After my seventh period class, I bolted to my truck. I wanted to get the hell outta there. I could see Pietro walking outta his class, I hoped to god he didn't see me as I ran to the parking lot and climbed into my 1987, cherry-red pick-up truck. It really was a climb, too. I was only 5'5'', and I, being a true red neck at heart, put a lift kit to make the cab an extra foot or so off the ground. I like big truck, I cannot lie. I even gave my truck a name, Sinead. Yeah, Siobhan and Sinead; you can tell my family was Irish.
As I started her up, my phone rang. "This is my BOOMSTICK!" was screeching loudly, announcing a text message. I opened it as I backed out of the parking lot. It was from a blocked, unknown number, which made me both curious and cautious. Something told me I was not going to like what it said.
Go to the abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. Alone.
Yeah, that wasn't ominous at all. I forwarded the message to Deadpool.
Sounds like a trap, kitten. He replied.
I know. I'm going anyway. I shrugged my shoulders, even though I knew he couldn't see them.
Figures. I could almost hear him laughing on his end.
If I don't text back in an hour, come get me, k?
God, you're such a slave driver.
I clicked off my phone and drove off.
Now, everyone in Bayville knew about the warehouse. It was mainly a place for teenagers to go and have some hanky panky time. The owners had died long ago, do I guess the banked owned it now, and really didn't give it a second thought. We kids of Bayville used it as we pleased. Well, I say 'we,' but I've never used it for such fun activities. I can't touch people, remember? However, the X-men have used it as a battlefield before. We've fought the Brotherhood here many times. It's a good place to fight; far away from prying eyes.
I pulled into the gravel drive way, expecting an ambush. What I got was something completely unexpected. Tony Stark was standing just inside the doorway. He had a smirk that I wanted to smack off, hero or no. I was…irked. Not really pissed off, but irked. That's a good word to describe it.
I jumped down from Sinead, and walked over to him slowly, my fingers itching for my gun, just in case. The last thing I need was for this to be a trick, like Mystique in disguise.
"Hello, Anna." He smiled and stuck out his hand. I shook it, with a little hesitation. "You're probably wondering if this is all a trick or not."
"I am wondering several things right now." I said evenly.
"Of course, that is only to be expected. How can I prove to you that this is really Tony Stark?" he smirked, he was enjoying this little game.
"You can't." I stared at him with a scowl.
"You don't trust me."
"You haven't given me a reason to."
"What can I do to earn your trust?"
"How about, not texting me from an unknown number and telling me to meet you at an abandoned warehouse? That kinda screams killer rapist."
"Ah, yes. I guess that was a bad idea. I have to keep the things we do here a secret, however."
"Things we do here?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, welcome to home base." He spread his arms wide as if welcoming me to the newly rebuilt Titanic. I just stared at him, waiting for him to explain. "Come this way." Against my better judgment, I followed him. I tried my best not to stare at his ass as he walked in front of me. Oh, God. I had a problem. I resisted the urge to hit myself in the face for being such a perv.
He stopped in front an old elevator, and motioned for me to step inside. I held my breath. I had very few fears; elevators were at the very topof that short list. I stepped in slowly, trying to keep the hysteria from showing on my face. He stepped in after me, and the elevator slowly rode down. I clenched my hands into fists, trying to keep my breathing even. I did not want to make a fool of myself in front on Tony. I would never forgive myself if he thought I was some weakling.
The elevator stopped, and the doors opened to reveal a blinding white laboratory. My jaw dropped to the ground in amazement. Tony smirked.
"Welcome to your new work station, Anna."
"You mean this is all….mine?"
"Yep. SHIELD has equipped this room with everything you could possibly need to resurrect Steve Rogers. You are to come here every day after school."
"What about weekends?" I asked.
"You get those for yourself. We can't have you running behind in school. We have to keep up the charade that you are just a normal high school girl."
"What do I tell everyone when they start asking where I go after school every day?"
"Tell them you got an afterschool job. That should be easy enough for everyone to believe. Just say you need to save up for college or something."
