A/N: The plot thickens! We're getting deeper into the story here guys, and this one was pretty intense to write. Now this chapter focuses heavily on Phoenix but is super important to the plot line. Next chapter Loki will finally be making his appearance, I bet you were all wondering when he would show up. So there's that to look forward to, but for now, read, review and enjoy.
Natasha knew something was wrong the second she stepped out of the elevator and saw a row of confused and concerned faces. In the middle of it all, Maria stood there expectantly, arms crossed in front of her where she stood in between Tony and Steve.
Phoenix saw Maria and faltered slightly as she walked, hesitating for just a second, with her foot in the air as she debated whether or not to move closer. She continued walking, stopping just behind Natasha and to her left, where she could be involved in what was happening, but held a defensive position.
"Tell us what's happening," Clint spoke as he held a shopping bag in each hand like it was nothing. Though eventually he did place the bags down and to the side.
"We don't know," Tony opened his mouth, cutting across Maria who was just about to speak. "She wanted to wait until you guys got here so she could tell all of us at once."
"And I was just about to tell you all," Maria glared at Tony, speaking sharply, before resuming to address everyone. "We have a situation, involving the other teenagers that Doctor Blake experimented on."
The silence seemed to echo throughout the entire room, as everyone slowly turned to look at Phoenix. They all expected her to say something, but instead she stood, ridged to the spot as she processed what had been said in her head. The only sound that pierced the silence was Phoenix's panicked gasp as an expression of fear washed over her face, but still she couldn't form words.
"What happened?" Natasha asked Maria, but her gaze was firmly settled on Phoenix as she put a hand on her shoulder.
"No one's been hurt, but the details of the situation will take some explaining," Maria motioned to the couches for them to sit down, which they proceeded to do, aside from Phoenix, who stood behind the lounge, her face devoid of emotion.
"After Doctor Blake led the attack on SHIELD HQ, Fury began monitoring the kids," Maria began, sitting on the edge of the lounge and leaning forward as she spoke. "This was around the time he was suspicious on what was happening inside of SHIELD, so he set it up in secret, used a private security team. It all turned out to be worth the effort when the enemy emerged."
"Fury was worried about Hydra getting their hands on the kids," Steve deduced.
"Exactly. Now Fury tried his hardest to erase all the information about the kids, but somehow they found out," Maria inhaled a deep breath before continuing. "A couple of hours ago I got word that some enemy shadows were seen in areas close to where the kids live. So I'm bringing them in."
"What!" Tony exclaimed loudly. "I am not running a day care centre here, you can't just dump them on me like this."
"Would you rather Hydra get their hands on them?" Bruce asked sarcastically.
"Hail Hydra."
A mumbled whisper fell from Phoenix's mouth, incomprehensible to those surrounding her. Natasha heard her make a noise and turned around where she sat, only to see a terrified Phoenix standing behind her, looking as if she had just encountered her worst nightmare.
"Hydra's behind this?" she demanded. "How is that possible?"
"They were inside of SHIELD the whole time," Natasha told her calmly, hoping that by speaking softly, Phoenix would not reach a dangerous level of panic. "They were the ones that took down the Triskelion and dismantled SHIELD. We didn't want to tell you too much, because we were worried you might respond badly."
"Sorry, by the way," Bruce apologised.
Phoenix stammered frantically before she could form proper words. "I need to," she turned as is she was going to walk away but then whirled back around to face the group. "Wait! The others are coming here?" Her right hand began making movements as she flicked her wrist around in circles.
Maria hesitated before giving an answer, seeing that Phoenix was close to the edge. A gentle nod from Natasha allowed her to speak. "Yes, they'll be here tomorrow Phoenix."
Phoenix did something completely unexpected upon hearing Maria's answer, the panicked expression drained out of her face she smiled warmly. "This is good, I haven't seen them for so long and I barely know them," she spoke optimistically, talking to herself rather than addressing the people around her.
Phoenix walked over and picked up the shopping bags Clint had put down earlier, finally turning to look at the slightly stunned group of adults that watched her curiously. "I'm going to put these away," she still smiled as she spoke, but awkwardly folded her arms with the bags still hanging from her wrist. "Bye."
