A/N: I keep to my promises guys, when I say I will upload every Saturday night in Sydney time, I really mean it. I wrote this entire chapter in two days which is epic, I owe most of it to a nasty cold that's kept me in my room for the past three days with nothing better to do. I hope you guys like this chapter, but the pressure is on with Age of Ultron press tour in action, things are coming out about the movie that are really scaring me. Hopefully however, when I see the movie, I will be inspired to write another Phoenix story. Would you guys like to see me write another one after this? If so let me know in the reviews, you can even PM me if you're feeling bold, I'm always happy to chat with my readers. For now folks, don't forget to read, review and enjoy.
Natasha stormed back upstairs, Clint close at her heels as she burst into the room where all the commotion had gone down. A distraught and trembling Heather was being escorted from the room by Bruce as Natasha walked in. Natasha spotted Tony and moved straight for him.
"Where is she?" Natasha demanded her voice cold and her face an expression of dry rage. As Tony shrugged and raised his palms upright to express that he didn't know, Natasha growled. "You don't know where she is? Start tracking her, have JARVIS scanning all cameras in Manhattan, we have to find her."
"I don't think it'll be that easy Natasha," Steve shook his head solemnly, trying to speak in a calm voice as he approached her slowly. "Phoenix knows how to evade capture, I highly doubt we'll have any chance of finding her unless she wants to be found."
"We have to try!" Clint shouted from behind Natasha, throwing his hands up into the air angrily, he gestured to Steve. "You saw what happened Rogers! We can't leave her out there, she's going to end up hurting herself."
"You need to calm down," Steve raised his voice and immediately locked his jaw and stood up straighter. "The two of you are emotionally compromised right now. While Stark and Banner attempt to track her, the two of you can search her room for any clues to where she might've gone. I promise you, we'll find her."
Clint scoffed. "Don't make promises you can't keep," he spat bitterly.
Natasha grabbed his wrists and nodded to Steve in acceptance of his order. Together, she and Clint walked into the stairwell and descended in silence until they reached the floor Phoenix's bedroom was on. Just before the exit to the stairwell, Clint pulled her aside forcefully.
"Are you actually following his orders?" Clint demanded angrily, his grip on Natasha's wrists tightening as he grew angrier by the second. "Phoenix runs off and all of a sudden he steps up like a freaking army General. We shouldn't be searching her room, we should be out there looking for her."
"You need to calm down," Natasha hissed as she slapped his hand away. "You know what else won't help get Phoenix back, petty arguing. Phoenix is the priority right now and you need to remember that the next time you wanna get involved in a pissing contest."
The lights above them in the stairwell flickered and Clint looked at Natasha in outrage. "Phoenix has always been my priority, and maybe if you had listened to me about Heather we wouldn't be in this mess," he pointed an accusing finger at her.
"So now you're blaming me?" Natasha questioned, titling her head as she stared at him in outrage. "You're the one that mentioned Doctor Blake in your little rant. You set all of this in motion! But I'm not going to blame you, because pointing the finger will do absolutely nothing to get Phoenix back."
Natasha turned her back on him and pulled the stairwell door open. Key in hand, Natasha approached Phoenix's bedroom door with Clint following behind her at a reasonable pace. She placed the key in the door and turned it, the door unlocked with a light click.
Natasha pushed the door opened and stared with wide eyes. Without turning from the horrific sight laid out before her, Natasha addressed Clint. "Get The Experiments together, including Heather, and bring them down here," she instructed him in a dead voice. "It's time that we put an end to this crap once and for all."
Phoenix moved in a randomised pattern, going from back street to back street and avoiding main roads where there might be cameras. Folding her arms and clutching the sleeves of her sweater, she kept her head down as she walked, letting her long hair loose out of her ponytail, she covered most of her face.
A thousands thoughts swam through her mind as she walked with the New York sun falling behind the momentous buildings. How easy would it be to step onto the road and just keep walking until the pain would finally be allowed to stop. It would be quick, the New Yorkers drove up and down the streets with fearful purpose, surely one of them would be able to end her suffering.
