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When Devon came to, she was not surprised to find herself in a small room. It looked like standard SHIELD medical room but this specific room was not one that she had ever been in before.
Slowly she sat up and looked around the room. When the door opened, she jumped in a panic. When Steve walked in to the room, the fear threatened to overwhelm her. As the soldier neared the bed, Devon lost the battle with her fear.
Moving swiftly Devon backed herself into the corner. As she moved, she easily flipped the bed up making a barrier between her and Steve.
Fear and panic overwrote any logical thought in Devon's mind. Huddling in the corner near a small end table, she curled in on herself as tears silently streaked down her cheeks.
Even just the knowledge of fear should have been a sign that this was the real world and not some drug induced hallucination, but that thought could not work its way to the front of Devon's mind. Steve had been used against her far more than any of the others as she repeatedly worked her way through Sean's torture.
The sounds of more people rushing into the room caused Devon to look up. A doctor and some nurses were nearing her. One attempted to move the bed that kept them back from her. The nearness of the other person spooked her into acting. She fled launching herself over the table and crashed to the ground among shards of a broken lamp. One of the larger pieces of glass cut deep into her palm as she caught herself.
The pain seemed to fuel her as the medical professionals neared her. Struggling to get to her feet she stumbled trying to gain purchase on the slick tiled floor. Her strength had returned to her and she pushed away the first nurse to reach her, sending the young woman tumbling back against the far wall.
From behind her, an orderly grabbed her shoulders trying to hold her still. She spun around wildly struggling to fight the man off. They pushed her back until she was up against a wall being held back by several people as the doctor readied an injection.
"This is just something to calm you down," the doctor reassured her.
Bile rose in her mouth at the site of the needle. She would not go to sleep again to wake up in some new kind of hell she would not let them. Devon struggled against the hold on her arms and legs as she looked around the room attempting to find a way to get free.
That was when she looked up and saw that Steve was still there watching her. He had not come any nearer to her nor had he attempted to help the medical staff. The shocked almost pained look on his face stunned her for a moment. In that instance, she felt needle prick her skin. Even before the drug was pushed into her system, she slumped down as all the fight drained out of her. Devon only remained on her feet because of the people holding her.
There was only a second where her eyes met those blue before she looked away. Devon's eyes darted at anything, everything besides the nearly statue like man watching her. Those eyes that had been her anchor not that long ago had been used against her too many times. The only thing she could hope at this point was to wake up from this nightmare even if it was to find that she was still captive by Sean.
The next time Devon awoke, her reaction was nearly the same. Confusion surrounded her when she was still in the small medical room. The furniture had been replaced or repaired. The only way she knew it was the same room was the damage to the walls. Her response when Tony had entered had been similar to her first explosive outburst.
The difference was Tony's reaction. He had made the mistake of trying to push forward and help her. Her instinct to fight caused her to practically fly at the man, smashing him into the wall. Crumbling plaster broke around him and for a moment she was not in the white room but in Tony's lab. She blinked frantically taking a step back and in a flash, she was back in the present.
Panic filled her as she tried to determine what was real. She had no way of knowing if this vision would vanish just like the others. Staring at Tony's slumped form, she allowed the doctors to subdue her with minimal fighting.
Once again, it was the same room when Devon woke up. She was beginning to question what was happening to her. Was this just a new way to torture her? Was Sean just trying to break her? As it was she did not know how much more of this craziness she could handle.
Cautiously she pushed herself up off the bed. Not knowing what to do, she stared at the door expecting someone to enter. She did not have to wait that long before Bruce's face appeared in the window of the door, but unlike the others, he did not come in. As they stared at each other through the door, her mind slowly accepted that perhaps this was real. She was actually here and not trapped within Sean's hallucinations.
Before Devon realized she had even moved she bumped into the wall with her back. She leaned against the cold surface and slid down the floor as her legs gave out. Pulling her legs up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them and rested her head on her knees. She was too strong to break down and cry but the fear and returning panic welled up, threatening to overwhelm her.
