Avengers Compound
The next time Adina came to, the tranq had fully worn off and left her with a pounding headache and a dull ache in her injured leg.
Adina took a quick inventory of her surroundings. She was in a small white room. There was a single metal door, and a large pane of one-way glass occupied one wall. A security camera was in the upper right corner of the room. The only furniture in the secure room was the metallic gray table in front of her, with two chairs on opposite sides of it.
Adina was fixed to one of these uncomfortable chairs. The power dampener was still on her wrist, along with the high tech handcuffs. The cuffs were attached to the arms of the chair, not allowing her to move her arms up or down or side to side. She didn't like this arrangement, as she couldn't protect herself in it and it made her midsection feel vulnerable.
It was a good interrogation position, she had to give them that. This way, she couldn't fight back or put her arms up to block any punches. She was completely susceptible to any torture they had in mind.
Once she finished evaluating the setup of the small room, she turned her attention to herself. Before getting knocked out, her condition hadn't been very good, yet she did not feel the amount of pain she should be feeling right now.
Adina tested the mobility of her left leg by swinging it in front of herself. It was a bit stiff, but she could run if she needed to. Adina noticed that she was still in her old clothes, and her leg had been bandaged. That made sense to her because they wouldn't be able to interrogate her or experiment on her if she died of blood loss.
In this uncomfortable position, she remained for what she estimated to be an hour. Her unfocused eyes blankly stared at the same spot on the wall near the door for the whole time.
Finally, the door creaked open and a figure entered into the small room. Adina ignored him for the time being, still blankly staring at the wall. The bulky man sat down on the other chair, and then, she snapped her eyes to him with an intense look.
"We can still help you. It's your choice to decide how this ends. You can cooperate," he said.
Adina stayed silent, and the man paused a moment before continuing.
"What's your name?"
Silence. Another beat passed.
"I'm Steve Rogers, though I think you know that."
Adina didn't confirm or deny that, so he went on.
"Your bag was searched. Interesting choice in comics," Steve said, referring to the Captain America comic, which Adina had gotten from Mr. Lee, that was all about him.
Adina flushed a bright red and lowered her gaze a bit, out of embarrassment. Her captor knew she had been reading a comic about his life in the 1940s.
Steve went through a few more questions, to which he received an answer of silence, before getting frustrated.
"C'mon, kid, you've got to work with me," he pleaded.
He didn't want to have to lock up a teenager who may have been forced to work for Hydra, but she was leaving him no choice. If she didn't cooperate, he would have to turn her over to Ross.
"Alright, I'll make a deal with you. Answer one question, and you'll get to eat a nice, warm meal. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?"
Steve knew that the girl was not eating enough. Although the doctors didn't run any serious tests when they checked her out, they had been able to tell the teen girl was underweight. Steve had also seen the only food she had in her bag was gummy worms and some empty granola bar wrappers. She was lacking nourishment.
Adina shifted in her seat and looked up at the man, waiting for the question.
"How long have you been at Hydra?" he asked.
A moment passed, and it seemed like she might not answer the question.
"At least since I was ten or eleven," Adina finally replied.
Steve wanted to press for more information, but he knew he shouldn't push his luck. He was content to get just this answer.
"Thank you," he responded with instead, refraining from the many questions he had.
With the small bit of information, Steve left the small room.
~~~~~~
Adina had hoped that Rogers was going to get her the meal he promised, but this hope was rapidly decreasing as an hour passed by. She was getting sick of being confined to the hard chair as time went on. It reminded her of when Hydra would put her in solitary confinement.
That ranked among her least favorite punishments. She wasn't very social, so one would think she wouldn't get affected much by this punishment; however, this couldn't be more wrong.
Although Adina wasn't an outgoing extrovert or a social butterfly, she thrived on being around others. She may be more introverted than the typical person, but she gained a special kind of energy from being around others. An energy she couldn't really explain, other than that people could be really wonderful, sometimes.
Being around others made her feel alive and connected, and Hydra took that away. After being in solitary confinement a few times, Adina started to show signs of some kind of separation anxiety.
She started to do anything if it meant staying with her handler or other agents. Once Hydra found out about this new found anxiety, they twisted it for their own use, and would often leave her in a small bright room until she complied, or just for the sake of it.
Adina shook the dark memories from her head and forced herself to keep a blank mind. She didn't need to spiral right now. She couldn't afford any weakness.
About fifteen more minutes passed before the door opened once more. In came Rogers with a plate full of food and a cup
It smelt wonderful, and Adina was reminded of how hungry she was. She had ran out of granola bars a couple of days before she was captured. The only thing she had to eat then was the gummy worms. Thankfully, her stomach did not let out an embarrassing growl at the sight of a freshly cooked meal.
Steve set the plate and paper cup of water down, along with a plastic fork.
"Sorry it took so long. I got caught up in...other matters," Steve vaguely said.
The other matters he was referring to dealt with Bucky. Bucky said he wanted to talk with the girl. He remembered training with her as the Winter Soldier. He also recalled the name they gave her, but he couldn't remember her actual name.
Steve would push for more information out of Bucky later, as it seemed he might be withholding something, but, overall, he wanted Bucky to stay out of this situation. Steve worried that the girl may act as a trigger for Bucky, and his precarious mental state would crumble. Gratefully, Bucky's trigger words had been erased by the Wakandans.
Don't get him wrong, as Steve was very thankful for this development, but he couldn't help his worrying about Bucky. After all, he had just gotten Bucky back into his life, and he could not bear to ever lose him again. Therefore, he was more than hesitant to allow Bucky to interact with an agent from Hydra.
Steve went around the table towards Adina's side.
"I'm going to unattach your cuffs from the chair. Don't try anything," he told her.
He had some kind of small remote and pressed a button on it. Her cuffs detached from the arms of the chair, but remained on her.
"Now, I'm going to leave your cuffs not attached to anything. If you attempt to do something you're not supposed to or even move from this chair, this button right here," Steve said, gesturing to another button on the remote, "can shock you. If that's not enough, there's a dial that can be turned up, too. Do you understand?"
Adina quickly shook her head yes, not wanting to get shocked for any disobedience. She's had enough of that for a lifetime.
Upon seeing the teen's quick, and slightly frightful, answer, Steve felt a little bad for the passive threat. However, it had to be done, in order to ensure she didn't try to escape or hurt any of his teammates.
Steve sat back down in the opposing chair and began once again to question the teenager once again, in hopes she'll eventually give in and answer.
Published: 3/30/22