The first thing that registered in his braid was his head hurting- no, not hurting. Throbbing. Almost as though there was a knife embedded into it (though, of course, there wasn't.)
Groaning softly, Clint moved to cradle his head in his hands. Only before his arms got too far, they were pulled back. Pausing for a moment, he tried again. And again, his arms were stopped from moving.
"What is this?" He asked to no one, his voice groggy.
"Clint? Clint!"
"Guys, he's awake-"
"-about time-"
"-Tony, stop-"
"-is he okay-"
"-are we?-" Clint slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head to look around. The room was dark, the only light coming from a doorway in the corner of the room, so it took a few moments for his eyes to adjust. Placed throughout the room were thick, concrete support beams. There was a dark puddle near the doorway that made Clint's stomach flip, and there were a couple of things scattered around that looked suspiciously like bones and clothing. The smell of blood and rotting flesh was almost overwhelming, and Clint found himself holding his breath multiple times to try and keep from breathing it in.
And there they were. Tony, Bruce, Steve, even Thor… And Tasha. Each of them had their back against a concrete beam, tight chains holding them in place, going around their arms and their torsos. They had their ankles bound together with more chains that connected to the ones around their chests. It was then Clint realized that he, too, was tied up, his back also against a concrete post.
"Are we dead?" He asked, his voice rough, his head still pounding and foggy.
"Well, we aren't, but you died. Sorry, Clint," Tasha smirked slightly, but that didn't hide the relief in her voice and expression. Clint chuckled softly and bowed his head.
"Damn. Just when things were getting interesting."
"So," Tasha said slightly louder, looking around at the others. "Everyone's caught up now, right? We all know what's going on?"
"If you can call this 'knowing what's going on,' then sure," Tony glanced at Tasha and sighed.
"How long's it been gone for?" Steve looked at the door, craning his neck to try and see through it.
"It hasn't been back since it dropped off Clint," Bruce offered, furrowing his eyebrows to try and remember. "So ten minutes maybe?"
"And it has been back about every 15 minutes so far, correct?" Thor looked at Tasha.
"Right," she nodded, her eyes fixed on the door.
"So then we still have the choice to make," Steve looked at Tasha, Thor and then Bruce.
"I'm sorry, what are we talking about?" Clint looked between everyone, clearly confused.
"We're either going to do something stupid and die," Tony looked at him, eyebrows raised. "Or, we're gonna do something incredibly stupid. And die." Nodding slightly, he shrugged a shoulder.
"Are we… Gonna fill Clint in? Because I think Clint should definitely know what's going on if we're gonna die," Clint said, trying not to show how nervous he was.
"Well, we can either escape, leave now and try to just get the hell out of here, avoid Bruce going green, avoid the whatever-it-is, grab our gear and deal with this thing for real…" Steve said, his eyes on the doorway again.
"Or," Thor continued for him. "We can escape and fight it now!" Sounding a little too excited at the thought of fighting it now, Thor quickly went on as the rest of the team looked at him. "And, of course, keep Bruce from 'going green,' work together as a team to take the beast down, and-"
"How exactly are we going to beat that thing without our shit? Because I'm sure you've noticed: that didn't go so well the first time," Tony scowled at everyone, trying to make them see reason.
"We weren't all together last time," Steve insisted. "Also, now, we kind of have a better idea of what we're going up against."
"It's basically a shape-shifter," Tasha explained to Clint, seeing the confused expression on his face. "It can take someone and become an exact copy of them. Walk the same, sound the same…"
"Which explains Steven on the stairwell," Thor nodded to Clint.
"And Steve's skin discarded in the hallway," Tony added bitterly and Steve made a face of disgust.
"But that's not all it can do," Clint said finally, looking between everyone. "I mean, how are we supposed to explain the stairs?"
"We're guessing that it can…Going against all current scientific theory… Sort of 'alter reality'." Bruce answered, looking at Clint. "And, really, if we could… If we were able to, to study his.. His, uh, kind of, his 'hardwiring', I mean… That could create a countless amount of.. Of scientific breakthroughs, it'd be really-"
"We'll think about that after we kill it, Bruce," Tasha interrupted almost impatiently.
"We're running out of time," Steve said quickly, glancing at the doorway and then at everyone else. "We have to decide what we're doing. Now." Everyone looked around, waiting for someone to decide what they were going to do. Sighing big, Steve tilted his head back, resting it on the concrete. "Now. Now, we're leaving now. Thor?" Almost immediately, both Steve and Thor broke through the chains around their torsos and quickly worked to take off the binds around their ankles. Once freed, the two quickly went to work freeing the others, Natasha keeping her eyes on the doorway just in case.