"It seems a little too simple. If someone pays attention, they can easily tell where I'm going."
"True, but we leave all the little details up to you. Just make sure you never arouse interest. Keep all of your usual appointments, don't fall behind in school, and tell no one what you are doing."
"Some people already know." I grabbed my phone to text an all clear to Deadpool.
"As I suspected." He raised an eyebrow. "Teenagers are not good at keeping secrets."
"The people who know weren't told by me, smartie pants. Fury told Wolverine and the Professor, and Deadpool knows because he was spying on Fury when he told me."
"Oh, so we'll blame boss-man. Sounds good to me." He shrugged his shoulders.
"I tell Deadpool everything, though, for my own protection. He always knows where I am, in case something goes sour." I stated matter-of-factly.
"Fury won't like that."
"Fury can suck my big toe. He's the one asking me fro help. He can accept a few minor stipulations."
"Deadpool is not a trustworthy person; you shouldn't be telling him anything that happens here."
"He's trustworthy to me." I folded my arms over my chest. I was not budging in this.
"Take it up with Fury; this isn't my call." He spread his arms like he was washing his hands of the matter.
"Speaking of, shouldn't HE be the one showing me all of this?" I raised an eyebrow.
"True, but I said I'd handle this one." He smiled at me. "I needed to see for myself."
"See the lab?"
"No, see if you were truly as beautiful as they all said." He winked at me. I felt like I was gonna pass out. He chuckled at my obvious shock. I quickly gathered my wits.
"You're creepy." I turned to look at my lab. It was huge. "It's a very big lab for just one person."
"You won't be alone. SHIELD is assembling you a team as we speak. We're getting the best and brightest to assume your every command." Tony explained.
"Do I get a say as to who these people are?"
"You can fire them if you wish, but SHIELD does the hiring. Why? Have someone in mind?"
"As a matter of fact, I do." I smiled evilly.
"Why do I get the feeling that Fury won't like this?"
"Because he won't." I turned to him. "I still haven't gotten through all of the research; it's going to take me some time."
"We're in no rush, according to Fury."
"You say that like you don't believe it."
"I don't. Fury can be a patient man, but his bosses are most definitely not." He frowned.
"What do you know, Stark?"
"Fury's higher-ups do not want Steve back. They think it's a waste of time and resources, not to mention money. Fury is trying to romance me to get to my Iron Man suit, but they would rather Fury take it by force; that wouldn't end well. We're trying to locate ad persuade Bruce Banner to come back to join us, but they want a world-wide man hunt and drafting, so to speak. Nick is trying to keep us all happy, that way we do our best work. If the higher-ups had their way, we'd all be miserable and stripped of our rights."
"I see. So, this needs to be done as quickly as I can pull it off, huh?"
"You certainly need to try."
"Shit."
"You can say that again."
"How soon will this team of mine be assembled?"
"A couple days, maybe a week. It's a little hard finding good scientists who will follow the orders of a 17-year-old."
"Yeah, that seems to create a problem." I sighed, knowing that no matter how smart or capable I was, I'd always be just a teenager to everyone who looked at me. "Well, when we finally get some, I'll just have to work hard at proving myself."
"I am eager to see how you do." He smiled genuinely at me. I tried not to blush.
"I'm not one to turn down a challenge. This is going to be very interesting." I looked at my watch. "I need to get back to the mansion. I gotta finish reading through all the research and then I have AP history homework."
"Busy little study bug."
"You'll be glad I'm such a study bug when I wake up Captain America."
"I think the whole nation will be."
"Ok, so let me get this straight," Deadpool said slowly, lounging on my bed, as usual, "Tony sent you a stalker text message, showed you this ultra-mega-uberly nice lab, all for the sake of pseudo-hitting on you?"
"He was not hitting on me."
"Kitten, when he says he wants to see if you're as beautiful as they say, that's classified as hitting on you." He rolled his eyes.
"Well, how was I supposed to know that?" I scoffed, staring at the notes on my computer screen.
