Darkness. Blissful darkness. That's where Steve is. Simply drifting peacefully in the darkness with nothing to worry about. He has no clue how long he's been here or why he's here in the first place, but that is a problem for some other time. For now, he is simply enjoying the peace.

After a while, however, something starts to tug at his mind, and he gets the feeling something is very wrong. Something, or someone, important needs his attention. He tries to remember where he was before the darkness, but he can't recall anything. Suddenly, the blackness isn't nearly as comforting as before. In fact, it is becoming suffocating. Steve can hear a faint beeping sound, the only thing that seems to be slicing through the darkness. He reaches for the sound, desperately trying to escape. The closer he gets, the more noises he picks up on: pages rustling, doors opening and closing, and frantic shouting down the hall.

The shouting worries him, and the beeping noise crescendos in time with his panic. Steve hears voices calling his name, but he struggles to place where he knows them from. The shouting tugs at memories, horrible memories that Steve doesn't want to remember, but he does. Hydra, A-3629, the torture, the pain…everything comes back to him, and it causes ice to course in his veins. If he wakes up now, what would be waiting for him? How is he even alive in the first place? Vaguely, Steve remembers a distant dream of Tony rescuing him and A-3629, but that couldn't be possible, could it?

Deciding to end his curiosity, Steve pries his heavy-lidded eyes open. The light above him blinds him for a moment, something that strikes him as odd considering there isn't much light in his cell to begin with, but his eyes adjust. The first thing he notices is the fact that he is no longer hanging by his wrists, he's laying down. The second thing is that the ceiling he is looking at is not the dull, concrete he is used to, but a soft, off white. He's also acutely aware of the lack of pain he's in; a huge improvement from the last time he was conscious.

"Steve? You with us?" A voice from his right calls. Steve jumps at the sound, which brings back some of the pain Steve was used to, and he turns his head as far as he can to see who spoke to him. His breath hitches as his eyes meet the gentle brown one's of Bruce Banner, and for a horrible second, Steve doesn't believe this is real.

A scoff from beside Banner tears Steve's gaze from him, "Took you long enough. Do you realize how uncomfortable it is to sit in a hospital chair for weeks waiting for you to wake up? You're paying for my chiropractor."

Steve stares at Tony Stark, the man that wasn't a dream, apparently. Or was it? Was this just another technique Hydra was using to break him? Bruce elbows Tony, that looked real, but would he know if it wasn't?

Too many seconds have gone by, Steve knows this, but he doesn't know what to say. If this is real, then they would most certainly be worried right now, but if it isn't, then he would be giving Hydra ammo he doesn't want them to have. The beeping is the only thing filling the silence, but Steve can't stop watching his maybe-fake teammates. He's missed them so much, and he will be crushed if they aren't real.

Steve takes a closer look at the two; they both seem tired, Bruce is holding a book with white knuckles, Tony seems to be nonchalant, but the tension in his shoulders and the worried look in his eyes give him away. Tony's eyes are bloodshot in the same way they get when he spends too many days in his lab without sleep, and Bruce is taking deliberate deep breathes to calm the flicker of green in his eyes.

These observations lead to him saying the first thing that comes to mind, "You guys don't look too good."

The tension in the room melts, and Tony looks incredulous, "Seriously? You leave us hanging for almost three full minutes and that is all you can say?"

Tony's response fills Steve with so much relief, he feels as if he could cry, "It wasn't a dream, then?"

Bruce shakes his head, "No, it wasn't a dream. You're in a SHIELD hospital room right now with agents posted everywhere. Not to mention all of us are here."

"All of who?" Steve wonders.

There's a brief flash on concern on Tony's face as he answers, "The Avengers, Cap."

"You're all safe then?"

Tony snorts, "Only you would ask such a ridiculous question after coming back from the brink of death."

"Yes, Steve," Bruce reassures while glaring at Tony, "We're all safe."

Steve nods and finally assesses his situation: while most of him is covered by a white blanket, Steve can see IV's in both his hands, a mysterious bulky thing where his right leg is, and he can feel gauze bound tightly against his abdomen. Trying to keep his mind away from the memories of what caused the injuries, Steve focuses on a different issue:

"Why was there shouting down the hall?"

