Sorry for the last but I had a crazy weeks and no time for writing! Haha. Thanks a lot to L. , Kit-cat99 and OneWhoCharms for the reviews! I really appreciate them and cheer me up to continue this fic! :D And of course thanks to the people whose following the story :3
[July, 1973.]
When Aaron held his daughter for the first time his eyes filled of tears of joy. She was petite, fragile, his. The little baby yawned exhausted, for her the birth had supposed a lot of work and now she needed to take some rest. He rocked her in his arms; it was like holding a piece of glass. So fragile he had to use his five senses to be careful to not bother her. The baby was sleeping calmly; Aaron could feel her weight and her warm. She was perfect.
"Put her in the crib." Lynette said and turned around to see his wife, he couldn't even imagine leaving the baby away from him. "Aaron, we need to talk." Her hair was a mess and he knew she was too exhausted to pretend to be energized. As the baby, Lynete should rest to recover from the birth. "Later, now sleep… I'll take care of her." Her eyes begged for some sleep but she tried to stay awake, her obstinacy was one of her gift after all.
"Aaron, please." He watched again his daughter, the baby was frowning her forehead. Maybe they were disturbing her rest. "Put her in the crib." Lynette insisted and Aaron obeyed even his heart told him not to do. He had the sensation that leaving the baby in the crib will mean renouncing to her forever, but the Strauss did it anyway because there wasn't another option. "I'm not going to pretend you don't know about Howard, Aaron, and I'm not going to say sorry for that." Lynette was laying in the bed of the hospital with one of that hideous nightshirt the nurses offered to her -the garment couldn't be less sexy, after eight hours of giving birth her child the last think she wanted was having that conversation with her husband… But it was the time. "And because I love you I think you must know the truth."
"I don't care, Lyn." He advanced to her avoiding Lynette's eyes concentrating only in his child. But of course he cared about it. Not because he felt betrayed about being the husband you'll marry because the man you loved is married to another woman, no, he could handle that. Aaron loved Lynette with all his heart; he loved her enough to let her go if she would ask for it. The reason of his hurt was she hadn't told about her affair with Howard until now –she couldn't imagine the pain of seeing the person that you love with another without expecting it. "I don't care." He repeated again hoping for her silent.
"Aaron… She's not yours." And her voice crossed him like a knife. She's lying again his thoughts said to him in whispers and he wanted to trust them but was impossible. "You don't know that…"
"Oh, please, Aaron." She said rudely. "I won't believe you're stupid." In another context he would swear she turned him into a stupid lover –he would jump through that window if she says it; but now Aaron felt hopeless and too much hurt to reply her. "You're a good man… I'm sorry that you met me, you deserved better." Lynette was talking but he couldn't hear a word, his world reduced to that little baby who had wake up –oh, she has her mother's eyes.
"He won't accept her as his bastard." The baby raised his little hands reaching for him, he couldn't help but held her again. She fit perfectly in his arms –like they were mean to hold her forever, and the little girl closed her eyes again feeling protected in his father's arms. "Don't worry, Summer, I'm never going to leave you… You're my favorite thing."
[Actual day – Shield]
Pretending he didn't know what happened with Number Three and Number Six wouldn't help him to leave the place without punishment. Director Fury wasn't stupid enough to fool him with his lies, after all the pirate was the spy. Nothing happens without his knowledge. "I hope you're taking this problem with seriousness, Stark." Tony saw him, pretending to be offended, when he joked about it? –Probably every day. Fury sat down in front of him, his one eye was looking directly to him and Tony felt uncomfortable. "I know you have the girl."
"You're not her type." The director wasn't in the mood for comments out of place so he ignored it completely. "She's dangerous, can't be controlled. Even her father sedated her in order to prevent more injuries. So…"
"Her brain has been turned off for hours, director." Tony interrupted him before the spy could propose a radical solution. "The absence of oxygen and neuronal activity had damaged the organ BUT" He added before Fury said anything about it. "now it's working perfectly. It works but it's empty. It's like the brain of a baby… So full of possibilities… Summer will become stabilized, she only needs time." Fury was listening him in silent without the intention of interrupt him, he seemed pleased with his words. "What I'm worried about is her lack of morality, no one taught her what is wrong and what is right. The only thing she knows is his father locked her in a lab and now I had her prisoner in a tower, what would happen if someone shows her freedom? Her abilities are in a balance, for us or for Aaron's team… Or maybe another, who knows." Suddenly Fury smiled surprising Tony –a shiver went across his spine.
