Chapter 3
The youngest of the Minoru sisters was not exactly a patient person, that was a quality of her older sister and not hers, so the young gothic-looking Asian girl found herself looking outside through one of the windows of the classroom they were in.
Nico, unlike the Russian who was standing at another of the windows a few feet away, could not keep calm, her foot kept moving and tapping the ground quickly and involuntarily while her hands clung tightly to the open window frame.
“Hey...” Karolina whispered as she carefully held the young Asian girl’s right hand so as not to upset her more. “Amy is fine, I don’t think you should worry about her.”
Minoru was surprised by Dean’s sudden presence at her side, she was so focused on any sing of her sister that she had forgotten about everyone else with her.
It took Nico a couple of seconds to correctly process the words young Dean had just told him and especially the fact that she now had her warm hand on her as she looked at she with a sympathetic expression on her face.
“There’s no way you can know she’s okay.”
The young Asian girl managed to shake off the extra sensation that coursed through every nerve in her body and finally slid her hand away from the blonde’s touch.
“You’re right, there may be no way to know for sure” Karolina stated, surprising herself by how quickly she had hidden the disappointment on her face at the other girl rejection, “but I know her well and I believe in her.”
There was a small silence, perhaps even a small moment between the two, in which they looked at each other not knowing what else to say, though neither had to break their heads too much to think of something that would save them from the slight awkwardness in the atmosphere because someone else approached them, though not to join in the conversation.
“Excuse me” Yelena said as she placed her hands on one of each girl’s shoulder and pushed them slightly in opposite directions, pulling one away from the other until she had enough room to pass between them. “You guys can carry on as if I wasn’t here” she added before climbing up onto the window frame.
“God!” Dean exclaimed as she saw the other blonde climb out of the window.
Belova ignored whatever the girls told her and concentrated on analyzing the exterior facade of the building to see if her plan was as feasible as she thought it was.
Just as the Russian was calculating the distance between each window from one floor to the next, a pair of hands grabbed her legs tightly, a few inches above her ankles, causing her to almost lose her balance.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Yelena questioned even before looking over her shoulder to see who was the person who almost killed her.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Kate replied in a tone of voice that expressed anger and concern in equal measure.
“I’m not trying to kill one of our own, unlike you.”
“I'm trying to save you.”
“I don’t need saving, princess.”
“Could you two stops flirting with each other and move away from the window before you both fall to your deaths?” MJ interrupted.
“What?” Bishop asked in confusion, looking at the young brunette as her cheeks quickly began to flush. “I wasn’t trying to...” she turned her head to look at her hands still firmly gripping the blonde’s legs before releasing them, taking a step back and looking back at her friend, who already had a cocky Gring on her face. “I’m not flirting with her.”
“I’ll try not to be offended by that, Kate Bishop” Belova commented as she jumped back into the classroom.
“No, I didn’t mean I don’t like you” the archer replied nervously as she thought she had really pissed off the Russian. “I mean, you’re objectively attractive, of course, but I wasn’t trying to...”
“If I were you, I’d shup up before I embarrassed you any further” MJ commented.
“What were you trying to do out there?” Alex asked Yelena.
“I was checking the height” Belova replied rather nonchalantly. “Are you sure we’re right above the audio-visual room?”
“Yes, absolutely sure.”
“In that case, I have a plan to go down.”
“What? But Mr. Stark and the others said to wait here for them to come and get us” Parker said.
“This place is full of those things and it’s five floors to get to us” the Russian pointed out, “six to go for those trapped in the chemistry lab, as optimistic as I try to be I don’t think they can get past the first or second floor without a little help from a shortcut.
“What shortcut?” Gert questioned. “The only way up or down is the stairs and there’s no way we can even get to the without facing dozens of zombies.”
“I know, that’s why we have to create it first.”
“Create it?” Ned asked. “What are you talking about?”
Before Yelena could answer and give any explanation, Nico’s phone began to vibrate in her hand, so everyone’s attention was focused solely on her.
