Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

intros!!

Iris Winters 

17

powers/skills: cyrokinesis (ice control) 

source: hydra experimentation + innate potential

appearance: black hair with highlights, icy blue eyes, tan skin, freckles 

sexual orientation: straight

ethnicity: white latin (mixed)

character inspos: chandler bing (friends), shannon lynch (boys of tommen), rachel greene (friends), haley dunphy (modern family), amelia shepherd (grey's anatomy), monica geller (friends),  lexie grey (grey's anatomy) 

'unsteady' -gracie abrams 

"i'm in danger, the girl in the mirror is a stranger... i'm so unsteady."

Peter Parker

17

powers/skills: same as cannon

source: radioactive spiderbite

appearance: messy brunnette hair, brown eyes, tan-pale skin

sexual orientation: straight

ethnicity: white caucasian

'you're on your own, kid' -taylor swift 

"you're on your own, kid, yeah, you can face this."

Kate Bishop

19

powers/skills: same as cannon

source: training & development + experience + innate ability

appearance: black wavy hair, pale skin, grey-blue eyes

sexual orientation: bisexual

ethnicity: white caucasian

'the archer' -taylor swift

"i've been the archer, i've been the prey, who could ever leave me, darling, but who could stay?"

Yelena Belova 

20

powers/skills: same as cannon

source: red room training

appearance: wavy dirty blonde hair, wears it in different braids often, hazel eyes, tan-pale skin, freckles

sexual orientation: lesbian

ethnicity: white european

'favourite crime' -olivia rodrigo 

"used me as an alibi, crossed my heart while you crossed the line." 

Cassie Lang

17

powers/skills: same as cannon

source: innate ability

appearance: chestnut brown hair, green eyes, pale skin

sexual orientation: bisexual 

ethnicity: white caucasian

'sue me' -sabrina carpenter

"so sue me, for looking too pretty tonight... doing everything right."

Pietro Maximoff

18

powers/skills: same as cannon

source: hydra experimentation with mind stone + innate ability

appearance: white highlights with brown roots, pale skin, grey-blue eyes

sexual orientation: bisexual

ethnicity: eastern european white (sokovian)

'fast times' -sabrina carpenter

"fast times and fast nights, yeah, no time for rewrites... give me a second to forget i ever really meant it."

Wanda Maximoff

18

powers/skills: same as cannon

source: experiments with the mind stone + innate ability

appearance: brown hair faded into auburn/ginger, green eyes, pale skin, freckles

sexual orientation: pansexual

ethnicity: eastern european white (sokovian) 

'mad woman' -taylor swift

"cause you took everything from me... she should be mad, should be scathing like me, but no one likes a mad woman."

Norah Ainsley

17

powers/skills: manipulation/control of nature

source: ancient magic passed on in the form of a relic/heirloom

appearance: black wavy hair, big, brown, doe eyes, brown skin

sexual orientation: bisexual

ethnicity: south asian (indian)

character inspos: lexie grey (grey's anatomy), patrick feely (boys of tommen), pippa fitz-amobi (agggtm), alex karev (grey's anatomy), taylor louderman (little miss perfect), meredith grey (grey's anatomy), aneesa qureshi (never have i ever) 

'fault line' -gracie abrams

"i know you're a fault line, but i'll break too, cracking at the same time, does it shock you?"

Chapter Text

Bang.

The door kicked open. Rifles held up to eye level, as if trying to avoid some kind of parallax error. Bullets sliced through the air like a knife through the heart. Yelling left and right and left. Her own throat ached just from the sound of other people screeching. 

"Get down!" And she wasn't sure who was yelling it. Was it her guys? Hell— she wasn't sure who 'her guys' were. Could she really call the people who hurt her till she forgot what anything else felt like 'her guys'? Were those the people on her side? They were her family though. The only thing she's ever known. She had to be on their side. No matter if they were on hers. 

"I said get down!" A deep, authoritative voice yelled. Now she knew it wasn't her guys. Wasn't Hydra. No man in that place had a voice deep or authoritative enough to carry that far, that loud. Lack of masculinity. They needed to get out more. Go on more dates. 

"Miss! I'm talking to you! Could someone—"

"Capsicle, let me show you how it's done. You— blue eyes. Hey! Hi. You here with us, Ophelia?" A robot-filtered man's voice echoed through an iron mask, metal hands waving relentlessly in her face.

"Hm— me? I— I'm with—" 

"Don't care who you're with. Out of the way. Or get splattered by a sniper or probably this place when it self destructs in..." He looked down at his wrist, like there was a watch there. "Five minutes?"

She looked at him with a sort of melancholy pessimism, her blue doe eyes leaking with innocence, and curiosity, and something else. Distrust?

