43 || breaking and entering

"It's nice to see that New York had the chance to fall apart while I was gone."

Queens, New York, November 2016-

By the time Alison and Christa had jumped through the portal, they knew something wasn't right. The Sanctum was a mess, and that was putting it mildly. Glass was shattered everywhere, objects and artifacts scattered across the floor. Alison looked behind her, seeing the huge glass window of the santcum behind her, still safe and unshattered. The moon peeked through the edge of the circular window, the crooked smile of the small crescent moon almost laughing at the two girls.

"What happened?" Christa questioned, her eyes darting back and forth, scanning the building in confusion. "Cause when you said this place was a little more on the rustic side, I didn't think that you meant this."

"This isn't what this place is supposed to be." Alison agreed, looking for the man who ran the sanctum sanctorum. "No one is ever supposed to really enter here without Strange's consent. Something's really, really-"

A crash echoed through the building, causing both of the girls to jump.Suddenly, a cape zoomed through the sanctum, coming to a halt in front of Alison and Christa. It looked over at the two girls who had appeared in the sanctorum, looking to sigh with relief at the visitors.

"Hey, aren't you Strange's cloak?" Alison questioned, looking at the piece of outerwear with a shocked look. The cloak nodded to her, causing Alison's forehead to crinkle in concern. "Well, if you're here, and Strange isn't- what happened?"

"Dude, you're talking to a cape." Christa noted, pointing at the scarlet cloak with awe. "You're talking to a freakin cape."

The cape rustled, looking at Christa with a weird clothing glance that only the Cloak of Levitation could pull off. "Dude." Alison breathed in, her thumb and her pointer finger coming together to pinch the bridge of her nose. "It's a cloak. Not a cape, a cloak."

"Okay, but this still doesn't explain why this- cloak-" Christa corrected herself, pointing straight at the inanimate object with a look of skepticism. "Is over here and not with a doctor called Stephen Strange?"

"Well, I'm sure that there's some reasonable explana-" Alison was cut off by the loud creaking of the stairs, the loud footsteps of whoever was approaching echoing through the silent sanctum. The cloak rustled onto Alison in fear, not caring that the girl wasn't its master, just craving protection from whoever was coming.

"Well, well, well." A voice called out, the footsteps finally ceasing as the person made it to the top of the stairs. As their boot hit the top floor, the person spoke again. "I was wondering when Strange's little visitor would run along home again."

Alison's breath hitched in her throat, knowing exactly whose voice was speaking to her. Giving a groan of annoyance, Alison's hand dropped to her side as she tensed up, ready for the person to come into sight. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"What does that mean?" Christa hissed, nudging Alison with a frantic and constant tap. "Alison Marnell, I swear if you get us into more trouble than I signed up for on this trip to New York I swear to god-" She stopped, looking at Alison's tensed up figure. "Shit! Is it Ab-"

"Christa, shut up!" Alison snapped, whispering with a harsh tone back at her cousin. The steady clunk of boots underneath the laminate wood flooring got louder and louder, indicating that the person- well, not really a person- came closer and closer to where the two girls were located.

The woman who Alison absolutely did not want to see turned the corner, a coy smile on her face from underneath the mask. "Ah, there she is." Absinthe smiled in satisfaction, an eyebrow quirking up as she saw who Ali was with. "Oh? I see you did do some family research. You brought one of your cousins with you."

"Well, technically, I'm adopted. So not blood-cousins, really." Christa piped up, raising her finger with a knowing look, her face molded into a small smirk. "And, technically, in about three seconds that cabinet behind you is going to-"

CRASH

The cabinet full of artifacts, did, in fact, fall to the ground as Christa grabbed Alison's wrist, dragging the girl away from the villain now trapped under the cabinet, rushing for the stairs. The cloak gave Alison and Christa an extra boost down the stairs, pushing them forward by some kind of magical force Ali didn't even want to think about.

"Dude!" Alison exclaimed as they made it to the front doors, trying to scramble to the end of the opening hallway. "How did you know that the cabinet would fall on her?" The girl questioned, giving her cousin a confused look.

"Like I told you back at the farm, it's a lot more complicated than just mom issues and Clint on house arrest." Christa stated plainly, panting as the two made it to the door, looking at Alison as she nodded towards the door. "You gonna open the door, Miss Speedster or-"

As soon as Alison was about to shove her left shoulder into the door, there was a firm grip on the back of both of the girls' shoulders, Absinthe reaching where they were and pulling them away from the door. Christa and Alison flew back, Alison staying on balance due to the cloak keeping her stable. Christa slid on her butt as she landed, giving a hard groan as she landed on her butt seconds before.

