All rights belong to Disney/Marvel. I own nothing.
Baltimore
"This isn't good," Kamala muttered to the others.
The Bradley house was peppered with bullet holes and it looked like no one had been there in a few days since the lawn was overgrown and no one had tried to fix the damage done to the house. The neighbors of the Bradleys, nor the house across the street, showed any damage. In fact, to Kate, they looked curiously dark and quiet for a Saturday afternoon.
"What's the plan, Kamala?" Cassie asked.
"Ummm, we should check the house first…" She answered hesitantly. "See if we can find anything."
"What about the neighbors?" Kate asked. "They might know something."
"Yeah…" Kamala said, forcing an appreciative smile on her face. "That's a good idea. I'll check the house and if you three could talk to the neighbors, maybe we can put together what happened."
"No offense to 'Clark'," Cassie said slowly, glancing at Skaar, "but I don't think he's the right person to talk to neighbors."
Kate noticed the look in Kamala's eyes and realized that all the questions weren't helping her thought process. She had been pretty confident with her first plan, but now she must be thinking that Cassie and Kate were doubting her.
"Let's check the house first and then we can talk to the neighbors," Kate said confidently, giving Kamala a brave smile. "Best of both worlds."
The foursome agreed and walked up to the porch, ignoring the squeaking steps. The metal screen was hanging by a thread and was easily torn off by Skaar. When he tried the door, he found it to be immovable.
"Someone nailed some boards behind it," Cassie pointed out, thumbing where some of the nails went straight through the door. "Clark, would you do the honors?"
The hulkling took a deep breath and put his shoulder against the door, gradually applying pressure as the door bent inward before the boards were broken, opening the home to the group. The action was done with such surprising gentleness that the trio of girls were caught off guard for just a moment.
Skaar grunted and stomped inside and the heroines eventually followed after getting over their surprise.
Inside the Bradley house, they spread out and began to search for anything that could explain what happened to Elijah and his grandfather, Isaiah. The place was trashed, but due to the damage, it was due to fighting, not theft. The TV was broken, the table was cracked down the middle as if someone had fallen on top of it, pictures that once hung on the wall were on the floor, surrounded by broken glass, and the furniture was ripped or shattered.
Kate knelt and picked up one of the pictures. It showed a young, African-American kid holding a basketball and on the court with an older man who was clearly his grandfather. It didn't take a genius to know that this was Elijah and Isaiah.
"Did you guys find anything?" Cassie asked, coming out of the kitchen.
"Nothing," Kamala sighed, sitting down on the armrest of one of the chairs. "I hope they haven't been taken."
"They weren't," an old and annoyed voice grumbled.
An old African-American woman stood in the doorway, arms crossed as she glared at the four heroes. She held a spade in her hand and had dirt stains on her pants. A pair of green gloves had been shoved into one of her front pockets.
"I'm sorry," Kate apologized, not knowing how to talk her way out of an obvious breaking and entering. "We didn't know…we weren't…."
"Oh hush, kid," the woman snapped, rolling her eyes behind her sunglasses. "If it ain't my business, I don't want to know."
"Where are Elijah and Isaiah?" Kamala asked.
"At the hospital," the woman answered. "Those soldiers beat poor Isaiah bloody. Eli was lucky he was at practice. I wouldn't have put it past those thugs to beat up a teenager and an old man."
"Soldiers came here?" Cassie asked. "Were they wearing all black?"
"Yep," the woman nodded. "Two SUVs full of the bastards showed up and hit the house before Isaiah knew what was happening."
"Thank you, ma'am," Kate said with as kind a smile as she could muster. "That's really helpful."
"Uh-huh," the woman replied. "Well, you better get going before someone calls the cops."
"We'll do that," Cassie promised.
The older woman glared at them all once more for good measure before heading back to her house, leaving the foursome to continue their mission.
"Friends or family?" The nurse asked kindly.
The team had gone to the nearest hospital, and since luck seemed to be on their side for the second time that day, it was the same hospital that Isaiah Bradley had been taken to. The nurses hadn't given them a second glance when four teenagers showed up in the waiting room, wanting to talk to another teenager. Unfortunately, Kate had been forced to let Cassie shrink her backpack since there was no way she was getting through the metal detectors with two dozen deadly arrows.
"Friends," Kate lied.
"Of course," the nurse said, leading the group through the bright walls hallway. "You must be friends of the grandson, Eli."
"Yeah, we're friends from school," Kamala answered, keeping up the lie. "Um, how is his grandpa doing?"
"He's on the mend," the nurse replied. "It must have been a pretty nasty car accident."
The trio shared a glance. If Elijah didn't want to alert the hospital that his house had been shot at, they wouldn't change his story. "Yeah, we heard it was pretty gnarly," Cassie agreed. "We're happy that Mr. Bradley is getting better."
"I'm sure his grandson will be happy to see some friendly faces," the nurse said cheerfully, stopping outside the door. "The Bradleys are just inside. Please know that visiting hours end in an hour and a half."
"Of course," Kate said with a smile as the nurse left to return to her desk. When she was gone, the archer turned to her friends. "Here goes nothing."
