A/N: ... Long time no see. If Senior Year didn't kill me, ENDGAME CERTAINLY DID! No spoilers, obviously, but I will ask if you want Coral to be among the "Snapped;" I could write Infinity War and Endgame either way (I like either way, but if she was "snapped," I could give her a truly heart-wrenching death scene).
Not BETA read, so if you see any errors or want to see Coral face off against an Avenger I didn't show, please review!
Leipzig Lynchpin
"Viper! Good to have you back!" Rhodey said, throwing out his arms as Coral threw herself into them. It was the first time she'd seen most of the team in-person in almost a year, and while she was hoping for their reunion to be in better circumstances, it was good to see him nevertheless.
"Good to be back, Rhodes. Vision. Maria, didn't expect to see you here," she said, hugging them all respectively.
"Stark thought I might come in handy," she said, decked out in a suit similar to her S.H.I.E.L.D. jumpsuit, but with the Avengers' crests instead of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s.
"Well, having another hand is always useful," Coral said, before moving to hug the next Avenger… only to stop when she realized who it was. She took a deep breath and stared at the other person. "Hi, Nat."
Natasha herself appeared to be similarly frozen, her eyes drinking up Coral's leaner, slightly taller form. They stood there, staring at each other, for an eternity encompassed in a minute, before they both engulfed each other in a hug. "You should've let me break you out," Nat whispered.
"We would've been going to war half a year sooner."
"But we would've been together."
Coral didn't say anything, just closed her eyes and allowed herself to be held by her friend.
"… -can assure you, King T'Challa, your father and your people will receive justice; we have the best of the Avengers working on bringing them in. In fact, here's our team now," Tony's voice came up from behind them and the duo reluctantly separated to face the new King.
"Everyone, this is King T'Challa of Wakanda, also known as the Black Panther. Your Majesty, I have the pleasure of introducing you to War Machine, Vision, Black Widow, and the Viper. We have another member of our party who will be meeting us at the Leipzig-Halle airport, but not to worry, he's as tough as the rest of us."
"Who'd you bring in, Tony? Matt, Luke, or Danny?" Coral asked.
"You'll see," was all he said, clapping her on the shoulders. "Good to have you back. Viper."
"I was under the impression Miss King was still in custody," King T'Challa said. Coral bit back a wince; this was not how she wanted to meet the ruler of Wakanda.
"I took a plea deal; my compliance for a clean slate. I work for the UN for a couple years and then I'm free to live a normal life or keep superheroing for them."
King T'Challa frowned thoughtfully. "Where I'm from, that's called slavery."
"I like him; I really like him," Coral said, wholeheartedly.
"Fantastic, now suit up. Coral, come here, I got a new suit for you," Tony said. All the Avengers filtered out to get their gear as Tony set a briefcase down on the table. He opened it to reveal a brand new Viper suit and sword. Coral felt tears fill her eyes as she turned to him. "I've been working on it since you left; I had to guess your new measurements but it also has a vacuum seal so it can stretch and contract to whatever size you need." She traced a finger around the fanged belt, similar to Black Widow's except that her's was orange with two large downward facing triangles and two smaller upward facing ones to indicate a Viper's fangs. "We can make adjustments later, or scrap the whole design if you want; I just wanted to make sure you were prepared-" Tony stopped as Coral threw her arms around him and hugged him as tightly as she had hugged Natasha. He froze for a moment, before slowly reciprocating.
"I missed you, Tony," she said.
"I missed you too, kid," he said.
They stood there for a moment longer before he left her to put on her snake skin.
It fit perfectly.
"Okay, Plan A is convince them to stand down and come quietly. Vision, I want you to stay back, only get involved if they make a break for it, even if you see Wanda. The last thing we need is unnecessary escalation," Tony said.
"A little late for that, Tony," Viper said.
He chose to ignore that quip. Instead, he and Rhodey shot an EMP dart into a helicopter Captain America and the (former) Winter Soldier were running towards.
"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird?" Ironman said.
"Definitely weird," War Machine agreed.
"Hear me out, Tony. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this."
Black Panther was clearly having none of Cap's excuses as he leapt over a truck to make his presence known. "Captain."
"Your highness," Captain America nodded.
"Anyway, Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?"
"You're after the wrong guy."
"Your judgment is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday."
"And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't," Steve said.
"Steve… you know what's about to happen," Black Widow said as she, Viper, and Maria Hill stepped up. "Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?"
"Why does there have to be any kind of punching?" Viper spoke up. All the Avengers and heroes looked to her. "Tony, Steve, you know this is wrong. All of you do. And we're all friends here. Can't we talk this through?!"
"They're helping a terrorist-"
"They won't listen-"
"Like you would!"
"Yelling at each other isn't going to solve anything!" Coral yelled.
Silence.
