The jet safely landed at the Avengers compound. Natasha had called in beforehand to ask Helen to prep the med bay. Helen waited nervously, unsure what to expect after the call ended. It seemed like she was urgently needed, but Natasha won't elaborate further. She looked at her phone, the numbers 4.47 am staring back at her. She leaned on a counter, yawning as sleep slowly tempted her once again.
She dozed off for a little before she was woken up by shuffling footsteps that approached the med bay. She straightened herself, watching as Steve carried what seems to be a large bundle of blankets in his arms inside. When she looked more closely, she realized that there was a person in the blankets; someone she didn't recognize. Steve walked towards the examination table, gently placing the stranger on it. Wanda and Natasha greeted her as they rushed in the med room as well, followed by Vision.
"Good morning, team. Who do we have here?" she asked as she approached the examination table, pulling the blanket back from the stranger's face. It was a woman, her skin and lips pale with a tinge of blue under the light.
"We found her in the snow Doc, God knows how long she's been lying there," Steve said, stepping back to let Helen take a closer look at the young woman. She hurriedly checked her pulse, noting how low it is.
"She's hypothermic. How was she when you found her?"
"She wasn't moving, pulse was low. Pupils were dilated by then. We removed her wet clothes, tried to warm her up. That's the best we could do on our way here," Natasha explained as she watched Helen asked Vision to help get a heated blanket from storage. He disappeared through the walls soon after, Helen now checking the woman's temperature.
"84.2 degrees. Her core temp's very low." Helen shook her head, her face deathly serious as she prepped the young woman for IV therapy.
"Is she gonna be okay?" Wanda asked, her voice almost too small to be heard. She winced when she watched the needle enter the young woman's skin.
"I can't promise anything, to be honest. I have to warm her up and stabilize her condition soon, or we could very well lose her."
Steve and Natasha sighed worriedly as Wanda took a moment to understand what was going on. Vision came in, quickly handing over the heated blanket. Helen replaced the damp blankets with it, draping it carefully over the young woman. She decided to give her some heated and humidified oxygen as well to improve her chances of recovering.
The four of them stood aside to let Helen work on the woman. Each of them has questions that they'd like to ask, but instead they stood in silence together. Steve decided to gather them in the meeting room to discuss what happened, quickly letting Helen know where to find them before they left the med bay. Helen nodded, saying she will update them if anything.
The four of them took a seat at the large table, faces apprehensive about what happened for different reasons. Steve was the first to speak up, noting how the rest were still unsure where to start.
"It seems that this woman is wanted by HYDRA for some reason. Could you help elaborate on that, Wanda? What did you manage to get from her?"
Wanda sat quietly in thought for a few seconds before replying. Her eyebrows scrunched as she tried to recall what she saw.
"I think she was captured by them. I saw her being brought to a... a lab. That's where they did something to her," Wanda thought of the painful sensation she felt around her neck earlier, "They hurt her for some reason. I think they shocked her. Then this old man took her blood. I—that's mostly what I saw."
"And she retaliated by blowing them all up? Did you see that happening when you were in her head?" Steve asked, worry creeping onto his facial features.
"I did," Wanda answered hesitantly. "But somehow it felt like I was there. It felt like she had shown me what happened from her point of view. I don't know how that's possible, but... yeah. That's how I know she did it."
"Has she done something like this before?" Vision asked. Wanda wondered how to answer the question.
"This isn't the first time that I've had a dream like that. I had another one before this, some time ago," Wanda said, glancing at Natasha, who was already putting two and two together.
"So, if we're assuming that every time something like this happened, and you had a dream about it... that would make it at least twice now, right?" Natasha asked Wanda as they all saw her nod her head, confirming parts of their fear regarding the stranger they had brought in.
"As per my observation earlier, it seems that the woman has destructive tendencies, to put it in some way," Vision said. "Pardon me for asking, but don't any of you think that we're risking ourselves and the compound by having her here? Especially since we don't know what she is actually capable of."
