Summerlin04- Sorry! Here you are, sweetheart c:
zoebinse- I love you too!
Chocoegg333- Mayyyyyyybeeeee.
i-love-tea-and-coffee- I seriously love you so much omg.
Anime-GuardianAngel- Loki is seriously such a cutie patootie once you look past his anger and daddy issues and how he killed a bunch of people.
Lexicon04- That's okay, honey! You're forgiven! Gahhhh I love you lots!
Fellowship of Avengers- A brotp is like an otp (it stands for one true pairing in shipping terms) while a brotp is kinda like a bromance but it is your one true bromance? Like your favorite friendship! You'll have to wait and see ;)
ILove2Write13- I know, right? Thank you so much ahhhhh!
Tir-Na-nOg-Niamh- yoU'RE SO WELCOME SWEETIE ANYTHING FOR YOU AND OUR BRAIN CHILD.
Finally an update! Yay!
School is back in session (which majorly stinks) and I'm dealing with AP Classes and an agonizingly brutal pre-calculus class with a teacher that clearly dislikes me (I thought I was rather likeable D:) so there's all of that on my plate. Did I mention I'm working on a book? If you ever want to look tell me I might cry.
I'm writing a Sherlock (BBC with Benedict Cumberbatch ofc) Fanfiction under the name Silent Lucidity and if you review it I might sob for 48948583998 years.
I'll try to keep updates as consistent as possible. When life throws a curve ball I might get shoved off track.
Also, I've changed Ashlyn's FC (face claim, yup I'm changing Ashlyn's pretty little face) from Alexis Blendel to Lyndsy Fonseca. I just feel like it fits better with the way I want her to be portrayed.
Keep a few questions in mind.
1. Everyone is intertwined in the wide spread web of life. What is Kaitlin's?
2. Is Loki really festering with malevolence or is he just over dramatic and pained with turmoil? How big of a hypocrite can he be?
3. Why is Bruce turning viridescent?
4. What's wrong with Ashlyn?
Please Enjoy.
*~SILHOUETTE~*
Makeshift S.H.I.E.L.D Base
Tallahassee, Florida
April 17th
9:54 AM
Voices drifted around him as he ascended from unconsciousness. A small hand was rubbing over the bandages on his leg, the fingers trailing down the fabric as they were removed. A hammer was still pounding repetitively on his limb, but Bruce Banner was a master of pain. He could be oblivious for if he attempted to be.
"You're up."
Bruce's head lifted so he could see the form of a small woman hunched over his lower body, checking his wound for infection. She hadn't even looked up.
"How'd you-"
"Stab in the dark." She finally looked his way with a small smile, her eyes telling a different story.
Kaitlin Chapelle was a terrible liar.
"Okay, so maybe your breathing was no longer regulated. I'm a doctor, I know things."
For some reason, Bruce didn't fully believe that was the reason she was immediately able to tell he had come back to life, but Banner didn't question it. Instead, he nodded.
"They're still letting you hang out here?" Bruce asked, glancing around. There were doctors all around tending to bloody patients. The majority of them were dressed in S.H.I.E.L.D uniforms but Kaitlin was the exception. Her green tank top was grimy and spotted with dried blood while her khakis were blackened at the knees and had fingerprints and had red splatters down the sides. Even her black combat boots were gray with a layer of dust and rubble caked onto them. While her face had a dirt hand print on her cheek and forehead, her hands and arms were scrubbed immaculately clean.
"Actually, I've been trying to talk them into hiring me. Because of the explosion I'm currently out of a job. They needed extra hands, so here I am," Kaitlin explained with a grin, her teeth bright against the soot on her face. "When I haven't been tending to my number one patient I've been healing others."
"Number one, huh?"
If she blushed, he couldn't tell. Kaitlin turned back to his leg, dabbing at his wounds with a stinging disinfectant that made him wince.
"I've mostly been caring for the children. I'm a pediatrician," Kaitlin went on.
"You look awful young to already be a qualified doctor," Bruce pointed out.
"That's sweet," Kaitlin said, pretending to be touched. "I'm twenty-five, sweet cheeks. I've got one of those faces. You know, stunningly beautiful, forever young?"
