Shy of a few minutes after the battle, Natalia found both me and Clint chuckling like a pair of mad men in the middle of a pile of corps. Now this wasn't because we had lost are minds. It just so happens that the two of us were coming down from the adrenaline rush, of having survive the fight.
Clint was taking it better then me, since he was laughting his ass off at my expense. While I was eternally battling my confusion and panic from the realization, that my formulas had a few buggs that I had been oblivious about.
I had scrub the Hyde formulas of it aggressive nature extensively, it was now apparent that I had miss something. Now it wasn't a total failure, it just means that in a situation of intense emotional turmoil. I was more incline to rush in head first, without a concrete plan of action.
Not too bad, considering that even in my aggressive mindless charge, I still hadn't completely compromise myself. I was thanking my lucky stars, that even in the thick of battle, I didn't forget myself and revert to my new form. Trying to explain a seven foot grey giant monster, would've been a really awkward thing to do, especially in front of two masters of lies. My biggest secret was still unknown, at least for now.
To say that Natalia wasn't amuse at are condition, was a vast understatement. She was pissed, not just at Clint but more so at me. See the original plan was, as soon as Clint was to succumb to his poisoning condition, my part was too pick him up and run like hell. Leaving any merc for Nat to take care of when she finish on her end, but that wasn't what I did.
I had rush in like a cocky green horn barbarian, making a mess of the whole plan. Did I succeed in my suicidal endever, yes in way I did. On the other hand, it had been a sloppy messy mockery of a fight, considering all of my ability and mutant skills. This fight shouldn't have been so hard, or have me riddle with bullets.
With all my enhance sense and boosted physical ability, taken them out, should've been a breeze. Instead I had done a fantastical job of painting the stairway red, with my blood and putting on display my body, as some sort of macabre horror modern art. Loosing my cool in the middle of a fight, and having only attack as my options, was down right terrible as battlefield awarness was concern.
To be honest, I was also very ashamed of my own performance. Without my healing factor, I would've been but another corps on the floor. Without Clint timely interference, I would have had no choices but to abandon my current life. Sure the clone I had left upstaires, would have allowed me to continue to live no problem.
But with SHIELD placing what happen here under a microscope. If I wanted to have the time and space to growth, without revelling all my cards. Running away, while leaving all my familly and life behind thinking that I was dead, would've been my only option. This also meant leaving Clint to die, so yeah I was fricking lucky...this time.
"So is your condition going to be a problem." Nat look at me with a raise eyebrow. As she was supporting Clint, as he was having more and more difficulty moving around on his own.
I was wearing a trench coat that covered the bloody rags of a mess, that use to be my clothes underneath it. Walking around all bloody was a great way, in attracting the wrong kind of attention from are surrounding. The police and hysterical bystander, were rushing around the recent scene of the bloody fight, either in fear or curiosity. So far we had manage in avoiding the police, or god forbid a civilian amateur camera enthusiast, it would've only complicate things at this point.
"No, I have something in my lab, it can heal me in a matter on minutes. So it won't be a problem." My regeneration speed wasn't fast enough for my taste, if I wanted to save Clint life. It would take the better part of at least two days, of healing just on my own to back in full health, from the damage I had sustain. By which point, it would be too late for Clint, so I was force in revealing a minor healing concoction I have been working on in my spare time. I had base it off of my own healing ability, I had though it might prove usefull once Peter started his hero double life.
"Wait, you have something that can replicate your enhance healing? Is that what your going to use on Clint?" Nat was surprise, this wasn't something she was expecting from Braden.
"Not quite, its actually pretty faulty in my opinion. And no, I can't use it on Clint, since it would just speed up his own death. But I can use it after ridding him of the poison. While on the subject, anything else, you can tell me about that mutant poison ability. Like does he produce one type of poison or can he manipulate all kinds?"
"All kinds." Clint said weakly, it came out more like a rasp. His worsening condition was speeding up, I had a feeling that the mutant had somehow made it so that the weaker the target got, the faster the poison spread.
Natalia tried in hushing him, quietly wispering in his ear too leave it to us, and focus on conserving as much energy as possible. I gritted my teeth in frustration, wondering if I shouldn't have force Clint to rest as me and Nat took care of the mercenary. Only to recall my clumsy display, that nearly force me in abandoning, Peter, uncle Ben and aunt May.
