Hi! so as you read in the description I'm very new at writing and am probably not that good. However, I've had this story in my head for years so I just couldn't let myself forget it without at least giving it a try! Any reviews would be absolutely wonderful, thank you to those who favourited i really apriciate it! - Ejay x
He was hung over. It was 8 am on a Wednesday morning and Tony Stark was well and truly, hung over. Why did a university want him to give a speech to a load of students anyway, clearly the simple fact that he was hung over on a Wednesday, was evidence enough that he was far from role model material.
He was about to sneak in a quick power nap when the door her was using as his pillow was swung open, causing him to almost fall out. Tony was about to call Happy a rude name when he looked up and remembered that happy was at his mothers on a last minute emergency trip. So he just huffed sulkily and got out, resting his shades on his nose to prevent himself being blinded by that god forsaken sun. He followed replacement Happy toward the university entrance, felling sorry for himself.
Thankfully the halls were virtually empty, he was asked to stop for a photo but other than that, it was an overall peaceful journey leading to the door and apparent arrival point he now stood at.
The source of his confusion was that, this door led to an office with only one student inside, sitting patiently at the desk, with her back to him. When his security guard turned to leave without as much of a whisper of an explanation all the while proceeding to ignore Tonys questions ,Tony began to grow a little uneasy. Its too damm early for this, he thought to himself but entered the room non the less closing the door behind him. After all, its not as if he couldn't protect himself is it.
The room was small and poorly lit with no windows other than a tiny skylight coated in at least 10 years worth of grime, much to Tonys delight. He removed his shades now the sun was no longer a threat and moved to the other side of the desk across from the girl.
She looked around 20, slim but not skinny. Her hair was a dark shade of blond that looked almost gold in the little sunlight they sat examining her further. She looked nervous for some reason, her leg was bouncing up and down and she was twisting the hem of her face, while youthful had a essence of haggardness like she hadn't slept in some time, bruise like eye bags mirroring his own he thought.
However, nothing about this girl struck him as sinister so he relaxed. A little. Leaning back in his chair. He was about to break the silence when she beat him to it.
"Hi" Bet said greeting the billionaire she had just practically kidnapped, she was a little proud of herself for pulling it off making her sit straighter in her chair. Tony noticed this sudden evaporation of her nerves and he raised his eyebrows intrigued.
He began to speak but she beat him to it yet again, what was happening Tony didn't like being interrupted that was usually his job. "You're probably kinda confused aren't you?" The girl had an British accent like Jarvis's but less refined.
Speaking quickly before she could interrupt him again he answered her "Kinda but i assume you're about to explain rather quickly as you know I'm a busy man Miss?" he asked
"Im Elizabeth but i prefer Bet if you don't mind"
He nodded "so Bet why am i not giving a speech right now to the young minds of tomorrow?"
She felt a little awkward "well i needed to talk to you so, i erm, i brought you here, i guess you could call it kidnap if you wanted to be politically correct but i see it more as a polite change of timetable if you will". Tony blinked rapidly confused "you kidnapped me?" she nodded sheepishly unsure of his reaction but then his face broke into a grin and then a little giggle. Tony was marginally impressed. "How?" he asked.
She was expecting that " Well after i hacked into your security mainframe and penciled in this meeting to your time table under the disguise of a University speech the rest was kinda easy i just had to.." Tony interrupted her "Hold on a second kid, you hacked Jarvis?". Bet was confused "Jarvis?"
Tony should of been mad he knew it but he couldn't help but be impressed with this girl, she had basically out smarted him and managed to get past the security system he built but she didnt seem to recognise the enormity of her actions so he let it go to hear the rest of her story.
"Never mind" he said "carry on".