"You're still young," Bruce insisted teasingly.
"I was at the top of the class. I graduated early. I've been out of med school since I was twenty-two. Are we still playing twenty questions or can I work on your leg?"
Bruce chuckled and made a gesture to his throbbing lower limb. "Be my guest."
Kaitlin turned away from him and Bruce's eyes followed her green ones. His heart beat loudly in his ears for some unknown reason he couldn't place as he watched her care for him in admiration. The foreign emotion felt entirely new to him. His chest only burned and his heart fluttered as he watched her. Shockingly, his leg was nearly spotless and his wounds almost completely healed. He couldn't recall a time he had recovered so fast in his life.
Bruce watched as Kaitlin's curls bobbed and another question left his unrestrained tongue at the speed of light.
"Where are you from?"
"I was born and raised here in America but my parents were from France," Kaitlin expounded, eyes still on his leg.
"Were?"
Bruce immediately regretted the word leaving his lips when he caught Kaitlin flinch. The female hesitated before answering.
"They...they um...they're dead."
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-" Bruce tried to recover as he sat up and started to reach out to her.
"It's fine." Kaitlin gave him watery smile. "Really. I'm getting there. My...my work helps. It pushes the pain out. It provides a distraction."
"I understand completely," Bruce agreed softly, for he fully could comprehend what she was going through. He had felt the agony of experiencing all too much at once many times. "I really am sorry for your loss."
The corner of Kaitlin's mouth tweaked up as she tried to shove her sadness back down. "Thanks, Bruce."
Bruce brushed his hand across Kaitlin's as he tried to comfort her. It hurt to see her in pain even for the brief amount of time he had known her.
"So, Dr. Bruce Banner. Wanna tell me a little about yourself? Don't leave out any juicy details," Kaitlin gushed, her attitude backflipping.
Bruce struggled to find the right words. "Uh I'm Bruce Banner, as you know. I'm also a doctor but I originally studied in the science field, not the medical one. I like books and...and...and chemical engineering. Honestly, that's about it."
"About," Kaitlin scoffed. "You're forgetting the lean green fighting machine. You threw a car that nearly crushed me in New York."
Bruce paled. "W-What?"
"Luckily a certain man in a spangled uniform saved little ol' me." Kaitlin pointed her thumb over her shoulder to where Steve was approaching. "I'm just full of good fortune."
Even though Bruce was horrified, Kaitlin was grinning. She finished wrapping his leg and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Relax, Bruce. You're going to reopen your wounds," Kaitlin told him.
"Hello, Bruce, Madame Chapelle," Steve acknowledged as he dipped his head.
"Bonjour, Steven, if I've told you once I've told you a trillion some times and over. Sweetie, the name's Kaitlin. Kate-lynn," Kaitlin pronounced. "We were just rolling around in sentiment, recalling the happy times where I was courageously saved by a certain hero in a spangled uniform."
Steve smirked. "It was no problem, ma'am."
Kaitlin's eye caught the ring on his hand and her smile widened. "Who's the lucky gal, Steve-o?"
Bruce bet fifty bucks that Steve was silently praying that Tony didn't hear the new nickname and add it to the list. Banner watched as the super solider pushed through the resentment of the new sobriquet, his eyes growing dewy and he gave Kaitlin a dazzling beam.
"Her name is Ashlyn and, ma'am, I'd have to say that I'm the lucky one," Steve responded happily. "We're expecting."
"Congratulations!" Kaitlin squealed in delight as she taped off Bruce's bandages. "That's great, Steve!"
And for the first time ever, Bruce burned green with envy for the ring on Steve's left hand, the hidden certainty that he always had with woman for their weak spot for the shy, loyal, and sensitive man, for the beautiful wife and baby he would be returning to, and the gaiety that came with it.
Manhattan, New York
Avengers Tower
April 18th
3:47 AM
Ashlyn jolted awake clutching her chest, pulse racing and hammering wildly, her body covered in sweat, tears streaming down her cheeks, and her tongue a wad of sandpaper in her throat that was raw from screaming. Images were dancing in the dark of her room, exploding into numbers and gushing with ink. Her whole body ached with a lack of sleep and the terror that shutting her eyes brought with it. The seer had finally managed to close her eyes ten minutes ago and had awoken shrieking.