"All right, I've run out of patience. Underoos!" Ironman called and Viper's jaw dropped as she saw a familiar figure in an unfamiliar red and blue suit web Captain America's hands and relieve him of his shield. "Nice job, kid."
"Thanks. Well, I could've stuck the landing a little better. It's just the new suit… Well, it's nothing, Mr. Stark. It's-It's perfect. Thank you," said the far-too-young voice of 'Spider-Man' AKA Peter Parker AKA the one person Coral asked Tony to take care of if she never got out of prison.
"Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation."
"Okay. Cap… Captain. Big fan, I'm Spider-Man."
"Yeah, we'll talk about it later. Just-"
"Hey, everyone. Hey, Coral! Er, Viper!" Peter Park- er, Spider-Man greeted.
"… good job," Ironman finished. Viper, however, was not finished.
"Tony, what have you done."
"Look, we needed all the help we can get-"
"So, you bring my fifteen-year-old rookie friend into this!? I told you to look after him, not get him involved in a civil war against a much more experienced batch of heroes."
"You know, I'm right here," Spider-Man said.
"Look, you can yell at me later, can we just focus on the task at hand?" Ironman said in his no-negotiation voice he'd been using since they arrived.
Viper opened her mouth to rip Ironman a new one but was cut off by Cap noting, "You've been busy." Viper had to agree; instead of having spent the previous 24 hours trying to reach out and negotiate, Tony had just escalated the fight by recruiting more replacement Avengers.
"And you've been a complete idiot. Dragging in Clint. 'Rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place." Viper frowned at that; she had clearly wanted to leave if the Vision-shaped, 40-storeys deep hole in the Avengers complex was any indication. "I'm trying to keep… I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."
"You did that when you signed," Cap said and Viper couldn't help but feel a little unease in her stomach. Ironman bristled.
"Alright, we're done. You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us. NOW! Because it's us or a squad of J-SOC guys with no compunction about being impolite. Come on."
But Captain America gave no answer; instead, he seemed to be listening to a voice on coms. Before anyone could ask again, he raised his webbed hands and an arrow sliced through. "Alright, Lang," Cap said to seemingly thin-air.
"Hey, guys, something-" Spider-Man was cut off by a figure appearing to deliver a kick to his chin, taking the shield with him. Viper's jaw dropped again when she realized she recognized the suit from her S.H.I.E.L.D. history classes.
"Whoa. What-What the hell was that?" War Machine asked.
"I believe this is yours, Captain America," the new Ant-Man said.
"Oh, great. Alright, there's two on the parking deck. One of them's Maximoff, I'm gonna grab her. Rhodey, you want to take Cap?" Ironman.
"Got two in the terminal, Wilson and Barnes," War Machine said, only to be distracted by Cap hitting him with his shield.
"Barnes is mine!" the Black Panther shouted.
"Hey, Mr. Stark, what should I do?" Spider-Man asked.
"What we discussed. Keep your distance. Web 'em up."
"Okay, copy that!"
Viper blanched. "Spidey, no, I need to talk to you-" But he was already swinging on his merry way. Viper groaned; things had somehow gotten worse.
"King! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Thaddeus Ross said over her com. She rolled her eyes.
"My job; you wanted the Viper and you've got her, but I'm going to do this my way."
"You bring them in or you will be brought in, and don't think you'll be going to the cushy prison you were in before-"
"You know what, fuck you, Thaddeus. You're an idiot with a name as stupid as your mustache," Viper said, plucking the earpiece from her head and crushing it in her grasp.
She'd made her bed; now to really jump in it.
Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch surveyed the pile of cars under which they'd buried Ironman.
"You know, considering how large a factor property damage was in the Accords, you're all doing a great job of proving their point," a voice came from behind them. They turned, arrow notched, bow aimed, hands and eyes aglow. The Viper put up her hands. "Relax; I'm not here to fight, unless you are. Besides, I know Scarlet Witch can throw my ass any day."
"… I thought you signed," Scarlet Witch said.
"That was the only way I could get here. I couldn't very well let my team tear itself apart without me there, could I?"
"So, whose side are you on?" Hawkeye asked. Viper looked away, before looking back at him with a sad smile
"My family's." His mouth twitched and he nodded. "You'd better do something amazing for Laura and the kids to make this up to them." He chuckled. The Viper turned to Scarlet Witch, the woman who had arguably started this Civil War. "Personally, I think you made the right moves in Nigeria and leaving the compound… but if you hadn't helped Ultron and brainwashed the Hulk, the Accords probably wouldn't exist." Wanda winced. "Still, I cannot abide by unlawful imprisonment and am honorbound to at least try to make peace with another Jewish woman so… clean slate?" The Viper asked, extending her hand. Scarlet Witch looked at it, before shaking it firmly. "Okay. So, I'm going to play damage control and dig Tony out from under the cars, and then I'm going to talk the rest of them down to the best of my ability. But I need you guys to work with me on this."
