Joana

Jo's eyes snapped open.
"Stop, please," she begged. "Please."
She hated grovelling. She hated begging. She hated pleading. She hated being here. She just wanted it to all stop.
"Ah, ah. Don't think thoughts like that, Ms. Kegley. We might be forced to put you under stricter supervision," the Doctor said. Jo growled at him, but he could hardly take her seriously with the tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Get out of my head!" She screamed.
He was surfing through her private memories, mostly memories of Bucky.
"Nothing's private, Ms. Kegley. Not here."
"Get. Out. Of. My. Head." She ground out through her teeth.
"Not just yet, Ms. Kegley. We've got a few more memories to visit before we're finished."
Jo screamed as he slammed his finger down on a button, enveloping her in utter darkness as she fell into the abyss that is her own mind.

"So, whatcha think of Joana?"
"She's sweet."
Joana remembered this day.
"And she's quiet a cookie," Bucky added, "Isn't she?"
"I guess so."
"Would you ever think about going out with her?"
Joana hid behind a curtain of dresses, nervously awaiting a response.
"Listen, Barnes, I know she's your friend and all, but nobody wants to date a black girl."
Nobody wants to date a black girl.
Nobody wants to date a black girl.
Nobody wants to date a black girl.
The words rang in her ears, pulling at the strings in her heart. She sat on the floor, covering her face with her hands, trying to stop the tears. She didn't hear the rest of the conversation, her ears still ringing with the sound of the cold, hard, truth.
Nobody wants to date a black girl.

Jo screamed in rage as she came forth from the memory.
"I've had enough!" She tugged and struggled and writhed, doing everything she could to get free. A monitor beside the Doctor began to beep out of control. The Doctor ran over to her, holding a needle. Jo didn't want to know what was in it.
As the Doctor leaned towards her, she lashed out her teeth, taking a chunk of the Doctor's flesh from his nose. In disgust, she spat it back out. The Doctor staggered backwards, screaming in pain. He fell against one of his tables. He was in too much shock to do anything but hold his nose.
A few of the soldiers placed outside must have heard because three of them came running in. One went straight to the Doctor, who was speaking in rapid fire Russian. Jo pulled out a few swear words as the other two soldiers pulled off her restraints. They tried to hold her down, but she was in too much of a rage, thrashing, screaming, and throwing punches wherever she could.
She knocked both of them over, but not two seconds after, the third soldier slammed his finger down on the red button that sent wave after wave of electric shock through her body.
Jo seized on the table, resembling a beached fish. She clawed at her head, trying to pull the machine off her head. She tried to scream, but her jaw hung slacked, no sound passing her throat.
"Turn it off! Turn it off!" The Doctor screamed. It was only after this that Jo finally fell back against the metal table, her head lolled back and forth until unconsciousness consumed her, and everyone breathed a breath of relief at last.

Some say that this was this moment that finally broke the esteemed Joana Kegley, that this moment in unrecorded history was when the Joana Kegley who saw herself as a horse or gazelle died, and Joana Kegley who was a chained, rabid dog came to life.

"Joana? Joana? C'mon, Joana, please wake up."
Joana felt something cool and damp press against her forehead. She winced and groaned, her eyelids heavy as she pulled herself back to the land of the living.
"Danika?"
"Yes, Joana, yes. I'm here."
"Where's Bucky?"
The room fell silent, prompting Joana to open her eyes.
The room was dark, and it looked small, but it wasn't any of the rooms she was used to, which were usually a pale, gross yellow. She was laying on something soft and firm, but not hard and cold like the tables and chair she had found comfort in the past two years. Sitting in front of her, she could barely make out the figure of a human body, but the blonde hair was a dead give away on who it was.
"Danika, where's Bucky?" Jo asked again, but this time in Russian. Danika didn't move.
"He's...he's fine." Her voice sound hoarse and thick. "It's you I'm worried about."
Jo sat up, trying to hold back a serious of groans that went along with the utter pain in her body.
"Have you been crying?" She asked. Her vision was getting used to the dark, so she could see the face of the woman before her.
"I was just...I thought you weren't going to wake up."
Joana managed a small smile. She leaned over, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, she hugged her. Danika returned the gesture. Both women were stiff, obviously unsure of how to hug someone after so long. Joana pulled away from her.
"How long was I out?"
"A week and a half."
Joana sighed an lay back down.
"I'll tell them that you still haven't woken," Danika said, rising from the bed. She was met only with Joana's snores. She smiled a soft smile and left her bedroom.

