Avengers: Resurgence

Keep Trying

"Alright, kid, breathe," Tony steadied Loreley, a hand on her back. "Just breathe. Tell us what happened."
Loreley nodded, trying to compose herself. She'd been ripped back to the present like no other time before. Now that she was aware of her abilities, using them as they were meant to be used, the physical stress was enormous. And she was blind once again, a suffocating feeling that she despised. All she could see was the vibrant orange of the others's auras, all except for Thomas' own, which was instead a sickly green. He was terrified.
"I - I'm okay," she said at last, calming herself down. "I found him. I found Peter."
"Did you talk to him?" Tony asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, I did," Loreley continued. "Thanos was tricking him, trying to manipulate him with visions of his family, illusions -"
    "He what?" Tony's aura flashed a furious red. Loreley let out a shaky breath.
    "His family. They were leading him into some part of this... This world he's in. It didn't really look safe, if worse than the rest of that place. I stopped him, used your name to pull him out of whatever trance Thanos had him in."
"That blasted -" Tony started, but Natasha cut him off.
"What then?"
"I told him you'd sent me. He barely believed me, and I almost didn't pull him out before I lost the connection. I don't know what's happened since. I don't actually know if he's okay..."
"Go back," Tony said suddenly, his aura darkening into a dangerous shade of red. The others went quiet. Loreley looked up at him, confused.
"I don't know if I -"
"I said go back," Tony told her, more firmly this time, locking eyes with her, and where she should have been afraid, instead she found herself angry.
"I'm not just some new weapon -"
"And you're also not capable of understanding what it's like to lose the one person that you'd come to love as your very own child, so don't you talk to me like you have any kind of authority on the matter. Go back."
"Excuse me?" Loreley laughed. "I think I have authority on whether or not I'll do what you ask, if not solely because I feel at this moment it's too dangerous, too risky. I'm not willing to extend myself to the point that I won't be able to make it back, or if I do, see them again. You're not the only one looking for someone you lost."
    There was a heavy silence in the room as Loreley heard her own heartbeat pulsing in her ears. She wouldn't go back. Not yet. It was draining her. Hurting her. Her ears were ringing, and the world seemed to spin as she sat and leaned back in her chair. She exhaled slowly, shakily, trying to compose herself. Then, before she could stop it, a sudden wave of disorientation passed over her. The last thing she heard was Thomas calling her name.

    And someone saying to her that she was the only person who could bring them back.

    And, lastly, someone screaming for her not to go, to keep trying, to pull them through -

    Then more voices layered on top of one another as she lost consciousness.