In My Eyes

Ch•17- Strange

I waited until after Dad got out of surgery to have mine. Dad had decided to finally remove the shrapnel from his chest. If it succeed, he wouldn't have to wear that electromagnet in his chest. He would finally be a normal man, but he's Tony Stark, so he'll never be totally normal.

I sat in the hospital bed, wearing nothing but a paper gown that the nurses gave to me. Dad and Pepper stood together on one side of the bed and Rhodey stood on the other. Dads v-neck shirt dipped down long enough to show the bandage that covered his chest. He had only gotten out of surgery a few hours ago, he insisted that he be there for me when I go under.

I fiddled with the name tag wrapped around my wrist, feeling really nervous. I'd never had any type of surgery done on me. I had a cavity filled last year, but that's it.

Dad had hired the best Surgeon that the world had to offer to help fix me. Hopefully the Extremis would be eliminated from my body soon. I couldn't stand the orange glow anymore. I saw it in my eyelids whenever I closed them. Pepper was sitting in the chair beside me, clutching Dads hand.

Rhodey stood at the other side, reading my vitals on the screen "Hey" I looked around the small group "When we get out of here, can we finally go to Paris?"

"I don't know" Pepper frowned slightly "We have a lot of things to sort out"

"Rhodey. While they're busy sorting, can you take me to Paris?" I asked my Colonel friend.

"Sorry kid" Rhodey smirked "I've got a lot of things to sort out with the President, the White House, congress, and a ton of others"

Just then, the Doctor who would be preforming my surgery opened up the door and walked in. I'd never seen him before in my life "Hey Doctor" I called "When you're done, can you take me to Paris?"

"Sure, let's go" he smiled, coming up to stand by my bed. He went to my vitals and picked up a clipboard that sat on the table beside my bed. He scanned his sharp, grey-blue eyes over my papers "Oh, alright" he nodded, reading the description of what was wrong with me "I see... this could take some time" he glanced to me.

"Are you going to put me down?" I asked warily.

"Well, under" he corrected "regular anesthesia. Nothing to worry about. Have you ever had surgery before, Miss. Stark?"

"No sir" I shook my head "I'm just... a little nervous"

"No worries" The Doctor smiled, removing a pen from his white coat pocket and wrote down a few notes on the paper "I promise. I will take great care of you" he patted my shoulder.

"Thanks Doctor" Dad shook the mans hand kindly.

"Of course" he nodded "The nurses will be in here at any moment, and they will prep you for surgery. Then, they will role you down to the surgery room where I will be. Don't worry, like I said, everything will be fine" I liked this Doctor. I've only known him for a couple of minutes, but I already trust him "now, if you excuse me" he glanced around the room "I need to prepare" he smiled softly to me before heading back to the door from where he came.

"Thanks for everything Doctor..." I called from my bed. He turned around to face me with his hand on the door handle. I squinted my eyes to read the name on his identification tag "Strange? Is that what it says?" It definitely says Strange on the tag, or maybe I'm just going crazy.

He chuckled and opened the door "That's me, Doctor Strange" :D

***

The Guard slid his card in the scanner, allowing me access to the cell. A green light appeared on the scanner and the lock on the door clicked.

I held a panic button right in my fist. Dad placed his hand on my shoulder, giving it a light squeeze "want me to go with you?" he asked as the Guard opened the large steel door.

"No" I shook my head. Rhodey stood off to the side in his Air Force Uniform, he would be standing inside the cell with me, armed with a weapon just in case "I'll be fine" I assured.

"Okay" Dad kissed me quickly on the top of my head before sending me on my way to the cell. Rhodey let me in the room first, holding the hand gun at his side. The door closed, cutting him and I off from my Father and the rest of the psychiatric prison guards.

I looked up from the grey metal floor to the red haired girl with chains attached to her wrists and ankles. She sat on the bench in the back of the cell. Her skin was white from the lack of sunlight, and dark bags clung under her eyes "you know..." Rhodey lowered his head down to me and murmured "for a girl named April, she doesn't look very springy"

I smirked, giving a slight roll of my blue eyes. Rhdoey smiled and straightened back out. He stood behind me as I walked up slowly to April. Her dull eyes were staring at the floor, it's like she hadn't noticed me yet "morning" I spoke, linking my hands together behind my back "comfy?"

"What are you doing here Jessi?" April asked coldly, her hands laced together on her lap. She was covered in an orange prison jump suit.

"Oh you know" I shrugged, stopping about 10 feet away from her "the usual, but seriously, are you comfortable? Those chains look irritating"

April scoffed tiredly, her red hair falling over her eyes "You would know, this is a prison funded by Starks..." She lifted her eyes from the floor and stared daggers at me "Tell me Jessi, who put me here?" it wasn't a question. She was trying to challenge me, she's trying to make me feel all the guilt "who. put. me. here" she hissed.

"I'm looking right at her" I didn't waver my gaze from hers. I kept my cool, like how Steve did in the ice (;D ) "You tried to kill me, you tried to kill my Dad, Pepper, Rhodey, and even a guy named Happy-"

"You killed my Father" she snarled, yanking at the chains as if trying to grab me. Rhodey reacted immediately, lifting his gun up from his side and aimed it at her. I held my hand back to him to put his gun down. She can't get out of those chains. Special surgeons went in her body and painlessly removed the Extremis "you killed him" she repeated, a pinch of sadness was sprinkled in her voice.

"I'm sorry" I furrowed my eyebrows together, feeling her pain "I am, but he had to go. He wasn't a good person... sometimes people have to die"

April grew angrier by every word that I was saying "You don't know what it's like! My family is gone! I'm all alone"

I smiled softly, empathy grew in my heart "I don't regret what I did" I said after a few moments "but believe me when I say, that I know every inch of pain that you are feeling. The ache, the hurt, the anger. I lost a parent too"

"I lost both" she fired back.

"At one point I did too-"

"Just leave" April looked away, relaxing back in her seat "I don't want to bond with you. You're a monster"

"Says the one who tricked me for five years and strapped me down for testing" I raised an eyebrow before spinning around to face the door "it's a scary world April, count yourself lucky to be shut away in here away from it all"

"I'll kill you" she whispered "when I get out of here I'll kill you"

"Okay" I rolled my eyes and headed for the door. Rhodey tapped on the glass, signaling for the other guards to open up the door. It slowly opened and Rhodey exited. I added sarcastically "I'll leave the door unlocked for you, you know my address"