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Ava scoped the area around her. The mission is still foggy to her. She knows they are supposed to break into a lab and find this new experiment before anyone else does. Bucky and Val worry it'll be another version of the super soldier serum since apparently it's an injectable serum. The world doesn't need any more John, Alexei, and Bucky's running around.
“Hey, you ok?” John asks her. He gently places his hand on her shoulder. Ava turns to him and pulls away.
“I'm fine,” Ava says. “And be careful. The others are going to notice if you get all touchy.”
“C'mon, Yelena and Bob basically know,” John says.
He wasn't wrong. Yelena's influence got them to finally talk to each other and Bob did see them kiss. Ava's sure one of them told Bucky with the way he's been eyeing the two. Yelena doesn't even know for sure that they are dating. She just keeps asking Ava how Walker is doing. All the time. Ava always tells her she has no idea.
It's not that the two of them think the others would have a problem with this new relationship. Ava has only been dating John for a month. She just knows the others will make so many comments and joke and tease. Ava does not want to handle that.
They'd make even more fun of her if she admitted to any of them she loved John. Ava knows their relationship is still pretty new, and relationships are still foreign territory for her, but she's become incredibly attached to John Walker and somehow has grown to love every aspect of him.
Plus, not telling anyone about their relationship makes it a secret, and there is something fun about sneaking around to make out with John in his room. Or in the gym. Or in the hallway for a few seconds. It gets her heart racing.
“Walker, Ava, are you two good?” Bucky asks.
The two look to their left and see Bucky and Yelena. Bucky gives them a stern look while Yelena has a giant grin on her face. She definitely knows.
“Just checking on Ava,” John responds in a serious tone, like it was a task for him to do.
“I'm fine,” Ava tells the others. “Let's go.”
Bucky nods, then takes the lead. They venture down the hallway as quietly as they can. They hear some scientists down the hallway so they pause and wait. As they are all close against the wall, Ava can feel something grab her hand.
Her eyes shoot and see John's hand go to hold hers. Even though his little acts of romance on a mission were unprofessional, Ava couldn't help but like them. If the others knew about the last stealth mission where Ava and John made out in the vehicle while the others snuck inside, they would kill them. Luckily Ava saw their target try to enter before he made it inside. It was an easy knock out, then back to kissing.
So, she lets him grab her hand. He's so clingy.
“Clear,” Bucky whispers. He looks at Ava and as soon as he does, Ava releases John's hand. “Go up ahead and let us know if there is anyone else.”
“On it.”
Ava makes her helmet go up and she quickly disappears. She's so used to sneaking ahead of the group. It takes her only a few seconds to quickly check the area, then return to the others.
“Up ahead we have the lab,” Ava tells them. “One scientist, two guards. Scientist is looking at some documents while the guards are talking to the right of the door. Straight ahead from the entrance there is a room with glass walls. It contained chemicals inside, so that's where our serum is probably located.”
“Were there any vents?” Yelena asks. “I could sneak up.”
“I saw one lead into the chemical room,” Ava says.
“Let's just go in there and take care of them. It's really two against four,” John says.
“And have the alarm go off?” Yelena says.
“We could have Alexei make the distraction at the same time,” John suggests. “That way the others will be distracted by the loud noise from outside.”
“I also saw the alarm system,” Ava tells them. “I can break into it.”
“If you break that and everyone runs to the explosion, it'll leave the main room all to us,” John says.
“Not a bad idea,” Bucky says.
Yelena shrugs. “Guess you have some good ideas, Walker.”
“I always have good ideas,” John tells Yelena.
“No you don't,” Ava teases.
John gives Ava a shocked look. Ava raises her eyebrow at him. He may be cute but not all of his ideas were good. Especially his idea of a date at a Baseball game where they had to try to avoid people recognizing them the whole time. That was not a good idea.
“Well this one is good,” Bucky states. “We don't have much time. Let's do this.”
Bucky explains the plan to everyone and the team agrees to it. They inform Alexei over their mics in their suits to cause the distraction on Bucky's cue. Alexei cheered when he was being included on the plan and the others could hear Bob giggle in the background.
After a minute of getting everything into place, Ava readies herself down the hallway. When she sees the smoke in the room, Ava phases and finds the emergency alarm in the room. She quickly hacks into it as she hears Bucky and John rush into the room.
“Now!” Bucky grumbles into his mic.
