Resilient

Chapter 1

BOOM

Evelyn woke with a start. She heard the sirens indicating an attack and then the footsteps of the soldiers running down the hall. She looked around her dark cell and realized she was still strapped to the bed. She fought against her restraints as the noise of fighting from down the hall met her ears.

She had been praying for the day the Hydra base was found; she thought it would never happen. She screamed as she continued to pull on her arm restraints, but she was too weak from the last round of torture and lack of food.

"Help - someone please help me," she cried out - her voice little over a whisper. No, they won't be able to hear me. The constant rounds of torture had left her with such a weak voice she knew they wouldn't be able to find her. Tears welled in her eyes - she was going to be left behind.

As she closed her eyes she felt the tears streaming out of her eyes; she didn't know she had any tears left in her body. She saw the image of her family; her Dad, Mom, and younger sister. It had been so long since they were taken from her. Her heart ached and she fell further in despair to be reminded she was so alone.

"What are these rooms?", she heard a voice ask. She didn't recognize the voice but she remembered that her guard and the soldiers were instructed to not speak around her. However, this voice not knowing what these rooms were for made her heart jump.

Evelyn started to shake her wrists harder and kick trying to make noise, but there was no hope her body was barely moving them even though she was using all her strength. "Help! I'm in here" she said as she heard the footsteps move further down the hall. Her voice strained at the use.

"No, no please don't go," she said as the voice faded. "I can't stay here - I don't want to die here", Evelyn panicked. The voices moved farther down the hall - she couldn't hear them anymore.

"No!" she screamed with all her might and felt her back arch off the bed letting the scream expand through her chest and fill the room. She felt all her pain and heartache being pushed away from her body. The lights above her on the bed swayed and flickered from the force. She felt a pop and immediately tasted the coppery flavor of blood.

"It came from this room", Evelyn heard a voice say. "I need some help here Cap - I can't get the door to open"

Evelyn's eyes started to flutter and she could tell she was losing consciousness from the exertion of her scream. The door shot open and light filled the dim room. It was too bright and she closed her eyes against the light. "Help me", Evelyn tried to say but no words came out.

"Oh my God!" the female voice said as Evelyn felt hands on her restraints "Stay with us" 

She felt her body being lifted off the cool metal bed and being cradled into someone's arms and against their chest. "Miss, you're safe now. We are getting you out of here", a kind voice said before she lost consciousness.

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On board the quinjet Evelyn is settled to a secured medical bed. The Avengers are strapped into the seats lining the walls. Battered and bruised and utterly exhausted.

"So much for this being an easy recon mission," Natasha said as she rubbed her hands together and flexed them. Her eyes were fixated on the floor in front of her.

"Intel said it was an abandoned base - we were just supposed to make sure there wasn't anything we could use left behind," Steve said head leaning against the back of the seat.

"Safe to say the intel was wrong," Natasha said leaning her head to the side and looking at the girl on the bed. Steve nodded in agreement; getting up to join Tony in the back to look at the woman they rescued.

"Cap," Tony said while scanning the body of the blonde woman on the table

"Tony," Steve replied nodding his head. "How are her vitals?"

Tony continued to pass his still-armored hand over her body, collecting as much data on the young woman as he could. "She is stable but she's been through a lot." Tony looked at the bruises on her body and how thin she was. "F.R.I.D.A.Y. can't get a clear age due to malnutrition and she isn't in any database so I can't get any background. I'm optimistic we can figure out more in the lab with Banner's help."

Steve looked at the woman on the table and examined her. She wore tattered scrubs and her blonde was knotted in spots. He saw the bruises on her wrists and ankles from the restraints - noticing the scars from her fighting against them. He was sure that there would be more bruises and scars he couldn't see; Bucky had told him that the tortures were varied and cruel. He thought back to her scream that alerted Natasha to her presence - he didn't think he would be forgetting the sound anytime soon.