It was startling to wake up in the clouds. I'd been shot many times. I was dead. Or so I'd thought.
I sat up, painless, wondering at the strange material the clouds seemed to be made of. It was vapor, and yet I was held by it. Carefully, I stood up, but I did not sink through the clouds.
"Welcome. What is your name, hero?"
"They call me Quicksilver."
"Yes, you are fast. What is your real name."
"I'd rather you revealed your face. You know a name and a face and a voice. I have only a voice."
A form drifted down from a higher cloud. She was strange. Her eyes were the color of amber, and were lit from within as if she was on fire. Her hair was shockingly violet, vivid and bright, and short and spiky. Her lips were the blue of frost. Her skin was white like the moon. There was a flower tattoo on the side of her neck, and her palms were covered in strange, swirling patterns of gold.
"Who are you? What are you?"
"You may call me Element."
"What are you?"
"I was once like you. Alive. I was killed when I was young. Only twelve. They hid away my small body, they put it in a suspended animation tank. And they forgot about me. There is such a thick layer of dust, you can not see me within. No one left alive knows of my existence. The world was not ready when I was born. They forced my body to grow in it's suspense. It's a bit cramped in my tank. They've suspended your body as well, for the day they can heal you and bring you back. You will leave this place sooner than I, because you are remembered. What is your real name?"
"Pietro Maximoff. What is yours?"
"I haven't one. They didn't bother to give me one."
"Perhaps you would like one?"
"I don't want just any name. It would not be me."
"Then I shall think long and give you a name that is you."
"And in the meantime?"
"You will be Element."
"Why are you called Quicksilver, Pietro?"
"Is there somewhere more solid than this place we can be?"
"This world responds to our minds. It will be whatever we make it."
"How about a forest?"
"Like one from Earth, or something special?"
"Make it what you want it to be."
She closed her eyes like fire, and when they opened, they seemed to shine brighter under the shadows of sapphire willow trees, silver elm trees, ruby redwoods, bronze maples, emerald pines, gold oaks. Element had created a forest of precious metals and gems.
"You have a fondness for beauty."
She inclined her head in agreement. The forest lived on the clouds.
"How about a ground? A creek?"
She blinked, and under my feet, a solid ground of diamond earth and jade grass was under my feet. Rocks of onyx jutted from the ground in some places. Further in the woods, a crystal clear stream gushed.
"You have a brilliant imagination."
"My ingenuity and wits did not save me. I was too naive."
"You are older now."
"Show me why they call you Quicksilver."
I did as she asked. I ran through the woods. I could see her trace where I'd been, but not where I was. She picked up the slightest disturbances. She was just barely unable to keep up with me with her eyes. Far more perceptive and observant than others I had known.
"You are fast, as your name suggests. It defines that aspect of you. And who is Pietro?"
"An orphaned boy with a twin sister...Wanda! Is she alright?"
"She is fine. She lives. She trains hard to be a savior for the world."
"I can't be with her. I should be next to her."
"You will be. Even now, they research to repair your body. If they can restart your heart once your body is well, you will leave this place."
"Are there others here?"
"No. Any others who might have been here they allowed to move on. I am alone."
"Why did they call you Element?"
"Let me tell you the story of why they killed me. I am dangerous, Pietro. When I was a twelve year old girl, there had already been a few incidences. Only when I was mad. It is hard for me to get mad. Once, I accidentally burned my house to the ground. Yet I was found standing among the ashes, unharmed. Another time, a river moved, bending to go out in silvery twists and drown the wolf that killed my puppy. The water settled normally again, the wolf's body next to my unconscious one. Rocks jutted out of the ground into a cage the next time I felt my anger stir. I did not want to harm anyone. The rocks were smooth and made of marble, and had sprung up in the middle of the wheat field. I was stuck until they lowered a rope into the cage and I climbed out. Those are just a few of the things that happened to me. When I was twelve, I got angry at my mother. I don't remember the purple shockwave of light that was so bright some of the neighbors saw. Even so, one moment I was yelling at my mother, and the next, I was sobbing over her dead body. I heard the sirens, said goodbye, and ran, heading into the woods. S.H.I.E.L.D. gave chase, and although they were only trying to subdue me, I ended up dead. They kept me, in case they ever wanted to use me, and I've been here ever since."
"So your powers activate when you're angry?"
"Yes, and I have no control over them. When I get angry, I invoke one of the five elements. Something bad always happens. I'm dangerous. A killer."
