Bucky took a step back. Auria didn't spare another moment to decipher his closed off expression, or the wounded ache in her chest at the way he immediately backed away, but instead turned towards her opponent.
"What's your name?" Auria found herself asking, the question dragged out of some dark part of her past that she didn't realize still hurt. She put her knife away, sliding it back into it's sheathe on her forearm.
"I am GX00530. We do not have names," he growled at her, rising to his tall height with a kind of defiant dignity that bespoke his hardships if not his age. She eyed the drying blood smeared across his cheek and into his dark hair, cropped painfully short as she could personally remember. The wound from where her knife had dug into his face was already healed but the blood emphasized the gaunt cheeks in his otherwise rounded face that held baleful green eyes. They bore into hers as if he could kill her with only his intent.
"I have a name. I think everyone should," Auria told him sorrowfully, ignoring the looks the gathered Avengers were giving her. They had straggled in to stand behind her with Tony whenever the fighting had subsided, carefully watching the Erasers capable of standing creep over to hover behind the alpha to watch the challenge. They were not bound by instincts, but by orders.
He was an Elite, in charge of this mission and although she could see their annoyance, none of them doubted that he would win. It seemed as if they were enjoying this minor inconvenience, using the time to lick their wounds and reassess the Avengers they had been fighting.
Looking at the peculiar pair standing in the center of a building circle of observers, even Auria would admit that the odds looked like they leaned in his favor, his hulking bulk a striking contrast to her small form. But appearances were deceiving, and just like Angel, her strength did not express itself openly.
She didn't have mutations, or gifts like the others. In fact it was astounding how completely not special she was except for the basic changes in DNA of course, but she had come to terms with what they had 'given' her. She was the opposite of gifted, she was the reverse. When she tried she could nullify gifts, absorb them and render them useless against her, leaving her with the advantage to put them down. And like the Elite's strength, her specialty was retrieval.
"Come on then, when you're ready," Auria called, moving away from Bucky's side and circling to stand alone. As soon as she moved, Steve moved into the space where she had been, grabbing onto Bucky and pulling him out of danger.
The Elite didn't bother to answer. He charged, confident in his ability to end this quickly. Auria dodged at the last minute, grabbing his arm and shoving, using the momentum from his size and speed against him with very little effort on her part. His impressive bulk buckled but he was surprisingly agile, rolling back onto his feet in time to swipe at her with a large hand. She leapt away from him, keeping out of his reach with the fresh experience of his crushing strength running through her veins and keeping her alert. She carefully angled her injured side away from him, carefully refusing to limp or wince as she felt it start to bleed.
She had compared him to a bear before because of his size, but now he reminded her of a bull, massive and dangerous and very quick as he charged again, muscles rippling with enough force to rip her apart. And like matador she knew that if he pinned her down she was done for. So she danced around him, her blood singing in her ears as she narrowly evaded his grasp and laid a punch into his face with a sickening crunch that only threw him off balance for moment before he was snapping around to find her with a mad snarl. He ignored the blood cascading from his broken nose as if he didn't even feel it.
He responded quickly, swinging in the air with a massive fist where her head had just been, so close she felt the rush of air on her cheek as she backed out of reach. Once again she ducked in under his swing and hit him in the ribs, knocking him to his knees from the force of the blow.
Her world narrowed down to her opponent, watching the telltale flicker of eyes or tense of muscles that warned her of his next move. She leapt away once again as he rose with a roar, expending all of his strength in trying to catch her. She laid into him, carefully dealing a blow before letting him follow once more, and she knew immediately when he started to slow, and then he was panting. She saw the sense in his eyes slip as he furiously tore after her, wrathfully reaching for her and losing it whenever she moved out of reach again.
