The Brewing Storm

When Duty Calls

15.

"No!" Eugene declared immediately. "Nope! No way! Absolutely not!"

"Oh come on! It's a simple rescue mission!"

"From a highly protected Hydra base in Sokovia with kids who have uncontrollable powers, Eris! I don't think so."

Once I had returned from Maria Hill's apartment, I had approached Eugene, to see if he would be up for rescuing the experimentees from Hydra's base in Sokovia. Although I'm still unsure as to how Lucy came into Michael Anthony's hands, their treatment wouldn't have been pleasant. They would have been treated as weapons, and not as humans.

But even a week later, Eugene still declared the mission too dangerous, and insisted I wait for the Avengers to regroup, and take them out ourselves.

"But what if we don't catch them in time? What if-"

"Eris." Eugene halts in the hallway, and places his hands on my shoulders "We could barely get Lucy out of that bank without killing anyone. You have no idea how many enhanced this guy's got there."

I hadn't been to speak to Max since Frank had taken him to a holding cell I had no idea existed below our training room. Stark must have fitted it in as extra protection when he knew I wasn't looking. Eugene had been down there once or twice, just to make sure he wasn't trying to escape, or kill himself. But each time my brother asked him a question, he declared that he would only answer to me, so any answers we needed, any questions we needed to ask had to be asked by me.

Fantastic.

I had put off seeing his traitorous face for as long as possible, and had even volunteered to take Jana for walks just to get out of it. But enough was enough, we needed answers, and we were on the clock since Stark had began texting me none stop to ensure I had no plans for next few weeks, no doubt we'd be following up on a mission Shield failed to finish. Perhaps not, maybe it was one of our own missions.

"What exactly am I going in there for?" I frown, flicking through the file Frank had created, including Michael Anthony's whereabouts, many question marks besides Strucker's name, as well as current headlines about Hydra's takeover, now that the public know of its existence.

"Just get as much out of him as you can. I'll keep eyes on you and listen in, Stark installed and linked a lie detector from the holding cell to this." He holds up a flash drive and nods towards the door. "Put your earpiece in, and I'll tell you when he's lying..." He turns back towards me "Not that you'll need me to tell you. Good luck in there."

Taking a breath, I heave the large door open, and skip down the steps. Four blocks of wall face me as I reach the last step. Tightening my grip on the small device Frank had given me within the file, I gently press the first button. The first wall shoots to the ground, revealing the man I had dreaded to see. Max shields his eyes away from the bright light that I had now activated, and tries to focus his gaze on me.

"Eris?" He acknowledges in a questioning tone, as though he can't believe I'm here. He lowers his arm, and smiles. "You've got no idea how good it is to see you."

"Wish I could say the same. But given that you're not cooperating with anyone else in the house you've gotten your way once again."

He hesitates, frowning slightly. A beard had slowly grown since I saw him last. "Once again?"

"Surely one of your missions was to befriend me? Get inside my head? Probably use me to Hydra's benefit at some point."

Max scoffs, and walks towards me. "You think I was using you?" Once he reaches his limit in the holding cell, lines of burning lasers appear before him, as a warning that he can go no further.