Chapter 35: Damn Assassins

            "Sir, it appears Ms. Leiton is-"

            "Mute." I just barely catch tony cutting Jarvis off as I step out of the elevator. It looks as though Tony was examining his chest, holding his shirt up in his mouth.

            "Am I interrupting something?" I say, trying not to ogle too much at everything going on in Tony's workshop.

            "No just thought you'd be longer." Tony says spinning in his chair and standing walking around his desk.

            "So does anyone who goes through that elevator just have instant access to all this?" I gesture to everything and the entire room in general.

            "No everybody has their own code. I just told Jarvis to let you down." Tony says walking up to me. He looks disconcerting... it's unnerving... Him without his signature smirk or curious/thinking face.

            "Are you okay?" I ask with a furrow of my brow.

            "Why wouldn't I be?"

            "Well, last time I checked, guys just don't examine their chest with a negative expression, unless their unhappy with what they see. And I'm gonna guess that everything going on under there has to be pretty gosh darn great in order to uphold the reputation you have."

            "Why do you assassins have to analyze everything?" Tony questions walking away from me and back to his desk. I follow and sit down on one of the chairs next to him.

            "Because it is permanently seared into our brains, or at least mine, but," I say hastily and then patting his leg. "What's going on?" He sighs and spins a 360 in his chair before facing me again.

            "I'm very seldom nostalgic." Is his simple answer. I catch on that he was looking at where the arc reactor used to be I imagine there's a scar and that he reminisces about the events that led up to the need and removal of it. I tip my head back in thought as Tony waits for my response. I never thought of Tony to be the old photo album type guy, but it's not hard to see that he's created some good memories with everyone upstairs, and none of them would exist without that circle of light. Plus, the world knows tony Stark has lived a hell of a life. Coming to a conclusion I look back at Tony, his hands rubbing together as he swivels in his chair, arms resting on his knees.

            "And you never expected a family, let alone like the people you go upstairs." I say. Tony nods in... not agreement, but more like I articulated what was caught in his throat; an understanding. After a few seconds of silence, with both of our heads down, not looking at each other, I decide to take a chance. "Can I see it?" Tony looks up at me, with his big, brown eyes and stands. At first, I think he's going to walk away from me, but rather, he walks towards. He holds out his hand for me to take which I do.

We stand and he play s with my hand for a moment before saying, "This never leaves this room." I can't believe he's actually going to show me. "Don't ruin the moment, Frenchy." I sigh, looking down at our still hands. Really brain, you just couldn't keep your mouth shut could you?

 "This never leaves this room." I confirm while looking back up at Tony as he drops my hand. My eyes don't leave his until he's fully pulled his shirt up, revealing about an 11 centimeter, skin stretched, and white scar. At first I just look at it. It's refreshing to see someone else's scar, compared to my many. The stories this beauty must hold. What the hell am I thinking? I know the stories behind this, all of this. I realize my face has wrinkled in thought as I stare at the scar and Tony looks down at me. "Do..." I hesitate, not knowing if I can ask this. Might as well go for it, I've come this far. "Do you think, one day, you could tell me about it?" I look up at Tony. "About you?"

 "One day." He says, about to put his shirt down. I hold my hand up to stop him.

 "May I?"

 Spoiling our sweet moment, he smirks and says, "Well I do call you Handsy."  I smile while looking back at his scar. I reach out and touch Tony's chest. He doesn't even flinch, unlike how I know I would. And it's surprisingly soft.

 "Mhm." I breathe, not over using this touch.

 "Mhm what?" Tony says.

 I pull Tony's shirt down and say, "I like it." And just like that, this moment no one would think Tony Stark would be capable of, poof's away with Tony turning away from me. I look at his back and think... No.

 "What?" Tony turns back to me, only now several yards away.

 "Uh... I don't think that should be how this ends."

