Trials
trial.
016.
To say the least, Tony's head freaking hurt. Stiles' tales of Beacon Hills was still stuck in the air and despite everyone's attempts to lighten the mood, it was still obvious that his words held a pretty heavy toll. The question of "who's babysitting" that Fury had left on the table before excusing himself to do bossman type duties was still and while it caused everyone to laugh, it wasn't an actual joke. Some members of the team thought that Stiles belonged at the Avengers Compound where more eyes were on him to keep from running as well as safer from the grasp of HYDRA while others (including Tony) thought that keeping him in the Tower was a better idea.
Overall the whole situation was really frustrating, because while Stiles' name was (mostly) cleared, there was still a lot of new information- like the fact that werewolves existed? Really, like what the actual hell? There was also the small, maybe not even alarming, issue that was the fact that Stiles had superpowers that they knew very very little of. Yeah, a small issue.
They had a lot to talk about.
"What we know so far is that he can manipulate electricity and he has enough control to take out even Captain America," Rhodey glanced over at Steve, who gave a sheepish look. "And somehow he can take down the Iron Man suit." His best friend furrowed his eyebrows. "How did he even do that, by the way?"
"I grabbed his arm, and he touched the suit. It's like he pulled all the energy from it, that little son of a bitch," He touched his arc reactor, grateful that energy wasn't pulled from that. "Now that I think about it, he seemed really surprised by it. I don't think he was expecting that to happen either." He explained.
"And he took a whole plane down," Natasha stated. "I assume the same way. If he just now learned how to do it, I have to say I'm kind of impressed that he caught on so quickly."
"So after Maria brings him back, he can tell us the full extent of his abilities," Steve suggested.
"That's even if he actually tells the truth," Sam said. "You don't believe him?" Bruce questioned, raising an eyebrow. "It's not that I don't believe what he says so far, it's just, teenagers lie." He explained, "It's not even always intentional, it's more like they're avoiding the truth because they don't believe it."
"So you think he's trying to avoid the fact that he has powers?"
"Well, I mean, if Tony said he seemed surprised by what he could, and he's had these powers for a while, then he's probably tried to avoid using them." Sam shrugged. Sometimes Tony forgot that his day job was a counselor, not just for Veterans with PTSD, but for family members of Veterans, dead or alive.
"That actually sounds about right," Bruce stated. "If he got them unwillingly, then that's most likely the case."
Steve pursed his lips, "Well, we're gonna have to convince him to tell us what he can do so we can work around it." And yeah, he was right, but Tony could see the idea of "convincing Stiles" becoming a problem in the future.
They'll have to cross that bridge when they come to it.
"Onto the next issue," (They still haven't fully decided as a team where Stiles was going to be) "since we're already discussing his abilities, is he going to be trained with them?"
All eyes were on Coulson, "Trained? Are you planning on putting him in the field?" Thor asked.
"It's not like I'm talking about putting him up full-time, but if it comes to it, he could make pretty good back-up."
"He's seventeen." Clint deadpanned. "You literally just realized that this kid wasn't the cold-hearted killer you thought he was and you already decided you want him to be an agent?"
"I'm working with the resources I have," Phil said. "And like I said, he's back up if needed, but giving him a desk job is not such a bad idea, especially if he's smart."
"So that's why you're all on board keeping him in the compound," Tony raised an eyebrow, "So you can make him one of your lackeys."
"Don't try and make me seem like a bad guy, think about it, if we're planning on keeping him here, or even if he's going to the Tower, what is he gonna do? It's a better idea to train him and give him an outlet than force him to stay cooped up and bored. And like Clint said, he's seventeen, teenagers get bored. Easily. And that's even with not having ADHD."
Damn it, that was a good idea. Were they really going to expect him to just chill around forever? They weren't even sure he wasn't still planning on making a break for it the next time an opportunity presented itself, so who's to say he's even going to have a positive reaction when they told him they weren't just going to let him go. Training him as an agent, even just to keep him busy, was actually kind of a good idea.
"Oh my god, we really are babysitters." Clint groaned, letting his head fall onto the table. "Top level agent and this is my promotion."
Natasha rolled her eyes, though she did have a small smile on her face which only grew as she reached over, wacking Clint's arm, causing him to lift his head and glare at her. "Rude."
