SLEEPWALKING

CHAPTER FIVE: TERRIFYING THOUGHTS

AUDIE could hear the blood rushing past her ears and to her head as she laid on the cold driveway of her uncle's house, she couldn't see a thing, which only sent her into further panic.

She sat there for a while, stuck in the endless black void that seemed to have swallowed her whole.

It was some time before she found herself being pushed from the void and into a dimly lit area, upon further inspection she would realize it was her eyelids, her eyes were closed.

And opening them, she found herself staring up into a blurry ceiling, fumbling with a few cords at her arms she found herself yanking them from their attachments before she began to swing her legs over the side of the bed and stumbled from her spot on the mattress, it wasn't until later she would realize she was in the hospital.

Within seconds a loud beeping sound filled her head and she quickly covered her ears with both hands before letting out a struggled groan.

Outside, Tony and Pepper conversed in the hall trying to figure out what they could do, which in reality wasn't much, and as the staff rushed past them- heading towards Audie's room- Tony's eyes went wide before he ran after them quick to follow into her room and stop at the doorway.

There she was, curled on the floor in a ball with her hands clutched over her ears, "shut it off." she cried clenching her eyes shut, the staff ignored her as two female nurses tried to lift her by the arms and get her back into the bed.

Tony watched on as she struggled against them trying her best to cover her ears to block the sound out, she looked terrible.

Her face littered in bruises and cuts, her arms and legs much the same if not worse, Andrea was going to kill him. The nurses quickly restrained the girl none of them flinching as she bucked against the restraints, Audie screamed as she continued to try and free herself tears streaming down her face as the sounds from the monitor only grew louder.

"Turn it off." he stated watching as the nurses looked back at him with dumbstruck looks, why would they do such a thing.

"Turn it off." he spoke again gesturing to the monitor, one of the nurses softly smiled and shook her head, "the entire point of the device is to monitor her vitals, Mr. Stark." he offered her a fake smile before gently brushing past her to yank the cord from the wall as his niece continued to cry.

And it seemed as soon as the cord was pulled from the wall that the girl became quiet, he glanced back at the nurses all of them silent with disbelief, "next time, I'll have your ass on the curb." he warned jabbing a finger in the direction of the same nurse he'd previously conversed with.

After a few moments of awkward silence, the nurses filed out one behind the other before it was just Tony and Audie left in the room. Reaching his hand up to rub at the skin between his brows, he found himself a chair and seated himself beside the girls' bed.

"What's happening?" she softly questioned turning her head to look at her uncle, he shook his head, "I don't know."

She felt the small bit of hope she'd had die out at that moment, the one person that was supposed to have all the answers didn't have them for once.

And that scared her.

"I'm..." he paused, "I'm gonna call some friends and see if they can help." Audie watched as Tony stood and made way for the exit already dialing a number before he disappeared around the corner.

It wouldn't be but thirty minutes till her first visitor came to see her.

Or visitors.

A male and female followed behind Tony as they entered her room, she tensed at the sight of the strangers and watched on with caution as one came to the side of her bed and leaned forward.

"What exactly is it that she's experiencing?" the female questioned, she recognized this woman, the red hair, she was the Natasha Romanoff she'd read about in the private server.

"Irritability to sounds, surviving an impact that should've killed her, that's all I know of." the woman nodded her head carefully standing up to her full height as she looked over the girl.

"And how exactly did this happen?" she questioned turning her gaze to Tony, he closed his eyes for a moment trying to fight off the shame he was swimming in, "I took a piece of the alien technology, I thought I could use it..." he trailed off, "it set off an explosion."

Natasha softly nodded her head, "best bet is Fury, I don't know much about these types of things."

The blonde of the three shook his head, "we're really gonna call Fury?" he gestured to Audie, "after Project Insight you're really going to call him?" 

Tony teased his bottom lip between his teeth before shaking his head, "I don't have anyone else to call, unless Miss. Romanoff here wants to call the green cucumber." 

Natasha frowned back at Tony, "sometimes I wonder just how smart you are." 

"And no, I'm not going to call Banner, he said he wanted to be left alone."

"What's Project Insight got to do with me?" 

When no one answered her she sat up in her bed- as best as she could with the restraints holding her down, "what does the Winter Soldier have to do with me?" 

The blonde turned from Tony to Audie, she recognized him almost instantly, he was the man she'd seen on Tony's computer that had been wearing the horrible American-themed suit. "What did you just say?" 

Audie frowned, "I said, what does the Winter Soldier have to do with me?" 

Casting Tony a sideways glance, he turned his body to fully face Audie, "how do you know about him?" 

She shrugged, "I read about it on Tony's computer, in the SHIELD files."

He shook his head, "you've got nothing to do with either, you're uncles just thinking about calling the person that knows about both of them." 

Tony frowned in Steve's direction, "team meeting, in the hall, now." 

Audie watched as the blonde stepped away from her and slowly made his way out into the hall with Tony and Natasha, were they deciding her fate? She couldn't tell with the door closed.

Closing her eyes, she tried her best to focus on the faint voices behind the door, after a few seconds it seemed as if someone had hit the volume head in her button, suddenly it sounded as if they were still in the room talking normally.

"We can't not call Fury, not for something this big."

"Something? She's a child, not a thing." 

"Actually, she's nineteen." 

"Back in my day that was still considered a young adult, in other words, a child. If you call Fury you're sentencing her to a life as a lab rat."

"I wouldn't let that happen." 

"And Fury wouldn't let you stop him, in his eyes, she's another experiment, another weapon for him to create." 

