Fated Marks

I was so warm and comfortable that is until my phone started ringing. I heard Natasha mutter something.

“Turn it off.” Clint groaned tightening his grip on me.

“I have to get up.” I said trying to get up but being buried in a tangle of limbs. I tried moving my legs but winced as the scrapes on my leg rubbed against the jeans Clint was wearing. “MH.” I groaned. “Jarvis alarm.” With that the alarm was shut off.

“Miss Adams there is a message from Doctor O’Malley. It seems he is unable to see you today due to his daughter getting sick. He says he’ll call you tomorrow to reschedule.” Jarvis said.

“Oh fuck yes.” I said getting comfortable again and realizing how sore I really was. I took a bigger hit than I realized yesterday. Shit I didn’t bother to clean up the scrapes I got yesterday. My blazer didn’t make it and was torn on the sleeves. I’m fairly sure I was going to have bruises all over. I closed my eyes and cuddled back into the small space between Natasha and Clint. We stayed liked that until Natasha moved to rest her hand on my hip and rested her head on my shoulder.

“Ah.” I cried out. Fuck I was really sore.

“Krasivaya?” Natasha said sitting up quickly.

“It’s fine just a bit sore.” I said nestling back into Clint’s side. I felt Natasha move her hand to my back and slowly lift my shirt up.

“Shit.” I heard her say. “Clint get up.”

“Nat it looks worse than it is.” I said and she just shot me an annoyed glare.

“What’s going on?” Clint said sounding like he was still half asleep.

“Hayley’s hurt. You didn’t even clean this.” Nat said looking at my knees.

“They’re just scrapes.” I said sitting up. At that Clint’s opened his eyes and sat up.

“Shit.” Clint said looking down. “What the hell happened? Who did that to you?”

“It looks worse than it is. There was a minor explosion when I got back from Miami. The blast sent Kol and I flying. It was a bad idea to wear shorts for obvious reasons but I’m fine.” I said moving to get off the bed but stopping when my body started hurting.

“Minor Explosion?” Clint said.

“He blew up a Lamborghini to get my attention.” I said.

“You’re getting checked out.” Natasha said.

“It’s nothing. I just need some Advil and a soak in the tub.” I said as I stood up on the edge of the bed.

“Hayley.” Clint said giving me a stern look.

“I’m fine.” I said walking to the bathroom and biting my lip to hold back any cries of pain from escaping. I started running the bath and then started lifting my shirt up. “Ah.” I winced. I quickly pulled the shirt off and everything hurt.

“Shit.” I heard from behind me. I felt as Clint gently put his fingertips on my hip.

“It’s just a bruise, I’ve had worse.” I said unbuttoning my shorts and pulling them down.

“Hayley your brother tried to kill you, again.” Clint said.

“No, if he was going to kill me he would have done it with his own hands. This was to send a message.” I said as I reached back to unhook my bra.

“What message did he send blowing up a car?” Natasha asked.

“He’s watching.” I said slipping off my undies and getting in the tub. I hissed as I dipped my knees into the water. “Ah.” I leaned back and enjoyed the feeling of warm water soothing all my aches and pains.

“I left you some clothes.” Natasha said.

“Thanks.” I said. Clint just stood there looking concerned and very pensive. Natasha turned to give him a look and they had one of their famous silent conversations where everything was said with looks. She briefly looked at me before looking back at Clint.

“We’ll be upstairs.” Natasha said starting to head out but turned around and dragged Clint out of the bathroom. I sat there for a while and just thought about everything that had happened in the past couple of days. It all went to hell really fast and knowing Hadrian this was just the beginning.

I was pretty sure Natasha and Clint were upstairs filling Tony, Bruce and Steve in on everything I’d told them. Fuck if I thought yesterday was bad, today was going to be a freaking hell.

“Jarvis?” I asked.

“Yes Miss Adams.” Jarvis answered.

