Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter! It was a more gentle introduction but one I wanted to just break in to the story and see where everyone is right now. Here is where more action starts!
March 4th, 2015, Unnamed HYDRA base, Romania.
It wasn't the first, or the last time, that Beth barely avoided the shrapnel flying around her every time the hulk smashed his next target, or Thor's hammer connected with the latest machine. Or Steve threw his shield at someone over her head. Or just everybody, really. She tried to push on, tried to avoid the sounds and noises around her as she made her way to the core of the base, but it was difficult. They weren't the cohesive team they'd managed to become back in New York. And if they weren't more careful, someone would end up hurt, not by the enemy, but by their own teammate.
Like hell was she going to let it be her.
"Beth, on your right, 2'oclock!"
She ducked, just in time for a pole to trike the air her head had been. She barely paused, grabbing the metal, and tugging it towards her, elbow slamming into the face of the HYDRA agent who'd thought hitting her was a good idea. It would have been, if she didn't have someone like Clint on her team. He may not have the superhuman abilities as most of them, but he would always be her first pick when choosing a partner.
"Thanks!" she called, not quite sure where his shout came from, only that it was somewhere in the trees. Because would he really be able to be called Hawk if he didn't end up in the foliage?
Another explosion, this time in front of her, followed by Tony's voice saying what they'd been waiting for.
"We're in."
Finally. After what felt like hours of bypassing the carnage of her teammates, she could do what she had been assigned. It was simple really. Get in, grab anything that could help them in their investigation, set some bombs, get out, and blow the place to hell. She thought back to the Howling Commandos and couldn't help but think that Dernier would be proud. He always loved explosions, particularly if they caused maximum aggro for HYDRA.
It didn't take long to find the room she was looking for as the base wasn't overly large or intact thanks to their assault. Papers hastily gathered were lying on a table, clearly where somebody was planning on hiding or running off with them before they'd been forced away to fight. She grinned, scooping them all into the bag she then slung across her back, intent on reading them when there wasn't dust raining down on her.
Only two soldiers stood in her way as she exited. With a sigh, she took them down before they had chance to raise their weapons and carried on, pressing the button she carried a moment later that caused the biggest explosion of all to ripple through the area.
"Boom." She smirked, making her way to the awaiting quinjet.
By the time Tony and Steve returned after making sure they'd cleared the area, Beth was already deep in the notes she'd recovered. Most of it was useless, wither things they already knew or things that were linked to the structure of the building that was now no more than rubble. Originally, Tony and Bruce were the ones checking the documents, until they realised Beth had more free time now SHIELD was defunct and could also identify key names and projects quicker than them as she'd spent so much time reading through the leaked files.
She wouldn't say she'd happily agreed to do the job, but it had beaten her original plan of taking up professional boxing or applying to work at the CIA to stave off the insanity that had crept in with her boredom. So now, even with her team around her, she found herself tucked away in the corner where she knew she'd be left to read in peace. Her eyes were quick to scan through the facts and figures, trained to pick out the key words she was seeking from many hours of practice. It didn't take long to zone in on a name she knew, a name that sent a shiver down her spine.
Von Strucker.
It wasn't much, just his name on a register of visitors to the station, but it was enough to prove that his experiments had taken place at the base and that she needed to keep going to uncover them. she tried not to think about how close he'd come to hurting her, the thought of what he would have done to her one she struggled to deal with at the best of times and kept reading.
"Anything so far?" Steve asked, his voice soft as he pulled her out from her trance a while later.
The fact he was holding out a cereal bar told her she'd gone into what their mother had always called her reading trances. She couldn't help it. If she read something she found interesting, she would probably be oblivious if a bomb went off right beside her. She took the bar he held out, shaking her head to focus on what he'd asked her.
"A little. Nothing good though. Von Strucker was here, and I found a log of some of his work. He was looking at DNA modification."
He could see Steve trying to follow and gave him an apologetic smile. Explaining these things to Tony and Bruce was always easier for her.
