Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

So some people think being a mutant is the coolest thing ever, you get to be an avenger, and beat up bad guys, you know the whole shebang. Trust me it's not all that it's cracked up to be.

No, I was born a freak. I was about 10 when I first started changing, not enough to be noticeable, to anyone but me at least. It only got worse. When I turned 12 it started to become more noticeable to everyone. 3 weeks after my 12th birthday my powers broke though at a family gathering. My mom freaked out, got into a big screaming match with my dad when they thought I was asleep. So that night I packed the few belongings I thought I would need for a new life, and left, thinking it would be easier for my mom if I wasn't there to mess everything up for her.
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I wake up with a start, “Dammit I'm late again!!!” I curse. If I'm late one more time I'm gonna get fired. I quickly jump into the shower, put on my black button up blouse, blue skirt, and matching blue converse. On my way out I grab a poptart, only to run back in to get my purse, and back out again, down the stairs and I'm on the New York streets. Good job Y/N maybe I can make it on time for a change.

I have an agreement with the owner of the coffee shop I work at, I work my ass off 6 days a week and they pay in cash. They don’t mind that I’m vague about my life, I don't have any resume or real experience, or that I use a fake name. I practically run the three-ish blocks to Puzzles, slamming the back door on my way to put down my purse and grab my apron. Of course they decided to use the pink aprons this week and I'm wearing blue. I almost run into my boss on my way to the front counter. “I am so sorry that I'm late Mr. Mosby, I promise it won't happen again.” you say tying on your apron.

"Don’t make promises you can't keep Alex, and it's ok, just get out there and serve some coffee.”

“Thank you so much Mr. Mosby, thank you so much!” I step out into the crowd and grab a tray and notepad.

“Hey, welcome to puzzles, my name is Alex, what can I get you?” you say to a tallish blond man in a suit. Seriously who wears a suit to a coffee shop?

“You’re so pretty, did it hurt when you fell out of heaven?” he says, straightening his tie and giving me a sideways smile.

“No, but I broke a nail crawling out of hell, now what do you want to drink?” I bark out, putting my hand on my hip and glaring at him.

“I’ll have a gin and tonic.” He says defeated. His friend next to him snickers like an idiot.

“This is a coffee shop, we don't serve alcohol.” I say while trying to not lose my cool. I'm probably failing

“This is why I go to bars.” He says to himself. “Fine, I'll have a grande pumpkin latte!”

“One pumpkin latte coming up.” You say. Turd Blossom. I think to myself while walking away. Why are men such pigs!!

Maybe not all men….. I think heading towards the very handsome, very buff, brunette man with piercing blue eyes and a smirk on his plump lips. And his equally buff, equally tall, blond friend, who looks kinda familiar. Have I seen him somewhere before, maybe on TV or something? Maybe he's an actor or comedian.

Hey, I’m Alex, how are you boys doing today?” I say as I reach the table, the blonde man looks up from his phone, his eyes are almost aqua, in between blue and cyan. He gives me a half smile, with an odd look in his eye. Slightly confused, I turned back to the brunette.

“Very good Alex, thank you, I’ll take a large coffee, black.” he says as he relaxes back into his chair and folds his arms. Damn look at those arms, they almost don't even look real.

“I’ll have the same, thanks.” Says the very blond one, still giving me that confusing look in his eye. I hate when pretty people sit in my section, I can never think straight.

“Ok I’ll be right back with your orders.” I say before turning quickly to put their orders in before they can see the slight pink on my cheeks.

When I get to the register I look back at the table and see them looking at me, then quickly turn to whisper to each other. That’s odd, I have a weird feeling about them…

“Hey Lily can you take these coffees over to the two hot guys over there, they keep looking at me weird.” I turn to my short redhead coworker offering her my notepad.

“Yeah sure, they do kinda look out of place. But hot…." She gives me a pointed look like she's trying to say something.

“LILY!!!! You’re engaged!!!!!! What would your fiance say?!?!” I whisper yell, as he's sitting a few tables away from us.

“Yeah yeah.. I love him. But I’m allowed to go window shopping, I just can’t go into the stores.” she says waving me off.

“Oh my gosh. Whatever Lily, can you just take them two black coffee’s, please??” I plead.

“Fine!! Ugh!!” Lily grumbles, taking the coffee from my hand, and walking towards the two guys.

A few minutes later, she walks back. “Hey honey, the guys say they want to talk to you, they keep whispering to each other, do you want me to get Mr. Mosby?” she says, giving me a worried look. She's been such a great friend to me since I started here.

“No, I'll go find out what they want, thanks though.” I say squeezing her hand as I walk past her towards them. When I get to their table, they are still whispering, I don't like this. Did they find me, do I have to move again? I finally got settled.

“Hey guys, what's up, my friend said you wanted to talk to me?” I say tentatively, keeping out of arm's reach of either man, just in case. Sometimes the cutest guys are the most dangerous.

“Yeah” says the blond one. “Do you know a Y/N L/N?” He says knitting his eyebrows together.

“Who the hell are you?” I bark out, taking a step back. As soon as I do the brunette shoots up freakishly fast, and steps towards me reaching his hand out to stop me.

By the time his chair hits the floor, I know. THEY’RE WITH HYDRA!!!! RUN!!! I turn in a flash, and run as fast as my legs can take me, pushing people out of the way. I look back for a second, I lock eyes with Lily. She looks so confused, I’ll never see her again. She was my only friend here.

As soon as I get to the street I start shifting. At first my skin is a deep scaly purple, then from head to toe I start turning into a muscular, red head woman, very pretty, very powerful. I saw her in the coffee shop earlier that week. She ordered a black coffee, said her name was Nat. I guess my name is Nat now.

I can hear them yelling my name, searching the busy street for me. I hope they don't know about my powers. I turn to look ahead of me, when suddenly I'm slamming into a tall body.

“I’m so sorry, are you alright? I’m so so sorry.” I say to the tall, buff, stranger in front of me.

“I’m fine, thank you. Are you alright? You look scared.” He asks grabbing my shoulders to keep me steady

“Yeah, I'm fine thank you.” I say, then as I try to take a step back, his hands tighten on your arms, keeping me from moving. What the hell man, I said sorry.

“I’m glad.” He says then I feel a pinch in my neck, and I finally feel the presence behind me. My eyes dart behind me, to see a man holding a massive needle. I push the man holding my shoulders, but he grips me tighter as my vision starts to fade, and I feel myself slumping into him. “It’s nice to finally meet in person Mrs. Romanoff.” He says right before everything fades to black, and all I can hear is my own heart beat.

Chapter Text

When you wake up, you can’t see, you move slightly only to find that you’re strapped to a chair. My ass hurts, and it smells like blood in here. You stay quiet hoping that there is nobody in the room. But as soon as you start listening, you are proven wrong, there’s breathing, a lot of breathing, sounds like at least 5 people. All standing, one in each corner, one in front of me, at least a few feet.

“We know you’re awake darling.” The man in front of you says, as he takes a few steps forward. Judging by the british accent it's probably the guy with the needle. “We finally found you Mrs. Romanoff, we’ve only been trying for YEARS!!!" He exclaims angrily, ripping the bag off your head.

When your eyes finally adjust to the light, you see a tall slim man standing in front of you, and a guard in every corner. I guess I was right… shit. “I’m sorry, but I don't know who Natasha Romanoff is, or who the hell you are, or what the hell I’m doing here.” You say, trying to stay calm. I suck at staying calm, think happy thoughts, kittens, books, ice cream, Matt Smith… Matt Smith… stay focused!!

When the slap came it was sharp, it hurt a lot at first, then it just stung a bit, it made your head jerk to the side. Owwwwww….. ok that hurt, it's been awhile since I've been slapped, and I can say I haven’t missed the abuse at all.

“You really should focus Mrs. Romanoff. Now, where is the Winter Soldier? I cleared my whole schedule for you, so I have all the time in the world.” The british man said, pulling his trench coat off gingerly. Why is he wearing a trench coat? Why do all “villains” wear cool suits and coats? At this point it's just tacky

“Okay, umm.. the Winter Soldier you say, umm…. he’s in New Jersey, yeah, yeah New Jersey." Slap!! Owww.. yep this will be soooo much fun. “I don't know who you are, and you obviously have no idea who the hell I am, So I'm going to let you in on a little secret.” You say, then you crook your finger a little, motioning him to come closer. You start whispering to him. “You don't want to mess with me.” At the last word you slam your head into his nose, disorienting him, and making his nose bleed. Double whammy

You quickly shift into your true form, violet body, with patterns of darker purple on you, and dark black hair.

As soon as you shift you're able to snake your hands out of the rope holding you to the chair. You flip backwards out of the chair and take a defensive stance, ready to fight every last person in this room.

As soon as you're ready to fight them, you feel an excruciating burning sensation in your abdomen. OH MY GOD, THEY SHOT ME!!! THOSE BASTARDS SHOT ME, WHAT THE HELL!!!! You look down to find a horrifying amount of hot blood dripping down your stomach.

I’m going to die, I’m going to die without saying a proper goodbye to Lilly, or seeing the Eiffel tower, or falling in love. I’m going to die, before I can kill these assholes! Those are the last few things you think before losing consciousness.

Time skip:

When you finally wake up you are strapped down to a table, in the middle of the room. The trench coat british guy stands a few feet away, talking to a man in a lab coat. What's with all the coats, seriously HYDRA? “I’m awake. And pissed.” You say trying to sit up, it doesn't work of course. “I’m guessing you’ve figured out who I am?” You say, voice dripping with venom.

“Not quite my dear, who are you?” the trench coat british guy asks, walking towards you.

“First of all, it's rude to shoot people you don’t know, and…” you stop yourself and think for a moment. “Why doesn’t it hurt? What did you do?!?” You say starting to panic.

“Oh you know, just a little experiment. Now answer the damn question.” He says taking another step towards you.

“Well if you really want to know…... I am experiment #7860 Y/N L/N, back in hell." You say with a cold smile on your lips. "Hi." This isn't the first time you've played this game with Hydra.

“You’re Y/N L/N?!? He says taking a couple steps back. Ha he’s afraid, he better be, the things they taught me to do here.

“The one and only. Now what do you want. And who is Natasha Romanoff?” He doesn't answer of course, just smirks. And says,

“My my, do we have plans for you my dear.” Then he walks away. Everybody else leaves the room too. You are alone. Thank god I’m finally alone. I'm so sorry mom, I know you worked so hard to get me out, and now they found me, I'm so sorry…. Your thoughts were cut short by a man in a lab coat walking in.

“Hello #7860, I will be your…. caretaker. You can call me Mr. Smith.” he says, and as he says it, you can just tell....... he has really bad breath.

“Oh hey doc. What's up? What’s the plan today, torture, solitude, and no dinner I’m guessing?” you say with fake excitement dripping from your every word.

“Actually I was planning on some happy music and dancing……………. We’re HYDRA dear, we will be starting with some experiments.” Figures, at least this guy has some sense of humor.

“Bring it on doc, I’ve seen it all, and I'm still kicking, so I must be doing something right.” You say with a smirk.

“Since you got out, obviously we’re doing something wrong.” He says as he walks to the table you're on. When he reaches you he pulls a needle and a vial out of his coat. Putting the needle in the vial, he pulls back the plunger, filling it with a deep red liquid.

“This is the blood of somebody kind of like you, his powers were exquisite. I think you would have liked him.” He says sticking the needle into your arm and pushing down the plunger.

As soon as the liquid touches your blood, it feels like you’re on fire. It starts in your arm then burns up into your chest and down into your legs. AHHHHHHHHH I'M GOING TO DIE, AGAIN!?! The pain is so great you start seeing spots.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?!?!” You scream and writhe in pain.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get over it, I’ll see you soon 7860.” He says as you black out from the pain. Your last thought, I’m dying, still….

Chapter Text

When you wake up, you’re on the floor of a cold, pitch black cell. Thank god, am I alone? You listen to hear any breathing, surprisingly there is none. Huh they left me alone. When you try to move, you scream out. You are in soooo much pain, you almost black out there and then! Every move you make feels like your whole body is on fire, even breathing hurts.

I have no idea how long I’ve been here, or where I am, or what they’re going to do to me. So you wait it out, you try sitting at one point, only to figure out that that was a horrible mistake. Maybe 4 hours of laying on the floor later, the door opens, flooding the room with light.

“Who the hell are you.” You croak out. You try to force your eyes to adjust to the light, so you can see who is in the room with you.

“I am here to check up on you L/N. How is your wound? I brought you water.” says a feminine voice by the door.

“I need to get the hell out of here, can you do that? If not, then I think I’ll just take the water.” Your voice gets weaker and weaker with every word you speak, by the end you are practically whispering.

“I can’t get you out, but I can take a look at your wound, if you will let me. I’ll be right back with fresh bandages, and I will try to bring down your fever. Don't move.” She says, before turning around to leave. As the door closes behind her, you are again drowning in darkness. Like I could move if I wanted to. Why is she being nice to me? I have a fever??

Before she can come back, two hydra goons come to get you. Since you are too weak to walk, they drag you down the hall, that's right they’re dragging you down the frickin hall. When I get my strength back, I’m going to break both of these guys knees for this. When you get to the lab, they throw you down on the table, and strap you down. And of course the straps are too tight, they don't want to have to shoot me again, now I’m too precious to shoot.

“Hello 7860. Nice to see that you awake finally. How do you feel today? We have quite a few more tests for you.” Since you're too weak to talk, all you can do is glare at him. You know the drill, you’ve done all of this before, too many times.

When they start all you can think of are the two men from the coffee shop. How tall they were, and how they kept looking at you. And how HYDRA didn't know who you were, but these guys did, maybe they weren't HYDRA.

Think about those two men where the only thing that kept you alive. The scientists basically dissected you, day after day, they cut you open, took blood, spinal fluid, muscle and tissue samples. They gave you other mutant blood, experimental drugs, forced you to shift, the list goes on and on.

And when they were finally done for the day, all of the energy you had left was spent trying to keep your eyes open, and even that was an uphill battle. You passed out multiple times, while they experimented only to be revived by a swift slap. The same goons drag you back to the cold dark cell when they are done with you. Then Mr. Bad Breath would come in and give you your daily dose of fire blood, then you would pass out from pain for the night.

