Monstrous (Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 23

~~ { Many thanks to my wonderful new Beta, Levithan101 } ~~

Previously:

Wolverine sighed heavily. "Chuck, when I was sniffing out the scents in the cell, I smelled something. Underlying Lila's scent, I smelled stone."

Charles and the Captain grimaced at the reminder. Even so, they already knew this, so why was Logan reminding them? Charles raised an eyebrow in silent inquiry.

"Barton-James-whatever the hell his name is, he doesn't know."

The two leaders paled and looked at each other, then at the forlorn form of Clint, leaning against the window, face set in a permanent pained scowl.

Oh boy.

This was gonna be a looooong flight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two leaders and Logan all looked at each other and seemed to come to a wordless agreement, even without the use of the Professor's power.

It would be better for Clint if he was told now, so he had the rest of the flight to the manor to process it, and they could get straight to finding Lila when they got there.

"Hawkeye?"

Clint came out of his solemn thought and turned to look at the Captain.

Steve was...awkward, to say the least. "C-can we speak to you, in private?"

Clint was too busy wallowing in self hatred to gather up the presence of mind to be suspicious as to why they wanted to speak to him alone, or why Steve seemed so nervous. He just nodded his assent.

Wolverine, Hawkeye, Xavier and the Captain all headed to a side room near the aft of the jet, that was closed off from the rest, hence providing privacy.

Again, it was wordlessly agreed upon that Charles would deliver the bad news, as he was the best at softening the blow with his words. A couple of ex-soldiers, one with a, shall we say, less than personable bed side manner? Decidedly not.

"Mr Barton-"

"Call me Clint." He cut in.

Charles cleared his throat, appearing to gather himself.

"Very well. Clint, I'm afraid that there was something that was overlooked about Lila, that we learned just before you got back, that none of us thought to inform you of." He paused. "Logan has kindly reminded us."

Here, Wolverine glared at the Professor.

Bring me into it, why don't you. Thought Logan.

Clint was immediately caught between being on guard and alarmed.

His brotherly instinct won out and he frantically demanded they tell him what they were talking about.

A pregnant pause. No-one breathed.

"Lila is dying."

Well ok, rip off the band aid then.

It took Barton about half a second to process what had just been blurted out so callously. Then he exploded.

"WHAT!?"

Logan winced at the volume, his sensitive ears ringing.

Xavier sighed and explained in more detail, about the petrification being a result of the men who Clint had hunted for the majority of his life, a punishment to the poor souls lucky enough to escape their clutches. But not for long.

Clint collapsed heavily into one of the chairs in the side room, not really conscious or registering the trio's muttering about leaving him some alone time to think, as the door slid closed behind them.

Clint didn't think he could feel any worse about this whole thing. He saw Lila, smiling and laughing in his mind's eye, happy as he'd always wished to see her. As tears welled up in his eyes, he realised he was wrong, oh so very wrong.

~~ Meanwhile, somewhere in the skies ~~

Lila had already head off for her mission, her body jumping into the air and flying in the direction stated in the file, all without her prompting or permission..

It was an alien sensation, like being a passenger in her own skin, fully functional in mind, but not able to do or say as she pleased.

If she could, she would have already hit Not-Loki hard over the head, hoping to knock some sense into him and give some control of Loki's body back to him.

But alas, she had to go along with it for now.

She could fight a little, if she ignored the agony that she felt every time she tried, but she had to reserve her energy and not tip her hand to Not-Loki. Lila wasn't sure of the extent of how he could use the warped bond against her, but she wouldn't risk it for the little things.

If things became violent, which they undoubtedly would, then she would just have to try and make sure her body harmed, instead of killed. It was better than nothing.

Besides, – a small, more animalistic part of her whispered – they would be the same as those scientists that tortured her for years. What was a body or two, or ten?

Lila mentally shook herself, though, she supposed there was really no need. It wasn't like she was in control of where she was flying to, and it was a couple more hours yet anyway.

She sighed.