Pound of Flesh

This time it’s Fury’s office. And the handcuffs are significantly tighter.

“Talk to me,” Fury says in a calm tone of voice that is more alarming than anything.

“Well when you put it that way,” DJ rolls her eyes. “Seriously though, I think you’ll find that I’ll be just as willing to talk whether I’m in handcuffs or not. And all these guns pointed at my face? Unnecessary.”

Fury smiles and, okay, DJ was wrong. This is more alarming. “They make me feel better.”

“How petty.” She sits as indignantly as the chair will allow and sticks her nose up at him. “I want to talk to Steve.”

“And I want weird shit to stop happening right under my nose.” He leans forward and the agitation has settled back onto his features. Much better. “You might have half my team wrapped around your finger, but I see right through your bullshit. What are you up to, Ms. Ryder?”

DJ propped her bare feet up on his desk, earning herself a scowl. “I’d just like to point out that it’s your fault that I’m hanging around your precious team, and if it were up to me I’d be totally forgotten by now and you’d have to find someone else to blame for your inadequacy. “

“I think you’ll find I’m very adequate.”

“Are you flirting with me?” She grinned tipping back in her chair. “You know, never really crossed my mind before, but you’re definitely my type. I tend to go for aggressive guys.”

Fury bats her feet off the desk, sending her chair jostling forward. “I don’t like games.”

“I bet you were a real drag on the playground.”

“I’m about five seconds away from putting a bullet between your eyes and cutting my losses.” Yep, there’s his gun. “If you think you know how to disappear, you have no idea just how very gone I can make you. I have worked very hard to keep this world safe, you can damn well believe I won’t let someone like you stand in the way of that.”

The gun flew out of Fury’s hand and clunked against the wall. “Sorry! Sorry! I just get freaked out, ya know? And stuff starts flying around the room.” She holds her hands up defensively, and the other agents in the room look around for the handcuffs in confusion, eyes landing on a small pile of dust. “Uh, that was an accident, too.”

Fury sends a disturbed look to one of the agents standing nervously by the door. “Send Rogers in.”

As soon as the door was open a crack Steve was muscling his way in, and the other six were scrabbling in behind him. “Daisy!” His hands brushed over her cheeks, neck, and shoulders, as if surveying her for injuries. “Are you alright? No one hurt you, did they?”

“Captain, we do not embrace prisoners here.” Fury’s voice held an exasperated edge, as if he were dealing with Tony instead. “And wipe that God damn lipstick off your face! Look like a professional.”

The rebuke might have stung Steve like a heavy-handed slap had he not been so angry. He swiped at his mouth- really doing nothing more than smudging the red stains- and laced his fingers through DJ’s. “Why is she a prisoner? She saved my life, Sir, I don’t see how that’s punishable.”

“As grateful as I am for Ms. Ryder’s interference, she’s been keeping things from us.” Yeah, he’s a lot more congenial when his prized super soldier is pissed off, isn’t he? “How do I know that information isn’t directly responsible for the recent attacks?”

“So I kept one little thing from you guys, big deal! But it has nothing to do with whatever’s happening.” The Captain moves his hand to her shoulder, silently advising her to stop, but she turns to him with wide, desperate eyes and continues. “I swear, Steve! I only kept that from you because it’s a part of me that I’m not very proud of. I don’t use it, not really, only when I can’t control it or when I really need to!”

Fury’s head did a small jerk and the agents along the edges of the room inched closer. “I’m willing to work with you here. I want an explanation of these powers, and we’ll decide on the necessary actions from there.”

“What actions are we considering?” Steve asked with a great deal of skepticism.

“Indefinite maximum security containment or provisional employment.”

Steve’s entire body tensed and his face held a cool demeanor of disbelief. “And what if she doesn’t want that?”

“And what if she could speak for herself?” The attention of the room settled back on her, but she only paid attention to the hurt on Steve’s face. “I appreciate the sentiment, really, you’re a sweetheart, but it’s my fate on the line here. I ought to be the one to do the negotiating.”

DJ turns to Fury with a steely resolve. “I agree with Steve. Just because I’m a freak of nature doesn’t mean you can treat me like an animal. And I don’t like you. I think you use your noble cause to manipulate people, but whatever. I like the world not ending, kudos to you for making that happen. But maybe you should learn a thing or two from Steve and attempt some courtesy. Maybe I would have gladly told you about my little quirk if you asked nicely.”

The only sound in the room for a full thirty seconds was the brief snort of an agent trying to stifle a laugh. He’d probably be severely berated later. Possibly demoted. DJ’s pretty sure Fury’s eye twitched, but he clenched his fists and manned-up. “Will you… Please… Explain what you can do?”

