Chapter Text
“good news. the cube has been retaken. all hydra agents have been flushed out and are on the run.”
“so that makes four.”
“see? i told you more would show up.”
………………
the door to her room opened with a hiss. it wasn’t a cell. it wasn’t.
but it was, though, wasn’t it?
the room was a cell. SHIELD was a cell. her body was a cell.
life was a cell. it was her prison, one she was too scared to leave, too in pain to experience freely. ava had never been free, had she? never since the accident.
“agent starr,” her handler greeted, stepping into her cell. odd. usually he just opened the door and beckoned her. she tilted her head at him, fingers picking at the edges of the pyjamas she was in. the grey, thin, itchy set they always gave her.
“this is agent john garret. you’ll be taking orders from him from hereon out.” her handler said.
ava’s heart sunk in her chest.
“oh,” she remarked, voice small. “did i do something wrong?”
“on the contrary,” a new voice chimed, deep and raspy, “you’ve done everything right. it’s these fools who have it done wrong.” he said, sauntering into her room and smiling at her, something sharp.
sharp. not predatory. she was used to predatory.
the man was tall, pale and well-built, like all the other agents before her. ava still found it funny; how they called her agent. agent starr, like she wanted this. she wanted anything else. this was a means for an end; an end that was always drifting further and further from her.
“john garret?” she parroted, jutting her chin up at him. “why do i need to take orders from you now?” she asked, eye twitching as she suppressed a flinch, a wave of pain roiling through her body like a tsunami.
she couldn’t look weak. not in front of her handler. and her new one.
“because you’re moving. we want you as a more active unit, so you’re on my team now.” he explained, walking up to her. “and, between you and me, it’s to get you away from all this poking and prodding. it doesn’t seem to be doing you much good.” he added to her, quieter.
ava’s breath caught in her throat. she’d been moved from place to place before, typically from one facility with a lab to a larger facility with a larger lab, so more tests, more blood drawls, more experiments could be done to her.
and this… john garret… seemed to be promising her… the exact opposite.
“i do need them,” she managed to bite out. painful as her life may be, it would be over were it not for the scientists working day-in-day out to keep her stable. they had some temporary fixes for her - microdoses of certain radiation, sound frequencies that could stabilise her for periods of time, containment suits and chambers - but nothing permanent.
“we’re taking what can be mobilised for your time on the go and transporting everything else to my office headquarters,” he explained to her, giving her a smile, that smile.
it was different, but not so different. almost like how her dad smiled at her when he bothered to explain bits and pieces of his work to her.
“when are we leaving?” she asked next.
john garret smiled - her new handler smiled.
“right now, chickpea.”
ava’s handlers had never really been nice. sure, they weren’t outright cruel or mean, more cold. calculating.
maybe garret could be nice. for once.
………………
“did you get the asset?”
“sure did.”
“any questions?”
“none at all. the die-hard goons were a good enough cover.”
“so what? they think they just escaped?”
“ran away or died. they’re a little too preoccupied to check.”
“did we take the cube?”
“no. it’s a miracle i got it out of there before it all went tits up.”
“what will your first order be?”
“simple. follow you.”