Awakening
Pain. That was the first thing she felt. Piercing, deep, as if every particle of her body was fighting to survive.
Nia opened her eyes abruptly, gasping for air as if surfacing from a deep sleep. The light was too bright, the sounds too loud, the scent of metal and chemicals far too familiar. She was in a lab. Again.
She wanted to scream, but only a raspy whisper escaped her lips.
"Where... am I…" her voice trailed off, as if even it was afraid of the answer.
She didn't recognize the place. It wasn't the cold, sterile prison of Hydra she had known for years. She didn't feel restraints on her wrists. She didn't hear the voices of guards. But everything inside her screamed that this was another trap.
The door hissed open, and a man in a black and gold suit stepped inside. His face was hidden behind a visor, masking any emotion, but his posture wasn't aggressive. It was cautious.
"You're safe," he said gently. "You're at Avengers Tower."
Avengers. The word echoed through memories she wasn't supposed to have. A name she wasn't allowed to speak.
Stark.
Suddenly everything came rushing back like a tidal wave: the experiments, the blue light of the Tesseract piercing her body, pain, screaming… and then silence.
"How long was I out?" she whispered.
The man hesitated.
"Four days. Since we found you. Hydra tried to evacuate the base, but they didn't make it. Someone… helped you escape. I'm Sam Wilson."
Nia stared at him in disbelief. The air felt too thick. Her heart pounded wildly, and her hands began to tremble. In an instant, the entire room shuddered faintly. Sam stepped back.
"Easy," he said calmly. "We're not here to hurt you. Tony… Tony Stark knows. He's been looking for you for years."
Tony. She couldn't take it. That name was a thorn in her chest. A father who thought she had died. A daughter who had been taken and turned into a weapon.
"I don't want to see him," she said quietly. "Not yet."
Sam nodded. "Alright. I'll let him know you're awake."
When he left, Nia finally allowed herself to breathe. She looked down at her hands—they trembled, and a faint blue glow flickered at her fingertips. The Tesseract. She felt its power in her veins, like it had become a part of her.
She sat on the edge of the bed. Her thoughts were chaotic, full of fear and rage. But something deep inside told her this was the beginning of something new.
From behind the glass, a man watched her. His eyes were sharp, piercing blue, and his hair silvery white. He said nothing. Not yet.
But Pietro Maximoff already knew—
Their fates were tied.