clutter | rogers

TWELVE

Bruce was the first to arrive.

Vee was the greeting and briefing party. She greeted him with open arms at the front door of Tony's tower.

"Doctor Banner, so good to finally meet you."

"Same for you, Miss Winona. Please, call me Bruce."

"Vee." She nodded and let him in. They got into the elevator. Upon their ascension, she looked at the emptiness of the surrounding neighborhood and spoke to him about who Aris was.

She vaguely explained her connection with him, his powers, why he was here, and what the plan was.

Bruce's roll, in all this, was to be their eyes. He was the brains and he'd be in charge of active logistics. The Big Green Guy was also their Hail Mary. Just in case.

"Wow." She turned back to face him at this. She took a good look at him while he stared at the floor. He's rather handsome, she thought. "That's a lot."

She spoke softly: "Yeah. It gets heavy around here, huh?"

He looked at her. Green eyes. There's something about this group and green eyes... "You have no idea," he said.

She laughed softly. Her ribs ached. Heavy, she thought.

The doors opened and she pointed him in the direction of the assembling group. He thanked her and scurried off.

The doors closed and she pressed the lobby button again.

She looked at herself in the reflective metal. She wore black jeans (with generous stretch because, well, if you have to fight you don't want your pants ripping), a light blue bodysuit, and black converse. Her hair was tied up and she had minimal makeup on.

Vee had never really been one to put fashion over functionality, especially now. Fashion was, frankly, the last thing on her mind.

Her eyes wandered from her outfit to her eyes.

She wanted to hide, or run, or fly... She didn't want to deal with Aris. She didn't want to take the Avengers down with her on this sinking ship. She didn't want to...

But here she stood in Tony Stark's elevator, friends and allies with the Avengers, and with one of America's Most Wanted Gods keeping an eye on her dog...

How exponentially fucked her week had gotten.

And it was only Tuesday.

The doors opened. She stepped out into the lobby and sat behind a corner. She pulled out her phone and dialed a number.

She put it against her ear.

"Hello? Mister Jameson, it's Vee. Vee Winona, yes." She listened. "I'm just calling to let you know that this pink eye is getting very bad and I think it's best if I miss tomorrow too. If you want, I can write about the Goblin in the Park from home and email you it."

She listened. "Okay, by tomorrow night?" She listened. "Thank you very much for understanding, sir. One more thing, would you be able to patch me through to Peter Parker?"