"Perhaps if they thought you would use your powers for good, they would wake you."
"They don't even know I exist. Any who were alive when I was killed are long gone."
"Then it should be of little matter for me to bring you back once I live again."
"Do not do that. I wish my body destroyed. I wish to move on. Things will be different in the world after so many years. I do not belong in it. I could not be trusted, anyways."
"If you were trained, learned to control your power and use it for good, it would be different."
"Tell me, Pietro. Were things always so simple for you to decide?"
"No, not at all. I made several bad choices before I began making the right ones."
"Well, I will tell you now. My decisions would be against S.H.I.E.L.D. and their allies. I won't have anything to do with them. They killed me. I won't trust them."
"The world is different. Certain people's' differences are celebrated rather than condemned."
"It is not a world I belong in. Did I tell you when a few of those first agents killed me? It was the time when the Continental Railroad was being built. I lived in the country on a farm. What has changed from them?"
"A great many things, I am afraid. But you would not be the only one to have been lost in time. Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America, was frozen in ice for several decades."
"And what year is it now?"
"Two thousand fifteen."
"That's hardly a matter of decades, Pietro. I have been lost to time for centuries."
"You were young. You can find a place, if you'd only allow me to wake you."
"What does it matter to you if I wake?"
"No one should be lost to this place forever, as fantastic as it is capable of being."
"Perhaps a demonstration of what I can do would change your mind. Can you create a simulation?"
"A what?"
"A representation of a situation."
"Not of any situation you might be familiar with. You can manipulate this world too. Close your eyes, think of a place, and make it so. Make us be there."
I imagined the city that had been carried into the sky by Ultron. When I opened my eyes, we were in the streets of the same floating city. I created the robot army we had faced there, setting the key in the center as the end of the simulation instead of the end of the world.
When I opened my eyes, Element was looking around in bewilderment.
"What is this place?"
"The place where I died."
"What are those?"
"Evil robots."
"What is a robot?"
"A being made of code and metals, programmed to various tasks."
"If they are programmed how can they be evil?"
"These have what we call A.I. or artificial intelligence. They can make choices, as a human would. Ultron, the mastermind behind all of them, made a lot of bad choices."
"And so you would destroy the robots?"
"Yes, to save all life on Earth."
"I will watch. If I can help, I might. But I do not know my surroundings. This is all strange to me."
I closed my eyes and imagined everything being set into motion. The answering sound of clanging metal told me it had begun.
I opened my eyes and went to work. Every once in a while, I would spot Element watching me. I couldn't take on all of the robots myself.
I heard a yell. A robot had jumped onto Element's back. There was a moment of calm, and then Element erupted in flames. They encased her and the robot until the robot fell off her, fried. The flames sputtered out over her body until they only flowed around her hands.
"Well?" I asked her as I stopped by her side.
Her fiery amber gaze landed on me, then turned away, towards the robots now getting dangerously close to the key. She stirred her hands in front of her, creating a ball of flame about the size of a soccer ball. For a moment, indecision flickered on her face, as she tried to decide whether to hit me or them. But she lobbed the ball towards the bots, blasting a hole the size of Hulk in their ranks.
"Very nice. I think your first name will be Ashanti."
"Ashanti?"
"Yes. It's a rather unique name few people carry. It's aggressive. It is befitting of you."
"And why is it my first name?"
"Because most people have three names. I've only thought of your first. You will have to give me time until I come up with a middle and last."
"Very well. I will be Ashanti."
Her anger still burned brightly in her hands. She seemed to hate the robots.
Another ball of flame the size of her palm seared straight through the head of two and exploded on impact with a third.
"You seem practiced enough."
"Hardly my intent. I only meant to make the head of the first one explode. And it is difficult to focus on my enemy. I can see my killers in my mind."
"Ashanti, why do you not have a name? You were twelve when you died. Surely you remember it?"
"I would have. But I don't think 'girl' is a name, which is all anyone ever called me."
"Your mother never gave you a name?"
"No."
"Your father?"
"I never knew him. He was dead by the time I was born."
"Siblings?"
"None. My mother wouldn't risk having another child like me."
"Did your mother ever say what made you as you are?"
"She always suspected it was my father. She said he did experiments with the government, and tested them on himself. So when I was conceived, although the experiment did nothing to my father, it did something to me. It made me a freak."
"See, you're exactly like the rest of us. We're all science experiments. Someone altered us, and it made us different."
