The vibration of my phone woke me from slumber. I opened my eyes, the light of the screen making me wince.
'Are you going to lay in bed all day?' it read. The sender: Yelena Belova, my best friend in all the world. Well, her and Natasha Romanoff, her sister. Despite the time – . – I smiled, typing out 'I'm getting up in five minutes' before rolling out of the warmth of the covers. I stretched and headed to the bathroom, grabbing a change of workout gear to change into. I managed to slip my shirt over my head when her familiar knock sounded at my door. I opened it to find Yelena leaning against the frame of it, her long, hair in a ponytail.
"Get your ass moving. We're already behind as it is. Hurry up and grab Chili," she greeted me. I wove my waist length, crimson hair into a braid.
"Morning, Yelena," I said to her. I grabbed the leash that I used for my lab mix Chili, who was tan in color with golden eyes. His whole body shook in excitement as I approached his cage and opened it to leash him for our run. I followed Yelena out of my room and downstairs to exit the compound for our hour long run. This had become a regular routine we had maintained for a few months after her arrival here. I knew Yelena for much longer, when Natasha had introduced us when she felt comfortable with me five years ago.
Natasha requested that she come live with the Avengers, and I had her to hang out with whenever I pleased. Before her, I ran with Bucky, who I had been dating at the time. That is, until we broke up a year prior. We still were good friends, but I figured I needed a new change of pace.
"When are you going to meet someone new to go out with?" she asked me a mile into the run. We were on our five-minute rest, and I sighed at the question. She had been the most devastated when I ended it with Bucky. Everyone else had been disappointed we hadn't gotten married.
"What do you mean? I went out with Carol two weeks ago,"
"No, you hooked up with Carol two weeks ago. Are you telling me you don't want to date anymore?"
"I didn't say that. I'm just not ready yet. I'm happy being single," I stated. She tilted her head.
"Maybe you should try getting back together with Bucky," she muttered.
"No, I don't think that's wise. Especially, since we're on two different paths right now. Why the sudden interest in my dating life? Do you not like my company anymore?" I responded.
"It's not that. I just…I don't want you to be lonely. Bucky brought out a certain happiness with you. More than Stephen Strange. More than the random hookups with both Loki and Carol. I think maybe it's time you put yourself back out there. Think about the future for a change,"
"I'm not lonely. I've got you and Natasha. Not to mention, I've got Carol, Bucky, and Zemo as friends too," I reminded her.
"Don't forget Chili. I still can't believe you made friends with the guy who broke up your team. Tell me, was it his charm or good looks that made you go weak at the knees for the man?" Yelena teased.
"One, everyone gets lonely sometimes. Two, he's been a great help to the team despite what he did. Finally, neither. He's a good guy to talk to. It was strange how much we had in common," I told her. She laughed.
"Look, just please put yourself out there, Aubrey. The way you work people it may take a while. Life isn't only about missions and walking dogs. You could have a little fun. Romance the town," I arched an eyebrow at 'how you work people' knowing full well what she meant by that.
I tended to make those who wanted a date with me earn their chance for a relationship with me. They had to charm the pants off me, both figuratively and literally. It once took a year and a half for Stephen Strange to get a date with me. He went all out with the wooing the whole time. Chocolates, flowers, you name it. The relationship lasted six months before we called it quits. The chemistry wasn't there and rather than suffer through any more months, we mutually broke it off.
Bucky, with his ultimate sweet personality, managed to get a date in five months and our relationship lasted three years. Our paths ended up diverting in two different directions. He felt he needed space to truly discover himself and deal with his past a little more and I…I wanted more. I never blamed him for not wanting to move into the next stage of our relationship, but it was still an emotional break-up anyway.
As I mentioned before, our friends were upset when we ended things. They were under the assumption we would have gotten married and had kids. Nowadays, they kept bringing up a possible reconciliation, but neither of us entertained the idea. We moved on and I got Chili to fill the void of companionship. It was one of the best decisions I made in my life. Chili and I bonded quickly, and he made life at the Avengers compound fun to say the least. Then came the hookups with Loki and Carol. I needed something to take the edge off and seduced both within a few weeks after each other; no wooing required for pure, casual sex. After sex with Carol, we engaged in pillow talk and she discovered a weird pattern to my dating life, especially when Baron Helmut Zemo became one of my friends.
Yes, Zemo. The one and the same guy who managed to cause somewhat of Civil War between the Avengers and broke them up for a few months before they got back together with some persuading from Natasha and me. I got a request a few months after that to spend some time with the baron and accepted it, forming a new friendship with him. We grew closer and became inseparable, but there was no attraction, or rather no chemistry inside of our relationship.
