"Hey, what's going on?"
Ally frowned. She had seen strange things. But yellow beams of energy shot from a gray and red figure in the sky? That was new. Especially when the beam was being shot at a screaming maniac shooting bullets everywhere. But when she was ordered to go bye-bye and get to a place where she could not see? That wasn't weird. That was boring, annoying, and just plain bothersome on every level.
Beside her, Claire frowned. "I dunno. Look, we've gotta get to safety," Claire told her.
Ally snorted. "You can if you want. I'm perfectly fine watching."
"Alright. Just don't go running to me if you get hurt."
"Scaredy cat," Ally muttered. Claire had no backbone. She was the most popular kid in school, and she had no sense of courage. If bullies showed up, she ran and hid. Meanwhile, Ally snapped back at anyone who bothered her. She could deal with them. Claire was scared of her own shadow. Ally didn't know something that scared her. But Claire was her best friend. Ally couldn't abandon her; she just chose to get a better view. Surely there was nothing wrong with that?
She turned her attention back to the fight, which was getting increasingly interesting. Which was good, because Ally didn't enjoy boredom. The fight was taking place on the field in front of the school. The sidewalk perpendicular to the street between the field and the school was cracked in several places, and grass was burned by beams every time Ally glanced away.
"Son of a bulldog," one of the people in the field said. Ally was up a tree and hadn't been seen yet. She cocked her head. It was the one with a helmet, who had fired energy blasts from his hands instead of his head.
A small golden object began making its way towards Ally. She tilted her head at it. Her eyes widened. Bullet! She ducked, and it whizzed over her. Who in carnation was shooting at her? "What in the world?"
Helmet guy spotted her. "Kid, why aren't you safe?"
Ally snorted. "Safe? Where is safe when there is a maniac going on a shooting spree? I'm getting a good view. Not going anywhere."The guy blinked at her, but soon had to get back to the fighting. Ally sighed and rolled her eyes. At least it wasn't boring. She supposed that being unwanted was better than being bored. Being unwanted didn't make her go crazy. Being bored did.
The fight lasted another good long while, and eventually the bad guy went away. For good. The guy who had seen her earlier approached. "You've got sense. Go with your friends."
Ally stared at him. "I only have one."
The man corrected himself. "Alright. Then go with your friend."
"Can't. Who knows where she is, it's past check-out time for her."
"Why were you watching anyway?" the other guy asked. He had removed his helmet and was looking at her. "We can only help when it's bad. It got bad here. Why weren't you safe?"
"What do you mean, you can only help when it gets bad?" She narrowed her eyes. "Doesn't the 'bad guy alert' basically mean 'do your job'?"
"The Accords," the helmet guy said. "They told us to come. Normally it doesn't get bad enough."
They told us to come. Normally it doesn't get bad enough. The Accords. The words spun in Ally's head. These Accords...if they told these two to come, then didn't that mean that they couldn't come otherwise? Probably. But if it normally doesn't get bad enough, then why did no-one help when the neighborhood nearby was threatened? What did all this mean? Suddenly it dawned on her. She laughed. "So, let me get this straight. There is a book of some sort somewhere that said that two or more people get to tell you how to live your life?"
"No," the red and silver metallic skin guy responded smoothly. "and you haven't told us your name. We should start with that. I am Vision."
"Mr. Stark," the helmet guy said stiffly.
Ally rolled her eyes. "First name?"
The helmet guy blinked. "Why?"
"Because the formality doesn't flow with me."
"Just tell her," Vision chided.
"Tony," the helmet guy grumbled.
"Better," she told them. "I am Ally. So, these 'Accords'," she spat, "they basically tell you when and where and who to fight?"
Vision nodded. "At the most basic, yes. It's for the collective good. We don't mind."
Ally laughed. "Hippo heads!"
They blinked. "Did you just insult the law?" Tony asked.
"No, I insulted you. Because it's true. Don't you two have friends?" They both gave an affirmative. Vision started to speak, but Ally went on. "Great. So, you and your friends are having a nice time together. Maybe beating up bad guys. It's fun, I don't fault you there. But anyway, your phone rings and someone you hardly know is telling you to go and do something else, or telling you you're not supposed to be doing good. What do you do?"
"Go and fight who must be fought," Vision said. "After all, it's our duty. We protect life."
"We do as we're told," Tony told her.
Ally laughed. "So naive. So you're saying that you don't mind a bit that thousands die and thousands more hate you because you abandoned them to do who knows what—maybe even beat up people who aren't the real problem? You're saying that you would rather do that than do what's right and truly fight for life? For the people?" She stared at them. "You would rather surrender your freedom?"
"We didn't surrender our freedom," Vision said calmly. "We are protecting people."
"At what cost? Huh? Because you're saying that you're a hopeless fool. Why surrender your freedom? Especially when it's better for everyone that you don't?" She continued more quietly. "Can't you tell the difference between destroying the world and saving it?"
They looked stunned. "I do not understand. We do know the difference," Vision told her. Ally had obviously struck a nerve.
"We avoid collateral damage this way," Tony said.
"No," Ally seethed. "You kill people. You ruin the lives of yourself and so many more. Collateral damage is something you just have to deal with. Try."
Vision sighed. "All Enhanced, or anyone acting as an Enhanced, have to follow them anyways."
Ally smirked and pointed at Vision. "Well, then. Suppose I may as well show you." They regarded her with curiosity a moment before her hand burst into flames. She smiled. "Enhanced, you say? I don't care. Why should I? I never surrender my freedom."
