Before I say anything else, I want to apologize.

I hate when people do what I just did to all of you, and I am so, so sorry. I could lie and say I just haven't had the time to write, but I've been updating my Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus story so that's no excuse. This isn't one either, but I'd like to try to explain myself.

My life lately has been poop. At school, I'm struggling to keep up my good grades in Earth Science and English, as well as get my grade up in Algebra II and learn my lines for the 3 plays I'm acting in for my Theatre II class (being triple-cast is hard!). My life outside of school is stressful, too, with my birthday coming up, trying to plan my party on a day that everyone can come, not to mention looking for a new house and making arrangements for when my older sister moves down in July.

Like I said, none of this is any real excuse, but I don't want y'all to think I just abandoned you. This story will get done, it's just going to take a while.

Moving on, I'd like to thank everyone who has stayed with me, and acknowledge all new readers.

New Follows: linsesuppa, lightwood185, bettyboo2u, , WitAngerandBravery,

New Favorites: twilight-moon09, linsesuppa, lightwood185, bettyboo2u

Review Replies:

stinkysox: Surprisingly, my exams did go well, thank you! I managed to pass all four classes with 3 As and a B. Daughter of Prophecy is up with several chapters, so feel free to check it out!

supernerdgirl: I'm glad you liked the flashback! I agree with the Hunger Games comment, I love the trilogy, but I'm a bit burnt out on it because of the movie and everything.

The Author in the TARDIS: I've been meaning to read PJO for a while now, but I never got the opportunity until January. Now it's practically all my friend and I can talk about!

Randomtomax: Thank you!

ShadowGrace: I'm so glad you like the twists I've added!

And now, because I don't want to take up any more of your time (except to read this chapter that I've written after months of procrastination), here is chapter six of Isolation!

~Isolation~

SVP

"New reports claim that the 'Avenger Child' – fourteen-year-old Sydney Banner – has been placed in a foster home and is registered to attend Visual Arts School for Girls. Very little has been heard from any of the six Avengers, and questions have already started circling: Why was Sydney kept a secret? How was she kept a secret? Some people aren't waiting for answers and have instead come up with their own theories, including Sydney being a part of some science experiment.

"Whatever the truth is, you know we'll bring it to you straight forward when it comes. I'm Monica Smi-"

I shut off my StarkTab Prime and toss it at the end of the bed. It hits the comforter and slides to the wooden floor, where it lies, perfectly fine. Of course. Not only does Tony make his electronics transparent, he also makes them crack-proof. Impossible, you say?

Ladies and gentlemen: Tony Stark.

My stomach grumbles. I sigh and pull out a plastic Ziplock baggie of grapes from my hoodie pocket. I haven't left this bedroom in days, relying on "my foster mom" Melanie to bring me meals and snacks from the vegetarian store down the black. She's been kind and understanding, not pushing me to come out or talk. I feel kind of bad: she's been so good about everything, and I won't even say anything to her except thank you. But I can't bring myself to be friendly. There's nothing for me to be happy about.

There's a knock on the door.

"I'm good, Melanie!" I call.

She knocks again.

"I've still got food, I'm good!" Maybe she didn't hear me.

"Sydney?"

I freeze.

Sadie tries again. "Sydney? I know you probably don't wanna talk, but can I come in?"

When I don't reply, she opens the door a bit, then a bit more, then slips inside quickly.

I find my voice. "You here to confirm the theories? Checking to see if I'm human or not?" The words are bitter.

Sadie blinks her light blue eyes at my tone. "Of course not. Is that why you're holed up in here? You're worried about people's reactions to the news?"

I scoff. "Oh, I already know their reactions. That's why I haven't gone back."

She knows where I mean.

"Oh, Sydney," she says. She walks closer, picks up my StarkTab, and sets it on the desk before taking a seat on the end of my bed. "No one at school thinks you're an experiment. Everyone's worried about you. You just ran out of the room the other day and no one heard anything for a while. We all want you to come back."

"Yeah, to stare at me," I mutter.

"No." Her firm tone shocks me, and I look up into her suddenly piercing eyes. "Sydney, everyone in that class has problems. Calliope has lived in ten different countries. Rushlee's mom is in prison for murder. Fallon is from Russia, so almost no one understands her. Ree stutters, Kinzie talks with a lisp, Hadley already has an eating disorder, and Sage is the fifth of fifteen kids. Briar is blind, Olivia is mute, Liah is deaf, and Lily has cancer. No one is as messed up as the group of us is. Did you know the teachers pick their students based on background reports? Miss Piper is the one who takes us, all the rejects, the ones no one wants to deal with.

"So stop thinking that everyone is going to treat you like a freak. We're all screwed up, Sydney. And we want to help you."