"I don't even know what makes me as I am. I don't know what was done. I'm not human, Pietro."
"You may not be. Maybe you are something strange. But is that so bad?"
The flames in her palm burned brighter. She must have been remembering her past. She had a lot of anger pent up.
"Come on. Let's destroy the rest of these things."
"I hope you are faster than the flames, because I cannot guarantee your safety. Knowing that you side with my murderers makes this war inside me more difficult. I would protect innocents, but I also allow you success."
"Could you end my life, and send me to the next place?"
"No," she said, frowning. "If it were that simple, I would not be here."
"And injuries?"
"Are not real, and will heal if you imagine it so."
"Do you want to hurt me?"
"I want to hurt S.H.I.E.L.D. the way they hurt me. Others who pass through have told me their stories. The agents protected them, helped them. But they have only hurt me."
"But do you want to hurt me?" I asked, insistent that she understand and answer.
Her gaze was intent on me for several seconds, her eyes narrowed. Finally, her expression relaxed, although the flames did not leave. "No. I do not want to hurt you."
"Good. Let's finish this, and-"
The city dissolved back into clouds. The robots had got the key.
"And?"
"I will teach you about how the world is today."
"It is ended. What do you have to teach me?"
"Let me show you a modern, thriving city."
I closed my eyes, imagining New York in its endless noise and constant motion.
I heard a sharp intake of breath, and looked at Ashanti, who gaped at the skyscrapers and the lights and the cars and everything surrounding her.
"What is this place?"
"This is New York City."
"Is this your home?"
"No. But it is a big place, and many people call it home."
"What are the strange moving objects on the hard black rock?"
"They are called cars, and the rock is actually a chemical substance poured from a truck, which is a kind of car. The substance dries and becomes what we call a road."
And what is that girl talking to?" she asked, pointing at a random teen-looking girl with a cell phone to her ear.
"It's a wireless device that allows you to communicate with another person."
"What is a wire?"
"It's a long, thin object that sends electrical currents."
"What is electrical?"
"It's called electricity. It's a form of energy that powers our world."
"What is that?" she asked, pointing at a neon billboard.
"It's a large sign that can change and advertise businesses, products, and services."
"What is advertise?"
"It is helping the public become aware of things, and when spoken that way, we say advertisement."
"What are the markings on their skin?" she asked, pointing at a couple others that had tattoos.
"They're called tattoos. They're images that they had drawn on their skin to express themselves. What are the markings on your skin?"
She blinked and looked at one palm, the other naturally rubbing at the blue flower on her neck.
"I don't know. They've just always been there. I think they're symbols of the elements that I invoke. My hair is purple, for spirit. My eyes are amber, for fire. My lips are like frost, for water. The flower represents earth, and the gold swirls represent wind."
"What did your mother look like?"
"I don't know. I blocked the memory. It brought pain to me. What is that?"
"A laptop. It's a tool for people to use in various ways. The person in that cafe is surfing the web."
"Web?"
"The internet. There's all kinds of information on it."
"What is this cafe?"
"It's a small shop where you can buy coffee, sweets, and normally get a decent internet connection."
"What is coffee?"
"A drink that helps you stay awake."
"Why not just sleep?"
"Because some people have busy lives."
"Is your life so busy that you need coffee?"
"Not very often. I normally go for more filling food. Running around so fast makes you hungry faster."
"Can you walk, or do you only run? And if you can walk, can you run at a normal pace, or only your faster pace?"
I took a few plain steps away, to the end of the block, and jogged back to her like any human.
"Is it strange to slow down?"
"Some, but I get to see more."
"What kinds of things do you like seeing?"
"There are many things."
"What does your sister look like?"
I conjured a picture of Wanda in my pocket.
"This is her."
"She's pretty."
"Thank you."
"What is she like?"
"Well, we're twins. I'm twelve minutes older. We don't look anything alike. Her hair is dark brown, and her eyes are dark blue, except for when she uses her power. Then they turn red. I get angry easier than she does, and I make snap judgements a lot. We're just different. But I love her. We only had each other. She's my sister."
"She sounds like a good person. I am not."
"Why do you think you aren't a good person?"
"This war I have with myself is proof enough. But, I still do not want to hurt you."
"The flames in your hand beg to differ."
She looked down at her palms, still coated in a thin layer of flickering light. It hadn't done anything to her skin. She closed her hands into fists a couple of times, rubbed her hands together, and shook them out. The last couple of sparks went out on the sidewalk under our feet.
