Mermaid Melodies

Ch. 5

After the attack from Loki, everyone was on edge. Natasha and Clint made treks around the base monitoring everyone who came and went. Tony and Bruce were set up with their own lab, and Ceruleans bed was moved from the medical wing in with them. That way they could monitor her medical stats and continue their research at the same time. Steve disappeared to do research of his own while everyone else was busy. Thor sat on top of the sky deck staring out over the city, he felt horrible for what his brother did to the mermaid that merely wants to end this forsaken war.

Cerulean woke up groggy from her nap, her magic still hadn't been fully restored, and she felt extremely weak from whatever Loki did to her. Tony had been researching anything that could have to do with the tesseract and her powers, and hearing the constant buzz of his Jarvis system working was making her head hurt.

"I really don't understand what that diva wanted with Ceruleans magic. It doesn't make any sense. He already has the tesseract. The presumed most powerful magical alien weapon on Earth. Why would he need more?"

Cerulean perked up when Tony broke the silence. He got up huffing out a breath of air. Running his hand through his dark hair, he started pacing.

I don't think they even know how the tesseract was found after Steve took it underwater with him anyway.

"I was there." Ceruleans voice startled her, not realizing that she was going to try and speak.

Tony looked over at her, eyebrow raised in question. "Where?"

"I was with Coulson when he found Captain America. I was the one who called it in. The tesseract was calling for me, it sent shockwaves through the current. It led me right to him." The doors to the lab opened with a quiet rush of air. "What even happened to Coulson? I haven't seen him since Loki broke out." Natasha and Clint walked in, faces serious.

"Coulson was killed after Loki attacked you. You were out for the meeting." Natasha's voice was cold, something was obviously wrong. The Black Widow jutted her hip out to one side, leaning on it with her arms crossed. She meant business, looking at Clint, her head fell for a moment.

"Speaking of Loki. He's been spotted downtown. The situation has gone from bad to much worse. Creating mass panic and destruction. The tesseract is getting stronger." Clint made eye contact with his Mermaid protege, as he mentioned the tesseract.

Cerulean started getting up out of the hospital bed. Ripping the IV out of her arm. She tore the bandage that was wrapped around her head. Tony moved towards her to make her lay back down, talking about conserving her strength. The words flew aimlessly over her head.
"Get out of the way Tony." Her voice was venomous. Eyes narrowing into slits.

The doors opened again and Steve walked in with a gun over his shoulder. "While everyone else has been looking through computer files, I decided to do some old fashioned digging. This wasn't in the archive." He threw the massive gun onto the table in front of Ceruleans bed. She crossed the room towards it and ran her hand across the glowing blue tank. The tesseracts magic is flowing through this weapon.

"Steve, where did you find this?" Her voice trailed, glancing over her shoulder at him.

"In a restricted vault. It wasn't as restricted as it seemed. All I had to do was rip a wall open. I've seen these weapons before. They're hydra. My question is how did hydra have access to weapons that had the same signature as the tesseract?" He crossed his arms as he looked from each of the heroes in the room.

Cerulean picked up the gun for a moment, feeling it's weight in her hands. She watched as her hands turned blue again like when Loki attacked her. Her gasp caught the attention of everyone in the room. Even Thor who had just walked through the door to find himself at the end of their conversation.

Silence engulfed the room, Cerulean threw the gun back on the table, suddenly feeling much stronger after Loki had attacked her. "Well. Good news is, I feel a hell of a lot stronger. Bad news is, I'm not sure how. How is a Hydra weapon capable of restoring my magic?"

"It probably has something to do with the fact that you were created as a Hydra weapon." Cerulean spun around to see the Director standing by the long glass windows of the lab. Natasha stepped forward, glancing from the director to Cerulean worriedly.

"Maybe right now isn't the best time to bring this up." Natasha hissed through her teeth knowing what damage this could bring. She could see that Cerulean was already spiraling, the mermaid hated hydra with every fiber of her being. She used to spend hours on end going through old data files on Hydra. Everything about the horrid organization made her skin crawl.

Steve moved closer to the mermaid, watching her closely. His brows furrowed trying to understand. "How was she a weapon for Hydra?" He kept an eye on her, watching her reactions to everyone's words.

"Cerulean was ripped from her family, her memories were erased, and she was mutated into what she is now. Some people would call it a miracle. Others would call her a monster. They assumed that after they erased her memories that she would be under their control. But they were wrong."

Her eyes were darting across Fury's face, praying that this was a prank. But the director never joked about anything. Her mind was reeling, going a thousand miles an hour.

The day Natasha and Clint found me.. I had destroyed an entire beach, created massive waves out of panic of not knowing where I was or even who I was. Everyone saw me as a monster. It was through my training that I found out what I was. I could hold my breath underwater, and swim without becoming fatigued... but they couldn't have made me. Everyone told me my family was dead, they couldn't be alive... could they?

Cerulean turned away from the director, her head shaking, trying desperately to clear it. "Why wouldn't you have just told me?" She turned to Natasha, tears burning in her eyes. Desperately she tried to hold them back. She wouldn't allow herself to succumb to this. Natasha was like a mother to her, an older sister she could always trust. A mentor... A friend. And now, what scared her most, is not knowing what else she was hiding from her.

Natasha couldn't look at Cerulean. She glared at Fury with fiery hatred swirling in her green eyes. "You aren't a monster Cee. You're nothing like them." She moved towards her slowly, trying not to corner her. Her eyes slowly moving from fury to Cerulean's distressed face. Cerulean shook her head again, and moved away from Natasha. I can't trust her. I can't.

Thor, Tony, and Bruce all looked at eachother, unsure of how to approach this situation. "I've heard of this Hydra, they are an organization bent on the destruction of entire populations, who wanted to create supersoldiers, like our captain." Thor moved forward speaking slowly. "Dear Merfriend, you are not a force of destruction. You are an ally to us, a dear friend. Do not allow heresay to dictate your idea of who you are. Only you may choose." He held out his hand to her, a turquoise sea flower in the palm of his large hand. "Even if you were a creation of Hydra, you were not influenced by them." He spoke gently to her, like he would Jane. "You are no monster, my friend. You are a valuable part of this team."

She stared at the flower in his hand, one of the ones from her base on the sea floor. It reminded her of her tail. She took his hand gently in hers, her palm under his knuckles. She took her other hand and closed his fingers over the flower.

"I don't know what I am anymore. And until I do, I can't put you in harms way." She glared at her hands still icy blue from the weapon. Tightening her grip on his hand for a moment, she let go and conjured her aqua board. "I'm so sorry. But I can't stay here." His face dropped, wishing to understand. She dropped her head and flew out of the lab quickly.

Making it to the sky deck, she took off, tears freely running down her face. She kept going until she made it to the coastline, and once she was far enough out to sea, she dropped the board and started her free-fall, transforming before she hit the water.

She needed to find answers. The only way I'm going to find out the truth is on my own. That's how it's always been.