PURE AND TAINTED ( wanda maximoff )

fifty-six → i think we're by the ocean

PURE AND TAINTED
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
( i think we're by the ocean )

IN THE END, RHODEY HAD BEEN gravely injured and Steve, Bucky, and Rome had managed to escape. She remembered seeing Rhodey fall from the sky, at least a hundred feet up before he crashed. Apparently, Sam had dodged Vision's laser and instead hit Rhodey's suit. Aline had offered some of her blood as a way to heal him, but Tony wouldn't hear anything about it. The next thing she knew, she was being handcuffed and blindfolded. The chains they placed on her felt heavy, and it felt like all the magic and remaining energy she had left was being drained from her body. After that, they'd stripped her bare and forced her into the typical prison garb, with the bonus of an electro-shock collar secured tightly around her throat. She'd punched the glass wall of her prison, surprised by how thick it was an only resulted in a large spider web-like cracks forming, before she'd been electrocuted and crumpled to the floor.

Aline stopped fighting after that.

Leaning against of the walls, she stretched her legs out and examined the rest of her room. Her cell was small, made of thick metal walls and a fourth made of glass. A tiny twin bed was pushed into one corner with a toilet in the opposite. Although she couldn't see them, she knew her friends and fellow teammates were locked up around her. Moments after they'd been locked up, they called to each other to make sure they were fine. Her friends shuffled around in their cells wordlessly, except for Clint who angrily grunted as he slammed his fists against the wall. She was almost positive that Wanda was beside her, having recognized her crying within the first hour. It almost physically strained her to hear Wanda in pain, and Aline cursed herself for feeling so helpless.

There wasn't any way to be able to tell what time it was or how much had passed. There weren't any windows or clocks. However, a slot in the furthest wall would open up time and time again to slide food through, and through how many meals had been distributed to her, she realized only a day had passed.

If it wasn't for the collar and her friends in the cells beside her, Aline would have broken free long ago and fought like hell to get out of there. It didn't particularly matter to her where this mysterious base was; she'd fight tooth and nail to get out of any situation.

When the wall beside her slid open, Aline had little time to react as two men in thick black garb approached her. One of them stabbed a syringe in her neck and she yelped, her vision immediately becoming fuzzy. Her legs felt like Jell-O and she tried to fight back, even as they gripped her arms and dragged her through the door. She could just barely make out someone shouting to her, but she had no strength to call them. The men pulled her down a hall, her feet dragged behind her, and she groaned when they rudely shuffled her into a room moments later. 

A stern voice spoke harshly, and she recognized it immediately. Ross.

"Prep her."

The two men placed her on a long operated table, tying her limbs back so she couldn't escape. The light above was too bright, completely blinding her, and she groaned. "Wha..." she whispered, struggling to keep her eyes open. "What are you doing?" God, it even hurt to blink.

Ross leaned over her, arms crossed behind his back. "Fury's known about your existence for almost twenty years, Miss Ashford," he started, speaking over the doctors behind them, "and I still have no idea why he never did anything with you or your kind. He knew you were a threat, we all did." He straightened his back. "Do you have any idea the danger you possess in your veins? The raw destruction you can cause with the snap of your fingers?" Ross shook his head. "I can't allow someone with your abilities to exist," he continued, "not without knowing the full extent of your abilities and weakness. And who knows, with what you possess, it just might be able to give us the strength to win wars and 一"

With what little strength she had, Aline tossed her head up and spat in Ross's face. She laughed humorlessly when he stumbled back in disgust, quickly wiping away her saliva. "Go fuck yourself, asshole," she growled, slamming her head back on the table. 

Ross growled, wiping his hands on his suit. He whipped his head to who she assumed was the head doctor. "Do it now," he ordered. "To hell with anesthetics. Make it hurt."

That's when the screaming started.

__

Pain 一 that's all she could feel at this point now, all she could focus on. The blinding lights above, the voices of the doctors around her, anything but the pain, but she couldn't help it. It was unbearable, taking over her each and every thought. Aline would have chosen to think about anything else, even the weather, but the pain was too strong and overbearing. No matter how hard she screamed or long she pleaded, they wouldn't stop. And because of the fact she hadn't fed properly in days, her healing felt like it was barely working. Even if it was, the doctors would just keep cutting into her. The scalpel would just dig again and again into her skin, and she'd scream even louder. 

When they finally finished, the guards had dragged Aline back to her cell. The door opened and they tossed her inside, and Aline couldn't even bother to pick herself up. She just lay on the floor, weak and barely conscious with tears and blood coating her body. Some of it was still wet, so there were small puddles of blood beneath her shins and hips. Distantly, she was aware her friends were calling out to her, but not Wanda. That's all she wanted to hear 一 Wanda, Wanda, Wanda. But her soulmate was silent, sobbing on the other side of the wall.

It was hours later when she finally had the strength to at least push herself off the floor. She leaned against the wall, head resting against her shoulder. "I think we're by the ocean," she said softly. Her voice was quiet, but it carried over to the other cells. "I think... I think I hear it, like it's just behind his wall." She let out a humorless chuckle and exhaled, groaned from the pain. "I remember the first time I saw it 一 it was... just after I turned, Rome and Maggie were with me... It was so beautiful, so free. It gave me new hope, that one day I might be as free as it." Tears welled up in her eyes once more, and she wanted to scream. "The last time I saw it, we were heading to Peggy's funeral. Do you, do you remember that, Sam? What it looked like?" She had expected a response. "Do you think we'll see it again? The ocean?"

She didn't get a reply.