Shadowed Past: Visions of Affliction
Chapter 7: A Day in the Life of Piper
The next morning, Piper sat on Steve and I's bed holding Howard's old journal page in awe.
Steve was getting cleaned up in the bathroom while I explained everything to Piper.
"Whoa, it's so old and cool!" She grinned.
"Piper, focus."
"Sorry."
Piper read the page, and looked at me with confused eyes.
"Okay, so, in a nutshell, my mom started off with Howard, and that's were she got her abilities from."
"Right," Piper nodded.
"And then, she left Howard for Dexter."
"Okay,"
"And Dexter basically manipulated my mother to get more information about her special genetics to take over the world, which is what we ended up stopping."
"Mhmm,"
"So then my mom got mad at Dexter, and she went back to Howard again. But he wrote these after she left that the first time. Did you get all of that?"
"Yeah, I think. Your mom was a little, risque, wasn't she?" Piper asked, wiggling her eyebrows.
I rolled my eyes and let out a breath. "By the looks of it, yes. But that's not my business!"
"Ha-ha, your mom was in love with Howard Stark," Piper cooed.
"Shut it, Pipes." I scolded.
"Okay, anyways, so what does this mean? We have to find more of these journal pages to figure out what actually happened?"
"Yes, hopefully they'll give us a little more information about why all of this is happening."
"But, I don't understand...how did all of this lead to you having these weird visions and flashbacks now, like, 30 years later?"
"I don't know, Piper. But you have to trust me on this. I watched my mother leave Dexter...these visions are weird. But they mean something."
"And Lucy slash Dexter slash Howard ties in with that See-dur how?"
"Seidr! Say it with an accent!" I groaned. "And trust me, if I knew, I wouldn't be trying to figure all of this out."
"But, this means another mystery! We're getting the gang back together!" Piper cheered. "We need an official team name!"
"Piper, this is not an alliance, this is simply piecing together a bunch of junk to end this weird visions."
"But if we're solving a mystery then we need a name!"
"This is not Scooby-Doo!"
"It sort of is! And we can get a van and call it the mystery machine!" Piper squealed.
"Piper, no! Right now, this is like a really bad sitcom that we're stuck in the middle of."
"It's not a sitcom until Steve comes out wearing your robe."
"What?" I scoffed.
The bathroom door opened, and Steve poked his head out of the doorway. "Um, honey, can you get me some pants?"
"Are you...are you wearing my robe?" I asked gently, on the verge of hanging my head in defeat and laughing until I couldn't breathe.
"Maybe..." Steve muttered, ducking behind the door a little.
Piper was already beet red, holding her mouth so she didn't laugh.
I quickly handed Steve his clothes, and he shut the door.
I turned around with my arms crossed, pursing my lips. "Really, Piper, really?"
Piper cleared her throat, and impersonated a man's voice. "Honey, where's my pants?!" She called.
We both burst into laughter and ended up rolling around on the floor crying.
Steve came out of the bathroom, and looked down at Piper and I on the floor.
"Am I interrupting something?"
We began laughing even harder, if that was remotely possible.
It truly was really was like a bad sitcom.
Third Person POV
Piper decided to take on the job of trying to find the other two case files, considering she had the easiest access to a computer being a secretary.
Alex finally went to help Steve and Natasha with training again, and Piper was glad. She knew that it would be good for her to try and do something to take all of the stress off of her mind. And Wanda was a good friend. Piper trusted her.
"Morning, ma'am." Piper sighed, saluting her boss before walking into her office. Piper's boss wasn't the happiest of people, and she was sure to express it.
"Don't joke about saluting. It's a disrespect to soldiers." The woman snapped.
"Sorry, ma'am." Piper said, rolling her eyes after she turned away.
Piper sat at her desk and let out a sigh. She knew it wouldn't be long before she had to get up again.
"Piper, I have papers for you to file. Come with me, please."
There it was.
Piper was given dozens of papers to file and hand out. Some where to be shredded, some to be handed out to different employees, and others to be filed in the file room. She then began her excursion throughout the base.
