You got the whole world choking
From all the bridges that you're burning
You're not the leader of an army,
I'm not the enemy
Step back down
-Shake the Ground by Cherri Bomb
"Ellie?! Oh my God!" Pepper exclaimed, being the first one to say anything after Doom left. She had managed to successfully teleport on command for the first time in her life. Nat, Clint, Thor and Steve all rushed to her with Bruce, Tony and Pepper joining them too.
Ellie's eyes widened as her fingers lightly touched her face. "Holy shit," she breathed in complete shook, staring into the distance.
"Are you ok –"
"I fucking did it!" she cut Bruce off. "Oh, that was insane!" she went on, starting to smile. The rest of the guests were still standing in a circle around them, gasping and whispering things to each other. "Oh shit, I gotta sit down," she said, starting to feel light-headed. Thor grabbed a nearby chair for her and she sat down, closing her eyes and holding her head.
"How are you feeling?" Bruce asked her, crouching down beside her. "I'd be interested to know how you got yourself to teleport on command."
She opened her eyes. "I just, I just concentrated," she stuttered, "and I was a little scared. Just a little. It was so strange. God, my head's pounding," she explained and leaned forward, nauseously. "Fuck. I think I'm gonna be sick."
Everybody moved back in one swift movement.
"Please don't," Clint begged. "Someone get her a bucket."
She groaned and held her head in pain. "It's like waking up with a hangover," she moaned.
"I know that feeling," Tony nonchalantly said, sipping his champagne. Pepper gave him a look and stepped forward to help her up.
Ellie held up her hand and shook her head. "I'm really going to be sick," she muttered, before gripping her mouth with one hand. Before any of them could help her or do anything, she disappeared again. A second later, she appeared on the other side of the room by the elevator, leaning against the wall, still holding her mouth.
"Ellie!" Natasha called out and ran towards her. The others followed while the crowd was still silent and watching Ellie. "What are you doing?"
Ellie gulped. "I'm –," she grunted in between gasps, " –sorry." She quickly pressed the elevator button, but then she vanished again. Only that time, she never reappeared anywhere in the room.
"Jarvis, locate the Poltergeist," Tony commanded.
After a couple of seconds, Jarvis responded. "Sir, I can't seem to locate her."
"Alright," Steve stepped into action, "Stark, Pepper –you two stay here in case she comes back. Banner, Thor –you check the first floor. Barton and Nat will take the second and I'll take the third. If any of you find her, report back to Jarvis," he instructed. Everyone nodded in agreement.
Before they dispersed, Pepper stepped forward. "What do we do about the guests?" she asked, "should I cut the party?"
Everybody looked at each other. They were all thinking the exact same thing, but nobody had the heart to tell her. She had put so much of her time and effort into the party.
"We'll handle the guests," Maria intervened with Nick Fury. "Just go find her."
With that, they got into their groups to find the missing Ellie. Clint and Natasha raked the second floor, going in each room to see if they could find her while Bruce and Thor raced down to the first floor. Pepper, Nick and Maria were trying their best to subtly explain to the guests what was going on and why the party had been cut short. Tony, on the other hand, was going through the security footage around the penthouse. There was no sign of her any where.
On the third floor, Steve searched his own room as well as Bruce's, by simply opening the door, looking around and moving on. He got to the last door, which was her bedroom and knocked. He didn't want to risk the chance of walking in on her if she was in her room.
"Ellie, you in there?" he called out, knocking. "Ellie? It's me, Steve."
At first, he didn't hear anything, but then her strained voice finally responded. "Don't – don't come in here, okay?" she yelled back. Her voice was raspy and thinned out. It sounded like she had a cold or had lost her voice.
He sighed, relieved to have finally found her. "It's just me. Are you okay? Where'd you go?" he asked her, moving closer to the door.
"I'm fine, Steve. Go away!"
He put his ear to the door and listened. He could hear her throwing up. "You don't sound fine," he insisted. She didn't reply. "Ellie, I'm coming in!"
Without hesitation, Steve opened the door. The first things he saw were her two blue high heels lying on the floor, then he saw her kneeling over the toilet in her bathroom. He rushed over and crouched beside her, carefully rubbing her back.
"I told you not to come in," she said, holding the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed. She took some deep breaths, the wiped her mouth and stood up, flushing the toilet and closing the lid. He ignored her and followed her to the sink, where she washed her hands and face. "Teleporting has never made me this sick before. I don't know what's going on."
Steve leaned against the doorframe and folded his arms. "You're alight now, though, right?" he asked, watching her reapply some of her makeup. She nodded. "Well I think we better check in with the others. They're looking for you."
"Nobody thought of checking my room, huh?" she smirked, reorganizing some of the hairpins that were holding her bun together.
"Are you planning on going back to the party?" he asked her, frowning, as soon as he realized that she was making herself look a little more presentable.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Yeah…I thought it was my party?" she slurred, shaking her head.
"It is your party, but I don't think you're in any state to head back out. You need to lie down or something."
Sighing, she stumbled past him and retrieved her shoes. "I'm fine, really," she assured him. She sat down on the edge of her bed and put her shoes back on. Swiftly, he grabbed them out of her hands and stepped back.
"You're not fine. You can barely walk in a straight line," he snapped. "I'll tell them that you're too sick to go back, but you need to rest."
She rolled her eyes and stood up. "Fine," she huffed.
"Where are you going?"
Ellie's eyes widened. "Jesus Christ, Steve!" she mumble to herself. "I'm just getting my pajamas!"
Steve gently put her shoes down and made his way to the door. Her head shot up. "Wait," she called out after him. He looked back. "This is a little weird, but could you help me unzip my dress? Pepper and Nat aren't exactly here right now and it's kind of really hard to unzip this piece of shit," she rambled on.
Steve raised his eyebrows. "Uh…okay…sure, I guess."
She trotted to him and turned around. Steve cautiously moved the chunks of black curls away from her neck before he felt around for the zipper. She moved her head to the side to make it easier for him to see.
"There's a button right on top," she warned him. He saw it and carefully unbuttoned it before making his way down to the zipper. His fingertips traced the metal line while his other hand pulled it down.
"Can you reach it now?" he asked against her neck. Her arm reached for her back to see if it was low enough for her to reach. Steve took her hand and guided her. "Right there? Is that alright?"
Her fingers grasped the small metal zip. "Yeah. Thanks."
"No problem."
Slowly, Ellie spun around to face him. "Can you do something else for me?" she asked him. Her voice was soft –almost a whisper. Her smile was replaced with a cheerless frown. Steve nodded. "Tell Pepper I'm really sorry for ruining this night, would you?"
"You didn't ruin it," he said, shaking his head. "Doom did. She knows that," he assured her. She nodded and looked down at the ground, unconvinced. Steve sighed. "Welcome to the team, Ellie," he congratulated her. A small smile played on his lips as he tilted his head, trying to get her to look at him.
She looked up and smiled. "Thank you."
"ELIZABETH?!" Clint's loud voice sang as he swung her door open. His eyes went from Ellie, to Steve and back to Ellie. "She's been here this whole time? Aw, c'mon!" he whined. "Jarvis, tell the others that I found her. She's in her room," he said, frowning. "Elizabeth has been in her bedroom all this time! I found her, not Steve!"
"Your message has been sent, sir."
"Good!" Clint huffed and left, leaving the door open. Down the hall, Ellie and Steve could hear him saying something to himself.
"Well," she sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "Goodnight."
Steve nodded once. "Goodnight."
When he left, she flopped back onto her bed and closed her eyes...
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Chapter 5 done and dusted! What did you think?
Thanks for reading. Please review, follow and favorite.
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