Ashlyn clung to the covers in the darkness, needles falling down upon her and pricking her skin. Fists beat her senseless. Children pirouetted aflame in the streets of Stockholm. Her senses were stolen from her. Blood dripped into her mouth. An explosion sent her flying. Someone was crushing her so she couldn't breathe, the weight of an elephant compressing down on her chest. Fire and ice raced through her veins. A cold gun was jammed to the back of her head and a voice whispered in her ears, followed by a bang and the tumbling of flesh on the concrete.
"Then she will."
The brunette pressed a hand to her mouth and struggled to breathe. She hiccuped and gasped with effort. The more she inhaled, the less it seemed her lungs were willing to take.
In the room across from hers Loki stood in his doorway, wondering which direction to head. At first, he had put his pillow over his head and tried to smother the brutal wails. Every feeling in his body was telling him to shove his fist into her mouth and give her something to really be crying about. Loki yearned for her to shut up so he could sleep.
Then he remembered a time when he awoke to himself screaming and locked in the prison of Asgard, alien creatures, blue skin, and wormholes suffocating him. Loki tried to bury that fact, that correlation to a puny Midgardian. But her yells were too haunting.
Ashlyn pulled the blankets over her head and tried to hide from the men in white lab coats in the corners of her room, from the people with ice blue eyes and blue fangs, from her, whoever she was. Ashlyn slowly calmed down with gulps and sluggard sobs. She had to keep in control of herself while poison continued to pump through her bloodstream. Nick Fury was hiding something. Whatever it was, it frightened Ashlyn senseless.
Eventually, the female super solider managed to get up and keep the blankets wrapped around her shoulders. She tugged on one of Steve's shirts in the dresser and inhaled his scent. The memory of him would keep her steady for the time being.
As Ashlyn swept out of her room and stumbled into the living room and onto the couch, her mind whirled and her vision swum.
'Think, Ashlyn, think,' her brain commanded. 'What do you know?'
'I'm Ashlyn Rogers,' she contemplated. 'I'm married to Steve Rogers. I'm pregnant with our child. Steve's the world's first super solider. He's Captain America and he's an Avenger. I'm an Avenger. I'm a super solider. I was turned into one in a lab. I have a photographic memory. I can see the future through numbers. I can't sleep. I'm afraid to sleep. I haven't slept in five days. I'm having an anxiety attack. I can't sleep.'
Ashlyn swallowed and looked out at the skylights through the huge windows before her. She then proceeded to nearly fall off the couch when there was a clatter behind her. Ashlyn struggled to dislodge her heart from her throat to find Loki approaching her from the other side of the couch.
"Did I frighten you?" His smug smirk was enough to make her cheeks flush angrily in the darkness. Ashlyn could only pray that he couldn't see it.
'More like send me into another panic attack,' she thought bitterly.
Ashlyn didn't respond. She turned her head and sat down back down on the couch with a huff and shudder.
"I will conclude that is a yes." Loki took a seat on the couch's armrest. "Might I inquire why you are up at this late hour?"
Once again Ashlyn didn't open her mouth to reply. She brought her knees to her chest and her blanket tighter around her, pulling it up over the top of her head and around her neck like a protective hood.
"Am I receiving the silent treatment because I startled you?" Loki uttered. "And you called me childish."
"It's just..." Ashlyn tried. "I'm j-just...trying to think things through."
"Ah. I suppose I will give you time then. I happen to be extremely patient."
Ashlyn rocked and leaned her back against the arm rest on her side of the couch. "I'm s-sorry I woke you up."
"Normally I would be agitated for your constant screaming is not only infuriating but tiresome. Luckily I happened to have awoken previously to your outburst," Loki explained sharply. "Because of you I haven't slept right this past week. It's either crying here or wailing there. Do you really miss the solider that much?"
"I c-can't sleep," Ashlyn muttered.
