Though We Fall

“Can someone break the news to the kid that she doesn’t have to break every person's head open? I don’t enjoy finding brain matter hiding beneath my fridge and in the pages between books.”

Tony walked into the meeting room where a collection of people sat, all talking amongst themselves about the same thing, or girl.

The team barely spared him a glance before finishing up their conversation, knowing it was going to continue as a group in a few minutes, depending on how long Tony stalled. 

Steve was the only one that acknowledged the man, “You aren’t even the one finding it, Stark.” 

Tony pinched his eyebrows together and feigned mock hurt, “But me having to hear that they keep finding bits of soldiers' frontal lobe in our meatloaf makes my appetite for it lessen.”

“Cut to the chase, Stark,” Clint grumbled, running a hand over his face.

Tony rolled his eyes, “Jarvis, pull up the footage.”

Holograms appeared, clipshots of the girl, Steve, and Clint showed up, along with footage of the lobby. The team turned, their eyes following and tracking the people that walked in and out of shot in the security footage. 

Sam shook his head, “I don’t get it, what are we watching?”

Natasha cast a sideways glance at him, then looked back at the footage.

The video froze, zooming in 3 times until it took a snapshot of one man’s face, then another’s. Another footage pulled up, this one of the roof; a helicopter was seen landing,  five others dropping from it.

The camera zoomed in on each of their faces, taking snapshots of each of them. All of the soldiers' faces had dots appear on their faces, pictures of men in their files appearing in a split second then gone the next. 

A few of the pictures stayed, pulling away and being labeled with names underneath it, 3 of them stayed blank with no facial recognition.

Tony stood off to the side, watching the photos stop moving and for the process to be complete. 

Once he knew it was done, he looked at the group, then pointedly at Clint, “We shouldn’t really blame you I guess,” Clint looked up at him, narrowing his eyes, “though you are the one that let them in.”

“Tony, you know as well as we that Jarvis should’ve picked up on it. Clint was doing as he was told,” Natasha butted in, gesturing to the picture of Clint holding the young girl upwards.

“He was playing therapist,” Tony tilted his head to the side, “I didn’t ask him to do that, I had asked him to keep an eye on the place.” 

Clint shook his head, “I did what everyone else would’ve done. It was only a few minutes, Stark.”

Steve nodded, “Stark, it seems like the soldiers have been planning this for a while. They were able to take out Jarvis fairly quickly without his knowledge and knew the best way to get to where the girl was.”

Tony took a deep breath in, pinching the bridge of his nose while he sat down in the black chair at the end of the table. 

Thor shuffled in his chair comfortably, glancing around at everyone, “She has proven herself against the hydra-men, why keep her in a cage?”

Bruce looked up at this, pushing his glasses further up on the bridge of his nose and quickly glancing at Tony to see if he was going to answer. When he didn't, Bruce did, “Just because she fought against the soldiers doesn’t mean she chose the good side; from the footage, it seems that she’s just trying to survive.”

Clint bit his tongue and caught Natasha’s eye, her face casting nothing but he knew she saw every thought that crossed his mind in the moment.

“We can’t just let her out,” Steve pointedly looked at the screen behind Tony, “She killed 5 out of 8 of those soldiers like they were bugs. We saw how she fought as weak as she is and how she was with her powers, and we don't even know if what we saw was all of them.”

Tony stared at him, head tilted up and to the right slightly, arms crossed over his slouched body casually.

His eyes turned to Sam Wilson, who had been staying here off and on to train with the captain, “You got your ass handed to you by her, what’d you see?”

Sam’s eyes widened slightly, surprised by the question. 

“First off, I did not get my ass handed to me-“

“We wouldn’t blame you if you did,” Tony shrugged mindlessly, “She’s a trained killer and you’re- what? A guy with a pair of wings?”

Steve’s eyes narrowed, “Tony.”

Tony ignored him, his brown eyes not leaving Sam’s.

“You know what man, you weren’t even there, I held my own against a trained child assassin while you were here drinking scotch.”

“I prefer whiskey on the rocks,” Tony cut in, humour dancing in his eyes.