With that she darted off into the elevator, leaving the others seated on the couch, as they watched the doors close on her with confused expressions. The first to speak was Tony, pointing to where Phoenix had been standing earlier. "What was that?"
Maria ignored Tony's question and rose to her feet. "I better get going," she sighed as she looked at Natasha and Clint. "They're arriving at 8 Am tomorrow. Make sure you tell Phoenix before then, or else you're going to have a disaster on your hands."
"A disaster, what disaster?" Steve questioned, but received no answer, because Maria had already begun walking away and had no intention of turning around to continue the conversation. So instead Steve turned to Natasha. "What disaster is she talking about?"
"The kids," Clint spoke before Natasha could. "Phoenix is expecting some big happy reunion, but those kids hate her, and they are not going to react friendly when they see Phoenix again. While you and Nat interrogated Phoenix, I was the one that questioned the kids. Nothing that came out of their mouths was positive, they believe Phoenix is a monster."
Out of curiosity for his reaction, Natasha glanced at Bruce out of the corner of her eye, subtly enough so no one noticed. Natasha saw him uncross his hands and shift in his seat, recognition flashed across his face and he inhaled a deep breath and tensed his shoulders. Natasha saw it plain as day. He was, after all, the only one who knew what it was like to be a monster.
Natasha looked away and sighed. "Someone needs to tell her."
"I can do it," Steve volunteered.
"Are you sure Rogers?" Natasha questioned. "She's fragile, and something like this could potentially strike a blow to her mental stability."
Steve nodded in determination as he stood up. "I can handle her Nat."
Natasha seemed to consider this for a moment, weighting the negative outcomes against positive ones. Finally she gave him a curt head nod, Steve making the same notion in return as he exited the room. Walking calmly in the direction of Phoenix's room, he mulled over what he was going to say in his head, carefully picking out anything that could be insensitive towards her.
As he approached her door he mentally readied himself, then rapped his knuckles on the door, once, twice, three times. On the other side of the door he heard a muffled noise of surprise, then silence. Roughly three seconds passed before the door opened a crack and Phoenix titled her head out of the gap and stared at him.
"Steve," Phoenix said, and upon recognising her visitor, stood up straight and opened the door further, leaning against the door frame while keeping a one-handed grip on the edge of the door.
"Hey kiddo," he greeted her with a smile and motioned inside her room. "You gonna let me in?"
She seemed stunned for a moment with her mouth slightly agape, then her eyes widened as if she had forgotten something. "Yes, of course, sorry," she opened the door all the way and stepped to the side to allow him to walk in. "I keep forgetting," she muttered to herself, furrowing her brow in annoyance.
"Hey it's ok," Steve reassured her, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. "Come and sit down, I've got something we need to talk about."
Phoenix looked concerned as she sat on the edge of her bed. Steve sat down next to her and looked around her room curiously. It appeared quite plain, with white walls, ordinary looking carpets and no unique furniture, but Phoenix had tried her best to decorate with the few possessions she owned.
On the dressing table were a stack of CDs that tilted slightly to the left, and the teddy bear Tony had given her, that sat in front of a mirror that Phoenix had covered with a small black pillowcase. The sheets that adorned Phoenix's bed were purple as she had her four pillows propped up into a makeshift nest in the centre of the bed. Two for her to rest on, and then one on either side of her head.
Steve turned back to Phoenix, seeing her watching him expectantly. "Is something wrong?" she asked him worriedly, taking his silence, as he debated what to say, the wrong way.
"Not exactly," he rubbed the back of his neck. He exhaled a deep breath before continuing. "Phoenix sometimes we make mistakes, and while we're making these mistakes we don't always realise the damage we're causing to other people."
"Wha-What are you trying to say?" Phoenix stammered slightly, confused, and not quite understanding why Steve was telling her these things.
