Hey ya'll, you may get a little pissed at me for what I've done here, but with all this change, there's bound to be some internal conflict, am I right? Well, I hope you like the chapter, and hey we get to see what's in the box! Yaay Box!
Disclaimer: Still don't own Marvel...
By the time we got back to Canada it was late in the evening. "I want you to have your arm checked out by the medics." Phil informed me and I rolled my eyes.
"I'm fine, they just look bad." I said and he looked at Logan.
"Logan, take her to the medic." Phil said to him before turning his attention to Peter.
"Phil, get the box to the lab." I said to him and he nodded. I followed Logan to the medical room where a doctor was checking my stitches.
"How did this happen Director?" she asked and I looked at Logan.
"We had a little accident." I said and she nodded.
"Well it should be fine, I'll just wrap it up, and tomorrow come back and I'll check it again to make sure that everything looks okay." she said decidedly as she wrapped my arm.
"Thank you." I smiled to her. After she wrapped my arm Logan walked me back to my house.
"You did real good today." he said to me and I looked up at him.
"You think so?" I asked.
"You figured out how to use yourself to your advantage." he said. "I uh, I'm sorry." he said the words sounded kind of odd coming from his usually gruff demeanor.
"Logan, it was an accident. I'm fine." I said and he nodded as we got to my house. "I'll see you tomorrow, we're going to need to talk to Peter about... Everything." I shrugged with a small laugh. He nodded before he turned and walked away.
"Night." he called back.
"Good night." I said and I opened the door to the house. It was dark. I went straight to the girls' bedroom where I saw a light under the door. I knocked lightly on the door and pushed it open. Amanda was reading a book, a pressed leaf next to it; she quickly put the leaf down in the book and jumped up before throwing her arms around me.
"Are you okay?" she asked as she touched my bandaged up arm.
"I'm fine honey, I'm fine." I said with a smile. "It's just a scratch."
"Dad was really worried about you." she said softly and I stroked her hair with my glove clad hand.
"Everything is okay." I said gently.
"Where did you go?"
"On a mission, that's all you need to know right now." I said. "I just came to check in on you, get some sleep." I said and she nodded before climbing back onto the bed. I went to Kayla's bed and smoothed the hair from her face and pulled her blanket up before I walked out of the room, I went to our bedroom and changed into a long sleeved shirt and a pair of yoga pants before climbing into bed next to Bruce.
He was fast asleep and I didn't want to bother him. I rolled over on my side, facing away from him and felt myself starting to fall asleep. I took my gloves off and laid them on my bedside table before drifting off to sleep. When I woke up Bruce had rolled over and wrapped his arms around me, Fear flashed into my mind first, I had no idea how long he had been holding me, if he had touched my skin by accident, what had happened. I turned over quickly and sat up, he groaned softly and I cupped his face. "Bruce?" I asked as I lightly shook him. "Bruce, wake up."
"What?" he asked as he opened his eyes. "What's wrong?" he sat up and I let out a small sigh.
"Oh god honey." I ran a hand over my face. "We've got to be more careful." I said as I put my hand on his shoulder.
"What are we talking about?" he groaned as he ran his hands over his face, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands, and then cracking his neck.
"I think I should sleep with gloves on." I said softly and he groaned softly. "Or on the couch or something…"
"Minnie, don't start that again." he sighed as I stood up. I grabbed some clothes and he looked out from under his hand at me. "What's up?" he asked and I shook my head.
"Nothing, I have a lot of work today." I said as I pulled my shirt off.
"What's that?" he asked and I looked down at myself. "What happened?"
"Nothing, I just- I got a cut." I said softly. He got out of the bed and walked over to me.
"Let me see." he said as he reached for my arm.
"No honey, I'm fine." I said softly as I pulled away.
"Minnie, you can't hurt me." he said as he tried to come closer.
"Bruce, just drop it." I said as I pulled away. "I'm fine."
