Marie sat on the porch of a small house overlooking a beach. She had been sitting on the wooden bench the last two hours. She wore a pair of denim shorts and a thin, white see-through cotton shirt, which showed off her bright yellow and green bikini underneath.

The sun was setting, and the sky filled with a kaleidoscope of colours. It reminded her of a different time and place she'd shared with a man that still haunted her.

Just call me, you know I'll come for you… His soft voice spoke to her, reminding her yet again of his presence in her mind. "You know I can't do that sugar…." She thought back to him sadly. Yes you can. He argued back stubbornly as he had done several times the last four months, since she'd left him. The real him.

I don't hate you for what you are Marie, and I certainly don't hate you for your actions. You didn't mean to hurt the boy - you were a child! Terrified of what had happened… He said anger clear in his voice at her refusal to listen to reason.

"And what about Foster, huh? I chose to kill him Steve! And I lied about it t' ya'll!" She could feel Steve's frustration at her words.

Marie sighed in annoyance. A can of beer on the ground by her feet shook and rattled. She looked down at it and held out her hand.

It flew violently into her awaiting hand.

Marie rose from the bench to throw it out.

"A great white light enveloped the two and Marie screamed. Before she could register what was going on, an arrow with a cylinder top crashed at their feet. An explosion ripped Marie and Magneto from each other and the white dome of light disappeared."

The memory made her shudder. She still had nightmares about that night.

In the four months that had passed, Magneto's power never faded away, in fact they grew a bit stronger each day, she reluctantly admitted to herself.

Marie blamed the freak moment during her absorption of him. She wondered if it meant he was out there somewhere, powerless. Or if the powers were still only a copy of his. "Albeit a semi-permanent copy…"

It was at times like these she missed having Cody in her mind. His annoyance always helped taking her mind of things that bothered her. Ever since she had absorbed Both Steve and Magneto that night on the statue of Liberty, Cody had all but disappeared from her mind. Once in awhile she thought she heard him mutter something, but it always quickly passed.

She had ripped apart Magneto's psyche the moment she'd left the helicarrier, not wanting him to linger anywhere in her mind more than necessary. Now Steve was the number one tenant in her head.

She couldn't find it in her heart to dissolve him like she did all other psyches. "Maybe I'm just a masochist." she thought while shaking her head lightly.

She stood in the narrow kitchen looking out the window, when she noticed the phone ringing. She let it ring, not feeling very talkative at the moment.

*Jessica Corran's beach house. I can't come to phone at the moment, please leave a message.* The voicemail intro was followed by a beep-tone.

"Marie," Jess' voice spoke out to her. "I know Malibu is a lot of fun, but you can't hide out there forever." she said. "I know you're there, so pick up the phone idiot." Marie could feel the roll of the of Jess' eyes in her tone of voice.

She shook her head before picking up the phone. "You know I can hide here how ever long I want to. What are you gonna do about it, all the way from Boston?" Marie teased her best friend.

"She's alive!" Jess exclaimed happily. "About time you picked up the phone, do you have any idea how many times I've called you?"

"Sorry, I've been busy." Marie lied weakly and Jess snorted into the phone. "Yeah busy moping over some loser who isn't worth even a second of your time." she said angrily.

Marie pinched the bridge of her nose, not wanting to go into that discussion again.

The last time had been four months ago, when Marie had called up Jess asking if she could crash at her beach house. Jess had of course agreed immediately, but had demanded to know everything, since Marie hadn't called her once in what had almost been a year.

That led to Marie telling her a more watered down version of the events that had taken place that year.

She'd landed a good job, met a guy and made friends. This all leading up to the sudden break up between her and the guy, (Of course it's sudden when you leave me in the middle of the night, no message, nothing...Steve commented angrily at her) and that she just needed to get away from it all.

"Thanks by the way, for letting me stay here." Marie said steering the conversation away from that theme. "You know I'll always have your back, Marie."

