s i x t e e n
*•.*
"I WAS ENJOYING YOUR COMPANY UNTIL THIS EXACT SECOND," Geneva muttered over her drink.
"Why? What did I do," Sam asked, his shoulders shaking with laughter. It was clear that he knew what he did.
Geneva simply gave him a look. "Tell me about our ghost."
"Our ghost is a ghost," he said simply, sipping his drink. "Tell me about you and Steve."
Geneva scoffed. "What are you? His wingman?" She paused. "Actually, don't answer that."
Sam smiled. "So not good?"
Geneva downed her drink, barely noticing the burn in her throat. "Define good." Gen caught a glimpse of Steve over Sam's shoulder. "He's coming this way. See you later." She patted his shoulder, quickly turning around and attempting to blend into the crowd, but that was impossible when everyone insisted on bringing attention to her. Not that she was ungrateful for the kindness, she just wanted to get another drink.
Her black satin dress clung to her body all the way down to right below her knees. It wasn't the most movable dress but it was a nice one. She moved to the bar, taking one of the drinks the bartender placed before her. "Switzerland, you look amazing."
She pursed her lips, not looking away from her drink. "How do you think the people here would feel if they knew we were keeping a hostage upstairs?"
Tony leaned onto the bar. "You ever stop thinking about work?"
"Only when I'm asleep Stark." She took a sip of her fruity drink. It's not like she had anything else to do anyway. Work was work and she literally lived there.
"Feels like I haven't seen you since Sokovia," Tony said changing the subject.
She looked at him. "That's 'cause you haven't." Geneva frowned. "What were you and Bruce doing holed up in that lab for so long anyway? And with the scepter?"
"We were doing a number of things actually—"
"Ah, never mind don't tell me," she interrupted him, changing her mind. The less she knew, the better. "I don't want to know. As long as I don't die, it doesn't matter."
"Dying," Tony chuckled, gulping down his drink. "Who said anything about dying?"
Geneva downed her drink too as Tony walked away. She turned to the bartender. "I'll have what he's having," she told him, pointing in Tony's direction. The man nodded, pouring her a cup of clear liquid.
She quickly drank, making the first of many bad decisions that would be made that night. After a while she decided to look for Natasha. The bartender was close to cutting her off anyway. "Natasha," Geneva called, having finally made her way across the room. Nat tilted her head from where she sat near the bar.
"How many of these did you have?" The redhead questioned, trying to snatch Geneva's drink out her hand, but even in her tipsy state her reflexes didn't fail her.
Gen smirked, her expression filled with mischief, holding her glass out of reach. "Just a few."
Natasha pulled her aside, and away from the noise and eyes of their guests. This time, Gen was caught off guard, almost dropping her glass. "Are you drunk?" Natasha asked quietly.
"Not at all," Geneva replied, beginning to laugh. Everything was suddenly so much funnier. "I just drank a little too much." She held her forefinger and thumb close together, laughing again.
Natasha rolled her eyes. "One of the world's most dangerous assassins, ladies and gentlemen." Nat's words were sarcastic but Geneva didn't notice.
"That is hardly a compliment and you know it," Geneva said sitting beside her friend. "Besides I'm not drunk."
Natasha shrugged. "Lucky you, this party is over." She was right. The crowd was thinning expeditiously leaving only their friends who were beginning to make their way downstairs, drinks in hand. "You coming?" Nat asked, moving toward the stairwell.
"In a bit," Geneva said absentmindedly. She stared at her drink as if it held all the answers.
"How are you?" A voice asked from beside her. She turned, facing the window. The sky was dark but the city was anything but.
Geneva closed her eyes, relishing in Steve's presence. "If I said 'fine', would you believe me?"
"No. Probably not," he said sighing.
She smiled bitterly, meeting his bright eyes. "Then not good. And you?"
He shrugged slightly. "I've been better." Gen hummed, looking back into the night. It was her subtle way of letting Steve know she was finished with the conversation, but he didn't move. A part of her wanted to leap to the heavens with joy and another part of her wanted to sink into the floor and never return. "Are we OK?"
She took a small sip of her drink. "Yeah, why wouldn't we be?"
"I just thought—maybe it was—"
"The rejection?" She asked her voice both tense and light at the same time. Steve probably thought she was a viper waiting to strike. Maybe she was. "Nope. I've gotten over it."
"You have?" Steve's voice became slightly strained. She could tell, because she'd come to notice the smallest of things about him.
Geneva huffed. "Let's not do this tonight."
"I didn't reject you Geneva."
"And you didn't exactly embrace me either," she said as she ran her hands down her arms. It was almost as if she could suddenly feel the night air against her skin. "But it's fine. I was misreading our situation."
She saw Steve take a step toward her in her peripheral vision. Her first instinct was to move closer to him too, but she stopped herself. "You weren't."
She tapped her heeled foot once. "Then tell me what you can't give me, and why you can't give it."
"I thought that I wouldn't be able to give you everything you deserve." It was obvious that neither of them knew how to go about this situation
"What do I deserve?" She asked quietly, finally facing him. Her chest was close to his, so close that if she took a deep breath then there would no longer be any space between them. She looked up at him. He didn't say anything at first as his hand made its way to the side of her neck. Gen may have imagined it but she was sure she felt a slight tremor in his hand. His touch was gentle and it took everything in her not to lean into him.
Steve moved in, placing a feather-light kiss to the corner of her mouth. Her eyes fell closed and her heart slowed, as she felt pure serenity for a split second. "You deserve more." Those words stabbed through it though, allowing reality to flood back to the surface.
