Hydra's shadow

Chapter 3: All Too Familiar Words

*ECHO'S POV*

"Echo, is that really your name?" a man I now know to be Steve Rogers, or so he calls himself 'Captain America' asks with a still puzzled look on his face.

"That's what I've been told." I respond as he raises an eyebrow in question, "Don't ask me I didn't choose it." I finished, just in time for Tony to nudge his way into the conversation.

I've only known him for a few minutes but by the end of his questioning I can already feel myself getting agitated by his cocky and way too high of an ego.

"Where did you find her then Peter?" he asks, diverting his piercing but not at all intimidating gaze away from me towards the young boy hovering just a few feet beside me.

"I was doing my daily routine checks around the city and I saw her on the rooftop of the abandoned building over on fifth avenue" Peter begun, not managing to get many more words in before I shot him my best impression of a stern warning look which quickly altered his tone, "and sh- she uh- umm."

"Yes Peter?"

"She was asleep and I just wanted to make sure she wouldn't freeze to death so I brought her here down to the medbay earlier this morning."

His voice had begun to shake and resigned at a higher pitch than normal, leaving Tony unconvinced but he clearly couldn't be bothered to persist any longer as it was clear Peter wasn't going to spill anytime soon.

"Right well I guess I better introduce you to the team then Echo. You already know Steve Rogers, then there's Wanda, Vision, Sam, Rhodey and Bruce. "Unfortunately not the full team, the others are out on a mission."

"Tony! That's classified!" Steve motions, alllowing him respond with a sarcastic comment.

"Relax old man what's a teenager gonna do with that information?"

"You're not from around here are you Echo?" questions Banner, causing me to glance up from the floor following the voice towards the corner of the sofa.

"What makes you say that?" I ask, the question pondering a rather rational response from Banner.

"Your accent. I'm thinking Russian."

"Something like that yeah."

Tony who clearly had a hard time establishing what the hell was going on, began to speak again, rubbing his palm up against his temple as he struggled to figure out just quite what he was trying to say,
"So wha- how- let me just get this straight. Peter found you on the rooftop of an abandoned building with no explanation as to how you got up there in the first place, you're a Russian teenager in New York, and you have absolutely no idea how you got here, just that you're not safe out there?!"

Before I could respond a low humming sound filled the tense and awkward atmosphere, resonating through the living room sending a nearby glass toppling over the kitchen counter, leaving shattered glass fragments all over the floor.

"Cap what have I told you about leaving glasses out you do it all the time, honestly I should start charging you for all the ones you've broken!" Tony remarked just as quickly as the response from Steve escaped his mouth in frustration.

"Well maybe if you used some of your billions of dollars to fix the problem our living room wouldn't feel like an earthquake every time the quinjet lands?!"

"Okay relax capsicle" adds Tony as a last effort to piss Steve off. I've noticed Tony really loves to push people's buttons, and I have to admit I'm not a fan of it.

Levelled just below the living room, looking out of the enormous glass-paned windows, I could just make out three figures walking along the landing pod for what I believe Steve to have called a 'quinjet'.

"Well Echo it looks like you're going to meet the rest of the team after all." Tony gestured towards me, as the three figures seen below just a minute before entered the living room.

The first to meet my eyeline was a man who looked to be about 40, with a sling of arrows wrapped around his left shoulder. Just behind him came the other two, a redhead who couldn't have been any taller than me, and beside her with his hand casually drawn across her lower back was another man with darkened brown scruffy hair that sat just above his shoulders, though one thing that jumped out at me most was his left arm made of metal with a star inscribed on the side. I'd seen that star before I was sure of it, but quickly pushed the thought to the back of my mind when Tony begun to introduce me, which despite his best efforts made the situation even more confusing, to the point where Peter had to step in and take over the conversation much to Tony's unliking.

"Echo this is Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, that's Bucky, and this is Natasha, the infamous Black Widow."

At the sound of those two all too familiar words I felt my heart drop down through my chest as my breath became shallow and restricted, I could hear the faint sounds of voices around me as my vision went blurry. I could feel electricity pulsing through my veins, it's like I was back there. Back in The Room.

"Echo, are you ok? Echo? ECHO?!"

I couldn't figure whose voice it was but by their tone I figured it had to be Peter.

"I- I- I can't breathe" was all I could muster as my legs buckled beneath me sending me crashing to the floor.

I felt someone's hand under my arm supporting me up as I struggled to hold my weight. I held my head just enough to face the redhead, the infamous Black Widow.

"It's you. You're the reason this happened." I begun my voice reaching a higher tone as I continued.

Natasha was now staring at me along with everyone else, yet she especially had a confused look plastered across her face as I began to yell louder,
"YOU'RE THE REASON FOR ALL OF IT."

"I- I don't understand, who are you?" Natasha responded, this unknown to her making me even more angered.

I lunged for her as a spark shot out of my fingertip shooting itself straight through her shoulder.

"HE TOLD ME I WAS MADE TO BE YOU. TO BE HIS NEXT BLACK WIDOW."

Natasha cried out in pain and fell to the ground just a few feet from me, and I saw her expression go neutral, completely blank with terror as she clutched her shoulder wincing as the blood started to drip down her shirt. Bucky instantly stood in my way as I reached for her again, but his physical barrier was nothing against my abilities. I couldn't control it. It was just like The Room. But I didn't want to control it. I wanted Natasha to feel the pain. I wanted her to experience the torture I had endured for years on end, all because of her. Everyone in the room was yelling at me begging me to stop as Natasha began choking, gasping for breath as I held my gaze controlling the power. I had focused it, I could target it. The initial anger on Bucky's face had drained and had now been replaced with panic as he begged me to stop hurting her. It only made me tighten my grip as Natasha yelled out in pain, her voice strangled and hoarse. They were pulling me back now but I kept my power focused, never breaking eye contact with her as she pleaded with me to stop. Begging for me to let her go. Then just like that it all went black. A harsh blow to the head and I was out.