The Experiment ✪

The Hunt

We didn't sleep properly for the next few days, or at least I didn't, I pretended to but all I could do was lie in my bed thinking about everyone out there getting hurt because of us. He was everywhere, his robot army was invading anywhere that could possibly help him in his effort to exterminate us all and people were dying, just like I had said. Not to mention he had recruited the twins. I stuck close to Natasha and stayed away from Tony as much as possible. He hadn't apologised, not that I expected him to but it would have been nice.

Two days into our search for him Tony walked in with a rather gruesome image of Baron Von Strucker dead in his cell with the word 'Peace' written on the wall behind him, in his own blood. I looked away as soon as I saw it.
"Why kill him?"
"He must have had something that we missed." I leaned over Natasha and typed his name into the interface. All of the records had been deleted. So we found ourselves searching through box after box filled with hundreds and hundreds of pages. We looked for known associate. Surprisingly I recognised a few of them, one or two had visited Hydra's base to see what experiments were taking place, others I knew from looking in on meetings or as voices over the phone. Not that it was much help, most of them were dead or in jail. I had been the one to end the lives of two of them. I shoved those files right back into the box and tried not to throw up at the sight of their faces. Tony found someone he recognised, a black market arms dealer that he totally hadn't sold weapons to. There was a brand on his neck, a Wakandan word meaning thief. Apparently Wakanda was important from the way Tony and Steve looked at each other. Bruce was as lost as I was,
"What's so important out of Wakanda?" They moved aside and looked at Steve's shield,
"The only known resource of Vibranium. The strongest metal on earth."
"If Ultron gets his hands on some of that-" I didn't have to finish my sentence.

We were back on the jet in an hour. I had not anticipated anymore day long flights for a long time yet there we were, less than a week after it was all meant to be over. By the time we arrived on the edge of a scrapyard on the African coast they already had a plan in place. No matter how much I pleaded Steve did not budge an inch. I had to stay in the plane, I shouldn't even be there anyway. I made a face but didn't complain, at least I would have Bruce there to keep me company, we had taken up playing card games while we waited. It took our minds off the possibility of them getting hurt. This time though... well it soon became clear that they were in over their heads. I sensed the twins seconds before the comms went quiet,
"They're in trouble Bruce."
"I- no, no you can't go in Freya. No." I groaned and sat down, tapping my fingers against the wall of the jet,
"Can't we just-"
"No. You stay here." He reached up and turned on the comms, "is this a code green?" No reply. Just static. He gave me a concerned look and opened the door. You could hear the gunfire even from this distance. I paused and then put a hand on Bruce,
"Wait somethings happened. Their minds, it's like they're shutting down, going into some kind of memory or something."
"I'm going in. Stay. Here. Do you understand?" I nodded and backed up, closing the door as he changed.

I waited there for a few minutes, fiddling with the strings of my hoodie before I got up and opened the door again. I could see Tony and Ultron in the distance, blasting each other into the rusting hulls of the ships in the scrap yard. The others were nowhere to be seen or heard. Not even Hulk who was usually roaring at the top of his lungs. I turned to go back inside when I felt a tug at the corner of my mind. Bruce. Hulk. Something had happened. Slowly the feeling of some very Hulk related injuries came through, I focused in on it and I very faint blue trail pointed me towards the city. I swore and retreated to the comms,
"Guys? I think Hulk has gone into the city." There was silence and then Tony's voice came in,
"I'm on my way. Stay in the plane Freya."
"But-"
"Stay. There. I swear to god if I see you anywhere near the city you're banned from any future missions until you turn 18."
I didn't listen. Normally I would have but there were innocent people out there who were going to spend a lot more than a few nights in hospital if I didn't help them so I ran and I ran fast. By the time I arrived the streets were filled with terrified people. I found Tony and the Hulk collapsed in the rubble of what had once been a building. As I arrived Hulk began rising up out of the huge chunks of concrete and I didn't think before I threw my hands out and unleashed my power. It exploded on all sides, instinctively healing the people within my vicinity, bones snapped back together, hearts on the verge of stopping pounded back into action and the lacerations caused by falling debris disappeared, only the drying blood left as any sign that anything had been there but the focus of that magic was on Bruce as I strained to reverse the flow of the blood in his veins. He was out like a light after a few seconds and the world went black as I wobbled and then crumpled to the ground.