Celeste's POV
I could hear something that sounded like voices. I'm too afraid to open my eyes... I know I've failed HYDRA. I've failed Fischer... also my head is killing me. I don't want any light hurting my eyes anymore than it is. I also feel a metal collar around my neck. What is going on?
"Hey, the lullaby worked better than ever." A females voice stated.
"Just wasn't expecting the Code Green." A man responded.
"If you hadn't been there, there would've been double the casualties. My best friend would've been a treasured memory. And we all could have been nothing but ash if you hadn't have intercepted Miss. Weather Channel over there".
She must be referring to me.
I opened my eyes just slightly and looked over towards the voices. A man with dark hair had headphones around his neck, and a red headed woman was in front of him. I quickly scanned the space we were in. I could see a man in the cockpit, Blondie was standing off to the side, bow and arrow man on a table with an IV, and a man in a blue uniform that did absolutely EVERYTHING for his physique... hold up, what are you thinking? They're the Avengers, an enemy of HYDRA. I look down to my hands, testing my ability... they just send out small sparks... not enough to do any damage... damn.
"You know, sometimes exactly what I want to hear isn't exactly what I want to hear." My attention was brought back to the pair.
"How long before you trust me?"
"It's not you I don't trust."
"Thor, report on the Hulk?"
Blondie turns around. "The gates of Hell are filled with the screams of his victims." I can't help but smile. Where is this guy from?
The red headed woman glares at him, and the dark haired man groans in despair. Thor slightly taken aback from this response says, "Uh, but, not the screams of the dead, of course. No no, uh...wounded screams, mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and, and uh... and gout." He tries to save himself. The man in the blue suit now standing next to him, like myself, is trying to hide his smile as he looks up to the roof of the craft.
"Hey, Banner" the pilot, "Dr. Cho's on her way in from Seoul, is it okay if she sets up in your lab?"
"Uh, yeah, she knows her way around."
"Thanks. Tell her to prep everything, Barton's gonna need the full treatment."
"Very good sir." What is that voice... no one else was speaking...
"JARVIS, take the wheel." The pilot says, turning his seat around and heading towards the others.
"Yes, sir. Approach vector is locked." Must be an AI of sorts.
The pilot looks down at HYDRA's sceptre. "It feels good, yeah? I mean, you've been after this thing since SHIELD collapsed. Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties, but..."
"No, but this...this brings it to a close." Thor says.
"As soon as we find out what else this has been used for. I don't just mean weapons. Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?" The man in blue asks.
"Banner and I'll give it the once before it goes back to Asgard. Is that cool with you?" Thor nods his answer. "I mean, just a few days until the farewell party. You're staying, right?"
"Yes, yes, of course. A victory should be honored with revels."
"Yeah. Who doesn't love revels. Captain?" Pilot asks turning to blue uniform. Captain? Makes sense, the way he holds himself suggests military.
"Hopefully this puts an end to the Chitauri and HYDRA, so. Yes, revels."
"Speaking of human enhancement..." the pilot trials off, turning to me. Everyone on the jet turns to look at me. "What are doing with Miss. Weather Channel?"
The captain slowly approaches me. His large physique, along with Thor behind him doesn't come off as anything but intimidating. I push myself into the wall behind me, putting my cuffed hands up to shoot out my powers to protect myself... sparks. Bugger, I forgot about that.
"Your new necklace might put a bit of a dampen on your tricks, lady. So, no use" pilot snarks.
"Who are you?" The captain asks me. I can't respond. My throat has closed up, I feel the sting of tears in my eyes. "We won't hurt you, ma'am..." he continues.
"I mean, not much. The Hulk did a good job" Thor smirked.
"Thor, seriously?" Red head says, pointing to the dark haired man she was speaking with earlier. So he must be the Hulk...
There's no way I can get away with lying... I fought two of their team members...
"I'm Tempestas. Or Celeste." I say quietly.
"Tempestas? As in the Latin for storm?" Red Head asks. I nod. "Makes sense." She quirks her manicured eyebrow.
