Chapter 138
I was sitting in medical with my arm stretch out. I winced as I felt the pinch of the needle being put in to draw blood.
“You have really good veins.” The nurse said.
“Mhm.” I groaned.
“Still hate needles huh?” Tony said.
“Well when someone sticks a couple dozen of them under your toenails you tend to not like them.” I said.
“All done.” The nurse said. “I’ll put a rush job on it.”
“Thanks.” I said rubbing my arm a bit.
“So time for the routine questions.” Tony said.
“More math?” I asked.
“Full name.” Tony asked.
“Hayley Elizabeth Adams.” I said.
“Birth name?” He asked.
“Calliope Chauncey Adler.” I said.
“Birthday.” He asked.
“April 13th1995.” I answered.
“Age?” Tony asked.
“20.” I said.
“Ok, guess we can move onto the functional MRI.” Tony said.
“Yay more needles.” I groaned.
“And this.” Tony said handing me a hospital gown.
“Hopefully this will be the last time I have to wear one of these.” I said starting to strip off my clothes.
“Yeah.” Tony said looking away.
Once I was done I was led to the MRI and I sat down on the cot. The nurse injected the dye into my IV line and laid back. I was moved into the machine and it was loud.
“Okay Miss Adams please try to stay still.” The radiologist said.
“I’m going to ask some questions just answer them.” Tony said.
“Okay.” I started.
“Integral of negative infinity to zero of e to the power of one over x divided by x squared?” Tony asked.
“converges at one.” I answered.
“Integral of nine sin to the fifth minus two cosine to the third of three x all times cosecant to the fourth of three x?” Tony asked.
“negative three cosine of three x plus two over nine cosecant to the third of three x minus two over three cosecant of three x plus c.” I answered.
We went on and on like this for about a minute. Tony had asked about ten problems by now.
“Okay last one, you’re moving out with Barton?” Tony asked.
“Tony…” I started.
“Should I give you two a minute…” The tech started.
“No.” We both said at the same time.
“And yeah I am.” I said.
“And you decided this when?” Tony started.
“Retirement was always the plan. You can’t tell me you see yourself flying around in the suit in your golden years.” I said.
“You were in a coma for a year. Your heart stopped four times Hayley and we finally get you back and now you’re leaving us again.” Tony said.
“Tony I’m not leaving you…” I started.
“You and Barton are going off riding off to the sunset of to who knows where while the rest of us stay behind…” Tony ranted.
“We are not disappearing off the face of the earth. We’re just moving out of the tower.” I said.
“Why would you even want to leave? It’s the safest place to be. There’s a starbucks in the lobby. Will is less than fifteen minutes away, and oh yeah all of your soulmates who love you live here. Isn’t that a good enough reason to want to stay?” Tony continued.
“It’s not about staying safe or hiding anymore its about moving forward, taking the next step.” I said.
“Then why not do it here?” Tony said.
“Because if I stay I’m going to fall back into old habits.” I said. “We just got Hadrian out of our lives and now the dragon lady…”
“Your mother…” Tony started.
“The dragon lady is back and as much as I say that I am going to stay out of it, I know that if I stay and she makes a move we will be right back where we started and I can’t go back to that. I almost died Tony, I was in limbo for a year and as bad as that was waking up and realizing what that did to all of you is ten times worse. Bruce became a hermit again. Thor almost caused a flood. Steve tears up every time he sees me. Clint always has a hand on me because he still can’t believe I’m actually alive. Nat purposely makes noise in the morning so I’ll wake up because she wants to make sure I’m not slipping back into a coma. Will is a mess who became best friends with Jack Daniels and grew a beard and it wasn’t for no shave November. And you keep locking yourself in the lab, obsessing trying to keep everyone safe living off nothing but scotch and coffee. Hadrian didn’t do that, I did.” I said.
He didn’t answer that.
“I don’t regret leaving and trying to handle things on my own. It meant saving Bucky and Nat and that made it all worth it but I do regret hurting you all.” I said.
“And you think running away again is the answer?” Tony said.
“I’m not running. I’m retiring.” I said. “Clint finished fixing up the house, he’s retiring too and you probably will in a couple years, same with Nat… Steve… well… anyway, the point is that I’m not running away from you all. I’m moving forward. A life after all the fighting is over and there aren’t anymore enemies. Waking up next to someone I love more than life itself every day safe knowing it’s not going to go up in flames one day. That’s the endgame.”
“By moving away from us..” Tony said still not getting us.
