WHEN MARTINA WENT TO OPEN HER DOOR THE NEXT DAY, she was neither shocked nor disturbed to find that Artemis Barton was waiting for her.
"Hey..." Martina said, trying to figure out with what mythical beast Artemis had engaged in battle with before finding her way to her door.
Martina had awoken that morning to the booming sounds of Artemis' barks of rage which somehow had traveled through the various walls to her own bedroom.
She was standing just outside her room and seemed to be filled with an overwhelming giddiness to her. However, her face did not match the rest of her with her awkwardly rumpled clothes, the red splotches on her neck, and her unkempt and ruffled hair.
"Yeah, I know." Artemis rolled her eyes with a playful laugh as she tried to tame the rat-nest that had taken residence in her hair. "I'm assuming you heard me yelling?"
"Well...it was kind of hard not to," Martina admitted, tugging on the sleeve of her hoodie. "What happened?"
"Just the usual," Artemis scoffed, looking down to straighten up her shirt. "My idiot fiance was even more of an idiot this morning than usual. As always, he needed to be put in his place."
"Are you still angry?" Martina questioned, furrowing her eyebrows at Martina's playful tone;
"Oh, absolutely, but..."
"But?"
"But angry sex is too much fun to pass up."
Martina let out a genuine laugh as she shook her head at Artemis, only slightly embarrassed at her brazen honesty about her sex life.
In her relaxed state, Artemis craned her neck behind Martina's shoulder to sneak a look into her room. Martina noticed her nose furrow in confusion as Artemis took in their surroundings.
"What?" Martina asked quickly, feeling suddenly insecure and somewhat annoyed at Artemis' prying eyes. "You look shocked."
"No, not at all..."
"Spit it out, Artemis."
"Fine." Artemis smiled apologetically, sticking her hands in her front pockets as she rocked back and forth. "It's just...I heard all that noise you were making last night. I was about to come in and check on you until I saw Bucky at your door. I guess I just didn't expect it to be so clean."
Martina felt her cheeks redden as she looked down at her feet. "Yeah, um, he cleaned it up after I trashed it."
"Did he now?" Artemis asked with amusement, raising her eyebrows. "Interesting."
Martina didn't appreciate the way Artemis was suggestively looking at her, so as she reached down to grab her shoes, she decided to change the subject.
"So, I took an ice bath last night. It was really nice."
Artemis rolled her eyes but allowed the not-so-graceful change of subject. "That's great."
"Yeah, it worked so well I almost considered sleeping in the freezer like Tony suggested."
"He was joking, Martina," Artemis said seriously, helping her to her feet and giving her a look that suggested her words were of the utmost importance. "Don't you dare tell him you even considered it. We don't want to go inflating his ego." She rolled her eyes and put her hand to her heart. "God knows it's nearly ready to burst."
Martina laughed at the terrified look on Artemis' face and did something that had once come so naturally to her when she was with her firends and enjoying her simple and underrated life.
A life she no longer held.
"Let's go," she chuckled, grabbing Artemis' wrist as she closed the door behind her. "I might be nervous but I want to see what Tony can find."
Artemis looked down where Martina's tiny hand was clamped around her wrist and took it out of her reach so she could throw her arm over the girl's shoulder. Granted it was very difficult with the substantial height difference only made more severe by Artemis' heels.
As they walked to the lab, Artemis could not bite her tongue any longer- subtlety was not exactly her forte- and she tugged Martina's body just a bit closer to hers.
"So...Buck, huh?"
Martina was reeled back by the sudden and blunt comment, which she knew Artemis posed as a question but was not fooled into believing that a reply was in any way optional.
"I don't know what you're insinuating," Martina sighed, avoiding any eye contact with the woman beside her as she tried to focus all her attention on the path they were taking to the lab.
"Please," Artemis chortled, wagging her finger at her. "Everyone here can tell you that I can spot a lie from a mile away-it's a gift, really- and it lets me know that you know exactly what I'm talking about."
Martina remained silent as Artemis continued to narrow her eyes at her, inspecting the growing ticks she was starting to learn about the girl; the way she picked at her cuticles, the manner in which she continuously tucked her hair behind her ears, the fact that she almost always bit the inside of her cheek.
