Snakebite | Avengers: Endgame [8]

Chapter 21

"So you're a...a superhero," I glanced over, seeing Ginny leaning against a wall. "Technically, I'm a fugitive, but no one's arrested me yet," I corrected. "Then, if we're going by technicalities, so am I," she shrugged. "You are?" I questioned, stopping the sparring simulation I was in. "It's illegal to lie on your enlistment form, but I lied. I was Vincent Arthur Sampson, born on February seventeenth, nineteen-seventeen, seventy-three inches tall, one hundred-seventy-eight pounds. In reality, I was Virginia Alice Scott, the weedy kid with legs longer than my lifespan," she said.

I glanced down at her toned and muscular legs, seeing that they were indeed quite long. "You wanna spar?" I asked, wiping some sweat off my brow. "Let's see what you've got, peewee," she joked, getting into a fighting position. "Says the old lady," I retorted. "Hey, I was on ice for most of my life," she defended.

"No cheating," she warned. "Wouldn't dream of it," I swept her legs, her jumping to avoid me and kicking me in the chest. I caught her leg, her eyes widening as I tugged, sending her to the ground. Using this to her advantage, she maneuvered her legs to be on either side of one of mine, twisting and sending me to the ground. We both shot to our feet, circling before I jumped onto her shoulders, swinging myself around and bringing her to the ground.

I scrambled over, putting a knee on her stomach and pinning her arms as we panted. We glared at each other for a solid few seconds before I cracked a grin and climbed off, offering her a hand. I hauled her up and she chuckled. "That was pretty clever, pulling my leg," she praised. "You weren't bad with that scissor-leg move, either," I replied.

"Oh, Peg and I would do this for hours at a time. It killed Jarvis because he always thought we were going to hurt ourselves," her smile faded slightly. "You miss them, don't you?" I asked. "It was all so different at first. All my friends were either old or dead," she said quietly. "No one special?" I asked, and she smiled sadly. "Yeah, there was. Oh, Sousa was a goddamn idiot, but I loved him for it," she said.

"Daniel Sousa?" I asked and she nodded. "When I went under, he was right there. When I woke up, they said he died sixty-three years ago after someone put a bullet in his back," she said. "I'm sorry, I know how it feels," I reached to the back of my neck, undoing the clasp and pulling it out. "A ring?" She asked. "My fiancé died in the Snap. I wasn't there when it happened. I should've been, but I couldn't help but play hero," I admitted.  

I moved toward the door, but the joint in my leg seized and I stumbled. "Damned thing!" I said, slamming my fist into the side of it. "You have a prosthetic?" She questioned. "A barely-functioning one, but yes," I said. "I have one too. Got it in the war. Well, not exactly," she said.

 "Tell me. I-If you want to, that is," I said. "Okay. Um...I was in a battle in Azzano when I got captured with the rest of my unit, and my cover got blown when they said 'get the girl' and the guard dragged me away. Zola, the bastard, ran all sorts of experiments on me. He wanted to see just how far they could push me. Eventually, they got curious about what would happen when they sawed someone's leg off. How much they would scream, how much blood would they lose, how quickly infection set in. And of course, since I was a woman, I was expendable. So off came my leg, and poor Barnes had to listen to every moment of it," she said. "B-Barnes?" I stuttered. "Yes, I was friends with the Winter Soldier before he was the Winter Soldier," she started chuckling suddenly. "What? What's so funny?" I asked curiously.

"When he asked me what my name was, I said it really quietly, and he thought I said Virgin, and then absolutely refused to call me anything else. Whenever I approached him, he would shout 'Here comes the Virgin!' at the top of his lungs. God, I miss that punk," she sighed, shaking her head. "Well, is it true?" I joked, and she flushed. "I plead the fifth!" she declared. "I'm going to take that as a yes," I teased. "Hey, we're about to test the whole time-travel suit thing. You want a piece?" Rhodey asked, sticking his head in.

"Sure. Better than this conversation," Virgin said. "This isn't over, Scott!" I warned as we headed to the testing lab. "Alright, I'm not ready for this," Scott admitted as we approached. "I'm game. I'll do it," I said, the others looking at me. "Are you sure?" Rhodey asked.

"If it gets my family back, I'll do anything,"

a/n Was Ellie checking Ginny out in this chapter? Yes. Is she ashamed? No, not really.

I feel this is appropriate for the chapter.