GLOWING HEARTS...
Disclaimer: I own no part of the Avengers (I wish I did). All rights belong to Marvel. I only own the character Tess Rogers / Tesseract / Amalia Schmidt and her plot and dialogue.
THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO LuckyGo AND Gwendolyn Yuki. THANKS FOR REVIEWING! THIS CHAPTER ISN'T VERY GOOD, I'M JUST WARNING YOU
The train ploughed through everything in its path, and Steve went flying backwards when a chunk of rock hit him. The train was empty, thanks to Tess' earlier quick-thinking and the young woman immediately sent out her Tesseract-blue energy. The energy wrapped around the train wheels, slowing their movement, and after a moment, Wanda added her own power to the mix.
The train began to slow but was still moving and Tess pushed more energy into the train, feeling it begin to give way around her. The metal walls started to cave in and the structure began to shake and warp. Wanda's eyes widened at how powerful Tess was, realising that the blue-eyed girl's power was so much stronger than her own. Briefly, the Maximoff girl thought back to her time as Strucker's experiment. She had heard the whispers of her own powers being a weaker version of a woman's powers which already existed.
The train finally stopped and Tess grunted out in pain. Wanda immediately ran out to Pietro, who was bent over and panting from moving people out of the train's path.
"I'm fine," he muttered. "I just need to take a minute."
"We're very tempted not to give you one." Wanda and Pietro turned. Steve and Tess walked over to the pair. Tess was out of breath, much like Pietro, and her heart was glowing again, just like his.
"The Cradle, did you get it?" Wanda asked quickly, watching silently as Tess walked over to Pietro and placed her palm over his chest. The energy…Tess was sure she knew where it came from, she just needed to make sure.
"Stark will take care of it."
Wanda moved back slightly, "No, he won't."
"You don't know what you're talking about, Stark's not crazy," Steve told her but paused when he saw Tess shaking her head.
"Steven." Steve frowned, worried. Tess never called him 'Steven' unless she was teasing him or saying something that was deadly serious. This occasion was the latter. "She is telling the truth. I love Anthony, he is my godson…but he is more than capable. You know that. Remember Howard? That man would never give up, even after his inventions exploded in his face—literally."
Although the Maximoff twins were startled by 'godson,' they couldn't help but be in awe of Tess. How old was she? How many connections did she have to the team they tried to destroy? Did it even matter—could she even think of forgiving them?
"He will do anything to make things right," Wanda agreed, eyes swirling with absolute honesty.
Steve turned away, talking into the comms, "Stark, come in. Stark. Anyone on comms."
"Please, Tony," Tess begged, her voice frail, and she put her head in her hands. "Please, don't do this."
"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it." Wanda tilted her head slightly, accent thickening, "Where do you think he gets that?"
At Wanda's question, Tess let out a low groan, placing a hand against her forehead. She looked at her brother, "Genetics, I swear it, Steve. We have got to stay away from Stark men, honestly." Tess stood and stretched leisurely, arms high above her head, "Steve, want a ride?"
"No," Steve placed his hands on Tess' shoulder, "Tessie, I need you to take the twins to your apartment. Evaluate Wanda's threat level and find out what is happening with your heart…and Pietro's. Then send it on to Stark."
"Will do, Cap." The blue-eyed girl shook her head with a grimace, "But I know what it is. And I can't reverse it." Tess pulled away, placing one hand on each other the twins' shoulders, "I'll see you at the Tower. Don't crash any planes…or bikes…or anymore trains!"
Steve nodded, smiling, and he watched as the three disappeared into a portal.
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"Activating all systems," Tess called, letting go of the twins. They stood in a large, high-rise apartment, decked out with new technology. The room lit up with lights and blueprints at the woman's words and the twins looked around in awe.
"What is this place?"
Tess grinned, "My apartment. I think I'm doing quite well for someone who was born in the forties."
"The forties?" Wanda questioned, brow furrowed and Tess brought up a file on the computer, as she performed small tests on Wanda to check how much of the scepter's energy was actually in her.
"Amalia Schmidt. AKA Tess Rogers. Codename…Tesseract. Born September, 19th, 1940. Raised by the Nazi organization, HYDRA. Current agent of SHIELD, member of the Avengers. Father…Johann Schmidt, deceased. Mother…Unknown, deceased."
Tess stopped the computer from completing reading out her file, finished with the test, meeting the two stunned gazes staring at her, "I'm just like you. I became a weapon for HYDRA. I fought for them, I killed for them…except, I died for them." The woman extended a hand to Wanda, her hand filled with her electric-blue energy, "My blood was what made your powers possible, Wanda."
