Cure // Pietro Maximoff [1]

5

I go out the next morning to get my usual Starbucks before starting my day, plus I really didn't want to help clean up the mess, so I'm doing a coffee run for everyone instead.

I'm opening the door into the coffee shop when my hair blows into my face, getting stuck in the Chapstick I had put on just before leaving the tower. I groan as I pull it all off of my lips before making my way up to the counter, pulling out the list of everyone's orders that Nat had written on a piece of paper before I left.

"Riley." I hear my name and turn around, only to find nothing but a slight gust of wind. I blink a few times and shake my head before turning back around.

"Riley Medela." Either I'm going insane, or someone is messing with me. I take a quick sweep around the room, looking for anyone I recognize or who could possibly look suspicious. And then my eyes land on one specific silver-haired guy. I take a breath to compose myself after he motions for me to come forward. I sit in the seat opposite him, placing the list back in my pocket, grazing my finger across the handle of one of my knives. Steve's overprotectiveness isn't always so bad, I guess.

"I didn't realize you were buying for other people today, otherwise I would have gotten their's too." I glance down at the three drinks sitting in front of him, three of the drinks I normally order. "I know you don't actually like plain coffee. But these are the three drinks you cycle between. You don't really have a favorite so I just ordered all three." I make no move to grab any of the drinks but try to maintain eye contact with Pietro.

I might know more about you than the rest of your own team.

He'd said it back in Sokovia days ago and now it's catching up to me. My drink orders are just small facts about me. Nothing you would find in some kind of file from SHIELD or Hydra.

"What do you want?"

"I want to know why Hydra wanted you."

"I think you know why." I twiddle my thumbs in front of me and bite down on my lip.

"Two of your nervous habits." He states, making me immediately stop both. Another small fact. "I make you nervous now?" He smirks and I can't help but notice how attractive he actually is. When I don't say anything, he decides to continue. "Hydra wanted you for your power. Wanted to experiment on you to see if they could make it stronger within you and eventually replicate it. There are flaws in it right now, they wanted to get rid of them. They wanted to know where your powers came from. Test your blood and search your memory." My eyebrows crease in confusion. "You didn't know this?" He looks confused for a second before trying to play it off with a laugh.

"You realize you're free from Hydra, right? Why don't you just go live your life with your sister instead of being so caught up in mine?" I place my hands on the table and make an attempt to get up and leave but he grabs my wrist.

"Ultron wants you now." He pauses. "Be careful." And just like that, he's gone. I blink my eyes a few times, trying to figure out what just happened.

I'm brought back to reality when I get a text from Tony asking where I am. I respond by just saying that the line is really long before grabbing the three drinks off the table, one of them being Natasha's order, and getting back into line.

>.<

"You ok? You look a little shaken up." Natasha notices my mood right away as she takes a few of the coffees from my arms.

"Yeah." I quickly nod my head. "It's just a little too cold outside for me." She narrows her eyes and leans in.

"You're not a very good liar." She almost whispers. "I expect you to tell me later." She raises her eyebrows expectantly as Steve walks over to us with a tablet in hand.

Steve shows us a picture of a dead body and I immediately turn away, trying not to spit out the big sip I just took of my drink.

"Why are you showing us this?" I question, still trying not to look at the picture too much.

"It's a message. Ultron killed Strucker."

"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us." Tony speaks up but everyone seems to ignore him.

"This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" Nat questions Steve.

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss." Nat looks over a computer monitor and tells all of us that any knowledge we had on Strucker has been erased.

"Not everything." I immediately understand what Tony is talking about and groan.

"I do not want to go through tons and tons of files. Anyone need another coffee? I could run out and get some food. Actually, I just realized that I really need to go get," I pause, racking my brain for anything that might actually make Steve and Tony let me leave. "feminine hygiene products. I just ran out last month and that time should be starting again soon." Steve's cheeks turn red and Thor looks at me with confusion. I slowly start making my way towards the door. "But you guys have fun. Does anyone else-"

"You're not leaving, Riley." It's Nat who speaks up and I immediately give her puppy dog eyes. "We need all the help we can get."

"I'm a millennial! I'm used to having the internet. I'll be no help searching through files." Now Tony shakes his head.

"You're not getting out of this, kiddo." I groan but follow all of them to the file room anyway.

>.<

"Are these in alphabetical order?" I question as I look through a box of files. "Because I still have to sing the ABC's sometimes to get to a specific letter."

"Just read a few of them if they look like they have anything we may need." Steve says as he flips through a file of his own.

"I like it a lot better when you can just search a key word in a search engine."

"Wait, I know that guy." I get excited for a second, thinking Tony was for some reason talking to me, but turns out he was actually pointing to Banner's open file. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." Steve gives Tony his usual accusing look when you've done something wrong. "There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game changer. It was all very 'Ahab'"

"This." Thor points to a marking on the back of Klaue's neck.

They each go back and forth, speaking of the brand and what it means. Banner looks it up and finds out it's from Wakanda, and the brand isn't very nice.

"Where is this guy now?"