"Good cloak." Alison breathed out, seeing that she was still on her feet. "Can you go check up on Christa? I think she had a hard landing on her ass there." She noted, looking at her cousin. When the cloak gave her a confused tilt, switching its collar back and forth between Absinthe and Alison, Ali sighed. "Don't worry, I can handle this."

The cloak nodded, floating over to the spot where Christa was, the cloak swooping around the shoulders of the adopted Barton, getting her to at least stand back up. Christa groaned as she rubbed her lower back, muttering curses as she stood.

"You know, it's not very nice to leave a girl under a cabinet." Absinthe remarked, her stance blocking the entryway hall. Her voice sounded almost annoyed, but on the verge of having too much fun getting in the girl's way.

"And it's not nice for a girl to come back to New York and see her welcome home party a mess." Alison's lip flew into a mock pout, crossing her arms with a fake depressed look on her face. "I'm wearing heels! And you must know that running away from people is hard when you're wearing heels."

"You'll deal." Absinthe scoffed, tossing away the girl's petty excuses like swatting away a fly. "After all, isn't that what heroes do?" She sneered, her nose crinkling up in disgust at the mention of the word hero. "Fight crime, save lives."

"Why are you here?" Alison sighed, running a hand through her loosely knotted hair. "Because if you just came here to fight, I'm afraid that you're not going to get one tonight. Unless Miss Abby the Asgardian wants to get her ass kicked tonight, I would not recommend you pick one with me tonight."

"Oh?" Absinthe chuckled, quirking an eyebrow in suspicion and amusement. "How amusing. You really think that you could take me on, right now? You're dressed in heels and a party dress. There's no way that you-"

As the woman was droning on, Alison smirked, quickly racing over to the woman, giving her a punch to the gut and returning to her normal spot in seconds. "No way I could what? You should really finish your sentences." She tsked, the woman letting out a grunt after the unexpected gut to the stomach.

The Asgardian woman had an annoyed look on her face, standing up to her normal stance after hunching over from the punch to your gut. "If you want a battle, Miss Marnell, you've got one." Absinthe, a devilish smile on her face, stepped towards the girl, swinging a very open and easy hook punch for Alison to dodge under the woman's outreaching arm.

Quickly rebounding up, Ali gave a quick uppercut punch to the woman right underneath her chin, Absinthe's head flying up from impact. The woman was mad, and as she whirled around, her right leg swung up, kicking Alison straight in the chest.

The teenager stumbled back, letting out a small string of curses as she tripped on her high heels. "This is an unfair fight if I've ever seen one." Alison grumbled, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.

"When is life ever fair?" Absinthe questioned, stalking towards the girl with a sort of new determination. A devilish smirk was plastered on her face, the small amount of light from the sliver of a moon making her look rather eerie. Running towards the girl, Absinthe swung another punch, attempting to fake the girl out. The woman succeeded, Alison dodging to the right.

But Absinthe was prepared for that.

Gripping a small knife in her hand, the woman brought out her other hand, rapidly slicing the girl's cheek as Alison popped back up to proper stance. Wincing, Alison whipped back up, feeling a stinging slice against her cheek.

"Ouch." She stated, quickly recovering and kicking the woman in the gut. Absinthe just shook her head, jumping up towards the girl and striking a rapid elbow to the jaw. Ali tripped back, falling to the ground from the impact to her face.

Absinthe had the control over the fight now. Stepping towards the girl, who was getting herself up from the sprawled position on the floor, Absinthe laughed at the girl,straddling the girls splayed out body and leaning down to the girl's level. "You really are a naive person. And fighter. Did your mother and uncle not teach you everything?"

"They taught me enough." Alison got out, swinging her leg to aim for Absinthe's dominant leg, making the woman stumble and become off balance. The action gave Ali enough time to get back up to her feet, although Absinthe was much faster, getting in another punch to the super speedster as she rose up.

Letting out a grunt, Alison aimed for the woman, instead opting to use her super speed to rush charge the woman, shoving Absinthe into a wall. Smiling as she cornered the woman, Alison quirked an eyebrow. "Not a very good feeling to have your back against the wall, now is it?"