"I'm glad you understand it clearly, Stark." He said laying back. "And thanks for volunteer for it." Tony looked at him with confusion. "You already adopted her now can't regret it." He moved his hands with distraction, Tony face's expression was the meaning of the horror. "Come on, I don't believe it would suppose a problem to you, the fabulous Tony Stark. You only have to take care of a crazy girl, it's a piece of cake to you!" Then his expression turned serious –or even angry as usual. "Show her the good way, don't corrupt her mind."
[Actual day – Stark tower]
Steve was assigned as the baby sitter of the experiments by Tony, who found it inevitably funny because the man out of time wasn't exactly the most indicated for the work –Steve barely knew it how the toaster worked so taking care of a crazy girl and an insufferable pizza maker it would be an interesting adventure for the soldier (Jarvis was filming everything in order to watch it later, he needed desperately to laugh). What Tony didn't know was Three and Six were really quiet that morning. Sully asked Dee for a couple of things –to have his baby back (an old camera he inherited from his grandpa) and a box he left at Aaron's lab, and the ex-police brought it to him two hours later. "They're in the room for hours." Steve murmured –maybe to himself but enough loud Dee could hear him. "I should take a look."
"Leave the kids alone, Cap, they're just having fun." Dee smiled when Steve looked at her horrified. Sully had covered the camera of the room with a sheet so they couldn't actually seeing what was happening in Summer's room, Dee trusted in them enough to not care about that detail but the soldier was freaking out. "Fun? What do you mean with that?" Dee rolled her eyes and sighed, she wasn't meaning what Steve was thinking but the Captain went out before she could explain herself.
When he found himself in front of the door Steve stopped before open it. Maybe he was overreacting. Sullivan and Summer were adults and the times had changed a lot since his age, he shouldn't be interrupting their actions. "You don't remember her either?" The soldier heard Sully's voice through the door; he was talking with normal –no moaning. "You're joking. Come on, it's…!"
"I don't!" Summer replied frustrated. Steve finally opened the door with caution, he found an unexpected situation: Sullivan was nailing photographs in the wall with a little box under each one with the name of the person, Summer was watching him biting her nails in desperation. "These people are completely strangers for me, are you sure I know them?" Sullivan looked at her with obviousness, of course she knew them –why the hell she couldn't recognized her own sister or her aunt? For a moment Steve thought he was invisible, none of the two experiments were paying attention to him, they were concentrated in their private task.
"But you saw them in my memories!" Sullivan argued pointing at Judith's photograph, Summer looked at the woman –her green eyes weren't familiar, she didn't mean anything to her. "This is shit." Then Sullivan moved his eyes to Steve and sighed, with his checks blushed he looked at the camera. "Yeah… Sorry about that… But I feel uncomfortable with that thing." Summer was concentrated in the wall trying to remember memories that couldn't be returned. "What are you doing?" Steve asked curious and Sully rolled his eyes trying to choice between trusting him or not –the soldier out of time had helped them so much but he couldn't forget the Captain belonged to Shield's team after all.
"Amm…" Sullivan hesitated before showed Steve the photos he was actually holding. "I took those before Summer had the accident. I love photography; it's my kind of hobby." Steve took a look of them, they were really amazing and instantly saw the boy had a talent for it. He stopped in one of the photos. Summer was smiling without posing while she was putting a ballet shoes in her feet, oh, she was radiant. "Did you dance?" Summer turned around to see him, her eyes blinked confused and shrugged her shoulders to answer him. "She was the best ballet dancer I ever met." Sully said with a proud smile on his face and Steve felt uncomfortable with that. Sullivan was a good guy but he was auto-proclaiming himself the master of the information about Summer's life, and maybe it was true… But he was so protector about Six no one was allowed to know her. "But she doesn't remember and that's the problem." He complained and stole the photo from Steve's hands. "She absorbed my memories before Aaron sedated her but… now they're fading out."