Before Sam could retaliate, Steve put his hand in front of him, telling him to stop.

Sam sighed, grinding his teeth at Tony and slouched back into his chair.

“Do you mind telling us what you saw on the field? Powers? Any off behavior?” Bruce pushed up his glasses and tapped on the table nervously.

Sam tore his gaze from Tony and looked at Bruce. He thought about it for a second before answering, “It looked like she was manipulating the shadows.”

“Shadows?” 

Sam nodded, “She could make it solid and bend it to her will.”

“Like the wings?” Tony questioned.

Sam nodded again, “Exactly. She would make wings out of the shadows and when she was done with them, they just vanished.”

Bruce nodded, toying with the thought in his head, “What about behaviors?”

Sam shrugged and pinched his eyebrows together, “She was just a brainwashed soldier, stopping at nothing to kill me and anything that threatened her.”

Bruce nodded and glanced at Clint, who was staring hard at the table. 

“At the bridge,” Steve spoke up, thinking back to the first time they saw her, “There was a woman and her two boys…”

He pinched his eyebrows together in thought, trying to bring up the memory.

The screen behind Tony changed, video footage from one of the street cameras pulling up and taking over the screen.

It showed the soldier, shaking violently as she pointed the gun at the mother with her two boys. Carnage of cars and damaged roads surrounded them, dust in the air and a sense of danger surrounding the situation. 

They couldn't hear the footage, they could only see the mother stand up slowly and timidly take a few steps towards the girl. The team watched intently, analyzing the soldier who was trembling and staring at the woman.

A shield came flying onto screen, slamming into the girls side, causing the gun to go off and miss its targets.

The video paused, and Tony looked back at the team, shaking his head like he didn’t understand the importance of this, “She hesitated.” He stated it simply, as if they hadn’t watched the same clip as him. 

Steve nodded, “She was so scared that she was shaking.”

“Are we sure that she was scared?” Natasha jutted in, all eyes, including Clint’s, moved to her, “I mean she had no reason to be scared, and based on what I’ve read, she's not new to Hydra and their missions.”

They all nodded in agreement, pinching eyebrows in thought or rubbing their hands through their hair.

“The only way we're going to get these answers is to ask her,” Steve pointed out, relaxing against the back of his chair and crossing his arms on his chest. 

“We can ask all we want but she isn’t going to answer us,” Clint met the eyes of Steve, “She doesn’t trust us.”

“She trusts you enough,” Tony spoke, referring to what had occured hours before, “Why don’t you ask?”

Clint shook his head, “She doesn’t trust me; like Bruce said, she chose the smartest decision for her survival. She didn't choose me, she chose life.”

They all thought about that, deciding where to go from here. Natasha stared at Clint, who avoided her eyes.

Loud beeping and crashing erupted from the room; metal bounced off tile and skidded across the floor, light dancing off the reflective surfaces. There were cries and screams echoing down the hallways, and before long, there was a quiet alarm that rang to get the Avengers attention. 

I felt the vibrations of the people stepping all around me, the beeping of the heart monitor had deafened me along with the screams of the people wearing white coats, and it was cold. My skin was slick with sweat and every nerve in my body vibrated with anxiety; All of my muscles and skin alike pulled in pain with every move I made. My hair stuck annoyingly at the back of my neck and something hung heavy on both of my wrists.

The room was bright, blinding me the second I had opened my eyes. Once they were adjusted, I could see the pair of white coats who stared at me, standing and guarding something from my view. I looked away, eyes moving to my wrists and my steel hand. First I noticed the bulky bracelets that hung from my arms, an electrical current could be heard from underneath the surface and a blue light emitting from them. Next, I noticed the blood that was dripping through the crevices of my steel hand, coating the wires and falling onto the floor. 

I blinked unsurely, breathing heavily as my heart pounded in my throat. My eyebrows pinched together trying to remember what had happened in the minutes leading up to this moment. 

My body felt weak, like I was fighting a disease and losing miserably. Everything hurt, even my brain that was too quiet for comfort. 

