When the days are cold
And the cards all fold
And the saints we see
Are all made of gold
When your dreams all fail
And the ones we hail
Are the worst of all
And the blood's run stale
I want to hide the truth
I want to shelter you
But with the beast inside
There's nowhere we can hide
Demons, by Imagine Dragons, from the album Night Vision, released in 2012
The next few days were spent doing a medley of things. Sight-seeing with Pepper, seeing the London Eye, Big Ben, and various other structures the city was known for. Sparrow had seen the city several times over of course.. due to various different things, but she'd never had the time to truly sightsee. It had been a luxury she'd been repeatedly denied.
So taking this time now to do that, with someone she looked up to- considering that Bucky was lacking a partner, and Natasha was far too intimidating- was enjoyable. Although, for the sake of appearances and trying to avoid having her face splashed all over the newspapers- because Pepper was as much as a celebrity as Tony was- she kept her hair firmly tucked away, under a cap or under a hood. Whatever suited the day most.
She switched her accent to American, playing the role of Pepper's PA in order to avoid too much attention. Other times, she spent with her brother, who was slowly becoming more and more calm and trusting around her. It wasn't 100%, and they met inside his house more often than not, the gun resting near him at all times. Not that Sparrow minded because she would have been concerned if he wasn't cautious.
In fact, that was what they were doing right now. She was settled into a wooden chair, nestling against it as Luke was hovering around the kitchen, making two hot drinks. His wife was out with some of her friends, leaving just the two of them plus his two children, who were teenagers like she thought. Today's topic on, The Weapon Family Tree was parents and relatives.
Previously, they had skirted around the topic, as he was still unsure about the relation. But now, they'd finally decided to broach it. And he had a series of files in his hands, old and torn, paper aged yellow and the top stamped with the extremely cliché 'top secret' stamped along the top in Russian. He slid the file across, placing the cups down as Sparrow opened the top, skimming the top, which was written in cursive Russian.
"Our parents, if you call them that, were not very good people., You probably assumed that after what they put you through, their firstborn. Their names were Alexei Lipovsky & Sabah Novikoff."
He spoke of them with distaste, making Sparrow think that they had perhaps done something to him. He didn't seem like he had powers.. but it wasn't like she could tell that kind of thing just by looking at someone. As if he could read her mind- which she knew he couldn't, because of that whole develop a power so Wanda can't access our minds or tamper with them thing- he shook his head.
"No. They looked after me like a parent would their child. Stricter and harder than usual, but not abusive. The reason I speak of them with such distaste is because of what they had done to you."
She blinked a little, feeling somewhat touched- a similar feeling as to what she felt like whenever Peter did something for her, although that was often accompanied by a flutter almost in her heart rate- before diplomatically taking a drink of her coffee.
It was a good way of delaying a conversation in favour of finding something to say. He slid across another file, this one marked with an even higher security clearance, and was codenamed Вооружение войны (Armament of War). Basically her name.. as much as she had grown to loathe it, there was still a part of her that jumped to attention, ready to obey whenever that was mentioned.
"I found that file in my teens. Careless, inquisitive, and on top of the world on the euphoria that I was doing the right thing, I opened it, and read it. The fact that I had a sister, one I had never met and didn't know about, alarmed me. It uncovered the fog I had been living in."
She found herself comforting him, somewhat awkwardly as she gave him what she hoped was a pitiful look. It was difficult, conditioning herself to feel pity for someone she had previously never met, but some dormant instinct within her, long overwritten and beaten down, rose to the surface.
To think: had her parents- she loathed to use that word- not done what they had done, she would have known her siblings. Would have still known the HYDRA life, but all of them would have been in there, achieving missions and God knows what else. Bucky would still be there, forced to be their eternal slave, bound by the words that took away his humanity.
He waved her hand off, taking another gulp of his drink.
"I don't have any regrets. It certainly pulled me out of my naivety. I think I have a better life now."
There was an awkward silence between the two siblings, the kind between two people who have undeveloped social skills. There was something wrong about feigning a personality, and while she knew why Tony did it and understood the necessity, the strain of doing that full-time almost was unbearable. Even she struggled with it after decades of practice. Still, shaking his head, he looked at the files from across the table.
"That's copies of the files that I took with me. They have information relative to me, and that is why I kept them. I know little of what happened to our family other than our sister."
"I appreciate what you could tell me. It was more then I knew previously."
