Worlds Apart

Chapter 28

Clint didn't end up coming back with the painkillers for a couple of hours, but the moment he returned, he made sure that Max took them.

While she was happy to get some relief from the painful ache in her abdomen, Max was a bit skeptical about taking the pills. She knew that Clint wasn't going to give her anything that might kill her, but she did worry about being given something that would intentionally or unintentionally give her adverse side effects. Loki had said that the pills were supposed to be so that she could get onto her feet, but a part of her wondered if he was trying to test out if he could mind control her while drugged and not mentally all there.

Much to her relief, the pain medication seemed to be just that. After a few minutes passed and her cognitive abilities seemed to remain intact, she relaxed a bit more. When she hit the ten minute mark, she found that the aching in her abdomen began to lessen and lessen, until finally, it dissipated completely.

After Clint had made sure Max had taken the medication, he'd returned to other priorities elsewhere in their base, and didn't return again until a half hour later.

"Feeling any better?" Clint asked as he approached, effectively announcing his presence to Max.

Max looked over to him and nodded, slightly distracted by his unnaturally blue eyes. She shook her head slightly to refocus her mind. "Yeah, actually I am. That was some pretty good stuff you got me. What was it, anyway?"

Clint walked up to Max, knelt down next to her, pulled out a key, and began to unlock the handcuff surrounding the metal pipe.

"Oxycodone," Clint answered. Max stared at Clint in disbelief, her eyebrows furrowing in concern. Noticing her concerned gaze on him, Clint chuckled lightly. "Relax, I gave you a super low dose; just enough to get you on your feet. You'll be fine."

Max nodded. Assuming he was telling her the truth, she supposed it could be worse. Max wasn't a doctor, so she didn't know for sure how much Oxy you needed to take in order to form an addiction, but she assumed that one pill at a low dose wasn't going to immediately get her addicted. She hoped not, anyway.

Once the cuff was set free from the pipe, Clint held it in his hand and looked at Max.

"Do you think you could try standing?" he asked.

Max nodded. She began to push herself into a squat and used the pipe she'd been previously chained to in order to help pull herself to her feet. She moved slowly, trying not to push herself too fast too soon, and was surprised and relieved to feel almost no pain when she was standing fully.

"You good?" Clint asked.

Max nodded again. "I think so."

"Good," he said. "If you think you're able to, we're going to go on a little walk outside."

Max shot him a look full of skepticism.

"What?" Clint asked.

"You realize how shady that sounds, right?" she asked. "You're not about to take me out back to shoot me, are you?"

Clint laughed. "No," he promised. "Do you think if Loki wanted you dead, he'd care about where it happened? Or that he wouldn't just do it himself?"

Max nodded slowly. "Fair point. Lead the way, I guess."

For the first time in about a day and a half, Max got the chance to breathe in some fresh air. They were in the middle of the desert, so the air wasn't quite as crisp and refreshing as it could've been, but she savored it all the same.

One of the first things Max noticed when she got outside was what looked like a different version of the Quinjet. Considering that there were only a couple of things residing outside of the building, it wasn't hard for her to guess that the aircraft was where Clint was taking her. Why, she wasn't sure, but she had a feeling that she was about to find out.