Immortal

Part 3 - Make Me Normal

I spent my night moving and heading towards the busses where I could take a straight journey through to Manhattan.  I hid myself away in a corner for the remainder of the night and kept to myself while I watched everyone around me. By the time my bus was departing I could barely keep my eyes open; it was a new experience to feel fatigued and I didn't like it.

The journey was a blur of traffic and places I somehow recognised as familiar and homely but also completely foreign; like remembering an intense dream just after waking before it starts to fade away into nothing more than a feeling.  

Manhattan was busy and full of people moving quickly to wherever they needed to be. Always in a rush to get somewhere else.  I wasn't entirely sure of where I was heading so I took some time to just wander the streets. I'm sure I looked out of place to everyone else; a type of tourist. Though at this point it's what I was.  My feet knew where to take me and through my seemingly random wandering I found myself at Stark Industries and walking into a large open lobby with audacious marble flooring and wooden desks. There was even a water feature off to one side that stood at least ten feet tall.

The receptionist held up a finger to stop me from speaking as she talked hurriedly on the phone.  I stood and waited, tuning into my surroundings rather than the phone conversation and picked up small bits of information that meant nothing to anybody but those involved.  I turn my attention back to the receptionist as she hangs up the phone and sighs, looking to me with a raised eyebrow.

“I'm here to…”

“...see Howard Stark… uh huh. You and a hundred others. Take a number.” She jabbed her thumb in the direction of what could only be a waiting room.

“No… he's expecting me.” The words fell out my mouth before I knew what I was saying.  Was he expecting me? How did I know that? The receptionist raised both eyebrows and looked me up and down without moving.

“...and who shall I say it is?” Her tone was sarcastic; she didn't believe me. Why should she?

I swallowed and motioned down to my covered left arm with my eyes before lifting the cuff of my jacket enough to show her the now slightly tarnished silver metal arm.  She covered a gasp and nodded before dialing a number and uttering only four words.

“...Mr Stark - he's here.”

I was shown to an elevator and told to push a specific button once the doors were closed - it didn't contain a number or a letter so I had no clue which floor I was heading towards until I pushed it; as it turned out I was heading down to a sub-sub basement.  The elevator doors closed behind me once I stepped out into a corridor with a single door at the other end; it required a key-card and a code to open but at this point I was sure there was someone watching me using the mirriad of cameras around the building. I was proven right when the door buzzed and clicked open into a large sterile looking lab area; all white and steel with various models and what I assumed to be prototypes, both failed and successful, dotted around taking up space.

I heard murmuring coming from another area of the lab and followed the sound to find a man who I assumed to be Howard Stark, talking with five others while standing around a large horizontal screen set into a table the likes of which I had only ever seen at HYDRA before now.  Stepping closer to them my eyes followed the older man's hand on the screen which had open the schematics for my arm.

“Afternoon, soldier.” the man turns and smiles. “I've been expecting you.”

“Mr Stark?” I question tentatively.

“Correct.” He nods. “I believe you have a digital information pad for me.”

I frown slightly and nod before putting my bag down and finding it for him. “How do you know me, Mr Stark?”