Hey guys, just as a heads up, updates will be coming slower. School is starting up again and my grandma just died, so a lot of my time will be spent with family and doing homework. I'll do my best to get updates out as soon as possible, though! Thank you for your support, whether or not you review/favorite/followed. I love all of you
I can't wait to write when the Hulk and Saniya meet. It won't be for a couple more chapters, but it will be a fun one!
IMPORTANT NOTE: Further along in the story, there will be references to Hinduism and Indian culture. I have done my research BUT there is always the chance that I've written something wrong or represented it in a bad way. If that ever happens, please, please tell me. I don't want to offend anyone or write an entire group of people the wrong way. Don't be afraid to tell me! Also, I am not a native Hindi speaker and do not know anyone who is. There are some terms used in this update with the translation at the bottom. Please correct me if google translate was wrong.
Nik1804: I'm glad you liked it :) Haha, I love that ship name even though I don't have much plans between the two! And yes, it is pretty ironic. Loki and Saniya are similar in some ways, but different in others, so I'll try to explore that in future updates. I'm so happy that you think my plotline is unpredictable! Thank you :)
Katie Moon: I was so worried that I didn't write him correctly, so I'm super happy that you think so. Tony's a little stinker sometimes with the pranks, but very loveable haha. That's also fantastic that Saniya isn't Mary-Suish. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to review :) I'm sorry that you got in trouble
—24 Years Ago—
"Saniya!"
Indali scooped the squirming toddler in her arms. She balanced Saniya on one hip and Aghamarshan on the other. A sly smile grew on Saniya's face. The small child knew she was caught doing something she shouldn't.
Indali carried the two back to the shade of a dying tree. Years of lugging them around made it effortless. She tumbled into the dirt, letting the two children use her as a pillow.
She hugged Saniya. "Bahana, what are you doing?"
Saniya toyed with the embroidered end of her ghagra. "Nothing."
She hummed. "Nothing. You sure you were doing nothing?" Indali bounced Aghamarshan on her knee. The bubbly child giggled. "What do you think? Saniya was doing something she wasn't supposed to, right?"
Aghamarshan, despite not understanding what she said, bobbed her head with a bright smile.
"See? Aghamarshan doesn't believe you. What were you doing?" Saniya stayed silent. Indali tickled her side, making her kick and laugh. "Tell me. You never keep secrets from me."
"The baby!" Saniya relented. "I want to see the baby! I want to see the baby!" She grabbed Indali's hand and tugged.
Indali shook her head. "You have to wait. There is no baby to see right now. It's still in her stomach."
Saniya didn't understand, that much was clear to Indali. But how does one begin to explain childbirth to a three-year-old child? Indali, who was only eleven, already knew the ins and outs of it. Her mother had described the whole process quite thoroughly several weeks ago, but Indali not qualified to teach others.
Plus, even if they did understand, Indali was told to keep Aghamarshan and Saniya occupied for the day. Children had to stay where they belonged, especially during a time like this. The mean man said so. Indali wasn't brave enough to go against him, no matter how much she wanted to see the baby. She'd been beaten enough to know that no one ever wins in a fight against him.
She pushed Saniya's sweat-crusted hair from her face. "You have to wait. Patience is a virtue," she said. Indali bit the inside of her cheek. "Or whatever those missionaries say." Aghamarshan gurgled in agreement.
Saniya poked her cheek. "What does..." Her mouth struggled to form the unfamiliar word.
"Virtue? I don't know, but it must be something good. Don't you want something good?" Saniya nodded. "Then you have to wait."
That was enough to make her forget about the baby. For the moment. No doubt in five minutes she would be bouncing up and down, demanding to see her new brother or sister. Her excitement would set off Aghamarshan. Then Indali would have to deal with two hyper children. If she could help it, they wouldn't get that far.
Aghamarshan reached for Indali's hair. She curled the locks around her finger, knotting it in some places. It entertained her, so Indali didn't mind too much. To keep Saniya from running off, she kept one arm tucked around her waist. She balanced the toddlers on her legs.
"You three are adorable."
Indali looked up to see the woman with the palest skin she had ever seen. It almost cast a glare in the harsh sun. Her hair was a bright blonde with a gold ribbon braided into the strands. She was wearing the typical clothes of Rajasthan: a brightly dyed ghagra choli and a fabric covering her head like a halo. It struck Indali odd that she could speak their language fluently. It wasn't often she met a foreigner who could.
