Thirty-seven days. She had been in this hell hole for thirty-seven days.
Elle rubbed her eyes tiredly as she dropped her pencil back onto the desk. She had counted the marks in her corner this morning and it was the only thing that had occupied her thoughts all day. She was starting to feel a little less hopeful and a little more helpless. She had tried to stall the process of beginning the tech for as long as possible, but Pierce was growing impatient, and his threats grew more realistic each day, even to the point of her gaining a black eye and bruised cheekbone that she still sported. She had convinced him to give her one more week before actually starting, and he had grudgingly obliged.
Her mother was often allowed into the room, eating breakfast and dinner and sleeping with Elle. She would only leave Elle when it was time for Elle to go to work, and she returned with bruises more often than not. Her mother was strong, but she could only take so much, and that thought alone was what spurred Elle to work for Pierce.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the door clanking open, several guards stepping through before revealing him. She shifted in her seat, keeping her focus on the tools in front of her as she rearranged them for the eleventh time. The seat across from her creaked as he settled his weight in it, his metal arm whirring irregularly. It wasn't until the retreating footstep of the guards wandered outside, leaving the usual one in the room, that she finally glanced at him through a curtain of curls. He stared at her, his mouth a straight line as his eyes blankly met hers.
Elle motioned at him with her head and he pulled the chair around to her, leaning forward in his chair as he waited for her to speak. She said nothing for a while, fidgeting with a tool on the table, the thing nearly falling from her hands when his fingers stilled hers. She looked at him and he motioned to the marks on her skin with his eyes. She brushed her fingers over the swollen skin stretching across her cheek and eye, and he kept his intent gaze on her.
"It's nothing. Really," she said, her voice barely above a whisper as he remained unconvinced.
His lips remained in a firm line, unhappy with her mediocre explanation, but he released her fingers, pulling away slightly. Her eyes grew wider in realization as she remembered something.
"Oh! I brought this," she said, keeping her voice low as she rifled through the pile of books that she had selected for her research.
She pulled a small, worn book from the bottom, pushing it into his hands. He looked at it, confused as he read the title: The Big Book of Baby Names. He looked up at her for an explanation.
"I thought we could look through it, see if you wanted to pick something for me to call you, since you don't remember your real one," she responded, wringing her hands nervously.
He blinked slowly, switching his gaze between her and the book. His fingers grazed the cover, tracing the blue words. He finally swallowed, looking up at her and nodding.
"Thank- Thank you," he said, dipping his head in thanks.
Elle could hardly contain the smile that curled on the edge of her lips.
"You're welcome."
They searched through the book for an hour, scanning over the boys' section. Sometimes he would read in silence, following the words with his finger; sometimes she would read out loud, always keeping her voice small enough to where the guard wouldn't hear it. Elle always kept an eye on his face, looking for a reaction when she read the name.
"Jameel?" Nothing.
"Jameison?" A furrowed brow, but nothing else.
"James?" It was the slightest change. Elle was sure that if she had blinked, she would have missed the spark that had passed over his face. His face scrunched slightly in thought as he repeated her.
"James."
It felt foreign on his lips, but there was still something so familiar about the name that Elle had given him. She had lit up ever so slightly when he said it, so he decided on it. He gave her a nod before saying the name again. She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Nice to meet you, James," she said, her eyes twinkling slightly.
The blonde behind the desk let out a frustrated groan before hanging up the phone and crossing something off a list. He dragged a hand over his face.
"How goes it?" Natasha asked, setting a cup of coffee in front of Steve.
"It's going terrible, thanks for asking," he replied, making a face as he sipped the coffee.
The redhead sighed before leaning on the desk next to him. "Look, Steve, I know how much Elle means to you, and how much she means to all of us-" Steve cut her off with a pointed look.
"I'm not giving up the search. She's out there somewhere, I just have to find where," he replied, taking another drink of coffee before returning his attention to the shrinking list of names in front of him.
"It's been a month, Steve. I love the kid too, but we can't keep using SHIELD resources to try and find her, and you haven't gotten a fresh lead in days," she said, crossing her arms.
"If it were me missing, would you be saying this? Or would Fury be sending every available agent out there to find something - anything about my disappearance? Wouldn't you be going undercover to interrogate everyone you could about me? Just because she's not SHIELD's super-soldier doesn't mean she doesn't deserve to be found. She's my family, the only family I've got, so I'll keep looking until I find a body or mine falls over dead," Steve said, his jaw set with fierce determination.
Natasha only nodded, picking up her cup of coffee as she walked to the other side of the desk and turned the computer on.
"Give me your list, it'll be better if someone with fresh eyes takes a look."
One week later….
The days had started going by in a blur. Elle had finally gotten the routine of her prison down, making a sort of schedule for herself with the help of a watch she had been given.
Lights turned on at around 7:30, with breakfast coming at 8:00 on the dot. At 8:45, a guard came for her mother, and at 9:00, Elle was sent to work. Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays, she would be in the lab with James, testing and adjusting tech until 5:00. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, she was in the research center, drawing sketches and schematics to test the next day.
Sundays, she was normally left alone, and her mother would be allowed to stay with her all day. They had taken to playing cards most days or reading books from the small library that HYDRA had given Elle. She had made friends with a few of the guards, and some of them would snag fiction books for her when they went to retrieve the textbooks she needed.