Confidence building, she kept careful control of her breath, letting him come to her once more before she twisted away from his fist and kicked out hard enough to deliver a blow to the back of his legs that sent him back to his knees. He roared in anger, and she felt a thrill of triumph whenever he lost control, basically handing her the victory. She heard the whispering around them as she stepped away, as the spectators started to realize for the first time that she wasn't only a real threat, but was possibly winning
She knew what to do to cause pain without permanent damage, and now all it would take would be to attack hard enough that he would stay down, to finally make her strike and get her hands on his skin, but then he started laughing. The tenor sound was too pained to be maniacal, but there was no sanity in the hysterical sound.
It made the hair on the back of her neck stand up, shivers shaking her skin as if to get the sound away from her before it could seep in and take root in her soul.
"They said you'd never last, and you know why? Because you're a coward. Always running away," He told her and although she felt the words like a psychical punch to the gut, she let the insult roll off of her, setting it aside to where she could brood over it later. Right now she didn't have the time. She ignored the jab, focusing on the mission as she leapt skyward, only now using flight to her advantage. She was tiring him, but now she would strike.
"They said you were broken. You were supposed to be flawless, but here you are, fixated on protecting people that don't care about you."
This time she felt the words sink their hooks in, tearing at something vulnerable deep within her and leaving her exposed like a raw nerve. She snarled, pressing her wings down with enough force to send her rushing towards him, feet first to kick his chest with enough force to kill a normal man. He merely kneeled into the blow with a grunt, eyes glinting at goading her into an attack.
She kicked off, bunching her muscles as she went flying backwards, but her wings snapped open to catch her in midair. Her fist swung, hitting him hard enough that she heard his jaw crack, and then he was stumbling.
This wasn't part of her plan, but she couldn't stop herself as she used her wings once more to gain height and follow up with a twist and a kick to the ribs using the strength from her wings. He staggered away as she rose into the air, flying away to clear her mind from the rage that urged her to keep going, to break her careful control that kept her from just snapping his neck, but as she circled back he lunged with startling speed, wrapping a large hand around her ankle and slamming her into the pavement.
She screamed in surprise and pain, her wings flailing to catch some air but he just grunted and heaved once more, dragging her back to the ground. She scrabbled to get away from him but he easily yanked her towards him, sliding her across the pavement with enough force that she felt it scrape her skin raw.
Auria grasped at whatever she could, struggling to keep out of the reach of his impossibly strong hands, and she felt her nails crack but there was no stopping him as he flipped her over and punched her as hard as he could in her side, exactly where not a day before an Eraser had dug in his claws. Her back arched in agony, wings spasming in under her where they were painfully sprawled in under her body.
Her scream of anguish was cut off by her lunch heaving up her throat, and she desperately turned to the side so she wouldn't choke on her own vomit. She frantically clasped her hand to her side, feeling the blood seeping through her bandages and over her hand, leaving it wet.
She caught sight of not only Barnes, but Rogers as well as they charged across the clearing towards her and she held up her hand to stop them, catching sight of it stained scarlet in front of their horrified faces. She was gratified to see Rogers stop, reaching out to throw his arm in front of Bucky's chest, forcing him to halt as well. Before Bucky could rip his arm off, Auria managed to croak out, "You can't, we'll lose them."
Steve frowned in indecision, watching her determined face as she settled her blood soaked hand onto the hilt of her knife, but Bucky's arctic stare didn't waver from her face, her words not managing to deter his decision in the least. She must look like crap if he thought she needed saving, she certainly felt like it, but she didn't have time to spare worrying about him, only a moment flickering of desperate hope that his respect for Steve would keep him back, and then she was twisting into the alphas hold, wrapping her leg around his waist and letting the feral animal inside her loose. She felt her hold snap with a rush of rage, as she surged closer to him instead of farther away, and as she brought her face closer he must have seen it as well because his eyes widened in horror swiftly changing from confident to terrified.
It was too late for regret as she buried her knife into his shoulder with a bloodthirsty grin, and she felt his arm holding her down go limp, but she felt a distant curiosity as to what kind of monster she looked like. She used her leg to flip them over, shoving the knife farther in as she slammed his back into the ground. Taken by surprise and pain it was almost too easy to overpower him. She felt light headed from blood loss and with that same cold distance to her emotions she realized that she was going to lose consciousness if she did not end this now.
