FOILS 2

Ava didn't stop running for a while. It was good to get the blood pumping. She stopped and slowed to a walk after she didn't hear the sound of anyone following her for a while. Being alone was nice.


She was all alone now.


Ava blinked, realizing the truth.


Even though Father might be alive out there somewhere, people knew about him now. People would fight him if they could. Ava was, for the time being, free if him.


She was alone at last.


Why didn't it feel better?
 
There was an incredulous pause. But before it could all turn out a the teary, wonderful reunion Angela dreamed about, Alana blurted, "Josephine?"


"Who?" Angela asked, equally shocked.


"How did you even get your hands on this number, Josephine?" Alana went on.


"Wait, Mom. I'm not Josephine!"


'Josephine?' a scared ten year old whispered inside of her.


"I'm Angela," she said. Josephine? "Who's Josephine, Mom? It's Angela. I'm Angela, your daughter."
 
Ava wandered a bit more, but then she heard voices. She scowled inwardly and turned to head another way but then stopped. That voice...Angela?


Ava turned back towards the voice and hid in the shadows. Angela was still her experiment of a sort after all, why shouldn't she listen?


Ava could think of no reason not to.
 
"Oh."


Angela could have died in the time it took Alana to say something. She could hear her breathing. After a long time, the phone went dead. Alana had hung up.


Angela called Will's number again. And again. And again. And again. Each time, she was directed to but was not going to settle for voicemail.


Finally, she just hung it up, and she rested her head on the wall, stroking the receiver absently.


Her fingers wavered over the buttons- should she try again?- but instead, she cut the phone up so badly the wires and guts spilled out on the floor in a shower of copper and rubber. She went to town. She cut the scraps and diced what was left, layed down on her side in the wreckage, and screamed.
 
Ava was startled by this turn of events. Humans and their pro creators were so...volatile.


"Angela! Do not be alarmed, but you should try to get better control over your power. Either you will destroy the base or the collar you are wearing will harm you. Neither one of those possibilities are good, so I recommend ceasing this emotional outburst."
 
Ava bent down and regarded Angela from another angle.


"I do not know who Josephine is, but I think Angela is a far superior name." Ava cocked her head at the girl on the ground. "


"Do y require human assiastance? I can retrieve humans for you."
 
"I need Josephine! I need my mom!"


Then, Angela slumped against the wall like a broken ragdoll, trapped in a spiral of her own thoughts.
 
Ava witnessed Angela crumple on the ground and sighed.


I suppose the injection was toxic. This will be awkward to explain.


Ava went nearer and poked Angela. Then she shook her head and bent to pick her up. This wouldn't be the first body she hid, and she doubted it would be the last.
 
"No. Stop, let me down." Angela slid out of Ava's arms. "You don't understand."


She suddenly remembered the way back to her room and followed her memory. There was a click of her lock, and she shut off the lights, and was gone from the world.
 
Humans are indeed very odd creatures. Ava thought as she watched Angela walk away.


(ill post more after you sorry doing a cakey thing) 
The first body I ever hid...It was that girl, human child female, Ingred.


That was over four hundred years ago, my memory is, indeed, superb.


Ingred was a small girl for her age, with long blond hair that was knotty and covered in blood and dirt from the suprising struggle she had put up. Ava sat across from her in the cage and watched as her breathing became slower, more labored. Death was soon.


The girl whimpered softly and held her shirt sleeve tightly, as if that could help her. Nothing could help her now.


"Why did you take me away from Mama?"


She whined softly to Ava.


Ava kept staring at her, and didn't reply, didn't say anything, as she watched her cry herself to death.


Father came in after a while and looked at the cage in disgust.


"Get it out before it starts to stink."


"Where?"


"Somewhere it will not be found."


Ava nodded and grabbed the body, picking it up gently and craddling the head to her chest. Then she ported away.


She kept porting until she was in the middle of the ocean, she tied rocks to the young girl, and let her drop.


Ava almost smiled to herself. That had been a good body drop. No one had ever found Ingred. No one ever would.
 
Days passed, and Banner assumed the worst: Angela must be experiencing puberty.


She withered to resemble a cheesestick: thin, white and coming apart in strands and pieces. Wobbly, too. She ran into a doorframe on the way to the bathroom.


Training wasn't working. The fifth day of her week-long funk, she declared that she would rather stick the throwing knife in her own eye than try to make a bullseye on the target.


Angela wasn't showering, either. The only good thing was that she didn't talk as much. At all. Especially about the phone call.


Banner, on the seventh morning, dragged her suitcase out, all packed. She didn't blink when he dropped it in front of her cereal bowl.


"What's that?" Angela asked.


"All your things. You're leaving," Banner announced. "We can't train you, we can't get through to you, we can't get you to talk, we can't do anything that seems to remotely motivate you. We can't do this."


"But." Angela wiped her eyes before Banner could see her cry.


"You have one chance to explain yourself."
 
"I'm tellin you Nat, this is crazy. These girls..." Hawkeye ran a hand through his hair. Natasha frowned over the skype.


"I'm sure it's not as bad as I was at first."


Clint stared at her.


She rose an eyebrow.


"Wow." She said sounding mildly impressed.


"That is bad."


Clint shook his head.


"It felt for a little while like we were getting through to Ava, then, I don't know. She doesn't trust anyone, she doesn't care about anything. She won't talk to us about important things, like feelings or any of that crap. Emma has resorted to showing her videos of her past to try to get her to feel anger or sadness or anything. " Clint shook his head looking disgusted.


