A/N: Hello beautiful readers, Happy Valentines Day. First off, I am so sorry for offending anyone in my last chapter in relation to my comment about the musical Wicked being mediocre. I have never actually seen the movie so I don't have an opinion of it, and I would like to express that it was my character's views on the musical and not mine. I'm sure it's an excellent musical and I'm really sorry for offending anyone, please forgive me. Anyone here's chapter 10 for your pleasure, don't forget to read, review and enjoy.
Natasha was hardly surprised when she opened her door that morning and found Phoenix standing there and waiting for her. Also unsurprising was the fact that Phoenix was already dressed in a sports tank top and pants, which usually meant that she had been in the training room very early.
"Are you ready to head down?" Natasha asked her as she exited the room. "We can run over what we're doing today, before Clint brings The Experiments in."
Natasha started to walk away but stopped when she saw that Phoenix still held her ground. She looked at her expectantly and Phoenix responded by rising her head to meet Natasha's eye, silently begging for a serious discussion. Natasha stopped and indicated that she was going to listen to what Phoenix had to say.
"Who's the intruder, Nat?" she asked. "Why won't you tell me anything?"
Natasha sighed and shook her head, placing her hands together, palms and fingertips touching, almost like she was praying, and she inhaled a deep breath. "Have you ever heard of the name Loki?" She asked.
Phoenix shook her head, calmly as possible so as not to reveal anything. The truth was she hadn't heard the name Loki before, at least she hadn't before she met him yesterday.
Natasha wasn't completely surprised by her answer, most members of the general public didn't know about Loki, and that he was the one behind the Chitauri Invasion. However Doctor Blake seemed to have his claws situated deep into SHIELD's intelligence, and most likely would've known about Loki's involvement.
This thought made Natasha question just how much Phoenix knew. Whether Doctor Blake had told her everything he knew, or nothing at all. An even worse thought, what lies had he made up to twist his actions into what Phoenix believed were good deeds.
"Phoenix what do you know about The Battle of New York?" Natasha asked.
"SHIELD got their hands on a dangerous power source and manipulated it to their own uses. They then proceeded to open a portal to an alien world, after which floods I deadly enemies called the Chitauri came through. In a rush to fix their mess, SHIELD assembled the Avengers who fought off the alien threat," Phoenix answered almost immediately, her words came to her automatically and she hadn't quite realised exactly what she said until she was finished.
Phoenix placed a hand over her mouth and looked at Natasha, stunned. When she finally finished processing exactly what she had said, she cleared her throat and took her hand away from her mouth. "Uh..that's what I've been told," she murmured, turning away. "Does the intruder, Loki, have something to do with it."
"Yes," Natasha answered honestly, and before Phoenix could speak, Natasha put her hands on her shoulders and began leading her away. "That's another story for another day Phoenix, I can't reveal that information to you yet. Maybe when we don't have so much to be worrying about."
Phoenix wanted to argue the point, but she'd asked too many questions already. You never questioned, if you asked questions you would have to be punished. Phoenix should've learned by now, she was an idiot. Why couldn't she just do as she was told?
"Ok," Phoenix nodded in acceptance. "Let's go down to training."
"Excellent," Natasha smiled as they entered the elevator and she took her hands off Phoenix's shoulders. "We're doing some fitness testing today, and I want you to participate. ever done the beep test before?"
Phoenix thought to herself for a minute. "No, I don't think so, I think I remember doing something called the multi-stage fitness test though, and that involved a sequence of beeps."
"That's the one," Natasha nodded, the elevator opening at the same time she spoke, to reveal Clint laying down white tape in various areas around the room. "Go do some warm-up stretches while we set up, if we need help we'll call you," Natasha instructed Phoenix, who took herself into the far corner and began stretching.
"I put in a request to Jarvis to send The Experiments down her in about 15 minutes," Clint informed Natasha as she walked over to him.
He looked like he was going to say something else but was caught off guard as Natasha stood up on her toes to press her lips against his. He returned the kiss eagerly, but had a frown on is face as Natasha pulled away.
"What are you doing?" He asked her in a flat tone.
"I thought, since Phoenix knew about our relationship, that there would be no problem with expressing ourselves," she cocked her head to the side, and bit her lip seductively. Natasha, still stood en point, exactly like a ballerina, and placed her lips as close to Clint's as possible without actually touching them.
He knew exactly what she was doing, she was trying to tempt him. Clint gave in, grabbing Natasha by her waist, he pulled her forward and smacked his lips against hers. She kissed him back, ferociously deepening the kiss, tracing her hands slowly up his shoulders, and putting her hands on the back of his neck, she pulled him closer towards her.
