DAYWALKER | n.romanoff

TWO

CHAPTER TWO
' I DON'T WANT YOUR PITY. '

The Blade stared at Zola's smiling face, and her jaw clenched. The chaos behind her became only background noise when her composure snapped. Ripping her sword from its sheath, she let out a roar of frustration and began to batter the computer and monitors. She bared her teeth and grunted with every swing of her sword and fists.

She thought she heard Zola laughing, but she didn't know if it was just her mind playing tricks on her.

The missile impacted the building, and the explosion threw the Blade in every direction. She collided particularly hard with a piece of concrete, and the clang resonated over the crashing and burning around her. Then, she blacked out.

"Elowyn Auclair, isn't it?"

She peered out of the blanket she huddled behind. The room was in utter darkness aside from the fluorescent light of the monitor mounted on the wall opposite her. It illuminated the shadows curled around her feet, and they lounged like cats in the sun. They perked up, though, when the man with glasses spoke.

Silence followed his words as the young girl only stared at him.

"It's a very beautiful name." He smiled. "My name is Doctor Arnim Zola. I'm here to help you."

You don't need help. One of the voices snapped, bearing its pin-sharp teeth.

"I don't need help," she repeated, her voice high and sulky, and she buried herself behind the blanket again, hiding from the harsh light and his peering eyes. "I want my papa."

"Oh, Kleiner Schatz, your papa sent me here."

Papa? The shadows hissed.

"Papa?"

"You are sick. I'm going to heal you."

Dust drifted through the air with an eerie silence. Beams stuck upwards to prevent the ceiling from caving in over the Blade's lifeless form. When the rubble on the other side of the room shifted, her eyes fluttered under the helmet's eyeholes. Rogers emerged from under his shield, pulling Romanoff out after him and laying her unconscious body on the ground. He looked around the destruction before carefully moving towards the Blade, his face unreadable as he tested each step in a measured way. He reached her side and gently sank to one of his knees.

"Touch me, and I'll cut you into tiny pieces." Her voice was raspy, making her usual drawl more rough.

Ignoring her threat, he stared as she slowly unfolded with a groan. One of her hands moved to rub a spot over her helmet where the metal had dented from the impact of the beam. "How are you still alive?"

The Blade ignored him, slowly turning in a circle to inspect the devastation around them. Nothing of the computer or Zola was left standing. At least, it seemed that way from the small amount of light which managed to peer through the gaps in the rubble. "The question you should be asking is how we're getting out of this place."

With a sharp hit to her ribs, the Blade's wheeze slowly disappeared as she ventured into the centre of the chaos.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

She stopped, her hand still resting over her side. "Who said I was coming with you? We have different ways of working, Captain, and what I want to do to the people who hurt me won't fall into your list of acceptable actions."

"I know you've suffered-"

Slowly, she turned to face him. "-Don't finish that sentence. Not if you want to keep your tongue. I don't need your help. I don't need anyone."