watch your back

chapter 14

the dripping sound was driving me crazy. i didn't know for how long i was already sitting in here, but the water dripping from the pipes behind me was going to drive me insane. it was always three seconds, then plop. i had counted it: one mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi, plop.
"hey can you maybe turn that off?", i yelled at the guards standing in front of the door. i could only see the edges of their faces through a small, dirty glass window, and they both didn't react.
"or let me out of here, by chance?"
plop.
"i'm getting a little hungry, you know. and the water reminds me that i actually have to pee quite badly."
no reaction.
plop.
"i really have to pee!", i had gotten very loud by now, not expecting an answer and just yelling out of spite, when suddenly the door swung open and a tall, dark figure appeared. it was him.
his sparse blonde hair was slicked back as always, a wide grin on his thin lips, showing all his perfectly white teeth. he was wearing a black trench coat, a black turtleneck, black cuffed jeans and black boots.
very original style, that man, i thought scornfully.
when i looked up at his face, i saw the familiar scar, that went over his left eye, right through the eyebrow, giving it a slit. his ice-blue eyes and pale skin created a perfectly scary contrast to his clothes and as soon as i saw him, anger rose up inside of me like a newborn force, an energy, yearning to be used up.
i stared at him, grimly, my body growing hot with rage.
"missed me much?", he asked, unnaturally jovial, as he mostly was.
i didn't reply, i just clenched my jaw. i had learned over the years that i couldn't give him anything, he'd just use it against me in some guileful way.
"i suppose you did. i'm a very missable person.", he was now strolling through the room, looking around in it as if it were an art gallery and not some disgusting basement with moldy walls.
"let me go, malum.", i now said, speaking slowly so i could restrain myself.
he spun around, acting overly surprised.
"now why would i do that? i just got you back! don't be silly, darling.", his voice was oblivious and his eyebrows raised so high, it didn't seem humanly anymore. the way he was talking drove me crazy. this man was so good at pretending he didn't know what was going on. didn't have every detail planned out.
i looked to the side and bit my lip. i should've just kept my mouth shut. he was having way too much fun with this.
"untie her.", malum said to the guards, at once sounding much more serious and commanding than he ever did with me or the other kids.
one of the guards rushed over to me, cutting open my bonds, and i rubbed my wrists as soon as they were free. all this tying up would make the abrasions scar one day.
"you're going to be very glad you're here, just wait and see.", malum said, not facing me but rather the door, his chest boasted as if he was trying to cover something up with this fake confidence.
i followed him out the small, smelly room and we entered a hallway with grayish walls. when i passed the guards i threw them my best "fuck-you" look, then i followed malum. the hallway had many more doors like mine and i suspected there were similar rooms behind them. there were guards positioned everywhere, dressed in black and red, their faces covered with a black mask. their uniforms reminded me a little of the ones the
guardians in the mansion always wore and it gave me a pretty bad premonition. goosebumps crawled up my back when i imagined what malum was about to show me. it was the anxiety he had induced into me over years and years and now he could rely on it like a loyal dog. i didn't see any way to escape from this place, but i also couldn't tell if i had really tried. fear was slowly freezing me, from the inside out. if there was one thing that this man had really taught me then it was how to give up. how to let the fear control you. how to follow. the short time i had been without his supervision, with the avengers, i'd felt strange. misplaced. but right here, i felt a twisted comfort. it was just the amount of miserableness and angst that i needed.

we reached the end of the hallway and stood in front of a heavy metal door. before he opened it, malum turned his head to look at me and gave me a little smirk. i clenched my fists, getting ready for whatever was about to happen. the doors creaked open and revealed a huge cellar vault. it was hard to grasp everything that was going on, but the first thing i caught sight of was the huge platform in the middle of it with a throne on it. there was a giant chandelier above. around the platform were guards placed in a very orderly manner. people were hurrying around, carrying big boxes, chattering trivially. the walls were painted in a pretty beige, an unusual contrast to the hallway. there were fine gold ornaments at the ceiling and all in all it looked like we'd been set back a couple of hundred years, finding ourselves in the basement of louis the 14th. if it weren't for the huge throne and the peoples clothes, i might've really believed malum made that possible.
we were making our way through the hall, the people always going quiet and bowing when we passed them. i swallowed hard, trying not to let the sickness in my stomach win.
we walked to the platform, all the stairs up to the throne and i could see how malum was in his element here. that he loved this. the attention, the subservience. we reached the very top and next to the huge, black throne that was supposed to look like tree branches intertwining, were, left and right, two smaller ones, made out of brown branches. my eyes widened. two, i thought, hope reanimating me.
