Urm..... Not dead?
-Entry created on: 5/20/2013-
I could only go so fast flying on my own. It was difficult, and I had barely learned the basics. Luckily, Tony had given me a lift, of sorts.
With one hand solid enough to just barely wrap around Tony's ankle and an comm fitted in my ear, Tony and I flew over my former home town.
My town was a fair size. Two high schools, one middle school, five elementary schools, and a small Catholic school were included in it. Ava, as she could afford the extra money tuition costed, went to the Catholic school, and Matt and Devon went to the middle school. I used to go with Ava before I moved out to New York.
Before I go on, you have to understand this - money had never been something that had affected friendship in my town. Everyone hung out with everyone, regardless of business class or anything stupid like that. So, while Ava's parents were hospital executives and mine were scientists, Matt's were police officers and Devon's owned a restaurant in town. Growing up, it had never mattered to me that Ava's house was bigger than mine, or that I had an in-ground swimming pool while Matt didn't. No matter where we went, we had fun.
Anyways, the one school all four of us went to together was Bloomingdale Elementary. From Kindergarten to Fourth Grade, we were in the same class every single year. Ava lived right down the street, so we could spend as long as we wanted there, in the high school next door, or in the reservation just behind the building after school. We spent afternoons playing on the school playground, evenings listening to the high school band in Ava's front yard, and hot summer days swimming in Saugus River.
We loved every part of the school, but our favorite was the library. On the top floor, sunlight streamed through the huge circular windows, pillows lined benches and chairs for comfy reading, and books lined every wall. Ava and I spent entire school days behind the last shelf, reading the Harry Potter, the Little House, and the Narnia books. On the other end of the library, was the jungle.
The jungle wasn't really a jungle at all - instead, it was three sets of long, rug-covered stairs that had four square pillars rising from it. The pillars were topped with an open grid, a nicer version of the ones used in gardens to grow vines. The grid, in fact, was used to grow vines. In Kindergarten, we hung vine plants from each pillar, and by fourth grade, the grid was barely visible under the long, twisting vines. We brought in stuffed snakes, lizards, and leopards to finish if off, giving it the nickname 'The Jungle'.
It had become a meeting place for Ava, Devon, Matt, and I, even long after we left Bloomingdale.
In fact, it was what Ava had referred to in her message.
For that reason, after an explanation and a little prep, we were flying towards Bloomingdale and the rest of Saugus now.
The other Avengers, along with Sif, who Thor invited, and Grant, who had insisted on coming, were behind us in a quinjet. Tony and I's job was to make sure my friends were safe, and the others were to come as backup.
Coming up on the school, I let go of Tony's ankle and flew through the cracks of the big window into the library.
Silently, I turned back to a solid and I moved silently towards the Jungle to peek inside.
Tony crashed through the window, blowing my cover.
"Really?!" I whispered angrilly.
Tony, in his suit, shrugged.
"Lyla?" Matt poked his head around the corner.
Ava, Devon, Kaitlyn, and Joey followed suit. I studied their eyes carefully, finding only Ava's curious hazels, Devon and Kaitlyn's chocolatey browns, Matt's bluish grays, and Joey's vibrant greens.
"Oh thank God," I breathed, pulling the six into a hug.
"Is that..?" Joey trailed off.
"Woah IRON MAN!" Kaitlyn screamed, sneaking under my arm and pulling Joey with her.
"Well that's ironic," Ava laughed, pulling out of the hug. "You with the man you hate the most."
"Well...." I trailed off, remembering my conversation with Tony earlier and how not-awful he was.
"OMEHGOSH IRONMAN WILL YOU BE MY BOYFRIEND?!" KK screamed, jumping up and down.
"Uh-" Tony looked to me for help.
"NO NO NO HE AND MS. POTTS ARE TOO CUTE, REMEMBER? THAT'S WHAT AVS SAID!" Joey pointed out to the other child, crossing his arms against his chest.
"BUT WE CAN SHARRRE!" The little girl whined.
"Guys, leave him alone," Devon sighed, trying to scoop his sister as she squirmed away.
"All clear," I said into my earpiece.
Tony gave me another look - probably was to let me know I was acting too old again.
"-Thor, I am certain-" "-petty human-" Sif's voice cut in and out in my ear.
"Sif, you want to hold down the button closest to the bottom of you ear," I told her, trying not to sound mocking.
"Thank you for your assistance, Lyla Son of David, but I think I can handle myself from hear on," Sif thanked me, more or less. Her pride had taken a hit.
"We're on our way in," Nat assured me.
An hour later, my friends lined one side of one of the library's tables, and Earth's (and Asgard's) mightiest heroes lined the other. I sat at the head, not sure which group I was even apart of. We had exchanged stories, Ava telling of how Loki had been in Matt's house and how they had escaped, Steve telling of what had happened at SHIELD, and Sif telling of how she had come in.
"You simply angered Loki into allowing you freedom?" Thor asked, slightly surprised.
Ava shrugged. "He's got a bad temper, for a guy known for practical jokes."
Thor seemed a bit confused, but it quickly left him. "He never had such a temper as a child, but I suppose he also never did anything to this scale as a child."
I carefully studied Devon. I knew he felt out of place- he hated being with people he didn't really know, and especially such loud ones. Loud noises and Devon generally don't mix well. In fact, I'm still paying for going in the big window do loudly.
"How'd you loose him?" I asked.
"It wasn't too hard. We took the short cut," Matt explained.
"Short cut?" Clint questioned suspiciously.
