"Miss Parsons, may I see you in my office for a quick second?" Tony Stark's voice drummed through the quiet labs, every single intern turning in their seats to stare at me while piling away their belongings. Even Michelle Jones was letting her heavy gaze slide across to me, her hands pushing up her shirt sleeves to her elbows and I clearly spotted the smudged pen on her fingertips from drawing.
Being called out in class was becoming a repeating habit lately, Mr. Harrington singling me out yesterday, but a simple answer to his question had slipped my mind and with no Flash Thompson to cover my sheer panic, the entire class had sucked in a breath when no answer rested on my lips. Mr. Harrington had given me a sad look, a strange worry behind his glasses, but I had fled the classroom before he could pull me aside and question where my mind had been in class. Now, Tony Stark was singling me out with the ending of another internship workshop in the labs of the Avengers Tower. "Um, sure."
The other interns shuffled from the room in a slow fashion, everyone shooting glances in my direction while I pushed away my journal and tried calming down. "Remember kiddies, we've only got a few weeks left of the internship program because of the move upstate." Darcy Lewis was reminding everyone on the way out, bringing up the fleeting news that soon there wouldn't be an Avenger left in the city. "If you're wanting letters of recommendation, I do indeed take bribes!"
A few snickers rang through the fading crowd, Poppy Thayer rolling her pretty hazel eyes with her friend's comment. "For goodness sake, Darcy, you sound like Sam Hardings..." the young engineer was saying with a disapproving tone but I had stopped listening, my shoulders falling when Michelle stepped closer to me, offering a tight smile.
"Private meetings with Stark, huh?" Michelle started with a huff, "Are you causing trouble?" There was an underlying tone in her voice that maybe suggested she was somewhat jealous about the meeting but that was crazy. I hadn't done anything out of the normal in our internship sessions, if anything, I had been more distant lately with the decision that weighed on my shoulders right now.
I cleared my throat, shuffling on my feet. "No more than usual."
Michelle Jones was shrugging her bag over her shoulder, hair falling into her dark eyes. Our shared internship days had been quite nice, Michelle actually chatty when you got to know her. I wouldn't say we were overly great friends but I would miss the days we shared a desk and debated about heroes and villains. "Trouble seems to follow you, you know that? Anyway, I'll see you at school."
Our goodbye was short and with my heart dropping towards my stomach, my tennis shoes echoed weirdly on the tiles as I followed Tony Stark down the short hallway. He was quiet, which only made my nerves race wild. He was sending me a little glance over his shoulder when he pushed open his office door, my eyes landing on a woman staring out the large windows that overlooked the city. The woman spun around, a kind smile on her red painted lips. "Florence, this is an old friend of mine, Dr. Bryce O'Shea."
I didn't know the woman but there was an air about her that soothed my thumping heart. The very look in her eyes screamed that she was made from honey, everything sweet about her. I was already questioning how she knew Tony Stark. "It's nice to actually meet you, Florence. Tony has been saying wonderful things about you." Bryce O'Shea started brightly, combing some fair hair from her eyes and stepping closer towards us, the door closing with a thud.
"Um, thanks?" I questioned, my eyes swinging back and forth between Tony and the woman who apparently knew a lot about me, when I knew nothing about her. Formally, her hand was pushing out and I noticed the slightly discoloured mark on her ring finger where a ring had sat upon once, before shaking her hand. "Please forgive me, but what's going on?"
Tony was hovering by his desk, watching me with a strange curiosity. "I've known Bryce for years now, we once worked together with the Avengers and she's one of the best experimental doctors New York City has but that's beside the point, I called her to speak with you, Florence. About the power we all know flows through your veins."
I nearly choked. "Excuse me?"
Bryce was smiling kindly, Tony letting out a little laugh. Suddenly, his little speech a few days ago was flooding my mind, stuck on repeat. If powers flooded through your veins, would you try to use them for good, to save the people that you love? Suddenly, I knew damn well Tony Stark had known about my powers for a while now. "Did Peter tell you?"
Tony shook his head, "A likely theory, but no." A strange relief washed over me, knowing my own boyfriend hadn't opened his mouth again. "Your parents are clever beyond measure but sometimes we all need a helping hand. They came to me months ago, explaining what happened and recently they've informed me about the idea of injecting more serum into your veins in hopes to subside the pain and to heighten the visions."
