Accidental Avenger [Steve Rogers]

[11]

//Just realised halfway through this book I used the name Hayley instead of Harlow - this character is based on one of my friends and I told her I'd alter her name lol. I'm really sorry for any confusion x //

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Her body hung at the back of the cave, the metal chains hung from a hook in the ceiling and connected to a harness. She just swung. Back and forth. Slowly. The pace picking up when the wind would howl louder and faster and blast through the cave, other times she came to a stop.

Her clothes were torn to shreds, she was left in nothing with a blood stained bra and panties. The first day she woke up there they beat her so bad her clothes basically felt from her. And the fire, well that definitely did something to her clothes. And her flesh.

Her hair hung forward over her head as her neck caused her head to droop. Her brunette locks had grown out over the months and now looked like a black matted waterfall, clumped together with dry blood, dirty water from the cave and whatever they had poured over her that burned so bad!

A women stood at the beginning of the cave, smirking to herself. Her blonde hair was twisted up into a bun on top of her head and her normal clothes had been discarded halfway through the forest below them and she had opted for a black baggy denim jacket and black leggings, red Doc Martins and a black backpack.

Today was the first day in eight months that the woman would be revealing her identity to Elodie. She had left it to the boys to interrogate and torture her, but today was her turn. A sick smile spread across her face as she traveled further into the cave, picking up her baseball bat and backpack and sort of skipping over the puddles and plants.

The women stopped a few metres from Elodie's suspended body. "Hello friend." The blonde spat.

Elodie lifted her head as best she could, her neck clicking as she did. Then Lexi saw the full extent as to what the boys did to her. Her lips were thick, the bottom split with blood seeing from it. Her eyes were bruised, so much so that her inner corners were almost black. A huge bruise decorated her chin and check, shades of yellow, blue and purple worked together to show off the bunch that had landed there. A large cut ran above her eyebrow, from her temple into her hairline. Her eyes were bloodshot and her nose looked a little more crooked and swollen that usual.

Her arms hung by her sides. From her shoulders down to her wrists, the skin was bruised, burnt, scratched and cut. One cut on her right arm ran from her collarbone and down to her middle finger.

Her eyes tried their best to open as she heard the familiar voice. "What?" Has breathes out, shocked to see someone she considered as one of her best friends. "Lexi?"

"That's right." The woman replied, throwing her bat and bag onto the ground. "Who did you expect? The boys have had their fun and now I want mine."

Elodie struggles to swallow and let her bruised eyes close for a moment as she spoke. "Why?" She flinched, feeing the burn of her saliva travelling down her scratched throat, damaged from all of the screaming and crying she had done over the months.

"Because you deserve it." Lexi laughed, feeling the hatred for her come soaring back to the surface. "You took everything from me you bitch!"

"What are you talking about? I haven't taken anything from you." Elodie's mind was all over the place but she knew for sure she had not intentionally hurt Lexi.

"Your life." Lexi shrugged, looking up at her with puppy dog eyes. "You were just like me. A smoker. A drinker. You had a crappy dead end job at Walmart. You slept with every guy in the city. You drove a bust up truck and had a flip phone. You wore ripped jeans, crop tops and leather jackets. 6 inch heels on a Monday morning to Starbucks. Pink hair for gods sake."

Elodie shook her head. "That was a faze. I loved it all at the time and there's nothing wrong with that life, I thought my life was amazing. But I grew Lexi. I changed because I adapted to a situation that presented itself to me. How does my life affect you?"

"Haven't you listed? We were best friends. Me, you and Harlow. And then the Avengers happens and you ditched us."

Elodie was too exhausted to argue however, she knew that if she didn't she definitely wouldn't make it out of there. "I didn't ditch you Lexi. Steve asked me to help and I did."

" You know that I was also fighting that day, we all were. So where's my damn invite? Huh?! Where's my apartment at the luxurious Stark funded facilities? Where's my badge of honour? You know that Boyd broke his leg that day, yet he dragged me across town. André lost his Mom. Hell Sally broke her back, that's why she smokes so much damn weed. Penn and Harlow, well they were going to get married. And you. You picked up a baseball bat and saved Harlow. Well here's my attempt at saving you!" Lexi bent down and grabbed the bat, taking a huge swing and knocking it through Elodie's already battered and bruised legs.

Elodie let out a cry of pain, her face scrunched up and her throat felt like someone had taken a cheese grater to it.

There was a horrific cracking noise as her left knee dislocated first followed by the sound of her right femur as the baseball bat took to her legs at an angle.

Elodie's breath was shallow and quick as she tried to breath through the pain. "Ha ha ha ha." She could feel the adrenaline cursing through her veins as the pain set something off within her. The boys had left her to dangle for almost two weeks. She was so received, even though it meant no food or water she was just happy to be left alone. No visit meant no food meant, no food equals no torture.

Lexi stood back and stared at her ex-friend's knee. Instead of sitting in its regular position in the middle of her leg, the patella was now five inches to the right. "Oof that looks painful my dear friend." Lexi giggled and tilted her head to the side. Then she had an idea. "Well now that I know you can't run anywhere, let's get you down sweets."

Lexi skipped happily across the room and picked up her backpack. She took out her radio and said, "You can come in now boys." The radio reminded Elodie of her earpiece that she swore she was wearing the day she was taken. She could feel it was no longer in her ear and it was killing her that she had seemingly lost it.

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Thor had been travelling right through the United Kingdom in search of his old friend Elodie for almost six months. He had returned from Asgard three months into the search for Elodie and when he found out she had been kidnapped he made it his personal mission to bring her home.

Thor had had a difficulty year. He lost both his parents and his sister and all he wanted was to come back to earth to his Avenger family and have some time to grieve. Yet he returned to Wanda and Sam in England. Steve had run himself into the ground. Natasha and Bucky were always training and working with new recruits. Tony has locked himself away wondering where he had gone wrong with his tech and why it wasn't locating the girl and Bruce was trying to stay...well, not green. Clint returned to his family, holding them closure now that he had lost another avenger.

While Tony and Vision worked their way through America, Rhodey and Maria worked through Europe and Thor took to the UK. He started in Devon and Cornwall, working his way up to London and then across to Wales. He felt right at home in Wales, understanding the language as it was an elective on Asgard along with the other Celtic languages. Then he met up with Sam and Wanda in the Cotswolds to investigate the West Country before he headed north. Scouring the Yorkshire Dales and becoming confused in Newcastle, baffling himself in Blackpool as he confused the tower there with the one in Paris and then he crossed the border.

The last place he was looking was the northwest highlands. He was surrounded by mountain after mountain. He traveled along steep cliffs ands and in and out of wet and slippery caves. He had finally taken a break, he collapsed his tired backside onto the grass.  He about to call it quits when he noticed a shiny black object hiding just behind a rock. He reached across and moved the rock, a little black ear piece was revealed with the classic 'A' symbol that he knew and loved. He flipped the device over and there it was, literally in black and white.
Elodie.VD