Seeing Beyond

9

"Where's Aurora been?" May asked Peter over dinner one night. "I haven't seen her in a while."

"Oh, she had something going on with her family," Peter informed and put a piece of Thai food into his mouth. "I didn't pry, it sounded like a lot going on. I told her that she can tell me whatever, but she hasn't said much. I figure she'll tell me eventually."

"Makes sense. I definitely didn't feel like talking about it when Ben..." she trailed off and sighed. "Sorry. I know it's only been about a year."

"No, it's fine," Peter reassured and looked down. "It's just frustrating with Rory..." he tried to redirect the subject, "it's like she just disappeared one day."

"Well, that's how it is sometimes."

"It's so frustrating though. I finally got close to her and now she's gone."

"Not necessarily," she pursed her lips. "You still have her social media and phone number, right? Talk to her, not even about her family. She might appreciate just having a break from everything going on and having a normal conversation that doesn't start with 'I'm sorry.'"

"Yeah...yeah," Peter nodded, smiling at the woman. "That's a really good idea. Thank you, May, you're a life-saver."

Shoved in the back of a truck with her hands tightly restrained behind her, she couldn't not think about the long-haired man.

"So you like cats?"

"Sam."

"What? Dude shows up dressed like a cat, you don't wanna know more?"

"It's pretty weird," Aurora agreed with a shrug.

Aurora looked at T'Challa next to her as he explained the Black Panther.

"Steve," Aurora sighed once T'challa was done. He looked back attentively. "The Wi--that guy. That guy... has he changed? When I see him, is he gonna kill me?"

"No, he won't kill you. He doesn't kill anymore."

T'Challa tensed up but stayed silent. "I need to talk to him. When I do, will you be there with me?"

"Of course."

"God, Tony's gonna kill me."

Aurora felt a bit of pain as her things were taken. Almost everything but the clothes on her were now gone, which honestly made her a bit insecure. They'd forced her to remove her suit, gadgets, and only keep her normal-looking clothes. Even worse? They'd had a guard "making sure she didn't sneak anything past them." That meant she had to have some stranger watching her change.

"Are you watching Steve and Sam? Gonna strip search them or anything to make sure they don't take anything in?" she challenged the man in front of her. It was both of the Rosses.

The shorter one looked more uncomfortable, the Secretary of State stared at her. "We aren't strip searching. Their costumes don't require them to undress," he said calmly.

Aurora stood right in front of him, refusing to back down. They'd already arrested her, what else did they really need? At this point, there was no reason for this except for the fact that they have power.

"Costumes?" she narrowed her eyes. "I guess your costume looks pretty convincing, too," she mocked him and the fact that he wasn't really taking her seriously. Finally, after a moment she sighed and stated, "I want a woman."

"Ms. Blanche, this will be so much easier if you just--"

Aurora raised an eyebrow. "Do you think I care about what's easy for you? You're not the one who's worried about being  molested by some guy. I'm not doing it until I have a woman."