Chapter 3 – The Next Day
Emma's POV
The next few days of Emma's life were the weirdest in her life. After she had found herself in her office without knowing what happened, her life went haywire. The day after the incident, she was called into the Directors office. Janet meets her at the door.
"What happened yesterday?" She confronts Emma.
"Um…I'm not sure." She replies looking dazed.
"He is not happy, you should go in right away."
Emma knocks on the door and she can hear he boss from inside.
"Mademoiselle Osborne. Come in." He says sternly. Emma open the door to see him sitting at his desk. One of the other chairs is occupied by a very well dressed man. He gets up to introduce himself.
"Good Day Miss Osborne. My name is Tony Stark." He hold out is hand
"Mr. Stark" she shakes his hand. "What can I do for you?" They both take a seat in the ugly green chairs.
"Miss Osborne, did you experience anything particular yesterday? Your Director mention that you were supposed to escort a special guest from the British museum?"
"Yes" She replies not sure if she should tell him that she remembers nothing.
"Yes what? Miss Osborne. Did you experience anything particular?"
"I'm…not sure. I remember going to the receptionist desk to wait for the guest, next thing I know I was back in my office. I lost about an hour."
"I see, it seems you were not the only one to loose time. The receptionist seems to have lost about 30 minutes. We believe that you were visited by an old foe of ours."
"Mr. Stark, what do you mean by old foe?"
"The one that tried to destroy New York. Loki of Asgard"
"And what does that have to do with me Mr. Stark?"
"He came here yesterday to steal something. And we believe he succeeded and now we can't find him. His brother believes we should be worried"
"Thor?"
"Yes Thor. He believes that whatever Loki is after can enable him to time travel."
"What? That's not possible."
"Believe me Miss Osborne we truly hope it is not. Listen, we need you to come with us."
"What, why?"
"We need to unlock your memories. We need to know what he took. He was smart enough to erase any records of what was catalogued."
"But Mr. Stark…"
"No, Mademoiselle Osborn, you will do what is necessary to protect the reputation of this museum."
"Yes Monsieur Beauchamp. I will go with Mr. Stark."
"Ok thank you for your cooperation. We should go."
"Right now?"
"Yes, we can stop at your place if you want to pick up a few things." They both get up.
"Do not disappoint me again Mademoiselle." Her boss says to her before they leave his office.
"Geez, Asshole much?" Tony says and scoffs
"Yeah but a brilliant asshole" Emma replies. They head down the grand hallway and out the front entrance of the gallery. Tony walks up to a man standing beside a beautiful white Bentley.
"Happy, we need to make a stop before we head back to the airport. Miss Osborne. Please let him know where to go." She give her address and he opens the door to the car.
"Airport? Mr. Stark, where are we going?"
"To the Avengers Tower in New York. I have a lab there. We should be able to unlock those memories. After you" Tony says and let's Emma get into the car first. Happy drives them to her apartment. She lives close to the museum, normally doing to commute on foot. They arrive 5 minutes later and before she exit the car she turns to Tony.
"Mr. Stark, how long do you think this will take?"
"A couple of days. Why?"
"I have a cat. Can't really leave home for more then a couple days."
"Oh yeah well I don't do cats." Tony says and scrunches his nose. "Don't you have family that can take him?"
"Actually Mr. Stark, I don't" she replies quietly and looks down at her shoes to avoid eye contact.
"Oh, friends then?"
"Mr. Stark, I'm afraid I'm a very solitary person. My only companion is my cat."
"Well that's kinda sad." He looks at her with pity in his eyes.
"It might be but I've been hurt so many times in the past. This way is just better."
"Wow that's pretty deep. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"
"I don't mind. I'm 26"
"You sound older then that."
"Mr. Stark, my cat?"
"Yeah listen. If you are gone for more than a couple of days I will send Happy to get your cat. Is that cool?"
"Thank you Mr. Stark. I will be quick." She heads into her building and up the elevator to the penthouse. She didn't need to tell Stark she was loaded. Her parents had been insured for a massive amount of money. She had been able to pay herself through school and buy this beautiful penthouse. And she still had money to spare. She walks out of the elevator and unlocks her door. She walks in and a small black fur ball runs to her feet.
"Hey Odin" She leans over to pet her cat while asking her home assistant to turn on the lights.
"Hey Google, turn on living room." The lights turn on and she sees a man sitting on her couch.
"What the hell?" She yells and jumps back. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I'm sorry Miss Osborne. I did not mean to scare you. My name is Justice Peace. I'm an agent with the TVA."
"The what now?"
"The Time Variance Authority, Miss Osborne" he get up and she notices he his wearing a dark brown suit. It looks like something you would see in a Sears's catalogue from the 1970.
"And what can I do for you, Justice Peace?"
