Chapter 4:
"WAKE UP SLEEPING BEAUTY!"
Valli's eyes flew open as she fell off of the bed, scared half to death. Where was that voice coming from? It wasn't JARVIS, but it sounded like it was coming from the ceiling.
"Don't worry, Sparky, it's just me." It was Stark coming over the intercom.
"Stark!" she shouted at the ceiling, her voice still hoarse from sleep.
"Just wanted to let you know that breakfast is ready," he said chuckling. "And don't forget what I said about Thor. He's out here now." In the background, Valli could hear Thor complaining that he wasn't that bad.
"Ugh, what is your problem!?" she yelled while getting up, but Tony didn't replied. Irritated and still tired, she made her way to the bathroom to freshen up before breakfast.
When Valli finally made her way to the kitchen, she saw that everyone was already sitting around a table filled with food.
"Ah, there you are. We were beginning to think that you were never going to come," Stark said. He looked at her and held out a spoonful of this brownish red and yellow meat. Before stuffing it into his mouth, he offered, "Haggis with eggs?"
Valli looked at him with disgust, "Eww. Just... eww."
"Ignore him. Grab a seat and help yourself," Bruce said, smiling as he handed her a plate.
She took the plate from him and took a seat beside him. As she observed the food in front of her, she decided to take a piece of bacon and a biscuit...completely skipping over the haggis. Thor, who was sitting directly across from her, looked to the plate and then back to her.
"What?" she asked, noticing the disapproving gaze on his face.
"Miss Valli, don't think you may need some more sustenance for today's training?" he
replied questioningly, looking back down at her plate.
"Training? What training?" Valli asked, now confused.
"Well, after what happened last night, we all decided that maybe it'd be best if you had some training," Steve said.
"Really?" she asked, quite excited.
"Yeah," said Clint as he gave her a soft smile.
"Cool!" she said as she piled more food onto her plate.
"Have fun with that," Tony butted in.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, annoyed.
"Oh, nothing. You'll see soon enough," he said, chuckling lightly. Valli stared at him confusedly before turning back to her food.
"Don't listen to him. You'll be fine," Steve said, smiling at her. She returned the gesture with a grin of her own.
x x x
"Ow... ow... OW," Valli's moans of pain could be heard throughout the hallway as she drifted to her bedroom door. It slid open with a metallic hiss and she stumbled into the room, falling with a pained mumble on her bed. She had no idea training with Clint and Steve would be so... intense. What else was she so supposed to expect from a super soldier and a master assassin? She needed a shower, but sleep began to plague her mind. She took a deep sigh and raised herself up into a sitting position, If my muscles her like this now, she thought, tomorrow's going to be hell. I thought I was in better shape than this.
Slowly, she crept off the bed and trudged over to the bathroom. Her shower was a very long, hot, and refreshing one, the pain in her body finally beginning to dissipate as her muscles relaxed. She had exited the bathroom an hour and a half later, a cloud of steam billowing out as the door opened. After dressing in something more comfortable, she found herself in bed and fast asleep.
Two hours had passed before Valli had woken up. She couldn't stop thinking about the dark gem that she found last night. It's presence had invaded her thoughts and dreams. It brought thoughts of power and greed. Interested in knowing more about the mysterious object, she grabbed a sock and placed the gem inside, careful not to burn herself, and headed to the one place where she thought she might be able to find something, Stark's lab. After keying in her identification code into the lab's keypad, Valli made sure no one else was around before taking a step inside.
X X X
Once inside, Valli found herself in a dimly lit room filled with metallic objects that glimmered slightly in the faint light. She had no idea where the light switch was...or if there even was one. Stark was so technologically savvy that he probably had to say a certain word in French and it would turn on. Oh, say something. That was it.
"JARVIS?" she called out into the air.
"Yes, Miss Valli," came the reply. "Is there something you require?"
"Yeah," she said as she walked forward. There was a crashing noise as her shin hit something. "O-ow... stupid desk... Could you turn on the lights, please?"
"Right away." From the ceiling came a soft buzzing noise, and then the room was lit up by a brilliant white light, everything in the room shimmering. Valli had to squint until her eyes came back to focus. When she could see clearly the things that lay in front of her she began to look around. She bit the corner of her lip as she concentrated, trying to figure out what everything in this room was.
Let's see, she thought. That's a heat laser, not what I need. I need something... that can scan and read for an energy signature. It needs to identify what power this has. She opened the sock and looked at the stone that lay at the bottom. Looking back up, she gave a sigh. It would be nearly impossible to find a scanner in Stark's lab! Everything was too... too complexly organized! Huffing slightly, she turned about in a circle attempting to find anything that appeared remotely to look like a scanner. Her eyes caught on a small table at the back of the room. It was slightly cluttered, like it hadn't been used in a while, but she was sure that it was a place for scanning.
"JARVIS?" she asked again.
"Yes?"
"What is that over there?" she pointed to the table as she walked towards it. It was a small rectangular surface, about two feet by one foot, and it was white.
"That is one of Mr. Stark's scanning surfaces. Would you like to analyze something?"
"Yes, I would. Could you tell me how to run it? There doesn't appear to be any keypad or buttons."
