Fated Marks

Calliope’s POV-

I walked out of class and went to go meet Will at the campus Starbucks like usual. I was on my way when my phone started ringing. I didn’t recognize the number but it was a New York area code so I went ahead and answered.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hi is this Miss Call… calli-oh…” She started.

“This is Callie Gerard.” I said before this call got even more awkward than it already was.

“Oh, Hello I’m Sheryl from Human Resources at Stark International.” She said. “How are you?”

“I’m good, and yourself?” I said.

“I’m doing well thank you I’m calling to ask if you’d be available to come in for an interview sometime this week?” She said.

“Uh yea- yes of course I’m available.” I said quickly.

“That’s great. Is Thursday at eleven good for you?” She asked.

“That’s perfect. Thank you!” I said.

“We’ll see you then.” Sheryl said before hanging up.

“Ahhh!” I shouted in happiness making many people passing by stop to give me weird looks. I ignored them and walked into Starbucks.

I walked over to where Will was sitting down and put my things down before sitting down.

“You’ll never guess what just happened.” I said not being able to keep the smile off my face.

“You had a wardrobe malfunction and gave half the nerds in your programming class a…” Will started.

“Will! Head out of the gutter.” I said.

“What, the female to male ratio in your classes isn’t exactly even.” Will said.

“Dude focus.” I said.

“So your news?” Will said.

“I have an interview on Thursday. For the Stark internship.” I said.

“AHHHH!!!” Will shouted before standing up to hug me. “You got it!”

“It’s just an interview.” I said.

“An interview you’re going to nail. Face it Cal, you may try to pretend you hate socializing but you’re a people person.” Will said.

“Sorry about that, it was a team mate letting me know practice got cancelled.” Someone said sitting back down but freezing when they saw me sitting next to Will. “Hi.”

“Hi.” I said smiling politely. He smiled back at me as he sat down. I couldn’t lie this guy was hot. Not buff and tall hot more like charming boyish hot.

“Nate, this is my roommate and sister from another mister Callie. Cal this is Nate.” Will said.

“Nice to meet you. Will talks about you all the time.” Nate said extending his hand.

“Whatever he said it’s not true.” I said knowing some of the things Will has a tendency to spill out as I shook his hand.

“Hey.” Will said.

“I doubt it, he had nothing but nice things to say.” Nate said.

“He better.” I said giving Will a smirk.

“Well I have to get going. My next class is across campus and I need to get a good seat. Thanks for the help Will.” Nate said.

“Anytime.” Will said. “You want to meet up later this week for another revision?”

“Sounds good.” Nate said. “It was nice meeting you Callie.”

“You too Nate.” I said before he left.

Will gave me a look with a cheeky grin.

“What?” I said not liking the look on his face. The look of him knowing something I didn’t. The same look that always got me involved in one of his ploys.

“Oh nothing.” Will said with a grin. “Nate’s a nice guy.”

“I guess,” I said looking at my phone. “I only talked to him for like a minute.”

“But you smiled at him. And it wasn’t a forced one or one of your selfie smirks.” Will said. “It was a real one with an eye twinkle.”

“I got some really good news that made my day. Excuse me for being happy.” I said brushing off his comment.

“Then I guess it wouldn’t make a difference if I told you Nate was the guy I was talking about this morning that I wanted to set you up with.” Will said.

“Will, let it go.” I said.

“Oh come on Cal, lighten up.” Will said.

“Don’t need to. My life is awesome just the way it is.” I said.

Third Person’s POV-

“Are you sure about this?” Natasha asked.

“We need all the help we can get.” Steve said.

“You think he’ll actually say yes?” Natasha said.

“One way to find out.” Steve said as he knocked on the door. It was quiet before Steve and Natasha heard footsteps slowly getting louder as they moved closer to the door.

The door opened and Sam poked his head out before opening the door the rest of the way.

“Cap?” Sam said surprised to see him.

“Hey Sam.” Steve said.

“Hello.” Sam said looking at Natasha.

“Hi.” Natasha answered.

“You got a minute?” Steve asked.

“Sure, I was just making breakfast.” Sam said inviting them in.

Steve and Natasha walked in and followed him to his kitchen.

“I thought you were still in New York.” Sam asked.

“I was until something came up.” Steve said.

“I’m guessing that’s why you’re both here.” Sam said eyeing the file in Steve’s hand.

“Yeah, we need your help.” Steve said.

“What’s going on?” Sam asked.

“You ever heard of Hydra?” Natasha asked.

“The Nazis you took down back in the day?” Sam asked.

“I thought I did…” Steve started.

“Thought?” Sam asked.

“Apparently they’ve been hiding in plain sight all this time.” Steve said.

“Shield is Hydra.” Natasha said.

“Wow.” Sam said.

“They want to take out a lot of people and we have a plan to stop them.” Steve said.

“We can use all the help we can get.” Natasha said. “We looked up your service record. Bakhmala, the Khalid Khandil mission? That was you.”

“Yeah, me and my wingman Riley.” Sam answered.

“It’s impressive.” Natasha said. “I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs.”

“I’ll understand if you say no.” Steve said. “You got out for a good reason.”

“Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in.” Sam said. “There’s just one thing, my gear?”

“We’ve got you covered.” Natasha said as Steve handed him the file he was holding. “Stark made some upgrades.”

“Oh man.” Sam said smiling. “When do we start?”

Downtown Washington DC-

“Tony, is the signal holding?” Steve asked.

“It’s in the same position it’s been for the past five days.” Tony said. “Hayley did a good job programming the nanobots.”

“And if that’s not enough for you, guess who just showed up.” Clint called out from the rooftop he was looking out from.

“Rumlow.” Natasha said from outside the café she was sitting outside.

“What are we waiting for?” Thor growled.

“We need to make sure we have all the exits covered.” Tony said. “Rhodey?”

“In position.” Rhodey answered.

“Sam?” Steve asked.

“In Position.” Sam answered.

“Bruce you have the street cam feeds?” Tony asked.

“Yeah they’re all here.” Bruce said from the quinjet.

“As soon as we get in there, we need to cut out their coms and make sure they don’t alert anyone that we’re here.” Steve said.

“I can handle that once I’m inside.” Tony said. “Just worry about the Terminator.”

“And the prisoners?” Thor asked.

“The base should have cells. We keep them locked in there until it’s over and then we can hand them over to the authorities.” Tony said before putting the suit’s helmet on.

“Let’s get in position. We all have our jobs. On my mark we go in.” Steve said putting on his helmet.

“Ready when you are.” Thor said.

At the three exits of the building each of the teams placed a miniature explosive and set the charge.

“Three, two, one…” Steve said and the charges went off the doors busted open and everyone ran in.

As soon as they did hydra agents started attacking them.

“We’re under attack!” One of them shouted.

“The comms aren’t working!” Another shouted.

Steve held his shield up as he ran to tackle a group of agents. Thor swung Mjolnir and threw it at them before calling it back to him.

Tony shot at the agents and knocked them out.

“Which way?” Steve asked.

“Left.” Tony said before they headed in that direction. “Wait.”

“Tony?” Steve said.

“What is it?” Thor said.

“That way leads to the bank. That door.” Tony said.

“It’s a vault.” Steve said.

“It’s not in the building plans.” Tony said.

“Allow me.” Thor said swinging Mjolnir and blasting a hole in the vault door.

“I was going to try to crack the combination but that works too.” Tony said. “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”

“Watch your backs.” Steve said getting ready to go inside. “No telling what’s inside.”

Suddenly they heard the sound of many guns being loaded and pointed at them.

“Kinda like that?” Tony said.

“Cap?” Rumlow greeted.

“Rumlow.” Steve said glaring at him.

“Surprised to run into you here.” He said keeping his gun aimed at Steve. “How’d you find out about this place?”

“A friend of ours told us about it.” Tony said.

Rumlow looked confused for a minute before it hit him. “That bitch.”

“Have care how you speak.” Thor growled.

“Adler was right, that brat needed to die.” Rumlow spat. “You should have see the look on her face when the Soldier picked her up by the neck and shot her.”

“Ah!!!” Thor said throwing his hammer as the hydra agents started shooting at them.

All hell broke loose. The alarms started going off and more and more agents started showing up.

“Cap go we’ll hold them off.” Tony said shooting at a group of agents. “Rhodey’s on his way in anyway go!”

Steve nodded and ran off after Rumlow.

We ran down the hallway and after a couple of turns spotted him heading into one of the rooms.

“Soldier!” Rumlow shouted.

“He’s not ready, he’s been out for too long!” Someone warned him.

“I don’t care! The fucking avengers are here!” Rumlow shouted. “Wipe him and get him ready!”

“Ah!” Someone groaned and thrashed.

Steve walked in to Bucky being restrained on a chair and the machine around him starting to move. He quickly threw his shield breaking the restraint on Bucky’s metal arm before catching his shield and blocking a bullet.

“Wha!!!” the scientist screamed as Bucky got out of the chair and threw him into a wall.

“Soldier obey your handler. Attack him, take him out!” Rumlow shouted.

“Bucky, you don’t have to do this.” Steve said.

Bucky’s glare softened before he looked confused.

“Soldier!” Rumlow growled. “Fuck this.” He said before pointing his gun and shooting at Steve who shielded himself with his shield.

Bucky moved and punched Rumlow. He moved to point his gun at him but his metal arm grabbed the gun before using it to hit Rumlow knocking him out.

Steve stood up holding his Shield up ready to block any hits in case Bucky decided to move against him.

Bucky turned to look at him watching him.

“Bucky?” Steve said.

“Who the hell is Bucky?” he said keeping his distance.

Steve noticed and slowly put his Shield down.

“I’m not going to hurt you. Me and my team we’re here for you. To rescue you.” Steve said.

Bucky looked at him skeptically and stayed quiet for a minute, deep in thought. “You’re who the girl was talking about.” Bucky said. “She called me Bucky too.”

“Yeah.” Steve said looking relieved. “Her name’s Hayley. She’s how we found you.”

“I killed her.” Bucky said.

“No you didn’t. She’s still alive.” Steve said before loud sirens started ringing and red lights flashed in the room.

“Cap we have to get out now.” Tony said.

“They activated the self destruct sequence.” Bucky said. “The detonation will make the building collapse on itself.”

“Steve we’ve got to move, do you have Barnes?” Natasha said.

“Yeah, I have him.” Steve said. “Bucky we have to move.”

“I…” he started as he shook his head before falling to his knees onto the floor.

“I’m not leaving without you and I’m not going to let hydra hurt you, not again. I’m with you til’ the end of the line pal.” Steve said offering Bucky his hand.

Bucky looked at his offered hand and then at Steve. Something about those words made him feel something. Something that made his heart skip a beat. He hesitantly reached for Steve’s hand. Steve held his hand tight and helped him up.

“Let’s get out of here.” Steve said picking up his Shield before running out of there.

They didn’t make it far before they felt the building start to shake.

Steve started to run down the hall but Bucky stopped him.

“There’s a service hatch that leads to the sewers it’s faster.” Bucky said leading Steve.

Just as they opened it the building started to collapse. The two super soldiers jumped through and ran down the tunnel as the rubble started falling.

“Cap?” Sam called in through his comm.

“I’m okay. In the sewers. On route to the rendezvous point.” Steve answered. He watched Bucky climb up a ladder and open a manhole to the street.

Steve followed after him and realized they were close to the meeting point. He could see the roof of the building Clint had been stationed at.

“This way.” Steve said.

“That’s the wrong way.” Bucky said.

Steve was confused until he realized that Bucky was probably trying to get as far away from the Hydra base as possible.

“My team is meeting up over there. No one’s going to hurt you.” Steve said giving Bucky a reassuring look.

Bucky didn’t say anything. He just gave him a small almost imperceptible nod.

They quickly walked over to the building and climbed up the fire escape to the roof of the building. Sam was the first one to see them. He nodded to them getting Rhodey and Clint’s attention.

“Guys.” Clint said.

Steve walked over and Bucky stayed behind just staring at everyone.

“Everyone accounted for?” Steve asked.

“Thor and Tony are helping get some people out of the rubble but on our side yes.” Natasha said looking behind Steve at Bucky. “He came willingly?”

“He helped take out Rumlow. Apparently Hayley told him about me.” Steve said. “What’s the status at the Triskelion?”

“Hill and Fury are blocking any access to pierce but with the building collapsing I don’t think it’ll be to long before they realize we’re on to them.

“Guys, we have a problem.” Bruce said.

“What’s wrong?” Rhodey asked.

“Hill just called apparently the Hellicarriers are getting ready to launch.” Bruce said.

“Tony, Thor we have to move.” Steve said.

“What about him?” Natasha asked.

“Give me a minute.” Steve said before walking to Bucky. “Do you know anything about Project insight?”

“Hydra’s grand plan.” Bucky said. “It’s still not finished.”

“Because of the targeting satellites?” Steve said. “They can still do a lot of damage without it. They’re launching now and we need to go stop them. We can use all the help we can get.”

Bucky looked at him and contemplated it for a moment.

“You’re taking down Hydra?” He asked.

“There are some agents in Shield that aren’t Hydra and don’t know about it. If you can help tell us who is, anyone you recognize it could help.” Steve said.

Bucky stayed quiet for a minute before nodding.

“I’ll fight.” Bucky said.

“Let’s go then.” Steve said. Everyone looked at Steve and he nodded. “Wheels up.”

Calliope’s POV-

“Shit, shit shit.” I said as I juggled by books, my bag and the wings and ice cream I had stopped by to pick up. I struggled to get the right keys out to open the door to the building when my grip slipped and I dropped the wings.

