krasnaya_vdova | IC Inbox @ Riverview

We've discussed the matter and can meet you tomorrow afternoon after my last audience.

( It's a meeting, but old habits die hard. )

Does that work for you as well?

Yeah, that's fine. I'll probably working on the line in the morning anyway.

I'll be glad to meet you both then.

[It had been an absent question that Tony had meant to ask, but when everything he'd sent Ava's way had bounced back, Tony had gotten Concerned. When he done a little more digging to find that she'd essentially dropped off the grid entirely, well. There was clearly a problem somewhere.

He could have left it alone, probably. But it wasn't that big a moon for someone to get lost on, and well...okay, Tony could be a mother hen when it suited him. Sue him.

It's taken a fair amount of work and quite a lot of cursing about the lack of convenient satellites, but he's finally ended up with something that looks promising. Or at least worth a try.]

You there, itsy-bitsy?

[That should be innocuous enough if it isn't the right person. Right?]

Don't use this one. I'll text you in a sec.

[She actually smiles at the fact that Tony did track her down, not that she's surprised he could, but it's something she wasn't thinking about when she dropped everything.]

Should have told you. I kinda forgot. How are things?

[This is totally normal and nothing is wrong. Not that she thinks that Tony of all people will fall for that, she just thinks that maybe he wont ask.]

Oh, fine. I just randomly decided to drop off the face of the earth and encrypt my own phone. How're you?

I sort of panicked? Pierce ended up on one of the teams helping with the fence on the main SkyTram line. It's been rough.

Pierce? What...

[Wait. She has Hydra experience, doesn't she. Well, fuck.]

Oh, shit. Right. You planning to come back?

Tbd.

[She takes a breath, adds to that because, well.. Tony deserves better.]

I'm just sort of trying to figure out what I do now. I'll be back eventually, once I get my head on. Give me a few days?

Fair enough, I guess.

Want me to brick his phone?

[He wouldn't actually do it. Probably. But the idea might at least amuse her.]

You know, that's almost tempting.

But I sort of want to see if he tries to reach me. It's why I have two accounts.

[Winterstorm clearly meant something, but she wasn't going to explain unless he asked. Some people might also call that a bad idea, but Ava could be reckless.]

Let me tell you from experience, poking a the bad guys doesn't always work out well.

[Not that he's intending to stop. But that's him.]

It's not quite poking. It's a theory. If he can work out that name it means he knows who I am.
The poking comes later.

[Right now it's just a suspicion, a feeling, something she can't quite shake off her skin.]

Uh huh. You wanna talk?

[Hey, he's gotta offer.]

Not yet. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of it.
But if that offer stands, I might take you up on it when I get back.

[She gets it. James had offered to. And, well, managed to talk her out to a diner. But he got slightly more concessions than anyone else. And she doesn't dismiss it entirely, because it does mean a lot to her that people like James and Tony care.]

You doing okay, though?

[She worries about him too.]

You know where to find me.

[So yes, offer's open.]

Me? Fine. Why wouldn't I be?

I'll stop by.

[It's not quite a promise, but she means it.]

Just checking in. This place is weird, Steve's back, Pierce is running around and I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright.

[He's making her worry.]

I'm fine, honestly. I think I've used up all my capacity to be surprised by weirdness.

[She's not sure she believes him but she really doesn't have the high ground to push the subject. So she lets it be.]

Probably a good thing, in this place. Anything goes wrong, text me.
And I'll see you as soon as I know which way's ground.

Same goes.

I'll see you later.

[It's about three days later when she swings by the workshop. Normally, she'd text first, but she's just a little bit uncomfortable with idea of giving out her location at the moment. So, she just stops by. She knocks on the door, waits a moment, then tries to see if it's open.

She has, by now, noticed that Tony just about never gets up to open the door.]

Tony?