"That is right. I am the scanner. If you would clear the surface and place the object in the center I will begin the process." Nimbly, Valli's long, bronze, slender fingers cleared the top of the little table in a matter of seconds, and she placed the dark gem in the center.
"Alright, JARVIS. Can you tell me what exactly this thing is?"
"Well, from an outward appearance it would seem this is a black diamond. But my scanners are indicating that a energy dwells within it, though I am unable to correctly identify the exact energy."
"So, is it gamma energy, thermal, nuclear, chemical?"
"As I said before, Miss Valli, I am unable to properly identify what type of energy it is, only that it is."
"Hmm," Valli sighed. "Well is there at least something more that you can tell me about this diamond?" Valli reach for it with her hand.
"When your proximity to the gem nears, the residual energy readings given off spike dramatically." That had to be the reason for the sudden burst of heat that the diamond released last night. Surely there had to be more to this object. Before Valli could ask JARVIS anything else, the echo of footsteps could be heard coming from the hall. She couldn't be caught in Stark's lab. That would most certainly cause suspicions.
"JARVIS, turn off the lights, hurry," she whispered frantically. "Oh and this stays between us. No one else is to know about it"
"Yes, Miss." Valli skittered under a table that was near the door when JARVIS switched off the lights. She could faintly hear two people having a conversation as they stepped inside the lab.
"Welcome, Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner," JARVIS announced.
"Hey, JARVIS. I-"
But Valli never heard the rest of Tony's comment for she had already slipped from underneath the table and made it outside before the door shut. She picked up her pace as she hurried down the hall and back to her room. Locking the door behind her, she took one more long look at the black diamond before placing it back in the drawer.
She began to think over what JARVIS had told her. It gave off an energy signature, and it grew when she neared it. That meant that it was effected by people. Or it affects people, she thought as she rolled her eyes sarcastically. Yeah right, like that could ever happen.
X X X
"The gas appears to have a semi-bio composition," said Stark. Banner peered at the vial through the glass window, watching JARVIS run various tests on the "black air", as Tony called it. He turned to billionaire who was at a table behind him aimlessly chewing on a metal pointer in his mouth, looking at a screen.
"Semi-bio?"
"Mm yeah, semi-bio."
"How is that even possible with a vapor?" quired Banner. He walked over to look at the screen Tony was staring at and grabbed it.
"Well, if there are miniscule living organisms in the black air, that might cause an interference," said Tony.
"But we already ran a test on that, and there's nothing but the vapor. There are no signs of plant, animal, or any other forms of life in there. Yet it gives off a reading saying that it is a bio-"
"Semi-bio."
"Yes, a semi-bio organism," Bruce took off his glasses and rubbed his face. "It doesn't make sense. It's just not possible."
"Well, obviously it is," Stark stood up. "You're just going to have to get used to the fact that there are just some things we can't explain...and hey, maybe you'll get something named after you this time that's not a cocktail." He passed behind Banner and gave him a slap on the shoulder, and walked to the window, "Okay, JARVIS...let's light 'er up."
The lights in the lab dimmed and one of JARVIS' mechanical arms went over and picked up the vial, placing it in the center of the contained room on the other side of the glass window. Electric pulses began to spark in, out, and around the vial at an intense rate.
"Here goes nothing," Banner muttered. The vial began to shake violently while the electricity accelerated. The substance began to bubble in the vial, as it began to vibrate and glow. Suddenly, from the glow came a quick flash of light. It hit the mechanical arm and everything went black.
"Oookay," said Tony from within the darkness. "That wasn't supposed to happen. Hey JARVIS, please turn the lights back on." The room flickered with a fluorescent white glow as the lights warmed up. When they could finally see into the room where the vial was Stark blinked, not quite sure if what he was seeing was real. Black smoke had completely filled the contained room and it seemed to be only expanding by the second. Cracks began to spider through the glass. Banner and Stark started to back away, when JARVIS released one more powerful wave of electricity before the black smoke began to shrink and completely disappear.
"Huh... would you look at that," Stark said, highly impressed.
"Well, that's something you don't see everyday," Banner replied.
"That wasn't just black smoke," Stark walked closer to the glass window, analyzing what had just happened. "That was something much more."
"Then I think we need to inform Fury about this. What do we tell him? That this we've discovered that this...black air is an actual living organism?"
"A semi-bio organism," Stark corrected as JARVIS turned the lights back on. "JARVIS is it safe to come in?"
"Until my diagnostic is complete, I advise that it is not, sir." After what Stark had seen, he was going to risk anything without the proper protection.
"Eh...alright," he said, slightly disappointed.
"Well, while JARVIS is getting his diagnostic ready, why don't we gather everything everything we have so that we can show Fury everything that we've found." Tony and Bruce compiled all of their data and research as JARVIS finished his diagnostic and displaced on a screen in the center of the room.
"The analysis is complete, sir."
"Thanks JARVIS. Ring up Fury would you?"
"Yes sir." A few seconds later, Nick Fury's face appeared on screen.
"What is it Mr. Stark," Fury said, obviously not too ecstatic to see the billionaire calling him.
