Author's note: I suppose by this time the apology is both expected and unnecessary. Especially as this time I have no excuse. I do feel badly for how late this update is, however. Hopefully, the rest of the story (and the sequel, she teased) will be worth the wait. This story is now two-thirds of the way over. It's my goal to finish it by the end of the year. Last year's New Years Resolution is now all but impossible. I had promised myself I would complete all of my unfinished stories. But, I think we all know what really happens with New Years Resolutions. But I digress. Enjoy the chapter! And again, sorry for how late it is! It's my Almost-Year-End-Resolution to post updates more regularly. XD
LIST OF NAMES, for clarification. Again, they'l be using their Caravan names in this chapter.
Clint: Friend: Davon
Thor: Sparky: Paul
Tony: Light: Michael
Loki: Chill: Jasper
Natasha: Red: Ariana
Steve: Reg: Timothy
Bruce: Ghost: John
Hulk: Muscles: Nathan
Friend and Reg had barely got their breath back after the fight with the Winter Soldier when Red came running into the room.
"The bomb?" Reg asked, not mincing words.
"Chill teleported out with it," Red said, glancing down at the Winter Soldier. "This the guy?"
"Yeah," Friend said. "It was really weird, at first he acted like he knew who we were, then he started fighting and everything changed."
"That'd be the result of the old wipe," a voice said, and they all turned to where a teenager in all black stood behind them, looking down at the Winter Soldier with a strange look on his face. "Before they fixed it for us, the memory wipe was temporary. They had to use it after every mission. It really screwed with all the first assets."
As he talked, the teenager walked past them all nonchalantly. "Left a few holes, though," he said. "I guess, old sights, familiar faces… it could cause certain things to resurface. He really freaked about the clock. Once they start fighting, though, they revert to their mission mode."
Now standing over the man, the kid seemed to be talking more to himself then to them. "Sometimes I'm glad they fixed it," he said. "He was right, I was lucky. I only get… passing feelings. But sometimes I envy him. He had something. Even if it hurt, it was something. It was there."
The teen seemed to remember them, then, and he turned to face them. "I suppose I should thank you," he said. "For finally giving him a bit of luck." He turned back and knelt down, examining the bullet hole. "Right between the eyes," he noted. "Clean. Very fast. Not too much suffering. Who made the shot?"
He turned his head to glance at the group, but no one answered. He smiled and turned back to the body. "Fine," he said. "I'll just have to pay you back later. For now, I've gotta run." He paused. "Gee, you're a silent bunch, aren't you?"
"We can't let you leave," Reg stated. "You're under arrest. We need to take you into SHIELD for questioning."
To their surprise, the kid laughed lightly. "Sorry," he said. "I'm not allowed to go places with strangers. They gave me a whistle and everything. I'll catch you next time."
Sparky came running in then, and upon catching sight of the teenager, gave a yell and moved to attack him.
"Stranger danger," the kid said boredly. Reaching out, the teenager took hold of the Winter Soldier's wrist and disappeared.
Sparky ended up swinging at thin air, while the others all blinked in surprise at the disappearance.
"He can teleport?" Red asked, baffled.
"Aye," Sparky said. "He possesses all of our abilities. That is how he laid waste to the city."
"Wait, that guy has all our powers?" Friend asked. "How?"
"I would ask Light about that," Sparky said. His eyes opened wide. "Light!" He exclaimed. "Reg, Light is in need of your healing powers."
"What happened!?" Reg demanded as they all began hurrying after Sparky.
"He was facing the young man alone," Sparky said. "Before I reached them."
"Where's Muscles?" Red asked. "He was supposed to be with Light."
"I know not," Sparky said. "He was gone when I arrived."
Friend wondered what had happened, trying to ignore the worry he was feeling.
"And Chill?" Sparky asked, glancing over his shoulder as they made their way through the main concourse. "Where is he?"
"He left," Red said. "He teleported out with the bomb."
Everyone paused and turned to her in astonishment.
"I tried to talk him out of it," Red said, trying to mask the obvious worry in her face. "You know how stubborn he is."
"If he just teleported it out, he should be back by now," Reg voiced everyone's thoughts.
Friend cursed inwardly. Their first mission was going about as horribly as it could. "We have to get to Light," he reminded them.
They continued on their way.
Ghost sat in silence against the wall as Muscles paced back and forth in what was left of the posh lobby. After he had got the radios working, Ghost had called the situation in to SHIELD. But he hadn't been able to reach any of the team. Now, they could only wait. SHIELD was sending quinjets to pick them up. Until they arrived… no news.
The anxiety was clearly evident in Muscles' actions; as he paced, he growled under his breath, and his face was scowling angrily. Ghost watched him as he passed, then found himself glancing at his hands.
That bullet that had passed right through him… he should have been grateful, but instead, he felt frightened beyond belief. He had phased out so completely that it had gone straight through his chest. Through his heart. For all intents and purposes, he had ceased to exist in that instant.
Which begged the question: Where had he gone? If he wasn't here, where was he? And what if it happened again? What if one day, he phased so far out of existence that he couldn't come back? It was a strange feeling; phasing. It had always felt a bit weird, a bit like blinking out of sync, but this... this was new.