She wrapped her arms tighter around the two children. "Who are you?"
The woman smiled. "My name is Frimia. And yours?"
Indali slowly moved Saniya and Aghamarshan away from the woman. "Indali."
"Ah, so then that must be Saniya and Aghamarshan if you are who you say you are. Your mother told me all about you three as she took her last breath."
She used her hands to cover her sister's ears. It was unfortunate she didn't have more hands. "She's...?"
Frimia nodded.
Indali dipped her head. Tears burned in the corner of her eyes.
"And the baby?" Saniya happily cheered 'baby'. Indali had to tighten her grip to keep the wiggling toddler at bay.
The woman kneeled down to her height. "It was a girl," Frimia replied. Her hand caressed the side of Indali's face. It was a feathery touch that slid over her cheek.
"Your mother named her before he..." Her lips curled in disgust. She didn't have to finish the sentence. Indali could already guess what her father had done to his fourth mistake. Indali's newborn sister likely didn't live long enough to see her mother's face. "Her name was Deva."
"Oh."
Girls weren't desirable in their village. They were seen as an expense, one who couldn't bring in any money and was only useful for marriages.
Boys could get a job and earn money. His family didn't have to pay a dowry to get married. A boy could continue on the family name. Her father always made sure to tell Indali that whenever he had the chance. He told her that the only way to have a successful family is to have a son carry his name to the next generation.
Her mother used a special word to describe him: misogynistic. She said she learned that word when she went to school. Indali didn't know what that meant, but she was smart enough to never say it in front of him. Smart like her mother. The point, though, was that the he wanted a son, not another daughter. Deva was destined to die the moment she came into the world.
Frimia placed a hand over Saniya's forehead. Instantly, she stopped moving. Her eyes became unfocused, staring but not quite seeing.
"What did you do to her?" Indali snapped.
"Relax, my child. I've merely made her calm." Frimia's hand reached for Aghamarshan, but Indali pulled her out of reach. "It is important they are calm when I give you a gift."
"A gift?" Indali asked. As much as she claimed to be an adult at eleven years old, her childish curiosity won over. "What kind of gift?"
Frimia reached out again. "Your mother was devoted to someone who enjoys rewarding her followers. And since Mamta is no longer here to claim her prize, you three will suffice." She held her hands open. "Your father will likely beat you, correct? Like he has every time he isn't given a son?"
The young girl nodded. She had the scars to remember it.
"I'm offering you a chance to change that. It will make you three champions among mortals," Frimia told her. The woman's eyes sparkled. "I'm offering you power, a chance to change your fate; it is wise to accept it."
She held out her hand. A small light, almost like an aura, encased her forearm. All Indali had to do was step forward until she and her sisters were covered in light as well.
—Present Day—
Saniya woke up to warm hands shaking her awake. When she opened her eyes, she found she was on the opposite side of the lab. One of her hands was pressed against the door, trying desperately to push it open.
Bruce removed her hand. "You know that you sleepwalk, right?"
She shrugged, groaning as a dull pain rocked her whole body. "Yeah, that's old news." Saniya took in his disheveled appearance. He was wearing different clothes —ones that look like they've been sitting in a drawer for weeks— and his hair was unkempt. "What happened to you? You look terrible."
Bruce grimaced. He ran a hand through his hair in a failed attempt to fix it. "It wasn't anything—"
Saniya looked up at the ceiling. "Jarvis, what happened?"
"You knocked him off the stool while he was sleeping. If my database is correct, you stayed asleep through the entire ordeal. Quite an amazing feat since it was loud enough to wake Mr. Odinson."
There was a loud snore from the cot she was supposed to be sleeping in. Thor was spread out like a starfish and his head dangled off the side. He was a foot too tall for the cot.
She turned back to Bruce who had a guilty expression on his face. "My bad," she apologized.
He shook his head. "No, I'm sorry."
Saniya crinkled her nose. "Sorry? Why on earth are you sorry? I was the one who knocked you over."
"I almost—" he started to explain but stopped himself. He gave her a weak smile. "Maybe you're right," he said as a way to drop the subject. Saniya didn't press further.
Bruce moved to the other side of the room to look at something on his laptop. Though Saniya wasn't exactly proud of her observational skills, she saw how he moved with her. Every step she made, he leaned away. There was always a larger-than-needed space between them. And if she noticed his behavior, then he was being incredibly obvious.
