InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I GOT BLISTERS ON ME FINGERS!"

Tony strolled into the commons area, with a bag of shake shack and a drink carrier with two shakes in it. He wasn't sure what to expect from their newest resident. He knew enough that touching was bad, but wasn't about to shy away from talking to someone about Genosha, while he had a chance. Loki was quiet, and he could probably ask Val to talk to Loki when he was up to it. Hopefully soon. Having a second source was valuable right now.

With their super soldier (and similar) people impacted by whatever they ingested , time was of the essence.

---

Rogue had made her way out to the common room. Oh, she played up how much everything bothered her, and every injury did hurt, but she'd been down the beaten path a few times. The pain was just part of life, she could handle it. Until she had to sneeze, then that was pure agony even she couldn't manage.

She did, however, gingerly take a seat, mildly wishing she could take the broken ribs out. They were a huge inconvenience to get, she liked her freedom of movement. There was very little when every deep breath hurt.

Rogue smelled the food before she saw him. "Oh, that smells wonderful." Her accent was southern, and she hadn't managed to lose it in a year and with everyone in her head, that was a miracle. She hadn't had real, good food in a long time, though, and she looked at the bag almost greedily.

---

"It's pretty good stuff," he said, as he snagged a platter from the center island in the kitchen area. He put the food and shakes on it and walked over, setting it between them on the long couch.

"Anyway, hi, face to face." Dark eyes looked her over inquisitively, noting the bruises. He made it a point not to stare, looking directly into her eyes with unnerving intensity. It was a clear sign of a brain that was always ticking away like clockwork counting each passing second, gears always whirring along. "Take whatever you want, except this."

He snagged a salted caramel shake from the tray and unwrapped a straw, stabbing it in and sucking some up. No one could complain about salted caramel, and Tony gave a thumbs up before he stopped, saying under his breath, "If you meet a guy named Bruce, do me a solid and never tell him that I ate anything with salt."

---

Rogue was used to unnerving stares. She could keep eye contact with Sinister for a few minutes without flinching. She got them all the time before, she was also used to being stared at, so really he could have and she'd have just taken it. Her face was partially purple, starting to fade to yellow at the edges. She had bandages around her arm, and plenty more hidden under comfortable clothes.

Even if she refused to acknowledge how much everything hurt, she held her runs gingerly. "Thanks." She took her shake, then pulled out a burger and fries. She'd been, more often than not, the most well fed in Genosha, but it hadn't been comfort food.

"I won't tell him a thing." She grinned a little though.

---

Indeed, the food given to the patients in Genosha wasn't the best, so any time that a good meal could be had was welcome. The protein paste served on the regular in the heavily guarded cafeteria was nutritious, even if it wasn't delicious. It also came in a variety of colors, but only one flavor. Yum.

Meanwhile, Tony had set aside his shake on a table, in favor of picking at some fries.

"Good. Low sodium diets suck," he said in between fries. "Hopefully you can tell me some things. I'm curious about what's going on in Genosha. I mean, we all are. We were there for a wedding. Little did we know, it was the worst vacay spot ever. Couldn't recommend it on the review sites. What's up with those collars?"

His style of asking questions was conversational, but curious. He clearly wanted to know more, everything even, and was hoping to start with a few smaller questions that she could hopefully answer.

---

Rogue was not fond of the paste. She shuddered in memory as she popped a fry in her mouth and damn near moaned in happy food-gasm moment. She couldn’t help it, it was the best damn thing she’s really had in over a year. The first few days here were…. Boring foods that didn’t mess with her any more than she already had been. She’d stuck to soup and rice. Better than Genosha, but still not great.

This was heaven in a fry bag.

“Ah can try,” she said between fries, “a wedding? There?” she shook her head in disbelief. Oh, the island was gorgeous, and she could see it but, it was hard to wrap her head around. She, clearly, couldn’t imagine such a thing. It took her a second to refocus, distracted by something Tony couldn’t see, or hear. She blinked it away, though, ignoring the background noise in her head. It was not the time to let that little bit out. “Ah can’t say for sure what happens to other people there - ah’m sure it’s different for everyone.” she picked her words carefully, not wanting to tip her hand fully. She knew she was expected, almost, to tell a lot. But she wanted to do it carefully.

