Sleeping Beauty
No one is sure what woke her.
Director Fury had been assured her tank was secure and the drugs they pumped in would keep her asleep for eternity if necessary. Even then, they had a facility dedicated strictly to containing her. The kind of place that’s spent so long being hidden that it no longer exists. There are no whispers of it because no one even knows it’s there. The guards in that place are convicts bound to service there and the scientists too crazy to be taken seriously by anyone but a man with one eye. Perhaps, people would consider it hell if they knew of its existence. A place so hot and dark that what else could it be? A place of silent screams and endless pain, with only one prisoner.
No one knew what color her eyes were anymore.
They hadn’t been seen in so long that the fact they had a color no longer mattered. Floating in a tank of translucent blue gel she slept. Her hair floating like a halo around her head and her limbs limp and lax. They called her Sleeping Beauty and Princess instead of 003492834 since she had no name. Only a long string of numbers that most shortened to 003 for formal reports. Her naked body held no sexual attraction to the men in the facility. They’d been staring at her as an object for so long she’d lost any appeal as a woman, as a human. Most thought of her as a simply a thing. A toy that the scientists monitored and watched daily but never really did anything with. How could they? She wasn’t to be woken. If that happened then hell would truly burn.
No one saw her wake.
It was nearing midnight, not that time matters in this hole devoid of light. Deep in the underground facility there was a whisper in the dark. A tremor shook the ground and for a split second the lights went out. In that moment, the darkness found her. A pair of eyes snap open to a world devoid of light and then as the lights flicker back on chaos erupts.
She breaks the tanks impenetrable glass with one smack of her fist, which seemed to be covered in shadows.
Alarms blare and all those drills that the soldiers run no longer feel so silly as they realize that Sleeping Beauty has woken and she’s no princess. She’s a dragon – she breathes fire. Battle stations are manned and machine guns are clutched tightly in sweaty hands covered in black gloves. Yet, no one sees anything as a wave of shadow envelopes everything and slowly the screams can be heard. Men tremble and one unfortunate soldier shits his pants and dies with the humiliation fresh in his mind. Not a single soldier survives her escape. One or two scientists do, but when questioned they can barely stutter out a few words before they begin to tremble and slam their heads against the table or tear out their hair.
When the warning dings on the helicarrier the tech sitting at the station barely blinks. He files it into his report and then sends the report up the chain. It takes another dozen people marking the same little box and sending it up the chain before Fury gets the report.
His single eye widens and for a brief moment the messenger who delivered the report spots true fear on his face before it is wiped clean.
“Get me a plane ready.” Fury barks, putting the report back in the file. “I need to leave in less than five.”
The messenger nods, “Where to, Director?”
“I don’t see how that is any of your damn business.”
~
Miles away she’s clawed her way back into the world. Her eyes water with tears as they try to appreciate how the world looks bathed in light. Not sure where she is and clothed in only the unfitting scraps she grabbed off a soldier, she stumbles upon a road. Following the path, she enjoys the warmth of sunlight and the chirping of birds. The world is so busy and loud compared to the silence she’s been existing in for decades.
The sound of a car approaching causes her to turn. She sees the beat-up truck chugging down the road with windows open and music spewing forth. As it nears it begins to slow, coming to a spot beside her.
A cheerful brunette is driving with two kids and a baby strapped in the backseat. “Hey there! You look a little lost.”
She smiles at the woman and her facial muscles ache in protest, so out of use. “I’m afraid so… I don’t really remember what happened but I woke in the forest…”
“Oh my!” the woman exclaims, her motherly instincts kicking in and making her want to help the bedraggled looking woman who can’t be older than early twenties at most. “Honey, why don’t you get in and come with us?” The woman has good instincts and she knows a harmless girl when she sees one. In any other case she’d be right, but not this one. This girl is a monster with blood dripping from her hands. Yet, the monster is tamed for now and the precious princess newly woken from a deep sleep is in the monster’s place.
Still, she hesitates at accepting the offer. She knows what she is and the kinds of things she can do. No matter how much she’ll try, she won’t ever forget the sounds of the screams or the taste of fresh blood. “Are you sure? I don’t want to impose or put you out.”
The woman leans over and opens the door. “Come on we like company! Don’t we kids?” The little girl and boy cheer in excitement over someone new and the baby laughs with joy in a way only the truly innocent can.
She gets in the truck and shuts the door behind her. When she’s buckled, they take off down the road again with the music only slightly lower so they can speak.
“So what’s your name? Do you remember that?” the woman asks, taking her eyes off the road for a moment to eye the stranger she’s let into her life.
A smile dances across her face as she nods. She does remember. Actually, she remembers it all but she’s not about to confess her crimes to such a sweet woman. “Yes, it’s (y/n).”
The woman grins and holds out a hand for her to shake. “Nice to meet you, (y/n). My name’s Laura – Laura Barton.”