MUTT

SEVEN

I wake up to see these bright brown eyes staring at me. I open my mouth to scream but a hand comes down on my mouth.

"It's me, Bruce!" he whispers. "You won't shout, right?"

I carefully nod and he slowly raises his hand. I stay quiet.

"Why are you here?" I ask.

"I'm a doctor aren't I?" he retorts.

"Not that type of doctor." I shoot back. "You're a scientist. Not a human doctor."

"You got me." he smiles.

"You still didn't answer my question," I say. He hands me a glass of water. "I am here because I was told that you were injected with a similar gamma chemical like me."

I nod and take a sip of water. I wonder if I will be like him. I think.

"No, you won't turn into a big green fighting machine!" Bruce chuckles, leaning his elbows on the side of the bed.

I nod again and lean back on the fluffy crown of pillows surrounding my head. "When can I leave from here?" I ask. I take another sip of water.

"Now if you'd like. You've been resting enough." He says grabbing something from the table beside me.

"How long?"

He pauses. "A month."

"How come nobody woke me up!?"

Bruce freezes entirely. "Because... you died." He quickly adds, "Mavis hypnotized your heart to start again."

"Oh."

He hands me a clear plastic Ziploc bag with dozens of tiny vials filled with sickly purple liquid.

"What's this?"

"Your medicine. You have to take before you go to bed and after you wake up."

I flip back the covers and I tense when I see the lower half of my body. Scars of the torture I endured a month ago litter my body.

Bruce touches my shoulder gently, "There's something's that never go away." He whispers before handing me a pair of sweats.

I slip them on and they disappear from sight but not from mind. Bruce was right there are something's that never go away.

//...//

I stand in the glass elevator, waiting for it to reach the top floor of the S.H.I.E.L.D building. The setting sun casts rainbow glares through the elevator making me happy.

The doors open and I walk down the hallway to the lounge room at the end of the hall. I see Luna, Calvin, Willow, Leo, Hunter and Mavis hanging out. Willow is playing with a holographic car game with Calvin on the floor; Mavis reads a book on the couch with her legs draped over Leo who's listening to music; Hunter stacks cards into a castle and Luna lays sprawled out on the other couch sleeping.

I quietly slip into the room, hoping that no one will notice me. Willow immediately figures out that I'm there. She drifts in her game crashing into a car and glances at me, smiling.

"Hey guys," I say quietly.

Everyone stops what they're doing and looks at me.

"Hey, girly." Mavis smiles.

Hunter nods a welcome and continues stacking his cards. Calvin winks at me as he side bashes Willow's car.

"Heyy!" she pouts but quickly grins as she blows him up.