Resilience | ✔

Chapter Sixteen

Weeks went by.

Marley settled in more at the compound. She unpacked her things completely. She went shopping for clothes—normal clothes and a bunch of fancy stuff for formal events. She went shopping for room décor. She got started on the school curriculum Pepper put together for her. She hung out with Beck when schedules permitted. Natasha and Wanda found out she was learning Russian and started helping. She continued training, separating the training into two categories. The fun stuff, like hand-to-hand combat, learning how to handle weapons, escape scenarios—and the not fun stuff. How to stay calm if she got kidnapped. How to fight off psychological manipulation. Devising code words with Tony for different situations and memorizing them. The less-fun self-defense that made her skin crawl. Natasha even started teaching her how to detach from pain in case she was tortured.

And the anonymous threats continued.

By her one-month anniversary in the compound, she'd received twenty. Not all of them were death threats; some of them spelled out ways she'd be hurt, some insulted her for being bi and supporting the LGBTQ+ community. She didn't tell Wanda about any of them. Wanda probably saw them in her mind anyway, but said nothing.

Marley was thinking about this at breakfast on the morning of said one-month anniversary. It had become a strange habit of hers to check her inbox every morning for a new anon. This morning's was barely a blip on the radar compared to the others: a simple bitch. Apparently her heckler was losing creativity. Before it had all started, she'd have been offended by it, but now it seemed inconsequential.

She took a bite of scrambled egg and opened her history textbook—back to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Everyone else was on a trail run, but her ankle was bothering her, so she'd opted out. She'd probably twisted it a bit training yesterday. She'd have to tell Steve when they got back so he could let her off the hook for today's session.

It was strange being her by herself, though. This was the first quiet breakfast she'd had since Joslyn and Phil. She wasn't sure what to do with herself.

She wondered how they were doing, Joslyn and Phil. How surprised had they been when they'd heard the news that she was Tony's daughter? Did they regret kicking her out? Were they happy for her? Had they decided to foster someone else? She should stop by their house. Rub in their faces that she was glad they'd given her the boot.

"Someone's looking pissed," Tony remarked.

Marley jumped. He was leaning on the doorjamb, eyebrow raised, arms crossed, in a leather jacket over an AC/DC shirt and jeans. It made him look younger. She forced herself to relax, putting her fork down before she bent it in half.

"Morning, kiddo," he said, crossing to the coffee pot. Marley smiled despite her best efforts, the two words he'd said warming her heart. Things were awkward between them still, but they were getting better at navigating each other. Trying. "Kiddo" was a recent addition, and it made her fiercely happy.

"Morning," she replied. "You're not out running?"

He made a face, spooning grounds into the pot. "Not my speed. Running's bad enough. Adding the Appalachians is a recipe for disaster. Besides, I had a meeting." He skimmed the spoon across the counter into the sink and waited for it to stop clattering. "I thought you were going to go?"

"I think I twisted my ankle a bit yesterday," she said, scooping scrambled eggs onto her fork and stabbing a piece of toast to go with. "It's probably nothing, but I don't want to aggravate it."

"Excuses." He closed the lid of the coffeepot and turned it on, then headed over to the fridge. "Anything good for breakfast?"

"Nothing fancy. I think Sam was going to make muffins when he got back, though."