AN: All the chapters from here on out will occasionally switch back and forth from the simulation to the "real world". Basically what I'll do to kind of signal this is add a line.
Also! The simulation parts will sometimes have short commentaries from those who aren't in the simulation anymore. Those will be in parenthesis and italicized! Hopefully that's not too confusing... Just lemme know if it is! -E
"Where is it? I thought it was right behind you?" Steve whispered to Clint from his hiding spot as he rushed past. "And Stark. Banner. They were supposed to follow you, too."
"I… I don't know," Clint panted out as he got to his own hiding spot, waiting for the creature that wasn't coming.
"You lost it?!" Tasha glared at him from her spot across the hall.
"Wh- It wasn't my fault," Clint argued back at her, stealing a glance down the hall. "I did exactly what I was told: no matter how stupid or dangerous it was."
"Really," Tasha crossed her arms at him.
"Yes."
"Okay, yeah. Then where is it?" Raising an eyebrow at Clint, Tasha looked down the hallway. "Because clearly, it's not-" Natasha immediately fell silent as a pained scream echoed through the halls. Tony.
After a moment of silence, the trio took off running in the direction Clint had just come from, Thor jumping from his hiding place and following closely behind. Following the hall to the sound of the scream, the group stopped short when they saw the scene in front of them.
"Oh… God," Clint gagged, quickly putting a hand over his mouth. Halfway down the hall was Tony, sprawled out on his back on top of Bruce. His stomach was torn open, his intestines pulled out and dragged part-way down the hall. Underneath him, Bruce was missing both of his arms, a still-growing puddle of blood surrounding the pair.
"We have to get out of here," Tasha immediately turned back the direction they had come.
"You're not even going to check if they're still alive?!" Clint asked, astounded.
"Clint," Steve said quietly, looking at him, his eyebrows bowed up. "Even if one of them were still alive… There's nothing we would be able to do to help them. We have to keep going."
"But-"
"Now." Tasha walked back to Clint and grabbed his arm, pulling him back the way they came.
"You're not actually dead, Stark," Fury tried again, irritation clear in his tone as Tony waved him off dismissively.
"Well clearly this couldn't be Heaven: you're here," Tony complained, his brow furrowing. "Hell. That's it; I'm in hell." A nurse walked over and sat him up slowly, her hand on Tony's back. Glancing at the woman as she checked him over, he got a better look around the room. "Are we in the tower?"
"It's a simulation center," Fury explained to him, crossing his arms. "You lay in those pods, go in. We see what you do on those screens," the man gestured towards the wall opposite the pods.
"And… You weren't going to tell us about this? How the hell'd you even get us all here? Drug us?"
"Whatever was necessary so that you didn't know it wasn't real. The point was to see how you worked together in the face of death."
"Clearly that worked." Tony rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands as the nurse walked off, writing away on a chart she held in her hands. "Couldn't you have just programmed the simulation to alter our memories? So in-sim we wouldn't know?" Fury ignored him, now fixated on one of the screens on the wall.
"Thor, c'mon! Where are you going?!" Tony heard Steve yell and looked over at the screens.
"So, we get to watch what happens now?"
"Until the simulation is finished, yes."
"Can I at least get a cup of coffee?" Fury motioned towards a man standing near the door and turned his attention back to the screens.
"We're supposed to be trying to get out, not further in the building!" Clint chased after Thor, grabbing his arm to stop him from walking up the stairs.
"That monster killed Tony and Bruce! I'm not going to run and hide while it's able to walk freely!" Thor protested, glaring at the other three.
"I'm getting all choked up," Tony teased as someone handed him a hot cup of coffee. "I mean, they're right, they should get out of there, but- Wait, Bruce." Sitting up more, Tony looked across the room to see the other pods. "Why's he unconscious?" Tony demanded as he looked from his friend to Fury.
"There was a minor issue with Doctor Banner; we wanted to avoid him changing."
"So you sedated him?" Tony's eyebrows furrowed as he took a sip.
"He should be coming-to soon. Perhaps you'll be able to keep him calm."
"Was he angry about the simulation?"
"Just a little," Bruce said quietly as he rubbed his forehead. Opening his eyes, he slowly sat up, another nurse rushing forwards to check him.
"Brucie!" Tony raised his coffee mug slightly and smiled at him. "Nice to have you back in the land of the living!"
"Except we both died," Bruce chuckled softly as he put his glasses on. Stopping, he blinked and looked at Tony. "Wait, how did you die?"
"Oh, it was… Kind of... 'Messy,'" Tony grimaced. "But, basically, I had my insides become outsides."
"That's… Disgusting."
"Well hey, I had to watch your arms get torn off!"
"Fair enough, okay, yeah…"
"Wait, Thor! Stop!"
"Woah, woah, what'd we miss? What'd we miss?" Tony quickly turned his attention back to the screens as he heard Tasha shouting. Sipping his coffee, he glanced over at Bruce as he walked over to the pod Tony was sitting in and climbed up to sit with him.
"Thor's run ahead of everyone and disappeared," Fury answered, one hand to his mouth, the other crossed over his front. "Not much else has happened."
"Ugh, boring," Tony scoffed as he made room for Bruce, sitting with his legs crossed.
Panting softly as he came to a stop at a dead-end, Clint span around, looking for Thor.
"Where'd he go?! We saw him run up to this floor! This hallway, even!"
"Into an apartment, maybe?" Steve jogged around a corner and down the hall towards Clint.
"But which one? This hall alone has 10 doors," Tasha quickly caught her breath as she joined the boys.
