Ethan turned quickly and brought his gun up, level with his father's face.
"Tsk tsk. Is that the proper way to greet family." His father said in drawling Russian.
"How are you hear, how are you alive? Answer me now." Ethan shouted at his father, also in Russian.
Oliver pulled at his shirt and said "Olie, who is he? Why are you pointing a gun at him?"
Ethan said nothing but tensed at his father started to walk towards him. His father switched to near perfect English and said "Oh yes, we haven't met have we. My name is Anton Jacobs, scientist extrodinare and we are going to have such fun together."
Ethan stepped infront of Oliver and said "You won't go any nearer him."
"Oh no, then something bad might happen." As Anton said it twenty more guards burst from the hanger and levelled their guns at Ethan and Oliver, little red dots appearing on both their chests just to prove a point. Ethan knew he was beat and dropped the gun, raising his hands above his head. A second after he was shot with a dart and blackness rushed over his eyes as he fell down.
Ethan was back in the long corridor with the metal door at the end. Ethan rushed towards it again and pushed it open.
The hospital room hadn't changed at all, the machines were still bleeping and ticking away but the person in the bed was still in shadow. Ethan pushed forward this time, feeling the old barrier that had stopped him last time shatter as he walked through it.
Ethan moved to the end of the bed and pushed the light that stood there forward, slowly. He was afraid of what was in the bed. Who would be kept locked away down here.
As Ethan pushed the light forward, more of the body came into focus. It was a woman lying on the bed. She looked bloated with pale withered skin. She hadn't seen the sun for months. Ethan tried to stop himself pushing the light forward further but couldn't his arms were locked in motion, the light rising up the woman's body.
The light reached her chin and Ethan saw an outline. It was a young face, with soft curves that were made harsh by the sharp ridges. Her skin was tight and sallow but the light just travelled further up her face. It hit her mouth with soft red lips and then her nose which was small and round. Her eyes were the worst though. They were sunken and hollow... With Emerald Pupils.
Ethan gasped and pushed himself back, shaking his head hard. "No... No No nononono. You can't be. You can't."
The woman in the bed held out her hand and rasped. She beckoned for Ethan to come closer and Ethan felt himself moving. He took her hand and felt the soft skin underneath.
She suddenly closed her hand like a vice and pulled him close. Ethan wasn't expecting it and fell forward, catching himself only a foot away from his mothers face. Ethan marvelled at how similar their eyes were, exactly the same shade.
She seemed to be scanning him, drinking in his face. Suddenly she said "God. I haven't seen you before. Not like this, not older." Her voice was soft and smooth, like a soft lullaby tune. "I'm so sorry. All your life. Oh my boy."
She shook slightly and tears started to fall down her cheeks. Ethan leaned forward and wiped her cheek with his sleeve. Ethan turned around to see a chair which he pulled close and sat down in, still holding his mother's hand.
"I... Don't understand. How are you here? This feels so real but I know that it can't be." Ethan said, slightly stuttering. He felt like his senses were being overloaded, it made no sense. He was dreaming but it wasn't fake.
"I can't explain. Your father will tell you. I just wanted to see you. See you properly not as the assassin that they will train you to be but as the man I've seen you grow into. I've seen so much of your life Ethan, it makes me so happy to see you now. You've found love, a family, more than I could hope for."
A huge crash boomed from behind them. Ethan's mother tensed up and looked around before pulling Ethan close again. "I don't have long. Listen to me, you have to stop him. Anton... He will do terrible things. Down below there is a private lab, you will find what you are looking for when you know that you are looking for it."
Ethan felt so confused, his mother was making no sense. They were in a dream, how would they run out of time? "What are you saying? What do you mean?" Ethan felt fear course through him, fear at losing his mother again. The mother he never had, barely even knew existed.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't see you more but you have to go now." The banging was getting louder, closing in on them. "I already miss you so much. Look after yourself, and Amy. Oh and watch out for Oliver as well. He will need your help soon and don't despair after today. It will be over after not to long."
Ethan felt himself being pulled backwards, upwards and out of his dream. He tried to pull back but the force was to strong and he couldn't stop it. He couldn't stop seeing her though, down below him. His mother whom he had never seen and he was losing her for the final time.
"I... I love you Ethan, so much." Was the last thing he heard before blackness clouded his vision again.
Ethan came to with a start in a large comfy chair which had a cream leather finish. He started and looked around to see that they were in the cabin of a luxury plane with four chairs facing eachother on the centre. Oliver was sitting next to him, looking out the window and Anton sat opposite Ethan.
Ethan started to panic, his dream was so real that he wasn't sure that it hadn't been. What was he going to do if it had been, there was no way it could have been though, or could it?
Ethan looked down at the small table in between them to see his watch, which had been disassembled, and bracelet lying there. Ethan reached out for them only to find his hands cuffed. He sighed heavily and lent back in the chair. His father was watching him with gloating eyes.
Ethan had to play this down, act calm even though he was a wreck inside. He rolled his eyes and said, "OK I'll bite, how are you alive?" Ethan heard Oliver start as he realised that Ethan was awake. He still looked terrified.
Ethan's father grinned and said "Oh it's quite easy to wirelessly download ones conscience into a cloned body once you figure out how, by which I'm lying and will say that it was immeasurably painful, especially after being shot."
"It's only a shame I hadn't shot each of your limbs off first then." Ethan said with hatred coursing through his voice. "How did you find out about my mission?"
