Nightingale (Sequel to Solider Boy)

Fifteen

Melody's ears popped as she was lifted off the group, her lungs screaming for air as she pried at James's hand, but as she had already known, he was much stronger than she was. Her eyes bored back into his, but the blue eyes she'd come to know so well were empty. Devoid of any emotion or recognition. He might have had the same face, but James wasn't present inside anymore. There was only Hydra.

And so she had only one choice left if she wanted to survive. James was gone and so, she needed to be as well. She closed her eyes, blocking out the image of his blank face and shut down, creeping back into the cold, dark place and when she opened her eyes again, though her lungs were burning, her head spinning with need for air and her legs dangling useless underneath her, Melody was calm and that let her think.

She had no way of overpowering him with strength, but if she could just get something into his eyes he'd drop her and she could run. Speed was one place she might beat him, but the only problem was, as she tried to look around, there was nothing near her to throw into his face. Next move, she thought as black spots danced across her vison. Aiming for his temple to knock him out was a plan that had a much better-!

Melody was thrown sideways as Steve slammed into Bucky. Her head struck a nearby table and a slice of white-hot pain and all the while, she gulped down air. James struggled against Steve, but Steve was just as strong as he was, and he had two arms to work with.

She  got to her feet, vision blurred with shadows, but even as she grabbed the desk she'd struck her head on, she found her voice. It was raspy and harsh. "Sedate him."

"Mel!" Sharons' panicked voice reached her through the ringing in her ears. "Oh God Mel! We need a doctor over here!"

A few white garbed figures ran towards her. How many she couldn't be sure, her vision was still spotty.

 "They'll need to run a neurological exam," she said, her neck throbbing at the motion of speech. She touched her hand to the back of her head, which was tender and hot, but as she inspected her fingers, she didn't see any blood. "And an X-ray, just in case, I don't think anything is broken but neck's are tricky."

"Are you serious?" Sharon gasped as the white coats surrounded them.

"Yes," Melody rasped even as she was forced, albeit gently to the ground by one of the doctors. If anything intenrral had been damaged the swelling could strangle her by crushing her treacha. 

"Get her a blanket," one of the female doctors barked, her eyes sharp. "She's going into shock!"

No, Melody thought as she watched James slump to the ground, Steve and three doctors beside him, one with a syringe in his hand. I'm not going into shock. She let her gaze turn back to the doctor and waited as the first exam went underway. The neurological one did not worry her, it was the X-ray. The body never forgot trauma and the X-ray would show everyone that she was no stranger to being choked like that. 

***

Melody wished Sharon would stop pacing. The agent was still pale, her eyes darting to Melody often, though whenever she looked at her, Sharon's eyes meandered over to something else. 

She feels guilty, Melody reasoned. Though she hadn't been informed much about what had happened, she knew the gist of it. They'd tried again, to remove the brainwashing from James's mind and like all previous attempts it had not worked. This time, however, the straps to hold him down in the event of that had been so abused that one had frayed enough for him to break free and of course, in the surprise of that, he'd had an advantage over the techs and doctors present.

Sharon had been present as well and like the others, she'd been knocked around as well. Oddly enough, Melody who'd had no knowledge of the attempt and who had not been present in the room was the one who'd walked away with the most injuries. A bump on the head and bruising around her throat. She let her gaze wander around the small exam room and then looked at the clock. Doctor Messia would be back with her scans soon. She didn't want Sharon present when that happened. Due to her own medicinal background, Melody knew what was coming. She'd given this speech so many times herself. "This is a safe place, whoever's hurting you, we can get you help..."