Chapter 8- The Night:
Kato:
That night, everything seemed pretty... loose to me. It was like everything wasn't solid or real. It seemed like everything was just a lucid dream and I was just realizing that.
Since SHIELD gave us a house to ourselves (ourselves being the team that doesn't have a home besides the helicarrier) after Axel, Sam, and I teamed up on Fury, we all headed to our own bedrooms. Moriko stayed in the guest room- which I was sure would someday be her actual room if she planned to stay.
Personally, I loved my room. It had so many fluffy things in it I could just die. My bed was very large and had fluffy black blankets and pillows. I had a computer, dresser, closet, and basic room necessities plus a large scratching post and I had about a dozen pillows on my bed. Usually, it was all comforting and warm to me.
It was past one in the morning when I finally stopped pacing in my room to go to sleep. When I plopped down on the bed after changing into just my undergarments, I found no comfort. I was still numb...
Maybe it was just shock, maybe I was just having too much trouble adjusting to the fact that the Facility was back and worse than before... Maybe it was fear from the Facility or from him. He was my old guard at the Facility and for the most part, none of the guards bothered me since I could and would kill them... Yet he came in after I was drugged. He had catnip... He was the reason that I didn't let Luke do anything besides minor touches because he was my rapist and I feared him more than the Facility... Rather stupid to me, but I couldn't help it. He made me freeze in terror. I never told anyone about him- not Luke, not Moriko, no one... And for the most part she even forgot about it...
Someone knocked on my door and I didn't even bother to sniff the air to figure who it was before I called out,
"Come in..."
The door opened as Luke stepped through the door. Like myself, he was dressed in his pajamas- black sweatpants and no shirt. He seemed only a bit uncomfortable about me being just in my underwear, but by now, most of the house was used to it since I kept forgetting to put on clothes when I went down to the kitchen.
I motioned for lay down in the bed with me and he took up the offer. I was quick to lay my head on his chest and he hesitated before putting an arm me.
"You should be sleeping," I purred.
"So should you... I could hear you pacing all the way in my room. I had to make sure that you were okay.
"I'm just fine," I sighed.
"No you aren't and don't lie to me."
"I'm... scared," I admitted as I moved my body closer to his, "I'm scared about the Facility and what might happen. I'm scared for my life. I'm scared for your life. I'm scared for my sister... I'm scared and I do not get scared."
"Everyone gets scared every once in a while," Luke pointed out as he stroked my hair, "That's perfectly normal."
"Not for me..."
"It'll be okay though," Luke said.
"Promise?"
"Promise."
With that, I finally got some peaceful sleep with my man-pillow.
Axel:
I ignored the knife that flew out of Alex's door as I opened it. She was more high strung than usual, and I didn't blame her. I was a bit on edge myself.
"Sorry," she mumbled, sitting down on her bed. I shrugged.
"Don't worry about it. I would have done the same thing."
"No you wouldn't. You're not robot enough."
I pushed her stomach first into the bed, ignoring her protests, and began to rub the middle of her back in that spot in between her wings. She began to scratch mine with her foot.
"What if we end up back in the Box, or back to the simple torture? What if...What if they die because of us?"
I was silent. I knew she was scared, and so was I. Us being scared was something to make everyone rethink because we didn't get scared. It just never happened. And when we did get scared. were just to arrogant to say it out loud.
"That proves you're not a robot."
She chuckled slightly, but it was hollow.
"I don't want them to die. To many have already died because of me."
I shook my head.
"Because of her. She killed all of them, not you."
"I might as well have. Either way their blood is on our hands."
I sighed, knowing that Alex wouldn't stop feeling like everything wring that happened to one of her closest friends when she's near is her fault. I did too, just not as much, ans when I did, I found new ways to handle it. We were both just to stubborn. She moved slightly, rubbing her metal arm.
"What if it turns into a blood bath again?"
I thought carefully before answering.
"We're here to prevent that. We're all here to prevent that, and if it happens, we rise from the ashes to do our best the next day."
