Star Dust (A Paladin Adventure)

The next steps

The next morning, I dressed in the new Poppy costume with no enthusiasm. It was very similar to my original and certainly the construction was better; I didn't have a lot of experience with sewing leather and there had been some places where I'd made things work out. For some reason, I liked that the metal poppies that I'd made were replicated using paint and stains rather than metal replicas. The tights were thicker, which was nice, and the boots had an insulated lining so I'd be pretty cozy, all things considered. The belt didn't fit as well, so I used the old one instead. I zipped up the jacket, put on the lined gloves, used my hip sash as a scarf, and walked down to collect the boys.

"So why do you want to make my arm at home?" Bucky asked as we arrived at my car.

"Because Tony acts like that spoiled kid who takes his ball and leaves if he doesn't get his own way," I said. "I'd like to prevent him from having a leg to stand on, so to speak, if he tries to exert pressure over your arm. Samuel is working for T'Challa, who has made it clear that this is not Avenger business. Forge is contributing his expertise with the intention of doing some testing and you answering some questions about how it works, which I think you've already agreed to."

"You think he'd really do that?" Steve asked.

"I think you shouldn't underestimate a guy who'd throw me to the wolves," I said grimly as I hit the button to unlock the doors.

"What do you mean?" Bucky said, pouncing. Shoot. I didn't tell them what I'd been threatened with. I pressed my lips shut.

"Emma!" Steve barked suddenly and I jumped. He glared at me.

"If I didn't agree to join the Avengers... two officers from the Army showed up at my house the night before last. They said it was the Avengers or them, and by them they didn't mean a nice little lab on an Army base. They chose the Avengers because Stark can be leaned on, demonstrably."

"So what does that mean?" Bucky asked ominously.

I looked down at my toes. "They said they had doubts about my willingness to cooperate, so they said I'd be operated on and the extra organs in my brain would be removed after some experimentation," I said finally, not looking up. Having to state it myself like that terrified me again.

"I thought those things couldn't be removed," Steve said tensely.

"The doctors here said that they can't be reached without trashing my brain," I said quietly. "They're not concerned with the consequences."

My dogs butted me to show their support as Steve and Bucky began swearing. You could certainly tell they'd been in the military themselves due to the depth and richness of the curses.

"Normally it's entertaining when you guys swear," I said tightly. "But it's not helping."

Bucky cut himself off abruptly. "You're right, doll. But you don't have to worry. Nobody's going to hack into your brain while we're around." He put his arm around me and gave me a squeeze.

"So what are you planning?" Steve said practically, touching my cheek gently.

"First is the legal front. I've got lawyers working on the civil rights violations, not just me, but also other supers, including Peter. I also need to build up public sympathy.  And yesterday, somebody hacked into the clinic's server and deleted the clinic's patient files. This is unfortunate for my future medical treatment, but it should prevent anybody else from accessing my data. Somebody took a look while I was on Asgard. Somebody offsite, but who had access, apparently. The system logged it. But if everything fails, well...I have friends who could help me disappear," I said quietly. I knew Loki would help, and even if the price of securing a safe place meant that I had to use my abilities for someone else, like Odin, it would still be better than having my head filleted.  Steve had a serious look on his face and Bucky looked downright homicidal.