Thanks again T. Rycbar for editing and eating half of my fruit roll-ups. The latter was a dick move, but you are forgiven for making me realize something about my character that I hadn't realized until this moment. The positive and negative cancel themselves out so you're getting off scot-free this time. Don't let me catch you again eating my fruit roll-ups. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this new chapter. 'Science Bros' and all that. (And Happy)

In conclusion- Drink water and if you're sad, just don't be. Like if you have asthma- just breathe. It's not that hard. :D

IDontOwnMarvel

The ride to yet another airport was not fun at all, especially since Clint had to leave as soon as we got there. Apparently Fury had called him in for some kind of mission.

I assumed we were going to Malibu and I wasn't overly fond of flying at this point. I was even more stressed when I found out that I had to share a private jet with Tony and Banner. Having Happy there made it a little better though because I knew that I could just bother him for most of the trip.

"Sorry I have to leave you with them." Clint and I were standing outside of the private jet with Happy waiting for me at the door. Tony and Bruce were already inside.

"It's all right. I have a sister. I'm used to the torment." I chuckled lightly despite the pain that shot through my chest. Had.

"Alright," He looked past me at the plane and then reached into his pocket and scribbled something out on a piece of paper. He handed the phone number to me and I took it cautiously. "Just 'cause you might have to talk to Tony on your own. I figured I'd do the next best thing. Call me if you need anything."

I looked between him and the number before sticking out my hand. He shook it with a short smile before I released it and turned to go up the stairs to the Jet. I stopped halfway up the stairs and faced him.

"Thanks for everything," I smiled.

He watched me board and then started off towards a Shield car that had not noticed until I sat down in a seat further away from where Tony and Bruce were conversing. Happy was also giving me weird looks and decided on a seat just far away enough from my own that he could watch me. It looked like he wasn't even trying to be inconspicuous, but knew he was.

I stifled a laugh and waved over at him. "Hi, Mr. Hogan."

He looked very unnerved by my name recognition, but didn't bother with a reply. Instead, he got up and moved to a seat closer to Stark and Banner. I couldn't see any of them now, which was fine with me since I knew that they probably couldn't see me either. I buckled when the plane started to move and finally took off, but after about 20 minutes I figured we leveled out enough to unstrap the belt. I wasn't quite sure what the rules were when it came to private jets, but I would rather be safe than sorry.

There was a small screen in front of me but after scrolling through the movies and finding nothing recognizable or interesting, I sat in silence with my stress ball. I had grown very attached to it at this point, probably because I've suddenly found myself in an alternate universe with nothing but my wits and the clothes on my back. And I wasn't sure about the wits. The stress ball's print had formed cracks in it from all of the maneuvering but I didn't really mind. It was nice to have a familiar object on hand due to my lack of phone that was definitely lost when I was hurtling through the air. I felt a little sick at the remembrance of the phone. It had all of my pictures of Ellie on it. Hopefully, enough were backed up that I could transfer them out of the cloud when I get back to where I belong.

I stopped myself when I found that I was squeezing the life out of the stress ball and put it in my other hand. I shouldn't stress too much, since I'm sure to be home soon. I have the two smartest minds in the world there to help me. That is, if they agree to help me at all.

Tony appeared in front of me and looked me over before sitting down across from my seat. "I heard that you were harassing Happy."

I smiled politely. "I only said hello."

"Yeah that's harassment when it comes from you."

"Fair enough," I nodded. "What did you want?"

"I want you to stop sitting back here trying to burn a hole in my plane with your eyes." He raised a brow from behind his rose-colored sunglasses. "That's not something I have to worry about, right? You're not gonna go all…power up just by glaring, are you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I frowned, deciding to ignore his question for the sake of my sanity. "I've just been sitting here."

"Exactly. It's annoying, so stop it." He crossed his arms and there was a short staring contest before I broke the tense silence.

"Well, I'm very comfortable right here, but if you prefer I do something else I can."

He didn't skip a beat. "I just told you to stop doing that."

"I'm not doing anything!" I looked around slightly panicked.

What am I doing wrong?

"Yes, that. That right there," he whipped off his sunglasses and leaned back in his seat triumphantly. "is exactly the problem. The whole nice and innocent act? I think we both know you're not exactly shy about speaking your mind, kid. So what's up with the...moping and kicked-puppy eyes, huh?"

He gestured vaguely in my direction as he spoke, and I had to fight to keep myself from lashing out and proving his point.

