afterglow - tony stark

29

          Eira and James (because that's what she'd taken to calling him when they were alone) had to be careful. She couldn't just tell him everything she learned about his life when they had eyes and ears everywhere.

          So he would leave the door cracked at night and she would tell him a couple, small things at night. Her voice was so soft and lulled him into memories. They were blurred and fleeting but there nonetheless.

             As they did this, he started to notice that she would play with a yellow butterfly. (It had finally hatched out of its cocoon). It would fly around her face and she had a bright smile as it did so. One time, it even landed on her nose and she had let out a small, quiet giggle; a sound that didn't belong in a place like this.

He'd never seen anything, anyone, so bright in a place so dark. And that was the day he started to associate Eira with the light. As someone who was a butterfly that should fly away into the sun, where she was supposed to be.

He started to feel protective over her although he didn't quite know that was what he was feeling. When she was around Valonkov, his chest would grow tight. When she was hurt, his muscles tensed as if to leap into action.

But he kept those feelings on a leash. He stayed frozen like he'd never come out of the chamber. It wouldn't be good for either of them if he came to her defense. Although, one day, he wished so badly he would have...

_____

Eira learned that HYDRA had recreated someone like her. They succeeded with examining her blood and identifying the key characteristics. They had created a serum and given it to a woman.

Eira was brought into a ring-like structure with chain link fences. A woman stood there with a smirk before raising her hand up and vines grew out of the ground.

Her eyes widened as she saw her own powers displayed by someone else. She was confused about why exactly she was there as she saw people stand outside the fences, watching in anticipation.

But then the woman jutted her hand out and Eira was thrown back with the wind into the fence. Things were clear then; they wanted to see if their creation could beat the original.

Eira glared as she held onto the fence for support before she stood up completely and jutted her hand out in the same fashion. Only the air and the wind was so much stronger that the woman was thrown through the fence.

Eira stalked towards her and walked through the hole in the fence. As she approached the woman that was still on the ground, she was suddenly brought to her knees by the chip in her neck.

Her muscles spasmed as she heard Valonkov call out, "Enough. That will be all for today."

Her Soldier quickly grabbed her to bring her back to her cell and she held onto him for support. She heard the woman mutter angrily like she was displeased that she couldn't continue.

When she was back in her cell, she sat against the wall by the door (where the cameras couldn't see). She breathed heavily as she tried to get through shocks.

James muttered through the crack in the door, "Don't get so angry."

HYDRA wouldn't allow anything to hurt their newest prize. Especially, not her anger.

"I am angry."

"Rest, бабочка," he kept calling her that name but she didn't know Russian. If she would've asked, he would've softly told her that it meant butterfly. "You'll need it."

And he shut the door.

She was left in the dark again but that was nothing new. She started to think about how they did recreate her. They could send out that woman to do their bidding and there was nothing that was going to stop her.

But there was someone that was going to try...Tony.

She couldn't let someone like her get out into the world. She wouldn't. And tears stung her eyes at the thought of she would have to do, what she vowed she'd never do again but what she would do regardless.

______

Eira wiped blood from her nose after she'd been thrown into the wall by the woman. It was the next day and they were in the ring again; she was letting herself get beat deliberately.

"This is a superhero," the woman grabbed her by her hair as she whispered. "Not much of one."

Then the woman used the wind to throw her into the wall again. She stalked towards Eira before clapping was heard.

"Well done," Valonkov uttered as the woman turned to smirk proudly before he turned to the other powerful men with interests in this experiment. "As you can see, this will be a new age for HYDRA..."

This was exactly what Eira was waiting on. She wanted Valonkov to be distracted and proud as she crushed his dreams.

Eira raised her hand slightly (she could only ever use one hand) and vines grew out of the ground so quickly like a snake striking. They wrapped around the head of the woman...and snapped it.

The body of the woman fell to the ground in front of her and Eira had tears in her eyes. Of course, the woman was evil but...she still killed a person when she swore she'd never do it again.

"No!" Valonkov shouted in alarm before he used the device. "You insolent girl."

She writhed in pain on the ground. Then he pressed it again and again and again...

At one point, she wasn't sure she was even living anymore. She could feel her heart do strange rhythms, slowing then racing. Her whole body was numb and she couldn't feel anything; she felt paralyzed except for when the electric shocks made her muscles contract without her control.

Bucky watched in alarm. Her eyes looked lifeless and that made him afraid. It was odd to find a friend in a place like this but he almost considered her one.

"Take her away," Valonkov demanded once he was done torturing her.

Bucky quickly scooped her up off the ground and into his arms, carrying her bridal style. She was taken back to her cell and she only laid on the floor. She didn't feel like she could move even if she wanted to.

Her butterfly flew around her before landing on her cheek like it was sad. But she watched it fly up to a crack in the corner of the ceiling; she always felt a cold draft there. Then her butterfly left.

She wondered if it would fly in the sun. Then she started to cry as she started to think she was no longer like a butterfly that belonged in the sun. No, she made hearts stop and minds go dark. She was a killer just like all the rest of them and she belonged here, in the dark, for all of her crimes.