"Do you remember the things you did, and the things you said, the last time you saw the other kids?" Steve asked. Phoenix stopped, and nodded as she looked down at the ground. "The thing is Phoenix, these kids don't know you as well as you'd like to think they do. They've only ever seen one side of you Phoenix, and it's not the good side."
Phoenix was starting to put pieces together, she looked at Steve, nodding slowly as she added up the facts. "They only saw me when I was following…him," she couldn't bring herself to say the name and as she clasped her hands together tightly, scratched a fine layer of skin off her hands with her fingernails. "When I was doing horrible things."
Steve nodded. "Do you see where I'm going with this now?" he asked her softly, receiving a small nod as his answer. "When those kids arrive tomorrow, they might not react well to seeing you. It'll take some time for them to adjust to what happened to them, but if you show them the real Phoenix, the good Phoenix, I know they'll come around. Things like these take time though."
Phoenix didn't seem to fully believe his words, and looked down to the ground, scrunching her face up, and then rubbing her eyes. "While I was with…him, I uh, well I didn't have anyone who understood me. People came and went day in and day out, scientists, trainers, teachers, and some of his associates. No one was a constant, except for him of course."
She looked like she was struggling to put what she wanted to say into words, and clenched and unclenched her fist repeatedly like she was trying to physically grasp the correct sentence. "I'd heard about them all my life and knowing that there were people out there, who understood, I've always wanted to meet them," Phoenix's voice softened as she found it more difficult to speak. "We were always supposed to be a team, but that was what he wanted me to believe."
Steve wanted to lean forward and wrap his arms around her, but knowing she found physical interaction distressing he decided against it. Instead he fixed her with a sincere gaze and a small smile. "You don't open up to people a lot do you?"
Phoenix looked away as if she was ashamed. "I'm not supposed to do that," she muttered and shook her head. "It's a highly unintelligent thing to do, and it makes you vulnerable."
"Only when you open up to the wrong people."
Phoenix pondered on that for a moment and then nodded. "That actually makes sense," she gave him a small smile. "Thank you Steve."
"No problem kiddo," he stood up and looked down at her. "Try and get a good night's sleep yeah. Those dark lines under your eyes aren't getting any better."
Phoenix nodded and watched The Captain exit the room with a distant and faded expression on her face. Once the door closed behind him, Phoenix broke, and finally let the violent sobbing overwhelm her.
The next morning for Clint started with mild confusion and a hint of concern, as he awoke in Natasha's bed and noticed that she was not lying next to him. Sitting up with a grunt and glancing around the room he saw his clothes from last night were neatly folded at the base of the bed, but Natasha was nowhere to be seen.
He kicked the silk sheets off his body before swinging his legs out of the bed and standing up. With a certain amount of speed to his actions, Clint got dressed and started making his way towards the living area, which was most likely to be Natasha's current position.
Clint proved himself correct, spotting Natasha instantly. She was sitting on the back of the couch with Phoenix sitting in front of her, legs crossed on the couch. As Natasha turned around to look at him he saw she had a comb in her mouth and she was holding onto strands of Phoenix's long, copper coloured hair.
"There you are," Natasha's voice was muffled as she talked with the comb still in her mouth. "It's getting close to 8 o'clock, did you only just wake up?"
He ignored her question, folding his arms across his chest as he watched the two girls with a bemused expression on his face. "You should've started the braid further down," he commented.
This earned him a scoff from Natasha, who used on hand to hold three separate strands of hair while she used her remaining hand to take the comb from her mouth and then obliterate several knots, before placing the comb to the side and continuing with her work. "I know what I'm doing," said Natasha as she gave him a pointed look.
Clint grinned and walked into the kitchen, spending several minutes attempting to find a drink that was non-alcoholic, and poured two glasses of orange juice. He took them over to where Phoenix sat on the couch and kneeled down in front of her. He offered her one of the glasses of juice. "If you need me to save you just say the word."
Phoenix smiled, a small, shy smile, as she took the glass off Clint and started sipping at it. Natasha however, was looking down on him from her perch with an annoyed expression. "It's fine," Phoenix spoke softly, waving away Clint's joke. "I thought it might be nice."