"So you do have some control. Once you've calmed down, you can make it stop."
"I have to calm down, first. Talking to you...I don't know, it just distracted my mind."
"That's a good thing, isn't it?"
"If I have to have my rage talked down, I can't help people. I'd be more likely to go into a total rage and hurt them."
"They have a guy like that. Bruce Banner is a total brain, but when he gets mad or is in danger, he becomes a big green guy that can beat just about anything to a pulp. Then we call him Hulk"
"What do they do to calm him down?"
"Well, there's this girl. Natasha Romanov. She's Black Widow when she goes assassin. She has a way of talking him down to his normal self."
"So, he has love to ground him. But I don't have anything. Pietro, this world," she gestured at my figmented New York, "is so much bigger than it was when I was first brought upon it. Those that may have cared about me are long gone. You are the only one who even knows of my existence. There is no one to talk me down from my anger."
"What about a thing that you like, or music, or a pet? Is there anything you care about that might calm you?"
"I told you that a wolf killed my dog. I like Renaissance music. I have no belongings."
"Renaissance music? Alright. That might be something to work with. Hold on."
I closed my eyes and did my best to picture a small farm. A ranch style house, a wood barn painted blue, a wheat field, and a small garden of blue flowers on the side of the house. The same kind as the one on Ashanti's neck.
"Does this place look nice?"
"It's almost like home. How did you know, about the flowers?" she asked, gesturing to the small garden.
"I didn't. It just seemed right."
"They're Forget-Me-Nots. Of course, the irony in that is that they are my favorite flower, and everyone has forgotten me."
"I have not forgotten you."
"You don't know me."
"I'm beginning to."
I blinked, hearing the long ago music of the Medieval, and suddenly there was music.
"Dance with me, Ashanti. Do you hear the music?"
She tilted her head and began to sway, her eyes falling shut and her lips parting with a small smile. She danced around the front yard, faster as the music picked up beat. At the start of the next song, she was beside me, and I took her hands, guiding her around the front yard.
She laughed, and suddenly there was a breeze to stir the grass by our ankles, I could here a creek flowing in the woods past the farm's backyard, a lantern flickered on the porch as a sun lowered in the sky. It almost seemed as if Ashanti came alive. She was home.
"Thank you, Pietro. This is the greatest kindness anyone has ever shown me. I feared that conjuring a farm would bring back bad memories, but I can't seem to remember those things now. I just remember laying on the back porch staring at stars. My mother in her rocking chair in the living room, knitting by candlelight. A hammock in a special place in the woods where I played. There are only fond memories."
"Is it the music, or is it something else?"
"I don't know. You would have to isolate the thing making me happy. Go hide in the house, and end the music. Let me see if it is being in a place so like home that makes me happy."
I did as she asked, and it wasn't long before I heard thunder outside, and saw great flashes of lightning. Outside, Ashanti was sitting on the front step of the porch, crying.
"Ashanti, it's alright. I can make it go away, if you want."
"I remember, Pietro. My mother. I...I can see the flash of light now. I can see the fear in her eyes. I caught her in my arms as she fell. Her eyes were already empty. Her face was frozen in terror. I got mad and was yelling, because...because she was telling me how hard things were, and I kept asking why she didn't just get rid of me. Kill me. Send me away. Make things easier for herself..."
"Ashanti, your mother kept you because she loved you. She was trying to warn you how difficult your life might be in the future."
"You must think me a fool, or a child. Or naive. I am all of those things."
"And those compassionate traits are another part of you. I think your middle name shall be Ilaria, to reflect that."
"Ashanti Ilaria...blank. I don't remember very much about my mother. I don't remember very much about anything from before this world. Those memories hold a lot of strong emotion. It isn't just anger that will make an element invoke. It is any strong emotion."
"And you were very happy earlier. Perhaps that's why the woods and the creek formed, and the wind made the grasses stir, and that lantern there flickered on. It's a homey light, not a destructive force."
"And that is why it rains-" she glanced out across the yard, where the rain was pettering to a stop. Only the dripping gutters showed any sign of the downpour.
"That's why it rained when I cried."
"You aren't crying anymore. And it is not raining anymore. You must be feeling better."
"The only way to make sure I'm not still invoking an element is with my hands."
"You haven't made any water in your hands," I said, confused.
"It's where my power is focused, and I can't control it yet."
