Chapter 1
Hayley sat her cell, counting the seconds before her captors would come and torture her again. She lost track of how long she had been here. At least a couple of years and every day was the same: men dressed up like doctors would come in and run her through stressful situations and torture sessions and hope she’d turn into what they called 'mutants'.
Three years and they never got what they were looking for. Hayley heard footsteps and looked up to see the men dragging a girl around Hayley age and then threw her in the cell. She had dark brown shoulder length hair with side swept bangs. Her eyes were a stunning chocolate brown with a spark that could set Hayley on fire. Her skin looked smooth like silk and she wanted to run her fingers over her face to feel the softness. The girl was the definition of beauty.
“Hey, you assholes! Let me out,” she screamed.
“They aren't big on talking,” Hayley told her.
The brown-haired beauty turned to look at her. God, she was stunning. She wore a cute crop top with a jean jacket and jeans with holes in them and a beautiful necklace with a sapphire jewel around her neck.
“Your outfit is cute, by the way,” she said, “I'm Hayley.”
“Thanks. I'm Alexis. You can call me Lex.”
“Nice to meet you, Lex,”
Hayley sighed as she walked down the sidewalk. She didn't have anywhere to go, so she just let her feet carry her wherever they want to go by this point. Hayley had long since given up on trying to find someone to help. A loud bang snapped her out of her thoughts, causing Hayley to look up. She saw a man holding a shield, too preoccupied with whatever villain he was fighting to see a man pointing a gun at him. Of course, he didn't notice, leaving Hayley no other option but to yell and use her powers to create a shield around him. He looked back at her but quickly turned his attention back to fighting. As she helped put up shields around him, she was too busy to notice one of the men pointing their guns at her.
Shield Guy turned around and yelled at her, but he was too late. By the time Hayley noticed, the bullet had ripped through her skin. The last thing she remembered was hearing Shield Guy yell before colliding with the ground.
The first thing that registered in her mind was the pounding in her head and the throbbing pain in her side. When she tried to open her eyes, she was blinded by an unnecessary bright light. After taking a few moments to adjust, Hayley was able to fully open her eyes and look around to see that she was in a medical room of some sort. She didn't get much further than that.
“Hey. You're awake.”
A strange man in a lab coat spoke up from across the room. Alarms rang in her head at the sight of the doctor. He had a calm nature, but she knew it was a lie.
“You're-,” he started to say as he walked toward her before she cut him off.
“STAY AWAY FROM ME,” Hayley screamed, panic coursing through her veins.
She could feel it, her powers threatening to lose control. Tears streamed down her face as she scrambled away from the doctor and ended up falling off the bed and cowering into a corner.
“Hey. Calm down...It's alright. I won't hurt you... .,” he said gently, putting up his hands before restarting his cautious approach.
Despite his non-threatening energy, Hayley couldn't calm down. The alarms in her brain got louder and louder as he got closer and she screamed in panic, causing some of the glass containers on a desk next to her to become shrouded in a black energy and rise in the air before being thrown at him. The doctor dodged the objects causing them to shatter against the wall.
Hayley started to cry as she lost control, her powers turning against her as an energy started to surround her body, shocking her when it overflowed. Hayley heard the door burst open and she snapped her head over to see the same group of people fighting off those villains attacking the city. She could feel the concern radiating off of every one of them and when the girl saw Shield Guy, she immediately got up from her corner and darted over to the man before cowering behind him, hiding from the doctor.
“Ummm... .Bruce what's going on,” a man with brown hair and glasses asked the doctor.
The doctor- Bruce- only shrugged, confused by the entire situation himself. Glasses Man went over to Bruce to check on him. Aside from Glasses Dude, and Shield Guy- there was a beautiful woman with short blonde hair, a man with the height of a giant, and a shorter man with a bow: all of their eyes fell on her and Hayley felt like a rabbit in headlights.
She started to back away from the group as she started to panic again as Hayley realized they were with Bruce. Shield Guy knelt down in front of her and she flinched back.
“P-p-please... .,” Hayley whispered, not exactly knowing what she was begging for as she pressed herself against the wall and curled into a ball.
“It's alright. We're not going to hurt you. My name is Steve. What's your name,” Shield Guy- aka Steve- asked in a gentle voice.
Hayley looked up and felt his concern and gentleness, and saw the safety in his eyes. He wouldn't hurt her.
“H-H-Hayley...,” she told him quietly.
He gave her a warm smile.
“That's a pretty name. We're not going to hurt you, Hayley, I promise,” Steve said.