"That is nothing whatsoever to be sobbing about!" Loki shouted, his voice raising with every syllable until he was yelling in her face. He couldn't figure out where is sudden frustration and vexation had appeared or why he was feeling so angry to relating to a lowly mortal when he was then one himself. His voice then dropped to a low and terrifying hiss. "You haven't seen the things I've seen. You haven't experienced anything, Miss Sensitivity, nothing at all. Nothing. So stop pitying yourself and move on with your life!"
"I k-k-keep having n-nightmares," Ashlyn whispered fearfully, afraid to point out that he was only jabbing fingers at himself.
"So do I and you do not see me mewling about it!" Loki spat, the truth slipping out. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and rubbed the center of his forehead. "I-It seems I should be the one doing some apologizing."
Ashlyn studied him and then looked out to the dazzling skyscrapers on the horizon that were twinkling with lights. The pair was silent for a long time, their eyes watching the signs of life that were occurring in the city far below as they thought over everything that had just been said.
"I thought that this was going to be d-different," Ashlyn admitted quietly after the lapse of quiet.
"What do you mean, exactly?" Loki question.
"Just...just everything," Ashlyn said softly, her nervous stutter momentarily forgotten in her odd easiness of the situation. "I never thought that I would be sitting her in Stark Tower, now the home of the Avengers, married to Captain America. I never thought that I would be a super solider. I never believe that I would ever get married let alone be pregnant. Now, only to add to the extensive list of stuff I never thought was possible, I'm sitting here talking with the one of the most dangerous villains known to mankind. Apparently. You gave Hitler and his genocide of over six million people and run for his money."
"I never thought that I would be sitting here currently with a mortal I can tolerate," Loki proposed. His voice was nearly inaudible when he continued on to say, "I only meant to rule you and your people. I cannot help if I am ultimately above you. If I was to rule you there would be peace. Your race still cannot seem to fathom that. You are all so busy with your wars and greed...you people are so petty. Those things are petty. Your craving for satisfaction and destruction is sickening. Your proper state is below us Asgardians. We were meant to rule. I was meant to rule."
"That's how things aren't meant to be. We humans aren't appreciative of our rulers. We want to be the ruler."
Loki snuck closer, leaving his perch and sitting next to her. "You would have forgotten that under my control. You would have been happy."
"You're too blind. That-" Ashlyn pointed to the breathtaking skyline, "-that is happiness."
"No one wants me here," Loki confessed, his voice bragging like a child's. "And I do not care. I certainly do not desire to be here either."
"Thor wants you here."
"I do not want Thor. I consider him dead to me and I am dead to him. His act is false. Why can you not grasp that? No one yearns for me to be in this tower. You and the others believe I will hurt the children or kill you which I could do in a heartbeat, but I have no aspiration to do whatsoever. I do not care for spilling unnecessary blood."
"But when you deem it necessary?"
Loki did answer.
"I-If...if it makes you feel any better, I don't mind having you here. You're not bad company even if you do whine."
"Whine? I do not whine."
Ashlyn couldn't help but smile in the darkness.
"You're not bad either, Ashlyn. Appallingly, we are more alike than I originally thought."
Ashlyn was shocked. She turned to look at him.
"Do not expect compliments from here on out. After this empathy party is done I'm resuming the fun game of resenting you and the others."
Nevertheless, she still felt a tiny bit of fuzziness on the inside.
They resumed the quiet until it was broken by Ashlyn.
"Loki?"
"Hmm?"
"Are we...a-are we friends?"
Loki didn't respond right away.
"It is conceivable that a friendship has formed, but I prefer the term temporary alliance. At this point in time...you happen to be my only companion."
Ashlyn unraveled herself from her blanket and threw it across their legs.
"I still believe that you are an exceptionally weak race."
"This is your problem, Loki," Ashlyn breathed, her voice a mere exhale. "You have no faith."
10:00 AM
At some point, Ashlyn finally managed to fall asleep. She woke up screaming and slick with sweat.
"Ashlyn?" Jane called over to the fellow female, body cloaked in a huge sweater and baggy sweatpants.
It took a minute for Ashlyn to get her bearings, her vision fuzzy with fatigue and terror. Jane crept into her line of sight with a bowl of oatmeal cradled in her hands as a spoon hung out of her mouth. "You up?"