The rest of the journey toward my lab was mostly done in silence, beside a few quick exchange between me and Nat. With all the noise we had cause, we had no choices but to take many more twist and turns, making sure we hadn't pick up any trackers. So far so good, on a brighter side of things, my clone had gotten to my lab before us. Hopefully he had manage to evade any scrutiny, from present or future investigation.
"We're here, before going inside. I just want to say, that your about to meet my butler. Anything we may say will stay secret, beside he knows of my mutation." As I press the buzzer, I look behind me, already I could see the two doing a terrible job of holding back there grin as they tried not to laugth. Since in all the excitement, I had lost my key, something I was sure they would never let me forget, ever.
As the door open an older gentleman open the door, he seem to be about my height. His skin was much darker then mine, his eyes were pale, almost white. Grey hairs in a short neat cut, slick back to keep them in place by some gel. Seeing are beaten up appearance, he didn't so much as raise his eyebrow in question.
"Young master, your home, shale I prepare some new clothes for are guest? Perhaps something too eat as well? Or do you wish for me to call an ambulance or the first aid kit." His voice was low almost gravel like, it demanded respect.
"No for the ambulance." As I enter I motion the two to follow. "Yes for the food and clothes, thank you Alfred, if you could prep the lab first, he need my attention first." Pointing behin me with my thump, toward Clint as I keep walking leading them to my lab. I didn't slow down, since time was of the essence with Clint rapidly deteriorating condition.
"Right away, young Master." Alfred didn't even blink at my abrupt instruction as if this was a regular day, he jump to his tasks, in a surprising burst of speed for a man of his apparent age.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Nat and Clint stayed quiet, all the joking and humor left them. After hearing what I had said, they now had worrie and concern in their eyes. After having hear me explain briefly, about Clint situation, on the way here. They knew that Clint didn't have as much time for another option.
I was basically there last and only chances. Under normal circumstance he would've been cured by SHIELD, but with Clint current weaken health, along the ambiguous situation they were in. They were scrambling in finding solution, that didn't have mercenaries or double agents trying to kill them every ten minutes. So curing Clint of his poison, would go a long way in solving their ever increasing mountain of a problem.
Once in my lab, I quickly made my way toward a fridge with a glass door. It contained all sort of chemicals and samples, grabing a blue vial I down it right away. I grimace at the nasty rotten sour taste it had. This was one of this regen vial flaws, another was coming along soon. My eyesight and hearing turn white, in other words I had briefly gone deaf and blind.
After a few minute, of standing around waiting for the effect to died down. I had regain my sight and hearing.
"Hey! Answer my question asshole!" Nat was raising her voices as she keep goin on in a tirade of verbal abuse, in my direction.
"Sorry, for the past few minutes I was literally blind and deaf. So what are you angry about?" Turning my attention on Nat, I could feel that I was almost completely healed. A few more minutes and I would be as good as new. Many of the metal fragments inside of my body started to being push out and fell down on the floor.
"Wait? What do you mean deaf and blind?" Surprise on her face as she inquired.
As I move around my lab that was now fully operational, this was why I had ask Alfred to fired up the lab first. I then explain as I directed Natalia were too lay Clint down, this concoction had many draw backs. First it taste like shit, second it made the person blind and deaf for the first few minutes, third it couldn't growth back a cut off limb.
It just mostly accelerated the person own self regeneration rate ability. So a broken bone that could take weeks in a hospital, would recover in a matter of days or hours without leaving any lasting effect or scars. Of course the pain of this healing was also multiply, so that was also another minus in its favor.
"In conclusion, before using it on Clint to bring him back at his peek. I need to get ride of this mutating poison." I grumbled in the past half hour, nearly all the test I had run, only gave me some bad news, fortunately it also pointed out in how too produce the methods, I needed in curing him of this slimly slippery poison.
"Are you saying that this poison was changing?" Clint looked up weakly, his voice was a sickly painful shadow, of his former strong healthy tone.
"Yeah, but don't worry in an hour you should be feeling much better." I stop my work briefly, as I offered a confidend and reassuring smile. Before turning back to quickly finishing mixing the cure.
A few hours ago, I had injected Clint with the serum that cured him of the poison. Afterword I had to practically force feed him the disgusting regen vial, I did take a sadistic pleasure in seeing him trying desperatly in not gagging in pure disgust at the taste. Despite all the drawback this concoction did provide, it did have some pros side to it.
