"He's not bad."Quinn spoke about Stark as she and Steve walked down the hall, having finished a training session.
"He likes you." Steve told her.
"You two are quite similar."
"Hm, I don't see it."
There was a silence as they entered the elevator.
"So, how are you doing?" Steve asked her as they stood side by side.
"What do you mean?" Quinn questioned right back, her voice flat, although feigning unawareness.
"Quinn," Steve reached out and caught her hand before she could continue walking. She felt his weight pulling her back to him, too close for her liking. She wriggled her hand from his grasp, but as she tried to step away from him, she felt her feet planted to the floor, as if his gaze held her in place. She couldn't tear her eyes away from his kind blue eyes.
"You can talk to me, you know," he said to her, his voice consoling and full of the same sympathy he'd been giving her since the previous night.
"I don't want to talk about it!"She raised her voice at him, her eyes intensely staring him down, as they turned misty.
As he stared back into them, taken aback at her emotional response.She then closed her eyes and eased up slightly, letting out a calm breath.
He waited for her to speak once more, unsure of what else he could say.
"I can't talk about it," she uttered, her voice at a much lower volume.
"If I talk about it then I'll cry and I don't cry tears, Rogers, I cry fire."
He absorbed this, understanding that she was frightened of herself and what her own emotions could do.
She gave him one last look, almost embarrassed at how she exploded on him again. He always seemed to be at the receiving end of her anger. The unwavering sympathy in his face and the patience he had for her made her wanna leave. Uncomfortable under his too-kind gaze, she turned away and continued to walk down through the corridors.
"Where are you going?" He asked, not following her.
She stopped for a second and turned back around, a significant distance between them by then.
"Back to LA. If my apartment hasn't been burnt to the ground, I'd like to go through my mother's things." She said, returning to her typical aloof nature.
"Well, do you want me to come—"
"–no." She quickly cut him off before turning away. "I'll be back by tonight."
"Quinn," he called after her, before she could turn the corner. She looked over her shoulder, awaiting his following statement.
"Be careful."
There was a flash of something in her expression, something that looked surprised and unused to the concern from another. She gave a small nod before turning the corner and disappearing from his sight.
______
"Miss Rivera. We're nearing the drop off point," the pilot sitting in the front of the quinjet snapped Quinn out of her trance. She had been staring blankly at the wall across from her, but she stood from her seat upon processing the pilot's alert. Aboard the quinjet, was only her and Lieutenant Wentworth, a military pilot who had formerly worked for S.H.I.E.L.D., but stayed in allegiance and in service of the avengers after the shut down. Quinn stood behind the pilot's seat, looking out through the glass in front of them. The sun shone down on a quiet city. It looked as if the city was on pause and Quinn looked down on the city streets, where there were cleanup crews relieving the mess.
"God," she muttered, saddened at the sight of her city in her ruins. Once Lt. Wentworth dropped her off near her street, she found herself walking through the rubble that created obstacles all over the streets.
A bomb had been dropped just a mile away from there, and her neighborhood was just barely damaged, mostly receiving a large amount of debris and ash, as well as shattered glass and overturned cars. She knew how much worse it could've been there.As she made a turn onto her block, there were many people standing around, simple civilians helping with their bare hands. There were six fairly large apartment complexes on either side of that street and they were all crumbling, debris, broken glass and even car parts strewn in the pavement between them. The community, the teenage boys she always saw sitting on the steps of her building were right there, shoveling all of the debris into wagons.
Men, women and young children alike were trying to clean up the area. She invited herself into the mess. It was all she could focus on.She looked over at a group of men to her left, who were sweeping away items that had been blown out of the windows of the small businesses. One of them, a man in his sixties with dark skin and graying hair, covered in dust and dirt, noticed her watching curiously.He stood upright, "you lost, ma'am?"
Quinn did a double take, at first not realizing that the man was speaking to her.
"Uh, no." She said, coming a bit closer to him. "Do you know if there were any casualties here?" It was a question that she didn't really want to know the answer to. Either way, people had lost their homes and their livelihoods.
"Couple injuries, but no," he told her, squinting as the sun came out from behind the clouds.
"Howeva' these buildings are cavin' in, people done lost their businesses and the government ain't doing shit to help."
"'Course they're not," Quinn mumbled indignantly. She then looked back up at the man. He was tall, lanky with lines that screamed stress, wrinkling his face. She didn't recognize him at all, as well as the other men a few feet behind him, working on clearing out the street.
"I've never seen you around here."
"My buddies and I are from the west side. Came over to help as soon as we heard about the mess," he informed her, beckoning back at his men.
"But I've seen you."
Quinn rose a brow.
