Violet Vol. II

9

"Why didn't you say anything?" Fury demanded, looking at Nadia

"I'm sorry" she replied, light sarcasm in her voice "would you want everyone to know about your preferred brand of underwear?"

"That has nothing –" pointing to her

"You'd prefer it if no one else knew, right?" crossing her arms over her chest, causing him to grow silent "I don't like it if every single person I've come in contact with knew about my mutation" sitting down next to Steve "hell, becoming the Hooded Hero was completely unintentional, by the way" crossing her right leg over her left

"You should be thankful" Steve said, giving Fury a hard look

"It's not like she fixed both engines and increased the altitude or anything" Stark added, heavy sarcasm in his voice as he shrugged his shoulders

Despite Fury being angry with Nadia, he knew they were all in a numb shock, not believing that they had lost one of their best agents, the director letting out a small sigh through his nose. Nadia leaned back in her seat, knowing damn well that if she had known Coulson was injured sooner, she would have been able to save him. Not only did her mutation heal her, but she could also heal others, finding that out when she saved a little boy with severe burns, healing him enough so they wouldn't scar. And despite their situation, Nadia was glad that Steve accepted her mutation, he wasn't scared of her, and he wouldn't ever be scared of her, knowing that she only used her mutation to help people. He knew he couldn't be angry with her for not telling him about her mutation, especially since they had just met, but he was glad that she could easily protect herself when the situation called for it.

"These were in Coulson's jacket" Fury said, removing something from his inner breast pocket "guess he never did get you to sign them"

He tossed a set of Captain America trading cards on the table toward Steve, which were stained with blood, Nadia watching as her soulmate picked one of them up,
 
"We're dead in the air up here" he continued "our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye"

'From a cat' Nadia thought

"Maybe I had that coming" he shrugged " . . . yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called The Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes" Stark gets up and walks off, not wanting to hear it anymore "well, it's an old fashioned notion"

∆

". . . What did you do before you became the Hooded Hero?" Steve asked as he and Nadia were still in the briefing room, alone this time

". . I was a Professor" Nadia answered, honesty in her voice "at a school for other mutants, to give them a home, help them rejoin society as educated young men and women" looking at him "I left seven years ago, hoping to find at least one of my soulmates" a small smile forming on her lips

"Were you at the school long?" curiosity in his voice

"I helped start the school" her smile growing at the memories "when I was sixteen"

"How old are you now, if you left seven years ago?" his eyebrows furrowing slightly "if you don't mind me asking"

". . . I was born in 1945" watching his reaction "the same day you crashed the plane into the ice"

"Wouldn't that make you . ." trailing off

"Sixty-seven years old" nodding slightly "a long time ago, I've come to the conclusion that my mutation is what was keeping me young, healing any injuries and even protecting me . . . Tell me something about you that isn't in a museum, something no one else knows"

It wasn't a jab at him, she wasn't teasing him, there really was an exhibit based on Captain America and his Howling Commandos,

". . I had this dream" he said, thinking back to it "I think it was was durning my time in the ice, you were there, but I couldn't see your face, you were wearing a purple dress" her smile fading "two other guys were there"

"I needed to wake up" her voice soft, Steve's eyes locking with her own "there was a picnic, wine and sushi"

"A shared dream?" his eyebrows furrowing slightly

". . It's not common, but I know a few people who have had shared dreams with their soulmates" leaning forward, elbows on the table "I've studied soulmates who have shared dreams and compared notes to those who don't. And it urns out, soulmates that have shared dreams have a much stronger bond than those who don't" watching as a smile formed on his lips

X

Stark looked at the empty cell container, standing there and not saying anything, even when Steve and Nadia walked in,
 
"Was he married?" Steve asked

"No" Stark replied "there was a uh . . cellist, I think"

"I'm sorry" sincerity in his voice "he seemed like a good man"

"He was an idiot" glancing at him

"Why?" Nadia asked "for believing?"

"For taking on Loki alone" he replied

"He was doing his job" folding her arms over her stomach

"He was out of his league" he countered "he should have waited. He should have . . ."

"Sometimes there isn't another way out, Tony" her voice gentle

"Right" nodding slightly, walking away "how did that work for him?"

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Steve asked

"We are not soldiers!" turning sharply to look at him "I am not marching to Fury's fife!"

"Neither am I!" He replied "he's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does. Right now we've got to put that aside and get this done" Stark looking at the bloodstained wall "now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list – "

"He made it personal" looking back at Steve

"That's not the point" shaking his head slightly

"That is the point" he countered "that's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart" he explained

". . . He had to conquer his greed" Nadia spoke up, "he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience"

"Right, I caught his act at Stuttengard" Steve nodded

"But that was just a preview, this is his opening night" looking at him

"Yeah, Loki's a full-tilt diva" Stark added "he wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered . . " Nadia looking at him as realization hit her "Sonofabitch!"