ALINA
I dropped my bags in my room and headed wearily to the briefing room. I pushed open the door and was surprised to see Aditi having a hushed conversation with Peter. She glanced up at me as I came in.
"Alina." She smiled and waved.
"Hey Aditi." I sank into a chair as she turned back to the boy next to her.
"Hey Ali." Tony said, squeezing my shoulder as he came in, giving me a quick kiss on the head.
"What was that for?"
"Just happy that you're back safe." Tony gave me a quick smile before heading over to his usual seat at the back of the room, followed by Pepper who gave me a quick hug.
There were some more hellos and greetings as everyone made their way into the room. It was the first time we were all together since coming back from the building site. We had non-Avenger agents situated around Central Park so that we could all be here. Steve settled into the chair next to me, and Bucky gave me a quick nod as he took the chair next to Steve. It was the first time I'd seen Thor for a while. He looked uncharacteristically tired.
Nicky Fury came into the room, followed by Maria.
"Alright," Fury dropped a large file of papers onto the long table, "this is a quick meeting. Here is all the data we've collected and analysed so far, going from everything we know about the Ascendency, to all the results of the lab tests we've already done, and everywhere Thor and Bucky have looked for Roara and Loki. There is a page in here for all of you detailing the events that happened four days ago to Aditi, this is very confidential information and I do not want any of you to speak to her about it unless she tells you to. It's brief and it is not detailed, not only for Aditi's peace of mind but Roara's too, even though she is not present."
I opened my mouth to ask what had happened when Fury spoke again. "You will find out everything when you read it Miss Stark, no need to ask questions. We have had no sightings of Loki or Roara so our best guess is that they are off world, or have been taken by the Ascendency, neither of which is ideal."
"Or they could be dead." Tony shrugged.
"Tony!" Pepper shot him a disapproving look.
"I'm just saying what we're all thinking." Tony said, one arm folded, the other under his chin. "I mean, we are all thinking it, aren't we? They were in a collapsing building, they can't be located, from Peter and Aditi's accounts Loki was badly injured. I mean fit the puzzle pieces together and what do you get? Two dead demi-gods."
"She's not dead." Bucky said gruffly.
"And how would you know tin-man? Got word from Oz?"
"I just know." Bucky gripped the side of the table.
"Buck." Steve put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, nobody thinks they're dead."
"I have people searching the nine realms." Thor leant forwards, his forearms on the table. "If they are there, we will find them."
"We have not classified them as dead, only missing persons." Fury brought us back to him. "Now the other thing we have to discuss in the funeral, which is in three days' time."
We all went silent. Aditi's eyes were locked onto the floor, Peter's hand on her back. Nat reached across the table and squeezed Bruce's hand.
"Her step-father, Michael, would like us all to be present. Now I understand that some of you might have reservations about this as we'd all be together in public, we'd be easy to attack all in one place, however as the Ascendency has made no signs to move, I think it is safe to say the least we can do is pay our respects."
Aditi held up a hand.
"Aditi you don't need to raise your hand." Fury sighed.
"There's a squirrel and a hawk that have been sitting outside of the tower for a little while now. I think they knew Fiona. I think they should be invited." Though her voice was low, it carried across the room.
"It's wildlife Aditi, I think they can go where they choose." Clint said.
"No, I think we should formally invite them. She made me promise to look after the wildlife, to treat them with respect. I think it's what she would have done, what she would have wanted." Aditi shrugged, as though the matter was over.
Fury closed his one visible eye and took a deep breath, before opening his eye again and answering. "Yes Aditi we can invite the squirrel and the hawk to the funeral. Does anyone else have any questions before we move on?"
Aditi's head fell forwards onto the table with a bang. In seconds Peter had his zip up hoodie off and had gently placed it underneath her head. He pulled out a notebook.
"Does anyone have the time?" He asked the room at large.
"It's about 3:15." Steve replied.
"No, I need the exact time."
"3:17." Vision replied.
Peter wrote something down in the notebook. "Vision, can you time how long she's out?"
"Of course." Vision replied. "Have you two begun noticing a pattern?"
"They're getting closer together." Peter replied, flicking through the pages. "Coinciding with her migraines, can someone dim the lights, she gets very light sensitive when she wakes up now."
"Friday, dim the lights." Tony said. The lights in the room lowered.
"Can Wanda see into her mind while she's out like this?" Natasha asked, looking at the girl. She was barely moving, you had to look closely to see her chest rise and fall, and even that was hard to spot.
"No." Wanda replied. "We've tried a couple of times. I can see the memories once they're her own, but not while she's having them."
"That was the other thing I was going to talk to you all about." Fury said, sitting down finally.
"There's no pattern in when the memories are from." Maria added. "In case any of you were wondering. Peter can probably tell you more."
We all looked at Peter, who glanced up at us. "None of them have been from before about 1942. Some go back to before she even met Loki, when Roara was a child." He looked around the room. "Can you guys stop staring at me now, it's getting creepy."
