" 'Leste!" Copper screamed, slamming her body against the impenetrable wall. " 'Leste!" Her throat every time she screamed, her voice as loud as she could make it and the effort painful. " 'Leste, no!"

~~~

It didn't matter how loud she screamed.

Lithium felt the frenzied panic in her bones.

" 'Ris!" She shouted back on instinct, leaping from the bed in nothing more than a nightshirt. " 'Ris!" Her throat already hurt from the effort, but she would continue to call for her oldest friend as she ran down the halls.

"Celeste!" In just a moment the Captain was behind her. He'd expected to catch her with ease, given his physical superiority, but she surprised him, and had taken advantage of his groggy state, winding tight corners and leaping down the stairs. Perhaps she hadn't lost as much training as they'd thought while she'd been MIA. Perhaps Hydra had made more modifications than anyone had realized.

"Iris!"

~~~

" 'Leste run!" Scraping at the walls with her fingernails, Iris actually managed to leave scrape marks along the surface. "Get out of here now! Wolff wants you dead!"

"She can't hear you!" Bucky scolded, her shouts getting the better of him, grinding against his patience.

~~~

"Not without you!" Celeste shouted, narrowly dodging the Captain's grip as she ran. "Never again . . ." She whispered, though her breath was getting heavier. Sprinting was never an easy feat over distance, and when it involved stairs, even going down them, it became significantly more difficult. Watching her step was a chore.

The door.

Celeste had forgotten about the metal door that blocked her from the holding cell's main area. Without slowing down, Lithium kept running.

Until she slammed straight into the metal door, her body transitioning to to metal as it impacted.

And the door refused to budge. A large dent was left where she'd rammed into it, but the hinges held strong.

" 'Leste!" Copper shouted from the other side.

"Celeste!" The Captain yelled, quick to pick her up from the floor, the metal in her skin flickering between it's defensive and recessive states, reflecting the waves of pain rushing through her.

Bucky cursed under his breath, opening the door to the main room, glaring at Iris as the Captain and Celeste became visible. "Is she all right?"

"She'll need medical attention, but I suspect she'll be just fine," Steve murmured. The metal is a good defensive mechanism, but it's not perfect." He looked up at Bucky and the blonde woman behind the too-solid wall. "What happened? She lost her mind, running down here like death itself was after her."

Bucky let out a slow breath, glancing at Copper. "These two somehow manage to communicate without physical sound waves. I suspect that would be more of Hydra's tricks," he muttered angrily. "Who knows the extent of what they've done to these two."

Iris kept her gaze on Lithium, on her unconscious form. "Let me out," she stated simply. "Hydra won't relent until they have her or until their entire organization is dead."

"Why are they so focused on her?" Bucky asked skeptically. "Aren't the two of you the same?"

"No," Iris muttered, finally turning her eyes to him. If looks could kill, he'd have been done. "They knew I was unruly from the start. She was meek. She had the extra chemicals injected into her brain. They tested her over and over to make sure she would never turn her back on them. And then she did."

"So what?" Bucky asked, watching her, waiting for some sort of explanation.

~~~

Hawkeye and Widow were on the roof of the building, keeping a lookout of the horizon. Stark had heard the noise once it started thanks to his monitors, and had immediately dispatched both of them to keep an eye out for suspicious activity.

"There," Natasha said, peering through her scope. "Two 'o clock. Sniper watching the entrance. Another at three and four."

"I've got five more on the opposite side," Clint answered.

"They know the building's blueprints," she murmured. "They know the spare exit. They're waiting for us to run."

"Too bad the Avengers fight," he answered, firing his first arrow. Natasha quickly attached her silencer and fired a few quick shots, Clint keeping pace. Soon, the spies and wannabe assassins were down and out.

"We should contact Bruce," she told him once the bloodshed was over and they continued scanning for any hints of movement.

"Why's that?" Clint asked, firing one more arrow at a fleeing Hydra operative. True to his name, his aim was perfect and the man went down.

"Can you name anyone better to help us get a hold on crazy science mixed with humans?"

"Fair enough," he told her with a shrug, standing. "I certainly hope someone can figure it out."

~~~

"Well?" Bucky asked as Iris stepped out from her cage. The Captain had given the okay, convinced this woman was truly invested in Celeste's well-being, though she hadn't quite given them an answer yet as to why Celeste was more important than any of Hydra's former prospects.

"Well what?" She asked, watching Celeste carefully, where her friend was held carefully in Steve's arms.

"Why is she valued by Hydra more than others?" Bucky questioned, watching her with high levels of suspicion.

"Wouldn't you value someone who knew how to manipulate a body's electromagnetic waves?"