He smirked a little, before looking to the door as his daughter, a carbon copy almost of Sparrow's brother poked her head in. She had the same green eyes as Sparrow herself did, and long black hair that went down to her lower back. Her eyes shone with a curious innocence and seemed a lot more light-hearted then her brother was. This is what Sparrow could have been in ordinary situations, and it further encouraged Sparrow's insistence to keep children innocence.
"Are you going to tell me who this is now? She can't be much older than me."
"She's ah.. your Aunt."
The way her eyes opened wide was beautiful, and she looked at Sparrow with a sense of awe. It looked like her father never lied or something, because it was certainly a hard thing to believe. In fact, it didn't make logical sense for it to be true: He was 59 and she was (at a rough guess, and now legally) seventeen.
Do the maths and it was clear why it was highly unlikely. But true it was, and it was likely to be 100% confirmed for Luke's own benefit as he'd gotten his own DNA test done. Sparrow opened her mouth to speak to the girl- named Zaria as she'd found out- but her phone rang.
Luke nodded inclining for her to answer it, and in what she hoped was a show of trust, she moved to the side while still staying within earshot, and put the phone to her ear, answering it with a tap. The display had come up with Peter, and she quickly calculated what time it was there 11:21 ish. So while it wasn't early per se, they usually had a conversation in the evening.
"Pete?"
"Listen Sparrow."
Similarly to Tony, Peter sound stressed. Sparrow immediately took in a breath, before becoming more alert to the situation. Her coffee was left neglected on the table as Zaria talked animatedly with her father.
"What's wrong?"
Peter's breath hitched, and if Sparrow was worried before, she was even more so now. In her head, she quickly started planning on how to get back to the USA. If she told Pepper about it, then she could get on the Stark Jet, which was resting at the airport. Then, that would take her to the USA, where she could either borrow a car or fly depending on the urgency.
From where Sparrow was, she had no chance of helping them if she didn't get moving soon. And if that failed, then she would just fly the whole distance as a Dragon, something she'd never done, but was completely prepared to do.
"The Avengers.. they've split. Tony's stressed trying to get Bucky acquitted, not helped by Steve breaking him out of a holding facility, and he's going to meet them at Leipzig/Halle Airport later today, in a few hours in order to detain them, allowing him to try and prove their innocence. I know it's a big ask, and I know you know why Tony was insistent on getting you out of the country, but is there any chance you could get there? I'm going, but I fear that if it's left to Steve and Tony, they will argue. And they won't listen to me... and I don't want Tony to feel as if I'm betraying him, but I feel-"
Sparrow was barely following along with what he said but clenched her fists. If she could help, she would, and she was just grateful that he had told her about this. Leipzig/Halle Airport was closer then the USA was, and a hell of a lot easier to get to. The jet would take her there, and while it wouldn't be a wise idea to fly directly to it, especially if there was going to be a battle taking place, there were several smaller airports nearby which she could go to.
"Okay Pete, I really need you to calm down, okay? I'll... I'll be there. I'll get there. But right now, I need you to calm down. Take a few steady breaths and collect yourself. I can't leave knowing you're.. that you're…that you are panicking."
There was the telltale fluttering of her stomach which she pointedly ignored. How did one deal with panic attacks over the phone? Uh... they normally distracted her.. so is that what she should do for him? His breathing just kept picking up, and Sparrow pinched the bridge of her nose again.
"So London's ah.. pretty cool. That's an alright way to explain things, isn't it? Informal? Uhm, it's nice to see it.. the Eye is tall, and you can see all of London from it. It's nice to breach the skyline without any added pressures… like fleeing.. or assassinating.. ahem. Then there's Big Ben. Although it was covered up, it chimed extremely loud though.. and my ears were almost ringing for three hours afterwards... turns out it isn't good if you have enhanced senses. You never would have guessed that, would you?"
The struggles of breath were still easily heard over the phone, but he seemed to have calmed down for a minute. That was good, progress at least. As much as she wanted to continue talking to her brother, she knew that Peter, Tony, the Avengers came first.
They, in the end, gave her a new identity, gave her something to work towards, helped her somewhat pay for her past misdeeds. To get rid of that now, to ignore them where she could potentially help them, would just be ungrateful and would put her back to the callous being she had hated being.
"So, it turns out I have a sibling. Two in fact. They look like me... and I have a niece and a nephew. That's what they're called right? Children of my sibling? I've sat in a couple of meetings... I find that kind of thing interesting, although I can see why Tony dislikes it. It can get boring when they rattle off numbers. How's MIT?"