The room shakes as an explosion goes off two seconds later. Luckily enough, Ava turns off the alarm at the same time. And by the time the smoke fades away, Bucky and John have already beaten both guards and the scientist looks at the three with panic in his eyes. He goes to tap the emergency button but nothing happens.
“It's busted,” Ava tells him. She keeps her helmet up when dealing with any potential threats.
The scientist tries to make a run for it, but Yelena drops from the vent right in front of him.
“Nice try,” Yelena says.
“You guys have no idea what you're doing,” the scientist says as he backs up.
“No, I think we do know what we're doing,” Yelena says.
“What are you guys making here?” Bucky asks. “You tell us and we let you off easy.”
“And if I don't?”
“Then you'll answer to my shield,” John says with a grin.
Ava catches a glimpse at him. He always seems eager to battle. It's like he becomes a different person on the battlefield.
They back the Scientist up against the wall. He looks around him as panic begins to settle in. With all their guns raised at him, Ava would assume a frail man like him would give in.
He did not.
Ava may have turned off the alarm but there must've been something else. A click sound goes as the rooms begin to fill with gas. Gunshots go off as they all try to hit the guy, then Ava can hear the sound of a door shutting.
“Are you guys ok?” Bucky calls out.
Ava can hear all of them coughing. She wasn't sure what was in the air but it was starting to hurt her throat.
“Ava?” John calls out.
Ava shakes her head and phases through the gas. She tries to find the button the guy used. The gas makes it difficult, but Ava's powers allow her a better view than the others could have. So, when she finds the button, she's able to reset it and the sound of vents goes off.
Ava looks at the glass wall that had the main experiment. She can see the scientist inside. Before the others could discuss a plan, Ava phases inside the room.
The room had a plethora of scientific equipment. There were also walls filled with chemicals, but at the back there was a circular device that carried five grey vials. The scientist was at the back trying to reach up, a blood stain showing Ava his path. Someone got a lucky shot.
Ava begins to strut towards the scientist.
“Stay back!” He yells. “Stay away!”
He raised a gun at Ava and fired twice. Ava phases through both bullets then smacks the gun out of his hand. His eyes are wide open as Ava stands above him.
“You chose the difficult path,” Ava tells him. She grabs him by the collar of his shirt and pulls him up. “One last chance. Tell us what you're making here.”
Ava stares at him in the eyes. The fear behind them slowly transforms into a sinister joy.
“A way to ruin groups like yours,” He snickers.
Ava tilts her head at him. That didn't make too much sense. Ava grabs her gun and readies herself to shoot him but a gunshot goes off from the left of Ava.
The bullet flies across Ava's hand. The pain causes her to drop the man and she phases in reaction. Ava looks around the bullet and sees two turrets on the ceiling. Both are aimed at her. Ava shoots one quickly, then phases behind one of the walls to avoid the other turret. The bullets go off as the scientist laughs in the background.
“Ava!”
Ava turns to her left and watches as John runs inside, breaking the glass with his shield. As he sprints towards her, she can see Yelena on the floor behind him.
John slides next to Ava, his knee perfectly presses against hers. He gives her a smirk like that was the coolest thing he's ever done.
“Are the others ok?” Ava asks.
“I think so. The chemical reacted worse to Yelena than to Bucky and I, so he's helping her while I help you,” John says.
Ava wonders why it affects Yelena more than the boys. Ava barely got any of the gas in her system since she phased through it. Maybe the super soldier serum helped them.
“We need to take down the turret firing at us,” Ava tells John as the sound of glass vials breaking behind them can be heard.
“Got it.”
John shuffles part Ava and raises his shield at the turret. Ava isn't sure how many bullets that thing has but it keeps firing and firing. John pushes forward with his shield and as the turret focuses on him, Ava pulls out her gun and shoots the machine four times.
The sound of bullets going off stops.
“Good job,” John says. He turns around and looks at Ava. “Where'd the guy go?”
Ava looks at the puddle of blood the scientist was once located. She then looks at the vials and notices one is missing.
“John, we-”
As Ava turns to John, the scientist jumps behind John and stabs him with one of the injections in his shoulder. John stumbles back and Ava aims her gun at the scientist. She doesn't hesitate to pull the trigger.
The scientist falls back and falls to the floor. A bullet hole in his forehead.
Ava turns to John who's on the floor now. He rips out the injection but it's too late. The whole serum is gone.
“John!” Ava calls out as she kneels down to look at him. “Are you ok? How do you feel?”
“I, ah-” John groans in pain. “Fuck, I can feel it!”