"Well that would spoil the surprise, but I will tell you how happy I was by the coincidence that you met our mutual friend Master Hunt." Anton said with glee running through his voice. He was enjoying this far to much and Ethan hated him more for it. "Though I don't think you were being quite honest were you?" He turned to Oliver and said, "This boy is Agent Ethan Jacobs of SHIELD, sent to shut down my little laboratory for procuring Chitauri weapons after the Battle of New York. Though he would know more about that, wouldn't you Triton?"
Oliver gasped and said in a small voice, "You're an Avenger! That's how you took down all those men. I can't believe I've been in the same room as you."
"Well I can promise you that being in the same room as him doesn't always end well." Anton said with a slight laugh.
Oliver, surprisingly, managed to hold his head high and say "Then you must be an evil man if an Avenger has to stop you."
Anton laughed derisively at that before turning back to Ethan. "You have him well trained to work that one out."
"Leave him out of this, he's just a kid. What would you want with him anyway, you had me or at least more clones of me." Ethan said. His father was a genius madman scientist. If he wanted Oliver than Ethan doubted Oliver would survive, or if he did whether he would want to.
"Oh he's more than just a kid, so much more." A mad glint ran through Anton's eyes and Ethan felt afraid for the first time in a long time, he finally had something to lose, something that was right infront of him. Anton pushed himself to his feet and before saying, "Now I must go check with the pilot, we must be nearly there. You were asleep for such a long time."
With that Ethan's boogyman walked away from them. The moment the door out of the cabin shut Ethan started straining at his cuffs. They were heavy duty locks which he would have a lot of trouble breaking. Ethan had nothing to pick the lock with so he lent back in resignation. He couldn't escape and his watch was in ten pieces infront of him.
Oliver had lent in close to Ethan and whispered "Can you get us out of here?"
Ethan just stared into the young boy's eyes and shook his head. There was nothing he could do right now but he wouldn't give up hope, that was what Amy had taught him. That even when things might look bad there is always a possibility to make it better. Suddenly an idea popped into Ethan's head that was almost certain to fail but it was worth trying anyway.
"Oliver, pass me that big part of my watch." Oliver reached onto the table and grabbed the largest part of the broken device, knocking the others as he did it. "Pass it here, quickly"
Oliver placed the piece, which looked like a small box with a single button on it, into Ethan's Palm where he flipped it over and pushed it deep down his sleeve. "What was that" Oliver said in a tiny whisper.
Before Ethan could answer his father burst back into the room before stopping dead and watched them. Ethan barely dared to breath as his father's vision swept back and forth between them before he must have decided that there was nothing going on and walked further into the room.
"It's your lucky day you two, you get to see my little fun house." Anton said as he sat back down in his chair. Ethan couldn't tell whether he had worked that the watch part was missing.
Ethan stayed calm though and looked out the window as they broke through the clouds. Shit was the only word Ethan could think when he saw where they were.
Sand stretched onwards for miles, Ethan couldn't see anything anywhere nearby except for a small clump of buildings which were nestled alone amongst the dunes. They touched down on a small landing strip which was very close to the main building of the compound.
Anton unlocked Ethan's cuffs once they had touched down and Ethan tensed, ready to strike out but his father just laughed. "One hair misplaced off my head and your little friend dies." Ethan sighed and slumped back whilst his father chuckled.
Ethan grabbed Ollie's hand as he followed Anton off the plane and onto concrete. The surface had been worn down by years of sand and everything was gritty and converted in a thin layer of dust. Guards where waiting everywhere, at least ten acting as an honour guard off the plane. More where waiting outside the main building where the two boys were led.
Anton pushed open the large doors for them and Ethan stepped inside, pulling Oliver with him. Inside where plain white walls, no windows or decorations. It was his father's touch, utilitarian and almost military. Guards pushed him down the hallway with Anton following them.
They wove their way down endless corridors, passing bland doors with metal numbers on them but nothing more than that identifying them. Ethan looked down every corridor they passed, searching for it. He knew it had to be here, the room where he had seen her.
Ethan couldn't almost feel that they were closing in on it. Every corner seemed to leap out at him until he finally looked down one and fell back. His face had drained of colour and he tripped slightly. It was the same corridor, the same one from his dream. The two soldiers behind him pushed him slightly but he didn't budge. He just stared down the corridor.
Anton came level with him and stared into his eyes. Ethan knew that he had given himself away, that he had seen this before. Ethan was surprised though when his father's face whitened. He was afraid, Ethan could see it in his eyes, but what could he be afraid of.
Anton looked down the hallway and back at Ethan. "You've seen it before haven't you, she showed you it didn't she." Ethan remained passive, not moving a muscle. Anton grabbed his collar and yelled in his face "didn't she!"
Ethan couldn't take it any longer. He struck out, hard, hitting his father full in the face with a powerful headbutt. Anton stumbled back, clutching his nose whilst two guards grabbed Ethan but Ethan had snapped as well. He couldn't hold back his anger anymore and he let it pour out of him.
"You killed her. You brought her here and she gave birth and then you killed her. You're a monster, how could you do that. How could anyone do that." Ethan spat at the man lying on the ground. He wanted to kill him, to hurt him so badly that he would never move again. Only a faint voice in the back of his head told him that he couldn't. That they would kill Oliver if he did and that's the only thing that saved his father's life.
"Take them to the holding cell, keep them secure. I need to accelerate my plans." His father said quietly. He barely managed to get the words out, he sounded terrified. Something was going to happen and soon by the sounds of it.