Danika

She marched down the hall, her heels clicking on the cold, stone floor. She had a hard look on her face. The sound of the 'click clacking' of her heels and the current, fiery expression on her face was enough for the near by soldiers to cower against the wall. She arrived at her destination, standing in front of guarded door.
"Outta my way, boys," she said, a smile stretched across her face, but the soldiers saw the anger in her eyes. They glanced at each other, then back at her. She crossed her arms and raised an eyerow. They looked at each other once again and stepped out of the way, pulling the door open.
She walked in, sending a simple nod towards the soldiers.
"Tobias Zander!" Her voice carried through the meeting room. The Commander stood, his face flooding with anger.
"What, Ms. Stark?" He growled. She looked around the room and her throats went dry at the sight of her parents, both wearing long lab coats. She was met with her mother's cold gaze and couldn't seem to tear her eyes away until Tobias cleared his throats in annoyance. She snapped his head towards him. She glared.
"It's about Joana."
A cruel smile crossed Tobias' lips.
"Ah, we were just discussing her."
Rebuilding her confidence, Danika crossed her arms.
"Your man could have killed her."
"What would you have me do about it?"
Danika's eyes shifted towards her parents for a brief second of eternity.
"What you do to everyone who disobeys you. She's yours, isn't she? Your pet? Your experiment? He would have killed her and ruined everything, and you would just let him live? How do you know that no one else would try to do the same if this one goes unpunished?"
There was a soft smile of pride on her father's face. It disgusted her. Tobias sighed, a grin gracing his face as well. He walked towards her and for a terrifying second, she thought he was going to hit her or something else of the sorts. Instead, he put his large, calloused hand around her thin waist, pulling her body to his. She would have preferred a socking to the jaw. This was ten times more terrible.
"I love it when you act all wicked." His breath was hot on her face as he whispered this. She forced a smirk and pushed herself away from him.
"Or course you do. So, what do you say?"
Tobias let out a high pitched whistle and two men dragged a third into the room. He was on his knees, barely moving. His face was covered in blood. His eyes were puffy, and his lip busted. He didn't appear to be conscious. The look of him sent pity shooting brought Danika's system. As he was tossed to the ground, Tobias Zander took his arm off from around Danika's wrist.
"He's all yours, Danika," he whispered in her ear. Danika suppressed a shutter. Tobias shoved something in her hand. She felt the cool metal of the gun and felt her stomach churn. She had to do this, so that Joana didn't have to.
"Get him on his knees." She cocked the gun. The other two guards pulled him up. His head lolled back and forth before he awoke and stared up at Danika through beaten eyes.
"Please," he spluttered.
Danika aimed the gun at his face.
"Please, no."
With minimal hesitation, Danika pulled the trigger. Her face remained stone cold as the gun went off and a bullet went through the man's head. His head was thrown backwards by the momentum of the bullet, and his body toppled to the ground. Gun still smoking, Danika stared at his body and lowered her hand.
"Justice is served," Tobias seethed gleefully. Danika turned to him only to see a terrible smile on his face that made her sick. She held the gun out to him, but he put his hand up and shook his head.
"You've earned that gun back, Danika. I know you won't try to betray me again." His expression darkened. "Because if you do-"
Danika rolled her eyes.
"You'll destroy me, I know. You don't scare me, Tobias. And I won't betray you, I'm not stupid." Her words came from her mouth like silk, but they were laced with poison and lies. At the very moment, she could think of nothing but how to free Joana and Bucky. Even as Tobias wrapped his blood stained arms around her, she thought of every way she would tear him apart.

Danika made her way back down the hall. Her hands shook at her side. She was painfully aware of the gun at her side. The cold metal burned her skin. She couldn't get the man's eyes out of her mind. His pleading echoed in her head. She had to repeatedly remind herself to breathe.
As she neared her room she heard a muffled whimper. She threw the door open to find Joana's mouth covered with a cloth. None other than Aleksi towering over her.
Rage bubbled inside of Danika.
"Get away from her." Her voice was cold and commanding. Every letter was dripping anger and utter hatred. Without hesitation, she pulled the gun from her side and held it to Aleksi's head. The soldier laughed, deep and maniacal.
"You would never pull the trigger, Danika," he said. She quirked her eyebrow.
"Tell that to the the soldier who just had his brains blown out."
Aleksi went stiff.
"Commander would never let you have a gun, not after-"
"Tobias gave this gun to me himself. Do you doubt his judgment, Aleksi?" Every word she spoke was a threat.
As they spoke, Joana managed to untie the bonds around her wrist and pulled the cloth from her mouth.
Danika spun Aleksi around and kept the gun at his forehead.
"After everything you've done to me, and you have the audacity to come in here and crawl back into my bed and attempt to assault my friend, and you don't expect me to put a bullet in your head?"
"Cmon, Dani. It wasn't all that bad-"
"Don't talk!" Danika tried to keep herself calm, but after the events of the day and the past week, keeping her anger and hurt inside her was too tiring. She was too tired.
But when she looked over at Joana, the hatred in her golden brown eyes, she couldn't find herself to pull the trigger. She wanted to keep Joana safe, to protect her from everything that Tobias wanted to do to her. How could she do that if Joana saw her murder someone in cold blood?
With a stiff lip, Danika lowered her hand. Aleksi opened his mouth to speak, but she stopped him.
"Not for you, for her," she said. "If i see you anywhere near here again, I will not hesitate to pull the trigger."
Aleksi nodded his head. He looked back at Joana once more. It struck Danika then that, while Aleksi abused her in every way imaginable, the was the possibility that over these last few years, he had fallen in love with her, in whatever sick way people like him fell in love. If Danika could help it, he would never touch her again. If Danika could help it, Bucky and Joana would be far from this place and happy together. If Danika could help it...

_______

So yeah. There we go. A little but from Danika's perspective. I really like her for some reason.
A little help with punctuation and grammar and spelling and stuff would be very useful and I'd love you forever.
Thank you for the reads and the votes and all the other things, it means so much to me. I love you all.

authorsbane