"Well, Miss Osborne you see, yesterday you were involved in what we call a nexus event and I'm here to assess how much you remember of said event and if we need to reset you."
"Reset me? Yeah I don't like the sound of that." She starts to slowly back away from him.
"Listen Justice Peace, I have someone waiting for me downstairs and I better get going before they wonder where I am."
"Um... yes Tony Stark. I would like to make this as simple as possible Miss Osborne. Please let's not involved Mr. Stark."
"Well, what do you want? I don't remember anything that happened yesterday. What else do you want to know?"
"Do you know anything?"
"Not really, except I was supposed to escort someone from the British Museum and show them our New Norse collection. I waited for them and I guess they showed up but I don't remember meeting them. The only thing I do remember is waking up in a daze in my office about an hour later."
"That's it?"
"Yes" she lies. She doesn't think she should reveal what Tony told her about Loki.
"Ok Miss Osborne I believe you but please stay away from Stark." He starts to walk towards the door of her apartment.
"And what am I supposed to tell Stark exactly?"
"You're smart, think of something. Don't make me come back, Miss Osborne." And he walks out of her apartment and closes the door behind him. She run after him but when she opens the door to the hallway, he is gone.
"What the hell am I supposed to do?" She growls and turn back into her apartment. She is so confused. What is happening to me? She thinks to herself. What am I going to tell Stark? She goes to her bedroom to change when she notices her small black cat sleeping on the bed.
"Great guard cat you make." She say to her cat Odin and pets him on the head. She quickly changes into a pair of jeans and a knit sweater. She sits down on her bed to think. She put her head in her hands and lets out a big sigh.
"Common Ems, you can do this!" She gives herself a pep talk. "I want to remember." She says out loud to justify her reasoning.
"Stark can help." She reassures herself. She decides that this is her best option. She doesn't care or want to care about Justice Peace. She grabs a few essentials and packs them in a small carry on. She makes sure Odin has enough food and water for a few days. She grabs her purse, carry on and heads out the door.
"I'll see you in a few days, Odin." She yells back to her cat and heads back down to meet Stark.
"Took you long enough." Tony quips while leaning on the car.
"Can we go?" She looks at him and raises both eyebrows. He seems to get the hint and they get in the car.
"Happy, get us to the airport stat!" He turns to Emma. "What happened? You look scared."
"Mr. Stark, have you ever heard of the TVA?"
"The what now?" He looks at her confused.
"That's what I said. It's stands for Time Variance Authority, and apparently whatever Loki did yesterday has peaked their interest."
"Shit. We need to get to New York and I need to talk to Thor." The drive to the airport takes about 30 minutes. When they arrive, Emma notices that Happy is driving them to a separate part of the Airport. He drives around an airplane hangar and when they reach the other side a private Jet is waiting for them. Happy parks the car. Gets out and come to open the door for them. They get out and walk up to the Jet. Emma turn to Tony and says.
"Very Nice Mr. Stark."
"Well I only use the best." Emma smiles and rolls her eyes. "Shall we?" Tony goes up the airplanes stairs and Emma follows him. Once inside the plane, Tony tell the pilot their destination and join her in the cabin. Once they are settled the plane taxi off the runway towards New York. The Pilot come over the PA system.
"Mr. Stark, we should be in new York in under 90 minutes."
"Excellent! So Miss Osborne. Care to give me more details into your encounter?" Tony get up and walks over to the small bar area in the cabin.
"Drink?"
"Yes please, Whiskey if you have it."
"Geez, starting off easy aren't we?" He says sarcastically
"Mr. Stark…"
"Please call me Tony." Emma nods her head.
"Tony, after the past 2 days…"
"I get it, no worries, here." He hand her a half full glass of whiskey. She takes a sip and lets the amber liquid slowly burn down her throat.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. So about this TVA thing?"
"Yes sorry, the man in my apartment, he called himself Justice Peace, he said something about a nexus event and that Loki cause one, whatever that is. He said he wanted to see how much I remembered about it. I told him what I did not remember and that seem to satisfy him. But what freaked me out the most was when he said that if I did not cooperate he would reset me. I don't know what that means but it does not sound pleasant. Tony, he told me to stay away from you."
"What? Why? What did I do wrong?"
"No idea, he just told to not get you involved."
"So why are you here with me then?"
"I want to remember. Whatever happened to me yesterday was…weird. I want to know what he made me forget. What was so important? I'm kind of an expert in Norse history and this is just too much of a coincidence. Like an actual god put a spell on me. My dad would be totally fangirling."
"Miss Osborne, I am sorry about earlier. JARVIS pulled your records while you were in your apartment. My condolences. I lost my parents too, I know how it goes." He says to her while refilling her glass.
"Drink up and try to relax we should be in New York really soon and we can try to figure out what's going on."
"I appreciate that Tony. And call me Emma."