A/N: Another long update folks and I apologise but this one was particularly difficult. I probably should've mentioned this a while back but I have a tumblr page for my stories sometimes I post stuff on it and sometimes I don't but it would be awesome if you guys started following me. The link is on my profile page. And now for my catchphrase, read, review and enjoy.
"Pressure holding steady," Bruce looked over the top of the screen at Tony and gave him the thumbs up. They were situated in one of Stark Tower's many Research and Development laboratories. The computer screen showed that everything was in the green, but he was right to be cautious. "Are you sure that this has been tested before?"
"What are you talking about," Tony scoffed. "I test it when it needs to be used. Of course I haven't tested this before."
Bruce sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he took off his glasses. He had given up arguing with Tony's eccentric ways, now Bruce just goes with it and backs out of the way when things explode. Tony held a remote control in his hand that basically just comprised of a big red button.
Before he could press it, Steve and Clint entered the room and immediately their eyes fell to the device in Tony's hands. "Whatever you're planning on blowing up, give us a fair warning so we can evacuate the tower first," Clint remarked.
"For your information Robin Hood, we are fitting in some security measures against our new little super villain," Tony didn't find the joke funny. "We're Phoenix-proofing the Tower."
Steve walked forward and looked at Bruce's screen curiously. "What have you got for us?"
"Well I figured since Phoenix has her whole freaky fire power and she is kind of dependent on her power, then obviously her weakness is water," Tony held up a glass of water for them all to see as a demonstration. "So to keep her out of the tower we set booby traps. Right now we've just finished putting the finishing touches on the defence mechanism in the lift."
"Tony, I've seen Phoenix dive off a cliff into the ocean, I don't think water scares her," Clint stated. "What exactly have you done to the lift anyway?"
"Well," Tony held up the glass higher to make sure they all saw it and motioned to a small rectangular tin that stood up with no top on it. Obviously it was supposed to represent the lift. "I have installed a secret panel at the top of the lift, so if an intruder comes in," Tony tipped the water into the tin until it filled up to the top. "The panel opens and the lift is flooded."
"You're going to drown her?" Steve questioned, obviously stunned that Tony could possibly imagine doing such a thing .
"No of course not, what kind of person do you think I am?" Tony put the lid on the tin that was still filled with water. "The lift goes straight downstairs and empties Phoenix out into an inescapable room, oh and, FYI, the room is fire proof."
Clint found a clear space amongst the clutter and sat atop of one of work benches where he could look down on the other three men easier. "She'll find a way around it," Clint handed some paper to Tony. "Nat and I have been working on some things you might want to put to use. Basic defences and security programs, nothing too fancy."
"Wonderful," Tony said sarcastically. "How come you're the only one that can get away with calling her Nat by the way? Is it a personal romantic pet name between the two of you or what?"
"Just get to work," Clint descended from the bench and walked out of the room.
The three men watched them leave and as Tony looked to Bruce he noticed Bruce, and even Steve, shaking their heads. "Come on tell me you guys aren't even a little bit curious as to what the hell is up with those two. Are they dating, are they secretly married? We don't know, but I would like to find out. There's obviously something going on between them."
"It's not our business Tony," Steve didn't want to intrude at all between Clint or Natasha, especially not Natasha.
"Oh well," Tony shrugged and picked up his big red button again. "Let's get this party started." He pressed the button and Steve held his breath in anticipation.
He exhaled after a minute. "Nothing happened," he looked around.
"Well of course it didn't, Tony was shocked at the Captain's lack of scientific knowledge. "I only activated it, it's not like I was trying to flood my lift. It's only going to do that if there's an intruder and we will know if there is an intruder because an alarm will go off."
A loud noise like a mixture of a klaxon and a doorbell started ringing all around them as all of the screens in the laboratory flashed red. Tony bit his lip and looked at one of the screens that clearly read, in big bold capital letters, INTRUDER ALERT.
"Well that was ironic," he said, trying to talk above the blaring alarm.
Bruce was the only one doing anything as he frantically scrolled through the screen looking for something; eventually he found it and showed it to Tony. "Well it worked, the lift has been flooded, but there's a problem," he seemed to be acting like a host on a TV show when they laced on the suspense so hard it was another year before they gave you the answer. "The lift's still going up."
Tony and Steve reacted at the same time, pushing each other out of the way as they made for the door and rushed down the stairs towards the sitting area. They arrived at the same time, the rest of the Avengers watching them as they entered before turning their direction back to the panel above the lift doors that showed what floor it was on. Natasha of course had a gun at the ready.