Natasha gave him a satisfied smirk as she finished her braid proudly. "Finished," she declared, grabbing a hand mirror from beside her, she led Phoenix to the bathroom so she faced the large mirror, and then held the hand mirror behind her so she could see Natasha's handiwork. "Do you like it?"
Phoenix ran a hand over it cautiously, careful not to disrupt it and ruin Natasha's hard work. "I do like it, thank you Natasha," she turned to her and smiled, before turning back around to face the mirror so she could continue to inspect her new hairstyle.
Natasha and Clint shared a triumphant look between each other, they were making progress with Phoenix's social mannerisms. She had thanked Natasha without hesitation, and the words had sounded natural when she spoke them. Phoenix was learning quicker than they had expected her to.
"You're welcome milaya moya," Natasha responded warmly, calling Phoenix something in Russian. Clint understood what she had said and fixed her with a surprised, but grinned at what she had said. Natasha saw him looking at her and smiled, turning away from him and back to Phoenix.
They returned to the living area and found Steve and Pepper having a conversation on the couch. They stopped talking however, when Pepper spotted Phoenix and gasped in delightful surprise. "Phoenix your hair looks gorgeous," she complimented her brightly.
Phoenix smiled awkwardly in response and looked at Steve, who gave her a thumbs up. She watched Steve for a fair amount of time before glancing at the clock, seeing the position of the hands obviously sparked panic, as she exhaled a shuddery breath.
"Phoenix," Natasha reassured her gently. "If it goes badly, we'll be beside you the whole time."
Phoenix seemed to relax slightly, and nodded at Natasha's words. "I can do this," she seemed to be trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince the others around her. "Let's go downstairs. It's nearly 8 and I want to be ready for them."
Clint and Natasha both agreed to this idea and walked downstairs with Phoenix and Steve, Pepper electing to remain upstairs as she had important work in preparation for a Stark Industries board meeting and didn't want to involve herself too heavily with the current situation anyway.
Downstairs in the foyer, Natasha and Phoenix sat side by side on a lounge chair while Steve paced up and down in front of them and Clint leaned against the wall. Tony and Bruce joined them after several minutes and then their wait continued, wrapped in complete silence.
If Phoenix was trying to hide her nerves, she was not trying very hard. Her foot tapped the floor impatiently gently hit her fist against her thigh. At five to eight, her movements changed, and she began rubbing the back of her neck anxiously. The suspense seemed to be getting to her, and if it went on for much longer Phoenix might do something unpredictable.
Two identical black BMW 7-Series pulled up in front of the building and when Phoenix saw them she leapt to her feet and looked at Natasha fearfully. Natasha murmured words of reassuming as their group walked outside the building, waiting in a neat line for the occupants of the car to emerge. Despite having both Natasha and Clint at her side, Phoenix still looked like she wanted to run away.
The way she was acting wasn't really all that surprising. The last time she saw the other kids, she had been under the control of Doctor Blake, and four of the children had been, in turn, under Phoenix's control. After her drastic escape from the island, Phoenix travelled the country and collected Joshua Smith, Samuel Lidsdale, Isabella Mason and Marcus Winters from various cities around the states.
Heather James, the final teenager Phoenix was meant to collect, managed to escape Phoenix's capture, and had warned the Avenger twice about Phoenix and Doctor Blake. The second time The Avengers had encountered Heather, Phoenix had attacked the tower along with the other teenagers, delivering a message from Doctor Blake.
Each of these children had been injected with the same serum that had made Phoenix what she was, when they were all six years old. However Doctor Blake had not kept them locked in a basement for 10 years and tortured them. Phoenix was the only one to receive that privilege. Each of the children possessed their own unique gifts, but in their minds, this made them freaks.
The only person they hated more than themselves, was Phoenix
From the first vehicle three boys stepped out, Joshua Smith, Samuel Lidsdale and then finally Marcus Winters. Emerging from the second vehicle, were the two girls, Isabella Mason and Heather James. Some of them looked excited, but others, Heather and Joshua in particular, looked extremely bored and equally as annoyed.
