Here comes chapter 12 - at last. I know it has taken some time but all my other stories have been keeping me busy. I hope you enjoy the chapter, I definitely had fun writing it (once I finally had come up with the idea)...

Trigger Warning: Mentioning of a panic attack.

Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel.

Chapter 12: Blackout

"Nice to meet you Trip," the woman answered, "I'm Alexandra Edvardson, obviously, but please call me Xandra."

"Will do," Trip smiled, "I'll let you get back to work then."

He walked off in the direction of the kitchen while Hunter and Xandra made their way to the conference room which the man opened with a code. The Swedish was again taken aback by the room. It was so bare and grey, but thankfully well-lit and spacious.

"Okay, here we are. Do you think you can crack it today?" Hunter asked curiously.

"Don't know. Maybe. Maybe not," she shrugged her shoulders.

"Someone, probably me, will check on you in a couple of hours, just to make sure you are okay. And still awake."

"Very much appreciated, see you then," Xandra smiled.

As soon as he had left, her work continued, it was indeed tedious. Trying and testing simply took so much time and there was still no system in sight. Yet. She felt as if she had never been so clueless in all her life (though that was probably not true, she had already figured out several parts, but some were still missing). At one point, she was even starting to pace restlessly through the room like a tiger in a cage, just to run back to the table when she had an idea. The idea proved out to be useless however and soon she was back to pacing. Her health-app reported that her daily number of steps had been reached when she finally sat down, staring at all the puzzle pieces she already had. Another one came to her mind and then on more before she was stuck again. Just when she had started pacing again, suddenly the lights went out.

From one moment to the other, it was dark. No emergency lights went on, only black nothingness around her. Taking deep breaths, Xandra tried to calm her racing heartbeat and to come up with a masterplan. She knew her phone was on the table, at the other end of the room. She could walk over there and somehow find it and turn on the flashlight. Or she could just open the door and get outside. Yes, that sounded a lot more appealing, especially as the darkness seemed to grow colder and colder around her. Her gut feeling told her where the door must be and after a couple of hesistant steps, she actually touched the wall with her hands. A few feet further to the right, there was the door handle, good, now she only had to push it down and pull and - Nothing happened. The still rational part of her brain argued that the power had probably been cut off and as the pin pad at the door was apparently connected to the same circuit, it was locked now. The irrational part of her brain was becoming bigger by every moment, making it harder and harder to stay calm.

"Hello? Hello, I am stuck here! Please open the door!" she shouted and banged against the door, hoping that someone, anyone, would hear her and get her out.

Nothing happened. After a couple of moments, she tried again, even louder, baging against the door until her hands hurt. The darkness started to choke her, light, she needed light! Slowly, step by step, she walked over to her laptop and found it dark. Of course, it had run out of battery so she had plugged it in to charge - which didn't work without power. Fortunately her phone gave her a little relief, turning on the flashlight scared away the dark tendrils that had wrapped around her chest. There was no reception on her phone down here, no way to contact and they hadn't given her the WiFi-password either, probably scared of a possible virus getting into the system. She could only wait and hope they would realize soon what had happen, surely they had programme to alarm them in case the power went out, right?

Xandra started hitting the door again, but after five minutes and no reply, she decided to better save her voice and try again later. Probably it would have been best to turn out the flashlight, but each time she tried, the panic came back, making her turn it on quickly. After a while, she stood up to call out again for somebody, anybody, to hear her. But nothing. There was only her and the darkness and the phone with a battery that ran lower very quickly.

10% battery - she banged against the door again, frantically, desperately.

8% battery - she started to scream, not only for attention anymore but also because panic was getting a grip on her, holding her in cold arms that seemed tighten more and more.

6% battery - was there someone? For a short glorious moment, the young woman had the feeling that there were voices out there, her soul suddenly felt light as a feather. She even held her breath, waiting for the tiniest of sounds - but nothing came.

3% battery - a sob came out of her throat, an ugly raw sound, unladylike as she seldomly was. The flashlight had gone out and now the display was the only source of light in the darkness. She felt it inside too, it was dark and full of terror in her soul.

0% battery - when after a time Xandra didn't care to measure, the light finally died, she made herself as small as possible. Sitting next to the door with the back against the wall, she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Her throat hurt from calling and screaming and crying, but the water bottle she had fetched herself in a brave moment while her phone had still worked was now empty next to her. She was shaking and couldn't seem to calm down as much as she tried to make calm and deep breaths.

Suddenly, there were scratching noises at the door and somebody pushed it open. Light filtered into the dark conference room, so sudden that Xandra had to close her eyes in response. When she opened them again, somebody was sitting down next to her.

"Come on, let's get out of here," a somehow familiar voice told her, concern evident in her voice when Xandra wouldn't react.

Everything was like a daze until she felt somebody slide down next to her and wrap an arm around her shoulders. Sobs broke loose again but the person whoever she was simply held her and let her cry. Distantly Xandra heard her whispering things she didn't understand fully but that somehow sounded soothing and helped her to finally calm down.

When she glanced up again, May looked at her in utter concern. Then she stood up in one fluid motion, holding out a hand to pull the other one up. Still a bit shakily, the cryptographer took it and let herself being led into the corridor, finally into the light.

Thank you for reading! Sorry, I couldn't keep myself from entering this teeny tiny Game of thrones reference.