The next time Christie saw the experiment was at his next muscle electrocution - a process designed to develop a pain intolerance and mind control. She was asked to 'stand by', which basically consisted of hovering around the lab in case something went wrong. She hated this the most, because that meant she had to watch the poor guy in excruciating pain over and over again.

As soon as the man was strapped onto the board, his eyes began to dart around the room in a panic, overcome with anxiety. Once he spotted Christie's half shadowed figure standing in the corner, he remembered her words: 'it gets better, you know,' and attempted to use it as a coping mechanism.

But as soon as that first electrocution jolt burst through, he immediately lost all composure, yelling until his throat felt numb. Christie glanced away uncomfortably, unable to take the sight of it. Once upon a time she could handle all of this - but now everything had changed.

That evening, she was called into the clean room yet again. She was told to watch the experiment whilst his test results came through, but this time he wasn't as pleasant as before. He was ready for her - he wanted to rip her to shreds for all of her empty promises a few days prior. He didn't know how he could be so stupid as to trust any of the HYDRA agents, just because one of them showed him an ounce of kindness on top of a buffet of pain.

But it was just something about her.

"Thanks for all your help today," he muttered sarcastically as soon as Christie walked in.

"Well aren't you just a bundle of happiness and rainbows?" Christie rolled her eyes, crossing her arms defensively. "Look Metalman, if you're planning to smash me down - please don't bother. It won't end well for you." The man swiftly ran his tongue over his bottom lip before speaking again.

"I'm just so confused. Out of all of the people doing this to me, why do you act so different? Why can't you bear to look at me in that lab, huh?"

"Because I know the feeling," Christie hissed, wanting him to drop it.

"Liar," the man grumbled back immediately. Christie let out a scoff.

"And how can you be so damn sure?"

"Because I know people," he responded coldly.

"Oh please, you barely even know yourself," Christie muttered. The man froze at her words and his entire body stiffened, whilst his eyes were busy studying her in confusion.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he muttered back to her.

"Whatever you're reading it to mean," Christie answered simply, now meeting his own gaze. The man clenched his jaw.

"Doctor Kriztina? What…what the hell is happening to me?" he asked her quietly, now struggling to keep the fear from his eyes.

"I'm still trying to figure that out myself, man," Christie responded truthfully, nibbling on her bottom lip. She released a heavy sigh before reaching into her pocket and pulling out the painkilling syringe that she'd stolen from the doctors supply cupboard earlier.

But to her surprise, the man shook his head stubbornly.

"I don't want it," he murmured, looking down again. "I need to be prepared for the pain." But Christie raised her eyebrows and continued flicking the syringe. She hated seeing victims suffer, whether they were 'prepared' or not. So, she proceeded to prepare the syringe against his will. "Doctor Kristina I said no!" the man exclaimed, frowning at her persistence.

"Stop with the macho-sh*t, you need it," Christie insisted stubbornly, rolling up his sleeve once again. The man attempted to snatch his arm from her grasp.

"No, I don't, would you stop?!" he hissed, his large hand now on top of her small one. Before they knew it, the back and forth struggle between them accidentally caused the needle to slip and dig into her own arm.

"SH*T!" Christie gasped, her eyes growing wide in a panic as her eyes fell on the needle proudly sticking out of her arm. The man's eyes grew wide as he leapt to his feet and followed the staggering Christie to the corner of the room.

"I'm so sorry, let me take it out for you," he insisted, reaching out to her. But Christie squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head angrily, shooing him away as if he were a fly. She was too woozy to focus - whatever was in that glass was giving her a headache.

The man let out a tired sigh and reached out to her again, but Christie flapped her hands at him.

"Don't touch it!"

"What? You can't keep it like that forever, just let me pull it out!"

"No!" Christie snapped, her face smothered with anger. "It's your fault it's doing this anyway - now get lost!"

"Alright then, you take it out," the guy offered loudly over her words, running a hand through his dark thick hair.

"No!"

"Huh? Why the hell not?!" the man blinked.

