Chapter Text
You have always been an experiment. Something that wasn’t supposed to see the light of day, something that would be used for future research. You were never supposed to make it as far as you did.
You never knew who your parents were. One time, when you were around eight, you found yourself praying to some God, somewhere in the universe, that they at least got what they wanted when they gave you to the lab. Maybe money, maybe a new life entirely. You doubted any God was real for you, but maybe it helped them.
The Pulse Project was established to create an on-site soldier who could assist other soldiers on the battlefield, not only in fighting, but in healing. You were trial 009, the eight before you all failed. Eight kids died in an effort to make a rapid healer; it was ridiculous, but government corruption was never a secret.
They expected you to die too. You never even had a name until they realized you were their first success. You remembered feeling the radiation seeping into your skin. Everyone in the room was in hazmat suits but you, you were in a thin hospital gown. Head shaved, nothing underneath. They wanted to see how much a child could withstand. Pulses of subthermal radiation made your skin beat. Unknown to you, it warped your nervous system, and then you could hear it. The heartbeats of everyone in the room. Shutting your eyes, they became louder, and louder, until you heard the yelling of the scientists, some of them falling to their knees, one shouted to stop the experiment. As the radiation stopped flowing into you, you felt your body go numb with a prick in your neck.
They had succeeded, but it wasn’t the last time you were going to be tested on. You had been used to see how far your healing capabilities could go, how much pain you could absorb, how much pain you could give.
This happened for over fifteen more years, until one day, you felt half of the heartbeats in the lab disappear. The doctor in front of you, about to take your blood, had vanished. Turned to ashes in the air. He left the door open behind him. You felt your legs moving before you could realize that there were more people running after you, but some of them slowly became dust as well, only a few were left. Somehow, you were one of them.
An alarm went off above you, but not before you could see the massive exit door of the lab, large windows caused warm light to spill in. It had been so long since they let you outside, so long since you’ve seen the sun. You forgot how bright it was. You slammed yourself through the doors, lucky that it seemed the security guards had fallen victim to whatever was causing people to disappear. Woods surrounded the building, running into them, you never even looked back. You made it onto an actual road the next day, passing by a sign that said “Joint base, Lewis-McChord.” Military.
The beginning hadn’t been easy. Social skills were difficult for you, and you often found yourself sleeping in alleyways or dark corners of big cities. You fought a lot. Got yourself into some trouble, but always got away in time. You only used the pulsing powers when you needed to. The people that disappeared came back five years later, like nothing happened.
One day, she saw you use your pulse. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Fucking mouthfull. You had taken some money from a bad group of dudes. They deserved it. They decided that a ten versus one fight seemed even, so you put your hands to the ground and sent out fast waves, causing their heartbeats to speed up rapidly. They clutched their chests in pain, leaving you with time to run, but the woman with the white streak in her hair was behind you. She gave you her card, saying she could house you if you did some dirty work for her.
You didn’t know she was a damn congresswoman, or that her dirty work included human test subjects, illegal asset collection, and murder. But you were stuck. It was a job. Something that kept a roof over your head. You just had to separate everything you felt when you did any mission she assigned you. Any pain you cause someone, any time you hear a heartbeat stop, you bury it down. Hide it.
“I have one last mission for you to do, Pulse.” Valentina started calling you that after you told her you never really had a name. “Then, I can get you a real job, something you don't have to hide from people. How does that sound?” She asked over the phone. “That’s… fine.” You replied back, sitting in your bland apartment, you didn’t know how to feel. She sounded different on this call, maybe a little too… cheery.
“I need you to take out a target. We recently found out she has been stealing my property. She will be at a stronghold of mine up in the mountains, I will have transportation take you there tonight. Target name is Ghost, sending you a visual right now. After this, your life is going to change, Pulse. I can promise you that.” She says quickly, your phone beeps three times, signalling that she hung up, a beep afterwards shows that she sent you a plato of your target, a woman in a white mask.
