Chapter 37
[Emily's POV]
The first thing I noticed when I came to was that I was cold and wet. My arms were being forced above my head, and every time I shifted, my shoulders would burn and ache in pain. My wings were forced out of concealment and were bound tightly against my chest. I moaned and blinked my eyes, forcing myself to take in my surroundings.
I was dressed in my black shirt and jeans, my boots, socks, and cardigan nowhere to be seen. There were typical prison bars in front of me, cutting me off from entering the no-doubt awaiting hallway, and I could see mold growing around the edges of the cell.
Not again.
"This is getting ridiculous," I growled inwardly, peering up towards my hands. As I had suspected, I was shackled at the wrist and the chains went directly into the wall. Upon further inspection, it was a clean insert, and no areas were rusty, so my idea of forcing myself out wouldn't work.
Before I had a full-blown panic attack, I began to check the motor functions of my body. Once I was satisfied that my toes and fingers could wiggle properly, that was when I began to properly freak out.
Where's Bucky? And Rebecca? And Steve? Do they seriously have a cell in the retirement center? Wait...
Emma.
Emma Frost.
The last time I had heard about her, she was still on speaking terms with Magneto. And, it was a well-known fact that Magneto was friends with...
"Welcome, Miss Salgado," a robotic voice interrupted my inner monologue. I froze my jerking and felt fear course through my veins. It was exactly as Wanda described it. I looked up and tried my best not to whimper as a large, robotic humanoid stepped towards the bars. He was on the outside of the cell, of course, but it gave me very little reassurance. "It is an honor to finally meet you."
"Ultron," I whispered, my voice wobbly and weak. Ultron's red optics whirled for a moment before he decided to speak again.
"I must say, when I heard about you and your abilities, I was amazed," Ultron informed me. "But, honestly, I was expecting someone more..." He snapped his fingers as he tried to think of the word. I knew where this was going.
"You were expecting someone who was more," I finished for him lamely, and he nodded his head in agreement.
"When my accomplice told me that you had this essence to you that could not be obtained, I immediately pictured someone high and worthy," Ultron explained, leaning against the bars. "Well, that's not you. You're just a broken teenage girl with a curse."
"A gift," I counteracted. "I'm a broken teenage girl with a gift." Ultron shrugged and walked to the other side of the bars, fiddling with a bit of rust on it as he continued on.
"You do know why you're here, correct?"
"Why would any super villain want me?" I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "I mean, I have the ability to gain any superpower in my direct range of sight, which probably makes me the most lethal mutant on the planet. A human Ragnarok, so to speak."
"Good. I really didn't want to have to explain my whole plan to you," Ultron chuckled, and I screwed my face up in disgust. "Have you ever heard of a Convergenst?"
The wheels in my head clicked into place and I found myself nodding before I could stop myself. "Wanda mentioned it once. Said that me and whatever it was would be the key to your reckoning, or some crazy hocus-pocus like that."
"First off, it's not hocus-pocus," Ultron warned me. "You do know of the Infinity Stones?" I nodded my head once. Clint mentioned it once on the way to Germany. "There are six Infinity Stones that everyone knows of today: the Space Stone, which you know as the Tesseract, the Reality Stone, known as the Aether, the Power Stone, known as the Orb, the Mind Stone, that little gem on your friend Vision's forehead, the Time Stone, hidden within the Eye of Agamotto, and the Soul Stone, which has yet to be discovered and named."
"Cool, another history lesson," I joked, rolling my eyes. "You do know I failed history when I was a kid, right?"
"On the contrary, Miss Salgado, you passed with flying colors," Ultron shot back, and I felt my jaw drop in shock. "What no one knows is that there is a seventh stone. A necklace. This stone is called the Convergenst. The Convergenst is said to enhance a mutant's power so much that they becoming the most all-powering being in the world."
"I think I got that much," I snorted.
"What you don't realize, Miss Salgado, is that whoever touches the Convergenst is immediately enraptured by it. Whoever holds the Convergenst can send those affected by it away to do their bidding," Ultron taunted. "And...it only affects those with a heart."
My eyes widened with fear and I murmured, "You're going to force me under its spell, aren't you?"
"I do believe that is the plan, yes," Ultron informed me, and my fingers clawed at my wrist shackles desperately. He shook his head sadly as he watched me struggle to free myself. "Don't worry. We need to feed you first. Make sure you're worth the effort."
