Darkened Shadows

Chapter 6

Turns out, when you tell a group of do-gooders that you don't really have a name, they kind of flip shit on you. From horrified exclamations, to indifferent eyerolls, the 'Avengers', as they told me they were called, said that they would help me find a name for myself, as long as I let Dr. Banner give me a proper medical checkup.

For some fucking reason, I said okay.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still super tense and weary of them all, but as none of them have tried to kill or drug me just quite yet, I like them a hell of a lot more than Hydra. Also, they said that they'd get me out of the stupid ass harness so I could actually stretch my wings and let them heal properly.

Now I'm in an elevator going down into the compound with Dr. Banner and Winter, or I guess he's not Winter anymore. He told me his name was actually James Buchanan Barnes, or just simply, Bucky Barnes. I was kind of jealous. He had a name that he could turn to once he had gotten rid of what Hydra had made him into. I had nothing. No name, no family, no history outside of that god-awful science cult.

Once the elevator stopped, Banner led up to his lab, which was nowhere near as sinister feeling as the ones I was used to, but I still fucking hated it. Doc walked right in, not noticing that I had come to a stop, but seeing as he was behind me, Bucky did. I didn't even say anything before he spoke up.

"Bruce is nothing like the men at Hydra. He's kind and won't force you to do anything against your will. But if you are difficult, he will get pretty annoyed; I would know."

I turned to look at him and he continued.

"I used to be like you when it came to doctors and labs. I was afraid that they were going to hurt me or that I would end up hurting them in some way instead. But every time I needed to get something done in a lab, I was just fine, and you will be too."

I just stared up at this man that I had only previously known as an emotionless assassin. Hydra had almost erased this sweet, caring man from the world, and they almost did the same thing to me as well. I took a deep breath, nodded, and then turned around and walked into the room to where Bruce was waiting for us.

He gave me a soft smile. "Alright, so I'm just going to give you a basic physical to begin with and we can go from there. Nothing too intense."

I was grateful for their kindness, but I couldn't help but think that it would all fall down around me at any second. The façade would break and I'd be on my own.

I swallow my fear and the physical begins. Apparently, I am 5 feet and 10 inches tall, which is taller than the average eighteen year old. We don't know the exact date of my birth, but that's how old Bruce and Bucky deduced I'd be. Bruce took a blood sample, which I fought pretty hard against before they told me they could use it to possibly find any family I might have. My blood type is O-, and all that I could gather from the rather long speech Bruce gave me was that when being treated in a medical emergency, unless my blood type was on hand, I would bleed out.

Great.

I was kind of malnourished, but I wasn't frail. I had plenty of muscle mass, but I had never really been fed properly. Honestly, he didn't need to test for that, I could've just told him.

Next step: x-rays. For this, Bruce said he needed to remove the harness on my wings, which was proving to be more difficult than expected. There were no obvious straps or ways to get it off and it seemed to be leather intermixed with stands of vibranium.

Again, great.

We had to get the tin can, who's name I found out to be Tony Stark, to help us. He wasn't very happy with that. According to Bucky, it had taken a while for Stark to be alright with Bucky being around, due to the fact that he killed his parents when he was the Winter Soldier or something. He brought a tool from his little workshop that made quick work of the straps. He did grumble the whole time about how they should've kept the leash on the canary, the asshat.

With my wings free, I took a deep breath and tried to unfurl them. I winced and cursed the entire time, they were still, very obviously, broken. They wouldn't straighten completely due to the breaks, so they hung at odd angles to the sides of me.

"Holy shit kid. What the fuck did they do to you?"

Without turning to look at Stark I replied, "whatever was necessary to ensure that I couldn't leave."

After a brief awkward silence, Bruce coughs and directs me to get my x-rays taken care of. I was wondering why they had all this medical shit in their base, but I figured that they must get hurt pretty often. It was a bit of a hassle to get my wings x-rayed, but we got it done.

They're broken in five different places each. Fuck.

I tried sending some darkness to heal them faster, but apparently bones weren't a part of the healing agreement. Lucky me. So Banner decided to splint my wings to make sure that they don't heal incorrectly. However, Banner isn't a veterinarian, he doesn't know how to splint wings. So he called up a doctor friend who is a vet and received a quick how-to splint a bird's wing tutorial. I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that I needed to be treated like an injured songbird, but Stark thought it was amusing. He stopped the second Bruce cut open my shirt to access my wings better. Knowing that they were seeing the scars from being whipped, I reminded them, whatever it took to make sure I couldn't leave.

Another thing that the x-rays brought to attention was the fact that all of my bones are hollow, not just the ones in my wings. I mean, it makes sense. I wouldn't be able to fly if my body was overly dense, now would I? So now my wings were free, and yet, they still aren't. Banner said that it would be about a month or so until I could fly again, maybe sooner due to my fast healing. I was upset nonetheless.

Now that we were finished, Bucky was taking me back up to the main floor where the rest of the Avengers were. The whole process took about two and a half hours. I was done being in that lab. I fucking hated it, too many bad memories.

The ride up was short and soon enough we were out and facing the people who, in less than twenty-four hours, had rescued me from Hydra, threatened me, and then shown me more care than I had even thought was possible.

Once Bucky and I walked into the room, all conversation halted. They looked at me like they were deciding what to do with me, which I guess they were. The silence was broken by the one I was told was Natasha Romanoff.

"What the fuck are you wearing?"

I looked down at my shirt, or better yet, what remained of it. After Bruce cut it and bandaged my wings, I had to tie it in the back below my wings so I didn't flash the boys back in the lab. The jagged edges leading down to the knot were hanging at my sides, barely covering them.

"Uh, my shirt?"

Immediately she stood up and headed towards Bucky and I. I took a defensive stance as she grabbed my arm and started leading me down a hallway. "Come on Wanda," she shouted over her shoulder.

I could hear small, yet quick footsteps catching up to us as I heard Stark yell, "What the fuck are you doing Romanoff?! I thought we were going to ask her more questions!"

"Interrogating her can wait, I've decided it's girl time Stark."

I was left being dragged by this scarlet-haired assassin to god-knows where, being tailed by a witch, and all I could think was, what the fuck is 'girl time'?