Freedom | Avengers Story

Part 16

"Freedom? Wake up, love." I hear a muffled voice enter my ears. When my head awakens, I peel my eyes open to find the Avengers surrounding me like hunters to their prey.

I'm lying on a soft couch as Natasha pats a wet towel against my forehead, and I feel small droplets roll down my temples and behind my ears.

I remember what happened, and I have the urge to march out of this room without saying anything. Just to leave them in their own guilt and misery. That's all I want.

"Move." I say, breaking through the crowd with my weak and sore arms. I bend my elbows and push them away as far as I can from me, and I bring myself up. As I stand, my head spins, the room circling around me.

When I regain my composure, I walk round the couch and to the elevator, not saying a single word.

"Freedom, hear us out." I hear Steve, but I continue walking, drowning out the protests of the people behind me.

I'm close to the elevator, however, I stop involuntarily, feeling my arms and legs stick together like honey. I peer down and see red energy fly around me body, the familiar, cool breeze brushing against the hairs on my skin.

"We're speaking to you, Freedom." Wanda growls, her voice husky.

She forces me to turn and face the group, who express disappointment and remorse.

Wanda lets me go, and Natasha approaches me.

"Sam had to knock you out because you lost your mind. You went frantic and trashed the lab." She explains. I scan my surroundings, and find many valuable-looking objects cracked or smashed into tiny, fragile pieces on the ground. Puddles of unknown liquid spill in random and hazardous areas, the bars of light hang lifeless from the ceiling, a deafening squeak sounding as they swing in the chilling wind.

I have made a right mess of the place.

-"Can you blame me for being at fault, here? You scoundrels betrayed me. May the Gods send your sinful souls to-"

"My God, can you hear us out for just a second, pigeon?!" Tony commands, the volume of his voice increasing.

Pigeon? This insolent being...

His tone silences me, and I shut my mouth and give them a chance to speak.

-"What we injected in you is a metallic mixture that spreads out in the muscles of your arms, and hardens to become blades."

His explanation is still far from being reassuring.

I shake my head, indicating my misunderstanding.

Tony sighs, and walks towards me and stopping himself at a fair distance.

"Whatever. I need to see if this works anyway. Just, copy my actions." He tells me.

"Okay?" I confirm uneasily.

I watch as he bends his arms at the elbows and pulls his fists into his chest. Then he suddenly throws them out, straighten his arms with a right force. The palms of his hands face outwards and his fingers curl slightly. It looks like he's holding something.

As told, I follow his action. I pull my hands into my chest, and throw them out with a swift move.

Suddenly, I flinch, feeling a weight slide down my arm and a sharp, slick, metallic sound fills our ears. I then feel a comfortable grip on a handle.

My eyes widen, and I force myself to looking down at my hands. They possess sharpened, glistening, silver blades, with a slight, smooth curve at the top and a sharp tip, pointy enough to penetrate through a thousand trees. They are the same length as from the bend of my veiny elbow to the tips of my pale fingers, and I flip them to see the bottom. Still the same simplicity, however, the sleek and shininess, I really admire the look of.

"Now do you trust us?" Bruce shakily asks, doing his habit of timidly rubbing his hands together.

Do I trust them? I could never know. They could be using me as a pawn to fight some bandit they're after. However, they did take into account the fact that I can't fight. These blades give me only a little bit of leeway since I'm terrible at hand-to-hand combat. I'll give it to them. These are beautiful blades.

"I'm sorry." I apologise, feeling pity for putting the group into such chaos because of my panic.

-"These are really beautiful. Thank you, Tony. Bruce."

I nod gratefully at them both, and they sigh, giving in to my thankfulness.

"Okay, now do this to put them back in." Tony says. His posture and position mirrors mine and I watch him with a close eye. His fingers open to full size, his bones protruding as his palms face me. I copy his action, and I'm thrown slightly off balance as the blades immediately slide back into my arms. I feel the weight and stiffness of them again. I look down at my arms and find a single, thin line running across my wrists. That must be where the blades come in and out.

I'm so impressed. I have never come across anything this phenomenal at Olympus. The way things work around here, it's so advance and way beyond my time.

"Wow..." I drift in awe, a smile growing on my face. I cannot contain my excitement. This is just so magnificent.

"I know." Tony giggles confidently, his arms folded against his ribs in tenacity. I can't believe how proud he looks, he is practically a laughing stalk in the room.

I play around with the blades a bit, mimicking fighting movements, pretending to slash the Avengers and other ungodly, insensible actions I could do.

"These are brilliant! Even if I'm unable to get the hang of hand-to-hand combat, I could use these!" I exclaim, opening my hands. The blades slip back in, however, I scan my hands from back to front.

I need to keep them on the low. If Ares finds out I have such a weapon, he'll fight against it, and maybe even use them against me. I need to use them to my advantage as much as possible while he doesn't know about them yet.

But how?