"What do you mean? They're not permanent?" Summer said no with her head without caring at all, she was looking at him directly forgetting the wall behind her. "But the recent memories are staying." Summer said before Sullivan talked again for her. "I remember Tony, Bruce, Dee… you." Three coughed to catch her attention; Summer rolled her eyes to him. "And, of course, Sullivan." His friend smiled like he was the only name on the list. "I don't think this is my life now, I'm not that Summer anymore." The photos fell from Sully's hands to the ground, the blond guy was looking at her confused, sad, his eyes begged for his negation.
"Of course you are, you're my Summer." His voice broke when tried to convince her she was wrong, but the girl avoided his eyes in order to not hurt him. The wall was full of memories he captured among the years: the first Christmas the Strauss's invited him to their home, Aaron smiling with his two daughters in Thanks Giving, the celebration about Judith's miracle healing, Winnifred with her first microscope, even he putted a photo of Summer and Ben when they were dating years ago. "I'm sorry." Steve wanted to ask some things to Summer but Sullivan went out of the room, he followed him to make sure the pizza maker was okay. He wasn't.
"Bomer…" Steve held him by the arm when they were enough far from the room, Sully resisted but finally turned back. His eyes held back the incipient tears, trying to seem stronger than he actually was. "What's wrong, kid?"
"You can't understand." Steve sighed and his eyes showed for the first time the sadness of being apart from his age, of course he knew what was knowing that their friends will never come back. He missed Bucky every day he felt loneliness in that time, alone, out of place, not belonged to anywhere. "I understand more than you think." Sully moved his head in negation and crossed his arms. "I lost the person I trusted the most. My friend helped me to win the war but I couldn't keep him safe." Steve explained to him how Bucky fell because of him, there wasn't a day he didn't blame himself for that. Sullivan seemed not paying attention to his story but when he ended to talk the pizza maker started to cry.
"She's never coming back, right? The girl I knew is gone, the secrets, the moments we shared… They're gone! Summer is gone! My Summer is gone!"
[Actual day – Memorial Hospital]
Before Alex could enter to the room she saw him in the waiting room, he was mimicking one of the old nurses –who had filthy mood- and all the kids were laughing forgetting for a moment why there were at the hospital. The doctor smiled. Maybe he wouldn't admit it but had a special touch with the kids. "Hey!" She called him trying to catch his attention but the archer was too distracted with the little patients. Suddenly he stopped, looking up with an empty eyes –Alex saw before that expression in him, it wasn't good news; he fell down to the ground and the kids cried out scared. "Stay away!" She demanded running to the waiting room. The children obeyed and went back. "Hey, open your eyes."
Clint had his eyes closed and his body was too rigid, his muscles tensed while his hands closed into fist. She took the lantern from her pocket and opened his eyelids to inspect the pupils, they were too dilated. "Clint, come on." She whispered praying to herself, one of the nurses took the phone to call the beeper of stoppage but before she could do it the archer opened his eyes like nothing happened. "It's been a long time since I had you on the top."
"You're fine, Mister Barton, clearly your capacity for being an asshole is not damaged." Clint smiled to her but his eyes reflected the worry on his mind. The consequences of being the victim of Summer's abilities wasn't fading away as he expected; sometimes he felt his life was going away and then suddenly fall in the unconsciousness. Alex couldn't find an explanation for it, the tests she made to him were fine –couldn't explain why he was suffering those 'crisis'. "If everything is fine I want to catch up on the team."
"You know that's not possible." Alex walked with him –leaving the worried kids behind them. "What if you suffer one of these episodes in the middle of a mission?" Clint shrugged his shoulders like nothing mattered but his mind couldn't stop thinking on that possibility –if the effects aren't irreversible Fury won't let him being part of the team and god knew he wasn't exactly the type of a man behind a desk working on all that shitty formularies Shield had. It had to be a solution. "I need to get out of here." He said opening the door of his room, Alex sighed saying no with her head.
