Author's Note: Some time jumps beforehand! Just to better understand Christiane's powers of the Tesseract, her role as a child of Vili (Odin's brother) while her DNA being fused with the Tesseract.
She flits in and out of the dreamworld every time she's brought back from freezing. She's still learning and trying to understand who she is.
Somewhere over the Atlantic
Natasha watched the girl laying on the metallic tray in front, her skin slowly thawing. Her chest refusing to rise and fall. She looked to Clint, leaning against the walls of the QuinJet, nervously chewing on his lip.
"Clint, we followed every rule in the book in the lab to bring her back. Why isn't she waking?"
He sighed, eyes focused on the girl, "I don't know. We can't bring her back lifeless, Steve would be devastated."
"You told him?"
"Not yet, I haven't told anyone yet save for Banner."
"Banner's a quantum physicist, not a doctor."
"He'll know what to do, Nat."
She let out a breathe, watching the girl, "I really hope so."
"What do you remember of the girl?"
"They brought me with the other girls of the Red Room to look at her, the torture she had to go through. She was the example to us if we did not obey."
"If she doesn't wake in the next hour, I'm using Stark's defibrillator." He nodded before heading to the cockpit.
Natasha sat, running her auburn hair through her fingers as she sighed, trying to wipe away the memory of her past.
1991 Russia
"Come along girls," the headmistress called down the hallway as a flurry of girls in black training suits. "Our friends in Moscow have brought us an example, to remind us of what we, Black Widows strive towards."
Natasha walked silently behind her, coming into the doctor's laboratory as a girl sat in a sleeveless black neoprene suit, her short blonde hair soaked, dark brown roots growing, as she curled herself into a ball, trying to hide her face from the crowd of girls. Her arms were covered in dark purple bruises and cuts as she began to whisper to herself in a language unfamiliar to her.
"You see girls, driven to madness and experimented on. This is what happens when you disobey."
"Headmistress, what is she saying?" a girl looked to her, her face hidden from everyone by her hair.
Christiane had been rocking herself back and forth, her mind clinging to the memory of what the visions in her darkness had showed her. She remembered them drowning her, electrocuting her.
"Jeg er Christiane, Villi barn. Prinsessen av Asgard. (I am Christiane, child of Villi. Princess of Asgard.)" she whispered to herself, muttering the words.
The headmistress continues, circling around the girl, "What do we do to our enemies, girls?"
The girls shouted in unison, echoing throughout the room, "We eliminate them!"
Christiane closed her eyes, muting out the chanting that had begun from the girls, breathing heavily through her nose as her mind went to the last memory she had before the darkness succumbed.
December 1989, Russia
(11 months since Berlin)
"Marvelous, her body instantly reacts to whatever substance we put in her, as if there is an energy surging through her." The scientist observed, writing down the girl's vitals.
"What does this mean then for the Winter Soldier program?" The Commander stalked the work station, observing the girl awake on the surgical table, dosed under an agent.
"If I am able to find a way to extract that part of what I think is in her DNA, a special superhuman gene, I can apply it to our serum," the scientist turned to the commander maliciously, an evil grin appearing.
"Get it done." The commander turned, leaving the lab. The screams of the girl started to echo with the surge of a generator behind him, his footsteps clicking down the underground hallway.
Between it all, Christiane felt every nerve of her light on fire, the energy coursing through her as she screamed for what felt like hours but mere minutes, before she closed her eyes, taking in the pain of whatever the scientist had hooked her up to the machine. She turned her hands into fists, sparks of blue coming from her fingertips before she released, a wave of energy exploding from her as it blew the machine and the scientist into the wall. Her eyes went to the scientist limp on the floor, the machine blown to bits. The commander and two lab assistants quickly running back into the lab, checking the scientist's pulse before approaching her, menace in his eyes.
"You will pay for this," he tucked a stray strand of hair from her, before turning to the assistants, "Put her on ice until we find a replacement," as he started out the door again before turning around "Make sure she suffers for taking the life of a patron of Hydra."
Asgard
"A blessing from Vili and you. You bestowed upon Anya with the order of the Valkyrie, guaranteeing her safety throughout millennia's. And yet, I cannot see her, she is hidden from my view. Christiane has the gift. You blessed her as Guardian of the Tesseract, of space and time. Her gift from Vili, to enter realms of dreams, with what the Tesseract did to her, she is stronger than she knows, Your Highness. But she must go her own way. It is what the Fates told you, did they not?" Heimdall looked to the bridge, eyes in sorrow.
"There must be something we can do, a loophole we can get through Odin's rule? She needs to understand her abilities! The Fates prophesied prolonged life, space being her domain of power, the energy of the Tesseract flowing through her. She is almost as powerful as the Kree's photon blasts, yet with the grace and honor as a Valkyrie, which she is not. She will become a warrior on Midgard. Only under extreme stress and control will the powers of the Tesseract reveal itself from her. She is of no danger to us!" Frida pleaded.
