Kidnapped

13

"What are you?" I turn around and ask him, making sure I stay at least three yards away.

"I'm a human," he replies plainly, "I just built a suit."

"Yeah, yeah okay. Um, what about..." I point my thumb skyward, toward where I thought everyone else was.

"All human. They've just been experimented on, born with extra stuff, born different places."

"The gods?"

"Thor? He's Asgardian. Human, technically, but... God. Look him up, I'm sure he's there. And for Quill... I don't know what kind of garbage he is. Something pulled from a landfill."

I force back a chuckle. "So... if you have literal gods... and powers... what am I doing here? Seriously."

"Extra help always works out. Defeat the bad guys, save the world. I just want peace," he held up a peace sign with his fingers.

"Okay, but I'm a teenager. Or... something. Whatever. Thor... he's gotta be thousands. You're..."

"Old."

"Okay well you have young people up there. Steve looked fairly young-"

"He's ninety five."

"He- he what? No, he's like thirty. He can't be-"

"He was preserved in ice like a mammoth for seventy years, he was twenty five when he froze, so... ninety five."

"I'm guessing Peter is like three hundred then?" He tilts his metal head at me and I correct myself, "Parker. Peter Parker."

"He's fifteen."

My mouth hands slightly agape for a moment. Okay, ranging from fifteen to thousands? What the hell is this? "And the others?"

"Doesn't matter. You're nineteen, by the way."

"Thanks," I mumble.

The suit disassembles and he steps out of it, looking half the size now. "So, kid-"

"Bela."

"So, Bela," he opens a palm, probably for extra sass. If not, he managed plenty anyway, "should I explain what we do here?"

I raise an eyebrow and he continues to go on.

"We save the world. A lot." He puts red glasses on and motions to some prototype that must sense movement. "We go out there, fight the bad guys. And we have tactics. You're gonna need a suit."

The machine pulls at my shirt, then let's go. The top of it twists and hums.

"Leave her alone," Tony motioned to it. Was this man really talking to metal right now?

"What do you mean, suit?"

"My armor," he gestured to the iron man suit that was now closed and sitting like an old man on a bench, "I don't think you've seen their suits," he pointed up, "and you'll need one. Better for fighting, doesn't get messed up as easy."

I remained silent and again, he just kept on yapping.

"I've got a few ideas that may suit you. See what I did there?" He smiled. I force a smile back and wait for him to go on, "JARVIS will help prepare it quicker and Happy will train you along with the others up there."

"JARVIS?"

"Hello," a voice spoke from all around. The same one as before when Strange brought me.

Tony took the glasses off, making me wonder why he put them on at all, folded them up, and set them down. "We'll give you some time to think, if you want to make your own design, have us help, all that."

"Uh-huh," my own suit? What is this, a masquerade?

"Your identity will need to be hidden, for sure. Not your face, but your name cannot be heard outside these walls. Of course, you didn't know it in the first place, but they have a name assigned to you where you came from-"

"She called me 'girl'. I wouldn't exactly call that a name."

"Let me rephrase. Don't let them find you."

I nod my head once and- surprise! The unexpected happens and Tony keeps talking.

"No one knows when the next assignment is so you either have a day or a month or something to figure things out."

"I.... Okay.... I- I can work on... it... later," I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. Create a suit? Name? Face? Life?

"Dummy, go away," he brushed his hand through the air. I look behind me and the same machine thing is there, right next to me. The top of it moved down like an ashamed dog bowing its head and rolls back. "I may need your sizes so take them, find someone else to take them, or be fine if I do it. Up to you."

"I can do it," I look down at myself. He hands me a limp ruler thing from a drawer and I take it, wrapping it around my chest. "Thirty six," I move it down, "twenty six," and again, "thirty seven."

"JARVIS, you get that?"

"I did, sir."

"Good," he took the thingy from me and stuffed it away. "Let's go back upstairs."