He had to be pissed that she knocked him over. Bruce had never acted like she had the plague until now. She probably hurt him, or maybe said something in her sleep. Something terrible enough for him to hate her. Great, she offended one of the nicest people in the tower.
She sat on the office chair Thor rolled down the hall that morning then propped her feet on the counter.
"Can you not have your feet on the counter?" Bruce asked. He slipped on his glasses. "I'm sorry, but the surfaces need to stay clean."
She dropped her feet without a word. The scientist immediately went back to work. Saniya began to tap her shoes on the floor to the beat of Jingle Bells.
Bruce winced. "Can you also stop tapping your feet against the floor, please?"
Saniya stopped. When he looked away, she threw her head back in a silent scream. It was torture staying silent and doing nothing. Bruce was perfectly fine with examining his data and forgetting all about her, but she was an extrovert. She thrived on interaction and crumbled without it. The silence in the room was poison.
She was being dramatic, but she knew that she would die if she didn't talk to someone right that second.
There were two options: try to talk with Bruce and risk making him hate her more or convince Thor to entertain her.
She sighed. Did she really need attention so much that she was willing to wake Thor? She wanted to say no, but she soon found herself poking the Asgardian in the cheek. Each poke was harder than the last, but Thor didn't move. He was harder to wake than the dead. Saniya punched his arm with all her might. Thor didn't even stir.
He was a lost cause (it was probably impossible to wake Thor) and she didn't want to annoy Bruce, so she supposed she would entertain herself.
The only sounds in the lab were Thor's snoring and the wheels of her chair as she pushed herself around. Other than that, it was pure silence. How Bruce was able to work like that, she didn't know.
"Jarvis?" she called out. "You have any music you can play?"
"I have a wide selection at your disposal. Would you like for me to play Dr. Banner's playlist, or would you prefer something else?"
It was his lab and he was the one working, so it was only polite to play his music.
"Bruce's playlist, please."
From the other side in the lab, she saw him nod his head in approval. At least she did something right.
The song started with a soft violin. Several more instruments joined to blend into a medley of sounds, each one building off of the next. She preferred a song with a faster tempo, but the way Bruce bobbed his head at each crescendo made it worth it.
She looked at the nearest clock. It was a couple of minutes past two in the morning.
No, she refused to believe it was that late. Her nap couldn't have lasted more than a couple hours, not the entire day.
"Hey, Bruce?" He looked up with a face of exasperation. "If you want to head up to bed, I can grab Thor so you can lock up the lab."
His features softened. Bruce looked back at his notes. "I usually stay down here and work. But if you want to go upstairs, don't let me keep you."
She shrugged. "I'm not tired."
"You did sleep for over twelve hours."
Her eyes widened. "No way. I did not sleep that long."
The corners of his eyes crinkled with a small grin. "Believe me, you did. Tony thought you fell into a coma." He flipped the notebook page. "Thor had several theories about that."
She began to kick the wheels of the chair. "Theories? What kind of theories?"
Bruce glanced up at her face then back down to his notes. "He wouldn't say. He said he wanted to talk to you first." He pursed his lips. "You don't... you don't happen to know what kind of theories he has?"
Saniya cleared her throat. "I'm not a mind reader, but if I had to guess, then they're all wrong theories. Very wrong theories."
His hands stilled. "Saniya, you can trust me—us. The Avengers will help you if you need it."
She abruptly stood. "I don't need any help," she countered, "because there is nothing weird about me. Stop acting like there is!"
"I didn't mean it—"
He was cut off by his phone buzzing. She raised an expectant eyebrow then gestured to his lit up phone. Bruce reached for the device and pushed in his passcode. His eyebrows lifted when he read the text.
"They actually got her," he mumbled. "I didn't think it would be this fast."
"Did something happen?"
He set his phone back on the counter. His hands fidgeted. "Yeah, ah, how good are you at handling surprising news?" he asked.
She furrowed her brows. "What does that have to do with anything?"
His eyes darted while he kept a table between them. "There's something you need to know, but I'm not sure if I'm the right person to tell you."
Saniya clenched her jaw. "Then who would be the right person?"
"Thor," he replied without hesitation. "Maybe that one agent... Ms. Hughes, I believe her name is. Natasha wouldn't be a bad choice, I suppose."
