Carmilla ⌖ Pietro Maximoff

The Lab

Carmilla's POV

She willed her boots to be silent as the swiftly padded across the marble floors. She had made her quick escape the moment she was sure Pietro was too engrossed in his cooking and too pissed off to look in her direction.

It was only a matter of time before a security officer watching the cameras spotted her slipping through the hallways, which seemed to twist and turn into infinity. She wished they'd at least have a map in the place, something like a shopping mall directory would be nice.

Finally she found a door leading to a stairwell. She wouldn't chance taking the elevators as they could be stopped. Pushing open the heavy door she descended. Passing landing after landing until her thighs burned and she was sure she'd gone far enough, Carmilla slowly pushed open the next door, scanning the hallway for any stray employees.

Empty, good.

Along with the fact that she was an escapee, it would be terribly embarrassing to have more people see her in her unbathed and disheveled state.

Emerging into the hallway, she kept her head on a swivel as she walked. Maybe if she were lucky she'd find an exit sign.

Suddenly, as if the universe itself were laughing at her, heeled footsteps sounded from the other end.

Shit.

Heart in her throat Carmilla ducked into the nearest alcove behind a fake potted plant. The footsteps grew closer and closer. Hurried, as if on a mission.

Willing her breathing to slow Carmilla squeezed her eyes shut as the footsteps stopped what sounded like only a couple feet away.

Then, there was some sort of beeping. Chancing a glance out from her hiding place, Carmilla was surprised to find a door she hadn't noticed before and a pretty blonde woman tapping on a keypad before it.

"Welcome in Mrs.Stark." An electronic female voice spoke before the door slid open to the side revealing a dimly lit lab. 

No...Stark's lab, and that's Pepper Potts-or Stark, CEO of Stark Industries.

Carmilla watched in awe as the woman—Ms.Potts, strode into the room, face buried in some sort of electronic pad in her hands. She tapped furiously on the screen as she disappeared from view.

Carmilla waited as the woman entered. And suddenly, as if her feet had a will of their own, Carmilla got up from her hiding place and quietly followed Ms.Potts into the room just before the automatic door slid shut behind her.

Her heartbeat thrummed in her ears as she ducked to the left, finding a new hiding spot behind a stack of boxes. She was missing her window of escape but, if she could gather intel from his lab, her father would have no choice but to welcome her back. Additionally, it helped that Carmilla was absolutely enthralled in mechanics and engineering.

She might've hated Stark Industries but she couldn't deny the genius behind their designs, and Pepper Potts was a fucking icon. This was a once and a lifetime opportunity and she could afford to miss crucial moments of escape time for it.

"Do we have any word on what they were?" Ms.Potts spoke into her earpiece as she paced by the other end of the large room. There was silence before her face hardened. "Bombs?" Silence. "Shit—pardon me." She palmed her face as she listened to the other end of the call.

Carmilla took the moment to scan the large room. It resembled that of a warehouse although labeling it at such wouldn't do it justice. Suits of armor lined the walls, blue holographic screens raised suspended over work tables and unfinished bits of machinery. It was an inventor's playground and Carmilla's fingers itched to touch and observe everything in it.

"Yes, thank you for looking into it." Pepper nodded. "Alright goodbye." Clicking off her earpiece she exhaled deeply, leaning against one of the tables. Shaking her head as if to relieve herself of the stress, she looked up to the ceiling. "F.R.I.D.A.Y. remind Tony to meet with me when he gets back."

"Yes, Mrs.Stark. I will move it to the top of the 'Don't Ignore' list you made him."

With pursed lips she nodded and promptly made her way out of the lab, once again tapping away on her electronic pad. Carmilla was so caught up in her awe that when the door slid shut and the lock clicked back into place, it was too late to do anything to stop it.

"Shit." Carmilla cursed under her breath as she tentatively rose out from behind her hiding spot and once again took in the vast room.

There was one large window to her left that allowed a view of the lawn below. In the distance other sectors of the compound could be seen. The place looked less like a company and more like a high tech college campus. She stepped closer to inspect the window's sealing.

To no one's surprise the glass was bulletproof, but there were latches on a pane halfway up the window. Turning them, hope fluttered in her chest as she felt something give way. She smiled to herself as the lower half of the window was easily lifted and a cool breeze swept across her face.

Freedom.

But not yet. Turning back to the lab Carmilla ran her eyes over the workspace, all areas in different phases of disarray. Though she was still in awe, she couldn't deny that the place was filthy. Tony Stark apparently wasn't one to keep a clean workspace.

Biting the inside of her cheek, she glanced back at the open window.

A quick look around wouldn't hurt, and I already planned on gathering intel...

Nodding to herself, Carmilla hurried over to one of the desks and plopped herself down in the swivel chair. Staring up at the big blue hologram screen, she smiled. Apparently Tony also wasn't too keen on turning off his computer. Good for her, too bad for him.

The project before her looked like he had been engineering another suit. She wrinkled her nose as she clicked on his design. It was bulky and very maximalist as far as machinery goes. Very much not Carmilla's style. It needed to be simpler, more portable but without losing its durability or power.

She bit her lip, leaning in close to the screen. Maybe she could buy herself more time...

"F.R.I.D.A.Y?" She winced in caution upon using the name she'd witnessed Pepper talking to earlier.

"Yes ms.—Unknown user detected."

Fuck. "No no no! I'm not Unknown! Mr.Stark told me to be here!"

There was a terrible moment of silence before the female voice spoke up again. "Ok Ms.NotUnknown how can I be of assistance?"

Thank God.

Carmilla breathed out heavily leaning back in the chair. "Could you lock the door for me? Mr.Stark said no one else is allowed in until I'm done."

"Yes Ms.NotUnknown."

FUCK YES

"Thank you F.R.I.D.A.Y." Carmilla could hardly contain her excitement as she turned back to the computer. This would be fun.

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AN: Fuck, Marry, Kill bc i'm bored
- Thor
- Vision
- Antman