Chapter 5
These two weeks went by so far, since the first day Harley came to my house he never stopped coming, we did our respective Homeworks and then race to the lab to work on our project, and we were really inseparable, at recess, even when I was getting things out my locker he was throwing papers at me. I know how lame this sounds but it feels good to have a friend. Then at the club, I was focused but I was also quite an observer and noticed that Peter started missing the club, I saw him at the hallways and he seemed out of himself and today (Friday) he told me he was quitting the club and that he also quitted Marching band and intends to quit the Academic Decathlon Team.
"earth to Tannie!!!" Harley moves his hands in front of my face
"oh yeah, sorry just thinking" I then begin to walk again through the hallways "by the way, why haven't you change to your normal clothes...?"
"why? you don't like my yellow shorts? c' mon it's Midtown Pride all over!" he dances making me laugh
"it's not that! you are all sweaty" I step away from him
He snorts "oh really?" he looks down at his blue shirt "oh yeah I'm sweaty, come here give me a hug!" he slowly walks to me so I walk backwards but I stop with some lockers
"go away!! you disgusting sweaty being" I try to stop him with my hands but he's taller
"Give me some loooveeeee!" this little pain in the ass wins and hugs me and yeah he was sweaty
"umm sorry to interrupt you two," a female voice says and I get my head out to see who is
"Hi, Liz!" I smile at her and she eyes both of us
"I just wanted to give you your notebook Harley, you forgot it at Biology" she hands him the notebook but he still has his right arm around me "and to tell you both that last Saturday it was supposed to be Flash's party but he was grounded and rain checked for tomorrow... you are invited" she kindly smiles at us and walks away
I lift up my head to see Harley who was thinking "a penny for your thoughts?"
"Yeah, do you want to go to that party?" he abruptly asks me removing his arm and standing straight in front of me
"really? Do you want to go?"
"only if you go... who else is going to laugh at my stupid jokes?" he ruffles his hair
"They're not stupid... worst than stupid but yeah you got a point there" He rolls his eyes and laughs "let's go to that party tomorrow then"
"Great!!" he runs to the entrance of the school "Today I need to be with my mom but see you tomorrow right?"
"where we're going to see each other, genius?"
"what about if I come to your place and from there Happy can drive us?" he yells back and I nod
I stroll outside, the chilly wind ruffles my hair and crashes with my cheeks. I spot Happy and step inside.
"Hello Happy" I smile at him and notice his sad expression "what is it?"
"The Cap is a little under the weather today... That's all"
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I enter the complex and at the big window I see Steve just staring at the city, I then approach him and see he's wearing a black suit and his eyes are red and puffy.
"didn't hear you coming in" he barely says, his blue eyes hold pain
"what happened?"
Steve spins his head to me and then back to the skyline "Today I lost the love of my life"
Oh, no. I know about this. I read his files once and then he told me how he had a 'whoopee' time with that keen gal named Peggy Carter. I look up at him, tears already rolled down his cheeks but he's not containing them anymore.
"I just know something Steve... you were so lucky to live at the same time as her, I know...you spent 70 years away from her but just think about how lucky you were again to wake up while she was here...just to see her one more time... "
He clears his throat and pinches his nose "It's just so... uh..."
"One day someone told me that even if our loved ones are far from our hands, from our eyes or from this world... they are never too far away for us love them..."
Steve slightly snorts, he looks at me and huffs "I remember when I told you that... I know, it's just too much today, all of this with Thaddeus Ross..." he pauses
I frown "what about him?" I curiously ask
"You should probably talk to your dad, you need to hear his part first" he grabs a suitcase and I see a plane ticket, he's going to her funeral. "Annoy the other for me and uh... hope I see you again"
He walks to me, short steps and he places a kiss on my head. With pursed lips, he leaves. But the bittersweet goodbye... was like he was actually going forever. I look all over the complex, cold and empty... I text my dad:
I try to quicken my step, my mind submerging in thoughts. In the quiet of my room I begin to pack. Almost four hours and my room is almost empty. Unwillingly I start doing my homework and hear JARVIS greeting my dad, I peek through my door and watch him, the normal sway of his walking is not there. He slumps himself on the couch in the living room so I approach him.
"Hey T" he sighs
I cock my head and sit on the center table
"Hey dad, you're tired but something is out of place here"
"what you mean?"
"These past days... I noticed everyone is like... out of here? deep in thoughts... not the usual uh... unity" when I say the last word my dad looks at me and sighs again "and what happened with Thaddeus Ross?"