The two girls chattered another hour about everything and nothing, before Jess had to go. Marie sighed before grabbing the keys of the house, locking up and taking a walk to the nearest donut shop. She had a craving for something sweet. She'd eaten at three donuts at the donut shop every evening for the past four months. It's not healthy for you, you know. Steve told her. "I'm an emotional eater, so sue Me." she thought angrily and felt a headache coming on, before making her way. "Besides, I keep up my training. I can afford eating some junk food once in awhile." She justified.

When Marie made it there after a twenty minute walk, she noticed several familiar looking black SUV's, wearing even more familiar logos, in the parking lot.

"Oh no! They've found me." She panicked, and Steve cheered inside her mind. "Shut it Rogers!" She snarked and waited for a rush of agents to surround her.

They never did.

Marie looked around the parking lot in surprise, and she felt Steve's cheerfulness dying down. She creeped up behind one of the SUV's looking into the donut shop curiously.

"They can't seriously be taking a donut break…" she thought in quiet disbelief before she noticed who was sitting inside the store.

Marie cursed.

Director Fury was leaning back in a booth while discussing something with… "Tony Stark?" She noted he was wearing his Iron Man suit while munching on some donuts, and the engineer/fan girl inside her squealed a bit.

Out of nowhere Natasha came up to the two men, and stabbed a needle into Stark's neck. Marie decided to take it as her cue, "best to head back home," sugar craving be damned. She jogged back to her house not noticing the pair of eyes that followed her.

Once inside the safety of the house again, Marie started throwing her things into her duffel bag, before suddenly stopping. "There's really no need, I mean they didn't see me. They aren't even here for me…" She rationalized before putting back the clothes she held in her hand. I think you should go talk to Natasha, she would understand - she wouldn't hurt you or hate you. Steve said never stopping trying to convince her. She ignored him.

She plopped down on her bed. "My life is a mess." she thought exhausted. Only because you're too stubborn to listen to reason. Steve said with kindness in his voice. Her thoughts led her back to what she had been considering the last couple of days. "What do you say Steve? Wanna head back to New York?" she asked him. I don't think you should go back to that place. You only seem to attract too much trouble while there, doll. He teased her. Before turning serious. But you said you wanted answers, to find people like you. Maybe this Xavier can finally give you some, and you know I'll support you along the way.

"Charles Xavier…" The name brought up a lot of different emotions inside Marie that she knew belonged to Magneto. Hope, sadness, anger, love, affection, distrust were just a few, which were a part of the never-ending whirlwind.

"You're right sugar. I'm just scared I'll be disappointed. What if they don't accept me? What if I'm the freak amongst freaks? …" She sighed saddened. Even then, you can come to me. Please Marie, just call me. Steve begged her. Her heart clenched a bit. She missed them, all of them, and seeing Natasha only worsened the longing. Her will faltered slightly and she walked into the kitchen, staring at the phone for a full minute. Her hand hovered over it and Marie bit her lip looking uncertain.

She picked up the phone. Steve held his breath. Marie started pushing the buttons typing in his number, pressing the call button before she changed her mind. The phone rang a couple of times before it was finally answered. "Hello?" a light and clearly tired female voice asked. "Hello?!" the woman repeated again though fully awake now. Marie hung up, embarrassment and anger filling her heart.

Marie it's probab... "Shut up!" she yelled interrupting him "I don't wanna hear it."

She sat on the cold kitchen floor halfway through the night. Unmoving as the scenarios her own mind made up broke her heart. The metal that surrounded her in the kitchen rattled and shook until she fell into an exhausted sleep on the floor.

When the sun started to filter in through the kitchen window gently illuminating the room, Marie woke up uncomfortable on her kitchen floor and groaned. She sat up wincing as she stretched her legs out in front of her. "Of course he would move on… He wouldn't want to be with a killer… and we only landed two dates before it blew up in our faces… It was attraction, not love. Besides, I left him; I have no right to him… I left him, and he doesn't have any right to me either." Marie justified to herself and got up. She would not be weak. She had gotten through worse things than a little heartbreak.

She looked around the house suddenly feeling angry. "I'm done hiding. I'm going to New York, and if anyone bothers me, I'll make them regret it." She thought finally getting a hold of herself. She packed her things in record time, the anger burning brightly inside her the whole time. She ignored the small voice inside her head that sounded suspiciously like Cody, telling her she wasn't angry, but jealous.

