Night Flyer

Chapter 1

    Shifting her heavy backpack's weight from her left shoulder to her right, Namara looked up at the Avengers tower. As a kid growing up on the streets, she'd stared up at the lights of Stark tower, wondering if she'd ever go inside. But she never thought this was how she'd end up going into the tower; surrounded by armed shield agents, scratched and bruised, nothing more than experiment that needed to be kept under observation, everything she owned in the bag on her back.

  She felt a prod on her arm, one of the SHIELD agents, "Get a move on kid."

 Namara nodded, and taking a deep breath, started up the stairs and into the tower. The bag on her back seemed to get heavier with each step, and the walls seemed to close in. 

  Once the SHIELD agents had successfully herded her into the main room of Avengers tower, Namara was able to glance around at the Assembled Avengers who'd been assigned to guard her. Though they probably thought they were 'giving her a safe place to stay', that's how the SHIELD agent had tried to phrase it, but Namara  knew she was a prisoner. 

  Directly in front of her stood; Black Widow, Hawkeye, Bruce Banner, IronMan and Captain America. All famous heroes tasked with babysitting a juvenile delinquent. Woohoo. 

  "Captain Rogers, Mr. Stark, this is the enhanced individual that Director Fury spoke about in his correspondence with you. Namara Ackermann. She'll be staying with you for the next few weeks, until we can construct a proper holding facility on the Raft." The Agent with the boring, droning voice spat out at the people assembled. He'd given Namara his name at some point, but she'd forgotten whatever it was. 

 "Yes, we're aware Agent. Thank you for Escorting her," Black Widow said curtly. "The Avenger will be taking it from here."

  "Of course, here's all her information," The agent handed Black Widow a file, which Namara assumed was about her. God she wanted to burn the file.

  "Miss Ackermann, if you don't mind coming with me, I'll take you to your room," Captain Rogers said with a friendly smile. He looked like a golden retriever up close, like someone that Namara would have befriended if she'd met him on the streets. She hadn't been expecting Captain America to look like a sad american puppy up close. 

  Again, Namara nodded, not speaking. As she followed him out of the room, she could feel the eyes of everyone else on her. It made her want to unzip her own skin and run off as a skeleton. Even growing up in the Circus, being the center of attention made Namara uncomfortable. The rest of the Avengers stayed back, probably so the Agents could tell them all about how awful she was, and about the tracker buried in her shoulder blade. 

   Captain Rogers kept glancing back at her, as though he thought she was going to cut and run at any second. But Namara wasn't stupid, she knew the agents would shoot her on sight if she didn't anything so stupid. Namara was nothing if not smart, years in the Circus had taught her things that she wouldn't have learned otherwise. How to hide in plain sight, how to read peoples emotion, judge what their next move would be, how to fool everyone with a smile, and most importantly that she couldn't rely on anyone but herself. 

  "You'll be in here," He said, motioning toward the room, and holding the door open for Namara. 

  Namara nodded, still determined not to speak unless she absolutely had to.

  "Ummm, and you can call me Steve. I'll introduce you to everyone else whenever you feel up to it. If you need anything, just ask Jarvis, he's the robot in the walls." Steve rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "So you don't need to get freaked out if the walls start talking."

  The look on Steve's face said that he had been the poor sap who'd screamed when the voice from the walls started talking. Namara almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

  Namara nodded again, hoping Steve would leave, hoping everyone would just leave her alone. Steve shot her one last look of what Namara assumed was pity, and then closed the door. 

 Setting her backpack down gently on the ground, Namara glanced around the room, taking in what would be her new home, at least until she ran for it.  The twin bed was pushed up against one wall, and a small dresser was against the other. There was a lamp next to the dresser, and it gave off a dimly yellow light. All in all it was sort of depressing. Dreary in contrast to the tent where Namara had spent most of her life. The Circus was always brightly colored and everything was always larger than life. Even if behind the curtains everyone was starving, children were getting trampled, and nearly everyone there was an orphan or a widow or widower. 

   Namara bent down and unzipped her backpack, pulling out a few crumpled photographs. The only pictures she had of her family. Then she pulled the two shirts and single pair of jeans she owned and put them in the top drawer of the dresser. That was pretty much everything she owned, except of course, for her costume. Namara had done a lot of things in the circus, but she'd been mostly a trapeze artist, and an ice skater. She'd worn a black costume with the back cut down low, and black lace over her face. Her best friend, Jess, had drawn black lines down one side of Namara's face in eyeliner, she insisted it made her eyes pop. 

 Just thinking of Jess sent a stabbing pain through Namara's heart, she'd never see Jess smile or laugh again. Namara thought about walking into the bathroom and taking a shower, but then decided that she didn't want to be so exposed. So Namara sat down on the bed, and pulled her knees to her chest, staring hard at the opposite wall. Staring hard at the opposite wall with her mismatched eyes. Namara has always hated her eyes, hated the fact that while everyone else had two eyes of the same color, hers were different. One was a dark green, the color of an evergreen tree, and the other was a piercing icy blue. On the streets, kids had made fun of Namara's eyes, but in the Circus it had been considered a special feature. Namara stared at the opposite wall all night, until the sun began to rise in the morning.