"Basically, he was looking at ways he could pull apart a persons DNA and put in new pieces of his own design. If it worked, it could have the potential to give people superpowers. Not like you and me. What happened to us can be reversed, because the serum didn't change our DNA, it only added to it. What Von Strucker is planning is permanent. He could crate an army of monsters."
When she finished, she realised that not only had Steve turned pale, but Bruce looked positively faint and Tony was gripping the controls a lot harder. The rest of the group looked grim, except for Thor, who looked like he wasn't really interested in what they were saying. Then again, if you were a God, she suspected being superhuman was something as natural as breathing.
"Do you think he's managed to succeed?" Nat asked, breaking through the silence with her voice as cool as ever.
"These papers were dated thirteen months ago, and it looked like he was close to a breakthrough, if not already there. With the time he's had since, I wouldn't be surprised if he's at least made it to the testing stage."
"It is likely that he is using the staff of Loki to help power his experiments. He must be stopped. There's no telling what that power would to do somebody."
The graveness of Thor's tone made Beth rethink her earlier judgement of him. It seemed he did indeed understand how serious this was, but likely didn't want to show his concern too clearly. When he'd arrived out of the blue a fortnight ago and called them all together, they had been surprised, thinking he'd move on and forget them. instead, he asked them to help find Loki's staff as Odin himself had requested it be found and destroyed.
"Well, all we need to do now is find the sonofabitch."
Nobody outwardly agreed with Tony, but Beth knew she wasn't the only one to internally nod along.
The world was blurry. Her head dropped, sluggish as her thoughts swirled around her to fast to hold on to. Someone was dragging her down a tunnel that never seemed to end, only twist and turn around them.
Then suddenly, it was so bright she wanted to scream. Instead she could only whimper at the onslaught as the person holding her now dropped her onto a surface that felt both cold and hot at the same time. Or was that her? She didn't even know. Her arms and legs were rendered immobile, her brain only coming to the realisation as the restraints clamped them down in place. Her brows furred. What was happening to her and why couldn't she move? A face came into view. Fuzzy at first, until her eyes finally adjusted and realised in horror what was happening.
Von Strucker.
Her thoughts went from 100 to 0 with sickening clarity. The machines around her hummed, throbbing through every fibre until she trembled alongside them. his taunting smile looming over her as one by one, probes were placed on her body. The mask, now crackling with unleashed electricity, began to move closer and she could only squeeze her eyes shut, knowing that this was the part where she would be saved. She wouldn't be left alone; she wouldn't have to endure the never-ending torture that came with…
the machine sprung to life, her body jolting from the blistering agony ripping through her. Laughter broke out and she cracked an eye open to glare at Von Strucker, only to well with tears as the Winter Soldier peered down at her, a sneer on his lips, a laugh in his chest and eyes that saw only pleasure in her pain.
Beth jolted, her breath snagging as she pushed aside the covers that were anything but comfortable in that moment. Her skin was slick, a cold sweat breaking out, her heart pounding erratically. She bit back a scream, frustrated that every time she reached a point in her life that the nightmares subsided, something would happen to put them right back in place. And now, they'd decided to merge and twist themselves into a whole new level.
She blew out an irritated breath, knowing she wasn't getting back to sleep. She also didn't feel energised enough for a round or six in the gym, so she settled for her second post-nightmare ritual; coffee and a book. So far, she's managed to hide her troubles from the others, mostly because she didn't want them to worry, but a part of her secretly enjoying the few hours she got to herself to either unleash her anger in the gym, or blow away her thoughts out on the balcony with one of her books.
The coffee pot was cold, a sign that for once, everybody else was either asleep or settled and unlikely to disturb her. She made herself a sandwich while waiting for the pot to finish and was about to move back to her room to her book when a voice spoke out, almost making her drop her mug.
"It is very later to be eating."
She glanced back to see Thor standing near one of the sofas, a large bag of chips in hand. She raised an eyebrow and he gave her an impish grin.
