Hope Found

Fear

Tony POV

I watch Steve carry Hope out of the room and then set to work displaying the information we obtained. The mission was successful we were in and out without a single problem. I plug the USB into my computer and project the images on a hologram screen so that everyone can see. Steve walks in as I select the first file.

"Subject 22 born January 18, 2004, so Hope is thirteen," I state reading it out loud. We scan the file but it doesn't contain anything we didn't already know. I go back to the home screen when Clint points at the screen.

"Is that a video?" he asks motioning to one of the files. I look at it and nod. Opening it the screen turns black and slowly the video starts. My heart drops as the image focuses on the screen.

Hope is standing the middle of a dark room her wrists chained together. She noticeably wobbles on her feet, barely keeping upright. Blood and dirt are present all over her body.

"Are you ready to comply?" asks a voice off screen. Hope delivers a glare my old man would be proud of past the camera. "Doesn't matter now," the voice continues, "Give her the serum." Suddenly, Hope tries to back away but is grabbed from either side and held still. A white coat comes onto the screen holding a syringe.

"Subject 22 test 1 of the control serum," another voice states as the syringe is plunged into Hope's arm. She screams and convulses as they drop her to the floor. I faintly realize the scientists leaving the room but I could only focus on Hope. She was so small probably only five or six here. She should have been here being spoiled by me not going through horrors that would make a grown man cry like a small child.

Suddenly the Hope on the screen stops moving. Slowly she stands up and lifts her head. I gasp as I take in the black ring now surrounding her eyes. Emotionless face stares at the camera. A door opening can be heard followed by footsteps. A white coat steps into the camera frame and throws a man to the floor in front of Hope.

"This man is a traitor to the cause. The punishment is death. Execute him," he orders her. She doesn't even glance at him as a black mist of energy starts to form and flow around her. The mist travels toward the barely conscious man on the floor and the scientist. It wraps around both of them. The scientist begins to panic but can't escape it. They both begin to scream as the black energy seems to suck the life out of them literally. Suddenly the mist evaporates dropping the bodies on the ground as Hope collapses.

"Test 1 success," a voice states as the video ends.

"Shit," Steve says staring at the screen. On a normal day that would have shocked me and earned a few sarcastic comments but right now I had to agree with him.

"So that's the black energy she told us about? She keeps that suppressed all the time," asks Clint who seems a little pale. "It's like a hulk with a death version of Wanda's powers."

"No wonder she does not like to use her powers," says Wanda from the couch clearly shaken.