Her wings arched above her, feathers spreading as she loomed over him but then she released her hold on the knife, pressing the flat of her hands onto his cheeks. Then she pulled, not with her body but within something deep within her chest, and she felt the rush of pain that meant she was tugging his strength from his body. She grit her teeth against the sensation, unwilling to whimper but then it was over and he was just an average man lying beneath her, beaten and unable to fight back against her now.
He stared up at her in torment as he felt his strength leave him, and she could see the dull flicker of surprise that she didn't kill him in his green gaze before it faded into the misery that was losing. His nose was broken, the bruising spreading in under his eyes, and blood was smeared across his face, old mingling with the new of a split lip and yet she knew it wasn't psychical pain that caused the look in his eyes. No, he was used to that. This was the deep suffering of having been defeated, an alpha that was not the best was nothing. Her rage slipped away as she stared down into his face, her scarlet hand and ragged cracked nails against his battered face a heart wrenching sight as she realized even now the School was winning. She was still hurting people because of them.
"Your strength will come back," Auria promised, and she saw the flicker of relief that broke through his haze of despair.
"You won," he told her thickly, throat working as if he choked on the words and she considered him for a moment more before standing, offering him her clean hand.
"Have you ever heard about Hercules? Greek or Roman myth, I'm not too sure. Anyway, he was known for being the strongest man alive, and all of the good things he did with it," Auria told him and he watched her warily, his hand swallowing hers as he took it and let her pull him to his feet. Once standing he towered over her, and yet it looked like he wanted to disappear into himself, body hunching as he somehow managed to look at her from in under his lashes.
"I think it would be a great name if you wanted it," Auria told him and she saw his head lift up in surprise, eyes darting back to where the gathered Erasers watched them in disbelief.
"They won't let me have a name," he told her in under his breath and she lifted her hand to rest on his shoulder, wincing as she stretched her side. He flinched at the touch, and she felt her heart break for the man-child that had just tried to kill her.
"They don't have to know. Or, you don't have to go back, these guys," Auria told him, gesturing toward the Avengers now watching her in shock, before finishing, "well, they're supposedly the good guys. From what I've seen, I think they really are."
"They'd find me. I can't, they'd find me and take me back and it would be so much worse," he told her, ducking his head and she made herself remain by his side as he clenched his fists. She knew that his strength was still gone, but that didn't mean he wasn't able to hurt her without it. Instead he relaxed, drooping until he started to kneel at her feet, and she jumped at the motion. She looked down at his dark head, gently touching it before turning to face the gathered Erasers now watching them for any signs of weakness. She straightened, looking each of them in the face. Some of them watched her warily, or ravenously, and a few she couldn't tell what they were feeling at all, but all of them met her eyes, defiantly waiting for what she would do next.
"I have won, he is at my feet, and I order you to stand down," Auria told the gathered Erasers, the hair on the back of her neck standing up as an unearthly growl started around her, enough joining that it seemed like she was surrounded by the creatures.
"Enough!" Auria yelled, wings snapping open and making a few closer to her flinch, and shocking them into silence.
"You are not bound to me, but he is. He is going to stay where he is, and you are leaderless. And so, I suggest you fall back and you report like the lapdogs you are," Auria spat, unable to keep the disgust from her voice as an Eraser let his face elongate into dog like jaws. Oh, it was wrong of her to judge them all, but she hated them, every bloodthirsty one of them. She was such a hypocrite.
"Go back to your cages, and tell them that you have lost, or else none of you will make the return trip," Auria warned, voice deepening threateningly and she saw a few glance at each other in reassurance before backing up a few steps, and still they remained. She saw their eyes stray to the Elite at her feet.
"Do any of you want to question my right to this victory?" Auria asked, stepping around the boy, for he was still a boy no matter his size, and standing in front of him.
"Do you want to challenge?" Auria dared them, spreading her wings to remind them who they were dealing with but inside she was dreading that someone would. She was barely on her feet, the blood from her side now trickling down her leg and leaving her lightheaded. And yet she felt her blood start to sing once more at the thought of a fight.
