#denwen

You did promise after all that you weren’t going to leave him alone again.

Thus with little regard to your life and hoping for the best outcome, you run out of the truck after him.

Meanwhile, Bob shoots the rifle in the air so every pair of eyes, and every gun surrounding the vault immediately fall on him, going unaware of you pushing through the barriers of space to reach the man that is worth…everything.

“Hey! Over here!” Bob keeps calling for everyone’s attention as he returns to the vault's doors and continues shooting the rifle in the air.

The soldiers who hadn’t already been around the vault doors, or already pointing at Bob, join the fire line that confronts him, creating an intimidating enemy that you run in front of to try and protect Bob.

“We’ll surrender,” you bellow as all the flashlights shine on you.

“What are you doing?” Bob asks as he comes up behind you. “Get out of here!” He raises his voice at you for the first time and grabs your arm to pull you away, but you just ignore his demand and take a step forward toward the fireline.

“We’ll surrender!” You yell again and search the fireline in search of sympathetic eyes that could be easily swayed in your favor, but all you see are cold and determined glares.

“Just…put your guns down!” You add and quickly yet discreetly, make a bomb in your hand with your nanotech.

Bob doesn’t notice what’s in your hand, he’s too focused on trying to get you away to notice, but the commanding officer does notice. He sees the bomb glisten under all the lights pointed at you just like he sees you start to move your hand.

“Please!” You exclaim, but this time you don’t yell at the fireline or at any commanding officer, you find Valentina behind the fireline and plead to her.

However, perhaps she was too late, or maybe she didn’t care. Whatever it was, before you can activate the bomb in your hand and throw it at the enemy line, the dooming command is given and every gun in front of you fires.

With fear and panic finally shooting through Bob, he still finds it in himself to try and push you down under the fireline, but he isn’t faster than a speeding bullet.

The first bullet pierces your heart, ending your life in an instant, and making Bob’s attempts to save you futile either way. The rounds that follow the deadly bullet all scatter around your body, causing you to fall on the ground, and leaving Bob open to the rain of fire that falls on him next and brings him down next to you. The woman who let him know what being loved felt like after going a lifetime without it.

The woman who crept into his life like a bright blazing sun, filling his life with warmth, bliss, laughter, and reason. The woman who satisfied his life, but also left him wanting more out of it so he could see you smile and make you proud of him. The woman who made him want to be strong, but also left him weak. The woman who filled his heart, but also left it empty when you weren’t around. The woman for whom he would have happily given his life and or happily died by.

Yet death doesn’t come to claim him. Only one body bleeds and it isn’t his. He doesn’t even feel pain, just confusion until his heart jumps and overwhelms him with denial when your blood touches the tip of his fingertips.

Bob proceeds to whisper your name in hopes you’ll respond in some way, but when you don't he flips himself around unscathed, surprising every gunman still watching.

Bob then whispers your name again before he desperately crawls toward you, staining his pants and his hands with your thick blood pooling on the ground around you.

“Hey,” he says softly as he reaches your side. “It’s okay. I’m okay. You’re okay too,” he says in hopes his words would become the reality, but you don’t respond. You don’t even move or blink. You stare at the night sky blankly.

“It’s okay,” he says again and cleans the blood off your face before he just stains it again by cradling your cheek. “Look at me. Tell me what you see,” he says something that only the two of you have come to understand, and something that has never failed to make you smile.

Yet this time you don’t smile or even look at him. Bob turns your head, but your dull eyes continue to avert from him as they stare off blankly.

There’s no point in continuously denying the truth after that because life has always been cruel to him, and it wouldn’t be kind now and grant him the favor to keep the woman he loved alive. So he accepts the cruel truth and gladly unleashes the unfathomable beast that had lain dormant underneath.

“It’ll be okay,” he whispers to you as he caresses your cheeks with his thumbs before he presses a gentle kiss on your lips and then looks at you for a moment, seeing his tears fall on your cheeks before he wipes more off his face.

After that, fueled with rage and grief, Bob then proceeds to cradle your body before he slowly gets up on his feet, leaving everyone around him speechless at the fact that he’s actually unscathed, and making everyone around him fearful as he cradles your body in his arms and looks at them with threatening golden eyes that shine brighter the harder he scowls. Moreover, before he even realizes it, he begins to float off the ground, instilling more fear within the soldiers.

When Bob does notice that he’s starting to fly off the ground, he clings onto you and starts to look at the fireline with a hint of cockiness and with an even more menacing rage.

Yet before he can even show them what he’s capable of, and before he can make them pay for what they took, a rain of bullets hits him again. This time instead of falling to the ground though, he blasts off into the sky, but not after accidentally dropping you, leaving you stranded.

——

*YOU. SOMEWHERE?*

Quietly, in the back of your mind, you can hear the song, ‘Más Allá Del Sol’ by Manuel Bonilla, playing, stirring you awake just like it would so many years ago when your dad would play it every Sunday morning as a wake-up call, telling you breakfast was ready.

You never learned to appreciate it then, it was almost like torture hearing it because it meant you had to wake up, but as the years passed and you got older, you missed those Sunday mornings, and as the years passed hate turned to appreciation. So much so that every Sunday as you made breakfast, that was the first song that played in your kitchen.

Why are you hearing it now? You ask yourself before you jolt awake and end up holding your breath as you see that you wake up in your workroom that you had in your grandparents’ house in Chicago.

So many wonders and wonderful mistakes were made in that workroom. It was also quite small, but it was your first “lab”, so it'll always hold a special place in your heart. Why are you in it now though? Why is that song playing downstairs? You ask yourself as you slowly draw out your harbored breath and look around, seeing that there’s no mistaking that you’re in Chicago.

Why…

Right. You were…trying to protect Bob from those gunmen, but they ended up shooting anyway and one bullet…hit you before it all just went dark…

So that means that…you’re dead…

“Okay,” you whisper and get up from the desk that you would often wake up from after late nights working on your next big thing.

When you’re on your feet you don’t float or appear in a different room. You stay in your workroom, hearing the same song still playing downstairs, but why? If you’re dead then why are you here?

Is this some kind of afterlife?

Your dad said he woke up in a psychiatric ward after he died, is this the same thing? Is this your Duat?

It has to be, there isn’t another explanation. So that means meeting Taweret comes next. She’ll check if your heart is balanced to either let you in Aaru, or be damned to the sands of the Duat for all eternity.

Okay, well…you know what your scales are going to read, so what’s the point?

What’s the point of any of this if you’re going to be damned anyway? Why not just get this over with and damn you already? There isn’t any other alternative and you don’t feel like fighting to return to life.

Your dad, your grandfather, and Layla all still think you’re alive and expect to see you again, but you’re okay with disappointing them in that regard. And yes, you don’t want to be damned, but…if these are the cards you were dealt then what can you do but accept?

Yes, accept…

And as if summoned by your thoughts, the doorbell rings downstairs, and that can only be one person, so with a shaky breath you go downstairs, noting how much you miss Chicago, and how much you would have loved to bring Bob to your childhood home because that’s where you felt the safest and there was no place more comfortable than your little home. Moreover, you were so eager to introduce him to your grandfather because you knew he would have loved Bob, but well, maybe in another lifetime…right?

“Right,” you whisper as you reach the bottom of the stairs and see the shadow of a hippo waiting outside the front door.

“Right,” you say again and move your leg to walk toward the door, but before you can take a step forward, a voice cuts in.

“Don't do that just yet. It’ll be impossible to get her out once you open that door.”

A sudden annoyance fills your spirit as you hear the sound of Denwen’s voice coming from the kitchen. An annoyance so strong and bothersome that you have the impulse to run to the door, but as if possessing the ability to read your thoughts, he cuts in again.

“Breakfast is ready! Come, I made something special just for you…at least hear what I have to say,” he adds since he knows that you wouldn’t have come if he didn’t pique your curiosity. Which is true.

You spare a lingering look at the door that keeps your fate waiting at the other side before you turn and slowly make your way to the kitchen, finding Denwen in his human form placing two plates across from each other on the table

“Sit, please,” he sounds inviting before he takes a seat himself and starts without you.

“What is it?” You ask as you find yourself joining him around the table.

“My favorite,” he smiles at you. “It’s special because I cooked for you. So pretend to eat.”

You roll your eyes, but play along and pick up the fork to pick at the food.

“Now tell me…why so eager to accept death? Do you hate your life that much?”

“I don’t hate my life,” you snap back instantly without rage. There’s a hint of annoyance, but you say it almost nonchalantly. Almost is the keyword here though because Denwen has spent enough time with you to recognize the sorrow that fights hard to go unheard.

“I…was,” you pause and have trouble coming up with a word that feels right, but none of the words you think of sound right, so you say the first thing that you can think of. “…okay with my life. I loved the people in my life,” you say that confidently because you were telling the truth about that. Not the other part though.

“Besides, by all means, I’ve lived a good life.”

“Is that what you call a good life?” Denwen interjects before you can continue spewing bullshit. “22 years is not a long life. You haven’t lived at all.”

You avert your gaze and grip onto your fork as he hits a nerve.

“And what is the love you say you have for your family? Because I don’t think it’s love. Accepting death when they don’t even know you’re dead is selfish.”

“I love my family!” You exclaim and stab your fork in your food so hard the fork hits the ceramic plate—“I have lived this long because I love them, so don’t patronize me.”

Denwen’s gaze hardens and you narrow your gaze in return before you throw your fork on the plate and push it back.

“If you want to manipulate me into accepting some deal so you don’t have to die, just save your breath,” you add spitefully and get up suddenly. “I am dead. I died trying to protect the man I love and there is nothing sweeter and more gratifying than that, so just learn to let go too.”

“If you love him so then why not continue to live for him?!” Denwen barks back as he gets up from the table, hoping to get you to stop, but no amount of sweet memories flashing through your mind has the power to stop you from walking towards fate.

As scared as you are to live the rest of your life in solitude and forever damned, you keep moving toward the door because it’ll be easier than facing disappointment.

All this talent and what do you have to show for it? All these skills and what happens? You do nothing. You die unable to actually stop those gunmen from firing their guns, so why would you want to keep living if you can’t be enough?

“What if I promise you greatness then?!” Denwen shouts words that bring you to a stop under the doorway.

“Greatness at the tip of your fingers. Isn't that grand? A dream come true? You will be able to help Bob from Valentina.” His words come out like a hypnotizing song, taking your mind under its spell.

“Valentina?” You ask and he nods.

“She’s going to take him,” he says what he’s able to see. “Make him hers.”

She’ll make him everything she wants him to be and doom him.

But…

“I know what you are,” you try to protest, making him walk up behind you.

“Yes, but I am not like the others, they made sure of that,” he says against the shell of your ear, causing you to step away in disgust before you turn to face him with a look you try to make hard, but his words have taken root so he can see your desire to hear more.

“They reminded me of that when they killed my family and every day before and after that,” Denwen adds, making you probe.

“What do you get out of me finally accepting to be your avatar? I won’t be swayed or manipulated. I have proven that to you every day since you’ve been attached to me.”

Denwen nods. “Yes, you have remained defiant when any other person would have given in on the first day.”

The doorbell rings and a muffled hello follows.

“It's taweret,” said goddess announces, adding pressure to Denwen.

“Exactly so, do you think you can take over me without protest?” You argue and shoot him a fierce glare. “Is that your goal? Is that what you gain from me accepting?”

Without hesitation or deceit, Denwen shakes his head. “No,” he says. “I gain nothing but the simple satisfaction that someone accepted me when they said I would live in darkness and solitude forever.”

Besides, he also knows that given the right push, you could bring the destruction he was never able to bring. Your spirits burn with the same fierce fire and there’s nothing more gratifying than that.

Moreover, if you accept him his chains are broken free in every sense of the word. You may not be as feeble as you were if you accept him. Bullets won't bring your death, just old age, so what's a mortal’s lifetime compared to three thousand years of being incarcerated?

Nothing.

“I don’t believe you,” you argue and back away, distancing yourself from that sweet temptation. “If I accept what keeps you from taking over me?”

“Nothing,” he chuckles. “But you know that. Because if that were so, Khonshu would have taken over your father, and Ammit would have taken over Harrow. I am doomed. Being tied to you is yet another punishment! What god wants to depend on a human? None but the prissy, self-righteous ones. If you accept to be my avatar,” he sighs. “You will cure my boredom. Simple as that.”

“And?” You ask, knowing better.

“And…nothing,” he lies, but you know better.

“So what is it?” He speaks in that intoxicating way again. “Do you want to be imbued with greatness and be everything you want to be in the eyes of the world and those you love?”

You should be smarter, but how can you not take the bait when he dangles what you crave the most?

Besides, with his powers, you can help Bob against whatever mad plan Valentina has hidden under her sleeve. With Denwen’s powers, you have the power to protect and fight for everyone you love. You will be great.

“If I accept, no more trying to manipulate me, or saying things that hurt me.” You pique his excitement and heighten his satisfaction.

“You can’t try and control me either. I am in control,” you try to make compromises. “In every sense of the word.” You smirk, making him proud yet bothered that you’re using him.

“Understood?” You press.

Denwen swallows thickly and slowly a smirk creeps on his lips before he offers you his hand, making it the one thing that stands in the way between you and death.

“Let's go be great.” He rolls out, giving you the boost to accept his hand without any more debate, forgetting Taweret who had been waiting outside, and trading the comforts of the afterlife for more time in the remorseful world. Leaving peace for chaos. And trading your soul for a beating heart, air in your lungs, and a promise of greatness.

Now what once was can be never again.

You open your eyes and as they remain unchanged, someone different looks through them. There is no use denying it, just like there is no point saying the night air running through your lungs feels the same, because the air somehow feels more crisp and fresh. The blood rushing through your veins and pumping through your heart feels stronger, and a fierce and raging strength invades every part of you like quick-working poison claiming its victim.

Rather than succumbing to the poison however, broken bones snap back in place and mend, alerting the attention of a nearby soldier who turns his head at the sound of bones popping, and finds you slowly rising from the dead like a body possessed.

“Do you feel that?” Denwen whispers with an electrifying pride. “It’s power. Mine. Yours. You are now remarkable.”

