Chapter 3 - I Don't Need Anyone.
I sat on the edge of my bed, with my knees drawn up to my chest staring out the window and at the stars above. Just then the phone on the bed-side table next to me started to buzz, showing me that I had an incoming call. I grinned when I saw the caller I.D.
"What happened to being undercover?" I asked the one person in this world who I actually considered a friend.
"The mission finished early" Sapphire Lucious told me.
"How did it go?" I asked as I debated with myself to tell her that I was now part of the Avengers and that she would need to find a new partner. If I told her now I would have a couple of days to prepare to face her wrath, and she could have some time to calm down. It was unlikely that she would calm down about it, but still, one can dream.
"Pretty good" Sapphire replied. I mumbled half a reply, still deep in thought. "You're hiding something" she accused quickly. Son of a bitch.
"Pfft no." I said, trying to sound causal "Why would I hide something from you? I-"
"You're hiding something."
….
"Yeah".
I heard Sapphire sigh "What is it?" she asked.
"Nothing much. But you may…. Need to find a new partner" I said as quickly as possible. Like ripping off a band aid I told myself, just hurry up and get it over and done with. There was silence for a moment then:
"What?" Sapphire asked in a deadly tone "What did you do?"
"Hey! I did nothing" I said "this one is all on Fury"
"Why? What did Fury do?" she questioned.
"Well I suppose you could consider it a promotion" I said frowning "Fury decided… to make me a part of the Avengers" I was greeted with silence again, but this time a stunned silence.
"Wow" Sapphire said after a while "congratulations I suppose"
"No! Not 'congratulations'!" I said snapped, raising my voice ever so slightly "you know that my prick of a father is in the Avengers"
"Well… maybe this could be a good chance-"
"Think very carefully about how you end this sentence Lucious" I said warning her.
"Maybe, you could get to know your dad" she suggested sounding cautious, and rightly so.
"I know Stark, he's an egocentric, alcoholic jerk that only cares about himself who knocked my mum up and he couldn't handle the consequences of his actions and abandoned her" I growled.
"Is that what you know, or is that what the media is telling you?" God damn Lucious and her deep and meaningful shit.
"I don't want to get to know him" I said stubbornly, not even sure who I was trying to convince.
"Claire" Sapphire said softly "I don't have the chance to get to know my parents. That was taken away from me, but you do. You have the opportunity to have a parent in your life, a family"
"The difference is your parents wanted you. Tony never wanted me" I said softly, trying to keep the pain and the hurt out of my voice.
"Claire-"
"It's late" I said interrupting her "I'm tired, I should probably get some sleep and you should too" Sapphire sighed in defeat.
"I'll be back in a couple days, kay?" she said
"Kay, I'll see you then" I said hanging up before she could reply.
I placed the phone back on the bed side table and rolled over onto my back only to stare furiously at the roof above me. Lucious is wrong, I told myself. You don't need Stark in your life. Your life is fine how it is. You don't need a father, you've survived this long without one, and you can keep doing so.
You don't need him. I repeated to myself over and over in my head, as if the repetition would help make the words true.
I don't need him.
I don't need anyone.
