Testing Her Pt.2
"Shit."
Tony looked at the x-ray of the elegant gadget lodged inside Angelique and all he could think of was that simple word.
"Shit."
She turned to Dr. Banner, more concern etched on her face as the man of Iron in front of her seemed to be like a broken record, repeating that same word over and over again in the span of a minute.
"I knew it was bad, didn't realize it was this bad." she confesses to the doctor.
"We'll figure something out," Dr. Banner assured her. "Stark has the best advanced medical technology in the world. We're going to find a way to get that thing out of you."
"Shit."
She lets out an exasperated scoff as she glanced back at Tony who was still inspecting the x-ray with a very dumbfounded intensity.
"So what is it exactly?" she asked him. "Is it a tracking device? A small bomb perhaps?"
"Tracking." Tony answers quickly still inspecting the structure of the device. "It's too small to be a bomb."
"Did James have one too?" she asked him.
"James? Who in the hell is James?" Tony scoffs out but the question is ignored as Bruce answers her question instead.
"Yeah, in his left arm too but it wasn't this complicated." Dr. Banner tells her. "Besides, it was his metal arm. His was latched on wires, yours is latched on a major artery."
She swallowed nervously as she heard this.
"If... if we attempt to get this extracted from my arm, I'm going to most likely die aren't I?"
"Not if Bruce and I can help it." Tony states. "I just don't know how to proceed with this."
"Can you deactivate it? Make it unworkable?" Bruce asks him.
"If I disarm the device, there's a chance it'll tighten around the artery, cutting off blood circulation. The only way to truly be rid of it is to extract the live device without cutting the artery and making you bleed out on the table to death without being able to do anything but watch you die."
Tony and Bruce were too distracted on examining the x-ray that they hadn't noticed on her pale features. She took a shuddering deep breath.
"I'm scared."
The simple statement caused both men to look up at the tearful woman.
"I thought... I thought I was free of them at last but then... then they come and do this." She gasps out. "Its their collar for beasts like me. I'm still not free from their holding chains."
Tears swell up in her eyes and she's trying her hardest not to let them fall. She bit her lip and grasped the medical table below her tightly. Tony and Bruce had no idea how to console the nearly weeping woman in front of them. Luckily, someone who did came in.
"What did you do now, Stark?" Sam states as he enters the medical ward and finds Angelique in the verge of tears. Tony just scoffs at him insulted by his statement.
"What are you doing here?" Tony asks confused.
"I'm supposed to be picking up Angelique for the psych eval." Sam replies as he stops in front of them. "What about you? And what did you do to her?" Sam asks as he motions to Angelique.
"I didn't do anything."
"Yeah, he did." Bruce says, throwing Tony under the bus. "He could of worded her current situation more gently instead of saying shit for the first few minutes."
"I was in shock, ok?" Tony explains himself. "This kind of advanced gadget caught me off-guard."
"But you're not the one who has that gadget inside of them, Tony!" Bruce exclaims.
Sam was getting tired that these two men had once again started focusing on themselves instead of the still upset Angelique in front of them.
"Can you two just cut it out?" Sam interrupts them. "Once again, the woman is on the verge of tears and I have no idea of what is causing it."
Tony and Bruce become silent and just show Sam the x-ray.
"What am I looking at here?" Sam asks them.
"That device right there," Tony says pointing to the small box shaped image located on Angelique's bicep. "That square right there is a tracking device."
"So?" Sam asks them. "You can just take it out."
"Not so easy, bird man." Tony explains to him. "Yes we could try to take it out except the wires are wrapped around Angelique's artery."
"Oh." Sam responds realizing the seriousness of the situation.
"Oh, exactly." Tony replies.
"Don't call me that." her voice quietly interrupts the tension. Tony and Sam look up at her confused, while Bruce sighs in realization.
"What?" Tony asks her.
"Don't call her Angelique." Bruce answers for her. "That's not her name."
"Then what is?" Sam asks her.
"I don't know." she quietly replies.
"Well we can't have you living with us with no name," Sam tells her.
She remained silent at Sam's reply. Her eyes were staring at the other useless x-rays in front of her. Her mind had been taken over with the idea of death. Death was the only freedom she could receive from Hydra. Perhaps it wouldn't be too bad...
"How about we just call you Angel for the time being?" Sam offers up to her, trying to get her mind back towards their conversation. "Just until we find your real name or you remember. Is that ok with you?"
Angel just nodded mindlessly at him and continued to stare at the wall in front of her.
"Has anyone told Steve yet?" Sam asks them.
The exchange of looks between Bruce and Tony was answer enough to know that they hadn't. Sam sighs and shakes his head at both of them. For being the two smartest guys, they were pretty dumb sometimes.
"I'm assuming if you haven't told Steve, then Bucky doesn't know either."