“What am I walking into?” I asked.

“A fully catered breakfast ma’am.” Jarvis said.

“I meant ambiance wise?” I asked.

“Sir and everyone are concerned.” Jarvis said sounding worried.

“That’s an understatement, would you mind sending Will a message that I’m not going to be able to make it today.” I said.

“Shall I give a reason?” Jarvis asked.

“Just tell him I’ll explain later.” I said. “Any advice for anyone that’s probably about to lose the best things that’s ever happened to them?”

“I believe you are being melodramatic ma’am.” Jarvis said.

“Let’s see if you still think that in an hour.” I said getting out of the bath. I was still pretty sore but at least I could move without wanting to cry. I quickly put on the heather grey tights and the V-neck long sleeve tunic pullover Natasha had picked out for me before putting my hair up in a ponytail.

I put on some slippers before heading out to the kitchen. I grabbed an Advil and swallowed it before grabbing my Xanax. I looked at the bottle and thought about it. If I’m doing this I have to do it right. I put the bottle back in the cabinet and walked out of the apartment and into the elevator.

“Common room.” I said and the elevator moved. The doors opened and all I could hear was complete silence. Not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. I stepped out of the elevator and walked into the kitchen.

“You look like hell.” Tony said.

“Morning.” I said walking over to grab a mug and pouring myself a cup of coffee.

“How are you feeling?” Bruce asked.

“Sore but I’ll live.” I said.

“You should go see a doctor.” Steve said.

“Their just bruises and scrapes they’ll heal.” I said pouring some sugar and milk into my coffee.

“How’d you get these?” Tony asked.

“My brother blew up a Lamborghini.” I deadpanned.

“Still think it’s handled?” Tony asked.

“You want to sit down?” I asked.

“Why so you can lie to our faces again?” He said.

“Tony.” Steve said giving him a look.

“He’s right, I have lied to you a lot actually. So I think it’s time I tell you everything.” I said.

“Everything?” Clint asked.

“Well almost everything. I made the mistake of telling someone my middle name and he still hasn’t let me live that down so we’re going to leave my birth name out of this along with my brother’s name because if I do say that I’m sure you’ll all find him and honestly he may deserve it but I won’t stoop to his level. Full disclosure you’re probably going to hate me and never want to see me after I’m done saying what I need to say and I’d completely understand why.” I said.

“How bad…” Steve started.

“Pretty fucked up.” I said. “I was born in Seattle, I looked it up a couple of months ago and confirmed it. My older brother is sixteen years older than me and technically he’s my half brother. I was kind of a late life surprise my mom found out she was expecting when they found a tumor in her womb hence why the asshole called me the tumor up until I was five. He’s always hated me because he saw me as a liability.”

“Liability for what?” Natasha asked.

“The family business, drugs, firearms, money laundering, ponzie schemes and for that one month before I found out and called the cops on my mom, human trafficking.” I said. “Like I said before, pretty fucked up. We essentially moved around, stayed in a town close to a major city. Figured out what strategic assets we needed to acquire and who we needed to get close to. Mom handled Public Relations and Satan’s spawn was her enforcer. They did their business and when they milked as much quick cash as they could we’d move on and start over. New identities, new town, and a clean slate before we started all over. Which is why as Kol so aptly put it yesterday when he was yelling at me for three hours straight, I’ve had more identities than I’ve had birthdays.”

“So Hayley Adams isn’t the first time new identity you’ve ever had?” Bruce said.

“Course not, but it is the identity I’ve used the longest.” I stated. “The system worked pretty well for a while until my mom and brother started screwing up repeatedly. My older brother was always trigger-happy and tended to shoot first and ask questions later. My mom on the other hand had a habit of bringing work home with her, hence Jack, Abel, step dads one through three and that one guy who we used as a scapegoat but all things considered he was a serial rapist and murderer and we did the world a favor. Jack was when I first realized my mom didn’t have a normal job also he was a total douche. I ended up in the hospital and he finally left which meant we had to leave town and I started being called Sally. That’s how it’d go, up until I was around five or six.”

“What happened then?” Tony asked.

“My brother decided to put his… talents to use and joined the armed forces. He was gone for a while and it was just my mom and me. She decided to diversify and expand. So mom decided to go into the weapons business. She had a contact who knew a guy and with 9/11 being so recent weapons were in high demand not just for military use but on the black market. Besides oil what’s the second highest exported product out of the Middle East?” I asked.

“Drugs.” Natasha said.

“Right so she got her hands on some Stark weapons,” I said quickly and quietly.

“You dealt my weapons to terrorists?!” Tony shouted.

“IRA and Czechs and the Bratva one time we don’t know what they did with the missiles. I wasn’t as involved in that part.” I said.

“Then what were you involved in?” Clint asked.

“Money management. In illegal businesses you can’t just put the money you make in a bank account. When any amount of money higher than ten thousand dollars is deposited in an American bank, it’s automatically flagged by the FDIC and investigated. Not to mention you also needed to pay taxes so you don’t get charged with tax evasion. Most major crime syndicates have someone that handles that part of the business. We kept it in the family so there were no loose ends. That’s what I did.”

“You’re telling us that at age seven you knew how to launder money?” Bruce asked.

“You saw what I was like at that age, does it really sound that impossible?” I asked.

“That actually explains a lot.” Steve said.

“We were making millions and it got to the point that I couldn’t keep up with the with the cash flow so we stopped.” I said.

“Just like that?” Nat said.

“Not the business, the laundering. Started investing in legitimate businesses with the cash we had available and kept the rest in in offshore accounts. It was a good few years. We were essentially set for life. The only reason my mom kept the business going was because she believed she had a responsibility to her clients and out of loyalty she kept going. At that point I was done working and handed the reigns back to my mom. Which turned out to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.” I said.

“What happened?” They all asked.

“For starters the asshole came back and decided to get back in the game. My mom thinking that his time in the military along with the contacts he brought back with him would help let him. At the time I didn’t care since I wasn’t even around them. Mom started dating Rebekah and Kol’s older sibling and I stayed with them. Fairly sure she didn’t know where I was half the time and I was too happy to care. They took over, got greedy, and the accountant started noticing the discrepancies. He was then eliminated went into business with this other guy who happened to be in the sex trade. Apparently there was a mole and he had enough to bring everyone down. All they needed was his testimony. Of course they didn’t know I was the mole and had anonymously sent all the evidence the feds could ever need to convict him and all his associates but they needed my mom to testify which she of course said no to and instead married him to prevent being forced to testify against him. The whole situation got messy after that. Ended up being that the feds still had enough to convict them both of lesser crimes and were both going to jail either way. I got involved again, cleaning up my mom’s mess again. Hacked federal databases, personal computers and helped black mail a crooked cop into admitting that he falsified evidence to get step dad number three and my mom released. Of course my mom and brother figured out I was the mole so that made shit awkward.” I said subconsciously rubbing the scar on the back of my neck.

“That’s why he…?” Clint started.

“Yeah but that was just the start. My mom finally saw how my computer hobby could actually be useful and she sold me to the Triad for a year as punishment for almost getting her sent to jail.” I said and I could feel everyone’s anger. I heard Natasha harshly say something in Russian and by the way she said it I could tell it wasn’t good.

“You were a kid, her own kid and she sold you?” Steve said.

“My brother inherited his crazy from somewhere. She was a complicated person and she wanted to teach me a lesson, it was a pretty screwed up lesson for a nine year old to learn but didn’t really get a say in the matter. I did whatever they wanted me to do. I helped cook their books, I helped them make legitimate investments and helped them get information they needed. Some of them were okay, others used me as a human punching bag nothing new. After a few months I had proved my worth and the head of the family offered me a deal. His son had been extradited from China and was facing a life sentence and potentially the death penalty. The deal was I help them track down each of the witnesses that were going to testify in court against him that were under federal protective custody and I was free to go. I was with them for eight months and they offered me this deal while they made me watch as they burned a guy alive so I said yes. I single handedly caused the death of thirteen witnesses, their families and the agents assigned to protect them in one night all so a guy who can only be described as the scum of the scum of the earth could walk free.” I said not realizing tears were starting to stream down my face.

“They kept their end of the bargain and returned me to my mom. Mom was proud said it a lot when I got back. The douche got a kick out of showing me the pictures of the blood bath I helped cause. Said he loved my work. After that I couldn’t do it anymore the business, the money couldn’t even touch a computer for months afterwards. They handled their business and I stayed out of it until about two years later. There was a deal that had gone wrong and the Yakuza almost killed my mom. That was it for her. She decided to retire but not before one last job, the biggest one. It was around this time that my brother met his soulmate, Delilah. In some ways she helped stabilize him but not by a lot. Those two deserved each other. She was an assassin for the Romani, their prodigy. They sent her to kill my brother instead they hooked up and he asked her to move in. My mom being the stupid hopeless romantic she was agreed. She decided that if this was going to be the last job that she could leave the house and something for both of them to start their new life together. Of course the deal fell through but not before they found another buyer that agreed to pay double for the shipment. She broke her promise and I got mad said some things I now regret. I woke up the next morning to a phone call from the local hospital that she was dead.” I was sniffling at this point and I was a bigger mess than I was when I got up here.

“The rest is kind of a blur we ended up burying her a few days later. That’s when he stabbed me and told me I had twenty four hours to get out of town and if he ever saw me again he’d finish what he started. I knew he wasn’t lying so I skipped the wake and went straight home. Packed a bag with some cash I had saved up and a fake identity. Before I left I decided to buy myself some extra time and slow him down. I liquidated all our assets, all business accounts and off shore bank accounts, mortgaged every property. I essentially left him without a single penny to his name. I took the money and donated it all to charity before disappearing. He found me two years later waitressing in Flagstaff, waterboarding is not fun. Somehow got away, made it three years without having to see him again until one drunken slip up in Charleston seven months ago when someone ran my prints in the system and he figured out where I was. Apparently he’s been watching me and this time he’s not letting me go, at least not until I keep my end of our deal.”

“What deal?” Tony asks.

“Delilah his soulmate and now wife left him and pulled a disappearing act. He wants me to find her for him and if I do we go our separate ways and I never have to worry about him again.” I said.

“Is that everything?” Steve asked.

“You’re all caught up.” I said. ‘at least what I can tell you without risking your lives’ I thought.

“Your mom was a real piece of work Hales.” Clint said.

“That’s one word for it.” Natasha muttered.

“I’m gonna go now.” I said hopping out of my chair.

“Stop.” Tony said.

“I’m sorry I made money off your stolen weapons but I had no idea…” I started before Tony interrupted by kissing me.

“I love you.” He said.

“But…” I started.

“Stop talking,” Tony said silencing me. “it’s your turn to listen. You’re stubborn and I’m not kidding when I say you’ve been a pain in the ass the past few days but I love you no buts.” He said puling me into a hug.

“I’ve done worse things but someone gave me a second chance, you fought for yours krasivaya. You’re stronger and better for it.” Natasha said hugging me from behind. Shit this fucking hurts.

“Hales you okay?” Clint asked.

“Mhm.” I said trying not to cry out in pain.

“It’s all right doll.” Steve said.

“Let it out Hayley, you’ve been through a lot.” Bruce said.

“Mhm.” I said tearing up, I know this is a really touching moment and all but damn everything hurt but I didn’t want to let go.

“No more secrets.” Tony said squeezing me even tighter.

“I’ll try.” I said crying into his shoulder.