"Kid. Time's ticking." His voice cut through her analysis of his face. 

"I— my— okay." She managed to get out through the carnage around her. Though she could hardly hear herself after her ears had bled out from the screaming and explosions. The smell of cautery pierced through her nose. It was unpleasant. Sickening. But it didn't hurt her. She was used to the turbulence. 

"Okay, snap back, Ophelia. You see them over there?" He pointed to two kids. A boy and a girl. Looked about her age. The boy was whooshing around the girl in circles, a flash of blue, nothing more. The girl looked thoughtful, but she looked right at her, as she waved her fingers which created a red glow. 

Iris registered that he had called her Ophelia, but chose to ignore it, and nodded.

"Can you get up from under there and go over there, kid? They'll help you get out of here." She got up from the position she was in, laying under the table in a pool of something, like the painting of Ophelia. 

Slightly limping through the beautiful chaos, she made her way to the two.

"Pietro, if you don't stop that I will make sure your bed flips over while you're sleeping." The girl with the auburn hair said, with a slight accent she couldn't quite place, but had definitely heard before.

"Lighten up, sis. I'm just warming up to get our—" Pietro, she assumed, looked over at Iris, who was keenly watching the interaction. "Gorgeous hostage out of here. Pietro." He said, offering out a hand, which she did not take but instead just tilted her head slightly, out of curiosity. 

"Okay, she's shy. Or in shock. Anyway. Enchanté. I'm Pietro. This is my twin sister— Wanda. But I'm older."

"By twelve minutes. And mentally younger by about twelve years."

"Who cares? So, gorgeous, we are your chaperones out of this shithole. So how about you take that lost girl look away from those sad eyes of yours, tell me your name, and come with the pretty boy and his average looking twin." Flirting. She found it funny. 

“Iris.” She said, unaffected by the flattery. "Is he always like this?" She asked the quieter twin, her voice dripping with amusement.

"Yes. He's right though. Your eyes really are sad."

Wanda and Pietro began walking, too casually through the wreckage, but Iris followed them. Well she was. Until Pietro zipped off and she was left with the more mysterious twin inside the glowing red shield Wanda produced with her fingers. 

I can do that too.

But she didn't.

"My eyes are not sad." She scoffed. 

"Oh but they are."

They walked, far too unbothered through the bullets and the blasts and the... arrows?

Who brings arrows to a gunfight? This had to be a fever dream. From the 1800s. 

"Wanda. You seen Kate?" A man with a mohawk holding a bow asked, more like yelled, to get through the anarchy and the red aura surrounding them. Greeted her with a nod though.

"No, sorry. Been assigned chaperoning duty. I know she's with Yelena though." Wanda replied, her voice soft.

"Alright. Make it out there safe, okay, kid?"

"Yeah." Wanda said in a breath. And the mohawk man went off shooting more arrows which surprisingly hit every mark, considering he was barely looking. 

"Who's that?"

"Clint. Hawkeye. And Kate's his uh— mentee? Not sure about the relationship there. But she's also Hawkeye. Which is confusing. But you know, so’s the whole concept of the ‘Avengers.’ Uh what else? Right. Yelena’s Natasha’s sister. And sort of Kate’s best friend. Natasha is Black Widow, she’s super cool, and super scary. Green raging guy there’s the Hulk. Bruce. He’s a sweet guy, really, he’s just got… anger issues. Thor’s off world. God of lightning. That angry looking guy with the metal arm is Bucky. The one flying with the metal wings next to him is Sam. Winter Soldier and Falcon. Guy waving around his fingers is Stephen. Doctor Strange. Massive guy stomping in that helmet is Scott— Ant-Man, ironic, I know. And that’s his girlfriend Hope, the Wasp. Peter isn’t here right now because he has a certain number of working hours every week because Tony is overprotective. Same case with Cassie, Scott’s daughter. And you’ve met Steve— Captain America, and Tony. Iron Man."

Her brain registered every word, storing it in some nook or corner in between the other files it wouldn't let go. Because information was easy to store. Emotions weren't.

"Sorry. That was a lot, and kinda unnecessary I’m sure you know all of them already.” By the time she was done talking, they were out, into the airplane looking thing, reunited with the flirty twin.

“No, actually, never heard of any of them.” Iris smiled, sitting down on a seat next to Pietro and Wanda.

“You don’t know the—” Wanda started, confused, but was interrupted by a guy’s voice.

“Is my sister boring you?”

“No, actually, but your flirting kind of is.” She shot back at once, which earned back a high five from Wanda, and Pietro looking slightly embarrassed and hitting his sister’s arm.

