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It was supposed to be simple.
Just a reconnaissance mission. A small hideout for a group of extremists in the middle of nowhere. Nothing but this one small building, surrounded by overgrown weeds and fields as far as the eye could see. It was supposedly so simple, in fact, that they hadn’t bothered to send the whole team out.
“It's five, maybe six personnel tops,” Yelena had told them, while crunching down on an apple no less. “You two can handle that, you go do your lil ‘ghostie’ thing, scout it out, and then Walker can kick them up the nutsack.” She’d even mimed the act out with the apple.
It was supposed to be simple. Five or six targets.
“Five or six, my arse .” Ava muttered to herself, forcing herself to take deep breaths, shivering on a rickety chair on the back porch of their safe house. In this case, it was really more like a safe shack, a tiny little abandoned farmhouse. One that was quite literally rotting at the seams.
There were not, five or six targets. There were easily double that number, and they’d rigged their outpost up to the brim with sensors and traps. She’d barely collected herself for a moment after re-materialising within the outpost when alarms had started blaring and gunfire came raining down on her. They’d barely made it out, and not without consequence.
And now, here she was. In the cold, damp, nowhere, shaking like a leaf in her camisole and pants as she watched John Walker, equally unclothed, hose down their suits in the weeds.
“Who booby-traps their outpost with fucking acid?” He grunted, kicking a sleeve over to rinse the underside.
By some miracle, very little of the chemicals had gotten onto their skin, but their suits had been drenched in it. So much so that it had started corroding in patches, threatening to eat through the material.
“I’m just glad no one else had to witness our walk of shame.” That earned a laugh from him.
God knows they would’ve never heard the end of it if any of the others had witnessed their clumsy escape from the facility. They’d sprinted through chest high grasses, frantically stripping out of their suits as they fell apart, before briskly trekking for five miles back to safety, in nothing but their underclothes no less. And now, she could feel the adrenaline slowly seep from her system, leeching away any sense of warmth with it. Goddamn, it was cold.
“Just make sure you didn’t get any ticks on you.” John sighed as he tipped one of his boots over to drain it. Ava smirked, opening her mouth to respond that really, the super-soldier was the only blood-sucking critter currently attached to her, when her breath caught in her chest. She settled for a hum and a nod. A slow ache was building in her ribs. She drew her legs up, curling in on herself, trying to contain it. The tips of her fingers buzzed.
Fuck.
“How long till they’re dry?”
“I dunno, probably not for a while. It’s not exactly good weather for a laundry day.”
Ava groaned in response, dropping her head to her knees.
“I get it's cold but c’mon. Aren’t ghosts supposed to enjoy this temperature?”
“You shouldn’t have charged in.”
A beat. The sound of the hose being shut off. The floorboards creaking under her. The ache spreading to her shoulders.
“What?”
“I said, ” Ava pulled her shoulders back, wilfully ignoring how her palms fizzed and pricked against her shins as a faint wave of discomfort rolled through her.
Fight it.
She lifted her head to look Walker in the eyes, “ You shouldn’t have charged in there. ”
She watched as his expression turned from confusion to annoyance.
“Was I supposed to just let them turn you into Swiss cheese?”
“I could’ve gotten out of there easily, without triggering that damn trap! All you had to do was wait! ”
“Are you out of your fucking mind? You saw how many of them were in there!” He strode forward, jabbing a finger at her. “On top of that, you set off like, three different alarms!”
“ I had it! ” She snapped. The ache exploded into a burning sensation, lighting every atom in her body ablaze. In a blink, she was standing. Trembling. Then, the sensations dimmed for a moment, like a wave receding back to the ocean. She pulled herself back together.
C'mon, fight it off, Ava. Don’t let-
“You had what? A death wish? ” He sneered, glaring up at her from below the deck.
“I trained for this shit! I knew what I was doing ! Then you came crashing through and set off the damn acid! ”
“They were about to kick your ass to Florida and back! I saved you-”
“-You did not- ”
“-And this is the thanks I get for hauling your ass out of there and hosing your fucking outfit down-”
“-I never asked -”
“ -While you sit pretty ?”
“FUCK O-” She cried out as the wave slammed into her again. Ava found herself on the floor, slumped against the rotting banisters, nearly suffocating as the pain seared through her. It was in her limbs, her skin, her lungs. Faintly she felt John jump up the couple stairs to her, heard him call out.
“-t hurts. ” She managed. She felt warmth around her arm, like a lighthouse on the edge of existence. The wave slid back a little, allowing her a little air.
“ The hell was that? ” John was crouched next to her, holding onto her arm.
“- need my suit .”
“ Why ?”
“ It he- ” She managed between gasps, “ it helps. ”
John stared blankly.
“Your phasing…hurts?”