"I think she's trying to give her PTSD."


Lucky nosed her way into the shot and Clint started petting her absent mindedly.


"Mind you, Bruce has had even less luck with Angela, so it's not just me."


Nat nodded.


"Well, you need to get her to care about something. She won't care about herself, not at first, well, just like food and shelter, but other than that she's fine. No, you need to make her look after something. Something that will love her despite of herself. Something that will make her feel..."


Clint continued to pet Lucky.


Widow rolled her eyes.


"Clint, buy the kid a puppy and see what happens."


Clint looked up from Lucky and smiled at Natasha.


"Tasha, you're a beautiful genius. That seems unfair."


Natasha rolled her eyes and then looked at something behind her.


"Crap I gotta go.Budapest."


"Budapest."


Clint responded and logged off.


In the spy world saying I love you got you killed, so they thought, maybe Budapest could be there always.
 
"But you can't just kick me out," pleaded Angela.


"If you explained yourself, I wouldn't have to," Banner replied quietly.


Angela stuttered, rolling over apologies and excuses that wouldn't cover it, feeling sorry for herself, getting swallowed by the idea f being kicked out and forgotten again.


"But you can't do this! I can't go back to Dad!"


Angela shook. Her lips quivered, her shoulders jittered, her chest twitched with wet, uneven breaths. Finally, she let herself go. She cried.
 
Ava woke up to Hawkeye smiling down at her and holding something behind his back.


Many things went throught her mind. First of all she was impressed, not many could sneak up on her, even while she slept. She must be slipping.


Secondly, she expected things to get violent very soon and preparted herself for battle.


"Good moringn Ava! I have a prese-er, assignment for you. As part of your training."


Clint brought a small bundle of fur from behind his back. It was a german shepherd pup, and it howled and yawned as Clint put it down gently on Ava's lap. She sat up slowly, scooping it into her arms and sighed as she turned her face up towards Hawkeye.


"You wish me to kill it?"


Clint shook his head, frowning.


"Opposite actually, you are responsible for taking care of this pup, feeding it, excersize, training, naming, making sure it's healthy and cared for. It will be with you 24/7. Am I understood?"


Ava nodded, staring at the squirming pile of fur.


Clint smiled.


"You can ask for help at any time."
 
Angela migrated to the floor. A fork was stuck in her hair, wobbling.


"Don't... don't." Banner hadn't even had his coffee yet. He couldn't deal with this.


Clint. Dad-of-the-Year Clint could help. After all, he made strides with Ava. He talked about her all the time and made pancakes. Even if those "strides" were baby steps, they were miles compared to this.


Banner contemplated just calling him to help Angela. Then he sneered.


He was better than this. Better than Clint; he could be.
 
Clint had set her up with the good stuff.


The puppy had a purple color and black leash, but those were for when it was bigger. Now it had a baby harness and leash attached(also purple). They walked it around the base, Clint stopping Ava from dragging it behind her several times.


"Why do the legs not work properly?"


Clint smiled to himself. She was complaining already.


"He's too young. He's just a baby. You couldn't walk when you were that age either you know. No matter how super you are. I've seen your baby videos. You were adorable."


Ava stopped and picked up the puppy.


"Still are adorable as a matter of fact. Whatcha doin kid?"


"It has walked enough. I think it may require nourishment."


Clint nodded as the puppy snuggled it's head on Ava's shoulder.


"All right, I've got something set up in the kitchen."


They headed off towards the kitchen, shoes padding along the halls silently, except for the yelp of the puppy. Ava had held it too hard. Clint showed her how to be gentle with it and they headed off.
 
"About that phone call," Banner said. "What happened there?"


"My mom picked up."


Banner looked strained. "But your file doesn't mention a Mrs. Graham. What happened?"


Angela had calmed down and rubbed the tears out of her eyes. "She left and I haven't heard from her in a while. So when she picked up the phone, I wasn't expecting... and she was asking for Jos...." Angela hiccuped. "Josephine."


"Who's-" Banner stopped, though. Angela was looking at him so blankly.
 
As they neared the kitchen Ava began to hear voices, and it appeared Hawkeye did as well. They kept coming closer though until they were right outside. They could hear snipets now..."mom....what happened?...wasn't expecting...hiccup" Hawkeye shook his head and motioned for Ava to follow him back the way they came. Unfortunatley the dog didn't get the message and choose that moment to howl a high pitched pitiful sound that reverberated along the hallways walls.
 
Banner dropped his coffee and it splashed on Angela; she scrambled up, ditzy and out of her wits.


"What the heck, Clint?" yelled Bannerx
 
Clint edged his head in and then pushed Ava in with him, holding the puppy in front like a shield of cuteness.


"Sorry, um, we were coming for the dog food and then i heard you guys so we were leaving but then the dog started making an almighty racket that alerted you to our presence, sorry we can go now."
 
"Yes, this is a small dog." Ava said holding the bundle of fur. It was squirming slightly.


Like all living things this animal wishes to get away from me. Ava thought somewhatbitterly.


"Would you care to take it?"


Hawkeye had not said she could not leave the dog with someone else for a moment. Angela was staring at it in a hungry sort of way, Ava thought the dog may help her with...something... she did not know what, Angela just seemed so different. A dog should not help that, but Ava did not know what would.


Not that she cared.


At all.


Caring is for the weak.
 
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