Slowly up the lift came and when it arrived, they didn't get what they expected. The lift opened and water practically exploded out of it, gushing out across the floor in a river, and with it came the intruder. Heather came out on her back, like she was coming out of a water slide, coughing and spitting water; she slid with the miniature river until she came to a stop in front of the Avengers.
Steve and Natasha were the ones to help her to her feet and once she got over the initial shock, she immediately got angry. "Whose idea was it to have a lift flood whenever someone enters it?" She demanded furiously as she wiped her head around, flicking water everywhere from her dripping wet hair.
"Um well," Tony rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"I come here to help you and in return I nearly get drowned," Heather furiously took off her coat and rung it out. "After the help I have given you, Phoenix is still out there and now she's with Doctor Blake. This is all out of control and clearly all of you are too stupid to keep an eye on one mentally challenged teenager."
"Help?" Natasha questioned. "All you did was tell us how many of you there were. You call that help."
"Sorry," Tony cut across the spy and apologised. "The lift was supposed to empty you out into an inescapable room. I must've got the calculations a bit mixed up."
"No kidding," Heather snapped viciously as she wrung out her soaking hair.
Heather stood with her arms folded and a scowl on her face, but somehow it was clear that her near death by drowning wasn't the reason she was in such a foul mood, although it probably made it worse. No Heather wasn't angry as such, frustrated maybe, but as her appearance shifted and she lost control over her scowl for a minute the truth emerged. It was evident in that moment that Heather was scared.
"Whatever happened to, I don't want to be involved with this freak show?" Clint asked her.
"Has it not occurred to you people that after your screw-up, my ass is now on the line? Phoenix and Doctor Blake will come for me and the only way I can stay alive is by backing you guys because at this point you are the only ones that can stop them," Heather sat on the couch despite Tony's obvious hatred of having someone soaking wet on his furniture.
Her demeanour changed again and her confidence faltered. "Also last night I um- I heard something. In my head, almost like an echo of someone's thoughts. I think I heard them, all five of them, including Phoenix," Heather refused to make eye contact as she told them her story.
"The other super children," Steve nodded in understanding.
"Is that what you're calling us now?" Heather asked. "Not a very appropriate name."
"What did you hear Heather?" Natasha wanted to get straight to the point.
"I think it was the others trying to communicate with me through the link. Not Phoenix of course, but Mark, Josh, Bella and Sam, the other four," Heather began to repeat her experience with shaking hands. "They kept saying 'Warn Them' over and over again. I picked up other things as well; memories and unintentional thoughts, but I got the gist of the message. None of them want to be there, Phoenix is forcing them and threatening them to be her soldiers. They don't want any part of it, they just want it to end. Please I am begging you now, don't harm them given the chance they will surrender, they're just too scared of Phoenix. They want me to tell you that they're coming for you."
"And then," Clint rolled his hands to get her to continue once she stopped talking.
Clint wasn't stupid, he easily picked up on the same thing that Natasha did and noticed that there was more to it then what Heather was letting on. Natasha unwillingly looked at him and her facial muscles pulled her lips into a small smile. She wiped it off her face quickly and faced Heather again, fighting to ignore her quickly rising heart rate.
"And then Phoenix happened," Heather spoke quietly. "She must've gotten pulled into the link and we were all hit with just," she struggled for words. "Pure horror," she shook her head whilst her eyes widened and an awful look of pain crossed over her face. "First it was the screaming, and then we saw things that I can't even repeat. Phoenix has been tortured, all her life. Not your average kind of torture with a scalpel and an electric chair, the kind of torture that drives someone to the brink of death and removes their humanity. Phoenix is dead; she has been dead for a long time. There's no hope for her."
Silence wiped across the room and shockingly it was broken by the last person they would expect it from. Thor really hadn't given his input into the situation at all, only ever speaking up on a rare occasion, but somehow he was ready with a long speech and Natasha was nearly taken aback when he drew all attention in the room to himself.
"What makes you so certain of this?" he asked Heather with a look on his face that she had only ever seen the demigod pull once, when they were talking about Loki on the hellicarrier. "You say she is broken, but broken things can be mended. You cannot simply give up hope because you are not willing to even try. You seem so certain about Phoenix being a monster and yet you don't even know her."
Heather scoffed and titled her head back in self-perseverance. "You don't know her any better than I do," she retorted bitterly.