The guards pulled them Ethan away and Oliver followed meekly behind. They carried on down dark corridors until finally Ethan was pushed inside a room that had a huge thick slab of steel instead of a door which, once Oliver was also pushed inside, was slid across our the hole in the wall offering no escape.
Ethan let out a sigh as the door shut and slid down a wall. There was a small bulb hanging from a loose wire in the centre of the room but no windows. The door was a smooth sheet of metal from this side, with no way of forcing it open. There was no way of getting out of this room.
Oliver walked across the bar box and sat down in front of Ethan. "Um, Oliver... Or Mister, um Avenger-"
"Ethan, call me Ethan." Ethan managed to say in a horse whisper. His throat was rough and sore from shouting.
"Ethan, well um. What's going to happen to us? That man was evil and he said he wanted me! What could he want with me?" Oliver said timidly, Ethan could see fear in him, the boy was scare for his life. This must be terrifying for him. Ethan had been locked in cells for most of his life and attacked the rest of the time but the boy sitting in front of him he probably had never even been in an actual fight.
"That man was my father." Oliver's eyes flared in surprise, "Yeah I know, he must have skipped parenting classes because evil scientists don't make the best parents. As to what he wants with us, I don't know." There had to be a connection somewhere, something that connected Oliver to this place. Ethan looked back at Oliver and asked him, "Ollie, you need to think hard. Has anything happened recently, anything different at all?"
Oliver looked a bit confused so Ethan said, "tell me everything that's been slightly different in the last few weeks."
Oliver like looked deep in thought. "Well Dummnell has been nicer to me recently, he even brought me sweets but that must have been because of all this." Oliver gestured around the cell. "Oh and Matt from the house was punching my arm a lot... Oh and I made friends with a cat from next door."
Something clicked in Ethan's mind and he ran with it, "wait go back"
"What to the cat-" Oliver said confused.
"No, the arm. Why was Matt punching your arm?" Ethan said whilst grabbing Oscars arm and pulling up the sleeve. Near his shoulder there was a neat plaster.
"We all had tests, to see if we needed some vaccine. They did it at school and sent the results off. We were meant to get them back soon and see if we needed a shot." Oscars face seemed to go from confusion to sudden realisation. "What, you think they found something in my blood, something that could make them come after me?"
"It has to be, otherwise they would have come for you sooner." Ethan said. At least he knew why Oliver was targeted, but they were no closer to why. And what did Anton want with him. He went to a lot of trouble to bring Ethan here when he could have just killed him. "But that doesn't matter now anyway" Ethan looked around the room trying to spot cameras. Could they really be stupid enough not to put any in?
Well Ethan hoped so as he reached into his sleeve and pulled out the little box that they had taken from the plane. Oliver grinned at Ethan, a spark flickered behind his eyes as if for the first time he thought everything was going to be ok.
Ethan pulled the cover off the box. It was actually the radio transmitter which he would use to communicate back to base with and with a little bit of luck it might still work. Ethan pressed a small switch on the motherboard which was a manual override to send out a signal but it was completely fried.
"Shit, damm thing's busted." The board had a long crack going through it which must have wrecked the thing.
"I don't think it is. My dad used to have some radios at home. He loved fixing them up, he could work miracles with electronics. Let me have a look at it." Oliver said. It couldn't hurt so Ethan handed the small circuit over to the boy which he quickly took and moved over to the light. Ethan leaned back against the wall and watched Oliver fiddle with the little board. He sat near the door to try and listen out down the corridor to see if anyone was coming.
Twenty minutes later Oliver came back to sit down in front of Ethan and showed him his finished work. He had twisted and pushed the metal contacts carefully back together in such a way that Ethan doubted that he could have done it without some specialised tools.
"That's brilliant, you may have just gotten us out of here." Ethan said quickly as he pushed himself up fast and reached up for the lightbulb.
"What are you doing? That could fry you if you aren't careful." Oliver said looking concerned but he still had energy racing through his eyes.
Ethan grimaced as he pull the light of the wires, leaving two cables hanging down from the ceiling. Ethan pulled them and they extended all the way to the floor where Ethan managed to sit down with the small square lying on the cold floor.
"You stay by the door, this board isn't going to last long and when in goes the whole system will short out which will make them come running. Give me as much time as you can. I'm gonna try to send out a SOS but I have to do it on a secure frequency otherwise it will probably be intercepted, we've just got to hope that someone is listening." Ethan said quickly. Once he had stop speaking he immediately jammed the wires onto the board and tapped out an SOS signal using the wires to send bursts of radio transmissions.
It lasted six seconds before the board sparked and Ethan heard power being shut off to the whole facility. "Did it work?" Oliver whispered quietly.
"We'll know in about two hours and thirty seven minutes if it was picked up. Nothing we can do except wait." Ethan said as he cracked the circuit board and slid the remains into a dark corner. It was almost pitch black in the room now with no light coming from under the door. Ethan could hear someone coming down the corridor and pulled Oliver back away from the door and pushed the boy behind him.
The door burst open and three men carrying huge assault rifles which were all aimed at Ethan. Oliver clutched the back of Ethan's jacket as Ethan raised his hands.
"Been having problems have you?" Ethan said sarcastically.
"What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO?" Anton burst into the room screaming at the two boys. Oliver tried to slide further behind Ethan, he was shaking slightly and Ethan reached round and grabbed Oliver's hand, holding him steady.
