That night when I went to bed with a full stomach of lamb shanks and vegetables that Pepper had made, I knew I would have nightmares. I tried to put off sleeping as long as I could, thinking that maybe if I was super tired, my brain would also be too tired to think of any nightmares to haunt me. It was around midnight, or slightly after when I decided to give up and I laid down on the bed, which honestly felt like laying on a cloud, not that I knew what that felt like, but I could imagine. It was too hot for the blankets, so I let them sit on the end while I stared up at the ceiling. It didn't take me too long to fall asleep, but when I did, I was wrong about not having any nightmares.

"You thought you could escape us?" A voice growled in my ear, in Russian. Spit hit the side of my face and I flinched away, squeezing my eyes shut tightly. Something grabbed my jaw and wrenched it back towards the voice, right into the face of Strucker. His face wasn't pleasant to see up close, I could see the pores of his skin, the scars littering his face, even small hairs that poked through his skin. It took all of my control to not pull away.

"Haven't I told you before B12 that you can't escape us?" Strucker growled at me and I flinched back again, but his leather-gloved hand grasped my already bruised chin so tightly that I could barely swallow properly. "It seems like you might need a reminder." He threw me backwards and pain flared through my spine as it hit the cold tiled floor. I let out a strangled yelp and tried to scramble upright, but Strucker just pushed me back down onto the floor with his boot, resting it on my ribs, and holding me there.

"What do we do to those who don't follow the rules B12?" He smirked, his voice becoming sickeningly sweet as he kneeled down next to me, boot pressing harder into my ribs. A small whimper broke through my chapped lips and I swallowed painfully. Strucker growled and pressed his boot in harder.

"Answer me." He demanded, sweet voice gone.

"We punish them." I whispered, my voice laced with fear, with weakness. I hated how I sounded.

"That's right." Strucker smirked. "We punish them." He straightened and pulled back his fist before I could even comprehend was going on, it connected with my jaw, sending my whole head jolting violently to the side. I swallowed back my cry of pain and slowly looked back at Strucker, tears pricking my eyes as I felt the bruise form on my jaw. He smirked and punched the same spot again, with more force, and my tongue got in the way, causing me to bite down on it. Instantly blood filled my mouth and as he punched my jaw again, it splattered out of my mouth.

"How unfortunate." Strucker smirked, pausing his punches for a moment to caress the throbbing bruise on my jaw. "It seems you are developing quite a mark there." He chuckled darkly. "I think you need a matching one." He lifted his other gloved hand and began to punch the opposite side of my jaw, more blood splattering out of my mouth. He punched so hard that I felt one of my teeth fall out, and I spat it out immediately. Strucker just chuckled and grabbed my blood jaw, causing me to look up at him. His eyes flickered over my bruises and his smirked grew.

"You're lucky we still have use for you." He said. "Or you would have been dead long ago." He lifted his elbow up and slammed it down on my nose, the snap echoing in my ears.

I bolted upright and instantly something pulled away from me, a green light hovering in mid air illuminating Loki's face as he watched me with a heaving chest.

"Your mental wall is so strong that I can barely wake you up." He said before smiling softly. "Are you okay?" I swallowed and nodded, not feeling like I could form words. "Are you sure? That dream was pretty bad."

"You saw?" I croaked, before wincing at how weak my voice sounded. Loki conjured up a glass of water and floated it over to me, causing me to give him a small smile as I drank it all.

"You were projecting your thoughts again." He replied as I drank. "I saw them in my mind first seconds before Stark's AI alerted me." I finished the water and slowly lowered the glass, which disappeared from my hand seconds later. We were silent for a couple of moments before he spoke up again.

"Did they actually do that to you?" He asked softly and I shook my head.

"Some of my dreams are memories, but others are what my mind makes up." I fiddled with the sheets. "But they are often based on things that have happened to me." Loki nodded and we fell into a silence again.

"At least the bracelets seem to be working again." Loki attempted a soft chuckle, nodding down to my wrists and I looked down to see that there were no sparks anywhere. I managed a weak smile and flexed my hands slightly before looking up at him.

