Flower - Marvel Fanfiction

Eight

N A R C I S S U S

"Fuck."

It was the only word Elena could manage to utter. Her mouth hung open, slack and unable to close, and her knees were jelly. Elena said it again, her voice now barely audible. "Fuck."

She must have looked ghastly with her white face and limp arms. She couldn't bring herself to move. Her dark eyes were fixated on the blue ones of Dr. Hallman's—no. It was Lieselotte Whitehall, not Hallman.

"Dear lord, the cat's really got your tongue," she said, leaning forward.

Elena's eyes darted at her cells, checking for something, anything that would disprove that this wasn't the same Lisa Hallman. There was none. Dread filled her body. It was cold, sending chills down her spine. She suddenly wondered if it was a bad idea to have come looking for Hydra. Elena swallowed.

"Elena, dear?" Lieselotte tried again. "Are you alright? Sick?"

"No," Elena said slowly. "I'm fine."

Elena could picture the wide smile Lieselotte gave. Bright lipstick flashed in her mind, the very same Dr. Hallman wore the day of the experiment. She shuddered. "How?" Elena whispered.

Lieselotte laughed, and Elena winced. The sound reminded her of a screeching kettle full of boiling water, shrill and unpleasant. Elena looked away and towards the window. Silently swearing at her habit of closing her curtains, she looked to the floor.

She didn't know what to think, nor did she know what to do. Elena desperately wanted to be cured, but did she really want to get it from the very person who had cursed her? And what of the Avengers? She would be lying if she said that Natasha hadn't started growing on her. Elena even found Tony to be tolerable at that point.

Stand firm. We must finish this.

Elena's eyes widened, and flashes of the experiment came to mind. She looked back to Lieselotte, snapping back to attention. The voice had sounded so real as if she was reliving the experience.

"How?" Elena repeated. "I know they never found your body, but you're alive?"

"I certainly don't feel dead," Lieselotte said, pinching herself. "Definitely alive."

Elena blinked. "Yeah, but—" She paused. "After all this time? It's been four years. Why now? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Why, I didn't know you were still alive," she said, cracking her knuckles. "I had only escaped with my life, barely. When I recovered, you had disappeared. It was as if you never existed."

Frowning, Elena rubbed her wrist. She supposed that it was true. She did isolate herself, after all. "Okay," she said. "What about your name?"

"I have always been called Lisa," Lieselotte said.

She made no move to explain her last name, and Elena opened her mouth, closing it when Lieselotte shot her a glare. Shrinking, she looked away. Her brows knitted together in confusion, and her head hurt from all the information.

"My dear, I hope you don't mind, but I didn't exactly come here to answer your questions." Lieselotte stood, her heels clicking on the wooden floor. Elena winced at how they dug into the ground, tearing her flooring, but Lieselotte didn't seem to care. "The experiment is not yet done," she continued. "We must finish it."

"No."

Lieselotte stopped, blinking. She hadn't been expecting rejection. "No?" she echoed. "What do you mean no? You were assigned to aid me, were you not? You have not been dismissed from duty."