Sunshadow

Happy birthday?

Sol knew it would be Kiki's birthday soon.

She had refused to celebrate it for 6 years, and then she had been taken by the Academy, and it had hurt too much to celebrate then.

It just reminded them of all the loss.

Al probably hadn't told anyone, as always. Maybe Sol should. Kiki deserved a break.

And Sol had a fuck ton of present ideas.

She suspected Nova already knew, somehow, and that she would probably tell everyone. If that happened, Sol would need to warn everyone of what had happened 20 years ago.

The people that had died 20 years ago.

Well, maybe it would help Bucky and Kiki. Buckiki? That was quite a good one. And Bucky's gift to her could be finally telling her...

☾

"Nova!" She heard Sol come up behind her.

"Hey, Sol. I assume you know about my plans?" She was carrying a clipboard, filled with a checklist of things for a party.

A birthday party.

"No... don't go over the top, Nova. Birthdays aren't so great in our family." Nova wondered what she meant. Who didn't like birthdays?

"I'm gonna tell Bucky, to warn him. Make sure you come to me before you do anything." Sol strode past Nova, and down the corridor to Bucky's room.

☾

"What do we know about Marx Whitehall?" Kiki said, lounging on a chair and chucking a pen at the name written on a whiteboard. It hit the board and bounced off into Sam's face, which was not intentional, but it could have been. "Sorry." She wasn't sorry.

"So far, nothing." Fury answered, ignoring the brawl about to break out in the room. "According to every source I can find, he doesn't exist. Hydra hid him very well."

"I suppose after everything with my parents, the hype that got, they just wanted to hide. And he might have blipped, as we can't tell who has and who hasn't for sure." Kiki mused. She suddenly remembered it was her birthday coming up. God, she hoped Sol didn't remember.

"How do we know he was who he said he was?" Sam said, standing up and chucking the pen back at Kiki. She rolled her eyes as it fell short of her face. "I mean, your memories were obviously not very strong, given that they were wiped so easily."

"You have rubbish aim." She picked up the pen that had fallen into her lap, and threw it back at him. It glided though the air, landing right in between his eyes. He winced, looking angry. "And the only reason I don't have my memories was because I kept escaping. I bet you wouldn't be able to escape."

"You didn't actually get out until you used your whirly smoke of death." The pen flew back and forth.

"Do you think you would be better? And I would have, if they hadn't killed Bucky, Sola and Rosa."

"Oh yeah, them. They went in there for you."

"Do you not feel bad that your partner died? Or a 13 year old girl?"

"1) He is not my partner. 2)-"

"Enough, both of you. It is no ones fault we don't know about Whitehall, so shut your traps." Fury interjected.

There was silence as they all thought.

"Does anyone smell food?"

☾

Now that Bucky was in on everything (even though he actually already knew), they could get down to business. Sol insisted on them running everything past her, for some reason she wouldn't share. It seemed important though, so they respected it.

That was what they were doing now. Telling Sol about the party.

"Take away the streamers, and that is fine." Was her only comment.

"BUT THE STREAMERS ARE THE BEST BIT!" Nova protested as Bucky nodded his agreement.

"That is nonnegotiable. Say bye-bye to the streamers, or no party."

"Fine." They mumbled.

☾

Everything was ready. The food was cooked, the decorations up. All they had to do was wait for the meeting with Fury to finish.

A meeting they all should have been at, but only Sam and Kiki had gone.

It seemed like a very strange meeting to Bucky, as he checked the cameras to see when she would be coming. There was a small object that flitted across the room every few seconds, which confused him. What were they doing?

"How's she doing?" Sol came up behind him, not quite startling him.

"They appear to be throwing pens at each other," he said, finally figuring it out. "Actually, I think it might be just one."

Sol peered at the screen and rolled her eyes as she watched her sister argue with Sam about who-knows-what-this-time.

Kiki threw up her arms and gave the pen one final chuck, hitting Sam in the lower region. She flung the door open, obviously frustrated.

Sol ducked outside the room and gave Nova a thumbs up.

"POSITIONS, EVERYONE! POSISTIONS!" Where the hell had she gotten a megaphone from?

He watched Kiki stomp down the corridors like the little kid she was, and counted down to when she would get to the corridor they were all hiding in.

"Happy birthday, Kiki!" They yelled, smiling.

She looked terrified, and pulled out a gun, but Sol walked over to her. She whispered something into her ear, took her hand and lead her into the room Nova had spent all day setting up. Nova seemed unfazed by Kiki's reaction and immediately launched into fun mode.

"Present time!"

They had only just started?