Team it is way to cold in Texas right now. (25 degrees, yes i am a little bitch)

how the weather where everyone's at?

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Ralph could see the open sky as the Quin jet rolled closer to the launch pad at a sluggish pace, the fault of using autopilot.

"Just wait, Athena; when you wake up, you'll understand why I did all this." He said over his shoulder, grinning. Athena still lay on the floor where she had fallen, utterly dark to the world in her sedated state.

The loud crash echoed through the flight deck; the muffled noise sent Ralph into a frantic mashing of buttons till the screen showed the back of the jet. Only a hundred feet away, the thick metal doors now lay in pieces. Two supersoldiers sprinting through the opening, rage on their features. They had been on their way the moment things seemed off, running for the elevator. Frantic commands for help were screamed at Jarvis, who relayed the message to Tony and Natasha, the only present members in the tower.

Their pleas for help were answered when three Iron Man suits flew up from hidden pockets in the sides of the tower. Blocking the exit for the jet that was rolling slowly towards it. One of the suits flew forward, placing a hand on the jet, and the metal began to latch on, lights flashing between the fingers. Whatever hacking that it was doing had stopped the ship.

On the inside, Ralph was panicking. Frantic hands slapped away at every button, hoping to overtake the genius hacking the jet. Tony's bots were too intelligent for even Ralphs's above-average computer skills.

At the back of the jet, a shield-shaped dent formed in the heavy metal made to last heavy artillery. Another bang and a fist-sized indent followed. The battle cries of the supersoldiers were bellowed through the door. Ralph felt his skin turn liquid in his fright and melt to Athena's side. Taking her in his arms, he lifted her off the floor, grunting under her weight.

Ralph had witnessed the soldiers toss the muscled woman around like a feather, but now that he had her in his grip, he was worried he might drop her. Whatever mutation she had must have made her denser than the average human.

He waited till the door began to lower, the Iron Man suit having won the hacking battle and overtaken the ship entirely. The small crack in the door was all he needed to shift both of their bodies and flutter past the two soldiers who wasted no time boarding the ship. Guns raised at the ready.

"Athena!" The Winter Soldier screamed in the space, finding the jet empty. Ralph felt like he was fighting through waves of fog and sputtered out halfway to the door. Stumbling a few paces forward, he tried to gather his strength and began to shift again.

He was too slow to go unnoticed by the two soldiers. Their keen eyes catching his running form, they witnessed every shift of molecule as Ralph carried Athena towards the door. Disappearing again.

"No!" Steve's cry of rage rattled through Athena, the first conscious thought to break through the sea of black she had been swept under. Her eyes stayed closed. She could feel thin arms holding her to a rapidly moving chest, the heart beneath her beating at a wild pace. The body she leaned against did not belong to either of her men. With that realization, she was thrown from her cloud of confusion and plummeted back to her reality. Ralph had drugged her.

In the next breath, Athena felt like she was being ripped apart by the cells, fire, and ice fighting to engulf her entire being. The pain was so blinding she wanted to beg her tormentor to stop. Her mouth was dust, and her body fragmented in his grasp.

Ralph flew them through the open hole that was once the doorway and narrowly missed The Black Widow, who came barreling into the room gun drawn. Once again, he felt his form waver but pushed on, hearing the men stampeding behind him.

"Ralph is enhanced! He is invisible or morphing-"Steve rattled off to Natasha, Bucky on his right.

"-he has Athena!" Bucky interrupted, nearly knocking the redhead over in their haste to get by her. The only exit and entrance were at this doorway, but past it, there was a maze of hallways Ralph could take.

The air rippled at the end of the hall, and Ralph appeared out of thin air; an unconscious Athena slipped from his arms to the floor with a thump. He could barely shift before a shield shot through the wind, leaving Athena behind. The disruption of the shield in the air was so close it knocked Ralph back to solid form, rolling onto the ground feet away from Athena. A cruel tease for seconds to the two men who ran like their lives depended on it. Ralph was gone in the next blink, though, Athena's body disappearing with him a second later.

Steve's cry of frustration battered Athena's ears. She wanted so badly to echo his rage, but she was paralyzed under the drug's strong chemicals.

Ralph used the last of his strength and shot through the air vent to his right. Flying till he thought he would explode. He shifted them back as soon as they landed inside an empty office far from the searching Avengers. Gasping for air, he fell to the floor, Athena landing roughly next to him on her back. Still unmoving.

