Here's the fourth chapter!
As for now, have fun!
„How about a pizza-cocktail-videogame-'Let-us-find-out-how-good-hoydens-taste-in-music-is'-cocktail-party? With cocktails.", Tony suggested.
„I've got a slight premonition that he is really into cocktails.", Hoyden whispered toward Natasha, who immediately started sniggering.
„Jarvis, please get some things for me online: Cocktail umbrellas, these funny drinking straws, crate of coke and two crates of beer, and a pizza for everyone. Uh, also, a big birthday cake!"
„Of course, sir."
Then, Tony dashed out of the room straightaway.
Hoyden looked perplex and slighty distraught at the ceiling. „What kind of voice is that, actually?", she asked curiously.
„That's Jarvis. Tony's computer toy. It is an artificial intelligence. Don't be scared. I also needed a settling-in period..", Steve explained.
„Apropos", she sounded abashed, „I only recognized you because I saw a picture of you in a newspaper from 1943.. How did you end up in this time?"
Steve's countenance darkened rapidly. He sounded rough and mourning. „I was flying home after I finished my mission in Germany. I was at the helm but the plane was almost not guidable anymore and had only very little fuel left. There was a big city in front if me, if hadn't do anything, the plane would have crashed into the city, I knew that. Then I was finally able to redirect the plane and crashed in a snow-covered area. Then I was frozen in a thick coat of ice, almost 70 years later, people had found and defrosted me."
„Hey..", she said unexpectedly calm and laid a hand on Steve's shoulder. „this was a very noble and unselfish move. I don't know you guys very well. In the beginning, I wasn't even sure if I could trust you, but now... I know I can. And I'm sorry that I slanged you yesterday." Steve gave her a smile. „You are our friend, of course can you trust us."
„I'm sorry to interrupt you guys but I was wondering how you suddenly knew that today is your 18th birthday?", Natasha asked skeptically.
„When I slept, earlier this day, I remembered a scene of my 14th birthday. I saw a calendar and the date was the 30. July 1943. When I look at myself I assume, that Im not 83 years old. Somehow, at voice told me that I'm going to turn 18 this year. It was a feeling, an intuition. I know that sounds crazy and hell... it is crazy..."
„Hm.. ok.", she nodded unsatisfied.
Several hours past, 'Hoyden' came to trust the Avengers, they talked, laughed and had fun. It were the happiest and most careless hours she had in the past 75 years. Well, she thought they were. Then, suddenly, Tony came into the room.
„Tony, where were you the last 5 hours?", Pepper asked worried.
„Doing some stuff..", he grinned.
„You are up to some mischief again, right?"
„You'll see..", he grinned even more.
Then the doorbell rang. „Oh yeah, the food is here!", Tony screamed, he was more exited than the actual birthday child. He ran to the door, with Steve and Bruce in tow, and only minutes later, the three men carried multiple pizzas and drinks into the room. They put everything on the huge table and Tony said: „Help yourselves!"
Everyone ate a whole pizza, even 'Hoyden' managed to eat a whole one. Also, everyone got a drink and Tony switched on the TV and a prototype of a games console. 'Hoyden' was so terrified from the sudden flaring up of the TV, that she almost fell from the couch. Since she had never seen a TV before, Tony had to explain her what this machine does. But he couldn't suppress his laughter and he put a CD in the device.
The girl looked confused as Steve and Tony began to push the controller's buttons frienziedly, while there were cars on the screen, which were controlled by the two Avengers. She was sure, that this was a good distraction and it looked like a lot of fun. So as soon as Steve had to admit that he lost and Tony started dancing triumphantly, she snatched the controller out of Steve's hands. „My turn!", she said confidently.
Tony accepted her challenge and they started their race but just as the girl was in the lead, Jarvis started talking: „Sir, Nick Fury is standing in front of your door."
Tony was astonished but he was too focused on the game. „Tell him I'm very busy right now."
„Sir, he is not alone. There are at least 20 other agents standing around the tower."
„What?", Tony jumped up. Everyone looked strained, except for the girl, she was totally focused and did not know who Fury was, anyway. Tony went to the elevator in order to let him in. He sighed as he heard 'Hoyden' shouting: „This counts as a surrender! I won!" But he was also very glad, that she seemed to be happy right now.
So Tony stood in front of the elevator and soon it opened, the director, covered in leather, and 5 heavily armored agents emerged. Fury, on the other hand, did not look happy at all, he had an utterly serious look. Tony was pretty surprised and he felt that this could not mean anything good.