After constant nights of shrieking, Jane had grown accustom to the super soldier's constant nightmares and lack of sleep. At that point in time she offered her food or drink but if it was the middle of the night she merely rolled over and went back to sleep. There was nothing Jane could do.
The seer was still on the coach, Loki sitting in a recliner near by, his knees pulled up to his chest and a book balanced upon them. He read without looking up. Little did Ashlyn know that he had sat the rest of the night in vigil while she fell into a fitful slumber.
"I-I'm up," Ashlyn responded, her voice tremulous. "Sorry, Jane."
Jane stooped down to feel Ashlyn's clammy forehead. She frowned and then smoothed back the brunette's hair like a doting mother. "Are you hungry? I can make you something."
The extent of her nightmare lingered as Ashlyn kicked off the covers and got to her feet. She focused hard, fighting to recall what she had seen. "N-No thank you. I have to...I think I have to get some fresh air. Just let me...let me change..."
The night trance had left Ashlyn in a drunken stupor. She trudged to her room, getting changed into a pair of jeans, a knitted sweater, and galoshes. She ran her fingers through her hair and reentered the living room. Ashlyn then pulled out her notebook and scribbled the numbers that flashed across her vision.
4 27 9 4 27 9 4 27 9 4 27 9 4 27 9 4 27 9 4 27 9 4 27 9 4 27 9 4 27 9 4 27 9 4 27 9 35ca93
Ashlyn stopped and stared down at the paper in a mixture of wonder and horror. The only time she had seen the repetition of numbers like that were the numbers 9 11 F-1 R-3.
"JARVIS?" Ashlyn looked to the ceiling.
"Yes, Mrs. Rogers?"
"I'm going out. If Loki tries anything knock him out."
"With pleasure."
Ashlyn tucked her the tiny flip book and pen into her back pocket and then went back into the living area.
"Loki."
Loki peeked up from his book and sighed. "You are expecting me to accompany you?"
"No, just behave."
Down the elevator Ashlyn went and out of the tower she exited. She let out a sigh of relief, deeply inhaling the crisp air and enjoying the sensation of the pouring rain on her hot skin with relish. Ashlyn took a few steps forward as the flood of people navigated around her. The super solider paced across the street and back, her tie back to the tower tugging on the noose around neck.
The seer placed her hand on the tower wall with a low gasp as the world swam. A bolt of electricity surged through her as her hand seemed to sink through the wall and meet another.
All the way across the globe in Vienna, Austria, a low gasp escaped a dark blonde's lips as she pressed her hand on a brick alley wall for support. A bolt of electricity surged through her as her hand seemed to sink through the wall and meet another. The girl's eyes flitted about as shadows slinked among the crowd of people that were milling about. Her other hand closed into a fist as she watched a shadow leap as if it was going to tackle a person to the ground. Instead the shadow did something entirely else. The man halted as his head snapped up to the sky above and his mouth flew open, the silhouette warping into a cloud of smoke that rapidly entered the man's agape mouth as if it was a vacuum sucking it in. The blonde continued to watch in trepidation as the man's mouth closed and his body shuddered. His head twisted backwards in her direction. The blonde nearly shrieked when the man's face contorted and warped into a gruesome resemblance of what it once was, it's eyes entirely black with a line of ice blue around the pupil. She clutched the wall as the man's face returned to normal and he strode off with a nasty grin.
The longer her eyes moved about the more she saw the dark profiles dance around the crowd on the search for a suit of meat they could wear and call their own.
"Nae?"
The dark blonde drew in a rattling breath as her vision returned to normal and the pain ceased in her head. A girl with fiery orange hair was peering at her with obvious concern. Beside her a boy with curly brown hair was watching and another teen with black hair slipped his hand into the blonde's.
"Oletko kunnossa?"
Nae nodded. "Blaze. Do you see that man right there? His energy levels?"
Blaze studied the man Nae pointed to. "He doesn't have normal coloring."
Nae let out a shaky breath. "Exactly."
