Are You In or Are You Out?

Part 14

AN: all mistakes are my own.

Chapter 14

The tall man at her back grabbed her arm roughly, by the bicep and she couldn't shake him off, her head whipping to the beast for help, then her mother, then Steve, lastly Bucky but none of them moved to her aid, they just starred forward into nothing. He jerked her and her attention went back to him. "Comply." And with that he flung her at the darkened shadows, into the abyss of black that was on the other side.

Screaming she fell, hitting nothing, touching nothing and hearing nothing, but low growling and air whooshing past her ears.-]]

Emma screamed as she jerked awake on her bed and started to take some really big deep breaths, trying hard to come back to reality. She attempted to get up off the bed. Her body wouldn't cooperate, and her legs gave out as soon as they hit the floor, knees buckling colliding with the hard surface underneath her. Pressing her face into the covers of her bed she held her head. The pain was unimaginable, the noise was horrible, screaming and growling, claws scraping and teeth gnashing together. She knew she had to find Maria, she knew she had to warn her not to let the team come back to the compound while she was loose because, she knew everything now. Just like that, she knew every scrap of her life and what had happened to her as well as what was meant to happen next. The beast was holding it off, trying to give her time to get help, but time was running out and the beast was losing the battle of keeping the shadows at bay. She sobbed, it had known all along, but somehow couldn't let her know, she was one with it now and she sent it a silent 'thank you'.

Emma, though her name wasn't Emma, and she knew that now, found her feet and she moved with as much pace as she could manage towards the elevator at the end of the hall. Normally she would use the stairs, but she didn't have the time or the strength. The elevator went up after she found the right button and she used the walls to propel her toward the observation office on the top floor.

It was empty. "Fuck!" She collapsed as she entered the room and knelt in front of Maria computer looking at the security screen to see if she could spot her, but she couldn't. She saw the blue folder that Maria had given her the day before and opened it, using the permanent marker to her left to write across the photo of Strucker inside the front cover. She tried to get up, accidentally tipped the file on the floor, papers strewn everywhere and stood on shaky legs. Her phone was in her back pocket and she got it out groaning at the pain in her mind as she tried to focus on the names until she found Maria's. She knew she had only seconds to spare as she fell to her knees again noticing the gun holstered to the under surface of the desk in front of her.

Maria had left the obs office to meet Fury's helicopter that was arriving on the main outside area of the compound. She had received word from Tony that Nat had been rescued, Sokovia was safe and that the team was relatively ok. Steve, Nat and Tony were helping shield agents with an evacuation aftermath, Clint was receiving medical treatment and Bruce was apparently having a time out on an aircraft carrier, refusing to talk to anyone like a stubborn child. Or those were the words that Natasha had apparently used. Fury was coming back to see her, and Bucky and Sam had snagged a lift with him in the helicopter. The others would be back in another couple of hours.

She walked out to the helipad and stood on the edge, smiling as she could hear the chopper in the distance. She hadn't had time to brief Emma on what the last few hours had held for the team, Steve and Tony had been insistent that they keep her out of the loop to stop her from panicking, but she would talk to her soon. As the chopper came into view, a spec on the horizon her phone rang and it was Emma, she answered and smiled. "Hey don't panic, I'm..."

"Where are...you?"

"Emma are you ok, you sound hurt?!"

"No, not my name. Maria you have to get Steve, tell them to keep away, it's not...oh god, it's not protecting me, its protecting Bucky. Please..."