„Hey Govenor! I'm sorry but Georgia is farther south from here.", Tony joked.
„Not now, Stark", with that sentence was Tony pushed away and Fury and the men went to the living room. Tony ran after them. Immediately, the agents surrounded the girl, which instantly fell into a complete shock as she let the controller fall down and cried „Scheiße, wasn' jetzt los?!"(„Shit, what's the matter?!"), the agents aimed their arms at her.
Promptly, Steve turned around, he was in a rage when he saw Fury walking straight into the room. „What's the point of that?", he confronted him.
„I should ask you this question!", he answered loudly. „Take her."
One of the agents roughly grabbed her arm and she was pulled towards him, one other agent put her arms on her back and applied some kind of handcuffs. She tried to fight back but it was pointless because her injuries still affected her abilities.
„March her off.", Fury commanded but Natasha obstructed them. „You're not going to do anything.", she pointed her pistol at the agent. The three other agents the suddenly aimed their guns at her.
„Wowowowow, relax, she's right. What do you even what from 'Hoyden'?", Tony asked.
„That's not part of your-" „Fury!", Steve interrupted him, „Tell. Us."
„You know this guy?!", she asked the group loudly, baffled.
The director sighed. „Ok. We witnessed an incident, there was another portal, which was opened. Our scientists mentioned that it emerged near Stark Tower."
„But we did not catch any signal?", Bruce replied.
„It was small. So small that only one person could have fit through it. First, we thought of someone specific, so again, we tapped into all cameras and telephones around the area. Then we saw it was her... so we had to intervene."
„I came.. out of a portal?", the girl asked in disbelief.
„And now.. what? You're going to send her back or what? What exactly do you plan on?!", Pepper got a word in edgewise.
„We'll see. We first had to have this under control. She is a potential threa-"
„A potential threat? Are you serious?", Tony sounded outraged, „this is a little girl. And she's injured. And it's her goddamn 18th birthday. Seriously. You could not have chosen a worse day for this bullshi-"
„Enough. I made my point clear. We're going to take her to headquarters. You don't have to worry about her anymore. You took good care of her, I admit."
„So I was no more than another mission?", she was on the verge of tears and her skin was pale.
„No, wait. This is not-", Steve balked as he saw the girl shaking her head disappointed, offended. „I was right from the beginning...", she whispered to herself. „Natasha. Put the gun down."
„No wait, this is a big misundersta-", she tried to explain. „Put. The. Gun. Down. I don't want any of you to get hurt just because of me.. I've got it now.", the girl looked deeply into Natasha's eyes. And she let her arm sink down. The agents went to the elevator, with the girl in tow, Fury still stood in front of the perplexed group.
„I'm sorry. I know you had sympathy for her but it had to be done. I will inform you what's going to happen."
Tony aprroached Fury frowningly close. „I don't know what your plans are. But if you don't let her go then we can't guarantee anything."
Fury nodded. „I'm just doing my job. I want to protect the earth and nothing like sympathy or compassion will ever stop me. S.H.I.E.L.D. let you get away with so many things in the last time. I wouldn't like you to find out what will happen if we stopped doing this.", he told the group, turned around and also got into the elevator, the girl's eyes were empty and and she looked at the ground, the doors closed. Silence seized the group.
„Did he just try to threaten us?", Tony broke the quietness with a sarcastic laughter.
„But he is right. S.H.I.E.L.D. is protecting us. We have no choice but wait what will happen.", Steve explained tensed.
„But that's a dumb choice!"
„I know Tony.. I know..", the Captain sighed.
"But... But I had a firework."
The girl comported herself as if she was paralyzed, her skin was faint and her eyes exuded anger. She was angry at the guys, of which she thought betrayed her, at Fury for letting her being marched off like some felon, and at herself for being so naive and vulnerable. She used to be strong, that's what she was certain of, somehow. They lead her out of the tower and into a black car, which was also heavily protected.
'Denken die wirklich ich bin so gefährlich? Die wissen doch nur, dass ich aus einem Portal gekommen bin.. Aber warte mal.. Hatte dieser Typ nicht gesagt sie hätten eine andere Person erwartet? Wen nur..?' ('Do the really think I'm that dangerous? They just know that I came out of some kind of portal.. But wait.. Didn't this guy say that they expected someone else? Who could that be..?')
She sat on the back set, two soldiers at every side, one in front of her. They looked neutral but she felt their curiousity and rage. Suddenly, one put a blindfold on her eyes and she felt that they had left the city because the car began to shake since they were driving on a drift lane.