"What was the other option, Vis? Leave her there to die?" Wanda asked, getting no reply from Vision, his silence a loud, unspoken answer. Wanda looked at Steve and Natasha, both unable to look her in the eyes. "I saw, felt, what they did to her. I felt her guilt and her anger; the pain they've caused her from what little she's shown me. I don't know how, but I do."
"I understand your concern for her, Wanda. But don't you think we have to consider the fact that she may have... manipulated y—" Vision asked her before she cut him off.
"Manipulated me? That woman back there, blue and almost freezing to death and wasn't even conscious when we found her. Her? Manipulating me? You don't trust me? Čo do pekla, you think I'd lie for some stranger just to put all of us in danger? I told you what I saw, that's all. Either one of you could've said something earlier, to leave her behind. But nobody said a word, and now I look ridiculous for it?" Wanda stood up suddenly from her seat; her eyes now glowing red.
"Calm down, Wanda. It's okay, we'll figure this out together," Steve said, gently coaxing Wanda as she sat back down angrily.
"I am calm, Steve. I just wish some people would stop treating me and talking to me as if I'm some clueless slečna v núdzi," she looked angrily at Vision. He looked down, not wanting to meet her stare.
"Okay. Let's look at this matter properly. We brought a stranger into our home. Saved her from dying out in the cold. From what we know, she's wanted by or at least useful to HYDRA. Removing her from their hands is potentially a good decision for the time being, until we figure out what they want with her," Natasha tried to reason.
"Then again, the same stranger is also prone to blowing things up. We don't really understand her motive, where she's coming from, or if she's really trusted. Which understandably makes her a liability. She had no ID on her, HYDRA probably took care of that. I'll try and ask around, see if I can figure out where our mystery stranger is from. Someone this wanted on HYDRA's list must leave some kind of trail behind, right?"
The three nodded in agreement, questions still lingering in the back of their mind.
"That leaves one more question though. Where can we place her once she's recovered enough? She's probably not going to wake up happy and thankful that she's in a strange place," Natasha asked.
"Maybe we could bunk her up somewhere temporarily. One of the reinforced storage rooms or weapons testing chamber perhaps? I know that might not mean much but at least that's something. We can't exactly have her running around in our common areas. Not at least until we know how trustworthy she is, or what we can do about her. We can ask Tony if we can move some of his stuff into the other storage areas," Steve suggested.
"The fun part is telling Tony about this. Leave that to me. But let's say if she tries to do anything," Steve added, glancing at everyone especially Vision, "I believe that we do have things under control. Plus, Wanda can handle her if things came down to it. Right?" he asked her, Wanda nodding at him in reply.
"Okay so that's it for now. Get some rest. We'll move forward cautiously regarding this. Nat, please do some digging around and see if our stranger here can be ID'd like you mentioned. Vision, be on standby in case of anything. Wanda as well. If she pulls through tonight, I'll need you to start monitoring her. Update the team if there's anything at all, no matter how small. As for me, I've got a rather unpleasant call to make," Steve said, dreading what Tony would say about them bringing the woman in. The rest of them left the meeting room to rest for the day while he called Tony.
In the med bay, Helen watched as the woman improved significantly. She was pleased that she had made it through the worst parts but was a little perplexed at how fast she was recovering. Checking her vitals, Helen found that she was already stabilizing. Core temp's already back to normal? Impressive. Perhaps I can scan her to take a closer look, understand what's going on.
She did a whole-body scan, noting that the woman's cells were repairing itself at an accelerated rate. Her recovery rate is pretty rapid. I guess her body just needed a nudge to do the work. There's something definitely different about this one. Helen took a blood sample to study, letting the woman rest and recuperate further while she takes the blood sample to the lab to be analyzed.
A few hours later, Natasha was already awake and ready, doing some research. The origins of the woman that they'd brought in not too long ago perplexed her. How is it that someone like this didn't turn up on our radar? What does HYDRA want with her? Who is she? The questions ran through her mind as she looked around, screening through records and files where she thought she might find a clue. Her phone lit up with an incoming message as she took a sip of her orange juice. She glanced and read the text.
Romanoff. Give me a call at this number. NF.
She picked up her phone, staring at the screen in confusion. Cautiously she dialed the number, waiting as the phone rang.