Absinthe let out an annoyed sigh as she grabbed Alison's arm, which had been straight across her chest, twisting away from the wall and slamming Alison into the position where the woman had just been. "I could say the same to you, couldn't I?" She questioned, still gripping her knife in one hand.

Looking at the knife and then back at Absinthe, Alison gave a small look of concern, trying to get out of the position she was in. Absinthe did not let her, the Asgardian's hand flying up to Alison's throat, constricting the air coming to her. "Such a shame." The woman teased, sucking in a breath. "You're too much of a fool to realize that you can't win."

Alison struggled for breath as she spoke, barely being able to choke out her next words. "And you're too much of a fool to realize that you're outnumbered, Arnora." She gasped, her eyes looking behind her as Christa came behind the woman, stabbing the woman with a rather sharp pole in the side.

Giving a gasp of shock, Absinthe dropped Alison from her hold, the teenager sighing with relief, grasping her throat as her breath flooded back into her. Ali looked at her cousin with relief, inhaling in sharply.

Absinthe looked at the pole now in the side of her, pulling it out with an impressed look. Touching the side of her body, Absinthe gave no expression of pain,instead dropping the knife in her hand. "Using your advantages, huh, Marnell?"

"You said that I should learn more about my family." Alison fired back, still sitting against the wall. Smiling with a happy grin, she laughed for a moment. "I learned my cousin's a badass." Looking at Absinthe for a moment, Alison stared at the woman with a serious face. "Now leave, Arnora. Go lick your wounds and leave me the hell alone."

"Mark my words, Alison Marnell." Absinthe seethed, her hand still over the pole wound. "Today is the last day you win against me. Be ready for the end of your life as you know it. Because your suffering starts tomorrow." The woman disappeared, leaving the cousins alone.

Alison sighed in relief at the sudden exit of the woman, wiping away a trace of blood at her lip. Turning back to her cousin and the cloak, Alison took a deep breath in. "You both okay? No injuries?" She questioned, her eyes staring at her cousin as she stood.

"I'm looking better off than you are. You look like your face got hit with a Harry Potter curse and then sliced by a person cutting an apple." Christa scoffed, dropping the lamp she had used to hit Absinthe. "I just fell really hard on my ass and probably bruised my tailbone." She dismissed, the cloak rustling in beside her. "So, we going to look for this Doctor of yours?"

"I mean, if we wanna get out of here without paying for a taxi, sure." Alison shrugged, the cloak nodding eagerly at the idea of finding his master. Nodding to Christa, the two girls headed back up to the stairs, Alison wiping away some of the blood from a dominant slice from Absinthe's knife on her cheek.

Looking at the bright scarlet-stained liquid on her fingers, Alison sighed, not knowing how to stop it. Wiping the excess blood on her red dress, the color of her outfit disguising the stain, Alison scaled the stairs with her cousin with caution. The Cloak of Levitation flew behind them, looking behind them for any imminent danger.

When the cousins and cloak made it to the top of the stairs, Alison looked around the top floor. The dark room was rather ominous, the only light still coming from the moon, and flickering lights in a distant hallway.

"What should we do?" Christa questioned, pulling out her phone's flashlight from her purse. "I mean, should we split up? It sounds like the most logical decision for finding a magical wizard who owns a magical scarlet cloak."

"Yeah. Sounds like a good plan." Alison nodded, the cloak smacking her backwards as she spoke. "Hey! What's your problem? Don't like the idea of us splitting up?" The cloak quickly responded with a firm shake no, nudging the girls together.

"Okay. Let's go down that dangerously dark hall." Alison suggested, something crashing in a room in the hallway almost on cue. Looking at Christa, Ali shrugged. "Maybe he's down there."

"Yeah, go down the dangerous and dark hallway, find the Doctor. Can we just find a taxi please?" Christa asked, tapping Alison's shoulder nervously over and over again. "Cause I do not want to go down that dangerous and dark hallway."

"Let's go." Alison grabbed Christa's hand, dragging the girl down the hallway. Looking at the door where the noise came from, Alison nudged Christa towards it, ignoring the flickering lights in the hallway and Christa's audible protests.

Opening the door to the room, Alison saw Strange inside, tied up to a chair with a gag in his mouth. His hands were tied behind his back so that he couldn't do any magic, and he looked rather relieved to see Alison and Christa standing at the door with his trusty cloak.

"Hey Strange." Alison cracked a smile, wiping away another drop of blood on her cheek, the girl finding that the liquid slowly making its way down her face was rather annoying. "Looks like you had a rather fun tussle with my friend Abby the Asgardian."

