chapter thirteen: eavesdropping
song: anarchist — yungblud
"I know who killed her and why," Maryanne said in a low voice.
Somehow Cameron had ended up back in the hospital room after the whole ordeal. She was tired, really tired. In the past twelve hours, she'd passed out, found her foster mother dead, been questioned at the police station, and saved by Tony Stark. All she really wanted to do was sleep but the images of Rachel flooded her mind every time her eyes closed. So instead, she was visiting Maryanne. It seemed like a good way to think about something else. As it turns out, Cameron was wrong.
"Who?" Cameron asked.
"You remember the place that you saved me from?"
"I couldn't possibly forget."
"The man in charge of that who organization ordered her dead."
"And how do you know this?" Cameron was still skeptical of Maryanne.
"Because I was inside of his organization for years, I know what his plans are, and he's pulling the same thing he has before."
"What 'same thing' as before?"
"In the years since the fire that the woman you claim to be your mother died in, you've been in three foster homes, counting the one that you're in currently, correct?"
"Yes."
"And what has happened to all of those families, including your mother?"
"Horrible things." Cameron shuddered, remembering them.
"Exactly, Michael Andrews over-dosed just after you become somewhat friends and the family couldn't deal with you after their son died, Ava Perez was hunted down and inevitably murdered, and now Rachel Taylor is dead. Even Mary Granger died."
"That last one was my fault."
"No, it wasn't."
"Yes, it was."
"If she hadn't died in that fire, she would've died soon after anyway."
"I still let her die."
"It doesn't matter, the point is, important family figures have a way of dying around you. And it's because he wants to set you off."
"What?"
"Jaxon Wilson. He wants to set you off."
"I don't understand." Cameron still had more questions than answers.
"He knows the extent of your powers and he wants to use you to create destruction."
"I still don't understand."
"When you first started showing signs of powers," Maryanne started, but her tone was different, calmer. "I was nervous. I knew that you'd inherit powers from your father, but I didn't know what kind or how powerful you would be. It didn't take long for me to realize that you were strong, extremely strong and that your emotions could easily force you to lose control of your powers. That was when I decided to homeschool you. That, and it was easier considering we were practically on the run." She paused, looking out the window. "I remember this one time when you were five, we didn't have any more milk and you got angry. You lost control and I was so afraid that you were going to burn the house down. You managed to burn the couch to ash before I got you to calm down. Waltz music. It always calmed you down, I don't know why."
"It's the steady beat, the sets of three." Cameron interrupted.
"What?"
"Waltz music, it's the steady 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. An odd number of beats in a measure, the steady back-and-forth you feel. It just makes everything seem so light and easy."
Maryanne was smiling now. She was so happy to learn something about her daughter.
"That's why you liked it?"
"Yeah. I still do."
"I'm glad that some things haven't changed."
"Anyway..." Cameron tried to push her back on the subject.
"Oh, yes. The point is that your powers are unstable and Jaxon Wilson wants to use that to cause destruction. He thought that by removing someone you care about from the equation, he could set you off. Clearly, it hasn't worked."
Cameron was quiet for a minute.
"It almost did." She said.
"What? When?"
"I left the first foster home when I was twelve and I moved in with Ava Perez. She was single with no kids, so it was just me and her. She and I became really close over the two years I lived with her. She was more of a mother to me than my own mother, sorry, Mary Granger." Cameron corrected herself. She still had no actual proof that this woman was her mother but deep down, Cameron was beginning to hope that she was. "She was so kind. And then there was the first attempt on her life. It wasn't successful, obviously, but I told her she should run, and she did. Two weeks later, she was dead. And I lost control. Clearly not as bad as this guy, Jaxon Wilson, hoped, but it was bad. I may have burned down a few houses. Before I could continue, one of the neighbors was able to get through to me and I got back in control."
"Wow. This Ava must have meant a lot to you."
"She did." Cameron looked down.
