Episode 6 fanfic title: Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
Episode 6 fanfic title: Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
A week later...
"And how are we today, Bruce? No episodes in the last 36 hours, I see."
Bruce stares at him before giving him a reply.
"This is a disaster waiting to happen, Leonard." He tells him, showing fear and worry about his friend while he had his hands wringing together.
Leonard (also known as Dr. Samson) sighed, adjusting his clipboard again.
"I've told you again and again, Bruce. We'll find a cure for the Hulk." Bruce's friend explained to him, "The Cube is the most advanced gamma radiation research facility on the planet. The work we've done with Sterns and Blonsky is—"
Bruce interrupted, frustrated.
"You're wrong. SHIELD and Ross are lying. They don't want cures, they want control. Trust me, I've seen it; they'll twist everything." He paused, then added, "The Cube? It's a gamma bomb waiting to explode."
Samson stared at Bruce, then answered his ringing phone.
"Director Fury, yes... wait, what?... I thought—Oh, I see. Okay, thank you." Standing frozen in place, he slowly turns around and suddenly hugs him.
Bruce blinked once. Then twice before he felt him let go, "Uh, Leonard...I don't um...not sure if I should ask but uh, why did Fury call?"
"..."
"Leonard?"
His anxiety grew more and more until his friend finally announced.
"We found a cure for you."
Bruce's eyes widened. "What? No, that's impossible."
Leonard's voice, a mix of excitement and apprehension, cut through his disbelief. "It is, Bruce. He knows who's behind it...it's Mia Lightwood."
Bruce paled.
Chained though he was, his fists would be clenched.
"Mia? No..." How had S.H.I.E.L.D. found her, the one person he'd grown close to after helping her start a new life? It shouldn't be a surprise that Mia Lightwood, who'd destroyed the supervillain DNA samples and escaped the Cube, was caught.
The real question was how she was involved in a Hulk cure.
"She's been in hiding," Leonard continued. "Fury found her as soon as she got out of one of their crate containers. He let her be for weeks, waited for the right time to catch her, and finally, one night, he managed to make himself known and negotiate with her."
This caught Bruce's attention.
" 'Negotiate with her?' " He repeated the words, until he scoff in amusement: "I hardly doubt Director Fury would negotiate." "On the contrary, Bruce." Leonard smiles a bit, "What he offered her, made her accept his proposal."
"And what would that be?" Bruce asked, his mind racing, trying to piece together the impossible puzzle.
Mia, captured, Fury negotiating with her... it defied logic.
"What did he offer her that could possibly be worth... this?" He gestured vaguely at his restraints, at the sterile environment of the Cube, at the promise of a cure he didn't trust.
Leonard hesitated, the smile fading from his face, "He... didn't mention any, other than promising to give a comfortable room in the prison. But I don't think he mentioned to her about giving her DNA to me."
He felt a cold dread creeping in.
(Mia's Pov): At the Big House...
Sleeping comfortably but soundly in my bed, I slowly began to wake up and noticed that the Ultron Bot 5 was standing outside of my cell. This quickly put me in a bad mood, and I groaned: "Don't you have anything better to do, robot?"
Again, it didn't talk back but instead, it announced:
"//Good Morning, Miss Lightwood. I am here to escort you to the showers with some fresh clothes.//" It then shows me a neatly folded set of fresh clothes held perfectly, stunning me into silence.
I stared for a few seconds before getting off my bed, gently touching the device implanted in my neck as I walked over to the front of my cell to realize that my cell was open, and waited for it to start talking.
"//Are you willing to follow instructions?//"
Already wanting to sucker punch it, but I knew that it was hopeless, so I took deep but slow breaths before I stepped out and snatched clothes from its servos, and automatically responded with: "...Okay, lead the way then."
I mumble a bit before letting it lead me to the showers.
Time skip~
Already refreshed, back in the cell once more, and now wearing a large dark magenta over a matching red tank top, black leather pants, and black boots, complementing the newly gifted black cross necklace.
I wasn't sure if it was intentional or if they assumed my being in an orphanage meant I was religious.
Either way, I liked the new look; it suits me.
As it turns out, it has been a week since I accepted my fate to become a prisoner in the Big House. I knew that Hank and Janet hadn't come to see me in a while since they're busy with the hero and science gig.
But hey, it gives me time to enjoy myself a bit.
For instance, one time, Whirlwind declined my offer when I asked if he would like to play chess, but Armin Zola accepted. We played until we decided to ask each other questions. I answered his basic inquiries and recounted my story.
(Except for the gamma radiation incident and my soul part).
My days fell into a routine: wake up, shower, stay in the cell, small stretches, draw while listening to music, and watch any movie or TV show that comes at night, which drew complaints from the other villains due to the noise. But y'know what?
I don't care, my favorite TV show so far was Samurai Jack on Cartoon Network.
Now, back to the present.
With a shrug, I took notice of my breakfast being placed on my bed and began to eat. Once I was done, I did some small warm-up stretches on the floor so I wouldn't be stiff in the bones before turning on the TV to watch the news.
I rolled my eyes in boredom, took my sketchbook from underneath my pillow, and decided to draw while I thought in silence about what my next strategy plan was.
Lying on my bed, I stare at the ceiling while I begin scrolling through different channels until it lands on one familiar channel, and I sit up to watch the movie that brought me joy.
𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥 𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗦: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗵𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗰𝗲.
Excited, I got myself settled just in time to watch it.
Not knowing that a certain someone had come to see.
