Instinct

“Stay there.”

Alex sinks back into the couch cushions as the man finally puts some distance between them. His shoulder aches from the harsh hold and he tries to rotate it without moving too much, not wanting to draw the man’s attention back to him.

He looks up at the sound of the freezer door opening. The man is rummaging with both hands, carelessly tossing containers out onto the bench. He slams the door shut when he finds what he is looking for. Peas.

Alex considers making a run for it, to escape, as the man approaches him but there is nowhere to go and his limbs are heavy. The adrenaline is wearing off and he is feeling it now. The man comes to a stop, towering over him.

The peas are dropped into his lap.

“Alex. That’s your name?”

He nods automatically, eyeing the cold green packet resting on his knees.

“Put those on your neck.”

He looks up to meet the man’s eyes. He gets a raised eyebrow in response. Gingerly, he raises the makeshift ice pack to the side of his neck, exhaling slowly as the cold soothes the inflamed skin.

“Phone.” An outstretched hand moves into his vision.

Alex hesitates. Does he pretend not to have one on him? Duck low, try to dial three numbers before the man can catch him? He adjusts the peas against his throat. No. There is not really another option. From the look on the man’s face, he already knows that.

“There’s nobody to call kid. They’ll have an intercept order on the whole block by now. No way anyone is getting through to a real cop.”

Alex drops his phone into the open palm, admitting defeat. Who are these people?

The man wraps a hand around his phone before pocketing it. Nodding, he speaks again.

“Logan.” He raises an arm and Alex flinches. The man lowers it quickly, looking anywhere but Alex. “This could be a while. Might as well call me something.”

Alex tilts his head back, exposing more of his neck to the cold. The man, Logan, looks at his throat then finally back at him. Alex takes a deep breath. “Are they going to make my dad kill someone?”

“I have no idea kid.” Logan shakes his head before crossing his arms and moving to the window.

The frame is splintered where it was torn open. The table from below it lies in pieces on the other side of the room. The saucepan is upside down by the stove. There are three ragged holes in the front door and a dent in the plaster of the wall beside it.

The man turns his back, wide shoulders silhouetted by the fading light. He is alone here with the man who did all of this. The man that wrecked his house. That attacked his father. That threatened to kill him. 

He is alone and he has no idea where his father is.

Erik pulls in to the curb outside Hank’s apartment block. He turns the engine off and leans back against the headrest breathing slowly. A small transmitter is clipped to the underside of his collar. For all he knows Shaw could be listening on the other end. The thought makes his skin crawl. As though it is the man’s hand resting on his collar. Shaw is his very own nightmare and now he is helping him.

He steps out of the car.

“The science doesn’t happen overnight.” Erik hissed. “McCoy can’t give Shaw his answers.”

“This didn’t start overnight Erik. It didn’t even start with you.” Emma replied, her voice measured and even. “Doctor McCoy has more promising information than we have ever had. He hasn’t told you everything. Get him to. That, I believe, is achievable overnight.”

He clenched his jaw. “And then you will let me speak to him?”

“There is a bug in your glove box. Put it on. I want to hear this.”

Erik reached over and snatched the small box.

“And then you may speak to him.” Emma answered, followed by a harsh dial tone.

Erik knocks on the faded green door. He has only been to Hank’s hole in the wall apartment a couple of times for after hours project prep. Hank’s is the closest house to work out of the R & D team. He feels thrown without the shuffle of papers and the lively chatter of his team. He has never felt so alone out in this hallway.

The door is pulled open and Hank appears, eyes round and confused behind thick glasses.

“Erik?” He asks, adjusting an oversized cardigan on his shoulder. “What…?”

“I need to come in.” Erik cuts him off, edging forward.

“Right. Of course.” Hank stumbles back, flustered.

Erik strides inside, taking up residence at the small round dining table that is practically on top of Hank’s couch. A laptop whirrs on one side of the table and papers and hand scrawled notes litter the entire surface. Screws and washers peek out from between the papers. He is not surprised to see a microscope next to the kettle on the kitchen bench.

“Is there a reason you needed to… come in?”

“The results you showed me this morning. There’s more. What haven’t you told me?” He doesn’t even care what it is. Doesn’t care that Hank has not shared it with him. Alex. He just wants to hear him. Hear he is alright.

Hank goes bright red and cannot meet Erik’s eyes. “I...I don’t…”

Erik raises a hand. “You work through things on your own, Hank. I already know that. Just tell me what you found. All of it.” He ducks his head to meet Hank’s eyes. “Hank. Please.”

Hank shifts in his cardigan again and adjusts his glasses. “Ok. Ok, it’s just…I didn’t tell anyone because the science…it could be used for something...” Hank gestures with his hands searching for the word.

“Bad.” Erik finishes and Hank nods. He reaches for his notes on the table and Erik turns his back and tries not to throw up again.

“The cells that failed, they don’t connect to the old cells because they aren’t the same material but they do connect to something else. A couple of months ago a scientist in the Department of Defense got in contact. He said there was interest in funding our limb reconstruction projects but they wanted to see what we could do first. He sent me some samples. Blood samples. Possible catalysts. I…” Hank runs a hand through his hair.

Erik rubs a hand down his face, breathing shallowly. “Oh Erik. You never left.”