Christa stood off to the side, leaning up against the door frame as she watched Alison walk over to Strange and start to undo the ropes and gag that trapped him in his chair. The cloak stood beside her, both of them watching the events around them unfold.

Alison fumbled with one of the ropes, carefully trying to untie the ropes around his hands. "You know, you should really text me a warning about these things so that I know to, you know, maybe bring some sort of weapon of defense?" She suggested, finishing up untying the last rope around Strange's hands.

Giving Alison a grateful look, the doctor stood up, rubbing his wrists to get his circulation flowing again. He paused for a moment, contemplating something, almost as if he didn't trust the girl. "What was the first thing that you asked me to do with the favor?" Strange questioned, triple checking that he wasn't being tricked by Absinthe or any other mystical threat.

"To get me out of the weird pajamas you put me in?" Alison recalled, her eyes scrunching up as she spoke. "Look, I don't know. I asked you for a lot of things at the same exact time, and it's been a really long night, so I don't really remember that much-"

"Thank god it's you." Stephen interrupted, relaxing a little as he breathed in a sigh of relief. "I did not want to fight the woman again. She is a pesky woman, that Asgardian." Strange spoke, his almost douchebag yet wise- like voice and normal attitude kicking back in.

The doctor's cloak returned to the man, Strange wasting no time in getting out of the room, and walking out of the dark hallway. Alison picked up on what he was doing, and nudged Christa to follow her, who let out an audible groan about walking again.

"You look like you've been through hell." The man remarked, kicking away pieces of glass in his walkway, looking behind at the girls. "Absinthe give you some trouble?" He asked, starting to pad down the steps towards the exit.

"Little more than that." Alison admitted, following the man at a hasty paste, quietly gesturing for Christa to hurry up. "Got a little beat up, but my cousin stabbed her in the side. With a pole." Alison added, her mind flashing back to the events that happened minutes before. "Fun times."

Whirling around to look at the girls, Strange gave a sigh, placing his pointer finger and thumb at the bridge of his nose. "You do realize that your actions only pissed her off, and did nothing to bother her? She's an Asgardian, they're basically the human equivalent of gods."

"Well.... Yeah." Alison stated, sounding rather dumb as she stepped back onto the ground floor. "Look, it got her off me! She was choking the life out of me. The life out of me." She reiterated, running to catch up with Strange. "I'm pretty sure that she was going to start her triumphant villain monologue if Christa didn't stop her.

"Christa?" Strange questioned, his eyes finally falling on Alison's cousin. Seeing the girl, he walked over to her, offering a friendly hand. "Hi. I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. It's a pleasure to meet one of Clint Barton's kids."

"Uh..." Christa shook his hand, looking over at Alison with a polite smile plastered on her face. "Nice to meet you too. But how did you know that Clint's my-"

"Don't question it." Alison interrupted, shaking her head. "Anyways, this has been great and all, but I'm really tired, in desperate need of caffeine, and I want to go home. So if you'll excuse me and Christa-" Ali grabbed her cousin, brushing past the doctor to get to the exit.

"Wait, I need to make sure that both of you are okay. You guys got your asses handed to you by Absinthe, and you should probably make sure that you didn't get a concussion. Or, you know, just get your wounds tended to." Strange stated the obvious, feeling like an annoyed teacher while talking to Alison.

"Alright, I think we're good." Alison pushed open the door, wanting to avoid any further time not being at home, wanting the awful day to be over with. "Bye, Strange! Thank you!" She hollered, stepping outside into the brisk New York November cold atmosphere.

Scaling the steps down from the building, Alison felt a rush of comfort, hearing the familiar honking of cars and classic New York swears that made her home, her home. Breathing in the almost freezing New York air, Alison looked at the street in front of her, throwing a hand up in the air to take them home.

"Taxi!"

By the time that Alison and Christa had loaded up into a taxi, it was at least 11 at night. Alison was crashed out in the taxi seat, her head resting in Christa's lap on her cousin's sweater. Her cousin had made a big fuss about not getting any crusty blood on her dress, so Alison had just grumbled and stolen the girl's sweater, plopping down on the girl's lap.

The bridges and tunnels that led to Queens were open and easy to navigate late on that Thanksgiving night, the taxi making it to the other side of the Hudson in about fifteen minutes. The taxi was paid with a considerable tip, Christa gently waking Alison up.

