Hello and welcome back, fanfiction readers of the Internet. This one's a little short and I have a great excuse for that but I doubt any of you really care for excuses so onwards to the story!
Anthurium - basically just a poisonous plant, also known as Laceleaf. "Anthurium plants are poisonous due to calcium oxalate crystals. The sap is irritating to the skin and eyes."
Disclaimer: Marvel ain't mine and neither are its characters, but the OCs and this plot are my property so yeah.
Chapter 24: Meeting Their Makers
Slurred words and blurry colours. A heavy pounding in his head and a cold sweat glossing over his skin. Steve tensed as he awoke. His entire body felt like he had been frozen again, though this time he have felt every instant of his time away from his team and friends. He could almost hear his bones creak as he struggled to sit up. A pair of hands quickly aided him.
"Steve? Are you alright?" a familiar, light voice asked anxiously.
Steve groaned in response and opened both eyes slowly. Alexia stood beside him, with Tony hovering behind her. On his other side was a glass of water standing on a wooden table. Captain America observed the room blearily. The walls were a cool blue and the floor was smothered in a cream carpet. There was a large closet adjascent to the door and a window opposite that.
He tried to speak, but felt a numb tongue and a dry mouth preventing him. Alexia noticed his struggle and quickly supplied the glass. Slowly, his jaw fell and the refreshing liquid was poured in. Feeling returned almost immediately.
"Where am I?" he croaked.
"My old apartment!" Lexy smiled nervously, "We thought that the Tower wasn't safe after… Well, I'll explain later, and Natasha thought that they'd expect us to go to SHIELD seeing as Clint's in the medical bay, so I suggested we come here. I've been renting it out secretly."
"Why's Clint in the…? Who's 'they'? What happened at the Tower? Where is everyone?"
"Clint had a little run in with Maria -who's an Albertelli from the Familia, by the way - and he's not in great shape," Alexia's expression dampened as she relayed the events, "Paige and Bruce were kidnapped by my… By Dylan and his adoptive parents. Thor's next door - making breakfast - and Natasha is helping at SHIELD."
"And I was only out of the action for a few days?" Steve joked weakly.
"Do you think you can walk, yet? We didn't know how long it would take for you to wake up seeing as you have that supersoldier serum and all."
Swinging his legs over the side of the small bed, Steve began to rise, but lost balance almost immediately. Lexy barely caught him before he toppled onto the ground. She giggled slightly as he groaned again and fell back onto the bed.
"Alright, well, I suggest you stretch those muscles while I grab some breakfast-in-bed for you," she decided. The blonde nodded in return, a small upwards tilt at the end of his mouth.
He laid back as Alexia and Tony, who was strangely quiet, hurried out of the room. Thor, who was stirring a mix of grey and thick ingredients, looked up.
"Is our shield brother awake?" he questioned loudly, making Tony jump slightly.
"Yeah. He can't move a whole lot, though. I can only imagine…" Lexy frowned.
"Would some coffee help?" Tony asked, approaching the pot and turning to face her.
"I doubt it could do any harm," she shrugged, "What… What are you cooking there, Thor?"
The Norse God showed her the revolting bowl with pride and continued to stir.
"Asgardian traditional healing mix. I discovered that many common Midgardian plants are similar to my world's counterparts, so I supposed that they were easily exchangeable," the broad blonde explained cheerfully.
"Is that how it's supposed to look?" Tony enquired nervously.
Thor shrugged with a blissfully ignorant grin.
"I have never tried the recipe before, though I am sure I cannot be too wrong."
Alexia rasied the corner of her mouth anxiously as she took a mug from Tony.
"Is there anything else to eat?" the billionaire muttered when their hands touched.
"Don't be rude," she whispered in response, "He's trying his best."
"It's almost done!" Thor notified, "Is there a 'blow-torch' or similar device within your kitchen, Lady Alexia?"