There was a knock on the door, interrupting the silence that had settled over the room. Cameron got up and went over to the door, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. The doorknob was cold and pulling on it revealed a dark-haired man. Loki.
"Cameron! There you are! I've been looking for you. I heard what happened to your foster mother. Are you okay? What are you doing here?" Loki was babbling.
"Woah, woah, slow down," Cameron said and she couldn't help but smile at his clear worry for her. Had she somehow broken down Loki's heart made of ice? She let him into the room and as soon as he saw the patient in the bed, he froze.
"Maryanne?"
"Loki." She replied. "It's good to see you."
"Wait a minute...you two know each other?" Cameron was so confused.
"Yes," Maryanne said softly. "Or, rather, we knew each other. It has been a long time."
"How long?" Cameron asked, suddenly very curious. Something had obviously gone on here and for some reason, Cameron felt the need to know.
"Oh, I don't know, I think about 15 years," Maryanne said.
"Yes, I believe it's been that long."
"I can't believe this," Cameron said. "I thought today couldn't get any crazier."
"Things can always get crazier," Loki said, smiling a little at Maryanne.
"Apparently so."
"What are you doing here anyway, Cameron?"
"Oh, um, I rescued Maryanne on our mission in Canada, I was just making sure she was okay after the condition that I saw her in when I found her."
"Maryanne, you were there? At that facility?" Loki was suddenly overcome with worry.
"Yes. I was. But I'm fine, you don't need to worry."
"How long?" Loki's voice was angry now.
"What?"
"I said, how long?" His voice got louder.
"Loki, it doesn't matter."
"But it does." He was angry.
"Loki, calm down." Cameron tried.
"I need to know." He was practically shouting. "I need to know how long you were held prisoner in that awful place."
And Cameron did the only thing she could think of. She pulled out her phone and began to play a waltz.
"What are you doing?" Loki turned his attention to her.
"I'm calming you down," Cameron said.
"With this music?"
"It calms me down. Figured I'd give a try." She shrugged.
"It appears to be working." Maryanne laughed.
Loki sighed. "I'm truly sorry. I just got worked up worrying about you. I should have been there to save you and I wasn't."
"It's absolutely fine, Loki, it's not like I expect you to be my personal hero. Besides, I had Cameron to do the saving part. She gave me quite a surprise."
"What do you mean, quite the surprise."
"Well, I mean, I thought she was dead, and then she was there in front of me and I honestly thought it was a hallucination from the hunger."
"You thought she was dead? As in, you used to know her?"
"I think I would know my own daughter."
Shit. That's what was running through Cameron's head. She hadn't wanted anyone to find out about this maybe-mother-daughter thing that was going on between them.
"Cameron," Loki turned to the young girl, "Can I talk to Maryanne for a minute?"
"Sure, I'll just be right outside." She turned towards the door and exited, placing her ear against it as soon as it was closed. Loki thought that he was granting them privacy by kicking Cameron out but he was wrong, it was very easy to eavesdrop and that's exactly what Cameron was doing.
"Maryanne, is there something you want to tell me?"
"Is there something you want me to say?"
"I've always found your games cute, but please, just answer the question."
"I'll tell you the answer to the question you want to ask when you ask it."
There was a pause.
"You, Maryanne, it's funny, Cameron showed up a little over a week ago and, of course, Stark and Bruce ran their tests. One of those was a DNA test and there were some very interesting results."
"Really, what were they?" Cameron could hear the smirk in Maryanne's voice.
"As it turns out, her DNA was a perfect match."
"For whom?"
"For me."
"Really? How interesting." Maryanne was still being a bit coy.
"Stark would not let me tell her, of course. And then you show up, and you say that she's your daughter. You know what that would mean?"
"What would it mean, darling?"
"Well, it would have to mean that you and I had a child. And you didn't tell me."
"It would have to, you're right."
"Maryanne."
"What?"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's not like I had a way to contact you! And I didn't want to worry you, I knew that Odin didn't approve of our relationship, I didn't want to make things worse for you."