Alison, who woke up with a fuss, was dragged out of the car, Christa slinging one of the beaten up girl's arm around her neck, carrying the girl up the stairs to the Fitz Building. Grumbling and making a fuss, Christa eventually made Alison walk on her own, although the girl was still leaning on Christa for support.

The old doorman of the Fitz Building, his white hair slicked back and his huge 70's glasses standing out in his semi-formal attire, was surprised to see Alison there with a stranger. Opening the door, with a curious look, his eyes followed the two walk through the doors. "Ma'am, is she okay?" He questioned, eyeing the beat up girl.

"Pfft. Yeah." Christa denied, looking at her cousin. "She just fell down some stairs and got cut on the concrete. We just ran into some trouble during our Thanksgiving festivities." Walking past the man, Christa glanced back at the doorman. "I'm her cousin, by the way."

"I thought she lived with her cousin." Barry stated skeptically, shutting the door behind the two, watching Christa drag a groggy Alison to the elevator, hearing the quiet grumbles from Alison. His face was one of confusion and concern, the door coming to a soft click as it shut.

The elevator came as soon as Christa called it, the girl pressing a button and sighing in relief when it came quickly. "Other side!" She hollered, stepping into the elevator, leaving the doorman perplexed.

As Christa threw Alison's arm off her shoulders, Alison slumped onto the elevator's floor, finally being semi-awake. "Eleventh floor." She stated groggily, her head pounding from the impact of Absinthe slamming her head into a wall earlier. Her adrenaline had been so high that she hadn't realized it- until now, that was.

Christa nodded, pressing the elevator button that had the number 11 on it. As the elevator rose, Christa sighed, looking down at Alison. "How screwed do you think we are with your cousin?" She questioned, watching her cousin hold her head like she had a migraine.

"On a scale of one to ten? Probably a ten" Alison winced, looking dazedly up at her cousin. "And that's if Charles is around. If he's not, I'd say a fifteen." She thought a moment, cringing when she realized that a lecture was in store.

"Great." Christa smoothed out her dress, waiting for the elevator to hit the eleventh floor. "So we're basically screwed, and you're going to be grounded for life." She summarized, sighing as she spoke.

"Well, Absinthe'll probably show up again tomorrow. So my rest of my life won't probably last far past Black Friday." Alison stated dismally, rubbing her face with an irritated look and frustration. "With what she said right before she left-" Her hands lid onto the elevator floor, pushing herself up again. "It means nothing good for us."

Almost seconds later, the elevator dinged, indicating that the machine had reached its desired floor. The doors shuddered open, Christa nudging Alison out into the eleventh floor. Looking at the hallways, she looked back at the super speedster, pointing both directions. "Which way?"

"This way." Alison pointed to one direction, leading the way to the apartment, her head spinning a little as she stumbled to the route to her apartment. Leaning up against the wall, Alison tried to regain her composure, but failed. "1115."

Christa walked up to her cousin, slinging her arm underneath Alison's armpits to drag the girl again, looking at her with a small smile. "You should have been looked at by Strange. If you can't even walk straight, you might have another concussion."

"I'm a full-fledged football player." Alison weakly joked, guiding her cousin to the apartment through the hallways by pointing. "Next thing you know, I'll be scoring a touchdown and doing a dance in the end zone."

Christa laughed, finally arriving at the Marnell's apartment. "This is the one." She muttered, gesturing to Alison with a soft whisper. Alison nodded, holding up one hand to knock the designated combination that she and Charles (along with Jackie) had created to identify when the Anderson-Marnells were at the door.

Within seconds, Charles had ripped open the door, seeing his sister there. "Ali! Oh my god where have yo-"

"Hey Charlie. It's been a-" Alison's voice cut out, the girl collapsing from exhaustion in Christa's arms, Christa picking up the weight to make sure that her cousin was still standing.

Holding steady to Alison, Christa waved to Charles, who was looking at the Barton with confusion. "Hi." The girl stated, breathless and unsure of what to do with Alison unconscious. "My name's Christa Amory-Barton. I'm your cousin. Can I come in?"

<~*~>

F-R-E-E that spells FREE

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WELCOME BACK! IT HAS BEEN A WHILE.

sorry about that

some of you saw my mysterious message about killing characters on my message board today

yeah it's for this book.

get ready for chapter 54 y'all it's been drafted

I have 53 and 54 written out already so now I just have to type them out and write 55 and we're in tip top shape

okay that's it

I love memes

anyways I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you in the next one!

8 chapters left :)

bye

-ash