“You remember that house we found when you were teaching me to drive? You know the one only a few minutes away from that abandoned compound upstate you spent over a billion dollars remodeling?” I asked.
“How did you…” Tony started.
“I’ve been checking to see if there have been any sighting of Bruce or the big guy. Found the invoices.” I said. “It looks good. You have a great eye for architecture.”
“That’s the house you gave Barton.” Tony said.
“I’m moving out not out of your lives.” I said. “I love you, you’re my world. Not even forgetting everything and living what should have been an ideal life in a coma could ever change that. So is that everything because my ears are ringing and I’m feeling a bit claustrophobic and I feel like I should probably repeat this face to face... maybe make out a bit.”
“Oh uh…” The radiologist said as the cot started moving.
“That’s better.” I said sitting up. Tony slowly walked over.
“Endgame huh?” Tony said.
“Happily ever after felt a bit too Disney for the situation.” I said putting my arms on his shoulder.
“It’s fitting.” He said putting his hands on my waist. “I thought it did…”
“Hm.” He hummed before leaning down and kissing me. I smiled and kissed him back.
“Ehem…” The radiologist cleared his throat loudly.
“Everytime.” Tony groaned. “Everything okay?”
“Yes just wanted to let you know I sent the scans to the neurologist. He said he would call with the results shortly.” He said.
“Thank you.” I said.
“Thanks.” Tony said before we were alone again.
“I should go put on pants.” I said.
“Sure.” Tony said letting me go.
“Oh actually can you get me a doctor’s note saying I’m cleared to resume normal activities?” I asked.
“Normal activities?” He asked. I just gave him a smirk before walking back to the exam room to get dressed.
When I was finally done we headed to the lab and got settled. Tony was giving me the virtual tour of the new facility and he had outdone himself.
“Indoor obstacle course, impressive.” I said.
“Figured that might make training a bit more interesting. Less ripped sandbags.” Tony said.
“State of the art labs, medical division too. They’re going to love it.” I said.
“Thought they might.” Tony said before his phone started ringing. “It’s the neurologist.”
“Friday bring him up on the screen please.” I said.
“Hey doc.” Tony greeted.
“Mister Stark, thank you for reaching out to me. I received the scans and I must ask, who’s are they?” The neurologist asked.
“Why is there something wrong?” I asked.
“No there are no tumors or lesions present but it’s unusual.” He said. “These are live scans correct?”
“Yeah.” Tony said.
“These scans are like noting I’ve seen before. See this is what a normal functional scan looks like.” He said bringing up a scan that only had a few spots in different colors. “Only a few spots are active at once. The scans that you sent me…” He said bringing up mine. “They are completely active. Every part of the brain is active at the same time and at such high intensity. The response time is faster than normal. I didn’t even think it was possible for something like this to occur naturally.”
“That’s cuz it’s not.” I muttered.
“So what exactly would a person with a brain like this go through?” Tony asked. “Side effects?”
“There’s no way to know. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He said. “I’d expect a higher response time, maybe some fatigue, from the high reaction time I’d also expect them to have a hard time maintaining their blood sugar levels. They’d need to be on a high calorie diet or they’d experience dizzy spells.”
“But nothing life threatening right?” Tony asked.
“I don’t see any signs of neurological deterioration or anything worrisome.” He confirmed.
“That’s good. Thank you doctor.” I said.
“No need and if there is anyway your patient would be willing to…” He started before I ended the call.
“Well I’m officially cleared.” I said not feeling as relieved as I thought I’d be.
“You are.” Tony said handing me the doctor’s note. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing just… You ever feel like you answer one question but it just leads you to more questions?” I asked.
“Don’t over think it Hales. You’re okay and whatever happens we can figure it out.” Tony said.
“Yeah.” I said hugging him. “We should get some sleep.”
“I’ll head up in a bit just need to check on a few things.” Tony said.
“Okay. Night.” I said kissing him.
“Night.” He answered.
I headed back upstairs. Clint and Nat were asleep on opposite sides of the bed with plenty of space between them. I quietly crawled in between them before slipping the envelope onto the nightstand next to Clint’s hearing aids before getting comfy, curling up next to Clint’s side.
I slowly drifted off to sleep.
Third Person’s POV-
The sun came up and the light poured into the room. Natasha and Clint woke up at the same time while Hayley who had a busy night was snoring. Natasha smiled and brushed some hair out of her face. Clint turned to the table and reached for his hearing aids when he noticed a white envelope.
He sat up and slipped them on.
“What is it?” Natasha asked.
Clint opened the envelope and read the letter. He smiled before handing it to Natasha. She read it and smirked.