"Hey, we should probably head back. I've got to get Chili to play school and then we've got our training session at 9," I told Yelena.
"Okay, but just think about what I said. One date. Don't let it be like when you and Rogers went on a date. That was super awkward," she said.
"Yeah, yeah. Alright. Maybe if I meet the right person," I told her. Upon our arrival, we were stopped briefly by Tony, who had some news to share with us.
"Before you two start your sparring session, meet the team in the conference room. We've got a mission and we're required to work with another squad of people to stop a mutual enemy. Aubrey, can you give the wizard a call? We'll be needing his expertise in the field. Evidently, there's a supernatural, magical component to certain items we're looking for," he told us.
"Which one? Stephen or Wong? Or both?" I inquired.
"Strange…well maybe both. Are you training with them today? Maybe it's better if we meet with them later this afternoon, say around three," he answered.
"Yeah, sure. I'm positive they'd both love that," I told, sarcasm dripping in my tone.
"Just call him. Please. I know you and Strange had history…as gross as that may be…but we need both him and Wong to help us," I rolled my eyes and grabbed my keys to take Chili to a dog daycare a few miles from the compound. I came back, met Yelena and Natasha in the living room and headed to the conference room. The rest of the team were already sitting in the chairs on one side of the table, as were six others on the opposite of the table. Yelena snagged the last available seat, leaving me no choice but to stand.
"Come here, doll. You can sit in my lap. I don't mind," Bucky stated, patting one of his thighs. I smiled and joined him, ready for the debriefing. He wrapped one hand around my waist, the other rubbing circles into my back. The thumb of his metal hand met bare flesh, the coolness making my insides quiver. Despite moving on, he still could make me feel good.
"Thank you all for coming here today. Right, so first off, let's introduce our allies for this mission. They call themselves Task Force X. Harley Quinn, Robert Dubios, Christopher Smith, Cleo Cazo, George-,"
"Digger," one of the guys with an Australian accent interrupted.
"Digger Harkness, all led by Colonel Rick Flag," Tony continued.
"Pleased to be here," the blonde male and clearly the leader said.
"Now you've already met Steve and me. The rest of my team is Wanda Maximoff, Vision, Yelena Belova, Natasha Romanoff, Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, and Aubrey Durand. We have others but Thor, Loki and Carol are currently off world. Clint Barton should be here a little later and hopefully, with a little encouragement from Aubrey, we will be meeting with Stephen Strange and Wong this afternoon at three," Tony said.
"What are we after? Strange will need to know before I give him a call," I said. Bucky rubbed his thumb against my stomach, warning me to drop the teasing from my voice. One guy from the other team with brown hair and blue eyes – looked up at me when I spoke. He caught my eyes and waved. I smiled back and focused on the leader of their group as he explained. We were hunting artifacts with magical features from creating sonic waves to unlocking hellish portals.
"Sounds like fun. When do we start? Any idea who wants them?" Natasha commented.
"They're…uh…being, entities of some kind. I'm not sure, but they want it bad. I have a few drawings of it if that helps anything," Rick said. He handed us some pictures and the creatures were terrifying. It looked like a mix between an incubus and a winged demon with spikes coming from different directions.
"Oooh, goody. Research time," I exclaimed. All heads turned to look at me confused by my excitement – all except Bucky, who looked up at me in awe.
"What? I like researching different entities. Maybe I can melt a few," Dead silence as some looked on in horror. Until Harley – a woman with platinum blonde hair in pigtails, the ends dipped in black and red – gave me an approving smile.
"You're talkin' my language sweetiepie," she said.
"Harley…" Rick warned.
"Relax. It's my specialty. Melting enemies from the inside out. The technical term is called thermal transference or some nonsense like that but-,"
"Aubrey, enough. Behave," Steve ordered. I pouted earning me a chuckle from Bucky and Yelena.
"Fine, but only because training is in five minutes," I said.
"Is she serious? Can you actually do that?" the guy who caught my eye asked. Christopher Smith was his name if I remembered correctly.
"Very serious. She's been working with Strange to control it, but yes. Please, whatever you do, don't make her angry. It didn't end well for the last enemy that did that," Tony answered. I smirked and slid off Bucky's lap to grab Yelena for training. Nat followed as did Bucky and we headed down to the training room. Sam was also included in the rotation this time and we would switch off partners depending on which skills we needed to improve on. I paired off with Bucky to warm up, before really getting into something with Natasha.
