Behind the Veil

Those were the last words he spoke before he pulled the covers over her body. He left out the door suddenly realizing what he did was terribly wrong. It was not his choice to make whether she lived or died. If certain parties realized what she was injected with they would kill her or use her as a weapon just as he was being used.

Hours later Lola woke up feeling sick to her stomach and her head pounding. It was something she was somewhat used to by now because of her diagnosis but this time it somehow felt worse. She forced herself out of the bed and carefully undressed so that she could bathe before she left. Her eyes were sensitive to the light and once she took a quick shower she slipped on some clothes. Grabbing her weekend bag she shoved clothes and shoes into it knowing where she would have to go. In a weakened state she pushed on a pair of dark sunglasses and left her apartment.

Meanwhile at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Nick Fury stood berating the team for losing sight of the target from the previous night. Tony Stark, Thor, Bruce Banner, and Steve Rogers seemed to only bow their heads as they were yelled at. He stopped yelling midway only to look at the now open doorway. Shock was written all over his face when he saw the short brunette standing there. Lola stormed right over to Nick and landed a strong left hook to his jaw. Even being a larger man compared to her small frame, Nick fell down from the sheer force of the hit.

“Dolores hold on there- damn it you hit like your father-” Nick mutters all at once as he held his now swollen jaw. Lola set down her bag and took off her glasses.

“How dare you have them tell me Sal was dead! After everything that I lost to this god damn place you people have the nerve to lie about my brother being dead! You should have told me he went after Marx! You should have told me,” Lola growls angrily. She suddenly felt weak in the knees and she clutched onto the nearby table. Her breaths almost strangled. “You can‘t kill him, he‘s still in there.”

“Lo what happened?” Nick says concerned with the weak state she was in.

“Sal, he was just trying to help but I‘m stage four,” she breathed out. “I tried to stop him.”

“Christ, Lo you are burning up,” he replies upon touched her hand. “One of you get the medic.”

“You know her?” Tony questions a little shocked to see the woman from the bar in their head quarters.

“She‘s my goddaughter,” Nick answers as Lola took off her coat. Without the coat it showed the veins that started to blacken near the area she was injected with the serum. She reached into her bag carefully and pulled out a large folder of medical files then a necklace.

“Wasn’t counting on dying for another month, so if ya can’t fix me no hard feelings. Thought you‘d want this,” Lola spoke softly as she handed him the locket. The medics showed up and Nick handed one of them her medical records whilst he stuffed the jewelry into his pocket. He watched as they took her away and he thumbed the necklace in his pocket somewhat worriedly.

“Coulson make sure that room is covered. Have the doctors take a sample of blood, she was injected with Marx‘s serum, we need to analyze it,” he spoke as he played with the necklace in his pocket. The pendant slid open somehow and Nick immediately took it out for examination. A smile let slip on his face as he saw the pendant had hidden a mini USB drive. He took the technology to the computer to see the information held on it. Agent Natasha Romanoff assisted Nick in his endeavor and they found files of code and blue prints as well as shipping routes. “Lola what have you been up to.”

“She isn‘t an agent?” Agent Romanoff inquires seeing all the piles of information against their current enemy Winston Marx. The information was highly classified and the kind even S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn’t acquired.

“No but its in her blood,” Nick says somewhat proudly.

It was hours later before Lola had been stabilized and was resting in one of the testing rooms at headquarters. She lied in a single bed with an IV in her arm whilst several machines surrounded the area making obnoxious beeping noises. The doctor checked the machines and Nick entered the room excusing the doctor so that he could speak with Lola.

“How are you doing kid?”

“I could use a drink.”

“It seems you‘ve taken to the serum well despite being sick while being injected.”

“I gathered this, being that I‘m still alive,” she counters.

“So how did Sal know you had cancer in the first place?” Nick questions looking at her with his hands in his pockets. Lola let out a bitter laugh before looking down.

“What does it matter? I didn‘t really think this would be the result. Now you people are hunting him down, but you don‘t understand how Marx has ruined my family. He is still in there, if he wasn‘t he wouldn‘t have done this.”

“Lola he‘s under Marx‘s control, you need to understand.”

“No you need to understand! I won‘t let Marx take someone else I love! You weren‘t there the night my father showed up, you have no clue what its like to watch---you know what fuck you Nick! I shouldn‘t have to explain this to you, I‘m getting Sal back with or without your help,” Lola retorts angrily as she took out the IV and began to get out of the bed. Nick’s gaze softened and guilt had stricken him. Even if Lola seemed to have moved on it was obvious it still pained her. She never spoke of that night to anyone, she told the agents nothing, a blank slate determined not to acknowledge what had happened. An angry sigh escaped her lips and she looked up at Nick. “I‘m getting too old for this shit.”

“Sorry kid,” Nick says sympathetically. “I know you‘ve been put through the ringer, I wouldn‘t want to make things worse by not helping Sal as best as possible.”

