Lucas listened to the empty tone after the call ended and fell silent.
His mind immediately began racing.
He wasn't worried about Gwen entering his apartment.
What concerned him was something else entirely.
Did he have anything in there she absolutely shouldn't see?
Anything embarrassing?
Anything inappropriate?
Lucas ran through the list quickly.
Embarrassing magazines? None.
Posters? Also none.
The answer was simple—he couldn't afford them.
There had been a time when he had plenty of energy and not much to do with it. Back then, instead of wasting time on distractions, he would go up to the rooftop and punch the air until he was too tired to stay awake.
What about anything dangerous?
That gave him pause.
The five Chitauri weapons he'd salvaged were wrapped tightly in a bedsheet and shoved under his bed.
They shouldn't be visible.
At least… not unless someone started digging around under there.
Lucas exhaled.
"Whatever," he muttered quietly.
More important things demanded his attention.
He slipped his phone back into his pocket. The warmth in his eyes from speaking with Gwen vanished, replaced by a calm, icy focus.
The taxi driver beneath his grip was trembling with fear.
Lucas studied the man's terrified expression and allowed himself a faint smile.
"Now," Lucas said quietly,
"It's my turn to rob you."
Meanwhile, back in New York—
Gwen slid her phone into her pocket and walked over to the metal fire escape attached to Lucas's apartment building.
Climbing up was easy.
Within a minute she reached the top floor.
The window she was looking for was half open.
A pair of shorts hung on the frame, drying in the air. Up close, they were obviously an old pair of pants that had been cut down into shorts.
Gwen moved them aside and climbed inside.
Lucas's apartment was small.
A secondhand couch sat against one wall, and a folding table—also clearly used—held a laptop. Those two pieces of furniture already filled most of the living room.
But the place was clean.
Not spotless, but neat.
Comfortable.
Gwen glanced around with quiet curiosity.
She had never visited Lucas's old apartment, and this was the first time she had seen the new one.
After a moment, she took the envelope Dr. Connors had asked her to deliver and placed it on the folding table.
As she did, something else caught her attention.
The laptop.
More specifically—
The stickers on its lid.
Gwen blinked.
Then laughed softly.
"That's… surprisingly cute."
Several colorful stickers decorated the laptop—small cartoon girls and pastel designs.
She tried to imagine Lucas choosing them himself.
The thought was ridiculous.
Clearly the laptop had belonged to some girl before he bought it.
There was no other explanation.
Gwen knew Lucas well enough to be certain of one thing.
If she had stayed long enough to argue that day when she gave him the phone, he absolutely would have tried to return it.
That was exactly why she had avoided him for the next couple of weeks.
After one last glance at the laptop, Gwen turned to leave.
At that moment, her open jacket caught the air as she moved.
A small gust swept across the folding table.
The envelope lifted and slid across the surface.
Then it drifted through the doorway toward the bedroom.
"Oh—"
Gwen hurried after it.
The envelope nearly disappeared under the bed before she managed to grab it.
As she stood up—
Something caught her eye.
A faint green glow.
It flickered beneath the bed.
Gwen froze.
She crouched down and looked closer.
A tightly wrapped bedsheet lay beneath the bedframe.
But the cloth wasn't thick enough to block light.
A dim green glow pulsed from within it, brightening and fading slowly, almost like breathing.
"What is that…?"
Gwen frowned.
She started to stand—
Then noticed something beside the bed.
A small, cracked picture frame sat on the nightstand.
Inside it was a photograph.
Curious, Gwen picked it up.
The picture had clearly been taken in Times Square.
Two teenagers stood in the center of the frame.
Both looked about fourteen years old.
The boy—
She recognized immediately.
Lucas.
He was smiling widely.
Gwen stared at the image.
In all the time she had known him, she had never seen Lucas smile like that.
But the girl beside him—
Gwen didn't recognize her.
The girl's skin looked slightly pale, but she was smiling just as brightly. Her arms were wrapped around Lucas's arm as if the two were inseparable.
Gwen studied the photo more carefully.
Based on Lucas's clothes, this must have been taken not long after he first started school.
She recognized the pants he was wearing.
They were the same ones he had later cut into the shorts currently hanging in the window.
Which meant the photo had been taken years ago.
But who was the girl?
Gwen tilted her head slightly.
Their faces shared a faint resemblance.
"His sister?" she murmured.
But Lucas had never mentioned having family.
Another thought crossed her mind.
Someone who had passed away.
That would explain the silence.
Gwen placed the photo back on the nightstand.
Then she picked up the envelope and headed toward the living room.
Halfway there—
She stopped suddenly.
"…Wait."
She had forgotten something.
The envelope.
It wasn't in her hand.
Gwen turned around and went back to the bedroom.
The envelope was gone.
"…Huh?"
Then she looked under the bed.
There it was.
The envelope had slid beneath the frame again.
Gwen crouched down and reached under the bed.
Her fingers brushed the paper.
At the same time—
They touched the wrapped bedsheet.
The sensation surprised her.
Through the fabric, she could feel something hard.
Cold.
Metal.