Everyone were gathered in conference room as the screen was showing the classified data they got from the drive that Michael was hiding in a secret compartment in his shoes, he was also present in this room somehow, because of Fury who would only let him go after making sure the data was real and this wasn't a trap.
They started from the beginning, first entry of Strucker, it showed the footage of when the 'test subject' first came in contact with the scepter.
They saw how she walked closer, her steps visibly hesitated but nonetheless made it to the scepter, once she came in contact with it, the screen blacked out for a split second before cutting to the part where they found her on the ground unconscious, it was the like the clip was edited but it was not so they decided to move onto the next entry,
First time 'test subject' using her ability, when she woke up and attacked Strucker while the soldiers were trying to stop this fight, it also showed Michael who was holding the kid when she accidentally used it for first time and shocked everyone, not only the people on screen but people watching it too, it was hard to watch for most of them because of personal attachment but they had to move on to the next entry,
It was the white chamber where she was kept to 'practice' her new found ability, when they started the frequency and she was screaming her lungs out until she made that domain around her, that was something painful to watch for everyone, Tony was fighting his urge to get up and leave but he had to sit this one through, as much as it was hurting he had to, he clenched his jaw and made a fist without him noticing. Steve on other hand was thinking of the time when he was the test subject instead, it was also painful for him but it was for a good cause, this was just cruel to even watch as he looked away from the screen. Banner was frowning the whole time but couldn't take his eyes off of the screen even if he wanted to because he had to analyse what was going on with these abilities.
This went on for one more hour until they looked at every files available on this matter, everyone seemed exhausted from all this but job was job right? Everyone had their head hung low until Fury broke the silence,
"so we have a new situation at our hands."
"Loki's scepter holds more power than I imagined." Thor said.
"she has an ability she cannot control." Fury said again,
"and what do you have in mind? because if it involves you locking her up anywhere again then I'm out." Tony started.
"I didn't say anything about locking up anyone."
"but you were thinking about it, weren't you?"
"no, I was thinking of how to keep her or anyone around her safe now that she has become dangerous."
"she's just a kid." Steve intervened.
"it only seem to activate in stressful situations, or in self defense." Natasha joined trying to defend.
"we can't keep her inside forever, what about when danger knocks on her doors again, what if she were in a crowded place and demolish a whole city who would be responsible, you guys barely came out alive, you've seen it upclose....what I'm trying to say is, we have to find a cure for her."
"and what if there is non?" Banner asked.
"she'll have to find a way to control this ability because there's a new threat ." Fury answered.
"she's not a threat, I agree with Natasha here, her ability only comes out when she feels danger, she's not scared of any of us, we just need to keep her safe until we find a solution." Steve added.
"gentlemen, she's not the threat I was talking about, we just attacked HYDRA, they have control over everything here, even I'm not in safe circle, they will not stand back, it's a matter of time until they get back on us...until then we have to focus on her inability to control her powers. Maybe she knows a way to get rid of it."
"how would she know?"
"she knows about us more than we know about ourselves, she happens to know our fate, our future, she is the one who warned Stark about HYDRA. If there's a way to turn this around she could tell us."
"and if there's no way to change it then what? She will be scared....she has something inside of her she can't control, it won't be easy to settle with this change."
.
Cold.
It was really cold, it was like I was sleeping on an ice cube, but inside of my body felt total opposite, it was feeling burning hot. When I opened my eyes the place was....different. it wasn't HYDRA I could tell with the tone, it was comforting unlike that place. My breathing was deep when I regained control of my senses, I looked around and it was a lab, I...recognized it instantly.
The realization hit me, what happened last time, I was...free. HYDRA is gone, Mr. Stark was with me and we got out of that building and....then what? I don't remember the rest. What happened after that, my memory blacked out after I dropped to ground all scared and nervous. But It didn't matter to me what mattered was that I was back at avengers tower, I was safe. That brought a smile of relief on my face. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. I tried to get up with force, key word 'tried'. My body was aching everywhere and I haven't forgotten about how cold it was. I did manage to get up with some trouble and got up on my feet, I knew it was a fever.
The lab was empty, that felt strange. Where are everyone? I started walking away towards the door but then my eyes fell on a monitor of the table, it was playing a video that was paused, that place felt familiar, I made my way towards it and played it,
It was some big building and there were some soldiers running around, what happened next was something I wasn't expecting, suddenly those very familiar crystal spikes rose from ground, biggest I've ever seen, higher than the building itself, thicker than any tree, thousands of them just rising simultaneously, it didn't stop, it took down everything in it's way, even the camera recording it was shaking, it only stopped when more than half of the place was gone.
The video stopped and I could see my own reflection on the monitor, I was surprised? Scared even? I didn't know which one was more. so It was the HYDRA facility I was kept in? did I do that?
It was like the floor beneath me slipped under my feet and I almost fell down but I carefully dropped to my knees and covered my face with my hands from shame.
What did I do?
There were a lot of people present, did they die? Did I kill someone?
Just what have I become.
That's enough, I needed to find someone, where are everyone? Were they keeping their distance from me on purpose?
.
"and what happens when she returns home, back to her real home, will she able to go back like this....after all of this? Steve questioned.
"there's still an 'if' on that, captain...it's a twisted situation now. Even if we find a way to send her back, she's not normal anymore."
"we can't force her to stay here for the rest of her life, our responsibility was to find a way back home for her." Tony intervened.
"so did you find it, Stark? We are still empty handed."
"we do know there's a way, if Brandon was able to make it then I can make it too, we just need the cube." Tony said.
"then where is it? You didn't retrieve it, did you , and now we also have to worry about this new threat roaming over our head."
Upon hearing that no one spoke back and looked down frowning, as much as they hated it he was right at this moment, they couldn't retrieve it, there was a silence inside the room until Thor broke it,
"we almost had it if it wasn't for that disaste-" he stopped mid sentence,
Everyone looked up at him to figure out why did he stop and found him gazing behind Fury, they instantly followed his gaze in to find the reason why,
Fury got confuse with this sudden change in the atmosphere and looked back where everyone had their attention,
The teenager was standing there at the doorsteps looking inside the conference room with a straight emotionless face.
.
I found them in the meeting room, I was almost there but I couldn't hear anything on what they were talking about because of the closed doors, I was at the door but they hadn't noticed my presence yet so I opened the glass door slightly,
"we can't force her to stay here for the rest of her life, our responsibility was to find a way back home for her." I heard Mr. Stark.
"so did you find it, Stark? We are still empty handed." Fury replied.
"we do know there's a way, if Brandon was able to make it then I can make it too, we just need the cube."
"then where is it? You didn't retrieve it, did you, and now we also have to worry about this new threat roaming over our head.?"
There was a silence after that, they all were looking down disappointed not being able to find the right words so I decided to go inside, I opened the door silently and stepped in but before I could take another Thor spoke out,
"we almost had it if it wasn't for that disaste-" he started but didn't finish his word when he noticed me standing there, I also didn't take another step after hearing that, he didn't need to finish his sentence, i knew what he was referring to,
Everyone had their eyes on me soon after, there was an unbearable amount of tension inside the room, their eyes bore holes in my head, what were they thinking of me now? Fury's words echoed in my mind again and again,
A threat.
I've become a threat to them, just another burden they have to deal with.