Chapter 14: Chapter Thirteen - ANCIENT ONE YOU ARE BACK! Oh and dad also died
8 years, middle school completed, the beginning of high school, magic lessons with Beyonce, and self-defense with a noisy spider… A very normal life!
In front of me a certain redheaded spider with a smile faker than the death of the pirate was currently teaching me self-defense thanks to my mom. Emily thinks that it is a good idea but I am not so sure about it.
Although I have to admit that she is really good at her job… Thinking about it, it makes sense since she is a trained assassin.
A strong hit on my legs and my lack of breath brought me back to the present.
— "Pay attention, your attacker won't be kind just because you are a girl." — She said quickly in a defensive position.
I want to erase that smile from her face!
— "I am eight, the most I can do is hit them between their legs." — I smiled cynically while holding on to my knees.
— "Let's take a break, you are very distracted today." — She came closer with my water bottle in her hand.
— "Whatever." — I replied while walking away to sit on the floor.
— "Hey, Why does your mother wish for you to learn self-defense?" — She asked, sitting beside me.
'Always so blunt…' — I thought— "A woman has to know how to protect themselves." — I replied without looking at her.
— "True, but you are a child I don't see why you would need it." — She looked at me
— "I don't think it is any of your business why I am doing it, you should only worry about getting paid, Natalie." — I stood walking towards the door.
— "You are a very smart girl, supposedly you have won many contests." — She said loudly.
I turned to look at her. — "So?"
— "I think you are hiding something."
— "You assume you know everything but really you know nothing OK? That's why you keep asking and asking." — I exited through the door leaving her with an annoyed and frustrated face.
Since she got here she has done nothing more than try to gain my trust, at the beginning she was friendly but once she noticed I wouldn't answer anything she started being more forward with her questions.
I feel bad for her, in the end, the one gaining information is me.
[...]
— "She won't speak sir." — Said a woman on the phone.
— "We need to know who is making the centinels and she is the only clue we have." — Said the voice from the other side sounding tired.
— "She is suspecting me."
— "It's your mission, so complete it." — He hung up.
— "Damn it!" — She whispered.
[...]
— "Emily. Mom is not back right?" — I asked the hologram in front of me.
"No, Miss. She'll be back later."
— "I am done with Natasha! It's been 2 months of her teaching me and the only thing I want is to erase her stupid cynical smile."
"Just deal with it for a little more."
I sighed jumping on my bed. — "Where is Dad right now?"
"He is still with Mr Harley Kenner."
— "It would have been better to meet Harley in person than being here. How is mom?" — I asked without moving.
"She is still crying during the night for your dad's death."
FLASHBACK
— "AFTER MR STARK HAD CONFRONTED THE MANDARIN SOME HOURS LATER HIS HOUSE IN MALIBU WAS DESTROYED, AND THE EMERGENCY SERVICES ARE SEARCHING FOR MR. STARK. THERE HAVE BEEN NO SIGNS OF FINDING HIM, SO AT THIS MOMENT, IT IS CONSIDERED THAT HE DIED DURING THE ATTACK." — Said the news reporter while showing the pictures of the attack.
— "Mom calm down, you know how hard it is to kill him." — I smiled reassuringly.
— "Your dad is an idiot! How does he dare to even challenge that mad man?" — She looked at me with a mixture of anger and sadness.
— "You know how he is."
— "I am so glad you only inherited his intelligence, I don't know what I would do if you were equally reckless as him." — She hugged me with tears in her eyes.
'Do I tell her I am learning magic, I'm friends with or I think an ex-psychopath genocidal that wanted to rule us and that I entered a helicarrier of a secret governmental agency?.... Nah.'
I laughed nervously
END OF FLASHBACK
It hurts me to see her like that, but when she sees Dad reappear she will cry from happiness and then call him out for it. I laughed imagining it.
"Martha, remember to visit the Ancient One today."
'Fuck, right!' I took my pony backpack putting anything necessary for my stay there and left running towards the Sanctuary.
When I got closer to the Sanctuary I lowered my speed, while walking I was listening to music on my phone and talked to Emi about the company.
