Chances

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five: Missing Something

"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength." -Arnold Schwarzenegger

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Blackness.

Crying children.

Halle.

The Titans.

Alex.

Thanos.  

Fire.

No oxygen.

Trapped.

Pain, so much pain.

 As the image of Thanos flashes vibrantly in my head, I awake from whatever crippling stage of unconsciousness in a horrid fit of fear. I scream and writhe, thrashing out in attempt to get to Thanos. However, I find myself not trapped by burning beams but instead I am constricted by medical tubes and wires. I jerk my body upright, prepared to face my enemy. I gag as the large tube down my throat tugs against the machinery. Instead of meeting my enemy, I am met by an awful state of mind.

 "Monica!" My mom exclaims from in the chair next to me, "Honey-"

 She goes to touch me, but I jerk away from her fingers. I do not know who she is and what kind of twisted trick Thanos is playing on me. I am aware that he is able to put images in his victims' minds. He captured me back in the drainage facility; he must have imprisoned me in one of his dillusions. I need to get my suit and get out of this twisted imprisonment I find myself in.

 "Monica, calm down, relax," My mother looks at me with exhausted eyes.

 I cough and cannot talk, for there are tubes going down my throat and my nose. I hastily begin to pull them out, so I can route my escape.

 "Monica, stop!" Mom's voice raises an octave as she reaches to stop me; once again I jolt my body away from her.

 "Monica," Now Tony appears in the doorway, "Whoa, hey!" He finds himself having to block my suit from entering the room, "Mon, you're safe now. Jarvis, take Monica's suit back to storage."

 "Who are you?" I ask with force in a hoarse, raspy voice, "And where am I?"

 "Y-You don't remember who I am?" His face falls.

 "Well, you look like Tony, but if my memory serves me right, I died in Berlin," I clench my jaw, or at least I think I do- my head is numb.

 "Oh," Tony lets out a laugh at the same time whoever is disguised as my mother lets out a sigh, "You didn't die. I got you out before the building collapsed in Berlin. You're in a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility infirmary in Paris."

 "Paris?!" My heart plummets even though I am very relieved to know that I am not in Thanos's hands, but truly with my family. I feel my body begin to shake and I need to breathe a bit quicker now. I become overwhelmed as so much new information is thrown my way.

 "We won, Monica, you captured Thanos," Tony offers a small smile. The permanent bags under his eyes appear more prominent and his face is long with exhausted wrinkles. "We had to get you to the nearest S.H.I.E.L.D. hospital- the one in Germany was destroyed. Our doctors onboard did they most they could with-"

 "Where's Alex?" I try to focus. Whatever happened to me does not matter until I know he is safe, "Where is Alex?!"

 "Don't worry, he's in the waiting room. The doctors agreed it would be best to not overwhelm you when you woke," My mom tells me in a soothing voice.