Guys. Twenty-five THOUSAND views. That. Is. Incredible. Thank you all SO VERY MUCH. I never thought this was possible for this little story, so thank you again and times infinity. Whether you are a reader, a follower, a favoriter, or a reviewer (props to Amelia St. Claire, Saint of the Sinners, zombie-hunt, and my two Guests for their reviews!), you are all so important to this story and to me... Love you bunches!
Okay, so a couple things: unfortunately, I cannot reply to Guest reviews personally, so I will do so here. It was asked if I will have a main plot point... my main plot was Esca trying to forget her past and realize she could be loved. That was honestly the main plot, as most of my other fics have super hard plots, but I wanted this one to be more fluff than anything. This chapter, posted below, is perhaps the climax of Esca wondering, "Can I be faced with my past and walk away okay?" And that is about the extent of my plot. The rest is fluffy marshmallows... Hopefully that will be okay. :)
On another note, I have posted another story! It's called As You Wish, Your Majesty, and takes place during the 1st Avengers movie in which Loki is trying to take over Earth. My summary is this: Verity Noble has always believed in one thing: order. Everything needs order, including humanity. When she discovers a God of Mischief is planning to rule Earth, she grows intrigued about if it is truly possible. After some time, however, she begins to wonder... does she support him because she wants to bring order to the world? Or is it something else? (Might be M eventually).
I'm going to be posting a second chapter up there whether I get feedback or not, just because I don't want it to be a "one and done," ya know? But feedback from you lovely people would be greatly appreciated!
SO SORRY for the long note. Hopefully I didn't bore you to death! Have a MARVELous day, everybody! :)
The next morning, when Esca awoke, she yawned, stretched, and kissed Pietro good morning only to notice that he had a troubled look on his face. Seeing this, she frowned and asked, "What's the matter?"
He sighed and tried to smile. "Nothing you need to worry about," he murmured gently. "It'll be all right."
"You sound like you're trying to convince yourself," she exclaimed, her puzzled frown deepening. "Pietro, you know you don't have to hide anything from me. What's this all about?"
Pietro sighed, but pulled out his phone. There was a message from Tony on it that read, Previous HYDRA agent located in New York. FRIDAY said there were bombs in his bag. Dude's name is Alaric Otho. We should probably track him down today before he tries anything explosive.
Esca read the text, her eyes narrowed. But when she read the name, she gasped and lurched out of bed, promptly falling to the floor with a THUMP!
"Esca Rarity!" exclaimed Pietro, grabbing her hands and pulling her back onto the bed. He saw the frightening shade of white she had become and wrapped his arms around her. "What is it?"
"Th-th-that's the g-guy who experimented on me," she exhaled in horror, her blue eyes wide. "I thought I got rid of him forever." She buried her face in his shoulder, panicky thoughts of what would happen to her friends if they crossed him filling her mind.
"The ten of us will make sure he doesn't come anywhere near you. He cannot possibly be a match for all of us together."
"It's not you losing to him I'm worried about," murmured Esca softly. "Otho has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, Pietro. I want to go and protect you all."
"No. I will not let you do it. You've suffered enough."
"I would rather face him again and protect my friends than remain here to wait. Do not try to convince me to stay, Pietro Maximoff. I may not be an Avenger, but I can protect them."
Pietro, however, narrowed his eyes and sighed, "Esca Rarity, you have not had enough training to come with us. I would not be able to bear it if something happened to you. Please… stay here."
Hearing the pleading in his voice, Esca sighed and retorted, "Let's see what the others say about this."
Pietro thought that was fair, which explained why, an hour later, she and Pietro were explaining Esca's wish to Clint, Tony, and Steve about her going with them to intercept Otho.
"I know this man," insisted Esca. "I know what he's capable of. I know how to protect you from him."
Tony just chuckled. "We can take care of ourselves perfectly well, blondie."
"It might not be the best idea for you to come, Miss Esca," sighed Steve, running a hand through his hair. "I—we—don't want something happening to you."
Esca sighed through her nose. She loved the Avengers, but at times they made her feel like a child. "Steve, come on. I don't want to wait here without knowing what happens to you."
"And the truth emerges," chuckled Clint, shaking his head. "You don't have any real training. Stay here, Esca. It'll be better that way."
She crossed her arms and glared at the ground. She had been certain that Tony and Clint would be gung-ho for her to go, as they were the ones persisting that she needed to learn how to fight.
Steve put a hand on her shoulder. "If we gave you a way to observe our progress, would that be all right?"
Again, Esca sighed. But knowing this was the best she was going to get, she nodded.