You would have shut him out before, but right now, you welcome every word as you feel that power he speaks of becoming a part of you, turning your bullet-littered clothes to his beautiful ceremonial suit.

Now instead of a tight black jumpsuit, eggshell white bandages wrap around your torso, creating a tight sleeveless top with a turtle neck. A cold golden usekh collar wraps around your neck and sits on your shoulders, glimmering with beautiful turquoise gems and beautiful carnelian stones. Attached to the usekh, is a long white cape that runs over your back. Furthermore, to match the golden usekh, long golden bracelets similar to your vibranium bracelets sit on your wrists. While a golden belt wraps around your hip, holding your gadgets, a long white skirt with two long slits, and in the center, unlimited golden crescent moon daggers that look like an emblem.

That's not all, your old boots are replaced by golden boots holding more turquoise gems, and around your legs more bandages cover your flesh. Lazily so they're quite exposing, but they’re still there. Lastly, around your head sits a golden serpent headpiece that puts the entire look together, making you look almost like an Egyptian goddess.

However, it’s dark out, the lights from the vault are off, and you just rose from the dead. To the frozen onlooker, you are anything but a goddess. You’re a monster lurking in the dark with glowing red eyes that find him at last and lock on him like a predator locks on its prey.

The man tries to reach for his walkie to alert everyone focused on something more important, but you menacingly start to float off the ground and before he knows it, you’re pouncing on him, covering his mouth, and grabbing the back of his head in an attempt to snap his neck before Denwen interrupts you beforehand.

“Do not do that. He’ll be useless dead. Bite him.”

You scrunch your nose and argue. “Ew no. I’m not biting him that’s gross.”

“Do it. Trust me. I am a serpent god. You may not possess the body of one, but you have the abilities of one. Flight. Poison. Etc. Bite him,” he demands and so you inhale deeply before you open your mouth, feeling long fangs grow out of your jaw before you sink them into his neck.

The man squirms in response, but as if instinct and believing you can do it, you inject him with poison before you throw your head back and let go to land on the ground gracefully.

“How do you think I got an army to challenge the gods’ army?” Denwen interjects. “I poisoned them to get them under my control. This man won’t live long, but he will be able to follow Valentina and tell you her every move.”

“What?” You ask in confusion and turn to face the edge of the hill where the crowd is gathered. “No, I’m going to her now. I can do it,” you hiss and push yourself off the ground again to float several feet in the sky with no need to ask how now that you know that you can fly. That's when you see Valentina and her assistant…Mel? Overlooking…Bob’s unconscious body in a crater.

“What happened?” You ask as you focus on Bob, hoping that by a simple look, he’ll wake up, but he doesn’t.

“I don’t know,” Denwen speaks the truth. “I saw glimpses of him and your boss, but not enough. You were dead remember?”

You draw out a deep breath and narrow your gaze on the commotion around, feeling a desperate need to fly to his side to help him from all those soldiers who had just shot at him moments ago with the intent to kill him, and save him from the monster that is Valentina who only wants to use him now that she knows the Sentry project worked.

You rise higher in the sky and your eyes narrow into a piercing glowing red glare as you have the intent to fly there and get rid of all of them with the powers that flow through you now. However, once again, you’re stopped by none other than Denwen.

“You grew powerful, not stupid,” he growls.

“I am strong,” you argue. “I feel it. I can take them without breaking a sweat.”

“Your body is pesky,” he snaps. “It needs to heal because you were just shot dead by a bullet to the heart. I heal in the sun. There is no sun out. You’ll end up just like your lover there if you go now.”

You shake your head. “No. I need to go now. He needs me,” you speak softer as your desperation heightens. “He needs to know I’m alive. He’ll torment himself otherwise.”

“And he’ll torment himself more if you end up trapped because you tried to save him,” Denwen brings up a good point. “You have that soldier in your control. He’ll follow Valentina and report to you. You can go to Bob when you’ve healed and get your revenge on Valentina.”

He’s right, but it doesn't mean it doesn’t hurt having to think of leaving Bob behind. You want to rebel and go to him now, who cares if you have to fight an army. You’ll do it for him, but Denwen is right. You’re no use to him right now.

Maybe you can…find the others. They should’ve taken your distraction as a way to get out, and knowing Valentina she knows that they escaped so she already sent people after them, so maybe you can help them. They all had a part in saving you and Bob when they could’ve left you there, so you owe it to them, don’t you? More specifically Yelena, who saved your life when you were falling down the elevator.

You don’t need their help against Valentina if she decides to put up a fight when you go for Bob, but with all this gun power below they will need your up, so knowing you can’t do much for Bob now, you swiftly spin around in the sky and fly…aimlessly, noticing a smoking truck turned over at the bottom of the mountain.

Whatever made that crater must have thrown them off the road. Are they dead? You ask yourself before you take advantage of the fact that everyone is distracted to fly down and check the car, finding no dead bodies.

There’s no blood or scattered bodies either…Did they make it out?

You should’ve known.

They can’t be far then.

You won’t go by foot though, there’s only one way to go from here, so once again with joy and disbelief you fly off the ground and intend to just fly until you spot them, but as you draw in a deep breath, besides the fresh air you also catch a strong scent. Something new. Something you couldn’t do before.

“You said you had a remarkable sense of smell,” you address Denwen as he’s failed to tell you what you can do now. “Does that mean that I do too?”

Denwen chuckles. “Yes,” he answers your curiosity. “You also have remarkable eyesight and can lift 1000 times your own weight. You’re faster in the sky, but swift on foot too. You are in every sense of the word remarkable now. So tell me what you smell.”

With a smile you draw in a deep breath and catch that specific smell again, only this time you can name what you smell. It’s them. Ava, John, and Yelena.

You know exactly where they are, but instead of flying straight to them, you take this moment of freedom to slowly float in the sky and bask in the fact that you can fly. It had never been a dream of yours, but now that you can, there's nothing more incredible than you blasting up into the sky like a speeding bullet, feeling the air brush past you like never before. Feeling like the rushing wind itself as you fly high above the clouds and bask in this glory and new sense of invincibility.

If it were possible you'd fly aimlessly just to feel things out, but you have things to do so with a swift twist you then fly in the direction of the others, using their scent, and reaching them rather quickly since they’re not far.

Now you could land on the ground and alert them of your presence that way, but there’s no use hiding your greatness and you do like to show that off, so you merely fly down until you’re hovering inches off the ground and reveal yourself.

“Hey.”

Just as quickly as before, all three of them turn and point their guns directly at you, having no trouble finding where the voice came from, but having trouble believing that it’s you landing on the ground in different attire than what you had on before.

“We saw you die,” John points out, trying hard to show his disbelief. “They shot you.”

You nod. “I died,” you say morbidly and with a hint of guilt. “But I told you. Some of you at least, there’s an Egyptian god living inside me. I only traded what was my own to come back to life. My soul.”

All three of them chuckle dryly, but you remain serious so they can know you’re not lying.

“If that’s so, and if you can fly now,” Ava interjects. “Why didn’t you get your boyfriend?”

You extend your arm and show them the bullet wounds littered on it. “I am not healed. I need the sun. If I went after him now…the god said I’d only end up the same way as Bob, so I have no choice but to wait. I’m here to help.” You say and raise your hands now so you can show them you’re not a threat.

“Valentina won’t rest until you’re dead,” you tell them what they already know. “I can help you with that.”

“Can you?” John snaps. “You’re Valentina’s tech specialist. You worked with her and now you’re…this,” he points at your attire. “Why would you work against her and not take your place by her side again?”

You scoff and slowly put your arms down. “I looked at her before I died. She saw me and she still let them kill me,” you argue in your defense. “She was also okay with killing me in that vault. Why would I work with her again? I got what I needed from her, and now she has Bob, but once I get him away from her I won’t need her, so it’s not me you should worry about.”

They all stand there quietly, debating whether to trust you or not. As to believing if it's you? Well, the world is crazy, so they believe you. Trust doesn’t come easily though, so they all hesitate for a moment and you wait patiently.

After a moment passes the first one to give in is Yelena. She holsters her gun and nods. “Okay. I believe you,” she says and one by one the other two follow her lead.

“May I ask what you’re wearing though?” She follows up by asking and points at your outfit.

“Denwen,” you tell them as you take a look at the ceremonial suit. “It’s the Egyptian gods' ceremonial suit. I am his avatar and therefore I’m representing him so I have to wear it. And well,” you sigh as you hit your sides. “It's this or the bullet hole-filled suit I was wearing before. This is quite comfortable so.”

They all nod and Ava is the only one who interjects on the matter. “I don’t mind it,” she says, making you scoff in amusement before you fall by Yelena’s side and you all continue walking forward.

“Are you hungry, kid—Spector?” John corrects himself and stretches his hand out to offer you a cactus berry. “It’s—”

“Cactus berry,” you finish for him and accept his offer since your car and your essentials were confiscated by Valentina’s men. “Thanks.”

“Hm,” he hums as he pulls his hand away.

“So why did you come back?” Yelena doesn’t let a silence blanket you. “You…are this. So why did you bother finding us?”

You check your watch but groan when you notice that it’s broken. “Well, you all helped Bob and me,” you answer genuinely. “And you,” you direct at Yelena as you look at her with an admiring look. “Saved me from plummeting, so I’m here to help. Honest.”

Ava hums and John stays quiet, while Yelena’s eyes linger on you and yours linger on hers for a moment before you both look ahead without saying a word.

“What did that crater by the way? Did one of you throw a bomb?” You ask curiously.

“It was Bob,” John says. “After he got up after being shot, they shot him again and he blasted into the sky. Who knows what happened up there, but he came back down and hit the ground like a missile.”

That explains it then.

“You don’t look surprised,” Yelena is quick to notice how unfazed you look. Actually, you look quite impressed that he was the one who caused that destruction.

“What do you know about Bob?” She probes.

You take a bite from your cactus berry and sigh before you explain yourself. “Everything. I am the one responsible for what he can do.”

All three pairs of eyes stare at you. One of them judges while the other demands an explanation like some authoritarian figure.

“A while ago,” you defend yourself. “Valentina gave me a task to try and stop her subjects from dying from this experiment OXE group was working on. I didn’t have much to work with though because when I got to Malaysia, they were all dead except for Bob, but even then he was on the verge, and I didn’t want to experiment on people. That was not my intention, I told Valentina that,” you explain yourself.

“But there was no other way to save Bob. The only way to save him was to make the Sentry serum,” you continue. “So…using the foundation they had made already, I just built on that and perfected it, in turn saving Bob. I just didn’t tell Valentina that though because,” you pause and shake your head as you smile.

“I knew the life that waited for him with Valentina and we had grown attached to each other in our time together, so I was going to get him out, but then Valentina started to get investigated so that completely changed my plans. That’s why I’m here,” you finish saying, missing details John picks on.

“He has the power of a thousand suns,” he says something you didn’t tell him. “So why didn’t he help us in the vault?”

You finish the berry and then look at them in confusion, causing Ava to cut in to explain. “Yelena has paperwork about him. We’re informed on some stuff.”

Upon saying that, Yelena gets out folded pieces of paper and hands them to you, letting you see plans Valentina was making before she even knew if it would work.

“The thing about Bob,” you add as you scoff at the shit on the papers. “Is that he suppresses his powers. His emotions and his thoughts are in control. That’s why it comes hard. That’s what I noted. It’s not because he doesn’t want to, he wants to use his powers, but he can’t. We’re working on it.”

Yelena hums and you hum back.

“He’s a good guy though,” you defend him. “He’s a great guy.” You say with a faint smile, welcoming a silence as they all get lost in their own heads.

That silence lasts for a while until Yelena can’t help but question you. “Where did you learn to fight?”

“My step mom,” you say proudly. “She’s an archeologist.”

“An archeologist?” Yelena asks in confusion, not seeing how it correlates.

“You wouldn’t believe the shit we’ve been through,” you say with a chuckle which hesitantly leads to so much more because it’s either stories or silence. And to avoid making this walk long, you all choose stories.

The only one who doesn’t share much is Yelena. She just listens, but it’s all the same because slowly you all turn from bonded strangers to…friends? Acquaintances?

Whatever you are, you don't mind their company when you aren’t panicking, and they were quite interested in all the adventures you’ve gotten into.

It felt quite nice talking to them. It makes you miss having a group of friends.

——

*LATER*

“No, no you are doing it all wrong, roll your ‘r’.”

You do as Yelena says and practice saying the word again, causing her to snap and click her tongue. “There you go,” she praises nonchalantly while you smile proudly.

“Cool. I’ll have to learn Russian after I become fluent in Arabic,” you mention before you repeat the word you just pronounced under your breath to make sure you master it.

After that, you snap your fingers at Yelena. “And hey,” you interject. “If you decide you’re done doing this kind of work, you can always become a linguist.”

She hums and then probes. “Does it pay good?”

You shake your head. “No, but I think it’s cool.”

“Hm, I pass then.”

You leave that matter as it is and watch the soft colors start to paint the sky as the sun starts to peek out over the horizon, slowly bringing the morning with it. Not fast enough, but you also don’t mind, the sunrises and sunsets are always the best show.

It’s the silence you can’t tolerate without music to fill the time, so you can’t help but speak the thoughts that wander in.

“So why work for Valentina?” You can’t help but ask Yelena who is the only one walking next to you now. Ava and John are walking ahead at their own pace, so Yelena falls victim to your interrogation.

“Well,” Yelena sighs, finding no way around your question. Plus it’s a harmless question so she answers. “I don’t have much of a choice with my skill set and my kind of background and I do have to eat, so when she came offering me work, I took it. She’s the only one who took me in.”

You hum softly in comprehension and she continues.

“This was supposed to be my last job though,” she mentions as she watches the sun slowly claim back the sky. “I was supposed to move on to do…something better. Something good,” she says quietly, and you can’t help but laugh.

Yelena looks at you offended and just as she was going to snap back, you explain yourself with a faint smirk. “You don’t need to ask for permission when you want to change the world.”

Yelena’s eyes return to the sky and she loses that glare she had already shot at you.

“Not the world,” she interjects in that quiet way again. “Me.”

“The same principles apply,” you say, and look at her with a cheeky smile. “You especially don’t need permission from Valentina. You don’t need her.”