Just like that, in the mid-climax of the kiss, Natasha broke away and strutted off in the opposite direction towards Phoenix. Left hanging, all Clint could do was watch her walk away and shake his head in shame. She got him every single time.
While Natasha ran through what was going to happen today in explicit detail to Phoenix, Clint finished laying down tape and set up various stations for activities around the room test had been his idea, he was proud to admit. If the Experiments wanted to complain, he was going to give them something good to complain about.
They arrived at various different times. Mark was the first to arrive oddly enough and was actually two or three minutes early. Seeing that no other Experiments were in the room, he smiled and waved at Phoenix, who awkwardly waved back.
Natasha and Clint both observed this interaction and looked at each other to see if the other knew anything about it. Neither of them did. Natasha however had observed odd behaviour in Mark, most notably, out of all of The Experiments, he had the least amount of issues with the current situation.
Bella arrived next, exactly on time. Sam nearly tripped out of the elevator as he arrived two minutes late, although to his credit, he looked like he had rushed to get there. Josh and Heather strolled in at the same time, five minutes after JARVIS had notified them, but Natasha wasn't surprised.
She quickly ran through what they were going to do today, and sure enough, the second she mentioned the beep test there was a cacophony of horrified gasps, curse words and an entire row of terrified expressions. None of them refused, knowing that they couldn't back out of this.
The beep test is a test that requires participants to run between two points repetitively. A beep would signal the start of each level, of which there were 21 levels in total, with each level consisting of a different number of laps.
Natasha directed them to two separate lines of tape, both situated 20 meters apart. "The starting line is here," Natasha directed them to the line of tape closest to the stairwell. "You start at the first beep and run for as long as you can. There will be no cheating by using your abilities, and yes Mark I am talking to you."
"Oh and one another thing," Clint added before Natasha pressed play. "If you don't make it to the line in time for the next beep, you will be disqualified."
As Natasha pressed play, she heard a tortured moan of, "why," come from behind her. Too late for anyone to back out, because the first beep rang out as a robotic voice announced, "Level 1.1."
They lasted longer than Natasha and Clint expected them to. By the time they reached the second level, all six of them had subconsciously began running in synchronisation, running at the same pace and placing the same legs forward at the same time, they looked like a military unit that had been training together for years.
Towards the end of level nine, Bella dropped out of rhythm and fell behind. As the others started level ten, Bella removed herself and gladly accepted a water bottle from Clint, red in the face with sweat covering her face. She sat down, he final score being 10.1.
Josh went next, dropping out at 11.5, he looked like he could've put more effort in, but not much, close to collapsing as he walked off and sat down. Sam finished shortly after Josh, at 11.12 he sat down next to Bella and downed at least half the contents of Bella's water bottle that she had pushed into her hands.
Heather didn't last much longer, but Natasha was at least glad to see that she had put effort in, walking away at 12.4, completely red in the face and breathing heavily. With Mark and Phoenix practically neck and neck, Natasha was eager to see what would happen.
Both were flushed in the face, with sweat covering their face and were obviously close to collapsing, however both of them were pushing themselves beyond their limit in an effort to beat the other. Eventually, as it reached 15.8, Mark finally gave up and dragged himself away.
Phoenix kept going for another three laps before she finally stopped at 15.11. Panting heavily, she dragged herself over to Natasha and Clint. She didn't seem to be affected as much as Mark, who had literally collapsed on the ground, and was lying on his back, his limbs spread out.
"Good job Phoenix," Natasha congratulated her as Clint handed her a water bottle. "Good job all of you. Take a 15 minute break and catch your breath."
Mark pulled himself to his feet just as Phoenix walked over to him and held out her hand. "You're a fierce competitor," she told him, her hand hanging in the air, outstretched for a civil handshake.
Mark hesitated, staring at her hand for a minute, before something clicked. He took her hand and shook it, a grin forming at his lips. "You're not so bad yourself Phoenix," he told her as he released her hand. Phoenix smiled in return before she walked away, and from where Heather was watching them, she glowered.
Once their break was over, Natasha ran them all through a series of exercises. The idea of these exercises was to test their different skills and measure the range of what they could and could not do, but Natasha didn't tell them this. She just had Clint record all of their results.
For flexibility, Natasha instructed all of them to touch their own toes, which was a simple request and received no arguments. They all completed the task, the boys had a bit more difficulty than the girls, which was to be expected seeing as how girls were naturally more flexible. Heather's flexibility was extremely well developed, leading Natasha to think that she must've been a dancer or cheerleader.
As testing continued, Natasha discovered that each of the Experiments had their own separate skills, aside from their obvious super powered abilities. Mark evidently had the highest cardiovascular endurance which wasn't surprising, while Heather had the highest level of flexibility.