As the sun slowly set, Phoenix felt her emotions numbing and she began to think about what she would do next. She couldn't go back, that wasn't even an option she had any chance of considering. They'd tried so hard to help her, but everything they'd done was for nothing, she couldn't go back to that.
She was a danger to society. A murderer. A psychopath. A soldier. A pawn. A monster.
There was no saving her from that.
Phoenix barely registered the fact that the sun had completely set, too wrapped up in her own mind, she was barely able to processes the route she had taken from The Avengers Tower. She had to leave New York, that was a definite, but she had no idea where to go from there.
There were tall buildings surrounding her on all sides, she should be able to access one and make her way up to the roof. It would be as simple as taking a step over the side. Phoenix always felt a rush from falling, maybe that was supposed to be her way out.
She couldn't do it, every single thought process in her mind was screaming for her to end it, but she couldn't. His influence still strangled her every move, she was physically unable to do it, her body wouldn't allow it. For it all to end, it had to be at the hand of anyone but her.
Unwillingly, her mind travelled to the thought of Natasha and Clint. They had looked at her with horror in their eyes, she had seen it clear as anything else. She couldn't stay and hurt them anymore, but after everything they had done for her, Phoenix felt an ache in her chest at the idea that she would never see them again.
A cold rush of air blew past her, dropping the temperature by what felt like ten degrees to Phoenix, she shivered and folded her arms tighter, slowing her pace to a slow walk. A sob racked her body, she wanted to go back, but more than anything she just wanted Natasha and Clint.
For the first time in her life, the crushing feeling of loneliness came down upon her in full force.
Phoenix felt tears pricking her eyes, and quickly darted into an alleyway, taking shelter from the streets beside a large dumpster. Phoenix slumped to the ground, and leaning against the wall, she brought her knees up to her chest and let the sobs take over.
She wasn't sure how long she sat there crying for, but at the peak of her emotions, Phoenix straightened her legs and held her arms out in front of her, rolling her sleeves back to her elbow, she looked down at her arms. They caught fire the instant that Phoenix commanded it, and for a second she sat there with her hands and forearm on fire, the anger bubbling as she felt nothing on her skin.
"Come on," she willed it in a desperate voice. "Burn."
No matter how hard she tried, the fire refused to harm her. Letting out a shriek of frustration, Phoenix thrust her arms outwards, the flames shot out from her hands and collided with the brick wall opposite her, dissipating almost immediately on contact.
As Phoenix buried her head into her hands, she heard a voice somewhere to her left. "That's a pretty neat trick you've got there."
Phoenix's head snapped upwards to see a homeless man standing nearby and watching her with curiosity. From the many lines on his face and long grey hair, Phoenix managed to deduce that he was quite elderly. He was adorned in layers of dirty and tattered clothing and his dark skin looked weathered.
Phoenix looked up at him in fear but he simply smiled. "Don't have to worry about me, I ain't gonna hurt you," he spoke in a deep voice as he grabbed a crate from nearby and approached Phoenix. He placed the crate on the ground in front of her. "Here you go," he gestured to the crate. "Believe me, you don't want to be sitting on that ground."
Phoenix stared at the man as he turned around and began looking for any objects of interest in the alleyway. She slowly picked herself up off the ground and numbly sat on the crate, never taking her eyes off the man for a second. He grabbed a cylindrical bin from nearby and dragged it in front of Phoenix, grabbing another crate that he placed on the other side of the bin, the man sat down.
Phoenix looked into the bin, which was filled with old newspapers and looked back at the strange man. He gestured to the bin, "You wanna help a brother out," he nodded to the bin, and Phoenix realised what he was asking her to do.
She created a small flame in the palm of her right hand and lowered into the bin, dropping the fire onto the paper. It caught alight almost instantly and soon there was a warm fire being contained in the bin. As Phoenix looked up at the man, she noticed how much older and exhausted he looked with the light illuminating his features.