He shuddered involuntarily, feeling a coldness at the idea of blinking out of existence. Who was to say that wasn't really what happened when he phased? Even the SHIELD scientists weren't sure how phasing worked. It just happened.
A part of his head told him that he was just overthinking things, that it was just shock over the entire situation with the crash and the near-death experience, but there was still something in him that felt truly afraid. It was an unknown, after all. Anything, or everything could happen, and there was nothing he or anyone else could do about it.
The sound of a quinjet came into hearing. Muscles went over to a window and looked up. "SHIELD," he said. "SHIELD here. Ready?"
He glanced back at Ghost, who nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Let's go."
Leaving the building, Muscles and Ghost walked quickly to the center of the street while a quinjet hovered a moment before landing. The door opened and the two climbed on board, and Ghost thankfully realized that aside from the two pilots, the only agent on board was Coulson.
The relief must have been visible on his face, because Coulson offered a slight smile. "So," he said. "How'd it go?"
Ghost laughed, the stress of the day catching up with him. "Not too good. At least, things didn't go so well on my half of things." He sobered. "The pilots, they… they didn't make it."
Coulson sighed. "...They were good men," he said. "They knew this was a possibility. They were willing to risk it, to save the lives of the people in this city."
Ghost nodded. "I assume everything went well with the others," he said. "I mean, if it hadn't, we'd all be blown up, so yeah."
"The bomb ended up going off a few miles outside the city," Coulson said. "We're sending another jet out to investigate. You know how it got there?"
"No clue," Ghost said. "After the radios went down, I've had no contact with the others. I'm still not even sure how Muscles knew to come get me out."
"Light sent me," Muscles spoke up. "Annoying Kid say you get shot down."
Ghost nodded. "Well, that explains part of it," he said. "Who was that kid, anyway?"
"SHIELD doesn't know," Coulson said. "Until today, we didn't realize HYDRA had done more human experiments. Shoulda known it was coming."
"Worried 'bout Light," Muscles spoke up suddenly, with a menacing scowl.
Ghost blinked. "What?" he asked. "Why? What happened with Light?"
"He fight Annoying Kid alone," Muscles growled. "Too strong. But I came to help Ghost." The fear underlying his anger was obvious, and Ghost bit his lip at the news, turning to Coulson anxiously.
"Light's fine," Coulson said. "He sent us a message after the bomb didn't go off. We're on our way there to pick them up."
Muscles narrowed his eyes, but nodded. Ghost turned to the window, still feeling worry despite Coulson's reassurance. The city below was in shambles, and the closer they got to the terminal, the worse things got. The one enemy responsible for all this destruction had faced Light alone? Light was a strong fighter, but nothing like this.
There was a very bad feeling in the pit of Ghost's stomach. And as the ruins of the terminal came into view, he just couldn't shake it.
The team entered the platforms and followed Sparky as he ran towards one of the tramways. Jumping down into it, they saw Light leaning unconscious against the wall. He was pretty badly beat up, with bruises on his face and a trickle of glowing blue blood running down from his head.
Friend hissed anxiously at the sight, and they all stood by while Reg knelt down next to him.
"Looks pretty bad," Reg noted. "I can take care of the surface wounds, but I don't want to try and heal what I can't see."
Friend nodded, his lips pursed. Where was Muscles? He was supposed to have stuck with Light, precisely to keep something like this from happening. He couldn't imagine Muscles leaving Light alone with the enemy unless he had an important reason, but where was he now? Perhaps Light had sent him somewhere, perhaps he had known something they hadn't.
Meanwhile, Reg began healing some of the bruises and cuts on Light's face, and Friend found himself once again feeling the same feelings of worry that he had felt when Light had been taken by the HAZMAT dudes back when they all lived in the Caravan. He recognized now that underlying the fear was a frustration. A feeling of almost anger. He analyzed the feeling carefully. Who was he angry at? The teenager? Yes, but that wasn't the source of this feeling. HYDRA? Of course, but again, his anger at them was different. Light himself?
Friend was startled to realize that yes, that's who he was feeling frustrated with. He was frustrated with Light for sending Muscles away, and for fighting the enemy alone, and for always being such a self-sacrificing idiot…
Speaking of, why hadn't Chill returned yet? He should have come back by now. He must've been hurt, that was the only explanation. Light, Chill, and who knows what had happened to Muscles. And Ghost, now that he thought of it. They had lost contact with the quinjet, perhaps Ghost had been hurt.
"Coulson was wrong," he said bitterly. "We weren't ready for this."
Looking around at the others, he could see agreement on the faces of everyone around him, standing by silently as Reg continued to work.
In the distance, Friend suddenly heard the sound of movement. Glancing at Red, he saw that she had heard too. Turning his head to a very large hole in the ceiling, he listened as the sound of a jet came into focus.
"SHIELD?" Sparky asked quietly, the sound now heard by all.
"Possibly," Friend answered. Checking his gun, he nodded to Red, who drew her own weapon. "We'll go check it out," he said. "Sparky, stay with Reg and Light."
