Chapter Text
Her shift had been over for a couple of hours when the newsfeed announcing the New Avengers was broadcast on the hospital lobby TV. Cassie had meant to leave earlier, but got held back when one of her tiny patients' heartbeat slowed dangerously. It was pure luck that she saw the announcement when she did instead of missing it to sleep and crowded shifts.
It was with her bag halfway on her shoulder and her body halfway out the door where she watched her brother—who had been missing for five years—stand and clap enthusiastically at the new superhero team before being ushered off by the small blonde Avenger, their arms interlinked.
Her hands found her head and ran through her hair, eyes wide. "Where- where did this happen?"
The receptionist, unaware or uncaring for the urgency behind Cassie's voice, spoke lamely as she scrolled on her phone. "Where else does this crazy shit happen? NYC, babe. Obviously."
She thought of going home and changing first... but no, no time. She had to be in New York before that flightly little shit went anywhere else. Besides, if she used the power of her scrubs correctly, she might be able to cut the line for the bus tickets to NYC instead of having to drive her shitty car.
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Yelena was still reeling from the recent events. In less than twenty-four hours, she went from miserable assassin to an avenger, a shift that could give the steadiest necks whiplash.
It was a struggle to even get through the front door of the tower to pick up their takeout delivery. She could've had security bring it up, but she needed the short walk. It was almost nighttime and she had been sitting on her ass the entire afternoon, she was starting to get pins and needles.
When she came back, the security detail was in the middle of a screaming match with somebody; a tall woman in pink hospital scrubs and red hair tied back in a painful-looking tight bun. Yelena prepared to go towards the back entrance and avoid the scene entirely, but the woman turned and her wide eyes locked on her.
She brushed off the security's grip with a violent shove and walked up to Yelena with her phone up.
"I saw you on TV with him," the redhead pointed to her phone and sure enough, it was Bob; younger, skinnier, with a warm tan and reddened cheeks. But it was unmistakably him. And a pair of fingers as bunny ears behind his head. "Do you know where he is?"
Yelena recognized the panic and worry behind her words, but she was still careful. She crossed her arms. "Depends, who's asking?"
The girl zoomed out of the picture, revealing that the bunny fingers belonged to her. "I'm his sister." She spoke quickly. "He's been missing for years. Can I see him?"
Yelena nodded slowly. She should've seen this coming. Unlike most of them, Bob had a family. A dysfunctional one, at that, but he still had one. It made sense that someone would show up looking for him.
"Wait here." She spoke neutrally. "He'll be down... if he wants to see you."
The woman nodded and wrung her hands. The familiar nervous tic made Yelena smile. "You can wait in the lobby."
There goes her plan for a quiet evening.
When she came out of the elvator, it was to the sight of Bob sitting on a stiff looking couch, head on his knees and gaze fixed to the floor with this faraway look that warned Yelena he might be recalling the events of the past day. He knew what happened, of course, they debriefed him as soon as they regrouped, but his own memories returning was anyone's guess.
"Bob." She said as she set down the takeout bag on the coffee table.
With a jolt, he looked up at her, then at the paper bag. He stood up. "I'll go get everybody."
Yelena caught up to him. "Ah-ah, not yet." She held his arm. "I have news."
Bob's eyebrows raised with curiosity. "Bad or good news?"
"That is for you to decide." She paused. "Your sister is looking for you. She's downstairs and wants to see you."
Bob's eyes narrowed. He tilted his head, confused as if he wasn't sure if he was hallucinating or not. "My sister?" He repeated.
"You have one of those, no?"
"Yes, I do, uh–" that admission seemed to snap him out of his stupor. "My sister! Is- I- Cassie's here?" He sputtered, breath catching with panic. "Like, here, here? Wh–"
The elevator door opened with a ding. Bob looked past Yelena and his eyes widened even more, if possible. She turned to see said sister storm from the elevator door.
"How did you—" the words died in Yelena's throat as Cassie strode past her.
Bob backed down a few steps, but Cassie caught up. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" She yelled as she shoved him. He didn't budge. "I was worried sick! Hunter and I thought you died in a ditch somewhere! Why would you do this to me? To both of us!"
"I'm sorry, I-"
"We looked for you everywhere!" She yelled on, her eyes filling up with tears. "Hunter got lost for three days looking for you in that forest where you liked to go get high. I blew all my savings on hiring a PI and had to go work with a broken arm. Where the fuck were you?"
"I had to go!"
"At least let us know you were alive! Or did you need to spend every penny getting coked out, didn’t you?"
"Hey!" Yelena shoved her shoulder. "Don't talk to him like that!"
"It's fine, I deserve it." Bob said in a shaky voice. His tear filled eyes met Cassie's. "I missed you."
The woman broke down in tears and took Bob in a hug. He buried his head in the crook of her neck and sobbed as well.
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Yelena took off in search of the rest of the team and to give the siblings their privacy to catch up.
Weirdly enough, they were nowhere to be found. Not in the kitchen, not in their new rooms, not even in the spacious bathrooms with sauna add-ons.
Now why would a group of curious spies and assassins go out while there's Drama happening right at their doorstep?
Would they?
Yelena took the second elevator to the surveillance room floor. The door slid open, and huddled in the middle of the room, watching the conversation in 4k HD, were the rest of the New Avengers.
"You dirty, dirty gossips." She grinned as she made her way to them, dragging an empty chair along.
"It's for safety reasons." Bucky grumbled.
Ava shook her head and mouthed "it's not."
Yelena plugged in an extra headset and listened along.
Downstairs, the siblings started the long overdue conversation.
"How's Hunter?" Bob asked tentatively. "What's he been up to? Is he still in LA?"
