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7
The morning had come too quickly in the time that it had taken for her to fall into a deep and comfortable sleep. Her rude awakening started with a loud and annoying beep. Then it continued with a robotic voice telling her that Director Fury was waiting for her. Where, she didn't know because the voice didn't tell her.
She waved at the ceiling, trying to shut it off, and eventually she figured the only way to shut it off was to actually speak, "I'm up. God, I'm up. Please stop beeping. Where am I meeting the Director?"
"In lab 771," the voice replied cheerfully, "He will be meeting you in promptly one hour."
"Did he set the alarm too?" she groaned, not expecting an answer.
"Indeed he did Miss Stripe."
Rena inhaled and slowly opened her eyes. The lights weren't on, but somehow the room seemed lit as if natural sunlight had been streaming through. She rolled to her side and went to rub her face with the back of her hand only to be stabbed by the ring she had forgotten on her finger.
"Ow," her eyes opened wide and she used her other hand to try and soothe the sudden pain. Rena swung her legs over the bed and sat up, feeling the blood rushing to her head and making her dizzy. She sighed, this is what she gets for sitting up too quickly.
Rena glanced at the digital clock on the side of her bed. Its large red numbers read 8:01 and she knew she didn't have much time if she had no idea where this room was. She was already bad with directions, so she had no doubt in her mind that she would get lost on the way there. And this was just a freaking building, just one building and she couldn't even manage her way around that. Albeit it was a large one to have at least eight floors, but still. She hoped there would be a directory somewhere.
She debated on whether or not she had enough time to take a shower and decided that it would probably be worth it in the end. She stepped into the hot stream and was glad that it was hot because for some reason she was under the impression that it would be cold or lukewarm no matter which way you turned the knob. Luckily for her anxiety this place didn't seem nearly as much of a prison as she thought it was upon arrival.
The hour was going by much slower than she had anticipated. When she had gotten out of the shower she found that she had only been in there for a mere twelve minutes. She took her time drying her hair and smoothing down the slightly loose uniform she had been given.
It was similar to the male uniform in comfortability and material, but it was tighter around the waist and was jet black instead of navy. Most of the outfit was made out of some kind of mesh, but on the important parts like the elbows and the shoulders and knees, it was made of a tough leather.
The outfit came with a pair of combat boots and a belt with a holster for a gun. On her right bicep was what she assumed was the S.H.E.L.D logo. She found that the outfit was similar to Agent Romanoff's.
Yesterday she had spent all day wearing the clothes Tony had lent her, and she wasn't sure if she should return them or not. For now, she decided to put them away in the drawers with the rest of her clothes. She noticed that aside from the five sets of uniforms, all slightly different in colors and patterns, she found a couple of pairs of plain white tanks and workout shorts.
Rena had some time to kill and she thought about just hanging out on the bed and take a few moments to wake up, but it would probably be best if she found her way to "Lab 771" as quickly as possible.
Upon exiting her room, she turned the corner and was already lost. She knew that the elevator was at the end of the hall, but which hall was it again? Now that she was actually trying to pay attention and not flying blindly through the halls she found it ironic that she had no clue where anything was.
Thankfully she saw a couple of agents rushing past her. She followed them, trying to be as discreet as possible, and was glad to see that they were all boarding the elevator. She was about to hop on but decided last minute that she'd rather ride alone.
She knew she could've asked for help, in fact she should've gotten in with the others and done so, but it had already been crowded and she didn't want to impose or cause a scene. She was already uncomfortable at the thought of stopping someone, because surely she was going to have to, so she wanted to keep her embarrassment to a minimum.
She rang for the next ride up and the disembodied elevator voice, which kind of creeped her out to be honest, asked her destination. Since the room was 771, she assumed that it would be the seventh floor since her bedroom was numbered 813 and she was on the eighth floor. There were buttons lit up against the wall and she pressed S7 as she was on floor S8. If that didn't work then she'd try the floor above ground.
