Cyborg (Loki fanfic) - on hiatus

Lessons with mama spider (Chapter 26)

Another fanart by MurdurMuffinLoki because she has lots of great art!

Plus, y'all get a little biology lesson in this chapter. +-+ (DoN'T reAd ThE blOoDY ComMenTs, it's about brain biology, nothing else)

(Philosophical Rabbits And Nocturnal Kangaroos)

Tony groaned as he opened his eyes to come face-to-face with the dull gray infirmary ceiling of Avengers tower. He glanced around, there was yellow mist on the floor, that thankfully seemed to be fading. Good. He didn't need to deal with any magic-voodoo-improbably stuff this morning, or night, or whatever time it was. At least not without an unhealthy amount of coffee. He pushed himself up onto his elbow, surprisingly, nothing hurt, or ached. Not even a migraine. It's weird, but he'll enjoy it while it lasts. He glanced around the room, where everyone else seemed to be waking up, except for the resident God of Mischief. 

A random girl- Cassidy, he corrected himself, was slumped on the floor. She was lying face up, but thankfully, she was breathing. Not dead. Amazing. If she was, then he'd have to organize a 3-hour conference meeting (and probably show up 40 minutes late for the sake of cohesion) with a certain pirate-wannabe about why there was a dead girl in his tower, plus the paperwork would be a nightmare. He glanced around the room to see who else was awake or waking up. Hammer time was stirring, and mumbling something about 'waiting 5 more minutes' and 'not wanting to go to Asgardian history studies now'. Jolly green, triple imposter and Legolas were also getting up. He noticed Pepper on the floor and got out of the cot to help her up.

"Tony?" She mumbled as she sat up. "Yeah?" He answered. "W- what happened?" She asked as she put her head in her hands. She fumbled a bit for the edge of the bed to push herself to her feet. When she finally got her bearings under her, she glanced around the room. She sighed as she stared at the unconscious, immobile girl on the floor. "Is she going to be ok?" She asked. Tony just shook his head and answered; "I don't know Pepper, I don't know." As if simply saying those words had some sort of magical effect, Cassidy suddenly sat up and sucked in a huge breath. 

Pepper sighed in relief and walked over to help Cassidy. Thor also got out of bed, shaking his head slightly, the other three were simply sitting in bed and staring at the rest of the group. Tony turned to the trio sitting in the beds; "Nice to see all of you on the right side of consciousness!" He bellowed sarcastically. His loud voice rang around the room, causing some of the people in the said room to wince at the volume. "Tony, if you don't mind, could you keep the yelling to a minimum?" Bruce pleaded. 

Tony pouted; "Fine." He mumbled, then sat back down on the bed. Pepper, meanwhile was helping a confused Cassidy sit up properly. She was glancing around the room as if she expected anything and everything to abruptly launch itself at her and try to kill her. She nervously got up, keeping a death grip on Pepper's hand, but not harsh enough to bruise, more like hold extremely tightly. "It's ok Cassidy, there's nothing here to harm you. You're safe." Pepper said softly, Tony smiled, sometimes he felt like he didn't deserve her. "Safe?" The girl repeated a tremor in her voice. "Safe," Pepper repeated.

"Monsters don't feel safe. Monsters don't have friends." Cassidy replied inaudibly.  Pepper frowned. "Do you think you're a monster?" She asked softly. Cassidy chuckled, but it came out as a bitter laugh. "I know I am." She swallowed, the continued; "You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are part of you. And they will never go away." She quoted, Natasha's eyes widened a fraction. "I have red in my ledger, but unlike all of you, I can't wipe it out, and I never will." She responded. 

Natasha got up off the bed and strolled over to Cassidy. She sighed, then grabbed her firmly by the shoulders, forcing her to look directly into her eyes. "You aren't a monster. No matter what you've done in the past, they're gone. It's done. That's all that matters, what you want to be from now on. Only you can change your life, no one else can do it for you. You can either stay and dwell on the past, or you can stand up. You can become a better person." Natasha said with fierce determination. Everyone in the room was surprised, minus Clint, since she had shown her emotions, well true emotions, not a counterfeit identity. Cassidy sniffed, then retorted; "But I killed them, Natasha. I killed them. I could have done something, but I left them to die."