A/N: Hi everyone! Hope this doens't send you into a tizzy but I've been doing re-writes of all three of my stories. I just felt like they needed more substance and grammar editing. It's all very much a work in progress but here I am, re-uploading chapters so I apologize in advance for all the notifications you must be getting. As always, I own nothing here but Angeline. Please R&R to let me know what you think!
There was a loud crashing sound, followed by a scream—decidedly feminine and full of anguish. A few men shouted in response, rushing to remedy the issue, and what followed was even more crashing before the firing of bullets—their ignition the only source of light besides the humming of the computer screens in the completely dark room. Eventually, the screaming stopped, turning instead into broken whines that sounded much like a dying animal.
The commotion happening before him was enough to make Dr. Walters sick, not that he hadn't felt nauseous, paranoid, and scared the whole entire time he had been "brought" to this place. Watching the men surround the patient and subdue her so violently was enough to make any humane person severely uncomfortable.
"We need to up the dosage" Dr. Walters had his notepad before him, glasses resting slightly askew, and his eyes almost manic from exhaustion as he reported to his boss. Hydra had taken him, in the middle of the night, from his lab whilst he was doing research. Supposedly, Christopher Walters was replacing the last doctor who had an unfortunate run in with the patient just days prior to his arrival.
Alexander Pierce was displeased with the news, as was obvious by the scowl on his face, "The dosage was increased just last week. Are you telling me that after all these years the patient is becoming resistant to it?"
The news was unsettling to Pierce. The patient was dangerous at worst—and if at full power and completely healed, almost nuclear. The fact that the patient could possibly be growing a resistance to the drugs Hydra used to subdue it could mean the end of all their work—or the end of Hydra. It was obvious how resilient and powerful the patient was, which is why they were using its blood, tissue, and spinal samples in order to try and recreate the Super Soldier Serum. However, if the usual mix of cocktails wasn't going to subdue the patient, and they had to increasingly up the dosage, soon enough they were going to have to find a way to completely incapacitate her before she ended them in revenge.
"It might have something to do with the fact that the patient was able to briefly reach a source of sunlight during the last attempted escape—the ultraviolet rays might have powered her cells back up again, making the serum less effective," Dr. Walters stuttered nervously, afraid to displease Pierce any further. None of his tastings had come up with any results so far, Erskine's formula was still so far away from reach.
Sighing, Pierce folded his arms and turned to Agent Sitwell, who was standing behind him. "Get Rumlow to administer another set now—and let him know about the updated schedule. Have the Asset there during the administration, and let Rumlow know that if the patient tries to fight back again, I want the Asset to neutralize it once again."
Agent Sitwell, having gotten used to the procedures needed to subdue the patient, was unfazed at what was going on around him. "Will we need to put the patient back in the Chamber?"
The Chamber, which was of Hydra invention, was a metal room meant to suck out ultraviolet radiation from anything within it, it also held negative energy and thus didn't allow the patient to "recharge" herself at all. It was what Hydra had used initially to capture and subdue the patient, followed by a mix of cocktails that would keep her incapacitated and unable to absorb anything, and this is also where they always brought her up back to if one of the escape attempts ever ended up with the patient getting exposure to sunlight—which unfortunately was so powerful, it allowed the patient's cells to bypass and work through all the drugs that they had dosed her with.
Pierce directed his attention to Dr. Walters for the answer to Sitwell's question. "Yes, we'll need to exhaust the current UV rays that are powering the patient if we want any work to be done further,"
Nodding in understanding, Agent Sitwell turn and left swiftly without anymore questions.
Alexander Pierce watched the still form of the patient, that was shrouded in darkness save for the light of the computer screens. She had been a lot of trouble, always had been. The escape attempts had started decreasing though, over the last decade and Pierce was honestly surprised she even attempted this one, having thought that her spirit was finally broken.
"The next time you go in to check on the patient, I want a full blood and spinal work done again. The only way we can even hope to replicate or surpass Erksine's work is through the patient and so far everyone else has failed. Don't disappoint me Dr. Walters," Pierce commanded imperiously, causing Dr. Walters to nod nervously before scurrying away—notebook clutched closely to his chest.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Pierce gave an exasperated sigh. It was tiring to be surrounded by incompetent morons.