"Exactly," Thor kept a straight face. "And yet I see hope where all you see is darkness. What does that say about you as a person? It shows that you do not care."
Natasha was equally as proud of Thor as she was stunned that he had taken such an unexpected stance against Heather.
"Look kid we get that Phoenix is a difficult child but we don't give up on people so we're going to do whatever we can to save her," Tony shrugged as Natasha looked back and forth between the billionaire and Heather, but the second time she looked over at the teenager she saw something odd, but Tony continued talking. "We're The Avengers, we save people, it's in the job description."
Heather looked to the side but it was obvious that she wasn't focusing on anything from the way she stared. There was a look of pure terror on her face as she continued to stare off into nothing. It was easy recognising that look, because it could only mean one thing. "Heather?" Natasha asked, hoping and praying that she was wrong.
Sure enough, Heather slowly turned and her eyes met Natasha's. "They're here."
At the very same time that Natasha managed to get her hands on a gun there was a banging sound that came from above them. Clint also held a gun and he and Natasha automatically went back to back in the centre of the room and began scanning the area for any signs of an incursion. Natasha looked upwards as there was another bang.
"Tony please tell me that you don't have air vents?" Clint's eyes were aimed upward as well.
Tony laughed nervously. "I had security measures in place," he fessed up. "I thought it would be secure."
There was another loud bang. Natasha caught sight of a grate flying off from the air vent it had once secured before everything went dark. Literally, all light was scourged from the room and Natasha could see nothing, not even with her sharp eyes. She reached for the spot where Clint once stood but grasped nothing but thin air.
Without any warning whatsoever, Natasha was flung backwards by an unsuspected and strong force. Although she could see nothing, Natasha defienetly felt it when she was slammed into the wall side on. A jarring pain rushed through her left shoulder as the sudden impact with the wall dislocated it, pushing it too far back past her collarbone. She hit the ground just as the darkness went out of the room as quickly as it had entered.
The scene laid out before Natasha wasn't surprising. All the Avengers had been shoved onto the couch with two boys standing over them with guns that Natasha could see; they had no idea how to use. She recognised the dark-haired tall one as Marcus Winters and the other shorter, fair haired one as Joshua Smith. In front of Natasha and pointing a gun at her head was a small 16 year old who looked even more terrified then Heather had been earlier, easily recognisable as Isabella Mason. Samuel Lidsdale fixed his glasses with a shaking hand as he held onto Heather's bicep, but Heather didn't look to be struggling. Every eye in the room was focused on the small, thin, redheaded figure that stood in the centre of the room.
"I am here on behalf of My Master," Phoenix looked around at all of them, but never once paid any attention towards Natasha. Still slumped against the wall with a dislocated shoulder, Natasha knew that Phoenix was avoiding eye contact with her. The main question of why, was wiped from Natasha's mind as Phoenix's focus went to Heather. "You've betrayed us, you're siding with the enemy. Heather these people are lying to you, they're going to kill you, because you will have outlived your usefulness. That's all we are to them, tools."
"Doctor Blake is the one that means to use us as tools," Heather shook her head.
"How dare you. He is the only one that ever cared about us, the only one who would be willing to save us. They're poising you, can't you see it?" Phoenix hissed and then looked at the Avengers once again, but ignored Natasha. "This is your warning. In two days' time I'm coming back, with My Master and you and SHIELD will fall. There will be no stopping us."
"Oh really is that all you came here to say?" Tony asked sarcastically. "Honestly I would've gone with, 'I'll be back'. It would've made this whole thing go shorter."
Phoenix paid no attention to his comment, just like she was paying no attention to Natasha and turned back to Heather. "I'm giving you one final choice. Stand with us or fall with them."
Off to the side Tony said, "Cliché," in a sing-song voice.
"I'm not siding with a monster," Heather spat. It was oddly surprising, that Heather had claimed to be terrified of Phoenix earlier, when in that moment she was standing up to her so fiercely.
Phoenix stepped back, titling her head in confusion, as if she had expected Heather to follow her without question. Slowly Phoenix looked at each of the four teenagers, her gaze falling last on Bella. For the first time since she'd broken in, Phoenix looked down at Natasha. As she looked back up at Bella she nodded, her face stripped of all emotion.
Bella looked down at Natasha in fear with a shaking head. "Please stop her," she whispered, almost too shaky and quiet for the assassin to hear. The light was purged from the room again and there was a quick silence before Natasha felt an unseen force grab her, and toss her across the room, crying out in pain as she collided with the opposite wall.