On The Side of Route 80 They Say Wisdom Comes For Free (Open to any to take the call)
Anya sat on the metal guardrail alongside route 80 and looked up at the stars. They were so many of them and they were so bright out here in…she didn’t even know where the hell here was. It could be Pennsylvania or even Ohio for that matter. Either way, it was the middle of fucking nowhere at a few minutes after three in the morning. What the hell was she doing? Had she finally lost her mind?

The worst part about it all? She wasn’t even sure exactly how she got out here. The past few hours were a blur thanks to little sleep and vodka.

She remembered hiding away in the lab and wanting to be alone, but people were constantly knocking on the door. She knew they cared and were concerned after her recent run in with Temujin, but she didn’t want to talk to anyone. She just wanted to be left alone.

She slept a little, but when she did the nightmares came rushing back. The same nightmares that had plagued her for the past year were back in full force. They had subsided a bit since her last run in with Temujin, but seeing him again made them as bad as they ever were.

She tried to do school work or write code, but she couldn’t focus. Lack of sleep, the vodka she drank to help her get what little sleep she did get, and…why the hell did she open that cabinet? Once she laid her eyes on that suit of armor the anger spiked and things became blurry. She vaguely remembered holding the helmet in her hands a few moments before throwing it into one of the wall displays. There was a shower of sparks and the smell of ozone filled the lab.

The next thing she knew she was in her car and racing through the city. She had to get out of there. Get away from him and everyone else.

She remembered leaving the city and crossing into New Jersey. Between the vodka from earlier and the speed at which she was driving, New Jersey along route 80 was a dark blur. At some point she had to have crossed into Pennsylvania. She didn’t know when it happened, only that it did. There may have been a tollbooth but the details were very fuzzy.

The car sped along as if the Devil himself was chasing it. But the Devil was chasing her and he would never stop. He would always be there and would always be coming for her. Him and the rest of the demons and she had to try to get away from all of them.

The self-destructive Stark genes had finally expressed themselves and she acted without thinking. No sleep, vodka and fast speeds. It was a bad combination and one that would catch up to her quickly enough. She didn’t see the deer until it had run in front of her car. Metal slammed into flesh and bone and tires screeched on the pavement of the highway.

The air bag felt cool against her cheek after it had deployed. That side of her face was still swollen from where Temujin had hit her and it hurt despite the cool feeling of the air bag. The doctors had said it would take some time for the swelling in her cheek to go down and even longer for the bones to mend. Warm liquid ran down the side of her face from her temple and she knew she had been hit by a piece of glass from the windshield when the deer’s antlers had gone through it.

Somehow she managed to open the door and climb out of the car. She stumbled over to the guardrail and sat down. That’s where she was now. Sitting alongside the highway in the middle of nowhere looking up at the stars.

She should call someone. The car wasn’t in any shape to drive, hell, she wasn’t in any shape to drive and she sure in hell wasn’t going to accept a ride from the few tractor-trailers that had pulled over to see if she was all right and to offer assistance. They looked offended when she yelled at them to go away. She imagined at least one called emergency services and it wouldn’t be too long for the cops and ambulance to get here. While it had been a few hours since her last drink, Anya was sure her blood alcohol level was still past the legal limit. She could swear she polished off a full bottle of vodka earlier.

At this point she honestly didn’t care anymore. The self-destruct button had been pressed awhile ago; it had merely been on a delayed timer and hadn’t gone off until now. And it had gone off in a grand fashion to boot. Starks never did anything halfway.

She knew she had to call someone. She knew she should call the one person who would understand her bout of stupidity and self-destructiveness. The delay in calling wasn’t because she thought he’d be mad, she knew he wouldn’t, but she knew he’d be disappointed and that was much worse than being mad. Much worse. Anya hated disappointing her father.

What was she doing? She knew better than this. She knew she couldn’t just run away like this. Actions had consequences and sometimes one paid the consequences for a very long time after something happened. It was similar to Newton’s third law in physics. For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.

Seeing Doc Samson had helped somewhat. He was someone she wasn’t related to and to whom she could talk to. Every time she thought she was making some progress, Temujin would show his face and she was right back where she was when she first woke up in S.H.I.E.L.D. after she had been rescued from his clutches.

The sounds of sirens could be heard in the distance. They’d be here soon. It was time to make a phone call before they reached her.

She took a deep breath and dialed a number.