…
She fought against the restraints that were binding her, desperate to reach the sunlight again. The bullets that the Hydra agents had rained down upon her were already healed, given the small amount of light she had been able to reach and the residual energies around her. However, it wasn't enough to get her back to her full form.
Her throat hurt, from the screaming, mostly from pain, partly from anger. It had only gotten worse as they dragged her closer and closer to the Chamber. In that moment she knew above all else that any attempt at escape for that day, that week, or even that month really would be futile. Spending time in the Chamber always managed to put her in a semi-comatose state.
Opening her eyes slightly, she watched as Agent Rumlow approached her, a box of syringes in one hand and a gun in another. Behind him stood the Asset, watching all the happenings before him stoically.
When the Asset first got there, she had hoped he would be an ally. He had enough fight in him…for the first few months at least. But whatever experiments that Hydra conducted on him, whatever it was that they did to his mind, had slowly started to erase the person the Asset once was. She had watched it happen, pityingly, as initially they had tried to make her pry into his mind. But she had refused, and no amount of torture or subjugation would make her willingly work for Hydra in any way.
It had cost her, but it was worth it, knowing that she wasn't hurting an innocent as part of Hydra's games. Unfortunately, things didn't end so well for the Asset. And there he stood now, before her, a shell of the man he once was.
James Buchanan Barnes.
That's the name he had managed to give her, once, when they attempted to escape together during the earlier part of his capture. She briefly remembered it, having been trapped in the Chamber for days and in a near unconscious state. They had placed him directly in the chair afterwards, attempted to wipe his mind. She remembered the earlier days, when Hydra had attempted to do the same with her, but found that placing her too close, or really just strapping her into something, that was an electricity source or was powered by electricity was not a smart move. Twenty agents had died that day, it was a glorious sight to behold and she had laughed the whole way they had dragged her to the Chamber.
The Chamber, what a unique piece of technology. No visible sources of energy nor any that she could sense because it was what the Doctor had called "anti-energy" and thus negated everything in it. It also absorbed all the UV radiation, or any radiation really, out of the place. The patient couldn't help be simultaneously fascinated and disgusted with the machine. It was like they had been watching her, for years, and designed it especially to contain her.
As Agent Rumlow injected her with the cocktail of drugs that Hydra was prone to use every day to keep her subdued, she let her eyes fall close. No point in fighting more now. Best to conserve as much energy as possible, as little there was left in her body.
…
"What's the ETA?" Steve Rogers asked, decked completely in his Captain America suit, walked up to the pit where Agent Clint Barton was currently piloting the quintjet.
"We'll be landing in 10 minutes, 5 miles out from the Hydra Base," Barton responded, flicking different controls on the panel before him in preparation to land. It would have to be as slow and quiet as possible in order not to alert anyone nearby that they were approaching.
"Stark and Thor are already en route," Agent Natasha Romanov informed them—looking up from her StarkPad, "We'll need the Big Guy to make an appearance," glancing at Dr. Banner, Romanov shot an apologetic smile, "Intel suggests they've got tighter security here than in any other base we've encountered. Whatever Hydra is hiding in there, it's important,"
Doctor Bruce Banner nodded solemnly, knowing what was being asked of him and liking it were two very different things. However, over the past few months of working with the Avengers in order to take down Hydra bases had helped him at the very least mentally cope with the fact that the Other Guy was in him and he was there to stay. However, asking him to turn into the Other Guy—not one of his favorite past times. But at least working for SHIELD he was doing something good, and not breaking Harlem in half.
Picking up his shield, Steve strapped himself into his seat and prepared for landing. Even now the super soldier was still a little wary when it came to flying, or just being in a plane in general. His last few experiences on anything that flew, be it quintjet or helicarrier, were not fond memories for the Captain to recall. Moreover, every time the quintjet landed, Steve would brace himself as if preparing for a crash and once they were safely on the ground, the Captain would quickly thank God before moving forward with the mission.
