Chapter Three

Chapter Three

After Graduation

It was two weeks after graduation, and I was beginning to pack all of my belongings that I still have. So far, I had two boxes packed with my clothes and miscellaneous things, and a smaller box packed with picture frames wrapped in bubble wrap. I still had a few pictures that I needed to pack. One of the pictures was a family portrait of Ryan, Jackson, Mom and me. I was sitting in between mom and Ryan, with my legs in a V. Jackson was in between my legs on his butt holding his knees up to his chest. My arms were wrapped around Jackson’s shoulders, holding tight, with my chin resting on the top of his head. This was towards the beginning of spring, so we were in a meadow with flowers all over in the background, and mom had us wear black and white. I had on a white button down blouse with three quarter sleeves that were rolled up. It was see through with lace over my shoulder blades. I had on a white tank top underneath, with black skinny jeans and my Black Sabbath converse. Jackson had on a white short sleeve V-neck, black slacks, black suspenders, and black low top converse. Mom was to the left behind me with her legs to the left, and she was propped up on her left arm with her right arm draped over her torso. She was wearing a white dress with a lace sweetheart neckline, with a brown braided belt around her waist, with brown combat boots. Ryan was to the right, with the same outfit as Jackson on. Mom’s hair was curly, the honey brown curls framing her face. My hair was in its natural state, which was straight with some wave to it. Jackson’s honey brown hair was combed to the right, and Ryan’s dark brown hair was the same. Jackson was the perfect mix of mom and Ryan. He had mom’s hair, and Ryan’s blue eyes. I stuck out like a bright green thumb tack on a black wall. We were all so happy. Jackson’s dimples were as deep as craters on the moon, which made him even more adorable. Even though Jackson and I looked nothing alike, everyone knew he was my little brother, and if there was a problem, they would answer to me. A lot of people can hate on a seven year old, which is just sad. He looked so much like mom, but at the same time, Ryan. Ryan has dark brown hair with blue eyes. At about 6’2” he towers over my mom, who is only 5’4”. We all dressed alike, the only thing that stuck out was me. I wore the very locket dad gave to me as a newborn. I carefully wrapped the framed picture with bubble wrap and put it in the box. I was wearing my American Eagle dark wash boot cut jeans, with my Hollister coral pink lace top with three quarter sleeves and as always, my Black Sabbath converse.

I was just about to pick up another picture frame when I heard a crash from downstairs.

"Mom?"

I say walking towards the stairs. No answer. I walk downstairs, and head towards the loud bang’s origin.

"Mom?"

The sound came from in the kitchen. I walk in the kitchen, and feel a sharp pain in the back of my head and black out.

The next thing I know, I find myself in cell in a strange place. From the creaks and groans, I am estimating that I'm on a ship or submarine. I hear someone walking, and someone appears before the cell.

"Who are you? Where am I? Where's my mom?"

"Asking so many questions can get you in trouble, foolish girl."

The stranger replies. His accent isn't American, German maybe? It's weird. He has a Red face, and all of the bones point out broadly.

"Who are you?"

"I am Red Skull, Leader of Hydra"

"Of course your name is 'Red Skull' I mean just look at you!"

"OPEN UP THE CELL! You should learn when or when not to say something"

"Ha ha, I'm told that a lot. If I don't listen to my friends and mom, what makes you think I'll listen to you?"

He is wearing a suit made of iron, it looks like Dads! He grabs me by the arm and drags me out of the cell.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Someplace you'll never want to go to again."

I study each and every corridor, planning my escape.

"You might as well not bother, we are three hundred feet underwater."

"I don't know what you’re talking about"

"We'll see how long you can keep this lying game up.”

We walk into a big room, with a huge master board in it, and a chair in the center of the room.

"Oh scary, a chair in the middle of the room that you're likely to tie me to and beat me."

I say with sarcasm. I am seated in the chair, and as I predicted, tied to it. But I didn't expect what was coming next. It wasn't Red Skull who was going to beat me, but a woman who apparently like the color green. I decided I wasn't going to talk, because for some reason, she looked familiar.

"Do I not get the honor to be beaten by the brains of this operation himself? Am I just gunna have to deal with his mistress instead?"

