"No." Voltage runs through me and I spasm in the chair, my back arching and a scream tearing its way out of my throat.

"We were kind to you before, dear Victoria, because you were our one success. We're even being kind to you now by offering you a choice. Now, either you kill them now, or, we remove your memories and you kill them then. Either way, they die. Either way, you kill them. Choose, or we will choose for you." My mother says in her creepily smooth voice. She lays her hand on my forehead and I turn my head away in disgust. Her hand rescinds and I feel the bigger, rougher hand of my father's replace it.

"V, we made you who you are. We can unmake you." He sighs, his deep voice almost makes the chair I'm in vibrate because of the resonance. "We'd rather not because there's a risk you'll lose all physical memory as well, meaning we'd have to retrain you, but we are willing to make that sacrifice." He says, resigned. "That is the choice that will be made for you, if you do not follow our orders. Your memories will be taken from you." I am now biting my tongue to keep myself from crying. I turn back and look at him. I have always hated how I still look like my parents. I have my father's curly hair and his skin tone. I have my mother's nose and uneven lips. My eyes are the both of theirs combined; my mother's brown and my father's green. Unlike them, I have small lines beside my eyes from smiling while my father has lines in his forehead from squinting at petri dishes. My mother has deeper, curved lines around her mouth that appear when she frowns, telling others that she frowns often. I meet my father's eyes with determination and shake my head again.

"No." I decline their 'kind' offer once again, knowing that it's the last time. Both of my parents sigh, but my mother waves over an orderly of sorts who rushes over with a tray of tools. She pulls on her gloves and exchanges places with my father, both of them looking grim.

"Now, this is going to be different than all the other times. We have made a new surgery!" Some excitement tints my mother's voice and I do my best not to cringe away from her. She holds up a thin metal looking wire that can't be more than two feet long. "I'll insert this directly into your brain via your nose and put both ends against your hippocampus. That's where your memories are. Then, we'll channel volts of electricity through the wire and into your brain. Thus, erasing your memories, but hopefully not your physical responses." She explains with glee, and I shut my eyes and think of Tony saying I'm not a monster. How can I not be, with parents like these? God, what I wouldn't give to see his smirk or Steve's blue eyes. I was an idiot to come here alone. My eyes snap open when I feel a strap being fastened over my forehead and then over my chin.

"Wait, wait, wait. I have a question." I beg for them to pause, and they do, surprisingly. I glance between my parents and ask them something I've been wondering for a long time. "Why did you do this to me? Why couldn't you just...just love me?" I clench my teeth afterwards to prevent my tears from leaking out and wait for their answer. My father puts his arm around my mother and she glances up at him with a smile as he answers for them both.

"V, we do this because we love you. Can't you see? We're making you more than you are! A true marvel of science." He says with a smile, and I can no longer withhold my tears. They spill out at a rapid pace, even more when my mother begins slowly inserting the thin wire in my nostrils. But I know it's only discomfort compared to what they're about to do. I pull against the restraints on my wrists and ankles and briefly think of shifting, but know the restraints have heat sensors in them. I'm sure the voltage they contain would knock an elephant on its ass, it definitely wouldn't have a problem frying me. I shut my eyes and go over all my memories while I still can as I hear the familiar hum of electricity as the machine heats up. I go through each face of the team, leaving Nat, Tony, and...Steve last. I regret that I never got to fight Natasha. I'm sure it would have been thrilling. I remember her arms around me when she surprised me with a hug, her brilliant red hair that I'm slightly jealous of, and the secret smile she gave me when I became a tiger. I think of Tony putting his arm around me, his hugs, his scruffy kisses on my forehead, his stupid teasing and the way he broke down all my emotional walls with simply holding my hand and kissing my knuckles. I almost smile when I think of his unique smell; new cars, oil, and Axe deodorant. Finally, I think of Steve, my Steve. Those killer blue eyes and the fact that he never wanted to kill anyone. His hands squeezing my thighs, then my hand, then my waist. Our first kiss in that crowded club after dancing for two nights in a row. How our lips fit together and danced better than our bodies ever could. Me singing to him. His quiet voice singing to me on our first date, showing his vulnerability before he even knew I didn't deserve it. His voice is the last thing I hear before the searing pain starts and all thought is whisked away by agony. After a while, I can't even recall anything for me to hold on to anyway. Not even my own name. All that's left is a man's voice, soft and pleasing, singing a song I've never heard.

"And like an echo from far away, the nightingale sang in Berkeley Square..."

