2016 | AVENGERS COMPOUND — Wanda announced that she had finally finished cooking and baking for today's dinner and sent everyone to the perfectly set dining table. It looked wonderful. There were even candles on the table. The girl had never seen so much food before.  Little Maximoff had apparently put a lot of effort into tonight, which made the little Sirens heart smile a little.

The guest of honor was supposed to sit down in the middle and next to her sat the captain and Natasha.  Wanda came back from the kitchen with another Avengers member who introduced himself as a vision. His skin was pink and he wore a yellow stone on his forehead.

The two also sat down at the table and they all started to eat together. It tasted delicious, the girl had never eaten anything so delicious. Wanda cooked a sokovian dish as she explained and got a lot of compliments for it.

While everyone continued to sit at the table, the others often told each other different things or explained something to the newcomer. They told of their adventures, experiences or pasts and laughed together about the evening.

"So, Arielle, what is your story?" Tony finally asked, but the girl didn't notice that she was meant, which is why Natasha nudged her lightly with her elbow. The girl lifted her head and turned to Tony. She wasn't sure, however what she should answer, so she just gave a short shrug.

"I think the name suits you." Natasha smiled kindly and tried to give her more beautiful thoughts than Hydra. The truth was, the girl didn't know her real name. Well not anymore ... For Hydra she was just a siren ...  A monster. Nothing else. And she just didn't want to belong to Hydra anymore.

"Who is this Ariel?" Steve asked after deliberation and didn't know the story behind the name either. "Ariel, was a mermaid." Sam started explaining to Steve and looked from him to the girl.

"Exactly and well Arielle and her daddy didn't get along well." Tony continued, thinking of the similarities she and the girl had. "She wanted to be with the people on land, but her father forbade her."

"She also saved a prince from drowning in the sea and pulled him ashore." Natasha said and grinned at Steve, who was still listening intently to the story.

"What happened then?" Asked the girl with a smile in her eyes. She really wanted to know how it went from there. One thing was clear, the two definitely shared an incredible curiosity.

"She fell in love with him." Wanda grinned.

"In love?" The girl asked curiously and gave her an interested look. The others also noticed that the girl found the story of the mermaid extremely interesting, because when she looked over at Steve for a moment she noticed that he was amusing her.

She averted her gaze from him and shyly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She had heard a story like this for a long time, if not before. "So in love that she even gave up her voice for the guy." Tony said, pleased that the girl apparently liked his story. He noticed her smile and the glow in her eyes. He hoped he could make her a little happier. "Oh, and her mermaid tail..."

Love was something the girl didn't know. She didn't know what it felt like and was therefore all the more curious about the story.  Arielle sacrificed almost everything for the person she loved. It had to must feel indescribable, thought Siren. She hoped to be loved by someone like that at some point.

Someone who would fight for them.
Someone who would give her hold.

"Lovely story." The girl smiled after a pause, remembering her time at Hydra which made her smile fade.

"Maybe because it sounds familiar to you?" Natasha asked jokingly and pulled the girl back out of her thoughts. She just shook her head with a smile and preferred to enjoy the company of the others.

The evening was nice. Everyone chatted, enjoyed the great food and continued to try to find out more about the girl that they had saved from HYDRA.

"Forgive me for my curiosity, Arielle. But-" Tony began and looked questioningly at the girl who was sitting between Natasha and Steve. Tony noticed that this name made the girl smile and inside he was a little happy about it."That was you in the shipwreck, wasn't it?"

The girl, like the others, was now all listening to Tony. She nodded at his question and hoped they wouldn't think wrong. "You were supposed to get the cube, were you?" She nodded again, remembering the painful mind control that occurred before the mission. "But if I'm correct, you had a mermaid tail, the last time. How is that possible?"

"Serum." Explained the girl.

"But why did they want to give you legs again?" Asked Natasha. "Fighting ... on land." The girl explained and everyone looked at each other looking for an answer. Everyone got the idea that HYDRA wanted to win their wars with her. It was pure luck that they had found her in time.

"They wanted to use mind control on you to be their weapon, just like they did with Buck." Steve said, staring from the girl across to Bucky.

"What if they find me?" Siren asked everyone.

Steve looked back at her. He stared into her eyes and, if she tried to hide it, he could see her fear. "We won't let that happen." Steve assured him, his eyes were always on the girl next to him. The others agreed and also nodded to his statement and also assured the girl that they would help her.

After a pause and the team's deliberation, Tony continued and wanted to share an idea with the others.  "I have an idea ... You want to stop HYDRA, right Arielle?" She nodded resolutely to his answer and listened to him with interest, just like the others who were now perking up their ears. "We'll help you to defend yourself."

"I don't think that's a good-"

"Ah-ah-ah." Tony interrupted. "We can train her. She could be of great help to us."

"HYDRA has tormented her enough already." Steve spoke and discussed with Tony. He was of the opinion that the girl deserved a break. She had been trapped for who knows how many decades and if Steve had his way she shouldn't somehow get in contact with HYDRA again. "And now you want to force something further on her?"

"We can't protect her 24/7, Rogers."

"She's not a fighting machine!"

"GUYS!!!" Natasha stopped the two of them from their discussion. Unfortunately, Nat also didn't know which side she was on because both were in a certain way right somewhere.

"Maybe you should let her decide for herself?" Suggested Sam, who was sitting next to Bucky, and gave the girl an encouraging expression.

"I want to do it." The girl said firmly, looking confidently at Tony, who gave her a proud look.

"Then that would be settled." Tony grinned and gave Steve a victorious look. "Oh ... and do you have any special skills that we are still unknown?"

"If I'm right, you can breathe underwater and you also have superhuman speed when swimming." Natasha explained and tried to help the girl answer. She nodded and looked in her direction thanks.

"You can create sound waves." Steve said, whereupon the girl shook her head.

"No." She replied firmly and next pointed her finger at her neck. "Dangerous."

"We could help you control it." Wanda suggested.

"Maybe we should wait and see if she gets her voice back at all." Said Bucky and had a guilty conscience that the girl that he was once a friend could trust so much again.

"Is there anything else you can do?" Asked Thor, raising an eyebrow.

The girl stared at the glass of water that stood in front of Natasha. She focused firmly on it, pointing to the water in it.  With a small movement of the hand she manipulated the water and formed a kind of small ball that floated up out of the glass.

This made everyone breathe a sigh of relief and everyone stared with wide eyes at the ball of water floating in the air in front of their eyes.

"So hydro powers." Tony marveled as the girl lowered her hand and let the water fall back into the glass.

Sam agreed and had to laugh a little. It was still a little strange for him to know that there were such things as supernatural powers.

Sam's laugh gave the girl another little idea and, like with Natasha's glass, now raised her hand in the direction of Sam's glass.  She formed a slightly smaller ball of water and let it float in front of him. She quickly gave him a little grin and pointed her fingers at Sam's face.

* SPLASH *

What followed were the laughter of the others, who were amused that Sam had got the water splash in his face.

"I like this one." Thor laughed and gave the girl a smile, also very impressed.