Sparky nodded solemnly, and Friend walked quickly to the door of the Main Concourse, followed closely by Red.
Pausing at the door, they heard the jet land in front of the terminal, and footsteps begin to approach.
With another nod to Red, Friend stepped out from the doorway and pointed his gun at the figure in the doorway.
He lowered it almost immediately at the sight of the large green monster standing there, Ghost and Coulson behind him. "Muscles," he said angrily, heading to the door. "Why'd you leave Light!?"
"Muscles fine, thanks," Muscles grunted in answer.
Friend felt a burst of anger towards Light for incorporating sarcasm into Muscles English lessons.
"Light's hurt bad," Friend snapped. "And you were supposed to be with him. You left him to face that kid all on his own!"
In the back of his mind, Friend knew that he wasn't being fair. But he didn't care. This had all gone wrong, and Muscles was an easy target.
"Hey!" Muscles growled angrily, leaning forward threateningly. Okay, maybe he wasn't that easy of a target. "Light told me leave and help Ghost! Planes almost shot him dead! So shut up before YOU dead!"
"Muscles, calm down," Ghost said before turning to Friend anxiously. "Light's been hurt?" He asked.
Friend turned away, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. Then he nodded. "Yeah," he said. "He's in the platforms. Reg's doing what he can, but we need to get him back to headquarters."
"Right then," Coulson said. "Let's go."
As they hurried to the platforms, Coulson turned to Friend. "Light sent us a message after the bomb went off," he said. "He didn't say he was hurt."
Friend huffed. "I swear, he's an idiot," he stated.
The corner of Coulson's mouth twitched, but he didn't respond as they were nearing the group. He winced at the sight of Light, and put his hand up to his radio. "I'm on the scene," he spoke into it. "We need the med team here as soon as possible, and we need to begin work on the clean-up."
As Coulson knelt down to talk to Reg, Friend glanced over to see Ghost looking paler than usual, and Muscles looking angrier than usual, as they both watched Reg continue healing Light.
Friend pursed his lips, then turned to Muscles. "Hey," he said. "Sorry about snapping earlier. I just was worried about Light."
Muscles nodded. "S'fine," he muttered. "Just shut up next time."
Friend nodded. "Fair enough," he said. At that moment, he somehow felt a feeling of peace settle over him. Things were still in a bad way, really. The city was in ruins, they hadn't heard from Chill, Light was seriously injured, the kid had got away, and the world was still under HYDRA's rule. But for now, the worst of it was over.
Or so he thought.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Down on all fours, the dark figure struggled to catch his breath.
"You failed."
The speaker; a man in a dark cloak that the boy had come to refer to as The Chief in his head, stood over him and glared at him in disgust. "One task. We gave you one task. And you failed."
Another blow. With his healing powers, it wouldn't matter in a little while, but now…
Burning pain coursed through his veins, and every alarm in his head began going off as to the danger he was in. Considering he was fire, and lightning, and ice, they had been forced to come up with a new way to burn him. Some kind of formula mixed into the weapons they used.
Looking up, he eyed the thing with distaste. It was a thick stick, wired with coils and sparking with electricity, while hot liquid boiled in the coils. Basic tool for Basic Training.
He was hit with it a few more times before The Chief spoke again. "I am beginning to question your loyalties," he said. "It would almost appear that you wished it to happen."
The boy took a few deep breaths and said nothing.
"Your silence gives you away," The Chief said. "Perhaps you are in need of a little more Advanced Training."
The boy shot a glare up at The Chief. "I live to serve," he spat.
The Chief smirked, his crooked, disfigured mouth the only part of his face visible beneath his hood. "Take him away," he ordered with a yawn. "I grow bored with his tantrums."
Turning, The Chief nudged the Babysitter with his foot, studying the body disinterestedly. "And take out the garbage," he said as he left the room.
The boy gave a last glance to the Babysitter as he was taken from the room and the body taken into a different corridor. He might have resented the Babysitter at times, and he certainly had wished him out of the picture- for the Babysitter's own sake, not his- but somehow he didn't want to see him gone. No matter who they both worked for, the Babysitter had always sort of been on the kid's side. What side that was, he wasn't sure of himself. He hated the Chief and everyone who served him willingly… But it wasn't like he had any choice.
The words of the kid he'd fought earlier came back into his head: "There's always a choice." He wished this were so… In fact, as they got closer and closer to Advanced Training, he wished it more earnestly than he'd ever wished for anything in the few months of his known life.
But wishing only led to pain. And Pain is weakness. Pain is bad. Pain is the enemy.
As they neared the door for Advanced Training, the boy's heart began to race and impulsively, he resisted his captors. It was fruitless; they knew how to keep him from a full out rebellion. As they dragged him to the door, he closed his eyes, repeating to himself the one thing they'd trained him to do that kept him alive.
Pain is weakness. Pain is bad. Pain is the enemy. Pain is weakness. Pain is bad. Pain is the enemy. "PAIN IS WEAKNESS! PAIN IS BAD! PAIN IS THE ENEMY!"
The door closed.
