Down By the Bay

*Warning, it gets graphic in the flashback (italics). Warning you now. Might be triggering*

It's been so long since the lake incident. 15 years, yet you carry around the results like a tattoo. Permanent. Forever.

You joined the Avengers last week as an assistant to Tony Stark, and that's the most you wanted. Sure, you could kill someone with a nod of your head, a snap of your fingers, or even a little smile. That would be it for the unlucky victim. But no, you never want to use your powers. They were so powerful, you could do almost anything with them.

Right now, you were hurrying into your pencil skirt and white blouse, trying not to be late to work. It was only your 8th day; you weren't about to be late for it. Finally you managed to get into your outfit without a black bra this time, and moved onto getting your feet into your uncomfortable, but classy, black heels. Mr. Stark's dress code made you want to break his ankle sometimes, because that's what you'd do in these heels.

When you finally managed to get everything on, you hurried out the door to head to work, grabbing an orange on your way. You'd buy something else if you needed to. Your black Michael Kors bag was packed and in front of the door so you wouldn't forget it. Inside, your wallet, laptop, important files, and other things you needed rested, and they were all necessary for work. Finally, after grabbing everything, you popped out of your apartment building.

The street was full like usual, but you managed to get into the groove of the crowd to head to Stark Tower. On your way, you stopped and grabbed a Chocolatey Chip Frappuccino from Starbucks. You'd need some sort of energy, and you hated coffee, so this was the next best thing to you. Once you got back into the mass of humans, you finally got to the entrance of Stark Tower.

You walked into the beautiful lobby and waved a little hello to the secretary at the front desk, Barbra. You hurried to the elevator and got up to the floor you needed to be on.

The 60th floor, one of Tony Stark's personal business floors. You were stationed outside his office door so you could intercept anyone who tried to waltz in. Only Pepper, Happy, and the Avengers were allowed inside the room without an appointment. It was nice, especially because you saw the Avengers a good bit, when they had to find Mr. Stark, or speak with him about a mission (that you totally never eavesdropped on), or anything else that came to their minds.

The elevator dinged, and you were out of there quickly. You got to your desk ad sat your tote bag down on it, before rounding the desk and sitting down. You pulled out the paperwork you had brought home the day before, and filed it away in one of your many desk drawers. Then , you retrieved your laptop and started looking over Mr. Stark's schedule. He usually came in at around 9:30, and it was currently 9:15, so you were waiting to make sure he knew about the things planned for today.

The elevator doors opened, and Mr. Stark as well as Ms. Maximoff appeared, heading into the office. Strange. It was now 9:16.

"Mr. Stark," you said, catching his attention. He looked at you and smiled, then stopped in front of your desk. Ms. Maximoff stopped next to him and studied you.

"Yes my lovely assistant (Y/N), who I've told many times to call me Tony?" he asked. You smiled lightly as he chuckled at his own reply.

"I am too professional to do that sir. Your schedule today isn't too full, mostly the afternoon. You have lunch at 1:10 with Ms. Potts, then after that you have a meeting with Captain Rogers about your most recent mission at around 3:00, which takes up the ret of the afternoon. I skipped over your meeting with Ms. Maximoff because well, she's already here," you said, looking up from your laptop and smiling at the pair.

Mr. Stark smiled back before taking his sunglasses off and sticking them in his inside blazer pocket. You managed to catch a glimpse of his AC/DC shirt he was wearing. Classy.

"Thank you, that'll be all then. I'll call you if I need you," he said, before entering his office. You looked over to Ms. Maximoff, who was studying you hard now. She had a reddish glow to her eyes, but you didn't take that in all the way. You simply smiled at her, before Mr. Stark called her into his office. "Wanda!"

She shook her head, the red from her eyes clearing, before hurrying into Mr. Stark's office and closing the doors. You sat and did emails on your laptop, while also listening in on their conversation. In all honesty, you couldn't help it. Your hearing was very enhanced, rivaling the super soldiers' hearing abilities even.

~In the office~

"Tony, she's different," Wanda stated, nearly in a whisper, after closing his office doors. She walked over to the desk Tony had sat at and sat across from him. His eyes widened visibly, and he looked shocked.

"What do you mean?" he asked. He wasn't going to play coy or anything; Wanda was able to pick up on other people's power signatures if they had one, and apparently you did.

"I mean, she has one of the strongest power signature's I've ever read. Even stronger than mine. She could be extremely dangerous. Tony, she could be working with HYDRA," she said, before hearing a cough come from you outside. The pair stopped and looked at the door, before continuing on with their conversation.

"Wanda, are you sure? She seems completely normal and is always here to greet me every morning, even though I told her to come in at 10 o'clock, rather than 9 o'clock every day. She's hard working for the week she's been here, and I just don't see it," Tony said, before slumping back into his chair. He tried to remember any odd signs he picked up from her, but nothing came to mind.

Wanda hesitated for a second, before offering up an idea. "Would you...be okay if I...looked in her head. Maybe seeing anything related to powers?  It could be a start," Wanda offered hesitantly. Tony hesitated as well, before giving a slight nod of his head.

