Avengers - Lost Souls 2.0 - ABANDONED

J.J hadn't thought of Steve or Slate for that matter. She did just say she was going to give being a little sister a chance. That would basically be breaking his word, and B.B always said that promises were meant to be kept. He would also probably try to transfer ownership...no not ownership...care taking to Steve. Steve would take it on, because what else was there? She would be the true, last connection he'd have to B.B. He would want all the stories, hunger for it.

Peitro and Vision, she wasn't sure. Vision probably would move on. Pietro...she took a breath in and out with a sigh. "I did forget Steve." She admitted. "B.B would want me to stay so Steve has someone." She rocked herself from side to side slowly, gently like a sway as she thought over what Sam was saying. "When Robbie died I felt really sad. My heart broke. I cried for days." She stopped swaying. "I didn't think anyone would cry for me." She felt her throat constrict.

"Yes, Quick is also the type to get attached to people easy, and he would cry for you," Sam smiled softly, "Bucky and everyone would want you to live. Don't you want to honor that?"

J.J reached out, hesitated before patting Sam on the shoulder twice. "Thank you. There's many things I haven't done yet. I forgot why Robbie died. I forgot why B.B's running away. It's easy to forget when you're learning human things." She smiled as she brought her hand back. "I also forgot that Tony still has my radio box. I should get my radio box back, but I don't need it. He says I don't need it anyway. Tony's a bit of a brat. I also want to make a hoverboard. I have an idea for design. I can't do that dead. I forget these things." At this she sighed. "And I'm bound to forget again. Humans forget morality..." At that she looked a little puzzled. "Do animals know about morality? I don't think I ever asked. I don't think I ever know. I could look it up later, but...I cried when they died. I don't think I want to go down that road right now. Sorry."

"No, animals don't know about morality," Same eyes lit up like a lightbulb went off in his head, "You design technological stuff? That's fantastic!" He stood up, "I want to see it so let's go brother Tony together!"

J.J grinned happily as she jumped off of the chair and started chattering about what her radio box could and couldn't do as the headed to the elevator.
~+~
Tony was working on a glove, inserting a few wires into it for Kerica. Natasha wanted her to learn how to use the Widow's Bite, which was a multitude of stun guns all at once with a high voltage of electricity. Only problem was that Natasha could handle the weight on her wrist and Kerica couldn't all that well even if the surgery went well.

He heard the doors open and he looked up and grinned. "Hey Pep. You know, I was just thinking about you and I was wondering when you were going to come and see me."

"Well, I can't stay on vacation too long or you'll fall apart without me," Pepper smirked at Tony and sauntered over, peering over his shoulder, assessed what he was working on, and then proceeded to glance around his desk, "If I told you this was a mess you'd just say its an organized one, so...instead, do tell me what this is?" She picked up an object that had appeared out of place. "A radio? Doesn't look like you made it. Not fancy enough."

"Nah, Tweddle-dee who follows Tweddle-Dumb around did." At Pepper's glare he held his hands up. "She doesn't seem to mind it all that much. That little thing was able to break in radio frequencies. I upgraded it so she can scramble them, as well as connect and be able to communicate in case she needs to. The paint job was a toss up between the American Flag and the Communist Red Star, and I decided to go with the good ol' American Pie. I'm sure Steve will be pleased to know that his sense of righteousness and patriotism will be forever carried around. And this mess is real organized Pep."

"Sure it is. The flag was a note tactical choice," Pepper nodded. The door opened as she was setting it down and she blinked, Sam, hello. Who is your friend?"

"This is J.J. you might've heard of her," Sam grinned, "She was telling me about her 'radio box' and I wanted to see it so here I am."

"Well," Pepper held it out to him, "Here you go."

"Well ain't that nifty? I cam tell you messed with it, Tony, but it's not too hard to see what it was like beforehand," Sam said as he took it in his hands and turned it this way and that, before turning to J.J. "What do you think of the changes he made?"

“What’s with the red white and blue?” J.J asked as she took the radio from Sam’s hands and stared at it. “Why is there a white star? What are you doing to my radio?!” She glared heatedly at Tony.

“Easy there,” Tony smirked. “I decided to give you a piece of home and Steve while I was at it. I could have went with a red star, but I was feeling a sense of righteousness.”

“More like ego.” J.J looked down at her radio and sighed. “It’s not too bad. I can paint over it.” She touched the radio gingerly.