Even Ethan felt a stab of fear go through him. Anton was as white as a sheet and looked deranged. Even worse was that he looked dangerous and Ethan was worried what the man could do.
The fear was quickly replaced with anger though, and hatred towards the man infront of him. The man who had murdered his mother. "We didn't do anything to the lights." Oliver said in a small voice behind Ethan. Thankfully he sounded to timid to be suspicious so Ethan held his breath until Anton turned and stalked back to the door. On the threshold he turned back to the guards and said "Bring them to the labs."
The three guards stalked forward, still with their guns raised so Ethan just raised his eyebrows and sighed before turning to look at Oliver. "Come on then, we better not keep him waiting." He said as he pulled Oliver between the guards and walked down the corridor following his father.
Deep in the facility Ethan walked through big double doors into a huge laboratory what looked almost identical to the one he had destroyed under the Louvre.
"I won't have any lookalike surprises down here will I, because I'm really not in the mood to have a fight with myself again." Ethan said spitting acid at his father who had killed Ethan's clone after it showed the smallest of weaknesses.
Anton was bent over a worktable but his neck flicked around to look at Ethan when he spoke. He looked mad with a glint in his eye that screamed crazy. Ethan pushed Oliver behind him again but two guards grabbed him under the arms and pulled him away. Ethan lunged for him but found nearly twenty rifles being pointed into his face.
Anton stood back and gestured to a large dentist chair. "If you would sit down, I would hate to make poor Oliver's day harder than it already is." Ethan strolled across the room leisurely before lowering himself comfortably into the chair. The moment he sat down large straps secured his arms and legs into the seat. His father sat down in a steel office chair opposite him. Oliver was pushed down and strapped into a large examine table that was almost vertical. He looked almost comical in it as it was made for a much larger man by its shape.
"Is this the part where you explain to me your evil plan before I miraculously escape and save the day?" Ethan said smugly.
Anton smirked before nodding to the guard next to Ethan who slammed the butt of his rifle hard into Ethan's jaw. It hurt like hell and was throbbing painfully as Ethan clicked it slightly. Oliver looked at Ethan with huge blue eyes, he was terrified. Ethan made a silent pact to himself then. That what ever happened next, he would get Oliver out of here safe and sound.
Anton leaned in close to Ethan, "This won't end that well Ethan, I think you know that. But I think you do deserve some answers, for coming this far." He got up and walked to a table, fiddling with a large syringe before walking back to Ethan and sticking it into his arm. He pulled the plunger and dark blood seeped through the needle.
"Your mother was a very special woman Ethan. Yes, very special." Anton put heavy emphasis on special. His father was staring into the distance, he must have been miles away in his memory's. "She could see the future you know. Just glimpses, very rare but very powerful each time they happened. We were happy for a time. I was a lecturer at Culver University and she was a teacher at the local primary school. We met just after I had been approached to do some very interesting research into advanced genetic alteration. It was the foundation for our super soldier serum that we used on you. Then one day I came home and your mother was holding a knife, she wouldn't let me near her. It was the day she found out that she was pregnant, with you. She told me then, all about her power. Her prophecies. She had seen me, everything I did. What happened to you."
Ethan felt himself straining against his bonds. He felt a power within him, trying to get out. To rip apart the man who was his father.
"I hit her once, and she was knocked out. I called some people, very important people and they took her here where I could do my research. You grew and grew and grew and Marie hated me more everyday."
Ethan let out his breath, he hadn't breathed since his father had started talking. Marie, that was his mother's name. He had never known. His father had never told him when they had lived in Moscow.
"I still remember the day you were born. Marie was screaming at me, telling the doctors not to let me take you but they did. I was the first person you saw, after you opened your little eyes. They were her eyes. You have them still, exactly her eyes. I took you to see her that day, into her hospital room. My research was still years from being completed and I wasn't cruel. You would know your mother, at least for a little time."
Ethan could see it know, his father had been the noise coming towards them in his dream. It had been Anton... and the baby.
"I put you in her arms, she was so weak. It hadn't been easy on her, birthing you. She looked at you and laughed. She whispered something to you before turning to me. As soon as she saw me hate filled her eyes. The same hate I now see in yours. 'His name is Ethan' that is what she said to me. I still loved her you know, with every fibre of my being. I walked to her bed, knelt down beside her and held your hand. Your mother was crying, I should have known then that she would do something. She touched your forehead, I could almost see some light go from the end of her finger tips into you. I was shocked, I didn't see her do it but she grabbed my hand. Your mother had more power than I knew, she didn't just have visions, she could share them aswell. I saw everything, us living together on the Neva. The experiments we preformed on you. Your training. That was where it stopped though, the day you were sent on your first mission and I could see the weapon I created."
Ethan remembered that day so well. He was the last boy left in the facility, he had killed all the others. Anton was right, back then he was the perfect weapon. He would have killed anyone on the planet if he had been asked to, probably would have been able to aswell. Ethan could still see something left in his father, something that was causing this madness, something that must have haunted him for over sixteen years.
"She showed me the Red Room where I was trained so I could see where I needed to go to save Amy and to see what you had done to me. She showed me this place as well. I spoke to her, managed to have the only real conversation I could ever have with my mother because of you. Because you killed her." Ethan spat the last words out with such force that even Anton recoiled.
His father looked shocked, pain shooting across his face. "You think I killed her, you think I murdered my wife." Anton was shouting now. "She hated me so much that she expended herself just to show me a glimpse of the future. Once I had seen her last gift to me she fell back, all her energy gone. And I was left kneeling there, with a screaming baby in my hands whilst the woman I loved faded from existence."