“Didn’t see that coming, did you?” Pietro said after the brotherly act of assault and stealing the chocolate bar that Wanda had just grabbed, to which Wanda reacted appropriately by telekinetically throwing a remote control lying on the table at him.

“Didn’t see that coming, did you?” Wanda said back in a mocking voice.

Iris just watched the interaction, again, and giggled, amused but simultaneously confused as to how their family could be so casual. They didn’t owe each-other anything for the other’s troubles. And they seemed close. Actually close, and for a split second she wished she had that.

“See even when you’re laughing, your eyes are sad.” Pietro repeated. He was right.

I know.

“They are not—”

“Wake up, daddy’s home.” A confident voice boomed, clapping, and triggering the lights on.

“Great job on the mission team.” The same authoritative voice from the lab said. The one who found her.

‘Cap.’

The guy who was previously green was crouched down, seemingly recovering. Mohawk guy was bantering with the scary red-haired woman, Natasha, she remembered Wanda mentioning.

The man who was quite literally iron clad before came up to her, Wanda, and Pietro in the backseats, along with the star-spangled man.

“So, Ophelia—” Tony started.

“Why do you call me that?”

“Simple, you look sad, and the position I found you in looked like you wanted to drown yourself. No offence.”

“Tony.” Cap warned.

“Sorry.” Tony waved his arms next to his head defensively.

“I’m not sad. And I was just— hiding. Because you guys decided to crash into my home and kidnap me into safety. And I wasn't trying to drown myself.”

“Kid, calm down, we aren’t trying to ambush you, jeez.”

“What he means is; we’re sorry we scared you. Are you okay?” Steve corrected, clearing his throat.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She lied.

The captain looked at her questioningly, clearly not believing it, but deciding not to press. Not yet anyway.

“Alright. We’ll get you a medical check once we get back to the tower. And—”

“I don’t need a medical check.”

“Okay, we’ll see, it’s just a formality, plus you were limping.” He called her out, and she looked down at her shoes, examining them, possibly out of embarrassment.

“What’s your name?”

“Iris. Iris Winters.”

“And you mentioned that place was your home? Did you live there?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“What is this— an interrogation? Because I did.”

“Alright, we’re gonna need you to be a little clearer.” Tony joined back into the conversation.

“Ugh. I— it doesn’t matter. Don’t worry about it. I just grew up there.”

“You grew up there? With that evil organisation?”

“Hey— my parents are part of that ‘evil organisation.’”

“They are?” Wanda asked.

“Uh.”

“Yeah. Anastasia and Preston Winters.” Natasha called out from somewhere in the room. She was down at the computer, typing something into the machine. She was processing them. Typing up their files and information into SHIELD's domain.

She waited for something to break inside her. Nothing did. And she was ashamed at herself for that.

She didn't know what that made her.

“Okay. Uhm. Yeah. My parents worked there. So I lived there.”

“Kid, that’s serious, were you involved in anything? Any testing? Any—” Tony was interrupted from bombarding her with any more questions. She sighed relief.

“Stark leave the kid alone.” An apathetic voice came towards her. A man with a metal arm. Bucky?

“Thank you. Yeah, Stark, leave me alone.”

She looked over at the man with the metal arm, confused as to why he helped her, and slightly mistrusting him. It wasn't her fault— she always assumed the worst. It was safer.

Her analysis was yet again interrupted by another voice. This time, one that was tired, and had an inkling of frustration within it.

“Has anyone seen Kate and Yelena?” 

Chapter Text

“Has anyone seen Kate and Yelena?” Clint asked, changed out of that purple suit he was wearing before into a normal T-shirt and joggers. His hair was wet and he held a towel up to it, as if he was drying it, but it didn't really do much.

“Not since the mission started, no.” Steve said, flashing a look of deep concern into his eyes, one he carried quite often these days— what with dealing with the younger avengers and all. Especially Kate and Yelena. Which was ironic considering the fact that they were the oldest ones in that group.

“Of course they’re missing together.” Natasha laughed, still focusing intently on properly filing Iris’s parents into SHIELD’s database, while Iris watched— somewhat hoping she’d make a mistake and would have to release them, but mainly relieved.

No. They’re your family.

“Are this ‘Kate’ and ‘Yelena’ together?” The sad-eyed girl whispered to Wanda.

“Best friends.” She replied, too quickly.

“Those kids are gonna be the death of me.” Clint groaned. “Natasha, I blame you.”

Natasha just threw a pen at him, stolen from one of the incomplete files.

“So, they haven’t yet returned from mission?” Steve questioned. “We wrapped up almost twenty minutes ago; we’re going to have to leave soon. Why aren’t they back yet?”

“You think I know?”

“Well, we have to find them.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” Tony added from his corner of the quinjet, where he was tinkering with some holographic figure.

