Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel. I'd tell you to get over it, but I can't, so that would be hypocritical.
Chapter 7: In Which Bea Blubbers
Before there was food there was glomping. Once he was assured that Bea had no intention of going for his kidneys, Tony had come strolling out from behind the bar, making snarky comments about what exactly she was doing in his broom closet for hours on end. And then he blindsided her. With a glomp. Bea found herself immediately and completely pinned by her over-enthusiastic employer.
"My Ducky," he muttered.
"Breathing, Tony," she wheezed. "It's a good thing."
"Right." He grabbed her by the shoulders and held her out at arm's distance, scrutinizing her intently for any bruising, bleeding or ruffling that might translate as harm. "Well… you seem ok." Like all interactions with Tony Stark, this one left Bea wondering how much of his showiness was for his own benefit, how much was for her, and how much was for the rest of the audience.
She decided she wanted food too badly to care at that point. "Ok and hungry," she agreed. She had no intention of showing off her new permanent jewelry to her boss. No way. If that glomp was anything to go by, he'd go ballistic. And she really wanted food before she cruised into the perilous waters of the drama lagoon.
Agent Barton was looking at her sideways, an 'Are you going to tell them or am I?' sort of look. Bea scowled and gave her head a quick shake. He shrugged. Clearly, he was going to just leave the ball in her court. That earned the man about two thousand brownie points in Bea's book.
Then she realized that her whole little interaction with Robin Hood was being studied by a red head in a cat suit. Bea wasn't sure she liked the level of analysis being brought to bear on her silent conversation.
Tugging on Tony's sleeve, she cleared her throat and asked, "Who are your friends? I've met Agent Barton, clearly…"
"And me," Tony said.
"Yes, Captain Obvious, I've met you, too."
"Captain! That's a good place to start." Tony released her with one hand so he could point around the room. The other arm dropped on her shoulders in a friendly possessive fashion. Bea actually didn't mind it at all. It was nice to have some purely platonic (and safe) contact.
"That guy," Tony prattled, pointing to a guy with funny pants and chiseled everything, "is Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America."
"Captain America?" Bea asked. She squinted at the awkward blonde, clearly incredulous. "I think I read about you in high school."
The awkward blonde shuffled up and shook her hand. "Pleased to meet you, ma'am."
"You, too."
"Moving on." Tony literally tugged her along to the next stranger, intent on making them less of a, well, stranger. It just so happened that the next person in line was the inquisitive red head. Bea smiled bravely, but the red head's expression didn't even flicker. Aw, crap. "This is Agent Natasha Romanoff. She kills people for S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Oh." Bea's voice squeaked. Still squeaking, she shook the woman's hand and said, "Nice to meet you."
Agent Natasha Romanoff did not respond apart from a nod. She did hold the handshake a bit long, though, and she looked into Bea's face way too intently.
I'm so not hiding anything. Seriously. Anything at all. You can do a background check if you want, Bea thought. It was a lie, of course, and an unconvincing one at that. Which was why she kept it to herself.
"Next is my new best friend and brother in geek-dom, Doctor Bruce Banner, who turns into a cranky version of the Jolly Green Giant when he throws a temper tantrum."
"Hi." Relieved to have escaped scrutiny for the moment, Bea offered Doctor Banner a one hundred watt smile. Then she frowned and looked at Tony. "I thought I was your best friend? I get kidnapped for day or two and you replace me? Yeesh."
Tony gave her a quick squeeze. "No one could ever replace my Ducky, but the position of 'best friend' is assigned on a rotational basis, and might include Pepper, you, Bruce, Happy, or the pizza delivery kid, depending entirely on my whims and the daily forecast."
"Whatever." She shook Doctor Banner's hand. "It's nice to meet you. Glad to have someone to reminisce with about a certain Stark's particular brand of crazy."
"Says the girl who still likes to finger paint."
"Says the genius who's too stupid to install cameras in the janitorial closets."
"Touché."
"Quite. Moving on?"