"Don't worry, we'll tell them all about what happened, Auria," someone called from her left and she tensed, head whipping around to fall on a woman. Her black hair was cropped short as well, but it had been some time since it had been cut and so it was growing in something of a pixie cut around her feminine face, the attractiveness of her features abruptly gone when you looked into her empty hazel eyes. Auria felt a shiver down her spine as she looked into her familiar face, and heard her new name on her mocking lips.
"I know you will," Auria agreed, forcing herself to sound confident of her actions instead of terrified at the thought and with those parting words the Erasers fell back, following the woman as they faded down back alleys and quickly disappeared.
"Should we follow them, Cap?" Auria heard Tony ask from behind her but she was too tired to care about his decision. She swayed on her feet reaching down to clasp the Elite's shoulder, and he looked up at her with his wide green eyes. She could see his age in how easy to read he was, or perhaps that would have always been his personality, for she could see his fear, and distrust, and most surprisingly concern. She tugged on his shirt, motioning him to stand and she saw him reluctantly move out from in under her hand.
"So, what do you think?" Auria asked as he stood and he hesitated, eyes flickering over to where Steve and Tony were heatedly debating in under their breathes. The spies were nowhere to be seen, and although that would normally have disturbed her, Auria was surprised to find it a relief to know that they were off keeping careful watch. Bucky Barnes however was stalking towards her, and Auria was very much not okay with the dangerous ice in his expression.
"Heya, might want to tone down the danger vibes. I'm trying to convince him you're the good guys," Auria said instead of a greeting, and although she was trying to give off a casual attitude she felt her wings bristle in discomfort. She actually needed some more reassuring that they were the good guys, not that admission would help her new friend.
"I never claimed to be one of them. What the fuck were you thinking? He just tried to kill you, what the fuck do you think you're doing right now? " Bucky demanded, and Auria immediately responded by crossing her arms and firmly planting her feet into the ground. Their eyes locked, and Auria refused to back down, even as she felt the tension building. Although he was twice her size psychically, and actually he was probably twice Bucky's size as well, the Elite stepped away from the former assassin. Auria leaned in front of him, psychically blocking Bucky from getting to him. That only made Bucky's glare fiercer.
"Bucky!" Steve chided as he came to stand next to his best friend, but he didn't make any other moves to stop the argument, only waited for his friend to decide what to do next. Auria glared at him as well.
"Look, if you haven't noticed, I'm bleeding, and gross, and hungry, and I really don't want to explain myself to you. Oh, wait, I just realized that I don't have to! Bye!" Auria told them, swinging around to turn her back on them and stride away, but that was when dizziness decided to strike. Luckily her new friend decided to grab her arms before her knees buckled. She felt rather than heard Bucky move towards her at the Elite's motion, but he seemed to realize what was happening only a moment after, whether from Auria's limpness or the boy's terrified expression Auria didn't know.
"Come on, let's get you back to the tower," Steve told her, and she glared as soon she was being supported by a super soldier on each side, taking her arm to lead her away like a delicate victim. She might've let them, for the free food if nothing else, except that she caught sight of a pair of wide scared green eyes.
"Let me go, I'm not going anywhere," Auria told them, yanking out of their hold and ignoring the very angry glares she was getting in return.
"I'm not just leaving him so that they can come back and get him. Do you have any idea what would happen to him? Even if he didn't mean to, he's a deserter now," Auria told them, and if the fierceness in her voice didn't convince them the visible shudder that wracked the boy's large frame did. Steve's eyes softened, expression turning sympathetic as he took in his genuine terror.
"He just fucking tried to fucking kill you," Bucky growled, and Steve rolled his eyes, running his hand through his hair.
"Well, Buck, hate to bring this up but you did try to kill me once," Steve gently reminded him and Bucky froze, muscles tensing all over as he realized what Steve had said.