"that's where you and your sister will be.", he smiled at me and i looked up at him with childish expectancy.
"my sister?", i breathed, my voice almost breaking.
malum nodded and threw a look over my shoulder. i spun around and there she was, like it had been her cue.
"lizzie...", i said, stunned.
she walked towards me, a painful smile on her lips. i couldn't believe it. she was alive. the realization pulled me out of my apathy.
"lizzie!", i pulled my sister into a hug.
"flo.", she replied when we had separated, her green eyes sparkling a little.
"i'm so glad you're alive. i thought...", i shook my head, biting my inner cheek. what i had almost done...
"im so glad you're okay.", she replied, squeezing my hand.
"very nice.", malum interrupted us. "very cute reunion."
we gave each other a look, but he wasn't even paying attention to us anymore, he was now looking proudly down at all the people moving through the vault. from up here, they looked like little ants, all doing whatever they were told to do.
"how did he get all these people here?", i whispered to elizabeth.
"oh, that was easy.", malum replied. i flinched because i hadn't expected him to hear me. "they were all looking for purpose. for power. i just gave the people what they wanted." he grinned smugly. "now, i haven't told you all about my plan, have i? i've especially waited for your arrival, florence."
my arrival?, i wondered.
"now that the avengers have sadly destroyed our first little home, i had to move on to the second phase of my plan. but, you know, maybe that was about time."
he was not facing us, but rather looking down at the hall, enjoying the tension we felt.
"as you both know, my powers have done nothing but grow stronger over the years. i suspect that the avengers might have even done us a favor, now i can fully focus on this operation."
"what is this operation?", i asked, to fill his dramatic pause. i wasn't giving him that satisfaction, at least.
"the operation is to take over the world.", malum hissed. then he took a deep breath. "firstly, anyways."
"what?", lizzie asked in an unbelieving manner that was almost mocking. he ignored it.
"well, i've got enough superpower backup to do that now, haven't i?"
the realization hit me slowly. maybe that was why the reaction wasn't that obvious.
"it's just a pain in the ass that i'll have to collect them all over again now. but you've helped me already with that, haven't you florence?"
the reaction was still pretty bad. additionally, i wasn't used to him using my name. i had to hold on to elizabeth's shoulder so i wouldn't pass out.
"are you okay?", elizabeth asked, her brows arched.
i shook my head. "i have to tell them.", i mumbled, as quietly as possible.
"tell who?"
"the avengers."
"tell them what?"
i shook my head again. not now, i signaled. he could hear us.
"but as soon as i've got them all back, we can start with what's really important. and you two will help me with that."
malum finally turned around, his coat swaying impressively behind him.
"why on earth would we do that?", lizzie asked, outraged. i couldn't speak but my question was the same.
"that's easy.", he replied.
lizzie and i glanced at each other, unsure of what was coming next.
"because we're family."
he said it like it was amazing news, opening his arms happily, and if it wouldn't have been for his unshakable certainty, i wouldn't have believed him. lizzie sniggered next to me.
"we're what?"
"we're family.", he confirmed again, the superiority not leaving his eyes.
"what kind of family are we supposed to be?", i asked, reproachfully.
"well...", he started, smiling to himself. we had played right into his cards with our curiosity. but who wouldn't?
"you remember your father right? i know it's a long time ago, but the great desmond fernsby doesn't leave ones mind easily, does he?"
we nodded slowly, both frowning. elizabeth had taken my hand again.
"i'm your lovely fathers brother."
he had an unusually tired smile on his lips all of a sudden. the tension of his dramatic pause filled the air, he was waiting for us to break, but we both stayed silent.
"you don't believe me?", he raised one eyebrow. "fair enough.", he shrugged, as if he had enough of that topic now. "you can have time to process. i can show you my passport, if you want. you can check the last name."
i scoffed at his sarcasm.
