narrative/log: extremis & alpha WHO: Luka Romanov (along with an NPC SHIELD agent and, near the end, Billy Sinclair) WHAT: Sunday, August 11th to Tuesday, August 13th. Luka does badly in custody. This takes place alternately before and after this log with Steven
_____________________
Luka was not well.
It had taken a lot to drag him into custody, especially with Billy defending him. The fight had ended when someone had shot his system full of a sedative, and hours later, they hadn’t seen fit to take him off of the stuff. He was vaguely aware that he was cuffed to an uncomfortable seat, that he hurt in some places, but they were keeping him so far down that he couldn’t use his powers to find out what was happening. His mind was blank, but he was too drugged to enjoy the quiet.
Sometimes people came into the room. They asked him questions, and the only thing he would say was, “Where’s my brother?”
* * *
At some point, they let up on the sedatives so he could actually be coherent. When he could actually hear the questions, they were “What did you look up for Steven?” and “What do you know?”
This time, all he would say was, “Fuck off.”
* * *
“We have your boyfriend, Luka. If you tell us what you gave to Steven, we’ll let him go.”
“Is Steven alive?”
“Yes. He is.”
“I want to talk to him.”
“Don’t you care about Billy, Luka?”
“I want my brother.”
“Luka. Your brother is in a lot of trouble. You could save lives if you tell us what he asked you for.”
“I want my brother.”
Sigh.
* * *
After he’d finally been allowed to see Steven and the sedative was out of his system, Luka agreed to give them what he knew. He was a pain about it, but SHIELD deserved it. He still wasn’t happy that Steven was being kept strapped to his bed, but he didn’t have a lot of room to negotiate right now.
He was still kept in an interrogation room, but now he wasn’t tied down, and the agent who came asking questions brought a printer. With full power restored, putting everything he’d given Steven on paper was easy; they had an unspoken agreement never to discuss what passed between them, but Luka’s memory was still perfect. The task even seemed boring to him, and the agent with him wasn’t exactly excited to be stacking individual sheets of paper as they slid out of the printer.
“You know we can’t really let you leave, don’t you?” she remarked, idly waving around a piece of paper to dry the ink. “Sensitive information and all that.”
“Why? You planning to keep me in a lead box otherwise?” Luka had his arms crossed on the table, chin resting on them.
“They’ll offer you a job and keep you here if you don’t take it.”
“Will I at least get a hamster wheel?”
“This isn’t a joke, Romanov. They lock you up and keep you drugged until they need you. Saying yes lets you still have a life. You’ll get protection, benefits---”
“---and someone trying to play Big Brother on me and tell me what not to do.”
The agent frowned. “Your parents are SHIELD. Your brother is SHIELD. Captain America and Captain Marvel are SHIELD. We’re not the enemy.”
“But you’ll still keep me in a basement working on half a lung.”
“Considering all this?” She gestured with the stack of papers. “Yes. You’re a security risk. If you weren’t the Black Widow’s son, you’d have been dragged in eight months ago instead of now.”
Luka was quiet for a good long time---or that was how it felt, anyway. In reality it might have been two minutes or less, but when he spoke again he decided, “Let me think about it.”
* * *
When they were satisfied, Luka was finally allowed to see Billy, who only seemed to be held because he’d defended Luka. Without an official charge, they could only hold him for so long before it was illegal to keep him there. They couldn’t let Billy go, either; he wouldn’t let anyone get near him without snapping.
“Billy...?” The door was locked behind Luka once he was in, just in case. Luka didn’t really care.
Being a wolf kept Billy’s mind from racing, kept him from thinking about the possibilities of being locked up here. In this form, he was frightened and aggressive, but his thoughts were simpler and more involved with the present than the future.
He was curled up in the back corner of the cell. His clothes were in a neat pile in the opposite corner, and there was a tray of food that he hadn’t touched. He’d been snapping at agents whenever they tried to get near him. It was fear that made him lash out. He was seventeen years old and Luka had been taken away and he was terrified.
When Luka was allowed in, Billy lifted his head. He immediately bolted up and ran to him, circling Luka’s legs and nudging his hip.
“Hey. Hey, sweetheart, I’m so sorry---” Luka knelt down and scratched behind Billy’s ears. “It’s okay. We’ll get you out of here and I’ll explain everything, I promise.”
Billy nuzzled Luka hard, pressing against him and whimpering. It took a few moments of calming down, but he finally shifted to his natural form and wrapped his arms around Luka to hold him close. “What did they do to you? Where were you? Are you okay---?”
“I’m okay now. I just want to get you out of here first. Have you eaten anything? Let’s go, I’ll get you something. We’ll crash with the Rogers, I don’t want to go too far.” Luka held him protectively, gently rubbing Billy’s back.
“That’s it? We can just go?” Billy pulled back to look at him. “They said they’d keep me in here.” They said a lot of things just to keep Billy submissive, and it had gotten to the point where he wasn’t listening to much of anything, even when they tried to get him to leave. He’d been too busy lashing out to protect himself.