[If the door wasn't open before she got to it, it is now, opened easily under her hand. And considering Tony is quite comfortably seated on the edge of one of his worktables and doesn't seem to have noticed the entrance, it's pretty clear who's in charge of allowing entry.

At the sound of his name he does finally glance over, away from the circular glowing hologram in front of him. He blinks just once, then offers her a flicker of a smile.]

Hey there.

[She pieced together who was the doorman on her previous visits, so it doesn't come as a particular surprise when she sees him sitting on his worktable. There's that touch of a smile, and she waves in his direction.]

What are you working on?

[Just going to dive straight into misdirecting from the reason why she's here.]

[Tony shifts enough to shoot her a slightly knowing look, but shrugs to himself and turns back to the hologram. He can run with this, if that's what she wants.]

Trying to figure out how big the arc reactors are going to need to be.

[She does. For the moment, anyway. Not that she's completely against the idea of talking about it, not with him. But also it's just- this is easier. The numbers, the science, questions with easy answers.]

And how much Palladium you'll need? I think my way was easier.

[She's teasing, mostly, even if it doesn't come out as easy as it might under normal circumstances.]

I think your way had a much higher chance of someone exploding. I like to avoid that if I can, saves on insurance costs.

[Though he does pause and make a show of peering at her intently.]

Why do I suspect you'll be trying it anyway?

Well, you know what they say: is it really science if there's not a chance of explosions?

[She's teasing him. But, well, she does shrug her shoulders a little almost-sheepishly at that accusation. Look, just a small fission reaction. It'll be fine. Probably?]

But, I meant more the arc reactors in general. You concerned about stability?

[It was not an insignificant worry, to be fair. But also- this was just the easier conversation to have, with so many other things in the air.]

Of the reactors? No.

[Those, he knows inside and out. And he flicks Ava a look that's both knowing and amused.]

It's everything else I'm less sure about.

I mean- You don't trust me. What I can do.

[There's a slight lift of an eyebrow there, a tilt of her head as she looks at him. It's an easier issue to talk about than the other ones, so here they are.]

Not that I can really say that's wrong.

[He arches his own eyebrow right back at her.]

I don't know what you can do. All I can do is go off what you say.

[And she does tend to treat herself as dangerous. So.]

Well, the only option that will make you feel like you know is letting you run tests, right?

[She smiles, a little wry, something in her voice that says that probably an opinion from experience.]

I mean, the whole thing where the relay picked up and the Guard got interested in the power stations? That was because of my work on the sky trams. The backup generator on the relay was absorbing the residual energy because of the connection to the rail line, which eventually reached the threshold to start the backup systems.

[She once knocked out every subway in New York City. If she acts like she's dangerous, it's practicality.]

Okay, but that doesn't actually explain anything. That could be any number of things.

[He suspects a little that he's running up against one of those weird alternate universe things - that this is something Ava feels like he should already know. Not much he can do about that other than keep asking questions, though the idea of running tests makes him briefly look slightly concerned.]

Right. So what do you want me to do?

[There's a hint of irritation she can't quite press down. Maybe it is about alternate worlds, maybe it isn't. For this Tony, it seems that seeing what she can do isn't good enough, and that's not something she's particularly used to.]

How do I prove it to you?

[He makes a sound that isn't quite a laugh. Tony's not trying to make fun of her obvious annoyance, he's not that much of an asshole. But he can't quite hide the fact that he's well aware of a certain amount of irony here.]

I don't need you to prove anything, just tell me about it. Your words.

My words?

[That takes her by surprise, a brief scrunch of her eyebrows that's almost uncertainty, but then she sighs, looks up at the ceiling for a moment, before she looks back to him.]

I'm not good with- explaining it is hard. For me it's all feelings, nothing quantifiable or objective.

[Nothing that matters is what she doesn't say. There's a reason she usually explains it in terms that she steals from Tony or what SHIELD had to say about it. But she shrugs, smiles a little lopsidedly.] But, alright. Ask me what you want to know, and I'll do my best.