As she was placing different papers around on different desks, she could see the training room through all of the glass walls. Piper saw Alex and Wanda laughing, and even goofing off a little. It made her upset sometimes. She felt excluded from all of the others because she wasn't special. She didn't have any special abilities, she was just your average human. Piper loved Alex, and would never be jealous of her. It's not that she wanted what Alex had, she just wanted to be included. The ex-agents treated her as their paper slave and that's all she felt like at this new base. At Avengers Tower, things were different. Everyone would eat breakfast together, including her, and she had so much more fun there. This new base had been hard on everyone, but Piper felt like a caged animal sometimes.
Piper looked over to see Steve wrap his arms around Alex from behind and kiss her head. She almost "aww'd" out loud. She loved that Steve and Alex had such a loving marriage and relationship, but it brought another thing to her mind. Ever since they'd both gotten involved with all of this top secret stuff, Piper couldn't go shopping after work any more. She couldn't even go boy hunting at diners with Alex because she couldn't leave this stupid base. And almost all of the guys at the base weren't very attractive, unless they were the superhuman ones. But other than the Vision, who probably didn't have romantic programming, they were all taken. Bruce and Natasha were a thing, Steve and Alex, Thor had Jane, Clint was married to Laura, and Tony had Pepper. She couldn't think of anyone else. Piper felt hopeless, she used to have a loving boyfriend back when the whole SHIELD mess happened, but when everything began to unwind...he left. It took her a while to get over it, but eventually she accepted the fact that if he actually cared that much, he would've stayed. No matter what crazy stuff happened.
As Piper was staring off into space, day dreaming, someone came into her line of sight that she'd forgotten about.
Sam Wilson.
She studied his moves as he punched and full on attacked a dummy in the training room, and found herself fascinated by the way his muscles rolled under his skin. Every move, swing of his fist or leg, even his jet pack was attractive.
"Hmm, Piper Wilson...I like it." She sighed, smiling.
Once all of the papers were finally out of her hands, she went back to receive the same job over again.
"And try and be snappy about it, I saw you day dreaming over there."
"Yes, ma'am." Piper muttered lowly.
Eventually, after what felt like years, Piper watched all of the secretaries and office workers leave for their lunch break. Even her boss.
"It's your time to shine." Piper muttered to herself, a grin appearing upon her face. She made her way to the main desk with ease. And the two head computers couldn't be any easier to get to.
"Now, just time to hack these little guys and figure out where those cases are."
Piper began her hack by overriding some security setups, and finally got to the point where she could search for anything, anyone, and everything SHIELD or HYDRA agents had ever entered into the computer system.
Muttering small words to herself, she quickly typed in the first case that needed to be found.
#1971.
1 result found.
File Name: #1971
Date Modified: 4/5/2012 06:38AM
File Type: Word Document
Size: 492 KB
Document:
38.9047, 77.0164
801012973
"You've got to be bloody kidding me! Some numbers?!" Piper shouted. She cursed under her breath, popping her head up over the desk to the relief of no other people.
"Mysteries are supposed to be fun, of course ours isn't." She muttered, whipping out her phone and taking a photo of the numbers on the screen. Piper scrolled up and down the document to find no other information.
She continued to mutter to herself as she quickly took more photos of the file's main information before closing out everything and clearing the history. She checked the for the other case number, but it got no search results.
"Great, now I have to figure out what those mean." She breathed as she went to go take her own lunch break.
Later that evening, Piper's shift had ended, and she was sitting in her room, trying to figure out what the numbers meant on the document.
She kept repeating them to herself over and over, and nothing made any sense.
Just then, there was a knock on her door. "Come in!"
"Hey," Alex said.
"Hi, I've found something!" Piper cheered.
"No way!" Alex replied.
Alex plopped down on the bed next to Piper and Piper began explaining everything.
"So, we have three sets of numbers. Two separated by a comma and another by itself. The first two might be coordinates, but the second set could be anything really."
"Okay, coordinates to where?"
