About You || Anakin Skywalker x OC ||

(20) Blood and Guts

They were talking, but Leora could barely hear them as she stared at the remains of Jarvis. She was sitting in the corner, knees tucked into her chest, Ulton's words replaying in her head, Tony had been testing her blood. She had asked him, all those years ago if there was anything he could do... and he had lied to her. Lied to her face. 

She wasn't a god, she knew that from Loki's words and Thor's confirmation. She had always begged for Tony to test on her, to help her find out what she was, where she could be from. But Tony had refused, something Leora had always found odd. Until now. Tony always did have a nasty habit of going behind everyone's back.

She watched distantly as Thor picked up Tony by his throat, walking him towards the other side of the room. He was out of his party gear, they all were except for Leora. She couldn't get Ulton's words out of her head, "You are not of this Universe, this Dimension." He had hissed them to her when she struck his body down, making sure she was the only one to hear.

They were all arguing now, but Leora could care less. It wasn't possible, there weren't any other Universes, any other Dimensions. Just this one. She was from here wherever in this Universe, nowhere else. No where else and yet-

It was entirely plausible. She could be from another Universe, but how? And how did Ulton know all of this about her? There was nothing about her true origins online, only the fake story Nick had put out for her. But he wasn't only combing through the internet, he was going through S.H.I.E.L.D records, databases, reports, and Tony's-

"You." Leora stood up, silence falling over the room as she stalked towards Tony, "Were you experimenting on my blood without me knowing?" She watched as Tony scratched his neck, guilt washing over his face.

"Of course you did." Leora laughed to herself, shaking her head, "This seems to be the trend, you playing with things you don't understand, you doing whatever you want without thinking of the consequences. I have the right to know, I am a person!"

"No you aren't." Doctor Cho's voice broke through the room, "You may look like one, but you are far from it."

"Excuse me?" Leora physically recoiled at the doctors words, this was starting to sound like Ulton's speech again. Leora turned towards Tony, "She knew and I didn't? Who else knew?" Leora looked around the room, only to find that no one was looking her in the eyes, no one but Natasha.

"Leora, this is not the time, we have a mad robot on the loose-" The doctor continued, but Leora cut her off.

"No, this is exactly the time. When were you all going to tell me? How long have you known? Tony I asked again and again for you to test, for you to run the research, but you've been doing it behind my back this entire time? Am I just some lab rat to you? To you all?"  Her words were starting to jumble, to not make sense. Tears pricked in her eyes but she blinked them away. She had made a promise, long ago, one that she could barely remember. She had promised to never cry again after cutting her hair.

"I've been testing your medical records since The Battle of New York." Tony paused, "I'm sorry Leora, it was wrong, I just didn't want to scare you, I didn't know how you would react."

"How I would react? Kariff, I'm not even mad that you tested my blood, I'm mad because you all are keeping secrets from me." She hated secerts, she always had, always would. Yet she always found herself keeping some.

"And what about you keeping secrets from us?" Clint asked, causing Leora to flinch, "We know your memories have been returning, we know that you're changing because you are remembering. We always told you to come to us when you start remembering so we could help you and-"

"Don't justify this Clint." Leora snapped, "I didn't want any of you to worry about me. But it seems I don't have to worry because you didn't even try to contact me while I was gone." The words rang through the room and Leora sniffed, trying her best not to cry. It was true though, in the months she had been gone, she had been alone. Feelings of memories returning to her in a haze, haunting her dreams. Even though she had Maria and Nick, they weren't the same, no matter how much Leora looked up to Nick.

"And we didn't want you to worry." Steve pipped in, crossing the room towards Leora, "Believe me Leora, we were going to tell you, but then we just got caught up with everything." He placed his hands on her shoulders, bending down so they were eye level, "We will talk more about this later, I promise." Leora nodded as Steve hugged her, she returned the favor just before he continued, "Why didn't you tell us?"

Leora paused, closing her eyes and sighing before saying, "Because I didn't want you to be afraid of me too."