"Vika, wake up!" A voice shouted. Shocked out of my sleep I flipped headfirst out of my bed. As I landed on the floor I groaned and rolled over myself. What was that? As I sat up on the floor of my room I saw that Bucky was standing over me, laughing loudly. Steve was in the doorway with a disapproving shake of the head. Although I noticed that the corners of his lips were turned up, trying to hide a smile.
My sheets were thrown around my waist and my pillows were scattered on the ground. Bucky was currently perched up on the bed, smirking down at me. Somehow I knew that I should have seen it coming. Usually if I wasn't awake by seven I got a wake-up call like this. Sometimes from Steve, mostly from Bucky. "You absolute twit!" I yelled, chucking a shoe on the floor up at Bucky. I missed as he dodged and we both watched as a dent formed in the wall behind his head. Alright, so maybe I was a little glad I had missed him.
Bucky and Steve both looked back at the dented wall before bursting out in laughter. The small heel that was on the back of the shoes was planted in the wall and showing no signs of falling out anytime soon. Rolling my eyes at the two boys I stood up and walked over to Steve, shoving him out of the room. He laughed and headed back into his own room, closing the door behind him, presumably to get changed for the day. Bucky was still perched up on my bed, twisting one of my hair ties in his hand, smiling down at me.
Grabbing my school uniform and tossing it towards the attached bathroom I also grabbed my bathrobe, slipping it over my shoulders. I hadn't gone to sleep in the most modest of clothing. My blue high waisted pants were normal but my shirt had a few more buttons undone than I would have liked. Although Bucky was respectful. He kept his gaze on my face the entire time. As I tied off the lounging robe I turned back to Bucky with a little glare. "Get out, Buck," I snapped at him.
He jumped off of my bed, flashing me one of his award-winning smiles. I wanted to knock his perfect teeth out. He walked over to me and bumped my shoulder as he walked past. "Come on, Vika. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't late for school today. I know how serious you are about your studies," he teased.
"Oh?" I questioned. He nodded at me and I rolled my eyes once more. I could see a little hint of amusement shining in his. "So you couldn't have knocked on the door or shaken my shoulder. You had to yell in my ear?" I asked him. He merely grinned at me and walked back over so that he could tug at my hair. He was standing slightly closer than he normally did and I felt my heart rate speed up.
"I just know how heavy of a sleeper you are. I'd hate for you to miss another day of classes." Despite the fact that his smile was genuine I knew that he was teasing me. Rolling my eyes at him I grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him out of my room. He stood in the hallway as I stood in the doorway, my hands wrapped around the edge of the door. "Alright, I'm sorry. I'll wake you up nicer next time. How about reenacting The Sleeping Beauty?" Bucky teased. A few years ago I had dragged him and Steve to the play at the local theater. They had both hated it but it was always one of my favorites. And he knew that.
I knew what he meant. He meant in the second act, when the Prince kisses Aurora to wake her up. Lord I hated when he did that. Said things that he knew would get to me. I grabbed the door and shoved it closed, slamming it in Bucky's face. I heard his laughter and I rolled my eyes. Steve's voice called out a few seconds later asking what had happened. Bucky merely laughed once more and told him that he hadn't done anything, only apologized. I was glad to hear that Steve didn't believe him for a minute.
As the boys shifted into Steve's room to finish getting ready for the school day ahead of us I walked into the bathroom. My school clothes were already laid out for me from last night and I slipped them on. My skirt still had a small tear in it from yesterday and I knew that I would have to avoid any of the older staff members. The last thing that I needed was a dress code violation on top of my week of lunch detention. I grabbed my shirt and pulled it over my shoulders, making sure that it was buttoned all the way to the top. Once I had it tucked neatly into my skirt I grabbed the jacket with the school emblem on it and buttoned the bottom two buttons.
Looking myself over in the mirror I sighed. The nearly white color of my hair contrasted oddly with my yellow eyes, making them stand out horribly. I looked like an alien. It was no wonder that all of the other kids in school liked to make fun of me. I stared at myself in the mirror as I grabbed my hair tie and looped my hair together, pulling it into a tight knot on the top of my head. I looked all the part of a responsible schoolgirl. But I knew that I would never feel like one. I would always feel like I belonged elsewhere. Maybe in a zoo. Or the circus.
A loud bang emitted from the other side of the wall and I jumped, knowing that Bucky or Steve had done something in the other room. They'd probably broken something too. I could hear Mrs. Rogers's shouts from the other room and I snorted under my breath. Finally, someone was in trouble other than me. I yawned softly once more and turned from the bathroom. Most of the other girls in the school wore makeup but I never saw the point. Nothing was going to hide my yellow eyes or silver hair. I'd tried to wear red lipstick before but it just looked ridiculous and had earned me a good bout of insults.
As I turned out of the room I grabbed my Mary-Jane's and strutted slowly from the room. My bag was on the table next to the door and I grabbed it, slipping in the books that I would need for the day. Among them; Calculus II, Modern Physics, Pathology, DNA Sequencing, Molecular Biology, Latin, and the dreaded Home Economics.
I quite enjoyed my course load this year. I'd finished all of the coursework that I needed to graduate high school with by the time that I was in the sixth grade. But Mrs. Rogers had made it clear that she was not raising a high school dropout, no matter how smart that dropout was. And I wanted to be the first woman admitted into Princeton University. Or maybe Harvard. Or even Columbia. I hadn't decided yet. But I knew that these classes would make me stick out from the average woman applicant. With the exception of Home Economics. I hoped that the colleges would overlook that.
Each one of my classes were some of the least populated classes that were offered at the school. Out of the few hundred people that went to school with me, only twenty-seven students were enrolled in Calculus II. Bucky and Steve had both told me that it looked like French to them. I had had to suppress the urge to tell them that it was really Greek. Modern Physics wasn't really a class that I genuinely enjoyed but it was good enough. And it was better than the Earth Science class where we were taught mostly about God, and nothing about evolution of Darwinism. Pathology was mostly so that I could figure out if it was an illness that ailed me. I had a feeling that it wasn't though. And that was what lead me to take DNA Sequencing and Molecular Biology. If it wasn't an illness that was responsible for what I was, maybe it was something about my DNA. It was what I hoped to specialize in during college. A foreign language was required and I figured that if I was going to take a class I might as well take a language I didn't know yet. I was already fluent in Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese, German, and Russian.
The boys didn't understand why I was taking a dead language but I insisted that it would be fun. And it was better than Italian, which I wasn't fond of. Then came the dreaded Home Economics. It was the only class that most girls in the school looked forward to. However, I dreaded it. I was just glad that it was the last period of the day. It meant that I might be able to occasionally skip it. Maybe I could get Bucky to leave early with me. After all, he only had a study hall last. I wasn't really even sure what they taught in Home Economics. I knew that there was usually something about cooking, parenting, design, sewing, and finances. It was going to make me claw my eyes out.