“He said it had to be confidential. For national security. I know I should have told you but I wanted to see what I could do with it. I mean, if I could make living cells connect to artificial material just imagine…” Hank cuts himself off, peering up at Erik over his glasses.

“His name. What was his name?” Erik whispers.

“He only gave me a last name. Schmidt.”

Schmidt. The name Shaw used to introduce himself to Erik. Schmidt. His superior. Before the trap. The explosion. The shrapnel in his leg. The face looming above him, strapped down to a table. The face that revealed itself as Shaw. Shaw his true face, Schmidt the imposter. No. Apparently sanctioned by the military. Sent by them. To put Erik through hell. The injections. The needles going in until his veins were on fire and he thought he must be burning too.

Needles. Has Hank been experimenting on his blood? Is he the subject?

“Erik! Are you alright? Sit down.”

He lets Hank help him into a chair, dropping his face into his hands. He cannot look at the scientist.

“What did you find?” He grits out.

He does not want to know.

He needs to.

Hank hesitates before continuing. “One of the metal samples, it has properties unlike anything I have worked with before. Enhanced tensile strength, incredibly stable and the cells in the sample he sent had already been shown to bond with it. Erik, they could attach living cells to this metal!”

Erik nods absently. Whose cells? Why?

“They could only get the immediate tissue to attach though and they could regenerate, healing themselves but only in a very limited area. So the body could accommodate the metal but only a small amount.”

Like claws. Oh god. Erik’s fists are clenched and trembling.

“But the other sample he sent. It reacted differently. It didn’t attach to the metal, the cells that came in contact with it in its liquid form…they changed.”

Erik looks up. “Changed?”

“They mutated Erik. Like cells exposed to radiation except they absorbed the metal, worked it into the cell structure. Not all the cells, but enough to make a pattern. Then… I can’t explain it, I have never seen anything like it. I couldn’t get any further readings with my equipment. Something was blocking it. A magnetic field.”

Erik stands abruptly 

“I didn’t tell them. I mean, how could I? This is crazy stuff. And I realize I made a huge mistake but I didn’t know what to do so I tried to tell you this morning but I didn’t know how and…”

“Thank you, Hank. I don’t think it matters anyway.” Erik cuts in. He rests both palms on the table. He has to get out. Get to Alex. Get them both far away from Shaw. Instead he is going towards him armed with the information to help him create…something. Something beyond human.

His fingers cover one of the loose screws on the table and he curls them back, catching it in the crease of his palm. He has to go. He turns for the door.

Hank calls after him, hanging back hesitantly, grasping his papers. A mirror image of this morning’s nerves. “Erik wait! Are you sure you’re ok? Why did you need to see me?”

Erik keeps his back turned, slipping the screw into his pocket. “I had to know for sure Hank. Thank you for being honest.” The words are clipped. His shoulders tense.

“I’m sorry.” Hank offers.

“I know.”

Erik closes the door behind him and descends the stairs to his car. He slumps into the driver’s seat.

In his pocket, the phone rings.

He fumbles in his haste to answer, hands slick with sweat.

“Yes?”

“Well done Erik.” Emma’s calm grates on him.

“Alex.” He snaps.

“Call his phone.” She hangs up.

He rushes through the familiar number sequence and grips the phone tightly by his ear. Each ring makes his heart beat faster.

“Dad?”

“Alex.” The air rushes from his lungs in relief.

“Dad!” Alex’s anxious voice echoes loudly in his ear. “Are you hurt? Whatever they are making you do. You don’t have to.”

That brings a sad smile to his face. “Yes, I do.”

Alex is silent.

An awful thought springs up, unbidden. “Has he hurt you?”

There is a pause. “No. He gave me peas. Did you know we had those in the freezer?”

Erik clamps down on a laugh. Or a sob. He can’t tell the difference. 

“I’m sorry Alex. I’m so sorry.”

“I know Dad.” There is another pause. “He’s telling me to hang up.”

No. Not yet.

“I love you Dad.” Alex murmurs.

“I love you too.” Erik closes his eyes. “Goodbye.”

He gets the dial tone in response.

He drops his hand down and stares at the phone sitting in his palm. He startles when the phone rings again, breaking the silence. He is slower to answer this time. Dreading the voice on the other end.

“Touching.” Emma comments dryly.

Erik looks down at his collar. His skin prickles and he wants to tear off the fabric.

Emma’s voice comes through the line again.

“Head in to your office. We have work to do.”

Armando drags his feet up the apartment stairwell. His eyes are tired and he swears the security footage has been burned onto his eyes. He will probably see it in his sleep tonight. This better help him see something he missed.

He pauses at his floor, he should drop his things home first. Erik always gets weird when he has his gun with him. But today was a Stair Day and he needs to check they are ok for himself. He heads on up the next flight and pulls a brown paper bag from his shoulder bag. A donut for Alex. He does not understand why Alex is so keen on the donuts from the station. There are plenty of better ones practically anywhere else in the city. He says the cliché adds a special something to the taste.

He reaches the door to Alex and Erik’s apartment and frowns.

There are three jagged holes in the wood. They look like they go right through. He drops his free hand to his waist, to rest on the clip of his holster.

The paper bag jostles in his hand as he uses it to knock sharply.

Once. Twice. Three times.