a/n: minor AOU spoilers ahead! all characters aside from Eden belong to marvel!
My eyes fluttered open softly, to the eerie noise of a leaky pipe. I heard constant whispers in my ears and some were full words that I could understand. I heard the crackling sound of a collapsed building and I gasped, my muscles tensing. I sat up in the cot that I was previously lying in, taking in the scents and the sights around me.
I remember being told that I was the last of the lucky ones, making it through the transition. I was the only one who made it through the unimaginable pain; pain that seared so hot that it leaves a brand on your soul.
After the pain had passed after what had seemed like a thousand years, came a sudden urge- no, a release. A built up white hot energy chasm that desperately cried to be unleashed.
I had been told that I was apart of a crusade for the benefit of mankind. I was made in the image of the heavens, I was their weapon of war. But all I could feel was hatred for the creatures who dared to belittle me so. Men of peace court war, but men of war unwittingly create the weapon that brings about the apocalypse of their tirade. Thus, I was born.
Crunching noises followed the collapse of the building and I came to my feet swiftly, my heart starting to race.I made no noise as I began to track the sounds out of the room that I was held in. I heard distant booms of guns and clangs of metal that buzzed in my ears causing me to scrunch up my face and shut my eyes tightly - it was overwhelming- all of it. When I opened my eyes after collecting my breath, I discovered that I was face to face to a man with blonde hair and strikingly blue eyes.
"Oh." I breathed, as the breathtakingly handsome man assessed me with his expressive eyes. He was the first man I'd ever seen, at least, I think so. It was odd- I had fragments of memories that lingered in my mind but I cannot sus them out clearly. It felt like he was indeed the first man I'd ever laid my eyes on.
"Who are you?" The man asked sharply, his blue eyes assessing my form quickly and analytically, his voice hinting at slight panic. I understand from his tone that this man wasn't expecting me.
His strong voice reverberated in my head and my heart thumped wildly in my chest as I attempted to comprehend his words. They caused a cascade of confusion inside of me and I panicked as I had come to the realization that I in fact didn't have an answer for him. Who was I? Why can't I remember my name? Do I even have a name? I thought in short staccatos, remembering the little I could and playing it forward in my head. I remember being experimented on, I remember surviving an explosive infusion of some sort of serum. I remember the figures in white coats prodding me with electricity and needles But that was it.
"You have wings..." The man said, snapping me out of my short lived reverie and I gasped.
"What?" I said softly, my heart wrenching in my chest. That's not normal to have wings, is it?
I tilted my head to the side and I saw a pair of large grey wings stretched out, expanding at least six feet from each side of my shoulder blades. My mouth dropped open at their size, they shimmered in the afternoon gloom, singing almost silently, harmoniously. Their melody humming in the background softly, I hadn't even noticed them or heard them before. They acted on their own accord and shifted from a heather grey to a subtle ash grey.
I glanced up at the man and my expression undoubtedly revealed my utter confusion and self doubt as I opened my mouth to speak a full sentence for the first time. My throat felt sore and scratchy as I spoke, hinting to me that this was the first time I'd spoken in a considerable amount of time.
"I don't know my name, and I don't know why I have these wings."
The man's shocking blue eyes softened slightly in what I had detected as sympathy and the whispers in my head that were once hardly even noticeable, became louder and louder to the point of unbearable.
Let her GO!"
"No, she must be contained."
"You're killing her!"
I clutched at my hair and ground my teeth together so hard my jaw clicked and I screamed in pain as the voices felt like knives in my skull.
"STOP!" I screamed so hard my voice cracked, my wings shrilling behind me as the voices suddenly muted, and the pain vanished with them. I opened my eyes and looked at the man who I still didn't know the name of, and saw him staring at me with equal parts horror and concern. My body was tensed and poised for threat and I wasn't even consciously making it so.
"Ma'am?" The man asked cautiously, as I noticed his red and blue shield held in front of him, his arm slightly relaxed but in the correct position to react if warranted.
The man made a subtle movement towards me and out of pure instinct I held up my wrist and flicked it, and his shield was thrown off his arm, and onto the floor with a loud clang. I winced at the noise and jumped back slightly. I was taken aback at what I had just done, and I looked up to meet his anxious gaze, and he softly grabbed my arm. But I consciously allowed the touch; it was gentle and reassuring. I knew straight away this man had only good intentions, and would not lead me into danger.