"We're just going to have to look," Steve walked up to one of the doors, raising a fist to knock on it.
"Oh, all the people who live here will love that," Clint commented. "Getting woken up this early in the morning by a couple of people looking for someone who might not even be in their apartment?"
"It's the only lead we've got, Barton," he glared slightly as he knocked on the door, only to have it immediately open as if the handle hadn't been latched shut. Inside the apartment, every light was shining bright red, the doors, cabinets and drawers to everything left wide open. Hesitating, Steve exhaled sharply before cautiously walking inside, Clint and Tasha following close behind.
("Oh, yeah, that's a good idea, guys. This place isn't suspicious at aaaaaaaaall," Tony rolled his eyes. Bruce nudged his shoulder softly with his own.
"That's the point! They have to look in their purely for the fact that it is so suspicious!"
"It's still a stupid idea, one of them is gonna get killed.")
"Thor!" Steve whispered loudly, not wanting to make too much noise- just in case. The trio made their way slowly through the main room of the apartment, all splitting up to look in different rooms.
"This place looks completely deserted," Clint whispered to the others. "Like no one lives here. There's nothing. No furniture, no stuff…"
"No Thor," Tasha noted as the three regrouped in the main room.
"Okay… So now what?" Clint glanced around, making sure to keep his guard up.
"Now we look through all the other apartments until we find him. We're not losing another friend." Steve said sternly as he looked at the other two.
"Should we keep going one apartment at a time? Or each check a different one?" Tasha looked from Steve to Clint.
"Well, seeing as it wants us separated to take us out... " Clint cocked a brow and Steve sighed softly.
"Despite how time consuming it'll be, we should stick to staying in the same apartment."
"No more splitting up," Clint agreed as Tasha pressed her lips together before speaking.
"Alright, we're wasting time. Let's just find Thor and get out."
Looking over at Thor's screen, Tony let out a giggle as he sipped his coffee.
"Oh, man," he grinned at Bruce. "They're never going to find him!"
Reviews:
LadyMorganaPendragon: AHAHAHAHAHA! That literally just made me laugh, because it's such a simple conclusion to come to but NOBODY would have thought of it. You had us all, like, crying we were so scared!
Seriously, though, what's Bruce going to do? Is he going to get them out of there or what?
... Please update soon.
Woah, now, did I say it wasn't going to be scary anymore? Just because you guys know it's a simulation now doesn't mean anyyyything
Guest: This idea is perf! I really hope Clint and Natasha are last so they can sort of have a love scene as the other 'dies'. Great job with the story, it gets better and better every chapter (didn't even think that was possible).
Oh, sweetheart.
tiger49: Wow. Just wow. That is twisted, I mean seriously? SHIELD is evil. Or is that even real, did Bruce actually 'get his arms ripped off and find out it was a simulation, or was it just the creature hardwiring reality again? My head hurts from the amount of theories I'm coming up with. Anyway, please update, I will definitely be following, I never really liked horror but this is amazing. Yeah. Wow.
I don't knooow, waaaaaas it the creatureeee?
Pip4: I'm trying to figure out if I was expecting that. I was expecting that Bruce didn't really die because this thing has been so choatic that I wasn't really believing any of the really awful stuff. But a simulation makes sense. I feel like now you're going to need a follow up to this where the Avengers trap Fury in the simulation out of revenge and he either freaks out and everyone gets a kick out of it or better yet doesn't loose his cool at all.
I AM actually (after I finish this story) going to start writing more sim-related stories, I think.
shadowhuntingdauntlessdemigod: AWH SNAP SERIOUSLY FREAKING FURY UUUGGGHHHHHH. This entire story is amazing. The monster is so creepy and I like how everyone tries to work as a team. So glad they finally got reunited and aren't really dead. I thought this would be a prank everyone was pulling on Clint for April Fool's Day. You got me. Who will be next?
This was actually originally written as an April fools joke! Originally it ended at like. Chapter 7. But chapter 7 was completely different. Then a few months later I was just like "nah" and deleted the old chapter and kept going hahah. And so much for working as a team, huh, Thor? But hey, he's been emotionally compromised.
joycelyn. : Okay your review was really super long so I'm not gonna put it all in but some notes; in the simulation, things are different. It's like, they don't remember all the time that they're superheroes? As in, they don't remember they even have a shield/hammer/suit of armor/etc. Bruce can't hulk out, because it would be too dangerous for the real Bruce laying in the pod. Natasha's been freaked out because she's trained for things that are controllable. She's trained to manipulate. But with this creature, there's no way to manipulate it to her advantage. There's no way for her to get in its head- but it has easy access to her head. That's why she's been afraid. Understand?
gblack7: IT WAS A SIMULATION? OR WAIT. IT COULD BE THE MONSTER PLAYING A TRICK ON THEM AGAIN. What will happen? And, wait, you're only 19? How the hell are you so good? Once again, I'm scared witless and thoroughly entertained by your writing.
Also, you now have to tell me how to explain to my classmates why I shrieked out loud in the middle of break. Why do I always read this when it's raining and thundering? I swear this piece only pops up in my favs when the weather is bad.
Your faithful italian reader~RW
Turning 20 on the 26th of this month, actually! :) And I hope this time the weather isn't too bad to freak you out even more (though, I don't think this chapter was particularly scary as it was mostly the out of simulation stuff? I don't know o_O)
AGAIN, thank you everyone (if you're even reading this far) for reading and reviewing, you're all so amazing and wonderful and I love each and every last one of you! I promise to try and start updating this semi-regularly (? more than once every few months cause that's awful and I am so sorry) -E