At the mentioning of Bucky, Angel looked up.
"James," she says to them, liveliness returning to her eyes. "I need to talk to James."
Not a second passed by before Tony crossed his arms and sighed.
"Jarvis," he calls out. "Get me Rogers and Barnes."
They were in the middle of a sparring match when Jarvis informed them of a very urgent meeting that Stark was calling them to. Once Jarvis explained it was because of Angel, who was asking for Bucky to be at her side, did he practically drop everything and immediately run out of the gym with Steve at his heels. Whatever had happened in the mere hour of Bruce's check-up must have been very alarming if they were both being called there by Tony's orders no less.
"What's going on in here?" Bucky asks as he reaches the medical ward and catches sight of Sam, Tony, and Bruce piled into the room. He takes notice of a pale looking Ange and becomes more concerned. "What's wrong?"
"There's a tracking device placed on her arm," Bruce tells him.
"Then take it out of her." Bucky responds quickly.
"Not that easy, Winter." Tony tells him. "The device is wrapped on a major artery. We take that thing out, there's a high chance we can kill her."
"Then disarm it, and leave it in." Steve offers up.
"Apparently we can't do that either," Sam explains to him. "The wires on the artery will just tighten around the artery, cutting of blood circulation."
Bucky was about to take a look at the device for itself before his name is being called elsewhere.
"James..."
He looks up and sees the panic filled eyes of Angel. Bucky pushes past the small crowd of men and stands in front of her, unsure of how to comfort her. She takes it upon herself and just grabs onto his left metal hand, grasping it tightly. This perplexed him as she didn't mind the metallic feel of his fingers. In fact, she seemed more relieved by his cold touch.
"Doll?" Bucky asks, unsure of what to say or do.
Angel couldn't let out any words and instead just leans her head on his chest and begins to cry. Bucky became rigid at this and turned to the rest of the men in the room. Steve was as good with women as he was in the 40's so he was no use. Tony turned away, not aiding him at all. Bruce just looked upset to see her upset and Sam was just mad at him for doing nothing.
"Comfort her!" Sam mouths silently to him.
Bucky just wanted to mouth how but it seemed like Sam was ready to punch him if he remained doing nothing. So Bucky did what he thought was right, he pulled her into an embrace and just slowly patted her back. That seemed to relax her a bit as her sobs became less. She pulled her head away and just wiped off the remaining tears.
"I got your shirt dirty," she mumbles. "I'm sorry."
Bucky couldn't help but chuckle at how she was worried about a simple shirt than the predicament she was in.
"You ok?" he asks her.
"Not really," Angel replies.
"We'll find a way to get that thing out of you." James tells her.
"What about we don't?" Steve answers, causing everyone to turn to him. "What?"
"Are you serious, Steve?" Bucky asks annoyed.
"They already know she's here," Steve states. "What harm will it do?"
"She won't have the liberty to leave the building," Bucky replies.
"She doesn't have the right to do that now," Steve responds. "We still can't trust her with that freedom."
"Steve, what the hell..." Bucky begins to exclaim before Angel grabs his arm and pulls him back. She watched him with alarm and that seemed to snap Bucky back. He didn't want her to see him angry and she didn't want him to be.
"I don't want to die," Angel states looking at everyone in the room, before her eyes return to James. "But I don't want them monitoring me anymore."
"So what can we do?" Sam asks Bruce and Tony. "There must be a way to take that thing out of her without it killing her."
"It's going to take a surgical miracle to get that thing out of her." Tony states. "It's not worth the risk."
"Dr. Banner?" Steve asks next.
"As much as I want to have an answer, I don't." Dr. Banner answers. "Like Tony said, it's going to take a miracle not to kill her."
"Then let's use one of our miracle workers," Bucky states, causing everyone to look at him confused. "Wanda has the ability to move things with her mind. Shouldn't she be able to maneuver some simple device out of her without harming her?"
"Buck..." Steve says warningly, knowing that Wanda wasn't a big fan of Angel, but Bucky ignores him and turns to Dr. Banner and Tony.
"Is that possible?" he asks them.
"It'll take a lot of concentration from her part, but yeah... it should be able to work." Dr. Banner states. Bucky turns to Angel who's looking at him unsure of what just happened.
"We're taking that thing out of you doll," Bucky tells her. "I promise."
Angel just laughed in relief at this and hugged Bucky happily. Bucky embraced her back and glances over at Steve who was shooting daggers at him.
"The problem now is asking Wanda." Steve states, hating to be the bearer of bad news. "Because as you can recall, she's not exactly Team Angel at the moment."
"What does he mean, James?" Angel asks concerned etched on her face once more. Bucky sighed as he glanced away from Steve and looked down at Angel.
"It means I have some begging to do."