With your face all made up, livin' on a screen; low on self-esteem so you run on gasoline.

Not much to say today other than INFINITY WAR COMES OUT TOMORROW NIGHT! I'm going to go see it opening night, but I promise I won't be talking about spoilers :) At least not for a few weeks so you all have the opportunity to see it. Please enjoy!

Sharkisha the 3rd – Regarding the source of pain, I'm kind of going with a combination of the trigger words and the drug being used (but I'm mostly thinking the drug's the one causing pain here). I'm taking a bit of creative liberty with this since the process of Bucky's brainwashing hasn't been fully explained in the MCU. Plus I wanted to take the brainwashing/trigger words in my own direction in this story. Since SIP doesn't have all of Zola's notes their methods are different.

Celestial Glowhead – Thank you so much! I truly do enjoy the insight you give me in your reviews ^^ And I love how in depth you look at things! Thank you again!

A week of increasing the dosage had showed some promising results. To be honest, Agent Walton was a bit hesitant – she wasn't sure how the SHIELD agent's body would react to the concoction, let alone more than was intended. But there was a reason Vinik was the scientist and not she.

Walton watched on silently as Vinik packed up the final dosage of the day. They hadn't completed everything, not yet, but they were getting close. The trigger words were completely successful but there were still many more codes to add.

Vinik closed the cupboard with a click and nodded his head. "That's all for today, ma'am."

Walton cocked her head, staring at the mutant in front of her. "When do you think we can begin secondary coding, agent?"

"Very soon. The trigger words seemed to have solidified. I was planning on revising the drug; perhaps making it last longer so he wouldn't need to be constantly dosed to stay as is. But if you'd like we could focus on further coding instead."

The woman got to her feet, walking over to the unconscious agent and staring down at him almost fondly. "You have prototypes of this new drug, yes?"

Vinik hesitated. "Yes. But they are just that: prototypes."

"And how will you know if they work unless you test them?" Agent Vinik was silent. "Do you have it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"What better time to try it?"

Vinik shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "Ma'am, perhaps we should wait until tomorrow? After all, we did just—"

"Did I stutter, Agent?" Vinik's mouth snapped closed. "We test it. Now."

Agent Vinik nodded and opened the cupboard once again, taking out a box. He opened the box up and pulled out a vial and a needle. He quickly filled the needle and looked back over at Walton. The woman nodded for him to continue. Vinik slid the needle into the crook of John's elbow with ease. The agent's head snapped back as soon as the drug hit his system. Walton stepped closer as she spoke. "Война." John shook his head. "Рассвет." The agent clenched and unclenched his fists. "Восточный." Vinik glanced at Walton unsurely. "Оставил." John began to thrash. "Поле битвы. Здоровье." The faint sound of metal creaking could be heard. "Январь. Колле—"

With a loud snap, the bonds broke. Walton gasped and felt her feet leave the ground. Her toes barely brushed against the concrete floor as she stared down at the incredibly angry and manipulated mutant holding her up by her throat. The SIP agent clawed at the hands around her neck, trying pointlessly to break free of his grip. Walton could see nothing in the man's eyes – they were completely blank. But as she stared longer at what she suspected would be her murderer, she could have sworn she saw a hint of pain and anger.

There was a gunshot and John flinched but made no sound. He turned to see Vinik standing behind him, hands clasped around a gun pointed at him. John threw Walton to the ground and the woman took in a gasp of air, coughing as she tried to crawl away. John stepped towards Vinik and the SIP agent stumbled back, gun wavering. He ran into the counter and found himself cornered. John ripped the gun out of the other man's grip, crushing it in his hands. Vinik watched in horror as the remnants of the gun fell to the ground. John punched Vinik straight in the nose, causing the agent to fall to the ground. But John didn't stop there.

As the mutant beat on Vinik mercilessly, Walton slowly and painfully made her way over to the computer desk. She reached up, trying not to cry out. Her hands made purchase on the desk and she began to carefully pull herself up. She grabbed the emergency sedative and looked back over her shoulder at the brawl. The sights and sounds coming from the corner of the room made her feel ill. Walton pushed herself onto her feet and swayed for a moment, trying to overcome the vertigo. Putting one foot in front of the other, one at a time, she made her way over to the mutant and her helpless fellow agent. With one last burst of energy, she thrust the needle into the doctor's leg. John ceased his beating on Vinik and tried to turn to attack Walton. However, the drug acted quickly and John took only one turn before going still and collapsing to the ground.

Walton slid to the floor, leaning against the counter for support. She felt too weak to brush her hair out of her face, let alone get back up. The SIP agent stared at the unmoving figure of Vinik. She supposed it was time to move.

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Sherlock was not happy.

John had been there. He'd been right under their noses.

And he was gone.

When Lestrade spotted the detective approaching him he slipped his phone into his pocket, preparing to be bombarded. Luckily, he got the chance to speak first. "Please tell me you know other people with super strength."

Sherlock's eyes scanned the scene. Police tape was already up around the fence and a shrouded body was being wheeled away. "He was here."

"I hope to God not," the DI said. "'Cause if he was…" Lestrade looked over at the body. "…then this has gotten a lot more troubling."

"You think John killed him?"

Lestrade turned back to Sherlock, somewhat taken aback. "Sherlock, the man was beaten to death. No weapons. It was one of the mutilated bodies I've seen from just someone's bare hands!" Lestrade paused, trying to get the image he'd seen upon arriving at the crime out of his mind. He shook his head. "It had to have been a mutant of some kind – and a strong one at that." Lestrade hung his head. "We've brushed the place for prints and have gotten a few. I'll let you know as soon as we get a match."

