A/N* Hello all! I have quite the exciting plot twist up ahead! I apologize for any infuriating cliffhangers! (well actually not really :)
Side note* THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY*
Aubrey sighed and pushed off the wall, staring at the room that had brought her so much pain. Growling, she backed away slowly.
"I..don't think I can do this" Her whisper bounced off the walls, creating an eerie symphony.
"Then don't, fly back to the compound. I told Fury you weren't ready for this and I was right"
As much as she hated to admit it, Aubrey agreed with Agent Hill and started to backtrack back down the hallway.
"Just make sure to blow it sky-high" were her last words to Hill as she ran out of the entrance and unfurled her wings. The landscape was a blur beneath her and Aubrey quietly reentered the compound. Her heels clicking on the concrete flooring as she headed back to her assigned room. The whole way back, pictures and memories flew in front of Aubrey's eyes and a sudden headache started to tear at the edges of her vision. Aubrey groaned as she fell onto her bed, clutching her head at the sudden pain, eyes feeling like they were on fire... Aubrey wrote it off as the stress from what had happened but she couldn't help the corner in her mind that continued to nag that maybe this was something deeper….
She drifted in and out of consciousness for hours, at some point during the night Aubrey heard Bucky return from wherever he had been. Finally at 5 am she drifted into a deep sleep.
Bucky was gone again the next morning, Aubrey's mind started to worry about his state of mind. She eased up to her feet only to plop back down on the bed, knees shaking from the effort.
"What is going on" she murmured, gingerly rubbing the joints of her knee. Several moments later she tried to stand again. This time her legs took the weight, Aubrey frowned briefly, wondering what had caused that. But her mind was quickly distracted by the smell floating into her room. Breakfast consisted of oatmeal and the day passed in a blur. Aubrey tried to help to the best of her abilities but just before dinner, her headache returned, more violent than the last time. She retired to her room earlier than usual and went straight to bed. Once again she woke up feeling fine, Aubrey changed into some extra clothes they had given her and headed towards the workout room, needing to do some thinking. Bucky was on the treadmill and kept quiet at her entrance.
"Hey" she greeted but all she got was a gruff nod. Bucky had been increasingly irritable ever since they had been rescued. Something was definitely wrong. The treadmill whirred as Aubrey stepped on and started at a walk. She wanted to ask what was wrong but didn't know how to ask. Usually, if he felt like speaking, Bucky would without her asking. Her joints started to ache and Aubrey shook her head, her muscles were just sore...that was all...
The day after was a repeat of the same routine but on Friday, Aubrey woke to an unnatural tingling in her legs. She sat up, gulping for air as her hands rubbed her leggings. She attempted to stand and her legs gave out, her wings fell off of the table and clattered to the floor. Aubrey grasped for them, shrugging on the backpack and turning it into wing mode. The jets whirred as the wings worked to pull Aubrey up, she slowly maneuvered towards the door and clanged it open. The hallway was empty but it didn't take long for Aubrey to find the main room, her head had started to buzz and she barely got the door open. Agents looked up from their computers just as Aubrey felt her stomach flip and her eyes flutter closed.
"Don't understand why-"
"High levels in her blood-"
"Unnatural-"
"She's unnatural-"
The sound of a door echoed through the room, silencing the voices.
"Is she dead or not?" She knew this voice...vaguely.
"Sir, she's having some sort of….reaction"
"To what? Oatmeal?" the voice said incredulously.
"No, this is much deeper. Her blood has high levels of..of..of...-"
"Of what?! Spit it out, doctor!" He interrupted
"Tungsten, Sir. Her blood levels are full of Tungsten."
Aubrey winced, her mind suddenly deciding to connect with her body again but her mind was cloudy. Briefly, she wondered if the fog had returned but..this was not the fog. It drifted through her mind with no agenda, only clouding her thoughts.
"Stay still Aubrey" a voice soothed.
"Where am I" she whispered, voice cracking.
"You're in the same compound you were in this morning."
Cautiously, Aubrey opened her eyes, blinking hard as her vision attempted to clear. Fury and two doctors stood in front of her bed, looking anxious.
"What happened.?" She was almost afraid to ask.
"We're not sure yet...your blood levels are full of metal. Do you know why?"
"No..I…-" But Aubrey trailed off, the cloud backing away and revealing something. Hydra had infused Metal into her bones… "-What types of metal?" her voice shook.
