The Unknown Enemy ∘ Marvel [3]

Chapter 27: Cross, Dusk

2 months after the video was released to SHIELD

"You've been an interesting case, Miss Firman. Not a single word out of you, besides screams, but that's just a natural part of the process. You had even stopped resisting."

Two opposites sat on either end of a table in a room that was obviously meant for interrogation. It was dimmer than it needed to be with a two-way mirror. One guard stood at the door, eyes watching the only woman in the room.

Her dark hair was in knots, covering half of her beaten face from sight. Secure cuffs kept her hands present and bound, as well as the new chains on her legs. A large gash on her temple was left untreated as a punishment for her actions. She was quivering, trying desperately not to show it. The gunshot wound in her right calf still bled through the wrappings, but at least the bullet had been extracted. The pain, however, was still quite fresh.

The man on the other side of the table was older. His monocle' lens was cracked and a large bruise discolored his withered face an ugly purple. The bandage covered the new mark on his neck and he was told it wouldn't leave a scar. His mood had swung dramatically after the course of the last hour. Irritation was evident in his tone, but also a fascination with the woman's behavior.

"Then you go ahead and decide to kill three good men with a hairpin. You had been so cooperative too."

He got no immediate audible response from his assailant, but her sneer told her view on the subject. A gaze that may have been considered deadly radiated from her darkened eyes, wishing for another pointy pin to finish the job she'd started.

Monocle Man sighed heavily, noticing how a flinch traveled from her right side. It was a shame she was in such unnecessary pain, "I'd guess the high sedatives stopped working for you. Your body is rejecting it, just like the regular medicine. It does mean one success, but your reaction is less than wished for."

Nothing came for a few moments as the prisoner continued to stifle another wave of hurt, but the prolonged agony only managed to piss her off more.

"I have to give you credit for the attempted escape, as much as it disheartens me. You're very smart. You must have timed the guards' schedules. We still have no idea how you got the pin. You even made it down the hall."

She swallowed again, eyelids closing shut as she felt her leg throb. She'd taken her chance and it had been wasted, all because of one man and a moment of hesitation.

"Please don't attempt that again. We have one more procedure we want to try, and we'd hate to damage you more-"

"What was his name?"

Sienna Firman willingly spoke for the first time in weeks. Her strained vocal chords hummed with her pain, the words awkward and forced. Yet, she opened her eyes, fully expecting an answer to her bold question.

The man was of course startled by this (she could tell by how his left eye twitched and his jaw slightly worked), but made every effort to conceal it. Instead, he invited this new conversation that now ceased to be completely one-sided, "Which one?"

He knew which one. Firman despised the answer she received, but stayed on track, "The soldier."

The one who her partner spoke so fondly of. The face she'd only seen in film and pictures from a different century. It had taken her the better part of twenty minutes to go through her tired profiles of people she kept in her head, trying to place where she'd recognized the man with a robotic arm from. It was another half hour to convince herself of the crazy possibility. She desperately wished it wasn't what she believed he could be.