AN: I don't own the Avengers. Please leave a review or follow/favorite this story.
The flight back to the base was long and quiet. I stared at the wall of the plane, thinking about the things that Transfix had said. There was something bothering me-something nagging at the back of my mind. But I couldn't put my finger on it. It was something I should know but didn't.
We landed on the roof of the base, and I walked off of the plane ahead of all of the others. My thoughts buzzed around in my head, trying to get me to figure this out.
I needed to talk to someone. And not some adult I had met a week ago-I had to talk to my best friend.
"Stark, give me your phone." I said, turning to glare at him.
"But I need it to call Pepper!"
"I don't care! Give it!" I said, holding out my phone. He handed it over, grumbling under his breath. "Thanks."
I walked back to my room, closed the door, and collapsed on the bed. There were nervous butterflies in my stomach as I listened to it ring. Demitra didn't have her own cell phone, they were too expensive-so I would have to argue my way past the Mother Superior to talk to Demitra.
"Yes? Who is this?" Mother Superior's sharp voice bit into my ear.
"Rory King. I want to talk to Demitra Monroe, please." I said, praying that the stern tone of my own voice would convince Mother Superior to just let me talk to my best friend.
"You mean… you haven't heard?"
My blood froze. I could barely breath. "Haven't heard what?" But I felt like I was about to start dry heaving. Something had happened to Demitra. Something bad.
"She's gone." And for once the Mother Superior didn't sound angry. "She disappeared yesterday morning. All her things are still here, she didn't leave on her own. Then this morning, we received a note…."
"What did it say?" I demanded.
"I don't think I should tell you. It's none of your concern." There was the familiar sharp undertone to her voice. "It's time for you to go."
"No! She is my best friend! I have a right to know!" I hissed. "You've gotta tell me! C'mon… I've lived in your stupid home for years, can't you just read a note to me for once? I can help her!" I bit my tongue, expecting to be yelled at or hung up on, but instead the old woman's tone softened again.
"Alright. Just a minute." There was moving around on her end of the call, and then she said, "Here it is. It's; We have Demitra Monroe. Inertia will come to us if she wants to see Demitra again. We can wait. Inertia will come. The place it was before. Can you make heads or tails of that? I can't. I don't even know who "Inertia" is, and the police don't either."
I was trembling. I couldn't speak. The phone slipped out of my hand onto the bed, and I ignored Mother Superior's voice. I slowly stood up, walked out the door, and hurried down the hallway, still in a daze. I walked into the training room, where the other Avengers were laughing. When they saw the look on my face, they stopped.
"What's going on?" Bruce asked, looking worried.
I shook my head, struggling to focus. But it was almost impossible-I could barely think straight. She was gone and it was my fault. "They took her." I mumbled. "The Collectors took Demitra."
"Who's Demitra?" Steve asked.
"Demitra's my best friend." I said, finally pulling myself together. "The Collectors took Demitra to get to me. They left a note telling Inertia to go "the place it was before" to find her. But… I don't know what they're talking about."
"The place it was before sounds like whoever this Master is, he expects you to be able to figure out who he is." Romanoff said, frowning.
"Don't worry, we'll find your friend." Wanda assured me.
"But how?" I groaned. "I don't know who it is! If I did I would tell you!"
"Could it not be your brother, the-"
"No! It couldn't be! He's still in jail, where he belongs." I snapped. "It couldn't be him."
"We don't know the powers of Portal and Transfix." Steve pointed out. "One of them could have used their powers to break him out. Or to make people think he was still in his cell when he'd really escaped."
"My brother does not have superpowers!" I said, trying very very hard not to scream. "He doesn't!"
"It's been years since you've seen him," Wanda said gently. "It's something we should check. Unless you can think of someone else that it could be?"
"No…" I sighed, giving in. "I can't."
It takes a half an hour for the guards at Silent Heights to check my brother's cell. It was like they could see him, but their hand went right through him, like he wasn't really there. Then he dissipated. Like a ghost.
"Some sort of hologram?" Romanoff asked, frowning a little. Except she's always frowning, so that's not saying much. "Or maybe Transfix is some sort of physic?"
"Probably." I shrug. "Does it matter? He's free. Again. And now he has superpowers. How great. My deranged murderer with superpowers that just kidnapped Demitra. But hey, at least it's not raining!"
"We'll find them." Bruce says. But he doesn't sound convinced. "But what is, "the place it was before"? That's where we'll find him, and where he must be keepin your friend."
For a minute I didn't know. But then I realized that there was only one place he could mean… the old house. Where we had lived until it had happened. Dad's murder. Mom's death. The old house was the only place they could mean.
"I think I might know." I muttered. They gave me questioning looks. "Our house. Where we used to live. He… he might go there. If this is about him. If."
"It has to be." Steve said. "He broke out, and it would explain why all of "the Master's" minions have been so fixated on you."
"When you say it like that, it sounds really creepy, capsicle." Stark said, rolling his eyes. Steve went a little pink.
"So where did you guys live?" Wanda asked. "Let's go there and save your friend."
"Yeah." I muttered. "Let's."
Line Break
My old house isn't the biggest, and it definitely isn't the nicest. And on the night my dad died, it stopped being my home. It's almost eerie to see it, now-almost the same. I can still perfectly picture my bedroom on the second floor as I stare at the house from the sidewalk, and old memories flash through my mind.
Leaning against my bedroom door and listening to my parents argue downstairs. Sitting in the kitchen and watching the door open, my brother being led inside by the police, because he'd gotten in trouble again. My dad sighing and giving me a weary smile. My mom sending me to bed early for getting in trouble at school again. And most set in my mind was standing at the top of the stairs, listening to my parents argue about what to do with me.