Once the quintjet successfully landed, everyone hopped out and stepped into the woods before them. Clint and Natasha both checked over their weapons. Hawkeye paying special attention to his bow, to make sure that the string was still taught and that his arrows were all armed. Natasha checked the chamber of each gun and made sure they were all fully loaded, before securing them into the holsters on her waist. Steve scanned the whole area around them, scouting for potential threats, his eyes resting on Bruce for a moment as the doctor prepared to let the Other Guy out.
Months of working together as a team, they all basically had a routine down at this point. If Stark and Thor had been on the quintjet with them, and not meeting them at the base, Thor would have been standing next to Steve, twirling his hammer carelessly as he to scanned the area. Tony would be talking to Jarvis, asking the AI to check on satellites while the billionaire genius ran a systems diagnostic on his suit. It was all very mechanical, and efficient, the way they worked now. It was almost as if they were an actual team, and Steve shook his head incredulously at the thought. The sentiment was not something he would have ever dreamed on contemplating just months prior when Fury had first assembled them all together.
"Looks like the bands all here" Stark called impishly as he and Thor landed in front of the team, "Well Capiscle, call it out,"
Steve rolled his eyes at the nickname, but the super soldier had long given up trying to reprimand Tony for it. Obviously the man would never change his ways, or listen unless necessary, and Steve was coming to terms with it.
"Stark" Steve nodded in greeting, "You, Thor and Bruce will go from the front. Make as much noise as possible and draw everyone out. Barton, get as much elevation as you can and keep an eye out. You know where to put the detonators and let us know when it's going to blow. Romanov and I will go in and do recon, Hydra has to be hiding something in there. The place is too well-guarded for there not to be something,"
Everyone nodded in assent, `the plan sounding good in their minds and not anything different from what they usually did. It was a good strategy and luckily, the Hydra operatives that were there were usually too busy scrambling because of all the noise the Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor would make to pay much attention to anything else, let alone catch on to what they were doing. Once they all got to the base, the sight of the Hulk, Thor, and Iron Man had all the Hydra agents rushing out. All the attention was so focused on the three of them that Steve and Natasha only had to subdue a handful of agents before making their way into the compound. From high above, in a large oak tree, Clint was firing arrows strategically at different sectors of the compound—placing detonators wherever he hit, the countdown clock perched before him and already beeping away.
Once inside, Natasha and Steve maneuvered their way through the stone hall of the compound, and went in two separate directions. Steve was careful, looking over his shoulder and around corners in order to make sure he wouldn't be ambushed—always prepared. Natasha was, less careful. The Black Widow strutted down the halls and engaged and neutralized any Hydra operatives that approached her—not intimidated whatsoever. The woman was a trained assassin and she didn't have any qualms of making full use of her training.
Running down the halls, Steve passed several empty cells, and when a few Hydra members appeared before him, Captain America easily subdued them. There weren't that many to begin with, considering that most of them had rushed outside once all the commotion started up. However, as he approached the end of the hall he was currently running down, Steve noticed that more and more Hydra agents began appearing—which definitely meant he was getting closer to something of value. Using his shield, Steve blocked the oncoming rain of bullets headed his way before subduing yet another group of Hydra agents. Not usually one to use firearms, Steve made sure to just punch or block any one in his way with his shield. Upon inspecting each room, the Captain found nothing except a set of computers at the end of the hall.
Plugging in the flash drive like how Stark taught him to, Steve pressed enter and waited as Jarvis did his work on the system. Soon, whatever files Hydra had hidden in this base would be uploaded onto Stark's main server. While waiting for the AI to infiltrate the system and retrieve the necessary information, Steve continued to look around, something in his gut telling him there was definitely more to be found. A flash of white light caught his eye and Steve turned abruptly to go toward a door with a small glass window.