"Your Highness," Heimdall turned to her, "We are sworn not to interact with the world of the humans. As long as she is on Midgard, it is out of our domain."
Frida snatched the sword, running to the Bifrost's gate as she attempted to turn the key, heavy under her push.
"Frida!" A voice commanded as a glimmer appeared beside her, Odin bellowed.
"Odin, how can you do this? She is your brother's child, his last living descendant. She is suffering!" Frida shouted, anger coursing as she walked to him, looking him dead set in the eyes.
"You know full well the rules. She is none of our concern."
"You never treated her like one of us, always alienating any of Vili's descendants."
"We must protect ourselves, Frida." Odin spoke, his eyes never meeting hers.
"You only cared for yourself." She brushed past him, walking back to the bridge leading to the palace.
2012 - Christiane
Christiane moved at night, shielded from the blinding light and wind gone. During the day, she took cover in the hollow deep groove of a white smooth rock, throwing the knife she with her to a target on the other side until she could easily throw, like a knife through butter. She hit the target every time, bored and haunted by memories in moments awake or drifting out of consciousness.
She would walk for miles, fleeting between moments of light and darkness. Sometimes it felt like she slept for eternity, before waking to the sun rising across the white barren land, warmth on her cheeks before disappearing again. She made do with the time, watching the sunrise and sunsets, basking in the blue hour of twilight under Ursa Major, Polaris and Orion.
She came to understand it was the dream realm, like the one she had been in while controlling Rudi's dreams so long ago. This, was her own dreams. In the time she was frozen, locked in time, moments when the temperature dropped slightly in her chamber, unconscious to her, the slit between the world and her dream realm thinned as she slipped into consciousness in that realm. She guided herself through the sands, controlling her emotions. She felt the pulse and prickle of the energy in her, ruled by her anger, her sadness. Christiane mastered the blue energy that came from her, that came from the Tesseract.
Years and years, trying and failing before blacking out again. She kept walking, kept trying.
This was her time.
Wake up.
A whisper against her ear.
Wake up. It is your time.
Her mother's voice.
Wake up, Christiane.
She felt her heart beat. One. Two.
Wake up.
Her eyelids moved, her fingers twitching.
Wake up!
Christiane bolted upright, her lungs gasping for air as she choked for a breath, breathing heavy before she coughed. Gripping her hands on the edge of the table.
Meanwhile on Sakaar at the same time
Anya bolted upright, her heart beating hard against her chest as she gasped for air, quickly trying to find the light in her room in the darkness.
"Anya!" Val quickly ran to her side, checking on her. "Are you okay?"
Anya breathed, steadying each breath as she felt warmth in her chest. She felt a flutter, a smile appearing to her lips.
"She's alive."
She turned to her, her smile widening as a tear came, rolling down her cheek.
"Christiane is alive."
Natasha jumped back as the girl in front of her suddenly bolted upright, gasping for air before coughing violently.
"Clint!" She shouted, looking to him frantically pushing buttons to engage autopilot as he jumped out the seat, running to her.
Nat's eyes widened, watching the girl regain her breathing before her gaze settled to hers. Frantically glancing between Clint and hers.
"Hey, it's okay. You're safe now," her hands outreached to her, indicating no danger.
Christiane looked nervously between the two people standing in front of her. They looked harmless, wearing civilian clothes save for the knives she could see concealed under the woman with red hair.
"Where am I?" she asked, almost demanding as her left hand loosened its grip from the table, quickly pulling out the dog tags at her neck, reassuring her.
"Somewhere off the coast of Maine," the man spoke, we arms crossed, looking relaxed as he looked to her, observing her.
"Who are you?" her right hand loosened, coming together with her left as they intertwined, calming her nerves.
"I'm Natasha, and this is Clint." The woman smiled, offering a glass of water beside her to Christiane.
"You are not Hydra?" she asked warily.
The two looked to each other, "The Avengers, SHIELD, whatever you want to call us, Christiane." Natasha replied cooly.
Her eyes perked up, caution tightening through her, "How do you know my name? What's your proof?"
Clint shrugged, smiling to her, "Lieutenant Christiane Gérard Bougourd, a Howling Commando. Thought to have gone missing in 1945 in London while working with the SSR. An engineer, spy and courier."
She looked to him warily again, awaiting for him to continue.
Natasha sighed, crossing her arms, "Steve told us. Christiane, you've woken up in 2012 and - "
"Steve? Steve Rogers?" Her voice raised in disbelief, "how, how is that possible? He died flying the Valkyrie down. I was there," her voice almost a whisper, "My sister was there."
"Steve was found last year by an Arctic expedition, frozen on ice."
Christiane held her face in her hands, trying to comprehend the information. A voice came over the QuinJet, as she jumped at the sound.
"Arriving to Stark Tower in 10 minutes."