Right now Clint was in full swing of recovery, as he sleep soundly for the first time in a few days. Of course that was after I had hook him up to enough pain killer solution, that he wouldn't feel anything for twelve hours, which was the amout of time he needed to heal.
Nat had confiscated my private luxurious bathroom, as her own personal property. The move had taken me by surprise, well a part of me could understand. You wouldn't fine anything better from all those high end hotels. Also Natalia decided in confiscated the service of my personnal butler, all to her self for a few hours. The traitor was only to happy in complying, so I had to get my own food and clean clothes.
It wasn't all bad, since I was elbow deep in dissecting the reasons, of my odd behaviour during my first real fight. After allot of searching and analyzing data, I came to a surprising find. Usually every human being will have two instinctual reaction in a moment of intense emotional distress, which are the famously name fight or flight instinct.
Not for me any more, no my own reaction are very unbalance, I was more geared toward the fight instinct. I had realize that in that instance the very idea, of running away from my situation, never even cross my mind. I was purely focus in fighting my way out. Even if the odds were seriously not in my favor. After confirming my theory with some additional checks, I took some time in looking back on my behaviour in past few weeks.
Since the time of my self injected mutation, in all aspect of my life I was less hesitant, in fact I had become a little more aggressive then usual. Not in a I'm a alpha banging on my chest kind of way, but just when I had to make a choices of either attacking or retreating in every day decision. I was much more incline on picking the more aggressive stance then before, as for my interaction with my families. I was more assertive and protective of them, like when I learn that Peter was getting a lightly verbal grumbling in school from a few bullies.
Nothing close to canon, were student were making his life hell. No they never even got close enough, not with his unofficial teen girl army backing him up. It was just a few block heads that were spouting a few weak insults in some of his class, nothing he couldn't handle with his fist or better yet, his growing social skills. My reaction to this news, I was on the phone the very next day, complaining to the principals on my kid brother unfair bullying situation.
So yeah, I was more aggressive now then I had ever been. Now that I was aware of this, I could start taking steps in preventing future problem and fine a solution. Since it seem, I no longer had that instictive of self preserving my life, from picking the more volatile of choices in a dangerous situation.
In the grand scheme of things, I chuck it up as another thing in accepting about my new self. No way in hell, was I going to purge all my new ability. Just because I was a little more aggressive now, it just wasn't enough in justifying scrapping it all and start all over again.
That being said, I was facing another more pressing concern. What Clint had revealed about SHIELD, had me figuring a new path. Originally I would've been happy in staying out of sight, slowly spreeding out in the world. But on the other hand, joining would come with all kind of perks as well as cons.
Along with the many pit fall that SHIELD also provided, I wasn't a hundred percent sure if the event of the movie vers would come to past. Or another twisted twin version of the comics many scenario would come to past. So much of this world had defied my expectation on how things should turn up.
Another delimma I was facing was just how much should I share with SHIELD. It wasn't about my powers, no it had to do with the knowledge I had uncovered. Should I also provied them a weaker version of the super soldier serum. I mean I still vaguely remember that a certain General involved with the Hulk, providing a very similar boost serum to a soldier.
So clearly they weren't far away from there own serum, so should I take advantage of it. By giving them a inferior faulty product, it would make them happy and it would raise my importance in their eyes. Not just as a field enhance agent, to which they could throw away when no longer needed, but a scientist that could help them in other ways.
This also came with it own cons, but considering the current situation. I may not have as much freedom of choices of the matter. No doubt that eventually Nat and Clint would have a talk with Fury. Of the little bits, I was abel to gleen of the man in this world, just the few things I had done, would no doubt be enough for him in getting a scary good idea on my potential.
So if I was to trie and show not enough, I would be under suspicion but if I showed too much I would still be under suspicion. Oh hell, no matter what I did, even if he was to learn and know everything about me. He would still be suspicious of me, the man was the walking embodiment of paranoia of the grandmaster spy level.
This was part of the reason he was so damn good at his job, as well the reason the world wasn't tearing it self apart. Say what you want of the man, but without him, the carefully balancing of the power wouldn't be what it is now, without him doing his thing. I was even suspicious that he was aware of the current moles withing SHIELD. He might just act like he wasn't aware just to see what would come out of the woodwork.
"Considering everything that has happen, I don't have much choices in the matter. Well looks like I'm joining SHIELD. Fuck my life." I hunch down in my chaire brooding on the unfairness of it all.