The Black Cat

Chapter 19: Art of Fear

I stood outside the apartment, wondering if I should knock or use the key Steve gave me if I even remembered where it was. If I were to use the key – if I even knew where the hell it was – would Steve be alarmed by my sudden, late arrival? I was supposed to be back by nightfall. It was now the afternoon of the next day and I currently had a total of 17 missed calls with 17 worried messages and 10 or 11 texts from Steve since the nightfall I was supposed to return by. What made me worried was how he was going to react considering the actions he took to try and contact me. I sighed, shaking at my head at my stupidity at my worry. “Fuck it,” I whisper, knocking on the apartment door. At least 30 seconds later, the door opened and revealed the relieved face of Steve Rogers. “Jackie!” He exclaimed. “Me!” I replied. He studied my body, seeing the dirt and marks from my out of world adventure that I had yet to clean up. “You look horrible,” he states as he lets me inside. “Really? I thought I looked fantastic,” I said in my overly sarcastic voice. He closes the door behind me as I put down my bag and put my hands in my hair, taking a deep, much needed breath. “I was worried about you,” I hear Steve say behind me. I turn to him, hands still placed my long, messy hair. “Seeing how many messages you left me, I believe you.” “Well, where were you?” He asks. “A lot of places you wouldn’t believe,” I answer. I move over to the couch, collapsing onto it. Steve sat right next to me, eager to hear what I had to say about my unordinary endeavor. “I went to talk to this kid that was thought to be the cause of “extraterrestrial” activities in this small town. Sure as hell they were right. He was known as this outer space hero or whatever and had this helmet that let him go there. Me, being the complete idiot I am, put it on and I was shot into space.” Steve looked at me like I was absolutely nuts. “Oh, it gets better,” I tell him, “I ended up at this place with people that looked like us and I hitched a ride home with a grungy ginger, a muscly blue man, a green chic and a talking raccoon with a pot that he called Groot.”

Steve looked at me very concerned, feeling my face like I had a temperature. “Jackie, are you sure you didn’t hit your head really hard? I mean really hard,” He says. “You really don’t believe me after fighting the Chitauri in New York? After seeing what those things looked like, doesn’t it make you think something like I described is out there?” He shrugged. “Never really thought of it that way,” He commented. “And now you do,” I respond. “It’s not just space anymore where these weird creatures are coming from,” Steve says. “Well I knew that,” I add, “Not too long ago there was this case about a large lizard attack NYC and some kid took him out. SHEILD’s trying to track him down.” Steve nodded. “I’ve heard about him. He was on the news last night for some sort of thing that happened in Times Square.” As he said that, I switched on the television which was on a News network. “In the news today, the search for Felicia Hardy is back on. Felicia Hardy, daughter of Anastasia and Walter Hardy, has been missing for nearly 7 years now. Felicia went missing after reportedly being raped by a fellow student at Empire State University. She is described to have long, platinum blonde hair and green eyes. She was last seen outside the front of Empire State University. If you have any information regarding Felicia Hardy, please contact the NYPD.” I changed the channel, trying to find something happier to watch. “It’s a shame that those kinds of things happen,” Steve says. “I’m surprised they decided to look for her again. They’ve been on and off that case for years now. Of course, with the kind of money her parents make, it shouldn’t be that shocking.” “Has SHEILD tried looking?” He questions. I nod. “I wasn’t on the case myself but from what I heard there was not a single trace on her. Almost like she vanished off the face of the earth.”

Steve was quiet, nodding at my reply. “I won’t let that kind of thing happen to you,” Steve said finally. “You never know, Steve. SHEILD works in strange and mysterious ways,” I comment. He raises an eyebrow before I stand and stretch, yawning in my place. “I’m going to go take a nap,” I say, “This kid would not stop screaming the whole plane ride.” “Alright,” Steve replies, “I’ll wake you around dinner time.” I walk down the long hallway to my door, opening and closing it lightly. I gravitate right toward the closet, ready to rip off my tight SHEILD uniform off my tired body.  I move the mirror door of the closet, grabbing comfy clothes off the rack. After putting on my sweat pants, about to put on a shirt over my bare top half, the mirror door makes something come to my attention. Sitting on the very end of the bed was Loki. As if by reflex, I cover my upper body with my shirt before I could even blink. I look at him in the mirror quickly before getting the nerve to look behind me to see that this time, he was actually there. I panic slightly, unsure if I should call Steve inside or not. But I knew if I were to do that, Loki would be gone before Steve could hear me.