Melanie lays down slowly onto the cold, metal, medical table. She had taken off her shirt and was now in just a pair of jeans and a bra. The SHEILD doctor busied himself around her, searching for different lab equipment. The coldness of her bare skin against the table made bumps spread all over her skin. She looked around the medical room. It was so small and entrapping. It almost made her feel claustrophobic.
"I'm just going to run some tests, ok?" the doctor says kindly to her.
She eyes him suspiciously.
"Did Fury order this?" she asks skeptically.
The doctor turns and smiles at her. She can tell his smile is not genuine.
"I just want you to tell me if this hurts or not," he replies simply as he picks up her arm and begins lightly squeezing.
"You avoided my question," she points out, irritation in her voice.
He moves slowly up her arm. "This doesn't hurt at all?"
"Why should I answer your questions if you don't answer mine?"
He stops and gives her a chiding look. "It's classified."
She scoffs. "It's classified? Are you kidding? I can't know what you're doing to me because it's classified?"
She tries to yank her hand away but he grips it tighter.
"According to Fury, you were very adamant about not being apart of SHEILD, so if you were, you would know why you are here," the doctor responds calmly, the smile spreading back across his face.
She glares at him for a moment before rolling her head back to stare at the ceiling.
"No it doesn't hurt," she growls.
His hands move farther up her arms and onto her shoulder.
"Well, your arm has healed quite well," he comments lightly.
He moves to her chest and presses down gently on the scar where Loki jammed the needle into her chest. A shot of white hot pain shoots through her whole body. A scream fills her ears and Loki's face flashes across her vision.
"OW god damn-" she shrieks, jolting up to a sitting position, her hand clutched over her chest.
And suddenly it's Loki standing there, his face placid, and a large needle in his right hand.
"Loki?" she gasps, looking at his dead face.
"Give me your power, Melanie. It belongs to me."
He reaches toward her and she cringes away.
"Get away from me!" she yells, jumping off the table and backing away from him.
His dead face turns angry. "Give it to me now, Mel. Don't make the same mistake you did last time. Mistakes make people die, Melanie."
"Mom?" a small voice from behind her calls.
She whips around and sees Jame, his face pale white. A trickle of blood drips down the corner of his lips.
"Jame!" she screams, turning around to face Loki.
What once was a needle in his hand was now a bloody knife. Her eyes widen.
"Loki! No!" she feels herself scream.
"Melanie! Melanie!" he begins screaming over and over. "Melanie! Melanie!"
Everything begins to fade and suddenly she jolts awake. Her hand is clutched over her heart as she sits in her small bed, her body covered in a thick sweat. She runs her fingers through her short hair and sighs, trying to slow her breathing. The small room she was assigned to at SHEILD headquarters is dark and cramped.
Slowly, she climbs out of bed and begins pulling on fresh clothes. There was something that she left at the house, and she intended to get it before someone else did.
She drives her truck slowly up the gravel pathway. The house looked empty and deserted. It had been almost a week since she had left it. It made her sad, looking upon it now. She had enjoyed living here. It was always peaceful and quiet in it's solitude.
She parks the truck by the barn, grabs her small backpack, and opens the lock on the two large doors. She steps inside and inhales deeply. She loved the smell of hay. Closing the doors behind her, she finds the small wooden latter and climbs it to the second floor. She crawls across the scattered hay -the top of the barn inches from her head- looking for the chest she had hidden years ago.
This chest contained things she had locked away a long time ago, hoping to forget them forever. She knew one day she would have to face these demons again, but she didn't know it would be this soon. She easily finds the secret compartment and opens it to reveal the large chest. Pulling it out into the light, she brushes off the dust and punches in the numbers to open it. It clicks open and she takes a deep breath before opening it.
On the top lies her once favorite gun. A sniper rifle, it's different parts scattered about the top. She lifts them out one piece at a time, dusting off each part. Underneath is a large pack of bullets, and under them, are several passports, different kinds of money, a few knives, and a hand gun.
She quickly stuffs them all into her bag, except for the rifle. Once the bag is filled she turns back to the chest and takes a deep breath. There were only a few more things left in the chest. A thin piece of wood hides the bottom of the chest. She reaches down and pulls up the piece of wood, revealing the secrets behind it.
A small box filled with several small flasks of blue liquid sit lonely on the bottom, a syringe next to it. These were the liquids that Loki had injected her with five years ago. He had only used one of them, and whatever they were, had stopped the spread of infection, caused by her power, to her heart. They were Tony's test serums. She had no idea what was in them, but she decided she might as well take them back to find out. Beneath this box was a half charred teddy bear, her old wedding ring, and a small picture of her old family. In it was her late husband and her son, Charlie. Seeing these items made tears form in her eyes and an aching feeling swell around her heart. Her old house had exploded after she found her husband and son dead in the bedroom at the end of the hall. These were the only items she could save from the fire.
