She squinted against the sudden light, before she stared blankly up at the ceiling, breathing heavily. Please don't be the smoke thing, please don't be the smoke thing, she thought frantically to herself.
"Lana?" she heard Steve's voice ask in confusion. She looked up and saw the face of the Captain staring in confusion at her. "What happened?"
"I-" What did happen, exactly? Lana didn't quite know how to answer and just stared back at him with a horrified expression on her face. Was this shock she was feeling? She jabbed her leg, where a burn was situated. Yep, pain. So, probably not shock.
"Are you okay?" he asked as a reached out to help her up. She just looked at the offered hand, deep in thought about the fire. Or more accurately, what was in the fire. The hand offered was retracted when Steve realized she wouldn't be taking it anytime soon. So, instead, he thought of the next option: getting Stark.
"FRIDAY, can you get Stark?" Steve asked the ceiling.
"What." came Stark's irritated voice, a crash being heard in the background. Banner could be overheard shouting something at Stark. He hushed the scientist.
"Could you get down to Lana's?" He glanced down to Lana, where she gritted her teeth as she straightened out her leg, seeing if there was any serious damage.
"I'm busy. Whatever it is, I'm sure you can handle it. You are a big boy, after all." he paused. "What's going on, anyways? She stubbed her toe?"
"No." Steve said, an edge of exasperation to his voice. "She just... down here, and I don't know. Something happened."
"Something happened? Please, Captain, be more vague."
"Just get your ass down here."
"Language, Cap. And in case you didn't hear me, I'm busy."
"Get down here, or I'll make you."
"Ooh. So you like it rough, do you, Captain?"
"Get. Down. Here." Steve clenched his teeth together in annoyance.
"Fine, fine. I was gonna give Lana an early wake up call, anyways. She really needs to see the lab." Lana briefly looked up. Why was he so desperate to have her in his lab? Did he think he was going to use her as some sort of human guinea pig? She hoped not. She felt that the lovely fire had done enough damage.
"This better be important, Spangles, I was very busy with - " Stark said as he stopped abruptly coming into view of Lana practically laying on the ground. "Why does it look like she jumped in a pile of ashes?" He knelt down and waved his hand in front of her eyes, getting no response, other than her eyes glancing up to his face before looking down again.
"I was going to the gym, and I bumped into her."
"Banner, get down here. Living Level Three." He looked back to Steve. "What do you mean you 'bumped' into her? The lights are on, for crying out loud!"
"The lights were off."
"Yeah, sure, Spangles." he leaned closer to the girl in question. "And where the hell did she get these burns from? It's not like there's a fireplace in there."
"I don't know. She just stopped saying anything after a word or two. It's like she's in shock."
"Well, Lana, looks like you're finally come see the lab. Just not how I imagined you coming." Stark waved his hand in front of her eyes again. "Blink once for no, twice for yes." Lana just kept staring up. Stark's index finger came down suddenly to poke her in the middle of the forehead, but was stopped by her hand, slapping it away.
"I can hear you, you nimwit." she said as she clenched her teeth together.
"Uh huh."
"Yeah, really. I was just thinking is all." She was thinking. Thinking about everything that had happened in the past day. Loki, the bodies, annoying Loki, the fire. It truly was a lot to think about.
"Well, don't hurt yourself." She slapped his arm. "Ow! What was that for?" Lana glared at him, knowing that he knew well what he did wrong.
"Stark." Steve said sharply.
"I was just..." Stark mumbled.
"Something came at me from the smoke." Lana interrupted him. The two men looked to her. "It-" she shook her head. "It was like it was alive."
"C'mon, Lana. What horror movie did you watch last night?"
"I didn't watch any movies, dumb ass."
"Well, I hate to break it to you, Whizkid, but smoke isn't alive. It's just not possible." she raised her eyebrows at that, and got ready for a long speech by taking a long, deep breathe.
