Twin Flames
The frigid Manhattan air whipped around the impossibly tall door as it opened. Violet was holding two plastic bags and a large metal water bottle in her hands while her ratty, overloaded backpack threatened to snap her spine. She’d grabbed lunch for herself and Peter, wanting to surprise him because of how intense his “internship” had gotten. She never wanted to press the issue, but Violet always suspected that his internship was actually just spandex playdates with a billionaire. Despite having the gig for years, Peter had never taken her to the tower. Consequently, she was just a bundle of nerves as she rambled inside. The impossibly shiny mock-wood tiles echoed every step, alerting the front desk receptionist to her presence.
“Oh, I’m sorry Ma’am but tours are actually only on the last friday of every month. ”
Violet peaked her head up, a few unruly tresses fell in her face as she did so- fiery orange now obscuring her view. She was eyeing the receptionist- a petite blonde woman with a heart shaped face and an untrusting glare in her dark eyes. She wore an ivory button down that looked like it cost more than Violet’s rent for the month and pointed her well manicured nails at the calendar.
“Oh no, um actually I’m here to see Peter,” she spat out, anxieties gnawing on her mind, “Um, Peter Parker I mean.”
The blonde rolled her eyes, and took in Violet’s admittedly haphazard appearance. She wore her unruly ginger hair on top of her head, though some defiant strands still managed to coil their way to her face. Her oversized, clunky glasses pushed high on the bridge of her nose, a worn, billowy, printed men’s button down and a torn up pair of jeans covered her body, Only a faded jean jacket that had clearly seen better days and a worn out pair of vans provided any morsel of warmth against the New York temperatures.
“Do you have an appointment?” Her tone was laced thickly with distan.
Vi fiddled with the bags in her right hand, before meekly muttering “No.” She was frustrated that she felt so intimidated by some asshole behind a desk, but she wasn’t given much time to worry. Just as it seemed she was about to get the boot, she heard a familiar voice call her name out from across the lobby.
“Vi! What’re you doin’ here?”
“Heya Pete,” she chuckled, “Just thought I’d stop by and surprise the best intern ever with some lunch. I haven’t seen much of you recently so I thought we could eat together!”
“No way! From Delmar’s? You didn’t mess up my order did you?”
She blushed some, Peter’s happiness was always infectious, especially to her meek demnor.
“Of course not, a grilled ham and cheese and pickle on french bread with mustard-”
“Pressed flat. Yeah yeah. I know I'm predictable. Let’s go find somewhere to sit.”
He took the bags from her and began to show her around, having some fun anecdotes about nearly every square foot of the tower. She just followed and listed, happy Peter was opening up about whatever it was he did with Mr. Stark.
“Sorry if I’m boring you Vi, but this place is like a playground! Oh! Wait until I show you Mr. Stark’s lab! It's so crazy!” he said giggling.
Peter brought her to an indoor cafe lounge area that made her feel like she was out of place. They sat together in a comfortable sort of silence, eating their sandwiches and just enjoying each other's company. They’d been friends for almost five years, ever since May, Peter’s aunt, fostered her.
Violet had once been a part of a cultish girls school called Coventry, having been there since she was 8. To the outside world, Coventry was a prestigious girls academy, but within it’s weathered, stony walls, it housed dark secrets. The academy focused on cultivating the most intelligent female minds and using them for intel gathering. Though she tried to hide it behind frumpy clothes and wild hair, Violet Paterson was smart. Her IQ was somewhere in the high 170s, she fluent in ten languages, she excelled in all subjects, practically a weapon of knowledge. She hated it though, always would rather do creative, softer things, like study botany or read old poetry, but Coventry always put her to work in “worthy” fields. Programming, engineering, coding, anything they thought they could use to understand and exploit soulmates. Once S.H.I.E.L.D raided the school, she was put into the foster system, and quickly placed with newly widowed May Parker and her nephew, Peter-who was about her age.
At first Peter was resentful of Violet, thinking she was there to fill whatever hole May had in her heart, since Ben had only died a few months prior. When someone loses their flame, it can drive people mad, desperate for any kind of love. He was rude and short with her until one day May pulled him aside.
“ Peter Benjamin Parker” she had seethed, “You stop this.. Just because we’ve experienced loss doesn’t mean we should help those who are lost. Now, go in there and watch space wars with her.”
“Its Star Wars , May,” he groaned
However, Peter really began to warm up to her when she had corrected him when he was restoring the only computer monitor he found in the garbage outside his apartment.
“Actually, if you upgrade the processor, you’d have better luck restoring the motherboard as a whole,” she said meekly, peering over his shoulder.
“Oh..uh, yeah. Thanks… You wanna work with me on this?” After that, they became thick as thieves, Ned and eventually MJ welcomed her into their lives.
In the Tower, after scarfing down the sandwiches from Delmars, Peter and Violet sat together, catching up, Vi’s history textbook flopped open on the seat next to her.
“So Petey, you know Captain America right?”
“Oh yeah Vi! He’s so cool… or I guess was cool since he’s technically a fugitive now, I guess? Why?”
“No reason really, just… I have a paper on the history of enhanced individuals and their effects on finding someone’s flame due soon and I wanted to know if you could ask him some questions for me?”
“I don’t know if I can but I can for sure ask Mr. Stark-”
“Ask me what, kid?” The bearded billionaire appeared seemingly out of nowhere behind the two.