Yelena looks over at you and presses you. “Then why did you work with her? You’re smart enough not to need her.”

“But I do,” you correct her, and look at the horizon with your smile slowly fading. “I don’t have famous parents like Tony Stark did. I wasn’t born rich. I didn’t have a famous mentor. I had belief. My own and my family’s. But belief alone isn’t going to make me a legend. With the odds of a simple life against me, she came offering me a golden ticket, so I took it and have reaped all its benefits.”

Yelena’s eyes set a heavy weight on you as she stares into you deeply, seeing an intense hunger in you that’s too easily tempted, too restless, and with a potential to be dangerous.

She’s seen it before in other people. She’s seen how it causes their own destruction. Will it be yours? Can she move on knowing you can follow a good path and not fall victim to your temptation?

Too many good people have walked down the dangerous path and never come back. You haven’t crossed that path yet. Not like her. Can she just bid you good luck and move on without…offering some form of guidance?

“If you’re as smart as I’ve heard then you don’t need Valentina,” Yelena says, catching you by surprise. “She’s bad. Don’t mess with people like her. Not people like you.”

The corner of your lips flash a genuine and flustered smile that accompanies the warmth unfurling over your cheeks.

After those emotions pass though you retort. “People like me?”

“Good people,” she says bluntly and surprises you again.

“No,” you laugh. “I am not good. I just died and accepted to come back because I was promised power. I’ve killed people and well…I suppose,” you pause and swallow thickly. “I’ve been told that I am anything but good. I am damned.”

Yelena giggles and you look at her seriously with a sadness in your eyes as you’re haunted by the way your scales read.

“It’s true,” you argue. “A god told me so.”

Yelena shakes her head. “They know nothing. They have no place to judge when they let so much evil happen in the world.”

Your eyes drift to her to look at her with soft admiration before you chime in. “I suppose that’s true.” You smile softly at her and she averts her gaze.

“It is, but that doesn't mean you should keep messing with people like Valentina. I am being serious, stop that. Go back to school or something.”

You chuckle and nod but obviously you won’t take her word for it.

“I mean,” she pauses and glances at you with a teasing glimmer in her eyes. “What would your hero say?”

You grin and shrug. “I don’t know, probably uh…to follow the straight and narrow path.”

“See?”

You scoff and add softly to that matter. “She didn’t let her bad past control her life. That’s something else I admire about her….she truly was great.”

Yelena stays quiet but you see grief dull her eyes and make her frown. You don’t ask why or get the idea to, you let the silence build as you continue walking under the rising sun, feeling your body being imbued with a strength only the sun could provide until there’s nothing more to give.

After a while passes and Valentina’s recon helicopters fail to notice you, the silence is broken.

“Look at that. You’re healed up nicely,” Ava points out. “So you are telling the truth. What can you do then? Besides flying I mean?”

You shrug. “Denwen refuses to actually give me a report, so let’s see,” you say, causing Yelena to fall at your other side to watch too.

“Denwen is the fire serpent god so…” you trail off, and going off pure instinct, you put your hands out to aim your palms at a bush and just think of pushing power out of your palms.

From one moment to another, an orange-red hue crawls underneath your skin, providing a sick view of the shape of your bones before out of the sudden hot burning blasts of fire shoot out of your palms and light the bush on fire, making you chuckle and making both women look at you and the bush with surprise.

“Aha! Look at that?! Fire blasts,” you muse. “Khonshu can’t do that,” you mutter.

“Hey, what are you doing?” John snaps as he looks at the three of you over his shoulder. “Do you want to be spotted?”

“We’re just entertaining ourselves,” Ava jumps to your defense. “It’s been a long walk, we're just looking for some amusement.”

You nod. “Exactly. It’s boring out here and I have some cool new stuff I need to figure out.”

“No,” he shuts you down. “That’s out of the question. Fire will catch their attention. Not like they’re doing a good job,” he adds, and looks up at the sky as the helicopters make another pass and fail to notice you.

“Those birds are way too high. They’re doing recon loops at 4,000 feet. I mean they don’t know what they’re doing,” John continues to bore you, making you feign a loud yawn.

“They’ll be five or ten clicks away in no time,” he ignores you.

“All right, Walker we get it,” Ava quips. “You were in the military. Five or ten clicks to the bird.”

You snicker before you and Ava are shushed by Yelena.

“What?” You ask and look at her, catching her gaze focused on something ahead, so you follow her line of gaze and spot a trail of dirt that can only be made by a vehicle, so after Yelena quickly falls to the floor she suddenly grabs your hand and yanks you down.

“Make what you’re wearing disappear, or something, you’re too bright,” she says between gritted teeth, and since you agree, you listen and trade your nice clean suit for your bullet hole-ridden jumpsuit.

“There,” Ava points out the vehicle as she and John proceed to fall on the ground beside Yelena.

“It’s a…I don’t…what is that?” John asks. “Spector, can’t you see now?”

“Pft,” you scoff. “I only have access to my abilities if I have my suit on. So no, I can’t see,” you mock his voice before you squint your eyes, hearing the vehicle start to honk.

“Oh, no,” Yelena says, making you all look at her in confusion.

“What?” You ask. “What is it?”

“It’s coming right at us,” John points out as you all look back at the vehicle.

“Who is that?” Ava proceeds to ask.

“It's no one,” Yelena retorts. “It’s nothing.”

“Do you know them?” You start to assume before you can make a shape of the car and notice that it’s a limo. “Well, who is it? Should we start shooting or something?”

There’s no response, Yelena hides her face in her hands and the limo comes to a screeching stop before a big tall man in a red suit that matches the color of the limo gets out.

“Oh, god,” Yelena mutters before the man who looks like a tactical Santa Claus starts yelling her name.

“Yelena! It’s your dad!” He reveals and you can’t help but begin to snicker.

“Don’t go into the vault!” He continues to shout as he waves his hands frantically. “Valentina’s gonna burn you alive!”

You look at Yelena and start to laugh before you nudge her and get up.

“Yelena!”

——

*LATER*

“There’s a smell in here,” you comment as you sniff the air.

“Yeah, you smell that too?” Ava asks as she scrunches her nose.

“It’s piss,” John identifies the scent that keeps wafting into your nose, making you sit up straight and clasp your hands over your legs to touch the seats as little as possible.

In the moment that follows, once you’re not walking through the desert and avoiding drones and helicopters, you finally remember to text your dad to let him know you’re okay.

However, when you check your phone you see that it got hit by a bullet so it’s broken along with your watch.

Damn!

“Damn it,” you groan and shove it away before you look up. “Does anyone have a phone I can use?” You ask and look at Ava first.

“Nope,” she quickly lets you know. “Mine got damaged in the explosion.”

“Yelena?” You ask next and peek over, seeing her reach for her phone, but when she clicks on it you notice that the drained battery icon flashes on the black screen.

“Dead,” she says and shows you the dark screen, making you turn to Yelena’s dad, the man who presented himself as Alexei.

“You, Mr Alexei?”

“No, I forgot mine at home.”

You sit back down with a sigh and look at the last passenger you haven’t asked yet.

“Walker, do you have a working phone I can use to call my father?” You ask with little to no hope.

Alas, he surprises you by pulling out his phone and actually showing that it works by unlocking it and clicking on the phone app before offering it to you from his seat. “Yeah, here you go,” he says, making you walk over to him and take it.

“Thanks,” you offer him with a tiny smile before you sit back down and type in your dad's number and call.

You proceed to wait, getting no answer on the first ring, or the second one, or the third one. You actually get sent to voicemail, so with no other choice, you leave a voicemail.

“Hey, pa, it’s me. I just wanted to let you know that I’m fine. My phone just broke, but I’ll call you after I get it fixed. Bye. Love ya.”

You end the message and turn the phone off before you get up and lean over to hand it back to John. However, the moment you hand it to him the Lock Screen turns on and you see a picture of a cute baby.

“Aw, is that your baby?” You coo and take the phone back to take a better look at the photo. “He’s so cute! How old is he?” You ask as you show the picture to Ava.

“He’s almost one,” John says with an annoyed sigh.

You hum in comprehension and can’t help but tease him just a little. “Are you sure you even tried?” You laugh and hand John his phone back as Ava smiles at your joke.

“Hilarious but thanks,” John says.

“What’s his name?” Ava asks before you can.

John hesitates at first before he offers his response. “Lemar.”

If you remember correctly, that's the name of his friend. The one who died when John was Captain America.

His son must be named after his late friend then and if that's so it’d be sweet.

Alas, you don’t ask, instead you can’t help but wonder about something else. “Do you think your son has some of that super soldier serum in him too since you do?”

As John puts his phone away he shrugs. “I think so but we haven’t checked and there haven’t been any signs.”

You hum and then offer him some kindness. “Well if he does then you should be assured of the fact that he won’t be going through it alone.”

John slowly lowers his gaze and nods stiffly before he chooses to redirect. “You should listen to yourself then and tell your dad.”

You scoff and stare at him in disbelief, wondering how he knew since you’ve only shared that fact with Bob.

“I am not stupid like you think I am,” he answers your confusion so you huff before you look out at the dry terrain you’re passing and respond dryly.

“It’s not so simple.”

“Nothing is,” Ava interjects.

You swallow thickly and stay quiet as you keep looking out the window and thinking about your dad and how disappointed he’ll be.

“You should count yourself lucky to have a son, Walker,” you try to lighten the mood. “You won’t have to worry about your daughter running around the country trying to go after a man.”

He snorts. “Well, at least your trip is not in vain and it’s because of someone you care about.”

You and Ava chuckle and he probes. “What? It’s true.”

You and Ava share a knowing look before you focus on the passenger with her head in her propped hand. “So, Mr Alexei,” you interject as he’s finally stopped talking, causing Yelena to drift her eyes to you and shoot you a glare.

“What are you doing?” She mouths and you just smirk at her before you drag yourself to the window to poke your head in.

“How did you end up driving for Valentina?”

“Oh!” He chuckles. “Little God girl.”

“Spector,” you correct him before you offer him your first name as an alternative.

“I’ll tell you,” he says with no question or concern about Yelena’s embarrassment. “So, I finagled to pick up Miss de Fontaine at fancy event. I figure good networking, but as soon as I overhear the coordinates of the vault, I rush home, I get the tactical beast,” he shares as he hits the dashboard. “And then, I drive straight here.”

“Mhm,” you hum and sit back, earning a side eye from Yelena that makes you smile tauntingly.

“Ah, America’s so big,” Alexei muses. “You ever drive through Oklahoma? It’s so flat,” he comments before he looks back at the three of you in the back. “Oh, I forgot to tell you, don’t drink from the Big Gulp back there.”

You scrunch your nose and share a disgusted look with John and Ava.

“Alexei, have you slept?” Yelena asks the man driving.

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead!” He exclaims and you’re instantly filled with concern.

“Oh, I’d like not to die today,” John shares your exact thoughts—“So maybe somebody else should be driving.”

“Mr. Walker,” Alexei says with excitement. “Second coming of Captain America. You and I have a lot in common, you know?”

Oh?

“I, too was state-sponsored super soldier in Russia,” he continues, leaving nothing unanswered.

“Mhm, but also very different,” Yelena proceeds to rebuttal. “Because Walker actually knows what he’s doing.”

“Little God girl,” he ignores Yelena and steals your attention instead. “How much would it cost to have you put some extra self-defense systems in this beast, eh? Maybe we can make her fly!”

“Well,” you say as you look around the old junk limo. “It’s…an old piece of junk, so it’d cost a lot.”

“Ah, no problem,” he flicks his wrist before he then moves on. “And Ghost. What a magician. You disappear. You reappear. When you reappear, does sometimes things not pop up in right place?”

You pass him a weird look while Yelena cuts in.

“Ah, I find it best just to ignore him sometimes.”

“What impressive friends you assembled, Yelena,” Alexei talks over her, making her talk back.

“We are not friends, Alexei.”

“Nah, we’re just disposable delinquents,” Ava retorts.

“Whatever you are,” Alexei interjects. “The light inside you is brighter, Yelena.”

You look at said girl and see her turn her head away so you miss her reaction, but she doesn’t talk back this time.

“How about this?” Alexei keeps going. “You are team of scrappy antiheroes.”

“Yeah. Go Thunderbolts,” John feigns excitement.

“What?” Alexei quips. “Yelena…”

“Oh my god.”

“You named them after your peewee soccer club?”

“Oh, my god. Oh, my god.”

You start to snicker and look at the pair with enthusiasm knowing damn well if you were in her position you’d be the same way, but it’s funnier when it’s happening to someone else.

“Oh-ho,” Alexei chuckles. “The West Chesapeake Valley Thunderbolts. Sponsored by Dmitri’s Elite Industrial Lighting and Electronics.”

“No, no, no,” Yelena tries to input, but he keeps going.

“Never won a game, but Yelena had so much fun. There was a girl who pooped in one game.”

“No. It was—it was not—“

“It was crazy,” Alexei talks over Yelena and the wind rushing through the open windows. “I was yelling at the ref.”

“It was sponsored by Shane’s Tire shop,” Yelena finally gets a word in.

“Shane?” Alexei argues.

“Yes.”

“What’s this talk of Shane?”

“It was.”

“He didn’t have that kind of money,” he keeps arguing.

“Yes, it was,” Yelena keeps arguing.

“No!” Alexei exclaims. “Shane? What a joke.”

“You really need to sleep,” Yelena points out.

“Okay! What about this Bob you mentioned?” He ignores Yelena and brings up another matter. “What’s the plan? Where am I driving?”

“It’s not like that,” Yelena quickly argues. “We need to escape and we need to hide.”

“Yeah, way smarter for us to split up,” John inputs. “There’s actually an airfield not far from here. We’ll just disappear from there.”

“Sounds good,” you support the plan since you have yet to see any sign of trouble.

“Spilt up?” Alexei quips. “No, no, no. You may not see what I see, but I have been around long time.”

“No shit,” you mutter.

“This has the makings of a team that can raise to glory. A team that can bring light from the darkness,” he says and you can’t help but smile in amusement at your lap, finding some potential in that, but that also may be your yearning for greatness.