Cassie grinned and wiped her cheek of left-over tears. "Hunter is gonna lose it when he finds out you're alive. We talked on the phone a few days ago; he's working on set for some reality tv-show, and they're not allowed to have phones or access to the outside world for the entirety of filming. It's gonna be— what did he say again?—A couple of weeks before he gets his phone back."
"He's starring in a reality tv-show?" Bob's eyes widened comically. "Please don't tell me he's one of those douchebags on Love Island."
"God, no!" Cassie threw her head back, laughing. "He gave up on the actor shtick a while ago. Got into a camera work apprenticeship, now he's a camera-man. Does pretty well for himself."
"Oh. Still in Hollywood, then." He nodded with a small smile of pride. "Good for him."
A few minutes of silence passed. Cassie started biting her nails, dozens of questions rushing through her head but unsure where to start.
"I took a flight to Thailand." Bob broke the silence instead. "I just– I needed to get away. I needed a change."
"I don't understand. Was it something I did?"
He narrowed his eyes with a sneer. "Oh my God, Cassie, not everything is about you."
(Next to Yelena, Ava snorted in shocked glee.)
Cassie raised her hands. "What the hell else am I supposed to think?"
"That I had issues and that I needed a radical change!"
"I was gonna give you that! I was this close" she narrowed her index finger and thumb together "to getting you on my healthcare plan. One more month and you would've been in rehab getting clean."
"I didn't wanna go to rehab!" He exclaimed. "That shit never works. What do they expect, putting a bunch of junkies together? Of course we're only going to make each other worse!"
Cassie opened her mouth, but Bob waved her off. "Save it, it's a moot point, anyway. I'm sober."
Cassie's heart swelled with pride, but practiced pessimism didn't let her celebrate it yet. "...Are you sure?"
Bob rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm sure."
"How long?"
His eyes drifted to the left as he started to count on his fingers. Cassie mirrored him with a raised eyebrow. "The past 24 hours."
"One full day." Cassie said sarcastically, counting one finger for a fuller effect.
"Three weeks before the medical study."
Cassie stopped in her tracks. She tilted her head. "Three weeks before the what–?"
(Walker turned to Yelena and Bucky. "We're getting into controlled information territory."
Yelena shook her head. "Let him. He knows her better than we do. If he trusts her, so do I."
Bucky nodded. "What she said.")
Bob stayed quiet. He fiddled with his fingers.
She tilted her head and spoke in a warning tone. "Bob."
"They said they were going to make me better." He spoke in a small voice. "I didn't know what that meant. I didn't ask questions. They got me clean and started... you know. Testing."
At her horrified expression, he waved his hands. "I don't remember anything, really, just that I woke up in... uh- something called a static box-?"
"Stasis box?"
"That." He nodded. "Two years had passed and yesterday... they found me. The.. new avengers."
"That's... wow." She leaned back. She looked him over with worried eyes. "You okay, dude?"
He gave her two thumbs up and a grin. "Amazing."
"No side effects or weird powers, then?"
His grin disappeared. "I didn't say that..."
"What's up, then?" She leaned forward.
He avoided her gaze, but she tilted her head to meet it again. "You know I could never be scared of you, right?"
"You might." He shrugged.
"Come on." She grinned. "I remember when you were in diapers, for fuck's sake. In fact," her face lit up at the memory, "I remember when you were seven and you ate shit trying to do a backflip. Who did you want to impress again? Daphne or Joyce..?"
His hands flew to his face, but his shoulders shook with embarassed laughter. "Stopstopstop!" His ears turned pink beneath the tuft of his dark hair. "Ok, fine, you made your point."
"It was definitely Joyce."
"That's it." He shook his head. "I'm never telling you anything ever again."
"Fine, start this resolution tomorrow, though. Talk to me, now."
Bob took a deep breath. His hands fell into his lap. "It was me." He confessed shakily. "The Void."
She furrowed her brows. "The what?"
"The.. dark shadow that took over new york? That was.. me, apparently." He scratched his neck nervously. "I don't know, I don't really remember anything, but it's what they said and it feels right and..."
Cassie had seen the videos on the bus. Of the darkness eating through Manhattan. Of the source; a shadow of a flying man who flattened people with a wave of his hand.
"No." She said.
He raised his eyebrows. "No?"
"They're lying to you." She shook her head, but nonetheless pulled her phone and looked up videos. "There's no way."
He passed a hand over his face. "Cassie.."
"Shut up for a second." She scrolled through her feed for close up video of the shadow man.. the Void. Whatever it's called. "Let me think."
("It's getting hot in there." Alexei whistled.)
Finally, she found one where the camera for once wasn't shaky. It zoomed on the Void man, showing his glowing eyes and dark body. She held the phone up next to Bob, compared the outlines. Her jaw dropped. "You're fucking kidding me."
Bob held his brow ridge, surrendering to what he knew was coming. "Here we go..."
"Please tell me I'm hallucinating right now." She held her hands together. "Please tell me I'm actually passed out on my couch and this isn't actually happening. You're a supervillain?"
"It's not what you think, alright?"
Cassie stood up and started pacing around. "Then tell me what to think! What the actuall hell is wrong with you? Why would you do that?"
"It wasn’t me, me. I was on a low, I think. It just.... happened."
"So you're telling me your manic depression is now sentient and has superpowers?"
"It's not sentient, Cassie, that's stupid." He rolled his eyes. "But yes, it has superpowers now, I guess."
She waved her hands around. "So that's your power? You turn into an enderman and then send people to the Nether?"
He narrowed his eyes at her. "Have you been playing Minecraft?"
"Yes–no–it doesn't matter, just answer the question!"
"It's a little more than that."
"How much more?"
"Okay, a lot more than that."
She sat back down. "Start talking."