She looked down at her lap and opened her hands. A perfect gem of water broke and leaked through her fingers to her lap. She clenched and unclenched her fists, rubbed her hands together, and shook them out. A couple drops of water flew onto the porch.
"What calmed you down?"
"Not this place, not when I'm left alone. And there was no music. The only explanation is you."
"Me?"
"You. Talking to me. I don't know, there's just something about you."
"Try to identify it."
She thought long and hard. I could see it in the way her eyebrows came together, her eyes narrowing. Finally, her expression relaxed, and she looked hard at me.
"It's not really anything in particular. It's just you."
"Are you sure?"
"Well...your eyes, for one. When I look into them, I see that you are being honest with me. And the things you say, they don't feel like just words. By the emotion in your tone, it sounds like you mean them."
"I do. I wouldn't say something if I didn't mean it."
"Why? Why are you so open with me?"
"I don't know. Maybe for the same reason I can calm you down."
"I'm not a good person like you. I mean my words, but my eyes are hardly truthful. They are impossible to read. I've tried to glean answers from them myself. I've never been able to see within me for what I am."
"I see someone worthwhile."
"How would you know?"
"I've got a good sense for people."
"And what does this sense say about me?"
"Only that you're the kind of person I like."
"How old do you think I am?" she blurted.
"If I had to guess? Somewhere between sixteen and nineteen. Don't you know?"
"No. I don't know how much further S.H.I.E.L.D. has aged me. Could you ask, when you go back?"
"Of course."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-two."
"Can you teach me about everything I've missed?"
"I can do my best to try. I've thought of a possible last name for you. It was the last name of another girl I once knew. I didn't like her much, but I always thought her last name was rather unique. Like you. Ashanti Ilaria Nasuwani."
I heard her murmur the full name under her breath. A heartbeat later, her face broke into a smile.
"Yes. I like it very much. Thank you, Pietro."
"I'm glad I was able to find a name to suit you."
"Wait here."
She got up and went around the side of the house. When she returned, she had one of the most beautiful flowers I had seen, another Forget-Me-Not. It was almost identical to the one on her neck.
"Here. Please don't forget me when you go. Perhaps this will help you remember something."
"It won't leave here with me, will it?"
She shook her head sadly.
"But maybe with enough times of looking at it, it will stay in your mind."
"I'll try to remember everything. Do you think they'll bring me back soon?"
The world started to fade, and Ashanti's concerned face was the last thing I saw.
I opened my eyes to a hazy white room. The smell of cleaning chemicals could only make it a hospital. A hand squeezed mine, and I focused on the blurry image of my sister.
"Wanda!"
I pulled her to me, feeling how real it was, how real she was. I was alive. I didn't know how, but I was.
"We were able to bring you back."
When she said back, a blue flower crossed my mind. It was almost familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.
"I'd thought S.H.I.E.L.D. would have already forgotten me."
"Not with me around."
The words clicked to the flower. Forget-Me-Not. That was what kind of flower it was. And now the flower was on someone's pale skin. Skin like moonlight.
"Did anyone with a tattoo of a blue flower visit me?"
"No. Why?"
"Because I remember someone with a blue flower tattoo."
"You haven't stirred. This is the first time you've woken since we brought you back a couple of days ago."
"How long was I dead?"
"Two weeks."
"Where was I?"
"We kept your body in suspended animation, in case we couldn't figure out a way to help you. Phil Coulson already had a way, he just has to get permission."
The mention of suspended animation brought a pair of eyes the color of amber to mind. The same silver-white skin surround the eyes as the tattoo.
"Can you show me where I was kept?"
"That isn't a good idea…"
"Please, Wanda. I need to see it. I'm forgetting something. I was in another place. If only I could just remember."
"If you think it will help whatever this important memory is resurface, then I will help. They don't want you getting out of bed, but with me around, you won't have to move," she said, giving me a conspiratorial grin.
"Thank you," I said, returning a smile.
Wanda lifted my entire bed and I went sailing out the door. I could hear a monitor go off as it registered that my pulse was no longer present.
"Well done, Wanda. You've just killed me again."
"Nice to see you still have your humor."
Our journey came to an end in a much smaller room than I imagined most of S.H.I.E.L.D. to be like. There were four cylinders. Two of them were open and empty. One was freshly cleaned. A fourth sat, covered in a thick layer of dust.
"They put it in a suspended animation tank. And they forgot about me. There is such a thick layer of dust, you can not see me within."