With her duffel bag on her shoulders, she left behind the place that had been her safe house the last three months. She walked for an hour towards the city before cursing her flip-flops. She had to stop several times and rest her feet, the thin material doing nothing to spare her feet from the hard road. She walked another two feet and then decided to try and hitch a ride with someone.

Marie sighed and winced, as her feet started hurting again. Several cars had passed her, what felt like hours ago, ignoring her as they sped away. Marie cursed every single one of them. Then she cursed Jess for owning a beach house so far away from civilization. And last but not least she cursed herself for not owning a car.

In the distance she heard a car engine purring loudly and started waving her hands in the air, praying that the person would stop for her.

To her surprise, Marie saw the white convertible coming closer, and slowing down to a stop in front of her. The man driving lowered his sunglasses and took in her dishevelled looks. Marie cursed her luck. Of course who-ever listened to her prayers would send her Tony Stark who S.H.I.E.L.D. always had constant surveillance on.

"Where are you headed?" He asked her. "City, I need to get to the bus terminal." She said and he ushered her in next to him.

"Thanks." She said appreciatively as her feet finally got to rest. She introduced herself to him, and so did he even though there was no need for it.

"No problem." He said and Marie noticed how pale he was. He started the car again "Let me guess," He said still looking at her. "You were at some party and your friend decided to ditch you for some spoiled rich wannabe movie star." He said and Marie snorted.

"I wish. " She said as they sped along the road "I've been crashing at my friend's beach house the last three months, denying and ignoring my problems, living like a hermit." He let out a laugh. "Believe me, I know a lot about ignoring and denying problems. It usually works." he finished with a grin and Marie nodded "I'm with you on that." she said "But I finally figured it was time to face them - just not straight on - more like zigzag on with lots of side roads if it all decides to blow up in my face."

Stark nodded approvingly "Good strategy. Sounds like something I would come up." he joked "Well I've been told that all engineers think alike, they just do it at different times." She said quoting her old professor with a smile. Stark looked at her surprised before turning his eyes back on the road. "You're young." He said and then smiled "But so was I when I graduated MIT. Where did you go?" he asked curiously. "Mississippi." she answered honestly "It's where I was born and raised. I got a lot of other offers, MIT included, but when my parents decided to keep me in public school until I actually started puberty, a lot of them pulled out."

He nodded understandingly; a lot of the universities around the world wanted their own young genius child to outshine the other universities. The younger the child the better. "I ended up skipping high school and started at sixteen." She didn't know why she was sharing her life with him, a complete stranger, but he was easy to talk to and Marie didn't want to come off as rude when he'd been kind enough to give her a ride.

They soon entered the bustling city. "So where are you headed now?" he asked her curiously as they passed the many stores and apartment buildings that made up the city. "Where all my problems seem to stem from, the root of all evil known as New York City." She joked and Stark rolled his eyes. "I thought the root of all evil was Wyoming." He joked easily and Marie snorted at his lame attempt at humour.

They pulled up to the bus station. She looked at him "Thanks again. I appreciate it. If you're ever in New York and need help or just want to meet up," she said handing him an old S.H.I.E.L.D business card from her duffel bag, but not before ripping off the S.H.I.E.L.D logo from the corner "give me a call. See you around Stark." She grinned at him before heading over to buy a bus ticket.

Tony looked at the disappearing girl and then at the business card. He thought about throwing it away, but a small part of him knew she hadn't offered him her body but her friendship. He pocketed the card, wondering what logo she had ripped off and why she had done it.

As he drove off from the bus terminal, his mind turned to more important things. He still needed to find Vanko now that he wasn't dying anymore.

It took Marie the better part of two days before she reached the city, which only held bad experiences for her. She wondered if the third time visiting the city would be the charm for her. "With my track record, probably not." She had tried to mentally prepare herself for any possible run-ins with Clint, Natasha, Phil or Steve and she felt ready. The chance of running into them was minimal. They were all usually airborne and away on missions half the time.