As far as Bucky and Steve were concerned, they said that it was the only normal class that I was taking. As far as I was concerned it was the most boring class that I was taking. I shoved all of the books into my bag, making sure that the Home Economics book was at the bottom. Once I had slung the bag over my shoulder I walked away from my room and shut the door behind me.
Out in the hallway Bucky and Steve were already waiting for me. I knew that we were a few minutes later than we normally were and that meant that we were going to have to book it. The last thing that I wanted was to be late for two classes in a row. As I grabbed the boys by their collars and dragged them out of the apartment we called back a goodbye to Steve's parents. "Bye kids!" Mrs. Rogers shouted. Mr. Rogers merely grunted in our direction, not bothering to look up from his paper. He knew that we would be back soon.
On the walkway we passed Bucky's apartment and shouted our goodbyes through the open window. Both Mr. And Mrs. Barnes hummed to us but neither bothered looking up from what they were doing. Mrs. Barnes was cleaning the kitchen and Mr. Barnes was scurrying around the living room, probably looking for his socks. It seemed like that was what he was always doing. The three of us all shoved each other to the staircase that wound down to the bottom floor, each one of us nearly falling over the other. I was tempted to jump over the edge of the railing and make a fall to the ground level but I knew that I couldn't. It would break a normal person's legs. So I settled for launching myself down the stairs. I was to the bottom about ten seconds before Bucky. Steve was another six seconds behind him.
Both boys were panting as they came to stand next to me. It was like I hadn't even moved. My heart rate was at a steady fifty-seven beats per minute. It seemed that both Bucky and Steve were well over one hundred beats per minute. They each had their hands on their knees as they tried to steady their breathing. I purposely added in a little ragged breathing to my intakes to look like I was struggling slightly. "Jeez Vika, I don't know how you do that," Bucky told me, brushing a few strands of hair off of his face. "It's like it doesn't even faze you."
Because it doesn't. "I've officially determined that you're some type of alien. No one can do that as composed as you can. And in heels!" Steve added. I laughed under my breath and shook my head at the two boys.
They had both calmed down slightly but I knew that Steve was still having a hard time breathing. He had asthma, as both Bucky and I knew well. That was one of the reasons that we both knew that he would never be enlisted into the Army. Bucky was grateful, seeing that it would keep his best friend out of trouble. I felt for him though. I knew what it was like to have someone tell me no because they didn't think that I had what it took. I knew that someday Steve's dream of defending the country would come true, one way or another. "We really need to get you two to the gym," I teased them.
Both boys shoved me and I shifted on my feet slightly so that I could make them feel a little better. In truth, their shoves really did nothing to me. "Come on hotshot, can't make you late again," Bucky teased. I shoved him gently and looked up at his face. It wasn't nearly as bad as it had been last night but you could still tell that he had been hit in the eye pretty hard. He wore it like a badge of honor.
With Bucky's arm slung over my shoulder I leaned into him slightly and nudged Steve to get us all walking once more. His breathing had returned to normal and I let out a breath of relief. I was always worried about him. I was pretty sure that I always would be worried. He was like a brother to me. And if Bucky kept getting into fights with everyone that insulted me I was going to have to start worrying about him too. He didn't have enough limbs to fight off all of the boobs that threw insults my direction.
The three of entered into the school and I waved goodbye to Steve, who had a meeting with the nurse before classes started. I had a feeling that he was going to ask her if there was any way that he could make it through gym class without needing his inhaler. I felt for the guy. He had fought so hard to get into the gym class and now it seemed only a day in and he was already having problems. I could see the hope of joining the Army dying in his eyes. I figured that it was why Bucky had stopped talking about it.
Bucky and I walked up the stairs to the second floor and I smiled when he walked past his first class of the day, Chemistry, bringing me straight towards DNA Sequencing. There were only six people lined up at the door and all were male. Not that it really shocked me. Bucky walked pressed slightly against me and I smirked when I heard the thoughts from a girl standing at the end of the hallway, right in front of the English classes. I went out with Bucky last weekend! What is he doing with that chippy? My teeth ground together and I turned away from her, smiling up at Bucky, knowing that it was driving her mad.
As long as it got the girl at the end of the hall's knickers in a twist it was fine by me. "Buck, man!" A black haired boy called from behind me. I turned back to see a boy that I had run into a few times at the Barnes's apartment. He was in the same year as Bucky and I knew that they had a few classes together. He had always seemed nice enough to me but I had never really spoken to him before. "What are you doing here? Didn't think you were much of a DNA Sequencing kind of guy," the black haired boy teased. "And who's your broad?" The boy asked.
My blood immediately boiled and I stiffened next to Bucky, whose arm was tight on my own. "She is not a broad," he growled back at the boy. I noticed that the black haired boy backed off slightly but still had his smile on his face. "This is Victoria and she's an old friend of mine. She's the best," he told them proudly. I blushed softly and leaned away from Bucky, knowing what the boys standing in the hall were thinking. "No way, I could never do this stuff but Victoria here, she's a genius with it," he bragged.
Once more I blushed softly and shook my head. I really was a genius but that didn't mean that I wanted other people to know it. And part of the reason that the blush was on my face was because of how Bucky had said it. He had spoken like I was his girl to be shown off. I had never much liked the idea of being a girl to be shown off for prize and I still didn't like it, but for whatever reason, the idea wasn't so appalling when it was Bucky who was talking about me. The moment I thought that I wanted to slap myself. I wasn't ever going to get married. I could never keep a secret like mine from someone forever. It wasn't fair to them and it wasn't fair to me. And I would never forgive myself if I accidentally hurt them.
Finally startling me from my thoughts I heard the boys in the hallway laughing as they all pointed at me. My eyes threatened to flash their dangerous red but I forced them to relax. No reason to scare people even more than I already did. Besides, I knew why they were all laughing. I was a woman. Even I being in an Algebra class would be a big deal. But in DNA Sequencing? They probably thought that this was a joke. And a bad one. They presumably thought that this was a joke on their intelligence. They would always think that they were smarter.
"Come on man, you're yanking our chains, right?" A different boy asked. This one had blonde hair and I let myself slip into his mind for a quick moment. What a dame. But there's no way she even understands what's going on in this class. Maybe she is a broad. My jaw clenched as the boy suggested to himself that the only way that I was going to find success in this world was if I hopped on their coattails. That was not true. I was smarter than all of them and I knew that I would be able to prove it in class.
