200. That's how long my first experience locked in the box was. 200 long, silent, horrifying minutes. Silence was Kalahan's favorite form of torture. I lost count of how many times I'd been locked in the box. Silence was his favorite but not necessarily the worst. I always thought waterboarding was something only prevalent in Iraq. I never understood the mechanics of it. Not until I found out personally all too well how it worked. 20 minutes of simulated drowning. I'd rather I would have actually drown. Kalahan was a sadist. I was rarely allowed to eat. In the approximate two weeks I'd been here, I hadn't slept for more than one hour at a time. The only plus about the box was that I could at least get a few hours of sleep.
"10804...10805...10806...," I muttered to myself, trying to keep track of time while staring at the black above me. Being contained was one for the most dreadful things I'd ever experienced. It feels like floating but also feels like a ton of bricks is on your chest. Being in the dark and silence also allows your brain to play nasty tricks on you. My eyes made up images that I knew weren't there. My ears searched for sounds that didn't exist. The anxiety it caused was so deeply rooted that even after I was release, I was on edge.
"Pst," it sounded like someone whispered in my ear. I jumped and my counting faltered. I was silent for a moment, trying to hear if someone was outside the box.
"10813...10814-"
"Hey! Professor!" the voice came again, shocking me.
Who was talking? Were they taking to me?
"Yes doctor, I'm talking to you!" the voice said again. This made me pause. How could this person have heard me? I wasn't saying anything. I couldn't even speak if I wanted to. I had to be imaging this voice.
"Come on doctor, talk to me," the voice whined.
How?
"Just like that!" the voice said again. Okay, I had to be loosing it now. The voice laughed. The laugh was vastly different from Kalahan's. It was warm and inviting and comforting, "Don't worry. You're only as crazy as I am."
Oh fantastic! I'm as sane as the voice in my head. That's comforting.
The voice laughed again.
"Oh ouch," the voice laughed. There was a long pause where I thought maybe I'd recaptured some of my sanity, "How long have you been in here?" the voice asked, reminding me of my insanity.
10847 seconds... 10848...10849
"So about 19 minutes," the voice calculated.
Only 19 minutes... it feels like so much longer.
The voice chuckled once, "That's the point, sweetheart." My mind snapped painfully to Tony. I wrenched my eyes closed and yanked violently at my wrists to bring physical pain to the pain I felt in my soul.
Don't call me that.
"Sorry," the voice was taken aback. It was silent for a long moment.
How do you know me?
There was another pause. The silence was threatening and set my whole body on edge.
"How do you think?" the voice said finally.
Great, I've gone crazy
Another laugh echoed through the room. He cut off his laugh and threw us into silence again. This sudden silence was full of tension and anxiety. Before I could ask what was going on, the top of the box was torn off, flooding me with blinding light. I was thrown into a white blur of disorientation. My wrists and ankles were released and the box was flipped forward, sending me tumbling to the ground. While I was fumbling around on the ground, I felt a boot connect wth my stomach. The room was filled with a cacophony of overwhelming sounds. I closed my eyes against the light and sound and braced for another kick.
"How was your stay this time, professor?" Kalahan asked, his foot colliding with my stomach. I bit back the scream that threatened to tear out of my throat. The gag was still in place over my mouth, making it impossible for me to cry out for help; even though I'd given up the hope for help the first day. Tears poured down my face as the pain in my stomach swelled from another harsh kick to the already prominent bruise. I was afraid my teeth would break from the pressure of clenching my jaw. Kalahan reached down and yanked the gag from my mouth. He leaned down next to my face, his breath skipping across my cheek. I swallowed the revulsion in my throat and tried not to show any emotion toward him, "Are you up to talking to me yet?" Kalahan asked, feigning kindness. I clenched my jaw and glared at him from the corner of my eye. I spat the blood out of my mouth onto the ground as a response and stayed silent. Kalahan sighed and stood back up straight.