"Low blow asshole," Bucky spat, looking over them all with something akin to hatred. Steve flinched as Bucky stomped away, muttering about not caring if they were all murdered. Walking past him, Tony moved to companionably slap him on the back, freezing in the track with his hand in the air whenever Bucky turned to glare at him, and Tony actually took a step back, before continuing his walk over to the group.
"Woah, what's up with, Robocop?" Tony asked them as Steve mournfully stared after his retreating back.
"Go, I'll talk it out with Tony," Auria told him and Steve was off like a shot, gratefully squeezing her shoulder before bounding after his upset best friend.
"Oh no, he left me with the decisions, what did you do to them and what is the giant still doing here?" Tony asked her suspiciously, and Auria grinned at him.
"Tony, we're going to find him a home!"
Tony's indecision on the matter was quickly ended by a call to Pepper. After making him hand the phone to Auria, which surprised the younger woman, Pepper had then asked her exactly how dangerous he was, how much danger he was in, and why they should help him. Pretty much the kind of logical questions that Auria expected until the woman requested to speak with him herself.
"My name?" He had asked in surprise, eyes flickering to Auria before he answered with a small smile, "I think I'm going to be Hercules."
Afterward it had only been moments before Pepper had told Tony that they were indeed going to help this boy, she didn't care how big he was, Tony she knew what she heard, and that they were going to do it spectacularly. It didn't take long for a car to find them, ready to chauffeur them all back to the Avengers tower. Pepper would be home as soon as possible to get him settled in until they could figure out more permanent arrangements.
Not surprisingly, Hercules was tense the entire ride, and if Auria wasn't struggling to stay conscious then she would have had a whole lot more sympathy for the poor guy. He was probably going into shock, his whole life was changing, he was putting his life on the line, and Tony Stark would not quite pestering him, but as it was, Auria let Stark handle the situation as long as he didn't insult the boy too much. Auria felt herself drifting off, guiltily remembering Bucky's expression and then retreating back as he stalked off. He was just being stupid.
"Auria? Auria?" Tony asked, voice dropping in concern and she blearily blinked her eyes open at the sound, realizing he had been repeating her name for some time.
"Hmm? Sorry, 'm just tired," Auria told him, focusing on his worried face peering into the car. Only then did she realize that they had made it to the tower and that the others had already gotten out and were waiting for her.
"Hey, we need to get you checked out," Tony told her and she shook her head, a little too violently if the immediate pounding told her anything, although that could be from her run in with the pavement earlier.
"You look like you were run over by a truck, and then backed over by a bigger truck, before being roughed up by a gang of vigilante feminist strippers. Believe me, they're real, and they're as vicious as they sound. You're new friend needs a checkup as well, so don't chicken out and be a bad example," Tony told her, in turns humoring and bullying her until she sighed in defeat and let him lead her over to the elevator.
She unconsciously brushed against Hercules as they walked, stretching her wings to gently remind him that she was there and that he was okay. He seemed to take his cues from her, following obediently as long as she wasn't objecting but he couldn't relax as he was surrounded by strangers and thick steel.
"I hate elevators," Auria murmured, not sure if it was too herself, a complaint to Tony, or a reassurance to Hercules, but her eyes fluttered shut on their own accord as she leaned against the wall. She was far too tired to maintain a level of panic that this situation demanded and so instead she felt herself drift off, in the kind of half rest that left her aware of the movements of those around her.
As soon as the elevator opened so did her eyes, taking in the floor they were on and the man waiting on them. Dr. Banner hovered outside the door, nervously looking over their new acquaintance but Auria was relieved to find that he was not wearing his lab coat. In fact, they weren't on the floor with the labs either, and they were instead on the floor the Avengers had gathered on earlier. She hummed her approval before taking the lead and guiding Hercules into the living area, nodding at Dr. Banner on her way past him.
"Are you giving us the checkup, Banner?" Auria asked, dropping the title in the hopes that it would bother Hercules less, but she had to admit that she was quite nervous herself.