He smiled at her gratefully and rubbed his hands together over the fire. Phoenix stared at him, a mixture of confusion and wonderment. "You're not scared of me?" She asked him cautiously.
He shrugged. "What's there to be scared of?" he questioned her, looking confused as to why she would be asking him such a thing. "You think this big ol world's gonna be scared of superpowers? Where you been girl? Ain't you heard of The Avengers? Us New Yorkers welcome little tricks like that with open arms."
Phoenix looked down at her feet as she brushed some hair out of her face. "What if I didn't use it for good?" she asked. "Would people be welcoming of me then?"
"Depends what you did," the man answered. "Everyone makes a couple mistakes here and there, ain't nothing wrong with that. But I suppose if you purposely did bad things, well that would make you one of them supervillains wouldn't it. Somehow you don't strike me as a supervillain."
"I never wanted to hurt anyone," Phoenix looked away as she spoke, hands gripping the wooden crate. "But I've caused so much damage, I think I must be a villain."
The man stared at her for a second, before he laughed. "Girl, people get hurt, bad things happen. If you didn't mean to do it, then you ain't evil. Now I've met my fair share of evil, and you don't even come close to that. Let me tell you something, I've never seen evil curled up in a ball behind a dumpster, crying their eyes out and trying to end their own life. What's your name?"
Phoenix smiled sheepishly and avoided the man's eyes. "Phoenix," she answered in a quiet voice.
"Well Phoenix, from the looks of you, I'd say you're running from something," he tried looking her in the eyes but she refused to look up, simply nodding in response. "You've got some kind of family?" she went to shake her head, but changed her mind, shrugging her shoulders instead. "You've got a home?" Phoenix hesitated, and nodded after a second of consideration. "Well go home. The streets are a mean place, and if you've got a home and people that care about you, you shouldn't be giving that up for anything."
Phoenix scoffed and shook her head. "After what I did I can't go back," she wiped away a tear that had fallen from her eye. "The people I care about will never be able to look at me the same way, and I don't even know if they'll take me back."
"Second chances are everything in this world Phoenix," the man told her. "If you don't believe in that, then you ain't gonna accomplish nothing. Let me tell you what you are. You ain't a supervillain, or a superhero. You're just a little girl, and no little girl should be carrying this on her shoulders."
Phoenix looked down, rubbing her hands together over the flame, she thought about what the man said. "What I'm carrying on my shoulders," Phoenix repeated quietly to herself, folding her arms tight across her chest. She thought back to her flashback last night and murmured to herself. "Hail Hydra."
The Experiments seemed to be suffering from shell shock as Clint retrieved them from the living area and hustled them into the elevator. Heather's neck had been bandaged by Dr Banner, and she had been told that the burns on her neck would fade in a week, which was surprising considering how long Phoenix's flaming hand had been around her neck.
Once they stepped out of the elevator and saw Natasha waiting for them in the doorway to Phoenix's bedroom, they stopped in their tracks and froze on the spot. Clint stepped around them and waved his hand, a silent command for them to keep moving. Slowly, one foot in front of the other, they hesitantly approached Natasha.
Natasha motioned with one arm for them to enter the room, stepping aside to allow them easy access. They entered and immediately hands covered mouths and there was a chorus of gasps. "This is what you drove Phoenix to," Natasha spoke in a dead voice from behind them.
It was as if a tornado had run through the entire room. The bed sheets had been dragged from the bed and now lay in a heap on the ground, the chest of drawers had been knocked to the ground, end tables had been flung halfway across the room into a shattered pile of wood.
A small mirror that had been resting on Phoenix nightstand had been broken and now lay on the ground in shards that were covered in blood. Looking in Phoenix's bathroom, they saw that the large mirror had been shattered as well and the mirror shards that had collected in the sink were also dotted with blood.
What was possibly the worst and most horrific sight in that room, was a single word. It took up most of the wall in size, and had been carved into the plaster by use of a small knife that lay nearby. There were small streaks of blood surrounding it, as if the person had cut themselves multiple times while carving it.