"Alright, suit yourself then doctor," Kalahan stood up with a great effort. He drug me up by my elbow and down the hall after him. I stumbled after him blindly, trying to fight the urge to throw up all over the floor. I was drug all the way back to the cell and thrown back into my cell. The cold metal of the floor bit into my skin and instantly set my teeth chattering. My cell was freezing and I no longer had a blanket to curl myself up in. All I had was the metal bed frame and a pillow. I pulled my sore body over to my bed and up onto the metal. I rested my head on the pillow and closed my eyes. Every part of my body ached as I lay on the harsh metal, trying to ignore the pain that every shiver shot through my body. With my eyes closed, I could almost convince myself that I was anywhere else than where I was. Almost.
A week had gone by since that first incident with the voice in the box. Since then, I'd heard that almost ever time I was alone. It had become more of a relief than something that scared me anymore. It made me feel less alone than I actually was. Like someone actually cared about my well-being. I currently lay in bed, the metal numbing my back as I stared up at the ceiling, counting silently in my head.
"Hello darling," the voice said to me quietly.
"Hello there voice in my head," I responded quietly.
"How are you today?" it asked.
"Oh, I'm fantastic. Another day in paradise," I retorted back.
"How long since Kalahan left?" the voice was soft and concerned.
"450 minutes and 13 seconds... 15... 16...," I trailed off
"When did you last eat?" it asked.
"690 minutes,"
"When did you last sleep?" it asked.
"34 hours and counting," I groaned and rubbed my eyes wirily. This was our usual routine. The voice would ask about how I was and ask me about the numbers on my health.
"Any hallucinations?"
"Just you," I retorted. The voice chuckled.
"Still think I'm in your head," it said.
"Well, what else are you?" I responded. There was a long pause.
"Well then, that's what you believe my dear," the voice conceded. Before I could respond, a deafening boom echoed through the cell-block. I froze. I wanted to move to look but I couldn't bring myself to move my aching body from the bed.
"What was that?" I asked, not bothering to move. My question was punctuated by another shocking boom. By now, the curiosity of the men around me was ignited. Their curious murmurs and questions filled the air. Another full boom echoed around. The men's questions grew louder and these yells were punctuated with more stray booms. A sudden explosion of metal ripped through the cell-block. The reverberation of the door slamming into the center of the cell-block with enough force that I'm sure any ship passing by above us could hear it. The men around the cell let out shock and furious yells at the sudden change in the usual quietness of the cell.
"Lucy?" the voice that came from the door of my cell sent a chill down my spine, "Sweetheart?" I turned my head and looked at the doorway. Tony stood there in his Iron Man suit. The mask was up so I could see his face.
"Tony?" I breathed, "What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice hoarse. Tony gripped the bars in his hands.
"You didn't think I forgot about you, did you sweetheart," he said. His voice was strained like he was trying to hard to sound calm. The metal of his gloves scrapped the bars carefully as his grip tightened, "Look away Luc," he said softly. I turned my head to the wall with a great amount go effort. The door behind me let out a groan of metal before a metallic pop ended the sound. I turned my head back slowly to look back at Tony. The door was discarded on the floor and Tony was making his way toward me. He knelt down next to me and studied my face. His hands raised and took my face in them, his hands shaking slightly. I brought my hands up and touched Tony's face lightly. His skin was so warm and familiar under my finger.
"A-are you really h-here?" I whispered, not trusting my eyes. Tony's eyes sparkled with tears and his jaw clenched.
"Of course sweetheart," he said. His eyes raked over my face, "my god. What did they do to you," he said. I shook my head, not wanting to think about it.
"Stark!" Steve's voice broke from outside the cell.
"Can you walk?" Tony asked hastily, shaking off the emotion from his face.
"Slowly," I admitted. Tony surveyed me quickly and reached for me. He attempted to pick me up but shocking pain shot through me. I let out a cry of pain and pushed his arms away. His eyes flew into panic at the sound.
"I'm sorry. You can't. The metal. It hurts," I cried. Tony flexed his jaw.
"Cap!" he yelled, not breaking my gaze. Steve appeared in the doorway, dressed completely in his Captain America outfit.
"What?" he asked.
"I can't carry her without hurting her. Can you-?" Tony trail off quietly. Steve glanced from Tony to me before making his way to me. He dropped his shield on the ground before bending down next to me.
"Hello doctor," he smiled.
"Hi Steve," my voice broke. He carefully took my into his arms.
