Moving In (Roxie)

[the_next_avenger]

The night after their discussion, Joe followed Roxie's instructions to get into the building and headed upstairs to the apartment to check it out. He politely declined the doorman's offer of assistance as he didn't want to frighten the poor guy with the weight of his bags or their contents. Between all the clothing and weapons, Joe knew Uncomfortable Questions might be asked so he avoid the whole situation by carrying his own things.

 

Once he got through the door, Joe turned on some lights and checked the place out. Roxie had really good taste; the place was furnished much better than the places he'd been in the last few years. He didn't even see any rats scurrying once the lights were on. The cleanliness of the place made him realize just what kind of dumps he'd been inflicting on himself since he left Colorado Springs.

He sought the nearest empty bedroom and found it, sitting his bags down and taking off his coat.  He was about to figure out what he'd sleep on when he remembered something about a rooftop garden. Now, he had to see it.

He found the access to the rooftop and stepped out, looking around at the place. Whatever he'd expected this place to be, this was so much more. Joe simply walked around a bit, getting an idea of the space. He could put a heavy bag right over there, in the corner, if Roxie didn't mind...

for a moment, Joe let all of his worries and trepidations about the world fall away and he stood near the edge of the building with his head titled back, eyes closed and just enjoyed the sounds of New York by night.

Comments

[avengingwarbird]

Roxie reacted to Joe's words, unused to feeling this kind of helpless. She gently slid the knife out of Anton's back, her movements sure, firm. She'd stabbed enough things to know how to unstab something.

She placed a gentle amount of pressure (for her) on Anton's wound and frowned after Joe as he ran out of their home.

She'd seen the expression on his face when he'd seen the knife Roxie had pulled out, the flash of recognition on his face.

It meant one of two things, Roxie was sure. Someone connected to Melissa's family, or Tommy.

[the_next_avenger]

Joe, indeed, knew where the knife came from. He also knew that said knife could not be here unless someone was willing to open a coffin to get it.

It was a message, all right.

I'm going to take everyone you love from you, Rogers. And then I'm going to kill you. It may not be tomorrow or next month...but someday, your life is going to come crashing down around you. And I want you to remember what you did to her when it does.

He ran down the stairwell and into the lobby, sprinting for the front door. He saw a male figure get into the passenger side of an old Chevy Cavalier as the car screeched to life. Going for his bike would take too long, so Joe ran after them.

The driver must not have expected that or expected Joe to keep so close after just a few seconds. The car sped up and Joe stopped, pulling his sidearm from inside his coat. He fired three shots at the car as it sped away, hitting the trunk, the back window twice.

The car swerved wildly about one-hundred yards away and slammed through the glass of a jewelry store. Joe ran toward the car as the second occupant, the one who'd run to the car, crawled out and fell on the concrete. He saw Joe coming and reached toward his pocket for a weapon, but was met with a swift kick to the face from Joe.

Nomad reached down and pulled the guy from the floor by his collar and slammed him against the car.

"Who sent you?"

"I ain't tellin' you nothin', white boy. Pack sand." the gang-banger said.

Joe pulled his gun and placed it to the man's temple.

"Talk or I end you." he demanded.

[avengingwarbird]

The paramedics and cops were at the scene in moments. Roxie could have alerted the Avengers, but she didn't want to do that unless this thing took a turn where it concerned the latest generation of Earth's Mightiest.

As soon as she was able, Roxie was down there, by Joe's side...watching the scene unfold.

She froze. This, whatever this was, it wasn't her fight. She wasn't about to get involved. Unless she absolutely had to.

[the_next_avenger]

The thug's eyes went wide and wild as he felt Nomad press the gun to his temple. This crazy white boy couldn't be serious. The guy who hired him said he didn't have the guts to kill anyone.

"You won't do it. You're a hero." the thug said with a note of pride.

Click.

Joe remembered seeing Tommy pull this trick in a bar fight in Rolla, Missouri once. He thought his friends was crazy enough to actually pull the trigger.

So did the other guys. They gave up.

"You're just one gang-banger. I could send you to hell and sleep like a baby tonight. Who. Sent. You?" Joe snarled. He didn't yet realize that Roxie was next to him but the thug did, and he looked at Roxie with terror in his eyes.

"Help me! He's crazy!" the guy begged Roxie.

"WHO SENT YOU?!" Joe snarled, putting the barrel of the gun against the man's eye.

"He said his name was--urk!"

The thugs words were cut off as he began choking on something. His body convulsed and he went limp in Joe's arms, blood pouring from his eyes, nose and mouth.

"What the hell...?" Joe said as lowered the guy to the ground and checked his pulse. Then he cursed.

The man was dead. Only now did Joe notice Roxie.

"How much of that did you see?" he asked her.

[avengingwarbird]

"Your threatening him to talk, or you'll end him," Roxie said. She knelt down next to the man, checking his pulse as well. Not because she didn't trust Joe's judgement, but because it was habit for her to do so. "This involves you, doesn't it? And Melissa? Or Tommy?" She stood up and crossed her arms, looking at Joe expectantly. There was no anger in her eyes, only questions that she wanted answers to - mostly, was he alright? She gave voice to that specific question only a second later and watched, out of the corner of her eyes, as the paramedics wheeled Anton out. The police would have questions, she knew.