"On the news. You're that fire girl," he said. "Nice of ya to help those kids. Us inner-city folk gotta stick together. The richies up in those big houses don't give a rat's ass about any of us." He begrudgingly remarked. "In fact I bet they'd like it more if we'd all just burned in those explosions."
Quinn sympathetically looked at the man, understanding his point of view completely. Quinn turned her attention away as the man continued on sweeping away the trash. She looked into the distance, seeing her own building in sight, its windows shattered and a corner of its brick facade slightly withered and crumbled, but still standing.
"So are you here to avenge us?" The man spoke once more, snapping her out of her head.
The dark brown eyes hiding behind the wrinkles stared back at her waiting for an answer as he continued to work. "That's what y'all do, right?"
She sighed, wondering if she even was worthy of holding that title. Receding into herself, she shoved her hands into her jacket pockets. However, she felt something inside one of them.
Pulling out a small white card, she saw the name Senator Harrison Reeds right in front of her. Then she got an idea. Looking back up at the man, she knew that her plan was the only thing that could possibly help these people.
"Yes, sir." She then walked off, setting it in motion. Going down into the next street, one that wasn't as affected as her own, she approached a circle of people who were sweeping away less messy debris from the streets.
"Excuse me," she said. They all looked up from their work and Quinn could've sworn every pair of eyes widened simultaneously as they recognized her. "Does anyone have a car I could borrow?"
It wasn't hard for her to get a yes, and before she knew it, she found herself driving away from east LA, going towards the west side. The west side was untouched from the other day's events, the tall buildings of the corporate area of the city still standing tall. Cars, buses and people operated normally, as if nothing had happened at all.
Business suits walked through the streets with purpose, getting to and from their lunch breaks underneath the heat of the sun. Quinn found herself standing among them, sticking out like a sore thumb in the white tank top, black jeans and military green jacket she wore. She stood in front of the office building, who's address was on the senator's business card. Besides being a politician, the young senator had the title of 'attorney' on his card.Quinn could estimate about forty-plus floors, outstretching up to the sky, encasing hundreds of little people behind its glimmering silver windows. She felt small as she stared up at its enormity.
She hoped that the man up there would be able to help her, the way he said he could during her impromptu hearing. The glass automatic doors split open for her as she entered the lobby, distant walls and high marble ceilings making her feel even smaller and out of place. People in business suits, carrying briefcases and leather satchels passed her by as they headed for the door.Looking around the room, her eyes immediately found the elevators, where people were going in and out of, making a beeline for it. Before she could get there, however a large hand wrapped around her upper arm, pulling her back. She looked up to see a large, burly man wearing a white security uniform. His skin was dark as soil, clear as day and as was the authoritative expression.
"Ma'am, may I see your entry badge?" He released her arm. "I don't have one. I was just—"
"I'm sorry ma'am. If you don't have an entry badge, you'll have to speak to the front desk," the security guard said, beckoning over to the front desk. Quinn narrowed her eyes at the man, her hands itching to show him who was really boss, but she ultimately turned away from him and towards the front desk just a few feet away. She walked up to a well dressed blonde woman sitting behind a marble counter.
The young woman looked up at the outsider who'd just walked in, examining her appearance for a brief moment.
"Are you here for an interview?" The woman gave a disingenuous grin.
"No," Quinn firmly responded, "I actually need to speak with Senator Reeds. It's urgent."
The blonde woman, the name plate pinned to her lapel reading Daniella, stared at Quinn blankly.
"Do you have an appointment, ma'am?"
"No, but I need to—"
"I'm sorry, ma'am. The Senator is a very busy man—"
"Listen, Daniella," Quinn reached into her back pocket and pulled out her license, showing it to the woman. "I'm Quinn Rivera. If you haven't heard my name by now then you probably need to get out from that dusty rock you're living under, maybe catch a tan."
The blonde's eyebrows raised as she looked at the ID and then finally realized that she did in fact recognize the young woman. "Now, I only asked to be civil, but no matter what you say, I'm gonna go up that elevator and speak to the Senator. Okay?"
Quinn said to her, lowly and calmly enough as to not draw any attention to herself.
"S–sure, Miss Rivera. He's up on the twent–" the woman behind the desk stuttered as she glanced down at Quinn's hands cautiously, "twenty-sixth floor."
She slid over an entry pass. Quinn let out a satisfied breath, grabbing the pass, easing up and backing away from the counter. She then gave Daniella a sweet, equally disingenuous smile.
