We all stare at the masked hero, waiting to see what would happen. Then she bursts into tears, she starts screaming in anger and sadness. Steve is first to do something about the situation.
He walks over to try to calm her down, placing his hand on her shoulder, but she squares him right in the teeth with her broken arm, falling off the medical bed in the process. Steve stumbles back, holding the left side of his jaw, blue eyes wide with shock. The young hero sinks to the floor clutching her right arm. She pulls her knees up to her chest covering her face with them, and sobs. Her large, purple wings wrap around her like a cocoon of isolation, to protect herself from the harsh reality.
We all look at the poor, injured Heartbeat, who's obviously a little young for this. Even though her mask is on, I can still see the tears pouring out of her emerald green eyes. Even though I don't even know who this young girl is, my heart still aches for her. I guess it's because I'm able to relate to what she's going through.
I slowly walk up to Heartbeat, and kneel beside her. I gently place my hand on her scarred back, she flinches, but settles back down to her silent sobbing. It takes every ounce of will power I have in me not to burst into tears with her. This still feels so unreal, but it is. And I hate that, I just wish I can wake up already. But I can't.
Because it's real, and we all know it.
• • • •
Heartbeat sits in the Quinjet silently sobbing until we finally land at the Avengers Tower. I help her up, and two nurses come to take her to get patched up. Clint must've let them know about her and that she's injured. As we all walk solemnly off of the Quinjet, Nick Fury greets us, long coat and all.
"I heard what happened" he says. Steve walks up to him, once again taking charge. I always admired that about him. I remember even before he got the serum, he was always the strong one. He could, and still can, handle any situation no matter what, even if it's when his friend is dead.
"There was nothing we could do" Steve replies, trying his best to sound professional, but I can still hear his voice shaking when he says those words.
"I hear you caught Heartbeat" Fury says. Steve only nods.
"Get yourselves cleaned up, then meet in the meeting room" and with that, he turns and walks away. That is all the sympathy we are going to get from him, but I don't care. This time I'm not alone to deal with this, I have Steve and the rest of the Avengers.
Tony, who is now out of his suit, heads straight to his lab but stops when Pepper turns the corner and nearly bumps into him. She looks at him with sympathy, and gives him a hug. Wanda doesn't leave Visions side as they go to the elevator to get to their floors. Clint and Natasha leave to find some place to talk probably, and Sam heads to his floor to clean himself up. I realize that I'm a mess to: I'm covered in dust from the debris, and there's tiny bits of cement in my dark brown hair.
I look at Steve, who is standing by a window covering an entire wall and looking out of it. The landing zone has a nice little room where it gives you the perfect view of New York City. I walk up next to the blond and watch the sun set with him.
"Winky always loved the view of the city" Steve says, his voice quiet, but still loud enough for you to hear.
"She did. Sometimes, when she noticed I was stressed, she would convince me to come up here with her and look at the view" I add.
"She just...wanted to help people, Buck. She didn't deserve this" a tear falls from the captain's blue eyes, but he quickly wipes it away with his sleeve.
"You should go get cleaned up" he says and walks towards one of the elevators.
• • • •
I stand in the elevator alone, thinking of all the times Winky would join with me. It only hurts me more though. I wish I could forget I ever saw her fall, to forget I ever saw her bruised and bloody body on the pile of rocks. Why couldn't I save her?
The elevator doors slide open, snapping me out of my thoughts. I walk onto my floor and head to my room to get some clean clothes. I remember when I first came here, injured and confused. Winky found some clothes for me so I didn't have to wear my combat uniform. The one thing of HYDRA's I could get rid of for good. Why does even this remind me of her?
I walk across the hall to my bathroom and change out of my dirty combat clothes. I step into the shower and let the cold water wash away the dirt and grime. I feel like I ran out of tears, cause the one chance I can actually let them out, none come. Not a single one. Did I just become numb?
I turn off the water and step out of the shower. I put on jeans and a red T–shirt. I walk out of the bathroom, my hair only a little damp from towel drying it. I walk back to the elevator and push the down button. The meeting room is on the first floor. The metal doors slide open, revealing the empty box. was the elevator always this empty?
I step inside, and push the button with the number 1 on it. I watch the doors close again, and hear the low hum of the elevator. Another chance to let it all out yet nothing comes out. It's frustrating me cause I just want to burst into tears, curl up into a ball, and wish the day away. Why can't I just let one tear come out?
The doors open to a hallway, the meeting room is on the first left turn. I step out of the elevator and walk down the hallway. I turn left and enter a door on my right. I see Clint, Natasha, Tony, Sam, and Vision in their seats. I wonder where Steve and Wanda are?
I take a seat next to Sam, Steve and Wanda arrive shortly after. We all sit there in silence until Nick Fury enters the room. He stands at the end of the long table and sighs.
"It's never easy, losing a partner. But Periwinkle wasn't just a partner, she was a friend. And friends always seem to worm their way into your life, making it a little less shitty" he says. We all just sit there and stare at him or the ground. Fury sighs again and grabs a remote from the table and points it to the TV screen behind him. A picture of Heartbeat comes up, her mask is still on but you can still see her green eyes. They look so sad.
"We still don't know the identity of Heartbeat, she won't talk to us, and refuses to remove her mask" he continues, "So someone explain why her arm is broken in three places, and has cuts all over her back" We're all silent, knowing exactly why. I look around to see if someone will speak up, but no one does. If they won't, I guess I will.
"She tried to save Winky" I say. Everyone snaps their head towards me, but I continue.
"When Winky fell, she went after her. But she...didn't make it"
I stare at Fury, he stares back. Everyone is silent once again, nothing but the fan on the ceiling to provide sound. Suddenly, someone runs in, a man in nurse clothing, panting and even sweating a bit.
"S–sir!" He stutters.
"What now?" Fury asks, getting annoyed.
"She's gone!" He answers.
"What?!" We all exclaim.
"Heartbeat" the nurse answers, "we left to go get some medication for her, but when we came back she wasn't there!"
---------
---------
Woooooow that was painful to write. I almost cried writing this one too. This is probably the most of Heartbeat you're going to see for a while, but she's still going to be pretty relevant to the story. I didn't just squeeze her in, she's very important. Also, if you really want to get to know Heartbeat, check out Spyrofury767's book.
YOU ARE READING
Nightmare (sequel to Electric completed)
FanfictionI wish it was that easy. To sleep and wake up to find that everything is ok, to find that everything is back to normal. But it's not...it never will be. Nightmare is still here, it's waiting, watching. It wants to hurt my friends, it wants to contro...