I glanced at the button that glew bright red now, similar to the one the woman had pressed outside my containment just some hours ago. I looked up and was met with the view of what the two white coats had been guarding; a boy. 

His face was unnaturally white with pain, streaks of tears evident along his cheeks that were smeared with blood. His hair was black, curled tightly like snakes coiled and ready to strike, his eyes chocolate brown and glistening. His lips were trembling and fear struck his features, his gaze never leaving my blood dripping hand. 

I looked down at his arm he was cradling on his chest. Blood had pooled all over his white coat, painting it red, and his pants. I couldn’t directly see the injury I had inflicted due to the amount of blood and the blocking by his other arm. Before I could watch for any longer, the woman to his right stepped into my view, guarding him and the other white coat from my gaze. 

I looked up, my eyes meeting those of the older woman’s; they were a foggy gray and heavy with wrinkled skin. Her hair was a dead brown, her gray hairs killing the brightness of the color and dulling down her character heavily. Her gaze hardened towards me, and I retracted my own, looking towards the exit that was to my left. 

Without thinking, I headed towards the door, eager to leave this situation that I was forced into. I groaned in pain as I pushed the door open, my limbs shaking at the effort. 

Once the door was open, I glanced down the hallway watching for any movement, then craned my neck around the door to check the other way.

I sighed in relief and rounded the exit, headed towards what looked like the door I had walked previously to get to the roof. I hadn’t known where I was but I would have to figure it out, and soon, or else I probably would never get to leave. 

I forced my feet forward, feeling more as if I was just catching myself before I collapsed rather than walking. My vision darked and my head spun, causing my body to lurch to the side and slam into the wall.

A whimper of pain escaped my lips, but I quickly bit them to quiet myself.

I blinked hard, blurry vision coming back to me to allow me to navigate where I was going. I felt like a baby doe, tripping over my feet as fast as I could to make my escape from a predator that was hunting me.

Once I reached the door, I more-so fell into it, breaking the wood that held it closed and forcing it open. I blinked in surprise, walking through the exit then turning around and trying to shut the door as much as possible before giving up and allowing it to stay slightly ajar, some light to peek through.

Glancing around, the stairwell was clammy and suffocating, the space seemed to kill all sound, the air buzzing with silence. I blinked into the darkness, squinting to make out the stairs that led upwards and downwards. 

Without thinking, I moved to climb the stairs that went up, hoping maybe there was some sort of way I could get up to the roof and fly off to get out. I picked my leg up the first step, my pelvis and abdomen aching with injuries, fresh and old. I bit my tounge to keep another whine from escaping, and forced myself to go upwards. The taste of blood pooled in my mouth, eyes squeezing shut in pain. 

That was only one step. I blinked away the dizziness and continued my painful ascent. 

On the last step, I couldn’t pick my leg up enough and my foot made contact with the floor, sending me sprawling forward. 

I landed with a oomph and pain sparking all through my body, tears leaking from my eyes and a whine escaping my lips. Blood escaped my mouth, dribbling out and onto the floor I laid on. I stayed like that for a second, pulling myself together before crawling forward, breathing heavily from the effort. 

Once I got myself furthur from the edge of the platform, I forced myself into a seated position, leaning my back against the wall of solidness next to the stairs I had just climbed up. I closed my eyes, laying my hand on my stomach, but I immediately ripped it away due to the pain that erupted from the touch. I opened my eyes as much as possible, lifting the thin shirt that covered me and seeing a smear of blood that came from the stab wound on my stomach. I groaned, pulling the shirt back over it and closing my eyes yet again.

I focused on my body, trying to summon healing from the shadows around me, but nothing spoke back to me.

That’s when I realized the shadows were silent.

My body felt numb in shock.

I stopped breathing, holding my breath before slowly breathing out, trying to stay calm.

I didn’t have my powers.

I squeezed my eyelids shut, dots canvassing the darkness behind them. 

I felt empty, no powers buzzing beneath my surface nor any whispers of the shadows around me. There was a ringing in the silence and a dizziness in my brain, feeling as if I was spinning on a carousel. 