“You’re lucky they didn’t try to keep you.” she said after a second’s thought, then shrugged a little, regretting the motion. “What else do collars do but keep people under control? Better than druggin’ us.” which, also happened but, “Can knock us down without gettin’ close, particularly useful when it came to me.”

---

Tony watched and waited, letting her take her time. When she seemed distracted, he waited for it to pass, thinking it was due to bad memories being dredged up. He wasn't exactly the most patient person, but he understood having a brain that latched on to something and never really let go. A compulsive habit that looped something troubling around and around, until he felt like he had to act or react.

Sometimes the results were great. Other times? Not so much.

This time though, he ate fries and watched her, taking an occasional drink of milkshake.

"I kinda got that vibe. We were looking for private places to go, where the media wouldn't be hounding Thor and Jane when they got married."

That was his cover story and he was sticking to it. He didn't know this girl yet, and although he had some sympathy for what she'd gone through, he wasn't about to lay all the cards out on the table. He had enough trust issues already, from getting burned before. Even if they weren't an ordeal like they were before.

"So they're keeping people under control," he mused aloud, dabbing a fry into some ketchup. "I mean, there's got to be a bigger angle than that. Is it an Inhuman trafficking hub?"

---

Rogue didn’t expect him to spill. If she wanted that, she’d just touch him and be done with it. But she didn’t, she was a patient hunter. She could play the long game and have no problem doing so, blending in enough that she disappeared. Her brain was, however, capable of being a total traitor. She had enough lingering voices in there to keep her entertained for years.

But there were bad memories too and they sucked.

“Ah get that, ah suppose, ain’t a good place though for anythin’ like that. Pretty, but, dangerous.” she shook her head again. She knew who Loki’s people were - Thor made sure of that with his display - but they’d all shown up to Genosha. The wedding had been real, she’d seen it happen, seen it with her own eyes.

“Why wouldn’t they? We’re dangerous.” she wiggled her fingers as she picked up a fry, “Ah could take em out with a touch, the guards that is, the collar kept me under control.” she hadn’t needed one, not soon after she’d become compliant. Though she had one from time to time when she pushed her bounds. Rogue pushed, but Sinister had cultivated that too. “Ah was there a year, if it was trafficking, don’tcha think ah’d have been gone?” a brow arched upwards.

---

"Yeah, that's what I think is weird. Who's running that place, for what reason. And why, if you were there a year, were you still around," replied Tony, abandoning the fries and picking up a cheeseburger and biting into it.

He chewed slowly while staring at her, like he didn't want the sound of chewing to interfere with hearing her answers.

---

She leaned forward, green eyes bright with both pain unspoken and amusement, it was an interesting mix. “Because ah was interesting.” she sat back to pick up a burger and take a bite, savoring it like she’d lose the access to real food sooner, rather than never. Her lips twisted into a grin.

“Ah can kill people with a touch, Mr. Stark, ah was a new bug under the glass. Needing to be classified, studied, picked apart.” her lips turned into a sneer, “And ah was picked apart and studied. Every single inch. Could ah handle being beaten then touch someone. Could ah kill with it? What happens if ah do?” She sat all the way back.

“Research, what does anyone want to do with something new? They need to study it.” she said slowly, “Tell me you don’t want to know why if ah touch people, it’s a bad idea for the both of us? Everyone wants to.” the woman before him was bitter, hurt, and broken. There was rebellion in her eyes.

---

No stranger to rebellion, Tony didn't shy away, nor look away. He was putting together a best guess, and it wasn't a pretty picture, no matter how it was framed.

"Fine, tell me about it. What happens. You can kill someone, sure, but that's not all is it? If it's bad for you too, there's something more to it."

He raised his eyebrows, waiting, and took another bite out of the burger. He wasn't afraid, and he didn't move away. He already had Friday watching and listening, on alert in case anything went sideways. Not that he expected it to. The girl was roughed up, after all.

---

“Ever want to know what someone was thinkin’ when they look at you? What they really think of you?” she said softly, “ain’t pretty to be able to know. To feel the absolute terror someone feels when they know your touch is the last thing they’ll feel. Ah’ve been told it’s cold, like death creepin’ in under the skin, leeching life away, memories, thoughts, powers. And ah? Ah get everything raw and unfiltered. The horror, the terror, the pain.” she sniffed, then took another bite of her sandwich.