As she started up she noticed how there was no music on the elevator, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. Sure elevator music wasn't the best, but it was a lot more comfortable than ninety percent silence and the whirring of gears. At this realization she was glad to have chosen to go alone. Sitting in silence with a bunch of strangers would've been ten times worse.
She went to scratch her hand unconciously, and her fingertip brushed something solid. She looked down and realized that she still had the ring on. In her haste she had forgotten to remove it in the shower.
She felt like she shouldn't be wearing it, and yet she couldn't quite bring herself to take it off, not after she had already lost it once. It was too precious to her. Then again she could lose it on the field, assuming she goes "on the field." What if she got killed in another fiery explosion and the ring melts into an unrecognizable blob of metal? That last thought shook her emotions to their core and she decided that as soon as she got back to her room she'd take it off.
She shook her mind clear of the ring now that her mind had settled and for the remainder of the ride she thought about just how large this facility was. There were at least eight floors, that much was obvious, but how many rooms on each? A hundred? Two hundred? Three hundred? How many miles did this place stretch on for?
When the elevator dinged she stepped off feeling more confused than ever. She took in a deep breath and focused on where she needed to go. A couple of feet down the hall she was pleasantly surprised to see signs on the walls as if this were a college campus.
Rooms B700-B750 and accounting were to the left, and rooms B751-B799 were to her right. However lab 771, was apparently on neither one. She didn't know if there was a difference between room B771 and lab 771, but she decided that for now that they would be the same. She took the right hallway and was surprised at how long it stretched on.
Room B771 was on the left side and when she peeked in she saw that the room was dark and empty. There were a couple of more rooms, all strangely void of life, and at the end there was another sign that lead her in even more directions.
She let out a sigh and just kept walking. None of the signs led her to the desired room so she finally broke down and went in search of someone. She found a lone agent rushing down one of the halls and stopped her.
The women looked distraught and like she didn't want to be bothered, but Rena had places to go too. She found her nerve and asked her where the lab was.
"Lab 771?" the women said with a slight Russian accent, "its two floors above. All labs and offices are on floor five."
Rena thanked her silently and tried to make her way back to the elevator. Of course she was on the wrong floor, how embarrassing. Maybe she should've let Steve take her on that tour after all.
On the fifth floor she did as she had before and followed the signs. The room was, thankfully, easy to find and when she walked through the automatic doors she was nearly overwhelmed by all the noises she was greeted with. There were beeps and whirs and blips all going off at the same time by various pieces of machinery. Standing in the center of the noise was none other than Mr. Banner, the guy she ran into the other day. She was glad to see a familiar face.
She smiled at him and he smiled back. She was suddenly incredibly relieved to have met him on her own time because with the noises going on around her and with the Director, who she had momentarily forgotten was there, staring her down menacingly.
"Agent Stripe, glad to see you made it on time," his booming voice made her visibly shake and she tried her best not to run away or hide. He gestured towards Bruce, "Banner tells me you two already met so I'll skip the introductions. For however long you remain with S.H.E.L.D Dr. Banner will be your regular doctor. You will meet him once a week for checkups and 'experiments' within your limits, however we do expect that you give us all that you've got to offer. For now, get comfortable with each other. Tomorrow I'll have you meet with Rogers to go over your training regimen."
The Director nodded in both of their directions before stomping out the door. Rena felt some of the tension flow from her shoulders but she still felt apprehensive about being alone with Bruce. He seemed like a nice guy though, so she'd try her best to be friends with him.
She turned towards him and the Doc put his clipboard onto a metal topped island in the middle of the room. He gestured towards a chair that was similar to the ones you see in a normal doctor's office, except this one didn't have any tissue covering it and it was much lower to the ground.
"So, Rena…" Bruce said slowly, "Do you have a favorite color?" the question was slow and awkward, but she appreciated him trying to break the ice.
She smiled, "Yeah, I like a deep emerald green. You?"
He pulled at the collar of his polo under his white lab coat, "I'm a fan of purple myself. So uh, tell me about yourself then. What's it like to uh… not be… dead?"
