Little angel

(17) It takes time

No one's POV:

Loki, Peter, Bucky and Nat are called up from the containment unit to go to the viewing area. Once up there Tony breaks the news in a not so subtle or nice way. "so just thought you'd wanna know that the birds wings were clipped. And she got some weird parasite or something controlling her like a drone. So things are going great right now. How'd your little meeting go with her down there?" "Seriously Tony?!" Fury roared. "She has just been through a year's worth of torture and god knows what else. Something is still in her system messing with her head at the moment and we don't know when it's going to wear off. She may not have always been the best behaved kid but that's what everyone loved about her. Even when she woke you or Loki up at 2 am just cause she couldn't sleep or had woken up, you never complained once. Now your treating her like an animal!" Tony slumped over after realising his mistake of trying to joke about considering how serious the matter at hand is. Later he got a lecture from Steve. The rest of the night was spent with Loki and Peter trying to gain her trust again. Tony and Bruce spent the night in the lab trying to figure out a way to find out what's in her head, Via her blood, which was in no way easy to get a hold of.

Peter's POV:

When I heard we finally found her, I rushed over to the jet hoping for the best. Instead I found a set of wings in Loki's arms, she was curled up into a ball. We all got onto the jet and got back to the compound but when we got there she was placed in the same kind of cell Loki was, the glass circular one just minus the dropping to the ground part. Even when we first met she was like a scared animal but now even more so, I don't know what they did to her but she wasn't the same little one I knew, they changed her. How could they hurt such a small innocent ball of joy.

That night when she woke up me and Loki spent our entire time there trying to get her to trust us again. She seemed to lean more towards Loki, but maybe that was because he took the shock collar off of her. Still kinda hurts though. None of us had slept and if Ivory did, she did a good job of hiding it, maybe she was used to not sleeping or hiding herself when vulnerable. This hurts my heart to just think about. I leave the room for a few minutes to go find us all something to eat when I find Bucky in the kitchen. "Hey Bucky" He looks up from whatever he's cooking. "Hey kid. Any improvement with the little one?" I shake my head and sit down. He sighs and walks over to me "Look when I was found by everyone I wasn't in the right state of mind either, it takes time sadly. The worst part is her body will remember all the abuse she has went through over the year, so even if we get our lovable fluff ball back, she'll still be slightly broken in a way. She now knows the bad side of humanity, how cruel and scheming we are. Time is all we need okay?" I lean forward and put my hands into my face. "I-I know, I just feel so useless. Until Mr Stark and Bruce finish on her blood work we don't know how much long the effect on her mind will last. I...I just want her back Bucky. What did she ever do to deserve this? Live? I don't understand." I feel hopeless and useless, what can a kid do. I hear Bucky stand up and walk away, so I sit in silence, then he comes back and nudges me. "come on kid. I bet all of you are hungry." He smile wearily as he hands me a plate of food, then he goes back to get two more plates. We walk back to the containment unit where Loki and Ivory are.
"You hungry Loki?" we both hold up the plates. He looks away from Ivory and smiles "I could eat." Bucky hands him his food and I sit down beside him and eat, Bucky now had the hardest job. Getting Ivory to eat what he gives her, preferably without losing his metal arm again.

Bucky's POV:

I've fed the other two now it's the harder one, Ivory. I would prefer if I didn't lose my arm again but we'll see when I go in. I open the cell and walk in slowly as to try and not alarm her. Well It seems a bit late for that now but oh well. I sit down on her level to seem less intimidating. She lifts her head and sniffs the air, she's definitely hungry. Cautiously smelling the air, she makes her way over on all fours as if its normal. Sitting down in front of me she stares, those cold blue eyes could she into your very being, It's not an uncomfortable feeling just an odd one I'd say. "Hey, you hungry?" I say in an almost whisper and lift up the plate. It was simple food, Mac n cheese with some fried chicken next to it. Don't judge me, it taste good.

She didn't seem like she was going to eat it so I lifted a piece of chicken towards her and like I thought she would, she smelt it, probably to check if it is safe to eat. After leaning forward and biting a hold of it she retreated to the edge of the cell and ate. God looking at her, she seems skinnier than when we first met. It's not obvious under the HYDRA uniform but from the looks of her face and wrists they definitely starved her. I unknowingly slam my fist into the ground upset at the idea and I hear Ivory yelp and cover herself with her wings as a barrier. "Sorry Ivory, I'm not angry at you okay?" She peaks out of her wings and meets my eyes, she looks like she's about to cry. I wish I could hug her right now. I apologise again and push the food towards her, then get up and leave.

As I exit a clearly upset Loki grabs a hold of me "why's you do that?! It was obvious how jumpy she was!" I sigh and have him let go of me. "You can't really see through the baggy clothes but she seems even skinnier than when we first met her two years ago. We both know what that means." "They starved her." Could he be any more obvious he wanted to kill all those agents we found at the HYDRA base. "relax buddy. We just need time for her to get used to things again okay?" He turns his head and nods. "good"

"If your so worried how about you go check up on how Tony and Bruce are doing in the lab?" "Maybe I'll do just that." And with that Loki left to the lab. "Hey Bucky..." I turn to see Peter with an empty plate "Can I have some more?" I ruffle his head and smile "of course kid." we walk out but I take one last look at Ivory as we do.