Chapter Three
Which is Far Too Full of Superheroes
When her vision clears, Sonya finds herself on a couch, underneath a fluffy blanket, and Captain America is watching her. Again. But this time he's joined by a pair of concerned looking twins.
"Hydra wants to capture you." Is the first thing Pietro says to her, earning glares from his companions.
"Oh." She replies. "That… That's not good. Who's Hydra?" She sits up, reaching for the cat that the speedster hands her.
He plops down next to her. "You've ever seen this symbol before?" He holds up a picture of the insignia those balaclava clad men in the subway had been wearing.
"In the subway." She says. She squints at it and frowns. "Who the hell invented this insignia? This isn't a hydra!" She whacks the picture. "This is a fucking death octopus. Not a hydra!"
"I say that all the time." A curvy young woman with wavy dark brown hair leans over the couch. "But no one ever listens to me." She sticks her hand in Sonya's face. "I'm Darcy Lewis. Nice to meet you, I like your purple hair."
"You too. I'm Sonya. And thanks."
"I hear you swore in front of Steve Rogers." Darcy continues. "Better be careful… He doesn't like that." She dissolves in to giggles, draping herself over the couch.
"It's an inside joke." Wanda explains, as Steve's eye rolling reaches new heights.
"Huh." Sonya shrugs. "So, what does Hydra want with me?"
"Your brain." Tony Stark says, popping in through a doorway.
"Noooo." Sonya monotones. "Not my brain."
Darcy and Pietro snicker at that, as Steve tries to explain. "They've been in to human experimentation for a while now." He says, meaning Hydra. "They're interested in your abilities."
"So they're trying to kill me and steal my brain?"
"Yep."
"Lovely." She thinks for a bit. "I'll take you up on that training offer."
Physical training is pure hell. Sonya is sore in muscles she didn't even know she had. Mental training is actually pretty fun, though, because she gets to do it with Wanda.
She's pretty surprised how easily the others take to her. Tony says she has some of the most interesting things to say, and she's pretty sure he and Clint have a notebook full of the ridiculous things that tend to come out of her mouth. Sonya doesn't mind it. She knows she talks weird. Rambles a lot.
When it's discovered everything she owns burned down with her apartment, Darcy, Wanda, Pepper and Natasha take her on a shopping spree, despite Sonya's protests. But it's actually not that bad, and soon her room is decked out just like her old apartment.
Wanda also finds out away to block Sonya's powers.
"It's just a theory." She explains. "I don't know if it will even work."
"Try anyway." Sonya tells her.
It works, though, and Sonya can't feel others' pain, and it's beautiful.
It's a rainy day sometime in August when Sonya's powers pop up again. She's walking past Bucky loaded down with an armful of books, when pain shoots through her left shoulder, and she drops them. The Winter Soldier gives her a concerned look as he moves to help her, but she waves him away.
"Bucky… How long has your shoulder been hurting?!" She whispers, hand clamped to her own shoulder. Bucky looks a little shocked.
"What…? I'm fine."
Sonya shakes her head furiously. "No. No, you're not! Your arm needs adjusting, doesn't it?" He blinks at her. "The plates are digging in to your skin, and it hurts to lift your arm above your waist." Her hand is over her mouth. "You need to tell Tony. He can fix it!"
Bucky opens his mouth to say something, but Steve, who pops out of a doorway, interrupts. "Tony can fix what?"
"Bucky's arm is fucked up." Sonya says.
Bucky lets out a bark of laughter at the indignantly worried look his best friend shoots at him, but then he and Sonya hiss, "Ow!" in unison as pain shoots up his prosthetic.
Steve's glare is enough to get Bucky hurrying to find Tony. Sonya sighs as the pain in her shoulder leaves with him. Steve helps her to her feet.
"He can feel with that arm, Steve." She frets, gathering her books. "Make sure Tony takes a look at it more often. That fucking hurts." He nods, concerned.
The Avengers find it a little unsettling, when Sonya starts calling them out when they're hurting. Wanda tries to do what she did before and block her friend's powers, but it doesn't work. Sonya's ability immediately becomes an obstacle in her training. Every time she tries to punch or kick or anything, she is wracked with pain.
She's curled on the ground in the training room, clutching her jaw. Clint's crouching next to her. "It doesn't even hurt me!" He's telling her. "I don't understand!"
Sonya shakes her head. "Not true. It does hurt." She replies. "But you're used to dealing with pain. It's part of your training. A kick to the jaw? It's nothing for you. You've literally trained your brain not to register the pain, but you still feel it." She looks up. "I haven't had that kind of training."
Tony hears the conversation and starts thinking. He shows up at Sonya's room several weeks later.
"I have a solution!" He tells her, grinning.
Sonya squints at him. "What? A solution for what?"