She's about to reach in and grab them when she hears a car door shut outside. She moves so that she can see out of a small window by her head. Outside, a black truck has pulled up and several men, armed with machine guns, are walking quietly around her house.
Her heart begins pounding in her chest. They weren't SHEILD, and they certainly weren't friendly. Swiftly, she puts the piece of wood back over the bottom of the chest and then closes it, shoving it back into the secret compartment. Then, she begins assembling the sniper rifle, twisting the different parts into place and then hearing the satisfying click when it's complete. There's shouting from outside.
"The house looks deserted!" one man shouts.
"Her vehicle is here. She is here," another man responds, probably the leader.
She puts her back to the wall and then slowly shifts her head so she can see. A man in all black stands in front of the door and then in one strong kick, breaks down the door. Men file in, their guns pointed, ready to fire. One man stands outside, watching with his hands clasped behind his back. She lifts her gun and positions herself, aiming, one eye open and one eye shut. The small black cross is positioned right on his head. The cool metal in her hand fits perfectly, familiarly. Memories of her past and her vengeance on the death of her family sneak their way into her thoughts.
I can control this!
But the memories of the faces of the innocent people she killed, the face of Dean McElroy, otherwise known as Red Lemony, kept appearing. Her hands began to shake and turn sweaty. The small black cross wiggled around the mans head.
I can take this shot! I can do it!
And then something green lands on the end of the barrel of her gun. She lifts her head from the scope and sees a small butterfly, it's wings moving slowly up and down. The intricate design on the wings are laced with different colors of green and black. It was absolutely beautiful as it sat, perched on the end.
Sighing softly, she moves the gun back into the barn and begins quietly dismantling it. She then quickly puts it into her bag and slowly climbs down the latter.
"She's not inside!" she hears a man shout outside.
She freezes mid step, straining her ears to hear.
"Then we'll move to the barn, but first, burn down the house."
She whips her head around and gasps. And it was too loud.
"She's in the barn!" someone yells.
Bursting into a sprint she shoves open the back doors, just as they come in the front, bullets flying everywhere. She ducks out of the way before any of them can hit her and then crashes into the cornfield, her hands out in front of her, trying to push away the tall stalks.
"After her!"
She hears them crashing behind her and she pushes her legs to go faster. Several of the leaves slice her skin and face, but she doesn't care. She had to get away from them, she had to loose them in the corn. This field was several acres large so getting lost would be easy. She bursts into a small opening, a beaten down path for irrigation and stops, her chest heaving from the exertion. She pulls her bag around and pulls out the hand gun. Her hands shake as she tries to load it, dropping several bullets. The smashing of the corn stalks get louder and closer. She slams the clip into place and raises the gun just as a man bursts through the opening. She shoots twice, one hits him in the throat and another lands on his chest a few inches below. His body flails from the impact and he falls backwards, hitting the man that was following close behind him. They both fall to the ground, the one behind, shooting his machine gun, causing bullets to fly everywhere. She quickly jumps to the side, throwing her arms up to shield her face, falling onto the ground, hard. More crashing through the corn stalks, and Melanie knows she has no chance. She's dropped the gun. Dragging herself through the dirt she grabs it as another man bursts from the corn. He points his gun at her. She's not fast enough.
Thunk.
Something shiny flashes through the air and the man's body falls backwards. Another flash of silver and the man that had fallen behind the man she shot let out a gurgle and stumbles to the ground. It all happens so fast only one second passes.
She rolls around, with the gun placed firmly in her hands, ready to fire at whoever it was behind her. But before she can fire, something smashes into her hand and the gun goes flying away from her.
"Hey!" she screams, before she realizes who it is.
Loki grabs the gun from out of her range and throws it behind him.
"You've already shot me once, Melanie Walker, and I would not like to experience that again," he says, humor in his tone.
She stares up at him for a moment, then realizes she's lying in the dirt, and quickly stands up, brushing off her clothes. He smirks as he watches her.
"What are you doing? Stalking me?" she spits, flustered.
His smirk gets bigger. "If you'd like to put it that way, then yes, I am. However, if I hadn't of been, you wouldn't still be here."
"I had it under control," she grumbles, tucking a sweaty strand of hair behind her ear.
"Mmmhmm."