"Legolas left just before you woke up to check that out, actually." Tony reports, but Steve senses there is something he was leaving out. What could have caused the commotion? If they were under attack, Tony and Bruce wouldn't have been here when Steve woke up. His mind wanders and he remembers the thing that was so important that he needed to wake up.

"Where's A-3629?" Steve questions suddenly.

Bruce and Tony share a confused look and Bruce asks, "Who?"

"The girl that was in my…that was with me." Steve doesn't want to say the word "cell". Even the mention of his time in there made the heart monitor speed up a bit, something that he loathed. Before either of them could answer his question, the door to his room opens. It was irrational, Steve knows this, but he flinches much more violently than when Bruce had first spoken. This sends shooting pain through his abdomen, and he curls in on himself without meaning to. With his eyes closed and jaw clenched, Steve can't hear anything but the pounding of his heart in his ears. After a few moments, he becomes aware that there are multiple hands on his shoulders trying to coax him back into a normal sitting position, and he allows them to guide him back into place after the worst of the pain passes.

When he can stand the pain, he is filled with shame. It had only been Natasha and Clint walking in, not some attacker trying to hurt him. Refusing to look the newcomers in the eyes, he simply mumbles, "S-sorry."

If he were looking up, he would see the mutual understanding pass among the group of people in front of him, but he still hears Natasha say, "Glad to see you awake, Steve."

Not one for the awkward silence that was permeating the room, Tony speaks up, "Capsicle here was wondering what was going on with the kid."

Steve looks at Tony with relief and a fair amount of confusion; any other time, Stark would have made a smart comment about what had just occurred. Not one to complain, Steve simply sends him a thankful look. Tony gives him the smallest nod in return before looking back to Natasha for an answer.

"She's alive, Steve," Natasha reassures first, "She actually just woke up a few minutes before you did."

That catches his attention, "Is she okay? What happened?"

The hesitation on Natasha's face is concerning, but Steve needs to know. That kid had been with Hydra much longer than him, and he remembers how close to death she looked the last time he saw her.

Clint straightens up, something that Steve knows means he is in agent mode, and answers him instead, "Steve…how much do you know about her?"

Debriefing. That's what was going on. They're trying to determine her threat level. Strategically, it's a good move. No doubt Fury had asked the two spies to do it, but the way Clint phrased that question made it seem like they were questioning him about a super villain.

Despite this, he answers the question to the best of his ability, "I know that she used to be a Hydra operative with the title 'A-3629' before she went rogue. There was a mission she was sent on, one that she wasn't willing to do. She didn't tell me what went down, specifically, but it landed her in the prison block. She was…tortured long before I got there. It had to of been two or three weeks before we were put in the same room, though. She told me she has powers, telepathy, enhanced speed, and telekinesis from what I remember. I saw them a few times; during the worst days, I could see this…white fire type thing around her fingers, but she wasn't able to do anything with it."

Steve debates on whether or not to tell them about the voices, but he explains it anyway. The team seems shaken, much like he was when he first found out, but he assures them that she has dealt with them her whole life and knows how to manage it.

"Aren't normal people with schizophrenia dangerous?" Clint asks, "What will a superpowered person with it do?"

"It's not like that." Steve grasps for some way to explain this correctly, "Yes, she hears voices, but that's it. She doesn't hallucinate and she knows the difference between reality and imaginary things."

"Besides," Bruce interjects, "not everyone with schizophrenia is dangerous. Most people with the condition manage and can still live their lives just fine. Not to mention you have to be diagnosed with two of the five main symptoms and one of them has to be the main three- "

"Regardless," Natasha cuts off Bruce, "you say she has all these powers, why couldn't she escape?"

Steve remembers the band around her arm, "A power dampener. She had a power dampener on her arm that prevented her from using them. Only a fraction of her healing abilities from her speed and those flickers were able to get past it."

"That's what it was?" Tony questions, "I've been trying to figure that out for weeks."

"What happened when she woke up?" Steve questions Natasha.

