Broken in Half - Avengers

Chapter 6 - The Scars

Warning: Contains suicidal thoughts and small actions. I do not want to trigger or hurt anyone.
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Elytra was covered from head to toe in paint, and swung open the door to her bathroom. Leaving it unclosed, along with her torn and bloodstained clothes on, she turned the knob to the shower and stepped in. Scrubbing the paint from her body, the glint of a camera by the sink caught her eye. "You have got to be kidding." She thought.
She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, turning the water at the bottom of the shower into a storm cloud. The water started to sting, but, in hope that it would wash away her pain, she slammed the knob to the right, letting the scorching water rain over her. Holding back a silent scream, she let it burn her skin, turning it a bright, angry red. But, the water gradually turned cold again. Elytra looked at the camera in the corner, and then at the ground. "Just let me die. I want to die."
She had thought about that for the past few hours, that one sentence running circles through her mind a million times over. El looked around, her eyes landing on a razor on the menu of the screen in the shower. She clicked on it, and a razor came through the slot in the wall. Spinning it around and around in her hand, Elytra thought about what she was supposed to do. Without warning, the slot it had came out of sucked it from her hand and back up the tube. "They're watching me." She thought.
She touched the screen again, scrolling down the list of music that had been downloaded from her old playlist. Clicking on a song, she sighed, but quickly put a hand over her mouth, surprised she didn't receive a shock. El remembered the words she told herself every single second in that cell. "Don't make any sudden movements. Don't make any movements at all. Don't scream, don't speak, don't move."
She sat down on the cold tile floor, wrapping her arms around her knees, and let tears trail down her cheeks. "They won't let me die."
The music started to play softly through the speakers, and Elytra hummed along with it, telling herself she could talk now, that the collar wasn't around her neck anymore, but she still didn't. The collar would always be there, even if it physically wasn't.
El looked over to the camera buzzing in the corner, and felt the heavy presence of eyes watching her through the lens. They wanted to know what had happened to her in that compound, what they had done to her. What made her want to leave this world, to die.
She stared at the water running into the drain in front of her, and her hand, which was laying on the floor, mindlessly started to freeze it. When she noticed, her hand shrank back, and Elytra frantically pulled her arm up to comfort the burns, and realized she wouldn't have any. She couldn't grasp the idea of 'safe.'
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"PTSD." Steve said, looking at El, who was searching for burns on her arms. "She thinks she still has the gloves on. And the collar."
"I told you she would try to hurt herself." Tony adjusted the water temperature to her shower from his tablet, as well as blocking any sharp objects from coming through the tube.
Clint stared at the feed on the screen. "What the bloody hell did they do to that little girl?"
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Elytra sat with her head in her knees for at least twenty minutes, reluctant to get out. She didn't sing, even though her favorite songs had been playing for at least half an hour. But, she would have to speak sooner or later, and cautiously opened her mouth. El reached to her neck, and felt the absence of her collar for reassurance.
She reached up and tapped the screen, clicking on the one song she knew completely by heart, as the scepter had shown it to her a few months ago, before they took it from her. Her mom would sing it to Cameron and her before she died. Elytra turned the volume up, and eased herself back down onto the floor, her shorts soaking up the water.
"No time for rest, no pillow for my head."
Her voice was quiet, but it echoed through the room, and the security camera was just able to pick it up.
"Nowhere to run from this, no way to forget."
A rumble shook the compound, but Elytra took no notice.
"Around the shadows creep, like friends they cover me."
She hit the screen, transferring the music to her room instead to the shower. "I have to show them." El told herself, easing herself up off of the floor, with a little help from the shower knob.
"Just wanna lay me down and finally try to get some sleep."
Standing in front of the mirror, she glanced at the camera with a look of hurt, and morphed.
"We carry on, through the storm, tired soldiers in this war. Remember what we're fighting for."
The camera turned off.
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Tony smashed a button, and the monitor turned off. "The bastards-" He walked out of the room, yelling into his phone. Wanda had retreated back to her room a while ago, leaving the four boys to sit in silent over what they had just seen. The government cut her horns and wings, probably because they thought she was dangerous, even though she wouldn't hurt anyone, and they were going to pay.
Thor walked into the room. "Greetings, I bring news from Asga-" He looked at the screen, which showed Elytra standing in the mirror with her severed limbs and wings, running her hands down her back. "What in Odin's name has happened to my niece!" Thor roared, stalking towards her room, but Steve stopped him. "Thor, we need to talk about it, but leave her be. El needs some time alone right now. If you want, we can keep the camera on." He nodded, clutching Mjolnir with white knuckles. "You will tell me everything."
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Elytra walked out of the bathroom and into the closet, picking up a new pair of shorts, underwear, and a long sweatshirt, closing the door and checking for cameras before she changed. Peering out of the closet, she stepped out, aggravated by the stitches on her leg that refused to stop itching.
A new melody played over the speakers, and she hummed along with the parts she didn't know. El ran a hand through her wet hair, and looked at it. Her hair was turning white.
The rich dark brown it used to be was fading, leaving it a light brown, almost white color. "It's probably normal, right?" She thought, tying it back into a bun with a rubber band. The song was slow, slow enough to dance to, so Elytra flicked and moved her hands, building the girl of ice to stand beside her. Playing the moves in her mind, the ballerina carried them out, and El pointed her foot. Because god damnit she was going to dance. If it took her till the end of time.
The ice pulled her foot up to her knee, balancing on the other, and after a few minutes, Elytra had gotten her foot to stay up. She followed the simpler steps with ease, moving her feet with the music. Her metal foot couldn't do the movements exactly, but it was close enough for her liking. The girl bent her leg and leaped across the floor, stopping in the same position on the other side of the room. El took a breath, positioned her feet, and flew.
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Sorry about the somewhat late update. I will try to update a chapter every day, but please don't be mad if I skip a day here and there. Now that school has picked back up and it's contest season, I don't normally have much free time. On another note, do you like this book? I try.
Word count: 1353