“Look, Cap, if you aren’t gonna be helpful—” Clint started, dropping the towel from his still wet hair in defeat.

“I saw them.” Pietro flashed by in a blink— so quick his voice only travelled after he left the place; and stole one of Clint’s energy drinks in the process. “Didn’t see that coming, did you, old man?” Pietro made another quick stop by to add, before disappearing in a sapphire blue blur.

“Wha— Pietro! I’d like some more information than that. And my energy drink back.” Clint called after, also muttering something under his breath about ‘kids these days’ and how they 'shouldn't be given any kind of super ability’ and how ‘it wasn’t fair that they had powers and he’s been stuck on this team for over 13 years without any’.

“God, I can’t wait to retire.”

“In your dreams, Barton.” Natasha laughed again.

“Yelena are you sure we should be doing this?” A girl with a high ponytail of black curls and big blue eyes said. “Clint is gonna be so pissed.”

“Which is exactly why we should be doing this.” Said a Russian accent— a blonde, with her braids tied up in an elaborate crown.

“See Yelena— he isn’t gonna take it out on you because well, he’s scared of you. But what he is going to do is take it out on me and probably take away my bow privileges. And we don’t want that.”

“Kate Bishop stop being such a worry. It’s fine. So what you don't have your medieval weapon for like a week? Just means we,” She grabs Kate’s arm, uncomfortably from the cramped position they were in, and starts shaking her, “can have more fun! Which you so obviously need.”

“I do have fun!” Kate was offended now, crossing her arms at her chest, yanking them away from Yelena’s freakishly strong grip. “You know what; it’ll be funny to see him so worked up and worried. Plus, we are using his hiding spot so he’s going to be even more annoyed. And Natasha will probably be entertained.”

The two girls were inside a small vent of the aircraft. Just perfectly fitting them both so that they could breathe sufficiently but their arms were touching. No— more like their arms were pressing.

From their position, they could see everything happening in the main part of the quinjet: Clint losing it over them being ‘missing’ whilst they were just above him, Steve and Tony fighting over God knows what, Sam and Bucky having what looked like a thumb war, Bruce looking fed up, Natasha looking entertained, and lastly a girl with beautifully sad blue eyes getting examined by a tired Stephen.

“Is that the hostage?” Kate asked, examining the scene below them intently, which she seemed to do a lot these days.

“Probably. Her eyes…”

“Yeah, I know. They reek of despair. God, would you look at her? She looks like she’s been through it. What do you think they’ll do with her?”

“Maybe Tony Stark will take her in. He seems to be collecting kids like infinity stones.” Yelena said, deadpan, which set off some laughter from Kate.

“Oh my god, are we part of his collection?” Kate added, still snickering.

“You know, we probably are, Kate Bishop. The oldest ones in his collection. Relics.” Yelena was also giggling now.

For a few minutes, the girls kept adding and adding to the joke, until it hurt them to laugh— until they couldn't breathe. Sounds of laughter and wheezing and the girls grabbing and hitting each-other for breath echoed in the metal walls, and through the railing.

“What’s that.” Clint looked up at the vent railing and the immense cackling arriving from it like a speaker. He knew.

“Shit.” Kate muttered, making one-sided eye contact with her mentor.

“What— oh yeah. Shit.” Yelena says, recovering from her laughing fit, and seeing what her best friend saw.

“He looks mad. Right? Yelena, do you think he looks mad?” Kate’s voice had a touch of panic in it.

“Well.” Yelena said uncertainly.

“Oh my god you think he’s mad. I’m so done. Goodbye my bow, you were good.” Kate kissed her top choice of weapon with a maternal look. Yelena scoffed.

“Girls. Come down.” Clint’s deadpan voice carried through the vents, echoing.

Yelena and Kate stood guiltily in front of an incredibly angry looking Clint and a more disappointed Steve.

“Do you have any idea how worried I was?!” Clint snapped, his voice sharp enough to cut. Kate flinched at this slightly, and Clint lowered his tone in response. “You two are supposed to be the oldest of your team— you’re supposed to lead them— and here you are, being the most irresponsible of them all.” Clint began lecturing, while Kate and Yelena both looked down at the floor; and they didn’t have to look at each-other to know that they were both on the verge of losing it.

“Girls, look at Barton when he’s speaking to you. He makes some valid points.” Steve said in his authoritative voice again, forcing the girls to look up and bite down on their lips so they wouldn't laugh.

“Thanks Cap. I thought maybe you’d have been captured by Hydra— or maybe you—” he noticed that they looked like they were about to burst into laughter, which got him even more frustrated. “This is not funny! Kate— you don’t get to go out on missions for at least a week.”

