What They Did to Me

The door to the lab closed behind them with a quiet click. The silence between them stretched, no longer heavy with awkwardness—but with something else. Something vulnerable.

Tony moved to sit at the edge of a worn couch tucked into the far corner. It looked out of place in the high-tech lab, like it belonged to a different time. Maybe it did.

Nia hesitated, then sat across from him. Her fingers fidgeted, palms twitching slightly the way they always did when she was about to either flee or fight.

He didn't push her. He just waited. Like he had time.

She finally broke the silence.

"You said you wanted to know what happened to me."

Tony's back straightened, but he nodded once. "Only if you want to tell me."

"I don't," she whispered. "But I'm going to."

Her voice was shaky at first, then steeled—cold, trained.

"I was at home. You were gone, some conference in Tokyo. Pepper had just tucked me in. She said you'd be back tomorrow morning. I remember hugging her. I remember the way she brushed my hair off my forehead. That was the last safe moment of my life."

Tony's jaw tightened, but he didn't interrupt.

"I fell asleep. I woke up hours later. There were hands on me. Gloves. To many. I tried to scream, but something sharp stabbed into my neck. I blacked out before I could even see their faces"

Tony didn't speak. His face had gone pale.

"When I woke up… it was already over. No sunlight. No windows. Just steel and cold voices. They called me by number, not name. I asked where you were. They said, 'He's not coming.'"

She looked up at him now, the weight of those words still pressing against her chest like a stone.

"I believed them. After a while… I stopped asking."

Nia's voice was steady now, but her hands were trembling. Tony could feel the shift in the air, the weight of her words pressing on him like a suffocating force. She was opening up, letting him see the depths of her pain, and he could hardly breathe through it. But he stayed silent, letting her speak.

"They made sure I wouldn't fight back. At first, it was just isolation. The first month, they didn't even touch me. They just watched. I thought they were waiting for you, waiting for the Avengers to find me." Her voice dropped, barely a whisper now. "But that never happened."

Tony's jaw clenched so tight he thought his teeth might crack.

"They started with tests. At first, they gave me food. I thought they were trying to make me comfortable, but it was poison. Poison that would suppress my powers. They didn't want me to have control. It was always about control."

Her gaze shifted away from him, like she was seeing the room, but also seeing the past, the memories that wouldn't leave her. "They gave me shots, too. Sometimes I felt like I was on fire. Other times, I couldn't feel anything at all. They injected me with things—things I couldn't even name. It felt like my body was being remade. The pain was… unbearable. The first time they used the Tesseract on me, I thought I was going to die."

Tony's breath hitched, and his heart ached. "What did they do?" His voice was hoarse, but he kept it steady, trying to show her he wasn't afraid of hearing the truth.

She looked back at him, her eyes red from unshed tears. "The Tesseract—they used it to alter my DNA. They tried to make me a weapon, like I was some kind of lab rat. They wanted me to be their version of... whatever it was they thought I could be. They didn't care what it cost me. They pushed me to the limit, testing my powers. I... I was barely human anymore."

Tony's hands tightened into fists at his sides. His mind reeled, fury and guilt warring within him. He should have found her. He should have done more.

"They broke me down piece by piece," Nia continued, voice shaking now. "It wasn't just physical pain. It was emotional. They isolated me—kept me from anyone, from any sign of life outside those walls. I couldn't even remember what it felt like to breathe fresh air. I couldn't remember the last time I felt safe. It was all just... dark."

Her powers flared, a low hum in the air. It was like a reflection of the storm inside her, the raw emotion that had been buried for so long. The room's lights flickered.

Tony took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice calm. "You don't have to tell me everything. You don't have to go through it all."

But Nia shook her head. "I have to. I have to make you understand, Tony. I'm not the same."

Her eyes met his, full of anguish. "I used to be that girl in the pictures. The one laughing, the one who had you. But they took that away from me. And now… now I'm something different. I don't know what I am anymore."

A moment passed before Tony stood up, his hands trembling. Without a word, he moved closer to her, the steady hum of her powers growing louder, more erratic, as if her emotions were starting to burst at the seams.

"Hey," he whispered, barely audible over the crackle of energy. "You're still you."

She flinched as his arms wrapped around her, pulling her into his chest. The moment their bodies touched, a surge of energy exploded from her, shooting out in every direction. The walls cracked, the floor beneath them groaned, and sparks flew from the machines nearby.

Tony didn't let go. His arms tightened around her, holding her close, despite the chaos unfolding around them.

"It's okay," he whispered fiercely, his voice firm but tender. "You're okay. You are not what they made you. You're still my daughter. And I'll never let them take you again."

Nia's body trembled, her powers swirling uncontrollably as her emotions reached their peak. She was losing herself in the chaos, in the pain, in the rage that had been locked away for so long. The energy in the room was reaching dangerous levels.

"I can't control it!" she sobbed, her voice raw with desperation. "I—I can't make it stop!"

"I know," Tony said, his voice full of compassion, but there was an edge to it, a strength that Nia hadn't expected. "I know. But I'm right here. I'm not leaving you. We'll figure it out together, okay? You don't have to do this alone anymore."

Her body shook harder now, and the lights overhead flickered wildly, casting erratic shadows around the room. The electrical hum of her powers filled the air, making it hard for both of them to breathe.

Nia's voice broke through the noise, a whisper full of sorrow. "I don't know who I am anymore, Tony. They took everything from me."

Tony's heart ached as he held her tighter, feeling the warmth of her skin against his chest, grounding her in the chaos. He could feel her powers threatening to tear them apart, but he didn't let go. He wouldn't let go.

"I know who you are," Tony said softly, his voice breaking the roar of energy. "You're my daughter. You're the girl I've been looking for. And I'm never letting them take you from me again."

Her powers flared one last time—then, as quickly as it started, the storm within her subsided. The energy dimmed, the lights stopped flickering, and the room returned to its quiet hum.

Nia was left in Tony's arms, her body still trembling, but the air around them was calm once more. She breathed in deeply, her chest rising and falling in uneven rhythm.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, her voice weak. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Tony looked down at her, his heart still racing, but his expression soft. He gently brushed a lock of hair from her face. "You didn't hurt me. I'm right here, kid."

He held her just a little tighter, letting the moment linger. The two of them, together at last, in a world where no one could take her from him again.