“Woah.” Thor said grabbing them.

“Ah, you’re a god. You just saved the wings.” I said.

“Would you like some help?” Thor asked.

“Yes please.” I said. Thor quickly took my bags and lifted them up like they weighed nothing. “Just need to open the door.”

“Nonsense, I’ll help you to your door.” Thor said.

“More like Clint’s door. Monday night football.” I said. “Also Josh and Will’s stay at home date night.”

“You mean…” Thor said.

“Sock on doorknob yes.” I said making him chuckle. “Carl making you work tonight?”

“No I’m actually meeting Jane, we’re having a double date with her friend Darcy.” Thor said as we started going up the stairs. As soon as we reached the top his phone rang. “Oh! That must be her.”

“I can take it from here.” I said. “You don’t want to keep her waiting.”

“Are you sure?” Thor said.

“Positive. Go have fun.” I said.

“Have a good night Callie.” Thor said with a smile.

“You too Thor and thanks.” I said before walking to Clint’s door. I didn’t even bother knocking since neither of us ever locked our doors. I opened the door and called out. “Honey I’m home.” I said continuing our tradition. I jokingly called him a housewife once when he decided to cook a full course meal just because he felt like it on a random Tuesday and I Love Lucy just so happened to be on and it stuck.

Lucky ran over to me and started nuzzling my legs making me laugh.

“How was your day?” Clint said running over to grab a bag.

“Pretty great actually.” I said bending down to pet Lucky.

“Great? Normally all I get is a meh or good.” Clint said walking to the kitchen to put the ice cream away.

I put my bag and books down, kicked off my shoes and slipped off my cardigan.

“I have an interview on Thursday for the Stark internship.” I said.

“That’s awesome.” He said handing me a beer.

“Not a for sure thing but hey I’m being considered.” I said sitting down next to him on the couch.

“I have some news too. I talked to my lawyer and Bobbi took the deal. Divorce should be finalized in a couple of weeks.” Clint said. “And also I got the house I bid on!”

“Double win!” I said high fiving him.

“Now if only Hunter would hurry up and propose.” Clint said.

“Six months, maybe a year if he gets cold feet.” I said changing the channel. It was around half time before Clint mentioned something not having to do with the game.

“Will talk to you about the guy he wants to set you up with?” Clint asked taking a bite of his pizza.

“He told you about Nate?” I asked. “Wait, since when do you two talk about my love life?”

“We don’t really talk about your love life since you don’t have one.” Clint said.

“Ouch.” I said mockingly.

“If it helps he’s also trying to set me up with his barre instructor. Or was it his Yoga instructor?” Clint said. “I know she’s a red head.”

“He’s still trying to talk me into going to a class with him.” I said. “Though maybe I should go, maybe if I give him something he’ll let this whole Nate thing go.”

“Is the guy that bad?” Clint asked.

“I just met him.” I said. “It was a two second introduction and that’s it. Though I will admit he’s very easy on the eyes.”

“Sounds like a good place to start.” Clint said.

“Eh, Step dad number three had a saying. There’s time for everything in life, even to die.” I said.

“That’s really… dark.” He said.

“He was a ball of sunshine.” I said sarcastically. “Point is, I’m in a good place right now. School is great, I’m surrounded by awesome people and I’m in the running for a dream internship that could set me up for an awesome job after graduation.”

“What if he’s the one?” Clint said dramatically as he tried an impression of Will using the same line he had used many time before to talk me into a blind date.

We both stayed quiet before laughing.

“Ah, that’s a good one.” I said. “There’s no such thing as soulmates. It’s a game of compatibility and timing.”

“AHHHH!!!!” Someone screamed.

“Speaking of, think he finally asked him?” Clint asked.

“We’ll find out in Five, Four,” I said before a door opened. “Three, two, one.”

The apartment door opened and Will ran in.

“I’m getting married!!!” Will yelled.

“AHHH!” I screamed jumping off the couch to hug Will as we both kept jumping while holding onto each other.

“I’m getting married!” Will shouted again as Josh came in smiling.

“We’re getting married.” Josh said calmly but with a huge smile on his face.

“Congrats man.” Clint said walking over to hug Josh.

Will let go of me and I went to hug Josh while Clint went to hug Will.

“Guys, I may not believe in soulmates and all that other fate crap but if there ever was a world where it was real, you two would definitely be meant to be.” I said.

“Aw Cal you sap, Save it for your maid of honor toast.” Will said.

“I get to be maid of honor?” I said tearing up.

“Who else?” Will said.

“Aw, I finally get to be maid of honor at a wedding I know won’t end in divorce. I fucking love you guys.’ I said hugging them both.