"How did you find the place?" Sherlock questioned, beginning to walk towards the house.

Lestrade began following after the younger man. "A neighbor called in a few weeks ago saying she—" Lestrade halted, wondering how Sherlock would react. "Saying she heard screaming."

Sherlock stopped in his tracks and whipped around. "So he was here," Sherlock spat. "He was here, he was being hurt, and you did absolutely nothing!"

"I wasn't the one who got the call, Sherlock, that isn't my division," Lestrade insisted. He somehow found the strength to continue. "The house was under surveillance for a while but when there was no suspicious activity the stake-out was called off. About an hour ago the same neighbor called reporting she heard a gunshot."

Two black vans drove up and both detectives looked less than pleased. When the vehicles pulled to a stop Agent Coulson stepped out of one of the passenger seats. He walked over to Lestrade and other SHIELD agents began filing out the vans, making their way onto the scene. "You're the man in charge, yes?"

"That's right."

Coulson pulled out his badge, holding it up for the DI to read. "Agent Phil Coulson. I'm with the Strategic Homeland Inter—"

Lestrade waved his hand. "Yeah, yeah, SHIELD, I get it." He rolled his eyes. "You've got superiority so go ahead and take over my crime scene." Lestrade turned. "Pack it up, boys," he said to the other officers, "and if these folks ask for anything, give it to them."

There was some murmuring among the Scotland Yard officers, but they did as they were told. Coulson raised an eyebrow. "So you know about SHIELD, Detective…"

"Lestrade. Yeah, I know about SHIELD." He shot Sherlock a look and that's all the answer Coulson needed.

"Ah," Coulson said with a smile. "I see. Well then, Detective Lestrade, thank you for your cooperation. We'll take it from here." The SHIELD agent nodded for Sherlock to follow and began walking towards the house. Sherlock walked beside Coulson as the agent spoke. "So this is SIP, then?" Coulson asked.

"I have reason to believe so," Sherlock said, "yes."

Coulson shook his head. "And this…" His eyes made their way over to the body that was being carted away into a van. "This was John?"

"It's likely," the detective admitted. His brow furrowed. "But it doesn't make sense. Self-defense is one thing, but this man was beaten to death." Sherlock pointed towards the van housing the SIP agent's body. "John would've had to beat this man to death with his bare hands. That's not John." Both SHIELD operatives made their way into the house.

Another agent came up from the basement and walked over to Coulson. "You should see this, boss." Sherlock and Coulson exchanged a look and followed the other agent into the basement.

The basement was just about in ruins. Materials were smashed, chairs and tables overturned. A large pool of blood sat in the corner. What was most unnerving, however, was the reclined chair in the center of the room. There were four restraints clearly modeled after those SHIELD used on mutants to negate their abilities – just like the ones used during the telekinetic attack. They were broken.

And they had been broken out of.

Coulson turned to the agent clicking through one of the not utterly destroyed computers. "Anything?"

"No, sir, they've all been wiped."

"Take the hard drive anyway; we'll see if tech can scrape up anything." The agent nodded and Coulson turned to Sherlock who was trying to pull deductions from the scene. "What have you got?" Coulson asked.

"Experimentation," Sherlock growled, hands curled into fists. "They've been using him like a— like a lab rat!" He turned to Coulson, trying to recompose himself and trying to think of everything as just another case. He could not afford to let his emotions get in the way of this one – John's life may depend on it. "One person escaped and took John with them."

"Any idea as to where they could have gone?" Coulson asked.

"You tell me!"

"SHIELD dismantled all of their facilities," said Coulson, "I don't know where they went. There's no place for them to go."

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Walton's van pulled up outside the old Brighton SIP facility. It had been overrun by SHIELD agents but once they were confident SIP had cleared out, they left. No doubt the facility was still on SHEILD's radar, but at least it wasn't crawling with agents.

Walton stepped out of the vehicle and the driver of a nearby van hopped out. She walked over to the man, who nodded respectfully. "Agent Walton."

"That's Director Walton to you." The man simply nodded and Walton's gaze went over to the van the other agent had arrived in. "He in there?"

"Yes, ma'am." The man walked around the van, Walton following. He opened up the back and there laid an unconscious man with power negating cuffs on him. "Invisibility and intangibility, just as promised. Covered our tracks as well. Not much immediate family, not many friends, but the few he is in contact with believe he's gone on a backpacking trip across the rest of Europe."

"Good," Walton said with a curt nod. "And the technology needed?"

The agent pointed towards a mess of metal next to the unconscious man. "Ready to go. We just need to set it up quickly."

"Are any others coming?"

"I sent the message out, got some responses. Agent Hatts should be here tomorrow – he'll be heading up our sciences." Walton slowly nodded, pleased to hear they wouldn't be alone. "Word is you've got a mutant of your own in the back of that van," the agent said, jerking his head towards the van Walton had arrived in. "And an impressive one at that."

Walton smirked. "That's correct. He has the exact replica of the late Director Williams's powers." The agent's eyes went wide. "But with the recent successes of our Barnes Recreation Program his abilities seem to have increased." She glanced over her shoulder, warily looking at the vehicle. "As well as his instability." She turned back to the agent. "Which is why we need Agent Hatts on the case as soon as possible. He's sedated for now but I don't want to keep him that way for too long – he may have the strength of a super soldier, but he isn't one." Her gaze hardened. "If he was I would've put him on ice a while ago."

Virtual cookies to anyone who can translate the trigger words and decode their meaning ;) Please follow, favorite, and review!