Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel; only Rebecca and the world surrounding her.
Half - PVRIS
Welcome to Lithe from the To Build A Home Series!
Thanks to everyone that reviewed, favorited, and subscribed to this story so far!
This is the end of 2010, 2011, & the very beginning of 2012 to get you ready for the next chapter.
Our man of the hour is about to make his first appearance...are you ready!
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Half
Some days I feel everything, others are numbing
Can never find the in between, it's all or nothing
I never, never, never, never said I wanted
Never wanted to be here now
One foot in the grave, other on the ground
I can't process what I'm feeling now
This skin I can do without
June 2010
The downtown Chinese Restaurant was buzzing during a late dinner rush. Everyone was talking, eating, laughing, just all around having a good time around them. While the father and daughter sat across from each other picking at their food, avoiding conversation which was odd for the small family. Becca played with the Lo Mein on her place with the chopsticks between her fingers, eyes dodging back and forth between her food and her father. It was never quiet between the two, Tony usually filling up the empty silence. But this time, nothing. They hadn't had a legitimate conversation since everything went down at the Expo a few days prior.
Becca opened her mouth to say something but closed it once again. She had let out a deep sigh that gained Tony's quick attention.
"How's your dim sum?" He broke the awkward silence, yet her eyes didn't leave the plate as she answered.
"It's good." She took a sip of water before attempting to keep the conversation up. "How's Pepper handling things?"
He tilted his head back and forth in a so-so way. "Alright. More publicity fires to manage that anything. The normal when dealing with me." He set his own chopsticks down and crossed his arms on the table, food forgotten. "The abnormal is dealing with the fact that the girl that she has been looking after almost the entirety of the girl's like has now found out she is a secret spy."
Becca finally looked up at those words, seeing the intensity in his brown eyes. Those words were fully his concern, just masking it on the women. "True." She shrugged, playing along.
"Were you ever going to tell me that you're working for SHIELD?"
She rose an eyebrow at his sudden bluntness. "Well, probably around the same time you were going to tell me you were dying, Dad."
Tony looked over her once before shaking his head. "You are so my daughter. But this isn't something you have been hiding for only a few months, thought."
"You're right. I have been hiding this for two years." She finally set down her own cutlery. "I wasn't dying though, being reckless, and pushing everyone away in the process."
He knew she was mostly talking back to the night of his birthday party. "I'm sorry I did that, Bec. There is no excuse for me to act like that to you. I just didn't want you to see me get worse." Tony's knuckles ran across the plate in the middle of his chest on her shirt. "But your SHIELD friends seemed to have helped me out with that."
"You swear?" Becca's eyes clouded over, remembering a very similar promise coming from him when he returned from being held hostage.
"I swear to you. I'm fine." He watched a family sit down a table away from them. The young girl with pigtails reminded him of his own daughter now sitting across from him as a grown woman. "You aren't getting out of this that easy."
She leaned back, pulling a hand through her hair, feeling tired from the conversation already. "I never expected to."
"Two years." He murmured the words, letting them sink in before really demanding an answer. "Two years, Becca? How did you even manage this?"
"A lot of help from good people." Sure, she had her moments of uncertainty in this organization, but they honestly dealt with so much from her to keep her hidden. She owed a great deal to Clint, Natasha, Coulson, and Fury. "This was something that was brought to my attention. I didn't go looking for it."
"From the beginning." He spun his fingers in a circle to get her to start at the foundation of her story.
"I'm only going to explain this if you promise to not get upset or throw a fit with me." Her eyes were dead set, something he realized that she had picked up from Pepper many years ago now.
"Becca, you are a grown adult. I can't tell you what to do or not do."
She nodded, fingers playing with the cloth napkin in her lap. "That doesn't mean your opinion doesn't matter to me still."
She started the story from the beginning, how Coulson met her at school to Clint saving her life, to training, meeting Natasha, missions. All of it. She saved from telling him some harder missions, knowing he wouldn't approve much of them. For the most part Tony sat back, quiet, taking in everything his daughter had to tell him. He was always attentive with her, always making sure to not just acknowledge but listen intently to everything she ever had to say to him. Separating his childhood from hers this way.
"Knives? Really?" That was his first comment after letting her tell her story.
The brunette rolled her eyes, a chuckle leaving her lips. "Yes, knives. They're more intricate."
"Never one to back down from a challenge." Tony shook his head with his own laugh. If he didn't laugh he was sure he was going to lose it over his daughter, his baby girl, officially putting her life on the line. One thing was present on his mind more than others. "So that guy that tried to attack you, do you know who he was?"
Becca shrugged. "No. Neither did Clint. We just assumed it was something trying to get to you actually."
"Oh, he was trying to get to me." He cleared his throat, his hand coming up to smooth over his goatee. "Two weeks before everything with Obi, right?"