Bucky's arm tightened on mine to the point that I knew it would cause a minor discomfort in the average person. But since I made no noise or move to leave him he didn't bother letting up. "No. I am not joking. She's the smartest dish I've ever met," Bucky told them. I smiled softly and aimed my gaze towards the ground. He had just called me pretty. Maybe he hadn't meant to but it didn't matter to me. He was the first person to tell me that I was pretty. Even my own parents had never called me pretty. The Barnes's and Roger's had called me plenty of sweet names, but never pretty. I liked hearing it. I especially liked hearing Bucky say it.
Another boy that I did know, Taylor Martins, took a few steps towards me and watched him closely. No part of me wanted him anywhere near me. I'd heard of the way that he treated women before and he was not going to treat me that way. Bucky would never let him and I would kill him before he laid a hand on me. "I'll believe that when I see it," Taylor purred at me. "Come on kids," he called as Mr. Hanover opened the door to let us all in. Only another two people had showed up. That was only nine people enrolled in the class.
We all walked into the room and I looked around. The class was made up of all tables that were in pairs. There were only six tables to choose from. The podium at the front of the room was already occupied and I saw that Mr. Hanover had already scattered papers across the top of the desk. The first two pairs of boys took seats in the middle tables and I headed for the front table on the left, right in front of Mr. Hanover's podium. All of the other boys filed in line behind me and I sighed in relief when I realized that no one was going to sit next to me. I pulled out my book for the course and flipped it open to the first chapter, pulling out a notepad and pencil with it. All of the boys around the room were snickering, each one of their thoughts crueler than the next.
"Alright, settle down," Mr. Hanover called to the class. Everyone silenced themselves in respect for the older man. He was probably in his fifties and balding. He wore thick wired glasses that were precariously perched on the end of his nose and a suit that looked like it needed a good dry-cleaning. But I had heard that he was a good teacher and that was all that mattered to me. "We're going to get right into it. Who can tell me what exactly DNA sequencing is?" Mr. Hanover asked.
A few people shifted in their seats and some looked like they wanted to answer but my hand went up first. No one else raised their hands, as it was obvious that Mr. Hanover was looking for another volunteer. I ground my teeth together but kept my hand up. He was going to look at me. Once it became obvious that no one else knew the answer, Mr. Hanover finally looked over at me. "Yes. Miss... Rogers, is it?" He asked.
"Yes, sir," I answered politely. He turned away from me and nodded for me to talk as he walked over to the blackboard. DNA sequencing is the process of determining the precise order of nucleotides within a DNA molecule. It includes anything that is used to determine the order of the four bases, which are-" I ranted until Mr. Hanover held up a hand to stop me.
He looked a tad bit impressed that I knew the answer as he leaned a little closer to my desk. "Yes, thank you Miss Rogers. I suppose that leads me in to my next question. What are the four bases?" My hand once more shot up as everyone else's stayed down. "Miss Rogers?" He called.
"Adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine," I answered automatically. Mr. Hanover nodded at me and for the first time since I had entered his class he smiled at me. And Steve and Bucky thought that I was nuts for wanting to take this class. This is going to be easy. Things like this always were. Other than causing mayhem wherever I went, this was what had always come to me the best. Academics. I just wished that others could see it.
The rest of the class went by easily for me. Each time a question was asked I knew the answer. What was it used for? Easy one. It was used to determine the sequence of individual genes, larger genetic regions, full chromosomes or entire genomes of any organism. What was is used for in molecular biology? It was used to study genomes and the proteins they encode. I knew that I would be learning more about that later. What was it used for in evolutionary biology? That was another easy one. It helps us study how different organisms are related and how they evolved.
There was also the easiest questions that we'd gotten. Who discovered DNA and when was it discovered? And what did DNA stand for? They were the only ones that I hadn't gotten to first. DNA stood for deoxyribonucleic acid. Taylor had gotten to that one wrong. And naturally he had pronounced it wrong. I couldn't help but to laugh and I'd noticed a few other kids snickering too. Nearly everyone knew that Friedrich Miescher had discovered DNA in 1869. It was the only time that I'd seen Mr. Hanover look slightly impressed by anyone other than myself.
We had been dismissed from the class at the end of the period with a promise that tomorrow we would have a quiz on the basics of DNA Sequencing. Pretty much everyone in class other than myself had groaned. I didn't really mind though. I was enjoying this class. It was the first time where I wasn't looked down on for knowing an answer that I shouldn't have. Well, maybe not from the students. But from the teacher, definitely. He seemed extremely impressed with me, much to the disappointment of the rest of the class.
As we had all left the classroom I heard a few nasty comments run through the heads of the other people in the class. Grinding my jaws together I walked down the hall and stopped at the classroom that Calculus II was in. This class seemed to be a little more crowded than the other. By the time we were all allowed into the room there were about twelve of us. Five of them were the boys that were also from the DNA Sequencing. Mr. Jensen was the teacher for this classroom and he seemed bothered to the bone that there was a female in his classroom. And I never even got a chance to prove that I belonged there. We just sat and listened to his lecture.
Everything that Mr. Jensen brought up I already knew. But I didn't dare tell him that. I knew how much trouble I would get in for speaking out in this class. Certainly more trouble than any of the males would. Once more I sat in the front of the room and avoided any of the other students. Seeing as there was an odd number of people in the class I was once more allowed a table by myself. Mr. Jensen had terrible handwriting and an even worse attitude. He smiled at the students that were getting his questions right and made nasty comments towards the people who got his questions wrong. As for me? He ignored me every time I answered a question, and if he didn't, he would merely nod his head slightly before moving on to the next question.
None of the topics were particularly hard. We learned about Riemann Sums, one of the easiest topics in calculus, and Trapezoidal Sums. Both of which were used to calculate the area under the curve of a graph. I was pretty sure that at least one of the boys was already ready to drop the class once Mr. Jensen had started on that topic. We'd also learned Integration Rules for all functions using Indefinite Integrals. We'd gone into the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus I and II. Mr. Jensen seemed extremely fond of those. All in all, the class wasn't fun, the teacher was horrible, and the students were nasty. But I knew if there was any chance of me being any form of a scientist I would need these classes.
Thankfully the bell finally rang and I was dismissed to my next class. Modern Physics. Most students avoided this class, considering it focused on topics that were only very recently discovered. It turned out that there were only seven students, myself included, in the course. Once more, I was the only female. Of course by now I'd become used to it. I figured that most of the school year would be like this. The boys were just going to have to get over it. I quite enjoyed Modern Physics and the older gentleman that taught it. Mr. Horvath. He seemed to think that most of the class was a load of phooey, but he enjoyed telling us about it nonetheless.
We learned about mostly things that I'd already read about in the newspapers that I liked to swipe from the Barnes's and Rogers's. We'd gone over Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which was something that had amused almost everyone in class. It was fascinating to hear the theory from someone who had lived to watch it be developed. We'd also learned about Max Planck's Quantum Theory. That was my personal favorite. The class itself was entertaining and it seemed that the boys in that class were the most open to having a woman in line with them. Most of them still didn't seem to enjoy having me around but they weren't as mean about it.