"She isn't an agent; she's a research assistant," she mumbled. Saniya placed her hands on her hips. "Just tell me."
He leaned away as if he expected her to lunge at him. But, to give him some credit, she probably did seem like a stalking lioness with the way she was attacking him for answers.
"Bruce," she warned.
"SHIELD recently arrested your sister," he told her. Bruce waited for a response, but all he got was her mouth slowly opening and closing. "Her name is Aghamarshan Elliot and her blood rained from the sky, so you can understand why I didn't—"
A remnant memory clicked inside of her brain. It was so far back that she wasn't sure if it was dreamt or if it actually happened, but she remembered hearing that name.
The words that came out of her mouth were barely louder than a whisper. "Like in Texas. I saw it in the newspaper."
Bruce stopped mid-sentence. "Pardon?"
She met his gaze. "It rained blood in Texas. She did that?" He nodded. Well, if she could go back in time and aliens to invaded earth, it wasn't impossible for someone to be able to do that. What she had a hard time believing was that she had a sister. She shook her head. "I don't have a sister. I'm an only child."
He fidgeted his hands. "I'm pretty positive you do. Your DNA showed that you are related to her."
Saniya placed her hands on her hips. "Then it was wrong results."
"Trust me, I tripled checked everything. I'm very sure it's correct."
She blinked. There wasn't a shred of dishonesty on his face, not that she expected there to be one. "You," she started with hesitance, "you really think she's my sister?" He nodded.
When she thought about the word 'sister', she kept picturing Christopher handing her the phone right before they crashed. 'Why don't you want to talk to your sister?' A thought slithered into her mind, one that quickly became an idea. It was a very, very bad one, but maybe she would get answers.
Finally, she might find some truth.
"Where's Natasha? Or Clint? Or anyone that works for SHIELD?"
Bruce frowned. "I believe Natasha just got back. Clint shouldn't be too far behind."
Saniya turned on her heels and stormed towards the elevator. Behind her, Bruce watched with wide eyes. He rushed after her, his hand hovering next to her elbow as they reached the elevator.
She jabbed the 'close door' button. The metal doors slammed shut.
Saniya tapped her foot on the floor. "Jarvis, can this thing go any faster?"
"The elevators were designed for maximum carrying efficiency rather than speed. I'm afraid it cannot."
"Great, just great," she muttered. She whipped her head around to face the scientist. A flash of anger rushed through her. "Let me guess, SHIELD already knows all about this."
"They don't know. We didn't say anything, about her being your sister, I mean."
Her eyes searched his face. "Why not?" she asked, her voice much fainter than before.
Bruce blinked. He tore his eyes from her face. "Because I didn't have a good enough reason to."
For a second, her irritation with the secrecy dwindled, but it reignited when the doors opened. Saniya stomped out of the elevator. Bruce struggled to keep up as she barreled down the hallway to Natasha and Clint's door.
Two short knocks later, Natasha swung open the door and glared down at them. She must have just gotten back because she was still wearing a leather jacket and a red cocktail dress.
"Saniya, Bruce," she said in a razor-sharp tone, "do you know how late it is?"
Some of her confidence evaporated. She stepped backwards, bumping into Bruce.
"It can't wait," she replied.
Natasha sighed. "I'm sure it can, you just don't want to."
"Exactly! So we're on the same page."
Saniya faltered in what she wanted to say next. The assassin's murderous gaze made her palms sweat and heart race. Something told her that Natasha wouldn't mind killing her at the moment, even with Bruce as a witness.
She gulped and moved so that she was half hidden behind him. Despite using Bruce as a body shield, she lifted her chin and straightened her back. "SHIELD just arrested someone and I need to see her."
"And which person are we talking about?"
"Aghie—"
"Aghamarshan," Bruce corrected.
She bobbed her head. "Yeah, Aghamarshan Elliot. I need to see her as soon as possible."
Natasha's scowl shifted to Bruce. He flinched. "I wonder how she heard that name," she mused.
He curled his hands into a knot. "Sorry, Nat."
Natasha brushed off his apology. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay, I'll bite. Why do you need to see her?"
"Bruce seems to think she's my sister and I want to prove him wrong," she said. A sudden wave of fear washed over her when she saw the flash in Natasha's eyes. Instantly, she regretted telling her about her supposed sister. "He's wrong, though," she rushed out. "I know that I'm the only child. I just want to prove a point."
