Ivana

She dreamed of a flower. Gentle and soft, it rested against the floor of her cell. The only beautiful thing against a backdrop of so much chaos.

The context of the flower pulled her from her dreams. Ivanna woke with a start, her eyes snapping open, sweat beading down her neck.

"Kid, you good?" Natasha asked, looking down at Ivana with a raised eyebrow.

Ivana breathed in deeply and nodded her head. She squeezed her eyes together and opened them again before nodding. Stretching her arms, she sat up and looked around the quinjet. It was quiet.

Clint was flying, his eyes staring out over the bright whiteness of the world below them. Steve was standing by a wall, a hand on his hip and leaning against the wall. Thor was sitting at the table in the middle, his eyes scanning the plans of the building laid out in front of him. Bruce sat cross-legged, his eyes closed. A vein in his neck pulsed and for a second, Ivana wondered if he was going to Hulk out right there and now. Tony fiddled with something as he crouched on the other side of the quinjet.

"How far out are we?" Ivana asked.

"An hour," Natasha responded. "I was just about to wake you."

Ivana breathed in deeply and stood up from her crouched position. Her legs ached from sitting for so long, but she was used to the feeling. She walked toward the front of the jet where Clint was.

"You ready for some Magma?" Clint asked as she approached, leaning on the back of the chair next to him.

Ivana laughed and rolled her eyes.

"How many times do I have to tell you people? Magma only exists in the earth. It becomes lava above ground. And technically, I am above ground. Lava would be a more accurate codename." 

Clint gave her a quick chuckle back, eyes still fixed ahead.

"The name's stuck, kid," he said. "Nothing you can do about it now."

Magma. The name Ivana had been given the first time she stepped into the public light. Her skin crackles like molten ground and hiding beneath is the heat of the Earth's core. With hands like fire and a determination that hardens steel, Ivana proved deadly to any who stood against her, which made her a perfect candidate for the Avengers. She appeared just when they needed her, and just when she needed them.

"We all know the plan?" Steve asked, his hands resting on his belt.

"Yeah," Tony replied as he picked at a chip in his nail. "You guys distract the guards, I do all the hard work of getting the shield down, then we take the scepter. Easy peasy."

Steve looked as if he wanted to argue, but then sighed, as if there wasn't much of a point. Ivana had only been an Avenger for a little more than a year, but she already knew that tensions ran high between their two leaders. She actively avoided taking sides when they got into arguments, though she wasn't sure how long she would be able to stay neutral.

As a silent conversation passed between Steve and Tony, everyone else broke off to do their pre-battle preparations. Ivana tried not to look out the front window the land below her. She needed to stay grounded, to stay focused. One chink in her armor and she knew she was going to fall to pieces. Ivana couldn't risk that.

Tony approached her, trying not to startle her as he stepped up to her.

"How's the suit fitting?"

Ivana flexed her fingers, stretching the fabric of her gloves. It felt well, not too tight, but not too loose.

"Are you certain it won't burn?" She asked him.

Tony let out a quick breath.

"I can't be sure until we've tested it out."

Ivana tried not to let her irritation show through her face. It wasn't his fault that whenever she went molten she burned through her clothes. For as long as she had been working with the Avengers, Tony had been trying to get her into a suit that wouldn't leave her bare naked every time she went into battle or even through training. So far, they'd been unsuccessful, but Ivana was really hoping it would work this time.

She didn't fancy walking back into the quinjet naked...again. As comfortable as she felt in her own skin, it was still awkward.

"If it doesn't work, we'll try again," was all she said, trying to offer him a smile.

Tony put a hand on her shoulder before walking away.

Clint announced as they passed into Sokovia and a chill ran up Ivana's spine. The last time she had passed this border, it had been much, much harder. And instead of flying in, she had been breaking out.

They landed a few miles out from the base. Ivana found her muscles stiff as Steve stepped in front of the group for one last message.

"We have surprise on our side," he said. "But they have the numbers. We stay tight, we get this done together."