„I'm sorry that we can't let you see anything, but we won't make the same mistakes again.", Fury said sardonically. Suddenly, the car stopped and she heard a loud guttering. It was the sound of a helicopter, which was about to start.
They opened the car door and pulled her out. She witnessed an unfamiliar smell, the smell of grass, fresh air, soil and rain. She loved the smell of rain. She was pushed further and then collided with something, which seemed to be out of iron. „Ah, Alter! Pass doch auf.." („Ah, dude! Watch out!") But the agent, who was supposed to guide her, just started laughing to himself. She made a huge step forward and the door was closed loudly behind her. They flew some time, she did not know how long, she was a terrible guesser. The helicopter suddenly lurched to a standstill and the door was opened again.
She almost tumbled out of the it because she forgot how big the distance to the ground was. She was almost unable to breathe because the air was unbelievably thin but the wind was, ironically, so strong that she felt like she would be blown away at every second. Someone bumped his gun in her back, she was supposed to go forward, she made some cautious steps and entered a long corridor. She was relieved, that she was inside something, now. They walked for some time and then she heard a loud, commanding „Stop.". An agent put off her blindfold and shoved her into a large glass container. Then the heavy door closed.
She looked around, this room was a perfect circle, the floor was white and the walls were actually think windows. She was confused but simultaneously also impressed. Suddenly, she heard footsteps, the brazen sound clinked in her ears. It was Fury who approached the container slowly. Her eyes became small slots, there was no other person, who she hated more than him right now.
„I have an idea.", Bruce said introverted, „maybe we can't do something right now but we could at least figure out what's going on. I assume that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters is the helicarrier. Tony, you already hacked the helicarrier's system once, do you think you could do this again? We can tap into the cameras and see what is happening?"
„Awesome idea.", Tony replied, „Jarvis?", „I got the message, sir."
He turned around, went a few meters, a keyboard popped out of the ground, a blue half-transparent monitor appeared, and Tony started. He wiped over the monitor, made soliloqies with vocabs nobody understood, typed like a dog until he finally shouted: „Done.", while putting on a huge smile. He maximized the monitor and the group could see the live records of every surveillance camera.
„There she is!", Steve shouted while clicking on the monitor, now, only the pictures from this camera were observable.
„Don't tell me Fury put her in the same cage as he put Loki a year ago? Is his insight into human nature really that bad?", Natasha joked.
„I think he just wants to be sure, that she can't escape. Remember when he talked about the portal? He said they expected someone else.. You think what I think?", Tony asked.
„Loki.", Steve said somber.
„He might also think that she's Loki's ally. That she might also comes from Asgard. We're not sure if she's a human, as well."
„Bruce. Don't. You really think that she would serve a person like Loki?"
„Could be. I'm just thinking through all possible options."
„Well think about that: Fury's wrong. He can't walk in every room he wants and accuse someone of being a 'potential threat' just because of their possible heritage."
„Speak! of the devil...", Tony said after he saw that Fury appeared on the screen.
„I'm sorry for that ambush. But, you see, you can't be too careful when it comes to people coming out of this portals. Especially after the last year incidents."
„What incidents?", Fury got her attention.
„One year we had a guy, who thought he could rule the world, but, let's say it did not end very good for him."
„Is that the guy you talked about earlier? Who is he?"
„Yes. Well, I'm damn sure you know him. His name is Loki."
Suddenly, her almost closed eyes became opened widely. „I-.. I heard that name before. What kind of guy is he? And what do I have to do with him?"
„Well,", he walked along the container, „I hoped to hear that from you."
„Me? I just remember a fraction of my life.", she sounded awfully furious right now. „So tell me now!", she hit the glass with her first very brawny, it began to vibrate a bit. A loud humming sound emerged and one retainer was detached. But now she realized her flash of anger, her pulse began to rise.
„And that's the reason why you're in this cage. Because you touch the glass, you're going to fall. 30.000 feet. (9144 meters)."
She swallowed and took a deep breath. „And when do you plan to let me out?", she began to go around in a circuit.
„When you stop lying and give me the information I require."
„But I already told you every-goddamn-thing I know!", she shouted desperately.
„Well, too bad. Seems like you're going to spend some more time here.", he turned around and left the room.
She leaned her head against the glass and let her hand slide down the window, a tear fell on the floor.
I'd love to have some opinios. So feel free to post your! :)
