Chapter Twelve
Another day went by with no sign of Cyrus or anything about him on the news. In fact, everyone had been talking about the latest leak on the Avengers. Mira frowned when she realized these Users weren't going to let this go anytime soon. She couldn't even step outside the tower without Users pouncing on her and asking questions. So she was forced to stay in the tower and wait for the results of the blood samples Bruce had taken.
Finally, after what had felt like hours, she was called into the lab instead of the infirmary. She wasn't surprised to find Clint leaning over the computer screen along with a very impressed Tony and Bruce. The only other User she hadn't seen other than Steve was Natasha. She had a feeling Natasha had slipped away to inform SHIELD about what was happening at the moment. Not that that notion surprised her after what Tony had said about her the other cycle.
I seriously hope she hasn't told them about my… history, Mira thought with a shiver. The last thing she wanted was for more Users to think she was in desperate need of help or sympathy. She didn't want any of it. Xilacycles of living on her own taught her that sympathy was just another form of weakness. She didn't want anyone to think of her as weak, especially after everything she had already been through.
"So, what are the results?" she asked, earning looks of surprise from all three Users.
Clearly they were so drawn in by whatever was on the screen that they hadn't even noticed her arrival. That couldn't be any good.
"Well, I was able to find bits and pieces of the… data that Clu had given you," Bruce explained after searching for the right words. Mira couldn't help but wince at that. It almost sounded like he was comparing her to a program. She suddenly found herself wondering if it was even possible for something like that to happen. If a User could appear more like a program than a User. "The code was complex, so much so that it took me all night, and the help of Jarvis to understand what he did."
"I must say, the fact that you've managed to survive at all is quite impressive, Miss Barton," Jarvis suddenly chimed in, and Mira flinched once again.
It was going to take time for her to get used to the fact that she was Clint's daughter, along with Natasha's. She had a feeling that she would never fully recover from that shock. Most Users would have been happy to find out that they had found their birth parents. But she wasn't. She couldn't bring herself to admit that finding out the truth only made her feel worse.
"Clu gave you what appears to be enhancements… from strength, agility to something else we weren't able to make out," Bruce went on. "In a way, it almost resembles the Super Soldier Serum."
Mira rose an eyebrow in surprise at that. She remembered hearing about the Super Soldier Serum. So many scientists had tried recreating it over the last seventy years since Captain America. Even Bruce was guilty for trying to recreate it, but his attempt had resulted in something far more dangerous.
"So what exactly does this mean?" she asked.
"There's something else that's more… unsettling," Bruce suddenly added, ignoring her question and earning a glare shortly after. "When Cyrus' disk made contact with your bloodstream, it seems like some kind of fail-safe was activated… Whatever code was used to keep Cyrus' disk is now infecting your system."
That only left Mira feeling more worried than ever. She had seen the way Cyrus behaved and the way his pixels looked mixed with blood. She could only imagine what it would have cost to keep his disk in the Real World. And of course, because he had sliced his disk across her arm, now she was going to share the same fate as him.
"So from what you're implying, Cyrus infected me with a virus," she guessed, and Bruce nodded in response. "But… how is that even possible? You're making it sound like I'm more program than User."
"Sorry, it's more of a force of habit than anything else," Bruce apologized with a shrug. "You definitely have human DNA, but whatever Clu did made it more complex than it already was."
Clu. Every single time she thought of him, she didn't think he could get any worse. She wondered if Flynn had known all this time what Clu had been doing. If he had known that Clu was holding a User prisoner, if he had known what Clu was doing to said prisoner, maybe he would have fought back harder. Or he would have done nothing at all.
Even Tron didn't know I was on the Grid until we met, she reminded herself. The problem with that theory was, she had arrived on the Grid before the coup. Which only led her wondering why Tron wasn't able to scan her disk from day one.
"Is there a way to cure the virus?" Clint asked this time.
She was surprised he had the patience to stand around and listen. Then again, he was around when Tony had showed everyone her memories. Of all the Users who had watched those memories, he was the most concerned.
"There might be… but it wouldn't be easy," Bruce explained after exchanging a knowing look with Tony. "We'd need the source of the virus before we could find a cure."
Well that was just great. Mira's stomach twisted with anger as she realized the only way they could find a cure was through Cyrus. And that bastard wouldn't show his face around them anytime soon. There might be the possibility of finding a cure on the Grid, but she highly doubted they would fly all the way back to Flynn's arcade.
"No." Clint's response was firm and steady.
"Told ya he'd say no," Tony said with a smug look. "Look, we may not need to find Cyrus if I finish the experiment I've been working on." Mira couldn't help but cringe at that term. After hearing what Clu had done to her while she was unconscious in his prison, she was less than happy with the term. "I've been trying to figure out a way to design a Portal, one that would open up on the Grid. And maybe through that, you could find the cure."