After the invasion, the centinels had been necessary so for a couple of weeks production had been growing and the break time had decreased. On one occasion Shield had entered the company, specifically the boss's office but after finding nothing there they tried hacking the computer, when Emily noticed, various centinels surrounded the office but the intruder had escaped without a trace and left 2 that had been useless.
They hurt my babies!
I was so annoyed that I asked Emily to send a message. If they tried to enter by force again into my company I would make sure that all the information of their agency would be released.
Without noticing I found myself at the door of the sanctuary waiting for the Ancient One to open it.
— "Hello, welcome back." — She smiled after moving to the side to let me through.
— "Thank you, I love visiting you, you were absent for some days." — I said taking a seat with a Coke courtesy of Beyonce.
— "I was busy with some things." — She sat in front of me.
— "I see, I would like it if you could help me with a version of my gauntlet today." — I took out a metal gauntlet from my backpack.
— "Are you sure? The last time it exploded and we were barely able to protect ourselves." — She smiled amused.
— "The amount of magic was the main error."
— "And the fact that you laughed at Wong when you saw him listening and singing to Beyonce has nothing to do with it."
— "That was different! I should have recorded it! But now it only remains in my memory." — I yelled at her laughing amused.
…
— "Ancient One?" — I asked calling her back, but she looked to one side with a smile.
— "It's not time yet…" — She said, keeping her smile.
— "It's not time for what?" — I asked confused.
She only gave me a smile that said 'I won't tell you'
— "Okay, I won't ask about it." — I gave my drink a sip.
— "Tell me what has happened since the last time we talked." — She moved her hand signaling me to talk.
— "I met Dad, although he doesn't know who I am, then for some strange reason some days after the invasion talking with the drama queen. He started visiting me…"
FLASHBACK
— "Emily, I'm not tired." — I said pouting.
"I need to update so I can't keep you company."
— "Don't go stay a little longer." I begged to the air.
"I'm sorry if you can't sleep, count sheep."
After that Emily, the abandoner of friends started updating while I got comfy in bed to count sheep with my eyes open.
[...]
'This doesn't work.' I complained in my mind after counting 2,250 sheep that were the Avengers dressed as sheep and jumped while they sang.
Don't judge me.
Somebody laughed. — "Your mind is very strange."
— "Who's there?" — I grabbed my blanket covering myself waiting for whoever was here to leave when they saw me covered.
— "Your god."
— "Oh by the air of the of the Rose of Guadalupe, Percy Jackson is that you!" — I squealed excitedly.
— "No." — He grunts.
— "Ohh I know I know you are Stan Lee." — I got up from bed with a jump.
— "No." — He yelled.
— "Naruto? No, I don't think so, your voice fits more to a man with anger issues."
— "No stupid Midgardian I am Loki god of this world! And I don't have anger issues!" — Loki came out from the dark with infuriated eyes while yelling.
— "What do you mean no if you are yelling?" — I yelled back.
— "How dare you raise your voice to me, simple Midgardian?"
— "Oh fuck yourself 'I have daddy issues!'." — I moved closer to him even though he was half my body taller than me.
— "I don't have daddy issues and stop raising your voice at me."
— "You stop yelling at me."
— "You are a simple midget Midgardian!"
— "I am not a midget!" — I stood on my bed but was still unable to reach his height.
— "Whatever you say." — He laughed evilly and patted my head.
— "You know what… At least I don't have a tortilla and Barbie as a brother!"
— "What stupid nonsense are you saying?" — He lowered his tone although it still counted as yelling.
— "Find out yourself Horns!"
END OF FLASHBACK.
I laughed at the memory.
— "After that, he began to visit me during the night but most times we ended up in a screaming match and he left but he always came back so in the end I decided to be the adult and started talking calmly although sometimes he still made me mad."
— "You were able to befriend him." — She smiled, drinking her tea and offering me another refreshment.
— "I don't know if friends is the right word but we are no longer enemies." — I shrugged my shoulders.
— "I think you are closer than what you think."
