The Bet
“STOP, PLEASE, I’M begging you to just put me down, y/n.” Tony’s voice was strained as his robotic limbs tried to tear off the vines I had crafted. I just laughed, and pulled them tighter. “Y/n, seriously, I concede. I cannot, cannot, get out of these things. You win. I lose. You are the greatest Avenger of all time.”
I laughed and the vines disappeared into thin air; the same way they had appeared. I cracked my knuckles and gave a thumbs up to Bucky, who had been watching from the edge of the room. Tony and I had made a bet that his technology could break my vines. I don’t know why he ever thought that would work.
“So, old man, never question me again.” I shot the sweetest smile I could at Tony as he rubbed his wrists. I may have accidentally pulled the vines too tight.
"I apologize, really. I have no fucking clue what those things are made of, but I’m impressed. Not like Peter’s webs that I had to engineer. It’s interesting.” Tony cracked his neck and rubbed his wrists. He was pacing around the training room, placing his hand on his chin as he thought aloud. “And the fire…I don’t understand what's causing it. Your X-Rays and labs are completely normal. There is no scientific explanation as to why you’re able to do what you can do. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
I didn’t respond to Tony, I just gave him a quick smile and walked out of the room. I needed some alone time. I’m not even sure where these powers came from, and doing things like that still drain me, but, I haven’t let anyone in on that.
I went outside, and sat on one of those weirdly constructed swinging chairs. I crossed my leg and pulled out my phone, scrolling on Instagram. I smiled at the pictures of my friends and family, enjoying their lives that weren’t complicated by whatever was plaguing me. I spent about an hour outside, enjoying the sun since that’s something that we never seem to do at the Avengers Compound. No one has fun here, it’s really confusing. What’s the point of saving the world if no one doing so is enjoying it?
Y/n/n, if you can hear me, meet me on the roof.
I rolled my eyes, but stood up and put my phone in my back pocket. I walked back inside, into the elevator, and headed up to roof. When the doors opened, I saw her red hair beaming, almost copper in the light. I smiled at Wanda, and sat down next to her on the bench that Tony had put up there for her.
“More training today?” Wanda took a bite from an apple when she asked the question, the crunch sounding like it was in my head. It probably was. Wanda tends to amplify noises that she knows I hate into my head. It’s her version of a prank. I still haven’t decided if it was funny.
Wanda was one of my only real friends here. She understands what it feels like to suddenly have powers, and no control over how you got them.
“No. I had a bet with Tony that his little metal suit could break the vines. He lost. I won.” She smirked at me, and laughed a little. “I won a vacation for the next week. For the entire team. Well, the whole team except Banner, Nat and Clint.”
Wanda’s eyes went wide when she realized exactly what I had said. “Vacation. For us? The whole team? You’re fucking kidding me! Tony would never.”
“Well, vacation is stretching it. We have a week off. Only called off if there is a catastrophic world event, but the time we lose is held for a later date. So, it’s basically Tony-proof. We can travel wherever we want, all expenses paid via Stark’s card.” After I finished speaking Wanda squealed. She then got a glassy look in her eyes, and I knew she was in Vision’s mind telling him about the vacation.
I smiled, and tilted my head up towards the sun.