Chapter 16
“What’s going on?” Tony asked as Clint carried Hanna who was not happy about being carried back against her will.
“Can you set up Jarvis to monitor Hanna and keep her in her room?” Natasha said.
“Why would you…” Steve started.
“Can you do it?” Natasha asked Tony again.
“I can but why would you want to do that?” Tony asked.
“I’ll explain when Clint gets back just do it.” She said.
“Alright.” Tony said grabbing his tablet and activating the protocols Natasha asked for. “All set. Now you want to tell us what’s going on?”
“We followed Hanna to a bar downtown, the same bar she was at the night she ended up falling through that wormhole.” Natasha said.
“She’s been going there this whole time?” Steve asked.
“Everything here is almost identical to the way it was in her world. Maybe it comforting to be somewhere familiar.” Bruce said.
“The same roof she fell off of?” Tony said.
“She didn’t fall she jumped.” Clint deadpanned.
“What?” Steve, Bruce and Tony said.
“She jumped? Like on purpose?” Tony said.
“She let that slip out after about five mango martinis.” Natasha said.
“Okay so she tried it once she doesn’t mean she’ll do it again.” Bruce said.
“She spent the whole night staring at the spot she jumped from.” Natasha said.
“And she had put some thought into it. Apparently she wasn’t sure she wanted to risk falling into another universe by accident again because there’s apparently a world where Cap is hydra and if he’s already on her case here he’d probably be worse there.” Clint said.
“I think you can understand why we didn’t think leaving her alone there was a good idea.” Natasha said.
“Jarvis monitor Hanna closely and don’t let her out of the room until further notice.” Tony said.
“Yes sir.” Jarvis answered. “Miss Marin asks if she could come down to the kitchen for some water.”
“Tell her one of us can bring it up.” Tony said.
“She has changed her mind.” Jarvis answered.
“Well she’s still being stubborn.” Steve said.
“What do we do?” Bruce asked. “Should we try talking to her?”
“She’s drunk.” Natasha said.
“And it’s not like she listens to us anyway.” Steve said.
“She doesn’t listen to you but maybe she’ll listen to someone that understands.” Tony said looking to Bruce.
“I don’t know. Wouldn’t a professional be better idea?” Bruce said.
“You have seven Ph.D’s.” Tony said.
“None of them in psychology or psychiatry.” Bruce said.
“Bruce if we take her to a therapist and she tells him she’s from another universe would they take anything she said after that seriously?” Natasha said.
“And you think she’ll listen to me?” He said.
“It’s worth a try.” Steve said.
The Next Morning…
I woke up groaning remembering what had happened last night. I got carried out of the bar and into my room. I was essentially grounded.
“This is why I drink alone.” I mumbled.
Of course Jarvis took that as the okay to open up the blinds and let the sunlight in.
“Good morning Miss Marin, It is currently 11:03 am and bright and sunny outside. There is breakfast waiting for you downstairs in the kitchen.” Jarvis said.
“I’m allowed to leave the room?” I said suddenly feeling more awake.
“Yes Miss Marin.” Jarvis said.
“This is a trap.” I said.
“Pardon me?” Jarvis answered.
“What’s waiting for me downstairs? An intervention?” I asked.
“Your breakfast Miss Marin. Scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes and fruit. If you prefer something else I can have that arranged.” Jarvis said.
“No that’s fine.” I said not expecting that. There was no way Clint and especially Natasha were going to drop this. Pretty sure the whole house knows by now.
“Mhmm.” I groaned falling back and pulling the covers over my head.
“Shall I have your breakfast brought up for you Miss?” Jarvis said.
“Tony was right you do nag.” I said pulling the blankets off my face. “Though he programmed you so technically he nags himself.”
“Your breakfast Miss.” He said.
“I’m going.” I said getting out of bed and not bothering to even change out of my Pjs. The first time Steve saw me in a cami and shirt shorts he couldn’t look me in the eye for the whole day. Maybe my tank top and shorts would distract him enough to forget to lecture me today.
I quietly headed down the stairs trying to see if I could hear anyone to try and prepare for the worst but I couldn’t hear anything.
I went to the kitchen and found a plate already waiting for me. Judging by the portions and how fluffy the pancakes were I could tell Steve had cooked this morning. Natasha always burned the pancakes a bit. And Clint always put cheese in the eggs when he made them so he didn’t make them but he did make the coffee. Only he and Tony made it this strong.
I was sitting taking a few bites when Bruce came in.
“Uh morning.” He said.
“Morning.” I said watching as he walked around pulling stuff out to make his chai tea.
“Would you like some tea?” He asked.
“Thanks but I’m more of a coffee person.” I said.
“Right.” He said looking around awkwardly.
I looked down at my plate and started moving food around. Bruce stirred his tea for probably a lot longer than he needed to.
“Clint and Natasha brought you home last night.” He said.
“They did.” I said. “Got back a lot earlier than I was planning on. Didn’t really get a say about it.”
“They were worried.” Bruce said.
“They sent you.” I said. “because you can relate. Who’s idea was it? I doubt you volunteered. So who was it? Natasha or Tony?”
“I…” he started before I gave him a look. “Tony.”
“You’re not that type of doctor.” I said.
“I tried telling them that.” Bruce said.
“The other type of doctor doesn’t work either.” I said sipping my coffee.
“You were in therapy?” he asked.
“I gave it a try, it wasn’t for me.” I said. “I had better and more important things to do.”
“Taking care of yourself is important.” Bruce said.
“You’ve been to therapy?” I retorted.
“I don’t think there’s a therapist alive that’s qualified to help with my problem.” Bruce said.
“That makes two of us then.” I said. “And talking didn’t really help so there’s not really any point in talking about it.”