"How you know about that?" he uncovers his face with a frown in it
I cross my arms "I know a lot about a lot"
"well, The Avengers now are controlled by more than 130 countries, we can't act on our own"
I gnaw my botton lip and look at his preoccupied eyes "maybe it's for the best?" I say analyzing the situation-
my dad darts his eyes to me, a little surprised by my response "you think so?"
"it's not the worst thing, right? I mean, I don't know the whole situation but uh... it's being kinda hard for people to process what's been happening since Sokovia... I uh, know a girl who lost her brother there... she goes to Midtown and I-"
"Who?"
"Charlie Spencer" I shrug and he brings his head to his arms, his chest letting escape a deep sigh
"Uh, you knew him?" he mutters
"One day I saw him, he was picking his sister... she's crying all the time dad and I feel responsible... crazy, I know... but maybe just maybe taking some responsibility about what happened it's not the worst thing"
"that's exactly what I told them!!!" he exclaims
"who agrees?"
"Rhodey, Vision, Nat and me" he pats his arc reactor
I knead my brows together at the lack of the other names
"so... the others are completely against it?"
"not completely... Wanda believes in Vision and Nat can persuade Steve and he can Persuade Wilson..." he lifts his chin "everything is going to be ok" he stands up and kisses my head "bedtime!!"
"yeah yeah yeah"
I stroll to my room and close the door behind me. My mind overthinking things doesn't help so I decide to text Peter. A small crushing feeling in my stomach forms when I start to think if Peter's going through something and how he abruptly changed the past days.
"I'm worried about you so I'm good at advice if you want"
I lock my phone and try to sleep, I'm doing it again, I'm overthinking, the thing with Ross and The Avengers, Peter, and his weird attitude, a little of social anxiety because of tomorrow's party and even Steve loss. Help.
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With a grunt, I wake up and roll to the other side feeling the cold sheets against my skin. No way I'm going to exercise today. I stay there scrolling through my phone. My body formed into a curl. The room is practically freezing because all my furniture is already gone, only the mattress and my basic things. I check for the quintuple time to see if Peter answered my text but no. I look up at the sound of someone knocking on my door.
"baby are you up?" the smooth voice of my mom appears
I clear my throat "yeah come in mom" I sit upright covering my legs with the blanket
"Good morning beauty" she flashes a small smile and sits beside me lightly rubbing my leg "I see that you're already ready to move huh?"
I rub my eyes and yawn "Pretty much yeah... listen, mom, I wanted to ask you, but you were busy yesterday... can I go to a party today?"
She snorts and cheerfully nods "sure! you're always here or downstairs, be a normal teenager"
"uh Thanks?" I snort "where's dad?"
"he umm he is flying to Berlin right now" she scratches her forehead
"Why?"
"A meeting with some people from the government I think" she stands up "Please Tannie, tell Happy to drive you to that party ok?"
"Sure" I also stand up from my bed and head to my bathroom "see you later then?"
Her phone starts ringing and she nods at me walking away. I prepare myself while eating some cereal then I put some makeup and reluctantly text Flash asking where's his house, then I called Happy and he agreed, I sent him the address and killed some time playing with Friday.
"Do you have any news about Captain America?" I ask to the blue hologram
"Let me check, T... facial recognition systems found him at a Cathedral in Central London accompanied by Natasha Romanoff and Sam Wilson"
I slowly nod and lean forward
"What about... Peter Parker?" I whisper with a glint of curiosity
"I found 2,305 matches in New York with the name Peter Parker" she adds indirectly asking me to be more specific
"Peter Parker born in 2001, studying at Midtown School of Science and Technology" I recite to her
"A moment T" I again wait for her "No news of him, I see a match in your dad's computer, a file named P.P."
I look up at the hologram in front of me, it's a folder with the initials "What's the probability it can be his?"
"There is a 36% of possibility T" Friday responds and my curiosity peaks yet it's unlikely... my dad won't have something about Peter Parker, right? but before I can ask her to open it Harley enters the complex and I close Friday's interface
"Goodnight Miss Stark" he greets bowing at me making me snort
"Goodnight Mr. Keener" I take his arm and lead him to the lift
"Nice outfit," he says without looking at me
"Nice outfit or nice the one wearing it?" I flutter my eyes and he hums
He looks at me from head to toes and smiles "Definitely the outfit"
I slap his chest and our laughs mingle
When we are at the street I see Happy waiting and he eyes Harley and sighs in frustration, Harley gets first into the car I try to follow him but Happy stops me.