“Amy, is that you?” questioned the youngest Minoru as soon as she answered the call, even though the video image still hadn’t loaded properly on her screen. “Are you okay?”
~Yeah, yeah, we’re fine~ replied Nico’s older sister while still trying to fully catch her breath. ~We made it.~
~By a long shot~ commented Sharon from somewhere nearby.
“What do you mean, not enough?” Yelena interjected. “It was a good plan, what did they do to ruin it?”
~We didn’t ruin it~ Natasha complained. ~I guess you didn’t consider that all the noise we made to distract the zombies inside the building would also attract the ones outside the building.~
“Well...”
~Laura’s not responding~ mentioned Clint with a noticeable tone of concern in his voice.
~Hey! They’re alive~ exclaimed Tony as he joined the video call. ~I knew AC/DC would save them.~
~It also almost got us eaten alive~ Carol reported.
~There’s always a slight margin of error in every plan, it’s normal.~
~I wouldn’t say it was just a slight margin...~ commented Rambeau.
~Tell them they can stop the music now~ commanded Frank Castle as he looked outside through one of the windows. ~Now it’s just putting more of that stuff on our way to the main building.~
~Bitter...~ murmured Stark. ~Did you hear that, Hill? The party’s over, at least for now.~
A hush fell over the call when there was no response from the student president and the music continued.
~Hill?~ Romanoff called, confused by the delay.
~Pepper?~
~Is anyone in the audio-visual on the video call right now?~
~I don’t think so~ replied Amy.
~Something must be going on~ commented Barton. ~We need to get to them.~
~I don’t think that’s possible right now~ Danvers declared by one of the windows. ~If we barely make it here alive, it will be impossible to get to the main building with all the zombies we brought here.~
~There must be a way; maybe, if I distract them, you guys can...~
~Clint, no~ interrupted Natasha. ~It’s too dangerous for us to get separated with all that stuff out there and the other stuff we might attract in the attempt.~
~But...~
“Maybe you guys can’t get to them” Yelena mentioned, gaining everyone’s attention, especially her older sister’s attention, “but we can..., at least with a better chance of success.”
~What are you...?~ questioned Natasha.
“We can’t waste any more time, they might be in danger, trust me.”
Belova gave no chance for anyone to say anything against it, she reached out her hand on Nico’s shoulder and pressed her finger against the touch screen of the phone to end the call.
“Hey!” exclaimed Minoru. “What do you think you...?”
“Yeah, yeah, you can complain and yell at me later” Yelena interrupted, downplaying the Asian girl’s anger. “You...” she pointed to Ned, “contact the group in the chemistry lab and make sure they are ready to open the door on my signal; and you two...” she turned to Peter and Chase, “get ready to go out into the hallway and grap the fire hose.”
“We can’t go out” Parker replied, ignoring the fact why the Russian wanted them to have a fire hose with them, “the whole floor is full of zombies.”
“I’ll take care that” replied Belova downplaying the issue, quickly moving on to the next point she had to cover before starting. “Any of you guys been in the scouts and know how to tie a good knot?” she asked as she looked over each of the others for an answer that came in the form of a hand raised shyly beside a shock of purple hair. “Okay, as soon as the two of them bring the ire hose, you will make it safe to use it to go down the outside of the building to the audio-visual room, got it?”
“Wait, what?” Gert questioned.
“There’s no time to explain ot again, just get ready and try not to mess it up.”
The Russian didn’t wait for someone else to say something, she simply jumped over some chairs to get to the other side of the classroom and once there pushed the chair closet to the wall facing the hallway, then climbed on it and stood on her tiptoes to be able to see the other side of the window against the ceiling.
“Banner says he doesn’t think opening the door with all those zombies outside is a good idea” Ned mentioned after reading Bruce’s message he had just received.
“Tell him he’d better open the door for me or I’ll have to break it down.”
“Wow, wait a second” Kate interjected, “what do you mean he should open the door for you?, are you planning to get out of here and go to the chemistry lab?”
