17 – Heroes and Villains – May 17, 2012
Clint strode up to her and reached out an arm. Aspen grabbed it and he hoisted her up. The next moment he was hugging her so tightly that her body ached where bruises had begun to form. "Ouch, you're hurting me," she said breathlessly. He let go of her.
"I didn't know if you were alive, Pen," he said, eyes shining with the emotion he usually kept so well guarded.
"Course I am," she said. "But you wouldn't believe what I've been through."
"I thought the deal was you keep her safe," Clint said rounding on Steve who had gotten to his feet again.
"It's not his fault. He did everything he could. It's a long story, but it's not his fault," Aspen told him, tugging on his arm.
Clint gave Steve a long stare and then nodded curtly. He turned back to Aspen. "That creep who jumped you. Who was he? He should have gone down with that arrow. It pierced his heart."
"Peter Stewart. He was my professor at Columbia and also head of this A.I.M. research facility. He injected himself with several serums to make himself stronger and more intelligent. That thing he took with him is called the Warlock's Eye. Basically it gives him the ability to control anyone."
"Then we need to eliminate him before he becomes more of a threat," Clint said.
"I'm immune to the Eye's power. I need to destroy it somehow or send it back to where it came from."
"And where is that?"
"Long story. Ask me later. Did SHIELD call to warn me that Stewart's men were after me when I was in Portland?" she asked, her mind flitting back to the woman on the phone.
Clint frowned. "No. Not that I was aware of. Not many people knew you were leaving. In fact besides Fury and me, I don't think anyone knew."
Aspen frowned. "Then who warned us?"
"That was me," a voice said from the hall. Clint turned around, and Aspen gasped as she caught sight of the woman who spoke. "Sorry for the pretense, but I knew there was something suspicious going on. Fury pulled me out of retirement to keep an eye on you. He thought someone else might come looking for your parents' work."
The grey-haired woman smiled at Aspen's surprised expression.
"Who is she?" Clint asked.
"Her name is Ann," Aspen said. "She was in my astrophysics class. The one Stewart taught. Seems everyone has a double identity."
"My real name is Hannah Fengard."
Aspen's brain tried to register her words. Fengard. Her aunt's last name, her mom's maiden name. "Are you saying…?"
"I'm your grandmother," Hannah said with a small smile. "But I'm afraid not a very good one."
"I don't even know what to say." Aspen's mind was whirling. She'd just found her mom again and now she had a grandma too? She'd never met her mom's parents before. Ava never talked about them, and she'd been too young to ask.
The building shook a moment later, and Clint cleared his throat. "I hate to break up this little reunion but it sounds like this building is going to blow. They're probably trying to cover up their tracks."
"We need to find Stewart. He might still be alive," Aspen said.
"He won't have made it far, super powers or not," Clint said. "Come on."
The building gave another tremor. "Wait, I don't know where my mom is," Aspen said. "She went looking for my father."
"You can't go back in there," Clint told her as the next round of explosions sounded behind them. "We need to get out. If she's anything like you she'll find a way out."
Aspen hesitated, but Hannah spoke up. "There was no one in the lower area. We searched that. She'll have headed for higher ground." Aspen nodded.
"Then let's go find Stewart," she said. She felt Steve come up behind her.
"Aspen, I'm so sorry," he said. His eyes skimmed over her bruises. "I can't believe I did that."
"You didn't. It wasn't your fault," she said. "We'll talk about it later." He nodded, blue eyes sad.
"Stewart has a lot to pay for," he said.
"Then let's make him pay." Clint clenched his bow. "Come on." They headed toward the doors Stewart had ripped off the wall. The SHIELD agents fanned out behind them. "Do we need to worry about them?" Clint asked, nodding to the soldiers who stood motionless.
"They're under control of the Eye. I don't think we can do anything. We need to get that Eye. Then I can set them free."
"I'm not sure we're going to have time for that," Clint told her.
"We're going to just let them die?" Aspen asked, horrified by the thought.
