a/n : anyways miss spencer is really about to cause some trouble
please react, comment, and vote!
✯✯✯
IT'S THE CRACK OF DAWN.
Spencer remembers a time where you couldn't get her out of bed at this time if you bribed her. But here she is, 5:02 AM, and she's sitting on the little ledge three doors down from where she'd slipped out of Elenora's room. Since this isn't like the other residency areas in the school, Spencer has yet to spot a single person. Which is good. She's not so sure she's up for interactions right now.
Her eyes are focused on the courtyard outside. If she thought the Institute was beautiful before, this morning was an awakening experience. It was truly... beautiful. Natural. In the early morning haze, the sky was more golden than blue, and she could swear the blades of glass reflected the light like little diamonds.
"What are you doing?"
Spencer's head snaps over to the voice, but she doesn't have to look to know the source: Pietro. His voice is all gravely and sleepy, and he's rubbing at his eyes with his fists.
He's not an early riser, either.
"Why are you awake?" Spencer asks back, watching calmly as Pietro shuffles onto the ledge beside her, setting his back against the little cove so he and Spencer are across from each other.
Even though Spencer pulls her knees closer to her chest to give Pietro more room, their legs are still touching, the plaid fabric of Pietro's pants brushing against her bare skin.
It's soft. She shuffles her legs closer to him.
"I..." Pietro starts, but his eyes find the window. A little smile sets on his lip, a laugh bubbling in his throat. "Reminds me of the farm," he notes, turning back to Spencer, who smiles with a little nod.
Pietro's expression lightens when Spencer smiles, and she can tell it's a bit of a relief to him.
His eyes are back out the window. "How was seeing Nicole?" he asks, softly.
Even though he's not looking at her, Spencer shrugs. "Fine, I guess," she says. "She's pissed at Bruce. For helping."
Pietro's eyes trail back to Spencer. "You're pissed, too."
"Yes," she confesses, admitted. "Well, no? I get that he had to make a deal," she reasons, with a little shake of her head. "But helping her? Seriously?"
Pietro goes to reply, but before he can, a bedroom door is creaking open, and Elenora's peeking her head out.
She's squinting down the hallway, then turns in their direction.
"Oh, good morning," she says with a little smile. "I totally freaked-" she admits. "Thought you went to kill Raven or something. Uncle Charles would've been pissed," Elenora notes, laughing a little. Her eyes flicker to Pietro. "Hi."
Pietro raises a little hand in response.
Elenora stares at them for another second.
"Oh my God, I'm totally interrupting, aren't I?" Elenora rambles, mostly to herself. Her face scrunches, and before Spencer can say no, she's going on, "I'll go back to bed," she offers, jutting her thumb towards her doorway. "You lovebirds do whatever you do - talk passionately - out here, and I'll just-"
A door across the hall opens. "El?" A voice calls out, and Spencer peers down the hall to see Connor stepping into the hallway. "Why are you up already?"
"I'm not," Elenora snaps back. "Go to bed."
Connor scoffs, and Elenora turns to him, agitated when suddenly Peter steps into view.
Elenora suddenly straightens up, her palms curling on the door frame.
"What's going on?" Peter mumbles sleepily.
Pietro lets out a groan, letting his head hit the wall. Spencer tries not to smile at his reaction.
"I'm hungry," Elenora says, suddenly. "You guys wanna get some breakfast?"
"Breakfast isn't for another three hours," Connor mentions.
Elenora glares at him. "I can cook, Connor."
Connor scoffs. "You can kill better than you can cook, El, and I saw you cry the last time you stepped on an ant."
Embarrassed, Elenora turns back inside her room, before grabbing something and chucking it down the hall, right at Connor's head.
"Woah!" Peter exclaims, moving to catch it, but Connor's got it handled; he uses a little gust of wind to send the hairbrush against a wall far away from him, watching, bored, as it crashes into a wall, and clatter to the ground.
Elenora glares at him.
Spencer sits up from the ledge, feeling the heat of Pietro's eyes on her. "I'm hungry," she agreed with Elenora. "We can go together."
