~Avengers Tower, New York~
June, 2016
Bianca flexed her fingers, looking at the black material now coating them.
It looked a lot like spandex, like what you might expect any skin tight superhero suit to look like. But Stark had explained that it was a suit comprised of thousands of tiny nanites - the nanotech suit would protect her skin in human or humanoid form, but would collapse into a small, dense patch adhered to her in any other form, allowing her the freedom to shift as she pleased without having to worry about clothing.
Small claws formed on the tips of her fingers, and she watched as the suit rippled out of the way, giving her the look of fingerless gloves at the end of her suit's sleeves.
Along with the suit came a mask. She didn't need one to protect her identity, not when she could be anyone, but the billionaire had explained that it would give her access to a communications system, as well as such nifty features as trackers, nanite-formed knives for combat, and even recording capabilities. He'd offered to install an AI, but she'd turned that down. The suit itself was enough, and if she was honest, even the fact that it had internet access made her a little iffy. She trusted enough to know that Stark wouldn't track her with it or give it more than a cursory bit of monitoring, but still.
"How do you like it?" Stark asked, seated at a workbench in his lab. She and Judge had been invited to the tower to check out some tech he'd wanted to give her. Her brother had been against it at first, stating that they didn't need even more from the man, but had conceded when he'd explained it was something he would do for any of his team or other heroes he cared about, and he still felt like he owed her, wanted to give her something that would help keep her safe. It had the added benefit of letting her run around the city more easily, giving her freedom in the night when she would soon have less in the day.
"It's interesting." Bianca responded, watching black ripple away as fur spread up one arm. It rippled back into place as the fur disappeared, replaced once again with regular flesh. "Very lightweight, feels like a second skin, but instead of obstructing my shift and being torn, it simply adjusts to my form."
"I'm glad to hear it." Stark responded, fiddling with a wrench as he looked at them. "I set up some stuff for you to test it out in the gym, make sure everything's up to code and it stays comfortable."
"There's something else, isn't there?" She asked. Stark opened his mouth, but hesitated. "I was raised as a weapon, I know how to pick up a little more from a situation than the average person. Also, the mind reader has been glaring at you for the past ten minutes."
Stark held his hands up placatingly. "I have an offer for you, but it's totally up to you to refuse or accept. There is some danger involved, but it will be a somewhat controlled environment with no one shooting to kill. Or, at least, I hope it would never come to that."
Bianca perked up. "Some danger but no shooting to kill? Sounds like a good fight."
"No." Judge said. "Absolutely not."
"C'mon, J." She protested. "This is the perfect opportunity for me to run off some more energy before we have to go to school in the fall."
"I'm not letting you fight the Avengers." He stated. "It's too dangerous."
"Technically, they're not really Avengers, right now." Stark added helpfully.
"Yeah, they're not even considered Avengers right now." Bianca repeated. "Besides, even with everything that's been happening with all of their drama," she gestured to Stark at that, who put on an affronted look, "I seriously doubt they'd try to kill each other. There's too much history there for that, and they've got the epitome of Boy Scout on their side. There's nothing to worry about."
"I don't want you to get hurt." Judge shook his head.
"I'm going to get hurt whether or not I join this fight, that's just how life is, J." Bianca told her brother. "You know me. I can't go very long without burning off all the energy, and shifting isn't always enough. If not some secluded fight against a few rogue Avengers, it'll be a bar fight in the city. An interrupted drug smuggling ring. A random robbery. I'm always going to get myself into trouble because it's what I know, and one of the things I'm best at."
"You're going to go whether I say yes or not, aren't you." He said it flatly, expecting a specific answer.
Bianca shook her head. "No, if you really don't want me to, I won't go behind your back to go. I know you're just trying to take care of me, and I respect you, J."
Judge pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to ward off a headache. "Fine. You can go. But if you so much as break a bone, you're not out at night until school starts up."
She pulled her brother into a hug. "I think that's fair."
~Leipzig-Halle Airport, Schkeuditz, Saxony~
July, 2016
Bianca held back a laugh as Spider-Man whispered at his camera. He was super excited about the fight about to go down, which she didn't blame him for, she was itching to get her hands dirty, herself, but at least she was able to look nonchalant about it all.
Stark didn't want to bring them out right away, but had said he'd likely call them in before the fight really started. He'd wanted to test the waters first, so to speak, and avoid a fight, but knew it wasn't very likely. So here they waited, listening for Stark's signal for them to make themselves known.
