Dark heart

Chapter 6

I just got out of the shower and was getting dressed when there was a knock on my door. " Alex, come downstairs we have a meeting," Tony's voice came muffled through the door. I quickly tied my hair into a messy bun before hurrying down the stairs and into the conference room. " Good, we're all here. What's this about Tony?," Steve wanted to know as I dropped into the last available chair. " Fury has identified a new hydra base in northern Italy. As far as we know, they also keep scourges there for their experiments. Probably kids," he said, looking directly at me for the last sentence. It was like all the air was being squeezed out of my lungs. I remembered all too well how they had brought me to such an institution at that time. The dirty cells, the experiments, everything. A single tear came out of the corner of my eye and ran down my cheek but I made no sound.

I brought the emotional chaos of anger and pain that was raging inside me back under control as best I could and listened to the plan of attack. The plan was simple. We split up into two teams. I'd go with Peter and Wanda to free the kids, with Loki and Bucky backing us up. The others took out the enemy agents, buying us the time we needed. We left the conference room after a few hours of planning and set about changing for the mission. My black battlesuit, despite its protective function, was impossibly elastic. It conformed perfectly to my every movement and fit my body like a second protective skin. I took the earplug out of the little box that would allow me to communicate with the others and tied my hair into a tight high ponytail. When I was done I made my way to the Quinjet where most of them were already waiting.

After some time we landed in a clearing of the forest where the base was located. I took a look at Wanda. After all, she was as familiar with the Hydra environment as I was, even though she had voluntarily been with those crazy people. The attack team set out to lure the agents to the front as we approached the rear in a large arc. Bucky walked right next to me and seemed as tense as I was. This would bring back a hell of a lot of memories for both of us. " We get the kids out of here and then we never have to think about those cells again", he whispered to me as he noticed my look. I wasn't sure if this was going to be a cheer-up for me or him, because when we arrived at the metal door of the back door, it wasn't just my muscles that cramped. Bucky also became visibly more restless and clutched his gun tighter.

"Jarvis, scan the interior for heat signatures", I quietly asked the AI, and after a short time, the mechanical voice replied, "No signatures recognizable, Miss Stark. " I glanched at the others and nodded briefly. They understood and we pushed on until we were in a long, dimly lit corridor. I recalled the plan of the floor plan we had been looking at and signified to the others with a close gesture to follow me as I continued into the corridor to our left. Suddenly I took a shadow out of the corner of my eye and shoved Loki, who ran a few steps behind me, just in time for our attacker's bullets to miss him. Instead, they now hit the wall behind us, right at the height of his head. Peter fixed the agent with his spider webets after Bucky took the gun away from him.

My gaze continued to rest on Loki though, who was still looking at me in surprise before I pulled myself back together and took my hands off his chest where I'd been pushing him away. " Thank you," he whispered and I just nodded. That's all I was capable of right then. Loki's sudden proximity had completely thrown me off and I had to get myself together before we continued down the hall until we were in front of a set of metal doors. Each of them had a small hatch through which one could see into the interior of the room behind. A shiver ran through my body and a quick glance over my shoulder was enough to see that Bucky was no different. We, too, had been locked up in just such cells. I pushed away the images of those terrible six years and pushed back the bolt of the first door.

A little girl from the farthest corner of the room looked up at me in fright. She was eight at the most, and my stomach turned around. She was a child, damn it, not a lab rat. Slowly, I walked up to her with my hands raised so that she could see that I didn"t want to hurt her. " It's okay I am here to help you", I explained to her in the little Italian I spoke. She continued to look at me suspiciously, but came running towards me and I led her into the corridor that Loki and Bucky had secured while Peter and Wanda had gone into the rest of the cells. There were only three cells in this one, and as far as we knew there were none else, so we went back out. Loki, Bucky and I went ahead, then the kids came and Wanda and Peter came behind us. But suddenly I heard Nat shouting over the earplug something that got under my skin: "Steve was shot!"

"Alex, we need you here!" she then went on to me directly. " Peter, Bucky, you get the kids to safety. The rest comes with me", I told the others, but Bucky shook his head violently. " It's about Steve!" he protested and looked at me pleading. " And that's why I don't need you there. You are completely elsewhere with your thoughts", I explained gently before I hurryed through the building with Loki and Wanda to get to the others. „How's he doing, Nat?" I wanted to know as we were running towards the main entrance. " There was a shot in the stomach and he's still conscious, albeit slightly. Alex, there's a lot of blood!" she answered and her voice became more and more panicked. I stepped out of an agent who came straight at me and finally reached the main gate. I heard a scream behind me but a look over my shoulder told me it wasn't any of us. Then I finally saw the two of them.