Chapter 31

[Emily's POV]

"These are the entrance tests," a calm voice whispered. My eyes widened in disbelief, but I nodded glumly. Warren Worthington III, or Warren as he let me call him, gave a small laugh and sent me a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. They aren't that difficult."

"That's because you got all As," grumbled a voice from the doorway. I turned around and cocked my head at the newcomer. He was a tall and muscular, long hair that ended with side burns. Behind myself, I could hear Warren groaning. The man spat whatever he was chewing into the trashcan and nodded towards me. "Who's she?"

"Emily, meet Logan," Warren said angrily. Someone could practically cut through the tension between the two of them with a knife. "He's a part of the X-Men. Logan, meet Emily Salgado, one of our newest students."

Logan smiled cockily before sauntering over towards me. In an instant, a few long, sharp silver claws flashed out of his knuckles and glittered in the light. I didn't flinch at all.

"What, no flinch?" he asked, kind of sounding a bit disappointed. I glanced at him warily.

"I have wings that sprouted in the middle of the night when was I younger," I answered simply. "Nothing surprises me anymore..."

I cut off when I couldn't breathe anymore. My hands flashed to my throat and I gulped, trying to bring some air into my lungs. I scratched at my throat, shaking as I sank to the floor. Someone caught me (I think Logan did) but I began to shake uncontrollably.

"Go get the Professor!" Logan yelled just as something long and sharp sliced out of my knuckles.

:/:\:

Something wet and soft patted my forehead, moving back and forth in a relaxing, rhythmic way. Every part in my body was aching, except my hands, which didn't feel like anything at all. Suddenly, the wetness on my forehead began to burn. I swatted away the hand that held the thing, but it kept coming back.

"Go away," I grumbled, swatting at it again. "Leave me be."

"Emily Salgado, you are going to let me cool down your fever, or so help me..." the voice spat back. The voice. It was a female's, with a thick accent.

I knew that voice.

Slowly, because I didn't want anymore pain, I blinked my eyes open. A beautiful brunette woman sat on the bed beside me, the wet towel clutched in her hand. Her necklace dangled limply from her neck, the blue opal stone in the middle of it swinging precariously.

"W-Wanda?" I stuttered, unable to quite believe my eyes.

"Hello old friend," she whispered, unable to stop the tears that were forming in her eyes. The two of us launched ourselves at each other, wrapping the other in a giant hug. "I'm so glad you're safe."

"T-They succeeded then?" I gulped, pulling away. I grabbed Wanda's wrists to steady myself. "Ultron's gone?"

Wanda shook her head sadly and I felt my heart drop. "The men decided it was best to just rescue me and worry about Ultron later."

"O-Oh," I stammered, nodding rapidly. "Makes sense." Wanda gave a sympathetic smile before resuming her previous work, keeping my forehead cool. "Where are the others?"

"Right here if you turned around," a male voice chuckled. I flipped around and broke out into tears when I saw Clint, Steve, and Loki. All men were fine, and none of them had a single scratch. Clint walked over to me and I threw myself at him, snuggling my face into his shoulder. He laughed, but hugged me tight just the same. "I'm so glad you're alright..."

"C-Clint, I need to t-tell you something," I said hurriedly, feeling my palms begin to sweat. "A-About Discord..."

"Emily...we know," Steve whispered, and I froze, partially out of fear, and partially out of relief. I sank into my bed and brought my knees up to my chest, slowly rocking myself.

"I swear I didn't mean to kill her," I sobbed, sniffing. "She just had Nathaniel and she was going to kill him...I didn't know what to do..."

"Be calm, child," whispered Loki, taking a few steps forward. "Min barn, it is not your fault. But we need to ask you a few questions. Is that alright, min ørn?"

My dad used to call me those...I thought sadly. Even so, I nodded glumly.

"First question," Steve said softly, taking a seat beside Wanda. "Tell us how you got to the fight."

Gulping, I began, "I realized that no one had checked in on Discord, so I went to do so. Rope fragments were everywhere and there was a hole in the barn about the size of a human. I knew she was a madwoman and might do something terrible, so I got Laura and we went to find the kids. When we got to the house, however, Cooper had a long scratch on his arm. I presume that my mother attacked him in order to get Nate. Lila told me where she was headed, so I sent Laura and the kids the opposite way. That's when I ended up in the mine field."

"You have a mine field in your backyard?" Wanda asked Clint incredulously.

"It's for training purposes!" Clint answered back. "None of the kids know where it is. It's outside the boundaries they can go to."

"Second question," Loki said, ignoring Clint and Wanda. "What happened while you were there?"