"Guys? We've got about a minute or less before it comes back," she warned as Thor broke her chains. After a couple of moments, they were all on their feet, Clint, still out of it, leaning one of of the beams for support.
"Does anyone know what the hall looks like out there?" Clint asked, rubbing his forehead with his palm.
"We all got here pretty much the same way: unconscious and dragged across the floor," Tasha explained to him and he sighed.
"Right… So really, we've got no idea where we're going, no idea of what we're really going up against… We've… We've just got no idea," Clint complained and Tony nodded eagerly.
"Finally! That's what I've been trying to say all along!"
"C'mon!" Steve whispered harshly, already at the doorway, peeking through it cautiously for any signs of the creature. "It's not like we can re-chain ourselves and wait for the thing to come back!"
"Anyways, who knows what it'd do once it got back," Bruce raised his eyebrows slightly, playing with his fingers nervously.
"They're right," Thor nodded. "We have no choice anymore." Steve nodded and glanced back at everyone before looking into the hall again.
"Alright," he whispered again. "Let's go!"
Reviews:
kamarooka: Oh my sweet baby Jesus - freaking hell! What on earth even is this?! Argh aaargh AAAAAAARGH!
Okay, sorry, I really needed that little rant - This must NOT be read when you live alone, in an apartment, and are just about to go have a shower! I am freaking out! If I don't review the next chapter I am probably still sitting in the bottom of my shower to scared to get out. Just saying.
Anyway, this is epic - YOU are epic! One if the best thrillers I've read in a while - not that I read many - I don't react well, as you may have noticed hahaha. This is seriously so good though! You're very talented!
Okay, I'm going to go brave the shower... Wish me luck!
Oh my gooooood. Thank you very much! And I hope you're not still hiding in that shower, it's been a few months ;)
LittleMissChatterbox2009: Ooh, interestingness! I think it's really cool how you repeated it, makes it really interesting! ;)
I was really hoping that it wasn't too confusing, because I was really worried people would be like "Oh, what the hell? I'm not reading the whole thing over again what even is this"
RoxasGuyXIII: It's the pod people! Actually, not. But still, I like how this is just getting more and more crazy. You're doing a good job of being really confusing. Bravo.
Not like, a bad confusing, right? Cause again. Worried about that.
myversionofevents: What the fuck is happening?! Like I'm alone in my room and it's half Eleven at night and I never ever read horror/suspense stories, and now I know why but OHMYGOD I need to know what's going on! And then the hallways get longer and people disappear and it's HAPPENING OVER AGAIN and it's that freaking god complex episode of Doctor Who all over again 'cause I'm freaking out that I'm in bed and my HOUSE IS CREAKING AND MY CLOSETS OPEN AND WHAT IF SOMEONE'S BEHIND THE DOOR?
Other than that, your writing is excellent and I can't wait for more ;)
Yours in fangirling,
Ia (the sixteen year old slightly ashamed to admit how much a story can freak her out... Oh well :P)
P.S. yes you have readers from all over! I'm Irish btw
This was the most adorable thing I've ever read you are adorable. This actually was the review that made me just finish up the last bit of this chapter and post it not gonna lie. I'd literally had like half of it typed out and never finished it.
MAB19: This is a dream right? Or like one of them (Clint would be my guess) had a bad mission and is hallucinating? I don't see this being a prank because a) it would be pretty hard to set up. b) I don't see the Avengers going that far with a prank and c) Clint's déjà vu in the last chapter.
I read this in the dark while it's storming horribly outside (thank you Texas weather), and I'm so freaked out right now oh my gosh. When I go into work tomorrow my kids are going to notice I didn't sleep and what am I going to tell them- "Ms.M read a scary story and stayed up all night freaking out over monsters. Life pro tip: don't do that kids"
Seriously though please update soon I want to know how this ends. Also congrats on freaking me out: I'm a 22 year old professional nanny who doesn't scare easily.
Good God you have an imagination on you. :)
I DUNNO, IS IT A DREAM. IS IT. Anyways, thank you so much for your kind words, and I really hope you got some sleep tonight!
Thank you everyone so much for reviewing, it really means so much to me! (Also two long wonderful reviews in the past 9 hours how did that happen)
Hopefully next time it won't take like two months to update, I've just been really busy with work and then moving lately.