John's body twitches. His eyes widen and Ava can see the fear behind his eyes.
“John, what's happening?” Ava asks. “How can I-” Ava's heart races. “What should I do?”
Ava can then see something red pulsate up John's face. Then his eyes go bloodshot red.
“Ava, I-” John's mouth moves but no other words come out. His whole body is shaking at this point.
Ava looks down the hallway!
“HELP!” She screams. “BUCKY!”
“Ava,” John calls out, his voice soft. Ava turns to him. “Get out of here.”
“What? No! I'm not leaving you!” Ava yells. She looks around. “Something in here has to cure this, maybe I-”
“Ava GO!”
John shoves Ava back. She slides back and slams her head against shelves. Pain rings across Ava's head, but she shakes her head and focuses on the scene before her.
She watches as John stands up. He stumbles over to the wall, his cries of pain scare Ava.
“John?” She calls out. Ava slowly gets up. “What's happening? Talk to me!”
“Stay back!” John yells. “Get away from me!”
“I'm not abandoning you!” Ava cries out. She moves to John but he waves her away.
“STAY AWAY!” John then punches the wall, creating a dent.
Ava steps back from John. Whatever that man put in John is messing with him. It's making him angrier. Ava looks around for something to help her but there are so many vials that it could be anything.
“Ava?”
She turns to John and meets his gaze. His voice was soft but his demeanor was intimidating. His eyes were almost completely red and Ava could see his veins on his neck. She takes a step back again towards the way out.
“John,” Ava says as she raises her hands. There is something very wrong around him. She didn't want to leave at first but now she might need the others' help. “You're not ok. I'm going to get you help, ok?”
“I'm fine,” John hisses. “Is something wrong babe?”
She notices him clenches his fist.
“You're scaring me, John.”
“Scaring you? How so? We're just talking.” He takes a step closer to Ava. “Come over here.”
Ava shakes her head.
“Oh, I see how it is.” John sticks his tongue slightly out and bites it. He looks away from Ava and shakes his head. “You want to leave me like everyone else.” He nods then looks at Ava. “That's it, right?”
“No John, I'm not-”
“Don't lie to me!” He snaps at her. The anger in his voice causes Ava to flinch. “You're going to leave too! Just like everyone. Like my parents, Lemar, Olivia, my son. They all abandoned me.” He takes another step closer. “I'm not letting you do that.”
He tilts his head. Ava recognizes the look he's giving her. She's seen it when he was first hunting Yelena and then when he almost shot Valentina. He's in kill-mode. This is not her John.
Ava phases as John's gun goes off. She heads straight towards the others until a high pitched sound goes off around her.
“AH! FUCK!” Ava screams.
She falls to the floor and becomes tangible again. The sound strikes pain across her whole body.
“Gotcha.”
Before Ava can react, John pulls her up and throws her across the room. Ava slams into some science equipment and then onto the floor. As her vision flashes before her, Ava sees John's figure storm towards her.
She pulls her gun out and aims it up. Before she can fire, John grabs her hand and begins to squeeze.
“JOHN STOP!” Ava begs. “YOU'RE HURTING ME!”
Finally her vision becomes clear and she looks at John. He clenches his jaw as he crushes Ava's hand. She tries to phase again but the sonic cannons prevent her from using her powers. So she has to watch helplessly as John crushes her hand. The sound of her bones broken is silenced through Ava's screams of pain.
John pulls his hand away and Ava tries to kick him away. She barely budges and gives Ava a smirk. He then grabs one of the broken glasses and stabs it through Ava's stomach. She gasps for air as he leans in towards her.
“That's for leaving me,” He whispers into her ear.
Ava grabs the glass and tries to fight back but John overpowers her. He pushes it even deeper. Shockwaves infect Ava's body. She looks up at him as he pulls away a little. Their faces are mere centimeters apart.
“John…” Ava cries. “Please…stop.”
He shakes his head at her.
“I can't,” he says. “I can't lose you.”
None of his words made sense to her. Whatever he was injected with has made him go mad. It's made the man she's cared so much about go away.
Ava reaches to his face and caresses his cheek. A tear drops down his face.
“You won't,” Ava tells him. “I'll never leave you. I'm always here for you. I-....I-”
The taste of blood trickles in her mouth. She tries to swallow it down.
“It's ok,” John whispers to Ava. “We'll be together soon.”
He pulls the glass out and Ava falls to the floor. Before she can react, she watches in horror as he takes his gun and aims it at his head.
