The Archangel (Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter Eighteen

The other Avengers were notified that evening and Tony had thrown a small personalized party to welcome us. I knew the Avengers were still wary, and they had every right to be considering our background. And it wasn't like Bucky and I were suddenly the social butterflies, we were still the outcasts thrust into the center of attention in a way that we were unaccustomed to and uncomfortable with. We were with maybe a dozen people, all famous for being selfless in their defense of mankind and powerful beyond the normal person could ever lay claim to. Of the two qualities, I could only really lay claim to one. I wasn't good or selfless or honorable, not like they were. I wasn't whole, certain parts of me were more scarred than others and I'm not talking skin. I couldn't even say that my hands were clean, especially not after Trident. For supposedly being an Angel, I wasn't very angelic. Maybe Archangel did suit me better.

Bucky and I returned to our room after we had been at the party a sufficient amount of time. Tomorrow, Tony and Steve would make the announcement to the world, and unfortunately, we were expected to be there at the press conference and the following party that was open to a guest list of nearly three hundred. "Do you think they'd mind if we dispose of the guests that annoy us?" Bucky asked out of the blue. To be honest, his breathing was so steady and his muscles were so relaxed that I thought he had fallen asleep.

"Probably. Maybe if we look particularly aggressive, they'll leave us alone." I suggested. "But that's not really difficult." Bucky and I were just naturally aggressive looking and I had a killer bitch face.

"Agreed, and if we want to escape for a while, you have wings and it's not like they can stop us."

"I think I can manage a getaway." I murmured, lips brushing against his neck with my words. "Stick close to me and when we've had enough, we'll make an escape." We fell asleep to each other's heartbeats as close as we could get with our clothes still on, my wings creating a soft cocoon of warmth around us.

After breakfast the following morning, Tony pulled us into the lab. He flashed around the temporary suit I had worn on the mission, poking his fingers through the bullet holes. "I thought this would work for the press conference but there are so many holes in it that it would literally fall off of you." Tony balled it up and threw it like a basketball into a trash bin. He spun around and pointed at me, "Ergo, you get a new suit and cyborg over here gets a matching one, we're introducing you as partners."

I waited for Bucky's opinion on the matter. "Just no red," he grumbled, "I'll be in the gym." I got what he was thinking, we weren't concerned with looking like fools, most of the others did and they were seen as heroes and well, Tony being Tony wouldn't let us wear something that looked stupid. Bucky was concerned with blood being able to blend in, the less blood you saw, the more violent you became. But it was also a subtle dig at Sam, who's first Falcon suit was black and red.

"I can work with that." Tony shrugged as Bucky left. It had nothing to do with Bucky's feelings about us being partners, or the matching suits. I knew that just from looking at him, there was something else bothering him and he wanted to work it off. That was fine, I'd just find out what it was later and hope I could help. It might also have something to do with him not having any fashion sense whatsoever but I think it was more the former than the latter.

Tony went over to a contraption in the wall and pressed a series of buttons, returning with two items that had been dispensed from the machine. He handed them both to me.

"Watches?" I asked as I strapped what was clearly mine onto my left wrist. "Why does mine have wings on it?" There were two golden wings on the face of the otherwise ordinary looking watch. Knowing Tony though, they had to be anything but ordinary.

"Makeshift logo." Tony responded, "it's got biometrics and your suit programmed into the nanotech. Yours isn't designed to be bullet resistant, you already got that covered but your partner's is. Bullet resistant isn't bulletproof, bad guys hit this with armor piercing rounds or a grenade, he is gonna feel it."

I nodded my understanding as I turned Bucky's watch over in my hands, examining it, I saw the red star and immediately frowned. "That's not gonna work." I stated bluntly, handing it back. I wasn't going to let it stand when we had been working so hard to change. If people kept seeing us as just Hydra's pets, we'd never be considered anything more.

"Why not? He's the Winter Soldier. That's his logo." Tony pointed out. I was suddenly glad Bucky had left.

"Not anymore," I growled. It was true, he wasn't quite the Winter Soldier he had been, but neither was he the Bucky he used to be, rather something in between. He was fiercely loyal to those he considered family, willing to fight, die, and kill to protect them using any means necessary. There was only one symbol that I could think of that would fit this new version of him. "He's the White Wolf."

"The White Wolf?" Tony raised an eyebrow as if expecting me to back down and recant. I would be doing no such thing. I would talk more about it with Bucky later to get his approval and he might have some reservations but it suited him and I was certain he'd come around to it.

I inspected the watch as Tony changed the logo on Bucky's watch from the red star to a tribal wolf head. "So, how does this work?" I asked, it just looked like a normal watch, there were no special buttons or anything. Tony grabbed my hand, held out my arm and double tapped the watch face logo. I watched with fascination as the watch dissolved into a liquid metal fabric material and spread all across my body. "It feels like fabric." I commented.

Really this looked more like magic than technology. The suit itself was amazing, forget that it was made from nanotech, this thing was killer, easily the most comfortable clothing I had and I don't mean that lightly. The holes for my wings were perfectly sized and the fabric itself was formed around them, allowing for free range of motion that my other clothes couldn't give me. It had a popped collar that still allowed me to use my helmet and fingerless gloves for better weapon control. Even the boots were combat ready, I had feared having six inch heels to walk, run, and potentially fight in, but these were just standard issue knee high combat boots. However, the best part was perhaps the color, all black except for the two golden wings Tony had chosen as my logo on the left chest and the Avengers's 'A' on the right shoulder, in place of a flag. "I love it."

"Of course you do," Tony said as if he had no doubt about it, "I created it." I rolled my eyes at his arrogance and experimentally tapped my logo the same way he had to activate the suit. It retracted in the same way, just as fluid and magic looking as before. "No need to thank me." It was clear he was being sarcastic.

I snorted, "thanks, Tony, I'll see you at the press conference."

"Remember, it starts at five." He called after me as I went to find Bucky, his watch in hand.