“You’ve been going to the same bar every night and staring at the exact same spot where jumped off the roof.” Bruce said.
“And now I’m here.” I said. “There’s not a lot to talk about.”
“Hanna it’s not normal…” he started and I laughed.
“Normal? What part of this is normal? I fell into another universe, you have a giant green alter ego, Steve was frozen in ice for 70 years, Tony flies around in a suit of armor, Natasha was raised and trained since birth to be a spy, Clint fought aliens with a bow and arrow, And let’s not forget about Thor the god of Thunder.” I said. “I appreciate you coming out of your comfort zone and tying to talk some sense into me but can we just not? I’m pretty sure you guys haven’t even checked one thing off the checklist and that’s way more important.”
“There’s a lot of places in the world to hide a scepter.” He said.
“I’d start in Sokovia.” I said.
“Sokovia?” Bruce asked confused.
“The country. A castle outside of Novi Grad if you want to be exact.” I said. “Fun fact , Sokovia doesn’t exist in my old world.”
“Really?” Bruce said.
“Based on a few countries in the area but completely fictional.” I said standing up. “It’s a nice day out, I’m going to finish this outside.”
With that I headed out to the balcony and settled at the table Tony had set up out there. I doubted anyone had ever used it but it was nice.
I thought I was off the hook and that Bruce would go back to his corner of the lab but to my surprise he came out to join me.
“Taking another shot at it?” I asked.
“No.” He said. “Can you tell me about you world?”
“You want to know about the other world?” I asked.
“One of my Ph.D’s is in Physics. A parallel universe is a theory no one’s ever proven and you’re living proof.” Bruce said.
“It’s pretty much the same.” I said.
“You have different countries.” Bruce said.
“We do. Though foreign policy is roughly the same. We have the same problems thought in ten years they’re further along.” I answered.
“What about you? What was your life like?” He asked.
“I had a job, It was nothing to brag about but it paid the bills. I lived alone. Nice studio loft. I had friends, not a lot but good ones.” I said. “It was an average life.”
“What about your family?” Bruce asked.
“Yeah we’re not going there.” I said.
“You said you didn’t want to talk about the ones here. I’m asking about the ones in your world.” Bruce said. “You had a mom dad, a brother named Greg and your nephew…”
“Jamie.” I said.
“Were you close?” He asked.
“No.” I said.
“Your nephew too?” Bruce asked knowing when he struck a nerve.
“You could say that. I practically raised the kid.” I said.
“Really? What about his parents?” He asked.
“My brother didn’t want to be a dad but he could never keep it in his pants and one accidental pregnancy later came Jamie.” I said. “Arguably the one good thing he ever managed to do. He couldn’t get over the fact that his bachelor days were over so he’d pawn off the kid on anyone he could. Say he’d go out on an errand and come back a week later sometimes longer. His wife had her own issues. Let’s just say this isn’t the only universe she had a problem with powdering her nose.”
“Oh…” Bruce said.
“It wasn’t entirely her fault. She was in a car accident a month after she gave birth and got prescribed some pretty strong narcotics. The opioid epidemic is not just a problem here.” I said. “She tried her best to be a mom but sometimes that wasn’t enough. It took her years to get it together.”
“That’s a lot of responsibility for a kid.” Bruce said.
“He was a handful but a good kid.” I answered.
“What happened to him?” he asked.
“His parents finally called it off for real after years of being on again off again. My brother got his wish and didn’t have to be a dad anymore and once my sister in law managed to quit for good she took him and moved away.” I said.
“How long was he with you?” He asked.
“Five years.” I said. “He was five and a half the last time I saw him.”
“That’s a long time to raise a kid. Those are formative years.” Bruce said.
“I tried not to screw him up.” I said. “And he’s not why I jumped off that building if that’s what you were trying to get at.”
“I didn’t but since you brought it up…” Bruce said.
“Look there’s no one reason why I wanted to end it all. I just didn’t see the point of anything anymore.” I said. “I woke up, struggled to get out of bed every morning but I still did it, I went to work, did my job, went home did it all over again the next day. Except one day I wake up and realized there was no point to any of it. I thought I was in a rut so I did what most people do when they realized they’re in a rut and tried to change it up a bit. I tried hobbies, I tried shrooms, I even went bungee jumping and it did nothing for me. I was numb.”
“And that’s when you tried therapy.” Bruce said.
“No that’s when I went out and got really drunk.” I said. “Didn’t fix anything but it did turn my filter off so I was out with my friends and we were blowing off steam when I just unloaded it all and we took a buzzfeed quiz to determine if I needed therapy. Then I went to therapy. It didn’t really do anything for me. Like at all.”
“Maybe it was the wrong therapist?” Bruce asked.
“I went to five.” I said. “In a month.”
“Oh.” He said.
“Yeah all I got were a bunch of platitudes and hang in there cat posters.” I said. “I quit that and decided to go the pharmaceutical route which didn’t do much for me. Just made me numb, practically a zombie at that point with a huge insomnia problem. So I quit that and stayed busy to distract myself but it never really worked. There was always that thought in the back of my head and one day I just had enough went to the bar, I had half the drink menu and said fuck it, it's not like things could get any worse. I didn’t think I’d fall though a wormhole into another universe things like alien invasions happen.”
“I could see how that might complicate things.” Bruce said.
“I don’t think complicated fully covers it.” I said.
“You know there are options you could try for…” Bruce said.
“I did that all and I’m not doing it again.” I said.
“Things are different here.” He said.
“Different world same me.” I said getting up. “Thanks for breakfast but I’m going to head up. Nap a bit more.”
“Sure.” Bruce said not really knowing what to say to that.