Just An Echo

13: Liar, Liar Library On Fire

I see another blast of orange light as one of the men goes flying and lands in a heap behind me. I peek above the table to see some of the action but Steve pushes my head down again.

"You're going to get your face blown off." He scolds taking the gun I stole and firing a couple of times before ducking down next to me.

"But it so cool..." I stare at Bucky's arm through the cracks in between tables watching as he lifts someone over his head and throws them up at the ceiling, knocking down one of the lights.

"Is that what you meant when you said he needed to heal? Was it his arm?" Steve gives me an apologetic look.

"Echo it's hard to explain-" I grab his shoulder and pull him down just before a blast hits his head.

"You're going to get your face blown off." I say in a deep voice, trying to mock him. He rolls his eyes but smiles, rapidly firing above the table and yelling helpful tactics to Bucky. I look to the back door where the gang came in and see a large black bulldozer parked outside. My heart skips a beat when I also see the large Momentum Labs symbol on the side. Abbott could be here and could be looking for me. My stone buzzes and even I can't deny my curiosity. Something in that van could give me a piece to the puzzle I've been needing. 

With Steve distracted I sneak away from the tables unnoticed and get to the edge of the back door. I pause looking back at him and Bucky fighting the men off I have to find out what Abbott knows about me even if it means leaving behind Steve and Bucky. Looking out into the alley I see the truck is left unattended so, against my better judgement, I run around to the passenger door and find it unlocked. I jump in and begin digging through the glove box finding nothing but old napkins and Sonic gift cards. I glance back up to the door and see orange light filling the library; I'm running out of time. I give up on the front seats and push every button on the console until one of them opens the back hatch. Running around to the back I see the truck is filled with weapons hanging on the sides of the walls and one man sitting in the middle.

"You!" I growl as I step into the truck, seeing that Abbott is alone I relax a little happy I don't have to deal with huge gang members trying to kill me.

"I was hoping you would drop by soon. Our conversion was... well it ended short last time."

"Damn right it did, start talking." I grab one of the guns off the wall and point it at him. He jumps, a little surprised I would threaten him but I'm not taking any chances.

"Well, as I was telling you last time, you were born to be a chaostasis and when you were younger, I trained you so that one day you would know what to do when the time came and-"

"What training? What did you do to me?"

He stands up and I hold the gun tighter my hands, shaking a little bit as I do.

"I cared for you Echo. You were my greatest accomplishment."

"Accomplishment? I'm an expreminet, aren't I?"

"No, no you were nothing like that. You were just... born extraordinary, which was good and bad. You had trouble controlling your powers, so I helped you. Ever think where you learned how to pick a lock or fire a gun straight? That was me."

"So you trained me to be... a weapon, a monster?" My voice cracks and his eyes grow soft. I silently hate myself for showing him any weakness.

"No, Echo we trained you so that when you were older you could protect yourself and everyone on earth. We trained you to be a hero."

My mind is a jumbled mess and my stone is buzzing like crazy telling me it's time to go. I realize why when the truck rumbles and I hear gunshots from the library as police sirens wail out front. He steps closer to me and I flinch in response but don't move away. He grabs my shoulders and I look up to him trying to figure out if he really cares about me or is he using me to get to the stone.