"Underoos!"
While Spider-Man flipped off of the crates they'd been behind, webbing Captain America's shield in the process, Bianca merely stepped out and walked to the man's side. The billionaire nodded at her, then at the boy. "Nice job, kid."
"Thanks." Spider-Man replied. "Well, I could have stuck the landing a little better, it's just- new suit. It's nothing, Mr. Stark. It- It's perfect. Thank you."
"Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation." Stark replied. Bianca hid a smirk as the boy continued to ramble.
The conversation was short lived. As soon as Stark had given the go ahead to join in the fight, Bianca took off after Spider-Man, flying beside him as he swung beside the windows to the airport. She followed closely after him when he smashed through the glass, diving in and rolling to a stop as she became human once more.
"Winter Soldier, so nice to see you again." Bianca purred, catching a punch from his metal arm aimed for her head. He looked at her in surprise.
"Should I know you?" He responded with a kick, aiming for her ribs. She danced out of the way, releasing his fist in favor of throwing her own punch.
"Well, I don't suppose you'd remember. It was only once, and I was much younger, and had looked very different at the time." She told him, dodging another punch. "And I assume you like to remember your Hydra days about as much as I like to remember mine." She smiled wickedly, letting sharp talons grow from her fingertips.
"You're the Mirage." His grim tone had her smile widening.
"Got it in one." She winked, whirling out of the way as Falcon dove for her, having escaped Spider-Man for the moment. A web followed right behind the man, and she caught the other teen's arm, hitching a ride as he was pulled through the air.
She and Spider-Man worked well together, having had the past couple of weeks working together in New York. Not only did they both favor closer combat with fewer weapons, but both had enhanced senses allowing easier communication between the two. Superhearing made it easy to share a plan without anyone else able to listen in, and also cued them in on subtler signals, like a picked up heartbeat or a quiet pair of footsteps. On top of that, between her training and his sixth sense, anticipating an attacker's moves as well as each other's made for a well-oiled machine when they worked together.
"Incoming!' Spider-Man shouted, shoving Barnes back as he shot a web at Falcon. Trusting it to hit, Bianca dodged out of the way and whirled around, nanite knife leaving her hand before she'd even fully stopped moving.
And then it was like everything froze. It was all she could do to stare at the knife that had just missed the figure that had come upon their fight and embedded itself in the wall behind them.
"Hey there, little stowaway." He said easily. Bianca stared at him, struggling to find words.
"Thanks for showing up to help out." Falcon grumbled, breaking out of another web as Spider-Man dodged a punch from Barnes.
"You…" She swallowed hard. "You're not dead."
Haven let out a soft chuckle. "I couldn't have them going after you right away, so I let them think I was dead. I can find anything, and that means I know to hide, too."
"Supernova and-"
"I know." He said solemnly. "I knew there would be no talking her out of it, but it wasn't until I was out that I realized he'd gone back in and by then it was too late. There was nothing I could do."
Bianca nodded, then steeled herself. "What are you doing here, then?"
"I'm looking for something. In exchange for the occasional ride and some help, I'm helping them find someone." Haven nodded at Barnes and Falcon, fighting against Spider-Man.
As if on cue, the other teen was thrown backwards, slamming into a pillar. "A little help maybe, Lizard Girl?" He groaned, webbing Falcon to a glass half-wall overlooking some stairs. She watched impassively as Barnes threw himself at the boy at the same time he went for Wilson, the three crashing to the floor at the bottom of the stairs below. He easily webbed the two men to the ground, finding a perch on another pillar above them.
Haven raised an eyebrow at her at the nickname and she gave him a small smirk. "You been gone too long, old man. I traded one creature for another." She told him.
The next web that Spider-Man shot was sliced through in midair by a knife. The comical lenses on his mask widened as he turned to look at her. "What? Mirage?" He exclaimed dumbly.
Bianca shrugged. "Sorry, Angel." She lifted a hand to the side of her domino, pressing down where she knew it would cause the mask to deactivate, nanites pulling back and cutting her off from all but the suit's most basic capabilities. Without it, she wouldn't be linked to their team's coms, and no one but he would know what she was doing now. "But I don't turn my back on family. It's been nice fighting with you, but I guess it ends now."
He shot a web toward her, but her sharp claws slid through the material like silk. She turned her head to Haven for a moment. "You need to go."