“Do you want me tell you what it does?” Tony asked, feeling like he was left hanging. “And I did an awesome paint job.”

“No. I wanna play with it.” J.J smiled gently as she looked over at Tony. “Thank you for fixing it for me. It looks nicer than what I did. The paint job’s a little too…American for my taste.”

“I did ten times better.” Tony pointed out. “I knew you were a Commie.”

“No. I’m a Socialist.” J.J replied simply. “I learned that from the computer.”

“Aren’t you a bright light bulb.”

“I’m a bright diamond thank you.” J.J retorted.

"You're adorable," Pepper was highly amused, "So you made the basic idea all by yourself. That's pretty impressive," sh complimented, "So, how about we compromise, kiddos, and just use the Russian flag? Can you agree to that? It's from my understanding you're with the Winter Soldier, and doesn't he view himself as more Russian these days?"

"It's okay Miss." J.J immediately backed away, nearly hiding behind Sam. This was a new person and the more she read her mind, the more she realized that Pepper was a civilian. Civilians were neither enemy or friend. They were supposed to be treated with utmost respect and politeness. Bucky taught her that. "I can paint. I like designing things. I was just giving him a hard time."

"Haha, if you say so. J.J. was it?" Pepper bent down a bit with her hands on her knees and her smile was disarming, holding her hand out, "I'm Pepper Potts, Tony's Secretary, among many other things that I am."

"Girlfriend." Tony supplied. "C.E.O technically but she likes to downgrade herself."

"Hello." J.J said shyly as she took Pepper's hand. She gave the same firm handshake she gave Pietro, and was surprised that Pepper responded in kind. She was used to people giving very loose handshakes when they were women. Her eyes darted to Tony and then back to Pepper. Girlfriend?

"You're real pretty." She smiled at Pepper kindly.

"Oh, why thank you!" Pepper beamed at her, "You are, too, though when was the last time you had a haircut? One that didn't involve sheep sheers?" she added as she twirled a strand of J.J's hair in her finger.

“Ummm….” J.J looked a little surprised. “A long time ago? My hair was growing out back to black.”

That confused Pepper, but she hummed and shrugged it off, "Well, we can discuss getting you a haircut another time, hmm? I think I might have another project for you, if you're up for some fiddling and tweeking!" she was excited, "I bought it a long time ago but haven't gotten around to actually doing anything with it myself. What do you say?"

“I don’t mind at all.” J.J looked positively excited. “What do you need me to fix? You don’t have it with you. Is it in your office? Is it huge? What does it involve? I can go with you if you need me right now. Oh…is your office in the Tower? I can’t leave…”

"We're not keeping you prisoner here. Whose teaching you this?" Tony frowned. "I'm not."

Sam was grinning like a fool and he slipped around the excited women, going over to Tony, "It's not a prisoner thing, she is nervous around people, big crowds. Steve told me they went to the flowershop before, so she knows she can leave, but it was only for a short time," he explained.

“Remind me to tell Steve to take Missile and Sparks over there out for walks. They’re breaking my heart and I didn’t know I had one.” Tony muttered to Sam. “Hair cuts and possibly clothes. I don’t know how much they carry in that duffle and back pack. Not a lot.”

"Oh, that's good, I'd be having some words with some people if you were being kept here against your will," Pepper huffed, hands on her hips, and then placed her hand on J.J's shoulder, "It's a small project, but it'll give you something to do. It's not in my office, but it's in my room. C'mon, I'll show you," she waved at Tony, "I'll bring you some food later, I am /sure/ you haven't eaten in hours. You do it every time. How have you not starved so far? Vision taking care of you like I asked?"

"Yes dear to all of the above. Besides the food. The food...we should do a take out. Gather the team around, have a good bonding moment." Tony said thoughtfully. "Though that could be a dinner idea rather than a lunch thing. Lunch on the other hand sounds wonderful with you, Pep."

"His brain is making my head hurt." J.J rubbed her forehead. "You talk a lot and your head is spinny."

"He does that," Pepper agreed, "Something a little nicer than burgers, but once I show J.J. my project I'll come back and you can take me wherever you want. Dinner with the group sounds like a great idea as well."

"Agreed." Tony watched the girls leave before turning to Sam. "Was that a Wanda moment?"

"Yes. It looks like her mind reading thing is more a slip-up thing. I'll have to ask Steve about it and see who else knows. I told her I didn't like my head being read, found it rude, and she was really apologetic and didn't respond to my thoughts again. She's respective," Sam shrugged.