"Romanoff. Glad you called," she heard a man's rough voice greeting her from the other side of the line, instantly confirming who she thought it was.
"Fury? This is a surprise. What can I help you with?" she asked right away, knowing Nick Fury is not someone who calls for no reason at all.
"Listen. I need a favor. Old friend of mine hit me up. Said she needs help with somebody, and you guys seem to be the most viable and capable option there is."
"And by you guys, you mean... the Avengers?" Natasha's eyebrow raised, wondering what is Nick on to about.
"Bingo."
"What's this all about Fury? Which friend of yours is this if you don't mind me asking?"
"Someone from SWORD, if you really need to know. That's all I can share for now. Basically, this friend of mine needs you to keep an eye out for somebody. They could be in big trouble, but how big? Don't know that yet," Nick said.
"Is this urgent? Because we uh, we kind of have a situation on our hands as well currently," she said, pinching her nose bridge as she remembered the woman from before.
"How 'bout you tell me. Word is, she escaped when she was specifically told not to leave her workplace. Told to stay put because she fucking blew up some building somewhere. Government's getting sensitive since the explosion occurred out of their jurisdiction, so it's either the government takes this kid in and make her their lab-rat, or you guys can help step in for a bit."
"Step in? What for?" Natasha asked before she realized what Nick had just mentioned. "Back up a little, Fury. You mentioned this person... blowing up a building?"
"Yeah. Best part is, HYDRA's involved. That's why my buddy here thinks it's not safe for the girl to resume her duties or even to be in the government's hand until they screen out the bugs one by one. Can't even be out in public without supervision. Turns out, HYDRA still got some fingers in some pies and they got their sights on her for some reason. I tell you, those fuckers are like roaches. Kill one, and you find 5 more lurking around, breeding like nobody's business," he grumbled, complaining to her.
Natasha's jaw dropped. Am I really hearing this correctly? Meanwhile, Nick was still talking in the phone.
"Anyway, problem is, the girl was supposed to show up a few days ago to report in and let her superiors know whether she decided to go with the government or the Avengers. Apparently, she was leaning towards you guys. She didn't turn up, so now they think she's either missing, or she went rogue. So, I need your help to put some feelers out, find out where she might be. I'm sending some files over to you now," he said. Natasha quickly opened the classified email he sent her, gasping loudly when she saw its contents.
"What's wrong? You know her?"
"Actually Fury, I think I do. She's in our med bay right now. We found her yesterday," Natasha explained, looking closely at the woman's picture. Y/n Summers. Our stranger finally has a name.
"Well, I'll be damned. Talk about coincidence. Where'd you find her? And, med-bay? Did you guys had to take her down or something? I have people here anxious to know her status seeing that she ran away once."
"She's okay, we found her in the snow. Last I heard, Helen said she's doing much better. I'll explain everything later, Fury. I was actually about to look up some details on her. You mentioned she had affiliations with SWORD? Is she dangerous? A threat? We're trying to figure out what to do with her." Natasha scanned the folders, searching for more details about the woman now that she has more to work with.
"She worked with them. According to SWORD, she's a reliable and trusted agent. It was only after that explosive incident that she behaved that way. Why? And does that make her dangerous? I don't know, you guys will have to ask her and figure it out yourself. I trust that you've all got her under control?" Nick asked, Natasha understanding that he was indirectly asking if the Avengers would take her in for some time.
"An agent, huh? Yeah, I guess. Even more so now that I have an idea on who she is, that'll help us figure out how to approach her. She's still knocked out and recovering currently, but I'll update you once she's awake and stable enough to answer some questions."
"Great, appreciate it Romanoff. I'll need you to be in charge of her personally, is that okay? I'll inform my contacts about this. Report back if anything, I'll be waiting. Talk to you later," Nick said before ending the call.
Natasha exhaled loudly, feeling both relieved and also troubled by what awaits her. Nick Fury had just asked her to look out for a potentially turbulent woman. Literally babysitting an adult. Great. She continued sifting through the files, deciding to call the rest of the team in for a meeting later in the afternoon to share the information.