 "Well do you have a different conclusion?" Tony quarries with a quirk of his head. I think about it. He showed me his one scar... The least I could do is show him on of mine.

 I clear my throat and have to look down before I can talk. "1999, July 16th. I had been... moved from a textile factory to a plantation farm. The other... laborers had seen um, Jared White pay off the... owner to make sure I was never... too injured." Tony takes a few steps towards me, but I still can't look at him. "I was in the field and, well I was never too injured." I finally pull my gaze to Tony, who's right in front of me now. "One of them came at me with a gardening fork and... I was 11." I begin unbuttoning my cardigan, but Tony stops me by placing his hands over mine.

 "Jade, you don't have-"

 "I know, I want to." I life up the left side of my shirt where, still, 3, evenly spaced, 2 centimeter diameter, jagged circles blemish my hip. "It'd look better if I could have actually stitched it, but..." I say with a shrug of my shoulders as Tony looks down at the scar as I looked at his. Tony reaches his hand up, but stops before touching me. "Be warned, it won't be as soft." I say placing his hand on the left side of my stomach. Sadly, and although I put his hand there myself, I still flinch at his rough hand, that has clearly been worn from his mechanic ways. He immediately recoils and unbelievably wraps his arms around me in a hug, rather than turning away again.

 "I like it." He says. I smile and bury my face in the crook of Tony's neck while squeezing his torso. "I like this Jade. The open and willing one." That's when I realize just what I've done.

 I savor the last few seconds of this while saying, "This never leaves this room."

 Tony's grip only tightens though, and completely ignoring what I said, says,  "That's where Steve touched you when we first captured you. During the pat down." It's more of a statement than a clarifying question. How that hell does he even remember that? "Because I remember important things."

Not caring that I've thought aloud multiple times in the last 5 minutes I say,  "As long as it stays just a memory." I feel Tony smile as his goatee stretches and scratches my neck.

 "Deal." He says pulling away from me. "Now down to brass tacks. Ready to help me prank the shit out of one friendly neighborhood Web Head?"

***   

            One hour later and Tony and I have constructed the best design for our prank. "Jarvis how are those cameras coming buddy?" I ask while Tony puts the finished touches on the holographic blue print.

            "All 50 cameras have been constructed, Miss." Jarvis replies.

            "Alright, what do you think?" Tony says, spinning the diagram towards me.

            "May I?" I ask. He gestures for me to go ahead. After all my reading of the HYDRA file, I've gotten the hang of Tony's programming, so I spread out the hologram around us so it's easier to manipulate. "Looks good, but will it be constructed in time? I'm sure Peter'll be back soon."

            Tony closes the graphics with a clap and says, "Jarvis?"

            "Right away sir. Approximate prank construction time, 15 minutes."

            "I take you do this often?" I ask crossing my arms and turning towards Tony as he walks around the desk.

He snickers and just says, "Come on, we don't want to miss him." While waving me after him. We step into the elevator. "How long have you known him?" Tony asks.

 "4 years."

 "But you two split last year?"

 "Mhm." 

 "Why?"

 "His girlfriend died and eh grew distant. When I'd try to help he just pushed me away, so eventually, I let." I deadpan, blankly staring ahead.

 "Why do you think he did that?" tony continues to pry.

 "I don't know. He just always said that it was his fault." I say.

 After a short pause, Tony says, "Doesn't feel too good to be pushed away, does it?" I immediately realize he's talking about me, but before I can respond, the doors open and Tony saunters out. I stand there for a second, shocked by the observation Tony made. Who'd have thought Tony Stark could have pointed that out? Before the elevator closes, I step out and see everyone lounging in the sitting area or kitchen. Well everyone but Reed and Bruce, the must still be in Bruce's lab. Tony walks over to the elevator and before he enters he says, "Jade, make sure to notify me when Peter's back."

 "Will do." I say with a salute while walking to the couches.

 "Mr. Stark, are you going to Dr. Banner's lab?" Sue asks while standing.

