Chapter 1
I’m in darkness…again.
Son of a bitch!
I’m sorry for swearing like that. Blame Darcy’s influence. But honestly, how many close calls can a girl go through? This does feel different from my coma in a way. Same nothingness around me, same vague feeling of consciousness and no sense at all of the bond. Only this time there are no voices around me. In fact this time I feel peaceful being here. Almost like I’m…no.
No!
N…O…no!
I am not dead! I can’t be dead! My mom will kill me if I’m dead. Not to mention Nat, Darcy and Skye. This is not happening. This cannot be happening.
How the hell did this happen to begin with?
Oh wait…it’s coming back to me.
Let’s once again take inventory of our life before the event that brought us to this…limbo.
***
It has been just under a year since what the papers have dubbed the New Krypton Incident. The landmass of Kryptonite is currently in a stationary orbit above the moon, constantly monitored by one of Tony’s satellites. You can even see it at night during a full moon. A greyish green shadow on the moon. This thankfully has no effects on me, as long as I avoid it when flying in space. Though for the earth it has been having a strange, almost calming influence on tide patterns and a stabilizing effect on weather patterns. I don’t know the science behind it, but apparently the Kryptonite radiation bouncing off the moon mixed in with the effect it has on the ocean has been a blessing in calming global warming.
Hammer of course is taking credit for this, saying it was his plan all along. Sadly no one is buying it so the former tech mogul continues to spend his days in a secure SHIELD prison. Nat wanted to ‘accidentally’ kill him on transit. Thankfully Uncle Clint, along with me nagging her through the bond kept her in check. Darcy was trying to distract me from keeping Nat in line with bedroom activities involving whipped cream and chocolate sauce. That had the opposite effect of what she had planned. I had just gotten the sheets changed when Nat stormed in to our place, shed her clothes and dragged Darcy in to the bedroom, determined to show her the proper seduction distraction techniques. She also threatened to pay me back as well for being a willing participant.
Yeah, things have been amazing between the three of us since our first night together. And what a night it was. I’d love to go in to detail about it, but I’m not the kiss and tell type. Be happy with the mental image of me licking a whipped cream bikini off of Darcy, who in turned made silly patterns on me with Hershey’s syrup before licking them away.
Where was I again…oh right!? Our relationship has never been better. The bond between the three of us is pretty much cemented, yet still feels empty without our fourth. Whoever they might be, wherever they are I hope they’re okay and looking for us. Just as we are looking for them. We know our fourth is out there, still alive since we each still carry their words on us. So we hold on to that and the hope that one day they will make their way to us. Or maybe Fate will drop them on our doorstep. This point I’ll take anything.
I got to meet Thor finally. He dropped in after Jane fell victim to some strange ancient artifact left on earth by his grandfather. Thor was excited to have me on the team. He knew what happened to Krypton and was pleased that I not only survived, but was raised by a kind loving family. Making me the woman I am today. Seems his views about Midgard, earth, and humanity has changed a lot since he first fell from the stars. He has proclaimed Darcy family and threatened to unleash the fury of his hammer upon me if I do not treat her right. Same threat he gave Natasha. Since then the dreamy, Skye and Melinda’s word not mine, Asgardian and I get along great. Though Tony is not too happy with the antics he, Hulk and I can get up to in the gym.
Another good thing that happened after New Krypton is that we managed to reclaim my crystals from Hammer. Thankfully he only used the one construction crystal and was unable to access the data from the storage ones. With Jor-El’s help I programmed the crystal to create what Skye and Darcy agree is my real Fortress of Solitude. It is an icy crystalline structure right above the ice cave I have the scout ship parked in. It is right on the ice and stopped growing once it was the perfect size. Jor-El says that if need be we can expand without causing damage to the neighboring environment.
The shimmering fortress is amazing, roomy and run by my AI father and a few drones from the scout ship. It has the most advanced computer set up I have ever seen along with other Kryptonian tech that Tony is anxiously wanting to see and play with. In time I will share it with him and the others, but for right now it is all mine. Well mine and Nat’s and Darcy’s. Fury handed off an old model Quinjet to us. After Nat made sure there were no hidden trackers on it and Tony slipped in his stealth tech, it has become our…their… transport between the Fortress and Tower. And even the homestead.
Yes indeed. Life is certainly going great for us right now. Which should have been a clear indicator that something bad was going to spring up on us to ruin it.
***
Skye’s efforts to determine who is responsible for the holes in SHIELD’s firewalls, allowing access to sensitive information, revealed a shocking conspiracy. Hydra had managed to sneak in to the organization and spread out like a cancer. They have their own people in place and even turned a few agents. They have their tentacles wrapped around other key level positions in government, with some of their high mucky mucks in the senate. Thankfully they had not reached the White House yet. All of this in order to continue the Red Skull’s mission of world domination.
They nearly succeeded.
Skye told Fury the truth right away and he came to us, nearly getting himself killed in the process by Cap’s best friend turned evil super soldier, Bucky. Coulson and his team were on the way to the Tower too, minus Ward who had mysteriously disappeared with a copy of every case file they had since forming their team. Turns out Ward’s a Hydra spy. This news did not sit well with the science twins of the team, Fitzsimmons, but in the end the two proved themselves to be good people and the best friends Skye has ever had. Next to me and Darcy now.
