𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐋 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 looked around the dimly lit room. Even on her hands and knees, she was unable to find anything aside from fallen bolts and misplaced screws. She muttered in frustration. "Where is it?"

"It's alright," Steve reassured but tried again to persuade her to leave the room. "You can always make another one. We need to go."

"I'm going to find it." She shook her head. It was clear that she was only growing more upset as she chucked a holt across the room. It disappeared into the darkness but a small 'clink' implied it had hit the other wall.  "I've got to find it. I can't—"

"Crystal." Steve firmly said her name and finally caught her attention. "The base is growing more unstable with each second we stay. Finding the antidote won't do us any good if the ceiling collapses."

She slowly nodded her head. "I just thought that I could do something right..." Her voice caught in her throat as she averted her eyes disappointed that another failure box had been ticked on her list.

"Hey." Steve shook his head to discourage her negative thinking. "We're not giving up. You'll figure it out eventually, but only if we make it out of here alive."

She nodded her head again and slowly rose from her knees. After dusting herself off, she offered him a lift. Although it took a bit of getting used to, he was now capable of balancing on her shoulder without the constant thought of falling off at the forefront of his mind.

When the ceiling initially collapsed, Crystal had fallen unconscious, drained from the substantial use of power. It had taken a minute to wake her, and even then she was still dazed. It was only while Sam was talking to Tony that she noticed the vial missing from her back-pocket. Steve was the one that initially found it, rolling into the next room over. However, their search had been less than fruitful and they didn't even know if the antidote was still intact or if the search had been a complete waste of time.

Just as they were about to leave the room, a voice called their attention back. "Looking for this?"

Ryker stepped out of the shadows, holding the vial of glowing serum up into the light. The smug look on his face only grew as he flipped the bolt she had kicked over to him earlier. Crystal's eyes had initially widened in shock, but quickly narrowed once she recognized the voice of her inconvenience. It now made sense how the vial had made its way into the room in the first place since the lid was metallic. She mentally cursed the boy's ability to bend metal to his will.

Ryker ignored the death glare and extended the vial as if offering it to her; however, he feigned dropping it during the exchange. She visibly gasped and reached out to catch it, but he pulled his hand back and proceeded to taunt her. He chuckled and gently shook the serum within the vial. "It's yours if you come quietly."

Steve shook his head, reminding her that he was there. "Crystal. We don't need it."

The girl bit the edge of her lip as if actually debating the offer. She glanced down toward her shoulder and took a deep breath before slowly shaking her head. "I already told you once, Ryker. I'm not going back."

"A shame, really." He shook his head. However, the moment of regret was quickly masked by a competitive gleam in his eyes. "But... I suppose if I bring you back in pieces, the doc will just put you back together again."

She frowned then offered a warning as she raised her fists into a fighting stance. "Don't underestimate me."

Ryker found her warning nothing more than an empty threat. He chuckled and shook his head, rolling his eyes at the same time. "Hardly a mistake I'd make."

With a false sense of confidence, she scoffed. "The incident in the lab suggests otherwise."

Now annoyed, his eyes narrowed and he flicked his wrist. The metal chair in the back corner of the room was pulled to its feet and yanked across the room. Crystal was caught off guard as the chair swept her off her feet and brought her face inches away from his. He snarled in a low tone as he looked into her eyes. "There is no escape."

She gritted her teeth and forced her knee upward into his rib cage. He immediately recoiled, grunting in pain as he gasped for breath. The brief moment of space allowed her to stand, regain her footing, then square herself off as she clenched her hands into fists. She took a deep breath, silently encouraging herself to stand her ground.

Having finally caught his breath, Ryker straightened and released a pained laugh. It was clear he intended to make her regret her fighting spirit. He took a deep breath then outstretched his hands with open palms. However, his hands closed into fists as he took a fighting stance while entertaining the notion that she could try to overpower him in hand-to-hand combat.

Crystal's movements were slower and less refined compared to Ryker's decisive dodges and blows. He moved like a well-oiled machine, and was trained to be just that, although the Labyrinth created her, she escaped before she could be transported to the Argonaut. She didn't know much about the facility other than the vague rumors that she barely remembered about a hidden military base. However, Ryker would have received that training and it certainly showed.

Crystal was quickly tiring. She'd land a blow here and there, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to overcome him. He showed no signs of slowing as she was forced to retreat back several steps. Her breath was heavy and she could feel the sweat dripping from her forehead to the back of her neck. She wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer, and he knew it too.

