The Monster Within - Avengers

Chapter 4

I sat on the same blood-covered blanket, rocking myself. I willed myself to stay awake, no matter how much my body wanted to go to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt blood spray my face and saw bodies drop to the grow with lightning scars inching up their skin. I watched Fury give an approving nod from behind the glass, and when I tried to turn away, they brought in someone else.
The door creaked open, and the light of the hallway hit my face as I buried it in my hands. "Echo, we have to hurry. You have to get up." The archer didn't have his bow, but I could see the faint outline of a pocket knife against his sweatpants.
     "W-Where are we going?" I asked, stumbling off the bed and walking over to the door. He led me through the dimly lit hallways, avoiding the small amount of people awake this late at night.
     "I'm taking you to a new room. Tony hacked into the surveillance tapes, so he's going to play a loop through the feed to make it seem like you're still asleep, and since Fury is leaving in less than three hours, he won't be here when you wake up."
    "Why am I getting a new room?" I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that the Avengers, the people who used to work under Fury, were defying him.
    "Because you're going to be living here for a while, and your 'room' is where we keep prisoners. None of us think you're a prisoner, so you're not going to be treated like one." The archer led me to a door, and I opened it. The room was twice as big as my apartment.
     Agent Barton shut the door behind us, and turned on the lights. "The Avengers have decided you will stay here, instead of going to a research facility in Tahiti. But, if you stay, you stay on one condition. You can not leave. If you try to escape, we have no choice but to send you to the labs, and no one wants that."
    I turned to look at the bedroom, and sat on the freshly-made bed, running my hand over one of the silk pillows.      "What's your name?"
"What?"
"I have the feeling your name isn't 'Barton'."
He chuckling, leaning against the doorframe. "It's Clint, kid."
"Clint, is there a chance I can have my backpack?" I asked, a hundred percent sure they had it. He looked puzzled for a second, before running off. A few minutes later he came back with a dirty, ruffled bag. I kneew that Shield would search my apartment after they got me, and was sure they would bring my bag in as 'evidence.'
"They took the pocket knife, but I think the rest is still there." He tossed it to me and I caught it easily, setting it beside me on the bed. He turned to leave.
    "Goodnight Clint." I threw myself back onto the bed, and I heard him mutter a 'goodnight', followed by the click of the door closing. I sat up, surveying my surroundings.
I sat on a large canopy bed, with six soft pillows and a navy blue comforter. The walls were a cream color, and there was a bathroom connected to the room by a door next to the desk. A window took up the expanse of one wall, overlooking the forest that stretched farther than I could see. A chair and a bookshelf sat against one corner closest to the window, and a wardrobe stood by the desk. There was a television above the dresser, and a nightstand on either side of the bed.
I unlatched the buckle on my worn out bag, and pulled out two books, setting them beside me. A head peeked out at me from between clothes, and I wrapped my hand around an orange stuffed lion. My dad had gotten it for me the day I turned three, and I had kept it ever since. I placed it on the nightstand next to the white-trimmed lamp and took out the three bundles of clothes. I had kept about three hundred dollars in a plastic bag in the bottom of the pack, which I stuffed in the nightstand drawer. I couldn't feel the buzz of the cameras, and I was confused as to why they trusted me enough to leave me completely unwatched.
After putting my books on the empty bookshelf and the small amount of clothes in the wardrobe I walked into the bathroom to change my clothes. I had packed one pair of pajamas, a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I stepped into the pristine bathroom and stripped to my underwear, and turned the large glass shower on. After the water had reached a sufficient temperature I sat on the edge of the shower with a towel and washed the cuts on my skin one by one. It stung, but I didn't possibly have the strength to stand under the water while the blood ran into the drain.
I dried myself and changed into my pajamas, throwing my bloody clothes in the trash can under the desk. I could see the stars clearly through the window, and instinctively touched the glass. I didn't expect the glass to retreat into the floor, never mind the balcony that stretched out from within the wall.
I stepped out into the night and felt a warm summer breeze brush against my shoulders and the starlight kiss my face. The sky was beautiful in the dark, and I had often stared at it for hours each night. Before long, I watched the sun peek over the horizon, and the world explode in a myriad of light.
I felt a strong presence behind me, and the man with the hammer soon stood beside me, admiring the sunrise as I did.
"The Avengers and Director Fury wish for you to join us for a meeting. The Director also wishes for you to train once before he departs." He said, quite loud. I didn't speak for a few moments, taking in the light.
"Of course." I sighed, before turning to face him. "I haven't met you yet."
"I am Thor, of Asgard." He said, and suddenly the hammer and medieval armor made more sense. "You did not get sleep, I assume."
"No. Most people aren't aware monsters have nightmares too."