She looked around frantically for the voice, panic setting in.
Nat got up, sitting beside her as she took her hand in hers, "Easy, you're safe now. I won't let them get you."
She looked to Christiane, a little younger than her by perhaps one or two years. Nat felt a sense of protection over her, something she didn't quite understand. But she felt she owed it to her, to protect her from the horrors of Hydra and the Red Room.
Before Christiane knew it, she was walking beside Nat and Clint into a room from the QuinJet with ceiling to floor glass as they entered into an elevator, Clint talking "22nd floor."
A voice coming over, "22nd floor requested."
Christiane muttered under her breath, taking in the strange new environment around her in amazement and shock, "What the hell..."
The doors slid open in front of her, another man with glasses waiting as he smiled to her.
"Christiane, I'm Dr. Banner, but you can call me Bruce." Walking alongside the trio.
"Bruce," she nodded, before looking to her surroundings, taking in the technology, and architecture around her.
"If you'd kindly sit here? Can I take your blood?" he asked, looking to her with caution.
"You may," she put her left arm out, still in her sleeveless neoprene suit.
The doctor drew blood, before going to a table with machines as he slid in a vial into it.
"This should give us an analysis and understand what you have been through biologically."
"You could just ask me," she replied as she put on a band-aid.
"I'll make sure to do that soon, for now, I've got to run another test which I'll have to put you out for it," Bruce hesitantly turned to a needle beside him, picking it up.
"I want to see Steve," she replied cooly.
"Don't you worry, he's getting here soon. Coming back from base in DC." Clint replied, smiling to her.
"What will this test do?"
"It allows me to do a full body scan without any brain activity interfering with the analysis. You'll only be out for 15 minutes and then Nat will show you to your room to freshen up, right?"
Nat nodded, a smile to her lips before she glanced to Christiane, a smile of reassurance.
"Okay fine, do it." She felt moved to the bed, feeling a prick to her arm as she drifted into darkness again, willingly.
15 minutes passed before Christiane awoke to sensors beeping beside her, a voice coming over, "Miss Bougourd, please wait. Dr. Banner will return shortly."
She jumped at the voice, suddenly skeptically glaring around as she tore at the sensor stickers at her arms before taking off running through the doors.
Clint sat outside, waiting for her to come around before suddenly, the doors burst open as she saw Christiane running.
"Kid, wait!"
She kept running down the hallway, overcome with fear and confusion as she heard Clint's feet running behind her. She took another turn, skidding across the cool marble floor only to crash into the body of a tall man.
Her eyes looked up, heart flipping as her lips parted, "Steve?"
"Chrissy?" He looked down to her in awe. She looked no different since the last time they had seen each other in the war, save for the short white blonde hair.
His arms immediately went around her, hugging her tightly to him.
"I can't believe it, you're alive" he breathed relief.
She pulled away from him, placing a hand to his cheek, "Steve, gosh you haven't changed," she smiled, reminiscing at the memories.
Clint approached through the doorway, a small smile on his lips, "I see you've found each other then."
"Frozen in time," Christiane laughed, a weight somewhat lifted off her shoulders.
Steve looked out to the New York night skyline, quietness surrounding him. He could hear the faint echo of Banner's classical music from the lab downstairs.
"Steve?" Christiane tip toed, having just woken up from a few hours of sleep.
"Hmm?" He turned around, putting an arm around her shoulder.
"How have you been?" She asked, a whisper between the two of them.
"Here and there, still fighting the fight. It's been hard trying to get with the times now," he sighed, eyes focused on the bright lights. "Where have you been, Chrissy? All this time?"
"Hydra took me after you and Anya disappeared. They tested on me, tortured me. Then I was rescued by an old friend in the 80s, lived in Berlin and worked as a courier, an agent for intel from the West to the East. Then they caught me again. They put me through torture again. The last I remember, I was put on ice, just another experiment for them." She muttered, trying to push back the memories from her mind.
"You were with my sister on the Valkyrie, what happened?" she turned to him, eyes soft but expression stern.
"There was a light, bright blue. She got pulled into some sort of vortex the Tesseract created." Steve squinted, trying to envision the memory.
Christiane felt her heart flutter, eyes widening, "you're telling me she could be alive?"
"Chrissy," his eyes in sorrow, trying to find words, "She disappeared just like that. Like the earth suddenly opened and swallowed her."
"And Schmidt?" She sighed, trying to accept the reality.
"Also gone with her. I'm sorry," Steve whispered.
Christiane modded quietly, leaning her head onto Steve's shoulder.
They stood like that for a moment in silence, watching and taking in the lights and quiet muted sounds around them.
"Chrissy?" Steve finally spoke.
"Hmm?"
"Come back with me to base in DC? I know how hard it is to get used to things, in this new time. It could do you some good?" He smiled softly to her, something which warmed her heart like the way Anya used to look to her.
She nodded, pulling him closer to her as they continued watching the night.