Avengers/X-Men One Shots - The Blood/White Phoenix Saga

ONE-SHOT XVI: Can I Have S'More?

(That last chapter was the end of the Disneyworld Promises one-shots. It wasn't supposed to be long. Originally, the whole Bucky being a lickle stubborn was supposed to be him trying to win the Bucky-bear for Adelaide. I literally remembered the Coney Island joke from CATFA (Captain America: The First Avenger) and went from there. Besides, rollercoasters on the post-Winter-Soldier-Bucky-Barnes just sound a lot more hilarious)

(At first, this was going to be a camping one-shot from the Disneyworld Promises series, but instead I wanted to make a camping one-shot for the Avengers, definitely after the first Avengers film - enjoy this piece of hilarity, ya'll)

Set after Blood Phoenix 4

Adelaide Lehnsherr

I thought I'd be quite familiar with camping, given the survival situations I'd been out in with HYDRA. Turns out, when you're with a Norse god, a super soldier, a billionaire who sometimes can't keep his head out of his ass, a green rage monster who happens to be incredibly dorky and two master assassins/SHIELD agents - I was dead wrong.

After three long, hot, I-wanna-kill-someone hours in the back of a large van that had been rented for our so-called all-expenses-paid-courtesy-of-Tony-Stark-camping-trip, we arrived at our destination. Lovely was a understatement. We camped on a long green plain near a lake with green trees with their fall leaves stretching out into the lake. A jetty was nearby, and attached to that jetty, adjacent from our camping site, was a pergola with several benches and a firepit.

Needless to say, 'lovely camping site, Tony' was a bloody understatement. It was a piece of paradise. Utter, complete piece. We set up the tents, the girls (Natasha, Pepper and I) getting the large camper van. The boys got the tents. To be honest, I thought it was just gonna be me and Nat, the only girls on the trip. I had no idea that Pepper was coming along, and I had no idea how Tony managed to get her to come along. I assumed he'd left Happy Hogan in charge or something. It was peaceful. After putting my stuff in the camper and claiming my bunk, I ran onto the pier and jumped off, diving perfectly into the water with a splash. I came up for air and heard clapping. I swam back to the pier to see Clint there, shirtless, only in a pair of swimming shorts, watching me.

'Watcha' doing?' I asked.

'That was impressive,' he remarked. 'This is a nice place, isn't it?'

'It definitely is. I feel a thousand times lighter.'

'It tends to be that way sometimes, when you're off duty, not saving the world.'

'You see it too?'

'I do.' I used my powers of aquakinesis to move out of the water. The water splashed on the pier as it deposited me in a sitting position. 'Do you ever feel as though you're weird?' I laughed.

'Weird is a major occurrence in my life. In fact, weird is in my vocabulary.' Now it was his turn to laugh. Then, it got quiet.

'I mean, like a freak.'

'Yes. All the time. There are times, because of what I did under HYDRA, that I think I don't deserve to live. That I don't deserve what you guys gave me. If I hadn't crashed in that jet, I would never have met you. I would never have become a good person. Even when I was brainwashed, I often wondered if there was more out there than dressing up, killing, getting frozen, getting my mind wiped, eat, sleep, repeat. I wondered if there was more for me than what I had as my lot. And there was. There was more.' There was silence as I stared out on the lake, watching the sun start to come down on the horizon.

We were around the fire, and Clint was attempting to pick up a guitar and sing. Which was horrible, to say the least. We were laughing as Steve all but burned his marshmallow, and Tony attempted to toss one to Clint. He was catching it in his mouth, and trying to play at the same time. Natasha and I were laying on beanbags, drinking vodka.

'You would think that Tony knew how to throw things. And Steve is proving still so inadequate when it comes to cooking.' I laughed loudly.

'Yeah, right.' I raised the bottle to my lips, watching the boys tussle over marshmallows. Bruce was sitting by himself, eating a s'more, laughing every so often at some of the boys' antics. I grasped my bottle and got up, walking over to him. I sat down in the empty chair by his side. Pepper had been there, but something had come up at the company and she was making the late drive back.

'Hey, Bruce.' He turned.

'Oh, hey, Adelaide.'

'Didn't ask you - you mind if I sit?'

'No. Not at all.' I raised the bottle to my lips again.

'This is fun, isn't it?' I asked. .

'It's nice, but I'm not a big fan of spontaneous camping trips. I'm not a big fan of anything spontaneous in general.'

'Neither am I.'

'Really? I'd think you'd be - you know, feeling happy to get away from everything. I mean, given your job, and HYDRA, and the whole Avenging thing.'

'I know. And I am happy. I feel lighter. Much lighter. But it's only temporary. Something in me always attempts to remember - it's only a little fix. It never solves the whole problem.' Bruce cleared his throat.

'Speaking of problems, you asked me about a telepathy-dampening formula while you sleep.'

'And?'

'I got it.' He brought up a shiny steel grey briefcase from his side and into my lap. I unhitched the latches and opened it. Inside sat several needles, all of the same formula.

'Bruce, I - this is incredible. Revolutionary, in fact. So what does it do?'

'I made it with that you could still dream, it's just no telepathy. I've happened to monitor your output of telepathic activity while in sleep, especially when you have a traumatic nightmare or flashback. Your brain sends out waves of this - this invisible force.'

'So like Star Wars.'

'Yeah, something like that. Every telepathic mind sends out waves in sleep, or really any time, and they're sharper in bad dreams or bad visions. Because of the serum, it's ten times amplified. I studied closely the properties of the super serum, and what it does is enhance everything about you. Including your mutant powers. Really, your powers of the mind are becoming limitless. You have the capability to move things with your mind - big things. You could, in theory, kill someone or something from the inside out, literally bursting their brain inside of their head.'

'I don't see why I'd wanna do that, but that's disgusting.'

'All I'm saying is that you're powerful. Very. Powerful. What I mean by that, is bad dreams, your telepathy is significantly more powerful, and that much more deadly. Your mind is, of the essence, a weapon. That's where the formula comes in. I found some components of the super serum and mixed them with dampening components to make this, to be able to defuse what goes on in that brain of yours during sleep.'

'Thanks, Bruce.' I looked towards the fire. By now the fire was dwindling a lot more. I checked my smart watch. 9:15pm, the time read. I walked over to Nat and gave her a hug. 'Join me in the RV. I'm going to bed.' I migrated over to Steve, who was just laughing at something Thor said. The god of thunder laughed long and loud. I patted Thor's shoulder.

'You're turning in for the night, Lady of Phoenix?'

'Yes, Thor. I'm turning in. It's late.' I yawned, stretching my arms above my head, then cracking my knuckles. I kissed Steve on the cheek, making Clint and Tony wolf whistle and Steve go beet red. 'Night, boys,' I said softly. There was a chorus of 'goodnights' from all around the fire. Bruce gave me the briefcase with the formula, and I wandered inside the camper van and to my bed. Sitting on the bed, I opened up the case. I pulled out a needle and weighted it in my hands. I rolled up my sleeve slowly. The vein was right there, prominent blue among the white of my skin. It felt strange, to be injecting fluids into my own body. I looked at the sharp tip and swallowed, thinking of the time I had the super serum injected into me. That hurt then. Taking a deep breath, I slid the needle into the vein, wincing when it punctured the tender skin of my forearm. I let it go all the way in, then pushed the tip and let the formula make its way into my body as I laid down on the bed. Then I pulled it out, put it in the case, and pulled the covers over my body, soon falling fast asleep.