A Haunting Past: an Avengers/x-men fanfiction

Overwhelming Pain

I snap out of the memory and I feel myself shaking. This memory is just as painful to watch as it was to experience. I feel blood dripping out of my nose and I put the tissue back up to it. The silence is not present this time as the people watching us start to communicate with each other. I hear their voices raise in alarm as they discuss what happened to me five years ago.

The scars on my back never disappeared but then again that wasn't the last time I was whipped for disobeying Stryker. No, I was whipped four more times after that but the most lashes I ever received were thirteen. Stryker knew I wouldn't make it past that.

"How many more times were you...." A woman with short red hair asks.

"Four." I reply. "But I don't regret what I did to deserve each whipping." I tell them.

"What did you do to deserve this one?" I look to the voice and I see Tony Stark staring at me. I may have lived under Stryker's care but I did get to watch the news every once in a while. I try to find the right way to describe this.

"I ran away that morning, because I thought I could get away and Stryker wouldn't come after me. But as you can see he did and he punished me not just for running away, but for fighting back against the experiments over the years. So in essence it was his way of putting me in my place."

"How old were you in the first memory, Lady Allison?" The voice belonged to Thor, god of thunder. Again, I've seen him on the T.V. a couple of times and I have to admit I have a slight crush on him.

"Seven and I was ten in this last one." I reply as a headache starts to form in my brain. I could feel the headache slowly worsen as they all keep talking. I put a hand gently to my forehead wishing I could relieve the pressure.

"Allison are you alright?" A nurse asks me and I shake my head. She gently touches my shoulder but I can't bare to open my eyes. I lean my head forward so it rests in both of my hands.

"It's just a really bad headache." I tell her and she gently tries to help me to my feet. I feel myself start to black out and soon I'm collapsing towards the floor.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Allison blacked out shortly after she showed us her memory. Banner couldn't pin point the cause of her sudden loss of consciousness but he seemed to believe that it was the sudden flood of memories that we unleashed when we asked her to show us everything.

"How is she?" Captain asks as he comes into the room.

"Stable, but I just can't figure out what caused her to blackout." Banner says as he looks at the girl. She looks troubled even in her sleep and we could tell that she was being tormented by something.

"Was it the memories?" Natasha walks into the room. "Allison had a hard time after the first one, almost as if she's blocked it out all these years." Banner looks at the girl as if he's wondering if they were the cause of her torment.

"We all find ways to cope." Captain replies as he pauses to think. "We're all broken in one way or another, some just hold the pieces together better." Natasha nods her head in agreement and at that moment, Allison starts to come to.

"What happened?" She asks as she slowly opens her eyes. She gently puts a hand to her forehead as if her headache hadn't left.

"You passed out." Captain tells her and she sighs heavily. Allison slowly sits up as she looks at all of us. "Do you want to talk about what you showed us?" Captain looks at her as she slowly shakes her head no.

"It's not like you guys can do anything about it." She replies. "Anyways I don't feel like talking about any of the memories. I'll show you them but after that I don't want to hear about them again. It took me two years to master my shielding abilities and I'm having to tear down all the walls I've built to protect myself." Allison watches all of us as if she's waiting for us to say something to contradict what she said.

"Let's let the poor girl rest." Banner says as he ushers them out of the room. Once they are gone, Banner comes over to her bed and sits down gently next to her. "You want to talk about anything, I'm here Allison."

"It's hard to talk about what I've gone through. It's not you guys it's just the fact that Stryker did a lot to me and talking about one memory brings them all forward again. But thanks anyways." Allison smiles for the first time since she had arrived at SHIELD.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Thanks for reading. No one knows who said the quote underlined in the story but I thought it was perfect for this chapter. How are you liking the story so far? Things are going to change in the next chapter and Allison will start doing more. I hope you like this story. You can request characters and I'll get them in one of the chapters and dedicate that chapter to you. So have a great day!