Resurgence

Chapter 18: The Screech

I woke the next morning and the team was finally gone again for their outside business. I followed my new routine of training, studying, and checking in with Dr. Morozov who was never happy to see me. He still hated me for beating him up the night I found him torturing James. He also hated that I made the decisions of how he examined me. His mind was determined to find a way to make me a complying agent like the Winter Soldier. He wanted to find my weakness and exploit it as he did with James. He needed to find my own torture, but I wouldn't let him. I was always one step ahead with my abilities. Or so I thought.
A night when the team was supposed to be away, Williams was out on his outside world business. I began to drift off under the cool sheets of my bed. A flash of adrenaline like the one I felt the day of the New York Incident woke me. Blue rimmed my eyes when my eyes closed in on the lock of my door. Someone was trying to get in. The door bursts open to Kai and Dr. Morozov barging into my room. Morozov had the contraption I saw him working on weeks ago in his hands. I stood rapidly and before I could begin my fighting defense, the vile doctor turned on his invention and a ringing hit my powerful hearing and scratched every inch of my ears. I seemed to be the only one affected by this noise. It was designed to hurt me specifically with my super hearing. The pain caused a headache so massive it made me lose focus on everything around me. I was losing my balance so I stood still leaning forward with my hands pressing my head, pulling at my hair. Both men stood there waiting to see how long the effect would last. The strain began to fade and fire filled my eyes. I stood up straight and launched myself at Kai. The Dr. rang his weapon again. This time the noise made me fall to my knees making me lose my breath. Kai pulled me up by shoulders and hit me against the wall. He had the taser baton Morozov used on James in his hand. Still trying to regain focus as the sound faded, I heard his muffled voice through my ears.
"What? I thought you liked it rough. Do I not do it for you like Barnes does?" Kai grabbed my face with one of his hands and brought the sparky rod towards me with the other, "I should have gotten rid of you a long time ago, Vixy."
The effects of my torture wore off faster this time. I grabbed the rod from his hand and hit him with it knocking him off balance and fired the taser on him. He was now disoriented on the floor grunting in pain. Morozov hit me with the traitorous noise again. The shriek led me to let out a scream of agony. I fell to my knees.
The doctor, impressed with his work said, "You really thought you could hide your abilities from a scientist? Don't worry this is our little secret. To be honest, this is good testing for my new tools. Soon enough you will comply like Barnes," he took the baton from my hand, "Your precious soldier will share your fate after."
The effects again wore off sooner than the last, I took a step towards the Dr. when Kai recuperated his senses and stood behind me and held me in a choke-hold. James rushed in and narrowed his eyes to the sight of us. He pulled Kai off of me and threw him to the wall. His head began to bleed on the wall as he slid to the floor. Morozov panicked at the sight of two enhanced individuals heading towards him. He once again used his contraption on me stopping me in my path letting out another scream. James caught me before I could fall again then took a step towards our torturer. The doctor turned on the electricity fueled weapon in defense. Anger took over and I sped my way to him before James could. I snapped his neck causing his now lifeless body to collapse on the floor.
I was panting from the pain. The effects of the torture wore off but discomfort in my ears remained. The events that had unfolded left a gruesome sight. I was speechless yet my mind was in a marathon. What will I tell Williams? The team will hate me. Williams will kill me before the team gets a hold of me. Not only was the team leader dead, but so was his only backup for power control. And James was with me. He'd know our care for each other. We'd pay the price for it. I wanted to take the chance and run away now, but knew Williams wouldn't rest until we were dead. I had to complete my crusade of taking this whole base down. I grabbed the phone Williams gave me and called him informing him something terrible had happened and he needed to come back right away. He said he was only a few blocks away. I hung up and told James our story.
"You need to leave. He can't know you saved me. He has to think I did this on my own. Or, no! Stay. It'll be suspicious if he thinks you didn't hear anything. But we'll tell him I killed them both. I'll play the victim card. He knows Kai had it out for me so hopefully this doesn't end too bad for me." I said with tears welling up in my eyes.
