Who are you? (A Loki Love Story)

Chapter Twenty Eight - Running

Clint's POV


        "Sophie is gone." Bruce says, and the entire team freezes.
        "How could she have been taken without Jarvis noticing?" Tony asks.
        "She wasn't taken. It looks like she just up and left." Bruce says. "Toiletries and clothes were gone, and she left a body shaped lump on her bed. It was made from pillows and blankets."
        "Son of a -" Nat starts, but Tony cuts her off.
        "Jarvis, is Sophie still in the building?"
        "Miss Crest asked me to inform you that she left a note in the kitchen." Jarvis replies.
        "When did she tell you to tell us about it?" Tony asks as I sprint from the room.
        "When you asked about her, sir." I get to the kitchen and find the note instantly. I read it over as I walk back to the living room, and I'm a little shocked.
        "What does it say?" Nat practically yells at me when I get back. I read the note aloud.

        'To who it may concern.
        (aka, the avengers. If You are not Nat, Bruce, Steve, Tony, or Clint, you better hope I don't find you reading this)

                 Guys, in truth, I was going to leave without writing this. But a part of me told me that you deserved an explanation. While I was in         the bookstore, I noticed a tall, dark haired guy staring at me. I didn't know who he was then, but now I strongly suspect that he was one         of the guards at the lab. Anyway, he seriously freaked me out. I went away, and checked out a little bit later. As I was walking back to you         guys, he grabbed me and dragged me into an employee hallway. He got his hands around my throat, and if I don't have oxygen, I can't         light up. I also couldn't yell out. I was stuck. He told me that they hadn't forgotten about me, and that they were going to get me back no         matter what. That didn't frighten me as much as what he said as he walked away from me while I was trying to breath again. He's coming         for me.
                His name is Dr. Ian Fuller. Most people know him as that. A great member of society, Loving husband, brilliant mind, and most of         all, rich. To me? He is the devil incarnate. aka, the man who adopted me when I was eight. You all know the story. We all lived happily for         a year, then my powers showed up during a nightmare I was having. Bing bada boom. Next thing I know he is all of my fear combined.         Not going to relive memories now, just rewatch the talk I had with Greeny if you're that curious... or forgetful.
                That name struck more fear into me than anything else. I left because I know him. He has nothing to lose, and I've seen the damage         he can create. I left, because I don't want him to destroy the only family I have. You guys mean the world to me, and if anything         
        happened, It would rip me apart inside. Please don't look for me. 
                I left behind my phone and credit card because I know that you can track them. I don't know where I'm going, but I'll be fine.

        I love you guys
                -Sophie

        P.S. Tony, I took 400 bucks from your wallet cause I needed some money. I'll pay you back. Unless I'm dead. Or a lab rat. You know, this         took a depressing turn, so I'm going to stop writing and call this good, k? '


        Everyone in the room is silent when I finish reading. "Should I even ask about the whole Greeny thing?" Johnny asks. Our entire team shoots him a glare, and he holds his hands up in mock defeat. "I just wanted to know what she was talking about. I'm sorry. Obviously a bad subject."
        "We could look for her in teams." Nat starts. "Split the city into sections, and we could each take one."
        "I can fly overhead and have Jarvis run a face recognition scan over the crowds." Tony says.
        "We need somebody to go through the subways." I say. "And we need to make sure she isn't in any hotels." Everyone is trying to form a plan at once, and we've never worked so well with each other.
        "We'll help." I turn, and the Four are standing in a group behind me. Steve nods at them.
        "Thank you."
        "It's good, actually. Unfamiliar faces. If she sees one of us, she will just turn in a different direction, but she won't for some people she's never seen before." Nat says.
        "Ok, I'm all for helping, but we don't even know what she looks like." Johnny says. "Care to show us?" Tony whips out his phone and pulls up a picture of her. He passes the phone to Johnny, who nods and passes it to Susan.
        Her eyes grow wide, and she shows the picture to the other two. They have the same reaction. "What?" I ask.
        "We could've stopped her." Susan whispers, and everyone on the team is waiting for an explanation.
        "It's not our fault. We didn't know that it was her." Reed says.
        "Um, care to explain? I'm pretty sure I'm speaking for everyone when I say we're confused." Tony says.
        "We were in the lobby and we stopped her to ask how to get up here." Reed explains. "She gave us a fake name and sent us up. Now that I think about it, she was pretty jumpy."
        "Jarvis, bring up the security feed of the encounter in the lobby." Tony orders. Jarvis puts the encounter up on the large TV screen. They watched her quickly make up an excuse, and watched her direct them to the Team.
        I watch closely to see what happened after the trio had stepped into the elevator. She scans the room, then quickly exits, picking up speed with every step. By the time she is out of the tower, she's running. By the time the video finishes, I'm holding my head between my hands.
        "Knowing her, she's going to go as far as possible." I say.
        "So what do we do?" Johnny asks.
        "We stick to the plan and start looking."


