A Brand New Day

The next morning Tony was in the tower and Logan was making pancakes like he always did, well when he felt like it. He had made bacon as well and strong coffee. Pharaoh came up in his white robe and smiled at Logan who was cooking away in the kitchen. Logan has insisted that the kitchen was the first thing fixed in the tower. He poured himself a mug of coffee and leaned on the counter.

“So, have you told her yet how you feel about her?” Pharaoh said. He wasn’t one for small talk and he couldn’t understand why Logan didn’t just throw everything on the table with Natalya. Logan paused in his mixing the pancake batter and turned to look at Natalya’s door. “You know I can't,” he said in a tone that made it clear he didn’t want to talk about it. He was also concerned that where they were that their voices might carry. “I know you don’t, Logan. That is not the same thing. And now there is a third man who has feelings for her. I do not understand why a woman like her can elicit such passions,” he said and grinned as he took a sip of his coffee.

“She doesn’t...I’m not having this conversation with you Pharoah,” he said in a half growl. “You don’t understand,” he said. “You think not? It’s quite simple. You love her you tell her and then you have her or you don’t, this...purgatory you’ve banished yourself to is painful to watch. You don’t even like pancakes yet you make them because ‘she’ does,” he said and grinned again then took another sip of his coffee.

Natalya hadn't slept very well that night. She was thinking about Malcolm and about Evan. Could she really let him come onto the team? She had taken that risk with Malcolm by saying yes and that had ended badly. She wished she knew what the right answer was, but she knew that there probably wasn't one. There would always be risk with this job. And then there were her feelings for both men. It was a tangled web she had spun and she felt caught in the middle of it. She knew she felt something for both of them...but was it love? Could she actually feel love? Did she deserve to be loved? She wasn't certain of the answers to any of those questions and it felt her feeling lonelier than she had ever felt.

She finally sighed and got up and got dressed. She ran a brush through her hair and brushed her teeth. She could smell pancakes and knew that Logan must be in the kitchen. She stepped out of her room and started to walk towards the kitchen, but stopped suddenly when she heard Logan and Pharaoh talking. At first she wasn't certain who they were talking about, but then she realized it was her! Logan had feelings for her? How long had this been going on? She suddenly felt horrible talking about Evan and Malcolm in front of him last night. She knew why he had not said anything to her. Being in a relationship and doing this job was difficult. She had watched Kate and Steve struggle with it...as well as Tony and Isabella at times. You had to put the good of mankind before the one you loved. And she did love Logan...she knew this...she had known this for a long time now. But her fears were the same as his. She was surprised to suddenly find any thoughts of Malcolm and Evan gone from her mind and replaced solely by Logan. The web she was in had suddenly become even more tangled.

She took a deep breath and steadied herself before walking into the kitchen and pretending she had not just overheard that conversation. She walked over and poured herself a cup of coffee. "Good morning Pharaoh....Good morning Logan."

Pharaoh smiled and gestured when he saw Natalya come toward them. Their rooms were all on the outside of the main living area on the same floor of the tower. The kitchen was nestled in the center of one side and adjacent to the main living area, a large seating space in the center of the floor. Logan did not look at her approach and began to pour the batter onto the hot pan. As soon as he did the pan began to hiss. Steve and Kate were coming out of their room as well and they came up behind her.

“Hard not to smell the coffee and bacon,” Steve said and got some coffee for himself and Kate. Tony appeared suddenly and snaked through everyone to get a cup of coffee himself. “Since it appears we’re all together I wanted to bring up Evan Cullen,” Tony said.

Natalya couldn't help but notice how Logan wouldn't look at her. She had a lot to figure out and she hated thinking that their friendship might suffer. Logan understood her more than anyone else because he too had been created to be a weapon against his will. Natalya needed Logan's friendship...she needed him in her life. Without him she didn't know what she would do.

Kate walked out with Steve. Even though their night had been a rather passionate one, when they were around the rest of the team they were strictly business. She accepted the cup of coffee and added a little sugar before taking a sip. She knew that Isabella and Peter weren't there. They both had left earlier to go to the SHIELD hospital to check on Serena and Malcolm.

Natalya glanced at Tony when he walked in. She leaned against the counter next to Logan and didn't say anything when Tony brought up Evan. None of the others knew about her past relationship with him and she decided not to bring it up. Kate looked at Tony. "Are you going to suggest we use him to help us fight Doom?"

“Bing...you’re a winner,” Tony said. “Evan is able to control the very energy Doom uses as the basis of his attacks. He barely engaged us last time and he beat us. Now he is more powerful. We handle his men and Evan handles Doom. If you have a better idea I’d like to hear it,” Tony asked.

“Right now, Evan is unknown to Doom. He’s out of it, and we all know he’ll eventually come for us,” Steve said. Logan began playing pancakes and setting up plates for everyone. He listened to the conversation but staying out of it, for now.

