Beautiful Ruins

Chapter 64

"Hey" Flash says, sitting down next to me on the lawn. I'm about to head home, I'm just waiting for Happy. Peter's gone over to MJ's house. I glance up at him, I wasn't expecting Flash to come and sit with me. "Can I take you somewhere Saturday evening?" I blink. Is this Flash asking me out on a date?

"Where?" I ask, I don't know if I want to go out with Flash, I did enjoy spending time with him, but I've just had my heart ripped into shreds by Clover's betrayal and Ashton's death.

"It's a surprise. I really enjoyed our time together at my party and I'd like to take you on a date" Flash says, causing me to blush and smile at the ground. I've never been directly asked out on a date before, it's an uncomfortable, weird feeling.

"Okay" I say before I can overthink it. Flash has been nothing but sweet to me, I'm going to give him a chance. I genuinely had fun with him as his party. Flash grabs my phone; I glance and see he's adding his number into it.

"I'll pick you up at seven, wear something nice" Flash says before heading off. I raise an eyebrow, what does 'nice' mean? I'm assuming he means wear a dress or something. I'll have to ask MJ, she'll probably know.

The car ride home with Happy is uneventful, we make polite chitchat but that's about all. I head into Stark towers, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see no one in the lobby, maybe there's no big emergency that's happened today.

I head upstairs and place my backpack down on my floor, I see a note on my desk, and I grab it, glancing at it.

Come see me when you get home – Steve

It's probably to do with Ashton. I immediately head downstairs into the training room, it seems to be where Steve spends most of his time. I see Tony and Steve chatting, I rarely see the two of them without Natasha, this is like an unsettling reminder that the two are actually friends, not just co-workers.

"Storm, how was school?" Tony asks me as soon as I open the door. I'm not going to tell Tony or Natasha about my date yet, there's no point telling them if the first date ends in disaster, I doubt Flash and I will become a couple.

"It was fine, you guys wanted to see me?" I ask, assuming Tony knows about Steve leaving the note in my room. I'm guessing they've figured out who killed Ashton or how he died, if they'd found Clover, I think they'd call me home immediately.

"Sit down" Steve says, I sit down. I glance at Tony, what are they about to tell me? I don't know what I'll do if Clover was the person who killed Ashton, I just can't imagine Clover killing without a good reason.

I also don't know what made Ashton agree to help Clover kill Steve. Ashton never had anything personally against Steve, we just all thought that avengers were trying to kill us and wanted the x-men extinct. Ashton and Clover also hardly knew each other, was there more going on than I knew or did Clover just take an opportunity to get an ally?

"Ashton drowned" Tony says bluntly. I blink, drowned? Ashton knows, well knew, how to swim. "There was bruising on his neck, and he had a head injury, like he was hit with something." My heart sinks, is Tony trying to say Clover hit Ashton with something then left him to drown somewhere? She wouldn't do that; I refuse to believe she's that evil. Clover was so protective of me and so sweet, it couldn't have all been an act. Maybe my feelings are clouding my judgement but a small part of me thinks, well hopes, that Clover did care about me, she just cared more about revenge.

"It couldn't have been Clover, why would she kill him?" I say, Clover and Ashton likely separated once they left here, obviously Ashton ran into the wrong person or was in the wrong place and it led to this, but Clover wasn't involved.

Steve sighs and looks at me, a sympathetic look on his face. I look away from him, not wanting to be reminded about how Clover isn't an avenger and doesn't care about any of us. Clover wants Steve dead because of her parents, but Ashton couldn't have done anything that affected Clover.

"Storm, you're fifteen, you don't know everything. Clover was manipulating you, she wanted you to believe she couldn't possibly attack and hurt somebody for no reason" Tony says seriously after sharing a look with Steve.

"I might only be fifteen, but I was trained by the x-men my whole life, I know when someone is manipulating me!" I snap.

"Clearly you don't" Steve mumbles under his breath.

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Storm" Tony says, giving me a disapproving look. "I know you're hurting but don't take it out on Steve."

"Sorry Steve" I say, this isn't his fault. It's easy to tell myself that it's Steve's fault for getting Clover's parents killed but I know it's not, he tried to save everyone. I just wish Clover had been able to process her grief instead of burying it and holding onto rage, so she didn't have to feel the pain that comes with losing loved ones. I could easily blame Magneto and Mystique for Scarlett's death and I do, but I also acknowledge the part we all played in it. Scarlett knew what was going to happen when she shot Mystique and she did it anyway, I knew there was a high chance of somebody dying when we went to rescue MJ and Clover.

"It's fine, I know you and Clover were close" Steve replies. I was in love with Clover, I don't think I can handle finding out she didn't love me back.

"Let us handle this for now, just focus on school and your friends" Tony says, I nod in agreement. As much as I want to be, I'm not the right person to investigate Ashton's death or to track down Clover, it needs to be someone who isn't emotionally involved, like Steve or Bruce.