They stopped in front of the last soon-to-not-be-stranger. He was decked out in armor befitting a Renaissance fair. He was huge, his long pretty hair needed washing, and his face was set in a definite frown. Bea was pretty sure she was frowning, too. His fashion choices were too close to Loki's for her to feel remotely comfortable. Instant awkwardness abounded. Just when Tony opened his mouth to make the introductions, however, there came a knock at the door, and some brave employee wheeled in a catering trolley.
Tony Stark was many things, but stingy wasn't one of them. There was enough food to feed the whole team, even though the rest of them had already eaten. There was also tea, which Bea immediately poured into a cup… which she proceeded to cuddle. She was always just a little cold since Loki had… but she would sort that out later.
Tony must have asked Pepper for advice or something, because the trolley had all her favorite dishes. Chinese food, pizza, carrot sticks, fruit, and – most importantly – an entire tub of fudge brownie ice cream. It took a lot of self control to not just grab the ice cream and dig in, but Bea managed to at least sample the other offerings before plucking her precious from the counter of the bar and curling up on the couch. As soon as she had plopped herself down on the middle cushion and gotten all comfortable, she realized she had forgotten a spoon. This meant that she would have to get up again. However, just as she was about to set down her treat and march back to the counter, a spoon miraculously appeared in her field of vision. Holding it was one Agent Barton.
Bea grinned. "Thanks."
"No problem."
She might just make friends with her kidnapper after all. It wasn't like he was the real kidnapper anyway.
Bad train of thought.
Back to the ice cream.
It was delicious. Even if it was cold.
Another bad train of thought.
Well, crap on a cracker, was there anything relevant to the current situation that didn't lead to unpleasant memories?
…Apparently not.
Oh, well.
The ice cream really was delicious.
A sinking sensation to Bea's right alerted her to the fact that someone had joined her on the couch. She peeked sideways from the corner of her eye. It was Conan the Barbarian.
"I'm afraid our introduction was interrupted," he said carefully. It was like he was worried about startling her. His intonation was suspiciously close to how someone would say 'Do you know you have a spider on your head?'. Bea ran a hand through her hair, just in case.
Then she swallowed her bite of ice cream and had to answer. "You're right. Sorry. Really hungry. I'm sure you've gathered by now, but I'm Bea."
"Of course. I am Thor Odinson, prince of Asgard."
Another Norse god. And that would explain the parallel fashion tastes.
Bea held her hand out for a shake, and was promptly knocked back off-kilter when, instead of shaking it, the Norse god brought it to his lips and gave it a whiskery little kiss. For a second she was thunderstruck. Then she burst out laughing. Thor seemed a little surprised by this, but his anxious expression soon melted into a warm smile. His blue eyes went all twinkly, and Bea finally managed to divorce her concept of him from the shadowy threat of Loki.
His beard was tickly.
That was brilliant.
"I am sorry," he said, still all happy and beaming. "I forget that such manners are no longer common in this realm."
"Yeah, don't worry about it. Sure-fire way to break the ice if nothing else." Bea scooped some more ice cream into her maw and gave him a close-lipped smile.
"Lady Bea…"
Bea swallowed rapidly. "Just Bea."
Thor nodded and tried again. "Bea. Are you… It is merely that… your hair, and Loki's interest… might you…" That lovely happy expression was sinking as he struggled with his words. Bea felt her own giddy amusement dying, too. She could see where this conversation was going.
"If you're trying to tell me that I'm supposed to be some sort of Chrono-whatsit then don't bother. Loki already went there."
"Then… you are?"
"I don't think so. He does, though."
Tony interrupted. "He said you're a what now?"
"An alien," Bea supplied.
"Oh, well," Tony shrugged, "that's not so bad."
Bea shrugged too. "I don't buy it."
"You do alter time, honey. I think we need to look at this objectively."
Thor, who had been watching the volley of comments like he was at a tennis match, chose that moment to interject. "Are you in earnest?"
"Always."
"Never."
Thor was not to be dissuaded from his course of questioning. "You have altered time?"
"She has." And so Agent Red Head joined the conversation. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has had a file on her for a while."
"A file." Bea twisted around to look over the back of the couch and at Agent Red. "I have a file?"