Once the bell rang I dismissed myself, heading to my locker and picking up my books for the rest of the day. Pathology, Molecular Biology, Latin, and Home Economics. I was almost tempted to leave the latter book in the locker room or toss it in one of the trash cans but I knew that I couldn't. There was no way that I was going to pass all of my classes that most grown adults couldn't pass, yet fail something that every girl in this school could manage to pass. I would just have to swallow my pride and take the course.
Making my way over to the Pathology classroom I saw that this was actually going to be a larger classroom. There seemed to be about thirty kids in the class. And despite the fact that this class was still mostly males, there were another two females with me. I didn't know either of their names but I was sure that they wanted to be nurses. That was the only reason that I could think that they were in here. I smiled at the pair, who both scoffed and looked away from me. Freak. What is she doing here? Shouldn't she be in the loony bin? The brunette girl's thoughts were bad enough and I scowled, making sure to sit as far away from them as I could.
Pathology was one of the easier classes that I was taking. It was mostly just memorization. Although I did get a kick out of jumping into the other student's minds halfway through classes and discovering that the other two girls in the class were already having a hard time understanding what we were talking about. I had a feeling that in a few weeks I would once more be the only female in the class. And it seemed that I was getting to the point where I didn't mind being the sole female. I was almost more comfortable with it. The girls all called me horrible names and whispered behind my back. At least the boys simply had their laughs and were silenced the first time I answered a question correctly.
Most of the things in class that we learned about I was already familiar with. We started with anatomical pathology first. One of the first things that we learned was what it was. Which I found as a bit of a waste of time. It seemed to me that if we were in this classroom we should already know what pathology was. Mr. Davidson described it as a medical specialty that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the gross, microscopic, chemical, immunologic and molecular examination of organs, tissues, and whole bodies. I was thrilled to hear that the two girls in the class were already completely lost. As for myself, I already knew what he was talking about. But I just wanted him to get to strange diseases that riddled humans. I had to know if what I had was a disease.
Of course we'd left class without a clue in the world as to whether or not we were going to be learning about certain diseases and I was left wondering if I should stay in the class. But I knew that if I dropped the course I would be put into an English class. And I did not want to be in English. I already knew words that most people wouldn't learn for another two of three decades. So it just meant that I would have to stick out the rest of the year.
The bell rang and I walked out into the lunchroom with the rest of the students. Everyone was laughing softly and chatting together and I sighed, knowing that I had to eat my lunch over in lunch detention. Once I had grabbed my small sandwich and carton of milk I walked over to the table and took a seat on the edge, as far away as possible from Ms. Hoffman. If I never saw the woman again for the rest of my life it would still be too soon.
I sat silently and ate my lunch, slightly jealous as I saw all of the other friends eating together and laughing as they all ate their lunches. Normally I would be with Bucky and Steve, the three of us eating together and laughing. But I couldn't even see them right now. I could only imagine what lunches were going to be like without Bucky next year. And Steve the year after that. If was going to be miserable. "Vika!" Bucky yelled.
He jumped onto the side of the table and I let out a small squeal, having not been focused on the world around me. Bucky had his arm slung over my shoulder as normal and Steve took a seat next to me. I looked around frantically before leaning into the two boys. They were going to get in so much trouble for being here. "Bucky you shouldn't be here! Steve, you either. I have to be here alone you guys," I reasoned with them. That was part of lunch detention. "Now scram. I don't want you both here too," I snarled.
Shockingly, it was Steve that spoke out against the rules. "Come on Vicky, we just wanted to say hi and see how your first day back was going," Steve told me. I cocked an eyebrow at him. It was always Bucky that was getting the two of us into trouble. Not the other way around. Steve was always the most straight-laced out of any of us. "Ms. Hoffman had to go take care of some kid throwing up in the bathroom. She won't be back for a few minutes," Steve told me. I groaned at the thought of the bathroom once more being unusable and shook my head. Not that we could normally go in there. It was always a horrifying sight.
"You two are such twits," I told them, smacking both boys. They each laughed and I rolled my eyes. At least I had been paying enough attention to not break their arms. "It was alright. I just wish that people would realize that just because I'm a girl it doesn't mean that I'm a moron! I know what I'm talking about. I mean I was in DNA Sequencing and my teacher kept ignoring me just because I was a girl. And then there was Calculus II. My teacher in there doesn't even talk to us and when he does he completely ignores me. Modern Physics is pretty cool but the teacher ignores me for the most part. Although I guess I'm getting used to that. There are two other girls in my Pathology class but they seem to hate me. I guess my day could be worse though," I said with a shrug.
On my left I felt Bucky shift in a little closer to me and I had to fight my eyes from turning a light pink. That would be difficult to explain. "Come on Vika, they just hate you because you're smarter than them. You're smarter than all of them," he told me and I nodded. He wasn't wrong about that. "You're our girl and you're no twit," he told me with a little nudge. Once more I let a small smile cross my face.
"Thanks guys," I said softly. Bucky leaned over into me and kissed the top of my head. I aimed my eyes down at the table and I saw my eyes briefly flicker pink in the reflection from the wood. A blush rose to my face and I smiled, leaning into my own shoulder. I could hear all of the thoughts coming from the females sitting around me that had been watching Bucky and me. The crow. Why does he hang around with that Sword Swallower? My jaw nearly dropped at that insult. What does he want with that Teaser? What a bitch.
Each insult was getting progressively worse and I scowled to myself. None of them knew just how easy it would be for me to make them choke on their own blood. My hands were twitching, energy pulsing underneath them and I was about ready to let it go. But before I could I heard an extremely familiar shout. "James Barnes and Steven Rogers!" Ms. Hoffman screamed from across the lunchroom. Both boys straightened up with fear in their eyes and Bucky moved away from me. "What are the two of you boys doing with Miss Rogers? Should I put the both of you in lunch detention for a week as well?" She snarled.
"Bye Vic!" Both boys yelled. I watched with a soft laughter as they both sprung up from the table, avoiding Ms. Hoffman's claws before turning and dashing down the halls, probably back to their last few classes. Smiling past them I leaned back into the chair and watched the clock as it counted down the minutes until I could go back to my classes. It took five more minutes but finally the bell rang and I stood to leave for class.
The next four days that I had of lunch detention were going to be awful. But that didn't matter. As long as the whole thought of my expulsion stayed in Principal Sander's head it didn't matter. I stood and walked through the halls to Molecular Biology. I knew that it would be similar to DNA Sequencing and the thought made me brighten slightly. Maybe there was a chance that we would learn something about what I was.