This goes on for months, you thought you were going to die, everyday. But what you didn't realize was, you were getting stronger, faster, more flexible, and more comfortable with your powers. Every once in a while they would wipe the memory of the last couple weeks, so for you it felt like weeks, but really you’d been there for HALF A YEAR.

It was a normal day, the HYDRA lady came in, gave you food, water, and checked any wounds you might have. Goon One and Two came in, walked you to the lab, laid you down on the table, and walked away. At least they stopped strapping me down. Mr. Smith came in and started his tests. This morning was agility, after was weight lifting, then some more fire blood, as you so affectionately call it.

The fire blood wasn’t so bad today, maybe they gave me less today, huh, usually it hurt like hell. Huh. After the fire blood you actually feel better, stronger, faster. As the goons are taking you back to your room, the alarms start going off. The goons look at each other.

“What the hell do we do with her? We’re 10 minutes away from her room?” Goon One says looking around.

“I don't know, look there’s a closet. Shove her in there.” As soon as they say that, you start struggling, trying to get away. After half a year of you walking peacefully with them, they forgot how strong you are. In 6 seconds flat you have one groaning on the floor, in 7 you have the other.

You easily pick up both fully grown men, and stuff them in the closet. That's weird, I don’t remember being about to do this before. As soon as you finish tying them together you quickly close and lock the door. You start running down the hallway, away from your prison cell. Finally. I’m getting out!

You run down the hallway, and as you’re about to turn the corner, you stop. Ok, so I don’t know how, but I can hear someone breathing, and walking. What exactly did they do to me? You jump on to the ceiling fan. How the hell did I do that? You see a goon walking down the hallway below you. He has two guns, a pistol on his hip, and an AR-15 in his hands. His helmet covers his whole face, so no ears, or eyes shots, but I can drop down on him, take his pistol, and shoot him with it.

Before you can act on that thought, a man with a metal arm comes running around the corner. Holy cannoli, it's the hot brunet from Puzzles. He takes the goon down quickly, then runs off. You of course, being naturally curious, follow him quietly.

After about 10 more minutes of following him, and watching him take down the HYDRA goons, he runs into the Pit, an open space we use to practice shooting, and you notice a red dot on his back. SNIPER!!!! And completely on instinct you dive in front of him. What the hell am I doing? I don't even know him, oh what the hell..? BANG!!! You scream out as you feel the excruciating burning sensation in your chest. Oh yay, I've been shot, again. Huh, it hurts more to be shot in the chest, shit, shit, shit. At least I saved this random dude….. You think before blacking out, again.

Bucky's POV:

Cap gives orders to everyone and runs off with the Tin Can as soon as the quinjet lands. He’s always been a punk like that, running off without thinking. I run off to find the prisoner. A few weeks ago we got inside intel that they had the who we are looking for, Y/N I think it was, yeah Y/N L/N, they said they're pretty impressive, they of course told us that they have no idea what they look like. Not helpful….

I run down the hallway trying to find them, instead I find a HYDRA agent with an AR-15. Of course it is easy to take him down, I hit him in the face with my metal arm, breaking his helmet, then shot him. As soon as I finished I run down the hallway to look for them, but something didn’t feel quite right, as if someone was watching me. I look around, but if I am being watched, they’re good. After about 10 minutes of taking down agents, I run into a big open room, probably used for training, there are windows lining the walls.

Something is definitely not right, I could feel it. Then some streak comes barreling towards me, then I hear a loud CRACK and she falls screaming to the floor. Holy hell this woman just took a bullet for me, is this Y/N?? It doesn't matter, she’s bleeding. I need Bruce. I quickly press on her wound, and yell into the coms.

“Anybody, this is Bucky, I need immediate assistance, I am under fire from a sniper, and I have a woman down. She’s been shot in the abdomen, she needs Banner to stitch her up.” Where did the shot even come from? And where is Banner, she’s going to bleed out?!

“This is Banner, I'm on my way, can someone take out the sniper? I don’t particularly want to let the other guy out. Where are you??” I hear in my ear. He’s not going to get here in time, I have to act now. I am not letting the woman who saved my life die. I see a glint in one of the many windows, I quickly draw my pistol with one arm, and shoot at the glint. I hear a yell, and know I hit the sniper.

“We’re in the south west corner. I took care of the sniper, Tony, can you pick them up, I left them on the east side of the room. She’s bleeding out, I'm coming to you Banner.” I say then pick her up bridal style and run for the door. I'm not letting another person die for me.

Chapter Text

Y/N’s POV

You doze in and out of sleep, every time you wake up a little, you are too tired to open your eyes. You hear patches of conversations.

“She's too weak to wake up right now.”

“We need to talk to her, she has vital information.”

You black out again. The next time you wake up, you hear a familiar voice...

“How is she doing Banner?”

“She shouldn't be doing this well, not for a human, she looks like she got shot 3 week ago, but it's only been 2 days.”

“Is there anything I can do, I mean she saved my life...”

“Right now, there is barely anything I can do, she's doing it all herself.”

You’re unable to stay awake any longer, and pass out again.

Time skip

The next time you wake up, you are strong enough to open your eyes, and lift your head a little. You look around and see all kinds of medical equipment. Oh good now what have I gotten myself into? You think to yourself.

A few minutes later you see the door open and an average looking guy walks through, looking at the tablet in his hand, not bothering to glance at you. The man has curly brown hair, and is wearing a blazer and a doctor's coat. He’s a cute guy, kinda on the short side. He has an odd power to him. You clear your throat to get his attention. He jumps and accidentally drops the tablet in his hand. He whirls around to look at you, and his jaw drops. After a moment he says,

“Friday please alert Steve and Tony that our patient is awake.” He takes a step towards you, you tense up in defense. He steps back and puts his hands up in a calming gesture.

“Hi, I am doctor Bruce Banner, I was the one who patched you up after you got shot. Do you remember being shot?” he asks in a reassuring tone.

“Yes.” You say curtly, “Who were you talking to a second ago?”

“Oh Friday, she’s the Towers AI, our artificial inte...”

“Artificial intelligence” you cut him off, “I know what an AI is.”

“Good...” He says while glancing at the door he came through. “I was alerting our team leaders that you are awake, so that they can come ask you a few questions.”

“Why do you keep looking at the door?” Because he’s scared of you, as he should be, you're a monster.

“Do you know where you are” Why did he dodge my question?

“No, you didn't answer my question.” you ask, you're starting to get annoyed, and you're voice is a reflection of that.

“You are in The Avengers Compound we took you from the hydra base you were in.” Took me, what do you mean took me? That is when you finally look over and notice that your arms are chained to the bed, and that you are your natural purple color.

“Why the hell am I chained up! Wait, Compound?? I’m in the Avengers lair?!?” Oh shit they got me, they are going to experiment on me just like hydra did. I never got out! You start to hyperventilate, and shake.

“Friday tell Steve to get here now!” Bruce barks to the ceiling before rushing to your side. “I am going to give you something to relax, okay?” “You're going to be fine” He says as he pulls out a needle with clear liquid in it.

This only makes you hyperventilate more, throwing you into a complete panic attack, you thrash against your restraints and shift erratically. You scream as the needle goes in your arm. Bruce's face pales
and tenses up.

The door bursts open to the muscular blond man from the coffee shop, running through, and a shorter brunet man with a goatee runs in after him.

“Bruce what is going on?!?” The blond man says forceful.

“She started breathing hard and shaking, then when I gave her a tranquiliser she screamed and started changing like she is now...” Bruce says while backing away from you.

You continue breathing hard and shifting for a few moments, until you feel the drugs start to work, and you relax. You stop shifting as the cute redhead from the coffee shop. He didn't try to kill me…? Who are these people? Why am I here? Where is the guy I took a bullet for?

All these thoughts hurtle through your head as the three men stare at you. You finally notice them blatantly staring at you, and ask,

“Who are you people? Why am I here? And what the hell are you staring at?” You're scared, and angry, and hoping they can't tell.

They stand there in silence, before the cute blond from the coffee shop says,

“I am Steve Rogers, this is Tony Stark, and I'm sure Bruce has already introduced himself. You are here because you threw yourself in front of my best friend, before he was about to be shot in the back by a sniper. And because you saved an Avenger in a Hydra base. So understandably, we have a few questions for you. And my friend would have killed me if I hadn’t taken you here for medical treatment.” I saved an Avenger? These are the avengers? Oh My LANTA! Who did I save? All these thoughts bounce around your head at painful speeds, making you lean your head back onto the pillow.

“Are you okay?” Bruce asks and takes a step towards you to help.

“I’m fine, just a normal headache, too many things happening at once” you say, then look up at him and give him a hint of a smile.

“We’ll let you rest a little more before asking our questions, but when we do, we expect you to answer all of them. And as for why we are staring at you, it's because you look like a friend of ours.” Steve says to you as he also takes a cautions step towards you.

“Let me guess, Natasha Romanoff?” You say with humor in your voice, sadness and pain in your eyes, remembering the name The Trench Coat British guy called you.

“How did you know?” The man Steve introduced as Tony asks.

“I’ll tell you later, right now I'm about to fall asleep with my eyes open, so I would appreciate some privacy so I can try and sleep peacefully.” You slurred out with sass.

“We’ll leave you for now, we will check back up on you when you wake up, and hopefully you will be able to give us some answers.” Steve states. He then turns to Tony and motions for him to leave. They slowly file out until it's only Bruce.

“Try and sleep well, the tranquillizer I gave you should help, sorry I freaked you out with the needle.” He says giving you a small apologetic smile, then turns off the light and leaves before you can say anything else.

What in the galaxy did I get myself into... If only I had shifted into ANYONE else, I could be back at the coffee shop with Lilly right now, laughing at her dumb jokes.

Little did you know that shifting into Natasha Romanoff was the best decision of your whole life.

Time Skip

You dream of your life in the hydra base, everything is tinted red. You see flashes of faces, good and bad. You see yourself training with another mutant, you knock him to the ground and put him in a headlock. The scene changes, you see yourself strapped to a table, with the Trench Coat British guy smiling over you as you scream. It changes again, you see yourself crying in a ball, in the corner of your cell, trying to keep warm. It changes again, you see the goons kicking you on the floor, after your first escape attempt.

All of these memories scream through your head, until suddenly they come to a stop on one image. The man with the metal arm being shot in the back, because you can't reach him in time. You run to him as he falls. You catch him before he hits the ground, and lower him the rest of the way to the ground. You roll him over to look at his face, but when you roll him over, instead of his face being there, its Mr. British. You scream and try to push him off you, but he grabs you and pulls out a gun, he shoots you in the chest and laughs. You fall backwards, but instead of hitting the floor, you fall through it, into complete darkness. It feels like you fall forever.

You wake up screaming, clutching at the blankets. Your eyes dart around the room, trying to figure out where you are. You see medical equipment, and hear a heart rate monitor beeping next to you. You remember, you're in the Avengers Compound, they saved you from Hydra. You relax into the bed and breath.

What time is it? You think, you look around again, now that you've calmed down. You see a huge window at the end of the room. Outside the window are trees, and a black sky, full of stars. So it's still night, how long was I asleep for? You sit up so you can see out the window better. You see a lake, and some lights below you. So I’m not on the ground floor, it's pretty here, quiet. You look away from the window and down at yourself, and notice that you aren't Natasha anymore, instead you’re a man, with hairy arms.

You gingerly try to spin your legs to the left, to dangle off the bed. It takes some effort, and a lot of pain, but you manage to sit on the edge of the bed. You start to slip off, so your feet touch the floor, then put a little pressure on them. Causing you to whimper in pain, but you push through it, as you've always done. You finally manage to stand on your own two legs, you look down to notice that your legs are hairy too, under the hospital gown. You also notice that there is a IV coming out of your hand, with a tube leading to a saline drip hooked on a metal rod on wheels.

You hold onto the rod for support, and take a step towards the window. But the heart rate monitor hooked to your finger stops you, you quickly pull it off, causing the monitor to have one long beeeeep, then power off. That will probably bite me in the ass later, but I need to see out the window. You slowly make your way to the window, each step a struggle. But you make it to the window, when you look out, you notice the trucks driving below you.

You look up and see the stars, they are beautiful tonight. Your eyes feel odd, so you close them, and rub them with the back of your hand, and when you open them again to look at the stars, suddenly you can see so many many more, you can see the sky as if we didn't have any pollution, or even an atmosphere. You can see the milky way, the whole galaxy. It's the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. Your eyes well up with tears, causing the stars to merge together, and yet, it's no less beautiful. You’re so busy looking up, you don't even notice that somebody else has entered the room.

“It's beautiful here isn't it?” Says a voice behind you. You squeak and whirl around, causing you to almost fall, and be in excruciating pain. The person rushes towards you trying to help, you look with anger in your eyes, ready to fight. But what you find is a concerned Dr. Banner, giving you the most confusing face. Your eyes soften, seeing that there is no immediate threat. You gain your balance, and stand on your own, shrugging off his hands, which you hadn't noticed before.

“It's not nice to scare people when they are zoned out.” You say in a fake scolding voice. But he just keeps looking at you with a weird face. “What's wrong Dr. Banner?”

“Hm? Oh, I'm just not used to walking into a room to find that I'm already in it.” He says with a little smile.

“What?” Is he a little crazy?

“Oh you don't know, you're not Nat anymore, now you're me. It's a little jarring. You can call me Bruce by the way.” He says looking you up and down.

Oh, I shifted into him in my sleep. So he's not crazy, probably. “Oh! Sorry, when I dream I shift, and I must have shifted into you. Sorry.” you say then look at the floor in embarrassment.

“Nothing to be sorry about, but how do you look exactly like me, you even have my birthmark on your knee.” he says with a puzzled look.

“Oh, when I see someone, I can copy their face, their size, and any other characteristic I can see. But in your case, when I touch someone, or they touch me, I can become a perfect duplicate of them, I think it has to do with DNA or something.”

“Oh. But I didn't touch you?” he said with a puzzled expression.

“When you put the needle in my arm you did. I can shift into someone else if it's making you uncomfortable?” you say shyly, talking about your powers is always weird.

“It's fine, as long as you're comfortable.” he quickly reassures you.

“Cool.” you think for a moment before asking, “What are you doing in here so late?”

“Oh that, um, I told Friday to alert me if you woke up, so you wouldn't be scared. On that note, you really should lay back down.” he says in a quiet tone.

“You did that for me?” Confused as to why he would want to do this for a stranger. You start making your way back to your bed, leaning on the pole.