Ralph stayed on the ground for a few moments, trying to regain some of his strength. Everything was going wrong, and he didn't know how to fix it all. The air he was sucking in was struggling to make it to his lungs. He should have slowed down and planned more. Now, those men were going to ruin everything if he didn't calm down and think. Looking down at the beautiful woman who lay next to him, Ralph gathered his courage; for her, he would find a way out of this. Standing up, he leaned down and groaned as he struggled to lift Athena into the office chair that sat behind the desk. There were only two pieces of furniture in the small room, other than a filing cabinet to the right of the desk. 

Athena was slumped in the plush seat, head lulling to the side without the strength to hold it up. Her eyes began to twitch; her focus was on lifting the lids. When she finally got them to crack open into the smallest slits, she was greeted with the sight of Ralph pacing before her. His form flickered as if he was trying to mutate every other step.

It took her a moment to realize it, but it occurred to her when he became more visibly frustrated. Ralph was out of juice. It was a small mercy to her, seeing as it was torture every time he forced his power over her body.

Looking at his soulmate in hopes of calming himself, Ralph noticed Athena's eyes had opened. The sedative was beginning to wear off, and she had gained some semblance of consciousness. He was before her in two large steps, gripping her face in clammy hands. Holding her up so that she was staring into his brown eyes, bloodshot and crazed.

"I've wanted to tell you for so long; you have to believe me! Since the day you said those words to me, you were supposed to know!" Ralphs was hushed and frantic. Standing up, he pressed Athena's head back so that she was leaning in the chair again. He took a step back and began to unbutton his pants. The marking below his hip felt like it was on fire the closer he got to revealing it to his soulmate.

Athena's eyes widened as much as her strength allowed as a muffled noise began to come from her throat. Her chest now rapidly rising and falling in her panic of being completely vulnerable.

"You were running from them that day, slammed right into my chest. I caught you, and then you said it," He shoved the side of his dress pants down so she could see his hip bone. Her breathing slowed when Ralph stopped pulling his slacks any farther once, revealing a short tattoo. The words Excuse Me, were printed in pretty cursive.

She was almost sympathetic to the crazed man, who returned to pacing in front of the desk. Those words could have been said to Ralph a thousand times in his lifetime by complete strangers, and unless he spoke up every time it was uttered, he might have missed his soulmate.

"I'm your soulmate, Athena! Not them!" He pleaded, kneeling on one knee so they were level. He held her cheek in his hand and pressed his forehead against hers. Relishing in the touch of her, his heart racing more for an entirely different reason.

Athena fought with every ounce of strength to throw herself onto the floor to put any distance between them. As far as she knew, they first met for the security mission only a couple weeks ago. She raked her brain for any memory of seeing the lanky Tech before then but was hit with a blank wall.

It took all her focus to move her jaw, opening her mouth to whisper words that went unheard. Ralph could see the apparent frustration on Athena's face at the inability to communicate with him. Taking pity on his soulmate, he turned his ear and leaned impossibly closer.

"The flowers?" Her words were so soft that Ralph almost didn't catch them. Her voice was croaking, the sedative drying her mouth completely. Ralph's head snapped up so fast she thought he might snap his neck and save her the trouble.

"You liked them, didn't you." Ralphs had a self-satisfied smile on his crazed face, nodding to himself. "I knew you would like them."

Athena had seen insane men before, whether it be from grief, illness, or isolation. They all had the same look in their eye. When Athena looked into Ralphs's eyes, she saw his hope that she would be the person he had fabricated in his mind. His delusions were so strong that he had formed a reality where she was his soulmate.

She wished her limbs would work so she could show him that he was so painfully wrong; one look at her soulmate's words, and it was clear who she belonged with. There was no world where she was not Steve and Buckys, no reality she would accept. Her ears pricked at the beating of footsteps on the hard floor. No reality any of them would accept, it seemed.

Using every ounce of strength, Athena smiled at Ralph. His eyes widened, and his own grew larger.

"They're going to rip you apart." her sweet words would be the last he ever heard from her before she opened her mouth and let out a blood-curdling scream that had him covering his ears before he was lunging over the desk to clasp a hand over her mouth. His other hand came to the back of her head to hold her still.

The next scream that filled the air was his own when her fangs latched onto his palm. Ralph released her, pushing on her forehead to get her off, but Athena only clenched her jaw. Using his free hand, Ralph retched her head back by her hair to rip his hand free. Not without leaving Athena a chunk of flesh from his palm, white bone flashing. The blood splattered across her face and chest as Ralph fell atop the desk before rolling off the side. He held his mangled and bloodied hand to his chest, letting out an angry sob.

"You fucking Bitch!" He managed to scream through his cries of pain. His mind was so distracted by the agony and blood loss that he was unaware of the approaching pair of boots that thundered towards the door at speeds only two men in the tower were capable of reaching.