"I don't see why you guys are complaining, I've been babysitting since I came out of the ice," Steve said, gesturing towards the team.
"I know you're not complaining," Rhodey scoffed, "I've been babysitting Tony since college. I win."
"Awe platypus, I'm touched. Really, I am." He put a hand over his heart.
"In Asgard, we have no such thing as 'babysitting', it's called natural selection," Thor stated, causing everyone to look over at him. Sometimes it was impossible to know if he was being serious or not, especially since he found out that no one really knew anything about his home, apart from Norse mythology that had been twisted over time.
After a beat, Thor finally broke out into a grin. "I'm only kidding, children are very important in Asgard."
"Honestly, I'm not sure if I was surprised or not." Sam mumbled, a few nods in agreement following.
"Alright, I think we got a little off topic," Phil was quick to cut in before anything else was said. "If he's going to be trained as an agent, it might be best to keep him here. Especially since HYDRA doesn't know about this place." It was almost likely that one sentence held a keyword, because only a split second after it left his mouth, a loud explosion could be heard, causing the team to jump to their feet, the alarm blaring and red lights flashing.
"You just had to say that, didn't you?" Tony narrowed his eyes as he called for his suit, the rest of the team doing what the could to prepare for the fight.
-
"Dylan?" Right.
Dylan was the name he used when he met Darcy.
He forgot.
"Darcy?" Agent Hill said from behind him. "Who are you looking for?"
The curly haired brunette walked towards them, and for such a small person, she radiated a lot of confidence. "I'm not looking for anyone, I'm talking to this kiddo right here." She jutted a finger at Stiles.
"Um, well this is awkward." He mumbled, not going unnoticed by both women.
"What?" Darcy stated, not before taking a drink of her iced coffee. Agent Hill arched an eyebrow, awaiting his response.
"Yeah, so my name is not actually Dylan..." He trailed off.
"You lied to me?" Darcy asked, "Wow, can't believe I bought a cheeseburger for a liar."
"It wasn't like that!" He was quick to defend himself.
"Hold on, you two know each other?" Hill questioned.
"Yeah, I picked him up on the side of the road in New Mexico. I bought him a cheeseburger and a milkshake and when I came back from the bathroom, the little shit dipped. He did leave a ten dollar bill though, but he told me his name was Dylan, not..." She paused for a second. "What's your name?"
"Um, Stiles."
"Geesh, I can see now why you lied." She mocked, taking another sip, though now all that was really left was ice so a loud, obnoxious sound emitted from her straw.
"Hey!" He scrunched up his nose, "That is so not why I lied."
"Alright, chill out for a second." Maria pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is what we're gonna do. We're gonna get our food, and we're going to sit down like normal people and talk about this instead of making a scene."
Stiles nodded, rocking back in forth on his heels. He assumed that he already attracted attention, considering that he was standing in the cafeteria with no shoes on, but whatever.
He followed Agent Hill over to the pickup counter, grabbing the food that was handed to him, and then sat down at the table that Darcy had picked.
"Alright, spill." She stated.
He waited for a second, looking down at his food, cringing at the sudden pain his stomach had due to hunger. It wasn't like he hadn't eaten anything, Tony had given him whatever fruit or granola bars he had stored in his workshop, but he was starving once again after the past two hours had gone by. He shoved a few curly fries in his mouth, ignoring the awaiting looks of Maria and Darcy.
"Okay so, I kind of ran away? And I figured that if I told you my real name and you saw something in the papers about me, you'd recognize my name and I couldn't let that happen." He stated, meeting Darcy's eyes as he shoveled mac and cheese into his mouth.
"Ugh, that's disgusting...but same." She shrugged. "Anyways, why do you have him?" She questioned Agent Hill.
Stiles made a face, however, he didn't comment on how they were talking about him like he wasn't there, instead opting to continue to go ham on his food. "That's confidential information, Darcy," Maria stated.
"Avengers business, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Stiles mumbled, ignoring the look he received from Hill.
Darcy pursed her lips, a devious look in her eyes. "Hmm, I wonder what the media would say about this..." She trailed off.
Stiles' eyes widened almost comically, the teenager sputtering an indignant "What?!" the same time Maria fixed Darcy with a harsh look, "Is that a threat?"