"Because i-it will just fall out on its own," Christie panted, her eyesight growing cloudy and hearing blood rush to her ears. She was beginning to feel awfully lightheaded and her legs felt like they were turning into jelly, so she could barely stand up anymore.

"No it won't fall out on it's own, Doc. You of all people should know that!" the guy stopped her quickly, now trapping her in the into the corner of the room.

"It…w-will," Christie insisted weakly. Now her voice was strained and croaking over and over again. "If I'm being completely h-honest with you…I don't…really…like needles…"

This caused the man roll his eyes knowingly.

"A doctor that doesn't like needles - I never thought I'd see the day," he murmured, walking closer and closer to her. Christie found herself getting a little lost in his eyes then, which she had only just noticed were a soft hazel-grey colour. Her own eyes flicked down a few places as she studied his stunning and sharp jaw structure, whilst he slowly lifted his human hand to her face, using back of it to stroke her cheek gently. He brought his face closer to hers - Christie was anxious enough without having to hear his breathing already get increasingly heavier in the background.

But then she suddenly felt a small jab in the skin of her arm. Christie snapped back to reality to see that he had not only taken the needle out, but had also broken their near kiss with ease, already on his way back to the hospital bed. Christie, still too dizzy for any dialogue, ended up blustering out of the room without another word as the man simply chucked the syringe in the bin, smirking to himself.

….

Once Christie had returned to her desired bunker, positioned a floor above the wards, she experienced the weirdest night of her life. It was the strangeness of her dreams that did it for her. Being around all those sedative chemicals had done something odd to her brain. The mattress being rock hard and only having one thin duvet to cover her shivering body certainly didn't help matters either.

Christie's first dream wasn't really a dream - it was more of a warped flashback. It was herself and her sister Ashley as young children, sitting at their long mahogany dining table with their mother, Mella. Ashley, being a mutant, was leading juice out of her purple plastic cup and leading it into the air, twirling the orange liquid around for a few seconds before successfully guiding it straight into her mouth. That was the warped part - Christie couldn't remember Ashley being able to do that. Anyway, Mella was proudly smiling away at her daughter's little tricks, egging her on with excitement plastered on her face, whilst Christie sat on the opposite end of the table. Her mother barely even glanced in her direction.

Then, the dream changed.

Everything was blurry and the colours were all completely wrong, however the main image was extraordinarily clear. It was of Odin sat on the throne and Christie could distantly hear her own voice echoing in the background. She was explaining why she had to go back to earth instead of staying in Asgard, a conversation that actually happened. But then something dramatic took place – there was a blinding flash of white and an oddly familiar laugh in the background – but before Christie could figure out who it belonged to, she violently shook herself awake with chesty gasp. She was uneasy.

That was no normal dream.

What she wasn't expecting at that moment was an agent banging rapidly on her door, impatiently waiting for her to answer. "Klovinsky?" Christie groaned and she hopped out of her bed, groggily making her way over to the door and swinging it open. "Ah, finally - you've been requested to take The Experiment away with you for a few days. We have reason to believe that he's no longer safe on these premises." Christie rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and her lips parted in confusion.

"What?" she grumbled tiredly.

"His serum isn't lasting as long as it should and we don't have the time watch him until we can fix it. Take him around, look like a couple, go undercover - do anything, as long as he isn't down here. There are eyes on us, Klovinsky," the agent repeated urgently before leaving Christie standing there, completely baffled. But she did as she was told without question, knowing that this was a pivotal part of the mission. By the time that she'd washed her face, changed her clothes and made her way to the back steel gates of the headquarters, the experiment was already waiting for her in a shiny black car with eyes firmly fixed on his lap. They had dressed him up rather well, though. He was dressed in a tight black v-neck top and black joggers with a casual grey pullover hoodie crumpled in his lap.