Williams rushed in. His jaw dropped at the sight he saw, "What the hell is this? What happened?"
"It was Kai! He came in and said he had enough of me stealing his attention away. He wanted to- hurt me. He wanted me dead and so did Morozov. They used that thing there. It gave me a ringing in my ears and it hurt SO bad. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. I didn't want to. He didn't give me a choice. I'm sorry Silas. I'm so sorry." I wept.
He moved close to me with an expression of pity and stress, "Barnes. You saw this?"
"I heard screams. I came out and saw this," James said.
"Kai said the whole team would come after me. He said I wasn't safe. He said they wanted me dead too. Please Silas, I'm sorry! Please don't let them hurt me. I just want to be apart of your organization. I didn't want this. I was scared. I didn't want to kill them. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I lied and faked my pleading wailing. I moved closer to force a hug on him pretending to be a damsel in distress. He patted my hair.
"Shhhh. It's ok. This was an accident. I know you can't control it fully. They attacked and you reacted," He then looked over to James behind me, "Barnes, you have orders to protect her at all costs. The team doesn't get near her until I get this sorted out. Vixen, stay in his room tonight. We're going to get this cleaned up. From now on she doesn't leave your sight without my say so."
I thanked him and continued my well acted apologies. I walked over to James' room and sat on the small futon by the wall. I rested my elbows on my knees and brought my face to my hands. Real tears began to run down my face. I was nearing the end of my patience with this place. I wanted to be as far away from there as possible. I wanted to give up on my righteous plan and just run. I didn't know how much more I could take. I sat up at the sound of William's voice down the hall. My ears still ached from the torment they went through but still managed to catch his whisper. They had finished cleaning up the deadly mess of my room. Williams was walking James back to the hall of our rooms.
"You have to keep her alive at all costs. Pierce wants you back but with the girl by your side. He wants to see her potential himself. He thinks you two could be the ultimate team. He's offering a considerable amount for her. I'll be in great debt if something happens to her. With that said, be a gentlemen. Sleep on the floor or something and keep her happy." Williams said.
His footsteps now descended as James' approached. He opened the door and I stood up wiping away the tears I still had lingering by my eyes. Closing the door behind him I walked over to him and began to cry again. I buried my face in his chest and hugged him. He held me tight as if I was going to fade away if he let go. I pulled away only by a few inches and took a few panted breaths.
"I can't do this anymore. I can't live like this. I can't be their prisoner any longer. I need to get out of here. We need to get out of here. James-" I sobbed.
He moved his flesh hand from my back to cup my cheek and wiped away a tear. His metal one brushed my hair behind my ear and then placed it on my other cheek.
"I'm getting us out. After our next mission. I won't let him get to you. I won't let him do to you what he did to me. I won't let them take you. I'll keep you safe. I won't let them hurt you," He stated.
I put my hands on his still cupping my face. He put his forehead on mine and we stood there for a moment as if reassuring the other that they weren't alone. A few more tears escaped me before I calmed in his presence. He told me to rest on the bed and that he'd take the couch. I smirked at the memory of his attempt to sleep on the couch from the hotel on our first mission together. I pulled him to the bed with me. His cheeks had a hint of pink to them.
"It's not like we haven't before," I said, "I just don't want to be alone."
James didn't say anything. He just followed my lead and laid next to me. We faced the ceiling at first. Then I turned my body to him and wrapped my arm across his chest and placed my hand on his shoulder in a hug. Burring my face on the crook of his neck, I thanked him for saving my life again. He placed his arm around me to hug me back and reassured me it would all be over soon.
The next morning my eyes opened at the same time they always did to get ready for training. I awoke to James holding me. My back was to him, his arm was around my waist and his hand laid on mine. I could feel the movement of his chest, his warm breath by my ear. He was still asleep when I turned my head to look at him. His warm body was enough to make me feel protected and at peace. He gave me a sense of safety and security. I wanted to stay like this forever. Williams wouldn't come barging in, yet alone at this time, and we still had time before training if we even trained today after last night's fiasco. I snuggled further into his embrace and took in the moment. Five more minutes, I told myself.