His father's last sentence broke Ethan, inside and out. It shattered everything he knew about the man infront of him. He had to be lying, he must have killed Marie. Ethan almost couldn't accept the possibility that his father might be telling the truth.
"No, no no no. You must have killed her. You're a madman, evil. That's what you are. You must have killed her." Ethan screamed at Anton.
Anton lent back close to Ethan, "Your mother killed me, the only good part left in me at least. You want to know what the last thing she showed me was." Anton looked crazier than ever, with evil mad glints shining brightly in both of his wide eyes. "She showed me the Louvre, where you shot me. I felt it, the pain of you killing me. You would never know what it felt like, to die. The pain of it. And then she showed me-" Anton suddenly stopped, gasping and stuttering.
"What, tell me what she showed yo-"
"ENOUGH!" Anton bellowed at Ethan before he feverantly looked back down at the syringe full of Ethan's blood. "You know, afterwards, I checked. I examined your blood and your mother's. And do you know what I found. Your mother's DNA is different, very different. It was so far away from normal that she could barely be considered human. It's what gave your mother power and I suspect could give you powers."
"What are you talking about? I don't have powers, not unless you count the ones that you gave me with your super soldier serum." Ethan said quickly to his father. Anton had lost it, gone completely insane.
"No that's the most interesting part of it. The powers, they are switched off at birth, genetically that is. Your DNA is barely different to a normal persons in anyway, apart from a small marker. There is a tiny blip in you" his father got up and turned to Oliver, "which finally brings us to Master Hunt here."
Oliver looked tiny surrounded by the grown men. Ethan strained against the cuffs holding him to the chair but they wouldn't give.
"Imagine how surprised I was when we found Oliver had the same genetic marker as you. So naturally we had to bring him here. It was dreadfully easy really, seeing as Dummnell was already embedded at the orphanage but I was surprised when you arrived. It felt almost like a moment of fate so I had you brought to me." Anton was now fumbling around in a small metal case, pulling out a vial of green swirling liquid.
"Oliver should be thankful you are here though Ethan. From some interesting research done by another team, I've uncovered a way of turning on your powers but the solution needs to be catalysed by an active source of power, which you just happen to have running in your blood, Thanks to Marie." Anton said her name with venom, he hated her. What had she shown him that had caused so much hate and madness in him?
"Oh and before I forget." He nodded at a man who Ethan couldn't see but stepped into his vision. He was holding a small digital camera which flashed. Anton chuckled slightly, "Paperwork. Though maybe I should put it online, it might be interesting to see what people think if we prove that their little superhero is a child soldier." If that got out, Ethan couldn't ever go undercover again. Everyone would know his face.
Anton mixed Ethan's blood little vial of liquid and it turned an electric shade of light green. Anton pushed the vial into a small injector and started walking towards Ethan. Whatever that liquid would do to him it would never be good so Ethan strained and pulled against his chains. When Anton was a foot away from him, Ethan heard his hand crack and explode in pain as his thumb broke, allowing him to pull his hand through the small circle of metal.
Anton surged forward but Ethan punched him in the jaw before reaching the other metal cuffs off of the chair. Ethan jumped up as guards surged at him but he met them mid stride. Ethan had jumped onto the chest of the closest guard and managed to snap his neck as he jumped over him before double kicking the next two guards. Ethan tried to move on to the third guard but what knocked sideways as a loud bang echoed behind him and a bullet struck deep into his left shoulder.
Crying out in pain Ethan fell to the ground. Guards immediately surged him and holding down his arms and legs and he tried to push them off of him with no luck. The last thing Ethan felt was a needle being pushed into his neck and a cold icy feeling sweeping over him.
He woke up, but he wasn't awake. Ethan's eyes flew open as he scanned the room. He was lying in a hospital bed. No it was the same hospital bed his mother had been in. Ethan scanned the room looking for her but she wasn't there.
All of a sudden a huge pain tore through him, like a fiery sword being thrust through every cell of his body. Ethan screamed out in pain, the unending torture racked his entire body.
"Shhhhhhhhhh. Be still, it will be over soon. Shhhhhhh." It was his mother's voice. She was close by, Ethan could feel it as if her breath was on the back of his neck.
The pain increased, reaching new levels that Ethan couldn't have considered even existing before his body was juddered. Exploding upwards Ethan flew at the ceiling but a second before he collide with it, it disappeared and Ethan flew upwards even further. He was now surrounded by white, like clouds on every side of him. There was no one here, but at least there was no pain. That had been left below.
In front of Ethan, the mist rose up. It seemed to collected and solidify until his mother was standing infront of him. Ethan walked towards her and hugged her tight. Tears were still running down his cheek but she wiped them away.
"Shhhhhh, it's ok now. The pain is gone." She said lovingly.
"You're dead aren't you. How are you in my dream?" Ethan said quietly, still with questions burning in him.
"I suppose I am dead aren't I. I burnt up all my energy pushing visions into you and Anton. It killed me but it set the future on the right path." She said. She looked at Ethan feverantly, as if she was desperately trying to remember every detail about him. "As to how I'm here, I don't know. This isn't one of my visions."
Anger seeped through Ethan now as he pushed his mother away. "What are you saying though. The future on the right path, what did that matter. You should have stayed. You should have been there for me, for us. I saw it in Dad's eyes, he loved you, you could have helped him."