Inside, Steve spotted an old man in a white lab coat scrambling around and throwing a bunch of papers into a fire that was burning in a trash can. The man was moving around frantically, looking as if he was trying to destroy evidence. Behind the running man was a person, chained to the floor and looking close to death. Peering closer to the glass, Steve realized it was a woman, who looked severely malnourished and near death. Obviously, Hydra had been holding someone prisoner in the base, which meant they could be with SHIELD or a potential ally. With that thought in mind, Steve broke the bolted door open.
The man in the white lab coat stopped running and turned to look at him. He looked momentarily stunned, before running up to Steve urgently, "Oh my god, Captain America! You have to help—they kidnapped me in the middle of the night! You need to get me out of here!"
"Sir, please, breathe. Who are you? And who is that behind you?" Steve indicated to the woman who was still laying unconscious on the floor, despite the commotion.
The man pushed his glasses further up his face, "Captain, my name is Dr. Walters. That woman…they never gave me her name, we've always just referred to her as the patient…"
Dr. Walters began fidgeting again, no doubt stressed and anxious from his time as a Hydra captive.
"It's fine," Steve placated the man, placing a hand on his shoulder, "let me grab her and we'll be on our way out." Making his way toward the woman, Steve picked up one of the chains that was attached to her leg.
"I don't think you want to do that—they didn't give me much information but I know she's dangerous and she has something that Hydra wants," Dr. Walters warned, taking a step back as Steve broke one of the chains.
"Well if Hydra wants her, we need to make sure they don't get her—no matter how 'dangerous' she could be," Steve reasoned, breaking off the other chains and swinging the woman up into his arms.
The super soldier was surprised by how light the woman was. Despite having super strength, most of the time people were a lot heavier than the woman that was currently in his arms.
"Follow me, I'll get you out of here," shield now strapped firmly to his back, mysterious prisoner woman cradled securely in his arms, and kidnapped doctor scrambling behind him, Steve attempted to make his way out of the compound.
…
Loud noises started making their way down the hall, people were shouting and Steve knew that Hydra agents were making their way toward them. The super soldier quickly made his way back to the room with the computers and pulled the flash drive out, hoping that Jarvis had done all the work he needed to do. Securing the flash drive onto his person, Steve motioned for the doctor to follow him.
Making their way down the hall, a rainstorm of bullets was fired at the party. Steve pushed the doctor around the corner with his body, sending all three of them flying back.
"Stay here," Steve ordered the doctor, before placing the woman down on the floor and pulling his shield out from his back.
In the hall, Steve was confronted with a large group of Hydra agents, all of them armed with guns that were trained steadily at him. Bullets were fired in rapid succession and Steve used his shield to once again block them. Once in the thick of it all, he began knocking Hydra agents out, throwing his shield and running straight into the fray. The Captain usually only needed at least 2 punches to solidly knock the consciousness out of anyone who came at him. When all the agents before him had been neutralized, Steve turned around quickly at the sound of more bullets.
Picking up his shield and running around the corner quickly, Steve found that Doctor Walters had been shot, already lying in a pool of his own blood. Bending down to check for a pulse, Steve cursed under his breath when he found none. Making a run toward the Hydra agents, Steve intercepted them before they could approach the woman, who was still lying on the ground. Throwing his shield out again, Steve knocked out the front half of the group of agents, before working his way through the second half. It was quick and efficient, Steve wasted no time. When they were all down, Steve placed his shield back on his back and picked the woman up in his arms. Looking around, Steve tried to reminder the way in which he had made his way in.
"Jarvis I need an exit route," the Captain was already rounding the corner, trying to remember from which hallway he had came from.
"Already on it Captain," came Jarvis's reply over the comm units, "If you would take an immediate right, the walkway you will be going down will lead you to the back exit,"
"Got it, thanks Jarvis," maneuvering his way down the halls, Steve quickly made his way out. "Agent Romanoff, I'm almost out—what's your 20?"
No answer came for a moment. And Steve waited anxiously for the Black Widow to respond despite knowing that she could take care of herself. After a brief pause, and a moment of static, Natasha's voice filtered through, "Sorry, was busy for a moment. On my way out now,"
"Rogers, Romanoff," Barton's voice crackled through, "We've got five minutes before the place is set to blow,"
"Copy," the two responded automatically.
