Leah Stark - The Unknown Child

3.10.0

Waking up to the beeping of the heart monitor, I could smell the scent of my dads coffee. I could smell a flowery perfume, which I assumed was Peppers. The room still smelt like it had been scrubbed down with disinfectant, despite the fact it was a Wakandan hospital. I shifted my weight, groaning when my head moved, a dull ache pounding on the right side of my head.
"Welcome back to the world of the living kiddo." Dad said.
"убирайся от папы" Bugger off dad. I said, swatting at him.
I looked at his worried face, before smiling. "I missed you dad."
He smiled back, hugging me tightly, kissing my forehead. "You popped the question to Pepper yet?" I asked
"Not yet kiddo. I'm going to ask when we get back to New York and you're settled back in." He whispered back before pulling away from the hug."Anyway, you look pretty weird with your shaved head. I'm used to the long hair, I loved the long hair."
I shrugged. "I don't know dad, I like the shaved hair. I think it makes me look cool. Wait, did I get a cool scar looking thing? I really want a cool looking scar to commemorate surviving a brain surgery."
"Oh, you've got a pretty cool scar." Dad said. I smiled, sitting up.
Pepper passed me a mirror she had in her bag. "It's just above your left ear. It's pretty prominent."
I looked in the mirror. It was red where it had just been put together by regeneration cradle, but it still left a pretty obvious scar. It went around my ear and up along my hairline and I couldn't help but admit it, "I love it!"
Tony laughed, "Well don't try and get anymore, or I'll be blaming myself for not being there."
"I got the scar in brain surgery?"
"I know."
I sat there confused at my dad and his strange self-deprecating humour.
Dad laughed at my face, "Don't worry about it Leah, just a joke. Honestly, I can't wait until we can go home. After all, Lilith's been asking about how you are. Oh, and Peter said he owes you $10."
"Aw yes!"
"Why does Peter owe you money?" Pepper asked, confused.
"Pepper. Teenagers get bored. We make bets. I won a bet, therefore Peter owes me $10, which I'm just gonna use to buy pizza for us both so really it doesn't matter."
"Pepper, from what I've learned from being around Leah and Peter is to just never question what they're doing, because there is a reason. And if you know, you'll never be able to stop thinking about it."
"Is this about the slime webs that me and Peter were trying to make? Because it never worked, though I won't stop until I figure it out."
"I'm sorry, you're trying to make what?" Dad asked.
    "You don't need to worry about it."
    "Okay, that's when I start being genuinely worried."
     "No, seriously you don't. Peter just asked me to help him with them because he wanted to screw with Clint. I swear!"

    Later that day, Pepper, Tony and I were talking when Shuri walked into the room.
     "Shuri! Hi, how am I? I ought to not be any worse!"
     "Well that's what I've come here to find out. I'm going to say the trigger words and if nothing happens, you can go home in a week. Though honestly if you don't keep in contact with me I will fly over to the tower and drag you back here myself!"
     "Bold of you to assume that I didn't already steal your phone number."
     "Yooooooo! Nice one. Anyway, I'm gonna have to say the words now so Tony, Pepper, I'm going to have to ask you to stand outside just for a few moments. It'll probably be fine."
      "What do you mean probably?"
     "Probably because it's only worked once on the only other person that we did it on, so you know, it soon could go to a 100% success rate to 50%."
        "Jesus Christ." Tony sighed. "Alright we'll be right outside. See you in a bit Leah."
        "See you soon dad!" I smiled.
"Okay, the words," Shuri said, flicking through the notes. "Here they are. Злоупотребляли, Убегай, Потеряп, Найдённый, Наследник, Создатель, Чудо"
I felt a slight tug at my chest, but that was about it. "So was that supposed to do anything other than make me feel a slight inescapable dread or was that just my brain?"
"Holy shit! We got 2 for 2 so far! Fuck yeah!" Shuri exclaimed, punching the air, which caused me to giggle at her.
She soon called Pepper and Dad back into the room, both of who were smiling at me when they saw me smiling.
"Hey, guess what guys?"
"What kiddo?" Dad said, entertaining my childlike joy.
"I'm not doing my Dr Jekyll-Mr Hyde thing anymore!"
"God damn it Leah." Dad sighed, laughing at my terrible Victorian literature reference, yet I thought it was rather accurate for the situation.

For our last week in Wakanda, Shuri and I took both Pepper and Tony to the places Shuri took me. The theme park was still fun, even though I wasn't allowed on any of the big rides. Dad and Shuri went on them while Pepper and I talked about what I'd missed while in Wakanda.
Eventually it was time for me to go home. I would really miss Wakanda. Even though the city itself was strangely futuristic, it had become like a second home and I'd miss it more than I'd dare to admit.
"I'll miss you Shuri." I said, hugging my friend. "You're super cool. You ought to come to New York soon so Peter and I can drag you through trashy American High School."
"Oh definitely. And you ought to drag Peter here at some point so we can force him on all the big rides and take him to a spider house or something."
"Don't tell Peter I told you but he hates spiders with a passion. Spider dude can't control them and let me just say, watching him jump onto the ceiling after shrieking because I hid a plastic spider in one of the pizza boxes, iconic."
"If there is a video, send it to me."
"It's on the home network, I'll send it to you when we get back to New York, promise."
There was silence between the two of us, but it was comfortable.
"Can you send me any notifications on Bucky while I'm away. I know he got put on ice again and you're considering taking him off soon. I just want to know how he is while I'm away. He helped me a lot in the beginning, so you know."
"Leah, I'll tell you how he's doing. He's both of our friend, so we both need to make sure he's okay."
I smiled. "I really will miss you Shuri."
"Just don't forget to call young Padawan"
"I won't Master Kenobi." I bowed sarcastically. We both let out a slight laugh before I boarded the Carrier after Pepper and Tony. The door closed on us and those transporting us back and we were off, back to New York.

This entire chapter is just me trying to figure out how to make the story move foreword before the next book, don't mind me.