“Well since you were so polite…” This time there were a handful of snickers from those unconcerned about Fury’s fury- namely Tony, Clint, and Natasha. “I expect a man like you has heard a thing or two about mutants. I happen to be one of ‘em. I inherited the X-gene from my father. He could reanimate dead tissue- heal things. I can… I manipulate atoms.”

Steve’s hand slipped from DJ’s shoulder.

“I can make things move or stop or fly across the room. Or I can break them apart. If the need should arise I can atomize myself and get all intangible to go through shit, but I don’t like doing that. It feels weird.”

“Fascinating,” Bruce breathed, pushing past some agents to get a closer look at her. “Could you show us?”

DJ narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms stubbornly. “No. It’s exhausting. And it gives me a headache. How would you like it if someone asked you to turn into a giant green grumpy gorilla?”

“Is that why you disappeared?” Steve intervenes, looking at her like she’s a science fair project instead of someone he made out with an hour ago. “This… Mutation manifested?”

“Er, no. Well, sort of, but not so much. I always knew there was a possibility something like this could happen- my parents explained it to me pretty early on. I was nineteen when it first happened. I was with Max and he… He hit me, but he didn’t. He went right through me. He was too drunk to really notice, and I didn’t think much of it. It seemed harmless.”

The haunted, pallid look on her face tells them it was anything but. “Little things started floating once in a while, it was sort of cool . But, uh, when I got scared furniture would start shifting and shaking like I was in Poltergeist or something. When my boyfriend’s stuff started dissolving I thought I should probably get some help.”

“I went and saw this genius guy. Reed Richards. He was working on something to take powers away, I thought he could help me. Well, long story short I walked away with even less control. It’s like something snapped in me and I was being consumed by my own power. I was an emotional mess, my boyfriend was pissed ‘cause I was sneaking around, and one night he came after me with a knife and I brought half a building down on his head.”

DJ shivered, and when the comforting arm that wrapped around her belonged to Bruce she wanted so badly not to hate Steve. “Max was in a coma and I ran away upstate. I met this guy in a bar, Logan, he said he knew someone who might be able to help. So I met Charles Xavier, and while he dug around in my brain and tried some psychic therapy shit, Logan tried to teach me how to defend myself with my fists instead of my mutation. When that didn’t work I told them that I would rather disappear than hurt anyone else. So they made it happen. And ever since then I’ve been floating around like a ghost, heavily self-medicating so that I’m never strong enough to nearly kill someone again.”

Even Fury looks mildly compassionate. “I’ve seen people with lesser powers let it get the best of them. The fact that you fought against that pull makes me want to give you the benefit of the doubt.”

“Then that settles it!” Tony exclaims slapping his hands together far too cheerfully in this context. “Our previous arrangement stands. She’s coming back with us.”

Pepper’s fingers dig into his arm. “Tony! You barely know her! You’ve been screwed over by people who you’ve trusted for years. I’m not trying to be insensitive, but if she’s this dangerous, how smart is it to take the chance?”

“It’s very smart. I’m a genius. I know what I’m doing.”

“I agree with your wise lover,” Thor rumbles. “If this sorceress is the cause of my Jane’s danger then I am not comfortable being in quarters with her.”

Steve finally gets bristled enough to say something again. “She’s not. Didn’t you hear her? She’s just trying to do the right thing. She didn’t have to sit around in those handcuffs with Ms. Hill, or put up with all your interrogations- regardless of how obstinate she was. And if she wanted to harm us she wouldn’t have stopped that robot from slicing me open!”

“She’s no more dangerous than I am,” Bruce offered. “We’re both essentially volatile when our emotions get in the way. You’re not questioning my liability, why should we question hers? As long as she manages-“

“And what if she doesn’t manage?” Clint cut in levelly. All business. Calm, composed, and detached. “It’s not like we can shoot her with a tranq dart. It’ll pass right through her.”

“If you give me some time I can develop something-“

“No, no, no! We’re still treating her like she’s a wild dog!”

“Steve, I like you, I do. And most of the time you’re less impulsive than Tony, which is a relief, but right now I don’t think you’re thinking clearly!”

“Indeed! I do not judge this sorceress for her faults, I myself have many, but we must do what is necessary for the good of all.”

DJ dug the heels of her hands into her eyes, giving a low groan as a faint quiver ran through the floor. She couldn’t take this arguing- this debating back and forth over her like she was a piece of property. She needed to get out. Maybe drop through the floor before she ended up tearing it apart.

But then Natasha is there with a bruising grip on her shoulder and a consoling whisper in her ear. “Deep breaths. Chin up. Don’t expose your weaknesses.” Her hand drops and she addresses the room. “She’ll be coming back with us. As a guest. She’ll be allowed to come and go as she pleases, and the next person who tries to put a pair of handcuffs on her is going to lose a hand.”