"No promises," Hawkeye said as they ran off.
In all honesty, Spider-Man's first outing as a (potential) Avenger wasn't going great; sure, fighting a guy with a metal arm and a guy with carbon-fiber wings beat picking up the odd bike-thief in Queens, but then he'd been hooked by a weird drone and it had literally gone downhill from there, crashing through a window before he was dropped into a pile of boxes. He shook it off… to see Coral glaring down at him.
"Hey, Spider-Man, how's it hanging?" she asked.
"Coral- I mean, Viper, great to see you! … Can you help me up?" he asked.
"… Give me one good reason why I shouldn't smack yo' ass all the way across the Atlantic."
"… It's physically impossible for you to do so?" Coral's glare morphed into that of The Viper and Spider-Man felt his senses tingling with danger, suddenly doubting his assessment of her abilities.
"Say that again and see. Now, did Tony kidnap you? At this point, I wouldn't be surprised. Though I'm sure it's more likely he just didn't tell you-"
"Look, you're always telling me I need to be more aware of what's going on outside of New York," Spider-Man said.
"COMING TO GERMANY TO FIGHT THE AVENGERS WASN'T WHAT I HAD IN MIND!" Viper screeched.
"I'm fighting with the Avengers!" he said. "I'm not a kid anymore, I need to move up in the hero hierarchy!"
Viper opened her mouth to respond-
BOOM!
They both jumped as a fuel truck hit the tarmac and exploded, nearly hitting half of Team Ironman.
"Shit!" Spider-Man cried, immediately swinging back toward the action. The Viper sighed.
So much for not escalating things.
Team Cap reunited in their break for the Quinjet, only for a fizzing stream of energy to slice across the runway, stopping them in their tracks. The Vision hovered overhead.
"Captain Rogers. I know you believe what you're doing is right. But for the collective good you must surrender now," Vision said as Team Ironman rallied beside him.
"And who decides 'the collective good?'" Viper said, walking onto the scene as though she weren't standing exactly in-between all the most powerful beings on Earth. "You? S.H.I.E.L.D.? HYDRA? The United Nations? Or Thaddeus Ross?" She shrugged her shoulders and started walking the line that Vision had carved into the runway. "Today, it's the Winter Soldier and by extension half our team. But what if tomorrow it's the Hulk? Or Thor? Or me?" Silence. She sighed. "This fight has been a long time coming; we've always had our differences, but we found ways to come together. We're all friends here…" She faltered, staring at Black Panther and Ant-Man. "Except you two. I… don't actually know you two."
"Viper, meet Ant-Man," Falcon said.
"Wonderful to meet you, Viper, my daughter's a big fan," Ant-Man said.
"… Right. Hi. Point is, I don't think any of us really want to hurt each other."
"I do," Black Panther said.
"You're new, you don't get a vote!" Viper hissed.
"What are you saying, Coral?" Ironman yelled, voice like flint.
Coral turned and locked eyes with a rigid Tony and Rhodey, a stony Natasha, a frowning Maria Hill, and an understanding Vision. "I'm sorry… but I can't be a part of this. And I don't think you want this either."
Silence.
"… Barnes killed people, Coral," Ironman said. "We can't be above the law, even for our friends."
Coral faltered, and looked down the lines. On one side: Ironman, War Machine, Black Panther, Black Widow, Vision, Spider-Man, Maria Hill. On the other: Captain America, Falcon, Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Ant-Man, Sharon Carter. No friends. Not even allies. Just heroes, with different missions who were in each others' ways. She closed her eyes.
"What do we do, Cap?" Falcon asked.
"We fight."
"This is gonna end well." The two teams strode towards each other with grim determination etched on their faces.
"They're not stopping," Spider-Man said.
"Neither are we," Ironman said. Everyone broke into full sprints/soaring.
" … No… No, no. Guys! STOP!" Coral screamed as they collided.
Captain America blocked Ironman's punch as he landed as Black Panther pounced on the Winter Soldier. Hawkeye shocked Vision. Ant-Man shrunk to avoid Black Widow's kicks, then grew to take a flying leap at her, only to still get kicked. War Machine flew after Falcon. Cap pushed Ironman back into the path of an exploding arrow. Spider-Man swung through the air, struggling to evade vehicles projected by Scarlet Witch. The Winter Soldier landed more blows on Black Panther. All as the Viper looked on in horror.
Hawkeye and Black Widow battled it out, bow vs batons, not unlike a fight on a helicarrier all those years ago. Hawkeye managed to flip Black Widow onto the tarmac, pinning her down with his bow.
"We're still friends, right?" she asked.