Natasha was suddenly wide awake. She leaned against the doorframe. "And what does the Doc say?"
Bruce rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm fairly certain they're related. All the tests—"
Saniya leaned forward. "Tests that are very wrong."
"—say that they are sisters," Bruce continued. He shot her an apologetic grimace. "I'm sorry, but I'm positive she's your sister."
Natasha tilted her head. The corners of her mouth lifted into a smirk. "Congratulations, Saniya. You'll get exactly what you want." She patted her hand on Saniya's shoulder. It felt more like a death sentence than a congratulatory gesture.
Her shoulders drooped. "Please tell me you won't tell SHIELD about this," Saniya pleaded. "It's not that important."
Natasha chuckled, as if she was amused with her troubles. "Maybe. No promises."
Which most likely meant she would spill the information to the first SHIELD agent she saw. In a matter of a minute, Saniya might have screwed herself over for the rest of her life. Being potentially related to someone who made blood rain from the sky made it a million times harder to keep up her charade of an average person.
"I'll have a transport ready in a half hour. It's about a two-hour flight to the helicarrier," Natasha told them. "You better be ready by then. I spent the last seven hours driving from North Carolina, so I will not wait for you if you're late."
There was nothing like a few hours of doing nothing to gather enough anger and frustration to last her for days. The first twenty minutes of the flight was spent in absolute silence, which allowed her to overthink everything that had happened. She decided that she was infuriated with two people: Thor and Bruce.
Thor didn't do anything on purpose, but that didn't stop her from feeling pangs of frustration. His talk about the weird Asgardian magic and his hidden theories only amplified the distrust around her. Or at least, she assumed it did. She didn't have a chance to see how Tony and the others would react, but it should be poorly.
Bruce, however, deserved the hatred she was sending his way. What kind of person keeps information like that away from someone? It wasn't right. So, to soothe her boiling emotions, she focused on the little things like 'accidentally' kicking his chair and pretending to not hear him over the helicopter blades. By the time they arrived at their destination, she was feeling calmer and more relaxed.
"Holy fucking shit," she swore as a the helicarrier came into view.
It was a large aircraft carrier floating in the sky. The top deck was larger than the block her apartment complex was on. It was a lot busier too. Planes sat on the deck while maintenance crews checked on them in the morning sun. Small vehicles, that were similar to golf carts, weaved between people. It was chaos.
She leaned further out of her seat. Saniya was tempted to jump.
Natasha smirked. "Wait until you get inside. It's bigger than it looks."
"No way." Saniya, momentarily forgetting how upset she was, turned to Bruce with a wide grin. "This is amazing."
Bruce smiled back. "Like she said: just wait till you get inside."
The pilot landed on the deck. Several SHIELD agents rushed over to check their ID's and to prep the helicopter. They didn't give her anything more than a brief glance.
Saniya dropped down to the helicarrier. The edge called to her, begging her to jump off at least once before she went inside. This was a once in a lifetime chance.
"Where are you going?" Bruce asked as he watched her walk to the side.
She smiled to herself. "Just looking!"
A second later, she tumbled off the side. Saniya was all giggles as she fell, narrowly missing one of the jets. She'd never fallen from so far up and it was exhilarating. Nothing else compared to this moment. And, right on time, she flew back up to the deck.
She glanced over her shoulder. Neither Natasha nor Bruce had any idea what happened. It was her secret. That was something no one would be able to take away from her.
"I have business to take care of," Natasha announced when Saniya rejoined them moments later. "Your sister is a hallway down from where Loki's cell was. Remember where that is?"
Bruce nodded. "I do."
Saniya tilted her head. "What kind of business?"
Natasha smirked. "Let's just say that someone has to make sure Agent Klemmer is not doing her rounds while you are here." Saniya stilled while the assassin waved goodbye. "We'll regroup in a half hour."
She swung her arms, brushing off any thoughts of Agent Klemmer. "So, lead the way."
They walked side by side, bumping shoulders every so often. Neither of them wanted to get in the way of the other people. It was as busy as a helicarrier could be. One time Bruce had to hold out his arm to keep her from colliding with someone too focused on a clipboard to look up. Once, she saw someone coming and let them collide shoulders with Bruce. The person turned bleach white when he saw who he hit. It was funny.
But, after they entered the carrier and were walking through the halls, she saw other people reacting the same way. There was a wide berth around them, more specifically him.