"There's something that you're not telling me." he insisted and I shook my head as I moved to the bathroom. I shut the door behind me and unwrapped the bandage and ran my thumb over the slices in my arm. The last thing anyone needed was Bruce seeing them, overacting and hulking out. I finished my shower, brushed my hair into a bun and put on my daily moisturizer and eye creme before doing my regular makeup and brushing my teeth. I got dressed and pulled on my shoes before I walked out of the room to the dresser where I kept my gloves. I put them on and walked out to the kitchen where Kayla was shoving eggs into her mouth. She smiled when I walked into the kitchen as Bruce tried to show Amanda how to make a soft center egg.
"See now, the trick," he was saying as he sprayed down the spatula with a nonstick spray. "Is making sure the spatula doesn't stick." he pointed at her and she laughed. "What to try?"
"Yeah." she took it from him and stepped in front of the pan.
"Okay, do that one." he pointed to one and I smiled as I poured a cup of coffee. "Ah, that was a good try, the trick is to try and not break the yolk."
"It's okay, I'll just give that one to you." she said looking at him and he laughed.
"I see how it is, you little traitor." he said before the toaster popped, he moved over to the toaster and pulled the hot toast out.
"Mommy can I have peanut butter on my toast?" Kayla asked and Bruce and Amanda looked at me, not realizing I was in the kitchen.
"Of course honey." I said going to a cabinet. I opened it and found myself staring at the dishes.
"It's that one!" she giggled pointing at a different cabinet.
"We moved some stuff around." Amanda said as she handed me the peanut butter.
"Right." I said softly. I was putting peanut butter on the toast when there was a knock on the door.
"I've got it." Bruce said as he moved around me, kissing my cheek gently as he went to the door.
"Good morning Bruce," Thor said happily. "I have brought the boxes left for your family on the jet."
"Oh, Thor, you didn't have to bring those in!" I said with a smile as Thor wheeled a dolly into the living room.
"I saw them being unloaded from the jet and I thought I had not seen you in some time." he said with a smile.
"Mommy, that box has my name on it!" Kayla said excitedly.
"It sure does." I said and she looked at me with wide eyes. "Go see." I smiled and she jumped up, running to the box with a smile. I saw that SHIELD had opened the boxes, probably to make sure no one tried to off us while we were in the air and Thor pulled a letter from his pocket.
"This comes from the white haired one named Dallas." Thor said handing it to Bruce who took it slowly and then looked at me.
"Dallas?" he asked with a frown.
"Yeah. Dallas. You know, flamboyant gay boy, calls you Love-Bug." I said and he nodded.
"Yeah, yeah, what happened yesterday?" he asked.
"We went to pick up an perspective agent, and while we were there I decided to apprehend a few things from Stark Tower that I know were in danger of Norman Osborn getting a hold of." I said nonchalantly as I sipped my coffee.
"You went to New York!?" he asked in horror. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?! Minnie, you could have been..." he trailed off slowly as I sipped my coffee. "Do you even care?"
"Of course I care." I said softly. "But I'm fine." I smiled. "Everything went fine, we got the operative, he's on our side now and we expect to get some good information about Norman Osborn." I said.
"To Hell with Osborn!" he said as he walked over to me. "You said you were just going to talk to an agent, to just get some information." he said as he looked into my eyes. "You lied to me."
"I couldn't tell you before," I said softly. "I'm sorry, I would have told you, you know that but-"
"No I don't know that." he said suddenly. "Ever since we got here it's been all about SHIELD, all about protecting this image of this agency, it doesn't even feel like we're on the same team anymore." he said and I frowned.
"Bruce," I reached forward and lightly touched his arm. He didn't look at me, he just looked down.
"How much time have you spent training in the past month?" he asked and I looked at him in surprise.
"Well I- I don't know." I stuttered.
"A couple of hours a day, every day." he said, and then looked at me. "How much time have you spent with your daughters in the past month?" he asked and I stared at him silently. "A couple of hours a week. Tops." he said, and I stared at him. "I don't even know how much time we've spent together. A few minutes here and there when you're coming down to the lab for blood testing, or the usual quick hello goodbye routine every morning." he said and I started to move away. "Don't you go." he said as he caught my arm, right on my cuts. I gasped and he looked down at my arm before rolling my sleeve up.
"Bruce, don't." I said as I tried to pull away. He caught my wrist and held my arm there, rolling my sleeve up to expose the cuts in my arm.