"I need you to come with me." The man said in a steely voice, and I couldn't help but to nod in agreement and allow him to take the reins. I was unsure of myself and potential reactions I may exude, I was erratic, and I needed to contain any other rash reactions. I didn't have anywhere else to go, seeing the state of this building I was in, I was bound to evacuate eventually. So I let the man take me to what I had guessed was to safety.
The blonde man lead me out of the building, carefully guarding me with his shield, and into the foreign land outside. I grimaced at the sight of bodies littered across the the snow covered ground. Blood seeping into the snow in eerie branch like tendrils. The smell of gun smoke and iron hung in the air and I crinkled my nose at it.
It was strange to be protected by someone, I felt that some part of me, the part that was still human, needed to be protected.
Amidst the field of death, stood a red and gold armored figure, a rather large man with blond hair and a hammer, a man on a stretcher, a women with vibrant red hair and another man that looked rather out of place with a glazed over look to his face. A plane was placed behind a tree, and I could only guess that was the mode of transit we were going to be using.
"I know you don't know who you are but, I can tell you who I am. I'm Steve, Steve Rogers." The man said to me in a calm voice, his eyes occasionally flickering back to me as if he were gauging my reaction to everything so far.
"Steve..." I tested his name out on my tongue. It rolled off like honey, the use of my voice becoming more and more natural the more I spoke.
Steve gently guided me closer to the group people standing by the jet, and I suddenly felt ill at ease. It was obvious I didn't belong here. My heart began to pound within my chest and my breath came out in short pants and my body reflected me not feeling safe at all. I suppose on my walk with Steve my wings tucked into my back, but the moment we began to approach the group of people my wings shot out with a squeal, and I whimpered from the pain of it. I grabbed onto Steve's arm and flashed him a look of terror, and he paused in his stride and tilted his head in unreadable emotion.
"Don't worry, the won't hurt you. This is my team, we're the Avengers." Steve said softly, as if not to trigger more fear within me. Luckily, something about words warmed my heart and began to thaw my distress away and I offered him a weak smile as a token of gratitude.
I don't think I'm ready to speak yet- considering I can't articulate my own appendages quite as well as I would hope to. Once I was within the group's speaking range, and the armored man spoke first.
"She wasn't on the list, Cap. I didn't know were were taking in strays." He spoke, his male tone of voice sounding strangely familiar in my head. Did I know this man?
Steve shook his head in obvious disagreement with the iron clad man and gestured towards me as he addressed his team.
"I found her, well, she actually found me. She appears to be one of Strucker's experiments. She appears to have amnesia or some sort of memory loss issue. I couldn't just leave her there, Tony." Steve reasoned, but I couldn't quite make sense of what he had explained. Who's Strucker? Is he the reason why I can't remember anything? And what did Steve have to do with Strucker, was Strucker a villain?
The armored man's face revealed after his metal face unlatched, and he stared at me with curiosity glowing in his dark eyes.
"She's one of the enhanced? I didn't realize they micro dosed their subjects." The armored man, Tony, quipped with a subtle smirk. I could feel a ripple of annoyance roll through me slowly as Tony sized me up. I looked at Steve and his face reflected mild irritation at Tony's comment, I take it that it was appropriate for me not to appreciate it either.
I glanced over at the rest of Steve's team, the Avengers, and noticed the previously defensive posture of the red haired woman, had dropped considerably. But her eyes told a different story - they were cold and calculating. So I was surprised when she made the decision to approach me and I grew slightly uncomfortable at her proximity.
"Hello, I'm Natasha. And your name is?" She asked me in a gentle voice, my eyes flicking directly into hers, and I began to read her. Reading her, or perhaps analyzing her, seemed so natural to me, my second nature. I didn't need to think twice before getting glimpses of the real Natasha, the one behind the mask. Images of red and ballet slippers rushed behind my mind's eye, I gasped at the feelings of such coldness and indifference flooded my senses. I looked away.
Suddenly, a voice began to whisper in my head, one that I hadn't recognized from before. It felt more like the remnants of a memory, than a fresh voice in my mind. "Eden. You are to be Eden." That must be my name, and if it wasn't well, it can be easily fixed. I swallowed, and I proceeded to speak in front of the expectant group.
"Eden. My name is Eden." I said, noticing how my voice was harmonious and musical. It sounded like a hundred silver bells ringing happily. At the first sound of my voice, the group had noticeably dropped their guard, everyone but Tony.