“I'm sorry Ava,” John says.
“John, wa-”
The gun goes off and John drops to the floor. Ava screams. Her throat begins to strain as she mourns the man she loves.
Everything begins to go dark. Ava's head bubbles back and she looks at the ceiling. Tears drip down her face as she stares blankly upward.
The screams of Bucky and Yelena can be heard in the background. Ava tries to blink away the pain as her surroundings go completely dark.
Everything around her goes quiet except for the sound of her heartbeat. The pounding felt like it was going to burst out of her chest. Ava tries to focus on it, but it's too sporadic. Too stressful. Too painful. Too heartbreaking.
...
...
...
Then it stops.
...
...
...
Ava shoots up screaming. Her whole body feels numb as her voice pours throughout the room. She would scream for eternity if it wasn't for the voice calling out for her.
“Ava? Ava!?”
She turns to the right and sees John. His arms are already wrapped around. He guides her head to his chest and rocks her back and forth.
“You're ok Ava,” he says. “I'm right here baby.”
Ava sobs into John's chest. She doesn't care if she looks like a mess right now. Her heart is racing and her mind is flying all over the place. It felt so real to her.
“You're ok,” John says. “You're safe.”
It takes Ava some time to calm down. John talks Ava down to her panic attack until she's no longer sobbing. When Ava is ready to face John, she pulls away.
“I'm sorry,” Ava mutters as she wipes her tears away. “I-I'm really sorry.”
“You're fine Ava,” John calmly says. “Hey, baby, look at me.”
John's warm hands press against Ava's face. She looks up at him. His charming smile. His beautiful eyes. His sexy beard. His cute moles. Everything on his face was something she adored.
“It was just a nightmare,” he tells Ava. “It's ok.”
Ava nods. She knows. It doesn't make what she experienced any easier. John fighting her, killing her, then killing himself. It was all too much. It was so fucked up.
“God it was awful,” Ava cries. “It was-...fuck.”
“I know. I'm sorry.”
John leans in and kisses Ava. Then he kisses her cheeks. Ava almost wants to laugh at him kissing her tears away. He liked doing cringey couple things like that.
“You're ok now,” he tells Ava. He kisses her again. “Do you need anything? I can get you something.”
“No.” Ava shakes her head. “All I need is you.”
John smirks. He wraps his arms around Ava and she lays her head on his shoulder. She lets the rest of her tears out on his shoulder.
“Do you want to try sleeping again?” John asks.
Ava was scared that she'd have a nightmare like that again. She hasn't had a nightmare like that since she was a kid. It came out of nowhere, and yet, John knew exactly how to comfort her.
“You're too good to me,” Ava tells John. She pulls away so she can look at his face again. “I'm sorry, I know that was intense.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.” John brushes Ava's hair behind her ear. “I've had nightmares like that before. They're the worst." John presses his lips softly against Ava's. This one lasts a little longer than all the other kisses. “I'm just happy I was here to help you.”
Ava gives John a smile. He's so sweet.
“I'm happy you were here too,” Ava tells him. Ava moves her hand down John's chest and to his heart. She wants to feel his heartbeat. “I promise I'm not normally like this.”
“That's ok. Even if you were, I'd stay with you every night.”
Ava chuckles. “You are so perfect it's scary.”
John grins. Ava knows that comment is going to get to him.
“I could say the same for you,” John says. That's not what Ava was expecting to hear. She loved hearing it though. “Now, do you want to talk about it or go to bed?”
“I uh…” Ava's so exhausted from the whole thing. She'll tell him in the morning. “Can we try going back to bed?”
John nods. “Of course.”
The two lay down and Ava makes sure to curl up against John so she can press her head against his chest. John wraps his arms around her.
“I hope I didn't wake up the others,” Ava says.
“Probably not. They're on different floors.”
“Yeah…” Ava hopes so. She'd feel even worse.
John brushes Ava's hair. He gives her a soft kiss on the forehead.
“Try getting some sleep, ok?” John says. “If anything happens or if you can't sleep, wake me up. I want you to be ok.”
“Ok.” Ava knows John is going to stay up to ensure she sleeps. He always puts her first, even to her annoyance. That's her John. “Thank you John.”
“Of course.” He kisses her forehead again. “Goodnight Ava.”
“Goodnight John.”
It took Ava some time to fall back asleep, but the sound of John's heartbeat oddly enough gave Ava some comfort from the nightmare.
And even odder, it somehow helped her fall back asleep.