"Something is very wrong here..." Spiderman trailed off as he checked around the corner of the building. He stretched in his costume and jumped back and forth. He had felt impatient since the other day when Bruce changed and attacked us. Peter wanted change. Wanted something more to his life. He missed Gwen.

But there was nothing I could do about it. I could only stand there and pretend everything was alright. The fight the other day really bothered me. How could Steve not trust me? How could he stand there and tell me I might be a danger to the mission? I knew how to handle myself. I wasn't five anymore. I tapped my hands against my blue jacket and black pants to the beat of one of my favorite songs. My contacts irritated my eyes and needed eye drops, but now was not the time. I needed to stay focused. "What do you mean?"

Logan joked around after he cracked his knuckles. "What, are your spider senses tingling?" He wore his custom costume he wore when he was at work with the X-Men. The blue and yellow suit pinched the muscles in his back and legs while his arms bulged. He took out his claws and a sharp ping sound rang in the air. He cringed at the slight pain.

"This isn't the time to be joking around," Steve commented through the mic. He was on the other side of the facility with Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Thor. They were going to flank the Hydra members from the top and work their way down to us.

Natasha snorted, "Clearly you don't know these guys. They joke around a lot." She glanced around at us and her emerald eyes flickered back to the front door. Her usual black outfit fit the curves of her body and allowed her to be nimble. Nat's red hair was straight, falling down to touch her shoulders.

I could never understand how she could fight with her hair in her face. But she was good at it, so I left it alone.

"Ready? On my mark," Steve began.

We waited patiently and eagerly. Something about the situation set my blood on fire and got my adrenaline pumping. Nat focused on the door and turned her back to us.

"3...2..." Captain America counted down.

Peter twitched at the sight of a red dot on the back of Black Widow's head. He jumped up as he screamed, "No!"

A loud sound erupted from across the street. The boom echoed off of the buildings and through the streets. My head jerked towards the origin of the shot and glimpsed back at Peter. The bullet tore his skin and wedged itself in between his collar bone and his rib cage. He cried out in agony and fell to the ground. Logan dove to catch Peter as warm blood flew everywhere, splashing anything in its path. Guns started firing and the alarm set off, creating a panicked state for the agents around us.

"Look alive guys. The hunters now have just become the hunted," Barton commented through the mic. Explosions were heard in the distance from his arrows and cries of pain erupted through the air.

My head whipped back to the shooter and I booked it. With a flick of my wrist, I created a portal leading to the top of the ten story building. I ran through and knocked out the first man I saw. Three guys jumped at me. My knuckles collided with one's jaw, making him fly backwards. I winced from the pain that soared up to my wrist and kicked another agent in the rib cage. He grabbed a hold of my foot; I grasped the pistol holstered onto my leg and shot his right arm. The man cried out, leaving me enough time to get out of his hold and knock the wind out of him with a punch to the gut. My elbow smacked him down onto the ground in an unconscious state.

The last agent pulled out his weapon, but I held out my hand and used my metal powers to stop the gun from firing. He paled at the sight and frowned. The man's hand took hold of a knife and swung it at me. I backed up and blocked his arm a few times before getting a hold of his hand and making him stab himself in the chest.

There was no time to lose. The shooter was getting away. I was not about to let a guy who nearly killed my cousin go.

I leapt from one building to the other. My feet carried me at a top speed, hitting the floor with loud thuds. Other agents got in my way, but I would create a portal to dodge them and confuse them. I pushed one off of the building and he screamed all the way down. My blood raced through my veins and heated up. It wasn't just from the running. It was from anger. It angered me that he shot Peter. I was angry that it could have killed him. He's not going to die. Not tonight. Not like this.

"What's going on over there? Status report," Steve questioned through the mic. His voice was stern and commanding, sending a slight chill up my spine. I was starting to have respect for the man that took control of the situation.

 Natasha fired her pistols and yelled, "Peter got shot trying to save me. One round to the shoulder. He's wounded pretty badly." She shot anyone she saw as a threat and covered Logan as he got Peter to cover.

Spider-Man's heavy breathing could be heard through the mic, worrying me a lot more. He choked out, "It's not a big deal. Really."

"We really need to get inside of this building. You going to be okay to fight, Web-Head?" Stark asked. He fired his built in weapon at some agents.

"Let's go in. Lilly, we'll meet you in there," Peter informed me and followed the group into the building.

I didn't bother to answer him. I almost caught up to the guy. He was running to the edge of the roof and gazed down. My hazel eyes checked their profile out in one second and realized the shooter wasn't a man. It was a woman. That's why it was hard to catch up. She was agile.

That didn't change my mind on what I was about to do to her. An eye for an eye, right? She could take Peter's life. I'll take hers.

My hands clasped together in front of me. I focused on the woman and let my clouded mind do all of the work. I could see the blood cells in her veins in my mind and started to force my hands apart slowly. The woman gasped and twitched like she was being choked. I had never tried this before, but I've had it done to me before. It was the worst feeling I've ever had. My insides were being ripped apart. Literally.

The more I forced my hands apart, the more she screamed out in agony and fell to her knees. The anger took over and consumed me in that moment. Blood trickled down her nose and out of her mouth. My powers ripped the iron straight from her blood, leaving her with one of the worst deaths imaginable. What was she thinking? Killing one of the Avengers...Ha! She thought she would get away with it too. No one messes around with my family.

