FIVE MONTHS LATER

"Hey doc!" Ophelia greeted when she rounded a desk and saw the man in question hunching over a laptop, his glasses slowly sliding off his nose.

He looked up and smiled. "Oh, hey Ophelia. How are you? Haven't seen you in a while. I thought you weren't gonna come for your refill this month"

"Yeah...kinda went off my meds" she grimaced.

Dr. Hank McCoy froze when he stood up, he stared at the young woman with eyebrows raised in surprise. "Oh. How did that go?"

She shrugged. "My place is trashed. I found Romeo's books and threw them down the trash chute. Once I realized what I did I took my meds, waited for them to kick in and was searching the trash for his books. I imagine that's no different than Wade's nights"

"He's like a raccoon sometimes" Hank muttered.

Ophelia smiled. "I know. Spent all night and this morning cleaning my apartment and Romeo's books"

"He wasn't there when it happened?" He questioned.

"Nah. Don't you remember we moved in with the avengers at the compound?"

"Oh, right, right" Hank nodded.

"But I still have my apartment. Separate place from all them, get away for a while" she explained and Hank understood.

"So you two are officially joining them?"

"I think we officially joined them when Nick Fury and Maria Hill came knocking at my door after Ultron trashed the avengers tower" Ophelia answered.

"Huh" Hank nodded. "How come you join them but not us?" The corners of his mouth curling into a smirk.

Ophelia scoffed. "Don't you need to be a mutant to join the X-Men?"

"We could've made an exception for you two. Anyway, you here for your refill?"

"Yes please"

Since the group arrived from Italy, Romeo and Ophelia were invited to live with the avengers at the compound. They agreed, it took Ophelia a little longer to accept because she didn't want to leave her home, call her sentimental but her apartment holds many memories she couldn't let go. But then she realized she didn't have to, not after she found out some of the Avengers have their own place outside the compound to get away for a while. Natasha has a cabin in the woods, Steve has a small place in Brooklyn, Sam, who's one of the Avengers she met after Italy, also has his own place, Clint has his own home as does Thor, and Tony, well, that man can buy a building anywhere he goes.

Hank searched through the medicine cabinet in the lab until he located Ophelia's pills. He took the orange bottle and handed it to her. "Same formula as the last. Remember to take one per day, and/or when you feel one of your headaches coming on"

"I know. Thanks" she took the bottle and inspected it for a moment. "I hope it wasn't that much trouble. Making my meds"

"It's not. It's a very calming process" he assured. "And Ophelia, next time you wanna go off your meds don't go cold turkey. Tell me so I can lower the dose each time you come for a refill"

Ophelia nodded. "I will. Don't worry" she took her small backpack off and opened it, dropping the bottle inside. She reached inside and pulled out a white pastry box. "Cannolis as a thank you" she handed him the box.

Hank smiled, box in hands. "You didn't have to"

"Okay then, give them back" she reached for them but Hank pulled away.

"No, I want them"

Ophelia laughed. She zipped up her backpack. "I'm only joking. Thanks again doc"

"No problem. Thanks for the cannolis"

"No problem. See ya!"

───── ⋅♔⋅ ─────

As soon as Ophelia arrived at the compound she went straight to her room. She and Romeo have made themselves home at the compound, decorating their rooms to their liking, making it their own. They brought some things with them, bought new things. Of course Ophelia put up One Direction posters and brought her Lots-o bear matching with the pretty speedster.

Her relationship with Pietro is five months strong. When they left Italy, little Emilia was devastated. She didn't want Pietro to go. Everyone found it amusing, teasing Pietro how he's breaking his little girlfriend's heart. Ophelia pretended to be mad at him, shaking her head and sighing.

"I told you not to break her heart" she chided.

"What do you want me to do? Stay here forver?" He questioned. Sofia was on board with the idea. She adores Pietro. Probably the first boyfriend of Ophelia's she's ever liked.

"She'll get over you by next week" Cass dismissed.

Emilia Artemisia Novello was indeed over Pietro Django Maximoff by the following week. Her new obsession is Harry Styles.

Ophelia took one of her pills and set the bottle on her nightstand. She took one more thing out of her backpack before walking out in search for Pietro. She first checked his room but it's empty, she then went to the common room where she saw him on the couch watching tv.