Kate rolled her eyes a little at Tony's quip. She stood next to Steve at the counter and really thought things through. It was true that they had been beaten...easily and Doom was more powerful now. She sighed and looked at Steve a little.

"I'm not sure we really are going to have a choice in the matter. We know that we all stand no chance against him...especially now. Evan may be our only hope at stopping Doom once and for all. But it needs to be his choice. If he says no then we will have to find another way."

“Oh, he’ll join us, you can be certain of that,” Logan said plainly. He turned around and was now facing the group. He had more pancakes on the griddle but he had just set the batter and had a few moments before he had to turn them. His eyes flickered to Natalya for only a split second before his gaze rested on Steve. “Everyone just needs to fight with their gloves off for his soldiers. This ‘trying not to kill anyone’ business won’t be in it for them,” Logan said in his usual grumble. He wasn’t happy with Steve’s usual rules for them. Do minimal damage and just get them to leave.

“Logan we are not them. Every time we sink down to their level…” he began but Logan cut him off. “Malcolm held back Steve and look what it got him? We’ve all seen his power. He could have launched those soldiers all over the place. They might have armor but they were still just well trained humans,” He growled. Steve’s lips hard formed a line, a sign he was getting angry but it was Pharaoh who stepped in. What Logan said was true though. If Malcolm had used his power against them he could have done alot of damage to them. Organs and such do not do well when the body they are in is smashed against a wall at 100 miles an hour.

“We can spend the entire day going over what happened and what we ‘could’ have done differently or we can work on a new plan on how to stop them. That and we need to pick the battlefield. I doubt Doom has stopped his search for Carbonadium nor Uru and we happen to know where two more sources of Carbonadium are,” He said in his casual way of talking. Logan had already turned back to flip the pancakes and he had a plate piled with them ready to be eaten.

Natalya knew what Logan truly meant by what he said and she sighed a little and looked away. She knew she would need to talk to Evan. If he decided to join the team then he needed to not do it because of her. Now that she knew about Logan's feelings for her she couldn't be certain what she truly wanted anymore and she needed to figure some things out. Evan needed to join the team with the full understanding of what being on this team meant and entailed and to understand the risks.

Natalya finally looked at everyone. "I would like to sit out of the voting on this one." Kate looked at her with a curious look in her eyes. "Any particular reason why?" Natalya sighed a little. "Evan and I have...some history and after what happened with Malcolm I would rather just sit out of the voting and whatever everyone decides I will go with." She knew this wasn't standard procedure, but she hoped Tony and Steve would understand. She didn't say anything else. She just turned around and grabbed a plate and piled on a few pancakes. She glanced at Logan and her eyes met his for a moment before she looked away.

After a bit more back and forth they all ended up at the large table with plates of pancakes and bacon and cups of coffee or tea. The consensus seemed to be that no one would vote no if Evan decide to join them. “I did a little research on Evan,” Tony said and all small talk cease as he finished up his bite of pancakes. “His father is a world renowned Scientist in Dark Matter Theory. His mother is...well more interesting. His mother is not of this world it appears,” he began and noticed everyone’s attentions seemed to perk up even more. “Her name is Merantha which means ‘Dark Flower’ in her language. She was. Princess that lived in the primordial plane of chaos,” he said. “Apparently she was imprisoned by her mother Nyx who was Queen there,” he said then went back to eating another bite. He wanted others to ask questions so he didn’t have to go through the entire file with them.

Natalya didn't really say much of anything. She just ate in silence between being worried about Malcolm, knowing about Logan's feelings for her, and thinking about Evan joining the team there was a lot on her mind. She knew that she was going to end up down in the training room for quite a while today. Beating up a punching bag often helped her to clear her mind and think about things more precisely.

Kate was interested in learning more about Evan and his abilities. She knew that they would need to talk to him and make sure he understood what he would be getting into by joining the team. She also wanted to make sure that whatever feelings he may or may not still have for Natalya were kept in check and wouldn't interfere with what he needed to do. "So, do we know of any weaknesses that he has related to his powers?"

“His file only listed a sensitivity to light based attacks,” Tony said. “Well that is not Doom for certain. I’ll call Isabella and have her invite him here for an interview,” Tony said. Steve acted as if he wanted to say something about that but he held his tongue, for now. With that Tony stepped away from the table and called Isabella right then. Also, Natalya’s phone went off and she saw that it was Rachael’s number.

“Isabella, hey, hows the kid?” he asked her when she picked up. “After he listened to her response he smiled. “Well that’s some good news, I’ll send a car over to get you two but hey, I wanted to ask you to invite Evan Cullen to the tower. I figured you’d have the most luck getting in touch with him since you’re there. Tomorrow would work just fine if he’s free,” He said.