"Alright, up ya go Luc," he said, hoisting me up. He maneuvered me onto his back carefully, "Hold on tight doctor," he said. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist as tight as I could manage without pain. Steve reached down to retrieve his shield and turned back to Tony, "Let's get out of here," Steve said. Tony nodded, his mask covering his face again. Steve exited the cell and into the cell-block. The men in the cells around us were all going crazy, screaming and cursing and causing riots in their own cells. Steve made his way to the only door which was now merely a hull where the door used to be. James stood in the doorway, clad in leather and holding a huge gun easily in front of him. His hair was pulled back away from his face tightly.
"Glad to see you doll," he called with a smile.
"James, you shouldn't be here. They're looking for you," I said weakly. He smiled.
"And leave these two to be the heroes. Never," he said.
"Buck, you spot. Stark you got the back. Let's get the hell outta here," Steve ordered. James shot me a wink before turning his back to us and starting down the long hallway. As we made our way down the hall, the sound of the prisoners grew deafening. I buried my face in Steve's shoulder to try and drown out some of the sound.
"Cap, do you know where you're going?" Tony yelled from behind us. I looked up cautiously to look around. This hallway looked like every other hallway in this prison.
"Yes Stark," Steve bristled. We turned a corner and James almost ran right into Natasha. His gun shot up out of reflex and Natasha quickly batted it away from her.
"Christ Nat, I almost shot you!" James breathed.
"What's taking you boys so long? We've got to get out of here before they realize we're h-" she was cut off by the violent shaking of the entire prison.
"Oh no," I shivered and buried my face again. Steve's hand tightened on my thigh.
"Too late," James said.
"Come on. We've got to get out," Steve called. I held on tighter as he took off running down the hallway. There was more screaming now accompanied with gun shots, "Buck, make a path!" Steve yelled. There was a pause where we only ran.
"Captain!" the voice that yelled out made me freeze. I didn't want to look up but it was like I'd lost all control. I looked up from Steve's shoulder. Kalahan stood on a platform above us. We stood on the landing pad that I'd entire the prison on, "what do you think you're doing with my prisoner?"
"Prisoner? How can you keep an innocent civilian prisoner?" Steve asked back, leveling his stance to look up at Kalahan. James' hand tightened on the base of his gun. Natasha was inching away toward a door that was hidden in the wall. Tony stood next to Steve, radiating tension from his stance. Kalahan laughed, sending fear down my spine. My grip on Steve tightened reflexively.
"You believe that bullshit?" Kalahan asked.
"I believe what I've seen," Steve replied.
"Then you are a fool," Kalahan said. Before anyone could say anything else, Kalahan raised his gun and shot at Steve. Steve raised his shield and blocked the bullet. A flurry of bullets over took the space as James brought up his gun and returned the fire. Tony shot up from the floor and launched himself at Kalahan and his men. Natasha disappeared in the doorway in the wall as soon as everyone was distracted. Orders and curses were thrown around from person to person, except for James, Steve and Tony. They seemed to be moving on another plane. All of them were perfectly in sync and knew what the other was going to do before they'd even done it. Suddenly in the middle of this fight, the hatch above us started opening, sending the pad into a wind tunnel. Steve dropped down to his knee to keep from falling over from the force of the wind.
"Tony!" Steve yelled. Tony stopped midair and looked back down at Steve and I. He appeared next to us in a moment. Steve shrugged me off his back and into Tony's arms carefully, "Take her and go. Get her out of here," he ordered. I wrapped my arms around Tony's neck as he rose into the air. The next things that happened all seemed to happen at the same time. As Tony rose closer to the open hatch, a person with wings attached to his back flung himself down. The person sped toward Steve and hoisted him up and out the hatch just as fast as he'd appeared.
"Nat!" James yelled at the same time as this mysterious person appeared. He flung his arms out and looked up. Natasha was sprinting from the control room with Kalahan's men following. She dove over the railing and landed in his waiting arms. James kicked his feet together and took off after Steve and the winged man. Tony followed them closely behind them with me. Once we were out of the Raft, a jet waited above with the hatch waiting and open. Tony steered up toward it quickly. Once we were inside, the hatch closed.
"Get us the hell out of here Clint," Steve commanded. With a jerk, the jet lurched forward and away from the Raft.