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and she was laying on the stone-cold floor. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. Her head was pounding. There was one door, and two guards were stationed outside of it.

She had absolutely zero clues as to where she was.

Suddenly, her temporary bliss of having just woke up faded. She remembered everything that had happened before she was knocked out. Loki traded her for the scepter. He willingly gave her away, tearing any bond they had in half.

"Allow me to enter." A foreign voice spoke.

Her head snapped up, her palms still spread out on the floor. A man she had never seen before stepped through the door that was opened by the guards. He wore some kind of green uniform, and had a circular monocle over his right eye.

"You're much smaller than I pictured."

"Who are you?" Her voice was strained.

"I am Wolfgang von Strucker, and you are in my laboratory."

She said nothing, but tried to think if she had ever heard of him before.

"You are very important to us here, Miss Clark. We have your companion to thank for so graciously handing you over--"

"He is not my 'companion'."

"Unimportant. We have the ability to create unthinkable things with the power we have. And, with you here, we can make you unstoppable."

"How are you going to do that without the scepter?" She sassily responded.

"We have the scepter."

Her stomach dropped. They had the scepter? What about the exchange? That meant they didn't give the scepter to Loki, but kept it. But, for what purpose? Did they steal it from Loki or...

Did he simply give her away?

Her head continued to pound. She was angry, but now she grew scared. What were they going to do with her? Was she to be another lab rat? She was in a cage, yet again. Was Loki going to come down here and attempt to get the scepter again, or did he simply not care she was here?

She looked up into his eyes, determined. "You won't succeed."

He laughed, standing up from where he was crouched. "And I suppose you're going to stop me? Pathetic girl."

He left her cell with a slam of the door. She brought her knees to her chest, thinking how she would get herself out of this. Whatever they wanted to do to her couldn't be for good. She needed to think, and fast.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a scream--a loud one. It was a scream of terror, and it shook Alex to her core. She had to get the hell out of this laboratory, but she had no idea how or where she was.

"Up," The guard opened the door.

"Why?"

"No questions."

The guards took her down the bland cement hallway, and into a small room. There was a chair with straps, and the man who had talked to her ten minutes ago. Strucker.

She eyed the chair, and looked to Strucker. He held the scepter in his right hand, motioning for the guard to place her in the chair. So, he wasn't lying. Loki didn't have the scepter, so either he was finessed by Strucker or he just got rid of Alex for no reason.

Great, she thought.

"I'm really sorry," Alex said as the guard held onto her tightly.

"For?" Strucker laughed.

"I don't want to do this," Her eyes flickered from his to the scepter. "But I need that."

She drained the guard's energy as he held her, and he fell to the ground. She quickly froze Strucker before grabbing the scepter from his hand. His beady eyes were darting around the room, and she gave a sarcastic salute.

Alex felt an insane amount of energy begin to flow through her the second her fingers touched the scepter. She looked at it, and began to understand Loki's obsession with it. She wondered what the scepter allowed Loki to enhance about himself. Go! She yelled at herself, snapping out of her mind.

She ran as fast as she could, knowing the stick wouldn't hold. She desperately needed to find a way out before she grew tired.

Alex passed a viewing balcony, with a window that oversaw a large room. She walked toward the window, and what she saw below shocked her. There were people, but they didn't have the green uniform on. What they wore was an outfit for a prisoner. The guards poked at them, shoving them forward to their stations.

They were being experimented on.

Alex brought her hand to her mouth as people were filed one by one into different rooms. That must've been where the screaming came from.

Suddenly, an alarm blared. Shit, she thought. She ran out of the viewing room, and she felt the fatigue creeping up on her. Guards came pouring out of different doors, all heavily armed. She looked around, trying to find an exit. Strucker came out of the same door, looking to her with an angry scowl.

"Give me that, and you don't have to die,"

She looked at him, then to the scepter. Think, Alex, she thought furiously. She raised her hand toward Strucker, who jumped back in fear. But, she knew she was too tired to unleash anything else. Then, she realized. Loki had used this scepter to teleport. She looked to Strucker, the grin on her face confusing him.

She really was the worst prisoner, wasn't she?

She clenched her fist on the scepter, thinking of Stark Tower. Her eyes watched as the guards disappeared before her eyes, and then she saw every color imaginable. In the blink of an eye, she was now standing in the middle of the penthouse.

She clutched her chest, breathing heavily. Note to self, she thought, teleportation is my least favorite way to travel.

"Tony?" She called.

She heard a glass shatter, and fast footsteps. Practically flying out of the lab came Tony, who stopped in his tracks when he saw her. He slowly walked over to her, small tears forming in his eyes.

"Please tell me this isn't a hologram because I've already had a shitty day." He spoke, cracking a joke to cloak his emotions.

"It's me," She laughed, sadness and happiness both overtaking her.

He engulfed her in his arms, and she began to cry. She had missed her mentor so much, forgot how amazing Tony's hugs were when he allowed himself to be touched.

He pulled back, looking at the scepter. "So, should I ask, or--"

"It's a very long story, but there's a laboratory. This man--Wolfgang von Strucker--is experimenting on people. I took this from him, but he's got something else. I could feel it. We need to--"

"Woah, woah, slow down, Sparky. How do you know all this?"

"I was held captive there. Loki traded me for this--you know, I don't really want to talk about it right now. We need to shut down that lab."

"I'll get everyone together, but, let me show you something first." Tony grinned. He clicked something on his phone, then gestured for her to follow him.

"I really don't think we have time--"

"I have spent the last year thinking we weren't gonna get you back. Will you shut up?"

She smiled, nodding. She followed Tony into their lab, her eyes immediately falling on the thing in the very center of the room. Her heart stopped at the sight of it, almost dropping the damn scepter on the floor.

A suit.

He took the scepter out of her hands as her body involuntarily walked toward his creation. It was absolutely beautiful. The spandex-like material was a sleek black. It had cracks all over it, no doubt for her veins when they glowed, which was Tony's favorite effect of hers. She looked at him like a kid on Christmas morning, her eyes wide.

"You said you didn't think I'd come back," She spoke.

"I made it just in case," He winked. "It's stretchy, and has nerve receptors in the gloves. Those will trigger the system to heighten your awareness--oh, and I cracked it. Your fatigue. After two months of research, we realized that your energy comes from--"

"--The sun," She finished. "I know, I figured it out when I accidentally killed flowers and didn't get tired."

Tony blinked.

"You--You killed some flowers and came to that conclusion, and I spent how long doing research?"

She laughed, hugging him again. "The suit is amazing, Tony. Thank you."

"Then put it on. We're suiting up."

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𝚆𝙾𝚆 𝙰𝚅𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝙸𝙼𝙴!

𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝙰𝙻𝙻 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝟸𝚔 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚢'𝚊𝚕𝚕

𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚊 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙰𝚕𝚎𝚡

𝙰𝙽𝙳, 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝚋𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚘𝚖 𝚑𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗 :')