An Elemental Manipulation

Chapter Seventeen

I'm running through the trees from something big, I'm not sure what it is but I can feel it's footsteps behind me. I see nothing but trees ahead of me until I look to my right and I see a drop off that I decide to start running towards. When I get to it, it's a straight drop into a huge river. Without thinking I jump off the cliff and fall down towards the water.

I sit straight up out of bed and breath heavily with beads of sweat falling from my forehead. Loki comes running out of the bathroom to make sure everything is alright. I can't remember what happened in my dream but normally I can, I start panicking for some reason.

Loki takes me into a bear hug and suppresses me to stop the anxiety. It helps, but not enough. I kicked out of his grip and ran out of the room in my shorts and tshirt that I wore to bed last night. When I finally stop I see that I ran all the way into the gym where Fury and Tony were arguing. Tony looks up at me and concerns wipes across his face. He walks over to me and grabs my arm gently and leads me to the conference room.

"Harley, what's going on? You looked pretty out of it when you ran into the gym." He looks me over to make sure I'm alright.

"I- I think something bad is going to happen soon. All I remember is it was something big. Tony I can always remember my dreams but I don't remember this one." I look up at him as if he has the answers to all my prayers.

"Alright, I'll make a note to go over everything happening some time today but while I'm doing that I think you should take another day off. You've been pretty stressed with everything going on. We have a mission coming up in a couple days so be prepared. Party tonight at 7, as well. Don't be late!"

I walk out of the conference room and there stands Loki in shock from me kicking out of his grip. I felt bad because I didn't think he would be mad at me for what was happening, I didn't even know exactly what was happening. I turn around and try to walk back out to the gym and maybe work out a little bit or just to sit in some silence.

When I start to walk away, Loki comes jogging up behind me and it makes me want to punch him. I turn around and glare at him and I'm not sure why I'm so angry. All I know is that I want to be left alone for awhile. With a look of shock on his face he stops dead in his tracks and waits for me to say something. 

"Loki, please leave me alone. I know you want to help but I need to help myself first..." and with that being the last thing I said to him, I walk away.

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I've been gone all day and everyone has tried to call me at least 3 times, but I've ignored everyone. If they really needed me then Tony can track me, which I'm sure he's already done but hasn't told anyone. He knows when I need to be left alone and when I don't. When I left the compound I grabbed extra clothes and my phone charger. I decided to just drive for a couple days and miss the party. I'd be back before the mission and I'd be mentally prepared for it.

As I'm driving I can still hear Loki thinking, which is weird because I'm miles away from him. Don't get me wrong, I really like him but there's something holding me back and I can't place what it is. He's a decent person when he's not killing half the planet.

I can't believe I just let her go like that, I'm such an idiot!

Great, now I have to deal with Loki blaming himself for me leaving. I try to shut out his thoughts so I start listening to my music while I follow the road in front of me.

It feels like I've been driving all night but I've only been driving for a few hours. I stop at a hotel and pay for a room and go and relax. I lay on the bed and stare at the ceiling for a few minutes before realizing that I'm almost five hours away from the compound. I roll over and lay my face into the pillow and let out a small groan.

I look at my phone and it's almost 11 pm, I was driving for awhile before I stopped and checked my phone. I've been ignoring every message and every call from anyone who's been trying to get ahold of me. I feel like I'm right back where I started, always running from something. That's all I did after the explosion, once Nick and Tony took me in I felt like I had a family and somewhere to settle down and get used to. I had a job and then I got attached to everyone and Tony let me stay with them and he gave me a real job. They all gave me a reason to change and become better.

I go to the bathroom to change into my pajamas and decide that I'm just going to go to sleep and then continue driving tomorrow when I wake up. When I come back out, I stare at the bed and realize that it's empty. I haven't slept without Loki since the first night I asked him to stay. I crawl into bed and slowly doze off into my dreams.

******************************AVENGERS POV***********************************

"Tony! Why hasn't she come back yet??" Loki has been screaming at Tony and Steve since Harley left.

No one knows where she went, she's been gone for hours and no one knows if she's coming back. We canceled the party just because none of us wanted to go without her.

"I don't know! And if I did, I wouldn't tell any of you!" Tony yells right back at Loki without hesitating. None of them understand that they all caused this, at least Loki and Steve.

Suddenly Tony looks down at his phone and frowns for a moment. He looks back up at the group and looks around till he sees Thor. 

"Thor! I need to talk to you in the conference room. Alone." Tony says, as he walks over without waiting for Thor to respond.

Thor walks into the conference room and shuts the door and makes sure no one is listening in to their conversation. Even though it's damn near sound proof, Loki still can use his powers to try and listen in just because he wants to find Harley.

"I need you to go find Harley, I don't care what you have to do but do not let her be alone. Hydra found out about her powers and now they're out looking for her. Find her and don't leave her side, don't tell her what's going on unless it's absolutely necessary." Tony looks at Thor with hopeful eyes, hoping that he'll be able to bring Harley home without causing more damage.

"Hydra? You mean the same people that messed with Bucky's head?" Tony nods his head at Thor's question.

"Yeah, okay. I'll go find her but I don't know what she's going through and she connected with Bucky and Loki more than any of us. Are you sure it's a good idea to let me go instead of one of them?"

"I can't let Loki go because he'll let his emotions get to him and so will Bucky because the same thing happened to him and we can't afford losing two people. At least you can easily fight them off and really find her. Here's a tracker to her phone, use it and it'll lead you right to her. Leave now."

Thor walks out of the conference room, passes everyone and walks right out the doors. Tony stays behind while he watches Thor fly off from the window.

Tony watches while everyone is pacing or sitting around waiting for something to happen. If Harley gets taken by Hydra then he'll have to send everyone out to get her back and get her off of Hydra's radar.

"Everyone, let's get to bed. We'll talk about a plan for the mission tomorrow morning when everyone is up. Harley should be home by then." Tony walks away hoping everyone would be getting a good night's sleep.