To Love a Spider

Chapter 12

The showers were amazing. It took Elizabeth ten minutes to figure out how to work them. There were at least twenty buttons and jets were everywhere. When Elizabeth finally turned it on the water hurt her raw skin. She didn't mind, the pain kept her in reality and not drifting back off into space.

Elizabeth knew that there was something different about her, she could feel it. Although she didn't know exactly what it was, she had a good idea that it was dangerous. She wasn't going to tell Tony stark about it though because then he would never let her go home.

After Elizabeth was done in the shower she dried off and wrapped the towel around her. She searched in the closet for new clothes. She picked out the least fancy pair she could, it looked like workout clothes. There were light pink workout pants and a blue sweatshirt. She decided against wearing any shoes. Elizabeth wasn't too sure about wearing someone else's underclothes but decided to anyway. She was going to be living here, she needed to get comfortable with it.

She walked out of the room and continued down the hallway. She had no idea how to get to the living room but hoped that it was this way. Everything looked extremely expensive. Elizabeth was careful not to touch anything as she made her way to where they were meeting.

The hallway opened up into a large room with gray couches, stairs, and a bar. There were four other men besides Tony Stark and Spiderman in the room and three women. Although there was enough seating for all of them, they were each standing up.

When Tony Stark noticed Elizabeth he motioned for her to come forward. Wanting to get this over with as soon as possible, Elizabeth wasted no time in going over to him. Even though Elizabeth didn't exactly trust Tony Stark, he looked like the friendliest out of the bunch and she trusted him a lot more than the others.

Not including Spiderman, of course.

"These are the Avengers," Tony said. "Just eliminate Spiderman."

"Hey," Spiderman answered. "I am so an Avenger. That is so not fair."

Tony looked back at him and glared. "You are not an official Avenger."

Spiderman hunched forward and seemingly pouted. "That is definitely a Peter move," Elizabeth thought.

Tony started to talk again, addressing the situation. "This is Elizabeth Brun. She will be living with us until we know that she is safe. Everyone say hello."

Nobody said anything. After a moment one lady with blond hair came up to Elizabeth and pulled her into a hug. "I'm Pepper, Tony's finance. It is so nice to meet you."

Elizabeth mumbled a small hello but didn't say anymore. This was the most intimidated she had felt in her whole life.

"I have already set everything up with your parents, Elizabeth. They think that you have been selected for a huge Stark internship in which you live with me. I have already sent for your things to be delivered, they should be here in a couple hours." Tony's voice was softer this time.

Something dawned on Elizabeth. It was going to sound completely dumb but she needed to ask, or demand really because she wasn't going to do anything else until it happened. She willed up all of her courage and again, felt the power running through her. It was much stronger this time and it made Elizabeth almost stumble. She felt much more confident so she asked her question.

"Can my dog stay with me to? I know it sounds stupid but I would like to have a companion in all of this mess." Elizabeth stared straight at Tony Stark, willing him to say yes.

He looked as though he had completely blanked out. His eyes were unfocused and his limbs were rigid. When he spoke it sounded as though he wasn't in complete control of his body. "Yes, but make sure it doesn't shed."

Elizabeth stopped concentrating so hard and it looked as though Tony had gone back to normal. "Thank you, so much. She doesn't shed, she's a schnauzer-poodle mix."

"Whatever," Tony said and then looked at the rest of the group.

They were all staring at the two of them like they were aliens. "How did you do that?" Pepper asked.

"Do what?" Elizabeth was confused.

Pepper looked shocked. "Get him to agree to having a dog. I've been trying to do that for years."

"I asked?" It was more of a question. Elizabeth didn't know what the big deal was.

There was an awkward silence for a couple of minutes before a tall blond man with long hair came up to Elizabeth and scooped her up in a huge hug. Elizabeth was uncomfortable but decided being hugged by this large man was better than being killed by him.

"Hello, I am Thor, son of Odon." The man said.

Elizabeth nodded at him but couldn't form anymore words.

One by one the Avengers came up to her and introduced themselves. Elizabeth had never felt so welcome in her entire life. She now knew Natasha, Clint, Wanda, Thor, Pepper, Bruce Banner, and Steve.

Personally, Elizabeth liked Thor and Steve the best. Thor looked and acted a little bit like a scary god, which he was, but also has a kind and goofy side to him. Steve was completely serious but was also extremely smart. To Elizabeth, it seemed as though they thought and acted in the same way.

The rest of the night Elizabeth and the Avengers hung out and ate dinner. It was hard to believe that she was meeting the world's most famous heros. Elizabeth had a feeling that it was because she was living with them. She sensed that Tony Stark knew that she had been experimented on and wanted to play the "friend" card so that she would suck up to him.

At eleven Tony made Elizabeth leave so that she would get a good nights sleep.

Her training started the next day.