The Dark Antihero | Avengers: Endgame [6]

Chapter 3

I dreaded sitting down for dinner that night. I sensed what was coming. I had been lying to Hanna about my past for months now. It was about to come tumbling down. "Tanya, what's going on?" She asked.

"Nothing. Why do you ask?" I asked. "You're acting weird," She said. "No, I'm not," I claimed. "You're lying. It's okay, you can tell me," She said. I sighed deeply through my nose.

"I haven't been entirely honest with you," I admitted. "About what?" She asked. "My past," I mumbled. "So, what's so bad about your past?" She asked. I closed my eyes, seeing the room for a brief second.

"I wasn't abandoned and raised in a group home as I told you. I...was kidnapped as a baby by the leader of a malevolent race hell-bent on revenge," I said. "Who?" She asked. "I'm getting to that part. Please don't interrupt," I said. "Okay," She said. I recomposed myself before continuing.

"The leader, Malekith, had his scientists lock me into an observation room. I wasn't allowed to contact anyone besides a trainer and a tutor. My training started when I was 3. Every day, the tutor came in, left, I ate, then the trainer came in. After he left, I would go to sleep." 

"Rinse and repeat for 10 years. Whenever I asked why I was doing what I did, they would lie. They told me I was a special mutation meant to restore the race to its former glory. When I was 13, I was let out of the observation room for the first time. They sent me on my first mission, to take down the corrupt leader of the realms." 

"When I arrived, I saw an old man talking to his two sons with his wife nearby. I couldn't bring myself to kill him. I let myself get caught. Almost a year later, the person in the picture was put into the cell next to mine. We got around to talking, and we got along well." 

"After a year, his brother broke him out and I followed them out. We went to the realm I was raised in, and they fought Malekith, beating him. But the man died in the process. I was captured again and after 5 weeks the man's brother said I was free to go. I was sent here, to Earth." 

"I was in Sokovia 3 years ago, during the Ultron incident, and was almost killed by a fallen building. The next year, I was asked to help get someone out of the country. There was a big fight, and I got arrested. The leader of our team, who asked me to help, broke us out. To avoid arrest, I came here to Canada, and you know the rest," I said. "Wow. Your life is hectic," She said. "No crap," I responded. "Why didn't you tell me before?" She asked. "I was scared that if I did, I would be accepting that it was the truth," I admitted.

"So you were in denial," She said. "Of course I was. Who wouldn't want to deny their past when it's that bad?" I asked. "Is that what was happening earlier?" She asked. "What happened earlier?" I asked. "You were freaking out, pressed against the door of your closet," She said, and I rubbed the back of my head.

"I get these...triggers. Certain things remind me of my past. Stark white, large mirrors, a dog's whine, piles of books, stuff like that. I saw a white something, I think it was a sheet, and my head put me back in that room," I explained. "No wonder none of your stuff is white. You would freak out every time you looked at it," She said. "Yeah," I said. "Tell me his name?" Hanna asked after a while. I knew she would ask again.

"It still hurts too much,"