She nodded.
Bea looked morosely at her tub of frozen wonder. "I don't think this is gonna be enough ice cream."
"If you have influenced the passage of time, Bea," Thor said, back in his cautious voice, "then there is no doubt that you are one of the Chronos."
"I have plenty of doubts, thank you. Can I just eat my ice cream, people? Please? I have just ended a very long stretch of captivity in a closet, before which I was stabbed, kidnapped, threatened, and kidnapped again. Personally, I think I've taken it all pretty well, but I swear, if you all don't let me unwind and eat my comfort food in peace, I will stop time, run away, and find a nice quiet corner somewhere to blubber like a baby."
That shut everyone up pretty effectively.
Then the stone in Bea's chest sent out a flash of extreme cold, sending her bouncing up in the air with a yelp. Without thinking, she grabbed at the spot.
And so Bea blew her chance to recover before revealing the blue mood stone in her chest.
Because he was closest, Thor was the one to settle her down on the couch and inquire after her well being. Agent Barton was the one to pull her hand away from her chest and tug the collar of her shirt down a couple inches. Steve was the one who gasped like a girl. Agent Romanoff was the one who had to re-holster her gun, and Doctor Banner was the one who immediately began prodding the area in a clinical fashion.
"What. Is. That." And Tony was the one who looked ready to go kill a few thousand people.
Bea – who had done such a good job holding herself together – finally lost it and started crying. "I don't know!" She was half yelling, half sobbing. "He just stuck it in my chest, and he says he'll always be able to find me, and I can't get it out."
"How does that not classify as harm? Thor." Tony, still in stiff assassin mode, looked pointedly at the Norse god of thunder. "What did your brother do to my Ducky?"
Thor was Loki's brother? Bea failed to see the resemblance.
Tentatively, Thor brushed a finger over the stone. "This is magic. I am afraid that I have nothing near my brother's mastery of it, but… I don't believe it can be removed. Not here. Not on Midgard."
Bea wailed.
"We need to report this to Director Fury," Agent Romanoff said.
"Get that thing out of Bea," Tony ordered. "Bruce?"
"I would if I could, but I don't even know what this thing is," the good doctor said. "It could be imbedded in a bone, or carry some sort of electrical charge, or even radiation. I just don't know."
There was too much going on. Everyone was shouting, questioning, ordering. Every fear that Bea had tried to repress was being bounced around in the air around her through their words, and it was all just too much. She needed to cry. She needed to hide somewhere that felt safe. She needed to pretend for just a few hours that the stupid rock just didn't exist.
And that was when Steve Rogers forever ingratiated himself to her.
"Everyone." He spoke with authority, and, amazingly, everyone acknowledged that authority and stopped panicking long enough to pay attention. "I don't think any of this is helping Miss Doe." Everyone's eyes swooped down on her couch-prone form. While she couldn't tell for certain, Bea assumed that she looked like a mess. She certainly felt like one. "What she needs is someplace quiet where she can calm down and relax. We can update Fury and handle what needs to be handled. There will be time to examine that… whatever it is later."
Tony was the first to nod. "Right. I've got lots of guest rooms. Bea, my dear? Let's find you a place."
Lips trembling, eyes watering, Bea nodded, and Tony helped her off the couch and out of the room.
He found her a place just down the hall. It was dark enough to sleep in, and the bed looked absolutely amazing. Promising to come back for her later, Tony stepped back into the hallway and closed the door.
Bea was asleep in minutes, exhausted by her crying, and weighed down by her meal.
Every dream she had was green.
A/N: Short, but here. This was a bit of a struggle to write, and I'm gonna give myself a little more time for the next few chapters, but we're preparing to launch into original territory, so get excited (and review). I'm more than a little frustrated with the writing style of the story right now, because it feels really blocky, so I'm gonna try to improve that in future chapters. Bea will still be random and abrupt, but hopefully I can weave some more colorful and varied sentences around her off-the-wall thinking patterns.
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Ducks: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you like it. Well, there's lots of 'Ducky' references in this chapter, so I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks again!
