Unsteady

Chapter One: Pilot

There was no absolute trace of her body.  The security cameras around the vicinity of the cemetery showed no sign of forced entry. A hole just appeared out of nowhere, showing an empty casket.

Tony Stark and the rest of SHIELD's best and brightest took it upon themselves to do as much digging as they can, hoping to find something that could potentially lead them to her body's whereabouts.

The billionaire couldn't let the rest of his team know of this issue. They are all out of reach. It's probably a blessing in disguise considering that she's still dead. He knows that keeping this under wraps is what's best for the time being.

Days passed by, neither party found anything. The brunette's body disappeared into thin air with no trace. With little to no clue, no one knew how to even begin looking for her. But, it didn't stop them. Despite the never ending dead ends, Stark didn't stop his search. It only fueled his fire stronger. He's determined to find her body one way or another.

"Jarvis, show the last security footage on the screen." Stark commands his artificial intelligence.

"Right away Mr. Stark." Jarvis obliged, its robotic voice evading the silence space of the conference room.

The philanthropist watches the footage intently. The video shows Raven's grave untouched until five seconds later when a bright, blinding light hindered the camera from showing anything. After the light faded away, a gaping hole was shown. The feed didn't pick up any audio, rendering this tape useless.

"Jarvis, play it frame by frame."

"On it."

The feed pops up on the screen once again. It shows a picture of every second of the video. Tony zooms in further, examining every corner of every picture, hoping to find something.

"Stop right there."

The frame stops immediately. The billionaire squints his eyes, evaluating a blurry object of some sort.

"Lower down the brightness and focus on the contrast."

Jarvis follows his demand, doing it in a matter of seconds. The picture is now clearer. It's no object.

"What does that look like to you, Jarvis?"

"Sir, it appears to be the wing of a plane."

"That's what I presume it was." Tony mumbled under his breath, clicking on his pen multiple times. "Send this to Fury immediately."

"Right away sir."

The AI complies, sending the new image to the man in charge of SHIELD. Stark wasted no time and continued to work harder than before, falling into the abyss of his own research.

He's determined to find her one way or another.

—

Through the looking glass of the control booth, the two mysterious individuals remained focused on the computer screen. They think of their next move, waiting for the alert to pop up on their screen. The anticipation and endless tests were giving them chills. They couldn't wait any longer. They almost ran out of time but luckily, they were able to retrieve the body.

Weeks have passed by, seemingly enough their datas have changed. All of their theories were shot down the second they ran an extensive scan on her body. No heartbeat. She is pronounced dead. They already knew that. But this didn't stop them from doing more tests and research. Even though they already have an understanding of everything there is to know about her, they still couldn't help themselves. They got her back and that's all they want. Despite the failed mission they sent her down there for, they will stop at nothing to attain what they want.

"Download is complete." The man uttered quietly, turning his attention to the woman beside her. "These are all the data we are able to retrieve from her brain waves and capacity."

"Good, load them up right now so we can take a further look." The woman instructed sternly. The man follows, taking no longer than a second before her memories invade their screen.

They look for something specific. Her memories started from the most recent one she attained up until the moment they sent her down for the job. Most of her memories consisted of her former teammates. All of the things she did with them filled the computer screen. It was in the form of video, like a camera filming every significant memory Raven had cherished.

They scroll further into her brain activities, seeing nothing but memories of  Wanda Maximoff. It filled her entire brain, to its full capacity. It's very evident to the two that Raven had grown a liking to the woman that made a home in the deepest part of her brain. The two unknown figures watch it all unfold. Every word, every event, and every memory.

As they dig further into the life she had created on Earth, they watch her create memories of the family they had chosen for her. They move past it and dive deep into her memories. The ones that she had forgotten but remained etched in her brain.

Just as they were losing hope, the keyword to their search matched something.

"There it is." The man said excitedly as he gawked his eyes toward the screen. "Woods was able to find the stone."

"Indeed she has." The woman furrowed her eyebrows in thought. "I knew from the moment I chose her that she would be the one to lead us to the final piece of our puzzle."

"What's the next step?"

"Start by deleting some of the unnecessary memories she created. Leave the memory of her Earth family and the stone. Everything else, get rid of it."

"On it, Ma'am."

The man followed her orders, starting the process. He inputs an extensive code into the computer before he begins to handpick the memories he will be getting rid of. It took him roughly fifteen minutes until he was down to its last leg.

The last memories consisted of  Wanda Maximoff. Most of her significant and life changing recollections are about her. It's not rocket science to know that whoever this person was to Raven, she's important.

The man dragged each and every memory the brunette ever created with Wanda. He shoved everything into a corner, inputting the code that he used to delete everything else. The code gave him a time of estimation on when everything will be deleted.

2 minutes and 34 seconds.

As seconds wash away, the memories that Raven held on for so long slowly start to deteriorate into the air, deleting itself from existence until they were no more. No recollection of her former teammate and her lover is found in her brain.

"It's completed." The man informed the woman who remained her eyes toward the glass, overlooking Raven's lifeless body.

"Begin the final phase." The chilling woman commanded before disappearing into the void of the room.

The man followed her instructions, no questions asked. He took his time, making sure he is doing everything correctly. Despite having done this before, he still wants to be careful with every code he input because one error could potentially destroy all of their plans. Everything has to be perfect and up to standards.

After numerous hours of typing his life away into the computer, he's complete. The woman came back from wherever she went.

"It's complete, Madam Orpheus." The man exhaled loudly as he leaned his chair back.

As the code started to ride its way to its final destination, an alert came up on the screen.

Subject 13, Raven Amelia Woods have successfully been restored.

—-

A/N: Welcome back everyone! This is the beginning of book 2. I know this chapter seems really short but I have a bright future for this book.

It's about to get crazy up in here