The Invisible Coder (Natasha x OC)

Chapter 3- Ava Wilder

The party was not as chaotic as I expected. 

Tony Stark actually threw really good parties. I had to give him that. 

I walked around, greeted people, and bought a drink or two. It was pretty low-key, so far. 

Stark was always talking to someone, whether that be someone he knew or someone completely random. I watched as Steve and Thor talked at the bar, drinking and talking. I would've gone and joined them if I wasn't looking for somebody in particular- Ava Wilder.

I scanned the room for a girl with strawberry blonde hair, but since other guests had hair like her's, I searched for her second feature as well- deep violet eyes.

Only one person fit my description, and she was by herself, staring out one of the windows.

I approached her slowly, making sure she wasn't talking on the phone or anything before I said hello.

"Hey, there," I said slowly. She turned, smiling. "Are you Ava Wilder?"

"Are you Bryce Russell?" she replied.

"Er- yes,"

"Nice to meet you," she extended her hand, and I shook it.

"Nice to meet you, too," I responded. "Have you ever been told that your eyes are simply striking?"

"I have. Thank you," she gave a sad smile. I felt kinda bad since I already knew the answer to my own question, but I needed to seem like I didn't really know her. "I take it you worked for SHIELD?"

"I did. I was a hacker and a coder,"

"Interesting,"

"You may know me better as the infamous hacker Disloyal,"

Ava's eyes widened. "So you're-"

"In the flesh," I grinned. "Disloyal, at your service,"

"You know, I was arguing with Thor about how you pronounce your own name," she told me. "He claimed that you used 'Disloyal', but I was almost sure that you said it for how it was,"

"I get both. I swear, I'll introduce myself to people and they'll be like, 'Oh my gosh, it's d-exclamation mark- s- one- zero- y- four- one!' and I'll just stare at them until they call me Disloyal,"

Ava laughed. "That sounds like a video game username,"

"Exactly! That's what I said!"

"Has anyone ever called you anything else like that?"

"...well, a guy back in North Carolina called me 'Traitor'. I told him I'd hack into his bank account, and he nearly called the cops on me,"

"North Carolina?"

"Yeah, I was born in Kannapolis. I went back there for some work with SHIELD, then SHIELD got shut down and I had to move up here to work for Stark. Where are you from?"

"I'm from Janesville, Wisconsin. Technically. You may have heard that I'm not even really from this planet,"

"Yeah, I have friends all over the place. My friend Nico was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, but our parents were friends, so we met from time to time. He became one of my best friends,"

"I had to move to New York because my foster mother died, and her son took me in. Trust me, I've met a lot of people,"

I chuckled. "Can I buy you something? A drink, maybe?"

"That'd be nice,"

As we made our way over to the bar, Ava asked, "How is your family, through these strange times?"