If the last few days had been real, there would be consequences to her actions. Her mind tried to fill in the blanks of what had happened but was surprisingly unsuccessful at piecing together reality. Images flashed through her mind before it streamed away like water through a sieve. Only the image of Tony on the floor stuck out to her and she tried to hold onto the image and form a coherent thought about it.
When the door opened, Devon did not dare look up and loose the thoughts that she had built. She shook as the fear rose but held herself firmly to keep from acting on it. There were so many questions she had but one that needed to be voiced first.
"Is Tony alright?" Devon whispered before clearing her throat and trying again. "I mean I didn't … did I?"
"Tony's got a thick skull. It's going to take a lot more than getting pushed around to do any permanent damage to that man."
Devon had been surprised to hear a woman respond to her question, and risked looking up for just a moment. Although they had never met in person before, Devon knew exactly who this was from her SHIELD dossier. The woman before her was none other than the beautiful and deadly Natasha Romanoff aka The Black Widow.
The red haired woman pulled up a chair just a few feet in front of her. Natasha sat down and waited, watching Devon.
Devon knew that the other woman would notice every movement she made even down to each breath she took. She was confused by this new presence but the fog of the hallucinations seemed to dissipate with her presence. Since Natasha was not someone she knew, the spy could not be part of any ploy by Sean, which further confirmed that this was real.
Emotions flooded over her after the fear gave way. First, there was relief to be free from that prison that Sean had created in her mind. Then hatred at what he had done to her. That lead into the gut wrenching pain as her head throbbed as the memories came back to her. She scrambled frantically over to the waste bin before she emptied what little was in her stomach. The acid burned as she spat it out. Her heart ached as she finally broke and let the tears slide down her cheeks.
Devon lost track of the minutes as she cried. Time had seemed to stop but now she knew that there had been a great deal of time that she had lost during her abduction.
When she leaned back against the wall, she noticed that Natasha had not moved from where she sat. Part of Devon wished she could be alone that no one had seen her break down but another part was grateful that Natasha was there as it was a persistent reminder that this was not some vision.
"Does it ever get any easier?" Devon asked knowing that the spy would understand her question even if there were no response to it. She had read all about Agent Romanoff before she had taken on the assignment to monitor the Avengers living in Stark's tower.
"Sometimes," Natasha responded slowly as she cocked her head to the side measuring the younger woman, "but that depends on you."
"My brain just feels so scrambled right now. Maybe someday I'll be able to figure out which way is up." Devon closed her eyes as the room began to spin when she tried to remember what happened. Pushing down the nausea that accompanied those memories, she knew it was too soon to talk about that, but there was a question that she wanted to ask. "How'd I get out?"
There was just a flicker of a smile before Natasha spoke, "They called us in as soon as you were taken. By the time, we got to the tower they had worked themselves into a frenzy trying to determine how to find you. Turns out it was a good thing that you had that 'procedure' not too long ago. There was a lot of technical jargon but they thought they could track you by your radiation signature." She paused and her eyes darted to air duct before they returned to Devon. "It at least narrowed down the area to several city blocks in the factory district. From there we all broke down a lot of doors trying to find you."
"Gun shots, I remember gun shots," Devon said frowning but not concentrating on anything specific. The specifics still made her want to heave. "Did our people make it out alright?"
"There were no casualties on our end." Again her eyes darted to the vent, "Although if Clint doesn't get out of the vent soon there might be."
A small almost hysterical giggle bubbled up from Devon. She knew about Hawkeye again from the files that SHEILD had on him. She would not put it past the man to be guarding Natasha from the air vent although he would never tell her that was the reason.
It was beginning to feel normal to think that she was safe, not just waiting for the vision to break. Devon suddenly became somber again with that thought. However, there was one more question she had to ask.
"What about Sean?"
This time Natasha leaned forward and rested and hand on her arm. Devon tried not to flinch at the touch but it happened involuntarily anyway.
"Unfortunately in the confusion the man who had captured you got away. We're looking for him and we will catch him."
Devon nodded numbly. She knew these people were good at their job and would not rest until they found him, but she knew that Sean wanted her he would come back after her again and again. All she could do was be ready when that time came and this time she would be the one stopping him.