She could feel her smile fading. In a way, she liked that he was getting straight to the point, because she know S.H.E.L.D wanted to know what the heck was going on with her just as much as she did, but she honestly didn't know what or how to feel about her situation.
In fact, it almost felt… natural. It was as if this was how it was supposed to be for her, like she was supposed to die but somehow always survive and out-live those around her. It was a disturbing feeling and it sent a visible shiver down her spine. Bruce noticed her reaction and she told him what she was thinking.
"Hmm," he said. He put his hand on his chin and rocked back and forth on his feet in thought. She was glad that he didn't pick up his clipboard to start writing things down. That probably would've just made her feel less like his friend and more like the patient she was supposed to be.
"It's strange," she said, mostly to herself, "when the pilot crashed the helicopter he seemed so sure. It was like he had no doubt in his mind that crashing was his only option. I was definitely scared, but in that moment of impact, that split second before my soul was ripped from my body, I felt nothing but pain. It was a devastating, burning pain that made me feel like I was no longer anything. That I was just a feeling, forever being that horrible ache, but then it stopped just as quickly as it came…"
Rena heard the ruffling of clothes and looked up to see Bruce sitting down and crossing his legs.
"So it's a natural feeling you think?"
She shrugged, "You could say that. It feels normal to my body, but not to my mind."
He nodded, "Well... I can tell this is getting uncomfortable, so let's talk about something that makes you happy. What do you like besides the color green?"
Rena bit her lip and took a moment to think. There was really only one thing that made her happy, and that had been ripped out of her life for possibly forever. The memories still made her smile though, so she chose to talk about that instead.
"My family. I have two younger siblings, my mother, my father, and my grandmother…"
She was going to say more when Dr. Banner held up his hand, "Oh that reminds me. Your family is completely safe."
Rena felt her heart swell with joy, "Really?" her voice was barely above a whisper, "How do you know? Who told you?"
He nodded, "Yes. A team of investigators relocated them somewhere safe and under our radar. They're still in Chicago at the moment but they can live much more comfortably now until we can move them somewhere more remote. Unfortunately you won't be able to contact them anytime soon. They're already more involved with S.H.E.L.D than necessary, but if we keep other connections limited then there's no reason for anyone to go after them."
Rena clutched her hands to her heart and felt far more relieved than she thought she ever would have, "That's fantastic news."
"Yeah. Fury told me to pass on the news while you were here. I'm… sorry that you got pulled away from them so quickly but it was probably for the better after everyone discovered your powers."
Rena leaned back a little, setting her hands against the back part of the seat and looking up at the ceiling to keep her happy tears away. She was so utterly glad to know that nothing had happened to them, that no strange Hydra people had gotten to them, and most importantly that they were in a better place without having to pass on.
When she got ahold of herself she met his eye and felt her mouth curl up happily. First Steve brings her back her ring, and now Bruce was telling her nothing but good things about her family. She didn't think these people could get any nicer. Needless to say she was really starting to relax and enjoy being here. Even if it had only been a day, and there was a lot she needed to get used to, at least the company wasn't so bad.
"Thanks. Really. I needed to hear that."
Bruce was smiling at her softly and when she looked at him she couldn't help but notice the odd flash of happiness in his eyes. He leaned back into his chair and ran a hand through his already ruffled hair, "You have a strangely calming presence you know?"
Rena bit her lip, no one had ever really said she was calming. Usually she riled people up, unintentionally of course, but despite being so demure and quiet she somehow always caused a scene. Her mother used to tell her it was her hidden talent, be sweet and innocent until the time comes to strike.
She thought back to when she stole those apples and that loaf of bread. She had been so nervous, but at the time she believed she needed to do it. She thought she looked suspicious, but the shopkeeper had hardly batted an eye at her when she rushed out the door.
Rena shook herself in an attempt to clear her head and focused on the now. There was no time to be wondering about her strange character flaws. If she couldn't figure herself out then maybe Bruce could, and if not then she'd just have to remain a mystery to even herself.
