Ice Princess

26

"Thank you, honorable Zeus for sending out individuals to search for me. I am indebted to you." She raised her wine goblet to him in toast. The faster she got this done, the faster she could get back to Earth and some semblance of normality. Melinoe knew she was laying it on thick. Bucky went to say something and she kicked him under the table. "Don't." She whispered. "This is not our arena and I don't trust him."

"Like you care." He whispered as went to take a drink.

"Please. The faster we get this over with the faster we get to go home." She said under her breath.

"You are home." He told her.

"This isn't her home. She may not know where her home is, but this isn't it." Rocket said.

After a couple hours, Melinoe feigned tiredness and asked to be excused to her quarters. She was granted it. Two guards escorted her to her quarters. Bucky and Rocket shared suites on either side of her. She went out to the balcony and sat, having a quiet cry. She heard a noise, wiped her face and went back inside. Glad to see her attendants had brought her cleaned suit, she changed back into it and put her necklace on. They would be leaving in the morning and morning couldn't come fast enough. Most of the night, she stared at the pretty little bracelet she bought Love. Melinoe really hoped the little girl liked it. She also thought about how she was going to handle her future. She'd have to finish the project first. Bucky was obviously going to make it difficult for her to continue to work at the lab. She'd need to inform Bruce and Fury of all the latest updates. Still, she'd have to stay in New York if she wanted to work with Strange, she would still run the risk of running into Bucky but he would probably be too busy with missions. Out of sight, out of mind. She'd really miss Love, perhaps Thor would let her visit. A soft knock at her door gained her attention. Cracking it open, she should just say no.

"Sergeant Barnes, please go to bed. Don't worry, I'll be out of your hair once we get back to Earth." She said through a crack in the door.

"Can I come in?" He asked.

"No, go to sleep." She whispered. Someone nudged Bucky.

"I'd like to apologize." He told her.

"There, you apologize, now good night." She knew Rocket was behind him prompting him. She shut the door and locked it.

"See, she didn't want to talk to me." She heard Bucky say to Rocket.

"Can you blame her? Let her sleep, she's had a rough couple of days." Rocket told him.

__________

As they went back to Earth, Melinoe switched back and forth between sleeping and writing in her journal. There were so many questions to ask Strange as well as her parents. She made up lists for all of them. It wasn't that she refused to talk to Bucky, it was she didn't feel the need to. As they neared Earth, she was grateful that the mark Bucky had placed on her finally faded.

"Hi, Love." Love jumped into Melinoe's arms after they debarked. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too." Love said.

"Let's go talk to your dad real quick, ok? And I have a present for you." Melinoe held out the bracelet. "See, it is just like mine."

"I love it!" The little girl took her hand and dragged her in the direction of Thor.

"Is there somewhere we can go to talk? Get Bruce as well." She told Thor.

"Meet you in the conference room in five minutes." Thor said.

"Thanks." She sat down in one of the chairs and nervously bounced her knee. Bucky entered a few minutes later. "I need to talk to Thor and Bruce alone, please."

"You don't have to." He told her and had a seat himself.

"Yes, I do. This is personal."

"So?"

"You know what? I'm done. I can't do this anymore." She started just as Bruce and Thor walked in the room. "I quit." She reached into her bag and pulled out her notes handing them to Bruce who couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Bruce, you're a great boss. I loved working here, but I can't deal with him anymore. Thor, you're a great friend and I adore Love. If you ever need any help with her, I will be more than happy to do whatever you need. Even without working here, I'd really like it if I still could see her." Then she turned to Bucky, "I don't know what I ever did to you, but I am sorry for it like you wouldn't believe. You won't talk about it, so the only way I know how to fix this situation is to leave. Bruce if you have any questions, you have my information." She dropped her ID badge on the table. "This is not what I wanted to do or how I expected this to go. I wanted to at least finish the project and work things out. Bucky has pushed me too far." All three men were looking dumbfounded as she walked out.

Melinoe grabbed a box and started emptying items from her desk into it and put her plant and the photo of her cat on top.

"So that's it, you're walking out?" Bucky called after her.

"Yes." He kept following her.

"What are you going to do for work?" He called after her. By now Bruce had caught up.

"She never needed to work. With the court case she won, her investments, and her patents she's independently wealthy. My question to you is what did you do to fuck this up so royally?"

Melinoe made her way over to Strange's. The house opened for her again and she went to the library. Finding a book, she lost herself in it. Melinoe knew they wouldn't look here at least not right away and she could center herself. She had already turned her phone off in the car when she started to receive texts from everyone from Sam to Thor, Bucky to Clint. Before doing so, she had sent Fury a text saying she didn't care anymore. If HYDRA wanted to kill her, let them. For what Hades and Persephone said, she would just return to the underworld and would be able to leave again. He didn't know that, none of them knew that.