"Hey, are you okay?" she asked. The anger from him keeping a big secret from her was pushed back. She'd bring it up another day, but now she didn't care. As much.
He ducked his head. "Fine."
"You look constipated." Bruce's eyes widened. "I didn't mean that like— I don't—" She sighed. "I just meant that you look really uncomfortable."
He avoided meeting her gaze. "No, no, I'm fine. You don't need to worry."
She bumped his shoulders. "Sounds an awful lot like me when I say I'm fine. What'd you do to make everyone so scared of you?"
Bruce rounded the corner. There were guards stationed at every doorway. The security was tighter in this area.
"The last time I was here, I ended up destroying quite a bit of the helicarrier."
She looked at him with surprise. He wasn't muscular like Thor or had a metal suit that shot laser beams, so it was hard to imagine him destroying anything. But, he was incredibly smart. She guessed that he built an elaborate contraption which blew up part of the hallway or something like that. There was no way he could do any damage any other way. He was too soft.
Saniya shrugged. "Sweet."
Bruce let out a surprised wheeze. "Sweet? You think that destroying thousands of dollars of equipment and building material is sweet?"
"One hundred percent," she chirped. "Especially since you destroyed SHIELD's stuff." He shook his head in disbelief. "They probably had it coming anyways."
His steps faltered. Bruce pointed to himself. "Wait, do you not know that..."
The anger from before resurfaced. He sure liked to ask questions without being clear of what they're about. "Do I not know what?" she snapped.
His eyes scanned her face. When he saw that she was genuine, he kept his eyes fixated on the floor. "That explains why you're not running away screaming," he laughed humorlessly.
Saniya considered throwing herself off a cliff and not reversing time. It would be more enjoyable meeting her early grave than to try to figure out the meaning behind his answers. That was an exaggeration, of course, but that didn't mean she wasn't considering it.
"You are ridiculous," she muttered under her breath.
Each answer he gave left her with ten more. He wasn't doing it on purpose, though. If he had been someone like Natasha or Clint —more specifically, an agent for SHIELD— she would've thought he was doing it to manipulate her in some way. Or if he were like Tony, then to piss her off for the fun of it. But this was Bruce; the kind man who kept her company the last few days. She couldn't see him as one that liked to press people's buttons.
"Watch it!"
She gasped, turning just in time to see a man in full riot gear about to ram into her. Just as the huge body was about to topple over her, everything paused. The body hung at an angle, just inches away from crushing her.
Saniya stepped out from under his shadow to see everything was frozen. Bruce had his head turned and his eyes were halfway through a blink. Then, exactly half a second later, everything unfroze.
The man in the riot gear continued barreling down the hallway with his hand on his gun. It was like she wasn't almost crushed in the first place.
Weird. She'd never paused time before, but there was a first time for everything.
They passed several cells, which were large see-through walsl with metal doors. The insides were pure white, with only a bed, toilet, and a sink as furnishing. Every cell was the exact same. Even the prisoners' uniforms were identical.
Despite the cells being alike, she knew the one at the end was different. This cell was special. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it, but it was unique.
Bruce stopped in front of the glass. "She's the woman in the file."
Saniya's feet melted to the ground. The world shifted; she could have sworn she felt it move. Everything seemed clearer. The familiar thump in her chest was stronger. One sentence floated around in her mind and was the only thing she could focus on: she's my sister.
Her hair was cut just below her shoulders with bangs hanging over her eyes. Aghamarshan's hairstyle made her look like a teenager, which was adorable in its own way. While her sister could not have been much younger than her, she felt a protectiveness that a parent had over their child. The feeling was surreal.
Saniya pressed her hands against the glass. Her fingerprints left smudges on the clean surface. "Can I talk to her?"
Bruce glanced at the guards who were now paying a disturbing amount of attention to them. "Maybe we should wait for Natasha to find us."
Her eyes never left her sister, who was currently curled up against the wall. "The question was rhetorical. I'm talking to her whether anyone says so or not."
"I don't think that's how that word is meant to be used and—"
"I'll stay outside of the cell," Saniya compromised. She ripped her gaze from Aghamarshan to look at Bruce. His cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink when she placed her hand on his arm. "I need to talk to her."
Since he didn't object further, she decided he wasn't going to stop her. She knocked on the glass. Aghamarshan lazily opened her eyes and rolled the crick from her neck. Her eyes, an exact replica of Saniya's, widened when she saw her.