I stare at Sadie in shock. I don't know who any of those girls are, and yet I have an idea. I remember seeing a light-haired girl with a stained, wrinkled uniform, and another one wearing a bandana over her head. There was a walking stick leaning against one desk. I think of Miss Piper's kind face. How can any one person be so generous, so good as to take in the kids no one else wants?

I blink at Sadie. "What about you? What's your story?"

She looks down suddenly, and when she looks up again, her eyes are guarded. "So anyway, what exactly is your story? I only know what's on the news, and from what the reporters are saying, none of the Avengers have spoken up. Are you really the Hulk's daughter?"

I glance at her sharply. "No, I'm not. I'm Bruce Banner's daughter. He's not the same as the Other Guy. There's a reason no one knew his real name."

Sadie holds her hands up. "Ok, ok. You're Dr. Banner's daughter. Who is your mother?"

I sigh, knowing I won't get out of this. "I don't know who my biological parents are, or where they are, and frankly, I don't want to know. They abandoned me in a hospital the day I was born. At a year old, I got really sick. I lived in an orphanage until I was three and a half, when Bruce found me and took me back to the Tower and cured me. After all that, he decided to adopt me. Ever since, I've been Sydney Banner. I was raised by the Avengers; they're my family. My only family. And now I have no one." Tears fill my eyes. Embarrassed, I turn onto my side and bury my face in the pillow.

Sadie is silent. For a moment, I think she's somehow gone without me noticing. Then I feel a hesitant hand on my back, rubbing it soothingly through my shirt.

"It's alright, Sydney. Everything's going to be alright," she whispers.

We stay like that for a long time, saying nothing, just her comforting me as silent tears stream down my cheeks.

Finally, I sit up and wipe my eyes. "Sorry about that," I apologize roughly.

She smiles softly. "It's fine. I know how it is to lose the people you love."

I look at her questioningly.

She looks down at her hands in her lap. "A couple years ago, my mother was deported back to Italy. After she was gone, my father couldn't stand to even look at me. He dumped me at my second cousin's house and moved back to California. At least, that's what Cecile tells me. I don't even know. I haven't heard from him since I was eight."

I put my hand on hers. "It's okay, Sadie."

I don't know what else to say, but that seems to be enough. She smiles at me. "Well, at least one of us can still talk to her family, huh?"

I shake my head. "Not me. It's against the rules. Apparently, any direct contact between me and any of them is 'forbidden'."

"What exactly does 'forbidden' entail?"

I sigh. "Oh, you know: phone calls, video chat, emails, instant messaging, letters, texts, social media, and good old-fashion face to face interaction. I'm practically being denied all contact with everyone from my old life, with a few exceptions."

"Exceptions?"

"Yeah: Thor's girlfriend Jane, Jane's best friend Darcy, Tony's wife Pepper, and a friend of the family, Maria." I sigh again. "I can't even get close to the Tower."

She thinks for a second. Suddenly, her eyes light up.

"Sydney! I've got an idea!"

I'm startled by her exclamation. "What?"

Her eyes are bright. "You can't have any contact with the Avengers – but I can."

I stare at her. "Huh?"

She looks ecstatic. "I'll go to Manhattan, to Stark Tower, and get myself in to talk to Mr. Stark. I'm sure he'll see me if he knows it's for you. I can even talk to your dad, if he's willing."

I let it sink in, and then, slowly, I smile.

~Isolation~

BVP

I'm sitting on Sydney's old bed when JARVIS notifies me.

"Dr. Banner, there is a young lady in the lobby asking to speak with you."

My first thought, of course, is Sydney's back. But when I pull up the security feed on my tablet, I see a tall girl with black hair in low pigtails standing at the front desk, and I berate myself. Of course it isn't Sydney. Sydney is in a foster home somewhere, maybe not even in New York. I'm not allowed contact with her. How would she be here?

I'm confused about why a random teenager would want to see me, but I sigh and tell JARVIS I'll be right down.

I arrive at the lobby a minute later. The moment the girl sees me, she rushes over. I note that she's wearing what looks to be a private school uniform. The ribbons on her pigtails say VA.

"Dr. Banner? I know you're probably really confused about who I am and don't want to talk to me or really anyone, period, but I'm here on behalf of Bean."

I wave off the receptionist, who is half-standing, ready to pull this girl away if I request it. But I can't. It only takes a moment for me to process what has just been implied.

"Of course, Miss…" I glance at her visitor's nametag, "Marx. Right this way."

~Isolation~

I take her to Sydney's bedroom.

I know, I know, it sounds bad. Maybe it even looks bad to Miss Marx. But this is about my baby girl, and I want the news – however good or bad – to be heard in my child's space.

We sit down, me in the desk chair, she, surprisingly, on one of Sydney's fat, fluffy beanbag chairs in her reading nook. For a moment, neither of us says a word. Then I clear my throat.

