Lark

Petit Oiseau

Aria's POV September 22nd

She couldn't take in a full breath. She needed to get out of here, right now! Aria quickly and carefully glanced out of the room she was taking cover in from the Sparrows she'd seen dashing down the hall ahead of her. Were they after her for deserting them? Why were they still working with what was left of Hydra? What did they want with the team?

All good questions that she wasn't even close to having answers to and wouldn't in her panic. Closing her eyes Aria tried to center herself by taking a deep breath. She could do this; she wasn't alone; Steve, Bucky, Loki and Tony were with her this time. When whispers that Hydra had been heard to be recruiting they jumped at the chance to shut them down. What they'd done was jump right into a trap completely outnumbered. Somehow Hydra and the Crimson Sparrows had joined forces wanting to take out as many of the Avengers as they could.

"Oh, petit oiseau… Come out and sing for your master. How I've missed the sweet music you used to make for me." Aria blanches at the sound of Henri's melodic voice floating tauntingly down the hall towards her.

Gone immediately was the self-assured woman capable of taking out whole rooms of insurgents. In her place was the girl who had been trapped in a locked room with a monster for five years before she could escape. Her heart started to beat in double time as she heard his footsteps coming towards the door where she was hiding. Aria clamped a shaking hand over her mouth and nose to stifle her heavy breathing. As best she could Aria made herself as small as possible so as to make herself unseen from the large window in the door.

'Please go past. Please don't stop. Please, please, please!'

She silently repeated this mantra over and over in her head with her eyes squeezed shut. It was like she had been transported back to her room at the Nest hoping and praying that he wouldn't stop at her door. Unlike the past, his steps continue down the hall as did the sound of his taunts. Tearfully Aria let out the breath she'd been holding and slowly began to creep out of her hiding spot. Silently making sure the coast was clear before sprinting down the hall. "Anyone near the offices? I need immediate assistance and extraction." She quietly relayed into her comm as she continued to sprint in the opposite direction that Henri had gone.

"Negative. Buck and I are pinned down on the east side of the building." Steve's strained voice informed her with concern. More for her than for themselves and the army of agents trying to kill him and Bucky at the moment.

"I can get there. But it's going to take me a minute or two." Tony tells her. The sounds of his repulsors going off in the background as he fought off his own opposition came through the comms.

"Please hurry!" Her barely contained panic manages to slip through a little as she hears the quick steps of someone running behind her.

"Just hang on a little longer, Ninja. I'm on my way." Immediately on alert he picks up her desperation and becomes more than a little worried. Aria was always calm and collected while in the field so what could have made her sound like this?

"Please hurry, Tony. He's here!" Aria couldn't contain the sob she was choking back from slipping out as she yanks on locked doors along the hall, trying to find a new place to hide.

"Shit!" He knew exactly who He was and  knew they needed to get Aria out of here immediately. "Find a place to hide if you can. Loki, get to Aria we need to get her out of here now." He demanded of the god.

"I find myself a little preoccupied at the moment, Stark." He says to Tony before softening his tone towards her, unaware of why her extraction in the middle of this  fire-fight was so important. "Aria, do as he says and hide. I will find you." No one knew outside of Tony and Dr Kent and if she could help it no one else would know of her shame.