"Look," Artemis began, realizing that her domineering personality was turning Martina off. "Bucky is not really the greatest around new people. It took every trick in the book for him to open up to me, and even still, I barely know the guy."
"It's not like he and I stayed up all night braiding each other's hair! I met him once, he went a week without seeing me, and then all of a sudden he shows up at my door! I wouldn't exactly call that a budding friendship!"
Martina had yelled at Artemis, and she immediately cowered and lowered her eyes to the ground, trying as hard as she could to placate the rays of pain that were shooting up and down her arms- biting at her bottom lip to make it go away.
However, Martina's loud- and heavily accented- voice made Artemis do a double-take.
"I'm sorry." Martina was trembling as her eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry, I don't know where that-"
"Shit!" Artemis squeaked, clapping her hand down on Martina's shoulder. "Don't you worry, it's more than okay! I like it actually."
Almost immediately, Martina could feel the pain within her subsiding as she looked up to see bright dull blue eyes shimmering down at her.
"R-really?" Martina asked breathlessly.
"Uh, yeah," Artemis said, throwing her arm over her shoulder yet again as they continued to walk. "No offense, but for the first couple of days here, you looked like a scared fawn, like you were broken-"
"-I am broken-"
"-no, you're not," Artemis said sternly, giving her a penetrating stare. "My point is, I understood that the PTSD from everything you've been through and the shock was making you act like that, or so I hoped at least. Believe it or not, I don't like it when women are damsels in distress. I am surrounded by these incredibly badass women and I was hoping you'd be one as well. I like the fire in you."
Martina pressed her lips together. "Very funny."
There was a beat of silence.
"Oh, shit," Artemis snorted, throwing her blonde hair over her shoulder. "That was not on purpose, I swear."
With Artemis looking at Martina with red ears and a trembling chin, and Martina looking at Artemis with gritted teeth and crinkled eyes; the two women instantly burst into laughter.
They were both hunched over, clutching at their chests, wiping away the tears in their eyes, bending over at their stomachs; both caught in the humor of the moment and the fleeting glimpses of pure happiness and contentment.
A pocket of joy.
Artemis was the one to straighten up first and help Martina to her feet. She let out the last few chuckles she had left in her as she took the opportunity to put her hands on the girl's cheeks.
"See," she said affectionately, pursing her lips at her. "You're not broken. You may be cracked but never shattered. You've been through a lot. It'll just take time to get you back to normal."
Martina's amusement died down and she felt her pocket of joy slip away. "I don't think anything will ever be normal again."
"Normal is subjective," Artemis whispered insistently. "You'll see. Now, let's go. I think we're fashionably late enough as it is."
━
"Where the hell did you go to find her, Artemis? Cuba?" Tony mocked, waving his hands in the air as the two women walked into the lab room. He plopped down on the seat he had previously occupied and put his glasses back on the bridge of his nose as he peered at the computer in front of him. "Tony Stark: Brilliant billionaire industrialist with a heart of metaphorical gold, ladies. I don't have time to waste."
"Dios mío," Martina quipped, ruffling her golden-brown hair. "I see what you meant about the bursting ego."
Artemis grinned as she and Martina made their way to the center of the new laboratory.
It was shaped like a dome and the walls were covered in metallic pads that lined every nook and cranny. There were a few monitors and equipment all congested in the center of the room beside a metal operating table.
Overall, the room looked rather bare, but Martina had heard the familiar construction work going on all night, so she figured that it was relatively new.
Artemis knitted her blonde brows in annoyance when she saw the metal slab and those eyebrows retained their on-guard shape when she saw an unfamiliar man standing beside it.
She whistled at Tony and he looked up from the computer and noticed where her eyes were lingering.
"Oh, since Banner is MIA, I had to get an intern," Tony explained, looking back down at the computer with supreme disinterest in being part of introductions.
The redheaded man gulped audibly and waved his thin hand in the air. "I'm not an intern-"
"Okay, Dougie," Tony dismissed with an apathetic wave of his hand, not bothering to glance up to refer to him.
Artemis shook her head at the rude billionaire as she looked at the intern who she towered by several inches. "Name?"
