-Entry created on: 5/22/2013-
In my dreams, Loki attacked again. Except this time, he wasn't the one who confronted me.
I was.
I was in the middle of a fantastic lucid dream where I traveled with the Doctor, who took my with him when he investigated Night Vale with the Winchesters.
Then, out of nowhere, the image of Cecil and Carlos telling Dean and Cas that they could totally tell that they were in love faded, and my surroundings became murky.
"Hello Lyla," My voice rolled smoothly towards me, pulling me into a stone room.
We were nearly identical. Her hair was like mine, but where mine turned blue hers turned silver. Her eyes were filled with hate and the shocking blue that had filled my father's.
"Funny seeing you here," She smirked.
"How do you keep doing this?" I asked rather angrily.
"While you were unconscious, Loki attempted to use the scepter on you, but as you weren't awake, you didn't have enough fear in you for it to work. Instead, it put me in you with no way to control you," She explained.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked suspiciously.
She shrugged. "I can't lie to myself. No matter how disgusting and ignorant I am."
"What about Clint? He said he got dreams like mine," I thought out loud.
"That was more of a way to stir up fear in him. Loki can give anyone certain dreams from anywhere. This, of course, is a special occasion. I can haunt you whenever I want," She replied.
"You sicken me," I spat.
"No, you sicken yourself."
"You're not me!" I shouted, though inside my head it sounded as loud as a whisper would have.
"If I'm not you, what's my name?" She asked.
After a moment, I replied, "Diablo."
She smirked. "Devil? Really? Fine, just call me Dia the devil."
"Well then, goodbye Dia," I waved, then pushed myself out of the dream.
The first thing I felt when I woke up was fear.
The very next, pain.
I was sore all over. A headache rolled through my head, then stuck behind my eyes. It passed soon enough, and I could focus on my surroundings.
I was in a machine. I could hear it whirring around me. I was laying on some type of surface, but I couldn't differentiate what it was exactly, as a blanket covered it and my body. My head was supported by three pillows, keeping it in place. All I could see was white plastic.
The space inside the machine was small. I could barely move left and right, and when I did, I only moved a few inches.
Suddenly, a bright white light moved across my face in a line, as if it was scanning me.
I quickly realized it was scanning me. I was in a CAT scanner.
I remembered my mother's warnings from when I was younger. She always told me not to go near these, and to never get in one. When I asked her why, she would just shake her head and say, "It's dangerous, sweet heart."
That's why I screamed.
I kicked at the plastic, screamed, and fought off the blankets. I felt the platform under me moving, but I had already switched into a gas and weaseled my way out of the evil machine.
Upon my escape, I found Jemma, Leo, and Grant all staring at me, flabbergasted. None of them spoke, so I did instead.
"WHY WOULD YOU PUT ME IN THERE?!" I screamed.
No one spoke up.
Looking around, I noticed I was in a metallic, silver room. It had a three windows, two facing a hallway with similar features, and the third facing a spectacular view of the sky stretching over the sea.
"We're on the helicarrier. But...." I breathed, quickly studying the three agent's eyes. All normal. "Why would you guys try to kill me?"
"Kill you?" Grant seemed bewildered. "Why would a CAT scan kill you?"
"That's what they do!" I exclaimed, as if he had the most redundant brain out of every human being's on the planet.
"This scanner only takes pictures of the bones and organs inside your body. It's like a more in depth x-ray," Leo explained.
"That's not right," I shook my head.
"Why would you-" Jemma began.
She was cut off by Ava and Devon bursting into the room. "LYLA! Are you all right?" Devon asked.
"ARE YOU INSANE?!" Ava screamed into Leo's face. "A CAT SCAN?! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL HER?! WHY DO YOU EVEN HAVE ONE OF THESE DEATH TRAPS?!"
I caught Devon wince and cover his ears at the commotion.
Tony, who had little Kaitlyn and Joey hanging off of each of his legs, stumbled in after them. "They all think CAT scans kill people!" He yelled, exasperated.
"We don't just think that, we know," Ava spoke in a threatening tone, still in Leo's face.
