LIGHTNING ▷ BUCKY BARNES [UNDER EDITING]

3| RESTRAINED POWERS

Winn and Valerie stood quietly awkward in the elevator, the only sound heard was the elevator music and lastly the 'Ping!' sound when the doors opened up to a big, modern living room. The kitchen was not so far away from it and Valerie's heart raced with every step she took towards Tony Stark. Her mind filled with regret as she and Winn finally stopped in front of the man, the woman's hand visibly shaking. "You guys must be from Time." the man said, looking the writer and photographer up and down before smiling warmingly and motioning for them to sit down in one of the many couches. As they sat down Tony Stark quickly shook Winn's hand before he offered it to Valerie. Her eyes lingered on his hand, in the corner of her eyes she saw Winn looking at her impatiently. "It's not really nice to not shake my hand." Tony said as he sat down, waving his untouched hand around as Valerie refused to shake his hand. Valerie glanced at Winn who shook his head in disappointment before focusing his attention to the billionaire. "Murdering my mother isn't either, but whatever." she mumbled under his breath, yet it was loud enough for the man to hear and to ask what she meant. Valerie shook her head dismissively, not wanting to talk about the topic because she would lose her temper and sanity. "Nothing, mister Stark." she said politely, setting her camera on portrait mode and standing up. "Can I take a couple of pictures of you so I can go?"

Tony eyed the woman suspiciously but nevertheless stood up and fixed his suit to look good for the photos. For the first time in all her years as photographer Valerie couldn't wait to end her shoot. She snapped a couple of pictures, looked at them to check if they were good enough to use and once she was satisfied she nods at the billionaire and then to Winn, "Thank you, I guess." she mumbled to the man as she left towards the elevator. She wanted to go back to her own work space, away from the tower, away from Tony Stark... away from the Avengers. She knew they were in the building, they always were when they weren't off destroying cities and lives.

She found herself impatiently waiting for the elevator, her foot tapping rapidly against the floor tiles as she watched the numbers above the elevator door change, indicating at what floor it was. "Okay, no. Excuse me, lady." she suddenly heard from behind her. Valerie turned around to look at the man who had Winn trailing behind him with a pen and a notebook in his hand, desperately stopping him from talking to her because she would snap.

"You are incredibly rude." he suddenly said making Valerie's eyes widen with surprise and anger. "So are you." Valerie snapped and Winn winced from behind Tony, knowing this would happen since Tony walked up to her. Winn shook his head viciously towards Valerie from behind Tony, telling her to calm down and consider what she was doing but she didn't cast any glance towards Winn as she continued to look at Tony with frustrated eyes and a big frown. "Look, I just want to go without any problems." Winn sighed in satisfaction, his body relaxing once again as a small, appreciating smile grew on his lips. She didn't want to cause a scene and lose her job, after all, Tony Stark was capable of making her life a hell by just saying a few words to her boss.

The bell of the elevator behind the woman rang to indicate the elevator was on her floor and opening. She gave the man in front of her one last irritated look before turning around to the elevator, without a second glance to Winn who was without her knowing motioning at her to not turn around. But she did. And all the peace and temper in her suddenly vanished.

She looked at the blonde muscular Asgardian in front of her, her eye twitched at the sight of his smile that was nothing but sickening to her. "Now, there is one problem." she said through gritted teeth. She swallowed thickly when Thor moved passed her, his arm just slightly touching the woman's shoulder. "What is the problem, my lady?" Thor asked after he respectively bowed to her, wanting to know what the comment was about. Her body tensed, her jaw clenched together and her hands bawled into a fist. She swore she felt, after all the years of restraining it, her powers returning. She felt the rush of energy through her whole body, making her head and hands feel as warm as a blazing fire.

The eyes of the men in front of her widened and they all took a step back from her, watching how sparks of lightning sparkled out of parts of her body. "Valerie... calm down." Winn whispered, his hand moving in a comforting way to tell her to take a deep breath because she was losing control. The photographer turned her head towards the window, the reflection showing how she looked like and what she was. She looked like Thor a couple years ago, emerging from the sky and striking London, the Thor that made her that way. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, faced herself to the men before opening her eyes again. But she couldn't control her powers, not with Thor in the room and staring widely at her.

The lamps above the group flickered on and off, sparks of electricity flying widely above them until the lights finally shattered, leaving them in nothing but darkness.

After minutes of panicking between all of them, Tony told JARVIS to put the lights back on and after a bit of struggling the power went back on. But Valerie was nowhere to be spotted.

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