 "Why yes I am Mrs. Richards."

 "Would you mind if I joined you?" She asks walking over to him.

 "Not at all." Tony says gesturing for her to enter the now open elevator. As the doors close, I plop down on one of the couches next to Clint.

 "Did you spend an hour down there planning a prank?" Clint says twiddling a drumstick in his left hand.

 "Maybe." I say, disregarding the fact I Just sat down, and get up to go to the kitchen.

 "What are you two planning?" Steve asks, folding the paper he was reading. I grab a bag of blueberries and imply shrug while tossing one in my mouth. Steve shakes his head disapprovingly, even though he doesn't even know, but still smiles while doing so. He gets up from the kitchen table and follows me back to the couches.

 "You know I'm actually looking forward to seeing it." Clint says as I sit down next to him again.

 "You know Fury's rules about pranks though." Natasha says gesturing to Clint.

 "Fury has rules for pranks?" I ask.

 "That him and Stark put into place." Natasha states while getting up and poking Clint's head.

 He waves her off and says, "Yeah well I doubt this will cause property destruction."

 I choke on the blueberry I was currently chewing, cough slightly, and then say, "You caused property damage? With a prank?"

 "Don't worry about it." Clint says, getting up as well.

 "Okay well, there's no chance of that." I say.

 "You doin' ya camera thing?" Ben asks.

 "What camera thing?" Steve asks.

 "The story Jade told us last night. Stark plans on recreating it." Thor explains.

 "Yeah except there'll be more cameras. Jarvis is setting it up now. Oh and all the flashes will go off at once. Should be good." I say, excited and slightly smug.

 "You know I never liked the pranks Tony pulls." Steve says.

 "Well, it's not just Tony this time." I say popping another blueberry.

Johnny begins to waltz over to me while saying, "Okay, now that you're not trapped down in Tony's workshop, you and I need to tal-" But he's interrupted by a thud out on the balcony. I look out the window and see very exhausted Spider Man. Ignoring the perplexed Human Torch in front of me.

I turn to Steve and say, "Ruin this and I swear you'll regret sleeping across the hall from me."

 "Miss I feel obliged to notify you, your earlier preparations ar-"

 "Thanks J!" I rush ignoring Steve's reaction. Peter trudges in, yanking off his mask revealing his unruly hair and his sweaty, and dirt covered face. Oh, wait no, that's dried blood. I get up and walk over to Peter, but he doesn't seem to notice, so I gently touch his shoulder, quietly saying, "Hey..."

 He jolts at my touch and hurriedly says, "Chimney cleaning!" When he realizes it's just me he calms down and breathes out a tired sounding, "Sorry."

 "It's okay." I say trying not to startle him again. "Man all this over a bank robbery?"

 "A bank robbery by Juggernaut." Peter says.

 "Juggernaut..." I mumble trying to remember who that is. "Is that that big dude running around in a red, metally suit? That guy's like pure muscle and potential energy." Peter simply nods in response. "Well thank God you're okay." I say hugging him. His grip on my waist is weak, but he does lean into me as I hold onto his neck and head. "Alright, you just get some rest." I say. "And a shower." I make it a point of inhaling deeply then recoiling. He nods again and walks to the elevator. After the doors close I turn back to everyone on the couches.

 "You know you shouldn't baby him like that." Steve says standing.

 "Yeah, if that's your reaction to that, how are you gonna live after one of our missions?" I roll my eyes at not only Clint's comment, but his and Steve's ignorance.

 Right as I'm about to explain, Natasha does for me. "You do realize hers and Tony's prank will take place in his shower and she just got him to go take a shower, right?"

 "I'm starting to like you more and more Red." I say making my way to the elevator. Pushing the button I turn to say, "So I'm guessing the show'll start in 10 minutes." I back into the elevator and go up to Bruce's lab. Quickly walking down the hall to the glass doors, I anxiously peak my head in. "Oh, Mr. McGee?" I say and surprisingly Tony's head does pop up and turn towards me from a screen.