Steve smiled and said, "That's settled, then. Stark, you got something for Miss Esca?"
"You bet. Follow me, blondie!"
A few minutes later, she was led into a laboratory that was home to a dozen high-tech devices. There was nonstop beeping throughout the room. "Here we are, my fun lab," avowed Tony, waving his arms grandiosely. "Now to find… where the hell did I put it?"
He rummaged around for a moment; Esca peered at metal tubes attaching two spherical structures together. She had no idea what it was, but Tony, without even looking at her, pointed and said, "Don't touch that."
"I wasn't going to," she exclaimed defensively.
"Just checking. A-ha! Found the little bugger." With that, Tony moved toward Esca and, with a pair of headphones in his hand, continued, "This will allow you to keep in contact with us. It's two-way, so we can hear you as well. Hopefully it'll be satisfactory."
Gratefully, Esca grabbed the headphones and fitted them. Then Tony asked, "Can you hear me?"
His voice echoed both through the device and through the room. So she nodded and replied, "Yes, I can hear you. Thank you, Tony."
"No problem, blondie," he replied, but he noticed the look on Esca's face. His eyes narrowed, and he murmured, "What's up? Talk to Uncle Stark."
Esca just sighed and shook her head. "It's nothing."
"Uncle Stark wants to hear it," he simpered, whapping her lightly on the shoulder.
Esca chuckled, but finally conceded. "I wanted to go with you because I want to prove that I can be useful. After nine months of living in this Tower, I want to do something in return. I want to help the team."
Tony's face changed from confused to sympathetic. "Ah, blondie," he sighed, "you're already part of the team. You might be new, but you're still an invaluable part of us. Haven't you figured that out?"
"It's not about being considered as part of the team—it's about proving it," she insisted, trying not to sound exasperated. After all, he did just give her the headphones.
"You don't need to do that. You've already proven yourself a dozen times over." With that, Tony smiled—actually smiled—and declared, "Now let's go back to the others. We'll set off in a few minutes, and we'll be quick. Then we can take you to the pizza place for dinner."
Despite her dismal mood, Esca perked up a bit at the mention of the pizzeria.
Tony noticed and exclaimed, "There you go. Now come on. You've gotta come cheer us on if you want your ticket to pizza."
With a hopeless laugh, she followed Tony to the common area.
An hour later, Esca was drearily sitting in the common area, listening intently to the Avengers' progress.
"Find him, Cap?" asked Tony's voice.
"Not yet. I'm relatively certain he's in this building though. Maximoff, can you do a quick perimeter check?"
"Way ahead of you, Rogers. He's inside."
Esca sighed and mumbled into the headset, "Be careful, guys. You don't know what he's been experimenting with…"
Natasha's voice exclaimed, "What do you mean, Esca?"
"He's been advancing beyond the technology of regular explosives. He's been figuring out how to implant Strucker's artificial intelligence into these explosives to cause maximum damage."
"Mini-Ultrons. Great," muttered James.
"Why didn't you tell us this before, blondie?!" questioned Clint.
"This is why I wanted to go with you," she grumbled instead. But then, she answered, "I only remembered just now, Clint. I haven't thought about the man in seven years, much less recalled what he researched. At any rate, he was far off when I left. He might not even have succeeded—this might be a test run for him. But you should stop him all the same. Bruce, you're good at tracking gamma radiation, aren't you?"
"That's one of my specialties."
"This isn't that, but it's something of that caliber. If Otho has succeeded with artificial intelligence, there will be a telepathic connection within all the explosives he places. Wanda, you might be able to read the connection too. You two are going to have to locate all the explosives before they're in place, or a big mess is coming."
"On it. Thanks, Esca."
"Isn't it Rogers's job to be the leader?" teased Tony.
Esca just chuckled. "I'm doing what I can to help, Tony."
"The lady knows what she's talking about," replied Steve, a laugh in his voice. "Who am I to stand in the way of that? She obviously knows more about Otho than we do."
"Dear God, do I," she growled. Clenching her fists, she muttered, "Whoever shoots him for me gets a dozen chocolate chip cookies tomorrow morning."
"Oh, now it's a party!" exclaimed Clint. "I want those cookies!"
"In your mortal dreams, Barton!" retorted Thor. "Those treats of Esca's are one of my favorite things, and I will be the one to claim them."
"Legolas, Point Break, don't be upset when Uncle Stark gets—"
"SHIT!" shouted Pietro's voice. There was a loud BOOM from his end—Esca gasped at his exclamation and was about to ask if he was alright when Pietro's voice sounded again. "Well, I found him. And he's got a grenade launcher."