Natasha frowns, "I was coming to check on you when I heard yelling down the hall. The agents outside her door were gone and there were nurses rushing in and out of the room. I got in there and she was huddled in the corner using that 'white fire' you described to shield herself. The agents were aiming their guns at her, but I got them to back off. When they left the room…it took me a while to get her to put down the shield. She wouldn't look me in the eyes, and she wouldn't even speak to me until I left my weapons outside of the room. She asked about you, actually."

Know the kid is alive and well, at least in a better state when they last saw each other, was a comfort to say the least. As if someone had flicked a switch, all the adrenaline Steve has been running on fades away, and he struggles to stay alert with his team.

"Steve," Natasha calls, "Why don't you go to sleep? You need your rest."

Shaking his head gently he says, "'m fine."

Bruce lays a hand on his forearm, "We'll be here when you wake up, Cap. I promise."

Steve takes one last look around the room and finally agrees when he gets a reassuring nod from everyone present. He settles back into his bed and falls asleep as soon as he closes his eyes.

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With one last strike of lightning, Thor has successfully destroyed every single training dummy on the training deck. He sighs, what was he to distract himself with now? Grumbling to himself, he stalks off trying to find anything to unleash his frustration on, but he is stopped by a buzzing noise coming from his pocket. He pulls the small device out and stares at it; any other day, he would be amused by the mortal technology, but today it is simply frustrating. He racks his brain to try to remember how Stark had showed him how to 'answer' the buzzing, and he presses the green button and holds it up to his ear.

"Hello?" Thor answers uncertainly. Curse the small contraption and its complicated nature.

"Thor?" Thor is pleased to hear Widow's voice crackling through the line, "Just wanted to let you know that Steve just woke up."

This improves Thor's mood considerably, "Ah, how is the brave Captain then?"

"He'll be okay, but he's sleeping now." Natasha replies, "I just thought that you would want to know."

"I regret not being there for his awakening, but I am pleased to hear that he is improving."

"Me too. Listen, I need you to do me a favor. We promised Steve that we would be here when he woke up again, so could you go check on the girl, please?"

"It would be my honor."

"Thanks." A click at the end alerts Thor to the end of the conversation, and he slips the phone back into his pocket. Twirling Mjolnir in his hand, he makes his way back to the hospital wing. The guilt of not being there for his captain waking up gnaws at him; he has failed Steve enough already. He wasn't smart enough to agree with Stark, not a phrase he uses lightly, when going over the plan to get the information, and he wasn't fast enough to save him at the park. Not only that, but he took far to long to get back to his team with the vital information from Heimdall. Curse his brother's disappearance.

Thor pulls himself out of his thoughts as he sees electricity crackle on Mjolnir; he doesn't want to get kicked out of the hospital wing again like when he first saw Steve. Taking a deep breath, Thor pushes open the doors to the wing and makes his way down to where the girl is. It takes all his willpower not to go into Steve's room, but he manages to keep walking down the hall. As he enters the room of the girl after a warning by the agents, he sees that her wrists are tied to the bed with leather straps and there are wires coming from her head that are hooked to an odd monitor that show lines going up and down.

With a grunt of disgust, Thor takes a seat next to the injured child. Until a week ago, he wasn't allowed in this room due to the fear the nurses had of how he would react. They were right to be fearful; Thor was appalled at the damage done to such a young mortal, and it took him several days to calm down. How anyone could harm a child like this is beyond him, and Thor is angered that she is restrained in the way she is now. Surely, she has had enough restraining for a lifetime.

Despite this, he settles into his chair and tries to entertain himself. No matter how hard he tries, though, his eyes keep drifting to the girl. Her midnight black hair reminds him of Loki's, and it sends aches through his chest. While in Asgard, he discovered that Loki had escaped some time ago and no one had told him. He can't imagine where Loki will go or what kind of trouble he will get himself into, but he dreads the day he will face him again.

Moving on the rest of the girl's face, Thor is captivated by the odd scar on her cheek. There are six swirls all connecting into one line, and the fact that someone would have had to intentionally carve those shapes into her face was heartbreaking. The insistent beeping of the heart monitor was not improving Thor's mood any; it beeped faster than Steve's did, and it was bothersome. However, he has been told by multiple healers that if the beeping stopped, it would mean something much worse, so he deals with it. No matter what, though, he swears no harm will come to this girl as long as he is around.