A single word.
MONSTER.
The Experiments automatically placed themselves into a single row in front of the wall carving, and together they stared up at it in horror. Natasha stood behind them, staring at the wall with a white-hot rage that she somehow managed to keep a lid on. Natasha watched them carefully, waiting for who would turn away first.
It turned out to be Bella. Natasha walked up right behind her, and Bella, hearing her approach, looked down at the ground. "Don't you dare turn your back on it," Natasha hissed. "You did this, and if you can't even handle staring at it, how the hell do you think Phoenix felt when she carved it into the wall."
"Hold on," Heather immediately shot to the defensive, turning to look at Natasha in outrage. "We didn't do anything, this was all Phoenix. And if you ask me, it's just more proof that she's a psychopath. She tried to kill me, and you're still defending her? You need to wake up and smell the roses if you think, even for a second, she's worth saving."
"SHUT UP HEATHER!" the exclamation didn't come from Natasha or Clint, but from someone else entirely. The Experiments all turned in shock, their eyes falling on the one member who had turned to Heather with an extremely pissed off expression on his face as he glared at her.
"Mark?" Heather questioned in disbelief. "You're standing up for her now? Have you lost your mind?"
"NO!" Mark shouted with enough volume that The Experiments all took a step backwards. "You're the one that's lost your mind Heather. You have no idea who Phoenix really is. Everything you say about her is complete bullshit. If anyone's the monster here, it's you."
Heather stared at him, her mouth agape as if he had just slapped her. Natasha and Clint looked to each other, deciding whether or not to intervene, but Mark was going for it now, and there would be no stopping him from finally putting Heather in her place.
"And I suppose you know who Phoenix is?" she questioned, folding her arms as she looked him up and down with a challenging sneer.
"Yeah I do," Mark answered. "Because she's my friend."
If a nuclear bomb had dropped into that room that very second, it probably would've had the exact same effect as Mark's words. Bella, Josh and Sam each wore similar looks of complete shock and confusion, whereas Heather glared at Mark like he had committed some kind of horrible murder directly in front of her.
"For the past week and a half, Phoenix has been helping me train," Mark explained. "We've been meeting late at night down in the training room, and she's been showing me how to fight, how to handle weapons and all this other cool stuff. How the hell do you guys think I got so good so quickly?"
Heather looked horrified. "Why Mark?" she questioned him. "Why would you do that?"
"Because believe it or not Heather, Phoenix is actually a decent human being," Mark responded bitterly. "Unlike you."
Heather flared her nostrils but said nothing in response. Bella took a tentative step forward in Mark's direction. "Why didn't you tell us?" she asked him softly.
Mark looked down in shame. "I didn't want you guys to treat me the way you do Phoenix," he answered. "You guys are basically my only friends, and at first I didn't want to jeopardise that. But I can't stand by and listen to any of this crap about Phoenix anymore, I'm done with it. With Phoenix running off, you guys have an outcast position that needs filling, so I accept my fate."
Mark turned on his heels and began walking to the door, but he was stopped halfway when a strong hand reached out and grabbed his arm. Mark looked up to see Sam wearing an unreadable expression. "No," Sam said, he released Mark and looked from him, to the horrifying carving on the wall. "This isn't the work of a monster. This is the work of someone in pain." Sam made direct eye contact with Heather. "I can't believe we ever listened to you."
Slowly, Natasha and Clint watched in amazement as Bella's facial expression changed, and the young girl looked at Heather like she was seeing her for the first time. Bella moved to stand beside Sam, nodding at him, she then turned to Heather. "He's right," she said sorrowfully. "Phoenix was just trying to fix her mistakes, and we were horrible to her."
Heather stared at the three of them, her mouth open in shock. She turned to Josh, stuck in the middle between Heather and the other three. Josh had been probably the most vocal about his hatred to Phoenix, underneath Heather of course. There was always the chance that he would agree with Heather.
"Josh?" Heather asked in a pleading voice.