“Well yeah, you are my patient.” he says walking next to you. Suddenly your left leg decides it's time for a nap, and you start falling with a yelp. Bruce catches you with surprising strength. How did he catch me so quick? He helps you back to your bed, and you lay back down.

“Thank you, I don't know what happened, my leg just quit working.”

“No harm done. Are you alright, any pain?” he asks sitting at the end of your bed.

“I mean the bullet wound in my chest hurts, but the weird part is, it should hurt more. How long has it been since I got shot?” you ask, looking him in the eyes. His eyes are a very nice deep brown, with some bright green near the iris. Odd.

“It's been 3 days, but your wounds are healing at an accelerated rate, it looks like you got shot 3 weeks ago. Is that part of your powers?” he asks leaning towards you

“Not last time I checked!” you say starting to worry about what Hydra did to you there.

“Ok, we’ll figure out why, but right now, you should sleep. Steve and Tony are going to ask you questions in the morning,” he looks down at his watch, then back up to you, “if you sleep now, you should get about another 6 hours before they come back.” he says in a reassuring tone. I can see why he's a doctor, he's so kind.

“I don't know if I can go back to sleep, I didn't have the best dreams before.” you say looking down at your hands, they are large, and strong.

“I can give you something to help you sleep better if you like, but only if you're comfortable, I don't want you to have another panic attack.” he says looking at you with concern.

“Will it give me better dreams?” you ask in a small voice, meeting his gaze again.

“Yes, promise, as long as you promise me that you won't have another panic attack?” he asks while standing and walking to a nearby cabinet, and opening it up.

“I think I can manage that.” you say smiling at him. He turns back to you with a small needle, and a band aid in his hand. He walks towards you and says,

“You should lean back, this stuff works quick.” he cleans the area he's about to put the needle in as you lean back. “I will be here in the morning when they ask their questions.”

“Thank you, and thank you for being so nice to me, even though you don't know me.” you say smiling. When he finishes he puts a teenage mutant ninja turtle band aid on your arm. “Really? Teenage mutant ninja turtles?” you ask with a small laugh.

“What? I thought it was appropriate.” he says with a large smile. “Now try and get some sleep, I will see you in the morning.” he says while walking to the door

“Goodnight Bruce, thank you…” you say, your words and thoughts starting to blend together. He was right about this acting quick…

“Goodnight.” Bruce says while turning out the lights, he turns and walks out the door, closing it behind him. He walks back to the elevator, taking it to the recreation floor, where the crew quarters are. He walks to his room, and sits on his bed.

“Friday, please alert me when our patient wakes up.” he says then crawls in bed to sleep as well.

“Yes sir.” Friday whispers from the ceiling.

Back in your room

You smile to yourself, Maybe this place isn't so bad, Bruce is nice, I hope they don't think I'm hydra, I hope I'm not hydra…… *Snore*

Time Skip,

You wake up slowly, groggy from the drug Bruce gave you last night. Your eyes are too tired to open, but your mind starts to work. Your instincts tell you something is wrong, someone's in the room. Your eyes pop open and land on a very angry, very tall, very scary, redhead standing at the foot of your bed with her arms crossed, glaring at you.. Oh shit. Natasha Romanoff!

Chapter Text

Chapter 5:
Natasha stands over your bed, her arms crossed, glaring down at me. What did I do? She was much less scary at Puzzles. Is she going to kill me? She uncrosses her arms and walks around the bed to the left side of the bed. All I can do is lay there, scared to move, as if she might pounce on me. She continues to glare down at me, unmoving. The door at the foot of the bed opens, and Steve, Bruce and Tony walk through. Natasha turns to look at them, giving them a nob before turning around to walk to the window.

“How are you feeling?” Bruce asks me while picking up the tablet next to the bed to check something. Steve and Tony stand at the foot of the bed, surveying me.

“Feeling better, my chest hurts less today, and the meds you gave me really did help me sleep, no more nightmares.” you tell him with a smile. I look down at yourself, seeing that you are still Bruce. “I can answer any questions you might have.” I say to Steve.

“Why do you look like Brucy Bear here?” Tony asks you, his eyes flicking between me and Bruce. That might be why Natasha was looking at me so weird.

“I woke up as him, I usually shift in my sleep, it happens when I dream. I usually feel comfortable in the body I wake up in, unless I wake up from a nightmare, and I am my nightmare. Does that explain it well enough?” I explain shyly, looking from Tony, to Steve, to Bruce, then back to Tony.

“Well enough for right now, thank you” Tony replies, still giving you an odd look. He walks over to the small couch to the right of your bed, and sits down.

“I’m just going to jump right in. Who are you, and why did you save my friend?” Steve asks gruffly, crossing his arms, standing like a soldier.

“We’ve met before, I looked a bit different then, my name is Y/N L/N.” At this Steve actually manages to stand a little straighter, everyone in the room seems to stiffen as well. “You came to see me at my job, but I thought you were Hydra, so I ran. I saved your friend, because I recognized him from Puzzles, and I had been following him in the base, watching him take out Hydra goons. When I saw the red dot on his back, it was just instinct.” I look down at your hands, “I jumped in front of him, I knew it was stupid, I should have just shot the snipper, but I knew if I did... he would be dead by the time I was done.” I hadn’t realized that I was blabbering, I zoned out completely. When my words stop I zone back in and notice that everyone is staring at me with, pity?

“You are L/N, Y/N L/N?” Steve asks in a hushed voice, dropping his hands to his sides, stepping towards me. “Hydra captured you, the day you ran from us at the coffee shop?” he asks earnestly.

“Yes? Why are you acting like you kicked my puppy? I don't even have a puppy.” I joke, trying to lighten the mood.

“Hydra had you for 6 months?” Tony asks, looking defeated.

“No, they only had me for like a couple weeks, remember, they took me from Puzzles, when I met y’all.” I say with a confused smile.

“Yes, that was 6 months ago.” Steve says confused, he recrosses his arms over his chest.

“No, no, no. That was only a couple weeks ago. They... they couldn't have had me for 6 months…. They didn't. I, I remember, I woke up on the floor of a cell, it was only a few weeks.” the more I talk, the louder my voice gets, as if I'm trying to yell it into existence.

“Y/N, I'm so sorry, that was 6 months ago. Hydra has the capability to wipe short term, and long term memory.” Steve stays in a calm voice, trying to calm me down. I barely hear him, my ears ringing, I can feel my heartbeat in my ears. I stare at the wall, not even looking at it.

“Like they did with the Manchurian Candidate?” Tony asks Steve, standing up from the couch, and walking over to him.

“It could be something similar to what they did to Buck. Also he doesn't like it when you call him that, he doesn't understand the reference, and to be honest, neither do I.” Steve and Tony get lost in their own little conversation, not even noticing that they had shattered something in me.

They had me for 6 months. I don't know what they did to me, they could have done anything to me. Lilly must think I died. They could have done anything to me. I’ll never know because I've already shifted out of the scars. Oh gods, they just got away with it again.

“Y/N are you okay?” Natasha asks, knocking me out of my thoughts. She walks closer, and pulls a chair over to the left of the bed. “I know a lot is happening, and you're confused.” her face softens as she says, “but you are safe now, we’re going to find out what they did to you. Just stay with us, ok?”

I nod and look over to Bruce, who is standing by the door. He watches me, when he sees that I'm looking at him now, he gives a reassuring smile, and nods.

“Boys, would you please snap out of your little conversation, and focus on our guest.” Natasha snaps at Steve and Tony. Their conversation abruptly stops, and they refocus on me.

“Thank you Nat, as we were just asking each other, how did you know yesterday that you were natasha?” Steve asks you as he regains his soldier composure.

“She’s the reason I got caught by Hydra. When Steve and the brunet came into my coffee shop, I knew I had to run again, so I shifted into her. I had seen her a week or so before and thought she was cute. When I was running I ran right into a man who recognized her, and he took that moment to attack me, and take me back to Hydra, thinking I was you.” I remember, looking over to Natasha. Her guarded composure falls away at my words, guilt evident on her face.

“Back?” Tony asks his face drops, pity written all over it. Gods I hate pity.

“This isn't my first encounter with the evil octopus. They are my least favorite childhood memory, luckily they made sure I don't remember much.” I say sitting up a little, as if to show them that I don't want or need their pity.

“How did you get out?” Bruce's words are full of worry, confusion, and like the others, pity. This is the first thing he's said since walking in.

“I don't really remember, my powers started to become a problem when I was 10. Then at 12 I ran away, to make my mom's life easier. It was just me and her, I don't know what happened to my dad, or who he was.” you shake your head, to get the memories of you asking your mom who he was, and her screaming at you, out of your head. “I ran for a long time, or at least a long time for a kid. Then one night I fell asleep at a shelter for the night, and I woke up strapped to a table, with needles sticking out of me. They had me for years, they tortured me, physically, mentally, emotionally. I don't know exactly how long they had me for, I just know I was 12 when they got me, and I was 16 when I got out.” tears are falling down my cheeks, dropping onto my hands in my lap. Natasha puts her hand on mine, and squeezes. I look up to her, and see then she has tears in her eyes too, and empathy as if she knew the feeling.

“Y/N… I don't even know what to say… I am so sorry…” Steve manages to say, after clearing his throat. He motions for Tony to sit back down on the couch, and he sits next to him. Tony's face is hard as stone, he looks like he’s ready to behead Hydra himself. Bruce looks defeated, like he aged 5 years in 2 minutes. They all just sort of sit there, staring at each other, the walls, me. They might be more lost than I do right now.

“We're going to find out what happened to you. We are going to help you. You're not Hydra.” Tony states determination and anger in his words. He's not angry at me, but at the world itself.

“Tony, we can't just say that and make it true, sorry Y/N but we need a little more information, and if you are willing, we need to have Wanda talk to you, make sure we can trust you.” Steve says, having finally regained his Captain America composure.

“Who is Wanda, and why would she know if I'm a threat more than any of you?” I'm so tired of not knowing who or what they're talking about.

“Wanda Maximoff, our resident telepath, she’ll look into your head, see if you're hydra, or if they have a trigger in your head, like they did with Big Bad.” Tony says, in a sarcastic tone, with a hint of anger still.

“It's not going to hurt is it?” My eyes dart to Bruce. My voice sounds tired, sad, and defeated even to myself. I have nothing else to give, or to lose.

“No, no, she won't hurt, she might actually make you feel better. She helps me sometimes, helps detangle my brain. I think it would be a good idea.” Bruce says reassuringly, turning Doctor ModeTM back on.

I turn back to Steve “If Bruce thinks it's a good idea, then yes. If she's available right now I would like to get it over with.” My tone comes out all business, imitating Steves.

Steve nods and says “FRIDAY can you please ask Wanda to come to Medical Wing 1.”

“Yes Captain.” FRIDAY says from the ceiling.

“On that note, I think I’ll go play with my new Hydra toys, and give you a little privacy.” Tony tries to joke as he stands from the couch. He walks over to my bed and squeezes my shoulder. “See you later kid, you'll do great.” he whispers and gives you a wink right before leaving.

“Are you okay with me being here Y/N, or do you want me to leave?” Natasha asks you, clearly feeling the need to be helped.

“No! Please stay, you too Bruce.” I blush as you say it, embarrassed at the fact that I actually need someone.

“Ok, I can do that.” Natasha says with a smile, she squeezes my hand again, I hadn't noticed that she was still holding it.

“I’m going to shift, don't freak out, ok?” I ask the whole room. When I get a confused nod from every person in the room, I start to concentrate. Closing my eyes, I see flashes of people, men, women, non-binaries, and children. Basically every face that I have shifted into in the past 5 years. I want something new, someone I haven't been before. The flashes continue, changing to people I haven't shifted into. The images stop at a slim non-binary with short brunette hair, that I met at the coffee shop on my first week. They were so nice to you, and looked 22, my age, or so I'm guessing. They left a huge tip, and came back every weekend for 2 months. I miss them, they were so kind to me, and didn't mind when I gave them a peppermint mocha, instead of the latte they asked for.

My eyes snap open with their image still in my mind. My focus changes to myself, I slowly see myself as them. My body starts to respond, changing from Bruce, shrinking and turning purple, then becoming the image in my mind. I shake my head a little, getting the image out of my head, and give myself a closer look. Slim arms and legs, I'm a lot shorter than Bruce now.

I shyly look up from my arms, to the faces around the room. Steve and Natasha look at me in awe, like The Avenger haven't seen something like me before. Bruce smiles, having seen me shift before during the panic attack the night before.

A moment later there is a soft knock on the door. Steve manages to pry his eyes from me, and close his mouth. He turns and walks to the door, opening it to a cute, small, brunette woman. She walks in, Is she walking, she looks like she's floating.

“Hello, I am Wanda. How are you doing?” she asks in a calm voice. Her accent is odd, like I've heard it before?

“Shouldn't you know how I'm doing, Bruce tells me you're a telepath.” I ask snippily, tired of people treating me like a child.

“I like to ask permission first, instead of just invading someone's thoughts.” she explains politely, her voice effortlessly calm.

“Well what is the plan here, are you going to root around in my head, looking at whatever you want?” Still being snippy.

“Wanda if she lets you, can you look for any signs of being Hydra, or any triggers Hydra might have left?” Steve asks, starting to pace back and forth.

“If she will let me.” Wanda says with a nod. They've definitely done this before

“Anything to make you guys believe that I'm not Hydra.” I say, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Alrighty, sit back, and try to relax, the more relaxed you are, the easier and quicker it will be for you.” Wanda says, floating over to me. She has a sort of red glow to her. I cross my legs to make room on the bed for her, she floats over, and sits cross legged in front of me. She holds out her hands to me, I hesitantly take her hands, and feel a pulse of energy. A faint red glow starts to emanate from me as well. She frowns a little, and I feel the energy surge into me. Suddenly I can feel it in my head, a pushing sensation on my brain. I can feel her presence in my brain, a distinct person, it feels like her. Closing my eyes I try concentrating on her energy.

We both sit there hand in hand, eyes closed, concentrating. Wanda's face hardens, and I'm thrown into the memories of being tortured, being stabbed with needles, being beaten, laying on the ground of my cell crying, too worn out to move. Memories of training, being stabbed, shot, having pieces of flesh being cut off of my body. Scientists jabbing needles in my eyes, fingers, arm, and spine, taking blood samples. Memories of the Fire blood, every single night, screaming and crying myself to sleep.