“That’s not fair! What about Yelena?”

“Natasha can handle that.” And they all knew she wouldn't. Natasha was more entertained by this prank than anything. “And it is fair. You need to learn responsibility, and you won't do that unless you understand that there will be consequences to your actions.” Clint said, his tone softer now, as if he felt bad for yelling at her for the last ten minutes. He didn't mean for his words to come out so harsh. But they did anyway.

Kate groaned, handed over her bow, and felt something twist in her chest for a split second— it was gone before she could register it. Clint, when taking her bow in carefully, gave Kate a look that clearly asked, ‘You okay?’ Kate ignored it.

"Kate look at me." Clint said, his voice firm but soft. "Katie." That made her look up.

"What? You're not finished berating me?" Kate put up an annoyed facade. But deep down she was just upset at being yelled at. She hated being yelled at more than anything. Clint knew that— and the fact that he did hurt more. 

"You know I just want what's best for you, right? I care about you, Kate. I know you think it's all fun and games— this gig. But it isn't. People get hurt. Badly. You know that. I just can't bare you getting hurt, okay?" 

Kate didn't say anything, just looked down. 

"Katie." 

"Yeah. Okay." She mumbled, walking away, leaving Clint in his guilt.

She knew Clint didn't mean to hurt her— he was just terrified. But somehow, that weighed worse.

Her mood wasn’t too spoiled though, as she searched the room and found Yelena grabbing a drink of water and taking a seat next to the Maximoff twins.

Kate made her way over to the sleek plastic seats and plopped down next to Yelena.

"Oh, Kate Bishop, take that look off your face. It is not flattering.”

“Shut up.” Kate elbowed Yelena. “Hey, Wands, who’s that?”

Wanda opened her mouth to say something, but Pietro’s voice came out instead.

“Iris. She’s gorgeous, isn’t she? I was assigned to chaperone her out of there, so basically, I saved her.”

“Er, we did.” Wanda corrected.

“Whatever. But warning— she doesn't take flirting nicely. She did not respond well to me.”

“Yeah, well maybe that’s ‘cause it was you.” Kate shot back.

Pietro rolled his eyes immaturely— an attempt to loosen the tension he saw Kate carry.

“Anyway,” Kate started, ignoring Pietro. “She looks… I can’t quite place it but her eyes—”

“Yeah, they're so sad. She looks like she's been put through a war-zone with her hands tied.” Wanda finished, offering Kate and Yelena the snack bowl. Yelena grabbed a Mars-bar. Kate's fingers twitched but she shook her head.

“No thanks. But yeah. ‘Lena and I were talking about this earlier. You know— when we were in the vents and everyone was all worried. Allegedly.”

“I wasn’t. I knew where you were.” Pietro said mid apple bite.

“How— never mind. Don’t wanna know. Don’t care.” Kate surrendered.

“Pietro Maximoff you are a little bit weird, you know that? Kate Bishop can stay oblivious if she wants. But I want to know, how could you possibly have known we were in the vents?”

“I saw you.” He replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“When?” Yelena seemed fed up.

“When you went in.” Pietro continued in his ‘duh’ tone.

“I didn’t see you when we went in. There was no one around.”

“Well of course you didn't see me. I’m fast.”

"Why on earth did I retire from assassinating and decide to join you guys?"

"Because I'm here." Kate said sweetly.

Yelena looked like she wanted to kill both herself and Pietro— she was done with this conversation, so she just rolled her hazel eyes while Kate laughed at the interaction.

“You think she needs saving? She looks done with those tests.” Kate joked, observing Iris and Stephen intently.

“She seems comfortable.” Wanda noticed.

“Yeah, with Doctor Strange, not the examinations.”

“I would hate being poked and prodded by a bunch of strangers too.” Pietro responded.

“Yeah, but she knows that we aren’t going to hurt her, right?” Yelena asked, now paying attention to the scene as well.

“Not sure. When I told her about the Avengers she had no idea who any of us were. I’m pretty sure she’s been kept in that lab for life.”

“Oh god.”

Words of sympathy which came across as pity echoed in the area, Kate zoned out, catching little bits while looking at Iris.

“Can we stop feeling sorry for her, please? This is ridiculous you all hate when someone pities you and you all do the same thing.” Kate snapped. Yelena looked at her sharply, surprised.

Kate got up and walked up to Iris, plastering a smile on her face.

Chapter Text

“Let me know if that hurts, okay?” Stephen said, his tone tired but gentle. Iris nodded, looking up at him with her sad, blue eyes.

One by one, he examined bits of her leg— as requested by Steve. Apparently, she’d been limping, and he wasn't sure what else was physically wrong with her because she wouldn't talk. And he needed Stephen to figure that out. Fair enough— he thought— he was the captain; he had bigger things to worry about. So, he had to deal with this girl. This girl who looked like she would explode from aching devastation.

