Lieutenant - Daughter of the Captain

Chapter 7.0 - Escape...?

Various hums and beeps filled her ears. Sterile air filled her lungs, and she could feel a thin sheet below her.

She attempted to open her eyes, only to bed met with extremely bright lights. It took a few moments before the black splotches faded from her vision.

She immediately noticed the reflective one-way window covering the majority of the far wall, about three feet up. The others were bare, leaving the sleet-gray drywall empty.

She sat up, feeling a slight pressure in her head and a dry throat, but otherwise better than she had been in weeks. She glanced around at her arms and torso, beginning to remove the various tubes and wires that connected her to the electrical equipment.

Once she was freed, she let herself slide onto the cool cement. She was dressed in a rough hospital gown, leaving her feet bare.

She approached the glass, rising onto her toes to see into it and resting her hands on the sill for balance. Her blue eyes appeared more vibrant against her healthier-looking skin. Her minor scrapes were nonexistent, and she felt clean for the first time in a long time. Her blonde hair was freshly washed and smelled like some sort of spice.

She decided she liked the smell.

After her brief inspection, she assumed no one had been observing her, or they would have come in, so she went to exit the room.

But the door was locked.

She froze, just staring at the door handle. She tried it again. And again.

Her heart rate rose, as she recalled precisely what had put her here.

She had some sort of episode, and then she blacked out.

Why would S.H.E.I.L.D choose to lock up an unconscious patient? They would have someone standing by to speak to her when she awoke, wouldn't they?

Unless...it wasn't S.H.E.I.L.D...

Hydra would have just returned her to her cell.

But a normal hospital...

Goddammit, Stark...She thought as she approached her bed again. The needle from her IV still hung from the tube, and she gripped it. Moving to one of the machines, she took two wires in her hands and began to work the needle through them.

Once she had the ends severed, and the copper exposed, she brought the cloth of her pillowcase up to the ends. Pressing the two together, she shorted them out and held them as close as she could to the fabric.

After a minute or so, the fabric began to warp, and smoke as she shorted the wires. In a few seconds, a small flame licked the corner. Working quickly, she wheeled her bed to the corner, standing on it, and holding the now burning cloth as close to the smoke detector as she could reach.

A few seconds pass...

An alarm sounds, and she hears the lock click open across the room.

Sprinting out the door, and leaving the pillowcase so sputter out, she finds herself in a blank hallway.

She listens for boots on the ground, and turns the opposite direction, as she did during her escape from Hydra.

She's sprinting for two minutes before she meets a group of black-clad men and women who look suspiciously like military agents. She turns the other way, ducking down another hallway. However, she finds three people wearing lab coats walking towards her. As soon as they spot her, they begin to run, speaking into an earpiece.

She just rolls her eyes and, having no other direction to go, sprints towards them. They attempt to grab her as she rushes by, but she's too quick.