"Charlotte?" I heard a woman's distant voice calling my name. It sounded odd though. Like it was coming through on a megaphone. I also noticed the sound of running water close by, my eyes too heavy to open and investigate. Whatever I was injected with was kicking my ass. It felt like a 5-ton weight was laying on top of me. "Up and at 'em!" The voice sounded louder this time and I was sure I was hearing it over a speaker of some sort. I was slowly regaining feeling throughout my body, confused when I felt as if I was laying on cold metal.
The sensation of ice-cold water being poured over me caused me to sit up quickly, my eyes finally managing to open. There was a man in an all-blue jumpsuit standing over me, holding a bucket above my head. He was grinning ear to ear as he put the bucket down next to me and turned me to face the other way. I surveyed my surroundings and was shocked to see myself hovering on a grated iron walkway a few feet above a vat of crystal-clear water. The vat was around 10 feet wide by 10 feet deep and it looked like it was made out of a thick layer of glass.
I glanced up and observed we were in a giant blindingly white warehouse, an observation room sitting just in front of the vat. I could see people in the room looking up at me, most of them wearing white lab coats to match the sickeningly white walls. "Good morning, Charlie!" That same woman's voice came over two speakers sitting right on top of the observation room. My eyes searched the room to spot who was talking to me. A door right next to the room opened and a woman dressed in a trendy all black suit stepped out. Her hair was pulled back in to a tight pony tail, a streak of purple blended in to her natural dark brown strands.
"It's so nice to finally meet you. It's been a real hassle trying to get you away from these meat heads." She explained as Sam and Bucky were pushed out of the room by a guard in tactical gear (go figure), their hands and feet chained together by shackles. Sam had a large gash on his forehead and Bucky's face was bruised and stained in blood. It killed me to see them so beaten.
It was then that I noticed that my hands and feet were also chained together, but my chains were significantly shorter than that of Sam and Bucky, making it harder for me to move without any help. There was a longer chain connected to my cuffs, the end of the chain secured to a large ball of concrete. It looked like something out of a cartoon. "Pure vibranium!" The woman looked absolutely delighted, shaking Bucky's chains. "Not even this behemoth could get out of em!" She slapped Bucky's vibranium arm and laughed to herself. I couldn't find any words to say. I knew exactly who this was and I knew we were in huge trouble. I couldn't see this ending well for Sam and Bucky, let alone myself.
"I'm so sorry. I'm being rude. My name is-" I cut the woman off. "I know who you are, Valentina, and I don't care what you want with me, just let them go." Bitterness dripped from my words. The woman stood in place, clearly taken aback. "You know who I am?" She asked, her tone sounding exceedingly curious. I stayed silent, fearing what I said got me in to even deeper trouble. A smirk creeped its way on to her lips. "I'm fascinated to hear how you know me." She teased, strutting over to the vat and placing her hand the glass. "The last thing I would want to do is force anything out of you." She started. "I'd like this to be a beneficial partnership, for the both of us." My heart rate sped up as I peered down at the water below me.
"Can you just tell us what you want already?" Sam interjected, making it clear how annoyed he was. She turned back to look at him and shrugged casually. "Like I said, I'm looking for a beneficial partnership. One that, I think, this magnificent woman can provide me." She waved her hand in my direction. "I don't have any intention of helping you." I snapped. Valentina turned her head to look back at me, her eyes wild with amusement. "You are not who I truly want." She explained. "You are merely a conduit. At least, for your sake, I hope you are." I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "We've been researching the people being forced in to our reality, same as every single government body in every other country." She stepped back a few feet and grinned, her arms held out proudly. "And we have come up with some incredible data. These people can help bring us in to the next century." She wagged her finger at me and turned back to Sam.