Ralph used his uninjured hand to push himself off the ground, turning on Athena with blazing fury in his gaze. She gave him a defiant look, spitting his flesh and blood on his face. It splattered over his cheek before it smacked the floor with a wet slap. Ralph's face morphed to utter disgust, a green tinge taking over. She grinned at him with bloodied fangs and blazing red eyes, a demon incarnate.

The empty office door was splintered open, revealing Steve on the other side, holding his shield to cover them. The barrel of Bucky's gun entered the room ahead of them, the cold face of the winter soldier glaring behind him. The gun fired off, a single hole in the wall where the man's head had been only moments ago. The air shuddered on the other side of the desk, and Ralph reappeared again, sputtering out.

Steve's shield flew faster than Ralph could shift this time, clipping him in his half-formed back. The blow knocked him back into a solid form, flying against the filing cabinet, the impact causing papers to explode from the drawers around him.

Ralph fell to his knees, catching himself on his hands. The adrenaline kept him awake as he pushed up, trying to stand and run, shifting no longer an option. Athena was forgotten in place of self-preservation.

Before he could find his footing, a boot connected with his chest, sending Ralph through the wall. The mutant crumpled to the hallway floor, unmoving from the hit. Bucky looked through the large hole he had created from kicking Ralph, unsatisfied. Turning around, his focus was on the blonde covered in blood who was fighting to sit up in the chair. Her arms still weren't working enough to hoist herself up.

Steve was at her side, turning her head from side to side to see where the source of all the blood was. "Where are you hurt?"

"Drugged me, bloods his," She reassured them, words slurred. Turning her head, she spat a mouth full of blood onto the floor, trying to avoid her mates. Athena's face morphed in disgust. "I bit him."

"Did he touch you?" Bucky knelt at her side and began to lift her from the chair. She knew what he meant and shook her head.

"I'm ok," Her forehead pressed against his once she was in Bucky's arms, staring into his panicked eyes. He cradled her to his chest in a bruising grip. "I'm ok."

A groan in the hall alerted them to Ralph waking from his forced slumber. Steve stormed towards the door and was out and around the corner to where the Tech was still sprawled on the ground. Grabbing the back of his shirt, Steve lifted him from the floor and, with the other hand, slammed him against the wall by his throat. Cracks forming around the smaller man's body on impact.

Ralph was stunned as his head was bounced against the wall like a racket ball, stars flaring in his vision, face inches away from a furious Captain America.

"You better pray they get here before we kill you." Ralph didn't know who the 'we' Steve was referring to and didn't get a moment to ponder it before a fist was slammed against his cheek. The only reason his feet stayed under him was Steve's tight grip on his neck. The next hit broke Ralph's nose, bursting it into a swollen mess, facing the wrong direction.

The hold on his throat was released, freeing up Steve's hands as he obliterated Ralphs's stomach and ribs with deadly combos of punches. So fast that his eyes could only see a blur before each strike. The lethal blows had the air that Ralph was desperately sucking in to be utterly incapable of entering his body. Patheticly slumping against the wall, sobs mixing in with the weaning that was a clear sign of broken ribs. The taste of copper filled his mouth.

A knee to the stomach had him doubling over onto his hands and knees, blood splattering on the ground in front of him.

"Don't kill him that fast." Bucky barked out before Steve could land a kick to the man's face. The usually restrained Captain turned his withering stare on his friend but nodded and prowled away from Ralph back towards Bucky. The metal-armed man passed Athena over to the Captain, who buried his face against her red-stained hair. He lifted her arms so that they lay around his neck, breathing in her scent underneath the blood that coated her skin.

"I'm so sorry, baby," his voice muffled against her, whispering apology after apology to her. Athena wanted to reassure him that he was not to blame, but her drugged mind could only focus on Bucky, who stomped forward.

Still wheezing on the floor on all fours, Ralph saw a glint of silver flash before a vibranium fist uppercut his jaw, shattering the teeth that Steve had struck loose. The back of his skull smashed back against the wall from the strength of the blow. Sending his world turning as he lay sprawled on his back, unfocused eyes staring up at the ceiling, face morphed in agony. The garbled sounds of pain were like music to Bucky's ears, staring down at the man who thought he could take Athena away from them.

"P-Please-"the choked-out whimpers were cut off by Bucky's vibranium hand gripping the lower half of Ralph's face in a bone-breaking grip. Lifting him off the ground so that he was level with Bucky's crouched form. Eye to eye with the man, Bucky flexed his fingers, and Ralphs's jaw slowly cracked in his hand. Bone breaking below vibranium. The scream muffled in his palm.