My eyes snap open, staring right into Wanda's red ones. I realize that both of us are silently crying, and her hands have moved from mine to the sides of my face. The red in her eyes slowly fades, until all I can see is the love and compassion in them. I realize that she has just seen all of the pain I've gone through. She gives me a sad smile, her thumbs move to wipe away my tears. Her hands move away from my face, back to my hands, squeezing them. She turns her head to look at Steve.

“They’re not Hydra, and they would be a very valuable asset to our team. And we can help them.” She says with great determination.

“That's all I need to hear. Y/N, are you okay?” Steve asks, finally dropping the Captain America routine.

“No, but I will be.” I say softly, feeling better now that someone knows what I went through.

“Ok, when you heal enough we will get you situated in the crew quarters. And when you are completely healed we will start your training.” Steve says warmly, trying to make you feel better.

“Alright, I'll look forward to it, how long do you think it will be till I'm healed Bruce?” I ask looking over to him for the first time in a while. He looks so sad, when he looks up to meet my eyes, he puts on a fake smile.

“Usually we would say about 3 to 4 months, but based on your exponentially rapid healing, probably 4 or 5 days.” he guesses.

“Alrighty, keep me updated Bruce,” Steve turns back to you, “and I will come check on you when I can. Until then, rest, relax, and try to heal. Anything you need, just ask, okay?” he says, finally acting more like a person, instead of Captain America.

“Well I havent really eaten in 3 days, can I get some pasta or something, please?” I ask, practically pleading. I hadn't realized I'm this hungry until I thought about pasta, and cake.

“Of course. Dinner is soon, and lucky for you, I am on dinner duty tonight, so I will make you some Sokovian goulash with noodles.” Wanda tells you with a huge smile. “And I’ll have FRIDAY order you some cake.” she whispers to me with a giggle.

“You're a real lifesaver, thank you.” I say squeezing her hands, and absentmindedly fiddling with them.

“Avengers you are needed by Mr. Stark in the conference room.” FRIDAY says from the ceiling.

“Tell Tony we will be right there FRIDAY. We’ll be back soon милий {cutey}” Wanda says, she squeezes my hand again before getting up. Natasha and Wanda stand up, and they both leave with Steve.

“I'll come check on you as soon as I can. I'll send someone to check up on you if I can't.” Bruce says with a smile, then leaves.

All by myself… They were all so nice, except Steve, but he had to be Mr. Captain America Man, not my friend. I wonder what Tony needed them all for?

Tony's POV

I hold the file in my hand, staring at it, not fully believing what it says. The other Avengers slowly file into the room, taking their seats, and waiting for Tony to start the meeting he called.

“Why did you call us here Tony?” Sam asks after everyone takes their seats.

“We just found a file, mixed among all the other ones we took from the hydra base we saved Y/N from.” I say, still staring at the open folder.

“And?” Nat asks, tired of waiting.

“It has Y/N’s name on it, so I opened it, trying to find out more about her.” I say, finally looking up from the folder. “It explains just some of the stuff they did to her, this isn’t even everything they did in one month. In the first month they made her a weapon to rival the Winter Soldier. If this is what they did in one month, what did they do in the other five?”
To be continued

To be continued

Chapter Text

It’s been awhile since I've heard from Wanda or Bruce. I wonder what Tony needed to talk to them all about? Should I go looking for someone?

“Um, FRIDAY is it? Do you know when the avengers will be back?”

“I am FRIDAY, and the Avengers are in a meeting right now. How can I help you?”

“Well, Wanda said something about cake? Is cake at all possible?”

“I will get someone to bring you cake Mrs. L/N” I do a little happy dance, then bounce up and down on the bed gently.

“You can just call me Y/N, also what does FRIDAY stand for, I assume that Tony made it an acronym.” I smirk a little at that.

“FRIDAY stands for Female Replacement Intelligent Digital Assistant Youth Y/N” I can't help but giggle a little at that. Tony thinks he's so smart.

At that moment the door opens, to a blond guy with a bunch of band-aids on him. In his hands is a HUGE piece of chocolate cake. He walks through the door and perches on the chair to my left. He looks at you oddly, cocking his head, back and forth. Then he opens his mouth, and closes it, then opens it again.

“Are you Y/N?” he continues to look at me as if I have horns growing out of my head. It wouldn't be the first time that's happened accidentally.

“Yeah I'm Y/N, who are you, and is that my cake?” I stare at the cake, it looks sooooo good.

“Oh sorry, I’m Clint. I work with the Avengers, and this might be your cake…” he says staring down at your cake with the same look you're giving it.

“Can I have it please, I haven't eaten in 3 day, and if I don't eat soon, I might eat you.” I state, giving him a slight glare. This makes his eyes dart back up at you, trying to see if you're joking about eating him.

“Well maybe I’ll just keep it and eat it myself, I’ve been on a mission for a week, and I haven't had any coffee today.” he counters, wanting the cake as much as you do.

“Well I was captured by Hydra for 6 months, and tortured. I think I earned that cake.” I say defiantly, knowing that the cake is mine now.

“Lame, everyone here has been tortured, or taken captive. Get more creative.” he smiles at me, I cross your arms and think for a moment.

“Ah ha, this is not my first time being captured, I was captured when I was 12 and tortured and experimented on till I was 16, then I lived on the streets, running from Hydra for 5 years!” I say with triumph, thinking this will win me that delicious cake.

“I was beaten by my dad, causing hearing damage, making me mostly deaf, then I got stabbed in both of my ears with my own arrows, causing me to go completely deaf.” he shoots back with as much enthusiasm.

“So much to unpack there, first of all, that sounds horrible, second of all arrows? Thirdly, if you're deaf then how are we talking right now?” I sit up, ready to hear the whole story.

“Ok, it was horrible, arrows because I'm Hawkeye, and I have hearing aids in right now, Tony made them, so they are small, trackable and almost unbreakable.”

“So how many have you broken?” I ask with a small laugh.

He looks down sheepishly, poking the cake with the fork. “11, and I’ve lost 3…”

“Oh my Gods, I thought they had trackers?” I manage to say while laughing, causing my wound to hurt, but it was worth it.

“Yeah well, what can I say, I'm talented.” he says smiling and laughing too. He gets up from the chair, and sits at the foot of your bed, crossing his legs. “I have a proposition.”

“Fine, what is your proposition?” you ask with fake seriousness.

“What if, and hear me out here, what if, we share the cake, and then have FRIDAY order us some pizza? He asks with matching your fake seriousness, and offers his hand out to shake.

I think about it, pulling funny, thinking faces, waiting an appropriate amount of time, then I shoot my arm out, and shake his hand vigorously, smiling at finally getting that cake.

He pulls a second fork out from one of his many pockets, and my jaw drops as I realize, this was his plan all along, and he was just trying to get information from me. I sit there with my mouth open, staring at him, as he sits there offering me the other fork smiling like an idiot.

“You bastard, you were going to share it with me this whole time!” I yell at him, grabbing the fork, and smacking him in the shoulder at the same time. He starts laughing uncontrollably, and rubbing his shoulder where I hit him. He laughs so hard that he almost falls off the small bed.

“Ok, ok I was just trying to get information from you, but you also got information about me, so if you think about it, it all works out, you get info and cake, and so do I.” he finally says after he stops laughing.

“Fine, but you owe me another piece of cake.” I say gruffly, faking hurt feelings, as I stab the cake with my fork, and eat a bite. Oh My Gods it’s heavenly! My face must show what I’m thinking about the cake, because Clint looks at me and bursts out laughing again, his face turning slightly red at the lack of oxygen. “Shut up, and eat you cake Clint.” I say, my mouth full of cake.

“Yes ma’am, don't need to tell me twice.” he says, giving me a mock solute, before digging into the cake. We both sit there for a few minutes, eating cake, then Clint asks “What kind of pizza do you want me to tell FRIDAY to get?”

“I thought Wanda was making dinner tonight?” I ask through a mouth full of cake.

“She was supposed to, but the meeting is going to go late, so she's asking me to get you something to eat, and you look like a pizza person. So what kind of pizza do you want?”

“Why aren't you at the meeting, and I like barbeque chicken pizza, with pineapple on top.”

“Oh my god you're disgusting, I love it. And I'm not at the meeting because I got back from my mission late, and they wanted me to come talk to you, make sure you weren't lonely. They will debrief me later. FRIDAY can you please order 2 large barbeque chicken pizzas, with pineapple, and some drinks to med bay?”

“Your order will be here in 30 minutes Mr. Barton.” FRIDAY announces.

“Thank you FRIDAY, do you know what the meeting is about?” I ask as I eat my last forkful of cake, putting down my fork, and sitting forward and crossing my legs.

“I'm pretty sure it's about some information they got from the HYDRA base they saved you from, it could be about you though.” he says as he puts down his fork too, relaxing a bit.

I sit there, a bit stunned by his brutal honesty. “Do you know what they might do to me?” I ask timidly, half scared of the answer.

“Hey, hey, you’ll be fine, we aren't in the business of torture here,” he sits forward, grabbing your hand to comfort you, he gives you a real look of reassurance. “And even if we were, I know for a fact, them both me, and Wanda wouldn't let anything happen to you.” he gives me a nod of encouragement. “Wanda has been talking to me while we were eating, filling me in on some things, letting me know a little more about you. And I just have to say, congrats.”

I shake my head a bit in confusion, “Congrats? Congrats on what? Getting tortured, almost dying, being captured again!?” I pull my hand out of his, angry and hurt.

“No god, sorry, Nat tells me I have to work on giving context. No, congrats on still being alive, congrats on getting away from HYDRA twice, and still being able to open up, and talk to people, congrats on not letting HYDRA win.” he says with genuine amazement. “You won, you got away, you're alive, and you can still smile, and joke with me. You're still here. So yeah, congrats.”

“Wow, I guess when you put it like that, it does sound kind of amazing.” you say, sitting back on the pillows thinking. “Thanks, I guess, for not letting me get stuck in the negative shit. I thought you were just some funny guy, but apparently I was wrong.” I say, giving him an apologetic smile.

“Hey that's what I like people to think, so that when I pull out some actual wisdom and knowledge, they always get knocked off their feet by how brilliant I am.” he says with fake bravado. “So what do you want to do until the pizza gets here?”

“What is there to do, play rock paper scissors?” you asking mockingly.

“Well there's that, or we could play a game I like to call, Messing with Tonys Head.”

I sit up, excited to be included in the fun. “Ooo, sounds like fun, how does one play?”

“It's very easy, we go to his lab, and move things around so he thinks he's going crazy. I have a hidden camera in the air duct, so I can watch him go crazy when he can't find his favorite screwdriver.”

I start laughing, “I would love to play!”

“Great, are you able to stand and walk around? His lab is on the floor, it's a couple halls over.” he asks with a little concern

“I should be good as long as you get me some pants, and a shirt, I don't want to walk around in this hospital gown.”

“Aww but you would look so cute with your little tushy hanging out the back of it as we walk around the avengers compound.” he mocks you, then gets up and walks to one of the cupboards. “Lucky for you I'm here all the time, so I have some spare pants and a spare shirt. They're going to be big on you though.”

“It's fine, I'll put them on, then shift to fit into them.”

He walks back to you with ripped jeans, and a purple shirt in his hands. “Just to let you know, I didn't buy these pants with rips in them.”

“Jesus, alright, give ‘em here, then turn around or something,” I say, taking the clothes from his hand, and swinging my legs off the bed.

“Of course my liege.” he says with a fake bow, then takes a few steps away, and turns around, facing the door, and covering his eyes with his hands. I lift myself off the bed with ease, and take off the hospital gown, finally getting a good look at the big ugly hole in my stomach, it's red and purple. I shake my head and grab the pants. He was right about them being too big. I then slip on the large purple shirt, with beach stains, and a hole in it.

“Is this a bullet hole in the shoulder?” I ask baffled

“Oh yeah I forgot about that. Yeah it is, don't worry I washed the blood out of it, hence the bleach stains. Those clothes have seen better days.” he says laughing.

“Ok you're good, so where is Tony's lab?” I ask walking up to him, holding the pants up so they don't fall down. The shirt is practically a dress on me.

“I'll show you, but don't you want to “shift” or whatever first?” he asks using his hands to make quotation marks on the word “shift”.

“Yeah, but I figured you'd want to see, it is quite the sight.” I say slyly.

“Ooookay…” he says skeptically.

“Alright, one sec.” I say, then take a step back and close my eyes, picture all the people I have been, and then compare them to Clint's size and height. I pick a man with brown hair, and a slight build, a little shorter than Clint, so I can still have the clothes a little big. I think his name was Danny, he had ordered a blueberry scone, and tipped $5, he had a tattoo of a Percy Jackson quote on his arm. He was about my age, maybe a year older. I then focus on the little details about him, the slight stubble on his face, his hazel eyes, the way his hair was parted to the left side, and the mole next to his left ear. I then feel my body start to change, and feel myself getting taller, my hair shrinking, my body getting wider, and the clothes start to fit better. I open my eyes to see Clint, but instead being at about shoulder height, I am almost his height, only a few inches shorter.

Clint stands there staring at me, looking me up and down, his eyes wide in disbelief. “That was amazing…” he finally says, and gives me a huge smile. “How did you… is your wound still there?” he shoots over to me, and grabs my shirt, and lifts it enough to see that my wound is still there, then he drops my shirt and grabs my shoulders, looking me up and down again, then looks me in the eyes. “Even your eyes are a different color. That's amazing Y/N!” he says with absolute sincerity.

I shrug then look down a little, to hide my slight blush. “I've always been able to do it, ever since I was 10, back then I couldn't control it, and would erratically shift, but I wouldn't shift fully, my mind was always full of people, and faces, so parts of me would be my best friend, other parts were a random person I say on the street, and others were my mom. It was terrifying and painful, but I eventually learned to control it in HYDRA.” I say sheepishly, still looking down.

