Reborn From The Void

Chapter 4 - Giving In

(Your POV):
I tossed the book aside, having finished reading it for the fifth time. I appreciated the gesture but with that being the only thing to do down here, the distraction only lasted so long. Now I was shut into boredom again. Not to mention, there was now a smell excreting from the rotting food in the corner of my cell that was driving me insane. But that one was on me.

I started to lose my resolve to hold my tongue, needed to return to fresh air and a world devoid of boredom. But I still worried that I would be squashing the one form of resistance that the Avengers faced thus leaving them with unchallenged power. And that was something I knew I could not do.

But if you tell them, you could see Peter again. Wouldn't that make you happy? You could try to explain your actions and why you kept him in the dark, one part of my brain argued.

It was immediately contradicted by another part, yeah, but he won't forgive you even if you did see him. It is easier to stay here and protect H.A.M.M.E.R.

But why? You have no more ties to the organization, you've killed the people who forced you to become part of it. Besides, weren't you just going to leave it all behind anyway? Fake your own death and move on?

You were going to move on, but you weren't going to betray everything that you've worked towards for eighteen years. You've already killed your parents, I think you have done enough damage. Now you must remain faithful and, if you manage to escape, you can always step into the position vacated by your parents.

Why would you want to run the organization that is at the root of your nightmares?

Because you can make it better. You can change the ways that they accomplish their goals, you can ban human experimentation.

Like that would actually work. The most likely course of action if you get out of here alive is that the remaining members of H.A.M.M.E.R. will hunt you down and kill you. They don't care about you, they never did. Just like your parents.

And the Avengers would care? You betrayed them, (Y/N). You know they are only keeping you alive because you have information that they want.

Exactly, so tell them what they want to know, you don't have remain loyal to H.A.M.M.E.R. or the Avengers.

They'll kill you once you give up the information-

"Shut up!" I yelled aloud, holding my head between my hands.

"Everything ok in there?" Bucky inquired, having just arrived with my dinner for the day.

I rolled my eyes, "just dandy. I've been stuck in a cell for how long? Weeks? Months? At this point, I have no clue. And all that have to entertain me is this book that's been read five times since I got it last night."

"If you start showing that we can trust you, we might be able to let you out. You'd probably be confined to the tower, but at least that would give you more opportunities," he encouraged, placing the food on the rotating tray and picking up the book from the night before so that he could exchange it with a new one.

"Like that would actually happen. I'm your enemy, remember?"

Bucky shook his head, "you're not our enemy, (Y/N), you're just a girl who had no choice. We're here for you, but we can't have you trying to kill us. Please, just tell us about H.A.M.M.E.R."

"And if I tell you everything I know, I will be let go?" A spark of hope blossomed in my chest.

"I mean, you'll probably be released from the cell, but still confined to the tower. But it's still better then spending your days in here."

"And how do I know you won't just kill me?" I growled, the two sides of me still at war.

"Nat and I, we know how you feel, we know you didn't have the choice. You can at least be assured that we will protect you, though I don't think any of the other Avengers have any intention of hurting you."

"Ok," I took a deep breath before getting interrupted by my thoughts. You are proving yourself susceptible to torture, your parents would be so disappointed. Think about your training, (Y/N), you are not this weak. I pushed those thoughts away, clenching my fist tightly as a distraction, "what do you want to know?"

Bucky gave me a reassuring smile, "why don't you eat some food while I ask you some questions? I have a feeling it's going to be a lengthy talk."

I did as he requested, sitting down on my mattress with my food. Once noting that I was comfortable he asked, "so this H.A.M.M.E.R., what exactly is it? We know your parents were the leaders and you worked for them, but we still don't understand the group's motivations."

"It emerged as a side project of Norman Osborn's. He wanted to create superheroes of his own, not wanting to rely on the Avengers to protect him. So he hired my parents, fresh out of the H.Y.D.R.A. experimentation division to lead the project. They brought along a lot of former H.Y.D.R.A. scientists that had gone into hiding since the destruction of S.H.I.E.L.D. and, as the organization grew, tactical members as well," I began to recount, praying that I was making the right decision.

"So it's basically H.Y.D.R.A.?"

"Yeah, but not as powerful. They tried to restore H.Y.D.R.A.'s former glory, but they were never that successful. And their focus was primarily on giving human subjects superpowers, not world domination. But I always did wonder if they would attempt to seize control if they had the forces to do so, or if they simply wanted to balance out the Avengers and then stop there."

"So what was your role with them? What kind of missions would you accomplish?"

"Mostly dealing with enemies. I would kill those who threatened us, capture test subjects, take care of advances by competing companies. I essentially would do whatever my parents asked for me, no questions asked."

"Until Peter?"

I sighed, "yeah, until Peter."

"Do you know if they were successful in creating other superpowered humans, besides yourself?"

I nodded, "they've succeeded in creating a handful, but none that are still alive, at least none that I know of. Spidercide informed me that they've been keeping much of their more recent affairs from me, they could see that I was changing and feared I had grown too weak to trust. I guess they were right."

"You're not weak, (Y/N). Trust me, I won't forget that fight on the plane, you were easily overwhelming two supersoldiers."

"Well, I have to be honest, I had some help. I had been training against simulations of each of the Avengers all summer, I knew how you and Captain Rogers moved."

"They had that sort of technology for you?" He asked, seeming rather shocked and almost frightened. But he shook the concern from his mind, "could you give us the location of H.A.M.M.E.R. base?"

"They may have moved since my capture, afraid that I would turn on them, but I can give you their last known location and every other property that was owned by my parents or their employees that I have on file. I'm afraid that that is the best I can do."

"That would be perfect, thank you so much for your help," Bucky assured me, giving me a kind smile. He then paused, as though debating whether or not to continue, then ultimately decided to speak, "I can try to help you with your nightmares, you know. I've, um, I've found it useful to talk to someone about them, it might help you as well."

My brows furrowed, "how did you know-?"

"You never make it sleeping peacefully throughout the whole night and often awake with a scream, that plus what you've gone through- well it doesn't take a genius to figure out why you can't sleep. Just know I'm here if you need anything. I've got to go talk to the Avengers, I'll see if I can get them to let you out of that cage."

"Thanks, Bucky," I muttered, looking down at my half eaten plate.

"You don't need to thank me, you did all of the talking."

-

(A/N): So it has been a while since you woke up just FYI I'm just too lazy to put a thing at the beginning to indicate how much time has passed and all the days just blur together for you so it wasn't going to come out in narration. Anyway, enjoy your little fight with yourself!