"Get in, get the scepter, get out," Natasha said. "Got it."

Steve swept his eyes over each of the Avengers. Ivana knew what he was doing. He did it before they went into action every time. It took her a while to figure it out, but she eventually realized that he was looking at everyone one last time as if this was the last time he would ever see them. As if they wouldn't all make it out of this. When she realized that he looked at her like that too, Ivana finally felt like she was one of them.

The entire jet shook as they landed. Ivana closed her eyes, her knuckles running white as she curled her hands around an arm chair.

The door of the quinjet opened and Ivana felt like vomiting on the floor. The blinding white of the snow glared into the jet. Ivana squinted, shielding her eyes from the light. Wind blew in through the open door and the nausea in her stomach worsened.

It smelled like snow. It smelled cold. It smelled like death. It smelled like Sokovia.

"You good, kid?" Natasha asked.

Ivana snapped back into reality as the woman stepped beside her. Since the day that Ivana joined the Avengers, Natasha had taken her under her wing, training her, eating with her, making her the best she could possibly be. Ivana needed to prove to Natasha that she could do this.

"Yeah, Yeah, Nat, I'm fine," Ivana said. 

When she finally tore her gaze away from the snow, Natasha had a look in her eyes. It was a look that Ivana was familiar with, but had yet to figure out. The closest she could get to defining it was 'understanding'. Natasha looked at her and understood, even if Ivana wasn't sure what she was seeing.

All Ivana could do to shake away the terrible feeling that was brewing in her stomach was to ignore it. She nodded her head, more to herself than anyone else, and stepped out into the cold.

Snow blanketed the trees and the ground, covering everything in white that reflected the light from the sun above. Every step that Ivana took left footprints. Her breath froze into mist as she heaved out breaths, but she couldn't feel the cold. She couldn't remember the last time she was cold. Warmth radiated from her core, keeping her comfortable even in the coldest weather. It was always the warmer climates that she couldn't stand. While the below-freezing temperature didn't quench the flames within her, it eased the constant, burning pain ever so slightly.

Sokovia was always this cold in the wintertime. Nowhere else in the world she had ever gone to would this cold. She almost missed the relief. Almost.

"We'll let you know if we're going code green," Steve said to Bruce, who stayed behind in the quinjet, pulling at the sleeves of his sweater.

Bruce simply nodded his head as he scanned the trees with his eyes.

"Ivana-"

"I'll wait to go molten until we've made contact," Ivana said and looked over at Steve. "I know."

"Good." Steve looked around at the others. "We stay together-"

"Except for me," Tony piped in, walking out of the quinjet in his Ironman suit.

"We stay together, except for Stark, and we watch each other's backs."

"Yessir," Clint said.

Nat gave a quick salute, wearing a small smirk on her face. All six of them stood in front of the open quinjet, waiting for Steve's final signal.

