『 seven. AN EXPERIENCE I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND 』
THERE WAS A DULL ACHE IN HER SHOULDER. And her head hurt slightly. It felt like she was burning from the inside out, like a sudden heat flash but worse. Her body felt as though it had been tossed around and fallen from a tower. Everything felt painful as she woke, and she couldn't tell what had been the real reason she woke up. She tried moving her arms or legs but then realized how something was holding her to a metal slab, or at least, that's what it felt like. A pain or a loud noise because there were many loud noises echoing around her sleeping body, uncaring about how they woke her up. For a second she wondered if this was what a hangover felt like, but concluded that this was ten times worse. But, the optimistic, glass half full side of her said, at least she was alive.
After a few minutes of hovering between unconsciousness and consciousness, images swimming in and out of focus, she managed to crack an eye open, immediately noticing how the room was dimly lit and there weren't many people in there. It also seemed to be some sort of metal containment. Machines working all around her and she did her best to identify them but her head was pounding. She tried shaking her head, as though that would make it go away, and tried moving more of her body. Upon looking down though, she noticed she was correct, with metal bondages on her arms and legs, keeping her upright on some sort of metal slab.
"Well, look who finally woke up." A voice said, and groggily she turned to see the same man who has shot her and she groaned.
How the hell had she ended up in this situation again?
"I'm a heavy sleeper." She said, resting back against the thing holding her, feeling her body still feeling like a furnace and questioning why but then deciding to focus on finding a way out of this, flexing her fingers and clenching her hands at her sides.
The man hummed and began to walk around more. "You must be," he chuckled, "You said some crazy shit when you were receiving the first two injections but otherwise you took Extremis like a champ. Better than most of my other subjects have in fact. Makes me wonder if you're just special or we just needed someone younger to go ahead administer the injections too." He said.
Hallie felt her head swimming at his words, feeling more confused than when she first woke up and her eyebrows furrowed together as she asked, "Injections?"
"Oh yeah," the man said. "While you were out we started to, you know," he walked over and tapped the IV she only now noticed was in her arm causing her to realize what had happened when she was asleep. What he was talking about.
She felt sick to her stomach, nauseated by the fact that she had some sort of enhanced drug that could possibly make her explode in her system. It could do what it had done to Chad, or any of the other people who had been blown up and it was then she noticed that the throbbing in her shoulder was barely even there. The hole that had been there only hours ago (was it hours? could've been days), wasn't.
"You sick son of a beech," Hallie gasped out with a glare, feeling sweat trickle down the side of her face, "Don't I need to sign a contract or some crap saying I agree to this?"
The man completely ignored her going on to say, "Now you know what happens when you side with Tony Stark."
"Look, man," Hallie sighed breathing heavily before going on to say, "Firstly, I don't even know your name. Secondly, I don't even like Stark. So I'm siding against you. Not with Stark. There's a difference."
"Not a big difference if you ask me."
"Nobody did."
An angered look took over his expression but a second later the sound of someone gasping distracted him and Hallie took a second to lean back, feeling very tired despite being asleep for who knows how long. She turned her head to see a woman she hadn't noticed before, in the same position as her. It didn't take an expert to know who she was. Her long strawberry blonde hair and bright blue eyes gave it away. Hallie had idolized her when she was younger, and knew that the woman was Pepper Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries. If Hallie wasn't in this current situation she'd probably pull a Gary and freak out (though hopefully in a cooler way). But she was in this situation, and from the IV in Pepper's arm she could tell that she was receiving the same treatment as Hallie.
The man seemed to lose interest in Hallie, walking over to Pepper and standing in front of her slightly, saying a smile "Hi."
Pepper Potts breathed heavily, looking distressed as she took in her surroundings as Hallie had down only minutes before. Finally she looked at the man, and said still panting, "You think he's gonna help you? He won't."
He took a step forward to Pepper before going on a small, rant that sounded as though he was bashful for saying it. "Having you here is not just to motivate Tony Stark. It's, um..." he chuckled lightly and once again Hallie felt sick to her stomach at the sound. "Well, it's actually more embarrassing than that. You're here as my, um..."
He didn't have to finish his thought as Pepper finished it for him. "Trophy." She whispered in realization.
He chuckled and nodded, humming in agreement which left Hallie wondering why she was here in the first place. She had no special value in anyway, in fact, she was sure she should've been dead by now. They could've easily left her to die back at the mansion. So why didn't they? She wasn't sure if she should be happy about it, or be scared by the thought. And so she asked.
