The Hero from Hell

Part 5

To Nat's intense astonishment, the girl was happy to go back to the Avenger's Tower with them.
"So, what's your name?" Peter asked, conversationally, as they trekked through the pitch black city streets that seemed to radiate with danger. The girl seemed very slightly to tighten her grip around her bow, and Nat noted that her knuckles whitened.
"Raine. Raine Hunter," The girl replied. Her voice was low, and troubled. That broke Peter's heart a little.
"That's such a cool name" he said smiling.
She gazed at him, seemed to think a little, then smiled back.
Nat glanced away and smiled to herself. They were making progress.
They continued to walk, slowly but surely, and when they arrived outside the building, Nat stopped.
"Uh, Raine, if I can call you that of course. I just wanted to thank you. Big time. For helping my friend Steve. You took him back here, and if you didn't, he would have died," She confessed gratefully. Raine glanced away awkwardly.
"Uh, yeah, it's fine. He doing okay?" she checked. Nat grinned.
"He's healing. Taking every chance he can get to bloody moan about it, though. Stupid pain in the ass,"
She grinned and Raine smiled.
They entered the large building and Tony strode towards them.
"Good night. I see you found her. That's progress." he greeted. Nat gave him a warning glance and mouthed 'be careful' over Peter's head. Tony grinned and mouth 'ajskdiebdism' back, clearly having no idea whatsoever what she was saying.
"Right." Nat said brightly. "You and Peter sit down here. I'll just talk to Tony for a minute,"
Raine and Peter sat down on a sofa and Tony and Nat disappeared.
"So," Peter said awkwardly. "Your drug dealer seemed nice."
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"Just be careful with her. She seems very delicate. And hurt."
Tony nodded impatiently.
"When am I not careful?!" He asked.
"Well-"
"Don't answer that."

The two headed back to the others and Tony sat down on a chair beside Raine.
"So, I heard your name is Raine Hunter. I'm also very intrigued about these powers you've developed," he said. Raine looked down and Tony saw her fingers were shaking slightly, her hands vibrating against the fabric of her ripped jeans. He looked at her properly.
She was pale. Very pale. With smooth while milky skin. Her eyes were slanted and dark, their green irises bright and observant, her most prominent feature. She wore a black oversized hooded leather jacket with laced black ripped jeans and a pair of battered green converse. Her hair was raven coloured. She looked, scared, and lost.
"uh yeah," She replied. "I am telekinetic, or at least I have telekinetic powers. And I'm strong."
Tony nodded.
"If, I gave you some things maybe, could you show me?" Tony asked. Raine nodded quickly.
"We just want to help you," Nat broke in. "And to do that we need to know everything about your abilities. We don't want you to hurt yourself,"
Something flickered across Raine's face, indicating that was maybe too late.
Tony stood up and gestured for her to follow him. He took her to a large gym area, with a big open space.
There was a large yoga mat in the corner.
Silently, Raine stared intently at it and it jerked and moved right at her, stopping suddenly, an inch away from her toe. Tony blinked.
"What's the heaviest thing you've ever tried it on?" he inquired eagerly. Raine looked thoughtful.
"Uh, mostly I stick to just doors. Though when I got Mr Rogers, I moved a bus." She admitted. Tony exhaled slowly. Peter grinned. He'd followed them in, too curious to be dismissed.
"Ever tried people?" Tony asked. Raine hesitated.
"No," She said slowly. Tony didn't believe her. He brought out a crash mat and stood next to it.
"Okay, so try and move me," he instructed. Raine quickly tied her hair back, thought about taking her jacket off but then decided against it. She moved towards Tony and focused.
She closed her eyes, then opened them, staring at him into his eyes. She steadied one hand, reaching out towards him and breathed out sharply as Tony flung backwards  hitting the crash mat.
She closed her eyes again and tried to regenerate.
"Wow," Peter murmured, clapping.
"Pete. Don't clap. That was good. I take it it's harder with people?" Tony asked.
Raine nodded and opened her eyes.
"Definitely," she sighed.
Tony decided that was enough for the night. He gave her a room and she went to bed, feeling a mixture of feelings she'd never felt before.

But the flashbacks returned that night.

"Hold her down."
"I can't. She won't stop screaming."
I wasn't even aware that that guttural cry that echoed through lab was coming out of my mouth. I thrived and jerked, gasping. One of Them caught my feet and tightly binded then to the corners of the lab table so I was sprawled out. On display. I cried out as the binds dug into my flesh. Another one of Them loomed over me, towering and intimidating, brandishing a syringe full of eerie yellow liquid.
"So which one's this?" One asked, clutching a clipboard.
"Batch 64. We're calling it death juice. We just want to see how long it takes to work. "
"So this is to kill Test Subject 189, correct? A 0% survival chance?"
"Correct."
"Painless?"
"We'll see,"
I held my breath and felt my head cave in with fear.
Then I screeched louder than a murder victim. Wait, I WAS a murder victim.
The needle pierced my skin.
They hoped it would kill me.
Boy were they wrong.
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