BOOK 3 of the ORPHIC Series
CHURLISH
/ˈCHərliSH/
marked by a lack of civility.
~~~~~
Lucille 'Lucy' Opal Baker finds herself in the 21 century sporting the title of Aunt while lugging along h...
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"Have more fear of regret than failure."
Seoul, South Korea August, 2015
LUCY STOOD AT THE EDGE OF the lowered quinjet ramp, letting the wind whistle in her ears. She kept her gaze forward, eyeing the hospital building sitting near a bay. It was just a few blocks away, enough to convince Ultron that she'd driven all the way here, under zero detection, simply because she was capable of such. She felt distrubed by the absence of her mask, wringing her bare wrists, itching to have something hanging around her neck. It didn't feel right–she had so much freedom that it felt wrong.
She had a constant headache throbbing against her forehead, reminding herself over and over again that this wasn't a mission, that she was doing this partly out of her free will—he did give her an order, didn't he?—and was in full control of her actions.
She didn't need to hurt anyone. She didn't need to kill anyone. She just needed to get in, pull Henry out of the dumpster fire he was currently in, then pull him right back out. It wouldn't be that difficult. She'd done a few missions by herself, so it wasn't like she completely relied on having a partner or anything.
Right.
It wasn't like she was nervous. She wasn't. She wasn't nervous about being on a mission without James. It wasn't like she'd gotten trapped with a very possessive Henry before in a completely different situation.
It was fine.
This was fine.
"You sure about this?"
Lucy tilted her head back as Tony padded forwards, leaning his hands against the roof of the quinjet as he looked out across the place they were currently hovering above. He gazed at her with a look of concern; she had a feeling it was not because he was afraid she'd be injured.
His worry was pinpointed on her mental trauma, and Lucy knew that her lucidity wouldn't last as long as she wished it would.
She sighed.
"Yes, Tony. If worse goes to worse, I'll just regress. It's not a big deal." She said.
She bit the inside of her lip as Tony raised a doubtful eyebrow. Her hands fell away from her wrists as she shoved them in her pockets.
"Look," Tony put a hand on her shoulder, and Lucy found herself pleasantly surprised when she didn't instinctively lean into his touch, "I know you, enough, I think. Well, seeing as we've had some history together, Ms. Mafiosa. Which is besides the point. Anyway, I know you can handle yourself in a fight. I know Schaffer isn't as much of an asshole as he used to be, but I still don't trust the bastard, and he might take advantage—"