"Seriously this guy" he whispers
"What about it?" I whisper back and hop inside
All the drive Happy was like Grumpy and I laughed at myself: Happy was grumpy. Ok, no. We arrived at Flash's which was a modern house and already filled with teens, Happy told me he was getting Chinese take out but he would be around this neighborhood in case I need him. Walking through the house we notice that Flash was at the DJ table, everyone was dancing and shouting, a strong smell of liquor hit me, I turn to Harley who's watching everything but a pair of hands poke my back.
"You came!" Liz Toomes shouts "Flash hid the drinks behind his parents bar, they're some snacks, come on dance!" she gently shakes me, Harley still behind me "I'm planning on doing a party but I need to see when my parents won't be at the house, both of you are invited" she flashes her teeth and spins to go with Betty Brandt
"I want a Sprite" I yell, the buzzing of the music is too loud "want anything?"
"Yeah I come with you"
We make our way through the people, some dancing others just bouncing in his feet. I pour soda in a red cup and see Harley taking a beer and effortlessly opening it
"My mom allows me to drink only beer" he explains
We find a very narrow spot on a couch full of people. We begin talking and talking, then others joined the conversation, it was fun, a different kind of fun I've never experienced. Then a cold hand grabs my wrist and I look up at Liz and Betty who are frogmarch me to the crowded living room. The started persuading me to dance to the rhythm of the beat... social pressure is wild here. So yes, I ended up dancing, my heart beating faster with each jump and heat spreading through all my body. Harley was cheering me from the couch but songs later I pulled him inside the crowd to dance.
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"Good time?" Happy asks leaning against the car while cracking a fortune cookie
"My legs are numb" I snort when I hear my raspy voice for all the shouting and dancing "Are you ok Harley?"
"Too tired to even feel something" he yawns and gets inside the car
We left Harley at his house, his mom thanking us several times and then went to mine. My lids closing and my head falling forward for the sleepiness in my body. I thanked Happy and trudge to my room slumping in the bed not even caring for my clothes and I'm pretty sure I drooled all over again, that or an imaginary dog licked my cheek.
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The beeping of an alarm wakes me up, I swear I never put an alarm for a fricking Sunday. With hooded eyes I lift my head and see the hologram.
"what???" I grunt at it
"T, your father asked me to remind you to be ready at midday, the last truck for the moving is arriving in 15 minutes and you need to supervise everything," Friday says and I cover myself with the blankets
"uggghh" I groan "five minutes more"
"ok, I'm postponing the reminder in five minutes" Friday announces
"forget it" I quickly leave my bed knowing that Friday won't allow me to sleep again
I promptly prepare a light breakfast with the few things the kitchen have, I change and wait for the truck to arrive.
"Friday, remember the file named P.P.?" I stare at the window drinking the left milk in the glass
"yes T, I reserved it" she shows the folder in front of me
"Open it please" I quickly ask her
"Of course" I wait for more than a minute "It seems that I can't T, there's a code that I can't access, the security protecting it is complex, anything else I can help you with?"
"No, thanks" I whisper but before overthinking it Happy enters the complex instructing the workers of the truck to carry what's left.
"Ready Tannie?" he palms my back
"I'm excited, have you seen the new place?"
"Trust me, once you see it, you won't want to leave" He widens his eyes and grins
The last thing they took was my mattress and my bookshelf, I look around the place, memories of me being raise here and playing with my growing family creates a lump in my throat. I enter the lift and my eyes quickly scan the empty floor. Some workers start waving goodbye to me in the lobby. I hop inside the car. With a tight grip in a box, I stare at the window curious to know where the new place is. The busy part of New York slowly fades behind us, buildings and detached houses too and the car steps into a highway with only trees at its sides. I shrug, probably this new location is better prepared for hostiles threats or whatever.
I notice that Happy took a shortcut that actually got us lost so I take my phone and play chess. Minutes later, I feel the car slowing down.
"Welcome to your new home Tannie," Happy says and I lift my head only for my jaw to drop
"Are you joking?" I ask in surprise
"I told you ha!" he laughs and drives toward the entrance, or may I say a damn big entrance
Happy helps me get out and I can't stop turning my head everywhere, white walls, ceiling to floor windows. This is like a Hotel... whaaa... I'm speechless. I walk deeper and stop when the letter 'A' is carved on the wall, like the one in the Tower.