Lunch time varied from day to day, but it normally happened from 12:00 to 1:00. Dinner always came at 6:30, along with her mother, and they had a small amount of free time until lights out at 10:45. She slightly hated herself for being accustomed to being a prisoner, but it had been so long. She stopped resisting as much, and her hope of being rescued dwindled with each mark on her wall.
Pierce had rewarded her obedience with less suspicion, real clothes, and more freedom to roam around the halls without an escort. Which is what she found herself doing that particular day, looking for something to interest her instead of the walls in her room. Two guards stood in front of a door, peaking her interest, and she made her way over to them, intent on finding out what was behind the door. She recognized one, but not the other, as she moved to open the door. A hand stopped her.
"Sorry, but I don't think you're allowed in," the guard - she thought his name was Marshall - said, staring at her as she frowned.
"What's in there?" she asked, curiosity getting the best of her.
"None of your damn business, that's what," the unfamiliar guard grunted, shifting to block her from the door. "Now scram."
Elle rolled her eyes, crossing her arms across her chest. Marshall fidgeted for a moment before muttering something to his partner. The other man looked at him incredulously before moving as Marshall opened the door, allowing her in.
She looked at the open space suspiciously before stepping in, nodding at him as he closed the door. It looked like her room, only slightly smaller and with even less inside of it. A mattress was pushed up against the corner, a blanket folded on top of the pillow. There was a small chest, but it was locked when Elle tried to open it. Another door besides the one she came in through was on the opposite wall, and she reached out for the doorknob. It turned before she touched it, and she jumped back.
James emerged, a towel in his hand as he wiped his face, the rest of him clad in sweatpants and a t-shirt. Elle felt her face burn at the invasion of privacy when he finally saw her. His posture was defensive at first but relaxed when he realized who she was.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, clearly confused by her presence in his room.
"Oh, uh, I was just, uh, exploring a little when I saw the guards, and I, uh, wanted to know what was in here, so…" She finished lamely, the burning of her cheeks intensifying.
The corners of his mouth turned upwards for half a second before returning to his usual stoic expression. She thought his smile was nice, and she hardly minded that it was at her expense.
"You should probably go. I don't want you in trouble," he said, moving around her as she got slightly giddy at the realization that this was the most he had spoken to her.
She finally got a glimpse behind the door, seeing a small bathroom. It was hardly enough room to stand in, with a toilet, sink, and shower crammed inside. She supposed they didn't want him out of his room any more often than necessary. She turned back towards him and crossed her arms as he mimicked her posture.
"What if I don't want to leave?"
James just shook his head, a few droplets of water falling from the ends of his hair. She waited for him to speak again, but they were back to gestures. She sighed, feeling defeated after getting so much from him, and moved towards the door. He knocked his fist against the door, keeping his gaze on her.
"See you tomorrow," she said, her arm brushing his as she walked through the entryway.
He stared at the door long after the lock clicked, as if he was expecting her to reappear. His arm felt like it had been burned, and the sensation remained until he went to sleep. He was getting far too attached to the blonde engineer.
A ringing phone jolted Steve from his slumber, and he scrambled to pick it up, several papers and file folders scattering onto the floor around him.
"Hello?" Steve said into the phone, before realizing it was his cell phone that was ringing.
He picked up the smaller phone, answering it the same way. Natasha lifted her head from the arm of Steve's couch, squinting her eyes as she tried to see through the dark room. Steve rested his forehead against the heel of hand, listening to the voice on the other end.
"Okay. Yes. Yes, I can be there within the hour. Okay. Goodbye," he said solemnly, placing the phone back on the desk.
Natasha waited for an explanation; her internal clock told her it was far too late for it to be good news. Steve sat still for a moment before grabbing his keys and heading out the front door of his apartment, leaving it open as he practically sprinted down the stairs. She searched frantically for her keys and jacket, shrugging the latter on as she jogged to keep up with Steve. He made it to his bike starting it and barely giving Natasha anytime to get on before taking off.
Natasha tried to ask where they were going but Steve never answered, causing her to fall silent. Her suspicions were raised even higher as they pulled into the parking garage for Providence. The duo made their way to the ER, Steve stopping at a nurse's station to ask for more information about an Elle Berkley. Natasha's heart stopped slightly at the name. The nurse directed them to the waiting room, and the two sat in the plastic, pink chairs pressed against the wall.
Steve's posture was tense, and his knee was bouncing up and down rapidly as he stared a hole into the floor. "Something about this whole thing isn't right. Elle's emergency contact is her mother, not me. They said they couldn't get ahold of her. The woman practically sleeps with her cell phone in case of Elle having an emergency," he said, shaking his head. "Something's just not right."
Natasha didn't get the chance to respond as a doctor approached them.
"Are you Elle Berkley's family?"
A/N: Okay, I'm so sorry for how long this took to get up! I haven't abandoned y'all, I promise! I've just had a lot on m plate recently, and haven't been able to get the chapters out as often as I would like, so I apologize again! Here is the new chapter, I hope y'all like it! I'm going to try and get another chapter or two to set up the events of the Winter Soldier and then I'm going to try and dive into it. I hope y'all don't think it's moving too slow or that the pace is off! Please let me know what you think in the comments below! Guest reviews:
SunnySides: No you're absolutely right! The muzzle does face Pierce. I was kind of hoping that the action would show that he does trust her and wants her to have the ability to defend herself. We'll have to see if you're right about her mother won't we? And fear not, Tony makes another appearance next chapter! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Mcduffie145: I hope this chapter gave you enough excitement! And thank you so much, you're too kind!