"I don't mind about what you need, Barton, as your doctor-" But he wasn't listening at all. The doctor wanted to complain about his behavior but then the archer took off his clothes in order to put his agent outfit again –Her eyes flew being unable to blink, she didn't want to lose the opportunity to appreciate that perfect torso one more time. "Amm…" But as far as her lust filled her veins, the memories of her broken heart resounded on her head reminding how he left her years ago –his best friend disappeared without any intention of being on touch, she had her reasons to be angry with him. "As I said, you should take some rest."
"I have to find Lynette, she'll know how to fix this."
"Wait, what?" He was ready to go –even was carrying his bow but he covered with a jacket to not arouse suspicious, after all they were in a hospital he had to be careful; Alex ran to put herself in the middle of his way, barring the exit. "Who's Lynette? Why are you going to trust her? Maybe I don't know what's going on but I'll find out, I swear. Trust me." That name was constantly in Clint's lips since he came back from New York and Alex never had the opportunity to ask until now. She needed that information –why he trusted that woman before trusting her? Maybe they had lost the touch for years, but a friendship like they had never fade away; and she needed now the information. "Who is Lynette?" She asked again with fierce eyes.
He doubted for a seconds –of course Clint trusted in the doctor enough to put his life in her hands, but giving her that kind of information may put her in danger. And he couldn't afford something like this. "Forget it, forget that name." His voice begged even he pretended to sound authoritarian instead. "No." She answered instantly and don't move a millimeter. "Who's Lynette?"
"My sister." The words escaped from his mouth like an exhalation of air, Alex blinked confused. "You don't have a sister." Her eyebrow raised –she couldn't believe he was lying again to her, why it was so complicated? The only thing she wanted was the truth. "Are you an expert of my family, Miss Reid?" He mocked smiling just a little bit –but that expression faded away instantly when he continued talking. "Lynette Rosemarie Barton is my half-sister, my father got divorced before I was born… She's—well, it's complicated."
"How much complicated?" Dr. Reid demanded, she knew him enough to see Clint was hiding something important.
[Actual day – Midtown High School]
She got a C+ in science. Not bad. Her sacrifice for being unperceived was going pretty well. The professors cataloged her as the normal student who doesn't stand out on anything, she didn't mind feeling invisible –abandoning Jane Foster's lab was the best decision ever done, after what happened in New York no one was save. The Tesseract was exposed to the humanity and it was a powerful weapon to ignore it, how many objects like this one the Asgardians possessed? Oh. The curiosity kills the cat, Winnie. She thought to herself.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the fire alarm. The professor jumped in his sit totally shocked. "It's not a simulation!" He shouted scared and instantly went to open the door of the class, the students ran out trying to save their lives before the fire could catch them. But anything was burning, anything but the frustration in her. "It's been a long time, Winnie Minnie."
No one stopped to ask her why she was standing inside the class. No one turned around to take her away from the imaginary flames. No one really cared. Winnifred stayed sitting in her chair without caring about the fire alarm –she knew before anyone that was a false alarm. "I suppose my father is sending you after me." The little Strauss said calmly looking at him without seemed scared or confused; Benjamin clicked his tongue a little bit disappointed –at least he expected some reaction, but the girl was quiet undisturbed. He hated her and also his pathetic mission. "You supposed well."
"Okay then, I'm going with you." She stood up instantly. "I'm putting you easily so at least carry my bag, ah?" Ben gave her a withering look but swallowed his words, Winnifred was right. The mission was complete, maybe in a boring way but the objective was done; he was taking the girl back home –with his daddy. He bowed down to carry the bag –it was heavier than thought at first look, for sure was filled with books or maybe stones; and Winnifred took advantage of it. She pushed him violently and without wasting time ran out of the class, the hours she spent memorizing the plans of the high school wasn't in vain after all –now she had advantage over him because Ben didn't know the place at all.
