**For EdThePro101. Thank you for all the votes!!!**
Being jumpy as she was, Eloyse detected the person long before she saw him.
First she felt him, his blank, cold emotions. She shuddered. Keeping low and close to the wall, she approached the blind corner, the first she'd come upon. She could hear his footsteps now, sharp and quick; the clicking was loud in the white silence of the halls. Eloyse bundled her energy, only to realize her single bracelet had done its thing and randomly tightened again. She almost cursed under her breath, but caught herself when she remembered Shyden at the other end of the comm.
Then the person walked around the corner, and Eloyse forgot about keeping Shyden's innocence intact and concentrated on the threat. She swung her sword, striking him broadside on the shoulder. For some reason, the ambushed man didn't duck or see it coming. He staggered backwards, dropping his rifle-gun. Seeing him reaching for his handgun, Eloyse sprang forward to completely disarm him. She let her sword clatter to the floor, grabbing his right hand and twisting it around, forcing his body to follow. He collapsed with a yell of pain. Eloyse released her hold, plopping down in his chest as she reached over and tugged his gun from its holster. She opened it and let all the bullets drop into her hand before sliding the gun across the floor.
"Better luck next time!" She sang, picking up her sword. When she got off him, she did it quickly, watching for him to grab her ankle and trip her up. He didn't. He seemed stunned, but Eloyse decided she honestly didn't care. He was HYDRA. His vitals were strong, so she didn't care. She moved away from him, her step silent and cautious. There was a flight of stairs, taking her to what she presumed was below ground.
The hallway was getting more populated with doorways, but the quiet emptiness was unnerving. Eloyse knew it was because most everybody was outside fighting her team. She passed rooms that were like her cell when she was a prisoner. She shuddered when she saw the experimentation rooms, horrible flashbacks breaking her concentration. She walked faster.
*Click*
Freezing, Eloyse tensed up. Tt sounded suspiciously like a gun safety being clicked off. However, she couldn't tell if the noise came from her earpiece or somewhere near her. As if on cue, Shyden's voice spoke.
"You good, sis?"
"Not now, Shy!" Eloyse hissed. She knew now the noise definitely came from near her. Shyden held his tongue. Eloyse still didn't move, only slowly turning her head to look all around her. Doorway to her left, and a branch-off hallway behind her to the right. The room seemed more likely; it was closer.
"Drop your weapons!"
Scratch that. They were in the branch-off hallway. Eloyse broke into a sprint, not interested in talking to a HYDRA agent. Several voices shouting after her caused her to nearly double her speed. She risked a hasty glance over her shoulder, and wished she hadn't. At least seven armed, defensive HYDRA agents were headed her way at an alarming speed. Eloyse dug in even harder. She let her sword fall, knowing it was just slowing her down. She hadn't missed that at least four of her followers had brilliantly blue eyes. HYDRA eyes.
"'Bout now I wish I had Damian!" Eloyse panted, darting around a corner.
"Why?" Shyden's laconic reply sounded somewhat amused.
"Because I've got a bunch of territorial puppets after me!"
"Puppets?"
"I'll explain later, ok?"
"Riiight... I'll add it to the list."
Eloyse mentally rolled her eyes. How was she supposed to tell her eleven year old brother that there was a organization of people who stole other people and made them do what the head guys told them to do? And if they said no, they were brainwashed into doing it, and that made them have blue eyes? That seemed rather harsh.
The excited yells and shouts were getting closer. Now Eloyse could hear the heavy tromping of their boots. She reached a corner and skidded around it. Unexpectedly there was another person. And they happened to be in the way. Their startled expression told the young fugitive that catching her was not on their agenda. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Eloyse tried to stop and duck around. She was going too fast. Snatching the double-axe from her back, she tucked and rolled. Something struck her shoulder hard, much harder than a person would. Then dead silence surrounded her. Her wind had been knocked out, and she gasped for breath. Recovering slightly, she made a venture to move. Cautiously, she slowly untucked and looked up. A gray wall met her dazed eyes.
"What on..." she murmured. She scrambled to her feet, miyat in hand. Gingerly pressing the wall, her fingers met with movement. "A hidden door." She mused, also noting the inlaid handle on her other side. Somehow when she fell, she'd hit the wall just right to go through the door.
There was no sound of her attackers; apparently the wall was sound proof.
She turned around, and her eyes instantly widened. The hidden room was huge. Seven destroyer-scale bombs were lined up on stands.
"Oh my winged horses...." Eloyse breathed.
She stepped away from the hidden door. As she went down the stairs, she put the miyat on her back again. She might need it.
"Eloyse!"
She answered in a low tone. "Yea?"
"The Avengers are compromised. They're being disarmed."
"What happened?" Eloyse stopped dead.
"Dunno! I just saw them surrounded and took off running!"
"How long ago?"
"Uh... I'm still running."