A tall, bulky man stepped in front of the cage door and buried my head into my legs, squeezing my eyes shut.
"I will not be a pawn of yours, Ultron!" I growled, still struggling to free myself. "Do you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Salgado," his voice whispered slyly by my ear. I squeaked in fear as he gripped my face, forcing me to look up and at the person in front of the cells. With his other hand, he held my eyes open as I watched the mutant manipulate the steel bars in front of me. Magnekinetic.
I screamed as the pain overtook me.
:/:\:
[Bucky's POV]
Emily was still in a coma when we returned to the compound. She had yet to wake up and I had yet to leave her side. She was transferred from the infirmary to her bedroom, but she didn't wake up, not even when Tony almost dropped her.
I sat on the edge of her bed, looking down at her with fearful eyes. The last time she had been hit by a power-induced seizure, she woke up a few hours later. I looked at the alarm clock positioned by the side of her bed.
It had been nearly two days.
I ran a hand through my disheveled hair and Wanda walked over to me, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. She and I had been basically attached by the hip when we returned. Neither of us wanted to leave Emily alone. She needed to have a happy face to look forward to when she woke up.
"Do you want me to grab us some food?" Wanda asked tentatively, her voice scratchy and raw. She had been crying since she saw Emily's form and only calmed down once she realized Emily wasn't dead, only in a coma.
I gave her a nod of thanks and Wanda sent me the smallest smile before she stepped out of the room. I twisted back to look at Emily and noticed something off.
Her breathing was becoming more irregular, and her eyes were darting back and forth underneath her eyelids. I bent over and grabbed her shoulders to steady her in case she decided to start jerking.
"Emily, wake up," I pleaded, my voice thick with emotion. "It's just a nightmare, doll. You just have to open your eyes and it'll all be over."
Suddenly, she sat straight up and screamed, causing me to yell in fright and fall off the bed. I landed on the ground with a giant thump and moaned. Emily's eyes were darting around frantically and when they landed on me, she whimpered, "W-Who are you?"
"It's Bucky," I told her, leaping to my feet. I held my hands up in the universal 'I'm-a-friend-don't-shoot' pose and tried to relax. "It's alright. We're back at the compound."
Emily's eyes seemed to gloss over, but she shook her head and they returned to their natural blue.
"T-Thanks," she stuttered, pulling her knees up against her chest. She tucked her head in between her legs and moaned. "That was a freaky nightmare."
"So, who was the mutant?" I asked, and her head shot up. A look of pure panic crossed her face before it was replaced with a look of peace.
"What mutant?" she asked innocently, and the hairs on the back of my neck started to rise.
"You know..." I began once more, glancing around the room. "Who was the mutant that you adapted your powers from? I mean, it had to be somebody, right?"
Emily let out a big breath of what looked like relief and sent me a dazzling smile. "Right, of course. Sorry. It's been a stressful two days. It was a pyrokinetic. This old lady tried to burn me and I just collapsed on the floor. Don't remember what happened next."
The hairs on the back of my neck shot up and my instinct took over. I lunged forward, using my metal arm to pin Emily against the headrest. She gasped as her hands tried to shove my arm off her throat, but it wouldn't budge.
"You've been in a coma," I hissed, my voice low. "So how do you know it's been two days?"
Emily's eyes widened in disbelief and my entire body tensed up.
"Whoever you are, show yourself," I growled, and Emily's smile fell into a smirk as she completely began to change. Her hair got brighter and longer, turning into a glossy platinum blond. Her clothes switch into a long, white dress that stopped right below her knees. And her gorgeous, beautiful blue eyes disappeared into crystal green ones.
"Hello James," the woman purred. "Let me introduce myself. My name's Emma Frost."
"Where is Emily?" I demanded, applying more pressure. The woman squeaked in pain and tried to desperately push my arm off. It failed once more. "Don't make me ask a second time."
"When you have a powerful weapon, what are the two options you can do with it?" Emma struggled to squeak. "One, you can bring it in, and take care of it; this'll help it retain its power. Or..."
Realization hit me like a wrecking ball and I staggered away from Emma, my mind reeling.
"Or you can take the weapon, bend it to your will, and make it stronger," I whispered, falling to my knees. The worst thing we could ever possibly image happened.
Emily was in the hands of Ultron.