Bextley holds my arm, pulling me through the rumble and towards the exit. She places her finger on her lips and drags me down the hallway as another explosion rings through the building. Rumlow runs past us, yelling something at Bextley as he passes. I cling onto her side and see her shove the door open, holding a gun to the doctor.
"Mila?"
"Bextley, don't!" I shout, holding onto the barrel of the gun.
Banner raises his hands up in defence, looking at us, "Can you really do it? Can you make her remember her family?" He stares at her, then nodded. Bextley lowers her gun, standing by the door, "Be quick, they'll come looking for her." She's helping me? Banner agrees and held onto my arm.
"Mila, it's going to hurt. We had to do the same thing with Barton. It will take a few months, but this is going to fix it." I nod my head, he takes a breath, then snaps his fingers in front of my face. I tilt my head and then felt a hard jab in the side of my head. I scream out in pain and jerk my head forward.
My body seizes and I fall back to the ground. The door is thrown off with a cloud of smoke and I hear voices yell. Someone holds me, and I feel their anxiety as they hoist me up over their shoulder, "What did you do to her?!" A girl screams. Another voice buts in, yelling at her. The voices blur together as they scream back and forth before finally, we were running.
The person holding me ran full speed through smoke and fire. It's hot as we run down this hallway, screaming and gunfire rings in my ears as they keep running. What is happening to me? My head still spins and I feel more fear from the person holding me.
Then I felt a chill down my spine as they laid me down and a quiet hum from an engine. Another person holds my face, with no anxiety, just patience as they gently shake my shoulders, "Mila, please...you need to wake up."
Then silence.
For a moment, I saw my dad's face. He was sitting beside me, holding onto my hand until it blurs into a young girl's face. Her hair is sandy blonde in a thick braid, and she seems upset. She is staring at me, touching my hand as I wake up. She doesn't smile at me, she just leans on her hand, huffing. I laugh at her, "You were worried about me," I whisper, "You don't hate me."
She rolls her eyes, standing up. I twist my legs around, holding onto my head, "Mila."
I face the familiar voice and see Bruce. Bruce. I stagger from the bed, and run to him, wrapping my arms around him. He tenses up as I squeeze him tight, "I promise I will never ever go outside again—I swear!" I whisper as I hug him, "I will always be on time in the lab, I won't annoy Stark and I won't play plants vs zombies anymore."
He awkwardly hugs me back, and smiled, "We're glad to have you back."
"I want to go home."
"We're almost home." He mumbles, "She's a good driver, also stronger than I thought, she carried you all the way here." I glance back at Bextley who scoffed, "She's also mean."
Yeah, she is. I like her anyway. I smile at Bextley pulling back from Bruce, "We're two minutes out, we have no way of communicating, but I can get us into the tower." Then I can see my dad. I stare out to the sky, nervously rubbing my arms. I can see my family. Will he want to see me?
I left. I hurt them. What if they don't want me back? What if they tell me...What if I don't...I hurt people. I killed someone. I swallow hard and face Bruce who still smiled at me. I touch his shoulder as he walks away and feel his anxiety and happiness. I'm sure he's happy to go back to his friends. Will they be happy to see me?
I go closer to Bextley and sit beside her. She glances my way, and shrugged, "You'll be fine," She says, reading my mind, "They might try to kill me though."
"I wouldn't let them. You saved my life," I mumble, pulling my legs to my chest as I think, "Who was it though? Who was coming for us? I've never seen you move so quickly."
Her heart skips and she gulps, "Teague used to work for Hydra, he experimented on a lot of people before he realised he liked power. So, he left. Rumlow followed and two others from Hydra. After they found out that the famous Milana Barnes was in his hold, they tried to take you back. They were coming to take you."
"So, they're still waiting for me?"
"Apparently."
Bruce leans over the chair, listening to us, "Your friend was determined not to let them, I think she would've ripped their heads off if it wasn't for the gun in her hand."
Yes, she loves her guns. I hope Noah is alright, I hope I can see him again one day, "Can we go back and get the others?"
"You want to go back?" Bruce blurts out, "Why?"
"My friends are there, Noah is still there."
"Noah was never going to help us anyway," Bextley snapped, "He doesn't want to leave, I've tried to get him out before. He wants to be there, Lana."
I still want to try and help him. Though from the look on her face, it's a lost cause. I don't know what Noah went through, he's quiet and doesn't like to talk about 'where.' He just wants to stay alive. Bextley was much more forward than I expected. I understand why she would run to Teague, I wonder why she would leave him now.
Bextley tenses up, staring into the night sky as a tower stands before us. I gulp, seeing the familiar 'A' light up the sky. The jet shakes for a moment, and then we land.
I'm home.
