Star Dust (A Paladin Adventure)

Child care

Little faces turned toward the door, eyes blinking against the harsh light. Fear was on every face, and the sudden sharp smell of urine indicated that someone had just lost control of his or her bladder. We exchanged confused and worried looks, not sure how to proceed. Steve half-turned to communicate with Tony to get his group over here immediately. I had to suppress an entirely inappropriate laugh. Because Tony was not likely to make this better. But  miracles happen every day, so maybe I shouldn't be so cynical.

"Hi," I said softly and gently, waving my hand at the children. A couple of them had screwed up their faces trying to control their tears. We hadn't heard any of them make so much as a peep. "Hi. My name is Poppy, I'm a member of the Avengers, and we're here to help you. This is Wonder Woman, the Flash--they're from out of town--and Captain America and his best friend, the Winter Soldier." I kept my voice soft and easy. "We're here to take you out of here and take care of you. Just so you know, the person who told us about this place is dead. He won't be coming back." I stopped to let this sink in. Diana spotted a chair in the lab portion of the room and placed it facing the children, none of whom had moved or spoken yet. She sat down and started talking to the children in a low, calm alto, introducing herself further and talking about what she did. Flash went upstairs to wait for the others. I moved into the lab part, looking for paper or some kind of records about what was being done here. Bucky came to help me, while Steve joined Diana.

Some lab equipment I knew, like the centrifuges and a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer. There was an HPLC as well, glassware, thermometer, a safety cabinet with hazardous chemicals and jars and bottles of safer chemicals in glass-fronted cabinets. There was a bunch of stuff I had no idea what it was in the refrigerator and slammed the door before anybody could get a look. Bucky found the recording device and handed it to me. We retreated into the basement to listen to it. It was in the Skrull language, which meant that Bucky only heard the hisses and glottal stops of that language. I started translating immediately. The entry we had was describing biochemical treatments given to the children. Some seemed designed to induce mutations in the children, others to create a Skrull/human hybrid in existing humans rather than doing it the old-fashioned way. Partway through the translation of how the 'subjects'-the children-were reacting to the treatments, I stopped because Bucky was looking murderous. I touched his arm to get his attention and asked if he'd go up and wait for Tony, make him take off his suit. I wasn't sure how the kids would react to it. He nodded once and took the stairs three at a time. I went back inside. The children hadn't moved much, but some of them had stopped crying. I started to take pictures of the lab setup for future reference and found an inconspicuous door. When I looked into it, I shut it promptly and stood a moment so I could regain my composure. Then I went over to Diana and Steve. One of the littleist children was creeping slowly toward Diana. I tugged Steve to his feet and took him out.

"Behind a door in there is a...It's..." I said, unable to find the words. "There are corpses of other children who I suspect didn't make it through the treatment process. We need the police." Steve listened in silence as I summarized what I'd heard on the recording device, and he looked to be in a killing rage, much like Bucky. I sent him upstairs to call the police.

I went in and noticed more movement with the children toward Diana. Maybe they'd been afraid of Steve. I got on the com and asked the boys to hold off coming down for a bit but to send Supergirl and Batgirl. I went back in and sat down where Steve had been. After a hitch in the activity, the children stealthily crept toward us, Diana still talking smoothly and quietly. None of the children looked to be more than ten. I counted fourteen. They stopped, just out of easy reach, crouching down but not sitting, wary of any movement toward them. I heard Steve in my earbud, telling us that the others had arrived and that the police had been called; he'd requested female officers. Diana and I looked at each other, and we heard light footsteps hurrying down the stairs. The children heard them too; they scattered and retreated. I turned a little, smiling tensely and asking them to slow down. The caution was unnecessary; Kara and Barbara stopped dead. Natalia came down behind them, and I was glad to see her. She would probably have the most experience with children like this due to her time in the Red Room. She led the other two in and sat down beside me. Kara and Barbara brought in chairs from the basement. The newcomers introduced themselves, and after a little bit, started to creep back toward us. It was agonizing to wait. We wanted to grab the kids, check them over, get them the fuck out of that nightmare.