Ferocity

Chapter Sixteen - Road

Steve had decided to move out of the compound into an apartment in Brooklyn wanting to find a sense of home and peace in the dismal, post decimation world. His departure left Nat and Kal as the only full time residents at the large compound, it was quiet and lonely but Kal was grateful for Nat's company and friendship. The women had formed a close bond over the last few years sharing an understanding of their previous lives that not many could understand.

Kal had started joining in on the teams missions, often with Nebula and Rocket as she enjoyed the tranquility of space and her powers came in handy when they came up against a number of bizarre foes.

"We have to make a stop over in Contraxia for a couple of days before taking you back home Chickie" Rocket said bluntly.

"What for?"

"Someone owes me a favor and I'm going to cash in"

"Oh?" Kal arched an eyebrow towards Rocket.

"Marvel got a report that there is a group causing trouble with the villagers on Torfa so I'm going to get him and his crew to police it for a while"

"Contraxia is out of the way, we can take Kal home first" Nebula interjected.

"My guy might need a little extra encouragement" Rocket said facetiously, jerking his thumb towards Kal.

Contraxia had been rather uneventful, Rocket's 'friend' had originally objected but complied after a minor display of Kal' power and an agreement for adequate payment was made. Nebula and Rocket didn't stay for more then a few hours at the compound, just long enough to restock and fuel up as they had another assignment and would be returning for a longer visit next month.

Once they had left Kal was alone in the expansive compound, Nat was somewhere Europe with Rhodey tracking an arms dealer. It was the first time that Kal had been alone since Bucky had moved in with her three years ago, she had now lived without him almost twice as long as she had lived with him. Nat, Steve and Rhodey had gone out of their way to ensure she was never alone and Kal suspected that the detour to Contraxia was done in an effort to delay her return long enough for Nat and Rhodey to get back home, but their dealer had proved to b more elusive then they had originally thought.

Kal aimlessly wandered around the expansive compound enjoying the quiet finding herself in Bruce's lab. He had moved home to Ohio to continue his renewed interest in Gamma Radiation since building Kal's chamber, it had been a few months since anyone had heard from him. At it's heart the Avenger's were still a team, but they were spread across the planet and even the galaxy all trying to find their own way. Kal walked around the abandoned lab running her fingers along the surfaces when out of the corner of her eye she saw a box labelled 'Project Sparrow'. She stopped and starred at the box, of course she knew that they had Strucker's research but never once in the two years she had lived in the compound had she sought it out and now here it was starring her in the face. Before she could overthink it she grabbed the box and quickly walked to the living room where she set the box down in front of the couch.

Kal sucked in a deep breath before removing the lid, inside was filled with a number of composition notebooks and manila folders. She flipped though each book, only skimming the contents not quite ready to dive fully into the details before placing it on the table and moving onto the next. The dates recorded confirmed that her captivity with Hydra had spanned over two decades where she had been subjected to countless experiments since the day she was born. Frozen in time while each new undertaking ran its course. It wasn't until Lukin came into the picture that she spent more then a few days out of cryo as he needed time to bring out her abilities, which is when the torture started. While Strucker's experiments involved needles and machines, Lukin's involved cold cells, cattle prods, strappado and water boarding. In between their trials she trained for upwards of ten hours straight, day after day in hand to hand combat, weapons and acrobatics. While the training was exhausting and relentless this time was bearable as it gave her a chance to let out her anger and hatred towards then men that held her.