“A team of heroes that can be on the Wheaties box,” he keeps adding. “And have little kiddie toys.”

“No, no. This is not a marketing opportunity, okay?” Yelena cuts him off. “Valentina is hunting us and we cannot win. Do you understand? You don’t understand.” She flicks her wrist as he interjects.

“I do. You don’t. You say that Valentina is going to use the power of this Sentry Project...”

“Yes, yes,” Yelena responds to Alexei.

“…To take over and kill us all,” he continues.

“Yes.”

“Well, you need to stand up to her. You and your team.”

“Uh, you got a convoy approaching fast. Step on it,” John cuts in, taking everyone’s attention and making you peek through the window between the back and front to steal a glance at the rear view mirror, spotting three trucks hot on your tail.

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Alexei doesn’t argue and seems to listen because you can hear the strain on the car, but the car itself doesn’t seem to move fast at all.

“Is that it?” Ava asks as you sit and make sure all your gear still works.

“Okay, any time now,” Yelena presses Alexei, making him mutter.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’re working on it.”

Alexei hits the dashboard and Yelena adds to the pressure.

“A little bit faster.”

“Takes a second.”

“Alexei!”

It is an old limo…

Anyhow, you look out the back window and see that the trucks are getting closer, but you still lean towards using your gadgets.

That is until the truck leading the convoy starts to shoot at the limo. After that you summon the suit so the bullets won’t penetrate you, earning an excited chuckle from Alexei as he catches sight of the magic wrapping the suit on your body.

“Alexei!” John exclaims with his shield on his arm now.

“Okay! Don’t worry! Don’t worry. She’s bulletproof, huh?”

Bulletproof?

You can’t help but snort.

“Engaging defensive measures,” Alexei says and from one moment to another a song plays in the speakers, red lights along with other colorful lights flash on the roof of the car, and smoke begins to fill the air, making you stifle a laugh at the silliness of it all.

“What the hell?” John mutters.

“Oh my god,” you hear Yelena groan.

“Wait, that’s not supposed to do that,” you catch Alexei saying to himself. “Come on.”

“Who are you driving?” Yelena remarks moments before you hear the bullets finally reach the car.

“Walker, shield!” Ava warns, causing John to swiftly twist around and block the window with his shield the moment bullets shatter it.

“What happened to bulletproof?” John shouts over the sound of the bullets hitting the car.

“Bulletproof-ish.”

“Anyone with eyes could tell this was not bulletproof!” You snap as you instinctively cross your arms over your face to shield yourself from the incoming fire.

“God, everyone’s a critic today!” Alexei complains. “Time to break out the bottle service,” he then adds with a change in tone. “Come on, Little God Girl, give me the good stuff.” He points back, but you hesitate.

“I don’t think it’s the right time for that,” you protest.

“Vodka!” He insists. “Vodka, now!”

“Damn, fine,” you mumble and grab the half-empty vodka bottle to pass it over to his waiting hand.

“Oh, my god,” Yelena complains. “This is so not the time. Ah! What’s wrong with you?!”

You peek over and see that he made a Molotov with the vodka bottle.

You could’ve thought of that. If you knew it would work, but it won’t and you get proven right when he throws the bottle out of the window and it hits the truck but it doesn’t even break the windshield. It just goes off because of the wind.

In return however, you keep getting shot at and those bullets do work to damage the car and get you impatient.

“Okay, I’m going out!” You let everyone know as another window in the car breaks.

However, just as you get up from your seat Yelena yells from her seat. “No, not yet. You don’t get to go out yet.”

“What?” You quip. “But I’m bulletproof! I can literally destroy the trucks with my bare hands!”

“No! Not yet!”

“Fine,” Ava then interjects. “I’ll be back. I hope.”

Ava then has her helmet flip over her face before she disappears and then reappears seconds later outside on the trunk of the limo.

She probably has the intention to disappear and then appear inside the trucks, but before she can, the same sonic system from the vault plays from one of the trucks, disabling her and making you rush to John’s side to help him pull her back inside. Even though he doesn’t need the help you still do it, and also help him by blocking the broken windshield with just your body since the bullets don’t penetrate you.

“I’m going to go out. I can do something,” you mention in hopes you don’t get turned down this time since they keep shooting, but Yelena once again stops your attempts.

“I said no! I’ll do something!”

You groan and instead of jumping out of the car you collect a missile from your belt at the same time Yelena pokes half her body out the window with just a gun.

“I said no,” you mock her under your breath and hurl the missile out the window, managing to hit the leading truck and actually managing to explode it.

Albeit the truck behind it also explodes, but that wasn’t caused by you or Yelena and she knows that just as much as you do, so after you make sure Yelena is back inside you then squint your gaze out the window, and from of cloud of smoke and sand, rides out a man on a motorcycle.

“It’s Bucky!” John claims and you press yourself closer to the window and only now identify that it’s in fact Congressman Barnes.

But why?

Why is he helping you by taking out the trucks?

“Why is he here?” You can’t help but ask as you watch him ride closer to the truck, causing one of the soldiers inside to poke a gun out of a window in an attempt to shoot, but Congressman Barnes actually impresses you by snatching the gun from the soldier and cocking it before flipping it in his hand and riding forward faster.

“I don’t know!”

“But it’s a good thing!” Alexei talks over John.

Is it? You think to yourself as you watch Congressman Barnes shoot at the wire in front of the truck. He then comes to a skidding stop and does a cool front wheelie to fall behind the truck as it keeps following the limo.

When Congressman Barnes is far behind you see him grab the grapple attached to the wire to yank it back with his mighty strength and hold it back by punching his metal arm in the ground, causing the truck to flip over.

“Aha!” Alexei exclaims. “That’s what I talk about!”

John and Ava share excited shouts too, but you’re still skeptical, so you keep watching him.

And well you’re proven right!

Instead of helping, Congressman Barnes then aims his bomb at the limo and doesn’t hesitate to shoot at the limo, managing to stick a bomb on the back.

“Oh,” John loses his excitement as he realizes what’s happening. “Shi—”

Before he can finish, you grab the back of his suit and yank him away from the window just as the bomb goes off and makes the limo flip over, throwing everyone all over the place, and knocking them out the moment the limo slams into the ground.

However, you’re more resistant than that now. You don’t go unconscious or get hurt. You panic because panicking isn’t something you’re resistant to.

“Walker,” you whisper and flip over to get on your hands and knees to be able to crawl towards him to check his pulse.

Luckily, he and Ava still have a pulse. They’re just unconscious. Thus, after you make sure they’re alive, you use your new sense of smell to track Congressman Barnes. When you know he’s not close yet, you crawl towards Yelena and check her pulse.

Thankfully, she ended up like the other two. And Alexei, you don’t check his pulse but you catch his chest rising up and down so you then crawl back to where you had been sitting and make your suit disappear before you pretend to be unconscious like the others.

Moments later, the door is broken open, and in comes Congressman Barnes, dragging John out first before taking Ava. When he comes back for you, you debate whether revealing yourself and fighting back, or staying unconscious.

You would be able to fight Congressman Barnes now, but if you fight him it’d be a while until the others wake up, and you wouldn't know what his plan is, and you doubt he wants to kill any of you. So…what to do?

You could fly off now, but…you also ask yourself if you can really leave the others behind now. And the answer is no, but your curiosity does get the best of you so you continue to pretend to be unconscious.

Without waiting too long Congressman Barnes then takes you to what seems to be some abandoned gas station/tire shop and ties you all up without noticing that you’ve been conscious the entire time.

Or so you think.

“You can stop pretending now,” his voice startles you, but you still slowly open your eyes and lift your head to look at him, finding him much more handsome and intimidating in real life than on TV.

“Congressman Barnes,” you deadpan.

“Bucky,” he sighs. “You can call me Bucky,” he says and then proceeds to say your name, letting you know that he knows you despite you not being dragged into Valentina’s investigation. Yet.

“You’re Valentina’s most trusted scientist,” he continues to add, making you gently narrow your gaze on him. “You look young to be in such a high position. You must not even be finished with school. How old are you, 21? 22?”

You scoff. “Wow, it’s almost like you know me,” you remark sarcastically.

“I do know you,” he cuts the shit as you finally let it be known that you caught on that he’s done his research about you.

“That’s why I’m saying that you’re too young to be caught in all this—”

“And you're too old,” you cut him off spitefully as you grow tired of all these lectures. “Even super soldiers can break a hip or a spine.”

He scoffs and gently hits the garage door he’s leaning against before he starts walking toward you. “I am old,” he says without getting offended. “That’s why I can tell you that you’re too young to be caught up in Valentina’s mess. What would your grandfather think after you helped make that clean water project in Chicago?”

“Don’t,” you warn him with a pointed glare. “Don't bring him into this. Don’t talk to me like you know me because you don’t. Not really.”

Bucky nods. “I don’t know you,” he says softly, never once losing that patience he somehow holds. “I don’t understand. I’ve heard it all before and this time around yes, I don’t know you, but I know what I’m saying, and you know that I’m right. You shouldn’t be caught up in this mess. You have promise and a way to get out and build a good future.”

You look away from him and look down at your lap as you start to bite the inside of your cheek.

“You won’t be hidden away forever, Valentina’s done a good job for now at hiding you from the government, but they will find out and you know what happens when they do?” He grills you as he approaches the ledge of some hole on the cement floor that he has you all sitting over.

“All your hard work will amount to nothing. Every opportunity you could have will turn their backs, and you will be sent to jail,” he says, making you turn your head away with shame.

“But not if you testify against her,” he offers, making you peek over at him with curiosity. “We can. I can help you get immunity and you can go finish school and be so much better than what she’s offering you.”

You swallow thickly and slowly turn your head to face him with your eyes glazed over with tears. “No,” you argue and make him quickly rebuttal harder.

“No, you can’t stay loyal to her. She will fall and she will drag you down with her. Is that what you want? Do you want your grandfather to see that?”

“She has him,” you share the reason you turned down his offer to help. “Bob. She…the accusations are true,” you admit with an ache in your heart. “She sent me to save her subjects and if I could’ve found a way around it, I would've taken that route, but there was no way to save Bob without moving forward. So I made it, The Sentry Serum. And at first she didn’t know,” you have to let him know for Bob’s sake.

“I didn’t tell her because I knew what she wanted. She was going to use him, so I didn’t tell her,” you continue, letting him hear the ache the matter brings you. “But she knows now and she has him, so if I testify against her, the government takes Bob. They use him a lot worse than she ever could’ve, and that’s all he’ll know. A life in labs and a life as the government's weapon. I won’t let that happen to him. I’ll fall with Valentina if I have to.”

Bucky holds your watery gaze and notices the desperation, and sees as well as hears the devotion that you have for Bob.

It would all be simpler if you hadn’t mentioned anything, but now he knows the complexity of the matter, and he knows there’s no use fighting. The devotion you carry for Bob is the kind that can withstand the hardest tribulations through decades. Even centuries.

“Fine,” he says and does what he shouldn’t. “If you agree to testify I will make sure that this Bob guy is not brought up or taken.”

Your eyes light up and everything you thought about him is forgotten at the sound of his sacrifice. “You mean that?” You make sure to press.

Bucky nods. “I mean it. I promise. I know what it’s like living in labs and being used, so I won’t be the one responsible for making someone go through the same thing.”

“Thank you,” you say sweetly and offer him a smile.

He groans and then steps away from the ledge to walk up behind you and untie the rope he had tied around you.

“Oh wow, thanks,” you offer him again before you get up and let the rope slip down your body to step over it. Instead of moving away however, you stay close to those you came with since you don’t know what Bucky’s intentions are with them. You assume he wants something similar from them that he wanted from you, but you can’t know for sure. You have to wait.

Eventually, one by one all four of…your friends wake up and they all point out the same thing.

“Why are you untied?” Ava asks for the group.

“Me? I’m a mere young woman caught up in this mess,” you let her know feigning innocence.

“Haha, very funny,” she retorts and you snort.

“I wasn’t actually unconscious so we talked and he untied me.” You reveal before Alexei starts yelling.

“No, no, no, no!”

“Oh my god,” you complain.

“Just when I get my team together,” he mutters. “Mr. Soldier, you are making terrible mistake.”

“Save it for the committee,” Bucky retorts as he leans against the door again.

“What committee?” Yelena asks.

“You’re all evidence in the impeachment trial against Valentina,” Bucky reveals, making them all groan whilst you look at him perplexed.

“But Valentina almost killed them, they can’t be dragged into her mess. And Alexei wasn’t even involved. He helped us,” you argue in their defense, wanting to bring up more excuses, but well, it's not that simple with them.

“We were ordered to destroy all of her secrets,” John chimes in. “But really, we were just sent to kill each other in this vault.”

“But then we met Bob,” Yelena brings up.

“Yeah,” John agrees. “Bob.”

“There was a man in the vault,” Yelena continues to share. “She’s done something to him. It’s called Project Sentry.”

“Okay, he shot up into the sky,” Ava interjects. “He exploded. And then he crashed into this mountain, and then he died, didn’t die—”

“Yes, I got it. She told me something,” Bucky points at you. “He’s very, very scary.”

“So rude,” you hear Yelena whisper as John speaks out loud.

“Okay. Congressman Barnes.”

Said man pushes himself away from the garage door and starts to walk towards all of you. “All right, Walker,” Bucky presses. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you know me, Bucky,” John inputs. “So cut the shit and listen to what we’re trying to tell you.”

“Yeah, I know you, John,” Bucky agrees. “And you made your choices. I know it’s been hard since Olivia left you and took your kid, but still, this is on you.”

You slowly drift your eyes to John and look at him sympathetically.

He feels your gaze so he looks over and swallows thickly before he catches Yelena’s gaze and shares a speechless conversation with her as Ava tries to get Bucky to understand.

“Bucky, there won’t be a committee left. Okay? There might not even be a government. She has some big—”

“Threat,” Bucky cuts her off. “Yes. I got it. Named Bob or Sentry who flies. Right? And you’re all heroes going after Val, ready to save the day. Am I supposed to believe that?”

“We weren’t going after her together,” John interjects.

“We were just trying to get home alive, actually,” Yelena adds.

“That’s even more pathetic,” Bucky exclaims.

