Reaper had been in and out of the suit for days. There were trays of food that went barely touched, boxes of new clothing had been brought up and yet she chose to remain in a tank top and sweats.
The only saving grace of the situation were the large windows that looked over the city. She sat in the window seat watching people roaming about, watching guards outside the building, watching birds and planes in the sky.
When Reaper came back that day she noted his exhaustion, she could see it in how slowly he moved. The mask was unnerving, relentless in its gaze as he moved around the suit.
"There has to be something better for you to wear at least. Something less dramatic," she shifted in her seat as he sat at the coffee table, "You can't possibly wear that every day."
"I don't." He tapped his claws away on the hardwood, "But I was also told not to let my guard down around you, so I wear my working clothes."
"Imagine being afraid of someone literally half of your size as if they're going to kick you in the shins to death."
Reaper laughed weakly, "Yea, imagine that, a tiny outpowered woman who wants to kick people to death."
Guada smirked then noting the change in demeanor, "Easily."
He stood and his cape dramatically whipped as he turned into the closet.
"Are you going to change?" She leaned out in an attempt to watch him inside the giant walk in.
"No," He stated simply and walked out with a grey sweater dress, "You are. You have an appointment."
He tossed the dress in front of her, "Go shower."
"What if I don't go."
"You have to go." He spoke evenly to her, but watched her cross her arms.
"I don't want to, what do I get out of it?"
"Don't. Find out what happens then."
He whipped around again and walked out. Guada ran up to the door in an attempt to listen to his footsteps. There was nothing.
She slid down against it. What was she supposed to do? They'd come up eventually for it, at the least she could delay by choosing to shower very slowly, walk very slowly… Just all around be useless.
That's what they were trained to do if they ever became prisoners of war, be as inconvenient as possible.
So she got ready. Two hours later, she heard commotion in front of the door.
"She'll be out soon, you aren't necessary," Gabriel's voice was garbled by the door on top of its muffling from the mask.
"Just an added check-in, Sir, he wants to make sure she'll be on time."
"I'll get her there," he growled.
Guada knocked on the door, as silly as it seemed to be on the inside knocking to the out, the voices in the hallway grew silent. When Reaper opened the door, he stood squarely in front of the way.
"I'm dressed," she said as a knot built in her stomach.
Reaper turned to look down the burly man who shrugged at him and walked away.
"I'm glad you changed your mind," he said following behind the stranger.
Guada eyed the hallway both ways before following him, "I clearly didn't have any real choice."
They rode the elevator and walked through hallways together in silence. The bottom floor was empty and smelled like disinfectant, the way hospitals regularly do. The hallway had windows and doors into labs and some offices, at the very end a large pair of doors waited. Reaper held them open for Guada.
"What am I doing here?" she asked in a rough whisper.
Reaper scanned the room, "I don't exactly know... But I won't leave you alone."
She scuffed as she stepped in, "My hero."
"Ah, Guada, finally you've arrived," the silky voice floated through the large laboratory.
"Oh hell no, bitch, you better think again," Guada turned to walk out but Reaper grabbed at her arms.
Under his mask he smiled and tried not to laugh.
"The last time we spoke wasn't exactly the best of times, but I assure you, this isn't personal."
"Don't you dare fucking touch me," Guada felt her heart pick up as the other woman walked the room.
Reaper's hands rubbed at the short woman's arms, the claws catching slightly on the fabric. Guada shrugged him off.
"I'm not going to hurt you," she laughed then, that odd eerie laugh, "I'm here to give you a checkup… After everything you've been through, it's important to keep you healthy, dear."
Guada glared at Moira as she patted at a weighing stand.
"Well lucky you, I don't have much of a choice do I?"
"I'm afraid not," Moira smiled and gestured for Guada to step up.
Guada took in a deep breath but obliged.
"Almost 82 kilograms, my-my, the time has changed you."
"Not you though, what have you been using, the blood of the innocent again?" Guada mocked anxiously without looking in the other woman's direction.