“That’s the plan” Yelena replied as she made sure the knife handle was still firm enough to withstand being embedded in the skulls of a few more zombies. “Someone must get their attention and clear the hallway for the others.”
“Well, yes, that makes sense, but it’s a terrible idea.”
“Relax, princess, I don’t plan on letting one of those things bite me.”
Belova turned around at the same time as she put the handle of the knife in her mouth and made sure to clench it tightly with her teeth so as not to lose it.
“Wait!" Bishop exclaimed while holding the Russian’s leg to prevent her from climbing out of the window. “I’ll go with you.”
“What? No don’t even think about it.”
“Too late” the archer replied before grabbing Chase’s crossier and pushing a chair under another window. “You need someone to watch your back.”
Yelena knew they didn’t have time to have a discussion like that right then and there, so she opted to try to scare her a little.
“I don’t need your help, but if you insist on going with me and one of those things bite you, I’ll out my knife through your eye long before I start the transformation.”
“Just try not to make it the right one, that’s the one I’m aiming with.”
The blonde ignored her companion’s last comment, placed the knife handle back between her teeth and proceeded to open her window slowly and carefully before taking a small hop so she could climb fluidly.
Kate tried to imitate Yelena, but her situation was a bit more complicated as she was carrying a meter-long cane; however, she managed to pull it off without making too much noise to draw the attention of the zombies in the corridor to them.
Belova analyzed the view she had of the hallway from her position with her head pinking the ceiling, looked both ways and chose the option that in her opinion was the safest with the best chance of getting them to the chemistry lab as intact as possible.
Once she was sure of her decision, the Russian looked at the archer at her side and silently pointed her in the direction they should go.
Bishop had a surprisingly somewhat excessive confidence in the girl she had just met and barely knew more than her name about, so she simply nodded slantly and waited for the blonde to give her the signal to start.
Yelena seriously considered pushing the archer back into the classroom, but now that she knew exactly how many zombies she would have to face alone, she decided to swallow a bit of her pride and accept that she would need some help to get to the chemistry lab.
“Let’s do it, little arrows” said the Russian with a smile before finally jumping into the hallway and taking down a zombie in the process.
“Wait, what?” Kate exclaimed after landing firmly on the ground and hitting the nearest zombie. “I won’t be little arrows, it’s not a great code name.”
“We'll discuss it later” Belova replied as more zombies began to surround them and their escape window quickly disappeared. “Let’s go.”
The archer made sure o hit one of the zombies in the middle of the hallway with all her might with the crossier she was using as a weapon to defend herself and thus at least have a couple of seconds’ head start while the others were pushing each other to catch up.
It wasn’t until after he had hit that last zombie and when it was on the ground that Bishop finally realized it was his algebra teacher, which also reminded her that she was supposed to have a test worth half her grade that afternoon.
“Shit, I’m flunking.”
Kate had no more time to think and worry about her academic future because Yelena grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the stairs.
The two of them managed to get the zombies behind them to the left side of the building and clear the hallway so the others could do their part of the plan.
Belova was barely two steps ahead, but she was the one who cleared the way and cleared the way for them, so it was she who reached the stairs first and confronted the zombies they seemed to have drawn from the floor below.
“Go on!” Yelena commanded just before kicking the first zombie in the row coming up towards them in the face.
Luckily, following orders and not breaking the rules wasn’t exactly Bishop’s forte, so it was easy for her not to leave the Russian behind and watch her back just as she had said she would.
“Let’s go” Kate said as she was now the one pulling the blonde to continue up the stairs.
The stairs to the sixth floor were clear; however, as they turned into the main hallway they were met head on by at least another dozen zombies.
“Shit" Yelena cursed as she stopped abruptly and held out her arm so the archer wouldn’t go any further either. “Go back.”
This time Bishop knew how to follow orders and retraced her steps to find herself facing the group of zombies that were following them and pushing each other in the narrow space.
“What now?”
“Up to the roof.”
Kate checked that this was her best option as it was the only path that was clear and hurried to run up the stairs, listening to both Belova and the zombies behind her.