“Yeah, I know,” Alexei cuts in and agrees. “That’s what I’ve been telling them.”

“Shut up,” Ava snaps.

“I’m not going to shut up. No,” Alexei mutters whilst Bucky's phone begins to ring.

“All right. Plane lands in six minutes,” Bucky reveals.

“Will you be quiet,” Ava keeps fighting and starts a whole chain reaction that you tune out because you’re nosy and focus on the call Bucky takes.

“Project Sentry?” Bucky says to the phone and piques your interest even further, along with Yelena’s who shushes the arguing group.

“What guy?” You hear Bucky ask in return before waiting in silence and then saying the name you’re anticipating out loud. “Bob?”

“Bob!” The group behind you yells moments before Bucky's call ends and he looks at you with the realization that you’ve all been saying the truth.

“Bob,” Bucky says again and the group repeats the name as you quip.

“I told you. It’s bad, Bucky,” you say seriously as he stays still for a minute and nods before he sets off to untie the rest of the group.

“Hang on, what are you doing?” Ava asks.

“I’m letting you go,” Bucky explains. “You’re coming with me.”

“Why?” Ava probes again.

“Shh,” Alexei cuts in. “For the glory,” he whispers and you scoff before you continue to watch Bucky untie John

“Well, you know Valentina,” Bucky says. “She’s got this thing out there. People are gonna get hurt, and I gotta stop her,” he adds as he unties Yelena.

“And you are gonna help me.” He finishes saying and even if you were heading there already you can’t help but feel a bit of excitement and eagerness now that it’s not just you going alone.

“Wait. Us?” Yelena questions with doubt.

“Why? You got some place to be?” Bucky sasses.

Yelena shakes her head. “Bucky, you have the wrong people,” she protests.

“Look,” Bucky scoffs. “I’ve been where you are. You can run, but it doesn’t go away. Sooner or later it catches up to you, and when it does, it’s too late. So you can either do something about it now, or live with it forever.”

You smile at the sentiment and then look at the others. “I was already going there myself, but I know that Bob will be happy to see us all get there together. And well, we started all this together. Might as well continue it together.”

Yelena holds your gaze and you remain adamant and headstrong, so she sighs and gives in. “Stop Val and save Bob,” she offers, earning a smile and a nod from you that then makes her turn to John in search of his response which comes easily.

“Fine. Yeah.”

You smile wider and then you all three look at Ava.

“Go on, then,” she agrees with a nod before Alexei hurts your ears by screaming.

“Yes! Yeah!”

“Christ,” you grumble as you stand back.

After all that is exchanged and before Bucky’s plane could come and find you all, Bucky finds a truck you all load into, making you realize that the men you bit in order to control ended up being pointless because all your paths ended up leading you to Bob and Valentina in New York at the end of the day. At least you were able to know what you can do though since Denwen is all about letting you find out. Stupid old fool.

Anyway, much like before you end up in the back. Only this time instead of Bob it’s Ava, John, and Yelena with you while Alexei and Bucky sit in front. And this time even though you don’t have to cross obstacles to drive away, the drive to New York is long and you’re much too worried to sleep so you decide not to let the others sleep either.

“So do you guys have any siblings?" You try to break the ice to also avoid hearing your stomach growl.

“Nope,” John inputs quickly.

“My parents died before they could have another kid,” Ava says, making you all look at her sympathetically.

“Sorry,” you offer her and she shrugs it off, letting Yelena then answer next.

“I had a sister,” she says and averts her gaze while you all now share your sympathy with her.

“I’m sorry,” you say just as softly, but unlike Ava she doesn’t say anything in return, letting Ava fill the silence before it could turn awkward.

“Do you have any siblings we should worry about other than your scary dad?” She teases.

You shake your head and answer with a sense of pride. “Nope, and I'm glad of it. I like being an only child.”

In response to your comment, John begins to laugh, making you all look at him in confusion.

“What?” You probe.

“You’re one of those girls. It explains a lot about you actually,” he explains himself without actually saying what he means by that, but you’re too smart not to know what he means.

“You know what?” You quip without a fault. “Yes, I am a daddy’s girl, and yes I have issues with my dad because his presence in my life has been spotty, so I prefer not competing for his attention, and being an only child assures that.”

“What if he has another child?” Yelena inputs nonchalantly. “Men have that ability to produce at any age, so what if he has another kid?”

You part your lips but end up speechless. Now your dad having a kid with Layla is something you thought of, but you always got too upset to actually sit with the thought so you always passed it as impossible. Now that you have to think about it though, you can’t be genuinely happy. Yet.

“I’ll,” you pause and scrunch your nose. “I’ll learn to love it.”

Yelena snickers. “Liar. You’re already simmering.”

You roll your eyes and focus on John. “You know I’m glad you’re not Captain America,” you share bluntly, causing him to blink repeatedly in confusion before he looks at you offendedly.

“I’m just saying that otherwise you would've had to live up to Steve Rogers,” you explain yourself right away. “The world would’ve always compared you and you know, expected you to walk and talk like him and well, it would’ve been horrible. For you. Besides, we already had a Steve Rogers."

Said man hums and looks at you between his pointed gaze. “Thanks?”

“It’s a compliment!” You exclaim. “I prefer John Walker.”

“Steve Rogers was uptight,” Ava also adds and you don’t agree, but you bounce off her comment.

“See? If you were Captain America, we wouldn’t all be here experiencing this once-in-a-lifetime bonding trip. Because however this ends I’ll never forget either of you.”

“Corny,” Yelena deadpans, making you snap your head toward her to argue.

“What?! No! It’s true! It’s supposed to be sweet!”

“It was very corny,” Ava also agrees and Yelena laughs this time so Ava laughs with her, and in turn, John also joins them.

You groan in response but you can’t help it, you end up joining them and laugh too.

.

.

.

.

.

A/N- When you want to show off your new powers but this 5’4 blonde who’s attached herself to you is already too overprotective

It’s been 2 years since the entire ordeal with your dad, Khonshu, Ammit, and Arthur Harrow. It's been 2 years since Denwen has lived inside you. And it’s been 2 years since you’ve held that secret from your dad and Layla. At first it was because you were scared to tell them, Denwen kept telling you that your death was the only way to get rid of him now that he’s latched onto you because of some condition the gods bestowed on him before they shut him in his ushabti, but you should’ve known that he was lying and that imprisoning him again was another solution.

However, now that you know the truth you haven’t rushed to get rid of him like you should have because maybe he’s the answer.

Thus you put your phone away and look up at the mirror to make sure everything is perfectly in place. However, as you look at your reflection a shadow slowly engulfes you and a pair of fiery eyes stare back at you, reminding you of your sin and your greatest shame, but also the promise of greatness.

“Will you take the easy way or the hard way?” A great voice inquires from within as if your conscience had come to life, but like usual, since Denwen revealed that he pretended to be your friend, you ignore him and pass him off as an aggravating thought.

“Alas, you will take the little bicycle to work. So human,” he grumbles and disappears into the depths of your soul, making the shadow disappear.

Even so, it still feels like you’re consumed by a much darker and bigger shadow that never leaves like Denwen. However, this darkness isolates you, dulls every light, and makes this quick life move so incredibly slow. At times it takes you out of your body and controls it mindlessly while your very essence is left floating numbly and just as mindlessly.

You try to shove it down after all, you have everything you could ever want. You’ve made up with your dad, you’re going to MIT online while working with Valentina De Fontaine as her most trusted tech specialist which has already moved you up in this world filled with so many amazing people, but no matter how much you try, it’s still with you, haunting you, and pulling you further into that darkness, so it's better to put on a smile and move on.

You would say today is an example of that, but today you woke up feeling already tired of the day, but with one foot in front of the other after you navigate through your usual streets in Washington D.C. you get to work.

You’ve been done with the tasks Valentina had given you so now you’re tinkering on your own stuff with your music blaring throughout your lab. Yes, your very own lab. Not some small cluttered garage or apartment. It’s your very own lab!

However, because you have the privilege of blaring music without having to use headphones or caring that it’ll be heard outside the lab, you go completely unaware of Valentina’s presence and your name being shouted until the music finally turns off and you’re forced to look around for the answer, spotting Valentina only mere feet away from you.

“You can go deaf with the music being as loud as it was, did you know that?” She remarks on something you’re reminded of constantly.

“I am aware, but thanks for your concern,” you retort as you pull your goggles over your head and tilt it out of curiosity. “What’s up?”

“What are you working on?” She asks and avoids answering right away. You don’t proceed to insist though because if it were urgent she would have responded.

“Oh, uh, a security cat,” you share and twirl your chair to tell her about it. “It’s for my grandpa. It works like a real cat, but without needing to be fed, or sleep, or wander and ignore. It’s to scare away the critters and the birds from his garden while simultaneously working as a security measure. Cameras are too obvious, a lot of people have learned to avoid them and cats have more than 200 million odor senses in their noses, making it 14 times better than ours,” you explain with every word building up your excitement. “Their sight is 10 times better than a human's, and unlike real cats, this one has extremely good night vision. Plus, cats can detect higher frequencies than dogs and can determine where a sound is coming from by sensing differences in the time of arrival and the intensity of the sound received by the two ears.”

“Hm,” Valentine hums with genuine curiosity. “Marvelous.”

“Practical, smart, and not obvious.”

“I might need one of those for my own house,” she says. “But I am more fond of dogs.”

You share a breathless laugh and look over your shoulder, catching her backing away thus letting you turn to face her again. “Did the sonic defense systems have a problem?” You ask, wondering if the new defense systems you made for her are the problem.

“No, no, of course not. They were installed in the trucks and in my warehouse without a hitch.”

You nod in comprehension and continue to press her, so she finally caves, offering your curiosity relief.

“I have a new assignment for you away from Washington D.C.. Now I’m not fond of having you be so far away. Who knows when I'll need you and compared to you everyone else here are fools, but it seems that my scientists at the O.X.E lab in Malaysia are even bigger fools.”

Your curiosity is still vivid, but as of now, excitement is pumping into your blood, causing your heart to race incredibly fast with anticipation.

“I need you to go to Malaysia and work on Project Sentry to find a way for this project to work and stop killing our experiments. One by one they’ve all been dying and not one of the scientists has found a solution, but I believe you can.”

You blink as her words sink and you argue. “I focus on technology. I am an engineer, not a Biochemist or anything that requires making superhumans. And I don’t work on people.”

Valentina holds your gaze and nods slowly. She then begins walking around you, making you turn your chair to follow her. “You say you want to be the next Tony Stark.”

“No,” you quip. “I don’t. I've never said that.”

“No. Bruce Banner. Right.” She snaps. “Well, how do you think Bruce Banner became a renowned scientist? Because he focused solely on Nuclear Physics? No, he was renowned because he knew how to work on technology, biochemistry, physics, etc. He was great because he tinkered on everything he could get his hands on, so are you telling me that you’re limiting yourself? That you don’t want to be great?” She asks and turns to face you, making you avert your gaze and bite the inside of your cheek.

“If there’s a limit to what you know I can hire someone else. I’m sure that someone else will be happy to take your place and take the honor of being the scientist who made the next Superhuman,” she says, pouring honey over those poisonous words that harm you more than you care to admit.

“I don’t work on people,” you insist, remaining defiant on that morality.

“No, no, my sweet girl. It’s not people. Just…experiments…Animals,” she says as if that makes it any better.

“She’s lying,” that dark inner voice whispers, causing the hairs on the back of your neck to rise.

“Is that supposed to be better?” You remark and face her with your gaze narrowed.

“It doesn’t matter,” she deadpans. “Animal. Humans. They’re both dying and they will keep dying the more this doesn’t work,” she counters without a hint of deceit now. “I can bring someone else on and they might stop them from dying. They’ll get all the glory while you’re left in school being nothing but a miserable thief. Or you can go to Malaysia, figure out a way to make this project work, and stop my experiments from dying because I know that it’s not because you’re not capable. I hired you for a reason, so can you do it? Or should I find your replacement?” She asks and comes to a stop right where she started, while you drop your head and rub your temple as you think.

She’s right it’s not because you lack the knowledge. Your defiance comes from a personal choice. You’ve read everything you could about every scientist who has roamed this earth and you know that these kinds of experiments hardly bring any good. In attempts to recreate the super soldier serum, Bruce Banner became the Hulk. People have died, or mutated and then died trying to work on making something great for the human race. You don’t want to be that. Technology lets you avoid that, but as she utters those poisonous words you aren’t able to stop yourself from being affected because she hits you right where it hurts.

You want to be great, incredible, and something worthwhile. This could be the way. This could be the thing that lets you know where you belong in this world.

You don’t want to be replaced…

“Alright,” you cave and slowly lift your eyes to meet her now glimmering gaze as a cackle echoes in the back of your head.

“Great!” She exclaims and grins. “You leave tomorrow night. The scientist at the lab will catch you up and I will send you your NDA. I can’t have you sharing anything just yet.” She says with a smile, making you shoot her a feigned smile in return before you manage to be completely incapacitated by your choice.

“All of my expenses will be paid for, right? Plane? Food? Hotel? A moped? This is work-related after all.” You hit her right back, making her smile fall.

“I hear that the tech lab down the street pays for all of their workers' job-related expenses and they have a great PTO.” You smirk and Valentina sighs, but as not to lose you she has no choice but to grant you your wishes.

“Yes, Spector, everything will be paid for. Of course.”

“Of course.” You say with the same fake plastered smile as hers.

“Keep an eye out for that NDA and read through the task sheet I’ll send as well,” she lets you know.

“Okay.” You nod in comprehension and watch her leave your lab before you turn and spin your chair around to look back at your security cat. Albeit, rather than going back to work, you pull out your phone and call the person you couldn’t call this morning.

On the third ring, he answers. “Hello?”

“Hey, Pa,” you greet and sit back in your chair.

“Hey, baby. How are you? Are you working?” He doesn’t forget to ask since he knows your schedule.

“I’m at work, but I’m working on my own stuff. I finished my tasks forever ago,” you let him know so he doesn’t go on this tangent that you should focus on work and not get distracted and whatnot.

“Oh, that’s good to hear. What are you working on?”