She laughed weakly. There was a moment of silence (and bafflement in Thor's case) before the woman pointed at a drawer.
After an awkward meal, involving the three Avengers crowded around Steve's bed and a strange bowl of chewy, cough-inducing slop, Steve felt a newfound surge of energy and was able to hobble and limp onto the couch in the lounge with little help. Tony stole the bathroom to answer a call from Natasha while Thor boasted of his cooking superiority.
"What was that stuff she gave you?" Lexy murmured as she watched her teammate stretch across the seat in mild pain.
"Some kind of poison. Who knows?" Steve shrugged.
"It must have been pretty potent to put a supersoldier in this state."
Tony opened the bathroom door. They all turned to him.
"Natasha wants to meet us at the Tower. They think they've found Bruce's and Paige's location but we need to pick up Cap's shield first, if you're ready to fight."
The pairs of eyes now slid to Steve, who nodded confidently and stood up, barely wobbling as he did so. Lexy frowned.
"Tony, are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked quietly as the Captain changed in her room and Thor cleaned the kitchen.
"If he wants to help, I don't see why he can't," the billionaire replied, distracted.
"Tony!" Alexia snapped, a frustrated glare coating her eyes, "I really don't think that this is a good idea. Let's leave him to rest for a while, regain his strength."
Tony was about to reply when Captain America interrupted, seeming a little off-balance but otherwise fine.
"Are we leaving now?" he questioned.
"Onwards, to the battlefield!" Thor retorted loudly, already swinging the door open.
Lexy sighed and followed as they filed out and into an inconspicuous van that Tony had hired the day before.
They arrived at the Tower to find Natasha already waiting, suited up and impatiently tapping her foot. As the van pulled up, she turned and tensed, but relaxed as Alexia stepped out and ran over. As they began to speak, Steve and Thor entered the impressive building. Tony waited in the van, fiddling with his phone. As the Thunder God and supersoldier stepped into the elevator, two new figures plummeted to the ground, smirking confidently. A stunning woman and a shorter, mischievous-looking man.
Natasha was the first to react and placed a steady hand on her pistol. The female giggled slightly and blew a kiss towards her. An ugly green mist followed her line of sight and seeped into the spy, who accidentally breathed it in. Immediately, she began to choke and splutter, leaning against a bollard as Lexy raised her hands. Tony, noticing the danger for the first time, scrambled out and tapped something on his wrist.
Siren wrenched water from the nearest drains and any other opportunity and forced them into a dripping mass raised above the two attackers' heads. The male chuckled as it began to fall and started to form a net of sparks, who-knows-how-many volts of electricity encasing the sphere and causing an almost immediate reaction, at which point he threw the corrupted creation at the superhero. Alexia was engulfed and slammed into a wall on the opposing side of the street. By this point, anyone who had occupied the roads and sidewalks had fled.
"Lex- Siren!" Tony shouted.
The elemental jerked slightly but said nothing. The billionaire skidded to her side, attempting to touch her arm with a careful hand. He recoiled as his skin was zapped by the damp electricity.
Finally, his armor could be seen, soaring through the air from one of the higher floors of the Avengers Tower. He caught the gauntlet around his fist and braced his torso for the metal that soon clamped around it. Natasha was leaning against the van now, hacking violently as she struggled to breathe. Both of the opponents were facing Iron Man, knowing smirks clear on their faces.
"Watch out for the other two, Red," the woman reminded quietly, "They'll be back soon."
"You can take those two," he replied, "I want the famous Iron Man."
The said superhero stood. Though they couldn't see it, his body was practically shaking with rage. The poison spread from the woman and tried to penetrate the armor, but when it merely curled around his neck and stomach, she shrugged and turned to the door, breathing into and rubbing her hands to form the wisps of unnaturally green smoke. Tony sent a repulsor blast at her back, but a wall of pure neon light stopped it in its tracks. The man smirked.
"Who the hell are you two?" Iron Man growled.
