My eyes snapped open and I was suddenly very acutely aware of the presence beside me. I'd fallen asleep against Bruce as he held me, too exhausted to move earlier. Exhaling slowly, I felt the tension leaving my shoulders as I observed his peaceful expression. Carefully, I untangled myself from his embrace, making sure to stay silent as I did so. I leaned over, gently removing the glasses from his face, pausing as he stirred and waiting for him to settle before fully lifting them and setting them to the side.
Quietly I crept from the room, resuming a normal composure when I was sure I wouldn't wake him. My heart fluttered briefly at the thought of being that close to him and a part of me wanted to go back to that place, but I continued to move forward. Finally I came to a stop when I was in the living room, looking through the glass wall at the city below. The sun had just set, letting me know I'd spent a few hours sleeping.
I was wide awake now, alight with energy I didn't think I'd have just yet. It was this building. The tower was full of electronics producing low levels of radiation. Most things were harmless, but I was still aware of them. They were there, calling out to me if I needed them. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, I could feel the buzz of the electronics around me. Far below I could feel the pull of the arc reactor that powered the building. Just down the hall in the direction I'd come from I could feel another source of radiation, fluctuating ever so slightly with each steady heartbeat.
As I opened my eyes and looked back to the city, the hum of everything around me fell into the back of my mind, out of focus and jumbled. I watched the city's nightlife begin, not slowing as people continued to their destinations. They didn't know what kind of danger they were in; unaware that Hydra was lurking nearby.
Frowning, I turned away. My feet led me to another floor where a state of the art training area had been set up. There was an entire floor dedicated to different training styles depending on what you wanted to concentrate on. I couldn't rest knowing what was out there.
"Alright, there it is! Please don't shoot!" The man hastily punched in a series of numbers on the keypad and placed his finger on the pad for a biometric scan.
Eric was behind him, gun raised and aimed at his head as he waited for the verification. He was unfazed by the plea, keeping the gun raised. The little green light on the keypad flashed signifying the lab was unlocked, but he didn't lower the gun.
My stomach lurched when I realized he wasn't going to let the man live. Quickly I knocked the gun away, using my free hand to gain control of the weapon before taking it away and disarming him. I stepped back, knowing he'd be furious, "Run!" I called to the scientist, keeping my sights on Eric.
He sighed, annoyed as he faced me. "I was trying to make it easy. He wouldn't have known what was coming."
"He already let us in; we don't have to kill him." I didn't see him coming, grabbing the gun as I had done, twisting it forcefully from my grip and sending an intense wave of pain through my hand as I'm sure my thumb broke in the exchange.
Turning away, he fired a single deafening shot that echoed off of the walls and killed the man that had made it halfway down the hall. He cursed, the small green light flashed red. We'd missed our time to get into the lab. "Here, try again." Casually he tossed a small device to me as if he hadn't just killed a man in cold blood.
"You killed him." I couldn't take my gaze away from the growing pool under the lifeless body yards away.
That seemed to be his tipping point and he returned his attention to me, gripping my shoulder roughly and shoving me towards the keypad, "You need to learn how to get into places like this. Work faster this time around and maybe another won't walk by." He hissed as if that justified what he'd done.
Growling, I sunk my weight into a punch, slamming my fist into a cushioned pop up target in the training area. Ignoring the ache flaring up across my ribs I spun and planted a hard kick into the next target. I put as much force into each blow as I could muster, finding it cathartic for the most part, but still somehow not enough. There was doubt gnawing away, telling me that I wasn't good enough to protect anyone.
The idea was enough to fuel my anger until I had nothing else, left panting and greedily gulping down each breath as cringed and stretched my arms above my head while walking in idle circles. I stopped as I turned to see Tony standing there, a bottle of water in one hand and a small gadget in the other.
"Cool…" Tony observed as the item, about the size of a dime began to glow brightly before storing it in a pocket and stepping closer with the bottle of water extended forward. "I knew you could take and use radiation, but I just wanted to see up close."
I nodded my thanks and accepted the water, "Was that a battery?"
"Yeah, I'm still working on power sources for a variety of things." He confirmed. "A couple of things started to give off some weird readings so I just came to check in. Seemed like you might have been working through some stuff, though, so I decided to wait." Shrugging, he added the last part as more of an afterthought.
Again, my attention snapped in his direction as I immediately pulled the bottle of water away from my lips to regard the genius, "No, next time stop me. I could really hurt—"
"Woah, deep breath." He raised his hands to symbolically halt my train of thought, "He's fine. I went and checked on him first."
I clamped my mouth shut, flustered and unsure of what to say at first. "Thank you." I breathed after a short pause, "I don't want him to worry either." I mumbled, averting my gaze at Tony's knowing smirk.
"Don't worry. I didn't tell him why I was there." He assured, "I mean, he's pretty used to my 'being weird' or whatever he calls it….insanity or something."
I raised my eyebrows, deciding to take another drink of water to keep from commenting on the appropriate adjectives he'd just listed.
"So, obviously I'm not really one to be shy about things," He began, making a reference to Bruce, "Would you mind maybe trying a few tests? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about your abilities. I want to know if and how you control it."
To be honest, I didn't know the extent of what Dr. Sterns did. Beyond spending a few days here and there trying to figure it out on my own, I was lost. "I'd actually really like to know how it all works myself." I confessed.
"Great!" He grinned, clapping his hand on my back as he began to lead us out of the training area, "How's tomorrow sound?"
I shrugged, "It's about as good as any other day." I agreed. It wasn't like I had very many plans besides waiting for Hydra's next move.