"Right. Get to Damian and get out of there. You can't help them if you're caught. Wait for directions once you're clear."
"Got it."
Worry gnawed at her mind as Eloyse further evaluated the room. On the other side was another doorway. Above, the ceiling appeared to be split. Bay doors, Eloyse grimly realized. She might be a level or two down, but she was positive there would be doors that could be opened all the way to sunlight.
Shyden spoke again, informing Eloyse that the Avengers were being escorted inside. She bit back a swear word, only to hear Shyden spit one out.
"Excuse me, what was that?" Eloyse sternly questioned.
"Eh, nothing."
"So I thought." Eloyse shook her head with a little grin. Their parents would have a fit if they heard some particular words that were now in the kids' vocabulary. Eloyse walked down between the rows of bombs, letting her fingers brush them as she passed.
Reaching the last one, she turned on her heel and paced back. The reclining bombs were as wide as she was tall, with a little less than a foot tall stand holding each one. They stretched a good eight feet in length.
It was on her third lap that she noticed the chart pinned on the wall. She strayed over to it. There was seven red dots, each over a larger circle. Eloyse's eyes widened when she realized that the circles were worlds, and Hopea was marked for demolition. She clenched her fists. Resuming pacing, she summed up what she knew.
The Avengers were caught. Her eleven year old brother and her special horse were in danger. Alone, she had stumbled upon a hidden room that contained seven bombs, each large enough to wipe out an entire world. The bombs needed a chemical called TT in order to work. HYDRA had the chemicals.
Right about now she wished she had never set foot on leaving home. Or seen that vision of Shyden being hurt. No, it started before that. When the courier came with his summons to battle.
Actually, the fault probably belonged to the person who had drawn her brother's name in the first place. Yea, definitely that one's fault.
Shaking her head to clear it, Eloyse was just in time to hear a key clicking in a lock. Panicking, she dove behind a bomb, the nearest place to hide.
The door on the far side of the room swung open. Eloyse crouched lower, not daring to look. She used her Empath abilities to feel out how many people there was. Near as she could tell, there was five. They were talking in low voices. Eloyse struggled to hear, catching more as they got closer. She opened her closed fists to reveal a little ball of blue in each. Good, her powers were fully operational. She would probably need them in this confrontation.
************
"Hey, hands off!" Eloyse snarled lowly. The guard merely laughed meanly, giving her a shove. Eloyse narrowed her eyes, stumbling forward. She tugged gently at her cuffs. These were simple cuffs, and even a bit loose. She could slip out of them anytime, but she was waiting for the right time.
They led her deeper into the base. Eloyse berated herself softly. She still wasn't sure how she'd gotten out of the hidden room without being spotted, but it had sure worked in her favor. She and Shyden had worked out a half-way decent plan to get the Avengers back. And somehow it involved Eloyse getting caught. Because she'd gotten out of the hidden room before she was captured, they had not realized she knew where it was. Now she was taking special note of the turns they took.
She was coming back with the Avengers.
She resisted the urge to shudder when the agent touched her again. She had hoped to never come in contact with this horrible organization again. She wasn't sure if she could stand against more of their brainwashing. The mind shield that all Hopians were naturally born with had served her well.
She suddenly came back to reality when she saw a row of prison cells, only one occupied. It looked like Steve, Natasha, and Bucky. They all perked up at the guard's heavy tread. Eloyse made her move. She dislocated her thumb and quietly slipped off the handcuffs before readying for a fight. While the guard was jeering at the three and boasting of the new prisoner, Eloyse spun around and punched him in the jaw. The miyat had been taken from her, obviously, but she didn't want it at the moment. Not if she was going to get what she wanted. She needed close combat.
More agents were on their way, she was sure. As if this one wasn't hard enough... she was barely aware of Steve yelling at her from twenty feet away.
"Sorry, Cap." She muttered, aggravating the guard worse. "I need something he's got."
"DON'T FIGHT THEM!" Steve shouted. He was tightly gripping the bars, his fingers white with the strength he was holding them. Eloyse seemed to obey. She let the agent back her down. He glared roughly at her. She had one hand in her pocket as she meekly let him steer her towards the cell. As another guard came over, she abruptly exploded again, this time with more venom.
Steve groaned, running a hand over his face. He turned around to Bucky. "Did I tell her to do that?"
Bucky gave a non-committed shrug, a smirk plastered on his face. Across the cell, Natasha withheld a snicker. Yet all anxiously kept their eyes on Eloyse and the two guards. Or four, apparently.
Eloyse was going for close combat. She nimbly avoided a punch, dropping inside it. However, she was being quickly overpowered. If only she could get in position, she could grab that-- she was jolted sideways as a punch struck her ribs. Then she barely caught herself from falling when somebody smashed into her other side. From her team's direction she could hear yelled instructions. They didn't know what she was after, though.
