twenty seven

                                    

                                          
2012
A younger version of Talia sits on the edge of a grey bed. She looks to be in her bedroom, but there are no pictures on the wall, clothes strewn about the floor. No colors, no...life.
                          
The girl looks out the windows, eyes roving over the New York skyline, taking in the strange buildings in this new world.
                          
She had only been on C-53–no...on Earth for a few days. The man with the weird beard—Tony, was constantly bothering her.
                          
But she just wanted to be left alone. She's been alone for years in the ship, not allowed to have friends back on Hala. She's always been isolated, and so the girl sits alone in her room.
                          
Talia holds her hands out, letting the buzzing energy from the other day flow through her. Tiny crackles and sparks of lightning weave in between her fingers. 
                          
She shakes her head, closing her hands into fists. The girl's confused, she doesn't understand how she can do that. It doesn't make sense how she took that from the big, blonde guy. His name is Thor, she reminds herself constantly of their names.
                          
The girl whips her head around as her door creaks open. A blonde head sticks in, a hesitant smile on the mans face. It takes a second for the name: Steve.
                          
"Hey. Uh, can I come in?"
                          
The girl freezes for a second, no one had ever asked if they could enter her room...they just did whenever they had wanted to. She blinks once, before nodding her head.
                          
As the man walks into the room, Talia holds her breath, waiting to be yelled at for invading their planet or something like that.
                          
Steve walks over towards the windows and looks out.
                          
"Pretty right?" He looks back at her, a hopeful expression.
                          
But he turns back around when the girl stares at him with blank eyes. 
                          
"Took me a while to get used to it. I was frozen...for a long time, so everything was different when they woke me up."
                          
The girl tilts her head, trying to understand his words.
                          
"Can you understand me?"
                          
She nods.
                          
"How old are you?"
                          
Talia thinks back to when she was at Hala. The girl was eight when being sold to Thanos, but she wasn't sure how long ago that was.
                          
So she looks up at Steve and shrugs. His frown grows bigger at this, as he looks up and down her body. 
                          
"You look...maybe eleven or twelve? Does that sound right to you?"
                          
She shrugs once again. Her time in the cells had all blended together, whether she was on Thanos' ship, Maw's ship, or being babysat by the Chitauri. 
                          
"M'kay, well. We want to help you, but you're gonna have to talk to us. You can talk to us okay? We'll be your friends, and you can be ours."
                          
"Yon-Rogg said I wasn't allowed to have friends." Her voice is hoarse and raspy from being unused.
                          
Steve's eyes widen at her talking for the first time, besides saying her name. 
                          
"You speak!" He yells out with a smile.
                          
It quickly fades when he sees the girl wince from his loud voice.
                          
"Sorry...well Mr Rogg isn't here. So, friends?" He holds his hand out for her, a hesitant smile on his face.