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THE FOURTH
when will you learn that your actions have consequences?
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THE CRACKLING OF the vegetables in the pan were almost overpowering the record being played in the next room. Diana, who was in the middle of cutting up a chicken breast, jumped at the sound of Steve clearing his throat. The knife clattered on the counter next to her cutting board as she turned around, looking to face Steve.

She opened her mouth to say something when she saw the file in his hand.

"Where did you get that?" She asked, frustration easily turned into anger at the realization of Steve going through her things.

"Could ask you the same thing," Steve spoke nonchalantly, "the terms of your mission were simple."

"I was going to turn it in to Fury when I was finished reading it," Diana sighed as she turned back to her chicken, "I still have a hard time trusting them after what Tony showed me with Phase Two, reading the file that they didn't want was me making sure I'm not working for something corrupt."

"Corrupt?" Steve questioned, "how are they supposed to trust you to go on missions? To be an avenger? If you steal information behind their back?"

"Yeah Steve! Corrupt! I know this idea of it is foreign to you since you're still new to this century, but governments are easily corruptible, hell, more than half the American population would call the government corrupt now!" Diana fired back, Steve seemed to be shocked at her outburst, "I wasn't stealing shit behind their back, they didn't want the file in the first place."

Steve was quiet after that, Diana had finished chopping up her chicken. After adding another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan she put the chicken in after, dousing it heavily with seasonings like the ones she used when she cooked for the Anderson's.

She heard him set the file on the shelf behind her that happened to be next to him. He sighed as he stepped over to the space next to her, helping her clean up a bit so she could prepare the next part of her dish.

"I get it, I do," he began, turning his back to her as she started the dishes, "a part of this is also me trying to see if I can trust you."

"Steve you have accidentally walked in on me using the bathroom five times in the past six months," Diana cracked a smile, "if you don't trust me then it's hard for me to not trust you, especially since you've seen it all now."

Steve's shoulders had a bounce with his chuckle's. The sink stopped running as he turned around with a half grin on his face.

"I guess I should trust you huh," Steve spoke, it seemed to Diana that he was more so pondering the idea.

"Tell you what, you can join me in hand-delivering the file to Fury and let me explain myself to him, and after, if I'm still taking assignments, I'll ask if you can join me," Diana offered, crossing her arms as the food crackled next to her, "deal?"

Steve glanced at the file a couple feet away, his smile had dropped as he took her offer seriously. He looked back at her.

"Deal." He said firmly with a nod.

"Okay, now get out of my kitchen and turn that record player up, I got you some nineties vinyls I want you to check out."

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THE FIFTH
Happy Crimus.....It's crismun....Merry crisis. Merry Chrysler.
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THE FROSTY AIR seemed to have a particular sting against Diana's face as she wrapped her coat around her tighter, the cold still finding its way through her many layers. She was almost home but she still had a few stops to make on her way home. Christmas was in two weeks and instead of getting Steve and Natasha gifts at an appropriate time, she was now hurrying into different stores, desperately trying to find extra things to go with the gifts she got.

It was then that she had rushed into the perfect shop for Steve, a faint smell of cinnamon hit Diana's nose as it began to thaw out and sense things. She was still standing in front of the door in awe of some of the Christmas themed things. It wasn't like Santa and his elves took turns puking on things in the store, in fact, Diana could consider this a fall/store.

She was immediately drawn to the large knit sweaters and coats, there was definitely something that Steve would get here, she just had to try and imagine him in every sweater she saw and try to picture if he would be happy with or not.

Eventually, Diana found a sweater for Steve, but on her way to the register, a brown, leather jacket stopped her cold in her tracks. That was exactly the jacket that Natasha had been talking about wanting just a little over month ago when they caught themselves in a long conversation about their suits for work.

Diana made a bee line for the jacket and checked the size, grateful that her and Natasha were the same size. It made checking everything easier since the jacket was the perfect fit. The woman pulled the jacket off the rack with the biggest grin on her face. These surely were the perfect gifts for her friends.

She carried that sentiment with her as she made her way to check out and back onto the streets, hurriedly trying to get herself home.

The man that was sitting at the bus stop had a different idea. He was obviously drunk and it wasn't just the drink he had in hand that showed it. His words were slurred as he talked to himself, Diana cringed at sight, she didn't know how he could be out in the cold the way he was but she figured that what he was drinking helped him forget.

Diana's nerves made her heart rate pick up as she drew closer, moving to the far side of the sidewalk. It didn't matter to the man because the second she was in his eyesight, all bets were off. He didn't immediately say anything to her, she had managed to get a few feet away from the bench before she heard two sets of snow crunching footsteps. Diana discreetly looked over her shoulder and saw him walking behind her. She turned a corner, she was almost at her apartment.

Diana didn't want to confront him in the chance she was wrong about her assumption. And if she was right, she'd have to defend herself, and since there aren't many witnesses, if someone saw an avenger beating up a drunk man, things wouldn't look good for her publicly. She turned around another corner, almost to the door. Diana checked again to see he was still there, and there was a large group of people around her age across the narrow street. This was her chance.

She spun around, facing the man.

"Are you seriously following me?" Diana yelled, the man widened his eyes, "do you not know who I am?"

Diana felt a twinge of cringe at her words but she hoped that he would and would realize to back off. The man didn't show shock or remorse, he only smirked a smug grin, disgust twisted in Diana's gut at the sight.

"I know exactly who you are, Diana, I saw you on the TV, you're very pretty," He made another step to her and she stepped back.

