nextgenerationmarvel | Hanging Out [Open]

Ever since her break-up with Vincent, Roxie Danvers had lain low, staying out of the Avengers' way, keeping her communicator off, and splitting time between her new apartment and her father's remote island when she wasn't out fighting mythical monsters. There were more of those than Roxie had initially thought that there were, and now that she was starting to tap into her Olympian heritage, she was finding new and interesting ways of fighting them.

Today, Roxie found herself at Avengers' Mansion, a place that she had once considered home. She let the familiarity of the place wrap around her like a warm comfortable blanket as she tromped into the kitchen, dressed in dark blue sweats, a cherry red towel slung around her neck. Her long brown hair was pulled up into a ponytail. It was evident to anyone who was around that she had been working out, and that it had been quite the workout. There was a soft, almost imperceptible red glow that had surrounded her body - something that was a distinctly new effect.

She pulled a refreshingly cold bottle of water out of the fridge and then made her way to the common area. She was going to sit down for a few moments and revel in the comfort that the Mansion afforded her.

Then she was going to venture out and find some ass to kick.

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Figured, yes, but she wondered if they knew how she really felt - how everything she thought she knew - who she thought she was - had been called into question.

"Good. We need the quiet," she said, finally. "Though I half-wish that the Kree would try something else." Because, man, she wanted to kick some ass so badly.

Bruce had figured on as much.

"God. I hope not. I'm hoping not to see Hala again as long as I live."

"I wouldn't mind seeing Hala burn," Roxie said in a matter-of-fact, absolutely non-chalant tone.

"Hey," Bruce said. "Not all the Kree are bastards. Just... the military. and the big floaty head guy."

"Well, I'm discounting you, my mom, and I suppose Mar-Vell," Roxie said. "But the others. Well. You were there for whatever it was that went down. Do you really not feel any resentment towards it?"

Then again, Roxie had always seen Bruce as the quintessential good guy - smart, kind, handsome, capable. There was a reason why he was leader of the Avengers. There had been days, long ago, where she might have hoped that things would be different between them.

Those days were long gone.

"Of course I feel resentment for it," Bruce said. "But that's specific individuals. Atlas, Minervia. The Supreme Intelligence. There's a lot of bad Kree out there, sure. But not all of them are, anymore than all Germans were Nazis. They aren't a nice race... but a lot of factors went in to making them that way. If anything, I feel sorry for them."

"Your logic is getting in the way of my emotions here," Roxie said, raising an eyebrow at her old friend. "I wish I could see them the same way you do."

"Trust me," Bruce said, "it's getting in the way of my emotions too. I was angry. Really angry. Confused and scared of what might have happened if the others hadn't shown up or you hadn't gotten us out of there.

Atlas beat me, Roxie. Damn near within an inch of my life. I hadn't taken a beating like that... ever, really."

He shook his head. "I've just got a good shrink, is all. Len's really good at helping a guy get his head on straight."

"I don't know that sitting on a couch talking is what's going to do it for me, Bruce," Roxie said simply. "Everything I thought I knew has been called into question. Do you know what that's like? To look in the mirror and wonder if the punishment you were about to receive was actually that terribly deserved?"

He shook his head. "I don't. The thought's never even crossed my mind."

He hesitated, then pressed on. "I won't try and invalidate your feelings, Roxie. But there's nothing you could have done to deserve what they put us through."

Roxie closed her eyes and leaned back against the couch. "I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, Bruce. Done a lot of things that would hurt people, if they knew what I'd done." She sucked in a deep, ragged breath. "I've taken men just for the sake of being able to take them, regardless of their relationship status. I've...well. You know what they all say about me." She opened her eyes. "More party girl than superhero, looser than a stretched out rubber band, all of that." That faint red glow that surrounded her intensified a little bit. "I was easy pickings and the Kree knew it. Before then, had the situation arisen, under different circumstances, I would have gladly jumped your bones."

Okay, yeah, Bruce was blushing a little at that last part. And he was so very glad that Mary Storm wasn't here, because he was certain he'd be keeping them from collectively destroying the mansion.

"You don't know that they knew that," Bruce said. "All they probably knew was that we both have Kree-dna."

Roxie caught the blush. In another day, in another time, she would have tried to take advantage of that blush.

Not anymore.

"You're probably right," Roxie said, nodding her head. "And in some place where I'm entirely cogent and logical, I'm sure I agree with you. But the emotions - the guilt. That's difficult to ignore."

Bruce crossed the space and put a hand on Roxie's shoulder. "Roxie. We haven't always seen eye to eye., I know that. But whatever else you think of yourself... you have to believe that you wouldn't be here, be a member of this team, if you weren't a good person.

You probably saved my life up there, Roxie. And for that, I can't thank-you enough."

She hesitated a moment before reaching up and placing a gentle hand over Bruce's. She squeezed it and tried to smile up at him. What once used to be a bright, vivacious smile was now a mere shadow of what it once was.

"I'm not evil," Roxie said. "But I've done enough questionably moral things to stain whatever good karma I might have otherwise had. At least, it feels that way."

She squeezed Bruce's hand again. "But I appreciate it, Bruce. What you said. From you, I think, out of everyone, it means a lot. And, look, you don't owe me anything - no thank yous, nothing like that. We're teammates. Friends. Friendly, at the very least," she smiled her newly awkward smile. "It wasn't as though you weren't trying to do the same."

Yeah. Bruce could definitely tell this wasn't the same Roxie from a few months back or even from before the kidnapping. Not the same at all.

He smiled. "Yeah, well, you did the heavy lifting."

"You can thank my dad's side of the family for that," Roxie replied. "Otherwise...I'm not sure what would have happened."

"We'd have figured out something," Bruce said. "Or the others would have gotten there."

In time? he wonders. He shuddered at the thought.

Hanging Out [Open]

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