Chapter Fifteen

When I came to, I looked at the timer. I had three minutes. What I heard got my hopes through to the sky. I heard screaming, and metal on metal, and Dad! The bars on my cell were no longer there, and now was my chance. I wearily stood up, with my head feeling like it was going to fall off. Then, I saw a familiar blue orb.

“Ah, so we meet again.” I said.

“It appears so. I am going to go inside of you, and this will be the last time we meet. I will give you enough energy to beat Red Skull.”

I didn’t even need to give consent for the orb, it just went inside of me, and I felt a jolt of energy. Slowly but surely, I began walking toward the sounds of a fight between Red Skull and the Avengers. I was about fifteen feet from the fight when I heard a blood curdling scream, and it sounded like James. Fear shook me, and I hurriedly began making my way to the screams origin. This was just like when Mom went missing. I rushed in too hastily, and almost got myself killed. I needed a plan. I made it to the doorway of the room, and there James was, dead. Natasha and Steve were holding James, weeping. Tony was screaming at Red Skull, and Kyle and Clint were staring at James’ lifeless body. Dad was screaming at Red Skull, things like “Not only have you killed my daughter, but my friends’ son!” or “You will pay for this.” These were the only things I heard, because I then blocked out Dad, and found myself charging at Red Skull. I was so angry, I couldn’t control my body. It was as if it had a mind of its own. I wanted to use my powers so badly, but I remembered what the orb had said before entering my body. Soon I was on top of him, and my hand was hold the arch reactor of the armor. The only thing he could move was his head, and sadly, his mouth.

“You should be dead. I have all of your powers, you cannot do anything to me.”

“I don’t need my powers to defeat a villain like you.”

I punched him square in the face, knocking him out. I then stood up and looked over to James. I dropped the reactor, and walked slowly over to James. I felt Dad’s eyes on me, but I stayed focused on James’ lifeless body. I walked past Kyle and Clint, who turned their attention from James to me. Finally, I stood over his body. I knelt down at his head, and put my hands on both sides of his head. Both Steve and Natasha looked at me, but I held my ground and stared at James’ pale face. My eyes lingered towards James’ chest, where a wound burned his skin, deep red and purple. As if I had brought one from the dead before, I casually reached down and placed my palm upon his would, and my hand glowed a familiar blue. I felt relieved that I still had the power that orb had promised. Before my very eyes, the wound healed, and James once again took a breath of life. His eyes opened, and I stood up. Natasha cried out, and Steve let out a sigh of happiness and relief. Dad began walking towards me, and I took a few steps. Then all of a sudden, my knees buckled and Dad caught me, and there, I took my last breath as Reuben Stark, a minor, and turned to Reuben Stark, an adult. I almost died on the night before my birthday. It was midnight of July 4th, the time of my birth. I also saved someone very special to me. I woke up on the helicarrier in what I assumed was the medical unit. Wearily, I unwrapped myself from the sheet that cocooned my healing body, and I rose to my feet. I got light headed, and plopped back down onto the bed. I looked around, and noticed all the wires and cords attached to me. I detached the heart monitor from my chest, and removed my IV cord. I rummaged through the nightstand drawer and found a band aid, and applied it to where my IV was. I once again stood up, but slowly, reaching to the wall when the lightheadedness came to. It soon passed, and I went to the closet. I found a pair of white slippers, a pair of light blue hospital pants, and a white tee shirt for me to change out of my hospital gown into. After changing, I walked into an empty hall, and began to make my way to my room. There was no way I was going to stay in these clothes for much longer. Finally, I made it to my destination of the night I was taken. Everything was in place of where I left it. My laptop was on my bed, obviously dead, and my phone was on my nightstand, plugged in. This wasn’t where I had left it, but I didn’t care. The night I was taken, it was July third, and the night I was once again reunited with Dad, it was midnight of July fourth, my birthday. I looked at my phone screen, and was utterly stuck stupid. It was 2:15 am on July 26th. It was fully charged, so I unplugged it and set it on my bed. I rummaged through my drawers and found an outfit that seemed casual. I grabbed a pair of dark wash skinny jeans with a leather patch over the knees. I bought these a few weeks ago, and yet I haven’t worn them. I then grabbed an AC/DC Back in Black band tee. Thankfully, with each room there was a bathroom. I grabbed a towel and my clothes and went into the bathroom. I stood in front of the mirror and flicked the light on. I felt the urge to scream, because nothing was the same. My eyes were bluer than before, almost as if my eyes were the tesseract. My hair, it was white. It was as white as the clouds in the sky, and I had a cut along my cheekbone, on my right eyebrow, and I had a split lip to the left of my lower. I turned away, and turned on the shower. Warm water rained down from the shower head, and with that water, my worries and horrors seemingly flowed down, and washed away into the drain. Yet, my guilt has still remained. I knew what I had to do. I knew I couldn’t avoid talking to Dad forever, and I am wrong for expecting him to come to me. I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t forgive me. I got out of the shower and got dressed. I ran a brush through my now white hair, French braided my bangs, put my hair into a ponytail, and wrapped the braid around the top of my ponytail. I brushed my teeth, and turned the light to the bathroom off. I grabbed my laptop charger and plugged it in, and set it on my night stand. I unlocked my phone, and went onto my Facebook. There were so many notifications, by the time I went through them all, it was 4:30. I was almost positive that no one was awake, other than those with the graveyard shift. I guess that I definitely had a lot of work to make up for, so I grabbed my Monster Beats ear buds by Dr. Dre and put on “Uma Thurman” by Fall Out Boy. I put my phone in my back pocket and put on my black low rise converse. I walked out of my room, and walked to the main part of the ship. Then I realized I forgot my notebook. I quickly went back into my room and grabbed my notebook out of my nightstand drawer and grabbed a pen and yet again began my journey to the main part of the ship. When I got there, about forty people were working the graveyard shift. There, sitting at the Avengers table was Dad, working on something. I pretended that I didn’t notice him, and went along to the main computer. Time to start my homework I guess. I logged in, and a bazillion files popped up. Jesus, was it really that long? It seems like it had been a month instead of a week. I began to write down numbers, and important stuff like that. Finally, I made my way to today’s file report at about 5:45. The number for the power reactors was thankfully down to normal. Why was Nick such an idiot, the thought of the tesseract in the power core still makes me shiver. I exited out of that file, and logged out. By now, “The Prophet's Song” by Queen was playing. I took out my phone and paused my music, and released myself my little bubble of music. I wrapped my ear buds around my phone, and put it back in my pocket. I guess that Dad was really wrapped up into what he was doing, because he never even noticed me. It wasn’t until I was standing next to him that he noticed me. His face broke into a smile and he jumped up out of his chair and gave me the biggest hug of my life. It felt good, actually. It’s been too long for me to feel the love of a parent. I hugged him back, but probably not as big. After what felt like an hour of silence, dad released me from his grip, and cupped my face in his hand, and kissed me on the forehead.

“I’m glad you’ve decided to finally join us.” He said.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Happy birthday.”

“Dad, it’s been a week.”

“And in that week, your were comatose.”

"I think that it's time to go home." I finally said.

"I think you're right. I love you Rue.”

"I love you too dad."

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