The Life I'm Running From

24\ I'm Not Volatile

Peter and I were not the last ones there, thank goodness. He sat down on a large red couch, and I sat beside him. As I scanned the room, Peter whispered who every superhero was.

The girl only a few years older than me with dip-dyed red hair on the black couch—Wanda Maximoff, known as Scarlet Witch. Beside her, an older man who looked more at place on a farm than here—Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye(he was rarely here, Peter told me, because he preferred to stay with his family). A man I saw earlier with purple skin, a yellow cape and a glowing stone in his forehead went by Vision. The guy running in late with his shirt on backwards is Scott Lang(Ant-Man), and the woman raising an eyebrow at him is Hope van Dyne, the Wasp. The man with blond hair and a plaid shirt making Tony Stark seem the size of a kid—Steve Rogers, Captain America. And laughing at something he said with the metal arm is Bucky Barnes, the Winter Solider.

All of them, plus Natasha, Rhodey, Tony, Dr. Banner and Peter, were who represented the Avengers today. I pride myself on never being intimidated. Well, let me tell you, I was intimidated. (Come on, one guy had a metal arm.)

When everyone had gathered, Tony cleared his throat to diminish any chatter. He stroked his goatee thoughtfully. "So, I'm sure everyone knows why we're here."

"Not really," Bucky murmured.

There were a few muttered agreements. Seriously? I thought these people were the Avengers. There was literally a stranger sitting amidst them, and they didn't realize?

"Well," Tony said, cutting across the murmurings, "we have a visitor."

His eyes zoned in on me. And, one by one, everyone followed his gaze to stare at me. I, luckily, was not a hater of attention. I smiled warmly at the superheroes around me. As if I'd actually show them I was intimidated, pfft.

"The girl from the bridge," Rhodey said. He was leaning against one of the walls behind Tony.

Tony nodded, and I could tell how hard he was trying to understand me. He wanted to know how I healed quickly. Why I had gone to the bridge. What my connection with Peter was. Well, sucks to be Iron Man, 'cause I wasn't telling.

"She fell off the bridge at the recent attempt to catch Ravenyx." Tony crossed his arms. "She broke her leg and her ribs. That was under two weeks ago. And now she is in perfect health."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "That's not possible."

"But it is." Dr. Banner adjusted his glasses. "Dr. Kyzelle ran all different kinds of medical examinations—her bones have healed. It's as if she was never injured in the first place."

A silence fell over the group. I stuck out my leg and moved it around, proving to everyone that it was fine. Steve's eyes were fixated on my shin. I could see how baffling it was to him. If everyone hadn't been looking at me, I would've laughed.

"Is that it?" Wanda Maximoff spoke up. Her voice had a heavy Sokovian accent, something I hadn't expected. "That's the only reason she's here?"

Dr. Banner took a step forward. "I don't know if you understand, but—what she did, healing so quickly—that's impossible. For any normal human at least."

Hope van Dyne looked at Tony. "Are you implying this girl isn't human?"

"My name's McKinnley by the way," I said, but no one heard.

"Maybe," Tony said. "We don't know."

Natasha leaned back in the armchair she was seated on. "Can't you do blood tests?"

"We did. They came back—very, very mixed. We figured it was because the machine she had hooked up to her bloodstream."

Steve's brow furrowed. "What machine?"