The Chosen ✗ A Marvel Fanfiction

thirteen ✗ inhuman

Secrets were no good for a relationship which was something that Matt and Theresa had found out years ago. Nevertheless, a secret was what Theresa had kept from Matt because they weren't in a relationship now; in fact, they were barely even friends. At least, that's what Theresa kept telling herself since she and Matt got out of the service tunnels.

Theresa had to fill the silence with her thoughts clouding her mind because Matt was silent. He didn't speak, other than to tell her that they were having the conversation that night. The gap between that statement and Matt speaking again spanned a long while until they were in his apartment.

The first few minutes in Matt's apartment were still silent as Matt took off his mask, throwing it onto his kitchen table. Finally, he turned his head towards Theresa and asked,

"What the hell was that?"

"You'll have to specify," Theresa answered, her voice soft. She genuinely had no idea to which of the things that he'd been referring to, the inhuman thing or the talking to Matt's (probably) mortal enemy thing.

"You have powers, Theresa."

At that moment, Theresa couldn't help but remember a moment almost ten years ago when their roles were reversed. When a situation forced Matt to reveal his abilities to Theresa.

"I do. I think."

"You-you think?" Matt repeated in surprise. "You burned a man's hands!"

"I didn't mean to!" Theresa didn't expect her voice to come out as defensive as it did, but in the heat of the moment, she didn't try to fix it or even question it.

"You didn't mean to?!"

"Matt, you're mad that I made you give me the walkie."

"We could've got something!"

"No, we wouldn't have! Fisk was doing the equivalent of going, I win, I win, I win, while dancing in a circle! He wanted to be able to taunt you, to mess with you."

"And you're just immune to that, right?"

"That's not what I-" Theresa let out a frustrated sigh "-Matt! I'm trained in stuff like this, you aren't!"

"I've been doing this a while now, Tess."

"Then why'd you ask for my help if you clearly don't play well with others?!"

"I—" Matt looked revved up, like he was trying to figure out how to blow up. But then the tenseness of his shoulders fell and his voice came out quiet. "I don't know."

"What are we doing...here, Matt? Are we friends or...colleagues in some capacity? I don't know what this is, okay? I...I can't have whiplash, okay? I'm..." Theresa paused, feeling a weightiness pressing on her chest. "I'm Inhuman. I have alien DNA, Matt. My life may or may not have manipulated by external forces since I was born. Despite all that, I'm so ready to help you take down Fisk. I kind of agree with Vladimir, that we should kill him, but because you are you and I trust you, I'll help you make it so that son of a bitch never breathes fresh air again. But if you're going to fight me while we try to do things, I can't do it."

Theresa stopped talking and the silence that followed felt like it was spanning minutes, not seconds. So much so that Theresa had to jump in again, to say one last thing.

"I imagine you need all the facts, so here's another. I don't...ever want to lose you from my life again. So, do with that...whatever."

"Alien DNA?" Matt finally repeated, letting out a soft sort of chuckle. "Sounds crazy."

"It is. It really is." Theresa said with a relieved sigh. "It's a new development. Didn't know I had the DNA until a couple weeks ago and the powers...tonight was the first time I saw anything. I have no idea what it is."

Then Matt grimaced, the adrenaline fading and his pain hitting him in full swing.

"Sit down, Matt," Theresa told him, a frown creasing her face. He didn't fight her, pulling out a chair and collapsing into it. "How injured are you?"

"A little sore. You?"

"I didn't fall through several stories, Matthew."

"Good night of sleep and I'll be fine."

Unfortunately, Theresa wasn't Matt and she didn't have a supernatural ability to tell just how much he was bluffing. So, she fixed him with a look which she was sure that he could feel. There was a long pause between them before Matt finally spoke again,

"I still want your help. It's just...I see what Fisk does, what he's a part of. It's my city, Theresa, and he's just...he's like a cancer."

"I know. I just can't believe it took you this long to fight crime in your pyjamas."

"Still would've dated me if I was doing it in college?" Matt teased with a cheeky smile.

"Oh yeah, the Superman fantasy. Double-life. Noble hero. Protector to damsels everywhere."

"That's a fantasy?"

"Well, you were almost there. You were the guy who saved me. Who taught me what it felt like to be loved. Had secrets that didn't make mine seem so scary."

"If I was all that to you..." Matt trailed off with a pained look on his face. "...why'd you break up with me?"

It was a question that she didn't want to answer because it seemed so serious at the time and now...she was having a harder and harder time understanding how she ever could've done it. But, she remembered how it felt at the time...how devastating for both of them.

"I was recruited for SHIELD's Operations Academy. It is the most brutal training a person can go through with a really high percentage of washouts. Once you graduate, you get thrown into undercover ops, where you have to live in a different identity." Theresa had to take a bracing breath before she admitted the next part. "I...I loved you so much and I knew that I couldn't join SHIELD if I still had you because, Matt, I want—wanted a whole damn life with you."

Theresa almost wanted to look away because of how plainly Matt's feelings on the matter were written on his face. He was hurt like he had been back then when they'd had the agonizingly long breakup talk.

"Why was it so important to join SHIELD?"

"My entire family tree is criminals and I didn't want to be that. SHIELD...seemed like the easiest way. But then it turned out SHIELD was mostly science Nazis from World War Two," Theresa remarked with a dry laugh.

"You were always good enough, Theresa. You didn't need SHIELD to prove it."

"Maybe not but what you're doing now, the vigilante thing, would you give that up for anything? Anyone?"

"I have to do it, Tess. There has to be a reason for what I can do."

"Your vigilante thing is like what my SHIELD thing was. It's not about being a hero or recognition, just...being able to do things that most people can't. Make a difference."

Matt couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips at how she was talking. Maybe SHIELD had left her a little more optimistic than it had found her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing. Just...maybe the people of Hell's Kitchen will come up with a nickname for you."

"I'm sorry I took over a little tonight."

"No, you were...you were right. Fisk, he just..." Matt didn't finish his sentence, instead, let out an exacerbated sigh. "He's everything that's wrong with this city. My city."

"And I'll help you save it."