She approached him from behind and surprised him when she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Hi Pie"

"Hi Lia" Pietro smiled stupidly when he heard Ophelia's voice and felt her lips on his cheek. He hasn't seen her since yesterday, but it feels longer.

"I got you something" she set the plastic box on his lap as she moved around the couch to sit next to him. Pietro held the box in his hands and stared at the cupcake in it, grey frosting swirled on top and a chocolate pumpkin on top. The chocolate is colored orange.

Pietro laughed when he saw the pumpkin on top. Of course. It's his own fault really but he doesn't care.

"Thank you" he kissed her cheek.

"You're welcome bundeva" she giggled, Pietro's scruff tickling her face. His nose nudged her cheek and he cupped her face, gently guiding her to face him, capturing her lips with his. He did it again and again. Her hands are on his neck, her fingers threading through his soft hair, the kisses deepening. She let out a squeal when he picked her up by her hips and moved her on his lap.

"Are you serious? Right in front of my doritos?" Sam gagged from where he sat on another couch in the room.

"You think hot cheetos are more age appropriate for this situation?" Opjelia smirked. Sam rolled his eyes with a groan of disgust. Ophelia giggled as she moved off Pietro's lap and sat next to him, picking the cupcake he'd set on the small table. "Can I have the little chocolate bundeva, bundeva?" She asked Pietro.

"What does bundeva even mean?" Sam questioned.

"It's 'pumpkin' in Croatian" she answered.

"You know Croatian?" He quizzed.

"No, I just know random words from other languages" she shrugged. "So can I have it?" She asked Pietro once more.

"You're already opening the box" he pointed out, eyes on Ophelia as she giggled and picked the small chocolate pumpkin from the top of the cupcake. "I hope it's hollow"

She gasped. "Take that back! Hollow chocolate pumpkin. Please, they already do that with the chocolate bunnies for Easter" taking a bite she felt and saw that the pumpkin isn't hollow. She turned it to show Pietro. He swooped in and took a bite, Ophelia frowned and pulled what remained of the chocolate pumpkin away from him.

"Fine, you don't get cupcake then" he mumbled as he picked the cupcake from the box.

It's cute, really, how any why Ophelia started calling Pietro, bundeva. Living in America was a whole new and different experience for the twins. And once pumpkin spice season started, well they were curious. Everything from pumpkin spice coffee to pumpkin spice chips. One day when Pietro and Ophelia were on a date at a coffee place, Pietro ordered everything pumpkin spiced, and it continued for the rest of the day to wherever they went. That's when she named him bundeva. Pumpkin.

What a cute little pumpkin.

"Hey, look who's back!" Tony grinned when he entered the room and spotted Ophelia. She turned her head and saw the rest of the Avengers trailing in after Tony.

"What? You were all in a secret meeting? Why are you all coming in here at the same time?" She questioned.

"I was in the lab with Bruce, Rhodey and Vision" Tony walked around the couch Ophelia and Pietro are occupying and layed down on the empty space.

"I was reading in my room and I got hungry" Wanda spoke, her eyes landing on Pietro's cupcake. She snatched it right out of his hand and took a bite. He snatched it back.

"Get your own cupcake" he glared. Wanda flicked his ear.

Natasha said she was outside, Thor was raiding the fridge (not unusual), Steve and Bucky were also outside but on the other side of the grounds. They all took a seat on the sofas in the room.

"Where did you get the cupcake?" Wanda asked her brother.

"Ophelia gave it to me" he answered around the cupcake.

Tony nudged Ophelia's thigh with his foot. "Where's our cupcake?"

"I knew I forgot something" she mumbled as she stood up and went to her room.

She returned a few moments later with three large cardboard boxes. She them on the coffee table, along with napkins, and flipped them open revealing a variety of donuts. One box is Halloween themed. Everyone, with the exception of Vision, grabbed a donut and thanked Ophelia. She noticed Bucky hesitating, intently staring at the donuts, almost glaring at them.

While she got to meet and know Sam and Rhodey almost immediately after coming back from Italy, Bucky is rather new to the group. It was a trip... the whole Bucky thing, and she wasn't even involved. It was a month after they'd all returned, Steve told Tony the truth about his parents death. How it was planned by Hydra and how his best friend was the one who did it. But it wasn't him.