Frowning at his behaviour, hacking into his security system is the normal part she thought. "Anyway, so once i solved how to get you here i just had to get past the human aspect of things. Namely the security guy in charge, i knew he was friend of yours through the news and celebrity magazines and stuff, so i knew he would be difficult to trick into bringing you here as he cared about you too much to be i made him believe that he had to fly home to help his parents renovate their the rest into believing it was a speech and to not ask questions was easy since non of them care that much anyway".
Still frowning Tony was growing uneasy at the mention of her tricking Happy. "You made them believe?"
Bet hesitated."Okay, this will be a lot faster if you didn't ask questions until I'm done okay?" she said with a sympathetic sad smile. Tony hesitantly agreed head pounding to much to argue.
Bet took a deep drawn out breath and began.
"So, for as long as i can even remember i've been weirdly good at just knowing how people are feeling when I'm and at manipulating them, never anything too extraordinary just a slight normal human talent." She paused for breath Looking Tony in the eye.
"Then during the New York attack i was cornered by one of those things". This perked Tonys attention and he leaned in closer.
"I managed to get the upper hand and shoot it in the abdomen. I thought id killed it but, when i turned to run it lunged and pinned me to the ground, knocking me unconscious and thats all i remember." Bet didn't really know why she left out the slight detail of her encounter with Loki. If he agreed to help her then she would tell him eventually but for now he didn't need to know she had conversed with the mass murderer and worse still sympathised with him. Continuing quickly scared she would loose his attention bet tried to get to the point.
"So i woke up exactly where i was unharmed other than the injuries id gotten prior to being knocked out, but i could hear these, voices" She waited for him to call her crazy and leave but it didn't come.
"Hundreds of them, all screaming and crying for help, it was deafening. I thought i was going crazy. A few hours later the screaming mostly disappeared but the voices and pleas for help were still there but more in the background". He didn't say anything but then she had asked him not to. "A few days later, and i know this sounds crazy but i can prove it, i realised it was what people were thinking, the closer they are the clearer their voice and the more powerful the emotion the louder they are. About a week later people started acting weird around me, as you can imagine i was falling apart, unable to sleep, go to school, anything." she took a moment to compose herself with two deep breaths. "then i noticed that people around me would begin mirroring my mood or pain from my headaches the longer they spent around me".
Tony was taken aback by her statements and frankly, didn't believe her.
"So basically what you're saying is you got attacked by a crazy lizard alien, woke up and could read and control minds" He looked at her skeptically.
Bet obviously heard this and had guessed it would happen so she was well prepared to demonstrate her new found skills "you're hungover from drinking yourself to sleep last night after another series of crazy alien lizard dreams, Scotch i think, you and pepper had an argument over you buying a life size chocolate Porsche so you slept in your lab hence the stiff neck. You have a pounding head ache" she slipped an unopened bottle of water and two pain killers onto the desk "Need i continue?". He shook his head, mouth hanging slightly agape
"so i take it you want me to help you control it so you can get some sleep?" he said closing his mouth and pretending that this entire situation was as un-unsettling to him as buying milk and eggs, defiantly ignorant to the fact he was sitting 2 feet from a girl who could hear his thoughts.
"Basically," she said copying his 'nothing fazes me' attitude leaning back in her chair.
He seemed to ponder this for a moment weighing up the pros and cons, on one hand she was just a kid she didn't need to be exposed to this world but on the other she would probably be worse off alone, plus he liked her she had potential. He came to a solution to suit everyone, One where she would be safe and get the help she needed and he gains a new team mate that could be a grave help to them not just with her powers but with her intelligence, like a little baby Bruce AKA he would get a new science bro.
"Yes!" she said he looked at her in confusion " you know for a genius you are kinda slow, i can hear everything you just thought and my answer is yes". Yep he liked her, technically he should be annoyed at being stupid but he was too busy laughing at his own stupidity.
"Okay then kid" he stood up holding out his hand "welcome to the Avengers".
I hope this chapter isn't too wordy but I had to get the story set up and make sure you knew everything you guys needed to know. Thank you for reading, let me know what you think!