Out of Time (Book 1)

Epilogue

2011

The sounds were strange, but the feel of the sheets and the smell of disinfectant were a small comfort. It felt like a hospital. There was a rhythmical beeping coming from the left and there were sounds of people, muffled and indistinct, but definitely there.

Her eyes flickered open.

She squinted at the bright lights above her and moved her hands up to rub over her face. She saw a thin bracelet around her wrist:

ROGERS, ELIZABETH G

Then some numbers. That didn't seem right. They weren't the numbers on her tags. She placed her hand around her neck. No tags. She started to breath faster, panicking, and the beeping increased its speed. She sat, quickly, making her head spin. Lifting her hands to her face again she then noticed a tube coming out of the back of her hand, a needle in her artery. As she stared, her hands began to glow. Flowing iridescent colours traced over her hands and the needle pushed itself out of her skin leaving no trace that it had been there.

With her breaths coming out as rapid pants and the beeping at her let hand side going into overdrive she looked up as the door burst open and two large men dressed in white ran into the room.

She let out a scream, and vanished.

There was a lone figure sat on the front steps of the old, familiar, apartment block. Betty was hunched in on herself, her head in her hands, her shoulders shook with dry sobs. A white hospital nightgown swamped her small frame, and her bare feet rubbed against each other anxiously. Steve waved Fury and the other agents back and approached his sister.

"Betty?" he gently spoke her name.

She lifted up her head at the sound of his voice, her face tearstained and hands shaking.

"Stevie?" her voice wavered. "What's goin' on?"

"I've got a lot to tell you." His tone was soothing.

He moved forward to sit next to her, but she scooted away from him, eyes wide with fear. She raised trembling hands that were glowing with a crystalline energy that traced down her arms and stared at them with a horrified expression.

"I don't know what's happening to me." She whispered hoarsely.

"I know some people who might," a voice said from the sidewalk. The guy wore a long leather coat, and an eyepatch.

Betty withdrew even further, curling her knees up to her chest.

"It's OK Betty, he's a...friend," Steve reassured, holding out his hand. "He can help you."

Betty's eyes flickered rapidly between her brother and the stranger, and Steve nodded in encouragement. She made her decision and slowly got to her feet, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. Steve gently placed his arm across her shoulders, and she flinched away at first, before allowing herself to be drawn closer to him. He guided his sister down the stairs and into the back of a large black vehicle, glancing back over his shoulder and sharing a concerned look with him before the stranger climbed behind the wheel and started to drive.

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Betty and Bucky's story will continue in The Second Hand Unwinds