"I never said it was a bad thing. Care to join me?"
He held his arm out to the seat next to him and she paused for a moment before deciding it couldn't hurt to sit with him. After all, they'd never actually had any one to one time, despite the fact they'd fought together, and he'd undoubtedly saved her back on the helicarrier two years earlier.
"Coffee?" she asked, offering him the mug she held.
He shook his head, settling back into the couch as she tentatively sat on the other end and pulled her sandwich closer.
"I never took a liking to the liquid. Jane swears by it but it's too bitter for my tastes."
Beth hadn't met Jane in person, but she'd skyped with the other woman a few times about various parts of the research she'd found and had an admiration towards her. She also secretly adored Darcy, thinking the bubbly younger woman was more like a puppy than a person. Not that she'd ever admit it out loud.
"How is Jane doing these days?" she asked.
"She is well. She doesn't know I have returned to Earth, however."
Beth inhaled the sip of coffee and stared at him in shock.
"You haven't told her? It's been two weeks!"
"I know she will come to me if she knows and the task we are undertaking is too dangerous, I will not chance her being hurt."
Okay, she could give him that one. If it were reversed, she knew she would do the same to keep any one of her family safe.
"I can understand that. Just tell her before you leave, and she'll probably forgive you. Maybe even thank you."
They both chuckled, Beth because she knew it was unlikely that would happen, Thor because he was also aware of this likeliness. They sat for a few moments in comfortable silence, only the sound of the chip bag crinkling cutting through it.
"May I ask you something?"
It was the softest she'd heard him speak, and for a moment, she wandered if she imagined it, until her head turned to find him gazing at her with a look she couldn't quite decipher.
"Of course."
"Why do you not tell your brother or friends about your night terrors?"
She froze, momentarily stunned by the question, and unsure if she felt more uncomfortable by the fact he knew why she was awake, or the fact he was asking her about it.
"I guess… I don't want them to worry about me." She admitted, her grip tightening on her mug.
She watched his eyes narrow, suddenly y becoming aware that the loveable buffoon act he played was exactly that. An act. He was perceptive, and she'd just walked straight into his trap.
"Is that really it? Because I don't think they'd want to know you were struggling."
"Maybe I don't want them knowing I'm struggling." She ground out, clamping her mouth shut the moments the word escaped.
Oh. He was good. And right in that moment she didn't know whether to be more impressed or punch him. Especially when a satisfied smug appeared on his too-handsome face.
"Why do you care anyway? You barely know me."
She ignored the fact her mind called her a coward. Because every time someone tried to pry beneath the surface, her walls would clamp down and push outwards. She was far better at opening up than she had been, but it was still hard, especially when the person was looking at her with such intensity.
"You have all become my friends. And I see so much darkness and hurt in all of your eyes, yet yours have always stood out to me as being the rawest. Whenever I see you, there's a haunted look deep in your expression and it seems to be growing."
All the fight left her, and she sank back, pulling her knees up to her chin. He was right. They all had ghosts, but hers kept coming back, and it was the first time she'd stopped to think about the past three years, realising exactly how much her life had changed her brother was alive after being 'dead' for sixty years. Her fiancé was alive after being 'dead' for sixty years and was revealed to be the same person who'd raped and haunted her for fifty. Her closest friends were either dead or slowly dying. Aliens had attacked New York. She'd reconciled with Tony, though it was still a fragile relationship. She'd been kidnapped and almost killed more times than she cared to remember.
Any one of those things had the potential to destroy a person, yet with the exception of a couple of minor meltdowns and moments of turmoil, she'd carried on as if everything was normal and had compartmentalised almost all of the things that ad been too much to handle.
The reality, she had to admit to herself, was that she was terrified to let people see past her barriers save the few glimpses she'd allowed. She found herself telling Thor everything, and to his credit, he sat there silently, only moving to pass her a box of tissues and pull her somewhat awkwardly against him when the tears began to fall, heaving sobs she couldn't control once they began.