NUMB || MARVEL

11

The signing of the contract had not gone as planned. Though only a few of the Avengers went - Natasha and Tony for example - it had set the others in a bad light. Especially after the fact that there was a bombing and it took down the king of Wakanda. A special country.

At least, that's what they said to Aileen. The most important thing was that she was not cooped up in the building any longer. Steve and Sam told her that it was okay if she wanted to come. She didn't. Apparently, the two knew the bomber. Something that Aileen found a little suspicious.

She decided to stay out of it. Both Steve and Sam looked a little disappointed when she told them, but they also understood. She wasn't the Aileen they remembered, the Aileen that she didn't remember.

It didn't take days before someone came into the building to take her with him, Tony was there the next day.

She had taken a day of rest and just walking, something she enjoyed thoroughly and she was kind of sad to see it coming to an end when she came back into the building and saw Tony pacing around the floor.

"Are you okay?" She asks and his eyes widen as he sees her.

"Aileen!" He walks up to her and it seems as if he wants to wrap his arms around her, but decides against it. "I thought that you had gone.. or worse, was with the boys." He admits. She frowns at this statement but decides to shrug it off.

"Why would that be worse?" She had decided that she would ask all of the questions that were playing in her mind. Starting with the ones that came up in conversation.

"They are now considered vigilantes. You have a to-go bag?" He quickly asks and Aileen shrugs.

"I could grab something. How long?" She didn't like the loniless that came with all of them being gone. Wanda and Vision being the exception, but Wanda had been in her room the whole time and Vision was not a good conversationalist. Well, he was. But it was strange, as if he knew her but not the real her. He explained that it had to do with the fact that he once was JARVIS, the AI that came before FRIDAY.

She was with Tony in the jet and looks around. All so luxurious.

"What do you do for a living?" She asks him and his mouth opens and shuts.

"I'm an Avenger." He simply says but Aileen raises her right eyebrow and he gives in immediately. "I used to build bombs." He admits. "But once I saw what they could do, I stopped."

"When did you see what they could do?" She asks him and he smiles slightly.

"Lot of questions."

"I'm really curious. My best guess is that I knew all of you really well, but the new me doesn't. So I have to adapt." He chuckles and grabs two cups of coffee from the machine, placing one of them in front of Aileen before sitting down.

"I was taken hostage." He starts. "While that happened, a piece of shrapnel almost pierced my heart. A brilliant doctor designed a magnet to keep it from my heart." Aileen's eyes narrow at the light emitting from his chest. "They wanted me to build a weapon, but I designed my first suit and got away. Decided to keep doing that - building suits - and meanwhile protect the world." Aileen hums at the story and he narrows his eyes at her.

"And where exactly do I fit in?" He raises an eyebrow. "I read the files." His face blank. "I was in Sam's and Steve's. Not yours." He looks down and sighs.

"I didn't want you in there." Aileen looks taken aback.

"Because you don't like me?" He shakes his head.

"Because you mean the world to me." He replies and with that sentence, Aileen knew that the conversation was over though it only gave her more questions. Was she family? A partner? No, he had no family. No, Pepper was his partner. Aileen feels a headache coming up and leans back in the chair, closing her eyes.

"Are you okay?" She opens her eyes and sees a worried looking Tony kneeling beside her. Who was she to him?

"Yeah, just a headache." He frowns but she shakes her head. "Just got a tiny few sentences of this whole large book that is supposed to be my mind." She looks out the window and sees the world being opened up to her. "Where exactly are we going?"

•

They arrived in Germany just in time. Tony had been informed that Steve, Sam, T'Challa and James Barnes had been taken hostage. The latter being the criminal that Steve and Sam knew. T'Challa was apparently a king, and now a guy in a cat-like suit, made out of vibranium. Something that didn't stop Tony from talking about it.

"You'll be provided with an office instead of a cell." Aileen looks up and sees Everett walking in with the men, except James Barnes. Everett wasn't happy that she did not sign the contract, but he was happy that she did not went along with Sam and Steve. She still was figuring out why. "Now, do me a favour, stay in it?"

"I don't intend on going anywhere." T'Challa replies and Aileen sees Natasha walking in.

"For the record, this is what making things worse looks like."

"He's alive." Steve replies and he notices Aileen sitting at the conference table. She awkwardly waves at him and he gives her a beautiful smile. Sam stands slightly behind him and smirks at her which she immediately does back before frowning. Was it a habit?

"No. Romania was not Accords-sanctioned." Tony was still on the phone. "Colonel Rhodes is supervising cleanup. Try not to break anything while we fix this. Consequences? You bet there'll be consequences. Obviously you can quote me on that, because I just said it. Anything else? Thank you, sir."

"Consequences?" Steve asks and Tony turns to Steve, Sam and T'Challa. Aileen had been informed that that man, was the king of Wakanda.

"Secretary Ross wants you both prosecuted. Had to give him something."

"I'm not getting that shield back, am I?" Steve smiles.

"Technically, it's the government's property. Wings, too."

"That's cold." Sam replies before taking a seat next to Aileen.

"Warmer than jail."