Buzzkill: The Reckoning

Chapter 43

Only a couple hours later Ruth assured Bucky that she was ready to go over what happened at the Hydra facility. She needed answers, and she also knew there was a lot to figure out.

Walking through the hall to the elevator, Ruth's head swayed, suddenly feeling heavy. Her legs wobbled, her knees buckling beneath her. Ruth leaned into the wall beside her for balance, Bucky reaching out to grab her.

"You alright?" He asked quickly, concern read plainly on his face.

"Yeah," Ruth reassured him. "I sat in a chair for three weeks. I just need to get my strength back." She looked up around the room, the lights flickered severely. "We should tell Tony about that," Ruth remarked, standing back up, linking her arm within Bucky's as they continued on.

Bucky scrunched his brows as he looked to the lights. Since when did a billion dollar Avengers facility with AI technology have flickering lights?

"Hey Ruth," Tony spoke up as she and Bucky walked in the lab, everyone else standing around the room, "Feeling any better?"

Ruth let out a deep breath, "I think I would be lying if I said yes, but anything is better than being in that Hydra facility." She and Bucky joined the others gathered around what Tony had pulled up on his screen, the sunlight shining bright through the large windows that made up the walls of the room.

"Where's Peter? Or, Spiderman, I guess I should say," Ruth asked Tony, not seeing Peter in the room with them.

"He went home a couple weeks ago," Tony replied. "I thought that'd be best so his aunt didn't worry too much."

"Gotcha."

No one knew what to say to Ruth, how to attempt to say something consoling her for what she just got back from. The bruises around her face from the electrodes reminded everyone who had forgotten for even a second what had happened. Some of them had gone through something similar, Bucky knowing every feeling Ruth probably had very well, but what were they supposed to say?

"So now that you have all the files," Ruth broke the silence, "could you figure out what was in the first serum?"

"The first and second one, actually," Tony replied. He pulled up the multitude of files up on his computer, even though no one else in the room would be able to decipher what it all said.

"Wow," Ruth marveled, "And?"

Tony paused, wondering how to say this, "I'll start off by saying that there are some combinations of chemicals in here that I've never heard of, or even seen. Obviously Hydra put together whatever they could to try and make this work."

"So what does that mean?" Bucky asked, standing protectively next to Ruth.

"The base of the serums are a series of hallucinogens, psychotics, mood stabilizers, which doesn't do much good when combined with everything else; and even traces of morphine," Tony explained, looking to Ruth.

"Morphine? I definitely didn't feel much relief from pain," Ruth commented.

"And that probably wasn't the intention," Tony said. "It was probably to make sure your body didn't give up from all the pain, Hydra trying to dull it a bit. Also," Tony shrugged, "Morphine changes how your mind responds to things. It can give you crazy mood swings if used for long periods of time."

Ruth sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"Everything else that I can decipher from the first serum is basically Hydra's attempt at mind control, going with what they got from the Woman, as well as adding super soldier serum to give your body a boosted metabolism. But not as much as Steve and Barnes were given," Tony continued.