“Ow. That hurts.” Iris said dryly when he reached her ankle.

“Okay. Probably just a sprain— it doesn't look too bad. There is a bit of swelling but that will go down. We can do you an x-ray when we get back to the tower—”

“Where are you guys taking me?” She pulled her leg away and sat up straight on the makeshift examination table. “What is this ‘tower’ everyone keeps talking about?”

“The Avengers tower. In New York. You’ve never heard of it?”

“Never heard of a lot of things, apparently.” She joked.

“Well, you don't seem to be totally clueless. You knew a lot of terminology earlier when we were taking your blood and stuff.”

“Grew up in a lab. What do you expect?”

Stephen laughed. “Well, you’re a smart kid to learn all that.”

She smiled, still fidgeting slightly, but she felt comfortable with him. Her shoulders loosened before she realised she was holding them so tight— she was safe enough to let go.

“Are they gonna go to jail?” She asked, feeling something closer to reassurance than fear. “My parents, I mean.” Did she want them out of her life?

No.

“I— I don't know about that, Iris. Natasha might. We can ask her when we get to the tower. If you’d like.”

She nodded.

Alongside doing a medical exam, Stephen was also supposed to find out information about this girl. Who she was. If she was dangerous. Which she didn't seem to be. She just seemed lost. And he didn’t know how to deal with that. Luckily, a peppy voice that would probably do his work for him came in.

“Hey guys!” Kate.

“Hi...?” Iris looked up at the girl who seemed far too energetic for someone who’s just got out of a mission.

She was the girl getting yelled at earlier. Kate.

"Hello Kate." Stephen smiled robotically. "Iris, this is—"

"Kate Bishop, Hawkeye, I remember."

"So you've got not just wits but a great memory. See— you aren't totally lost."

Smiling, Iris looked at Stephen and replied. "Photographic memory. I think. Well I remember basically everything really clearly, but I don't know if it is officially 'photographic.'" 

"We can test you for that as well—"

More tests. She had had enough tests to last a lifetime. At this point, she didn't know what was okay. What didn't cross a boundary. Achingly, the sound of a million thoughts mixed with the ringing of the engine and the clacking of the fans and the humming of the vents to create an unpleasant auditory overload. Luckily, a girl's voice cut through. A softer voice, which was a stark contrast to the jagged metallic sounds in her head. 

"That is so sick." She was looking directly at her. But she didn't feel watched. "Hey, Iris! I've been watching you." Until that. 

“Uhm.” She looked at Kate wearily.

“Oh— no! Not like that. Not in a weird way. It’s just— you’re new here and you look like you want to get out of whatever is going on here.” Kate waved her arms around vaguely, as if that would make it obvious that she was talking about the medical examinations.

“Oh right. Uhm. Yeah, I kinda do to be honest. Can you sneak me out of here?” Iris was smiling now. But her foot tapped nervously on the linoleum floor. Creating a faint heartbeat that faded into the other sounds of chaos. 

Kate took a seat next to her. “Absolutely. I’ve had enough of these people as well. What do you say we run out of this quinjet, go to a club, use my fake ID, and get high-key tipsy.” She noticed Strange looking at her. “Just kidding! I so do not have a fake ID.” She gave him a sweet smile, then winked at Iris. Strange rolled his eyes.

“Oh absolutely. Maybe we can burn the place down.” Iris laughed. “But are you sure that Hawk-guy won’t yell at you if you go missing again? That looked tense earlier.” Kate’s grey eyes darkened for a second— unnoticeable. But she laughed anyway.

“Who cares? And he can’t yell at me if he can’t find me.”

“Kate.” Stephen warned, but he sounded amused. 

“What? You agree it’d be funny right?”

“I— ‘m not gonna say anything to that. So you won’t use my words against me.”

For a while, Kate chattered on and on to Iris. Iris was chatty back. They clicked instantly. And she seemed alive for the first time since they had found her. Iris was smiling, but it still didn’t quite reach her eyes; it was trying so hard to, but she almost wouldn’t let it. She couldn’t.

Yelena had joined them a bit later, watching the conversation; checking to see that Kate was okay after her snapping earlier. It was out of character, but not unreasonable.

“Yelena stop staring, it's creepy.” Kate’s eyes looked at her carefully, although she sounded to be joking.

“I’m sorry, Kate Bishop, you just wouldn’t stop talking long enough for me to say anything.” Yelena was still staring intently into Kate’s eyes, smirking. 

“Well, you’re scary.”

