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Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Marvel Comics and Marvel Cinematic Universe. I only own my OC's.
Chapter 6 - It Was Only A Half-lie
Alexia woke up to the steady buzzing and beeping of her alarm. She swiped her phone to silence the annoying sound and moaned as she sat up. Her pale blue walls stared back at her and the hard oak floor looked particularly uninviting. She was about to get 5 minutes more sleep when her phone continued to buzz, except thisg time it was a phone call. She picked it up.
"Hello?" She greeted wearily.
"Hey, Lexy, it's Tony. Just wondering if you wanted to grab some lunch with us at about 1?" Stark's happy voice invited.
"Why would you call me about that now?" Alexia almost screamed into the phone.
"Jarvis hacked into your phone to see when you woke up. I kind of made the plans last night," Tony answered hesitantly.
"It's 7:00 am, Tony," Lexy groaned.
"Good morning!" He chuckled before hanging up.
Now thoroughly irritated, Lexy stood up and got dressed into a plain black pencil skirt and white button up, pulling on a dark grey cardigan and heels on as well. She entered her lounge to feed the fish and get breakfast before heading out to work. Upon arriving at the Manhattan University of General Sciences, Lexy could tell that something was different. Students were flooding around her, teachers were grumbling about the noise and tiny explosions were happening all over the quad as usual, but something was up. She gingerly walked to her lab from behind the school, watching every person that went by carefully.
Alexia soon found out what was bothering her when she opened the lab door to a completely new room. It was the same size and the walls were the same color but it was filled to the brim with the latest technology. She gaped at it as Erin, her sarcastic coworker, emerged from behind a new microscope, grinning from ear to ear.
"Lexy, who the hell did you make friends with?" She queried joyfully, passing the brunette a small sheet of card.
On it was written: To Brookes, from your new friends. Alexia was speechless as she simply stared at all the newest inventions from the technology world.
"I-it's complicated..." She stuttered quietly.
"You know what? I don't care, I'm just going to say that you need to keep them close," Erin laughed.
During her lunch break, Alexia got a text from Tony explaining where they would be eating. She followed the directions to a small Chinese café. Through the window, she could see the team sitting at one of the tables. When they saw her, they waved her in. After hurrying in and sitting down, Lexy ordered a vegetable ramen.
"We're sorry for what we did yesterday, Alexia. We didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Clint started.
"It's ok, sorry for overreacting," she smiled.
"You didn't overreact," Steve quickly leapt in.
"Thank you for the new tech, by the way. My partner, Erin, was ecstatic," Alexia thanked.
"Erin...?" Tony asked.
"Erin Seath. She's been my best friend since... Since middle school I guess. She's the only family I have now," Lexy sighed.
"What happened to your parents?" Steve questioned.
Alexia grew quiet, thinking of an excuse to avoid the true answer.
"I was put into foster care when I was born. I only stopped moving when I was 12, in the middle of the first year middle school, but I still never really felt bonded to my adopted family," Alexia lied quickly, though the part about meeting Erin half-way through middle school was true.
"Where is your adopted family?"
"I still hang out with my brother sometimes but my parents live in England now," Alexia continued.
Dylan was basically her brother and Karen and Joe were like parents to her. Lexy could pull off this lie if she tried hard enough.
"What does your brother do?" Bruce asked.
"Dylan's an architect. He lives in Brooklyn but we meet up a lot," this time Alexia was telling the truth.
They continued to chat for a while. Fortunately, no one asked anymore questions about her past, thinking they'd learnt all there was, no doubt. Instead they talked about food, which somehow led to all the places Tony had visited on business versus Natasha as a spy. By the time they had finished lunch, Lexy's break was over. She quickly said her goodbyes and caught a taxi, which drive her straight to Manhattan University of General Sciences, or MUGS as it was affectionately nicknamed by the students.
As she burst into the lab right on time, Erin absentmindedly reminded her that her class was in 10 minutes, causing the brunette to have to run across the campus to the classroom where she was giving a lecture on the chromatophores and the abilities they give certain marine animals. The class was already half full as she arrived with 3 minutes to spare. Lexy quickly orgnised the presentation and her notes while catching her breath.
"Hello, I'm Miss Brookes, as some of you may know and today we'll be going through the properties that certain cephalopods, octopi and squids have due to chromatiphores and what these can be used for," she introduced as she switched on the screen behind her.