The woman in question raised her hands in surrender, though she didn't seem very alarmed. "Chill out, I'm only kidding," She rolled her eyes. "I'm not that stupid guys."
Hill sighed, "Look, this case is important, okay?"
Darcy raised an eyebrow, "Important like important important, or important like, just important?"
Unfortunately, before either of them could answer such a philosophical question, a loud explosion shook the entire building.
"Get down!" Someone shouted, causing everyone to duck under their tables as the debris from the ceiling fell to the ground. Stiles barely had time to react before Maria yanked him under the table, Darcy following suit. An alarm triggering and flashing red lights filled his sight, but other than that, it was oddly still.
At least for a good, long thirty seconds.
Somewhere close to their location, shouting could be heard, with shots quickly following suit, and it was likely everyone suddenly fell into action.
People from all around the room shot up, drawing guns from the holsters under their uniforms, talking quickly into earpieces as they rushed- with caution- towards the commotion.
Everyone knew what they were supposed to do. Stiles, on the other hand, was at lost.
"Stay here," Maria stated, standing up.
"You're kidding," Darcy refuted.
"No, I'm really not. Stay here, stay safe. I'll be back." She ordered, casting the pair one last look before taking off.
Stiles drew in a deep breath, glancing over at the older woman. He was kind of at a crossroads because one, he didn't want to get on Agent Hill's bad side if he didn't do what she said, but two, he didn't think a cafeteria was the safest place for them.
"We can't just stay here," He said in a low voice, and before Darcy could talk, he quickly continued, "We need to find better cover." He stood up from under the table, gesturing for Darcy to follow him. His plan was to go behind the counter, at least getting out of the line of sight if anyone came through the doors of the cafeteria. "Come on," He said, his voice urgent as he quickly slid across the top of the counter, ducking behind it, Darcy landing next to him less than a second after.
"What's the plan?" She whispered.
"What's the plan? What do you mean what's the plan? This was the plan." He whispered, running his hand through his hair. He was only seventeen and this was his life. Great, he couldn't wait to see what his life would be like at thirty.
"And if someone finds us?"
He bit his lip, taking a moment to think. "Just trust me," He sighed, "I'll figure it out." Hopefully.
Truth be told, he felt bad that he was literally just sitting on his ass while God knows what bomb the building. Or whatever they were using. But instead of allowing himself to get caught in his guilty thoughts, he focused on the idea that he needed to keep Darcy safe.
He opened his mouth to speak again, but footsteps caused him to put his own hands over his mouth. "Search anywhere and everywhere, I don't want any place going unchecked. You find the kid, you let me know right away." Stiles' eyes furrowed together. They were talking about him. He looked over towards Darcy who was holding a finger to her mouth, but he already knew to stay quiet.
They were ordered to look everywhere, for him. He needed to think of something and he needed to do it fast.
He looked to the sides of him, seeing what materials he had to use. Long silver tongs were to his left, and a grey frying pan was stacked nicely on top of a cutting board to his left. Well, his decision was made. Stiles grabbed the handle of the frying pan, slowing lifting it up in an attempt to not make any noise. He met Darcy's eyes, nodding his head towards the cutting board to signify that she should use it. He clutched the pan against his chest, leaning against the back of the counter. He was scared. When he ran from HYDRA in the community center, at least he didn't have another person's life at stake, but now he does. He was terrified.
Stiles deducted that if they were looking for him, they probably were HYDRA, and that just makes things so much worse.
The footsteps were getting closer to where small wooden doors connected the two counters, leading to the butcher counter, and if they were to keep going, probably into the kitchen. Stiles moved, as quietly as he could, to get between Darcy and the doors, waiting with a thumping heart. But no matter how long it felt until their hiding place was found, it felt like it came too soon.
"I got h-" The HYDRA agent called out, only for Stiles to shoot up and swing the pan up against the bottom of his jaw.
"Come on!" He shouted at Darcy, grabbing her wrist and pulling her up to make an escape. He slid across the counter, and once his feet hit the ground, he ran across the floor, Darcy right on his tale. He could hear the other agents running towards them, "We need to get out of here." He nodded his head furiously, continuing his break towards the door...only to slam into the body of a HYDRA agent running in his direction.
