"So, what? It was too dangerous
for me to fight against Iron Man
and Black Widow last year because
I was too young and it was too
dangerous, but now some alien dude
wants to destroy the planet and I'm
suddenly totally cool to fight?"
Sequel to...
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CHAPTER ELEVEN | TESTING THEORIES
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MY ARROGANCE KNOWS NO BOUNDS AND I WILL MAKE NO PEACE TODAY, AND YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY TO FIND A WOMAN LIKE ME
-projections // jenny holzer
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Bella landed in Norway with a mission on her mind. She spun sharply on her heel and looked towards the house she knew Steve and the others were staying. Setting her jaw, she marched towards the front door and threw it open.
"Steve!" she screamed.
He popped out from the kitchen — regardless of what was going on, it would never stop being weird seeing him in anything other than his Captain America suit — with furrowed eyebrows. His beard had grown longer since she'd last seen him; he must have stopped trimming it. It looked good.
Focus, Bella! Jesus Christ!
"What's up?"
"Something's happened," Bella said, wringing her hands together. "Someone— someone made everyone in New York forget that I ever existed. It's like I was never born."
She could feel tears burning in her eyes, but this was so not the time for that. Sniffing sharply, she straightened her back and bit on the inside of her cheek.
"Steve, I don't know what to do."
"Hey," he whispered, reaching out and pulling her into his chest. He squeezed her tightly as the tears began to fall. "It'll be okay, Bella. We can figure this out."
When she pulled away, still sniffling and rubbing at her eyes, Steve placed his hands on her shoulders and led her into the kitchen. Numbly, she sat down at the counter and nodded when he asked her if she wanted tea.
"Ara mentioned you like mint tea," he said, pulling a box from the top shelf of one of the cabinets. "Do you want sugar or honey?"
"No," Bella mumbled through a throat thick with sobs. She cleared her throat and sat up. "Just the tea, please."
Her voice was hoarse, like she'd been screaming for the past fifteen minutes straight. She didn't speak again until Steve handed her the steaming cup of tea and leaned his torso against the counter, opposite where she sat.
"Do you have any idea how this happened?"
"No," she said, tugging at her earlobe. "Last night— I was with Peter and he said he saw a blinking, red light. But I didn't see anything."
I don't even remember why I came over here. Peter's last words to her. Jesus, how could she have not noticed something was wrong? The way he looked at her— it was like he'd been seeing through her. Not seeing her at all. Her grip tightened around the ceramic mug.