"No, no, no. We should switch things up. See who matches with the other team. Yelena pair off with Harley. Cleo can work with Bucky. Aubrey, either pair off with Robert, Chris, or Flag. Whoever she doesn't choose can work with Sam and Nat," Steve stated. I meant to pair off with Flag, but Chris blindsided me before I could get to him.
"What do you say sweet cheeks? Want to fight it out?" he greeted me.
"Uh…sure. Why not? Don't call me sweet cheeks. It's Aubrey," I answered. I took my stance and waited for him to do the same. We launched into the sparring and soon he had me sweating as much as I usually did when training with Bucky. A weird match, but he switched gears, knocking off guard when he abruptly stood up straight.
"Giving up already? Maybe your leader will be better suited for me," I said.
"No. I want to ask you a question,"
"Ask away, hot shot,"
"Want to go out on a date?" he asked. I stumbled, shocked at the question.
"No, thanks. Time to switch off. Flag, your turn," I answered. Truth be told, I hadn't wanted to reject him, but I didn't want the rest of the team to know that I had start crushing on the guy the minute he had looked at me. When I moved past Chris, he snagged my wrist, halting me.
"Unhand me," I told him as calmly as possible.
"Not until you tell me why. You're hot, I'm hot. We could make-," he began. I cut him off by twisting from his grip, ducking under his arm, and taking him down by one swift move when my leg swept him off his feet and onto his back. He groaned when his breath whooshed out of him. I straddled his chest, leaning close to his face, my braid hanging over one shoulder.
"I told you to unhand me. You didn't want to listen. As to why I said no, I just don't want to. I'm not interested. Excuse me," I said. I got up and noticed everyone staring. I motioned to Flag, and he hesitated before preparing for attack.
The training ended, my last partner of the morning being Harley. I had to pause and call Strange to set up the meeting at three and he agreed, ending the call so I could grab some lunch.
"We're good to meet with the wizard. I'm going to grab a bite to eat. See you later," I said. I strode out of the room and back to my own chambers to change. While switching out of my workout clothes, I sensed a presence enter the room.
"Yelena, if you're planning on saying something, do it now before I leave for lunch," I stated.
"What the hell was that downstairs? With that guy Chris. Oh, by the way some of them have code names. His is Peacemaker, which is different, seeing as I'm pretty sure they're villains," she said.
"What do you mean? It wasn't anything. He-,"
"He asked you out and you flattened the guy just for grabbing your wrist and asking why. OH! Why didn't I realize this before? You like him. Well, this is great. Someone has finally caught your interest from these last couple of months," she stated.
"No. No, I don't like him. You don't know what you're talking about,"
"Oh, but I do. You did something kind of identical with Bucky, only you allowed Bucky to knock you flat on your back. You're going to make him work for it, aren't you? You've should've said yes. HA! You're blushing! I knew it. You have a crush on him, and he hasn't even been here that long," she continued.
"I…fine. I'll admit it. I do have a crush on him. Please don't tell anyone because they'll make fun that I cracked so soon. I don't want to make it too easy for him. Where's the fun in that?" I commented. We went to lunch and met up later with the new squad along with Tony, Steve for the introduction to Strange and Wong.
"I'll need access to your library to do some research into those entities," I told Strange. He nodded and they launched into a plan of how to handle things. My phone buzzed and I glanced at it. A text from Carol, saying she would be in town for a few visits the day after tomorrow and asked to go drinking with her. I sent a reply that I would love to join her and excused myself to the library to get some research done. Around 5, I left to pick up Chili before returning to the compound for dinner. Pizza for tonight, since we were all still discussing plans.
"Cool puppy. How old?" Chris said. Chili wiggled his body with delight, trying to inch closer to the man for some pets. I let him, Chris scratching behind Chili's ears for a few minutes.
"8 months. Do you have any pets?" I answered, surprised by how friendly Chili was being. Normally, he'd be super protective of me from certain people.
"Yeah. I have an eagle named Eaglely," he said. I nodded and took Chili up to my room, crating him while I took a shower. I let him out afterwards once I had changed into a black tank top and shorts, joining the others downstairs.
"We're taking a break for tonight. Want to join us for a movie?" Tony said. I nodded and settled in between Nat and Yelena. Every now and then, I'd steal glances at Chris, thinking of how to lay out my own plan for him to win my heart.
"You've got it so bad for him," Yelena whispered, catching a few glances. She was right. I did and it would be difficult not to give in too early. Not to mention everyone suspecting an alternate person, who I would spend a little more time with on missions. Oh, this was going to be fun.