"There's that lovely sense of humor we've all been missing," Moira spoke as she wrote onto paperwork, "And 164, short as ever."
"We can't all be the Eiffel tower."
"Well, I think you're a perfect size," she sighed, "A little overweight, but it's to be expected from a woman living your life."
"Overweight? Lady, have you looked at me? It's called having curves," she eyed Moira over, "Sorry that you weren't as blessed."
"Yes, I can see that," she put out her large hands, "Shake a poor tall, thin woman's hand?"
Guada balled her hands into fists, "Are you gonna finger-prick me?"
"No," Moira said with a high pitched voice.
"Yea, you are." Guada sighed shoved her hand into Moira's.
"Yes, I am." She said matter-of-factly like and held tightly to Guada's hand as she pushed a pen-like tool into the side of Guada's finger.
Moira held it there for a second as Guada grimaced, then tossed the hand away, tapping at the side of her glasses.
"You're low on vitamin D, but that's understandable, you've been cooped up in that room for so long. Your iron is doing badly, but I already heard you weren't eating right. Your folate is perfect somehow though, and the…" Moira was mumbling now as she walked off across the room.
Guada sucked on her finger as she walked back towards Reaper who stood like a statue watching over them, "Am I free to leave."
"Hmm," Moira looked up from where she was casing the pen into some type of box, "Oh no, of course not, there are so many more test to run my dear."
Guada spent the rest of the day being tested in her stamina, her lung capacity, peeing into cups and spitting into tubes. She had to climb a rock wall, run a treadmill for hours, do pull-ups... Her body ached, but the muscles stirred with what little memory they had still clung to after so many years.
"Lay down dear," Moira motioned near the end of the day as she opened a door in the back of her room.
Guada recognized the table by its angle and stirrups.
"No… no way. Lady, I highly doubt you got your ob/gyn degree since last we met. Fuck off," Guada backed up into Reaper who put an arm around her. She couldn't clearly tell if it was a protective hold or not, but it was all she had at that moment.
"Guada, honestly, you've been making a fuss all day, how often are you going to put on this tough girl act."
Moira pushed the sleeves of her button up shirt up to her elbow, "Now woman up, dear."
Guada eyed her with anger, "Don't. This is different, different from everything else and you know it."
Moira sighed as she finished putting on her gloves, "This is strictly professional, Guada. For science, I couldn't care less to be in there longer than I have to be."
"You don't have to be, that's just it," Guada's voice shook as she fisted her hands.
She was exhausted from all the manipulations that day. She couldn't even keep track of how many vials of blood samples they had taken.
"Can't you do this another day?" Reaper spoke without looking up from Guada.
Moira sighed in aggravation, "Honestly, it's a wonder I ever get any work done with you people. If I ran my labs the way everyone around here wanted me to, I'd still be working on my Ph. D."
But as Moira tugged at the long fingers of her gloves, Guada knew she had her answer. She was free to go this time.
"You'll start on you performance enhancement shots, at least."
Guada then stood behind Reaper with a glare in her eye as if waiting for Moira to reach around him to get at her. She looked up at Reaper for a sign, he nodded.
Guada grabbed the nearest stool and sat facing Reaper, focusing on his blank stare as Moira pierced her skin and injected her with the enhancement.
"You'll need one every month," Moira huffed, wiping at the injection site weakly before walking away, "Have a good night."
"What was in that thing," Guada asked as they left.
Reaper shrugged.
"Thanks," Guada sighed the anxiety rising in her body.
"They wouldn't try to kill you in front of me." Reaper offered as reassurance, but it was obvious by the way she leaned into the corner of the elevator that it hadn't given her much at all.
As they climbed the floors in the elevator Guada closed her eyes and breathed deeply from exhaustion.
"Tired?" his garbled voice filled the large space of the elevator with a tension.
"No-" Guada wanted to fight but she couldn't, "Yes. I just want to go to sleep."
"Want me to carry you?"