"Trust me, you will thank me that I did not beat you myself. Now, let's get down to business shall we? What is your name?"

“Reuben."

"Your full name."

"Reuben Bailey Stark."

I say this slowly to mock his German accent.

"Your parents."

"Tony Stark and Rachel Bailey."

"Siblings."

"What do my siblings have anything to do with this?"

The woman slaps me hard across my left cheek, leaving a red mark.

"Your sibling's name, please.”

"Jackson Michael Avery."

"Your age."

"Seventeen."

"School."

"The Tomorrow Academy."

"College."

"ITT Tech."

"How old were you when you first saw your mother?"

"Just barely six.”

"And when you last saw your father."

"A few weeks ago."

"Thank you for your cooperation, I would have hated to kill my only bargaining token."

"Wait, that's it? That’s all you brought me down here for?"

"You were more willing to answer my questions than we first thought."

He gave the woman a signal and I was knocked out.

I awoke back in my cell, to a strange blue orb, that was talking to me.

"Now is the time to escape. You must first let me into your circle of trust. We can then begin our escape"

"Anything that has the color of light and is blue, I trust.”

"Excellent, now this might sound weird, but I need to go through you"

"Through me?"

"Yes, it will make it so no one can see you except you and me. I will guide you to the room where the tesseract is, and then will show you where to run."

"Okay.”

The orb glowed a little brighter, then passed through me. I felt a flutter in my chest cavity, where the orb passed through, and Red Skull appeared in the cell doorway.

"WHERE IS SHE!?!?!?!"

He screamed. He had the cell opened, and now was my chance to escape. As soon as he was no longer in the doorway, the orb flew out, and so I ran after it.

"It's only a matter of time before they find out what I've done."

"Well, as long as they don't know who you are, we're fine!"

"That's the thing, they know exactly who I am."

Great, that's just great. Hell, even I don't know what this orb thing is!

"Can they hear us speaking?"

"No, since you are invisible only I can hear and see you.”

We soon ran into a large room that looked like the vault. There was a cube in the middle that was blue and looked like something was alive inside it.

"Can I touch it?"

"You have the tesseract in your blood that is how you can understand me. Most people can see me but not understand what I say."

I walked up to it, and slowly reached to it. The closer I got, the brighter IT got. I gingerly touched it, and nothing happened. I heard yells in the distance, so I quickly grabbed the cube and ran out. I got out the door, and Red Skull was just fifty feet to my right.

"HEY!! Stop you abomination!"

"Hay is for horses, stupid head!"

I yell in response and run as fast as I can after the orb. We came to another big room, but this one was different. It looked like the head if the submarine, because there was a huge glass window showing the ocean ahead of us. I looked over to my left and saw people in cages that had these, these weird bars that glowed the same blue as the tesseract. It was as if they were solid, and, made the people inside weak. I looked closer, and saw my, my DAD! I ran to the other side of the room so I could keep an eye on my dad.

"Why would red skull see me? Why could he hear me?"

"I needed to make you visible so that the tesseract could recognize you."

I looked down, and realized how important this was.

"You need to say specific words for the tesseract to finally accept you, and you then need to smash it on the floor."

"What do I need to say?"

"As I am vulnerable, to this great power, I must accept, at this hour, that in this final act, I wish to become one with the tesseract."

"Come out come out wherever you are, foolish child.”

I took the tesseract and hid it behind my back moments before red skull came in.

"Where is the tesseract, you crettin"

"First of all, its cretin, if you're going to threaten me do it properly, and if I were to touch the tesseract id be a pile of ashes by now."

He then shot at me with using the armor.

"As I am vulnerable,"

He kept on shooting at me, it was hard to focus on what I was saying, while dodging all of these blasts.

"To this great power, I must accept, at this hour, that in this final act"

"It’s not possible. How can you touch the tesseract and not be destroyed!?"

"I wish to become one with the tesseract!"

I smashed it on the floor, causing the beams over dad and the others to fade away, but that wasn't the only thing that happened. The tesseract did not cause a fatal explosion, but more of did a poof and came over me in a big whirl. I remember red skull screaming no, and then everything went black.