"Thanks," she gave a wink before walking away. Quinn kept her eyes affixed on the elevators as she passed the guard, holding up her entry pass for him to see.She walked into an elevator that was open and empty, seemingly just in time for her, pressing the button that then glowed a bright 26. The elevator began its descent up and Quinn leaned against the wall. She let out a breath, clearing her head so that she could remain calm no matter how the discussion with the Senator would unfold. Her thoughts were interrupted, however when the elevator dinged and made a few stops to collect other works.
More business suits strode in, eyes on her as they entered, some trying to place where they recognized her from, some eyeing her non-professional clothing, and some others just finding her aesthetically pleasing. She paid them no mind, however, and slid her way through them as the elevator opened up to the twenty-sixth floor.
She found herself standing in the middle of a long purple-walled hallway, empty and totally quiet but lined with wooden doors on both sides.She walked down until she reached suite #2671, the number on the business card that she'd been holding in her hand the whole time.
Offices of Att. Harrison Reeds
California State Senator
She read the small placard beside the door before entering a room with desks lined up in two columns, full of stacks of papers and people working busily behind them.
Before the desks however, was a concierge where another well-dressed young woman sat. She looked up at Quinn, averting her attention from the computer in front of her.
"Hi, ma'am. Do you have an appointment with us today?" She asked as Quinn walked over, continuing to scan around that first room with her eyes. Not far behind the columns of desks however, was another door in the back wall.
"Uh, no," Quinn said. "I just really need to speak with the Senator." The good-looking, chestnut-haired woman behind the counter gave a nod.
"All right, well, I can give the Senator your name."
"Quinn Rivera." The woman behind the desk looked down at her computer for a split second before doing a double take.
"Right. Miss Rivera," the woman said as her eyes went wide. She then picked up a landline phone, putting it to her ear and then pressing a few buttons.
"Good afternoon, Senator," she said into the phone, wide eyes constantly going back up to Quinn, who only gave her an impatient but calm expression. "Yes, I have Miss Quinn Rivera here to see you."
Quinn quickly mouthed, "it's urgent," to the woman as she spoke to her.
"She says it's urgent," the woman said. Quinn could see a kind of apprehensive fear in everyone's eyes whenever they recognized her. It was something she wasn't used to, but there was a sort of power she felt from it. "Alright, sir." She nodded as she spoke before putting the phone down. "Senator Reeds will see you now. His office is right though those doors," the woman beckoned past all of the other business people sitting behind desks, to the double doors in that back wall.
"Thank you," Quinn muttered to the woman before making her way through that straight middle path, between all of the desks and directly to the double doors.
She pushed through them without hesitating. Hoping that trying her luck with this politician, whom she knew she couldn't bring herself to fully trust, would work out in her favor.She was met by a mahogany office, shelves of encyclopedias and almanacs organized alphabetically. Shiny floors, and a mahogany desk in the middle, a man sitting behind it. He was backlit by the large wall of glass behind him, the other tall buildings of Los Angeles in perfect view.
"Miss Rivera," the voice of the silhouette of a man said as he stood from his desk.
"Senator," she said, striding towards him, stopping just a few feet from his desk. Her eyes adjusted and she was able to see him clearly.
Senator Reeds was just as young and handsome as she remembered, dressed sharply in a navy suit. He gave her a friendly grin.
"It's nice to see you back in LA. You are a hometown hero, after all."
"I didn't come for the glory. I just came to get a couple things from my apartment," she told him.He noticed the look of concern on her face.
"Is there a problem? I'd be happy to help." He asked her, walking around his desk and sitting at the edge of it, so that they were at a more comfortable distance.
"The problem is that a lot of Los Angeles is broken and no one is helping the poor now-homeless families clean up the mess." Quinn plainly said.
"Trust me, Miss Rivera, I have been doing all I can to help clean up the aftermath of the bombings—"
"–obviously not enough Senator." She blatantly cut him off, her arms tightly crossed in front of her.
"You're rich. How come you can't do anything about it?"
He stared at her, curious as well as intrigued. Then he sat at one of the chairs in front of his desk. He looked up at her, beckoning to the chair sitting just a few feet in across from him. "Please, Miss Rivera. Sit."
She rose a brow with curiosity and reluctance before striding over and doing so.Quinn expectantly waited for him to speak, but he only stared at her, seemingly studying her appearance. In his defense, Quinn couldn't help but do the same to him, still confused as to why this man took up politics and law instead of modeling or something.He was not the picture of a senator that she had ever imagined.
"So are you going to address my concern or are we going sit here and have a staring contest?"
The Senator didn't remove his gaze however, just simply nodding."I grew up in Beverly Hills. Nice neighborhoods, beautiful homes."
"I'm sure," Quinn quickly responded, unsure on what the man's point was and her patience running thin on finding out.
"My parents were both entrepreneurs, they own businesses all around the world. They were gone a lot," he continued on, unfazed by the clear boredom and impatience on her face.
