✔ᵉⁿᵍˡⁱˢʰ a.k.a. Part I - Infinity War✔

10

Apart from the fact that Ridley Martin didn't do half things in terms of training and gave the worst version of a coach, this hadn't been a bad preparation in any way. Not at all. On the contrary.

As usual, two hours before the start of the New York Marathon, Jyn was long on the starting line, as were dozens of other followers, stretching every muscle of her body or talking to some of the policemen assigned for security. Thanks to the last years and the participation, she fortunately joined the first group that was allowed to start.

The spectacle began on Staten Island, where the start was here, followed by a direct trip to Brooklyn, Queens and from there to the Bronx, from where we finally went to Manhattan, directly to Central Park, where the finish line was located. Doesn't that sound like a lot? With nieces. The whole route was anything but easy. Each of these sections had its own peculiarities, pitfalls and small challenges. Right at the beginning, right at the beginning, there was a three kilometre long bridge with elevation. The Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Then followed the Brooklyn part and thus, in fact, one of the most pleasant parts of the track. There the track went almost straight on 4th Avenue. Without elevations. The second bridge was the Pulaski Bridge, over which we went to Queens. As soon as Queens was crossed, the third bridge came, the Queensboro Bridge. Manhattan. Along First Avenue, north over another bridge, Willis Avenue Bridge, where we went into the Bronx. About one mile, then we went over the Madison Avenue Bridge back to Manhattan, through the district Harlem on the Fifth Avenue. Passing the museum mile of New York and along to the east side of Central Park. Approximately at the Guggenheim-Museum we change to the East Drive in the park, until the park is left shortly afterwards and we went over the Central Park South. The last floor was Columbus Circle, from where we went back to Central Park. Our destination was Tavern on the Green.

Done. That's all it was. Quite simple. Forty-two kilometers. Comma one-nine five kilometers. To take it exactly.

When Jyn crossed the finish line, he didn't look at the big display to tell the runners their approximate time. Breathe. Breathing and coming back down was more important. Actually, she just wanted to stop, die, but her legs moved on by themselves. There was nothing with it, just stop for a moment. Even after ten kilometres this would have happened. It was perfectly normal that one could not stop, but that the body made itself completely independent. At least it was finished now.

Hey, soon it was Boston's turn.

Less than five minutes after arriving at the finish area, one of the police officers came over to Jyn, but she waved directly away because she didn't want to speak..... Could. So he merely held out his fist to her first, against which she wheezed and buffed against a pinched eye.

"Satisfied with time Blake," the cop, listening to Enderson, asked some time later, pointing his thumb over his shoulder to the crowd behind the barrier, "Smile. You know who is romping around at the finish line. Our beloved upper class."

"I don't care at the moment. I am through. Should they run the marathon and then be on it as if they still had it ahead of them," Jyn replied, resting her hands on her hips and groaning and cracking her head on her neck, "Where is our police chief anyway?"

"Not there yet," Enderson replied, leaving Jyn completely perplexed, looking into him as if she had just misheard, "No, you heard right. He's not and that's gonna be pretty embarrassing for him. He was advised against it, but he didn't care. You know him. He can be glad that you ran with him and therefore will not write an article. That is unfortunately a poverty testimony for the New York police. Oh, by the way.... Congratulations. Less than three hours as far as I can tell."

"Seriously," Jyn just started laughing, which turned into a cough and then into an attempt to calm down again, as it started to hurt unusually in her throat, "Felt longer anyway. Thank you..... Um.... Here...... Can I ask you a little favor?"

"Small is always relative Blake," Jyn was reminded with a sigh from Enderson, looked around and approached her two steps, "Straight with you. As always, I can't promise you anything. What is it?"

"Just a few files," Jyn played down the thing, which only made the official more skeptical, "Ridley Martin, The Dead Man and something from the boogeyman or something. I'm unsure about the latter."

"A nice selection you've put together there", it just followed a clearing of the throat, which, Jyn suspected, "Boogeyman, you're serious?! That was a long time ago, I mean. Fifteen, sixteen years."

"As I said, I'm unsure about the last one. If you can't find anything or give it to me, it's not tragic either," Jyn soothed, patting Enderson against his shoulder to say goodbye and tilting his head towards the collection point, "It's nothing important and thank you in advance. See you in any case. Please give our chief of police a nice greeting and that he should listen to his doctor. A COPD is not something you should be frivolous with."

Behind the finish area, where most of the runners gathered and stopped after the race, Jyn walked around and looked around. It was interesting that some of the runners collapsed here. After it was long over. Where the exhausting phase was over. Only then. Lack of fluids, cramps or circulatory breakdowns were abundant here. Especially with those who had been there for the first time or simply overestimated themselves. Anyway, one or the other already sat on the floor; others again, massaged their calves or talked to other participants. Something with two hours ten, had been this year's best time, she got on the edge. Two hours ten. That was almost an hour faster. A damned hour. That was violent. Really violent.

"By now you should know that desiccation can be the result of dehydration," a dark-haired man unasked held a bottle against Jyn, turning her to one side with her eyebrows contracted, for some people could not seem to express clearly, "I expected you sooner."

"Doctor. Stephen. Vincent. Strange," Jyn announced with a slightly mocking tone in his voice, then began to gurgle, because this was more than amazing or absurd to see him here; took the bottle and looked at him soundlessly smacking, "Volunteer Helper? No, I guess not. Are you ill?"

"Instead of answering Stephen, Jyn just looked at him with her mouth slightly open, took the bottle from her lips, and turned her upper body aside, pulling the corners of her mouth down to stifle the answer, "Apparently yes. I see that nothing has changed with you. One thing, however, was interesting to hear. Are you working for Stark now?"

"For, with ..... Somehow in the shoot. Among other things. Anyway, I can bring everything about Tony and Stark Industries in front of everyone else," but she immediately waved it off again because it was nothing worth talking about now, "How are your hands?"

But before Stephen answered, Jyn waited, lifted her left index finger, held her right hand in front of her mouth, coughing and hurried to the next trash can. That was strange. For a moment she paused, swallowed and drank another sip of water to get the taste out of her mouth. Great, she had probably caught a virus in the last few days.

"Pregnant", Stephen asked, but that gave him a dark look, "I'm sorry, because it would be so unthinkable to be pregnant".

"From whom? Victor? Come on, you should actually know me. Well, 'von Doom' doesn't sound bad at all, better than 'Strange' anyway. There's a 'von' in front of the name and that always sounds good," Jyn replied with a scratchy feeling in his throat and distorted his face for a moment because a stabbing pain had set in below the lungs, but it disappeared again a minute later, "All's well. It's nothing. I guess it just came from the last few days. Were probably not quite so health friendly."

"Even with the fact that you just completed the marathon, you don't look very healthy. On the contrary," hearing this from a former doctor wasn't really what Jyn wanted to hear now because it wasn't a good time to get sick, "Even if it was stress, you'd look different. I know what you look like when you're stressed, and that's much better than right now."

"I have no stress," she assured Stephen much too exuberantly, with the ulterior motive of getting away as quickly as possible, "The last few weeks had been without any incidents and were completely calm. Nothing out of turn. Everything was as usual. Very relaxed, almost boring."

Much too hasty, which is more than unusual for Jyn, she said goodbye to Stephen because she knew exactly that he would ask further questions. Questions to which she had no answer or could give no answer. But that was probably nothing.

It didn't take ten steps, not a minute, for everything to turn black all at once.