Flawed Minds

Chapter Eighteen

Nova's P.O.V

"Hey there, Purple-eyes," I shuddered at the familiar voice, automatically irritated by that 'nickname' and now hyper aware of how I had foolishly isolated myself from the others by entering the small empty room. "Now, what are you doing in here all alone?" I turned around, my face already set in a slight frown, to see the man who had made me uncomfortable earlier, Joshua, standing between me and the door; that unsettling smile still on his face.

"I needed time on my own. I've never been to a party before and I needed a break- Can I help you with anything?" That horrible feeling had returned tenfold, the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end, and I found myself calculating ways to get out of there.

"You know, it was rude of you to run away from me like that earlier. It made me angry, but you know what, now that it's all nice and quiet, you can make it up to me," Suddenly he lunged forward and grabbed me around the waist, catching me completely by surprise and I tried to push away from him.

"Hey-! What do you think you're doing-?" I yelled, scared at both being this close to a stranger and terrified at what he was trying to do. He reached round and grabbed a handful of my butt, causing me to yell louder. "Get the hell off me you piece of-!" While I struggled, tears began to form and blind me as I panicked but I felt so conflicted; I wanted to get rid of him permanently, but I was scared that if I did anything to him I would get in so much trouble. It didn't help that those green eyes in the back of my mind became brighter than they'd ever been before, and they almost seemed to be daring me to use my powers, the sparks appearing at my fingertips without having to even try to summon them. I mentally cursed Loki just as I was about to give in to the anger and the urges to fry this jerk, when the door to the room slammed open with a bang.

"You are going to take your hands off her and leave right now, or I'll fly you out of this window by your ankle." Joshua angrily turned to see Tony Stark standing in the doorway, his furious expression daring him to call his bluff. Relief spread through my body as soon as I saw him, dissipating the fear and anger into almost nothing. The minute that lowlife loosened his grip on me I yanked myself away, giving him a mild electric shock and jumped into Tony's arms, who held onto me tightly as Joshua was escorted roughly off the premises. "Hey, are you ok?" He murmured and I nodded, my face still buried in his chest, in that moment wanting to leave the party immediately. "I am so so sorry, Sparks, that never should have happened- FRIDAY told me that there was something wrong- I'm staying with you till you say you want to leave."

"I nearly killed him," I whispered. "If you didn't come in when you did I-"

"Don't think about that, it shouldn't have happened at all. I'm sorry I wasn't with you, I thought it'd be annoying if I hung around after you already spent the day with me, I should have stayed anyway,"

"It's ok, you wouldn't have annoyed me." I cleared my throat and tried to compose myself, looking up at him. "I just don't think I really like people that much anymore," Tony sighed and rubbed my back as we stood in the once again quiet room, taking a moment to let me clear my head. It was not the first time something like that had happened to me, nor was it the worst time. As I stared at Tony's arc reactor that was visible through his shirt, I had to force the flashbacks away from the forefront of my mind, trying desperately to stay calm and avoid completely ruining the evening for the rest of the team by breaking down. I shed a few tears before forcing myself to stop, lifting my chin and shooting Tony a small smile, telling him I was ready to go back to the others. He held me close as we wove through the party-goers back to the team, who were disgusted to hear what had happened; Natasha in particular looked about ready to hunt the guy down, and most certainly would have if Bruce wasn't holding her back. I noticed that they had adjusted their positions so that there was a wall behind me and they were between me and the rest of Tony's guests; I felt safe as their protective natures showed, it reassured me that I wasn't in danger- but the nausea and the fear lingered for a long time, leaving me wary of the rest of the strangers there anyway. I didn't leave the team's sights even after the party began to die down late into the night as they started to relax and chatter now that they could hear each other better.