Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Tony was beyond furious. Three days had passed since he'd saved Nicole. In that time, Nicole had been in the hospital, and she'd almost been sent to a mental institution. In the end, her own stubbornness got her discharged from the hospital. But that was not what was making Tony so mad. Nicole had shut herself down completely. She'd barely spoken while in the hospital, she'd denied the drugs the doctors had been insisting to give her for the pain, and worst of all, she wouldn't let any males, including himself or doctors, touch her.

He was going to kill Nick Fury. Up until the time when Nicole had actually done something with it, she'd been entirely unaware that she still had the telekinetic abilities that she'd had when she'd been a spirit. Thinking back on the entire situation worried Tony. Who wouldn't be worried by something as weird as Nicole's skin glowing and her eyes burning red as she tossed her father around like a rag doll? If Tony didn't get answers from Fury soon, all hell was going to break loose

Nicole felt the rush of adrenaline pulsing through her body. She'd never felt so powerful before in her entire life. She was going to make the motherfucking bastard pay for every little shit he'd ever done to her.

'Please….' The pleading voice had no effect on Nicole's rage; the bastard should have thought about that before he fucked up her life. Nicole released a wave of energy that hit the man full force and sent everything crashing around him. Nicole did nothing but laugh as the screams died out. But then, she caught sight of herself in an almost transparent mirror. She screamed as she saw her normally calming blue eyes burning blood red, and her skin was glowing like gold.

Nicole screamed as she sat up. Her heart was pounding, her head was killing, and she was drenched in a cold sweat.

'A dream,' Nicole thought as she tried to slow her breathing down. 'It was only that goddamn recurring dream.'

She shook her head and got out of bed, shaking like a leaf. She walked into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror as she opened the medicine cabinet. Her eyes were bloodshot, but nonetheless blue, and her skin was paler than it had been in a long time, definitely not glowing….

"I'm a fucking murderer," Nicole mumbled as she searched the medicine cabinet. "How the hell do people murder five people and live with themselves? I killed one person and I'm barely hanging on."

Nicole found what she'd been searching for; a small medicine bottle full of Vicadon. Nicole had gotten her wisdom teeth removed a few weeks before she'd ever gone to Pakistan, but hadn't ever taken the medicine the orthodontist had given her. She was suddenly glad that she never threw away any medicine.

"Take two every eight hours for pain as needed," Nicole read. "Well, bottoms up."

Nicole took the medicine for two main reasons; One, she really was in pain from the car crash, even if she wouldn't have admitted it while in the hospital; and two, she needed to rid herself of mental pain as well.

The time on the digital clock next to her bed read 4:35 PM as she crawled back into bed. She'd been in bed for days, not wanting to face the world. If she could really rid herself of all the mental and physical pain she was in, she could go back to her normal life. But things weren't that simple. She'd been raped, and as much as she tried to force the thought from her mind, it seemed to have ingrained itself into her mind. Every time her cell phone rang and Tony's name flashed across the screen, the memory just seemed to hit her that much harder. She wouldn't talk to him, she wouldn't text message him, she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

"I need a change," Nicole mumbled. She got out of bed once more and began searching her house.

Three hours later, as the sun was finally starting to set, Tony pulled his R8 up Nicole's driveway. When he approached the door, Sophie's voice called out to him.

"You're not welcome here, Mr. Stark."

"Do I ever care if I'm welcome anywhere?" Tony inquired of the AI. "Where's Nicole?"

"She's indisposed," Sophie responded. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but I have orders to not let anyone in or out of this house other than Nicole herself."

"Like she's actually left this house since the second she got home from the hospital?" Tony said, his voice laced with sarcasm. "Sophie, just let me in, I don't have time for this, and I need to tell Nicole something important."

"One second," Sophie vanished for a second, and suddenly the doors swung open.

"Thanks, I think," Tony said.

"Don't say I didn't warn you about her, Mr. Stark," Sophie said. "You may not like what you see."

"I'll take my chances," Tony said as the door locked behind him. He began combing the house in a search for Nicole. Strangely, she wasn't anywhere in the house. But what Tony found in one of the bathrooms worried him slightly. The sink was full of some dark red residue. Tony prayed to God he was wrong with his assumptions on what it actually was.