"Agent Barton, I need the med team at the helicarrier on standby—I've got a woman with me and she's unconscious and severely injured,"
"Wow old timer, middle of a mission and you've managed to pick up a woman—what did they teach guys back in the 40s?" Star's voice came clearly through the comm line and Steve rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Not an appropriate time Stark," skidding to a halt, Steve heard running foot steps approach him, and the Captain prepared to pull his shield out.
Rounding the corner, Natasha also halted as she spotted Steve. The two made eye contract for a brief moment, Natasha's gaze falling onto the woman in Steve's arms. The Black Widow sent Steve a look he couldn't interpret before the two started running toward the exit together.
"Two minutes everyone, we've got to start heading out—the explosion will have a mile-wide radius and none of us can be anywhere near it when it goes," Clint informed everyone further, unlatching himself from his perch before sliding down the tree. "I'm gonna need a ride out,"
"Friend Barton, the Iron Man is coming to retrieve you. I will leave once Friend Natasha and the Captain are out," Thor swung out his hammer at the tank that was headed his way, breaking the big machine in half—the casual tone of his voice never changing.
"I'll get the Hulk," Natasha started making her way toward the big green man, waiting expectantly for him to pick her up. There was no way she could run as fast as Captain America back to the quintjet and Bruce as his regular self wouldn't be able to do it either. She needed a fast ride and a gamma radiation charged, big, green man would have to do.
The Hulk glanced down at Natasha, before holding out his hand and waiting for her to step on. After months of training and working together on missions since that day in New York, the Hulk seemed less overall angry and more cognizant of his actions and who the real enemy was. And of all the Avengers, it was Natasha who he responded to best and it was Natasha who could calm him down in the end. Grabbing a hold of her, the Hulk placed Natasha onto his shoulder before turning and breaking into a full run back to the quintjet.
Thor briefly glanced around, searching the immediate area around him in order to make sure that all the Avengers were out of the one-mile radius of the compound. Steve was already running back, the woman in his arms. Meanwhile, Tony had taken Clint and the two were already flying back. Natasha left with the Hulk and that meant everyone was out of the way. With one final nod to himself, Thor raised his hammer into the air and with a crackle of lightning, followed by the sound of rumbling thunder—the god brought himself back to the quintjet.
As Steve was running, the woman in his arms gasped and her eyes fluttered open. Shockingly blue eyes met his, and the hands that were previously hanging loosely were now wrapped firmly around his neck. The woman's brown hair, long and tangled from what Steve thought was probably months of being captive, flowed back as the wind pushed against the pair as the Captain ran. Digging her nails into Steve's neck, and pressing her body as closely to his as possible, the woman's eyes darted around frantically. Looking nervously from every angle to see if they were being follow by Hydra. After being Hydra's captive for so long, it didn't look like she cared who had rescued her and taken her away as long a they weren't affiliated with the terrorist organization.
"You're going to be fine ma'am. We're bringing you onto our plane and once we get to our base they'll be doctors there to help you," Steve informed the woman calmly, even as he ran full speed ahead.
Eventually, Steve slowed down and just as he stopped in front of the quintjet, the bombs went off, setting off an explosion that made everyone turn abruptly around to watch. The woman in his arms flinched at the loud noise but she didn't move anymore after that. Stepping onto the quintjet, Steve laid her across one of the benches as Clint pulled the quintjet into the air to fly back to the helicarrier.
"Who is she Captain?" Dr. Banner kneeled down next to the woman that Steve brought, having already changed into a new set of clothes as the Hulk had torn a part the other set. Taking her pulse and giving a cursory physical examination, the Doctor couldn't detect any fatal injuries. Which wasn't to say that she didn't have any, given her near unconscious state.
Steve shrugged, "Don't know, Hydra had her kept in a cell. I'm hoping she can tell us what they were up to in there." The Captain glanced down at the woman before him, who was lucid enough for her eyes to dart around the quintjet warily.
