The Hex

Chapter Four

468 Years Later...

Tower of London; Middlesex, England

The man glanced at the agents and soldiers on his left and right, all armed and appearing slightly afraid. No one had been warned what they were walking into, so any number of things could jump out and kill them. Most of them had guns ready, including the redhead next to him, but all he had was a bow and quiver of arrows. That would really only help if this thing the director had found was some normal human being, which he doubted.

"Barton?"

He snapped out of this thoughts and looked around at the team again, realizing they were waiting for his signal. He sighed through his nostrils, attempting to still his heartbeat before nodding. He fired several arrows at the one spot in front of them, and just as everyone backed up, they created a large, hot explosion that took out the beige bricks. Everyone coughed and stared at it, some more shocked than others. Many before them had tried to break down the walls, curious as to what laid inside that room, but none had succeeded before this point.

"How did you do that?" Barton glanced at his best friend.

"I... I don't know. No one's been able to do that."

The crew behind them rushed into the room, with the rest of the soldiers arming themselves in case whatever was inside attempted to attack. Complete silence fell on the bright, warm England day as everyone waited with baited breath for someone to say something... anything.

"Barton, Romanoff?" The pair glanced at each other. "It... it's a young girl." Neither of the pair responded, completely dumbfounded. The director had told them whatever was locked in the tower had been that way for over four hundred years. How could there just be a little girl.

"What... are you talking about?" Romanoff asked.

"It's just the body of a girl, perfectly preserved somehow. She still looks pink, too."

How could her blood still be flowing? That seemed near impossible at this point.

"But she's got some weird stone around her neck that's... glowing. And... and she's got wings."

"She's got what?" he asked, flabbergasted. None of this could have been real. There was no way...

"She's got these big-ass wings coming out of her back—they kind of look like bird's wings, but way bigger. And I'm not sure if they're functional or not." Romaoff shrugged her shoulders and looked at Barton.

"This is definitely our territory, that's for sure. Between her and Captain Rogers, we've had our hands full with preserved bodies." Barton smirked.

"Then Fury and Coulson should be able to deal with the body." Romanoff pressed the button on her comm device.

"Bring her out. Just be careful, and a group needs to keep an eye on her at all times."

Before she could open her eyes, Ela could hear the voices—unfamiliar as they were. They spoke loudly, uttering confused sentences as she sensed them move around her body. Something scratched against a hard surface, some sort of clacking sound echoed all around her, and all the while, people asked questions.

Slowly, her strength began to return, her pulse growing louder each second. She felt warmth spreading all the way through her fingers and toes, allowing them to twitch.