Your gear has been damaged for some time now, the chest plate has been scraped raw at the corners, making it dig into your arms, but it seems like it’ll be the last time you’ll be using it. Slipping a gun into the holster on your leg, you exited the building as soon as you got the call that the car Valentina sent was outside.
They gave you an earpiece and showed you an image of your target without her mask. You wished that they didn’t. Hours later, you were dropped off at the base of a mountain in the desert, apparently, your target was already inside. Valentina said she already scanned your biometrics so you would be let inside, so the door lifting open for you was no surprise.
The stronghold was silent, you couldn’t hear a heartbeat, which scared you. If she was inside, how could you not hear where she was? There weren't even any vibrations in the ground. For all you knew, you were alone. As you made your way deeper, you found the area where Valentina kept all of her sensitive materials. Papers on multiple tables had symbols that looked like “S” on them, along with photos of destroyed labs and bodies. Before you could let them get to you, you felt it. The steady bumps of a heartbeat behind you, approaching rapidly. Turning around in time, you blocked a hit that was coming for your head.
A blonde woman had charged you, pushing you to the floor, you grabbed the sides of her head, covering her ears, and pulsed into them. She fell off of you dizzily, hitting the sides of her head to stop the feeling. You took out your gun, pointing it at her, “I’m not here for you.” You said. “What?” She replied, pushing herself to sit up. You heard more banging coming from beside you.
There she is. Your actual target. But, is she fighting someone else in a mask? You point your gun and take the shot, but she phases out of your view, the bullet hits the wall behind where she stood. The blonde woman tries to attack you again, this time with a knife. You get pushed down, but she is knocked away from your body when a shield hits her, metal clanging echoes through the stronghold, a man charges towards her as she gets up. The two masked women are still fighting as you get up, you try to aim at your target, but she keeps phasing in and out of existence.
There are too many heartbeats in the room that you can’t hear the blonde coming up behind you, pushing you down onto the ground, her hands around your throat with shocking gauntlets, you weren't strong enough to bring your hands up to pulse her with the shockwaves flowing through your body. As she chokes you, the man with the shield comes behind her, wrapping his arm around her neck and pulls her back, but her grip on you is strong. The bang of a gun makes you all look away, the Blonde still had a grip on your throat, but the shockwaves were turned off.
Your target, Ghost, shot the other woman in a mask. Before you could continue fighting, you heard a new heartbeat begin in the room. It was loud, erratic, and strong. The way its sudden startup began scared you. With everyone distracted, you took this as your chance to kick the blonde away from you. She headbutted the man behind her and pointed her gun at him, you did the same with everyone else. You all turned at the sounds of gagging, or maybe choking, that came from the corner of the room.
A crawling man in pajamas limped his way up, you all pointed your guns at him. “Is he actually dea- oh!” He began, but seeing as you all had your guns pointed at him, he tried to turn away and run. Before he could get out, though, the doors all around you slammed shut. The stranger turned around and raised his hands, “uh, hi. Um. I’m Bob.” He says.
“Who are you?” Your target asks, confused, her British accent coming through strong. “I told you, I’m Bob. Yeah, Bob.” He shrugs, hands still raised. “Jesus Christ, stop saying Bob.” The man in a Captain America uniform says. “Who sent you, Bob?” The blonde asks, “nobody? Why would I be sent? You were all sent?” He asks, pointing at each of you. “I was sent for Ghost, not all of you.” You said, looking at the others in the room. “What? I’m not sure what’s happening here, and you’re all exhausted, but my job is done.” Your target says, putting her gun down. “Mine isn’t.” You point your gun at her, the blonde does the same to you, “mine isn’t either, so nobody is going to go anywhere anymore.”
