And Then I Wrote Marvel

Show Me Light (Part 2)(Avengers x Reader) *

You looked at the people standing in front of you, recognizing their faces from somewhere. They probably would have ended up on your hit list, eventually. Director Coulson had called them the Avengers, but warned you not to mention him around them; they were under the impression that he had died several years ago.

"Hello," you began, unsure of how all of this would go down.

"Well, if it isn't the Human Destroyer, come to join us at long last," Tony Stark greeted you sarcastically. You could tell that he wasn't a fan of this development at all.

"My gosh, Tony," Steve Rogers whispered under his breath.

You flinched all the same, hearing the code name for you used that derogatorily. "I'd appreciate it if I never heard that describing me ever again."

"You'll never hear it from the rest of the team, but there are no promises here," Tony said.

"You say it even one time, whether to his/her face or not, and I will smash your head in," Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, threatened. You recognized him better than the others; you'd seen him in person more than once. He probably didn't recognize you, as you were just a budding experiment then--one of the ones that had survived longer than average.

"I will be the first to volunteer to help you," Steve claimed.

"And I the second," Natasha added. You recognized her slightly more, too.

"S/he'd probably do it his/herself, if we're being honest," Tony continued making stupid remarks.

"Believe it or not, Mr. Stark, I'd try my best to refrain, however inviting the idea is. I, personally, don't want to kill anyone else."

"So the Destroyer regrets?"

"You don't know anything about me, do you?" There was no emotion in your voice. The words just came out of your mouth, no meaning behind them besides what they meant by definition. You could see that a few of this group found it unsettling.

"I know enough."

"That's a dangerous thing to think. No one ever knows enough."

"Well, aren't you just the scholar?"

"I was." There was an awkward pause. "Where will I be staying?"

"Ah, yes," Steve said. "I'll show you around the compound."

"That rhymed," you interjected.

"What?" he said. As little as he knew you, he could tell that was out of character.

"Oh, just little things that used to bring me joy," you shrugged. "Let's begin this tour."

You were surprised by the amount of seemingly average technology that you didn't recognize. A lot had changed in the ten years that you'd been gone. You had a feeling that even Steve was better accustomed to this than you were.

"Thanks for the tour," you said at the end. "I think I'll just stay in my room and take a nap or something. I haven't gotten enough sleep in a very long time."

He cracked a little bit of a smile at that. "It's exactly the opposite with me. I can barely sleep anymore. Just don't miss dinner," he advised as he walked out the door. "Buck and Natasha are cooking." He closed the door behind him.

"Is that supposed to be good or bad?" you wondered out loud.

You found out at dinner. Bucky and Natasha were fantastic cooks, working together flawlessly. As they set everything on the table (they insisted that you didn't have to help), you watched from just outside the kitchen. A diamond on Natasha's left ring finger caught your eye, and you spied a matching gold wedding band on Bucky's finger. You almost smiled.

They were happy in a way that you didn't think that you could be anymore. No one in their right mind could be romantically interested in you. Instead of being caught up in your own self-pity, however, you imagined enjoying what it might be like in either of their positions. You tried to return yourself, if only for a moment, to the child-like innocence you'd had before you had ever heard of Hydra. You were a bit of a hopeless romantic, to say the least.

"So, (Y/N), tell us about yourself," Wanda Maximoff requested. You'd never seen her in person before today, but the names of the Maximoff twins had been raised to connote a standard of success. You'd had a strong impression of her before, and had been caught totally off-guard with her civility and empathy.

"I'm really not very interesting," you deflected, softly skewering another piece of chicken with your fork.

"If you're 'not very interesting,' then we're just downright boring," Natasha pushed slightly.

"As Hydra experiments go, the only thing most people care about is that I worked."

"We don't care about that at all. If we're going to be working with you, we want to know who you were before," Thor explained.

"I wouldn't want to trouble you with the antics of a 15-year-old kid. I'd honestly just bore you all to death."

"It would be better than being blown to bits by the Human Destroyer," Tony shrugged, speaking for the first time that evening.

"Please don't," you cautioned. "I barely know you, all the same, I'd rather that Mr. Rogers and Mr. and Mrs. Barnes didn't bash your head in like they promised to."

"How very considerate of you, Destructo-Pal," he thanked you sarcastically.

You got up quickly, and, conveniently having cleared your plate just moments before, put your dishes in the sink. You retreated in the direction of your room, but not leaving before complimenting the chefs. "Thank you for dinner. It was wonderful."

About halfway down the hallway, you heard the sound of something slamming against the table, and a corresponding "Agh!"
--
As you disappeared, Tony continued eating like nothing had just happened. He set his fork down, and a seething Bucky took his opportunity to smack his frenemy's face into his plate.

"Agh!" Tony cried out in alarm.

"What on earth made you think that that was even a little okay?!" Bucky shouted. "We've been given a mission to rehabilitate (Y/N) to where s/he thinks like a normal person again, and not a test subject. If you really want him/her to leave so bad, then treating him/her like the monster s/he feels like s/he is isn't the fastest way to do it."

Tony didn't respond, but rather walked over to the kitchen sink and began to wash the food off of his face.

"What do you have against (Y/N)?" Natasha demanded.

He turned to face the group, his fave a little red. "Have I told any of you about Pepper's condition?"