She moved to sit up and winced before looking down and seeing blood soaking through her ripped up shirt. Steve grimace as he saw the blood.
“When you were helping me you got shot. It looks like you tore your stitches,” he said, “Bruce is a doctor. Will you let him help you?”
She looked at Bruce and let out an unconscious whimper.
“He'll hurt me...Doctors are bad...He'll take me back. I-”
“Calm down honey. He won't hurt you. My name is Natasha. You can call me Nat,” the pretty lady said.
She offered Hayley her hand, and she trusted her so she took it. She led the girl to a chair and gestured for Hayley to sit down.
“Bruce only wants to help you. I promise. He won't hurt you,” she said.
“There's nothing to be afraid of kid. Bruce couldn't even hurt a fly,” Glasses Man jokes.
Hayley looked at Bruce and saw they were right. He had a good energy and nature around him, intentions pure. She nodded and Nat gestured towards Bruce who slowly came over and knelt down in front of her. Nat introduced the others.
“I'm sorry... .,” Hayley apologized.
He gave her a soft smile and told her not to worry. An uncomfortable silence fell over the room before Tony spoke up.
“So kid, if you don't mind me asking, where are your parents?”
“I...I don't know... .,” she said quietly.
Tony cursed and Natasha glared at him before softening her gaze as she turned to Hayley.
“That's alright Hayley. We can talk more tomorrow, for now, I'm sure you'd like a shower, something to eat, and some rest, yea?”
Before Tony could object, Nat led her out of the room and showed her a room that she could stay in and there was a bathroom inside. The room was more like an empty suit with a bed and minimal furniture. She said she'd get Hayley some clothes and to shower, and she was in no mood to argue so the girl did what she said. The bathroom was huge! Hayley couldn't remember the last time she took a shower and shuddered at the thought.
She peeled the clothes that were no more than rags off of her body and looked at herself in the mirror. Her body looked as though it was one giant bruise; a pallet of blacks, blues, browns, and purples littering her skin. Ribs poked through her sides, a reminder of how emaciated her body was. Her hair was like a rats nest: tangled and unkept. Hayley would have to remind herself to cut it later. She shuddered at her appearance and quickly ripped her eyes away from the mirror, stepped into the shower, and turned the water on.
The warm spay was like heaven against her skin and Hayley just stood under the water as it cascaded down her body. It took her three times of washing of her hair before she deemed it clean and six times of scrubbing her skin raw before she finally decided that she was decent enough to get out, and she still felt disgusting. When Hayley grabbed the towel, she was positive that it would be black and ruined when she finished drying off, yet to her surprise, it was not.
When the girl stepped back out into the room, she saw that there was clothes, deodorant, and a hairbrush laying on the bed. She opened the deodorant and inhaled the clean the scent, like a breath of fresh air before putting it on. Then she grabbed the hairbrush and proceeded to brush through the tangles. It took a while, but eventually, Hayley got all the tangles out. She stepped into the clothes, sighing in happiness at the feel of the soft, clean cotton against her skin.
As clean as she could get, Hayley decided to take a short nap before going to thank the strangers. However, that short nap was going to be a long sleep as she passed out before her head even hit the pillow.
The Avengers didn’t know what to do with Hayley aside from keeping her there. They didn’t know much about her as she mostly kept to herself, hiding in her room and listening to music on the phone Tony had given her. At first, Hayley eyed the strange device as if it was an alien device from the future before learning everything she could do within hours.
Hayley didn’t talk to them often, and rarely would she speak. Though as the weeks went by, they got her to come further out of her shell and became her new family.
Natasha was the mama bear, gentle and kind to the girl. Tony was the overprotective, sarcastic dad. Steve was, well, Steve: the team mom. Clint was the funny and outgoing friend to Hayley, able to make her laugh with his memes. Bruce was the person she found herself able to open up to easiest aside from Natasha. His quiet and calm nature made him one of the go-to people for Hayley to talk to when she did. It took a while for Hayley to get used Thor’s booming voice and loud presence, but he eventually became a brother to Hayley.
She lay in her bed, listening to Sanctuary by Utada Hikaru, her currently new favorite song along with Dark Paradise by Lana Del Rey. She wished she had a sanctuary, somewhere where her fears could just disappear and she could feel safe. Her sanctuary had left her long ago, now all she felt was cold and empty with her. A single tear fell down her face at the thought and she took a deep breath and wiped her tear away before closing her eyes and falling asleep.