Tattered Wings

The Bird-girl

“BRUCE!!!” Steve yelled as he carried the unconscious bird-girl into Stark Towers.

“What Steve?” Bruce yelled back, his voice coming from the kitchen.

“I need some help here!”

Bruce stumbled into the corridor where Steve was and took in the sight of him carrying the Girl with wings. “What the hell happened Steve!?”

“I was walking in the abandoned state, in case anyone had strayed there and I heard this scream. So I looked upwards and I saw this girl,” He nodded to the bird-girl he was holding, “Falling from the sky. So I caught her and brought her to you. I figured that hospital wouldn't have been a good scenario in this situation.”

“Yeah I guess you're right. Put her on the sofa. I'll get my stuff.”

Bruce walked off to get his stuff from his lab as Steve laid the mysterious bird-girl on the sofa. He realised her wings weren't supposed to be at the odd angles they were at, but didn't want to touch them in-case he broke them....if they weren't already broken. Her matted, dirtied hair looked as if it was once a light brown colour. She had blood all over her clothes, but Steve could see no evident injuries. When Bruce checked her over, wings and all, even he couldn't explain were the blood had come from.

“It seems to me that she's passed out because of some trauma. She has no evident injuries at all, not so much as a scrape. We'll just have to wait until she wakes up. At least then we can get some answers.”

As if on cue, the bird-girl whimpered and shifted on sofa. Tears started falling from her closed eyes as she sobbed silently, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. Steve had the immediate urge to comfort her, but was unsure whether to do so. His debating was interrupted by Tony walking out of the elevator on his phone to Pepper.

“Okay Pepper, that's fine-” His voice drifted off as he caught sight of the bird-girl laid on his sofa with Steve and Bruce hovering over her. “Pepper?.....Yeah, I'll call you back.” he put his phone in his pocket, glaring at Steve. “What the hell is going on Steve?” he asked in a deadly quiet tone.

“She fell, Tony. From the sky. I saved her. Now are you going to help us or not?” Steve replied, glaring back at his husband. They stood glaring at each other for a couple of moments before Tony gave in. “Fine. Take her to the spare room.” then he turned his attention to JARVIS. “JARVIS, I want her monitored. Any sign of her leaving the room, I want to be notified.”

“Yes sir.”

Steve tried to pick the bird-girl up again, earning himself a kick in the gut. The bird-girl leapt out of his arms and whirled to face the three men watching her in astonishment. She had her wings spread out to their full span, like an avenging angel. Her face was masked with thunder, but you could still see that she was deeply troubled about something.

“What do you want from me?" she ground out suppressing a shudder.

“Your name would be a good start.” Tony answered, coming out of his shock.

The bird-girl looked hesitant, but gave them her name.

“Max.”

“Is that short for anything?” Bruce asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

“Yeah. Maximum Ride.” she said, putting her fists up. She obviously fought people often.

“I see,” Steve nodded his head once in understanding, “Would you like to explain to us why you have blood all over you when you don't have any injuries?”

Max shook her head. More tears leaked from her eyes, leaving streaks in the dirt on her face.

“Please.” Steve said softly.

Max's face crumpled as she collapsed onto the floor and started screaming into her fists. Steve and Tony rushed to her side, in an attempt to comfort her, but not knowing quite how to do it whilst Bruce left the room to make up the bed in the spare room for Max, not wanting to stay and watch her crying.

“Max,” Tony started, awkwardly patting her shoulder, “Tell us what happened. Maybe we can help.”

“No-one can help!” Max cried, “They're all dead! All of them! They're not coming back, ever! They were murdered and I wasn't there to save them! I'm a complete failure!”

Max cried even louder, breaking down completely.

“Who was killed Max?” Steve asked her warily, not wanting to distress her even more.

“My Flock! My family! My boyfriend! They killed them!”

“Who did?”

“The Whitecoats!” Max visibly shuddered as she mentioned the murderers, obviously scared of them.

“Who are the Whitecoats Max?”

“The evil Scientists from The School, where I was created!”

“Tony, I'm going to take Max to the spare room, we can't ask her anything else whilst she's in this condition”

“Yeah, I agree. Just don't get kicked again.” Tony answered smugly.

“I won't”

Steve laid Max on the bed and left the room, closing the door behind him. He waited outside the room for a while, in-case she needed anything. He could hear her sobbing from the other side of the door. It would stop for a while, but then she would mutter a name and it would start all over again. Max kept saying the same five names over and over again and he realised that they were the names of her dead family. Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel.

Steve could relate to what she was feeling inside. It was the same way he felt when he had been unfrozen and found out that all his family had died. Sighing, he pushed away from the wall he was leaning on and went to find Tony.