Not That Lucky

#03: Sparkly Blue Pants and The Will to Live

"I let my body learn,

I let my body learn

to enjoy the flames." -Unknown

__________

When I came to everything was blurry. Fuzzy. I felt nauseous and my head was literally throbbing with pain. A small gasp left my lips when I went to move. Oh boy, did I hurt. I shakily lifted a hand to my head above my ear where the pain was the worst. The skin was torn, and my skull had to be cracked. I couldn't feel the fracture, but something wasn't right. My hand went to my ear where dried blood was pasted against my face from the canal. Fuck, definitely fractured.

"Good morning, Kroshka." A cheery voice called out and I flinched.

Focus, focus, focus.

You weren't out of this yet.

I forced myself to sit up and look around. Through the blur I could tell I was in a small room. Some kind of office with red carpet and dark furniture. Two men stood over by the desk with a third seated behind it. He was talking. He had been talking. How had I missed that? I sucked in a sharp breath and tried to hone in on what was happening.

"Pathetic." Now that voice I recognized.

"Hey Boss." I called out with a pained laugh. I rubbed at my eyes and slowly the world was starting to come into focus. The two men standing by the desk were the ones who literally kidnapped me, and the guy sitting behind the desk was bald with a thick beard and wore an expensive suit. In front of the bald man, he had turned his laptop around, and I could see Boss' weasel like face in the screen.

The men marched toward me and scooped me up to set me in a plush single seat chair. I glanced at the one who I had known hit me over the head with something hard, "I don't wanna hurt your feelings because I'm sure you consider yourself a professional, but usually cracking the skull of your fighter before they fight is a bad move."

"Shut your mouth, pet." Boss snapped and I lazily looked back over to him. He was pissed about something, but he was always pissed about something. "So, is it true?"

A wave of nausea rolled over me, courtesy of the concussion, and I forced myself to shrug, "Is what true? Gotta be a little more specific than that, man."

"Have you been talking with two secret agents from SHIELD!?"

Oh, shit. This was bad. I would be worried about my face giving me away, but since I was just sitting here with a pained look of 'trying not to black out again' I figured I was fine. Quickly, I shook my head then stopped with regret, "Have I?" I glanced at the one of the Russians standing next to me with a shrug. "I mean, how am I supposed to know? Secret agents and all."

The guy backhanded me, and I saw stars. If my brain wasn't already bleeding, I had a strong feeling it was about to start. I gasped, desperately trying to suck air in, and block out the waves of pain that washed over me.

"It's true then. You're working for the Avengers."

I let out a laugh that sounded more like a groan, "Working with is a stretch. They aren't even paying me. Actually—" I motioned to the laptop. "You're not paying me either. God, I made some poor choices in my life."

"Yes, you have and your last one was choosing to side with them."

"Well, Iron Man did buy me this cool jacket—"