"alright. i'll be down for a bit, i need to check with the deliveries, you can think it through a bit. i'll see you at dinner."
he winked arrogantly, then he took the stairs down to the hall, the last thing disappearing out of my sight was his annoying coat.
elizabeth and i didn't move for a bit.
"do you... do you think he's telling the truth?", she asked, her eyes full with dismay.
i hesitated, but even though i thought about it, i would never lie to her.
"i dont know why he should lie about that."
"to get us to cooperate?"
"why would that make us cooperate? he's a horrible person."
"true, true.", lizzie agreed, nodding slowly. but something was still bothering her.
"he doesn't think we'll run, does he?", she then concluded.
i nodded, bitterly. "i don't see how we could."
"i see a way.", she replied.
i turned to her. "no.", i decided, sternly.
"why not? trust me, it's the only chance we have. i've searched through this place. and i don't want to know what he'll do to us if we stay here any longer."
"and i don't want to know what'll happen to you if we do what you suggest."
"flo, just listen-"
"i said no.", i interrupted, giving her a warning look.
she pursed her lips, looking away from me.
she had always been stubborn like that. but we had only used her powers once. and it had almost killed her. the first time we had tried to escape. lizzie could teleport, or that's what we called it, at least. dissolve and reassemble the molecules of living and breathing beings from and to any location she wanted. it had something to do with the infinity stone malum had experimented with. he hadn't given her the powers intentionally, but something went sideways in the experiment rooms and when elizabeth came out, she could do that. it was a very unstable power at first, making her dissolve herself a couple of times by accident and waking up somewhere completely else. but as the powers were stabilizing, it was also taking more and more energy from her body to use them. it was simply too exhausting. and after we tried escaping, she only survived because malum resurrected her. he was a sort of necromancer. but that was a story for another time. after that i made her swear to never use them again.
"you know, he made me use them. to get here after the avengers debacle.", she said. "and i survived."
"that's because he made you survive!", i argued. "you would've died without him."
she shook her head, disapprovingly.
"you know what will happen to us down here! he'll turn us into his pawns! he'll always have the upper hand because he can use us against each other. horrible things will happen. and we will be a part of them."
i pressed my lips together.
"flo!", she pushed, urgently.
"then so be it!", i gave in. "so fucking be it! as long as you're alive."
"don't say that."
"why not?", i provoked.
"because i know that's not how you think. that's not who you are. that's just who he wants you to be."
i breathed out loudly, as if someone had punched me. she had hit the spot. i turned away from her, sulkily.
"you know what?", she asked.
i didnt reply.
"this shouldn't even be a discussion. you know what he wants to do. you've met the only people that can stop him. there's no discussion."
i turned around, ready to fire my arguments at her.
"no, there is, because-"
she grabbed my pointing arm and before i realized what she was about to do, it was already too late and i could feel the sickening feeling i had only ever felt once before in my life. the feeling of every molecule in your body dissolving and putting themselves back together. it was like a dizziness you could feel in your skin. like your insides turned outside and then back inside, but arranged in a completely wrong order. like goosebumps on your organs.

we landed in the middle of the lawn in front of the compound. i wondered how she even knew about this place, but i didn't have time to care about that.
"elizabeth!", i exclaimed, when she dropped down on the ground next to me.
"fuck you!", i yelled, grabbing her lifeless body and fighting my way towards the building.
"fuck you...", i repeated, tears filling my eyes.
hundreds of different thoughts shot through my head, how stupid she was, how i could've prevented it, but most of all how to save her. what possibly could be done.
i was moving too slow, because my body was too exhausted from the jump and black spots were dancing in front of my eyes, but i ignored that, wading towards the big doors. suddenly, i saw two wobbly shapes of humans run towards me. or was it three? i couldn't tell, my sight was too messed up from the tears and the dizziness.
when they reached me, i recognized that it were stark, natasha and yelena. tony took elizabeth out of my arms and i tried to tell them what was going on, but the black spots were multiplying by the second and i felt natashas arm around my body, supporting me. no, carrying me at this point. everything hurt, especially my head, and i was sure i was crying like a baby, but i had never ever in my life been more relieved to see the avengers.