"You want to try moving all of them? Come on, maybe we can still save them." Aspen let Clint pull her from the room. The SHIELD agents followed their lead. "Fan out. Find this Stewart character. Don't underestimate him."
"Wait!" a voice called out from the end of the corridor. Ava was running toward them, a small case in hand. "I have an Immunity Injection that will prevent the Eye from controlling your mind." She opened the case and pulled out a needle. "If someone will help."
Hannah stepped up. Ava's eyes widened when she saw the older woman. "Now isn't the time," Hannah said. "When this is over we'll have a proper reunion."
Ava nodded mutely handing Hannah a needle. Aspen grabbed one too and they set to work injecting the SHIELD agents. She noticed a man helping Ava. There was something familiar about him, but he had his back turned to her so she turned to inject someone else.
"This would have been helpful before New York," Clint told her.
"I know, I'm sorry," she said, injecting him with the serum. She turned to Steve. His eyes brushed her bruises again. She knew he would hate himself for a long time over this even though it wasn't his fault. "I'm sorry this happened to you," she said, injecting him with the serum.
"Ready? Fan out. Check the perimeter. If you find Stewart, take him down. He's a threat," Clint ordered.
Aspen, Steve, and Clint moved forward. Ava and Hannah followed. They traveled the corridors, getting a view out of the windows every once in awhile at the exploding buildings behind them. Aspen realized the research lab where her mother had been working was destroyed now. She shut her eyes for a moment and tried to locate Stewart. When that didn't work she focused on the energy radiating from the Eye. She felt the surge of power, but it wasn't close. She realized that it wasn't in the building at all.
"He's left," she said. "He's not here anymore and neither is the Eye."
"Where is he?" Clint asked.
"I think I know." Aspen raced ahead, leading them out the doors and into a parking lot. A trail of blood led to where a car had been parked. "We need to hurry," she said. She got into the driver's side of a black sedan. Clint got in next to her and Steve got in the back.
"I'll take another car," Ava said. She motioned to Hannah and the man Aspen had seen earlier who had followed them. Aspen did a double take as the man got in the car. She pushed the recognition away. Now was not the time for a family reunion, but she was pretty sure that was her father, a little older, a few more grey hairs, but the same familiar face. She put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking spot. Then she threw it into drive and tore out of the parking lot.
"That was my dad," she said once she pulled out onto the road. She could see that most of the research facility was up in flames now. Another explosion rocked the ground sending a spray of rubble at the car. Ava pulled onto the road behind them. "The man who got into their car."
"And that woman who gave out the Immunity Serum was your mom, right?" Clint said.
"Yeah."
"You have her hair and eyes."
"It's a lot to take in," she said. "How can I just let them in when it's been so long?" She realized she'd been dying to discuss this with Clint ever since she'd found her mom.
"I don't know, Pen. You let them in when you're ready," he replied. "Where are we going?"
"To the portal."
"The what?"
"The Eye came from Asgard, Clint. From Odin's treasure room. There's a portal that Stewart's men found that leads into Asgard. He means to go through it to escape us."
"How do you know all this? I mean, how did you know he'd go there?" Clint asked.
"Because I was injected with the Superhero Serum. I was injected with my parents' work. I can sense the Eye's power. I can also sense that the portal isn't going to stay open for much longer."
"Who injected you? Your parents?" Clint asked, tightening his grip on his bow which he'd folded down to fit in the car.
"No. Stewart. He wanted to make sure my mom hadn't tainted the serum she'd made for him which she had. I nearly died." She heard the bow creak under Clint's grip. "I'm alright now. I was injected with a finished serum."
"That still doesn't make any of this right."
"I know. This ends here. No more serums, no more research. No one else is going to get hurt over this." She turned right and followed the path she had taken with Stewart two days before. She saw his car up ahead, the driver's door wide open. A trail of blood led down the hill. She screeched to a halt and shut off the engine. Clint and Steve joined her as she started downhill not waiting for the others to arrive. Clint flicked his bow into action.
As the water came into view, Aspen could see the portal very clearly. It was glowing blue and spitting out energy like it was about to implode. She did a quick reading on the energy. "It's going to close in two minutes," she said. "Look."
Stewart had emerged from the water on the other side of the pond. He was holding the Eye under one arm. He'd broken off the shaft of the arrow, but the tip was still deeply imbedded in his back. "That guy's got determination, I'll give him that," Clint said.
"He's got Steve's powers," Aspen told him.
"Unless you want another arrow in your back, stop there!" Clint shouted. Stewart stopped and turned around. Clint aimed an arrow at his heart. Aspen could see that blood had soaked through the front of his shirt.
"It's over, Stewart," Aspen said. "You didn't win. See, it's not always about winning. Sometimes it's just about coming out alive in the end. Keep trying to win and you're going to lose."
Stewart chuckled, his eyes glinting madly. "I've already won though. I'm the most powerful man alive." He looked past Aspen, and she saw that her mother, father, and grandmother had joined them. "Ah, the whole Tolvar family is here. How special."
Aspen's father threw her a nervous smile. "Hello, Aspen," he said.
"Dad." The word felt foreign on her tongue.
"The famous Ava and Gregor Tolvar, united at last with their daughter. What a momentous occasion. I'm so glad I got to see this before you die." Aspen heard a click. The next moment was a blur as Stewart pulled a gun from his pocket and aimed it straight at her heart. He fired. One of Clint's arrows hit Stewart straight in the chest a second later before the bullet hardly had a chance to leave the chamber. Steve shouted her name and someone flung himself in front of her.
When the chaos had passed, Aspen looked down to see who had taken the bullet for her. Her father lay on the ground, a bullet wound in his chest. Aspen felt the world go hazy around her and red blinded her as her vision blurred. She heard her mother screaming then saw her raise the gun Aspen had given her. She aimed it at Stewart and shot. Once. Twice. Stewart stumbled backward toward the portal. With Ava's third shot, he fell backwards into the blue light, Warlock's Eye still clutched in his hand. The portal fizzed and then imploded in a burst of blue light. When it had vanished they were left alone. Stewart was gone.
"Gregor?" Ava knelt next to her husband, ripping off her sweater and pressing it to the wound. "No, don't leave me. Don't do this."
Aspen stood motionless her mind blank. She couldn't think, couldn't feel. This couldn't be happening. Not when she'd finally found her family. Her father looked up at her, and she could see the pain and the sorrow in his eyes. "Aspen," he said.
Aspen knelt down next to him. He reached out and took her hand. "I'm so sorry for everything we've put you through. We loved you, but we didn't do what was best for you. We thought we did, but I can see that we made some mistakes. I can also see that you've made the best of what you've been given and turned into an incredible, brave, righteous young woman. I'm so proud of you."
"Daddy, don't leave me," Aspen whispered. Gregor's eyes lit up at the use of the name.
"I'll never leave you, Aspen. I never have." He was struggling to breathe now. A tear dripped down Aspen's nose, and she let it fall, mingling with the blood on her father's shirt. "I love you, Aspen," he told her, voice weak.
"I love you too, Dad," Apsen said. "I forgive you. Just don't leave me."
"Keep fighting for what you believe in, Aspen. Never stop fighting. If anyone can make the world a better place, it's you." He took a long breath, his eyes fluttering shut, and then slowly stopped breathing. Aspen felt his hand go limp in hers. Ava was sobbing, holding onto her Gregor's other hand. Everyone else looked on, their faces holding expressions of shock.
Finally Aspen tucked her father's hand over his chest and stood. She felt Clint put a hand on her shoulder and reached up to squeeze it. No one said anything as Aspen started walking back to the cars. No one tried to stop her. When she reached the top of the hill, she couldn't hold back her emotions anymore. Glass shattered and sprayed everywhere as every window in the three cars exploded. A piece nicked Aspen's cheek, but she relished the pain. Right now that was the only thing she could feel.