“Coming for a target? That’s a half-way decent cover for someone stealing assets from Oxe.” The man says, pointing his gun at the blonde. “I’m not stealing, she's stealin-,” she cuts herself off and takes a breath, shaking her head. “Fuck.” You said, lowering your gun, you understood what was going on, so did she. “What?” The man asked. “Okay, it’s clear we have all worked for Valentina in some kind of shadow-ops capacity.” The blonde says. “So?” The man asks again. “So this is all Oxe’s secrets, so are we.” The blonde replies.
Ghost lowers her gun too, “we’re all liabilities for Oxe.” The blonde nods, “we are the evidence and this is the shredder.” “We are the last bit of evidence she needs to get rid of, and then she has a clean slate.” You said. “Your theory is flawed.” The man says again. “Please, go on.” Ghost asks. “Well, let's look at the facts. The infamous Ghost, SHIELD reject on the run from fifteen nations? Taskmaster fried half of Budapest. I don’t even know how many hearts Pulse has accidentally stopped. And Yelena, a former red-room assassin, God only knows the blood on your hands.”
“Pretty precious coming from the guy that stole Captain America.” Ghost said. “I’ll have you know I was actually the official Captain America, so-,” he starts, “yeah, for like two seconds.” Yelena started, “before you publicly murdered an innocent man in the streets, is that right?” Ghost finished. You remembered him from the news at that moment, his name was… John Walker? He seemed silenced. “I’m a decorated combat veteran, I have a loving wife and a son. Let's be honest, you guys are cheap combat mercenaries, clearly I’m supposed to bring you in.” He tries to say, but you start laughing alongside Ghost and Yelena. Bob starts giggling from behind you all. “It was getting so tense in here. For a second.” He smiles, albeit a bit awkwardly. The fake Captain America stalks towards him, making his smile go away. “Valentina gave me a clean slate guarantee if I finish my mission, I’m not screwing that up. This weirdo wasn’t part of the job, so, I gotta know. How’d you get in?” He asks.
Bob seems nervous, he shrugs his shoulders and looks around. “I… don’t remember.” “Terrific answer.” Walker responded, turning back to you all. “Well, tie yourselves up.” He says. You give him a ridiculous look. “Woooow, no. And, goodbye.” Ghost says, making her way to the doors to try and phase out, before she could, though, a sound system started, creating a vibrational field around the exits. The sound knocked all of you to the ground, and it meant that Ghost wouldn’t be able to get out.
“You guys hear that?” Bob asks. “Fuck.’ Ghost says, rubbing her ears. You begin looking for another way out, along with Yelena. Walker and Ghost loot Taskmaster’s body. “Woah, show a little respect, please?” Yelena asks, looking over. Walker and Ghost continue. You look away and keep searching for some kind of keypad or lock for the doors. A loud alarm starts before you could find anything, lighting the room in red. It began heating up rapidly.
“What the hell is that?” Walker asks. “It’s not just a shredder. It’s an incinerator.” Ghost says. Yelena pointed out a timer on the wall, two minutes and you’d all be dead. “Could be for anything, could be for when they come to pick me up.” Walker says. “Jesus, get over yourself.” You say. “Do you feel that? The temperature rising dramatically as if heat was involved?” Ghost says. Walker is silenced again. “Oh that is no way to go.” Bob says. “How would you like to die today, Bob?” Walker asked back.
“Ghost lady.” Yelena starts. “Ava.” She replies. “Sure, we need to get you through the walls so you can open the door. We need to shut down the sound barrier.” Yelena finishes. “If it was built just for her, it's gotta be an independent power source.” Walker says. “Come on, let's go.” Ava says.