A squeak of a hinge made me jump, immediately flinching at the pain that erupted. I cracked open my eyes and looked at the door that I had walked through just earlier. A blurry man held the door ajar, facing towards me, watching me slowly look over to them. 

“You didn’t make it very far.”

His voice was calm, no sense of sarcasm or urgency in his tone. I could see a head of blonde hair and the man’s tall, strong stature. He held himself with confidence and strength, like a soldier. His hand was resting on the door handle, his other arm hanging down his side, relaxed. 

I huffed a breath, letting my head hit the wall behind me in defeat. 

“Where are they?” I coughed hard, the dryness of my throat tickling it. I gulped, hoping to get some sort of wetness to it.

The man seemed to pause, not expecting the question from me. 

“The others?” He asked, glancing outside the doorway before looking back at me.

I blinked slowly, keeping my eyes closed for about three seconds before forcing them to open again. “No,” I answered, my eyes felt so heavy, “my powers.”

The last bit was answered lazily, not making an effort in anything I said to the man.

He nodded, moved further into the stairwell and closing the door behind him gently. The room was immediately darker, only able to see the shape of the man in the room. He walked up the stairs towards me, my body tensing up as the distance closed between us. 

He paused, watching me carefully before he continued up the stairs again, stepping over my stretched out legs carefully. 

“You have power limiters on your wrist,” he commented, causing me to glace down at the heavy bracelets that hung from my wrists, “Stark made them.”

He leaned against the wall next to me, keeping the distance between us stretched. 

I looked back up at him, but he was staring at the ground zoning out.

We sat in silence for a bit, my eyes heavy and pain shooting everytime I would breathe too deeply or relax my muscles too much. 

My mind wandered off, thinking of nothing. For the first time in forever, my brain was finally quiet. No thoughts passed by, no memories, no ideas or what-ifs, no plans, no missions, nothing. I just stared at the floor, exhausted,

“You know we can get you back and get you painkillers, you’ve been through a lot, kid,” he looked up from the floor and towards me, seeing the tense posture I held to keep my injuries from hurting.

“Just leave me alone, Rogers.”

He blinked in surprise, eyebrows raising, “You know my name?”

I just stayed quiet, hoping that if I didn’t talk, maybe he would leave me alone again. 

“What else do you know?” He pushed.

I glared into the ground, jaw tightening.

He seemed to take the hint and sighed, sliding down the wall behind him until he sat down. He kept one knee bent while stretching the other one. 

I let out a breath of relief and closed my eyes slightly, but listened to the man next to me. I could hear his heart pumping; a smooth, lyrical rhythm that filled my ears as I focused on him. The watch on his left wrist ticked every second, driving my brain crazy.

“I know a lot of things” I stated. He jumped, not expecting an answer; but to be honest, I wasn’t either. The ticking was driving me crazy.

Rogers watched me carefully, “Like?”

I swallowed, but kept my face neutral, “Why are you so interested in Winter Soldier?”

I watched as his body went still, eyes widening slightly and mouth opening. But he quickly snapped his serious face back on and raised his eyebrows more quizzically, “Answer mine first.”

“We both know that’s not happening,” I shot back, looking away from the man.

I felt his stare burn into my side. Actually, it was more likely the bullet hole that had torn through my flesh but I still knew he was staring at me. Deciding.

“Fine,” he finally huffed, “I answer, you answer. Deal?”

I thought about it for a second, he would answer me and tell me why he wanted Winter Soldier so badly, then I could lie to his questions. It was a possibility that he was also going to lie to me, but it was the only option I had.

“Deal.”

He nodded and bit down on a smile that he thought I couldn’t see.

I waited for his answer to my question looking down at my stomach where I saw blood blooming through my thin t-shirt.

“He’s an old friend of mine.”

I paused. 

An old friend? The Winter soldier had no friends.

I looked up at the man; he was being purposefully vague, the more questions I had to ask him the more answers he could ask me. 

I had to play this game carefully.

“Why do they call you ‘Death’?” He asked me, his eyes squinted to see me better.

A smile played at my lips as I replied, “I’ll give you one guess.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“I don’t think you want the answer.”