"My dad totally overdid it this time" I whisper and help Happy with some boxes from the trunk
"Take those, I take these two, the guys will help us with everything else" he motions me to open the door but I don't know-how
"Put your hand over there" Happy points out at a little square so I do so "just wait... your father configured your fingerprints"
"Ouch!!" I quickly pull away and see that the bio-reader just burned my palm
"Yeah, it happens the first two times" He snorts for the pain expression, the see-through doors open with a swoosh
We step inside and the amount of light coming from all the windows is making me squint my eyes. Happy walks to some big stairs leaving me there looking like a tourist, this is my new house... I go upstairs and see a beautiful modern living room, yeah too many couches. On the other side, I catch a dinner table and then a kitchen. I ramble to other stairs and walk upstairs to search for Happy.
"Hey! this is like a maze..." I shout when I spot him in front of me
"Feels like it isn't it?" He pushes me to go downstairs again and he grunts leaving two boxes beside the kitchen "Come with me, I'm in charge of all the moving and the security stuff...I'm the best tour guide for this house" He lifts his head brushing his black blazer and the tour begins
The whole Facility is divided into two main areas, the housing wing, and the working wing, you can easily go to the third floor and cross a bridge to go to the other area. The housing wing feels so warm though, the decor matches everything, on the same floor where the kitchen is, there's a hallway full of windows that leads to the rooms, it's too long so I decide not to even count the door, maybe more than 10?
"This is your room, the room with an "S" it's your parent's room" he opens the wood door and reveals a beautiful space
My mouth is dry probably because it's been agape all the tour. I spin and see the room. Walls perfectly coated ina steel gray color, tiles of different shades of gray. And windows that go from the ceiling to the middle of the wall. I wince and then blink.
"There's too much light" I quickly scan it, my boxes and furniture already here
"Yes!!!" Happy yells and I spin with a confused face "I told your dad that you will say that!" He laughs kicking aside a box "Look, you have blackout curtains, so you take this switch here and just press it and you can adjust how much light you want ok?"
"Got it, thanks... this thing is also powered with clean energy?"
"Absolutely" He nods and points to the hall "I need to check some stuff at the working wing, you'll be ok?"
"Of course, thanks for the best tour ever" I make him smile and he closes the door behind him
I slowly pace across the room thinking of endless possibilities to decorate it. I see the attached closet for my clothes, a door similar to the other one. I open it peeking my head inside. Oh, a bathroom. White, everything white. I sigh and lean my forehead in the wooden door. I should start unpacking now... maybe food first.
I ended up getting lost at this compound. The amount of walking makes me think I won't need to exercise ever again if I do this every day. I smile when I finally enter the kitchen. My smile goes wider at the sight of Wanda and Vision.
"Hello!" both turn their faces to me
"T" Vision bows his head and someone embraces me, Wanda's pine scent fills my nostrils
"Miss you Tannie, I'm surrounded by men every single day" she laughs
But we spin when heavy steps come running to us, Happy is frowning
"What is it, Mr. Hogan?" Vision asks him standing up
Something is wrong, Happy takes a remote control and points it at a wall who opens and reveals a TV, the news channel shows a building in flames, broken windows, firefighters already working.
"That's the Vienna International Centre..." Happy explains "Someone known as The Winter Soldier threw that bomb... everyone was there to talk about the Sok-"
"The Sokovia Accords" I interrupt him "who was there?"
"Natasha but she just called Tony, she's fine"
Vision and Wanda watch the news while I take my phone and call my dad.
"Stark" my dad answers with a blasé tone
"Dad!!" I smile in relief
"T, what's wrong?" he clears his throat
"I just saw what happened in Vienna and with the accords... I have a hunch...it is related to someone of our own-"
"T, you're not wrong... I'm at the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre and one of Steve's old frozen buddy is responsible for this... Nat is coming to assist as well, meanwhile, I need you to be extra careful"
"I know dad..."
"No, listen, Tannie... whatever happens, you need to look out for yourself, I love you kid" he ends the call and I look at the screen of my phone
"Tannie..." Wanda touches my back making me turn to her "Come, I can hear your stomach growling"
Kindly Wanda serves me a traditional Sokovian dish, the air around us is filled with tension, not from me but from Vision and her so as soon as I finished washing the plate I stride to the new room. If I don't want to sleep in the shower tonight I need to start cleaning and organizing everything.
Something is coming and it's not good...