"Annie!" Jean yelled from downstairs.
"Yes?" I yelled back, not venturing out of room to where she was, just in case I was in deep shit…again.
"Get down here, now." Yeah, she sounded ticked off. I wondered what I did this time.
"What's up, red?" I asked as I slid down the banister into the main foyer of the mansion.
"What have you done?"
"You tell me." I really was completely ignorant as to why she was mad at me.
"Do you have a boyfriend you neglected to tell us about?" She put her hand on her hip and gave me a sour look.
"Not the last time I checked, but I can always go look on Facebook. Facebook knows stuff about me before I do!"
"Do you want to tell me who sent you these adorable flowers?" She smirked at me, and motioned to a large vase of red roses on the small center table of the foyer.
"You made me think I was in trouble! You're so—wait. What? Flowers? Who the hell would send me flowers?"
"Why don't you read the card and find out?" Jean giggled.
"One day, red, I'm gonna hit you in the face."
"Sure you are, Annie." She smiled at me. "Anyway, they're probably from Deadpool. He's been pretty snuggly with you lately."
"Ha! Wade? Snuggly? You need a CAT scan, doll." I lowered my head to sniff the roses. They smelled sweet. Besides, if Wade had sent me flowers, they would be lilies; my favorites.
"Well? Read the card!" Jean urged.
"I think you want to know who they're from more than I do." I laughed at her. "Maybe I won't read the card, and just throw them all away."
"Annie!" She pouted. "Don't you want to know who's being sweet on you?"
"Not as much as you do, apparently."
"Come on, Annie!"
"Fine." I opened the card and read, not believing a word of it. "To the resident genius beauty; Congratulations on having your dreams come true."
"Oooooo, 'resident genius beauty', huh? The guy knows how to hit a sweet spot." She winked at me. "Who's it from?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I shook my head and put the card in my pocket.
"Annie! You have to tell me!"
"No, I don't actually." I said, trying to hide the blush on my face. "I'm going to my room." I picked up the vase of roses and went straight upstairs. I slammed the door shut and put the vase down on my desk. I stared at it.
"What the hell is he thinking?" I breathed.
On one hand, he was extremely dreamy and completely desirable. On the other, he was arrogant, self-centered, and a huge play boy. He'd probably throw me away like a wadded up tissue when he got what he wanted. But, even still, he was perfect. He was smart, sophisticated, handsome, and strong. He'd been my crush ever since I read that first article in Modern Science. I looked back at the note.
To the resident genius beauty; Congratulations on having your dreams come true. –Tony Stark
I needed a drink. A big one. Good thing Wade left me a stash in the chest in front of my bed.
The next morning, it was off to school. Jean was still a little irked that I wouldn't tell her who the card was from. She rode to school with Scott, as usual, along with Kitty and Rogue. Spike and Kurt rode with me in Sinead. I went through everyone's schedules in my head. Jean had soccer practice until 4, Scott would stay and watch her, Spike would probably cut out early again to go skating, Rogue would hang with Risty, and Kurt would go straight back to the mansion to help forge with his new ideas for teleportation travel enhancers. So, everyone but Kurt would have their own way home. All I needed to do to be able to sneak off to the lab was drop Kurt off at the mansion and use the excuse of job hunting. Easier said than done.
"Annie, you ok?" Kurt asked from beside me.
"Yeah, you seemed zoned out. Earth to Annie!" Spike laughed.
"I'm fine guys, just a little lost in thought." I smiled and tried to focus on driving.
"Annie lost in thought, well there's a first." Spike said sarcastically.
"Oh, shush. I'm trying to remember if I left that bomb in you room. It was supposed to go off at 3:00."
"What the heck?" Spike cried.
"Why were you in his room, Annie?'
"I don't really care why right now, Kurt! Annie, tell me you did not leave a bomb in my room."
"Ok, ok. I did not leave a bomb in you room, Spike." I laughed.
"Thank God.'
"But Deadpool did."
"What?"
The day drug by slowly. Like, painfully slow. I felt the need to shoot myself in the head, but I knew it wouldn't grow back. Damn it, why did Wade get the cool powers?
Lunch time was the only point of my day that had anything interesting happen. I was in the middle of trying to challenge the Blob to a chimichanga eating contest, when Principal Kelly came over the loud speaker.
"Next Saturday there will be a talent contest in the auditorium at 7:00. If anyone is interested in being in the contest, please sign up in the councilor's office."
"Wow, a talent contest? How lame." Rogue blew a strand of her hair out of her face and took a bite of her fish sandwich.
"I think it sounds fun!" Kitty exclaimed.
"Of course you would." Rogue growled under her breath.
"You only don't like the idea because you have no talent!" Kitty snorted.
"Oh puh-lease. I could win that contest with no problem, I just have no desire to embarrass myself in front of every idiot in this school.
"Whatever." Kitty rolled her eyes.
"Will you two stop bickering? God, you sound like an old married couple." I whined as I sat back down beside Kurt.
"Come on, Annie. You've got to admit this is utter bull." Rogue laughed.
"Actually, I'm thinking of signing up."
"Say what? You can't be serious!" Kurt laughed.
"I am."
"What talent have you got? I mean, you can't show them how well you can shoot a man, or how you can steal people's life forces just by touching them."
"That's not nice, Kurt. Annie has lots of talents." Jean scolded.
"Yeah, she can build a nuclear bomb from household items." Scott laughed.
"That actually does sound fun." I said thoughtfully.
"No, Anna." Scott said sternly.
"Darn." I giggled.
"But, seriously, what are you going to do?" Kitty asked.
"I have something in mind, don't worry."
"You're not going to tell us, are you?" Kurt whined.
"Annie does love to keep her secrets." Jean snorted.
"What do you mean, Jean?" Scott asked, a little confused.
