It's Time

2016-Part 2

 I met Bruce on the 65th floor and I immediately noticed that there were about five other people there. Great. I forgot that I had to share this.

"Emily, how are you?" Bruce said as I walked up to him.

"I've been better. Not too bad though." He nodded and I put my box down. "So how much of this is mine?"

"You get the entire back half. The one with the loft over half of it."

"Yeah, ok. That should be plenty of room." I scanned the space, seeing what I would be able to test or not.

"Do you want to go up into the loft and talk?" Right, he wanted to know about Tony.

"Yeah, sure." I let him lead me up the stairs and into the room that was up there. It was actually pretty nice. There was a couch and a desk with two monitors. Pretty nice. I turned and saw Bruce already sitting on the couch. I settled into the other side and turned to face him.

"So, you freaked out a little bit at dinner, why?"

"Well, you know Tony booted me, and I guess I just wanted him to know I was upset."

"It worked. He left imedidatlu after you did." I just shrugged.

"He doesn't get to bring in some random kid and put him above me and not expect me to have a reaction. I want time to process and I am going to get it." With that, I stood up and walked over to the computers. "Friday, can we transfer all my data to this lab and keep it on this computer drive?"

"It has already been done." She said.

"I assume Friday works down there?" I walked over to the window and looked out over the rest of the lab.

"Only for you."

"Great. Thanks so much again Bruce. I don't know where I would go if not here."

"Of course." I left Bruce in the little room and walked down to the actual lab. I tried to ignore all the interns staring at me as I unpacked my little box. Emphasis on tried. I made it for about an hour before I bailed.

"Friday, let me know if any of them touch anything of mine." I said once I was in the elevator.

"They know not to."

"Still,"

"Of course, Ms Barnes." Shit, yeah. Friday almost never adressed me by any name so when she did I always forgot that Steve had my name changed to that a couple years ago. I never changed it back.

I spent the rest of my day doing random shit on my floor. Coding for some projects, reading, doing crafts, anything to keep me busy. I would never admit it to anyone but I missed working in the lab with Tony's remarks and helpful tips. It was exactly what I was missing in Bruce's lab, which was all judgement from the college interns. It was probably well deserved anyway.

Once it hit 8, and I was sure everyone was gone from the lab, I went down and started to work. I worked on all my projects till about midnight when I took a break for food for about an hour, then kept going till about 5am. That's when some people showed up to get some work done before class. I then slept till noon.

I repeated this nocturnal schedule for a couple of days. Once or twice I had Bruce or Pepper come check on me during the afternoon hours, but they never caught on to what I was doing.

On my fifth day, I decided that at my midnight break, I wanted a coffee. I was so close to finishing this set of arrows for Clint for when he came back, I just needed a little bit of caffeine to push me to the end. I took the elevator to the first floor and walked out onto the street.

Walking towards the 24 hour cafe that I was at too often, I make it about halfway before I feel something land on my neck and a sharp pain follows. I immediately yelp and slap at it. A small spider falls by my feet and I squat to look at it. Everything that Bruce has told me over the years is screaming at me to pick it up and bring it home to study. I do just that. There was a plastic bag in my pocket from a sandwich that I had earlier in the week and I place it in there and seal it up. With the spider secured and my neck only somewhat aching, I proceed on and I get my coffee.

Once I get home, I finish my project and head to bed. The strangest thing happened when I woke up.

I woke up in a cold sweat and it felt like I was about to throw up. There was that oddly specific feeling in my stomach and I ran to the bathroom. My feeling was correct.

"Should I alert anyone of your distress?" Friday asked.

I thought about it for a second. "No." I'll text Pepper and Bruce on my way up. I had to get a car anyways. Thank god for Friday's autodriving capabilities. I stumbled back to my room and packed a bag of my essentials and anything else that came into mind. Within the half hour I was in the garage, sitting in my favorite car. It was a grey Audi that wasn't flashy at all. Perfect.

"Friday, can you map the route for the compound?"

"Are you sure you are ok to drive?" I sighed, and began to pull out.

"Yes. Just keep an eye on me." I put on music and was on my way without trouble. An hour in, I pulled into a gas station and texted Pepper and Bruce.

Spending a little time up at the compound. Just wanted to let you know!

I then put my phone away for the rest of the drive.

I made it up at about 5pm, just as the sun was setting. The compound was one mu favorite places to go and escape to, it was in a really pretty place and it was far enough from the city that no one was going to follow me up. I managed to get all my things inside before a wave of vertigo washed over me. Fuck I forgot that I was sick for a second. I felt my knees crumple under me, and I awkwardly squatted on the ground for a couple seconds while head spun.

"Hello?" I lifted my head in the direction of the voice that I heard and saw a young man walk into the room. "Who are you?" I tried to answer but it mustn't have worked because the man just looked more confused. "You're not ok." He said to me. I just looked up at him. He shook his head and lifted me into his arms. I started to mumble something but he just shushed me and carried me to an empty bedroom. Suddenly, I was under the covers and about to fall asleep. I looked up one last time and saw that the man had collapsed into the chair across from me and was watching me. Weird.

When I woke up, he was gone. I climbed out of bed and wandered into the kitchen.

"Feeling better?" I jumped at the sound of his voice and saw him standing by the window.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" I asking, go defensive. He was a stranger and this was supposed to be a secure location.

He took a step closer to me. "You really don't reconize me?" I stared into his eyes and everything came flashing back.

"It's you. You're Loki." I took a shuttering breath. "You killed my parents."