The person within

Chapter 3

It was Lea's 4th week at the compound, and so far she had come to learn a lot of things. So far she had only worked with Tony and Peter, and had seen Bruce around the lab working on projects and fixing people up while Tony screamed at people over the phone.

Lea headed back into the compound after her usual 5am run, her tanned body aching from the workout. She jogged into the elevator and headed upstairs into the kitchen like normal, and made her usual protein shake. Her AirPods were in, blasting beats off Spotify. She danced around as she sung and waited for the blender to finish its work.

"Bit early for a karaoke sesh, isn't it?" said Peter as he wandered sleepily into the room, stifling a yawn.

"It's never too early for a jam" Lea replied, pouring out the shake into a glass and sticking a pink cocktail umbrella into the top of it.

"You do you princess" Peter shot back, shuffling out of the room holding back laughter.

Just as he left, Lea turned around to wash up the blender when she ran into a tall figure wearing a black vest and faded jeans, a pistol in a holster at his side. "Oh my god I'm so sorry I just-" Lea began.

"Watch it!" He shouted back. "Jesus Christ what is wrong with you?!" Lea looked absolutely speechless. She stared up at his face, his steel blue eyes piercing her with a menacing look of his own. He shoved past her, moving her aside with what Lea could now see as a metal arm.

"I-I'm sorry I just-" she began again.

"Forget about it" he grumbled back, continuing to stalk away towards the living room.

"Dude, don't be such a dick!" She shouted after him, receiving a middle finger in return. "Bitch" she mumbled, picking up her protein shake and walking back towards to elevator, taking it up to the third floor where her bedroom was.

Lea had started to get use to the endlessness of the compound-the many rooms, the constant bustling of people and the new atmosphere is brought to her life instead of the dull Manhattan apartment building that had been her home only a month ago. She was starting to find her way around and could almost find her way to work every day without needing to ask F.R.I.D.A.Y. for directions.

She sat by her window in her room, now accompanied by a simple assorted of pillows. Lea had redecorated the space, adding greenery and wall hangings, and painted the wall opposite her bed the same sage green as her penthouse apartment. In the corner sat a small reading chair, and beside that stood a large bookcase, filled with many old and new books from around the tower. Lea had finished them all. Reading was a special hobby of hers, helping her to take her mind off things when her anxiety and PTSD started to get the better of her, and allowed her to escape to another reality.

Among other things, Lea also loved to surf and skate, riding around the streets of New stork in her spare time or enjoying the cold fresh water whenever she could.

She sat peacefully at the window until suddenly she heard footsteps coming from the end of the hall. She turned around and saw the same man she had met in the kitchen walk past her door. He turned inside to look at her as she did to him, and scowled before turning on his heels and continued to walk away.

"What an asshole" Lea muttered to herself.

An hour later, she stepped out of the elevator once again and walked over to where Tony stood, peering over the glass balcony down below. He looked up as he heard the doors open and smiled.

"I have a surprise for you today" he stated matter-of-factly. "I'm introducing you to the team!" He smiled happily, enjoying the look of joy that spread over Lea's face.