Special Touch Part: Three

Chapter Twenty-Two

He whispered something.

And right now, you'd sell your soul to know what it was.

You found yourself in Jimmy's apartment building, breaking into his office and rifling through everything as said owner of this place still lays dead on your kitchen floor, but you didn't have time for that right now. Panic was rising in your chest and the whole room had a glow of yellow, so you knew your eyes were bright right now, but you didn't know why since you weren't currently using your powers.

You answered your phone, putting it on speaker, and then throwing it on top of the desk as you continued searching. It was Natasha, wanting to know what happened and you found some Hydra information while you filled her in. She was going to join you, but you stopped her and said that she should head to the tower, fill everyone in, because you sure as hell weren't in the mind space to get them on board with a plan. Also, to get Ollie over to someone so he wasn't alone in the house after SHIELD ultimately cleaned up the body.

She reluctantly agreed and then got off the phone just in time.

You heard someone approach the door seconds after the call ended and you whipped around with your gun raised, widening your eyes when you spotted your son standing there, sweat making his hair stick to his forehead and neck.

"Where is it?" He muttered, sweat dripping into his eyes, and making him wince at the burn.

"Where's what?" You asked slowly, cautiously moving in front of the safe you hadn't cracked yet and having a feeling he might be looking for whatever was inside.

"Not at...it's not at...home," He forced out, breathing shakily, and your heart clenched, "You...do you have it?"

"No." You lied or maybe it was true, you honestly didn't know, but he wasn't taking your questions, so you thought this might be what he needed to hear.

"Liar." He grumbled, but his voice was deeper, and you barely recognized it.

"Okay, I'm lying," You nodded, putting your arms out, "But you can't kill me, we both have that gift – or curse, so what now? We stand here? Or maybe..." You trailed off, letting your arms fall, and you crouched down a little to be eye level, "Cory, I can get you help, okay? Make the pain go away, yeah?"

"With that?" He snapped, eyeing the gun you had set on the desk behind you under his eyebrows as his head was tilted down.

"No," You told him firmly, "Co, come on, it's me."

He turned to leave again, but you went and grabbed his arm in time before he could, and he glared at it like he wanted it to burn, but you didn't let it affect you.

"Get off." He growled, trying to yank his arm away, and you shook your head.

"No," You told him sternly, not used to being authoritative with your kid, but you didn't have a choice right now, "I gave you enough time to handle this on your own, but you can't, so I'm going to help you."

His lips were in a thin line, almost a snarl quirking up at one of the corners, and his eyes were glaring up at you, but they were also swirling with golden brokenness. He was helpless, trapped in his own body, and it was going to get messy really fast if you didn't take him in now.

He put up a fight, but you somewhat dragged him outside and Happy was already standing by because you had had a feeling your little dude would show up.

"Long time," Happy greeted you, sarcasm lacing his voice, "Feels like I missed a whole part of your life."

"Very funny, Haps," You rolled your eyes, sitting next to a disgruntled Cory, and buckling him in, "Let's go before he changes his mind and tries to kill us both."

"Right." Happy nodded shortly, putting the car into gear, and speeding off towards the tower.

"Oh, thank god." Was the first thing you heard, and you didn't have to turn around to know it was your assassin, but when you did, you raised a hand to stop her from getting too close.

"We need to call T'Challa." You told her firmly, pursing your lips, and her eyes trailed from the fidgeting kid up to you.

"Bucky already did."

"Where is it?" Cory kept angrily mumbling, growing more frustrated by the minute.

Natasha didn't ask, afraid to set him off, and as the two of you led him into a more secure room on the other side of the tower, you noticed most people were afraid of the same thing. You couldn't blame them, word travels fast and they already feared you for everything you've done, so you just gave them all apologetic smiles as you passed.

Happy and Tony followed you all from behind, keeping their distance as they chatted about something unrelated, and then Rhodes joined them, having been nearby when you had arrived. The thing about Rhodes is, he's more blunt and straight to the point, so he can come off as a little insensitive sometimes, but usually you'd be right next to him on anything.

"Is that little Winter Soldier 2.0?" He was asking them, and Natasha's jaw tensed, having heard.

"Don't act like you haven't met mini-Romanoff." Tony smirked and you smiled at the name.

"At least his arm isn't made of vibranium." Happy shrugged and Rhodes pointed at him in amusement, nodding.

But Natasha had apparently had enough.

"Do you fucking mind?" She spun around, stopping in place as you and Cory took a few more steps before pausing, but the other three had frozen completely at her outburst, "That's my kid you're talking about and if you keep talking shit about this situation, I'll personally shove my-"

"Nat!" You cut her off and she glanced over her shoulder at you, her chest heaving with anger, "I know this is hard, but come on," You subtly gestured to Cory, "Hold it together a little longer."

She nodded silently after a moment, but the other three still had wide, fearful eyes and they didn't speak another word the entire walk to the room.

It was one of those padded rooms like you've only seen on TV, but you didn't mention that tiny fact as you had to put your own son in there for the time being and he didn't want to go easy.

"Jail," He was mumbling to himself, "This is jail, they're locking me up, and I'm never..."

"Never what, Covey?" Natasha asked quietly as the three of you stood inside the white room and you couldn't help but to wonder why this even existed in the tower.

"It hurts so bad," He whimpered instead, and you had to bite your lip to stop yourself from crying, "Is it ever going to get better?"

"It will," You promised, crouching down, and holding his hands in yours as Natasha tensed, worried something might happen with you guys so close to each other, "And I'm going to stay with you in here until T'Challa comes, okay?"

"Y/-"

"I'm not leaving him alone and he can't hurt me." You insisted, cutting her off.

"After healing Valerie so quickly," She took a deep breath, "Are you sure that's true?"

The truth was, no, you weren't sure about anything at this point, but you weren't going to leave him, and you knew Natasha couldn't be in here with him, so there wasn't much of a choice. You never felt so guilty in your life for letting this happen and if it came to it, for whatever reason, you'd give your life up to make sure he was safe.

"Everything comes with its risks, right?" You smiled up at her with wet eyes and she knew you were talking about more than just this.

Your whole life has been a risk and so has hers, but it's brought you to this point and family has become everything to you. There was a time where you lost all you had, clingy onto your few close friends to fill that emptiness that the death of your family had brought and now that you had your own, you weren't going to give it up.

Even if it killed you.