Clint lifts your chin so we are eye to eye, “That was amazing.” he says with a nod. Then he takes a step back and lets go of your shoulders. “But if we want to make it to Tony's lab before pizza gets here, we should probably go. Are you well enough to walk?” he asks concerned

“Yeah I'm fine, lead the way!” I am excited. Clint nods and motions for me to follow him. Before he opens the door, he puts a finger to his lips, motioning for me to be quiet. I nod and motion zipping my lips closed. He nods back, then opens the door a crack, and sticks his head through, and looks both ways. He sticks his hand out towards me, and motions for me to follow. He leads me out of the room, sticking close to the wall, and comically tip-toeing, trying to make me laugh. He succeeds and I have to stifle it with my hand. He navigates me around a few corners, and down a few halls, until we come to a large hall with 2 doors, one on either side. He points on the one to the left, then motions for me to roll to it. I almost laugh again, but I shake my head, pointing at my stomach. He gives me a quizzical look, then it dawns on him, and he nods. So instead he throws himself down the hall, and rolls towards the door, but he accidentally rolls too far, and hits the door with a slam. This time I can't control my laughter, and I let it out, making it ring out down the halls. I grab my knees to stabilize myself, but I can't stop laughing.

“SSHHHH!” Clint whisper yells, as he tries to get up, and dust himself off, awkwardly.

As soon as I compose myself I whisper yell back, “are you okay? Do we need to go back to the med bay to check your head?” I can't get the words out without laughing.

“Shut up and get over here punk.”

“Alright, but I'm walking, not doing whatever you did.” I say as I walk over to him, still giggling. He finally composes himself and grabs the doorknob, turns it, and pushes it open dramatically. He then waltzes in, and dramatically flops down in the closest chair. I walk in and my eyes widen in amazement at all the technology and obvious knowledge in the room. The room was empty of people, but full of robotics, math equations, tools, tables, equipment, suits in progress, and left over scraps of metal. It was obvious that the people who work in this lab were geniuses, there were different departments in the lab, one had more medical things, like a centrifuge, a mass spectrometer, surgical equipment, and many more things, but I don't know what they’re called. Another one with all the pieces of suits, and tools, and lots of robotic things. And another part with white stuff all over it, and a red suit on the table, the white stuff almost looked like spider webs, but stickier.

“Oh my gods, this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen, and I don't even know what half of this stuff does.” I say, spinning around the room, trying to look at everything at once. I finally stop spinning and look at Clint smiling, he stares back at me smiling just as wide.

He claps and jumps up to his feet. “Alrighty, time to get to work. What do you want to mess with first?” he says walking towards you.

“Oh no, we couldn't, it looks too good, everything is so shiny, and there is obviously a system. I mean look at the math, it's impeccable, i mean sure, it's written on the nice white walls, but it's still amazing.” I'm practically bouncing up and down now.

“Oh come on it's the whole reason we came here, we can just move a couple things around, change a few equations, and take a couple tools.” he says picking up a screwdriver, and throwing it at the wall, the point sticks into the wall, right in the center of a small bullseye that I hadn't noticed before. “Hell yeah!”

“Nooooooo, you're going to ruin it, and then they are going to be mad at me, then, then, they might, they might kick me out, then I would have nowhere to go…” I trail off, looking around scared that someone might come in and yell at us.

“Hey, hey, I told you, we're not going to hurt you, and we are not going to dump you out in the cold. We're going to take care of you” he says reassuringly walking towards you, then when he reaches you, he puts his hands on your shoulders, and forces you to look at him. “Now stop freaking out, and breath. Okay, right now, we are going to take all of Tony's screwdrivers, go back to your room, and eat all the pizza we can. Okay?”

“Okay, thank you Clint.” i say looking up at him and smiling. “So where does he keep his screwdrivers?”

“Just look around man, they are all over this place, but don't take the one from the wall, he hates when I do that.” he laughs at that, “I remembering the first time that I threw a screwdriver in here, Tony looked like he was about to blow a gasket, his face turned bright red, and he screamed at me for hours, what he didn't know, was that I had turned off my hearing aids.” he can't help but laugh at himself.

“Oh no did you get in trouble?” I ask concerned, I look around for screwdrivers, finding 2 under Tony’s desk.

“Oh no, what could they do to me? I'm Hawkeye bitches, they can't do anything to me.” he looks around for screwdrivers also, finding 4 in Tony's coffee cup.

“Okay, I think that's enough screwdrivers for today. We should head back to med bay, pizzas probably waiting.” I say with my hands full of screwdrivers at this point.

“You're probably right, and besides, Wanda is telling me that the meeting is almost over. We should head out quickly so we don't get caught.” he says, he starts walking to the door, but he stops, puts his ear to the door, then turns to you with a panicked look on his face. “They are here” he mouths to you.

“What do we do?” I mouth back, panicked. Clint points to the air duct, and runs to it quietly. I follow suit, as soon as we reach the air duct we hear people talking outside the door. I look at Clint panicked, and he takes out one of the many screwdrivers, and takes off the grate to the air vent. The walls are just wide enough to fit him and me behind him. Clint crawls in the duct, then turns and motions for me to follow him. But I'm frozen, can't move, can't think, too scared. Clint crawls back out and rushes to me.

“I need you to follow me, you need to! You go first, I will be right behind you, but we need to go!” he whispers in my ear, steering me to the open duct. I reluctantly climb in, crawling forward a few paces, then hear Clint crawl in behind me, closing the grate. I feel his hand on my calf, reassuring me, then I move forward. Slowly but surely Clint got me through the ducts, and out, into the med bay.

I crawl out shaking, then collapse to the ground and push myself as far away from the grate as I can. Clint crawls out too, and closes it, then he turns and sees me on the ground, and he comes rushing over to me.

He falls to the ground next to me. “Hey hey, it's okay, we made it out, nobody saw us, and look, pizza is here, and it's still hot. Everything is okay Y/N.” all I can do is stare unblinking at the air duct, stuck in a memory of “training” in HYDRA. “Y/N I need you to breathe with me, okay? In, and out, in, and out. There you go, let the memory go, come back to me. I'm right here with you.” Clint says as he pulls me to him, holding me as I start to blink, and look around, then start to shake, remembering everything that happened.

“I'll be okay, I just don't like closed spaces… thank you for getting me out of there.”

“It's okay, I’m sorry, I sometimes forget that other people are claustrophobic, I love closed spaces, they make me feel safe.” he rocks back and forth slowly while holding you. “Are you okay now, because if it's okay with you, I am starving, and that pizza smells mighty good.”

I laugh a little at his light hearted comment. “Yeah, let's get off the floor, and eat some pizza.” we both slowly get up, and move back to my bed. Clint grabs the pizza boxes, and sits at the end of the bed again, putting the pizzas between us. I sit down and grab a slice, “Oh gods this is even better than the cake!” I exclaim, mouth full of pizza. I finally relax against the pillows, and smile at my pizza.

“Pizza fixes all problems.” Clint says, then motions his pizza towards me, I hit my slice against his “clink”

“Jeez Clint, you're cheesier than this pizza!” I manage to say with pizza in my mouth, while laughing.

“Oh shut up, you love me. I was thinking, and Wanda agrees, that we should show you to your room tomorrow. Get you all set up, ready for training. You're healing much faster than Bruce expected.”

“That would be amazing, I would love to not feel like I was on display every time someone walks into the room.”

“It's settled then, tomorrow morning, after coffee, we’ll show you around, and introduce you to the rest of the team.” he says almost bouncing

“I can't wait.” I say nodding, half scared, half excited. Tomorrow is going to be the start, of what? I have no idea.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 7

Clint and I had stayed awake talking, and eating pizza until about 1 in the morning, laughing and joking together. I don't know when we fell asleep, but I woke up in my med bed, with Clint on the floor. I roll over to look at the time, and the digital clock reads 5am. I roll back to look at Clint and see that he's gone, I quickly look around for any sign of him on the floor. I try to sit up in bed to get a better look, but I can't. Looking down I notice my arms are strapped to a table, when I look back up the room has changed. Instead of the large, clean white room with medical equipment, it's a small, dark metal room with only one light. I crane my neck to look around, trying to get my bearings. Oh gods… I'm back…

“Well hello there 7860, I’m pleased to see you back here.” comes a voice from the darkness. “We have a lot of work to do on you… but firstly, we have a gift for you…” at the last part, a gunshot goes off, echoing throughout the large empty room, causing me to wince. I wait for the pain, but when it never comes I open my eyes, and lock eyes with Clint, holding his stomach, looking at me with so much betrayal it hurts. He falls to his knees, and tears start to fall from my face.

“How could you do this to me? I thought we were friends… Y/N… please!” Clint says, as blood drips from his lips to the floor.

“STOP THIS, HE DID NOTHING TO YOU!!” I scream as I try to wrestle my way out of the restraints, they tear into my skin, but all I can think about is Clint.

“Oh but he did, he gave you hope, and you know better than that by now, you know we are always going to find you, and drag you back here.” the voice says menacingly. The lights in the room turn red.

“Please Y/N help me…” Clint spits out, then starts coughing up more blood, causing blood to splatter on my face. He reaches a hand out to me. “Plea-” Another shot rings out, and a hole appears in Clint's head.

“NOOOOOO!!!” I scream as Clint’s eyes roll back in his head, and his lifeless body falls face first to the floor. I thrash wildly against the table, trying to free myself.

“We will always be with you Y/N!” the voice yells, then a figure comes darting towards me, lunging for my throat, choking me. When I look up, I see Clint's lifeless face, white eyes, and a bullet hole in his forehead. He chokes me, his face full of hatred, and anger, my vision slowly turns black as I go unconscious.

My eyes snap open when I hear a scream. “Y/N you're okay, hey I'm right here! Y/N!” As my eyes adjust I see Clint standing above me in the dark, and I feel his hands on my shoulder. I quickly shove his hand off me and flinch away from him, breathing heavily

“You're okay now, it was just a dream, it's not real…” Clint says tentatively reaching for me again. Was it all really a dream? I relax a little, and he wipes the tears off my face. How long have I been crying?

“I heard a scream... Is everything okay?” I choke out through tears.

“It was you, I fell asleep in the chair, you screamed and woke me up, then I saw that you were stuck in a nightmare, and then when I tried to wake you up you fought me off.” he says, as he gets down and kneels next to the bed. “Are you better now? Do you want to talk about it?”

I take a shaky breath in before saying. “I… I will be okay. Thank you for getting me out… I… they… HYDRA found me. And they took me, they strapped me to a table, they shot you and they didn't let me help, they shot you in the head!” I cry out, finally take a breath. “They killed you… then you killed me… it was all my fault…” I'm sobbing now. My tears run down my face as I curl into a ball Clint looks at me with so much concern that I look to the floor crying harder.

“Move.” My eyes shoot up to search his face in confusion. His mouth is set in a thin line, determined.

“What?” I say blinking through my tears, confused by his stern voice. I wipe my face with my shirt and look back to his unwavering face.

“I said, move over.” he stares back at me unblinking, he gestures for me to scoot. I move over, then get off the bed entirely. He climbs in, and leans back on the pillows, then opens his legs wide.

“Now get in,” he pats the bed in between his legs. “Come lean on my chest.” I give him a quizzical look. He nods firmly at me, so I climb in the bed in front of him. He puts his hands on my shoulders, and pulls me back onto his chest. I sit there awkwardly, not knowing where to put my hands, so they rest in my lap.

“Relax, and breathe with me.” He crosses his arms around my stomach, careful to avoid my injury. I slowly relax against him, and start breathing with him. “Good, now I will be here if you have another nightmare, so you can sleep well, while I battle your nightmares for you.” he rests his chin on the top of my head. My breath becomes more even, as I relax. If only he really could beat my nightmares up.

“Thank you Clint.” I say, then I feel my eyes get heavy, I'm just so warm, that I slowly drift off to sleep. The last thing I feel is Clint's lips on the top of my head, and the warmth of his arms around me.

Time Skip

I wake up slowly to the sound of people talking in hushed tones. I keep my eyes closed, but try to listen closer.

“Clint, we just told you to keep an eye on her, or him.. I guess. Not sleep with him, her?” One of the voices whispers, I think it's Steve.

“They had a nightmare, which caused them to have a panic attack. So I had them lay on my chest and breathe with me. They slept completely fine after that, Steve.” I feel Clint whispers, his chest vibrating against my back.

“Are they okay?” Bruce's whispers, his voice concerned, he sounds closer than the others.

“They’re better now. They are, however, listening to us right now. Come on Y/N time to open your eyes.” Clint stops whispering, and nudges me. I open one of my eyes and see Steve, and Bruce looking at me. I open both of my eyes and sigh. Why couldn't I just stay asleep all day?

“Morning guys. How can I help y'all?” I ask, trying to be chipper to make them forget I was listening in on them. I'm about to sit up, but notice that Clint’s arms tighten slightly around my stomach.

“How are you feeling, any stomach pain?” Bruce asks walking towards me, he comes to a stop at the left of the bed. “Can I see the wound?” he asks, but he's not just asking me, he also glances at Clint as he asks. His eyebrows knit together as he looks at Clint’s arms around me.

“Of course.” I say, then move to pull up my shirt, but Clint's hands linger for a moment, I lightly tap his hands, he finally moves them away from my stomach, but stays on me. I pull up my shirt enough for Bruce to look, he bends down to see, then uses his finger to probe the area lightly, causing me to wince. Clint tenses, as if he's about to jump at Bruce, I can feel his heart quicken behind me. When Bruce is done, he pulls my shirt back down and steps back, he seems more at ease now that he's seen the wound isn't infected.

“Your wound looks much better than yesterday, you should be fine to do some light training today, just be careful not to tear your stitches. I'm going to head downstairs and confer with Tony about some things.” Bruce says to both me and Steve. Steve nods at him, and he leaves the room. Then he motions his head for Clint to move. Clint glares at him for a moment, then moves behind me, and gets off the bed. Did it suddenly get much colder in here?

“Alright Y/N, if you feel ready, then Clint and I can show you to your room, you can get situated, then we can start your training.” Steve says, although he sounds more like Captain America than Steve.

“Ok, quick question, will there be breakfast first?” I ask as my stomach rumbles. When was the last time I ate?

“Right, sorry I was up early this morning, breakfast is in about...” he checks his watch, “4 minutes, so why don’t we show you to the HUB first, then we can show you to your quarters.” He says motioning to the door. I climb off the bed, straighten myself out a little, then look at Clint, he nods at me and motions for me to follow him. He walks out the door that Steve is holding open for him. I follow him out the door and down the corridor. I hear the door close behind me and turn to see Steve following us. He nods at me, and I turn back around to follow Clint. He leads us to the closest elevator, and we go up the 2 floors to the HUB.