"Jesus Christ." he whispered as he ran his thumb over them. "What happened?"
"You want the truth?" I asked and he looked at me. "Luke Cage came to pick up the Spider-Man, the guy we were picking up. He grabbed me in the struggle and wouldn't let go so I took his power, and I was nicked when Logan was able to break the unbreakable man." I said as I yanked my arm back. "You're freaking out about me not telling you everything, well here it is, yeah, I work for SHIELD, and yeah, I went back to the states even though I knew the danger of it because I thought that I'd have a chance to get one step closer to the bastard that put us here." I said to him. "So excuse me if I'm trying to make things right for us!"
"Things were fine!" he protested. "Sure, we're not in some New York apartment on the upper west side, but we're together."
"We can't be together!" I shouted at him. "Don't you understand, they made sure of that! I can't hug my daughters without running the risk of hurting them, I can't hug or kiss or even sleep next to you without worrying about bringing out the Other Guy!" I said my chest rising and falling as my heart rate increased. "I can't be with anyone without hurting them!" I shouted at him, and he stared at me. I looked around the living room, noticing that Amanda, Kayla and Thor had gone. I sighed as I tried to move around him. He caught both of my arms but I didn't look up.
"You stayed with me after finding out about the other guy," he said softly. "We were able to figure that out, we'll be able to figure this out," he said and reached up to tilt my face so I would look at him. "You can't give up now." he said and I looked at him for a long moment. "Minnie," he said as I started to look away, drawing my attention to him again. He leaned down and caught my lips with his. I started to pull away, but he moved his hand to the back of my head, holding me there until he pulled away. His eyes were green and he took a few deep breaths, but he didn't let go of me. "Don't go." he said his voice sounding like a mix of his and the Hulk's. I stood there for a minute, letting him get control again before he slowly let go of me.
"You can't even kiss me without nearly turning into him." I said and he shook his head.
"No I can't." he said and I swallowed as I tried not to think about what I could do to them. "And I'm okay with that." he said as he cupped my face.
"Bruce, don't." I whispered.
"I'm okay with it because I know how to handle it." He said as he looked down at me. A mixture of betrayal and hurt crossed his eyes when I didn't say anything
I didn't know what to say, I didn't know how to respond, but luckily at that moment a pair of arms wrapped around me from the side. "You're the best!" Tony said as he lifted me up.
"Tony!" I shrieked as he carried me out of the house.
"Tony, you're going to make all the blood rush to her face!" Steve protested from behind the insane genius.
"Don't care, I'm off to do science!" he said as he carried me away.
"So things were looking pretty tense with you and Brucie back there." Tony said as a SHIELD doctor drew blood from my arm.
"Did they?" I asked as the doctor finished and handed the vials to Tony.
"Thanks man." he said clapping the doctor on the shoulder.
"Director, would you like me to look at those cuts?" the doctor asked and I rolled my eyes.
"They're fine." I sighed as Logan walked into the room.
"I can have someone for you to talk to..." the doctor said hesitantly. Logan rolled his eyes and walked over, he picked up one of my hands and pulled the glove off before putting my bare hand on his forearm.
"Logan don't-" I said quickly, but as I felt myself absorbing his energy I could see the cuts heal quickly. Tony and the doctor both stared at us in shock and Logan let go of my hand.
"Rogue takes the power from other mutants, she borrows it, when she touches them."
"So when I touched Luke Cage, that's why you didn't slice my arm off." I said slowly and he nodded.
"And you didn't tell us this earlier because?" Tony asked and Logan looked at him before he shrugged.
"I thought she would figure it out herself." he shrugged.
"Well with all that making out with the Hulk she's been doing it's no wonder she hasn't gotten all big and green on us yet." Tony mumbled as he picked up a pen.
"Can that happen?" I asked looking at Logan with wide eyes.
"I don't know, he's a mutate, not a mutant." he shrugged.
"So this would recognize the diff-erence!" I yelped the end of the word as Tony jabbed me with his favorite shock pen. "Ow!" I said as I hit his shoulder.
"No hitting!" he said and I kicked him. "Ow, okay that was fair." he nodded.
