Eleanor Stark had it all. A kind brother, amazing friends, and a promising career.
So, what will happen when she constantly bumps into a blue-eyed soldier, who, in her words, is the personification of the word trouble?
Placed in Captain America: The...
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Howard has taught Ellie how to fight.
No, scratch that.
He had hired people to teach her how to fight.
Eleanor knew it was her brother's way of showing he cared.
The word is a terrible place Ellie, he had told her long ago, you need to know how to deal with this terrible place.
And she had.
Well, not exactly.
You see, Ellie hated hand to hand combat. She was not strong nor fast.
She didn't know how to throw a proper punch, or how to kick someone in the gut.
But there were other ways of fighting.
When it came to knives, Ellie was, well, an expert.
With every pointy object she was amazing. Even when throwing darts while drunk, Ellie always hit the red mark in the middle.
But she wasn't proud of this, say, ability.
She preferred her mind. She relied on her brain.
So, it was no surprise none of her friends, except Laura, knew about this thing she had with knives.
Laura knew because once, Ellie had been mad.
No, she had been furious.
Her first boyfriend, a guy named Dan, had cheated on her.
As simply as that.
Ellie had seen him with a girl at a party.
She loathed public displays of affection, and seeing her boyfriend kissing a girl passionately on the sofa in the middle of the packed living room was, well... It was definitely something.
She liked Dan, she really did, and it ended up with her being a laughing stock.
She had come home with Laura by her side, her cheeks red from embarrassment and her teeth gritted with fury.
But she hadn't cried. She had refused to.
Ellie had burst into her room, a worried Laura on her heels.
She has taken out her set of knives from the second drawer and in a blink of an eye, threw them at her wall, where all her polaroid pictures had been hanging.
Three of the knives had ended up exactly in Dan's face and the other one, well...
"Remind me to never mess up with you, darling" had mumbled Laura, half surprised half amazed.
After that incident, she hadn't used her knives.
Until today.
Ellie always carried a swiss knife, one of those curious objects with which you could open a bottle of bourbon or cut a rope.
She didn't like hurting people, but she was sure those men wouldn't let her or Laura just go. And she was not going to let them hurt her friend.
So, she started crying. Fake crying, really, a trick she had learned when she was little, when the teachers wouldn't let her stay in the library after hours. But after seeing her weeping and sobbing, the teachers agreed.
The man with the gun lower his weapon and said, "crying like a little girl"
At that moment, Ellie ran towards him and cut him with her knife on the chest. He instantly dropped his weapon. The other tried to take it, but Ellie was faster and cut him in the leg twice, and one more time in the arm for good measure.
She turned around and screamed for Laura to run.
And they ran until they found a telephone booth.
"Are they dead?" asked Laura as she and Ellie entered the little space.
"No, just... They are hurt" Ellie said. Now, a couple of real tears were on her cheeks and her hands were trembling, "come on, pick up, pick up, please pick up" she told the phone.
She feared more of those men would appear any moment, out of nowhere. And she feared she wouldn't be able to handle more of them.
Just then, a British voice said, "Stark Residence, how can I help you-"
"Jarvis, help" said Ellie, out of breath, "near the cafe, second telephone booth on the left of that kids park"
Jarvis hung and Ellie took another breath, "we have to wait, so um, just, wait".
She looked at her hands, that were now stained with blood.
"I didn't want to, Lori, I didn't. But they were going to kill us, they were going to hurt us, I know they would have"
"Hey, darling, it's alright" Laura said, enveloping Ellie in a hug, "everything's all right now. You saved us, Eleanor" Laura sobbed, "if you hadn't done that, I-" Laura's voice broke, "I am the worst at consoling people"
"You are" sobbed Ellie.
Jarvis arrived four minutes later. Ellie felt as if it had been the longest four minutes in her life.
Howard cancelled his meeting and stayed by her side while she and Laura told him and Jarvis the events of the night.
Howard had the most serious expression Ellie had ever seen plastered on his face.
"Can I, um, sleep here?" asked Laura.
"Of course," nodded Howard and Laura walked towards the bedrooms. Howard looked at Jarvis and he left as well.
"I'm hiring bodyguards, lots of them, so you are never to- Never to be in this situation..." he paced the room, not meeting Ellie's eyes.
Was it Ellie or did Howard's voice sound like it was going to break at any second?
"This should never have happened, I should have been more careful, this is all my fault"
"Howard"
"I'll hire bodyguards, that way you will be safe"
"Howard!" said Ellie, and he turned around. She noticed his red eyes, tears on his cheeks.
"Ellie, I cannot lose you" he said almost in a whisper, "I can't. And tonight, I almost did, and it hit me that- Fuck, Eleanor, you're the only one I have. I can't lose you"
Ellie stood up from the chair and wrapped him in a hug.
"You're not losing me, silly" she said, using the nickname she used to call Howard when they were kids, "I am foreseeing a long life of living out of your bank account"
"Eleanor, what happened today-"
"I am here because of you. I mean, I am not dead in an alley because of you. You and those damned fighting lessons"
Howard just hugged her.
"I am alive because of you"
"I should be the one comforting you," said Howard.
"It's okay" Ellie said, and she meant it, "now would you like a soup? Or tea? Or maybe a piece of cake?" she added jokingly.
"Now you sound just like mom," laughed Howard, "but cake does sound good"