Somewhere inside the Big House, Ant-Man, lab coat concealing his suit, leaned against the hallway corner and addressed the man in the cell with the utmost serious expression just to speak: "I wanted to ask you a question, uh, Mr.—"
" 'Mad Thinker' will suffice." The man known as Mad Thinker corrects him.
Composing himself, Ant-Man continued, "Okay. In a SHIELD-monitored conversation between you and Whirlwind, you mentioned something was going to happen. We'd like to know what."
"Can you not feel it, Ant-Man? The better question is not 'what', but 'when'?"
Back to Mia's POV:
Drinking my ginger ale in peace, I began admiring the scene on TV of where QUI-GON and OBI-WAN appear at a large vent in a giant hangar bay.
(If you haven't seen or heard of STAR WARS then I apologize for it, but the movie is so good! And you, reader, are missing out! Highly recommend it for ya!)
*They are careful not to be seen. Thousands of BATTLE DROIDS are loading onto landing craft.*
Qui-gon: "𝗕𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗶𝗱𝘀."
"𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗺𝘆." Obiwan Kenobi.
Qui-gon: "𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗱𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗪𝗲'𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝗿 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗺. 𝗟𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘁 𝘂𝗽. 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘁."
"𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿." Obiwan Kenobi.
*Qui-gon glanced at his padawan in confusion, only for Obiwan to reply with*
"𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁."
I sighed dreamily at Obi-Wan's words before someone decided to clear their throat.
"Ahem."
Frozen, I fumbled for the remote, but the sight of Ant-Man in his lab coat under his suit made me feel like a kid caught red-handed: "No need to turn it off. I used to watch Star Wars, too."
"I guess you came to check up on me as promised?" I huffed with my arms crossed.
Hank stepped into my cell, his expression unreadable, before he motioned to the bed: "Mind if I sit?"
I hesitated, then nodded, scooting over to give him space while the movie continued on without me. (So sad TnT)
The moment he settled beside me, I could feel the weight of whatever news he carried begin to grow heavy.
"You already know my story," I said cautiously, keeping my voice low. "I told you and Janet everything last week."
Hank nodded, "I know." He then takes out a clipboard in hand, while also showing a pen click on, and now placed on the empty page, ready to write something: "But I wanted to document it properly—for my patients."
"To make sure we understand what happened to you... and to make sure you're not a threat."
I raise an eyebrow at his words, 'A threat? Seriously?'
Before I could react, he continued.
"But that's not the only reason I'm here." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small, sealed vial—my blood sample. The sight of it made my stomach twist, "Your DNA," he began, holding the vial up to the light, "it's not normal anymore."
I couldn't help but swallow hard at the sight, "Define not normal, Dr. Hank Pym."
Hank met my gaze, his eyes serious.
"The gamma radiation altered your blood on a fundamental level. Your red blood cells... they've turned blue."
My breath hitched.
'Blue blood? Like... like the Kree? Like Captain Marvel? No, that couldn't be right. This wasn't the comics. This was Earth's Mightiest Heroes TV show. Gamma radiation didn't just turn blood blue like that—unless...Unless it was a mutation.'
With that thought in mind, the realization began to settle in my chest like a ton of bricks had fallen over me, but the real question is: What exactly did SHIELD inject me with? Or...perhaps someone injected me with something stronger than that?
Hank must have seen the alarm in my eyes because he quickly added, "It's not fatal. At least, not that I can tell. But it is stable for now. And for short, your body is adapting quite well, in fact! But we don't know what long-term effects this might have."
I hummed in agreement.
"So," I started slowly, trying to process everything he was saying, "basically, I'm a science experiment gone right...ish?" "Something like that." He begins writing down some calculations on his clipboard, "We need to run more tests, of course. And everything..."
At this point, I completely ignored everything he was saying to me, as I was immersed in exploring this new information; Not just the whole blue blood situation, but now I was thinking about the possibilities.
The idea of having some cool powers is really cool and all, but I've got to stay focused on what's important right now: the Avengers' future is on the line. I need to meet up with them as soon as possible to kick off my secret plan.
Dig into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets, gain political permission for help, and, most importantly, make sure everyone gets their happy ending.
It will take time, but it has to work.
Lost in my own thoughts, I failed to realize that Hank was waving his hand in front of my face with an eyebrow raised.
"Mia? You still with me?" Hank said with a concerned look on his face.
Snapping back into reality, I blinked rapidly to focus on him: "Oh, yeah, sorry! I was just... processing." Hank chuckled softly, putting his clipboard down on the bed.
"What happens now?" I asked, curious as to what he wanted to say, which caused him to stand up and suddenly smile down at me, "Now, I'm going to find a cure for you, just like I promised everyone else." His determination stunned me.
A week ago, I was a fan; now, isekai'd into the show, and speaking to him equally.
Was just...unexpected.
The thought would have been hilarious or excited but, but if it weren't for my doppelganger's memory of experiments that had fueled my desire for this 'secret plan' I'm already thinking of, then what am I here in the first place?
"Thank you," I whispered, keeping my voice audible enough to let him hear me.
Whereas Hank gave me a small, determined smile, "Don't thank me yet. We've got a long way to go."
Just then, the TV screen flickered—the Star Wars movie was shut off permanently.
"No, not Obi-Wan!" I exclaimed.
Turbulence rocked the building, and Hank had already left my cell, where he stood exactly in the hallway as the Big House began to malfunction. Alarms blared, but worse, every villain was exiting their cell, ready to attack Hank.
Like it was coming out of a horror game.
"Oh no..."
And just like in the show, the villains have escaped.
------------------------------------------------------------To be continued.