Natalya heard her phone go off and looked down and saw Rachael's number. Her heart began to beat harder and faster in her chest because she knew that this would be about Malcolm. She excused herself and got up and stepped away to answer the call. She took a deep, calming breath first before picking up. "Hello?"

Isabella and Peter were still at the hospital with Serena. Isabella was pleased to see how much better her daughter looked and was happy to know that Serena would be released that day. Serena was acting a little strangely, but she figured it was just because she was tired and still needed to recover. When she received the phone call from Tony she stepped out into the hallway to answer it. She was pleased to be able to tell him that Serena was doing well, but sensed that he had actually called for another reason. Thus she was not surprised when he asked her to invite Evan Cullen to the Tower tomorrow for an interview to join the team. She knew that Evan was likely their only option in finally defeating Doom. "I saw him earlier so I can find him and invite him."

“Natalya? This is Rachael...I...I just wanted you to know that Malcolm is going into surgery. You don’t need to sit here and wait, it’s likely to be a pretty long deal. Our parents are coming and will be here with me...how are you holding up?”

“Thanks, well that will make that easier anyway. We’re all anxious to get Serena back. I’ll see you both soon,” he said then hung up.

“So there were 2 other places we know has Carbonadium in any abundance,” Steve said and Kater who only had a cup of coffee brought up a map on the big screen. Kate was at the keyboard that was embedded into the large glass table they were eating at. She brought up the state of New York then zoomed in to two counties then in further to the cities. One of the places is downtown from here, the largest of the two and we think Doom will make his play there,” he said and zoomed in further. It was an industrial area with large office buildings and large warehouse and engineering buildings. He highlighted one building in the middle of the area. Jordan Alloy uses small pieces of the metal to make deep sea vehicles or some such,” He said.

Natalya paced back and forth a little as she listened to Rachael. She knew there was little she would be able to do there and it might be awkward with his parents so she decided she would just stay at the Tower and wait. "I didn't sleep very well last night if I'm honest," she replied, though she knew that Malcolm had not been the only reason she had not been able to sleep, but she wasn't going to mention Evan. "Please let me know how everything goes."

Kate studied the building that Steve had focused on and indicated that he thought Doom was going to hit. "Are we going to do any surveillance first?"

Isabella hung up with Tony and then popped her head back into the room and told Peter and Serena that she was going to go find Evan and that she would be back soon. She walked down another hallway and spotted him talking with his father. Soon the men saw her approach and his father stepped away when he realized that Isabella wanted to speak to his son. "I wanted to thank you again for saving Serena's life. I was just with her and she appears to be much better. I also just got off the phone with my husband and he would like to invite you to the Tower to interview for a possible position on the Avenger's Team. Would you be interested in this?"

Evan was surprised to see Isabella again so soon. He was talking to his father near his father’s office which was on this floor. He was surprised to see her and his father stepped away from her approach and went back into his office. He did not look very happy at whatever Evan had just said to him. “Oh no thanks is necessary. There was a chance I could help and so I did. If there is a chance I can help stop Dr. Doom then I will join you,” he said. Isabella was one of those women that Evan found difficult to ignore nor say no to. She was older than he was but she certainly didn’t look it. His thoughts drifted to Natalya just then. There was definitely unfinished business there between them.

“I was thinking Logan and Natalya could go in and pose as potential customers. They could represent Tony Stark’s interest in their company as a new supplier,” Steve said. “Tony, how fast can you line that up?” Steve asked and Tony smiled, took his phone from his pocket and stepped away from the table to make a phone call.

Logan groaned inwardly. He was the obvious choice. Peter was to young and the others would be recognized. The problem was he wasn’t certain if he wanted to be working so closely with Natalya. Especially now. He always felt...unsettled when he was around her, especially considering how he felt about her. He knew he would do this thing but he didn’t have to like it. Even though Natalya had stepped away and just finished up her phone call he knew she heard what Steve had said. They were all looking at her now. Everyone except himself.

Isabella gave Evan a little smile. She got a good feeling from him and thought he might make a good fit on the team. “Well Steve and Tony would be happy to talk to you tomorrow. A car will come and pick you up in the morning. If they decide you might be a good fit then everyone else in the team will vote. I had better get back to Serena. She is going to be released today. We are going to be happy to have her back home.”

Natalya hung up with Rachael and walked back over to the others. She could feel their eyes on her. “Malcolm is going into surgery. We will just have to wait and see what happens.” She sat back down and glanced at Logan, who she noted was not looking at her. “Logan and I will do whatever needs to be done.”

“She’s as tough as they come I think though it's no surprise to me, considering where she comes from,” he said with a smile. It was so rare that Evan really had a chance to talk to someone...anyone really. Working for SHIELD all these years had forced him into a self-imposed solitary life. He worked all the time, day and night and dating was beyond impossible. He had put his personal life on hold but having Natalya dropped back into his life. He was hopeful that that might change.