"We will be tracking both of you, obviously, so make sure you keep him close, safe and keep him healthy. Don't forget we can monitor his health stats from anywhere - so keep him alive," one of the guards said briskly before opening the car door. "Intelligence tells us that there are people trying to locate his whereabouts, and wherever he is, we are. We have enough serum here for another one, so he's disposable enough - but we'd rather not start from scratch here. We will alert you when it's safe to come back, yes?" Christie gave a single nod of confirmation before slipping into the driver's seat and shutting the door once she was strapped in. The steel gates behind her creaked open and she speedily reversed out of them, onto the dusty road and well away from the bunker, almost panting in relief. The man glanced at her through the rearview mirror and she immediately caught his eye. She shot him a small smile of comfort, which he immediately returned.

"Any idea why they want me outta there?" he suddenly murmured, breaking the comfortable silence. Christie shrugged more to herself than him, focussing on the road ahead.

"No idea, dude," she murmured. "To protect you, I guess? Apparently there are people…looking for you."

"Looking for me? Am I really that important?" the man frowned.

"Everybody's important to somebody," Christie sighed quietly, although those were words she no longer believed. She used to live by them before it became clear that she was important to…well, nobody.

Her words made the man man think in silence for a while, staring at the modern monuments flash by out the window.

"So who are you important to, ma'am?" he finally asked without shifting his gaze. Christie glanced in the rearview mirror to see if this was a genuine question or a pathetic attempt at smalltalk.

"I-I don't know," she answered honestly.

"Everybody is important to somebody, ma'am," he reminded her lightly. Christie felt the corners of her mouth curl up at his words and she tried to bite back the smile.

"God, you remind me so much of Steve," she smirked to herself.

"Steve who? Is Steve your…guy?" the man asked suddenly, his tone now edging on serious as he finally tore his eyes from the window. Christie let out a proper giggle at this.

Where did they find this man?

"My…guy?" she repeated, her eyes twinkling slightly. "He's just a friend of mine; he's such lovely man."

"Oh," the man sighed slowly. "I thought that I knew someone called Steve once but I…don't remember him." Christie glanced at him again.

"You did? What happened to him?" she asked curiously. The man clenched his jaw and directed his gaze out of the window again, shaking his head.

"The question is…what happened to me?" was his only short reply. Christie didn't know where to go from there. She felt it become a little awkward in the car, a little too tense - but he was starting to remember things and she couldn't just drop it there. This was her time to get as much out of him as possible - but where to begin? Well, the basics.

"What's your name?" The man snapped his head back up with a frown.

"You don't know my name?"

"I know your name cos I read it in your file - but I want to see if you know your name," she turned her head to face him as they reached a red light. The man closed his eyes and thought for a few seconds.

"James?" he tried weakly.

"Okay," Christie breathed out in genuine relief. "Okay, so they haven't completely ruined you yet-"

"No, but they're getting close," he admitted coldly. "So much has changed since I last remember…since I think I last remember-"

"I honestly don't know too much about what they're doing to you or where they picked you up from. They're not telling me much, I only have access to your basic vital information - not your history. It's clear they don't 100% trust me yet - I don't blame them."

After a few more tense moments of a silent car journey, Christie finally pulled up to her house which, as per usual, looked like a complete and utter dump from the outside. James blinked at the building a few times, unsure of what to make of it. It was basically a rugged looking bungalow shack that had somehow half sunken into the ground.

"Is this where you live?" James began hoarsely, trying not to sound rude.

"It's better on the inside, come on," Christie had to persuade him with a sigh, having just convinced her sister of the same thing a few weeks prior. She yanked the keys out of the ignition and hopped out. James hesitated for a few brief seconds but then eventually got out as well, trudging up the gravelly path behind her.

"Doctor Kriztina, why don't you find a new place? I assumed this job would pay well, no?" he couldn't help but mutter, watching Christie fumble for the keys in her pocket to open the rotting wooden front door.

"Trust me - it's better on the inside," she hissed again before barging the door wide open with her shoulder and shuffling to the side so that James could step through. He was then met with a flight of stairs leading further underground into darkness.