"Depends on how hard you hit me." To her credit, she didn't hit him; she scissor kicked him off of his feet and back to her own. As she aimed kick his head, her foot stopped, surrounded by scarlet energy. Scarlet Witch projected Black Widow into some nearby crates.
"You were pulling your punches," she noted. Clint nodded sheepishly.
Black Widow coughed, recovering from the wind being knocked out of her by a telekinetic witch. She lunged to go after them, only to be stopped by the Viper with her sword sheathed but her gaze every bit as sharp and her grip every bit as unyielding. Black Widow quickly maneuvered out of the hold and the two began to spar, Black Widow attempting to get back to the fight and the Viper fighting to keep her out of it.
"Do you really believe what they're saying? All this conspiracy about a fake doctor?" Black Widow asked, side-stepping blow after blow.
The Viper stood rigid as she shot out her blows, at odds with her normally fluid self. "Winter Soldier or not, he has a point. There's more going on here. We should trust him on this."
"Trust someone who was brainwashed by HYDRA?" Black Widow scoffed, getting Viper in a hold.
"Hey, I was brainwashed by HYDRA," Viper reminded her friend, flipping out of the hold. "Besides, Steve trusts him."
"Steve's been hit in the head a lot over the years."
The Viper responded by headbutting Black Widow, sending them both to the ground in pain.
"It seems to be going around," Viper groaned, as she watched all the other Avengers inflict blunt force trauma on each other.
If only cognitive recalibration could snap her teammates out of this ridiculous fervor they'd whipped themselves into.
Maria Hill and Sharon Carter went head-to-head but they were evenly matched in skills, speed, strength, and durability. So, they resorted to other methods to catch each other off guard.
Locked in a grapple, Maria said, "I'd say I'm surprised you turned, but I've seen Steve shirtless, so-"
"I'm not the kind of person to choose love over duty," Sharon said.
"Then why are you doing this? Why give up your second chance?"
"Because it's what my aunt would've done if she were here today. She taught me that much."
On that beat, Sharon broke the hold, flipped Maria to the ground, and punched her across the face.
"She taught me that move too."
The Black Panther leapt out of the passenger boarding bridge Scarlet Witch had thrown him into to prevent him from clawing the Winter Soldier's throat out. He bristled started charging, only for the Viper to ride by, hooking her with her punjab lasso and dragging him away from the fight. He sliced through the line easily so she whipped around, drawing her sword, before charging at him like a knight at a joust. "Apologies, your Majesty, but you're the most likely person here to straight-up murder someone and I can't let that happen."
She swung at him as she raced by, only for him to flip over her and knock her off her cycle. She went sprawling onto the tarmac, but quickly recovered and started swinging at him, only for him to side step all her swings before catching her sword easily in his vibranium gloved grip. He pulled the sword from her grasp… and stared at her.
"Why? Why do you defend him? You have fought harder against HYDRA than almost anyone."
Viper took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for my betrayal, your Majesty, but I cannot serve the people of the world if I don't stay true to my values."
"Is defending murderers a part of those values?" he hissed.
"Look who you're talking to, your Majesty; I have no right to judge anyone on their actions, especially while under HYDRA's tentacles." He stopped for a moment before, launching right back into the fray.
The Viper followed closely behind.
You all know how it goes; Ant-Man turned GI-Ant-Man, Spider-Man tripped him like the AT-ATs in Empire Strikes Back, Captain America and the Winter Soldier got to the Quinjet (leaving their teammates behind), War Machine tells Vision to aim for Falcon while tending to Scarlet Witch.
Coral barely has time to scream: "Vision, DON'T-"
Too late.
Falcon dodged the blast.
The blast hit War Machine right in the arc reactor.
Rhodey went into a free fall.
Coral pushed Vision away and pulled Scarlet Witch to her feet.
"Wanda, you need to catch him; he doesn't have any back-up systems."
Scarlet Witch nodded, closed her eyes, and held out a shaking hand… only to open her eyes and stare on in horror.
"He's too far out. I can't catch him."
Coral didn't even wait for Wanda to finish speaking before she called her Viper-cycle to her and took off toward where Rhodey was falling. If she could get there, maybe she could use some of her emergency landing foam. Or take the inflatable raft out of her cycle and try that. Or-
Rhodey hit the ground.
Tony and Sam landed a moment later. Tony pulled Rhodey's mask off. Sam said something, likely an apology. Tony blasted Sam away. Coral pulled up on her bike a moment later.
"Tony, is Rhodey okay?" she asked. He didn't answer. "Tony, is he okay!"
"GET BACK!" he shouted and she stumbled backward, startled. Tony didn't even look at her, just held Rhodey in his arms.
She just stood there, eyes shifting between Tony holding his oldest friend's unconscious form, to Sam lying in the grass a few feet away, to the burning airport, to the Quinjet as it finally cloaked.
This was exactly what she had been afraid of.