FINE [P. PARKER X OC]

chapter eight

WARNING: this chapter has strong elements of abuse and/or torture. please skip if needed.

October 6th, 2016
14:10
5th Avenue, Manhattan, NY
United States of America
Planet C53; Earth

HE WASN'T THERE like she had stupidly hoped. She knew she shouldn't have, but still, she hopelessly looked around her apartment for one Steven Rogers.

Was it because of Addison? Because he, dare I say, Addison Brackenbury, was back? Because he had found her? Or because he had finally shown his goddamned perfect face and actually tried to warn Blake of something that was coming up?

Was it even Addison? Was it, instead, Blake? Her stupid habit of overly questioning anything that her brain comes up with, or... her instincts? Her will to survive?

Blake sighed heavily, which was understandable, because adrenaline was the only thing she knew now. She was behind fatigue. She kicked the floor and stumbled before regaining her balance. Stupid goddamn karma, she thought. Then, with a huff, she stormed out of her old apartment room.

For real this time.

Her feet slammed against the cool ground, one by one, like horse shoes on a gravel road - but half the time. The stairs lessened with each step until they were no more, and when they finally were, Blake took it to run into the streets.

It was good to find that so far nothing was changed. To find that New York's ugliness and distasteful smells were just as she remembered, smokey and, well, yuck.

The car horn made her jump through her skin. Passerby's - if any bothered to notice - surely would have stared. It was like she didn't belong... literally.

Or, maybe, she was just really weird.

Either way, weird or normal, Blake proceeded to push herself forward. She passed through the crosswalk and ignored the taxi driver's protests as she marched to the other side of 5th Avenue.

She didn't flinch this time, and when she had made it across successfully, Blake spun around herself. She allowed the cars and citizens to blur together.

Once, then twice, and then a half a time more. When she finally stopped and held her head, her hands were shaking.

What the hell is happening to me? She wondered.

And Blake, again, wanted to cry. She thought of Steve, who was stuck god-knows-where and likely alone.

Like her.

And she thought of Bucky, who was out living his own life completely oblivious to the fact that HYDRA is back yet again.

And she thought of Sam and Tic Tac and Tony's 'kid' and the Panther Man, too. She thought of Natasha, and Vision, and Stark, and Rhodes, and Clint, and even Wanda. The Avengers together, and only now truly asked herself if they could make it out of this one alive.

(The chances terrified her.)

Blake drove herself out of her trance by walking once more. She ignored the homeless people begging for change and tried not to take deep breaths because every smoker in New York seemed to swarm around her right now. She gasped for air, then, because we all know that she can't not breathe. She pushed herself out of the crowd and towards freedom.

Towards the open air.

The open air, where she picked up a newspaper to read the date.

And found that two weeks had passed.

Two weeks of her damn life were gone like that without Blake even bothering to even want to notice.

It was fucking October already.

Shit.

That meant her 'birthday' had passed, right? And Natasha's, too, if she remembered correctly.

Blake exhaled once more. This time, it was a breath she hadn't even meant to hold. Her birthday was gone, and it was one less thing to worry about.

So why was she disappointed?

Blake's head was running a mile a minute and she hated it. It always did this and she always hated it.

Wait...

Blake froze (again). Her eyes stared at the headline of the newspaper before her, not daring to do otherwise.

CAPTAIN AMERICA OR CAPTAIN RUSSIA?; The headline read. She almost laughed until she saw the next line below.

What? Blake wondered. Steve... well, he was Steve. He's an open book. There's no way he's hiding anything, right?

Right?

Come on, here. It's probably just publicity.

But...

No. You know Steve.

Right?

Or... did Steve have some big secret he wasn't sharing? Was he fake? Was this all a trick? Was Addison really trying to help Blake??

And, biggest of all, is HYDRA really free?

I mean... well... what?! Addison has lied countless times in his life, of course, and as much as Blake didn't like it his warning/lie/whatever was believable. She had no doubt there.

However...

No, she couldn't take it anymore. Blake's mind began to fog over. Her vision clouded, too, like the haze in her brain was real.

Then, just as she noticed it, she was out.

  —

*THIS IS WHERE IT BEGINS TO GET HEAVY - SKIP TO A/N IF NEEDED OR IF THIS IS TRIGGERING IN ANY WAY AND/OR FORM*

*also, yeah it was chloroform lol*

Blake gasped for air. She'd forgotten about what it felt like to drown, and she honestly hadn't missed it. She coughed twice, her stomach clenched and her eyes watered. Her nose burned alongside her throat, and each breath she took was weaker than the last.

So Addison wasn't lying...

This actually was HYDRA. And he was right.

The echo of the door slamming made Blake flinch. It tore her from her mind. She closed her eyes and heard shuffling, and then her head crashed to the cement.

It throbbed to the tempo of her heartbeat, but she didn't have time to react because the man had already grabbed her hair. He yanked hard, too. Like that would help.

Blake winced as the man grasped her arm - the bruise would definitely show tomorrow - but reluctantly followed him. She knew better than to let them win, she had to force herself to not rub her head, to not show them anything.

She had to become numb.

Then, after another man grabbed Blake's arm, she was thrown into a room.

Literally.

The men slammed the door shut behind them, and she lay on her back, gasping.

Only then did she grasp her head, and only then did she heave. Her chest burned, something like a raging fire inside of her lungs with the strength of a tsunami wave that had begun to take over.

And through the pain, Blake knew deep down, that this was only a start.

That it could only get worse from here.