The creatures didn't have a name. At least, no one knew it if they did. Not a single person had made contact with the beings that had taken over the whole world in a day, and they were all too afraid to attempt it.

The war was over as quickly as it had begun. In fact, there were many people who would argue that there had never even been a war in the first place. In under twelve minutes, the capital cities of the USA, Russia and China had been levelled by nuclear weapons, and the rest of the world had surrendered without even raising a single weapon to resist their newfound oppressors. Some called it the Day of Silence, because no one had spoken a word against the creatures that threatened their existence, instead favouring to roll over and show their bellies to the enemy after the three major world powers had been taken down without warning.

Well, that's technically not true. There was some resistance, but it was snuffed out so quickly that it was hardly even acknowledged. The Avengers, as they had been called, were dead. Everyone had seen it. The people that the world had forced into hiding had leapt into the fray to protect the people that had turned their backs on them, all guns blazing, and had been destroyed in exactly 3 hours, 13 minutes. The battle was spectacular, really. A true show of the desperation of man. They'd been zapped out of existence before their very eyes. And after that, the world had fallen; too afraid of what might happen if they resisted.

After a while, though, the creatures, named by the people the 'Cerberus', had begun to lose their grip of fear.

It's quite a funny thing, really. People so quickly become desensitized to their fear of something after their exposure to it for long enough. People began stepping forward, trying to take back the lives that had been lost. Enhanced individuals from across the globe had come out of hiding, just to go down in a blaze of short-lived fury. What was even funnier, though, was that the normal people who had been so afraid of the enhanced individuals that they had effectively destroyed The Avengers' influence in the first place, were begging for more enhanced people to throw themselves on top of the enemy for them, because they were the only ones 'capable' of fighting against the Cerberus.

Eventually, the novel idea of 'fighting back' wore off, and people stopped trying.

And the world was silent once again.

A biting wind blows through the trees, rustling the browning leaves above the small gathering of people, who were huddling together around a quivering, dying fire; the stars glittering coldly in the sky overhead. A deep pool of water shimmers next to them, illuminated by the shine of the moon gleaming in the obsidian sky. The galaxy around them was so much more defined now that the electricity had disappeared, and the artificial lights had all died.

The people sit, whispering hushed words between them on the rocky shore. Around them, the trees whisper back unintelligibly, the breeze flowing through the withered branches. Sitting apart from them is a young woman with shoulder length, brown hair and round, smooth features. She gazes into the pool of water, watching the surface ripple, blurring the stars reflected inside it.

Before her, a young man paces agitatedly on the shore of the pool, but his feet do not shift the stones. Starry, glimmering light emanates from him, and he mutters and curses angrily as he moves, his blond hair bouncing slightly as he walks. The woman glows with a similar light to the young man, but his emotions are making him glow brighter than her. He is getting far too worked up for her liking, but she doesn't interrupt his angry monologue, too busy thinking about the girl and the future. The people behind them can't hear them anyway.

"We have to do something," The man hisses, stalking across the stones in a tight circle. He never was one for sitting still. "Look at them!" He jerks his head over to the group of people around the fire "They've given in! We need to tell her. Now."

This caught the woman's attention.

"We can't yet, Pietro," she warns, shifting to face the young man. "She is too young right now. We will tell her, and soon, but we can't risk her exposing herself yet."

"She's manifesting already, Peggy!" Pietro argues, fixing her with his icy blue gaze. "It is only a matter of time before she exposes herself! We need to tell her now. We might be able to protect her."

Peggy snorts. "Yeah, protect her. What will happen when she tells someone that she can see people that aren't there that tell her the Avengers are still alive, hm?"

"It is still safer than letting her go without any knowledge of them," Pietro snaps. "If she gets too much older, she might think she is going crazy and tell them the exact same thing. It might be easier for us to introduce ourselves to her when she is younger and slightly more impressionable."

"You mean 'vulnerable'." Peggy corrects. "She is only fourteen. Let her live a little while longer without the truth. We still don't know if she even wants to do this. She might just want to live her life hiding her powers. We can't impose our will onto her just yet."

"She is the only one we can tell! Sorry, but I don't think it really matters what she wants; if she's the only one we can communicate with, then it is her duty to –"

"No!" Peggy snaps, cutting him off. "I know you worry about your sister; I worry for Steve, too. But it is too early. I promise we will tell her soon. But not yet." She stands herself up and meets his anxious eyes with her own, calmer ones. "We'll get them back." She promises softly.

Pietro looks away, glaring at the pool angrily. Suddenly, his shoulders sag and he begins to walk wearily towards the people huddled around the firelight. "I just want her to be safe." He rasps. "If this girl is the only way for her to be safe, then so be it."

Peggy follows him quietly, coming to a stand beside him, where they are positioned directly behind the girl with auburn hair. The one they had been watching over for months. The last enhanced individual they knew of, that hadn't been zapped away like the Avengers. The last person alive that could see them. Peggy lays her hand lightly on Pietro's shoulder.

"I know Pietro. I know. It is almost time. I promise."