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LET THE RECORD show that in the number of times Theadora Valaryen had ventured outside her bustling confines of Queens, she had been prepared to engage in a fight. Note, the actual number of departures from the U.S. was reduced to once to Wakanda as the universal war against Thanos loomed over her.
Never in her life had she taken a vacation, much less go across the ocean. The time when she was exiled from Dragonfort under the cover of night to evade Asgardian foot soldiers probably didn't count. Perhaps that was why she couldn't decide whether to pack a handheld vacuum cleaner or a backup bottle of shampoo. Though her passport shrouded her under the name Theadora Martell, she was taught to be on guard at all times and no more did she need those skills than now. Underneath jackets and jeans were maps and siege tactics. Bex would've been annoyed that she wanted to merge work with what was supposed to be Operation: Suummer Lovin'.
"Theādora, let's go! Mrs. Ortega's outside!" Serafina called from the living room.
Grabbing her call watch off its handmade charging stand, Thea made a quick sweep of the mostly-organized room to check for the millionth time if she packed everything. Her eyes landed on the small line of books shelved on her desk amongst a hoarded mess of empty coffee mugs and energy drink cans. Most of them were history tomes with maps and annotations sticking out at irregular angles but a few stragglers ranged from Virginia Woolf to Toni Morrison, things she picked up from the five dollar bin at the local bookstore. However, the fact that such marvelous and inspiring works being in the discount section was an atrocity of itself in the first place. Her blood ran cold as her fingers ghosted over specific etchings.
Norse script embedded in fine leather casing. Thor's journal. And inside, the clippings and annotations Tony had written for her.
It was like her hands moved on their own, flipping through the frayed pages and catching pieces of paper before they could fall out and lose themselves in her room. A glimmer of silver drew her eyes to a card lodged in the spine of the journal. Tony's personal phone number underneath those wry words, "YOU KNOW WHO I AM."
Thea wondered what would happen if she called that number. If she could hear his voice, making some joke about leaving a message after the tone, perhaps things would've been okay. She would have him close. Before she could even think it twice, she began punching the sequence of numbers into her phone and raised it to her ear. The line rang for three long heartbeats and the only other thing she could hear was her own shallow breathing. It suddenly caught in her lung when the line clicked.
"If you have this number, you know who it is. Leave your name, number, and a brief message and please, make it brief. No guarantee I'm gonna listen to it but um, try to stay safe out there, alright? I'm busy enough as it is, you know, saving the world, inventing cool stuff."