"Then what am I here as?" She said, once again drawing his attention and she did her best not to show her fear as his eyes flickered towards her.
The man shrugged, thankfully not moving any closer as he shook his head and said, "Proving my point. Shouldn't have sided with Stark. Or against me. Whichever you prefer."
His attention was once again drawn away from her, as the sound of an iron man suit could be heard, and she looked back towards the little opening to see the Iron Patriot suit landing, and got a split second she thought they were saved but didn't dare get her hopes up when she noticed two men walk behind him.
"Good evening, sir." He said and the iron patriot armor opened and Hallie's eyes widen, immediately recognizing the President as he falls from the suit and onto his knees, the man standing over him. "Welcome aboard, Mr President."
Hallie struggled against the bondages as another man moved next to her, holding a syringe in his hand that contained whatever they had been putting into her. If Hallie remembered correctly, they had called if Extremis. Still, she was useless in stopping it and he walked away as soon as it was empty. The same orange and amber colors that had lit up on the other people's bodies did the same, and it was odd seeing it race through her arms. She felt warmer with that injection but... unlike what she had seen in the videos, it's was almost soothing. Until it felt like it gave her chest burn and then she cried out, squeezing her normally brown eyes shut which were now a glowing orange.
"She's just a kid, leave her alone." Pepper tried weakly, looking at the doctor who paid them no mind. Going back to business as usual and Hallie opened her eyes, feeling like the world was spinning around her before it stopped, everything suddenly feeling okay. The pain in her shoulder was gone. Her head was still in pain but it felt better. She shook her head again, as though trying to shake it off before everything settled. "What's your name?" Pepper asked, still breathing heavily but Hallie got the feeling that she just was trying to do something instead of sit there, feeling as useless in the sudden situation they were in.
"Hallie." Hallie said. "Hallie Keener." She groaned slightly and rested her head back again before looking over at the woman and asking, still breathing heavily and probably looking like an absolute mess, "How'd you get here?"
"Tried helping someone out. Didn't go my way." She stated. "Where'd you meet Tony?"
"Rose Hill, Tennessee. He was looking for information on an exploding bomb and my brother convinced me to help him." She groaned slightly feeling another wave of heat wash over her and causing her immediate discomfort. "I know it sounds terrible," Hallie started, looking down at her feet feeling guilty at her next words, "But I wish I didn't help him. I wish I never got out of bed." She paused before saying, "I want to help people. I do. But this is... this is insane. People are freaking glowing from the inside out and I'm going to be like them. Yesterday I was... normal. Today I'm... a freaking lantern." She chuckled before continuing, "This was certainly not on my five year plan."
"It's okay to feel that way." Proper said after a moment of silence and continued on. "I get it. Some days I want Tony to put up the suit. Wish he never came up with it in the first place. Don't feel bad for wishing you'd done something different. You're... what, seventeen? You're too young to deal with this, kid." Pepper offered and Hallie nodded, happy to know she didn't resent her and while it offered comfort, she couldn't help the guilt inside her.
"I'm actually eighteen. Turning nineteen in a few months." Hallie corrected and Pepper chuckled, the two of them going into silence.
It was interrupted by the sound of gunshots causing both to jump which was followed by a voice over the speaker, saying, "All personnel, we have hostiles on east unit 12. I repeat, hostiles on east unit 12."
Hallie sat up, wondering if help had finally come. A few seconds later the PA was followed by the sounds of an echoing voice but Hallie couldn't make out what it was saying. So instead she tried sitting up more and looking out at the sky where the Iron Patriot had flown in. She couldn't see anything but after a minute she noticed something fly past the opening. The Iron Man suit. She felt herself relax slightly at the knowledge they may be getting out of here, as long as Stark did nothing stupid.
However, a after a few minutes of hearing the same sounds of fighting, she heard the sound of something exploding. Her heart dropped as very suddenly the wall closer to her exploded, the force pushing her slightly and whatever she was on fell to the side, breaking open and letting her roll across the floor, grunting at the impact.
She felt dizzy and tried to lift herself up from the ground, hearing Pepper cry out from the amount of weight on her, but everything was ringing, the world spinning and she only fell back down, lying on the cold ground. She was going to die.
( w / c ) : 1936
( a / n ) : a short chapter but I felt it was actually somewhat good. of course, I'm going to look back at it and cringe in the future but still.
votes and comments appreciated, have
a good day / night.