It's a good thing that I'm taking a break from training, because the hallucinations have been on and off for the past few hours. Luckily, they aren't that bad-the occasional odd object appears out of the corner of my eye, but there's nothing that would severely impede me. I just have to ignore it as best as I can for now.
I'm imagining my mother's voice ringing in my head: 'Alicia, ignoring things doesn't make the problem go away'. That may be, but considering how good S.H.I.E.L.D is at figuring out what I do, I'd rather not have them knowing every single detail of my life. Especially if Data is sticking around for long. I can totally imagine her picking my brain apart to figure out what exactly makes me tick.
Of course, my brain decides that this is the perfect time to have me seeing little jars of brains in formaldehyde. Oh, EW. I always hated Biology, I do NOT need to be reminded of dissection labs.
A quick wave of my arm causes the hallucination to dissipate. Tony gives me a look.
"What? My hand fell asleep," I reply, too quickly to sound sincere. Luckily, he doesn't seem to think anything of it, and turns away to find something (or someone) more interesting.
With Tony gone, I'm alone in the Tower's common room. This place is pretty lonely with nobody else around. Considering that it IS called Avengers Tower, I thought the place would be more bustling with Avengers, but it really seems that everyone has their own little areas they stick to. Fighting bad guys doesn't leave much room for socializing, I guess. Maybe it's more lively when Captain America and Thor are here.
I walk over to the far wall of the common room, which consists of crystal-clear glass paneling, and look out at the activity of the New York City streets below. The people look so small from up here, like ants scurrying around on a sidewalk. I feel so distant from it all. I can see so much of Manhattan. The Tower...it really is a place intended for guardianship. From this vantage point you could easily see an impending attack and jump right into action, figuring out the best routes to evacuate civilians or draw out enemies.
It strikes me just how out of my depth I am here. The Avengers-they're trained to protect the Earth and its citizens. And me? I want to get out of this place the first chance I get. My family had tried so hard to keep me out of trouble, make sure I wasn't put in a dangerous situation. They wanted me to go on with my life. Hell, I wanted to go on with my life...it's never been on my list of priorities to 'be prepared to save the world'. After New York got attacked by Loki, my parents had an unspoken rule never to come back here. And now I was right in the center of the action, training to take up 'fighting the forces of evil'.
Wow. If my friends could hear me now. We used to joke about that stuff, never thinking anything of it.
I miss them. I miss Chicago. I even miss school!
"Something on your mind?"
Startled, I jump and turn around, realizing that it's Hawkeye.
He chuckles. "We're going to have to work on that, I see."
"I didn't even hear the doors open. I thought I was by myself."
"You'll figure out how to detect people coming soon enough," Hawkeye confirms. "Though I doubt you'll ever be able to catch me or Nat coming in."
He relaxes a bit, looking out the window. "It's a nice view. Not quite high enough for my tastes, but still."
"What, are you usually up on the rafters?" I say, jokingly.
"Yeah, usually, unless I've got something better to do. It's a good place to think."
Okay. He's being serious. I guess he's called Hawkeye for a reason.
"If you say so. I think I'll stick to the common room, though. Is it always this...empty?"
The agent shrugs. "Not always. Used to be more lively a while back."
"What happened?"
Hawkeye shifts, crossing his arms. "Well, we used to have some other people here with us. All the Avengers technically live here now, but a while after the attack on New York, there was a woman living with us, with her kid and fiance."
My eyebrows raise. "Really?" I didn't expect Tony Stark to be the civilian-harboring type.
"Well, her fiance had powers. Helped out sometimes. But they left. Thor and Steve left a while after that, but they came back. Steve, Nat, and I are on missions a lot, though. We've got a bit of a break for now. Thor's off with his astrophysicist girlfriend for now, I think."
"What happened to the woman and the rest of her family?"
Hawkeye's face darkens, ever so slightly."...Dunno really, she calls from time to time. Never liked her fiance that much anyway."
"Well, maybe I'll meet them someday. Are her fiance's powers anything like mine? Maybe he could help me train." It'd be nice to have more civilians around anyway.
Hawkeye huffs. "Not gonna happen."
"Why not?" I ask. He's being kind of blunt, considering these people used to live here.
"Just won't, kid. Doesn't matter." Hawkeye turns, heading out. I guess it's a sore subject? I'll have to ask Tony or Dr. Banner about it sometime.
A.N.: ARRRRGH my internet is really stupid, I'm sorry this chapter is late, I literally haven't been on my computer since my last chapter upload. I'm starting school in a few days, so hopefully I'll be able to continue with updates on schedule, but getting into the swing of things with school is gonna take a bit. Once again, very sorry! Hope you like the chapter, and if you guys are going back to school like I am, we can mourn the end of summer together. It always manages to go by so fast.
Until the next update, lovelies!