"...yeah."
"He was working for Obi. Goddamn it-" Now the anger was present but it wasn't directed to her. "-he-he had threatened me about you. Saying something about you being across the states and not being able to stop what was coming. But nothing had happened to you, at least you had told me. So, I thought it was all talk."
Even from his grave, Obadiah Stan could make her father's blood boil.
"It's over. Nothing to worry about anymore." Becca finally repicked up her chopsticks. She felt weightless for the first time in two years. Having her father finally in the know made her breath just a bit easier. "So...you and Pepper."
"Must you?" He grumbled picking back at his own food, noticing how she had changed the subject again.
"Yes!" The easiness back between the Stark family. "I've literally been dreaming about this since I was a little girl. My two-favorite people being together. There's nothing better."
Tony held a hand across his mouth, hiding the smile at watching his daughter gush over the possibility. He was beyond thrilled to know she was just as happy with the budding relationship as the two were. Things seemed to be looking up for the moment for the Stark family.
July 2011
You know when you do something and you don't realize what the actual outcome of it will be until it's over. Where you will then have to sit with your actions, with the gut-wrenching actions you had to do. All Becca could say was she did it survive. She did those things to stay alive. She had to literally fight for her life.
Her feet body followed behind Natasha, while Clint followed behind her. The three of them had their heads down, no talking between them and no eye contact out of their unit. They played follow the leader from the jet they left and back downstairs to their office. The threesome barely making it through their door and to their desks to fall down at each. Thankfully Clint had enough energy to slam the door behind him, making it perfectly clear they didn't want to be disturbed.
Becca dropped her bag with a heavy thud to the ground and her body followed after. She didn't want to sit at her desk, knowing that involved using more strength to keep herself up right, so her back against the wall behind her desk and her arms and legs splayed out along with it. The other two had very similar ideas. Natasha had fallen onto the couch on her back, eyes staring lifeless at the ceiling while Clint took a very similar idea to Becca but was face first on the floor, using his bloody arms to hold his head off the cool linoleum.
Budapest, Hungary had got the best of them.
There was nothing easy or simple or fun about the mission that they had been on for the past 48 hours. It was difficult, it was torture and it was a blood bath. After months and months of research and crosschecking points, they had found another head of Ten Rings. He was starting to gain popularity and gaining more and more followers than there were civilians. He needed to be stopped before it was completely take over from there.
The problem was as Team Delta took their ground in the city, they were ambushed almost immediately. As if the terrorist group had known the entire time of their plans to infiltrate. It was a full out brawl in the streets, business' and homes. Death and destruction had been left in their wake without a thought of it as the war was happening. At some point in the hand to hand combat, Becca remembered Clint telling the two of them through their coms that he had the leader in his sights as she was clipped with a bullet. As she screamed out in pain, she turned on her toe and launched her knife right at the man to take him down.
At remembering the one of many injuries, she took a glance at her left shoulder, seeing the bloodied leather and torn apart skin in her wake. She needed stiches ASAP but the thought of ever moving again made her even more sick.
Neither of the three moved a muscle as their door opened and closed softly again. She didn't need to look up to know it was Coulson who had entered the room. It was normal from him to immediately find his team directly after they returned from a mission, whether it be big or small. Becca had also taken comfort in his cologne. Coulson always smelled of spicy and warmth, and it made her feel in control of her body again, knowing that he was there meant they had survived another day.
"Injury report?" He asked the question first every time. Not asking about the details of the mission or anything of the sorts. Phil Coulson wanted to know first and foremost that his agents/companions had come back in a resemblance of one piece.
"Ribs." Natasha whispered, taking as steady of breaths as she could. She knew she didn't break them or fracture them, but they were sorely bruised to the point of immense pain from simply breathing.
"Shoulder and knees." Becca explained, the bullet wound in her shoulder while her knees were almost down to the bone from scrapping them from sliding across the gravel at one point.
"To many cuts to tell." Clint finished, basically talking to the ground but was heard just fine. It was true, from being thrown through a window that's what would happen to you.
Coulson cleared his throat and leaned back against the door to let his team rest. He was proud of them. He always was. It took a certain mindset and skillset to do the things the three were able to do in a short amount of time. But now was his time to get these agents back up and move along.
"This was tough. The casualties were higher than anyone ever wants, but that's what it takes to survive." His voice soft in the dark room, letting them each regain their own consciousness. "You time and time again put yourselves in harm's way and SHIELD-" he thought about his words for a second and went back on them, "-I can't be grateful for you enough. The three of you are the strongest agents we have. You saved the civilians in Budapest today. That's what you have to focus on. Not the men who were harming those people in anyway. They got what was coming for them."
Becca raised her head finally to see their handler. Feeling some of the anguish fall off of her.
