Tess woke up with a start. Her black hair flowed over her shoulders as she wiped a few strands from her sweaty face. She felt the ground with her hands and she recognized the typical concrete flooring of her room.
Well to call it a room would be incorrect. In reality, it was a cell. After all, she was little better than a prisoner here; at least she was fed, clothed, and given a sense of purpose, however. And she didn't have to worry about SHIELD taking her into custody.
She scooted forward to investigate what had woken her up. In her dream there had been yelling and screaming, and rushing of people all around her trying to escape something. She'd gotten a glimpse of the area and it appeared to be Washington, DC. That wasn't far from where she was located, outside of the DC area in Virginia at an old army base.
The first thing Tess noticed was the silence. It was an unnatural silence. There was no beeping of the security system telling the inhabitants of the cells that it was on. There were no HYDRA agents or doctors rushing around outside tending to the experiments. It was just…silent.
Sitting up, Tess tentatively tried to open her door, and to her surprise it swung open with ease. She was no longer locked inside. And why was there no security system active? She walked over to a set of control panels. As she did so she used the extra space to spread her wings.
Yes, wings. She literally spread her wings, giving them a nice stretch. They were huge wings, long enough so that when curled up, they just barely reached the floor. The wings were a rich, chocolate brown color and were strong. Very strong.
She tapped a few buttons on the control panel and a video feed popped up. On the screen were the images from her dream. The Triskelion, in flames, crumpling. On the news was footage of Captain America and a friend, glorifying how they saved everyone again. But then it cut to news that SHIELD was exposed. That they were no more.
"No more SHIELD?"
That meant… no more HYDRA? Did that mean she was free? But where would she go? What would she do? No. For now, she would stay put. She was a mutation after all, she would probably scare half the world if she went planet-side.
"So you think there's a HYDRA base outside of Washington, DC," Sam Wilson asked Steve as they hung at a coffee shop in town.
"Yeah, I want to go check it out tonight. According to the papers that Natasha got us, it might connect with the Winter Soldier. Apparently they did genetic experiments there."
"Sounds... HYDRA-y."
Later that day, around five o'clock, the two of them headed out to find this HYDRA base. It was beneath an old army base in Northern Virginia. When they arrived there, they knocked on the door. No one answered.
"Not sure if that's a good or a bad sign," Sam joked lightly as they broke down the door.
"Let's hope it's a good sign," Steve replied with a smirk.
As they entered the base, they found it empty.
Tess Myria was starving. It'd been a week since she'd last been fed, the night before everyone disappeared. She'd found water bottles strewn throughout the base so she wasn't dying of thirst, but boy was she hungry. She'd made her way back down to her cell when she heard a crash and voices. Instantly she panicked. Who the hell was in here? What would they do when they saw her? She was a freak, a lab experiment. She wasn't really a human being any more. She was more of a bird-human hybrid!
She cowered back into a corner and her wings began shaking as they always did when she was frightened. The voices were getting closer. She heard footsteps. What was she going to do?!
"And so I told Veronica-"
"Shh," Steve warned. He drew out his gun. He'd heard something around the corner.
Sam Wilson followed suit and drew his own guns. They rounded the corner and what they saw amazed them.
There was a girl, if girl she was, cowering in a corner surrounded by metal consoles and other lab equipment. But the most stunning thing of all was that she had WINGS!
"Who are you!"
The girl was shaking terribly, and suddenly her wings sprung out to the side. She had at least a six foot wingspan. They were flapping wildly as she remained petrified where she was.
"Hey, hey! Calm down," Sam said quickly, somewhat harshly, "Just answer the questions!"
"What's your name," Steve insisted, lowering his gun.
"T- Tess."
"Alright, Tess, I'm Steve, and this is Sam. We aren't going to hurt you. We promise."