“We usually run out of the avengers tower, but the compound was closer, and you were bleeding out. But when you’re well enough, and we get a few things sorted out, we will take you to the tower.” Steve tells me as we go up, He still stands behind me in the elevator, Clint stands right in front of the door with his arms crossed. Aaaaaand, awkward silence... yay...

“Sounds great” I say and give Steve a thumbs up. Yay now it’s more awkward, who gives captain America a thumbs up? “Do all of you live in the tower together?”

“Most of the time, Thor goes back and forth between Asgard, Tony has Stark Industries business with Pepper, and we all have personal days every once and a while.” Steve informs me. He's still using his Captain voice.

“Thor? Y’all live with Thor?” I ask with a slight tone of excitement in my voice. I rock on my heels as we talk.

“Oh good, another Thor fan.” Clint says exasperated, and I can practically feel the eye roll. I reach over and smack his shoulder lightly. He snorts at that.

“No, he’s just… you know?” I make a gesture with my hands vaguely meaning, tall, big, strong.

“Yeah yeah, we all know.” Steve says, chuckling a little and shaking his head.

“Everyone gets a little giddy, the first time they meet him, he has that effect on people.” Clint says, I can still hear the smile in his words.

The elevator dings, and we get out. We walk out into a huge room filled with natural light coming from the ceiling to floor windows. The room is filled with all kinds of things, it's carpeted with a cozy shag carpet. In the far right corner there is a huge kitchen, large enough to fit an army, inside is at least 5 ovens, and every appliance I could think of. In the close left corner is a wall to floor TV projection, with an Zbox, TS4, Swap, and every other gaming console. There are also about 6 giant, 4 people couches, and various chairs, love seats, and beanbag chairs, enough to fit about 35 people. In the far left corner is the biggest round wooden table I have ever seen, it is shaped like a donut, with a hole in the middle. There are benches, chairs, stools, and swivel chairs strewn about the spaces. Inside the donut and outside. There is also a large window bench with pillows and blankets next to the table. In the near right corner there is a bar, stocked with every type of alcohol, with stools, and pool tables, foosball tables, air hockey, and a couple of old arcade games, Pacman, Mrs Pacman, Donkey Kong, and Frogger. These spaces all seem to flow together, yet there are distinct areas, and lots of room to stand, or walk around.

I can feel my knees hit the floor, and I shove my hands into the shag carpet to catch myself. I stare wide eyed at all of the things that I wanted when I was on the streets, and tears fall from my eyes without me realizing it. Steve rushes forward and puts his large hand on my back

“Hey, hey, what's wrong, is it too much, we can go back to med bay if you want?” he quickly says, rubbing my back. Clint spins around, and when he sees me on the ground, he slides over to me and lifts me face by my chin.

“Hey, look at me, everything is alright. What's wrong?” Clint asks while wiping the tears from my face with his thumbs. I finally focus back on reality, I blink and look at him.

“Nothing,” I shake my head, knocking Clint's hands off my face. I take a deep breath, then move to stand up, but Steve puts his hands on my waist, and easily lifts me up so I'm standing. I turn and nod at him as a thanks, he nods back giving me the most real smile I've seen from him since getting here. I turn back, and see Clint looking at me with a puzzled expression.

“I’m fine now, sorry about that, just seeing everything, and all of the things that I wanted when I was a kid, it was all too much, but I'm okay.” I assure him with a small smile. He hesitantly nods.

“Okay, don't scare us like that again.” At this point I’m not even looking at him, I'm staring at the kitchen, and wondering what that amazing smell is.

“Okay, can do. Now, what is that smell?” I ask earnestly, looking around.

“Come on, you need food more than Bruce does after a code green.” Steve says, while walking me over to the kitchen area, staying close to me, in case I collapse again.

We turn the corner into the kitchen, and I see people in there. Natasha was sitting on the counter next to a couple fancy machines, drinking coffee with Wanda. Wanda was at the stove making a huge pan of eggs, she was also using her powers to float milk over to the table. There was a man standing closer to us, over a griddle, flipping pancakes, joking with a man with white hair who was almost vibrating with excitement. The man at the grill laughs at the white hair guy, then tries to playfully hit him, but suddenly the white hair guy is across the kitchen dancing around Wanda like a child. I look over to the left, where the huge table is, and see a red guy in a cardigan setting the table, but he’s floating right through the table. As he sets the table, he’s in a conversation with Bruce and Tony, they seem to be talking about something important, because Tony keeps gesturing at the StarkPad in his hand, then making adjustments on it.

“Hey team, most of you have met them, but for those of you who haven't, I would like to introduce you to Y/N, our newest recruit.” Clint says as he gestures to me, I look around the rooms, and see that everyone is staring at me. My cheeks flush red and I duck my head a little. When I look up again I see that everyone is smiling at me, and Wanda is waving. I smile back and give everyone a little wave.

“Welcome to the team, I’m Sam, the annoying prick with gray hair is Pietro, the floating toaster over there is Vision. Pleasure to meet you, do you like pancakes?” the man in front of the griddle asks, Sam.

“I love pancakes, and it's nice to meet y'all too.” I say giving them all a genuine smile. Pietro suddenly appears right in front of me, with a gust of wind.

“You don't look like much, what brings you here?” he asks with the same accent as Wanda’s, sticking his finger in my face. I glare at him, then smile. I poke his finger with mine, then close my eyes, and see his DNA in my head. I focus on his DNA and change mine to accommodate. I open my eyes again and I’m the same height as him, and his mouth is wide open.

“That is what brings me here.” I say definitely, in the same accent. “Might want to close your mouth, don't want to be catching flies, now do we?” I ask, patting his cheek, then walking around him to the kitchen. I look around and see Sam is also staring at me with a shocked expression, Wanda and Nat are smiling at me, and Vision is looking at me like I'm a new equation. I walk over to Nat, and grab a cup, and fill it with coffee. I turn around and sit on the counter next to her. I look over at Pietro and see he’s still standing there with his mouth open, and his finger in the air. I giggle a little to myself and Nat gives me a proud look.

“Alright, now that that's over, who's hungry, ‘cuz breakfast’s ready.” Sam says as he takes the last pancake of the griddle, and puts it on a plate.

Nat and I get up to walk to the table, as we pass Sam he hands us our plates, when he gives me mine he also gives me a smile and a fist bump. We all make our way over to the table. As Steve passes Pietro he pushes him, causing him to break from his frozen state. Nat sits on one of the stools and motions for me to sit next to her, Tony and Steve sit on opposite sides, Steve next to Nat, Bruce sits in a chair near mine, and Wanda sits between us. Sam sits on the other side of Steve, Clint sits between Sam and Tony, Pietro sits between Bruce and Wanda, and Vision sits between Bruce and Tony. Everyone in a nice circle, I can see that there are a couple of spots empty, probably for Thor, and miscellaneous people.

“Alrighty people, thank you all for your part in breakfast, and for all of your hard work in the past couple of weeks, tracking down Y/N, rescuing him, and all of the intel we have recovered since then. Good work team.” Steve nods to each person around the table as he says this. Wow they seem really close. “Okay, you've waited long enough, dig in.” he says then picks up his fork and starts eating. I look around the table and see the others shoving food in their faces. I look down at my plate, smile to myself, then dig in. Nobody talks for a while, we're too busy eating, then I see a flash, and see that 1 of Wanda's pancakes is missing, I look over at Pietro and see that he has an extra. Wanda's glares at him, and he sticks his tongue out at her, but while he's looking at her, he's not looking at the syrup bottle that is hovering above his head. Wanda pours the syrup over his head with her powers, and he yells. Sam laughs so hard he almost falls off his chair. The whole table laughs at that, except Vision, who just looks puzzled.

Just as Pietro is about to retaliate, Steve throws a bit of egg at him, which he catches. “No fighting at breakfast, come on guys, save it for training.” he says, still laughing a bit. “Okay, when everyone is done we have training at 9, that leaves you about 40 minutes to meet Y/N, and can one of you show him to his room so he can change?”

“Sounds like a plan, I’ve already met him, so I'm going to the lab” Tony says getting up, and putting his napkin on the table. He walks away without another word.

“Alright, I will see everyone, barring Tony and Bruce, down in the training center in 40 minutes.” Steve says with a clap of his hands, then he also stands up to leave, going down the stairs to the right of the elevator.

“Ok, I will show Y/N to their room, see you all downstairs.” Clint says as he pushes the chair back and stands up.

“Not so fast bird boy #2, you have to help with cleaning up, because you were supposed to help make breakfast, but you totally flaked.” Sam accuses Clint while pointing a finger at him. Clint sags his shoulders.

“Oh come on, do I have too, I was helping Y/N!” he defends, but Sam just shakes his head and points at the kitchen. Clint gets up reluctantly and slumps to the kitchen, he looks back at me and gives me a reassuring smile.

“That’s fine, Nat and I can show you to your room, while the boys clean up.” Wanda says bouncing up and down in her seat. I look over to my right and see Nat smiling and nodding at this.

“Alright, if it's not too much trouble for you both, I would love that.” I say enthusiastically.

“It's settled, come on Y/N. Have fun cleaning boys.” Nat says as she gets up and starts walking away from the table, waving behind her at the boys. I get up from the table and wave goodbye to each of the guys, but I also stick my tongue out at Pietro, he sticks his tongue out at me as a response. Wanda walks next to me, and I can literally feel the excitement radiating off of her. Nat holds the elevator door open for us, and presses the button for the floor above us.

“Soooo, what do you think of the avengers so far?” she asks, giving me a sly look.

“Well technically I haven't met you all yet, but so far? So far I’m really liking it here, everyone is very nice, and welcoming. And I loved the look on Pietro's face when I turned into him. Oh speaking of that, one sec.” I hold up one finger, and close my eyes.

The faces of all of the people I've seen flash through my head, I focus on my favorite people to look like. I stop on a woman my age, or at least she was last time I saw her. She had let me stay on her couch for a couple weeks when I was homeless, but then HYDRA started closing in on me again, so I had to run again. She was medium height, lean, and had hair long enough to touch her ass. I focus on the small details about her, her dimples when she smiles, the stretch marks on her hips, the way her brown eyes twinkled when she bakes, and the way her hair floated around like a cape. I feel my body shorten, and widen slightly, and I feel my hair grow. I open my eyes and see that I'm now only a little shorter than Nat, and about the same height as Wanda. I look down and see that my clothes are baggy again, and my deep brown hair flowing around me, I frown slightly at the color. I narrow my eyes at my hair, and it slowly changes from deep brown to a bright purple, and I smile and look up at the girls, to see Nat smiling at me, and Wanda's eyes wide in amazement.

“Better, now what were we talking about?” I ask, then lift my arms to the top of my head, and start french braiding one side of my hair, so I'll have 2 braided pigtails when I'm done.

“Well I was going to ask if that was you who took all of Tony’s screwdrivers with Clint, but now… that was amazing, I didn't know you could just change parts of yourself.” Nat says enthusiastically, as she runs her fingers through a couple strands of my purple hair.

“I can make changes to any person I become, like if I want, I could be taller than you right now, or I could give myself freckles. But it's all based on how I think they would look, I have to visualize it, if I can't see it, I can't do it. Also I'm stuck with only humanoid people, so I can't do, per say, cats, or aliens, I've tried. And oh yeah that was totally me with the screwdrivers, well me and Clint.” I say with a shrug.

I finish braiding the other side of my hair right as the elevator dings. Nat leads us out, and we follow her down one of the halls. Wanda comes up to walk next to me, her steps propelling her forward a little more than they should.

“So you can become anyone? Just by looking at them?” she bounces as she walks.

“I can become what I see of a person, like their height, weight, hair, and face, depending on what I see. Unless I touch them, then I can copy their exact DNA, and be a perfect clone of them, down to the freckle on their left butt cheek. I try to be respectful, and not look at things they wouldn't want me to, or to shift to someone else I've seen naked before taking a shower.” Wanda nods with a thinking expression. We walk down to the very last door at the end of the hall, and Nat stops and turns to me.

“This one is yours, as you can see, all of the rooms have names. So my room is next to yours, and Buckys is across from yours, but he's on a mission right now, and shouldn’t be here until at least tomorrow.” She motions for me to open the door, I step forward and turn the nob.

I walk in and see a cozy medium sized room. The queen sized bed is pushed into the middle of the back wall, the right wall is just a huge window with comfy chairs next to it, and a little desk, the wall with the door has another door near the window. I walk over to it and open it, finding a large bathroom, with a bath, and separate shower, it is all very clean, and neat. I go to turn around, but see another door, which I open, and see a walk-in closet filled with all kinds of clothes, big, small, mens, womens, unisex, all different colors and sizes. My eyes tear up at seeing the thought and effort that went into the clothes choices, there are so many colors. The left wall is all mens, sorted by size, then color, the right wall is womens, sorted the same, and the far wall is unisex. Wanda comes up behind me and raps her arms around my neck from behind.

“We all helped, and we donated a couple of our clothes too, but most of them are brand new, courtesy of Tony. They will be taken back to the Tower with us. And if there is something you want that isn't here, just ask FRIDAY and it will be here by the end of the day.'' She tells me quietly, and hugs me. At this point I'm crying again at the amount of effort they put into making me feel at home. I turn around and wrap my arms around Wanda’s stomach, and cry into her shoulder. She rubs my back, and pets my hair. I pull back and sniff, then wipe my eyes, and smile at her. “You're not alone anymore Y/N” I hear in my head. Wanda's eyes are slightly red, I smile and nod at her.

“Are you guys just about done in the closet, you haven't even seen the coolest part yet!” Nat yells from the other room. Wanda squeezes my shoulder then heads back to the bedroom.

“One second, I just want to change really quickly.” I yell back. I turn to look at the clothes, and see that some of them have different color hangers.

There is a red and black hanger with a red leather jacket and jeans on the women's side, probably Nat. A fully red hanger with a really cute yellow dress on it, and another one with a long sleeve black shirt, and a cute skirt, Wanda. On the men's side there is a purple hanger with a purple ripped up shirt, and more ripped up jeans, Clint. A red and gold hanger with a fancy suit, and another one with a ACDC shirt on it, Tony. And a green hanger with a purple button down, blazer, and slacks, Bruce. Another hanger painted red, yellow, and silver has a button-down shirt and cashmere sweater, probably Vision. Another hanger painted red, white and blue has a white work out, muscle shirt and jean, Cap. A pure silver hanger hangs in the back, with just a red henley. And there are some hangers strewn about with tiny hammers painted on them, that are all Asgardian, in womens, unisex, and mens.