A part of her mind imagined the warmth of being against his chest like she use to. She dreamt about her face next to his neck, taking in the scent of him and listening to his heartbeat as his arms hooked around her body and held her legs tightly. They'd done it a thousand times and she had dreamt of it a thousand more since his death, but to her, he was still gone.
"No, I'm fine."
"You look pale."
"You look pale," Guada shot back with agitation.
Reaper let out a quick huff of breath and then came a soft chuckle. The laugh increased until it filled the space of the elevator with its dramatic, film-like sound.
Guada looked over at him but just saw a dark mass of shaking muscles and a blank face that didn't match the rest of him.
Something about that sight, however, and the echoing laughter around her, made her smile and laugh along with him.
"It's true though, god, that white mask," she spoke between laughing bouts, "Oh god, it's so creepy."
Reaper's laughter slowed, and the elevator landed. He placed a claw on the small of her back, urging her out.
Guada tried to walk ahead of his touch, the points ever present at the edge of her clothing. She watched as Reaper opened the door to their room.
"Can I ask you a question," she asked as she stepped into the room ahead of him.
"Hmm?" he asked walking in and then closing the door.
"Do you really have to wear that mask?"
Reaper felt the warmth in his face underneath the mask. He had expected this question but, a part of him had longed to avoid it.
"Morrison, when he called me," Guada started without turning to look at him, "He told me that Amari… that she had knocked off your mask and seen… a lot."
He scuffed and walked away to the closet, placing the jacket on a dummy in there, "Don't worry about it," was all he said.
Guada's body was too heavy at this point, she couldn't push the issue any harder. She had seen the moment of vulnerability and tried to take advantage of it. She'd have to find another.
They put her on a regimen. She had to go to the gym, had to come in for blood tests, and her diet was slowly changed.
Guada was daydreaming about picking up her son from school while lifting a small weight in the gym space they'd given her when a shadow walked up behind her.
"I know what you're doing," he walked around to the front of her.
"What am I doing?" She asked lazily.
"You don't think I know it? I was trained same as you, be as inconvenient as possible… I know you can lift more than that. I know you held back in the stamina tests. I know you've been mostly lying about while down here."
"Cool story, friendo," Guada continued to stare at the wall ahead of her and continued to lift mindlessly.
"And Moira knows it too," he knelt in front of her then.
"What is this suppose to mean for me?"
"It means that eventually you're gonna have to break. She's going to have enough of the toying around. She's going to report you and-"
"And what? They'll cut back on my free time? Oh no, not muh weight lifting time! It's muh fav!" she said using a goofy mock voice and making a face to fit it.
"This isn't a game," he hissed.
Guada's face grew red, "I don't care anymore."
The black eyes of the mask looked at her, she could see them from the corner of her eye despite trying to look into the distance.
"Eventually you're gonna realize that struggling against this is pointless and that maybe it's actually going to help you."
"Or maybe eventually I'll get out of here, and I'll have the honor of killing Moira myself."
He sighed then, shook his head, "Come on, you have another appointment."
She dropped the weight onto the ground carelessly and walked ahead, Reaper followed close behind.
"What is she doing? More shots?"
"I can't come with you today, I have to finish my assignment. I just didn't want anyone else going to get you, and then walking in to see you doing nothing."
"Off to kill more friends," Guada asked idly.
Reaper stared down on her as she stood there, arms crossed and eyes forward. He didn't say a word even as he left the lift.
Guada suddenly felt the space shrink as the impression of his presence dissipated. She walked the hallway on her own and as she entered into Moira's lab and office, she froze seeing the backdoor open once again. There was a guard at either end of the lab itself.
"Good afternoon, Guada," Moira's voice floated as she looked up.
Guada simply rolled her eyes.
"For a married woman with a child, I could almost swear you were a fifteen-year-old baby," Moira led the way.
Guada followed grimly, "Yea well, sorry if I'm not exactly excited about being your little lab rat… I've seen what happens to those."