"Where are you, Maximoff?" asked Steve.
"What, no scolding on the language?" taunted James.
"Ah, shut up, Bucky. Who told him about that, anyway?"
"Are you okay, Pietro?!" asked Wanda's immensely worried voice.
"I'm fine, Wanda, don't worry. But he's on the third floor of the gray, deserted building."
"Coming now," declared Tony. "This'll take about five minutes."
Esca wasn't so sure about that, however. She frowned and bit her lip, trying to recollect all the different experiments that Otho had attempted while she had been at the HYDRA compound. His main focus had been her—human experimentation. Secondly, he worked on the explosives. Thirdly… what was thirdly?
This could be important; she had to figure it out fast if Tony and Pietro were ganging up to whale on Otho.
"Closing in," announced Tony's voice. "Anyone else close by, or are Maximoff and I the only ones getting cookies?"
"We'll see about that, Metal Head," muttered Natasha. "I'm getting close too."
Esca closed her eyes in concentration. Did he even have a third focus? Maybe he didn't; maybe she was going about this wrong. How did Otho react whenever he was attacked?
"Surrender, Alaric Otho," declared Tony's voice authoritatively. Esca could all but see his extended hands, the glowing light from his metal suit's palms.
Here it was. Otho was intercepted and trapped. What would he do? Esca suddenly remembered how he'd defended his fort; defenses were always placed around it. That had been one of many things that made Esca's escape difficult. And whenever he had discovered she was escaping, he launched those traps—
"Get back!" screeched Esca. "Get away from there, now!"
"Esca Rarity, what—"
A huge explosion sounded and two screams echoed in her ears.
"NO!" she shrieked, unable to help it any longer. She couldn't just sit in that godforsaken Tower anymore. She had to find them. They were somewhere downtown, close to civilian life but not close enough that any of them were in the immediate impact range.
She sprinted out of the Tower, not grabbing a jacket, not telling Pepper or Zelda where she was going, and burst into a cab. "Downtown!" she practically screamed at the driver. "Extra if you get me there as soon as possible!"
"No, blondie, don't come!" shouted Clint's voice. "It's all right, we've got this! Otho escaped, and we don't want him hurting you!"
"Too late for that, Clint!" snapped Esca. "I'm coming whether you like it or not! Tony?! Pietro?! Say something!"
But there was nothing, and Esca pounded the seat next to her.
The driver—who was speeding a little—looked in the rearview mirror and raised an eyebrow. "Are you alright, Miss?"
"No, no, I'm not, it's a long story, and please just get me downtown, please."
He nodded and replied, "Downtown is only eight minutes away," before focusing back on the road, figuring it would be better to not get involved.
Those eight minutes lasted an eternity. The Avengers' were frantically trying to locate Otho, as they knew he had more explosives and was probably off to spread his success with civilian life. Steve and Bruce were leading the expedition, although Wanda wanted to remain behind and look for her brother.
"Have you found them yet, Wanda?" queried Esca thickly. "Are they alive?"
"I don't know," sobbed Wanda. "I can't find them anywhere. I think the blast might have propelled them somewhere else. I can't read them. I can't—they can't be…"
"Wanda," said Natasha's voice calmly. "You might be too panicked to get a proper reading. Let's not jump to conclusions yet. And if they are hurt, Esca is on her way to heal them. It'll be okay."
Natasha's voice was immensely soothing, and Esca felt guilty that she hadn't used her power to calm Wanda. She had been much too worried herself to think… But maybe now she'd be able to do so. "Natasha's right, Wanda. I'm certain they'll be alright. They might just be unconscious."
There was a short silence, and then Wanda sighed, "Okay."
"There we go," murmured Steve's voice. "Now, on another matter, I still haven't located Otho. Where is everyone? We need to establish search perimeters."
At last, Esca was at the edge of downtown, close to where she figured the Avengers had been. She remembered that Pietro had said something about an old, gray building—her eyes landed on a building that had a couple windows blown out of it.
"There," she murmured to herself. She threw the cab driver a fifty-dollar bill and ran.
When she arrived, Esca ran straight for the third floor. When she got there, she saw Tony lying on the ground, immobile. She raced for him and quickly removed his helmet to see that his eyes were closed. He didn't look hurt—but the impact of the explosion might have overwhelmed him.