"I'm coming!" Peter calls out, shuffling past Connor. Connor stares at him for a second before rolling his eyes and following suit.
Elenora grins widely, matching smiles with Spencer who's got Pietro standing up behind her.
El, Connor, and Peter start down the stairs, and Spencer and Pietro lag behind.
Pietro's giving Spencer a funny look, so she scrunches her nose. "What?" she demands.
"Nothing," Pietro says, which a little shrug.
Spencer shrugs it off.
✯✯✯
"I TOLD YOU I COULD MAKE BREAKFAST," ELENORA STATES, TRIUMPHANTLY.
"They're more crispy than scrambled," Connor notes, pushing around his food in his place. Elenora sends him another deadly glare.
"I think they're great," Peter counters, trying extra hard not to stammer on his words but failing anyway.
Which makes Pietro snicker. And Spencer nudges him to knock it off!
Elenora smiles to herself a little, but then her blue eyes flicker up to Spencer. "What about you? Did you like them?"
Spencer considers lying, but Elenora is acutely aware of the empty plate in front of hers, and even looks over to Pietro, whose serving has doubled in size.
"I'm sure it's great," Spencer starts.
"She doesn't eat eggs like this," Pietro answers for her, straightforwardly.
Elenora's expression drops.
"I could've made you something else!" Elenora exclaims.
"I'm not even that hungry," Spencer brushes off. She gives a little shrug.
Pietro shakes his head. "Yes, she is," he counters, pushing himself up from the chair at the island. "You have cereal?"
"Uh, yeah," Elenora confirms, turning from the counter to face him. "It's right in that cabinet," she says, pointing above his shoulder, to the left. She spins back to Spencer. "Do you want any coffee?"
Just as Spencer goes to answer, Pietro zooms back to the counter, almond milk, and cereal in hand. "I can make her coffee," Pietro tells Elenora as she slides Spencer her cereal.
"I can get it," Elenora counters, reaching for the coffee grounds.
Pietro turns to her. "I can make her coffee," he tells her, seriously, "I am her boyfriend."
Spencer chokes on her cereal because how unnecessary!
Peter rolls his eyes. Connor does a double-take, squinting at the two of them.
"Wait," he tells them, staring at Pietro, then letting his eyes turn over to Spencer. "You guys are together?"
Pietro furrows his eyebrows. "Yes," he confirms. "Why?"
Connor looks him up. And down. Then he shrugs, turning back to his plate.
Before anyone can ask any more questions, the door to the kitchens is opening, and Charles Xavier is stepping in.
Spencer tenses, immediately. As pissed as she is that Bruce accepted the deal, she's even angrier that Charles put it in place. It's his group that owes the Avengers - not the other way around.
But she doesn't say anything.
"Hey," Elenora greets, smiling up at him as Charles gives Connor's shoulder a squeeze. "What's up?"
"I'm happy you are all getting along," he says, gesturing to the group at the island.
(Spencer has the sudden urge to drop kick Connor, just to prove not everyone's getting along.)
Charles' eyes flicker over to her, just for a second.
Spencer thinks, Fuck.
"But I need to talk to Spencer alone," he breaks. "If you don't mind?"
Spencer does mind, thank you very much, and she much rather drop kicks Pietro than even look at this guy, but she stands up, anyway.
Pietro peers up at her, and only her, watching carefully as she does.
Spencer catches his eyes for just a moment. She can see the question in them - do you want me to come with you?
But Spencer's strong enough to take this rich dude down any day, so she shakes her head and follows him into the hall.
It's dimly lit, and the rays from the sun don't seem to reach her here. For a moment, she thinks that Charles has a perfect opportunity to murder her.
(Then she realizes she's like the HYDRA trained mini hulk or whatever and doesn't stress about it.)