Mira frowned the moment she had thought of it. Finding a cure would not be easy, just as Bruce had implied. What it meant, though, was that even if she did have healing capabilities, the virus would prevent them from functioning properly.
"I'm afraid it won't be that easy," she sighed after giving it some thought. "Back on the Grid, viruses were more common than you would probably realize. One virus was as bad as they get… Abraxas almost destroyed an entire city, and the only way to stop him was by derezzing him, and everyone he infected."
All three Users looked at her in surprise. She rarely talked about the Grid unless it was in small, subtle stories. But talking about viruses was something that should be taken as more of a warning. She knew that if the virus did take its toll, the end results could be disastrous.
…
"So, is Natasha telling your boss everything she knows about me?" Mira asked when she noticed the User who was supposed to be her mother had disappeared.
She and Clint were on their way to the common room. Since Natasha had slipped away unnoticed a few hours ago, Mira had no doubt that she was with SHIELD at the moment. A shiver of unease swept through her as she wondered how much information Natasha would give them on her own past. While she understood why it was important for them to know everything, it still left her feeling uneasy and annoyed that she had no say in the matter.
"She wouldn't stoop that low," Clint reassured her. Not with her trust on the line. Mira still didn't know whether she could trust Natasha, even if she had trusted her with a story of her own dark past. "She's just trying to clear things up with Director Fury. He wasn't too thrilled about the latest news."
Oh, I could imagine. Mira wasn't sure who Director Fury was, but she had heard his name mentioned several times throughout the facility she and Beck were kept in for a few weeks. Some Users weren't all that happy with the Director, while others said his name with high praises.
She kept quiet after reaching the common room. After reading a few more files that they had hacked into, she knew full well that the subject of the battle in New York wasn't a good one. Clint's particular history with the battle left her feeling uneasy. She remembered everything that he had said when Natasha managed to flush Loki out of his mind.
"Do you know what it's like to be remade, and have someone else in your mind?"
Those chilling words reminded her all too much of what Clu had done to so many programs on the Grid. They were remade into his image, an image that would eventually fail.
"Natasha told me about her… history with the Red Room," Mira admitted, suddenly wishing she could have thought of a better way to say that.
She found it odd that Natasha was willing to trust her with her own secrets and bloody past. But maybe this was Natasha's way of gaining her trust. She wasn't sure what to make of Natasha's story. As complicated as it was, she realized that Natasha had been right to give her up for adoption. Still, she found herself wondering if he would have wanted to keep her, despite Natasha's concerns. She couldn't help but glance at Clint self-consciously at the thought.
"So you know why she had to give you up," Clint pointed out, earning a glare seconds later.
He seemed more surprised that Natasha was so open about her past. From what it sounded like, Natasha hadn't told too many Users the truth.
To her relief, she was saved from having to say anything more when he was called away by his phone. She knew where that conversation would have led, and she was in no hurry to talk about it. The fact that she was given up as a baby had left her feeling as if no one had ever cared.
She found Beck and Steve in the common room once she arrived, playing a game of chess. Mira rose an eyebrow in surprise when she noticed that Beck was winning. Rinzler was laying on the sofa as he watched the two curiously. Steve seemed perfectly fine around Rinzler, even if he was a little different from the average house cat.
Beck's moment of triumph was short-lived when Steve managed to check-mate. Chess was one of those games Mira had never understood, and probably wouldn't care to. Beck was lucky he didn't have the same lack of trust towards Users. He could get along with just about anyone and still act like his normal self.
"So, what happened?" Beck asked when they returned to her room, Rinzler following close behind.
Rinzler started chasing a laser pointer when Mira found one hidden in her dresser. She couldn't help but smirk at the sight as he tried jumping at the red dot, claws extended before it disappeared. The look of disappointment and confusion that followed made finding the laser pointer worth it.
"Well… both Clint and Natasha talked," she explained warily. "About things I would rather not hear again. And Tony wanted a reading on my DNA to confirm that it was true." Beck rose an eyebrow at that, and Mira held back a sigh of frustration. This was not something she had wanted to talk about with him, especially given their history with Clu. "Look, we discussed a few things that I'd rather not talk about to anyone else. This is something that I'll keep to myself."
She didn't want to openly admit that Clu had experimented on her, and probably did far worse things while she was unconscious. Honestly, she dreaded to see how Beck would handle the news. Beck narrowed his eyes, and for a moment, she was afraid he might insist that she tell him. To her relief, he didn't press on the subject.
"Did they mention anything else?"
She let out a sigh and stared at the ceiling, wondering how she could explain the information about Cyrus' disk and the virus that was now infecting her. It wasn't like she had asked for this virus to affect her. But now it was, and she didn't know whether or not she would survive.
