15

All my friends are heathens take it slow,

Wait for them to ask you who you know,

Please don't make any sudden moves,

You don't know the half of the abuse...

~Heathens; by Twenty One Pilots

Thor found me before I found him. I'd been lazily walking through the halls of Stark Tower, mostly doing a little sightseeing. While I did want to find Thor, or anyone else who happened to be walking by, I was thankful I had that time to really gather myself after what happened with my parents. I still had no idea why they'd call me out of the blue after so many years of silence between us. I could only assume that maybe they saw me on the news when they'd aired the attack, and thought it'd be a good idea to call. But that still didn't excuse the fact that they somehow knew I was staying in Stark Tower and they managed to get the number.

Once Thor found me, though, I pushed down all those thoughts and plastered on my best smile.

"Clint said you've been looking for me," I exclaimed. "Is there something wrong?"

"I just wanted to check and make sure you were OK," he murmured.

I gave a light chuckle. "We were together earlier," I said. "I'm doing fine." There was a look on Thor's face that made me sigh. "Look, I'm still adjusting to everything that happened. Alien invasions aren't something I experience often. This is, like, the second time in the span of a year I've helped fight off some hostile alien."

"And your powers. . . .?" he murmured, one of his hands coming up to cradle the back of my head.

"I still have a lot of work to do." I felt a flutter of worry in the pit of my stomach. "My powers still scare me half to death, but I can't just brush it off and hope things get better." I paused for a moment. "Where's Tony?" I asked.

The look on Thor's face let me know he didn't entirely have an idea on Tony's whereabouts.

Chewing my bottom lip, I let out a soft sigh and allowed my mind to open up, my telepathy reaching out to every mind in the building until it found Tony's. I used that moment to kind of meld my telepathy enough into Tony's mind that I could see what he was seeing, actively trying to avoid any important memories. From what I could tell, he was in a garage. Quickly getting out, I blinked a few times, getting a bit of bleariness out of my eyes and fighting off a dull throb in the back of my head.

"He's in a garage," I sighed, rubbing my forehead anxiously.

"What's wrong?" Thor exclaimed.

"Maybe if Stark has some kind of training room, I can practice my powers a little." I looked at Thor solemnly. "If this is seriously going to be our lives now, I can't just sit back and do nothing about this."

I could see a look swirling in Thor's eyes; he was thinking over what I'd said. I felt it was important that I do something regarding my powers. After having them for so many years, I made little to no progress in certain aspects of it. My telepathy was better than my telekinesis, but it didn't feel good enough.

"If another invasion happens, I'm not going to be scared to use my powers," I exclaimed firmly. "I'm stuck with it for the rest of my life, whether I like it or not. But I'm not going to be holding back anymore and I need the practice."

With a sigh, he nodded.

After asking J.A.R.V.I.S for the garage Tony was in, Thor and I made our trek down various hallways and different floors of the building. Tony had really built the place like a maze.

"Who gave you permission to be here?" Tony said when he saw Thor and I enter.

"J.A.R.V.I.S," I said.

A look swept across Tony's face at that. "C'mon, J.A.R.V.I.S," he muttered.

"My apologies, Mr. Stark," he replied, sounding genuinely apologetic. "Ms. Benningfield needed to find you immediately."

Rolling his eyes, Tony shook his head in slight disbelief.

"I'm not going to be bothering you for very long," I started.

"Good, 'cause I have something I'm working on." Tony's dismissive attitude made my blood boil a little, but I pushed it down just for that moment.

"Look, I just want to know if you have some kind of practice room," I exclaimed dryly.

"Practice room?" Tony looked at me as if I'd grown a second head.

"Yeah; practice room." I crossed my arms over my chest. "Maybe for some kind of training."

"Why would you think I'd have something like that?" he muttered.

"I don't know, to train." I threw my hands up in exasperation. "I don't care what you use it to train for, I just want to know if you have one or not."

Tony turned and looked at me.

"OK, since you're making this so difficult," I said, giving a sharp, humorless laugh, "I can't just sit here for God knows how long doing nothing. I have to do something to pass the time."

With a sigh, Tony turned and looked between Thor and I. I could see something reeling in that mind of his. Letting out another sigh, he stood up.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay, but here's the chapter! I got sidetracked by responsibilities, that's why I didn't have this chapter up right away. Hopefully you guys like it, though. I know these fillers might not be the best, but there won't be a whole bunch; just enough to give a bit of understanding on how everything's going down since New York.

Nothing in the MCU belongs to me. All I own are my characters and the stud for my nose piercing.

If you've got ideas for future updates, don't hesitate to let me know.

Leave a kind and helpful review, please.

Thank you.

Susan Strong