The archer shoulder banged hard against the metal surface of one of the doors separating them fom the outside when she was unable to open it.
“Locked."
Yelena didn’t even waste time cursing her bad luck and simply took the crossier Bishop was holding to use it as a rather half-assed way to try to made a barrier and prevent the zombies from climbing all the way up to where they were.
It was a stroke of luck that the infected weren’t very smart because they did nothing but push each other around and didn’t try to get underneath, though it was certain that the Russian wouldn’t hold out like that for long.
“Jump” the blonde ordered as she continued to push the zombies with all the strength she had.
“What?” asked the archer as she kept pushing against the doors in a desperate attempt to get them open.
“By the railing, get down and go to the lab.”
“I'm not going to leave you here.”
“I’ll come after you” Yelena assured as her feet started to slip on the ground. “Do it!”
Kate decided to slightly modify the Russian’s plan and took the time tto help her push the zombies away, making some of them fall backwards otto others behind them.
“Let’s jump” said the archer as she grabbed the blonde’s hand to make sure she followed.
Belova let the archer go down first, using the extra couple of seconds to look over her shoulder and check that no one was close to biting her neck; however, what really managed to catch her attention was the panel of buttons and the small screen next to the rooftop doors that held them closed.
The strange growl of one of the zombies getting up brought Yelena’s attention back to what was going on around them, causing her to rush over the safety railing to land on the stairs below.
The two girls were lucky not to twist an ankle in the attempt and come out of the fall unscathed, so they wasted no time in starting to run in the direction of the chemistry lab and start banging on the door.
“Open the damn door!” Belova demanded.
In less than two seconds the door finally opened for them, letting them run inside, to the only safe place they could reach; however, the Russian was not expecting the little anti-zombie trap just as they entered that tripped her.
Kate reacted quickly and grabbed one of Yelena’s arms to keep her from falling, but her life-saving maneuver only caused the blonde to turn around and try to grab hold of the archer’s sweater, which resulted in both of them now heading straight to the ground.
Belova’s back and head hit the cold tiles hard, just an instant before Bishop’s full weight fell against her chest and caused her to let out a groan of pain from both impacts.
“I’m sorry!” the archer apologized hastily when she heard the blonde, though she made no move to get up beyond placing her hands on the ground and raising her torso slightly over the Russian’s beneath her. “I was trying to help.”
Yelena let her head rest on the floor and smiled broadly. “That was fun” she declared with a chuckle.
Bishop looked at the Russian with a bit of confusing until her laughter caught up with her and she managed to relax a bit. “Yes, I think it was.”
“Are you two all right?”
The Russian turned her head as soon as she heard someone else speak to look at a shy boy with messy brown hair squatting next to them as he pushed the frame of his glasses with his fingers to settle it on the bridge of his nose.
“Are any of you infected?” interrupted another black-haired boy with much more gel and a little unruly fringe scaping over his forehead. “Have they been bitten?”
“Strange, please give them a second to breath and recover.”
“Is there anyone else with you?” asked a third person, a girl with white teas and balck hair.
“No, it's just the two of us” Kate replied, still not getting up.
“Hey, Bishop” Belova said to get the archer’s attention above her, “your leg is vibrating.”
Kate glanced at the Russian at then lowered her gaze to the front right pocket of her sweatpants, where she kept her phone, and then hurried to get off Yelena and pull out the electronic device.
The archer finally got off the blonde and sat down on the floor as she saw Barton’s name on her screen, so she hurried to answer him.
“Hi, Clint.”
~Where’s Yelena?~ interrogated Natasha sharply.
“Relax, Nat, we did it” Belova replied. “Kate Bishop and I are now in the chemistry lab.”
~What? What do you mean, she’s with you?~ Clint exclaimed, his face appearing on the screen. ~What the hell were you two thinking? They both could have died.~
“She was the one who insisted on accompanying me.”
“I couldn’t let her do it alone” Bishop argued.
~You were able to stop her from doing something so stupid~ Romanoff commented.
