Metallic Lights {Metallic Charms Book #3}

Chapter 26: Stay Away

If I had a Hulk gene within me, that would have been my trigger –Tony’s name. But I wasn’t a Hulk. I was a highly developed, failed Project Rebirth 2.0 experiment. And I had more power than even she knew –than even I knew.

I could feel the lights flickering around me, threatening a power outage. But I could also see Starlie’s eyes swimming in a sea of green.

I could feel somebody tugging at my arm trying to get my attention and for a while I was able to ignore it, but when I finally snapped my attention back, and the power outage threat was gone, Starlie had disappeared and I was free to go.

***

When I got back to my room I ran and jumped, flopping on my bed before reaching over to the dresser and checking my phone. I had two missed calls from Sky and an unread text:

New fierce and blonde Asgardian in town, stay tuned for info.

Was all it read and I immediately panicked. Fierce and blonde were only two of the many, many adjectives I could think of, that described the Enchantress perfectly. She had persuasive and influencing powers of weaker beings –namely, mortal humans. If she’d gotten her witchy grasp around the Avengers already, I was doomed. She was an enchantress; she could have escaped Odin’s cells at any moment with Loki’s help.

I was doomed. Hopelessly and hilariously doomed. Enchantress was going to kill me the next time she got her glowing, vengeful hands on me.

And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, I had a knock at my door.

“I swear to Odin, Starlie-” I started yelling before I even opened the door. I wished it had been Starlie, honestly. I think she would have been easier to deal with.

“Tony.” I said breathlessly, standing under the doorframe with my jaw slack and finding myself unable to blink.
“Noel.” He nodded awkwardly, looking anywhere but at my face.
“What...” I tried to grasp at my words but I didn’t know what to say. “What are you doing here Tony?” I finally snapped.

“Hello to you, too.” He rolled his eyes and pushed his way past me, immediately making himself at home and sitting in my desk chair.
“Get out.” I ordered in the same tone of voice he had used almost sixteen months ago now.
“Hey, hey,” He tsked realising where I was going with this. “No need to go there. I came here to welcome you back to the mortal world.”
“Well good, you’ve welcomed me. Thanks for stopping by.” I frowned before pointing to the door. “Now get out.”
“Why should I?” Tony stood up and took one step closer to me. I took three steps further away.

I couldn’t handle being around him by myself. I was on probation, which meant I had to be on my best, most well behaved and nice behaviour ever. One slip up and I was a goner. With Tony Stark here, I was just about ready to explode like a fizzed up soda can – better make that an atomic fizzed up soda can.

He was the nuclear warhead of tests for me right now. I was still trying to control these weird powers that Loki had bestowed upon me. I had no idea if I was using them right or not, I was stabbing blindly in the dark with this –which was kind of ironic if you thought about.

“Because this is my apartment.” I put my hands on my hips impatiently.
“And I own part of S.H.I.E.L.D, so technically, its mine too.” He smirked. “But I’m not here to brag-”
I scoffed. “Oh really?”
“Really. I’m here to offer you a job, actually.” He frowned. “You’re very intelligent, Barton. Once your probation is up, if you decide not to go back into the spy business, just know that you’ve always got a place available at Stark Industries.”

I couldn’t take him seriously. Not when he wasn’t even looking at me, and he was shuffling his feet like a bashful, shy kid. This was not the Tony I knew. I wasn’t even sure if it was the Tony anybody knew. This was an act, I was sure of it. He was playing me, seeing if I would come crawling back to him, begging for him to take me back so he could just humiliate me. That was the Tony Stark I knew –that was the Tony Stark everybody knew.

“Yeah, sure, Tony.” I smiled tightly before letting it drop. “Now get out and let me make something very, very clear to you.” I stepped closer to him so I was right in his face. “I will never work for you or with you. I cannot stand you –you are a vile, despicable, selfish and womanising man child. I was just too stupid and naive to see it before I agreed to date you –and they were some of the worst months of my life, by the way. What you did to me is unforgivable. Who wronged you so that you became this much horrid of a human being Anthony? Weren’t you loved as a child? Honestly! You’re pathetic if you think I’m going to come crawling back to you when you have Pepper Potts. So you can just ... You can just go fuck right off!” I snapped, shoving him out the door and slamming it in his face.