Inside the room, the same young man that Kate had seen in the photo back at the house sat bedside to his grandfather, his head in his hands while the older man slept. The heart monitor next to the bed beeped steadily as fluids ran from bags hanging under the monitor to Isaiah Bradley's hand.
Elijah looked over his shoulder to see who came into the room, and when he saw the small group, he shot to his feet.
"Who the hell are you?" He demanded. "Hey! Nurse!"
Elijah looked to be in his late teens, and from his disheveled clothes and bloodshot eyes, he hadn't slept in a while. His eyes did have a small bit of panic, but mainly there was just anger and surprise. He immediately brought up his fists in a classic boxer stance.
"Hey!" Kamala said quickly. "It's okay. We're not here to hurt you. We just want to talk."
"Why the hell should I trust you?" Elijah snapped. "I don't know who any of you are."
"My name is Kamala," Kamala replied. "These are my friends Kate, Cassie, and Clark. We just want to talk and then we'll leave."
"Talk about what?" Elijah asked suspiciously.
"We're putting together a team," Kamala explained. "We wanted to hear your story and see if you were interested in joining."
"We're also friends of Sam Wilson," Kate added, remembering from their discussion with the doctor that it had been Wilson who had put the Bradleys on the Avenger's radar.
Elijah's eyes flickered between them all, probably deciding whether to accept their offer or call for the nurse to kick them out. Eventually, he chose the former and turned his chair around so that he was facing them.
"Okay, I'll listen," he said, "but you better not be wasting my time."
The group got comfortable as Kamala explained their plan, with brief comments from Kate and Cassie. It was explained to Elijah, who preferred Eli, that they had stopped by his house and seen the damage before one of his neighbors told them what happened and that Eli and his grandfather were in the hospital.
"So y'all are superheroes?" Eli said finally.
"Kind of," Kamala said with a slight smile. "Dr. Banner told us briefly what happened to your grandfather. We came to see if his genetics…"
"To see if I have any of that serum in me?" Eli said, seeing where Kamala was going.
"Yeah," Kamala apologized, realizing that it sounded like they were just here to see if he had powers or not, but that's exactly what it was. They would not be there talking to him if there wasn't a chance he had super soldier serum in his veins.
Eli nodded slowly before grabbing a metal pitcher from the side table, dumping the water down the sink, and handing it to Kate.
"Try and crush this," he said. Kate tried before shaking her head and handing the pitcher back to Eli.
"Nope."
Eli took it between his hands and pressed, slowly crushing the metal and bending the pitcher into an unrecognizable shape. It was a feat that only bodybuilders had the possibility of achieving.
Or people with super strength.
"So you do have your grandfather's genes," Cassie said as Eli tossed the pitcher into a nearby trash can.
Eli nodded and began his story. He had been caught in a bad place at a bad time when he was walking back from basketball practice and took a stray bullet. Due to his blood type, his grandfather was the only donor the hospital could get on short notice. The doctors had been hesitant given the older Bradley's history, but given the rapidly closing time frame to save Eli, they had drawn blood from the super soldier and used it in his grandson's surgery.
The hospital had kept Eli for observation for nearly a week to see if there were any side effects, but after nothing popped up, they let him go. It was only a few days later when Eli saw the change. He gained muscle, grew a few inches, and felt better than he ever had, even before the shooting. The realization hit Eli when he was playing basketball and went in for a dunk, jumping higher than he ever had and breaking the hoop without trying. Thankfully, no one saw what happened and Eli and his grandfather were able to keep it under wraps, even now.
Eli had secretly tested his new physical abilities. He found that he could outrun, outjump, and outlift most olympians. He wasn't the second coming of Steve Rogers by any means, but he was physically superior to the majority of other humans.
He finished his story with him coming home from his run and finding his house destroyed and his grandfather unconscious on the floor.
"We've been in here ever since," Eli sighed, wiping away a tiny tear.
"We're so sorry, Eli," Kate said, her sympathy genuine and obvious. "The nurse told us that he's going to be alright."
"Yeah, he's a tough guy to take down," Eli said proudly. "So, do you guys think that the same assholes who attacked my house also attacked you?"
"Looks that way," Cassie nodded.
"And you're going after them?"
"I think we'll see them again at some point," Kamala said, "but our main goal is to collect the rest of our team."
Eli took a deep breath and looked at his grandfather, who had stayed asleep during their entire discussion. None of the foursome knew what was going through his head or what decision he would make. It was clear that he wanted revenge for what happened to his grandfather, but that would mean leaving his grandfather behind and that's what kept him tied to his home.
"Can you give me tonight to think about it?" Eli asked eventually.
"Of course," Kate said, getting to her feet. "We're staying on the outskirts of the city." She grabbed a pen and a notepad by the bed and quickly jotted down her phone number. "Here's my number. Text or call."
"Thanks," Eli said, taking the paper. "I'll let you know tomorrow."
As the group filed out of the room, Kamala turned around. "Dr. Banner told us that your grandfather was a hero. He didn't deserve what happened to him. Whether you come along or not is your choice, but we'll make sure that your family gets payback. I promise."
With that, Kamala closed the door and left Eli alone to make his decision.