The Doctors leaned over their clipboard. "Mainly Tungsten but we are getting trace amounts of Titanium, and Vibranium. Another one of our tests had a minuscule amount of Adamantium."
"H..Hydra infused my bones with metal."
"How often?"
"Weekly." at this the doctor's brows rose and they started to mumble amongst themselves. Fury stepped forward.
"Is it impacting her?"
"It has been ever since they started injecting it. Chronic injections of Tungsten cause the skeleton to start taking it in and will continue to do so even when the injections stop. We can also assume that any more injections or medical enhancements only sped up the process. Once it starts there's no way to stop it. It also tends to come with side effects."
"Is that what happened? A side effect?" Aubrey questioned.
"In your case..? No, unfortunately not. Everything would be much easier if this was the case. Because of the Serum that was also injected into your blood, your body has been healing the side effects for what looks like years. Now it's to the point that your body is being overwhelmed by the metals and the Tungsten has started to eat away at your bones and nervous system."
The reality of what was happening hit her and Aubrey's lungs exhaled slowly but refused to inhale...
"There's no cure?" It came out as a whisper and the words seemed to fill up the room.
"There's a cure for Acute Tungsten Intoxication but I'm afraid we passed that syndrome months ago."
Fury frowned and shook his head, staring at the doctors. "Absolutely nothing you can do?"
One of the doctors turned to Fury and lowered his voice." The only thing right now is to keep her comfortable until..." he trailed off.
"That's it?!" Fury didn't believe it, he shook his head and looked at Aubrey "I'm going to make some phone calls, don't give up yet."
Aubrey vaguely heard footsteps outside the hallway but didn't have the energy to move. Her body was deteriorating at an unnaturally rapid rate. Fury hadn't been back since she had found out two days ago. Bucky hadn't come either. She closed her eyes again and continued floating on the cloud of drugs they had her on. The door clicked and creaked, Aubreys eyes opened slowly, blinking several times before her vision cleared. Bucky stood in the doorway, looking unsure, his face was pallid and his shoulders drooped. His hands were clenched at his sides and his voice was barely audible, sounding broken.
"I thought they were lying to me...I.. thought that if I didn't fall for it then they would tell me it was a joke...that it isn't true.. I was wrong" he trailed off and stepped into the room, closing the door. Pulling one of the chairs over he sat down and shook his head.
"So much for being immortal huh?" a weak smile played at his lips but it quickly disappeared "that was bad..sorry"
Aubrey felt a small smile tug at her lips and she turned back to look at the ceiling, neck starting to ache.
"I think that jokes are okay, especially since it distracts the mind. It's good to know you still talk"
Bucky sighed heavily and leaned back in the chair, dragging his metal hand down his face.
"Has anyone contacted my family?" Aubrey whispered tears pricked her blurred vision as she wished that she could feel her mother's arms around her once more before she passed.
"I..contacted them before coming here, thought that they should know. No one's responded yet, I'm sure it will come as a shock.-" he paused and his eyes looked Aubrey over.
"You're sure there's nothing they can do?"
"The doctors?" her voice cracked as her shaking, pale hand reached for the cup of water sitting on the table beside her. The water sloshed around as Aubrey took a sip, waiting until the water had gone down before sipping more.
Bucky nodded at her words and fiddled with the hem of his shirt.
"There's nothing anyone can do. Fury said he would call around but I haven't seen him since I found out. I..I think that these-" she paused and put the water down, shining her silver nails in the light "-these only sped up the process. Unless I was given more metal whilst recovering from...other injuries." she carefully avoided the subject of the arena.
Bucky shook his head again, cursing under his breath.
"Promise me-" Aubrey paused to make sure that he was listening. "- promise me that you won't go mental, go find Steve or someone you trust. The way you've been acting lately has been hard to watch. Just...be human Bucky, go live a life. Find somewhere safe and unreachable. And before you say that a place like that doesn't exist...I'm positive it does. Just requires a little searching." Bucky stood up abruptly, brow furrowed.
"I'm going to find Fury and drag him down here if I need to. There has to be someone on this planet with a big enough brain to save you." he paused and looked Aubrey in the eyes "- I'm not sure there's anyone else I trust."
A/N* THIS IS NOT THE END, MORE IS STILL TO COME*