“Meaning you don‘t want me as an enemy.”

“Well you can be scary when you‘re angry, you tend to go for the throat,” he teases lightly. Lola gave a small smile and shook her head.

“How‘s California sound to you?”

“Sounds like the west coast. I figured you‘d make me leave the city.”

“Gathered that by your weekend bag. You know me too well.”

“So is the safe house in California?”

“Malibu to be exact. You‘ll be going with Agent Coulson and Mr. Stark.”

“And this whole being injected with serum thing, you aren‘t going to make me a guinea pig?”

“We already have some blood samples, ” Nick states.

“Charming,” Lola mutters.

“On a cheerful note, the serum destroyed your brain tumor.”

“Damn, I was so found of Iggy, despite him eating away at my memories and his parasitic affect on my life.”

“You would name your tumor.”

“I thought it was suiting consider Iggy Pop was a parasite to David Bowie and latched onto the wonderful man for fame and fortune.”

“If I didn‘t know this is how you usually talk, I would think you were seriously perturbed,” Nick chuckles lightly.

“Perfectly understandable to think that. I question my level of sanity on occasion.”

“Put on your shoes and we‘ll get you on a jet.”

“Fancy,” Lola mutters as she began to slip on her cowboy boots. Nick watched her do so, feeling guilty for not staying in touch. Of course he kept tabs, sent out alerts if she was ever arrested or anything like that but not enough to know she had been diagnosed with cancer. At twenty three she was somehow still standing regardless of everything thrown at her. Lola stood with a forced smile on her face as she smoothed down her wavy hair. She followed Nick out of the room and pair walked back to the main meeting room where Tony Stark and Agent Phil Coulson stood waiting. For the most part Lola ignored the fact she knew Tony beforehand and remained quiet. They were taken to the private airport where Tony’s private jet waited and Lola felt strange being exposed to the sort of luxury of a private jet.

“Take care Lo,” Nick states before she boarded the plane. Lola merely remained unfazed and entered the grand piece of machinery. Immediately she took a seat in one of the leather chairs with her bag at her side. Tony took a seat across from her and she turned her gaze to him, giving him an expectant look.

“You know what sounds divine?” Lola says.

“Too steps ahead of you,” Tony responds as the flight attendant set two gin and tonics in front of them. Lola smiled brightly at the flight attendant.

“Thank you very much,” she thanks the woman that seemed to pray victim to Lola’s smile. The woman looked Lola up and down before she went red in the face and smiled back at Lola before rushing off. Tony looked at Lola somewhat shocked. “What?”

“Nothing, cheers,” he replies holding his glass up. Lola clanked glasses with Tony’s and took a sip of the gin. After taking a drink out of his own glass Tony looked at Lola who held her glass against her cheek. “So how do you feel?”

“Like I don‘t have tumor anymore.”

“Are you always this charming?”

“What do you think,” Lola counters with a smirk. A smile formed on his lips and he shook his head at her.

“Your friends were right, you aren‘t really fazed by me.”

“I‘m sure there are quite a few people in the world who are unfazed by you Mr. Stark.”

Lola took another drink from her glass and turned her gaze to the window. The action signified she was done talking especially when she put on her headphones and began to play music. She put on her sunglasses and set the glass down on the table.

“Are you-”

“Shh, its quiet time,” she states pressing her index finger to his lips. Tony was absolutely flabbergasted by her actions and Agent Coulson let out a chuckle. Lola in turned leaned back into the chair and closed her eyes ignoring the fact Tony was gawking at her as if she had just smacked him in the face.

The rest of the flight was uneventful and Harold “Happy” Hogan arrived at the hanger to take Tony as well as Lola to the Malibu home. Whilst Agent Coulson was greeted by a couple other agents with big black SUVs. Happy looked at Lola who gave him a tired smile and stuck out her hand to introduce herself.

“I‘m Lola.”

“Happy, Tony‘s bodyguard and chauffer,” he smiles shaking her hand.

“Nice to meet you,” Lola says as she got into the car. Happy remained holding the door and gave Tony a look that was ignored before sliding into the town car. The car ride was fairly quiet and Tony kept glancing at Lola from the corner of his eye. Lola started to feel a bit strange about it and opted to shrug it off then stare out the window. The car rolled to a stop and she shook her head at the absurdly large mansion overlooking the ocean. But because it had been years since she had been on the west coast she got out of the car to stare at the vast ocean. Her eyes focused on what was ahead of her and let the sounds of the waves crashing on the base of the cliff fill her ears.

“Miss Lola?” Happy says interrupting her thoughts. She turned and gave a small smile before noticing Tony had already entered his home. With a slight nod she followed Happy into the ostentatious mansion. It certainly was an up to date bachelor pad at its finest. Tony was already out of sight and Happy gave an apologetic look. “I‘ll show you around.”

