The Winter Wraith

Chapter 16

Fifteen minutes later, Steve came back for Adina. She was ready and dressed in black jeans and a navy crew neck. She was also prepared to memorize the layout of the compound.

"The floor your room is on also has the bedrooms of Natasha, Wanda, and a few extra ones. My floor is the one above yours," Steve said as the pair strolled down the extensive hallway.

"You'll get to meet the others soon," he added.

Adina nodded, but she couldn't care less about meeting the others. She just wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. Although, it would be good to know what obstacles she may have to face on her escape.

He led her to another hallway that branched off to the right. There were a few more doors here, but he didn't take her inside any. Eventually, the pair bypassed an elevator to take a long flight of stairs up to another level.

"This floor has the training area, which has a gym, pool, an area for sparring, and more. Tony really went all out with the design," Steve said, slightly shaking his head, as he pushed open a double set of doors to the large training room.

It was enormous and stocked with all kinds of equipment. In the middle of the expansive room, there were gray mats occupied by a pair of sparring individuals.

The woman with red hair suddenly maneuvered herself into a different position and swung her legs around the brunette man's neck. Using her momentum and body weight, she pulled him down to the ground, landing on the mat with a soft thud. Finishing the takedown, she pinned the man to the mat, further showing she had beat him.

"Dude, she took you down in under a minute. Were you even trying?" the man, who had been standing to the side and spectating, teased.

"Shut up, Sam," Bucky said in a monotone voice.

"He's right, Barnes. You've been off this whole session. Let's take a break for now," the red-head said, going off to the side to grab a water bottle sitting near the edge of the mats, while finally giving a bit of her attention to the two newcomers.

"Hey, Steve," she called out, causing Bucky to notice the pair standing by the entry.

"This is Natasha Romanoff. You already know Bucky, of course, and the man over there is Sam Wilson," Steve said, introducing all the people in the room.

Adina nodded in reply. Sam was the man with the carbon fiber wings that she had shot, and his arm was currently in a sling. She considered apologizing for injuring him, but then decided against it. She did what she had to escape, and she would do it again in a heartbeat if it meant she would have that elusive thing called freedom.

The pair departed from the gym, letting the others get back to their training. Steve continued showing Adina around the compound. She couldn't help but think he was either incredibly trusting or just plain dumb. Who would agreeingly show their prisoner who has hurt them the layout of the building? Either way, she wasn't going to complain. He was just making this whole thing easier on her part.

A few hours later, the tour was almost finished, though he skipped some parts of the compound without really explaining why. Adina had three, maybe four, possible routes of escape that she would take when the moment presented itself. After too many long hours of walking around this ridiculously oversized compound, she was also bored and hungry, as no one gave her breakfast and it was past lunchtime and Steve thought it was a good idea to tell her every single little thing about the rooms.

"This one has a laundry chute! Isn't that neat?" Adina mockingly thought in her head using a distorted high pitched version of Steve's voice, remembering his silly happiness over a laundry chute. She had to admit, it did seem kind of cool, but come on, this guy was a middle aged man, or he at least looked like one.

She guessed that some of his excitement was exaggerated to make up for her very obvious lack of engagement. She could tell he was getting slightly frustrated that she refused to carry a conversation or act excited about a neat laundry chute.

That's also probably why Steve dropped her off at the main kitchen that flowed into the dining room area. As soon as he saw Clint and Bucky hanging out there, he told them they were now in charge of the girl and then quickly left before anyone could object.

Thus, this is how Adina found herself perched on one of the tall stools behind the marble island in the fancy kitchen as Clint attempted to get some food in her deprived system.

"You don't like PB&J?" Clint asked in a disbelieving voice.

"No," Adina shortly replied.

"Corn dogs?"

"No."

"Grilled cheese?"

"Not really..."

Clint racked his brain for what she could possibly like that they had in the pantry as Bucky left the room, not wanting to deal with the picky girl.

"Macaroni and cheese?" he asked in a last ditch effort.

"Mac n' cheese is delicious," Adina replied, completely serious, with the longest reply she had ever spoken to him.

"Well, that settles it. Mac n' cheese for everyone's lunch," Clint said with a grand gesture, happy the teen finally settled on something.

He did not expect someone from Hydra to be so picky about what food they want, as Bucky did not care whatever he had eaten when he first began his stay at the compound. But, Clint would do anything to help make the closed-off girl feel at home and comfortable, even if it meant going through a long list of perfectly fine food to get her to eat.

Clint opened a cupboard and got out a couple of large pots, setting them on the stove after filling them halfway with water. He turned the knobs on the stove, eliciting a clicking sound to occur before two small flames quietly whooshed to life underneath the two metallic pots.

He opened the door to the walk-in pantry and scoured the disorganized mess for some boxes of macaroni and cheese. After a minute of searching, he found the dark blue boxes displaying a picture of the gooey mac n' cheese haphazardly laying on the edge of the top shelf, in the perfect position to give someone a rude surprise when they finally tipped off and fell on the person's head. Shaking his own head at the messy Avengers, they knew who they were, he grabbed six boxes. Hopefully that would be enough for the bottomless pits that a few select people call their stomachs.

He set the boxes on the counter near the pots and waited for the water to boil. Clint glanced over at Adina, who was still sitting perfectly still on the tall stool. He noticed that she kept fidgeting with the power dampener on her bracelet, causing it to harshly cut into her skin.

"Is that bothering you?" he asked, gesturing with his hand to her metal band.

"Yeah, actually," Adina replied, seeing an opportunity, "I couldn't get any sleep last night. I kept thinking it would randomly shock me...like at Hydra."

She added the last little part with a hesitant and small voice, really milking it for all its worth. She hoped he would fall for it. Her acting wasn't that shabby.

Clint was conflicted. Although he barely knew the girl, as he didn't even know her name, he felt a sort of fatherly, or well, just plain concern for the kid. Hydra had stolen what some would consider the most important and happiest years of her life from her. He had no idea how much pain and suffering she had endured at that wretched place, and he did not want to knowingly cause her any more. She had had enough of that for more than a lifetime. He sighed, coming to a conclusion.

"Alright, kid, I'll take it off you. No funny business, we've still got mac n' cheese to eat," he finally replied.

He pulled out the small black remote from his back pocket. Adina noted this; Steve must've given it to him when left him in charge of her. He pressed something on it, causing the metal band to unclasp and fall from her wrist to the floor below with a clang.

Published: 4/14/22