Lailah, no Quinn, my name is Quinn, ran through the grassy lawn of the Avengers facility. All the memories of her life had rushed back to her and it felt like she had landed on hard cement. From all the birthday parties, to school, to the experiments, she remembered. And her first thought was she had to get back to Adam. Adam was her brother, her only thing left in the world. No, you have the Avengers, they're your family too. But I need Adam.
Hands wrapped around her waist, spinning her around. She put her hands on the person's chest, pushing them away.
"It's me." Quinn looked up at Pietro and she recalled the first time they met.
"Y'all look in bad shape, do you need help getting somewhere?" She had asked, slightly out of breath from the amount of energy she had used.
"Do you know who we are" Pietro only lifted his head, his words came out in a short, choppy fashion. He had never been this tired.
"Tourists?"
She smiled slightly at the memory. "I found my memories. Well, most of them. I seem to keep being, uh, hit with them, you know?" He didn't but nodded anyway.
"So you have. Lai…are you alright?" Quinn nodded.
"I'm…fine." She was on the brink of tears. "I'm…hurting. I know what I went through and it all came back, the good memories, the bad, I remember and I relived it. It felt like years but only seconds past."
"Would you like to tell me?" She stepped away from Pietro. He hadn't realized they were still very close. "You don't have to; I don't want to push you."
"No, talking will help me ration my thoughts out. I will tell you everything, but…not right now. I'm sorry I ran; I was overcome with…emotion."
"That's alright. Let's go back inside." Pietro put an arm about the still trembling girl as they walked back inside.
Everyone was treating her like a mental patient; they didn't speak too loud or bring up her name.
After taking two bites of pizza she stated that she was ready to share. Everyone dropped their food and paid attention.
"My real name is Quinn Evangeline Lacey. I was born in Austin, Texas on July 11. I have a brother, Adam, he's two years older than me. Our father died in a car accident when I was three. Mom died of cancer when I was six. Adam and I were placed in a foster home under the care of Gretchen Willis, a horrid old woman who only kept us so she could continue to buy her alcohol. When Adam graduated high school he enlisted in the army, he said goodbye and didn't look back." Quinn didn't know how this topic would affect her, she pushed through the sudden pain in her heart. "I received one letter from him before I was kidnapped."
I tuck my covers up to my chin. Though it's July in Texas, Ms. Willis kept the air conditioning on high 24/7. Only two more years of this, then I'll be rid of her. I close my eyes mentally picture the books I plan to read at the library tomorrow, and the songs I'll listen to on the computer. Going to the library every day during the summer was my safe haven. I would pick out a good five novels. Get headphones and listen to classical music as I read.
I toss and turn for the first hour of 'sleeping', to excited about my plan for tomorrow.
I hear the creak of a door and think that Ms. Willis forgot to take a bottle up with her to her bed, in case she gets thirsty in the middle of the night. When my door opens I close my eyes tight and pretend to be asleep, what does she want?
"Grab her feet." A man's voice sounds. My eyes fly open and before I can scream a rag is put over my mouth, and I pass out.
Quinn hadn't realized she had been crying until Pietro put a hand on her leg. A tear fell from her cheek onto her knee. She wiped the tears away and tried to laugh it off.
"Do you need a break?" Tony asked concernedly.
"No, no. I'm fine. Once it's out, I can accept it and move on."
I wake up tied to a chair. What the hell? I pull against the rope and my skin screams at me to stop. As I look around I recognize that I'm in a surgical room. This reminds me of a video game Adam use to play. I think about calling out for help, but I don't think anyone here is my friend. So I stick with focusing on a way out. I push myself over to a counter and with my teeth I open drawers.
In one I find a surgical knife, but it looks sharp enough. I carefully move it to my hands and start the long process of cutting my ropes off. Once they're lying on the floor I easily cut through the restraint on my feet.
I keep the knife with me as I open the door, unlocked. Weird. The hallway is lite with dim bulbs. I run, my bare feet hitting cold tile. An open a door labeled stairs and take them two at a time.
That's when I hear voices, I race back down onto the floor I was on. A window is too my left and I open it, crawling out, I shut it just before the door opens and three men walk down the hallway. I kneel and look at my surrounding. I'm outside, it's dark. No street lamps of any kind. My eyes haven't adjusted yet, but I don't care. I run. I run straight into a fence. When my hand makes contact with it a bright light shines on me. I jump off and run to a different part of the fence. There too a light shined as I attempt to climb.
I look behind me and the building I am in has an American flag proudly waving in the front. There are several floors, connected closely together.
I turn my attention back to the fence and I place one foot above the other. Suddenly, my hands and body are on fire and I let go. My body jerks around, I have no control. My whole body is cold and hot at the same time. Electric fence.
A man stands above me.
"Congratulations, you've gotten farther than anyone else. Kartov will be very pleased." My body gives one final shake then I pass out.
"I think that's enough for today." Steve said when the air in the room started getting thicker. Tony put a hand over his mouth, scratching his chin so he didn't explode with rage. "Lailah." She stopped talking. "I'm sorry, what would you like us to call you?"