"You took her. You get no mercy." The scream of pain grew to a new pitch when Bucky took his flesh hand and pressed it down on Ralphs's extended knee. With a jerk, he had dislocated the leg and turned his knee to rubble.

"Barnes, that's enough!" Natasha's voice fought through the haze of rage, and Bucky was turning his murderous stare towards the other end of the hall where the redhead had appeared. She had been dead sprinting from the other end of the tower where she had been franticly looking for her friend. Without taking his eyes off of her, he made to stand, using Ralph's other knee to press off the ground, giving it the same treatment as his left leg. This time, the scream of agony was not blocked, and the group of Avengers all flinched, super hearing having its faults at times.

"He's still breathing. I'd say it hasn't been nearly enough." Steve growled out, Athena's weak form now taking Natasha's attention. The blonde tried her best to give her friend a reassuring smile, but she knew it probably looked more like a grimace.

"We have no idea why he took her! This could be bigger than just Athena Barnes." Natasha tried to reason with the raging men.

No less than a minute later, Tony flew down the hallway to find the trio of soulmates huddled close together. Natasha knelt next to the Tech on the floor, blood splatters covering the wall behind him.

The suit opened, and Tony was kneeling down to lock a metal device around Ralphs's throat. An inhibitor collar now locked in place to block any use of the mans mutation. Standing back up, Stark dusted off his dress pants and blew a low whistle. The man, or what was left of him, was a whimpering mess that fought to stay conscious. 

"I'm taking him to a secured cell and calling Fury." Was all the billionaire said before reentering his suit and scooping up Ralph to take him as far away from the two men as possible. He didn't doubt that if they stood around long enough, one of them would decide to finish the job.

"Is she ok?" Natasha asked quietly, still standing far away from the trio. Feeling the anxiety rolling off Steve and Bucky.

"She thinks so," Steve replied quietly, rocking them back and forth. His nose and lips rubbed over the top of Athena's head, feeling the hairs slide over his skin. "We're taking her to the Mediacal now to make sure."

The trio was moving towards the elevator, Natasha leaving to handle the jet that was still waiting in the launch zone. The ride was silent; they only spoke once they arrived and were bombarded by doctors and nurses who were alerted to their arrival.

Hours later, every test result came back clean; Athena had recounted her story to multiple agents, with Steve and Bucky at her side the whole time. They couldn't fathom how long Ralph had been planning this, what his mutation even was, or why he was so sure Athena was his soulmate.

They were all questions for another day to Athena, who was followed by her silent soldiers back to their floor. The drugs entirely out of her system now.

One look at Steve and Bucky and Athena knew they were still boiling in their rage. She could see all the emotions they wore so freely on their face around her: anger, love, fear, and loathing, whether for Ralph or themselves for letting her be taken like that.

She walked straight to their shared room and into the shower. She stripped off her clothes and turned the water to a burning temperature. In the doorway, the two men stood guard. They watched as she scrubbed her skin and hair but stayed where they were. Rinsing off the second round of soap, Athena sniffed her arm, grimacing.

"What's wrong?" Steve's concern was evident in his voice. She heard them both enter the bathroom further.

"I still smell like him," the crack of her voice, accompanied by a look of utter disgust, had him wanting to hunt down Ralph and continue his beating. The blood had all been washed away, but his scent still lingered.

Her water eyes rose up, meeting each of them, and for a second, she hated her powers. She didn't want to smell his scent on her, like some sick claim he had over her. The smell made her stomach turn; Athena was bolting from the shower, dry heaving over the toilet. Her body rejected every piece of the man that tried to kidnap her.

Hands were on her, pulling her wet hair back, rubbing her skin in calming circles.

"We got you, Thea; let it out." Bucky soothed in her ear as she heaved against the bowl again. Her retching broke off into a sob. She tried to stop the tears, but the reality was crashing in on her as the day's adrenaline wore off completely. 

They whispered comforting words to her as she cried, falling back to sit on her butt. Athena pulled her knees to her chest, pressed her face into her hands, and sobbed. She was a trained killer, and Ralph's mutation had made every ounce of skill and knowledge obsolete. If Steve and Bucky had been seconds slower, she would be in the sky flying to who knows where with a madman. She would have been completely vulnerable to him, and the nightmarish possibilities filled her brain in droves. Athena hadn't felt that powerless since Bucky's attack.

Arms were lifting her from the bathroom floor, carrying her to their bed, placing her wet body on the sheets. Steve and Bucky on each side, caging her in their protective embrace. A shield from the world outside as their soulmate cried.

Tomorrow they would get their answers, tonight though, the only person they were worried about was the blonde curled so tightly between them they thought she might disappear into thin air again.

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Where my Ralph haters at?

what do we think?

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