Tony's heart jumped suddenly as he heard a round of gunshots go off.

"What the hell?" Tony asked to no one in particular as he followed the sound.

He found Nicole at last in the backyard. But at first, he wasn't even really sure it was Nicole. Her back was to him, and that was what confused him most. Her hair was no longer brown, but a deep burgundy color, and it didn't fall down her back any longer, but reached just below her shoulders. Tony was only sure it was her due to the fact he could see her distinctive Japanese love symbol tattoo on her right shoulder.

Nicole had a BB gun in her hands and was shooting down targets around her backyard. Tony had to admit that he was impressed with her aim. His heart stopped for a split second when Nicole finally turned towards him. Her blue eyes looked pained and beyond bloodshot. The way she looked at him gave him the impression that she was trying to convince herself that he was just an illusion.

"What are you doing here?" She asked finally, her voice hollow.

"Watching your continuing meltdown, apparently," Tony said, taking the chance of walking closer to her. He relaxed slightly when she lowered the BB gun, "Your aim is amazing."

"Thanks," Nicole responded stiffly.

"You dyed your hair," Tony remarked.

Nicole nodded, "And?"

"It looks nice."

Nicole shrugged. It was then that Tony realized that something was more off than it should be with her.

"How are you doing?"

"How does it look like I'm doing?" Nicole's voice hollowed even more if that was possible as she indicated all the targets around her.

"Did you take medication?" Tony asked at last.

Nicole yawned and nodded.

"Vicadon?"

"How'd you know?" Nicole inquired.

"I know the effects of it," Tony responded. "Where the hell did you get Vicadon from?"

"Other than the fact that I run a pharmaceuticals company," Nicole started, rolling her eyes. "I had it from when I had to get my wisdoms removed."

"Are you in pain?"

"Not anymore," Nicole's response was laced with sarcasm as she smirked. Tony's eyebrows arched as Nicole walked over to a small round table and dropped the BB gun on it.

Nicole pulled out a box of Marlboro cigarettes from the pocket of her sweatpants and took ignited one cigarette.

"Since when do you smoke?"

"Since when do you care?"

Nicole was getting difficult to deal with, and Tony was getting pissed off. He wasn't mad at her, because this hadn't started with her, but the aftereffects of the entire situation with her father was leading her on a path of self-destruction.

"I tried to talk to Nick Fury today," Tony tried again for a civilized conversation.

"Oh?" Nicole said as she exhaled a puff of smoke.

"He's out of town for the next week."

"Joyful," Nicole rolled her eyes. "So he's off screwing around while I've become a fucking murderer because he can't be straight with me. Just great."

"You're not a murderer, Nicole," Tony said.

"Tell that to my father," Nicole snapped. "Oh, wait, you can't because I fucking killed him in cold blood!"

"If you were really a murderer, I wouldn't have been able to keep you out of jail," Tony said. "Everything points to what you did being out of self-defense."

"Self-defense?" Nicole's voice finally rose a few octaves. "Self defense would have been me kicking his ass karate-style. Tony, you have no fucking idea what the hell I felt when I was killing him!"

"Tell me, then," Tony crossed his arms as Nicole stamped out the cigarette. He was hopeful that if Nicole finally spoke about what had happened, then she might feel a little better.

"Okay," Nicole snapped. "Try wrapping your mind around this: I literally felt every single one of his heartbeats, and every one of his gasping breaths as I was tossing him around. It felt so good that I couldn't even think about stopping myself. As the wall crumbled on him, I felt his last breath. It was like a drug to me, Tony. The feeling I got from it…."

She shook her head, "Something's wrong with me, Tony. It's not safe for you to be around me."

"Well," Tony said. "I'm sorry to tell you, but I'm not leaving you."

Nicole sighed, "Whatever. I don't have the will to argue with you right now."

Nicole walked right past him and into her house. Tony followed her at a distance, he decided then to spend some time in Nicole's house, just to keep an eye on her for a bit.

'No harm in that, I guess,' Tony mused as he sat down on Nicole's couch and turned on CNN.

TBC!

AN: Okay, this is part 1 of a 2 part chapter. Nicole's dark side is only starting to show here. Next chapter, what happens when the mental pain becomes too much for Nicole to bear? Till next time!