It wasn't Bucky.

Tony felt his world crumble. It was like he was reliving his parents death all over again. Ophelia can still hear the sound Tony's fist made when it collided with Steve's jaw. Everyone thought that was the beginning of the end. Steve and Tony will get in a huge fight and friendships will be broken and everything will crumble. What would become of the Avengers? Will they still be the avengers without Iron Man and Captain America? But that punch was the only thing that happened...well, from what they saw.

Both men were in Tony's office for one whole day. The avengers tried to tap into the security footage but all access was blocked. They tried to listen through the locked door but it's soundproof. It was killing them not knowing what was going on. And it worried them for that exact reason. They didn't know if they were talking or shouting or have come to punches. But at the end of the day they both walked out at around ten at night, casually strolling into the living room where everyone was watching a movie, boxes of pizza on the table and they reached for a few slices, settling down and watching the movie with everyone.

"So we're not gonna talk about it?" Rhodey was the one who broke the long and awkward silence.

"Nope" Steve and Tony answered, eyes glued to the tv.

"Okay" he nodded.

That was that for three days until they finally talked with everyone and filled them in on what happened that day in Tony's office and how he made the decision to help Steve find Bucky because he wants answers. He wants to know why his parents were targeted. It was also that day that Sam commented how they're all dumb because they could've asked the Silvertongues to read out the extendable ears from Harry Potter to listen on Steve and Tony's conversation.

Ophelia's related to the person who doesn't know what's in mango salsa, how is she expected to think about what books would be helpful to help them listen to conversations? And Romeo, well, all he could do was shrug.

The search took them a few months but they eventually found Bucky hiding in Bucharest. Again, Steve and Tony were the ones who went to get him, they returned a few days later with a nervous Bucky, that was about a month and a half ago. Ophelia smiles everytime she thinks back to the day she met him. Steve was introducing Bucky to the team and everyone was being very nice, then Romeo came in, and of course that boy mixes everything up, that day he couldn't miss.

"Romeo, come meet Bucky" Steve spoke.

"Bucky Barnes? Captain America's boyfriend?" Romeo questioned.

"He's not my boyfriend"

"I'm not his boyfriend" Steve and Bucky spoke at the same time.

"Really? I swear I read that somewhere" Romeo mumbled in thought.

"They're what historians call best friends" Ophelia grinned.

"Roommates" Natasha added.

"Gals being pals" Wanda continued.

Romeo nodded, understanding. Of course. "Guys being dudes"

So far Bucky has adjusted well to his new life. At first he only spoke to Steve, giving the others grunts and huffs, then the one letter answers came which turned to one sentence which turned to a couple and now he talks with people. It took him just as long to join them for movie nights and game nights, even meals, but he did and he's made new friends.

Ophelia watched Bucky finally pick a jelly filled donut with green glaze, black sprinkles on one side, two eyes underneath, a nose and a mouth. Frankenstein's monster donut. Something as small as picking a donut is a huge thing for Bucky. He gets to pick, the decision is all his.

"Hey, Philly?" Romeo entered the room a few moments later. He scanned the room and gasped when he saw the donuts. He grabbed one that looks like a ghost.

"Yes, Romeo?" Ophelia spoke up.

"Um" he chewed and sat on the armrest of the couch. "How does... someone, uh...get an Italian boyfriend?" His cheeks are dusted in pink.

"Cass still hasn't put out, huh? What a whore" Ophelia scoffed.

"How is he a whore if he hasn't put out?" Tony questioned.

"He just is" she dismissed. "But Roo– put a plate of pasta outside. And Nat, put a milkshake out and a plate of french fries" Natasha frowned. Who is she supposed to attract with that? But then Ophelia said that's Tristan's favorite combo. "And Wanda you put out lumpia"

"So a cup of hot noodles then" Romeo joked.

"What? No! My cousin isn't some cheep slut!" Ophelia exclaimed.

"He isn't a cheep slut, but he's a whore? Make it make sense" Sam voiced.

"What do I put out?" Pietro asked Ophelia.

"You already put out, that's why I'm with you" she threaded her fingers through his hair. The room erupted in laughter. Ophelia giggled and kissed his cheek.