Wanda held out a hand of her own energy, noticing how similar it was. It would be identical to Tess', if not for the red colour.
"And Pietro," Tess turned to the boy, a frown on her face, "You touched the tree, didn't you? The one I hit with my powers in our first fight in Sokovia." Pietro shrugged, eyes alight with mischief and Tess grimaced, suspicions confirmed, "Thought so…and I can't do a thing about it. Now let's go and stop my stupid godson before he makes another murder bot."
Tess stepped closer to Pietro to move around him. Wanda frowned, every time they got close, the witch could see an electric-blue tether connected between their hearts. Judging by the fact that neither had mentioned it, Wanda assumed that only she could see the literal connection.
The silver-haired boy's eyes widened, that wasn't an answer, and he opened his mouth to speak, but he soon found himself stepping out of a portal alongside his sister in front of the Avengers Tower. Tess looked to her right, seeing Steve beside her and she grinned.
"Look at that, all caught up," without waiting, the black-haired woman with the bright-blue tips sashayed away from them, a smirk on her lips.
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"I'm gonna say this once," Steve said, looking at Tony and Bruce, the twins and Tess beside him.
"How about 'nonce'?" Tony retorted and Tess lifted a brow.
"Shut it down!"
Tony turned away, "Nope, not gonna happen."
Tess lifted glowing hands, her eyes glinting dangerously. "Look at what happened with Ultron. Look at what happened to SHEILD and what happened to HYDRA. You don't know what you're doing!"
"And you do?" Bruce asked, and indicated Wanda, "She's not in your head?"
Wanda moved forward, "I know you're angry."
"Oh, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade," Bruce threatened and Tess scoffed.
"Like you could get past me, Bruce. You trusted me when you found out what I could do. Trust me now, trust me that I have complete and utter faith in the Maximoffs," Tess requested, a pleading look on her face. She hadn't realised that as she spoke, that her hand had twined with Pietro's and that he had pulled her closer to him and away from Bruce.
"Banner, after everything that's happened…" Steve started, only to be cut off by Tony.
"That's nothing compared to what's coming!"
Wanda protested, "You don't know what's in there!"
"Tony…" Tony paused at his godmother's voice, "I can see all of space. I see all the heroes, all the villains and all the monsters—the battles lost and the battles won. And you know what I've learnt?"
"That you should stop spying on people?" Tony asked, brow raised.
Tess sighed heavily, "This is serious. What I have learnt is that no matter what…you cannot make a villain play a hero. They change by themselves. What you have done, is made a monster with the best of intentions—Ultron—and now…" Tess gestured to the Cradle, "You want to make the monster's creation a hero, to fight the monster."
Tony opened his mouth, about to retort, and Pietro rolled his eyes and used his speed to pull all the wires and lab equipment out of the Cradle. "No, no. Go on. You were saying?"
A gunshot suddenly echoed through the room and Pietro fell through the glass fall.
"Pietro!" Wanda and Tess cried out in unison and the latter teleported beside him.
Barton stood in front of the two, "What, you didn't see that coming?"
Tess shot him a dead look. Tony began to reroute the upload to the Cradle and Steve threw his shield, destroying the lab equipment and Tony fired back a shot with his Iron Man gauntlet.
Wanda's hands began to glow and Bruce grabbed her from behind in a chokehold, telling her, "Go ahead, piss me off."
Clint loaded his gun and Tess opened a portal, teleporting herself, Clint and Pietro up to where the others were fighting. Her energy short-circuited Tony's partial-suit, threw Bruce off Wanda and kept the two different sides on opposite sides of a wall of energy.
"I'm so done with this…this civil war!
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"Deep breaths, sweetie," Laura Barton instructed gently. Despite Tess' protests, the woman refused to let go of the younger woman's thin shoulders. "Come on, you can do this. You're strong, Tessie."
Tess fought against the rising panic, the tightening in her chest. For years, panic attacks had become a fixture in her life and, more often than not, she would deal with them herself. But Cooper, Clint's eldest, had triggered one of them while Tess had been at the Barton household.
"I'm okay," Tess muttered. "I'm okay. I'm okay."
Laura smiled encouragingly, "Yes, you are. Come on, Tessie, breathe for me."
"I kinda have to breathe," Tess scoffed, a smile tugging at her lips. "Or, you know, I'd die." Gently, Tess removed the Barton woman's hands from her shoulder and squeezed them with a thankful smile on her lips. "Thank you, for being so good to me, Laura."
"Of course," Laura nodded and drew the blue-eyed woman into a much-needed hug. "You're family."
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If I wrote another Avengers, Pietro / OC (with a new OC) would anyone read it. Review and let me know.
Thanks for reading!
~ Raven