The Price of Freedom

Chapter 2

   "T-Tony?"

   Echo was standing in a phone booth, holding a large metal phone to her ear. Her phone had died three hours ago and a woman had given her a few coins, most likely assuming she was homeless. She was, kind of.
   There was static on the other end, and then a muffled, "Mother-"
   Echo held the phone away from her face for a few seconds, rolling her eyes at his cursing. After the yelling had subsided, she pressed the phone back against her cheek. "T-Tony, I need a ride."
   Tony had yelled at Echo for a few more minutes about disappearing and how she should have told them and then given her an address, which she scribbled on her hand. He said someone would be there in half an hour, and as she stood in an alleyway with a hood over her head, she absentmindedly bit her lip to distract from the aching burns and bruises on her body. When the taste of blood had hit her tongue, she stopped and brushed a piece of hair out of her face. A motorcycle roared a few streets over.
   Echo twisted the rings on her finger nervously as the motorcycle turned into the alley. The rider parked the bike and took his helmet off. Bucky's metal arm reflected the light from the street lamp as he turned to her. He glimpsed the bands around her finger and quickly put pieces together in his head, taking into account the burns in her clothes and the blood seeping through her jeans. 
   She gave him a weak smile. It was like putting band-aids over stab wounds and bullet holes. Echo tried to pull herself together and immediately failed. Bucky caught her as her knees buckled and she wrapped her arms around him, hands gripping the fabric of his jacket. Tears fell onto the concrete and Echo had no idea how long they stood there before she collected herself and shoved anger and fear and grief and everything else down into the pit of her stomach. Bucky hopped onto the motorcycle first and Echo readjusted the straps of her backpack, following him onto the bike. He passed her a helmet and she pulled it over her ponytail, subsequently wrapping her arms around his waist to keep from falling off as he took off through the city towards the compound. 
   The next few hours were a blur as Echo looked through the screen of the helmet onto the country. The compound came into view and Echo prepared herself for what she was about to endure. Bucky parked inside a garage on the east side of the building and helped her off the bike. He could tell she was about to pass out and wrapped one of her arms around his shoulder to hopefully last until they got to the lab. Echo braced herself against a pillar for a few seconds, waving off Bucky's offer to carry her with the flick of her hand. She stood and draped her arm around his shoulder again, trying to ignore the throbbing of her side and the way her ankle twisted at an odd angle when she walked. All Echo was focused on was one foot at a time. Left, then the right, then the left again, and so on. If she concentrated on anything else, she knew she would fall and would not be able to get back up again. 

   Don't think of Alex. Don't think about the pain. Don't think about how much you want to curl up into a ball and die.

   After an excruciating thirty minutes of trying to walk, and failing, Echo gave up and let Bucky carry her to the lab. 
   "Holy sh-." She muttered as Tony pulled the string through one of the deeper cuts in her stomach. "Karma's a bitch."
   "Maybe if you had told us where you were your organs wouldn't have to be held in by ace bandages and string right now." Bucky muttered from the chair next to her. Echo held up a finger and muttered a few choice words in his direction.
   "Listen kid-."
   "I'm not a kid."
   "Listen Echo, I don't know where you've been for the past few years, and sure, I'm extremely frustrated that you didn't tell any of us where you were going, but that's in the past, okay? I'm glad you're not dead." He glanced at the rings on her hand. "And I'm sorry for your loss."
   Echo continued to twist the bands as he cut the thread and injected something into her arm. She didn't really care to ask what it was. Her eyes fixed themselves on a point in the distance, somewhere in the forest.
    A lightning bolt struck a large tree and the sound of wings beat the air. Bucky walked over to the window and flipped a switch. The glass receded into the wall and a young woman flew through the hole. She set her feet on the ground and spat blood into the nearest trash can.
   "What the hell happened to you?" Echo watched in curiosity as the girl snatched a towel from the counter, poured alcohol on it, and pressed it to a gash in her cheek.
    "Sons of bitches were faster than I thought." Elytra muttered.
   "Where's Point Break?" Tony looked up at her, tossing a water bottle with a grey-ish liquid in it to her. Elytra caught it with her free hand and chugged it, tossing the plastic into the trash and wiping her mouth with her hand.
   "He went back to Asgard after we finished off Surtur. Told me he would be here in a few days at the most."
   Echo looked up from the rag pressed against her cheek, just now noticing Echo. Her eyes widened and the towel dropped. In an instant, Elytra and Echo were less than a foot apart.
   "You mother-"
   "Language, El." Tony interrupted, stepping back so they could hug. After Elytra pulled away, she swung her fist around to connect with Echo's shoulder.
   "That's for leaving, you ass."
   "To be fair, I deserved that."