"You remember how Cyrus managed to keep his disk?" she asked warily, and Beck nodded in response. Rinzler chose that moment to jump onto the bed and sit between them, licking his paw clean as he had triumphantly 'caught' the light. "Bruce ran a little research on the disk and how he was able to keep it from disappearing in the Real World. As it turns out, there was a virus affecting his disk, and his code."
It took Beck a few seconds to understand what that meant. Then his eyes widened in panic as he realized where this was going. Cyrus had left a clean cut across her arm with his disk. She was fully aware of the consequences from that cut, and the contact from his disk.
"That means you could…"
Beck couldn't find the courage to finish his sentence as cold realization dawned on him. Viruses needed to be treated as such. She knew that on the Grid, there was a way to cure the original carrier. But to fix the code required a lot of concentration, and finding the original carrier to begin with.
"Beck, I know what's going to happen," she told him, her eyes locking with his as she gently took his hand. "The only way to cleanse the virus is through finding the original carrier. Without them, it's impossible for anyone to survive."
"I've already lost you once… I can't lose you again," Beck whispered. She didn't realize just how much Beck actually cared for her, and it made her feel all the guiltier. "Are you sure there's not another cure?"
"As far as I know, there isn't," she replied with a shrug.
She was surprised at how well she had taken the news to begin with. Maybe after everything she had been through, a little virus felt like nothing. She was so used to feeling pain and fighting a never-ending battle.
"So that's it?" Beck's question caught her off guard. "You're just giving up, after everything we've been through?"
His accusation made her flinch. She realized that it was selfish of her to give up just like that. But unless Cyrus was captured, she really didn't have much of a choice. She knew that in the end, it didn't matter whether or not she survived. Taking Cyrus down was what mattered the most at the moment.
"Who said anything about giving up?" she asked crossly. Beck finally locked eyes with her once again, and she noticed his were dark with worry and fear. She suddenly felt guilty for not telling him about what Clu had done to her. "Now you're starting to sound like Tron," she said halfheartedly.
Tron's attitude must have rubbed off on him. He would have said the same thing, called her out and kicked her sorry butt for giving up. Though truthfully, Tron did make a good point when she had thrown herself into harm's way. She was no stranger in placing herself in danger, which was a constant argument between them.
"Sorry, I just…" Beck began muttering before stopping himself.
He couldn't bring himself to finish that sentence, and Mira squeezed his hand gently. She rested her head against his shoulder, and not for the first time, she was thankful for his support. It was the mutual support he shared that she relished more than anything else. She hadn't realized until than just how much his comfort meant to her.
"Everything is going to be fine," she reassured him, knowing full well that wasn't true. "We've gotten through worse situations together."
Besides, it wasn't like this was the first life-threatening situation she had gone through. She had a feeling that this time might be different, though.
…
Natasha frowned as she watched the security footage play through over and over again. Mira's conversation with Clint and Beck left her feeling uneasy, and ashamed. At one time she would have given away information about Mira's history on the Grid. But now she was keeping that part a secret. If SHIELD knew about the enhancements Clu had given her, they would never leave her alone. When she realized that the same girl was also the child she had given up all those years ago, keeping her protected and safe had become her main priority. It would never make up for what had happened to her on the Grid, but at least it was a start.
"Those two are an accident waiting to happen," agent Maria Hill said after watching the video as well. Her eyes were narrowed as she saw how close they were. How much he cared for the girl who had clearly suffered far more than she was willing to let on. "It's obvious they care for each other," she added after Natasha glared at her.
"Any word on Cyrus?"
Knowing full well the dangers that Cyrus had put everyone in, Natasha was more than eager to put him down. Especially after seeing everything he had put both Mira and Beck through. Knowing that her daughter was right under her nose had put her on edge. She figured that it was motherly instinct kicking in, and honestly, she didn't want them putting their lives at risk again.
"The files he hacked into were all erased," Maria explained with a shrug. "He was the one who sent the Daily Bugle that information about her. We've been tracking his movements ever since, but so far we've had no successful scans."
That wasn't much of a lead. Mira's theory about Cyrus jumping between Portals was true. Natasha should have known she would know more about Portals and the Grid than anyone else. It was just another painful reminder of what she had gone through to get this far in life.
"Looks like we've finally got a lead," Director Fury announced after returning from a phone call with Clint. "The latest energy reading is from Central Park. Cyrus hasn't gotten very far if he's trying to escape. Agent Romanoff, you know what to do."
"Already on it," she called over her shoulder after heading straight for the quinjet.
Getting off the Hellicarrier would be a relief. She'd been stuck there for less than a few hours and she could already hear the rumors spreading like wildfire. Taking her aggravation out on Cyrus was the best gift Fury had given her all day.
