Vigilance (Avengers)

Chapter 5: Nightmare

Kira's pov:

  When we arrive back at the Helicarrier, Fury gathers us all for debriefing.  We sit around a table, with Fury standing at the head of it.  Steve is on my left and Natasha, my right.  Stark, Bruce and Thor sit acrossed from us.  Everyone on the team is worn out, besides Thor, of course.  I guess there are perks to being a god.  We fill Fury in on everything that happened in Germany.  Afterword, he takes the information in, forming a strategy.

"Alright, get some sleep.  I want you all at 100% tomorrow to start interrogations and locate the Tesseract." the Director says, the meeting coming to a close.  I get up and stretch.  I could definitely use some sleep.  I'm walking to the door to head to my room when Stave catches my arm.

"Are you going to medical?" he asks, looking me straight in the eye.  I shake my head.

"No, I'll be fine." I insist, going to move past him.

"You should really get those burns checked out." Steve persists.  I know he's only worried for me, and that's sweet.  But I have my own reasons for not going to medical.  I shake my head, and Steve starts to argue again.

"I don't see why not-"

"I don't like hospitals, okay?" I say, cutting him off.  I didn't mean it to sound that harsh, but the memories that flow through my mind are far from pleasant.  Just the thought of the needles and horrible disinfectant smell brings back too many scarring events.  Steve stares at me, shocked at my little outburst.

"I'll see you later, Steve." I mutter and hurry off to my room.  Could that have been any less awkward?  Great job, Kir, you always screw everything up.  Steve was nice to care, but I am far from used to that.  I'm always the one looking out for people, not the other way around.  That's why I'm so confused by Steve.  Why does he care?  I met him just this morning and he hardly knows me.

  I shake my head to clear it and push open the door to my room.  After a much-needed shower, I settle into bed.  I push aside my troubled thoughts, letting sleep take me, for the moment anyways.  But I can't stop the dreams from coming.

********dream********

"Mom?  Dad?  What's going on?" I ask, my seven-year-old voice giving away the fear I feel.  The men in black have stormed into our house and were marching towards me. 

"They're going to help you, Kira." the man I once called my father tells me, his face void of emotion.  That's what scares me the most.  How unemotionally my own parents are reacting to this.  My dad is a tall, greying man, and my mom is a thicker set lady.  They both just watch as one of the men in black grabs my arm.  I struggle, enough to throw him clear across the room with my super-strength.  I'm only a little girl though, so against ten full-grown men, I don't have a chance.  Several of them grab me and pull me towards the door.

"I don't need help!  Don't let them take me!" I scream at my parents, my big, brown eyes wide with panic.  My parents don't move to stop the men, and I'm stunned.  I lose any faith I had in them, my false sense of safety and security.  My parents were not the people I thought them to be.

"Cowards." I spit at them as I am pushed through the front door.  The men shove me into the back of a van and slam the doors shut.  I don't struggle, there's no point.  I can't hope to get out of this.  I'm not strong enough.  Terrified, tears streaking down my face as I watch my house fade into the distance.  I've never been so scared. 

  The scene then changes and all I feel is pain.  I can't see.  Why can't I see? 

I have been in the lab for an unknown period of time.  Unspeakable things have been done to me, and I have scars to prove it.  But this; this is worse.  I can't even see what's going on and my back hurts unbearably.  Just as I'm about to pass out, the pain fades away, and my sight begins to clear, for the first time in three months.  "We've done it." a man in a lab coat, the bane of my existance exclaims.  Dr. Angius.  He looks down on me, a manic smile spreading across his face.