Jasmine blinked her eyes open, and sighed at the fact the that the ceiling was familiar to her. She was just forced to talk to her cheating ex, revealed creepy information, and fainted-- was that seriously not enough to get her out of school?
Jasmine was lying in the nurses office, sitting only slightly upright in the chair. She looked to the side to see none other than Peter Parker, one of her best friends, aimlessly scrolling through his phone sitting in a chair by her. How he managed to get out of class, she didn't know. "Hey, spider nerd, what are you doing here?"
Peter's head shot up immediately, big brown puppy eyes wide, melting chocolate of worry.
Usually he got irritated when she called him anything spider-related, as if someone was going to hear that and assume he was Spiderman. But he hardly even registered what she said, too focused on the fact that she had said something. "You're awake! Are you okay?" Peter sprung to stand next to Jasmine, pressing the back of his hand to her forehead. "Does anything hurt? Did you eat enough today? You know, I think the school breakfast was actually--"
"Peter, I'm fine," Jasmine grabbed Peter's wrist, moving his hand away from her forehead. "I know exactly why I passed out. But it's kind of weird."
Jasmine sat more upright, and Peter sat on her chair by her legs. "What do you mean?"
"Well, it all started when I had to be partnered with Christian, since I am of course, the luckiest person in the world, and the universe loves me," Jasmine was trying her best not to spiral into another bitter rant.
"Yikes," Peter grimaced.
"Yeah. And he said like five words to me, and then started listening to music. Angst In My Pants, by the Sparks."
"A very you song."
"I know, right? Anyway, as soon as the song started playing, this weird thing happened-- like this information just fired off in my brain that made no sense that I've never heard before..." Jasmine went silent for a moment, making sure no one else was in the room, having a gut feeling that something big was about to unravel.
Peter titled his head down at her, eyebrows lifted. "What is it?"
"Have you ever heard of something called the Reinhold Mack Reactor?"
Jasmine's gut feelings were usually right.
Peter sprung up again, and immediately began pacing-- a nervous habit Jasmine knew all too well. "You-- how do you-- where did--?"
Now it was Jasmine's turn to stand up. "I'm telling you, weird information fired off in my brain. So I heard this information and it told me where it was."
Peter turned quickly, and put his hands on Jasmine's shoulders, shaking her. "You know where it is?!"
"Yes! They're some coordinates! God, stop man-handling me," Jasmine picked his hands off of her.
Peter immediately snatched his hands far away from her as if he just realized she was on fire.
"Right, sorry." He gave her a look that was half admiration (a look which made Jasmine worry) and half game-face (a look that also made Jasmine worry). He spoke in a low voice. "We have to tell Mr. Stark."
"What? Are you kidding? You can go do that, I don't want to seem like I'm freeloading off of my--" Jasmine lowered her voice, "superhero friend."
"Okay, I'm not just your superhero friend. I'm your superhero best friend. And if he's going to know this, he needs it directly from the source." Jasmine looked away, and crossed her arms. Peter turned her back to face him, gently moving her by the arms yet again, "I'll go with you. I won't leave your side. Seriously."
Jasmine didn't tell him to stop touching her this time.
Sometimes she liked it. Sometimes she didn't. That's pretty much how it always went, and she was always scared of that. Then he became spiderman, and scared turned into terrified.
But they were still best friends.
Jasmine sighed. "Okay..."
2 MONTHS EARLIER
Amal Nazari didn't know if she believed what she had heard that fateful day three nights after the orchestra. She didn't want to cause panic, but she didn't want to assume it meant nothing, either. So she located the location of the coordinates, and went there herself-- one earphone in playing that same Francois Boieldieu, repeatedly feeding her information.
The location of the coordinates turned out to be at a big, fancy building that was one of the epicenters of business in New York City. It was extremely high maintenance, and extremely high class. This is why Amal was not completely thrown off by the British voice that approached her.
"Why do you have one earphone in?" He asked her.
