Vierra never much liked planes. The enclose space left her claustrophobic, almost anxious enough to make her feel the way Steve does when he'd take him flying with her.
The moment her foot landed on solid ground, Vierra was pulled into a bear hug, "VIA!"
The greeting from Valerie was one that left Vierra warm. Happy to be home with her friend. "How did your mission go?"
"Well, when the team got the scepter out, the place went into a full lockdown. Luckily, I got out." Valerie bit down on her tongue when she her vision landed on Clint being hauled away by two nurses. "I see Clint wasn't so lucky."
"Yeah, but Dr. Cho will make him all better again. " Vierra ignored the concern. Mostly because she herself didn't want to admit that seeing Clint getting hurt terrified her.
Valerie inhaled, plastering on a large smile. "Let's get you changed."
Following the agent through the Avengers tower, Vierra informed Valerie on all of the specific details during the mission, including the 𝘔𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘴.
"That's great. So, we got two more weirdos HYDRA's screwed up." Vierra's mind wandered to the boy she'd let go earlier trying not to linger on the possible consequences of her actions. Valerie was no fool.
Nothing the teen's suddenly distant behavior, she grew curious. "Did something else happen?"
Vierra pulled a pair of flannel pajama pants over her legs, hurrying over to the door softly shutting it as to be as quiet as possible. "If I tell you this, you have to promise you'll never ever tell my dad."
Valerie's eyes went wide at the sudden seriousness of the younger girl. "Now I'm even more interested."
Telling Valerie about how Vierra had let go a possible enemy to the team, Vierra was concerned the older woman would be furious with her. Instead, her eyes twinkled with an almost 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.
"You have a crush!" Valerie laughed.
"I don't even know what that means," Vierra retorted.
"A crush means you like him. Like 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 him." Vierra's eyebrows knit together at the accusation. "Where'd that come from? I never said that."
"V, you just said that let you let him go because you felt bad, AND you can't stop thinking about him. Admit you, you have a crush." Vierra shook her head swiftly still processing the foreign word. She was working up a reply to explain that she didn't have a 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩 on the Maximoff boy, when a knock came from the door.
"Hey, kid! You feel like helping me out in the lab?" The door was ripped open so suddenly, Tony took a few surprised steps back. "I'll help, but I need a few minutes."
Before Tony answered, Vierra had already shut the door down and whirled around at Valerie. "If you tell anyone ━"
"What? That you have a crush?" Vierra pulled on a pair of slippers shaking her head. "I don't have a crush!" A smile danced on Valerie's lips noting Vierra's tinged cheeks. "You gotta understand, if my dad even found out what that means, he'd be furious."
Valerie's vision cast to the ground, "I suppose he would be slightly upset." Vierra shook her head, thinking of the stupid silver haired boy. "It's not a crush. Even if it is, don't tell anyone. Promise."
"I promise."
"Remember what you said, 'Us V-named girls gotta stuck together.' This is important." Valerie heaved not fully sure as to why Vierra seemed so bothered by the idea of her father finding out that she thought some boy she barely knew was cute.
Vierra's lips turned into a small smile pulling the door open, "Thank you."
Noticing Bruce was heading in the same direction as she was, she called out, "Banner!" At the new sound, the doctor flinched. "Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."
Bruce's entire demeanor softened at the sight of the younger goddess, "It's alright. You going to the lab?"
With a nod in response from Vierra, Bruce smiled. "Great. Me too."
Passing by the temporary office of Dr. Cho, the pair decided to stop in and check on Clint. "How is he?"
"Well, unfortunately, he's still Barton." Vierra gave a small giggle at the comment, but Banner didn't think it was all that funny. "That's terrible."
"He's fine. He's thirsty. Come on, kid." Vierra quickly followed the Stark man to his lab. It was common for Tony to have Vierra in the lab with him. The proclaimed reason for the mentorship was Tony wanting to teach Vierra of all things Midgardian, but really it was ego. Tony loved having Vierra listen to every word he said with extreme focus. She actually wanted to learn something.
"Alright! Look alive, Jarvis. It's playtime. We've only got a couple days with this joystick, so let's make the most of it." Stepping up to the casing, Vierra could almost feel the energy radiating off the weapon.
It was only a flash, one that Vierra couldn't control. But the thought
of her uncle crossed through her mind.
