|| LONGING || EDITTING

|| Chapter Fifteen ||

Arizona was lying on the ground on her back with her head elevated on Natasha's thighs, her expression was relaxed and she looked younger than she did when she was awake. Tony was pacing back and forth, stopping every few seconds to see if Arizona would move but she didn't even flinch. Natasha was soothing the red hair falling down her thighs from Arizona's head before looking up to see the concern on Tony's face, "Tony, calm down. You did taser her, it's gonna take a while for her to wake up," Natasha reassured.

Tony stopped in his pacing, his eyes falling to the ex-assassin, "I know, I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about what the hell that was," He pointed behind him, referring back to the fight, "That was not our Zona, she would never want to hurt us,"

Natasha looked back at Arizona with furrowed brows until her eyes distanced. She gave Tony a look of realisation, "What if Hydra was able to get in her head too?" Seeing Tony's expression contort in confusion, she continued, "Like, Barnes, she can be forced to become an assassin with a violent alter-ego,"

"But she's so young," Tony replied, earning a shrug from her.

"Hydra might've been prepping her for it..."

Tony looked at at the redhead in horror, crouching down and brushing some loose strands from her face, "My poor girl..." He whispered, voice filled with regret before he pulled out his phone, dialling a number.

"Who're you calling?" Natasha questioned.

"Vision," Tony stood back up before hearing the familiar British voice on the other end.

"Mr Stark, how may I assist you?"

"Hey, Vision. I need you to come to pick up Zona. Things happened and I..." He trailed off looking at Arizona, remembering the look on her face when he told her she'd be going home, "I think she'd want Wanda by her side right now," He looked down, ashamed of himself.

"Right away, sir,"

Arizona's eyes felt heavy as she gained consciousness, her eyelids didn't want to open but the stinging feeling on her side had her furrow her brows. She slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurry and saw the outline of Wanda and she gave a weak smile, "I'm in heaven..." Wanda chuckled lightly, helping Arizona sit up as the Fireball gratefully took the ice pack from Vision once her view cleared up, "Thanks..." She mumbled before wincing in pain after she pressed it to her side, "What happened?"

Vision and Wanda shared a look before he sat beside her, "What's the last thing you remember, Arizona?"

"Bucky and I were in the pods..." Her brows furrowed as she tried to force her mind to remember, "We were being interrogated and... The man, he... He started..." Thoughts of the red book haunted her mind and the events after that returned. Tears immediately stung her eyes as her lips parted in shock, all her thoughts overlapping with the anvil of guilt pressing against her chest, "Oh my, God," She stood up with pinched brows before turning to the pair, "I - I killed an innocent man," She stuttered before she covered her mouth with her fingers.

Wanda instantly shook her head, standing up, "It wasn't your fault, Zona, it wasn't you,"

Seeing Wanda step toward her, Arizona stepped back with a scared look. "Stop!" Wanda froze, "I - I could hurt you,"