"Why would you think that?" Jemma asked.
"THAT'S WHAT MOMMY SAID!" KK yelled from her spot on Tony's leg.
Jemma and Leo looked to me for help.
"That's what my mom always said. Their's, too. If we ever got hurt, we were supposed to go to my mom, since the doctors would think we were ill, even if we weren't, and put us in a CAT scan," I clarified.
"They were right. Lyla was just hurt, not sick! You don't need to kill her!" Devon exclaimed.
Ava finished for him, with, "Just because she was unconscious for three days and severally dehydrated-"
"Three days?!" I gasped.
"The point is-"
"GUYS!" Matt suddenly charged into the room, barely stoping himself from hitting Tony, who was still stuck with the two toddlers clinging to his legs.
The room, which had erupted into chaos, froze, looking at the newcomer.
"Our parents were wrong. Look!" Matt exclaimed, holding out a file that was in his hands.
I took it, and upon opening I discovered it explained the functions and uses of a CAT scanner.
"Where did you get this?" I asked.
"I gave it to him," Bruce, who must've entered the doorway amidst the confusion, spoke. "He seemed pretty upset about Lyla getting a CAT scan, so I figured he needed an explanation."
KK and Joey relented their grip on Tony's leg, coming over to investigate the file. Ava and Devon inspected it too. According to the file, a CAT scan was not only harmless, but also exactly as Leo had described it.
"Our parents lied...?" Ava asked suspiciously.
"I suppose so," Grant admitted. "But why?"
"This may explain it," Jemma announced, holding up the results from the CAT scan. "I calibrated the device to scan and capture images of Lyla's bone structure and nervous system, as both would be affected by her new abilities. As I suspected, her nervous system has linked to new parts of the brain, but I won't go into that as there is a much more pressing issue. Lyla doesn't have bones."
"Jemma, I'm pretty sure I have bones," I told her.
"Well, you have a bone-like structure, but instead of having bone and bone marrow, you have ice," She explained.
Holding out the image the scan had taken, I discovered it was true. I had learned how to read scans like this: bones should be solid white on the image. Instead, they were faintly blue.
"That's.... Impossible..." I breathed.
One by one, the others studied the image. The two little kids didn't understand it, but their older siblings did. Tony and Bruce spouted theory after theory back and forth, trying to decided how and when it had happened.
"Have you felt any extreme pain lately?" Tony asked.
"Nothing like every bone in my body turning to ice," I shook my head.
"Did you ever get an x-Ray as a child?" Bruce asked.
"Nope. You can guess why," I replied.
"Sounds to me like you were born that way," Tony suggested.
"What, and I just never noticed I had ice powers?" I asked.
"He could be right. SHIELD gets young mutants who discover their powers around puberty sometimes. They usually have one normal parent and one mutant parent, though, and their powers tend to be pretty weak. If Lyla's a half mutant, her powers may have been heightened by the Elementanium, making her as strong as she is now," Grant explained.
"My dad's as normal as they come," I added. "He's brilliant, but normal."
"Mom?" Leo asked.
"Dead," I sighed.
"She'd have water powers too, correct?" Leo asked.
"I guess, but my mom was-" I began, but I was soon cut off by Natasha entering the room.
"Guys, we've got trouble," She alerted us quickly. "Loki is making a move towards Boston, but so far there are no signs that he is accompanied by any Asgardiand. We need to stop him before New York repeats itself."
"Right. You coming Brucie?" Tony asked, messing up Bruce's hair.
"Guess I have to, now that you've pissed me off," He sighed, but his mood stayed light.
We moved out of the lab, and I tried to push the conversation to the back of my head so I could focus on the mission.
One part stuck. I had been asleep for three days.
"Urm, hi Natasha," I greeted her timidly as I walked beside her.
"Hi Lyla," She replied, giving me a small smile. "Good to see your up."
"About that..." I began.
"You want to know what you missed," She finished.
"Exactly," I replied. "What did I miss?"
I've got a nice extra long chapter for you people.
So, what do you think about Dia?
And what about the CAT scan business?
Let me know!
-Maddie