You lean forward to pick up your tool and tell him with amusement. “A security cat. It’s for my grandpa. It’s actually based on my very first project.”

Your dad hums and keeps quiet for a moment, letting you hear his thoughts churning before he ultimately stops pretending he knows what you’re talking about. “And what exactly is that?”

You giggle. “It works to scare off all the critters and birds from his plants while also working as a safety measure without being obvious or needing dozens of other expensive security measures,” you share with someone who’s actually eager and curious about your projects and not just interested in how it can benefit her.

“Ah, okay I get it now. That’s smart, but then again what else could I expect?” He snickers, making you roll your eyes and sit back as you fiddle with the tool in your hand.

“You’re not busy, are you? Sorry, I called unexpectedly."

“No,” he assures you before you can doubt him. “I’m home. You’re not bothering me whatsoever. Why, though, what's up?”

You sigh and without avoiding the matter you spill. “Just calling to let you know I’m going to Malaysia tomorrow night for work.”

“Oh?” He questions with immediate suspicion. “Is that so? You know I don’t like that this boss of yours keeps moving you around. First, she took you to New York, and then she moved you to Washington D.C. with her. And now she has you moving across the world. What for?”

You smile softly and assure him. “It’s a project that I cannot talk about, but basically I'm going to a lab that she’s a chairwoman for, so it’s secure and not sketchy. So don’t worry about that.”

He hums with discontent before interjecting sternly. “Give me the address of your hotel and the lab. Just in case.”

You scoff but you can’t help but feel warm inside at the sound of your dad being so concerned and protective. “Yeah, I’ll send it to you once I get it. I just called to let you know though, so you and Steven can start thinking of what you want. I’ll let Layla and my grandpa know later.”

Your dad hums and you can see him nodding from the other end of the line.

“I’ll be okay,” you tell him to soothe his and Steven’s concern. “And I’ll just be there until I find a solution to this project. Besides it’s Malaysia, I’ve never been. It’s a great opportunity to see something new.”

“That’s true,” he agrees. “Also…no shady business, okay? No black market jobs. From your hotel to work and vice versa.”

You chuckle and make no promises, but you try to ease his worry. “Got it, I’ll call you when I’m on my way and once I land and get to my hotel.”

“That’s what I like to hear, Wolfie.”

“I’m such a good pup,” you tease, making him chuckle.

“When you want to be. Now my pup,” his voice rasps. “I’ll leave you be because you are at work. We’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Okay.” You smile. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

And with that, you hang up and finish the security cat for your grandpa Elias before you can’t help but start reading everything you can find about Biochemistry.

That research takes up the rest of your day and doesn’t let you sleep because you're so obsessed with needing to be completely informed by the time you reach the OXE lab.

Your obsessive behavior is a reason why you can grasp different languages so quickly, and why you never have work submitted late. You can procrastinate like so many people, but there’s moments where you can't think about anything else, and for the past three years rather than having no energy to do anything, you have to be tinkering. It helps you keep away from that ledge that towers over the ocean of darkness.

Not much else helps you from that tempting ledge. Although you’ve tried and thrown out different reasons as to why you shouldn’t be close or tempted by that ledge, you can’t bring yourself back for your dad and Steven, Layla, your grandfather now by his lonesome, and or the prospect of a successful future, so it bears the question, what makes you get out of bed?

The simple answer, the need to figure out where you belong. At first, it was to prove something to your father, that’s the notion that kept your heart beating, but now it’s the need to figure out where you belong and what your place is. You owe it to them, don’t you? Those brave heroes who gave it their all to bring you and everyone else back?

Iron Man, The Vision, and The Black Widow.

They died so you could come back, so you should keep pushing forward. One foot in front of the other, but oh is it a dreading chore.

Even now it feels so taxing approaching the plane that will take you to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“I am now walking down the runway,” you taunt your overprotective father. “Oh my god! My wheel got stuck on a bump.”

“Hilarious,” your dad mutters from the other side of the phone which belongs to Layla.

“I think you should go over and help her with her luggage Marc,” Layla joins you and teases him too. “Maybe help her walk. How did you do it when she was a little girl?”

You chuckle. “It’s the age. He’s grown more overprotective with age.”

“It’s a different country. I think it’s justified to be worried.”

“Yeah, Marc is right,” Steven bounces off your dad's comment.

“Bad people exist everywhere,” you remind them as you replace your hand with your shoulder to keep talking as you walk onto the plane and start navigating down the plane's runway.

“She’s right and she can protect herself,” Layla helps you out. “Stop worrying and say your goodbyes. <Bye, Wolfie,>” Layla finishes off in Arabic. She would’ve had this conversation in Arabic since that’s the next language you’re learning, but you were talking with your dad and Steven, so you mostly talked in English.

“<Bye Layla!>”

“<I’ll send you the markets, cafes, and the Museums that I find that you can go to.> She adds after she almost forgot.

“<Yes! Thank you!>”

You were so caught up in research that the places you wanted to visit completely slipped your mind.

“Bye Wolfie let me know when you land,” your dad interjects.

“Bye, Pa.” You redirect as you shove your baggage in the overhead area.

“Later Wolfie!” Steven exclaims. “Safe travels!”

You smile and speak softer. “Later Steven.”

After that your dad and Layla say their goodbyes in unison before you hang up and sit in your seat, feeling thankful that Valentina didn’t cheap out and actually assigned you to a window seat in business class so you can watch the New Moon and at least grip onto the meaning of the phase to keep away from the ledge.

New beginnings, fresh starts, and the potential for growth, or so it’s said.

——

*TWO DAYS LATER. KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA*

With a deep breath in and out, you round the corner and head towards the lab, seeing a tall middle-aged doctor already waiting for you outside the lab doors.

He must be Doctor Houston, the one in charge of Project Sentry.

When you reach the lab doors, you can see the doctor stealing one last lingering look at you before the corner of his lips pulls up to a strained smile, giving away the doubt that made him study you hard.

“Hello, you must be Valentina’s tech specialist," he has the courtesy to address you kindly regardless of the doubt creasing his forehead. “I’m Doctor Houston.”

You smile back, but lose all the excitement you mustered at the sight of his doubt, so your smile is just as strained as his. “Hello, and yes, I am,” you address him and offer him your name, but not the explanation you would’ve given him so he wouldn’t worry.

“Please follow me inside and I’ll show you the lab where we’ll be working and your assigned area. I’ll give you a tour of the rest of the floor after and tell you where you can put your stuff before I start dumping all the information about Project Sentry on you.”

You nod and follow him inside, noting that the lab is not so big so it’s not filled with a lot of people, but it is rather clean and bright which you’re glad that it is. It also has plenty of windows, you enjoy working by windows that look out at the environment. You’d say you’re not picky, but you are. As to the scenery surrounding you though? You can’t complain, you enjoy the sight of a busy city.

Nevertheless, the Doctor introduces you to the other Doctors you’ll be working with and they all share the same look Doctor Houston had, which is concern and doubt since you don’t look as old as them—or should you say “experienced.”. It’s like they don’t know that smart young people exist.

Whatever. Whatever!

Anyway, when you reach your assigned station the sight of your lab coat with “Spector” embroidered on the left chest pocket makes up for the bad energy you’ve been getting from everyone. You can’t help but get a bit giddy and snap a picture to send to the group chat you made with Layla and your dad.

You:

1 attachment

Soon it will say Doctor Spector :)

You put your phone away and keep following the Doctor about the floor, taking note of every room and every keypad that you have access to. When all that’s done and over with you return to the lab and get to why you’re here.

“Now Project Sentry, what has Valentina told you?”

You shrug and shake your head gently. “Hardly anything. She didn’t want to risk sending me the file. I know you’re working on a way to make people superhuman and that the volunteers have died.”

The doctor nods and pushes up his glasses. “So you know that we’re working with people?” He asks uncomfortably as he looks between his overgrown bangs.

“Yes,” you assure him bluntly and avert your gaze, letting him know that you’re just as uncomfortable as he is. “I’m here to help the people from dying.”

He hums and tilts his head up, sweeping his hair out of his face. “Well, you came just in time, there’s only one subject left.”

Your eyebrows knit together and your gaze narrows with slight disbelief.

“A man that goes by Robert Reynolds,” he shares and picks up the tablet from the tabletop to hand it to you so you can most likely read the file they have on their remaining subject—“A drug addict we picked up from the streets of Kuala Lumpur. He’s American. Early thirties,” he keeps sharing and taps on the tablet. “His file is on here.”

“I’m actually going to make a new file,” you interject and put the tablet down. “I want to gather the information myself to try and understand him better and see how to bond this project to him and how it will bond to him after. I don't want to focus on the project in a general sense. Do you understand what I’m getting at?” You ask and clear your throat before you give him an example.

“Do you know how Wanda Maximoff got the powers she had? The mind stone bonded with her mind, her body, and her every cell that makes her. The mind stone could’ve given her the general abilities it held, but it bonded with her and in doing so it gave her the powers she has. That's why her brother and the Vision didn’t have the same abilities.” you ramble excitedly.

“I want Project Sentry to bond with Robert, so I want to gather my own notes before I work on a serum,” you finish rambling and stand up from your chair to slide on the lab coat. “Before I meet him can I see the other subjects?”

The doctor nods and as he leads the way to the bodies he talks over his shoulder. “You know I had my doubts. You look so young, but you’re sharing a different route I didn’t even consider.”

You smirk and shrug as you play off your ego. “I don’t focus on Biochemistry, but it’s something I’ve always been able to do just like the technology I make, so I’ve hardly slept trying to get myself informed on everything I could watch and read. How did the subjects die?”

The doctor sighs and opens the door for you, but waits outside to let you walk in first before he follows after you and then shares what he knows. “It started with a fever. They stopped eating on day one, but grew thirsty. Their temperatures rose and rose, and every ounce of water they drank wasn’t enough. They were quick to dehydrate and we soon found out why. They were boiling from the inside out,” he speaks through gritted teeth as he takes you to the body of a young woman to unzip her body bag just to show her face, letting you see the trails of blood that streamed down her eyes and her nose.

“Oh,” you gasp as you take note of the woman’s dead pale face. “Did they all…have the same symptoms?” You ask hesitantly as the dead body unsettles you.

“Every single one,” he says, making your heart skip a beat. “We’ve been keeping a close eye on Robert. So far he hasn’t shown any symptoms, but it may be a matter of days, he’s gone through the same process that the rest of the subjects went through.”

You pick up the tag attached to the body bag and read through all the symptoms that led to her death as you hum in comprehension.

When the doctor closes the bag you let the tag go and assure him. “I’ll try to get through this fast then. Is there anything I should be worried about?”

Doctor Houston shakes his head. “Robert has been cooperative. No outbursts of any kind.”

You nod gently and before you prolong the moment the doctor leads you to the room where the last remaining subject, Robert Reynolds is being kept in.

Rather than barging in though, you knock on the door to let him know you’re coming in before you open it and slowly poke your head in first, seeing a hunched-over lump on the edge of the bed before you walk in with a plastered smile.

“Hello?” You make yourself known and walk in, letting the door close behind you and finally making Robert slowly drop his hands and turn his head to get a glimpse at whatever doctor just came in to take him away.

However, when his eyes set on you he realizes that you’re new. He’s never seen you before. You’re different in…every aspect, so with his eyes stuck on you he sits up and as you look at him, you find yourself unable to look away from the blue eyes that are actually so deep blue that they almost look dark. You think of moving, but you find yourself unable to move a limb. You can’t even think of breathing.

The smile plastered on your face softens. It turns real and kind while beams of light break through the shroud of darkness.

“Hey,” you speak sweetly and finally catch your breath while he can’t. Not yet.

His breath is still caught as he watches the stars come alive and burn brightly through a once darkened world. It’s alarming and intruding, just like your visit, but oh is it the best feeling in the world. Not in an ever-so-toxic way like drugs where you want to stop but can’t resist its temptation so you keep coming back against your better judgment. This is new, sacred, and ever so enchanting that he finds himself unable to keep his eyes away. Nor does he want to.

He just finds himself staring and fumbling over a simple word. “Hey-Hello.”

You grin and laugh breathlessly before you point to the name on your lab coat and then introduce yourself while keeping your eyes on him.

“You're Robert Reynolds?” You ask right after, making him nod but then shake his head, which in turn makes you giggle at something not even that funny.

“Bob. You can just call me Bob,” he shares what he was struggling over.

“Okay, well hello Bob, as you may have noticed I am new here and yes, I know I look young compared to everyone else,” you address the concerning matter that everyone else started to judge you about. “But I promise I know what I’m doing, or at least I have the grasp of what I need to do.”

Bob nods. “Yeah, I noticed. You’re new. And young, but not that young. Just…that you’re new,” he settles with that rather than continuing to struggle.

“Yes and I’m going to work on this medical trial with the rest of the doctors, I just want to gather my own notes about you. I hope that’s fine,” you offer him which leaves him a bit surprised, but with no other choice and more trust than he’s given the others, he gives you the okay.

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

You flash him a smile and nod eagerly before you make your way to the small coffee table by his bed and set your stuff down along with a little basket. “That’s for you,” you let him know. “I stopped by a market on my way to work and I couldn’t resist. Are you allergic to anything in here?” You ask with worry and as he looks at the small gift basket and then at you, he shakes his head.

“No, no I’m not…thank you,” he says slowly and sweetly as if he can’t believe that you’ve brought this just for him.

“You welcome,” you redirect and then get up again. “You don’t mind if I open the blinds, do you? My grandmother always used to say that you can always think better with an open window, but then again it was probably a way to keep the lights off in the house for as long as she could,” you share without the grief you once carried when you talked about your grandmother.

“No, I don’t mind,” he says without protest, letting you open the blinds and admire the new city before you turn to face Bob with the sunlight shining around you like a halo.

However, without him knowing that angelic hue is quickly corrupted by a growing darkness that envelopes you as Denwen crawls out from the depths of your soul, making your eyes slowly drag to the side whilst your body grows visibly tense.