"Raven is in stable condition," he breaks to her, gently. Spencer's certain it's 100% thanks to her father, and that Charles is simply trying not to mention it. "I know that I have promised you and Doctor Banner a moment alone with her, however," he tests, carefully, his blue eyes tracing hers carefully. "I believe Ms.Romanoff is planning on initial interrogation. Prior to your...opportunity."
"That's fine," Spencer snaps, her arms crossing over her chest. "I will be there. The whole time."
"Of course."
"And Pietro," she tacks on, because why not? She's got full control over this conversation. And plus, she's pretty sure Bruce is the only one that's going to keep Raven alive, and if Spencer really wanted...
"Alright," Charles concedes.
Spencer nods, then shuffle past the man, going back into the kitchens to grab the only person who can keep her sane.
✯✯✯
WHEN PIETRO AND SPENCER GET DOWN TO THE BOTTOM BASEMENT, THEY ARE SURPRISED TO SEE MORE THAN JUST NATASHA ROMANOFF.
Clint's there, too, with Wanda at his side, whose eyes snap to the door when Spencer and Pietro slip in.
Bruce is standing at one of those two-way mirrors in an interrogation room. He turns when he sees Spencer, but she's quick to shift her attention to Wanda.
"Hey," she greets, and Wanda pulls her into a hug. Pietro stands behind the two of them, his arms crossed over his chest until Spencer finally pulls away, and he gives Wanda a hug, too.
"Are you alright?" Wanda checks and Spencer lets her eyes fall back to the mirror.
She's sitting there. Her. In that interrogation room, in a hospital gown, all restrained.
She's blue. Like, seriously blue. And if Spencer's being quite honest, it's totally not her color, but then Raven - Mystique - turns towards the mirror, and looks right at Spencer.
She's not supposed to see her. Not through that. But Raven is still staring right at her like she can see right to Spencer's throat.
"She is terrified," Pietro answers for her, and Spencer's head spins back to the twins as she shoves her elbow into Pietro's stomach.
"I'm fine," she promises, in a bit of a hurry, as another person rushes through the door.
At first, it's just a blur of messy brown hair, but when Spencer looks closer, she realizes it's her mom.
"Oh, there you are!" She shouts as she rushes across the room, gathering just about everyone's attention - especially the grizzly lumberjack man standing off to the side.
She's throwing her arms around Spencer, who freezes for a second before reciprocating the hug. Nicole presses a kiss on her head.
"I slept through my alarm," she admits. "And your dad didn't even bother to-" Nicole turns to Bruce, who turns away the second he notices. "See that?" she asks Spencer. "Avoidant behavior."
Nicole then looked over to Pietro and Wanda.
There's a moment of no movement, no speaking, and Spencer thinks, oh my God.
But then she's pulling Wanda into a hug, and both have a content expression.
(Since Wanda and Spencer have become best friends, Nicole has been seeing a lot more of the Maximoff twins. She was over when Spencer was packing over all her stuff, always having sleepovers, and more.)
But then they pull away, and Nicole is back to staring at Pietro. Both are expressionless, waiting for the other to break.
"Come here," she says to Pietro, who makes a bit of a face as Nicole (much shorter) wraps her arms around him. "I'm so happy you're doing better."
"Thank you," Pietro says, sending Spencer a look of pleading.
"Mom," she calls under her breathing, tugging her mom off of her boyfriend. "Who's that, and why is he staring at you?"
Nicole's face heats up, but she hides it pretty well by scrunching her nose and shaking her head. "I've got no clue," she tells Spencer hurriedly, squeezing her shoulder as she extends a hand to Natasha. "Hi again," she greets the red-haired woman.
"Hi, Nicole," she greets with a little smile. Spencer thinks this is weird. She's pretty sure she's the only one who thinks so because now Nicole's shaking hands with Clint.
"Nice to see you again," Clint greets, and Nicole nods in agreement.
"Yeah, great circumstances," Clint muses, his hands in his pockets as he turns to the young Banner. "Are you ready for this, Spence? It's not gonna be nice."
"I don't really do nice," Spencer says with a little shrug.
Clint looks too Pietro. "You two have been spending too much time together," he mentions, and Pietro rolls his eyes, but smiles, anyways.
