Scintilla of Ludic

Chapter 2: Sunday Moring Stroll

Annora stayed in her closet the whole night and woke up laying on her side surrounded by tons of bags. She leisurely allowed her body to wake up and observed her empty clothes racks in her closet. The walk-in closet was bare, too bare for her taste. It would have to change. She did a quick count of how many bags of designer attires she had and estimated that she would still have one third of the clothes racks empty. That was perfect for extra shopping she needed to do if needed later on, and with her it was probable. Annora stretched her arms and bended down touching her toes to get rid of any leftover lassitude. Two hours of the morning was spent with her organizing her clothes, shoes and other things in her closet, and the music cranked loud as it could in her closet.

Annora didn't even have a thin sheet of sweat covering her afterwards. Others, she knew, would be at least a tad sweaty from all the moving she did. Next she disposed of the multiple bags into a large bag and went to the back of her building all the way down and threw the bag into the dumpster in the alley. Annora would have had jelly legs when she went up the stairs all the way to her closet. She pulled on some black skinny jeans, even though it was April it was always a little chilly in New York no matter where. She flung on a slim black ACDC t-shirt that her father bought her for her last birthday. Annora wobbled up to the roof struggling to put on her hoodie and close the roof entrance at the same time. It took only three steps for her to feel the effect of the sunlight to fill her with renewed energy.

"Thank gods." She breathed, closing her eyes and letting the sun that briefly peeked through the clouds to energize her. She went to the lone table on her roof and grabbed her spare wallet that had money and an extra key to the building. Normally she wouldn't leave valuable stuff out in the open but she doubt someone could climb up the slick windows of her building to her roof.

Annora went to the edge of the roof where the alley was and glanced around her. She chewed on her plump pink bottom lip in anticipation. If her father found out she did this…someone saw her doing this and this leaked out she would be in trouble. Her boss would probably grind on her too. He always does. Annora shrugged her shoulders. It would be worth it if she could just fill that hole in her heart with a fleeted amount of adrenaline. She jumped off the ledge. The fall was brief and sent little thrill but she sucked it all up like it was cocaine to an addict. Well, she was an adrenaline addict. It would explain her implicit need to walk into daring situations. She landed with a soft thud and her knees bent slightly. She laughed a little and walked out of the alley and into the sidewalk. It was worth it. Annora finally made it to the pizza joint she found a month ago and ordered one pizza slice with water. She would have gotten more but she didn't want to seem like a pig. She could almost imagine what the cashiers face would have looked like if she ordered six slices all for herself. She sat there chewing on the greasy pizza slice sometimes pausing to take a swish of water and watching the people walking by. She gave a lady-like snort as she viewed the never ending bustle of New Yorkers and tourists. It's been sometime since the attack in Manhattan and the Mandarin and they just go on about living their lives.

A chill crept up Annora's back and to her neck. She stilled and watched around her carefully. Something was coming and she felt like she was going to be situated in what was to come. The feeling was almost excruciating because she felt for the first time unable to do anything about it. Her timeline merging with someone else's. She squished the napkin in her hand and tried to even her breaths. It was the same kind of shift she sensed before her father's kidnap, before Thor's appearance, before the avengers, before the Mandarin, and now this. Danger follows me everywhere, she thought sarcastically.

Annora reached in her pocket and dug out a thin rectangular transparent glass. She tapped the middle of the display and the glass lit up showing the home screen. She flicked through her contacts and pressed one of them that said 'The beast'. It didn't take long for him to answer. "Miss me already?"

"I'm bored."

"Aw, no hi daddy?" Her father joked.

"Hi daddy," She said quickly before going back to why she called him." Like said, I'm bored."

"Hm, and..." he paused for a second and Annora the telltale sign of tool clattering on a table. "Why are you in the city?" He inquired innocently.

Annora groaned in annoyance. Of course he would track her phone. She reminded herself to block her location from him later. "I'm not doing anything suspicious besides like I said I'm bored and," Annora lowered her voice down and told him," My timeline merged with another's."