Ashlyn had watched the whole scene that had taken place in the easten hemisphere from her place in Manhattan, the trance ending and breaking off into another. The watch on her wrist ticked loudly as a S.H.I.E.L.D Humvee pulled up to the curb. Ashlyn blinked and checked her watch as the rain continued to trickled down her face and neck. Within the next five minutes a real Humvee drove down the street and stopped in front of the tower.
The super solider let out a sigh of relief and ran to it as the door popped open and her husband stepped out of the car and into the rain.
"Steve!" Ashlyn exclaimed. His eyes raised and before he could grin Ashlyn barreled into him. They were a tangle of arms and legs as Steve stumbled and held his wife steady.
"What's wrong?"
Ashlyn was still scared senseless from what she had experience but she didn't voice it. He was obviously tired from the long trip and what he had seen in Florida, whatever that may be. The brunette shook her head and nuzzled her face into his chest.
"Nothing," she muttered. "I just...I really missed you."
Thor got out of the vehicle next with Alina in his arms, followed by Tony with Jamie, and Pepper with Logan. Ashlyn broke apart from Steve and greeted them all with hugs.
"Ashie! You look..." Tony's voice caught in his throat as he took in the extend of Ashlyn's visible exhaustion. Ashlyn gave him a sharp look as a warning not to say anything. "Great."
The sarcasm would have to do.
"Thor, do you want me to take Lina?" Ashlyn offered as she tried to break the awkwardness Tony's comment had brought on.
"It is fine, Ashlyn," Thor assured with a glowing smile. "I need to grow accustomed to the tending of children."
"Let's not stand out in the rain," Pepper said, her eyes trained on Ashlyn. "I don't want the babies to catch a cold."
As they walked inside and entered the elevator, Ashlyn happily reunited with Steve, Ashlyn inquired, "Where are the others?"
"Clint and Natasha have some S.H.I.E.L.D stuff they need to take care of and Bruce is helping out in the infirmary in Florida," Tony described as Steve kissed Ashlyn's temple and squeezed her hand.
"Welcome back, Mr. Stark," JARVIS greeted.
"Hey, J. Took you long enough," Tony replied.
"I was caught up in some other matters. I'm afraid Mrs. Odinson and Loki had a slight argument and I had to play referee."
"Is Jane alright?" Thor demanded wearily. "Loki did not harm her, did he?"
"It was only a heated debate on who was making breakfast. Needless to say, Mrs. Odinson won," JARVIS expounded. "Nothing was harmed but an inflated ego."
The group entered the living room and Thor handed Alina off to Ashlyn to find Jane. They embraced immediately, Loki fleeing the living room with a loud groan at the sight of everyone.
Tony, Pepper, and Ashlyn put the three children in the pack n play, Pepper leaving to the kitchen to warm up three bottles. Tony still had his eyes locked on Ashlyn, intent to talk with her.
"Steve? I'm really hungry," Ashlyn said, catching on to Tony's stare. "Would you mind making me some oatmeal? I'll put your duffel bag away for you, okay?"
"Not at all, darlin'." Steve kissed the top of her head, handed her his bag, and left for the kitchen.
Ashlyn took the bag down the hall and to their room, Tony close behind her. Once she set the bag down on the bed, Tony crossed his arms and approached her.
"Okay, Ash, fess up," Stark said. "What's up with you? You look like you got ran over by a semi-truck."
"I can't sleep," Ashlyn muttered. "I haven't slept right in five days. And if I do, I wake up screaming. I can't stop having nightmares, Tony. Something's happening or going to happen and I'm having really bad anxiety and trances and-"
"Hey," Tony uttered, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Everything's going to be okay, Ash, you hear me?"
Ashlyn nodded.
"It's going to be tough for a little while but it gets better. After New York and the wormhole...things were bad. I was in your shoes. But you know what? With help, I got better. That doesn't mean that sometimes I don't wake up wailing, but that doesn't mean that I'm not sleeping. A wise man once told me that an astute woman told him that we all have our demons, don't we?"
Ashlyn inclined her head. They all had their demons. He was right.
But that didn't excuse the demons that were sidling among them.
Ozymandias: Are you okay?
~Illumini