"I'm not really that kind of doctor, I have a doctorate in nuclear physics, but I know the basics of course, and it seemed like I'd be the safest if," Banner told them, hesitating as for one of the first times it wasn't him people were being worried about losing control. He nodded to Hercules, whose green eyes were focused on the man as if he was one of the scariest things he had ever seen. It unsettled Bruce, who was used to being looked at that way because of the Hulk, and not because of who he was as Bruce but here they were, both of them watching him as if he would start maniacally laughing while pulling on his lab coat.
"Okay," Auria said simply, unsure if she knew what she was doing, but when she looked over at Hercules he was absolutely terrified. She stepped forward, pushing away her nerves to at least seem confident to the boy now watching her like she knew everything. It was actually unsettling, but she knew what it meant to beat him. It psychically meant that she was better than him, trained into them from birth or whatever the hell you called what they did to them. If you lost, you weren't good enough, you were weak, and you obeyed. So here she was, the one who ripped away whatever certainty he had in life, and yet she was the only thing he could be certain of anymore. It was almost painfully ironic that she was the basis for what he thought was okay now, when she didn't even know herself.
Bruce had laid out a medical kit on the coffee table where earlier they had eaten, and Tony strolled over to the bar, popping his neck as he poured himself a drink. His casual attitude, and the way he seemed to completely ignore Hercules seemed to put the boy at ease even though Auria noticed Tony always kept him at the edge of his vision, and the bracelets that could call his suit were visible on his wrists. Auria moved into the room, walking beside Bruce with Hercules following a step behind and as Auria looked over the medical gear she fought back her nausea at the sight of needles.
Auria peeled her borrowed t-shirt off of the wound, gritting her teeth as the blood sucked it into the wound and then a fresh wave of pain assaulted her as she rolled it up in under breasts. She perched on the arm of the couch, waving to Hercules that he could sit down but he moved to place his back to the wall, where he could observe what was happening and the entrances as well.
"What happened?" Bruce asked with wide eyes, moving to stop the bleeding with gauze as soon as he caught sight of the wound. Auria looked over at Hercules, who was now staring at her side, before shrugging, accidently jostling Bruce as he worked.
"Sorry, um, Herc over there got me good. Seriously, he was quicker than I thought he could move for a guy his size. Almost had me there at the end," Auria told him, and she felt Bruce freeze, tensing as he looked over at Hercules hovering at the edge of the room. Auria quickly pat Bruce on the shoulder, trying to reassure him that everything was alright, but it was with the hand currently covered in dry blood and when he caught sight of it Bruce cursed, with surprising force for a man that Auria had never seen raise his voice, although to be reasonable she had only known him for a day or two.
Tony's eyebrows shot up as he turned at the noise, catching sight of the blood soaked gauze that Bruce threw down before grabbing a clean square and pressing that against her side. Tony strolled over with his newly poured drink and handed it to the girl, who took it in surprise.
"Looks like you need it more than me, kid," Tony told her and she felt herself gratefully smile before throwing it back all at once, almost choking on the burn. It felt smooth going down her throat, distracting her from the needle Bruce was suddenly threading but not for long.
"Hey! Bucky said I didn't need stitched up!" Auria yelped in surprise, and Bruce's eyes narrowed behind his glasses.
"Well, maybe you didn't before, but you do now," he told her firmly and she kept herself from sighing by gritting her teeth. She kept the moans of pain back the same way, and by the time Bruce was done pulling the metal through her skin her jaw hurt so bad she felt like her teeth were going to fall out. The smell of disinfectant was enough to make her skin crawl, and if Hercules wasn't there watching her every reaction she would have ran away and denied the help, but as it was she just took a deep breath and clenched her hands.
"Okay, all done, let's get this bandaged up," Bruce told her soothingly, his voice soft and kind in the same manner that she heard before and Auria wondered if he enjoyed being part of the Avengers when he seemed to be such a gentle soul. The door opening interrupted her musings however and she looked over to find Steve and Bucky entering in a much improved mood. That was until he caught sight of Auria on the couch, still bloody and being stitched up as Tony moved to pour her a second drink. Hercules moved in the corner, reflexively moving to stand closer to Auria at his hostile appearance and his expression sharpened, turning aggressive.