"Clint, when did this start?" I asked across the table.
"When she was a child." He shrugged. "It's always happened, but it's not often the same person more than a few times. Used to be once every two weeks maybe. Sometimes once a month."
I nodded. "Well we can't keep waiting for her to wake up. Bruce, Tony, what's the situation in the labs?"
"We think we have the plans for a functioning diffuser, but we still don't know how they hold the powers from one person to another." Bruce replied, taking a couple of nervous glances at Aditi.
"So what you are saying is, with your plans, you could direct transfer enhanced abilities from one person to another if they're both present?" Vision asked.
"Bingo." Tony replied. "Only we don't have someone we could transfer powers into."
"I'll do it." I volunteered.
They all stared at me.
"I'll do it. I've been through it before, a few times, none of you know what to expect." I shrugged.
"Alina we're not going to use you as a lab rat." Tony dismissed me entirely. "We don't even know for sure if it'll work. And that's me saying this."
"It's worth a try though, right?" I asked. "I mean what's the worst that could happen?"
"Uh, you could die?" Tony replied.
"Or the powers you already have could be taken from you." Bruce added. "Anything could happen really."
"To be safe, we'd need a connector." Tony explained to me. "Someone who could be there as sort of like a buffer."
And that was when it clicked.
"Oh shit." I murmured.
"Oh shit what?" Steve asked.
"Mind your language." Sam called across the table.
"Alina what is it?" Tony asked.
"That's why they want Roara still. She would act as a perfect buffer, seamlessly connecting one person to the other, with her power mimicry. When they transfer the power, it's not pure you see, it's why I didn't get all of Aditi's powers, why my pain infliction isn't the same as hers. I can't just automatically cause pain, when I do it I have to medically induce something, and generally all I can do is heal people. When Axel got her powers, yes there was pain infliction, but nothing do with the empathy, in fact I think she lost all her empathy. That was why she was so psychopathic, she literally felt no empathy, it was a direct result of the powers being impure. It's why she could turn invisible, but not speak to the dead like Miriam can, that's a physical thing, a physical change. When the power transfers it's not as strong, which is why their foot soldiers are strong, but they aren't perfect. The calculations you're working on would be a perfect transfer of energy, preserving the powers in their original form. What they were doing was taking the essence of the idea and moving it."
A memory began to resurface. It was physically painful, like my head was on fire. I gripped the side of the table. Steve put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him, breathing hard, "I'm fine." I gasped. "I'm fine."
I swallowed. "They operated on me. That's why they shaved my head. They performed brain surgery. Changed the way my brain operates. I-" I let out a small grunt of pain and banged on the table. "That was one of the memories they wiped, I'm sure of it, it's foggy but-"
"They rewired you brain." Nat said, horrified.
I nodded. "They used hormones, chemicals, changed my synapses too." I gripped my head, as images broke free and flooded in, like pictures on a digital camera, moving too fast for me to grasp each one individually. "They didn't physically hold the powers they artificially remade them. It wasn't organic." I groaned, trying to hold on to the pieces of information. "They, uh, they-" I closed my eyes, "they did other things too. Changed other things too, I don't know, but they recreated the conditions. Some of the processes were more complicated than others." I remembered whispered conversations with other prisoners. "Triggered gene mutations. They have a, they have..." I groaned again. "They have someone who can absorb energy."
I opened my eyes. "They have someone who can absorb small parts of energy, it doesn't help them a lot, but it works as a catalyst. They work out what power they want to recreate, give them the biological conditions they need, and then bring in the person who absorbed a little of their energy years before and he is able to trigger something." A face emerged from my memories. "They called him the lock, he can reduce someone's powers, but only by taking a little from them. He can't use them either, just move them into someone else with the help of the diffuser and the other changes they make to a person. That's why my powers changed to what I needed, because it was essentially my body being forced to have abilities in a lab setting. I just can't..." I closed my eyes again. "I can't remember his face."
I paused, breathing out slowly. "Sorry guys." The pain in my head reduced slightly. "I can't think about it anymore, it makes my head hurt."
"No, no, this is very useful, don't be sorry." Bruce said, writing furiously on a piece of paper. "You're right we were working for perfect transfusion of power, not a recreation."
I rubbed my head, glad of the dimmed lights. "Can someone pass me some water."
"Sure." Steve passed me a bottle and I took several deep gulps.
"Vision how long has it been?" Peter asked, a hand on Aditi's shoulder.
"14 minutes and 36 seconds." Vision replied.
"She's normally awake after 12 minutes when it's like this." Peter said.
"What do you mean when it's like this?" Clint asked.
"When she goes to sleep they tend to be longer, but I can't time it because, well, she's asleep. When she goes out in the middle of the day like this they're often under ten minutes, the longest it's been was 12." He explained. "I don't understand it."
"Maybe this one's just longer?" Nat suggested.
Peter shook his head. "Something's different."