The words floated from within my mind by a voice I did not know.
"Get me closer to that one."
"You don't know who is in there, Pietro."
"Someone who's been there a long time. Why is that?"
"I don't know. Maybe they are that badly injured."
"For this much dust? And look at the tank. It looks really old. Like, fundamentals, old. It's bigger and bulkier than mine. This tank wasn't made like the others. It's from another time."
"Then you still wouldn't know who is in it."
"Just get me closer."
She did as I asked, even if she didn't understand.
I wiped my hand over the surface, clearing away the grime. Inside was a face. One I knew. I knew if she opened her eyes, they would be amber. I knew who she was. I knew she was probably assailing another world with an element. She was Element. But she was also Ashanti. Ashanti Ilaria Nasuwani. A name I had given her. And there was her Forget-Me-Not mark of earth, and the golden swirls in her palms.
"I met her. There was another place. She's from an early point in history. She's scared to wake up. She's scared of her anger."
"What can she do?"
"When her emotions on strong, she invokes an element. She never knows which one. Sometimes it can be more than one. She discovered her power when she was young. Her father was experimented on, but the success of his experiments did not show until his daughter was born."
"Don't. I know what you're going to ask the other, but don't. She may be dangerous."
"Not if she can calm down. She knows how to make her powers stop, but she has to be calm, or it will only flair up again."
"And can she calm herself down?"
"Not easily. But I can."
"You can calm her down?"
"Yes. When she was talking to me, she calmed down."
"How many times did you see her powers in action?"
"Twice. Once, she was angry because I created a simulation of our battle with Ultron. One of the bots jumped her from behind. Fire engulfed her, destroying the bot, and she was able to settle it into her hands, working it into spheres she could throw. The second time, she was sad, and it started a bad storm."
"And just talking to you calmed her down both times?"
"Yes. I don't know why, but she seems to trust me."
"She's still a danger. If no one can calm her, her powers could spiral out of control. With her kind of powers, it could end up killing a lot of people."
"But if she were trained, if she were taught how to use her abilities without her emotions getting the better of her-"
"It could make it worse when she does have strong emotions. The world isn't like she will remember it."
"Captain America adjusted."
"But he still feels like an outsider."
"Come on, Wanda."
"No."
She lifted me and carried me back to my room. Hawkeye and Nick Fury were waiting.
"You need to stop giving us trouble. The both of you," Fury said.
"Or?"
"Or you won't be in training for this team for very long."
"Who says I want to be on this team?"
Hawkeye gave me a sharp look. When he caught my gaze, his face softened.
"What is it you want, Pietro?"
"I met someone. This girl-"
"Pietro, we can't bring back just anybody-" Fury started.
"She isn't some random girl. She has powers. You have her body in suspended animation."
Fury raised an eyebrow. "Go on."
"You might not have records of her, but she's been in there for a long time. Wake her up. Train her, too."
"Why should I?"
"Because she is an Avenger."
"What makes you say so?"
"Why else would she be held there, waiting to be brought back?"
"Let's say I'm actually considering this. Is she trustworthy?"
"She doesn't know anybody. She has a grudge against S.H.I.E.L.D. because some of their early agents killed her, but she doesn't hate me. She told me she doesn't want to hurt me. She won't harm anyone here if you just talk to her, show her life. Show her compassion, empathy. She's going to come out very confused, and probably scared. I'm going to need to be there."
"Why?"
"Because she doesn't know how to control her powers yet, and they are very connected to her emotions. I can calm her down."
"It'll have to wait until you're at full strength."
"How long will that take?"
"One month. In two weeks, you'll be starting physical therapy. We expect you'll make a full recovery."
"A month? That's too long."
"It's either that, or you can't be present, and we may have to contain her."
I sat back with a sigh. "Fine. One month."
"I'll see you when we wake her up."
"One more thing. She wanted me to ask her age. Her body's growth was forced into her teens. She was killed when she was twelve. Find out how old she is, please?"
"That should be an easy matter."
Fury walked out, and I was left with my sister and Hawkeye.
"You gave us a scare there, kid."
"You didn't see it coming."
Hawkeye cracked a smile at the gest.
"It's good that you remember everything so easily."
"It's like I fell asleep."
"That's good."
"Are there things that you can't remember?"
"No. I'm thinking as fast as ever. And you all are still slow," I told them, poking her.
She laughed.
"Let's see you running fast in a few weeks."
"Count on it."