I tear up again at the thought put into all of this, then wipe my face quickly. I walk over to the unisex section, then pull out an orange sleeveless workout shirt, a black sports bra, and black leggings. I quickly pull them on, and grab some cute bright red running shoes.

I walk out of the closet and check myself out in the mirror. Brown eyes, purple braided hair, freckles, lean build, and dimples. I frown slightly, then stare at my eyes, and see them change from the inside out to a bright purple that matches my hair. Much better.

I walk out of the bathroom and see Nat whispering to Wanda, they stop when I come into the room.

“So what is this “best part”?” I ask walking over to the left side of the bed.

“Check it out, FRIDAY please close the window.” The giant window on the right side of the room turns black, causing the whole room to go dark. My eyes slowly struggle to adjust to the sudden darkness. “FRIDAY please project our galaxy.” I can hear the smile in her voice more than see it.

Suddenly the whole room fills with light and colors. Hanging in the air are planets, stars, and asteroid fields. It fills the whole room, slowly spinning, colors flowing all around the stars. I can see each individual planet spinning, each comet, and each individual star. My eyes land on earth, watching it slowly spin next to the tiny moon, watching them dance together. Nat lifts her arm and pinches her fingers, causing the whole thing to zoom out, showing us other galaxies.

“Thor helped us map out all the galaxies, so now we can see all of the different realms. So now at any time, you can look at any realm you want, and zoom in as close as you like, he gave us all the maps, so all the planets are accurate.” Wanda says smiling as she stands inside the sun slowly spinning with it.

“Ready for this, FRIDAY please project Ocean View #38, it's my favorite.” Nat says, excitement clear in her voice.

Space slowly fades from existence, and the room turns black again. But the air slowly starts turning blue, and fish start swimming into view. The floor turns into a coral reef, and I can see all the little fish and critters crawling, and swimming around inside. Suddenly a huge bull shark swims into view, and it lazily swims right over my head. A small pufferfish swims right through Wanda causing her to let out a small squeak.

“This is just one of the many coral reefs that Tony has saved from bleaching. This is live footage right now, he likes to be able to keep an eye on it, make sure it's doing well. There are lots of different things that you can have projected into your room. I like fish after a long mission, it helps me sleep.” Nat says as she goes to pet a tiger shark that swam by her, but her fingers glide right through it.

“This is amazing, I want to spend all day doing this.” I say in awe

“Well sadly we have to head down for training, but you can use it tonight. FRIDAY please open the window, and turn off the hologram.” Wanda says. The window slowly fades from black, and the fish fade from existence. I stand up, and walk towards the door Nat is holding open for us. Wanda follows me, and links arms with me. We all make our way to the elevator again, and Nat presses the ground floor button.

“So it should be me and Steve training with you, the others will do training maneuvers, and focus on working together in the simulator room.” Nat informs me. “Don't worry, we’ll go easy on you, since it's your first time back on your feet since being shot.” The elevator dings and we all step out.

The doors open to show a huge open gym, with weight lifting equipment to the left. There is a huge sparring pit in the center of the room, slightly indented in the floor, padded all around. Sam and Clint are in the middle of the pit, sparring. The outside of the gym is a track, with Steve running around it. Pietro and Vision are training together to the far right, with Vision flying, and Pietro trying to hit him, and failing.

When Steve sees us walking out of the elevator he runs across the room to us. He stops in front of us, then claps his hands super loudly, getting everyone's attention. Everyone stops what they are doing, Clint has Sam pinned between his legs, and Vision is floating mid air, holding Pietro by the wrist, as he hangs in the air.

“Now that you are all here, we can get started. Sam, Clint, Wanda, go train maneuvers with Vis, and Pietro. Nat, Y/N, you're with me in the pit.” he says, jutting his thumb behind him towards the pit.

Wanda gives me an odd look that I can't decipher, then launches herself over to Pietro. Nat, Steve, and I all walk over to the pit, and jump in.

“First things first, basic self defense, Nat and I will demonstrate, then you and I will try it.” Steve says as he gets into a defensive stance.

I watch them circle each other until Steve springs into action, jabbing his right arm to Nat's head, she easily deflects it with the side of her arm. She retaliates by sweeping her leg to trip him, which he easily jumps over. They sparre like this for a few minutes until they are both smiling, and panting a little. Steve finally takes a step back and puts his hand up in a giving up motion.

“So, now that you've watched for a little while, do you feel comfortable sparring with me?” as he asks, Nat stretches and walks out of the pit.

“Sure, just don't get too carried away, okay?” I ask, getting into a natural fighting stance.

“Fare enough, ready?” he asks as we start to circle each other.

“Whenever you are twinkle toes.” I tease.

He lunges out and tries to hit me on the side of the head, I quickly duck, and tap the side of his thigh.

“Nice, didn't see that one coming. Let's step this up.” He goes to kick my legs, I manage to barely jump over, but he expected that, and smacks the side of my head in the air.

“Never leave yourself unprotected when you're within arms length of your opponent. Try again.” I shoot my arm out to hit him in the stomach, but he jumps back, and stays there, forcing me to move towards him. As soon as I move to him, he darts to me, and pushes both my shoulders, causing me to fall on my ass.

“Ooo, that looks like it hurts!” Nat yells from the side of the pit.

“Always make your opponent approach you when you can. My turn.” He reaches his arm out to help me up, I glance at it, and roll backwards, then use my arms to spring up. “Better, never trust the person you're fighting to play fair.”

“Enough chatting. Let's fight.” I say getting frustrated, his commentary is getting annoying.

“Fine, I'm not going easy on you though.” he says getting back into his fighting stance.

“Good.” I deepen my stance ready to spring into action.

Steve tries to kick me in the side, I side step it, then shift my weight back towards him, trying to hit him in the ribs. He hits my arm with his knee, causing me to yell out. I step back, and as I do, he steps forward and turns, throwing his elbow out, aiming for my temple, I yelp and duck just in time. We both take a breath and get back into position. Steve throws a real punch at my face, I duck under it, and in the process, I use my weight to hit him in the legs, knocking him over. His head smacks into the ground on his side. As he gets back up his right leg shoots out, kicking my knee. I lose my balance and start to fall. Steve spins all the way around to the right, and uses his weight to slam me the rest of the way to the ground by my neck. He throws his knee around me, sitting on top of me with his large hand around my throat, and he brings his left arm to his ear, ready to punch me.

I blink, and I am strapped to a metal table with Mr. British sitting on top of me, choking me out. He has a knife in his other hand, hovering above my face, my blood dripping off of it.

“No one will ever love you!!” He yells into my face, then he brings the knife closer, drawing a line from my cheek bone to my jaw. The pain slowly follows the line, and I feel blood roll down my cheek.

“No one will ever see you as anything more than the monster you are!!” He screams, then brings the knife back up, and as my vision goes black from lack of oxygen, I see him plunge the knife into my shoulder, and I hear myself scream.

I get brought back into reality by another scream,this one from Wanda as she falls from the air where she was training with Vision, clutching her head. The scream triggers my instincts, and my eyes dart to Steve, he looks down at me in concern, his arm loosens its grip on me. My left arm shoots to Steve's neck, as my right one shoots to the arm that is holding me down. I grab his elbow, lock his arm, then I use my momentum to flip him over, so I'm straddling him, pinning him to the floor by his neck, his arm between my neck and shoulder. Then I push his locked arm to the right, forcing him to turn on his left side. I lift both of my feet to his hip, then I let go of him and flip off backwards. Mid air I shift into myself, a lean, purple body with long black hair. I land, and go into a fighting stance, eyes wild, teeth bared, ready for anything. To me all of this was in slow motion, but if anybody asked Nat, she would say, the whole interaction happened in 3 seconds.

Steve flips up, sees me looking like a wild animal, and puts his hands up in front of him, trying to calm me down. My eyes dart around, but I don't see Wanda appear behind me. She puts her hand on the back of my head, and my eyes roll back into my head, and I fall to the ground, unconscious. Everyone stops what they are doing, and stares at me. Clint runs over and drops down next to me.

“What did you do Wanda?!?” Clint tries not to yell, he fails though. He looks down on my purple body, and lifts my head to his lap.

“I was in her head, she wasn't herself, if anyone approached her, she would have done her best to kill them, she was already planning out how to kill Steve. It was very graphic.” After she said this, she sways, and almost falls. But Pietro speeds up next to her, and steadies her.

Steve walks over, and crouches down, Nat walks up next to him, and puts her hand on his shoulder.

“Are you okay Steve, that was a lot.” she asks, concerned. The meaning behind her words was clear, was he okay, physically, and mentally.

“I’m fine, she didn't hurt me. I just scared her, we went too hard, and I think I freaked her out. Is she okay Wanda?” He looks over at Wanda and sees her leaning on Pietro. “Are you okay Wanda?” His concerned voice starts to sound more like Captain America than Steve.

“They're not okay, they had a flashback, from HYDRA. You choking them triggered their PTSD. They relapsed back into who they were in HYDRA, which is why they are purple right now. Y/N needs some time, I can relax them, and make them focus on the present, which is what I’m trying to do now, but they’re fighting me. Y/N is stuck in the memories of HYDRA. I'm mostly fine, they overwhelmed me, they’re practically broadcasting their pain, how can you guys not feel it?” tears leak from Wanda's eyes without her noticing.

Clint starts to pet my hair, then looks at Wanda, concern taking over his whole face. “So can you help Wan? They don't deserve this, they've already been through so much.”

“They’re starting to relax, I’ll keep them asleep for now, so they can't hurt anyone else or themself. I’ll stay with them tonight, keep them calm, and help them focus.” she says still struggling to keep herself standing. Her eyes are almost completely red with the effort.

“Alright, Vision, can you carry her to her room please, the rest of you, conference room, FRIDAY please tell the others to be there as well..” Steve says, slipping into his Captain America voice.

“I’ve got it.” Clint states, then gets up, and lifts me up bridal style. “I’ll meet you guys there after I get them and Wanda settled in their room. Are you good to walk Wanda?”

“Yeah I'm fine Clint, I’ll get the elevator.” She goes to walk without Pietro, and she does fine until I wince in my sleep, then she almost falls again, and cries out.

“You're not fine, come lean on me, I can catch you if you fall, okay?” he says walking over to her.

“Thank you, could you bring me some tea after the meeting Vis?” she asks while standing up straight again. She wraps her hand around his elbow, and puts her weight on him.

“Of course Wanda.” Vision says kindly, he moves to follow her, but then turns and heads to the conference room.

Clint and Wanda walk away with me, towards the elevator.

*Steve's POV*

*In the Conference Room.*

“She is an excellent fighter, even with her bullet wound, she took me to the ground in seconds, twice. And the way she flipped me and jumped off my hip, I've only seen one person do that, and I've only seen him do it in HYDRA’s secure files.” Steve says while pacing back and forth in front of everyone.

“When he gets back we need to have him talk to her, and we need to ask him if he recognises her, or if the person who trained him might have trained her.” Tony says, looking at the Stark-Pad. “His report says he should be back tomorrow, we'll ask him then. Until then we need to discuss what we do if that ever happens again, I hate to say this, but she’s dangerous.”

Clint looks up from the table at that. “They are dangerous, but not on purpose, they’re not the only dangerous one here. Every person in this room has been dangerous at one point or another, either to ourselves, those around us, or both.” Clint says, looking at everyone. Sam and Bruce nod along with him.

“He's right, I'm sorry to say this, but everyone in this room has killed someone, and so far as we know, she hasn't, she's only hurt Steve, and besides, I’m pretty sure that Steve is a big boy, he can handle it.” Nat says smirking.

“Fine, fair enough. But if it happens again we need to have a serious talk, alright?” Tony looks around the room and nods at everyone. “We need to watch her, make sure she has this under control. And if not, you all know the options.”

Everyone looks around the room at each other with a grave expression

“But let's hope it doesn't come to that, alright? In the meantime, Bruce, you're on dinner duty tonight. Tony, keep an eye on Buck please. And Vis, I'm pretty sure that you promised Wan one of your famous cups of tea. Everybody else, take the night off. And break." Steve says and looks across the table at Nat, her face a wash of emotions.

Chapter Text

I wake slowly to a throbbing headache, but a calm feeling. My eyelids are too heavy to lift, and I can't feel any part of my body, but somehow I know that there is someone in the room with me. My instincts tell me to move, to react in some way, but my whole body is numb, and I can feel a presence in my mind keeping me still, pushing me back into the deep ocean of sleep.

I slowly regain consciousness again, this time I can feel my arms and legs, but it feels like there is an elephant sitting on my chest, and someone twisting a knife in my stomach. My eyes slowly open and everything is blurry. As things slowly start to come into focus I notice that I'm in my room, in my bed, and that someone is in the chair next to me. My eyes finally adjust and I can recognize the red headed blob curled up in the chair next to me as Wanda, asleep. My eyes scan the rest of my room, and I notice there is someone else in my room, sitting in the dark corner next to the window. There are no lights on and it looks like it's the middle of the night so I can't make out who it is.

The door abruptly opens, and Bruce walks in looking at the StarkPad in his hand, not noticing that I’m awake. He walks over to the side of my bed, and finally looks at me and gasps when he sees I'm awake.

“Y/N, you're awake! When did you regain consciousness?” He asks rushing towards me and he grabs my wrist, taking my pulse while staring at me unblinking.

“I…” I croak out, then cough realizing how dry my throat is. Bruce lets go of my wrist and moves to the bathroom, passing the body in the chair in the corner, waking them from their deep sleep, causing them to jolt in their seat, and sit up straight. Bruce comes back with a glass of water and hands it to me.

“Drink, you've been asleep for a while, you've got to be thirsty.” he says, holding the glass to my lips for me. I try to lift my arm to take it from him, but my arms are too weak, and Bruce ends up laying my arm back on the bed. The figure in the corner stands, and moves toward Wanda, and into the light. It's the attractive man from the cafe, the man I saved, the man that saved me, the man with the metal arm. He reaches Wanda and gently squeezes her shoulder a couple times, waking her up.

“Feeling better now?” Bruce asks me, drawing my attention away from the man with the metal arm. Bruce picks up my arm again and feels for my pulse.