The Seinfeld episode they were watching ended and another one started. Almost three minutes in and they were laughing at the absurdity of how Kramer's lawyer put a restraining order against him and Kramer was more disappointed about the fact he could've give him his Christmas present.

"Boss, there's something you should see" FRIDAY interrupted ten minutes later. Seinfeld was replaced by a live coverage of the Library of Congress.

The Thomas Jefferson Building, James Madison Building and the John Adams Building, the three buildings that make up the Library of Congress, one of the largest libraries in the world, is on fire. The smoke of the three buildings came together to form one huge cloud of black smoke, the orange flames peeking out. The screen split in three to show each building, the roof of the John Adams Building was the first to collapse, followed by the Thomas Jefferson Building a minute later.

"There's something else" FRIDAY spoke. The screen split again, a fourth square to show the National Archives Building also on fire.

"Holy crap" Romeo breathed out "that's where they keep the Declaration of Independence"

Ben Gates won't be stealing the Declaration of Independence again.

"What the hell is happening?" Sam questioned.

"There's more" FRIDAY spoke again.

A projection popped up next to the tv, showing the Statue of Liberty. The pedestal in which it stood is cracking, slowly crumbling. The raised arm snapped off, tumbling down, the pedestal gave out with a loud crack, the statue fell in a puff of dust, debris flying everywhere.

"What in the disaster movie is happening?" Ophelia questioned.

"Boss" FRIDAY said.

"Just show it FRIDAY" Tony sighed. He and everyone in the room staring at the fires and destruction in horror.

More projections appeared, St. Peter's Basilica is on fire, part of the church collapsing. The other projections have similar video feed, the Palais Garnier (Paris opera house), Musée d'Orsay a museum in Paris, Notre Dame, the pyramids of Egypt and Mexico, the Parthenon, the British Museum and many more places from the world.

Everyone began to speak at once, voices overlapping each other but Ophelia didn't listen to them, she stared as all these historical places crumbled and burned. Her heart hammered in her chest as centuries of world history and culture is being destroyed right before her eyes.

"You know whats weird?" Romeo stood beside Ophelia, speaking in a low voice only for her to hear, not like anyone else is going to hear them since they're busy speaking over each other. "We've been to half these places searching for Keane, and all we found where the replicas he left behind after stealing the originals"

It felt like Beetlejuice, but instead of saying Keane three times, that one time Romeo said his name was enough. The news glitched for half a second, it happened again, the images of fire and destruction around them darkened, there's a figure in the shadows. Everyone got quiet as they stared, Tony told FRIDAY to locate the source of the video.

"I told you to stay away but you don't listen" his voice is dark and haunting, head coocked to the side and he remained in the shadows. "Now the world is on fire and it's all your fault"

He was gone, the screens went back to show everything crumbling and burning. The reporters are confused because what the hell just happened? What's going on? Tony's phone began to ring, FRIDAY informed him that calls are coming in from world leaders wanting the help of the Avengers. But Tony didn't answer them. He told FRIDAY to take messages, after all, he likes it when the light blinks.

What's happening?

Why is everything burning?

Who was the man on the screen?

FRIDAY couldn't locate the source. But Ophelia could've said that when Keane first appeared on screen. They saw the firefighters appear to these burning sites ready to put the fires out and rescue people who got caught in the disaster. Tony sent aid to all the disaster zones.

"Okay, who was that man and how did we piss him off?" Tony looked around the group. They all looked at each other, they have no idea who the man is or what's his objective.

The news continued on the background, reporters talking and recounting what eyewitnesses saw when each disaster occurred.

"I told you guys" Ophelia spoke up. Everyone turned to her. "You should've left Ultron burn the world to the ground"

It clicked.

The message wasn't for them, it was for Ophelia.

Author's note
Yes, that was Dr. Hank McCoy from X-Men. If you don't know him or the X-Men thats fine, he'll probably be the only mutant aside from Wade in the story, the others will maybe be mentioned. And for some reason I'm picturing the young version of the X-Men so that's who they'll be here even tho they have little to no involvement in the story.

We're finally diving into Keane, the person Ophelia and Romeo have been searching for since chapter 6. This is exciting!