The drivers of each car began unloading the luggage for each of the sixteen years olds, as the five teenagers looked up and down the line of Avengers, all of them looking curious, but Marcus and Samuel were each trying to hide excited looks.
Isabella was the first to notice Phoenix.
Her eyes bugged and her mouth began to tremble in fear, taking a step back, she collided into Samuel. He saw Phoenix as well and went completely rigid, looking like he had stopped breathing entirely. The other three saw her and experienced equally horrified reactions.
Heather cupped a hand over her mouth, her knees crumpled beneath her and she nearly fell to the ground, but managed to stay upright by using her free hand to cling to Joshua's shirt sleeve. Marcus attempted to take slow, shaky steps backwards but was stopped by the car behind him.
Natasha gripped Phoenix's forearm, trying to keep her calm, but it was no use. Phoenix saw their reactions, all of them as they stood before her, looking at her like she was their greatest nightmare. It was worse than she had expected, it wasn't supposed to be like this.
The silence was horrifying, there were no other words for it. The only noises that could be heard were muffled sobbing sounds come from Isabella as she barely kept herself together. Natasha knew that if they remained outside making a scene they would attract unwanted attention.
Tony was the one to come to the rescue on that front. "How about we all go inside where we can talk this over," he suggested carefully.
Wrapped up so tightly in their fear Natasha wasn't even sure if they had actually heard what Tony had said, but they all followed him into the building, carrying their luggage with them as they did so. Each one of them stopped for a second before walking through the doors to look at Phoenix in fear, Heather the last to follow Tony through the doors, held her gaze with Phoenix the longest.
After they had entered the building Phoenix finally spoke. "They're terrified of me," she didn't sound shocked at all, she sounded like she was stating a fact.
Clint put an arm around her shoulder. "They need time Phoenix," he told her. "We'll give them a minute to calm down, and then we'll head up there. Once they get to know the real Phoenix, they won't be scared of you anymore."
Phoenix looked incredibly doubtful, but attempted a smile for Clint's sake. Bruce looked extremely concerned for Phoenix but didn't act on it, allowing Natasha and Clint to properly handle her. Steve clearly felt the same way, but there was regret in his expression as well. Thinking back to what he had said to her last night, he felt like he had given her false hope.
Arm still around Phoenix, Clint led her upstairs after several minutes of waiting and Natasha followed, close to the other side of Phoenix. In the time they had been waiting, Tony had the teenagers put their things into their respective rooms and then led them into the living area. The five of them cramming themselves onto the one couch, too afraid to be by themselves.
When Phoenix entered the room, they held their breath, but aside from that they did not have a severe reaction. However the fear was still evident in their eyes. Phoenix broke away from Clint and elected to stand while the rest of the adults took a seat.
Natasha was half-expecting there to be an awkward silence, but instead Heather spoke up almost immediately. "Why are we here?" she demanded, looking at Tony as she spoke. Her lips pursed, and nostrils flared, it was easy to see that Heather was extremely ticked off.
Looking at Heather the first word that popped into most people's minds were cheerleader. She was tall for her age, with a slim, feminine body shape. Her long blonde curls bounced around her as she moved her head, her brown eyes fitted into a long oval face with pale skin. Natasha's past experiences with Heather didn't put the young girl into Natasha's good books, and out of all the teenagers, she seemed to be the one who hated Phoenix the most.
"You were in danger," Natasha told her. "We removed you from your homes to protect you from Hydra."
All of the kids looked at each other before Marcus Winters turned to Natasha. "What does Hydra want with us?"
Marcus looked like a decent enough kid. Halfway between a gangly and athletic build, he was average height for a boy his age, probably the same height as Heather. He has messy black hair that barely went passed his ears and striking bright blue eyes that made his colour drained skin look ghostly pale. He could've passed for gothic if he was wearing all black.
Clint moved to answer him, but Isabella Mason answered the question for him. "Take a look at us Mark. They want us because of what we can do. She's right, this is the only safe place for us."