"And what if I don't call Fury? What then? HYDRA gets into my house in the middle of the night and takes her for themselves? News spreads fast Rogers, and no doubt it'd be your little friend Barnes that gets it first." 

"Don't bring him into this."

"Then stay out of it, I called you for help, not for the unwanted sentiment." 

"You don't even have to call him, she's not an Avenger, no one will come looking for her, you'd just have to keep her under supervision." 

Tony's eyes widened, "how am I supposed to explain this to her mother?" 

Audie thought about that herself, she was supposed to return home in a week, how were they going to fix whatever was wrong with her before then?

"It's fine, we shut down HYDRA and they'll have no use for her."

Tony frowned, "I think we both know that's not how things are gonna go down Steve." 

"I'm calling Fury." 

Both the males turned to watch as Natasha walked away, her phone already going to her ear. Tony moved to follow after her- casting a short glance in Steve's direction- "just stay with her till I get back Rogers." 

And so he did, pushing the door open, he stepped inside and sat in the chair beside the girl's bed.

"What's gonna happen to me?" Audie questioned, the man turned to look at her.

She was so young.

She still had so much life to live and here they were about to expose her to something that could take all of that away.

Steve wouldn't let that happen.

Just like he wouldn't sign the so-called accords Tony had spoken of.

Taking advantage of the fact both Natasha and Tony were making their way downstairs to call Fury and explain the situation, Steve quickly slipped out of his seat and began loosening the restraints around her wrists.

Audie watched on in silence as the man loosened the restraints- allowing her to slip her limbs from where they'd been bound- worried that if she made a sound he would tighten them once again and leave her in the room.

He met her gaze as he loosened the restraints holding her left leg down, "I don't know." he stated meeting the girl's gaze for a moment before he moved onto the next leg restraint, "but I'm not gonna let them put you in a lab like they did to my friends." 

Audie was confused, to say the least.

There were others like her? Or were they different?

She wasn't special in any way.

Not that she could recall.

"Where are we going?" he questioned as Steve made his way to loosening the restraints around her ankles, "somewhere safe until things get sorted out." 

"What about my uncle?" 

Steve shook his head before reaching his hands out to hold hers- he hoped the gesture came off as reassuring, but from the look on her face he couldn't tell- "you have to understand me when I say that you can't trust him right now, and maybe not for a while." 

Unsure of what else to do, she nodded her head and slipped her feet from their restraints once he'd released her hands.

"Steve..." she began as he searched the room for her shoes, "yes?" he questioned as he quickly ripped them up from under the bed, "what's wrong with me?" he shook his head as he pulled her boots on over the thick hospital socks that covered her pale feet.

"I'm not sure, but we gotta go now." 

And with that, he grabbed her hand and pulled her from the room, at first, no one paid them mind.

Until one of the nurses took note of her empty bed and called it in.

And then the alarms started going off.

Steve clenched his teeth, he probably should've thought his plan out better. Not that it would've made any difference, he just needed to get out of the building, that couldn't be too hard, right?

He was wrong.

With staff bustling about to try and find their missing patient it seemed it was going to be quite difficult to get out of the building without being spotted.

And once Fury knew he'd taken the girl, he'd be on a wanted list, they would stop at nothing to find him.

To find her.

She was special, that much he could grasp without the help of the director.

Approaching a corner, Steve held out his hand to stop the girl before she could continue walking, "wait a second." he muttered quietly glancing around the corner to check for people.

Luckily there was only one, it was a nurse, and she'd just retreated into a hospital room to care for her patient.

It was a clear shot, all they'd have to do is be quick and they could get out untouched and unnoticed.

Steve gently pulled the girl forward his hand softly clasped around hers as he led her down the hall.

"Steve."

The man's eyes slightly widened and he stopped in his steps, "Steve let her go." Natasha stated as she trained her gun on the man's shoulder, she wanted to disable him, not kill him.

The intention was as clear as her shot.

But she wouldn't take it, not unless she had to.

"She's going on her own free will, see?" he stated letting his grip on her hand falter, Natasha watched as the girl's grip on his hand remained evident despite his having loosened.

"Honey." she began cocking her head slightly to meet the girl's gaze, "you're safe here, your uncle and I are going to figure out what's wrong with you, maybe even try to reverse it."

Audie glanced from Natasha to Steve, who was she supposed to trust?

The woman watched as the male gripped the girl's hand once more, Audie wasn't going to come with her, that much she could see.

The girl watched as Natashas finger lingered over the trigger, she was going to shoot Steve.

A wave of unknown anger began to wash over the girl, why was all of this happening? Why was it happening to her, of all people?

Where was Tony?

She just wanted to go home. She wanted to go back to her normal life.

And as Natasha thought about her next move, she found herself staring into the eyes of the girl that had become unnaturally dark, a small bolt of green danced across her iris' and she questioned whether or not her eyes were playing tricks on her.

But then it happened again.

Another bolt streaked across her iris' as the girl's anger continued to simmer, Natasha knew something had happened, the girl was indeed not the same as before, and they all had Tony to blame for it.

Quickly aiming her gun at the girl she pulled the trigger watching as the dart planted itself within the female's shoulder, within seconds Audie pulled it from her skin and crumpled into Steve's arms.

Natasha and Steve exchanged a look before the woman holstered her weapon and glanced over her shoulder, "they're going to come after you Steve, they'll want her."

He softly nodded his head, "I'm aware."

And with that, he picked Audie up- casting a final look in Natashas direction- before he carried her out to his car.

SLEEPWALKING

CHAPTER FIVE: TERRIFYING THOUGHTS