"She's a freak!" Mom would say. "She flies! We can't keep her!"
"She's our daughter, Matilda." Dad would say angrily. "She's not a freak."
"Rory is a freak." My brother would chime in, glaring at me from where he sat at the bottom of the stairs. And I would listen in silence.
"Rory?" Wanda said, standing next to me on the sidewalk. "Are you alright?"
I shook my head a little to chase away the memories and then managed, "I'm fine." I started forward towards the front door of the house. Wanda, Romanoff, Steve, and Bruce.
The house was old and sagging. The patches of grass on the otherwise dirt front yard were scruffy and yellowing. The porch , which should've been a foot up, sagged so that it almost touched the ground. The paint had once been white, but was now gray and peeling. The second story leaned to the side a bit, and the windows were grimy. The screen door had been pulled off and leaned against the side of the house.
"Home sweet home." I sighed, looking up at the sagging house. I stepped onto the porch and stood on my tiptoes, feeling around on the roof. "They're still here." I pulled the spare key off the roof tiles and shoved it into the lock.
I had been dreading this moment. The inside of the house-so many bad memories hid here. I wanted to run for my life, but I knew that as his sister, it was my duty to bring the Master to justice. I hadn't visited him, hadn't checked on him-maybe if I had, he wouldn't have had the chance to escape.
The living room was empty of furniture, and covered in dust. The windows were smeared with dirt, and the lights didn't work. The stairs leading upstairs had had the carpet pulled off and the banister was cracked like it was about to fall. I could see the kitchen through the doorway on the other side of the living room. The tiles were cracked and one cabinet looked like it would fall from the wall at any moment.
"Nothing." I said bitterly. "We came here for nothing."
"We have to check the whole house before we can be sure." Wanda said in her thick Russian accent.
"Guess so." I grumbled, taking a few more steps forward. I felt something tug at my foot and looked down. It was a tripwire. "Um, guys?" I said nervously. "I think I found something."
There was a beep, and then a metallic woman's voice said from who-knows-where; "Voiceprint confirmed. Identity: Rory King." There was a hiss like an airtight door was opening, and a large panel of the floor slid open. Stainless steel steps led downward. White fluorescent lights flickered on along the walls of the stairwell.
"Um…" I stared at it. "That definitely didn't used to be there."
"Should we go in?" Wanda asked, a little nervously.
"Of course, we should! Demitra might be in there!" Before any of the adults could stop me, I started down the stairs. I sprinted down them, and reached into my messenger bag, clutching a flash grenade in one hand. The stairs went down for what felt like forever, and I could hear the other Avengers following me in silence. When they finally levelled out, it was a long white hallway lit with fluorescent lights. There was only one doorway at the end.
"What is this place?" I asked quietly, keeping one finger on the pin so that I could throw the grenade at any moment. I walked through the hallway, towards the door at the end. It was bigger then a normal door, and made out of stainless steel spray-painted black. There was no handle, but instead a small unmarked metal pad set into the middle of the door. I reached out a hand to touch the metal.
"Don't touch-" Romanoff started to yell, but I touched the metal pad. There was a beep, a hum, and the door slid open.
"Thumbprint recognized. Rory King, please enter." The same metallic woman's voice that we had heard earlier said. I stared into the room beyond.
It was large and made of concrete. We all walked in, hands on our weapons. As soon as Wanda, the last inside, stepped past the threshold, the door slid shut with a beep. "No!" Her eyes flashed pink, but the door didn't budge. Wanda looked shocked. "It didn't work. It's… immune to my power. We're trapped."
"Voiceprint confirmed: Scarlet Witch. Wanda Maximoff, welcome." The woman's voice came again. This time I spotted a speaker on the ceiling. A holographic image flickered to life in the middle of the room, of a woman's face. It was… Marilyn Monroe?
"There's a dead actress holding us prisoner." I grumbled. "Just when I thought this couldn't get better. The Monroe hologram's lips moved, and the metallic voice came again.
"I am not really Marilyn Monroe. This is just the appearance I was programmed with. I am Vinci. And I serve the Master of the Collectors. You will be good additions to the Master's collection."
"What do you mean? What collection?" Steve demanded.
Vinci said, "Voiceprint confirmed: Captain America. Steven Rogers, welcome."
Behind me, Bruce was taking deep breaths. I hoped he didn't transform into the other guy in this underground room. That would be bad. Romanoff set a hand on his arm, which seemed to calm him down a bit, but I was still nervous.
"Damn, that's creepy. Could you stop with that?" I asked, deciding to treat Vinci like she was an actual person to make her seem less creepy.
"The Master has instructed me to make you comfortable, Miss King." Vinci said. I felt like I would be sick. How she called him the Master like that was right. He was evil. She must be as well. "But I also have orders to bring your companions to the Master for collection. Please be seated."
"Um, why?" I asked, hoping it wasn't for the reason I thought it might be.
"So that you are not injured when you fall after I knock you out. Please be seated." Vents on the walls suddenly opened, and pale green mist started tumbling into the room. I pulled my hoodie up over my mouth, trying not to breath in the gas, but it was no use. Wanda and Steve tried to pry open the door, but my head was swimming.
I fell over, and someone said my name, but their voice was as slurred as I knew mine would be if I tried to speak. I heard thumps as the others succumbed to the gas.
The last thing I remember before everything turned black was Vinci's voice.
"Sleep now, Ms. King. It will all be clear soon."
AN: thanks for reading, everybody! A big thanks to everybody who's ever review or follow/favorited any of my stories, because I don't thank you guys enough. It always makes my day. If you haven't already, please do. See you all next time!