“Guess one of us did manage to convince her.” Natasha said.
“Yeah.” Clint said laying back down and putting his arms around his soulmate. “Think I’m going to sleep for a bit longer.”
Third Person’s POV-
When I finally woke up I was alone in bed. I could tell it was about noon so I got up and showered before slipping on a white sleeveless top with a beaded neckline and some dark blue jeans.
Will had gone home for the first time in a few days so that was probably the only reason I was allowed to sleep in.
The second I walked into the common room I was hit by the amazing smell of bacon.
“Mhm bacon.” I moaned swiping a piece off of Steve’s plate before pouring myself some coffee.
“I was just about to go check on you.” Steve said.
“Yeah, I slept in a bit…” I said before noticing the time. “More than I thought I did.”
“I’ll get you a plate.” Steve said.
“It’s okay. I’m not really hungry yet.” I said.
“Hey you’re finally up.” Tony said.
“Yup.” I said sipping my coffee.
“This is for you.” Tony said putting a shake in front of me.
“Uh thanks.” I said. “But I’m not really…”
“Have to keep your blood sugar up.” Tony reminded me. I picked up the chunky smoothie and took a sip.
“Yum.” I said.
“So Hayley…” Steve started but Thor marched in.
“Ah Hayley your beauty outshines the rising sun after the darkest storm.” Thor said and I couldn’t help but smile. Man that never gets old. “How are you love?”
“I’m good. Well rested.” I said.
“Is there any chance you would feel up to accompanying me on a walk?” Thor asked.
“Walk?” I asked. “Well it’s a beautiful day… clear skies. Perfect for flying.”
“Yes!” Thor cheered.
“No!” Tony and Steve said at the same time.
“But…” I was about to start.
“They are right love perhaps we should wait until you are a bit more recovered.” Thor said seemingly in agreement but giving me a wink.
“Okay. Just need to grab a jacket.” I said.
“Of course.” Thor said following me.
Third Person’s POV-
Tony looked at where Hayley had been sitting and saw her food barely touched. “Friday monitor Hayley’s vitals and make sure her sugar levels don’t get too low.” Tony said.
“Yes boss.” Tony said.
“So she’s cleared?” Steve asked.
“Yeah just have to make sure she eats enough. Needs to stop skipping meals.” Tony said as suddenly they heard screams and Hayley and Thor flew up into the sky.
Steve smiled and shook his head. “Somethings never change.” Steve said.
“Yeah but maybe they should.” Tony said and Steve looked at him confused.
“Tony…” Steve started.
“I think the avengers are starting to outgrow the tower…” Tony started.
Hayley’s POV-
The wind blew through my hair as we flew through the sky out of the city.
“Woah!!!!” I cheered and I could hear feel Thor chuckling.
Once we were finally far away enough we landed in a meadow.
“That never gets old.” I said.
“I have missed this dearly.” Thor said.
“Well you don’t have to anymore.” I said and Thor’s smile faltered.
“Hayley I…” He started and I put a hand over his mouth.
“It’s okay. You have responsibilities on Asgard.” I said.
“I swear I will return…” Thor started.
“I know you always do.” I said. “But we still have some time before you leave. How about we make the most of it?”
“Aye.” Thor said smiling.
Third Person’s POV-
“So what do you think? Cherry or dark oak?” Clint said showing Natasha the two samples of wood.
“The cherry, its warmer. Did you really bring me all the way here to ask for decorating tips? You know Hayley is better at this than I am.” Natasha said.
“Just wanted to check in with you.” Clint said. “I know we sprung this on everyone…”
“She gave you a house for Christmas, we all knew it was coming.” Natasha said.
“Yeah as soon as I put in the floor.” Clint said. “You know that no matter what you still have us right? One call and we’ll be right back if you need us.”
“I know but it won’t come to that.” Natasha said.
“But if it did…” Clint started.
“Clint, I know.” Natasha said. “Besides you know I’m going to be here all the time unless there’s a mission or for training.”
“I knew I ordered a king sized mattress for a reason.” Clint said.
“So when are you asking her?” Natasha asked.
“Asking her what?” Clint said pretending he didn’t know what Natasha was talking about.
“The ring in your locker wasn’t for Hayley?” Natasha asked and Clint just glared at her. “You went through the rubble at the Triskelion for that thing. You’ve had it for over a year.”
“Two years actually.” Clint said and Natasha just gave him a look. “I bought it while we were in London.”
“What’s stopping you?” Natasha asked.