"You three need to stick together. Be the high in each other's weak spot. Just remember this mission is over and you walked away still breathing. Remember that each and every time."
September 2011
The tattoo parlor smelled of a mix of incense and disinfectant. Becca arms were crossed, eyes looking over the designs that littered the walls. Many flowers or anchors or skulls, a lot of the generic tattoos she has seen on many people in her lifetime.
"Would you come here and hold my hand, damnit!" Eve yelled at her best friend across the shop that was dead expect from the two girls and the tattoo artist.
"Always so dramatic." Becca smiled at the blonde before doing as she was told. Eve grasped her hand desperately as the man kept working on her ankle.
"You know how I am with needles." She mustered out, not wanting to see the needle actually go into her skin but also couldn't not take a peak. "God, this better be worth it."
The brunette snorted, getting a harder hand squeeze in return. "You act like you were pushed into doing this. You were the one to actually push me into doing this and coming with you in the first place."
"What do you have better plan tonight instead? A hot night in your apartment listening to country music and reading a book?"
"Maybe I had a date?" She shrugged her shoulders watching the guy snicker at the two girls but kept up his work on Eve's ankle.
"Unless that city boy decided to finally make his move, then no you definitely didn't have a date."
It was true. Becca had been very much single despite the sporadic flirting that would come with hanging out with Garrett from time to time, but she hadn't seen much of him lately. He had been leveled up and was now on the STRIKE team with Brock Rumlow. If anything, they would have some quick interaction at the facility but other than that they have been doing their own things.
"Guess you haven't heard from him lately." Eve's voice softened, looking at her friend with sympathy.
"It's no big deal." She was moving on with life and that's why she was here with Eve that night. She had wanted a tattoo since she was 18, but being a ballerina, you tried to keep your skin flawless. Now that her journey has moved into another direction she wanted to finally do that.
Eve's was beautiful and it made perfect sense to who she was as a person. It was a bitten apple with a snake wrapped around it and poke through the front. It symbolized was she had always heard from the Bible with Adam and Eve, and Eve eating the forbidden fruit. This blonde Eve sitting their today would never let someone stop her from doing something so it was kind of a 'screw you' to everyone in her path that tried to stop her. Eve absolutely loved it and was now standing at the mirror not being able to take her eyes away from it.
"You ready?" The man asked Becca now.
She took one more deep breath before pulling off her button up shirt, leaving her in a cami. Hers was going in between her shoulder blades at the base of her neck. She was getting a compass rose or Rose of the Winds, depending on what people called it. It was a large open rose with the outline of a compass around it. There were many reason for her reasoning to get it, but as she said her journey was what made Becca who she was.
Her life has given her so many paths to walk down, it was all about going in the right direction for herself. If nothing else, she always wanted to be centered in herself.
"It's beautiful, Bec." Eve watched the art design flow beautifully against her skin. If anything came from today, the two girls were drawn more together over the fact that they both held their own fights and journeys directly on their skin.
October 2011
SHIELD was buzzing. With the whispers that no one knew exactly what was going on. That was if you weren't ranked high enough to know the big secrets that keep taking place. Becca sat in Coulson's office, her thumb nail resting between her teeth. The man in front of her has been a type of giddy or off-center since the news of a Russian oil team discovered a crashed plane in the snow and ice.
The man had been dealing with God's as of late which she was still a little haphazard about, not fully understanding how the God of Thunder, Thor himself, had landed on their planet, but Clint had explained to her one to many times that it was true. But now they were dealing with a blast from the past. Literally.
What they found in the crash site was what really had everyone on edge of sorts. How could a man still be alive after frozen for 70 years Becca would never understand but it was true. Captain America was alive. He was alive and currently thawing out in the basement of the building they were in. He was brought in yesterday she had found out from her handler sitting before her, a grin couldn't shake off his face.
"Your crush is showing." Becca smiled, watching the older man always decked out in a pristine black suit completely loose it over his hero.
"Don't you have anything better to do right now?" He straightened the papers on his desk from the 20th time for no real reason.
"You asked me here, remember?" She laughed, picking up the cards that always sat on his desk in view. They were Captain America trading cards that she honestly still didn't fully understand what they were for exactly. But she knew they were his prized possession. "So, what do you got for me, Boss?"
"Right." He nodded before finding the folders he had arranged for her. "Homework."
She raised an eyebrow, but took the folders without a problem, setting the cards back on his desk. Each were labeled. One was her father. One was for Thor. Another was for Bruce Banner. Then finally was the man of the hour; Steve Rogers. "What are these?"
"Fury would like you to get an understanding of them. Just read it over and recall."
She nodded, glancing through the pages. She was about to ask a question before a voice rang over the system calling out a 'Code 13'. Becca went to spring up into action but Coulson held out a hand, stopping her in her tracks.
