Poison

Chapter Nineteen

Christine must have fallen asleep on the flight back. After being jolted awake by a hand on her shoulder she threw a glare at the whoever woke her up. Pietro gave a crooked smile and motioned to the front of the jet. She shot him another ugly look before standing to her full height. When she reached up to stretch out her back, she almost collapsed from the sharp pain in her side. She sunk her teeth into her lip to keep from crying out.

Christine pretended not to notice the concerned look on the man in front of her, instead she took a deep breath and shoved him aside so she could exit the plane. She could hear him scoffing behind her, but she once again ignored him. Steve was already at the door of the lab waiting on them to arrive. Christine did her best to hide the pain in her side from him.

"So what's the game plan?"

"Go in there and stop whatever Tony plans on creating in that cradle."

"So you believe them?" She motioned towards the twins.

"Yes."

Christine glanced back at the twins again before answering. "Okay."

Without another word, Steve led the group down into the lab. Their steps were quiet as they made their way down the stairs. Tony and Bruce hadn't noticed the approaching group from their positions. Tony was at the computer on the keyboard while Bruce was hooking cables to the cradle. He hooked one more cable onto the cradle before standing and looking at the monitor next to him.

"This framework is not compatible."

"The genetic coding tower is at ninety-seven percent.You have got to upload that schematic in the next three minutes."

Hearing enough, Steve stepped forward and the rest followed.

"I'm only going to say this once."

"How about nonce?" Tony replied.

"Shut it down!"

"Nope, not gonna happen."

Christine rolled her eyes at Tony's behavior. He noticed her behind Steve and waved.

"Lovely to see you, heard you fell out of the sky."

"Tony, turn the machine off. You have no idea what you're doing!" She said.

Bruce spoke up this time. "And you do? How do you know she isn't in your head?"

She sighed. Everybody knew who he was referring to. She knew that Bruce was affected by Wanda's manipulation in the past and it was gonna take awhile before he even thought about trusting her. Her eyes cut towards the young brunette and she watched her shoulders fall before she answered him.

"I know you're angry-"

"We're way past angry. I could choke the life out of you without even turning a shade." He took a threatening step towards her and Christine blocked his view.

"You're gonna defend them? The same people who let your secret out to the entire world?"

Not her, he has something different for her.

Christine could feel her once protective stance turn hesitant as she remembered the words that Pietro told Wanda before the video of Amilla's death was leaked.