I wake up suddenly and covered in sweat. My eyes snap open to find myself not in my cage, but in a bed. I take a deep breath to calm myself and find that Tony's scent swirls inside my nose, comforting me more than a dozen deep breaths could. As quietly as possible, I sit up and look around. Tony is at my side, reclining in a brown leather armchair. Captain America sits in another chair, but one that definitely doesn't look as comfortable as Tony's. I move to the side to get off the bed, but find Natasha sitting Indian style in the floor, her head resting on her hand that's resting on her knee. All of them are asleep, watching me, I assume. It's tempting to wake up Tony. Just so I can talk to him, hug him, hear his voice, but resist. He probably needs his rest. I glance back at Natasha as I hear her sigh. As soon as I see her head of red hair, images flash through my head all of her. With them is a stinging pain inside my head, so intense I freeze and shut my eyes. Once my memories of Nat are restored I open my eyes and a couple tears slip out. I wiggle out from under the covers and crouch on the bed. I shift into a blue-bird, wanting not to wake them. I fly to the door, then shift into a ladybug to slip through the crack. I do so then shift back into myself once I'm outside. I need some space to think. I walk briskly to the left, looking for an empty room to just sit and think in. When I see the reflection of water on the ceiling inside a room, I burst into the room and grin at the sight of water. Surveying the room, I spot a closet door and run over to it, yanking open the door. I change into one of the dozens of suits within and slip quietly into the pool. Gills appear on my neck as I sink to the bottom of the deep end. I take a deep breath as peace settles within me, but my mind is anything but peaceful.

I sort through my jumbled-up mind. Since yesterday, everything seems like it's been misplaced. I go back to yesterday first. I remember everything that happened, including remembering Tony. But everything is conflicting with each other. I remember my sweet Tony, the one who loves to put his arm around me, give me scruffy forehead kisses, and lets me sleep in his bed when I'm scared. I also remember being shown pictures of Tony and the firm feeling of enemy, target, and danger. The same with Natasha. Slowly, I lean back until I'm lying on the floor of the pool, staring up at the barely moving surface. I'm sure if I weren't underwater, I'd be crying. Instead, I scream under the water as frustration engulfs me. My nightmare is fresh in my mind as well, although my consciousness had forgotten it before reliving it. Who to trust? The supe-my parents? Or Tony and the others who seem to know me? The answer seems obvious, but with my mind like this; coherent thought seems too good to be true. Slight movement draws my eyes to the side of the pool, beyond the surface. I rise to the top immediately, curious to see who it is. My head breaks the surface and I smile; Tony.

"I thought this is where you might be, little Dory." He says, smiling sleepily. I lift myself out of the pool on the side opposite of him, not wanting to get him wet. I hold out a hand as if I can hold him there by sheer force of will.

"Don't go anywhere, please." I beg him. He nods once.

"I won't leave. I promise." I consider his eyes and find them trustworthy. I run to the closet and dry off as quickly as possible, wrapping my hair in a towel after wiping myself down. Frowning, I stare at the clothes I've had on since leaving the compound. A gentle knock at the door has me almost jumping into a new skin, but I relax when I hear Tony's voice on the other side of the door. "Queen?" I grin at the nickname. "I brought you some new clothes. Yes, I know I broke the rules by leaving, but I thought you'd appreciate it anyway." I open the door while hiding behind it and watch Tony take in my towel-hair. "Sexy." He says simply and I laugh. His face lights up at the sound as he hands me my clothes.

"Thank you." I take them and shut the door, changing quickly. The clothes are simple. A black tank-top and red plaid pajama pants. Along with underwear and a bra of course. I shake my head as I put them on. I still remember that shopping trip we took, although some parts are fuzzier than others. After changing I jump out and immediately look for Tony. He's still there, lounging on a laid back beach chair. I sigh in relief and head over to him.

"I'm thinking it's a safe assumption to say you remember me?" He asks. I sit beside him so we're squished together on the chair and my head is on his shoulder.

"Duh, Lord M. Your pungent smell is enough to bring someone back from death, bringing back some memories was no problem." I tease and I can hear him smile. He wiggles a bit and wraps an arm around me, then pulls my head towards him for a scruffy forehead kiss. I turn on my side, giving both of us more room. I wrap an arm around his waist and lay my other arm on his chest, my hand on his heart. I shut my eyes, feeling more at home than I have in weeks.