She carefully removed the headphones from her head… she didn't want to make any of the other Avengers sleepy with the song she had in mind for Tony. Knowing he wasn't grievously hurt comforted Esca, but she wanted him to rest all the same, and so she sang:
Falling snow and silver glass
Set yourself free
Quiet rain and soft sun-ray
Let yourself dream
Tony sighed contentedly; she smiled somewhat and repeated the short song to make sure his sleep would be a peaceful one. Small bursts of golden light sparked from her fingertips and settled upon Tony's face before disappearing.
Once she finished, a voice behind her said, "You really did have powers."
Esca closed her eyes in defeat. She knew that voice.
"Unbelievable, how you found yourself here," it continued. Footsteps echoed across the floor, and Esca carefully grabbed her headset. She couldn't directly tell the Avengers that Otho was here, or she and Tony were dead. She kept her gaze on Tony's face as she fastened the headphones back into place. "You've grown to embrace your powers, my little monster. Although you are not so little anymore, are you? You are, what? Twenty?"
"Twenty-one," she answered, taking great care to speak into the headset.
"Esca?" questioned Bruce's voice. "What are you talking about?"
"It's been many years, hasn't it," reminisced Otho, his green eyes somewhat bloodshot. "I am amazed that after all this time, our paths have crossed again. Now—come with me."
He grabbed her arm forcefully, but Esca dug her heels into the ground and exclaimed, "I will not go anywhere with you, Otho." She heard eight gasps across the line, but ignored them. "I have found my place. I will not be dragged back to the beginning."
"Esca?!" asked Steve's worried voice. "Esca, are you alright?"
She wished she could reply to Steve. But she couldn't.
"But it will be the ending," mused Otho, glaring at her. "Your powers must be placed in a more complacent vessel. If you do not come, I will kill Tony Stark once and for all. Now, little monster."
"Step away," said another voice that Esca hardly expected to hear. She looked back to see Vision, his eyes determined, as he floated just above the ground. "Leave Evanesca be."
Otho did not look impressed. "And who are you to keep me from my property?"
"She is not your property," replied the android calmly. "She is my friend. And I will not let you take her."
Esca smiled at Vision, as he'd never outright said that they were friends before. She was very glad to hear it now.
"You won't," mused Otho with a sneer. "Well, I—"
There was a sudden blast of yellow light, and then a ringing in Esca's ears. She blinked once or twice before being able to see again; when she could, she noticed Vision was standing in front of her, peering at her concernedly. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Oh, yes," she replied, grinning despite herself. She was very glad that Otho was gone, and that Vision had said they were friends. She very much liked having friends. "Thank you for helping me, Vision."
"Vision? Is she safe?" asked Steve.
"Quite," reassured the android. "She is here with me and Stark. He will be alright too."
Esca looked around—seeing it was indeed only them, her shoulders drooped in defeat. "Where is Pietro?" she squeaked, darting for the window and gazing out of it despondently.
"Down here," grumbled Pietro's voice. Esca, hardly daring to believe it, looked down. And there, in a large pile of bushes, lay Pietro. She gasped, seeing that his leg was bent at a bad angle, but when he saw her, he smiled. "Hello there," he called up to her. "I don't suppose you could lend a leg? I would've kicked Otho's ass myself, but…"
"Language," teased Esca. "Or has Steve not taught you proper etiquette yet?"
"You know what, Rarity—"
Esca burst into laughter at Steve's indignation—just then, she felt herself being lifted down the three flights. She turned and saw Vision, smiling somewhat, as he helped her down.
Once she was on the ground, Esca smiled at him and murmured, "Thank you." Then she turned to Pietro, who was looking at the android strangely, as if assessing him.
Apparently, he was, because after a moment, he sighed and grumbled, "All right… you saved my girlfriend… so I guess I give you permission to date my sister…"
Esca couldn't help but laugh at both Pietro's reluctant remark and at the pleasant surprise on Vision's face. But she knelt down and began to sing the very song she sang when she'd healed Pietro those nine months ago—once she was done, Pietro shakily stood up and murmured, "See, Esca Rarity? Look at you. You're part of the team."
The others seemed to hear his comment over the headphones, and they all started agreeing. Esca was happier than ever—her relief became greater when she heard Tony's very conscious voice declare, "Okay, good game everyone. I guess Vision wins the cookies."
"DARN IT!"
"I wanted cookies!"
Esca laughed. "I'll make everyone cookies, all right? I'll just make Vision a couple extra."
That earned a resounding cheer; Tony, still in his suit, leapt down next to Esca, Vision, and Pietro and exclaimed, "And I think you, blondie, have earned yourself a trip to a pizzeria."
She beamed at that; then the four walked back to where the other Avengers were waiting.