158 bab Bersambung Dewasaβ οΈUnder 18, DNIβ οΈ After the flaming dumpster fire that was SHIELD's collapse and the whole "surprise, Hydra was here the whole damn time!" debacle, one former agent slipped through the cracks like a pissed-off ghost in a leather jacket. She vanished from the grid, reputation scorched, trust obliterated, and purpose? Shattered.
Enter Tony Stark.
Because of course it was Tony. He found her somewhere between a breakdown and a bar fight, took one look at the smudged eyeliner, the sarcasm-drenched trauma, and the "bite me" attitude-and said, "Yeah, I can work with that."
He brought her in, tucked her away in the shadows of the compound, and trained her like a secret weapon no one saw coming. Four years of quiet sharpening. Four years of sweat, rage, Red Bull, and a whole lot of therapy avoidance. And when he finally deemed her ready?
He unleashed her like a feral raccoon with a vengeance complex.
Gone was the clean-cut SHIELD poster girl. In her place: chaos incarnate. Combat boots, chipped black nail polish, hair that looked like it had been in a fistfight with a Lisa Frank folder, and a mouth that could out-swear a sailor with road rage.
The Avengers? They didn't know what to do with her.
And yet. Two of the most emotionally constipated, chaos-flavored men on the roster found themselves utterly, stupidly hooked. Bucky Barnes tried to pretend he wasn't watching her-like she didn't short-circuit something in his brain every time she threw a knife with that smug little grin. But he noticed everything. Then there was Loki. The God of Trouble himself. She was unpredictable. Unrefined. Unapologetically alive.
So now? It's a quiet war between two broody bastards who've never properly communicated a feeling in their lives, and the chaos gremlin woman who thinks emotional vulnerability is worse than waterboarding.
There's blood. Banter. Probably some light property damage.
Spoiler: it's not going well.
But it's going loud.