I woke to a windowless cell with only the bare necessities around me. A table held up a tray with a bowl of soup in front of me. When I sat up to reach for it, my arm felt weighted down. There was a cuff on the upper portion, with a small bag of liquid attached to it. It took effort, but I managed to make my way to the table. Soon after I started devouring the soup, the wall across from me dissipated to a clear screen. The man on the other side put a tablet down on a stand, then sat down with a sigh.

"I suppose the first thing to do is ask you what you remember."

"Who's asking?" I inquired tentatively.

"Agent Ward, from S.H.I.E.L.D." In the silence that followed his response, I ruminated on how to answer, expecting the usual quirky remark from the Voice; it never came. Panic rose in my heart, the only reason for the Voice not to say anything is if I take my medicine.

"What did you do?" My head spun as I tried to hopelessly wish the Voice back.

"I'm sorry, medicating was the recommendation of the medical team. That's why I needed to talk to you. HYDRA only goes after defectors, but you're not on the list."

"I don't even know what the bloody hell you're talking about." Ward raised an eyebrow.

"You're walking a dangerous line here." His voice went cold and even more emotionless than before. "If you're lying, if this whole thing is a scheme, you've got yourself a one-way ticket to the highest security prison within American borders-"

"I am not lying!" I shouted; in desperation I began clawing at the cuff to get it off. Tears blurred my vision enough for me to ignore my surroundings, and suddenly I felt a strong hold latch onto my wrists and pull me. "Get off of me!" I yelled again as I fought against the hold.

"Stop! What we're doing is for your own good."

"I don't even know you!"

"Ward! Let her go, she was telling the truth." The woman's voice stopped Ward, and he backed away from me. As the tears left my vision and trailed down my cheeks I was able to see who gave the command. The woman gazed at me with kindness instead of intimidation like Ward did. Her hazel eyes complimented her amber hair as well as her light skin. She carried a box of vital monitoring equipment to the table, which was now soaked with soup.

"Ward, Coulson wants you to help identify the HYDRA agents who were at the scene." Ward huffed and walked out, looking back to glare at me for just a second.

"Lacee is it?" The woman asked. "I'm Jemma Simmons. I want to apologise for the way you've been treated, we overreacted since it was HYDRA who tried to kill you. We should have been helping you." She gently reached for the cuff, and I instinctively pulled away.

"What do you want with me?" My voice trembled as the adrenaline wore off.

"It's our job to protect those targeted by HYDRA, and for some reason they went after you. Honestly, I was resistant to Ward's coming down here, he's still new and his questioning methods are... Rough to say the least." She pulled the cuff off, unintentionally letting me catch a glimpse of a small needle attached to the bag. "Do you not remember anything from that day?" She asked worriedly. I paused to examine her; she seemed friendly, and it was obvious she cared. My decision made, I proceeded to tell her the fragments I remembered.

"But I don't understand, the last thing I remember is being shot. How did I end up here?" Simmons sighed in frustration.

"After you passed out, you were taken to the nearest S.H.I.E.L.D. Medical facility. The agents there fixed the damage to your throat, but then an executive order came from one of the higher levels to keep you sedated."

"Because of distrust?" I questioned the truth behind her statement.

"You could say that. I didn't agree with it, there wasn't any way to tell whether or not you'd heal properly. But Director Fury seemed concerned, so we had to obey."

"How long has it been?" Simmons didn't answer, instead wrapping a blood pressure monitor around my arm and checking my pulse. "I want to know how long it's been since everything happened." I said as calmly as possible.

"It's been a few months. How are you feeling? Any dizziness?" She replied dismissively.

"How many months? Two? Three?"

"Six." Simmons started the monitor and quickly turned her face away. Before she could though, I caught a glimpse of her flustered and angry expression.

"Why? I don't even know what I've done."

"I want to tell you," Simmons glanced back at me with a weak smile. "But I don't know either. S.H.I.E.L.D. Protocol prohibits my knowing."

"So why now? I mean, I could have been kept sedated for as long as the sun shines, right? How important am I really?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out." Maria, the woman from before, walked in holding a file. "Simmons, if you have the vitals you can leave." Simmons nodded and took the monitors off, giving my hand a quick squeeze before exiting. Maria took her place across the table from me. "You've caused quite the commotion around S.H.I.E.L.D. The last time anything like this has happened New York was invaded by aliens."

"Am I supposed to be flattered or insulted?"

"What does your voice say?"

"Nothing, since you practically killed it." I retaliated.

"Fair enough; I'm sorry about what's happened, you weren't treated as you should have and-"

"I don't want your patronizing crap." I cut in. "Why am I here?"