Adrenaline pumped through my entire body, filling it up with energy like a drug. It all felt so good, so comforting, it made me feel alive. I was so focused on her that I couldn't hear anything but her screams as she spit out blood and my rapid breathing. Some of the blood splattered onto my face like rain on a cloudy day. She died in a matter of seconds and collapsed.

I came back to reality and set my hands to my sides. I stumbled backwards in a seemingly drunk state. The anger. The adrenaline. The revenge. Maybe it was all getting to me. Maybe I am the destructive weapon Stryker made me to be. I pushed the thought out of my mind. I'm helping the Avengers. I'm doing more good than harm. I convinced myself and met back up with the group in the fourth floor of the building.

Nat's legs were wrapped around one guy's torso as she snapped his neck in half. Peter shot at some guys and stuck them to the wall, making them unable to fight. Logan went in on a full attack and scratched up a few agents in the chest. His adamantium claws tore through their skin and made them bleed out instantly.

Red Skull's voice came over the loud speaker of the facility. The speaker screeched at first, making a high pitched sound, but it cleared after a few seconds. "Ah, zee Avengers. So nice to finally meet you. It's too bad zat I hafe to leafe so soon, but I hafe a plane to catch. Bye-bye."

Steve sighed over the mic, "He must have been in the basement. He's the only one that's going to get away. But, there isn't a way for him to carry more than half of the supplies out of here. I know Johann. He runs to save his own life, not anyone or anything else's."

The building fell silent and we trailed up to the fifth floor. I held onto Peter and aided him in walking. He had managed to cover up his wound with his webbing, keeping the skin together in an attempt to stop the bleeding. It worked like a big, sticky band aid. He leaned against the door we walked passed as we met up with the rest of the team.

Nat stayed behind to see if Peter was going to be alright and Logan lingered next to her. He only agreed to come on this mission because we needed an extra hand, not to search through some random company's junk that he could care less about.

Tony and Steve searched the giant science lab. It wasn't clean and pristine like Tony's, but dirty, grimy, and cold like Dr. Frankenstein's would have been. Test tubes and tools lay scattered on the counters. Viles sat in the refrigerators on the back wall, containing blood samples and God knows what else. Armor and weapons from Asgard piled in the corner of the room. Thor touched the closed portal drawing on the wall and made a fist. I could see the utter pain on his face. The betrayal. The anger. The loss. His emotions put on a show for the whole world to see.

Barton called out from the corner, "I think you're going to want to see this." Steve and I stepped around the curtain Barton was behind and looked at what lay on the tables.

Bodies.

A dozen or so bodies lay on tables. Their skin varied in colors of pale white to a tinge of violet. Some had major points in their bodies had different colored bruises on them, indicating massive blood clots. Other deceased had been drained of their blood. Most of the limbs were improperly sized to fit their bodies. Limbs were too small, nubs, or too long. Some were bigger than others and some were too small to even help the person survive or keep steady. The one thing they all had in common were their heads were cut off.

"I guess the serum didn't work," I stated and cringed. The smell hit me like a wave of old, hot trash. It almost made me gag as the smell lingered in the back of my throat.

Rogers threw up his hands in defeat. Red Skull was gone, but the bright side was the serum didn't work. It didn't seem like Johann Schmidt was going to keep going with the project from all of the closed files in the lab, so that was another win for the group. Steve placed his shield on his back and walked out. "Torch it all."

Peter rested in his bed comfortably. The doctors did all they could to restore his lost blood and take out the bullet fragments. The most they said he would be out on rest was a few months, if not, longer. He appeared to be pale and blood drained, which worried me a lot. My cousin looked weak and helpless. There was nothing I could do about it. That was the worst part. I sat by him on the side of his bed and held his hand. He was sound asleep and had been since the surgery.

Natasha sat on the other side of the bed. One corner of her mouth lifted as she spoke to his unconscious self, "You did great. Didn't even hesitate to save my life."

I brushed my hair back with my hand stressfully and glanced at Nat. She seemed so calm on the outside. I didn't know how she could do it. All I could feel was pain in my heart. It ached like the time I had lost my parents, but this was on the verge of falling down a worse trail of pain. At first, I thought Peter was going to die. Now that he wasn't, I was a little more relieved. I never wanted to see Peter this hurt.

"Lilly."

My head snapped up to Natasha, who was trying to get my attention.

"Go wash your face. It's covered in blood," she commanded in her motherly tone. Her eyes flickered back to Peter and listened the soft hum of his heart monitor.

I nodded and went to the bathroom. I took a cloth from the closet and ran it under hot water. Dry blood had drenched my face in giant splotches. My red eyes appeared exhausted and my limbs ached. I had used so much power to kill that agent that I was left weak.

When I first came to the tower, I was fresh off the field. I killed someone everyday in the name of Hydra, even if I didn't like it. I gave intelligence to Hydra's enemy, and in return, I got money and support. With being off of the field for so long, I think I got bloodthirsty. Angry. Hungry. I murdered a woman out of cold blood earlier. Sure, she shot my cousin and tried to kill my friend. But she didn't deserve that death. Thinking with a clearer head made me realize that. Then, other questions started to appear. Have I become more of an animal just from being in captivity? Or did I just miss the adrenaline rush and got carried away? Am I a monster, or am I the person I had always been?