Aftershock

Uniting Forces

Undisclosed Location
S.H.I.E.L.D Facility
September 19th, 2014

Willow didn't mind much, she really didn't but.. Eventually she was going to get really hungry. Usually, Willow would be woken up by the sound of a S.H.I.E.L.D Agent coming into her room, a not so wonderful breakfast tray in his hand. He would put it in the handy slot, push it in and Willow would say a quick thank you before he marched off but today, there was nobody. Willow wasn't quite sure what time it was but it must have been nearing noon already and yet, nobody had come in to check on her. What was going on?

Listlessly, Willow sat on the bed, paging through the folder they had allowed her to have. Stopping on the old, worn photo of her and her girlfriends, Willow felt a horrible ache in her chest. Mary, Betty, Jenny, Mary-Beth.. They were all gone. Though Willow couldn't be certain, they could still be alive but.. Seeing them would be like a haunted memory. Willow understood why Steve went to find Peggy, she was all he had left of the world he once knew and Willow didn't blame him.

"Aftershock." Came a voice suddenly, filling the entire room. Startled, Willow looked up to find.. Nobody. There was nobody in her room. "Aftershock." Came the voice again and Willow frowned.

"Whose there?" She demanded. A cold laugh filled the room.

"Don't recognize me my dear?" An image became projected onto the glass of her cell and Willow recognized him immediately. She bared her teeth.

"Dr. Zola." He laughed again, filling Willow with dread. "How are you still alive!" The image of him smiled.

"It's all thanks to you my dear, and a little help from Captain America of course." Steve.

"What did you do to him!" Willow shouted.

"Oh nothing yet my dear. I don't plan on touching one hair on his pretty little head." The Doctor smiled. "It's you that I plan on unleashing." Willow's eyes narrowed.

"I'll never do anything for you!"

"Oh I don't mean you Willow, of course you wouldn't hurt your beloved. I don't need you. I need Aftershock." And before Willow could tell him to screw off, she heard some very familiar words. "Angenehm." Willow screamed slamming her hands over her ears.

"Stop it!" She shouted.

"Briefe. Vierzehn. Weiß." Willow could feel herself shaking. No. Not just her, everything. What happened to the power dampeners? Weren't they working? Resolving to act first and ask questions later, Willow slammed her hands against the glass, feeling the vibrations beneath her fingertips. "Königin. Nichts." Willow screamed. If he got to the end of those words.. the glass cracked underneath her fingertips.

"I'll never let you have me!" Willow screamed, just before the glass shattered into a million pieces. Dr. Zola's voice stopped and Willow felt spent as she staggered backwards towards her bed. As she did, several armed Agents busted down her door, guns drawn.

"Get down on the ground! Arms behind you head!" One man shouted.

"Dr. Zolo." Willow murmured, slowly going to her knees. "You have to stop the Doctor."

"Shut up!" Someone else commanded. Something was clamped down onto her wrists, they felt like handcuffs but as soon as they touched her skin, Willow knew they weren't ordinary handcuffs. Had Steve's friend Tony made portable dampeners?

"Please, listen to me, Dr. Zola is alive." Willow said as they began to escort her out of the room. "He almost turned me back into her, back into Aftershock you need to get me to Steve or to Tony, somebody who knows how to stop him."