"You don't understand. My gift, it can be a curse. Seeing the future, it's not precise. I saw different futures, all possible. In all of them Anton did this to you. Some you stayed evil, some you turned good. In some you burnt the world down and watched as the ashes crumbled. What I saw scared me more than you could know but I was pregnant with you and I loved you. It was Anton, it was all his fault. I should have never trusted a human to have a child with but I fell in love. After I saw the possible futures I made a choice Ethan, for you. The best I could do for you was die that day, sixteen and a half years ago. You just have to know that I love you still and how proud I am that you are finally taking your birthright." She said with power behind her voice, but also guilt. Ethan knew that it had torn her inside not to see him grow up but he believed her when she had said that she had done it for the best.
"Wait, my birthright? You said you shouldn't trust a human... What are you... What are we?" Ethan felt confused, he didn't know what was happening anymore. He had been trained to combat any foe. To be able to kill any man and yet he still couldn't even begin to understand all this.
"I can sense that we don't have much time together Ethan but I can tell you what you needto know. There are people out there, not human people but people with... Abilities. As the legends go, millennia ago a star fell from space and from it a blue God changed people to become legends themselves. Warriors with the power to fight Gods. Your power has been unlocked within yourself but you won't be able to control it, not to begin with. It can be difficult to handle but you just have to focus. The powers are a part of you and once you accept them they will be able to be controlled just like a hand or foot. Just try to stay calm. That always helps."
Ethan could feel something pulling him from behind, as if an invisible hand was pulling him away from his mother. Ethan tried calling to her but he had no voice, no sound came out.
Marie Jacobs had tears in her eyes as she watched Ethan getting pulled away but she didn't move, didn't try to speak.
Ethan woke back up on the floor of the laboratory, his entire body felt sore and rough. Ethan pushed himself to his feet but collapsed when his broken hand surged with pain. His shoulder still burned with pain but Ethan could see a white bandage pressed onto it. He managed to look around and was surprised to see no guards around. Sirens were spinning on the wall and Ethan could swear that in the distance he could hear gunfire. As Ethan stood up he heard a clatter as the metal cuff dropped of his wrist. His arm felt sore like he had had a nasty injection.
It had been on tight. Ethan though as he looked around the room. Ollie was still cuffed to the table but he appeared to be asleep. Ethan tried to walk towards him but his foot wouldn't budge. Ethan pulled and felt nothing until he looked down.
All around him, black debris littered the floor. It looked like the rocks had explode out from him but he couldn't tell what it was. It looked just like normal rock except that it was jet black. Ethan looked across the room and saw that it surrounded Oliver as well.
He could feel something running up and down his arms, like little bolts of electricity inside of him that powered his bones. Ethan held up a hand. Between his fingers small bolts of red lightning powered between them.
Ethan gasped out loud and threw his hand to the side, trying to shake off the energy. Out of his hand flew a beam of the red energy which hit the chair he had just been in. The chair exploded in energy and flew backwards, ripped out of the ground.
Ethan grabbed his hand back, looking at it in shock. Panic was coursing through him and he felt a bolt of power shoot out from behind him hitting a table in the room.
Stay calm his mother's words echoed through him. Ethan breathed in deep, calming himself down as he cleared his mind. This must be it, this was his power. It had manifested just like his mother had said.
Ethan could feel it in him still. It felt strange but he was managing to push back against it now. To keep it inside though it felt alive. Like it wanted to be free. Ethan thought back to what his mum had said. 'Believe in your power. It's a part of you.'
Ethan held out his hand again, he thought about the red energy, pushing it through him. Slowly it pushed out of his hand. Twisting up from his palm Ethan saw tendrils of energy forming a spiral.
Marie had been right, the powers were a part of you. The power just had to be controlled like an arm or leg, without really thinking but wanting them to do it, just expecting them to comply.
Ethan ran across the room to reach Oliver. He had decided that it was gunfire outside which could mean that rescue was here. Ethan reached Oliver and checked his pulse, it was weak but stable. They must have given him a powerful knockout drug.
Ethan found a key left on the small table with his father's equipment on it which fit into the cuffs which fell of of Oliver. He fell forward and Ethan managed to catch him, lifting him easily in his arms. The boy really was small for his age, he barely weighed more than a small suitcase.
Ethan ignored the pain from his hand and shoulder as he ran down the dark corridors of the facility. He didn't see a single person anywhere. Ethan tried retracing his steps and was making some progress when he saw a set of stairs.
You'll find what you need downstairs that was what his mother had said.
Ethan took a chance and started running down the stairs. Oliver was stirring in his arms but still looked completely out of it. Ethan rounded the bottom of the stairs and found a vault door. It was huge, made of steel and furnished with huge metal tumblers.
There was a keypad on the side but Ethan didn't know the code. He put Ollie down next to the door and examined it closer. It was a brutal machine, there would be no way to brute force it open.
Ethan took a deep breath before pressing his hand against the metal. Eight tendrils extended from his palm and snaked out, forming eight lines from his centre palm. He pushed them into the metal, which sizzled and turned white but Ethan felt no resistance from the lines. He could feel them, but could barely explain what they felt like. As if he had fingers pushed out from him but they weren't connected to him and didn't feel like fingers.
Ethan felt them hit air on the other side of the door and he twisted them around, pushing into the metal again. Thirty seconds later he had a perfect ring in the metal and the door crashed down onto the floor.
Ethan stepped back into the stairwell. Oliver seemed more awake now, he had managed to stand up.