Josh stared at her for a moment, and then shook his head. "We were the monsters Heather, not Phoenix," he spoke as he walked towards the other three, as he stood beside Mark, he looked at Heather sadly. "I know that she tried to kill you but Heather, you attacked her."
"Dissociative identity disorder," Natasha spoke up, all heads in the room snapped to look at her as she gave them an explanation. "When Heather threw the plate at Phoenix's head, Phoenix lost control, and a second personality took over. "That's what tried to kill Heather. Phoenix would never hurt any of you. Even after what you all did to her, she still cared about all of you, Heather included."
"Oh my god!" Josh explained, a hand flying to his mouth. "I can't believe, everything we did and she … she had to deal with all of that? What the hell have we done?"
"She's out there right now all by herself," Bella looked at the window. Glancing over to Natasha and Clint, with eyes almost like she was begging forgiveness, she spoke to them. "We can't let anything happen to her. We'll do whatever we can to help you find her."
The four Experiments conversed with Natasha and Clint while Heather stared at them, fuming. Without any warning, she burst into uncontrollable tears, causing everyone to look at her in shock. "It's always her," she sobbed with each breath. "No matter what happens, it's always been about Phoenix."
The answer hit Natasha the instant after Heather said those words. It had been so blatantly obvious, she couldn't believe that she hadn't considered it before, most likely because it was a completely unfathomable answer. She had finally realised what the core of Heather's hatred towards Phoenix was. It wasn't fear, or even anger. It was something much more deadly.
"It's jealousy," Natasha stated as she stared at Heather. Eyes darted from Natasha to Heather as everyone stared at the girl in shock. Heather stopped crying and stared at Natasha like she uncovered her worst secret. "You're jealous of Phoenix."
Clint stared at the ground, refusing to believe that it was true, but it made perfect sense. It was such a petty and childish emotion, but it was Heather's entire driving force against Phoenix. It made Clint sick to the stomach just thinking about it, and Phoenix had no idea.
"I thought she was innocent all of my life, and then she breaks out of the mansion and the first thing she does is follow Doctor Blake's every order with a smile on her face. She enjoyed it," Heather pathetically tried to explain herself. "Her ability doesn't hurt her, she's trained to be perfect in every single way, and yet everyone thinks she's this damaged creature. The Avengers practically adopt her, and now the only friends I ever had are turning away from me to go to her."
"She was tortured by Doctor Blake!" Sam exclaimed, looking at Heather in horror. "Do you think she chose that Heather? You think she enjoyed it? How many times did we feel what she felt through the link Heather? We all felt the pain that she suffered on a daily basis."
"DO YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW!" Heather shrieked, catching them all by surprise. "Phoenix was all I ever had when I was growing up. I felt her so strong through the link it was like she was by my side every second of the day. I didn't have any friends because I was so attached to what everyone thought was my imaginary friend, but I knew better."
Everyone in the room stared at Heather, trying to process what she had said. Heather saw their expressions and began crying, burying her face into her hands. "When she broke out and I saw her rampaging through cities and burning amusement parks, I felt like she had betrayed me," Heather sobbed, her words muffled by her hands. "Ever since I was five years old and I first felt her presence through the link, all I wanted to do was save her. I poured my heart out to Phoenix though the link and she never even acknowledged me. I thought she had abandoned me."
With that emotional declaration, Heather crumpled to the ground, landing on her knees, she broke out in a loud burst of sobs. Bella rushed to her side and got down on the ground next to her, wrapping one arm around Heather's shoulder, she held her closely. The three boys hesitated, before they decided to gather around the two girls on the ground.
Natasha and Clint watched the group hug with surprised, but also proud expressions. It was in that moment, the burner phone in Natasha's pocket started ringing. She nodded to Clint, before holding the phone in one hand and rushing out of the room and into the stairwell where she could speak in private.
Natasha picked up the phone and heard a woman's distorted voice on the other line. "The abandoned warehouse at the corner of 1st Avenue and 52nd Street. 10 AM tomorrow morning. Bring my son and I might consider doing business with you."