"Do it later tonight. I'll call her in my office that way nobody comes in and sees her dazed and such. She seems nice, I want her to keep the job," Tony said. Wanda agreed, before they went into the real reason Tony asked to speak with her.

~~

You heard every word of what he said to Wanda. He was letting her look into your head? You might tell him you were going home early so you didn't have to go through with that. Yeah. That'd work. You took a deep breath and got yourself ready to tell him after your lunch break...

"Crap!" you said, a little louder than you should've before opening up your personal calendar on your phone, pulling up today. It was true. Today was your big lunch with your best friend, and you swore you'd make it today after cancelling that last one because of a last minute meeting with the execs.

You needed to tell Mr. Stark about the fact you were going to take an early lunch, because he was your boss. He should know. So, you decided that a few minutes before you'd leave, you'd tell him about it. Right now, you'd just get back to your work, trying to sort out international problems with the company.

After an hour and a half, you figured no would be a good time to tell Mr. Stark that you would be leaving early for lunch. Ms. Maximoff still hadn't left his office, and you decided to focus on your work rather than their meeting.

You got up from your desk and smoothed the wrinkles out of your skirt, before putting your laptop and tote away in the locked cabinet of your desk. Then you grabbed your wristlet that had your license and cards in there, as well as a bit of cash. You walked back around your desk to the door to Mr. Stark's office. You knocked on it three times, before opening it.

"Mr. Stark is it alright if I leave for an early lunch?" you asked him. "I'll be back at around the same time."

He nodded at you, and Ms. Maximoff just sat and looked at you more. You tried your best to ignore her gaze. "Yes that's fine. You're already one of my best employees, so go ahead. See you after," he said. You smiled at the simple phrase, before closing the door and leaving for lunch.

~~

Shoving another fork full of salad in your mouth, you nodded at your best friend across from you, (Y/B/F/N). You two were talking about some celebrity gossip they had gotten from the news.

"Can you believe that he did that though? Talk about a headline," (Y/B/F/N) summed up. You swallowed your salad before laughing at them. You set your fork down and wiped your face really quick, before bringing up the hard topic.

"I just wanted to ask, are you good?" you asked. The two of you knew what was being asked, and you didn't exactly want to go much further than that.

Your friend looked at you in disbelief, before setting their fork down and putting a hand on your outstretched one. "You're asking me? Hun, I'm not the one who's life got changed forever. 15 years and you still get reminded every day. (Y/N) I can't believe your so strong. He would've been proud," was all they said to get you in tears. You let a couple escape before retrieving your hand from (Y/B/F/N) and wiping your face with your napkin again.

"Yeah look I'm fine. Look, let's talk about your new job," you offered, getting off the topic as quick as you could. The two of you finished you lunch and said your goodbyes, before heading back to work. Everything Ms. Maximoff and Mr. Stark had been talking about flew out of your mind.

~~

It was close to quitting time for you, and Captain Rogers just left Mr. Stark's office, waving you a goodnight, before heading into the elevator to the Avengers' bedroom floor. You were finishing up setting an appointment for Mr. Stark and Secretary Ross for next week, when you got a quick email from the former.

"Can you come into my office for a minute?" Was all it said. A harmless question, so you got up and closed your laptop, before heading into your boss's office. You walked in and closed the door, and walked to his desk.

"You wanted to-" your sentence was cut short by a sudden presence in your mind, changing the scenery around you. Your legs felt strange and weak, in fact, your whole body did. You looked around you and finally figured out where you were. Tears found their way into your eyes, and you tried to get out of this dream -nightmare- but it wasn't an use. Suddenly, you saw two figures running through the trees to a clearing.

You and (Y/B/F/N) had lured your other two friends, Macy and Liam, out to the lake that (Y/B/F/N) lived next to. The two of you set up a little prank with the help of Macy and it was to scare the crap out of Liam. He had pranked you many weeks ago, and you hadn't forgotten.

You were both crouching behind a rock as Macy led Liam into the trap. It was simple, but funny. He'd simply get pulled up into a net and dangle from a tree, until the three of you decided he was done paying his debt. It all went so smoothly too.

"Ah!" Liam got trapped in the net, and got pulled up about 7 feet into a tree. You and (Y/B/F/N) got out from behind the rock, laughing your asses of, while Macy had fallen to the ground laughing. Liam glared at the three of you, before bursting into laughter himself. "I guess I deserve this!" he managed to spit out in between laughs.

"You're damn right! You scared the crap out of me all the time ago, so you deserve to hang from a bag in a tree for a while!" you countered.

Liam looked at you, still chuckling slightly. "When I come down from here, I'm not gonna stop chasing you until I tickle to pee out of you!" he said. It was all fun and games, and then Macy decided to let him out. He stayed true to his word, and began to chase you as soon as he was free from the ropes.

"Get back here!" Macy yelled as the two of you sprinted down the lake shore. Macy and (Y/B/F/N) chased after the two of you, jogging rather than sprinting.