"Oh, uh, sorry about that. I just lash out when I'm backed into a corner." I forced a smile, although my fists were clenched tightly on my lap.

What the hell's he so grouchy for? It's not like any of this is my fault.

He just sighed, as if I'd failed some hidden test or something. "Okay. Start over then."

I smiled to myself, the former uneasiness fading at Tony's attitude shift.

Aww, Tony actually cares enough to offer me a do-over? Maybe Pepper was right - the guy does have a heart after all.

I unclenched my fists and stuck out a hand, leaning forward to make it reach across the aisle.

"Hi. I'm Lincoln, but most people just call me Link. I also have been known to go by Jack though."

He slowly stuck out his hand and shook my own before retracting it. "Tony Stark."

"Oh, I know. Can I ask a question?" I felt a genuine smile playing on my lips.

"Odd. The person who knows everything wants to ask a question."

I ignored him. "Why does Dr. Banner not like me?"

He paused and looked over the side of his seat before facing me again. "Funny, he actually wanted me to ask you something like that when I came over here."

"What was he asking?" I felt a little bad that he wouldn't come over and ask me himself.

Does he hate me already? Luckily, my mind didn't drift too far before Tony answered.

"He thinks you don't like him."

I frowned. "Why wouldn't I like him? He seems nice enough, and you guys are friends."

"Suddenly, I'm bored with this conversation. I am not a passenger pigeon so you guys can hash it out yourselves." He stood and left rather abruptly again.

What is with him and randomly walking in and out of conversations? I rolled my eyes but tensed up when Tony returned, shoving a silently protesting man into the seat across from me.

"I told you Banner, I'm not a bird. Talk to the one who actually gave it a go yesterday." Tony turned to go back up the aisle to his own seat.

It was a few moments of silence before I spoke up first. I felt slightly more confident speaking to Banner, like it was my job to make him not hate me. Though, by the look on his face, Banner was more nervous around me than I was around him...which is strange for the guy who could literally tear this plane in half if he wanted to.

"Hi, I'm Lincoln. I don't believe we've officially met." I stuck out my hand for him to take.

"Um, hi. I'm Dr. Banner." He shook my hand before taking it back quickly.

"Yes, I do know that. It's nice to meet you Bruce. What fun is it that I can simply say 'Oh yes, I know that' every time someone introduces themselves here?" I stopped myself after that sentence to avoid rambling again. Was I rambling? I don't know. It's probably Tony's fault.

"Ah, yeah. I guess it can be kind of funny." He chuckled slightly and shifted in his seat. "Sorry about almost killing you."

I tilted my head. He didn't- OH. Almost forgot about that.

"You mean Hulk, right?"

He nodded unsure of where this was going.

"Don't worry about that. I'm alright. See? You are definitely too nice and socially awkward to be able to threaten someone's life. The Hulk, however, is a different story. All in all, I'm glad to finally be meeting you because Fury said you might be able to get me home." I smiled at him hoping that I calmed his nerves enough, but still mentally slapping myself for rambling again.

He smiled back so I took that as a definitive sign that he really didn't hate me after all. "Yeah, Tony has a Lab in his place in Malibu so we'll be able to run some tests and find out where you're from first."

I ran my hands up the opposite arms subsciously. "Does that mean needles?"

"Probably a few. We'll have to isolate your DNA and compare it to ours somehow. Why?" He gave me a concerned look.

I grimaced. "No one reason in particular. I'm just not a fan."

"Oh." He paused midway and I remained more anxious than I was when I had started this conversation with the Science Man. "We'll try to keep them at a minimum."

I gave him a quick smile before standing and patting him on the head. "Thanks Doc."

He looked incredibly confused by the head pat but I couldn't see any more of the reaction as I looked around the seats until I spotted Happy. I smiled at him and he immediately scowled back at me.

"I only said hello!" I protested the look and sat down in the seat across from him. To my left, across the aisle, Tony was messing with a holographic computer. I elected not to bother him and faced Happy again.

He looked very put out by my existence already. Coming from him though, it was pretty funny. "What do you want?"

I smiled innocently. "I came to say hello to my favorite Head of Security."

He narrowed his eyes at me, refusing to buy into my innocence. "No you didn't, you came here to harass me more."

"You think so little of me." I frowned before quickly snatching the hat off his head. "Can I borrow this?"

"NO, you - no!" he sputtered. "Give it back." He grabbed it out of my hands and stuffed it in his bag.

I returned the pout to my face. "But I look good in hats."

"I don't care. It's not yours."

I smiled. "Touchy. Did Tony give it to you?"

"No." I saw his eyes shift to the side, indicating a lie. If we were playing poker I'd totally win.

"Mr. Stark, did you make Happy's head of security hat?" I directed my question this time at the man who was fiddling with a holographic version of his suit. He looked up at my devious grin and then over to Happy's pleading look.

"Yes, did you want one?"

"Yes I would." I smiled back at Happy. "Can it also say 'head of security'?"

A small mumbled "Mhm." was all I needed.

Happy sputtered out a response. "But-"

"Don't argue with him, Hogan. It will only make your day harder." I cut him off. He glared at me and picked up his bag before moving to the back of the plane. "Bye Happy!" I exclaimed before switching over to the seat Happy was previously in. It had a better view of what Tony was doing on the computer anyways.

Was it my plan all along? I guess we'll never know.

I watched as he picked apart pieces of the suit and added new ones. It was a soothing thing to watch, like watching a puzzle being put together. He had noticed me watching him and grumbled something about me not knowing that I was witnessing history before continuing on with it.

I watched him for a while before I felt tired once again. It didn't quite make sense to me due to my lack of activities that day, but after checking (and confirming) with Tony that it was in fact 8 pm already, I figured it was safe enough to go to sleep. It wasn't like I had much else to do for this trip anyhow. I only felt a little bad about not being able to sleep in my own bed.

Tony glanced over at a now sleeping teen. He quickly switched the panel in front of him.

It's about time that kid fell asleep. She looked like she was ready to pass out as soon as she stepped on the plane. He had to admit though, it was funny listening in on the conversation she had with Happy. The man was easily disgruntled and she had manipulated that by playing the annoying child.

Smart kid, Tony smirked a little before turning back to his work bench. Took me forever to figure out how to get under Happy's skin.

But Tony was observant, too. While her actions were definitely on the childish side, all he had to do was watch her eyes to quickly realize that it was just a facade she put on to hide what she was really thinking.

Hiding intellect and anxiety behind a childish front, he snuck another glance at Lincoln's sleeping form before sighing quietly and looking away with a small frown. Now where have we seen that before?

Tony shook his head, breaking himself out of his train of thought and focusing on the issue at hand. After gaining some proof from the kid that the theory of multiple dimensions was in fact true, he had immediately started researching the science behind it. But that was exactly the problem- there was no hard, cold science behind it. Just theory. There was little to nothing to go on when it came to previously done research, and not to mention she couldn't even say how she got there.

After a moment, Bruce came up and joined him at the desk in the seat opposite of him, adjusting his glasses as he settled down again.

"You got anything?" he asked, scanning over the empty screen.

"No. There's nothing. No one's done any actual research on this other than just a bunch of theoretical ideas." He paused and then flipped the screen to show a set of books. "I've skimmed a ton of books and even with the theories...I'm not liking how this is looking."

Banner hummed in understanding. "Would the Tesseract have helped?"

"I thought about that too, but the Tesseract is good for energy and relative location in space. She's not even from this space nor do we have anything to power it, especially since SHIELD's doo-higgy got destroyed." Tony huffed, mind spinning with any possible ideas that could help in this situation. He had nothing. And he didn't like that.

His accomplice sat back in his seat, glancing over at the sleeping kid. "So, we really have nothing?"

Tony nodded. "Our best bet right now is finding out more about whatever lighting she used to close the portal."

"She doesn't even know what that was."

"She could be lying." Tony mused for a moment.

"Lincoln doesn't really seem to be the type to lie. She hasn't lied so far," Banner countered hesitantly.

Tony went quiet while thinking it over. She hadn't lied so far. It's not like she'd have any motivation to lie, since she probably wanted to go home even more than they wanted to get rid of her. But he didn't voice any of that out loud. Tony had never been good at admitting when he was wrong.

"Funny name," he said instead, switching the screen back to his suit and messing with the pieces again.

Banner sighed and ran a hand over his face. The second time Tony looked up at him, he was asleep too. "Jarvis, can I get an ETA on Malibu?"

"Estimated Time of Arrival is 2 hours from now. 9:48 PST."

"Thanks J." He was then given the option to either start a new project blueprint, or take a nap. He fell asleep trying to decide.