“Yeah, thanks doc. How did I get here, and what happened, ‘cause I'm getting pretty tired of waking up like this.” I croak out, my voice still pretty dry. I hear a chuckle from the corner, and glance over to see the man smirking at me. Why is he here?

Wanda stretches for a moment, stands from her chair, then walks to the other side of the bed than Bruce. “You're here because you attacked Steve during training, and you were out of control.” she takes hold of my other hand as she says this, her voice soft, and calming.

“Oh my gods, did I hurt him? How did I get here? Did I hurt anyone? What happened?” all the words tumble out of my mouth before I can stop them. Wanda squeezes my hand, and I can feel her using her powers to calm me.

“You didn't hurt anyone, Steve is a big boy. I stopped you before you could do any damage, I put you to sleep, and Clint carried you up here. I've been keeping you asleep since then, until you were ready to wake up.” Wanda says, as she sits on the edge of the bed, and moves the hair out of my face. By this time Bruce had let go of my wrist and started typing on his StarkPad again.

“Thank you Wanda for stopping me, I don't think I could live with myself if I hurt any of you” Tears well up in my eyes just thinking about it. Wanda squeezes my hand again, and my tears roll down my face and onto my shirt. Looking down I realize I'm wearing one of Clint's ripped purple Hawkeye shirts, and random sweatpants. I also realize that I'm purple, I gasp and pull my hand out of Wanda’s. Wanda frowns slightly, “You aren't going to hurt me, I don't care how you look.” she projects into my mind.

Bruce looks up from his StarkPad, hearing my distress. His brows furrow, and he looks back at the Pad, then back at me. He steps closer to me, and puts his hand on mine, causing me to flinch.

“I have to go update Steve, but I'll be back to check on you, alright?” I nod to him, the lump in my throat swallowing my words. He nods back and lets go of my hands, then slowly turns to leave, before he reaches the door, he looks back at me, then opens the door and walks out.

“I should go get us some food now that you're awake.” Wanda says, but her voice hides something, like she's keeping something from me. “I'll heat up some of the leftover lasagna Bruce made last night.” she says. What are you hiding Wanda? “Nothing, I'm just hungry, I'll be right back with food.” she tells me, trying to stop herself from smiling.

Wanda gets up from the bed, and follows Bruce out. Leaving me alone with the mysterious silent man who saved my life. He hasn't moved since waking up Wanda, but now he moves closer, and finally sits at the foot of the bed, in the light, so I can finally see his face. He really is pretty, why is he looking at me like that though?

“I'm glad to see you’re better than last time I saw you.” His smooth voice washes over me. “I'm sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up the first time, I had to track down a lead from the facility we found you at.”

I don’t know what to say to that, so I just nod at him. He smirks at me

“Do you have any questions you’d like to ask me? I’m an open book.” He says as his metal hand starts fiddling with the blanket under him.

“Did you find anything on your mission? How long have I been asleep? Are they going to kick me out for hurting Steve? Why do you have a metal arm? Why did you come to find me in the first place? Why did Wanda leave so abruptly?” I take a deep breath and cross my arms in front of me. “Take your pick.” I say bluntly, getting annoyed for some reason.

“Wow ok, let’s take that one at a time. I did find more information about you and Hydra on my mission, Steve will fill you in on that later. You’ve been asleep for about 2 days, Wanda had to keep you under for a while.” He takes a deep breath in before continuing. “To the best of my knowledge they’re not kicking you out. Wanda left because I asked her to, so I could talk to you. How’s that?” He says his smirk never leaves his face.

“Alright, thank you. Why did you ask Wanda to leave?” I ask, my defenses going up slightly. I stiffen and start planning my escape plan.

He puts his hand up in a defensive way. “I’m not going to hurt you, I wanted to thank you, for saving me, for taking that bullet for me. You didn’t have to, you didn’t know me, and yet, you jumped in front of a bullet for me.” At the end of his sentence he puts his hand on my leg over the blanket and squeezes slightly.

I relax and uncross my arms, suddenly realizing how stupid I am for planning my escape from the FREAKING AVENGERS COMPOUND. Tears start leaking out of my eyes, and suddenly I’m filled with shame. All they’ve done is try to help me, and I still think they are going to hurt me. The man scoots forward on the bed and he softly picks up my hand with his non metal hand.

“My name is Bucky, thank you for saving me. You’re safe now, nobody here is going to hurt you. Hydra can’t get to you here. Trust me, I know, they’ve been trying to get me for years.” He says slowly, while squeezing my hand, and stroking my knuckles with his thumb.

At this point I’m sobbing, for no reason other than relief, feeling like I can finally relax and breathe. These people can see me, they don’t fear me, and they want to help me and keep me safe. Bucky looks at my shaking frame and nods to himself like he made a decision.

Wanda walks back into the room, with a plate of steaming lasagna, and walks up to me, sets the plate on my lap, kisses the top of my head, and sits in the chair next to me. As she kisses me on the head I feel a wave of comfort flowing over me, drying up my tears. I look at my hands, my purple hands, and see them glowing faintly red for a moment.

“Eat up doll, you need the strength.” Buck says, nudging my knee. I look up at his soft face, and smile for the first time in days. I pick up the plate in my lap and dig into the food.

Time skip.

I stay in bed for the rest of the day, Wanda and Bucky both keep me company, making me laugh. Wanda leaves for the night to get a proper night's sleep, but Bucky takes the chair next to me and scoots a bit closer so he could talk to me. He and I talk for a couple hours before I fall asleep awkwardly leaning on his metal arm. As I’m drifting off I can hear Bucky saying something to Friday, and she responds in a hushed tone, and suddenly everything is black.

I open my eyes, and everything is blurry, I blink and things start to come into focus, and everything is still dark, it must be night. I look over and vaguely see a man’s shape in the chair next to me. I go to rub my eyes, but my arms won't move. I look down and I’m strapped to a metal table, my eyes jolt back up, and I’m in Hydra. The room is small, dimly lit, and made out of rusty metal. A door is directly in front of me, and there is a hunched figure in a chair next to me. I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart, this isn’t real.

“Of course it’s not real 7860, if it was you would be dead on the floor.” A cold voice from the ceiling calls out. “But while you're here we might as well show you your future.”

A few moments go by, and then the room is filled with screams, mine, Clint’s, Wanda’s, and Bruce’s.

“Y/N Y/N PLEASE HELP Y/N!!!!” Clint’s voice rings through the room.

“Y/N WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US!!! ALL WE DID WAS HELP YOU!!!!” Wanda screams out in pain.

“PLEASE Y/N LET US HELP YOU!” Bruce cries out, it sounds like he’s crying.

I take another breath, this isn’t real, they are fine. The figure in the chair next to me starts moving, slowly rising from the chair. Bucky.

“Meet your real friend, The Winter Soldier. He helped us get you back here.” The voice from the ceiling cuts through the screaming. “Now he will continue your training. Longing, rusted, seventeen, daybreak, furnace, nine, benign, homecoming, one, freight car.”

Bucky starts twitching, then he clutches his head and starts screaming like a dying animal.

“Bucky, Bucky please stay with me, they can’t hurt you anymore, Bucky please don’t let them do this!” I cry out, thrashing on the bed now, trying to reach out to him. “Please Bucky stay with me!”

The screams die in his throat and he goes perfectly still, then stands up ramrod straight. “Ready to comply.” He belts out, his face devoid of emotion.

Tears are streaming down my face, “Bucky please fight it, they can’t win, don’t let them do this to us, please Bucky!” I am able to tear the restraints on one of my hands, I reach over and grab his metal arm. “Buck please stay with me.” I whisper to him.

“You may begin your training, Soldier.” The voice from the ceiling commands, then cuts out.

Bucky springs into action, jumping onto the bed, on top of me. His metal arm darts out and grabs my throat, crushing my windpipe.

“Please… ple…” I manage to squeak out. My free hand grabs his on my throat, I try to rip it off, but only manage to crush part of the metal. Everything starts to get dark, Bucky’s face being the last thing I see.

“Y/N, wake up, you’re dreaming!” A deep voice yells out, “Y/N please you’re hurting me!”

My eyes dart open and I gasp a rasping breath. My eyes shoot around the room taking in my surroundings, I see I’m in my room, leaning on Bucky's metal arm, and he’s yelling at me, his face contorted in pain.

“Y/N! Look down!” He yelps, and as soon as I do I see what he’s yelling about, I’m crushing some of the metal plates in his hand from squeezing it so tight.

“Oh gods!” I release his hand and shoot off the other side of the bed, landing on all fours on the floor.

“Jesus Y/N! Are you alright?” Buckys jumps up from the chair and runs around to the other side of the bed. He sees me crumpled on the floor in a heap staring at my purple hands.

“Where am I…” I rasp out, my throat still raw from his imaginary hand wrapped around it.

He takes a slow step towards me, and my eyes dart up from my hands and catch his. Tears are streaming down my face and he rushes to me and pulls me up from the floor while wrapping me in his large arms.

“You are safe, you are with me, you are in the Avengers compound, and you are as far from HYDRA as you could be.” As he says all of this he sways gently back and forth, and pets my hair, gently holding my head to his broad chest. My breath slowly starts to normalize as I clutch his henley for support. He smells earthy, like dirt after rain, and the faint smell of metal and gunpowder. His chest warms my face, or maybe it's just the fact that I’m burying my face in a man I've only talked to for less than 24 hours, but whose life I've saved, and who has saved mine.

“I’ve got you doll, you can forget the nightmare, it's over, and you're here now. I've got you…” with the last words he presses his lips onto the top of your head and his grip tightens. I take another deep breath of him, and my hands relax a bit. His lips leave my hair and he gently touches my shoulders and pushes me back slightly so he can look at my face. His deep blue eyes find mine and we stay like that for a moment before he says.

“You will always be safe with us, with me. I know part of what you've been through, I've been through it too, and there is a lot I don't remember, a lot I don't want to remember, but what kept me going was the knowledge that someone I loved was with me through it all. Steve was my anchor in everything that happened. And we are going to get you through this, me, Wan, Clint, Bruce, all of us. We have you.” Hot tears are dripping down my face again at his words. How can I have so many people who care so deeply about me in so little time. I don't even know them, they have no idea what I've done, and yet they care so hard.

Bucky turns us around and sits me down on the bed, and kneels down in front of me, looking me up and down for injury.

“Are you alright? Physically, I can guess how you're doing mentally,” he says with a small chuckle. “Did you hit anything, or tear your stitches?” I mentally check over myself, and notice that I am feeling pretty good, except I can still feel cold thick fingers around my neck. I glance down at Bucky’s metal hand, which is resting on my knee. A few of the plates are crushed in places, and there are evident finger indents in them. My face warms again and I look away in shame.

Bucky notices me looking at his hand and he gently squeezes my thigh to get my attention. “Hey Y/N, it takes a lot to break titanium, or to hurt my feelin’s. I’m alright, you didn't hurt me much, see I can't say you didn't hurt me at all, ‘cause then I would be lying heh” he chuckles slightly to try and lighten the mood.

I look back to him, seeing him smirk again calms me. “I’m sorry Bucky, I didn't mean to…”

“Well of course you didn't mean to, if you did then you'd really hurt my feelings.” He laughed again, making me smile at him for the first time since waking up. “Do you wanna talk about it? Or just sit in silence? Or we could go for a walk outside in the cold air?”

I take a deep breath before sitting back in the bed and patting the space in front of me for him to sit in. He gets up from the floor and gently climbs onto the large bed, and sits cross legged in the middle as I lean on the headboard for support, my legs curled into my chest. He looks at me expectantly, waiting for me to make the first move.

“I woke up, next to you, and then I went to move, but I was strapped to a bed, in Hydra, and Clint and Wanda and Bruce were screaming for me to save them. I knew it wasn't real, but still it got under my skin. Then Mr. British started talking to you, and activating…” I look down at my hands, “activating the Winter Soldier. And then he ordered you to kill me.” I look back up at him, the hurt evident on his face. I take a deep breath and continue. “You put your metal hand on my throat and tried to strangle me, that's why I was crushing your hand, I was trying to pull it off my throat. I’m sorry…” My hands start to play with the hem of Clints shirt.

Bucky closes his eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath. When he opens his eyes again he looks angry, a deep blue flame erupting behind his gaze, but he isn't looking at me, not directly, it's like he's looking just past me. He closes his eyes again, takes another deep breath, and when he opens them again, instead of a deep blue flame, it's more of an icy blue storm.

“You have no reason to be sorry, it was just a dream, unfortunately we can't control our dreams, and I would be lying if I said I didn't have nightmares at least once a night. It's what HYDRA does best, scar people mentally and physically.” On the last part his right hand comes up to rub his left shoulder, where the skin meets the metal, as though it aches just to mention it.

I look over to the window, the blinds are closed, but I can see a bit of orange light coming through the slats, the sun is coming up. I push myself out of the bed and move to the window, grabbing the string and pulling up the shades so I can see the morning light. I can hear a faint noise coming from behind me, Bucky getting up off the bed, almost silently. He comes to stand next to me, then suddenly grabs my shoulder and squeezes me into his chest. He presses his lips to my hair again in a quick peck.

“Alright kid, it's a new day, you need a shower, ‘cause you are gettin ripe. And I need some food after a night like tonight” He squeezes my shoulder with a laugh, “So you go hop in the shower, and I'm going to go see if any of the others are up, so we can make some waffles.” he squeezes my body again quickly, then when he doesn't get a response from me he grabs both of my shoulders and steers me to the shower.

“Fine, fine, alright let go. I think I can do this by myself, get off.” I say swatting away his hands and giggling. “Go make me waffles, I am so hungry I could eat you.” I laugh a bit more and look up at him, and his cheeks are slightly pink.

“Is that a promise doll?” His face breaks out into a smirk, his eyebrow quirked up in a fake question.

My eyes widen at the implication and I smack his shoulder “BUCKY!! I… You… GET OUT!!” I manage to spit out then push him out of the bathroom by his chest. He laughs the whole way out, and I can still hear him even after I slam the door shut. “SHUT UP!!” I yell out my whole face turning red.

“Yes Ma’am, thank you Ma’am!” He yells back as he walks out of my room, and I hear the door shut behind him. I take a deep breath and look at myself in the mirror for the first time. I look tired, and purple, and yet somehow more alive than I have been in a long while. I smile to myself and turn on the shower as hot as it can go.