He rolled his eyes, “Did you kill a lot of people?”

“Nu-uh, it’s my turn,” I glared at him, then stared at him, thinking about a new question.

“When were you friends with Winter?”

Rogers’ eyes filled with some sadness, “Before we joined the war and before he got taken by Hydra.”

Taken by HYDRA?

What does he mean by taken?

“Aren’t you cold?” He asked quietly, pointedly looking at the goosebumps on my arm.

I looked down at them too, I hadn’t even noticed they were there. 

I looked back up at him, “Is that your question?”

He rolled his eyes, “No.”

“Then don’t ask,” I growled.

To be fair, I didn’t notice the cold bite in the air until he said that.

He shot out a breath of air, and crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine,” he said, “What’s your name then?”

I just blinked at him, carefully thinking about the question. “My name,” I repeated back to him.

He nodded simply, looking innocent to the complexity of this question.

My brain scrambled for an answer, thinking of all the things I could remember being called. As I listed them out in my brain, I knew none of them had been my ‘real’ name. There were plenty of nicknames; like Siren, soldier, dog (though not directly to me, usually to other people), but that’s all I could remember. 

Rogers’ face began to morph into worry, which caused me to realize that I was taking too long to answer. It shouldn’t take people thirty plus seconds to give other people their names. 

“Eva.”

He was immediately taken aback by my answer, “Eva?” I nodded. 

The name was one of the few names that I could remember, but the feeling of blood on my hands had also been linked to the name.
“Eva what?”

I just glared at him slightly, and he nodded, understanding my glare meant that I wasn’t going to answer.

At least until I asked another question, then he could ask me.

I thought about my next question, deciding what mattered the most to me at the moment.

Before I could finish the thought, I began having a coughing fit. I lifted my arm and coughed into my elbow, hard. Each cough hurt my muscles and the tissues that were damaged, causing my other arm to go over my stomach and to push down hard on it, trying to keep it from stretching more. My eyes squeezed shut, legs pulling inwards and my head bowing down slightly. I held my breath to make it stop, but with each one that escaped my lips, my abdomen felt like it was being pried open by my own steel hand.

I took a deep breath in and groaned, letting my head fall back and hit the wall behind me. Both my arms relaxed, the one I was coughing into falling onto the ground while the other laid on my stomach. I felt the touch of the man’s hand on my own that covered my stomach, my body jumping and tensing up from the contact. My eyes snapped open and I glared at him, tugging my body painfully inward on itself.

I growled at the man, making him pull backwards away from me. His eyes jumped to mine, face contorted with worry and sadness.

“You’re bleeding really bad, we need to get you to the med-bay,” he looked back down at my stomach. He was right, a lot more blood had oozed out with each cough, and now it was a slow, but steady flow out of the open wound. 

“No,” I growled back, my eyes burning and my vision worsening. I could barely make out the man’s face.

“Eva, please-”

“I said, no.”

The man sighed in defeat, the gears in his brain turning before he slowly backed up away from me and sat down where he previously was. 

He pulled out a device from his pocket, the item glowing as he tapped on it. After he finished tapping on it in multiple places, he clicked a button on the side and the device went dark. He slid it back in his pocket of his jeans, then looked back up at me, his face still bunched up with worry. 

I closed my eyes and took a couple deep breaths in (or as deep as I could go without pain), then reopened my eyes and looked at Rogers. 

“What are you guys planning on doing with me?” I forced my voice to sound as strong as it could, but it wavered slightly with weakness. 

His face morphed into pure confusion now, though worry still laced his eyes, “Doing with you?”

I nodded and set my jaw before speaking again, “I know you aren’t just going to keep me around for shits and giggles. I’m here for a reason, what is it?” My voice came out quiet and rough, not going above a quiet volume. If I even tried to yell, my lungs would burn as they scratched against my broken ribs.

The man’s gaze didn’t move from mine. His blue eyes shone with sadness and they seemed to search my own desperately. 

“You’re here because we want to help you-”

“Quit lying, that’s not why I’m here,” I seethed, my head was spinning from the lack of blood in my body and my lack of nutrition as well as sleep, “What do you want from me?”