"Give 'em hell."

~~~

Ivana no longer left footprints with every step she took. Snow melted in her presence, the flames in her eyes burning through even the thickest ice. She seared flesh, burning through layers of clothing and skin.

Fire crackled through her veins, but she pushed past the pain, just like Strucker had taught her to. She fought beside Nat and Clint as Bruce, now fully Hulk, rampaged through soldiers behind them.

Clint broke off from them, leaving only Nat and Ivana to face down twenty-some soldiers. They glanced at each other and Nat smiled. They had been working together long enough that they didn't even need to talk to each other anymore. Both women jumped into action.

Ivana burned and scorched her way through the soldiers. Natasha was just as deadly. Ivana couldn't wear an earpiece without burning through it, so she relied on being with someone to know what was going on. When Natasha lifted her head suddenly, Clint's name on her lips, Ivana knew something was wrong. Looking up in the direction Natasha was staring at, Ivana saw Clint on his back, blood bubbling from torn skin on his side.

"Go to the base," Natasha said to Ivana before she could take a step toward her fallen friend. "I'll get Clint."

Ivana nodded her head and took off toward the HYDRA base. She never needed to look at the schematics that JARVIS provided them. She already knew the grounds like the back of her hand.  Just from the stench in the air, Ivana knew just how many steps away from the base she was.

"Ivana!"

She slid to a stop at the sound of her name, burning through the snow. She turned to find Steve running toward her. He stopped in front of her, breathing heavier than she had ever seen him.

"We have enhanced in the field," he said.

"How many?"

Her words crackled like flames, like rocks grinding together.

"One so far. I haven't seen them yet, but they're fast," he said. "Stark has the shields down. Let's get that scepter."

Ivana didn't even need to respond. They ran off toward the base, knocking down soldier after soldier as they went. Ivana burned through a door as Steve bashed a soldier's skull in with his shield. Together, they entered the base. Steve said something into the earpiece, probably talking to Tony, but as soon as she was inside, Ivana found herself lost.

It wasn't until she was inside the building that panic began to settle in. Everywhere she looked there was a memory. Every time she breathed in, there was a familiar smell.

The walls dampened around her as the ice melted and she was a teenager again, trapped and terrified. Her breathing became unsteady, the fire in her eyes burning hotter and hotter, burning through her throat. Her hands shook as she wrapped a hand around her own throat, feeling her breath catch. Lungs burning, heart racing, fire raging, Ivana couldn't even form the thoughts to tell herself to calm down.

She thought she could handle it. It had been years since she had been here. She had left Strucker and his experiments behind her. The cells and the pain and the heat, the heat, the heat. She left it all when she escaped.

Ivana left even the good things behind.

Like the white flower on the floor of her cell and the boy who had put it there.

"Ivana, let's go."

Ivana startled at the sound of Steve's voice. She turned his way, hands up to protect her face. Stepping away from him, Ivana felt the heat begin to fade from her body, the cracking of her skin beginning to solidify.

"Ivana?"

She could hear the concern in Steve's voice as her back hit the wall. Her heart continued to pound in her chest, Steve's face contorting into someone she couldn't recognize.

"Don't hurt me," she whimpered, the smell of the building invading her nose, blinding her to anything else.

She swallowed a hiccup, keeping her hands above her face to protect herself from the beatings that she was expecting.

"I won't hurt you." Steve's voice was soft. "What's wrong?"

Ivana couldn't breathe. Every breath she tried to take in caught in her throat. She couldn't look up to meet Steve's eyes. As long as she didn't look at him, she could recognize his voice and she knew he meant her no harm.

"Iv, you're cooling," he said, taking a step away from her.

From the change in his voice, Ivana could tell that the new suit Tony had made her didn't work. As her body cooled, she would eventually be left naked.

"I need to find Strucker, Ivana," Steve said.

She knew he didn't want to leave her, but he had a job to do, and Steve always knew to make himself scarce when she was cooling.

Still unable to breathe well enough to talk, Ivana just waved him away, slowly sliding down the wall. She listened to his hesitant footprints retreat deeper into the base.

Once she was alone, Ivana curled herself into a small ball, pulling her knees up to her chest. Her skin stitched itself back together, hiding the lava that bubbled underneath. The pain from the fire coupled with the searing memories in her head left her immobile, senseless.

A gust of wind blew past her and for the first time in a long while, Ivana shivered from the cold of the wind.

"Ivy?"

Ivana looked up, startled.

Her mind must have been playing tricks on her because standing in front of her was a boy she thought she had left long ago. Tears burned in her eyes, but she couldn't blink, unable to take her eyes away from him.

She finally let out a single breath and it came out in the form of a name.

"Pietro?"

~~~

Welcome, friends, to my new work!

I've been wanting to write a Pietro fic for so long, but never had the inspiration. Now, I do. I really hope you guys like this one and will come along on this journey with me!

Hopefully, it won't be as super dark as Flesh and Bone, but it will have darker themes. This is hopefully going to go all the way through Endgame and beyond. There will definitely be canon divergence.

Anyway, I appreciate all of your votes and comments and every single one of you who are reading this right now.

so, so much love and excited to start a new journey with ya'll,

authorsbane