Haven stepped forward and pulled her into a hug. Spider-Man was kind enough to let her have that, at least. As the man pulled away, she felt a weight settle against her side. A small bag he'd slipped across her shoulders, cross body so as to not impede her movement too much.
He wasn't the only sneaky one, though. When he checked his jacket later, he'd find his old ring - the one from Nova, that Bianca had carried with her since that day.
Bianca turned her attention back to the boy she'd previously been fighting with. "C'mon, Spider-Man. Show me what you've got." She taunted.
"You don't want to do this." He told her. "You've been doing so well. You're good, now."
"I don't think you know me well enough to tell what I do and don't want to do." She growled at him. "Being someone others can look at and call good means nothing to me when it comes to my family and their safety. I will never turn my back on one of my own."
Behind her, she could hear Haven and the other men moving further away as she distracted the teen vigilante. "Please, Mirage, they'll lock you up too if they catch you."
"Like they could ever hold me." She snarled, dodging another web. He didn't move to get close, still trying to talk her down.
There was a shout from far down the hall. Haven was ushering Barnes and Falcon through a door, and before he went through too, he let out a yell. "Safe and sound!"
Bianca stilled, closing her eyes. "Safe and sound!" She responded with her own shout, before opening her eyes and charging at Spider-Man.
The rest of the fight was a blur. Bianca had thrown both herself and Spider-Man out a window, but the other teen had managed to reorient himself quicker than she could and had webbed her in place. He'd given her one more pleading glance, but when all she did was growl, he turned and took off to help Stark and the others.
She'd wanted to follow after Barnes and the Captain when she got over to the fight, knowing Haven was likely already in the Quinjet they were aiming for, not big on fights such as these when he would be at a clear disadvantage against all the powered individuals and tech. It wasn't his fight, anyways, and far be it from him to get involved on someone else's issues like this. But Bianca also knew that while she could help him get away, she couldn't go with Haven. Judge would never forgive Stark if she didn't come back from this fight, and it would tear her little family up to hear she had suddenly turned her back on everything they had now to join the rogue avengers for apparently no reason.
So, she stayed. The combat barely even registered in her mind as she dodged and fought swiftly. Letting her body go on autopilot, muscle memory from years of training taking over, she focused only on making sure that at least some of the rogues were able to escape.
And then Spider-Man went down, caught by a flailing arm as the giant man went down. Torn between helping her partner in crime(fighting) and letting Haven get away, she spared a glance toward the hangar. Rubble littered the ground in front of it, but she could pick up the distant sound of a jet powering up. Making a split second decision, Bianca let the knife in her grip melt away and took off running.
She caught the boy just before he crashed into a pile of crates, but he'd been flung with enough force that she stumbled back and fell to one knee. It took the wind out of her, and she set him down on the ground as she tried to regain her breath.
Stark touched down a few feet in front of them, and shot her a wary glance, but stepped forward to check on the other teen on the ground in front of her. She drew away slightly, prepared for some kind of interrogation, but he simply gave her a pointed look after telling Spider-Man he was done, and she knew he meant her, too. She gave him a small nod, and he took off once again.
The Quinjet was lifting out of the hangar, and Bianca could do nothing but watch tensely. She was done with this fight, Stark had made that clear, and if she tried to do anything now, she would be forced to go on the run. As it was, she wasn't sure how much trouble she was going to be in with Stark, anyways, and she had no delusions of Pepper being able to mitigate that. She had betrayed them, after all, but she would face the consequences with dignity, and wouldn't ruin the rest of her family's chances at their new normal lives.
And then War Machine went down.
Bianca watched in horror as the man fell from the sky, Iron Man and Falcon both switching course to try to get to him. But he was falling too fast. They wouldn't make it on time.
Before she could think through what she was about to do, Bianca had shifted, leaping forward in a mad dash to get to the man before he could hit the ground. If she could get under his position, shifting as she got there, then maybe she could catch him.
But even the fastest animal in the world wasn't fast enough.
War Machine hit the ground just as the cheetah slid under him, softening the blow for his upper body but too late to keep him from impact. The collision crushed a few of her ribs and one of her front legs, but it was better than allowing the man's neck or spine to potentially snap.
Bianca dug herself out from under War Machine, careful not to jostle him too much with her movement but needing to take stock of her own injuries, as landed. The other armored man spared her a glance as she shifted human once more, but she waved him off. Falcon landed soon after, but this was not the time for talking, so she watched silently from the side of the two armored men.