Command • T'Challa

The Tale of Baba Yaga

Somewhere in the inky blackness, I became aware of the intense cold that surrounded me, like I was being slowly smothered in a snowdrift.

The cold seeped into my bones like something awful, and it put me in a state of consciousness of awake, but close to death. If this wasn't the feeling of being out of one's body, I didn't know what was.

I was trapped in my head, locked like an animal in a cage- that was why death seemed so near. Was this what a coma was like? I didn't know, at least I didn't think I knew.

I was sitting upright, I think, as I tried to get a grip on myself. My hands were bound by something cold and metal, and the char was metal, too. That cold fog kept flowing over my face. I started to lose control again, for I imagined an eerie light suddenly appearing. Saying it was shining would give it too much credit. It was just... there. And I hated it.

A haggard old woman was holding it, her wrinkled white face was weathered with age, many years, and she even possessed a snaggle tooth, and her nose was all bent over. She was evil, that much I knew.

"Do you remember the tale of Baba Yaga, little one?" she asked me, her accent thick with Russian, and her voice, so old, was now without gender- probably from many years of smoking, I estimated.

"No." I said coldly. Lie. I did remember it, I just didn't want to.

"The Baba Yaga- the dark woman of magic of the forest. The one who killed many and had their skulls stacked in piles outside of her hut. A fairy story to haunt all little children of Russia and beyond, little one." she said.

Yes, Baba Yaga was a scary old ghost story. Remember the tale of Hansel and Gretel? Baba Yaga was the Russian version of that witch in the story, only the hut wasn't a cute little marzipan or whatever the hell it's called, gingerbread house. It was an awful looking little hut with an adorable fence made out of human skulls. One day, a lily-white girl, in a tale that sounds suspiciously like cinderella, was ordered into the deep forest by her evil stepmother, in hopes that she'd run into the old witch. She did, but oddly enough, she was able to outsmart her and use Baba Yaga's powers to annihilate her stepmother and evil stepsisters- though she didn't realize that's what Baba Yaga would do to them. She, the girl, like me, just wanted to survive.

The remembrance of this tale wasn't just a fairy tale, it was a damn trigger. Baba Yaga was essentially another Russian word for "Boogeyman" or "scary monster".

"The dark lady of magic." the old woman repeated, pointing a crooked finger out to me.

She hobbled closer to me, and it was only then that I realized she carried a mean-looking staff in her hands. Good lord, was she going to beat me with it?

"You don't remember all that you've done, Baba Yaga." she said.

"You don't remember all whom you have killed. Don't you remember the Cold War, little one? Don't you remember an empty house, and the quiet Russian winter?"

She waved her hand in front of me, chanting something in Russian that I didn't understand- didn't want to understand. This was a deliberately triggered nightmare, and I wasn't safe. This. Wasn't. Real. I had to keep telling myself that.

But then I saw it- snippets, bits and pieces of it. I was the dark lady of magic, deep in the Siberian forests. Somewhere, a child was crying, but I soon made the child stop.

An assassin, a monster for HYDRA. That's what I was.

Was.

That's not who I am- not who I ever will be again. They killed those people- not me. You can't be held responsible when someone rips out your self and all that you are, and stuffs a robotic, ice-cold killer in its place. I refused to forget that.

Why? Well, my ability was supposed to be able to remember things. What was hidden from me, was now coming to the ugly, reddish light.

It was terrible. Tears rolled down my cheeks, as she kept chanting, but her voice was becoming huskier and deeper.

With a violent jerk, I shook my head, screaming, trying to free myself of her. Like the prison door was busted open, I was once again in the 'drivers seat' and was in control.

It was the man with the red book glaring at me, still muttering. I screamed and cursed in him in a way I'd rather not keep on record- and kept shrieking.

You could cage a lioness, but you couldn't keep her down forever.

I wanted this horrible man to remember that when he looked me in the eyes- like he had some control over me. He had startled when I'd broken free of his muttering.

Maybe it was my anger that made me stronger and more resistant, I didn't know. I was still locked in that metal chair, but I didn't break eye contact with the man, who was separated from me by a pane of glass, and a metal casing.

Oh god, I was trapped in something worse than a small room.

Oh no.

Where was T'Challa? Where was James? Had he gone into Winter Soldier mode?

No..

I started to lose my focus- but I glued it back to him, daring him to open this contraption and see me there- to take the lion out of the cage. e was strong, equally determined in whatever his sick goal was, but I knew he was weakening. If I kept at it for a little longer, I could get him to snap. I knew he was under the false impression that he was too strong for me, but he was losing.

And then, right as I was about to get him to snap, he broke off and turned around to face someone, someone talking in German.

James!


He was in Winter Soldier mode, and I was alone in this desolate place.

But I had won. I had established one small victory today.

One step closer to being myself again.

One step closer to being me.

I closed my eyes, and hoped to God that T'Challa had some idea of where I was- and Tony and the others, even with their fighting.

I needed all the backup I could get.

..................

ANND I'm so sorry that this chapter was so short! I'll do the rest of the airport fight/scene from T'Challa's point of view, and what else happened, okay? Like Tomorrow or Sunday night.  I am so grateful to you all for puttimg up with all of the mystery and my damn cliffhangers. The end is in sight, though- Once we get to Chapter 30, that's it, at least until the Black Panther movie comes out.

LOVE YOU ALL!!! We got to 12k!!!!!!