pennysheets | New Avengers Tower

The press meeting takes way too long. Then they're all taken to a hospital, because most of them are injured in some way. Then Mel takes them back to that stupid tower. Avengers Tower. Watchtower. New Avengers Tower. Nobody knows what they're calling it.

They get a tour, even though they're exhausted and grouchy, and even though half the tower is clearly in some state of construction and clearly not ready to be shown off. The labs are complete, hastily so, but none of them are going to be going anywhere near those. The rooftop bar is still in shambles, and none of them want to linger there. The kitchen and restaurant-like eating areas spiraled out around it seem intact, and well-stocked, at least.

They each have their own floor. Stark had originally made a whole floor for each of his superhero buddies, which hadn't really been renovated at all even in the multiple years the Avengers had been toast, so now they're the cleanest and least disturbed of the whole tower.

Bucky gets Steve's, Walker gets Thor's, Ava gets Clint's.

Yelena gets the one meant for Natasha. Of course.

And Bob gets Banner's, with its combination of calming decor and Hulk-proof walls.

Then they're left alone to "rest" with the promise that Mel and Valentina will be in touch over the next few days, which sounds more like a threat than anything else.

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She's tempted, briefly, to point out that the furniture attempting to rearrange itself suggests she's upset him at least three times just in the course of this conversation, but she swallows that for the moment and nods.

"We didn't stop it by fighting. You tried, but it turns out beating up the nihilistic, self-destructive part of yourself still is just beating yourself up. It stopped when you just let us be there for you, jagged edges and all."

That wasn't her fault. He upset himself with that. Clearly. She was just telling him stuff that happened and he freaked out.

Still a thing he ought to get a handle on, though, even if it's not her fault.

He considers that a minute, trying to imagine what that could have even looked like. "Group therapy?" he guesses, trying to imagine snarky Ava or stoic Bucky in the one or two therapy circles he's witnessed. Alexei would fit right in, though, actually.

"More like a group hug," she says. And then snorts quietly. "I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud like that. But that's where we ended up."

"Huh." That doesn't even sound that bad. He wouldn't mind a group hug. At least if they were... already in some weird memory dimension, touching him probably couldn't make it worse. It's a little funny to think that a group hug saved Manhattan, but still. Kind of nice, in a way.

"That's how we ended up in a pile on the ground, isn't it," he realizes, because that he been-- weird, when he thinks back on it.

"That's how we ended up in a pile on the ground," Yelena confirms. "It's not the story the news is running with, but no one actually knows who you are, and it probably is safest to keep it that way for now."

Given the way the last man who'd stayed in this room had been hunted for years, for more destructive but far less disquieting incidents...

"How can they not know?" Bob asks, surprised and a little worried. "Didn't they see my face?" Everyone has their phone cameras out as soon as anything weird happens, surely someone got video of it, a picture, something. Did he do it all from inside a building?

No, she'd mentioned a helicopter, so he must have been outside. Maybe on the balcony?

"No," Yelena says quietly. "No one saw your face. You were the first person the darkness swallowed up. All anyone saw was a human-shaped shadow with glowing eyes."

The image from the video Bucky had pulled up is still seared into her mind. Seeing that slice of darkness in the shape of a man she'd wanted to save had been disturbing; seeing the void actually consume him before he stood up again had been so much worse.

"That sounds... either really creepy, or really cheesy," he says, trying to imagine it. It seems more cheesy than anything else in his own head, but he also knows he's probably not imagining it right, and he doubts he could think of himself as actually frightening in any capacity.

But either way, it's a relief, because if no one saw him, he can't be arrested. Valentina must know, if she's the one who... made him like this? And Mel. It would explain why they looked at him like they did.

"There are people already saying it was all a CGI hoax online," Yelena says, with a slow, disappointed shake of her head. Given everything that's happened since the Chitauri first invaded, people really should know better.

"But in real life? Definitely scary."

"Oh." He shifts his feet a little on the couch cushion, ducks his head again, torn between bewilderment and guilt. "I'm sorry... for-- for all of it. For all of this." He doesn't remember it, but that doesn't mean he didn't do it, and isn't responsible for it. For hurting her, and her people, and everyone outside in the city. He always makes it worse, only this time was worse than even his usual. "I don't know how to control it," he admits. "I don't know if I can."

"We'll help you figure that out," Yelena assures. "How to control it, or what exactly triggers it, so you can avoid that. Not pretending to be on your side and then trying to kill you is probably a good start."

She lifts a hand, then lets it fall, and exhales something between a sigh and a laugh. "We need to get you a throw blanket."

"Gloves," he offers, guessing she's wanting to touch him again but knows better. He still doesn't have much hope for controlling things, but maybe the touch thing he can at least mitigate. "A turtleneck or a hood, maybe."

"A hoodie is probably more dignified than dropping a blanket over you like you're a parrot so I can give you a hug," Yelena allows, the corners of her mouth twitching upward in amusement, though she sobers quickly enough.

"It's not your fault, what happened. It's your responsibility to do what you can to try to keep it from happening again, but it's not your fault. You didn't ask to be used as a guinea pig and given powers no one understands yet."

He ducks his head again. It's hard to think that it could be anyone's fault but his own. Maybe he can't control what happens when he touches people, but the rest all seems pretty purposeful. "I chose to hurt you guys," he points out. "I don't know why. But I apparently did."

"Because Valentina is a horrendous bitch, but she is good at what she does." Yelena grimaces a little, and rolls her shoulder. "And you were definitely pulling your punches. As for what happened after, I am not completely convinced that was a choice. At least, not a conscious one."

That might be even worse. If it just-- happened. If he didn't choose to start pulling people into a horrible memory dimension, then how can he stop it from happening again?

"You said-- there's footage. You were watching footage. Should I... see it?" She'd probably know better than him if it would be a bad idea. Would seeing it be familiar? Would it be like watching someone else?

New Avengers Tower

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