"I got them back, no thanks to you two. And where are Clint and Natasha? Last time we left them two on their own, we ended up having to make a formal apology to the governor of Pennsylvania, and they never even left New York. We can't trust them alone together," Tony told them as they entered, seemingly choosing to ignore the tension they brought with them and Auria gratefully took the second drink and threw it back as Bucky pointedly stared at the side of her face. She refused to look at him.
"Alright, Brucie, what are we doin now?" Auria asked a little too loudly, squinting as she realized what she called him and then she peered suspiciously at the shot glass she was still holding.
"What is this?" Auria asked the room, waving it precariously in Tony's direction. He easily snatched it out of her hands and laid it on the table, his smile growing as he realized her swaying might be because of tipsiness instead of blood loss.
"Whisky, I thought you knew," Tony answered her, and really she had drank it like a pro but she whistled in surprise, tilting her head back as Bruce watched her in alarm.
"I was just going to suggest disinfecting all of your scratches, but that seems to be it," Bruce told her and she nodded, slipping off the arm of the couch. She landed lightly, easily walking around the doctor.
"Thank you, Dr. Banner, sir," Auria told him sincerely, moving to offer her hand to Hercules. He stared down at it apprehensively.
"Come on, I have to set your nose at least," Auria told him and his gaze darted around the room before he shuffled forward and took her hand. It shook within her own but she gave it a gentle squeeze, pressing on his shoulder to get him to sit on the chair closest to him. No one was behind him, and he was able to watch them all like before, and so he settled down without a complaint, bringing his head slightly below hers.
"There we go. Couldn't reach you. Now, I am going to straighten your nose, and it is going to hurt, okay?" Auria told him and he nodded, peering up at her worriedly.
"They had to reset bones before. Sometimes they would re-break them, and you couldn't make a sound or you were disciplined," Hercules told her and she sighed, nodding at the comparison.
"You can make any sounds you want. I just didn't want you to punch me in the face," Auria told him and he froze, hands clenching in his lap.
"Dammit," Auria muttered realizing she had triggered something she hadn't meant to.
"Okay, you know what?" Auria asked, kneeling before him so that he had to look down in her face. She heard someone shuffle behind her, worried about her being so defenseless against the person that was her enemy not hours ago but that was the point she was trying to make. He watched her in shock as she gave up her superior position.
"I don't want to hurt anymore, I don't want you to hurt anyone anymore, and I don't want you to go back to them. But that's the point, isn't it? It doesn't matter what I want. Because from now on you are going to make your own choices, Hercules. You are incredibly strong, and you are going to have to choose what you are going to do with that," Auria told him earnestly, and she felt the moment his resistance broke and he realized that she was serious, that she wasn't just trying to use him.
"I don't know what to do," he whispered back, and Auria grinned up at him, her expression blinding in its happiness and he blinked in surprise.
"That's the joy, Herc. You can do absolutely anything," Auria told him, and she was blaming the alcohol for the sting in her eyes. He tentatively smiled back.
"Okay then, lets fix that nose," Auria told him, and when she placed her fingers gently on his face and straightened it he didn't make a sound, but he stared into her eyes the entire time, smiling softly when she winced in sympathy.
"Anything else? How's your shoulder?" Auria asked remembering the knife she buried there and when he shrugged she pointedly glared until he shrugged the neck of his shirt over to show the wound. It was healing, but much like her side it seemed like it was deep, and would take time. She quickly rose, taking the disinfectant and gauze from Bruce whenever he offered them to her and she gently cleaned to wound, guiltily taking in the way he held his arm so as not to jostle it.
"We're even," he told her, evidently reading her face and she smirked, gently flicking him in the forehead. He blinked in surprise but didn't react badly and so she finished up and took the extra stuff to the trash, trusting the superheroes to be pleasant enough to leave him in their presence out of her sight for at least a minute.
