Chapter 9-Undercover Part 2
Alex:
I couldn't stand the pain. It had only been about ten minutes after Kato got back, and I couldn't even uncover my ears. The effects from only a short time in the Box lasted extremely long, and the effects of being in the Box for a week was even more painful. I should know. It's happened to me before.
I winced and covered my ears more as a couple more guards came in and opened the cage. I didn't budge. It hurt just to be sitting down. And when they talked in a normal inside voice it felt like they were screaming directly into my ear with a megaphone.
One of them grabbed me roughly by the arm and I hissed in pain, trying to scoot closer to the inside of my cage. I felt even more ashamed, because now, I was being a coward.
He sighed and backed out of the cage.
"She won't budge," he said. His friend sneered.
He lunged into the cage and yanked me out, enjoying every bit of my pain. He took out his rod and electrocuted me. I howled in pain.
I stayed in my ball until I was a safe distance away from Kato and the others. Then I attacked. Besides, Ringleader already knew, so what was the point in hiding it?
I kicked electrocution guy in the face with my heel, wincing at the pain, and turned around and punched the other guy in his gut. As he was hunched over in pain I brought his head down to my knee. Then I ran. After all, I had a mission to fulfill, and I couldn't do that from a cage.
It took me three hallways and one dead end to finally find the control room. I almost cheered, but then I was tackled by about ten guards. I still wasn't back to my full strength, so I couldn't just throw them off like I could Hulk every now and then. The ones at the bottom of the pile started yelling in my ears as best as they could. I screamed, making it even worse, but I couldn't help it. Everything was so sensitive at the moment.
Control room, West wing, I told the team. I got no reply back as I was forced into a pure white room with a bunch of doctors and heart machines.
Third Person:
They all winced at Alex's cry of pain, and her breathing became more labored. Nobody had ever heard that horrid song come from her lips. Not even Axel, and it scared him almost as much as the Box did.
"Alex!" He yelled.
He started to type mad fast on the keyboard in front of him, ignoring the team's-and mostly Iron Fist. He cared deeply for Alex, Axel knew that, and if he let his sister die, he would be blamed not only by them but by himself as well.
Moriko clutched her stomach, memories flooding back into her mind. Tiger gave her a quizzical look.
"Everything okay?"
She shook her head.
"No. That scream is one of pure pain and suffering... If they're vivisecting after the Box, with its side affects..."
She left the sentence dangle in the air. Axel's and Fist's eyes widened in horror at what Moriko said.
"I got what we need," Axel said, "We're leaving in two."
Kato curled into a ball with her hands over her ears. She couldn't even focus on what the others were saying on the com link. Everything was on overdrive and she couldn't concentrate on anything... Too much... Too much...
To make matters worse, her wounds from the vivisection were reopened and not stitched back up properly again. The pain felt as if it was ten- no twenty times worse. She overheard the scientists. They were trying two different methods- wounds inside the Box after vivisection and doing vivisection after The Box. Alex had the displeasure of being the experimental one to go into the Box and then vivisection while Kato had the displeasure of being in the Box with her vivisection wounds reopened.
Too much, too much...Can't think... Can't think...
She gripped her chest as the blood continued to seep through. She lost about a liter of blood so far and she better not loose another liter- if she lost any more than two liters, there would be no way for her to survive without some intervention from some divine power.
"AHH," She cried out and then regretted it as the cry echoed back to her ears.
It was ten times louder than it should've have been. She gripped her ears with one hand and her other hand was over her chest, ignoring the blood that covered her hand. She only hoped that the others would get there soon...
Help...Oh Dio, help...
Too much, too much... Can't think... Can't think... came over Kato's com link.
Power Man's fists clenched tightly as they made their way through the Facility. The power was shut down- as much as they could without releasing the other creatures. They were trying to find Kato and Alex.
"Go," Axel ordered.
The Box is... to the left... Alex sent over the link.
Power Man nodded and ran off, leaving the others to get Alex. The sooner their team would be whole again then the sooner that they could go after Ringleader and Dr. Irving. Power Man ran to the left, running as fast as he could.
Help, Kato sent over the link, Oh Dio help...
He smashed through the door to the Box and Kato cried out and covered her ears desperately.
"Too much noise..."
Power Man ran to her side,
"Oh gosh, Kato," Power Man whispered horrified.
He ran to her side and she winced at every single noise he made. He gently touched her shoulder, but she pulled away and fell to her back, hissing. It was only then that he saw the reopened stitched wound that went from her naval up to her breasts.
She hissed at him and then winced,
"Too much...," she whispered.
"Kato," Power Man whispered, "Come on... We have to get out of here..."
She looked at him with teary hopeful eyes and allowed him to carefully help her stand up. He kissed her gently. With that, they were on their way to find the others.
Got Kato, Power Man informed over the links, Where are you?
With Alex, the vivisection room...
Alex cried in pain as the door burst open with a loud bang. However, sbe was unable to cover her ears. Her hand and feet were still strapped to the table.
She couldn't even open her eyes. Instead she had them squeezed tight, but with her nostrils on overdrive, she knew who it was before they even got into the room. Axel and Iron Fist released her after taking out the guards and the doctors, who hadn't had a chance to stitch her up yet. Axel swung one of her arms around his neck and picked up her legs with the other. Alex hissed in pain.
"Sh," Axel said so quietly he could barely hear himself, "It's fine. We're here now."
Finally she peeked open her good eye ever so slightly and nodded, burying berself deeper into his chest.
"Everything hurts," she whispered. He nodded as he ran out to the small jet they had come in. When they got there, Luke and Kato were already there.
