Ah! I'm not quite sure how this turned out but this now where the story is going to go... So here you go! have fun lol! R&R peeps!
I started as the elevator doors opened. I had barely noticed the elevators movement, I was so caught up in my own little world. I stepped out into the living room and hesitated, seeing red hair, seeing Natasha. But then I straightened my shoulders and walked over.
"Hey, guys." They glanced up and my eyes locked with Natasha's. I could see Clint tensing and Steve and Thor glancing between us worriedly. But I lifted my chin and met her gaze head-on and smiled when an approving light entered her eyes. I dropped to the couch but didn't relax, keeping my arms in my lap. They all turned towards me and waited expectantly.
"So, um, did anyone know about the surprise blood-drawing party downstairs?" I saw Natasha's and Clint's eyes meet but everyone shook their heads negatively. Steve spoke up.
"What do you mean 'blood-drawing party'?" I looked away and shrugged.
"Oh, nothing. I just would've appreciated a warning." I looked at Clint as I said this and rubbed my throbbing wrists again. "So, about the file, it never really said anything about why I'm here and some of the details seemed a bit… fabricated." Natasha and Clint shared a glance again, this time including Steve. Thor seemed completely unaware and steadily watched me. Natasha stood.
"We felt it would be easier to show you… Is that ok with you?" I nodded cautiously. She nodded briskly, almost eagerly.
"Unlock code 2-1-9-7-Alpha-Foxtrot-Nebula-Starlight." The effect was instantaneous. Fire raced through my veins and I collapsed onto my hands and knees. I was surrounded all at once by colors and pressure. My head felt like it was swelling but suddenly, with a click like a joint popped back into place, relief rushed through me and trickled down my spine to pool around my heart. It entered my bloodstream and, in two suddenly loud pumps of my heart, the feeling spread through the rest of my body.
I relaxed my rigid position and sank back to rest on my heels, slowly dragging my fingers through the carpet, feeling the glorious flex of my claws in the fibers. I heard breathing and heartbeats, slow and calming, from in front of me. And I felt awe, confusion, wonder, and a strange sense of anxiety. Unusual mixture. I opened my eyes to see... so much. Everything was clearer and brighter, like someone had wiped a film from my vision. I looked at these familiar people, ones that I had known but had never felt, had never sampled their flavor of feeling.
"Starlight." The red-haired lady spoke. That was pretty. Was that my name? I thought not, but maybe it was? Everything was so different. "Come here. Come see yourself." And she beckoned me forth, brought me in front of a wall of reflection. A mirror, I remembered belatedly. I looked at myself. My hair was curlier then I remembered, and the red streaks were definitely new, but I liked them. My eyes looked back at me, amber, not brown, and narrow pupils, like a cats. The rest of me looked and felt normal, good, but as I reached up to touch a curl I noticed my nails, or rather my claws. I retracted them till they sunk into a little slit on the tips of my fingers. Hmm… they didn't have that normally. At least I didn't think so.
The red-haired lady, and here a title floated up, Na?, stroked my hair and I smiled contentedly. Na pulled out a pen and paper and wrote something down to give to me. 'Lock code' the paper said with a string of numbers and words beneath it. Then below that 'Unlock code' and the numbers and different words and my name.
"Say the lock code, Star" Na said.
"Ok Na." She grinned at me as I started the code. "Lock code 2-1-9-7-Talon-Beta-Nebula-Nightshade." These words weren't pretty and ice flooded my veins as I gasped, shuddering at the feeling. I drew into myself to wait out the cold but then, when it was almost unbearable, I felt a *POP* and it all stopped. I clenched my teeth when I stood up because everything hurt again, and glanced down at my shaking hands to see my nails were normal again. I whirled around to see myself in the mirror. The streaks were still there but dull in my normal, coarse, wavy-at-the-ends hair. My eyes were brown. A dull headache set in as I turned to Natasha who was staring at me with an expression that looked scarily close to hope on her face.
"Star?" Her voice came out small in the tension filled space. I hesitated, but shook my head with certainty.
"I'm Brie. What. The hell. Was that?" Her face fell but immediately the mask snapped back in place.
"That, Brie, was why you are here." She spat out my name with such venom that I flinched. I took a step back, my head starting to throb as I felt tears prick my eyes. I knew now; knew why I was here. The blood samples, all the physical things. Tests, my mind shouted, and now proof. Proof right here on this scrap of paper in my hand that I wasn't normal, and that I never could be again.