[Tony can't help but smile a little wryly. The quantifiable and objective thing sure sounds like somebody else, and he can probably guess who. Which is weird, but what else is new.]

I'm not asking for a book report. What I mean is, I want to know what you think it is that you can do. I'm sure you've got measurements and numbers, I'm talking potential.

I'm... not sure, if we're talking potential. Not that I don't know what I can do so much as I don't really know what I can't, where the line is.

[Which is vaguely terrifying, but she leaves that part out in favor of continuing to talk. Moving on before she has to talk about that side of it. The feeling like she might just explode.]

I mean, energy just sort of feels intuitive. I touch something and I can feel where the energy goes to make it work, I know how to break it. At basis I can create and manipulate energy, I guess, but I don't really know where that stops.

[There's a pause, a moment where she quiets, looks over at Tony with a slightly wry lift of an eyebrow.]

Is that as worrying as I think it is?

[His eyebrows lift a little.]

It's as dangerous as you decide to make it. Unless you're planning to take a turn for the maniacal, I'm not particularly concerned.

[That can of an ability untrained could be a problem, but she seemed aware enough on her own. No reason to rub it in.]

So okay, intuitive understanding of energy in general and how to manipulate it. I can see where you'd be wanting exact numbers.

That's.. not really the problem. [She frowns and her lips thin, her head tilting back for a moment as she considers.] The dangerous part isn't that I'm going to intentionally destroy things, it's the side effects.

[She's very aware of that, but she's trying to handle it better.]

Yeah, but it's been hard to put numbers on. I keep thinking if I could, maybe it'd be a little easier to find someway to visualize it better?

So you can't control the side effects at all?

[Somehow he kind of doubts that. For one, the place is still standing. So maybe it's a matter of just not using her abilities to their full potential, but that's still a choice.]

Maybe. Numbers are helpful, but I wouldn't call them a cure-all. How are you visualizing it now?

[After realizing Ava has been absent and getting input from Bucky, Steve has decided he's tired of having all of his surrogate family members leave on him. He has to stand up for something in Quarantine, so he recruits Bucky to help him track down Ava. At least to talk to her, he says, knowing Bucky isn't thrilled with the idea of Steve going on another chase when the person in question isn't ready to return. He at least wants to know, to be certain, and there's really only one way to do that.

So there they are, following trails of information around the city, looking for Ava's current whereabouts.]

[Bucky hasn't been in a great mood the last several days. Pierce showing up and all the terse talks he's had since have him on edge, waking more often during the night. It's not even a ghost from his past but it's a ghost from someone else's past that edges a little too close to his own ghosts.

Part of him isn't sure they'll be able to convince Ava to come back home, but he goes with Steve anyway, dutifully helping him track down leads (which, this is where he's always excelled over Steve, especially to find someone who went through the Red Room).]

You know we can't force her to come back, right? It's not like we're her parents.

[Ava's been back in the city a couple days. It's a little harder to hide, but it's also the sort of territory where she spent three years hiding from Ivan and SHIELD and everything else that was mired into that label.

She spent years living on the streets of Brooklyn, so it's almost familiar. She's skittish, stays out of sight, leans heavily on things she knows, the pieces she was taught, how to be a shadow that slinks between buildings. To be honest, it was part of how she'd lived when she first got here. Sometimes staying in her room felt claustrophobic, and the night-lit streets were familiar in their own way.

Now, well, it feels less confining. Always the option to turn and run. But she can't run forever, not from someone like James, and really it's easier to just face things like this head-on, even if she's sure she wont like it. There's a tension to her jaw, redhead that drops down off a fire escape, quiet on her feet with a sigh, leaving them alone on a back street.]

You're stubborn, you know that.

[If her mood was different, it might be humor.]

[ He really hates doing this. On many, many levels. It shows how deep he's gotten with — with everything. ]

Do you have a minute?

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