The paparazzi behind her would want answers.

[the_next_avenger]

Well, she'd heard everything. That wasn't going to play well with an Avenger. He was pretty sure they wouldn't understand; they didn't deal with people like this on regular basis, so how could they?

Roxie would find that the man was indeed dead.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I don't know what it involves just yet but I've got a couple of guesses. Look, can we not do this here? Too many people and I don't really like audiences. Not much for exhibition." he said, nodding to the paparazzi who were snapping their pictures.

"Roxie, is this your new boyfriend? Sir, what's your name?" one asked.

"Wait, isn't that Sam Rogers?" another asked.

Joe put his gun away and started walking back to the brownstone. The cops would want to know what's going on and he wanted to ditch the reporters and their questions.

And a small part of him that he would not acknowledge wanted Roxanne to himself again.

[avengingwarbird]

Roxie gave one of those glares to the paparazzi before running back after Joe. She reached out and took his hand in hers, squeezing it warmly.

Sure, she was an Avenger. But she was also a friend. She understood what Joe was going through, and she wanted him to know that he wasn't alone.

"Whenever you're ready to talk, I'm ready to listen."

[the_next_avenger]

The photographers made sure to get a photo of the pair holding hands and Joe didn't pull away from her. He was starting to put together a few things in his head and the picture didn't make him feel good.

"That guy stabbed Anton because of me." Joe said as they got back inside the building. He led her back up the stairs to their penthouse.

"That knife. Is it still here?" he asked.

[avengingwarbird]

"I used my Avengers clearance to keep a hold of the knife," Roxie said. "Told them I wanted to look into that personally. They still might have questions for us - they have reports to fill out and all of that, after all, but I didn't want them too involved. Not until I knew where you wanted to go with this." She squeezed his hand again. "I'm behind you on this. Whatever you need."

[the_next_avenger]

"Okay, thank you." he said, glad for Roxie's presence right now. Joe didn't know what he would do if Roxie wasn't here with him right now. Those guys might have gotten him or...they might have attacked her here.

"They told to deliver their message and run. I think that knife is mine. Melissa gave it to me when we were together. Said it was a ritual knife from another civilization. The day they buried her, I put the knife into her coffin. If it's the same one...some bastard dug her up and violated her resting place." Joe said quietly.

"And if they did that, then I need to talk to her brother. Once I check out the knife, you can give it to the cops. I'll speak to whoever I have to speak to." he said.

He always knew that there was a chance of this happening but why now?

He turned to Roxie to look her in the eyes.

"This was not supposed to happen. I can leave if you want. You offered me a place to stay but this wasn't part of it. Say the word and I'll go. I don't want you getting hurt because of me." he said.

He was almost hoping she would tell him to leave because he didn't want her getting hurt because she took him in.

[avengingwarbird]

Roxie reached up and gently cupped the right side of his face with her hand. She offered him a sad, but hopefully reassuring smile, and gently shook her head. "You do what you need to do, Joe Rogers. If you want me there with you, I'm more than happy to be your back-up, but if this is something you absolutely need to do on your own, well, I understand that too." And then, tentatively, she reached up and kissed him on his left cheek. "But you're not moving out, and I won't ask that of you."

[the_next_avenger]

Joe didn't move when Roxie kissed him on the cheek. It would have been very easy to make that small sign of affection into something more, but he couldn't do that. Even so, Joe's arms wrapped around Roxie's waist and held her close to him for a moment after she kissed him.

There were a million things he could have asked in that moment, so many of them able to change the dynamic between them forever. But before he could move forward, Joe had to know that his past was behind him.

It was the only way to be fair to her.

"Roxanne...will you be here when I get back?" he asked, looking down at her.

[avengingwarbird]

"If you mean here, as in exactly in this spot, then I probably won't be," she said wryly. Her face softened then, and she nodded as she reached for his hands. She brought them up to her face and gently kissed his knuckles, partially for affection, partially to let him know, again, that she was there for him - strength to draw on, if he needed it.

She was certain he wouldn't.

"I'm not going anywhere, no."

[the_next_avenger]

Joe needed a rock and Roxanne was offering to be one for him. That made him feel better, like he would come out of the other side of this in good shape. Her kisses on his knuckles made him feel better and he lifted and kissed her hand in turn.

"Good. When I get back, we need to talk." he said, giving her a wry grin of his own.

"Now, I should get in touch with SHIELD. They might be the only ones who can get me the info I need." he said, reluctantly letting Roxie go.

[avengingwarbird]

She watched him go, longing already starting to build up within her. But, he had things he needed to take care of first, and so did she. When all of that was said and done, maybe they could figure out everything else that had happened here.

After a beat, she turned away to deal with the police and the rest of the mess that had put a damper on what had otherwise been a pretty great, incredibly surprising evening.