I Am Soul - Spider-Man / Peter Parker [2]

Chapter Twenty-Two - The Mind Stone

2012

Maria did not have to switch time nor place to deliver her next Stone. Thankfully it had been taken from 2012 in New York for both the Time Stone and Loki's spectre. However, there was one issue. Loki's escape. Due to Tony's and Scott's actions, Loki had managed to escape with the Tesseract in this reality. In order to snip this time branch, Maria had to return the stones as well as stop Loki's escape. Something Maria had yet to figure out how to do.

From the Sanctum rooftop, Maria had flown all the way to Stark Tower. Due to the fact all cameras were on the Tower, Maria knew she couldn't fly up the side so she stopped behind a nearby building. She quickly took her Timesuit off, encasing it back into the wrist device, and then removed her Iron Suit too leaving her in just her jeans and teal shirt.

Peeking around the side she saw streams of people entering the building but none in civilian clothes, she needed a suit pronto. However, as she went to move, Maria's eyes caught the light that reflected off of Loki's spectre that lay in her hand. That was another issue. She couldn't walk into the building with the Spectre.

"Shit" she mumbled as she racked her brain on what to do. How could she hide the Spectre when it was so frigging big and obvious? If only she could shrink it ...

Maria lifted the spectre so she could see the top. Shrink it ... she had the means to shrink it! Reaching into her pocket Maria pulled free several small disks that Pym had supplied for emergencies. Discs that could shrink and enlarge objects. With a smile Maria placed the Spectre on the floor before she picked the correct disc.

"Let's hope this works." Carefully Maria dropped the disk onto the Spectre, upon impact the disc began to work and the Spectre quickly began to shrink in size. The Spectre that was over a metre long was no bigger than five centimetres. Reaching down Maria carefully picked up the mini Spectre with a smile. Grabbing the case, she popped the locks and safely put the Spectre inside. She was partially kicking herself for not doing such a thing earlier.

With the Spectre and Soul Stone safely in the case, Maria had to go back to her first problem. She couldn't walk into Stark Tower dressed as she was. Maria began to pace as she struggled to figure a way into the building. Every now and again, Maria would look towards the tower and the people all dressed in their black suits. She needed one of those suits but where could she get one.

Maria's eyes shifted away from the crowds and came to land on the building beside that just so happened to be a shop, selling formal wear.

"Guess it's my lucky day" Maria mumbled at the sight. Knowing she was running out of time, Maria hid her case amongst the rumble and quickly made her way to the front of the store. Just as she was grabbing the long handle to the store Maria thought about the security inside. "KAREN I need you to knock off the cameras in this store, I don't need people getting on my back for this."

"Yes Ma'am" the voice replied. Within seconds Maria noticed the red blinking lights on the cameras go out. Moving between the racks of clothing, Maria began to browse quickly. She needed a woman's suit sized 10. Thankfully, Maria came across a simple black assemble with a white shirt and black skirt that would do, along with black sunglasses and black heeled opened shoes. Gathering the items, Maria headed for the changing rooms. She managed to avoid looking at anyone as she snuck behind the thick curtain. Once she was hidden, Maria immediately brought her Iron Suit glove to her hand and used its magnet function to remove the security tags that were clipped onto the material. With them removed, Maria slipped into the woman's suit. You could tell it wasn't a tailored fit but no one was going to be looking at her long enough to care.

Pulling her hair up into a bun with the bobble she often carried on her wrist, Maria made herself presentable so that she would match everyone else in Stark Tower. With her assemble complete, uncomfortable shoes and sunglasses, Maria grabbed her folded clothing and left the changing room as silently as possible. With confidence of a person doing no wrong, Maria walked out of the changing rooms and headed towards the rear exit of the building, she dodged any members of staff using whatever means to fool them. It did not take her long to reach the emergency exit nor leave by it, having KAREN silenced the alarm.