 "Is it time?" He asks.

 "Time for what?" Bruce questions setting a stack of papers down.

 "It is indeed. I just sent the Spider Wonder Boy to shower." I say leaning on the door frame.

 "Ah, well Doctors, Miss, I'm afraid our rousing discussion about energy signature tracing will have to pick up some other time." Tony says getting up. And to be honest, can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not. Tony walks through the doors saying, "Because, it is time for me to watch my go-" I clear my throat, cutting him off. "Our good work in action."

 I turn to the 3 science geeks left baffled and say, "Feel free to join in the fun." Then spin on my heel and meet Tony in the elevator. We begin descending to Peter's level in an anxious silence I personally don't care, but I can see Tony trying to keep his professional façade up by staring blankly ahead with his hands clasped behind his back, but the occasional teeter of his feet proves he's excited as well. "So I hear Colonel Eyepatch doesn't always approve of your pranks." I say as the doors open, but continue looking straight ahead.

 "Did you now? Well I'll tell you what I told him." Tony says as we exit the elevator and walk down the hall. "If I'm the one who damages the tower, it's not lawful destruction of property." I laugh, but end up stifling it with my hand over my mouth. We reach Peter's door and I put my hand on Tony's to stop him from opening the door.

 While pressing my ear to the door, I mumble, "You'd be a terrible assassin." I hear bed springs, silence, and then a door close. I gingerly ease the door handle into turning without making any noise. Putting my hand up to keep Tony from walking in, I peak my head around the door. I see Peter's suit and mask sprawled over his bed and his boots crudely tossed aside by the foot of his bed. His closet door is also wide open while his bathroom door is sealed with the gleam of the light shining through the bottom crack. I nod to myself while waving Tony in as I open the door fully and stop inside. Tony walks over to the bathroom and listens He give me a thumbs up, which I'm assuming means Peter's in the shower, while pulling out his phone. I close the door as quietly as I opened it and tip toe over to Tony. He presses a few buttons on his phone and pulls me closer to him while holding the phone out in front of the both of us. On the screen is Peter's bathroom, but thankfully we can't see him in the shower. "You have security cameras in the bathroom!" I whisper/shout at Tony. He shrugs and pushes me off with a roll of his eyes.

 "I can activate the cameras right here." Tony whispers pointing to a button on the screen.

 "Then what are we waiting for?" I ask, but right as he's about press it, I hear something. Something that sounds like a door handle. At first I think it's Peter, so I put my hand over Tony's, but realize I can just barely see the top of Peter's head through the security cam. So, it has to be the door to the room. I turn and low and behold one master assassin, Big Bird, pops his blonde head in.

 "Did we miss it?" He asks once his eyes meet mine.

 "Not yet." Tony says. Clint opens the door and in pools, him, Natasha, Johnny, Ben, Thor and even Bruce, Reed and Sue. I turn back to Tony's phone to make sure Peter hasn't heard everyone bustling in. Good, still showering. I turn back after hearing the door close, when everyone has gathered around tony and I.

 "I thought you didn't like pranks?" I ask Steve as he makes his way over.

 "I don't" Is his not so explanatory explanation. He stands behind me and looks over my shoulder at Tony's phone. Without even looking, I know he's shaking his head disapprovingly. Tony looks around at everyone and then me.

 "Would you like the honor, Ms. Leiton?" I think about it, but leave Tony and Steve's side and walk to the door.

 "Why thank you Mr. Stark, but I think I have a better idea." I say placing my hand on the knob. I hold up 3 fingers towards tony and begin counting down. 3... 2... 1... I open the door just in time to see the cameras pop out of the walls, including the shower wall, and frantically start flashing.