"So Celeste, you're with HYDRA?" Captain asks. Again I nod. "Did they experiment on you?"
"No. They helped me"
"They helped you? Sounds very un-HYDRA like..." red head is now standing next to the captain.
"I know what you think. But HYDRA aren't the bad guys here". I instantly felt a shift in the atmosphere.
"Of course, that'd be us" the pilot scoffs.
"Tony." Captain warns. He then turns back to me. His eyes are hard, but his voice is soft. "Tell us how they helped you then."
"Are you a god?" Thor asks "With powers like yours, and they haven't experimented... you're like a goddess"
"I wouldn't say I'm a goddess. Yes I have powers, I first remember using them when I was only young. But I'm human. A mutant, HYDRA called me, but still human."
"But they saved you?"
"I don't wish to say anymore at this time. "
Tony rolls his eyes. I can't speak too much. I mustn't give anymore information to them willingly... torture would be hard, but I'm not giving them more. It was typical for HYDRA agents to suicide in order to not spill their secrets... but not only did I not have a cyanide capsule, I was valuable to HYDRA. I was to do what I could to not die, without sharing our secrets.
"Romanoff should use some of her specific skill set to get the information." Tony says.
"Gladly. But it'll have to wait until we get Barton looked at."
Just after she says that, I feel the jet make contact with a surface. Everyone starts clearing out and the captain comes over to me, helping me stand.
A woman with dark hair and a fitted dress walks up.
"Lab's all set up, boss." She says.
Tony points to the captain "Uh, actually, he's the boss. I just pay for everything, and design everything and make everyone look cooler."
"What's the word on Strucker?" The Captain says, ignoring Tony.
"NATO's got him." My heart races as I hear this. Where's Fischer?
"The other two enhanced?"
"Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Twins. Orphaned at ten when a shell collapsed their apartment building. Sokovia's had a rough history. It's nowhere special but it's on the way to everywhere special. This one here was a bit harder to dig up any information on though."
The Captain looks to me briefly, then back. "Their abilities?"
"He's got increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. Her thing is neural electric interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation. Celeste's is atmokinesis."
He looks at her funny.
The woman rephrases the statement so he can understand "He's fast, they're both kinda weird".
"Really?" I shift to the side, taking offence to the 'weird' comment.
"Well, they're going to show up again." He ignores me.
"Agreed. File says the twins volunteered for Strucker's experiments. It's nuts."
The captain walks us into an elevator. "Right. What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?"
"We're not at war, Captain."
"They are." He responds, elevator doors shutting.
The elevator starts moving.
"So you're THE captain?" I ask. He side eyes me, questioningly. "America? Captain America? Steve Rogers? Fought Johann Schmidt in the war? A huge deal in the collapse of S.H.E.I.L.D.?"
"Yes that's me. They tell you all about the collapse?"
"I only get told the 'need to know' information."
"Maybe you should hear the whole story." he says.
I look at him. What does he mean by that?
"Are you going to tell me? I don't know if I'd trust anything you say, Captain. Not only have you been destroying our bases, but I've lost some friends because of you."
"If they were truly your friends, I apologise. However, HYDRA needs to be stopped. They've only ever wreaked havoc since the day they began. They've done unbelievably inhumane things. To people I love!" I gasped at his raised voice. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to raise my voice... they just... they're not what you believe them to be."
I decided to stay quiet. I don't want to risk anything, the stories of the Captain were not great. He's dangerous. And the lies... Fischer would never have lied to me. He couldn't have... could he? What am I doing, I shouldn't question him. I hope he was okay. No one had mentioned him yet...
"Do you kn-" I cut myself off. I can't compromise Fischer, if they don't know about him, they won't look for him.
"Yes?"
"Do you know what you plan to do with me?" I ask. He eyes me curiously, as if he knows I had another question.
"We'll process you, question you. We have a job to do, and any information you have can help a lot of people."
Oh he's good. Of course that hits me right in the heart. I've only ever wanted to help those who can't be helped. Seems to be maybe they have more information on me than they say. Those gorgeous blue eyes aren't going to fool me...