"Are you sure?" James hummed playfully, crossing his arms so that his muscles bulged. Christie rolled her eyes before swiftly hopping down the steep steps, the tunnel suddenly lighting up with each step she took. Eventually, they both reached the end, finding themselves face to face with a great metal front door. Christie held her hand against it and the door immediately recognised her fingerprints. As a result of the recognition, the door swung open automatically, revealing the deep blue lit room containing two black leather sofas with a plush black rug between them. On top of the rug was a shallow glass table. Beside the open plan living room was a black and silver kitchen unit - everything looked sleek, modern and actually rather expensive.

"Whew. Damn," James gave a wide eyed nod, clearly impressed. Christie shot him a smug smirk before frowning slightly, those steely grey eyes of hers darting around in a panic.

"Oh god, where's Smudge?" she murmured to herself, shutting the front door behind her with her hip.

"Who?" James blinked up at her. "Do you live with someone?"

"Yes, Smudge is my baby," Christie beamed to him cheekily. James didn't say anything to this, assuming Smudge was a dog or something. So he went to settle himself on one of the sofas - but whilst he sat there patiently, waiting for Christie to finish putting away the bags in her room, he felt something large rub against his leg and he let out a yelp of surprise. Christie pulled her pistol out of her back pocket and leapt over to where James was now quivering on the sofa with an extremely pale face, both feet firmly risen into the air.

"W-What the hell is that? That is a huge…c-c-cat," he spluttered, pointing a shaking hand at the hefty sleek storkatt prowling around, deliberately making careful movements around the smell of new blood. Christie shoved the pistol back into her pocket as she let out a shout of joy. She dropped to her knees to give the panther like cat a confident hug, wrapping her slim arms around her thick smooth neck.

"Aww James, you found Smudge!" she giggled into the storkatt's gleamingly black fur. Smudge kept a steady sharp blue eye on James, still unsure. "Oh I missed you so much, my pretty girl!"

"I'm sorry - you keep a panther in your apartment?!" James spluttered out, still refusing to sit back down although Smudge was now safely sitting in Christie's arms.

"No," Christie hummed casually. James felt his heart rate slow a little and he began to lower his feet down. "I actually keep two."

James leapt back onto the back of the sofa without hesitation.

"You…what?" he trembled, now feeling a little faint.

"Yup, but I don't know where Inky is - but he likes to hide," Christie shrugged, standing back up as Smudge lay on the floor with her 3ft long tail contentedly thumping against the carpet. "And they're not panthers, that would be cruel. They're storkatts, from Asg- you know what, it doesn't even matter." James' mouth hung open in shock, flabbergasted at how casually this woman was talking about large predatory cats living in her underground apartment. "They're safe, James. In fact, they're babies, and they come and go as they please, I don't keep them contained here, they have an enclosure underground - look, it's long to explain but they don't eat meat and therefore won't eat you, so relax." James nibbled his lip in uncertainty.

"You're crazy," he finally grunted.

"This is true, yes," Christie confirmed, releasing her jet black locks from her tight ponytail and ruffling them out. James sniffed and slowly sat himself back down on the sofa, still slightly weary.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" he asked, trying to stifle a yawn with the back of his hand. Christie raised an eyebrow and shook her head.

"No, I'm all good. You can go to bed now, I can see you're tired," she assured him kindly, gesturing towards the door behind her where he'd be sleeping. "We'll do something tomorrow to make you feel like a normal citizen for once." James smiled at her gratefully and stood up, carefully dodging the storkatt that had now forcibly pushed her large head back in the crook of Christie's arms, purring heavily.

"Fine. Goodnight, ma'am," he nodded to her before making his way into the bedroom. Christie smiled at this and pressed a loving kiss on Smudge's head before letting go of her again - but she was swiftly interrupted by another petrified yelp emitting from the bedroom. She rolled her grey eyes as she assumed that James had probably just found Inky – and as a shaking hand opened the door and an even larger, heftier storkatt came strolling out, she saw that she was correct.