"Austin," he managed to get out, his green eyes raking over Artemis' figure before her cough drew his attention back to her face. "Austin Lionel- Doctor- um, Dr. Lionel."
Martina bit her cheek to hide the laugh that was bubbling in her throat at seeing the wreck of the man tremble under Artemis' unflinching stare.
"Pleasure," Artemis said, giving him one last quirk of her eyebrow before turning back to Stark. "Can we get on with it? As you said, we've taken too much of your oh-so valuable time already, and I'm hungry."
"Where's your pup?" Stark jeered, moving away from the computer as he rolled up the sleeves of his button-down shirt. He cocked his head to the side. "I thought you kept him on a tight leash."
"Seriously, Stark? Why must I keep reminding everyone that I'm marrying the guy? It's been five years. You all have to get over it."
Martina didn't miss the hostility in Artemis' voice.
The Avengers seemed like the kind of group that liked to harmlessly tease each other about almost everything but Martina was beginning to see that Artemis was particularly sensitive when it came to the subject of Loki.
"Where is he, actually?" Martina inquired with earnest interest.
Artemis' expression softened at Martina's genuine- and kind- question. She opened her mouth to answer before another voice replied for her.
"He's actually apologizing to Clint right now," Steve said walking in with a morose Bucky trailing behind him. "Not doing too great a job of it actually. I'm concerned he's going to turn him into another animal this time. What did he say, Buck?"
The edges of Bucky's mouth quirked down even more at being brought to the center of attention by his persistent and annoying friend.
"He called Loki an ass, so I'm guessing a donkey this time," Bucky rasped, staring at Steve with a tame but incredulous look.
"Wait, what? Another animal?" Martina whipped her head quickly to Artemis. "Are they going to hurt each other?"
Artemis shook her head quickly. "No, they're just trying to see who's dick is bigger."
"It sounds like you would know at least part of that answer- Ow! I'm sorry but it was wide open!"
Artemis had chucked the nearest object she could find- which sadly was one of Tony's very expensive beakers- at him and was licking the front of her teeth. "Was that a sex joke from clean-cut Captain America?"
"I keep suggesting we put some parental controls on his TV," Tony inserted, walking over to a silver tray to tinker with a needle.
Martina had been enjoying the light verbal sparring between the Avengers, finding it easier to laugh and relax when their attention was turned on each other, but watching Tony examine several lab tools brought her back to reality.
"What are all of those?" she whispered, pointing at the syringe Tony was currently eyeing.
"Do you want to go?" Artemis questioned, tipping her head to the side. "We totally can if you want, if you're not ready, or..."
"She can shoot fire out of her ass for all I care. It wouldn't do anything. I made this room custom for her specific abilities," Tony hollered, patting the table and motioning for Martina to hop on.
"Stark!" Steve shouted, flushing at Iron Man's lack of sensitivity and finesse.
Martina obeyed Stark- cautiously of course- but nonetheless sat on the uncomfortable table as he held up the syringe he had been setting up.
"Just blood," he stated, looking up at her through his glasses.
Martina nodded her head and allowed Tony to draw her blood, hissing only slightly as the needle entered her arm, and relieved when he pulled it back and handed her blood to Dr. Lionel.
Before she could say anything, Stark had rammed a thermometer in her throat and she could do nothing but try not to choke as he waited for it to finish.
"That's weird," Tony said, furrowing his eyebrows. "Your temperature is 102 but you don't look sick. How do you feel?"
Martina shook her head as she massaged her cheek. "I'm fine. My temperature's always run a little high, I guess."
"A little?" Steve whispered to Artemis.
Martina suddenly felt rather light-headed, upset that she hadn't paid attention to how much blood Stark had actually taken, and about to hunch over and support her weight until a gloved hand brought her back up.
Perhaps it was the stars in Martina's vision that prevented her from realizing that Bucky Barnes had made his way to her, just in time before her body gave into itself. Even with the fabric of her hoodie, she shivered at his hand that was holding her stomach and pushing her back slightly so she could sit up.
When he helped her sit up straight, she felt her back collide only partially with his chest. He had been thoughtful enough to position himself behind her.