I jolted awake again. At least I didn't dream this time. I watched as Tony gave me only a quick look before heading out of the plane. Banner started after him and gave me a smile. I stopped and looked back at Happy, still sleeping in the back of my plane. I skipped down the steps after Tony and stopped him. "Shouldn't we wake up Happy?"

Tony looked back at the plane before shaking his head and continuing on. "Don't bother. He had to put up with your childish manipulation techniques."

I paused at the idea that he was actually listening to the conversation I had with Happy before sitting down in the back seat of a very fancy car. "I thought they were pretty good."

After pulling into the Malibu estate, we took an elevator up to the first floor. Tony waved me off on the level and when I asked him where I was supposed to go he told me to ask Jarvis. Banner and Tony remained in the elevator and soon I was left in silence in a very large and mostly empty room. I turned in a full circle, taking in my surroundings before testing out the whole AI thing.

"Jarvis?" I felt my voice crack a little.

"Yes, Miss?"

I jumped at the voice despite having expected it. I cleared my throat to remove the anxious lump. "I was wondering if there was somewhere to sleep."

"Mr. Stark has put aside a guest room for you. Proceed towards the kitchen and then down the right hallway. It's the 3rd door to your left."

I started in that direction before quickly moving back to where I had been standing when I first addressed the AI. "Thank you Jarvis." I nodded to myself confidently, and started back towards the kitchen.

"There's no need to be in the same place to talk to me. I span over the entire estate."

I felt only slightly embarrassed by the amused tone coming from the AI. "Okay."

I followed its directions down the hall and found the proper door before pushing it open. In any other house this could have easily been a master bedroom. I wandered around it for a moment before I found the bathroom. "Am I allowed to use the shower?"

"All the items in this room are available for your use."

I quickly showered off the grime of falling through the sky and being in the same clothes for two days before throwing the same clothes back on, minus my sweatshirt. It was one of my favorite outfits. I think it was only then that I realized I was wearing the average human's equivalent to pajamas. I had grey sweatpants on with a blue hoodie off to the side that had the outline of a stegosaurus on it. I was wearing a blank black t-shirt too which was normally underneath the sweatshirt. I frowned at my own reflection before searching through the drawers until I found a hairbrush.

It took only a few strokes until my hair was in the desired part and style. That is one of the perks of having shortish hair. I pondered sleeping on the bed until I spotted a small couch that looked infinitely more comfortable and decided on that. I flopped down on my back and my mind went wishing for the stress ball. I felt my heart sink at the realization that I had left it on the plane. I liked my stress ball.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Hey Jarvis?"

"Yes, Miss?"

"Is my stress ball still on the plane?" I figured if anyone knew, it would be the AI that just flew me here.

There was a brief pause before he answered "Yes. Would you like someone to get it for you?"

"Oh, no, I don't want to be a bother. I can always get it some other time."

"All right then."

I fidgeted on the couch before snagging the throw blanket off the bed and wrapping it around myself. I threw myself back onto the couch and settled in quickly. I might have fallen asleep faster had I still had the stress ball in my possession.

"Sir?"

"Yes Jarvis?" Tony didn't look up from his work, but listened intently to the AI.

"Miss Patel was distraught about a missing stress ball she left on the plane. She said she didn't want to bother anyone. Would you like to send someone to get it?"

Tony turned to Banner to ask him about it but he had already passed out on the desk. "No it's alright. I'll just have Happy bring it by when he wakes up. Remind him when he does."

"Sure."

He didn't need to pay attention in psychology to know that she had already latched onto a comfort object of sorts. It was only slightly pitiful; latching onto the first thing that made sense in a world she didn't recognize. He couldn't help but feel a little bad for her. Tony also hoped that she hadn't pissed off Happy so much that he wouldn't return it.

Tony tapped the screw driver to his chin in contemplation. "Jarvis, if Happy complains, tell him it's his ass."

"Absolutely Sir."

The very next day, my hands were shaking again. I was sitting very uncomfortably in one of the stools Tony had in his lab while Banner held out a needle. I had given Tony a fearful look when he told me they had to draw blood, only for him to tell me I was being a baby. Naturally, I had to prove him wrong, even though I knew he was using my own competitiveness against me.

"Are you ready?" Banner kept a concerned look on me.

I glared over at Tony who was smirking. "Always." I broke away the look though when I felt the needle go in. "AH!" I cringed and used every ounce of my mental strength to not move the arm away.

"Haha. Wimp."

"Shut up, Metal Man!" I shot him a glare and held it even after he looked back at his own work.

"Alright, everyone just...stay calm. There. All done." I pulled my arm back and gave Banner the same glare I had given Tony. He wasn't watching and instead rolled his chair over to where Tony was sitting and started making slides. I stood and walked over to where they now were because unfortunately for me, I didn't have a chair with wheels, just a stool.

"That's all we need for right now. Go make yourself useful somewhere else." Tony dismissed me without looking up.

I was about to leave when I remembered that I was supposed to tell Tony something. I paused in the doorway and looked back at the two of them. "Tony?"

"Yes, child wonder?" He asked, keeping his eyes on his work.

"I have to talk to you later about something."

He looked up at me, finally. "And you can't spill it now?"

"No actually, it's kind of important. Like the thing with Loki." I stuffed my hands into my sweatpant pockets whilst finding the floor very interesting. I could tell Banner was listening in even if he was trying not to. I couldn't look him in the eye yet. This was not how I wanted to spend my hopefully limited time here. Telling everyone deep secrets about their past that will help in the long run, but ultimately make me feel like the shittiest person alive.

He was trying to read what I was thinking but I kept my gaze on the floor, only looking up to steal glances at him or Banner. "Alright. You can tell me when the samples are baking."

"You mean the blood you stole?" I retorted, a small smirk fighting its way onto my face despite my best efforts.

"Yes, those. Other than that, you can go do your own thing...whatever it is you crazy kids do these days." He waved me off and turned back to his work.

Banner started rolling again across the floor. "Yes, unless you do that lightning thing again. Then you should probably tell us." He waved me off too.

I turned and headed up the stairs, hearing Tony speak to the AI on my way up. "Jarvis, tell me if she does that lightning thing again."

I would have shouted down the stairs at him, but it didn't feel worth it at this point. I sighed and ran the rest of the way up the stairs, not even hearing the response from Jarvis. Wandering back to my bedroom, I flopped down on the small couch I had slept on earlier and groaned into the padding before sitting up again. I was not envying the conversation I was going to have later.

I sighed dispassionately and rolled over. "Jarvis, is there a laptop around here I could use?"

He directed me to a drawer in the nightstand that also held a cellphone. I pulled Clint's number out of my pocket and quickly added it to the phone contacts before putting it back in the drawer. His number went back into my pocket. I once again considered sitting on the bed, but turned at the last minute back towards the couch with a pillow in hand and sat down with the laptop. I had to start finding similarities and differences between where I was from, so I started with the basics and worked my way back to lesser known events.

I quickly went from 9/11 all the way down to the creation of film and audio recording. I couldn't find many differences. None of the actors existed here as far as I could tell. I looked ahead for any actor names that I could think of and the only popular actor that I could find that I recognized from my earth was Leonardo DeCaprio. He was pretty popular, so I was fine with him existing in two worlds. I halted with the acting field after I stopped finding any familiar names and turned to things that actually existed here.

I looked up the attacks on New York City and got a ton of News coverage on it. I was only briefly scrolling through the News when there was one article that caught my eye. Falling Hero. The title was accompanied by a blurred image of someone falling through the air. I clicked on it and was brought to a page with a video. I watched with great interest as one of the Chitauri whale things came tearing through the portal. Immediately, something broke off and a purple rod of lightning shot out of the figure who still appeared to be falling. The lightning connected with the portal and it dissipated into thin air.

"Holy shit is that me?" I breathed, watching as Iron Man snatched the figure from the air and carried them off. "Nope. Nope. Not there yet." I quickly closed the tab and changed the topic of search.

I am so not ready to deal with that shit-storm yet.

I turned to any of the people that had yet to show up, including Doctor Strange, but it only showed how wonderful of a surgeon he was. I smiled at the sight of ignorant and selfish Strange. I felt a little bad, but he really needed the car accident to be able to act like a decent being.

What about the Ancient One? Oh, what a thought. If the thing with Stark and Banner doesn't work out I could always seek her out for help. She was pretty and nice.

I was actually a little surprised that she hadn't showed up yet to yell at me for jumping dimensions. Maybe I wasn't that noticeable to her. Maybe I was a part of the plot now and this was just a regularly scheduled drop in of a random human before I was whisked off again back to my own world.