“Not your call to make, Romanoff.” Fury waves his hands and the agents on standby fall back. “There are things that need to be looked in to. If she’s unstable-“

“Just how many of us do you think are stable?” Her voice is ice cold and firm, like the feel of a blade against the throat. “Stark? He’s unreliable at best, but he’s an asset. Banner? He’s a time-bomb and he’s our best defense. Clint had a demi-god digging around in his brain. Thor’s not even human and Steve’s an antique. And I think you know me well enough to figure out I’m not the most down-to-earth woman out there. You’re looking at a roomful of second chances. If Xavier felt he could trust her enough to let her walk out the door, why shouldn’t we?”

Fury sinks back into his chair, mouth thinning out into a grim line. “Fine. But I’ll be on the phone with Xavier’s people. If something doesn’t add up you come back here and answer to me. Got that, Ryder? Now everyone get the fuck out. Except for you, Agent Romanoff.”

“Sir?”

He waits until the door is shut behind the very last person before beginning. “Why?”

“Solidarity.”

“Bullshit.” Fury gestures for her to sit, but she declines with an unchanging impassivity on her face. “You follow orders. Hard ones that no one else can stomach. So tell me why you’ve decided to push back now.”

“More than anything, she’s scared. She had a rough situation thrown at her, and out of self-defense she instinctively took measures to protect herself. She’s carrying around that guilt and punishing herself for something that’s not her fault. We shouldn’t have to punish her for that, too. That’s just oppression.”

He considers this for a second and seems to accept it, nodding. “Alright. I just needed to be sure atoms were the only thing being manipulated here. I’ve never seen so many competent adults turn into complete idiots over one woman.”

“I’m pretty sure she’s just likable,” she smirks. “At least when she’s not being harassed. Anything else?”

“Yes. Someone tried to divide the Avengers before, we don’t need that happening again. Smooth things over with Thor and Barton. There are people I have to report to if this goes to shit. I don’t want to have to do that.”
______________________________________________

Steve stops DJ just outside the door, pulling her away from the crowd of people flooding out. “Are you alright?”

Oh, now you care. She bites back the words and gently tugs out of his grasp. “Sure.”

“I know that look,” he says accusingly. “I’m very familiar with that look. I’ve said something wrong. What is it? Please, just tell me. I was never good at figuring it out. Peggy actually shot at me, once.”

DJ held back a growl and sharpened her glare. “I said I was fine.” But mentioning her definitely isn’t helping. I bet she was nice and unmutated.

“Yeah, I heard you, but you’re obviously not.” He crowds her against the wall so she can’t run away. “Just talk to me. You don’t have to keep that all inside anymore.”

“Don’t I?” She scoffs, pushing roughly at Steve’s chest, but he doesn’t move an inch. “The way you looked at me… God! The way you pulled away from me? It was like you couldn’t even stand to be in the same room with me after you found out.”

Steve looked at her like the mere accusation was offensive. “How can you say that? I was fighting for you harder than anyone. I looked like an idiot mouthing off to Fury with your lipstick all over my face. Agents will be laughing behind my back for weeks.”

“Well God forbid you sacrifice your pride.”

“That’s not what I’m saying!” He actually looks incredibly upset, and she almost feels bad for the guy. “My point is that I don’t care. I don’t care that everyone thinks I’m a sucker, and I don’t care that you’ve got this X-gene thing. I care about you.”

That one little sentence made her heart flutter. She bites her lip to hold back a grin. “You still think I’m swell?”

Steve rolls his eyes and rests a hand against her neck, rubbing his thumb in circles over her jaw. “Yeah I do, ya big- uh…”

“You can call me a jerk, Steve. It’s all right,” she laughs. “I’ve been called worse. In fact, if you weren’t there I’m pretty sure Fury would have thrown a few of those choice words my way.”

He smiled softly and craned his neck to rest his forehead against hers. “He’s just worried. You shouldn’t antagonize him so much.”

“Yeah, well, what can I say? I like to live life on the edge.”

His lips press against hers chaste and sweet and only fractionally awkward. “And I like you living.”

DJ smiles so wide that her cheeks hurt. “I had a very nice time on our date.”

“We were attacked by a robot.”

“You tried to protect me.” She runs a hand up his chest, mapping out the muscles there. “It was very romantic.”

Steve snorts not at all unattractively and winds his arms tightly- almost possessively- around her waist. “Maybe it would have been if you hadn’t ended up doing the saving in the end. I guess we’re even now.”

“Oh, Honey. That night… You didn’t save me. You saved Max.”