"She was a prisoner before." Tony mused. "She certainly acts like it. If she can't keep up with my mind, then I'm not going to bother with the whole "privacy" issue. It's not like I have a filter to begin with. But I'm serious about that mall idea. Plant that seed in Steve's mind. I'm sure you'd say it's good therapy."

Sam snorted, "You don't throw someone who doesn't like crowds in a mall, Stark," he rolled his eyes, "Steve did take /Missile/ out for a run with me this morning, though, so that's something. You better secure that dinner place real good or disable security so no one recognizes Buck. Stick with Sparks for J.J. I like that one," he added, "You should supply her with the ability to fiddle with more gadgets, by the way. Throw her some of your scraps and see what she does with it. I think that'll help her a /lot/ more than going to the mall."

"Online clothes shopping it is." Tony nodded. "I can't blame them for hating people. And scraps? You want me to give Sparks, that is a good name, scraps? Wilson, what kind of man do you take me for? She's been working with scraps. The radio was nothing /but/ scraps. Those wires? Probably been used more times than I can count. No. there's no scraps for her in my lab. I'll test her out with something a lot better than that. And what kind of man do you take me for about the damn security?"

"Just being cautious, looking out for my buddy's buddy," Sam held his hands up defensively, "Well, I'm done being in these running clothes. I'm going home to shower and eat and then I gotta go to my PTSD meeting this afternoon. I'll be seeing you," he gave a two-fingered salute and headed out of the lab.

~*~

"I've seen these dolls around...some buy them and paint them, others just like to play dressup for them, make clothes, all that sort of thing. I bought this one but it was already damaged and I had wanted to repair it. Unfortunately, life among the Avengers is never dull, so I was lucky to even have that quiet two-week vacation. So, don't be too surprised by what I said about Tony not starving. I bet he hasn't eaten properly this whole time, I'll have to check and see if he lost weight." She really was worried about Tony. She didn't like leaving him like that, but after the last roller-coaster she had really needed time away.

Picking the box down from a shelf, she handed it to J.J. "It should have everything you need, including the parts I bought to fix it with. Just let me know if you need any tools."

(ok sorry I chickened out for the description ^^())

J.J gently took the box and placed it down and peered inside. Her eyes widened in a soft gasp as she looked. Inside was a doll who only had a wig and purple eyes. The eyes were sculpted to be wide and innocent looking with a body of a teenager. The face make up was gorgeous, giving off a childlike expression. She carefully took the doll out, noting that the strings of the joints needed to be replaced and it was missing a foot, an arm, and a hand. Pepper had the parts, and the strings to fix. "It'll take a bit, but I can fix this." She said, gently brushing the doll's wig. It was soft, like fur. "I'll toss in a cleaning too." She said as she noticed a smudge mark on it's back. She placed the doll back into the box carefully and closed it. "Very pretty Miss." She smiled at Pepper. "I don't think it'll take me forever to repair. A day or two at most possibly. If unlucky then a week. But nothing longer than that."

"You take as much time as you need," Pepper assured, "You don't have to call me Miss, it makes me feel old," she giggled, "Just Pepper, dear. I look forward to seeing her all fixed up," she nodded to the box, "Anyway, I should get freshened up and changed before I see Tony. I'm sure he's missed me," she smiled a little dreamily and headed for the bathroom, leaving J.J. to do as she pleased.

~*~

It was a few minutes later when Wanda crossed Jayden in the elevator and she jumped a bit. Of everyone there, she hadn't had the chance to speak with her yet, "Hello," she greeted and then noticed the box, "What do you have?"

(No, not playing Wanda just giving you the opening to do an all you )

"Miss Pepper gave me this to fix." J.J said as she held out the box and tipped it carefully so Wanda could see what was inside. "It's a BJD. They're expensive, but this was a second hand. It's a bit dirty and a lot of it is wrong. Bad strings. Joints. Shouldn't take me long to repair. A whole day, possible a few hours. If bad luck hits, then it may take a week."

"Pepper showed that to me when she first got it! I had some ideas for clothes, and looked at wigs for it, as well," Wanda's eyes lit up a bit, "Would you mind if I helped you?" she wiggled her fingers and her red magic twirled around them, "I can hold things in place while you work around it?"

