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COURT OF THE SNAKES. ✹ AGE OF ULTRON
🐍 / THE PROLOGUE: SNAKE IN THE GARDEN

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THE SHADOWS ARE JUST AS COLD AS THE SNOW. As hot as the sun, as bland as grey, as comforting as a blanket. It was all Sereia knew. She was born in it, raised in it, became it. The snake in the shadows, is what they would call her. Quiet, fluid, beautiful but deadly.

Sereia slowly stood up, her bare feet touching the colder than ice floor. The sounds of explosions echoed through the cobblestone walls that blotted out the outside world from her. She crept to the almost shattered window, the only real source of light for her, and steadily looked out. Pressing one finger in the middle of the spiderweb-like crack pattern in the glass. The walls shook, pieces of the cobblestones dropped causing her to jump. Her eyes looked above her. She couldn't decipher the rushed voices but it sounded panicked.

Sereia kept quiet and stared back out the small window. Wondering what was causing that much damage outside. Enough for them to let out the emergency sirens, at least. Those ear piercing sirens.

STEVE ROGERS, AKA CAPTAIN AMERICA, REGRETTED EVER SAYING THAT CURSED "L" WORD. And now, the rest will not let him live it down, he's sure. He couldn't help it, it was out of a habit he picked up from his late mother. Now he was being made fun of for it. "Let's all pick on Steve for correcting someone's language." He spoke on his ear-com, rolling his eyes.

"We just think it's very old fashioned, Cap." Tony chided jokingly. "Very father of the year of you. Next thing you know, you'll be giving one of us the talk, I wanna be like you when I grow up."

"Shut the hell up, Tony." Steve chuckled out, creeping inside a seemingly abandoned area of the HYDRA lab they were infiltrating for the scepter.

"Wow, Steve." Natasha chimed in. "Do I need to wash your mouth out in soap?"

Deciding to ignore her, Steve rolled his eyes and continued on. The area he was in was almost completely dark. Filled with a long hall of abandoned cells, cobblestone walls and minimal lights. Like this area was made for something especially dangerous or for isolation. Either way, it gave him an uneasy feeling.

He looked in almost all of the cells and found nothing. That is, until he came across one last cell. The doors looked extremely heavy, the locks looked brass and thick, the doors had no window into it.

"Cap, you there?" Tony radioed in, interrupting his thoughts. "Time to go, we got the scepter."

"Hold on a second," Steve replied back, slowly walking to the door. "I think I found something."

"What? A shiny rock or something?"

"Wha- no, Tony." He scoffed, deciding to continue to ignore him. Once he got to the door, he noticed that it was cracked open a little. The locks were rusty and nearly gone. Which he concluded that this entire cell block was for one person. Or just for isolation.

Steve held his breath as she peered through the crack, looking into the very dimly lit room. His blue eyes widened upon discovering a body in the cell.

In the middle of the darkened room, sat a small girl. Her back was facing towards him and because of the almost broken window in the room, he could see she had long hair reaching her hips, jet black and in slight disarray. She was wearing a baggy long sleeve white shirt that was dusty and dirty and matching pants. She was barefooted and, judging by her hands, she was pale.

Steve was shocked, to say the least. He knew Hydra had a thing for experimenting on humans but....to have a whole cellblock underground for one person? It was baffling. He could only imagine what they were doing to her.

Slowly pushing the door open, Steve crept in cautiously. In case she became combative.

"Hello?" He softly called out, entering the room.

The young lady immediately jumped and spun around to look at him with a bewildered expression. It was then that Steve saw her entire face. And despite the tired looking eyes and slightly sunken face, she was beautiful. Inhumanly beautiful.

But she looked like she was terrified of him as she backed away when he slowly approached. To which, Steve held up a hand and placed his shied on his back.

"Don't worry." He said in a soothing voice. "I'm not going to hurt you. I promise."

She placed her balled up fists near her chest in a defensive manner, still very much wary of the new face. Wondering if he was going to do anything to her.

But he didn't. Steve stopped at a safe distance once he realized that she was scared of him. He could only imagine how long she's been here if she was this scared of seeing a new face. One that she's not used to, that is.

"I'm not here to hurt you." He tried again, using a friendly tone. "My name is Steve Rogers......can you tell me your name, honey?"

She swallowed a lump of air and stared at him for a moment. With slight shaky hand, she pointed at her throat. Revealing a medium sized surgical scar on the side of it. Indicating that she has no voice.

Steve winced at the sight. His eyebrows furrowed a little upon seeing the scar. Just what the hell did they do to her?

"That's okay." He mumbled, waving his hands a little. "do you have a way of talking? Perhaps you can write down your name?"

She thought for a second. Her eyes looked to the side before looking back to him. With her shaky hands, she began to use sign language. Spelling out her name.

S.E.R.E.I.A H.A.N

"Sereia Han." Steve mumbled, silently thanking himself for actually learning a bit of sign language in his younger years. "Nice to meet you, Miss Han."

Sereia pursed her lips, fiddling with her fingers a little as she looked at him. Still nervous and cautious but a bit more relaxed.

"Well, Miss Han, why don't you come with me?" He asked, holding his hand out for her. "I know some people that can help you. They'd be able to give you the care you need....You don't have to be afraid anymore......I'm here to help."

Sereia stared at his hand and looked back at him. The chance to leave this place.....a place she's known since birth.....it was all she ever dreamed of. But once presented the opportunity, it felt unreal. But something about the way Steve looked at her, his aura....it made her want to trust him. So she slowly walked over to him, placing her small hand in his.

Steve held it gently, giving her a small smile. Just as he was about to speak again, another explosion rocked the place. Sereia gasped inaudibly, instinctively jumping closer to his body. Steve wrapped his arms around her as they ducked from the debris.

"Steve, no time for collecting shiny rocks! Let's go!" Tony's voice pierced his ear through their radio.

"Come on, and stay close." Steve instructed her. Sereia nodded, gripping his hand as they began running out the cell together.

Not once looking back at the dark place she once called home.