She walked around the island to the sink, glancing over to find Hercules stiffly watching Bucky, whom was actively watching him as well. Steve was leaning on the wall beside his friend, watching him, and Tony was actively ignoring all of them for being idiots, and was instead helping Bruce put away the medical kit.
Auria sighed, wondering what in the world she was doing, before she washed her hands, cleaning the flaking blood off of her skin and digging the dirt out from in under her nails. She splashed the water onto her throat, making a thorough mess but finally getting a relief from the itchy dried blood from Savage's scratches. She found a paper towel to wipe the rest of it away, gently rubbing the tender skin before she felt someone walk up behind her. She tensed, turning her head to see dark hair and an angry expression. She sighed in relief, turning to lean against the sink and cross her arms to face the annoyed Bucky Barnes.
"What?" Auria asked, not waiting for him to verbally attack her and his icy eyes narrowed. They really were a lovely shade of blue, and would probably be stunning if he every smiled instead of trying to melt her with his fury.
"Don't be such a child," Bucky snapped.
"Excuse me?" Auria asked indignantly and she noticed the moment he regretted speaking without thinking about it, because it was the same time she shoved into his personal space and glared into his eyes. His widened in surprise, but then his lips thinned, refusing to back away. That left them inches from each other, and her breath was warm against his face.
"You are the one acting like a spoiled child, James Buchannan Barnes," Auria told him, and it was the second time she used his full name against him, but she wasn't finished, "that boy in there needs help, and deserves it much more than I do, and you are throwing a fit because he happened to have landed a punch or two. Well, news flash, you hurt people every time you go out into the field."
Auria saw the minute flinch at her words and she immediately followed up, trying to remind him that she wasn't blaming him, "Every one of you do. Your precious Captain America hurts people!"
At that his eyes narrowed but she was so done with him and his mood swings.
"Bucky! That's what you do! You fight the bad guys, you save the good guys, but sometimes they're neither. Sometimes their lost somewhere in between because they never got the chance to choose," Auria told him and at some point her anger had disappeared to leave pleading as she begged him to understand. She so hoped he would understand.
"Did you choose?" Bucky asked her softly, and if she hadn't been so close she would have missed the heavy words, but she couldn't have missed the heated look in his eyes. She moved away in surprise, startled to find how close they had gotten.
"What do you mean?" Auria asked, stumbling over the words nervously and this time is was Bucky that attacked at the sign of weakness, stepping closer and making her back into the counter. She slammed into the cabinet, eyes widening as he pressed in far too close and all she could see was his blue blue eyes boring into hers.
"I want to know why I should trust you at all. I don't know anything about you and yet you want me to believe in you? Just give you a chance?" Bucky asked her gruffly, and when she inhaled sharply she felt his chest against hers.
"Sometimes you just have to, or else you can't trust anyone and you end up all alone," Auria told him, aching from experience and at her words his eyes dropped to her lips, for the barest of seconds as if reading the word 'alone' there. Her traitorous eyes followed suit, looking at his lips that were only inches away from her own. Auria felt her cheeks heat up, the warmth traveling through her and making her try and press farther away from him to escape the sensation but he was observant and he caught the motion. He stepped away, striding back through the kitchen and out the door without glancing at any of the gaping heroes he left in his wake.
Auria's blush deepened as she realized they had been watching them, and although Tony's dark eyes danced with the promise of teasing, Steve's blue eyes were as shocked as if he had just seen them undressing each other and trying to go at it on the counter top. Bruce quickly turned back to Hercules, whom he had been quietly talking to as Auria was interrogated and at the break of silence Auria stomped back into the living room and threw herself down onto the couch.
She scowled at them all, daring them to say anything but Steve just grinned down at her before causally strolling out. They all knew who he was going to find. She carefully made herself relax, laying her head on the back of the couch. Auria blamed the whisky. She let herself be soothed by the gentle murmur of Bruce's voice, and the wonderful silence form Tony. Thank God he didn't say anything, she would probably murder him.
"So, do we need to have the talk, because although I have years of worldly experience I'll probably have to look up how birds mate. I'm just not sure if robot and bird sex is legal?"