The team stared in shock as both girls curled up into balls, putting their hands over their ears. Axel walked up to one of the medics.
"Patch them up but be very quiet and gentle. Their senses are on hyper-drive right now, practically anything you do could hurt them."
He nodded and relayed the instructions quietly to the other doctors, and the team was off again.
Creature seethed as he found Ringleader blocking their entrance with a small army. He hissed at her.
"Oh, 24, so good to see you again," she taunted, "I hope you're not going to be as much of a disappointment as 23 was. Your time with these puny heroes has made you softer."
Creature grit his teeth. She still called them by 23 and 24, the labels they had before they chose their names. He hated it as much as Alex.
His eyes widened at the thought of his half-dead sister, and he roared at her. It sounded like several different animals all roaring out their battle cries. Many of the guards started shaking in fear, and the other half stayed their ground. A few people even ran away. But Ringleader just pissed him off more.
She let out a mock yawn and started clapping slowly, walking towards them.
"If it's a fight you want, then a fight you shall have."
Power Man held Kato's hand as the doctors stitched her up as Iron Fist did the same with Alex. They motioned for the others to go help Axel with Ringerleader and Dr. Irving. Moriko, however, stayed behind as she didn't want to leave Kato's side- not again.
The Kato and Alex were moved to an operation room to be worked on and the doctors were frantic to get it done quickly- mostly because the heroes' presence scared them than the monsters that they usually dealt with.
"Shh," Iron Fist said as he held Alex's hand, "You'll be alright."
Alex just glared at him as the doctors fixed her up.
"W-We didn't know that the creatures were sentient," one the doctors gulped as they worked.
"Sentient or not, it's wrong," Power Man snapped and Kato winced. He looked at her sadly,
"Shhh you'll be okay."
"I hope so," Kato managed to gasp out, "... Hot damn."
"Ditto," Alex muttered.
The two girls hissed in pain as the doctors continued their work, pain shooting up through their bodies. Soon, however, they were able to stand up fully with their vivisection wounds stitched up.
"Y-you shouldn't move around too much," one doctor advised.
"Like that stopped you from continuing your experiments," Kato spat, "You all are egoisma stulta bastardoj,"
"Selfish idiotic bastards," Alex translated, "And I have to agree..."
"Wanting to learn about our species is alright and curiosity is natural... Capturing us by force to experiment is not," Kato said with narrowed eyes.
"Moriko, watch the doctors," Kato ordered, "We'll go after the special doc and Ringleader."
"No," Iron Fist and Power Man argued.
"You," Power Man shook his head, "Are going to the hellicarrier with Alex. You're not getting injured any farther. SHIELD will take care of every single worker here and probably return some of these...species... to their proper homes and properly take care of the rest."
Alex and Kato shared a nod, agreeing with the boys, but as soon as they made it out to the hall, Alex had run off after Ringleader. Iron Fist ran after her.
"I thought you'd be the first to run," Power Man noted.
"Let's see," Kato mused, "Go to the hellicarrier and heal with you as my personal nurse or go help take down the Ringleader... As much as I'd like to help, I just can't... Not in this condition. My pride is more wounded than my body."
Power Man nodded in understanding. He carefully picked her up bridal style and she wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her head into his chest.
One thing's for sure, Kato thought, my respect for Alex is now at least existent and growing.
I heard that, Alex sent over the com link.
Alex stopped just a few yards away from the fight. The team was locked jn cimbat with the guards, and Axel with Ringleader. She snarled and crouched down as Iron Fist ran up beside her.
"You should be resting," he said.
She shook her head.
"You know I can't do that. Not until Ringleader is gone."
Iron Fist looked at Alex with a worried expression, thinking she might actually kill the alien. Then, without a warning, she leaped up, and pounced on ringleader, taking her away from Axel.
Alex was throwing as many lunches as she could, doing anything to keep Ringleader in the ground.
"You. Hurt. Them!" She yelled, throwing a lunch to match each word.
She didn't even give Ringleader a chance to speak back.
"You almost killed her! I won't let you do it again!"
Animal hopped off of Ringleader and threw her into a nearby tree, her anger taking over, blocking out all of the immense pain she felt.
"You stuffed Kato in the Box. You vivisected her and Moriko. You're not getting away until you pay for hurting my family!"
She lunged at Ringleader, throwing a barrage of kicks and and punches that Ringleader was to slow to dodge. Finally she stopped, letting Ringleader fall to the ground. Animal picked her up by her throat, wanting to crush her wind pipe so badly it hurt. Instead, she threw the skrull up in the air and kicked her so hard she was unconscious before she even hit the ground.
Animal, ignoring the cheers from her team, ran inside to the control room.
Creature ran after Animal, as did Iron Fist, while Nova and Spider-Man looked after Ringleader. They caught up with her at the control room, following the carnage that she had made on her way there.
Animal sent her fist into the main controls, shutting down all security systems, including the locks on the cages, setting all of them free.
Creature smirked, but it was soon wiped away as Alex began to bleed again. However, she seemed completely oblivious to it as she fell to the ground with a thud, her breathing turning shallow. Axel picked her up carefully.
"Dumbass," be whispered, walking back outside to see SHIELD arresting Ringleader.
Nova, Tiger, and Spidey needed some medical attention.
"It's a nice sight to see so many happy faces," Axel said. Fist nodded in agreement.
"Indeed. It is the reason I stay a hero."
Axel smirked.
"It's the reason we're heroes. So how about that meditation thing you were telling me about last week?"