"We drove straight through Walmart. Like actually inside the store." Matt clarified. After receiving looks of 'what the actually crap' from every Avenger excluding me, he continued with, "My cousin works there. Literally the only reason we're not banned."
"We had to ditch the motorcycle so they couldn't find us as easily. We even took the path through Breakheart to get here," Ava added.
Breakheart was a big reservation where we usually hung out. With a trail through it that connected Devon's house, my old house, and Bloomingdale to Ava's house and Matt's house, it provided a huge forest and a riverside beach for us to hang out.
"Have you called anyone?" Natasha questioned gently, clearly trying not to scare the crap out of my friends.
Ava shook her head. "We weren't sure that our phones weren't tapped. If he could easily get into Matt's house, what else could he get into, you know?"
"What about your parents?" Steve asked.
Ava blanched. "Oh my gosh... How could we have forgotten? What if... Oh gosh..."
Joey, who had been playing with the stuffed snakes, noticed Ava's paleness and came over. "Avy? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, munchkin. Don't worry," She told him, scooping him up into her lap and hugging him close to her chest.
"It's alright, we can contact them and make sure they don't get caught up in this," Clint assured her.
"What about us? We're in too deep to pull out, aren't we?" Devon asked after waving over KK and pulling her into his own lap.
Sif nodded. "Loki knows what you look like, and from what you told us, he is determined to get his hands on you."
A headache began to roll through my system; I would need more water before I used my powers again, I assumed. "All of this is my fault. If I had just been more careful with my necklace..." I sighed.
"If you'd been more careful, you'd be dead," Nat pointed out.
I gave her a questioning look, and she continued.
"Well, you're a kid. Not very strong yet extremely smart for your age. You were, though, surrounded by brilliant scientists who knew more about force fields and the super soldier experiments than you-"
"Force fields? Super soldier experiments? What are you talking about?" I asked, really lost. "My dad worked in chemical engineering and biochem."
"No, he didn't," Clint backed up Nat. "We looked into his file. His lab worked closely with the lab that created... Well, The Hulk. They're studying all kinds of things. Force fields, Chitauri biology and tech, and, more recently, the Super Soldier project. The Captain America 2.0 testing is their crown jewel."
Suddenly it all made sense. The test rooms. The huge amount of resources they had. Loki's interest in the lab.
"Holy crap, my dad does work for Aperature Science..." I breathed. (By the way, FINALLY got that right.)
"Actually no, your dad works for Serology Chemistry Engineering Neurology Technology Immunology Psychology Exobiology and Demology Experimental Labs," Nat corrected.
"Most people just call it SCENTIPEDE labs..." I told her. (AN: Yes that's the same group that's a big problem in Agents of SHIELD. FORESHADOWING!)
"Correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm not, but that's the study of serums, chemicals, energy, the nervous system, machines, immunity, brains, aliens, and human behavior," Tony explained. "Why study all of that?"
"Well... I'm not an expert, but it sounds to me like that's everything you need to study to be able to study people like Captain America and Thor and control them," Ava pointed out.
"Control them?" Steve repeated.
Devon caught on. "Serums? The nervous system? Brains? Sounds to me like stuff Jeanine Matthews would study to perfect her simulations."
"Jeanine Matthews?" Steve asked.
"Oh, ah, she's a character from this book series who uses serums to mind control an entire faction into murdering another faction's members," Matt clarified.
Steve looked disturbed. "Right. Which means Loki's either looking for a guy like Thor or me, a way to keep a large group of people from escaping, or a simpler way to mind control an army."
"Ooh, you've caught me," A voice growled from the door way. "Too bad I won't tell you which I'm after."
All eyes flew to the door way, where Loki and about 30 SHIELD agents waited.
"Grant! Why didn't you warn us?" I yelled into the comm.
"I was a little busy!" He yelled back.
"Get the quinjet nearby, we're going to need a quick getaway," Clint added.
"Way ahead of you," Grant answered.
The quinjet, which had been turned so the open back door was facing us, appeared in the now-broken big window. It was within jumping distance.
Nat took a few shots at Loki, who easily deflected them.
"I'll hold him off, you guys better go," I told our group, bringing water to my hands.
Nat nodded, grabbing Joey and KK and jumping into the quinjet.
The agents advanced, but so did I. I shot balls of water at their feet, freezing them where they stood. Despite my earlier comment, though, Thor, Sif, Tony and Steve fought by my side and Clint sniped from the quinjet.
"Don't hurt anyone! They're still people!" I told them.
Reluctantly, they agreed, making sure they didn't make any kill hits.
I checked behind me, seeing Ava, Devon, and Matt had made it on board.
"Okay, pull back!" I called out.
The remaining Avengers piled into the quinjet. I made a move to follow, but dehydration began to take its toll.
"No no no..." I muttered, stumbling.
I hit the ground, wishing I had remembered to drink something before I had left.
"LYLA, COME ON!" Matt yelled.
"How convenient," Loki mused.
"Go," I mumbled into the comm.
"Ly-" Grant argued.
"GO!" I yelled again.
The quinjet took off.
I was quickly surrounded by agents, guns trained on me. By then, I'd accepted my fate.
"Well, it seems you shall be joining my side sooner than expected, Lyla," Loki smirked, moving towards me.
"Not today," Tony, as Iron Man, appeared out of seemingly nowhere.
He scooped me up as if I was nothing and took off, trailing behind the quinjet. A collected sigh of relief came over the comm.
"Thanks, Stark," I smiled meekly, before passing out.