"Well, let's find out." Alex sighed. She got up and grabbed her phone, typing in the first two numbers.
Alex typed in the numbers, and a location was found.
"Hey! It found something!" Piper cheered.
"Yeah, near south Mongolia."
"That can't be right. SHIELD didn't have a base over there...right?"
"It wouldn't shock me..." Alex muttered.
"Try different directions."
"Let's go with North, and West." Alex said to herself as she changed the search entry. "Ah, Washington DC. Much better." Alex smiled.
"So, the old base in DC...that was destroyed?"
"The Triskeleton? There's no way there's anything left...they helicarrier knocked it down and the ruins were turned into a small memorial to make it look like a terrorist attack."
"Terrorist attack?"
"Well they had to tell the public something other than the truth." Alex shrugged.
"True, true." Piper trailed off.
"But, how will we get to DC? You have to stay here, you're under serious monitoring. And Steve can't leave either. But, I can..."
"Piper, are you sure, by yourself?"
"I mean, it would be nice to have a sidekick, but, I need to be a man about this. I'll head out first thing after my shift. Actually, screw it. I'll grab my stuff and go now. They can get another paper slave."
"Aren't you forgetting something? How are you going to get there?" Alex piped up.
"I'll fly." Piper retorted sarcastically. "I don't know, I'll figure it out."
"Wait! Steve said something about Sam going to DC this afternoon for the whole wild goose chase for Bucky! Go with him!"
"Sam...Wilson?" Piper swallowed.
"Yeah! Sam's a great guy, why not?"
"I'm just shy..." Piper trailed off.
"You, shy? Around a buff attractive man?"
Piper nodded.
Alex gasped with excitement, "You like him! Don't you?"
"I wouldn't say like, I don't know him that well. But he is really nice, and funny, and, attractive..."
"This is good! You two would be so cute together! Oh my gosh, you're going to DC with Sam and nothing will stop you. Come on, lets go find him." Alex said, grabbing Piper by the arm.
"Wait, like right now?"
"Yes!"
The two made their way out the door and continued down the corridor without any haste.
As Alex and Piper rounded the corner to the training area, they say everyone leaving for the evening.
"Wanda!" Alex called.
"Yes, Alex?"
"Have you seen Sam anywhere?"
"Oh, he said something about leaving for Washington soon. Why, did you need to see him?"
"Sort of, it's hard to explain...thanks for your help!" Alex said in under a second, grabbing Piper's wrist and sprinting off again.
They were at the garage in only minutes, and Alex saw Sam on his motorcycle about to head out."
"Sam!" Alex screamed, sprinting for him, leaving Piper behind.
Alex was able to rest her hands on the front of the bike just as Sam was revving the engine to leave.
"Whoa! Alex?" he said, turning the ignition off. "Everything okay? I thought you knew to look both ways before crossing the street?" He chuckled.
Alex panted, "It's not about me, it's Piper. We're onto something, and, she needs to get to DC. Could she go with you?"
"Sure, as long as she doesn't mine riding out in the open on this old thing." Sam grinned, turning around to wave and Piper who was slowly making her way over.
"She's a little shy, and can get kinda crazy, but I promise you'll love her." Alex winked.
"Hi, Sam." Piper said awkwardly, standing next to Alex.
"Hi, Piper." Sam grinned. "So, you need to get to DC?"
"Yeah, I'm trying to find something I left there..." She said, winking, signaling that she was certainly lying.
"Ah, gotchya. Well, there's room for two on this thing. You wouldn't mind staying for a couple of days, would you? I've got a spare room in the apartment you can use to hide out, and stay in, of course."
"That sounds great!" She smiled. "Let met go grab a couple of things, and I'll be right back!"
Piper darted off, and Sam parked his bike and got off the leather seat.
"Thank you so much for doing this, we just figured out that we needed something from DC about five minutes ago."
"Hey, anything for Steve's girl and her friends. Besides, we're all close here, right?"
"Yeah, Nat's a little anti-social, but, I can't blame her." Alex chuckled.