“They were keeping you here because of me.” Luka ran his hand down Billy’s arm before he moved away, going for Billy’s clothes in the corner. “They got what they wanted, so we get to leave.”
“Why? What did they want?” No one had told Billy anything. “Why did they want you, you don’t have anything to do with anything.”
“I had a lot to do with everything, turns out.” Luka tossed Billy his underwear. “Steven’s a sleeper. No one could tell, not even me. He asked me for help while he was under, and I gave it to him. Turns out SHIELD’s not a fan.”
Billy tugged on his underwear. Shortly after, he shifted into his human form. His clothes just didn’t fit the way they were supposed to when he was covered in fur, and he had a feeling that the SHIELD agents hanging around would be grateful to see him without sharp teeth. “What do you mean, a sleeper?”
“He’s brainwashed. He has a trigger or a call phrase in his head, and when someone trips it he blacks out and goes all... you know. Murder-y. He killed Terrence. He was taken in when he tried to kill Pella.” If Luka sounded calm, it was only because he’d had enough time to process before he was allowed to get to Billy. “He’s going into surgery soon so they can take out the trigger.”
Billy tugged on his shirt. “Oh, my God... People can do that? People can just do that?” He was part of this community and he’d been trained at the school, but his mother didn’t deal with this kind of stuff with X-Factor Investigations.
“It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. We have kind of a... family history with it. They’ll fix him.” Eventually, Luka’s calm wasn’t calm so much as it was numb. “I want to stay nearby so I can be here when he wakes up. I don’t know what’s going to happen to him.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Billy asked as he pulled on his jeans.
“He could be braindead. Or stupid. Or he could have total amnesia and not even know his own name. Or maybe it’ll go well and I’ll be worried for nothing. But if he loses big chunks of his memory...” Luka shook his head. “He might be fine. He might wake up and know Pella right away. He might jump back to when he was young. But he also might end up in a place where I’ll be familiar when most people aren’t. I can’t be far away if that happens.”
Billy nodded and finished getting dressed. He looked exhausted, shaken. “Okay. So we stay nearby for him. We take care of him. Who did this?”
“No idea. But someone will find out, one way or another.” Luka tugged Billy in for a kiss. “For now, I just want to get out of here.”
Billy threw his arms around him and hugged him close. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I’m so glad. I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know what to do----”
“I know. But we’re fine now. I’m going to take you out of here and make sure you stay safe.” After a long, tight hug, Luka reluctantly pulled away. He took Billy by the hand, leading him to the door and knocking on it to be let out.
It took a minute. When the door swung open, the agent stepped aside and gestured. “Agent Romanov. You can go now.”
Billy stopped, looking sharply toward Luka. “Agent Romanov?”
Luka shrugged it off and blithely walked past the agent at the door. “You didn’t think they’d let me walk for free, did you?”
“Are you nuts?” Billy followed behind him, staying close. “This is the only reason they’re letting you go? Because you made a deal to work for them?”
“It was that or be stuck in a lead box pumped full of sedatives until they need me. After what I did, of course they’re not happy. I’m a huge security risk.” Luka brought them to an elevator. He fidgeted after pressing the button, anxious to leave. “They’re not all bad, Billy, they’re just trying to keep their agents safe. And the information I gave Steven... probably got Terrence killed. It might’ve even helped the Morettis hurt Pella, or set up someone else that would’ve died. They want me on their side for a good reason.”
Billy listened quietly, chewing on his bottom lip. “Okay. Okay. So they aren’t all bad and they’re going to take care of you. If you think it’s all right, then I trust you.”
“I just don’t like being threatened. Or pushed. But... my parents work here. My brother, the people who raised me, they all work here. SHIELD does a lot of good. The ones who arrested us aren’t the bad guys,” Luka reluctantly admitted. “Steven is. And I am, because I helped him.”
In the elevator, Luka leaned up against the wall and slumped. “I just want to go home and not think about this for a few minutes.”
“Okay.” Billy kissed Luka’s cheek and nuzzled him again. “We don’t have to talk. Not right now. I don’t even have it in me to admit that I think ‘Agent Romanov’ is really hot.”
“Mm. Try me again later.” Luka leaned over and rested his head on Billy’s shoulder. “I’ll probably think it’s hot, too. Right now I just want Steven to be safe.”
“I know, Luka, I know. Let’s just go home and take it easy. Wait it out, take care of him when he needs us. Okay?” Billy cradled Luka. There was the faintest tremor in his hands; all of this had really freaked him out.
“I’m so sorry you got dragged into this. I never meant for you to get involved. You didn’t choose this.” Luka tucked himself underneath Billy’s arm and let himself to be held. He all of a sudden seemed very young, and very sad.
“But I did choose you, and that means standing by your side and protecting you when I have to. Even if I fail. Spectacularly.”
“You won’t. I love you.”
Billy kissed the top of his head. “I love you, too.”