Project 43: Healing

Dangerous things

Elias was once again reading in his room. It was an old print of Frankenstein, something he remembered reading before he joined the war. Back then he didn't truly understand what made the book so special but as he sat there in his leather chair, he was overjoyed by the flood of emotions flushing over him.

'Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth.' Elias couldn't help but yearn to feel like that. He wanted to experience what it was like to love something as much as the people in his books did. He wanted to see the beauty in the world like he once had.

Elias had decided that he would move out soon. He hadn't told anyone but he had already made up his mind. Most people had started talking about him already and he wanted to continue life. He might still come to visit his brother from time to time and maybe have a quick coffee with Sam or work out with Natasha. He had found a ship that was leaving in a week from Newark port which would carry him to Mexico. From there he could get on another ship or maybe move south by train or something. Maybe he'd even end up back in Belize for a while. In the end, it didn't really matter how, but Elias was going to leave.

A weird swooshing sound made Elias shoot up from his chair, ready to fight whatever he was faced with. It wasn't until Vision spoke up, that Elias let down his fight stance.

"I am terribly sorry once again," Vision said, once more forgetting that fazing through walls freaked people out. "But I thought you may want to see this," the red man continued and turned on the TV mounted on one of the walls. Elias had only used the thing once and had no idea how to even turn it on but he watched with furrowed brows, already expecting the worst.

"For what we can say at the moment, we're looking at dozens dead and multiple casualties," the man on the news explained. The situation felt all too familiar and Elias simply sat down on the small brown couch to continue listening.

"Just a year after the notorious incident in Sokovia, the Avengers have once more caused multiple casualties on foreign land. The question needs to be raised once more: Why do we continue to give these people the right to do whatever they please?" The man continued. He seemed to be on the scene with ambulances and a smoking building behind him.

Elias leaned forward as he tried to understand what had happened. Vision sat down next to the man in his usual awkward manner but didn't say a word.

"The team is on its way back," Vision reported to which Elias just nodded having already put it together. He didn't know what would happen next. The world had been able to move on after Sokovia, but were two strikes enough? the more attention was on the Avengers, the harder it was for Elias to stay hidden, everything the Avengers did would be put under a microscope.

Elias couldn't leave. He would have to once again say goodbye to the open sea, Mexico, Belize, and freedom.

"What happened?" Elias asked as Natasha, Steve, Sam, and Wanda filed out of the jet. Natasha was holding onto a hysterical Wanda, Sam looked distraught and Steve was stonefaced but walked with a clear limp.

No one answered which annoyed Elias, but he tried to understand. He knew he shouldn't be selfish in a situation like that but he was infuriated. Whatever had happened, it had ruined his chances of leaving so he turned around and went back into his room. He wasn't going to be the person who comforted others when they were down, he didn't know how. So he was simply going to stay out of the way for a few days.

The news was going crazy. Every channel was putting the Avengers on blast for hours on end and since no one had yet told Elias what exactly had happened, he had to learn to use the remote.