You put your hands on the ground to try to feel the pulsing of the soundsystem. The vibration is different from heartbeats. It's quicker, steadier. You feel it far from you. “You’re trying to listen for it?” You hear his erratic heartbeat approach, Bob. “If I can feel everyone's heart in this room, I should sure as hell be able to feel this sound system.” You get up and walk quickly in the direction of the vibrations, Bob follows. “You hear all of us?” He asks. “Yeah. Yours is loud. You nervous?” You ask, a bit sarcastically as you get closer to the vibration source. He stutters behind you as you put your ear to a metal covered panel. “It’s here!” You yelled. The group ran over, Ava ripped off the metal cover, exposing the wiring. “I can override this.” Yelena says, pulling out a small terminal, before she could connect to it, though, Walker rushed over. “On your left!” He yells as he hits the wiring with his shield. Sparks erupt as the sound barrier is shut off, some hit your face causing you to jump back. “Well, that works, I hope.” Yelena says.
We rush behind Ava as she phases outside of the door. The timer keeps ticking down. You feel sweat drip down from your nose, some slides down your back. Bob is right, this is no way to go. “Think she’s coming back?” Bob asks. “Should have seen this coming.” Walker adds. Their heartbeats speed up, but one stays eerily quiet. Yelena’s heart actually… slows down? You look at her and see her shut her eyes. The timer has less than ten seconds on it. This feels like the only time you haven't been able to slow your heart rate down in your life. This is it.
Buzzing comes from the door as it rapidly lifts up. Before you could even realize what was happening, everyone was running. The fire from the incinerator pushed the four of you out the door, then it slammed shut once again. You groaned as you hit the floor, rolling to your back to catch your breath. As you opened your eyes, you saw Ava above you, holding her hand out. “Taking a nap?” She asks. You gripped her hand and she pulled you up, you let out a “thanks,” as she does the same for Walker. Yelena and Bob had a brief conversation before getting up. You began looking for any other way out, but all of the doors were locked. The building was beginning to shake with the power of the incinerator.
“Alright. Everyone has a reason for being here except for you. Hey Bobby, less talking to yourself, more talking to us.” Walker targeted Bob, who just looked away, pacing. “You tell me how you got in here right goddamn now.” Walker stalked up to Bob, getting in his face.
“I swear, man. Okay, I just woke up in this place. One minute I was getting my blood drawn for this medical study, the next I just woke up here, in my pajamas. I don’t know what's happening.” Bob responds. His heartbeat is picking up, so is Walkers. One of them could get physical soon if they keep going like this. “Show me where you woke up.” Walker shouts, Bob pints to the room behind him, the one you all just escaped from. “Oh, where everythings on fire? That’s real convenient.”
“Walker, calm down.” Yelena asks. You could make him if need be. “You really don't remember anything? Bag over your head? Needle in the neck?” Ava asks. “Chokehold, nerve pinch?” Walker adds. “No.” Bob says, shaking his head. “I think he’s just a civilian.” Yelena says. “He’s not lying.” You added, “either he is really good at lying or he actually can’t remember anything.”
“If he’s a civilian he knows too much, and if he’s an agent he sucks. I say we throw him back in the fire.” Walker insists. Bob starts laughing. Maybe out of nervousness, maybe he actually found it funny. “Sorry, you said you were Captain America?” Bob asks. “Why are you laughing?” Walker asks back. “It's just, you're an asshole. You know.” Bob laughs again. Walker chuckles and moves closer before charging at him, pinning him to a wall.
Yelena, Ava, and you come to separate them. “Woah, okay. We swung our tiny dicks, it was a lot of fun. You go over there. Bob, come with me.” Yelena says, pointing Walker in the other direction, you followed behind him with Ava.
“The fuck was that?” You asked him. “For all we know, he could be here for us all if Valentina’s plan didn’t work.” Walker responds in a harsh whisper. “He's telling us the truth, I don’t think he knows anything, I don’t think he is a threat. You need to calm down, Walker.” You said. His paranoia was getting to him. “Don’t fucking tell me what to do right now.” He said, loud enough that Yelena looked over her shoulder to make sure nothing was happening. You were getting tired of his piss poor attitude. You put your hand to his shoulder and let out small pulses, slowing down his heart rate, “calm the fuck down, we’re not dying because of your damn anger issues.” You said. Walker’s eyes unfocused a little as his breathing slowed with your force. He pulled his arm away and looked at you before shaking his head, walking to a different corner of the room.