— "I don't know but at least it is not as bad as the first time. Moving along, after that I continued taking lessons with Beyonce which between us is cool. The way he handles magic and his movements." — I moved my hands imitating Wong. The Ancient one only laughed. — "And in the end, a small spider bothers to teach me self-defense." — I groan annoyed at the last part.
— "Agent Romanoff?" — She asked slightly surprised.
— "Yes! I mean she didn't annoy me, I like her but in person now I only want her to get away from me."
— "It is good to learn self-defense." — She answered my complaints calmly.
— "I know that but what I don't like is this." — I rose from the sofa, raising my shirt a little to show the Ancient One the giant bruise on the side of my stomach.
— "How strong did she hit you?" — She stood quickly coming closer to me.
— "With the same strength she uses on the iceberg I think." — I answered making a face after she touched the bruise.
— "Come with me, I'll put some ointment and some ice on it." — She said now seriously looking at the area but still sounding kind.
— "Don't worry about it, in the beginning, it was worse." — I waved my hand nonchalantly as I sat back down.
— "You are only a girl, she should be more cautious." — She said still serious.
— "Remember I have 22 years… But yes I am a girl. She says that an attacker will not treat me better for that." — I shrugged my shoulders.
— "…"
— "Calm down, If I wanted to I could win with what she's taught me but I still need information."
— "You must be careful." She said finally regaining her smile, although a bit forced.
— "I will, in fact, thanks to her being more distracted by the hits than anything Emily has been able to hack her phone therefore I come out winning either way."
Emily appeared beside me.
"Although I still don't like that she is hurting you that way." She crossed her arms angry.
— "Emily?" — Ask the Ancient one curiously.
"Right, it is my pleasure to meet you. I am Emily the AI of Martha. It is a pleasure to meet one of the best friends of my creator." She smiled, stretching her hand out.
— "Emily don't say things that embarrass me." — I covered my face with both hands.
"I consider the Ancient One to be your best friend, considering how much she has supported you."
— "I also consider you a great friend." — She laughed quietly.
"You see? Well, I'll leave you in charge of Martha. I have to deal with some issues."
And just like how she arrived, she left.
— "She looks very kind." — Said Annie.
— "She is, That and more is the reason I care for her. She's part of my family."
— "It's already 3 pm." — I faced the clock.
— "You are right, I have to go but before that. I want you to promise me something."
— "Anything." — She stood to walk me to the door.
— "You won't leave without saying goodbye to me." — I said, extending my pinky.
— "There's still time before that." — She smiles at me, like a mother to her daughter.
— "I know, I only want to make sure I get a chance to say goodbye."
— "You will when the time is right."
I sighed over at the door. — "Sometimes I hate the calm in which you speak."
— "Why?"
— "Because it only makes it more difficult to accept that you won't be here anymore at one point." — I hugged her by the legs.
— "We all have a time here, but I will always be with you."
We stayed like that in silence for a moment while tears fell from my eyes. — "I need to meet my mom for dinner."
The Ancient One opened a portal directly to my house. — "We'll see each other tomorrow, I'll practice magic with you and we'll talk about that idea you have about traveling to the past."
— "What...? How…?" — I stammered.
— "Your friend is not the only one that can read minds."
— "I don't know if I'll be affected by the snap and if that's the case, I don't want Natasha to die even though she is a pain in the butt."
— "Time traveling is dangerous." — She looked at me from the other side of the portal once I was over in my room.
— "We live in a world of superheroes that in itself is already dangerous, time travel is a child's game." — With that last comment, the portal closed.
— "Let's go eat pizza love. Today the children are coming with their parents." — My mom entered the room.
— "Ok, call me when they arrive."
— "Of course, get some rest, you are getting eyebags and you are only eight years old." — She kissed me and then went down the stairs.
— "I have a college lifestyle, it's normal." — I yelled back.
— "You start sleeping or I promise I will hide all your tools and only leave your toys."
After that threat, I jumped to my bed, closed my eyes slowly, falling asleep, feeling somebody petting my head.
— "I think I came at a bad time. Sleep I'll be here when you wake up midget Midgardian."
Those were the last words I heard before falling asleep.
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