Vertigo: Hydra's Greatest Weapon

Chapter 24

Four weeks later, I'm getting my cast off.

I wake up with my alarm, around 7 in the morning. Being an Avenger, I've gotten myself on a pretty amazing sleep schedule. One of the pros of living here: I'm forced to live healthier than I used to. I'm getting into much better shape and I'm proud of my body.

Everyone should be starting their day if they haven't already. Steve's always the first one up. He's usually attacking a punching bag no matter how early in the morning it is. Before I do anything else, I head straight to the med bay to meet Bruce. I'm getting my cast off today.

"Good morning, Callie," Bruce smiles when I walk in. "Ready to get that cast off?"

"More ready than I have ever been in my life."

He gestures to the seat. He pulls up the side table when I'm sitting and I rest my arm in its cast on it. He puts his glasses on and grabs some tools from multiple drawers and cabinets. Starting with a cast saw, he carefully cuts the outmost layer of the black cast. It feels like the blood is finally flowing through my arm's veins again. The pressure is finally gone. Now left in the cloth, he uses his scissors to free my arm.

"How does it feel?" Bruce asks as he's throwing out my cast.

"Sore."

"Can you move your fingers?"

"Um." I try to move my fingers but they only twitch. "I mean, sorta?"

"Well, it's normal to have an immobilized time after getting the cast off. You'll be back to normal in no time. If things seem to get worse, we'll see about physical therapy."

The whole walk back to my room, I try to wiggle my fingers but all I get is slight twitching.

-

After a couple of weeks, my hand finally has most of its movement back. Bruce has been working with me to get it back. I've been visiting him a couple of times every week for brief physical therapy. It definitely paid off and just in time.

"Agent Atwood, you're needed in the conference room," FRIDAY informs me over the coms in my room.

"Callie, glad you could make it. Everyone else will be here momentarily," Steve greets me as I walk in.

I take my seat and less than five minutes later, the rest of the team is filing in.

"I'll just cut right to it. We have a mission," Steve informs us. "Now that we have all abled bodies here, let's jump into it." He turns to Tony who stands next to him.

Tony turns on a holographic image of some sort of technology. "I swear Hydra never gets tired of doing annoying shit," he starts. "What you're seeing is unknown technology that Hydra has created. We don't know much about it but we do know that it's dangerous."

"Unfortunately for us, this tech is being held in Surgut, Russia. This just means we need to leave as soon as possible. I'll give the rundown on the jet. Avengers, suit up," Steve finishes and we all file out of the room to get ready.

In my room, I instantly go into my closet and pull out my bodysuit.

"Because we don't know much about this tech, it is imperative that we stay vigilant at all times," Steve says once we're on our way to Russia. "I want the fliers in the sky. You guys will be our eyes up above, tell us where the danger is. On the ground, I want Barton and Maximoff in the back. You wait on my order. Bucky, you're with me on the east side. Romanoff and Atwood will take the west side of the facility. As soon as we land, everyone to their positions and awaits orders. I doubt this will be a simple in and out but we're going to try."