The Seventh Avenger

Chapter 61: A Favour

3rd P.O.V

If there was one thing that Ava Quill was notoriously known for, was that it was a habit of hers to play music loudly whenever it was that she was working. Whether it be working out some new piece of tech or even whenever she was paired with a field agent on a SHIELD mission, it was almost guaranteed that she would crank up the volume on whatever device she was using and blast out some of her favourite tunes. Most people found it annoying and difficult to concentrate when she did so, though Ava found that the only way she could properly concentrate was if she was playing music.

The fact that it annoyed some people when she did so, however, meant that she was forced to listen only through her headphones so as not to disturb her fellow colleagues. Not that Ava minded all that much, but she preferred to play the music from a set of speakers. There was something about it that was more freeing and ignited a desire within her to let loose and move all around the place. Swinging this way and that, throwing her head back and twisting and spinning until she was out a breath. Besides her beloved trench coat that was folded up on the chair beside her, dancing was one of Ava's all time loves. Even now she was gently bobbing up and down on the spot as her fingers tapped away at the keyboard in front of her, humming along to the tune that was flowing from the computer in front of her:

'Time, time, time,
See what's become of me,
While I looked around,
For my possibilities,
I was so hard to please,
Look around.'

The good Doctor Bruce Banner had left about fifteen minutes ago, declaring to Ava that he needed to go and talk to the one-eyed pirate (her words, not his) to find out some more information about the cube before he could properly begin his work. She had simply waved him off and watched him go before she had returned to her work in front of her. Even though the scientist was rather seclusive and quiet, preferring to keep to himself while he spent his time on the hellicarier, Ava was pleased to find that after a little coaxing from her he had started to talk more. As the hours had ticked by and the more that they talked, she could practically see a weight leave his shoulders as he slowly became comfortable with her presence. It had taken a lot of talking on her behalf to make him so, though Ava didn't mind much. She figured that if the two of them were going to be working closely together within the next couple of days, then she may as well try and break some of the awkward tension that had filled the room the moment that Natasha Romanoff had left the two of them alone in the lab.

While the two of them had been working, Ava had resisted the urge to play some music. Not only because she knew that doing so would most likely bother the quiet scientist, but also because she felt that sticking her headphones in and leaving him alone without any conversation whatsoever would be considered rude. It wasn't exactly the best way to break the ice in the room either. But the moment that he had properly left the lab and had closed the door shut behind him, her fingers had twitched towards the keyboard of her laptop and not even seconds later, AVA QUILL'S ULTIMATE THROWBACK PLAYLIST was blaring out from her device in front of her.

​​​​​​'Look around,
Leaves are brown,
And the sky,
Is a Hazy Shade of Winter.'

A small smile now graced her lips at the familiar song, her mind jumping to a moment so long ago, that Ava could only remember it in bits and pieces. A moment where there had been a crisp, bitter breeze in the Missouri air, with leaves falling off the trees in colours that resembled the shade of her own hair. Where a brother and sister had been dancing in their small kitchen to this song as it played from the small radio on the bench beside them. Where their mother had been watching with a fond smile on her face, singing along softly to the song and knowing every single lyric as she always did for whatever song buzzed through the radio. The smile on her face and the cheerfulness to her tone almost concealed how frail she looked. How pale and sickly she truly was.