“What’d you do?” Ava asked, coming up behind you. “Slowed down his heart rate because him being erratic just makes this entire situation more dangerous. Anger issues piss me off.” You said. Ava raised her hands, but nodded at you in agreement.
A banging sound followed by crumbling interrupted you two, “you all done with therapy yet? Think I found our way out.” Walker yelled, he had smashed one of the walls with his shield, revealing light behind it. As you peered through the hole, you noticed that it was a vent shaft that went upward. Walker went first and pulled himself up, he stuck his hand down to help the next person come up. Ava gripped his arm and he hoisted her up, next was you, Bob, then Yelena. The vent slammed shut behind her. You all looked up the never ending shaft.
“So… none of us fly? We all just punch and shoot?” Yelena asks. “Don’t worry, I got this.” Walker says, jumping. “Can’t believe they made an asshole a super-soldier.” You said, but before long, Walker came crashing down again, his shield causing a clang to echo through the vent. “You should try that again.” Ava says. “We are really far down here.” Walker responds, getting up stiffly.
“Okay, how about you try to walk through the walls, or whatever, and just throw us a rope down.” Walker suggests to Ava. “Okay, well, first of all someone other than you would have to ask me. And Second of all, I’d have to know where I’m going, because I’ve never been able to hold it longer than a minute. So, I’d be swimming in an ocean of dirt and then I’d be crushed to death.” She responds. Walker teases her for it being just a minute.
“Oh my god, we suck.” Yelena says. Bob looks around, a bit unsure, “uh. I have an idea.”
Next thing you knew, the five of you were back to back, slowly climbing up the vent by pressing into each other's backs. Walker was constantly repeating ‘right, left’ so you could all inch upwards little by little.
“Ew, which one of you is wet?” Yelena asks, “I- I run hot, sorry.” Bob responds. “Someone’s got a weird, hard butt.” Walker chimes in. “It’s not my butt, it’s my suit.” Ava says back. “You need to get a new suit.” Yelena teases, “oh, pardon me for the inconvenience, I only spent my entire life in labs, hooked up to machines to create a physical cage to keep my body from disintegrating. Sorry about all that.” “Me too, girl.” You said without even realizing it. “You do not want to start the whole sob-story game. I win. Enslaved child assassin over here.” Yelena quips back.
“You were just kids so, you know.” Walker says, Yelena tips her head over “oh, is that a good thing?” “Well you were just a kid, you didn’t know any better and you should know that.” He says back in a weird moment of sincerity. Yelena sarcastically says, “thanks, I feel way better.”
You feel the bottoms of your shoes starting to lose traction, making you push harder. To your left was Yelena, and on your right was Walker, both pushed against you too. You were all feeling the impact of trying to force yourself upwards against gravity.
“This is crazy, we can’t even see the floor.” Ava says, peering down. Bob shakes his head, “can we please not talk about how high up we are, I’m just not great with heights.” “Hey, I think I see the door!” Walker says as you reach the top. “What now?” Yelena asks. Ava looks around at the rest of you, “uh. I guess, someone needs to jump up?” “Then the rest of us immediately fall.” Yelena responds. “Sorry, I didn’t really think this part through.” Bob says, looking downward. “Genius plan, Bobby.” Walker shouts again, Bob whispers to himself, “always making things worse.” “Better than jumping and busting your ass in front of everyone.” You respond back.
“Yelena, hand me your baton, I can reach it.” Walker asks, the Blonde looks over her shoulder incredulously, “what? No way. You’re just going to leave us.” They begin bickering, trying to form a plan. You were trying your hardest to keep your foot from slipping and the shaking coming from Bob wasn’t helping. “What's happening?” You ask over your shoulder at the man who you were back-to-back with. “Cucumber, cucumber!” He yells, “are you having a stroke?” Yelena asks. “Growing up, somebody told me you could stop a sneeze if you confuse your brain, I’ve always just yelled cucumber.” Bob says back, It didn’t help with Yelena’s confusion. “I need to sneeze so fucking bad but if I sneeze we might lose control and then fall and die.” Bob says quickly.