He shook his head, “Nothing.”

“Cut the fucking bullshit, Rogers,” I felt like I was going to puke now.

“You need to calm down, Eva,” He spoke calmly, hoping to get me to chill out.

I growled at him, my teeth bared. 

My body hurt and I couldn’t remember my name and I didn’t know why I was here.

They aren't just wanting to help me, maybe for right now they are but it’s only so they can use me later on. Get me healthy enough so they can do whatever they want to me; hurt me, enjoy me, make me kill for them, and anything else they want. I was weak without my powers, and even when I did have them I had stupidly not escaped when I had the chance.

You were too weak to do anything remember? And the mask-

No, those are just excuses. You should have left when you had the chance.But look, now you’re trapped again.

“Eva?”

I hurt so much.

I watched as her eyes began to glisten with tears, her face was pale and gaunt but when she got mad a little color filled her cheeks. Her eyebrows were pinched together with anger and her lip was curled into a snarl. 

 Her blonde hair was wild, knotted up in bunches and stuck to her skin with the sweat that glistened on her skin. The whites of her blue eyes were red and her eyelids held heavy, as if it took every effort of her being to keep them open. 

“Cut the fucking bullshit, Rogers,” quiet but deadly words. Her voice was demeening, like she felt it in her soul that I was lying. She spat them out like they were poison, and they were in some type of way.

She, Eva, had fully convinced herself that we weren’t only trying to help her. She had fully believed that we wanted something from her, that we were only going to use her for something. I knew I shouldn’t have been surprised by this, but the idea that all she knew was being used and being in pain struck me.

Bucky probably thought the same thing.

“You need to calm down, Eva.”

Her bright blue eyes were fearful. She was terrified.

That’s when I noticed her body relax, her eyes fogged up and became glassy, distant from the world.

“Eva?”

I watched as her body leaned towards the right, her eyes closing and legs falling with her. I grunted as I shot myself towards her, wrapping my arms around her tiny, frail body before she slammed into the ground. I sighed a short breath of relief before shifting myself around her to get a better grab onto her. 

I placed one arm behind her upper back and the other behind her knees, and pulled her upwards as I stood up. 

She was so light. Barton had said the same thing in a conversation with Natasha while we were waiting for the meeting to start, but I hadn’t thought about it until now. Her body felt so breakable in my arms, holding no strength in her bones. If I held her wrong I could have crushed her, thats how frail she felt. 

I stepped down the stairs carefully, holding her close to my body as if I had to protect her from any and all outside forces. My brain kept repeating ‘She’s a soldier, she’s a ruthless killer. Even without being under the control of hydra, she had killed five men effortlessly; and to make it worse, she killed her own people’ like it was some sort of mantra.

But something in my gut pulled everytime I saw her and thought about what she might have gone through, I think it’s because Bucky went through the same thing as her, but he didn’t get to choose. He was forced to be tortured and changed into a brainwashed killing machine.

I used my foot to open the cracked door, side stepping through it to be careful to not let the girl hit any of the walls.

As I exited the stairwell, I could see Tony leaning up against the wall of the hallway, watching us.

“How was your heart-to-heart?” He asked annoyedly.

He donned the same band shirt he had worn in the meeting, as well as his oil stained jeans. His arms were crossed, hands stuffed underneath his biceps. 

I rolled my eyes, “It wasn’t a heart-to-heart,” I mumbled. 

“It sure sounded like it,” I shot him an annoyed looked as I continued past him, headed back to the medic-bay.

“We need to start keeping an avenger on her at all times. Doesn’t matter who, we can rotate through them and set shifts for each one,” I said, ignoring his antagonizing words. 

I could practically hear him roll his eyes behind me as he pulled himself off the wall and followed, “I’m not baby-sitting some child assassin.”

“Then don’t, me and the others can do it while you do whatever the hell else you think is more important than this right now.”

We entered the med-bay that was now spotless, in contrast to the chaos and destruction it was in when we had first came in here, responding to the alarm. 

Bruce stood at the computer, looking over the notes and adding new ones to the system.