"Your ability to feel others' pain!" He holds up a black headband. "Ta-da!"
"I don't get it."
Tony grabs her wrist and drags her down to the training room. "It's not perfect." He rambles, "But I think it may help. It's designed to block any pain signals that aren't your own, so you can keep fighting."
Sonya tries to keep a skeptical outlook, but the billionaire's proud smile is really hard to resist, and honestly, she's touched by his concern.
"What if I need to use my pain-feeling power?" She asks
"That's the beauty of this!" He cries. "If you concentrate, you can override the headband, but only if you deliberately mean it." He ties it over her hair. "Now, go punch Steve."
"Why?"
"To test it out." Tony waves at Cap.
The blond walks over, looking confused. His confusion only grows when Ironman tells him to let Sonya hit him.
"Uh... Why?"
"I need to test something." The shorter man says by way of explanation.
"I seriously need a better reason than that."
Tony rolls his eyes and lets out a long suffering sigh. "You are really inconveniencing me, Capsicle." He groans. Steve raises an expectant eyebrow. He's not doing anything without a valid reason. "Look." Tony says. "I invented this thing that may help Sonya control her ability to feel other peoples' pain. It's still in the beta stage, and I need to test it out."
Steve nods. "I see." He turns to Sonya. "Go ahead."
"Eh?" She had zoned out by then, thinking about the lasagna she was craving.
"Hit me." He tells her.
"Huh? Uhm... Okay?" She rears back and punches him in the jaw. The suddenness of the attack catches everyone off guard. Steve stumbles back, Tony lets out a yelp of surprise, and Sonya almost falls flat on her face.
"Ow!" Cap says, a little surprised, rubbing his jaw.
"Oh my goodness!" Sonya cries. "I'm so sorry! Did that hurt?" She freezes, eyes widening. "Holy shit! I can't feel your pain!" She whirls on Tony, grabbing his arm. "Tony!Tonytonytonytony!" She yells, shaking his arm.
The engineer lets out a whoop, picking her off the ground with a hug. "Haha! It worked!" He sets her down, realizing something. "Wait, now concentrate on Steve. See if you can override it!"
Sonya nods, screwing up her face with concentration, focusing on Cap. Tony and Steve watche her. Her eyes brighten suddenly, and she winces, hand flying to her jaw.
"It works?" The two ask.
She nods, her eyes a little wet. "It works."
"Tony, put ice on that burn." She says at lunch one day, around a bite of mac and cheese. He stares at her, then at his smarting arm. He had singed it slightly while working with a blow torch earlier that morning.
"That's kind of freaky, Purple." He tells her, accepting the ice pack she hands him.
"Tell me about it." She replies, fetching a first-aid kit and tending to the wound. They both jump with surprise as her fingertips begin to glow purple as soon as she touches the burn. Their disbelief only increases when she moves her hand and it's gone.
"Holy fucking shit." Tony breathes. Sonya stares at her fingers like she's never seen them before. The engineer's eyes light up and he presses his hand against the still-hot stove top.
"Tony!" Sonya shrieks, waving her hand. "WHAT THE HELL?!"
He doesn't say anything, just grabs her hand. "Here, do that again."
"Do what again?!" She's looking at him like he's lost his mind, but her hands glow purple again and the pain in Tony's hand fades.
They gawk at each other for a while in silence, then Tony grabs her by the shoulders and shakes her wildly. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS MEANS!?"
She can't really answer because he's still shaking her, but makes a sort of strangled noise of distress. Sam Wilson pops his head in, looking confused.
"He-e-e-e-elp-p-p!" Sonya squeaks.
"You better stop shaking her before her head flies off, Tony." The Falcon says conversationally, not really helping in the least, but Tony lets go and careens out of the room.
"We're having a meeting!" He calls back. "Don't move!"
"What's that about?" Sam asks, busying himself with making a sandwich.
"Apparently, I'm more of a freak than we originally thought." Sonya replies.
"Oh."
It takes a while for Tony to gather everyone, but when he does, he dashes over to Sonya. "Guys, check this out! Sonya, do the thing!"
"Again?"
He nods vigorously, then scrapes his arm.
"Don't DO that!" Sonya yelps, clutching her own arm.
"Just do that thing you did!" Tony says. She sighs and gently touches the abrasion, her fingers glowing. Noises of shock filter through the others when he displays his perfectly healed arm.
"Well…" Pietro says. "Now she needs a super hero name."
"I really don't." Sonya says.
"Fabulous idea!" Tony declares. "We're gonna call you…" He trails off, thinking.
"Remedy." Everyone turns to look at Bucky. He's grinning. "We're gonna call her Remedy."
A/N: Sam you fucking asshole, rescue people from crazed Tonys, it's your job, dammit! Also, Bucky and Sonya are bros. I don't know why, they just are.