Logan looked up at Steve after he had a few moments to think. “Steve, Natalya’s more than capable, she doesn’t need a chaperone,” He said. Both Steve and Kate looked over at him as well as Pharaoh and Tony. Pharaoh said nothing but he held that ‘knowing’ smirk on his face and right then it made Logan irritated. The reason, the ‘real’ reason he spoke up was that he wasn’t certain if he could mind his tongue around her...nor his emotions. “Or, instead of putting a bull in a china shop, why not Pharaoh?” Logan asked. Steve seemed to be considering what Logan said but in truth he didn’t really understand his objections. “Well, two is less conspicuous than just one…” He began then stopped not really having an argument as to why not just one or having Pharaoh along instead. “Alright, Pharaoh, you go with her,” He said plainly. Pharaoh just shrugged as if it didn't matter at all to him.

Isabella smiled a little at Evan’s compliment. He was certainly charming and reminded her of her husband in that way. “Do you have any questions for me?”

Natalya glanced at Logan when he suggested she go alone or with someone else. She knew the reason why but couldn’t say anything. She sighed and remained quiet, deciding to let Steve handle this. Finally, it was decided that Pharoah would go with her.

After breakfast was over Natalya and Logan both went their separate ways. Kate waited until they were both gone before looking at the other. “Ok so what’s going on with Logan and Natalya?”

Evan did not have any questions and shook Isabella’s hand as he bid her farewell.

“Is that a rhetorical question?” Pharaoh asked and his grin never faded as he looked over at Kate. Steve looked at them both not certain he knew what kate meant. “Our dear Logan has…’feelings’ for the woman and has for quite some time. I believe however that his relationship with Jean has left him uncertain if he wants to go through that again,” he said. Logan had spoken to him several times on this subject and each time he only gave him bits and pieces. Pharaoh though, never forgot anything and he pieced it all together and laid it all out for them.

Kate wasn’t entirely surprised to hear that Logan had feelings for Natalya. He had rescued her after all and held her fate in his hands. He was protective of her and defended her. However, Kate could understand why he had kept this a secret and she wasn’t sure if the two of them would actually make a good couple. “Well I think she knows that something is wrong. Do you think he is going to say anything to her?”

Pharaoh gave Kate an encouraging look and his eyes flickered from Steve to Tony back to her. “Eventually he will but I suspect she knows already and has feelings for him as well,” he said.

The morning drew on and Logan had become scarce. He decided to go to the game room and he began playing pool alone as he thought about his situation. Should he leave the Avengers? Could he just be her friend? He had so far he thought as he hit the cue ball into the 4 ball and sank it into the corner pocket.

Serena, Peter and Isabella were in the Limo on their way home. Peter was beaming with happiness that Serena was coming home. “I bet o know what you’re hungry for,” he said confidently. “Rico’s!” He said excitedly. Their favorite burger joint that made the best shakes he had ever tasted.

A small area on Malcolm’s head was shaved and he had been prepped for surgery. Some of the best surgeons in the country were there either assisting or watching. Malcolm wasn’t just any patient, he was a famous one and though SHIELD did not divulge to anyone that he was a mutant, some of the doctors noted the subtle differences in how his brain looked in the scans that were taken. Once they had to do ahead, the surgery began. Rachael along with Malcolm’s parents waited anxiously in the waiting room. They had been informed that the surgery should not take terribly long and were reminded of the risks to Malcolm do to where the clot was located. If they did not remove it and have it up to chance his prognosis was much grimmer than if they operated...or at least, that’s what they were told...

Natalya had gone back to her room and had changed into her workout clothes. She went down to the training room for a while to train. Her mind swirled with thoughts of Malcolm, Evan, and Logan. She and Logan had such a special relationship. He meant everything to her and she knew that she did have feelings for him, but she feared what might happen if things between them didn't work out or got complicated. She needed Logan in her life. He was her rock and her best friend. She didn't know what she would do without him.

Finally, she decided she needed to go talk to him. When she didn't find him in one of the other training rooms she knew where she would find him. She walked into the game room and found it empty apart from Logan. She saw him look over at her and she slowly walked over to him. "Hey...can we talk?"

Serena was glad to be out of the hospital. She hated them. The only other time she had been in the hospital was to have her appendix taken out. It had been close to rupturing and thankfully they had caught it in time. Leaving the hospital this time she found she felt...different. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she knew something had changed. When Peter mentioned Rico's she found that the joy she had once felt thinking about that place was no longer there. She felt almost no emotion at all. She tried to fake a smile for Peter's sake though. She didn't want him to worry about her any more than he already was. "Uh...sure."