Frostbite: Blood in the Winter// Third Book of The Frost Bite Series.

So Called "Safety Measures"

The therapist's office was on the far east side of The Triskelion, SHIELD Headquarters. It was a medium sized room and looked like any other counseling office. There was a desk that faced the door, on it was a computer, and little knick knacks like a Rubik's Cube, a snow globe of the Washington Monument, a coffee mug that held pens and pencils, and a few papers here and there. Behind the desk was a window, it provided most of the light in the room aside from a tall lamp in the corner of the room, and another desk lamp at the coffee table that was placed in between two arm chairs that sat across from each other. There was another table near the window that held a coffee maker with paper cups.

Connie, my therapist, sat at the desk when I walked in. She looked up from her computer and smiled. 

"Hi, Ellie. I got your text, sit down." She looked at her computer screen and finished up something before standing up. I walked over to the arm chair and sat down, crossing my legs and waiting for Connie to take her seat.

"Would you like some coffee?" She gestured to the coffee maker. 

"No, thank you." I shook my head.

Connie sat down and folded her hands in her lap. "So, you told me that something happened during your mission last night?" 

"Yes." I nodded. 

"Could you describe to me what happened?" She asked. 

I told Connie about the mission as vaguely as I could. I wasn't necessarily supposed to tell anyone other than intel or mission report the details. The only thing I went in detail about was the incident in the hall. I did my best to explain what exactly my ice did, but even I didn't quite understand it. I ran my hand through my hair and propped my elbow on the arm rest. 

"I've never been able to do that with ice before, control it from another location, it's always been directly from my hands."

Connie nodded, she looked like she was trying to understand, but there was no way anyone really could. 

"The amount of stress that you were put under must have disabled the mental wall that you have built to keep you from using your abilities," she said. The obvious. Connie continued. "It's PTSD, as I have told you, past experiences that you have gone through trigger memories that take over the present. You almost go into a trance, rendering you defenseless. When you have your nightmares you tend to wake up with frost on your bed. Perhaps when you are awake, the side effects are more severe."

I lifted my arm from the chair. "I want to know why I was able to kill those hostiles, I didn't know their exact location, all I knew was that they were behind me, I could have hit Rollins." I said. Then I paused and furrowed my brows.  "I'm not psychic, am I?"

Connie laughed. "In this day and age, with people like you in the world, who knows?" 

"It's true." I nodded. Wouldn't that be interesting to know? Psychic abilities and I have cold hands. 

"What about your nightmares?" Connie asked. "Are they getting better? Worse?" 

"Unfortunately, I'd say worse." I answered. "There's a new one." 

Connie furrowed her brow. "A new one?" 

"Another nightmare or memory, I guess, except I don't remember it?" I scratched my head. "I find myself in this... Cage or cell and I can hear someone's screams, a man. I have this urge to try and get to them, but I can't get out of this cell." 

"Do you recognize the screams?" Connie asked. 

"I think? I don't know." I looked down.

"What else happens?" Connie asked.