Her fingers wrapped around his wrist, and she looked into his eyes that held all the emotion he couldn't seem to convey. "Stop selling yourself short Steve Rogers." With that, she broke away from him, realigning everything in the universe once again, but adding another crack in her already crumbling heart.
°°°
"But, it's a trick," Clint said, twirling a drumstick in his hand. His words caught the attention of those around him.
Geneva looked down at her hand. "I'm out," she told, Maria, Tony, and Rhodey. The woman threw her cards aside, before leaning back against the couch.
"You're no fun," Tony told her, a small frown on his face.
She shrugged. "What can I say? I know when to give up." That was definitely not true.
Thor chuckled, handing Steve a flask. "It's much more than that."
"'Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power'," Clint mocked, who Geneva presumed was supposed to be Odin, Thor's father. "Whatever man. It's a trick."
Thor laughed heartily, gesturing to his hammer which was placed on the table amongst takeout boxes and empty glasses. "Well please, be my guest."
"Really?" Clint asked, looking around the room.
Thor shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah." Clint hopped up from his seat on the floor.
"Oh this is gonna be beautiful," Rhodey commented, placing his cards onto the table.
Tony nodded. "Clint, you've had a tough week, we won't hold it against you if you can't get it up."
A series of laughs chorused around the room.
"You know I've seen this before, right?" Barton's hand wrapped around the hammer. He pulled and it didn't budge. "I still don't know how you do it."
"Smell the silent judgment?"
Clint gestured to the hammer. "Please, Stark, by all means."
Geneva groaned as a challenge ensued. Unsurprisingly, no one could get the hammer up. Steve had gotten the hammer to squeak just a tiny bit but he would not be ruling Asgard any time soon.
"Widow?" Bruce asked when no one else got up to try their luck at Thor's hammer.
"Oh, no no," Natasha smirked, sitting back. "That's not a question I need answered." The redhead took a sip of her beer.
"Gen?" Clint asked, nudging her shoulder, as he stood up.
The woman made a face. "Please, you all know better than that." She had long since stopped drinking, having had her fill very early on in the night, so she went back to her cold half-eaten egg rolls.
"All deference to the man who wouldn't be king, but it's rigged," Tony said, swirling his beer around.
Clint briefly cupped Stark's shoulder. "You bet your ass."
"Steve, he said a bad language word," Maria let out, clearing her throat.
Geneva snorted quietly.
Steve definitely heard, his eyes meeting hers for a split second. "Did you tell everyone about that?" He asked Stark, who didn't reply. More banter was thrown around, before Thor stood up, easily lifting his hammer.
"You're all not worthy," he said. Geneva didn't disagree but the others did.
A sudden screeching noise filled the room. Gen, flinched, looking around the room to find the source of the noise. What she found caused a chill to run down her spine. It was one of Tony's Iron Legion but something wasn't right, as the machine limped to the center of the platform.
Geneva stood slowly.
"Worthy? No." The machine waved a hand behind itself, before turning to face them. "How could you be worthy? You're all killers."
The voice wasn't one she'd ever heard before, and she wished she'd never had to hear it. The gun she had holstered and hidden under her dress suddenly felt like it was burning. She grabbed it quietly, holding it behind her back.
"Stark," Steve said, his voice wary.
Tony didn't tear his eyes away from the device in his hands. "JARVIS."
The robot shook its head. "I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or, I was a dream?"
Tony continued muttering at his device.
"There was a terrible noise and I was tangled in—in strings." The machine staggered a bit. "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."
It was clear that this was no regular robot. With a mind of its own, it was unlike any other in the Iron Legion. Steve took a step forward. "You killed someone?"
"Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices."
"That doesn't mean you have to make them," Geneva said quietly, standing tall under the scrutiny of the bot.
It made a humming noise. "You would know Virulent." It's been years since she heard that name and suddenly she'd heard it twice in the span of a few days. That couldn't be a coincidence.
The machine knew her.
"Who sent you?" Thor questioned.
Tony's voice began to emit from the machine. "'I see a suit of armor around the world'."
"Ultron," Geneva heard Bruce murmur from where he stood next to Natasha.
That was its name.
"In the flesh." Geneva imagined a smile Ultron's mangled face. "Or, no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."
Natasha let out a breath. "What mission?"
There was a long pause. "Peace in our time." Then all hell broke loose.
As if one cue, multiple Iron Legion bots smashed through the walls and began attacking. Geneva dove behind the couch, her heart beating wildly. She was desperately unequipped for this fight. She quickly ran behind a wall for cover. She shot at the bots but that proved useless.
Geneva continued to do this, and few crashes and bangs later, all of the bots were down. "That was dramatic," Ultron commented, causing Gen to leave her place of safety.The whole room was destroyed, and her friends were breathless as they looked upon the killer robot. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to...evolve?" He crushed one of the other broken bots. "With these? These puppets? There's only one path to peace: The Avengers' extinction."
Thor's hammer suddenly flew across the room, breaking Ultron into a thousand pieces.
I had strings, but now I'm free. There are no strings on me, no strings on me. A voice sang, happiness and mischief hidden there.
The Avengers just couldn't seem to get a break, or let themselves have one.
this is long overdue but i'm planning on (sorta) mass producing the age of ultron chapters so they're gonna go by pretty quickly. thanks for reading and don't forget to vote and comment.
-syd