He smiled and laughed softly in response.
"So, how's the case about Barnes going?"
"Slow, but, we're making progress. There's been a sighting downtown from where The Triskeleton was, so I figured I'd check it out."
Alex nodded. "It still getting to Steve. I know it is. And I feel awful for him. I can't imagine what it's like..."
"Me either." Sam muttered.
Piper returned only moments later with a backpack filled with her needs for a couple days away from the base.
Alex and Piper said their goodbyes, and she rode off out onto the open road holding Sam's torso tight, and Alex couldn't help but smile.
First Person POV
I made my way back into the building and towards the training area when I saw Steve socializing with Wanda and JARVIS (Yes, I still call him that. Even robots have an alias.) Rhodey wasn't always around the temporary base.
"Alex!" Wanda called, waving.
I waved and smiled in return. "Hey, Piper just left with Sam for DC." I said, standing next to Steve.
"Piper? She's going with him?"
"Yeah, she uh, needs to see some family. They aren't doing well."
"Sam was okay with a little extra company?" Steve chuckled.
"Yep! I just, gave him the typical warnings about Piper's insanity and seemed fine with it."
"Well good, I think a weekend away will be nice for her."
"Oh, Alex, Steve, you must joining us for dinner this evening. Natasha said we all need to know each other better to be a proper team." Wanda said, her accent thick.
"Nat said that? Really?" I questioned.
"Yes, I heard her as well. She said something about us being all fight and no connections." JARVIS spoke up.
"I guess it's not a bad idea, I mean we're down a couple but I don't think a little bonding could hurt." Steve replied.
"Will Dr. Banner be accompanying our feast?"
Steve shrugged. "No idea."
I smirked at the way the new JARVIS, "The Vision", talked. It was still JARVIS, but, his facial expressions made it more comical.
Dinner time came around rather fast, because the next thing I knew, I was sitting at a table talking it up with these people.
Vision never ate anything, obviously. So it was awkward when he would just watch other people eat sometimes and then start asking questions about it. Or other times, he would start rambling about the incredible works of the human body (particularly the digestive system) and make everyone severely uncomfortable.
Meals with other super humans were weird. I remembered how Piper and I use to chow down on a pizza in the middle of the night, and this was much different. The way everyone ate their food somehow resembled their personality. Nat would pick at her food, but still eat it after awhile with gratitude since she wasn't fed much in her past. Bruce would do the same, appreciating the blessing slow and enjoying it. Wanda ate about the same pace as Steve and I, which was basically normal. We were thankful for the food, but we ate what we were given.
But Steve's food intake always made me laugh. He would eat small amounts around other people, but when we were alone, he would be snacking on something almost every half hour. He ate healthier than most animals do, he'd probably never even ate a dorito chip his entire life. But then again, with all of the jokes online about Steve looking like a dorito, I don't think I would either. I never understood how he could be so lean and snack so much, but then again, if his metabolism burns about four times faster than the average person, I could easily see it.
"So, Alex, how have you been feeling lately?" Nat piped up.
"Better, I guess. Have you heard any from Clint since we saw him that weekend?"
"No, not really. He's busy with the kids."
"I miss Clint," Wanda began, "He always brought a comedic light to the place that not many others can do."
"You know what I miss?" I started, "The Tower."
Everyone agreed.
"And I think I miss the AI system, too."
"What, I'm right here."
"Guys, I think I still hear his voice..." I snickered.
JARVIS glared at me, which was still something I was getting used to. "I'm just kidding, dude."
"Your jokes puzzle me, Mrs. Rogers." He paused. "I remember when I used to call you Miss Cooper, before you hooked up with the Captain."
"Me too, JARVIS, me too." I grinned, holding Steve's hand under the table.
"Speaking of romance, we've got two singles at this table who could likely hook up." I said, wiggling my eyebrows.
"Alex, I'm not going to share romantic feelings or actions with a robot." Wanda muttered to me.
"I have some emotions, but I have no reproductive system." JARVIS said plainly.