There was a quiet sound over the phone, with a beeping chirrup being quiet in the background. Judging by the tone and pitch, it sounded like Dum-E. So either Peter was in the workshop- unlikely, it didn't sound like he was in there and there was a lack of an echo- or Dum-E had headed up there. Likely, he would have been guided by JARVIS or FRIDAY.
"It's... fine. Nothing too difficult I guess.. did a few engineering projects.. had a look at your prototype Bot, gave you a few notes."
His voice by now had returned to what sounded like normal, and Sparrow was relieved. Taking another breath, rubbing her slightly shaking hands together- when had that happened?- and swallowed a lump. She wanted nothing more than to protect Peter.. a feeling stronger then what she felt for Bucky and Tony- but how could she do that when she was so far away?
Shaking her head, a mannerism that she had adopted, and would have gotten in trouble for previously, she focused back on Peter, who was still lingering on the phone.
"Listen, I'm going to get the jet. I'll be there as soon as possible, but the time frame will be tight. But I will be there, even if I have to fly there myself."
She checked her watch, wrapped tightly enough so that it wouldn't shake, but weak enough so it wouldn't cut off her circulation. It would take her just under two hours to get to the nearest airport to Leipzig, and possibly half an hour in a car. She needed to get going if she had any hope of making it there before the allotted time-frame.
Peter's voice hushed a little, as there were footsteps and a distinctly American accent in the background- well, no, obviously there would be an accent if they were in America. Wait... Sparrow did the maths in her head before realising something: if they were to be there in a few hours, they must be on the plane now.
"I need to go. Tony's back."
"I'll be there soon."
She promised as the phone line clicked, signalling that Peter had ended the call. Could the boy hide his panic attack from Tony? Unlikely- Tony was great at worming out lies. But hopefully, Peter could misdirect him.. because something told her Tony wouldn't be happy if she showed up.
But she'd rather take Tony's wrath, then somebody getting seriously hurt. Pocketing her phone, she was left looking at her brother, who was watching her with a look of concern. This was.. well.. it was going to be difficult to explain.
Everything was sorted, as well as it could be. After profusely apologising to her brother- that was still weird to say- she phoned Pepper. Pepper, unusually, didn't answer. She'd bet that Pepper was in a meeting or something, and as such, left a voicemail. It explained where she would be, what she would be doing, and not to worry.
She didn't stop for anything, not even to get her clothes or eat. Fortunately, Peter had used his privileges to get her a car hired by Stark Industry, so it saved her stealing one and feeling bad for it later. It was a Passat, a nice car with the ability to get up to speed quickly, but was common enough that it wouldn't be too standout-ish.
She slipped into the front, pulling down her cap as she slammed the door shut. It was going to be a pain in the arse to get out of London and to the airstrip, but manageable. Her reflexes would count for something. Putting the clutch down, and checking her mirrors, she backed out of the space, putting the pedal to the medal.
Weaving in and out of traffic was not the safest thing to do in an empty city, let alone London of all places, but with her powers ready to carry any cars above her that would attempt to crash into her, she was making good time. The jet would be ready to go by the time she got there, so once she was on there, she would be on her way to Germany. She just hoped she'd be there in time.
Ignoring the speeding tickets that she would've got in London, she had made it to the jet fine. And the jet was instantly ready to set off. That had been an hour and a bit ago now, and they were just descending to the nearby airport, where another car would be waiting for her.
Peter had really planned her getting here well. The turbulence was minimal, and with her phone charging, she listened to her music, the buds in her ears. FRI, who was both monitoring her getting there and keeping her right, was also shuffling her playlist according to recommended songs. She was listening to a band called... Coldplay?
They were, like usual, out of Tony's normal song choices, but she still found herself tapping her feet along, on the steel chassis of the plane. It made the journey fly by quicker, and as the descend approached quicker, she found herself anxious for what was going to happen. Could this be the end of the Avengers? And, will I have to choose between Bucky and Tony?
Author's Note
Thank you for all the reviews! I really appreciate it!
Whether you have an account or not, I appreciate all the reviews for this story. I can't believe that in a couple of weeks, we'll be on chapter 50! And we're not even finished the Civil War arc yet!
So, without further ado, I'll wrap up this AN here.1
QOTW: What is something that you're looking forward to this year?
I'm looking forward to The Kings Man, that comes out later this year. Also the Avengers game- I'm so excited!
Thank you all for reviewing and reading!
~Cait