Natasha had only heard the girl speak once before, when she had begged for help the one time Phoenix had ambushed the tower. Already Natasha considered her the most intelligent one there. Isabella was a very short, and small shaped girl. Her long brown hair and dark eyes complimented her heart shaped face perfectly, with a small nose, thin lips and porcelain skin, she looked like a china doll had come to life.
"Safe!" Joshua Smith nearly jumped to his feet as he exclaimed in outrage. He pointed a sharp finger directly at Phoenix. "We're not anywhere close to safe while she's here. She's a psychopath!"
Joshua Smith was very easily described by the word grumpy. His dirty blonde hair nearly matched Marcus's in dishevelment and his bright green eyes always seemed to be shooting people a dirty look. He didn't have much going for him height-wise, his skin was pale and freckled, and he seemed to be wearing a permanent expression of disgust.
Phoenix looked away in shame, unable to look Joshua in the eye as he remained pointing an accusing finger at her. Heather threw herself into the debate the second she saw an opening. "Josh is right, you can't expect us to live in the same building as her. She'll slit our throats while we sleep."
Before Natasha could begin to explain that Heather's accusations were beyond ridiculous, Joshua leapt to his feet, inspired by Heather's support, and began a verbal attack. "Don't you know what she's done? Have you forgotten how many people she butchered? She's a cold-blooded killer, and you're all treating her like some kind of house pet!"
Samuel Lidsdale put a hand on Joshua's chest and pushed him backwards gently to prevent a physical fight.
Samuel was a big looking kid, extremely tall and extremely buff, he was a clear member of a football team. His brown hair was cropped short, and his light brown eyes showed determination behind black, rectangular rimmed glasses, that sat firmly on his large nose. In short, he looked like a tough kid.
"Hey you wanna shut up!" Clint took the defensive on behalf of Phoenix, Natasha saw it as admirable but she knew what might happen if a fight broke out. "You are just a pair of stuck-up brats and you have no idea what you're talking about."
Mt Vesuvius might as well have just erupted in the room considering what happened next.
Samuel had to restrain Joshua who began shouting insults without stopping to take a breath , and Heather rushed to her feet and joined him. Tony and Clint stood up and held their ground, both the men shouting right back at them. Heather turned it on Phoenix in a second, she pointed, she screeched and spat accusations.
Steve tried to call for order but no one seemed to be listening, nearly everyone in the room aside from Natasha, Bruce and Phoenix had joined the throng. Isabella was screeching at Heather, begging her to calm down, and Marcus was helping Samuel to hold back Joshua, who was reaching the peak of agitation and looked ready to charge someone.
Calmly, Natasha rose to her feet and walked away, stopping just before the door, she turned and took a knife from her belt. No one had seen her move, too wrapped up in their own mass argument. She aimed the knife, and then threw it with a deadly force. It hit the glass vase, located on a coffee table directly in the centre of the chaos.
It shattered instantly on contact with the knife, and glass sprayed everywhere. The shock of this event was enough to create complete silence in the room. Every eye in the room turned to Natasha who stood with a matter-of-fact expression and a cocky stance.
"Now that I have your attention," she spoke sweetly, although her voice was laced with a hidden anger. "Everybody sit down," her voice became flat and her so did her expression. This was enough to strike fear into the hearts of everyone in the room.
Within seconds everyone had returned to their original seats and were all looking rather ashamed of themselves. With a satisfied smile, Natasha walked over to the remains of what had once been the glass vase and picked up her knife, returning it to her belt.
Phoenix smirked, but bit her lip trying to hide it, looking down at her feet. Heather glared at her sourly, and seeing her expression, her eyes narrowed even further and her scowl became so tight it looked like her face was going to crack.
"What are you smirking at?" Heather spat viciously. Immediately Phoenix's face fell and she looked away from Heather, avoiding her hard glare, but Heather hadn't finished with her. "You think, because you're their little lap dog, that you can pretend that all of the things you did never happened. You're a monster Phoenix, and no matter how hard you try you'll always be Doctor Blake's pet psychopath."
Phoenix finally reached the capacity of what she could handle. She took one last horrified look at Heather, before fleeing from the room.