The remainder of the testing concluded that Bella was the most agile, she was able to move swiftly and keep excellent balance. Sam, unsurprisingly, was the strongest, proving he could lift close to 100 kilos. Josh's specific skill was harder to deduce from the testing, but eventually Natasha was able to conclude that Josh was smarter than he originally let them believe. He was strategic in his way of thinking, and seemed to analyse situations and manipulate them. There was a hidden level of cunning to him, making Natasha think twice about her previous conceptions of him.
Phoenix was all of those individual skills rolled into one. She was strong, agile, smart, flexible and had an impossibly high level of stamina. She had no specific skills, since she had endured so much training developing each of these skills to the point of perfection. It was at this point, that Natasha
Natasha dismissed them early, having originally anticipated arguments, but instead the day had run smoothly, leaving them with extra time. They left one by one, Phoenix exiting the room last. She paused before leaving to smile at Natasha, and the only thing on Natasha's mind as she smiled back at Phoenix, was the realisation, that if Doctor Blake was still in control of Phoenix, then she would've been nothing more than an unstoppable killing machine.
Later that night Natasha and Clint gathered in the living area for a midnight drink. It was a way for both of them to relax, take their minds off the events of the day. Phoenix and The Experiments had long since departed to their bedrooms, leaving the two of them in peace.
Neither of them knew quite how long they spent there, drinking, talking and laughing, reminiscing over the past. It was good for them to spend some time on their own, especially since it was hard to get any moment of privacy with a full house, or a tower so to speak.
Their time together didn't last as long as Natasha or Clint would've liked.
An ear piecing scream echoed around the room. Natasha numbly remembered one of Tony's safety measures, that should there be any serious problems that the rest of the tower needed to be alerted to, JARVIS's system wide speakers would activate, so that everyone in the tower would hear it.
The world around Natasha went numb, the only thing she could hear was the hollowed out, echoing noise of a horrifying scream that seemed never ending. Very distantly she was aware of Clint next to her, shouting something in distress.
Natasha was on her feet running, unaware of her destination. All she knew, was that she had to find the source of the scream. It was an awful sound, a hysteric noise of desperation but also hopelessness, Natasha had only ever known one person who could make such a sound..
As Natasha descended further down the stairwell, the screams seemed to be increasing in volume, getting louder and louder with each downward step. Natasha burst through the stairwell door, exiting onto the same level where the bedrooms of all The Experiments were located.
Directly in the centre of the hallway, was a single person. She was bent down on her knees, with her hands on her head, pulling at her hair manically. Her body racked as she trembled in fear, her eyes clamped shut, and her mouth wide open, the source of the screaming.
It was Phoenix. And she was sleepwalking through a nightmare.
Doors began opening around them as The Experiments were roused from their sleep and peered their heads out from their bedroom doors, looking frightened and concerned. Natasha didn't have time to worry about them.
She ran straight for Phoenix, falling to her knees in front of her, Natasha tried to prise Phoenix's hands away from her own head. Nothing was working, Natasha in desperation, put a hand on Phoenix's cheeks and began begging for her to stop. The fact that Phoenix managed to sob, shriek and scream at the same time made it even more horrifying.
Clint was at Natasha's side seconds later and she whirled her head around to face him. "She's sleepwalking, we need to wake her up or she's going to hurt herself," Natasha told him hurriedly.
Clint nodded in understanding and began calling out to Phoenix while Natasha gently shook her, nothing seemed to be working. Phoenix's voice started cracking, and eventually the screaming stopped. It was a small moment of peace before Phoenix leapt to her feet and shrieked in terrified rage.
Natasha and Clint jumped up also, Clint moving to restrain Phoenix. Steve and Tony entered the room, just as Clint managed to grab Phoenix's arms and hold her still. She began thrashing, prompting Clint to wrap his arms around her in an attempt to stop her.
"Stop!" Phoenix cried in anguish, throwing herself from side to side, struggling against Clint's grip. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please don't hurt me! PLEASE! NO STOP IT! IT HURTS PLEASE STOP! I'M SORRY! NO!"
Phoenix lashed out and grabbed Clint's arms that he had wrapped around her, and while screaming, she prised his arms apart, freeing herself from his grip. She whirled around to face him, still stuck in her nightmare, and she slammed her hands into him. He was thrown backwards and hit the wall next to the door to Bella's bedroom. Bella shrieking in response, quickly retreated into her room and slammed the door.
Phoenix collapsed to her knees again as Natasha ran to Clint's side, he groaned as he pulled himself into an upright sitting position but was otherwise alright. Steve tried running to Phoenix. "No!" Natasha shouted at him. "Let her calm down or else she might attack you."
They waited a moment before the screaming quietened down as Phoenix dragged herself to the wall, curling herself into a ball, she began to wail softly. Natasha slowly moved towards her, and very carefully she bent down next to her.
