The Invisible Coder (Natasha x OC)

Chapter 8- I experience a near-death crisis

TRIGGER WARNING- This chapter contains hallucination, despair, starving, violent memories, blood, fainting, and death. If you are triggered by any of these things, please skip this chapter.

~

Bryce Russel-Stark's POV

They had been gone for hours, going on a day.

I couldn't remember what I'd last eaten, but it hadn't been much, and now I was hungrier and thirstier than I'd ever been in my entire life, even when I had no money after my parents died.

I'd never been starved.

Ultron didn't understand. At least, I didn't think he did. He hadn't thought to come back to give me things that every human needs, like food and water.

And, in my case, entertainment.

I had just been sitting there, lost in my thoughts the entire time.

Where are the Avengers, right now? I wondered. Do they even know where I am? Have they forgotten about me?

No. No, the Avengers hadn't forgotten about me. I was just being illogical.

I rolled my neck a little bit, pulling at the chains for the three-thousandth time in a row. They still would not move. Not even a little.

"Please," I whispered into the dark, empty room. "Please, someone..."

When nobody replied, I went back to despairing in silence, tears streaking down my face. 

You could've stopped it, had you been more aware of what was going on around you.

I couldn't shake Loki's words from my mind. He never truly said that to me, but it sure as heck felt like it. And he was right. Had I brought a weapon with me to the party, I could've shaken off the suit that was trying to capture me. 

I made the mistake of closing my eyes.

The picture of a man crossed my vision, his eyes wide with his last look of horror. The crack of gunfire. He collapsed, dead.

My eyes snapped open again. "NO!" I shouted to nobody in particular.

My only reply was a deafening silence.

"NO! NO! NO!" I screamed as the horrible memory continued to fog my vision, suddenly climbing into view in front of me. I watched as the man fell backward, over and over again in a time loop. Blood dripped from his mouth each time he fell. I screamed and kicked and thrashed at my chains furiously, but this only resulted in lightheadedness. I ignored it and continued to scream. I couldn't look anywhere without seeing him, his eyes turning from scared and shocked to dull and hollow.

"STOP! STOP PLEASE!" I shrieked into the empty room, crying violently. 

I could barely breathe by now. I tried to suck in air, but it felt as though it were being filtered. I gasped and choked, trying to collect air to put into my lungs, but I was only able to add a little. I was incredibly light-headed and craned my head back, trying to gain as much oxygen as I could.

"You were one of my favorites, Agent Russell,"

"You're useless with weapons,"

"You, the woman called Disloyal, willingly knelt before me with unwavering pride,"

"If only you knew all the good you were doing for your world... for my world," 

"No, this world will be mine, and you will be the cause, Bryce,"

I tried to block out Loki's voice echoing in my ear, willing it to stop, even if for only a second, but it was relentless and grew louder with each word.

"Kneel, Agent Russell,"

I had.

I sobbed, trying to shake the series of images that clouded my vision. I was growing extremely lightheaded, and I was going to hurl if I didn't get food or water into my system. The room was zooming in and out of focus, and my line of vision was blurred around the sides. I continued to gasp for air but still gained very little. As I sucked in what I hoped would be a big breath, my eyes closed and I fell into darkness.

~

My dreams were silent.

I was staring into an empty space the entire time, no dream or nightmare playing through my head.

I thanked whatever divine spirit there was above for sparing me.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Wanda Maximoff standing over me holding a glass of some sort.

"Oh, good, you're awake," she said. "Drink this. It's water, don't worry,"

I nodded and let her tip the glass into my mouth. I drank the whole thing. I was still thirsty when she was done, but I had drunk a sustainable amount.

"I take it you're hungry, too," she said. "I have some food. Leftovers from my lunch. Would you like it?"

I nodded again. To my surprise, she untied my arms and set down a plate of steak on my lap before backing out and closing the cell door, locking it before walking away.

Moving my arms hurt like nothing I'd ever experienced. 

It took me a little bit- first, rolling my shoulders, then bringing my arms forward and enduring the pain until it felt right. Then, I carefully flexed my fingers, which hurt so badly but felt so good at the same time. It took me about five whole minutes to get my arms unstiffened so that I could reach down and grab the fork Wanda had left me and digging into the meat. 

I was done in a matter of seconds. It tasted sooooo good after being so hungry.

Wanda came back after a couple of minutes to take my plate and retie my arms. I let her, not because I wanted to, but because she'd just saved my life.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked.

"Because I rather like you," she replied. "You are a selfless woman, and nothing like your father,"

It took me a second to realize that she was talking about Tony Stark, not my dead biological father.

"How would you know that about me?" I asked, curiously.

"Oh, Ultron tells us everything," she responded. "He told us how you hacked Stark Industries and stole 2/3 of their net worth. I applaud you for that,"

I glanced down. "I'm not proud of everything I did as Disloyal," 

"You should be," Wanda told me, starting to walk away with my plate. "Never apologize for being able to do things that others can't,"

With that final note, she left the room, leaving me alone once again.