"𝘋𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯! 𝘈𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘬𝘪!" 𝘈 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘓𝘰𝘬𝘪'𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘝𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘢 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘝𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘓𝘰𝘬𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦.
The machine zinged at Tony's instruction, ripping Vierra from her memory. "The scepter is alien. There are aliens I can't quantify."
"So, there's elements you can?" Vierra piped up. "The jewel appears to be a protective housing for something inside, something 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭."
"Like a reactor?"
"Like a computer." Vierra padded over to Tony taking a tray of shakes from his hand. "I believe I'm deciphering code."
"Let's get this to Barton." Vierra nodded zipping through the hallway following after Tony. Standing in the doorway, Vierra listened in fondly on the conversation between her teammates.
"You sure he's gonna be okay? Pretending to need this guy really brings the team together." The crimson haired woman gave her friend a devilish smirk. "There's no possibility of deterioration. The nano-molecular functionality's instantaneous. His cells don't know their bonding with simulacra."
"She's creating tissue!" Bruce exclaimed. "If you brought him to my lab, the regeneration cradle could do this in twenty minutes."
"Oh he's flat lining," Tony simpered. Vierra set the tray atop the table spinning back to Tony. "Call it. Time?"
"No, no, no. I'm gonna live forever!" Vierra handed one of the beverages to Clint who took it eagerly. "I'm gonna be made of plastic!"
Dr. Cho sighed, "You'll be made of you, Mr. Barton. Your own girlfriend won't be able to tell the difference."
The straw popped from Clint's lips, and he made a face. "I don't have a girlfriend."
"That I can't fix."
"No one can," Natasha laughed.
Redirecting her gaze to Tony Stark, Dr. Cho continued on with her regeneration rant. "This is the next thing, Tony. Your clunky metal suits are gonna be left in the dust."
"That is exactly the plan. And Helen, I expect to see you at the party on Saturday."
Dr. Cho was quick to rebuttal, "Unlike you, I don't have a lot of time for parties."
Helen glimpsed over to Vierra before peering back down at her tablet, "Will Thor be there?" Vierra's jaw dropped at the inquiry whilst Tony simply smiled.
Distracting the captain appeared in the doorway knocking gently. "Vierra," he called with a cheeky grin, ready to test his abilities against hers. "You ready?"
Vierra looked around before silently nodding and following after the older human.
It was a routine that she didn't hate, but it still wasn't her favorite. Vierra was old enough to know that even in the most strange circumstances, she still hadn't lost her powers. And if she did? May the gods help anyone who tries to attack her.
Still, Steve insisted. Some kind of paternal need to be sure. It was silly, but she played along nonetheless.
The gym was nothing less than extravagant. It had to be, Tony stark paid for it. The training mat was colossal, so Vierra and Steve had to memorize their own lines that they couldn't cross.
The fight was something that started in a blur. Vierra was pacing herself, and that bothered the super soldier. "Are you seriously going easy on me right now?"
"You couldn't handle me not." Steve chuckled at the insinuation dashing for the girl from the opposite side of their imaginary limits. The way Vierra dodged the super soldier it was almost embarrassing.
Steve swept at her legs finally getting a not so clean hit on the younger girl. Glaring up at him from the ground, Vierra watched Steve frown before helping her back up. "How come you didn't tell me about letting that Maximoff kid go?"
Vierra paused surprised by the question, "I didn't want you to be mad." Throwing a punch so weak Steve smiled. "I don't get mad if you have a good reason."
Vierra rolled her eyes continuing the fight just as easily as it had began. "He just wanted to get to his sister." It wasn't like Vierra had a sister. Still, if someone was keeping her from any of the other Avengers, she'd be thankful for her act of mercy. "I heard Valerie say you have something of a crush on the boy."
Vierra stopped, completely dumbfounded by the comment. "I don't like him!" Steve took the chance to fire at the girl in the midst of her shock, ending with her on the mat once again. "Never lose focus."
Vierra slapped away the captain's hand, "That's not fair."
"It's not my fault you want to crush someone you just met." It looks could kill, Vierra's would've obliterated Steve. Neither of the pair realizing the fault in his words. "I'm only joking, Via. I know you don't want to crush him."
Vierra nodded, stepping out of the boundaries and grabbing her water. "Good, because I don't."
"Right."
"I don't!"
"I know! Sheesh, kids these days!"