The principal exists were collapsed by the students and professor that were trying to escape from the fire. She had to find another way. "I'm coming for you, Winnie Minnie." Ben shouted following her. There wasn't a place to hide, not with his abilities –the providence helped him to find her anywhere, there wasn't a safe place. "I'm coming!"
Winnifred found herself in the gym while tried to reach her mobile phone from her pocket. The number was memorized in her brain like burning fire and two seconds later her rescue was picking the call. "As you predicted, he's here –Number Four." She said trying to hold back her fear –but her voice broke in the moment Ben opened the doors carrying a gun with him. "Alright, Winnie Minnie, if we can't be friends…" The police man who dated once her sister was totally gone –his eyes were open in a way it scared her, he had the look of a mental patient. "Your father wanted you alive, but he didn't say anything about your legs. Right? Just a bullet… It'll hurt enough to stop you from escaping, ah?"
But before he could shot, an arrow passed caressing his hand. "You fucking fail!" Winnifred shouted pointing at Benjamin and when he turned around to see what was happening, the little Strauss pushed him again. Ben rolled through the ground and the gun fell from his hand –away from him. "You better not stand up, Four." The ex-police man looked up to appreciate a girl he never met before. She was around Winnifred's age but her wavy hair was golden and had fierce blue eyes capable of killing him with another arrow shot. "We're leaving." The blond girl say to the brunette, Winnifred raised her eyebrow looking at Benjamin. "Don't worry about him, he won't follow us. Right, Bennie?" Number Four grumbled in answer. "Tell your boss I'm back."
"And who are you, sweetie?" Benjamin asked with sarcasm without moving from the ground because an arrow was directly pointed at his head. "I'm your worst nightmare, love." She made a pause and when was sure Winnie was out of the gym, she continued. "Riley's the name."
[Actual day – Stark tower]
"I have to go… Tony's on his way, he wouldn't late." Steve excused himself and the two experiments looking at him instantly. After two hours of crying and explaining all his frustration, the pizza maker was calm and behaved like nothing happened –so Steve pretended his head wasn't going to explode after listening him without any stop. "See you tomorrow." Summer said to him and concentrated again in Sullivan's photos –she was doing a truly effort trying to remember everything her brain forgot. Sometimes she flew her eyes like something crossed her mind but then ended admitting nothing stayed in her memory for so long to remember what was. "Bye, Cap." Sully said goodbye to him and Steve had the sensation the blond guy was expecting for having some time alone with Summer.
"Can I ask you a question?" Three shrugged his shoulders indifferent, at that point it didn't matter another question. "Are you- Are you two—Do you fondue?" Oh, he needed to be braver –how many years would pass before he could ask normally that question? Summer blinked confused, she didn't get the message of the asking. Sully was pensive like he was trying to remember something very far. "I think… Yeah, one time we did a fondue at Jenny's party, right?" Sully asked to his friend and seconds later realized she couldn't answer that question –she didn't remember Jenny either. "You know, cheese… bread… It was delicious. That girl was a bitch but she cooked like angels." Steve couldn't do anything but smile, in one way or another they were too innocent to catch the hidden message of his words. "Why did you ask? There's a fondue for dinner? That would be cool."
[Actual day – Aaron]
"She said her name was Riley, boss." Ben murmured but Aaron heard him clearly. She's alive –but why she wouldn't be? After all Captain America was too (like years didn't pass for him). Benjamin expected a reprimand from his boss, but the scientist seemed excited and impatient. Now the game was on with all the soldiers on the board. "I can try again to take Winnifred back…"
"No, forget her." Aaron interrupted him and turned back to see Four with a big smile on his face, his eyes shined with madness. "Jake." Five again, Ben thought to himself and clicked his tongue. It was clearly the scientist trusted more in her than him. The girl entered to the room in a blink of an eye –she was listening the conversation thanks to her ability of reading minds. "I have a work for you."
"What do you need?" She asked ready for anything. Aaron smiled knowing his time arrived, now was the time of showing his cards. The Avengers will tremble falling at his knees. "I understand." Ben looked at her with angry, she only needed to read Aaron's mind to know what he needed from her. It was unfair. "Don't worry, Four, he had a task for you too."