Bruce asked Valen to meet him in his lab after she had lunch. She still didn't have details of why he wanted to see her, but she didn't care.
She knocked three times on the glass door. Bruce twirled around on his chair and waved her in. She looked around at all the different screens showing scientific things she didn't understand.
"How are you, Valen?" Bruce waved his hand in front of the screen he was sitting by making it change screens.
Valen gave him a thumbs-up before sitting down on a twirly chair. She moved back and forth before grabbing the counter and twirling herself in a fast motion. The chair came to a stop where Bruce could see a hint of a smile.
He looked down and smiled to himself so that Valen wouldn't notice he saw her. "Valen, I wanted to know what all your abilities are. I understand you can form ice and turn invisible on your own free will, but what are the limitations? Can you do anything else or can your powers increase into something more?"
She looked at him with a hesitant look. She didn't like where this was going. Hydra did plenty of experiments on her and she was not willing to be another lab rat.
Bruce scooted his chair forward but when Valen backed away, he scooted back. "I'm not going to hurt you. Nobody here wants to hurt you. I'm just curious, I can't help it."
He reattempted to approach her. When she didn't step back, he reached out a hand for her to take. Slowly Valen grabbed his hand and got off the seat. Bruce offered her a warm smile before leading her out into the hall to take her to a different room. She had her arms crossed the whole walk.
Bruce opened up a door for Valen and gestured for her to go inside. She took a few steps forward until she saw an exam table that someone had built straps to. Bruce walked in after her and went over to the cabinets to grab a needle.
Her whole body started to shake, a new panic she'd never felt before pulsed throughout her veins.
Valen took one step back, then two, then three. Her back hit the door causing a thud to alert Bruce. He looked at her confused. He followed her eyes to the needle in his hand.
"Valen, it's not-"
He made the mistake of stepping towards her so she put a wall of ice between the two of them. Her hands trembled as she tried to turn the door handle. When she finally got it open she took off as fast as she could.
She had made it to her room and locked herself in the bathroom. She made it to the furthest corner and slid down the wall holding her legs close to her chest.
-
"Bruce?" Steve called out walking down the hallways. Friday alerted him that Bruce needed his assistance.
"I'm in here! I'm in here!" A very soft voice could be heard by Steve.
He opened the door to see a large wall of ice and the distortion of a body on the other side. "Bruce, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Can you get me out?"
"Yeah. Let me go get some help."
Steve returned with Vision. Vision warned Bruce to stand as close to the wall as he could. Then he used his stone to create a doorway that crashed to pieces when it fell.
"Banner, what happened?" Steve was the first one to walk to the other side.
"It was my fault. I didn't warn her about the needle. I was going to take a blood sample to study later. I should've asked, I should've said something before leading her here. She freaked out when I pulled this out. Is she okay?"
"No one has seen her. We all thought she was with you. How long have you been in here?"
"Not that long."
"I'll go find her. Try and figure out how to get this down while I do." Steve gestured to the new wall added to the room.
-
Valen was still in the corner rocking herself trying to calm down. Her head was resting against her arms that were on top of her knees.
Valen could hear running footsteps approaching her door. Whoever it was wiggled the door handle aggressively trying to open it. She heard them sigh and then take off. Not even a minute later two running footsteps came back. The dark bathroom glowed in red as Wanda unlocked the door from Valen's side.
The door swung open and Wanda and Bucky ran to her side. Both of them tried to coax her out of her state. After minutes of multiple attempts, Valen still had not calmed down.
Wanda didn't know what to do until a familiar voice called out from the bedroom door. "Valen? Are you in here? Didn't know if you wanted to go on a walk today or if you were too tired after whatever Mr. Banner had you do."
"PETER! PETER COME IN HERE!" Wanda shouted.
Peter came running into the bathroom as fast as he could. He was completely confused about what the emergency was until he saw Wanda and Bucky sitting on the floor next to Valen.
He didn't waste a second before getting on the ground in front of Valen. "Valen, what's wrong?"
She shook her head no, still rocking with her head down. Wanda and Bucky got up to give the two space but still stood in the bathroom to make sure everyone was okay.
"Hey, hey. Look at me V."
Peter gently grabbed both sides of Valen's face and raised it. He pushed her hair back behind her ears and wiped her tears.
"I need to get out of here. I need, I need to go."
"Where are you going to go?" He asked softly.
"Anywhere. I don't know what's wrong with me. Look at me I'm shaking." She raised her arms to show Peter her trembling hands.
"Val, you're having a panic attack. You need to breathe. I get them too, there's nothing wrong with it. Breathe with me."
He breathed in, held, and then blew out. He made sure to keep eye contact with Valen. He never let go of her face as he made sure she did what he did.
"You're okay." He whispered.
Valen leaned forward and held onto Peter. She closed her eyes as her head rested against his shoulder. Peter hugged her back, not letting go until she was ready.
Bucky gave a small smile that didn't meet his eyes and looked to the floor. He was happy she was no longer freaking out, but he was upset with how it happened. He had learned today that Valen had someone else to confide in and trusted more than him. She was even talking to Peter. She hasn't said a word to Bucky, and it hurt.