"Who? Do you know why?" Her father was quick to ask. His worry made clear in his tone of voice.

Annora leaned back into her chair deflated. She rubbed her face with her other hand. "When something shifts my timeline or merges in some way I never know who but this is almost the same as when the...other events in the past."

Her dad was silent. He probably was situating what she told him and trying to find some clue. Finally after a moment, he told her, "Just be careful okay? We don't know who this person is or if it's just even one person."

Annora shook her head even though her father wouldn't see her movement. "No, it's just one particular person that is fused with the rest if my timeline."

"Okay is it like fused–fused or like fused-but-not-that-badly-fused? Because I'm not getting this weird sixth sense thing of yours."

"Tony."

"Whoa! My little baby girl brought out my name—now I know she frustrated."

"I'm going to hang up on you." Annora threatened her father. She wouldn't waste her breath with him right now. This was important. She felt like she was the matured one at times.

"Fine, look I gotta go baby girl. I love you. Don't forget your curfew is right after I hang up this phone. I'll check if I can see you sometime later. Don't do drugs and um...don't do things I would usually do. Yeah that good, wow I'm getting better at this parenting stuff. Bye, Nori."

Annora sighed and put her phone in her front pocket of her skinny jeans. She stayed at the table for a little while doodling with a small pen she found in her wallet. She drew a sketch of the people walking in front of her on a new napkin. It was faintly blurred since her hand rubbed against certain parts of the napkin. She hummed thinking of what she should do for now. She wasn't going to go back to the building like her father said for her to do. She wanted to explore Queens for a little bit since she only had seen Manhattan and even then she wasn't taking her time to look around her at that time since she was occupied at that time. Annora pushed the metal chair under the table, folded the napkin into a small square and pushed it into her pocket with her Stark-phone. She made her way through the crowds and covered her face with her hood, pushing her sunglasses on.

Annora found a small skateboard park five minutes later into her stroll through the edge of the city. It was nice but a little dingy. A few trees littered the area and Annora complicated on climbing one. She was just walking by the large skate bowl when she heard the telling sound of a skateboard behind her. She ignored it thinking the person would switch courses. What she didn't know was the speed the person was going at. All she heard was a shout and she was thrusted forward as a body slammed against her back. The way her back slapped against the floor with an audible thud made her wince. The strong force that pushed her back to the ground would have caused severe bruises to her back if she just an average person. Annora's glasses skidded to the floor and her head thwacked on the sidewalk making her hoodie come free. There was a heavy body on top of hers leaving her to wait for the person to move off her. A groan was heard along with a mutter of apologies.

All Annora saw was disarrayed chocolate brown hair nuzzled up against her chest. Oh, this was just not her day was it? Too much bad luck she'd say. The head lifted off of her chest and his warm mocha brown eyes stared into her eyes. It was only in that spilt moment she knew who fused into her timeline. The cause of her distress was staring right in front of her. His eyes widened taking in her face. Annora wasn't an idiot, she knew she was considered stunning and would usually turn heads her way if she attracted attention to herself by other ways than her looks. She had light olive flawless skin that never tanned any darker or paled after days without seeing the sun. She had a beautiful body figure, the kind girls felt offensive by when she was nearby, the kind you would see on Vogue magazines. Her hair splayed on the concrete like a golden bronze halo of ringlets. Her eyes were what captured Peter Parker's attention. The golden ring around her pupils surrounded by turquoise green. They were her best feature. He thought that she was perfect. Peter could see that she wasn't blinded because of her inhumanly beauty nor was she flouncing about showing herself off. That he could tell because she didn't have any noticeably skimpy clothes on her. Her pink lips were pulled into a frown making her full bottom lip stretch downwards.

"Damn it." Annora groaned and slammed her head as soft as she could against the paved ground.

The teenaged boy scrambled off of her with a distinguishable blush on his olive skin. He cleared his throat and pushed a hand out to her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to um, crash into you."

Annora took his hand into hers and felt a sense of warmth fill her. It was strange and obfuscated her greatly. She eyed his hand strangely and promptly snatched her hand away from him and gave him a scowl."Next time you should call out to the person to move not when you collide with them." She snapped testily.