"You were sitting on a gold mine this entire time." She beamed, her smile faltering for just a moment. "However, not all of these people possessed the certain gifts we were looking for and, unfortunately, they didn't make it through the trials." I could hear my heart pounding in my ears at this point from the amount of anxiety building in my body. "Gifts? Trials? What are you talking about?" Bucky demanded. The woman simply snapped her fingers and the man standing behind me began to push the concrete ball to the edge of the walkway. "No! Stop!" I shouted, lunging forward to try and stop him. I could barely move my hands due to the handcuffs so I put my full body weight on top of the ball. The man grabbed a fist full of my hair and yanked me back. I tried to fight past the pain and pulled as hard as I could against his hand. "Don't!" Bucky yelled, pushing past the guard and attempting to run to me.
I had no time to react as the ball fell from the ledge and hit the water with a huge splash. I was violently pulled in to the cold water, my body tensing up so much that my muscles instantly ached. I managed to partly fill my lungs before my head became completely submerged, struggling as much as I could to swim to the surface but the ball was too heavy. I sank so fast that my ears popped before the ball slammed to the bottom of the vat. Dread filled me, my chest tightening up and forcing some of my air supply out of my mouth. I frantically pulled at the handcuffs, a loud pounding echoing its way through the water as I looked up to see Bucky shoving his vibranium shoulder in to the glass.
I tried to swim towards him but ended up only jerking my limbs around. I was panicking so much that I cried out, the rest of the air escaping my lungs which turned in to the biggest regret of my life. Water filled my mouth and I could feel myself slowly suffocating.
Let me out. Now!
A booming voice shouted at me in my head as my vision began to tunnel. I used my last few moments to stare at Bucky's desperate face, watching his mouth move as he called to me from the other side of the glass. I gulped down more water, unable to help myself at this point. I squeezed my eyes shut as the voice in my head continued.
I can save them!
Myeyes shot open and locked with Bucky's. I nodded in approval of the voice, willing to do anything to help Sam and Bucky. The lights in the warehouse abruptly went out, darkness engulfing every inch of the room. I began to feel warm again, air filling my lungs and suddenly I felt myself on my hands and knees on the ground, water dripping off of me and on to the floor. The lights flickered back on and I was surprised to find myself just outside of the vat, kneeling right in front of Bucky. He looked down at me in astonishment. I was completely free of my chains, which were now laying at the bottom of the water, next to the concrete ball. It was almost like watching a magic act.
"What just happened?" He asked quietly, leaning down and holding his hand out for me to take. I reached up and froze when I heard a gun cocking. I peered past Bucky, my heart sinking when I saw the barrel of a gun pressed to the back of his head by a guard. "That was very impressive." Val's voice called out. She sauntered up to the left of Bucky, smiling down at me. "I was hoping for more though." I clenched my fists and pounded on the ground, water splashing up around me. "What do you want from me?!" I screamed out of frustration, and then everything went dark again. This time it was like I was in my dreams. The wild blue flame that was normally here was gone so I was left in total darkness.
I couldn't hear or feel anything as what seemed like hours passed. I was left alone with my thoughts, going insane at the thought of anything happening to Sam or Bucky. I wanted to shout and cry and punch someone in the face. I didn't understand anything that was happening. The only information I gathered is that clearly Valentina wanted something to do with whatever was going on with me. Whatever voice I was speaking to all those times clearly had some sort of connection to all of this. That on top of being in another reality is enough to drive someone mad. Right now, I was really missing the boring and comfortable life I was used to.
All of a sudden it was as if someone had turned on a light. Everything was bright and blurry at first and then it all came together. When I could see clearly, the sights that laid in front of me were pure horror. The plain white walls of the warehouse were now soaked in blood spatter. The glass from the vat was cracked and all the water had spilled out on to the floor. Bodies were piled in to the observation room, which was demolished as if a tornado had gone through it. I frantically searched the room for Bucky and Sam, spotting them both huddled behind the other side of the vat. They glanced out and slowly approached me. Their handcuffs were now gone and they seemed so intact compared to the rest of the room.
I rushed towards them to make sure they were okay, causing Sam to back away from me quickly, his hands held up defensively. It made me halt just a few feet away from them. "W-What's going on?" I asked. I couldn't help but feel hurt by his reaction. Bucky closed the space between us and gently took ahold of my hand, tugging me towards what looked like an exit. "We've got a problem."