『ᴀʀᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇʟ || ᴀ ᴍᴀʀᴠᴇʟ ꜰᴀɴꜰɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ

Ch. 30: Not Yours

at the tower

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Tony had his feet kicked up on a chair, flicking a goldfish into his mouth as Bruce watched the live video of Nicole. He groaned, which caused the scientist to bat an eye at the engineer, "Come on, she'll be fine. Stop worrying."

"I'm not worrying," Bruce lied, turning his attention back towards the screen, "Just analyzing what's happening."

Tony sighed, sitting up completely as he turned his full attention on Bruce, "Look, Sagacity is fine. Yes, she is irresponsible and can talk back - she gets it from me - but she can also kick ass. She's fine."

Bruce frowned at the older man, shacking his head as he turned his attention back to the screen, "Anything can happen. Things were going well on the helicarrier before Loki's... henchmen attacked and things went terribly wrong. I'm just supervising everything."

"Stop being a dad," Tony grumbled, tossing another goldfish in the air before missing it, watching it fall to the floor. He pouted, then tossed another one, successfully catching it, "It's like your spying on her personal life-"

"Tony."

He turned his head to look at him, opening his mouth to retort before Bruce just pointed at the screen. The billionaire saw worry take over his gaze, and he huffed, turning to look at the screen. What he saw brought back memories.

A man with a scar on his face was kneeling in front of Nicole's visor, holding a brown bag in his hand as she was hefted up into a sitting position, and he leaned down to face her entirely. A sickening, yellow tooth grin took over his face, "Sweet dreams, Experiment 42."

The bag covered the visor, everything turning black. Tony and Bruce exchanged a glance, before nodding, "Yeah. Anything can happen."

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with nicole

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I groaned, moving my head around as a headache came on. I opened my eyes slowly, trying to move my hands to put them on my forehead.

The sound of metal caught my attention, and I flicked my eyes towards my hands. There were restrained to the chair, a metal cuff keeping them in place. I tore at them, trying to rip my hands free from the hold.

I kicked - at least tried to - my legs forward, gritting my teeth at the feeling of metal against my ankles. I looked around the room that I was restrained in, my eyes scanning each detail I could see.

No chair were in the room, and it was old and dirty. Didn't even seem like anyone washed it in a while.

Machines clung to the side of the walls, some stale with crimson blood. The equipment wasn't even sterilized as the smell of mold and diseases wafted throughout the room.

My stomach instantly started to disagree with the conditions set for me in the environment, and I craned my head around, looking for anything that could get me free.

When my eyes landed on the wall behind me, my stomach dropped. Fear sunk in as I stared at the machine.

"I hate having to do this to you 42, but you never learn."

"I know better- your fucking tricks won't work on me-"

"Turn it on. Max voltage."

I let out a shaky breath, my eyes focused on the torture machine. The memory coming back made me feel nauseous.

I was back. I was back at the very place I didn't want to be. Painful memories were buried here, manipulated and put into submission by Samuel's twisted abilities. An itchy feeling came over my whole body, painfully at my neck.