My own world.

I closed the laptop and put it aside. I drew my legs up to my chest as my thoughts wandered back to my family. I missed my parents and my stupid crackhead of a cat. I missed Ellie. Ellie. The anniversary was coming up soon. I was going to get her red roses. Next year it was going to be orange. By the end of the rainbow maybe it wouldn't hurt so much to go and visit her or walk away after. I had no trouble going to the grave, but once I was there I found it incredibly difficult to leave.

I hated that my absence was making the rest of my family feel the way they were when we lost Ellie. Now they lost me and only 11 months later.

Mom and Dad must be so worried. I felt my heart ache until there was a small stain of tears on the knees of my pants. I rubbed my eyes. I hadn't known that I was crying. Before I could clean up enough, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." I shoved back down any emotions that found their way into my head and wiped my face again.

"Great. So, the samples are baking and Banner said-" he stopped halfway through the door and looked at me suspiciously. I hoped that my face didn't give away that I had been upset earlier.

Come on Stark, now is the time for your abysmal people skills to shine.

"Are you alright? If it's about the needle thing-"

"No. No, sorry, it's not that." I quickly covered for myself and snagged the sweatshirt off of the dresser. I pulled it on and stopped before I said anything else.

"Okay. So you said you had something to tell me?" He moved along the conversation.

"Yeah it's kind of time sensitive too, unlike Loki's thing. I basically just threatened him." I chuckled at my own brain's attempt at pulling me off track. "Anyway, I don't know how you deal with difficult information, but you might want to sit down for this."

"What's it about?"

I clenched my fists inside of my pocket to the point where my fingernails were digging into my palm. "It's about your parents."

"Dead. Last I checked, at least." He said back in an alarmingly even tone.

"Yes, well, it's more about the cause of death." I shuffled my feet, feeling the sting in my palms. "You see- Hydra had a project going known as the Winter Soldier for over 65 years. A super soldier that they kept in suspended animation until they had a mission for him. Every time someone's presence threatened the hidden nature of Hydra in SHIELD, they would wake up the man, brainwash him and torture him again until he was so far gone he wasn't the same person."

Tony looked behind him quickly. "I don't see how this relates."

"Yeah, I know, it's just important that you know that it wasn't the man's fault. He was under the control of Hydra like Clint or Selvig with Loki." I said, starting to bridge the gap. "Your dad got too close to finding out they had infiltrated SHIELD. They sent the Winter Soldier after your parents. It wasn't the car crash that killed your parents, it was Hydra. The Winter Soldier."

Tony stayed quiet and his facial expression didn't change, much unlike Steve's reaction. Somehow this one was scarier. I could almost see the gears turning in his head. "Okay. Parents - dead. Hydra - dead as of yesterday."

I nodded my head following along.

"What about this so-called Winter Soldier?"

"I- well. He's still alive but they're trying to get the man back." I grit my teeth, waiting for the reaction.

Tony blinked. "Great, so where's he at? I think I might send him some flowers."

"No!" Tony jumped back at my outburst but quickly glared me down to the point where I hoped the floor would swallow me. I took a step away from him.

He didn't yell but the ice behind his words scared me even more than the Hulk had on the first day. "Why the hell not?"

"I can't tell you where he is because A - I don't know, and B - I know you'll just be going there to try and kill him and the whole battle is something I'm trying to prevent." I stated, quickly trying to crawl out of the grave I dug myself into.

"Give me a name, then." He started towards me. "That's all I need."

I took more steps away, trying to keep my voice even as he came closer. "No, Tony, you know I can't do that."

"GIVE ME THE NAME!"

I felt my back connect with the wall, and suddenly, I didn't have anywhere else to back away to. Tony must have realized that he had advanced on me too and towered over me before glaring down.

"I'm not finished with you yet." He turned and left the room slamming the door on the way out. I felt myself crumple to the floor, arms across my chest.

Well, that sucked. I knew it was going to be bad but it felt a lot worse than what I had been preparing for. Maybe if I had used different words or said it sooner I could have prevented this. With Tony that angry, there was no chance him and Steve would ever be caught dead near each other again. What made it so much worse was that Tony already hated Steve because of his father. God - the endless circles here are gonna drive me crazy.

The memory of Tony's furious expression as he stormed out of the room made me melt even further into the floor. No way he'll want to help me after that disaster.

I let out a small groan of frustration. There goes my ticket home.