Third Person:
"Anyone mind explaining to me what the hell is going on," Fury demanded.
He crossed his arms and used his one good eye to glare at the team sitting at the table casually in their uniforms. Kato shrugged and leaned her head against Power Man's shoulder as he stroked her hair. She was still worn out from last night and honestly, didn't feel about dealing with anything at the moment.
As a result, Alex sighed in irritation,
"Didn't we tell you already? The park incident was caused by her," she pointed to Moriko, "Who happens to be Kato's long lost best friend, practically sister, and she came back to warn Kato that the Facility is back and is looking for her and is working with Ringleader and now-"
"-And now you're working on a plan," Fury finished, "Fine. Don't let your work go uncompleted, make sure you train, and we'll call it even."
With that, he left, leaving Coulson in charge of the group like usual.
"What if Kato did get captured again," Nova suggested, "I mean, she can get captured on purpose-"
"-Oh hell no," Kato, Axel, and Alex all said in unison.
"No," Power Man said as he glared, "She's not going back there and especially not willing."
"Just here me out," Nova argued, "With her there, we can keep track of what's going on with them. Otherwise, we're going in blind, right? You never enter a video game without knowing what it's about and who you're fighting, right? So what if SHIELD puts a chip under her skin or something so we know where's she at and where the Facility is and then we follow secretly."
Nova smiled proudly as he puffed out his chest.
"That was the least dumbest thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth," White Tiger said surprised.
The other had similar looks of shock, but Kato and Power Man were still opposed to the idea.
"She's still not going," Power Man said firmly, "The chip might not work. We might lose the signal. We might lose her and she would then be stuck there with Ringleader and the Facility and open for painful experiments."
He wrapped his arm around her waist and looked at Nova and the others with a guarded expression. Kato purred slightly, but then got out of his grasp,
"As flattered as I am that you want to protect me, that may be our only option to get in. Coulson, think SHIELD can whip up a chip like that?"
"Easily," Coulson answered.
"She can't go in alone," Alex said firmly, "That'll be suicide. Moriko and I will go with you."
Moriko smiled cheerfully,
"Of course! I can't leave my ane in there all alone!"
Axel looked at Alex hard,
"What about your fur and arm? Ringleader's gonna recognize you right away."
Alex shrugged.
"I'll ditch the arm, dye my fur, paint my wings, and cut my hair."
He nodded, lips pursed.
"I'll stay up here. Coms would be kind of obvious so the chip will link you guys and myself mentally."
The three girls nodded.
Alex grabbed her army knife out of her boot and cut her choppy long hair so short tat it was a choppy pixie cut, but she left the bangs.
"I need some black hair dye. Lots of it," she told a SHIELD personnel that was standing by the door.
He nodded and ran off. Axel turned to the one that he had been standing next to.
"I need some paint. Red."
He nodded and headed off after his friend.
"You look so weird without your hair up," Nova said.
Alex ran a hand through her bangs.
"Whatever. Once I get everything dyed we start."
With that she was gone. Axel sighed and sunk deeper into his chair, rubbing the tiredness out of his face.
"Everything okay?" Moriko asked. He shook his head.
"No. Nothing's fine. Not when he Ringleader is involved. I'm-we're-just a little more paranoid than usual. Neither of us could sleep last night."
Moriko nodded in understanding.
"It's gonna be okay. After all, Nova-"
"-That's the smartest thing he's ever said. trust me. When it comes to formulating a plan he isn't one to put your trust in."
"Hey!" Nova yelled in protest.
Spider-Man slapped him in the back of his head.
"You know he's telling the truth, Bucket Head."
Nova crossed his arms over his chest and grumbled.
"Well, let's go find their base."
About two hours later Alex came back, but instead of the red-orange fur and dark blue wings they were used to. she had pitch lack fur with flaming red wings.
"Status."
"We found their base, and you're leaving in five."
"Make it two. The longer we wait the more people get hurt."
