Not this shit again
Ava sat on one of the many office chairs placed haphazardly around the lab as the rest discussed what Ultron had done and what he could do. She healed Rhodey’s shoulder easily, it had just been dislocated so she made sure the ligaments and tendons were okay, and after Maria had gotten all the glass out of her foot she healed the small cuts. Everyone else was bruised but fine and refused to have such insignificant wounds healed. So she sat, trying to wrap her head around what had just happened.
Her attention was caught as Thor stomped in picking Tony up by the throat, Steve intervened and the god thrust him away. Whatever was said next didn’t reach Ava’s ears, she was back in Sokovia with the doctor testing how her body reacted to asphyxiation. She shuddered at the ghostly hand around her neck keeping her lungs screaming for air.
Clint noticed her change in demeanor, her tensing and her breathing becoming quicker and shallow. As the others focused on Tony he came down the stairs to kneel in front of her.
He spoke quietly, “Ava, you need to focus. You’re at the tower,” he counted and breathed with her until she calmed some and her eyes refocused on him. He sent a scowl to the still arguing group, helping Ava up and getting her to her room.
He stayed for a moment watching the girl from her door as she lay in bed staring at the wall, she was so much different from the person he originally found in D.C. She had been much more lively, now he could see all her demons swirling in her head. Clint couldn’t help the guilt that arose, he’d been the one to convince her to heal Fury, dragging her into this life. He sighed and shut the door going back down to the team to help figure out this whole mess.
The next morning the team began to riffle through boxes of old Shield files for anything they had on Strucker, or really any leads at all. With Tony’s social prowess they were able to find a man that could be harboring Vibranium. So they all set of to the African coast.
The Quinjet landed far enough away from the salvage yard that it couldn’t be seen easily. Bruce and Ava stayed on board as the rest snuck to the boats. The two listened through the comms, hopeful that everything was going to go smoothly, Ava stiffened when two voices with familiar accented lilts came through. The brunet woman and silvery-haired man were with Ultron. Without much warning all hell broke loose, as soon as it did the comms went to static.
Bruce tried to reach them, “Guys, is this a code green?”
All they heard back was garbled static. They exchanged a concerned look before Bruce opened the Quinjet’s bay door. Only distant gun shots reached them as all the fighting was inside the ship.
Bruce stepped out farther to decipher if they needed his, well, the other guy’s help. Ava was about to follow but a streak of silver caught her eye. She squinted, trying to figure out where it came from. She opened her mouth to call Bruce but was cut off as the man and woman appeared next to him.
Red whips of something came from the girl’s hands and dissolved into Bruce’s skull. He fell the the ground clutching his head as his body convulsed, growing in size and turning green. The two disappeared again as he fully turned into the Hulk, he bellowed and ran. His anger flowing freely.
“So, you are an Avenger now?”
Ava jumped, the two where back again, this time at the entrance of the Quinjet walking towards her. She laughed nervously at the man’s question, backing up, “No, still technically not.”
The two looked to each other, silently discussing something.
“You chose the wrong team,” the woman stepped forward.
“Yeah, cause a crazy nazi group and a delusional robot are so much better.” Ava chastised herself, now was not the time for snarky comebacks.
The man flashed closer to her, a streak of silver connecting him to his previous spot, she yelped and fell back, “You still have a choice if you are not with them.” He paused, his cold stare giving way, for only a moment, to soft blue. “Come with us,” he held out his hand.
Ava stared at it, “And if I don’t?”
The brunet’s eyes flashed red, “Then I show you your greatest fear.”
Ava looked between the two for a moment before letting out a humorless laugh, “I see and feel that about every night.” She fixes them with a hard glare, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in a morgue, after you’ve gone through an autopsy?” Her voice rose as she continued, “Or being strapped down for weeks being used as a fucking lab rat that can’t die!”
She didn’t exactly know where the burst of anger came from, but the boldness that came with it stunned the two. Their doubt beginning to show through. Before they could do anything one of Ultron’s robots landed at the entrance of the Quinjet.
“What are you waiting for? She’d chosen their side, Stark’s side.”
They turned back to her, with slightly less doubt, the woman raising her hands.
Ava sneered, covering her fear, “Just do it already.”
Red energy engulfer her head and she was gone, back to a place that haunted her every waking moment.
Pietro looked away from the girl writhing on the floor in pain. He remembered that they had heard her cries in the base long before they ever saw her. At first they ignored it, thinking it was another volunteer, that was until Wanda sensed that she wasn’t willingly there. Which was when they decided to see what was going on in the room they were told to stay away from.
They walked in as she fell over dead as the agent she’d healed gasped, coming back to life. Wanda sent a surge of energy into the girl to start her heart again. The doctor pulled them away franticly trying to explain what he was doing, but they weren’t listening they were watching the girl. Her eyes were franticly moving around, her breaths were shaky and rough. When her eyes landed on them, she gaze held nothing but terror. She turned away more aware of where she was, trying to calm herself.
Strucker burst in absolutely livid that they were in there, he ushered them out as he explained that the girl was an Avenger. She didn’t look like any they’d seen, or even that strong, so they decided to sneak in later to question her.
Her demeanor or completely different with them, now there was a fire behind her eyes, a will to fight even after weeks of whatever the doctor had been doing. Her unwillingness to answer directly was wearing on their already frayed nerves, and before they could get anything else from her Wanda sensed someone coming and Pietro got them out of there, leaving with more questions than answers. Then, when they saw one of the Avengers flying her away from the base the next day, they were conflicted with a sense of relief.
Now looking at her curled up on the Quinjet’s floor, the same unbridled terror in her eyes, they questioned what they were doing. Although, it wasn’t the time to dwell on it, they’d finished the plan and it was time to return to Sokovia.
Pietro sent one last glance over his shoulder to her, he knew she was lost in her vision, but her eyes peered through him piercing his soul. He shook it off and picked up Wanda running back to their home.