Two Weeks Later
The principal's voice came over the intercom one October morning two weeks after the battle. Ally rolled her eyes in annoyance. The intercom voice was so tinny and flat and annoying. Always such a similar monologue; the same thing every day. She hated it with a burning, fire-filled passion.
"Ally Smith, please report to the front office. We have visitors, so please don't spit on them this time."
Ally burst out laughing at the memory. Last time she had been called to the front office, no-one had told her that there were annoying people and that she shouldn't go. So she had spit on the three visitors from Walmart. Unfortunately, her firepower super-heated the spit ball so that the visitors were burned as well as humiliated and disgusted.
She regarded the two suspicious people in the office with intense curiosity as she entered. They appeared to be agents of some sort, and one held a thick, annoying-looking and probably politic-based, since they seemed to be agents, book in their hands. The rose as she entered. "Are you Miss Ally Smith?"
"So what if I am? Yes, and you are interrupting my very favorite part of the morning. You have two minutes to explain this intrusion on my morning."
They looked at each other. "Miss Ally-"
"Ally," she reprimanded. "My name is Ally."
"Ally," one said. "We are agents of the Sokovia Accords, a prestigious set of laws that protect the people, designed to keep any and all Enhanced and/or heroes/heroines in check. Enhanced individuals are required by law to sign the Accords within one month of the discovery of their Enhancement. Two weeks ago, your firepower was discovered. As this means you are an Enhanced, you are now required to sign the Accords."
And Enhanced individual," the other picked up, "is anyone who has been artificially modified in any way, including, but not limited to, genetic experimentation, specific serums, direct exposure to certain energies, and much more. There is no way or reason to know for certain how one obtained their power; but all Enhanced are dangerous. I am sure a girl like you can understand why such individuals must be regulated. As you have been discovered as an Enhanced yourself, please help us in our mission to help the people. All you need to do is sign." He handed her a book and pen. "Please look over the Accords and sign. You may have all the time you need to read the Accords, but we must have your signature within one month."
Ally laughed. "Yeah, right. Time's up." She turned to leave.
Ten minutes later, the agents tracked her down in her classroom and pounced. They gave her the booklet and said she had to read it. Ally shrugged and lit it on fire, making sure the fire didn't spread. "In case you have not noticed, I could not care less about these so-called 'Accords'. I'm no heroine."
They insisted it didn't matter, as since she was an Enhanced she was 'supposed' to sign the 'Accords'. Ally just didn't care. "Take one step closer and I'll burn you to ashes."
They left. Ally turned away, muttering to herself. So what? She had been able to summon fire for the longest time. As long as she could remember. Fire was her plaything. It didn't burn her, didn't hurt her, and did as it was told. Ally chuckled as she thought about the alias she had taken only a few months ago. Ember. That was what she called herself. Ember would not be pushed around.
Less than twenty-four hours later, she was tangled in the world of heroes and villains.
"So," the woman finished, "I understand what you're going through. It happened to me."
Ally looked at the Enhanced woman over her shoulder. The two were trapped in the room, which had no door. Vision had visited them awhile ago, but Ally was alone with the young woman most of the time.
The woman's name was Wanda Maximoff, but her code-name was Scarlet Witch. Her thing was mental manipulation and telekinesis. Wanda had lost her brother years ago, before the Sokovia Accords. His name had been Pietro. AKA Quicksilver. Ally could sympathize with her for that. She had lost her own sibling too. But Pietro had been murdered. James hadn't been. So Ally couldn't fully sympathize with Wanda. But it wasn't easy to be trapped in a room with someone you barely knew.
Wanda was an Avenger, one of the few reliably found at any one location. She had reddish hair and eyes that changed color when she used her powers; they turned red. She was often dressed in a darkly colored dress under a long red leather coat. She also wore a necklace around her neck, which Pietro had made for her soon after they were orphaned. Wanda was lovely, unlike Ally, with her black hair with fiery red tips that she kept so short it was off the collar. Ally's eyes were brown, and she often wore a sort of nonchalant and shelled expression, unlike Wanda, who had an open but ever-changing expression.
Wanda, too, had refused to sign the Accords, and had been jailed for it. Ally had a little more time to make up her mind between law criminal and moral criminal since she was younger. No contest whatsoever. She'd rather run from the law than regret her decisions her entire life. Ally wasn't stupid. She had moral boundaries, just like anyone sane.
"I hate these Accords," she muttered.
"I do too," Wanda told her. "Oh, and thank you."
Ally furrowed her brow. "For what?"
Wanda smiled. "For talking sense into Vision. He and Tony decided that the Accords may not be worth it after all. They both rebelled."
Ally slapped herself. "What?"
"Yeah. Apparently they hadn't thought about it as deeply as they thought they had, and they declared that while they would not be bound by the Accords, they were going to listen to the Accords people...but they said they wanted to listen to their own heart as well."
Ally smiled as an explosion rocked the building with a deafening bang! Wanda grinned at her. "Want to go see what that is, Ember?"
Ally looked at her friend. "Are you kidding?"
Wanda smiled. "No, my friend."
Ember let out a wicked smile as flames licked across her skin and her fiery attire materialized from the flames. Her hands lit on fire. "Let's go, Scarlet Witch."
To be Continued in
The Chronicles of Ember:
Dawn of Fire
