Initiation ▷ BUCKY BARNES

SEVEN

AN AGONISING GASP ESCAPED FROM AVERY'S LIPS. The brunette subsequently tried to sit up on the rock hard bed she was laying on, only for something to pull her back down almost instantly.

A beeping sound began to chime through the woman's head and she shut her eyes in displeasure at the noise before looking to her side to see where it was coming from.

Avery was stunned when she saw a monitor with her heart rate displayed on it beating rather erratically, and various IV's coming out of her arms. The brunette soon realised that she was in a hospital but she couldn't quite put her finger on why she was there. Her entire body was aching, but the woman didn't know why.

All at once a group of doctors rushed into the room and began to surround Avery. Various lights were practically shoved into her face and people began to read out her blood pressure, heart rate and so on.

This continued for another ten minutes or so until the large group of doctors disbanded from the room, leaving Avery alone with nothing but her thoughts.

There was a light knock at the door before an attractive blond man strolled inside, his eyes widening as he took a look at Avery — it was almost as if he knew her.

The man took hesitant steps towards the brunette, his gaze not once leaving hers as he took a seat on the chair beside her bed. He cleared his throat and gave the woman a small, yet heartwarming smile.

"Hello."

The brunette had turned up in Washington a few days ago looking as though she was about to drop dead in a matter of seconds. After a strange conversation with a passerby, the woman had fallen to the ground before being taken into the hospital by paramedics.

However, before the woman had passed out she'd gone on about how she needed to see Steve Rogers — the man who was also known as the infamous Captain America. Hence why the blond super soldier was sat beside the brunette right now, studying the state that she was currently in.

Steve had no idea what had happened to the girl, no one did, but he couldn't help feeling sorry for the young woman.

The doctors had studied the woman's injuries and feared that she was going to die hours after she'd been brought into the hospital.

Fortunately, Avery was strong and she wasn't going to go down without a fight. When Steve had asked about her injuries, he was shocked to find that she'd managed to sustain so many; a previously fractured leg which hadn't properly healed, three previously fractured ribs which had healed but were awfully bruised from whatever had happened to her, and various knife and bullet wounds.

Only one thing had crossed Steve's mind when the doctors had told him of the woman's injuries; torture — there was no other way she could've sustained so many otherwise.

The two sat in silence before the brunette mumbled a quiet hello back to him. Steve was rather restless in his seat. The doctors had declared the woman a Jane Doe as no one seemed to know who she was. Steve had an idea on who she might be and he was dying to ask her, but he didn't want to startle her at the same time.

Finally, he built up the courage to ask her a question.

"You're not Eleanor, are you?" The blond soldier asked the brunette with raised brows.