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Well I need You, You need me, Cuz that's the way, It's meant to be, I need You, We need each other - We Need Each Other, Sanctus Real
Chapter Sixteen
The Hellicarrier
"Sir, what happens when this is over?" Maria glanced at Director Fury as he kept an eye on the screens. They were back on the bridge while agents fumbled around to keep an eye on Central Park. If this went south the team would need to be called in, quickly.
"The child has the potential of becoming SHIELD's top agent," he replied. He looked out the window thoughtfully. She had Romanoff's fighting skills. Perhaps living on the Grid had given her these skills.
"You expect her to give up the life she once had?" Maria raised an eyebrow at the question.
Somehow she didn't expect them to join SHIELD quietly. Even if the girl's parents were master assassins.
"We'll see what happens." Maria wasn't surprised to see the slightest of smirks forming when he said that. Hopefully that didn't mean what she thought it meant.
. . .
The park had been cleared as soon as the aircraft landed. Natasha wasn't surprised to see Cyrus already waiting for her. He lifted the cloak that concealed his face. White lines could be made out; they glowed in an almost eerie way.
She stepped out of the helicopter just as Cyrus began to approach. Wind swept past them, causing the cloak Cyrus had on to sway slightly.
"I had a feeling you would show up alone," he sneered.
"Intimidating me isn't going to work," she retorted. The guns strapped along her waste were locked and loaded. In case that didn't work, she kept a dagger strapped to her waste as well. She was more than ready for this fight.
"You Users are just as weak as I heard. Weak at concealing your emotions, and fighting back."
Natasha simply rolled her eyes at the useless babble. She raised her gun, ready to fire when he reached for his disk. It was than that she noticed something was wrong with his disk. He never activated it. Only glared as he lunged forward.
She grabbed him by the wrist and flipped him onto his back. Cyrus grunted in pain when she heard the sickening thud. Her eyes widened when she saw strange cubes leaking from a cut on his leg. The Hulk had damaged him, just not enough to crush him.
"You think you can stop me?" His eyes suddenly flashed a blinding white. She jumped back as smoke fumed from his body. In a matter of seconds a gaping hole appeared where the explosion had shaken the ground.
Cyrus was still laying there, body trembling as he struggled to stand. Natasha grimaced when she realized that he was more than just badly injured. The explosions were taking their toll on him.
"You're dying," she concluded after observing the nasty markings on his body. The stripes were no longer glowing. His skin was paler than ever, and the cubes that she had seen earlier were beginning to cover the ground.
"No, I'm not finished!" he screamed. It was a scream of agony.
With a sigh of frustration, Natasha grabbed a stun gun and aimed it at him. Cyrus's eyes widened as a jolting shock coursed through his body. Moments later he fell to the ground, losing consciousness. The cubes had finally stopped falling, leaving Natasha more confused than ever.
"Sir, the enemy has been detained," she announced through her earpiece.
"Well done, Agent Romanoff." Director Fury's voice was full of relief. It was time they finally had a good look at Cyrus's disk, to find out exactly what he was.
. . .
"Tell me again how this is supposed to be easy?" Mira groaned as she struggled to hold up the arrow.
Beck had spent the night in her room, and she was thankful for his company. But Clint was nearly ready to cut his head off when he found out. It took Mira a good hour to convince him that they hadn't even slept together.
Long story short, the only way to make it up was by learning a few new skills. Now they were in the gym, with Steve using the punching bag to take out some of that pent up energy he'd been hiding. Beck was with Tony and Bruce after Tony had mustered up the courage to ask him how the tool Bodhi had made worked.
Now Mira was struggling to keep the arrow aligned with the bow. She stepped to the other side and let it loose. To her surprise the arrow landed right above the target's center.
"Not bad." Clint was watching her like, well, his namesake. There was a reason he was known as the master marksmen.
"You make this look easy," she muttered.
"It gets easier with practice." Mira rolled her eyes and thought back to what she had learned on the Grid. It had taken cycles of training for her to defend herself.
"Hey guys, you might want to hear this." Once again Tony's voice sounded over the intercom. Steve stopped beating the crap out of the punching bag (he'd already gone through two before they arrived) and took off his gloves.
They reached the living space to see Tony, Bruce and Beck already waiting for them. Mira tried not to laugh when Beck avoided meeting her gaze. After his last encounter with Clint, he wasn't planning on making things worse.
"We're heading for the hellicarrier," Tony explained when Mira noticed the bag strapped to Bruce's shoulder. "Apparently Fury's been busy."