Bucky tapped Wanda's arm and nodded his head toward the door. They both walked out leaving the two on the floor.
Valen wasn't sure how long she stayed on the floor like that with Peter. After a good bit of time, she let go and sat back against the wall.
"What happened?" Peter asked.
"Bruce wanted to test my powers but instead took me to an examination room. I saw the table with straps and he pulled out a needle, I just freaked out. I felt like I was back there again. Getting ready to be poked and prodded to see if they had done their experiments correctly. They forced me down on the table and strapped my legs, arms, and head. I couldn't get out no matter how hard I pulled. I couldn't freeze them, the consequences would've been worse than the needles. I couldn't turn invisible, they would still poke hoping to not hit anything too important."
Valen hit her head against the wall once. She hated this feeling. She felt weak and vulnerable. She's never had a panic attack before, and she never wanted to have another one again.
Peter got up and pulled her up with him. "I'm taking you somewhere."
"Where?"
"Do you trust me?"
She couldn't answer that. She only trusted people to a certain extent but not fully after Bucky left her. It was too risky. She didn't want to set herself up for being disappointed again."I don't know."
"It's not a full no." Peter took Valen's hand and ran outside.
They made it to the main part of New York where they normally go for walks. He took her into an alleyway where Peter started stripping.
"What the hell are you doing?" Valen turned around to face the opposite direction. Her hand was over her eyes.
"You'll see."
She could hear him throw his clothes into a bag and then zip it up. Still not turning around, Peter came up beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist. He was in his Spider-Man suit.
"Hold on tight."
Valen did exactly that. He swung them both up into the air. Both of her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck as she whooped and hollered. She felt like she was flying. Peter just laughed and was smiling big time under his mask. This was the first time he saw her let loose and have a different expression other than a glare or being outright expressionless.
He landed them both on top of an apartment building. Valen walked to the edge and stared at the different lights, people, and cars. A real smile never left her face.
"That was awesome!" Valen jumped as the adrenaline kept rushing through her.
She spun around to show how excited she was to Peter, but she was completely alone. He had disappeared. She walked to the other three edges looking down to see if she could spot him, but nothing. A soft thud of feet hitting the ground sounded behind her. She turned around to see Peter standing with two cheeseburgers in his hands.
"Mr. Stark said you liked cheeseburgers." He offered one to her.
"Did you steal these?"
"No, I bought them. This one is for you."
"Take a bite first."
His spider eyes squeezed down. "Really think I'd poison you?"
"Take a bite first and we'll see."
Peter took off his mask and unwrapped Valen's burger. He took a big bite on purpose and then handed it to her. She took it out of his hands and went to take her own bite before Peter started choking. He raised his hand to grasp his throat, his eyes going wide.
"Peter? PETER?" Valen dropped her burger and ran to him. Complete fear overtook her.
He stopped acting and laughed at his joke. The fear that Valen was feeling was now replaced with anger. She punched him as hard as she could to his shoulder.
Still laughing he said, "Come on. I was joking."
"A joke is supposed to be funny." Peter still smiled and sat on the edge of the building. Valen followed suit with her burger in hand. "You owe me a new one."
"I'll buy you as many as you want." He tilted his head and smiled at her.
"I'll push you off this building."
"I don't doubt you."
The two ate in silence watching the sun go down. Peter stood up ready to take her back to the compound.
"I don't want to go back." She refused to stand up.
"You have to."
"What if I didn't just for one night?"
Peter thought on this for a second. "You can stay with me if you want. We can go back in the morning."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Come on." He offered her a hand which she took.
They swung between buildings until making it to a window that Peter pushed up. She climbed through first, then Peter.
"I'm going to tell Aunt May I'm home. Do you want to come meet her?"
Valen quickly shook her head no. Peter grabbed a pair of clothes to change into and gave her a soft smile. He left the room, closing the door behind him. She didn't know what to do now, so she stood awkwardly by the window. He returned, now changed into the clothes he grabbed.
"Do you want something to sleep in?" He already started going through this closet looking for something comfortable.
"I'm good with what I have."
Peter ignored her and handed her a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt. She gave him a tight-lipped smile not knowing what to do.
"Are you going to change?"
"Is your Aunt still out there?"
Peter looked at the door and then back at Valen. "Oh yeah. Um, I'll go back out and you can change real quick."
He grabbed the handle, but Valen quickly spoke up to stop him. "Don't do that. It's suspicious to go back out without a reason after already saying goodnight. Just turn around."
Peter went red. He scratched the back of his head and then faced the door.
"Done." Valen dropped both hands to her sides.
"Guess we should go to bed then."
"Yep."
Both of them got into Peter's small bed. They laid on their backs in awkward silence, both not completely on the bed. Their arms were right up on each other.
"Should we?" Valen used her hands to suggest rotating on their sides.
"Yeah."
Valen turned right and Peter turned left. They were now facing each other. Both felt even more awkward and switched again. Their backs now facing each other.
Peter had fallen asleep, but Valen was still awake. She felt the bed move and an arm got thrown over her. She froze not wanting to wake him up but not wanting to be in this position. She closed her eyes deciding to just let it be.