"Why isn't she using her powers!" Steve slammed a clenched fist into his palm. Eloyse whirled and deflected a blow from above. She had her good hand open, the tiny bit of blue emitting from it being hidden by her body. She suddenly yelped as something jabbed her shoulder hard. Quickly as it had begun, the fight was over. Eloyse felt a tightening on her wrist, and her eyes widened when she realized what it was. She trembled, trying to spot the controller and ruin it before they activated the shocker device.
She didn't see it.
She felt herself falling, her only thought to protect what she'd got. She shoved it into an inside pocket of her jacket before slipping into dark.
*******
"Hey, I think she's waking up....."
There was a scuffling noise.
"Eloyse?.... Can you hear me?"
Her eyes flickered, but at the bright light she clenched them shut again.
"Hey, say something. Are you ok?"
"Ow...." Eloyse mumbled. "Be quiet."
"Told you!" Somebody snapped in a low tone. Keeping her eyes closed, Eloyse tried to roll over. As it turned out, where she was laying wasn't that wide. Strong arms grabbed her as she slid off the edge. She finally cracked an eye open.
"Thank you."
The person, who she'd determined as Bucky, set her down. Natasha appeared in her field of vision.
"Heya. How you feeling?"
"How long has it been?" She suddenly was wide awake.
Nat shrugged. "Only a couple minutes. How do you feel?" She repeated.
Eloyse relapsed to her tired grumpiness. "Terrible..." She grumbled. She tiredly rubbed her temple, "This is gonna be one helluva headache..."
Nat snickered. "Probably. You got hit with way more electricity than you should have been. Then again, for you, any shock is bad." She mused.
"I didn't know they could reactivate my bracelet." Eloyse glared at the thing with the most hate she could muster. Bucky put both hands against his cheek and laid his head on side.
"Aw... how cute!" He coed, "She loves it!"
"I think that's suppose to be a death glare, Barnes." Natasha corrected. Eloyse did her level best to ignore them. Both of them. Steve finally made himself known by asking Eloyse "what on earth had she been doing".
Eloyse's sassy response had been that she wasn't on Earth; she was on Hopea. She already had taken a quick assessment of everyone in the cell and knew that all three could use her help. Nevertheless, she followed up by asking if everyone was alright and where the rest of the team was. Steve groaned and buried his head while Bucky and Natasha high-fived in victory.
"What...?" Eloyse tipped her head sideways at the odd doings. Steve glared at her playfully, and she shrugged, giving him a crooked little smile. "What'd I do?"
"To answer the question," Steve began, "the others are in a cell not far from here. They split us up so we could plan."
Natasha piped up, "As for the other question, Steve got shot in the shoulder, Bucky is limping but he won't say why, and I'm just plain miffed. I have no idea how they managed to catch us!" She was trying to make light of the bad situation. "Oh, and Bucky and I bet you asking if we were alright would be one of the first questions."
Eloyse giggled. She scooted over to Steve, putting her hands on his shoulder. One on the back, one on the front. "Get hurt like this more often... It's easy to heal." she murmured. She felt the rumble of him chuckling through her hands. The wound was closing up, and judging from his expression, was no longer painful. Eloyse released her hold and moved back, flashing him a smile. He raised his arm, testingly.
"Nice!"
Eloyse tipped her head slightly to acknowledge him. She was already at Bucky's side.
"Roll up your pants."
"What?" The metal-armed soldier stared open-mouthed at her.
"Roll it up or I'll cut it off."
Bucky hastily bent down. Eloyse heaved a deep sigh. "Bucky...." He looked up questioningly. Eloyse rubbed a hand over her eyes. "Other leg, Bucky." She quietly said without looking at him. Bucky's eyes widened.
"Oh, right right right. Yea, got it." Red-faced at not having been able to fool Eloyse, he fixed his pant leg to reveal the problem in his lower left knee. Eloyse dropped down. There was a small piece of metal imbedded, and the young healer merely rolled her eyes when Bucky attempted to tell her it wasn't bothering him TOO much.
"Take a deep breath, this might hurt." she informed him in a serious tone. When she saw his face, she could resist cracking. "Just kidding!" She giggled. "Only maybe don't look. It ain't gonna be pretty."
"Eloyse, I've seen worse things than a piece of metal in my leg. Hey, my *whole arm* is made out of metal!"
Eloyse hummed a response, getting to work. She carefully extracted the metal, using her powers to part the skin so it wouldn't rip its way out. She handed the piece to Natasha, and went about closing the puncture wound. Silence entered the cell. Outside of it, the clicking heels of eternally pacing guards and some distant talk filled the air.
Eloyse finished Bucky and directed herself at Natasha. The redhead had a concussion and bullet graze on the side of her neck. Eloyse quickly healed them while Steve plotted. Done with everything, she dramatically collapsed on the floor.
"You guys get hurt a lot, don't you?"