"HYDRA has obviously been interested in you, and those who are caught by them don't usually survive. S.H.I.E.L.D. Wanted to bring you in, try to help you hone your powers." Maria passed me the file to look at, disregarding the mess. "Here's the extent of what we know about you, we were hoping you could fill in some blanks."

"I can tell you right now you know more than I want you to know." I pushed the file back. "If it's alright, I'd like you to let me go and burn the file."

"We can't let you do that. You'd be walking into HYDRA's arms." Maria said cautiously.

"See? That's another thing, I don't know who or what you're talking about. HYDRA, as far as I know, is a mythological creature. I obviously wasn't attacked by a creature with multiple heads."

"The HYDRA I'm talking about is a radical terrorist organization that is intent on world domination, by any means necessary. Even if it means preying on people with powers. Their name comes from the idea with their namesake that if you cut off one head, two more grow back in its' place. I can assure you that's what happens with these people."

"But I have no connections to them, if I did then I think I would know. And anyway, I don't have powers, I'm just plain crazy. I have a psychotic voice in my head."

"Lacee, because of your encounter, we can't just let you go. You'd be endangering yourself as well as many others you don't even know. That day alone forty civilians were injured, two now dead. We're not asking you to be stuck here in the cell, but we do want to keep you under surveillance."

"Here? Do I at least get to know where 'here' is?"

"You can stay on-base, or we can arrange a safehouse for you."

"What exactly does S.H.I.E.L.D. want to observe about me?"

"When your powers activate, determine why they do so, essentially get a baseline so eventually we can help you control your powers so you don't have to take medicine to ignore the Voice." I leaned back, feeling something wrong about everything. Still, it'd be nice to have protection if anything bad happens again.

"I'll try it, but I want a safehouse. I'm not a secret agency type person."

"Fair enough, neither was I at your age." Maria got up with a smile and picked up the now soup-soaked file.

"I'm sorry about my meltdown earlier."

"It's not your fault. I'll make sure Ward gets put on cleanup detail tonight."

"You can do that?"

"I'm a commander, I need to do something to assert my authority." She laughed and started her way out. "I'll send Simmons down with some clothes. You can wash up in here and change while we get the safehouse worked out."

"Thank you." I said. Maria nodded, then left. A few minutes later, Simmons walked in with a stack of clothes with a pair of boots on top.

"I saw in your chart that you're the same height as my bunk mate, so I took some of her clothes for you to choose. I hope you don't mind." I looked through the stack to find a simple striped dress with a cartoon cat face sweater, and put it with the black combat-style boots. After putting it on, I washed my face and tried to style my hair in the mirror. Unfortunately, I was too distracted by the scar on my neck. It was faded, but the distinctive circular shape made it stand out.

'Lacee! We're back! What happened? How long we been medicated? Did we miss the finale for the Walking Dead? We're assuming Daryll's still alive.'

"Slow down! I'll tell you in due time. Besides, you'll figure it out steady, you've got access to my brain."

'No! Our honey-shooter is dead!'

"That's not what I was talking about. But, you know, whatever." Now I almost wished the Voice was medicated again.

"Are you ready Lacee? The safehouse's been sorted out."

'Who's that? A safehouse? Did we witness someone getting murdered by the mob? Oh wait, we got shot. But who is that?'

"Alright, if you don't want to be medicated again, then only talk when it's helpful. I'm gonna shoot myself soon if you don't shut up."

'Yes ma'am.' I turned to face Simmons feeling triumphant.

She was standing next to a man dressed in a flannel shirt and jeans. His dark eyes looked at me from head to toes before he relaxed and gave the slightest smile.

"Lacee," Simmons explained. "This is Agent Barton. He's the one who'll take care of you."

"Miss." He nodded. "I'm trusting you won't be much trouble."

"I won't." I answered with an edge in my voice.

'Really? We're not going to get along Lacee, you know that right?'

"I'm gonna stay hopeful."

Tadaa! I finally updated again! I also finally had time to draw for fun again today, that's the picture I included. I'll write something in LAIKI about the picture and it's inspiration. :) so yeah! Hawkeye is gonna be a big part of the story. I did toss around Cap being the main Avenger Lacee interacts with, but I kept on going back to my original idea of her being on the farm with Hawkeye's family, and the occasional Natasha. Don't worry though, the other avengers will show up eventually. ;) please remember to vote, and feel free to comment! Also, sorry about the WD thing, I don't watch the Walking Dead but for some inexplicable reason I wanted to put a thing in. Actually I do know why, I've been obsessed with the Silent Hills Playable Teaser lately, and Norman Reedus was the main character in the game (RIP the most promising game ever... screw you Konami! GDT and HK are still gonna make it somehow!) The only thing I know he's in other than that is Walking Dead, so I put that in there without thinking it through. Lol.
Early happy Christmas!
-LJ