Stacked with: Garden; Fire; MLG; FPC; Ministry
Individual Challenge(s): Mutant [Y]; Red Wave [Y]; Happy Birthday [Y]; Gryffindor MC; Magical MC; Metahuman MC; Laws; Shifter MC [Y]; Nonhuman MC; Zed Era; New Fandom Smell; Old Shoes [Y]; Marvelous Cinema; Short Jog; The Real MC
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenge(s): Second Verse (Not a Lamp)
Word Count: 1298
2012
"Sir, there is a visitor in the elevator," JARVIS announced. "Would you like me to stop her?"
Tony blinked. They were having a completely normal afternoon for once, lounging and shooting the shit. "Are we expecting anyone?" He was fairly certain they weren't, but it (almost) never hurt to ask.
"No, sir." The AI managed to say it with that underlying tone that meant You're an idiot for asking that. He really had outdone himself with JARVIS.
"Stop her," Natasha suggested.
"Do it," Tony told JARVIS. "Who is she?"
"Stopping the elevator now, sir." Without even a pause, JARVIS continued: "Running facial recognition against passport records. She arrived at a hotel last night and walked twelve minutes from there to the tower. She seems to have performed some type of mind-control on one of the guards to gain entrance to the residential floors."
"You couldn't have led with that?" Tony growled.
The AI only hummed. "What would you like to do?"
"Everyone get ready," he told his fellow Avengers. It was unnecessary; they were already standing and prepared for combat. Clint had a bow drawn (God knew where he'd been keeping it), Natasha had pulled a gun from somewhere, and Steve must be carrying his shield wherever he went. "Let her in," Tony told JARVIS tersely.
There was an awkward pause while the elevator resumed its upward motion and brought the stranger to their door. Mercifully the elevators were designed with speed in mind.
It dinged open, and the disparity between their stance and the mild woman inside was almost funny. Almost. "Hello," she said, taking in their positioning and weapons. She looked less threatened than Tony would expect from a random civilian, only raising his suspicion. "I realize it doesn't seem like it, but I promise I'm not a threat."
"What do you want?" he demanded.
"May I please speak to the Hulk?" she asked politely. "I have some news for him."
He let his hand weaponry prepare to fire. She still didn't look frightened. Who was she? "What kind of news?"
"It's a bit of a private matter," she said brusquely.
He eyed her with suspicion he didn't bother to veil. After a moment of consideration, he decided it was better to have any confrontation on as close to their terms as possible; better here, with Avengers behind him, than some random time of night where she could strike in silence. "J, tell Hulk he has a visitor. Ask if he wants us to kick her out."
She smiled serenely. "If you kick me out, I'll only come back again."
"Not if I have you arrested," said Tony, although he was growing increasingly certain that arrest would be no hindrance to this woman's movements.
Rather than sending a response via JARVIS, Banner chose to creak open the stairwell door – and how it was creaking, Tony had no idea; he'd paid good money for things not to creak – and step in slowly. "Someone is looking for me?"
The woman, whose head had already whipped toward him, frowned. "You're the Hulk?"
"Uh, yeah." Bruce lifted an arm to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment. "That's me. Who are you?"
"You look… not how I expected," she said with slightly dazed eyes.
"Not always green," Banner acknowledged. His eyes sharpened. "Who are you?" he repeated.
"I'm your soulmate," the woman said, and Tony groaned.
"Stand down," he told the others. "I've gotta see this."
Banner was gawking, and the woman started to dig through her bag. The doctor was lucky, Tony mused; she was fairly pretty. Seemed to have a sense of humor. And she was… weird, somehow. Enhanced. That had to be pretty cool, as long as it wasn't directed at you in battle. "I've done the math," she said absent-mindedly, hand a little deeper in the purse than he'd have thought to be possible. "I've got the proof. I think." She emerged from the bag – and was that too small to hold a notebook that large? – and handed it to him at arm's length. Banner took it and started leafing through its pages.
After a moment of perusing, Banner snapped shut the scarlet notebook. "I mean, if that's real, then the math checks out," he admitted.
"Some of the worst pain in my life aligns with public incidents by the Hulk, but there are others I wasn't sure about. Can I ask what happened in 2005? That was the absolute worst."
Banner blinked. "That's the accident that got me the Hulk." His eyes narrowed, then. "What were you doing in 1988? That was my worst."
"I was, er, dealing with terrorists," the woman said in a smaller tone than before.
Two thoughts struck Tony: first, comparing pain was a truly bizarre conversation for them to be having, and even more bizarre for him to be watching. Second, she was leaving something out. It could've been the Troubles, but her body language was telling him it was something else, something… secret. Banner must've thought so, too, because he held back comment and just waved her on.
"I was tortured in March that year."
Banner snorted mirthlessly. "I could tell." He showed her his arm and Tony unashamedly peeked. (He could see the others leaning forward to peer as well.) He couldn't make out anything but deep red marks, but the woman saw something in it beyond simple scarring.
She swore and pulled her own sleeve up. Tony couldn't see her arm at all, but whatever Banner saw had his posture stiffen and his fists tighten. "I'm so sorry." She swallowed thickly. "The woman… she was creative, and she really needed the information. She's dead now," she added quietly but firmly. Tony wondered if she'd killed her herself.
"What does it say?" the doc asked. Tony thought there was something gentle in his voice now, like the reveal of the scar had changed something between the two strangers. He started to feel the least bit bad about the crowd of Avengers watching this conversation, but not bad enough to break up the party.
"Mudblood," the woman murmured. The word wasn't familiar. He'd have told JARVIS to look it up if he wasn't sure the AI was already doing so.
"What does it mean?" Thanks, doc.
She cringed. "Can we talk privately?"
Banner turned to acknowledge the rest of them then, and with a grand sweep of his arm said, "If we tried, two assassins and an AI would eavesdrop."
She seemed to have an internal debate before coming to a decision. She pushed her shoulders back and stood taller than before as she told them – for now she was addressing them all, the entire room – "Mudblood is a slur against witches and wizards who don't have magical parents."
Banner's jaw dropped, and Tony was sure his own did as well (for only half a second; he had an unflappable reputation to uphold). "What?"
The woman sighed heavily, but nothing about her indicated she was lying. "Hi, I'm Hermione Granger, and I'm a witch." She stuck her hand out to shake.
He looked reluctant, but Banner took her hand in his and: "Bruce Banner, and I turn into a giant green rage monster." Something in Tony warmed at hearing his words echoed like that.
"That was my other hint," said Granger with a small smile. She turned and bore the back of her upper neck. There was a small green splotch, and someone behind him – Natasha? – hissed.
Bruce paled. "Do you…"
"No." Granger smiled more broadly then. "I do turn into an otter, though."
And then she did.
"Jesus Christ," Tony said. He took a seat before he could collapse into it. "More shapeshifting."
And here Tony had thought he and Steve made for a strange set.