He was taunting her at this point, playing with his food before devouring the meal whole. He'd taken a step back and given her space to catch her breath. That's how confident he was that he'd win that fight. Anger bubbled and boiled inside her chest causing the loose fly-aways from her ponytail to whip around her face. Her exterior temperature cooled with the breeze, but her temper increased in a fiery tempo.

For a brief moment, she recognized fear and the sign of a mistake present on her opponent's face. It immediately disappeared as she confidently threw her hands forward but nothing happened. The wind died as suddenly as it had appeared. Ryker scoffed as if he'd had nothing to fear in the first place. To rub salt in the open wound, he stretched out his hand and summoned a metal beam into his grip.

He chuckled and pointed the bean toward her accusingly. "You might have some fancy new powers, but you lack the control to wield them."

"At least I can control the way I live my life," she snapped venomously. "You're just another number on one of their shelves!"

"Some control," Ryker scoffed. "You're still using the name they gave you... and you think S.H.I.E.L.D. is any better than HYDRA or the Labyrinth? You and I, we're the same in their eyes: monsters to be used as weapons. Give up this illusion and just come home."

Ryker dropped the beam and stopped the fight. There was silence as he extended a hand. His eyes pleaded for her to just accept the gesture and put their past behind them. She stood frozen in place, unable to move past the shock that overwhelmed her mental comprehension. It almost looked like he had missed her... but then she remembered the events of the past few days: the clean clothes that adorned her body, the hot steam of the shower, the way the bed comfortably sank under her weight. She thought she'd given up on the idea of finding a home, but that's because she'd never actually had a true taste of one. Now that she had... she was willing to fight like hell to keep it.

"That's not a home," she contradicted quietly under her breath as she shook her head. She lifted her eyes from the ground and confidently strided toward him to close the gap between them. "A home is a place of constant warmth with people who don't look at you like a monster. Home is a place where you feel at peace. Where people never expect you to be anything but yourself! Home is where you long to be every second of every waking moment, and it's the place you miss the most when it's gone! The Labyrinth is not a home, it never was."

She didn't realize it, but the wind had returned, beckoned by her call and now obeyed the strength of her voice. Every word she annunciated forced her opponent back no matter how hard he fought the current of the air. His feet slid against the cold, hard floor while his hands clawed at the door frame. In a last, desperate attempt, Ryker lifted his hand and summoned the metal beam that he had mistakenly decided to discard.

The metal flew through the air and collided with the back of the girl's head. Her eyes rolled back inside her head and the wind quieted with her mind. Her limbs collapsed and she fell to the floor without so much of a 'thud'. The blow had every intention of being deadly, and the pool of blood on the ground proved it; however, the open wound scabbed over and began to heal quicker than the girl had shown signs of previously.

Ryker paid no attention to the additional sign of latent abilities as he caught his breath. As he stopped concentrating on manipulating the metal beam, it dropped to the ground with a 'clang' that echoed around the room. Although fatigued, his strength returned long enough to hoist the girl over his shoulders. As he was leaving, he caught sight of the miniature super-soldier within his peripheral vision. Consequently, the vial in his pocket grew noticeably heavy, or perhaps it was just his conscience, though most said he didn't have one anymore.

With the sudden and jabbed movements, the soldier had been thrown from the girl's shoulder to the ground below. The fall was disorienting, and it was clear he was still adjusting. Although Ryker could've taken his prize and left the soldier to fend for himself, he'd given his word. He bent down, struggling to maintain balance with the additional weight over his shoulders, and set the vial on the ground beside the soldier.

"A deal is a deal." His response was gruff and practically muttered. But with the soldier's miniature size, it was sure to sound like a shout either way, so he didn't bother repeating himself.

He stood, adjusting the weight across his shoulders to regain his back and walked toward the doorway. The fresh scratch marks that scarred the walls served as a reminder to take care of business first then gloat later. He'd almost made a fatal mistake, but as long as he learned from it, there was no need to tell his superiors of the potential issue. He cast one last glance over his shoulder at the soldier unable to do anything. He blocked out any feelings of pity or remorse and replaced it with the cold emotionless look of stone he'd trained to use. "Lord Kaos sends his regards."

Without any further delay, he left the room. His footsteps echoed as he walked down the hall. It was clear that the structural integrity of the building was failing, but it was of little concern to him. He'd gotten what he'd been assigned to retrieve from HYDRA. With his final steps toward the exit of the underground lair, their partnership with the nazi organization was terminated, enforced by the smoke and fire that always seemed to follow in his wake.