:/:\:

[Wanda's POV]

I watched Emily nervously fiddled with her hands before she responded, "I got there, and my mother was holding Nate. He reached for me, but she held him back. I-I ordered her to let him go, but she refused. I was going to go towards her, but she told me how it was a mine field. I still remember what she said. 'Darling, this is a minefield. I purposefully picked this arena for our fight. I know where all the bombs are, but you don't.'" Emily gulped and another wave of sobs hit her. She wiped her eyes as best she could, and whispered hoarsely, "'Neither does he.'"

Clint's face was one of extreme rage and horror.

"She didn't..."

"She did," Emily cried, sniffing. "She set him down and he came running towards me. I lunged at him." She wiped her eyes again and added, "I got to him just as we landed on a mine."

"B-But...how are you not..." I asked, trying to figure out a way to say 'dead' without saying 'dead'.

"Dead?" Emily said bluntly. We all nodded slowly. "He came back and saved me."

"Who?" Steve asked tentatively.

"Titan."

:/:\:

[Clint's POV]

"We saw what you looked like," I began, licking my lips nervously. "Loki saved us from the attack by sending us to Asgard. Using Loki's and Wanda's power, we watched the last bit of your fight. Who is Titan, and how did he come to be?"

"I have a friend back in England," Emily began, rubbing her nose. "Name Warren. He was a winged mutant, like myself. He made some...bad decisions when he was younger. Then, when he was in a jet that was about to explode, this man appeared. Called himself Apocalypse. Offered Warren power and his wings back if he went to work for him. Called himself Archangel. However, Warren began to waver in his beliefs. He would switch from Archangel back to Angel. So, another good friend of ours, Professor Xavier, created a pill that Warren could take. It would allow Angel to remain and force Archangel away. However, if he got too upset or stressed out, then Archangel would take back over."

"Your adapting powers," I concluded, and everyone, Emily included, looked at me incredulously. "What? I can connect the puzzle pieces, people. Emily must have watched this Warren guy switch from Angel to Archangel, and she adapted that power."

"T-That's right," Emily stuttered, a little bit of disbelief and pride flickering in her eyes. "I did adapt it. He's come out before sometimes. He just...hasn't appeared since I left England, so I thought he had left. I don't know his real name. He calls himself 'a friend' or 'the Titan'."

Emily's eyes widened quickly in horror and she urged everyone off her bed. We all leapt off and she held her fists out, her eyes narrowing in concentration. When nothing happened, she let out a strangled sob and she hugged herself, biting her lower lip.

"Emily, Emily, what's wrong?" I cooed, moving and cradling her in my arms. She shook her head, unable to say anything, and Wanda gasped.

"S-She said she figured out why she can't feel her hands," Wanda said, blinking back tears of her own. "H-Her claws...they're gone."

:/:\:

[Emily's POV]

This couldn't be true. This couldn't be true. I must have hit my head really hard or something. Never, in all of my Titan modes, had I ever lost my Wolverine claws. They were a part of me, like how an organ is a part of a system.

"Ok, I'm even more confused now than when we started!" sighed Steve in exasperation. "How can her claws be gone?"

"When the Titan comes to do a 'job' for me, he requires payment," I sniffled. "Payment is my powers. Sometimes he takes one, other times it's two, the number doesn't matter."

"Has he ever taken your wings?" Loki asked, and I shook my head, a small smile coming to my face.

"Those were there before the adaptation," I explained. "He couldn't take them even if he wanted to, which he has."

"So, he took your Wolverine claws as payment for saving you and Nathaniel, along with killing Discord?" Steve asked, and I nodded again. "That's downright sick."

"Never has he taken my claws as payment," I whimpered. "I've had them since I was fourteen." Everyone was silent, out of respect for me. I really appreciated it. Clint leaned forward and gently kissed my head. He used his thumb to wipe any tears that were left over.

"I'm ending radio-silence," Steve said after a few more minutes of silence. "We're heading back to the compound as soon as you're ready, Emily."

"What are we going to do about...Discord?" I managed to ask.

"Let us handle that," Loki told me, and I nodded. "If you two wouldn't mind taking her to the jet, the Captain and I will go find her mother."

A/N: Hey everyone! Here's another chapter :)

So, I decided to be a more responsible adult and I story-mapped the next 5 or so chapters so you'll be seeing them a little more often (hopefully).

Guest: I saw your comment and laughed, so I wanted to personally say thank you! Yeah, I've been busting out chapters as fast as I can.

FanGirlForever19: No problem! I like suspense too.

theflyingpenguin: I know you probably haven't read my story in a while (or at least commented), but back on Chapter 12, you made a comment about how Emily was a bit too OP, and I promised that you would find out her weakness. So...TADA!

For all those Winterlace peeps out there (I don't know if there are any), more Bucky/Emily moments to come :)

Remember, please leave any comments, questions, concerns, or conspiracy theories :)