“It was risky, but it worked” said Yelena. “We needed a quick way for someone to get to the audio-visual room and help the others, we must keep control of the institute’s speakers if we all want to get out of here.”
~Kate, are you all right?~ asked Peter as soon as he entered the video call.
“Yeah, yeah, relax” replied the arched. “We made it.”
“Did you get the fire hose?” asked the blonde-haired Russian.
~We did it~ said Chase,~although there is some question as to whether it is safe to descend the outside of the building with just that.~
“It’s much safer than trying to use the stairs.”
~I still can’t reach Pepper and the others~ reported Tony logging into the video call. ~We must do something.~
Belova could see through the small image of her older sister on the phone screen how worry clearly passed over her face, followed by the importance of not being able to do something herself, until finally came the acceptance that she had to learn to do things as a team, delegate some things, and not do everything on her own.
~I can tell you how to tie the knots in the fire hose so it’s safe to go down it~ Natasha declared, ~but you’ll have to be careful when you get to the audio-visual room, we don’ know what’s happened there.~
~I’ll go down and have a look~ offered Peter.
~And I’ll go with him~ Chase added. ~It’s better that no one goes anywhere alone.~
~Go down and signal for the others if it’s safe and you’re going to continue~ ordered Romanoff, ~otherwise come back to devise a plan, got it?~
~Yes, ma’am~ answered Parker.
~Yelena, meanwhile finds a way to get everyone out of the lab to join the others.~
“Of course, no problem... as if we didn’t get here by miracle.”
~I bet you’ll manage, though try not to put the others in too much danger.~
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Belova stopped paying attention to what the others were saying as soon as Natasha started explaining to the others how to use the fire hose to go down the outside of the building, so she decided to stand up to investigate the lab.
It seemed that some students were surprised by the unexpected zombie invasion in the middle of a class, judging by the mess of broken glass on the floor.
The Russian woman walked over to one of the windows and took a look at the back of the building that she couldn’t see before from the classroom she was in downstairs.
The number of zombies behind the building she was in was greater than the number of zombies in front of her that she had originally expected of encounter, which would make it much more difficult for anyone to get in or out.
Yelena knew she had concentrate on one problem at a time, so she postponed her worry about how to get out of the building and resumed the task of how to get everyone in the chemistry lab to the classroom she had just left five minutes ago.
There were many instruments scattered on the work tables and on the floor, but nothing that seemed to be useful for fighting zombies and surviving the attempt.
Belova walked to the back of the lab and entered the cellar where they stored the chemical materials for the student’s classes, though she didn’t have much hope of finding anything helpful in there.
All the jars wit labels were not providing ideas of the Russian’s escape plan and it wasn’t that she was bad at chemistry, she could pass the subject without much trouble, she just wasn’t an amateur or prodigy at it.
A shriek, which was immediately followed by a metallic clang, gave the blonde slight scare that made her give the blonde a slight scare that made her give a little jump in place and spin around with her fists up, ready to fight.
“Relax, it’s just Glaive” said a brunette tea girl who was sitting in front of a computer and next to a small metal cage with a mouse inside.
“¿Glaive?” Yelena repeated with confusion, turning to a more relaxed posture and trying to hide her little fright.
“Yes, that’s this little fellow.”
Belova looked at the mouse the girl pointed out and watched as it continued to squeak furiously as it thrashed against the cage it was in.
“He doesn’t look very friendly.”
“That’s what’s interesting.”
“Why would that be interesting?”
“Shuri thinks little Glaive is also infected” replied another young girl standing at the entrance of the cellar.
Yelena turned her attention back to the little white mouse locked in the metal cage and frowned. “If he had been bitten, he wouldn’t have his head or over half of his body, at least.”
“Glaive wasn’t bitten” Shuri clarified.
“So you think he bit one of those things?”
“No, we’re been here the whole time since this started and this little guy hasn’t come out of his cage, although he’s definitely up for biting and fighting to the death with anyone who comes near him.”
