SOAR: An Avengers Story

Ch.4: I Am Damaged

January 17th, 2017
(Casper)

Casper awoke to the sound of someone's thoughts close by.

He sat up and looked around, only to see someone sitting on the floor at the foot of his bed.

Really hope he wakes up soon, starting to get hungry, don't want to leave him alone, though. . .

It was Peter.

Casper concentrated, blocking out Peter's thoughts from his own mind. That's the one thing he despised about his powers. A while ago, he'd have to concentrate to get inside someone's head. Then, after adding the Mind Stone to the long list of Hydra's experiments on him, he had to concentrate to keep everyone's thoughts outside.

Peter must have heard him sit up, because his head suddenly lifted, his face in Casper's view. He looked. . . worried?

"You're awake!" Peter said, instantly smiling.

Casper thought it best not to acknowledge nor question Peter's evident excitement. Instead, he asked, "How long was I asleep?"

"Uh, about a day. Cap must've got you good, huh?"

The memory hit him like. . . well, when the Captain hit him: losing the Captain's thoughts, trying to defend himself after depleting his energy with that idiotic choice to keep the shield down, flashing back to his time with Hydra and the Facility. . .

Casper shook the thoughts from his head. He of all people knew how dangerous thoughts could be.

"Why was I asleep so long?"

Peter shrugged and said, "Maybe you were just tired?"

Casper was prepared to dismiss his statement as mere speculation, but he then assessed himself on an internal level. He felt this weird sensation that was almost foreign to him. It shouldn't have been scary, but it was due to how new it was.

He felt relaxed.

It was a feeling that was clearly something he had not felt in a long time (if he ever did), made evident by how long it took for him to actually realize it.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked, and Casper looked inside his mind for a moment just to see how he saw him in that moment. Peter thought he looked bewildered, both terrified and amazed simultaneously. Casper chose not to worry him.

"Nothing. I've just. . .never been this. . .relaxed."

"Why not?" Peter asked, his big brown eyes lit up with curiosity.

Casper didn't respond, which was unlike him. He usually had an answer for everything. But he didn't have one this time.

"Is it because of Hydra?" Peter asked after Casper was silent for too long. Casper gazed at Peter, not angrily, but not pleasantly, either. That word, that name, never ceased to leave him torn up inside.

"What do you know about Hydra?" Casper began interrogating him.

Peter shook his head and said, "Not much. I know Mr. Stark said it was a really bad organization that's almost destroyed the world at least twice, and Mr. Rogers says they do nothing but hurt people for the wrong reasons. And you used to be with them. Right?"

Casper nodded, though reluctant to do so. There used to be a time when Casper had convinced himself to be proud, that he was valued and the key to something greater. But he knew better. He knew what he was doing was wrong. And he knew it was his father's doing, making him believe it wasn't.  And once SHIELD found him, he realized how many lies were fed to him. Even so, in Casper's mind, not much separated the two organizations, which only created more chaos within himself.