He gasped as the air was knocked out of him and in his momentary pause, whoever he ran into got ahold of him. "Rumlow, I got him." He spoke out loud, most likely speaking into his comm.
"Let go of me!" Stiles twisted, thrashing in the HYDRA agent's grip. He looked back, appalled to see that Darcy was no longer in sight. At least she was able to get out, hopefully. "Let me go!" He yelled.
The grip on his arms tightened, making Stiles tense up in discomfort. "Shut it." He was surprised to hear the American accent, only after hearing the Russian and German accents of the guys who held him prisoner.
"Fuck off, prick!" His captor yelled in pain, letting go of Stiles in order to hold his own head, and Stiles spun around to see Darcy standing behind the HYDRA lackey, holding her cutting board above her. "Stay down!" She yelled again, slamming it against his head one more.
Stiles nodded in thanks, letting out a huff of breath before he bent down to pick up the frying pan again. Together, the two of them sprinted out of the cafeteria and down the hall, but they weren't really running towards anything, just anywhere they could go.
Loud shouts followed them, and while they kept running, it seemed like they were getting closer, and coming from all directions. "Darcy, you need to run. They're after me." He stated.
"Are you stupid? I can help."
"It's not like that, but I'm not let them hurt or you kill you because of me." They turned the corner, and Stiles ducked behind the wall, pausing his sprint. "Please," He begged.
"You're a kid." They were getting closer.
"I can do things," He raised his hand, twiddling his fingers as electricity bounced from digit to digit. "I'll be okay. Please."
She paused, "You better make it out of here alive, Dylan." She gave him a small smile, before running to the right, the same way they were going. Stiles took a deep breath, looking towards the hall that ran to the left. "This is gonna be the stupidest thing I've ever done." He whispered to himself, before taking off the opposite way Darcy ran. "Hey!" He screamed out, pounding his uninjured hand against the wall as he ran. "I'm over here! Come get me you dumb fucks!"
Stiles stopped, planning on letting the agents grab him when a hand grabbed the shoulder of his shirt, yanking him backward. A startled noise left his mouth as he landed on the floor, his head snapping up to meet the (quite severely) pissed expression of Maria Hill. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" She hissed.
"You left us in the cafeteria. They found us." He deadpanned.
"So you run right into their arms?" She retaliated.
"I didn't want Darcy to get hurt."
"Well, at least you did that right," Maria said, "She's with Clint, and you would've been too if you weren't an idiot."
"I'm not an idiot." Stiles huffed. He followed Maria's lead, standing by the side of the door, awaiting the arrival of HYDRA.
"Get back." Agent Hill hissed. "You're not gonna be able to hold them off on your own," He said. "Let me help."
She stared at him for a moment, "Stay behind me."
Well, that was the best he was gonna get. He held his breath, but what worried him was the absence of the footsteps. When he was running, he could hear them close behind, but now? There was only silence. Maybe they had run past the room, or maybe they went down the wrong way.
But, there was no way Stiles' fate would let that happen.
He startled in surprise as the door busted open, four HYDRA agents storming in. Hill reacted quickly, firing off shots at them. Stiles swung, getting on of them in the chest, but he knew the pan wasn't going to be much help anymore, so he dropped it.
Feeling slightly like a badass, he cracked his knuckles, feeling the electricity pulse through his hands. He turned around, connecting his hands to the chest of the HYDRA agent and shoved him backward. He could hear the startled gasp of the agent as electricity flowed through him, the man dropping his gun, although apparently, it wasn't enough to keep him down. He swung at Stiles, his fist connected to the side of the teenager's face.
He groaned in pain, trying to shake the dizziness off. "Rude." He mumbled, packing his own punch in retaliation. In a span of five minutes, the two were basically in a full fistfight, the kind you would see in the parking lot of 7/11. Stiles felt nothing but regret about the mac and cheese he ate as he felt it coming back up his throat when his stomach got hit one too many times.
How did these guys even find him?
Stiles ducked under the agent's next swing, deciding to risk it all and diving forward, tackling him by going for the legs. The two of them went down, Stiles rolling to the side, though he quickly popped up, reaching to the side to grab his trusty frying pan and landing a hit onto the man's forehead, successfully knocking him unconscious before he had the chance to knock him out.
