Cornelia Street - Avengers

Someone To Become

"Now you hear me everywhere you go. Be the girl you used to know."

New York City, 1937

(A Life So Changed, James Horner)

...

New York City was the bustling metropolis of the country. With its many shops, businesses, and people, it seemed that there was always something to do, something to see, and someone to meet. Someone to become. 

In a quiet street of the city lay a small bar, one tucked away just between a laundromat and a shoemaker. From the stained-glass windows of the dim bar, jazz floated through cracks in the panelling golden light, and laughter streamed through any hole it could find.

 Inside the bar were very few occupants, aside from the bar's regulars scattered like wallflowers, two men sitting at a table near the door laughing heartily, and rather drunkenly.

Across the room from them sat a young woman at the bar, drinking her scotch in a single gulp, earning her an impressed look from the bartender.

"Another, Miss?" He asked in a thick Irish accent, hands expertly cleaning glasses atop the bar. She nodded without looking up, gaze too captured by the flier in her right hand, a rather plain piece of paper. Stark Expo, written boldly across the top, with its varying information just below.

'Join Mr. Howard Stark, CEO of Stark Industries for the first-ever Stark Expo. Mr. Stark will present the world's first-ever flying car at the exposition. There will be a meet and greet following the demonstration. Location: Queens, New York City.'

Lucy Romano bit her tongue, scanning the page closely, practically biting back laughter. Howard and his wild promises, all for the sake of performance and the intoxicating thrill of a crowd's approval.

"Ah, do you like science then, Miss?" The bartender asked her, setting her fresh drink down before her.

Lucy tossed aside the flying, shrugging. "Science is stupid." She then downed her drink once more.

The man cocked a dark brow. "Interesting take. What about teaching then? Or nursing?"

She frowned up at him from beneath dark lashes. "That is all you think a woman is capable of doing then I assume?" She retorted, tossing her bills down on the counter. "The times are changing, quickly. You may want to change with them before you get left behind."

She wandered across the dance floor, heels clicking against the hardwood before she turned back over her shoulder. "But you do make a damn good martini."

Lucy then walked outside into the still street, one that offered an escape from the normally wild and loud city, tightening her crimson coat around her shoulders, walking slowly on the sidewalk, and peeking inside the many shop windows.

She would continuously pass several flyers for the Stark Expo as though somebody had simply thrown a pile onto the sidewalk and called it a day. It felt as though the words were haunting her. 

Passing a movie theatre, she debated going inside, she had nothing planned for the rest of the afternoon after all. But that was before she heard a loud crash come from the alley behind the theatre.

...

Then the memory would end.

Lucia sat up from the chair, the hairs at her neck clinging to her skin from sweat, and dried tears left to turn cold on her cheek. She felt numb as she tightened the restraints on her ankles, clicking the next image to play on the projection before her.