He scratched the back if his neck awkwardly and gave a hesitant nod. "Uh yeah sure."

Annora scoffed, rolling her eyes before rubbing at her face irritated. He was a very maladroit person by far. She stomped her left foot ignoring the teenager still standing there."Ugh, this is not my day! And now I'm acting like a petulant child. Whatever I'm gone, bye skater boy." She left him not waiting for him to give her an answer.

Annora was mumbling the whole way back to her building. Her mind was spinning in confusion. That was the problem in her timeline? She didn't know exactly what to feel. Maybe she should go back and slap him? No…that wrong, right? Her thoughts were boggling with new questions about the skater boy. She was close to her building she noticed as she past the small shop three doors up from her building. Now that she's remembered—she should really make up a name for her building other than calling it building in her mind all the time. She wasn't going to necessarily call it home yet. It doesn't feel like that yet. Annora made a face, someone was following her. She was right because just when she past the alleyway of two buildings someone grabbed her arm and tugged her into the alley. She turned her head staring straight into a gun pointed at her. Yeah this definitely was life messing with her. She stayed calm knowing she could get out of this.

That was until the person spoke."I could have killed you then and there." The woman's voice spoke out.

Annora gave a mischievous smile. "Oh but what's the fun in that? If you haven't noticed yet, I'm kind of bullet proof, well to an extent." Annora then asked curiously."What are you doing here? What happened to the team Captain? Is he here too?"

"Nah, just wanted to see my favorite little assassin and how she's liking the dead." Oh, sarcasm. Yeah that's defiantly Natasha. Annora could see Natasha perfectly fine in the dark but technology is so innovated she wouldn't put it past anyone to try and impersonate people she knows to kill her.

"Oh it's life brilliant, thank you." Annora said sourly.

"Well obviously I'm here to save you life." Natasha said as she put her gun back into its holster and hid it with her leather jacket. She wrapped an arm around the Stark's shoulder, leading her away from the alley and into the direction of her building. "Let's go somewhere a bit more secure."

When the two reached Annora's building Annora sat on the long leather couch in the first floors living room. The nefarious Black widow stayed standing looking around in mild interest. "Nice place."

"Your hairs longer than the last time I saw you. It's nice," Annora complimented her as she eyed the beauty's shoulder length blazing red hair. She smirked then and said," Are you trying to impress a certain Captain Tasha?"

Natasha rolled her eyes at the teen's imprudent question. She was trying to see if she could get a rise out of her. Annora was the only other person other than Fury, Barton, or her father that talked back to her like so without fearing getting shot or beat up till they were crippled. "I'm not capable of falling in love…not with this job."

Annora and her were quite, both thinking about what Natasha said. It was true. Having any other significant or family was dangerous but wasn't heard of. Annora was already worrying about Pepper and her father communicating with her now. Annora shook herself out of the disheartening thoughts and gave Natasha a hard look. "Okay spill it Tasha. I know you to some degree to know this isn't a friendly chat visit."

"Well, it's more of notifying you of a mission than anything." Natasha mused, crossing her arms. Greens eyes settled on the youngest agent known in SHEILD.

Annora sighed."Of course, but why so early now. I don't take SHEILD as a consult-with-the-agent-then-send-them-off kinda division."

"Mhm, your right about that. SHEILD wants to know if you're still available for some regular around the jobs or is school going to get in the way?" Natasha finally said in all her seriousness.

"I graduated from high school once—I think it's safe to say it wouldn't matter if I miss a few weeks or days of school."

"That's good then. I'll be joining you on a mission at the end of May then." Natasha practically ordered before she noiselessly left.

Annora sat on the couch with her mouth wide enough to catch a swarm of flies if she wanted to. Natasha wasn't one to ask just like SHEILD wasn't one to order—they expect you to do it. She wasn't so shocked that the Black widow found her because she has her ways and probably it was because SHEILD made it their business to know everything about their agents and their whereabouts. Annora worked for SHEILD in many things also involving assassinations, engineering, and one-agent jobs that include lots of danger. She didn't trust SHEILD by gods she didn't, but she trusted Director Fury and Agent Hill along with Natasha and the newbie Captain America. Annora felt bad for Cap since he has no idea what he just got into. Once in SHEILD, everyone always have to watch their back because they will make ememies.

