The Experiment ✪

The Truth

Nick Fury had an almost comedic look of shock on his face as he swore at the sight of the healed wound, "you're enhanced?"
"Enhanced?"
"It's a posh way of asking if you have powers that were given to you." Natasha already looked better, if a little weak from the amount of blood loss,
"I don't know. I don't think so."
"What do you mean?"
"I first learnt about it during an experiment but they've been doing that since I was three, I survived many years where everyone else died so I think it has been keeping me alive."
"What exactly is it?"
"As far as I know I can heal, myself and others. And the power to heal comes with the power to kill." Steve and Sam gave each other a look and I could swear Natasha smiled slightly. I walked back over to my chair and sat down with my head in my hands.
"Who is everyone else?"
"The other kids, there are many of us. The doctors say they let them go once they're finished with them but uh, well I can feel it when their heart stops."
"Pierce is experimenting on kids?" the shock was clear in Steve's voice. Fury's head snapped up at that and as Steve explained I realised he was the man on the other end of the phone. The one who gave the orders,
"He wasn't the only one. There were people before him. It was the same with them, this Pierce man just let it continue."
"Jesus. Do you know if there are still kids there?"
"No. They all died. They stopped bringing them in a few days ago."
He nodded and Fury motioned us into a different room.

Maria Hill placed a black case on the table as Fury finished talking. She opened it as Natasha realised the need to stop the launch. Of what I didn't know but they sounded to serious for me to interrupt with questions so I just listened as they formed their plan and briefly argued over the collapsing organisation I presumed Fury ran. Once they had finished I sat straight up,
"I want to help."
"No." Steve said it before he'd had time to hear what I had said,
"Please. I've got to find Bucky, he is all I have."
"How old are you?"
"Eleven."
"You have your answer. We can't let a kid come with us." He looked at me and softened his tone slightly "look, we all know he's going to be there, I promise I'll find him and I will try and get him to come and see you. Okay?" I nodded. It was the best compromise I was going to get.

They all went off their separate ways and I was left sitting alone in that room contemplating every decision I had made in the past hour. These people were meant to be the bad guys and yet here I was, trusting them all because- I don't even know why. I told myself it was because they could help me but I knew that was a lie. I was just terrified and had no where else to go and at that moment these people wanted to protect me so I stayed because the prospect of running alone, of having papa sent after me to kill me, that was so much scarier.

I eventually found my way outside and up onto the top of the dam. Steve was there, staring out onto the forest around us and Sam was stood next to him. I could swear I saw a flash of guilt in his eyes as he abruptly stopped speaking when I came up on the other side of Steve. It was easy enough to guess who they were talking about,
"He isn't in control. You know that right?"
"I know."
"Did you know him? Before."
"We grew up together. He was- well he was very different back then."
"People don't truly change." I paused to think for a moment, "there are moments when he isn't under their control... has he always put a hand on your shoulder when he talks to you?"
"He still does that?"
"All the time, especially with his dramatic speeches. He likes to do dramatic speeches with lots of shoulder holding." Steve laughed softly,
"Maybe he hasn't changed so much."
We stood there together for a moment, just letting the silence wash over us. He pulled himself back and shook himself, walking off saying something about uniforms and war.

Sam led me back down to where everyone else was getting ready. He swung his suit of his shoulders. No one bothered to give me new clothes so I just sat there and waited. A few hours had passed by the time Steve returned with his uniform during which time Fury had determined it would be best if I tagged along with Maria Hill instead of staying put. I knew it was because he didn't want me running but still, it felt nice to be included. As we left Fury and Natasha went one way, Sam, Steve, Maria and I went the other. It didn't take me long to realise that all this superhero stuff came with a lot of walking, and running and very boring hours of doing absolutely nothing but waiting.

Sneaking into the building was surprisingly easy. Or maybe they were all just really really good at knocking out guards. I stuck behind them as we made our way to some kind of communications room. The people let us in the second they caught sight of a gun and they made no complaint as I took up residence on one of their wheely chairs. Steve gave some long ass speech about freedom and Hydra and all that. It was dramatic, that's one of the first things I learned. If you're going to be a hero you need to get damn good at being as dramatic as possible.

Steve and Sam left to hack the helicarrier things, honestly I had no clue of the imminent threat they posed to millions of live, I was just along for the ride and vainly hoping that my father would not abandon me. I pulled my chair up alongside Maria and watched the screen. She spoke to them every now and then while I kept an eye on the cctv. I could feel her heart racing faster as each minute passed. Her finger started tapping as the ten minute mark passed. Her knee started shaking at seven minutes. She visibly flinched at six minutes at the thud of two bodies outside the hall and spun around to see me standing, my hand clenched into a fist staring at the door.

I let out a shaky breath and fell back into my chair. At her concerned look I rolled my eyes,
"I didn't kill them. I just slowed their heartrate. They'll be fine in a few hours. Probably." I wasn't going to mention that I had never tested what happened if I stopped before their heart beat came to a halt.

There was a series of grunts and groans over the comms and then Sam's voice came through,
"Looks like papa's come for you Freya." I snorted,
"I'm not important. He's after you guys. I'm the cherry on the cake, it would be nice if I died but no one really gives a shit." Maria huffed a laugh next to me and I got an annoyed sound from Steve in between the huffs and puffs of his efforts to get to the server on the final helicarrier.

As the minutes passed and the sounds of Sam and Steve's separate fights continued over the comms I found my own finger beginning to tap against my knee off its own accord. Why I felt a sudden worry for these people was beyond me but as the countdown turned from minutes to seconds for the first time in my life I was concerned for someone other than papa or me. The relief I felt as Steve clicked the final server blade into position was something new and yet not unwelcome, just as the fear I felt as the carriers collapsed around him and pa- I mean Bucky (his real name will be less confusing to understand I'm sure) was different to the fear I had felt previously and the warm feeling that washed over me two hours later as we found him collapsed on the ground beside the lake, it was happiness. I had never felt it until that moment.