She felt confident. No you don't. Marie thought she heard Cody say from somewhere deep inside her mind. She and Steve hadn't spoken a word to each other in the two days she had been travelling to New York. She ignored the loneliness she felt at his silence, and compensated it by exploring the noisy and loud city.

She had been walking around for three hours, shopping for some new clothes, when someone bumped into her.

One of the bags she carried in her arms fell to the ground. She crouched down to pick it up the same time her assailant did. Tired from the long shopping, she looked up to apologize to the person instead of yelling at them as she would have normally done, when she found herself staring into the blue eyes of the very same person she hadn't spoken with in her mind the last two days, and hadn't seen in four months.

"How the hell is this possible! I haven't even been here for a full day!" She thought shocked, while the two of them gaped like fish at each other. They got up and Marie turned abruptly, trying to get away in the massive crowds, but was stopped by a strong hand gripping her arm. "Let me go." She said quietly not able to look him in the eyes.

Your mental preparation could use some adjustments. The Steve in her head finally spoke to her.

Steve looked down at her in shock. Four months he had spent looking for her. Four! And each time he had failed in finding her, or a new lead. And now here she was, by some odd stroke of luck, in all her beauty and sadness looking at him "as if she was the one who had been left behind."

She turned to run away but he grabbed her arm tightly not wanting to lose her again. He couldn't formulate a sentence he was still too shocked. She looked up at him, those shocked green eyes, pleading him to let her go. "No…" He finally managed to croak out and before he knew he was doing it, he embraced her tightly.

The feel of her body moulding itself perfectly against his own, her arms closing around his middle, felt like coming home.

He kissed her on the crown of her head and murmured, "We have to talk." to her.

Marie felt an irrational fear at those words, and Magneto's powers acted up according to their owner's emotions. Everything around her started shaking. The large plasma screens that surrounded the square exploded, buildings rattled as their iron structures bended and then crashed. The streets shook and the plumbing, resulting in several car crashes, randomly penetrated the ground beneath.

People started screaming and panicking around them, trying to get to safety but finding none. Marie tried to calm down, but the panic and destruction around her only fuelled her own more. Steve didn't notice that she was the one doing this, and shielded her body with his own from both the panicking crowds and the falling debris around them. He tried pulling them away from the centre of the square, but he didn't know where to go.

Steve gripped Marie's hand and looked through the crowds concerned and wondering "Where the hell is Barton?!" The two men had been grabbing a beer at a nearby sports bar, watching a game football, when Steve had left for some fresh air. "If you could even call the air that that…" He turned them towards the bar and he saw Clint struggling to keep his balance as he was helping a woman and her young daughter to safety. Clint looked up and waved at him with both arms trying to catch his attention. Steve let go of Marie's hand and waved back. He turned to pull Marie with to Clint.

She wasn't there.

He stared at the empty spot "She was right there!" "MARIE!" he screams out in desperation. "MARIE!" he searched the seas of crowds pushing against each other, looking for a brown and white striped head.

He doesn't find her.

The shaking of the ground stops and Steve sees Clint making his way to him. "Steve! You okay man?!" he calls out on his way over. Steve looked at him and shook his head no. "Marie…" he murmured and Clint asked him "What about Marie?" Steve grabbed Clint by the lapels of his jacket. "Marie was here! She was here Clint!" He said panicking. "Are you sure?" Clint asked while turning to look at the crowds, questioning his friend. "Yes!" he exclaimed and crouched down to pick up the bag she had dropped.

"I didn't see her and accidentally pushed her bag to the ground." he says as he shows Clint the pink bag.

Clint looks like he can't decide between worrying and laughing at his friend holding a victoria's secret bag. "If she was here, then where did she go?" he asks and watches Steve's face fall. "I lost her... I lost her AGAIN!" Steve yells out angrily. "She was right behind me! I only turned around for a second!" Clint places a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "We'll find her. At least we know she's in New York again." He says relief filling his heart. Both of their phones go off at the same time. Neither one of them needed to look at their phones to know who was calling.

"S.H.I.E.L.D."