While he felt victorious of taking down one armored assailant when he realized that Maria had taken down two and was now battling the other one. He was kind of feeling overwhelmed in a way that he didn't when he was up against the S.H.I.E.L.D agents, and the difference between them and HYDRA was that HYDRA was actually planning on using their guns while S.H.I.E.L.D only used it to swing at him.
He had heard gunshots ring throughout the building, and he didn't even want to think about how many of those were fatal. The agent or soldier, he didn't really what they were if he was being honest, was raising his own gun at Stiles, skipping the task of hand to hand combat. At first, he pointed the gun at Stiles, who stared at the barrel. The teen stiffened in the line of fire, though he didn't waver. He looked up, "Do it."
But the soldier had other plans, turning the gun towards Maria, squeezing the trigger.
"No!" Stiles yelled the same time Agent Hill cried out in pain as the bullet entered her side. He flared his nostrils, his fists tightening in anger as he turned his eyes at the attacker. His emotions consumed him the same time as Maria fell to the side, her hands clasped over her side, blood trickling out from between her fingers. The soldier that had been fighting her seemingly declared her unworthy to fight due to the fact that he was no engaged in the duel between Stiles and the other guy.
Stiles lunged, connecting his fist to the soldier's face, but to his surprise, the guy screamed in agony. At first he thought he just had a mean right hook, but he was startled to see the singed skin on the guy's face.
Had he burned him?
He held his hand out in front of him, just for a second, only to find that his hand was basically engulfed in electricity. "Holy shit," He mumbled, but he didn't allow himself much time to marvel, instead using this newfound ability to knock the soldiers out.
As fast as he could, Stiles ran over to Maria, trying to survey the severeness of the wound. "Oh my god, oh my god." He mumbled, trying not to gag at the sight of blood.
"We need to get out of here." He could tell that Hill was trying to stay calm, but he could hear how her voice shook slightly, most likely with pain or shock, and her skin was covered with a sheen of sweat.
"I don't know what to do," Stiles confessed, the only gunshot wounds he's dealt with were with wolfsbane bullets in werewolves, but they usually healed pretty fast. He tried to think of anything he's watched to aide him in his care for Hill before he was hit with the tourniquet. He bit his lip, pulling the string out of the collar of his hoodie, "I'm sorry," He stated, wrapping the string around her stomach, tightening it to try and keep the pressure on the wound. He felt nothing but guilt as Maria grimaced in pain. This was his fault.
"Hang tight, okay? Someone will find us." Hopefully, it was someone on the right side.
Maria nodded, though another wince came soon after. "We need to get somewhere safe, Stiles." She said firmly.
"We can't do that, I'm sorry. I can't risk hurting you more." He stated.
"We can't stay here, anyone could come back. Pull me up, I can do this."
He worried at his bottom lip, he had no idea what the best idea would be to do. "Stiles," She said again, her voice shaky as she tried to urge him to listen to her. He opened his mouth to speak when her eyes widened, "Watch out!"
But it was too late, one of the soldiers whom he believed was unconscious, apparently was not. Before he could do anything, a gun connected with the back of his head. Stiles' mouth opened as he gasped, feeling like every ounce of air in his body was knocked out. His eyes widened and he could do nothing as the gun came down again, though this time it was enough to knock Stiles to the floor.
He was kneeling over, trying to regain...anything, really. His head was pounding against his skull now, and when the next blow came down, this time to the side of his head, he fell straight onto the floor. Stiles' head lolled to the side, the gun coming down once again, and he could feel blood dripping down his face but he could no longer focus.
He groaned, looking through hazy eyes over at Hill, who was staring at him in worry, but by the foggy look in her eyes and the blood puddling on the floor, he knew that as much as she wanted to help, she couldn't. He tried to offer a smile, mostly to reassure her, but he was pretty sure it came out more like a grimace. Stiles could faintly see the barrel of the gun coming down again, but it never connected with his face.
Instead, a gunshot went off, but Stiles' was still fading in and out, so it wasn't exactly registering to him that someone else was in the room, he was only really clued in when someone bent down beside him, a faint "hang in there, bud," was said, though it sounded so far away.