“But she’s right. Kate, you’ve asked me like a million questions.” Iris looked towards Yelena. “Hi. I’m Iris. And no offence, but I’d rather not tell you my last name because then you’d probably do that thing you’re doing with Kate’s name right now.” Iris smiled.

“Hi, Iris. I’m Yelena, but I’m sure Kate Bishop has already told you that. And see, even Iris agrees with me. You don’t stop talking.”

Kate scoffed at that, and they had another back and forth for a few minutes. Iris spectated the sight, looking wildly invested in their dynamic. She remembered how quickly Wanda replied to her earlier.

‘Best friends.’ Yeah, right.

“What are you looking at, Iris?” Yelena said with faux intimidation in her voice. Iris was caught off guard for a second, but she analysed and realised she was only joking.

“Uhm. This. You two are really funny. Has anyone ever told you that you’re like an old married couple?”

“Yes.” They both said in unison, looking at each other fed up.

“Okay Yelena shush. We are going to learn about our ‘hostage’ who wasn’t actually kept hostage. Apparently.”

Yelena rolled her eyes but looked at the girl in front of them expectantly.

“Uh. What do you wanna know?”

“How you made your hair look like that? Those highlights are heavenly. I mean when I see highlights like that on deep brown hair, the person looks like a skunk. But yours look so good. They look natural, almost. Oh my god, are they?” Kate yapped again.

“Kate Bishop. That is not important right now. Although don't get me wrong, your hair is beautiful. I want to know about you. What can you do?”

They had walked through the chaos over to the little corner they were occupying earlier. Iris observed everyone on the way there. Sam and Bucky being inseparable from what she’d seen so far. Tony picking fights with everyone over the stupidest things, just so he could talk circles around them and win. That made her laugh. She noticed that Natasha and Clint shared a unique kind of bond; how her making fun of his outburst earlier seemed to make him feel better. Bruce and Stephen looked serious— a contrast to the rest of the team just then. They were reading something— talking about it. And that’s when it clicked.

They were talking about her.

She felt guilty about it. She had ruined their mood after a successful mission, when they really should have been celebrating with the rest of their team. But instead, she had barged into their lives and burdened it. What right did she have to do that?

She shoved those thoughts aside. And remembered what Kate had asked her.

“My hair’s natural. Or something like that. It’s complicated. But it isn’t dyed. Hi again. Wanda and Pietro.” She nodded at the twins, who had stopped their arguing to pay attention to her.

“Okay, and what else? Can you—” Yelena was interrupted by her best friend’s excited voice.

“Oh my god, do you have powers? Did the guys at Hydra try to pull stuff on you?” Kate realised what she had just implied. “Sorry, that was rude. You don’t have to answer that. That last bit. I still wanna know if you have powers, though.”

“Kate Bishop, I was literally going to ask that.”

“Well, kind of.” Iris fiddled with her sleeve, pulling it down slightly as she took a seat next to Wanda. She noticed. “I’m supposed to— in theory— ice powers. That’s what they tried to give me. But I tried them once and it didn’t exactly work out correctly. So, I was never allowed to try them again.”

“Allowed?” Wanda gently asked, noting how she phrased it.

Iris had said too much. She shut her mouth. And then opened it in an attempt to defend what she had just said, but she couldn't. Who could defend the things they had done to her?

Luckily, she was saved by the confident voice of none other than Tony Stark.

“Alright kiddos and adult kiddos that never grow up— we’re here. So, everyone out of my jet— stat— before I kick you out.”

“Tony.” Steve warned again; he felt like he had done that about 50 times today.

“I’m only kidding. Lighten up, Cap.”

While the rest of them left, Iris sat in that plastic seat, looking down at the floor, foot tapping on it rhythmically.

Steve noticed. So did his buddy. He looked over at Bucky, who nodded as if it was some signal, and Steve walked over to the kid.

“You coming?”

“Uh. Can I? I mean— what are you guys gonna do to me in there?” The girl didn’t look angry, or malicious, or hateful, like the rest of her so-called ‘family.’ She was scared.

“Iris, we aren't gonna hurt you.”

“Why not? I deserve it. You could have had a lovely time after this mission, but now you're stuck dealing with a child of the enemy. I’d hurt me if I were you.”

The shift his face made was appropriately sudden. He wasn’t angry— no— he was disgusted. What could have happened to this kid to make her feel this way about herself? There had to be a reason she was expecting to be hurt.

“Iris. Come with me, okay? We won't hurt you because we have no reason to. Just because you came from… An ethically questionable background, doesn't mean we automatically assume you’re evil too.”

“But what if I am?”

“Oh, I’ll just get Nat to file you along with your parents and you can join them in prison.” Steve smiled and that insinuated a scoff-like laugh from Iris.

