Project Alpha

Chapter 25- Hiding

Laying outside on this hidden part of the ledge has been so peaceful that I don't want to go back to the tower. Going back would mean facing so many problems. Peace can't last forever, though.

    Just when I was starting to think it would probably be in my best interest to go back to the compound, people yelling my name made me change my mind. I can hear everyone yelling my name. Even Bruce is calling my name, even if he does sound pretty quiet.

    When they finally stop their noise pollution, I'm able to hear each of their footsteps, but they are in all different directions, meaning they split up to cover more ground. Smart.

    Not only do they have the ground covered, but the air is also being occupied by not one, but two iron man suits. At first, I think that it is just Tony in the red one and he is being followed by some electronic suit that is connected to his, but I am once again fooled. I know because I hear Steve talking into the coms below me. He is so close that I can hear every single word. He mentions someone named "Rhodey". I can only assume that it's one of my father's friends that I have no intention or urge to meet.

    I make sure that I am extra quiet when Steve passes because I read somewhere that the serum that he was injected with gave him super hearing or something like that. He eventually leaves after he finishes his conversation with who I assume to be Tony. It isn't a very interesting one. It really only consisted of Steve telling Tony how wrong he was to say what he did and then Tony yelling at Steve that he knew.

    I was starting to feel a little guilty for staying out here for so long, but it just felt too good to be alone for a while. It was peaceful. No one was expecting anything from me. Nothing had set me off. My hands had returned back to their normal color and stayed that way.

    Now, everyone was out here looking for me and it made me feel guilty. I could leave my little hiding spot right now and everyone could go back to living normally in the compound, but I didn't want to go back quite yet.

    These thoughts of staying in hiding didn't last long, though. Not ten minutes after I had decided to stay a little while longer, a metal suit landed on the ledge that I was on. It wasn't the blazing red and yellow suit that I was expecting, though. Instead, I saw a black and silver one.

    "Not seeing anything, Tony," some man inside of the suit said. I wasn't afraid, assuming that it had to be whoever Steve was talking about earlier. This didn't mean I was ready to go back to the compound with him, though.

    "Yes, I'm looking. You think I'm not looking? I have eyes," Rhodey says as I try my luck at keeping behind the brush on the ledge. I can feel my luck running out when I hear the metal boots stomp towards me. Sure enough, with a quick movement of the brush, my hiding spot is revealed.

    I'm sure I looked at Rhodey with as much hatred in my eyes as I could, but all he did was say into his coms, "I was right, she wasn't here." Relief flooded over me.

    "Well, keep looking," I heard a muffled Tony say from the other side of the coms.

    "No shit, Tony," Rhodey said, and shut his coms off. He turned to me as he sat down next to me and introduced himself.

    "I know, I heard Steve say something when he passed me earlier," I tried to say in the nicest way possible. All things considered, Rhodey was truly my savior right now.

    "And you are?" he asks.

    "Aria, sorry," I say.

    He nods and says nothing else. For a while, it seems like he is trying to get his thoughts together, but then I think that he is beginning to feel the peace up here, too. The chirping of the birds fills the quiet that surrounds us.