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sophie's POV


        I've been walking for about a half hour along the main highway leading out of New York City. I didn't plan on stopping anytime soon. The road was pretty clear considering it was almost six in the morning. I thought about hitch hiking, but I figured I was too close to the city before. I wanted to get as far away as I could.
        I walked for another hour before I decided to try it. There are more cars, so I have more of a chance to get a ticket as far away as I can from here. I see a few vans, and decide to go for it. I stick my thumb out and wait....
        All the cars just blew right past me. Well, glad to see that people can still be helpful. Thanks random strangers, for not even thinking of helping. I keep trying for the next half hour, but only had one person help.
        I turned in surprise when I heard a car slow beside me. I looked up to see a girl pop her head out of a large black van. "Hey, do you need help getting to New York?" She asked. She had long brown hair and was about average height. My shoulders drop a her question.
        "No, I'm actually trying to get away from the big apple, believe it or not." I say. "You're the first person to even stop to ask."
        "Sorry. I'm heading in." She says with a frown. "I'm Skye." She says, holding out her hand.
        "Sarah." I lie, shaking her hand. It worked before, so why not now?
        "Well, if you ever come back to New York, just look me up." She says with a laugh.
        "Will do. Thanks." She climbs back into her car and drives away. Yep. If I'm ever in New York again, and I'm not running for my life. Then I'll look her up. She did seem nice enough.

        I'm walking for another hour before someone stops again. I wasn't really expecting anyone to stop after the first half hour, and I was just repeating a pattern I had fallen into. Hear a car coming, stick out thumb, try not to flip off random strangers as they ignored me and drove past.
        I look up to see an older gentleman in a yellow jeep. He stops and rolls down his passenger side window. "Need a ride miss?" He asks politely.
        "Where are you heading?" I ask.
        "I'm heading back down to Indiana. I can take you with me for a while if you want." He says.
        "Please." I say with a smile. He unlocks the door, and I clamber inside, setting my backpack on the ground.
        "Thank you so much for the ride." I say greatfully.
        "It's no bother. I would want someone to do the same if my granddaughter was out here." I look up at him, surprised.
        "You have a granddaughter?" I ask, and I can tell there is a little shock on my face because he laughs. "Seriously? You don't look nearly old enough."
        "Thank you. But I do." He looks over at me. "What's your name, miss?"
        "Sarah Connors." I lie again. I really needed a new fake name. "What should I call you?"
        "People just call me Greg." He says.
        He drives, and for the next few hours, we make pleasant small talk. I find out that he's taken care of his granddaughter since his own daughter and her husband died in a car accident. He says that he's going to be in an empty house soon, since she is almost done with high school.
                I carefully avoid all of his questions for me, or I make up a random lie. It felt wrong to lie to him, but it was necessary. The less he knew about me, the better.
        We stop for lunch at a small diner halfway through Pennsylvania, and near the end, conversation goes in an unexpected direction. "How far do you want to go?" He asks.
        "As far as you are willing to take me. If you don't want me anymore, I can leave." I say hurriedly.
        "No, no, no. I was just wondering. It is actually quite pleasant having someone new to talk too. If you weren't here, I'd probably just be listening to talk radio." He says, chuckling at the end.

        'Some interesting news from New York City'

        The reporter on the TV catches both of our attentions. "I wonder what this is about." Greg murmurs.

        'It appears that The Avengers, the team of superhero's that saved the world from an alien attack six months ago, are looking for         something, or possibly someone. It appears that they have retreated back to Stark Towers for now, but what are they really doing?          People are demanding to know what the commotion is about, fearing the worst. This story will be updated as it develops.'

