Strife of Misfortune(Wattys2016)

Tick Tack

Sam drove Hope and Scott to the New Avenger's facility. Three days had past since the event, three days since freeing Bucky and destroying the vise. Hope held the bionic arm in her lap and remembered the scene. It was after her conversation with Scott, they both evacuated the room and prepared to free him. Scott launched into the vise and Hope watched his every move through the little camera she installed on his suit. He tripped over the wrong circuits when the machine jolted awake and clamped down on Bucky's arm, crushing it and slaughtering his nerves. They scrambled to free him from the vise, tearing the arm from his nerves and joints in the process. Now the result rested on her lap in tattered ruins.

"We're here." Sam said as he pulled over off the road and parked in front of the building. The heroes climbed out of the car, following Sam into the building. The interior was enormous with high ceilings and long hallways. "This is one of our many training grounds." He said as they walked through the third room. They then entered another hallway and was bombarded with a noisy clutter of sounds. Bang! Came the sound again. "We gotta install sound proof walls." Sam said, shaking his head at the noise.

"Where is it coming from?" Hope asked as she looked around.

"Over there." Sam pointed to his left and Scott followed his finger. He then looked through the tiny window on the door and found the source of the noise. It was a girl. It wasn't her that he was watching, but the energy jumping out of her body and bouncing over the walls. An ocean of electric red circulated the girl as she manipulated her magic, tearing each and every obstacle down. It was incredible to watch. Scott had never seen anything like it in his life.

"Who's the kid?" He asked, never taking his eyes off the glass.

Sam and Hope came to stand beside him. "Her name is Wanda Maximoff." He said. "A mutant and an outstanding fighter. We had just recruited her last summer."

"Does her parents know she's an Avenger?" Hope asked.

"She's an orphan." Sam answered. " She lives with me."

"How old was she when she lost her parents?" Scott looked back at Sam for a moment.

"Ten. Come on Tick Tack, we gotta keep moving."

Scott nodded and chuckled at the nickname. He knew Sam was referring to his ability to manipulate his size. But a tick tack? Did he remind Sam of a breath mint? Scott shook his head, still chuckling at the name when his eyes found Wanda. She retracted her magic and returned his gaze with a small smile on her face. He gave her a quick smile before following the heroes to the lab.

They had an impressive amount of equipment and technology in the room, but it was nothing Hope didn't have back at home. She walked towards the examining table and loaded the arm onto it, using a nearby magnifying glass to observe it. The entire motherboard was ruptured and smashed . Pieces of the exterior chipped and cracked and spilled onto the table.

"Let me know if you need anything." Sam said.

"I'll need to use your computer. Bucky's arm is beyond repair. Our best choice is to create a new one."

"Do you know how?"

"Recreating a bionic arm isn't rocket science. I'll need a while to figure out the materials Hydra used to create this. I'm going to need a new motherboard and data disc." She further examined the arm. "This metal looks like Titanium alloy. The vise had to be made out of Adamantium in order to break the arm. Whoever locked Bucky there definitely didn't want him to come out." Hope added.

"How long do you think it'll take to build another model?"

"It depends on how fast I get the materials. Three weeks or more I'm estimating. Now that I'm looking at this, it doesn't look like it's completely made out of Titanium alloy."