The idea of injecting myself with more serum had been circling my mind for months now and some nights I was ready to tell my parents yes, but when my eyes opened the next morning, doubt came racing back and my decision grew cloudy again. Pushing away those thoughts, Bryce O'Shea was turning to me again. "Tony called me because I have a dear...friend, that went through something similar. He was cursed with a power he never wanted and for so long, it ruled over his life. He struggled for many years--"
"Dr. Bruce Banner?" I questioned.
Bryce nodded, a light smile touching her lips with the very mention of a man that was cursed with a power that indeed, made him into a monster in the eyes of our world. "Yes, Bruce. He has a power that controls elements of his life, something that destroyed his soul for a long time." Her hand reached out, touching my arm lightly. The very touch ignited a flash of vision in my head, pain roaring to life in my temples for a second. "But he's not a monster, he never was."
I blinked a few times, trying to push away the visions of Hulk and Bryce O'Shea, flashes of what could have only been her own memories dancing in my head. Something that had never happened before with my powers. "These powers, these visions, they can destroy your life, Florence, or you can rise against all the odds and find a strength within yourself to become...well, you don't have to be labeled a hero, but maybe use these powers for good. They don't have to be such a burden, but maybe a gift if you want that."
Her words circled in my head, something warming my heart. My gaze rested back on Tony Stark for a quick second, seeing a courage that had sparked in his heart once upon a time, the very reason he had become Iron Man, to right the wrongs his company had done to the world, to protect innocent people and to help the human race the only way he truly could. I didn't have powers that could stop a bullet, or heal the injured but that didn't mean I couldn't use these visions to help others, maybe myself. In that very second of time, my own courage flared with a helping hand that day, the final push in the right direction which would change everything.
***
On my way home that afternoon, I stopped by a familiar apartment building in Queens. I climbed the stairs, only wanting to see Peter Parker and tell him the news. But with the dying sunlight outside, May had informed me that he wasn't home just yet. She mentioned something about his very own Stark internship, which meant he was out being Spider-Man. Bidding her farewell, my mind was a little darkened since I should have figured he would be out being a hero right now.
In the main lobby area, my fingertips tapped against my phone screen, texting Peter and letting him know I had stopped by. That's when I heard a ding of a text message, my head snapping upwards and spotting him pushing through the main apartment building doors, phone in hand too. His hair was ruffled and he was wearing a strange looking tourist shirt and pants he must have gotten at some tacky shop uptown. "Peter! Hey." my voice carried through the empty lobby, something cheerful in my tone. "Wait, where's your backpack?"
Peter grimaced, "I lost another one."
I was eyeing the mismatched I Love New York shirt he was wearing, trying not to laugh out loud. "Oh, I'm sorry." he was shrugging his shoulders, holding his balled-up red and blue suit in his hands, trying to be sneaky. "But I've got really good news."
He was brightening up with my comment, "Yeah?"
My hand was falling into his own, "I'm going through with the injection to help stabilise my powers. I know it's a little risky and we don't know if it will work perfectly, but I'm doing it." That confession soothed the doubt in my mind because I was finally taking a stand and not letting something unexpected and terrible ruin my life any longer. I was embracing my powers, even if it only turned to fire and ash.
- author's ramblings -
Florence and Bryce, hell yes!
I really love bringing in my OCs (a Tilda and Sam Hardings name drop & Poppy Thayer too) it really creates the sense that yes, they're in the same world and everything connects in little ways. A few are like who the hell is Bryce O'Shea? she's an OC from my story Chaos Theory, which happens to be all about Bruce Banner (low-key self promotion) so if you wanna' learn more about her, check it out.
The struggle of Florence finding herself and learning with her powers comes into play now, it's going to be a little bit of a struggle, but our homegirl is gonna' shine because she's golden and she's got so much support, even when she feels so lonely. Next chapter is a little bit of a establishing chapter with connects future plots together in one big information dump, with hints of what's to actually come. After that, we're moving right into Homecoming and Mr. Murdock shall be making an appearance too. We've got some big things coming, so stay tuned!
- tinkertaydust