Bob notices how uncomfortable you look and follows your line of gaze, but he doesn’t see the Serpent god manifesting in the corner like you do, so a part of him believes it might be him that arose this sudden reaction from you. The sunlight filling the room must have caused some reaction, but as not to know he leaves you be. Whilst you swallow thickly and look at Bob with your smile looking a bit strained since Denwen is lurking in the room studying Bob as if he wants to devour him.

“Okay,” you speak quietly before you walk to a chair to drag it near the bed so as to be close to Bob without invading his space on the bed. “Now we can start our notes,” you share and playfully narrow your gaze as you tap your chin with your finger. “Short brown hair, dark blue eyes, slim, and white. A bit timid.” You say and pinch your fingers. “And based on the size of your legs and torso, you’re about 6 feet tall?” You ask for reassurance as you cross your leg over the other.

Bob scoffs and nods softly. “You’re very good. I can see why you were brought on,” he says, making you giggle and for a moment lose the tension on your shoulders and the discomfort that suddenly riddled you.

Your laugh catches Bob off guard, but at the sound of it, he can’t help but hide his smile by looking down.

“If only note taking were…” you trail off as you’re captivated by the sight of Denwen suddenly throwing himself toward Bob to the point his snout is hovering over Bob’s pale cheek.

A part of you thinks that Bob will manage to somehow spot him, it’s why you fail to continue with your comment and watch intently as Denwen sniffs Bob, making said man unknowingly rub his cheek.

“…that simple,” you continue slowly, and then clear your throat before you try to speak normally as you don’t see Bob react any other way. “My work would be cut in half.”

Bob notices your wavered attention so he simply hums, letting you continue while you fight with yourself not to speak up against the annoying God still finding himself curious about Bob.

“We’re gonna start off simple before we go touch on the deep stuff, okay?” You let him know, making him hold onto his fingers and nod gently.

“I know your name, so where are you from?” You ask the first question which Bob finds easy, but he knows they won’t all be so easy.

“Florida. Sarasota Springs Florida.”

You nod without jotting anything down. Mostly due to the fact that your tablet is on the other side of the room, but Bob also notices that you hold his gaze, you’re not dismissive like the others were when they asked him these questions.

“Really?” You surprise him by asking. “What’s brought you all the way to Kuala Lumpur?” You ask with genuine curiosity. “Do you have family here? Work?”

Bob shakes his head. “Not that simple…I was traveling through Southeast Asia, hoping to find some part of myself. Who I’m supposed to be,” he says and it’s like your breath catches at the sound of those words you keep thinking about over and over. It’s like…you and this man that you just met share those same thoughts and it catches you by complete surprise that the person they sent you to across the world could feel what you do.

“…but,” he continues. “Soon my motivation was drugs. They brought me here.”

You hum and he looks for a sign of judgment but finds none, rather he finds your mind running at a hundred miles per hour behind your attentive eyes. You genuinely don’t seem to think anything bad about it.

He finds that assuring.

“And a need to get away from…home,” he adds, making you nod and drift your gaze to the side as you interject.

“I get that.”

Bob follows your line of gaze and still finds nothing, so he finally dares himself to question you. “Are you okay? Your eyes keep darting to the side of the room.”

“If I could switch bodies he would be my prospect,” Denwen finally lets you know what he was thinking, but it’s nothing that actually brings you comfort. You just clench your jaw before you look back at Bob with a look of annoyance.

“He’s quite interesting. I could see why your heart jumped when you laid eyes on him.”

You ignore Denwen even if you feel a warmth creep on your face.

“Sorry, it’s just. New place,” you come up with a pretty shitty excuse and quickly follow up by jumping back to the previous subject so he doesn’t keep touching on the subject. “I left for London after graduating to try and escape so much inner turmoil,” you sigh. “But no matter how far I run it follows wherever I go. You kind of have to envy the people that can leave everything behind when they travel the world don’t you think?” You say, finding it easy to share from the inner depths of yourself with Bob because of what he said. Telling this to your dad or Layla would be impossible.

“That’s why I came,” Bob says as he drops his head. “Maybe I should’ve tried London.”

You chuckle softly and he can’t help but look up and sigh softly before you move on.

“So you’ve had a history of drug use? Could you list them for me? All the ones you can remember please.”

Bob quickly averts his gaze now and his shoulders tense. He takes a moment of silence before he gives you what you want. “Meth. Morphine. Marijuana. Cocaine. Shrooms and well…drugs I found here. I don’t quite remember what they’re called. Damn. Sorry,” he says as he scratches his forehead frantically.

“It’s okay,” you quickly assure him, and take this moment to steal a glimpse at Denwen now lurking in the corner of the room. “You were honest and that’s all I need. It’ll help with the project.”

Bob sighs in frustration so you quickly move on to the next question. “Do you have any allergies?”

Bob shakes his head as he keeps his eyes averted.

“Do you drink coffee?” You try to bring him some ease and at the mention of that question, he can’t help but look at you again.

“My stepmother sent me some cafes to check out and I plan to go to all of them before work, so do you drink coffee? Or do you have any suggestions on any good pastries?"

“Ah,” he mouths and you see his eyes twitch before he shrugs. “I’ve kept it pretty simple. I… didn't spend my money on trying new things.”

You hum and then nod. “Okay, got it then we can both go into this blind. We can be like those people on the internet who try new stuff in front of the camera!” You exclaim excitedly. “Coffee? Tea?”

He scoffs with amusement and shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter to me. Whatever you get.”

“Cool. That makes this so exciting!” You grin and move on. “Now. The medication list I’ll get from the doctors, so let’s move on to the deep stuff okay?” You let him know and he hesitantly nods with his shoulders growing more tense and his body moving forward as if trying to hunch over and cage himself to avoid your questions.

Thus as you take note of his body language you start off easy. “How many languages do you speak?”

Bob's eyes flicker to you and you shoot him a smirk. “It’s important,” you press.

“Uh, English and a bit of Malay,” Bob says hesitantly.

You snicker and show off your knowledge. “I know English, Spanish, French, Ancient Egyptian, and I am learning Arabic.”

Bob scoffs. “Was that question really necessary?"

You snicker and shake your head. “No. No, it wasn’t, I just wanted to show off.” You reveal and catch him smiling as he looks at you impressed before he presses on the subject.

“Ancient Egyptian?”

You shrug smugly. “Hold your applause, please. I learned for nefarious reasons.”

“It’s not that hard.” Denwen comments as if it’s not a dead language and as if it’s not his native tongue. Also who said he could speak?

“Really like what?” Bob probes wanting to prolong what’s coming but also because he’s genuinely curious about what your meaning of nefarious means. You look so innocent.

“I like to say I’m an archaeologist,” you explain, finding it comfortable to open up to him once again. Maybe because you know he’d listen since there’s nowhere else he could go—albeit he could be dismissive and he’s not. He looks attentive to your every word.

“But I…I am a retired archaeologist, but,” you sigh and lean forward. “I would steal artifacts off the black market and simply return them to their rightful owners,” you share and smile sweetly whilst Bob grins.

“You’re a thief?" He teases.

You gasp and shake your head. “No, sir. Am I a thief when everything I take is already stolen? I am simply returning things to their rightful place.”

Bob chuckles and you smile.

“Well, you’re here so I guess it went well.”

You shrug. “I owe it to my gadgets and my stepmother, but thankfully yes. I am retired though. I’ve been good. I walk the straight path like a good pup.”

Bob smiles and then asks how knowing Ancient Egyptian connects to your dirty past. “So all that led you to knowing a dead language?”

“Well, yes. My stepmother let me join her on her adventures and taught me how to read, write, and speak in ancient Egyptian. Did you know hieroglyphs are like an alphabet? People who don’t know how to read ancient Egyptian think hieroglyphs are their own language, but it’s not so,” you ramble enthusiastically and he hangs onto every word, finding it nice to finally be acknowledged and treated like a person and not a simple experiment.

“You still have to know the language, of course, so that’s why I had to learn it. There’s so much cool stuff to know,” you muse. “Knowing one simple language doesn’t satisfy my curiosity.”

“It must be a consequence of being smart,“ he comments, and then catches what he said and grows a shade of red while averting his gaze.

“Why…yes,” you ease his already tormented mind. “I always think that too. So does my stepmother.”

Bob clears his throat and you have to force yourself to move on or else you know you could ramble on about all that you know.

“Ok, ok, enough of that or I’ll talk your ear off.”

“I don’t mind,” he interjects. “It’s been really quiet since I’ve gotten here. If the doctors don’t need anything from me they don’t bother me.”

You look at him with pity and stay quiet until you find something to say. “Well, I’ll be with you so much that I’m pretty sure you’ll get sick of me.”

Bob looks at you and you look at him. “You know what? I don’t think that’s quite possible, but we can try.”

You smile softly and move on. “Okay, now. Any history of mental illness?”

Bob sighs shakily and all the comfort you brought him vanishes. “Anxiety and depression,” he lists and you nod before continuing.

“Okay, now home life. Tell me about your parents. Do you have any siblings?”

Bob begins to fiddle with his fingers and once again looks like he wants to cage himself away, but you give him the benefit of the doubt and wait.

Yet no matter the time you give him he continues to struggle, so you interject before he gives himself some kind of aneurysm. “How about this, when you tell me something about yourself, I’ll share something about myself. Fair trade, don’t you think? Plus we’ve already been doing it.”

“No, no, it’s fine. Don’t do that for me. I can tell you just give me a minute.”

You nod and wait patiently, seeing Denwen still sticking around like a plague.

“I don’t have any siblings,” Bob breaks his silence and sits up but he can hardly meet your eyes. “I used to live with my mom and dad, but my mom well…she was there, but well,” he pauses and scratches the back of his neck. “She used to be a drug addict.” He throws out quite curtly, letting you know there’s so much more he’s hiding, but that’s enough for you so don’t make him say more.

“And my dad…he was there,” he adds bluntly, and once again you recognize that he’s not being honest, but you don’t press. Instead, you do the thing he said not to do as if you couldn’t control what came out of your mouth.

“I never knew my mother. I have a picture of how she looked, and I know that she gave my dad an ultimatum. Her or me. He picked me. Ever since then, I’ve never missed someone I've never met. I’m glad of it.”

Bob slowly lets his shoulders fall and against his better judgment, he probes. “You’ve never been curious?”

You nod. “Always,” you whisper. “I have all the means at my disposal to know about her, but…I’m scared to know if it was actually me that pushed her away.”

Bob takes quick blinks and his eyes twitch before he scoots himself closer to the edge to the point that your knees brush against each other. “You were young. It’s not your fault. Don’t believe that. Sometimes mothers are just not…good.”

You hum in comprehension and smile softly at him.

“You mentioned your stepmother several times. How is she?” He asks as if trying to assure you.

“I love her and I think she loves me. She’s good to me at least.”

He hums and you smile with admiration before you take your turn to assure him. “You don’t have to speak about your father. It helps me to know about you for my personal research apart from what the doctors are doing, so don’t worry, okay?”

Bob nods softly and you continue to probe. “School life, how was that?”

He shrugs. “I finished middle school and I did some high school. But I dropped out halfway through ninth grade,” he shares a bit easier than talking about his family.

“Okay. Got it. Can I know why?”

“I was in a car crash that got me into morphine. After that, I just wasn’t as interested in school, but maybe I should’ve pushed through. I wouldn’t have ended up here,” he says and you shrug.

“Maybe here is where you’re meant to be,” you share sweetly.

Bob sighs. “I wish it wasn’t. I don’t think this is working. I don’t think I’m going to get any better.”

You draw out a deep breath and hesitantly put your hand over his. “I will make this worth it, I promise. Life brought you here for a reason, okay. I’ll show you as long as you let me.”

Bob looks at your connected hands and then slowly drags his eyes up, letting you see how blue his eyes are from up close.

“Okay,” he whispers.

You smile softly and he looks at your smile and breathes out softly. You then pat his hand before letting go and asking a couple more intrusive questions, in doing so letting you get to know him and letting him get to know you a lot quicker than you thought.

Once you’re done you both take a sigh of relief as if that was the hardest part about this entire ordeal when it’s not even close to done.

Alas, you finally get to move.

“That’s all I need from you for now,” you tell him “I’ll come back to get some blood and tissue samples, but if you need anything I’ll just be outside, okay?”

“Yeah.” He nods. “Okay.”

You get up from your chair and before you grab your tablet you address him. “It was nice to meet you, Bob. I'll be in and out of here while I’m here, so I hope that will let us know more about each other.” You smile at him and he smiles back with some effort.

“Yeah, I’ll see you.”

“Hm.”

You walk over to the table in the room to get your tablet and then walk out. Before you can walk to your station though, you press your back against the door and can’t contain the urge to giggle.

It was silly, perhaps, but you can’t help it.

And Denwen can’t resist commenting on the matter. “How frivolous. It’s better not to have your head spun about over something so…feeble like infatuation.”

You roll your eyes and approach your station. “No one’s infatuated over anyone,” you grumble without caring that there’s people nearby.

“Is that so?” Denwen groans. “You forget I am tied to you, I know when you’re lying. And you’re speaking to me now? I started feeling so lonely. Your mind is a dark place.”

You roll your eyes again and start to finally jot everything down that you got from Bob to finally finish step one of this entire ordeal.

“Like I've said before, don't bother yourself over something as foolish as human desire. Your heart will yearn but there’s no point. It’s a weakness.”

“I am not taking advice from something that’s four thousand or something years old that’s been stuck in an ushabti longer than he was alive,” you mutter bitterly, making Denwen chuckle before he manifests himself behind you in his human form as if that made any difference.

“That's why I am qualified to tell you that desire is not worth it. Don't let your heart fool you. You are stronger than that. It will only break you.”

“And what, you’d rather I be alone all my life like you?” You snap, making him lean over your shoulder.

“You’re already alone, my desert flower.” He says softly against your ear and vanishes while chills run down your spine and the hairs on the back of your neck rise whilst that once giddy heart slowly shrouds itself in that ever so heavy and aching blanket that is misery and simply does its job.

In a room full of working doctors you sit alone, miles away under that same blanket simply doing your job.

——

*A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. CHICAGO*

“Hello?”

You sniffle and no matter how hard you try you can’t hold back your tears. “Pa?” You say shakily and hear silence at the other end.

It prolongs for so long that you think the phone call somehow ended, so you quietly call out in question. “Pa?”