It didn’t matter if they knew. They’d find out eventually. Laying it on the table was a smarter move. “Ah? Ah never forget. Never once do ah forget what that felt like. And then, the slow dawning realization - ah can never touch another person again.” she had almost said human, but she knew that race didn’t matter. If you breathed, she could touch you.

“Ah can’t brush hands when making change. Ah can’t knock into someone in a crowd. Think of how many times a day your skin brushes someone else’s then think about how that would feel to never be able to do again.” she hoped she came across bitter and angry, hurt that she’d been used, that her power was the worst. She felt like it was, so it really wasn’t an act.

---

Tony was chewing his burger slower and slower as he listened, mulling over all of the implications of what she was saying. Never being able to touch Pepper or Morgan would make life intolerable, and he'd be bitter and angry too. He'd probably even drink himself to death.

But it's not like his life would cease to have meaning. There were still things left he could do. Things to build or create. People to save. But that's because he always had an outlet. If something wasn't made yet, he could build it.

Rogue didn't have anything like that. Not that he could tell.

He hadn't forgotten the things he wanted to know or the questions he asked earlier. He only back burnered those questions for the time being, and would return to them. He wasn't as good at this as Natasha was, but he wasn't bad at it either.

"Yeah, you got dealt the worst hand ever. I have enough trouble keeping up with my own thoughts. I wouldn't want someone else's thoughts cluttering it up. That is...whew....your life is really a burning hot pile of suck." He was truthful, blunt about it even. "What did you do before you ended up on Genosha?"

---

“What my life is or isn’t,” a slow shrug, she didn’t really care. That much was true. She had purpose. It just wasn’t building things, spending money or trying to save the world. She wanted to save her own hide and make her boss happy. It was simple. And it was all she needed. But at night, late, she missed a simple touch.

A hug.

“Doesn’t really matter. It just is. But it’s the only way for people to understand - that is my life. Now one thinks about how often you just casually touch someone. That is the rest of my days as far as ah can tell. All ah got is to heal up and disappear like shadows in the darkness. Ah don’t want to be a science experiment ever again, and ah won’t let anyone do it to me.”

A faint smirk, “a thief.” a snort of amusement, “ran away as a kid - never looked back. Stole to feed myself. Then bam, one day, touch a guy getting handsy. He’s down like a sack of potatoes and ah’m on the run. Made it a week before someone caught me, threw me in the back of a plane and ah landed on vacation paradise. And hell really lives there.”

She sounded bitter - angry even. Hurt. Like she’d had her pride stomped out. But inwardly, she thought it was the best thing that ever happened to her. She’d survived, and that meant she was worthy.

Right?

---

He didn't doubt that Genosha was hell. Just looking at her told him that much.

Tony was listening while he ate his cheeseburger. This young woman's life was hell, but Tony was a big proponent of You Get What You Give. And that often required working with others. Sure, he was shitty at that in the beginning too, but it didn't mean that he didn't get better at it over time. It meant that he knew he needed to stop trying to do all of it by himself so much.

"Well, if you don't go running off to steal stuff and don't kill anyone, then we can try to help. I'm not about to say it's gonna be easy. It's not. But we can help keep you safe." He looped back around to the who that he back-burnered earlier. "I just need to know who did this to you, so we can do that."

---

Rogue was not ready to just ‘give’ what she got. Not yet, not really, there was a lot to unpack there and she was really not here for them anyway. But she smiled, a little ruefully. She ran her hand over her hair, twirling white strands around her fingers, before she sighed.

“If ah have food and a roof, ain’t gotta steal anything. And killin’ wasn’t really my thing before hand. Ah just had no choice. Never had a choice.” she snarled that as if she was offended he’d think she had a choice. “They held me to people. Held. Me. Until they died.” she shuddered.

“Ah wasn’t given a name - tall, dark, scary. Looked at me like ah was a new species he’d discovered and wanted to pick apart.” she’d give him a good description, though, not perfect, of Sinister. Just enough to get started, and keep him from being suspicious.

---

Tony exhaled. This level of psychological trauma was not in his wheelhouse at all, and no one among the Avengers was qualified to give therapy advice. They really were at a loss. He wanted to fly in and bust everyone out of there, but without knowing who was running it, without having a name to match donors and funding to, they couldn't even try to stop the supply chain.

He hated thinking it, but Rogue's life seemed simple before this happened too. Run, steal, survive, run again. Rinse and repeat. It was possible she just couldn't fathom what was going on while being forced to do that stuff.

