Soliloquy to Silence

Chapter 3: Stop

Addetta grinned wildly at the faces of the two men. Steve looked like he was about to faint. Bruce's face spoke of the obvious awe he felt at seeing the technology S.H.I.E.L.D had. Addetta, though, could sense his inner turmoil: "If they have this much firepower, they could bring out the Other Guy easy. I must hide him, appear as emotionless as possible, or this could end very badly". Bruce's face was acting as a mask, Addetta realised, hiding away his full personality and allowing his very real anxieties to control all his actions.

They had been led by Natasha down to the bridge through an endless maze of grey corridors and dull, metal doors. All the way down Addetta had kept herself at the back of the group, conversing with Scalen in her mind. As they strolled past stony-faced agents, she had kept her powers open, feeling each and every person's aura. For every blank face, there was a tornado of emotions: most were suffering from the loss of friends at PEGASUS or were fearing the near future. For each agent, Addetta allowed her face to show a reassuring smile, and she felt their auras light up with hope. Internally, she was frustrated at herself. She'd had the perfect opportunity to read Fury, but was so overtaken by her foolish desperation to prove herself she had completely forgotten.

Now, though, she had a second chance. Addetta was sitting at the table above the bridge. Natasha was peering at a screen with both her and Hawkeye on it. Steve appeared to hand Fury 10 bucks, and Bruce was walking slowly around the table. Addetta stood back up and rested her hand on Bruce's shoulder. He started and looked at her in confusion. She smiled, a genuine, friendly smile full of warmth. As she watched him, the terrified green flash at the back of his eyes left. Addetta preferred not to read Bruce's aura because she knew how overwhelming it would be, especially with two auras in one person. However, she could see the Hulk's presence in the back of Bruce's brown eyes. Her smile was meant for the Hulk as much as it was meant for Bruce, and she could see Bruce knew that.

She continued to walk past the table, flicking her wrist in the direction of Natasha. Scalen slid down in her wake and wrapped himself around a metal bar, looking in the direction of Natasha. He hissed in her head to "turn to her. She can't see you." Twisting her head towards Natasha, Addetta immediately sensed a change in her aura. The grey cloud was now scattered with flashes of pink, blue and light green.

Pink for attachment - in this case, friendship -, Blue for sorrow, and Light Green for guilt.

Much to Addetta's disappointment, the strong red slash was still there, and it was growing. All the other emotions were quelled by the strength of the pain Natasha was feeling. The light-grey neutrality became darker, into a slate colour. In front of Addetta's horrified eyes, Natasha was letting the trauma get to her. Her face was clear, void of any emotion, but Addetta could see the way her eyes had dulled, how her lips were beginning to lose the permanent smirk.

Addetta was only looking at Natasha for a second because she had to drag her eyes away from her. Hoping to find someone with a cleaner aura, her eyes landed on Steve Rogers. Thankfully, his aura was still fairly beige, but the bright colours in the middle were slightly more prominent. Great. That would clash with Tony's very childish aura. She grinned all the same. The last time she had felt such a combination of emotions was when she last walked past a Golden Retriever puppy. There was something to be said for the amount of beige though. It seemed very natural for Steve to have such a clean emotional palette. Then Addetta remembered the man was a soldier, who fought in WW2, who had no-one left. Of course, he would be so beige. He was adapting to the 21st Century. Emotions are more welcome now than they were in the '40s. Addetta hoped he would learn that soon, or he would quickly come under fire from quite a few people.

Finally, Addetta had a chance to get a read on Fury. He was facing away from her, looking down at the controls in front of him. She decided to close her eyes. That way, nobody would see what she was doing. And she would only look for a nano-second. She just had to get a read on Fury, an overall glance. Looking through her shut eyes, she saw nothing. Then, like a candle in a dark room, she saw a flicker of yellow behind a grey and charcoal curtain. Yellow for Hope. Fury was a blank sheet, like Natasha, but he felt hopeful for the future. Addetrta felt that he was hiding his true emotions away, and she didn't hold that against him. All she had wanted to do was find out what was motivating him.