Saniya had so many questions, some of which involved Christopher O'Neill. How did she know him? Why did she send him after her? But before she had a chance to blurt out all of them, she caught herself.
SHIELD was listening. If not through the guards stationed every few yards or so, then with listening devices placed throughout the helicarrier. Asking Aghamarshan about her connection to a terrorist would seal her fate if SHIELD didn't already know. Subtlety was key.
Aghamarshan tugged the sleeves of her stereotypical orange jumpsuit. "Who are you?"
"I'm Saniya. You're Aghamarshan, right?"
She frowned. "Marsha," she corrected. "Do I know you?"
Saniya lightly tapped her foot against the glass in a rhythm. "I don't know. Do you?"
Marsha hugged her arms around her waist. "No," she said quietly. A crease appeared between her eyebrows. "Do you know me?"
Her foot stilled for a second, then went back to tapping. "No." Saniya jerked her thumb towards Bruce. "This guy thinks we're sisters."
Marsha's entire demeanor changed. She grinned. Though it didn't reach her eyes, Marsha was genuinely happy to see her. "Really? Who were you adopted by, or did you stay in our village in India? This is so exciting, even if I'm meeting you in a cell."
Her nose crinkled. "What village? I was born in New York."
"But you just said we are sisters." Saniya felt a pang of guilt rush through her as Marsha crumpled in on herself. "You must have the wrong person then. My mother said all my siblings were born in Rajasthan."
Bruce frowned. "There are other siblings?"
Marsha, despite being on the other side of a glass wall, took a step back. "My mother said that I had three siblings." Her eyebrows drew together. "Wait, no. Just two. I think one of them died right after its birth."
The second he turned to her, Saniya was shaking her head. "Don't you dare say what I think you're about to say," she protested. "Having a sister is a giant leap that you managed to land, but I am not adopted."
"Maybe you should consider it as a possibility."
She curled her hands into two fists. "It's not an option," she glowered. "My birth certificate says I was born in New York, so I was born in New York!"
Bruce placed a calming hand on the small of her back, acting as a barrier between them and the eavesdropping SHIELD agents. The tension in her muscles loosened under his touch. "I'm not claiming that you are, but you should keep an open mind," he said quieter than usual. "I can run some tests —your parents' DNA are probably on file if they've been to a modern hospital in the last thirty years— and see if you're really their biological child."
She squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm not—"
"Just wait until I have the results," he reasoned.
"We shouldn't even be considering this, but fine." She threw her hands up. "I won't freak out about it." Saniya banged her forehead on the glass. Bruce removed his hand and shifted several feet away. "Okay, what about your, err, our birth parents?"
Marsha stepped so she was closer to Saniya and further from Bruce. "My birth mother died during childbirth. My parents don't like talking about my father."
She lifted her forehead. A red mark appeared where her head was pressed against the glass. "Why not?"
"I don't know. They just don't," Marsha shrugged.
Bruce stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Nat's ten minutes early."
Saniya followed his gaze. Down the hallway with a cup of coffee and less energy than an hour ago was Natasha. Despite the walking dead appearance to her, Natasha oozed power. It was very admirable to see the SHIELD guards flinch when her eyes stayed on them for too long. Saniya could only hope to be as terrifying as her one day.
Marsha pressed her hands against the glass. "Natalie?" Suddenly, she smacked her forehead. "The wine."
"What wine? What did she do?" she rushed out.
The expression on her face could accurately be described as a sad puppy. "She must have drugged me and brought me here." Tears glistened in her eyes. Both Saniya and Bruce stared helplessly as Marsha sniffled.
"If it makes you feel better," Saniya started, "SHIELD hit me with a truck then locked me in Stark Tower."
Marsha rubbed a rogue tear from her cheek. "SHIELD? Is that what they're called?"
She nodded. "Yeah, but might as well call them the mafia. There's no difference."
As Natasha approached them, Marsha slunk back in her cell. Saniya almost didn't catch her murmuring of missing home. And as the agent drew closer and closer, a pit of hate grew in her stomach.
She'd free Marsha. She didn't know how or when. Saniya just knew that for her own sanity, it had to be as soon as possible. SHIELD was not going to stop her.
Translations:
Bahana = बहन = sister
Ghagra = a long full skirt often decorated with embroidery, mirrors, or bells.
Choli = a short sleeved bodice worn under a saree