“Now, why don’t you head out with Bucky and I’ll meet you there. Yeah?”

Iris nodded and headed towards Bucky, who was holding his arm out for her, and left Steve with his thoughts.

The conversation on the way to the tower was… well: one-sided. Bucky seemed like a quiet guy. But patient. And the silence he gave off was heavy, but comfortable. He was listening attentively to her speaking about nothing at all, really: nodding and giving a quiet ‘yeah’ when necessary. And he didn't seem bored, at least she hoped he wasn't. Clutching that assumption to her heart with one hand, and the rent fabric of her scrub-like top in the other, she carried on talking. For some reason, she felt as if he was safe. Everyone she'd spoken to so far, that were part of this super-team, seemed safe. 

She wanted to ask him about his arm. But was that too sensitive? She was defensive when Tony was asking her very surface level questions about her. And ‘why do you have a metal arm’ seemed much below the surface. And she sure wouldn't tell a story that deep to a strange girl of the enemy she had just met.

“Uh, thanks for earlier, by the way. You know— when you told uhm… Tony Stark. Ironman. To shut up basically."

No reply.

"Why did you do that? I was just a random child. For all you know I could be like a mole, or part of them or just plain evil.”

“You’re not.” He said, monotonously.

“How do you know that?”

“Hunch. Barnes, Bucky.” He said to a microphone looking thing hung outside the metal doors.

“Access granted.” An AI woman with some type of Celtic accent replied which triggered the entrance to the glass skyscraper to hiss open. Signalling her to come in, he held his arm out against the electronic doors, and she stepped in to this futuristic plaza.

“Woah.” Sighing, she looked around, and back at Bucky when he stepped inside. “So basically, you risked a potentially malicious girl to come into this… palace. Over a hunch?”

“You’re not malicious.” Bucky sounded tired as he said it, but he had an underlying tone of amusement in his voice. Kinda like how he felt when he argued something stupid with Peter. Better yet— Sam.

“I could be.”

“You’re not.”

“You don't know that.”

“I do.” He sighed, softening slightly, a faint but genuine twitch forming on his lips.

At the doorway, the Captain was leaning against the arch, eyeing Bucky’s interaction with the new kid carefully. When the metal-armed soldier noticed his pal, he gently instructed Iris into the common room and headed towards him. 

“She seems fragile, Steve. Really fragile.”

“I know, Buck. Everything about her– especially those eyes.”

“So, what are ya’ gonna do?” 

“Well, it’s really up to Tony. Which means it’s up to Natasha. But I really wanna keep her. She reminds me of–”

“What’s up to me?” Stark’s voice boomed into the two super soldier’s acoustic fields. Steve jumped at first, but tried to cover it up. Which by the smirk on Natasha’s face, did not work. 

“Iris. The kid. She needs someone, Tony. Some structure. Some place to call home.”

“I’m not a monster, Cap. I’ve taken in about a billion strays, you think she’s an exception? If I allowed you– my sworn mortal enemy– into my billion dollar tower, then of course I’m going to shelter a helpless teenager. Plus– her eyes– you can tell she’s seen stuff. Really been through it. Probably worse than any of us. And that includes you, Metal-Arm.”

Bucky rolls his eyes, arms crossed against his chest, but there’s an element of understanding in his expression. Tony sees it, like an unspoken breath of understanding between the two ex-rivals. 

Giving a curt nod to Steve and Bucky, Tony left the hallway and headed towards the elevator. Bucky scanned the room, and without saying anything, headed towards the common room he had left Iris in. Leaving Steve and Natasha together on opposing sides of the doorway. 

“Romanoff.” Steve acknowledged. 

“What’s with the formality, Rogers? Scared I’m gonna shoot you back into the ice-ages? Were you alive back then? Probably were. Is that how you got frozen? I forget.” She teased, holding firm eye-contact with the Captain, smirking. 

“Uh– You know what, Romanoff?” Steve mirrored Natasha’s expression, holding deeper eye-contact, smirking. They lived in the realms of comfortable banter. 

“What?” The red-head’s lips formed a taunting pout and Steve smiled at her, even more amused. 

A beat of intense eye contact.

Then she strutted away, flicking her hair in his face. 

“Remember Rogers, she’s a girl, not a puppy for you to ‘keep’.” Turning back, she had quoted him. She was listening. 

Chapter Text

hey guys!!! i just wanted to say thank you to everyone leaving kudos and positive comments, i really really appreciate it. love you all so muchh. just wanted to say i have not discontinued this story i am just SWAMPED with gcses right now but i'll be done soon so i will have a chapter out for you mid june since i finish june 15th. i have a half finished chapter right now though so would you guys rather have a mini chapter or just wait a little for a full one?