"I'm here," Natasha whispered, wrapping her arms around Phoenix's shoulders and holding her gently. "It's a dream milaya moya, come back to me. You're here with me, you're safe." Phoenix was trembling in Natasha's arms, and very softly, Natasha brushed away some hair that had fallen in front of Phoenix's eyes.
The whimpering quietened down, and her shaking began to cease. Phoenix's eyes opened and she took in her surroundings, tearfully she looked up at Natasha shock, still believing she was dreaming. "Natasha?" Phoenix asked in a mumbled and confused voice. "What happened? What did I do?"
"You did nothing, it wasn't your fault," Natasha reassured her.
Phoenix was close to calming down, until she saw Clint slumped against the wall, very clearly injured. A look of horror crossed her face upon the realisation that she had been the one to do it. "Clint," she whimpered, her voice crackly and high pitched , indicating clear distress. "I hurt you."
"I'm fine Phoenix," Clint gently reassured her, pulling himself to his feet, trying to hide whatever pain he was in. He slowly walked over to her and gently took hold of her wrists while he knelt down in front of her. "You're ok I promise you, it was just a nightmare Phoenix."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she repeated herself frantically as she tried to keep herself from sobbing. She was shaking her head. "I didn't mean to."
"I know you didn't Phoenix," Natasha continued trying to reassure her softly. She gently lifted Phoenix up from the ground by her shoulders and started walking her in the direction of Natasha's room. Clint moved to follow, but looked back to see The Experiments staring, so he nodded for Natasha to go on ahead without him.
As Clint approached the teenagers that had since huddled together, they stopped chattering amongst themselves and stared at him. "What the hell just happened?" Mark asked as Clint stopped in front of them. "Is she ok?"
"I really didn't think any of you cared," Clint remarked bitterly.
"We don't care," Heather responded. "She's sleepwalking around the tower and throwing people into walls. We just want to know what's wrong with her."
"Gee I don't know Heather, what could possibly be wrong with her?" Clint asked the rhetorical question in the most sarcastic voice he could manage, which sliced Heather's cocky stance in half. "It's not like Phoenix was locked in a basement for ten years of her life and tortured repetitively." Clint paused and put a finger to his lips, acting in mock surprise. "Oh wait, I forgot, Phoenix did suffer all of that. So next time you want to ask me 'what's wrong with her,' think about that Heather."
Clint sent them off to bed with a flick of his wrist before walking away himself. He could feel a throbbing pain in his back, but at worst, it was most likely going to develop into nothing more than a bruise. He was lucky, his injuries could've been much worse, but he knew it was his own fault for grabbing Phoenix.
As he approached Natasha's room, he found Steve waiting around looking anxious. He looked up, and seeing Clint, attempted a smile, but with the current situation he seemed to be struggling. "Just thought I'd make sure everything was ok," he told Clint, wearing a solemn expression.
"I appreciate it Rogers," Clint nodded in thanks. "But Natasha and I should be ok to handle her."
Steve nodded and left the room, although he looked back over his shoulder once before he entered the elevator. Clint watched him until the elevator doors closed, before turning back to the room. He found Natasha and Phoenix sitting on Natasha's bed together.
Natasha sat on the left Phoenix, and had her right arm wrapped around her shoulders, using her hand to gently stroke lines onto the back of Phoenix's hands as she murmured words of reassurance to her. As Clint approached, Natasha looked up, but Phoenix kept her head down.
Clint tried making eye contact but Phoenix avoided his gaze, so he sat down on her right side. "Phoenix," he spoke her name softly. "Look at me please." Reluctantly, Phoenix looked up and met his eye. "It was not your fault," he told her firmly.
Phoenix's bottom lip trembled, but she kept herself together. Quite abruptly, Phoenix reached out for Clint and wrapped her arms around him in an unexpected hug. Clint was stunned for a moment, and it took him a second before he hugged her back.
Loki knew there was something very wrong when he heard the screaming. It echoed all around him for several minutes before finally it stopped. It was feminine in sound, clearly originating from a female. The fact that it stopped mid-scream, without any warning, was a concerning matter in itself.
Somehow Loki knew that it was the girl, Phoenix. He had known she was damaged upon their first encounter, when he had gotten a glimpse of the flame in her hands, when Agent Romanoff had fearfully ushered her from the room. There had been something in her eyes, in her mannerism, that indicated that something wasn't right.
Their second encounter was somewhat strange, she had questioned him with curiosity but seemed fearful of any answers. Loki had seen something in here during that encounter, her mind was a broken mirror with key pieces missing.
A question raised in Loki's mind. What sort of horrors had befallen the girl, and who could've done such a thing?