"There are two gods, a man from the 1940's who looks like he hasn't aged a day since then" she pointed in Steve's direction without sitting up, "Congrats on that by the way, Steve. I'm jealous. Or I will be in the future." she cracked her shoulders, "Where was I? Oh, yeah, a mega-genius who turns into a giant green smashing machine, and two assassins, one of whom was a KGB operative." she sat up suddenly. "And oh, let's not forget; you fly around in a metal suit with a personal AI." she shook her head at him, narrowing her eyes, "But no. Smoke potentially being alive, or thinking, or something? That's not even remotely possible."
"I-" Stark began. "I see your point." He scratched his chin. "But for all we know, you might of hit your head. So, Banner." he nodded his head to the new arrival, who took off his glasses to rub his eyes. Stark pointed to the light blonde staring at the ceiling. "We have a patient."
"Tony, you know I'm not a medical doctor, right?" he called after the billionaire who was darting back to the lab. "Tony?"
After Lana was situated, which involved several scans and bandages, guard dog Steve at her side, the two scientists waltzed to Lana's room.
"So, let's see this fire that Lana was talking about." He looked to his companion. "Because it's impossible that there was a fire; no alarms went off. And more importantly, I wasn't alerted."
"Tony, you systems aren't infallible." Bruce reminded him, looking up from the tablet he was holding.
"I beg to differ." he said, glaring in Banner's direction as he grabbed the door handle and pulled. Nothing. He pulled again. "Banner, help me with this." the mousy haired scientist put down the tablet, grabbed the door handle, and pulled with all of his (non-hulk) might. He leaned to look at the door, more specifically the lock. Something else however, caught his eye.
"Tony, look at this." he gestured to the crack in the door that looked suspiciously like it had been molten a few hours prior. "It's welded shut. Someone melted the metal around it and - "
"Thanks, Banner, I know 'welded' means." Stark's eyes flashed dangerously.
"It's welded shut." Stark was beginning to seethe. "Someone welded this door shut. My door." He looked around wildly, as if the culprit was still nearby. He then shook the door, and when it still refused entrance, and slammed his hand on it. He thought suddenly, and realized what he had just been doing in the lab before.
"FRIDAY, send Dummy." He began to grin a truly terrible grin, one reminiscent of a child on April Fool's day.
"Right away, sir. Oh, and sir? The twins have arrived."
"Joy." Stark mono-toned. "Send them to the conference room. Oh, and wake up everyone else too and tell them to be there in ten minutes."
"Of course, sir. Shall I give them specific instructions?"
"Yeah. Don't touch my booze, go through my stuff, mind control anyone, or blow anything up."
"I will relay the message."
"The twins?" Banner was distracted by the mention of the twins.
"Yeah, Fury called them early in from their assignment in Russia, which I of course, know nothing about." Stark said with big, 'innocent' eyes.
"Yeah..." He went back to the matter at hand, involving one said robot who had previously almost vaporized multiple people the night before.
"Are you sure that's a smart decision? Sending for Dummy, I mean?" he meant that towards the twins, but that would be discussed soon enough. I assume you remember what happened last night."
"Yes, Banner, I remembered. Just a minor technical failure."
"Minor? Dummy II could've - "
"But the main thing is that he didn't. I fixed it this morning, anyways, while you were working on your..."
"Quantum Resequencer." he provided helpfully.
"Yeah, that." Stark said, as a whirring came closer, indicating Dummy II's presence.
"You see, this morning, I also added the laser cutter." Stark said gleefully as he turned to the previously faulty robot.
"Oh god, that's what you were doing..."
"C'mon! It's not like you didn't notice!" He pointed to Dummy II.
"Dummy II, get through this door!" it said nothing in response, but went to door, placing itself as about a foot away from the thick, steel door, before a small line of light was seen leaving it.
"Tony, is that-"
"Yep." He grinned in response to the prominent frown on his friend's face.