Moira laughed heartily then, a sound the boomed off the walls of the tiny exam room, "Oh my, if only you knew. Now, feel free to change into this."
"Oh good, pure white so I can watch my blood soak into the fabric as you kill my spirit. How thoughtful," Guada joked as she ripped the frock from Moira's hands.
She was given a moment to change on her own, and climb onto the table. Guada sat back, her innards tightening. She hated this part.
Hated this position, grown to be purely disgusted with it. There was only so many negatively associated moments one could connect with these types of check ups before it became the one you actively avoided.
Moira walked back in pushing a cart with instruments. Guada actively looked off to her left as machines were turned on to the right of her.
"I know you said that you're on birth control, so just gotta check on that," Moira said as she prepped.
She pushed the ultrasound wand around Guada's abdomen.
"Do you even know what you're looking for."
"No, just kind of making it up as I go along."
"Please tell me you're joking."
"I had a year to prep for your arrival, of course, I know what I'm doing."
Moira pulled out the stirrups and Guada took in a deep breath as she positioned herself.
"The strings seem to be just fine," there was a pause as she checked other parts, "Everything seems to be okay here. Just gonna take a few samples now."
Guada closed her eyes as Moira swabbed at her body, "Having fun?"
"Purely professional," Moira stated in a singsong voice.
"I know you too well, anything that would be professional to an actual doctor is like a fucking fairground for you… You know most doctors warn about 'this might be cold' and 'slight pinch' or 'bit of pressure here.'"
"Well, I guess that's for actual doctors, as you put it, ey? Besides, that's useless, simply meant to protect them from lawsuits. Warning you about 'a bit of pressure here' does nothing for me. Just empty chatter… especially with someone who must know this routine so well by now."
Guada lips pinched up as she shook her head, "Bitch."
"I remember when we were friends."
"I was an idiot. You don't have friends, you have social experiments." She shifted uncomfortably and then lifted her top half as a sharp pain spread through her lower body, "Ay! Pero que tu 'stas haciendo?!"
"I told you I was taking samples," Moira cooed in false innocence.
"You fucking cunt-"
Then in a mocking quick breath "I also just took out your IUD, that's the pinch you felt."
"Excuse me?" Guada lifted herself into a sitting position to glare down on Moira.
"What are you going to do? Sue me?" she stated coolly as a reminder, "We'll be redoing your tests soon. Can't have the hormones messing with my studies, you understand don't you?"
Moira smiled up into Guada's glaring eyes, "All done with this part, dear. See? Easy."
"Can I get up then?" Guada scoffed.
"You know, this reminds me, you're one of only four people with a uterus who were able to have a child with the sperm of a super soldier… while not being a super soldier yourself that is."
Guada grew cold then, "Oh am I?"
"Mhmm," Moira hummed it gently, as she tossed the medical pieces away and took off her gloves, "Amazing really. I've only been able to get my hands on one of you. Majority of super soldiers with sperm eventually either ended up alone, queer, with other super soldiers or just childless.
Super soldiers with uteruses? No issues. Soldiers with sperm? You'd assume that out of 200, at least half of them would have kids, but no… majority of them struggled."
"Shut up, Moira."
"I was so happy for you, my friend, when you conceived. It was so hurtful when you shut me out like that."
"Shut the fuck up, Moira!" Guada pushed herself off of the bed quickly with tears in her eyes.
There was a banging on the door, "Is everything alright in there?"
"Yes, everything's just fine," Moira smiled warmly at Guada, "I told you that so I could tell you this: after the testing, I'll be running you on a series of shots, and taking egg samples."
Guada felt cold, she hissed as to avoid the guards, "Stop it! You know..."
"Science knows no bounds, dear. Get dressed, that's enough for today."
As Moira moved to leave through the door, Guada's hands shook with frustration as she picked up her clothes.
Before Moira closed the door behind her, Guada strained to ask, "Where's my dog?"
Moira paused for a second, before moving on, "If you're very good, maybe you'll get to see him."