“Just give me the baton before he sneezes, Yelena.” Walker says, louder this time. “What the hell, no, oh my god.” She says back. Bob starts shaking again. You and Ava tried to use his ridiculous distraction method of yelling “cucumber,” when Walker took Yelena's baton from its holster, causing the rest of you to drop. Ava used two of her knives to stick into the wall of the vent shaft, before you knew it, you were clawing onto her legs as you fell–just barely catching onto her waist. Yelena fell past you, narrowly missing where she tried to grab. Before you could think, you grabbed onto her forearm as she shot her grappling hook to grab Bob by his foot, dangling in the shaft. Your grip on Yelena tightened as she reeled Bob up, trying to be as stable as you could while holding onto Ava.
Walker pulled you all up again using inactive cords that were on the top floor, “Selfish prick.” Ava calls him as she gets pulled up first. You came up second, opting to not even look at the man. “I made an educated decision to save myself first, and you all ended up fine, the plan worked.” He said as he pulled Yelena up, who took her baton from him as soon as she was on her feet.
“You make it, Bobby?” He asks, pulling Bob up, who is eyeing him with an indecipherable look while pulling himself up. He gripped Walker's hand with force as he finally made it out of the vent shaft and walked away from Walker, silently. The older man stood still, looking down into the vent. You felt his heartbeat slow to almost half of its original speed.
You made your way towards him, stepping slightly in front of his view, and waved your hand in front of his face. Nothing. You looked at the rest of the group. Yelena seemed just as confused as you, Ava was looking for a way out, and Bob… wouldn’t look at you at all.
“Walker!” Yelena shouted. “Uh. What the hell are you doing?” She asks. The man looks forward to the vent again, and then at you. He pushes himself back, “I’m fine.”
“Alright, let's get out of here.” Ava says, making her way through the entry door of the stronghold, at least this one was unlocked and operational. You followed behind Walker to the door, peering over his shoulder. Front of the building was surrounded by cars, even some fucking helicopters. “Valentina knows we made it out.” You said. Yelena runs a hand through her short hair, “we need to make a plan.” Walker stands in front of all of you, “here’s what we’re gonna do.” “Oh, you're the boss now, cute.” Ava snaps back. “It’s probably your only chance of getting out of here.” Walker responds.
“I think I might just surrender, probably.” Bob says; he’s anxious. You feel it. “Why should you be in charge? You almost killed all of us right there.” Yelena points to the vent shaft. “Well, let's see. I’ve been in the trenches of every war torn country on this planet, I rescued god knows how many hostages, and shook the hands of two U.S. presidents. Oh, and High School state football champs, back to back, go Bears.” He responds. You genuinely don’t know what to say. Yelena gasps, “oh, wow! When I was five, I was on a peewee soccer team called the West Chesapeake Valley Thunderbolts, sponsored by Shayne’s tire shop. We won zero games, and one time this girl Mindy did a poo at midfield. Anyone else have any pointless childhood stories to tell?” “Grew up in a lab prison.” Ava said. “Yeah same, and technically I didn’t have a name until I was like, nine, because everyone thought I would die and I don't have a completely real name now, still.” You responded. “Meth addicted, sign twirling chicken. It was a summer job.” Bob added.
“Right, okay. Here is a plan. Set off an explosion to bring them in so they turn on their night vision. Walker and Pulse control the first wave.” Yelena starts, Walker interrupts, “what, so we are just supposed to wait?” “I will turn back on the lights and blind the second wave. You will need to wait. Ava can go find an escape vehicle.” Before Yelena can finish, Ava has already phased out of the door. Bob looks at Yelena, “what about me?” He asks, Yelena pulls out an explosive from her belt, “you stay behind me, Bob.” She breathes out a sigh, “let's do this.”