Annora got off the couch and stretched her limbs. She went to a vacant small closet in the right hallway on the first floor. She reached up to the hanger and twisted down. A hiss sounded and the back of the closet wall slid open sideways. A medium sized elevator waited behind the closet wall. Annora stepped in and the door shut with a click. Annora's stomach gave a flip and she felt a similar feeling of falling for only a short few seconds before the door opened and Annora stepped out. White marble walls glistened when the dark rooms lights turned on within the second Annora came in. The room shown with high-tech. Four thick crystal tables were filled with scientific apparatus, and shelfs lined one wall with equipment. The lab itself was big and with lots of bodily room for plenty of testing. Annora went to the back of the room where a nice desk and chair was. She sat herself down on the chair and turned on her glass tablet. She then proceeded to roll herself down to a Holotable near her.

"Alright SIA I need you to tap into all high school student files within a five mile radius." Annora rolled her shoulders with a slight smirk."We're going on a manhunt."

"Yes ," SIA replied and the holotable switched in bring out two holoscreen's of files. SIA was Annora's AI like JARVIS but her acronym meant Significantly-Intelligent-Assistant. "I have listed all students together within your range."

Annora squinted her eyes."Hmm, take all girls out of the list, and ..." Annora thought quickly about the awkward teenaged boy. He was about her age maybe so he would be in eleventh grade then. "Leave only male Jr's from the high schools."

"Have you lost a boyfriend, Ms.?" SIA inquired.

Annora laughed. She thanked herself for instilling SIA some humor. "As if, alright let's get down to business.

Annora quickly went to work. If this awkward teen was jumbled into her life she might as well find out why and how, and that involves participation. Annora's eyes flicked between both screens in a fast pace looking at all the male teenagers face trying to find a set of familiar brown eyes and disarrayed hair. Annora wondered why he was even in her life now because he was just a regular boy in New York. Looks can be deceiving, a voice seemed to say from nowhere specifically. Annora deliberated for a moment as she scanned the many faces of students. The weird voice that she probably would get emitted into the crazy house for was right. She may look like a beauty to behold but no one would really she her as unusual or an agent how is sent to kill. That skater boy was either more than he appeared. Or was important to something that will happen soon this year. A flash of familiar coffee eyes caught Annora attention from her internal musing.

"Wait, wait…go back SIA." Annora ordered of the AI. SIA slowly went back slowly so Annora could look for the person insistently plaguing her thoughts. "There stop, pull up…Peter Parkers student files―all of them."

Annora's breath caught as she stared out at the picture of the now known Peter Parker. He was boyishly attractive she'll give him that much. Her eyes traced his strong oblong chin to his inviting lips, the bottom lip was fuller and Annora couldn't take her eyes away from them. Annora blinked after a moment trying to gather her thoughts. The hell? What was that? Annora was glad no one was present to see her openly ogle the picture of Peter Parker, and to see her blush.

"What has gotten into me today?" Annora rubbed her forehead trying to physically rub off those revealing thoughts of being attracted to someone one. She was not going to be compromised, nope she wouldn't allow it. Jeez, she only just met the teen and momentarily at that and now here she was scrutinizing him like piece of eye candy. Annora went back to reviewing his file with the picture out of the way this time so she could get some work done.

His name of course was Peter Parker, and his Parents were dead. He lives with his uncle and aunt and is very intelligent in sciences. He, being very well off in science, caught her eye. He was her age like she guessed and in AP classes in Midtown school of science. "Of course." Annora said out loud to herself.

Ironic enough he goes to the same school she was going to tomorrow. Once Annora got all the information she could on Peter and deemed it satisfying she closed all files and headed out of her lab. Well tomorrow she guessed she should think about how to approach him or if she should even be friends with him anyways.