"You are unbelievable." Banner said, shaking his head as Dummy quickly cut through the door, sparks flying. Stark waggled his eyebrows at him. Soon, they were able to open the door, or more along the lines of 'pushed' the door, because Dummy II had, for some reason, cut the hinges of the door as well. Stark's response was 'needs an updated algorithm', much to Banner's dismay, knowing that an algorithm off could be fiery trouble.
Stepping into the room, and closing the door behind them, the two scientists realized something was wrong, very wrong. Lana had clearly been covered in ashes in burns, but this room was pristine; a little too pristine to be honest, in Stark's opinion. It hadn't even been this clean before Lana had been given the room. Stark was the first to voice this.
"FRIDAY. Any disturbances in here last night?" the AI didn't respond, and Stark tapped his foot impatiently. "FRIDAY?"
He opened the door to Lana's room, and stepped into the hallway. "FRIDAY?" he tried again.
"Yes, sir?" the AI responded.
"Hang for one sec, FRIDAY." Stark said as he closed her door again. "FRIDAY?" he asked. No response. He opened the door once again.
"Could she be disconnected?" Banner questioned, standing in the doorway.
"No." Stark said adamantly. "There's no way she could be disconnected. I'm the only one who has access. It must be something in the firmware; not the software."
"Couldn't Lana have turned her off?"
"Only so that she wouldn't hear her. FRIDAY would still be able to report an alleged fire."
"How did no one hear anything?"
"The walls are designed to block over 200 decibels; no one would've heard anything even if she was having a rock concert in here."
"Good to know. Because Lana would have a rock concert."
"It's always the quiet ones, Banner, which means for all I know, you have rock concerts in your room." Banner just raised his eyebrows.
Stark stepped out into the hallway. "FRIDAY? Put this room on quarantine, and run self diagnostics."
"Of course."
"Okay, Bruce! To the access room!"
"Someone melted these wires, Bruce. Melted them." Tony Stark said in horror as he looked at the physical panel that controlled Lana's room. Every other control panel was untouched, which worried him. Who already had it out for the girl?
"I heard you the first time."
"This is a serious breach. Let's go talk to everyone. I bet Loki had something to do with this."
"We can't assume that." said Banner, the voice of reason.
"Oh yes, we can." Stark said seriously.
"Lana! What are you doing up here? You should back in the lab!" Stark said in dismay, walking into the conference room with Banner trailing behind him, and before she could reply, he was already pointing at Steve in an accusatory manner, "You were supposed to keep her there!" Lana rolled her eyes at his childish display. She was burned a bit, not smashed into itsy bitsy pieces.
"She's an adult, Tony. She can do what she wants And besides," Steve rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "she wouldn't listen to me."
Stark rolled his eyes, before turning to the newest members. "Wanda, Pietro." he nodded to the twins, being met with a red eyed glare from Wanda, and a 'Stark' in reply from Pietro.
"You guys sure are talkers, aren't you?" he flopped down in a plush chair. "Someone sabotaged Lana's room." he said simply.
Clint replied for everyone present, which was all but Thor and Loki. "What? How did they do that? Your security systems are supposed to be un-hackable! I'd like to invest in new security."
"Thank you, Katniss, for the vote of confidence. They melted the wires, and then welded her doors shut. Then, they somehow lit her room on fire, and then cleaned it without leaving a trace. So they didn't exactly, hack, now did they? They melted."
"I think, then, Mr. Stark," Pietro spoke up, "you need to update your security, as the old man said." he said in an accent, and winked in Lana's direction. She gave him a smile - which closely resembled a frown - in return.
"No, Roadrunner. I was just going to sit with my hands under my ass." was the billionaires sarcastic reply. "Of course I'm going to update my security!"
"I think what my brother is trying to say is that you need to look past your arrogance and assurance in your systems 'foolproof' protection if we are to figure this out." the brunette spoke up in a calm manner.
"Thanks, Glinda."
"I don't get that reference." she said as she cocked her head to one side, a quizzical look on her face.
