『ᴀʀᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇʟ || ᴀ ᴍᴀʀᴠᴇʟ ꜰᴀɴꜰɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ

Ch. 14: Don't Jynx It

I sat down on the bench, sighing quietly as I gazed over towards Jeremiah who sat beside me, a small frown on my lips as he looked towards me, "I still can't believe that happened..."

"Aliens coming out of a portal over Manhatten definitely isn't a regular occurance," Jeremiah shrugged, blowing on his coffee before shutting his eyes, taking a sip, "But you did it. Nice job Nicole. Earth gets to see another day."

I smiled softly, "Weird having someone call me Nicole again. But... it's nice. More open-minded now that Fury is letting us take a break. I think I- no, we all deserve it. Every one of us."

"I just stayed on the ship. I hardly did anything of use," Jeremiah chuckled, opening his eyes to look towards me, "Besides, your wing took a hit. How's it doing?"

"It's fine. All healed up and ready to take off at some point," I yawned, grabbing at the small cup of tea that sat on my left side. I lifted it up to my lips, blowing on it before taking a delicate sip, humming contently, "Besides, what more is there to worry about. Loki is going to be back in Asgard where he belongs, as well as the Tesseract. We don't need to worry about that going into the wrong hands again."

"You ever think about the others?"

"Of course I do. We all saved the world together- I owe a lot to them, even if they don't feel the same I do. Tony Stark almost died that day. Would've if he didn't get out of the portal," I pushed out, and shut my eyes as my eyebrows knotted together just thinking about it.

Seeing his body move so lifelessly, like a ragdoll falling from a tall height just disturbed me. I sometimes get nightmares thinking about it.

"What are you going to do? I mean, you have a while to be by yourself. Don't need to worry about people pestering you all the time," Jeremiah asked, leaning back on the bench as he twisted his coffee cup in his hands, his expression solemn, "And most importantly, when are you going to tell the others about your past?"

"I don't think I need to," I shrugged, gazing at the leaf that landed in between the two of us on the bench. I picked it up with my right hand, gazing at the lines on it before placing it back down, "I'm probably not seeing Thor again, Tony is most likely going out to do his own thing again, as well as Bruce and Steve. Nat and Clint know what I look like, but they would probably tell Fury in a heartbeat."

"I've been working with Fury too, you know. What made you trust me?"

I looked into his brown eyes, before a small smile tugged at my lips, "I've been asking myself that. But the more I've gotten to know you the past two, three years, I realized it's because you remind me of my dad."

"You... remember him?" Jeremiah asked, his eyes widening slightly as I continued to open up to him.

"Yeah. I remember my mom, too. I was an only child, blessed with the mind of a genius. My parents didn't know where I got it from. I could explain what sublimation was at the age of 8," I laughed, grinning as the memories ran rampant through my head, "I also always got amazing grades when it came to science. I loved to build, engineer, create things- they were so proud of me."

"Were?"

"Never went back to them to say 'Hey! I'm not dead!' but instead I ignored their feelings and stayed as far away as I could. I regret that."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Jeremiah spoke quietly, before stretching his arms, placing his now empty cup of coffee beside him, yawning, "Come on, let's go and do something. Go around, see how... Manhatten is doing after what went down a few days ago."

"I would be stressed and very traumatized if I realized I was in the middle of an alien invasion. Besides, you hear what's been said on the news lately. The people are having mixed opinions about us- those who were saved definitely are more thoughtful, while everyone else blames us for the damage we tried to stop."

A faint ringing came from Jeremiah's pocket, and he let out a quiet sigh, pulling his phone out before putting it to his ear, "Hello, who is this... Stark? You're where? Okay, we'll be there shortly."

"Was that Tony?" I whispered as he hung up the phone, gazing at him with a shocked expression.

"What other Stark randomly makes a number you don't know just to tell you where they are?"

I laughed, getting up to my feet as I started to walk away from the bench, "Come on and lead the way, Jeremiah. We have to meet up with him, don't we?"

The brown haired male nodded, making his way up to me as he tossed his empty cup of coffee into the trash, gesturing for my cup of tea. I shook my head, taking another sip as Jeremiah lead us to where Tony was.

. . .

I grabbed a pair of sunglasses from my pocket as I approached them, letting my hair fall down as I glanced at Jeremiah. He seemed to understand what my look meant, and pulled out his phone, sending a quick message to Tony before putting it away.

"Stark, isn't that the agent that arrived with Arch when we were repairing the engine on the aircraft?" Steve asked, gazing towards Jeremiah.

"Hm? You mean when Arch gave Fury a run for his money? Then yes, you are correct," Tony responded, turning his attention to us.

"Where's Arch then?" Steve questioned, pointing at me, "Is she another Agent we haven't met?"

"Everyone- please welcome the winged Angel herself and her rusty dusty sidekick, Ryder!" Tony announced, causing me to roll my eyes at the sarcasm lacing his voice.

"Why thanks for the introduction we really didn't need. And Jeremiah is not my sidekick, thank you very much," I huffed, dipping my head to the billionaire.

"Was that in respect? You don't even do that to Nat and I," Clint mused, folding his arms as he raised an eye in my direction.

"Well you all have earned my respect. Except for this waste of space Asgardian over there," I hummed, pointing at Loki before turning back to Clint, "Besides, I feel like after working with you for a few years and not trying to kill you, that's respect enough, right?"

"Why on earth would you kill me?"

"You make me pull out my hair," I grinned, before looking away from the archer and walking off towards the edge. I glanced at them, watching as Thor pulled his brother forward.

"Till we meet again."

"Don't bring Loki as your luggage next time, Point Break," Tony called out as the two Asgardians started to disappear, taking the Tesseract with them.

I glanced at Tony, "Point Break? Really?"

"What? Have you really not seen Patrick Swayze's 1991 film, Point Break? You are a sad child," Tony shook his head, hands in his pockets, "Thor looks like him."

I laughed, shaking my head as I looked up to the sky. I scratched my head before nodding to Jeremiah, "Well, I guess this will be goodbye for now. Let's just hope the next time we meet, it's not because the world needs to be saved again."

"Please, don't jynx it," Clint groaned, shaking his head at me.

"I'm known for a lot of things. Jynxing things is definitely not one of them," I smiled, before waving goodbye, "If you need me, don't be afraid to call Fury! He loves visitors!"