She could only whine in response as it dragged her under again. There was iron on her tongue. A thudding in her temples. Faintly she felt herself slip through the railing, falling. Again, a warmth, pressure. This time circling around her waist.
“ Jesus Christ, Starr. ” John’s voice barely registered. “ Ava? ” She willed herself to move, to mentally pull each one of her atoms back to their places. Everything blurred in and out of existence. “- Ava! ” It hurt. It fucking burned. It wouldn’t stop. Not until it was done.
Not until she was gone.
“Ava! Fucking Hell!” She’d stopped responding. He wasn’t even sure she was still conscious. Her whole body flickered in and out of existence like a lightbulb on the fritz. John was frozen, his hands trembling as he tried to hold on to her. Any moment now, she could phase through the deck and out of his grasp, and he’d have no idea how to bring her back.
Her suit.
As best as he could, he wrapped his arms under her torso and began lurching towards the still sopping wet pile in the grass. She slipped once, phasing through his hands and hitting the ground with a thud.
“ Stay with me, Starr, I swear to God! ” He’d barely pulled her from the floor when she slipped through again. His heart slammed against his ribs.
“ C’MON! ” With one last lurching effort, he managed to drag her far enough to reach her coat. Frantically, he began tugging and flipping it around, desperately trying to orient it. The acid had torn through components, melted every zip or clasp he could find. He doubted it even functioned as a coat anymore.
“Fucking-” John grabbed the belt, its casing warped and melted, and cracked it apart in his hands. He’d seen the lights in it when she had it on, surely there was something in the mess of electric components that was meant to help. His eyes landed on a couple vial-like containers nestled under a mess of wires, emitting a warm glow. Without a second thought, he yanked them from their place and glanced back at Ava.
She was barely there, blinking in and out of existence like a neon sign on its last legs.
He fumbled with the tiny vials with numb fingers, nearly dropping one in his rush turning back around to her. Clumsily, he placed them on her chest, keeping them in place.
“C'mon Ava. C'mon, Please . I can’t- ”
She woke with a gasp, eyes frantic, clawing at him. Her arm went through his shoulder, then grabbed onto it. Her skin was cold, clammy, but it stayed against his. Walker sighed in relief.
“I’ve got you Starr, I’ve got you-”
“ John- ” She choked out.
“Hold on!” He grabbed her wrist, pulling it over the vials, his hand over hers. “ Breathe, Ava.”
He watched as she took a shuddering breath, the phasing receding to a gentle flicker. Not gone, but definitely better. A lot better.
For a moment, he just watched. Watched her chest rise and fall as her breathing stabilised. Watched as she clawed her place back in reality, her hair stuck to her skin with sweat. He just felt her, the two of them silent, regulating in a patch of soggy grass. And then, his own adrenaline crashing down, he let his head drop to her stomach.
“ Don’t fucking do that again .” He growled into the fabric of her top.
“Unfortunately, I can’t promise that, Soldier.” She gasped, and a strangled laugh escaped his throat.
“You’re insufferable .”
“Takes one to know one.” God , she knew how to get on his nerves.
“Can you stand? Let’s get you inside.” Ava hummed lightly in response, and slowly, he pulled her up with him. His hands on hers, his arm around her waist, feeling his warmth seeping into her skin, keeping her tethered.
They’d managed. Ava was still weak, still swaying on her feet, but they’d made it back inside.
“Well, that was a bloody me-” A yelp escaped her lips as she tripped on an uneven floorboard. She caught herself, barely, but one of the vials, her quantum stabilisers , slipped out of her grasp. It clattered once on the floorboards before John dove for it, handing it back to her with a glare.
“...thanks.” She managed.
“Do you wanna explain what the hell just happened?”
She hesitated. Of all the people she had to be around on a regular basis, John fucking Walker was not exactly high on the list of individuals she wanted to talk to about any of this. He was brash, infuriating. They’d butted heads over and over again, and had hardly spent any time in the couple months they’d been working together, voluntarily sharing the same space, at least, not during downtime. But he did just stabilise her, manage to rip the right components out of her suit for it, and she was still here talking as a result. So, maybe she owed him at least some semblance of an explanation.
“... The suit…stabilises me,” The words came slowly, “Without it, the phasing…and the pain…just… happens . I can control it to some extent, but…” She shrugged.
“And you didn’t tell any of us? What if your suit stopped working? Well, it fucking did today!”
“It’s not exactly something I enjoy sharing with the class, dipshit. ”
“It should be if it’s a risk we have to be aware of!”
“And why should my fucking medical info be general knowledge? ”
“Because the last thing I need is to have a teammate die on my watch again! ” He let out a strangled yell, turning and stepping away from her. She noted the ‘ again ’ with caution, though try as she might, she couldn’t find an appropriate response.
