Save me, Steve Rogers

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It takes a while for Steve to calm Y/N down, but he finally convinces her to sit down. She still looks stressed, so he tries to understand why.

"Who can be that bad, that terrible, that you think the Avengers Facility isn't a safe place? I mean, we're pretty good at stopping the bad guys." Very modest, he thinks.

"You don't understand." She shakes her head, sighing. "If they don't have to, they won't do anything. That's not the problem. They just want me. And it's if they get me that worries me."

He furrows his eyebrows, leaning forward in his chair. "What do you mean? What could they do? Especially to you, I've never seen any ability like yours, I can't imagine many people get the upper hand on someone who can just set people on fire."

Annoyed, she snaps at him. "You think I enjoy having the ability to do that? I don't particularly like hurting people and if you send a blast of fire at someone, it's gonna pretty much kill them, in a really, really horrible way. I for one don't like being the cause of someone burning to death."

Steve looks taken aback, shocked at her little outburst. She shakes her head again, slumping back in her chair, defeated. "I'm sorry, that wasn't fair, you didn't mean anything by it." And Steve relaxes again, apology accepted.

Answering his previous question, she replies, "It doesn't matter, anyway. I don't want to burden you with the details, I'm not going to be here much longer and it's likely you'll never see me again."

He leans forward, mirroring her, and puts a friendly hand over hers as some form of comfort. "I told you, you belong here. You're one of us. If you want to be, that is."

She thinks for a moment, wondering if any harm could come from the information she'd tell him. Whether she wants to be another sob story to him. He did save her from them, after all, so she takes a deep breath, and begins to explain.

"The people after me? They're led by my twin brother. His name is Jax, and like myself, he also has an ability. But he's far more dangerous than I am. See, it appears he was born without a conscious or empathy or anything that makes the rest of us human. He's undoubtably evil." She shudders, and Steve leans back in his chair, his attention utterly on her, listening to every work intently.

"What can he do?" He asks.

"Well, he developed his ability around the same time I as did. But it wasn't so obvious what it was at the time. Mine was glaringly obvious. I mean, I could shoot fire out of my fists for gods sake. I could raise a wall in seconds, make little hurricanes in my hand, turn water into ice simply by blowing on it." She laughs, looking at her hands. "But him." She shakes her head, and pauses for a moment, pain flashing across her face.

"When I was about 7, I started to hurt people with my ability, even though I didn't want to. I didn't know what was happening to me. I didn't know why I was doing these things. It was like I was possessed. I had no control over what I did. I just did these terrible things."

Steve wants to ask more about what these terrible things were, but he refrains. It sounds like she really doesn't want to talk about it.

"And then I figured it out. My brother had discovered his power, but he'd been keeping quiet about it. Jax's ability was me. We're twins, you see, and people always say twins are linked, that they have this weird psychic connection. Well, they're right, we are linked, but in the worse way. All he has to do is say 'hey sis' and then I'm his. He can make me do anything, and I'm utterly powerless against it."

She looks at Steve, her eyes red with exhaustion and fear. She remembers all of the things she's ever done because of him, all of the people she's ever hurt. She remembers her parents, and has to look away from him, as her eyes begin to water. She sniffs, and angrily dabs her eyes with her sleeve.

"The only way for him to lose control is for the 'connection'," she makes air quotations when she says this, "to be broken. Or if I'm out of range from him. That's why I have to keep moving. The further away I am, the safer I am."

She takes a deep breath, feeling slightly lighter having shared this information, even if to a stranger. Steve doesn't say anything for a moment. He can tell how much pain this is causing her. How desperate she is to stay away from her brother. He tells himself there and then that he'll never let anything happen to the girl sat in front of him, with her eyes full of pain and sadness.

"So," he says finally, looking up at her. He smiles a sad smile at her, and in an attempt to make her feel better and lighten the situation, he continues, "his superpower is being the worlds bossiest brother?"

She stares at him for a second, stunned at his reply. Steves smile falls, worrying he's said totally the wrong thing, and shouldn't have tried to make a joke. But then her face breaks into a smile and she laughs, a loud, slightly hysterical laugh. Steve joins in, more nervous, until she calms down. His voice is more gentle now, reassuring.

"We won't let him get you." He puts his hand on hers, and looks straight in her eyes. "I won't let him get you, okay?"

She nods, feeling much better, even if the worry of her brother finding her still weighs heavily on her. Something about Steve, this stranger — his confidence, his assurance, his awkward attempt at a joke — makes her feel safe. She can't help but feel okay around him.