“We just got her back Nat. We’re moving in together and she’s dealing with her mom being back. I want to ask her but everything’s changing and I don’t want to spring this on her.” Clint said.
“If you ask she’s going to say yes.” She said.
“Can you really be sure about that?” He asked.
“The only reason Hayley wouldn’t say yes would be because she wouldn’t want to choose between us but that’s not an issue considering polygamy is now legal for soulmates in New York. Adler’s gone and her mom… when she makes her move we’ll deal with it together.” Natasha said. “She’s not the same kid we met after New York. She’s not going to run away because she’s afraid of us, especially from you. We almost lost her once, don’t wait too long.”
Hayley’s POV-
“What’s on your mind?” I asked Thor.
“Hm?” Thor asked.
“You just seem a little lost in your head.” I said.
“Do you believe in prophecies? Fate?” Thor asked.
“Strange question. Soulmarks are supposed to signify who you’re supposed to end up with, you’re other half… or in my case the other six out of seven parts. It doesn’t mean you’re actually going to get to meet them or that you’ll end up with them.”
“So no?” Thor asked and I sighed.
“It’s not that.” I said. “Everything happens for a reason and it’s hard to see that in the moment. When I was in Romania still looking for Delilah I ended up at this pub. This girl came up to me and asked to see my hand. I thought she was a pick pocket or scammer but I let her. Just to see what she came up with. She took my hand and her eyes turned white and she started speaking but the voice wasn’t really her own. She said my journey was almost at it’s end and that while I sacrificed a lot the last thing I’d give up would be my life. Life is one big circle and my circle ends where it began. The red star will push me over the edge. Cut off one head two more will take it’s place.”
Thor just frowned.
“I almost died. It happened in Seattle where I was born and where Hadrian told me to run for my life. Life is one giant circle is something my mom used to… says. Bucky has a red star on his arm and he was the one that threw me over a cliff and Hydra didn’t end in the 1940’s like we previously thought.” I said.
“She was an oracle.” Thor said.
“Not sure but she was dead on. And after the last couple of years… Anything’s possible.” I said.
“The witch…” He started.
“Wanda.” I corrected.
“When she was in my mind, I had a vision. Heimdall was there along with the rest of my people and he predicted the destruction of Asgard. Ragnarok.” Thor said with a distant look. “I tried to get answers from the Norns but…”
“It just left you with more questions.” I said.
“Aye.” He answered.
“You think your dad might have answers?” I asked.
“Asgard has no shortage of enemies but only a few that could actually pose a real threat. They should have the answers I seek if not they may be able to point me in the direction of someone who could. I believe everything is connected. Every threat from the past few years. The infinity stones all appearing in recent years.” Thor said.
“You ever feel like just as we finish fixing one problem, ten more just pop up somewhere else?” I asked.
“It will all be alright love. Nothing is certain. It’s just a precaution.” Thor said pulling me into his arms and kissing my temple.
“I hope you’re right.” I said hugging him back.
Third Person’s POV-
The man walked up the steps of the French chateau and took a breath before knocking on the door. He was not looking forward to this conversation.
The maid opened the door and frowned when she saw him.
“She’s been expecting you.” She said before ushering him in and walking straight to the study.
She straightened up at the door before knocking.
“Oui?” Came the answer.
“Louis, Madame.” She said opening the door. She just nodded, putting down her cup of tea.
“Madame.” Louis greeted keeping his head down.
“Well?” She said.
“I’m sorry Madame. I am afraid the reports are true.” Louis said and she just sighed.
“What did your man on the inside say?” She asked but Louis didn’t answer. “Louis, what did he say?”
Louis finally looked up at the blonde woman dressed in her immaculately tailored skirt suit and her blonde hair in a tight bun, glaring at him.
“The pakhan’s cousin arrived a few days ago with a package. It was his head.” Louis said.
She didn’t say anything. Her face was blank. No sadness, no anger nothing. Just business as usual.
“Is that all?” She asked.
“Yes madame.” Louis said.
“Very well.” She answered. “Go home. I’ll call you when I need you.”
“Of course.” He said before walking out without looking back.
She stayed quiet processing the information. She looked at the photo on her desk of her and her two children. A tall blonde with piercing green eyes and a small girl with light brown hair and bright eyes with a huge smile on her face as her mother hugged her. She reached for the photo and slammed it face down onto the desk.
“Brigitte!” She called out.
“Oui madame.” Brigitte said running into the room.
“Call New York, tell them I’m moving up my visit.” She said.
“Oui.” She answered still not moving.
“What are you waiting for?!” She demanded.
“Desole.” She answered before running off.