The branches whacked you as you tried to get away. You laughed a squealed when he'd get to close, then you'd make a sharp turn and he'd have to try and catch up again. "No!" you yelled behind you, laughing. You weren't paying attention in front of you, until your feet were no longer touching solid ground. You were falling, breezing past vines, before landing in a body of water. But it wasn't water, it was glowing and a neon blue.

"(Y/N)!" you heard Liam scream. When you looked up, it was just in time to see Liam coming falling in.

But he never made it to the bottom.

An ear splitting scream tore from your mouth as you watched Liam's body swing from some vines. He had gotten tangled up and the long snake like plants had created a noose around his neck. The sight was burned into your mind forever, and then you let out the loudest scream anyone's ever heard, and almost everything within a few feet of you burned.

But Liam was still there, hollow eyes looking into your scared ones.

Macy and (Y/B/F/N) found you a few minutes later, and after they helped you out, they cried with you at the sight of your friend. It was all your fault, but of course they wouldn't let you think that. But it was only the truth. The police came a while later. (Y/B/F/N) parent's called them when the four of you failed to show back up at home and it was 11 pm.

They found you by listening to the screams and cries coming from your broken hearts.

Your present self had crumple to the ground of the forest as you watched. After that day, you started being able to do strange things, and it scared you slightly. When you figured out if was from the glowing blue stuff, you realized you had powers. Liam would've too, if he'd made it to the bottom.

The images around you disappeared, and you were now laying on the floor of Mr. Stark's office, tears pouring down your face. You hair was a mess, your makeup looked like it had melted, and the pair were staring at your crumpled form.

The Maximoff girl knew everything. She had seen it all, but Tony was in the dark about what had made you into this state. Slowly, your tears stopped. Maximoff tried to help you up but you backed away from her, and scrambled up to your feet.

"Stay away from me," you whispered, but it came off stern anyways. She looked at you, sympathy in her eyes, but you ignored it. "I don't care what you say just stay away from me!" you yelled this time. You ran out of the office, leaving all your things on your desk. The only thing you managed to grab was your purse that still had your money, cards, and phone in it. But that was because you had used the telepathy you had to grab it.

You hurried inside the elevator, spamming the ground floor button, until the doors shut. Then, so you could go faster, you took your heels off and held them. It'd be easier for you to sprint out of there with them off. The doors opened again, and you were on the ground floor.

You took off. Everyone looked at you strangely, with the hair and makeup catastrophe, as well as the fact that you were running. You noticed that there were two Avengers in the lobby; Ms. Romanoff and Mr. Barnes. Any other time you would've fangirled over them, talked to them even, but now you were focused on getting home and moving again.

Sprinting out the lobby doors, you caught the attention of many people out on the street. But you payed them no mind, and instead ran down the street, and fast as your un-athletic body could go. Even though you weren't athletic, your powers helped enhance any athleticism you could've had. So you were running probably as fast as the super soldiers would go.

It didn't take long, but you got to your apartment and hurried up the stairs. You burst through your door, before slamming it shut and locking it. You placed your purse on the handle, then started using your mind to go ahead and pack up the important things into your suitcase. You always had it waiting, open, in the corner of your room so you could flee if ever needed. It didn't take you long, and by the end you had about $10,000 saved cashed stuffed inside multiple things, about 6 outfits, toiletries, snacks, your documents, and some memorabilia from your childhood. You zipped the suitcase up and started out the door. The keys to your Jaguar were sitting on the counter. You wanted a stealthier car, but when your father passed and wanted you to have his car he worked so hard for, you couldn't refuse.

The door was still locked, and you set your apartment keys down on the counter in the kitchen, then grabbed your purse and suitcase. You put the purse on like a cross-body, and then unlocked the door. The coast was clear, and you hurried out the door, leaving it wide open for anyone. You had already emailed your land lord you were moving out immediately. It was always ready and typed up on your phone, you just had to press send. According to it, you mother had passed away and you needed to go up and take her house.

Your car was in the garage you'd purchase to hide the car in, and you had it all ready for an escape. The car was never used anyways. You shoved your suitcase into the back seat, then hopped into the front seat. Quickly opening the garage, you started the car and pulled out forwards, since that's how you parked it. Smart.

The streets were crowded, because it was New York, but you still managed to stay at a good speed and hurry away. You'd never come back to that city again.

~Fin~

A/N: Yay! Another chapter down! I am sorry, the tone got pretty dark in the flashback thing, but it was all I could think of at the moment. I will make a part two, but anymore parts will depend on the comments I receive.

So, I have two more days of school and then I'm on Winter break! Yay! Can't wait for Christmas, and I hope you guys enjoy the holidays as well. I'll have a lot of free time, but it will also be used for reading a book I'm getting from my English teacher, called When Light Left Us. It hasn't come out for public release yet, but I'm excited to read it!

And 252 READS?! WHAT?! Guys this makes me so happy!

Anyways, hope you enjoyed, please vote and comment your opinions and don't be afraid to request stories! I'll be glad to write stuff you want because then I know you'll read it.

Bye Lovelies!!!!