Given what we were facing, it was no time to keep secrets. Skye, Coulson and May vouched for Fitzsimmons so we let them in on the truth about me. They already know Skye is their daughter, but were shocked and excited to learn I am her sister in every sense of the word, if not by blood. They swore to take this information to their graves. Nat promised to work with both of them on their lying skills, but that would have to wait. It was time to pull our resources and save SHIELD before Hydra destroyed it from within. And took out a lot of innocent lives in the process.
Long story short, they were going to use three advanced and heavily armed Helicarriers to take out a large portion of the population they deemed a threat. That included the Avengers and every other powered being that could turn hero.
It was a long grueling battle at the Triskelion, SHIELD’s main office in Washington. But in the end we heroes won the day. Though many good agents lost their lives in the process, Steve was able to turn his friend back to our side in the end. Plus we also made a new friend in Sam Wilson and his Falcon flight suit. All Hydra agents in the Triskelion, as well as those hiding in the government, thanks to Skye hacking Hydra’s files, were arrested. May and Natasha took down Ward, but not before he managed to rough my girl up. If I wasn’t busy helping Tony fight off those Helicarriers while Clint and Steve implanted the new targeting codes that made them destroy each other, I would have pounded him in to dust.
But he and his Hydra counterparts are now safely locked away, though some did manage to escape and send out a warning that SHIELD knew who they were. The rats went in to hiding and would stay there till they had the resources to come after us again. Which given that we cut off their access to SHIELD tech could be a while. They’d have to pull whatever resources they have left and find a safe place to hide. Maybe a while is being too kind. It could be years before we hear from them again. At least I hope that’s the case.
Steve and Sam took Bucky to an off-site facility Tony is working on turning in to a secondary Avenger Base. He got the idea from my Fortress, stating that having a secondary facility away from the city would take some of the heat off the city and save him having to foot the bill for repairs every time we got in to a serious fight. While the Tower would still be home to SI and those of us still wanting to call it home, the Warehouse would be another R&D facility, training ground and home away from home if need be.
While helping Bucky was Steve’s first priority, Fury’s was to bury and honor the dead. He also acknowledged those that went above and beyond the call of duty to defend SHIELD. A day of mourning was had by all, where even we Avengers stood and honored the men and women who gave their lives during the battle. After that, Fury and Hill worked it so that all agents were given time to recover and decide whether or not they wanted to continue working within SHIELD. Basically he was giving them leave and the chance to evaluate their career path, while maintaining enough agents at the Triskelion to keep it running while it was being repaired. Coulson and May were staying with him while Skye decided to finally take Tony up on his offer and joined the Avengers as our tech support.
Just what I need, right? Skye and Darcy together more than they already are.
Coulson and May were nothing but supportive. Same with Fury. He even pushed the two to sign up with Skye, hinting that they could use the protection of Tony’s army of lawyers. Turns out the government is none too pleased about Hydra existing right under SHIELD’s nose. Some declaring that because of that Fury and the whole organization are suspect and should be dismantled and imprisoned. Fury and Hill are doing everything they can, meeting with committees and undergoing hearings over everything that happened. Pepper and Tony vouched for Fury and Hill. Steve even made a statement that while SHIELD does need to let go of certain policies, the organization is still needed to help out where the Avengers cannot. The support and offer to house SHIELD agents at the Warehouse to aid the Avengers and everything has Fury considering handing over control of SHIELD to Coulson. According to Skye those talks are still ongoing.
While all this was going on it was time for me and my girls to take a little vacation to the Fortress. This way we could escape all the drama and recover from everything our way. Meaning Darcy and Nat dived right in to the natural hot spring bath set up in the living area of the Fortress, thanks in no small part to Keevo. She’s a special drone my father constructed as sort of a personal assistant to both him and me. She is the only truly self-aware AI among the drones, thanks to a USB drive Skye gave Darcy for Jor-El to upload in to her matrix. She may look like a floating upside down exclamation point with a pin box looking display, but she is one of a kind and family to me now and I wouldn’t have her any other way. Same with Darcy and Nat.
~~~
The sun was shining brightly outside the large window in front of the large rounded bed we three are currently snuggled on. I should say Darcy and Nat are snuggling me, each one of them nestled in close to my sides and using my chest as a shared pillow. Granted with Darcy it would be plusher, but I am by far the warmer bodied of the three of us. The Fortress is self-contained and heated to a point, but it can still get chilly at times at the top of the world here.
Most people think trios can’t work, little own a quad. Someone might always feel left out they say. Well not with us. Whether together or paired off we make it work just fine. Hopefully that will still work out when we do meet our fourth.
My musing was cut short as I felt Natasha stirring. Looking down at her I saw her eyes slowly open, quickly scan her surroundings out of habit before looking up at me. I smiled warmly and placed a kiss to her forehead, leading her to let out a pleasant moan and smile.
“How long have you been watching us sleep?” she asked, knowing that while her body can operate on less than five hours of sleep, I can go days on end without. Making watching the two of them sleep my second bedroom activity.