"Director Fury, just as dazzling as ever. So, remember the warehouse incident? Well, we've got some information for you. Not much, but some. JARVIS is sending it over now. We don't know who was at the storage unit, but it was someone who obviously didn't want our interference." There was a small bing that was heard. "Ah, you have the document. Well, when we entered the building it was filled with a dense, black air. I got a sample of that and Dr. Banner and I have been running some tests on it. It prove to be rather difficult to analyze, however, as it attack JARVIS as he ran some assessments on it. It-.."
"It fired an electrical impulse at 465 Volts," interrupted Nick as he read the screen next to him, his eyebrows furrowing.
"Yessir, it did. Did I also mention that it tried to break the glass of the containment unit," said Tony as the pointed behind him to the cracked window. "It did that trying to escape, so whatever that smoke was is alive, or partially."
"Did you run a full diagnostic on it, Stark?"
"Uh, yes," said Banner meekly as he walked into view of the projection of the Director. "And apparently it is has a semi-bio composition."
"Semi-bio? As in it's alive, but not really?"
"Well, I'd say it's alive," Tony said bluntly. "It tried to attack us, it didn't seem all too happy with the electrical shocks we were giving it." Nick paused before he said anything, the worry lines on his face deepening. He sighed and looked back to the two scientists.
"Gentlemen, we are dealing with something larger than previously thought. This black air as you call it is alive in a way, your scanners were not reading it wrong. The person who created it is named Zeva Valeska, a former businesswoman, well known. About a year ago, she was involved in a freak accident and hasn't been seen or heard of since. She has the ability to turn into this "black air" that you see and can cause serious damage. She is highly dangerous and extremely volatile. Do not underestimate her."
"What are the extents of her abilities?" asked Bruce.
"According to our intelligence, at the point of contact she has the ability to drain her victims of their energy as well as make them incredibly sick. She can also create a shield out of the aura that surrounds her and her victims to continuously drain their energy, which can potentially kill them."
"Wow, sounds like my type of girl" Stark replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
Both Nanner and Fury rolled their eyes at Tony's comment. Leave it to him to always make a joke out of everything.
"Is there anything else we need to be aware of?"
"Not until we figure out what exactly was going on in that warehouse and why it was giving off such a high concentration of energy. That is your top priority."
"Will do Director Fury," saluted Tony as they began to walk away.
"And one more thing gentlemen?" Bruce and Stark looked at each other, before turning back to the director.
"Yes, Director?"
"Keep Valli safe," he said, his eyes filling with the slightest hint of concern. The screen then disappeared, ending the call.
X X X
Smog wafted in the aphotic air near the outskirts of the city. It was a brownish-yellow, very grimy and chunky, filling every inch of free space in the atmosphere, choking out nearly all life. Not even the moon's naturally white rays could add any cleanliness to this area, and there were no stars insight, no glimmer of hope that anything good lived in this section of town.
Far below the moon, close to a muddy stream was an abandoned business complex. Thirteen buildings stood, no...thirteen dilapidated skeletons of buildings resided under the thick, greasy clouds and yellow glow of the midnight light. A cloaked figure, a woman, walked through the murky mist that hugged the ground, entering one of the decaying structures. Her face was livid, her scarlet lips as thin as a dime, her eyes cold as icicles. She walked through the framework of rotting wood and crumbling stone over to an elevator, hitting the down arrow to the basement. No music played as it slowly lowered, but instead the creakings and groanings of the wheels and wires accompanied her down like the rhythm of a durge. Once the doors hissed open, the woman burst into the control room, catching the eyes of all those in there.
"HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN!?" she boomed as the glass walls in the bowels of the building burst and the room flooded with black smoke. The men now kneeling were pale, weak, and were stricken with intense fear as the creature before them started pacing madly.
"M-Ma'am... we-we are s-sorry. We were caught off guard. We-"
"Silence! I will let nothing get in the way of me and what is rightfully mine! Not you, not your incompetence or anyone else!" The man who spoke, lowered his head once again. What else was she so supposed to expect? Of course these men couldn't get the job done. They were pathetic life forms who didn't deserve to live. She looked at the them with disgust, before turning around.
"Gentlemen, I suggest you leave my sight before things get real ugly" she said, examining her long fingernails, like they were the only things that held her interest at the moment. "Now." The men got up as fast as they could and ran out of the room as fast as they could, unable to see through the now faded smoke.
"It's alright. I'll get that gem back," she spat. "Even if I have to have that little brat personally deliver it to me." She still saw the little tyke picking up her gem, and sticking it in her pocket, as it replayed over and over in her head. It made her extremely angry just thinking about it. However, Zeva Velaska, The Woman in Black, smiled to herself. She was used to getting the things what she wanted, when she wanted them.
She sat down in a chair and propped her feet up on the table, "Yes, I will get it back... and I think I know how." A crafty smile slowly slid onto her face and she leaned her head back on the chair, closing her eyes. Outside, above the caved in structures, a sticky breeze moved the smog filled air and a single star could be seen. For one split second, it gave off a glow that kissed the soiled earth beneath it, but was soon shrouded by the thick pallor once again.