Heading into the classroom I realized that it was mostly the same boys that had been in my DNA Sequencing class this morning. I rolled my eyes and walked in, taking a seat in the front of the room when the rest of the students laughed at me. They would always laugh. I just had to be better. I had to straighten my spine and walk into the room, pretending that they couldn't hurt me. And that was the truth. Nothing could hurt me. Not their words, not a bullet, and not a knife.
The class started up quickly and I looked at the teacher for the class. I had never seen him before but he was an older gentleman that looked like he was counting down the days until his retirement. Not that I could really blame him. I hated being stuck here with these kids all day too. We learned how it is the molecular basis of biological activity between biomolecules in the various systems of a cell, including the interactions between DNA, RNA and proteins and their biosynthesis, as well as the regulation of these interactions. It wasn't the most fascinating topic in the world but it was better than nothing. And I still held out hope that one day we might talk about what could have caused what had happened to me.
The class nearly put me to sleep and I was one of the first people out of the classroom once the class was finally dismissed. As far as I was concerned they might as well wake me up once they started talking about whatever I was. The thing that it seemed that only I was. The one thing that frustrated me more than anything else was that I was sure that I was the only one of me. I had never met another person like me. I had never heard of someone else like me. Maybe one day there would be but as for now I was on my own.
The next class that we were all shoved into was Latin. It was one of the classes that I was excited for. I already knew all of the languages that I would ever need to know and I could learn anything else I needed. Latin was a mostly full class. There was probably just under thirty students. And it seemed that this was the class with the highest female population. Besides myself, there were nine other females in Latin. I took a seat at the front as normal, not shocked in the slightest that no one bothered to come sit with me.
Most of what we learned were the simplistic ideals of Latin. We learned its alphabet, where it was spoken and by whom, and when it was considered a dead language. More than once I heard someone think about why they were in the class. Clearly most people thought that this class was pointless. I somewhat understood them, Latin was a dead language. It was just people with the respect for the language that wanted to learn it. It was a difficult language to grasp but I still enjoyed it. It was much better than Spanish, which I had perfected in third grade.
For once I was praying that the bell would never ring, considering I knew exactly where I had to go. And the last thing that I wanted to do was deal with Home Economics. Still, the bell finally rang and I watched as most girls jumped out of their seats, giggling and thrilled that they were finally able to go to the only class that they excelled in. I rolled my eyes at them and stood from my seat, slowly walking over to the Home Economics classroom. It looked like there was about forty girls in the doorway and no males. They were all laughing and smiling, each one chattering away happily as they were let into the classroom.
We were all seated at tables that were about to the bottom of our rib-cages. Unlike the other classes I'd been in, most of the girls rushed to the front of the classroom. I, on the other hand, headed to the back, taking a seat at a table by myself. There was some cooking supplies out in front of us and I nearly groaned. One of the few things that I couldn't do was cooking. It was probably the only thing that I couldn't do. Other than sewing. Which, conveniently, there were sewing needles placed out on the table too. The teacher walked into the room after a few minutes of gleeful chattering and everyone silenced themselves. The teacher was a middle-aged woman, Mrs. Lester. I'd seen her before and I'd never been a fan.
She jumped into the lesson quickly, telling us that our first assignment would be cooking. It wasn't something that I'd really ever done before so I followed each of her steps, trying to replicate the baked chicken recipe that she was doing. Needless to say that once we were all done I had one of the worst in the class. Ms. Lester had made a point of mentioning to everyone that I was not a student to be following after. My teeth grit together as I forced myself not to blow up the dimly burning fire underneath her desk.
Sewing was our next task and I was no better at that. My pants were all terrible and the needle and thread that I had used on my sweater was inside out. The jumper had torn pathetically and I broke the needle more than once. Ms. Lester had looked so frustrated with me that I was sure that she was going to kick me out of her classroom. And the worst part was all of the laughing. They all thought that I was a twit just because I couldn't figure out how to sew or cook. It didn't matter that I was a stellar student in anything having to do with any discipline of math or science. They only cared that I was bad at what women should be good at.
Once the bell finally rang to signal the end of the school day I grabbed my bag and nearly trampled the other girls on my way out of the school. I knew that I should have stopped and waited for Bucky and Steve to walk home with me but I wasn't in the mood to wait for them. And I had a bad feeling that if I did wait for them I was going to say something that I shouldn't. The last thing that I needed was to destroy the friendships with the only people that had really cared for me in my entire life. It was a good thing that on my way out I didn't see Bucky or Steve. I knew that they would try to stop me and get me to talk about what was wrong. But for right now I was not in the mood to talk.
So I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked out of the school, avoiding Steve and Bucky as I saw them turn the corner, probably waiting for me. I felt a little bit bad for leaving them there but I knew that they would figure out that I had left in a few minutes. This wouldn't be the first time that I had left school without them in a huff. The only reason that I normally went with them was because Mrs. Rogers had asked them to always walk me home. She seemed to think that it was dangerous for a little girl to be walking the streets of Brooklyn alone in the late afternoon. I had always laughed her off but nodded anyways. The only person that someone wouldn't want to meet in a dark alleyway at night was me.
I cut my way through the back alley that Steve, Bucky, and I normally took to get back to the apartments and sighed as I heard a little shuffling from behind a dumpster. There were always homeless people back here that liked to mess with us. But one look at my eyes normally sent them running for the hills. So I dropped my bag on the ground and turned back to the dumpster, ready to tell off whoever was hiding behind it.
It wasn't really shocking. There were usually homeless people back here. And one snap at them and they would usually run for the hills. They didn't want to get in trouble. Snarling at the person from behind the dumpster, my jaw nearly dropped when they limped out from behind it.
It was Johnathan. I thought back to the day and remembered that I hadn't seen him at all. His cronies had been in school but he was nowhere to be found. I had assumed that he was at home on bed-rest. He looked awful. His eyes were slightly sunken in and they looked a tiny bit red. His knee was jutting out at an odd angle, as was his nose. I was rather impressed that he was even able to stand. Although by the looks of it, it seemed like he was about to fall over. I wasn't shocked. I had pulled his knee completely out of the socket. I was more surprised that he was still standing. Although it looked like he wouldn't be for long.
"Yellow Eyes," Johnathan snarled at me. I rolled my eyes and shifted a few steps away from him. He did not look happy with me and I didn't want to tempt fate. In the back of my mind I could hear a few other minds thinking about when they should step out. So he wasn't alone. He'd brought his boys out here to try and make a fool out of me. I had to say, I was rather impressed. Most men wouldn't dare to ever lay a hand on a woman. But that was what a respectable man would do. And Johnathan and his boys were not respectable.
"I'm trying to go home. What do you want, Johnathan? I'm not apologizing for what I did to you yesterday. You were out of line with what you said. Chalk it up to a mistake on both of our parts," I told him.