"Then you'll know that you better fuck off before I make you," Diana warned, glancing at the door to her building. She hoped that Steve didn't come out for the drunk man's sake, even if he was a creep.

The group of people across the street went silent, she noticed a couple pulled out their phones. Perfect, if this man laid a finger on her she now had proof of it being self defense. Diana looked back at the man who was leaning to his left a bit towards the buildings, he was drunk off his ass.

He stepped toward her again and she stepped back again, keeping the distance. This time, she stuck her free hand in her leather jacket pocket, grabbing a hold of a smooth rock she found years back and grew attached to.

"This is your final warning to leave me the fuck alone," Diana spoke loudly and clearly despite the cold air tightening the inside of her throat a bit, "New York was only a presentation and you don't want to see it up close."

The man only mockingly laughed at her and lunged. Diana tossed her gift bags to the steps, thankful that they had a plastic barrier protecting them from the snow. At the same time of doing that, she pulled her rock out of her pocket and quickly turned it into her chitauri spear like the one she has upstairs. As she stumbled past her, she swung her spear, using the flat side to push his momentum to the ground.

He got a faceful of dirty snow and concrete, Diana hoped the impact and the cold would sober him up a bit and make him realize his mistake but when he stood up and turned around, he only showed the want of round two. Diana rolled her eyes and got into a fighting stance. She's learned a bit from her fight club, and now that she's worked for SHIELD for almost two years, she has professional training. This man didn't stand a chance even if he was sober.

He charged at her again and she pushed her left foot back holding her spear horizontally in both hands. He tried grabbing at her but she spun the spear, knocking his hands out of the way and also smacking him in the head. He stumbled to the side and Diana used his disorientation against him. She turned the spear into a staff and swung it around her body, as she spun with her spear, she knocked him to the ground again after the staff collided with his back.

He fell face first once more, and instead of giving him another chance to get up, she rushed over, pressing her knee into the center of his back where it wouldn't affect his lungs. She turned the staff into a pair of handcuffs and grabbed his arms, cuffing his hands behind his back.

"Merry Christmas, Asshole," she spat, making him groan as she pulled his face out of the snow, stepping back and helping him get on his knees so he could breathe.

She could hear cheering across the street, pulling her attention to the ground of people her age, they all had cameras out now.

"Can someone call some law enforcement?"

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THE SIXTH
honey, you've got a big storm coming.
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DIANA ONCE AGAIN found herself in a situation she didn't want to be in as she stood before the trail in front of her, her small ponytail was tight, her shirt was loose, and she was convinced that she was in a dream because there's no way she should be awake right now. Steve was next to her, stretching his legs and his arms.

"You should always limber up before a good run, you don't want to pull something and be out of commission," Steve advised, Diana had to fight her urge to roll her eyes. She knows he's trying to help her bulk up like she wanted and quite frankly it is about one of the few things they could develop a friendship about.

Steve was still learning how to cook so unless Diana was there, he avoided the kitchen like the plague, he also is still learning how to use half the technology in the apartment that Diana brought. A morning run might be one of the few things that they could do together where he won't feel like a 94 year old man.

So Diana sucked it up as she reached down to her ankles, holding onto them for as long as she could, feeling her thighs and lower back stretch. She switched ankles numerous times until she felt she was done and resorted to stretching her arms. She was still completely exhausted from being awake before 6 am, but Steve seemed a little excited. Diana wondered what time zone he was in because he and Diana seemed to be on two completely different cycles.

The start of the run was fine, Diana was pacing herself as her and Steve had small talk. She did her best to avoid the touchy subject of her parents that only the Anderson's and Fury seemed to know about. And though she's been wanting to open up to Steve and Natasha about that touchy subject, the moment when they talk about parents never really came up.

But maybe it would on this morning run. Diana could already feel the sweat build on the back of her neck as they followed the trail that Steve found. It was still dark but Steve had brought flashlights for however long it would take for them to finish their run.

The silence was comfortable but Diana enjoyed her conversations with Steve. They already had a conversation about Steve's parents, Diana had once suggested that maybe he should try searching them out to see if a reunion was possible but he explained that his parents both died before even the serum.

"You know about my parents," Steve spoke into the dark, his pace in line with Dianas as he started, "you haven't really mentioned yours."

"Well," Diana built up her courage as she looked up at the sky, a sliver of orange peeked through the trees as the frigid air grew colder as Diana's body heat warmed up, "there isn't anything tasteful that I could say about Tom and Celeste, cause the second I turned eighteen I had to move to two different boroughs before they couldn't find me anymore, or they gave up, either way, the Anderson's are who I consider family."

"Do they have a part in you hating your ability?" Steve asked, the trail took a turn, showing off the pink and orange hues of the sky that streaked outward, shining down on the two adults.

"Yeah," Diana furrowed her brows as she silently relived her childhood, "when I was younger, it took a toll on my brain and my cells to change things, especially when they asked for precious metals and other things that are hard to find, and the worst part was if I didn't do what they asked, they'd force me into a little closet with no light-"

Diana cut herself off as she shook her head, her heart rate picked up and she began to run faster, desperate to leave her memories of her past in the woods and to never come back to them, to never have to see Tom and Celeste Renfrey ever again, but it was simply impossible.

The memories of them would be embedded into her brain forever, it was just her job to suppress them and never let anyone get the best of her ever again.

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2.5k words

there you have part two!!!

these took a lot to write bc i have the sequel planned out with more development but that's because I love the diana x avengers ship bc what a family.

anyways, phase two has been efficiently segued so stay tuned!!!

-greta