"I came back for you, you know. But you were already gone by the time I got there."
"That was after Jaxon found us."
"I thought you had left me. That you didn't want me anymore."
"Oh, darling, it was quite the opposite. But there were people after me and I had to take Cameron and run."
"That didn't end so well, did it?"
"No. It ended with Cameron's memory wiped and replaced and me in chains."
"Is that why she did not know of you before?"
"It's quite common for Jaxon's powered prisoners. Especially ones that are going to be used as unknowing weapons, much like our daughter."
"So she doesn't remember you?"
"Yes."
"Then why was she here?"
"Because she's playing with the idea that I'm actually her mother and after what just happened with Rachel Taylor, she needs comfort."
"So you've told her."
"I have."
"Does anyone else know?"
"Nobody other than Jaxon and some of his men."
"Good. We need to keep it that way. The Avengers cannot know."
There was another pause.
"Loki?"
"Yes?"
"If they ran her DNA, wouldn't it be pretty easy for them to find out I'm her mother?"
"Yes, darling, it would. But only if they were looking for it."
Cameron didn't know if she could take much more of this constant surprise. It seemed like every minute, something was changing. It was too much. And she'd heard enough. She removed her ear from the door and took an elevator back to the floor with her room. She had school tomorrow and her homework still wasn't done. She threw herself into her schoolwork, hoping that it would block out the events of today. It didn't. She couldn't stop picturing Rachel, she couldn't stop thinking about what she'd heard. Loki was her father? Her mind stayed on the idea of her father and mother still being alive. She didn't hear the knock on the door.
"Cameron?" It was Tony.
Cameron jumped slightly.
"Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure." Her voice was tired.
She heard the doorknob click but she didn't dare look at Tony.
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine."
"What are you doing?"
"Homework. I have school tomorrow."
"Oh."
"Well, I mean, tomorrow is Monday."
"I know, I just figured you wouldn't want to go to school after what happened today."
"I don't. But I need to get away from this place."
Tony was confused.
"What's going on here?"
"All this shit with parents." Cameron sighed.
"What's going on with parents?"
And that was when Cameron realized that she had said too much.
"Just, um, just a lot of people asking me what I'm going to do about family stuff now."
She was lying and Tony knew it.
"Cameron, why don't you tell me what's really going on."
"I just told you." She forced out.
"No you didn't. You tried to cover up what is actually going on."
"Nothing is going on, I don't know where you got that idea."
"Cameron."
"What?"
"I'm not leaving until you tell me the truth."
"I told you already!"
"Tell me the truth."
"Fine." Cameron broke down.
"After our mission the other day, I met one of the prisoners who seemed to know me for some reason. I talked to her and she said that she was my mother but the thing is, I don't know her. She told me that I used to be at that facility too and that they wiped and replaced my memory. I didn't believe it at first but she kind of convinced me. I went to see her again today and then Loki showed up and apparently, they both know each other but haven't seen each other in fifteen years. Then Loki kicked me out of the room to talk to Maryanne about how he discovered through your tests that I'm his daughter and Maryanne claims to be my mother. And if you think about it, if it's been fifteen years since they last saw each other, it would add up that I'm their daughter. Plus there's obviously some sort of romantic tension between the two of them." Cameron rambled.
"Slow down," Tony said. "So you're saying that not only did you find out that Loki is your father, but your mother wasn't actually the one that died in a fire all those years ago?"
"I'm saying that we need to find out."
"And how exactly did you find out that Loki is your father when I told him he couldn't tell you under any circumstances?"
"He didn't tell me."
"Then how do you know?"
"Hospital doors are very thin and very easy to hear through."
"So you were eavesdropping?"
"Something like that."
"And you're not angry that we didn't tell you he's your father."
"I feel like there are more important things right now than the fact that you kept secrets and lied to me. We can talk about that at a later date. Right now, we need to find out of Maryanne Frasier is actually my mother."
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