She's The Girl Who. || Avengers. [1]

viii. Talk About It

'She's the girl that believes what Goes around Comes around'

After talking about what had happened in her past Carter felt sick to her stomach, remembering the cool metal table she'd been restrained on as they injected her with god knows what.

They'd only ever told her when they were injecting her with different fluids and serums what each was supposed to do.

She still couldn't forget any of it even after all these years, hearing her own screams resonate of the walls and travel back to her ears as they became more and more sensitive to the loud noises around her.

..........

"No!"  The screaming continued much to the scientist's dismay. 

The small girl on the table was no older than six at the time and was already able to endure pain that would send any grown man into shock.

The sound only grew louder as the pain increased, using different tools and items to inflict injury upon the child and see how much more she could take after their most recent experiment. 

Apparently it was a lot. It was hours before the girl eventually passed out due to the pain and running her lungs raw from all the screaming.

The amount of blood she'd lost should have impacted her, but for some reason It hadn't. 

No one could figure out why, they just had to put it down to a natural phenomena or the girls natural mutation.

Returning her to her room - if it could even be called that - the scientists left and didn't return again for hours.

When they did the girl was awake again sitting in the far corner of the small cell with her knees up to her chest and her long dark hair covering her face as she sobbed and rocked herself back and forth.

They left not long after placing a small tray on the floor with bread, soup and water on it. The young child didn't hesitate once the door was closed to scamper over and devour the small portion of food as quick as possible, afraid they would take it away again.

In recent weeks she had been given less and less food as they tested her tolerance towards malnutrition and dehydration.

When she was finished she pulled the tatty old blanket they had give her over her small frame and curled up in the corner with only the thin gown they gave her and the blanket to protect herself from the harsh cold air that surrounded her.

She eventually managed to fall asleep and settled into nightmare ridden dreams that replayed the life she'd lived for the last six months.

"Up!" She woke up with a start to see the man who usually came in every morning to get her with some clothes that consisted of underwear, Trousers a tight t-shirt and small boots. 

That was what she wore for training.

Once she was changed, the girl was taken to the same room as every day were they taught her to fight. 

She hated it, but they would punish her like they had before and claim it was all in the name of science and a necessary experiment.

They did these 'experiments' if she was good or bad, but they would make them more painful and wait until she passed out if she misbehaved.

Lucky for the girl she was a quick learner and had gotten better as the days went on when it came to fighting.

This went on for another few years before they sent in a new guy to train the then nine year old when she was able to easily take down her old trainer.

By this point she no longer cried when in pain and she no longer begged to escape. She'd given up on freedom long ago and had accepted what they were trying to make her into.

A weapon.

At this point they had also been more successful in their experiments as they called them.

The girl knew what she was becoming, an abomination. She'd already been a mutant when she was brought in but they were convinced they could improve her mutation. 

In reality they wanted to make her more dangerous and in the process of this they had put her previous mutation in a dormant state. 

They thought she was a marvellous creation, one who would follow their every order, but if she was ever given the chance and still believed she could escape then she would.

The new guy who was to train her was even tougher than the last, sometimes he would come in looking slightly dazed but still brutal but the majority of the time he would be ruthless and unforgiving.

That was until one day after the first 'success' in the experiments, three years after meeting her new trainer, they gave the then twelve year old an extra training session with the man who she was told to address as the Winter Soldier. 

But when she got mad as he flipped her, her anger got the best of her and she shifted into the abomination she feared she'd one day become.

Growing wings as she screamed in pain, they had told her it would get easier with time and that the pain would subside, it was a work in progress -- but she didn't see it that way -- she saw it as torture.

And apparently so did the Winter Soldier. He finally seemed to break free of his ruthless demeanour, even for a short amount of time. But in that time he'd gotten her out, helped her escape. 

And for that she would never forget him, he saved her, but it was to late, she had already been left with unmistakable marks, scars that would be there forever.

She still hadn't re-triggered her original mutation and she couldn't help but hope she never did.

Because at that moment she was able to live her life and get out there. She was free.

..........

Carter forced herself from the memories as she heard a knock at her door, looking away from the window she called out a small 'come in'.

Within seconds, the Avengers had barrelled into the room to see if she was okay and that they thought they heard crying, she hadn't even noticed that she was crying until then.

Carter smiled at them, a genuine smile. "Yeah," She smiled them and watched as their faces contorted into those of confusion causing her to laugh slightly. "Your here, that's all I needed." She said and watched as they all gave her smiles in return and Tony beamed over at his daughter, watching as she grimaced slightly.

"God that was cheesy, yeah I'm never saying anything like that again. But, now we're all here, how about that Pizza?" Carter asked with a grin causing them all to laugh as she stood and joined them on the way out of the room.

"You sure your alright kid?" Tony asked worriedly as he dropped back from the group to talk to his daughter, much like the day they'd first met.

"I will be, but I think I wanna talk about it, you know -- what happened and all." She trailed of awkwardly, not really knowing what to say but knowing it was finally time to tell them.

Tony smiled slightly as he looked down at his daughter, "You sure?" He asked aloud, only received a nod in reply as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, feeling her tense slightly before she relaxed again.

"Stark, Could we get the circled pieces of meat on the Pizza, what do you call them again?" Thor quizzed as his mouth practically watered at the thought of pepperoni. 

Tony sighed in annoyance at the question at Carter snickered, earning a bump to her side from her father before he replied to the God in a dry tone. "Pepperoni Thor, and yeah whatever"