Nat and I started laughing, being the only two with a dirty sense of humor at the table. Bruce just rolled his eyes, and Steve smirked thinking of how dirty I could be sometimes.
"What about your friend, Piper? Does she have a lover?" Wanda asked.
"Well..." I started, "She may or may not be trying to be a thing with Sam..."
"Sam Wilson, Sam?" Nat asked.
"Yes, but shh! I never told any of you!"
"Sam and Piper, it's cute." Steve said to me.
"Yeah, I think that Sam's laid back attitude is Piper's other half that she needs to find. She's so crazy sometimes. I think Sam would be good for her."
"But seriously, Wanda, any guys on your mind?" Nat asked.
"Okay when did this become a table of horny middle school teenagers?" Bruce spoke up.
"I think it's always been that way." Steve smirked.
"Not really, I don't have time for romance. I don't need it either."
"Preach it!" Nat shouted.
"Hey," Bruce said.
"What, I used to say that before I had a thing for you." Nat replied, batting her eyelashes jokingly.
"Yep, horny teenagers." Bruce muttered causing an uproar of laughter.
Third Person POV
Sam and Piper arrived at DC only an hour or so after dusk, and the city looked so beautiful at night.
"Wow, I haven't been here since, the HYDRA takeover." Piper sighed, hopping off the bike.
"I've been here a couple times since then, but not many." Sam replied. "Let's hurry up and get inside before we get attacked by fangirls or paparazzi or something."
"Which is worse?" Piper chuckled, helping with a few bags.
"Fangirls. Definitely."
They both got everything inside, and Piper was surprised at how clean and modern Sam's apartment was.
"Wow, nice place. Alex and I could never keep our old apartment clean to save our lives."
"Where'd you two live?"
"New York. Born and raised in Brooklyn. It was only a few weeks after the chaos with the Chitauri and the Avengers when SHIELD found Alex and recruited her."
"I remember watching all of that on TV," Sam began.
"It feels like it was only yesterday." Sam and Piper both said simultaneously.
Piper felt herself blushing, and she awkwardly tucked a strand of hair behind her hair. "Do you mind if I use your restroom? Long rides make me have to pee." She muttered shyly.
"Yeah, yeah, you can use the one in the spare bedroom. Go down your hall and it's the first door on your left. The bathroom's on the right side of the bed."
"Thanks," She said, walking off and feeling even more heat rush to her cheeks.
Piper shut the bathroom door and quickly dialed Alex's number on her phone.
"Piper?"
"Alex! Help! I'm a blushing nervous mess!" Piper whispered.
"Wait, what?" Alex asked, covering her other ear with her finger.
"Tell her that I said hi!"
"Is that Natasha?" Piper asked.
"Yeah, we all had dinner together and now she's just a little drunk."
Piper heard a glass break in the background and some laughter after that.
"Just a little." Alex repeated. "So, what's your emergency?"
"We just got to Sam's place, and I'm already super nervous and I keep turning red!"
"Piper, piper, just breathe." Alex said.
"I am breathing!" Piper said, her voice at full volume. She quickly covered her mouth.
"Okay, just, have confidence, don't show too much skin and make things awkward and just be yourself! Everything will be fine!"
"Use protection!" Nat shouted in the background.
"How many drinks did she have?!" Piper whispered frantically.
"I don't know, four?" Alex muttered.
"I think it was six." Steve replied.
"Okay, whatever, thanks." Piper said.
"No problem. And good luck!"
Piper hung up the phone and took a deep breath, looking at her reflection in the mirror.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
"Piper, are you alright? I heard you shout." Sam said.
"Um, yeah! I'm fine!" She responded, fixing up her hair a little before opening the door.
"I talk to myself, a lot, sorry." Piper said.
Sam smiled heartily, "Hey, there's no judging in this apartment! Do you want something to eat? There's a really good Mexican place around the corner if you're up to that kind of thing."
"Sure, Mexican sounds great." Piper sighed, grinning.
