(𝟮.𝟮) 𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐄𝐃𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒 ➣ {𝕪•𝕓} ❘ [𝖇𝖑𝖆𝖈𝕶𝖜𝖎𝖉𝖔𝖜 𝖝 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗]

🗡𝔢𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱 ❘ 𝑺𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒔

📍ABANDONED FACTORY BEHIND HUDSON RIVER RAILROAD

"Ow, ow!" Y/N winced in pain, gripping the armrest of the chair as the laceration on her arm was being stitched up, "Happy!"

"I thought you had super strength, from the super-soldier serum," he adjusted his glasses, poking out his tongue as he furrowed his eyebrows in concentration, "Like your superhero buddies."

"No, I don't," she cleaned the small cuts on her face with a mirror and alcoholic swab, "The serum I was injected with, didn't have any super strength."

"There," Happy heaved a breathe after he finished tending to her wound, "Almost done, Y/N. It's just gonna hurt a little bit," he soothed her.

"I am forever in the debt of the 'Forehead of Security," Y/N placed a hand on her heart in mock sincerity.

Happy glared at her, "Again, that was a private conversation!"

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay! Okay!" she squirmed when he pierced the needle harshly into her forearm, "Sorry! Did you get my stuff like I asked from the compound?"

"Right there," he pointed at the duffel bag at the far-end corner of the room.

"My drinks?"

"That too," he removed his glasses as he was done with the stitching part, "It should be good enough," he lightly patted the gauze-covered area of her arm.

"Happy, don't tell Tony about any of this, alright?" Y/N glanced at him, rolling the shoulder of her unharmed arm to relieve some stress, "I don't want him to be a part of this drama."

"Are you crazy?!" Happy looked bewildered, "Because that was crazy!" he referred to the car chase he had been a part of, "And Tony'll kill me if he finds out I've been keeping this from him!"

"Look, I have no idea what the shit is going on," she stood up from her chair with wide eyes, "But I'm gonna figure it out. Till then, I need your word."

"Fine," he accepted begrudgingly, after a few seconds of contemplating in silence, "But you better be careful."

☆°。• *₊°。✮。• *₊°。°☆

Shortly after, Happy departed the factory that Y/N was currently taking cover in, with a promise that she would stay safe, and that she wouldn't do anything that Tony would, which made her roll her eyes.

Now, Y/N was pacing back and forth, fiddling with the mysterious Rubik's cube in her hand, deep in thought.

"You think whoever attacked me in my apartment was after this?" Y/N asked her AI. It had now transformed back into her regular glasses from the 'Recluse Sling'.

"There are chances," DAVID responded, "But they seemed keener in taking you out, rather than look for the cube."

"Perhaps you should try solving the Rubik's cube, it might lead to the name of a location."

"I don't have time and patience for that," she brushed her hair behind a shoulder, "What if I dismantle it?"

"It will cause an implosion within 15 seconds, reducing everything in its surroundings to rubble in a 5-mile radius. I presume the outer covering of the cube is made of and rare man-made alloy called Adamantium. The inner vacant space of the cube is occupied by a gas called Hexacin."

"Hexacin?" Y/N blinked in surprise, "But I developed that. I developed that gas. How could anyone get hold of it? How did my storage unit even get invaded in the first place?"

"Earlier today, Thaddeus Ross raided your secret laboratory, in the name of the government. Do you recall that?"

"Oh god," She sighed in realization, "There's a chance that there might have been a leak through that point. My hatred for him just keeps growing."

"I believe people are trying to frame you for the mistakes that you committed in the past. In the name of vengeance."

"This is a great time to do that," she chuckled humourlessly with a shake of her head,  "DAVID, will VOCs be able to cancel out Hexacin?"

VOCs were the chemicals present in aerosols, air fresheners, and perfumes. They are organic compounds emitted from a certain solid or gas.

"There is a 75% rate of accomplishment."

"And the rest 15%?"

"A small amount of gas may remain unaffected, and might trigger the cells of your amygdala, in turn making you live—"

"—My greatest fear," Y/N completed, rubbing her eyes in frustration.

"Precisely."

"Yeah, I've been down that road before," she grimaced at the mere thought of it, "Did not enjoy that trip."

"Ms. Dmitri, I believe Ms. Sanchez and Mr. Parker's suits are emitting distress signals. Drowning, to be specific."

"What?!" she dropped the Rubik's cube in her hand to the floor with a clatter.

Holographic footage of Peter and Joanna flinging their legs about in the water popped up as the masks of their super-suits covered the front of their faces. Both of them were letting out suffocated grunts and gasps, that barely managed to be loud enough.

"Incoming call from Mr. Stark,"  DAVID announced.

"Put him through."

"Y/N," Tony started, "Did you—"

"Yeah," she sat on a nearby chair in front of her laptop and zoomed on the holographic location that popped up in the middle of the room, "I'm one step ahead of you, Tones. Keep up."

She tapped a few keys on the laptop, instantly connecting to Cheryl, the counterpart of the Hulkbuster suit, and watched it travel on air to a bridge in the heart of Queens.

☆°。• *₊°。✮。• *₊°。°☆