Breaking point

Chapter 42 - Iconic

A/n this is in fact unedited I'm sorry I'm just working on pulling the plot in one direction atm so yeah also Mature themes like torture are in this chapter so yeah <3<3

4 Days of pure torture and you wouldn't of been able to tell. Thanks to Hydras advanced technology and Akilina ability to heal she somehow managed to look healthier then when she arrived. Fresh cuts scarred over after meer hours of receiving them. There was something poetically ironic about it, Akilina's fast physical healing yet her deteriorating mental state. She felt bruised and broken on the inside but her DNA simply couldn't allow here to look the way she felt, for more than a couple of hours anyways.

Akilina somewhat relied on the validation of her superiors. After the failed mission she felt utterly worthless. An unusual emotion for someone so young, but a valid one for her circumstances. But in some ways that worthless motivated her dangerously. Akilina would do anything to stop the feeling. If that meant getting up when her body told her to stay down or pulling a risky move or take a few hits she'd do it in a heart beat.

Impulsiveness and recklessness were toxic traits of Akilinas. Traits that she'd never grow out of. In fact they seemed to worsen .

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"So let me get this straight, you two took a nice little trip to Russia, tried a mocha late for the first time, nearly got assassinated, found a dead hydra snitch, got called out on your patenting by a terrorist organisation, and left. Is that all, and I right?" Sam ranted slightly confused.

"Nope, that's pretty much what went down" natasha confirmed sipping her smoothie nonchalantly.

"Any word on who exactly pulled the trigger?" Steve questioned the pair

" all the cameras were blank. Shuri looked into it a little more. The footage was downloaded then completely deleted. No word on who downloaded it." Bucky informed.

"That's unfortunate. Should we send an alert out to the rest of the team? Hydras got an assassin with good aim on their side" Wanda spoke.

She and Vision were just passing through, it was rare for this many of them to be altogether in person. Sam, Nat, Steve, Bucky, Wanda and Vision all sat in the kitchen of Steve's temporary motel room.

Not very spacious but it does its job.

"I'll send out a text. I wouldn't make a big deal out if it. We don't know if Barnes was the only target or their picking off specific people, like avenger associates or just people against hydra generally"

"I see, makes sense."

Natasha turned to Steve " was there any development in the other case?"

"Nothing much. Nothing at all actually." Nat furrowed her eyebrows actually displaying her confusion for once.

"That's" she paused "unusual"

"we've stumbled into something we probably should of stayed out of"

"that's actually not unusual for us"

"true, very true."

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The hot sun bet down on Akilina's back as she stood near the lake close to the house. Shawn had picked her up and brought her home.

Akilina put her bag away, showered and changed into something looser. The weather here was the type of warm that just sat in the air and made the air feel almost thick.

So here she was sat on the creaking wooden dock, bare feet dangling over the water.

Cameron had brought her with him and his friends who where laughing over at a picnic table. She felt almost peaceful gazing out at the water. It was almost comical, the stark contrast between today and yesterday.

Yesterday Akilina was being beaten mercilessly, burned, drowned, cut what ever the sadistic minds of her torturers could come up with and today, today Akilina was sitting by a lake, bright green 3/4 length shorts slightly sandy, being carefully watched by someone she'd consider as her only family, not a drop of her own blood spilt.

"Watcha thinking squirrel?" conner, one of Cameron's friends spoke from behind her.

"That I'm probably getting sun burnt" she lied skillfully not an ounce of doubt in conners mind.

"Oh yeah. You've already been burnt, crispy. Any longer out here and you'll burst into flames."

Akilina smiled at him.

"come on small one. Get some shade, annoy cam into getting us both ice-cream, how's that sound."

"Fun" she faked enthusiastically, though she did like ice-cream.

Conner stopped suddenly as the pair walked to the small group of friends. He had a big smile on his face as he pulled a red pair of sunglasses out of his pocket.

He put on the red heart shaped sun glasses and looked at Akilina "you like em?"

Akilina giggled "very cool"

"that they are" he spoke before pulling out a second smaller pair.

"We can twin. Share the coolness."

Handing the pair to Akilina she wasted no time in putting them on.

"Thank you"

"No problem squirrel."

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"Oh please" Conner begged Cameron shamelessly for ice-cream.

"Dude no" he laughed out.

"Don't make me bring out the big guns" Connor warned.

" go ahead. The answer isn't gonna fucking change."

"I'm not sure about that."

Connor turned around whispering to Akilina "remember the plan" before picking her up and holding her out to Cameron.

Akilina pouted her lips, put her hands together, and gave him the best puppy eyes she could muster.

This has to count as another power of hers because it always seemed to work and that's how Cameron, Connor and Akilina stood outside a local ice-cream shop.

Two of them having grins on their faces as they ate their 'free' ice-cream.

Akilina's mood dropped slightly as the voice in her head made an appearance for the first time in days.

if shit keeps going like this ima get whiplash from your emotions alone never mind Shawn's shitty driving.

All Akilina did in response was pull down her new sunglasses over her eyes, ate a big spoonful of ice cream and pretended everything was normal.

That she was normal.