"Maybe she just went to sleep?" Thor tried.
I gave him a withering look. "Thor, don't be daft."
"It's a perfectly reasonable suggestion." Thor retorted, crossing his arms.
"Do we need to move her?" Wanda asked.
"No no, it's better to keep her in one position, it disrupts her less." Peter replied.
"So do we just wait?" Sam asked.
Peter nodded, leaning down to look at her face.
"Peter how much sleep have you gotten in the last two weeks?" I asked.
"Oh, you know." He shrugged. "Sleep."
I looked at him. "Peter." I said in a warning voice.
"Okay, maybe not very much sleep, but Mr Stark has these drinks that-"
"We don't tell Alina about the drinks."
"Sorry Mr Stark." Peter sighed and sat back down.
"Drinks?" I asked.
Tony shifted uncomfortably. "Bruce and I may have produced some energy drinks in our down time recently."
"You down time." I said, looking between them.
"You know, in between results coming in." Bruce said scratching the back of his head.
"They're like energy drinks but, extra energy." Peter explained.
"Tony, what the hell are you doing giving those to a child!" Pepper yelled.
"They don't hurt him, look he's fine." Tony gestured to Peter who waved back, the bags under his eyes the size of a suitcase. "He's had to keep an eye on the girl."
"And you didn't think to take it in shifts?" Pepper asked.
"I didn't want to take it in shifts." Peter mumbled. "Aditi is my responsibility now. She's my friend, and I want to look after her. I'm not going out on missions and I can't be a friendly neighbourhood Spiderman right now what with everyone either evacuated or on lockdown."
"Peter." Wanda said softly. "You need sleep."
Peter sighed. "I'll go to sleep tonight."
"I can't believe you let Peter drink that stuff Tony." Pepper shook her head.
I looked at Steve. "Are you okay to watch Aditi tonight when Peter goes to sleep? I'm exhausted."
He nodded. "I've got to finish the book I'm reading anyway. It'll be no problem."
"He's a child Tony!" Pepper was saying.
"He can handle it, look he's Spiderman, the boy can lift an entire car with one hand." Tony replied.
"Two hands." Peter corrected.
"Two hands!" Tony said.
Pepper rolled her eyes.
Fury cleared his throat. "Has anyone else got anything to add?" He asked. "Because I am a busy man."
"Miriam." Pepper said. "How's she doing?"
Maria flicked through the massive filed. "Fractured skull, fractured collar bone, a broken knee cap, broken nose, there was internal bleeding but they've dealt with that, dislocated shoulder..." she paused. "It goes on, but essentially she's still on life support for the near future."
Pepper nodded. "At least she's not dead."
"How long now Vis?" Wanda asked.
"23 minutes, 16 seconds." Vision replied.
I bit my lip. "Fury, I think we can end the meeting now. Peter I think we should take her to her room, I know you said not to but..."
"Yep, alright." He picked her up and I led him out, opening the doors for him.
"I can use my webs to do that you know." Peter told me as we walked through the building.
"I know. But I'm taking the first shift. As soon as we're getting in, you're going to sleep. You do have a bed in there right?"
Peter nodded.
"Good." I opened Aditi's room and Peter set her down in the bed, carefully taking her jumper off her and putting it in a drawer before tucking her in.
"You're being a really good friend to her you know." I said to him as I sat down in the armchair across from his bed.
"I'm just doing what I can. She finds it hard to open up, you know? Once she does she's actually really funny and nice. I mean, yeah sometimes she comes out with these really wise phrases and I'm just like, woah where did that come from, but normally she's just really kind. She's always doing things for people, like if I leave stuff in a pile she'll come round and tidy it up, and she made a paper crane for me the other day." He pulled a small oragami crane out of his pocket. "She showed me how to do one too."
I smiled. "Get some sleep Peter."
"Yeah, okay." He nodded. "Can you close your eyes while I get changed?"
I laughed and stepped outside of the room for a couple of minutes before coming back in. Peter was in bed, reading a physics book I'd read when I was about his age on theories about the expansion of the universe, and had a phone up against his ear.
"Yeah, I know May." He glanced at when I came in and gave me a small wave. "No, I'm safe. Yeah, a couple of times." I sat down on the chair, legs draped over the arm rest. "I'll bring her round some time, when things have calmed down a bit. I dunno May, she likes pasta? Cookies are good. Cookies are very good." He paused. "It's in three days. Can you come? Okay, I'll send you the address. I have a suit." He paused again. "Fifteen. I know May. I am careful." He put his book onto his chest and wiped his eyes. "Yeah." He croaked. "Love you too May." He put the phone down and blew out a breath.
"She's coming to the funeral?" I asked.
Peter nodded.
"How are you finding the book?" I tried to change the subject, move his mind away from Fiona.
"It's good." He said. "They've got some good theories."
"I've got some stuff I can lend you if you like."
"Physics stuff?"
I nodded. "Physics stuff."