Untimely

Chapter 10

(3rd POV)

"You think she'll be okay?" Clint asked Fury as they walked briskly down the main corridor. He had flinched when Halo's scream penetrated the sound proof walls, and felt that showing her the facts in such an abrupt manner was not the best way.

Nick Fury was already thinking of other things, and ignored Clint's question entirely as he asked his own. "Get the soldier to question her first". His statement made Clint seem to stop breathing for a minute, simply because he knew why Steve Rogers would go first.

Because he was the nice one, and if she doesn't answer, Fury goes to force.

But he remained silent, like he often did with his opinions.

"You copy that Rogers?" Fury said into the earpiece he wore. It was silent for a moment before,

"I think I'll give her a little bit"

Fury seemed to let out an annoyed huff at Steve's response, but Clint thought it fitting and courteous. "C'mon Rogers, go in there, let her knock ya around" Tony Stark seemed to be laughing as he spoke into the earpiece of his own.

"Stark, not now" Fury shot, and the lines fell silent with the soft sound of Tony's chuckles.

/

While the agents all carried on with their smaller missions and file explorations, Halo remained sitting in the side of the chair she awoke in, staring at her bloodied hands with the cuts in her palms in the shape of her nails.

Her cheeks felt like plaster had been sealed onto them because of her drying tears, while her eyelids felt incredibly heavy. But she refused to shut them, for a sudden fear of seeing what she had done in a clearer format.

Her mind was blank, just as the walls in the room she was locked in. She was interpreting things in a distorted way, that made her stomach feel sick. She couldn't quite comprehend it herself, but her brain was beginning to have a dim headache, thumping against her skull, as if it needed a way out, and persistent pain was its exit.

She sat like this for several hours, until Steve finally entered the room slowly, and hesitantly.

"Get out" Halo spat in a quiet voice, her eyes watching his every movement with some kind of hatred that had suddenly erupted inside of her to the world itself. Steve only sat down in the chair Fury had been sitting in before hand, looking at his hands or the door.

"I'm Steve Rogers" he said, holding out his hand for her to shake. She looked up slightly, because she wasn't expecting such a normal, yet rare hello. After a moment of silence, he lifted his hand a centimeter. "And you are?"

The girl was silent for a minute, watching him, as if determining whether or not to trust. Steve felt bad, that she had to hesitate so much just to shake his hand. But he knew that waiting patiently was the only safe way to make any progress as to getting more information about Hydra.

"You already know who I am" Halo finally said, much less hatefully than before.

"Well" Steve said, putting his hand to his lap and looking at the papers he had been given. "I was given what you've done" he said slowly, as if seeing if Halo could grow angry at his statement, or hurt, for that matter.

Halo looked at him with an 'exactly' expression, before he let out a heavy sigh. "But it doesn't say who you are"

This statement made Halo laugh inwardly, "I'm a killer" she responded in a bitter tone.

"That's still what you are, you know" Steve chuckled light heatedly, raising an eyebrow at Halo accusingly.

"It's who I am" Halo spat, using air quotes on her 'who'. Steve realized he wasn't going to get anywhere in that day, and he had been given three weeks to try and get answers before a fury took matters into his own hands.

So for the rest of that day, Steve sat in Halo's room in utter silence, reading a book he had brought as she uncomfortably glared at him from her seat across the small radius.

And when he stood to leave, Halo sat up straighter, suddenly realizing that she had forgotten about her troubles while he was in there, because she was too busy hating and glaring at him. And when he said goodbye, and shut the door, Halo's hateful and angry facade shattered again, and she once again began picking up the pieces for the next visitor to witness and believe.

/

It went on for two weeks. And Steve felt like he was getting absolutely no where as the last chanced day came around on the calendars.

As he took a heavy, doubtful breath before turning the door handle, he decided he would try his old tactic again.

"Hello" he said with a smile as he sat in his chair. "I'm Steve Rogers" he held out his hand again, but his eyes were averted to the book he was still working on.

But this time, he was surprised at the sudden, much smaller hand that grabbed his and shook it slowly and hesitantly.

"I'm Halo Band" Halo said quietly as she watched him with slightly widened eyes.

This is it, she trusts me, Steve thought.

"Pleasure to meet you" he smiled, trying to keep the shock contained from showing on his facial expression. He and Halo released from the hand shake and retreated their hands to their laps.

"You too" Halo said. Just the simple words, the fact that Steve didn't seem to be there to lie to her, and deceive her very outlook on life made her feel- normal, again. It felt like how she had felt before everything happened. Like her life wasn't just another chess piece to the game, but that she was an actual player.

"So Halo" Steve said contently, leaning in his chair. "Tell me about yourself"