He looked up when the pair had entered the room, eyes directly going to her abdomen, which was covered in her dark blood. He pointedly looked down at the bed in front of his computer and mumbled for me to put her down there. 

I gently placed her down, her head lolling to the side as I did so.

“She lost a lot more blood,” he assessed quickly slightly pulling up her thin shirt to look at the gaping wound, “How long has it been bleeding like this?”

Bruce spared me no glance as he quickly grabbed gauze and began applying pressure to the wound. Not too far away was a nurse that watched as he did so, not making any move to get closer to the soldier or the doctor who was aiding her.

The nurses were on a strict ‘no interacting’ rule, they could not go within 2 feet of her, talk to her, or touch her at all. Bruce was the only one allowed near her until she got better about attacking unprovoked. 

“Since I found her, but it got worse after she had a coughing fit,” I replied as I watched him throw away the bloody gauze and finish cleaning up the area before moving to grab a needle and thread.

He nodded, focused solely on the girl in front of him, “That explains that tearing,” he commented back. 

I looked at Tony, who was looking away from the scene, distracting himself with something on his phone. 

“Did you get any new information about her?” Bruce asked, filling the dead silence.

I tilted my head in thought, stuffing my hands into my jean pockets, “She said her name was Eva, but she wouldn’t tell me anything else or give me any reaction when I brought up Barnes,” I paused, thinking about it, “though she did seem shocked when I said I had been his friend.”

Tony glanced at me for a quick second before going back to his phone, “No last name?”

I shook my head, which Tony didn’t see, but he took my silence as a no anyways. 

He shrugged, “could be a fake name.”

I nodded, “Probably is.”

“Eva? Is that a Russian name?” Bruce was now sewing the girl’s skin back together, his eyes squinting to focus on it.

I shrugged, but quickly added, “I don’t know, could be.”

Tony nodded along, “With that accent of hers I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.”

I looked over at him, but he was still typing on his phone. “What accent?”

Tony paused, blinked, then looked up at me incredulously, as if I had just asked the stupidest question ever.

“Do you not hear it?” Tony asked, eyebrows raised, “You’re even more tone deaf than I thought, cap.”

I rolled my eyes, “Forget I asked then.”

Bruce tugged on the thread, finishing up half of the stitches now. 

“She sounds like when Natasha gets mad,” Bruce smiled at that comment.

Tony’s head bobbed in agreement, “I guarantee that if we get our spy in here speaking Russian, the kid here won’t miss a beat.”

I looked back at Tony, “Maybe, but what good does that do for us?” 

He shrugged nonchalantly, “Probably nothing. But then again, maybe we could get her to try and relate to the kid and get some answers.”

I shook my head, there was no way it was going to work. The soldier that laid on the bed may have been a kid, but she was also a trained soldier. It seems the only reason she had even had a conversation with me was to figure out what we knew and if she was in any immediate danger. Probably giving herself a timeframe and an idea of how to escape.

The idea that she would give out answers just because her and Natasha spoke the same language was insane; Tony was severely underestimating the kid.

Bruce seemed to agree, choosing to stay silent and to finish sewing her up. Once he was done, he tugged on the thread, knotting it up, then cut it with a pair of small scissors. 

He placed the scissors down on the small table beside him along with the curved needle. He took a wipe and cleaned up the wound, careful not to touch it directly.

He then threw the wipe away along with the gloves he had been wearing.

“I can watch her for the time being, make sure she’s stable,” Bruce stood up from his stool and rolled his shoulders back, “You can decide who comes in about an hour or so.”

I nodded as I turned around, facing the door to leave. Tony glanced up to watch Bruce move around the room the grab machine and to connect them to the girl. 

A beeping sound that matched her heartbeat filled the room and an IV drip was put into her arm.

“Make sure you knock her ass out, Banner,” Tony joked only slightly, “she’s exhausted and needs to sleep.”

Banner nodded, “I know, I’ll put some sedatives in her drip.”

Tony nodded and turned around walking ahead of me to leave.

I followed him out, closing the door behind us as we walked out.