 "AAAAHHHRRRRGG!!!!!!" Peter hollers while slipping. He pulls the shower curtain down on top of him and actually bends and breaks the metal post holding it up. The cameras stop and Peter begins spitting water out of his mouth and pushes his wet mop of hair out of his eyes. "Jade?!" He asks with water still pelting him. And I would have answered him, but I'm a little busy doubling over, laughing. I feel a hand on my shoulder and considering Tony's to my left, practically crying, I'm assuming it's his. "What the hell is going on?" Peter spits out again.

 "Part 2 of Jade's camera prank." Tony says holding his side.

 "With Tony Stark flair." I manage through my laughter. Peter pulls himself up still keeping his lower half covered with the curtain, and shuts the water off.

 "So Tony Stark flair is scaring he shit out of me and breaking the bathroom?" Peter asks sitting back down.

Neither of us being able to answer, I feel another hand, briefly, on my shoulder with Steve saying, "Apparently." Peter stands, bringing the curtain with him, while Tony and I begin composing ourselves.

 "Well I'm guessing no one will give me a towel, so if you'd excuse me." Peter says stepping out of the shower, ducking the broken, metal beam. As he walks between Steve and I, I make it a point to look him up and down.

 "Damn Parker... Spider Man has done you good." His cheeks turn to a tint of pink as he continues, but as soon as he exits the bathroom, I can see his ear and neck completely flush red. He clears his throat and nods to everyone while walking through the crowd that is his bedroom.

 "Nice of all of you to join us." He jokes. Before Peter can get to his closet, Johnny steps on the edge of the shower curtain that Peter was dragging across the floor, causing it to fall out of Peter's grip and around his ankles. "Oh come on!" Peter shouts breaking into a sprint to his closet. I smile and laugh a little, but cover my face with my hands upon seeing Peter's nude butt. And here I was thinking the spandex suit was as good as it got. I love hearing everyone's laughter, but feel my own cheeks heat up, so I turn away from everyone and the door but meet a hard chest. Unfortunately I'm still blushing at the fact I've seen my best friend naked and I refuse to let anyone see that. To my dismay though, the owner of the chest I'm hiding in pulls my shoulders back and then my hands away from my face.

 "Did your prank backfire on ya?" Steve asks leaning down. I turn with him still holding my hands to see everyone, smiling, laughing, or wiping away tears.

 "Nope." I say turning back to him.

 "Well don't worry. I'm the only one who saw you blushing. And it's not like that's a foreign sight to me." Steve says letting go of my hands. I blow a breath out that I'm sure Steve feels on his chest, while shaking my head to wipe the stupid grin that had spread across my face. Nodding my thanks to Steve I walk out into the room as Peter comes out of his closet with pants on and in the process of tugging on a shirt.

 His eyes make their way around all of us and he bends down to pick up the shower curtain while saying, "I hate you all." We all chuckle and smile.

 "Oh come Spider Warrior, occasional humility is healthy among friends." Thor says.

 "Yeah, keeps you humble." Clint adds on. As Peter walks past us all, he gives his head several shakes causing water droplets to hit everyone.

 "Oh Peter, Peter!" I say, considering he's making sure to stand right in front of me, still shaking his head. "Hey, just think of it this way. If I really didn't love you, I would never tease you." I say getting him to stop. He rakes his hands through the mop on top of his head, smiling. I take the shower curtain form him and toss it at Tony, freeing his arms. I wrap my hands around his neck and give him a big squeeze of a hug.

 "Am I supposed to thank you for this then?" Peter asks wrapping his arms around me and squeezing in return.

 "Well of course, pranking is one of the largest forms of love." I say.

 "Aw, so thanks Stark. Feeling the love, man." Peter says as we pull apart.

 "Well I guess Tony loves us all them." Bruce says.

 "No... I just like messing with you." Tony says walking through everyone and out of the bedroom. I make a face at Tony's weak attempt and see Clint and Natasha holding the same look. Ah, assassins, always seeing passed people's facades and analyzing everything.