"It's, it's a movie." Stark put his hands down in defeat. "But anyways, Lana, you're bunking with Natasha now. We obviously can't leave you alone to your own devices, or you get turned into human flambe." the red head gave a single, almost imperceptible nod of her head.
Lana spoke up. "Aw, but Stark, what if she snores?" Natasha sent her a glare. Lana's eyes grew wide. "But then again, I'm sure it sounds like angels singing!" she said quickly, unconsciously rubbing her arm where Natasha had smacked it months before. The assassin in question was opening her mouth to respond as Thor and Loki made their way into the room.
"C'mon, Thor what were you doing? Napping?" Stark said, annoyed at the god of thunder's tardiness. Loki, on the other hand, he wished would have been late.
"As a matter of fact, Stark, yes, I was napping. Yesterday's journey tired me." the thunder god responded, placing his hammer on the glass table. "Wanda, Pietro." While not giving a warm greeting, the twins did not give him the look of disdain that Stark had been given. Pietro gave Loki a glare of such ferocity, Lana wondered if Loki had done something to personally upset Pietro. Besides existing, of course. Although she would completely understand if that were the sole reason for the glare. Her train of thought was interrupted by Stark.
"Great. Okay, then, big guy. But you missed the part of 'intruder', and 'fire'."
"There was an intruder? Why weren't we alerted?" Thor asked, glancing at the slightly burned girl, now bandaged.
"God, I sound like a broken record." Stark looked up to the ceiling. "Because someone deactivated FRIDAY's intercom system and sensors in Lana's room. And Lana got all burned. It was awful." he finished quickly and dramatically.
"It's a bit funny, Loki," Lana said suddenly, "that last night we had a lovely discussion about burning, and here I am, slightly burnt from an impossible fire."
"That's where you got off to last night?" Clint nearly yelled as he slammed his palm on the table, shaking it slightly.
"Yes, Agent Barton, that's 'where I got off to last night'. I'm surprised you didn't realize sooner." Clint pointed to the god.
"No one would miss him. Please, just let me shoot him. Just once. I won't miss." he pleaded. Loki snorted, doubting the assassin's ability.
"Barton." Steve said with a warning. "We need him. Alive. And we don't know if he had anything to do with this incident."
"Yeah, right." was Clint's response with a swift eye roll. Lana gave a short laugh.
"I'm with Clint." She fist bumped him across the table.
"Do you really believe you would be alive had I intended to kill you?" Loki said in an uninterested monotone voice.
"Maybe if it was part of your plan to let me live." Lana spat out.
"If I were to cause mayhem, you would be one of the first ones to die. You aren't dead, therefore I did nothing." he finished smoothly. "And, if you are truly capable of telling lies from truths, which highly doubt you are, you would know this."
"Wait, wait, wait." Lana looked at the glass table like it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. "Can't she," she pointed to Wanda, "read minds?"
"In a way, I suppose I can. But him," she gestured to the god, "his thought are scattered, and I can't make much sense of them."
"Great." Lana's stomach rumbled. "Well, I'm hungry." she hopped out of her seat, and headed to the door.
"Laaaanaaaaaa. We're not finished yet. We were gonna take a selfie, play some strip poker, dance on the table, sing karaoke..."
"As fun as that sounds, Stark, I'd rather not be mentally scarred for life. Also, it's like seven in the morning. So, uh, no."
"Suit yourself. Pietro and I are gonna have a lot of fun, right, Pietro?" he leaned across Steve to punch said Sokovian in the arm.
"I will come with you, I think." the silver haired speedster said, tapping her on the shoulder, when he had just been sitting a moment before. He turned back to his sister, who rose and joined him.
Lana shrugged her shoulders with indifference. "This is gonna be interesting." was her only response as they tried to navigate their way to the kitchen.
If you guys have suggestions, please, just let me know! Review, and all those fun things! And for those of you who have been reading this from the beginning, a couple of changes have been made in the previous chapters. And look! A wild Pietro appears!