J.J smiled brightly. "I would love that. I don't think Miss Pepper would mind if we gave it some clothes. I don't think it looks all that pretty being bare. Where do you wanna work? Your place? Mine? We don't have a lot, but we have a good window."

"Let's go to your room," Wanda nodded, grinning brightly. She hit the number for it, since the elevator had just been going up and down randomly for some time. Once they reached their destination, she was giddy, "Vision and my neica, my brother, won't stop talking about you. You fascinate zem both," she paused, her accent momentarily breaking through, but she cleared her throat, "Vision told me you were interested to see if you could read me? I am sure it would interest you to know that I cannot read you."

J.J blinked a few times and realized that just like Slate, Wanda was silent. She hadn't realized that she couldn't read her thoughts. "I can't either." She said after a moment of trying. "You're like Slate. You're silent. Pietro is like radio static. So he has some noise to him." The elevator doors opened and the room that they walked into was pristine clean. Military-like. It didn't look neither lived in, or touched. J.J happily went to her small room that was across from Bucky's. Some nights, when nights were bad, they slept in the same room, but they usually when they had the offer, they got their own rooms. Other times, they worked with what they got. "Here." She opened her room and it had a little more sense of living-in. The blankets were haparzardlessly all over the place on her bed, the sheets unmade. Her backpack in the corner, clothes that were dirty were piled next to her bag so she could wash them in the bathtub or wherever when she could. "Do you want something to drink?" She always heard this phrase and it made her feel happy to be able to offer something like that too.

"I will just take a water," Wanda nodded, "Mr. Stark joked once that my brother was ADHD? Meaning he is easily distracted and very hyper," she giggled as she sat down, "Since I can read his thoughts, being his twin, I know how fast it is. Yet, there are times..." her voice became quieter, "Late at night, when he wakes from his nightmares...it does scare me, because he purposefully tries to blank his mind, not wanting to think about it, to think about anything that would bring it back up. Anything he thinks of is slow and deliberate to calm himself. If it is storming, he likes to get as close to the window as he can to watch it, and to feel the glass shake when the thunder roars. If it is simply raining he will go out in one of the verandas under the overhang and stay out there, sometimes for hours, until it stops or he gets bored."

Wanda tilted her head at J.J. "Perhaps in these moments you might be able to read him. Only time would tell. Something to think about, no?"

J.J hummed in thought before she left the bedroom to get Wanda her water. Her mind went in circles about Pietro. She came back with the water and gave it to Wanda, sitting down on the bed. She thought about what she wanted to say. "I don't know." She said after a moment, honestly. "If his thoughts slow down to mean something bad, then I'd rather keep the radio. Why does he have nightmares?" She looked at Wanda curiously. "Is it because of the Ultron-man?"

"No...well...a bit," Wanda sighed deeply, "My brother and I were experimented on in a similar way to Buck. That is how we have our powers," she explained slowly, "I have nightmares about it, too. We were both kept in small boxes and away from each other. We heard each other's screams, and the only comfort we had was our beds were against the same wall."

It broke J.J's heart and she folded her legs up so that she could rest her chin on her knees. She remembered those kinds of walls. Small boxes. She didn't want them to know what that felt like. She didn't want them to feel that type of torture. "Were you in fights?" She asked, wondering if the people that tortured them, experimented on them, ever tossed them in a ring.

"That...is a strange one," Wanda said slowly, taking a long drink of her water, "We were never put in a fighting cage, but in a metal room with one or multiple opponents to to test our abilities. I don't believe our fights were the same as yours, but similar enough."

J.J felt tears prick at her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. She hadn't wanted that to happen to anyone. Not to Pietro or Wanda. She quickly gave the witch a hug, holding back her anguish. She might talk to Bucky about everything everyone was saying. He was good at figuring out what to do. She knew that hugs were good, especially when she couldn't think of something to say.

"I think deep down, Pietro understands you, which is why he became so attached to you," Wanda held her back tightly, "I understand you, too. That is a hard situation, especially for those of us who were young. I cannot imagine what it is like for a full adult who is already his own person for it to be stripped away. At least as a child you are more easily molded, but at the same time, it is harder to break out of it. Buck adapts quite easily. I know I still have issues with the world I live in now."

J.J carefully pulled away from Wanda, tears still streaming down her face. She wasn't certain, but... "Do you think there's something wrong with me too?" She asked, her voice breaking. "Sam mentioned it. Vision mentioned it. Slate did too, though he was happy about it."