Echo [11] (ON HIATUS)

Chapter 23

"Oh, you're alright," Becca wrapped her arms around Ian, who still had her eyes squeezed shut. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"My glasses--they broke," Ian mumbled.

"Jeez, Tess. That looks bad. Come on, let's get you to the med lab," Asya put a hand on my back, gently leading me away from the others and up to the med lab. "Dr. Lied!" an older Asian man appeared, a clipboard in his hand.

"Yes, Asya?" he asked, spotting the bloodstain getting bigger and bigger on my shoulder. "Oh, dear! Here, come with me. I need prep for emergency surgery--now!" he put a hand on my back, pushing me towards an operating theater. "Alright, miss, we're just going to give you some anesthetic and get this bullet out of you. You'll be awake in a few hours,"

-

I groaned, stirring slightly as bright light flooded my sight and made me want to fall back asleep. "Good evening Tessa Panzer!" Carol teased, being way too loud.

"Fuck off, Danvers," I groaned.

"Be careful Steve doesn't catch you talking like that. Come on, you're free already. You just have to be careful about those stitches. Let's go visit Ian," she basically dragged me out of the bed before I fully realized what was going on.

"Ian? Why?" I asked, stumbling slightly as my feet fell out from under me.

"Well, uh, she got really sick because she saw a demon. She's lucky she didn't go insane," she explained.

"Wha--? Demons? Insanity? Am I on something?" I questioned.

"Oh--you never got the memo. Ian's a...I'm not sure how to explain. She's magic, basically. And she sees demons when she doesn't have her glasses on, so..."

"Ah. Okay," I said, twitching my brow slightly. We approached the room Ian was staying in, meeting up with the other trainees on the way.

"...can't do this anymore, Becca. I'm tired of having to act like we're completely normal and we can only be together when we're alone in the dark," we caught the tail end of Ian's words, everyone pausing in the doorway.

Ian looked over as the door creaked, and flushed scarlet. "How much of that did you catch?" she asked quietly.

"Uh, you couldn't do something anymore," Steve supplied. 

"Oh, god. Well, it's probably for the best," Ian moved to stand up, shaking and wavering slightly when her feet touched the ground. She took a deep breath, looking at our group as a whole. "Me and Becca have been dating for the past five months."

"I knew it!" Asya proclaimed. "There was something fishy going on between you both."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Bucky asked his little sister, sounding slightly hurt. She looked away, staring at the ground.

"I thought you would hate me. You know how they treat people like me," she whimpered.

"Becca, I don't give two shits about your orientation. You're my sister. And...it's gotten better. A lot better," he assured her, attempting to coax her into looking at him.

"So...you lot don't care if we're not straight?" Kyrie asked tentatively.

"Well, not us. There are probably some backward, rotten bastards in the school that care, but not us. Not us," Sam said, glancing at Steve with a cheeky grin, the Super Soldier just rolling his eyes. Evidentally--aka Carol told me--Steve had once scolded Tony with 'language!' on a mission, and the team was never going to live that down.

"Then there's probably something you should know,"