Past Friends

Part 97: Fire Crystal

You feel yourself drifting in and out of consciousness, as the well-dressed man carried you through corridor after corridor, showing no sign of being tired while carrying you. Not that you were that heavy but the guy moved as if you weighed nothing or if he wasn't even carrying anything at all. You eventually arrived at an elevator, there were guards posted on either side of the doors and they quickly addressed him as Prometheus, saluting him and hailing his greatness. You couldn't help it as you let out a little laugh, thinking about how this guy actually named himself after the Greek Titan of Fire.  

The laugh you let out only lasted for about a second and it wasn't even that loud, considering how exhausted you were but "Prometheus" heard you and wasn't too happy about it. He entered the elevator and dropped you onto the cold hard floor as soon as the doors closed behind him. You felt more awake all of a sudden as you made contact with the floor and you quickly sat up, backing away from him. You pressed yourself up against the wall, remaining quiet, mentally preparing yourself, knowing he would probably punish you for laughing at him. You looked up at him from your spot on the floor, he was taking out a little keycard to swipe and activate the elevator.  

The elevator started moving down very fast, it surprised you and you nearly fell over but you caught yourself and sat back up in a hurry, not wanting to look as weak as you felt. You soon arrived at your floor, the doors open back up and you start to panic a little bit, you were ten levels below the ground floor, which meant you were at least one hundred & forty feet underground. Who knows how deep the facility went or how big it truly was but thinking about it made you even more afraid, not that you let on how you were feeling. Even if by some miracle the Avengers found this place, it was so big, would they find you in time before this Prometheus guy took you away somewhere else?

Prometheus walked over to you, standing directly above you, ordering you to stand up, but you didn't move or even acknowledge him as he spoke. "Come Pyrrha," he commanded, roughly grabbing you by your arm, yanking you along as he walked down the hallway to a large set of doors. "Pyrrha?" you thought, why did he call you that? It wasn't your name, not even close, but you remembered that was the word on the tag hanging from your collar, did it mean pet or something? Or was it your new pet name? You didn't like it and reminded him your name was Y/N before ripping your arm free from his grasp, falling to the floor as a result. 

You retreated from him, crawling backwards for a minute, as you stood up to run away and escape but you didn't get far. Several guards suddenly appeared behind you, pointing their weapons at your head, waiting for permission to fire at you. Prometheus pulled something out of his jacket and you knew what it was right away, as he told you he wished he didn't have to do this. He then hit the button on the little remote, electrocuting you and you fell to your knees in pain, letting out a small shriek as you dropped back to the floor. He then ordered the guards to leave as he picked up your trembling body, carrying you through the large doors at the end of the hallway. 

Somewhere nearby a large glowing portal opened and the Quinjet promptly flew through it, followed shortly by Thor. They were less than an hour from you now, as Doctor Strange opened a portal in the hanger of the Avengers Compound connecting them to the Himalayan Mountains. They were at the edge of the snowstorm and Thor was making quick work to slow it down to an eventual standstill. They zoomed off fully prepared with a plan to save you, the only thing left to worry about was whether or not they were too late. 

Prometheus puts you down on a large platform, attaching your collar to a long, thick chain that was connected to the wall behind you while you try to fight back. You were unsuccessful, so you decided to look around to see if there was anything that would be remotely useful. Your eyes go wide as you spot symbols on the floor and four large columns at the corners of the platform, also covered in weird markings. There was also a smaller pillar in the center of the platform but it was plain, as far as symbols were concerned. You realized they must be part of that "power transfer" thing he mentioned, but you wondered why they wouldn't do the brainwashing first. I mean wouldn't they want you under their control before giving you superpowers or whatever? 

You then hear Prometheus let out a laugh and you realized you questioned the whole brainwashing thing out loud, becoming a bit more anxious in the process as his laugh was downright creepy. You then see him come closer and you back away from him but he grabbed your chain, keeping you from pulling away any further, before yanking you towards him. You hear him whisper how truly fascinating you were before he takes hold of the back of your head and both of your wrists, forcing another kiss on you but thankfully, he didn't bite you this time. "Most people would just scream and cry, beg for their life, or ask why I'm doing this, but you, my sweet Pyrrha, question why I didn't brainwash you first," he said completely amused. He then told you if he could brainwash you first, he would have done so already but he couldn't, yet, explaining that the fire crystal didn't work that way. 

"Fire Crystal?" you questioned but you immediately realized as soon as the words left your mouth what this transfer process would most likely do; you'd be able to use fire like those other guys who killed the Beetle and you'd probably be trained to fight and kill the Avengers. You didn't realize that you were thinking out loud again and Prometheus praised you for being so smart, petting you gently as he explained further; how he would personally train you, how you would stand by his side, his second in command as you led his army against the Avengers. It would be so beautiful, watching the Avengers as they no doubt try to convince you that you were their friend. How you would trick them, ask for their help to "break free" and when they're most vulnerable, as they dropped their guard to help you, you would kill them.  

The large doors opened again and several guards escorted a large chest over to the platform, it was unmistakably holding this Fire Crystal they were talking about. You became frantic, trying to break free, refusing to take part in such a horrific plan, how you would die first before betraying the Avengers, before betraying your family. This is however what he wanted, the more fired up you were, the better and stronger the transfer would be, giving power to your inner fire required a strong, determined will. Two of the guards pulled you back, locking you in place as the others loaded the crystal onto the small pillar in the center, while you could do nothing to stop what was happening.  

The symbols all around you started to glow and you could sense the heat and power of the fire crystal from behind as the process began. You were facing away from it but somehow you could see and feel the Fire Crystal in your mind, the connection only growing stronger as the seconds ticked by. A guard soon entered to alert Prometheus that the Avengers were at their door, fighting their way in, they somehow knew you were here. Once the spell was started it couldn't be stopped, but Prometheus wasn't worried, the spell would be over and they would be long gone by the time any of the Avengers found this room. He demanded that in the meantime all the guards will go and deal with them, while the few dozen members of his fire army, would get prepared to depart on B Level 13.