"Why are you following me?" Amal fired back, as she touched the walls and clacked her way through winding, elaborate hallways.
"I asked first," he quipped.
Amal figured she didn't have anything to lose. Most people didn't believe or care for whatever a blind Indian woman had to say anyway. "To continuously receive information. You?"
"Also to continuously receive information. For example, why are you headed this restricted way? What is your name?"
Amal did not falter at his questions. She knew from the sound of his voice that he held himself in high regard, but did not particularly care that she was breaking and entering. "I think there's a bomb somewhere near here, but I'm not sure, so I have to check. No one will believe me otherwise-- my name is Amal Nazari."
The man chuckled at her response, and how she kept moving forward no matter what. "I'm Loki."
"Any relation to the trickster jötunn?" Amal knew norse mythology. Jötunn was the word for God.
"Yes. I am him." The man said this with a conviction that sounded like he was telling the truth. Amal thought that she was good at perceiving truth in the voice, and was confused.
She shrugged. Crazier things have been revealed to her, but she did not really believe him. "Okay."
"So, tell me about this bomb." He followed her inquisitively. He was not worried about it, but seemed like he believed her.
"Reinhold Mack Reactor."
"How do you know about that? Where do you work?" He asked quickly, like he was trying not to sound desperate.
"You know about it?" Amal paused and turned to him. Loki was shocked at her precision-- she faced him directly.
"Yes." He responded simply. Loki learned that telling the truth tended to cause more trouble than lying. He was currently enjoying it.
"I know about it because I was listening to a song, and then the information just struck me. As if I had known it all my life, but it had been locked away. I work for Trusted Translations in Manhattan." She continued walking.
A certain note hit in the song, and she rattled off new information. "The bomb targets the many. Few will be saved. The Gods will tremble."
This caught Loki's attention even more. Him and his brother were currently in search of a particular God, and could use all the help they could get. "Which Gods?"
"The powerful." Amal echoed this as if she didn't really hear what he said. Loki sighed, figuring she was just crazy, until she continued. "The realms. Nine... But which one?"
"The realms? Now you know about the realms?"
Amal must have taken a wrong turn, she was lost now. "I-- I don't know--"
"Excuse me ma'am, but what are you doing here?" A different, authoritative male voice asked.
"I'm lost," Amal echoed meekly. She knew exactly how to play to her advantages.
"No you're not. We've been looking on the cameras."
The British voice was missing. "But how did you not see--?"
"It's alright. She's with me." The British voice returned. Loki.
Amal realized that he did not have loud footsteps-- or any footsteps at all when he was following her, and now she was extremely confused. She pondered the idea that he might have literally been Loki, but then wiped it away. Sometimes humor went straight over her head.
She simply stood still and did not say a word, waiting for the confusion to go away. It was a habit she developed as a child.
"Oh. Very well, sir." The authoritative security voice left.
Amal waited until the security's (audible) footsteps were completely gone before asking, "You don't work here. Why did he believe you?"
"How do you know I don't work here?" Loki asked.
"I can hear it." Amal stated simply. "You are very strange. But... you have a kind voice."
2 MONTHS LATER
"Peter!" Jasmine jumped, her height barely allowing her to see the top of his head in the hallway in the distance.
Since Peter and Jasmine were who they were (nerds), they waited until the school day was over to do anything. This gave Jasmine time.
Peter came into view, and Jasmine ran, nearly crashing into him. He held her by the waist, mostly to prevent her literally knocking him over. But also because he had fast reflexes. And also because he enjoyed holding her. "What?"
"I figured it out! Well like, part of it," Jasmine turned her phone screen to him, smiling widely.
"Orange: A Playlist," Peter read out loud. He did not understand her excitement, but it made him smile anyway. "Okay...?"
"Okay, so, you know how I have synesthesia, right? Sounds have colors?" Jasmine moved to stand next to him as they began walking down the hallway.
"Yes."