He snarled at me and I saw a brief fury flash through his eyes. It was nothing like what I could make my own eyes do. And it was why I wasn't amused. "I don't want your apology. I want to show you what it's like to be on the other end. You caught me off guard yesterday. Today, you're on that end of the stick." Johnathan whistled a high pitched tune and I watched as three other boys walked out of the dark corners. All three were familiar; boys that I went to school with. Two of them had been in my classes earlier.
Each of the boys took turns circling me. Johnathan was the only one that remained still. He was watching me with eagle-like eyes and I scowled. He had brought his friends here to teach me a lesson. I almost wanted to laugh. They weren't going to hurt me. They couldn't hurt me. And they never would. They'd go to prison for hurting me. The first of the boys stood directly behind me. Another stood at my left side. The other was at my right. Johnathan was standing right in front of me. I let my mind slip briefly into theirs.
She thinks that she can get away with what she did to me. Little bitch. I'll show her just how weak she really is. Johnathan. So they were going to try and attack me. I thought so.
"I think we need to teach her a little respect, boys," Johnathan snarled to me. Although he was speaking to the boys he never looked away from me. I watched as he flipped a hand and the first of the boys, the one that had been standing to my right, ran forward to grab my arms. His grip was light; though he probably thought that it was tight. I knew that it would hurt a normal girl. I merely scowled at the boys. The other one that had been standing behind me walked forward and kicked the back of my knees. That time I fell, scraping my knees on the ground. I hissed slightly at the soft pain. The other friend walked forward and grabbed my hair that was still tied up in a knot, yanking it out of the tight hold. Alright, that one hurt a little bit.
Johnathan began walking around me and I stared darkly at him. He was not going to hurt me. I had been hurt enough in my life. His little cronies were not going to hurt me again. As Johnathan took a few steps closer to me I felt the electricity and power hum in my veins. Johnathan came to stand in front of me and reared his fist back, preparing to hit me, probably harder than he had ever hit any boy that he had ever bullied.
And that was when I decided that enough was enough. As his fist reared down I reached out and yanked my right arm out of the first of Johnathan's cronies and caught the arm that Johnathan had about brought down on my face. He shouted in shock as I caught it and thrust it back upwards, once more cracking into his nose. Johnathan screamed in pain and I turned to the other three boys on my knees. Each one seemed in between hitting me back and running for it.
"What are you waiting for?" Johnathan howled at his boys. His voice was nasally from his broken nose. The three boys all looked at me and I waited in a crouched position, my hands buzzing with energy. "Get her!" He shouted, causing all three to immediately jump into action.
The one that had been holding my right arm launched towards me first. I already saw the way that he fought. Slow and clumsy, although his hits were well aimed. I'd seen it in the way that he had caught my arm earlier. The one that had been behind me followed the others. He mirrored movements. Whenever I would make a move to him he would make the same one back to me. It was obvious enough. The one that had yanked my hair was the ruthless one. He didn't think movements through. He was fast and strong. Although he would be easily caught off guard.
They were all so easy. It was why it had taken me just over a second and a half to figure out the way that the three of them fought. As expected, the one that had yanked my hair ran forwards first. I reached out just before he could grab me by the throat and sent a well-aimed kick into his stomach. He was thrown backwards, smacking into a wall and sliding down. He cried out softly before springing back up. He ran at me once more before I leaned down and shoved my fist back up underneath his rib-cage. I heard him let out a breath of air and a scream that was unlike anything else I had ever heard. I knew without a doubt that I had ruptured his spleen, judging by the way that he didn't stand back up and barely looked like he was still conscious.
The two other cronies were completely still. But one more snap from Johnathan made the other two spring into action, although I could tell that the one that had grabbed my arm was more hesitant to move than the other. The one that kicked my knees out ran up to me next and I moved out of the way as his hands went around my wrist. His hands were slippery with sweat and I was able to slip out of his grip easily. He fell over slightly and I took his moment of weakness to use it against him.
My leg swung up and I kicked out at his head as roughly as I could. There was a little snap in his neck and I felt his jaw completely pop out of place. He fell to the ground and I reared up, the energy buzzing through my veins. As my fist flew down at his face I felt the energy burst and sink into his head. Besides a now broken nose and black eye he had a bigger problem. The beginnings of an aneurysm. It would kill him if it burst. The pain sinking into every bone and muscle in his body kept him down on the ground.
And then there was one.
The last one, the one that had grabbed my arm, looked horrified. He looked like he was going to stay where he was planted until I advanced on him. They had started this. They had unleashed the monster that had always hidden just under the surface. And now they got to deal with her.
He threw his arms up to protect himself from my onslaught but he was too slow. My fist went directly into his chest and I smirked as I heard the rib crack under the pressure of my fist. He fell to the ground, howling in pain. His leg came up to kick me in the face but I was faster. I grabbed his ankle and yanked roughly, watching as it popped out of place. I didn't stop there though. I yanked it to the side, making sure that the tendon separated from the bone. His screams only increased but I walked away from him. He wasn't moving any time soon.
Johnathan was on the ground, staring at me in horror. He clearly couldn't stand and it would only make my job easier. I walked up to him and snarled under my breath, letting my eyes take over their traditional red gleam. He had made them that way. I had only been able to control it up until now. "What are you? Demon!" Johnathan yelled.
His hands dropped into the top of his shirt and I watched curiously as he pulled out a cross. It was pure gold and I smirked at him as he began to mutter a prayer under his breath. He was so wrong. That wasn't what I was. Evil? Maybe. Demon? No. "No, I'm much worse than that," I snarled at him. Reaching up I grabbed his arm away from his torso, feeling the bone break underneath my grip. His chain around his neck snapped as I reached over and kicked out. My feet connected with his torso and I watched with glee as three of his ribs broke underneath the pressure. I jammed my hand into his throat, cutting off his air circulation. I was about to rip his throat free from his neck when I realized what I had done.
Stepping back in horror I felt my hands begin to shake. What had I done? What the hell had I done to these boys? Johnathan was leaning over and spitting up blood. I knew immediately that one of his ribs had punctured his lung, causing it to begin to collapse. The one who had grabbed my arms seemed to be suffering the same fate. The one that had kicked out my knees was on the ground howling in pain, suffering from a brain aneurysm. He would be dead in ten minutes if no one came to help him. The first one had a ruptured spleen. It would kill him too if he didn't get medical attention.
I was staring at them curiously, watching and wondering what I should do. Could I help them? Should I help them? I wasn't sure what to do. My hands and arms were shaking; legs quivering as well. I didn't know what to do. I had never let myself get this out of hand before. And now I may have just killed five boys. Even if I hadn't killed them when they came back to they would tell someone what had happened. Would anyone believe them?
