Her smile faltered when she noticed the intense gaze he had instead of a smile.
As they both breathed heavily, Steve saw that she too had noticed the feeling hanging in the air. She would be hopelessly oblivious if she hadn't noticed it all. Every training session, every spar, that feeling was there. He knew they both felt that skip in their heartbeats at every slight brush of contact they made as they fought.
Her dark eyes met his and she bit her lip absentmindedly. Steve glanced at them before looking back at her, the emotion undeniable in his eyes.
"Kiss me."
Their lips met almost as violently as their spar. They gasped for breath between their crashing of lips, everything hurried and full of adrenaline. The cool metal of the shield pressed against them as they continued.
"I should borrow your things more often." Corinne managed to mutter between their intense kisses.
Steve almost groaned. "Yes, please."
Tony whooped loudly just outside the lab.
Loki/Corinne #1. "Come over here and make me."
A glow of green out of the corner of her eye alerted her of Loki's presence. He made himself at home on her couch, not even saying a word.
Corinne continued poring over her notebook, used to his visits. He would often come and go for no apparent reason. A glance told her he was reading a thick, old looking book. His eyes flickered to meet hers.
"How's Asgard?" She asked.
"Boring." He grinned. "You should return."
"Are you kidding? After what happened last time?" She turned back to her work.
She could feel him come closer to her. Loki looked at her work with faint interest. Corinne continued writing, trying to ignore him.
The page she was working on disappeared and she looked up, not amused. Loki leaned on the wall on the other side of the room, sheet in hand. His smirked mischievously, eyes taunting. It made heat rise up to her cheeks.
Because of anger, of course.
"Loki, I really need to get this done." She said, trying to remain unfazed by the infuriating look he had on. That stupid, smug smirk.
"Come over here and make me." He drawled with confidence, enjoying her frustration.
She got up and marched over to where he was. He was still standing arrogantly with her work in between his fingers.
His eyes shone. "What are you going to do-"
She pressed her lips to his, hard. His lips parted in surprise and she tugged on it with her teeth. In her mind, she heard his shocked thoughts as he lost control over them. She could feel the spark of desire in his thoughts as he reached up to thread his fingers into her hair. Just as he kissed back she slipped out of his grasp.
Sheet of paper in her hand, the teasing look was now in her eyes. Two can play the game. "Made you."
"Are you going to continue?" He nearly growled, voice dark.
She sauntered over to her desk. Placed the sheet back on it, smoothed it out. "I don't know. Why don't you come over here and make me?"
Needless to say, she didn't finish her work.
Tell me your thoughts and what you want next, perhaps? ;)
07.24.15.