“Not long.”
“Uh huh,” she humored me sitting up and stretching her arms above her head, causing the red comforter and silk sheet cover to pool in her lap, exposing her bare upper body to the light of the room and my appreciative eyes.
“Do you want me to slip out from under her and join you in the gym? I know how much you enjoy a good work out after our mutual work outs.”
Nat quirked an eyebrow and smiled down at me from over her shoulder after brushing back her hair. She’s letting it grow out and I have to say, the long red locks slightly curled have her looking a bit like Ariel. While I think I might be Elsa now. I mean I have my own ice fortress. She narrowed her eyes at me, picking up on my thoughts through the bond and shook her head before looking down at Darcy.
“You think you can slip away from her right now you’re welcome to try.”
Ever since my coma, whenever we sleep together Darcy has taken it upon herself to wrap her arms around me in some form or another. She’s afraid to let me go I guess, needing the reminder she didn’t lose me. Didn’t know she could be so clingy or had an unshakeable grip. Regardless, I go along with it because I love her and it’s what she needs.
I made one slight shift, trying to slip my way through her arms and hover myself free. Darcy immediately gripped me tight, stopping me cold while moving to rest her head on my shoulder.
“Move again and I kill you,” Darcy mumbled out.
“You mean you’ll try,” I laughed.
“Two words for you Girl of Steel. Kryptonite…cuffs,” Darcy countered sleepily.
Nat quickly covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her laughter, but I heard a few giggles slip out. I closed my eyes and groaned, hating that I let them talk me in to making those things for them to use on me. Both are sworn to secrecy, as is Keevo who actually did the whole infusion of the low grade Kryptonite in to the padded restraints. These two are slowly turning me in to a sex fiend, corrupting my image by the day. And I couldn’t be happier.
“I’m going to hop in the shower and leave you two to sort this out,” Nat said, slipping out of bed, smiling all cute like as I pleaded with her not to leave with my eyes.
“You do that honey. Need my beauty sleep in order to keep up with the two of you,” Darcy replied, a hint of sorrow tinging her tone and slipping in to the bond.
Lately Darcy has been having these thoughts about not being really part of the team, of us. Nat and I thought we worked this all out with her, I know I did after I moved in to the Tower. But every now and then it creeps up on us.
“Darcy, for the last time, you do not need to keep up with us. We love your fine sassy self just the way you are,” I told her, placing a kiss to the top of her head.
“You say that, but let’s be honest. I can’t stand toe-to-toe against the baddies you guys deal with. I can hack a Netflix account no problem, but government servers and such are a little more scary and tricky. I mean thanks to Nat I can hold my own in a fight and all but…I can’t really do anything but stand on the sidelines while you two run out to face danger on a near weekly basis.”
“Sweetie,” I sighed, wanting to remind her that while I am the powerhouse of the Avengers these days, when it comes to brains and skills I don’t hold a candle to the others. Instead I let a few of my own insecurities leach out in an effort to soothe hers.
Nat picked up on it, bending down to run her fingers through my hair and placing her own kiss to my forehead. It’s her silent way of telling me that through my training with her and Steve, my sparring sessions with Hulk, I am developing my own style that works for me and that’s okay. She then leaned over me, her breasts right in front of my face as she kissed Darcy’s cheek.
“You Tased Thor. A fact he reminds us of these days more then you ever did. You out match Tony in sarcastic wit and quips and manage Jane and the rest of us better then Pepper does Tony. You are the strongest, most self-assured and resilient person I know love. Don’t ever doubt or forget that,” Nat told her in a warm serious mixed tone, “Cause if you keep this up much longer I’m going to shock some sense in to you with a Widow Bite.”
“Battle of the Tasers sounds exciting,” I began, causing Darcy to laugh, “But unless you’re gonna skip the shower and get back in bed, do you mind getting your boobs out of my face.”
Darcy buried her face in my neck and began shaking with laughter. Nat pulled back, standing totally naked and did her own version of my Supergirl pose. Only hers came with a Widow glare. Thankfully Keevo flew in to save me before it got any more lethal.
“Lady Kara I,” Keevo began to say, but went quiet once she saw and processed our current conditions. Especially Nat’s. “Oh…oh please forgive me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Keevo zipped over to the corner and turned to face it. Her blue and light pink shell shaking nervously. Her idea on the paint job, not mine. Though given her attitude and programming, it suits her. Nat, realizing the cause of the little drone’s condition quickly grabbed one of the fluffy red robes hanging over a nearby chair and covered herself up. I pulled the blankets up around a cackling and shaking Darcy and myself.
“I didn’t see anything…explicit. Currently deleting all recent visual records.” Yeah, Skye definitely did a good job programming Keevo with teenage girl responses and attitude. Though thankfully not hers.
“It’s okay, Keevo,” I assured her.
“Is it safe to turn around?”
“It is now,” Nat answered calmly, “What’s the situation?”
Like me she knew that whatever brought Keevo storming in to the room, despite knowing or at least having a good guess just what we were doing. This place isn’t that soundproof I don’t think. Anyway, whatever she has to tell us, it can’t be good.
~~~