Yelena sets off the explosive, causing the front door to burst open and the power to go out. You and Walker hid behind a corner, waiting for Yelena to switch the power back on. The lasers of their guns have come too close to the two of you, and it has been well over the minute that Yelena said she would take to turn them back on. Walker seethes beside you, “turn on the lights, Yelena.” He whispers, but the lasers of the enemies guns start coming down the hallway. He looks towards you and nods, you nod back. You would have to fight.
You both round the corner, Walker puts up his shield as you slam your hands on the ground, sending out a wave that should disturb the heartbeats of the soldiers coming at you, hopefully knocking them off balance.
Some of them fell to their knees, but some chose to shoot still. Their aims were wild, sparks of bullets hit the walls around you. Walker began fighting those that were still up as you unholstered your gun, doing the same. A man beside you charged you while you were avoiding gunshots from a soldier in front of you, causing you to topple over. Your gun was pulled from your hands, so you chose to cover your attackers ears with your hands, pushing out a rapid pulse to disorient him. He clutched his head with one hand and his chest with another, the pain would knock him out, you pushed him off of you as you dealt with the other soldier. Walker knocked his rifle out of his hands using his shield, leaving him defenseless for a split second. You rushed him and put both of your hands on his chest, slowing down his heart rate, making him drop to the ground.
Walker finished off the last remaining soldier before looking back at you, “we need to take their gear, it's the only way we can get outta here.” For once, you agreed with him. You started taking off the helmet and armor of the soldier you knocked out, strapping it to your body, even taking the rifle and their comms for good measure. “We need to find Yelena and Bob.” You said, he looked up at the ceiling and let out a sigh. “Fuck. I know.” He jutted his head to the electrical room for you guys to check. You heard a mix of grunting and gunshots coming from the attached hallway. Knowing that Bob was in no state to fight right now caused you to worry. You and Walker rushed, the smoke bombs caused your sight to cloud, but you could make out the feeling of two heartbeats, hopefully they were yours.
As you quietly stalked down the hallway together, you heard footsteps rushing closer, then suddenly, Walker pulled you back behind him, putting his shield up, he was a second too late. Bullets flew around the shield and one grazed your shoulder before you were fully behind him, Walker yelled, “It’s Us! Jesus Christ!” The shooting stopped and you looked up to see Yelena and Bob, thankfully.
Throbbing shot through your shoulder as you gripped it. “Where were you?” Yelena yelled out, Walked groaned back at her, “where were you?” “The explosion fired too many wires, couldn’t get the lights back on, but you two didn’t wait.” “We did wait!” You yelled back, “They closed in on us in like a minute we couldn’t just stand there!” Walker added. “Holy shit, did we shoot you?” Bob asked, noticing you gripping your arm. “It’s fine, Bob, it’s a graze. We gotta get out of here.” You said. The soldiers' comms crackled in your ears. “We probably have sixty seconds until they mobilize. If the Ghost lady did what she was supposed to, maybe we’ll get out of here alive.” Walker got out before you. “Get on their gear, now.” You said. Yelena and Bob rushed to cover their clothing with the soldiers armor, slipping on their helmets before another wave of them came in. Bob feigned an injury to get dragged out by Yelena and Walker while you walked behind them, carrying their gun in your hands like you were escorting them out.
“I don’t want to be carried anymore.” Bob said, his voice wavering, Walker whispered back at him, “shut up, Bob, you’re injured, remember?” You made it past Valentina without being noticed, and it took strength from all of you not to do anything in that moment. Yelena looks around, “we need a truck.” “Where the hell is Ava?” You asked. “She’s gone, of course she’s gone.” Walker replies. Before you could come up with a new plan, though, you heard her voice from behind you. “Hey, get in.”