"Red Techno, at your service," the man introduced cheekily, "Though I bet you wish I wasn't."
"And who's she?"
"My daring and devious partner, Anthuria. Look it up, it's quite a cool name when you know what it means."
"I know what Anthurium is," he snapped.
"Oh yeah!" Red Techno clicked his fingers together in sudden remembrance, "You're the genius billionaire yada yada, aren't you? Cool armor, by the way. Too bad it's run by my element."
Iron Man couldn't get another word in before Red Techno tightened a fist and the hero felt a magnetic pull coerce his armor. He stumbled back a little in an attempt to tear the growing bond. At that moment, a familiar shield knocked the villain in the back of the head. Anthuria snarled as Thor aimed his hammer at her stomach and sent a quick dart of smoke at him. It crawled into his nostrils, ears, eyelids and mouth, but the Viking God barely noticed as he swung his deadly weapon, meeting its target exactly.
Captain America helped Black Widow to her feet and into the van. He signaled to Tony that they were about to leave and caught his returning, vibranium alloy frisbee with ease. The now-almost-unconscious Red Techno groaned slightly as Iron Man shuffled past, Siren slung across both shoulders. Anthuria scuttled past the vehicle, before Thor could grab her skinny arm, and lay over her partner, panting heavily and releasing her toxic mist with every breath. They were soon engulfed in it and were gone by the time it cleared.
Lexy woke up in the SHIELD medical bay for a second time, though in this instance it was with a jerk upwards and a sudden gasp. It took a second to take in her surroundings. Unlike her previous room, this one had another bed, which was occupied by a certain archer that raised an eyebrow at her abrupt awakening. Natasha sat in the corner, reading an old Captain America comic. She glanced at her friend, acknowledging that she was alright, before returning to the dimly coloured pages. Tony rested beside her, a newspaper covering his face as soft, quiet snores erupted from beneath. Alexia smiled sadly, calming at the sight. He had seemed off lately, but, looking as he did now, she knew that there was no irreversible change in him since the moment she had fallen in love.
"Tony," she whispered, gently shaking his shoulder.
He snorted slightly, causing a short giggle from the bed-ridden brunette, and sat up straight, letting the newspaper slide down his lap and onto the floor.
"You okay?" he immediately questioned, staring into her eyes in search of a cause for concern, "Man, don't do that. Geez, you're gonna give me a heart attack."
"What?" Lexy grinned, "Getting hit with a giant ball of electric water or waking you up when you're obviously in deep sleep."
"Both?" he replied uncertainly and shook his head as if to clear the sleep from it.
"How long have I been out?"
"A few hours," he yawned, "You didn't miss much."
"Lexy, we're injury buddies!" Clint joked, throwing her a bottle of water that sat on his bedside table unnecessarily (she could have just let it float throught air and into her waiting hand).
"Not for long," Natasha spoke up, lowering her comic, "Lexy suffered minor burn injuries, she'll be out by the end of the day. You still have a couple of days left before you can put pressure on that leg."
"You ruin all the fun," the archer pouted.
"Where's everyone else?" Alexia asked.
"Scouting out the area where we think your parents are holding Paige and Bruce," Natasha responded bluntly, "They're not taking any action, though. We don't know what we're up against and, seeing as they're your foster family and all, you'd probably want to be involved."
"Actually," the brunette muttered, "I wish I didn't have to be involved."
"Lexy," Tony murmured, "Everything will be fine."
Had he said that the day before, Alexia may have snapped that he couldn't possibly know that, or frowned and ranted silently in her head, at least. But now, after finding the genius waiting patiently at her side instead of helping his team, the elemental decided that it would be best not to argue and enjoy the moment before it was interrupted by yet another fight or phone call.
Hope you liked it. If so - or if not, for that matter - write a review. I don't know when I'll be uploading next but let's pray for February, 'kay? Also, if you have any ideas to inspire me, it would be really helpful!