They walked around and Happy showed the main rooms of the spacious home. One of the rooms being the guest room Lola was to stay in. By all means she didn’t really need supervision or to be babied, something that Happy noticed. Even in foreign surroundings she was comfortable with where she was at and didn’t need entertaining. After a nice hot shower, she felt clean and ready to sleep for hours. However hours meant until one in the morning to her body at this point, the nightmares she used to have, returned. She opted to get out of bed and walk around the dimly lit mansion. Walking along she heard the sounds of Pink Floyd and naturally she followed the rhythm of David Gilmour’s guitar.

Stepping down the stairs she found herself where Tony worked. The glass door was closed but Lola could see Tony fiddling with some contraption through the glass walls. There was a gentle British accent that made itself known to her as she stood at the doorway. The door opened and Lola entered the lab, she gave a small smile. Tony turned in his swivel chair and looked at her a little surprised she was awake.

“How‘s work?” Lola questions in a casual manner.

“It‘s going. What are you doing up?”

“Being attacked brought back some fun memories. So do you always do your work so late while listening to Dark Side of the Moon?”

“Sometimes I listen to AC/DC,” Tony counters with a hint of a smirk.

“Favorite album by them?”

“High Voltage.”

“I guess you can‘t be that bad,” she states as she sat on the couch facing him.

“It was your favorite album as well?”

“Are you kidding me? The monster riffs from Angus Young and Bon Scott‘s vocals, it‘s a classic AC/DC staple,” she answers. Lola felt a ringing in her ear and she placed one hand up to it in hopes of stopping the sound. Eventually it went away but was replaced with a more advanced hearing.

“So how‘s the whole serum thing going for you?” Tony questions.

“I can literally hear the hum of your mechanical chest piece from here. Also there‘s a fly over in the corner of the room stuck in the trash can.”

“You can hear all of that?”

“Unfortunately, it‘s like taking ecstasy minus the elation,” Lola mutters darkly. Tony raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged. “Early years of living in the city, roommates forgot to tell me they put them in my migraine medicine.”

“I can‘t imagine your surprise.”

“Yeah it was all sorts of pleasant waking up in a bathtub fully clothed feeling like death.”

“Question for you,” he starts to say then looks at Lola. “Where are you from originally?”

“Arizona, I moved to New York City when I was 19.”

“Pretty big move for someone so young.”

“You owned a company at age twenty one.”

“Inherited a company. Besides why would you move to the big city?” Tony presses.

“Goodnight Tony,” Lola spoke as she stood up and walked out of the room. Tony sat and watched her walk back up the stairs but once she was out of sight he turned his chair around to continue what he was doing before she had showed up. Nearly ten minutes later he quit and headed upstairs. Lola was nowhere to be seen and Tony saw she wasn’t in her room, he drifted back to the main room where he caught sight of a figure in the pool. Making his way outside he saw that it was in fact Lola. Standing there he looked down into the water waiting for her to surface but she never did. After a while he sort of panicked and kicked off his shoes to jump in the water. When Lola felt the set of hands on her body she snapped her eyes open and rose to the surface.

“What the hell Tony?” she demands wading in the water since she couldn’t reach the bottom.

“I thought you were drowning, if anything you should be thanking me.”

“What? Seriously, I was relaxing, the water dulls the outside sounds.”

“Oh,” Tony mutters standing in the water. “So you‘re okay?”

“You‘re absurd,” Lola smiles as she swam near the edge overlooking the ocean. Resting her arms on the ledge she let out a chuckle thinking about the fact Tony had jumped into the pool in the first place. “Absolutely absurd.”

“Don‘t make fun Shorty, how was I supposed to know you were fine?”

“Perhaps next time you could ask first. I would have heard you underwater, my hearing is amplified,” she counters then gives a smile. “Guess this answers my question.”

“What question?”

“Whether or not you can be in the water with that thing in.”

“Don‘t you think I would have made it water proof?”

“I don‘t know some geniuses lack common sense,” Lola states reaching out to touch the piece glowing in the night. “You would definitely get killed in the trenches, a sniper could easily see you in the night.”

“The trenches?”

“I’m serious, you should consider a cloaking mode or something, its horribly bright.”

“I‘ll take it into consideration,” Tony answers as he found himself staring at the birthmark on her shoulder blade. “You really do have that birthmark you know that right?”

“Yeah I know.”

“So that means you inspired that sculpture collection.”

“Is that your backwards way of confirming my relations with that guy?” she responds.

“I already confirmed that when he approached the group when you had left the bar that night. Seemed to be pretty enamored with you even after the months that had passed,” he teases.

“And what about the dozens of women somehow enamored with you playboy?”

“They know what they were getting into, plus I have great security.”

“You‘re awful,” Lola laughs. Tony stared at her for a while and she turned to him still smiling. However her smile fell, when she felt a jolt of pain in her heart. She moved away from the edge and hurried out of the pool. In the guest room her phone was ringing, the tone reserved for one person. Answering the phone, Lola closed her eyes as her hands shook.

“I will be there as soon as possible.”