Fixed in the Shadows

"Skylar!" A voice calls for me. "Skylar, are you there?"

My eyes slowly open. A sharp pain rattles through my head, causing me to wince. My head is swimming as I sit up. I look around the room. It's about the size of my cell back at The Cube. It's completely dark and I can't see a thing. I try to swallow in fear but my mouth and throat are much too try. I just end up coughing. "Hello?" I croak. My eyes try to adjust to the darkness.

"Skylar? Skylar! Are you okay?" I recognize the voice.

"Steve?" I ask, crawling toward the wall where his voice is coming from. "Steve! What happened?"

"I don't know. I was just brushing my teeth one night and then everything went black. When I woke up, I was here."

"How long have you been here? Do you know who's doing this?"

"No clue. He hasn't said much. How did you get here? Did he kidnap you too?"

"No, he told me he had you so I came here. I was walking in when they blitz attacked me. That's all I remember."

"Well, this is bad. But we just need to stay calm."

"Maybe not. Before I came, I called for The Avengers to assemble. They can track my card. Well... that's if they haven't destroyed it yet." I sit up against the wall.

"Well, it looks like we're on our own for now," Steve sighs.

"How are we ever going to get out of this place? I swear to God, if I do get out, I'm going to--" Just then, a door opens across the cell. I shield my eyes from the light. Two enormous men appear in the doorway. They then walk toward me. One grabs my arms and the other grabs my legs. "Let go of me!" I squirm, trying to earn my freedom.

"No!" Steve yells. "Don't fight them! It'll just make things worse! Let them take you!"

I stop struggling and let them carry me. I'm forced to shut my eyes from the light when they take me out of the cell. Slowly but surely I can open my eyes as they adjust to the brightness. I turn to see Steve being carried next to me. After a few moments, we reach our destination. The men strip us down to our undergarments. Steve is thankfully too far away to see my scars. They hook us up to these machines. Our hands and feet are enclosed, causing us to be stetched out like a star.

"What is this place?" I mutter, looking around in awe. Suddenly, I feel needles pierce the skin in my hands. "Agh!" I grunt in pain.

"Where are we?" Steve asks, looking at me.

"An abandoned factory in Grand Rapids. This isn't far from where I used to live in my last foster home." I sigh at the thought.

"Well someone has to come around here sometime," Steve says, hopeful.

"Sorry, but no." I hang my head in disappointment. "No one has come around here since these teenagers were killed when the roof collapsed. We're all alone."

"That's right," a deep, scratchy, awful voice says. A man appears from the shadows. He is wearing all black with a cross necklace. He is also wearing a black mask, covering his entire face.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" I shout at our captor.

"What? You don't recognize me, Skylar? That's a pity. This was your necklace!" He lifts up the cross necklace to show me.

I squint my eyes as I try to figure out who this person is. I stare intently on the necklace. I do recognize it. The memories start to form around it. The last memory I have with it was the day my foster parents sold me. I remember putting it on over my Nine Inch Nails band shirt. Then it all clicks. "No," I gasp.

"Ding ding ding!" The man laughs, waving his finger around in the air. "It's me!" He takes off the mask to reveal a scarred and mangled face. His jet black tufts of hair are slicked down in the worst combover I have ever seen. Wow. I really took out all my rage when I attacked all those 12 years ago and it shows.

"No!" I shout. "I killed you! I got free and I ripped you apart! I killed you!" I exclaim. Tears begin to group in my eyes at the chilling thought that The Man isn't dead.

"You were close but you didn't finish the job." He walks toward me, putting a smirk on his face. "I admit, you really did a number on me but I kind of played dead. Not very noble but I have no shame!" He shrugs. "I knew I wasn't going to let you, a little, worthless bitch, defeat me. I knew I would get my revenge."

"What is he talking about, Skylar?" Steve asks. His voice is shaky with fear.

"What? You haven't told him yet? You always were a secret-keeper." The Man brushes my cheek with his hand. I try biting his finger. He then raises a remote. He presses a button and I feel an extreme burning pain travel through my body. I try my best not to scream. I bite down on my lip until I taste blood and the power ceases.

"Stop it!" Steve pleads.

He does what he is told. "Tell him," he says softly. Tell him what I did to you and what you did to me."

"Never! You can shock me all you want." I struggle to get the words out.

"Fine, then. I'll just shock him." The Man then electrocutes Steve. Steve yells out in pain.

"No! Stop! Please! Fine! I'll tell him." I hang my head in defeat.

"That's more like it. Listen up, Stevie boy!"

"I was fourteen years old," I start. I hang my head in shame. "I was fourteen years old when my foster parents sold me to him. He kept me strapped to a table for six months while he raped, tortured and did experiments on me. One day, I became too powerful for him to control so I got loose and attacked him. That was the day I discovered my powers." I look up and finally make eye contact with Steve. His eyes are full of tears.

Steve then turns to The Man. "You bastard!" He screams in anger. "How could you do that to a poor, innocent girl! You're going to burn in hell!"

"I guess you could say I'm a sick man!" The Man says smugly. "And I'm still just as sick as I was then, maybe even more so." He takes out a knife and slowly slices it across my abdomen.

I grimace in pain. "You'll never get away with this!" I say through gritted teeth. "When I get down from here, I'm going to rip you to shreds and this time, I'll make sure I finish the job."

"When, my child. When you get down." He wags the knife at me.

"Fine. Go head. Kill us. What's it going to do?" I throw my head back defiantly.

"Oh, I'm not just going to kill you. I have an army. I'm going to take over the world. And the first person I'm going to kill after I'm finished with you too? Well, the Avengers of course but even before that..." He comes just a couple inches away from my face. "..Sam Winchester."

I spit in his face. "You stay away from Sam, you monster! If you touch him, I'll come back from Hell and tear your ass up!" I wiggle, trying to get out of the contraption. But the needles just dig deeper and deeper into my skin.

The Man guffaws. "I'd like to see you try!"

Just then, the roof caves in. I look up to the sky and see Iron Man floating above us with his hand stretched out. Thor flies in, knocking out the guards with his hammer. Hawkeye and Black Widow drop down and take out more minions. The Man quickly puts on his mask and starts to sprint down the other way. The Hulk also jumps in to join the fight. The Avengers have come to save us!

"Hey, Cap, Skylar," Iron Man nods to us "How's it hanging?" He laughs hysterically. "Ah, nevermind. Too soon." He moves to Steve and uses his laser to release him.
Thor swings the mighty mjolnir, smashing the machines I'm hooked up to. "You are free, Lady Skylar."

I immediately start running after The Man. I'm able to catch up with him. I jump on him back and we fall in a rolling tumble. I flip him over and begin punching him in the face as hard as I possibly can. I'm so angry that he dare try to hurt Steve or that he would threaten Sam. I feel the adrenaline start to kick in and white light shines from my eyes. The Man then kicks me into the wall. I slide to a ground in a thump and everything goes black.