"How are you feeling?" Ethan asked him, concerned. Nothing outwardly had changed about the boy.
"Tired and cold" Oliver said quietly, "Did you just cut through that door?"
Ethan grinned and motioned for Oliver to come with him. Ethan closed the door behind Oliver as they walked through into a small room. Ethan flicked the lights on and went still. Infront of them were four large tubes with liquid in then. One of the tubes were empty but the other three had bodies floating in them. Ethan stared at his father.
The the two boys walked closer to the large tubes, their faces bathed in blue light from the tubes.
"At least we know how your dad survived. This must be where he was downloaded into a new body." Oliver said, marvelling at the floating bodies. "We need to destroy them."
Ethan looked shocked, he knew he was right but he didn't expect the little boy to recommend something so violent.
"We can overload the cables, it should create a small scale explosion in here. We need to stop him Ethan. He may be your dad but if these are gone then he can't find a way back." Oliver said as he started fiddling with the wires to the side of the machine.
"Fine, you overload then whilst I go and find us a way out of here." Ethan said as he looked around. There was a door on the far side of the room which Ethan tried. It opened up into a small room with a ladder on the far side. The room was also conveniently a panic room. Well it was designed by his dad as a bolt hole so there would be a gun in the room somewhere.
Ethan looked around the sparse room. Where would he hide a gun if he was a lunatic with a sense of style. It was obvious really. Ethan walked across the room to the biggest section of wall and pushed it slightly. It immediately slithered back and expose a huge assault rifle with threes spare magazines.
Ethan grabbed it off the wall and checked it quickly. It was in perfect working order and Ethan just pulled it onto his shoulder when Oliver ran into the room and leaped onto the ladder.
"What did you do!?" Ethan yelled after him.
"No time, come on" Oliver yelled back down the ladder.
Ethan launched himself at it and pulled himself up, catching Oliver who had just reached the top and pulled himself out. Ethan scanned around to see that they had come or around the back of the facility. There seemed to be a pitched gun battle on the other side of the building but Ethan only counted three guards this side.
Ethan pointed to the building, where a small shelter had been built around the door. "When I say go, run for that and don't stop." Ethan said quietly. Oliver nodded.
Ethan jumped out of the hole and managed to shoot two guards in quick succession. "Go" he yelled behind him as he started running. More guards where running around the corner towards them but Ethan managed to keep them back with shots to towards their heads but he took a slug in the leg for his troubles.
The bullet had only grazed him but it was still quite deep. Ethan managed to get into cover with Oliver. The guards had stopped coming giving Ethan a chance to breath but he twisted around lightning fast when he heard Oliver squeal.
Anton had sneaked up behind him and grabbed him in a choke hold, putting a gun to his head.
Ethan levelled his pistol and pointed it at his father who was slowly walking backwards with Oliver. "Put Him Down" Ethan said slowly. He sounded dangerous now.
"I won't, I won't die. She showed me this, Marie... She showed me this right now. It was the last thing she said to me 'This is when you die' but I won't die... I won't-" and the ground exploded.
Oliver had done his job to well as all three men were blown off there feet. Ethan groaned as he landed, pain running all over his already brutalised body. There was a loud sharp ringing in his ears but he could see through the smoke.
Anton and Oliver hadn't been affected as much as Ethan had been, they had been further away from the blast and where already back on their feet. Anton was screaming as he pointed the gun at Ethan. Ollie was running towards him as well.
Anton pulled the trigger and the bullet exploded out the end but at the same second a bullet crack echoed towards them. A fraction of a second later Ethan's father's head exploded. Ethan didn't see the bullet coming though as Oliver dived in front of him.
"Nooooooooo" Ethan screamed as Oliver fell forward and landed to the side of him. Ethan pushed himself forward and crawled his way towards Oliver. The boy rolled over in the dirt. He didn't have a bullet wound. Ethan looked to the side and saw the crumpled bullet lying on the floor.
Ethan tried to reach out for Oliver but he couldn't reach him. It was like a wall between them. Oliver was panting and looking panicked. He couldn't get out.
"Listen to me Oliver, stay calm. It's going to be OK." Oliver still looked panicked but stopped moving. Ethan took a deep breath and pushed his hand against the barrier, pushing his hand through it. It was difficult, like pushing through molasses. Ethan managed to reach Oliver and pulled him, moving the barrier over both of them and hugged him. The bond they now shared couldn't be broken. The little boy was the brother Ethan could never have and he wouldn't let anything happen to him.
Ethan barely felt it as the barrier came down but did feel it when Oliver collapsed in he arms. He had exhausted himself with just the small shield. Ethan felt drained inside as well and was in a lot of pain from a broken hand and bullet wounds.
Ethan held Oliver in his arms as he spun around. He could hear people running around the building and levelled his pistol, ready to face them. Ethan felt his arms trembling, he could barely lift the gun and could feel the end dipping. He sighed in relief when Clint and Agent Thirteen burst around the corner, sprinting towards them with bow and gun primed and ready.
The moment Ethan saw them, he slumped back, sitting against the wall. He was shocked, even in his delirious state, by the person running behind Clint as James Waters sprinted around the corner. He had a huge sniper rifle in his hands with a weird scope on it. Ethan saw them spot them and sprint forward. Clint and James dropped to the ground next to him and James pulled out a medpack and pressed a cloth pad against the bullet wound in his leg. Carter covered them, firing some shots at some guards trying to advance on them.