"No shocking or I'll put you on bathroom detail!" I said as I rubbed the place where he had shocked me.
"So what is this stuff?" Logan asked as he picked up a small metal box.
"Oh, this." Tony walked over to it. He pressed his thumb into the scanner and the long narrow box opened. "It's a prototype for Bruce's EpiPen." he winked at me and I rolled my eyes.
"Tony, what's this I hear about you kidnapping Minnie while she was in a serious discussion with her husband?" Pepper stepped out of the elevator. "Hey Minnie." she smiled and I grinned.
"Hey Pep." I said and she looked at the box.
"Weren't those in the lab safe?" she asked and he nodded to me.
"Minnie went on a little trip to New York yesterday, picked up the guy that's loitering on the ceiling." Tony said and we looked up to see Peter stuck to the ceiling.
"Hey." he grinned and I rolled my eyes with a small smile. "Like I said," he said to me as a string of web lowered him down. "I was curious."
"You know I'm a little curious as to where you got the clothes, Barton, I know you're up there too!" I called and a moment later a rope fell down from the rafters, Clint came sliding down it with a grin and Logan looked at the ceiling.
"Who else is up there?" he asked and I smiled.
"Mrs. Stark, it's nice to meet you." Peter said as he shook Pepper's hand.
"What is that?" I asked Tony as he opened a box. Sitting inside of it was a shiny black looking hunk of stone.
"It's what caused those cuts in your arm, and the reason Kitten over there has got claws." he said as he pulled it out of the box and handed it to me.
"Adamantium?" I asked and he shook his head.
"Actually no, adamantium has to be made, this is one of the ingredients to making it, this is what keeps me alive," he said as he reached under his shirt and popped out his Arc Reactor. "This is vibranium." he said and I looked at him like he was nuts.
"Will you put that back?" I asked as I lightly swatted his shoulder. "I don't want to peel your dead body off the floor." I sighed and he smiled before ruffling my hair.
"It's the same stuff the Cap's shield is made of too. I found the old blueprints my father had written up, which are here actually," he pulled the notebook out of the box and smiled at me. "Based on what you two told me, I'd say Mr. Impervious has met his match."
"Leona has an adamantium weapon as well," I said and he looked at me curiously. "She used it to cut Bruce when we were in Nadine."
"That's right." Tony nodded. "I remember." he thought for a moment before he turned to Barton. "Legolas, let me see an arrow."
"Why?" Clint asked.
"Just give me one, I don't care what it does so long as it does something cool." he said and Clint handed an arrow over to Tony who compared the size of the rock to the arrowhead. "Okay, here you go." he handed it back and pulled out a notepad. He started to sketch a few ideas before looking at me. "I think I should start with your problem." he said thoughtfully. "I don't think Bruce's solution will work for you, because it's centered around that area of his brain, but maybe..." he said as he narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "What I wouldn't give to have Jarvis he-" he stopped mid word and then dug around in the box for a second before pulling a box out and looking at it with wide eyes like a kid on Christmas. "Minnie, consider yourself promoted." he said with a grin. I laughed lightly as he opened the box.
"I thought you were indestructible." Norman said to Luke Cage who was currently in a hospital bed with internal bleeding.
"It's not like I planned for this to happen." he said weakly.
"Minnie used herself against you, she knew to do that?"
"Well it's not like it's that hard to figure out. I think worst comes to worst she was just hoping that I'd feel weak and let go."
"What the hell are they sending her on missions for anyways? I thought Leona would have taken her out by now." he grumbled. "What kind of knives did they use on you again?"
"I don't know. All I know is, they're about to use a laser to get me back open. This is not going to be fun." Luke said as he looked at the nurse who just walked in nervously.
When Norman got back to his office he sat at his desk for awhile, trying to consider what to do, until his eyes landed on a file on his desk. He picked it up and looked at it before he smiled and picked up his phone. "General?" he asked into the phone. "How ready can you have Agent Blonsky out of his cage and ready to move? A week? Perfect." he said before hanging up the phone.
Let them see how much their information meant when faced with a real problem.
Okay, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and have an idea for what to look out for next! Please review!