John took a moment recollecting himself, then sighed in exasperation. “So what. Do you just wear the suit everywhere? You don’t have, I don’t know, a safeguard or something? It’s not like you wear it to sleep, right?” She also didn’t have a response to that.
John racked his brain for a time he’d seen her out of her gear and came up empty-handed. Sure, there’d been a few times they’d hung around common areas in downtime for one of Yelena’s mandated bonding sessions. She’d been dressed in hoodies and sweats, but how sure was he that she wasn’t fully kitted out underneath those layers. He turned back to look at his teammate, who in turn was staring directly at the floor. Without the suit, she looked awfully small. She stood, almost curled up into herself in the cold air, swaying gently, fatigue and fear marking her expression.
“... Oh my god, you do.”
“I can- I mean, I could- I used to be able to sleep for a bit without it on, but that was with…external equipment, and didn’t exactly leave me feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.” Her voice dropped. “With our missions and all the avengers crap… I never found the time…or knew how to…get that organised… It’s been…a long while since I’ve been without my suit.”
“So it's been a while since you’ve had to deal with…” He gestured vaguely in her direction.
“...Yeah.”
“And I don’t suppose everything that’s happened today helped, huh.”
She scoffed, “Nope.”
John looked at her, really looked at her, maybe for the first time since they’d been swept up in all of Valentina’s chaos, and felt something soften in his chest. This was Ava Starr. Not Ghost. At least, the beginnings of her.
“Okay.” He started again, quietly. “We need to contact the others, let them know we’re gonna need an extraction ASAP, and you, you need to rest.” He jerked his head in the direction of a tattered couch in the corner of the room. “I’m not having you fritz out on me again.”
“Ah yes, nod off with the adrenaline out of my system, drop these ,” She waved the stabilisers at him, “and end up encased in what’s left of the foundations of this place. Great Idea.”
He stared at her, firm, but cautious, and crossed the room, dropping himself to the couch.
“Rest. That’s an order.”
“An Order?” She smirked. “And who gave you that authority, your majesty?” He rolled his eyes in response.
“Ava.”
“Walker.”
“I’ll make sure they stay in contact with you.” John patted the couch next to him, watching as she stood, still swaying, considering it, before evidently fatigue won out, and she joined him. Gently, he draped his arm over her shoulders and pried the vials from her fingers. Holding them against her shoulder with one hand, fished his phone from the waistband of his boxers with the other.
“Oh God , was that there the whole time?”
“Shut up.”
“You’re disgusting!” She returned with a small smile. John just shook his head.
“Gonna text Yelena to come get us.” Her body tensed up under his touch again. “Not Yelena?”
“I…”
A moment.
“You don’t want to tell them what you told me.”
Another beat.
“ No. ” The whisper came.
John considered his options for a moment, settling on what he considered a decent compromise.
“I’m texting Bucky.”
“Uh…”
“Look, that man’s probably read all of our files top to bottom already. I’d be more surprised if he doesn’t already know.” Slowly, her posture dropped.
“Okay, okay.” She said, holding her palms up in surrender.
John quickly typed and fired off the SOS to the former congressman, and watched him reply with a ‘coming’ a moment later.
“They’ll be here in a few hours. Just rest. I’ve got you .” John squeezed her shoulders, pulling her in closer, feeling her form press into his, making sure she wasn’t going to slip away.
She muttered something he didn’t quite catch, but leaned into his warmth anyway.
“Man, this place looks like shit. ” Bucky watched as Yelena trudged up to the front door of the ‘safehouse’.
“Yeah, well, I think Valentina’s got more pressing concerns than house flipping right now.” He sighed, patting his back pocket to make sure that he still had the quantum cuffs with him. Mel had rushed them out to the watchtower on short notice after getting his call.
“They’re still prototypes, not perfect, but Val wanted them so she could send Ava out with the team to more ‘formal showings’.” She’d said, miming air quotes as she did. As long as they functioned enough to get Ava back and hold her stable until they could get her equipment functioning again, they’d have to do. He knew she had issues without her suit, though not exactly to what extent, but still had voiced the concern to Val a couple months ago when the team was still in its infancy. Evidently, Ms de Fontaine hadn’t quite understood the implications of ignoring his input.
“Let's get them so we can get out of this shithole fast.”
Yelena hadn’t even bothered to knock, kicking the rotting door open and marching straight in. Bucky followed, only to nearly run right into her, feet planted, jaw open, staring straight ahead.
Ava and John were sprawled out on the couch together, fast asleep, covered in grass stains and in nothing but their underclothes. Ava was quite literally draped on top of him, her head resting on his chest, and John’s arm, still holding onto her stabilisers, cradled protectively over her back.
Wordlessly, Yelena pulled her phone out to snap a photo.