""You know, you have a nice smell too." He mumbles quietly. "There's something wild about it, like you carry the smell of a rainforest or mountains or something. Then, you smell like sweat, but not like B.O., somehow your sweat smells like sunshine." I stare at his closed eyes in shock, touched, but he isn't finished. "And of course, you smell like home. Your clothes smell like my drawers and your hair smells like my detergent from sleeping in my sheets."

"Thank you, Tony. I...I consider this home too. I'm sorry I ever left." I finish quietly. As we sit in the silence, I interrupt it by humming the first song that comes to mind. A slow song with drawn out words and a haunting melody. I don't know all the words, so I just settle for humming the tune. Tony interrupts me with his words, and I stop the tune, sadly.

"Do you want to talk about it, kiddo?" He asks me gently. My hand on his shirt turns into a fist and I turn my face towards his armpit; it smells very Tony there. After a couple deep breaths, I turn my face back out, Tony's chin reflexively resting on my head.

"Everything is still so mixed-up in my head. I mean, I remember you and all my memories with you, but I also remember seeing pictures of you and the intense feeling that you were bad." I move back to look at his face. "Which you aren't, obviously." I assure him and he pulls me back to him.

"Damn. They must have rewired your brain. It's actually not as advanced as one might think. Lobotomies did basically the same thing, but in this instance, they seem to have refined it and made it specific to us. They erased us from your mind and replaced us with others to suit their own desires." Tony thinks aloud and I cringe slightly at the mention of lobotomies.

"Well, electricity definitely had a hand in it." I say sarcastically, remembering the pain. Tony's arm tightens around me as if he knows what I'm thinking. "Geez, I don't even know the date. What's the date?" I ask him, irritated with myself.

"September twenty-eighth. I'm assuming you don't need to know the year?" Tony teases and I smack his chest.

"The twenty-eighth, huh? You know, the thirtieth is my birthday." I muse, happy to be thinking about things as harmless as birthdays.

"Really? Your twenty-first, right?" Tony asks, his voice already telling me the gears in his brain are turning a mile a minute.

"Tony, don't even think about doing anything. Just let it pass." I tell him, but he scoffs. I sigh and roll my eyes. He won't be forgetting that anytime soon. We sit quietly, peaceably, until it's shattered.

"What did they do?" Tony asks tentatively, afraid of the answer. I shut my eyes as I sigh.

"They...put metal through my nose and attached it to my hippocampus," I explain, remembering the explanation clearly, "then administered various levels of electricity to it so that I'd forget my memories." I finish.

"My God. I'm so sorry, Queen." He tugs me ever closer and wraps both of his arms around me. I do the same and sniffle quietly.

"That isn't why I get upset. I'm upset because those people up there, I know them, don't I? But I can't remember them for who they are, I just have my false memories of them. That's what kills me. I don't even know my own life." I say sadly.

"Oh, honey. You'll get your life back, alright? You already remember me, so it won't be long until you remember the others too. Don't worry." Tony comforts me and I let myself believe his words.

"I'm happy to have you, Tony." I tell him quietly. He makes a sound of acknowledgement, sounding a little sleepy. "And I want you to know...I love you Tony." I say hesitantly. Those words carry a lot of weight for me. When I receive a scruffy kiss, I relax again, although I didn't realize I'd gone stiff.

"I love you too, kiddo. Obviously." Tony responds before just resting his lips on my hair. I giggle slightly and move away from him a little to look at his face.

"And it's because I love you that I'm going to tell you that you're looking a little rough." I tell him and stroke my chin where a beard would be if I had one. He shrugs and smiles, copying my gesture with a spare hand.

"Ah, yeah. I haven't really felt like shaving. I haven't even slept since, God knows when." He meets my eyes and shrugs. "Probably a month." I frown at him as I lay by head back on his shoulder.

"Tony. You should take care of yourself better." I scold him. He huffs.

"Gee, sorry I didn't feel like shaving while you were missing for a month, Victoria." He sasses and I sigh.

"Tony, I can smell the alcohol on your breath." I tell him quietly. He doesn't respond. "That isn't who you are, Tony. My memories may be fuzzy, but you're Iron Man. You're a hero. Stay that way." I tell him firmly. His chest shakes slightly and I realize he's laughing.

"Oh, Queen. I missed you." He says. I shut my eyes and nod.

"I missed you too, Tony. You have no idea." Itell him and sigh, too comfortable for words. Sleep comes to take me and I givein, wholeheartedly.    

A/N

*sips tea* So sorry...