Meanwhile, back at the base, Bruce had to take a drunk Natasha back to her room and everyone said their goodbyes for the night.
"Talk about an insane dinner." Alex sighed, opening the bedroom door.
"I know, that was crazy. I don't think I've ever seen Nat get drunk before." Steve said.
"Me either! It's not like her! I've never even seen her take a drink before!"
Steve agreed. "What did Piper call you for?"
"Oh, she's all nervous because she likes Sam. I think she'll be fine. It's awkward that they're staying together but he was the only ticket to DC for the weekend."
"Yeah, why did she need to go to DC again?"
"She found something, a document that gave us coordinates to where The Triskeleton used to be and a jumble of numbers."
"Well, that's progress, right?"
"Yeah, slow progress." I sighed.
"Hey, something's better than nothing."
"True, true."
"Do you really think Piper will be able to find it?"
"Yeah, I think she'll do just fine."
Third Person POV
The next day, Piper went to the cover up memorial where The Triskeleton once stood.
Names of Agents lost were engraved into a marble wall, and small tourist information boxes scattered rose gardens.
Piper began her search by appearing as an aimless tourist, reading the names of the deceased and reading each and every info box like any other being would.
'The coordinates took me here, so the other number must involve something here.' Piper thought to herself.
801012973.
She checked the names again, and saw that they each had a number next to them.
80. Jasper Sitwell.
"Jasper wasn't killed at The Triskeleton. He was killed by oncoming traffic in that car chase with the Winter Soldier." Piper muttered. She looked back down at her numbers, and the first two were a match. She ran her hand over the marble, and quickly noted that his name was on a separate tile that could move. Piper checked looked around, and the coast was clear. She quickly popped the tile out of the marble to reveal a hollow spot where a full brick would have rested. She reached her hand in and felt a combination lock in the back.
One, two, three, four. Four dials.
1012.
Another small compartment opened, and Piper reached in to feel a small box. She quickly pulled it out and but the piece of marble she'd removed back into it's place.
The little box had a three-digit combination code, and Piper knew it was the last three digits of the long number from the document.
Back at Sam's apartment, Piper sat the little box on the kitchen table and began to fiddle with the combination lock, turning each dial with her fingers until the dials rested at 973.
The box popped open.
Piper opened the box, and her eyebrows furrowed at what laid before her.
"An old piece of paper, and a jewel? Did Jasper Sitwell secretly have a thing for jewelry?"
The shard of clear crystal felt cold in Piper's warm hand as she studied it closely. It was about an inch and a half in length, the top beginning as a small point and growing out into the larger part of the chiseled shard that made for the bottom. The top half of the crystal was covered in metal which consisted of a beautiful design etched into it. The metal ended at different lengths, giving it the appearance of vines on the beautiful crystal. Small swirls and and dots were in the metal, and some spots remained open to reveal a little of the crystal's top half.
After examining the crystal, Piper took out the piece of paper.
"Yes!" She muttered to herself.
Another journal page.
Entry #2
June 10th, 1980
"I have done more research on my project. More and more possibilities continue to open up, but I must choose one path to destiny even with the many others available. One needs to be chosen to direct the future of our children's children, and I feel that I am that person. I have access to power almost no other man can even dream of. I am one step closer to changing the future, and I have no plans on stopping there. Lucy is progressing quite well without me, as I am without her. I aspire to see her again in the future, knowing that they just can't seem to stay away."
Alex tossed and turned in bed as her mind played ungrateful flashbacks in her dreams.
Her palms were grasping tightly to fist fulls of sheets and blankets as her body lasted out and tried to escape the horror of what was happening in her mind.
But she couldn't, and that's what scared her the most.
The purple beast sat upon his red throne, with his golden armor shining dimly in the lack of light.
Stars surrounded him, a galaxy far off in outer space.
She saw her red eyes, glowing brightly in the darkness that surrounded her.
Her lungs fought for oxygen, and her throat tightened with every breath.
"Ste...Steve!" She gasped.
There was no response.
She was alone, and the purple man was coming.
He was coming for all of them.