She glares, noticing the strong smell of smoke. She turns and looks back at the house. It's consumed in smoke and flames. Flashes of pain, the feel of ropes around her wrists and ankles, the smell of gasoline, and the heat of the flames suddenly flood into her memory. She makes an audible gasp and Loki's hand is suddenly wrapped around her arm.
"We need to go now, Melanie," he says firmly as he begins pulling her away.
She forces herself to snap out of her trance for a moment, long enough to realize she has left her bag.
"My bag," she gasps, pulling against him, running back to grab it. She scoops it up into her arms and then runs after Loki through the corn stalks. She grabs onto his arm so she doesn't fall behind and also for balance, as her mind is starting to become fuzzy and her body weak.
The edges around her vision start to become fuzzy as the strong scent of hot, burning smoke fills her nostrils.
"Loki," she gasps, feeling as if she cannot continue.
He slows and she passes him into the clearing. SHEILD SUV's skid to a stop and several men jump out, including Steve.
"Melanie!" he cries, rushing over to her side.
She panics and turns, expecting Loki to be right behind her. But he's gone. Steve grabs her and holds her in his arms tightly.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asks quickly.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," she whispers, but her legs give out quickly and she slumps against him.
She's being dragged across wet grass. Something is over her head and she can hardly see. Her head is pounding and her arm is screaming in pain. Her butt hits something hard and it sends shooting pain up her spine.
"Melanie? Melanie stay with me." Steve gently grabs her face.
She's resting against something, and they're tying her to it. There's splashing all around her. Something wet is hitting things all around her. She begins to smell it. Gasoline. She feels her senses become more heightened. She wakes up and tries to move against her restraints. A splash of wet hits her chest and face. The smell is so strong it's burning her skin and nostrils. She turns her face away from it and pulls her legs toward her chest as more of it is dumped on her. She cries out, the tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Melanie! Stay with me!" Steve says.
"Listen to my voice, focus on my voice," Loki whispers.
Fire. She can hear it roaring all around her, she can feel it's heat burning her skin. She was burning, her flesh was burning. She was screaming, the heat was so great. Help me! Help me!
"Let go, my love." Loki's voice.
Melanie sits quietly in the small office, one leg crossed over the other, her hands clasped in her lap. In front of her is a desk with a woman sitting behind it. The woman wears reading glasses and is quickly writing down notes. The woman's name, was Mandy, and she was a therapist who worked for SHEILD. She had been assigned to work with Melanie after SHEILD brought her in to work for them. She had stopped going to Mandy for a while because she no longer found herself falling into her darker mind set. After the incident of almost being burned alive however, Melanie was seeing Mandy much more, as she frequently fought PTSD.
"I want you to tell me how you were feeling, right before you began having your visions," Mandy said with a warm smile.
Melanie was slightly irritated. She was fine now, she had gotten better. Right after the event, she would sit in her room for hours, like she was detached from everything. She had frequent nightmares and half the time didn't even realize she was pregnant. Even the mention of the word fire or Loki would send her into hysterics.
"I was fine. I smelled the smoke, my vision got a little fuzzy, and they just came to me."
"So you believe the smoke was what caused you to relapse? The burning of your house?"
Melanie holds her wrist and twists nervously. She hadn't told SHEILD that Loki was there and had saved her life. He was part of the reason she had those visions, or so she believed.
"Yeah," she hesitates.
Mandy looks up from her notes. "Are you sure?"
"I was just really scared," she whispers, twisting harder, the tears coming to her eyes. "I don't want it to happen again."
"You shouldn't just go places by yourself, Melanie. These people are out there trying to kill you," Steve exclaims as he walks beside her down the long hallway.
People glance at her and then quickly shift their eyes away. She hated that.
"I didn't think anybody would come out there to hurt me. I just needed to get some things," she responds half-heartedly.
"Next time just tell me and I'll go with you, ok?"
She nods. "Who were they anyway? HYDRA?"
He shakes his head. "They were just mercenaries. Probably hired by HYDRA though. At least, it wouldn't surprise me."
"Is Jame ok?"
"He's fine."
She stops at the main command center. Natasha is across the room. They make eye contact. She doesn't shift her gaze. They stare at each other for a long time until eventually Natasha looks away and leaves.
"I think I'll go lie down. I seem of no use here," Melanie sighs.
"Actually on the contrary," Fury says from behind.
She turns to face him. He holds a folder in his hand.
"I hope you enjoy dancing, Agent Walker," he says, smiling.
She cocks her head in curiosity.
"Because you're going to a ball."
Again, sorry it took so long. I've been in England for the past week and a half and haven't been able to work on it. I love writing action scenes, so I enjoyed writing this chapter. Hope you liked it! Review (: