The Blue Phoenix

Chapter One

"We recovered some rather... Disturbing footage from our last HYDRA base raid. We think you may want to look it over." Fury stated simply.

"We'll take a look at it." Steve promised.

The screen went blank as Fury disconnected, but was quickly replaced by a video file. He turned and looked at the Avengers, all behind him staring intently at the screen. They nodded, and it began.

A girl, looked no more than 15. She had brown hair, light skin, and eyes that seemed to change colors with every movement and flicker of light. Two HYDRA agents held her tightly, pulling her backwards towards a restraining type of bed, currently upright, sitting in front of what appeared to be a very extensive lab. She snarled and hissed, growling and gnashing her teeth like an animal. Once she was tied she strained, hissing and opening her mouth to release a horrific, hollow roar. They slapped her across the face, only to be snarled at in reply. Her eyes fixed on the camera as she was injected with several needles. Those eyes. Oh, those eyes... Those haunting, angry eyes. A man walked into the screen, approaching the girl to stroke her cheek. She leaned into his hand, purring through her closed mouth and closing her eyes for just a moment as the anesthesia began to take hold. Her left leg buckled for a second, but she quickly regained her footing as the bed began to lean back.

"Sleep well, child." the man said in a thick accent.

Then it ended.

The Avengers were silent until Banner broke the silence.

"What... Was that?"

No one replied as the next file came up. It was a diagram, something to be implanted into the spine. It would wind around every organ in the body, then expand into a truly frightening armor on command. More footage.

The girl, on her stomach, head tilted to the side, asleep. Blood dripped from her back as she was operated upon.

Another room, she was awake. The man from before was in the room, circling her as she stood in the middle, expression blank. Suddenly, the man keeled over, choking, gagging. Blood seeped through his dark clothes, then pinkish flesh began to fall from the hem of his shirt, visibly moving underneath before his intestines spilled out. He fell on his side, quivering violently before his skin split and his muscles withered, falling down as dry husks. The girl, meanwhile, stared emotionless at the gut-twisting sight. His abdomen jolted as his stomach literally exploded, blood lining the walls.

The man's blood trickled down her face as she turned to the camera. The eyes. The haunting look was gone, no sadness resided their either. No sadness. Not even hidden under the layers of emotions one could see on her eyes. They were hard, cold, hiding any other emotion she might be feeling. But one thing was for certain. There was no sadness. She stood silently as strings of clammy flesh fell from her face. Retching sounds were to be heard in the background of the film before the girl smiled, and left.

The screen went blank again, and there was complete silence in the room until Wanda ran out of the room towards the bathroom. Tony got up and quickly opened one of the windows, taking deep breaths. The others were utterly horrified, but didn't have long to feel that way, because the screen once again lit up.

The next file. A location. And a date.

4/19/1984