Don't own any of the Marvel people.

Prologue:

Noel stared nervously at the man she'd been brought to, hands in her lap. She didn't know how she'd gotten there or even how she'd been injured, but apparently they weren't trusting her to walk just yet. She didn't blame them at all. Her head hurt and she didn't know she'd be able to focus on keeping on her feet. The young woman assumed that her name was Noel. It was on the hospital ID bracelet. Was this a hospital?

She rubbed a tender spot on the side of her head and winced, nearly missing the words coming from the man behind her. "She's all yours. We picked her up special just for you and set her up nicely. You go under and she goes under. Consider her a gift that you can keep so long as you behave."

Noel wanted to protest that she wasn't a piece of meat or a doll, that she wasn't something that could be passed over as a gift, but whatever sedatives she'd been given beforehand made her mouth feel like cotton. In stead she made due with clenching her jaw and glaring down at her knees uselessly. Anything to avoid the cold man's stare. He only nodded when told that she was his and she could feel his steely eyes staring at her, freezing her. She was scared. It had only been made worse by the idea that she couldn't remember anything. There was nothing for her to compare this experience to.

She breathed a sigh of relief when he turned away and the doctor put Noel in the corner of the room, next to one of the two cots that were in the room. She was so cold that the thin blanket seemed like a bit of heaven compared to sitting in the chair. When the doctor was gone she got on the cot and wrapped herself up in the bedding. There was a moment of shock when the man came to her side and held out a glass, seeming to understand that she couldn't talk with her mouth so dry.

"Drink." There was no inflection, no lilt to let her know his origin or personality. She looked up and her eyes caught his, managing the smallest smile before sipping the water.

It took a few drinks and a small cough before she could talk. "Thank you. Do you know where we are?"

His head shook.

Noel chose to try again and ask something else. "Is this a hospital?"

Another shake of the head.

There was a small burst of frustration and she was nearly ready to shout, but something triggered and she went into a small coughing fit.

The man stabilized her hand that had the water in it and frowned. "Drink. It'll hurt less."

She was desperate and just took another drink of water, waiting until her lungs had calmed down before setting it on the seat of her wheel chair. "Thank you."

"I did nothing." He replied with his flat voice.

Noel shook her head. "You gave good advice. I would have just coughed and coughed until I was blue in the face... I take it that you've gone through the same then?"

There was a small frown, but then a nod. Her heart lifted. Now she knew that she wasn't as alone and scared that she had been just a few minutes ago. As a show of good will she moved to the side a bit and patted so that he could sit on the cot next to her. It was a minor improvement to having the man standing over her.

She played with her ID bracelet and smiled a bit when he gave in and sat. "So... Do you have a name?"

"Can't remember." There was something in his voice this time to suggest pain.

Noel showed him her ID bracelet. "So you don't have one of these? Nothing to suggest that you're someone with a name or a past?"

He shook his head again, gently pushing her hand back toward herself. She frowned a bit and nodded, thinking hard about it. She was stuck with someone and didn't know what to call him, but then again he didn't know what to call himself. She moved closer to him to try and warm up, not understanding who thought that this temperature was appropriate for a room that was comfortable.

"So you don't know who you are and I don't know who I am, but we're stuck together. So let's make the best of it." She waited for him to pull away or something, but was pleased that he stayed right where he was. She chose now to take stock of her surroundings. There was a bare floor and white walls. In the corner was a door to what she could only assume was a bathroom and then there was the door leading to the rest of this place. It's the exit to this room that she was more afraid of. There was a creeping suspicion that she didn't ever want to know what this place was or what was waiting on the other side.

She watched him and saw the barest hint of a smile on his face, her heart skipping a beat. That was not something that she had expected. Noel shook her head and left it to the idea that he had a very nice smile and was very handsome. That was it. That and he was the only male she could remember that didn't make her want to climb in a hole and never come back out. She didn't even mind the fact that his arm seemed to be covered in armor. Or was that his arm?

The two of them sat together in a comfortable silence and at one point she'd even gotten as bold as to hold onto his human hand, closing her eyes. She was scared and in a place that she knew nothing about, but at least she wasn't all alone. She had someone that knew exactly what she was going through in that moment. It was better to have that then to have nothing at all.

All too soon though someone had come in to interrupt their peace, addressing the man in stead of her. "Bring her into the cryo room. The two of you are going under."

He squeezed her hand and started standing, Noel feeling a spike of terror as he helped her up from the bed. "Leave the blanket. It's okay. It only hurts when you wake up and even then it's only for a little while."

Noel held tight to his hand as they were lead down a hall and into the room. Being torn from him brought tears to her eyes as he was put into a tank and immediately frozen, trying to pull from the men that were guiding her to a similar chamber. There was no way someone could live through being frozen right? They'd just killed him. The men had to strap her in and she struggled, screaming to be let go. A tear fell as the men flipped a switch and she froze.