"Here," he grunted, reaching his hand in front of her to reveal a large chocolate chip cookie. "Take the cookie."
Martina's cheeks lit up as she accepted it. Did Bucky Barnes always carry sweets with him, or had he purposefully brought it in consideration of Martina's well being?
"Thanks," she mumbled, looking down at her swinging feet, even though Bucky could not see her face from the angle he was standing. "I feel like a lab rat."
"You're surrounded by lab rats, kid," Steve placated with a smile, winking at Artemis who stood behind him with wickedly pursed lips.
Martina wasn't too sure, but she thought she felt a deep chuckle vibrate against her back, but when she turned around to face the source, she found Bucky's lips set in a deep scowl.
She sat there awkwardly, eating her cookie and sneaking glances up at Bucky who had his eyes set at the wall and who stood with the same rigidness she had seen when they first met.
It was putting her slightly on edge to see him like that. The night before he had been rigid as well, but it was countered by his kindness and the softness in his impossibly hoarse voice.
The two times she had seen him, he was always so statuesque, as if he was accustomed to simply standing in place in silence.
"Oh shit!"
Martina jumped slightly from the violent interruption of his voice, but Bucky had moved his other hand to her lower back, steadying her once again and trapping her in his touch.
"Stark gets worked up about the smallest things," he reassured her in a soft whisper. "It's probably not even that interesting."
"Wrong, Manchurian Candidate. This is fucking insane!" Tony yelled, laughing to himself as he stared at the computer with amazement.
Artemis looked over to Martina and saw that the girl had started trembling a tad, but stopped herself from walking over when Bucky awkwardly placed his hand on the crown of her head and gave one solid pat.
Artemis rolled her eyes.
Smooth, Buck. Real smooth.
"Can you get to the point?" Artemis snapped, causing Steve to flinch beside her.
Tony clapped his hands together as he smiled widely. "She's a walking match!"
Bucky huffed beside Martina and spoke in a warning tone. "Stark..."
Tony twisted his mouth at the amount of contempt being thrown his way.
"Saddle up, kiddos. I'm about to unleash some knowledge on you. Here's some science for dummies. Fire is a result of combustion which is a chemical reaction between a combustible substance and oxygen, okay? Pyrokinesis is the alleged ability to excite atoms until they generate enough energy to burst into flames, get me? I couldn't wrap my head around how she was able to have these abilities until I saw her bloodwork. She has increased levels of phosphate which is combustible depending on the quantity and type. She has an increased natural body temperature at least four degrees higher than average. She has demonstrated that she has some serious anger issues she needs to work out. Get what I'm saying?"
There was a chorus of confused mumbles and several shaking of heads and Stark slapped his hands over his face- not sparing the dramatics- and sighed heavily.
"Dear god. Sometimes it is just too painful to be this smart. Martina has a high level of combustible material in her body, check one. Check two, Martina has an increased body temperature. Check three, her abilities are connected to her emotions. In conclusion, when she gets scared or angry or whatever, her atoms vibrate rather quickly and begin the process of converting energy to heat- adding on to her high temperature already. With all the combustible materials inside of her, she has increased body temperature, she has oxygen in her body, she has every requirement for the scientific explanation for how to create fire."
"Don't forget her oxygen levels," Lionel added, looking up from his place behind Stark's computer.
Stark nodded his head rapidly. "Yes, I also saw increased oxygen levels as well."
"What does this mean?" Steve asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he walked over to join Lionel behind the computer.
Artemis raised her hands in the air. "I'm still lost."
"All of this is just theory," Stark reasoned, shooing Steve away from the computer. "I need to run more tests and hopefully it'll explain all of this. This isn't some effed up magic trick, kiddos. There is definitely something weird going on with her body."
There was a pang of embarrassment that rattled Martina's heart and she hung her head down in shame.
She couldn't believe that all this time, this was hiding beneath the surface. She felt like she was a complete stranger in her skin. Her body was no longer her own and the thought made her feel violated.
She had been in denial, but hearing Tony's words and having the scientific proof right in front of her squashed that notion.
There was no denying this.
When Bucky noticed that Martina had not taken too kindly to Stark's comment on her body he narrowed his eyes at him.
