Unleashed {Marvel} ||3||

15. Together Again

"Who, Sam?"

"Yeah, him."

"He ran out to get something to eat."

"I owe him an apology too."

"No, you don't," said a new voice. Steve and I turned to find the said man of discussion, holding a paper bag of breakfast food that I could smell from here.

"You sure about that? I thought you died when one of your wings got tore off and you got tossed off the Helicarrier."

"It takes a lot to kill me. You two would know all about that." He gave me an easy smile. "No worries, Kiara. I figured you'd sneak in, so I got extra for you too."

I had a feeling I was going to like Sam Wilson a lot.

Sam didn't stay for very long, though. He gave us a parting wave and told Steve to reach out when he could. He said a polite goodbye to me, and the fact that the food Steve and I swallowed down was delicious, that earned Sam Wilson more points in my book.

After a time, Todd and Tasha came to visit, after they'd found my room empty, of course. While we were discussing various things, my mind went back to the conditioning Pierce had done to me. It had been a dream, where he'd convinced me that the people in my life had wronged me, and that they had to pay. They had to die or suffer.

How easily I let Pierce get inside my head like that. I had fought Loki's control harder than that. It definitely hurt, thinking back on it. I had showed easy submission and defeat. Mind control isn't my best to combat. I can fight people all day and night, but when it comes to the mind, I'm hopeless. And so far, the mental attacks really got to me.

I felt less of an Asgardian than I ever had in my lifetime. I went from powerful and practically immortal to average power and as mortal as a human. I had a few beings to blame for that, but mostly I blamed Seth Joyce and his stupid serum that convinced me I was losing my grip on my powers and my mind.

When I pulled myself out from my head, I realized that I was alone in Steve's hospital room, sitting on the bed. I stared blankly at the floor. Where did they run off to? Did they think I snapped back to HYDRA conditioning?

"This isn't healthy for her," I heard Tasha say outside of the room, where she believed that I couldn't hear her. "She's a liability."

"I can't believe you're saying this. You know her, Nat," Steve argued on my behalf.

"I know you're attached, but you need to remove your emotions from this."

"You can go ahead and tell her that she won't be needed, but she'll argue with you until next week so she can stay in this."

"This is in her best interests. Look at her! She's a mess, Steve. She's really shaken up. The world doesn't need a superhero that's unstable."

"Aren't we all just a little bit unstable, though?" This came from Todd. I heard a little heat behind his comment.

"HYDRA knows who and what she is now," Steve reminded the two. "Even if she disappeared, they'll never stop hunting for her. She'll always be on the run. She's better off with whatever's left of us."

I pretended to focus on my hands when Steve stepped into the room. His appearance still bothered me, especially the cuts and black eye on his face. I could barely manage a smile at him as he came to be at my side.