The Superheroes' Soulmate

Chapter 25 - An Unexpected Parting

Clint and I walked out of the elevator onto the main common floor. He was walking with a spring in his step, having stuffed both my bra and my underwear in his pocket and refusing to give them back. I ended up pulling on a pair of his sweat pants and one of his shirts, not comfortable wearing my work clothes with no bra.

I leaned towards Clint, "You know you have to give me back my underwear."

He turned his face to mine, smirked and said, "Nope. Not happening, kitten."

From the corner of my eye, I caught as both Wanda's and Bucky's heads snapped in our direction. They were both grinning and I belatedly remembered that Wanda could read minds and Bucky had super hearing. I felt my face flush at the humor in their eyes as we approached the pizza.

To avoid anyone's eyes I looked around the room and say that in addition to Wanda, Nat, and Bucky, there was also Scott, Peter, Bruce and two men I didn't recognize. One was tall and elegant looking wearing a silver styled claw necklace over a simple black mock turtleneck and wearing black slacks. The other was also tall, with a neat goatee and wearing some kind of blue robe outfit with a red cape included, there was a golden eye shaped necklace hanging around his neck.

I was about to ask Clint, who was still standing nearest me who the two newcomers were when the cape left the man and floated over to me, to circle around me a couple of times, fabric brushing against me. I stumbled back a little with no little surprise and a small bit of panic.

The man with the goatee sighed and called to me, "It won't hurt you."

The cloak floated away again and settled back onto the man's shoulders. The two men approached me, the one with the claw necklace held out his hand and when I took it, he brought my hand up to brush his lips across my knuckles, saying, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Lexi Bennet. I am T'Challa." He motioned to the other man, "And this one is Doctor Stephen Strange."

"What are you a doctor of?" I asked curiously.

"Originally, I was one of the world's most renowned neurosurgeons. Now I am the Sorcerer Supreme, protector of the New York Scantum, and master of the mystical arts."

I nodded sagely, "Oh. Is that all?"

"I'm also quite humorous."

Clint snorted behind me but Dr. Strange ignored him. I gestured to the cape, "And that?"

"Is the Cloak of Levitation."

I nodded again as if I understood any of that. I excused myself and wandered away and over to Scott, who beamed at me when I arrived and leaned over to give me a quick kiss.

"I heard that you agreed to starting training here?"

"Yeah, Nat was pretty persuasive about it really. And I think it's going to be fun. Once I get over the fact that it's likely gonna murder me first. Today definitely made me feel like I am horrifically out of shape."

Scott gestured at me with his slice of pizza, "I doubt that, I've seen how flexible you are. Even if I haven't tested it out yet."

I scraped my teeth along my bottom lip as I smiled at him, "Well, now that your place is child free, we will have plenty of time for you to find out just how flexible I can be."

Scott's face lit up and he said, "Yippie."

I again caught the way that Bucky's head turned towards me from the corner of my eye. I took my plate and sat down at an empty seat of the table and bit into the slice. It was delicious and I finally realized just how hungry I was. Looking up at the tap on my shoulder, I accepted the bottle of beer from Bucky, who had come over to join me at the table.