Clint pulled him up and slung his arm around his shoulder. James picked up Oliver in arms and began running back to the airstrip. It was clear that this was a quick in and out job as Clint started pulling him after James. Ethan saw that most of the guards seemed to be dead on the concrete outside the main building. There had to be at least a hundred dead bodies around and a full STRIKE team were pinning a few more guards down in the main building.
Ethan heard a few stray shots flying over their heads as Clint pulled him forward with Carter covering them. Halfway to the jet, James reappeared and grabbed Ethan on the other side and they picked him up between them. The moment they hit the ramp on the jet they took off but oddly kept low to the main building, hovering just over the roof.
Clint and James lowered Ethan into a seat and strapped him in as he moaned slightly. His bullet wounds weren't hurting as much but there was a general ache all over his body. Oliver was lying slumped in the seat opposite. Carter knelt down next to Ethan and started assessing his injuries.
Ethan's confusion as to why they weren't moving was answered when he saw a flash of red hair and Nat climbed up into the main belly of the plane. She smiled as she saw Ethan before walking over to the central console and plugged in a flash drive copying its contents to a secure SHIELD server.
Clint and James sat down stood in front of Ethan as the jet sped away from the battle. Ethan was getting a bit of his energy back and felt a lot better after Carter gave him a shot of something.
"Lemme see. It looks like a broken wrist, two bullet wounds and what looks like and injection track on your arm, probably just something to keep you asleep."
"You got my message then?" Ethan smirked.
Carter rolled her eyes. "Well after you didn't report in I wondered where you had gone so I put a few rookies on 24/7 lookout. After the message cut out straight away we reckoned you were in actual danger, especially as you were in the middle of the Sahara desert."
"What happened though. That was your father back there Ethan. He's dead, you shot him." Clint said sounding concerned. It was rare that the big man wasn't joking.
"I thought he was dead to until he turned up in Germany and took Oliver and me away." Ethan then went on and told them the whole story of what had happened after he had been picked up. He even told them about the talks with his mum, even if they did make him sound crazy but if he couldn't trust the people around him now then he couldn't trust anyone.
Once he was done the four agents around him looked just as confused as when he began.
"Wait you saying he gave you superpowers.." Clint said.
"He just resurrected himself..." Sharon said
"So the guy I shot was Ethan's dad?" James said
That caught Ethan out, "Wait you shot him?" Ethan said looking at James.
"Yeah... Is that ok?" James looked a little unsure.
"Don't worry, it was a good shot." That seemed to nullify him but he still looked unsure, he mustn't have heard Ethan's history.
"Still though, you said 'powers' what do you mean?" Nat said cutting between James and Ethan.
"I will have to show you but later. I'm to drained right now." Nat looked concerned with him and said "They'll put you on the Index, and there's no coming off that list." The Index was a list of enhanced people who were to be monitored and watched to assess their danger.
"Let's not think about that now." Clint said as he turned to look at Oliver. "What about him, why was he in that facility."
Ethan realised that he had forgotten to mention Oliver in his report. "He was back at the orphanage. He had the same genetic marker as me so they brought him and activated him as well. He has some sort of energy manipulation power. It felt like a wall when he had it around him."
"Yeah I saw the bullet ping off of it. Whatever it is, it's strong enough to stand up to a strong force." James said with a slight sound of awe in his voice.
"Still, what are you doing here James. You were in the Royal Marines three months ago." Ethan said staring the bigger man down. He thought someone would have qued him in if his girlfriends older brother suddenly became a STRIKE agent. He gasped slightly though as Thirteen started ramping a splint around his hand.
"Wait, no one told you about him?" Clint said laughing "SHIELD has been trying to recruit him for years. He's something of a legend in the British Army. James is the guy who made the eight K shot"
Ethan felt his eyebrows raise as he looked at James for confirmation. He couldn't shoot anywhere as far as that and he was a genetically altered super soldier. James shrugged and said "it was mostly luck. I finally caved into SHIELD requests after I met you. You made me believe that maybe SHIELD could do some good and wasn't all just knives in backs. I think New York proves that."
"Well it's always-" Ethan said but was cut of by stirring on the other side of the jet. Oliver had woken up and was looking around with bleary eyes. "Hey Ollie, how are you feeling?" All of the agents were watching him closely. He looked scared, his eyes dashing from one agent to the other until Nat rolled her eyes and walked over to him.
She knelt down in front of Oliver and said "How are you feeling? Anywhere hurt?" In an uncharacteristically soft voice.
"I'm ok. Nowhere hurts to bad." Ethan was looking him over. The boy looked bruised and battered with some small shrapnel cuts but apart from that it wasn't to bad. Ethan probably looked much worse, with broken bones and some larger cuts all over his body from being closer to the explosion.
"That's good. We're about twenty minutes out from base and you'll both be assed there." Clint said, also looking the young boy over.
"Um, where are we going." Oliver asked in a timid voice.
"I wondered that, New York and the carrier are out of order and The Hub is to secret to let an uncleared enhanced on base. We better not be going to The Fridge."
Clint smirked and said, "Nope, Fury has ordered us all to relocate to DC so we're going to the Triskellion." Ethan raised his eyebrows. The Triskellion was the legendary centre of all SHIELD operations.
"What was wrong with my place in New York?" Ethan laughed at them but groaned when his his shoulder stabbed with pain which got a laugh out of the crowd.
"So I get to got to America with three Avengers. This is so cool!" Oliver said in an awed voice.