The Avengers Are My Family

One More Day

The next 91 days were brutal. Poor Drew was endlessly experimented on and endlessly punished for doing nothing but breathing. Once in a while, Drew would slip up and do something she wasn't allowed to do, like cry out in pain or backtalk a soldier, or something like that. Drew's body is now littered with bruises and scars of all shapes and sizes. Tomorrow is the day that Drew is going back to the Red Room. While at Hydra, something happened that Drew never thought would be possible. She couldn't believe it but, compared to Hydra, she actually missed the Red Room. She missed her group. She missed doing Ballet. She missed doing gymnastics. She missed shooting practice and the gun sequences that she does during hand-to-hand combat training. She used to hate those because she had to kill a girl every time she did the sequences. She even missed doing missions, well, more like being out in the world. She never liked the missions because they almost always involve killing someone or some people.

Drew is currently being strapped to the contraption for the umpteenth time during this stay at Hydra. Drew sets her teeth as the needles are stuck in her arms. Some soldiers beat her as the experiment takes place. She lets out a small whimper as a blow is administered to her cheek. "Extra punishment after this is over for whimpering," says one of the soldiers. Drew stays still as she doesn't dare nod, or a worse punishment will occur. She thinks to herself, "Where's Bucky when I need him?"

After hours of experimentation, Drew is unstrapped and lead to a room that she, unfortunately, knows all too well. There is a tank in the middle of the room with shackles inside, and a hose is on the floor next to it. A Hydra soldier lifts her into it, fully dressed. They shackle her to the tank so she can't escape, then they fill the tank up with water until she is fully submerged. Before the water is over her head, Drew takes a big gulp of air and closes her eyes. The first minute and a half give or take a few, aren't so bad. Then as time goes on, it gets a lot harder. Unfortunately, Drew starts thrashing around, making things worse for herself. Thirty seconds later, she falls unconscious. The Hydra soldiers leave her there for about five minutes before draining the water and carrying her through the halls to her room. As they walk down the halls, Bucky gets a glimpse of poor Drew and feels terrible. But unfortunately, there's nothing he can do. He wishes he was the one carrying her. He would set her down softly and cover her with a blanket vs. what the soldiers will do to her. The soldiers set her down, scratch that, drop her from a foot above her cot before leaving the room and locking the door behind them.

Drew wakes up soaking wet, freezing, and shaking. She's still in her soaked clothes. She changes into the scratchy t-shirt and shorts that Hydra provided for her and sits back down on her cot. She curls up in a ball to conserve her body heat since her "blanket" is soaked. Drew feels super weak and can barely move.

A few hours later, Bucky walks in and drags her to the training room. They fight as usual, except Drew is barely able to throw or block any punches or kicks. This results in her getting more bruises to add to her "collection." Bucky genuinely feels sorry for Drew. If he could do anything to help her, he would do it in a heartbeat. He wouldn't care how badly he would get punished for helping her. They mostly circle each other, so Bucky doesn't have to hurt Drew too much. Drew can barely stand. They have to fight a little bit, though, or who knows what kind of trouble they'll be in. Drew kicks and punches Bucky with all of the strength that she could muster. To Bucky, Drew's kicks and punches felt like playful punches and kicks compared to what he's used to. Bucky's punches which weren't even at his full strength, are just too much for Drew to take. One of them hits her on the ribs, and Drew falls to the ground where she hits her head and ends up unconscious for the second time that day. A little blood comes from Drew's head from the fall.

Bucky carefully picks her up and carries her through the maze-like hallways of the Hydra base until they end up at her room, where he opens the door and sits on Drew's cot with her in his lap as he patches up the small wound and a few others before carefully moving her off of his lap and onto her cot. He pulls her now dry blanket over her, and he walks towards the door of her room. He turns around, and a small toothless smile appears on his face as he glances at her little fragile, bruise and scar-covered frame one more time before he erases the smile as he walks out and locks the door as usual.

Bucky nods to the guards outside of Drew's door, and then he proceeds down the hall to the main room where the main scientists are talking. He sits at one of the tables, which has a bunch of screens showing various camera views. Boy, does he hope that no one saw him patching up Drew or smiling. That would be the end of him. No one except Drew knows that his brainwash wore off. Every time he is asked, "Ready to comply?" he says "Yes," emotionless like he does when he is brainwashed. He hangs out in the main area for a little while before walking back to the training room to use the punching bags. He thinks about the way that Hydra is treating Drew as he punches. He lands one of his punches with so much force that he breaks the punching bag. Who knew that he could care so much about a little girl.