Argent Eye IV

27

When I got home, I set about telling Stark about everything that had happened. About Amy suspecting that I'd had some kind of power all along, to her knowing I'd been in the woods. I explained as best as I could what her power actually was. We were just finishing up the conversation when Stark's mobile rang.

"Stark speaking." He said, taking on a very serious tone. "Woah, slow down, Tina. What's happening?"

There was silence as Stark listened to whatever Tina was talking about. He looked very concerned.

"Okay, we'll be right there." Stark said, and stood up. He looked at me as he hung up the phone. "Let's go, Millie."

I didn't know where we were going, but I got up quickly.

"Get your combat clothes on." He said. "Be down here as quick as you can."

I nodded and rushed upstairs, shoving my combat uniform on, and then my boots. I tied my hair up, and then rushed back down the stairs.

Stark was already changed when I got to the front door, as was Rose who I didn't even realise was home- she must have been in the garden.

"Ready?" He asked me.

I just nodded, not really sure what I needed to be ready for, just as Harry appeared in the hallway. There was no time for hellos, apparently, as my feet left the floor.

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When we landed, I noticed that we were in some kind of shipping yard- we'd appeared between several large containers, and it was raining. It was also dark, and so there were several street lights turned on- they reflected against all the puddles, although didn't provide a huge amount of light in the shadows of the huge metal boxes.

I also noticed that we weren't alone. I saw a couple of others, including Tina, who came over when she saw us.

"What's going on, Tina?" Stark asked her.

"We came here because there were reports of a huge influx of energy." Tina began. "Like, the energies of the earth became very unbalanced for a brief moment. When we got here, all we saw was this..." she started leading us past the shipping containers, until we came to a clearing. You could see the edge of whatever stretch of water we were next to- I didn't know where it was, but we were at some kind of port. A couple of small boats bobbed up and down in the small breeze.

But that wasn't what caught my attention. Floating in the middle of the area, about a metre above the wet concrete, was some kind of sphere. It was black in colour, but moved and shimmered a little, and seemed to reflect dark shades of purple and blue.

It also made a strange noise- every now and then, it seemed to produce a deep, thrumming noise, that vibrated right through me.

It also filled me with dread- I didn't know what it was, but it wasn't good.

I went to take a step closer to it, but was stopped when Tina grabbed my arm.

"Don't." She said. "Whenever anyone goes near, they get fired back."

"Fired back?" I asked.

She nodded. "Like, it has some kind of consciousness. It projects some sort of energy if it doesn't like you."

I looked back at the mass, not sure what to do. I looked at Stark.

"So what do we do now?" I asked.

He was looking at the alien sphere as well, as if trying to figure it out.

"Do you feel that?" He asked. "Doesn't that feel familiar to you?"

I frowned, and looked back. I then tuned into the thrumming sensation, seeing if I could make sense of it. I could see what Stark meant- there was something about it that seemed familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Then, it seemed the ball was starting to pick up energy. Where it had been shimmering before, it now seemed to ripple more intensely. The thrumming became more frequent.

Until, there was a huge shockwave.

I, and everyone and anything in close proximity, was thrown backwards several feet.

The air was knocked out of me, and for a second, I struggled to move. But, when I finally managed to get my breath back, I quickly got up.

"You okay?" Tina asked, getting up next to me.

I nodded, checked to see if Stark was also okay, before looking back at the scene.

At first, I couldn't see anything. A strange kind of fog seemed to have accumulated. However, the gentle breeze cleared it quickly.

I had to narrow my eyes- standing there was what looked to be a man. He was facing the opposite direction, and had his head and back hunched over, like he were just beginning to stand up.

What's more was that he was stark naked. No shoes. No underwear. Nada. He didn't seem bothered by this fact, though, as he turned around to face us all. Maybe he hadn't noticed.

He was pale skinned, and despite the lack of light, you could see that his eyes were a pale shade of green. He frowned when his eyes locked with mine.

"Millie?" The man said after a moment, although his voice was coarse. As if it hadn't been used in a while, perhaps.

I frowned, trying to figure out if I'd seen this man before. I didn't even recognise him, though.

"You know this dude?" Tina asked, uncertain.

I shook my head. "No." I said.

We looked back to the man, who was staring. He looked down at his hands, as if he didn't recognise them. He then looked back at us, before he smiled.

Before we could react, this incredible surge of energy erupted from him. It hit everyone, knocking us flying again. I landed hard on my bum, again, and moaned before getting back up.

But the man was gone.

"This is Stark- we have a situation." Stark said into his walkie talkie. He then looked at me, nodded, and we returned back to base.

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