Peter immediately stood up, his back straight as an arrow. Called to attention. If she squinted, she could see a faint blush peaking on his cheeks.
“H-hey Mr. Stark! This is my sorta-sister Violet! She was just wondering if you could give her some quotes from Cap… er, um I mean, Mr.Rogers.”
Violet stuck out her hand to Tony for him to shake, but he just stared at her hand as if it was offensive.
“Sorry, underoos. Cap is a wanted criminal, I’m not going to doel out his information to his fangirls.” Peter was shocked at his brazen tone. He knew Tony could be harsh but he was being borderline rude.
“Well, actually Mr. Stark I have some questions I’d love to ask you! I know your father, Howard was involved in-”
Tony interrupted again. “Look kid, I’m not here to appease your ‘superhero’ fantasies, okay? Just google it. I need my intern back anyways,” he turned and walked away, looking back only to cast a distrustful glance at Violet, “C’mon Mr.Parker.”
Peter shot her an apologetic look as he scrambled to follow Tony Stark to the elevators. The click of his Lounoutins echoing, ringing in her ears. She sheepishly gathered her belongings, shoving them in her worn green jansport bag, seams crying from the pressure. Hoisting the monstrosity on to her back once more, she began her long trip back to her apartment in the outskirts of Queens.
Tony sat at his large mahogany desk, his gaze locked on the small flip phone in front of him. Every inch of his pride screamed that he should leave Steve alone, but there was something about that girl he didn't trust. He’d heard Peter prattle on and on about his ‘genius foster-sister before, but he had never met her. Until now.
Beyond just a gut feeling, he knew he’s seen her face before, he just couldn't place it. He debated with himself for what felt like hours, going back and forth in his mind whether it was worth reaching out to Cap just on a hunch. His pride eventually lost the battle and Tony grabbed the small silver phone, tentatively pressing the call button for the only contact saved-Steve.
The phone rang six times, leaving Tony both dreading and looking forward to hearing the deep voice on the other end of the line.
“Tony?”
“Steve, look. I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t important. Parker has a sister, but there is something off about her. Can you have Romanoff look into her? I know I’ve seen her before and that can’t be a good sign.
“Nat’s not in New York right now, but… I know someone who could look into it but I don't know if you’ll like it.”
“Wilson?”
“No, Bucky is in Brooklyn. He doesn’t trust himself to do any reconnaissance in the field, but he’d probably be fine to look into it.”
Reluctantly, Tony agreed to let Barnes look into Paterson, knowing he'd keep a low profile. After all he was a wanted criminal and all.
Standing up, the small metal bed creaked below Bucky’s large frame. The bedroom floor lay barren, his large backpack propped up near the front door. The faded blanket he’d borrowed from Sam pooled around his feet, a few down feathers escaping from the seams. Rubbing his eyes, his bare feet padded across the rickety wooden floor. With bleary eyes, he brewed a large pot of coffee, hoping to inspire some life into his body. It was after two in the afternoon, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He had nothing better to do anyway. Checking his phone, he was surprised to see that Steve had left a message.
“Hey Buck, listen Tony needs you to look into a girl for him, something about her and Peter bothers him. I left her information under your door,” the message trailed off for a moment, “And take care of yourself bud. We’ll figure this all out soon.”
Bucky pulled open the file that Steve left, and began digging into her background info. Violet Paterson. She was young, and he hated to admit it, but she was beautiful. She had a round, fair face, spattered in freckles, her bright green eyes that seemed to be staring back at him through her picture. Bright ginger hair flowed out behind her in a cape of curls, showering her shoulders. Dragging his eyes down her body, she was curvy, almost soft-looking. He had to avert his eyes from her breasts, a blush kissing his cheeks. Despite the image being a screencap from the security camera, Bucky was taken with her appearance. He had to remind himself that she was a job, not some dame on the street. Shaking his dirty thoughts out of his head, he went to the shower to start his day.
In her small apartment in Queens, Violet slumped on the musty, green velvet couch, her textbooks haphazardly strewn about. She was waist deep in the history of enhanced individuals and twin flames:
Theorists pose many different ideas for the origin of the ‘Soulmate’ or ‘Twin Flames’. Sullivan Andreas believes that when life emerged, something drastic caused a soul to tear into two, damming all souls to be seeking each other out for the rest of time. There is distinct evidence to the fact that souls will continue to exist beyond a single person’s life-span. This claim is supported by the fact that multiple sources (1) claim to have memories from their souls past lives. Dr. Daniel Williamson’s study on the connection of soulmates confirms that the connection is found through touch alone, not just by sight. This fact explains why the instances of connections dwindling in past years, due to the rising population, globalization and social media. This decrease in the instances of finding one’s flame has caused the Wanderer population to skyrocket.
- Wanderer is a commonly used term to describe someone who has not yet found their twin flame.
Violet rolled her eyes. She’d always been dismissive of the idea of “twin flames”, she never believed the idea that one part of her soul belonged to someone else. With a heavy sigh, she closed her textbook and nearly frisbeed it across the room, grabbing a blanket. She turned on Star Wars: A New Hope , wishing Peter was there to watch with her. They loved the movies, both of them cringing beyond belief when May called it “Space War.” She watched lazily, her mind still reeling about her essay, her thoughts kidnapped by her studies. For the rest of the night, all she could think about was soulmates and enhanced individuals.