"Sorry for waking you up again." I said but he just shook his head.

"It's fine." He began to climb off the edge of my bed where he had been sitting. "You need to stop apologizing for everything." I opened my mouth to say sorry again instinctively and he gave me a soft look, causing me to shut my mouth immediately before I let out a soft laugh. He smiled back and walked over to the door.

"Goodnight Emily." He said softly, opening up my door before he stepped out, shutting it quietly behind him. I watched it for a couple of seconds before looking down at my spark free hands. I looked over at the moonlight filtering through my curtains and slowly layed back down, rolling onto my side to watch it on the floor.

I must have drifted off at some point because I woke up later with the sunlight on my face. I groaned and slowly sat up, sweeping the hair out of my face as I threw the sheets off my body and walked over to the window, opening up the curtains. I started out at the forest as the sun rose over the tall tree tops for a couple of seconds before I made my way to the door on the right wall where I figured the bathroom was.

The bathroom was even better than I could ever imagine. There was a huge white bathtub on the right just below a large window. There was a little wooden tray with a folded-up face washer, tubes of shampoo and conditioner, a bar of pink soap and even some scented candles on the end of the bath. Against the back wall, there was a shower with frosted glass and a rack inside with body washes and even more shampoo and conditioner. Against the left wall of the bathroom, there was a double sink on top of a black and white marble top, silver taps and silver handles on white cabinets underneath. Next to the door, there was a silver towel rack with three or four different towels hanging up, all different sizes.

I ducked out of the bathroom quickly to the cupboard that was built into the wall next to the bathroom door and opened it up to reveal all of the clothes that I had hung and stacked up in there yesterday. I grabbed a pair of black jeans and a floppy black top with long sleeves and some band name across the front.

I walked back into the bathroom, setting everything down before I turned on the shower, quickly taking off my pyjamas before I walked under the cool water. It was definitely refreshing, and as much as I wanted to stay under the water forever, I eventually had to drag myself out, knowing that there was probably a delicious breakfast downstairs already. I threw on my clothes, quickly tying my hair back into a ponytail before I ducked out of my room. I reached the top of the stairs and immediately noticed that all of the Avengers were already sitting down, some on the couch and some at the table, those at the table already eating. I took a deep breath and walked down the stairs, moving towards a spare seat at the table, inhaling the delicious smell of pancakes and bacon. There was a chorus of good mornings from several of the Avengers and I returned them all with a soft smile before their conversations resumed.

"How'd you sleep last night?" Asked Pepper as she set down another plate of pancakes in front of Thor, who was eating like there was no tomorrow.

"Okay." I replied, giving her a small smile, letting her put stuff onto my plate. I didn't know why she did it, maybe she wanted to make sure that I ate enough, but I didn't mind. I gave her another small smile in thanks and began to eat, tuning into different conversations going around.

"Emily." Tony called out to me from the head of the table after several minutes of me eating in silence. I looked up at him, swallowing my mouthful of bacon. "Bruce and I need to do a checkup on you, all of your injuries. You missed both your first and second-week checkup, which is not your fault at all." He shot a look at Thor who wasn't even paying attention, completely coating his pancakes in maple syrup. Tony rolled his eyes and looked back at me, and I nodded, causing him to give me a small smile.

"And then we can maybe try training later." Steve spoke up, a soft grin on his face. I smiled softly and nodded before turning my attention back to my pancakes. I just managed to eat one pancake, and about two pieces of bacon before I was full.

"Do you want anything else?" Pepper asked, ever looking out for me. I looked over at her and shook my head, smiling softly.

"Well, in that case." Tony stood up, having finished a long time ago. "I say we get this checkup over and done with. You ready Bruce?" He looked over at the kitchen where Bruce was pouring himself another cup of coffee, nodding as he tried not to overfill his mug. Tony grinned over at me and I stood up, picking up my empty plate and glass that did have juice in it, and stacking them up in the dishwasher. Tony and Bruce waited for me before we all walked over to the lift, and just as the doors shut behind us, I saw Loki give me a small smile.