        "Great. I really hope there isn't another big threat coming." Greg says. "A lot of people are still recovering from the alien attack." I signal our waitress.
        "Do you have a phone I could use?" I ask.
        "It's in the back, just past the bathroom." She says, popping her gum before walking off.
        "I''ll be back in a moment. I just want to call some, uh... Family that's in New York." I say to Greg, and he nods in understanding.
        "I'll wait right here." I smile greatfully, and go back to the phone. I make sure that no one is around before putting my change into the phone. I dial the secure line that would put me directly through to the Avengers part of the tower, through Jarvis. I knew that the second it went through, I would have less than two minuets to talk if I wanted to avoid being tracked. If I used my cell, it would take even less time.
        "Avengers line. The team is not taking any calls right now. Please Leave a message or try ag-"
        "Jarvis, It's Sophie. Put me through and put me on speaker." I order.
        "Mr. Stark, You have a call."
        "I told you not to let anyone through!" I heard Tony's angry voice say.
        "Jarvis, tell them who it is."
        "Mr Stark, Miss Crest has told me to inform you that it is her."
        "PUT HER THROUGH." I hear several voices yell. "Track the call." Tony says a second later.
        "Sophie? Where are you?" I hear Loki say.
        "Not telling, Greeny. Sorry. That's kinda the point of leaving." I blush a little. He's never called me by my actual name before.
        "He's Greeny?" I hear an unfamiliar voice say.
        "Anyway, back to why I called. STOP. LOOKING. FOR. ME." I yell the end. "I left to protect you guys, and with you creating a commotion and putting yourselves on the news, It's not going to help."
        "We aren't going to stop, so you might as well come back." Clint says.
        "Nah, I don't think I will." I say. "You guys are my family, and I'm not going to let you get hurt because of me. Didn't you get my letter? I mean, imagine what they would do if they got ahold of Steve or Bruce. I don't want to know what they would do with you guys."
        "We'll take the risk." Bruce says.
        "If you don't come back now, I'll call in emergency only help." I hear Nat say, and I freeze.
        "You wouldn't." I say.
        "Try me." she says coldly.
        "Jarvis, do you have a lock on her location?" Tony says.
        "I will have an exact point in twenty seconds, sir."
        "Oh, Thanks for the heads up! Bye guys!" I say hurriedly.
        "NO, WAIT-" Several voices yell, but I've already hung up. I slowly walked back out into the diner. I stopped by the register, paying for our meal before Greg would be able to. Nat wouldn't really call Phil with this, would she?
        We get back in the car and start driving again about ten minuets later. We keep up the small talk, and I find myself really enjoying his company. It's around four in the afternoon when I drift off to sleep to the quiet purr of the engine.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nat's POV


        We're all sitting in the living room when the call comes in. "Tony, she could've left the city by now." Bruce says, pinching the bridge of his nose.
        "Even if she has, she couldn't be more then twenty miles outside the city." Tony says.
        "She has 400 dollars Tony. She could've gotten a ride." I say. "Probably a bus."
        "I had Jarvis scan security feeds at all the bus stops in the city. She didn't get on a bus." We're all crowded around the coffee table, looking at the information we have so far. The Four have helped, but they don't even know why she has run.
        "Mr. Stark, You have a call." Jarvis says over the loudspeaker.
        "I told you not to let anyone through!" Tony says angrily. We're all extremely frustrated.
        "Mr. Stark, Miss Crest has told me to inform you that it is her." everyone's heads shoot up
        "PUT HER THROUGH!" Tony, Clint, and I all yell at the same time. " Track the call." Tony continues.
        "Sophie? Where are you?" Everyone looks, surprised, towards Loki. He stood up, and actually looked... Concerned? Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tony and Bruce share a look. They know something about him, but what? I'll find out later.
        "Not telling, Greeny. Sorry. That's kinda the point of leaving."
        "He's Greeny?" Johnny asks. Several of us shoot him a glare, and Sue hits him on the back of the head. I like her.
        "Anyway, back to why I called." Sophie says. "STOP. LOOKING. FOR. ME." She yells, making everyone jump. "I left to protect you guys, and with you creating a commotion and putting yourselves on the news, it's not going to help."
        "We aren't going to stop, so you might as well come back." Clint says, looking at me with a smirk.
        "Nah, I don't think I will." Sophie says, causing Clint to groan in annoyance. "You guys are my family, and I'm not going to let you get hurt because of me. Didn't you get my letter? I mean, imagine what they would do if they got ahold of Steve or Bruce. I don't want to know what they would do with you guys."
        "We'll take the risk." Bruce says, and I see Steve nod in agreement.
        "If you don't come back now, I'll call in emergency only help." I say. Clint looks up at me wide eyed, but everyone else just looks confused. There is a moment of silence.
        "You wouldn't." She says in a low tone.
        "Try me." I say in a cold voice.
        "Jarvis, do you have a lock on her location?" Tony asks.
        "I will have an exact point in twenty seconds, sir." Jarvis replies.
        "Oh, Thanks for the heads up! Bye guys!" Sophie says hurriedly.
        "NO, WAIT-" We all scream, but she hangs up. Steve hits Tony on the shoulder.
        "Nice going Stark." Tony rubs his shoulder and shoots a glare at Steve.
        "Well, at least we have a narrowed search field." He says. 
        "Well tell us where then!" Clint exclaims.
        "I'm going, I'm going." Tony mutters, picking up his phone. He goes through the file Jarvis had just sent to his phone. He frowns and mutters, "No... That can't be right."
        "Tony, where is she? We need to get going, she'll know to move after making that call." I say. He looks up from his phone.
        "I don't know how the hell she got to Pennsylvania, but suit up, that's where we're going."

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