"Stay here." He got up heading towards the door.
"Are you serious!" She looked at him like he was crazy.
"That's an order." He looked at her one last time before heading out the door.
She watched as agent after agent went running by, while she was still in the glass office, being told to stay put. Becca stood from her seat, folders still in her hand. Pulled out Steve Roger to be on top. She almost didn't want to open to see what was inside. Peggy's words coming back to her so easily with the way she cared for the man so many years ago.
Not long after everything seemed to return back to normal. That was until she the opening of the elevator down the way took her attention.
Her heart seemed to have jumped into her throat the second her eyes locked onto his body. She didn't fully know what to expect at her first time seeing him. Coulson might had been talking nonstop about him and might have been ultra creepy and snuck into to see him while he was sleeping, but Becca didn't know what to expect from the 'legend' and 'hero' who was now in the same room as her.
But now as his eyes found hers across the hallway while SHIELD agents surrounded him, Fury leading him through the facility, she couldn't move a single muscle. She didn't know him and he didn't know her but the amount of energy in one glance could have her powered for an entire week. But the sadness behind that energy was increasing with each second.
Steve Rogers, Captain America, was officially living in the 21st Century.
January 2012
Lithe flipped over the body she was currently fighting before landing on her feet and kicking them in the ribs, giving Black Widow the advantage of wiping out their knees sending them flying onto their back. As Becca went to twist the person around they got a hold of her foot knocking her flat down with Natasha right after. The two women were highly confused by how this person knew what their next moves always were going to be.
Fury had directed them to the Hellicarrier once there was a security breach. The two women did as they were told, finding a path of unconscious agents on the way. As they made their way into the control room, the two ranked agents found person decked out in tactical gear, mask and all, going through the system. Which brought them to where they were. 2 against 1. But it seemed like this 1 was getting the best of them at some points.
Natasha had gotten her footing back pulled the person over into a summersault, hopefully to confuse him enough for them to get the upper hand. As he was into the last flip, Becca was able to pull the mask off to see who the intruder was. The two girls rose their hands in defense as the man turned their way, hands raised as well. But their surprise was beyond off guard at seeing their own teammate standing there. Clint Barton, the very person who right now was supposed to be off in New Mexico looking after the Tesseract that had come sailing down to their planet when the Gods decided to show up.
"Clint?" Becca squinted, out of breath from the fight and just majorly confused.
"Nice work." Fury walked out of the shadows a small smirk present on his face, that one wouldn't detect straight away if they didn't know the director.
"What the hell is this?" Natasha questioned, hands still raised in battle as were the rest of Team Delta still in a circle. Their eyes fleeting back and forth between their Director and their usual counterparts.
"A test, Agent Romanoff." He pulled his hands behind his back, his good eye looking over all of them in inspection. "You all passed with flying colors."
Becca rose an eyebrow, her arms finally dropping as did the other two. "A test? Where we all try to kill each other? Seems about right." Her sarcasm slipping off of her tongue.
"Good to know I trained you well." Clint nodded at his once apprentice, now teammate.
Natasha set her hands on her hips, annoyed with the situation more than Becca was. "I wish I could say I was surprised..."
"You three are my top agents." Fury stood now in the circle with them now. "I needed you to test our security. If Clint could have gotten in here and tamper with our system, we are unprotected."
"In my defense, I did get in here." Said man tilted his head.
"Yes, and that's something we have to change, but you two," the older man pointed between the two women, "stopped him from infiltrating our programing on the Helicarrier."
Becca couldn't help but think back to where they originally found him at the computer. "What were you downloading?" She pointed at the computer Barton had been stationed at.
Clint nodded at her before turning to Fury to take the question. "That's your call boss."
"I wanted him to test the security for the Avengers Initiative."
"I thought that was shut down?" The Black Widow side-eyed her boss' statement.
Fury looked at her in front of him. "It was. That was before a God and more came crashing down from another world." He looked at all three in the eye as he spoke. "We are not alone."
Becca swallowed, while trying not to ground her teeth. "So, you think something's going to happen sooner than later?"
"Why do you think I moved you up to Level 7? Why do you think I've had you three specifically working on top components? We have to be ready."
Clint crossed his arms over the tight tactical gear he was decked in. "With the tesseract still in play, we don't know who will come for it or what might come of it."
"Who's on it?" Natasha also folding her arms across her chest.
"Stark. Captain Rogers. Thor. Dr. Banner." Fury said each name with a taste of false confidence.
"Sounds to me like you've drawn a hand full of wild cards." Clint mentioned what the three were thinking. "You really sure you can count on this bunch in a tight spot?"
"Let's hope so. Most importantly you three. When things go...I will need Delta at once."
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