I Am The Storm

Chapter Nineteen

 It had been a few days since Hydra came to Stark Industries and there had been no change. None, whatsoever. Tony hadn't made any progress with finding the Man that had gotten everyone into this mess. Cori was still stuck in a trance like state, white mist clouding her vision as far as Tony could tell. The good thing for her was that her bullet wound was almost fully healed, astonishing pretty much everyone except Tony.

Tony was exhausted. He had spent the past few nights in the lab, working on nothing in particular. He just wanted to keep awake. He had consumed enough caffeine to kill an elephant, but Tony refused to move from his stress induced whatever he was doing. Honestly, he probably should have been out of the lab hours ago. He couldn't see straight, but nobody had come to collect him yet, so he stayed at work.

Somehow meals were appearing as well, even though he never saw who brought them. Either way, Tony didn't touch them, too busy doing nothing in particular.

At some point, he must have fallen asleep out of pure exhaustion, because when he woke up he was in his bed.

With a clear head, Tony was actually able to think about how to fix Cori's problem; the mind one, not the bullet hole. Although it was a solution, it didn't mean that he would like it. He certainly wouldn't like it at all.

As Tony opened his nightstand drawer, he tried to keep the images of the fight in Siberia out of his head. It wouldn't help anyone now if he freaked out over a fight that very well could have ended with him dead at the hands of someone who used to be a friend. Tony also tried not to think of the irony; how the fight related to the dreadful scene he watched before it, his father being killed by someone he thought was a friend.

But still, Tony reached for the sorely outdated flip phone, pressing its ancient buttons to find the only number saved on it.

The phone rang a few times, during which Tony muttered as many curses as he could fit. Steve Rogers picked up quickly, however.

"Tony," Steve sounded almost relieved, "What's happening,"

"It's nothing to do with you Rogers. Are you with Maximoff?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Could you kindly hand the phone to her?" Tony said, almost as if he was asking a child to do something.

"Why do you need to talk to her?" Steve insisted.

"I don't owe you any explanation Rogers. Let me talk to her,"

Tony heard Steve sigh before the phone rattled a little as it was handed over.

"Stark," Tony could hear the displeasure from Wanda. He hoped Wanda's apparent hate for him would be overcome by the ability to help someone who was in somewhat of the same position she herself had been in at one point.
"Maximoff," Tony said, letting a little bit of relief slip into his voice. He was lucky she was still in the same place as the other Rogue Avengers, as the media had been calling them. He could honestly care less what they were called.

"What do you want," Wanda sighed. Even though the phone distorted her voice, Tony could tell that she sounded tired.

"I need your help. I have a girl at Stark Tower who was an assassin for Hydra. A man came in the other day and used her words on her, and she's stuck in between them. Apparently there was one more. I was just wondering-"

"You expect me to come and help you after all you put me through?" Wanda sounded disgusted.

"You wouldn't be helping me. She's twelve, almost thirteen, and has lost everything to Hydra. She was one of their "Assets", I want to give her a second chance. And she can't get a second chance if she is still under the influence of her words,"