“Can we catch ai any other way?” Kate questioned just behind the Russian. “Through the air?”
“No, as far as we know, the virus doesn’t work that way; little Glaive is not an average infected like the ones out there, but a test subject.”
“Wait, a second” Belova ordered, “you’re saying the virus came out here, in this lab exactly?”
“Most likely, Bruce and Betty says they were forbidden to enter the small office of one of the teachers at the back, right where we found Glaive; besides, there were some rumors a couple of hours ago.”
“What kind of rumors?”
“Someone saw a girl come out of this lab who had been missing for two days, they say she looked sick and became very aggressive when the paramedics were trying to take her to the hospital.”
“Those things out there look more than a little sick.”
“Maybe because the virus has had time to evolve and adapt to a human host” Shuri said. “If that girl was patient zero, she wouldn’t look the same as the rest of the zombies, at least not at first; that means she managed to infect someone else here at the institute before being taken to the city and the virus evolved in both bodies why two outbreaks were unleashed in different place and away from each other at almost the same time.”
Yelena didn’t fully understand the aspects and details behind that theory, but it made sense to her; especially since the young princess of Wakanda seemed to know well what she was talking about and was confident in her words.
“Which office was forbidden?”
“That last door” Shuri replied, pointing to the place with her hand, “but there’s nothing interesting there, there was just this laptop that is so encrypted that it will take days before I can access what’s stored on it, unless I can get another, more powerful computer.”
“Keep trying, if the computer belongs to whoever created this, then I might have a cure” said Belova before heading to the office.
[…]
“Are you sure about this?” Ned questioned as he watched his best friend prepare to climb out the window.
“Someone has to go down and find out what’s going on.”
“What if something bad already happened?” MJ questioned. “What if the place is full of zombies now?”
“Then we’ll go back” Peter replied, sounding pretty sure of himself, though most of that was just a façade. “Relax, we’ll be fine.”
“Don’t play hero” Gert ordered, turning mainly to Chase. “If there are zombies in there, don’t try to go in and stop the music.”
“I promise” Stein assured with a smile before walking over and stopping next to Parker in front of the window. “So, who’s going first?”
“Well, I hadn’t thought about that...” Peter admitted. “Do you want to go first?”
“Only if you want to, I wouldn’t mind going second.”
“I wouldn’t mind either, so if you want to do first, I have no problem with that.”
“Guys” Nico interrupted, “the others could be dying right now.”
“Right” Parker replied, stepping forward. “I’ll go down first.”
“Okay, I’ll be right behind you” Chase assured him.
Parker nodded, picked up the fire hose from the floor, dropped it out the window and then grabbed one of the side frames and sat on the edge. “It’s not that high” the brown-haired man muttered to himself in an attempt to calm his nerves a bit.
After a second more of contemplation, Peter began to descend, leaning on each of the knots made along the hose; his movements were a little slower as Chase also began to descend and the movements of both caused the hose to move more than expected.
Just as Parker was about to reach the second floor, being very close to the end of the hose, the music playing in the distance in the cafeteria building suddenly stopped, causing them both to freeze in place and look at each other with a confused expression on their face.
Peter was about to say something when he felt a hand clamp down on his ankle, so all that came out of his mouth was an unmanly scream full of fear, though he still had the courage to look down to find out what was going on.
“What the hell do they think they’re doing?” a young man with short black hair and blue eyes that made his anger all the more noticeable.
“Buck, help him in and then ask the questions” ordered the captain of the football team.
“Are you all right?” shouted Gert from the fifth floor window. “What’s wrong?”
“They seem to be fine!” Chase replied. “Hold on a second, we’re coming in!”
Parker tripped over the window frame on his way in, so he had to be caught by Steve while Bucky helped Stein lower the last length of the hose by holding it up to make it a little more stable.
“Thanks” Peter muttered, a little embarrassed by his less than graceful entrance.
“No problem” Rogers replied with a smile. “The fire hose was a good idea, by the way; I wouldn’t have thought of it.”
