• Blinded or Silenced • {B. Barnes} •

• The Room • Prologue •

The following day after the IQ test had been taken, Lydia dared to pursue her endless thirst for more knowledge. She asked the guard outside the door a question about Thermodynamics and what the first law meant.

Of course she knew the answer, but she was more curious as to what her guard would say. When he answered, she asked where life's energy went after it deceased. It seemed to be the only question she couldn't find an answer to.

The next day, a new guard was by her door and Lydia was devastated. She asked this man a question only to be met with silence. From then on Lydia vowed never to speak to her mother again.

The thirteen year old girl couldn't be sure what happened to the kindest (only) person she had ever met, but the sneaking suspicion that her mother was behind, Lydia found the possibility of it quite hard to ignore.

Lydia Luna was a certified genius restricted to the knowledge her mother allowed her through books and magazines, and much later on, restricted internet access. She planned to change that. Lydia had developed a plan to escape her mother's grasp at her birthday party.

The mother and daughter spent the car ride in total silence as it has been for the past two decades. When they arrived, Lydia was treated like the princesses she always read about.

It was great. Until it wasn't. Her mother dragged Lydia through the entire party, forcing her to mingle with people she had never even met, almost always without even a polite introduction. Lydia read all about poise, grace, and how to utilize each in a conversation between individuals. It didn't mean she was ready to put the knowledge to use yet.

Once Lydia escaped her mother's hold, she ran to the first woman she could find that wasn't overly dressed up for her birthday party. A woman with enough class to not beg for attention as most of the other women at the party did with just their outfits, or should she say costumes.

The woman she ran to was a tall and slim strawberry blonde with a petite face that held the warmest of smiles as she stood at the bar in the corner thanking the bartender of handing her two olive martinis, with extra olives.

Lydia had ran to her and introduced herself. The girl who had never even seen another person except for her mother before had never adored anyone more than the woman in her whole life.

Lydia hyperventilated before she could even ask one of the thousand questions or mutter one of the million awful truths about her mother.

Her mother came out of nowhere and swooped her away from the beautiful blonde woman. While Lydia was being dragged away, she was able to shoot one last pleading glance to the woman she already admired. There was a man with odd facial hair next to her, a grin resting on his face too. Lydia could recognize that man anywhere. He was the man she'd read of in her books and seen in multiple modern magazines.

Lydia put up a decent fight to get back to them, but lost. She stared at the blonde woman, pleading with her eyes. A shorter man who gave off a sort of suave appearance swooped up one of her martinis and spoke to her, but she couldn't tear her eyes or mind away from Lydia.

Her mother gathered everyone's attention. Just as the mass of shiny people turned around, there was one face in the center of the crowd that had drawn Lydia's attention. Her dazzling red dress perfectly matched her hair and nails, and her face was something out of a movie. Lydia tried to run to her, but her mother gave her wrist an extra hard yank backwards.

The eye contact they shared meant something deeper, or at least that's what Lydia told herself. She wasn't really adversed in social cues yet.

Just as her mother began to spoke, a single shot rang out.

Everyone screamed and ducked down except for two people. The blonde woman darted for Lydia through the sea of petrified people, and the man accompanying her ran after her.

Sarah Luna was killed that day by a gunshot wound to the forehead. The shooter was never identified despite multiple men in suits popping out of nowhere with guns in hand as well.

One woman, the red head, grabbed Lydia and covered her while she ran to the car the unknown woman described.

The unknown woman drove Lydia who couldn't stop hugging her away from the awful scene left in their wake. Several black SUV's with grey eagles painted on the drivers doors were headed towards the scene as they left.

The red haired woman was different compared to all the rest. She had no sympathy in her eyes, only determination to save the girl who didn't deserve this. She was a Level 3 Agent of SHIELD. Her name was Natasha Romanoff, and Lydia instantly felt attached to her.

The day Lydia was taken in by SHIELD, by Natasha, was the day her life changed forever. Lydia was freed from her mother, and her dreadful room.