"Can you speak English?" swiveling her eyes toward Banner who was still kneeled beside her head, the woman nodded.
She tried pushing herself up into a sitting position, flailing the first couple of times. Steve wrapped his arm around her and helped the woman sit up properly, before releasing her. The white hospital gown that she was wearing opened up in the back—revealing her spine and several bruises. The woman's angular features were making her look gaunter as her cheeks were sunk in and the area around her eyes dark from exhaustion and malnourishment, no doubt.
"Need…the Sun," the woman croaked, her voice hoarse from screaming.
Steve went down on one knee in order to try and hear the woman better, "What do you need?"
The woman gasped for air, as if the very act of breathing was giving her a hard time, "Sun,"
Dr. Banner watched the woman with wary eyes, "We'll need to do a full body x-ray when we get to the helicarrier. I think there's something wrong with her lungs,"
"The Sun?" Tony walked over, his interest peaked by the direction the conversation was taking, "Why'd you need the Sun for?"
"I'll contact Fury and let him know," Natasha and the rest ignored what the woman had just said, while Tony's attention was completely arrested by it. There was a niggling in the back of his mind that told him there was more to the woman that any of them were aware of.
The woman met Tony directly in the eye, and took a deep breath before starting her answer. "X…Gene…Sun…heal…," she rasped out, her body nearly giving out from the exertion.
"Well I'll be damned" Tony whistled, "We have our own little Kryptonian here,"
"Now's not the time Tony," Bruce reprimanded, causing the billionaire to shut his mouth. Of all the Avengers, Bruce Banner was probably the only one who had the patience to deal with Tony for more than a few hours but also he was the only one who could get Tony to do anything the billionaire didn't want to do, besides Pepper but she wasn't an Avenger.
"We can't get you to the Sun right now, we're on a plane. Would moving you to a window be fine?" Bruce offered, the quintjet was generally sealed off but if they moved her to the cockpit than she might just get some direct sunlight.
The woman shook her head, "No…barriers…" she started coughing, the sound become increasingly loud and when the woman placed her hand over her mouth and took it away, blood speckled it.
"Barton, you need to land," Steve commanded, alarmed at the sight of blood, "Her conditions worsening and if she says the Sun will heal her we have to at least try,"
Things like this, they would have freaked Steve out before. But that was also before he was frozen, before New York, before the aliens and gods and all the other magic and weird things that he kept running into happened. While the super soldier still felt off kilter sometimes dealing with things like this, he no longer let it surprise him.
"But Captain, we're still an hour out from the helicarrier," Clint protested, looking down at the GPS in front of him in order to confirm their location.
The archer was no inclined to stop the quintjet, especially if Hydra might be tailing them after they just blew up one of their bases. It was safer just to head straight to the helicarrier, where Hydra was less likely to try and attack.
"Barton. Land. Find the nearest open piece of land, no civilians," the tone in Steve's voice brokered no argument. Standing up, Steve walked over to the cockpit.
"This is ridiculous Captain; we don't even know if she's telling the truth…" Natasha argued but was quickly silenced by a glare from Steve.
"If the lady needs the Sun to heal, it is best we do so quickly, her health seems to be failing rapidly," the Thunder god watched as the woman's eyes fluttered shut and her body slumped back into the quintjet wall behind her.
Tony rolled his eyes, "Jarvis, where's the closest open field we can land in?" the billionaire called out, having programmed Jarvis to navigate, and under certain circumstances control, the quintjet they were currently in. "Look guys," turning toward the rest of the team, "She has the X-Gene, which means she's a mutant. Plain and simple. And if she needs the Sun, that's probably her mutation. Given the fact that Hydra had her in a basement for God knows how long and doing who knows what to her, I think if we don't want to lug around a corpse we should land,"
No one said anything, everyone surprised at Tony's impassioned speech. However, Jarvis broke the silence not a minute later. "There is an abandoned farm only five minutes away from your current location Sir,"
"Alright, alright," Barton assented and sighed, "Jarvis send me the coordinates,"
"The coordinates have already been uploaded Agent Barton. They should be showing on the GPS console now,"