'The people who really raised me were my nannies, drivers and the people who worked around the house." He paused. "They were all from the inner-city."
Quinn's expression softened in the slightest.
"I know that area has been seeing a lot of dark times. Prices for living spaces get more and more expensive, the state doesn't help with housing or welfare anymore and the abuse on civilians by police is at its worst. Governor Truman has no intent on fixing it."
Quinn's brows furrowed, "and you?"
The senator saw this question coming. He absorbed it, then contemplating something for a few quite moments, then letting out a sigh.He then grabbed off of the surface of his desk, a notepad and a pen. "It's a lot to discuss, Miss Rivera," he said, looking down at the notepad as he scribbled a few words.Quinn caught a long glance he sent her way, one that seemed to communicate something. He then tore out the page and handed it to her. "I'll be happy to accompany you back to your apartment in my car."
She looked down at the paper.
Ears everywhere.
She then glanced up at him, folding the paper up and shoving it in her pocket.
"I guess it'd be better than walking," she said, nodding.
"Very well," the Senator pulled his phone out of the inside of his jacket, dialing a number and then putting it to his ear.
Quinn wondered what had to be so secretly discussed. And why would it be unsafe to discuss it in the privacy of his office?
"Winston," he spoke into the phone. "Get the car ready outside, please." He nodded as the person on the other end responded. "Thanks."
They then descended down the building quietly, side by side, maneuvering through all of the workers in the lobby, most of them stopping to greet the Senator. He only politely nodded and smiled to them.
Quinn noticed a lot of the young working females that he passed gave him the eyes.
"Good afternoon, Senator Reeds," a busty blonde smiled to him.
He gave a polite nod and smile, "afternoon, Ms. Dee."
The blonde's white-toothed smile then quickly disappeared upon looking at Quinn. Quinn simply rose a brow, her hard expression unchanging. The blonde woman's expression then changed from jealous to intimidated as she recognized Quinn's face. It was just a whole lot of staring, all the way through through the lobby. Quinn glanced to the elevator guard and the front desk lady who both stood, likely feeling quite dumb from the previous moments. She couldn't help but give a little smirk as she looked away, exiting the building with the Senator. The two guards standing at the lobby cleared a path for the two towards a black town car that awaited them. A tall, lanky man dressed in what looked to be a professional uniform stood in front of the car, a kind smile etched on his face. Quinn examined the man's seemingly kind face, crows feet appearing beside two bright blue eyes as well as silver hair slicked back over his fairly round head.
"Senator," The man greeted as he glanced at the two of them, all while opening the door for the backseat.
"Winston. This is Miss Quinn Rivera." The Senator introduced as they stopped near the car.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Rivera," he genially said, offering his hand for her. She looked down at it, shaking it quickly as she forced out a smile.
"Likewise."
"After you," the Senator beckoned for her to be seated in the car. He climbed in after her promptly and Winston shut the door after them before seating himself in the driver's seat. The Senator let out a breath that it seemed as if he'd been holding the whole time, up until the car door shut.
"Destination, Harrison?" The Senator expectantly looked to Quinn, "Miss Rivera?"
"Um, 1727 Maika Street," Quinn said, startled slightly at the radio at the front which made a little noise as it recorded her voice and inputted the address into a GPS.
"Thank you," Winston said to Quinn, "I'll give you two some privacy."
He politely said before pressing a button that caused a sheet of glass to slide up in front of them, obscuring Winston away from the two in the back. Quinn waited for the glass to completely close before turning to the Senator with the questions that had been threatening to boil over.
"Why the secrecy, Senator?" She asked.
"I will answer all your questions," he assured her, his expression working to look very trustworthy. "This information I'm about to share with you is not for just anyone's ears." Quinn turned to look at him, a glare still etched onto her face, the only change being her left brow, which she rose out of impatient curiosity.
"And why do you trust me so much, Senator?" She asked, crossing her arms in front of her.
"I trust that you only want the best for this city," he started. Her cold stance did not change, his calm and collected demeanor making her distrust in him unbudging. "And I believe that you can really make a change, but," he paused, shaking his head, "you cannot do it on your own."
Quinn looked at him for a second, an incredulous look on her face, then let out an equally dubious chuckle.
"What makes you think I have the power to save the city?"
It was his turn to look confused, his brows furrowing as he looked at her, questioning her own belief in herself. "Your actions on the day of the demolitions proved to me that you can." Quinn then became equally as puzzled, her brows knitting together as the wheels in her head turned.
"Demolitions? I haven't heard anyone refer to them as that yet."
She only became more suspicious about what the Senator needed such privacy just to tell her.
"What do you know?"