What is that supposed to mean? Mira didn't have the chance to find out. Questions started forming in her mind, from what a hellicarrier was to why everyone else seemed to know what was going on. Beck looked just as confused as to what was going on.
On the plus side, they didn't have to go outside and face the public. Only downside was, Mira had no idea where they were going. And to make things worse, it was raining. Thankfully they weren't outside for too long. Tony had already set up a plane to get them to their destination.
"Where exactly are we going?" Beck finally asked once they were inside the cramped space.
"You'll see." Steve's smirk told Mira that he was telling the truth. Tony had already left the building with his Iron Man suit. Knowing him he had already reached the hellicarrier.
In a matter of minutes they had finally reached what she guessed was their destination. Mira couldn't help but look out the small window in awe.
Floating above the city was a huge aircraft of some sort. It reminded Mira a bit of Tesler's ship, only more impressive and bigger. The impressive structure made her wonder how it could even fly.
The moment the plane landed was the moment Mira felt her stomach lurch. Memories suddenly came flooding back, but they weren't her memories.
"You're dying." The words were quick and to the point.
"What makes you think I'm dying?" The voice was familiar. It took her a few minutes to recognize it as Cyrus's voice.
"I can help you... for a price." Silence followed the stranger's words. Finally, the sound of footsteps echoed along cold the cold hard floor of a building.
"What's your price?"
"Your disk. All of those painful memories you have of your past... all of them will be wiped out. You won't be yourself."
"Just do it!"
The pain that followed was excruciating. Mira gasped when she realized that the pain she felt was real. So real that it felt as though someone was slicing their disk down her stomach. Black spots were beginning to cloud her vision when she felt someone pulling her arm.
"Mira!" Her eyes widened when she realized that Beck was staring at her in alarm. She stared at him, panic beginning to take over. "What's happening to her?" Someone shoved him aside; Mira was pretty sure it was Clint.
"The virus is taking over," Bruce replied after realizing what had happened. That was the last thing she heard before blacking out.
. . .
"Get her inside, now!" The plane had finally landed. Time seemed to move painfully slow for them. Panic was something that Beck had learned to deal with since becoming the Renegade. But this was a different kind of fear.
Clint carried Mira while Steve and Bruce rushed ahead. The few agents that were outside stared at them in shock. By now the rain had finally stopped falling, but the floor was still slick.
Beck couldn't take his eyes off of her. She seemed so much smaller compared to Clint, who seemed to determined not to let her go as they walked in.
Why start caring now? he wondered bitterly. They had acted so cold towards them upon their first arrival. Maybe it was a habit Users had. Something that not even tough, heartless killers could hide. Even they had room for love, right?
"What happened?" Beck's eyes narrowed when finally reached the inside. Director Fury was nearly shoved aside by Clint, and Beck couldn't help but smirk when he noticed the Director's shocked expression.
"The virus is taking over," Bruce explained in an almost apologetic manner.
Beck wasted no time in reaching the others. They passed through several narrow hallways. A few agents that were on board had stopped to see what was going on. Others immediately went to work after noticing the new arrivals.
"Is she alright?" A new voice sounded when they finally stopped in a smaller room with a few beds placed along the wall. Beck was surprised at how gentle Clint was when he placed Mira down on one of the beds.
"Please tell me that Cyrus was captured." Beck raised an eyebrow when the young woman with long dirty blonde hair smirked.
"She's called our top agent for a reason," she replied. "Fitz already has a sample of his code ready, but the transfusion might take longer than we'd hoped to process."
"But it will work, right?" The woman jumped when Beck finally spoke up. Her eyes widened when she realized who he was.
"Judging my brilliant work are we?" His question was countered with another question. Beck narrowed his eyes when a User around the woman's age walked in. He stopped short after realizing that half of the Avengers were standing in the room, glaring.
"For your sake I hope you're right," Clint retorted.
The agent Beck assumed to be Fitz, stared at Clint in alarm before pulling out something from his lab coat. It looked like a device that was similar to the one Keller had used to change her appearance.
Please let this work, he silently prayed. He remembered hearing from somewhere that prayers were often answered in the strangest ways. All he could do was hope and pray that she survived this. After everything they had been through together, he couldn't imagine his life without her.
AN: So yeah. Fitz and Simmons are actually from the show Agents of SHIELD, if you haven't recognized them yet. Their my favorite characters so far from the show, next to Coulson of course :P Anywho, next chapter might be posted tonight depending on whether or not I can get to my laptop. Very busy today /=
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