“It wasn’t out idea” Chase clarified, jumping to the solid floor of the audio-visual room.
“What they did was dangerous, they could have fallen” Pepper said once both boys were safely inside the building with an obvious tone of anger in her voice. “What are they doing here?”
“Saving them?” answered Peter doubtfully.
“No one was answering their phones and the music wouldn’t stop playing” added Chase, “so we all got worried.”
“We had a big little fight here” Peggy said.
“That idiot Rumlow and his friend, Jack, didn’t want to help Natasha and the others” Hill added. “They said they were just going to attract more zombies and got between us and the controls, but seeing the tip of the fire hose was enough to make them decide to leave before anyone infected could get down.”
“Did they leave?” Peter asked in confusion.
“They hallway is clear, so they decided to find another place to take cover, and Professor Coulson came out behind them to try to convince them to go back.”
“That doesn’t seem like the smartest move” Chase commented.
“Good luck trying to make them realize that.”
“What do they know about Clint and the others?” Laura asked with a tone of voice full of concern. “Are they all right?”
“Yes, they’re all safe” Parker replied. “They are making a plan to come with us, but it seems that the music attracted more zombies from outside, which made it more complicated to get to the bell tower and now there are also many more than before between the two building.”
“Now we know that loud music is a double-edged sword” commented a girl with Asian features, short, jaw-length black hair, sitting across the room. “We didn’t think of it before, but it was to be expected.”
“I can adjust the volume of the music next time” said blonde girl standing in front of the control table.
More than one phone itched to rigg at almost the same instant, but it was Laura who was the first to answer.
“Clint?” the brunette called even before she could see someone on her screen.
~Laura?~ Barton replied. ~Honey, are you all right?”
“Yes, we’re all fine, we just had a little problem.”
~Did the boys make it down with you?~ Natasha asked, showing a bit of concern in her voice.
“Did you tell them to go down the fire hose?” Pepper questioned, noticeably annoyed.
~Actually, it was Yelena’s idea, but I told them how to do it.~
The younger Russian joined the call as if she had known her name was said just a second before.
~We have a problem~ Belova announced before anything else.
~Can’t they get out of the lab?~ asked Romanoff.
~I haven’t worked on that yet, it’s something else.~
~So what’s the problem?~
~The virus was created here, or so far most likely.~
~Why do you think that?~ questioned Clint.
~Because Shuri found a mouse that might be infected, being a test subject before the virus infected a human; plus, I found some signs in one of the offices that someone might have been there against their will, which would fit with this morning’s rumors that the missing girl left this lab looking sick and disoriented.~
“Wait, are you saying that a girl was kidnapped here at the institute by one of the teachers” Peggy interrupted.
~The same one who created the virus and infected her.~
~How sure are you of this?~ Natasha questioned after having analyzed the information.
~Very much~ Yelena affirmed. ~Shuri also found a laptop with an encryption too suspicious to belong to a simple high school teacher who only keeps his students’ grades.~
~Have you been able to access the information stored on the laptop?~
~No, it says it needs a much more powerful processor to be able to do that.~
“Who is the professor?” Barnes asked, concentrating on something the others hadn’t stopped to think about.
~I bet it’s that scary guy with the weird last name~ Luis commented from somewhere out of camera range.
“Thanos” Hill reported, “it comes from the Greek.”
~Yes, that’s the name on the office door~ Belova declared.
“He was acting very strange at yesterday’s meeting.”
~I’ll call Ivan to contact someone who can send help~ Romanoff stated, ~but if he’s the one who reports it, it’s going to take an investigation to find out if it’s reliable and not some kind of trap, so it could take a while~ the redhead was silent for a second as she seemed to contemplate another idea. ~Tony, can you call a high-ranking military officer who was made a deal with Stark Industries that you trust?~
~I’ll call Obadiah, he’s the one in charge of making the military deals.~
~Well, in the meantime let’s keep working on what we had planed, in case help can’t arrive soon.~
~Does anyone have an amazing idea that we can use?~ questioned Tony.
~I think I have one~ said Alex.