That combined with the nasty snarl Artemis was throwing Tony's way made the air thick with violence.
If looks could kill, Tony Stark would be dead and rotting by now.
Martina was driven to look up at Bucky and she saw how savage he looked. His hands were balled up into tight fists and his adam's apple was bobbing up and down.
She was the one hurt, traumatized, defiled, and humiliated, but somehow she felt like she needed to reassure him.
But her own turmoil wouldn't allow it and she felt her skin begin to prickle.
"Could someone have done this to her?" Steve asked, looking over discreetly at Bucky, noticing that Martina had inched closer to him and that her fingers were barely grazing the cuff of his jacket.
Tony shrugged. "I don't know. I can't think of any way someone could cause all of this, but if they managed to turn you fossils into super soldiers anything is possible right? I want to run more tests. Lionel set up a CAT scan, an MRI, maybe a stress-test, also-"
"Ya vasta!" Martina shouted, pounding her fists forcefully against the metal table, her foreign tongue reaching out harshly and roughly across the room. "Enough, Stark!"
Everyone besides Bucky, who was standing right behind her, flinched at her sudden violent outburst.
"Calm down..." Tony said wearily, eyeing the way Martina's jaw was clenched and seeing her arms begin to light up in a familiar orange hue.
"No me digas que me calme! No soy un puto proyecto de ciencia!" she seethed, shooting off the table is such a haste that it fell with a resounding clank. She began to march up to stark with her hands still balled into fists. "Mira lo que sucederá si me dices que me calme una vez más!"
Before she could reach Stark, Bucky had wrapped his thick arm around her stomach and pulled her back into his chest. She was straining against him as she tried to fight her way over to Stark, but Bucky would not relent.
He was surprised by the amount of agression and pure hatred that she was spewing at Stark. He didn't understand much Spanish, but he knew enough to understand just how pissed off she was.
It had come out of nowhere, just like every time he saw something within her manifest and take over her emotions and better judgment. She was so volatile- ironically like a flame- and it took him back to the weeks after he had escaped HYDRA when everyone and anyone was an enemy.
When Martina stopped struggling against him, Bucky let go of his hold on her and took a step away from her, already drained by how much physical contact was necessary to defuse the bomb.
It took him back to a time when he couldn't trust even himself.
"Later, Stark!" Artemis barked, rushing over to Martina and tucking her under her shoulder. "Let's give you more time to play with your toys. We all know you're used to handling microscopic things. Poor Ms. Potts."
Tony narrowed his eyes at her and held an all-too-familiar crude smirk. "Very funny, snake charmer. You seem to have a lot of pent up rage yourself. Tell me, is Loki's silver tongue not all it's hyped up to be?"
Ill-timed and inappropriate laughter erupted from within Martina as she cackled into Artemis' chest, ignoring the fact that the tall blonde was turning red with anger and disappointment that Bucky hadn't let Martina have a lunge at Tony.
Martina once again found herself in a pocket of joy. She knew it didn't make sense to flutter so sporadically from one extreme to the next, but she was not going to argue with it. She looked up from Artemis' chest to Bucky.
She was able to tune out Artemis' death threats, Tony's continuous comments on her sex life, Lionel's panicked expression, and Steve's request for amicable work-place counseling when she looked at Bucky and the tame smile he held.
A crack in the ice.
―A/N―
And here's another chapter!
As always, I hope you enjoyed it even though it was shorter than my usual (about 4000 words).
So, I never have really taken a poll, but do y'all prefer shorter chapters or longer chapters?
I personally think it's up to personal preference, but I'm starting to like longer chapters. I feel like it just gives you a little bit more to work with (and it doesn't hurt that it makes the story go back quicker).
Also, I am NOT a scientist. I am NOT a Bio student.
I did some heavy research on the subject of chemical reactions and the possibility of pyrokenisis (which is not a real thing).
I didn't simply want to say, "yeah so she has these powers"
I wanted there to be some actual reasoning behind it.
What do we think? Still loving Bucky? Still loving Artemis? Annoyed with Tony just a bit?
I will see y'all Monday with another chapter!
As always-
Until next time & faithfully yours,
Bella.