Bruised (Irondad)

21

"Mama needed money".

The entire team, with the addition of Pepper, have gathered in the common room, draped across couches and sat on top of each other. Nemesis has settled himself at the twins feet where they've situated themselves on the couch opposite from everybody else. Geo is curled into his sister's side, looking smaller than ever. Gianna, on the other hand.. Tony doesn't think he's ever seen a child look older.

"I remember it better than Geo.. maybe because of the serum, but she was okay before that. She wasn't particularly affectionate but she said she loved me once or twice and on good days she'd make us laugh really hard".

A sad kind of smile flits across Giovanni's face.

"She needed money.. or so she said, and this guy turned up to the apartment one day and said he could help. We flew out to Russia and these guys met us at the airport. Mama disappeared into a crowd and then they took us".

She pauses.

"They wanted twins, one to experiment on and the other to compare. Ideally, we would've been identical, which we clearly aren't, but they decided that our DNA was close enough for... for that".

Tony's words come out more strangled than intended when he speaks, not quite achieving the desired ice-cool and detached effect, syllables catching in his throat, "And uh- what is that?".

Gianna blinks, "I.. I don't really remember a lot of it, but I know it hurt".

Oh god he's so angry.

"Vanni was a few doors down, we could hear each other sometimes.. when they'd-", she blinks again, "There were other kids there, all older than us, and there were adults too.. one's who didn't want to be there and.. and one of them, James, he approached me one day during training and he said he'd help us get home. I liked him because he called me Annie and he had nice hair and so I let him".

Both twins simultaneously smile at the memory of 'James', a gentle calm settling for a moment.

"Neither of us remember much of escaping, or of the journey home. I'm sure it was messy, and I hit my head a couple of times, and everything did that wobbly thing that happens when I get upset. There was this other guy, I think he was called Coulson-".

Son of a bitch.

Of course, he's involved in this whole thing.

"And then we ended up back with mom.. and I thought things would go back to how they were before, but they couldn't because I didn't belong to her anymore, I was Hydra's Laurel and she was in trouble with them and she hated me".

"What does it mean?", all heads turn to Steve, "Laurel?".

"It's a poisonous plant", Natasha provides, voice steady.

Geo smirks, "It's stupid".

The children share a short-lived giggle, before returning to their narrative.

"I think she had enough.. of me being a freak. I can't get anything right with it and I break things and I can't- I can't get it right. So um.. as any mother in a crisis would.. she poisoned me".

"Except it kind of backfired", Giovanni continues, "because the poison kind of worked but Gia also sent the entire apartment into overload. Mama freaked when the glass in the photos shattered and the tv fell off the wall, and she ran.. and it stopped. It was terrifying.. but also cool". The boy grins impishly at his sister, who rolls her eyes but flushes pink.

"And you don't know what their plans for you were?", Clint, who has been uncharacteristically quiet, asks.

"Oh.. well, everybody was there for the same reason and that was to become a weapon I suppose, none of us really had a separate purpose.. just pieces in a game I guess".

* * *

Giovanni snores.

Gianna knows this because the rising and falling of his animalistic breaths are slowly but surely becoming permanently ingrained onto her brain.

The events of the day have left the boy exhausted, pretty much dead to the world for the time being. The same cannot be said, however, for his twin.

Her caramel eyes blink up at the ceiling, rhythmic and regular, memorising the patterns in the inconsistencies of the soft paint. Judging by the shifts in tones and occasional swoop, Gia assumes that whoever painted this ceiling took about as much care with it as her mother with parenting.

Sleep is avoiding her, she's sure. Although, it's hard to know when there are so many other factors to consider.

There's the fact that her brain is abnormally active for this time of night, replaying everything that's happened recently over and over in her head. It's like a really bad film that you can't turn off because the remote is missing.

Then there's Geo's snoring, which probably would count as a factor if it weren't for the fact that it's a repeat offence which Gianna manages to tune out every other night.

And then there's the serum, which did so many strange things to her body that Gia wouldn't be entirely shocked if she woke up as a chicken one day. Her metabolism is undoubtedly heightened, leaving her hungry and craving strange things a lot of the time. Every once in a while her senses will dial themselves up, allowing her to hear someone sneeze a few streets away, the monotonous buzz of the city torturing her until she can't take it and everything fades into nothingness. And then her sleeping routine, which leaves much to be desired and would probably send Aunt May into a fit if she knew.

It's difficult to tell whether the sleeping thing is to do with her altered dna, or the emotional trauma.

It could be either which set her natural instincts to be to throw herself onto the floor when the door opens.

Natasha arches an eyebrow at the child, small hands gripping the carpet and cheek pressed to the ground. Gia lets out a breath she hadn't known she was holding, pushing herself up from the floor and looking up at the assassin.

The avenger glances at the other twin, confirming her suspicions that he is indeed asleep and snoring, before beckoning the girl to follow her.

So she does.