(Somewhere, in the back of the room, some paperwork falls from a desk. There are no visible people around.)
"Nat," Bruce calls softly, and both Spencer and her mom turn to him with an irritated expression. He notices but flickers his eyes back to Natasha. "She's ready."
Nat gives a little nod to Bruce, then turns to Spencer to check on her.
Spencer's fine. Really. She's perfectly fine, but... it's weird. It hurts.
"Don't worry about it, Spence," Clint assures her, giving her shoulder a little squeeze. "You'll get your chance."
Spencer knows she will, and she hardly needs Clint to reassure it, but she gives him a little nod, anyway.
So Natasha makes her way into the room, and it's silent, for a few seconds as she sits across from Raven. Raven doesn't bat an eye - she's not intimidated at all.
"Hello," she says, pressing a black folder against the table. "I heard you're feeling better."
Raven says nothing.
Spencer shifts her stance. She's completely uncomfortable and nervous and ready to get in there, but Pietro is at her side, his arm pressed against hers, his chest brushing her back.
"I need information on what you were doing in Bulgaria."
No answer.
"Do you know who's in this picture?"
No reply.
"It's you."
Finally, Raven cracks. Her voice is scratchy, and even with it, Spencer can hear the amusement in her tone as she replies, "that's Captain America."
"It's you," Natasha corrects in an unwavering tone. Raven's skin is still blue, and a sickening ghost of a smile is resting on her lips. "I know that because on the day this picture was taken-" Natasha slides it over to Raven, "Steve Rogers was with me. In Cambodia."
"Weird," Raven says with a shrug. "Looks like him."
"Enough with the jokes, Raven," Natasha interrupts. "I don't have this kinda time."
Raven looks at Natasha for a second, before turning to the two-way mirror. She stares with such intensity, such focus, that Spencer really thinks she can see right through the film, right at her.
"Looks like you've got all the time in the world," she answers back.
✯✯✯
RAVEN CONTINUES TO ACT LIKE NATASHA DOES INDEED HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD.
It's been two hours and no answers. Nothing. Raven just... she's relentless. But Natasha is just as bad. As much as Raven avoids, Natasha hounds.
Pietros getting restless. Maybe more so than Spencer - he doesn't like being here. Underground. Locked in by all these walls and doors and people.
Spencer glances to her side, where Pietro is sitting, next to her. His leg farthest from Spencer is bouncing at a rapid pace.
Spencer doesn't know what to do. He doesn't want to be here, she knows, but she's selfish and doesn't want him to leave her side.
She does grab his hand, though. She reaches over to his side and pulls his hand over, locking his fingers with hers.
Just as she squeezes his palm with her fingers, Pietro's head dips down, closer to her ear. "Are you alright?"
Spencer shrugs. She focuses on brushing her thumb against the palm of his hand. "Wish I had more coffee."
"I get you some," Pietro tells her, beginning to stand up, but just as he's about to slip out of her grasp, Spencer's hand turns green, and he stops trying to move.
"Stay," Spencer mumbles, but she doesn't even finish her request before Pietro's sitting at her side again.
The door of the interrogation room opens, and everyone's attention shifts to Natasha, who's walking out of the room. She goes to Bruce, first, then Clint and both of them turn to Charles.
Spencer doesn't have to have super hearing - she knows exactly what they're saying. Clint's eyes shift over to her, and Pietro tenses immediately, but Spencer's ready for the cue.
She's standing as Nicole's eyes turn to her - and Bruce's. Pietro's hand sticks firmly in hers, and when she turns to look at him, she notices the ridiculously stoic and stubborn expression on his face.
"I don't need a babysitter," she gently reminds him, gently.
His eyes flicker down to hers. "I am not a babysitter."
Spencer rolls her eyes, a small smile settling on her lips. It doesn't reach her eyes, or her heart, as she starts to pull away from Pietro, her arms wrapping around her chest.