The whirring of sirens broke me out of my thought and a shiver shot up my spine. I could hear the sirens gradually getting closer and I knew that they were headed towards me. Were they coming over here because of the noise? They had to be. My feet reacted before my brain did. I turned on my heels and sprinted away from the boys. As I ran away I saw the police cars turning the corner. The ambulance was there as well. As I turned the corner I heard them yelling for me; to come after me.
It only made my feet pick up faster. I sprinted down the alleyways that I had known well since I was a child. I didn't know what to do and I didn't know where to go. I couldn't go to the police. They would arrest me. I couldn't go to Bucky and Steve. They would never forgive me for what I had done. I had to leave before they found me. They would know who I was. They would know that I was the little girl that they had lost out here so long ago. I needed to get out of here. I needed to run and I needed to run far.
As I rounded the corner of another back alleyway I ran headfirst into a solid figure. For a moment I had thought that it might have been a wall but when I gave another look I noticed that it was a man. A very tall man. I let out a yelp of fear and turned to run once more but the man grabbed me tightly around the waist. "Let go of me!" I howled before leaning out to dislocate his arm, forcing him to let go of me.
"Calm down! Follow me. If you show them what you truly are they'll never leave you be," the man warned me softly. My harsh movements ceased suddenly and I stared at him curiously. Did he know what I was? How could he know what I was? I let my mind slip briefly into his. I knew that you would come in here. I know who you are. I know what you are. I can help you. You must follow me first. They're looking for you. They know that it's you. Victoria Davies. You've been missing for a long time.
Not wanting to ask him how exactly he knew who I was, I merely nodded at him. He grabbed me around the arm and dragged me through a few alleys. These were places that I had never been before. But I knew that I could trust the man. I knew that I could kill him if he acted harshly against me. The man dragged me past the areas where I could hear the sirens and I knew that we were away from any danger. Still, he kept running me away from everything that I knew. I knew that we were far away from any place that I regularly visited and I knew that we were far away from wherever Bucky and Steve were.
The man dragged me back into an open field behind the last of the alleys and I fell onto my knees. The strange man offered me a hand up but I batted him away. I didn't want any help from him. Not right now. I weakly stood up and gave the man a once over. I had never seen him before. I had never seen anyone else like him before.
He was a slightly older man, looking like he was either in his late forties or early fifties. He wore a military uniform, one that looked like it was made for someone at least at a Sergeant status. He had lots of award pins and medals on him. He was immaculately dressed and his hair was well kept. It was speckled with gray but mostly seemed to be black. He had a stern face but was looking at me with a mild concern. I merely stared at him curiously and made sure that the energy was still pulsing through my hands. He was more dangerous that a kid my age. He would actually know how to fight me. He would be a challenge.
The man took a step back from me, seemingly knowing that I was nervous with him staring at me. His hands were clasped behind his back as I stared back at him. "Victoria Dav-"
"My name is not Victoria Davies. It is Victoria Rogers," I snapped back at the man. He seemingly knew the truth of who I was but I was not going to admit it to him that easily. I was not going to get taken into custody or jail or anything of the sort. Not when I had hidden so well for so long.
He merely smiled at me once more and began to walk around me. His hands were wringing together behind his back and I sensed a tiny bit of anticipation. But it was more of a pure happiness that was falling off of him in waves. What was he happy about? "I know exactly who you are. You've kept it a secret well. But that's because no one has been looking for you. AT least not here. I knew that you would be somewhere out of the public eye. I knew that you would be somewhere small. Unrecognizable. But as normal as this one place is, you are not. There's one thing that makes you different from anyone else."
His words reeled through my head for a moment. That was why no one had caught me over the years? Because they had been looking in the wrong place. It all seemed so simple hearing him say something like that. But I knew what he meant about me. What made me so obvious. "My eyes," I muttered under my breath.
He smiled at me once more and shook his head at me. A shiver shot up my spine once more as the man laughed at me and shook his head. "Not your eyes. Although they are quite something; I've never seen someone with eyes like that." My eyes narrowed at him. "They're beautiful," he told me. The scowl dropped off of my face as I stared at him curiously. "But it's not your eyes that are how I know who you are. It's the way that you hold yourself. Strong, put together. Different than any other woman I've met. But I see something else. A fragility. A fragility that comes from holding a secret more dangerous than any other. I know who you are. I can help you, Victoria. I can help you, but you must let me."
Why was he offering to help me? He couldn't. There was no one that could help me. They all just wanted to kill me. To take me and experiment on me, curious as to what I was. "You can't help me. No one can help me. I'll figure this out just like I've always done. Leave me be. If you know who- what- I am, you'll know that leaving me to walk away from you is a wise choice," I snarled at the man.
Unsurprisingly he didn't look afraid or even the slightest bit nervous. He merely smiled at me once more as he walked around me, coming to stand at my front. "I know exactly who you are. I know what you are. And that's why I'm not leaving you. That's why I want to help you. Because I know that there's no way to help you. Not out here. But I do know a way to help you. It all starts with you coming with me," the man told me.
I stiffened as a stared at him. He wanted me to go with him? No way. Never. I was not going to go with him. I couldn't just leave without my friends knowing where I was going. I couldn't just leave the people who had done so much for me without another word. I wanted to say all of those things, but instead the only thing that came out was, "Where?"
His smile still hadn't broken. He seemed to know somehow that that was the answer that I would give him. I hated myself for even offering to entertain his idea but this man seemed to know all about me. "You would have to come with me to know. I know that I've given you no reason to trust me other than getting you away from those men back there. But I can help you. I care for people like you. I help them learn how to control what you are. I teach you to harness your powers and use them to help people. I can help you. But you must let me," he told me.
My arms and legs were shaking and I felt like at any moment I might fall to the ground. But I forced myself to stay steady. "Why should I?" I snarled at him.
"I figured that you might not believe me. But I have to tell you something, Victoria. You didn't kill those boys. You came close. But you didn't. In a few days they will be healthy enough to tell the police what happened. They might have already told them what happened. They're already looking for who assaulted those four boys. If they find you they'll arrest you. Probably worse. There are others like you and the ones that are caught never see daylight again," he warned me.
My head was spinning now. He was right. The police would find me. They would hunt me down until my last day on earth for what I had done to those boys. And for everything that I had done before them. But there was something else that I was still hanging onto. Others. He had said that there were others like me. For years I had always thought that I was the only one. "Others?" I asked him softly.
He nodded back at me slowly. "Yes. Others. You are not the only one of your kind. I promise that you aren't. My home- the place that I've created- it is a safe haven for people like you. You're all different. Different powers. Different... motivations. I help all of you that I can. The world isn't ready for people like you yet. But I intend for them to be ready one day. They will be. And I need people like you. I need to show that you are just like anyone else. Is that what you want? For people to understand you?"
