Reborn From The Void

Chapter 17 - Normalcy

(Your POV):
My conversation with Peter loomed over everything throughout the next few weeks, making Christmas feel the way it had before Peter had come into my life. Although the Avengers celebrated and I put on a false pretense of joy as well, I was as emotionless as every December the 25th I had spent alone with my parents.

Ned and MJ often came over to cheer me up and I would always let them think that they had, but it was going to take time to heal this wound. Peter had been the first person I had willingly opened up to. It hadn't been easy, but it had been worth it. The time that I spent with him let me know what life could be, I could be more that a dispassionate assassin.

But it seemed now that I was wrong. Love, at least in the romantic form, was something that I could never have. I didn't think that I could ever get over the adorable, nerdy teenager who helped save the world. Besides, who would ever fall in love with me, knowing that I had been an assassin for an organization akin to H.Y.D.R.A.

But I could at least enjoy what I was building without him. The family I had created in the Avengers and the family I had in Ned and MJ. Even May would check in on me every now and then, making me realize just how much I was cared about. People cared about me, it was still something so foreign to think about. I had spent sixteen years being no more than an agent to my parents, I was still getting accustomed to the feeling of hanging out in the tower and knowing that everyone else within those walls would be there for me.

Even Natasha, who pretended to be unfeeling, had become akin to a sister and would always being willing to talk about my feelings, encouraging me to share them with her. It was such a contrast to my home life before where the only feelings I was allowed were a sense of duty and the desire to follow orders.

I had still been unable to fully crack Loki, but he didn't mind if I disturbed his reading in the library to call him away to an Avengers meeting, which was certainly something highly coveted. This also meant that it was always me being sent to fetch him and I started to feel guilty with the frequency in which I had interrupted his privacy.

As winter turned to spring, we heard whispers of H.A.M.M.E.R. and upped our search for members and possible locations that could be involved. Worst of all, we heard rumors that my parents had left H.A.M.M.E.R. one final present. Based on how insane and dangerous past experiments of theirs had been, I was rather nervous as to what they had managed to concoct.

Of course they had also made me, but as far as I was aware, I was the only one of their experiments that hadn't become unhinged. And they grew more dangerous the less they were tethered to some sort of sanity. This meant that we needed to find the base as soon as possible.

"Thunderbird, you ready to go?" I heard Tony's voice in my ear as I stared towards my target.

"Just say the word," I replied, lifting my body so that I could run on my cue.

"Remember, you are going to bring him in alive, understood?" Cap interjected, causing me to roll my eyes.

"That was one time, Steve. Don't worry, I've got this. He'll only be a bit banged up when I deliver him the the Quinjet, unless I run into unforeseen circumstances."

"Alright, here's your opening," Tony informed me, distracting from the banter I was sharing with Steve.

I quickly moved from my spot and ran up the flight of stairs, keeping my eyes out for any guards, despite Tony having told me I was in the clear. I used my electricity to fry the keycard scanner, allowing me access to the floor. I knew that by doing that I had alerted the guards to my presence, but I still had time to get the target and go.

His office was the third door down, conveniently labeled so I didn't have to worry that I had misremembered the location. I fried the keycard scanner outside his office as well, causing the door to click unlocked. With my stun gun out and ready, I threw the door open and trained it on my target.

"Agent Abrams, so wonderful to see you again. Now, do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?" I asked him, stepping forward, my finger resting on the trigger.

He feigned confusion, but his acting skills were lacking, "I'm afraid that you have got the wrong person. I am not an agent, I just work here."

"Those two things are unrelated, you can easily be both. Especially when you working here is your cover. Unfortunately I don't have the time for this, so I apologize in advance."

Abrams sprung into action as I spoke, attempting to close the distance between us so that he could take me down. In response, I simply pulled the trigger, which stunned him temporarily. I quickly bound his arms in legs in case he woke up and reported in.

"I have the package, ready for pickup."

"Copy that," Tony's voice replied as a sent a bolt of lightning into the glass wall of Abrams office, causing it to shatter.

As if on cue, the Quinjet made itself visible and the landing platform opened so that I could board. I grabbed Abrams' limp body and slung it over my shoulders, getting a running start as I jumped onto the plane. It buckled under the sudden weight but steadied itself out and Tony dragged Abrams' body into one of the seats, locking him in.

"Good work, Sparks," he commended, giving me a nod.

"No need to praise me, it was one of the easiest missions I have ever completed. I trust that I will get a crack at him in the interrogation room?"

"Well, Steve wants to try doing it by the book first. But I have a feeling that that won't get him to talk, so I'll pull him out before he inevitably starts punching and then send either you or Natasha in. You two know more effective tactics at getting people to talk than the rest of us do."

"And I'm allowed to get information by any means necessary?"

He paused, "usually I would say no, but I don't like the thought that H.A.M.M.E.R. has another enhanced out there that we don't know about. So yeah, I guess whatever you need to do to get him to spill everything that he knows."

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(A/N): Ok so I hope that the beginning of this chapter helps to heal some of the pain from the last one. And look, you're officially part of the team and going on missions and stuff! Who needs Peter anyway?