She makes it over to Natasha, who's standing by the door with Clint, Charles, and Bruce. Nicole is rushing over, too.
"This is my turn, right?" Spencer checks, looking among the adults. They all look hesitant like they're doubting their decision.
But before anyone has the chance to tell her, no, Spencer's shoving her way through the crowd, and pushing open the door.
It slams against the wall loudly.
Raven flinches but freezes to hide the action. The door behind Spencer swings close.
"Are you the follow-up act?" Raven questions and her tone implies that she thinks Spencer's not worthy enough. "I got to admit, the redhead has fire-"
"I don't give a shit what you think," Spencer cuts in, getting ahead of herself.
"Interesting," Raven replies curiously. "Charles told me I'd be seeing you," she adds as Spencer stays standing in front of her. "Want revenge?"
"Not really my thing," Spencer replies, but she's thinking that revenge is so my thing, thanks very much.
"If not revenge," Raven presses, shifting in her seat to get a better look at Spencer. "Then what do you want?"
Spencer considers playing along with her little game. It's the first time she's really talked in hours of interrogation, and it sieves Spencer that she's the reason why.
But she tries not to let it show. Instead, Spencer demands, "Do you feel bad?"
Raven just stares at her. "Should I?"
Spencer assesses her again. Half of her wants to get angry - of course, Raven should feel bad! She should feel horrible. She should feel worse than Spencer.
But the other half knows that there's a group of superhuman adults waiting right outside that door for any reason to pull her out of there.
"Charles says it wasn't personal."
"It wasn't."
"I don't think it was," Spencer admits, with a little shrug. "In the beginning."
Raven's eyes follow her carefully as she sits at the chair across from her.
"Why'd you go back?"
"Oh," Raven laughs out. "You wanna know why I screwed your boyfriend."
Spencer's face heats up. She's uncomfortably aware of all the people beyond the faux window, listening to this entire conversation. And she's even more aware of what they're thinking - they expect her to react. To freak out, to... lose it.
But Spencer's not. She can't. She's in too deep and needs too much not to stay level-headed.
So she says nothing. She acts like it doesn't bother her, like fire and ice aren't racing through her entire body, hardening her veins.
The people in the other room might not see it, but Raven is acutely aware of her effect on Spencer. It makes her lips curl up into a vicious smile.
She continues on with a scoff. "as if I'd want your life. It's all awkward relationships and petty behavior and stupid outbursts - seriously, tell me," she urges Spencer, leaning forward on the table. Her restraints rattle against the table, making Spencer crying. "Have you ever actually had fun?"
Spencer grips the table so hard that the metal bends to a new corner.
"Alright, that's enough-" Clint says from behind the glass. It stirs up conversation behind there, but it mostly mumbles Spencer can't decipher.
Before anything else can happen, there's a rush of air blowing Spencer's hair back and the sound of the metal door to the room closing.
Spencer's head snaps up.
"dragă," Pietro calls. He's standing there, at the door, his arms flexing as he holds it closed. His eyes never falter from Spencer's. "Ask your question," he tells her softly, "and let's go."
The events run over each other in her head. Was Clint not just saying enough two seconds ago? Shouldn't Spencer be getting escorted out of here? Her heart is beating too fast to hear anything from outside now, but her eyes stay glued to Pietro until Raven speaks again.
"Your boy toy over here was definitely a perk," Raven mentions, nonchalantly. Spencer's eyes snap back to her, but Pietro looks anywhere else.
Raven's attention is too much. She calculates everything - assessing Spencer's every move. Knowing that she hit a nerve - or several, nerves, Raven grins, crawling forward on the table with her arms. "He's probably the only thing I enjoyed in your sad, pathetic life-"
Spencer slams her hands on the table. It only seems to egg Raven on.
"Have you ever felt the power, Spencer?" She urges. "Real, true power. Total control. I had that. Over everything - he'd do everything I say."
His jaw is tightened, and he maneuvers his back against the door, keeping it closed. His arms cross over his chest, tightly.
