"You don't look like a Mary Sue"
She couldn't contain the laugh that bubbled inside of her. She'd told the nuns that very same thing countless times before. "Oh yeah? What do I look like?"
"I don't know. Hmm" the other girl studied her face and scrunched her eyebrows together.
She suddenly felt incredibly insecure. Part of her knew the girl was looking past the fading bruises and scratches, she never drew attention to them whenever they hung out, but she had a way of looking right into her soul. What did she see? Did she see the pathetic, abused orphan? Probably. Everyone else did.
After a couple of minutes she looked away, unable to hold the girl's gaze any longer.
"So uh... What are we doing today?" Not the smoothest was to change topics but it would have to do.
"Have you ever been to a theme park?"
The question caught her off guard. Normally they'd spend their time in a book store or watching science documentaries but... A theme park?
"Uh... No, never been."
"Well my aunt says I should get out more and act more like a tourist ,or teenager for that matter, seeing as it IS my first time in the States..." The girl looked at the ground and shuffled her feet awkwardly. "And well I was wondering if you wanted to go with me. You could be my tour guide seeing as you live here and all. I mean-"
Anything the girl said afterward went unheard. All she could think about was not having the money to go to the theme park. She was lucky her foster father provided her a meal a day, asking for money would earn her a bruise or two, not that she didn't get those anyway.
"Mary Sue?"
The use of her "name" brought her out of her inner monologue. "Huh?"
"It was just a thought. I understand if you want to not spend a whole day with me, you probably have loads of friends here that you would much rather spend time with. Who am I to-"
"Jemma!"
That got the girl to stop her rambling
"I would love to go, especially since I've never been to one before... Ijustdonthavethemoney"
"Sorry?"
She sighed. "I don't have the money."
Jemma laughed "I was inviting you silly. Come on, it'll be my treat."
Jemma grabbed her arm and dragged her over to a parked car.
"So back to your name. What would you like to be called?"
"I haven't figured it out yet..."
The car ride over to the theme park was relatively quiet. Until Emma broke the silence, that is.
"Promise me something?"
"Anything"
"Promise me you'll keep in touch after I head back to England?"
"I promise"
- 7 Years Later -
"How will you come at us? From the air? From the ground? How will you silence us this time, how can you? The truth is in the wind."
She was on a roll. Managing to meet Mike Peterson, the hooded hero, and then finishing up one of her best Rising Tide posts to date before lunch time was a good sign, right? Maybe it meant she would get an actual meal that day.
"It's everywhere. You can not stop the Rising Tide." That line always gave her chills.
"You will not find us, you never see our faces but rest assured we will rise against those who shield us from the truth. And nothing, nothing, can stop us from-" her side door slid open mid-speech.
Scary men in suits.
She turned in their direction and, smiled as best she could while saying "hey. What up?" Before a bag was thrown over her head.
"Damn it, Skye. What did you do now" she thought as she was hauled out to the unknown.