The Secret Sister (Book 2 in The Secret Series)

Chapter 5: A New Alliance

Chapter 5: A New Alliance

There was a light knock on my door. I tore my gaze away from the wall opposite and looked at the door from my crossed-legged position on my bed.

“One second,” I said, sounding slightly hoarse.

Hastily, I dried my red eyes and set the crumpled tissues on my bed alight, incinerating them in a second, before hurriedly brushing the dust away and turning my head toward the door expectantly.

As soon as I had come back inside the Tower, JARVIS had assigned me my room because Tony and Pepper had gone out. I broke down into tears as soon as I sat on my bed, recalling the time that Tony had carried me from the balcony to my bed after I had watched him testing out his suit one night. I’d been sat here for a couple of hours now, and once glance at the clock told me it was just past eleven o’ clock at night.

“You may enter.”

It was Diana, with a guarded look on her face. She shut the door behind her, before leaning against it and surveying me with her surprisingly wise light brown eyes.

“You look like a mess,” She stated bluntly.

I didn’t reply, instead opting to sigh miserably. She gave me a sarcastic look.

“What, you’re just going to sit here and do nothing?” Diana asked incredulously, and I shrugged half-heartedly, my heart aching.

“That was the plan.”

Suddenly, she smiled darkly, and began to pace the length of my room.

“Well, I have a new plan.”

I watched her walk across my room wearily and there was a mischievous look in her eye as she glanced over at me.

“Ok, here’s the deal – Pepper annoys the heck out of me. There, I said it. And I know you hate her too-”

“Hate is a strong word,” I interrupted meekly, and she laughed sharply, spinning to face me.

“Are you saying that you don’t hate the woman who danced back into Tony’s life when you weren’t here, and then got her painted talons into him? Look me in the eyes and honestly tell me you don’t hate her!”

I held her gaze for a split second before looking away, and she smiled triumphantly.

“Exactly. Ok, we both know I’m not exactly your best friend anymore – after all, you did kill my mother –  and don’t bother trying to make an excuses Eldrid,” She cut my protests off sharply, and I shut up once more, watching the girl in front of me and not recognising this new, bitter Diana.

“But we’re going to have to work together if we want to get rid of Pepper,” She finished, sounding happy at the thought.

I paused, absently running a hand through my hair as I thought. Did I want to get rid of Pepper? Yes, definitely. But I didn’t wish to make anyone feel the same heartbroken pain that I felt now. But then again …

“Ok. But you think of a plan then that doesn’t involve anyone getting hurt,” I said finally, and she grinned triumphantly, holding her hand out to me.

“Deal.”

We shook on it, and she pulled her hand away quickly, like she suddenly remembered whose hand she was holding.

“Operation Pepper-Hasta-La-Vista is a go-go!” She said happily, and I couldn’t stop the small hopeful smile from creeping across my face.

Diana left my room, and I collapsed in my bed, wanting nothing more than to sleep.

***

In the morning, after I had breakfast with Nick, Diana and Peter, I lounged about on the top floor before finally ending up in the elevator, bored with my own company.

The other members of the team would arrive at the Tower later on in the day, and until then I was free to do as I pleased – as long as I stayed in the tower.

“JARVIS, where is everyone?” I asked absently, leaning against the wall.

“Mr Fury is currently in his room, Miss Sykes is in the games room, Miss Potts is at a business conference, and Mr Stark is on the bottom floor,” The robotic butler replied, and I shrugged. The bottom floor was Tony’s own private garage.

“The bottom floor it is then.”

When the lift doors finally opened, they revealed a familiar haphazard arrangement of tools and materials. It was looked like cross between a professional garage and a lab. Cars lined the walls further in. At the bottom of the huge room, I could just see Tony’s legs poking out from underneath a bright red sports car. It was a nice car – probably the latest model.

Just further behind where he was working was a tunnel that led to the outside world. A shiver ran through me as I looked around the garage – back in the Edinburgh Stark Tower, this had been the room that Thor, Tony and I had fought Peter and Bruce in, who had been under the influence of Loki’s magic. Just looking over at the chemistry bench on the left wall sent a cold feeling down my spine, as I remembered drinking a chemical solution – courtesy of Stark – that had made me appear dead, which ultimately led to Peter and the Hulk leaving the Tower.

“Hey, I asked for the spanner, not the hammer! Seriously, I swear I’ll turn you into a can opener if you keep doing everything wrong,” Tony said warningly from underneath the car, and a hammer came sliding back out across the floor, back toward a robotic arm, which picked it up and replaced it with a spanner.

The arm reached under the car and withdrew a moment later, the three metal grippers that represented fingers snapping together expectantly.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get too confident. I still need a can opener, you know.”

I snorted and approached the car, standing a few metres away and crossing my arms lightly.

“Have you broken another car?” I asked in a mock-serious voice, secretly amused.

“Not this time – this one was Rhodey’s fault. I swear, whenever he comes over to ‘borrow’ something, something always gets broken,” Tony replied, sounding slightly annoyed, and I laughed.

“Rhodey doesn’t strike me as someone who would be that clumsy.”

“You’d be surprised.”

Tony slid out from under the car after a resounding clanking noise, and got to his feet quickly, holding a spanner in one hand and a small blowtorch in the other. He handed the spanner back to the arm with a glare, and then patted the bonnet lovingly.

“That should do it,” He confirmed, smiling.

The arc reactor’s blue light was bright underneath his black sleeveless work out top, and he absently wiped his hands on his black tracksuit pants as he faced me.

“What can I do for you, firefly?” He grinned, and before I could stop myself I took a step closer to him and wiped his cheek with my thumb once to get rid of the mark.

I froze, my thumb still on his cheek, as I realised what I’d just let happen. His brown eyes met my wide ones questioningly, and I pulled back quickly, like I’d been stung.

“Nothing. I was bored,” I answered a moment later, my cheeks flushing slightly as I looked away.

There was a small pause before he gave me a mischievous grin as he watched me, and I frowned suspiciously.

“What?” I asked slowly.

“You won’t be bored tonight.”

“Why?”

“Guess who’s throwing you a ‘welcome back’ party?” He winked, and I groaned loudly.

I hated Stark’s parties.