Raven knows her effect. She presses, "Pietro remembers me, don't you? We had fun," she plays, propping her chin upon her palm.
And then as if that all isn't terrible enough, Spencer blinks. And she's turned into a carbon copy for spencer - for fuck's sake, Spencer thinks she's looking into a mirror! The only thing that remains of Raven is a stupid, sick grin that makes spencer falter a little.
"See how easy it is?" Raven taunts, still in Spencer's skin. It's horrifying. "He fell for it, anyway. Worked very well."
Pietro's jaw sets. He doesn't look away from Spencer, the real Spencer.
"Don't talk about him," Spencer says, furiously. "Don't-"
"He knows me, Spencer," Raven counters, fading back to blue. Her stupid, horrible grin is back on her lips. Spencer's stomach plummets. "I'd say we're definitely more than acquaintances. I'm sure that doesn't make you jealous."
Spencer is in fact jealous. Not in the sense that she's been with Pietro - because it's wrong. It's not right. What she did, what Raven's done... it's irrevocable. It's wrong.
And was Spencer really that easily replaced?
"I know what you did to him," Spencer interrupts her own thoughts. She doesn't need to fall into that self-pity hole so easily.
Raven's eyebrows furrow. But once she realizes what Spencer's talking about, she lets out an incredulous laugh.
"To him?" she echoes in a scoff. "Please, you should've heard him. He wanted it."
There's a brief moment Spencer doesn't react. There's a second that passes of complete silence, and tension and the room is... still.
"Okay," Spencer says, finally, calmly.
Then, with a green palm, Spencer reaches forward, grabs a handful of Raven's hair - right at the roots - and slams her head on the metal table.
There's a disgusting crack, and Spencer scrunches her nose as she tugs Raven back up, and throws her down, again.
Pietro stares at her, surprised, but turns away, like he sees nothing. He keeps his stance at the door, where Spencer is sure there's pounding of fists.
Spencer hears Clint's voice, but can't make out the words.
Pietro must be able to, because he just tilts his chin back towards the door, and says loudly, "No."
Spencer doesn't ask. She doesn't care. She's done playing nice. It's her fucking turn.
Attention is fully on the absolute monster in front of her - who put her through hell. Pietro through hell.
Spencer pulls back on her hair, making Raven's head tilt up to the ceiling. Baring her teeth, Spencer moves to get in Raven's eyesight.
She wants to say something terrible. Make Raven regret everything and feel as disgusting as she should, but when Spencer sees the blood, she falters.
After everything. After all the fights and battles and torture she's gone through, the blood... It's horrible. It makes Spencer feel gross and small and...
And she shoves Raven's head back to the table so she can't see her gag.
New plan. Now, Spencer grabs for the metal restraints, and rips them right off the chair, and then off of Raven's hands. It scratches and digs into the girl's skin, and Spencer hears her scream in pain before grabbing at Spencer's shirt.
Spencer grabs her wrists and twists. There's a sickening snap before Spencer shoves her down.
She kicks her. In the ribs. At least one cracks. Then in the stomach. She's not afraid of killing her - maybe it's because she doesn't think she's that weak or because Bruce will fix whatever Spencer's undone.
She kicks her again. She deserves it all.
Spencer tosses her head back to look at Pietro, who's fighting against the attacks on the door.
Spencer's running out of time. She knows that.
She squats down to Raven's height. Now, she looks sick. The sunken eyes, the crimson stains. She looks horrible. And good. She should.
Spencer gets lower. She's right by Raven's ear for what she mutters next.
"You ever do that shit to him, or anyone else," she yanks on her hair, "I'll kill you dead."
The door burst open. There's shouting, but Spencer's ears are ringing, drowning out the voices.
She lets go of Raven. She slumps against the wall like dead weight. And Spencer's fucking proud of herself.
Then her arms are tugged back, Clint grabbing hold of her elbows.
"Come on," he grumbles, irritation in his tone. "Let's go."
Spencer Rebecca Banner wipes her bloody hands against her jeans, letting Clint drag her out of the interrogation room.