"You don't get hit on very often, I take it."
"Deadpool, look at me." I was wearing a white wife beater, boys' camo shorts, and a pair of grey Nikes. "Does it look like guys hit on me much?"
"You're just going through a tom-boy phase."
"'I've been dressing like this since I was nine, I don't think it's a phase, Wade."
"Maybe you have latent homosexuality?" Wade smiled hopefully.
"Hell no, women are insane."
"I thought you like insane."
"Only when it's you, Wade." I chuckled.
"Yay! I'm special!" He jumped up from the bed and wrapped his arms around my neck, and rested his head on my shoulder. "How's the reading coming along?"
"Slowly, so fucking slowly. This Carson guy's handwriting was awful. I can't tell some of these letters apart." I flipped my laptop shut, and tried to spin around to grab my history book, but Wade held me in place. "Wade, I need to study."
"Let's go get some tacos."
"Huh?" I blinked at him, not sure where this had come from.
"You're uber stressed. Tacos will help you calm down." He grabbed my arm and pulled me up.
"I don't really feel like tacos, at the moment, Wade."
"Blasphemy!" He yelled. "You're always in the mood for tacos! See? This is why you need to relax. You're starting to stress, and it's only gonna get worse. Think of the tacos, Annie!" He looked like he was going to cry.
"Holy shit, Wade, fine, but I want yolandas."
"As long as it's Mexican food, Kitten." He smiled at me and kissed me on the cheek through his mask. Sometimes, Wade was a very confusing man.
I ran into our favorite Mexican joint, La Flora Bonita, and grabbed a couple to-go boxes. Wade always got the funniest looks whenever he went in to eat. Besides, we liked eating in the park better. We like to play "bang, kill, mangle" while we ate. Bang, kill, mangle was a lot like bang, marry, kill, only a lot more fun. We'd watch people walk past us and we'd say whether we would bang them, kill them, or seriously mangle them.
"Oh, definatly kill." Deadpool laughed as a blonde body builder walked past us.
"Agreed. Too many muscles, just gross." I took a bite of a yolanda and look around. "How about her?" I asked with my mouth full.
"Ooooo, I'd bang her!" I let loose a loud cat call as the shapely brunette passed us. She gave a "hmph," and fipped her hair as she walked away a little faster. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Shot down again, Deddy."
"Oh, shut up. I swear, sometimes you're worse than Al."
"How is the old bat, by the way?" I pushed my sunglasses up, they kept trying to slide down my nose.
"She's annoying, as always." He pouted like a little kid. I laughed at him and took another bite of the yolanda.
"Is she still buggin' ya about Siryn?" I asked slowly, knowing I'd be raising a delicate issue.
"Nope. The old hag has new tings to bug me about. Siryn's a thing of the past. I'm moving on to bigger and better things."
"You mean bigger and better stalking opportunities." I giggled.
"Hey! I did not stalk her!" He growled.
"Whatever you say, Deddy."
"And what if I said, 'Annie, let me kiss you till we both die!'"
"Then, I hit you in the face." I scowled. I guess I deserved that. I brought up his touchy issue, he'll bring up mine.
"Nah, you know you'd never hurt me, kitten.'
"What about the time I sliced your arm off during sparring practice?"
"That was an accident."
"Was it?" I winked at him and took a drink of my diet coke.
"God, you're such a tease.'
"To be a tease, Wade, I'd have to have the ability to give in." I sighed.
"Don't start being all depressed, now. I'm trying to cheer you up! With tacos!" He waved a taco in my face.
"I'm not being depressed, Wade." I laid back in the grass, and stared up at the sky. The clouds were so pretty today.
"Anna…"
"Wade, stop. I'm fine. Since when are you such a worry wart?" I laughed and put my arms under my head.
"Let's not get all emotional, now."
"Who's getting emotional?" I raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Nevermind."
"Wade, you confuse me.'
"I confuse everyone."
"Hey, wanna go throw soap at hobos?"
"Hells yeah!"