The quiet that followed me speaking for the first time in their presence was unnerving, everyone stared at me with looks of shock on their faces. Like they'd all collectively witnessed a miracle.
"Cap, we have a lot to discuss."
~~
I allowed Natasha to strap me into a seat on a jet, facing the unconscious body of the man I had saw earlier on the stretcher. He looked distressed, even in his sleep. I soon found out that he'd been attacked by someone. The Avengers were on a mission to retrieve this scepter, and well, according to Tony, you have to break some eggs to make an omelette. During the jet ride, Steve and Natasha made it their sole mission to watch me intently, as a man with roundish spectacles peered through a piece of glass to study me. They watched me so closely, as if I were going to dematerialize before their eyes. And perhaps I would- I have no idea as to what and how much I am capable of.
"Nothing. Literally no trace of her on the net. It's like she manifested here." He said, and Steve crossed his big arms over his chest in apprehension. His face was tight with untold emotion, and Natasha's brow lifted in disbelief.
"That's impossible Bruce. People are born, not created. Unless she was wiped from the system." Steve spoke, and I now identified the man with the glass who was studying me, as Bruce.
Bruce shook his head and pursed his lips, clearly telling us all that it wasn't possible for me to have been wiped from the system.
"There is no software or human capable of wiping someone off of the grid without even so much of leaving a breadcrumb behind. Whoever this girl is, really tangled with a particularly bad sea of Hydra." Bruce said in a concerned voice, not taking his eyes off of me as he pressed different buttons on his sheet of glass.
"Is there anything you can remember, Eden? Anything at all?" Natasha prodded softly and I nodded my head, recalling the fuzzy few memories I had prior to waking up.
"I remember these figures, in white coats surrounding me, poking me, hurting me. I remember being injected with some sort of serum, and then pain. Excruciating pain. That's it. My memory ends there." I said in all honestly, wracking my brain for any other ghost of a memory to reveal. None were there to be found.
Natasha nodded and thanked me for trying to remember as much as I could, Steve remained silent in thought.
"Steve- you mentioned she had large grey wings?" Tony asked, wandering over from the cockpit of the jet and to the group of us in the passenger holding of the jet. Tony's question implied he didn't see my wings when they were unfurled, yet Steve did. I wonder why this was- perhaps Steve was enhanced to some degree as I was, and that is why he could see them.
Steve glanced at me cautiously, then back at Tony, pointing at the space at where my wings used to be.
"She had these wings that unfurled on their own accord and shifted from a heathery silver grey to an ash. I could only see them for a few short seconds at a time, they disappeared if I stared at them too long." Steve explained, and Bruce's face twisted into one of wonder. The other man that was apart of their group, Thor I believe, turned around from whatever he was up to and looked at me with a knowing glance.
"I could perceive Eden's wings as well, however, as I am mighty, I could look at them without looking away." Thor said smugly and I tried to hide the blossoming smile on my lips, bringing my hand to my mouth and looking down at my lap. Thor's humble brag lightened the mood in the jet just a bit.
"Penny for your thoughts, Tony?" Natasha said to the now silent Tony who'd taken it upon himself to stare at me.
"You're cute, Romanoff. But, I'm wondering if Strucker purposely derived a unique serum/training protocol for Eden to turn out this... Have you ever seen a Hydra weapon so unassuming, so entrancing? They were trying to say something with Eden, make a statement." Tony theorized, and Natasha lifted her hand, and her mouth opened to speak.
Hydra? Who was hydra? Logically connecting the dots, Hydra appeared to be the organization that had experimented on me and was the entire reason why I couldn't remember anything. Hydra was the reason I feel so empty. Hydra was the reason I don't feel normal. I could feel the unfamiliar bubbles of rage begin in the pit of my stomach, but I refused to let it rise onto my face. I was being watched.
"Eden's amnesia has left her vulnerable, weak. She's plastic in this state, easily manipulated. If Strucker wanted a weapon who'd hang onto his every word, Eden would be the perfect creation." Natasha said, her voice laced with confusion and a note of sadness.
"What I was thinking was that perhaps Eden was purposely created to be this innocent but deadly weapon that could be easily programmable. So she could be the next symbol of Hydra- and no one would suspect a thing."
EDITED AS OF 03/08/21