"Did you know she got flowers last night?"
"Jean, don't." I warned.
"Oooo, Annie's got a boyfriend! Who's the unlucky guy?" Kurt laughed.
"Shove it, Kurt." I growled.
"She won't tell me who they were from." Jean pouted.
"It's not important, Jean."
"I'll bet it was Pietro." Spike laughed.
"I'll kill you with your own skateboard, Spikey." I growled, gripping my fork in my hand, ready to plunge it in his throat.
"Calm down, Annie." Scott grabbed my hand. "She doesn't have to tell us anything, Jean."
"But-"
"Leave her be. She'll tell us when she's ready."
"Stop talking about me as if I'm not here." I snapped.
"Oh, Annie, you're still here."
"I'm going to kill you. With a spoon."
After school, I ran out to my truck, Kurt following from behind.
"What's the rush?"
"I wanna get the hell outta here!" I looked around, hoping Pietro hadn't seen me. I hadn't had to deal with him all day; I didn't want to ruin my good day now. I jumped in the truck, and smirked to myself as I typed out a text message for Tony. I did a little digging, and borrowed some of the Prof's computers, to figure out Tony's phone number by the unknown text he had sent me. I hoped I got the shocked reaction I wanted when he saw that I had figured it out.
"Wanna help me study for my math test tomorrow?" Kurt asked as we backed out of the parking lot and onto the road.
"I can't. I'm going into to town to go job hunting."
"Job hunting?" he asked, confused.
"Yeah, I need to start saving up for college. Stanford is not gonna be cheap, bub."
"But, you're so smart! You'll get a full ride scholarship, no doubt!"
"I need the security, just in case I don't. Besides, I'm 17. I should have a job, anyway."
"I guess I can understand that." He thought for a second. "Hey! Now you can buy me a new video game!"
"We'll see." I laughed.
I dropped Kurt off in front of the mansion, and then headed back out. I made my way toward the old warehouse, hoping no one who saw me recognized me. My phone buzzed with a text message, I laughed when I saw it was from Tony.
I should've known you would figure out my number. Did you like your flowers?
I sent back a quick text, then pulled into the drive way, and parked. This time, waiting by the door for me was Fury. He had a big smile on his face, and that scared me. I finished the text and got out of Sinead. It was odd. You're very creepy, you know that?
"Ready to get to work?" Fury asked.
"As I'll ever be." I sighed. "Let's get this over with."
"Good. We've assembled you a team, as I'm sure Tony informed you."
"Yeah. Why did you let him show me around, anyway? That kinda seemed like croaching in on your territory."
"He wanted to meet you. He's obsessed with the thought of someone one so young being so smart."
"He was younger than me when he started making weapons."
" I never claimed to be able to understand the guy." He threw his hand up in surrender.
"Anyway, who all is on this team, Fury? I need to know if I can trust any of them."
"You'll recognize one of them.'
"Who?"
"Killbrew."
"Hell now. I refuse. No fucking way."
"I thought you might say that."
"I'll kill that mother fucker."
"Language, Anna."
"SHIELD has sure sunk low if you're letting scum like Killbrew in."
"He's a brilliant geneticist. He'll come in handy when it comes to the Captain's unique and altered genes."
"You know what he's done, Fury. You know the horrible things he did in Weapon X."
"Yes, but he is trying to redeem himself."
"He's lying."
"Truthfully, I don't care if he is or not, as long as he helps us wake Rogers."
"Do you care what happens to him after we wake him up?" I asked, a twinkle in my eye.
"I don't wanna hear it, Anna. I don't want any part in you revenge, or whatever the hell it is." He scowled and walked to the elevator, I followed, waiting for him to reveal the rest of my team. We went down and sat in chairs in the lab. "There are six candidates, including Killbrew. They are all expendable, except for him; we need his knowledge.
"I don't really like the idea of you calling us scientists 'expendable.'"
"That's not what I meant. I meant that they can be fired and replaced according to your ability to work with them and their attitudes."
"Attitudes. You mean how well they play with me, the 17-year-old boss."
"Pretty much." He smiled at me; it scared me.
"I need someone on this team that I can trust, especially if Killbrew is here. I want one of my own."
"That will be hard to convince the higher-ups of."
"First off, Deadpool will know everything. I trust him, and, frankly, I don't trust you. He will know where I am at all times. If Carson was killed, I'll need a bodyguard anyway; even with my fighting abilities, I can't fend off them all if they're bent on killing me."
"I don't want Deadpool knowing any of this, but I guess there's no way to stop you, if you're set on it."
"I am. Not dying is always a good thing in my book."
"And the team member?"
"Jean Grey."
"You're kidding me."
"Nope. A telekinetic could come in handy when it comes to building this machine of Tony's. Plus, she's great at reading people, and I'm not talking about their minds. She can tell me who's trustworthy and who's plotting to kill me."
"At first I thought you sounded just like Wolverine. Now you sound like Deadpool."
"I change my personality daily, bub."
"There's Wolverine, again."
"Don't make me shank you in the face, patchy."
"There's Deadpool."
"You got a point here?" I scowled at him, trying to resist the suddenly strong urge to kill him and stuff hid body for my mantle.
"Not really. You'll just be hard to anticipate is all."
"You seriously think you know what I'll do in certain situations? You got no clue, bub."
"I know you'll always end up doing the right thing."
"Only if it pays enough."
"God, help me." He sighed and handed me six manila folders. "These are the dossiers on all of the scientists. Go through them tonight. I want you to know everything about them by Monday. It's Friday, so of course you'll be free for the weekend.
"Grand. A weekend full of reading and memorizing." I put the folders in my bag that hung on my shoulder. "Anything else I should know about?"
"Your first pay check has been direct deposited to your bank account."
"Finallly! Some good news!"