Never one to shy away from anything, he reached over and patted her arm where it was clothed. No hesitation. He did poke Bruce only an hour or two after meeting him, after all, just to see if the Hulk would come out.

"You wanna hug?" he asked, tossing the remains of his burger aside. "You could use one after all this crap and I can manage it. But it's gonna be an armored suit hug."

---

She flinched as he touched her. Whether on purpose or not, it was hard to say. Deep down she didn't want anyone touching her anymore. While at the same time, craving it like an addict.

Unfortunately for him, she knew exactly what he wanted. Knew exactly what he needed to hear. She knew exactly what she'd done, and what she'd come to love to do. But he didn't need to know that. That was tucked safe, because she needed to be the broken girl.

"Maybe ah'll remember more, ah don't know, ah am sorry." She was not, in fact, sorry.

"Ah… uh what?"

---

"Hug. Reel it in. Carefully, because those ribs." As he sat there, the suit assembled itself over him, metal rippling over his clothing until it covered him from head to toe, form fitted. Each part had pressure sensors so he knew how much was too much. He could pick up a newborn baby wearing that suit, or hammer a bad guy's face into the ground. Everything was calculated and programmed, and almost - basically - hooked into him as fast as his brain waves could think about it.

He stood up and leaned down, arms out. Although it was still his voice, it was being pumped out of about a thousand microspeakers in the nanobots that made up the faceplate of the suit.

"I know it won't fix everything, but it's what I can do right now. If anyone needs a hug, it's you. Your life's been a big pile of suck. I'll be careful, and it won't hurt me." He knocked on his chest plate so it clanged. "All good. Here for the taking. Get it while the gettin's good. No strings attached. Promise it's nothing weird, my wife would murder me with her high heels."

That was a fact. Pepper probably would murder him with a shoe one day.

---

Rogue just stared. It was hard not to - that was bizarre even for her and she’d been seeing a lot of weird shit lately. “That is weird.” she said after a moment, impressive though, and filed away. Everything was filed away for later.

She couldn’t think of a good excuse not to - though she was weirded out in general. She had no idea what to think of Tony, not really, he was not what she expected. And that was a strange thought to sit with.

She carefully pulled herself up. “Uh, sure.” she said after a minute, “can’t get weird, anyway, ah’d kill you before she could.” she said with a shrug as she very, very carefully took the offered hug.

---

"Yeah, well...that's true too." True, he wasn't a therapist but he was a dad, and sometimes people just needed hugs. Even he needed them sometimes, from Pepper, or Morgan, who clung onto him constantly. The moment that Rogue mentioned not being able to touch anyone, that meant that Tony was going to, inevitably, invade her personal space.

He moved in and carefully put both arms around her, avoiding too much pressure on her ribs. He didn't pull away, but was leaving that up to her to do, when she was ready to.

"See? Not so weird as hugs go," he said with a smirk behind the faceplate. "It's pretty ok."

---

Consider her personal space invaded and she was stiff under his hug. That was not something she expected, and let’s be honest, she hadn’t had a hug since she was a tiny thing. This was weird, what was her life?! She gave him a Look as she wiggled free after a few seconds of feeling awkward as hell.

“Sure, could have been weirder.” she wasn’t entirely sure how but there they were. “Uh, thanks, ah guess.” she was pretty much ready to bolt back to her room and hide for another six hours under a pile of blankets, or take another shower.

Everything hurt and she was slowly feeling a little less stable.

---

"Hey, all good. You gave it a try, and that's great." He gave her a thumbs up as he took a step back and the metal of the suit moved like a fluid substance as it deconstructed itself.

He tilted his head a little as he looked down at her, like he was troubleshooting something. He didn't say what though, only ended with a smirk and moved out of the way to grab his shake. He didn't sit down.

"You're probably worn out right now," he said. "If you wanna bolt and rest, or just get used to things, you can do that. Not gonna stop you. We've got your back now, so no worries."

---

Her fingers snatched the shake up like it was going to grow it’s own legs and wander off. She took a drink before she eyed him.

“Ah am, that’s for sure. Ain’t used to that yet, either.” she didn’t give him more time, she turned on her toes, and with all the grace of a wounded gazelle, fled. It was not graceful. She was livid at letting anything bother her. She looked back once, then found her way back to her room, to do exactly that: hide.

And write.