At that second call, there’s a shaky cry before you hear your dad's shaky voice say your name in confusion.

“Yes. It’s me.”

“It’s you. Yeah, it’s you, baby,” he cries as five years’ worth of grief finally comes to an end.

“Daddy?” You cry and glance at your sick grandmother with sorrow before you look away again and continue. “When are you coming? I came back and you weren’t there, and they said it’s been five years and…grandma is dying, and…Pa I’m so lost. Can you come? Please.”

Another wave of silence hits the phone and this time rather than sounding happy or relieved he sighs deeply before he lets more silence continue for a moment and then interjects.

“You know what, Wolfie…I don’t think…I can come.”

You blink rapidly in disbelief and shake your head. “No, no you don’t have to come to the house. We can go back to the old house or I can go to London. I just…I want to see you.”

Your dad says your name and then continues to break your already fragile heart. “No, that's not good. Layla and I aren't together anymore,” he says and you gasp as if he punctured your chest—“And I sold our house in Chicago, but maybe I’ll go visit. Next week.”

“Oh okay. Yeah. Please.”

But he never came. You waited and waited and he never showed, or called, or messaged you again.

That confusion you were overwhelmed with when you came back from being blipped disappeared soon without his help, but thanks to him, you were instead riddled with something else. Something worse.

You came back to your grandmother dying, and your grandfather five years older. Your best friend and boyfriend have a child together, and life as you know it didn’t stop when you were gone, you all too quickly realized that it went on, leaving you feeling out of place, and like you don’t fit anymore because you didn’t. Not in this new world.

What was meant to be a happy new start turned sour soon. You once knew what you wanted to be and what you wanted to do. Your life was planned out. Your life wasn’t perfect, but you were happy, and now? You’re supposed to pick up where you left off? How? When you don’t know anything anymore. You’re confused and lost. Nothing makes sense and you’re alone.

That was the worst of it, how lonely you feel. That’s what your dad cast you with. No matter the people around you, they aren’t enough to pull you from that dark secluded corner you live in watching the world continue with no remorse. You want them to be enough. You want life to be enough, but you’re in a body you don’t recognize anymore and stuck with a mind frequently in a frantic state trying everything it can to feel like you used to.

——

*NOW*

You used to think and hope that your loneliness and sorrow would vanish, but you made up with your dad, you processed your grandmother's passing and the fact that you blipped, and it still plagues you. A lot more than before because now you’re cursed with living with a God you could get rid of but don’t know if you should.

“Maybe you could flip a coin,” a soft voice breaks you from your stupor, making you blink away from your phone and catch Bob watching you debate whether to tell your dad about Denwen or not.

“Maybe,” you mutter and put your phone away before you pull out the long needle without trouble. “But even then I’m afraid it wouldn’t be so easy—You did good, Bob. Thank you.” You praise him with a smile after getting the samples you needed from him whilst finally grasping onto the fact that you were in fact moving about mindlessly. It's only until Bob finally spoke to you once you were alone that you snapped out of it.

“Are you close to your dad?” Bob asks curiously and cautiously.

“Yeah,” you tell Bob with a smile. “We’ve had our trials and tribulations and he’s strange, but yeah, he’s a good dad.”

Bob nods and as you turn away you can’t help but frown. Not because of anything Bob said. Actually, it’s not because of Bob whatsoever, it’s just you stuck in that state of mind again.

“What now?” Bob asks in hopes of getting a response from someone who has actually been nice to him. And you actually prove him right by answering him.

“Now, I run the project and your samples through my AI and see which serum works with you,” you let him know, and face him. “So don’t worry, I won’t need any more samples from you anymore, so if you hear loud banging or music suddenly blasting from the lab, it’s me trying to break my head.”

Bob chuckles nervously so you quickly assure him. “Don’t worry though I’ll figure it out. I just know it’ll take multiple different equations and combinations and whatnot.”

Bob sighs. “I’d offer you my help, but I wouldn’t be here if I knew what you were doing.”

You chuckle. “Oh don’t worry. It’s all a curse. I would have loved playing the drums in an all-female band rather than being cursed with all this knowledge,” you share lightheartedly. “Don’t tell anyone though or I’ll hear lectures about it until the day I die.”

Bob laughs softly and looks at you with fascination. “Why a band?”

You lean against the table and share an impossible dream. “They get to dress all cool all the time, and if you’re a drummer you get to hit all your emotions out with sticks. You get to travel the world, listen to music all the time, and no matter what you do…you’re always adored by fans.”

As if hit with a realization by the last comment, he hums softly and nods gently. “I can see the appeal.”

“Of course it’s all whim when I feel like shit—not that you have to worry,” you blurt. “You’re in perfect hands.” You wink at him. “I got you. You’ll be seeing all kinds of cool bands in no time whilst you’re saving the world and I’ll be here with my cursed mind.” You giggle and turn to grab the tray where the samples are.

“Well I wouldn’t know where to start, I would need help choosing good bands to listen to,” he interjects meekly and you slowly smirk before you look at him over your shoulder.

“Oh, is that so?” You beam. “I got you. I’ll come by later and I’ll show ya. I hope you don’t mind! I didn’t plan to annoy you so soon.”

“No, it’s fine. I have nothing to do anyway,” he assures you so you flash him another beaming grin and nod in comprehension.

“Great, I’ll come by later then.” You let him know and then walk out of the room, letting the guards take him back to his room.

Yet you failed to show. Partly because you knew you shouldn’t get close, but also because you had people whispering in your ear against getting close to the subject. And to try and please the doctor, you took his suggestion.

However, why did the doctor issue the suggestion when no one in the lab tried talking to you? You tried to reach out, but none of them gave you the time of day like their subject did.

Which is silly perhaps, you’re here to work not to socialize, but you long for it so deep in your bones. Especially here where you’re so far from home.

The lab soon gets empty as everyone files out at the end of the day and when you return to that hotel the silence is louder and with the time differences you can’t even reach out to your family so you're stuck in a cage of your own making wondering under the dim lamp light why you were brought back. Where do you belong now that you were thrown out of place? And who you were.

It’s always the same questions and you always get the same response. Nothing.

Sleep provides some escape from the disappointment though, but you have to wake up all too soon. At least you wake up to a call that makes you smile.

“Hello?!” You greet giddily.

“Hi!” Your grandpa Elias greets back happily. “I’m so happy I caught you. What time is it over there? 7 am, right?”

You nod as you tug on your tight pants. “Yeah, uh 7:10 to be exact.”

“Good, so then ALEXA was right, how is it going over there? Did you make any advancements?”

You finish buttoning your pants and swiftly throw on your shirt before you respond and scramble around the room to put on your shoes. “Some. This job has been harder than expected, but it’s nothing I can’t tackle.”

“That’s what I like to hear, Wolfie. I know it’s only been a couple of days but you have taken time to explore the city?” Your grandpa asks not knowing the immense pressure you put on yourself that doesn’t leave room for anything else but work.

You don’t tell him though and just come up with a quick dismissive response. “I’m trying to take time before I head to work, but there’s so much to see and such limited time.”

“I know, but remember to take it easy, okay? You can be just like Marc and get so caught up in your work that you lose track of time.”

You giggle at the exposing comment and try to assure him this time. “Alright, I’ll try and I’ll send all the pictures I can.”

“I’ll keep my phone close.”

You smile softly and grab all the stuff you need before you head out whilst you hear all about your grandfather's day and his plans that always impress you because he does so much in one day. When you used to live with him you would be the one trying to figure out where he was while you were at home.

Now you worry just as much as he worries about you, but that’s why you try to call every day if you can. Over the past couple of days, you haven’t been able to talk. That's why while you’re waiting for your coffees and pastries he comments on the present you sent him.

“I got the present you sent.”

You smirk. “I’m glad, I was looking at old pictures and I came across the one with my first ever project and I thought, now that I’m so far away, maybe I could remake it to keep you safe. And it’s guaranteed to work now so don’t worry,” you assure him, making him chuckle before he sighs.

“You don’t need to worry about me, but I appreciate it. It’s a nice gift that reminds me of you,” he says, making you want to cry, but you hold back your tears and get your treats before you head out and continue towards home without letting your grandfather go.

Yet perhaps you should have the moment you reached the building because once you were outside Bob’s room he told you such terrible news.

“Hey Bob,” you greet the man with a half smile while your attention is divided. “Sorry, I'm almost done here.”

“…With Gary’s shop closed I am cautious about the other shops with my car being so old, so I called Lorenzo.”

You put the coffees and pastries down and can’t help your jaw from dropping to the ground.

“No, no, grandpa don’t talk to Lorenzo,” you grumble as you fist your hands out of frustration. “You text me all that’s wrong with your car and I’ll tell you what’s wrong and how much it’ll cost you, okay? Don’t talk to—”

“Why not I’ve been talking to him for the past 7 years,” your grandpa cuts you off not understanding what’s so wrong with him talking to your ex. “He’s a good man.”

You clench your jaw and turn around to try and grab a handful of your chest but instead you just let out your frustration by hitting your knuckles on the small table.

“He asked about you, so I gave him your number…” his words trail off and you pull the phone away and drop your head in your hands.

“Talk to him,” you hear your grandpa say when you focus back on the conversation. “And to your friend. Ask them about their baby. Connect to your old roots.”

You press your phone back to your ear and nod. “Yeah, I’ll see if he hits me up. Grandpa, I have to go, okay? I love you.”

“Okay, love you too. Take care, and do you need money?”

“No, my dad has me covered,” you assure him. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

With that said you hang up your phone and drop your phone in your pocket and smooth out your coat with a deep breath before you turn around and face Bob with a warm smile. “I’ve brought breakfast. Hi.”

“Hey,” he says quietly and offers you a tight-lipped smile with a dull look in his eyes, causing you to immediately get hit with guilt about yesterday.

“Uh, I’m sorry I didn’t end up coming yesterday,” you immediately try to apologize as if the fate of the world depends on it. “I…well, they told me not to. I listened to try and please them and they paid it back by going to the bar without me. Not that it’s an excuse, but I am sorry,” you say and sigh as you offer him his cup. “It’s still warm and this pastry looks good. Maybe we’ll like it.”

Bob drops his head and nods gently. “I get it you know and you didn’t have to do this.”

“Well, I did tell you I would and it wouldn’t be as enjoyable alone. I debated it.” You say and offer him a timid smile.

Bob keeps his head down as if debating whether to accept your offer, and he almost doesn’t, but when he looks up at you and sees your smile, the dim lights brighten and he can’t help but take the cup and forget yesterday.

“Y-you’re close to your grandfather?” He asks out of curiosity and as an excuse to know more about you.

“Yeah,” you tell him as you make space on the table by his bed. “When I was young, visits to my grandparents’ house turned into visits to my dad's house because of work so…they ended up raising me. My grandfather is like a second dad. We try to talk every day albeit I might have to stop considering he gave my ex-boyfriend my phone number and told me to ask him about his ugly baby that he had with my best friend,” you grumble as you turn on your laptop.

“Oh no that’s fucking terrible,” Bob says in your defense. “I'm sorry.”

You groan and nod. “It’s horrible, so let’s please forget it or I’ll get mad. Let’s listen to those bands I promised to show you instead, ey?” You suggest as you wiggle your eyebrows and then turn on the music.

With yesterday's mishap forgotten you begin your day the way you had planned previously.

The volume of the music starts off quietly. It’s a sensible volume for the morning and between strangers. Slowly though, bit by bit as your thinking turns to a brainstorm and the work doesn’t have a solution, the music gets louder, you end up pacing the room until there's a path on the ground, and that initial timidness is forgotten.

Strangers turn to friends with a few words as the music is the last solution to finish bonding your lonely souls because it's not like he could help you with your work. You’re on your own trying to make this serum work, but Bob turns out to be a great moral support.

As you dance about the room to get your blood flowing and have new equations and combinations forming in your head, Bob bops his head to the music he already knows. He just wanted your company as much as you sought his and in turn, he got every bit of you. No shame, no facade. He got every piece of you in that room.

He even catches you at your worst moments with your coat no longer layered on you. Your work and yourself sprawled on the ground with your mind worn out.

“I’m pooped,” you mumble and get up. “I’m going to get lunch to restart my brain.”

“Yeah,” you hear Bob interject a lot quieter than usual. “It’s getting pretty late.”

You gather all your papers from the ground and close your laptop over them to keep them in place as you get up. “If I don’t come back I’ll be at my station, working more,” you let him know and glance over at him to ask what he wants, but when you see him, you catch him laying with all the blankets he has in his possession and his forehead gleaming against the room's soft light.

“Bob, are you okay?” You ask and he doesn’t think about his answer, Bob nods, but his eyes are drooped and he just practically looks like shit, so you walk to his side.

“I’m going to feel your forehead, okay?” You let him know and take a seat at his side as he gives you his okay.

Once you feel his forehead with the back of your head you feel how hot he is, and when you check his pulse it’s so abnormal that it’s hard to mistake it no matter how delusional you want to be.

“I’ll be back okay?” You tell him sweetly and he nods gently before you fly out of the room with panic. “Doctor Houston, it’s starting. His fever,” you say between heavy breaths, and without question, the doctor grabs something from the lab before he rushes into the room with you at his tail.

“It’s to slow the symptoms down,” he tells you as he injects something in Bob's arm. “You have 72 hours now, Miss Spector before the symptoms take him out.” He says bluntly and leaves the room without addressing Bob and without caring about your captured breath and your racing heart.

The stress you once felt also doubles, threatening to crush you now instead of wearing you out it whilst a new sense of guilt hits you.

Yet it’s nothing you show Bob. You sit by his side again and gently take his warm hand in yours. “You’re going to be okay,” you assure him, earning his dazed gaze.

“You should get lunch, I’m not going anywhere,” he says back kindly, making you grin softly.

“I’m going to make this work,” you whisper to him as you lean in closer, keeping his deep blue eyes locked on you. “I’m here…I got you, I promise."

Bob's eyes soften and with the little effort he has, he squeezes your hand back to try and hold on tightly to the only person who cares deeply, finding so much comfort that he knows one thing for certain. He doesn't want to let go.

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A/N- AHHHHH