You and Bob piled into the back of the truck while Walker, Yelena, and Ava sat up front. You took off the soldier's helmet and took a deep breath in, checking the wound at your shoulder. Still bleeding. “That’s gnarly.” Bob says, looking at it as you took off the cloth covering it, “it’ll be fine. You hurt anywhere?” He looks down at his body, “I- I don’t think so?” “I can check.” You say, bringing your hand to the center of his back, “really it’s okay-” he starts, but you have already started. Absorbing someone's pain was what you were made for. It was the first thing you learned how to do after the success of your experiment, it came easily to you. You rarely get to take someone's pain anymore, working for Valentina. It made you feel… needed.
As the pulse waves spilled from Bob’s body into yours, you realized he wasn’t in physical pain, thankfully, but there was something deep down, something you had to work for, that was hurting. Bob was stuck in silence as you tried to pull the pain out. “Is this okay?” You asked, he nodded, slowly, “yes.” You couldn’t get the feeling out of him. It seemed stuck, a part of him. Usually, you were able to feel the pain that others were feeling, but this was different. It was dark, it made your head swim.
The truck came to a stop, and so did you. “Shit, let me do the talking, okay?” You heard Walker say, you patted the spot on Bob's back that you were touching before moving away from him to peer out the window. Guards blocked the exit off the mountain. Walker tried to convince the guard that this truck was a medical team with wounded in the back, technically, he wasn’t completely wrong. “Identify yourselves.” You heard from outside the truck. “I think we need to be ready to fight.” You said to Bob, whose eyebrows were furrowed, eyes somber. “Do you trust me?” He asks, you furrow your eyebrows in confusion and he repeats the question, “do you trust me?” “Uh, fuck. Yeah, why?” You said, you had no reason to distrust him. He reached for your hand, gripping onto it. You looked down at where you were connected, but when you looked up, you were somewhere completely different.
You saw yourself sitting in a white room. You were still in a hospital gown. Your hair had grown to a slight fuzz from when they had shaved it. You were sitting on a metal bed, messing with scraps of medical supplies as your toys. Cotton balls with faces drawn on them by the one kind scientist was all you had. You don’t even remember his name anymore. The doors to your room burst open, and you were pulled out into the corridor, shoved into a different room, this one had a man in all black in it, military gear. Blood covered the side of his head. “Just a graze.” One of the soldiers said. “Take his pain.” Another voice echoed. Your child self set your hand on his chest. You didn’t realize how tiny you were until now, just a kid, a baby.
The pain you felt was excruciating as you took it from the soldier. Tears poured from your eyes as the two scientists forced your hand to remain connected to the soldier. If you stopped, they would know. You thought it would never end. That you would be connected to this man until he healed, painlessly. But that didn't happen. A burst of pain shot through your chest and you shook at the force of it. Your crying never stopped, but one heartbeat in the room did.
They had you absorb this man's death and then forced you back into your white lab room. No comfort, no kind words. You were just something to use and abandon. You were snapped out of your trance by Ava shaking your shoulders, “where is Bob?” She asks frantically, but you heard the gunshots from outside.
“Hey, over here!” He yelled, shooting the gun in the air. No, no. “We have to go get him, right?” You asked, looking out the window. Before any of you could do anything, though, the soldiers in front of him opened fire. Bob was shot to the ground by an army of men to help you all escape. His body fell to the ground, limp. “Come on, let's go. Let's go, that's why he did it.” Ava says. Yelena is looking out the window, eyes wide. You cover your mouth. Yelena looks over and nods at Walker, who starts the truck. He speeds down the mountain, everyone in the car is silent, until Walker sees something in the air.
“What the hell is that?” He asks, you all look through the window at the speck in the sky, rapidly rising. “Oh my god.” Ava says as it stops in the air and starts plummeting back down. “No, no, no.” Yelena repeats, Walker speeds up, “shit.”
He crashes back into the mountain, causing a massive shockwave that tips over the truck that you had all stolen. That was him. It was Bob. You all knew it.