She thought for a moment, "Quinn, please." Tony smiled behind his hand. "I'm gonna, go to bed." The team watched carefully as Quinn stood and walked away. "Guys, I'm fine. I don't need to be handled with kid gloves. I can start training again tomorrow. Now that I know more Natasha, we can start really working tomorrow. Whoo, who is excited?" Quinn raised her hands and jogged to her room.
"Is this something weird or do I just not understand women?" Scott asked the group.
"Hate to agree with tic-tac, but this doesn't seem normal." Sam picked up his drink.
"Let me talk to her. Though I had a…different reaction," Bucky stated, "I had a process that I went through, maybe if I explain it to Lai…Quinn she'll accept her past."
"Maybe tomorrow, Buck. Let's give her time to adjust." Bucky nodded.
Pietro just sat watching the direction that Quinn left. He was lost in thought when his sister entered his mind.
'What are you going to do?'
Pietro jumped a bit, no one seemed to notice that he was telepathically speaking with his sister.
'What makes you think I'm going to do anything?' Pietro grabbed his drink.
'I don't have to look into your brain to know you're going to do something. You're my brother, Pietro, and I know you care about Quinn. She likes you too, after she figures out her past you should take her out of the tower. Take her on a date.' Pietro chocked on his drink. Wanda smiled.
"Forgot how to drink, Speedy?" Stark asked.
"I'm going to bed." Pietro declared, he picked up his plate and placed it in the kitchen sink.
'Be comforting, be the opposite of your usual self.' Pietro rolled his eyes. And he went to bed, for five minutes. He then walked to Quinn's room. The door was slightly ajar. Pietro look to see if she was there. She was pushing her desk back up from the ground.
Pietro knocked lightly on the door. "Quinn?" Saying her new, old, name was quite confusing. He wasn't partial to her name; he was just partial to her. She was singing a song Pietro didn't recognize. "Quinn?" As he entered Quinn had turned around and was moving her body in time with the silent music. Pietro leaned against the door and crossed his arms. He smiled and looked away for a second trying to keep his laugh from escaping.
Quinn jumped and put a hand of her heart when she saw Pietro standing in her room. "Pietro." She smiled and pulled out her earbuds. Her smile confused him, with all the dark memories she has shouldn't she be thrown into despair.
"I wanted to see if you wanted…" He paused, not really knowing why he came over. He searched for an excuse. "Some help, fixing your room." Quinn looked around, her room was still a mess, she did want help and spending more time with Pietro was the highlight of every day.
"I'd love some help." She smiled.
Pietro picked up her bookshelf and Quinn knelt down to pick up the books.
"Quinn," with his accent it sounded more like 'Queen' and she liked that very much. "I want you to know that you don't have to go through your whole experience with them. I didn't even tell Wanda what Hydra did to me for years." Quinn set the books down. She looked up at Pietro and smiled. He was obviously more upset over her regained memories than she was.
"You're confused."
"I don't know what you went through but I know it wasn't good and you're right I am confused. I'm confused on why you are wanting to talk about this when it clearly upsets you. I'm confused on why you're not furious. I'm confused on why you're smiling right now." Quinn stood and grabbed Pietro's hands.
"All my life, and I am so glad I can say this, I have been an optimist. In the couple of hours that I have gotten my life back I have decided to not dwell on the past. Because frankly, the last couple of years have sucked, and now I have friends, I have a house with people who like me, and most importantly, I am helping people. Pietro, I and smiling because my life is so much better than it was, and I'm glad I remembered because now I know how lucky I am to have the Avengers, to have you. And I don't want to spend one more second of this wonderful life frowning." Pietro was happy with her answer. It calmed him, made the weight of her past lifted off his shoulders. "You may be right that I don't want to speak of what happened to me, because as I was speaking I remembered something else. It seems that my not all my memories have returned yet. I would like to put a pause on the sharing circle, for a bit at least."
"If you ever want to talk about it-"
Quinn placed a kiss on Pietro's cheek. "You'll be the first person I'll run to."
There was a moment where no words were spoken. Quinn pulled her hands away and used her power to move the books back onto the shelf.
"Well, I think that's enough cleaning for tonight. I'm going to get some sleep. I'll clean the rest of this tomorrow, thank you. Good night."
"Dobroy nochi, Quinn."
"I'm guessing that means goodnight?"
"Yes."
"Dobroy nochi." Quinn butchered. Pietro laughed. "Don't laugh, it's my first time speaking Russian."
"I'll teach you some time." And with that Pietro laughed and exited the room, leaving the door slightly ajar.
Quinn sat down on her bed and her bottom lip quivered. Putting up the 'I'm happy' façade was draining her energy. Of course she wasn't okay, she didn't want to smile, she wanted to scream, but for her plan to work she needed the Avengers to lay off.
What she said to Pietro hadn't been all a lie. She did want to push past her past and focus on her new life, right after she made everything right. And while her memories were returning she remembered something very important, vital actually.