After the lesson, a few students asked her some questions. She walked along the corridor with them as they questioned her, determined to return to her lab as soon as possible. When she got there, only one student remained. Erin was soon able to shoo her off with a sarcastic attitude and Lexy sat down at her desk, where her new computer sat patiently.
"Geez, she would just not take a hint," Erin muttered as she returned to her own desk.
"I feel like you and Tony would get along," Alexia giggled as she glanced st her friend.
Erin was slightly shorter than Alexia was but just as smart. She could've been anything she wanted, but she chose to be a marine biologist so that she could work with Lexy. They had been friends since the first day they had met. Erin was snarky, confident and funny, with brown hair a shade darker than Alexia's and slightly shorter and chocolate brown eyes. The woman had protected Lexy from bullies all through middle and high school, even occasionally at university, and they had a strong bond because of it. They had known each for 16 years and, seeing as Alexia's memories of the time before they met were violent and lonely, Erin had become her closest confident, except for Dylan, maybe.
Erin didn't know about her powers, but she knew practically everything else. From favourite colour to dream job to high school crush, the two trusted each other immensely and didn't keep anything a secret. That's why Alexia felt so bad about keeping her powers a secret. Her only worry was that Erin, who enjoyed hearing rumors and passing them along, might accidentally tell someone.
"Lexy! Pay attention once in a while would ya?" Erin shouted irritably.
"What?" Alexia looked utterly bewildered.
"Who is Tony?" she queried.
"Oh he's just a friend," Lexy waved it off.
"You sure about that? Because I feel a ship emerging," she smirked mischievously.
"Erin, don't you dare!" Lexy warned.
"Tony, Lexy... Lony, Texy..." her friend muttered, dazed.
Lexy half-laughed and half-groaned at her best friend's antics. She continued with her work until the end of the day, occasionally getting teased by her coworker. When it was finally time to leave, she bid farewell to Erin.
"Oh, by the way, James and Kara and coming to the lab at some point over the next week," she remembered suddenly.
"What do they want?" Alexia groaned.
"Probably making sure that their inferiors aren't doing better than them. Chris and Jonah will be there too, though," Erin sighed.
James and Kara were the head marine biologist and engineer, in charge of teaching most of the classes and maintaining the marine science budget. Chris and Jonah were the two of the marine engineers. They disliked Kara, their boss, and James, Erin and Alexia's, just as much as the biologists, but enjoyed hanging out with the two girls.
"What time?" Lexy continued.
"Probably sometime between 10 and midday. I wouldn't be too worried, they're probably just annoyed that we got our little gift this morning. We're ahead on tech now," Erin bragged.
"Urgh, what if they ask us to share it with them?" Alexia exclaimed with disdain.
"Then we can say that it was a gift and they have no right to it," Erin assured confidently.
The two waved quickly as they took different streets to get home. On her way back to her apartment, Alexia felt the discomforting feeling of being watched. She turned but the road was empty. Increasing her speed slightly, Lexy continued to walk home. Suddenly, her arm was grabbed. She immediately absorbed the water from nearby puddles, open drain pipes and the air, creating a small ball of liquid hovering between her slightly clenched fingers. It spun quickly, preparing to be thrown.
"Hey, it's me, ok? Calm down," came Steve's slightly frantic voice.
Relieved, Alexia let the sphere drop, unfortunately landing on their shoes and feet.
"Whoops! Oh god, sorry. But seriously, don't scare me like that," she scolded.
"I feel like you could handle yourself against anyone who tried you in the average street of Manhattan," Captain America chuckled.
"Whatever. Point is it's weird that you're skulking around New York in a black hoodie in the dark and creeping up on girls for no good reason," she stated angrily.
"For one, it's barely even dark yet. It's like 7:30 pm. Second, I do have a reason, you just haven't let me explain yet," he huffed.
"Ok, try to justify your freaky behavior," Lexy challenged, folding her arms.
"Fine. I was just looking for a way to kill time, mainly by crime-fighting and I saw you. I thought you might want to join me," he replied, equally as confident.
"Why would I want to help you beat people up?" Alexia snorted.
"I only incapacitate them enough to make it easier for the police. Plus, they deserve it and, for all we know, I could be saving plenty of innocent lives," Steve reasoned.
Alexia huffed, defeated. She glared at him for a second before grinning despite herself.
"Fine, I'll help," she agreed.
The two spent the rest of the night scowering the streets and alleyways for struggles, stopping them before the worst could happen.
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