 "Damn straight." Natasha says. And yet again brain, you messed up!

 "Okay, okay, shows over. Get out so I can clean this up." Peter says. Everyone slowly makes their way out of the room, but I stay. "Hey, that means you too." Peter says poking my side. I laugh and push him off, but then address the reason why I stayed.

 "And I meant what I said. If I ever stop teasing you, something's wrong." I say.

 Peter walks over to me and hugs me before saying, "Yes Jade, I know."

 "Okay good." I say as we pull apart. "Okay, really are you good? I mean, you took on Juggernaut! That must have been brutal."

 "Yeah I'm fine," Peter gives a short laugh. "Just another day in the life of Spider Man." He says.

 I laugh along with him saying, "Alright. I'll leave you to it then." I walk out of his room and meet Steve standing in the hall.

 "I told you, you shouldn't baby him." He says as we walk down the empty hall.

 "Oh come on, there has to be something against your morals about eve's dropping." I say as he pushes the up button.

 "You know I never thought I'd get a lecture about morals from a master assassin and international criminal." He says as we both enter.

 "Ex-international criminal." I correct him. "But you're right. Out of all people in this tower, I'm not the one to be getting life lessons from."

 "No, you turned out alright. You just have to get to know you first." Steve says with a smile.

 "Right." I say with a smile of my own.

 "I will say, it's amazing how you did turn out. After everything you've been through."

 "Well I did have my standards, just because I was in a cage doesn't mean I didn't. I was just never allowed to show that." I explain. After several seconds of silence, Steve kinda... pops.

 "And that's what upsets me!" I'm taken back by his outburst, but he continues. "They took away your rights, your life! HYDRA took it all away and they've been ruining people's lives for centuries! They-"

 "Hey!" I shout. "It's okay." I say calmer, grabbing onto his shoulders so he'll face me.

 "How do you know that?" He asks. ... I take a deep breath, making sure I say what I want to say right.

 "Most things will be okay, eventually, but not everything will be. Sometimes you'll put up a good fight and lose. Sometimes you'll hold on really hard and realize there is no choice but to let go. Acceptance is a small, quiet room. And I spent a good portion of my life in a small, quiet room learning that. But I knew it'd be okay though because I knew one day I'd leave, one way or the other and I'd feel loved again. That's how I know that this'll be okay, that you'll be okay. Because, Steve, you're surrounded by love and family. And whether I qualify as that or not I don't know, but everyone else in this tower, I guarantee, would feel something if you changed or left somehow. And that's how I know that this, me, you... will, eventually, be okay. Okay?"

 I push the 83rd button after my speech and we ascend. Steve nods in what I hope is an understanding way.

 He doesn't look at me, but his feet when saying, "You aren't as bad as you think at life lessons." 

A/N: Howdy ho!!! Yes it is a new chapter, no it is not your phone or computer glitching, I actually updated. Alrighty, well HI!! It's been awhile! And I know, but I'm out of school and updates will hopefully soon be getting more frequent. That's right I am no longer a freshman, but a stuck up sophomore that thinks they're on top of the world because they're no longer at the bottom. Or at least that's how the sophomore's were at my school.

Okie dokie, chapter, stuff happened, Tony saw one of Jade's scars, Peter was pranked and Cap got a little pep(ish) talk. And you know with all that going on, it'd be cool to get all of y'alls opinions.

Oh and this has nothing to do with the book, but guESS WHO ASKED OUT A GUY!!!! Yup, this girl, and guess wHO SAID YES!!! The guy. And ironically enough he's a grade above me and I just ranted about how stupid sophomores are......... Anyway, I'm excited, if you can't tell cause he's the first guy I've really (like really) liked. Plus I've been crushing since like 8th grade so yeaaaahhhhh........

Okay so here's your chapter and occasional update on my life. Comment, like, subscribe, oh wait, no that's youtube... But still comment and VOTE. Ah there we go.

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