"Well, Angst In My Pants by The Sparks was orange to me. So I figured, what if I get all my orange songs together, will I get more information? Specifically, will I get more information on Tony that will help? So I put together a playlist of orange songs, and then I chose one that was totally an Iron Man song."
"Which is?"
Jasmine gave Peter her earphones and he put them in. She played Renegade by Styx for him.
He nodded his head to the beat, trying to seem calculated and as though he totally understood what she was talking about-- but he did not have synesthesia. "HOW IS THIS AN IRON MAN SON--"
Jasmine's eyes widened quickly as she slapped a hand over his mouth. "Peter, you're shouting!"
He took out the earphones and realized people were staring at them. "Sorry." He gave them back to her. "How is this an Iron Man song?"
"The electric guitar? The snare beat? The, 'I'm a wanted man.'" Jasmine sang this as though it made perfect sense.
"Okay. It's weird that you call him Iron Man." Peter opened the door for her, and they were released from the 7th circle of hell (school).
Jasmine turned to face him, walking backwards. "It's weird that you call him Mr. Stark."
"Touché."
2 MONTHS EARLIER
"Yes, Amal Nazari has been on our watch for awhile. Since she was born, actually." Director Nick Fury echoed, one arm propped under his chin, propped by another arm across his chest.
"You have never spoken of her." Thor bellowed.
"Yes. We didn't know when she would be activated, or if when she would, if she would get the correct information." Fury continued, tilting his head at a holographic screen before him, leaning on the conference table.
"Activated?" Loki asked.
"She's one of three of an inhuman species with a Sense Power, disguised as synesthesia. They actually have the ability to store large amounts of information along with decryptions just by hearing a melody and knowing a color. We gave them each information we could not decrypt ourselves."
"Why couldn't you decrypt the information?" Bruce Banner, the last person in the room, asked.
"It's like a captcha. A human needs to do it, who can recognize the melody, the emotion-- not just an algorithmic robot." Fury still wasn't facing them. They were all sitting at the table.
"I thought the Reinhold Mack Reactor was a dormant threat." Loki added.
"It was. There are 6 components to the reactor, and 6 codes. When we first discovered it they only had one. But now they have four."
TWO MONTHS LATER
Jasmine rambled a lot when she was nervous, and said nearly everything she had learned.
"How did you know that? That's classified information," Tony Stark spoke calmly, keeping an eye on Jasmine while taking a sip of his smoothie nonchalantly.
Jasmine felt like she wasn't actually breathing up until he said that sentence. She was afraid of his reaction-- but now that he didn't seem angry, she was fine with explaining. "I have synesthesia. It associates sound with color. But I guess now I'm also associating information with color, because it just came to my mind when I heard these songs."
Tony swallowed the smoothie that was in his mouth, and turned deadpan to Peter-- "And this is your girlfriend?"
"No--!" Both Peter and Jasmine replied at the same time, each sounding frantic.
Tony raised his eyebrows. "Right," He turned around and began walking away, and Peter and Jasmine shared a look, not knowing what to do until Tony echoed-- "Follow me!"
TWO MONTHS EARLIER
"What do you need them for? Why now?" Loki asked, not comprehending how or why he felt defensive.
"To crack the codes to get to the bomb and disable it. Only their minds can store and process that motion and relate it to the empathy of melody to do it."
"What are they?"
TWO MONTHS LATER
Director Nick Fury intimidated Peter.
He did not intimidate Jasmine, but probably just because he reminded her of her Tío Oscar.
"Jasmine Contreras, we've been keeping an eye on you. You're two out of three." Director Fury told her, as Tony, Peter, and Jasmine sat near him at a conference table.
"Two out of three what?"
---
"Sense Sisters."
a/n: this one goes out to both of my tios who are named oscar but mainly the one who lets me live with him sometimes. lol.
no, they are not literal sisters. they are related in a way. more on that later.
who's ready to meet evelyn diaz?
UPDATE: I ACCIDENTALLY PUBLISHED A DRAFT!!! IGNORE THAT