It was like he was in my mind. That was exactly what I wanted. I had just never said anything to him. "Yes," I told him softly.
"I thought so," the man told me. Not once had his smile wavered throughout our conversation. "I know it is hard but you must come with me. I will keep you safe. You will live and learn with people like yourself. I can help you. I promise you that." My nerves were on end speaking to the man. I couldn't leave here. But I had to. He was right. Someone had to show the world that people like myself weren't dangerous. And if that isn't enough to convince you there is something else. Your friends; they're in danger with you around them. The world will learn that they are your weakness and they will attack them. All to get to you. And it will succeed. Would you let them die for you?" He asked me.
"No," I snapped quickly. I would never let Bucky or Steve die for me. I wouldn't let their parents or families die for me. No one would die for me. Not to keep my secret.
He smiled at me once more and walked around me in a small circle. He still stayed back from me slightly. "Yes, I thought not. You are exactly the person that I hoped that you were. I can take you to this place. I see it in your eyes. I see that you want to leave. I want to help you. I want to keep you under my wing. I want to help you live out your life in peace. You want to be a scientist yes? To help find out why people like you exist," the man told me.
I had no clue how he knew any of those things. But I found myself nodding at him anyways. He was right. That was exactly what I wanted. I just couldn't bring myself to speak to the man. "So what do we do?" I asked softly.
"You come with me, Victoria. I will help you and I will keep you safe. All you have to do is come with me. Will you, Victoria?" He asked me. It took me a moment of deliberation to decide what I wanted to do.
There wasn't a bone in my body that knew for sure what I wanted to do. I wasn't sure. I didn't want to leave my friends but the man was right. I couldn't risk their lives and their safety just to keep myself safe for another day. Maybe this was the best thing for me. Maybe the only thing that I had to do was keep myself locked away. Maybe one day I would ensure that the world no longer feared people like me. I would be able to tell Bucky what I was. I would be able to tell Steve what I was. I wouldn't be Yellow Eyes anymore. I would just be another girl who was a little different than your average person. The people like me wouldn't be hated. We wouldn't be feared.
So after a few minutes of silence I nodded at the man. He smiled back at me and gave me his hand. After staring at it for a few seconds I took it and let him lead me out of the small wooded area. We walked slowly together and I stared curiously at a large car that was parked near the edge of the woods. It was facing north. So we were heading somewhere north of here. Somewhere safe. There were two other men in the car and both seemed to be military as well, the same as the man who had helped me back in the alley.
We were standing on the outside of the car and the man held his hand out to me to help me get inside of the truck. But before I took another step I backed away, straight into his arms. He helped steady me before backing away from me. "Are you alright?" He asked me with a hint of concern in his eyes.
I nodded at him slightly and backed away from him, towards the truck once more. I knew that I had to do this. It didn't matter what I wanted. It just mattered that I would be able to change the world. I knew that I could. "I'm ready to leave. I-I'm sorry. I just want to ask you something. My friends, I-I want to go and say goodbye to them. I have to, and my things. All of my things are back in their homes. I need to get my things. Please," I muttered softly to him.
There was a hint of pity in his eyes as he took a few strands of my hair and pushed them back behind my ear in a fatherly way. It was something that my own father had never done. "I'm so sorry, Victoria. I would bring you back there if I could, honestly. But I can't. Those boys likely already admitted who you were to the police. They will be at your friend's homes within the hour. If you are there, there will be nothing that I can do to save you. There is nothing that you have back home that I can't get for you. Food, clothing, water, toiletries; name it and I can get it for you." What about Bucky and Steve? He seemed to sense that was where I was going and he smiled me. "I can't bring you your friends but once you show the world that you are not a disease, that you are a savior, they will forgive you for leaving like this. I promise you that your friends will meet you again one day. For right now you must come with me. I will help you. But you must trust me first."
"How can I trust you?" I asked him. He stood in front of me, clearly waiting to see whether or not I would get into the truck. "I don't even know your name." As far as I was concerned it seemed to be the only reason that I had not to trust him.
The man smiled at me and gave me room to walk a little closer to him. He had his hand stuck out for me to shake but I stayed still. Not until he told me his name. "My name is Major William Stryker," he told me. I nodded at the man and grabbed his hand, letting him shake it. We both stared at each other for a moment before I sighed and nodded my head. He let me walk into the truck and I did so, taking a seat next to William. As we sat he called to his men to start the truck, leaning over to me as he did so. "Get some sleep while you can. It might take us a while to get you acclimated to your new home. It may come as somewhat of a shock; seeing the people that you are just like. Not to worry. It will become home after a while," he told me.
I nodded and let my head fall back onto the seat that I was sitting on. My eyes slipped closed and I fought back images of Johnathan and the boys from earlier, beaten and bloodied. Instead I let images of Bucky and Steve fill my head. They were both smiling and laughing at me. They were my family and I would make it back to them. Don't worry boys, I'll come back to you. I promise.
A/N: Hey guys! Yes I understand that DNA sequencing mostly wasn't a thing until the 1970's, but let's just pretend. Okay kids? Thanks!
30's Slang Translations:
Twit: Idiot
Boob: A dumb guy
Chippy: An easy woman
Broad: An assertive and attractive woman, it is a term for a less respectable lady
Crow: An ugly woman
Sword Swallower: A woman or man that frequently performs oral sex on a man
Teaser: A sexually loose female
We've got a major plot point coming in the next chapter so get ready for it. Now let me address the time change here. This is the same William Stryker that we see design the adamantium skeleton for Logan in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That movie took place (specifically the scene where the skeleton is added) about in the late 60's to early 70's. For the purpose of my story, it's going to happen in the late 30's/early 40's. There is a reason that I've done this but you won't see that for a while. Oh and I will reveal the extent of Victoria's powers soon. Also, The Sleeping Beauty was a ballet that really did begin production in 1890. Anyways, obviously nothing good is coming but poor Victoria doesn't know that. And how to we think that Steve and Bucky are going to take it when they find out that Victoria left without a word? Let me know what you guys think! Thanks for all of the follows and favorites! Keep 'em coming! Until next time -A
SweetSouthernCharm: Thank you so much! I genuinely enjoy writing this story! These updates do take me a while with being in school but thanks for waiting for them :)
cedarlight: Oh that's embarrassing! I'm usually so good about that. Thanks for pointing it out to me! I'm glad you like it and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!
xWintra: Thank you! I appreciate that you like my writing and the long chapters, since they do take forever to write. I'm really glad that you think Victoria is realistic. Obviously in many ways she isn't realistic but I hope that there are pieces of her that are. Thanks for your review, I hope you continue to enjoy the story!