"So, Miss Marx –"

"My first name is Sadie," she interrupts.

I nod. "Sadie, then. What exactly did you mean in the lobby?"

She pulls a cell phone – not one from StarkTech, but an iPhone – from her jacket pocket and taps the screen a couple times. She holds the device out for me to take. When I look, I see a picture of her and another girl, a girl with familiar glasses and an even more familiar smile….

"Sydney," I murmur.

Sadie nods. "Sydney is in my class at school. Right now, she's living with a foster mom in New York City." So she is in New York. "Sydney's… well, she's not doing so great."

Immediate alarms ring in my head. "Why? What happened?" Every bad scenario runs through my mind on repeat.

Sadie is quick to reassure me. "Nothing happened, not really. She's fine, physically. Mentally and emotionally, though…." She sighs. "Sydney's first day of school was Friday. She seemed really quiet when she came into our classroom, but Miss Piper sat her next to me, and I thought I was getting through to her, because she smiled. But then we started watching CNN Student News, and…." She trails off.

I understand. "They showed the video, didn't they? And everyone saw her and started asking questions, and she panicked and ran away?"

My daughter's classmate nods. "Honestly, it's not a big deal to any of us. Like I told her, every one of us in that class has some problem or another. It was just a shock."

I sigh. "Sydney's always had that little quirk. When she was younger, oh, about a week or two after I adopted her, Natasha took her out to buy some more clothes. She'd never really been outside much, and she got really overwhelmed and panicked and ran off. Tasha found her twenty minutes later, hidden in some bushes in Washington Square Park. She can't help it; she just has a natural urge to escape when she's the center of attention or when she gets overwhelmed. It's pretty easy to find her; she heads for small spaces."

Sadie is smiling slightly, and I realize that she's trying to contain laughter. "Sydney said she loves Clint, but he's a bad influence on her because he taught her to hide up high!" she giggles.

I chuckle as well. "He's definitely had good and bad impact on her."

After we calm down, Sadie takes a small rectangular case from her book bag and unzips it, revealing Sydney's tablet. How do I know it's hers? It's a StarkTab Prime, which won't be released until next year. Sydney, Pepper, Jane, Darcy, and the team are the only people who have this generation.

"Sydney let me borrow this. She didn't ask me to ask you, but I thought… well, she really misses you, and the other Avengers. I just thought maybe you could all make a video of yourselves for her. You know, give her something to watch when she's feeling especially down?"

I take the tablet from her and nod. "That's a great idea. I'll get the others in here."

"Already done, Dr. Banner," a disembodied voice informs me.

I glance at Sadie, but she doesn't look shocked. "Sydney told me about JARVIS," she says in answer to my questioning gaze.

I hear the doors of the elevator at the end of the hall open and prepare myself for what's to come.

~Isolation~

An hour later, Sadie is just about to leave when I remember something.

She waits as I rush back to Sydney's room and return with a metal box.

"What's that?" she asks.

I hold the container out so she can look through the mesh-covered, gate-like door.

"Is that a dog?" she says, incredulous. "It looks dead."

I smile slightly. So Sydney hasn't told her. "His name is Snoopy," I explain. "He's not real, exactly, just a robot made in Tony's workshop, but he functions almost exactly like a normal dog. He was a present from Tony and Steve for Sydney's fifth birthday. She didn't want to take him with her when she left – she was afraid they wouldn't let her keep him – but she loves this dog more than anything, and I know she's probably missing him. Will you take it to her?"

Sadie reaches out and takes the crate. "Of course."

I nod and walk her to the front doors of the Tower. Before she opens them, though, she surprises me by turning around and giving me a tight one-armed hug.

"You're wrong, Dr. Banner. Sydney may love Snoopy a lot, and of course she loves the rest of the Avengers, but there is no doubt anywhere in my mind, at all, that you are the most important person to her. She loves you more than her own life. Don't ever doubt that."

I watch in a bit of a daze as Sadie strides outside, hails a taxi, and heads back to New York City, my mind consumed with happiness, grateful that my little girl has found such an amazing friend.

~Isolation~

Whew, what a rush. I just wrote almost that entire thing in two days (that's my excuse if there are any mistakes). I hope the next chapter doesn't take me this long to write, but hey, you can't avoid life.

No quote in this chapter, but any suggestions for flashbacks or memories will be accepted and appreciated!

Please review! Even if it's to tell me off for being gone so long.

.divergence

P.S. Has anyone here read Divergent by Veronica Roth? Cause it's flippin' amazing! (Please don't let out any spoilers for Insurgent, because I haven't read it yet.) If you've read it, what faction are you in? I've taken two quizes: one says I'm Dauntless, the other one says I'm Divergent - who knows?

Also, please read my crap attempt at poetry, Fall with Me, inspired by the ending of Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan, because that man is going to be the end of me!