The Blue Phoenix

Chapter Nine

Yogurt. She'd never had it before. It looked strange. White and slimy, but when you broke its surface it had texture.

"You gonna try it?" Natasha asked.

Exepé looked at it warily, examining the look and smell. "Yes," but she remained still.

Natasha raised her eyebrows and settled further into her chair with her own strawberry yogurt, taking spoonfuls and licking them as though the yogurt were a frozen treat that required slow savoring.

Sam had left them for a spar with Captain America, so it was just the two girls and a table, and four guards keeping close watch.

After a minute Exepé finally moved. She took her spoon, a strange utensil, and scooped up the plain whiteness from her plastic cup. She hesitated for a long moment before shoving the spoon into her mouth and swallowing it with a shudder. Only after she had swallowed it did she realize the shudder was unnecessary. Plain Yogurt was the most delightful thing she had ever tasted! She took another careful bite, wondering if the first was a fluke, but all the rest of it tasted perfectly delicious.

Her joy only lasted a few short minutes. "I feel strange," she said.

Natasha squinted at Exepé. "Strange how?"

"I-" Exepé broke into a groan as she doubled over, clutching her stomach. "I don't think I my body was ready for that."

Natasha was by her side. "What do you mean? I thought you ate something with no issues earlier."

The pain had passed, but it had been decidedly unpleasant. "I'm not sure... Maybe it's this... Sustenance. I've never ingested anything like it," she straightened up in her chair. "I would like to return to my room, please."

"Of course."

***

Now alone in her room, she felt much more comfortable. If only the guards would leave, she would be more so.

Somehow the wall had been repaired, though it looked temporary. It was most obviously weaker, brittle somehow. Exepé had a feeling that her captors knew that it was weakened. A show of trust? A test? A trick?

A test. It was a test to see how much they could trust her. It wasn't the first, no, being allowed this room had been the first, and she had failed when she broke out of it. It wasn't going to be the last, either.

They feared her. Despite her agreement to help them, they were weary. They knew that, in theory, she could annihilate them all within minutes. Or perhaps they were only allowing her to think this. They were trying to ease her into a sense of security so that eventually she would come to a point of weakness and they could gain control of her. She could not allow this to happen.

***

A dark room.

A glowing monitor.

A deathly silence.

Until it began.

The red light.

The steady tone.

"No... How can this be?"

A stuttering breath.

"It's back."