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It’s been six months since I’ve moved into the Avengers Compound. I work as an archivist for the Avengers, and as such, I have been assigned to live within the compound in order to understand the integrity of the heroes up close while they are available and organize media and reports of each of them in order to establish a living history of the world’s greatest heroes. I make this all sound much more heroic than it is, in reality I lose myself in the library and SHIELD offices in files and photos of people who have come to be friends until FRIDAY announces it’s time for dinner and I make my way to the common space to eat dinner with whoever is available that night.
I didn’t think my history degree would be put into use this way, but paired with my second degree in English literature, I have an appreciation for archival efforts, compiling research, and file organization. I felt fulfilled here, and for the first time in a long time, I have friends again.
I had many good friends as a child, but they all went away when my parents got divorced when I was 12. I became involuntarily distant from my childhood friends. My mother died when I was 13--my father murdered her and took full custody of my brother and I--I endured five years of being locked in my grandmother’s basement where I couldn’t protect my brother, nor myself, from my father’s abuse. We were only allowed to leave to attend school; neither of us able to speak for ourselves as we feared our father finding out and killing us, his too common threat. I lost all of my friends and support and I had to be there for my brother, so I took on a motherly role for him and myself. I graduated in the top 10 of my class, I felt accomplished in my studies as they were the only thing to keep me grounded. The pride was not reciprocated from my father, causing me to be beaten into the ground as my dad had told me I needed to be the best or I was “useless”, a “waste of life”, and “his burden in life” (great guy my dad).
When I turned 18, I was able to escape and I took my brother to the police station where I then reported our father. Our mother’s body was kept in his mother’s house--in the same basement where my brother and I were kept, and they found that to be damning evidence on top of our scars and bruises. Now my father is facing the rest of his life in jail--I haven’t seen him in 7 years, but the traumas of those five adolescent years haunt me.
I was able to ensure my brother’s safety by fighting for our grandparents on my mother’s side to have custody of him. He is four years younger than me but has autism and needed extra support. I escaped to college two states away from them and managed to secure a position with SHIELD after securing two degrees. The agency was able to support me in every capacity, and even helped in providing me a place to live. Stark and I met six months ago and his company was willing to provide money to my brother and you, and on top of that, provided a room in the compound for me to stay--the compound was much better than the bunks in the SHIELD base.
Today was Friday and I was working on finishing Vision’s file for the historical records. I have been working on this file consistently for the last three months, as he held a relatively shorter history than the others.
My life has become a routine after six months of living here, and the glorification of these people has worn off as I have gotten to know them. I have become great friends with Peter Parker, and while he doesn’t officially live here, he is at the compound almost every day. He is always interested in the various pieces that I select to put into the file of a hero, especially interested in the Spider-Man file of course—and at times his knowledge of the superheroes has helped me to better document them or has led me to better sources of information. He was a super fan before becoming a super hero himself, and continues to be a super fan; we’ve had long conversations in my office about his opinion on different changes in a hero’s costume.
I have also developed a friendship with Wanda Maximoff—she has become a gentle presence in my daily work. Often she will be in the same room as me as we both work and it is nice to have someone around even when we aren’t talking. She and I often watch tv and movies together and have declared the Golden Girls as our favorite show, it was the first sitcom we binged together. Wanda likes to order box sets of sitcoms and has them sent to her at the tower; she has almost every one in existence.
As it was Friday, it was the day that Peter was finally moving into the compound. He had graduated high school and was going to be interning under Tony. Peter was going to be arriving around dinner. We were ordering take out from his favorite Japanese restaurant in the city and everyone was planning on being present tonight (a relatively rare occurrence that everyone on the compound comes to dinner). I was the last one to show up, it had taken a while to finish up Vision’s file. As I walked into the kitchen, Wanda grabbed me and pulled me to put her arm around me. She had poured me a cup of sake.
“How has your day been?” I asked.
“It was good, I finally finished Malcolm in the Middle. I didn’t do much else,” she sounded tired, “what did you do?”
“I actually worked on finishing Vision’s file, you can look at it if you’d want to.” I wasn’t sure what to say, Vision was still gone after Thanos had taken his life force--the Mind stone--but with the infinity stones back in the Avengers’ possession they were attempting to stabilize all of the stones and bring him back. Wanda was worried about Vision, she loved him so deeply from the way she talks about him.
“Hm, I might have to,” she had a distant look in her eye. I felt bad now, bringing up Vision. Luckily everyone was sitting down to eat, and I could move on from the conversation. I sat down in between Wanda and Loki. Loki was another person here that I had gotten along with well.
My first day here I was unpacking in my room and he walked thinking it was Thor’s room somehow--he had been in the form of a snake, trying to trick his brother but had only succeeded in scaring the shit out of me. He apologized profusely after immediately shifting back into his human form. Once the shock had worn away, I began to laugh and we talked for a while that afternoon and he helped me to unpack. I was surprised by their kindness as prior to meeting him, I had heard horror stories. He did mention it being a way to apologize further but made me swear I would never tell the others of his help--so who knows, maybe he’s been manipulating me into friendship. I don’t care, I like his company and have noticed how the others keep their distance--except Thor, of course--and I feel Loki needs a friend more than anything.
I prefer to sit next to these two when I can during meals as they were the most interesting to talk to and we could be distracted from Tony and Steve’s bickering and Thor’s gross eating habits. Peter was sitting by Tony and Natasha smiling and speaking exuberantly.
“You know, I always appreciate you sitting next to me at dinner, Loki, most of the others are barbarians when we eat together.”
“Don’t worry, I feel the same. I’ve eaten with my brother enough to lose my appetite entirely. Sitting next to you is refreshing.” We share a laugh then he asks, “But do tell me, what is this Spider-ling’s status?”
He turned so serious, like I was briefing him on an enemy, it made me smile: “You do know I’m a historian not an intel agent right--but I can tell you some basics: he has just graduated high school and is moving into the compound as Stark’s intern while also training to continue fighting with the Avengers.”
“I realize that--we’ve been told. I want to know what your personal opinion is of the child.”
“You want my opinion? I didn’t realize you thought so highly of me.”
“I trust your judgement of individuals based on how I’ve seen you behave, and you think I am a worthy friend, so obviously you have impeccable taste.” I rolled my eyes at him and bump their shoulder with my own: “I think he’s a good kid and needs a family like this one, and Stark is good to him--he needs that too. He’s always really sincere when he comes to my office--actually, he’s been asking to see your file lately, I think he would idolize you Loki--just as he does everyone else at this table.” That must have been a sufficient response as Loki merely looked at Peter and turned to eat.