Changes | Marvel

THIRTY TWO. Tough Cookie

Mild Warning: (Kind of) descriptive passages talking about torture and pain. Might be too graphic for some readers, especially if you don't like reading about it. As I said, it's mild and (to me) not that bad.

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I had no recognition of how many days it had been, except for my internal clock which had already been messed up by the jet lag. How many days it had been, it didn't matter. I hadn't had a crumb of food and a drop of water since before I had been taken and I could literally feel the energy leaving my body.

By the time the door was once again opened, I had already begun to get sick, coughing up phlegm and spit before I choked on it.

"Having fun?" I hear Ward ask me, taking off the blindfold that was over my eyes.

"Loads." I croak, my throat sore from the dryness. I see Ward lift a glass cup full of water, but he drinks it himself. I watch him carefully, seeing the precious liquid slowly disappear from the cup. He grabs the chair (as always) and places it in front of me.

"So, let's try this again, shall we." He says lightly. "I need to know where the warehouse is, Avery. I need it." He says lowly, leaning down to be the same height as my head. I don't answer, pursing my lips together tightly the rough, dried skin rubs against each other making it uncomfortable. "Why don't you want to tell me where it is." He asks incredulously. "I offered you another chance of survival, and all you have to tell me is an address. What's so important that you can't reveal it to me."

"Oh, you know, maybe it's because you're Hydra? Ring a bell?" I sass. "We have some dangerous weapons in there that we wouldn't even give to the President. Get over yourself." I wheeze, feeling Ward's hands punching my ribs. I could feel my already-agitated torso rip open once more, the pain returning to the many cuts and bruises plus the broken ribs.

"Are you thirsty, Avery?" He suddenly asks, a glint shining in his eyes.

"No." I try to tell him, but he shakes his head, letting out a deep breath, as if he was calming himself down.

"I'm sure you are though. Let me help you with that. Abu!" He yells, letting the smirking man come into the room with 2 other men with him. "Lay her against the table." Ward orders them.

"What are you doing. Hey, don't touch me!" I growl to the man on my right.

"Sie ist ein fiesty ein, nicht wahr?" I hear him speak in his dialect

"Sicher ist" Abu smirks back at him.

"What are you saying. What's happening." I cry, feeling my body lower so that I was laying diagonally on a table that only had one side of the legs up. Ward had a damp cloth in his hand.

"You haven't had any water for almost a week. I'm hydrating you." He says smugly, throwing the damp cloth onto my face.

"Hold her down." He says, before the torture started. As Ward pressed the cloth down tightly, he began to pour water onto my face. It went in my mouth and up my nose, beginning to go down into my lungs. I tried to breath out and cough, but I couldn't. Fear shivered through my body and I tried to struggle and kick but was held down my Abu and his goonies. It felt as if I was truly being drowned, and I was panicking. Ward stopped, releasing the cloth slightly and letting my cough out the excess water in my mouth. It didn't help, my position just forcing it to go down my throat still.

"Do you want to tell me where the Stark warehouse is?" Ward asks me, muttering lightly.

"No." I crock, glaring at him. "You're going to have to do a lot more than this to get me talking." Ward shrugs, placing the cloth back onto my face. Once again, the water is poured but for longer. Maybe forty seconds or so? I kind of stopped paying attention, focusing more on the fact that I couldn't breath and my chest was beginning to tighten. The water kept coming, falling into my lungs and my stomach and causing my gag reflex to muck up. Ward stops pouring and I use this time to splutter and cough, breathing in deeply. Not even a few seconds later, he's back at it again.

"If you just told us the location, this could stop." He says in an airy tone, sounding like he was enjoying this. Sick freak. My legs jerked, and I managed to get one of them free from goony number one. I kicked it, successfully getting someone in what I think was the face.

"You little bitch." I hear a growl. The cloth is lifted from my face again, allowing me to breathe. My chest hurt, and I was feeling sick. I could feel and hear sloshing happening in my stomach, my throat tightening. I try to talk but instead I turned my head and let myself vomit. All that came out was water, nothing else which was what scared me. Ward lifted me, so I was sitting up slightly and I coughed and coughed and coughed.

"Are you ready to tell us?" He asks. I look at him, fatigue and exhaustion probably overtaking my features.

"Try me." I respond. I'm laid back down, and the process goes on for another couple of sessions. Each time, I ended up vomiting back up the water, which made my stomach and throat hurt. It took effort for my muscles to do this, so I soon grew too tired to fight back.

"Director... this isn't working. We've been at it for almost an hour." I hear Abu whisper. "We should try the second method."

"She's too weak. It might kill her." I hear Ward decline. The cloth is taken off and a rough slap pushes my head to the side.

"You son of a bitch." I swear, wishing that my hands were untied.

"She's fine. Do it." Abu convinces him.

"Get the things." Ward sighs, untying my hands and unshackling my legs. "All you have to do is tell us the location. One thing and you can be free." He reminds me, placing me down in a metal chair, my clothes dripping wet. I blankly stare at him, not revealing the actual pain that I was feeling. Abu comes back in, with only one of the goonies with him. The other – who I think was the one I kicked in the face – was gone.

"Here." He passes the box over to Ward, smirking at me. "This is going to make you speak Stark. I know it." He growls.

"What is it? Bugs? Ooh, I'm terrified." I roll my eyes.

"Bugs is nothing compared to this." He grabs my head, forcing me to look at Ward and the other goony unpacking the box. A generator, some wires and some electrical patches. I freeze up, remembering the water that was still currently dripping down my body.

"Wait, no... you-you don't have to do this." I stutter. "I swear; you're going to regret this." I utter in despair, feeling the patches latch onto the skin on my chest and my arms and legs.

"No." Abu chuckles, kneeling down next to me. "You're going to regret not giving us what we want." He whispers into my ear, making me shiver with disgust. Ward hooks up the wires and flips on the switch, watching me.

"Where's the Warehouse?" He asks.

"I don't know." Gritting my teeth. He flicks the switch and my body stiffens up. I felt unprotected and powerless at that moment. The Electricity coursed up my body angrily; trapping me inside my own mind, there was so much pain... so much! My head felt flooded with agonizing soreness, it wanted to explode. I was desperate for it to end. I try to speak up, not being able to handle it.

"Ready to talk?" He asks. My body still twitching, stopped working. My eyes closed, and I couldn't open my mouth to tell him where it was. I was giving up. I couldn't do this anymore.

"Is she dead?" Abu's disappointed tone made me angry, but I couldn't do anything.

"We worked her too hard, you dumb-ass. I told you it was too much. Clean her up and put her in the cot." Was that last thing I heard, before the scent of fried human skin sent me into a long session of unconsciousness.